Bertucci's

Bertucci's
Bertucci's restaurant Rt.1, Peabody, Massachusetts

Bertucci's is a Northborough, Massachusetts-based private company which runs a chain of sit-down Italian restaurants offering brick oven pizza and Italian food. It also offers delivery (from some stores), take-out and private dining. Bertucci's was founded by Joey Crugnale in Davis Square, Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1981. The company expanded rapidly during the 1990s. Bertucci's locations are primarily found in the Northeast, but range as far south as Virginia. N.E. Restaurant Co. Inc. bought out Bertucci's in 1998, adopting the Bertucci's Co. name in 2001.

Joseph ("Joey") Crugnale, Bertucci’s founder, was born in Sulmona, Italy. He landed his first job in a restaurant while in high school, after emigrating to Boston. He worked as a porter at the Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. In 1974 he opened his first ice cream stand. In 1975, he refinanced his father's home and purchased Steve's Ice Cream from founder Steve Herrell for $80,000. Crugnale established 26 stores before selling the concept to Integrated Resources in 1983 for $4.5 million.

The first 'Bertucci's Pizza and Bocce' was opened in 1981, two doors from Steve's Ice Cream in Davis Square. Bertucci’s was opened to eliminate the possibility of an ice cream competitor moving in. The name was found in a magazine during a flight to New York City. The original location had a bocce court in the basement, as did the second location, in Brookline.

Two more Massachusetts restaurants opened in 1985, in Cambridge and Brookline Village. They featured open-hearth brick oven specialty pizzas topped with ingredients such as artichoke hearts and roasted eggplant. No two Bertucci's were alike to avoid marketing as a chain. The Brookline restaurant contained an outdoor bocce court. It planned to operate 20 restaurants by 1990. The Brookline restaurant closed in September 2009.