Chickie's & Pete's

Chickie’s & Pete’s is an American bar and restaurant business privately owned and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It started as a small privately owned neighborhood taproom in 1977 and created a brand name as a seafood crab house that expanded from a single location to multiple locations within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. In 2011 ESPN voted Chickie's & Pete's the number one sports bar in the North America.

Peter and Henrietta Ciarrocchi had owned a deli and in 1977 purchased a nearby small neighborhood taproom on Robbins Avenue, in the Mayfair section of northeast Philadelphia known as "Wally's". Peter made three changes by adding stools to the standing-only bar, lifting the “men only” rule, and naming the bar after himself and his wife, Henrietta, whom everyone called Chickie. When Peter died in 1987, it was Chickie who encouraged Peter's son, Pete Junior, to run with his own business ideas, his spin on crab seasoned fries, and whatever else he wanted to try. In 1998 Pete expanded the business by purchasing a run-down vacant supermarket building near Veterans Stadium within the Sports Complex Special Services District in Packer Park, South Philadelphia, to build upon the sports bar concept by locating near Philadelphia's sport venues.

By locating Chickie's & Pete's by Philadelphia's sport venues, the business plan became to develop a sports bar venue. Pete first started experimenting with seafood recipes and one result was his "crab fries" which became the first of several signature dishes. Stage two of development became known as being a crab house and sports bar. In late 2009 the taproom that evolved into a sports bar through association with sports media, attracting sport fan patrons, evolved by adding interactive video to some locations tagged as "PLAY2." This trademarked concept, adding the dimension of not just watching sports on TV but to become one with the sport with interactive video, moved the business onto a new course. Since 1998 Chickie's & Pete's has expanded successfully to a number of locations throughout eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, reaching national attention as a unique brand. Though most locations are in or near the Delaware Valley, Chickie's & Pete's has express locations as far out as Pittsburgh, where it sells its "crab fries" at concession stands at PNC Park and First Niagara Pavilion.