Bertucci's

History

Joey Crugnale, born in Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy, immigrated to Boston and worked as a porter at the Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge after high school. In 1974 he opened his first ice cream stand, and in 1975 he refinanced his father's home to buy Steve's Ice Cream from founder Steve Herrell for $80,000. He grew that concept to 26 stores before selling it to Integrated Resources in 1983 for $4.5 million. The first Bertucci's Pizza and Bocce opened in November 1981, two doors from Steve's Ice Cream in Davis Square, partly to prevent an ice cream competitor from moving in.

The name came from a magazine Crugnale saw on a flight to New York City; the original location had a bocce court in the basement. In 1989 USA Today listed Bertucci's as one of America's top 10 pizza restaurants, and by then its headquarters were in Woburn, Massachusetts. The company went public in July 1991, offering 21 units at $13 per share; that year sales rose 30% to $37.4 million and net income increased 90% to $3 million, with stock prices nearly doubling to $24.75 per share.

2000s

Crugnale attempted to take the chain private in 1998 but was outbid, and N.E. Restaurant Co. Inc. purchased it for $10.50 a share. In 2001 N.E. Restaurant Co. sold its Chili's and On the Border restaurants to Brinker International and changed its name to Bertucci's Corp. A $4 million advertising tagline 'Everybody Eats' was developed in April 2002. In 2006, after Vinny T's rebranded as Buca di Beppo and withdrew from some markets, Bertucci's Corp. bought 11 Boston locations from them.

2010s

By the end of the decade the chain had around 100 locations. In 2011, following a Boston Globe investigation that found 50% of fish in area restaurants was mislabeled, Bertucci's worked to replace the hake supplied by their vendor with an acceptable cod. In December 2012, the chain opened its first 2Ovens concept restaurant in the White City shopping center in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, using brick ovens as the primary cooking method.

Bankruptcies and closures

On April 15, 2018, Bertucci's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 15 locations, including one in Hauppauge, New York; three in Connecticut; four in Pennsylvania; and seven in Massachusetts, among them the only 2Ovens location. An affiliate of Right Lane Capital agreed to purchase the chain for $19.7 million if no higher bid emerged, but in June 2018 the chain was acquired by Earl Enterprises, parent of Planet Hollywood, for $20 million. In July 2022 the Andover location closed, followed by the Woburn location in September 2022.

On December 5, 2022, Bertucci's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a second time in four years, citing declining sales, COVID-19 pandemic revenue loss, and inflation-driven supply issues. That filing led to closures of one restaurant in Marlton, New Jersey; two in Connecticut; two in New Hampshire; and five in Massachusetts. The last New Hampshire restaurant, in Nashua, closed the following year. In March 2023 the Needham and Peabody locations in Massachusetts closed; in June 2023 the last New Jersey location, in Mount Laurel, closed; in October 2023 two more Massachusetts locations, in Cambridge and Lexington, closed; in December 2024 the Swampscott location closed; and in March 2025 two additional Massachusetts locations, in Holliston and Plymouth, closed.