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The Vetri Family of Restaurants (Except for the Original) is Now Owned by Urban Outfitters


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Urban Outfitters is buying the Vetri restaurant group except the restaurant Vetri.  There are a bunch of news articles -- here's one.

The deal for the Vetri Family of restaurants includes: Amis Trattoria, Osteria, Pizzeria Vetri, Alla Spina and Lo Spiedo. Vetri, the organization's first restaurant, will not be included in the sale.

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Every single tag that said "Vetri Family" now says "Urban Outfitters."

The only two exceptions are:

1) Vetri (the original restaurant), for which the tag has been deleted since the "Vetri Family" no longer exists.

2) This thread.

Click on both tags above and see for yourself.

Once again, money takes precedence over legacy. I am so utterly unimpressed by this that I can't even begin to describe it.

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unimpressed? He created a great company with solid values, amazing food with a philanthropic outlet to boot and then made his money. Moreover he keeps the namesake flagship while continuing to help the children of Philadelphia with his Vetri Foundation. Sounds like an impressive legacy to me.

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Once again, money takes precedence over legacy. I am so utterly unimpressed by this that I can't even begin to describe it.

Not really our decision to fret about.  Maybe Mark Vetri was tired of running an empire.  He gets to cash out and focus on his flagship.

The play by Urban Outfitters is what I don't get, unless they have expansion plans that don't include retail or just see a local, profitable business that they want to operate and saw an opening (or were approached).  I will say that this pairing, as odd as it may seem, does not come out of the blue.  There are lots of existing relationships between these two Philadelphia companies.  Lo Spiedo is literally across the street from UO headquarters.

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Don Rockwell on the expansion of Marc Vetri's empire:

Well, it looks like the dilution of quality has begun.

Our readers can now find Osteria in the Multiple Locations Dining Guide with the rest of the chains.

 
Don Rockwell on the contraction of Marc Vetri's empire:

Once again, money takes precedence over legacy. I am so utterly unimpressed by this that I can't even begin to describe it.

What's a chef to do?

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Don Rockwell on the expansion of Marc Vetri's empire:

Don Rockwell on the contraction of Marc Vetri's empire:

What's a chef to do?

Very clever! Although I would use the word "sale" rather than "contraction," as the Vetri restaurants will only continue to expand. For example, in this article, "Vetri says he'll continue running his restaurants as usual, and be in charge of Urban's existing cafés (It has Uí“ Café in New York City and two Terrain Cafés."

Also in the article: "While we know Pizzeria Vetri will expand its footprint, he [Vetri] also said to expect more Amis Trattoria restaurants as well. 'It's the most neighborhood, the most accessible. That's at the top of the list to replicate, because it's the most replicate-able,' he said."

What's a chef to do? I guess that depends on which of the Urban Outfitters' chefs you're talking about. If it was me, depending on the circumstance, I might quit, since I was under the delusion of thinking I'd be working for a master Italian restaurateur, and not for a clothing company.

However, Marc says in that article, regarding the relationship between Vetri and Urban Outfitters, "One could say that we've been negotiating for the last year, but I look at it like we've been holding hands for the last 10 years." So maybe the chefs weren't hired under false expectations after all, since I'm sure Marc would have disclosed to his hires that their future employer will quite possibly be a clothing company. Also, there's certainly no reason to assume that a publicly traded company (URBN on Nasdaq) would sacrifice quality in order to maximize profits, so upon further reflection, there really isn't much cause to worry that the product might suffer.

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