No, this isn’t your typical story of Italian immigrant grandparents and family recipes passed down for decades. This is the story of how hard work led to the American Dream, and how that dream has continued to grow for nearly 40 years while serving a family and a community.
In 1987, after working part time at The Original’s (then owned by the Armetta family) while working full-time as the head of maintenance at Frankford Torresdale Hospital, John Graff made an offer to buy the business. With no restaurant experience, Graff worked tirelessly to learn the ins-and-outs before venturing out fully on his own. He would continue to work at the hospital until the business was paid for.
Over the next 35 years, Graff dedicated his life to family and to growing The Originals from a small casual takeout restaurant, to an upscale casual restaurant and bar that seats over 300 guests. Over that time, the family also opened two additional successful restaurants in The Corner Cafe and Piero’s Italian Restaurant, but have since downsized to focus on the new and improved Originals. Equally important to our success and growth as a restaurant is our commitment to serving our community. Northeast Philadelphia has been home for us for many years and we have been fortunate enough to grow with many families; patrons and employees. It’s one big family! And that’s what O’s is all about! Serving others. We continue to operate as a multi-generation family business, with John Graff still at the helm. He is currently joined by his son-in-law, John Neal (formerly of Piero’s), running the day-to-day operations.
In addition, Graff’s daughters Jamie and Ally still work from time-to-time as does his son, John Jr. You’ll often catch his grandkids, Ryleigh and Dylan trying to help out, too! With the 40-year mark quickly approaching, our goal over the past couple of years was to build something great that can withstand the test of time and allow us to serve our community [and beyond] for another 40 years! We believe we have done that. We thank you for your loyalty and support over those years and look forward to continuing to grow with, ad serve your families for many years to come.
