Back Bay Restaurant Group is a restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts which operates 35 restaurants under seven different concepts, primarily in New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

.

History

The Back Bay Restaurant Group was founded as The Westwood Group in the late 1960s by Charles Sarkis. It was reorganized as the Back Bay Restaurant Group in 1991 and taken public under the ticker "PAPA". The company has since returned to private status. Sarkis remains the company's CEO and principal shareholder.

Concepts

Joe's American Bar and Grill

With 15 locations in New England, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, and Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Joe's American Bar and Grill is Back Bay Restaurant Group's largest chain. The restaurant serves casual, American fare.

Papa Razzi

Papa Razzi is Back Bay Restaurant Group's second largest chain, with 12 restaurants in New England, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. A moderate-to-upscale Italian restaurant, the concept was named and themed after the Italian paparazzi

Paparazzi

Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...

. Although no longer public, when the company was listed on the NASDAQ

NASDAQ

The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

 exchange, it used the symbol "PAPA".

Charley's

The Newbury Street location is known as "Charley's Eating and Drinking Saloon" and the Chestnut Hill location is simply named "Charley's." It is Back Bay Restaurant Group's third largest chain, with two locations in New England. The restaurant is similar to the company's Joe's American concept, serving casual American fare.

Other concepts

In addition to the concepts above, Back Bay Restaurant group operates four stand-alone restaurants, Abe & Louie's a "classic, upscale steakhouse", Atlantic Fish (formerly the "Famous American Fish Company"), an upscale seafood restaurant, and Coach Grill, a steakhouse in Wayland, MA once known as the "Red Coach Grill" and owned by Howard Johnson

Howard Johnson

Howard Johnson may refer to:*Howard Johnson's, a chain of hotels and restaurants*Howard Deering Johnson , founder of Howard Johnson's restaurants* Howard David Johnson, , American painter...

. The Abe & Louie's concept has won many regional awards, including Boston Magazine

Boston magazine

Boston is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication for more than 40 years.-About the magazine:The magazine is self-described as:...

's "Best of Boston" award and the Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces...

's "Award of Excellence" for the restaurant's wine list.

Defunct concepts

From 1975 until the early 2000s, the company also operated a concept called "J.C. Hillary's", a Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

-style pub and restaurant.

In August 2010, Back Bay Restaurant Group closed the only instance of its Bouchée establishment, a French brasserie

Brasserie

In France and the Francophone world, a brasserie is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed, upscale setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word 'brasserie' is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brewing business"...

-style restaurant. Papa Razzi, in turn, replaced the concept at its 159 Newbury St. address.