In a rather unexpected move, the Vetri Family announced today that they will be selling their restaurant group to URBN, the Philadelphia-based company that owns Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Terrain, and Free People, by the end of 2015. This deal covers all of the Vetri restaurants except for the eponymous prix-fixe stalwart, Vetri.
 

Very little will actually change once this deal is underway - Jeff Michaud and Brad Spence will remain in charge of menus and will become “executive culinary directors,” the restaurants will be exactly the same in terms of service, and Jeff Benjamin and Marc Vetri will remain COO and president, respectively. What this deal will give the Vetri family is an office run by URBN which will cover day-to-day logistics (payroll, etc.) In fact, both the Vetri Family and URBN Headquarters are located in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard.

While this all may seem pretty random, if it brings more stability and support to a long-running Philly restaurant group, it’s probably for the best, especially if it allows Vetri to continue to expand (there’s a Main Line development in the works which will include URBN clothing stores and Vetri restaurants exclusively). The Vetri Family also has plans to expand past Philly (Pizzeria Vetris are planned for both Austin and D.C.), so attaching themselves to a big name like URBN should certainly serve them well in their quest for delicious world domination. 

Photo via Lo Spiedo