When Randy Norton opened a tiny Fairfax City pizza restaurant in 1974, he had no idea he would one day become a restaurant tycoon. At first, he told his business partner, Jim Farley, that he would just be a “passive investor”.
“I told him I didn’t want to know a thing about the restaurant,” Norton says. “But it wasn’t long before I started meddling.”
Turns out he was pretty good at meddling. Norton is now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ultra-successful dining chain he and wife Patsy built from the ground up — Great American Restaurants. Anyone who has spent any time in Northern Virginia has come across some of their 14 restaurants and three artisan bakeries, which include Sweetwater, Jackson’s, Artie’s, Coastal Flats, Carlyle Grand, Patsy’s, Randy’s, Mike’s, Best Buns, Ozzie’s and Silverado.
“It’s a wonderful thing seeing happy people working in the restaurants,” Norton says. “And it’s another wonderful thing seeing the guests being happy.”
A half-century ago, Norton was known for comically snipping off diners’ neckties at the 16-table Picco’s, as it was called. He admits he knew nothing about the restaurant business.
“Not a clue,” Norton says. “I majored in accounting in college.”
Fast forward a few years and the Nortons owned and operated Fantastic Fritzbe’s Flying Food Factory (now called Silverado) in Annandale. Randy ran the restaurant; Patsy made desserts for Fritzbe’s in her kitchen at home. The couple would add children to their nest and add restaurants to their chain. Today, their three grown kids run GAR’s day-to-day operations.
Jon works as the chief executive officer, while his sister Jill, vice president and chief people officer, runs the restaurant construction and design. Timmy serves as a chef on the culinary research and development side of the business, and Mom and Dad still chime in from time to time, keeping their hand in operations.
“But I try to stay out of their way,” Randy Norton says.
GAR plans to celebrate its golden anniversary with giveaways and special events, announced on social media. And the chain isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Stupid Good BBQ is GAR’s newest culinary venture, opening in the next few months in Springfield. Norton hinted that GAR has another restaurant “west of here” coming down the pipeline.
“It’s a crazy tough business,” Norton admits. “But it’s not about how big we are; it’s about trying to run good restaurants — great restaurants.”
Feature image courtesy Great American Restaurants
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