Rebecca King|NorthJersey.com
Tommy Bonfiglio went into the 2020 pandemic with three restaurants. He came out with 10.
“I saw it as an opportunity,” said Bonfiglio, who just celebrated the opening of his restaurant Tio Taco + Tequila Bar in Clifton on Aug. 5. There are two other Tio Taco locations inMarlboro and Edison.
But before Tio, North Jersey residents were introduced to Bonfiglio’s restaurant empire when American pub Tommy’s Tavern + Tap opened, also in Clifton, in December 2020.
Tommy’s has six other locations: one in Sea Bright, Freehold Township, Staten Island, Princeton, Parsippanyand Bridgewater, most of which opened in the past year.
Where hundreds of restaurants closed for good and thousands struggled to make rent payments and keep up with take-out orders, Bonfiglio, an accountant and attorney by trade who has worked through several recessions, said he knew what was coming.
An upswing. A return to normalcy — eventually. When everyone is selling, he said, the keen businessperson buys, taking advantage of low real estate prices. And so, three restaurants turned to ten.
The sheer size of Tommy’s and Tio locations kept them afloat during the pandemic, Bonfiglio said. When no indoor or outdoor dining was allowed, the restaurants that were already open were repaired, cleaned and updated from top to bottom.
Then, when in-person dining reopened, the restaurants had room to fit hundreds of people while maintaining social distancing, Bonfiglio said. The well-populated staff turned tables around quickly, allowing more guests to be seated in a night.
“We don’t have two-hour table turns,” Bonfiglio said. “We have massive kitchens, so you’ve got your drink in front of you in five minutes. Your appetizer in seven.”
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Fast service and plenty of floor space, he tells, helped the business survive the pandemic. A nest egg of capital and the guts to buy during an international crisis were the keys to expansion.
“The restaurant industry is the hardest business I’ve ever been in,” saidBonfiglio, who has worked30 years as a CPA and attorney.
Why leave one fast-pacedcareer for another? “It’s probably my OCD personality,” he said. “That I’m Type A. I can’t not be busy.”
So who is this restaurateur shark?
A pizza lover, said Bonfiglio, who is 61. A Brooklyn kid who moved to Monmouth County to settle down and winters in sunny Florida. A family man.
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Indeed, the whole Bonfiglio family is in on the business. His wife, Yvette, works with local pediatric cancer charities as a hands-on sponsorthrough “Tommy’s Kid of the Month.” Daughter Andrea is the chief marketing officer, and her fiancé, Mike Spence, is the beverage manager. Daughter Christina handles the design of the restaurant and is chief brand officer. Her husband, Chris Dietz, is a partner at her dad’s accounting firm.
About $3 million went into transforming the old Clifton TGI Fridays into the new Tommy’s. The space has a modern tavern aesthetic — dim lights, dark-brown wood paneling, slick black tilework and dark upholstered booths. The ceiling has exposed beams and ductwork, giving it a slightly industrial feel.
“I didn’t want to skimp on the food or the décor,” Bonfiglio said. “It’s high-end with televisions. You get the high-end plate ware and seating, though you’re eating pizza.”
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The menu is massive and spans from pub appetizers like jumbo pretzels ($11) and breaded Wisconsin cheese curds ($11) to penne vodka ($18) to bulgogi tacos with kimchi ($18) to 10-ounce burgers made with Grade-A beef ($15) to sushi such as Tommy’s Roll, yellowtail, avocado, cucumber, jalapeno, salmon, pepper tuna and cilantro ($17, and fittingly Bonfiglio’s favorite).
Marianne Dvorak, a Clifton resident, recommends the burgers, calling it "one of the best she's ever had."
Bonfiglio is particularly proud of the pizza, made with ultra-fine, triple-zero flour, San Marzano tomato sauce, buttery Grande mozzarella and grated Romano, blasted in a coal-fired oven ($10 to $18, depending on size).
The bar has co*cktails and wine, but we'reimpressed with the list of local beer on tap, from Hackensack Brewing Co. to Ghost Hawk in Clifton to Bolero Snort in Carlstadt and more.
The phrase, “Tommy’s gets the veto vote,” is how Bonfiglio describes his restaurant’s appeal. In other words, when no one can reach a consensus on where to eat, Tommy’s is the go-to. Every picky eater in the family will find something they like.
The massive restaurant seats about 500 and has no freezers in its three kitchens. “If ingredients are there for a day and a half, it’s old,” said Bonfiglio.
“These restaurants aren’t built for only 30 people. They’re built for hundreds,” he said. “I have 25 guys in my kitchen. I don’t have one sushi chef. I have five. I don’t have one pizza guy. I have eight.”
He and Yvette’s first foray into the restaurant industry was at The Dockside in Rumson. They became partners and ultimately bought out the original owner. Then, Hurricane Sandy swept through New Jersey. The Dockside was destroyed.
“There wasn’t enough time on my lease to rebuild and recover the money,” Bonfiglio said. “So, we moved on.” Moved on to Sea Bright, to be exact, where the first Tommy’s opened.
Back then, did he expect Tommy’s to take off and become the empire it is today?
“Never ever ever,” he said. “We got into it for the love. I was already successful. I had my house, my kids, I was just looking for something to do together with my wife.”
Rebecca King is a food writer for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, pleasesubscribe todayand sign up forourNorth Jersey Eats newsletter.
Email:kingr@northjersey.com
Twitter:@rebeccakingnj
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