Guy Fieri Is Operating Ghost Kitchens Out of a Handful of Boston Area Bertucci’s

It appears that everyone’s favorite egg-hating celebrity chef Guy Fieri is operating a number of ghost kitchens out of various Bertucci’s locations in and around Boston.

Branded as Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen (nice), these ghost kitchens offer exactly the kind of food one would expect them to offer: bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers (listed on the menu as “Pig Poppers,” which is truly awful); Buffalo wings; burgers topped with mac and cheese; cheesesteak egg rolls; and sundry deep-fried and cheesed-up delicacies. Bertucci’s locations offering the Fieri-branded ghost kitchen service include Brockton, Canton, Hingham, Lexington, Medford, North Andover, Peabody, Reading, Swampscott, West Roxbury, and others.

Bertucci’s filed for bankruptcy in 2018 before getting bought by Earl Enterprises, which is owned by Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl. The pizza chain was founded in Somerville’s Davis Square in 1981, and has more than 50 restaurants dotting the East Coast, the majority of which are concentrated in Massachusetts.

It may seem bizarre that Fieri would choose to partner with a flagging pizza chain on his latest venture, but it actually makes quite a bit of sense — the impossibly blonde TV host and restaurateur recently teamed up with Earl on a fast-casual chicken restaurant called Chicken Guy (again, nice). In an apparent crossover, Flavortown Kitchen’s menu features a Chicken Guy! (punctuation Guy’s, not Eater’s) sandwich. Earl is also a co-founder Virtual Dining Concepts, a sort of ghost kitchen restaurant group responsible for Flavortown Kitchen, as well as a handful of other celebrity-branded delivery restaurants such as Pauly D’s Italian Subs, which is a real thing.

The Mayor of Flavortown is no stranger to Greater Boston. He’s made plenty of trips to these parts while filming for his hit television show “Diners, Drive–Ins and Dives” (he loves the roast beef sandwich at Cutty’s and the house-made lobster ravioli at Rino’s Place, for example), and he opened the eponymous Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina at the Hub on Causeway in October 2019.

Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina is hibernating for the time being, but Flavortown is a state of mind — and a Bertucci’s kitchen in Hingham.

Update, February 11, 12:45 p.m.: This post was updated to clarify the business relationship between Guy Fieri and Robert Earl.

• Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen Is Now Operating Out of a Number of Bertucci’s Restaurants [BRT]
• Bankrupt Bertucci’s Closes Six Massachusetts Restaurants [BBJ]
• Guy Fieri Takes His Chicken Tender Restaurant Nationwide [FW]
• 0 to 300: How Virtual Concepts Are Blowing Up Overnight [RB]
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