Not Your Average Joe's Celebrates Waltham Grand Opening with Ribbon Cutting and $7,500 Donation to The Boston Area Gleaners

Waltham, MA – September 9, 2015 – Not Your Average Joe’s, the New England-based restaurant group known for its globally inspired, chef-driven menu at affordable prices, commemorated the official Grand Opening of its new Waltham location, the brand’s 16th based in Massachusetts and 24th on the East Coast, with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, September 8.

Local dignitaries, including Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy; Waltham City Councilors George Darcy, William Fowler, Diane LeBlanc, Robert Logan, Kathy McMenimen, and Patrick O’Brien; Waltham West Suburban Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Peacock; and Boston Area Gleaners Executive Director Laurie “Duck” Caldwell joined Not Your Average Joe’s Founder and CEO Stephen Silverstein and Waltham General Manager Ralph Vitiello to welcome the local community and preside over the ribbon cutting. Mayor McCarthy also presented Not Your Average Joe’s with a proclamation in celebration of the new restaurant, which is located in Waltham’s new 1265 Main Street shopping center.

In keeping with the brand’s commitment to the communities in which it serves, Not Your Average Joe’s selected with Waltham-based non-profit The Boston Area Gleaners to be its cause partner for its Waltham grand opening. The organization delivers high quality, local produce to pantries and meal programs by working closely with local farmers, providing volunteer labor to harvest surplus crops that would otherwise be plowed under. The Boston Area Gleaners’ core values of creativity, hard work, integrity, service to the community and commitment to making high-quality food more widely available and accessible closely mirror Not Your Average Joe’s core brand tenets.

During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Silverstein and Vitiello presented The Boston Area Gleaners with a check for $7,500 the aggregate funds raised during the restaurant’s pre-opening dinners. Caldwell was on hand to receive the donation, which will be put toward the organization’s efforts to build on their successes in 2014, during which the organization gleaned 177,033 pounds of produce, providing the equivalent of 708,132 four ounce servings of fresh fruits and vegetables to the Boston area emergency food system. Vitiello and his team also selected BAG as the Waltham location’s “Not Your Average Cause” partner for the month of September, during which time the restaurant will donate 15% of all proceeds from its sales each Tuesday. Since 2004, the Boston area Gleaners have delivered more than 1.88 million servings (more than 470,000 pounds) of fresh local produce to neighbors in need.

Not Your Average Joe’s was founded in Dartmouth, MA in 1994 after Silverstein, who was leading a successful family-run retail clothing business, longed to find a great, reasonably priced restaurant in the suburbs where he lived. When he couldn’t find a fit, he opted to build his own, despite a lack of experience in the restaurant business. Since then, Not Your Average Joe’s has grown to include 24 locations along the East Coast including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and has established an annual growth rate of more than 25 percent.

Designed with today’s discerning suburban diner in mind, the Waltham restaurant boasts more than 6,500 square-feet, and features an open-kitchen model with modern-industrial finishes. More spacious and dedicated bar space supports an increasing demand for casual bar dining, craft cocktails and local libations. The restaurant can accommodate 200 interior diners and more than 50 diners around a roaring fire pit on the outside patio, another expanded offering for the brand.

The opening menu emphasizes seasonally-inspired ingredients including an array of dishes, ranging from early fall specials and long-standing favorites including Rosemary Skewered Scallops and NY Strip Steak with Horseradish Butter. Because each dish is made-to-order, guests are encouraged to request customization to meet dietary restrictions or taste preferences.

Complementing its fare, Waltham’s Not Your Average Joe’s also offers offer inventive cocktails, an extensive award-winning wine list and a wide variety of local, regional, national and imported beers, including a rotating selection of Massachusetts-made “Backyard Brews” from breweries like Pretty Things (Somerville), Jack’s Abby (Framingham) and Slumbrew (Somerville).

Waltham’s Not Your Average Joe’s is located within the 1265 Main shopping center at 56 Market Place Drive and is open Monday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday’s from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday’s from noon to 10:00 p.m. For more information call 781.966.5637 or visit www.notyouraveragejoes.com/waltham.

In the photos:

Photo 1 (L-R): Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, Mayor of Waltham, Laurie “Duck” Caldwell, Executive Director for Boston Area Gleaners, Ralph Vitiello, NYAJ Waltham General Manager, Stephen Silverstein, NYAJ CEO/President, Ildison Vale, NYAJ Waltham chef.

Photo 2 (L-R): Laurie “Duck” Caldwell, Executive Director for Boston Area Gleaners, Ralph Vitiello, NYAJ Waltham General Manager, Ildison Vale, NYAJ Waltham chef, Stephen Silverstein, NYAJ CEO/President.

Photo 3 (Group Shot): Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy cutting ribbon with Waltham City staff and executives from NYAJ and Boston Area Gleaners.