News

Tom & Eddie’s to open fourth location

July 28, 2011

Tom & Eddie’s is celebrating its one-year anniversary with the opening of a fourth location in the Chicago area. The fourth restaurant will open in Vernon Hills, Ill., Aug. 30, in the Vernon Hills Town Center.

Looking back on the concept’s first year, taste and flavor from mostly natural or organic ingredients remains the founder’s first priority. Tom & Eddie’s is named after Tom Dentice and Ed Rensi, both of whom spent a majority of their careers at McDonald’s. (Read also, Industry veterans to launch gourmet burger brand.)

The concept uses hand-formed patties of fresh 100 percent all-natural Angus from a farm in Montana. The beef is Certified Humane, by the Humane Farm Animal Care, a national non-profit organization.

“If there’s one compliment we hear consistently, it’s that our customers can taste the meat,” Dentice said. “In fact, our co-founder Vince Naccarato says our meat is so good that a half pound burger should be a menu standard. We get compliments, too, about the flavor of our non-beef burgers - the turkey, edamame and Ahi Tuna burgers.”

In addition to working with local vendors whenever possible, Tom & Eddie’s has donated more than $40,000 among the Culinary and Hospitality Center at College of DuPage, the Geneva Academic Foundation, the Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence, and the Deerfield Education Foundation.

Next year, Dentice and Rensi have plans to open another five restaurants including a location in the Chicago metro area.

“Two things differentiate us,” Rensi said. “We focus on high-quality ingredients with a strong emphasis on natural and local. That’s one. The other is our hospitality. Frankly, the entire organization powers us up, and it’s energizing. It’s like having a party every day. I am reminded of the phrase: ‘The work of children is play; the play of adults is work.’ We want to build a lot of restaurants. It’s a rebirth every time, and it’s thrilling.” 

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