Guy Ciolfi, the owner of Chicken & The Pig, celebrates growth and community involvement as his restaurant approaches its two-year anniversary.
After nearly two years operating the restaurant, Ciolfi advises aspiring restaurant owners that “it’s hard work.” Despite the hard work, he has continued to develop his restaurant while giving back to the community of Lynnfield.
Ciolfi, a Lynnfield native and resident, opened his brick and mortar location at MarketStreet in the fall of 2022 after operating a food truck located at “The Lot” in Middleton during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chicken & The Pig’s menu focuses on chicken sandwiches and gourmet hot dogs, but Ciolfi said they constantly feature specials and try to integrate new items onto the menu.
The most recent addition will be adding wraps, which are featured in some of their current specials, as full-time menu items, he said. Ciolfi’s favorite menu item is the recently-added chicken caesar salad wrap.
One aspect of Ciolfi’s growth and development as a restaurant owner is his position on the DoorDash Restaurant Advisory Council, he said.
The RAC is “a partnership between DoorDash and restaurateurs across the United States and Canada, connecting DoorDash with the broader restaurant community,” according to its website.
Any restaurant with at least one location active as a partner of DoorDash is eligible to serve on the RAC, the website states.
Ciolfi said DoorDash orders account for approximately one third of their business. He said DoorDash approached him to be a member of the RAC for six months, during which he met with 15 other restaurant owners and operators from across the country. “It was a really diverse group of people from all over.”
He said when DoorDash first approached him, he thought it would be a way to “complain” about their prices and how to deal with them.
“We then get into the first meeting and it’s a little bit overwhelming and you’re not sure what to expect,” Ciolfi said. “It was kind of neat because you got to interact with other people in the restaurant business that you probably wouldn’t normally get to interact with and listen to them.”
He said their meetings covered a wide array of topics, including menu development, staff training, different point-of-sales systems, and franchising.
“It was kind of cool to hear what people are doing in Nashville, Tennessee for marketing or what they’re doing to grow business, either through DoorDash or on their own,” Ciolfi said.
Another aspect of his restaurant Ciolfi reflected upon was his impact on the community of Lynnfield.
“I think we’ve got a pretty solid impact on the Lynnfield community,” he said. “I always thought that I’d want to have a business outside of the town that I live in… This town’s been super supportive of us. The kids love it. Parents love it. And it’s just been great. I mean, I really couldn’t ask for anything better than what’s going so far.”
Ciolfi has a 20-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son, both of whom went through the Lynnfield public school system. He was also born and raised in Lynnfield nearly 50 years ago.
Chicken & The Pig gives back to the community by hosting local fundraisers, catering teacher appreciation’s lunches, and other events, he said.
Ciolfi said he isn’t in the restaurant everyday, but he sees people he knows every day that does he go in. Ciofi said “the best thing” is having people he knows come up and give him compliments.
“We get a lot of them, so we do things right I guess,” he said.
