A Family Tradition

Wally Ganzi, Co-Chairman and Co-Owner

Walter Ganzi Jr. (Wally) is chairman and co-owner of The Palm Restaurants and Palm Restaurant Group (PRG), which operates 28 fine dining, white tablecloth restaurants across the United States, Mexico and London. He is the third generation of the Ganzi family to own and operate this successful company. Ganzi has been an active member of The Palm since his start at the flagship restaurant in Manhattan in the early 1960s. He learned the business first hand from his father, Walter Ganzi Sr. as well as grandfather and founder, John Ganzi.

Ganzi oversees the management of the company, strategic planning and long-term development.  He is a financial wizard and spends much of his time working on the fiscal management, development and expansion of the company. Under his tenure The Palm has grown from one to 28 locations with all of the growth coming from internal capital. 

The Palm was the first white tablecloth restaurant company to expand across the United States. Ganzi was successful in pioneering the expansion through a personal attention that no other chairman and owner can claim: With each new Palm, Ganzi packed up his family and moved to the new city to pass on The Palm’s culture, focus on quality, unsurpassed customer service and Palm-style hospitality. He built The Palm’s legacy one city at a time, only leaving when the restaurant was ready to stand on its own two feet.

Most recently, Ganzi spearheaded The Palm’s European expansion by opening our first restaurant in London.  Following his traditional formula, Ganzi spent months in the U.K., personally overseeing each opening detail.  As a result, The London Palm has been met with rave reviews. His tireless commitment to preserving The Palm’s unique culture has been one of the key factors behind The Palm’s successful expansion.

His passion for the business has extended into many personal relationships with The Palm’s famous customers. His fondest celebrity moments include dining with Henry and Jane Fonda, and watching Fred Astaire tap dance on the bar at the L.A. Palm in celebration of his caricature. After many years, he remains close friends with such stars as George Hamilton, Leslie Neilsen, Brian Dennehy, Brenda Vaccaro, Cheryl Ladd and many others. In the late1970s, Ganzi served as a regular guest-host for three years on The Dinah Shore Show, performing cooking demonstrations and showing Dinah’s audience how to select and prepare steak, and has made several guest appearances on The American Sportsman with Curt Gowdy, as well as The Mike Douglas Show and The Gary Collins Show.

Ganzi also has a long-standing relationship with President George H.W. Bush, who convinced The Palm to open their second location in Washington D.C.  He served as Bush’s national finance co-chairman in the 1988 presidential campaign, as the finance chairman for that year’s presidential inauguration and was on the planning committee for Bush’s 75th birthday and more recently 80th birthday celebrations.  Ganzi was an integral member of the commissioning committee for the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). President Bush once referred to Ganzi as a tireless worker for things he believes in and the people he believes in. 

Mr. Ganzi’s passion for the business benefits all restaurant companies today with the FICA tip tax credit.  In the late 1980s, Ganzi teamed up with Norm Brinker and Rick Berman to work with congressional leaders and the Treasury Department to change tax law for employer liability on tip income. His effort saved the industry hundreds of millions of dollars and continues to provide this help every year.

Ganzi honed his skills as a restaurateur at the prestigious restaurant and hospitality school, Paul Smith’s College, from which he graduated in 1963.  He has since become one of the school’s most active alumni and prides himself on recruiting top talent from the school for both front and back of the house. Paul Smith’s has honored Ganzi with the construction of the “Wally Ganzi, Jr. Training Restaurant,” a 50-seat facility that includes a display kitchen, technology lab, interview suite, and resource center.

Ganzi received a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Denver University in 1964.  He received an honorary doctorate of business administration in foodservice management from Johnson & Wales and was elected into Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame.

He resides in Naples, Fla with his wife Sandy, and has three children and four grandchildren. In his spare time Ganzi enjoys traveling, the outdoors, flyfishing, playing golf, horses and skiing.

Bruce Bozzi Sr., Co-Chairman and Co-Owner 

Bruce Bozzi Sr. is co-chairman and co-owner of The Palm Restaurants and Palm Restaurant Group. Bruce took over the business from his father, Bruno Bozzi, making him the third generation of the Bozzi family to own and operate The Palm. Together with business partner Wally Ganzi, Bruce has grown The Palm from a single New York restaurant to a leading restaurant company with locations across the U.S. as well as in London and Mexico City.

Bruce oversees company strategy and works to ensure that The Palm’s family values and high standards of customer service remain intact across all restaurants through quarterly meetings with leadership and staff. He was a driving force behind the restaurant’s expansion in the 1970s and continues to advise development decisions today. He is also credited with introducing jumbo lobsters to The Palm menu, which dispelled the myth that meat from large lobsters was tough and helped popularize the surf and turf concept worldwide.

A proud New Yorker, Bruce attributes a significant degree of The Palm's success to the New York attitude that is replicated at each Palm location.

John T. Bettin, President and CEO

John Bettin is president and CEO of Palm Restaurant Group, where he oversees company strategy, vision, brand positioning, and development while also being directly involved in operations, finance, marketing, and human resources. During his 35 years in the restaurant business, he has earned an industry-wide reputation for his leadership, teambuilding, and restaurant concept development skills.

Bettin began his career in 1975 as a sauté cook for Houlihan’s Old Place, where he quickly climbed the organizational ladder and ultimately become senior vice president of concept development. From there, he went on to achieve notable accomplishments for a wide range of chain restaurant and multi-concept organizations. As president of Morton’s of Chicago, he led the company through a vibrant expansion phase and developed the successful Bar 12-21 concept. During his tenure with Potbelly Sandwich Works, John expanded the number of stores from 83 to 110, achieving an annualized growth rate of almost 40%. As CEO for BUCA, Inc., he strategically restructured the Italian restaurant chain for sale to Planet Hollywood International.

A native of Chicago, Bettin lives with his wife Kathy in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

Bruce Bozzi Jr., Executive Vice President

Bruce Bozzi Jr. is executive vice president of Palm Restaurant Group. He is the fourth-generation descendent of The Palm’s co-founder and the son of co-chairman and co-owner Bruce Bozzi Sr. As executive vice president, Bruce directs the company’s marketing, culinary, and human resource teams and regularly visits Palm locations throughout the country to ensure that all restaurants maintain the same rigorous standards of quality, hospitality, and tradition.

Having grown up at The Palm – literally – he has held virtually every management position at Palm locations across the U.S. Prior to his current position, he served as regional director of operations for The Palm’s 10 locations in the Northeast.

In addition to his travels on behalf of The Palm, Bruce divides his time between Washington, D.C., his native Manhattan, and Los Angeles.

Tony Tammero, Corporate Chef

Tony Tammero is the corporate executive chef of The Palm Restaurants, where he specializes in quality control, menu development, and the management of our chefs and kitchen staff. As executive chef, Tony travels to each of The Palm’s locations to ensure that the highest level of culinary execution is maintained. He also oversees the opening of all new restaurants.

Tony started out at The Palm’s flagship Second Avenue location as a “pantry man” responsible for making salads. Through sheer skill, determination, and dedication, he rose to become the restaurant’s executive chef. After a lengthy tenure with The Palm, Tony was given the opportunity to open Lock, Stock, and Barrel, his own restaurant in Darien, Conn. Five years later, he sold the restaurant and re-launched his career with The Palm, opening Palm Too on Second Avenue in Manhattan.

Tony has been featured on numerous media outlets including The Discovery Channel, Extra!, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Day Los Angeles, the Food & Wine Radio Network, and Forbes.com. He is also a member of Chefs in America and the James Beard Foundation. Tony lives in Chicago.