Jess Willis makes Somerville a little bit tastier
The restaurateur and event chair for the Taste of Somerville owns many of the city’s most popular spots. ‘It’s a hobby, and it just happens to pay the bills,’ she says.
If you’ve ever eaten in Somerville, chances are you’ve visited one of Jess Willis’s restaurants. Willis, 52, left a career in advertising 21 years ago, looking for more fulfillment. Late restaurateur Ken Kelly hired her at The Independent in Union Square, expanding to Foundry on Elm, Saloon, Brass Union (rebranded as Vera’s), and The Rockwell. Eventually, the Somerville native went on to own them — taking over right before COVID-19 hit.
Fittingly, she’s the 2023 chair for the Taste of Somerville, which makes a triumphant return after a pandemic-induced hiatus. The sampling smorgasbord brings together restaurants across the city on Wednesday, June 14, at Assembly Row.
You’re a prolific restaurateur. How did you get involved in the business?
I got a late start in the restaurant business. I had spent my twenties working in advertising, which was a great experience. But you know, it wasn’t super fulfilling for me. It wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. I decided right before I turned 30 that it was going to be restaurants, and I got my first job at Wally’s. They gave me two shifts, Friday night and Sunday night, which was a great experience. And then I added a couple shifts at another place and another place and worked seven days a week for the first few years. I treated it like an educational period. I was a sponge for a couple of years.
The Independent was one of those places that gave me a couple of shifts in the early days. Those two shifts grew into fulltime, into bar manager and general manager. This was when the Independent had just opened. It was the first year of the restaurant being open. Ken Kelly was the owner at the time. He eventually opened another place right next door, which was called Toast at the time. As the group grew, and the restaurant family expanded, I took on a bigger role. I was the chief operating officer of the group.
Sadly, in 2015, Ken passed away after a long battle with cancer. I decided I wanted to keep the restaurants going and worked with his family to buy the Independent, Vera’s, Foundry, Saloon, and Rockwell.
What do you love about restaurants?
It’s the energy. It’s the people. It’s like throwing a party every night. I grew up in a big Italian family. One of my favorite things was planning holiday meals with my grandmother, sitting down with the legal pad and figuring out who’s making what and setting the table. I’ve just always loved the preparation. In my twenties, I loved throwing parties, making food for people, and the thrill you get from making other people happy. When I was doing that soul-searching, trying to figure out what would make me happy for the rest of my life, that was where I landed. I’ve got to say, it’s never felt like work. It’s a hobby, and it just happens to pay the bills.
Where did you love to eat growing up?
I’ve lived in the Boston area my whole life. My family is from Readville, which is part of Boston. We moved to Everett when I was young. My favorite restaurant as a kid was a place called Ferrari’s in Malden, an Italian restaurant in this little strip mall next to a Carvel ice cream. Me and my mom would go there at least once a week. It’s one of those places where they ask, “What dressing do you want with your salad?” We just loved it. It was a combination of the food, obviously, which was good and comforting. But the staff made you feel welcome when you came in. They remembered your names. They remembered your order, joked and around with you.
Tell me about the Taste of Somerville.
So the Taste of Somerville is produced by the Somerville Chamber of Commerce. They’ve been producing this event since the late ’90s. I always participated as a restaurant. It was really important to us to always be there as part of the event. But in 2015, I joined the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce, and then in 2019, they asked me to be chair of the dining and nightlife group. And so as chair of the dining and nightlife group, that’s one of the responsibilities, putting this event together.
It’s great in so many ways. It raises money for a local nonprofit every year. This year, it’s the Somerville Education Foundation. And it brings the whole restaurant community together, which, now more than ever, I think is going to be really fun.
How would you describe the restaurant culture in Somerville?
I think it’s pretty close-knit; very neighborhood-centric. You see each other in the neighborhood; everyone’s super supportive in whatever neighborhood you’re in. I don’t operate in Magoun Square, and I’m not in Assembly anymore. But I know that it’s the same in all of those neighborhoods, where the restaurants are supporting one another and working together. During the pandemic, it became really important to have that network. Through the chamber, we were organizing these weekly phone calls where we were all just trying to figure out how we were going to survive, how we were going to recover, working with the city. One of our chefs actually went around and built parklets for about half a dozen restaurants. It was heartwarming. The pandemic really amplified how close the restaurant community is in Somerville; how supportive the city is of restaurants.
Where do you hang out when you’re not working?
I love checking out new places. My husband and I had dinner last night at Season to Taste. It was lovely. Highland Kitchen is a block from my house. I’m eating there once a week at least. At State Park, they’re just great people. They’re old friends. We actually did our staff party there this year. I love those neighborhood spots.
You’ve been in Somerville for 20 years, and you grew up around here. How has the food scene changed?
That’s a tough one. What’s changed about the food scene? I think it’s a lot more diverse, at least from my perspective. Now, there are a lot more womenowned restaurants and a diversity of the types of foods you can eat on any given week.
Is there anything that’s gotten worse over time?
I don’t know. No, I’m an optimist. I will say that escalating rents and the cost of operating a business is very challenging right now. I worry about what that’s going to mean for the future of independent restaurants. I don’t know that there are as many opportunities.
How does somebody go about buying all these restaurants? How does that actually work?
I think it’s different for everybody. Some people have investors. In my case, I just took on a massive amount of debt.
I am not a risk-taker at all. So I probably would not have taken that risk and taken on all of that debt for something that was relatively unknown. Starting a brand-new place is very, very scary to me. I like a sure thing. But I had been involved with these restaurants for almost two decades. I knew what I was getting into. I knew the financials. I knew the neighborhood. I knew what the risks were. And it was manageable for me. Then, three months later was the pandemic.
How did you get through it?
That was scary, right? You have this massive amount of debt, you have rent to pay, you have staff with families. Thank God, there was lots of support from the federal government, from the state, from the City of Somerville. I was blessed to have great landlords who were willing to work with us on rent during those early days. I was able to postpone loan payments and stuff like that until we were in a better place. I know a lot of restaurants weren’t as lucky.
The James Beard Foundation was doing all of these webinars on different aspects of survival and recovery. I was constantly tuned in to those and just working with our network, working with the other restaurants in the city to map out our road to recovery. We have people who have worked with us for a decade or more, and they were all awesome. I felt guilty asking people to work because it was scary. And those early days, we were still wiping down our groceries. We didn’t know how things were spreading. Managers were literally calling me up saying, “Let’s do this. We want to get back to work; we want to rebuild.” It made me cry.
Honestly, there were nights when there were four of us in Foundry, doing dishes, bagging takeout orders. From the staff who were a part of that, and also our regulars who were ordering takeout from us and supporting the business — there were people who were coming out every day and ordering food, buying gift cards, sitting under the heat lamps in middle of February out on the parklets — it was incredible. To bring it back to Taste of Somerville, during that whole time, all that I was thinking about was: When this is over, I can’t wait to throw a party and celebrate our resilience. That’s what this year’s Taste of Somerville is, to me.
Why do you think people are so loyal to your restaurants? What role do they fill in the community?
Restaurants are an extended living room for people. That’s always been what we’re about. We want people to feel comfortable coming in with their kids, for a beer with their friends, for a nice meal when you have in-laws visiting or parents in town. I think we have something for everyone, and we try to hire people who have hospitality in their DNA. We might not always hire people who have tons of restaurant experience or who have worked at lots of places, but we hire people who care about other people and want to create great experiences and have warmth.
What are your favorite things to order at your spots?
I am a grazer. I do love my french fries. I think we have excellent fries at all of our restaurants. I like lots of small plates throughout the day; I eat dips and olives and nuts and things you can eat on the go.
Any snacks that you’re ashamed to admit that you like?
I have no food shame. But I always have a box of Cheez-Its in my house.
‘It’s great in so many ways . . . . It brings the whole restaurant community together, which, now more than ever, I think is going to be really fun.’
JESS WILLIS, on the Taste of Somerville