We were lucky to catch up with Stephen Deraffele recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

One of the easier parts of creating this business in our case, was naming the restaurant. Working in the restaurant industry for almost 15 years, I always had my eye on opening my own place when the time was right. In the early days we had a few concepts, locations and menu ideas in mind, all of those elements shift and evolved over time. The one thing that I always knew however, was that I would name it after my late mom. Karen “Pinky” DeRaffele, was affectionately known by her nickname from when she was a child and it stuck. My memories with her can never be replaced and I knew that when I made the leap from a restaurant manager to a business owner, I wanted to name my place Pinky’s in her honor. We have “Pinky’s Meatballs” on the menu as a staple from one of my favorite dishes I remember growing up. Now, Pinky’s is a place we are proud to call home, welcoming diners to celebrate and make memories over a great meal with their loved ones.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raise in New Rochelle, NY but my family’s roots come from Southern Italy (the Calabria region). I knew when I was creating our menu in the early days, before we even had a location, that I would pull inspiration and ingredients that span the region with flavors and spices that compliment dish to dish.

Before any menu designing began, and even before I moved to Richmond, VA, my background in started serving in restaurants and even more so, construction. I started young, working for the family company, DeRaffele Manufacturing building classic diners across the New York area. That experience was a hands on approach to what it takes to build a restaurant and when it was time to design Pinky’s, I brought the family in for the entire buildout. DeRaffele Manufacturing even built the centerpiece of my Pinky’s bar in the NY shop and delivered it to Richmond for installation. The pink accents, black galaxy marble and glass detail are a nod to their classic NY diner nostalgia.

Seeing my family in the space and helping build out Pinky’s brought it all full circle for me. My grandfather, Phil “The Boss” DeRaffele, who was the pillar of DeRaffele Manufacturing, worked alongside me from the first sketches, blue prints and the structural renovations of Pinky’s. After 94 wonderful years of life and a legacy of hard work behind him, my grandfather passed away in 2021 just after the opening of Pinky’s. I’m so proud to feel his spirit and expertise throughout the space and I have his original plans for the space framed and on display in the restaurant.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Be honest. Communicating with my team and coaching in a way that helps us all grow is vital to keeping a large staff running as smoothly as possible in a restaurant setting. I’ve always found the “no bull $#*!” approach is the way to go. Be direct, kind and honest and always give your team the respect you’d expect.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

While this is so many business owners story over the past 4 years, pivoting during the second wave of covid was a huge challenge. We has so many weeks, as a brand new restaurant in a culinary hungry city, that we were forced to be closed. I watched as our sales came to an abrupt halt in the critical first few months of being open and there was nothing we could do but wait. Gratefully, we were honest and upfront with our customers and the feedback and support we received was incredible. Folks got it, they were patient, and they were more on board that we were able to give our staff and our customers the time and space to get through those waves of uncertainty the best way we knew how. We were able to reopen with a healthy staff and get right back into doing what we do best.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pinkysrva.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/pinkysrva

Image Credits

Brittanny DeRaffele (wifey)