After almost 80 years in business, Olneyville New York System is set to be sold to the Heritage Restaurant Group, according to a statement from both organizations. The restaurant, which says they offer “RI’s best hot wieners,” has been owned by the Stevens family since the 1930s.
The turnover follows a chain of similar acquisitions by the Heritage Group. In the past ten months, the restaurant group has acquired the Brick Alley Pub, The Red Parrot, Flo’s Clam Shack, Caleb and Broad and Joe Marzilli’s Old Canteen Italian Restaurant, according to Brad Head, co-founder of Wally’s Wieners and part of Heritage Restaurant Group.
The group’s main focus is on “restaurants that have been long-standing within the community,” Head said.
Some community members have raised concerns about the Heritage Group’s latest string of purchases, many of whom “are afraid of change,” said Nicholas Barros, who has worked at Olneyville New York System for 26 years.
“I feel that everything is going to be the same here,” Barros said. “I don’t think they’re going to change anything” about the restaurant.
Joseph Espinosa has been working at Olneyville New York System since 1983. In over four decades working for the Stevens family, “not much has changed,” he said.
Putting aside an increase in his paycheck and the removal of jukeboxes, changes to the weiner joint have been small, he added. But this change in ownership means the diner will be owned by someone other than Greg Stevens and Stephanie Stevens Turini — the fourth generation of owners within the Stevens family.
“A lot of people might not be happy for them, but I am truly happy for them,” Barros said of Stevens’s and Stevens Turini’s forthcoming retirement.
It is “an interesting time in the restaurant industry,” Head said, adding that many business owners in the state have been working for decades and are “trying to retire and enjoy their lives.”
For Head, this presents “an interesting opportunity for us to acquire these businesses,” he said.
Espinosa explained that he’s “not really worried about” the change in ownership. “I can mind my business, and I should be able to,” he said.
Last month, the Heritage Group acquired the Old Canteen, an Italian restaurant in Federal Hill that was founded in 1956 by Joseph Marzilli. The building is set to be turned into two separate businesses: Wally’s Wieners and the Copper Club.
Sal Marzilli, Joe Marzilli’s son, announced his intent to sell the Old Canteen three years ago. The eatery was sold this past January, but the change in ownership has not gone without community skepticism.
There was “an outpouring of concern” when the restaurant group first announced they would be turning the Old Canteen into a hotdog restaurant and club, said Rick Simone, the president of the Federal Hill Commerce Association.
People were especially concerned about aesthetic changes to the establishment, which acts as “the gateway” to Federal Hill, Simone said.
Some in Federal Hill were worried that the Copper Club would “draw an inappropriate crowd,” Simone added.
But the Heritage Group has “compromised,” Simone said. The Copper Club will serve Italian dishes and specialties, and Wally’s Weiners will sport “special menu items that’ll be nods to Federal Hill and the Italian culture as well,” he added.
“We’re going to do our best to be good neighbors in Federal Hill, and we’re excited to become a part of the community,” Head said.
With these promises, Rhode Islanders are “starting to come around,” Simone continued. “They’re grateful that there’s going to be so many nods to the community.”
The restaurant will have an “Old Canteen room” in the back, highlighting the history of the Old Canteen and the wider Federal Hill community, Simone said, adding that “it’s almost like a mini-museum in itself, recognizing the neighborhood.”
According to Samara Pinto, the deputy press secretary for the City of Providence, new business proposals are reviewed by various city departments “based on the type of business and the nature of the request,” Pinto wrote in an email to the Herald.
But the Board of Licenses “has no purview or authority over purchases,” Pinto explained, adding that it “welcomes all investments into our city.”
“Don’t sweat” the changes to Olneyville New York System, Barros said. “I’ll still be here. There’s a lot of guys who will still be here. Nothing should change.”
Maya Kelly is a metro editor from Providence who covers community, crime and activism as well as business and development. A concentrator in urban studies and data fluency, she is passionate about intersecting storytelling with data analysis. When Maya's not at The Herald, you can find her hanging from an aerial silk, bullet journaling or in the middle of a forest.
