09/29/2026
Happy Birthday, Angie!
Angie is my mother and the inspiration for Angie’s. The way she lived her life is the foundation for our culture—love, heart, fight, fun, courage, grit and selflessness.
I know we don’t give the “my pleasure” service that others do, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have heart. Our team works harder than anybody else in the industry. We are not perfect, nor was Angie. But we give it all we’ve got. We are all heart, just like Angie.
She was a Greek immigrant and single mother raising two kids. We always had everything we needed because she gave us everything she had. She worked six days a week in a restaurant, on her feet and moving at a fast pace, then took us to church on Sunday. She didn’t go to the doctor because we didn’t have health insurance. If we were sick, she took us. She went without new things so we could have new clothes, birthday presents and Santa every Christmas.
After working 12 hours, she still cooked us amazing Greek food. On special occasions, she made us lobster, like in this picture. That was me at 13, watching her do what she always did—take charge and get stuff done. I was never good in the kitchen. 😂
Thank God there are people like Angie and our team on the front line who get it done. Ideas mean nothing without people like Angie who get it done! Our team cuts produce by hand every day, makes fresh guacamole, grills antibiotic-free chicken and USDA Prime steak to order, hand-cuts meats off the grill and hand-breads our chicken tenders. Everything is assembled to order—quickly, accurately and under pressure.
It is incredibly hard. The heart they display every day is unlike any other team in this industry. They have grit. They have a will to win. They refuse to lose. Just like Angie!
So Happy Birthday to my beautiful mother, who sacrificed everything so we can offer front-line Americans like her better food at prices they can afford to eat all the time. We do this for all the Angies of the world because we all have a little bit of Angie in us! Right?!
May her memory be eternal.
Tony Christofellis
Angela Christofellis’s Son!