From seafood houses to taquerias, the New England company is growing at its own pace
September 8, 2025
Newport Restaurant Group operates 15 restaurants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with a 16th location slated for this fall, as well as a wedding venue, a bakery, and the luxury 32-room Castle Hill Inn in Newport, R.I.
But it didn’t start out running restaurants at all. It was founded 100 years ago in Newport as Newport Oil Corporation, focused on fuel oil. It later became more diversified as Newport Harbor Corporation, opening its first restaurant, The Mooring, in downtown Newport in the early 1980s, and in 1995, it sold its other assets and became Newport Restaurant Group.
At that time, it also began an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
“What we’re most proud of is that we’re 100% employee owned,” said president and CEO Mick Lamond, who joined the company in 20 years ago as its chief financial officer and was promoted to his current position earlier this year, replacing Paul O’Reilly. “That just brings a whole other level of accountability, passion, and truly caring about everything that we do on a daily basis.”
It operates as a trust, with anyone who works at least 800 hours annually vested in it.
The restaurants are all full-service, but range from seafood specialists such as Boat House in Tiverton, R.I., and Hemenway’s in Providence to a seasonal barbecue concept in Newport called Smoke House.
The company also has a prime steakhouse in Newport called 22 Bowen’s, Italian concepts Avvio in Cranston, R.I., and Papa Razzi in Wellesley, Mass., and La Vecina, a taqueria in Newport.
The only multi-unit concept in the group is Bar ’Cino, offering Italian-accented shared plates, pizza, pasta, and more.
“Our style is very guest-centric. It really is about hospitality — providing great experiences,” said Lamond. “From the most casual to the more fine-dining restaurants we’re all about delivering great hospitality and ingredients with integrity.”
Of course, as an employee-owned company, team-members are paramount, too.
“Our philosophy is really treating employees fairly and creating great environments and opportunities for them to be successful on whatever career path they choose,” he said.
The company has a total of around 1,800 employees during the busy summer season, dropping to around 1,100 in quieter months, of which Lamond said nearly 90% are in the ESOP.
“We pride ourselves in investing in a variety of training and development programs. We try to be very transparent and show our employees, regardless of where they are — the culinary side or the front-of-the-house side — a pathway for how they can be even more successful in their development and give them the tools to do that,” Lamond said
Recently, his priority has been on developing culinary talent, for the very straightforward reason that good cooks are hard to find.
“We just introduced an apprenticeship-type program, giving those who want to develop their skillsets and make them even more valuable to themselves and the company. … I would love all of our kitchens being led by employees that started within our company.”
In late September, the company is slated to open its 16th restaurant, J.T. Commons in Middletown, R.I., serving two pizza styles — Roman and focaccia — as well as starters, sandwiches, and entrées. It’s named after one of the company’s founders from 100 years ago, J.T. O’Connell.
“He was a big part of who we are from the beginning, and I felt it was a great opportunity at our 100-year anniversary. It just felt right,” Lamond said.
He said he still sees a lot of white space for the company to expand in its two states, as well as in neighboring Connecticut.
“Hopefully we can add one or two per year over the next few years,” he said. “Two might be aggressive, especially in the next couple of years, because you have to do it right. But the nice thing about being employee-owned is we answer to ourselves.”
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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