Carmine's
Carmine's is a privately held family-style Italian restaurant chain, founded in 1990 and owned by Alicart Restaurant Group, operating six locations in major US tourist hubs plus the Bahamas and serving dine-in, catering, and event customers with shareable Southern Italian cuisine.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1990
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Carmine's does
Carmine's is a privately held family-style Italian restaurant chain founded on August 14, 1990 by restaurateur Artie Cutler, and currently operates under Alicart Restaurant Group. As of the input data, the company runs six owned locations across the United States and the Bahamas: Upper West Side Manhattan, Times Square, Atlantic City (Havana Tower of the Tropicana), Washington D.C. (Penn Quarter), Las Vegas (Forum Shops at Caesars Palace), and Atlantis, Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The chain serves family-style Southern Italian cuisine with oversized portions designed for sharing, anchored by signature dishes and a recipe library developed over three decades. Core offerings include dine-in restaurant service, off-site catering for 10 to 2,000+ guests, a private events business organized around named rooms (Sinatra Room at 5,000 sq ft / 230 seated; Jimmy Durante Room at 200 seated), and a direct-to-consumer retail line selling signature sauces (Marinara, Tomato Basil, Vodka, Fra Diavolo) plus gift cards and cookbooks. The company's underlying technology stack consists of Toast point-of-sale and restaurant management software (used to handle 3,000+ daily diners during peak periods at Times Square) and OLO.com for online ordering across all US locations, supplemented by reservation management and a content/email marketing infrastructure.
Carmine's primary customer segments are tourists and Broadway theater-goers (especially around Times Square), corporate and business event clients, families and large groups celebrating occasions, and political/government clients at the D.C. location. Customer concentration is anchored on repeat enterprise event relationships such as Columbia University's commencement catering and D.C. political fundraiser business. The chain positions itself through a single, durable differentiator - generous shareable portions evoking an 'Italian American wedding feast' - backed by 30+ years of brand equity and an 'A-lister' reputation cultivated through features in Condé Nast Traveler, the New York Times, Town & Country, and the Travel Channel. The Times Square location regularly serves 3,000+ diners daily during peak holiday periods, and the company estimates it serves over one million guests annually across its footprint.
Revenue mechanics flow through three streams: high-volume dine-in restaurant sales with pay-as-you-go unit pricing on family-style platters (e.g., the shareable 'Titanic' sundae at $28.95), event-driven catering packages sold on a per-event basis, and direct retail sales of sauce jars, gift cards, and cookbooks. The company is private with no disclosed funding rounds, no venture or private equity capital indicated, and no public ticker. Alicart Restaurant Group also operates a sister concept, Virgil's Real BBQ, but Carmine's is the marquee brand within the portfolio.
Carmine's firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Carmine's
- Legal name
- Carmine's Broadway Feast, Inc.
- Website
- https://carminesnyc.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1990
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Carmine's is a privately held family-style Italian restaurant chain, founded in 1990 and owned by Alicart Restaurant Group, operating six locations in major US tourist hubs plus the Bahamas and serving dine-in, catering, and event customers with shareable Southern Italian cuisine.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Carmine's industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Family-Style Italian Restaurants
- NAICS
- Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Caterers (722320)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Family-Style Restaurants (THAFACAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Hotel & Resort Restaurants (THAFACAH), Special Occasion & Destination Restaurants (THAFACAK)
Keywords
Where Carmine's is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices6 records
Markets served
Carmine's business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Dine-In Restaurant Sales: Core revenue from sit-down dining at 6 restaurant locations. Family-style Italian cuisine with generous portions. Strong tourist traffic especially near Times Square and pre-theater dining.
- Catering Services: Off-site catering delivering food trays and full-service catering with professional staff, setup, rentals, linens, and décor. Serving parties from 10 to over 2,000 guests across all locations.
- Retail Sauce Sales: Selling signature sauces (Marinara, Vodka, Tomato Basil, Fra Diavolo) in 32oz jars for at-home use. Sold through website store locator, online ordering, and direct sales.
- Gift Cards and Merchandise: Gift cards sold through website. Cookbooks available for purchase including 'Carmine's Family Style Cookbook' and 'Carmine's Celebrates Classic Italian Recipes'.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Dine-in family-style dining |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Titanic Dessert - Shareable sundae |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Retail Sauces |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Catering Packages |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Carmine's product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Carmine's operates family-style Italian restaurants serving Southern Italian cuisine with oversized shareable portions across six owned locations in major U.S. tourist and business markets and the Bahamas. Beyond dine-in service, the company provides full-service off-premise catering for events of 10 to 2,000+ guests, dedicated private event spaces (including the 5,000 sq ft Sinatra Room), and retail sales of signature sauces (Marinara, Vodka, Tomato Basil, Fra Diavolo), gift cards, and cookbooks.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Carmine's Original Sauces: A line of jarred sauces including Marinara, Tomato Basil, Vodka, and Fra Diavolo sauces sold for retail.
Products and services
- Family-Style Italian Restaurant Dining Sit-down family-style Italian dining at six owned locations in Times Square NYC, Upper West Side NYC, Atlantic City NJ, Washington D.C., Las Vegas NV, and Atlantis Bahamas. Features Southern Italian cuisine with oversized shareable portions designed for groups of four to six or more.
- Off-Site Catering Services Full-service off-premise catering delivering Italian food trays and complete event service with professional staff, setup, rentals, linens, and décor. Serves events from 10 to over 2,000 guests across all location markets including Tri-state area, South Jersey, DMV area, and Vegas Valley.
- The Sinatra Room Private Event Space A 5,000-square-foot private event space at Carmine's Times Square, accommodating 230 seated or 275 standing guests, with natural light, two full-service bars, and a cocktail reception area. Suitable for corporate parties, weddings, fundraisers, and meetings.
- Carmine's Original Sauces (Retail) Signature Italian sauces sold in 32oz jars for at-home use, available in four varieties: Marinara, Vodka, Tomato Basil, and Fra Diavolo, made from 100% Italian Plum tomatoes using recipes developed over 30+ years. Sold through the website, store locator, and online ordering.
- Gift Cards Carmine's gift cards available for purchase through the website, usable at restaurant locations for dining, catering, and private events.
- Carmine's Family Style Cookbook Carmine's Family Style Cookbook and 'Carmine's Celebrates Classic Italian Recipes' cookbook available for purchase, featuring the restaurant's signature recipes.
Quantifiable outcome
- Handles over 3,000 diners daily during peak holiday periods
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Carmine's
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Carmine's technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Carmine's partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- ToastcoreToast provides restaurant technology including POS systems and management software. Carmine's credits Toast's technology for helping manage high-volume operations - handling more than 3,000 diners daily during peak holiday periods. Toast featured Carmine's as a success case study for handling restaurant scale while maintaining hospitality.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves13 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Carmine's competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Buca di Beppo: Family-style Italian restaurant chain built around oversized shareable portions and group dining; closely analogous business model and target use case to Carmine's.
- Maggiano's Little Italy: Family-style Italian restaurant chain owned by Brinker International serving large shareable Southern Italian portions for groups; directly comparable to Carmine's in cuisine, format, and group-oriented value positioning.
- Carbone: Major Food Group's flagship Italian-American restaurant in NYC serving shareable red-sauce classics to celebrity clientele; analogous on cuisine, status positioning, and Italian dining in NYC.
- Patrizia's: Family-style Italian restaurant with NYC-area locations serving large shareable Southern Italian meals for groups; comparable in format, cuisine, and target guest.
- Tony's Di Napoli: Iconic Upper East Side family-style Italian restaurant serving large portions of Southern Italian cuisine to Broadway and tourist traffic; directly comparable in NYC theater-district positioning and family-style format.
- Il Mulino: Upscale Italian restaurant group with NYC roots and multiple domestic locations serving special-occasion Italian dining; comparable on cuisine, occasion positioning, and multi-city footprint.
Others
- The Palm: Multi-city legacy steakhouse institution with comparable celebrity, fundraising, and corporate-event clientele; adjacent category but similar occasion-driven NYC institution model and multi-unit footprint.
Broad incumbents
- Olive Garden: Darden-owned Italian casual dining chain, the largest US operator in the category; broad incumbent with overlapping Italian value positioning but standardized chain experience versus Carmine's destination brand.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Carmine's social profiles
Digital presenceCarmine's financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Carmine's leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Carmine's subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Carmine's funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Carmine's M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Carmine's
What does Carmine's do?
Carmine's operates family-style Italian restaurants serving Southern Italian cuisine with oversized shareable portions across six owned locations in major U.S. tourist and business markets and the Bahamas. Beyond dine-in service, the company provides full-service off-premise catering for events of 10 to 2,000+ guests, dedicated private event spaces (including the 5,000 sq ft Sinatra Room), and retail sales of signature sauces (Marinara, Vodka, Tomato Basil, Fra Diavolo), gift cards, and cookbooks.
Is Carmine's a public or private company?
Carmine's is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Carmine's founded?
Carmine's was founded in 1990. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Carmine's based?
Carmine's is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Carmine's make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Dine-In Restaurant Sales are the primary driver. The others are catering Services, retail Sauce Sales and gift Cards and Merchandise.
Who are Carmine's's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Buca di Beppo, Maggiano's Little Italy, Carbone, Patrizia's, Tony's Di Napoli and Il Mulino. The Palm is listed as an others. Olive Garden is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Carmine's have an API?
No public API is recorded for Carmine's.
What industry is Carmine's in?
Carmine's's product category is Family-Style Italian Restaurants. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFACAC, Family-Style Restaurants, with a secondary code of THAFACAH, Hotel & Resort Restaurants. Its NAICS code is 722511 and its SIC code is 5810.