Villa Park native and University of Illinois, Chicago graduate, Joe Fontana got his start as a valet working at over 140 restaurant and bar venues including some of Chicago’s staples such as The Redhead Piano Bar, Ranallis, Mothers, and the Italian Village. After finding a passion for the industry, Joe worked his way up from barback, to server, to bartender to manager at the late Doc Ryan’s in Elmhurst. 6 years of pursuing different marketing and sales jobs in the “real world,” Joe decided to return to hospitality with a small dream of opening a restaurant. So in 2015 Joe opened a pop-up Meatball stand in Oceanside, California. It wasn’t long before the meatball stand was selling out night after night and Meatball Republic was born. In 2016 Joe signed a lease for the Meatball Republic, but after a heartbreaking real estate deal gone wrong, Joe was forced to look at other locations. After a year of searching for the right spot, a golden gem made it self available, but this time it wasn’t for meatballs. In 2017, Joe opened Fry the Coop, a Nashville Fried Chicken joint focused on becoming the “In and Out” of Nashville Hot Chicken. Fry the Coop got off to a fast start serving 1000’s of guest per week in its first month and has big plans for the future.