Our Story
EST. 2009
The Beginning of Ballyhoo
It started with one restaurant, one neighborhood, and a pretty simple idea.
In 2009, Ryan O’Donnell opened Gemini in Chicago, creating the kind of neighborhood restaurant he wanted to visit himself. Great food, familiar faces, a lively room, and hospitality that made you want to come back before you’d even left.
Gemini became more than a restaurant. It became the blueprint.
Over the years, one restaurant became many, each with its own personality, point of view, and place in the neighborhood.
Today, Ryan O’Donnell and Jon Farrer lead Ballyhoo Hospitality, continuing to grow the company around the same belief that started it all: great hospitality is built on genuine connection.
Ballyhoo has grown across Chicago and the North Shore, but never for the sake of getting bigger. Each restaurant is created with intention, built to belong to its neighborhood and designed to become the kind of place people return to again and again.Through all that growth, the good stuff hasn’t changed. We know our regulars. We take care of our teams. We give back to the communities that support us. And we believe a great restaurant should feel just as good as it tastes.
From one neighborhood restaurant in 2009 to a growing family of distinct concepts, Ballyhoo is still doing what it set out to do from day one: creating restaurants people love coming back to.