For a man who can’t imagine himself ever not working, it wasn’t easy for Marty Grims to spend two weeks in bed last winter. Granted, he had a legitimate excuse: He tore his ACL on the slopes in Utah. “A friend said, ‘You’re going to be in bed for two weeks,’” recalls Grims. “I told him, ‘I’m not going to be in bed for two weeks. You don’t know me.’ Lo and behold, I was in bed for two weeks.”
The injury may have put a damper on his skiing hobby, but Grims is charging ahead professionally with his Fearless Restaurants group. The 63-year-old Episcopal Academy alum is finishing up three new establishments over the next year, further cementing his status as the region’s most prolific and successful restaurateur. Testa Rossa, a new casual Italian dining concept, will debut in Glen Mills later this year, with another location planned for Wayne in 2025. Also coming to completion next year: Triple Crown, which puts Fearless in charge of the Radnor Hotel’s restaurant, bar and banquet space. The plan will also make use of a substantial outdoor garden with a large sailcloth tent. “It’s an opportunity to reposition the space and execute it at a higher level,” says Grims.
At press time, Fearless employed 1,200 people. By the end of 2025, that number will most certainly increase when its portfolio grows to 14 locations. Five of those are the well-known White Dog Cafes, including the flagship in University City, which Grims acquired in 2008. The group’s reach also extends to the Jersey Shore, with Tuckers Tavern and hotel/eatery Daddy O, both on Long Beach Island.
Hospitality is baked into the family genes. Grims’ father was in the business in upstate Pennsylvania, and his grandfather was involved in restaurants. Up every morning at 5:40 a.m., Grims begins his day on his iPad, digesting the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Wall Street Journal. On weekends, he might spend some time cutting back the trees on the 20-acre farm he shares in Berwyn with Laurie, his wife of 35 years. That’s about it for hobbies these days—work is his hobby. “He thrives on it,” says Laurie. “It’s his love, it’s his sport. If he didn’t have it, I don’t know what he’d do.”
Marty Grims was a 9-year-old student at Merion’s Waldron Mercy Academy when his father drowned in a swimming accident. Six years later, when Marty was at Episcopal, his mother succumbed to breast cancer. That left his 21-year-old sister, Leslie, to care for him and three other siblings in their Springfield home. “We all had a strong sense of who we were, and we knew right from wrong,” Grims recalls.
That formative experience defines his commitment to Laurie and their children, Sydney, Martin and Carli. Grims took up skiing because his wife enjoyed it and it was a chance to spend more time with his kids. During the summer, the couple’s Stone Harbor Shore house is often overrun with their children’s friends. In winter, the family spends quality time together in Naples, Florida.
“You choose what you choose,” Laurie says. “His choice is with his business, and my choice is to be with him. Our kids have done pretty darn well. We’re a pretty good team. What I bring, he doesn’t bring. He brings what I don’t bring.”
Grims was a few years removed from Cornell University’s prestigious School of Hotel Administration when he had his initial late-’80s success with the French-focused Taquet in Philadelphia. Others restaurants followed, including La Fourchette in Wayne, Bravo Bistro in Radnor, Tango in Bryn Mawr, Basil Bistro in Paoli and others. In 2003, he officially kicked off the Fearless era when he made a deal with Campbell Soup heiress Dorrance Hamilton for the purchase of the tall ship Moshulu, an upscale dining vessel permanently docked at Penn’s Landing. The name means “fearless” in the Seneca language.
Now 33, Sydney has followed in her father’s footsteps, attending Episcopal Academy and Cornell before landing a job as director of hospitality for Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes in New York City. She joined Fearless in 2017 as its director of business development. “I’m a mini him,” says Sydney of her uncanny similarities to her dad. “People want to make him proud. He’s someone who walks softly and carries a big stick.”
And apparently, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. “He’s as willing to be in the trenches as anybody,” Sydney says. “When we were opening the White Dog in Chester Springs, he was there busing tables, and I was bartending for three weeks. He’s the same person every day. There’s no drama. He puts his head down and works hard.”
In fairness, Grims doesn’t devote an inordinate amount of time to the day-to-day management of his restaurants, choosing instead to focus on design concepts and staffing. He relies heavily on his “very, very competent team,” but he’s not ready to relinquish his top spot. “I feel totally rejuvenated and fresh,” he says. “I still love what I do. If you find something you get a lot of enjoyment out of, you stick with it. Maybe I’d feel different if I had other hobbies I liked. My life is centered around family and work.”
After his restaurant gig in the Caribbean evaporated post 9/11, Zach Grainda found himself back on the Main Line in 2001. He needed a job, and Grims was looking for help at his Radnor eatery Passerelle. Grainda outlasted Passerelle, rising through the ranks over the next few decades to become culinary director for Fearless in Pennsylvania.
Most recently, he was tasked with the June 2024 opening of the newest White Dog Cafe in Chester Springs. “In the summertime, a lot of restaurants go quieter because people are traveling. We had the opposite response in Chester Springs,” Grainda says. “Most restaurants don’t hit their stride until three or six months, but it was very busy from the start.”
Over on the Main Line, Fearless will have six properties operating along a prime six-mile stretch of Lancaster Avenue by the end of 2025. Rosalie’s upscale northern Italian cuisine in the Wayne Hotel should differ just enough from Testa Rossa’s pizza-heavy, red-sauce vibe. There’s also Autograph Brasserie’s sophisticated bistro feel, White Dog’s elevated tavern atmosphere and (soon) Triple Crown’s streamlined American fare. “We can steer our clientele to the different restaurants,” Grainda says. “Some may want to go to Rosalie one night and White Dog the next. When I work with the chefs, I want them to have an outlet for their creativity, but I have to make sure they’re not too creative. We have to give the guests what they want. You need broad appeal.”
Behind the scenes at Fearless, there are opportunities for growth, thanks to new openings and the turnover that occurs in a larger organization. “I want Fearless to be the last stop on people’s resumes,” says Helen McIntyre, director of human resources at Fearless. “We want people who aren’t afraid to look inward and challenge themselves.”
In an industry where transience is the norm and it’s harder than ever to find quality employees, Fearless is doing everything it can to instill positivity in the workplace. “Our culture is about having an entrepreneurial spirit,” says Sydney. “Our managers are compensated off their results, and each one feels as if they’re their own decision makers—like the restaurants are their own businesses.”
Tamas Szene has been with Fearless for nearly 20 years, spending more than five as its director of restaurant operations for Pennsylvania. He’s stuck around for a reason. “Our leadership is all about the employees,” says Szene. “That’s the secret recipe.”
And it’s not such a bad recipe—especially when you consider the alternative. “It’s getting more and more difficult for individual restaurateurs, who don’t have the opportunities I had 40 years ago,” Grims says. “When I came out of Cornell in 1983, [restaurants] opened on a shoestring budget. Now, there’s more competition, and it’s more challenging and expensive.”
Six years ago, Grims was convinced Fearless had reached its limit. Eight restaurants was enough—no more expanding. Not long after, he sensed stagnation in the workplace. In a company that was no longer growing, staff members saw fewer avenues for advancement. Why innovate and put forth extra effort when there was little chance to move up? And with rents and real estate prices higher than ever and food prices soaring, now is hardly the ideal time to be a young restaurateur. Grims wants to make sure there are always opportunities for growth at Fearless.
That philosophy has fueled the recent surge. Fearless is already looking at opportunities for 2026, though they’re not seriously entertaining them while the Triple Crown and Testa Rossa projects are still in development. “We definitely get approached to grow,” says Sydney. “We’re getting emails every day about real estate opportunities. But we have our hands so full. We want to make sure our new businesses get up and running.”
Obviously, Fearless wants busy restaurants. So it should surprise no one that its founder is an evangelist for dining out. But Grims also understands that people have been spending more time than ever at home, so the opportunity to share a meal with family and friends is more valuable than ever. “Hospitality and restaurants have become another form of entertainment,” he says. “It’s not just about filling your belly.”
Visit fearlessrestaurants.com.
Related: Warm up With a Bowl of Soup at These Main Line Area Restaurants
