Three years ago, the owners of the luxurious Castle Hill Inn in Rhode Island took aim at a more mainstream market and bought the Papa Razzi restaurant chain. Now they are going to spend millions renovating the eateries, in some cases down to the studs.
The menu at Papa Razzi will also shift from traditional Italian meals to lighter fare and shared plates of homemade pasta noodles and local veggies.
But the owners elected to hold onto the name — and amend it to become “Papa Razzi Metro” — because of the chain’s history in Boston.
“We’ve had an opportunity to take a hard look at how we ultimately take this Boston classic and reposition it for the next 20 years,” said Paul O’Reilly, chief executive of Newport Harbor Corp., which owns Papa Razzi. “There’s going to be a lot more variety to the actual design of the restaurants and the menu itself.”
Newport Harbor is an employee-owned hospitality group based in Rhode Island. The company operates eight stand-alone restaurant concepts, from the upscale 22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille to the seasonal barbecue joint Smoke House, in the Newport and Providence areas. Its best-known venture is the 33-room luxury boutique called Castle Hill Inn, a historic property on a private 40-acre peninsula that earned a place in the prestigious international Relais & Châteaux association of top hoteliers and chefs.
But Papa Razzi is very different than anything else in Newport Harbor’s business portfolio.
For starters, it is a restaurant chain, and the company has historically operated singular establishments. Papa Razzi also marks the company’s first project outside of Rhode Island.
O’Reilly said he wanted to expand into Boston, a less seasonal market than the largely tourist-driven Newport economy, for several years. Although the idea of entering Boston with a handful of restaurants seemed daunting at first, he was drawn to the locations.
Newport Harbor’s biggest challenge will be to update an older brand without making drastic changes that turn away longtime guests, said Ani Collum, a partner at the Norwell consultantcy Retail Concepts. Newport Harbor says Papa Razzi has 35,000 members in its loyalty program.
“There are some very diehard Papa Razzi fans,” Collum said. “The new group has to tread lightly between a forward-thinking direction and what made the restaurants so special to people around here.”
The well-known Boston restaurateur Charlie Sarkis launched the Papa Razzi chain in 1989. The eateries were folded into his Back Bay Restaurant Group, which also owned Abe & Louie’s and Atlantic Fish Co., among other restaurants. Sarkis sold most of the restaurants a few years ago.
Newport Harbor bought seven of the Papa Razzi restaurants in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Sarkis held onto a few Papa Razzis in other states, but has since closed all but one in Short Hills, N.J.
Newport Harbor closed the Chestnut Hill location shortly after the sale and plans to update all six of its remaining restaurants, which are on Newbury Street and in Burlington, Concord, Framingham, Wellesley, and Cranston, R.I.
Collum said the chain Sarkis built became known for top-notch service at budget-friendly prices. “It was attainable luxury,” she said. “Entrees were $16, but you were treated like you were having a $300 meal.”
Dishes were often customized to guests’ tastes and the menu did not change much over the years. Now people visit Papa Razzi expecting baked breadsticks and foccaccia or their favorite pasta dishes, she said.
But Papa Razzi’s core fans have aged with the chain, and sales at some restaurants have plateaued, while others grow modestly without an influx of new patrons, the company said.
The chain needs to make changes to appeal to younger diners without alienating its longtime customers, Collum said.
A year and a half ago, Newport Harbor began a research and development process that included thousands of consumer surveys and menu tests with hundreds of existing and new customers. A team led by the company’s longtime chef, Kevin DiLibero, toured kitchens from New York to California to Italy to find inspiration for the new menu.
That menu will feature more small plates and cured meats and fish and introduce Neapolitan style pizzas. The pastas, gelatos, and focaccia will be made in-house. The restaurants will offer many new dishes, and some classics will be updated. The beverage menu will include Italian soda, limoncello, and half glasses of wine to give people a taste of different blends.
Newport Harbor started the makeover in Burlington last fall and closed the restaurant to tear down the interior on Jan. 1. The company plans to wait until the Burlington renovation concludes in April before it begins renovating the other restaurants. The company said the renovation program will take at least two years.
Taryn Luna can be reached at taryn.luna@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @TarynLuna.