Q.& A. with Lou Ferretti, owner of Chicken Lou's City Edition

• Published in: The Boston globe
• Main Author: Meagher, Christian
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, Mass Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC 31.01.1999
• ISSN: 0743-1791

Chicken Lou's, a restaurant shack at 50 Forsyth St., has served the students of Northeastern University for more than 25 years and has been a quasi-historical site for many students past and present. Owner Lou Ferretti recently purchased property in the Renaissance Park building at 1135 Tremont St. to open a sit-down, upscale model of his famous fast-food joint, to be called Lou's Place. The grand opening is today from 1 to 3 p.m.; Lou's Place will open for business tomorrow. Last week, City Weekly correspondent Christian Meagher spoke with the man who founded Chicken Lou's 25 years ago. A. I orginally worked for Reynolds Metals Co., out of Richmond, Va., and was up and down the Eastern Seaboard as a vice president. And that's what I did until I retired at the age of 47. My wife had died five years prior, so I stayed home playing the market and things of that nature and that was very boring. David {Ferretti's son} was going to school {at Northeastern} at the time and that's how we got started in the Chicken Lou business. The business started with canteen trucks originally, and it was with this fact that in the winter or on rainy days, it was difficult to operate from the trucks and my drivers started to complain. And so I went to {Northeastern University President John} Curry and asked him about eliminating the trucks and putting a little building over on Forsyth Street, so my help would work indoors.