He traces the difference back to his baptism in 2024. “My whole life changed. Everything. The way I show up for myself, my staff, my kids. I don’t drink. I don’t go out. I’m focused every single day. I wake up refreshed. I get my good sleep. I try to do everything right,” he says.

“I really do just pray that God gives me the discipline, the patience, the understanding, the learning ability to acquire the skills I need in order to grow these businesses, to grow our employees, and to see where that kind of journey takes us.”

It’s a journey that began a “very long time” ago, says John-Paul. His mother, Sabine Bachmann, who is a silent partner in all of his restaurants, started the family businesses with Fratelli’s, a deli on Front Street, in 2000, when John-Paul was just a child. (Fratelli’s moved to the Memphis Botanic Garden in 2002 and was sold to a different owner in 2017.) 

It was a hard time for Sabine and her three boys, Armando, John-Paul, and Mario. On some winter mornings, their home was so cold they could see their own breath. At one point, money was so tight they had to move in with a neighbor. And Armando and John-Paul would sometimes skip school to work the Fratelli’s cash register and make sandwiches. When they’d get home after a long day, Sabine would work on the restaurant’s books.

“We’ve always had—what would that be? Hustle mentality? Grit mentality? It’s like we have to work,” John-Paul says. “We’ve always had a good work ethic instilled in us.”

In 2014, those years of hustle and grit started to come together when the family opened Ecco, an Italian-inspired spot in Midtown’s Evergreen neighborhood. The restaurant quickly grew in popularity and now is a neighborhood staple. After Ecco opened, the family business picked up speed relatively quickly. They opened Libro in 2017 and then Tonica, just down the street from Ecco, in 2020.

By 2025, though, John-Paul wasn’t sure that Tonica was going to make it. But Tonica is John-Paul’s favorite of all the restaurants—he loves the Spanish-inspired foods with Italian flare. In hopes of securing the Tonica brand, he opened a Tonica location downtown. “They’re two totally different dining experiences,” says John-Paul. “Tonica Midtown is a more intimate date-night spot. Tonica downtown is vibey—a hangout, big parties.”

In an unexpected twist, the success of Tonica downtown bolstered Tonica’s Midtown location. “We’re doing great at Tonica Midtown now, and I think that came from the buzz of Tonica downtown,” explains John-Paul.

For years, John-Paul, his brothers, and Sabine ran the restaurants together. That started to change when Sabine began a move to Italy in 2023. Then in 2025 John-Paul began purchasing his brothers’ shares in the restaurant. Since 2016, when Sabine named him general manager of Ecco, John-Paul had mostly focused on the business side of things. Now, as the owner-operator of all the restaurants, he has a hand in all of it, from menu development to staffing, finances, special events, décor, and more.

And service and quality are always at the forefront. “We’re a restaurant. The food’s not going to come out right every single time. We’re gonna make mistakes,” says John-Paul. “But we can fix that with service.”

Service is just one part of the metaphorical wheel that John-Paul thinks of when he thinks of his work. “It’s me and my family, but then it’s the employees that come in and have to show up and do the job and have a good attitude toward the job. And then that rolls into the product they put out, and then that rolls into the service they give. And that service goes back to the customer, and then the customer’s happy, and now we’re just rolling,” he says.

John-Paul thinks about that wheel image a lot. But he also thinks of pulling strings. He has the string of his staff—What does he need to do to move them forward as individuals and a team? There are his clientele—What does he need to tweak to cater to their needs and tastes? And there is each one of his restaurants—Which one needs a menu tweak, a fresh coat of paint, or hours changed?

“I’m always looking for ways to adjust to figure out where we need to be,” says John-Paul. “I want to make sure that these places are secure, that we are good. We have our livelihoods riding on this—and 79 people,” he says.

Speaking of those 79 people, John-Paul wants to make sure his restaurants are good places for his 79 employees to work. His mindset is that he gets to show up to work every day; it’s not just that he has to—and he wants his employees to feel the same way. He tries to set a fair hourly wage, offers health insurance, doesn’t keep his restaurants open late at night, and closes his restaurants on major holidays. And in recent years, he’s introduced an incentives program where top employees get to travel to Italy to experience the food scene there.

He loves helping his employees grow in their restaurant work but also helping them develop in other ways that interest them.

“I love figuring out how to help people grow in their own way,” he says.

“Just because you work here doesn’t mean I don’t want you to go do your own thing. I want you to take off like a rocket. Let me figure out how I can help you do that.” Most recently, he’s supported longtime employee Shari Haley as she’s opened her own business, Bob’s Bakery, inside Tonica’s downtown location.

John-Paul says he’s been lucky over the years. But when he says “lucky,” he has something very specific in mind. His kind of luck comes when preparedness meets opportunity. It looks like years of waking up early, staying up late, and filling the hours in between with hard work—and then jumping when an opportunity appears.

“That’s what these lucky restaurants are,” he says. “We’ve been preparing for a long time. And we had a great opportunity. And we’re beyond blessed where we’re at.”

John-Paul is all-in with his restaurants. A new lounge at Ecco has allowed them to hold special events even during regular restaurant hours. He’s solidifying the synergy between Tonica’s two locations by more closely aligning their hours and menus. And at Libro, new paint, curtains, and dimmable lighting have elevated the indoor experience, while a pergola offers a relaxed vibe outside. As he prepares to open Libro’s downtown location in December, he’s also always on the lookout for more ways to expand his restaurant group.

He plans to run his businesses at least until he’s 40. But he has a dream beyond that of all of his family together in Italy—his mother, his brothers and their families, and his own family.

“I have this weird image in my head of creating this restaurant in Italy,” he says. “And we’re all there. It’s just a family-run spot. We don’t have to worry about finances because everything was provided from these restaurants. It sounds like a great story. And then all the family is back together. That’s definitely a goal.” 

But for now, John-Paul hopes you’ll visit Ecco, Tonica, or Libro. While you’re there, he hopes you’ll try one of his favorite dishes. At Ecco they’ve recently reintroduced the Ecco Burger, a favorite from Ecco’s original menu. At Tonica, John-Paul thinks you’ll have a hard time choosing between shrimp tacos and braised chicken thighs. And at Libro, John-Paul recommends the vegetable stir fry with blackened salmon. 

“We have something good going on,” he says.

And he wants you to come check it out.

Ecco
1585 Overton Park Avenue

Libro
387 Perkins Extended

Tonica
1545 Overton Park Avenue
265 South Front Street

Manda Gibson is copy editor at Edible Memphis. She loves the whole storytelling process—from getting to know the people she interviews, to weaving together a story, to being entrusted with editing other writers’ work. 

Chip Chockley, an attorney by day, has been a professional photographer since 2008. Things that make him happy include tacos, mai tais, and his wife and kids. @chipchockley