As two of Philadelphia’s most prominent and ambitious businesswomen, Chef Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran have worked tirelessly over more than a decade to transform the once-desolate strip of 13th Street into a trendy neighborhood now known as “Midtown Village.” Today, Chef Turney and Safran’s Safran Turney Hospitality Group, owns and operates four wildly popular restaurants in the neighborhood: Barbuzzo; Little Nonna’s,  Bud & Marilyn’s and Lolita Neighboring these businesses are their two lifestyle boutiques, Open House and Verde. Additionally, in partnership with Areas, in summer 2019 they opened a Bud & Marilyn’s outpost in the Philadelphia International Airport between Terminal B and C.

Chef Turney’s globe-trotting culinary style puts a chef’s spin on traditional casual fare from Mediterranean at Barbuzzo to red gravy Italian at Little Nonna’s and Mexican at Lolita. At Bud & Marilyn’s her focus is regional American cuisine. Her menus bring crowd-pleasing specialties to the forefront, incorporating artisanal local ingredients into both classic and innovative preparations, earning recognition and praise from critics across Philadelphia and the country. Prior to opening her first restaurant, Chef Turney served as executive chef at Philadelphia’s Twenty Manning and Audrey Claire

Co-owner Valerie Safran, a former 8th grade Spanish teacher, also grew up in the Midwest and runs the front of house/financial operations for all the restaurants and boutiques.

Their work has garnered several recognitions. As a team, they are hands-on entrepreneurs who take genuine ownership of every aspect of their businesses, from the look and feel of the spaces to the products and menus that they offer to the service standards practiced by staff.