Natalia's changes ownership, but the legacy will continue

Macon's most elite fine-dining Italian restaurant has a new owner, but it's unlikely its customers will notice.

It will have the same menu, the same hours and the same staff. Even former owner Natalia Del Basso Orsini, who opened the restaurant 34 years ago this month, is expected to be in the house. But her role is as a consultant and to help manage the restaurant for a while.

Brothers and businessmen Wes Griffith, 40, and Travis Griffith, 35, bought the restaurant Wednesday in a partnership between Moonhanger Group, which Wes owns, and Travis Griffith, who is president of Southern Pine Plantations Commercial Group LLC. Moonhanger North LLC is the partnership company the brothers created to buy Natalia's. It's the first time they have been partners in a business.

"We don't want to change anything," Wes Griffith said. "There is nothing to change. Our goal is to keep it going and keep the legacy going."

Wes Griffith's Moonhanger Group is the parent company of the Rookery, Dovetail, H&H Soul Food, El Camino and Moonhanger Catering, and it operates the Capitol Theatre.

Orsini began the process of selling the business and real estate some time ago by quietly testing the waters because she was ready to retire, Wes Griffith said. Some people from out of town showed interest, but "the important thing was to have someone who respected the legacy when she retired," he said.

"She thought that with what I had done with the Moonhanger Group and everything, that I would be a good fit. ... She put word out to me to see if I was interested and I was. ... I was honored."

Orsini declined Thursday, through a restaurant employee who answered the phone there, to discuss the sale.

Orsini has committed to staying at the restaurant "as long as she needs to," which could be up to a year, Griffith said. "She committed to the first handful of months to be there full time."

He said he wanted to be sure to have a "strong manager" to eventually take Orsini's place, and he has hired Ben Garretson, who has a good deal of restaurant experience.

This is the first restaurant Wes Griffith has been involved with that is not in downtown Macon, and he said it would be "somewhat different."

"Natalia's has been a standard-bearer for excellence in the restaurant industry for 34 years now," he said. "It's a destination. ... This is a traditional Italian, white-tablecloth, top-notch service, well-appointed dining room. It's more traditional fine dining."

Except for the manager, Griffith does not expect to hire more workers at this time, since the restaurant is fully staffed with experienced employees.

He is looking forward to working with his brother.

"He brings a lot to the table in terms of (being) a great businessman, has a great financial mind, and he's somebody I'm excited to have on the team."

Orsini established the restaurant originally at 2720 Riverside Drive and moved in June 2010 to 201 N. Macon St., off Bass Road.

"I am extremely happy to have found young and talented people that care about the continuity of Natalia's and its relationship with this wonderful community," Orsini said in a statement. "I am also deeply encouraged by their electric determination to preserve Macon history and culture. I would like to thank Macon, and surrounding towns and counties, for helping me through all the years, and all of my staff over these 34 fantastic years ... past, current, fired, hired, quit and loved ... for making Natalia's what it is."

Writer Linda S. Morris, 744-4223, @MidGaBiz

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Natalia's changes ownership, but the legacy will continue."