With modesty, compassion and a commitment to his fellow Atlantans, Tom Murphy has won the hearts of many during his 25 years as the owner of Murphy’s restaurant, located in the epicenter of the Virginia Highland neighborhood.   

What started as a marketing assignment for a management class during Murphy’s senior year at Georgia State University, the restaurant, aptly named after his family, is now one of the most successful long-standing restaurants in Atlanta.  It was hard work and the help of his professor Dorothy Brawley that enabled Murphy to turn his vision of combining a sophisticated New York deli with the friendly environment of a small-town Southern store into reality.

At just 22 years old, Murphy got an early start in the restaurant industry.  He managed his first business in sixth grade when his father bought him an antique hot dog cart which he pushed around the Peachtree Battle shopping center in Atlanta.  During Murphy’s senior year of high school he became assistant manager of a gourmet wine and cheese shop in Lenox Square and later helped his father open and run a small deli and cheese shop in the Municipal Market off Edgewood Avenue. 

In 1980, Murphy sold the family cheese shop to obtain financing for his deli concept and decided on Virginia Highland as the perfect location.  Murphy’s opened on December 1, 1980, and was so successful that it soon grew into a full-service restaurant.  In 1993, Murphy’s moved to its present location at 997 Virginia Ave. and has been a neighborhood landmark ever since.  To this day, Murphy attributes the restaurant’s success to offering guests a high-quality product at a great value in a comfortable atmosphere, and he ensures that each person who walks through the door has an immediate sense of belonging.

A native of New York, Murphy moved to Georgia with his family in 1960.  Currently, he lives in Atlanta with his wife Susan and three children Patrick, Kevin and Katherine.