Central Perk Opens–a Real Cafe That Borrows Its Name from the Fictional One on ‘Friends’

Central Perk’s grand opening late last year was not pitched as nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

At 20 Times Square, the café is operating as a food-and-beverage business first—one that happens to be licensed to one of television’s most valuable entertainment brands and one where the gang frequently gathered to discuss love, careers and various misadventures on a classic orange couch.

The real-life venture that borrows the name of the fictional gathering spot is led by cousins Phil Colicchio, a restaurant consultant, and Tom Colicchio, the chef whose reputation predates the era of celebrity-chef franchising. The Times Square location marks their second attempt to translate Central Perk from screen to street.

A first location opened in Boston, where the concept proved commercially viable but not definitive.

Phil, who spent the Dec. 12 opening day managing logistics and crowd flow, said the idea originated with Warner Bros., which controls the “Friends” intellectual property.

“We’re extremely fortunate to be in collaboration with Warner Bros., which owns all of the “Friends” intellectual property–from the television show to the keychains you see on the street. Warner Bros. approached our team – we’re restaurateurs – with the idea of bringing Central Perk, the café from the TV show, into reality. We spent a couple of years researching how to do it best. We opened a store two years ago in Boston as a test, and we’ve had very, very strong success there. But Boston is not New York. So when it was time to open in New York, we rolled up our sleeves, made sure our products were fresh and of very high quality so we wouldn’t disappoint the world – because here in Times Square, the world visits us,” Phil said.

Unlike nearby ticketed “Friends”-themed attractions, including Th Central Perk Coffee Co. is positioned as a daily-use café rather than a replica-driven exhibition.

“It’s quite different. The “Friends Experience is a ticketed, museum-quality experience. Ours takes inspiration rather than replication of the Friends sets, designs, and attitude. If you look around the store, it does not look exactly like the set of Central Perk. It’s a modernized version of what Central Perk would be if those characters were living in New York today,” Phil said.

That modernization extends to the financial structure. Central Perk pays a licensing royalty to Warner Bros. and operates under a revenue-sharing agreement with the landlord, a model that lowers the barrier to entry in one of the country’s most expensive retail corridors.

“That makes our rent attainable, because as a small business we could never afford a space at 20 Times Square on 7th Avenue and 47th Street otherwise. The quality of what we do convinced both the landlord to take a chance on us and Warner Bros. to partner with us.”

Tourists are expected to drive early traffic, though Phil said the café is designed to retain repeat customers, pointing to Boston’s shift toward local business.

“We’re going to have very high tourist volume because of the location. However, our Boston store has become 70 percent local, 30 percent tourist – we originally thought it would be 50/50. After the holiday season here, we expect the ratio to settle around 70 percent visitors/tourists and 30 percent local business people and residents. The quality of our products is intentional; we’ve developed high-quality relationships with purveyors and vendors so we can deliver high-quality food and beverages,” Phil said.

Maggie Passer, visiting from Des Moines, Iowa, said she stopped in during a girls’ weekend because of her longtime attachment to the show.

“Absolutely. I’ve been a lifelong Friends fan,” she said.

Passer said she encountered no line during her visit and ordered a hot latte, describing the café as “fun vibes, colorful, bright,” and praising staff friendliness.

Marinella Porte, a Miami resident visiting a friend in New York, said the café’s connection to the show felt incomplete. “If you love the show, you’d like to be here, but it has to be more—I think it’s missing many things still,” she said.

Operationally, Central Perk is betting on quality over scale. Phil said the café targets roughly a 15 percent gross margin on food, with sandwiches priced around $15, including the Tribbiani.

“Without hesitation, the quality of our food is top-shelf. I think it’s delicious, and it’s been very well received. In particular, we have a sandwich called the Tribbiani that was created by James Beard Award-winning chef Tom Colicchio.”

Despite the brand recognition, Phil ruled out franchising, favoring corporate-owned expansion instead.

“No. Franchising is very important for the vast majority of America, but our goal is not franchising. Our goal is to have corporate-owned stores throughout the United States. We root for good franchises, but our method of operation is much more of a privately held, company-invested model.”

Central Perk’s novelty is a testing ground for whether a licensed entertainment can support a durable café model.

As for food and drink, the café largely delivers on its claim that it is more than a gimmick. The coffee is robust and well-balanced, with pronounced roasted notes and subtle sweetness, while the Moist Maker, priced at $23, tastes exactly as advertised: a thick, indulgent turkey sandwich layered with stuffing, signature cranberry sauce, and gravy-soaked bread.

“My sandwich!” indeed.