Fernet, waffles, and friendship: Tattoo tours through the food and hospitality scene

Chef Liz Grothe was just starting to toy with the idea of breaking out of corporate America and getting behind the line when she walked into a tattoo shop.

“I thought, ‘If I get a tattoo on my hand, where it can’t be covered for interviews, I can start to force myself out of the safety of my office-job career,” she said. “And I can make the leap into becoming a cook-slash-bad boy.”

Grothe, now the chef-owner of Scampi in Queen Village, left her job as a food-safety specialist at Tyson Foods about five years ago. She soon after got a shrimp tattoo on her wrist. “This was big for me,” she recalled.

Today, neck-deep into her passion project, Grothe has added more tattoos to her collection. A fish on her hand is prominently in sight when she rolls out pasta. Going down her arm, there are frogs working with seafood as a cheeky self-portrait: one is wrestling a catfish, and the other is carrying an octopus to be butchered.

She recently went full-tilt, getting a chest piece with two symmetrical shrimp (a nod to a famous Sailor Jerry tattoo piece featuring matching swallows) as an ode to Scampi: the place, the ingredient, and “the experience of it all.”

Whether it’s a thoughtful tribute piece, a spur-of-the-moment filler, or something to cover an old burn mark from early kitchen days, tattoos historically go hand in hand with the food and hospitality industry — and they often come with fun stories.

“Tattoos are forever, but so is whimsy,” said Michelle Fecanin, a barista at La Colombe in Rittenhouse. “Some have heavy meanings, some are artistic masterpieces, and some are just because I wanted a Mountain Dew can on the back of my arm! Is that a crime?!”

We spoke with over a dozen industry pros nationwide about their favorite pieces and the memories behind them. Here are some of their stories.

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

I have a few on my legs that I hid from my parents for years. When my mom saw them, she threatened to scrape them off with a cheese grater (very Italian of her). When I was finishing up culinary school and somehow had extra cash, I got a few tattoos of Leonetto Cappiello posters on my arm with small illustrations that are in The Silver Spoon [an influential Italian cookbook] as gap fillers. I used and still use that book as a reference 20 years later. I got them over the course of a year at No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo [near Fourth and South Streets] by Jackie Brown. She was the first person to ask if I was going to marry my wife! I have a tattoo for my wife of a Chicago-style hot dog. I don’t really like them, but my wife is from there. [I got it from] an old line cook, Amanda, who was doing apprentice tattoos there while Royal Tavern was finishing up Dog Days. I wanted to support her journey, and she crushed it.

I have a seemingly meaningless cup of coffee on the back of my arm. Let me paint the scene: I went to school, I got the degree, and found out it was all a scam. Entry-level office job for $15/hour or find the real meaning of it all. Being a barista sounded cool, and for the same hourly pay plus tips? It was a no-brainer. I started working at La Colombe. Being on my feet all day, learning the ins and outs of coffee, talking to hundreds of new, interesting people every day — it has its pros and cons for sure, but I fell in love. A year in, I really committed to it by getting a tattoo of La Colombe’s signature in-house mug, the Deruta cappuccino cup. Being a barista for the last four-plus years has changed my life in so many ways, and I’m so grateful. Shannon Keeley and Electric Artistry Tattoo [in Williamstown, N.J.] helped me bring the piece to life.

I was living in Santa Cruz, Calif., bartending at Surf City Billiards and Tattoo when my buddy Chris came in. I had just gotten back from a skate trip to Baltimore and drank my weight in Natty Bohs [shorthand for the city’s signature beer, National Bohemian]. He was hammered at my bar and started saying how I need a Boh tattoo, and I said, “On my el-boh!” Somehow, he woke up the next day at a decent time and texted me: “We doing this tattoo or what?” My wife, Jane Harbour, is also an amazing tattoo artist and works out of Eastern Pass Tattoo Co. [on East Passyunk Avenue]. Tattoos are a huge part of our life and love story.

I think I’m up to 42 tattoos and they’re nearly all food. I wanted tattoos my whole life, and finally during the COVID-19 pandemic, I got a croissant tattoo that started out as a bet. The rest of my arm felt so empty; I ended up just giving a giant list of foods I love to the tattoo artist, and he filled my arm! We had mutual friends who got married down the block from his tattoo shop. I made their wedding cake, got to the venue, set up the cake, went to his shop, got tattooed for hours, and then we both changed and went to the wedding.

My arm sleeves were done in London by Rodrigo Souto Bueno, who’s known for his Japanese-style freehand peonies. I went whenever I could get a few days off. My first session was Thanksgiving 2024. All in all, it took two and a half years, six trips, and 50 hours in the chair. My chest and stomach piece is a dragon done by a famous artist in L.A. I got it the morning after North America’s 50 Best ceremony in Las Vegas by the famous artist, Oozy. I left Vegas super-early and did a three-day, 20-hour blitz to get the piece done.

Thirteen years ago, I was living in New York and thought a quick job at a restaurant would help pay the bills. Now, it’s my career, and I’m still falling in love with it. I have “YES, CHEF” on my thigh and an oyster in the ditch of my right knee. Oysters give so much: a treat, filtration, protected waters. Plus, every chef has shucked bags and bags of oysters. I can’t help but think of this labor of love.

My tattoo is of three cows on the inside of my right bicep. It’s industry-specific because I’m the marketing manager for a meat company, and before that, I was a whole-animal butcher. This tattoo was by Anna Outkin out of Philly, who already had a [pre-drawn] cow flash design. I asked her to do a custom version that was a recognizable steer, which eventually becomes beef — like the cows I work with — instead of a dairy cow. It’s a reminder of my roots in whole-animal butchery and my lifelong love of cows, plus it’s super-cute.

I started getting tattoos when I was 18 and honestly, I can’t get enough of them. At least fourteen of mine are food-related. I have a logo of my friend’s restaurant, Lucky Danger, in D.C. that I’ve never been to. We knew eachother for five days and met at a chef event in Houston. The chefs wanted to get matching tatts — as we’re known to do — and the logo for Lucky Danger is kinda cute [it’s a cheeky character wearing a bear costume] so I said ‘why not?!’ He couldn’t believe I did it. Now I get free orange chicken for life — if I can make it across the country.

I have a pretty good amount of tattoos. One arm is based on food themes, including the Muppets’ Swedish Chef cooking Kermit the Frog with an apple in his mouth and everything. It took seven hours. I also have Remy from Ratatouille holding a hunk of cheese on the inside of my forearm. My most recent addition is a Wu-Tang waffle. And next up in the next few months is going to be a cartoon-style sandwich like the ones from the old Tom and Jerry cartoons. My opposite arm is a full Japanese sleeve. Pretty much all of my pieces were done to cover up old burn scars from the early days on the line.

I got my Fernet tattoo in 2020 when the brand partnered with Irwin’s and Forever Valentine. I was a host at Irwin’s at the time, and it was my first industry gig. I was probably only six months in and still learning about classic cocktails — I had yet to hear about little miss Fernet. Staff was allowed to get a free tattoo, and I didn’t think twice. I picked the eagle and globe design (Fernet’s logo) and officially became a living ad for a brand I’d never heard of. It wasn’t until my shift was over and I headed to the bar for my shift drink that I got to taste what all the hype was about. The whole ordeal was hilarious to my coworkers. Long story short: I tasted it and loved it. I realized I was pretty much branded with stolen valor, but went on to probably ingest a million ounces of the stuff. Today, I don’t drink anymore — but the tattoo still gets compliments, and I remain good friends with my coworkers who also got tattoos that day. A good lesson learned is do always get the free tattoo. I wouldn’t change it for the world, and I’d do it again.