Rastelli's story starts in 1976 with a late-night doughnut run. The tiny, one-room butcher shop where Ray Rastelli, Jr. got his start was once a beloved doughnut shop in the New Jersey town where he and his wife grew up. They went there often as teens, and one night they arrived to discover it had closed. Ray noticed that the shop neighbored a deli, and soon re-envisioned the space as a butcher shop that would supply the deli and locals with quality meat. From a simple craving for doughnuts, the first Rastelli’s location was born.