Area Four and our A4 outposts are united by creativity, fearlessness and an unrelenting commitment to quality. Our team is made up of passionate and forward-thinking specialists on the cutting edge of their craft. We aren’t fancy or fussy. We believe in real, straightforward food and drink.
SIMPLE IS HARD. WE DO IT RIGHT.
Posted on 12 Sep 2013 Comments Off on About Us
Mission Statement
We at Area Four believe that great food comes from great ingredients, and those products that are raised and harvested locally, in a sustainable manner, will not only taste better, but will also be better for the environment, the local economy and our health.
We believe that it is important to know where our food comes from, to be comfortable knowing that we can trust what we cook, serve and eat. We also believe that our children should have the opportunity to enjoy these foods for generations to come while learning the importance of preserving local farms, ranches and fishing grounds.
Without the contributions of producers who are as passionate about what they do as we are about what we do, we would be a much inferior restaurant. In a show of support, appreciation and awe, we proudly present some of the farms, ranches, seafood purveyors and artisanal producers who everyday help make us a better restaurant group.
View our list of purveyors
Pizza dough fermented for 30+ hours, hand-pulled mozzarella, expertly brewed coffee, homemade pastries. Lawn games and kick-ass hot dogs off the cart. We use amazing ingredients. We make food from scratch. We’re getting back to basics. No hoopla. Nothing fancy or fussy. We set the bar high, we do it the hard way, and we never cut corners.
Area Four (and A4 outposts) takes its name from neighborhood of our flagship restaurant and cafe; Cambridge’s Area IV. With a rich history as an important transportation hub, Area IV was a major industrial center in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is now a global epicenter of biotech and information firms due to its proximity to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
CO-OWNER
An eclectic, impassioned businessman with a proven history of pushing Boston’s restaurant and retail boundaries, Krupp is focused on bringing together great food with great people. Prior to Area Four, Krupp and Leviton took Boston by storm in 2008 when they opened The Achilles Project/Persephone, the city’s only mixed-use retail and restaurant space. Lauded by critics in The New York Times, GQ and The Boston Globe, the project closed a couple of years later amidst a struggling economy in an emerging neighborhood that had not quite found its footing. Armed with practical experience in developing neighborhoods, Krupp tackled Area Four and its various spin-offs with an unrelenting drive to set trends once again.
A graduate of Boston University, Krupp began his professional career as a music video producer for Island/Def Jam, a subsidiary of the Universal Music Group. As a producer, Michael worked with a number of recording artists, producers and directors to create countless music videos. In 2002, Michael left the music industry to work in real estate, first as a commercial appraiser in NYC and later as an acquisitions analyst in Dallas and Boston for Berkshire Property Advisors. In 2006, he left Berkshire to open The Achilles Project.
CHEF/PARTNER
Jeff Pond didn’t initially set out for a life in culinary arts; it’s more like the culinary arts chose him. Before moving to Boston in 2000, he was working at a local steakhouse in Westport, CT to make some money, while studying Marriage and Family Therapy at Fairfield University. But after this initial stint in the restaurant industry, Jeff decided to see what a life in the kitchen had to offer.
Following a year-long certification program at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, Jeff joined the kitchen at Barbara Lynch’s No. 9 Park. For the next several years, Jeff traveled the world as a private chef and then worked his way from bread baker (where the sourdough starter for his Area Four/A4 Pizza dough was born) to Chef de Cuisine at Tomasso Trattoria in Southborough, MA.
In the fall of 2008, Jeff joined Leviton and co-owner Michael Krupp as Chef de Cuisine to open The Achilles Project/Persephone. After the concept came to a close, Jeff joined Leviton as Chef de Cuisine at Lumiere before opening Area Four and becoming partner as the team opened A4 Pizza in Somerville, where you can most often find him in front of the pizza oven.
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