Meet Jenny Norton — Wife | Mom | Boss Lady - a voice of reason, and the woman who somehow agreed that opening a restaurant was a good idea - at least didn’t try to stop it.
If John is the guy behind Johnny’s Cafe, Jenny is the one making sure the guy behind Johnny’s Cafe doesn’t screw it up.
And make no mistake — she knows this business.
Jenny started working at The Lobster Trap in Bourne when she was just 14 years old.
Nearly 24 years later, she’s still there — having grown up in the restaurant, worked just about every part of the operation, and ultimately becoming one of the people responsible for running the place that has been such a huge part of her life.
When The Lobster Trap purchased the Trading Post Lounge, Jenny helped open it and continues to help run that operation as well.
In 2026, Jenny’s hard work and commitment to hospitality were recognized when she was selected by the New England chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier as a recipient of the 2026 Entrepreneurship Legacy Award, funded by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. It’s an incredible recognition of the years she has spent learning this business, leading people, and helping build places that become part of their communities.
So when we say Johnny’s is being built by a restaurant family, we mean it.
And we're doing all of it while raising our three kids — 14, 7 and 5 — who are very much along for the ride.
Restaurant life doesn't exactly believe in nights, weekends, holidays or normal schedules, so our family has learned to make our own version of normal.
Jenny understands exactly what we want Johnny’s Cafe to be because she's spent most of her life helping create the kind of places we love.
This isn't supposed to be a fancy restaurant.
It's supposed to be our place.
Relaxed. Honest. Community-centered. Family-friendly.
A neighborhood joint where parents can bring the kids without worrying about whether they're being too loud. Where someone getting off a 13-hour shift in August can still grab something good to eat and a cold drink. Where the staff knows your name, the bartender remembers what you drink, and eventually you stop feeling like a customer and start feeling like a regular.
That part of Johnny’s has just as much Jenny in it as it does John.
She’s the balance to his crazy ideas, the person who asks the questions he probably should have asked first, and the one who can tell him an idea sucks with a single look from across the room.
Boss Lady earned the title.
Johnny’s is a family business in the truest sense. Our kids name is on it. We are all part of it. Our family history is behind it. And Jenny and I are building our future and Johnny’s future together.
There will be long days. There will definitely be arguments over things that seemed incredibly important at the time. There will probably be a few "I told you so's" — and if history is any indication, most of those will be coming from Jenny.
But there will also be a lot of laughs, a lot of people around the table, and hopefully a place our family — and this community — can be proud of for a long time.
So when you come into Johnny’s and everything seems to be running smoothly, you can probably thank Jenny.
If it's not...
Go find John. 😂