Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore

Zeb Stewart has a history of success in Brooklyn, New York. As designer and owner/ operator of cherished Williamsburg hotspots Union Pool , Hotel Delmano , and Café Colette , Zeb has played a significant role in the growth and development of the neighborhood's social scene over the years. In 2016 Zeb joined forces with Jud Mongell and Warren Baired to form Brightside Hospitality . With their over...

The University of Albany graduate, Lauren Brie Lynch had 10 years food and beverage experience before joining forces with Jay Janawsky, and Chad Vigneulle to open Harlem Public in 2011. With the moment the team went on to open At The Wallace in 2014, followed by The Honey Well in 2016. All three restaurants continue to go strong to this day. Addition, there is a food hall opening on the horizon in...

Born in Ethiopia, Beejhy Barhany made it to the USA by way of Kenya, Uganda, Europe, Isreal, and South America before setting roots in New York City. In 2000 Barhany founded Beta Israel of North America , a non-profit organization dedicated to educating about the culture and heritage Ethiopian Jews. In 2014  Barhany, and husband, Padmore John, o pened Tsion Café in the historic Harlem district of...

Steve Difillippo started his restaurant career at a young age and would go on to attend Boston University and Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. In 1985, He took over Davio's of Boston at the young age of 24. 33 years later he has grown the Davio's brand to 10 separate locations which include 5 locations in MA, 2 Locations in PA, one location in Manhattan, Atlanta, and Irvine, CA. The Davio's bran...

Zaid Ayoub has a background in entrepreneurship, angel investing, and start-up growth. Today, he serves as SAJJ Mediterranean 's founder & CEO. Currently SAJJ Mediterranean consists of nine brick-and-mortars and two food trucks, with the goal of having 20 corporate-owned locations in the works by end of 2020.  SAJJ was recently named one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Bay...

Los Angeles native and Cornell University Graduate, Chris Simms, is a third generation restauranteur who has built his company Lazy Dog Restaurants on the philosophy of taking care of people first. Today, there are 30 Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar locations across California, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, and Texas with future growth planned for Georgia, Florida, Virginia and more. The company expects t...

Kristi Turner is the Chief Marketing Office at Compeat Restaurant Management Software who just recently achieved Hospitality Technology Top Women in Restaurant Tech Lifetime Achievement Award. Compeat is arguably the most comprehensive and integrated Accounting, Back Office, Workforce and Intelligence solution in the restaurant industry. Compeat has been recommended organically 11 times on the sho...

Dan Simpson has been spearheading innovation and business development for startups, for-profit, and non-profit organizations for the past 20 years. Prior to joining Taziki's Family , Simpson was the founder and CEO of ToGoTechnologies . Simpson would go on to serve as a Taziki's franchisee and managing partner at Fresh Hospitality . Simpson became the CEO of Taziki's Mediterranean Café in 2018 and...

Growing up in New York, Seven Chan is a lifetime entrepreneur with over 17 years of experience building and running successful companies. His specialties include business strategy, development, press, and marketing. In 2016, he met business partner, Ken Yu, and one month later they were in business under the Poke Burri Brand . 2.5 years later they've scaled the business to 2 locations with an addi...

Husband and wife, Sara and Paul "Buff" Burden, had a dream of one day opening a burger joint that had an emphasis on local, natural, and sustainable ingredients. Paul, originating from the UK, and Sara, a native to Houston, knew Texas was the place to pull it off. So, they packed up and moved south to Sara's hometown.  In March of 2015, BuffBurger , a gourmet fast-casual burger restaurant, was bor...

This is Mr. Schulze's second appearance on Restaurant Unstoppable. Head over to Restaurantunstoppable.com/579 to hear Mr. Schulze's back story and to absorb his business philosophies in his book:  Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide To Becoming The Best In a World of Compromise. If you didn't listen to that episode, let me catch you up... Hailing from a small German town, Horst Schulze knew from...

Raised in NH, Jonathan Horowitz attended Rice University then South Texas School of Law. After graduation Horowitz spent 5 years practicing law before joining Lasco Enterprises in 2005 as Vice President of Marketing and Communication and later as their Chief Brand Officer. As a partner Horowitz helped oversee the growth of the business for 10 years, to more than 15 locations and 600+ employees. To...

Adam Barnosky is a member of the Ruberto, Israel & Weiner law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. His practice is concentrated in the representation of real estate developers, restaurateurs, commercial landlords/tenants, cannabis operators/developers and hospitality industry clients in New England. Joining me to ask questions and get the most out of this conversation is Andrew Wilkinson, founder...

Bien Tran attended Duke School of Law and started his career at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP as a litigation lawyer and operated his own law office prior to joining Bush & Ramirez L.L.C. In 2012 Bien decided to take a stab at the world of hospitality with Hughes Hangar, a bar and event space. Hughes Hangar was followed by The De Gaulle , and Bien's most recent project Chapman and Kirby . In addition,...

Show notes… Favorite success quote or mantra: Jim: Gratitude is the greatest of all virtues and is the cornerstone of all others. Kelli: Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about so be kind always. In this episode with Jim and Kelli Laube we discuss: Emotional intelligence Being mindful Treating guests like they matter always Making guests lives better through hospitality/servi...

Always an entrepreneur at heart, Aaron Lyons was raised in Austin, TX and is a graduate University of Texas where he obtained his MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship and marketing. In 2014 after 2 years of searching for a location and investors, Lyons opened Dish Society in Houston, TX. 5 years later Lyons and his team have scaled the concept to a total of 5 location in and around Houston. Lyons...

Dee Lincoln, a.k.a. the "Queen of Steaks," is recognized as a female powerhouse in the male-dominated steakhouse business. Born on the Fourth of July and raised in New Orleans, Lincoln's humble entrance into the restaurant industry can be traced back to a single Del Frisco's Steakhouse in her hometown. In the early 80's The Del Frisco's brand made its way to Dallas, which is how Dee found her way...

Chris Hill is an author, speaker, and podcaster with a background in marketing and business strategy. After a quarter-life crisis, Hill decided to take a leap of faith into the world of restaurants. Today Hill primarily consults in the restaurant industry on leadership, company culture and menu development, as well as speaking to various industry organizations including Fortune 500 brands like Tex...

Hailing from Houston, TX, Thomas Nguyen completed his law degree at the University of Texas at Austin and started his career as a litigation attorney. Dissatisfied with the path he was on, he left his legal career behind to pursue his passion in business and marketing. In 2009, Nguyen Co-Founded Peli Peli , a fine-dining restaurant specializing in South African comfort food. In October of 2016 Ngu...

Calvin Nguyen has always had a mind for business, management, and marketing. His first experience in the restaurant industry was a two-year stint managing the restaurant Zhabuki. In 2015 Calvin open OMG Tacos . By 2018 they scaled OMG Tacos to 3 locations, and they have opened two additional concept , Chubby Tuna and Sweet Dayze. Needless to say 5 restaurants opened in less the 4 years...yeah, you...

Dallas, Texas native Jeffrey Yarbrough has never been a great student but from a young age he's always been able to hustle as an entrepreneur. His mother, seeing his creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, connected him with a job in New York in marketing. It was there that he fell in love with networking and paying attention to the social scene. In 1990 Yarbrough headed back to Texas to try his ha...

Chris Dahlander is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a degree in Advertising. Previous to starting Snappy Salads, Dahlander served 4 year as a project manager for the Forbes Group and 8 years as the Director of Marketing for Romano's Macaroni Grill. In 2006 Dahlander opened Snappy Salads with the mission to make the world healthier than the way he found it. 13 years later Snappy Salads has...

Dallas native and Graduate of El Centro College, Chad Houser has over 20 years of experience in hospitality. After 17 years as a chef, Chad sold his partnership of Parigi Restaurant to devote his full attention to Café Momentum in 2012. Café Momentum is a Dallas-based restaurant and culinary training facility, that transforms young people's lives by providing a positive environment in which at-ris...

Nikky grew up in Bangkok, Thailand and ventured to Dallas, Texas. She received her Bachelors in Business Administration majoring in Entrepreneur Studies and Marketing from Babson College, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She continued her studies at El Centro College Culinary School in Dallas, Texas. Since opening Asian Mint in 2004, Phinyawatan has received countless awards and accolades. Over the pa...

College friends and FreeRange Concepts' founders, Kyle Noonan and Josh Sepkowitz, have a combined 20 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry, including hospitality management, operations, acquisitions, divestitures and new store openings for multi-million dollar concepts. It was 2010 when the pair decided to go into business together. After 2 years of planning and with only...