Table Talk

A Word From CEO, Nick Marsh

We created Founders Table for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important one was the pressing need for a better model to grow young restaurant companies.

We’re all familiar with the unfortunate cycle of inspiring ideas followed by: aggressive funding with valuations that project massive growth, rushed attempts at building cohesive management teams, overexpansion to fulfill those two hurdles and finally the retrenching and familiar departure of the founders.  Despite the repetition of this cautionary tale, an alternative that allows a young restaurant brand to maintain focus on the product excellence and hospitality that made it great, has not been developed.  

With our partners at L-Catterton, we started thinking about what we could do to support creativity and small business in the fast-casual dining industry and that is when the concept of Founders Table was born.   This venture holds a number of ideals sacred that we believe provide a unique model to support and nurture small companies.  

1. Capital is precious and restaurant companies will have to operate profitably from the beginning.

2. Real estate strategy and real estate execution is an almost impossibly risky proposition for a young restaurant company

3. Developing the technology infrastructure necessary to compete in today’s digital environment demands scale. 

4. A seasoned and mature executive team can be the difference maker in a successful organization and cannot be assembled hastily.

5. A sound financing strategy is not about maximizing headline valuation.  In today's post-WeWork world, private company valuations are fleeting.  There is no magic moment where restaurant companies behave like tech companies and margins or growth magically change.

Founders Table is our way of solving for some for these technical, operational and financial challenges that face so many organizations today.  We’ve assembled a powerhouse management team with over 85 years combined of fast casual experience.  We have the ability to de-risk physical growth by leveraging the CHOPT real estate footprint from NY to Atlanta – every location we have ever opened is profitable. We have the scale and experience to develop next generation digital assets with the unique advantage of multi-brand ordering and loyalty.  We have the backing of L-Catterton.

We’re excited about the opportunity to grow at a measured pace and to add additional brands to the portfolio.  And rest assured..... at every step of the way we will maintain a passionate focus on the quality of our food and the experience in our restaurants…just as our founders would.