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Happy Saturday and I hope you had a great week.
Let’s get this on the table right out of the gate, this week’s Top of the Fold will not make everyone happy (but then again, whoever said a goal of the H^2 was to make everyone happy).
The 2026 Major League Baseball regular season begins with a special Opening Night game on Wednesday, March 25th and it will feature the New York Yankees at the San Francisco Giants (and I know my Boston-loving boy JB will be settling in to watch the game wearing the Yankee hat I sent him). 😊
The traditional Opening Day follows on Thursday, March 26th, with 14 games, marking the earliest scheduled opening day in league history.
But that’s not the opening day I’m referring to and it’s not the Yankees that I feel is going to be controversial here. It’s New York!
For me, it’s New York or Nowhere, but I know there are many great cities all across the country.
Every year the restaurant industry makes its way to the New York Restaurant Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (the convention center located 1.4 miles from the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden). And this year’s New York Restaurant Show kicks off tomorrow and runs until Tuesday, March 10th.
On paper, it’s a trade show. You’ve got (a) your rows of booths, (b) your equipment demos, (c) plenty of technology & innovation companies competing for your attention (with the more youthful companies relegated to the areas by the loading docks and restrooms), (d) enough food samples to satisfy even the hungriest of guests (and I’ve been told that no matter how many small bites you enjoy, they don’t add-up to the calories associated with a real meal…trade show rules) and of course (e) plenty of panels talking about labor, technology, and operations.
But if you’ve spent years in the restaurant business, or walked the floor with operators, founders, and investors, you realize something quickly. This show is really about Inside Baseball, and if the restaurant industry was a sport (and what I do at Branded is my cerebral sport), then the New York Restaurant Show would be Opening Day.
And I want to acknowledge that such a statement, made by a native New Yorker, is why I may lose some readers this week (although I hope I don’t).
Opening Day in baseball isn’t about the final standings. It’s about reading the tea leaves. Who looks strong? Who made smart offseason moves? Who quietly upgraded their roster?
The same thing happens at the Javits Center. The booths are the stadiums. The vendors are the teams. And the operators walking the floor? They’re the scouts, of course, deciding who gets called up to the big leagues.
The technology side of our industry is having a moment (and I know the ResTech industry doesn’t have any exclusivity around this moment when it comes to B2B SaaS). For restaurant tech companies, the New York Restaurant Show can be a brutal proving ground. You might arrive with a beautiful pitch deck, a fresh funding round, and a slick product demo. You know who doesn’t care about any of those things? The scouts (aka: the operators).
The operators walking up to your booth aren’t thinking about your valuation. They have one thing of their mind, “Will this make my restaurant more profitable?”
That’s it.
Restaurants run on margin, not marketing. If the answer isn’t obvious in about 30 seconds, the operator will move on (and there’s plenty of other players for them to checkout).
What I love most about the New York Restaurant Show is that it’s a convenient subway ride away from my apartment.
No, no, no!!! That’s not it (but it doesn’t hurt). 😊
What I love most about the New York Restaurant Show is that it’s where real conversations happen. Trade shows are often geared to focus on what’s happening on the stage, but the real value of this show happens between the booths, in the aisles, at coffee stands (and there’s never enough of them) and over quick bites.
This isn’t remotely limited to NYC, but rather is universally understood, restaurants remain one of the most relationship-driven industries in America. Deals don’t start with contracts. They start with, “Hey, I’ve been hearing about you, tell me what you’re building.”
Since you will hear a lot of people say (or write) AFTER the event about the mood of the industry, let me tell everyone going to the event to look, listen, and feel the vibes.
One of the most interesting things about walking the Javits floor is that you can feel the temperature of the industry. Are operators optimistic? Are vendors struggling to explain their value? Are investors circling? Are operators curious about technology or skeptical?
You can often learn more from a two-hour walk of the floor than from three-months of press releases and that’s b/c the show acts as a real-time poll of the industry’s priorities.
And while I’m biased, I’ll still do my best to be fair. I’m of the opinion that there’s something fitting about this show happening in New York City. If restaurants are theater (and more and more, they’re becoming exactly that), New York remains Broadway.
It’s where trends are tested, concepts are pushed, margins are stressed and innovation gets real.
Ideas that work in New York tend to travel. Ideas that fail here rarely leave town. So, when the industry gathers at the Javits, it isn’t just another trade show. It’s a preview of what might spread across the country next.
And here comes my Inside Baseball moment. From the outside, most trade shows look like noise, but for industry insiders, they’re a goldmine of information.
You start to notice things such as which booths have crowds, which companies operators keep mentioning, which technologies people are actually curious about, and which vendors suddenly feel like they’re everywhere.
These are the signals that tell you where the industry might be heading.
With nothing less than BIG TIME respect for the good people of Chicago (and what a food city Chicago is, seriously AMAZING), if the National Restaurant Association Show (which is held each year at the McCormick Pace in Chicago) is the Super Bowl of the restaurant industry (see, I’m showing respect to the Second City), the New York Restaurant Show is Opening Day.
The rosters are set. The offseason moves are done. The players are on the field. Let’s play ball!
And if you walk the floor carefully enough and are paying attention, the signals are there, b/c in the restaurant industry, the season starts at the Javits!
It takes a village.
Chico’s Bail Bonds, the original sponsor of the Hospitality Hangout!
How Jennifer Anniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads
For its first CTV campaign, Jennifer Aniston’s DTC haircare brand LolaVie had a few non-negotiables. The campaign had to be simple. It had to demonstrate measurable impact. And it had to be full-funnel.
LolaVie used Roku Ads Manager to test and optimize creatives — reaching millions of potential customers at all stages of their purchase journeys. Roku Ads Manager helped the brand convey LolaVie’s playful voice while helping drive omnichannel sales across both ecommerce and retail touchpoints.
The campaign included an Action Ad overlay that let viewers shop directly from their TVs by clicking OK on their Roku remote. This guided them to the website to buy LolaVie products.
Discover how Roku Ads Manager helped LolaVie drive big sales and customer growth with self-serve TV ads.
The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Anniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.
Noah Chaimberg, Founder of Heatonist, joins the conversation to share insider insights on building a successful hospitality brand from the ground up. From blending retail and media to creating a hot sauce that became a cultural phenomenon, Noah breaks down how he transformed Heatonist into a category-defining brand.
How Jennifer Anniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads
The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Anniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.
This week’s shoutout goes to our partners at Big Chicken and the incredible team at Craveworthy Brands.
Big Chicken just opened its first unit in Central America in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and I understand the energy from the community and team has been nothing less than incredible.
One could of course say this is nothing more than just another international franchise deal (and for avoidance of any doubt, I’m not one of those people).
Many restaurant concepts work domestically but don’t travel well internationally. Opening in Central America signals that Big Chicken has reached an important milestone, the brand is now considered exportable. That means the company has replicable operating systems, standardized menus, supply chains, franchise economics that work outside the U.S., and partners willing to invest in territory development.
In restaurant franchising, international expansion is a validation event, and it signals the concept is no longer just a celebrity-driven novelty.
Big Chicken was founded by Shaquille O'Neal, one of the most recognizable athletes in the world. But such brands often face a big question, will this work as a restaurant brand and not just as a celebrity brand?
International franchise partners typically invest millions of dollars into development rights. When they do so, they’re betting on brand durability, menu appeal, and operational repeatability.
How is Dr. O’Neal playing this sport that is the restaurant industry? First, he surrounds himself with talent, and that’s where Managing Partner, Gregg Majewski, CEO, Josh Halpern, SVP of Franchise Leadership, Sam Stanovich, VP of Operations, Bobby Shaw and the talented Craveworthy team comes in.
Follow up with a powerful brand, keep the menu simple, use strong franchise partners to grow your territory, and run the Craveworthy playbook. Phil Jackson had his “triangle offense” and Gregg Majewski has his “playbook” (your playbook needs a nickname Mr. Majewski). 😊
Opening in Honduras signals that Big Chicken has entered a new phase of the game. Not just domestic growth, but international expansion. In the franchising world, that’s when the scoreboard really starts moving b/c once a concept proves it can travel internationally, the growth curve can go from dozens of units to hundreds.
When Branded got involved with Big Chicken, we were told / warned there’s a lot of competition out there in the market for chicken (like the burger and pizza market lacks competition?). But here’s something you need to understand about chicken; it’s one of the most portable restaurant categories on the planet. It crosses cultures, it adapts easily to local flavors, and it’s one of the few categories where global chains have proven you can scale to thousands of locations worldwide.
So Big Chicken entering Central America isn’t just geographic expansion, it’s strategic positioning. Celebrity restaurant brands often face the same question analysts ask about young basketball players: are they a highlight reel or a franchise player? (see what I did there with the word “franchise”?). 😊
Opening in Central America suggests franchise partners believe Big Chicken is the latter b/c international franchise operators don’t invest into a concept based on celebrity alone. They invest in systems, economics, and repeatability (The Craveworthy Playbook, still needs a nickname).
From the outside, it might look like Shaq is simply adding another business to his already impressive portfolio, but inside the industry, something else is happening here. He’s quietly building a global franchise system, and if Big Chicken keeps expanding internationally, Shaq might end up doing something very few athletes have ever done, turn a personal brand into a global restaurant franchise platform.
Big Chicken’s move into Central America also reflects a broader restaurant industry trend, that mid-size restaurant brands are globalizing earlier than ever. Historically, brands waited until they had hundreds of domestic locations before expanding internationally.
Today, franchise partners often push brands overseas much earlier.
Why is that? (great question)
B/c the global appetite for American restaurant brands remains enormous.
Of course, opening in San Pedro Sula doesn’t mean Big Chicken has “made it,” but it does mean something important. The brand is now playing an international game, and in franchising, once a concept proves it can travel, that’s when the real growth can begin.
One final comment here, Happy Birthday Shaq (March 6th, 1972)!
Let’s grow!
You can also click here to share the Shout Out with your network!
“AI is Going to Fundamentally Change…Everything”
That’s what NVIDIA’s CEO said, calling AI “the largest infrastructure buildout in history.” Their chips helped make it happen. Now they’re collaborating with Miso Robotics for key robotics advances. Miso’s restaurant-kitchen-AI robots logged 200K+ hours for brands like White Castle. And NVIDIA helps unlock up to 35% faster performance. 100k+ US fast-food locations are in need, a $4B/year opportunity for Miso.
This is a paid advertisement for Miso Robotics’ Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.misorobotics.com.
🌏 Looking for the friendliest spots on the planet? Booking.com ranked the 30 most welcoming cities and regions in 2026, so you can travel somewhere that actually feels like home.
📺 Eric Dane, the beloved Grey’s Anatomy star, has died at 55, leaving behind a career full of iconic TV moments.
✍️ Heated Rivalry, a gay hockey romance, sent fans into a frenzy, fujoing out and turning fandom into a full-blown cultural moment.
⭐ Michelin stars turn 100 this year, and National Geographic explores how the world’s most prestigious restaurant awards have changed, from the longest-running stars to surprisingly cheap culinary gems.
🏨 In the 1970s and ’80s, cocaine was reportedly delivered like room service at New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel—a reminder that even posh hotels have a wild side.
The Deal Room this week goes to our partners at Brooklyn Dumpling Shop and to the highly influential food critic, Mr. Keith Lee.
For the last few years, Keith Lee has been one of the most powerful voices in the restaurant industry, but wait for it. Mr. Lee isn’t a chef, he’s not the CEO of a restaurant chain CEO, and he’s not a food critic from a legacy media outlet. He’s a guy in the front seat of his car with a phone and an honest and authentic opinion.
And yet, restaurants across the country have learned something important about Keith, when he posts a positive review, the line can wrap around the block the next day.
Welcome to the creator economy’s version of word-of-mouth marketing, and now Mr. Lee is taking the next step. Instead of just reviewing restaurants, he’s investing in them.
You can read about it here: Keith Lee Lands Multi-year Partnership With Brooklyn Dumpling Shop
This week Brooklyn Dumpling Shop announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Keith that includes an equity investment and ongoing collaboration with the brand. The fast-casual dumpling concept already has 22 locations across the U.S. and Canada and is expanding both through restaurants and frozen retail products.
For Keith, the move is notable b/c it’s his first investment in any restaurant brand.
For Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, it’s something even bigger, they just turned one of the internet’s most trusted food voices into an owner. Restaurants have been working with influencers for years, but most of those deals follow a pretty simple formula where they post a video, tag the restaurant, and then collect a marketing fee.
This deal flips that model on its head. Instead of paying for posts, Brooklyn Dumpling Shop is betting that authentic influence works best when the influencer actually has skin in the game. In other words, this a move from paid promotion to ownership, and that changes the economics entirely.
Keith Lee has built one of the most trusted food audiences on the internet. More than 20 million followers across social platforms tune in to his reviews b/c he’s known for transparency and refusing special treatment from restaurants. That credibility matters b/c the restaurant business runs on one currency above all others, trust.
Trust that the food is good, trust that the recommendation is real, trust that the experience is worth the money.
Keith’s audience believes him and that’s why operators now talk about something called “The Keith Lee Effect.”
The bigger story here isn’t dumplings, it’s the evolution of influence. The creator economy is moving from attention, to promotion, to ownership.
We’ve seen it in consumer brands, we’ve seen it in beverages, and we’ve seen it in fashion. Now it’s arriving in restaurants where creators don’t just drive traffic, they become strategic partners in building the brand.
For Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, the move is a bet that the future of restaurant marketing isn’t just ads, PR, or billboards. It’s trusted voices with real ownership, and if the Keith Lee Effect translates from TikTok views into foot traffic, then this won’t be the last restaurant brand turning a creator into a shareholder. B/c in today’s restaurant economy, the most powerful marketing engine might not be a Super Bowl ad, it might just be a guy eating dumplings in the front seat of his car.
To learn more about Brooklyn Dumpling Shop and opportunities to engage as an operator or an investor, please click here (or contact me directly).
You can also click here to share The Deal Room with your network!
Here is a riddle.
What do you call a mom that works?
A working mom.
What do you call a dad that works?
…
I got you there, didn’t I.
The first time I read that, it stopped me in my tracks. Probably because I am a working mom. And I proudly refer to myself as that. But it also made me realize something I had never really thought about before. Among my male colleagues and friends who are also parents, we rarely refer to them as working dads.
They are just dads.
Or just professionals.
Or just leaders.
My parents, both entrepreneurs, ran their individual businesses from our home. Since you asked, my mom was an event planner and my dad was a DJ. Yes, that is how they met. And yes, that is where I got my party planning skills from. If you have ever been to a Branded Cocktails and Connections event, you are probably having your own little ah ha moment right now.
But back to the story.
You can also click here to share The B List with your network!
Don’t just scroll—click! Congratulate everyone on making the B List and send some LinkedIn love their way.
The Insiders
@hospitality.hangout Welcome to our newest The Flavor Safari: The #NYC #Deli Crawl. From Barney Greengrass, to the smoked fish counters at Zabar's, to the past... See more
That’s it for today!
See you next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel.
It takes a village!
Jimmy Frischling
Branded Hospitality
235 Park Ave South, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10003
Branded Hospitality is a foodservice growth platform with three integrated business lines—Ventures, Solutions, and Media. We invest in innovative tech and emerging brands, provide expert advisory and capital strategies, and amplify visibility through podcasts, newsletters, social, and events—creating a powerful flywheel that drives growth, brand strength, and lasting success.
Looking to get in front of 400,000+ hospitality movers and shakers? Dive into our media kit and see how we can help amplify your brand.
