Love at First Bite

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Friends of Branded!

Happy Saturday and I hope you had a great week.

My attorneys hate it when I “promise,” “guaranty,” or use Schatzy’s credit card without his permission, but I’m doing 2 of those 3 things in this week’s H^2 (and I don’t have Schatzy’s new credit card number).

So, let’s start with the guaranty, this will not be a typical weekend update. Let’s roll!

While Thursday is writing night for me, the theme of this week’s Top of the Fold came to fruition on Tuesday night.

I was down in the lower east side, sitting in booth for 4 with a group of 6, which included a number of longstanding and incredibly talented “Restaurant Guys”, we were several hours into a burger-tasting-tour and the server was being called back to the table so that another order of burgers could be placed. That lead-in is clearly NOT as good as “It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it" but it does accurately reflect my state of mind when the theme for this week’s H^2 was formed.

Earlier in the day and after leaving a meeting with a private equity firm that shared some staggering performance numbers that one of their portfolio companies was putting up in the burger-space, our fearless leader (let’s call him Dino), ordered an Uber and said we’ve got to checkout one of these burger-joints.

The fact that our late lunch hadn’t even settled yet, and therefore food was as needed as a clock in a Vegas casino, off we went to taste some burgers. Upon arrival at one of the P/E’s joints, a single burger was ordered for each member of our posse. While we waited for the burgers, I asked the incredulous question of why we needed to order a burger for each person as opposed to our sharing a burger or even two burgers among our group?

The response from Dino – “it’s all about the first bite“ and we each needed to have that first bite.

The burgers were tasted, respected, completed, and off to the next joint we went.

Second verse, same as the first! We arrive at the joint, a single burger was ordered for each member of the team. Yes, I received a “look” from Dino, and I knew what he said with his eyes – it’s all about the first bite.

A third and final stop was made, but at this joint, we had staying power b/c we were meeting our host for dinner at his restaurant. Our host, (maybe) mistakenly ordered his restaurant’s “signature dish,” a double smashburger. Yup, one double-burger for each of us to experience that first bite.

The burger comparison was obviously not possible - singles vs doubles?! Unacceptable! We needed to order another round of burgers and compare this joint’s single smashburger to the previous two places we visited. At this point, a reasonable person could share a round of burgers, right? Nope, it’s all about the first bite.

For those doing the math, we’re now 4 burgers and 5 smashburger patties in and naturally a debate about the size of the bun used for the double burger vs the size of the bun used for the single burger was discussed (b/c that’s what any reasonable person would be thinking about after consuming 4 sandwiches). There was a one-half inch differencial between the buns and the ratio of meat-to-bun IN THAT FIRST BITE became a topic of debate. The only way to solve it (OF COURSE), was to order a round of single patty burgers on single patty buns and double patty burgers on single patties bun. A healthy (now that word seems incredibly inappropriate here) discussion was then had about the bun-to-burger ratio (we’re taking about a half an inch of bun differential here people).

In full disclosure, I left the group and headed for home when the discussion of the single burger getting two slices of cheese versus the double burger getting three slices of cheese came up and the waiter was asked to come to the table to take the order. As Kenny Rogers said, you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold-em.

In the category of TMI (like there’s such a thing in the Top of the Fold at this point), when I got home, I kissed my wife and daughter and went to take a shower. Please note, coming home for a work event and going straight to the shower should rightly invoke a few questions like who were you with and where were you? Nights like this aren’t my first rodeo and I was continuously sending pictures of the trays of burgers that were arriving at our table.

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It was such a fun and busy that it wasn’t easy to come up with a short list of shoutouts to give, but here we go!

The FIRST Shoutout is to our friends at Lunchbox and their annual list of the Top 30 Women in Food 2025!

Top 30 Women in Food 2025

It goes without saying that the Branded Team is excited to see our partner, CMO and Head of Media, Julie Zucker, made this list, but also so many friends make this year’s list.

This year’s list, the previous lists and also all of the nominees represent the amazing women that are helping to shape the future of our industry.

As today is International Women’s Day, it’s only fitting that this Shoutout takes the pole position.

This day originated from the early 20th century labor movement and demands for better working conditions, voting rights and equal opportunities.

The day highlights progress in women's empowerment, raises awareness about ongoing gender disparities, and encourages action toward a more inclusive society.

Pulled from an article I sourced, Vladimir Lenin declared March 8 as International Women's Day in 1922 to honor the women's role in 1917 Russian Revolution; it was subsequently celebrated on that date by the socialist movement and communist countries. The holiday became a mainstream global holiday following its promotion by the United Nations in 1977 (two years before the title image above, Love at First Bite, 1979 and three years before my The Blues Brothers, 1980 reference for those playing the home game). ??

The SECOND shoutout goes to our good friend, Mr. Christopher Sebes on his lifetime achievement award from the good people at MURTEC. The award is in recognition for Christopher’s remarkable career and contributions to the restaurants technology industry.

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Branded invites readers of the?H^2?that are interested in learning more about our?portfolio companies, and?investment strategies?to become part of our?Access Hospitality Network.

I heard that Vegas set the odds this weekend as to whether I would include in the Access Hospitality Network (“AHN”) section the coming together of Craveworthy Brands and Big Chicken this week at -500.

If you took the underdog, I'm sorry, not sorry, you’d just lost!

On Monday night this week this partnership was announced and specifically Craveworthy becoming the managing partner of Big Chicken.

In full disclosure, Branded is an enthusiastic investor in Big Chicken and we’ve also been working closely with Craveworthy. We’re celebrating these two emerging restaurant companies, and I don’t think another restaurant group has grown faster than these two companies over the past two years. The respective Big Chicken and Craveworthy teams are comprised of people the Branded Team respects, appreciates and values. These are folks committed to winning and that’s exactly what we expect to do with both companies.

Our relationship with Craveworthy and Big Chicken started on the tech-side of their respective businesses and our collaborating in support of their leveraging technology & innovation to improve margins and bring efficiencies to their respective businesses.

The time spent working on their respective tech-stacks led to other things and here we are today as partners with both Craveworthy and Big Chicken.

The ancient Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu, said “the journey of as thousand miles begins with a single step.” The idea behind this quote is that even the longest and most difficult ventures begin with a first step, emphasizing the importance of starting rather than being overwhelmed by the size of the task ahead.

Our journey with Craveworthy and Big Chicken started from our connecting at industry conferences and thanks to good people who intentionally create opportunities for those willing to show-up, engage and be present (To Conference or Not To Conference).

Below please find a few of the links to the announcement:

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Featured Episode: Doughnuts, Hustle, and Hospitality: Chris Schultz on Scaling an Iconic Brand

This week on Hospitality Hangout, we sit down with Chris Schultz, a hospitality powerhouse whose career began in the most unexpected place—a Mexican restaurant. From there, he spent 13 years at Starbucks during its explosive growth, helped scale MOD Pizza into a national sensation, and now leads Voodoo Doughnut, where he’s balancing the brand’s counterculture roots with bold expansion into Miami, Los Angeles, and beyond.

Get ready for a deliciously deep dive into Voodoo’s wild doughnut innovations (ever heard of the NyQuil Doughnut?), the magic of 24/7 operations, and why staying funky and fan-driven is non-negotiable—even without delivery! Plus, Chris shares his unexpected obsession with Judge Judy, hot takes on hospitality trends, and how technology is reshaping restaurant operations.

Don’t miss this episode—it’s packed with insights, laughs, and, of course, doughnuts!

Listen now and stay ahead of the game! ??

Tune into the episode and subscribe to our channel here: Hospitality Hangout With Chris Schultz

You can tune in on:

Spotify: Click Here

Apple Podcasts: Click Here

Watch on YouTube: Click Here

Are you loving the Hospitality Hangout? Let us know! Please leave us a review here!

Who Made The B List?

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That’s it for today!

See you next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

It takes a village!

Jimmy Frischling Branded Hospitality Ventures [email protected] 235 Park Ave South, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10003

Branded Hospitality Ventures ("Branded") is an investment and solutions platform at the intersection of foodservice, technology, innovation and capital. As experienced hospitality owners and operators, Branded brings value to its partners through investment, strategic counsel, and its deep industry expertise and connections.

Learn more about Branded here: Branded At-A-Glance