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David Senra: The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick

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Jeff Zalaznick is co-founder of Major Food Group, the hospitality company behind Carbone, ZZ's, Torrisi, The Grill, and The Pool. He has opened 77 restaurants and bars and 76 are still operating and profitable. He is now building Major Food Group into a fully vertically integrated hospitality company spanning restaurants, private members' clubs, hotels, and branded residential towers. Zalaznick was obsessed with food from childhood, watching cooking shows on PBS while other kids watched cartoons and memorizing the Zagat guide. His first job out of college was as an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan, but he knew it wasn’t his dream. He walked out on his birthday, talked his way into any job at the newly opened Mandarin Oriental, built a restaurant website, and eventually partnered with restaurateur Joe Bastianich to get a front-row seat to the business. Watching Joe work, he realized: "I can do this, and I can do it my way." He quickly sold his companies and set out to open his own restaurant. The idea was Carbone — elevated Italian-American food built on a simple thesis: take something everyone already loves and make the best version of it ever done. He found his partners

David Senra: I want to start the conversation with one of the craziest stats I've ever heard. You've started 77 restaurants and bars, and 76 are still operating and profitable. Jeff Zalaznick: Yes. David Senra: Okay. Can you tell us about the one that we're sitting in right now? Jeff Zalaznick: So, right now we're sitting in one of my favorites. This is The Pool we're sitting in right now, which is probably the most historic restaurant in America. It was originally opened in 1959, built in 1959 by the Seagram family. Jeff Zalaznick: And at the time these were the two most over-the-top…

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