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Daniel Holzman has constructed eating places, gone viral and misplaced tens of millions of {dollars} chasing big ideas.
As a chef and restaurateur with a giant persona, Holzman has at all times been keen to take dangers — and that trait has led to success and laborious classes. He co-founded The Meatball Shop, an informal eatery that turned humble consolation meals right into a cult favourite. Its mix-and-match meatballs are served in bowls, sandwiches and pasta.
Holzman and his accomplice, Michael Chernow, seen how a lot individuals liked meatballs, and the concept began with one thing so simple as a late-night meal.
“Mike was a bartender, and he’d eat spaghetti and meatballs — maintain the spaghetti. Only a bowl of meatballs. We thought, Why not make a complete restaurant round that?” Holzman tells Restaurant Influencers host Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media.
The idea took off, increasing to 9 places. “We had one in Washington, D.C., one in Connecticut and 7 in New York,” Holzman says, including that New York was residence to the unique location.
Holzman’s willingness to swing for the fences paid off with The Meatball Store — till it did not.
Traders as soon as provided $40 million to purchase a majority stake within the enterprise, however Holzman turned it down, satisfied they have been getting ready to a fair greater valuation.
A 12 months later, issues unraveled.
“I used to be like, ‘It may be price $100 million in two years.’ You could not pry my shares from my chilly, lifeless palms,” Holzman says. “After which gross sales began declining like a month and a half later.”
The restaurant’s rapid expansion got here with rising pains, and Holzman discovered himself burned out by the enterprise facet of issues. As places struggled and the corporate started cutting down, he made the tough choice to step again, bringing in a brand new CEO to take over operations whereas he discovered his subsequent transfer.
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Going again to California
Searching for a recent begin, Holzman moved west and opened Danny Boy’s Famous Original Pizza, decided to not repeat the identical errors. This time, he wasn’t simply fascinated by meals; he was fascinated by the individuals behind it.
“It is laborious to search out individuals should you underpay them and deal with them [badly],” he says. “However should you deal with individuals effectively, it is not laborious to search out individuals in any respect.”
His philosophy shifted. As an alternative of focusing solely on scale, he prioritized building a restaurant the place staff felt valued.
Even the identify, Danny Boy’s Famous Original Pizza, is a nod to his love for restaurant historical past. In New York, pizzerias with names like Ray’s Well-known Unique Pizza battled over which was the “actual” unique. Holzman leaned into the joke, branding his store Danny Boy’s Well-known Unique — a reputation that felt prefer it had already been round for many years.
For a very long time, Holzman thought he wished to be what he calls “a flowery chef,” chasing Michelin stars and status. Nevertheless, he realized that the world did not match who he actually was. As an alternative, he discovered success by leaning into what felt pure — each in meals and in how he related with individuals.
Holzman has constructed a following on-line together with his brutally sincere, usually hilarious, social media content. However for him, authenticity is the one technique that works. “Individuals are sensible,” he says. “They know what’s genuine and what’s not.”
Whether or not he is making a video or a pizza, he is discovered that if it does not come from an actual place, individuals will not purchase into it. “At The Meatball Store, I used to be so centered on constructing a model that I overpassed the individuals making it occur,” Holzman says. “At Danny Boy’s Well-known Unique Pizza, I am ensuring that does not occur once more.”
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