Headquarters: Atlanta
Annual Sales: $20 million
Units: 5
Key Personnel:
• Steve Buero, founder/owner
• Phil Roness, owner
• Chris Segal, owner
SINGLE CONCEPTS:
• Food 101 (farm-to-table Southern menu)
• Cibo e Beve (modern Italian cuisine)
• Smoke Ring (Georgia-style barbecue)
• Restaurant Paradis (fine dining)
MULTIPLE CONCEPTS:
• Meehan’s Public House (Irish menu with five units)
UPCOMING PROJECTS:
• 101 Steak (modern steakhouse) later this year
WHY IT’S COOL: The three amigos—Buero, Roness and Segal—first met as Manhattan busboys and college roommates. Surviving the trials and tribulations of living in close quarters clearly prepared them to endure the strains on a friendship the restaurant industry can impose. But they’ve more than endured; they’ve excelled, creating five distinct concepts that generate sales any accountant would love. Their concepts offer something for every taste—Southern, Italian, barbecue, fine dining, Irish pub food and, next year, steak. There is nothing 101-level about what they do; these guys are graduate-level studs.
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