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Daniel Holzman has constructed eating places, gone viral and misplaced tens of millions of {dollars} chasing massive concepts.
As a chef and restaurateur with a giant character, Holzman has at all times been prepared to take dangers — and that trait has led to success and onerous classes. He co-founded The Meatball Store, 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 associate, Michael Chernow, seen how a lot folks 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.
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The idea took off, increasing to 9 areas. “We had one in Washington, D.C., one in Connecticut and 7 in New York,” Holzman says, including that New York was house 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 supplied $40 million to purchase a majority stake within the enterprise, however Holzman turned it down, satisfied they had been on the point of an excellent larger valuation.
A 12 months later, issues unraveled.
“I used to be like, ‘It’ll be price $100 million in two years.’ You could not pry my shares from my chilly, useless fingers,” Holzman says. “After which gross sales began declining like a month and a half later.”
The restaurant’s speedy enlargement got here with rising pains, and Holzman discovered himself burned out by the enterprise facet of issues. As areas struggled and the corporate started cutting down, he made the troublesome determination 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
In search of a recent begin, Holzman moved west and opened Danny Boy’s Well-known Unique Pizza, decided to not repeat the identical errors. This time, he wasn’t simply interested by meals; he was interested by the folks behind it.
“It is onerous to seek out folks for those who underpay them and deal with them [badly],” he says. “However for those who deal with folks properly, it is not onerous to seek out folks in any respect.”
His philosophy shifted. As a substitute of focusing solely on scale, he prioritized constructing a restaurant the place staff felt valued.
Even the identify, Danny Boy’s Well-known Unique 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 elaborate chef,” chasing Michelin stars and status. Nevertheless, he realized that the world did not match who he actually was. As a substitute, he discovered success by leaning into what felt pure — each in meals and in how he related with folks.
Holzman has constructed a following on-line together with his brutally trustworthy, typically hilarious, social media content material. However for him, authenticity is the one technique that works. “Individuals are good,” 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, folks will not purchase into it. “At The Meatball Store, I used to be so centered on constructing a model that I overpassed the folks 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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