Jeff Zalaznick, co-founder of Major Food Group, explains how keeping the existing floor plan at Carbone Miami allowed them to grow venue revenue from $7 million to over $30 million.
“The floor plan was the same as the restaurant before it, and that restaurant with the same floor plan was doing about, you know, call it seven million dollars in revenue, and when we opened Carbone with the same exact seats, right, I mean, that restaurant does over thirty million dollars in revenue”
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More from Jeff Zalaznick
Insight
Zalaznick: Restaurants cannot be financially successful serving lunch because nobody drinks
“The truth is that restaurants can't be successful serving lunch.”
Jeff ZalaznickJul 19, 2026▶ 19:43The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick
Insight
Zalaznick: Only expand into cities with multiple restaurants generating $20M+ annually
“If you tell me, is this an interesting city to open a restaurant in? All I say is, you know, find me two or three restaurants doing twenty million dollars or more. And then it's an interesting city. There's not that many cities in the world that have restauran…”
Jeff ZalaznickJul 19, 2026▶ 1:36:12The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick
Insight
Zalaznick: Executing a 70-dish menu is operationally harder than a tasting menu
“If anyone, just so you understand, without even that much culinary training, could make you four or five dishes if they make the same exact dishes every single night, and probably get them to a point that is acceptable, right?
Obviously, you need to be great f…”
Jeff ZalaznickJul 19, 2026▶ 1:10:25The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick
Disclosure
Zalaznick: Major Food Group spent over $40M restoring Seagram Building restaurants
“We spent about 40 plus million dollars.”
Jeff ZalaznickJul 19, 2026▶ 10:04The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick
Insight
Zalaznick: Restaurants fail unless they tell a complete story and provide fun
“The restaurant has to tell a complete story, and if it doesn't tell a complete story, then it doesn't work. And right behind that is that it's got to be fun.”
Jeff ZalaznickJul 19, 2026▶ 22:55The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick
Insight
Zalaznick: Customer retention is the only restaurant metric that actually matters
“And in my business, the only thing that's even relevant is the most important thing, which is, are they coming back? I always tell everyone that works for us, it's not a matter of if they come, because anywhere we would open, you know, everyone's going to come…”
Jeff ZalaznickJul 19, 2026▶ 24:27The Restaurant Genius Behind Carbone, ZZ’s, Torrisi & More | Jeff Zalaznick
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