Lessons on Building Carbone, ZZ's & a Restaurant Empire | Jeff Zalaznick

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, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, and opened Carbone in March of 2013. It’s now one of the most recognizable restaurant brands and sought-after reservations in the world. From there, they’d go on to launch Major Food Group, and the success has continued. Show notes: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/jeff-zalaznick Made possible by Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com AppLovin: https://applovin.com Deel: https://deel.com/senra HubSpot: ⁠https://hubspot.com/startups David Senra Website: https://www.davidsenra.com X: https://x.com/davidsenra Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsenra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsenra Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/company/senrashow Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsenra Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4msoZtb Jeff Zalaznick Website: https://www.majorfood.com/about LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/major-food-group Chapters 00:00:00 Seventy-Seven Restaurants, Seventy-Six Still Winning 00:03:16 The First American Menu Written In English 00:04:41 JFK's Cream Of Asparagus 00:09:49 Fifty Years Of Smoke, Forty Million To Restore 00:13:32 One Text: "Four Seasons?" 00:16:17 Always Bet On Who Wants It Most 00:19:13 Kill Lunch To Own Dinner 00:24:00 The Only Thing That Matters Is If They Come Back 00:29:37 Going Viral Isn't The Same As Being Good 00:36:39 Watching Cooking Shows Instead Of Cartoons 00:41:47 The Men At The Top Were Miserable 00:43:21 Walking Into The Mandarin To Beg For Any Job 00:49:40 A Front-Row Seat To His Hero 00:53:06 Belief Comes Before Ability 00:55:35 Burning The Boats 00:57:31 Marry The Chef, Don't Hire Him 00:59:25 The Best Version Of Something You Already Love 01:03:56 The Hail Mary Call At Ten O'Clock 01:08:29 "A Piacere" — Whatever You Want 01:13:24 The Broken Neon Sign That Became An Icon 01:18:17 Go With Whatever Feels Natural 01:22:27 A Ten-Dollar Jar Of The Restaurant 01:24:15 Your Mediocrity Is My Opportunity 01:27:34 Netflix With A Restaurant 01:32:11 The Club Where The Food Comes First 01:37:07 Miami Was New Year's Eve Every Night 01:40:45 Carbone Miami In 100 Days 01:46:08 The Greatest Beach Club In America

David SenrahostJeff Zalaznickguest

Jul 19, 20261h 47mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 19, 2026
Duration: 1h 47m
Channel: David Senra
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, and opened Carbone in March of 2013. It’s now one of the most recognizable restaurant brands and sought-after reservations in the world. From there, they’d go on to launch Major Food Group, and the success has continued. Show notes: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/jeff-zalaznick Made possible by Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com AppLovin: https://applovin.com Deel: https://deel.com/senra HubSpot: ⁠https://hubspot.com/startups David Senra Website: https://www.davidsenra.com X: https://x.com/davidsenra Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsenra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsenra Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/company/senrashow Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsenra Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4msoZtb Jeff Zalaznick Website: https://www.majorfood.com/about LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/major-food-group Chapters 00:00:00 Seventy-Seven Restaurants, Seventy-Six Still Winning 00:03:16 The First American Menu Written In English 00:04:41 JFK's Cream Of Asparagus 00:09:49 Fifty Years Of Smoke, Forty Million To Restore 00:13:32 One Text: "Four Seasons?" 00:16:17 Always Bet On Who Wants It Most 00:19:13 Kill Lunch To Own Dinner 00:24:00 The Only Thing That Matters Is If They Come Back 00:29:37 Going Viral Isn't The Same As Being Good 00:36:39 Watching Cooking Shows Instead Of Cartoons 00:41:47 The Men At The Top Were Miserable 00:43:21 Walking Into The Mandarin To Beg For Any Job 00:49:40 A Front-Row Seat To His Hero 00:53:06 Belief Comes Before Ability 00:55:35 Burning The Boats 00:57:31 Marry The Chef, Don't Hire Him 00:59:25 The Best Version Of Something You Already Love 01:03:56 The Hail Mary Call At Ten O'Clock 01:08:29 "A Piacere" — Whatever You Want 01:13:24 The Broken Neon Sign That Became An Icon 01:18:17 Go With Whatever Feels Natural 01:22:27 A Ten-Dollar Jar Of The Restaurant 01:24:15 Your Mediocrity Is My Opportunity 01:27:34 Netflix With A Restaurant 01:32:11 The Club Where The Food Comes First 01:37:07 Miami Was New Year's Eve Every Night 01:40:45 Carbone Miami In 100 Days 01:46:08 The Greatest Beach Club In America

SPEAKERS

David Senra
host
Host of the podcast "Founders," interviewing entrepreneurs and extracting lessons from their biographies.
Jeff Zalaznick
guest
Co-founder of Major Food Group and restaurateur behind concepts including Carbone and ZZ’s.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of David Senra, featuring David Senra and Jeff Zalaznick, Lessons on Building Carbone, ZZ's & a Restaurant Empire | Jeff Zalaznick explores jeff Zalaznick on building Major Food Group through obsession, story, discipline Zalaznick attributes Major Food Group’s unusually high restaurant survival rate to a rigorous, repeatable process where food quality leads, the concept tells a coherent story, and the experience is fun enough to earn repeat customers.

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