FSR July 2023

On the Rise BY MALINA SEENARINE

Knead Expands and Retains Knead Hospitality + Design is expanding its upscale concepts while focusing on employee wellness.

BEFORE CREATING Knead Hospi tality + Design restaurant group, hus band-and-founder duo Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin worked in the res

taurant industry for practi cally their entire careers. In 2015, they decided to open their first restaurant, Suc cotash, a Southern concept, in National Harbor, Mary land. “You spend a lot of your career learning from other people, learning from other companies and other concepts and eventu

ESTABLISHED: 2015 COFOUNDERS: Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin HQ: Washington D.C. CATEGORY: Mexican, French, Tex Mex, Southern LOCATIONS: 21

KNEAD HOSPITALITY’S PORTFOLIO OF RESTAURANTS SPANS MEXICAN, SOUTHERN, FRENCH, AMERICAN, AND STEAK CONCEPTS.

ally, for those of us that have the entrepre neurial bug in common, just want to see if you can do it yourself instead of doing it for other people,” says Berry. Now just eight years later, the Wash ington, D.C-based restaurant group has 21 restaurants under its umbrella. Despite the pandemic, Knead was able to add nine new restaurants in 2021 and more than double its company size from 300 to over 700 employees. This year, Knead has already taken over food and beverage at a second Swingers location in Washington D.C. The international hos pitality group has four fast-casual con cepts: Kneadza Pizza, tuTaco, Lil’ Succo tash, and Mah Ze Dahr. The restaurant group is also work ing on expanding its upscale concepts, starting with the opening of its third

MI VIDA location—a Mexican eatery concept that Berry and Reginbogin cre ated in collaboration with celebrity chef Roberto Santibañez. Plus, this summer, the restaurateurs will also open the sec ond location of Bistro Du Jour, serving pastries and simple French dishes such as French onion soup and steak frites. Prior to co-founding Knead, Berry was the CEO of Rosa Mexicano, a Mex ican restaurant based in New York with locations across the East Coast. When Berry was on business trips, he would visit Rosa locations around Washing ton D.C. with his husband, and both of them fell in love with the city. “The more and more we talked about doing our own thing and opening our own restaurant, we thought that D.C. was a perfect mix of a big little city,” Berry says.

“With Maryland and Virginia and D.C. together, it’s a huge metropoli tan area that’s very intertwined. We felt that the restaurant scene here was mature enough that we could be a part of something special, but not so mature like Paris or Chicago or New York, or L.A. that it would be hard to make a name for ourselves. We thought D.C. would be a really good city that we loved, and also one that would welcome us if we were successful. And it worked out,” he adds. Knead is now looking to expand out side of Washington D.C., and is currently negotiating leases in Northern Virginia and Boston, Massachusetts. “Now that we’re established, we feel a little more comfortable growing in cities that are maybe a little bigger,” Berry explains. “You need that density, and you need that

KNEAD HOSPITALITY + DESIGN

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

JULY 2023