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Daniel Holzman He built restaurants, lost viral and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, chasing great ideas.
As a chef and a large personality restaurateur, Holzman has all the time been ready to take a risk – and this feature led to success and difficult lessons. Co -founder Meatballs shopAn off-the-cuff restaurant that became a humble comfortable food in the iconic favorite. His mixed meatballs are served in bowls, sandwiches and pasta.
Holzman and his partner, Michael ChernowI noticed how much people loved meatballs, and the idea began with something so simple as the late night.
“Mike was a bartender and ate spaghetti and meatballs,” he kept Spaghetti. Only meatball bowl. We thought Why not make the whole restaurant?“Holzman says Influence of restaurants host Shawn Walchef or Cali BBQ Media.
The concept began, expanding to nine locations. “We had one in Washington, one in Connecticut and seven in New York,” says Holzman, adding that New York was a home in the original location.
Holzman’s willingness to blame fences paid off with the meatball store – until.
Investors once offered $ 40 million to buy a majority in business, but Holzman rejected him, convinced that they were on the fringe of even greater valuation.
A yr later things were solved.
“I thought,” It can be value $ 100 million in two years. ” You couldn’t raise my shares from my cold, dead hands – says Holzman. “And then sales began to fall as a month and a half later.”
The rapid expansion of the restaurant brought growing pain, and Holzman was burned out by the business side of things. When the locations fought and the company began to decrease, he made a difficult decision to withdraw, introducing a new general director to take over the activity while he came up with his next move.
Returning to California
Looking for a fresh start, Holzman moved west and opened Famous original pizza Danny BoyDefinitely not repeated the same mistakes. This time he didn’t just think about food; He thought about people behind it.
“It’s hard to find people if you treat them and treat them [badly]”Says.” But if you treat people well, it’s not difficult to find people at all. “
His philosophy has modified. Instead of focusing only on the scale, he prioritized the construction of a restaurant where employees felt the price.
Even the name Famous original pizza Danny BoyThis is a nod to his love for restaurant history. In New York, a pizzerias with names like the famous original Pizza Ray fought for what was the “real” original. Holzman leaned into a joke, marking the famous original of his store Danny Boy – a name that seemed to have been for many years.
For a very long time, Holzman thought he wanted to be what he calls “fancy chef,” chasing the stars and the prestige of Michelin. He realized, nonetheless, that the world didn’t fit who he really was. Instead, he was successful, leaning into what was natural – each in food and in the way he connected with people.
Holzman built the following online with his brutally honest, often hilarious content in social media. But for him, authenticity is the only strategy that works. “People are smart,” he says. “They know what is authentic and what is not.”
Regardless of whether he turns a video or pizza, he learned that if he does not come from a real place, people do not buy it. “In the meatball store I was so focused on building a brand that I lost sight of people who happened,” says Holzman. “In the famous original pizza Danny Boy, I make sure that this will not happen again.”
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