When Jeff Zalaznick first met his partners, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, at their Torrisi Italian Specialties, a restaurant on Mulberry Street in New York, he was purely focused on his meal.
“I thought it was the greatest food I’d ever had,” Zalaznick said.
More than a decade later, the three Major Food Group partners keep cuisine at their core, but their growth — they have 24 concepts in about a dozen cities, from Dallas to Doha — has pushed them into the real estate industry. That foray includes MFG’s first residential project, a luxury condo tower on Miami’s bayfront that developer David Martin and his partners are building.
Zalaznick, 41, found himself in Miami as many people do: on spring break with his family. It was March 2020, the day before the pandemic lockdown, and they decided to stay “for some period of time,” he said, renting a waterfront home on Miami Beach’s Sunset Islands. By October, they declared the city their domicile, marking their official relocation from New York. The next year, they bought the house they had been renting from another former New Yorker, one-time Mets catcher Mike Piazza.
Zalaznick saw a hole in the market in his new home for a “much more sophisticated product” with great food that was fun, but not a nightclub or a so-called “clubstaurant.” By November 2020, Major Food had signed three leases, and the group’s first South Florida restaurant, Carbone Miami Beach, opened in January 2021. From there, the expansion has included running the food and beverage operations at billionaire Michael Dell’s Boca Raton Resort & Club and opening the private members’ club ZZ’s in the Miami Design District. The hospitality company will also take over the Nikki Beach Club site in South Beach, where it plans a $26 million renovation, the addition of a Sadelle’s — its brunch concept — a pool, a wellness center and a spa.
The Real Deal spoke with Zalaznick over Zoom about his ties to real estate, MFG’s expansion beyond restaurants into branded condo development, and how he handles criticism as a restaurateur. Zalaznick’s audio cut out for a minute during the interview — he was working out. “You’ve got to multitask,” he said.
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Born: August 15, 1983
Hometown: New York City
Lives: Miami Beach
Family: Wife, Ali, and three children: Poppy, Leo, Zoey
“It’s great to have a Michelin star, but for us, it has had zero effect. We were never looking for it.”
What were you like as a kid?
Very much like I am now. I always had a great passion for bringing people together with food, and beverage, eating, drinking, cooking. From a very young age, that was always my passion, along with being an avid basketball, football, sports fan in general.
How did you go from eating at Torrisi to working with Carbone and Torrisi?
When we started talking after the meal, it was love at first sight. It was almost meant to be. We were all around the same age. We were all from New York. We all had similar goals and passions, and we all got along really well. We started with just the idea of doing what became Carbone, which was all of our individual dream to create that type of restaurant.
Your mother’s [Barbara Milstein Zalaznick] family has strong ties to real estate through New York-based Milstein Properties and Ogden CAP Properties. How has that influenced your career?
I got to see my grandpa [Paul Milstein], who was incredible the way he worked and the way he built things. He’s definitely a big inspiration in my life.
His style, ingenuity, the ability to think big and think creatively and not be afraid to do something new and unexpected in a field that doesn’t change that often, and a great focus on quality and a great zest for life. Most importantly, he was someone who truly understood the importance of personal relationships. That’s been something I find critical. I’m a big believer in the importance of personal relationships with people that you do business with.
Your parents, Barbara and David, are avid readers and have a literary prize named after them. Are you a big reader?
You may know more than I do, but they are avid readers. I’m not.
I was going to ask, Kindle or printed books?
I can hardly get through my text and WhatsApp messages.
What are you like as a parent?
I think I’m a lot of fun. I’m very fortunate that my kids share the same passions that I do. They love food, they love cooking, they love sports.
What is the most significant thing you learned about yourself when you became a parent?
That I wasn’t the most important person in the world.
You and your wife bought a house in Miami Beach in 2021. Why did you move?
I was going to spend a year here and start to really build a business, get a couple restaurants open. Within four months of living in my house that I was renting, I decided that I didn’t want to leave.
We were also in the middle of this incredible moment where everyone’s working together simultaneously to make this the greatest city in the world. Everyone wants great people to move here. Everyone wants great new companies to come here. Everyone wants great new buildings to be built here. Everyone wants great new restaurants to open here. That’s incredible energy.
Still, the restaurant industry is notoriously difficult. In South Florida, we are seeing record turnover. Have you had to consider closing any concepts here?
No. We continue to look for new opportunities. I just saw an incredible one yesterday. We have Carbone Vino opening in Coconut Grove. We have Villa Miami being built in Edgewater. We have Nikki Beach coming up in like two years. We’re very committed to South Florida.
Villa Miami is Major Food Group’s first residential tower, which you’re building with David Martin and his partners. What has that been like?
It’s been an incredible process. David is one of the great developers in the world, and it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with him and learn from him. He’s such a genius when it comes to the mechanics and the ins and outs of developing real estate.
We’re involved in every single thing in the building. We chose [designer] Vicky Charles. Every single thing you see in the building, whether it’s food- and beverage-related, amenity-related, design-related, what the sink in the bathroom looks like, what the kitchen looks like, what the branding looks like. We have our hands in all of that.
I know you initially planned to work with developer Michael Stern on the Major, which is now going to be a Dolce & Gabbana tower. Any insight into what happened?
It just wasn’t the right fit for either of us, and so we decided to go our own ways.
Are you working on more residential projects?
We have a variety of conversations in the works, but nothing I can confirm right now. We’re certainly planning to. We’re looking on a global basis.
Major Food Group has expanded within the U.S. and around the world, in Riyadh, Paris, Toronto and other cities. What has driven this growth?
As they say in New York, if you stop moving you can get hit by a bus.
Listen, we grow because we want to continue to expand our portfolio, we want to expand our reach, we want to expand our global presence with the brands that we have in restaurants. But we also want to continue to grow in terms of our verticals like what we’re doing with Villa Miami. We’re looking at a lot of hotel projects. We’re now doing private members’ clubs. We obviously have a big events business with Carbone Beach [an annual VIP dinner during Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix weekend].
How has Major Food Group expanded so quickly? Who are your backers?
We have different investors in different parts of our business and projects, but I can’t publicly discuss it.
What are your favorite restaurants in Miami besides your own?
I eat most meals at my own restaurants. When I do go out, I do my best to try new restaurants. I go to Miami Slice a lot with my kids. They love to go to Cote [a Korean steakhouse in the Design District].
I just tried a great new sushi place in Little River. I’m really excited Sunny’s [Steakhouse] is back open.
What was your first job?
I was an investment banker at JPMorgan for two years. I didn’t like it at all because I’m an entrepreneur, but it taught me incredible skills. At the time, I had no financial background whatsoever. I learned financial basics. It really allowed me to have a lot of skills coming to the restaurant business that most people don’t have.
What do you look for in a new partnership or location?
It’s got to feel right. I’m a big believer that life’s too short to work with people you don’t like. That’s played a huge role in whether or not I’ll do a project. Who’s on the other side of it? Who is the landlord? Who’s the person I’m going to be dealing with the next 20 years of my life, at least? And then obviously being in great locations. We love places that have history, but it’s really a feeling combined with what the project is, what we feel when we see it, and also who’s involved.
“I’m a big believer in the importance of personal relationships with people that you do business with.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Worst advice?
That’s a tough one. I’d have to think about it.
No problem. How do you handle criticism?
Very well.
What did you think of the New York Times’ recent review of Carbones across the US?
It’s an honor to be in a position where they want to spend that much time traveling the entire country to visit our restaurants and to compare and contrast them and to understand them. And I think that it truly shows the impact that Carbone has made.
This was in the review as well, that Carbone in NYC lost its Michelin star in 2022. How did that affect you?
It wasn’t a big deal at all. We always said we don’t cook for stars. You know, that was never our ambition. It’s great to have a Michelin star, but for us, it has had zero effect. We were never looking for it. When it was there, it was nice, and when it was gone, it was gone. We never even displayed it. That’s because that’s not what we were there for. We’re there to make people happy and cook you incredible food and have you have an incredible night, and have you really wanting to come back. [A Michelin star] is not how we measure ourselves.
We don’t take anything for granted. We treat our 57th restaurant the same way we treated our first. We still do it all, and we put our heart and souls into every single project. That’s the key. The financials can be handled by a CFO. In order to even have financials to work with, you need customers. It’s about creating something that people love and that people engage with.
What do you consider to be your biggest success?
My family.
What has been your biggest failure?
Probably not being able to spend enough time with them.
What’s one lesson you hope your children learn from you?
Always be nice to people.
Do you want to go back to the best and worst advice question?
No.