The Top 12 Renowned Restaurant Groups in New York

One of the greatest advantages of living in New York City, among many, is the varied, diverse, and myriad restaurant options. Having been a resident of Manhattan now for over 20 years as both a dining patron and service industry worker, I’ve become familiar with some of the most restaurant groups the city has to offer. Starting and running one successful restaurant in the city is hard; maintaining a food empire is close to impossible. Restaurant groups, as defined by Back of House, are “individual restaurant concepts all managed by a single corporate entity.”

Some of those concepts may revolve around a singular cuisine or region; others are based on the strength of their owners’ names. These entrepreneurs have managed to find success through a combination of business acumen, successful investments, prime real estate, word-of-mouth marketing, great reviews, returning customers, and just really incredible food. While there are certainly groups that could be included here, the names on this list have come up over and over again as markers of status and success in the New York food industry.

The Bowery Group (James Beard Nominee for Outstanding Restaurateur 2022) consists of restaurants Cookshop, Rosie’s, Shuka, Shukette and Vic’s, with ownership shared by Chef Marc Meyer, Vicki Freeman & Chris Paraskevaides.

Meyer and Freeman are both business and life partners, although Freeman connects all three partners — she was also formerly roommates with Paraskevaides. Meyer’s career goes back to the 1980s in New York when he worked in the kitchen at the famed Odeon and later at An American Place. After a stint in San Francisco, Meyer returned to New York and opened Cookshop in 2005 with a menu focused on American cuisine through locally and regionally sourced ingredients in the Northeast.

A success for twenty years, Cookshop in Chelsea led to Vic’s and Rosie’s in 2015. Vic’s in NoHo is an Italian-focused menu developed by Ci Siamo’s Hillary Sterling, while Rosie’s in the East Village is Mexican, with original family recipes from Angel Andrade. Next came Shuka, in SoHo, centering Mediterranean cuisine, and the newest property, Shukette, in 2021 with a Middle Eastern menu by chef Ayesha Nurdjaja. Shukette landed on “The New York Times” Top 10 New Restaurants of 2021, so it’s safe to say their success rate is still going strong.

Although Golden Age Hospitality skews more towards the cocktail bar and nightlife side of the industry, their portfolio makes them undeniably one of the coolest kids in the New York dining and beverage scene.

Jon Neidich, the relatively young founder and CEO in his early 40s, is the man behind luxe, Instagram famous spots The Nines, Le Dive, Elvis, Deux Chats, Ray’s, The Happiest Hour, and his newest opening, Monsieur, with filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. He also operates the wine bar, Bar Blondeau, and French restaurant, Le Crocodile, at the Wythe Hotel.

Neidich, a native New Yorker, started the hotspot Acme in 2012 (and shortly after, Acme Downstairs) when he was just 30 years old, and he has no shortage of famous friends and business partners. Ray’s, his notorious Lower East Side hot spot, is co-owned by actors Justin Theroux and Nicholas Braun.

While the menus may be diverse, ranging from piano bars to wine bars, to well-reviewed Nordic and French cuisine, all of Neidich’s properties are united by an air of intimacy, distinct, hip design, and standout bar programs.

If you’re looking for a restaurant group that is prolific with non-American cuisine, HAND (which stands for “have a nice day”) has your number. Starting with casual-chic Korean gastropub Take 31 in 2011, founder Kihyun Lee is now involved with the most restaurants on this list with close to 20 concepts. All of the establishments specialize in different, specific takes on Korean and Japanese cuisine, along with hiring Koreans and Korean-Americans as managers and partners throughout the restaurants, many of whom began as servers themselves.

Numerous restaurants under Lee’s guidance have racked up a number of accolades, impressive reviews, and awards. Okdongsik, which began in Seoul, was named by “The New York Times” as one of The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City in 2024, Atomix was ranked number six on the 50 Best Restaurants in North America in 2024, and Jua’s chef Hoyoung Kim has a Michelin star.

Most recently, Lee has brought over two more restaurants from Seoul to New York: Samwoojung, which has a menu focused on bulgogi, and Hojokban, centered on Korean soul food, so the demand certainly seems to be growing for his brand.

Gabriel Stulman started two restaurants in New York (The Little Owl and Market Table) after going to school in Madison, Wisconsin. But his next restaurant, Joseph Leonard (opened in 2009, when Stulman was just 28 with his wife, Gina), is the one that would establish Happy Cooking as a group in New York worth knowing.

Named after Stulman’s grandfathers, Joseph Leonard has become a Greenwich Village institution with its elevated Midwestern menu. While Stulman has owned other properties over the years (including Fedora, which is soon to reopen under new management), three other restaurants have stood the test of time and survived both the pandemic and economic downturn: Jeffrey’s Grocery, Fairfax, and Sailor, with Jeffrey’s and Fairfax also located in the Village, and Sailor expanding into Brooklyn.

Stulman was named “Restaurateur of the Year” by “Esquire” in 2012 and made it onto “Crain’s” “40 Under 40” list in 2011, and the remaining restaurants, with their cozy spaces and American-focused menus, remain immensely popular.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten, born and trained in France, has the distinction of not just being one of New York’s biggest celebrity chefs but the culinary world. He has appeared on “Top Chef,” as well as “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “Good Morning America,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and “CBS Saturday Morning,” among others. He has also published several cookbooks, been called by the Robb Report one of the 50 Most Powerful People in American Fine Dining, and has been awarded two Michelin stars for his eponymous restaurant, Jean-Georges.

And, of course, he operates a portfolio of additional restaurants under his name, including ABC Cocina, ABC Kitchen, ABCv, Tin Building, Nougatine, and The Mark, among others — and those are just in New York. (Other properties exist from Las Vegas to Nashville to Ireland and Morocco.) He has also engaged in collaborations with hotel brands such as the Four Seasons, Waldorf Astoria, and Edition.

While his signature, successful brand is a mix of French fusion, some of his restaurants, like ABC Cocina, for example, expand those boundaries and utilize other techniques, such as Latin-inspired cuisine, while ABCV is an exclusively plant-based menu.

Another worldwide conglomerate, Major Food Group has eleven properties in New York: Carbone, The Clam Bar, Dirty French, The Grill, The Lobster Club, The Ludlow Hotel, Parm (with multiple locations), The Pool, Sadelle’s, Torrisi, and ZZ’s Members Club.

Major Food Group has two chefs behind it, Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone, and entrepreneur Jeff Zalaznick. They first opened Torrisi Italian Specialties in 2009 (originally a sandwich shop. It is now currently located in the Puck Building in Little Italy). Notably, both children and athletic wear are not tolerated. However, the original formula has proved successful, as Torrisi has been awarded a Michelin star and also hit “The New York Times” 100 Best Restaurants in New York list in 2024.

Perhaps because of the pedigree of Torrisi, Carbone, which opened in 2013, has become one of the hottest spots in New York, attracting celebrities like the Biebers, the Kardashians and Jenners, Rihanna, Adele, and of course served as the photo-captured first date for Kanye and Julia Fox. It now counts half a dozen locations across the globe.

Although he originally studied painting, Andrew Tarlow is the primary brains (and respected chef) behind the Marlow Collective and one of the earliest restaurateurs to build a group in New York. He started with Diner in Williamsburg, opening an actual revamped dining car on New Year’s Eve in 1998, which helped define the Brooklyn restaurant scene.

Almost all of Tarlow’s properties (in addition to Diner, restaurants Achilles Heel, Roman’s, the wine shop Stranger Wines, the bakery She Wolf, and the butcher shop Marlow & Daughters) are located in Brooklyn, although Borgo, the newest restaurant, finally expanded his empire in Manhattan in 2024 in the former I Trulli space.

Borgo, like Roman’s, is an Italian restaurant with Elijah Tarlow (Andrew’s son) in the kitchen as a sous chef and keeps a focus on wood-fired cuisine. And although there’s a family focus at this particular restaurant, it’s notable that Tarlow is one of the most female chef-promoting owners out there, with women all leading Achilles Heel, Diner, and Roman’s.

While the McNally Group may be one of the smaller collections on this list, it has had an outsized impact on the New York dining scene. Keith McNally, the owner, is British-born but has been in New York since the 1970s and opened the Odeon in 1980. He’s had many restaurants open (and close) since then, but three stalwarts remain: Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, and Morandi.

Balthazar, a French bistro-inspired restaurant, was opened in 1997 in SoHo and has been praised by everyone from Lorne Michaels to Anthony Bourdain. Although Minetta Tavern was opened originally in the 1930s (visited by Ernest Hemingway and Dylan Thomas), McNally revamped it under his wing as a Parisian steakhouse. Finally, Morandi is the Italian eatery in the family, serving fresh pasta in the West Village.

Although McNally is respected in the industry and even was given the James Beard Award for outstanding U.S. Restaurateur in 2010, he is also one of the more controversial figures on this roundup. He has famously feuded with James Corden, defended Woody Allen, and most recently inserted his opinions into the Israel-Palestine conflict via Instagram.

The NoHo Hospitality Group, started in 2010, is run by Chef Andrew Carmellini, Luke Ostrom, and Josh Pickard, reaching “Inc. Magazine’s” list of “America’s Fastest-Growing Companies” in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Carmellini, who may be the most well-known of the trio, is originally from Ohio, but trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has become James Beard Foundation Awarded. He also has co-authored two cookbooks with his wife Gwen, “Urban Italian” and “American Flavor.”

Ostrom was on Crain’s New York Business class of “40 Under 40” in 2015, and Pickard has a background in live entertainment in addition to restaurants, leading the group to work on the menu at performance venue Joe’s Pub, owned by New York institution The Public Theater.

One of NoHo’s most well-known properties is Locanda Verde, an Italian restaurant in Tribeca, as one of the co-owners is Robert DeNiro. Another is The Dutch, an American-focused menu named number one in “The New York Times” list of “Top 10 New Restaurants of 2011.” Bar Primi, a more casual Italian pasta shop, has recently opened a second location near Penn Station.

Alan Stillman, famous for opening TGI Fridays, runs the Quality Branded group with his son, Michael Stillman. They started Quality Branded in 2007 under the name Fourth Wall Restaurants and rebranded with the “Quality” name we know and love in 2016. They also have properties in Denver, but New Yorkers know their stable: Bad Roman, Chez Zou, Zou Zou, Don Angie, Smith & Wollensky, Quality Italian, Quality Eats, and Quality Meats.

While all of the restaurants are popular, one of their spots has become a celebrity magnet with Blake Lively, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Andy Cohen dining in the past at Michelin-starred Don Angie, which was also named one of “Esquire’s” Best New Restaurants in America in 2018, followed by three years of James Beard Foundation nominations. Their newer restaurant, Bad Roman, is also an Italian spot which is receiving all kinds of coverage on social media for its over-the-top design and sense of fun.

Much like HAND Hospitality, Unapologetic Foods celebrates regional cuisine from outside of New York — in this case, Indian. Unapologetic is also one of the newer restaurant groups, founded in 2017 by CEO Roni Mazumdar and Chef-Partner Chintan Pandya, but they came out of the gate swinging. 

For instance, the average waitlist for their Lower East Side restaurant Dhamaka was 1500 people deep. That was likely due to being named the number one new restaurant of 2021 in “The New York Times,” the number one restaurant of 2021 in “Esquire’s” Best New Restaurants in America, and several other recognitions from Time Out, Eater, and “New York Magazine.”

Mazumdar and Pandya also own Adda, Semma, Masalawala and Sons, and Rowdy Rooster, all of which also have received high accolades, long lines, and devoted followings for elevating Indian cuisine and providing diners with dishes that aren’t normally found on standard Indian menus.

The final entry on this list closes out with ownership by another legendary New York restauranteur, Danny Meyer. At just 27, Meyer opened Union Square Café and now owns and operates The Modern, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Ci Siamo, Porchlight, Manhatta, and of course, Shake Shack (among others).

Due to the influence of these restaurants and his impact on the industry, he made it onto the 2015 TIME 100 “Most Influential People” list, and his businesses have collectively earned 28 James Beard Awards, including Outstanding Restaurateur (2005). Meyer is also a New York Times-bestselling author and has appeared numerous times on television over the years, from “The Daily Show” to “Top Chef” to “60 Minutes.”

Of his most famous restaurants, Gramercy Tavern, Meyers’ second, was opened in 1994 and still holds a Michelin star. Eleven Madison Park came next in 1998, earning three Michelin stars, and is still innovating, having recently changed its menu in 2021 to be entirely vegetarian. Shake Shack opened in Madison Square Park as a pop-up in 2004 and now has locations across the country.