When it comes to connecting high-profile chefs with diners eager for new experiences, there is gold in tertiary markets.
So contends Joey Simons, the relatively new CEO of Montclair Hospitality Group (MHG), a multiconcept group based in New Jersey with a growing portfolio of brands that has an action-packed year of expansion ahead, both in major markets and secondary cities across the country.
Simons spent years building multiple brands with Los Angeles-based SBE and, before that, New York-based Blue Ribbon Restaurants. He was recruited in August 2022 by MHG founder Luck Sarabhayavanija, who had already embarked on a strategy to build a portfolio of restaurant concepts, including some with high-profile chef-partners, with the goal of bringing buzzy restaurants to secondary markets where diners are hungry for more options.
Simons is now building the infrastructure—and leading an effort to raise $45 million—to make it happen, and multiple projects are already underway.
For example: MHG in October is scheduled to open a new concept with Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto of “Iron Chef” fame. The first location of the sushi-driven restaurant will be in a new InterContinental Hotel at the Avenue in Bellevue, Wash., including 10,000 square feet of space along with an omakase room. Chef Morimoto, one of the original chefs for Nobu, has 19 restaurants around the world, including the restaurant concepts Morimoto and Momosan in multiple cities.
The name of Morimoto’s concept with MHG has not yet been revealed. But Simons said it will be full-service, and also offer a more accessible QSR menu for room service and to-go, available for hotel guests and those living on the residential side of the development.
Four more stand-alone locations are planned for the Morimoto/MHG concept, which will come to Montclair and Hackensack, N.J., as well as a less-traveled neighborhood of Miami and Boston, Simons said.
Another chef partnership is also expected to fuel considerable growth for MHG.
In January, MHG launched the new PastaRamen, a partnership with Italian chef Robbie Felice, in Montclair featuring a wafu, or Japanese-style, Italian menu.
The idea started during the pandemic. Felice, who was known for the restaurants Viaggio and Osteria Crescendo, both in New Jersey, had built a reputation as “the pasta guy,” said Simons. Sarabhayavanija, meanwhile, had built a reputation as “the ramen guy.” So they decided to join forces to create the wafu concept, with dishes like cacio e pepe stuffed gyoza or carbonara topped with uni.
The idea began as a speakeasy that traveled around the country during the pandemic years. It was an invitation-only event and guests needed a certain password to make reservations. The exclusivity generated hype that fueled PastaRamen’s popularity.
The restaurant that opened in January is the first brick-and-mortar iteration, with unapologetically loud music and walls covered in graffiti. Saying Felice reminds him of “a young David Chang,” Simons said PastaRamen so far has been wildly successful.
“We are beyond flattered with the amount of love we have gotten,” he said. “This past month we opened reservations for March and we sold out the month in 17 minutes. There are about 6,000 people on the wait list for canceled reservations.”
A second PastaRamen restaurant will join the Morimoto concept at the InterContinental in Bellevue in October. Another PastaRamen location is planned for South Florida, and the group is also looking to bring the brand to Los Angeles and Nashville, Tenn., he said.
Meanwhile, the popup events are continuing. PastaRamen Omakase is currently in New York City for a three-month stint and it will continue to travel to create buzz for the brand.
Next door to PastaRamen in New Jersey is another new concept being developed by Felice: Fatto con Amore, scheduled to open in July, which Simons described as a deli and market with high-end sandwiches. That’s another brand designed for growth alongside PastaRamen.
And Felice is also developing another new concept with the group—again, the name has not yet been revealed—that will be an Italian steakhouse with Japanese influences. It’s scheduled to open in the New York area in 18 to 24 months.
In addition, the MHG portfolio includes Kai Yang, a Thai concept in Montclair that Sarabhayavanija , who is Thai, developed for his mother. That restaurant has also been a hit, Simons said, so the group is looking to expand to multiple markets. Five leases are signed for openings over the next 12 to 18 months, and the group plans to build a QSR model, similar to Panda Express, allowing guests to choose different noodles and proteins, which could work in food courts.
MHG is also growing the primary Ani Ramen House brand, founded by Sarabhayavanija, which currently has 10 units, including eight full service, and two that are counter-service with a build-your-own ramen bowl option. Another six Ani Ramen units are in some phase of construction, scheduled to open over the next 12 months.
A selection of dishes from Ani Ramen House./Photo courtesy of MHG.
For Ani Ramen House, the group is also working with manufacturer Sun Noodles on scaling the concept, as well as the possibility of co-packing the rich, slow-cooked broth that is the core of the menu. The goal is to develop a CPG product that could potentially go to into retail stores before the end of this year—if the group can get the broth right, said Simons.
“I thought sushi was challenging, but ramen is a whole new level of challenging,” he said. “It’s a really specific way of slow cooking stock.”
Simons, however, has a lot of experience translating full-service brands into new channels.
While at SBE, the multiconcept group founded by hotelier Sam Nazarian, Simons helped develop C3, a division that developed a number of virtual brands and ghost kitchens. He helped open the 42,000-square-foot food hall across from Hudson Yards called Citizens, which featured 12 of C3’s concepts, anchored by the full-service restaurants Casa Dani with chef Dani Garcia and Katsuya, SBE’s flagship sushi brand.
From Katsuya, for example, came the virtual brand Krispy Rice, known for delivering sushi in jewel-box-like packaging. The cartoon image in the logo is Simons’ face, he said.
“Every time I look at him, I think, am I really that chubby?” he said.
From the team that brought you @katsuyabysbe, we introduce @KrispyRice 🍣 sushi delivery that is anything but ordinary! Available for delivery NOW in LA via DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates and Uber Eats pic.twitter.com/8p7HsX91P0
— Back of House (@backofhousee) April 3, 2020
Though he was one of the pioneers of the delivery-only wave of concepts, Simons is not entirely sold on virtual brands—at least not so much on the “burner brands” that restaurants can “essentially light on fire” if it doesn’t work. At this point, he has no plans to add virtual brands to MHG’s roster.
“I really think that hospitality and brand experiences, human-to-human connections, are what drive the hospitality industry and what really drives brand sales, whether on or off premise,” he said. “I think virtual brands have a future, but they won’t be as prevalent as we all thought it was going to be.”
There is more on deck for MHG—including more partnerships with known chefs— that Simons can’t discuss just yet. The group’s portfolio also includes franchised locations of Hawaiian snack concept Mochinut (the group has a territory in north New Jersey and operates three units, with two more under construction).
MHG is in the process of raising a total of about $45 million to help fund this growth in three buckets—the Morimoto concept, Felice’s brands and Ani Ramen. Simons said they are about halfway there and existing restaurants are generating “really healthy, steady cashflow.
“Our restaurants that we operate now are super profitable and we’ve been able to support the growth up to now,” he said.
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