Headquarters: New York City

Annual Sales: $100 million

Units: 24

Key Personnel:
• Jimmy Haber, c.e.o.
• Keith Treyball, president
• Scott Cronin, executive v.p.
• Cliff Crooks, corporate executive chef
• Samantha Wasser, creative director

 SINGLE CONCEPTS:
• Casa Nonna (authentic Italian cuisine)
• The Florentine (seasonal Italian cuisine)
• The Wayfarer (a classic American grille)
• Horchata (festive Mexican cuisine)
• BLT Bar and Grill (updated versions of classic American bar food)
• by CHLOE (a fast-casual vegan concept
 
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS:
• BLT Steak & BLT Prime (a classic steakhouse with 13 locations, including Tokyo, South Korea and Hong Kong)
• BLT Burger (hip burgers and cool milkshakes; Las Vegas and Hong Kong)
 
UPCOMING PROJECTS:
• BLT Steak Aruba (summer 2015)
• BLT Steak New York (on 52nd Street, 2016)
• BLT Market (Waikiki, 2016)

WHY IT’S COOL:
We had to get Esquared on this year’s list because it’s about to exceed our $100 million limit. You don’t get this big without being a juggernaut and the fuel behind that growth has been the BLT franchise, which has generated nearly 20 steak and burger restaurants, with more on the way. Single concepts, like the Florentine and Horchata, prove it’s no one-trick pony. We also appreciate Esquared’s chutzpah for working with celebrated vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli to launch a fast-casual vegan concept in Manhattan. This from people who built their empire from steak and burgers. It will be interesting to see how well the fast-casual vegan concept fares, but either way, Esquared is leaving most multi-concept companies in the dust.

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