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How Rock & Brews is becoming a brand to watch

Holly Petre, Assistant Digital Editor

November 29, 2022

 

Welcome to First Bite, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, your daily source of news from NRN hosted by Holly Petre.

Today, we’re talking about Rock & Brews.

Adam Goldberg grew up a “huge rock and roll fan” with a Kiss poster on his bedroom wall, so it’s a bit poetic that he is now the CEO of Rock & Brews, a casual dining chain founded in 2012 by Kiss' flashy front men Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, among others.

Goldberg, a restaurant veteran who co-founded Fresh Brothers Pizza, took the helm four years ago. He just so happened to live down the street from the Rock & Brews headquarters in California and knew the founding partners well – including Michael Zislis and Dave and Dell Furano – through community outreach efforts both of their restaurant brands facilitated. When Rock & Brews hit some stumbles, including a franchisee’s bankruptcy, the partners asked Goldberg to look at the books and he’s been running the company ever since.

 It wasn’t necessarily a plan he anticipated. But there’s some serendipity at play he couldn’t ignore – the rock and roll, the location, the familiar faces, the restaurant industry.

Learn more about the concept and its plans for growth in the years ahead from Alicia Kelso.

 

Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode.

Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

About the Author

Holly Petre

Assistant Digital Editor

Holly Petre is a digital editor for Nation’s Restaurant News as well as the host of NRN’s podcast, Extra Serving, and producer for Informa Restaurant and Food Group’s other three podcasts, One On One by Food Management, Off the Shelf with SN and In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn. Holly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture, fibers and Material Studies and Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A native New Yorker, Holly enjoys her place on staff as the resident pop-culture expert and millennial with a sassy attitude and great sense of style.

Holly Petre’s work on Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality often covers marketing and trends, either aimed-at or examined-through the millennial mindset. Holly is responsible for introducing TikTok and Twitch to NRN and RH readers as well as explaining terms like “Karen” to staff and readers alike. She also spends her time on staff trying not to make every headline a pun.

Holly Petre hasn’t spoken at any events or on panels, but she is readily available with a killer shoe wardrobe and several witty quips.

 

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