Sam Nazarian’s Revolutionary Platform, C3, A Cutting-Edge Food and Beverage Ecosystem, To Develop with García Full-Service and Quick Service Culinary Mediterranean Concepts with a Spanish Flair, First Outpost to open at C3’s the Citizens New York Food Hall and Virtual Kitchens Located at Manhattan West
C3 (Creating Culinary Communities), a revolutionary food and beverage platform recently launched by Sam Nazarian, has announced that it has signed an agreement with internationally acclaimed Chef Dani García to open two culinary concepts by the end of 2020: Casa Dani by Dani García, a full-service dining concept, and Minük by Dani García, a fast casual concept, both with Mediterranean flavor with a Spanish flair. Led by Chef García and Javier Gutierrez, Grupo Dani García has helmed several successful restaurants across Spain and the Middle East, including three-Michelin-star Restaurant Dani García. García and C3 plan to open an additional 15 full-service dining Casa Dani by Dani García and up to 100 quick service Minük by Dani García globally in the next five years. All of the food concepts will be developed in close collaboration with C3 Chief Culinary Officer Martin Heierling. C3 is planning to open 200 virtual kitchens by the end of 2020 including Umami Burger, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, Krispy Rice, recently launched Plant Nation and EllaMia, and more. C3 will focus on restaurant concepts made up of an array of limited service culinary brands that are both new developments and evolutions of established, highly successful full-service sbe restaurants.
“By partnering with culinary genius and entrepreneur Dani García, we are now able to bring his 3-star Michelin experience to the American palate with our “Phone to Table” philosophy under $30, in under 30 minutes. The future of dining is casual, mobile and experiential,” said sbe and C3 CEO and Founder Sam Nazarian. “Dani is a globally renowned chef and a true culinary innovator. He and his team are an exciting complement to C3 and together we look forward to creating a new food and beverage paradigm. I cannot wait to launch our incredible concepts in the core of Manhattan at our Citizens location.”
García said, “The collaboration with sbe, Simon, and Accor will be a great step for Grupo Dani García. Together with Sam Nazarian and his team, we have found the best possible partnership, as we share similar business philosophies on how to maximize synergies between lifestyle and elevated dining experiences. Our respective visions are acutely aligned, and we are committed to developing a revolutionary culinary culture that will adapt sbe/C3’s lifestyle concepts with our food brands.”
Casa Dani by Dani García, a Mediterranean full-service dining concept with Spanish flair to open as part of this collaboration, will arrive in 2020 in C3’s recently announced hospitality project Citizens. This 40,000-square-foot culinary destination by award-winning designer David Rockwell is being developed by Brookfield Properties at Manhattan West in Manhattan.
The second concept, Minük by Dani García, a quick-service Mediterranean concept with Spanish flair, also slated for launch in Q4 2020 at Citizens, will be available in various C3 ghost kitchens across the United States. These undertakings will mark the first time Grupo Dani García has brought Chef Garcia’s world-renowned culinary style to the United States.
García, the celebrated Andalusian chef at the helm of multiple Michelin-starred restaurants is a leader in Spanish cuisine. After opening his first informal concept restaurant within the Hotel Puente Romano in Marbella, he launched his groundbreaking and democratic concept-driven restaurants BiBo Madrid and Marbella-based Lobito de Mar. In the middle of 2019, García jumped from his restaurant kitchen to the stoves of the Spanish TV program Hacer de Comer, fulfilling his dream of bringing his cuisine to households all over Spain. Delivering on an ambitious growth strategy, he has since opened BiBo Beach House in Tarifa, his most travel-inspired concept, adapted to the Valdevaqueros beach, and he has carried the gastronomical experience of Lobito de Mar to Madrid. On June 18, Leña, a casual dining steak house that applies fresh and modern tastes to classic culinary traditions, will open at the previous location of the three-star Michelin Dani García Restaurant.
Uniting established and new proprietary brands, C3 and Grupo Dani García will leverage complementary expertise to address the rapidly changing F&B landscape, with an emphasis on experiential, globally minded culinary offerings. In addition to a full-service establishment, the two partners will also open a quick service restaurant, initially within Citizens, capitalizing on the evolution of consumer preferences toward casual and mobile culinary moments.
