Webinar/Podcast

Lauren Fernandez with Full Course

Welcome to the Corner Booth!

Join hosts Chris Tripoli and Barry Shuster and their guests for a podcast for anyone who is starting a restaurant business, growing an independent restaurant business, or dreaming about starting an independent restaurant business.

Learn from successful restaurateurs who share their stories WHY they got into the business and HOW they created and built their winning concepts.

Corner Booth is a production of RestaurantOwner.com and its official magazine, Restaurant Startup & Growth.

So grab your favorite beverage, have a seat, and listen in!

Lauren Fernandez is the founder and CEO of Full Course, a three-year-old foodservice business incubator/accelerator and private equity firm. Lauren followed her love for food and interest in working closer to the consumer market into the restaurant business following her career as an attorney advising and representing pharmaceutical companies.

Her transition into the restaurant industry began with creating a business partnership for the purchase of three Chicken Salad Chick franchised locations. She added eight additional units to her enterprise, developed a catering and delivery program at the units, and sold them to Chicken Salad Chick Corporation in 2018.

In this episode, Lauren describes her path to founding Full Course. She says she realized "a true development solution was needed to assist small restaurant companies and Full Course was created to fill that need," says Lauren. Full Course assists startups with education, operations management, and raising capital, putting proverbial skin in the game with an equity interest in the businesses.

Lauren's advice for independent restaurant operators wanting to succeed and grow includes balancing labor and technology, building loyalty through quality and guest satisfaction, and playing the long game to build true brand value.