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David Zhao shared thisDavid Zhao’s recognition in Crain’s New York Business’ 40 Under 40 highlights the kind of innovation shaping the next generation of hospitality. Through Chubby Group and concepts like Chubby Bowls, the focus is not only on opening restaurants, but on solving real operational challenges in the industry. Automated cooking technology creates an opportunity to improve consistency, reduce physical strain on kitchen teams, and build systems that can scale without losing quality. For Chubby Group, this recognition reinforces a broader strategy: use technology, hospitality, and thoughtful concept development to build restaurants that are better for guests, stronger for operators, and more sustainable for the people behind the food. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eDCvmv42
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David Zhao shared thisChubby Cattle’s upcoming Barton Creek Square location highlights how mall dining continues to evolve. Retail destinations are no longer built around shopping alone. They need concepts that create energy, extend visits, and give guests a reason to return. By bringing premium wagyu, tabletop grilling, sushi, and an all-you-can-eat format into a high-traffic Austin mall, Chubby Cattle is positioned as more than a restaurant—it becomes part of the destination experience. For Chubby Group, this reinforces a clear strategy: place immersive dining concepts in environments where traffic, lifestyle, and customer intent already intersect. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eEAgQJkqChubby Cattle Brings All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu To Austin's Barton Creek SquareChubby Cattle Brings All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu To Austin's Barton Creek Square
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David Zhao shared thisChubby Cattle BBQ’s entry into Austin highlights how experience-driven dining continues to expand in high-growth markets. Austin’s food culture rewards concepts that bring something distinct to the table. By combining premium wagyu, interactive tabletop grilling, immersive design, and a tiered all-you-can-eat format, Chubby Cattle is positioned to offer more than a traditional restaurant visit. For Chubby Group, this reinforces a clear strategy: enter markets where customers already value quality and experience, then build concepts that can turn strong demand into long-term loyalty. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eUrT8G8UImmersive all-you-can-eat Wagyu chain plates up first Austin locationImmersive all-you-can-eat Wagyu chain plates up first Austin location
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David Zhao shared thisLuxury all-you-can-eat dining is redefining how consumers think about value. The category is no longer centered on budget buffets or volume alone. Today’s strongest concepts combine premium ingredients, theatrical service, social media relevance, and accessible luxury into one experience. The New York Times highlighted this shift, including Chubby Group’s role through Niku X and its all-you-can-eat yakiniku and hot pot concepts across the country. For Chubby Group, this reinforces a clear strategy: make premium dining more accessible without making it feel less elevated. When quality, experience, and operational execution work together, all-you-can-eat becomes more than abundance. It becomes a scalable hospitality model. Read more: https://lnkd.in/efUnBGuw
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David Zhao shared thisCustomer-led recognition is one of the clearest signals that a restaurant experience is translating beyond the dining room. A June Georgia restaurant roundup based on Yelp ratings and reviews included Chubby Cattle Shabu in Duluth among five featured locations. The recognition reflects the strength of a format built around premium ingredients, interactive dining, and a guest experience designed to be shared. For Chubby Group, this reinforces an important principle: lasting growth comes from creating experiences people want to revisit, recommend, and remember. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gXaY59TM
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David Zhao shared thisChubby Cattle’s upcoming Woodfield Mall location highlights how the role of dining within retail destinations is changing. Today’s malls are increasingly built around a full day of activity, combining shopping with fitness, entertainment, and hospitality. For experience-driven concepts, that creates an opportunity to become part of the destination itself rather than simply another place to eat. For Chubby Group, Woodfield represents a strategic fit: a high-traffic environment where interactive dining can add to the energy of the mall while giving guests a memorable reason to return. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gyC6jsTz
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David Zhao shared thisChubby Cattle’s early Plano opening offers a useful example of how restaurant concepts can differentiate through format, not just menu. Interactive dining creates a stronger guest connection by giving customers more choice, more engagement, and a more memorable reason to return. For Chubby Group, that principle remains central: combine premium ingredients with intentional experience design, then build concepts that can scale without losing what makes them distinct. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gbKwfZc5Chubby Cattle to open a location on Coit Road in PlanoChubby Cattle to open a location on Coit Road in Plano
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David Zhao shared thisChubby Social and Chubby Cove joining Topanga Social reflects a broader shift in hospitality: the strongest destinations are no longer built around a single restaurant or activity. They are designed around multiple reasons to visit, stay longer, and return. By combining food, beverage programming, entertainment, and social interaction in one environment, concepts can create more meaningful guest engagement than a traditional standalone format. For Chubby Group, this expansion represents an opportunity to bring new hospitality concepts into an experience-led destination where dining, entertainment, and community naturally intersect. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e3WtEDK3Chubby Social and Chubby Cove Set to Join Topanga SocialChubby Social and Chubby Cove Set to Join Topanga Social
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David Zhao shared thisGrowth is often measured by location count. The more important question is what that growth makes possible. Chubby Cattle’s expansion across the United States reflects an operating strategy built around more than geographic reach. Expanding across hot pot, BBQ, and shabu shabu formats while strengthening supply-chain integration can create better purchasing leverage, protect product quality, and deliver stronger value for guests. For Chubby Group, that is why scale matters: it should make the brand more consistent, more competitive, and more capable of delivering a premium guest experience in every market. Read more: https://lnkd.in/evxvfvCNChubby Cattle Expands Across America - GoVisit.GuideChubby Cattle Expands Across America - GoVisit.Guide
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David Zhao liked thisDavid Zhao liked thisExcited to share that Prysm Capital led Sequen's $90M Series B, with participation from our friends at White Star Capital (Eddie Lee) and Threshold Ventures (Lisa Xu)! 🚀 What got us to conviction: the proof lives in the customer's own numbers. Sequen's models are measured as statsig lift in live A/B tests on the customer's own instrumentation. That's one of the cleanest reward loops I've seen. The signal is real behavior, the verification is revenue, and it closes in-session. They are live with Fortune 500 customers across retail, travel, and media. And Zoë Weil has done this before, at Etsy, where her ranking work drove a billion-dollar GMV lift. What's launching alongside the round is the part I'm most excited about. Recursive Ranking Intelligence is an autonomous system that runs non-stop, designing, testing, and improving ranking models around the clock. Work that took ranking scientists months now happens in hours, and the customer owns every model it produces, not just renting it. Congrats to Zoë Weil, and the whole Sequen team. https://lnkd.in/gGabRSWxExclusive: Sequen raises $90 million at $1.4 billion valuationExclusive: Sequen raises $90 million at $1.4 billion valuation
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Kevin Maloney
Kevin Maloney
As CEO of iTrustCapital, I work closely with the board of directors and our experienced executive team to define the vision, culture, and strategic direction of an award winning fintech software platform focused on providing tax-advantaged access to alternative assets. <br><br>Working in an extremely competitive and rapidly evolving cryptocurrency and regulatory environment, I led the company's previous fundraising efforts resulting in a $130M Series A equity investment at a $1.3B+ valuation. <br><br>Over the last few years iTrustCapital has engaged with highly regulated U.S. bank and trust institutions (aka "Qualified Custodians") and other institutional service providers for liquidity and storage (Wells Fargo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Coinbase Prime, and Fireblocks) to deliver a more simple, safe, secure, and highly differentiated product offering and client experience. <br><br>Facing large traditional incumbents and new competition head on, while navigating disruptive market challenges and avoiding unnecessary client risks, my team and I have transformed iTrustCapital into an efficient, scalable, and highly profitable fintech destination platform. <br><br>With nearly 100K client-funded accounts and $18B+ in transactions executed on platform since its launch in July 2019, achieving the level of success we’ve experienced at iTrustCapital over the last few years did not come easy nor did it happen overnight.<br><br>I will continue to lead our efforts to diversify products and launch new services, while we work hard to mitigate business and client risk, and revolutionize the way in which the iTrustCapital team delivers an extraordinary client experience - with trust, transparency, and integrity at the core of everything we do.<br><br>Leveraging a strong national brand and reputation for exceptional client service - along with regulated institutional partners, proven business model, and the support of tens of thousands of loyal clients - our team is empowered to listen, learn, remove barriers, and develop customized and innovative solutions that meet specific client needs, helping them thrive beyond digital assets.<br><br>Ultimately, it’s delivering these unique solutions through an innovative, secure, low-cost, service-driven fintech platform that matters most. <br><br>So far, the 16,000+ five-star ratings we've received from our retail clients and institutional partners confirm the process is working. We will not waiver from our lean, focused approach to delivering measurable value and we will continue to innovate and iterate quickly based on valuable client and partner feedback.
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