CapRock Services and chef John Tesar to partner with Chanticleer Holdings to open fast-casual restaurants and Spoon spin-offs

If you don’t follow the business of restaurants closely, you might be surprised to learn that few chefs actually own their own restaurants. Most use a combination of financing––friends, family, outside investors––to come up with the cash needed to open a restaurant. If the restaurant is successful — and that’s a big IF —  a restaurant often pays back its investors with a healthy return.  Spoon Bar & Kitchen, chef John Tesar’s restaurant, has been terrifically successful in its first year.

CapRock Services, the Dallas-based firm that provided Spoon much of its working capital, will soon announce that they are partnering with Chanticleer Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTR) to help Tesar expand the Spoon brand into fast-casual dining spinoffs and new ventures. Tesar told me they won’t all be seafood-focused.

The partnership is about to close a huge deal in Dallas that will allow Tesar to stretch his wings. In these new ventures, Tesar says he’ll create the menu and concept and hire an exec chef to execute the plan.

“I’ll still be cooking on the line at Spoon every night,” he told me. “Spoon is my baby.”

Oh, and what else does Chanticleer Holdings, Inc., own? Hooters of America, an operator and the franchisor of over 412 Hooters restaurants in 28 countries.