Jeff Gothard

Jeff Gothard spent his youth in idyllic Southern California. Most of his time was spent studying and playing competitive junior tennis, both of which landed him at Princeton University where he fell in love with creative pursuits, primarily writing, directing and acting in the theater. After some years of wanderlust through the hills of Northern Alabama, the mountains of Wyoming and the coastlines of Peru and Chile, he found himself back in LA pursuing a career in entertainment. While doing so, he supported himself by running Blockbuster Videos. First one, and then many. He fell in love with running brick and mortar businesses, especially seeing how inspiring, training and connecting with his teams would almost always have a direct result in sales and profits.

In 2005, Austin called and he moved with his wife to start a family and dive headfirst into a long burning obsession - restaurants. He spent eight years at Schlotzsky's/Focus Brands/Roark Capital learning the trade, from Franchise Consulting to running Training and Co-Branding.

During this time he was blessed with two daughters who continue to delight and amaze him. He also spent a few years getting his executive MBA at The University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

After Schlotzsky's, he joined Ramen Tatsu-ya, a successful single location startup on the verge of expansion. Having a mother who was born and raised in Japan, this cuisine and company truly spoke to Jeff. During his nine years at Tatsu-ya, he was the driving force in all aspects of the business, leading the development, finance, marketing and operations teams as partner and COO. He helped grow the company into a powerhouse restaurant group in the highly competitive culinary landscape of Austin, opening multiple award-winning concepts and overseeing expansion beyond Austin.

Partner & Co-Founder