Food & Beverage

Chef Dani Garcia opening fast casual concept

Spanish chef, Dani García, is opening a fast casual concept — Minük by Dani García —  in partnership with C3. Provided

June 9, 2020

Spanish chef, Dani García, is opening a fast casual concept — Minük by Dani García —  in partnership with C3, a food and beverage platform launched earlier this year by Sam Nazarian. The deal also includes Casa Dani by Dani García, a full-service concept. Both menus specialize in Mediterranean flavor with a Spanish flair, according to a company press release. Each will open by the end of the year in C3's hospitality project, Citizens, a 40,000-square-foot culinary destination in Manhattan.

Led by Chef García and Javier Gutierrez, Grupo Dani García has helmed several restaurants across Spain and the Middle East, including triple Michelin-starred, Restaurant Dani García. García and C3 plan to open 15 full-service dining Casa Dani by Dani García and up to 100 Minük by Dani García locations 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 — which is planning to open 200 virtual kitchens by the end of 2020, including Umami Burger, Sam's Crispy Chicken, Krispy Rice and Plant Nation —  focuses on limited-service culinary brands that are both new developments and evolutions of established, successful full-service restaurants.

"By partnering with culinary genius and entrepreneur Dani García, we are now able to bring his three-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," C3 CEO and founder Sam Nazarian said in the release. "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."

Although Minük will first open inside Citizens, the concept will be available in C3 ghost kitchens across the United States.

Grupo Dani García houses the restaurants BIBO (Marbella, Madrid, Tarifa and Doha, Spain), Lobito de Mar (Marbella and Madrid) and Leña, which will open June 18  in Marbella. In addition to these restaurants, the group has the catering line, Eventos Dani García, which operates throughout Spain and Atelier Dani García, which is the chef's R&D center in Marbella.