Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.

I am Sam Ocas, editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I offer you an all-access

paths to the restaurant industry's most

influential decision-makers.

This week, I am resharing a conversation from last summer with Maria Rivera, the CEO of Smoll's

Sliders.

There are a couple of reasons why I wanted to share this conversation again.

For starters, it is chock-full of practical tips from one of the smartest and most humble

leaders in food service today. So if you didn't hear it the first time, now is your chance to learn

from one of the best. Also, ever since we had this conversation last summer in Maria's office

in Atlanta, Smalls has enjoyed tremendous growth and today has 250 locations either open or in

development and that includes its first foray into corporate store development which they just

announced. Finally and most importantly, I am excited to say that Maria is one of our keynote speakers

at this year's NRN Investment Summit,

which is kicking off our Create event for emerging restaurateurs in the fall.

The Investment Summit is an opportunity for emerging restaurant leaders to meet with members

of the investment community for education and networking, and Maria will be joined by

Smalls and Walk On's founder

Brandon Landry, as well as Morven Groves from their investor 10-point capital to share how

these brands both tapped into 10-point to accelerate their growth. If you're an emerging

restaurant founder or leader, the investment summit is the perfect opportunity to accelerate your growth. It is this October 8th through 9th in Nashville, and it leads right into Create, which is October 9th through 11th in Nashville. We already have more than a dozen investors lined up for the Investment Summit and more to be announced soon, but space

for operators is limited. Be sure to head to create.nrn.com to register for both the investment

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