March 19, 2025 • 20 mins
Paul Corvino sits down with Daniel Farasat, Principal of Tiger West Capital.
Daniel, a lifelong Angeleno, and a seasoned entrepreneur , with a focus on real estate development. Daniel has strategically guided the firm’s transformation from a real estate services company into a dynamic owner and operator of commercial properties. He is also leading the relaunch of the beloved Koo Koo Roo chicken chain.Koo Koo Roo was a fast-casual restaurant chain, known for itscharbroiled, skinless chicken
, that operated in Los Angeles and Southern California from 1988 to 2014, and is now making a comeback.
Daniel, a lifelong Angeleno, and a seasoned entrepreneur , with a focus on real estate development. Daniel has strategically guided the firm’s transformation from a real estate services company into a dynamic owner and operator of commercial properties. He is also leading the relaunch of the beloved Koo Koo Roo chicken chain.Koo Koo Roo was a fast-casual restaurant chain, known for itscharbroiled, skinless chicken
, that operated in Los Angeles and Southern California from 1988 to 2014, and is now making a comeback.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is CEOs you should know with division president of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I have the honor and privilege of
talking with Daniel Farisat, the founder of Tiger West Capital
and CEO of Cuckoo, the beloved California chicken chain. Hey,
well we're gonna do today is We're going to talk
about a little about your journey and what brought you
(00:23):
to the point of eventually founding your company and being
the CEO of this great chicken chain. But before we
do that, I want to ask you a couple of quick,
rapid fire questions that you've got to answer right on
the spot so that we get the brain working and
the mouth moving.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You ready, I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Okay, beat your ski, vacation beach, Michael Jordan or Tom
Brady Kobe? Oh, Beatles are Stones, Beatles, star Wars or Godfather?
Definitely Godfather, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
That's tough, Sean Connery.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You know, any everyone that says Godfather always says Sean Connery.
If they say Star Wars, they say Daniel Craig must
be an age thing celebrity.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
People say you remind them.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Of I have no idea. All right, by the end
of this episode, I'll give you one. All right, I'll
think about it. Tell me how you got started. Eventually,
I want to hear the story. I want to hear
the ride. Where are you from, How did you get
into the business in the first place?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I grew up in LA and I started in real estate.
I mean, that's my business start was there?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Where'd you go to college?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I went to the University of Colorado and I went
to USC for grad school. Grad school for what a
master in real estate development?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Okay, so you studied studied real estate from a real estate.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Family, somewhat extended family, not my immediate family, but I
have uncles and cousins and things who've been in real estate.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So you graduate with a great degree from USC in
real estate.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And what's the first job? First job was before that?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I started out as a real estate broker, focusing on
selling apartment buildings in LA and then I transitioned into
doing management and consulting in real estate, all kind of entrepreneurial.
And at that point I started, I got into grad
school USC, and.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So you were in the business and then went back.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
To grad school.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So that program you need to have some experience generally
in order for them to accept you into it. And
I did their part time program which allowed me to
go to school at night and spit in and then
still work during that time period.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Very cool. So when you got so now you've got
some experience in the business, you went to this special
program tailored for real estate business, and you graduate, and
where do you go next?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So I graduated, and you know, during the course of
that program, you know, I was I was work working
during that time, and I realized, you know, I wanted
to work for myself and start doing my own real
estate development projects. So the first thing I started doing
when I got out was was to, uh to start
looking for those projects. And it was an interesting time,
(03:15):
like we I mean, I remember it was when I
was in grad school. It was the beginning of the
great financial crisis where you know, people call it different things, right,
And my professor at the time walked into class after
Lehman Brothers and all those things said and actually, great
man Rufa Bostik, he's right now one of the he's
(03:36):
as part of the on the FED board right now,
and he said, everything I was about to teach you guys,
about this year is out the window.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
We've never seen anything.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Right after the subprime collapse, subprime collass and you're trying
to start a business when no one is lending money.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Exactly, no one's lending money, and people aren't really doing
transactions because they have no idea what's going on. There's
a lot of pain in the world. So at that point,
my plan was to go out there and buy buildings
and to do projects and get into that side of it.
And there really wasn't much going on.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So what was the first project? What was the first
building you found?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The first building I found was, you know, a couple
of years later. It took me a while to get there,
but it was a building on the corner of Melrose
and Lebray, I called Melrose Crossing. But prior to it,
to kind of figure out what to do, I started
a consulting business where we went and helped people lower
their property taxes on a contingency basis. So the market
was in a free fall. There weren't really many deals
(04:32):
to do or anything on the real estate side. So
I thought of a way to kind of use my
expertise pivot pivot at that point and kind of tread
water and buy time. And it was a great choice.
I partnered with with one of my best friends, and
it really gave me an entree to a lot of
people because I was working with them, and at the
(04:53):
same time, I got to know the market. I knew
really well, even better because I got to see values
where they were. And also, you know, what people had
to do at the point is they would send me
their books and records and I'd see how buildings were operating,
because that's, you know, the basis of a lot of
how we would help people lower the property taxes. There
were a lot of property owners suffering at the time.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Okay, so now this first building, what kind of a
building was it?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So it was an interesting buildings when I bought it.
It was a two story commercial building with a parking lot,
and it had a mix of different tenants.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It had a.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Bankruptcy of furniture store on the ground floor that was
on the brink of bankruptcy, a few other kind of
businesses there and some operatives.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Part of the shopping district on mill Rows right.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yes, just I mean just there where you know. Historically,
Melos was super hot, especially in the eighties and nineties.
It wasn't as much at that point, but this building
had been up for auction and no buyers came up.
There were people that are concerned that there may be
contamination on the site, and it had no tenants. It
was a very office building, or it was office on
(06:03):
the second floor and in retail on the ground floor
and a parking lot.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And I had comment for that area, comment for.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
That area, a really great corner. And people were a
little scared of the deal because at the point there
weren't any tenants paying. The market was still really rough
out there. So it was a little bit of a
leap of faith.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So how did you.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Raise the money to buy the building?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I mean, first, for me, even at that point, I
didn't have that much money. I was lucky enough to
or I was I was able to negotiate a deal
with the seller where I didn't have to put a
deposit down usually even to even tie it up and
do it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I got some advantages of being in tough times.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, so, I mean at that point, so I was
able with a little money to be able to go.
But at that point, while I was assessing, I went
to friends, family, acquaintances, whoever I could at that point
and was able to, uh to put together a group
to help me buy it.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Did you have to do construction work redo the building?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yes, we uh it's been you know, it's been a
little while now, but we've done everything to it. So
we so now from a tenant mix that wasn't there.
Now we have Wells Fargo on the corner. We have
another national company, Orange Theory Fitness. But my goal wasn't
as much to bring in kind of those.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Big East of like urban outfitters. Yeah, west of Oysteria
exactly got it.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, so it's it's there and uh so, but my
goal wasn't as much that Like I I like to
do projects that have a lot of neighborhoods, serving uses
and things that kind of helped the area and give
it a little bit of of a of just like.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
A good say you got your first building done, you've
got it rent, it's becoming profitable.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, what's the next step? How do you? How do
you grow from there?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So you know, kind of on not rinse, repeat, because
everything's a little different, but the same kind of thing.
I mean, that's think what I've been a students, made
money for my investors, we did well with with those,
and then I did a variety of other projects, or
it was a similar kind of thing. I think what
I do try and focus on is opportunities where other
people don't see them, or a future or a business
(08:16):
plan that's slightly a little bit different, and that's what
I've been.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Focused the idea of something that would be a little different.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So another project was it was a smaller one but
using city ordinances that are new and different at the time.
So there's something that came out at one point called
small let subdivisions. So the city never allowed something that's
common in the East Coast where you would have side
by side homes with no zero lot lines.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
It wasn't something that was allowed in the city of
Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So what we saw was an opportunity to allow people
a lower entry point to be able to own a
single family home in Los Angeles. So I bought, we
bought a duplex and we're able to turn that into
six homes that would be side by side on a
smaller lot, which hadn't happened. And did that again on
(09:11):
another site on Fairfax Or it was two single family
homes that hadn't been occupied for a really long time.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Often with entrepreneurs, they take a look at what the
rules and regulations are, they see where they could find
an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
That's exactly what you did.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, that's I mean, that's really where I tried, me
a little bit of a truffle hunter and look for
little opportunities.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
And what year was that?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
So the Melos deal was twenty twelve, these other ones
were I think twenty fifteen and sixteen.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And then how many deals have you done since then?
And bigger projects?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Not too many? Probably half a dozen since then.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well that's a.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Pretty good number.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, So then how did you wind up as you now?
You're the CEO of Okuckaroom.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Ahead of that, I mean, this is as much as
I've had pretty good success with the real estate and
create projects and grow from someone who's just you know,
doing management and brokerage and to creating kind of a
real estate ownership business, this is definitely the most exciting
thing I've been happening.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
You went, you had some chicken, You said, this is good.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So I had some chicken for a very long time.
I remember being seven eight years old and going to
the Cuckaroo on sweetsor and Beverly Boulevard and going next
door at La Cuts and getting a haircut before or after.
But so I've been a super fan for a long time.
But the actual genesis of the deal came during COVID.
During the pandemic, I was working from home. Life kind
(10:44):
of was a little bit of a sandstill, and at
that point, people were talking about the end of real
estate as we know it and the world is changing,
even people. I mean, I never got into it, but
people were selling real estate on the metaverse and you know,
and that was the things. But there was something a
little bit to people saying that maybe cities aren't going
to be they what they were before. People are going
(11:06):
to start going outlying areas. It's not going to be
as dense. People don't need to be a city so
we have to work from they don't have to work
from home. And that gave me a chance to think.
So two things kind of came to my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
One was.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Maybe looking for project outside of LA And the second
thing was I started thinking that intellectual property, people's attachment
to things that aren't real property like brands and smells
and feels or whatever it is, might.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Be the future.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And at that same time I came across and I
love to read news. I read a lot of news.
So again, you're taking an advantage. You took an advantage
during the housing crisis in two thousand and seven eight
whenever it was and you saw there was an opportunity there.
The same thing here during COVID, you saw when people
(11:58):
were worry that there was an opportunity. Yeah, I think so,
And I mean a lot of times it's not. Maybe
it's not by choice here almost get pushed into it.
But one thing that was nice is I had spent
so much time focused on work and focused on getting
things done as kind of a small shop entrepreneur, that
it gave me a little for the first time in
a long time, a chance to step back and reassess
(12:20):
kind of everything who I am as a person, a businessman,
and what I want to do in the future for
a lot of us. So it was a nice PASBA.
And spend time with my young kids at the time too,
and all of that. But what happened is an article
came up that said Texas real estate company looking to liquidate,
and I clicked on it, thinking that maybe there's an
opportunity for a real estate project that came with it,
(12:42):
and I've been kind of dancing around the restaurant space
for a long time. And in that article it mentioned
that this company also owned Cuckaroo, and I just knew
at that point that I needed to get the Cuckoo
recipes and the the rest of the intellectual property and
(13:02):
bring it.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Back, so that Cuckaroo was gone at that point was gone.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
They'd been closed. The last location closed in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
And it's a Texas company. They were only based in California.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
No, So Cuckaro as a storied history open in nineteen
eighty eight, especially for the people who uninitiated, grew to
more than fifty locations throughout the country internationally as well too.
It was started by two local la brothers. Then another
person came in ken Berg and invested money and took
(13:34):
over and grew it and went public. Leiacca was the
chairman of Cuckaro at one point and invested in the.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Coaviny stores were there at that point.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It it's I think it not concurrently, but there were
more than fifty stores that had opened over the different years,
and so it grew and continued and did different things,
and finally it closed in in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It's amazing they had it closed in twenty fourteen and
the brand is still relevant and known.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
There is a huge contingent of super fans, and since
announcing the relaunch, it's been amazing to see the reception
that it's gotten and how excited people are about it
coming back.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Okay, so now you've you've you've brought the brand and
you have those rights. Do you get anything else with that?
Any equipment that they may have had.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
It was all it was all IP.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
But we got all of the original recipes with the trademarks,
the domain, the logos, the artwork, and the other big
thing besides all of it that I am happy we
purchases the goodwill of a lot of people and also
a lot of former employees, high up executives and low
We've had so many people reach out to us since
(14:43):
since this and we've been it's been great. We've been
brought some of them on board in terms of helping
us to reopen.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So, so now you both the rights to the name.
You're a real estate guy going to open up restaurants.
What's you got to find location? And then you've got
to find the people. I'm assuming Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So I am.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You know, I've looked at myself when it comes to
this as a as being a steward of the brand
like a custodian, and my job is to still this
down to you know, what was the mission of Cuckreo
and how do I bring it back and focus on
you know, where does Cuckreo fit in the world now?
And you know, Cuckreo was the first health conscious fast
(15:25):
food restaurant that came about. It was pioneering in nineteen
eighty eight, and so we're trying to bring back that
essence of the company and make sure that it's still healthful, mindful,
and that definition of healthful has changed since nineteen eighty
eight until now, so that's being incorporated into all of
it as well too. It was a place for families
to come and also individuals to come and feel like
(15:46):
they're having a home homemade meal, and that's a big
part of it. And part of that, yes, is bringing
in people who are real restaurant operators. We have some
people that we've brought on board that were former Cuckaro
employees and others that have been involved with other fast
casual and quick serve quick serve restaurants and now we're
(16:07):
we're working on, you know, figuring out that land exactly
how this is going to go forward.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Where is this first location going to be.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
That is still tbd. So we have a couple sites
secured for hopefully number two and three, but number one
we're really searching for that iconic first location.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
But there's a couple of things to work.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
That's that's an interesting take on things. This shows how
your entrepreneurial mind works. You've got two and three located,
but you don't have number one because you want to
launch this properly with the right flagship location.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
That's exactly I mean, that's that's really that. And also
it's the timing of those other as much as you
know that's a big part is that the space has
to do a lot of things at once and help
people get to feel it. And you know, we really
want to do right by by the Kuckaro fans. Like
our social media campaign and relaunching has been really organic
(17:02):
and and people have made it very clear the stuff
they want to make sure it's coming back, and so
we're doing that. But at the same time, I want
to make sure people could come and enjoy it in
the right environment.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Have you already started working on the buildings two and
three or.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yes, Yeah, they're gonna take a little time, but yeah,
they're in the works.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I can't pull these locations out of you. I'm only
doing it for personal reasons. I live in West Hollywood,
and when you don't no longer have children, it doesn't
pay to go shopping. So I need a good, quick,
healthy place you rather than going to Whole Foods and
get something to go, I need a Cuckoo, my neighbor.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
That is the core of the brand is doing exactly
what you're saying, is something that feels homemade, clean and
is a much you know, that's you know, just like
talking about this before.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
We spent a lot of time.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I spent a lot of time before talking to people,
understanding learning about the restaurant business and also becoming a
little bit of a historian about Cuckreo. And whenever I
did bring it up to people, the amount of excitement
was there. But it's like a few series of questions
inevitably that come up, or at least comments that people
bring up. One is they'll talk about what dish was
their favorite dish, and that two is which location was
(18:19):
their location because so many people feel attached to them.
They were in a lot of different neighborhoods. And then
the you know, the third thing is sometimes people would
be like they can't believe it's not around. They just
assume that that cuckrew is still there. And I mean
those are the main thing. People were really attached to
some of the former locations and dishes. And then the
(18:41):
ultimate thing is people really tie it to a time
in their life, and a lot of it is like,
you know, people like people of you know, my generation
will be like, I remember every Tuesday night my mom was.
I mean one guy was like, my mom was a
paralegal in Santa Monica. We lived in West la She
would pick up on the way home every Tuesday night
from third to sixth grade from the location on Wilsherre
(19:04):
in twentieth and that was my meal for four years.
Or someone else is like after my first job in downtown,
you know, that was my lunch three times a week,
or you know those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I remember taking my kids. Oh well, thank thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Daniel.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Again, we're talking with Daniel Farisat, the founder of Tiger
West Capital and CEO of Cuckooo and we're very happy
to know that Cuckooo is coming back to the Los
Angeles area. Before we sign up, I've got one more
question for you. What was your favorite meal me?
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I was a big fan of the original chicken sandwich
that was That was my favorite dish there.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, thank you so much for being on.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And this is Paul Corvino, the division president of iHeartMedia
in Los Angeles, saying thank you for listening to CEOs
you should know. Listen to CEOs you should Know on
the iHeartRadio app.
This is CEOs you should know with division president of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I have the honor and privilege of
talking with Daniel Farisat, the founder of Tiger West Capital
and CEO of Cuckoo, the beloved California chicken chain. Hey,
well we're gonna do today is We're going to talk
about a little about your journey and what brought you
(00:23):
to the point of eventually founding your company and being
the CEO of this great chicken chain. But before we
do that, I want to ask you a couple of quick,
rapid fire questions that you've got to answer right on
the spot so that we get the brain working and
the mouth moving.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You ready, I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Okay, beat your ski, vacation beach, Michael Jordan or Tom
Brady Kobe? Oh, Beatles are Stones, Beatles, star Wars or Godfather?
Definitely Godfather, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
That's tough, Sean Connery.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You know, any everyone that says Godfather always says Sean Connery.
If they say Star Wars, they say Daniel Craig must
be an age thing celebrity.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
People say you remind them.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Of I have no idea. All right, by the end
of this episode, I'll give you one. All right, I'll
think about it. Tell me how you got started. Eventually,
I want to hear the story. I want to hear
the ride. Where are you from, How did you get
into the business in the first place?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I grew up in LA and I started in real estate.
I mean, that's my business start was there?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Where'd you go to college?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I went to the University of Colorado and I went
to USC for grad school. Grad school for what a
master in real estate development?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Okay, so you studied studied real estate from a real estate.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Family, somewhat extended family, not my immediate family, but I
have uncles and cousins and things who've been in real estate.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So you graduate with a great degree from USC in
real estate.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And what's the first job? First job was before that?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I started out as a real estate broker, focusing on
selling apartment buildings in LA and then I transitioned into
doing management and consulting in real estate, all kind of entrepreneurial.
And at that point I started, I got into grad
school USC, and.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So you were in the business and then went back.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
To grad school.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So that program you need to have some experience generally
in order for them to accept you into it. And
I did their part time program which allowed me to
go to school at night and spit in and then
still work during that time period.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Very cool. So when you got so now you've got
some experience in the business, you went to this special
program tailored for real estate business, and you graduate, and
where do you go next?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So I graduated, and you know, during the course of
that program, you know, I was I was work working
during that time, and I realized, you know, I wanted
to work for myself and start doing my own real
estate development projects. So the first thing I started doing
when I got out was was to, uh to start
looking for those projects. And it was an interesting time,
(03:15):
like we I mean, I remember it was when I
was in grad school. It was the beginning of the
great financial crisis where you know, people call it different things, right,
And my professor at the time walked into class after
Lehman Brothers and all those things said and actually, great
man Rufa Bostik, he's right now one of the he's
(03:36):
as part of the on the FED board right now,
and he said, everything I was about to teach you guys,
about this year is out the window.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
We've never seen anything.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Right after the subprime collapse, subprime collass and you're trying
to start a business when no one is lending money.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Exactly, no one's lending money, and people aren't really doing
transactions because they have no idea what's going on. There's
a lot of pain in the world. So at that point,
my plan was to go out there and buy buildings
and to do projects and get into that side of it.
And there really wasn't much going on.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So what was the first project? What was the first
building you found?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The first building I found was, you know, a couple
of years later. It took me a while to get there,
but it was a building on the corner of Melrose
and Lebray, I called Melrose Crossing. But prior to it,
to kind of figure out what to do, I started
a consulting business where we went and helped people lower
their property taxes on a contingency basis. So the market
was in a free fall. There weren't really many deals
(04:32):
to do or anything on the real estate side. So
I thought of a way to kind of use my
expertise pivot pivot at that point and kind of tread
water and buy time. And it was a great choice.
I partnered with with one of my best friends, and
it really gave me an entree to a lot of
people because I was working with them, and at the
(04:53):
same time, I got to know the market. I knew
really well, even better because I got to see values
where they were. And also, you know, what people had
to do at the point is they would send me
their books and records and I'd see how buildings were operating,
because that's, you know, the basis of a lot of
how we would help people lower the property taxes. There
were a lot of property owners suffering at the time.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Okay, so now this first building, what kind of a
building was it?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So it was an interesting buildings when I bought it.
It was a two story commercial building with a parking lot,
and it had a mix of different tenants.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It had a.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Bankruptcy of furniture store on the ground floor that was
on the brink of bankruptcy, a few other kind of
businesses there and some operatives.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Part of the shopping district on mill Rows right.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yes, just I mean just there where you know. Historically,
Melos was super hot, especially in the eighties and nineties.
It wasn't as much at that point, but this building
had been up for auction and no buyers came up.
There were people that are concerned that there may be
contamination on the site, and it had no tenants. It
was a very office building, or it was office on
(06:03):
the second floor and in retail on the ground floor
and a parking lot.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And I had comment for that area, comment for.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
That area, a really great corner. And people were a
little scared of the deal because at the point there
weren't any tenants paying. The market was still really rough
out there. So it was a little bit of a
leap of faith.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So how did you.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Raise the money to buy the building?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I mean, first, for me, even at that point, I
didn't have that much money. I was lucky enough to
or I was I was able to negotiate a deal
with the seller where I didn't have to put a
deposit down usually even to even tie it up and
do it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I got some advantages of being in tough times.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, so, I mean at that point, so I was
able with a little money to be able to go.
But at that point, while I was assessing, I went
to friends, family, acquaintances, whoever I could at that point
and was able to, uh to put together a group
to help me buy it.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Did you have to do construction work redo the building?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yes, we uh it's been you know, it's been a
little while now, but we've done everything to it. So
we so now from a tenant mix that wasn't there.
Now we have Wells Fargo on the corner. We have
another national company, Orange Theory Fitness. But my goal wasn't
as much to bring in kind of those.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Big East of like urban outfitters. Yeah, west of Oysteria
exactly got it.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, so it's it's there and uh so, but my
goal wasn't as much that Like I I like to
do projects that have a lot of neighborhoods, serving uses
and things that kind of helped the area and give
it a little bit of of a of just like.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
A good say you got your first building done, you've
got it rent, it's becoming profitable.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, what's the next step? How do you? How do
you grow from there?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So you know, kind of on not rinse, repeat, because
everything's a little different, but the same kind of thing.
I mean, that's think what I've been a students, made
money for my investors, we did well with with those,
and then I did a variety of other projects, or
it was a similar kind of thing. I think what
I do try and focus on is opportunities where other
people don't see them, or a future or a business
(08:16):
plan that's slightly a little bit different, and that's what
I've been.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Focused the idea of something that would be a little different.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So another project was it was a smaller one but
using city ordinances that are new and different at the time.
So there's something that came out at one point called
small let subdivisions. So the city never allowed something that's
common in the East Coast where you would have side
by side homes with no zero lot lines.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
It wasn't something that was allowed in the city of
Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So what we saw was an opportunity to allow people
a lower entry point to be able to own a
single family home in Los Angeles. So I bought, we
bought a duplex and we're able to turn that into
six homes that would be side by side on a
smaller lot, which hadn't happened. And did that again on
(09:11):
another site on Fairfax Or it was two single family
homes that hadn't been occupied for a really long time.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Often with entrepreneurs, they take a look at what the
rules and regulations are, they see where they could find
an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
That's exactly what you did.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, that's I mean, that's really where I tried, me
a little bit of a truffle hunter and look for
little opportunities.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
And what year was that?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
So the Melos deal was twenty twelve, these other ones
were I think twenty fifteen and sixteen.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And then how many deals have you done since then?
And bigger projects?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Not too many? Probably half a dozen since then.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well that's a.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Pretty good number.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, So then how did you wind up as you now?
You're the CEO of Okuckaroom.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Ahead of that, I mean, this is as much as
I've had pretty good success with the real estate and
create projects and grow from someone who's just you know,
doing management and brokerage and to creating kind of a
real estate ownership business, this is definitely the most exciting
thing I've been happening.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
You went, you had some chicken, You said, this is good.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So I had some chicken for a very long time.
I remember being seven eight years old and going to
the Cuckaroo on sweetsor and Beverly Boulevard and going next
door at La Cuts and getting a haircut before or after.
But so I've been a super fan for a long time.
But the actual genesis of the deal came during COVID.
During the pandemic, I was working from home. Life kind
(10:44):
of was a little bit of a sandstill, and at
that point, people were talking about the end of real
estate as we know it and the world is changing,
even people. I mean, I never got into it, but
people were selling real estate on the metaverse and you know,
and that was the things. But there was something a
little bit to people saying that maybe cities aren't going
to be they what they were before. People are going
(11:06):
to start going outlying areas. It's not going to be
as dense. People don't need to be a city so
we have to work from they don't have to work
from home. And that gave me a chance to think.
So two things kind of came to my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
One was.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Maybe looking for project outside of LA And the second
thing was I started thinking that intellectual property, people's attachment
to things that aren't real property like brands and smells
and feels or whatever it is, might.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Be the future.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And at that same time I came across and I
love to read news. I read a lot of news.
So again, you're taking an advantage. You took an advantage
during the housing crisis in two thousand and seven eight
whenever it was and you saw there was an opportunity there.
The same thing here during COVID, you saw when people
(11:58):
were worry that there was an opportunity. Yeah, I think so,
And I mean a lot of times it's not. Maybe
it's not by choice here almost get pushed into it.
But one thing that was nice is I had spent
so much time focused on work and focused on getting
things done as kind of a small shop entrepreneur, that
it gave me a little for the first time in
a long time, a chance to step back and reassess
(12:20):
kind of everything who I am as a person, a businessman,
and what I want to do in the future for
a lot of us. So it was a nice PASBA.
And spend time with my young kids at the time too,
and all of that. But what happened is an article
came up that said Texas real estate company looking to liquidate,
and I clicked on it, thinking that maybe there's an
opportunity for a real estate project that came with it,
(12:42):
and I've been kind of dancing around the restaurant space
for a long time. And in that article it mentioned
that this company also owned Cuckaroo, and I just knew
at that point that I needed to get the Cuckoo
recipes and the the rest of the intellectual property and
(13:02):
bring it.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Back, so that Cuckaroo was gone at that point was gone.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
They'd been closed. The last location closed in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
And it's a Texas company. They were only based in California.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
No, So Cuckaro as a storied history open in nineteen
eighty eight, especially for the people who uninitiated, grew to
more than fifty locations throughout the country internationally as well too.
It was started by two local la brothers. Then another
person came in ken Berg and invested money and took
(13:34):
over and grew it and went public. Leiacca was the
chairman of Cuckaro at one point and invested in the.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Coaviny stores were there at that point.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It it's I think it not concurrently, but there were
more than fifty stores that had opened over the different years,
and so it grew and continued and did different things,
and finally it closed in in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It's amazing they had it closed in twenty fourteen and
the brand is still relevant and known.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
There is a huge contingent of super fans, and since
announcing the relaunch, it's been amazing to see the reception
that it's gotten and how excited people are about it
coming back.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Okay, so now you've you've you've brought the brand and
you have those rights. Do you get anything else with that?
Any equipment that they may have had.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
It was all it was all IP.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
But we got all of the original recipes with the trademarks,
the domain, the logos, the artwork, and the other big
thing besides all of it that I am happy we
purchases the goodwill of a lot of people and also
a lot of former employees, high up executives and low
We've had so many people reach out to us since
(14:43):
since this and we've been it's been great. We've been
brought some of them on board in terms of helping
us to reopen.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So, so now you both the rights to the name.
You're a real estate guy going to open up restaurants.
What's you got to find location? And then you've got
to find the people. I'm assuming Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So I am.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You know, I've looked at myself when it comes to
this as a as being a steward of the brand
like a custodian, and my job is to still this
down to you know, what was the mission of Cuckreo
and how do I bring it back and focus on
you know, where does Cuckreo fit in the world now?
And you know, Cuckreo was the first health conscious fast
(15:25):
food restaurant that came about. It was pioneering in nineteen
eighty eight, and so we're trying to bring back that
essence of the company and make sure that it's still healthful, mindful,
and that definition of healthful has changed since nineteen eighty
eight until now, so that's being incorporated into all of
it as well too. It was a place for families
to come and also individuals to come and feel like
(15:46):
they're having a home homemade meal, and that's a big
part of it. And part of that, yes, is bringing
in people who are real restaurant operators. We have some
people that we've brought on board that were former Cuckaro
employees and others that have been involved with other fast
casual and quick serve quick serve restaurants and now we're
(16:07):
we're working on, you know, figuring out that land exactly
how this is going to go forward.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Where is this first location going to be.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
That is still tbd. So we have a couple sites
secured for hopefully number two and three, but number one
we're really searching for that iconic first location.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
But there's a couple of things to work.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
That's that's an interesting take on things. This shows how
your entrepreneurial mind works. You've got two and three located,
but you don't have number one because you want to
launch this properly with the right flagship location.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
That's exactly I mean, that's that's really that. And also
it's the timing of those other as much as you
know that's a big part is that the space has
to do a lot of things at once and help
people get to feel it. And you know, we really
want to do right by by the Kuckaro fans. Like
our social media campaign and relaunching has been really organic
(17:02):
and and people have made it very clear the stuff
they want to make sure it's coming back, and so
we're doing that. But at the same time, I want
to make sure people could come and enjoy it in
the right environment.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Have you already started working on the buildings two and
three or.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yes, Yeah, they're gonna take a little time, but yeah,
they're in the works.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I can't pull these locations out of you. I'm only
doing it for personal reasons. I live in West Hollywood,
and when you don't no longer have children, it doesn't
pay to go shopping. So I need a good, quick,
healthy place you rather than going to Whole Foods and
get something to go, I need a Cuckoo, my neighbor.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
That is the core of the brand is doing exactly
what you're saying, is something that feels homemade, clean and
is a much you know, that's you know, just like
talking about this before.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
We spent a lot of time.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I spent a lot of time before talking to people,
understanding learning about the restaurant business and also becoming a
little bit of a historian about Cuckreo. And whenever I
did bring it up to people, the amount of excitement
was there. But it's like a few series of questions
inevitably that come up, or at least comments that people
bring up. One is they'll talk about what dish was
their favorite dish, and that two is which location was
(18:19):
their location because so many people feel attached to them.
They were in a lot of different neighborhoods. And then
the you know, the third thing is sometimes people would
be like they can't believe it's not around. They just
assume that that cuckrew is still there. And I mean
those are the main thing. People were really attached to
some of the former locations and dishes. And then the
(18:41):
ultimate thing is people really tie it to a time
in their life, and a lot of it is like,
you know, people like people of you know, my generation
will be like, I remember every Tuesday night my mom was.
I mean one guy was like, my mom was a
paralegal in Santa Monica. We lived in West la She
would pick up on the way home every Tuesday night
from third to sixth grade from the location on Wilsherre
(19:04):
in twentieth and that was my meal for four years.
Or someone else is like after my first job in downtown,
you know, that was my lunch three times a week,
or you know those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I remember taking my kids. Oh well, thank thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Daniel.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Again, we're talking with Daniel Farisat, the founder of Tiger
West Capital and CEO of Cuckooo and we're very happy
to know that Cuckooo is coming back to the Los
Angeles area. Before we sign up, I've got one more
question for you. What was your favorite meal me?
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I was a big fan of the original chicken sandwich
that was That was my favorite dish there.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, thank you so much for being on.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And this is Paul Corvino, the division president of iHeartMedia
in Los Angeles, saying thank you for listening to CEOs
you should know. Listen to CEOs you should Know on
the iHeartRadio app.
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