He signed a $1,500-a-month lease in a “dump” called Tribeca with $50,000 he didn’t have, and forty years later that gamble grew into Nobu — a restaurant brand now worth roughly $300 million. Drew Nieporent is the founder of Myriad Restaurant Group and co-founder of Nobu alongside Robert De Niro and chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and the author of the new book I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult: Stories From the Restaurant Trenches. He started at McDonald’s at 17, worked cruise ships as a “Russian service” waiter he’d never actually done before, and opened Montrachet in 1985 — earning three New York Times stars in seven weeks on a $16 prix fixe menu. Over four decades he opened more than 40 restaurants, including Tribeca Grill, Corton, Bâtard, and Rubicon in San Francisco with Robin Williams and Francis Ford Coppola as partners.
✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn:
Started at McDonald’s at 17 as the quarter-pound grill man
Opened Montrachet in 1985, three stars on a sixteen dollar menu
Recruited by Robert De Niro to open Tribeca Grill
Nobu turned him down twice before saying yes
Nobu is now worth roughly $300 million
First restaurateur to put a chef’s name on the menu
Ran the Madison Square Garden burger concession for 12 years
Wrote the memoir “I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult”
Survived a stroke, kidney cancer, and is now battling leukemia
Three restaurants at one Tribeca address held three stars for decades
🌟 Drew’s Key Mentors:
Robert De Niro: Recruited him for Tribeca Grill and backed Nobu from day one
Warner LeRoy: Employer at Maxwell’s Plum and Tavern on the Green, modeled scale and spectacle
George Lang: Fellow restaurateur who pushed him toward treatment at the Mayo Clinic
His Father: State Liquor Authority official who exposed him to New York’s best restaurants as a child
Nobu Matsuhisa: Creative partner in building one of the industry’s most recognized brands
👉 Nieporent has never had a favorite restaurant among the 40-plus he’s opened — but as he puts it, when a place lasts 30 or 40 years, “it shows that my things lasted
🔗 Connect with Drew Nieporent:
Instagram: Drew Nieporent
📄 Transcript Available: Forty Restaurants, One Neighborhood, and a Life Drew Nieporent Has No Regrets About
📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast
🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast
📄 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency – Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line
Website: addbackbenefits.com
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:32 Eating at NYC’s best restaurants as a kid through his father’s liquor license job
6:43 Working the grill at McDonald’s at 17 and learning “nobody’s a specialist”
11:50 Landing a cruise ship waiter job despite having zero real experience
17:10 Opening Montrachet in Tribeca and earning three stars in seven weeks
26:54 Robert De Niro asks him to open Tribeca Grill together
30:04 How Nobu almost never happened and grew into a $300 million brand
40:10 Writing “I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult” and getting “voted off the island” at Nobu Hotels
47:03 Building the Daily Burger at Madison Square Garden
56:38 Weight gain, a stroke, kidney cancer, and a leukemia diagnosis
1:03:57 What he wants to be remembered for
#InspiredStoriesPodcast #Hospitality #Restaurants #Nobu #Entrepreneurship #NewYorkCity #FineDining #HealthJourney
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