Canadian restauranteur and Gusto 54 Restaurant Group CEO Janet Zuccarini funded the buyout of her former restaurant partner with wedding money from her father—and never took any outside money to grow her now multi-restaurant empire. But in 2019, Zuccarini is looking to outside funding for expansion.
The restauranteur, who is currently working on opening five new restaurants to add to her growing portfolio, said at Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit in Toronto on Tuesday that the group is “just getting warmed up,” with plans to expand not only into new buildings, but into a new, hot space in 2019.
Gusto 54, whose brand has largely been defined by a focus on health, is dabbling in cannabis-infused food in Toronto—and, soon, in the U.S.
“We have a new concept that is opening in downtown L.A. called Gusto Green, and the focus really is about health and wellness, and we truly believe that cannabis is going to play a part in that,” Zuccarini says.
Although infusing food with cannabis or extracts like THC or CBD is currently illegal in the States, Zuccarini says the restaurant group is currently experimenting with infusing foods at dinner parties in Toronto, and plans to do the same in LA.
“When it becomes legal, we will then infuse the food with THC and CBD, which is really going to be like alcohol is today,” she says.
But all this expansion is going to cost some green.
Along with the push into cannabis, Gusto 54 is switching up their strategy by looking for private equity partners to fund their new expenses—including new restaurants that take around $5 million a pop to open, Zuccarini estimates.
“Moving forward, I’m going to look for a new way to grow the company. Anyone want to invest?” the CEO asked.
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