After a year and a half in the Commercial Real Estate industry, Jay became Starbucks Coffee’s exclusive broker in 2002. This opportunity paved the way for Jay to learn how to develop and execute a market strategy from one of the most successful companies in the world. Jay and his team went on to represent Starbucks for 18 years, completing just shy of 200 locations.
2003
Jay was in Los Angeles visiting college friends from The University of Arizona and discovered a unique concept that stood out to him from the window of a FedEx Kinkos he was remotely working out of. He quickly became obsessed and used his early knowledge from representing Starbucks to convince Chipotle corporate that he could help them develop their rollout strategy in New York. Jay was hired and worked directly with founder Steve Ells, Monty Moran, Marc Frankel, and the team to create and execute the strategy.
2006
In late 2006, a week into transitioning to CB Richard Ellis, Jay called Massage Envy Corporate. They connected him with Jerome Kern and Dave Long, area developers for multiple states. Jay called Jerome, who informed him that they were working with another broker but would be in NY the following week. Jay asked, “When do you land in NY?”. Jerome responded “Sunday morning…” Jay said, “I will pick you up from the airport and tour you on Sunday.” After a very successful tour, Jerome informed Jay he was hired, and he canceled his scheduled tours with his existing broker.
2007
While touring clients in South Florida in 2007, Jay received a call from Jerome Kern from Massage Envy. He informed Jay that he had discovered a new concept in Florida and planned to turn it into a franchise. Jay detoured his tour with his clients to visit the first European Wax Center location. Jerome and Dave went on to successfully roll out EWC as a franchise, and Jay’s clients became the first area developers for the brand in New York.
2008
Jay was on a Massage Envy tour in NYC with Jerome and April Kern on a beautiful Saturday in 2008. April told Jerome and Jay about a fantastic concept called Ellen’s Ultimate Workout that she thought had great potential to become a fitness franchise. Once Jay and Jerome stopped laughing at the name of the business. April convinced Jerome to set up a meeting with Ellen. That meeting was the creation of OrangeTheory Fitness. Jay went on to assist Jerome and Dave Long in creating the real estate development strategy from the ground floor.
2010
The founders of ACFP engaged Jay to help the successful South Florida chain expand across the East Coast. Jay and his team successfully designed and executed a strategy to open multiple locations in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. This successfully executed strategy grew the restaurant chain to over 50 locations and set the founders up with a successful exit to L Catteron in 2016.
2012
In early 2012 Jay and his team were engaged by Equinox to help them design and execute their rollout strategy for their new concept Blink Fitness in NY and NJ. This partnership helped Blink Fitness define a new category of premium affordable fitness.
2016
In early 2016, Jay was introduced to Anne Mahlum by her Metro DC real estate broker to assist in developing and executing the national rollout strategy. Anne informed Jay that she would like to open 100 studios and exit in the next five years. Jay responds, “I can absolutely help you do that, lets get started!”. Jay and his team successfully opened the 100th [solidcore] location in Santa Monica CA, on May 6th, 2023, and Anne had a very successful exit a few short weeks later. Jay and his team are still involved in the national real estate program for [solidcore].
2019
Jay was tapped by the DryBar founding team in 2019 to help them successfully turn SQUEEZE into a national franchise. A national pandemic could not stand in their way, and there are currently over 30 locations open or under development in 15 states!
