Brandon Manly & Casey Cooley

Facebook Instagram

Monday, May 4, 2026

While some restaurant groups add locations, The Foundry Group builds engines.

This week, Christina Cates welcomes Brandon Manly, CEO of The Foundry Group, and Casey Cooley, Chief Development Officer of Foundry Development - two great operators who treat growth like a discipline, not a gamble.

They're redefining what it means to scale in hospitality. Not by chasing unit counts but by designing systems that make expansion repeatable, resilient, and strategically inevitable. Franchising, real estate, brand architecture, operational frameworks - they're pulling every lever turning a single successful concept into a multi-market machine.

If you've ever wondered why some brands sink and others swim, this conversation maps the difference. It's a deep dive into the mechanics behind sustainable growth, the traits of a replicable concept, and the infrastructure required to build a brand that lasts. Because the strongest brands create momentum, they don't chase it.