About Us

We are a strategic real estate partner with today’s leading restaurant and entertainment concepts. Our clients are highly selective with their growth and require great understanding of their concepts. We are passionate about our relationships and concepts that impact our quality of life and environment.

Mathew Focht

Mathew Focht

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Mathew has served the top restaurant-entertainment concepts in providing comprehensive real estate services for over 15 years. Services include creating strategic growth plans, site analytics, and securing real estate sites. Mathew has served hundreds of restaurant-entertainment owners and developers of lifestyle and mix-use centers.

Mathew has worked with following restaurants and entertainment concepts; Bar Louie, Silverspot Cinema, The PUB, Levity Live, Improv Comedy Club, AZN, TAPS, Adobe Gilas, Concepts America, Devons Seafood, Houlihans, Cheesecake Factory, Brio, Bravo, McCormick & Schmick, Blue Martini, Hyde Park Steakhouse, BICE, Lucky Strike, and many other restaurants.

Prior, Mathew was Principal of Sierra Advisors and Vice President of RKF Retail Property Advisors providing comprehensive leasing, marketing, and consulting services to owners and developers of malls, lifestyle centers, and mixed-use projects. Responsible for securing national expansion sites for over a dozen top restaurant and entertainment emerging chains and executing leasing for the restaurant tenant mix of 400,000-square-foot mixed-use development New City in Chicago, IL; 350,000-square- feet of lifestyle retail space at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, PA; the 400,000-square-foot mixed use portion of Mercato in Naples FL, and the 250,000-square-foot lifestyle retail portion of Towne Place at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, NJ.

Prior to RKF, Mathew was with Pyramid Companies and Steiner & Associates where he was responsible for leasing the firm's superior-regional mall redevelopments and mixed-use lifestyle projects. He has consulted on projects in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, and Florida.

Mathew earned a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Real Estate and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He is a member of International Council of Shopping Centers, Urban Land Institute, and National Restaurant Association.

David Stockwell 

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David Stockwell is the Vice President of Emerging-Concepts and is located in the Charlotte, North Carolina office. David's expertise and passion in real estate stems from his unique background of working both on the retail and development side of the shopping center industry.  His career started with General Growth Properties Inc. as a Regional Leasing Agent where David was responsible for leasing shopping centers in the Philadelphia, Delaware, and Baltimore markets.   After working for GGP, David chose to broaden his horizons and became a Retail Broker with The McDevitt Company. With The McDevitt Company, he oversaw all lease negotiations and site selections for Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, We the Free, Terrain, Paper-Source, L'Occitane En Provence, Blue Mercury and Blu Sushi in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.   Prior to coming on board with Emerging - Concepts, David was a Retail Site Specialist for Katz and Associates in their Charlotte Office.  He oversaw site selection and lease negotiations for Bar Louie (NC/SC), Pholiciulous Inc., TCBY, Yong Kong Street, FUWA Teppanyaki, Wireless World, and Pinot's Palette. David was also responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities with landlords and tenants seeking opportunities.

Ashley Robinson joined EMERGING as Vice President. Ashley will utilize her vast knowledge and leverage the many brands within the Emerging family to help restaurants grow sucessfully. Under the platform Emerging offers, Ashley brings multi layered solutions for her clients in all aspects of their business, allowing the real estate and the the brick and mortar locations to thrive. Ashley is excited to put her passion and expertise to work for today’s best brands and help make them tomorrow’s success stories. Ashely finds true passion for those brands she has the has the pleasure of working with. While obtaining her BA in Political Science and International Relations at UCLA, she was recruited by Main and Main, Inc. a boutique tenant representation company, and has now been in Commercial Real Estate for almost 15 years. After 7 years as a Broker in Los Angeles specializing in growing restaurants, Ashley went in-house as Director of Real Estate for retailer Coldwater Creek, Inc. for over 3 years. This experience allowed Ashley to learn big and small markets alike, from Seattle, WA to Durango, CO. In 2011, Ashley diversified her experience further and learn dealmaking from the “other side of the table” with LA based mixed-use developer, CenterCal Properties, LLC. As Sr. Leasing Director, Ashley worked on several outdoor regional lifestyle properties, with focused efforts in N. CA, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Salt Lake, UT and Boise, ID. Working on the Landlord side allowed Ashley to enrich the surrounding communities in which she worked and develop a Million SF shopping center from dirt. This tenure also allowed her to work with small local business owners and help them bring their dreams to life. While a smaller part of her career, working as a Landlord/Developer was one of the most rewarding times in her professional development. In an effort to dive further into the world of growing restaurants, Ashley joined Kona Grill, Inc. in 2016 to lead their real estate efforts in North America. Living and breathing the P+L from an in-house perspective and working the entire country, from Puerto Rico to Hawaii, elevated her expertise to that within the top-tiers in the industry. Through Emerging, Ashley was retained by Kona Grill and continues to act as their in-house real estate expert as well as others.

Alan Katz

Alan Katz

Spending the majority of his career in hospitality, Alan brings extensive experience and knowledge in fundamental business facets including real estate, data analytics/site selection, supply chain, operations, marketing, and technology. Inherently entrepreneurial, Alan has been a cornerstone in building the EMERGING family of companies. Over the years, Alan has worked closely with hundreds of leading restaurant and entertainment groups throughout the country; consulting on creating strategic real-estate expansion plans, fundraising, and building supply chain infrastructures. Alan deploys a dynamic understanding of both growth and operations; having been instrumental in creating back-of-house efficiencies and reducing cost through negotiating distribution agreements, manufacturer contracts, and implementing technologies to help optimize day-to-day operations. Alan holds a degree from Depaul University in History/Pre-Law and Hospitality Management and Leadership. He holds his real estate license in Illinois and is an active member of ICSC.

Robert Johnson

As a Director in the Chicago office, Robert is responsible for national tenant representation and leasing. Robert acts as a strategic partner in US expansion for leading restaurant and entertainment concepts. He has also led the restaurant and entertainment leasing at top lifestyle centers around the country. Prior to joining the Emerging Concepts Team in 2016, Robert worked in real estate acquisitions and finance. Robert earned his bachelors degree in Economics from Indiana University and a Master of Science in Real Estate Finance from DePaul University, Chicago. He holds his real estate license in Florida and Illinois and is an active member of ICSC and CCIM.

Megan Schmidt

Megan Schmidt is an Associate at Emerging Concepts, with responsibility for national tenant representation and leasing, market research, and supporting all members of the leasing team. Prior to joining EMERGING, Megan worked as a Senior Analyst at EY, a big-four accounting firm, in their Transaction Real Estate group, performing commercial valuations in almost every asset class including, hotels, industrial, medical, and retail. Megan earned a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in Real Estate & Urban Land Economics and Marketing. She holds her real estate license in Illinois and Wisconsin and is an active member of the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association and mentor in the Wisconsin Real Estate Student Mentorship Program.

  • OLD TOWN POUR HOUSE

    At Bottleneck Management we focus on giving customers a memorable experience with our upbeat and vibrant atmosphere at Old Town Pour House.  We are very selective on finding the best location to meet our goals.  Together, Emerging Concepts and Bottleneck Management have produced a real estate road map for our restaurant growth, which we expect to execute for years to come.    We see Emerging Concepts as a tremendous partner on helping determine the markets and opportunities as we growth nationally.

    Chris Bisaillon
    CO-OWNER OF BOTTLENECK MANAGMENT

  • SILVERSPOT CINEMA

    In 2005, when we decided to open units in the U.S., our goal was to introduce to the market a boutique, no hassle movie – going experience where we would take care of you, so you could relax, lose yourself, and focus on being creatively inspired and entertained. We over delivered our promise to a new untapped segment with patrons that are now loyal and frequent movie goers of Silverspot. For us, one of the utmost important decisions is to determine and find what markets to expand.  That’s when we teamed up with Emerging Concepts to lead our efforts throughout the U.S.

    Over the past 5 years, Emerging Concepts and Silverspot have worked together on strategy and execution. From Naples Mercato to expansion in four states, our partnership  has  proven  positive  results.  The  Emerging  Concepts  team  is incredibly  diligent,  strategic,  and  dedicated  to  building  relationships  that  help deliver our cinema experience to the right markets.

    GONZALO ULIVI
    CEO OF SILVERSPOT AND CINES UNIDOS

  • FLIP SIDE AND 3 PALMS
    The Emerging Concepts has great knowledge of the restaurant landscape, they focus on what’s important to me and yet educate me on the markets to be confident about real estate decisions. The work with integrity and engage the relationships on both sides to create a win-win and partnership.

    MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
    PRESIDENT OF FLIP SIDE AND 3 PALMS
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