Eggs Up Grill Opens First Franchise in Orlando With Husband-and-Wife Franchisee Team

Kate Rozen and Geoffrey Giordano, a husband-and-wife duo from Hunter’s Creek, Florida, are set to open the first location for the South Carolina-based breakfast, brunch and lunch concept Eggs Up Grill in Orlando.

Rozen has over 20 years of global advertising experience with brands such as Motorola, Samsung, IBM and Pepsi. She was also the national brand leader for companies including Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications (d/b/a Spectrum). Three years ago, Rozen started a brand consulting firm of her own where she continues to work with top corporate clients. On top of that, she has also been raising her two young children with Giordano. 

Giordano has lived in Orlando for the past 20 years while working for hospitality companies including Disney, Marriott International and Planet Hollywood. After moving to Florida from the Northeast and owning his own landscaping business, he became general manager at a local bar and grill in Hunter’s Creek, where he and Rozen soon started a family of their own and are currently raising kids ages five and six. After 12 years leading teams at Orlando flagship properties for JW Marriott and Marriott World Center, Giordano wanted to return to the restaurant space and to spend more time with his family at home. 

Based on the success of Eggs Up Grill in the Southeast, the couple signed a three-unit franchise deal with the growing 40-unit breakfast, lunch and brunch concept. The couple looks forward to marking the brand's first expansion into Orlando and is currently scouting real estate in Orange County, Florida.

1851 Franchise: Tell us your story – what did you do before franchising? 

Kate Rozen: I worked at a couple of large-scale advertising agencies in New York City, including BBDO and Ogilvy. I then left agency life and transitioned to brand strategy and marketing roles within Fortune 150 companies, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications (d/b/a Spectrum). For the last three years I’ve owned my brand consulting business, focusing mainly on the media, tech and education spaces. 

Geoff Giordano: I moved to Orlando 20 years ago to work in hospitality and tourism for Disney and Planet Hollywood. I then headed to a local, neighborhood restaurant in Hunter’s Creek as general manager. After four years there, I was recruited to work at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes and then transferred to the 2,000-room Orlando World Center – the largest Marriott-branded property in their portfolio.  I chose to leave Marriott in 2019 to spend more time with my family and began researching my best opportunity in franchising.   

1851: How did you initially find out about franchising? 

Giordano: I wanted to take my skills from Marriott, which include running successful restaurant outlets with large teams and lots of players, into a new space. I knew a lot about the benefits of franchising and the value of being an entrepreneur in terms of the good you can bring to your community. I am also a former high school basketball coach, so I was looking to start a business in a family-friendly community with the support of a larger team behind me. 

1851: Why did you pick franchising over starting your own business?

Giordano: After working in the corporate world and spending the last 12 years with Marriott working mostly with tourists, I wanted to try something new, but related, and I began looking for hometown franchise opportunities that would be flexible and allow me to spend more time with my family. A franchise provides support and shared services, so you feel you have a solid, smart team backing you up. I emailed the Eggs Up Grill corporate team on New Year’s Eve. We have been in conversation with them since the start of 2020.  

Rozen: I have a marketing and branding background. My husband Geoff has a restaurant background and seriously knows the food and beverage space. We feel we make a great fit working together in restaurant management.

1851: What types of brands did you look at?

Giordano: We know a lot about restaurant franchises, and since the beginning, Eggs Up Grill rose to the top and stayed there. We were looking for a restaurant brand that would be new, yet family-oriented and authentic for our home community.  

1851: Why did you pick Eggs Up Grill? What excited you most about the brand’s potential?

Rozen:  We chose them for three main reasons: their brand, their leadership and the opportunity it presented for us to be successful.  We will bring the first Eggs Up Grill to the Orlando market. The opportunity in this market is immense because of the large amounts of tourism and number of family-like communities. That aligns perfectly with the Eggs Up brand, which is very warm and welcoming. 

Giordano: All in all, we’re the most excited to build a business for the first time together and give back to local families and communities.  We know what it takes to make a restaurant a success, and the most important part is great people. Plus, the hours will work well for us, since we have small kids at home.

1851: What are your dreams with the business? What does the future look like?

Rozen: Our dream is to begin with our first location and quickly expand from there. Ideally, we’ll find some real estate near our home in or around Hunter’s Creek. Plus, we love the University of Central Florida and medical area. We’ll also look at areas with a great intersection of residential, business and retail space. 

Giordano: We want to grow the brand in Orlando, and possibly beyond. Eggs Up Grill has had a lot of excitement this past year, press-wise, growth-wise and leadership-wise. We’re taking this time to scout real estate for our first location, aiming to open by spring of 2021 — and on and on from there if all goes as we hope.

1851: What value do you see your business providing to the greater Orlando community? 

Rozen: Our love for family is something that we hope seeps into every aspect of the dining experience when you walk through the door. The relationship we have as partners and parents will help guide us to find the right staff and to bring in repeat customers. Eggs Up Grill is all about neighbors serving neighbors. 

1851: You mentioned that you want to spread the love you share within your family to the community as a part of your role with Eggs Up Grill. Can you tell us more about your family?

Rozen: We have a son, Jack who is six and in first grade, and a daughter Ellie, who is a new kindergartener. We are doing virtual learning with their school right now. We also have a 23-year-old daughter, Sabrina, who lives nearby in Winter Springs. 

Giordano: The timing was perfect. Our kids are the right age to bring them into the restaurants and to be able to enjoy our time together outside of business hours. We hope our future staff feels the support and joy from us that they then can carry to their own customer interactions. We want to create a family atmosphere while building a solid, smart business.