Local Favorite Restaurants gains momentum by putting people first
3 Min Read
Local Favorite Restaurants counts nearly 100 locations among 10 concepts.Local Favorite Restaurants
Dallas native Mike Karns’ career experience runs deep, spanning both the real estate and hospitality industries. He is the sole owner of Local Favorite Restaurants, which counts nearly 100 locations among 10 concepts. He also directs the operations of sibling companies Triton Commercial Real Estate and Karns Commercial Real Estate.
He started that career as a busser, which established a hospitality mindset and set the foundation for Local Favorite’s philosophy of being a people-first organization rife with career opportunities. In June, for instance, the company acquired Cotton Patch Café, adding 46 locations to the portfolio instantaneously. In the process, Kyle Wright moved from senior director of marketing for Cotton Patch to vice president of marketing for Local Favorite Restaurants.
“One of our core pillars is to be the No. 1 career opportunity. Many people from throughout our concepts started as a host, or a bartender, or, like Mike, a busser, and worked their way up through the ranks supporting much larger initiatives,” Wright said. “That’s our differentiator — Mike recognizes talent and puts aces in places.”
Kailey Peck joined the organization in late 2025 and is now the chief of staff. She said the company makes decisions through the lens of how it can benefit its people, as well as its customers and communities.
“We think of it as purpose-driven profits,” she said. “Mike has been able to provide a career path for 3,000 people across 10 brands. That’s his passion and what makes us different. It’s not just a job.”
Local Favorite Restaurants also stands out with a diverse portfolio of 10 concepts, from the historic, 108-year-old El Fenix — which was Karns’ first restaurant acquisition — to the proprietary MesoMaya, co-created by Karns and Executive Chef Nico Sanchez. There’s the Village Burger Bar and Snuffer’s, which also specializes in burgers (as well as original cheddar fries). If you’re in the mood for Chinese, you can hit up Wokstar. And now, if you want a steakhouse/date night vibe, you can visit Cotton Patch.
Three out of the group’s 10 concepts are proprietary — Wokstar, Meso Maya, and Taqueria La Ventana — while the others have been acquired, including Campuzano at the end of 2025.
Karns only acquires brands that resonate with him personally, Wright said.
“He could be offered 100 [chain restaurants], but if there is no personal connection, it doesn’t matter how much money it will make him. He needs it to speak to him as a restaurateur,” Wright said.
Peck added that the concept also has to make sense amid the company’s broader portfolio.
“What makes the brands special is what makes [Karns] move. He wants to learn something, and our job in the support center is to support them, not corporatize them,” she said.
Local Favorite Restaurants traces its history back to 2008 when Karns acquired El Fenix. It was then called Firebird Restaurant Group, but Karns changed the name in 2019 to reflect the increasingly diverse portfolio.
“We want to be the local favorite. Everybody has a favorite restaurant for a reason, and we want to be that restaurant, whether it’s service, cuisine, a place to hang out,” Wright said. “If we’re going to be the local favorite for everybody, we need to have variety and diversification.”
There are plenty of synergies between the brands, however. Best practices on training, cuisine, value, systems, and processes are shared across the company, for instance.
“If Campuzano is bringing a lot of guests back, we will try to understand how to support them and take that across our brands,” Peck said. “Cotton Patch is new, but we can learn from their different experience from being private equity owned. Every moment is a learning opportunity.”
This formula — shared learnings, people-first, diversification — seems to be working. Every one of Local Favorite’s brands experienced year-over-year sales growth last year, and the momentum has continued so far this year. Because of this momentum, we can expect more of the same from the company in the near term.
“We see a continued upward trajectory from the entirety of the brands,” Wright said. “We’re winning in a tough market and it’s because we have doubled down on the way we treat our teams and guests.”
