Ideagen Radio
Ideagen Radio
2025 Global Leadership Summit: Julie Mulligan & Robert Reiss — Scaling Black Tap from Soho to the World
A 15-seat burger joint in Soho wasn’t supposed to become a global brand—but it did, thanks to an irresistible product and a story that couldn’t be ignored. In this episode, Julie Mulligan, CEO & Co-Founder of Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, sits down with Robert Reiss, Founder & CEO of The CEO Forum, to unpack how an architect’s mindset built a hospitality engine: precise systems, guest-centric design, and a relentless focus on creating “wow” moments. From winning the New York Wine & Food Festival Burger Bash to engineering the now-iconic “Crazy Shakes,” Julie reveals how craft, visuals, and consistency turn a neighborhood idea into a worldwide staple.
We dive into the essentials of a great burger—fat content, searing heat, one flip, never press—and why these rules matter when training teams across time zones. Julie walks through the strategy behind iconic locations like The Venetian, Downtown Disney, and Marina Bay Sands, showing how global stages amplify word of mouth and social proof. She shares candid leadership lessons on scaling a family-sized crew into a dispersed organization, knowing when to zoom in on details and when to let trust compound.
Julie also introduces Black Tap Singles & Doubles, a fast-casual format built for speed and choice, and Tender Crush, a crispy chicken concept with New York attitude. With all three brands launching at JFK Airport, we explore why airports are the ultimate proving grounds for discovery, operations, and brand love.
Without further ado, I'd like to invite up to the stage Julie Mulligan, CEO and co-founder of Black Tap Craft Burgers and Beer, a global food company. Julie, welcome. And uh a dear friend uh of many years now, uh someone who we actually celebrated his mom's birthday in the United Nations. Who knew, right? And he's here again, uh the CEO Whisperer, Robert Reest. Robert, welcome. Another epic interview. Another epic interview.
SPEAKER_02:Take it away, Robert. Okay, thank you, George. And a pleasure to be here with everyone, and I see we got a whole group there, too. Very, very nice. So Well, this thing's falling off. So, what I want to tell you is your infra treat, because if any does anyone here like food? Okay. Does anyone like to hear success stories about something that is crazy that shouldn't have happened, but it became incredible? Well, here you have the one and only Julie Mulligan. So you are going to hear, she is is running as CEO, one of the fastest growing, most exciting restaurant chains all around the world. About how many countries are you in now?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I think nine.
SPEAKER_02:Nine countries. And some of the places you're located.
SPEAKER_00:We're in the Middle East, in the UAE and Saudi, we're in Switzerland and the UK, we're in Singapore and Malaysia, and in a few key cities across the U.S.
SPEAKER_02:And that's with three separate restaurant brands. Now, this is within one decade from startup. And it is one of the most beloved restaurants. I don't know if anyone's been there, but I could tell you it is um it is the single best hamburger I've had in my life. And I know Paul Newman, he used to say he used to travel around the country trying to find a great hamburger. And yours, especially, I love this mulberry street with what's in the mulberry street?
SPEAKER_00:So it's our nod to New York Italian. Mulberry Street is the heart of that here in New York City. So it's got prosciutto, sopra sate, spicy peppers, and a lot of cheese. It's really delicious.
SPEAKER_02:And they have one of the greatest stories in social media, which we're going to go to, so you're going to learn how you go viral in social media as well. But let's start off, it's 2014. You're an architect, right?
SPEAKER_00:That's right, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Nothing to do with restaurants.
SPEAKER_00:I never in a million years would have guessed I would be in restaurants. My mother, probably even more so. She was always uh chef, and just I was always not that interested in her food, and I think it was a big surprise. But my background is in architecture and design. I'm a licensed architect, and one thing led to another where I got into hospitality when one of my big institutional projects kind of hit a road bump. There was a big water main break in New York, and it put us into what I call insurance purgatory, where for two years we had none of the excellent people on any of the teams. They had all gone to work on other projects, so we still had to finish it, and everyone would talk about what needed to be done, and no one would actually do it. So I started doing hospitality projects on the side because they needed to be fast, they needed to be fun, they were interesting, and it was very rewarding because you actually got to see how they do. You got to see them be used, you got to see people in them. Was it working? Was it not working? Does it hold up over time? And one thing led to another. In 2015, uh, Chris and I, my husband started Black Tap thinking we just wanted a local neighborhood joint. He had been in hospitality his whole life. And um, I was just involved to do some design and project management at the time, and it it really took off. It became something bigger than we ever had expected.
SPEAKER_02:And so it was like what yeah, like 15 seats, right? 15 seats. And describe what the original concept, what you were thinking down in the village, right? Right here in New York City.
SPEAKER_00:On Broom Street, Soho, and it was supposed to be a 15-seat local burger joint. We thought maybe if it went well, you'd have another one in New York somewhere. Um, we went on to win our first year New York Wine and Food Festivals Burger Bash with our Greg Norman or the Champ, which is a Wagyu burger with buttermilk, blue cheese, and arugula, uh, which went on to win three times. But so that started getting a lot more traction. We invented what we now call the crazy shake. So in the beginning, we had classic shakes, and um the environment of our restaurant on Broom Street was so small and cozy that the general manager, I mean, you could only fit like three employees in there at a time, so there was one person running around in the front, one person at the bar, one person in the kitchen, but they really got to know the community and we're just really enjoying the relationships and the requests that people would come in with. So one thing kind of led to another, and it was right around the time when Instagram was becoming more popular, was becoming something people spend a lot of time on, share a lot of pictures and videos and what they're doing with their daily lives, what they're eating, especially. And so we really started to be able to reach a much bigger audience very quickly, even though we only had 15 seats at the time through Instagram and social media.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so there's two major lessons here for everyone to learn. Uh, number one is you have to have incredible product. Yeah. So so you won those awards. You did something, how did you have, because you weren't even into cooking when you're younger. How did you have such great product?
SPEAKER_00:So the goal was we've all been to fast food American burgers, we've seen them. We've um, you know, seen some of the casual American dining also not be maybe the quality that it was or of a quality that people talk about or impressed by. And so we felt there was really an opportunity to elevate this American icon and do it in such a way that, say, you had a Michelin star chef who was doing a backyard barbecue, what would they make? What would they serve that's that in-between of we're gonna do something that we can replicate, that we can do on a fast basis, where we can invite people and really have a business, but elevate it from that sort of road style fast food burger. So that's where it all started, and I think we've stuck to that over the years. Ingredients and quality are our number one at being a delicious thing, is you have to have that to start. And then I think what's become a more important reality is how it looks and how shareable it is, and how it can actually kind of have its own identity while being something that a lot of people serve and everybody knows and loves.
SPEAKER_02:So, about hamburgers, I have a question. So, um, if those who don't know what I do professionally, I interview CEOs. So I was interviewing um Bill Marriott, and by the way, his favorite place to go is Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Saturday with his wife. But um but but he told me actually, he said the secret, you don't push it down and you only flip it over once. Is that because is that that is true? Yes. So he's right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:What's the secret? So everyone knows, we're I know we're in fall now, but the secret to an amazing hamburger.
SPEAKER_00:So you start with a great beef and it has to have enough fat. This is not the area to skimp on the fat and the burger.
SPEAKER_02:You want more fat.
SPEAKER_00:Because you want it to sear on the outside and you want it to have a great flavor. Um, you don't want to overpack the patty, you want to leave a little bit of air in there, and you want to make sure your grill is hot enough that you can get a really good sear. You only want to flip it once because you want that caramelization to happen on both sides, and you don't want to push it down because that gets rid of all the juices that you want to be eating when you actually go to take a bite of the burger.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. So now thank you. So everyone knows now, right? Look what you learned. You're learning more important. Don't push it down.
SPEAKER_00:Don't push it down, let it be seasoned both sides.
SPEAKER_02:You could do any. How do you figure out, like you've all this innovation? We're not even up to, they have two more major restaurant chains, sing singles and doubles, and you know, so we'll talk about that also. Yeah. But this is a big thing. How do you determine the innovation of what style you're gonna use? Like use the blue cheese and you know, arugular or something. How do you know what's gonna really work?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you don't always know what's gonna work because it's a combination of it has to be delicious, but it also has to resonate and connect with people. So, what's interesting about the Greg Norman or the Champ, which features the blue cheese that I talked about, we went on to win New York Wine and Food with that three times. It's a delicious burger, but not everybody loves blue cheese. Blue cheese is kind of controversial. So getting people to try that burger where they don't necessarily have to order that burger was really important and strategic for us because everybody loves it when they try it, but not everybody loves blue cheese. And it was the same when we started opening in restaurants overseas, a lot of people also not big fans of blue cheese. So getting out there and being able to present it for people to try and get some of that feedback going helped kind of pave the way for more people to come and try it because someone they knew or someone they look at recommended it and thought it was great.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, we spent a lot of time on product, but now let's talk social media and major expansion. So the key with social media, you got on Instagram and you have to describe what the shakes look like.
SPEAKER_00:So they're over the top.
SPEAKER_02:They're like big.
SPEAKER_00:We decided we did not want to limit ourselves to being in the glass, so we rimmed the glass with frosting and all kinds of toppings, and we built it up high. So we run contests with our team in the restaurants where they practice their whipped cream pyramids. If you're really good, you can take it and put it on a plate and turn it over and it will stay. That's when you know you have skills. Uh but anyway, we we made them these kind of architectural over-the-top things that people hadn't seen before. So when you see them, if you have seen them online, it's still very exciting. And what's so cool is all these years later, I still go into the restaurant, and when one is coming across the restaurant floor and being brought to your table, I still say wow. And people who have been a number of times still say wow. And so there's something about kind of bringing that magic of something that you're probably not gonna make at home, something that isn't going to be quite the same wherever you go. We take it seriously, and and nobody else really does that. So it makes it a really special experience every time.
SPEAKER_02:And you know, when I heard about it, I was invited to go as a media guy to see what it was like. My daughter, 20, 23 years old at the time, she said, Dad, that is the hottest place in New York. And she said, and she started showing all these Instagrams to me, and I'm like, wow, she said, I have to have those shakes. So you gotta, you gotta make it special and different. Now, talk about so you you have this big success and you're winning all the awards, and here you are still an architect at heart. So you're trying it's all, I don't know how the skills transfer or not. What was the secret with how did you know we're going into Dubai, we're going into Las Vegas, we're going into Tokyo?
SPEAKER_00:Well, there's a lot of burger restaurants in this country, particularly, but also around the world. For better or worse, McDonald's has really paved the way for every burger to follow on a worldwide scale after. Um, but I think we thought it's a crowded market. Is it something that makes sense for us to expand and why? And so we sought out iconic locations in iconic cities around the world. We've opened at the Venetian in Las Vegas, we've opened at Downtown Disneyland in Anaheim, we've opened at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and so doing some of these locations, I think, has really given us a platform to stand on, a way of growing sustainably in a way that otherwise might not be so sustainable because you are spreading yourself across time zones and cities that are not very close together and very far apart. But it's given us an amazing place where, you know, in Singapore, sometimes we'll say we're the New York embassy of sorts, because it's given a community for people who are from the US to come and enjoy a taste of home, people who are not, who maybe will never go, an ability to come and feel like they're traveling to New York or to the U.S. without actually having to get on that 18-hour plane ride.
SPEAKER_02:So now let's shift to leadership. We heard from Peter Cunio about number 18 is the key and courage. Here you went, and your leader, and by the way, now she has a beautiful one-year-old baby Riley, has an older daughter, I think about 17 years old, and is growing this massive organization as CEO and really being an architect at trade, not even in this industry. What is the secret to what you've learned about leadership?
SPEAKER_00:So I think that when we started, we were a really small team, and it's really always had a little bit of a family feel to it. And so when I say that, I think the key things that are important have been important to our growth are allowing people to really be themselves, to find their strengths in order to stay with you and grow with you, and building around those people that you have, but also that form of communication, which may not be always the most professional, but is always full of flavor. But having a team that you trust and having people around you that you trust is really critical because you can't go and do all these things without relying on people to do their part. So I think as we've grown, holding on to that has been really important. Um, being an architect, uh, it's interesting. In some ways, it's it's very similar, in other ways, obviously quite different. But there's times when attention to detail is really critical and being really focused on the nuances of things. I think also there are times when being a lot more macro and stepping back and looking at things is really important. So I think that's true within both industries, and I think you've always got to be balancing how much time you spend kind of with those lenses to make sure you're really moving things forward in a way that holistically is, you know, taking the boat in the right direction.
SPEAKER_02:Has your leadership changed, Annie, since 2015 when you were CEO of a small company and now you're CEO of a large company? So you don't necessarily get to know everyone as well, and also you're dispersed around the world.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I like to be hands-on, and so as we've grown, learning to figure out the right balance of how I can be hands-on and how I can't be has been a big learning experience for me. But it happened, you know, a lot of times you'll say, Oh, I started uh in in the dish pit and worked my way up. For me, I started on the design and uh project management side, which very easily bled into everything that goes into opening a restaurant, anything pre-opening, up through the opening. And then it took a turn of, okay, now I'm involved in the things after to make sure that those are going well too. And so I did have that kind of organic journey of being able to touch different parts and take on different pieces over time. Um, and then it was really, you know, when COVID happened, our team shrunk a little bit. I really started having to wear all the hats in some way. Um, and then since it's been trying to give back some of those hats as we grow and move on in time.
SPEAKER_02:So, with all of this, what was the biggest challenge that you ever had to overcome? And I know we had COVID, so I don't want to do COVID.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we've ever we've all talked about that enough. Um I think learning to bring the same experience to different places, and so we're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02:Talk about your two new restaurants that are coming in, also.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we learned from growing black tap, craft burgers and beer, um, which we never designed or intended to be growing, as I mentioned, to all of the places that it's gone. We we learned from that that there was a lot of things that we could do to deliver the experience in a way that we could reach more people and in a way that we could potentially reach them in a more impactful way. So Black Tap Singles and Doubles is a fast casual version of what we do with Black Tap Kraft Burgers and beer. And in a lot of ways, we say it's actually offering greater hospitality because instead of being so committed to the typical routine of full service dining, you can cater to a more wide range of what people are looking for. People can grab it and go, it's faster, it's a little bit easier, you can eat what you want and spend what you want because the menu's a la carte, it's not bundled, so you have more control over how much you're eating and spending. And you can control if you're staying with us. Do you want to be there for a quick lunch? Do you want to hang out for three hours with your friends as if you were at a bar? It becomes a little bit more of a place that you can make work for you within whatever kind of moment you're searching for in your life. So within Singles and Doubles, um, Tender Crush was our fast casual chicken concept where we are trying to make New York City crispy chicken a thing. And um it came out of people love the chicken at Black Tap. And as we've introduced that over the years, it's been one of our top five sellers in the sandwiches. We knew it was a big success. We knew that people were looking for it, and so we brought together, like we do at Black Tap, a bit of New York and a bit of that, you know, craft casual and made it into something that's now a whole life of its own. And um, we're opening all three of these at JFK this December, around the end of the year. So we're very excited because as a nice balance to social media, we get to see people there, but then we will also get to see a lot of people in real life and have a lot of people walking by and become familiar with the brands.
SPEAKER_02:I'm we're having a lot of fun learning a lot, but I just saw the wrap-up. So um you'll have to ask her separately how you match a beer with a burger. But tell us what is your vision for the future, because now you're a CEO. Where are you gonna go?
SPEAKER_00:So with both Black Tep Singles and Doubles and Tender Crush, we've spent a lot of time making all of the putting all the pieces in the place, making the kit of parts where we can really expand to a much wider audience, where you don't need as much volume and you can be in locations that are a lot more flexible. So we'll be opening some of the first ones later this year, and we're very excited that those vehicles can help us grow to reach a much wider audience over the next few years. So I hope you all get to come and try at some point. It's delicious, I promise.
SPEAKER_02:There you have it. And remember, social media, Instagram, take the photos. You get all the celebrities, people love it. Way to go.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.