F. Becker Hospitality

From the mind of Chef Franklin Becker to the last divine forkful, we create culinary and hospitality experiences.

Celebrated chef, a star on Bravo’s Top Chef Master’s, and co-creator of concepts like Little Beet, Chef Franklin Becker founded F.Becker Hospitality to bring his creative, maybe even devilish, inventiveness to food in all its forms: high-end restaurants, fast-casual dining, even classes for home cooks.

Chef Becker is known for creating concepts that begin with a beloved dish — like hummus — for which there is already public appetite, and from there, developing a menu that surprises, delights, and expands people’s palates.

F.Becker Hospitality delivers these concepts, and by always, always, doing better, elevates each project to anything but ordinary.

Our Values

People. Excellence. Authenticity. Loyalty.

Four little words. Values that can’t be measured.

People: We work with the best people. (You’re only as good as the company you keep. It’s true for a reason.)

Excellence: We aim to be best in class. (We usually succeed. See why above.)

Authenticity: We’re real people who keep it real.

Loyalty: Loyalty leads to longevity. In relationships. And in business. (For instance, Chef Becker and Director of Culinary Kevin Garcia have known each other 20+ years.)

Chef Franklin Becker

Franklin Becker is a chef, cookbook author, community leader, and father. He fell in love with cooking as a teenager and fresh out of college attended The Culinary Institute of America. Since then, he’s worked in some of the nation’s most acclaimed kitchens and with great restaurateurs. His resume includes Executive Chef of Capitale, Brasserie, the Starr Restaurant Group, and Catch Group. As Culinary Director for all Aurify brands, he served as a founding partner of the fast-casual The Little Beet and its full-service restaurant The Little Beet Table and Hungryroot, providing his culinary inspiration to the vegan, gluten-free home delivery service.

With over thirty years of experience, Chef Becker has left an indelible mark on New York’s dining scene, continuing to prove his versatility and appetite for innovation. He opened Manhattanville Market (In partnership with Columbia University) in June of 2021, conceptualizing four diverse culinary brands, including Benny Casanova’s, Shai Hummusiya, Farmhand, Chef Chris Scott’s Butterfunk Biscuit Co., and Universal Taco. In 2022, Chef Becker joined forces with restaurateur Stephen Loffredo forming the Hospitality Department, a team of highly experienced New York City based operators in the restaurant and hotel industry from various backgrounds. They created concepts housed within the newly renovated Martinique New York on Broadway: The Press Club Grill serving Chef Becker’s spin on and Italian steak house; Sweet Graffiti a dessert and coffee shop; Bronze Owl, a New York cocktail bar; and in midtown’s MetLife Building, Point Seven a seafood restaurant, and Coral Omakase.

Chef Becker’s impact extends far beyond the kitchen. He is a vocal advocate for public health, particularly nutritional wellness and autism awareness. His journey with Type 2 diabetes, diagnosed at the age of 27, has shaped his culinary philosophy, making health-conscious eating a central theme in his three cookbooks: Eat & Beat Diabetes, The Diabetic Chef, and, most recently, Good Fat Cooking. He is a spokesperson for Ozempic, curating delicious type 2 diabetes-friendly recipes and educational resources.

He also serves as the Culinary Chair of Autism Speaks’ Celebrity Chef Gala, a position he has held since 2007. Inspired by his journey as a parent to a young adult on the autism spectrum, he joined the organization’s board of directors in 2024. Chef Becker is a proud alumnus of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters (Season 5) and has appeared on Iron Chef America, The Today Show, Dr. Oz, The Rachael Ray Show, and as a recurring judge on Beat Bobby Flay.

Chef Becker’s projects include:

NEW YORK
  • A five-cuisine food hall at Columbia University’s Manhattanville campus
  • A four-concept ghost kitchen out of Zuul Kitchen in SoHo
  • Food and beverage operations at the Hilton Curio Martinique
  • Food and beverage operations at the boutique Franklin Hotel, on NYC’s Upper East Side.
  • Through these projects, Chef Becker has created and operates the following brands:
    – Shai Hummus: an Israeli hummusiya,
    – Galinha Portuguese BBQ: Portuguese chicken and BBQ
    – Universal Food & Drink: Your Passport To Flavor
    – Universal Taco: a globally inspired taco shop
    – Universal Wings: a globally inspired chicken wing concept
    – Benny Casanova’s Square Pies: square pies served just like Momma made in Palermo
    – Butterfunk Biscuit Co.: Headed by celebrated chef, Chris Scott, Butterfunk Biscuit Co. turns the heat up on biscuits, the soul food of soul food
    – The Botanist: a living salad concept “Grown here, Consumed here”
    – Oliva Spanish Tapas: an authentic full service Spanish tapas restaurant
EVERYWHERE
  • 100pleats.com, a virtual interactive cooking platform for home cooks..

Our Team

Chef, Owner/Operator

Franklin Becker

Read more about Franklin

Born and bred in Brooklyn, NY, Chef Franklin is a busy man. In addition to penning his third book on healthy cooking, titled Good Fat, Great Flavor, he has helmed the kitchens of such esteemed Manhattan restaurants as Local, Capital, Brasserie, Catch, and Little Beet. He is now the founder of the instructional cooking website 100 Pleats. Throughout his career, Becker has received glowing reviews from such acclaimed critics as Gael Greene of New York Magazine and William Grimes of The New York Times, who wrote that Becker has “A talent for delivering big, punchy flavors.” In 2021, Franklin and his team will launch a dynamic food hall at Columbia Universities' Jerome L. Greene Science Center in Harlem. His focus continues to be on fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients that are health conscious without skimping on taste.
CFO

Mike Vieten, CFA

Read more about Mike

Mike has spent his career investing in and operating innovative businesses, with a particular emphasis on the food & beverage industry. He has led investments in numerous private companies, and has advised dozens of other businesses across key financial and strategic capabilities.

Previously, Mike helped launch a Pizza Hut franchise in Sub-Saharan Africa, called Marathon Restaurant Group. The company had the rights to the Pizza Hut brand in South Africa, Botswana, and Nigeria. Mike was responsible for helping set up the company’s corporate infrastructure in Cape Town and getting the initial eight stores open. His role included overseeing the company’s strategy, setting up the company’s supply chain, executing strategic acquisition due diligence, and overseeing the company's finances. Prior to business school, Mike worked as an equity research analyst covering the restaurant and food verticals at Stifel Nicolaus and Cowen and Company. While there, Mike covered 40+ publicly traded restaurant and food companies, meeting with management teams, building financial models, and writing investment research reports.

Mike is a CFA charterholder. He received his MBA from Columbia Business School, and his Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Director of Culinary Operations

Kevin Garcia

Read more about Kevin

A graduate of the prestigious Johnson & Wales University, Garcia quickly rose up the ranks in several kitchens across the country. He honed his culinary skills in restaurants like Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas, NV), Jean Georges Flagship in NYC which he joined in 1998 followed by Drew Nieporent’s Myriad Restaurant Group’s Lucca at the Boca Raton Resort and Club (Boca Raton, FL) in 2000.

Jumping at the chance to join Mario Batali’s Lupa as a pasta cook, Garcia returned to New York in 2003. Two years later, he joined the opening team of Del Posto as chef di cuisine, where he developed the restaurant’s menu alongside Chef Mark Ladner. Having worked with Batali for three years, Garcia credits him with teaching him how to be, “authentically Italian and to respect the culture and tradition of regional Italian cuisine.”

In 2006, Garcia was sought out to take over as executive chef at ‘Cesca. While at ‘Cesca, He opened Accademia di Vino, where he was also a co-owner. Chef Garcia was responsible for maintaining the restaurants’ level of excellence and their authentic Italian menus.

After eight years, Chef Garcia then joined restaurateur Marlon Abela and his Morello and A Voce Madison restaurants in late 2012, where he created menus inspired by three of his favorite regions in Italy: Rome, Tuscany and Sicily. In September of 2014, Chef Garcia joined the Giovanni Rana team as Executive Chef of their Chelsea Market Rana Pastaficio e Cucuna and the R&D team in their Chicago Retail Production Plant for Rana USA.

In 2019 Chef Garcia joined F. Becker Hospitality Group as Culinary Director. F. Becker Hospitality Group opens, consults, manages and operates new fine and fast casual dining concepts around the country.

Chef Garcia lives in Stamford , CT with his wife and two sons.

Chef Partner, Butterfunk Biscuit Co.

Chris Scott

Chef

Dan Drohan

Chef

Chris Strelnick

GM - Manhattanville Market

Ted Sorensen

Director of Business Development

Melissa Kassis