Investors Behind New Eatertainment Fund Serve Up Big Plans For DFW
An investment fund targeting social entertainment venues has its sights set on Dallas-Fort Worth, with plans to bankroll a range of concepts across the Metroplex, among other hot markets.
Emerging Fund, led by CEO Mathew Focht, launched in March and has already surpassed the halfway mark of its $100M fundraising goal. The fund has made 10 investments in restaurant tech and early stage eatertainment concepts thus far in the Dallas area and beyond.
“Dallas-Fort Worth is multidimensional. It has high growth, it has high disposable income, a great college base and, ultimately, a lot of regionality within great neighborhoods,” Focht said. “These concepts can produce high volumes and at the same time have a sense of scale.”
One of the fund’s investments, tech-driven mini-golf venue Puttshack, is opening early next year at the Village on the Parkway in Addison. Focht is also in negotiations to get two additional eatertainment venues added to that same development, he said.
Federales, an open-air tequila bar and taqueria, is another Emerging Fund concept with a location in Deep Ellum. The fund also has investments in suburban developments, including Grandscape in The Colony, where Immersive Gamebox has been open since 2021.
“What we like about Grandscape is … the cost of property does not deter you from being able to build and afford your construction,” Focht said. “You can actually achieve your economics versus if you’re Uptown or in Deep Ellum.”
The fund is under the umbrella of Emerging, a Chicago-based company with multiple verticals that works with thousands of restaurants across the U.S. Investors gain access to the company’s industry knowledge, data science and vast network of relationships, which helps set the fund apart, Focht said.
“[Concepts] don’t come to us because they need capital,” he said. “Funny enough, they really come to us because they need to scale and they want to get from Point A to Point B within four to seven years. We’re usually the best path for them to get there, and we just happen to have capital.”
When choosing which companies to partner with, Focht said Emerging Fund first looks to address industry pain points. One of its investments is in a company called 1Huddle, a technology platform that uses mobile games to facilitate job training programs that help restaurant workers establish long-term career paths.
This is especially impactful in an industry known for its high turnover rate, which averaged close to 80% over the last 10 years, according to Toast.
“With the 34 CEOs and founders we have in the fund, in addition to the network of founders and companies that we work with every day, we can really determine what those pain points are and what tech is really out there that’s going to grab market share,” Focht said.
Competitive socializing concepts increased by 386% between 2021 and 2023, according to a nationwide report by Cushman & Wakefield. The trend provided much-needed outings earlier in the pandemic, and many people assumed the attention would die down once the pent-up demand for experiences subsided.
But the industry has only gained momentum, with dozens of new concepts announcing locations in Dallas, including Chicken N Pickle, Puttery and Goodsurf.
“People aren’t just looking for a dining experience,” Focht said. “They want to be entertained.”
In a market as saturated as Dallas, Focht said it is critical to invest in concepts that have staying power and a wide customer base. That is why Emerging Fund prioritizes venues with a strong food and beverage component paired with gaming experiences that aren’t niche.
“It’s really important that you give the guests an opportunity to do more than just gameplay,” Focht said. “If you can nail that, then you have a concept that has broad demographic appeal … then you have a real chance of doing tremendous volumes.”
