The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar

What The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar does

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar is a privately held, multi-unit restaurant concept founded in 2010 and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company's distinguishing offering is the combination of two distinct cuisine categories — burgers and sushi — served under a single roof, addressing the operational problem of groups with mixed food preferences. The core menu is built around Brasstown Beef (Animal Welfare Certified, North Carolina-sourced) and Fossil Farms (sustainable lamb and bison) for proteins, with chemical-free shellfish and sustainably sourced seafood for sushi. The concept is positioned as a family-friendly, allergy-conscious neighborhood restaurant with regional award recognition including #6 Top Burger in the U.S., Best Burger, Best Family Dining, and Best Sushi in Charlotte.

The business operates four restaurant locations: Charlotte at SouthPark, Raleigh at North Hills, Orlando at Universal Orlando Resort's CityWalk, and Universal Beijing Resort's CityWalk. The technology backbone is built on commodity restaurant SaaS — ToastTab for point-of-sale, online pickup ordering, and gift card management; DoorDash for third-party delivery; EZ Cater for corporate catering; Resy for reservations; and Paylocity for HR/recruiting. The Orlando and Beijing locations are operated as channel partnerships with Universal Parks, providing built-in tourist traffic and brand visibility. The company also operates a structured catering business offering tiered sushi platters ($79–$185), mini burger platters ($90–$170), and custom sushi rolling parties for private and corporate events.

The Cowfish generates revenue through four primary streams: dine-in restaurant sales (one-time transactions), catering services for events and corporate gatherings, gift card sales (redeemable across NC locations and the sister eeZ concept in Huntersville), and transaction-fee revenue from DoorDash delivery. Pricing is unit-based and pay-as-you-go across all streams. The company operates as a portfolio brand under ASM Group, a diversified hospitality parent that also owns TapSide Pizza and eeZ Fusion. The company is privately held with no disclosed outside funding, no public filings, and no headcount data available. Customer segments span families, business professionals, tourists at the Universal venues, and event/catering customers.

Name

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar

Legal name

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar®

Website

https://thecowfish.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar is a privately held, multi-location restaurant concept founded in 2010 that uniquely combines burgers and sushi under one roof, serving families, business professionals, tourists, and catering customers across four locations in Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando, and Beijing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Casual Dining Restaurants

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Caterers (722320)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Steakhouses & Seafood Restaurants (THAFACAE)

Keywords

• Casual dining restaurants
• Burger and sushi
• Restaurant catering services
• Neighborhood restaurant chain
• Multi-cuisine restaurant

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Dine-in Restaurant Sales: Revenue from customers dining at physical restaurant locations in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Orlando, serving both burgers and sushi along with other dishes.
2. Catering Services: Catering orders for sushi platters, mini burger platters, salads, sides, and desserts for events, corporate gatherings, and private parties.
3. Gift Cards: Sale of gift cards redeemable at The Cowfish locations in North Carolina and eeZ in Huntersville, NC.
4. Third-Party Delivery: Commission-based revenue through DoorDash delivery partner for food delivery orders.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar operates physical restaurant locations serving a hybrid menu of American burgers and Japanese sushi, along with salads, sides, and desserts. It complements dine-in service with online ordering for pickup, third-party delivery, catering for events and corporate gatherings, and gift cards. The concept targets diners seeking both cuisines under one roof at locations in Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, Orlando FL, and Universal Beijing Resort's CityWalk.

Product overview

The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar is a single restaurant concept (not a platform-plus-modules architecture) that operates as a multi-location restaurant chain. The core offering is the restaurant dining experience combining burgers and sushi. The product portfolio consists of the main restaurant service, supplemented by catering services for off-site events, online ordering for pickup and delivery, gift cards, and reservation booking. The company also operates related concepts (eeZ) under the ASM Group parent.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar Restaurant Dining Multi-cuisine restaurant dining experience serving burgers, sushi, salads, sides, and desserts to families, individuals, and business diners across Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, Orlando FL, and Universal Beijing Resort's CityWalk locations.
• Catering Services

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Brasstown BeefcoreOthersNorth Carolina beef purveyor providing Animal Welfare Certified beef that is never given antibiotics or hormones. Core protein supplier for burger menu.
• Fossil FarmscoreOthersSustainable supply chain leader providing lamb and bison for The Cowfish menu. Aligned with company's focus on quality sustainable ingredients.
• ASM GroupflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent company and restaurant group that owns The Cowfish along with other concepts including TapSide Pizza and eeZ Fusion. Manages all restaurant operations and expansion.
• DoorDashcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party delivery partner enabling food delivery from Charlotte and Raleigh locations to customers in the surrounding areas.
• ToastTabcoreTechnology or IntegrationPoint-of-sale and online ordering platform powering The Cowfish's digital ordering for pickup and gift card management across Charlotte and Raleigh locations.
• ResyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRestaurant reservation platform enabling customers to book tables at Charlotte and Raleigh Cowfish locations online.
• EZ CaterminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCorporate catering platform for ordering The Cowfish catering for business events and gatherings at Charlotte and Raleigh locations.
• Universal Orlando ResortcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEntertainment venue partner hosting The Cowfish location at Universal Orlando's CityWalk, providing tourist traffic and brand visibility.
• Universal Beijing ResortminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorInternational entertainment venue partner hosting The Cowfish at Universal Beijing Resort's CityWalk.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Shake Shack: Premium burger concept that overlaps with The Cowfish's beef side and that competes for the same casual-but-quality-conscious consumer. Useful benchmark on premium burger pricing power and unit economics in modern casual dining.
• Hard Rock Cafe: Iconic themed casual full-service restaurant with a strong destination/tourist-channel presence (Universal Orlando, major cities), premium burgers as a menu signature, and global brand recognition. Comparable on tourist-channel real estate and burger-focused casual full-service dining.
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers: National casual full-service chain built around gourmet burgers and family dining. Direct category overlap with the burger side of The Cowfish's menu and a useful comparable on family-dining positioning, gift cards, and multi-location casual-restaurant operations.
• The Cheesecake Factory: Iconic casual full-service chain known for an oversized, diverse menu and high-AOV dine-in plus strong catering and gift-card programs. Comparable on the dimensions of broad-menu casual full-service, event/catering capacity, and gift-card distribution.
• Bonefish Grill: Established casual seafood-focused full-service chain operating at similar price points and dining experience to The Cowfish's seafood/sushi side. Overlaps on menu type and customer demographic (families, business diners) and serves as a benchmark for seafood-casual-restaurant unit economics.
• RA Sushi: Multi-unit casual sushi chain comparable to the sushi half of The Cowfish's menu. Relevant benchmark for sushi-program volume, supply chain scale, and per-cover revenue in casual full-service sushi operations.

Emerging players

• Bonefish Grill (already listed) - replaced with Toastique: Emerging fast-casual concept with toasts, smoothies, and bowls. Adjacent to casual restaurant/café segment but with limited menu overlap; included as an emerging player in differentiated casual dining concepts comparable in spirit to The Cowfish's niche positioning rather than direct competition.

Direct peers

• The Melting Pot: Franchised fondue-focused casual full-service restaurant chain with a similarly unique single-niche dual-format menu (cheese, salad, entrée, dessert fondue). Compares directly to The Cowfish on the dimensions of distinct dining concept, full-service experience, and event/catering capability.
• California Pizza Kitchen: Casual full-service chain built around a creative, broad-format menu (pizza plus pasta, salads, appetizers). Comparable to The Cowfish as a casual full-service operator whose differentiation is menu creativity within a familiar core category, with dine-in, catering, and gift-card revenue streams.
• bd's Mongolian Grill: Casual full-service restaurant concept built around a single, distinct interactive format (Teppanyaki-style stir-fry). Compares to The Cowfish as another differentiated-format casual dining concept with multi-location presence and known brand identity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/TheCowfish
• Instagraminstagram.com/thecowfishsbb
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-cowfish-sushi-burger-bar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar