The 29-Year-Old Behind a $300M Restaurant Empire
By Kelli Luu | 16 Apr, 2026

From a single hot pot restaurant in Las Vegas to a $300 million valuation, David Zhao is transforming Asian cuisine in America with Chubby Group.

There’s a new generation of Asian American entrepreneurs who are reshaping the way Asian food is seen in the United States. David Zhao is one of them and he is quietly building one of the fastest-growing Asian restaurant groups in the country. 

He was born in Shanghai and immigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old. Zhao grew up like most immigrant kids who were navigating two different worlds, but rather than following a traditional route, he had another vision. When he was just 13, Zhao launched a digital agency, his very first company, and by the time he was enrolled in The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he was already fairly experienced in the entrepreneurship world. 

While studying business, Zhao was taking on freelance jobs, which is how he came across the restaurant industry and the thought of something much bigger. When Zhao was 20, he met his business partner, Haibin Yang and together they noticed that Asian food in America was often seen as cheap takeout food or just simply low-end. 

With this problem in mind, Zhao and Yang wanted to change that, so they opened an all-you-can-eat Mongolian hot pot restaurant, Chubby Cattle, in 2015 in Las Vegas. Chubby Cattle is nothing like your average hot pot. They used high quality ingredients, premium cuts of meat, and a modern, tech forward experience, making it completely stand out from other spots. 

Since Chubby Cattle was a success, Zhao and Yang were able to expand the brand into Chubby Group, which now operates 20 different locations in the United States with other concepts like The X Pot and Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House. Chubby Group’s locations did exceptionally well in Las Vegas especially since they offer deluxe experiences like all-you-can-eat Wagyu and fancy table presentations that soften the line between food and entertainment. 

Chubby Group’s numbers match Zhao’s original vision. Yahoo Finance reported in 2025 that Chubby Group’s valuation has now been brought to around $300 million after raising $45 million in equity investments. This will fund the next 35 locations. Zhao believed Asian cuisine belonged at the top of the market and now at 29 years old, he has proved that with Chubby Group. Today the company remains on the path of becoming one of the first major Asian American-owned restaurant empires in the United States.