Gregg Majewski of Craveworthy Brands named EY US Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Midwest Award winner

News provided by

Jun 17, 2026, 10:47 ET

CHICAGO, June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Gregg Majewski, founder and CEO of Craveworthy Brands, was named an EY US Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2026 Midwest Award winner. Majewski was selected among 65 program participants in the Midwest that included 30 finalists competing for the title.

Gregg Majewski named an EY US Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Midwest Award winner

A finance-trained operator, Majewski has spent more than 30 years building restaurant brands. He started at Jimmy John's as an intern and rose to become one of the youngest people to serve as the brand's CEO, CFO and COO, helping scale it from 30 locations to over 300, selling 700 additional franchises and building its well-known delivery model that helped define the category.

In late 2022, Majewski put everything on the line to found Craveworthy, a multi-brand platform built around a single idea: emerging concepts need the right systems to scale, and legacy brands deserve a second chance, without losing what made them special. The Company creates and builds brands with strong fundamentals and gives them shared infrastructure to thrive in the long term.

Craveworthy has grown to more than 20 brands and 300 locations, surpassing $300 million in systemwide sales with a path to $1 billion. The portfolio spans fast-casual, quick-service, full-service and virtual concepts in various culinary segments, including Shaquille O'Neal-founded Big Chicken, New York City's Gregorys Coffee and Taffer's Tavern by Bar Rescue's Jon Taffer, each supported by a centralized system across operations, franchise development, culinary, marketing, real estate, supply chain, training and technology.

"This recognition belongs to our team," said Majewski. "Over three years ago, Craveworthy was a dream people just smiled at and thought was too ambitious. Today, we're one of the fastest-growing restaurant companies in the country, and we built it by betting on ourselves, our food and our operators every single day."

At the heart of Craveworthy is a conviction Majewski has shaped the Company around: take care of the people who run the restaurants, and they will take care of the guests. It leads with "people, product and process," in that order, and is driven by a long-term goal of creating 100,000 success stories – the team members, operators and franchisees who rise from entry-level positions into management and ownership. To open those doors, Craveworthy invests in its own people through programs such as Crave University, a multi-level training program built to help them grow into hospitality leaders.

"I've never measured success only in number of locations open or sales made. I measure it in success stories – the dishwasher who becomes a general manager, the cashier who earns their first bonus check, the director who becomes a franchisee," Majewski added. "They're why we dream, why we keep going, why we win."

Now in its 41st year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. It celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or raised outside capital to grow their company, transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to strengthen it for the future.

Regional winners were chosen by an independent panel of past winners, top CEOs and business leaders. Judges assessed candidates on long-term value creation, entrepreneurial spirit, purpose-driven commitment, and significant growth and impact.

As a Midwest award winner, Majewski will now be considered by the national judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2026 National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum^®, where high-growth CEOs, Fortune 1000 executives and investors converge to shape the future of business. The National Overall Award winner will move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year^™ Award in May 2027.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized the leadership of entrepreneurs such as:

Jason McGowan, Crumbl Cookies
RJ Melman, Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants
Saeju Jeong, Noom
Allison Ellsworth | Stephen Ellsworth, Poppi
Jitendra Mohan | Sanjay Gajendra | Casey Morrison, Astera Labs
Kathy Bolhous, Charter Next Generation
Howard Schultz, Starbucks Coffee Company
Holly Thaggard | Amanda Baldwin, Supergoop!
Jodi L. Berg, Vita-Mix Corporation
Michael Happe, Winnebago Industries
Herb Kohler, Jr., Kohler Company

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, LLC, Marsh Risk, SAP and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In the Midwest, sponsors also include Platinum sponsor LaSalle Network, Gold sponsors Becker Professional Education and Big Picture, and Silver sponsors ADP and Boomi.

To learn more about Craveworthy Brands, please visit https://bit.ly/4ovh40x. To learn more about EY US Entrepreneur Of The Year^®, please visit ey.com/us/eoy.

About Craveworthy Brands

Craveworthy Brands is a multi-brand restaurant platform and franchisor with more than 20 concepts and over 300 locations in the U.S. and internationally. Rooted in a hospitality-first philosophy and powered by people, product and process, the Company builds and scales emerging concepts and legacy brands through a shared infrastructure designed for intentional growth. Its mission is to create 100,000 success stories by 2035 – measured not just in units, but in lives changed across its system. Learn more about Craveworthy and its brands at https://bit.ly/4ovh40x.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Founded in 1986, Entrepreneur Of The Year^® has celebrated more than 11,000 ambitious visionaries who are leading successful, dynamic businesses in the US, and it has since expanded to nearly 60 countries and territories globally.

The US program consists of 17 regional programs whose panels of independent judges select the regional award winners every June. Those winners compete for national recognition at the Strategic Growth Forum^® in November where national finalists and award winners are announced. The national overall winner represents the US at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ competition. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.

EY | Building a better working world

EY is building a better working world by creating new value for clients, people, society and the planet, while building trust in capital markets.

Enabled by data, AI and advanced technology, EY teams help clients shape the future with confidence and develop answers for the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow.

EY teams work across a full spectrum of services in assurance, consulting, tax, strategy and transactions. Fueled by sector insights, a globally connected, multi-disciplinary network and diverse ecosystem partners, EY teams can provide services in more than 150 countries and territories.

All in to shape the future with confidence.

EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law, where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

ED None

This material has been prepared for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as accounting, tax, legal or professional advice. Please refer to your advisors for specific advice.

SOURCE Craveworthy Brands