Dan Markel

Dan has been married to his high school sweetheart and professional writer,  Kathleen for over 25 years. Together they have four children, Vivian (22), Jackson (20), Max (18) and Stella(15).  As a long standing family tradition their dogs are a big part of his family.  They covered the "small", "medium" and "large" categories with Theo the "Newfie", Chunk the chubby English Bulldog and Husker their rescued Labrador, two of which have passed on. His wife Kathleen is producing and directing her first film, "Going for Two" set to shoot on Location in Nebraska in October of 2022. 

Markel grew up in the food service and entertainment  business at his older brother, Matt Markel's, famed Ranch Bowl, working as a pinsetter, busboy and bartender.  Then after college in LA Markel went on to grad school at NYU where he bar-tended in NYC - a job that he believes everyone should do once in their life!  During school, he bar-tended at Catch A Rising Star during its heyday when guys like Larry David had to beg to get on stage at midnight on a Monday and then at the famous prohibition bar, Chumley's in the West Village. He and his wife went on to invest in several restaurants in New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles including Boa and Sushi Roku.  Always a lover of great sandwiches he took that passion and has become a leading Franchisee for Jersey Mike's with his flagship location in Van Nuys, CA.  Markel, with his superstar crew, has been a  four time Recipient of  the “Cancro” Cup for raising the most $ for local charities for the National Month of Giving established by Jersey Mikes Founder, Peter Cancro along with being one of the top revenue producing locations in the entire country. 

In his store he loves giving out a free sub to whomever can name the city where the Reuben sandwich was invented.  It's a great family treasure of his wife, Kathleen, as her grandfather, Al Buda, the head chef at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, invented the sandwich for a group of local businessmen who had a regular poker game the the hotel every Monday night. Specifically it was a gentleman by the name of Reuben Kulakofsky that asked Chef Al for something special and thus began the beloved Reuben sandwich. At a random business meeting in San Francisco, CA.  Markel met the nephew of Kulakofsky who completely corroborated the store. Markel is in the process of opening several more locations expanding his food service holdings.

Since growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Markel has been an entrepreneur.  With his first business of selling lemonade, then delivering the Omaha World Herald he went on to work for his brother at the famous, Ranch Bowl to pay for his tuition at Creighton Prep High School. Then it was off to California to attend Loyola Marymount University.  After graduating he received a full  scholarship to New York University's Graduate Acting Program where he received his MFA. After over 10 years as a professional actor (see imdb link below), Markel focused on business. He started several of his own companies with many successful ventures.  He attended University of Southern California in 2017 where he is completing his Executive MBA.  During this time he has never feared career changes/enhances or the adventure of a new industry. To that end, over his long diverse career he has invested and raised in excess of $100 million for over 35 private placement offerings.He has successfully syndicated nearly 4,000 apartment units across the country, has owned one of the most successful franchise locations in the country and has founded several start ups.  He is now focusing on building his Restaurant holdings by expanding his Franchising portfolio.