FAMILY RECIPE
By Chris Wadsworth
You may not picture a titan of industry sitting down to unwind with a kids’ animated program. But when said titan has a young daughter, sometimes a cartoon is the perfect antidote to a hectic day.
“I watch ‘Bluey,’” said Warren Thompson. “I have a 5-year-old daughter and I love spending time with her.”
Thompson, his wife, Danielle, and his daughter, Skylar, live in Vienna, but when he’s not playing husband and father, Thompson leads a huge company that reaches into Ashburn as well as across the greater Washington area and far beyond. And it’s a company most of you probably know something about.
He’s the founder and president of Thompson Hospitality Corp., which owns and operates restaurant brands such as Matchbox, Makers Union, Big Buns, Milk & Honey, Social House, Velocity Wings and many more.
All told, Thompson oversees 15 brands across its portfolio. And that’s just the small side of the business.
Thompson Hospitality also provides contract food services to Fortune 500 companies as well as universities, hospitals and other major institutions in 45 states and six foreign countries. With 6,000 employees and more than $1 billion in revenue, Thompson Hospitality is one of the largest hospitality and facility management companies in the country.
And one more fun fact – Thompson Hospitality is a family business. Thompson’s sister, Benita Thompson-Byas, and his brother, Fred Thompson Jr., are senior executives in the company. And his nephew, Trey Thompson, handles real estate for the business.
With several of his restaurants here in Ashburn – and more planned – Ashburn Magazine sat down with Thompson to learn more about his journey, his company and his vision for the future. Here are excerpts from our conversation.
Q: You worked for Marriott Corp. for nine years – rising from an assistant manager at a Roy Rogers to a corporate vice president. When Marriott wanted to sell some of its restaurants, you jumped and bought 31 Big Boys and formed your own company. How did it feel the moment you took that leap?
“Well, it was a Friday night. It took about five hours to sign all the documents for the 31 restaurants. I remember that next morning – Saturday morning – going to my office. I called my father and I said, ‘I’m in my office.’ He goes, ‘OK, you’re always in your office.’ I said, ‘This is the first time I’m truly in my office. I’m not in Marriott’s office. I’m in mine.’ And I told him we closed on the deal the night before. And there was a pause on the other side. Then, he said he was very proud of me – and that meant the world to me.”
Q: At some point, you started buying entire existing brands outright as well as creating your own brands. Why was that an important step?
“At first, we were a franchisee of Big Boys and Shoney’s. And running those brands, we had no control. So when the Shoney’s brand started to tank, we started to fail. Not because of our lack of effort or anything, but because the brand was just tanking. So we figured that we needed to then control our own brand. One of the first brands we bought was the Austin Grill. Then we bought the American Taproom brand. So we owned the brands and we could control the brands. We then subsequently developed brands like Maker’s Union. We bought Milk & Honey. We bought Big Buns.”
Q: We just saw Thompson launch a new brand with Ms. Peach’s Southern Kitchen in Sterling. How involved are you in creating your restaurants?
“Very involved. Alex [Berentzen], our chief operating officer, and I met numerous times and developed Ms. Peach’s. We developed the menu. Then from the menu, we get with the chefs and the operators and create the recipes to support the menu. We do a number of tastings. Ms. Peach’s is named for my grandmother. We’re using some of her recipes. For example, the signature peach iced tea is the way that she used to make it. The peach cobbler is as close to how she used to make it as I could get. Those things are important to me.”
Q: You obviously have companies and locations in multiple states, but you do have several here in Ashburn and more nearby in other Loudoun communities. How has this area worked for you as a market?
“We have eight restaurants in Loudoun County. This is a tremendous market. It’s growing. It’s diverse. Three years from now, I want to have at least 20 to 25 restaurants in Loudoun County, which means we’ll continue to introduce additional brands. We’ve got Cut 132 in Columbus, Ohio, which is a high-end steakhouse, so I’m looking for the right place in Loudoun County to bring that. Brands that we will develop – or acquire outside of our current portfolio – we will then bring back to Loudoun.”
Q: Most people know Thompson Hospitality for the restaurants, but there’s a lot more going on. You provide hospitality and other services at companies, universities and hospitals. How important is this component of your business?
“So retail represents about 25% of the company today, 75% is the contract [business]. So that’s the split. Three years ago, retail was only about 10%. So the retail piece has grown very rapidly, and we’re continuing to open at least one restaurant a month. My goal is to get to one [opening] every two weeks.”
Q: You have taken a lead in providing food services to historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. Why is that segment important to Thompson Hospitality?
“Both my parents are products of HBCUs. Both got degrees from Virginia State [University]. My mother – her undergrad, my father – a master’s. So we’ve had the [food services] account there at Virginia State now for 25 years. And it is very near and dear to us. We’ve named the hospitality school down there the Thompson Hospitality School in honor of my parents.
Q: But you found a bigger opportunity there to bring some change, correct?
“When I got into this business and we got our first HBCU – within the first 12 months of being in business – I saw that that market was underserved. The larger companies were coming in, not investing as they should, taking high profit margins out. So we saw it as an opportunity to go in and just bid what should be the norm for the industry – the normal profit margin and investment returns. And in doing so, we started to win. And when we did not win, it forced the competition to step up and do what they should have been doing all along. So the benefactor has been the HBCUs. The food service on HBCU campuses today rivals those of major universities because of the competition that we brought to the table.”
Q: You told us you like to spend time with your family – and especially your daughter while she is still so young.
“Every night before she goes to bed, we watch a segment of ‘Shark Tank.’ We debate whether there’s going to be a deal or not and how much she would invest and it’s those times that I look forward to the most. If I’ve got a meeting, I’ve got to cut it off by 7 or 7:30 so I can be home by 8 o’clock to watch ‘Shark Tank’ with her. That’s the most important thing in my life right now – that quality time with her. I don’t want to look back five years from now and say, ‘I should have spent more time.’ I’m trying to spend as much as I can, and I enjoy it.”
Q: Are you able to enjoy dining out with friends and family? Are you a relaxed customer at a restaurant? Or are you a tough critic because you know how things should be done?
“It is tough. If I want to really enjoy a meal, it’s at home. We sit as a family together and we’re not talking about restaurants. I’m not looking at the server. I’m not looking at the menu. I’m just enjoying the company of my wife and daughter.”
Q: What’s your personal “go-to” comfort food?
“I love seafood. Growing up in the Tidewater area of Virginia, we loved to go get crabs. That was a treat for us. So today, when I can go out and get good crabs or a crab dish, I love that. Southern food is another one. One of my jobs at Marriott was putting fried chicken into [all the] Roy Rogers [stores]. So I worked on developing that product. I took a lot of pride in getting the chicken right. Now, in Milk & Honey, at Ms. Peach’s and in Makers Union, I think [our chicken] is on the menu as Warren’s fried chicken. I didn’t come up with that name – someone else decided to do that, but I said if my name is going to be on it, it’s got to be a great product. And it is.”
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The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia recently presented its top honor, the 2025 Community Leadership Award, to Warren Thompson. During the foundation’s gala in mid-October, friends of Thompson spoke warmly of him and his accomplishments. Here are a couple of excerpts:
“I got to know Warren in the 1980s as he was starting Thompson Hospitality. Even then, he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do. He wanted to make sure he took care of his parents, that he created a family business, and that he gave back to the community.”
– Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA
“Raised in a segregated community, Warren made a personal commitment early on – he would not let barriers define his future. And he hasn’t. He’s built a life – and a legacy – centered on impact, while never forgetting his roots and his commitment to equality that have driven his activities all these years.”
– James Dyke, former Virginia Secretary of Education