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Lauren Fernandez is a restaurant investor, franchise attorney, and multi-unit operator whose work at the intersection of restaurant finance, franchise development, and emerging brand strategy has been featured in the industry's most trusted publications and podcasts. As the Founder and CEO of Full Course, Lauren brings 20+ years of experience spanning franchise law, restaurant operations, and growth strategy for fast-casual restaurant brands. Below is a curated collection of media appearances, press features, and podcast episodes where Lauren has shared her expertise on multi-unit restaurant growth, blended capital strategy, franchise readiness, and building a more equitable restaurant industry.

From the Line to the Boardroom: How Lauren Fernandez Built a Business That Builds Others

[PODCAST] Byte-Sized & Bossy — Powerhouse Brand Builder Podcast · April 2025

Lauren Fernandez traces her full career arc — from corporate attorney and General Counsel to restaurant operator to investment firm founder — and shares the hard-won operational lessons that informed Full Course's model for developing fast-casual restaurant brands led by women, minorities, and immigrant entrepreneurs.

Leadership, Change & The Power of Self-Promotion

[PODCAST] Full Course Press Room · March 2025

Lauren Fernandez speaks candidly on navigating leadership in male-dominated industries — franchise law, private equity, and restaurant operations — sharing actionable insight on self-advocacy, building professional visibility, and how women entrepreneurs can leverage their stories to attract the right investors and partners.

2025 Fast-Food Primer: Where 'Value' Took the Restaurant Consumer

[INDUSTRY ANALYSIS] Full Course Press Room · December 2024

Lauren Fernandez delivers a forward-looking analysis of value-driven consumer behavior in fast-casual and QSR dining — examining how restaurant operators and emerging brands must adapt their pricing strategy, menu engineering, and customer loyalty model to compete in a post-inflationary market.

Podcast: Bring More Joy to the Table

[PODCAST] Full Course Press Room · October 2024

Lauren Fernandez joins this episode to explore the connection between hospitality culture, purpose-driven brand identity, and financial performance — arguing that the most investable emerging restaurant brands treat guest experience and operational execution as equally strategic priorities.

The Importance of Retention: Employee Loyalty as a Restaurant Growth Strategy

[PODCAST] Full Course Press Room · July 2024

Lauren Fernandez breaks down why employee retention is one of the most underutilized levers for restaurant profitability — connecting people strategy, manager development, and team culture directly to unit economics, brand consistency, and the long-term investability of emerging restaurant operators.

Revolutionizing the Restaurant Industry with Lauren Fernandez

[PODCAST] Full Course Press Room · June 2024

Lauren Fernandez discusses the structural reforms needed to modernize restaurant investment — from diversifying whose brands get funded to reimagining how development partners support operators through the critical first five years of multi-unit growth and franchise system development.

The State of Restaurant Investing 2024: Chaos, Caution & Potential

Lauren Fernandez delivers a comprehensive market analysis of restaurant investment conditions in 2024 — examining economic headwinds, consumer behavior shifts, fast-casual brand performance, and the opportunities for investors who understand how to identify operationally sound restaurant concepts with real franchise potential.

Full Course Founder Lauren Fernandez on Positive Affirmations, Work-Life Balance & Entrepreneurship\

Lauren Fernandez joins The Female Founder podcast to speak candidly about sustaining mental resilience as a woman CEO in male-dominated industries — sharing daily practices, lessons from running 11 restaurant locations, and the leadership mindset shifts that allowed her to build Full Course from the ground up.

Take-Away Podcast: How Lauren Fernandez Plans to Help Small Restaurant Businesses

Lauren Fernandez joins NRN's Take-Away to walk through Full Course's playbook for supporting emerging independent restaurant operators — covering investment strategy, operational development frameworks, franchise readiness indicators, and why access to principled, minority-stake capital changes the trajectory for small restaurant businesses.

Lauren Fernandez | Unity, Drive, and Diversity — Give An Ovation Podcast

Lauren Fernandez joins the Give An Ovation podcast to discuss how building diverse, inclusive restaurant teams drives operational consistency, guest loyalty, and brand longevity — and how people-first leadership has been central to the investment thesis behind Full Course's portfolio of emerging fast-casual concepts.

Ep. 54: Lauren Fernandez — Founder of Full Course, Legal Scholar & Restaurant Franchise Expert

Forktales digs deep with Lauren Fernandez on the mechanics of restaurant brand investment — covering the manager qualities that predict scalability, the operational indicators Full Course evaluates before committing capital, and the broader future of culturally diverse fast-casual restaurant growth in the U.S.

Women in Leadership: Lauren Fernandez, CEO of Full Course

Lauren Fernandez joins the LANDED Women in Leadership series to discuss Full Course's model for empowering inclusive restaurant leadership — covering the capital access gap for women and minority restaurant operators, the educational component of Full Course's accelerator, and what equitable restaurant investment looks like in practice.

FranchiseU! Episode 32: Lauren Fernandez, Full Course

The University of Louisville's FranchiseU! podcast features Lauren Fernandez on the intersection of franchise law, multi-unit restaurant operations, and early-stage brand development — an essential listen for aspiring franchisees, emerging franchisors, and restaurant operators navigating the scale-up stage.

Lauren Fernandez with Full Course — Corner Booth Podcast

RestaurantOwner.com's Corner Booth podcast features Lauren Fernandez on the practical realities of growing an independent restaurant business — covering franchise readiness signals, the long-game mindset that separates scalable operators from lifestyle operators, and how Full Course identifies brands worth investing in.

Lauren Fernandez — Guest Profile & Episode

Legal Talk Network features Lauren Fernandez on her unconventional career pivot from IP attorney and pharmaceutical industry counsel to multi-unit restaurant operator and investment firm CEO — a compelling roadmap for legal professionals considering entrepreneurship in the food and hospitality industry.

Finding the Next Great Restaurant with Lauren Fernandez, Founder and CEO of Full Course

Host Nancy Aichholz sits down with Lauren Fernandez to explore what Full Course looks for when identifying the next great restaurant brand — and why the industry's most authentic, culturally rich concepts often go underfunded without the right restaurant investment and development partner in their corner.

Profiles of Prosperity: Lauren Fernandez, Attorney, Investor and Restaurant Operator

CALÓ News profiles Lauren Fernandez in its Profiles of Prosperity series — a personal portrait of a first-generation Cuban-American entrepreneur who built wealth through law, franchise restaurant operations, and equity-centered investment, and her lifelong understanding of what home ownership, roots, and prosperity truly mean.

Interview with Lauren Fernandez, Founder & CEO of Full Course

citybiz CEO Edwin Warfield interviews Lauren Fernandez on Full Course's philosophy of mentorship-first investing — detailing how the firm's team of former restaurant operators brings real industry experience to every client engagement, setting a higher standard for what a restaurant development and investment partner should actually deliver.

Spotlight on Full Course's Lauren Fernandez

citybiz spotlights Lauren Fernandez's unique restaurant investment strategy — raising $20M per fund cohort, taking minority stakes in early-stage brands, and deploying a four-channel growth model that makes Full Course portfolio companies more attractive to mid-market private equity upon exit.

Restaurant Investment Group Launches to Support Restaurateurs

Restaurant Informer covers the launch of Full Course's first investment fund — Lauren Fernandez's entry into restaurant private equity with a strategy focused on early-stage concepts owned by women, minorities, and culturally diverse founders who have historically been underserved by traditional restaurant investors.

Full Course Announces First Three Appointments to Board of Directors

Lauren Fernandez announces Full Course's inaugural board appointments — welcoming John C. Metz Jr. (Sterling Hospitality), Roger David (GSR Brands), and Jeff Heck (Monday Night Brewing) as industry advocates, reflecting her commitment to building a diverse board of proven operators who understand the founder's journey.

Full Course Is Closing the Learning Gap for Aspiring Restaurateurs — Introducing LAUNCH

Lauren Fernandez announces LAUNCH — Full Course's cohort-based restaurant education program designed to give first-time operators the playbook, live coaching, and professional community they need to successfully open, own, and operate a restaurant before seeking outside capital.

Lauren Fernandez on the Story Behind Full Course & Her Passion for Helping the Restaurant Industry

Metro Atlanta CEO spotlights Lauren Fernandez on the founding story of Full Course — her motivation to build a restaurant incubator, accelerator, and investment firm that gives emerging brands the capital, operational expertise, and franchise knowledge they need to grow into thriving, coast-to-coast businesses.

Full Course Is Closing the Learning Gap for Aspiring Restaurateurs

Metro Atlanta CEO covers Lauren Fernandez's expansion of Full Course beyond investment into formal education — featuring the LAUNCH program's cohort-based curriculum, one-on-one coaching model, and inaugural pitch competition designed to support first-time restaurant entrepreneurs from concept to grand opening.

Lauren Fernandez, Restaurant Investor, Developer and CEO of Full Course

Atlanta Trend profiles Lauren Fernandez as she launches Full Course — telling the full story of her evolution from Focus Brands General Counsel to 11-unit Chicken Salad Chick franchisee to investment firm founder, and introducing the four-pillar development model she built to help emerging restaurants scale into sustainable, multi-million dollar businesses.

GRA Names Full Course a GRACE Award Finalist

The Georgia Restaurant Association recognizes Full Course as a GRACE Award finalist — honoring Lauren Fernandez and her team's contributions to the restaurant industry through equity-centered investment, operator education, and hands-on development support for emerging restaurant brands across Georgia and beyond.

Lauren Fernandez — Speaker Profile

The Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit features Lauren Fernandez as a featured speaker — recognized for her rare combination of franchise law expertise, multi-unit restaurant operations experience, and equity-focused investment leadership that has made her one of the most distinctive voices shaping the future of the restaurant industry.

Lauren Fernandez — Women Do Everything Summit & Career Expo Speaker

The Women Do Everything Summit features Lauren Fernandez as an expert on female entrepreneurship and restaurant business scaling — spotlighting her track record of buying three underperforming restaurants and growing them to 11 successful locations as the hands-on foundation for her work as a restaurant investor and development firm CEO.

Full Course Appoints Edna Morris to Board of Directors

Lauren Fernandez announces the appointment of Edna Morris — former President of Red Lobster and accomplished multi-unit restaurant executive — to Full Course's Board of Directors, reflecting the firm's commitment to surrounding its portfolio brands with the industry's most experienced operational and strategic voices.

4 Qualities Franchisors Look for in a Franchisee

Drawing on her tenure as General Counsel and Head of Franchise Administration at Focus Brands — overseeing 4,000+ units across six brands — and her experience as a multi-unit franchisee, Lauren Fernandez identifies the four qualities that determine franchisee success and what aspiring franchise owners must demonstrate before signing any franchise agreement.

How to Create a Restaurant Business Plan That Attracts Investors

Lauren Fernandez shares her investor-side perspective on what makes a restaurant business plan credible and fundable — covering financial modeling, unit economics benchmarking, franchise development strategy, and the operational proof points that early-stage restaurant brands need to demonstrate before pursuing capital.

Want to Grow Your Restaurant Business? Start Within Your Four Walls

Lauren Fernandez makes the case for internal operational excellence as the foundation of every sustainable restaurant growth strategy — explaining why multi-unit operators who skip the fundamentals of labor management, menu engineering, and cross-location consistency pay the price during franchise development and investor diligence

Agility and Openness to New Ideas Aids Emerging Restaurant Brands

Lauren Fernandez highlights adaptability and diverse perspectives as the competitive advantages that separate scalable restaurant brands from stagnant ones — outlining the leadership mindset shifts and operational practices that allow emerging fast-casual brands to navigate market changes and grow with intention.