Who Owns Levy Restaurants?

Larry Levy and Mark Levy opened the first business in 1978: a family-run delicatessen in Chicago's Water Tower Place called D.B. Kaplan's. The brothers expanded into restaurants and catering through the 1980s, building a reputation for chef-driven food in a period when institutional foodservice meant industrial cooking.

The pivot that defined the company came through sports and entertainment venues. Levy won the foodservice contract for Chicago's then-new Comiskey Park in the early 1990s and followed with deals at Wrigley Field, the United Center, and venues across the country, importing restaurant-caliber dining into stadiums that had relied on generic concession stands.

The 2000 partnership with Compass Group North America supplied capital and infrastructure for national expansion, and the 2006 acquisition made Levy a full subsidiary. Growth continued across major league venues in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, plus convention centers, cultural institutions, and premium events like the Kentucky Derby and major golf and tennis tournaments.

In 2014 the company launched E15, a data analytics subsidiary focused on venue guest spending. A Special Events division followed in 2023, consolidating catering for large-scale events. Levy also operates internationally, including UK venues such as ExCeL London and The O2, and in June 2025 won a long-term contract covering the NEC Group's Birmingham venues.