Daniel Schwartz continues his family’s legacy as the second generation to oversee Schwartz Brothers Restaurants and Bakery as President and CEO of the local family owned and operated business founded 54 years ago in Bellevue.  

Daniel grew up attending school and playing sports on Mercer Island, and later attended the University of Washington. As a teenager, he would bus tables at one of his father’s Daniel’s Broiler locations in Bellevue. Even as a teen in high school, he knew he wanted to work for the family business. “I always thought my dad and uncle were total rock stars,” Daniel says of the founding Schwartz Brothers. “I wanted to work for them because of the unique passion they each had for the business and the way they presented themselves.”

In 1970, Bill Schwartz, Daniel’s father, was working for his uncle as the Vice President of Development and Leasing at the Benaroya Company. “He wanted to find a way to attract more tenants,” Daniel explains, “so he came up with a great business idea.” Bill told his uncle that putting a restaurant in the business parks might make the spaces more appealing to tenants. His uncle bought into the idea, and Bill opened his first restaurant location in Bellevue called 'The Butcher'. “The idea worked,” shares Daniel, “and he went around opening more restaurants at the other business parks as well.” By the time he had opened several locations, Bill decided to move out of the real estate business and jump fully into the restaurants. His younger brother, John, decided to join him, beginning the Schwartz Brothers brand that is still going strong today.

After starting in the back of one of Bill’s restaurants in 1973, the Schwartz Brothers Bakery has grown substantially over the years. In the early 1990s, it was the exclusive bakery for Starbucks. In the following decades, it started distributing its products to local grocery stores such as QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, Metropolitan Market, Thriftway, Trader Joes, PCC, and Costco. Today, Schwartz Brothers Bakery operates in the best of both worlds: Serving our local and regional markets while expanding across the country. “We’re really excited about the national reception we’ve had, and we look forward to continuing to serve the country,” says Daniel. The bakery now sells its iconic Organic Bagel Chips at every Kroger store and Costco in the United States, as well as Costco locations in western Canada. Most recently, the bakery created a croissant loaf which has caught retailers’ attention nationwide. Kroger has rolled it out in all 2700 stores, and Costco is expanding it nationally as well.

Schwartz Brothers continues to reinvest in its four Daniel’s Broiler Prime Steaks and Seafood restaurants. The newest location was opened in 2018 as the flagship restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Seattle, the largest hotel north of San Francisco. The original location in Leschi was closed for two months in 2023 while it underwent its first complete remodel since opening in 1980. “After 43 years, we were really excited about how we were able to transform that beautiful space into what it deserves to be today,” shares Daniel. The Bellevue location also completed a remodel in 2022, and the South Lake Union location is up next.

“We continue to run the business today guided by the mission statement dad wrote in 1970: Treat all team members, guests, and vendors with honesty, courtesy, and respect,” shares Daniel. He takes great responsibility in ensuring the care of both his team members and his customers, and always strives to treat people the right way.

 

“We always try to look at every decision we make with the goal of being an employer of choice in our industry,” shares Daniel. “We are a people first business. We have over 500 team members that we employ locally, and over 100 of those team members have been with us for over 15 years, which we are really proud of.”