---
title: "How a Soviet Refugee Built a $12M Restaurant Empire"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/d870a3c0-c3ee-4534-a228-10ba301d8fb3
source: "Empires Weekly"
original_url: https://empirespod.substack.com/p/how-a-soviet-refugee-built-a-12m-7cd
author: "Patrick Buckley"
category: "Pizza"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Pizza"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2026-03-20T12:30:00.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T13:18:52.415Z
image: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M6Ua!,w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3f1e9e8b-d0b0-4416-93b8-0fe1539aeece_1920x1080.png
---

# How a Soviet Refugee Built a $12M Restaurant Empire

**TL;DR:** Orhan Veli, a Soviet refugee, built a $12M restaurant empire with 12 locations after fleeing to the US with his family. He achieved this through hard work and determination, overcoming numerous challenges including borrowing money from family to buy his first store and nearly going under during the 2008 financial crisis.

*By Patrick Buckley, originally published in Empires Weekly on 2026-03-20. [Read the original](https://empirespod.substack.com/p/how-a-soviet-refugee-built-a-12m-7cd).*

## Story

Orhan Veli’s story sounds like a movie.

At age 6, he watched the Soviet Union collapse overnight: chaos, violence, and uncertainty took over.

His family fled with nothing.

Within months, his father built a small business…until the mafia burned it down and demanded payment.

They eventually escaped to the United States with just $25,000.

From there:

- Roofing jobs in Florida

- Delivering pizzas

- Living in a small apartment with no English

Orhan now owns 12 restaurant locations generating over $12M in revenue.

But it didn’t come easy:

- Borrowing money from family to buy the first store

- Working 7 days a week, open to close

- Firing his entire staff two weeks into his second location

- Nearly going under during the 2008 financial crisis

In this episode, we break down:

- How he scaled from 1 to 11 locations

- Why he doubled down when others were selling

- The real economics behind fast-casual franchises

- And the mindset required to build an empire from nothing

This is one of the craziest operator stories we’ve ever recorded.

00:00 From the Soviet Collapse to Chaos 06:00 Building a Business in the Wild West of Capitalism 12:00 Escaping to America with $25K 18:00 Starting Over: Roofing, Pizza Delivery, and Survival 24:00 Learning to Hustle: First Jobs & College Years 30:00 Turning Down Wall Street for Entrepreneurship 36:00 Buying the First Restaurant (All-In with Family Money) 42:00 Early Struggles: Long Hours, Debt, and Doubt 48:00 Scaling to Multiple Locations + Near Collapse in 2008 54:00 The Saladworks Bet & Aggressive Expansion Strategy 60:00 Building an 11-Unit Empire + What Comes Next

## Entities

- Multi-Unit (sector)
- entrepreneurship (topic)
- United States (location)
- Saladworks (company)
- multi-unit operator (topic)
- expansion strategy (topic)
- Empires Weekly (publication)
- Patrick Buckley (person)
- Orhan Veli (person)
- Soviet Union (location)
- restaurant empire (topic)
- fast-casual franchises (topic)

---
Originally reported by Patrick Buckley, Empires Weekly (https://empirespod.substack.com/p/how-a-soviet-refugee-built-a-12m-7cd). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/d870a3c0-c3ee-4534-a228-10ba301d8fb3).