Louis was born and raised in Maine. He has a combined 17 years in the restaurant business, and has gathered a wealth of knowledge having been exposed to many different types of operations. After stints working service positions in a handful of restaurants, Louis journeyed into the management ranks with Host Marriot in Maine, learning much about the hospitality industry over the course of a five year stay. His next move was south to the Carolinas where he began to develop his bartending, training, and management skills. He moved to Las Vegas after being offered a position as Assistant Beverage Manager at Excalibur Hotel & Casino, overseeing food and beverage sales in excess of $800,000 per month. After two years managing at Excalibur, he accepted a General Manager position with Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. Sammy's was another high volume position that proved a great challenge for Louis. Moving back to North Carolina had always been Louis' goal, and after opening two new units with Sammy's, he made the trek back to N.C. He was introduced to Marcus through another restaurant concept, and the opportunity emerged following many in-depth conversations about the restaurant business in general. Louis helped open eeZ Fusion & Sushi, and ran as General Manager for last five years, working to build eeZ into what it is today. Louis was a huge asset to eeZ Fusion & Sushi, and he is exciting to be doing it again and building The Cowfish from the ground up! He is looking forward to overseeing the development of this unique one-of-a-kind concept.

Chef David Lucarelli was named Executive Chef with The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar immediately following the opening of the flagship unit. His extensive experience across numerous formats makes him a huge asset, and The Cowfish team enjoys learning from and growing with Lucarelli as the new concept emerges as a unique, fresh new restaurant offering.

Born for the business, Lucarelli was first exposed to the restaurant industry as a child in Cleveland where his family still owns and operates several high profile restaurants.

His vast culinary education includes studying at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island as well as the prestigious International Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Torino, Italy. Lucareli has honed his skills at a number of fine dining establishments including Morton's of Chicago and he has worked at high profile eateries in cities including Maui, Honululu, Charleston, Chicago and Cleveland.

Lucarelli's broad experience helps continue to wow diners and ensured that The Cowfish quickly garnered much attention including "Best Sushi," "Best Milkshakes" and "Best New Restaurant" awards from Elevate Lifestyle Magazine, Charlotte Magazine's "Best New Restaurant Concept" and a mention from "Everyday With Rachael Ray" as a notable family-friendly restaurant.

Rifali began preparing sushi twenty years ago as a teenager in his hometown of Jakarta, Indonesia. He began to master his craft under Master Sihimato, Indonesia's finest chef, in a Japanese-themed restaurant that fused cuisines of Japan, China, Indonesia and France. After five years under Master Sihimato, his next move found him as Lead Chef at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta, the largest international hotel in the capital of Indonesia. After nine years with the Hyatt, Rifali's family moved to the United States where he has utilized his skills in various restaurants, most recently as the Master Sushi Chef at sister restaurant eeZ Fusion & Sushi. Rifali specializes in creative raw and cooked fusion combinations, and only adheres to the strict standards regarding product freshness, quality and presentation. Rifali will slice and dice his way into your heart, leaving you begging for more sushi!

Alan has been involved with restaurants since his first job with Chick-fil-a at the age of fifteen. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, he learned the full service side of the restaurant business as a manager at Houston's. In 1997, Alan relocated to Charlotte as a franchisee of a national pizza chain. Alan later branched out to gain experiences as a franchisee in both a pan-Asian concept and later a burger chain. All of these experiences evolved over time to create the original concepts of eeZ Fusion & Sushi, and The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar.

Marcus is a North Carolina native, born and raised in Raleigh. Marcus began his journey in the restaurant business at age 16, as a dishwasher and busboy with a regional restaurant chain. Throughout the remainder of high school and as a student at North Carolina State University, he worked every position imaginable in the business with various restaurant formats ranging from fast casual to fine dining. Working kitchen, service and management positions in North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and for a year stint overseas in Scotland, Marcus developed a passion for providing great guest service. Living and breathing a "guest is king" mentality helped keep him focused on a daily basis, and opened up an opportunity for a new challenge in 2005. Marcus opened an American-Asian fusion concept in February, 2005. Birkdale Village provided a perfect location to operate with this menu variety, and listening to the overwhelming feedback from guests that sushi would be a great complement he made a drastic format change in late 2006. eeZ Fusion & Sushi opened with the addition of a fresh rolled to order sushi bar which proved to round out a concept already thriving off of a unique American-Asian menu blend. Marcus is committed to continuing the evolution of the concept, sticking to the "all fresh ingredients" format that has helped gain eeZ Fusion & Sushi the success it enjoys today. The success of the eeZ concept helped open doors leading to the creation of The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, a one-of-a-kind operation that knows no limits. To say that he is embracing his "weirdness" through the creative process is an understatement.