Chad Spaulding

Chad Spaulding was a Managing Director and Head of Origination at CapitalSpring, a dedicated restaurant investment firm, which he joined in 2013. In that role he served as a trusted advisor to restaurant owners and management teams across mergers, acquisitions, capital raises, and financial restructurings, and he was a senior member of the firm's originations team with deep experience in the restaurant and food/beverage sectors.

Before CapitalSpring, Spaulding was a Managing Director at Trinity Capital, an independent Los Angeles-based investment bank, where he advised restaurant owners and management teams on M&A, capital raises, and financial restructuring. He began his finance career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in New York City.

Spaulding grew up on a farm in rural Idaho. He attended Madison High School (senior class president, 1990) and Ricks College, where he was a national debate champion, before earning a BA from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He was an Eagle Scout and an early snowboard instructor at Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming, served more than 15 years on the board of St. Raphael School in Los Angeles, and was a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO).

Chad Spaulding died of cancer on August 1, 2021, at age 48. He was survived by his wife, Alicia, and two young sons, Silas and Wyatt. His passing was marked with an "In Memoriam" tribute in Franchise Times, reflecting his standing in the restaurant-finance community.

• Focused exclusively on the restaurant and food & beverage industry — CapitalSpring is a specialist, not a generalist fund.
• Provided flexible capital solutions: uni-tranche/mezzanine debt, senior debt, partnership equity, and other creative structures rather than pure venture equity.
• Targeted established operators — franchisees, franchisors, and operating companies with proven unit economics — not pre-revenue startups.
• Typical firm transaction size roughly $10M–$150M, aimed at growth capital, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and restructurings.
• As Head of Origination, his "yes" hinged on operator quality, brand strength, and unit-level economics — sourcing and structuring deals with management teams he could back as a long-term capital partner.