Jacob Chi

Jacob Chi, 29

Partner

Rowan Development LLC, Chi Management Inc., Chi Restaurant Group LLC, Chi Development Co. LLC

Little Rock

In Arkansas, Jacob Chi has his finger in many pies.

As a partner in the family restaurant group, Chi Restaurant Group LLC, he has helped design and establish many dining hot spots in central Arkansas, including Chi’s Chinese Cuisine, Chi’s Express, Chi’s Too, Sekisui of Little Rock, Crazy Hibachi Co., Koto, Chi Dimsum & Bistro and Sushi Café.

His business interests aren’t limited to food. Chi is a co-founder of and partner in Chi Development Co. LLC, which develops hotel properties in Little Rock and other areas of the South. Ramada Limited & Suites and Candlewood Suites are his two hotels in central Arkansas.

Another hotel may be on the way. Chi has had a project in the works for a few years that will soon be dozing dirt: Rowan Village. Scheduled to start the "serious construction" across from Shackleford Crossings in west Little Rock in the spring, Rowan Village will offer a retail center, an anchor restaurant (a Chi brainchild in the making) and residences for about 300 families, Chi said.

Chi also is an adjunct professor of civil engineering at his alma mater, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

In addition, Chi devotes resources to the community. He and his family have the Häagen-Dazs Shop in the Heights, which gives 10 percent of its sales to a different school each week, he said.