OC Insider: Food, Sports & Entertainment

In a 2023 profile of TEI Entertainment, the Anaheim-based producer of celebrity-studded entertainment events, CEO and founder John McEntee was asked by Business Journal Editor-in-Chief Peter J. Brennan to name his favorite performer. His answer: Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath.

“Mark is hands down the best per pound entertainer that you’ll ever get for your money,” McEntee said. “Charismatic, high energy. God, we love working with him.”

Newport Beach native McGrath lived up to his billing with a crowd-pleasing performance at last weekend’s Chef’s Table 2026 gala for Illumination Health and Home, the Santa Ana nonprofit that provides housing and healthcare services to homeless children and adults.
In addition to performing a set of hits, McGrath auctioned off a guitar and the opportunity to sing with him on stage at the event. As the auction price kept rising, he quipped, “We can do a Smash Mouth song, too,” to keep the attendees bidding.

McGrath’s auction raised $17,000, and the gala, with its dinner overseen by celebrity chef Kori Sutton of Hell’s Kitchen fame, raised over $1.75 million.

Notables at the event included Congressional members Lou Correa, Ami Bera, Dave Min and Derek Tran, alongside area business execs including Jacqueline DuPont and Mark Costa, who both serve on the nonprofit’s board.

Lisa Bhathal Merage is aiming to make women’s sports a bigger destination for future business leaders.

Her RAJ Sports this month announced the launch of “the first Sales Development Program in professional sports dedicated exclusively to women’s professional sports franchises.” The aim of the initiative, the company said, is “to create meaningful pathways for aspiring sports business professionals to launch their careers while contributing to the continued growth and investment of women’s sports.”

The program will support the business operations of two of RAJ Sports’ bigger investments, the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and the WNBA’s Portland Fire.

See page 4 for a summary of this week’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship awards, whose winners include Merage; profiles on the winners run in next week’s edition.

Another EiE Award recipient gets double-duty this week: KEI Concepts’ Viet Nguyen is our Restaurateur of the Year. See Christopher Trela’s front-page feature for more.

Retail developer Dan Almquist was named our Businessperson of the Year for real estate in early 2025, on the heels of opening River Street Marketplace, the $70 million retail and food hub in San Juan Capistrano whose continued popularity has made finding a good parking spot a sport in the city.

Things have only gotten busier for Almquist, whose Canopy, the first retail center at the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine, is moving ahead. Recently announced tenants at the 12-acre project, to be anchored by T&T Supermarket, include In-N-Out Burger, Philz Coffee and Taiwanese tea brand Chicha San Chen, among others.

An even bigger project is on tap at Tustin Legacy: the city this month selected Almquist to develop a mixed-use center with retail, restaurant and housing on a 52-acre site at the corner of Red Hill Avenue and Warner Avenue, near the Flight office campus.