In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” chat with Alonso Castañeda, vice president of brand development and strategy at Savory Restaurant Fund about finding emerging concepts and helping to develop the brand for fast growth.
Castañeda says “the Savory Restaurant Fund is a fund that works and identifies brands in their infancy stage and when I say infancy I don't mean that the brand is brand new. They could be in business for ten years but as an emerging concept.
They are starting to think about growth, and that’s where we come in and we identify these brands that are loved in their communities that are financially healthy and that have a great product and we come in and we support them.” He adds, “We help them grow from five to fifty, we’ve identified that we are experts at that stage. We know how to come in and set up a good foundation for growth and build a team and then start scaling. We grow those companies from five to fifty in anywhere from three to five years depending on the concept. So it’s fast growth.”
The Savory Restaurant Fund has built a team of sixty food and beverage veterans with diverse backgrounds to help each of their companies to succeed. Their team consists of experts from real estate, payroll, sales, accounting, marketing, operations, training and development, says Castañeda. They don’t just provide the money they provide the team that helps build their partner’s brand.
Castañeda shares the names of a few brands that Savory Restaurant Fund partnered with including Hash Kitchen, Pincho Burgers + Kebabs, and The Crack Shack. He says that they are currently looking at brands and they have seven brands that are opening eighty-five stores.
They talk about the current climate of the real estate market, Castañeda says, that the perception is that due to the pandemic that there would be available real estate but on the contrary, a lot of brands did very well especially fast casual. He adds that everyone is looking for the same drive-thrus and the same corners, and there are not many great opportunities available.
Castañeda talks about what the company does when they take on a brand and says, “it’s a lot about identifying where the opportunities are and we can come in and make an impact.” Adding, “yes, we’re onboarding the brand but our real estate team is already going strong because we all know it’s going to be ten or twelve months before they find something but they’re moving right away.”
Tune in to learn more. You can subscribe and listen to Hospitality Hangout Podcast on Spotify or directly on the Foodable Network.
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