打造餐饮业巨头平台，与Alex Macedo同行

本期节目由我们的合作伙伴卡夫亨氏为您呈现。

This episode is brought to you by our partners at Kraft Heinz.

经营餐厅很辛苦，但脱颖而出本不该如此困难。

Running a restaurant is tough, but standing out shouldn't be.

亨氏认证是您的品质徽章，向食客传递着卓越体验的信号。

Heinz Verified is your badge of quality, the sign that tells diners they're in for something great.

这个标志代表着您的食品品质有保障。

It's a signal that your food delivers on quality.

加入亨氏认证的经营者不仅供应亨氏产品，更能获得超越供应链的全方位支持而与众不同。

Operators who sign up to be Heinz verified don't just serve Heinz, they stand out with support that goes beyond supply.

加入自豪供应亨氏的餐厅行列，获取认证徽章，向顾客展示您的卓越品质。

Join the restaurant that proudly serves Heinz, earn the badge, and show your customers you're one of the greats.

大家好，欢迎收听最新一期的《QSR Uncut》节目。

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of QSR Uncut.

我是主持人Danny Klein，QSR的编辑总监。

I'm your host, Danny Klein, the editorial director here at QSR.

这实际上是我们亚特兰大会议后录制的第一期节目。

So this is actually the first episode that we're recording after our conference in Atlanta.

感谢大家的参与，我特意提到这点是因为感觉自己还没从会议中缓过神来。

So thank you everyone for coming, but I'm also just putting that out there because I feel like I still have not mentally recovered.

我可能永远都缓不过来了。

I may never recover.

这是我最近的人生感悟，不过没关系，因为本周我们请到了Authentic Restaurant Brands联合创始人兼CEO Alex Masato。

It's what I'm starting to realize in life, but that's okay because we are joined this week by Alex Masato, the cofounder and CEO of Authentic Restaurant Brands.

首先，Alex，非常感谢你加入我们。

So, Alex, first of all, thank you for joining us.

按照惯例，我想请你简单介绍一下自己的背景。

I want to, as we always do, give you a little bit here to tell us the background of yourself.

另外也请谈谈ARB公司，因为对于电话中可能不熟悉母公司的听众来说，他们可能对你们运营的品牌相当熟悉，而这一切如何发展起来的故事非常有趣。

And then also tell us a little bit about ARB because I think for those on the call who may not be familiar with the actual parent company, they're probably pretty familiar with the brands that you guys run and how it all came to be is a really interesting story.

所以请给我们讲讲这方面的背景。

So give us a little bit of that background.

首先，感谢邀请我参加。

And first of all, thank you for having me.

很荣幸能来到这里。

It's it's a pleasure to be here.

我是一名听众，也非常高兴能参与其中。

I'm a listener, and, I'm so happy to participate as well.

那么，简单介绍一下我的背景。

So, for me, just a quick background.

我从事运营工作约25年，自2011年起主要专注于餐饮和餐厅领域。

I've been working, as an operator for about twenty five years, mostly in food and beverage and the restaurant space since 2011.

2011至2017年间，我曾作为汉堡王美国总裁，主导了汉堡王在美国的重大转型。

I had the opportunity to to run a big turnaround at Burger King in The United States from 2011 to 2017 as a president of Burger King US.

之后几年，我担任提姆霍顿全球总裁，推动该品牌走向国际化。

And after that, I worked as a global president for Tim Hortons for a few years, taking the brand international.

2021年，我与纽约私募股权公司Garnett Station Partners合作，该公司管理着约35亿美元资产。

And I joined forces with Garnett Station Partners, which is a private equity company out of New York that manages around 3 and a half billion dollars in 2021.

在最初的四年里，我大部分时间都是那里的运营合伙人。

And for the most part of the first four years, I was an operating partner there.

然后就在今年早些时候，我从Authentic Restaurant Brands的董事长职位上卸任——这个品牌是我与GSP创始人Alex和Matt共同创立的——转而担任Authentic Restaurant Brands的董事长兼CEO，因为它变得如此重要，而且发展得比我们2021年制定战略时预想的更快、更好、规模更大。

And and then just earlier this year, stepped down from being the chairman of authentic restaurant brands, which I helped to co found with Alex and Matt, the founders of GSP, to being the chairman and the CEO of Authentic Restaurant Brands because it became so relevant and, you know, it's it's become a reality quicker, better, and bigger than we probably had imagined when we first, you know, planned the strategy for authentic restaurant brands back in, 2021.

嗯。

Yeah.

那在深入之前，先说说你们直接管理的一些品牌吧。

So tell some of the brands that you guys direct, before we do some

我会先告诉你我们创立这个项目时的核心理念，以及它是如何演变的。

of the the whole essence I'll tell you what the what what kind of the thinking was when we started this thing and and how it's evolved.

我们的想法是，在当今时代打造全国性品牌非常困难。

So our thought was that, you know, it's very difficult to build national brands in this day and age.

你知道，就像八十年代、九十年代和二十一世纪初，那时可以很快在全国建立品牌。

You know, like in the eighties, nineties, early two thousands, you could build national brands very quickly around the country.

那是个完全不同的时代。

And, you know, it was it was a different time.

现在虽然变得更难了，但我们认为美国仍有一些出色的区域性品牌。

And now it's become more difficult, but we think there are some amazing regional brands in America.

其中很多品牌可能因为规模较小且局限于地区而被忽视，但当地人对某些品牌非常忠诚——现在收听这个播客的每个人，可能都能立刻想到两三个这样的品牌。

And and a lot of these brands are overlooked probably because, you know, they're smaller in scale and and regional, but, you know, people swear by some of these brands around the con I mean, everyone listening to this podcast probably has two or three brands in my oh, now I I know exactly what it's saying.

比如亚利桑那州有个超棒的品牌，马萨诸塞州的人一听就懂，俄亥俄州也是。

You know, part in Arizona has this one brand that's amazing, where if you're in Massachusetts, you know what I'm talking about in Ohio.

夏威夷也有个我们正在关注的品牌。

You know, in Hawaii, there's a brand that we're looking at.

有一些区域性品牌简直棒极了，在整个品类中拥有最高的参与度评分，甚至超过任何全国性品牌。

So there's some regional brands that are just absolutely amazing and that have the highest engagement scores across the category, across any of the national brands.

但这些品牌长期以来一直保持沉默。

But and but they've they've they've remained silent over time.

对吧？

Right?

于是我们试图寻找这些深受喜爱的品牌。

And then what we try to do is we try to find these brands that are loved.

在衡量品牌受欢迎程度时，我们寻找利润率最高、单品销量最好的品牌，而非单纯追求规模。

And the size being loved, we look for the brands with the highest margins and the highest unit volumes versus a pure set that we can find.

然后我们与现有管理团队合作，收购这些品牌。

And then we partner with existing management teams and acquire these brands.

接着我们会引入数据科学、技术手段和财务专长来赋能这些企业。

And then we come in adding, you know, data science and technology and, you know, financial acumen to these businesses.

这些企业在被收购前本就运营得非常出色。

So these businesses, they're extremely well operated and extremely well run before we join.

但由于规模小，它们往往无法获得先进的运营方法、技术、财务支持和数据分析能力。

But because they're small, many times they don't have access to, you know, sophisticated practices and technology, finance, and data analysis.

这就是我们的价值所在。

So that's what we do.

我们通过注入这些资源来加速它们的发展。

We come in and we turbocharge them with that.

同时我们会保留原有管理团队和CEO，保持品牌独立性，让它们继续拥有自己的总部。

And then the and we keep the management teams, we keep the CEOs, they remain independent, they have their own headquarters.

但我们接手后，就试图推动增长加速。

But we take over and we try to turbocharge growth.

现在我们已经拥有五个品牌。

And we're up to five brands.

回答你的问题确实花了点时间。

Now answering your question took a little long.

我们在佛罗里达州有个名为Pollo Tropical的品牌，这个名称在佛罗里达南部和中部很有影响力，是我们最大规模的品牌。

We have one brand in Florida called Pollo Tropical, which, you know, is name stake in Southern Florida and Central Florida, and it's our bigger biggest brand.

我们有Tavern in the Square，目前在新英格兰地区四个州运营，但它本质上是个波士顿品牌。

We have Tavern in the Square, which actually now operates in four states in New England, but it's a Boston brand.

还有PJ Willingham's，这是源自费城的运动酒吧概念。

Then we have PJ Willingham's, which is a sports bar concept out of Philadelphia.

Pramante Brothers是我们历史最悠久的品牌，已有93年历史，诞生于匹兹堡。

We have Pramante Brothers, which is our oldest brand, 93 years old, out of Pittsburgh.

以及Mambo Seafood，这是来自休斯顿的墨西哥风格家庭餐厅，最近刚扩展到了圣安东尼奥。

And then we have Mambo Seafood, which is a Mexican style family restaurant out of Houston, and we've recently expanded into San Antonio.

所以我们涉猎相当广泛。

So we have a little bit of everything.

而且我认为这些品牌中，没有一个是我们实现全国化战略的组成部分。

And, you know, I don't think any of these brands, we have as part of our strategy to become national.

不过即便未来实现全国化，那也将是以A或B类地道餐厅品牌的形式，因为我们会保留众多区域性品牌，而非让某个品牌全国化。

But, you know, if if we're ever national, it's gonna be national as, you know, a or b, authentic restaurant brands, because we're gonna have many regional brands rather than any of becoming national.

嗯。

Yeah.

要知道，这真是个好角度，我认为它很好地概括了行业内在概念增长方面正在发生的变化。

You know, that's such a good kind of, just point and overview of, I think, what's been happening in the industry when it comes to some of this concept growth.

回想我刚入行时，尤其是有许多快餐连锁品牌带着全国扩张的野心进入市场。

And I look back to kinda when I first got here, and there were a lot of, I would especially fast casuals who would come on to the scene with the intention of going national.

当时就是这类故事。

It was this kinda story.

感觉我们每周都在报道类似新闻，比如某披萨连锁计划如何扩张，但大多数都没能实现。

I felt like we were writing every week about, you know, ex pizza chain plans to do this, and, you know, most of it didn't happen.

对吧？

Right?

但现在这类消息已经很少听到了。

But but you don't hear a lot about that at this point.

在我看来，这种组合式发展策略变得越来越普遍，某种程度上可能是对当前行业现状的反制——如今想要规模化并获取影响力，所需的技术、系统和复杂程度对初创者来说极其困难。

It seems to me as though this sort of portfolio approach has become a lot more common, and I would guess maybe a little bit of a counter to the sophistication and the technology and the systems and what it takes to actually scale now and gain that leverage is very, very difficult if you're starting out.

我很好奇，当你在RBI管理那些标志性大型连锁品牌时，是否也观察到某些现象让你觉得：

And, I'm just curious, you know, from your point when you were, you know, at RBI and those brands and those iconic giant restaurant chains, were you seeing some of that that made you think, okay.

或许应该涉足这个存在大量可能性、能填补当前市场空白的新领域？

You know, this kind of other world that I might wanna get into, there's a lot of possibility there to, you know, hit a part of the segment that's not going on now.

是的。

Yes.

确实如此。

We were.

我记得第一次考虑区域品牌策略是在2016年，当时和时任CEO丹尼尔·施瓦茨（我的好友，也是汉堡王转型故事背后的策划者）有过深入交流。

I think I remember the first time I thought about a regional brand approach was in 2016, and I had a conversation with our then CEO, Daniel Schwartz, a good friend of mine, who was a mastermind behind the whole Burger King, the story, the turnaround.

要知道，丹尼尔和我都认为这件事确实可行。

And, you know, both Daniel and I thought it was actually something that could be done.

这可能是个好主意。

It was probably a good idea.

但当时有太多事情要处理。

At the time, there was too much going on.

我们当时正忙着整合Popeyes品牌，还要处理Tim Horton's的国际业务，各种事务应接不暇，所以这个想法只是停留在讨论阶段，从未付诸实施。

We were just, you know, integrating Popeyes, and there was a lot going on and taking Tim Horton's international, so much going on that it was just an idea that we talked about never never went beyond that.

但这个想法一直萦绕在我们心头。

But, you know, it's it's stayed on our mind.

还有GSP的创始人亚历克斯·斯隆和马特·珀尔曼，他们非常出色，最初在餐饮领域做了大量投资，是真正的专家。

And Alex and Matt Alex Sloan and Matt Pearlman, founders of of GSP who are brilliant and, you know, started with many investments in the restaurant space and are true experts.

他们也有类似的感受。

You know, they kinda had the same feeling.

但说实话，当时没人真正有勇气付诸行动——要组建像我们这样的团队：控股层面经验丰富的餐饮专业人士，进行这样的投资，相信你能运用技术、科学和财务手段，真正提升利润和销售额...

And and then but no one really had, you know, the I'd I'd say, you know, the the courage to actually do it because for you to put together what we put together with it, which is a team of very seasoned, experienced restaurant professionals at a holding level, make that investment, believing that you're gonna be able to deploy technology, science, and financial practices, and you're actually gonna drive margins and drive sales.

这里面有太多理论成分。

I mean, that that's a lot of theory.

在PPT上演示效果很好。

It works well in a PowerPoint.

但真要为此投入资金，需要极大的信心，也需要像亚历克斯和马特这样有远见的人来支持——这正是我们所做的。

But to be able to invest behind that, you know, it takes, you know, it takes a lot of confidence, and it takes, you know, big thinkers like Alex and Matt to be able to sponsor them, and that's what we did.

我相信很多人都有过这种想法。

I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have thought about this.

我们并非在那方面更聪明。

We're not we're not smarter in that way.

我只是认为我们更大胆，行动比大多数人更快一些。

I just think we were bold, and we moved a little bit quicker than most.

是啊。

Yeah.

我是说，我脑子里有很多想法，但当我真正考虑去执行时，就停止思考它们了。

I mean, I have a lot of ideas in my head that when I actually think about executing them, I just stopped thinking about it.

所以，拥有愿景和真正能够去实现它之间有很大的差距。

So so there there's a big difference between kind of having a vision and then actually being able to go and achieve it.

因此，我认为这常常是区分企业家精神和真正从旁观者转变为实践者的关键。

So it's, I think that's a lot of times what separates entrepreneurship from the struggle of actually getting off the sidelines.

不过，你知道吗，蒂姆·霍顿斯很有趣，就在你说话的时候我一直在想这个。

But, you know, Tim Hortons, interestingly, just this was kind of going through my head as you were talking.

至少在美国，它给我的感觉几乎像是一个地区性品牌。

It almost feels like a regional brand to me in The US at least.

你知道，它有一种独特的元素，把整个国家都视为一个地区。

You know, it's got kind of this unique element of its region as an entire country.

哦，我很喜欢这个品牌。

Oh, I love the brand.

它很棒

It's a great

品牌。

brand.

是的。

Yeah.

是的。

Yeah.

确实如此。

It is.

但如果你细想，就像我在纽约成长时期就意识到这一点，不过除了那些几乎与加拿大有联系或能触及那边的人之外，这在美国仍感觉是地域性的。

But if you think about, like, I I recognize it in my New York days when I was growing up, but outside of, like, people who have almost like this Canadian connection or ability to touch in there, it feels regional still here in America.

总之，那只是个次要的...不。

It's, anyway, that's just sort of a side No.

我觉得你说得对。

I think you're right.

你知道吗？

You know?

而且...而且...而且...我在思考你说的这些，因为显然你也和我一样是个餐饮界人士。

And and and and thinking about what you're saying because, clearly, you're also like a restaurant guy like like I am.

你知道，我认为我们能做成这件事的原因在于，如果你看看我和我的团队，我们不是私募股权背景的人。

You know, the the reason that I think we're able to pull this is because if you look at me and my team, we're not private equity people.

对吧？

Right?

亚历克斯和马特，还有GSP团队，他们已经是顶尖水平了。

Alex and Matt are and and and the team at GSP, they're they're as good as it gets.

所以我们从餐饮人的视角来看这些品牌时具有独特优势。

So we have an angle looking at these brands of looking at it as restaurant people.

所以我们看待这些品牌的方式与大多数私募股权投资者不同。

So we kind of see these brands different than most, you know, private equity investors that come in.

我们能迅速与管理团队建立联系，用相同的语言沟通，让他们快速加入，甚至能迅速纳入投资组合。

And we're able to relate to the management teams very quickly and speak the same language and get them on board quickly even, you know, to be able to bring in into the portfolio.

所以我认为这正是关键差异所在——我们实际上是在私募股权环境和架构中运作的。

So I think that's what makes a huge difference, right, is that we're actually we're set up in a private equity environment and and kind of a structure.

但我们整个团队都是餐饮业出身。

But all of our team, we're all restaurant people.

这让整个流程更加顺畅，无论是发现问题还是把握机遇。

So it makes everything so much smoother in the process to identify problems and opportunities alike.

没错。

Right.

你们最初是从Permanente兄弟餐厅起家的，我们对这个品牌很熟悉——其实我们姊妹刊物《FSR》也报道过。

So you all started with Permanente brothers, which we're very familiar with here at, actually, our sister publication, FSR.

然后是PJ Willihan，情况类似。

And then PJ Willihan, same thing.

Mambo海鲜餐厅也是同样模式。

Mambo seafood, kind of the same thing.

次年引入了Pollo Tropical，最近又收购了Tavern和Square。

And then the following year brought, you know, Pollo Tropical in, and then I think it was it was much more recently, the Tavern and the Square.

不过我想重点谈谈你们的收购策略。

But, I mean, talk about the acquisition strategy.

你们基本上覆盖了精品休闲餐饮领域，同时还涉及快餐服务（QSR）

You know, they're you're kinda covering this, like, polished casual space and then, you know, with a QSR that that's also

关于QSR，我要坦白告诉你，我们最初启动这个项目时

The QSR you know, I'll be I'll be perfectly honest with you when we started this.

我们最初是从'精致休闲'和'休闲'这个角度切入的，这就是我们的起点

This was, like, we we started with the angle of if it was polished casual, and casual, and that's kind of where we started.

我们当时进行了激烈辩论，讨论是否应该将Pollo Tropical纳入品牌家族，是否扩张过度

And we had a huge debate, you know, to determine whether we would bring, you know, Pollo Tropical into the family, whether we were stretching it too much or not.

最终得出的结论是：将这些品牌凝聚在一起的核心是消费者对品牌的热爱

And we got the conclusion that listen, but what bonds all these brands together are one, the love of the consumer for the brand.

对吧？

Right?

另一个事实是这些品牌都经受住了时间考验，平均都有至少15到20年历史，普遍在25年左右

And also the fact that these brands have withstood the the test of time, all of them are at least, you know, fifteen, twenty years, on average, twenty five years.

这些品牌历史悠久且深受喜爱

So these brands have been around for a long time and are loved.

这是首要条件，而Pollo符合这一标准

That's first, and Pollo checks that box.

其次，Pollo的销量很高，如果与所有PureSat相比的话

Second, Pollo has high mark high volumes, right, if you compare it to all the PureSat.

自我们收购以来，连续32或33个月每月都打破销售记录

I mean, since we acquired it, we've beaten the sales record every month for the last now thirty two or thirty three months.

现在我们的销售额处于历史最高水平，但其历史销售数据本就相当可观

So now we're at all time high sales level, but it already had pretty high sales level historically.

过去Pollo的四方利润率其实非常高，后来由于某些运营问题（我们已解决）略有下降

And in the past, Pollo actually had very high four wall margins that, you know, for some, you know, operational reasons that we we we have since fixed went down a little bit.

但与纯集合相比，它们仍然非常高，而且我们在过去两年半里利润率提升了超过八九个百分点。

They but they were still very high compared to the pure set, and we we've we've gained more than, you know, eight or nine percentage points in margin in the last two and a half years.

所以问题是，老兄，如果我们转向QSR，会不会破坏整个系统？

But so so the the discussion is, man, if if we go to QSR, does that break the the system?

不会。

No.

因为我们的做法是收购并培育那些深受喜爱的区域性品牌，Voya就是其中之一。

Because what we do is we we we acquire and shepherd, you know, regional brands that are loved, and Voya was one of those.

现在系统运行得非常好，我们实际上已经开始重建Voya Tropicana了，他们已经多年没有新建餐厅了。

And now that the system is, you know, running extremely well, we're actually we're actually starting to build Voya Tropicana again, which they haven't built restaurant in years.

明年希望我们能开一家，未来几年还会有更多。

And, you know, next year, hopefully, we're gonna, you know, gonna pop one and and many to come in the following years.

所以我们有过这场辩论。

So so we we have that debate.

你提起这个很有意思，因为我们确实有过那场辩论。

It's it's interesting that you bring it up because we did have that debate.

是啊。

Yeah.

这种专注于深受喜爱品牌的理念，我想你可能——不知道你是否意识到——你超前地践行了我今天所认为的价值主张。

Well, this kind of idea of just sticking to beloved brands, I I think you probably I don't know if you knew you were getting ahead of what I view that today to be kind of the value proposition.

现在要在最低价格层级竞争真的非常困难。

It's, very difficult now to really compete at sort of the bottom tier price.

你要么受到顾客喜爱，要么就没有，我觉得是这样。

You know, you're either liked by your customers, I feel like, or you're not.

你知道吗？

You know?

否则你就会陷入这种价格战的泥潭，目前可能只有四五个大型快餐连锁能承受，其他品牌要么靠自身价值吸引顾客，要么就被淘汰。

Or you get stuck in sort of this race to discounting that really only fits maybe four or five giant QSRs at this point, and everyone else is either resting on being worth going to or not.

所以感觉你们已经领先一步了。

So it feels like you got ahead of that.

但你知道，我经常和投资组合构建这边的人交流时，他们总会问一个问题：我们真的能帮到他们吗？能推动他们前进吗？

But, you know, I know that a lot of times when I talk to people on this side of portfolio building that one of the questions that you're left asking is just, you know, are we able to help, you know, or bring them forward?

比如尤波亚热带餐厅就是个有趣的例子，他们经历过几次所有权变更。

Or, you know, Eupoia Tropical is an interesting example because, you know, they've had a few kind of ownership moves.

作为曾在佛罗里达生活过的人，我一直认为他们的产品非常出色，正如你所说深受喜爱，但仍有改进空间。

And as someone who used to live in Florida, I've always thought the product was excellent, to your point, very well loved, but things that could be helped.

所以这也是评估流程的一部分吗？

So is that part of the evaluation process?

当你们审视这些时，会考虑哪些因素然后决定说‘好’？

And, you know, what goes into when you kinda look at that and say, okay.

我们可以采取哪些具体措施来将其提升到新高度，开始创销售纪录？

Here's x x x things that we can do to, you know, get it to this next level and start setting sales records?

我觉得你完全说中了另一个关键点。

So so another I I think another one that you hit right on the nail.

实际上确实如此。

So we actually it does.

我们钟爱那些受顾客青睐、高利润、高销量的品牌。

When we're we would we love brands that are loved by the guests, high margin, high volume.

但在我们的流程中，我们会进行自主的品牌研究，并采用独特的方法分析销售、流量等绩效数据以识别规律模式。

But part of our process we we run our own proprietary brand studies, and we have our own methodology of doing performance analytics for sales and traffic and so on to determine patterns.

实际上，在我们的分析和专有品牌研究方法中，当我们发现巨大的增长空间时会非常兴奋，对吧？

And we actually love it when in our analysis and our proprietary way of studying these brands, we see enormous room for growth, right?

无论是由于品牌仅与DoorDash签订独家合约而缺少Uber Eats平台，或是相反情况；无论他们缺少忠诚度计划，还是未运用科学方法选址——就像市面上所有软件都能实现的那样。我们有一整套评估标准清单。

Whether it's because a brand is only with, you know, an exclusive contract with DoorDash, and doesn't have Uber Eats, or the other way around, whether they don't have a loyalty program, whether they don't use, you know, science to find new sites, like all the software that's out there, whatever it is, we have a whole list of things that we go through.

没错，当我们发现那些管理完善却仍具发展潜力的品牌时，总是倍感欣喜。

And, yes, we love it when we find these when we find brands that are very well managed, but that have opportunity.

但与此同时，丹尼，因为我们深耕餐饮行业，深知经营餐厅的艰难。

But at the same time, you know, Danny, because we're restaurant people, and we we appreciate we think that restaurants are very difficult to manage.

当CEO和品牌运作良好、保持节奏时，我和团队都懂得适时退后一步，让他们延续成功模式，直到真正需要我们提供更多助力。

When the CEO and the brand are doing well, when they're on a rhythm, you know, my team and I, we know how to how to step back a little bit and let them continue to do what they're doing until we can actually, you know, help more until we're needed.

举个典型例子——Tavern和Square的整合案例。

Like, a great example has been the Tavern and the Square integration.

Steven DeSosa是该品牌的CEO。

Steven DeSosa is the is the CEO there.

作为品牌创始人之一，他选择继续与我们合作。

He's one of the founders of the brand, and he remained with us.

自收购该品牌以来，Steven有许多此前未能实施的创意构想，而我们赋予了他充分的实施自由。

And, you know, since we've acquired the brand, Steven, he had many ideas that perhaps before he wasn't able to implement, and we've given him all the freedom of the planet to implement these ideas.

这些构想绝大多数都取得了惊人成效，我们始终支持他放手施展。

They have mostly worked tremendously well, and we've stayed you know, we've let him do his thing.

有时候我甚至会感叹：真是令人惊叹。

And, you know, sometimes I wonder, wow.

也许史蒂文认为我们什么都不做，但事实恰恰相反。

Maybe Steven thinks that, you know, we don't do anything, and it's the opposite.

就像，他做得非常好，我们就让他放手去做，在他需要我们的时候我们会随时出现。

Like, he's doing so well that we let him do his thing, and we'll we'll be there when he needs us.

但我认为这是两者的结合：既要明白自己能做什么，也要知道何时行动、何时提供帮助。

But but so I think it's a mix of both understanding what you can do, but also when to do it and when to help.

这也是我们拥有——不知道具体多少年——经验的一部分。

And so and that's part of, you know, having I don't know how many years we have.

我们全球控股公司团队拥有数百年的综合经验，这些都会发挥作用。

We have hundreds of years combined experience with our global holding company, team, so that that that comes into play.

是的。

Yeah.

关于创始人这个话题，我们之前在这里讨论过，也在一些会议小组上谈过，因为我遇到的连锁餐厅创始人几乎都在寻求帮助。

The founder thing, that's that's something we've discussed on here before in the past and also at some panels at conferences because I I've met very few restaurant chain founders who weren't looking for help.

至少在某个阶段，他们要么在寻找投资，要么在寻求资金，或者考虑找个合作伙伴。

You know, at least at one point, you know, that they were either looking for an investment or they're looking for capital or thinking about finding a partner.

然后他们总会看着这个清单说：好吧，在开始探索之前，我需要先准备好这些东西。

And then I always they kind of look at this, say, of like, okay, have this checklist of things I might need before I start exploring it.

但从个人反思的角度来说，其实是要弄清楚自己需要做什么、改变什么，或者理解未来会是什么样子。

But then personally, like introspective wise, actually trying to figure out what do I need to do or change or understand about what it's going to be like.

很多时候，根据你合作对象的不同，这种认知会改变——或者说你可能身兼太多职责了。

And a lot of times that changes, at least in my view, based on who you work with, you know, or you may be wearing too many hats.

这是个问题吗？

Is that a problem?

你知道，你能参与多少？

You know, how much could you be involved?

所以与创始人合作总是需要这种相互妥协。

And so there's always this kind of give and take there with working with founders.

业内一些更优秀的公司确实在这方面做得很好。

And some of the and some of the better firms out there, you know, do a pretty good job of it.

我能想到几家，显然Garnet就是其中之一。

I could think of a few, and, obviously, Garnet is one of them.

但当你真正深入品牌的核心细节，找到那个推动品牌的人，并让他们理解'这是我们能帮你的方式，这是你保持参与的方式，这是对我们双方都最有利的方式'时，这种对话会是怎样的？

But what is that conversation like when you actually go into sort of the the nuts and bolts of the brand and find kind of that person who is driving it and and get to them to sort of understand, here's how we help you, here's how you stay involved, and here's how it works best for both of us.

除了基本的财务和会计支持外，我们会尽力而为。

Well, we try our best, other than like basic financing and accounting.

我们尽量在初期不过多介入业务，这样在产生想法前能充分了解具体业务。

We try our best to not get too involved in the business in the beginning so that we can learn enough about that particular business before we we have ideas.

有时我们会失败，因为容易兴奋过度，比如自认为了解餐饮业就贸然行动。

Now we fail sometimes, right, because we get excited, and sometimes we're confident that we know a lot about restaurants, and we we we kind of jump the gun.

但在理想情况下，我们会先与领导者和团队接触，了解机会所在，明确我们能提供什么帮助。

But I think it it in an ideal world, we start to engage with with the leader, with the team, understand where the, you know, where the opportunities are, understand what we can help.

我们尽量避免把它变成那种层级森严的大企业——董事会自上而下发号施令，经过CEO、COO、副总裁层层传达。

And then we try never to to make it like a big corporate organization where you get a top down from the board, and that goes from the board to the CEO to the COO to the VP and whatever.

最后发展到某个阶段，没人知道自己为什么要做某件事。

And then no one at some point, no one knows why they're doing something.

所以我们尝试建立案例库，就像旅行社那样提供参考范例。

So, you know, what what we try to do is we try to have a library with examples and that we try to we're like a travel agency and we're, hey.

你来这里了吗？

Have you come here?

坐我旁边。

Sit with me.

过来。

Come.

我们、我们、我们出去吧。

Let's let's let's go out.

我们出去吃午饭吧。

Let's go out to lunch.

嘿。

Hey.

你见过这个品牌做的这些那些吗？

Have you ever seen this that this and this brand have done?

和他们合作很成功。

It's worked with them successfully.

太棒了。

It's amazing.

我不是建议你这么做。

I'm not suggesting that you do it.

这里有份资料。

Here's a deck.

你看看这个。

Take a look into it.

我们下周开个电话会议，你来分享一些你的学习心得。

Let's have a call next week for you to for you to share me some of your learn.

然后我们通过标杆管理和讲述案例来影响他们。

And then we we kind of influence them by benchmarking and and and and telling the story.

我们无论如何都要避免强行推行某些做法。

We we avoid, by all means, pushing something down.

如果确实有必要，我们会倾听意见。

If if if it has to be done, listen.

我们会去做的。

We'll do it.

但在大多数情况下，这些都是非常优秀的CEO和经理人。

But in in most cases, these are very, very good, you know, CEOs and managers.

他们能领会信息。

They get the message.

他们理解。

They understand.

他们很聪明，而且渴望成长。

They're smart, and they want they want to grow.

所以，你知道，他们会跟进的。

So so, you know, they they they they they come along.

是的。

Yeah.

我觉得有个有趣的轶事是，加内特车站最初其实是汉堡王的特许经营商，这是他们的第一笔投资。

I think it's kind of a fun anecdote as well that Garnett Station was actually a franchisee of Burger King as their first investment.

我就是在那儿认识的亚历克斯和马特。

That's where I met Alex and Matt.

所以当他们2014年加入时，我当时正在经营汉堡王。

So when they when they when they they joined in 2014, I was running Burger King at the time.

我们就是这样相识，并建立了良好的关系。

That's how we met, and we built a great relationship.

他们成为了我们的模范加盟商，因为我们合作得非常愉快。

They became our model franchisees because, you know, we work very well together.

事情就是这样开始的。

And so that's how it started.

他们还拥有火鸟餐厅。

And they and they own Firebirds too.

是这样吗？

Is that right?

某种程度上算是吧。

Kind of We do.

是的。

Yes.

火鸟是我们的另一项投资。

Firebirds is another one of our investments.

没错。

Yeah.

是啊。

Yeah.

我们总部在北卡罗来纳州，所以我愿意称他们为我们的朋友。

So we're in North Carolina based, so I would I would call them friends of ours.

不过这个理念真的很棒。

Oh, that's really good concept, though.

我是说，我觉得这里的食物太棒了。

I mean, I I think the food is is awesome.

你懂吗？

You know?

而且它就是...

And it's just

还有另一个理念，我认为CEO史蒂夫·基斯洛简直是满分，是我见过最优秀的运营者之一。

kinda And another concept in which I think, you know, the the leader, the CEO, Steve Kislow, is 10 out of 10, just one of the best operators I've ever met.

而且亚历克斯、马特和GSP团队很清楚如何与他配合，让他施展才华并在需要时提供支持。

And, again, Alex and Matt and GSP know exactly how to work with them to let him do his magic and support where support is needed.

你知道的，那个业务也发展得非常好。

And and, you know, that business is doing very well also.

是啊。

Yeah.

而且他在那里已经待了很久了。

And he's he's been there forever.

所以...

So

他确实在那里工作很长时间了。

He's been there for a long time.

是的。

Yes.

对。

Yeah.

他们有三个史蒂夫，个个都很棒。

They have three Steve's, and all of them are great.

不开玩笑。

No kidding.

是的。

Yes.

不过，无论如何，我也想听听你对这个更大的并购市场的看法。

But, anyway, kinda just wanna get your take too on just sort of this larger, m and a market.

实际上，就在上周的会议上，很多人要求我分析这个市场，但我当时没有答案。

I actually, at our conference just the other week, I was asked to sell it by a lot of people, and I did not have the answer.

我不知道他们为什么认为我能回答，但你看，就是这种想法——场外资金是否存在？

I don't know why they thought I would, but but, you know, just this idea of, like, is there money on the sidelines?

而且你知道，人们现在对花钱有点谨慎，交易量没达到预期水平。

And, you know, people are just kinda little bit cautious of spending it, deals are not happening to the level.

前几天我看到一个品牌上市了，这可能也是时代特征的体现吧。

You know, I saw a brand go public the other day, and, you know, that's that's just sort of maybe a case of the times too.

那么你认为这种情况会加速升温吗？

But, you know, what is your take on you know, is that gonna accelerate heat up a little bit?

还是会继续保持这种不温不火的状态？

Is it gonna remain a little bit tepid?

或者

Or

我们在

where are

往哪里去？

we heading?

我认为

I think

可能大家都已经习惯了市场在过去三四年里的火热程度，以至于几乎预期这种状态会永远持续下去。

everyone gets perhaps so used to how hot the market had been in the last, you know, three or four years, that there was almost an expectation that that would go on forever.

是的，我觉得你说得对。

And yeah, I think you're right.

目前来看，节奏确实稍微放缓了些。

For now, it's a little bit slower, I guess.

我们仍在持续关注大量交易机会。

We still continue to look at a bunch of deals.

就我们这边而言，由于我们寻找的目标非常特定，实际上我们经手的交易量可能比大多数机构要少——很多项目在第一轮筛选就被排除了。

And as far as I can tell from our side, because we're so specific in what we're looking for, you know, we, we probably look at fewer deals than most because, like, it doesn't even come through the first filter.

然后我们会真正花时间精挑细选那些真正契合业务的品牌。

And and then we'd really take our time to select the brand that really fits into the business.

所以我认为我们的特殊流程注定会比别人慢一些，要找到符合我们要求的品牌也更困难。

So I think our particular process is always going to be perhaps a little slower than than than others, and more difficult to find the brands that we're looking for.

不过市面上确实有很多非常优质的项目概念。

But, you know, there's a bunch of really good concepts out there.

我反复强调，我依然不认为自己掌握了答案，就像你可能也不清楚何时情况会再次好转。

And and I and I and and, again, I don't think I have the answer, like, perhaps you didn't have when it's gonna pick up again.

对吧？

Right?

我们确实见证了一些令人惊叹的理念。

There is we see some amazing concepts.

我们看到深耕品牌的企业取得了显著成效。

We see great results with deep brands doing well.

只是我们尚未看到像过去那样频繁的交易流动。

We just don't see the deal flow perhaps of deals happening as as as we we got used to.

是啊。

Yeah.

虽然我绝非金融奇才，但过去几年从同行那里观察到的是，后疫情时期某些估值确实有些偏离常轨。

I mean, I'm definitely not like, a financial wizard in life, but I I would say the only thing that I observed or heard from folks over the last few years was that this kind of post COVID window, some of the valuations got a little bit out of whack.

这不能全怪创始人或新兴品牌，毕竟曾经有人获得过这样的估值。

And you can't really blame the founders or the emerging brands because other people were getting these prices at one point in time.

所以不妨试着争取。

So you might as well ask.

我认为我们说到点子上了。

I think that's exact I think we landed.

我想正是如此。

I think that's exactly it.

仍有一两家企业的估值明显高得离谱。

There's one or two that we still see that are way out there.

但是，但是我认为它正在回归正常，恢复正常状态，我想这么说。

But, but I think it's it's it's coming back to reverting back to normal to normality, I would say.

是的。

Yes.

所以在你之前提到的一点上，我想更深入探讨的是这种消费者连接的概念。

So one thing that you mentioned before I wanna dive a little bit deeper on is this kind of consumer connection idea.

因为如果我记得没错，我的同事本——他曾经也是这里的联合主持人，直到他决定去追求播客以外的人生事业

Because if I remember reading my my colleague Ben and former, former cohost on here until he decided to to do other things in life other than

嗯。

Mhmm.

和我一起做播客。

Be on the podcast with me.

但我们依然爱你，本。

But we still love you, Ben.

他更喜欢写作。

You he prefers to write.

这都没关系。

It's all good.

就是你们用来评估品牌是否真正融入那种文化社区结构的专有测试方法——因为这是餐饮连锁企业都会挂在嘴边的事情之一。

Just kind of the way that you proprietary testing methodology that you look at to actually figure out whether or not, you know, a brand is actually woven into that kind of cultural community fabric because that's a it's one of those things that I I feel like when you talk to restaurant chains, they all say this.

对吧？

Right?

但你们究竟如何衡量这种说法的真实性呢？

But how do you actually kind of measure the legitimacy of that?

听着，我们不仅做研究，还为所有品牌进行标准研究，这样我们就能对比收购与未收购品牌前后的变化，以及它们各自的经历。

Well, listen, it's not only the research that we do, we do a standard research for all brands, and then we have the advantage of being able to compare pre and post for brands that we acquired and didn't acquire and what happened to all of them.

所以我们在此基础上建立了一个完善的数据库。

So, like, we built a good database on that.

另外，我们还有第三方公司负责筛查每一篇社交媒体评论和在线评价等内容。

And the other thing that I mean, we we we have, you know, third party companies that screen every single online social review media post and all that.

我们对此投入了大量精力和关注。

And we take, you know, we take a lot of care and a lot of attention into that.

就像我们申请Pico时，正如你所说，这个品牌经历了很多，变化很大，试图通过创新摆脱销售低谷，却在某种程度上失去了对核心业务和运营的把握，消费者也感受到了这点。

You know, like, even when we were applying for it for Pico, as you well said, the brand had been through a lot, right, and had changed a lot and had, you know, take taken an approach of trying to innovate its way out of a sales lump, and kind of lose touch with core, and with operations, and the consumer felt it.

这是我们接手时需要消化的事实——我们知道这是个备受喜爱的品牌。

And, you know, that's another thing that kind of we had to digest a little bit when we're going we knew it was a loved brand.

但当我们从消费者角度审视餐厅里发生的某些细节时，会发现这些情况并不理想。

But when we looked into the details of some of the things that were happening in the restaurants for the consumers, you know, point of view, know, you we're like, wow, you know, these are these are these are not ideal.

对吧？

Right?

这是个存在问题的 beloved 品牌。

This is a loved brand with some issues.

对吧？

Right?

但正因为我们是餐饮从业者，我们能定位出这些问题的根源。

But at the same time, because we're restaurant people, we could kind of identify the source of these of these problems.

当我们确信可以通过改进运营、团队培训、人员配置、简化菜单等措施解决这些问题时——事实上我们正是这么做的。

And when we we got the confidence that we could address those issues, you know, through improved operations, training of our teams, staffing, simplifying the menu, that's exactly what we did, by the way.

当我们有信心时，你知道，如果我们做这些事情，有超过80%的概率能够绕过所有这些社交媒体评论和过去几个月品牌上看到的污点。

So when we when we were confident, you know, if we do these things, there is an above 80% chance that we're gonna be able to go around all these social comments and these, like, all these stains that we see in the brand in the last few months.

所以这些都是综合因素的结果，丹尼。

And so so it's a mix of all those things, Danny.

对吧？

Right?

这不只是我们的研究，这是研究本身。

It's not just our research, it's the research.

是要理解社交媒体的动态。

It's understanding what's on social.

是要理解人们在讨论什么，并试图判断我们是否能找到解决这些问题的方案。

It's understanding what people are talking about and and trying to determine if this you know, if the problems that we identify, we can find a solution for them or not.

对吧？

Right?

而且如果问题确实很大，而我们能想到解决方案。

And and if they're really big problems, and we can think of the solution.

我们就通过，实际上我们最近就因为这样通过了几项。

We pass, and we've we've actually passed in a couple recently just because of that.

是啊。

Yeah.

那么你对消费者整体状况有什么看法？

So what are your thoughts on the kind of the general state of the consumer?

这个精致休闲领域，我们内部称之为'Chili's效应'，我想这比精致更偏向休闲风格。

The polished casual world, I, you know, we surveyed referring this, internally as this Chili's effect, and this is more casual, I guess, than polished.

但我认为他们做得相当不错，可以说他们成功展示了在麦当劳这样的地方，你支付的费用与他们提供的价值和体验之间的关联。

But just this idea that I think they did a pretty good job, I would say, of of shining the light on how their value and experience relates to what you can get for what you pay at a place like McDonald's.

在我看来，这正是他们过去一年半营销魔力的核心所在，再加上他们的运营策略。

You know, that's at the essence, in my opinion, sort of the magic of their marketing in the past year and a half, you know, coupled with their operational things.

但重点是，你从顾客那里看到了什么？

But point being, I mean, what are what are you seeing from the guests?

你知道，今年的情况一直很混乱，甚至追溯到去年也是如此。

I you know, it's been kind of all over the place this year and even going back into last year.

那么，你对这个问题有什么看法？

But, yeah, what's what's your take on it?

我的观点是，一些基本原则从未改变。

My take is that some of the basics never changed.

我以前在汉堡王和提姆霍顿管理大型系统时常说：听着，我们提供的产品不是皇堡。

I used to say that back in the day when I was at Burger King and Tim Hortons managing big systems, which is listen, the product we serve isn't the Whopper.

我们提供的产品是——获得一个皇堡然后享用它这一完整体验。

The product we serve is, you know, the experience of getting a Whopper and then consuming that Whopper.