00:01.44

vigorbranding

Hello, everyone. Today’s guest is Anand Gala of Gala Capital Partners. Put simply, Anand is an investor, and one of those investments is restaurants. But I’ve known him for quite a while, and I’m always blown away by his stories, his growth, and and everything in between. So this will be a great conversation. Anand, welcome to Fork Tales. Thanks for doing this program.

00:25.38

Anand Gala

Absolutely. My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Michael.

00:28.50

vigorbranding

Perfect. Well, hey, so I know we were talking, catching up a little bit before because I’m fortunate to have known you for a while. um You know, I was saying, when people hear about Gala Capital Partners, it sounds ah very regal, which it is. It’s an amazing company and the growth is is astronomical, which we’ll talk about, but it didn’t really all start out that way, did it?

00:47.08

Anand Gala

You know, no, it’s everybody’s got a, everybody’s got a story. I guess you can say everybody’s got a story. And mine is um is probably very familiar.

00:58.92

Anand Gala

to many others that are you know that were raised in immigrant families that that came from humble beginnings. And it’s just a story of a lot of hard work. It’s a story of intentionality by my family, by my parents to really invest in me ah in an education around operations and around entrepreneurship that candidly none of us really knew we were doing at the time.

01:24.49

vigorbranding

Yeah, I mean, you you were literally, I think when I first met you, you you were a child basically being babysat by the dishwasher, right? You were in the restaurants at a young, young age. Talk a little bit about that.

01:34.34

Anand Gala

Yeah, absolutely. So my mom was a franchisee of Jack in the Box. And that was early on when they just began franchising. I think she might have been franchisee number two.

01:45.49

vigorbranding

Wow.

01:45.60

Anand Gala

And that was 1982 or 83. I must have been eight or nine years old. And she started working 16, 18, 20 hours a day because you know that’s what an operator does.

01:56.08

Anand Gala

That’s what an entrepreneur does. You have to figure it out. And I just didn’t see her very often. And so therefore, the best way for her to make sure that she had an eye on me and I spent time with her was for her to bring me to work. And that was daycare. That was after school care. That was vacations and holiday care. You know, that’s what it was. That’s how I spent my time. And so I literally grew up in the back of a restaurant ah and in some cases standing on a milk crate so I could see over the front counter and and talk to customers. But that that was it within eyesight and earshot.

02:27.89

vigorbranding

That’s great. And you know, the the restaurant business has to be in your blood. And obviously, yeah it was literally infused in you from a young age. And I think that’s, ah again, i you can’t help to learn, you can’t help to see. I think it’s one of the most incredible experiences ah for anybody ah is to work in a restaurant. You learn a lot about sales, you learn a lot about people, about hustle, about ah yeah just everything in in between, dealing with problems on your feet. When someone complains, it’s ah it’s ah it’s a phenomenal way to ah get an education, that’s for sure.

02:57.22

Anand Gala

Absolutely. and i’ll And I’ll take it a step further. I think it’s fascinating because it not only teaches you all of the things that you mentioned, it’s usually the first job for many young adults or or teenagers.

03:07.18

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

03:09.41

Anand Gala

It teaches them work ethic. It teaches them responsibility. And one thing that candidly, I’m not sure how it gets taught other than maybe in the home or or through your church or temple or or what have you,

03:22.08

Anand Gala

But it’s respect for others, regardless of the position that they’re in. ah It’s an appreciation for hard work and how much it takes to really earn a dollar.

03:32.67

Anand Gala

And the fact that people do what they do so that they can support themselves, their families, have some spending money, develop some independence, it’s remarkable. And, you know, those are lessons and values that don’t get taught very often in many other places.

03:46.25

vigorbranding

Yeah, no doubt. So okay, so you you youre you’re you’re young, you’re in the restaurant, you’re you’re eight, then you go to USC, right? And you you graduate with a degree in biology. ah So that was, you weren’t on the restaurant path, I don’t think at that point. So what happened there? Where were you headed? Where did you go? And where did how did you end up here?

04:04.53

Anand Gala

Yeah, it’s, you know, don’t don’t all good restaurant operators go into the sciences? Of course. ah it it it is a It is a fascinating path and it’s one that, ah you know, my my parents recognized how hard the restaurant business was. And they wanted my brother and I to have a better life. They wanted us to get an education and and really not have to go through the trials and tribulations that they went through, as every parent wants for their children.

04:31.20

Anand Gala

So they thought, hey, we’ll have our kids become doctors. ah That would be great. And I thought, boy, wouldn’t medical school be easier than running a restaurant until I, you know, I i took the ah med school entrance exams and and I tried a couple of interviews for for med schools and I realized that’s not what I wanted to do. I probably should have come to that conclusion much, much earlier in college, but I waited until the end.

04:54.40

Anand Gala

And, ah you know, I thought, okay, I’ll just go help out in the family business, because I know how to do that. And my parents thought, okay, you know, he’s gonna realize how hard this is, and he’ll change his mind quickly and run to med school. And as I got back into the business, I realized how much it just came second nature, how much I truly enjoyed it. And candidly, how much it had to offer. When I was growing up, I thought, boy, the only thing it has to offer is operations.

05:21.61

Anand Gala

And I got a great education and experience in operations. But when I returned to the business after university, I realized I can learn about finance. I can learn about accounting. I can learn about marketing. I can learn about HR. I can learn about IT. t I can get into real estate. there It was so multidimensional. It was remarkable. And it just captivated me. It drew me in. And I had an insatiable curiosity and appetite to learn.

05:47.54

Anand Gala

and And so every single day it drew me in further and further and further to the point that there was just no return. This was it.

05:54.51

vigorbranding

that’s That’s, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, so I mean, now we’ll jump into to to to life after after school, you you get involved as a is a franchisee, correct? That’s what you that’s that was your first sort of for you were young, I think you bought your first franchise, right?

06:11.11

Anand Gala

Yeah, that’s right. So you know growing up in the restaurant space was fantastic. But the challenge at the time within Jack in the Box was there were a limited number of franchisees that were allowed to expand. And it was because the company was in a very large expansion phase for itself. And so in large markets like Houston and Los Angeles where we operated, there simply weren’t that many opportunities for us because the company had already scouted them out and had already tied them up.

06:40.93

Anand Gala

So I left the family business when I was 25 and I became ah I think the youngest franchisee for Applebee’s and started building stores throughout California the exact same time same year I became I believe also the youngest franchisee for Del Taco at the time.

06:59.02

vigorbranding

wow

06:59.12

Anand Gala

And I was 25 years old. I was building Applebee’s from Bakersfield to Fresno and and later in the Bay Area and was building Del Taco restaurants outside of Sacramento and Modesto and Stockton and small markets there as well as in Phoenix, Arizona. And so I was traveling a lot and I think when you’re young and you’re not married and you don’t have other responsibilities and You’ve got a lot of energy.

07:22.40

Anand Gala

ah You can really you know push the push the pedal. And so I did. I learned a great deal during that period of time. And I learned a lot about what ah what I did know and what I didn’t know.

07:31.09

vigorbranding

Y

07:33.97

Anand Gala

I’ll tell you, there were many, many humbling experiences.

07:35.59

vigorbranding

‘all bet.

07:37.63

Anand Gala

Because when you’re 25, you have a great deal of confidence and bravado. And I had a couple of lessons that I learned the hard way. And um I think i’m I’m far better off for it today.

07:49.97

vigorbranding

Yeah, we’ve learned a lot more from our mistakes and our wins, that’s for sure.

07:53.08

Anand Gala

Yeah.

07:53.18

vigorbranding

And ah so it’s it’s interesting too, because we’ll talk about this in a moment, but I mean, you know, obviously, ah you know, at Vigor, we do marketing for restaurants, and we deal with ah franchisees, and we deal with franchisors, the folks that own the brand and control the brand.

08:07.88

vigorbranding

And and sometimes there’s, there’s dissension among the ranks. I mean, there’s, you know, and you’re you’re you’re on both sides of it. So I’ll be really interested to hear your perspective on the whole thing.

08:18.23

Anand Gala

Yeah, yeah it’s it’s been a fascinating journey, having been a franchisee from 83 all the way to or 82, I guess all the way to, I think about 2014 is when we finally ah decided we were going to start selling and not start selling the brands, but we exited most of the brands that we were involved in.

08:35.37

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

08:37.22

Anand Gala

And so prior to that, we had sold our jack in the box business and sold our Del Taco business and, and then by 2014 sold our Applebee’s business. And we we still our franchisees a famous day’s barbecue in California.

08:46.15

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

08:49.86

Anand Gala

ah But then starting in 2017, we started investing in and acquiring small franchiseurs. And what’s interesting is we took a very different approach to being a franchisor. Having walked a mile in the shoes of the franchisee, literally, and still being a franchisee, i I fundamentally understand the approach to business and the relationship that a franchisee has. And I try to bring that knowledge and experience and insight to the relationship that we bring as a franchisor.

09:23.64

Anand Gala

We acknowledge that a franchisee makes their money off the bottom line and a franchisor makes their money off the top line. That being said, discounting your royalty is not the solution you because you want a financially strong franchisor that has the capital to make the investments in the people and the systems and the resources to really drive your business.

09:45.68

Anand Gala

If you cut the royalty down to call it 1%, what’s left for them?

09:45.83

vigorbranding

That’s right.

09:48.63

vigorbranding

Mhm.

09:50.10

Anand Gala

you’re not gonna get the best talent, you’re not gonna get the best support. And so it becomes a vicious cycle if you go down that road. I think that what most franchisees ah do focus on and and I think many recognize is rather than try to reduce the royalty, let’s drive accountability and expectations with the franchise or to say we expect best in class marketing, best in class leadership, best in class operations,

10:11.11

vigorbranding

Mhm.

10:17.38

Anand Gala

um And so please make sure that you’re hiring those people, make sure that you’re driving those attributes ah through the brands, because that’s what makes us better. you know Please invest in us, please support us. And that’s how we try to bring the parties together. That doesn’t mean that we’re free of any discontent from time to time, but that’s our responsibility is to work through that.

10:42.35

vigorbranding

Sure. I mean, I’ve always said and I feel very strongly that empathy is probably one of the more powerful like emotions, if you will, and you know, understanding both sides of it from where you’re your you seat from growing up in it. And then being on the other side, it’s I think that’s very powerful to have that that understanding that that that intelligence that hey, I understand I’ve been in your shoes. I know what’s important to you. Here’s what’s important. And and there’s this partnership, right?

11:06.60

vigorbranding

It’s almost like you treat them with as family. ands they’re’re’re They’re a part of your company because they are. i mean they’re They’re your brand. right They’re an extension of it.

11:13.80

Anand Gala

Absolutely, and I would even go a step further and I’d encourage each and every executive or leader in a franchise or to go work a week and do that every single year in the stores because honestly, you don’t know what a franchisee goes through.

11:23.83

vigorbranding

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

11:29.38

Anand Gala

You don’t know what a store manager goes through until you’ve done it. You you may have the the best degrees on the wall. um and and lots of experience from lots of other brands, but until you really walk a mile and and do what they do, ah then I think you build a tremendous amount of credibility and and candidly empathy at the same time.

11:49.25

vigorbranding

Sure.

11:49.40

Anand Gala

So I think it helps you connect with with lots of operators and franchisees.

11:55.71

vigorbranding

That’s great. So, okay. So one of your biggest investments was Muyah, burgers, fries, and shakes. Okay. So, and i I was fortunate.

12:01.37

Anand Gala

Yeah.

12:02.41

vigorbranding

I actually came out to see you. I was out in California and I ate at one of your, at one of your restaurants. Phenomenal. It was a great ah burger. I’m not just saying that now, but the thing is there’s lots of burgers out there. And I was quoted on a previous podcast.

12:13.42

vigorbranding

ah I had a gentleman by the name of Audley Wilson on who created a robo burger, which is the yeah ah basically the burger vending machine.

12:18.71

Anand Gala

Yeah, yeah.

12:21.05

vigorbranding

And, you know, ah my my line my line was no one American ever went bankrupt trying to feed America hamburgers. So, I mean, but there’s a lot of competition out there, isn’t there? I mean, how does how do you guys stand out?

12:30.45

Anand Gala

there There is.

12:31.03

vigorbranding

I mean, you know, I mean, I know it’s ah a phenomenal product with great ingredients, but talk talk a little bit about dumuya.

12:38.44

Anand Gala

Well, i’ll I’ll frame it in a way that I think you’ll definitely get and I’m sure your audience will get, which is why compete with everybody else? Why play their game? they you know If you’re playing somebody else’s game, then you are automatically at a disadvantage because they’ve been playing it a lot longer.

12:54.46

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

12:56.28

Anand Gala

They created the rules. They’ve been doing this for a while and they know how to win. They’re gonna tilt the deck in their in their favor. So I think you have to decide what you do that is distinct, that is different. How do you define yourself? And so at Mujah, it’s a very simple approach. It’s better ingredients, it’s better quality, it’s better tasting, ah and it’s done with more hospitality, and it’s done fresh in store every day. And so that’s the approach we take, is that we wanna have fresh, never frozen meat, and we want it to be certified Angus beef,

13:33.11

Anand Gala

we fresh bake our buns in the stores every day, we hand cut our fries, you know, we only use the highest quality ingredients, and we don’t make anything until you order it. So these are all of the different things that we think are distinct and unique.

13:48.02

Anand Gala

And, you know, nobody ever um disliked high quality and great taste.

13:54.56

vigorbranding

right

13:54.79

Anand Gala

So our perspective is we’re going to compete on taste, on quality, on service, on experience. Now that may cost a little bit more, but candidly when you put it all together and you’re doing sort of the value formula, it still comes out to be a tremendous value because of what you get, not what you pay.

14:13.95

vigorbranding

Yeah, no doubt. So, okay, burgers aren’t your only restaurant. You’re you’re involved with a portfolio. you have You have pizza, tacos, coffee, and everything in between. what What criteria do you use when evaluating which restaurants to invest in?

14:27.84

Anand Gala

Well, your statement earlier, which was nobody ever lost money selling hamburgers to Americans, I would take it a step further and say, you know, there’s a bunch of different categories where

14:37.50

vigorbranding

Yeah.

14:38.40

Anand Gala

The world already knows what you do and how to use your business or your product or your brand. And so we focus on five primary categories. That doesn’t mean that we won’t look at and invest in things around the periphery as well. But those five categories are burger, chicken, tacos or Mexican pizza and coffee. And not only are they pervasive in American society and candidly, I think foundational.

15:04.85

Anand Gala

um But I think that what American society culture and its tremendous marketing ah machine behind so many of its companies has done a great job of is exporting that culture around the world.

15:14.31

vigorbranding

Yeah.

15:18.82

Anand Gala

I can open up a coffee joint anywhere in the world and I can guarantee you that that local community knows exactly how to use that brand, that product, that concept. The same is true with pizza. The same is true with chicken.

15:30.19

Anand Gala

The same is true with tacos and Mexican food. and And thank God for the Taco Bells and the Chipotle’s and so many others that have blazed a trail before us. um and And that end is, it for example, just in the Mexican category, but the same is true in each and every one of those categories.

15:48.21

Anand Gala

So our primary focus is within these five big categories.

15:51.97

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

15:52.18

Anand Gala

We love these brands and we think we can bring a higher quality, better experience approach to each and every one of them.

15:59.57

vigorbranding

It’s fantastic. So you went from being a franchisee to now you own these brands and you own is it rusty taco, you have CC’s pizza, Dunn Brothers coffee, Muyah burger, what am I missing one?

16:12.76

Anand Gala

Nope, that’s it, that’s it.

16:13.57

vigorbranding

Is that it?

16:13.90

Anand Gala

those are the those Those are the main ones, yeah, absolutely.

16:14.05

vigorbranding

Okay, good. I nailed it. Yeah, yeah. That’s fantastic.

16:17.73

Anand Gala

Yeah, so we’ve we’ve we’ve invested in these brands and some of them we’ve got partners and you know we’re just excited.

16:18.25

vigorbranding

So

16:23.95

Anand Gala

we We think that each and every one of them plays a significant role in how you serve the customer. So for example, Cece’s Pizza is a buffet concept.

16:35.11

Anand Gala

um And people, you know they they may attribute buffet with a lower quality. I’ll tell you, if you walked into the back of a Cece’s, Everything is fresh. They make their dough in-store fresh every single day.

16:46.57

Anand Gala

The quality of the ingredients is really, really high. in And I was very surprised by that. I mean, it’s it’s a really high quality product. um So I encourage folks to go and focus on the quality because you can’t go wrong.

16:58.93

vigorbranding

Hmm.

17:01.08

Anand Gala

You’re you’re always going to have a better tasting product with a higher quality product.

17:02.21

vigorbranding

Hmm. That’s great. So now on the opposite end there, so how how do you then ah interview or evaluate potential like franchisees or investors?

17:15.40

vigorbranding

How does that work? I mean, again, playing both sides, these are your babies now. And you know you don’t want to just hand that that off to someone who’s got some money enough money to buy it.

17:19.65

Anand Gala

Yeah.

17:23.70

vigorbranding

it’s you know There’s got to be a lot more to it than that, especially for all the care that you put into it.

17:28.63

Anand Gala

Well, the brands that we focus on tend to be anywhere from 25 to 350 units.

17:33.92

vigorbranding

Mm-hmm.

17:34.33

Anand Gala

And so we call those adolescent brands. They’re past proof of concept. They’re in a couple of markets. um Maybe they’ve already started franchising. And you know maybe they’ve just hit a speed bump somewhere.

17:45.32

Anand Gala

Maybe they’re just out of favor. They’re not very sexy. But they are great businesses. As we think about it, every brand goes through a cycle. And there’s a cycle of of evolution and then innovation and then scaling up and so forth.

17:55.57

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

18:00.85

Anand Gala

And so the same franchisee that’s a 300 unit KFC or Taco Bell franchisee may not be an ideal candidate for what we do. because they’re focused on scale. They’re focused on large markets controlling big pieces of the business. And candidly, we’re focused on folks that are really involved in their market. So our our typical franchisee and probably the the ideal profile of our franchisee is gonna be somebody who is either new to franchising but really wants to get into the business and work in their business um and and be hands-on and in the stores.

18:38.32

Anand Gala

or it’s gonna be somebody that’s probably in a smaller market or it’s a family business and they’ve got anywhere from three to 30 locations amongst whatever they’re involved in.

18:48.51

vigorbranding

Yeah.

18:50.53

Anand Gala

And they they really love being very hands-on, not to mean that they’re in the stores every day all the time, but they really enjoy being involved in their business. It’s not going to be just an investment for them.

19:03.06

Anand Gala

They really they they believe this is it. And so we want very active hands-on operators. that’s the That’s the easiest way for us to describe them. ah and And so when somebody really knows their business, they know their business and they want to be there.

19:16.69

Anand Gala

They want to, you know, build relationships with their with their leadership teams, with their managers, with their employees. They want to participate and support their local communities. Those are the folks that we’re looking for.

19:28.70

Anand Gala

And those are the ones that that do the best in our organization.

19:28.83

vigorbranding

That’s awesome.

19:31.48

vigorbranding

most successful at the end of the day, right?

19:32.98

Anand Gala

Yeah, absolutely.

19:33.61

vigorbranding

Very cool. Probably like ah your mom was, right? When she started out, you know?

19:36.82

Anand Gala

That’s right. That’s right.

19:39.60

vigorbranding

I mean, it you know, it all comes back around. So when when you look at like a successful growing restaurants or I guess brands to maybe invest in or buy, um is there a common denominator? Is it always like that sort of fresh type of thing?

19:50.01

vigorbranding

Or is there anything that you have in your criteria that you’re that you’re really kind of honing in on as far as there’s something you’re seeing in the market that you that you’re that you find to be ah ah successful or you think will be successful?

20:01.93

Anand Gala

You know, the the ingredients are very simple. um First and foremost, we start with the food. And interestingly, a lot of people look at franchises and they just see it as a business.

20:13.19

Anand Gala

They don’t think of it as what does the business do. So we always, as I mentioned earlier, we have a ah disproportionate focus on quality.

20:20.47

vigorbranding

That’s

20:21.19

Anand Gala

And so we start with the food. I think in in a world where there is so much commoditization and so much a sea of sameness across so many different brands and products, the the easy way to stand out is focus on quality, focus on taste.

20:23.39

vigorbranding

great.

20:38.35

Anand Gala

People go out to eat because food tastes good. If you wanted bad food or you wanted bland food, you could probably just do that yourself. But you go to restaurants because they’re known for something.

20:49.96

Anand Gala

And so we wanna make sure that when you come in and you’re getting something that we are known for, that you say that’s a darn good, whatever it is, taco, burger, pizza, that’s a darn good ah you know beverage, coffee, tea, you know whatever that was. And you wanna say, geez, I’m glad I went out for that rather than trying to make something at home.

21:10.45

Anand Gala

So distinctly, it’s gotta be darn good. Now from there, we look at the bones of the business and usually we’re investing in things that we think we can substantially improve.

21:22.44

Anand Gala

Whether it’s unit count, whether it’s quality or process or profitability, but if the product itself is pretty darn good, then you can work on the rest.

21:31.08

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

21:31.73

Anand Gala

You can figure out how to get them to better profitability, faster growth, ah yeah what whatever it may be, we think we can help.

21:32.06

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

21:39.94

vigorbranding

Yeah. but You make a really good point, a very stupid one, especially when it comes to food. like you know Obviously, we have the vigor brand for the markets, restaurants, but we also have ah an agency called Quench. It does food and beverage and CPG.

21:51.67

vigorbranding

And what we’ve known and noticed is you know when the economy is down, sure, there’s there’s a reason out there for dollar menus and there’s saving stuff. But you know the the place where people will, for lack of a better word, treat themselves is is what they put in their mouths, right?

22:04.79

vigorbranding

I mean, so they’ll they’ll they’ll still pay for premium ice cream.

22:05.31

Anand Gala

Absolutely.

22:08.35

vigorbranding

when it’s when things aren’t so good because that’s that that little pleasure they can have it’s not it’s not you know obviously it’s not some overindulgence or ah a great expense but a great burger i mean it’s pretty it brings a lot of joy you know so yeah

22:21.99

Anand Gala

It’s the little things that bring you joy. I couldn’t agree more. I’ll tell you, you know, I didn’t understand the difference in the various qualities of ice cream, ah except in the CPG aisle, right? you You knew that you could get the store brand, which was one thing. And don’t get me wrong, it’s tasty. And it’s a nice treat. Or you could go for the super premium with a very high butterfat.

22:42.97

Anand Gala

Um, and, and so I thought, well, geez, I guess this experience only exists in the grocery aisle until one day I tried a Brewster’s or a Handel’s ice cream.

22:53.69

Anand Gala

Uh, and, and I was blown away. Now it’s not the kind of thing that you’re going to go for every day or every week.

22:59.51

vigorbranding

Right.

23:00.35

Anand Gala

But when I think about having ice cream, I can go to a lot of different places, or I can just say when I go out for ice cream. as infrequently or frequently as that is, I just wanna get something that I know is gonna be so delicious.

23:14.33

vigorbranding

right.

23:15.67

Anand Gala

And I’m gonna go to the place where it’s just gonna knock my socks off. And I’ll pay just a little bit more and I’m okay with that. I just won’t do it as often. But I want it when I want and it. And I’ll tell ya, it’s the service, it’s the quality, it’s the taste.

23:29.23

Anand Gala

Those things combined create the addiction that you just have to have it.

23:32.64

vigorbranding

That’s it. and I’m sure in most of your brands, you have a lot of repeat clients coming in because they’re they’re getting the quality, they see the quality, they taste the quality, and it’s worth it. It’s an ongoing, probably, I’m sure it becomes habitual. so that’s That’s fantastic. so okay I want to talk about like the ru last year, I think it was last year, you bought Rusty Taco and Dunn Brothers.

23:53.84

vigorbranding

um with Gala Capital. He did it with ah an all cash deal. So you didn’t take on any debt. um Talk to me about cash deals and and what are the advantages, disadvantages, and I know you’re you’re adverse to debt. I i am too. So I absolutely respect that. So talk to me a little bit about that and how you how you’ve done all that.

24:10.94

Anand Gala

Well, you know but in in both cases, they needed some investment. They needed some love. And if you put leverage on a business, you’ve got a lot of reporting requirements. You’ve got you know metrics that you’ve got to hit, ratios you’ve got to hit and report to your bank. It it puts constraints on you.

24:28.99

Anand Gala

Debt is not bad. Debt is fine. It’s a tool to grow a business. But the business has to be ready to grow in a meaningful way. And it’s got to be pretty stable and strong ah in order to continue to fulfill those criteria that your bank is going to ask you about. And in the case of these two brands, we thought that these businesses needed some work. They weren’t they weren’t bad businesses, but they just needed some work.

24:55.76

Anand Gala

And our perspective is we’d rather do that with our own money and do it in a way that we don’t have a lot of constraints on us. We can make the investments that we need to make that are for the long run. And that may be five years, 10 years, 20 years, but when you’ve got ah when you’ve got debt, you know you really need to focus on cash flow rather than making those investments that need to happen and pay off over the long period of time.

25:20.85

Anand Gala

because you’ve got to service that debt. So our perspective is let’s do it where we’ve got a lot of freedom, a lot of flexibility. Let’s go ahead and make these investments. We’ll do it with all cash. And that way we’ve got a little more control over what we do, when we do, how we do. And as we get these things ready and we’re starting to grow them and scale them up, then we’ll look at what can they support reasonably. And we’ll we’ll probably put a little bit of debt on each of these businesses, but it’ll be some time in the future.

25:50.74

vigorbranding

Gotcha. That makes total sense. so So when you’re working on on a new franchise, um you always you make it a point to have very detailed conversations with current franchisees, which is is very smart. um How does that process work? And you know what do you learn you know from those conversations?

26:08.06

Anand Gala

Well, I think that there are some franchisees that candidly have just been waiting for the phone to ring so they can talk to somebody. It is fascinating to me how infrequently folks are speaking to franchisees, including executives of brands.

26:22.83

Anand Gala

They think they’ve got it all figured out and they’re just gonna send the memos out and send the promotions out and everybody needs to get on board. Now, in in many cases, that may be true, but you do need, this is a team effort. You gotta remember, the franchisee puts up the money. The franchisee runs that restaurant.

26:40.17

Anand Gala

you You know, they’re taking more risks than the franchise or. And so you have to respect them as effectively your partner in the business. And you don’t always have to agree. They did sign an agreement. You do control the intellectual property and you’re going to set the the tone and the direction of the brand and the business. But it’s a collaboration.

27:00.32

Anand Gala

and And I think no different than in a successful marriage or a successful partnership or even in a successful corporate environment. You have to find a way to effectively communicate with your peers. And I consider the franchisees to be our peers. So we want to hear them. We want to listen to them. We want to take their ideas and their feedback into consideration. And ah you know, listen, we’re we’re not the ones that have it all figured out.

27:24.87

Anand Gala

As the old saying goes, some of the best ideas come from the franchisees because they are toeto toe to toe face to face with the customer.

27:30.43

vigorbranding

Yeah.

27:31.97

Anand Gala

They see the behavior.

27:32.45

vigorbranding

That’s it.

27:32.93

Anand Gala

They see the interaction every single day more often than we do. That’s for sure.

27:38.07

vigorbranding

Yeah, they’re the boots on the ground. Have you ever backed away um from a deal based on and you certainly don’t have to mention any names, but have you ever backed away from a deal based on some feedback that you’ve heard from the franchisees? It kind of scared you off a little bit.

27:48.85

Anand Gala

You know, we have, we have actually.

27:50.73

vigorbranding

Wow.

27:50.94

Anand Gala

ah there There were concerns in one brand that we looked at and there were a number of franchisees that said, geez, you know, um I’m not making money. I’m losing a lot of money. I can’t keep doing this.

28:02.56

Anand Gala

I’m just gonna close my store down. And we heard that over and over and over again. So then you have to think to yourself, what am I really buying? And and maybe the investment banker did a great job in polishing this thing up and and putting a story behind it.

28:16.29

Anand Gala

But, you know, when you really get to the reality of it, this wasn’t gonna be much of a brand for much longer. And so we have to make the hard decisions that we either are gonna say, no, thank you, or we’re gonna you know we’re going to have to recommend a price adjustment um because we think in order to really stem the stem the loss there of franchisees, we’re gonna have to put a lot of incentive in place. We’re gonna have to make a big investment into them and their marketing and their operations. And that changes the economics of a deal.

28:48.13

vigorbranding

Yeah, I mean, that that that that totally, totally tracks. I mean, and it’s it’s interesting because yeah as an agency, too, we’ve we’ve had several situations where, and we were talking about this earlier, you were on both sides, the franchisee-franchise, or I think that’s really, in a way, your superpower. I think your empathy and the understanding really is ah is ah is it a massive benefit ah in your in your world. and ah But many times, we’ve been asked to for lack of a word act like the whatever you call it bulletproof vest liaison mediator between the the franchisees and the franchisor and I always felt like that was like uh I mean we’re happy to do it as an agency but I always felt like that that that just it signals that there’s a really a communication gap you know what I mean that to you really should you know yeah

29:29.90

Anand Gala

Oh, I think you’re right. I think you’re right. I encourage people have the hard conversations. I’m not saying that you’re gonna be comfortable doing it. They they are uncomfortable conversations, but it that’s just life.

29:43.08

Anand Gala

That’s just life.

29:44.79

vigorbranding

Yeah, no doubt. All right. Well, let’s have some fun with us now. How, I mean, you have a lot of restaurants.

29:47.59

Anand Gala

Yeah.

29:49.23

vigorbranding

I mean, obviously you can, you have your choice every day. I’m sure you do, but you, you eat in your restaurants that you invest in, correct?

29:55.66

Anand Gala

Oh, every week, every single week, yep.

29:56.65

vigorbranding

Okay. That’s what I wanted to ask you. How often and like, what, you know, is it a coffee thing? Then I’ll get a pizza one day and maybe a burger the next.

30:03.48

Anand Gala

Yeah, I’ll mix it up, exactly.

30:04.69

vigorbranding

Nice. Nice. Nice. All right. So now I want to get your opinions on some of the menu items in your restaurants and your current portfolio.

30:10.38

Anand Gala

Okay.

30:11.59

vigorbranding

Okay. So what’s the best burger on the menu at Mujah? What’s your go-to?

30:16.68

Anand Gala

You know, so so Best Burger, that’s such a personal question, right? Everybody’s got their own approach. Mine, I’m i’m a real fan of what made them successful, right? What is their core product? And for us, our core classic is the Muyad Double Cheeseburger.

30:37.47

vigorbranding

Nice.

30:37.60

Anand Gala

Man, it is just such a amazing, delicious burger the way that it should be made. It’s it’s fantastic. If I’m feeling indulgent, i’ll I’ll pop some jalapenos on there, but oh, it’s my go-to.

30:48.61

vigorbranding

Uh, I’m getting hungry. I didn’t eat lunch today. So I’m, you know, I’m with East coast. So I’m, I’m, I’m ready.

30:54.19

Anand Gala

Yeah.

30:54.60

vigorbranding

That’s, that’s fantastic. All right. CCs. If you’re building your own pizza, what are we getting?

30:59.66

Anand Gala

So again, I’m a classic kind of guy. It’s gonna be probably a pepperoni, ah but I’ll tell you what, if you haven’t had it,

31:01.97

vigorbranding

Mm-hmm.

31:07.71

Anand Gala

Cece’s is known for a mac and cheese pizza.

31:12.16

vigorbranding

Oh, wow.

31:12.46

Anand Gala

Now, it’s not something you’re gonna eat every day, but it is definitely something you have got to try. It is addictive.

31:19.32

vigorbranding

I’ll take your river. I’m Italian. So I’m, you know, Mac and cheese. We never put it on pizza. I don’t know. So, but that’s definitely and both good foods.

31:22.99

Anand Gala

I know, I know. It sounds wacky, but you just gotta give it a shot one day.

31:28.54

vigorbranding

You know, put it together. You know, it’s like peanut butter and jelly probably. So maybe, maybe it works.

31:31.22

Anand Gala

Yeah.

31:32.65

vigorbranding

ah Famous Dave’s barbecue. You ribs, chicken or catfish?

31:36.50

Anand Gala

Boy, I’m gonna throw you for a loop here. um Although I love all three of those, but you’ve gotta try the brisket.

31:44.14

vigorbranding

Ah, okay.

31:44.11

Anand Gala

Oh my goodness, it is fantastic.

31:45.58

vigorbranding

love I do love brisket.

31:47.29

Anand Gala

Now, if i’m if I’m not having the brisket, it’s the St. Louis style ribs. Hands down, the juiciest, meatiest ribs I’ve ever had in my life. They are, oh, they’re addictive.

31:59.10

vigorbranding

You’re you’re not not just the owner, you’re you’re you’re obviously a connoisseur and a fan, so and comes that comes through. That’s not marketing, I can tell. All right, Dumb Brothers Coffee. how what What are we ordering there? like what What’s your go-to there?

32:10.93

Anand Gala

So if you don’t know much about Dunn Brothers, we roast our coffee fresh in the locations.

32:15.52

vigorbranding

Uh-huh.

32:17.25

Anand Gala

That is really unique. um And so the coffee you’re having, or coffee-based drink you’re having, the coffee that goes into that has been roasted within the last few days.

32:27.48

vigorbranding

Be a test.

32:27.62

Anand Gala

That, if you haven’t tried fresh roasted coffee, is remarkable. You can truly, truly taste the difference.

32:35.40

vigorbranding

Uh-huh.

32:36.61

Anand Gala

So for me, it’s just what is the um the the micro lot or special roast that they have during that time frame? And it’s that with maybe just a little bit of milk or just a splash of cream, but just trying to keep it simple so you really get all the real flavors and notes of that coffee coming through.

32:57.21

Anand Gala

So I’m a simple guy when it comes to coffee.

32:57.36

vigorbranding

Absolutely. Yeah. Hey, i mine’s just black with a few ice cubes in it. You know, I call it the grandma Agnes move.

33:02.69

Anand Gala

Yeah.

33:03.95

vigorbranding

My grandmother used to always put ice cubes in her coffee.

33:05.46

Anand Gala

Yeah.

33:06.56

vigorbranding

And so I’ve been drinking coffee all my life, but I love just black ice, black coffee with a little ice cubes in it. And I said, I don’t do the triple latte half oat milk.

33:12.68

Anand Gala

so So you’re saying that grandma invented, grandma invented iced coffee.

33:15.46

vigorbranding

yeah There you go.

33:17.38

Anand Gala

That’s what you’re telling me.

33:18.12

vigorbranding

yeah It’s not even ice, just a few ice cubes just so I don’t burn my mouth. And it’s probably because I like to drink coffee and I don’t, you know, so it’s not, not loaded with ice, just, you know, a few ice cubes just to cool it off.

33:21.75

Anand Gala

Ah, okay.

33:26.57

vigorbranding

Right? So very, very sensitive lips.

33:27.05

Anand Gala

All right.

33:29.61

vigorbranding

Okay. Rusty taco, pork, beef, shrimp, chicken.

33:31.44

Anand Gala

Yes, sir.

33:34.24

Anand Gala

you gotta to try the Rusty Taco. It’s the original named for our founder, the namesake.

33:36.79

vigorbranding

Okay. home

33:40.53

Anand Gala

It’s it’s ah it’s pork with some chunks of pineapple. ah It’s just, I mean, it’s a classic taco, ah which which is the foundation of what Rusty built the brand upon.

33:53.80

Anand Gala

Now we’ve got a bunch of others and and they’re very sort of Tex-Mex, Taqueria style tacos that are really delicious. So there’s that one. And then I would say, ah Boy, that’s that’s the that’s my go-to every single time, yeah.

34:08.65

vigorbranding

Perfect. That’s perfect. So, okay.

34:11.72

Anand Gala

Oh, by the way, if yeah if you haven’t tried, um the queso at Rusty Taco is off the charts. People don’t know that we have it, but we’ve got nachos and you can do that with the queso and you can do brisket or pulled pork or you know any kind of topping you want on there, just off the charts, fantastic.

34:27.40

vigorbranding

Perfect.

34:30.84

vigorbranding

Well, you’re killing me. Like I said, I haven’t eaten lunch yet. It’s going to one o’clock. So this is this is this is all good. I got to figure out what i’m gonna we’re going to have now. It’s all going through my head. So, okay. What’s what’s up? What’s next for, for, for gala partners? I mean, is there anything else on the horizon? I mean, obviously if you can’t talk about, it you can’t talk about, but anything that you’re, any categories you’re excited about, anything you’re kind of looking at, it anything you can talk about there.

34:52.63

Anand Gala

You know, honestly, we’re excited about what we have in the portfolio. we We have so much runway with every one of these businesses that we have that it’s really got to be something special to get our attention.

34:55.64

vigorbranding

Absolutely.

34:58.52

vigorbranding

absolutely

35:02.75

Anand Gala

And right now we just haven’t seen anything that’s that special. So we just double down on what we have and we’re just going deep, going long.

35:09.62

vigorbranding

Mm hmm.

35:10.05

Anand Gala

you know With Dunn Brothers, we just expanded into K-Cups and into CPG, so we’re we’re pushing some of our coffee through some grocery stores.

35:10.52

vigorbranding

Wait.

35:14.74

vigorbranding

Wow.

35:19.48

Anand Gala

um We’re going to be redoing, redesigning, and relaunching our direct-to-consumer website and e-commerce pretty soon. We’ve got several new stores and new prototypes in the hopper.

35:30.40

Anand Gala

The same is true with Rusty. We’re opening, I think, it’s eight or nine locations this year. um And Muya, we just opened two of our ah very first drive-through locations, both company owned. We want to get the the ball rolling on drive-throughs. And so we’re excited to prove that model out. And so far, the customers love it.

35:48.57

vigorbranding

Yeah, well, you brought up a couple really, I think, important points. You did load up on a lot of these brands here very recently. And yeah you happened, I mean, no pun intended, but it seems like you covered every food group, like everything that’s important as far as coffee, pizza, burgers, taco, I mean, you know, boy, it’s, ah yeah, yeah, literally, yeah, you nailed it, you nailed it.

35:58.28

Anand Gala

Yeah. Our plate is full.

36:05.78

vigorbranding

So, I mean, it it does make a lot of sense to really kind of drive all that. And and the other thing you brought, which i I personally see a lot is, You know, with our company, you know, we we have about five different agencies in our in our portfolio. and And one being Quench is CPG food and beverage, which is very different than restaurants. They just happen to sell foods. We have another company called Vigor that just does restaurant expertise. But it’s amazing how many are doing the, we have this product, it’s people find it in the restaurant, it’s great marketing, they have it, they love it, like your coffee.

36:35.42

vigorbranding

And all of a sudden, it’s slotted over CPG.

36:35.64

Anand Gala

Mm hmm.

36:37.06

vigorbranding

And it’s like people, hey, I i love that coffee. It’s fresh. it’s ah And I walk into the store, and I can buy it. And it’s ah such a smart move. ah but You see it both ways. I’ve seen it from the CPG side going into restaurants, and the restaurant side going into CPG.

36:48.29

Anand Gala

Yeah.

36:49.56

vigorbranding

So I think that’s ah it’s a really, really smart move.

36:49.67

Anand Gala

Yeah, absolutely.

36:52.78

vigorbranding

Now, I have one last question. And you know it’s going to be hard for you, probably the hardest thing you have to answer all day, because you can’t you can’t say one of your restaurants.

36:54.72

Anand Gala

Yes, sir.

37:00.72

vigorbranding

If you had one last final meal, what would you eat, where, and

37:00.96

Anand Gala

All right.

37:05.55

vigorbranding

With who?

37:08.26

Anand Gala

Boy, that is a great question. ah First of all, with whom it’d be my family. Hands down, there’s nobody else who I wanna spend time with as often as possible than with my parents and my wife and my kids and my brother and his family.

37:26.81

Anand Gala

My family means everything to me. What would the meal be? It’s gotta be something that everybody loves. And so when I think about what does everybody love, it’s probably pizza.

37:36.68

vigorbranding

There

37:38.26

Anand Gala

everybody loves pizza.

37:39.72

vigorbranding

you go.

37:40.24

Anand Gala

And you can customize it every which way you want. Where would I go? My goodness. Or what would I have it? There’s a there’s a restaurant in Los Angeles, which ah I truly, truly enjoy.

37:56.39

Anand Gala

I can’t ever think that I had a bad meal there. And it’s an Italian restaurant. They happen to have amazing pizza. It’s called Osteria Mozza.

38:05.65

vigorbranding

Nice.

38:05.67

Anand Gala

And they have a a sister brand called Pizzeria Mozza. And the it’s just some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life. It’s the service. It’s the quality. It’s the flavors.

38:17.73

Anand Gala

It’s everything all combined.

38:20.04

vigorbranding

Fantastic.

38:20.05

Anand Gala

And I don’t even remember what I spent. I’m sure it was too much. But, oh man, it’s so memorable.

38:25.90

vigorbranding

Well, hey, back to your the concepts on your burger, right? I mean, if it’s a if it if the food hits the mark, you you you really don’t care what you spend. I mean, you know you know it’s it don’t be for those, but quality and and you know it’s it’s so, so important. And you were very smart and you’re a smart guy, you covered it. So if your if your family or anybody in your family watches this podcast, you know you answered the right, you had the right answer. with Only with my family. So that’s fantastic.

38:50.99

vigorbranding

and you’re You’re amazing. I love watching what you’ve been doing. it’s It’s a pleasure to talk to you and it’s great knowing you and I look forward to the next time I see you. it Thanks a lot.

39:00.65

Anand Gala

Absolutely. Look forward to it. I’ll see you soon. All right. Take care. bye