Ep.24 | The Secret Behind TGI Fridays' $2 Billion Comeback | Global President Phil Broad | Supy Talks Podcast

Speaker A: How does the guy that was running TGI Fridays 30 years ago in the UK end up running the global operation so many years later?

Speaker B: Good venture capitalists take over a business. They manage the cash out of the business to make more money. They don't invest in it. We have a different mindset. We don't have a short term, um, mindset about investment and investing in people and training. So we're bringing back the red and white stripes to Fridays, which everyone recognizes, and we think that's something that really differentiates us.

Speaker A: By 2030, TGI Fridays will welcome to another episode of Sappy Talks. Today I'm joined by Phil Broad, global president of TGI Fridays and an absolute hospitality heavyweight whose experience spans bringing Wendy's, Costa Coffee and countless other brands into the GCC. Today, Phil's mission is to get TGI Fridays back to a thousand restaurants by 2030. And today we're here to hear about how he's going to do that. Phil, welcome to the show.

Speaker B: Thank you very much for inviting me. Delighted to be here.

Speaker A: Yeah, we're really happy to hear, uh, to have you on the show. First of all, I just want to dive in and find out, like, how does the guy that was running TGI Fridays 30 years ago in the UK end up running the global operation so many years later?

Speaker B: I'm not sure I can remember that far back, but the reality is, I mean, it is, um, it's 30 years ago. In two weeks time, I opened the High Wicking restaurant in the uk. Uh, and I opened that with a guy called Ray Blanchett, who's the CEO now of the company I work for now. And, uh, I loved the time of Fridays. I mean, we doubled the size of the business. It was amazing. Successful. We were truly in a people business, serving food and always looked back in and we had fun. Everyone had fun. I mean, the customers, you say, well, the guests, you say, how can I have as much fun as your team? Right? And that was a signal that we got it right. We were really delivering great experiences. And I left after four years and set my own business up, um, and, and done all sorts of jobs since. And then I got a call from Ray in February and I, I actually just landed in Dubai. I was kind of packing up, going back to Australia, and he said, do you want to get busy again? And I was like, wow. I mean, I've just kind of decided that I'm leaving a Patman container in, in Saudi. It's on the water. Uh, and I went, wow, that'd be fantastic. Go Back to Fridays. Now, I remember when I went to Fridays back in 97, it was similar problem. I mean, the brand was not particularly well run. They had a lot of challenges. They hadn't got the, like, flight growth back. And so I thought, well, done it once, I can do it again, know what to do. And so I got why he asked me to do it. So I thought about it for about 10 seconds and then asked my wife and said, you know, you okay? To me to actually start working. So I retired for a day, uh, and the deal was I'd stay here. Right. So I standed by which was more, um, attuned to the franchisees around the world, which, again, franchise health is really important to us. So put me where I can contact most people at all times, day and night. And so I'm a 247 kind of guy, available. And so we moved here and we stayed here. I'm thankful my son and his, his wife and two kids are here. So I get to see the family here as well. My daughter's only seven, uh, hours away in the uk, My other son's in Melbourne. But still, you know, it gives me opportunity to travel and see them as well. But so I'm back here 30 years later, uh, and absolutely loving the fun we're having, kind of creating something special again.

Speaker A: That's amazing. It sounds like a perfect fit. You know, it's come back and do a similar job in a new era. Um, what's different between when you brought the brand back, you know, 25 years ago and now?

Speaker B: Um, I think I'm much younger now. Uh, I think the difference is that I think the world has changed, not the restaurant industry. I think now people want things so much faster. They still want the same quality, but they don't necessarily want to pay for it as well. So there's more challenges in the restaurant industry, I think there's ever been before. Uh, but I think if we get the quality value people equation right, then we can be successful. Um, and, and we were at the forefront of casual dining 30 years ago. Fridays was number one, iconic, winning all the time. Kids were loving it. My kids loved it. You've been to Kingston, right? You've seen it. So it was something that people really remember. We can't live on those memories. We've got to live on current experiences. So we know we've got a lot to do, but we believe there is a, uh, bit of a white space in casual dining, that it's gone more qsr, uh, fast casual chicken everywhere. Right. And so we think we can carve out a really strong place for Fridays again if we deliver on the people side, quality side. Um, but I think that the opportunity is bigger now than it was 30 years ago. You think international franchising. I mean, 40 years ago, the first TGI Fridays opened in Birmingham as the first international franchise globally. Well, and now we sit here Today, we've got 400 restaurants globally already. So the difference is we have a strong platform for global growth. Um, we have a brand, one of the most recognized restaurant brands I think in the world. I don't think there's another one. Not casual dining. There's another casual dining brand globally. And we are still the biggest casual dining brand globally in terms of number of countries you operate in. So differences. Uh, I think we just got to have, continue to have a lot of fun, uh, and make sure we look after guests the best way and make money.

Speaker A: That's cool. There's a lot to capitalize on. Definitely. You've got a special place in a lot of people's heads. So if you can capitalize on that and bring a great experience, I think you'll be on to a winner again. Um, but something must have gone a little bit wrong. So I'd like to hear what's your analysis on what went wrong and then what's the plan to come back?

Speaker B: I know what you're alluding to. Uh, uh, I mean the brand did struggle in the U.S. um, and it's, it's common news that, you know, there was the bankruptcy of the business. Um, I knew you can ask that question, so I'll address it. Look, in reality, TJ Fridays Inc. Went bankrupt. That's a company owned business. The franchise business has never been stronger. And so, uh, when it went bankrupt, Ray Blanchette, who's the now CEO. Ah, and founder of the, the company that operate TGI Fridays, came back to run the business on the franchise side. Right. So franchises have been bankrupt doing really well. Our franchisees globally do very well. Um, but we're changing the narrative. I mean, the narrative wasn't good. Venture capitalists take over a business. They manage the cash out of the business to make more money. They don't invest in it. So I think, um, we have a different mindset. We're in this for the long term, not the short term. And we don't have a short term mindset about investment and investing in people and training. The first thing to go in most venture capitalists mind is get rid of training. Cost you money. Right. And then people leave and you don't get good experiences, so your sales start spiraling down.

Speaker A: So you're based in the market, which has got a long term vision as well and it's going pretty well for them. So I think, uh, yeah, that, that sounds like a really good strategy. And you said, you know, the VCs take out funding, take out cash and you're ready to invest. So where is it that you, you guys will be investing? Because that's a big call.

Speaker B: The number one, I think every. Well, most people may well have read that we stepped into the UK market in January this year. Uh, now we'd watched that business, that, that was when I ran that business. And I hark back, 9 out of 11 top restaurant sales in the world were in the UK. Wow. Um, and you know, that could have continued. Ah, and the busy, busy restaurants, I always say, is like running West End show. Yeah. The, the outfits could be fantastic. There'll be top form every night they go out entertaining the audience. They've got to be clean and special. Well, they didn't do that. They kept, you know, uniforms changed use poor decorators, didn't refurb the restaurant. So you're going to an experience that wasn't really there. And so slowly it went on decline. So we're now investing back. So we bought that business back. Yeah. Um, remarkably, 24 of the restaurants that we bought didn't have heating and we bought that in January. Right. So we had to invest straight away to fix 24 restaurants heating. Now we've done that. Now we're going through the same with air conditioning because it's got hot in the uk. Right. So we continually invest to, to make sure the fabric of the building is kept, that the, the maintenance of the equipment is Right. And that's the start of the foundation. Um, we're relaunching uniforms this week. So we're bringing back the red and white stripes to Fridays, which everyone recognizes. And we think that's something that really differentiates us. And if you look globally with the World cup around at the moment, you'll see red wine stripes everywhere. And it suits perfectly with the World cup around. Um, so we're doing some things that bring back some of the iconic things, but also make sure we protect the environment the guests come into.

Speaker A: Will there be those pin badges all over the uniforms or are they not making a comeback? Quite.

Speaker B: Uh, yeah. We call them braces. Right. In the uk. In the US call them suspenders, which, yeah, difference. But we have the pins. The recognition, uh, piece of Friday is a Key if we're not recognizing people every day for a job well done. Um, and our, our uh, strategy has always been catch someone doing something right and it replicates that. Right. Catch someone wrong, coach them to do better. Right. But I think recognition is a key part of our whole company culture.

Speaker A: Yeah. Amazing. And you know, restaurants globally, globally are having a tough time. There's rising cost pressures, there's many factors kind of impacting them. So why do you think now is the right time to expand?

Speaker B: I think, um, I'd start by saying we have an accelerator and a break. Right. So we're not just about forward growth. Forward growth. We know when to slow down. We know when to slow franchisees down when we think they're growing too fast. Um, but as I said, there's a bit of white space in the market. Uh, and people may well have read that, you know, we signed about 150 restaurants in the last 12 months to our pipeline. So and countries are signing up. So you know, we've got Japan now with more restaurants coming through. We've got Peru is going have uh, 30 odd restaurants by the time he's finished. He's going to open another couple this year. Philippines is still growing. A couple more to go. We've signed Kenya. So Kenya's first restaurant will open November with the Pride in group, which is a fantastic company that has hospitality, it's heart. Uh, the Maldives will open in November in Mali. So again, exciting for us to get onto the mainland and then expand into the islands. Um, Balkans will sign shortly. So we'll have three countries in the Balkans. We have another country I can't declare at the moment, I sign in the next week or so. And a whole host of other countries, countries that are really lining up to grow. I mean 50 restaurants in Mexico signed last year. Wow. Right. So we believe that if Fridays delivers on the experience, we deliver the great products that we know we have in our recipe bank already. Um, and we are continually people focus. Then guests will keep coming back. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it's a good time to grow.

Speaker A: No, that's cool. And I think, you know, um, 30 years ago a lot of these countries weren't really on the map, uh, of, in terms of the eyes of big, um, you know, Americana brands. They weren't thinking to go into these markets. So really it's capitalizing on a new opportunity, a growing middle class in a lot of these places, which is, yeah, an exciting time. Um, I was kind of interested to find out though, why is franchising the growth strategy that Fridays has gone for rather than like more and more corporate stores.

Speaker B: Look, the reality is, um, when we took over the business is a franchise model. And so as I explained, we have acquired the UK markets as company owned stores. Now um, my CEO does own restaurants himself in the US So where we need to invest to buy our own restaurants, we'll do it. And we think that shows that we also have skin in the game. It's not just about taking other people's money to grow the brand. But from my um, experience of all the franchises business I've run, if you can find an entrepreneur or a really experienced businessman in a country who knows the country really well, I will never have that experience. He has. I will never have, you know, the history of the country, understand demographics, what they, what they like. And so our most successful franchisees are the ones who've been in the business a long time, live in the country and own it. So I think franchising is, is right. I mean, yeah, moving into Kenya, I love the country. First went there in 1977, still love it. Um, went to Nairobi, went to Mombasa a couple of weeks ago. I mean he knows the country inside out and he knows everybody who can help him to open restaurants, get the licensing, et cetera. So franchising is probably, uh, an easy and quicker way to grow. But it's not just about the numbers, about the right partner. And if we get the right partners, it feels like you're in your own company.

Speaker A: No, that's true. It's a great point. You are kind of like you have the overall strategy, oversight globally and then you're finding these specialists who are entrepreneurial, trust them and let them run with it and have that depth of knowledge that it would be hard to have in that field. That's, that's cool.

Speaker B: The one thing I would say, when you pick a franchisee, right, It's a bit like picking your bride, right, because, because you sign a contract for up to 20 years and a 10 plus 10 or a 5 plus 5 contract. And so you need to make sure that you're never going to pull that contract out. Uh, again, right. Once you sign a contract, deals down. Um, we all understand how we work. We shake hands and we move on and we build the business together on a win win basis. I think that, and that's the key for me, that I can spend hours on the phone and on teams calls before I even meet someone and I know will I get on with them or not. Are they like minded, do they have the same Values and culture we have. Will they get on with my team? Um, will my team get on with their team? And so you have to get that kind of glue that sticks the brand and culture together. Yeah.

Speaker A: And when you, if you're squabbling over contracts, that's energy kind of diverted from where it should be, which is putting it on the guest, putting it on the experience and. Yeah, no, I understand that. It is like a marriage. Yeah. Um, okay, cool. And if, if I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a, uh, restaurant operator in one of these up and coming regions, why should they choose to go with Fridays over another major brand that's trying to come into the market?

Speaker B: Good question. I think the, the best answer I give is Friday's been around for 60 years. Right. Uh, and it's been around for 60 years for a reason. Our, ah, systems and processes are really robust. Yeah, we have all the training materials. We've done it before. We have hundreds of cocktails already done. We have a thousand recipes on our recipe bank that people can use. We have um, a culture that's already there that actually goes across all continents very easily. Um, we're a passionate group of people that know that Fridays can work wherever we go as long as we support it and we have those support mechanisms. I'd say Fridays be around for another 60 years plus. Right. Which other brands have been around for that long, are as iconic and have as deep a depth of knowledge of the industry. And I think one of the things that um, I think gives confidence potential franchisees is the leadership team. We have, um, fully understand restaurants. We know it's a tough industry, we know it's tough to make money, but we also know the decisions that are wrong and the decisions are right and we'll support them making turning right when they should turn right. Right. And making sure that we support them to grow in the right way. And Ray and I is um, actually a really close friend as well. And I, I said I've known him a long time. Uh, and um, he and I often discuss, you know, what we went through 30 years ago is still relevant today, but in a slightly different way. And we'll continue to grow this business to make franchise successful. We travel a lot together to go and visit restaurants. He'll be in the UK, you know, in 10 days time and we'll be visiting restaurants, celebrating successes, looking for opportunities to grow. And so I think those, those things also matter to us, that we're a leadership team that spends time with franchises, spends time in restaurants, and, and know, know what it is to make money.

Speaker A: I can really see that coming through. Uh, we have not known each other very long, but from the small time I've seen you on LinkedIn and been messaging back and forth, you're in a different store every day. It seems like not just managing from, you know, the headquarters and that really comes through. And I think what you've said is a really great point. There are other brands with great systems, with even good culture, but maybe the brand isn't as strong or as loved anymore or any one of those kind of parts of the triangle pyramid. You've got all three in a great place, which means you're kind of buying in something that you know is, is going to work. If you, if we both play our roles, it's going to work because there are other brands I can think of that, yeah, have a few of those. Right. But maybe the consciousness of the consumer, they just. Something's lost it. But I, I think you guys are in a really good place with that and you haven't lost it, so that's cool.

Speaker B: The thing I would say though, the other, the other piece about Fridays, um, and we can be criticized for it, is that the investment in the evolution of the brand, um, has probably been too slow. Not, not because of us, but historically. And so we opened a 160 square meter restaurant in Japan that's small. We used to do 3 to 500 square. Oh really? So, so we've really condensed this size down so we can open in um, different locations. This one's in a theater in like a little high street outside Terrace area. Uh, which, which means the brand can resonate in smaller sites with less rent. Um, we've just seen that our uh, franchisee in Australia, fantastic franchisee, has just refurbished um, his restaurant in Melbourne and he's put shuffleboard in, but AI shuffleboard. So it's on cameras and people having fun. And you got the avatar done and the team brief you and you can order your margaritas and Long island teas and your bar snacks and sit there, a group of 10 people playing this game. Now that's an evolution of the brand. Yeah, right. And so I think you'll see more of that coming through. Um, and the other piece we're bringing back is tdr. Fridays used to do amazing conferences. Right. I mean the last conference Fridays ram, I think was in 2019. So Ray and I made the decision that we are um, going to do global conference again. So our first Global conference since 2019 will happen in Florida, Orlando In October, every franchisee is being brought in. We're doing the World Bartender Challenge again. So we get the flaring back, which is in many markets has never gone. We lost it in some markets. The winner of that bartender challenge wins $10,000. Wow. So there's an incentive to be a great bar flare enthusiast, get the knowledge of the beverage range, et cetera. So we're trying to bring some of the things back that really matter to the people that work for us and be able to pull that family of franchisees together and celebrate. I think will be, uh, another great moment in the history of Fridays.

Speaker A: That's a win win. Uh, when your incentives are aligned like that, someone's got the chance to travel across to the U.S. experience the brand. Win 10,000 doll. Everyone that does that, they're going to be a better advocate for, for you guys on the ground.

Speaker B: So I'm still practicing trying to win $10,000.

Speaker A: What's your favorite cocktail then? What are you going to be doing on the day?

Speaker B: Yeah, I actually like a good margarita and Friday is pretty famous for that. Um, long all ice teas are a little bit too strong for me, but dangerous. Uh, yeah, I think, yeah, we, we've got an incredible range of cocktails. I just said we just launched a new range today in the UK market. It's gone live today. So again we're bringing back some of those iconic and actually I think it's five pound for a margarita at the moment in the uk so it's, uh. I better get rice.

Speaker A: Yeah, I better get back. I think planned for August, but I need to move my plans forward. Amazing. Okay, and so you've told me about, like franchising, what makes a good partner in terms of, you know, their market specific knowledge. But what outside of market knowledge makes a good. What do you look for in a franchise operator? Imagine I am, um, I own 10 locations of my own restaurant brand. Today I'm looking to find my first franchise partner. What's the checklist? What do I need to make sure

Speaker B: that they have, uh, uh, I think I don't have experience to walk into someone's restaurant and know where they're running well or not. I think the number one thing is how their people are treated. So very often you go and sign up for potential or meet a franchisee as a potential partner and that passion for people isn't there. Uh, if you have a passion for people, then we've got a problem. Right, because people, business serving food is what we're in. And so you got to Recruit the best team, invest in the best team. So if you already have restaurants operating, it's probably the easiest decision for us to make because of the quality of the food, et cetera. Uh, you know, I went to Kenya to meet the franchisee there. Food was fantastic, and people really engaged. Celebration entertainment. Yeah. When I arrived, there was jugglers on the doorstep. They were doing acrobatics. Big welcome. I thought, wow, that's Friday's crew straight away. Right? So you knew we picked the right partner. And so I think it's the. The passion for getting it right. And they're in it for the long haul. You're not going to make money overnight. Right. Opening restaurants takes more than, uh, just a week. It's. It's the training you put in that you send the team away to be trained. Another store, we then saying, send a team in to train all their team to make sure they execute perfectly. So, yeah, it's got to be a commitment to investment. Let's make it great.

Speaker A: I think what I've noticed is that I think for my. My hot take is that tgi, uh, Fridays is an experience business that does great food rather than just a restaurant group, because, you know, and people. That's what people want to pay for. In this century, there's been loads of research. People aren't just looking for a transactional experience. They're looking for more than that. And I think. I think that's what I'm learning through this so far. So that's pretty cool. Um, cool and beyond people, are there any sort of practical things that are really important to know, like you, that they must be able to deliver at this capacity or. Or mainly just if you're good with people, good experience, that's it.

Speaker B: But TGI Friday systems and process are very robust. Sometimes franchisees think that they know better. Right now, we always listen and we absorb and we hear what they say, but sometimes you have to push back, because if Fridays is run restaurants, we got restaurants now breaking records every day in, uh, in airports, some of the busiest restaurants in the world. Every single day. Yeah. And they cope with the volume. They do it very well. Hot food at speed, delivered perfectly by smiley people. They do it all the time.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And sometimes if you change our system, just change one part of it. There's a bump in the road that slows it down. And so, you know, we need to make sure that the systems we put in and the process put in and the training they get is top class, and people want to listen to it. And so I Think that's one of the big things for us and which is why Friday has been around so long.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, and then there's a level of investment that we know when people start questioning or can we use this material instead of that material? It's significantly cheaper. As long as it doesn't make the building look tacky or doesn't make it Fridays, then we can agree on how we move that forward. But I think generally Fridays has vast experience globally of opening restaurants that represent the brand really well. Um, but they also operate at different levels around the world. Right. Some have become very. Some are casual dining, some are upper casual dining. Right. And that's the expectation when people go into their restaurants and they deliver extreme relegance there. Right. And the one thing we never dictate to a franchisee is price. And yet we've got to make sure the value equation works. So we can give recommendations, they can make the decisions. But you've got to have a value proposition to cope with everybody.

Speaker A: That's really interesting. And what are those systems? We talk about systems but like practically is that about order of service, staff training software, like, uh, what are the systems that I, with my 10 locations need to start putting together if I want to get to 100 or 500?

Speaker B: Well, I mean the number one thing, I mean, I quote where Ray again, he'll often say that, you know, the operating system in the restaurant, whether the point of sale system, the backhouse system, can mean the difference between a manager getting home at uh, one in the morning or four in the morning.

Speaker A: True.

Speaker B: When the system doesn't work. And so he'll often say, you know, I've spent many a, uh, day staring over the dishwasher looking in the sunset sunrise. Yeah. Because the systems don't work. And so we recognize that. And so in the US we're just rolling out a new point of sale system and backhouse system. Uh, we have just put the first one into the UK in the nec. Uh, again, to make sure that managers have the right processing systems to run. We're still on a micros 3700, which I think is unsupportable in the UK. So we've taken it over.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And immediately recognize that's a bump in the road for the managers around the restaurants and we'll change it. Yeah. Um, and the other piece is we have, um, we have a new guy who heads up learning and development for us globally. Um, he's actually based here in Dubai. Very pretty one a guy, Andrew, and he is definitely a Tech guy, but brilliant on very short, sharp bursts of training on video that people engage with. And he's got thousands of people around the world now engaging with him every day. Whether putting our theories and philosophies online with the new, is it pre shift briefing, uh, video together, whether it be looking at the profiles of all our people to make sure they're relevant for today. So very short, sharp bursts of knowledge that improve the performance of restaurants. And so he's also created avatars. He's created an avatar of me, an avatar of our CEO. Uh, he's got an avatar, uh, and it's multilingual. Right. So he can do a training video and suddenly it's in 10 languages.

Speaker A: So technically you're working double time really then aren't you? Yeah, someone else working for me.

Speaker B: This is me really. Right, Exactly.

Speaker A: Okay, that's really cool. And okay from a strat. So that's quite operational. That's very clear. From a strategy point of view, is there uh, a choice between expanding into maybe neighboring countries or going for picking, cherry picking markets that you think have potential? Because I guess neighboring countries, there's some logistical benefits sometimes, but sometimes maybe the opportunity is not right on your doorstep.

Speaker B: I think you raise a good point in reality. If you take, if I give you some Maldives, right. That's a halal country. Right. Uh, Mali is, but the islands aren't. Right. And so we can very easily support that from here. Yeah, very easy to do. You know, when we go into uh, Kenya, we know that the part that we've chosen there has some fantastic hotels, um, has uh, safari camps, has massive conference and banking businesses. So he has the food and beverage experience. Now that could be a springboard for us for other African countries on that continent. And this is the first sub, um, Saharan country we've opened with him in Kenya or will be. And we've already had massive amount m of people coming to us. Now the opportunity is then to train with him. Yes. Right. So we'll train his team. We might train his team in Dubai. We could train his team in Malaysia. Again, uh, Malaysia is halal. So again it's a great country to train people in for like Malaysia for uh, Maldives etc, but we try and pick countries that are close to each other to train.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: So the more we have around a country, the easier it is to open up. And so we're seeing in the Balkans three countries. Ah, Greece is a four hour drive. So we have an incredible franchisee in Greece who's been with us 30 years again and Nikos has already, uh, met the franchisee. Uh, they're already talking about how do we support supply chain training, can we send our people there? And I don't think there's anything better for people in our industry to be able to go. I work in Greece, but I'm now going to open a restaurant here. A restaurant here. A restaurant here. And get the experience of travel and seeing new cultures. Uh, we opened Uzbekistan at the end of last year. We sent trainers from all over the world to that. So first opening for a while in that market and I went there and it's just incredible vibe and energy that comes from having all different cultures come in. So I think we will try and open, um, in the right place at the right time. But sometimes these opportunities come up. Right. And so do you say, no, we'll wait until this happens? I mean, Australia is a long way from the U.S. very. Right. Um, we have a great part of that. He could open up many more restaurants when he's ready to open up there. But we have Malaysia, we have Japan, we have the Philippines. We have all these countries that are already open so we can support others. And, and yeah, we, how many Filipinos we've got working here with us in, in Dubai. Right, yeah. Who actively want to go and open up other restaurants around the world. So I, I, I think we have the resources to be able to support any market we open in.

Speaker A: But it sounds like clusters can be helpful. Um, and certain markets that may be more isolated need to be a bit more, have the full team, equipment, knowledge, backing themselves. Uh, whereas if you're opening up a smaller market and it's near some knowledge that's easily transferred and kind of benefits both parties. So, okay, that's pretty cool.

Speaker B: But we're also, if you think we are in Asia, but we believe that Asia is a massive growth opportunity for us. Thailand. I, um, lived in Thailand for three years. Just the most incredible country, Incredible culture, wonderful people, a history of great food and beverage. Some of the best hotels in the world are there. Uh, we're not in Thailand. We should be in Thailand. Right? Because, you know, Bangkok is a big, great party city. I lived in the middle of it, so. And a Fridays would fit extremely well in Thailand. But then you look around Thailand, you go, Vietnam, incredible country. Cambodia, incredible country. So you can cluster around, um, a market and then I think, you know, I think we're not in China really. I mean, China is just enormous. Yeah, we have a couple restaurants, but that could be 500 restaurants. So you have to pick the right partner, it goes wrong. Yeah. The other piece for us is that we also have a retail business. Right. So we have work very closely with Iceland in the uk.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: So they have a thousand plus stores. Uh, they're selling TGI Friday's frozen product through their operations and they developed some incredible products with us that put out there. They're on families plates every day the week in the UK market. Uh, and so again, we extend that here. So it's in the GCC. Um, we're now going to China with 100 supermarkets in China. And so again, we see that as a growth opportunity for TGI Fridays brand. And so it's not just about going to a restaurant. You can actually get the food at home as well, which I think is a big difference. It's massive.

Speaker A: That's actually a really good way to do your brand marketing in a profitable way. I think my boss will be a bit jealous of that, that we can't put sapie frozen meals out there because that's a good way to get the message out on people's plates. Um, I love that. Okay. And I'll move on to you and your stories from the floor in a minute, but I kind of. You touched on something when we were talking before that I thought was interesting. Um, can you tell me how you design a menu with franchisees in markets where you need to adapt to the menu, what comes from you, what comes

Speaker B: from them, et cetera? Um, I said earlier we have a recipe bank of a thousand recipes. We are, um, a little bit prescriptive. When we first open out of the markets, we want to make sure the menu is small enough to make sure it's easy to train and execute, but also wide enough so guests come in and see the Friday's iconic dishes. So we dictate the first restaurant opening menu that we open in the market. But from then on we say 70% of the menu items are these. Our, uh, ribs. Fantastic. Our, uh, grilled items. Fantastic. Our Cajun chicken, shrimp pasta. Fantastic. Right. So we dictate some of those products that go on the menu. That's 70% of the menu. 20% the franchisee can choose from our recipe bank. So they can pick which dishes they think are relevant to the market. And then they have a 10% flexibility. So if they believe they have a dish that you just have to have on the menu, or there's much more slant towards vegetarianism or rice based, such as the Philippines, then we can work with them to create some specific dishes that work well in the local market. But our, uh, Friday eyes, so they present well, et cetera. So, look, we're not. We have brand guidelines, but we flex them to make sure that they're relevant to local markets. And who are we to dictate to a. To a country and to a franchisee who's a national, who lives there and says, we've got to have this product? Yeah, well, if they believe it, then we're going to support them, make sure they can do it right. So we're very keen to work closely to make sure it works.

Speaker A: I think for consumers, it's exciting too, to go to, uh, Fridays in one country and have, uh, the staples they're used to, and then to go to another one and see a variation that they can't get in their home market. That's kind of fun. I think that goes well with social media. If I open my TikTok feed, it's this dish that you can only get in the Swedish world ever brand. It's kind of interesting.

Speaker B: Well, that's the flare of Fridays, I think. And Fridays, we think, owns flair. M. So we put flair on our menus, we put flare on the bar, we put flare on our people, but flare around our restaurants. And so for us, it's very key that we work to make sure that there's brand relevance. And so you take some of the products we see in Japan or Malaysia or the Philippines or the UK or the US we can share those around the world. And if they're working. Yeah, why we offer it up to other franchisees.

Speaker A: That's really cool. Okay. Um, and you've worked in a number of different businesses. Not. Not, uh, just Friday. So how do you run franchising that differently to when you did an Outback or Costa or any of these other brands? Or do you think what you've described with this playbook is kind of used by a host of good brands globally?

Speaker B: Uh, I think I'm quite lucky that I've been a franchisee. Yeah. Um, I've been a franchisor. I've been an owner. I'm in big corporates. I've been in small companies. I've seen. I've seen the whole. The throw of, um, ways you can operate in restaurants. I've also been. I spent a short time with Tesco's, which is absolutely fascinating, but on the. Again, the F B side. Um, and so I think we're. We're all similar, but I. I think sometimes it doesn't feel like the franchise or really cares when you're the franchisor.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, and it's really a transactional thing and many of the people there just very short time and move on. And I think that franchising, um, as I said at the beginning, right. It's a 20 year marriage.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: But if those people keep revolving and there's a revolving door management from the franchisor, then the franchisee starts making their own decisions.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And so I think the key piece for us is, um, and we all say in our company, right, this is a long term bet, this isn't. We're not here for a year or two. You've got to make sure that the systems and process there and robust and support no matter what happens. I don't think some of the, some of the systems and process I've worked with before in other organizations have not been great. Uh, I think I look at Pizza, I was in Pizza Hut eons ago. It's one of the best training grounds ever for people in the restaurant industry. They learned precise processes and systems and HQs and C to make sure the restaurants were safe and clean and operating the right way. And they expanded massively. They were the, they were the basis for many people's learning in their management career. It's sad to see that brand demise, but some of that's for innovation. I think we have the similar strengths. You know, people now say, I worked Fridays 40 years ago, 30 years ago. That's my founding management style, the culture, uh, and all those things are important. So I think I, I have the most respect for all the brands I work with.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: I mean I've worked, uh, yes. Starbucks. Love Starbucks. Build it. 750 stores in the UK market. Howard Schultz in the market all the time. Amazing leader culture. The organization, credible. Been ups and downs, but the end of the day it's about the foundation of the business. And now you look at Brian Nichols, what he's done, he's brought back the basics, reduced the menu, focus on the people delivering clean, clean environments, comfortable, at speed. What's happened? They've got causes of growth coming out. Right.

Speaker A: So.

Speaker B: So it's not too difficult. I think some people miss the fact that uh, which is why venture capital is so difficult because they want to keep taking cash out. Brian Nichols, Starbucks. Putting cash back in. We're putting cash back in. There's not many companies that keep reinvesting. Um, we're not an atm. Right. You can't just keep taking cash out. You got to refill it. And the problem is everyone takes cash out. Yeah.

Speaker A: Ah, that's fascinating. Um, okay, cool. I think we've heard a lot about franchising specifics there. I just wanted to speak to you directly a bit. And here you've had 30 years in hospitality. What's the craziest thing, the biggest nightmare, the thing that happened on your watch that you almost cringe when you speak about, or the best thing that you've seen happen in hospitality? Any of your crazy war stories, uh, that are hiding in there that people might like to hear?

Speaker B: Like, I think one. One of the things. I think in, um, our business, there's two things I think, number one, in our industry, you have to have integrity, right? Yeah. Um, I say that because we're about stock, we're about people, we're, uh, our guests, we're about money, we're about alcohol and fuel, all those things. So you've got to have integrity, but you also got to have empathy. Right. And you've got to understand, um, how people feel in the industry we're in. And so I've actually learned a lot from being abroad. Right. And I remember, you know, I was here in Dubai in 2008. I left for three years and went to Thailand, and then I came back and I went to work in Kuwait. Strange, um, place you want to go and work. But we had an incredible time in Kuwait. I was there seven and a half years. I remember when I first went there, you realize that so many people, um, and I realized in Dubai a bit, but everybody in Kuwait was coming there for one reason. They're coming there to earn money. Um, because it's very much an expat country. I mean, the. The curators at the time didn't work in our industry. And so whenever you talk to anybody, they were there, ah, to send money home for their families. Right? Yeah. And so I. When I first arrived, in the first three months, I. I met this guy who's an area manager or an operations manager for the business. And I was doing my immersion into the business and worked in coffee shops and restaurants, etc, And I said to him, what's the biggest challenge you've got with, um, working Kuwait and working, you know, in our business? And we're going to grow very quickly. What's changed? We said, I can't trust people. M. I was like, I was a bit taking the message. What do you mean you can't trust people? Well, they're all here to steal from us and take things from us, and you can't trust them. Pretty strange outlook on life, right? All these people are here on a visa, working for us. Did you select them all? Yeah, we selected them all. Okay, great. And so I asked him to pick whichever person he wanted to come from behind the counter and come and talk to us. So he picked this girl and this girl came over, it's called May. And she sat with us. I said to her, so mate, where are you from? Said whereabouts, Nigeria for example. I'm from the Philippines. That's all. Lovely. Why are you here? So well, I'm here because um, my husband has tattoos on his arm and he's not allowed to work in food and beverage and so he can't get a job so he's staying at home to look after my baby and I've come to her money. So he's, he's the house husband. So. Fantastic. So what did you do before you came here? She said I was a nurse in, in um, accident emergency. Um, fully qualified but food and beverage is easier to move into for me over here. I didn't know my certificates etc and go throughout process. I'm here to just earn money sent over my husband and daughter.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay. So I said well, do you know this chap sitting next to me? No, I've never met him before. Oh, how long you been here? Oh, three months. Oh, similar to me. Okay, um, well this is X. So introduced her. I won't say his name. Uh, so this is May. Um, I said maybe you've got a development plan. Do you know what you're here for? No, no one's talked about that. I've done my training. Um, but I'm just a cashier really. That's right, yeah. So I said to all that, here's my number in 6 months time call me because we're going to put you on development plan and we'll see where you can get to in six months time. Thank me. Went away, wished her well. So I said to the person I was with, I said so you don't trust her, right? No, no, I don't trust her. I said, so if you were in uh, the Philippines, in Manila and you get knocked off a motorbike or run over by a car and you lie on the pavement unconscious and you wake up in a accident, uh, unit and maze looking over your head and looking after you, would you trust her? So of course I would. She's a nurse. I rest my case. Right. And so, so I, I think um, for me humanity is one of the most important things. We're all human beings. We have to recognize the best in everybody. Uh, everyone is born honest. Yeah. And so unless we can build trust with the people in our organizations, we'll fail. And so that's one mine that I use a lot with people. So I'm not going to promote them because they're not quite ready. Well, promote them and support them to be ready. Right. So I think there's, there's different ways you look at it, but I think that's one of the, the ones for me, for people. Um, the other one in 2000 and it was 2001, I was just about to have my first restaurant in London, Amazing Outback Steakhouse. Uh, and I had a shipment of meat coming across grain fed beef from Outback Steakhouse coming across the water and foot mouth hit. And so the boat was turned back on the water and sent back knew about to open. And I was like, where do I buy beef from? And I was like, uh, panic. Right. And I ended up buying beef from Australia but because of South American issues then the beef price quadrupled out of Australia because the Koreans took it. So I ended up going to Ireland and setting up grass fed feed slots.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Um, with a couple of companies over there, best thing ever did because we could control our uh, supply chain. We've got a better quality beef. Um, we can predict and forecast our volumes better. Uh, and we had Irish beef coming them told the story of um, beef and beer because we use Guinness factory byproducts etc to feed them and stuff. So out of every crisis comes an opportunity. Yeah. Um, but the one thing I'd say has always been fun, I think and we're people business so but there's nothing been too dramatic that um, I can relay. We always have challenges our industry but it's always a good result at the end.

Speaker A: That's the thing. I think if you've been in this industry long enough, you'll have many stories. But to other people they might be crazy, but to you they're just another day, another day at the office.

Speaker B: Every day there's a phone call or something's happened somewhere in the world and you have to look at you, whether it be an earthquake, a flood. Yeah. A building collapse of, you know, whatever it is. You have to deal with those things every single day. But to me it's number one. Other people. Okay.

Speaker A: Amazing. Okay. And we've gone on some stories so that's great. Now I'm going to go through and ask you a bit about some operational details, metrics, what you're looking for and at the end we'll get a few more crazy stories out of you or your favorites. Some interesting insights on you because I think that we're in a world where there's so much data and you can get lost in your numbers. So hearing from someone that's been in the industry with so much experience, like what, what are the numbers that people should care about and are there any things that you track that you don't think enough people track?

Speaker B: Generally sales. Every. I mean, yeah, look, uh, I mean sales decline, um, is a big problem. The only way out of a sales client is not to manage the labor or the margin, uh, or the rent. The way out is drive sales. Right. Because you can have a really successful business and overnight your sales disappear, you're a failing business. True. And no matter what you do, in many instances you can't save the business. Right. You can have all the conversation with your landlords, you can have all the conversation among the team about reducing hours and reducing labor, but the person who suffers at the end of that is the guest. Yeah. And so you have to have a sales led plan to get out of it. And I think the one thing that people don't look at enough is how do you drive the top line? Because the world has changed. Right. I mean 30 years ago DSPs didn't exist. There's no delivery service either. I mean nothing. I mean now we have DSPS which, which is a significant part of the business for many. Um, but that used to be the icing on the cake. Now for many, that's the cake definitely. And they're running the restaurant is the icing. And yet the, the fabric of the building is still the same size, the bricks and mortar still the same thing. So unless we get really passionate to drive top line sales, I think it's an issue. The other piece I would warn people against is you can spend days going through your P. L but if you don't know what percentage your labor costs should be and what percentage your gna should be and what percentage your labor should be or your cash numbers, what they should be, you're having to then go through in minute detail and the other things I'd either say you've got a really successful business and you want to fine tune it to get that extra pound out or deer amount or yen out, whatever you're going to get, or you're really struggling. And too often, um, people get into too much detail. Whereas if they just spend a little more time in their restaurants with their people and walked around the restaurants, they'd see the opportunity.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And, and I've seen it I can walk into a restaurant, sit down, wait 10 minutes to order, go, well, 10 minutes I've lost, then watch the door. No one's greeted at the door. And so they leave and go to cross the road to another restaurant. You see that all the time. So I think there's other ways to drive it. But the number of metrics is sales and the other metric is the people. You know, how do they feel? And so, you know, as I said, I'm in the UK actually, tomorrow I'm going to the uk. The number one reason we're going to the UK is to have round tables to people. How are they feeling since we took over? Are they seeing the differences? Is the new menu working? Do they like the new beverage menu put out? Are they being trained properly? Do they feel cared about? Is the culture still resonating with them? Are they getting recognized regularly by the management teams? And the managers will be there. But again, unless we have that core fabric of the people business. Right. We'll probably fail. Uh, yes, we've got to drive top line sales, but we'll drive top line sales with them. Right. So I think the two key metrics are your people and top line sales.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point. And also all metrics point in metrics can point you in the direction. They don't often answer the question. And I think, you know, if you, if you're tuned into the right numbers, they'll tell you there's a problem somewhere. But you still need to go to the store, understand it, speak to people, that qualitative data to understand exactly what we need to change. Um, so yeah, that's pretty cool.

Speaker B: Yeah. But also cash is king. Yeah. So people talk about ebitda, well, have you got enough cash? Right. So there's different ways you can look at it. So I think you've got to be very careful. But the one, the one area I would say is that we've always said that the support center costs needs to be tight.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: And, uh, we run our sports center like a restaurant. People should be on time, respect the environment they're in. Um, if you can. If the staff can have a day off in the restaurants because of a certain bank holiday, why shouldn't the team in the restaurants, let's get paid extra. Right. So you've got to be very careful. But gna costs can quickly get out of hand. Yeah. And then you gotta make some really tough, courageous decisions and that's then against the people that work for you. So it then dents your culture. So Be very careful how you go.

Speaker A: And that's an interesting point on the support center. So you're the guy that moved the support center from Dallas to Dubai. So why did you Dubai it and not Dallas it?

Speaker B: Well, look, we have a Dallas office. So we have a great office in Dallas. Um, and I go there and it's fantastic. We have a great team there. And we've got to run the UK, uh, the US business from there as well. We have our, uh, CMOs based there, marketing, uh, teams based there. Uh, our, uh, digital team is based there. Uh, our finance team is based there. So where it can be a function that can support globally, it sits there. Uh, so we have United States, we then have United Arab Emirates, which is for me, here. So we have a marketing director, we have a supply chain director, we have head of learning and development, we have an innovation chef based here. So we have core fundamentals that can really support the global team. And then we have the uk, so the United Kingdom. So we've got three. United. United. Right. So we have the UK team. Uh, we have a small office in Milton Keynes, but again, we have a head of finance in there who supports not just the UK now, but supports globally. Um, we have a CEO there, runs a business and operations director. So we put the resources where we need it. Not in all one center. Because, you know, for me, Dallas, my day starts at 5:00 in the afternoon with Dallas, 5, 6:00 and goes around to 10:11. Right. Um, and that's fine. Yeah. But then my day can start earlier with other parts of the world. If I go home to Australia, you know, my day will start 3 in the morning.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Right. So, yeah, so you've got to be very flexible. That's why we have three offices around the world, um, to make sure the wellbeing and work life balance is there for our people, but also that we support the franchisees in the right way.

Speaker A: And yeah, with those, I guess you can be working 24 hours a day supporting everyone. That's great.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay, cool. Um, and are there any, like, big changes that you've made lately and over your career, what are the big changes you've learned from? Like, is there anything that flopped, Anything that went incredibly well? And you're thinking, I'm wondering when I can bring something like that in again.

Speaker B: I have a very good, uh, friend from the past, guy called Ian Neil. He used to run Wagamama. Oh, yes. And. And Ian, you know, he, he's an icon of the industry. Right. He been around A long time. And I remember was at a conference in London. Uh, it was just been announced I was going to be going to Starbucks, having run my own business. Right. Um, and he gave me a mop and bucket and said, that's all you'll need to fix Starbucks. Right. Wow. And I was like, that's interesting. In front of all my industry colleagues, I was like, thanks very much.

Speaker A: Thanks, mate.

Speaker B: The reality was Friday's. Uh, sorry. Starbucks actually is still an incredible brand, but unless you get the cohesive glue around the teams to make sure they kept, you know, shiny, um, and clean and spotless, and the people are great, you're never going to win. And he was actually right when I went in. We actually need to teach everyone again to clean the. The fabric of the buildings and make sure the table's clean and clean fast and the counters are clean. And so we spent a lot of time. Strange trusty, but let's clean our restaurants. Actually, I had a booklet that I did then called My Shiny Starbucks, which is about the manager owning his store to make sure he kept it clean and the people clean. Right. The uniforms would be drab, covered in coffee. I was like, what is going on? And so, so I think, you know, there's some things that sometimes just the basics will fix some of our businesses. And I pretty much. Fantastic brand and it's here does really well. The uniforms are always spotless, the people always happy. The product displays are great. Right. So I take learnings from all those different companies I work for, but it's. It's been a. Interesting career. Uh, that's cool. That's cool.

Speaker A: Um, okay, we're getting towards the end, so, like, let's go a little deeper. That was quite good. Uh, we'll start with TGIs. Um, TGI Fridays. I was wondering, what is this? Is there something that people misunderstand or often get wrong or an interesting fact about that people don't know about the brands that you think they really all should know.

Speaker B: But, uh, there is a few things that Friday has always run out for. Obviously, it was started by Alan Stillman, 1965. Uh, I think he's a perfume salesman. Started his brand really is the pickup joint, I suppose. Right. Um, and so when he designed the restaurants, there were certain things that evolved over time. So he used to walk up to Fridays and it'd be, um, stained glass over the. The top of the front door. Uh, it was a peacock, which meant to represent the pride the team had of the restaurant. Right. And then you walked to see the bar and there's a propeller above the bar and there's a dollar bill on it right now. That dollar bill was signed on the opening restaurant. And the propeller was there to uh, show that it was a bar forward concept. The bar was driving the whole business. Get people around the bar like I said. So, so there was just so many little things around the brand that people didn't understand. And so I remember we, um, the values in the UK market at the time and values always evolve over time with different age groups. But we had, in the restaurant, we had a, uh, pair of spectacles in, in the restaurant, uh, on bit of bric, a brac, which was for recognition. We had Abraham Lincoln, another piece that was for, uh, integrity of our people, our team. We had a cup which sort of winning. We had a Mars bar for work, rest and play. And we had an elephant balancing on a ball, which was for work, life, balance, right? And those things mattered. So when you did an induction with people and you walk around, you show them all these different things around the restaurant, it helped the team understand what we're about. And the, the. There's always a, um, rowing boat, the skiff in the restaurant. And that was for Myrna. The story of Myrna, uh, was the girl who was actually sitting on the back of the boat helping the team to win. And so in the boat is a pair of Mina shoes signed by the training team in the boat. So there's so many legacy stories around the brand that we still think is important to bring back. And we have these theories and philosophies that we just start to bring back a bit. There's a steel pole theory, which is our brand standards, that if you bang your head on it, you know, it'll have a little padding on it, start and it'll hurt. Yeah, it's not going to move. That's our brand standard. We expect that's the brand standard and that's what the guests expect to. Steel pole theory, right. The triangle theory, which is about balancing the guest, um, the business and our employees. And if the trunk gets out of balance, then we all fail. So we have all these little things that help people understand the culture. The hamburger stand, you know, they've got to have three pens in their apron. They've got to set up the bar like this. I got to do this right. So there's all these different things that we can just say to them that they get, uh, got it without.

Speaker A: Yes. It's reinforced.

Speaker B: Reinforced through the history of the brand. I think that that's the things that are important. And the original Fridays, um, used to have these cafe out sections with the stripes inside. It was made to look like it kept being added onto because it was getting so busy and busier and busy and busy. Right. So it's just an interesting way that the brand evolved over time, but we've not lost it. Yeah, still there. And people still remember those stories and talk about it because that's how they learned certain management styles or culture. So. And we're bringing a lot of that back. That's common. I think that's really important. It keeps the brand fresh and growing.

Speaker A: I don't think I knew almost any of those. So I'm sure there'll be a lot of people that watch this and go and try and do a little TGI's uh, treasure hunt after this to see which are being brought back. That's really cool. Thanks you for sharing those. Um, and as Phil, a guy that's got such experience in the industry, what question do you wish that people asked you more?

Speaker B: Um, I think it would always have to be how do you keep your team on the ball? How do you keep the team

Speaker A: happy?

Speaker B: Um, and smiling, engaged for, I guess. And the last company I worked for for nine and a half years, and I used to say then the question is, say was how do we keep this going? How do we keep the coach strong? And I said, everybody in the whole organization needs to come in in the morning with a smile on their face. Right. And I say, number one, that means they've actually probably had a good night's sleep after breakfast, left home, happy, coming, happy to go to work. Right. The most difficult job is to keep that smile on their face all day long and leave the end of day with a smile on their face or the end of their night shift and smile their face because then that means they've had a good day and they're going home. And when they get home, because they're happy, home life will be happy as well. Right. That's really difficult. And I always say to people, uh, the day you come in with miserable face is the day we failed. And I'm, uh, not trying to force people's smiles, but in Starbucks we say you're lucky because you got up before they did, so you can really make their day. Right. And the barista who serves a guest first thing in the morning, a customer first thing in the morning could be five in the morning in an airport, could be six, seven in the morning. That could be the first person they've seen all day. And you can either make the day or you can wreck it. That's cool. And so we're hoping that we always make the day, no matter what it is. And so I always think we have to really think about our, uh, people. And when people are late, ask them how they are. Yeah. What happened? Yeah. Not why you late? Right. Uh, because you don't know what's happened on the way to work. You don't have that family disaster. And so, so you. The worst thing you do is start chastising them before we all know the traffic. You know, thankfully, the traffic's back in Dubai. Amazing countries to live in. All those kind of things. There will be reasons why you, you're going to be late now and again. But I think that's the empathy piece, right? The coming from a positive rather than always looking negative.

Speaker A: Yeah. The smile is a leading indicator of what's going on behind the scenes. That's a really good question. Okay. Love it. Um, okay, last one like this and then we'll go and do a final quick fire round. So is there any practice or opinion that everyone else in the industry seems to follow that you don't?

Speaker B: Um, I have a Facebook account, but I posted one picture on it when I was in Russia once. I've never posted a picture since. I don't think so. I have a whole list of people want to connect with me. I don't really use Facebook. Um, so I'm not really into that. LinkedIn. I do. I think LinkedIn is a, uh, industry sharing of great things about people or what we're doing. It's not about celebration of what I'm doing. It's about celebration, what our franchisees are doing. And I think that's a good use. I'm not particularly good at Instagram. Many, um, people follow that. Right. But I think you get really addicted to it. And so I don't really put post personal things really on it. Um, now and again, you'll see a couple of times a year I'll post a personal post for a certain event, but other than that, I, I watch people spend hours and hours on it. Um, but LinkedIn is a great one for the industry. You'll see. This morning I posted, I think, you know, the UK launch I've just posted, I posted this or reposted one that you're looking franchisee in Thailand. That kind of stuff. I do.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And I, um, love watching what's happening industry. That's great. But, uh, a lot of stuff I just don't watch I, I'm not bothered in what other people do in their lives. I watch great restaurateurs.

Speaker A: But staying present and kind of sharing things which can benefit the business and just the industry as well.

Speaker B: That's pretty cool. I also have a really short memory so, and I think I've trained my brain to forget gunk of the past. And so I know yesterday's sales, last week's sales, people know the last 365 day sales. It actually is irrelevant what's tomorrow's gonna be like, how do we drive tomorrow? What was yesterday's, what's life like versus yesterday? I, I think we, we can just become, fill our heads with so many facts that it becomes useless. Yeah.

Speaker A: It can use the space in there to dwell uh, on the past rather than get, get things right today.

Speaker B: Stay happy in your head.

Speaker A: That's good. I like that. Uh, okay. Okay. Actually I do have one more of these. What is the best advice anyone's ever given you?

Speaker B: Um, lead with your heart. And that's a Howard thing. Right. Um, now you have to get your head and heart aligned. But in our industry if, if you are going to really focus on people then you sometimes just have to leave with your heart because that, that will get you to the right decision. Right. And so vc just leave with a head. Right. And, and so if we lead with a heart. But, but we have to align the head and heart together. But it's very different leading. Yes. Uh, with heart and I think that's really important. I think the other piece is they say you, you never work a day in your life if you love what you do. Right. It's very common saying but I think if you love what you do, share it with others. And that's another one.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And so I think, ah, one of the reasons I always came back to Friday is I think, you know, we all owe it to the industry if we can help people develop. Uh, and I've got thankfully hundreds of people that I've been proud to lead and develop and train over the years who I still stay in contact with, still trying to help them up the ladder. But you have to share your success, your knowledge, your passion with others to help them go up the staircase. Right. And the career pathway isn't always visible people. And I, I generally, I know I promoted a lot of people that weren't quite ready but I knew that if we spent good time with them and we developed the right way and had a personal development plan for them and we monitored it with them and help them, they'd be really successful. And some people have really surprised me how far they've gone. Uh, and even now, I look at some of the, I don't know, some CEOs that have been working me before, and I go, wow, that was just. Was. That was a good bet. Those people have done really well, and I'm really pleased for them. Um, and hopefully they'll do better than me.

Speaker A: Yeah, great.

Speaker B: But. But my job is to find my replacement. No matter what job, I go to find a replacement for me so I can move on somewhere.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's good. Bet on the people every day. Great. Okay, thank you. So last round I've got for you is a quick fire question round. So I'm going to ask you five, six questions, and you just tell me the first thing that comes out of your mind. Don't worry, they're not too complex or deep. So let's go. First up, best restaurant chain that isn't TGI Fridays.

Speaker B: Uh, Gordon Ramsey's restaurants.

Speaker A: They're great.

Speaker B: And Richard Caring's restaurants.

Speaker A: Pick one from each.

Speaker B: Um, I think. I think the Ivy has been incredible. I opened the Ivy here originally. So the first Ivy that opened, Emirates Towers, opened here. And Richard Caring at the time said, we'll never replicate this again. Right. We've done it here and they've done in London. That was it. Well, now he's built this brand that's worth 1.4 billion, which is incredible move. Um, I think, I think the Lucky Cat that Gordon Ramsay runs is very good in London. It's a really good restaurant. I think he's now building the empire much bigger. But I think. Yeah, it's.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think he's just opened five, uh, restaurants.

Speaker B: The tallest hour. Yeah. In the city. Yeah, I haven't been to those yet, but I do think he, um, I used to think, you know, some of his programs were like, how do you get chefs to come work when that happens? But he's been such a industry icon. Yeah. Built some amazing restaurants. He runs a Savoy Grill as well in London, runs the Savoy restaurants, which I think are really good as well. But he also has, um, the hamburger joint in Mayfair and stuff. So I think he's. He's expanded very differently. He's obviously got restaurants here as well, but I think the Lucky Cat is. Is a very good restaurant.

Speaker A: It's really good. Okay, great. And the best homegrown brands come out of the gcc.

Speaker B: Um, I'd have to say the Noodle House, because I ran it.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Um, I think originally we got that running really well. It's a brilliant brand. Originally in Jamira Emirates Towers and that was in supermadnet. Um, but I think the other one at the moment is doing really well is Pickle.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Uh, and he's expanding well, I think he does a very good job of that. So Noodle House and Pickle, maybe.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's excellent. Okay, cool. And your top date night spot in the uae.

Speaker B: Um, home, I think, uh, I spend a lot of time away from home, but I do like, um, I think the reformed social in the Lakes. Yeah. I think is really good for the grandkids that I go with my son, his wife and my wife. We enjoy it. It's very, uh, informal. They do great rose, do great roasts and Sundays is great. But for kids in the, in the cooler weather outside is great. Uh, and the guy who runs it, Andrew's great guy, been there a long time and it's clean. People are smiley, happy. They get your name. M. So yeah, I think it's.

Speaker A: I think they've just expands a bit too. Um, I think they're a client of ours as well. I'll have to find out. Um, okay. Amazing. Best place. I probably haven't heard of best place.

Speaker B: You probably.

Speaker A: Best restaurant.

Speaker B: I haven't heard of best restaurant under

Speaker A: unknown or your little secret.

Speaker B: Um, Bojangles.

Speaker A: I don't know. Tell me more. There you go.

Speaker B: But there's a restaurant in my, uh, where we live in Australia, uh, in Warrnambool, which is at the end of the Great Ocean Road. And it's a very casual dining pasta pizza restaurant. It's been there 30 plus years. The owner is still on the pizza table as you walk through the door. Always welcome, you say hello. Um, very good price point value. Difficult to get table.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Yeah. Every night of the week because it's just very informal. Um, the manager's a lovely guy, does a great job. And look, I only go back twice a year. Walk in the door. He knows me. How you feel? What are you up to? Where you been? How are you home for? And I think that kind of, um, connection is important when you go. Go home. Um, and I think, yeah. And they do a really good job. The food. You can never fault the food.

Speaker A: Um,

Speaker B: it has a minimal range of alcoholic beverages, but always deliver it speed and it's fun. It's a fun place to be.

Speaker A: I have to tell our Australia team to get over to Bojangles.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay. Okay, last one. You have to finish my sentence by 2030. TGI Fridays will.

Speaker B: It'll have $2 billion revenue and over a thousand restaurants. Um, we've showed. I mean, we have a playbook. Right. We've given this to every single, uh, person who works in the organization. We've printed it. It's gone to the UK Market. It's gone. The US market has our values as our mission, as our principles, has all the objectives. Our support center is going to work on, shares a bit of history of Fridays. On the back, it has our new imagery within our restaurants. Uh, and ashes, a picture of me in red and white stripes from when I did my. My induction, uh, in the U.S. so, yeah, it just shares what we're about. And so I think. Yeah, here I am. See here.

Speaker A: Oh, uh, yeah.

Speaker B: In my white stripes.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: In Methuen. It's just outside Boston. So I think, you know, we are. We are very keen that we share what we're working on. We don't just want to talk words, uh, when actually words help us to win. Right. And so we've shared what we're going to do. Hold us to account. We'll do it.

Speaker A: Great. I look forward to seeing you do it. Um, thanks for coming on the show and sharing so freely. It's been fascinating. We've all learned a lot, and I'm sure lots of people have enjoyed watching it. So thanks again for.

Speaker B: Thank you. Pleasure. Nice to see you.

Speaker A: You too.