Chad Franzen 6:43
So these are all brands that BRIX Holdings is acquired, none of them were they were already developed by the time
Sherif Mityas 6:49
Exactly right. That’s right.
Chad Franzen 6:51
Can we go through some of them and maybe talk about how BRIX has impacted has impacted the brand? Like Like, how is BRIX kind of impacted Red Mango into it’s been, you know, kind of acquired by BRIX Holdings?
Sherif Mityas 7:03
Yeah, I think in a couple of different ways. So one of the, one of the big things that we try to do when we acquire a brand is really think get back to its roots, right? why would why did it exist in the first place? And you know, sometimes when we buy brands, they’ve kind of gone through their growth cycle. And they’re, they’re either stagnant, or they’ve been decreasing. And so it’s kind of going back to the core trying to uncover, you know, what was the brand essence? Who are the target consumers? What are we trying to actually achieve with this brand that differentiates it from all the other, in this case, frozen yogurt concepts? And so doing that first and then putting everything around that again, from an experience perspective? So do we need to update what the store looks like, we need to update the menu, do we need to update the marketing around it? And so kind of that’s what we bring to bear is kind of from a consumer driven perspective and experiential perspective, how do we want to ensure that we’re still true to the core of that brand, but we’re, let’s call it remodeling it, right, we’re kind of giving it a new, a new face a new look a new life. And so that’s what we do. And then we take that, and we then grow it right, we kind of go and get new franchise partners, new development partners, and to be able to kind of extend where those locations are brand awareness to the guests, and create an opportunity for that brand to grow and thrive again.
Chad Franzen 8:20
So there are there franchise opportunities available with each of those brands.
Sherif Mityas 8:25
There absolutely is. So if any of your listeners are looking to, you know, join the BRIX Holdings family, we’d love to know please go to brixholdings.com. And we’ve got an opportunity for folks to really go in at different financial levels to right it’s not like you have to have millions of dollars to build a big restaurant. You can spend a little bit of money and open a great fantastic, very profitable little frozen yogurt shop or a little donut shop and so they’re being able to be again have different options for different folks depending on where they are in their life. Do they want to start being a franchisee? We have certain we have a great, you know, franchisee she’s a mother of five down in San Antonio. She started with one Orange Leaf and now she has three. And you know she’s building a legacy for her children to take over those stores someday hopefully continue to grow those stores. But that’s the opportunity that you can sometimes put in place and for people with these franchise businesses is to be your own boss and create something that’s just yours.
Chad Franzen 9:31
What what makes maybe how is RedBrick Pizza Kitchen Cafe a different type of franchise opportunity that maybe a frozen yogurt shop?
Sherif Mityas 9:40
Yeah, well it really comes down to two things. One is financial requirements. Right the pizza shop is clearly more of a sit down restaurant more equipment. It’s more of an investment upfront, but operationally to right. We tend to want to have folks that run RedBrick Pizza or super salads or Friendly’s. Obviously I’ve restaurant experience As you’re dealing with more staff, you’re dealing with more backup house kitchen, a larger menu. And so the capabilities required, in our opinion to operate those more effectively and be successful means that franchisee needs to have not just financial wherewithal, but also operational experience in the restaurant space. Now contrast that with a Red Mango or an Orange Leaf, excuse me. And that’s it’s a lot easier, right? There’s no really heating elements. There’s no cooking, it’s frozen yogurt machines and toppings. And so it’s an opportunity for someone that doesn’t have restaurant experience, but wants to get into the hospitality space, wants to do something fun, build something on their own to kind of ease into the restaurant sector with a frozen yogurt shop?
Chad Franzen 10:46
What should somebody like that maybe somebody like me, who doesn’t have the type of experience that you would need for a pizza place? What should? What is something that I don’t know, that I need to know going into it?
Sherif Mityas 10:58
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is, is especially now in this environment is is how to create the right environment and culture for your team, right. And we’ve heard all the stories about the labor issues in the restaurant space in the hospitality space. And the biggest thing you need to have now is just great people. Right? So coming in and understanding you know, how to deal with people, not just your team members, but guests, right? If you’re going into the hospitality space, you got to be able to have that mindset that I’m here to serve. And I’m here to make sure that everyone else around me has a great time as if you were inviting them into your home. And so I think it’s that first thing is just having the right mindset, having the right thought process. And this is how I want to really own my business. This is how I want to operate my business. But my I want my culture to be in my four walls, not again, just just for your team members, but for your guests as well. And everything else we can teach you, right, we can teach you how to run a store, we can teach you how to do you know the math and the finances and one technology but you’re not coming in with that right mindset of I’m in the hospitality business, and I gotta take care of my team and my guests, then you’re not going to be successful.
Chad Franzen 12:06
What are some of your goals kind of moving forward with moving forward with BRIX Holdings?
Sherif Mityas 12:11
I think, you know, a couple things. One is to again, as I mentioned, is to organically grow the brands we have right ensure we continue to build continue to kind of refresh them and make sure we’re continuing to open new sites with new franchise partners. But secondly, and concurrently, we’re also looking at acquiring new brands, right? We’re not done with just the six, seven brands we have. We’re actively searching and looking for great new brands that are out there, maybe emerging brands, maybe folks that have 20, 30, 40 locations today that are on that cusp of I build something but I don’t really know how to scale it. Now, I don’t really know how to get it to 100 or 200 locations. Those are the folks that we’re interested in talking to and getting them into our portfolio, helping these entrepreneurs grow the part of the portfolio and growing them to something much bigger.
Chad Franzen 12:57
Okay, great. Hey, how can people find out more information about everything that you have going on at BRIX?
Sherif Mityas 13:03
Yeah, so BRIXHoldings.com is the best way to get involved and to interact and contact us through that. And we’re happy to reach out to folks are just interested in understanding more about one or more brands, and getting you started down the path of potentially becoming one of our franchise partners.
Chad Franzen 13:20
Final question for you. What’s the what’s kind of in your career, especially with the restaurant industry, maybe like a moment that you look back on that you’re particularly proud of a big success or kind of a career highlight?
Sherif Mityas 13:32
I think I think the going back, I think the one thing that I’d say surprise me, but also made me the most happy was going into a restaurant. And we had just launched kind of this new technology and new way we wanted team members to interact with the guests. And we there was all this consternation of you know, is it is it taking away from the experience is a taking away from the interaction we want to have between a team member and a guest. And I’ll never forget this one young woman came up to me and she’s like, you know, I was skeptical at first. But what you guys did here is awesome. And it’s made me a better team member. I’m making more money, I’m actually making more tips because of it. And so I can’t thank you enough for believing in us, as team members to give us these tools to make us better at what we do and what our job is and to actually give us more money at the end of the day too. And I think you know, sometimes, especially for folks that get enamored with shiny new objects on the technology side and what you need to do to you know, be different if you can make it so that it works for the team member and not just the guest but both sides. I think you’re gonna fail. And so that to me was kind of a defining moment and one that I kind of hold in the back of my head anytime someone comes to me and says we should go do X next My first question is, you know, what is it going to do for the people that we have? And not just the guests, but the people that we have in our stores?
Chad Franzen 15:09
Great. Hey, great. That’s a great story. Thank you so much, Sherif. I really appreciate your time and your insights.
Sherif Mityas 15:14
Thanks for having me.
Chad Franzen 15:15
So long, everybody.
Outro 15:16
Thanks for listening to the Top Business Leaders Show. Powered by Rise25. Visit Rise25.com to check out more episodes of the show and to learn more about how you can start your own podcast.