As a successful restaurant owner‑operator with more than two decades of business experience (and an additional 13 years in engineering and finance), I am now pursuing my next venture: acquiring an established business outside the retail restaurant sector. I am specifically targeting companies that (1) provide essential services, (2) generate strong recurring revenue, (3) produce between $1 million and $3 million in EBITDA, and (4) are located in Southern California..
For my next business venture, I’m seeking partners who are eager to achieve superior returns on their investment. Whether you have capital to invest or business to sell, let’s connect for a chat.
Over my diverse career I have worked as an engineering analyst, corporate finance analyst and restaurant franchisee. In my next venture I plan on drawing on more of my professional experiences to acquire/operate an established business that provides essential services with a high level of recurring revenue located in Southern California. Over the years, I have honed skills in leadership, adaptability, customer service, finance, operations, staff management, and resilience—preparing me well for this venture.
My leadership, operational skills, and adaptability were developed over two decades of franchise ownership. Most recently, this was exhibited by my restaurant’s performance during COVID. My restaurant was one of very few Denny’s locations nationwide and the only restaurant in the entire city of Huntington Beach to stay open 24/7 throughout the pandemic, while adhering to all state and county COVID protocols. As a result, the year after COVID we were immediately able to staff up and achieve consistent YOY sales in excess of 25% over pre-COVID levels.
My foundation in operations management was built during my participation in Denny’s development program, where I gained expertise in restaurant turnarounds, developing strategic approaches to address staffing issues and facility renovations to drive sales growth and improve customer satisfaction. My restaurants have consistently achieved the lowest turnover and customer complaints in the system.
Before my experience with Denny’s, I developed my financial skills by earning an MBA with a focus on finance and entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California. I then navigated the corporate landscape at Southern California Edison’s Treasurer’s Department, gaining valuable experience in financial planning, cash management, and corporate finance until I entered Denny’s franchise development program. Despite the high failure rate within the program, my financial skills and perseverance paid off as I acquired and successfully managed multiple Denny’s franchises in Southern California. I am currently the sole remaining franchisee who entered through this development program.
My resilience was cultivated as a full-time engineering student at UC Santa Barbara while also working part-time at Santa Barbara Research Center, a division of Hughes Aircraft. As I entered the heart of my engineering courses, I focused on my study habits leading to consistent academic excellence, earning a place on the Dean’s List for the remainder of my academic career in both engineering and business school. After earning my Masters in Engineering, while still working as an engineer at Santa Barbara Research Center, a hobby in real estate investing sparked my entrepreneurial spirit. This interest eventually led to my pursuit of an MBA with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. My corporate experience further sparked my interest in behavioral management, shaping my staff management style. Currently, the tenure of my staff greatly exceeds that of Denny’s corporate restaurants.
The franchise development program I entered into consisted of: (1) being trained as a restaurant manager, then (2) running company restaurants until Denny’s Inc offered me a corporate restaurant to purchase.
My first GM assignment was a restaurant with above-average sales that suffered from service issues and high complaints. I found that the restaurant suffered from staffing problems. Putting the proper staffing in place we were able to increase sales by double digits and cut complaints in half.
In the next restaurant that I was assigned to, we did a complete management overhaul. I was then bounced around from restaurant to restaurant for short periods, filling in as needed.
In my final assignment, I was again brought in to clean house. In this restaurant we turned over both management and staff. The employees suffered from a lack of discipline and service standards. Over time we ended up replacing all the management and approximately half the staff.
At this time Denny’s was part of a large food company formed by a series of leveraged buyouts. Strapped for cash Denny’s hadn’t invested in the facilities for quite some time. They were struggling to decide what to do with many aging, underperforming restaurants with expiring leases. They would use the franchise development program I was in, to get rid of some of these ageing underperforming restaurants. When Denny’s Inc finally offered to sell me a restaurant that I felt had some upside, I initially thought that my challenges would be employee issues. To my surprise, it was clear that the problem was not the employees but rather just that the restaurant was plagued by deteriorating facilities. With a limited budget and a lot of creativity, I remodeled the store despite Denny’s Inc lack of remodeling criteria. I also removed the unused bar and created a private meeting room. Soon sales were up double digits. Not only did the customers appreciate the upgraded facilities but the morale of the employees increased, providing even better service. As a result of my success, Denny’s Inc offered me the opportunity to buy the closest restaurant to me, with significantly higher sales.
Investors
In my next venture, I’m seeking Preferred Equity Partners interested in making investments ranging from $100,000 to $2,000,000. Your investment will unlock exciting opportunities to maximize returns.
With a focus on profitability and a proven track record of operational success, I’m confident that careful analysis of the best opportunities will lead to success.
