Ryan Feghali | Little Caesars | Jersey Mike’s | Mike’s Red Tacos | Co-Founder of CoCo Playa | M&A, Ops, Brand Building and Scaling | YPO
San Diego, CA
Joined July 2009
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Started with an amazing product being sold out of a parking lot. Now over 200 units sold nationwide and three locations doing absolutely ridiculous numbers.
Sound familiar?
No, I'm not talking about Dave's Hot Chicken. This is Mike's Red Tacos. And it's something I am very excited about.
My cousin Andrew Feghali is one of the investors behind the brand alongside Bill Phelps. I've watched this come together up close. And honestly, everything about it just makes sense.
Here's why I think this brand is going to be a massive success.
1) The team.
Bill Phelps built Wetzel's Pretzels & Blaze Pizza. Then helped scale Dave's Hot Chicken into the fastest growing franchise in the country before selling it for over a billion dollars. Now he's doing it again with Mike's Red Tacos. And the crazy part is he brings his rockstar team with him from brand to brand. Vincent Montanelli, who helped lead Wetzel's, is now president. These people have done this before. They have the playbook. They have the experience. And as part of that playbook, they are specialists at generating hype. Celebrity investors, great franchisees, national press. They know how to put a brand on the map before the first franchise location even opens.
2) They aren't trying to dominate a category. They're dominating a niche.
Same playbook as before. Dave's Hot Chicken didn't become the "fastest growing Nashville hot chicken brand"by accident. They didn't try to take on the entire chicken category. They picked a lane and owned it. Mike's is doing the exact same thing. It isn't taking on Mexican food head to head. The plan is to be the fastest growing birria brand in the country. And I have no doubt they will be.
3) The product is incredible.
I CRAVE the tacos. The food is amazing. They have a handful of items on the menu and they are incredible at all of them. The founder, Mike, is still highly involved in making sure product stays A+. But honestly, sometimes the most important thing in this business is how the food looks. And these red tacos are some of the most photogenic food I've ever seen. People can't help but post them on Instagram. And people can't help but get hungry when they see it. That kind of organic marketing is priceless.
4) They've curated a very select group of franchisees.
A brand can only be as strong as the people operating it. And when you have the ability to be super picky, you pick best in class. They've brought in experienced multi-unit operators from Dave's Hot Chicken, Jersey Mike's, Blaze, Dunkin', Little Caesars, Carl's Jr, and Wetzel's. Only trusted, proven operators signing big territory agreements.
**Humble brag. I'm included in that group. And I couldn't be more excited about it.
5) It's a reasonable operation and investment.
Operations are simple. The equipment isn't too expensive. And you don't need super prime freestanding drive thru real estate to make it work. All of those things check a box for me. When the operation is clean and the investment makes sense, you can focus on what actually matters. Executing at a high level and building something great. And the unit economics at the 3 open sites are mind blowing.
I don't get this excited about emerging brands often. But everything about this one feels right. The team, the product, the niche strategy, the franchisees, and the opportunity.
This brand is going to be everywhere. And I'm proud to be a part of it.
Mike’s Red Tacos is opening their first corporate store & training facility in Pasadena on Friday.
Last night we got to be a part of the friends & family and it was an incredible party!
300+ units in development. An incredible leadership team. This is a rocket ship. Strap in.
Everyone's talking Starbucks + Chipotle.
As someone who has bought and integrated restaurants, here's my take:
Merging works when one side brings what the other is missing. Here, both sides are still fixing themselves.
Different food, different supply chains, different guests.
But both are always on the best corners in America. That real estate alone makes it worth talking about.
Maybe Brian Niccol just wants his old job back.
Dessert is one of the toughest categories (trust me).
It's an add-on. It depends on consumer confidence more than almost anything else.
The brands that win tie themselves to an occasion. Birthdays. Office parties. Thank-you gifts.
Nothing Bundt Cakes nailed this. You don't buy a bundt cake on a whim. You buy it for a reason.
That's the lesson for every snack brand.
On top of this news, Chip City also announced an abrupt and permanent closure of all its locations. Employees stating they found out the day of.
Rough day for cookie concepts.
Are we seeing the next fad downfall similar to FroYo & cupcakes?
This is wild.
Cameras in every store monitored by HQ. Fined for running out of product during a free cookie promo they got one week's notice about. Fines pulled directly from bank accounts. The CEO discouraged operators from forming a franchise association. And they just laid off nearly all of their franchise support staff.
A new menu every week with recipes handed to operators days before launch. Franchisees out scouring Walmarts for ingredients because the supply chain can't keep up.
Honestly, it's a reminder of how much hype and growth can mask. When the growth slows down, the problems are all that's left.
This is wild.
Cameras in every store monitored by HQ. Fined for running out of product during a free cookie promo they got one week's notice about. Fines pulled directly from bank accounts. The CEO discouraged operators from forming a franchise association. And they just laid off nearly all of their franchise support staff.
A new menu every week with recipes handed to operators days before launch. Franchisees out scouring Walmarts for ingredients because the supply chain can't keep up.
Honestly, it's a reminder of how much hype and growth can mask. When the growth slows down, the problems are all that's left.
New from me: Crumbl was once the country's fastest growing restaurant chain in the U.S., a $1 billion brand in just six years and the largest cookie concept in the country. At one point its unit volumes were $1.8 million, a ridiculous sum for a cookie concept.
But it has been struggling over the past two years, which worsened this summer with a dirty soda introduction that only served to generate controversy. The company's "Dirty Soda Week" was the worst in its history, and August sales were down 70% over the past two years.
Stores are now closing. More could close but the company isn't allowing more closures without the possibility of liquidated damages.
We spoke with numerous franchisees for this story and analyzed documents and correspondence and watched a presentation from the company's CEO. Operators describe a chaotic operation that sometimes leaves them scrambling for supplies while sales bounce from one week to the next.
The business is also unusually punitive, with the company monitoring cameras inside the stores for violations such as more than one person walking into the store on a Sunday.
The company did not respond to requests for comment, but it is making management changes, a new CEO is close to being hired, and the chain plans to reduce its reliance on new cookies. Sales did improve some in September, particularly with Minecraft week (honestly, I'm surprised more chains don't do Minecraft promotions).
But it's been a tough road for one of the restaurant industry's biggest pandemic winners.
More here: restaurantbusinessonline.com…
I haven’t been anon for a while, but I feel like removing my cartoon avatar was the final nail in the coffin.
Hi world!
-Ryan / QSRGuy
Now over 300 units sold and celebrity investor @KingJames!
Excited to be aboard this rocketship.
Started with an amazing product being sold out of a parking lot. Now over 200 units sold nationwide and three locations doing absolutely ridiculous numbers.
Sound familiar?
No, I'm not talking about Dave's Hot Chicken. This is Mike's Red Tacos. And it's something I am very excited about.
My cousin Andrew Feghali is one of the investors behind the brand alongside Bill Phelps. I've watched this come together up close. And honestly, everything about it just makes sense.
Here's why I think this brand is going to be a massive success.
1) The team.
Bill Phelps built Wetzel's Pretzels & Blaze Pizza. Then helped scale Dave's Hot Chicken into the fastest growing franchise in the country before selling it for over a billion dollars. Now he's doing it again with Mike's Red Tacos. And the crazy part is he brings his rockstar team with him from brand to brand. Vincent Montanelli, who helped lead Wetzel's, is now president. These people have done this before. They have the playbook. They have the experience. And as part of that playbook, they are specialists at generating hype. Celebrity investors, great franchisees, national press. They know how to put a brand on the map before the first franchise location even opens.
2) They aren't trying to dominate a category. They're dominating a niche.
Same playbook as before. Dave's Hot Chicken didn't become the "fastest growing Nashville hot chicken brand"by accident. They didn't try to take on the entire chicken category. They picked a lane and owned it. Mike's is doing the exact same thing. It isn't taking on Mexican food head to head. The plan is to be the fastest growing birria brand in the country. And I have no doubt they will be.
3) The product is incredible.
I CRAVE the tacos. The food is amazing. They have a handful of items on the menu and they are incredible at all of them. The founder, Mike, is still highly involved in making sure product stays A+. But honestly, sometimes the most important thing in this business is how the food looks. And these red tacos are some of the most photogenic food I've ever seen. People can't help but post them on Instagram. And people can't help but get hungry when they see it. That kind of organic marketing is priceless.
4) They've curated a very select group of franchisees.
A brand can only be as strong as the people operating it. And when you have the ability to be super picky, you pick best in class. They've brought in experienced multi-unit operators from Dave's Hot Chicken, Jersey Mike's, Blaze, Dunkin', Little Caesars, Carl's Jr, and Wetzel's. Only trusted, proven operators signing big territory agreements.
**Humble brag. I'm included in that group. And I couldn't be more excited about it.
5) It's a reasonable operation and investment.
Operations are simple. The equipment isn't too expensive. And you don't need super prime freestanding drive thru real estate to make it work. All of those things check a box for me. When the operation is clean and the investment makes sense, you can focus on what actually matters. Executing at a high level and building something great. And the unit economics at the 3 open sites are mind blowing.
I don't get this excited about emerging brands often. But everything about this one feels right. The team, the product, the niche strategy, the franchisees, and the opportunity.
This brand is going to be everywhere. And I'm proud to be a part of it.
“TACO TUESDAYYYYY”
-@KingJames
qsrmagazine.com/story/lebron…
My CRE friends - anybody know a rockstar retail broker that dominates the Oregon/lower Washington markets?
Please DM!
Another off-base take from a rich guy who’s insulated from the real-world effects of raising the minimum wage.
I changed my mind on minimum wage after reviewing the data. I used to believe in letting the free market handle it, like most of you.
However, when California raised the minimum wage for fast-food workers, it increased prices for consumers by pennies (~1-2%).
There was zero downside... it didn't drive massive automation, nor did it cause businesses to shutter.
Exactly the same result as Australia and other American cities... no changes in jobs; restaurants didn't close.
We are at record profits for corporations.
We are at a record low in unemployment in America over the past five years.
We are at maximum social unrest due to wealth disparity.
We should WANT to see the lowest-earning Americans go from $12 to $15, to $20, and then to $25 an hour over the next decade.
This isn't virtue signaling; this is good business!
Why?
Individuals earning under $40,000 a year spend 100% of their income.
They save nothing... they just spend it at the same companies they earn it at (Amazon, McDonald's, the Apple Store, DoorDash, Uber, etc).
It increases monetary velocity.
Take the time to research all of this, and you'll find the only downside is for teenage workers, who aren't worth $15-20 an hour. It does depress those jobs, so we should keep teenagers at a lower rate.
A broker found me a great location for one of my concepts. Then after months of playing middleman, the landlord backed out.
Annoyed, I reached out to the landlord myself. Drove 2 hours, met in person, got the LOI signed that day. 🙄
Turns out the broker is what killed the deal. Incomplete info. Half of what we said never got passed along. Attitude. Just didn’t care.
Sometimes you get in the car, meet someone face to face, and it gets done.
Skip the middleman bullshit. No one cares like you do.
QSRs do great in all these cities.
Coincidence?
The 10 driest major cities in the United States, ranked by average annual precipitation:
1. Las Vegas, NV — 4.18"
2. Bakersfield, CA — 6.36"
3. Phoenix, AZ — 7.22"
4. El Paso, TX — 8.78"
5. Albuquerque, NM — 8.84"
6. Riverside, CA — 9.37"
7. San Diego, CA — 9.79"
8. Tucson, AZ — 10.61"
9. Mesa, AZ — 10.76"
10. Fresno, CA — 10.99"
QSRGuy retweeted
A tale of two sandwich chain acquisitions:
Subway was on the market for most of 2023. Roark Capital was a big pursuer and ultimately bought the chain for $9.6 billion, completing the deal in April 2024.
Blackstone, meanwhile, worked patiently with Jersey Mike's founder Peter Cancro and ultimately completed its acquisition in early 2025. It is about to go public in one of the biggest restaurant industry IPOs in history not even two years later.
Subway continues to shed locations under Roark and many of the same problems (low unit volumes, weak sales, angry franchisees) remain. It is likely a long, long, long fix that will likely require investment. Some franchisees will sell you their stores for virtually nothing.
Blackstone simply made a few common-sense changes (new HQ, new marketing, etc.) paid itself a dividend and is about to collect its winnings.
Since the algo is working again, and everyone else is doing it, I thought I would re-introduce myself:
My name is Ryan and I own and operate a shit ton of restaurants up and down the West Coast.
Per year, before taxes I make Show more
Respectfully @WallStreetMav, fixed it for you:
Jersey Mike’s sandwiches have gotten better. I just got one and was shocked how dialed in it was.
I looked into it… sure enough there was a private equity investment. Blackstone came in back in 2024.
Now they’re moving toward an IPO. Blackstone brought on a team that helped sharpen the operation & roll out new software, and quality actually went up.
New LTOs, tighter systems, cleaner execution. A great sandwich chain got even better with private equity.
Jersey Mike’s sandwiches have gotten better. I just got one and was shocked how dialed in it was.
I looked into it… sure enough there was a private equity investment. Blackstone came in back in 2024.
Now they’re moving toward an IPO. Blackstone brought on a team that helped sharpen the operation & roll out new software, and quality actually went up.
New LTOs, tighter systems, cleaner execution. A great sandwich chain got even better with private equity.
Just got back from two weeks in Spain. Had an amazing time. Beautiful country, incredible food, so much history & loved the islands.
But this is the second European summer trip where I've come home thinking the same exact thing. Why did I leave San Diego?
70 degrees and sunny year round. Beach, mountains, desert all within an hour. No humidity. AC everywhere. World class activities, people & food. And somehow still feels like a hidden gem.
I love traveling. I love experiencing new cultures. But every time I leave SoCal in the summer I come back more convinced that I already live in the best place on earth.
IYKYK
When is @AmericanAir going to get their shit together and invest in their fleet?
Had my plane changed twice today for mechanical issues, and now my newest plane just got deplaned for…yep, more mechanical issues.
2 hour layover has turned into a 16.
