No One Out Pizza's Molly!

Covent Garden, UK, April 2022

September 25, 2023

Molly Wallace graduated from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 2020, the same year Beyond Development Group, Inc. (BDG) was established. As Molly’s university classes initially stalled and then moved online due to Covid-19, BDG was blessed with its first major assignment. Due to significant experience with Pizza Hut, Monarch Capital engaged BDG to act as the development advisor to the Ad Hoc Group of Priority and First Lien Lenders (AHG) through NPC’s chapter 11 case.

That sounds complicated, but simply said, we assessed the viability and upside opportunity for each of NPC’s 1,200 Pizza Hut restaurants, using a plethora of data and an extraordinary amount of time in Google. To say this was intense training in development and data for Molly is an understatement. Molly’s degree in Communications & Psychology doesn’t naturally lead to employment in real estate development, but my personal belief is that logical thinking, tenacity, and an openness to learning, allows you to be very impactful in the development world.

Molly very quickly understood the process, as well as the nuances of considering each restaurant within its own market across the United States. There was certainly a fair amount of shadowing, but Molly’s dedication to providing the optimal recommendations in the minimal amount of time, made her an invaluable member of the team. We couldn’t have provided and refined our recommendations in the required timeframe without Molly. Molly had already become a critical member of BDG.

As this project ended, which included the successful sale of the NPC portfolio to Flynn Restaurant Group, Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted, Molly had graduated and, with a move from Wichita to Dallas, Molly became a permanent member of BDG. It’s hard to appreciate it has been three years now. As Molly recently texted ‘it’s felt like 10 years and only 6 months all rolled into one!’

After spending so much time understanding the drivers of success for 1,200 current restaurants, it was a natural step for Molly to start assessing sites for potential new Pizza Huts for Chaac Foods, BDG’s largest client. At the end of 2020 we started identifying new sites again and had Chaac’s approval to move forward to lease (now Covid had started settling down). Those initial assessments quickly converted into Molly leading the project management of our Pizza Hut new builds and eventually becoming BDG’s COO. Molly has been running the day-to-day operations of our company for over a year now.

Since this intense introduction to real estate development, Molly has led our team through the construction of 20 new Pizza Hut’s in NY & MD, and been second on point for five new Dave’s Hot Chicken’s in IN & OH and our first Long John’s Silvers in TX.

Anyone who knows development, can appreciate the size of the task managing a team, who doesn’t directly report into you, through 30+ new builds, each at different stages from drawings to turn-over to operations. Every Tuesday Molly runs our 2-hour meeting with over 15 participants from operations, construction, architecture, IT and PHLLC corporate, ensuring weekly progress and alignment. As Ryan Narramore from MPAK Construction recently commented ‘Molly keeps us and everything together. She’s very kind, but you don’t want to drop the ball on Molly’. Kind and Tenacious - what a great reputation for a COO. 

In addition to her lead on Pizza Hut, Molly has also been involved in consultancy projects on multiple other concepts including Bojangles, Dickey’s, Jimmy John’s, Peter Piper Pizza as well as remodels for Sonic.

Fortunately, Molly has been very willing to travel and hence hasn’t been stuck at her desk for the last three years. Molly’s taken site visits to New York, DC, Florida, Phoenix, San Antonio, Waco and Temple, been at corporate conferences in Dallas, worked ICSC in New York and Las Vegas, attended board meetings in New York and Southlake and been on a BDG trip to England.

Whilst Molly has a quieter nature, the confidence she's built being involved in so many different projects and experiences, has allowed her to talk to contractors, corporate development leads or capital investors, with an ability to provide sound advice anytime and anywhere. I couldn’t be more excited to have Molly as my right hand.

At some point we’d like to grow more Molly’s, so please reach out to us if you think you’d benefit and thrive in an organization like ours. If learning and experiences are what you’re looking for, we have plenty.

If you love the idea of Molly working on your business, please contact us. We love engaging with new teams and are constantly looking for opportunities to take another brand to new heights.

Always Be Bruce

There’s a commonly seen wall placard which never fails to bring a smile to our family:

‘Always be Yourself, unless you can be Batman, then Always be Batman’

When thinking about real estate brokers, my advice would be slightly different:

‘Always be Yourself, unless you can be Bruce, then Always be Bruce’

Bruce happens to be one of the best brokers I’ve come across and certainly someone I’d recommend any broker to emulate.

Sense of Humor, Patience & Tenacity— We first met Bruce at NY ICSC in Dec 2018. We’d determined we needed an experienced NY broker and set up several meetings to assess their fit to our team and goals. To ease our connection in a very busy area outside of Starbucks I texted Bruce ‘I’m at the bottom of the escalators wearing a red dress and black jacket’. Bruce’s response ‘I’m at the bottom of the escalators wearing a blue suit’. For anyone attending any ICSC you can imagine how much I laughed when I looked up from my phone and saw before me a sea of guys in blue suits! Our relationship started with a giggle, and we continue to laugh most times we communicate. An appreciation of each other’s sense of humor provides such a strong basis to get through the fabulous and the incredibly tough parts on the journey of identifying and negotiating real estate. Especially in New York. I’d be amiss to say, it also gets you through some very long market visits when you’re spending hours/days in a car together.

Unfortunately for Bruce, whilst we started our real estate search in earnest in 2019, we were delayed from finalizing any deals until the portfolio purchase deal (the basis for our growth) was closed in Feb 2020. Upon closure, the gas pedal was hit again, to immediately be pulled back with the beginning of COVID and the hopeful expectation of more real estate availability and better prices to come. When the real estate world seemed to have settled again (with very little change to be honest) we reinvigorated our search and negotiations in Nov 2020.

For any broker that relies on deals to pay for their engagement, the amount of patience Bruce demonstrated during these periods of time was phenomenal. He continued to engage, he took the time to study the brand and the market, he provided us with insights on what he was learning and seeing, and then he was totally ready for us when we finally pulled the trigger again.

We now have 10 leases signed, another six coming up behind them and many more being added to our pipeline monthly against our initial focus on Pizza Hut. Further to that, we’ve expanded our portfolio to include 3 additional brands, with significant development agreements, and will rely on Bruce to help us achieve our goals. Bruce’s patience and tenacity have been well rewarded with a highly dedicated client and a path to a huge number of deals.

Bruce’s Hit Rates— Through the initial stages of working with any broker on a new brand there always needs to be a stage of education. At BDG we hold ourselves responsible to provide brokers with as much information as is available from the brand and our clients, for example, target consumers, building types, traffic needs, sales forecasts (when available), area prioritization, utility requirements, acceptable lease rates and important deal terms. Our desire to only build highly profitable units for our clients leads us to encourage the brand leaders to share everything they know, and we ensure it’s communicated to, and understood by, our broker partners. This part is reasonably simple. Especially when you like asking questions as much as we do.

The more challenging part is for brokers to ensure everything they bring forward meets those requirements and is the best available opportunity to be pursued. This is where Bruce truly excels. Having started focusing Bruce across NY, we quickly expanded his responsibilities to include NJ. Anyone familiar with the area (and its traffic) knows how vast a region this is. How can one person truly understand the markets and always be aware of available real estate? Bruce spends most of his time on the road searching and researching. The number of parking tickets he’s accumulated (and I’m sure paid) are testament to the reality of this. Bruce has never brought forward a site he hasn’t visited in person himself, often multiple times. This simply isn’t true of all brokers. Furthermore, Bruce will only present a site once he’s comfortable our brand can fit, can operate effectively AND can be profitable. As you can imagine, Bruce’s hit rates are very high in getting deals done for us.

The Follow Through— Identifying optimal sites is obviously critical in the journey to growth. It could be said a broker’s role is complete once that’s done. For Bruce, I’m not sure the role is ever complete. Bruce holds our hand all the way through lease negotiations and beyond. For each of our major clients we hold a weekly status call bringing together key members of the team – architects, engineers, construction teams, suppliers. We invited Bruce to join whenever he can, letting him know it wasn’t critical. Bruce attends the majority of these meetings, and the impact is substantial. I simply love these meetings – one of the best parts of the week. As we work through our pipeline, the team members share updates, work collaboratively to solve issues as they arise and hold each other accountable to keep moving forward. Whilst he could consider his role done, Bruce is there to answer any questions and share his perspective. More than that, he takes the time to listen to the dialogue, understand the challenges we’re facing, offers to engage with the landlord or broker as is necessary AND adjusts his thinking about future real estate to proactively avoid the same issues rising again when possible. Bruce continues to grow as a fabulous broker, and it’s been fascinating to watch.

So, whenever you can, as a broker, Always be Bruce, as a brand looking for growth, Find your Bruce!So, whenever you can, as a broker, always be Bruce. As a brand looking for growth, find your Bruce! — Clare

Baruch (Bruce) Herman, Director of Leasing, has worked for Booth Capital Advisors since October 2017 under the guidance of Greg Parassio, President & Managing Partner and Idit (Stephanie) Agus, CEO & Managing Partner.

FULL STEAM AHEAD!

Reflecting on the last six months I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made at BDG!

We welcomed Connor Duggan to the team as an intern this past July. Recognizing his engaging attitude to learning, as well as his willingness to roll up his sleeves, we quickly converted Connor to a full-time role starting in October. Coming to us from Indiana University as a Real Estate and Finance Major, Connor has become a significant contributor to BDG and our clients. Connor’s love of data and analysis has allowed us to dig deeper into brand real estate & sales trends, therefore providing us the opportunity to further fine-tune our guidance on optimizing growth. Connor moved to Dallas from his home of St. Louis, bringing a constant stream of energy to the office.

Simultaneous to Connor’s commitment to BDG, we moved into new offices at Watters Creek in October. Watters Creek in Allen, TX is our new home and we’re thrilled to be here. We now have space to engage with clients in person and entertain them in the plethora of restaurants outside our front door. Whilst we could separate into individual offices, we all work together in the common area which speaks to our collaborative culture. From the clustered desks, the huge BDG logo wall painting, the red fridge, the reading & brainstorming lounge, and the photo wall, we’re quickly establishing and demonstrating our ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ mentality.

Our ‘Play Hard’ mantra is visible in the office; ‘Work Hard’ is visible in the growth we’ve established for our clients, and subsequently ourselves. For our largest client, Chaac Foods, we now have 58 projects in the pipeline with 18 leases signed and 9 restaurants under construction across Pizza Hut, Bojangles, Dickey’s and Jimmy Johns. We’re absolutely thrilled Chaac Foods is continuing to build a presence across all sectors of QSR. Along with the current development work, we’re partnering with Chaac Foods to explore and engage with other potential growth brands. Dave Diggity now has 10 Dave’s Hot Chicken projects with BDG in the pipeline; 6 leases signed and 4 restaurants under construction. We’ve further expanded our support of Pizza Hut and Dave’s Hot Chicken by adding new franchisees to our portfolio. We’ve also added Sonic to our stable of brands to support.

The level of collaboration we’ve established with our teams, combined with the creation of solid processes and reporting, has enabled us to manage far more than we’d originally anticipated. We are, however, initiating (what has now become) our annual search for a summer intern to join us this year. Our effort is to find another hard-working, fun-loving, growth-driven, long-term team member to enter our training routine. We believe the combination of full brand immersion, client interaction, and ‘hit the ground running mentality’ will continue to develop immediate impact for the team and for our clients.

Thanks to each of our partners for helping us achieve the success we’ve had to date. We could not do it without you. We look forward to continued growth, and an incredibly bright future with all of you!