oday we've got another interview with an acquisition entrepreneur who bought a restaurant — or 5, in this case — and it's going great.

Like Jarett Berke, the Acquiring Minds guest in May who bought a decades-old diner on a main street in a college town, today's guest Jackson Speaks acquired restaurants whose customers feel connection & loyalty to them.

That's brand, in short.

Jackson and I spend some time on that theme, the idea that the nostalgia niche within the larger restaurants category is an attractive place to make acquisitions.

Matter of fact, Jackson and his partner now have a thesis around it.

We unpack a lot today about buying, improving, and owning a portfolio of restaurants, including:

  • Low-hanging fruit, AKA what levers to pull as a new owner
  • How to manage multiple locations
  • The power of a growing geography

And much more.

Carter Andrews & Jackson Speaks, owners of Pizza By The Sea
Carter Andrews & Jackson Speaks

But through all this, let's not lose sight of the human story here: which is a couple young guys who wanted to be entrepreneurs, and to live by the beach. At the ripe old age of 27, they've done that.

Here is Jackson Speaks, owner of Pizza by the Sea and Cowgirl Kitchen.