Bringing The Receipts

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Friends of Branded!

Happy Saturday and I hope you had a great week.

This week I read several posts and articles complaining about restaurant receipts and specifically the charges and line items included (and observed).

First, to those that posted and wrote on this topic, respect and I appreciate you. I may not agree with you (or maybe I do), but I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and I take all of them as an opportunity to help to make our industry be better.

I’m totally serious. We’re allowed to disagree with one another and have healthy debates. In fact, I think that’s necessary, and an important part of learning and growing (was that last comment limited to the restaurant industry? What do you think?). ??

The Branded team knows my love of the acronym, “P.R.B.”, which should never be confused with one of my brother’s favorite beers, PBR.

As long as we can communicate Professionally, Respectfully and in the Best interest of what we’re trying to accomplish together, we can talk about anything!

I’ll go even farther and admit that when I read the specific complaints about the line items on receipts, with a particular focus on the line item for the “Credit Card Surcharge,” my first reaction was to agree with the authors that were being critical of this act taken by venue (as being unhospitable).

Despite my understanding of the critique of this surcharge practice, it led me to think about the speed in which I was jumping in to be critical of my brothers & sisters in the hospitality industry, so I decided to dig-in and look a little further into this.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game!

This whole debate (that I was having with myself) made me think of the term “relative value” and how it means different things to different people. This is of course rightly so, b/c it’s the context & application of these two simple words put next to one another that gives it any meaning at all.

When I was working on a bond trading desk, “relative value” was the idea of trading of one security versus another. You might elect to buy Security A b/c you believed it represented greater value than a similar Security B. Taken to the next level, you might buy Security A and short (or bet against) Security B to capture this perceived or identified “relative value.” For whatever its worth, I learned that sometimes relative value trading, particularly when you went long one security and short another, was actually two distinct trades, but that’s a topic for another time and really a topic for another newsletter all together. ??

When I was bartending at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse (and I will forever appreciate you Joseph, Joe, James, Ricky, & Lenny) and a guest would ask me whether I’d recommend, for example, the filet mignon or the pork chop, I’d respond by asking the guest, “how hungry are you?” If they responded, “really hungry,” I’d recommend the pork chop, b/c you were going to get two 8-ounce pieces of delicious pork chop, and it would be a meal of plenty. If you weren’t that hungry, I’d recommend the filet mignon b/c you’d get an awesome 8-ounce filet that was mouth-watering.

For the guest, the ounces of the pork chop were 2x the filet b/c the beef costs were easily more than 2x the price of the pork (and these two dishes were priced relatively similar to one another)

What do these security transactions and the price of proteins at Bobby Van’s have to do with the theme of this week’s Top of the Fold (The Receipts)? That’s of course a great question, so let’s get into it, but not before I make a little admission - I’m obsessed with fairness and while I wasn’t elected in any way to do this, I’m going to speak up for restaurant owners and operators.

Does the line item of a Credit Card Surcharge on the receipt you're given at a restaurant offend you? Does it insult you? Does it cheapen the experience and the meal you just had?

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We’ve got a few Shoutouts this week and I also want to use this section to try something a little new and specifically where I “Ask the Village” a question.

This is a new section that we’re exploring, and I want to see if this community can help Branded with our own Top of Funnel in connection with our investments and specifically the themes we’re exploring.

So, let’s kick of this week’s Shoutout section with an “Ask the Village” question.

Operators, how much time do you spend per year thinking about your insurance? Do you care enough about the cost of insurance to explore new opportunities if you could save 25%?

For small-to-mid sized restaurants, the cost of insurance typically ranges from 1% to 4% of total revenues. For higher-risk establishments (bars, nightclubs, restaurants with deep fryers), the costs can be on the higher-end and be closer to 3% to 5%. For full-serve and fine-dining, these operations are considered lower-risk, and the costs are around 1% to 2%.

These are (obviously) real numbers and in an industry with tight margins, insurance is a meaningful and necessary cost of doing business.

Like so many parts of our industry, we can get complacent and accept things that we believe we can’t change. You've also probably been buying insurance from the same source for as long as you remember. But things are changing and that includes greater transparency around our costs and opportunities where competition can help drive prices lower.

Is insurance an area where restaurant operators (and here we’re talking about the owners and / or financial folks at these businesses who are more focused and responsible for these costs) would be willing to invest a little time and explore new opportunities to reduce the cost of insurance.

I’d love to hear from you on this topic, so if you’re interested, shoot me a note.

Okay, now back to our regular programming.

The FIRST Shoutout this week goes to our friends at YUM! Brands and its introduction of its very own state of the art tech suite to power its restaurants worldwide.

I’ve copied a link to the article from QSR Magazine here: Yum! Introduces State-of-the-Art Tech Suite to Power its Restaurants Worldwide

This week YUM! Brands introduced “Byte by YUM!”, a proprietary AI-driven platform that consolidates several essential ResTech system into a single platform for its entire restaurant group.

This announcement deserves a shoutout for several reasons, first, and maybe in Branded’s self-interest (which I believe, as Milton Friedman did, is always the most important and meaningful driver of actions) that this move is consistent with what we’ve been pounding on the table, the need for more integrated and platform-oriented solutions for restaurant operators.

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Branded invites readers of the?H^2?that are interested in learning more about our?portfolio companies, and?investment strategies?to become part of our?Access Hospitality Network.

At Branded, we love to use this section to specifically highlight some of the companies we’re working with, and where financial opportunities may be available for discussion.

I’m going to do something a little different this week and use the announcement by our new friends and now partners at GoVo Venture Partners.

GOVO VP has joined Branded as LPs in Starfish, the PLAID of Product Traceability and a platform that is transforming the way businesses manage and share product traceability data across supply chains.

In addition to investing, Mr. Rob Panepinto, GOVO’s managing partner, will also be joining me on the Board of Directors of this company and I’m super excited about that.

You can read GOVO’s announcement of its investment by clicking the link below, but I’ve also pulled this quote from Mr. Panepinto here:

“The global trend toward transparency in food supply chains requires seamless information exchange. Starfish’s platform provides the solution, enabling partners from around the world to participate and share data. As the Food Safety Modernization Act and other regulations are adopted, Starfish supports compliance for food companies of all sizes.”

GOVO Venture Partners Invests in Starfish Technology Inc.

GOVO is a venture fund that invests in seed through series A companies and has a particular focus on early-stage companies that are doing business with the government or where navigating government regulations is an important success factor.

As food transparency and traceability has become increasingly important to both consumers and governments, the Branded team values GOVO’s expertise in supporting companies that are navigating government regulations and how it’s identified the importance of the Starfish platform b/c it provides participants in the food supply chain a solution for complying with the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which will require detailed food supply tracing and tracking for high-risk foods beginning in 2026.

When we write about our village, this is just such a wonderful example of how having the right partners helps us all win (and that’s exactly what we plan to do with Starfish).

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Featured Episode: How Big Mamma Went from a Scrapped Idea to 30 Restaurants with Co-founder Victor Lugger

From a scrapped café concept to a European restaurant empire—Victor Lugger, co-founder of Big Mamma and Sunday, shares the brand’s remarkable evolution and its ambitious expansion into the U.S.

Victor takes us behind the scenes of Big Mamma’s success, revealing how a pivot to Italian cuisine unlocked massive growth, why immersive dining is at the heart of their brand, and how trusting his team led to unexpected breakthroughs in quality and efficiency. He also dives into his latest venture, Sunday, a payment-processing app born out of necessity that’s now reshaping the way restaurants handle transactions.

Key Takeaways:

• From French Breakfast to Italian Powerhouse – How Victor and his team realized their original concept lacked excitement and made a game-changing pivot.
• Scaling Smartly – The decision to step back and empower their team led to better ingredient sourcing, higher efficiency, and rapid growth.
• Going Global – London proved to be Big Mamma’s strongest European market, solidifying its international potential.
• Funding the Future – Bringing in McWin as an anchor investor allowed Big Mamma to scale while maintaining control of their vision.
• Tech Meets Hospitality – How Sunday started as an in-house solution and quickly became a standalone company transforming payment experiences in restaurants.
• Cracking the U.S. Market – After conquering Europe, Big Mamma is now bringing its signature experience to American diners.

But that’s not all! Victor takes on our signature Food Service Feud, shares what surprises European servers most about American diners, and puts his industry knowledge to the test in Hot or Not, Branded Quickfire, and The Feud.

Don’t miss this episode packed with insider insights, bold moves, and game-changing hospitality innovation. Tune in now!

Listen now and stay ahead of the game! ??

Tune into the episode and subscribe to our channel here: Hospitality Hangout With Victor Lugger

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Are you loving the Hospitality Hangout? Let us know! Please leave us a review here!

Who Made The B List?

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MARKETING

The Best Models In The World Are Marketers

By: Rev Ciancio, Head of Revenue Marketing at Branded Hospitality Ventures

Marketing is a tough gig.

You’re always expected to be on. You’re always expected to improve. Your feet are held to the fire when sales are down.

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Technology

Why Founders Need to Stop Expecting Employees to Share Their All-In Mentality

By:?Seth Temko, Solutions Services Partner at Branded Hospitality Ventures

Founders must recognize that while their business represents their identity, for employees it's an activity—understanding this fundamental difference.

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Food For Thought

Menu Science

By: Dr. Melissa Hughes, keynote speaker & author

On average, diners spend just 109 seconds scanning the menu. In under two minutes, the human brain is making dozens of decisions and assumptions—many of them subconscious—about the meal, the restaurant, and even overall satisfaction before the first bite.

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That’s it for today!

See you next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

It takes a village!

Jimmy Frischling Branded Hospitality Ventures [email protected] 235 Park Ave South, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10003

Branded Hospitality Ventures ("Branded") is an investment and solutions platform at the intersection of foodservice, technology, innovation and capital. As experienced hospitality owners and operators, Branded brings value to its partners through investment, strategic counsel, and its deep industry expertise and connections.

Learn more about Branded here: Branded At-A-Glance