dedalusdedalus wrote:
Interesting. Was YUM brands thinking about diversifying their holdings beyond fast food a couple years ago? I'd like to know the story as well...
Sure. In graduate school most classes require you to work in groups. One of my groups included this kid who although awesome, was full of himself. It was a little sad because half the people just hated on him to hate on him. It got to he point where he wouldn't drive his bmw to campus because he was tired of people picking on him.
So anyway, we get paired up on a project, he slacked off, and I called him out for not contributing. From there out, he pulled his weight and we became friends. He knew my interest in cooking, and I catered for he and his girlfriend a few times. I had no idea that his father owned Dragas Corp., which is a main shareholder of YUM! Brands. After we got our mbas, my friend mentioned that he was interesting in opening a restaurant, funded by Dragas Corp and YUM! Brands. My concept was haute cuisine without intimidation. I still have the seasonal menus I created, in French and English.
Anyway, the restaurant would have had four seasonal menus, white linens, a sommelier, and would be pretty high class but without snobby waiters. The test location was to open in Virginia Beach. After tons of research, we both decided that there just wasn't a market in the test area that would reflect what sales the restaurant would make in other areas. I'm sure the funding is still there if I'd like to open a restaurant in a different test market, but I've got too great a job right now to pass up on. Maybe after I retire.
But that's about how things went down.
