Hey guys, my name is Wilson.
Today's video is on how do you choose the perfect, the right partner for your food and
beverage restaurant?
This is a question that I'm asked all the time.
How do you find the perfect partner?
I want to partner up with my friend and how do we do this?
Now I'm going to be sharing with you the importance of finding the right partner.
Because throughout my last 10 years of dealing with business, mentoring different business
owners, 99% of them have failed because of partners.
And this is something that I don't wish upon anyone because you don't want to spend your
time dealing with conflict with your other half.
You don't want to spend time day in, day out seeing someone that you completely hate.
You don't want to lose a friend because of business, which is why it's so important for
you to understand these four secrets in finding the right partner for your food and beverage
restaurant.
The number one secret in finding the right partner for your food and beverage restaurant
is vision.
You've got to make sure that your vision is aligned with your partner's vision.
And what I mean by that is if you have the idea of creating 100 shop chain franchise
for your food and beverage, then you need to make sure that the partners that you bring
on board has the same vision as well.
Because at the end of the day, having a mom-and-pop shop that automatically runs by itself and
that requires little to no stress, zero risk or actually not zero, but minimal risk versus
100 shop chain, a franchise chain that has a lot more stress dealing with that, building
that up.
And a lot more risk in terms of financial, in terms of putting in everything that you
have been building and just leveraging it and just keep rolling that.
That is very, very different in terms of vision, and the skillset to build these two things
are very, very different as well.
And the workload is very different.
Stress load is very different as well.
So if your partner and your vision does not align, if he wants a business that automatically
runs by itself, that requires a minimal amount of work, much more like an investor.
Whereas your vision is to find a partner that can bring strategic value to your food and
beverage until you've built this 100 shop chain with you, then that itself creates a
lot of conflict if your visions don't align.
Whereas, if your visions are aligned, if both of you are wanting to create that 100 shop
chain, then everything becomes a lot easier because your vision is aligned because you
guys want the same thing.
The way to approach this vision of yours might be different, so there might still be conflict
with your partner.
However, because of the fact that you guys want to get to the same place, your visions
are aligned.
That's what truly matters when it comes down to it and that prevents a lot of argument
because the intent is there.
The vision is aligned.
For example, with 720 Sweets I brought on Brian and I told him exactly what he's signing
up for right from the get go, which is a reason why throughout the last five years of relationship
we have such a great relationship because our vision was aligned.
Because we were able to identify that right from the get go, we were able to set the expectation
for each other right from the get go.
And that's why it's super important if you want to have a successful relationship, a
successful partnership, to have the right vision and to have the same alignment in your
vision with you and your partner.
The second thing to think about and to consider when choosing the right partner, is value,
okay?
What does value mean?
We hear this term a lot.
Value means how you do things.
And what I mean by that is, at the end of the day, what do you truly value?
How is it that you work?
Do you value relationships?
Do you value efficiency?
Do you value integrity?
Do you value communications?
Whatever the things that you value, these are the things that if not done right, if
not done the way you want, it would press your buttons, okay?
And if, for example, if you're a person, you're high in integrity, whereas your partner is
a little bit more flexible, if they're a little bit more, "Hey, know what, it doesn't really
matter what I do as long as I get to the destination," then you guys do things differently.
Then there's going to be clash because your values don't align.
And another version of that is, for example, if you value communication.
If you truly want someone to always update you all the time because that's how you operate,
because that's how you think a successful business should be run by having high communication,
then it's completely fine.
You declare that.
You tell your partners that, and you ask them what is it that they value if they don't value
communication.
If they think communication is inefficiency, then right there alone you understand there
is this conflict that would eventually happen because they're not going to communicate with
you.
They don't like sending emails.
They think that it's inefficient, whereas you value communication a lot.
And that's how conflict is being built.
So for example, if the values don't align, then you should really consider whether this
partner is good for you because the way you guys do things, is just completely different.
Another example with 720 Sweets, with 720 Sweets we have four different values.
Communication is something that I highly, highly value.
I love people when they communicate with me whether they can do something, or whether
they cannot do something, I want to be able to be fed into the loop, okay?
And which is a reason why I tell Brian right away, "Hey, is this something that you value?"
And we have a consensus on the fact that we understand the importance of communication
in a company.
The second value that we have is integrity.
At the end of the day I'm handling multiple businesses and we're handling multiple teams
at the same time.
If someone that I handle with and that I work with does not have high integrity, that they
slack off when I get off work or that they just drive off and say that they're visiting
our store to make sure that the quality is there whatsoever, but yet they're just slacking.
They go off and watch football, and these are the things that I can't control.
And if integrity is not part of what they have as an intrinsic value, there's nothing
I can do, which is a reason why I got to know Brian and I understand that integrity is really
deep down his core.
And that's what makes us work really, really well together.
Then the third value is empowerment.
Empowerment is trusting and telling and empowering and giving the confidence to other people
to be able to perform a certain task.
And being able to trust that they have the ability to do so.
And that's something that I really, really promote because if you're operating a big
team without empowerment, without you inspiring and without you giving opportunities for people
to become leaders, if you don't rise them to become leaders, it's very, very difficult
for you to be able to do that.
And which is the reason why Brian and I are both are very, very strong in empowerment
and giving opportunities for our staff as well.
And then fourth is get shit done.
And this is a mentality that we have deeply ingrained in us and that's the reason why
I love him so much.
It is because he has this GSD mentality.
GSD really means that with business there's no right way.
There's no formula.
There's no structure.
When you have an objective, all you have to do is hit that objective, okay?
I don't like to hear any excuses.
All I want is for them to be able to achieve that goal and achieve that task, which is
the reason why me and Brian work so well together, because he has that same mentality.
He's not going to come to me and tell me that, "Wilson, this thing can't be done because
the suppliers won't allow us to make this modification to the cup."
No, he's going to go find another supplier and he's going to find another supplier.
He's going to find a supplier who will work with us, that will provide that feature that
we need in order for us to get that smoking effect without coming back to me.
Without me telling him, "Hey, you know what?
Your attitude really determines how you achieve this goal.
So make sure that ... go out there and find other people."
He has this GSD mentality right from the get go.
Now me explaining our four values to you really just shows you an example of when two people's
values align, how much power it gets and how much harmony it creates within a partnership.
Just imagine, Brian does not have these values that I have.
Then there's going to be a lot of conflict, and we won't be focused in building our business.
We're going to be focused fighting each other and that's not good for business, which is
the reason why you need to find a partner who has the same value as you do.
The third secret in choosing the right partner for your food and beverage is table.
What is table?
It is what they bring to the table.
At the end of the day, when you're choosing a partner you need to understand just because
they're best friend, just because you trust them a lot, just because they're your family
member does not mean they're qualified to become your partner.
When you're choosing a partner, always be strategic with the partners that you bring
on board.
It is because your friend is only your friend.
They are not meant to be your partner.
Although they may have the skill set, although they might have what it brings to the table,
they might not be suitable to become your partner because they don't bring any value
to this whole operation.
Now let me give you an example with 720 Sweets.
I brought on Tim, which is our supplier for our ice cream and bubble tea chain as a partner.
And the reason why I brought him on board is because he is a supplier and a wholesaler
of all the ingredients.
Which in turn, what does that mean?
That means that we have the lowest cost of goods sold and that's guaranteed.
That means that for research and development we're able to have a lot more resources and
a lot more depth for us to find different equipment for us to find different product
ideas because he is in the trade of wholesaling, okay?
And thirdly, it is because he has a warehouse and delivery system that we're able to leverage
off when we're working with our ice cream shop.
This is a reason why I brought Tim on board and as much as it sounds very strategical
and calculated, that is not the case because right now we're dealing with business, people.
We're dealing with business, which is the reason why we need to understand what they
bring to the table because they're going to think about the same thing.
Wilson, what did you bring to the table, right?
So you need to be a person of value and you need to know exactly what you bring to the
table.
You might be able to make the best dish in the world and that's the reason why they want
you.
Or he might be the best market, or you may be the best face for your company, which is
the reason why you, and that's what you bring to the table.
And vice versa.
For me, we'll bring Brian on board as part of the partner.
It is because our visions align, our values align, and on top of that he is super dedicated
as a spearhead of this business.
Because he's very strong on operations and he's very strong on people side, dealing with
all the staff.
And that's part of the reason why I brought him on board because he can focus 120% his
time and energy and resources in building 720 sweets.
Whereas I'm handling multiple different businesses and my time is spread quite thin.
Whereas what I bring to the table is that very strategical.
And I know a lot of different trade and I have a high sense of business acumen and I'm
strong on marketing, because I'm able to understand what people and what the market is wanting.
So this makes for a great team because everyone brings different things to the table and it
is not just money, okay?
A biggest mistake that people make is that they bring people on because of money.
And you don't want that because money doesn't solve problems, right?
So at the end of the day, make sure you understand the partners that you bring on board, strategically
speaking, what do they bring to the table?
What value do they add to the table, which would enhance, which would make this project
super, super successful?
And that's part of the reason why we're able to expand internationally and to China, Beijing
within a span of only four years, okay?
Because of the fact that we chose the right partners, we have the right support, and we
have the right talent to build this business.
So when you're trying to find a partner for your food and beverage, make sure you understand
what they bring to the table.
The fourth secret in finding the right partner for your food and beverage business is, what
are they going to do?
And what I mean by that is what are they going to be doing on a daily basis, on a weekly
basis, on a monthly basis.
And we need to make sure we identify that and be on the same page, and be okay with
what they are signing up for.
And what I mean by that is, are they good at operations?
Are they good at marketing?
Are they going to be doing finance, are they doing logistics?
We need to be able to identify all the operations and all the arms of your business and identify
who is responsible for what right from the beginning.
And this is something called a shareholder agreement.
So if you don't have that, you can download them from the link below, it's called a shareholder
agreement.
And that is like a 40 plus page document that identifies everything that you and your partners
are responsible for.
So for example, if your partners are not really carrying their weight with marketing, then
you can tell them.
And it's very, very clear who is at fault at this point in time.
Because when there's this partnership that is formed right from the beginning, if your
partner is responsible for marketing and they're not pulling the weight, you know exactly that
they messed up and they know exactly that they messed up.
The biggest problem that happens with partnership is that they do not clearly identify who is
responsible for what.
And in turn I feel like he's not doing his job and vice versa.
He thinks I'm not doing my job and this creates a lot of conflict and unnecessary burden for
the business, and in turn does not move the business forward.
In turn, you guys are just going to end up fighting with each other because the roles
are not identified clearly.
So make sure you know what each other are doing.
Identify that.
And for example, you need to also identify that if your partners want out, if they want
to exit, if they want to sell their shares, how can they do that?
If they're not doing their job, how can you buy them out?
If they sign up as a partner and they are super excited, they're super motivated in
the first two months and then afterwards the third and fourth month they fall off the track
and you're trying to incentify them.
You try to tell them you're trying to inspire them, nothing works and what are you going
to do?
Are you still going to build that business for them?
Or are you going to have an option to buy them out?
This is the reason why shareholder agreement is so important because it identifies what
are the terms and what is it and how is it that I can buy someone out if something like
this happened?
A lot of people don't have shareholders agreement because who would ever think about getting
a divorce during their honeymoon?
No one does that, but then yet so many people come to the stage where they do not clearly
identify their work and clearly they do not align with each other's vision and values
and which is a reason why they want to part ways and it's very difficult to do so without
my shareholder's agreement.
To prevent that identify exactly what you're going to be doing, what your partners are
going to be doing, and create that shareholder agreement, which is the reason why with all
my businesses, I have a shareholder agreement with my partners.
Just so then we can have all the ugly, all the difficult conversations right from the
beginning.
And after that's done, all the focus and all the intention is about building the business,
moving it forward, moving the needle, and that's precisely the reason why we're able
to grow our business so fast, so rapidly, and so successfully.
So there you go.
The four secrets that you need in choosing the right partner for your food and beverage
restaurant.
First of all, make sure your visions are aligned.
At the end of the day, do you want to create something that is super easy, super simple,
super stressless?
Or do you want to create something much bigger?
Have that conversation right from the get go.
The second thing is values.
Make sure that you identify how you work, what you believe in, what presses your buttons,
what is it that you truly value?
And make sure you have that alignment with your partners if and when you bring them on
board.
Thirdly, you need to make sure that what do they bring to the table, okay?
At the end of the day, you're going to feel unfair if they don't bring anything to the
table that you don't have, right?
So make sure any one that you bring on board plays a strategic role in your business.
Because when everyone brings something to the table, that's when you can grow the business
like crazy and you can focus on growing the business and not focus on the flaws of your
partners.
And lastly, identify what the rules are within the company and have a shareholder agreement.
Because as clear as it gets, you can now actually identify who's accountable for what operations
within your business.
And if things actually turn out sour, you still have a clause to understand how you
can buy your partners out.
And what are the difficult conversations to have right from the get go.
So there you've got the four secrets and finding the right partners.
I really hope you find value in this if you want more good stuff, I've actually in the
link below created something that I've documented for the last 10 years of my journey from finding
locations, to getting free rent, to identifying a winning matrix of your menu.
To marketing, to your customers, getting to the minds of your customers to actually marketing
crazy to them, to growing a multiple shop chain.
Everything within the link below.
So check it out in the link below.
Otherwise, I really hope you enjoyed this video.
Smash the like button.
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