What are Areas’ priorities for 2023?
Carlos: I think there are four key areas where we really need to make major headway in the coming year and continue to build on them in future years.
- People. We have to focus on our people which means hiring the best talent, giving them the best training possible, building on our “Being of Service” culture, and delivering the best experience for our guests, clients, and business partners. We want to create an environment where people want to work, stay and build a career with our company.
- Planet. We need to be good stewards of our environment in whatever we do, whether it’s operationally, packaging or recycling. This has to become part of our DNA in how we run our business. I don’t think we are doing that today; it’s too often an afterthought. We need to reduce waste by recycling, reduce food overproduction, improve energy efficiency, roll out green packaging and achieve LEED certification with all new builds and remodels.
- Principles. We also need to perfect the basics better than anyone else in the industry. Our goal is to be a culinary company, so we have to act and behave like a culinary company and execute everything we do at a very high level. This goes back to the hiring process. I don’t want to hire someone just because they know the airport food and beverage business. I want to hire someone who can run a restaurant or retail store better than anyone else. Those are the type of people we need in our organization.
An experienced restaurateur or retailer is going to figure out how to read our contracts or understand what our lease obligations are, but they have to know how to run a restaurant or store, how to take care of our customers, and how to train and develop our people to execute the basics better than anyone else. We are getting there but we’re not quite there yet. - Profits. We also have to generate a profit and make money; it will ensure our future growth. When we drive revenue, we drive profitability and that adds value to our shareholders. They in turn provide us with the money to reinvest into the business so we can grow the company. This happens when we are executing at a very high level operationally.
These are things that we have to concentrate on this year and into the future. Maybe next year we modify our goals because we’ve already achieved some of them and need to tackle a new challenge or we need to further raise the bar.
What are your growth expectations over the next couple of years?
Carlos: Our goal is to double the size of our company by 2025 or 2026 and we will get there in two ways: We have to win our fair share of RFPs; there is a lot of business coming out over the next two or three years. We will also keep our eyes open for attractive mergers and/or acquisitions that make sense and further accelerates our growth. Our hope is that as we grow our company we provide interesting career opportunities for everyone.
It is important to recognize that we have the support and commitment of our corporate team in Spain and our shareholders. They as we do, view the US as a country with great growth potential and they are willing to provide the capital and resources for us to expand.
Why do you believe we are well-positioned to expand our business in the US?
Carlos: I think because we are better at the partnership piece than our competitors. We are nimble and are building a reputation for doing what we say we will do and delivering on that. And, if that doesn’t happen for whatever reason, we will take ownership of the situation and make it right. We never start a conversation with our clients with “no.” That’s refreshing for our clients and builds trust.
There is also a level of flexibility with us where we can be innovative and creative to do things differently. We are not hamstrung by stringent mindsets or rigid procedures. Having a European pedigree helps us as well. That is appealing because we operate in several different countries, and have the wherewithal to bring unique concepts, brands, or ideologies to the table.
Also, finalizing the Project Apollo CrunchTIme rollout is a key component of how we will drive operational excellence and increase profitability. We will complete the P2P [procure to pay] rollout this March and then roll out the labor module scheduler program within CrunchTime between now and the end of this fiscal year.
What are the biggest challenges that keep you up at night?
Carlos: Getting the right talent on the team. We have a lot of good people in our organization, but we need more people who are like-minded and as passionate as we are about our people, customers, and clients.
Recruiting and hiring the right and best talent has always been and continues to be challenging as it is for other companies. We want to retain the best talent, keep them for the long term, compensate them fairly, and put together good benefits, salary, and bonus programs so people are incentivized to stay, grow and create a career with us.
I also think we can do a better job at running our operations on a daily basis and I will continue to push and challenge us to do better.
Increased costs across the board have prompted concerns. It has gotten very expensive to do business. Construction costs continue to go up; RFPs are very competitive, our margins are thinner, but that is a motivator for us to operate more cost-effectively, and drive revenue and profitability. We have to find ways to continue to grow and be able to afford to offset higher costs. This circles back to People, Planet, Principles and Profits, and taking care of our customers and clients.
There have been some tweaks to our senior leadership team. Please explain the changes and why they were made.
Carlos: I have asked Rich Schneider to take on the Chief Development Officer role for our company. We were looking externally to recruit for this role but after going through that process I felt the best person for the job was already on the team and doing the work already.
By moving Rich to CDO it positions us really well to grow and double in size. He has a unique skill set you don’t typically find. He has an operating background, understands design, construction, brands, deal terms, and what it takes to win business in the airport environment. He also understands the political and ACDBE landscape so as we were going out to recruit someone to lead the BD team, it became clear to me that he’s the right person for the job.
We are also beefing up the business development team, not only with Rich taking the lead role, but we are looking to add another Director and Vice President to the team. That has been an ongoing process over the past several months.
With Rich transitioning over to BD, we are seeking our next operational leader and are currently in play to do that. We are looking to bring on board a Chief Operating Officer and have interviews underway. Our goal is to find that person who will take us to the next level from an operational perspective and continue to build on all the good work Rich and his team have been doing to make us a more competitive company.
We have an exciting year coming up. There are a lot of RFPs coming out within the next three to six months which amounts to big business and many other opportunities coming out over the next couple of years. I look forward to working with our incredible team to help bring our company to the next level and double our business, which I think is a very doable growth target.