Speaker 1: Welcome the Chopping It Up. I'm your host, Mike Hamon,
Speaker 1: the senior Restaurant and Food Service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Speaker 1: Our research and that of bi's five hundred analysts across
Speaker 1: the globe can be found exclusively on the Bloomberg terminal.
Speaker 1: Today we're joined by Nicholas Boudet, the Chief Operating Officer
Speaker 1: of International for Dairy Queen. Thanks for doing us, Nicholas.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Michael, it's great to be on your podcast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been looking forward to this. You've worked for
Speaker 1: some great brands. Please tell me a little bit about
Speaker 1: your career journey and what attracted you to Dairy Queen.
Speaker 2: Oh. Yeah, Look, I started in the food space back
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight. I joined Young Brands as
Speaker 2: the chief development officer for KFC Pizza, Taco Bell and
Speaker 2: Long Good Silvers and ANW Filatin America and the Caribbean.
Speaker 2: And then that took me to Taco Bell domestically as
Speaker 2: the VP of Development and head a franchising, which later
Speaker 2: turned into the Chief Development Officer for Taco Bell, And
Speaker 2: after that joined a privately held company called Focus Brands
Speaker 2: owned by war Capital as the president of International for
Speaker 2: brands such as Cinnabon, Annie and Mos the licensee of
Speaker 2: Seattle's Best Coffee company and see others. Then joined Wingstop
Speaker 2: based in Dallas, and then from Wingstop, I have the
Speaker 2: pleasure to have joined Dairy Queen back in September twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. So that's the background in a nutshell. And
Speaker 2: prior to joining the food space, I was in the
Speaker 2: hospitality world, working with brands such as A Club met
Speaker 2: but also star with hotels and resorts. So that's my
Speaker 2: background in a nutshell.
Speaker 1: Michael, what was it about Dairy Queen that drew.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Darry Queen is an iconic brand. It's been in
Speaker 2: the business for you know this year, for eighty five years,
Speaker 2: so there's a huge raw being part of such a
Speaker 2: se brand. But also the fact that Dairy Queen is
Speaker 2: very well and solid established biness around the world. So
Speaker 2: those are the I would say, the prime primary driver
Speaker 2: as to why I joined the company.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was surprised to find out how big Dairy
Speaker 1: Queen is overseas, how big is the international footprint and
Speaker 1: how many countries do you operate in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now your surprise was like mine as well before
Speaker 2: I join. So look dairy Queen is exclosed to a
Speaker 2: six point eight billion dollar brand measured by system sales.
Speaker 2: We have close tour's not more than seven seven hundred
Speaker 2: stores operating in twenty one market, twenty of which are international.
Speaker 2: So we have performed exceptionally well globally, you know, during
Speaker 2: the last years, during and since COVID. In fact, our
Speaker 2: market chair outside of the US has consistently growth as
Speaker 2: we have on an average grown our net international football
Speaker 2: close to six percent year of a year over the
Speaker 2: last five years. So you know what's remarking about about
Speaker 2: Derrick Quein. It's his legacy as I was saying before,
Speaker 2: but also the logevity of the brand. As I said,
Speaker 2: we are about to turn a massive milestone in June
Speaker 2: this year or eighty five year, which is pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: But going back to international, so look, we have been
Speaker 2: doing business internationally over the last seventy two years. In fact,
Speaker 2: we first launched out out of the US in Canada
Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty three. So there's a lot there's a
Speaker 2: lot of market and institutional knowledge that the brand has
Speaker 2: been leveraging and continue to leverage across the globe. Our
Speaker 2: second international market, which is still operating today is Panama
Speaker 2: and Panama we've been in operation there for the last
Speaker 2: sixty six years, and then Mexico for fifty four years,
Speaker 2: so a really strong presence in an actually and then
Speaker 2: very early owned as a pioneer. The other thing, which
Speaker 2: I know we're going to talk about a little bit more,
Speaker 2: is our China business. It's been a you know, uh
Speaker 2: impressive that we've been there close to thirty three years
Speaker 2: and we Insact studied in nineteen ninety two, which is
Speaker 2: slightly more than six years after Kiffy started there as well,
Speaker 2: So pretty impressive footprint. Yeah, very very impressive.
Speaker 1: That's a it's been a long time to be operating internationally.
Speaker 1: Is Dry Queen one hundred percent franchise?
Speaker 2: Overseas it is insict tiah. Our international business is hundred
Speaker 2: percent franchise. The only caveat to that is that we
Speaker 2: have two corporate stores there are based in Minneapolis next
Speaker 2: to our quarters. But yeah, overall, the the Insact ninety
Speaker 2: nine point nine percent is a franchise.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. So internationally, does the brand have different store layouts
Speaker 1: based on you know, the countries that they operate in
Speaker 1: and the particular sites that they occupy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. So look from a brand
Speaker 2: recognition standpoint, you will unmistakably recognize our iconics world logo
Speaker 2: wherever you go, and as well as our as our
Speaker 2: you know, key product, which is our self serve. Either.
Speaker 2: What we do is we adapt our restaurant design to
Speaker 2: the marketplace. And we do this because we want to
Speaker 2: keep the brand fresh and we want to keep the
Speaker 2: brand relevant to the consumer and in the marketplace that
Speaker 2: we find ourselves in. And I think China is a
Speaker 2: great example of that where we flex more there in
Speaker 2: terms of innovative and cuttage, cutting edge design to make
Speaker 2: sure that our brand is top of mind with our consumers,
Speaker 2: who uh we do. We give a lot of attention
Speaker 2: and credit to brand that stay current with with the trends.
Speaker 2: So we have a slightly different expression outside of the
Speaker 2: country when it comes to design but also layout. So
Speaker 2: another distation that we do as well is that we
Speaker 2: also to be more urban in terms of the development
Speaker 2: strategy versus the US, which which makes our asset base
Speaker 2: a little bit more of a destination versus what you
Speaker 2: would find to be more of a functional suburban type
Speaker 2: of design. So and then a good example of that
Speaker 2: is our adaptation of our newly launched the air Queen
Speaker 2: Blizzard and Burgers in China, which is our version of
Speaker 2: Derrek Derek Quin Grill and Shield in the US. A
Speaker 2: local partner there, one big, exactly one big in choosing
Speaker 2: a location in Shanghai that is the equivalent of or
Speaker 2: Times Square in New York with a beautiful brand building assets.
Speaker 2: And I also made a big statement about the brand itself,
Speaker 2: its origin, the minor maniacal focus on our product quality,
Speaker 2: and frankly the overall placeableness of the brand with fun
Speaker 2: and color, colorful seating package and urals. So yeah, so
Speaker 2: we do differ, but you will, as I said at
Speaker 2: the beginning, uh not be confused to recognize there Queen
Speaker 2: wherever you go?
Speaker 1: Got it? What percentage of your international stores offer food?
Speaker 2: So almost all of our state outside of the US
Speaker 2: is uh is and Canada Street, what I call treat
Speaker 2: is our you know, soft served venu and we have
Speaker 2: a few exceptions with few markets. As I say, Canada
Speaker 2: is clearly a grevalential market as well as Street, but
Speaker 2: also Bahrain, Catar and Kuwait and now China, and I'll
Speaker 2: expand more on China specifically which is a pretty recent
Speaker 2: news as well as far as the restaurant launch is concerned.
Speaker 2: So you know, depending on the provinces of the market
Speaker 2: that we're in, the mix between treat and food very
Speaker 2: but directionally is well bounced between between the two. In China,
Speaker 2: for example, of Blizzard and Burger, which is only based
Speaker 2: on three units so far, and we have, you know,
Speaker 2: fifty five percent food forty five percent treat.
Speaker 1: Got it. What are your largest international markets and which
Speaker 1: markets are growing the fastest for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, So largest by far is China is close
Speaker 2: to seventeen NDRED stores as of January, and it's also
Speaker 2: one of the I would say the fact that growing
Speaker 2: market in some ways, we do derive a lot of
Speaker 2: growth from that market specifically, and not only that, but
Speaker 2: also consistently over the last few years that I've been
Speaker 2: with the company. Is still a pretty impressive growth specifically
Speaker 2: based on the side, but when you look at the macros,
Speaker 2: obviously you could expect significant growth from that market. It
Speaker 2: tel great.
Speaker 1: Are you opening any new markets this year?
Speaker 2: So yes, potentially yes, And I say potentially because a
Speaker 2: lot of a lot of injuries on supply chain and
Speaker 2: as you know, there are a lot of movements these
Speaker 2: days around trade, and we're carefully monitoring the you know,
Speaker 2: the US China relationship, which which obviously influenced us and
Speaker 2: frankly see for our ability extend beyond mainline China, such
Speaker 2: as you know, places like Hong Kong and Macau's so
Speaker 2: those type of destination and market would be possible for
Speaker 2: us to enter in the very near future. But I
Speaker 2: can tell you that we've made significant progress also an
Speaker 2: our new market entry pipeline, and we have set sits
Speaker 2: on different markets such as you know India as an
Speaker 2: example of Saudi on which I'm going to go there
Speaker 2: and this weekend, but also UK, Frances, Spain and a
Speaker 2: few others in between. So a pretty robust pipeline in
Speaker 2: an act for the next eight years.
Speaker 1: Great, can you walk me through the process of deciding
Speaker 1: which new market you're going to open next?
Speaker 2: Yes, our process. Look, it really helps us turn our
Speaker 2: attention to markets where a few things where we believe
Speaker 2: we can grow the market share relatively rapidly, which implies
Speaker 2: a sizeable urban concentration, So we do pay attention to
Speaker 2: the organization of the market were getting get into. The
Speaker 2: second one is where there's a decent purchasing power parity
Speaker 2: from a consumer based in other words, can the consumerl
Speaker 2: for us? And then the third one is there a
Speaker 2: sizeable intermited service rest market, So do we have in
Speaker 2: some ways in other words, do we have to educate
Speaker 2: the market or the consumers or not? And ultimately the
Speaker 2: ability to find like minded franchises what we we see
Speaker 2: as potentially good brand builders, good operators, good developers, but
Speaker 2: also well capitalized. So when you run through these filters
Speaker 2: and from seventy countries that we're currently not in, the
Speaker 2: fuel eventually gives us, you know, a sixteen to twenty
Speaker 2: market which will racket stack depending on the attractiveness, the size,
Speaker 2: and whether they are concentric to an existing market or not,
Speaker 2: which is a big consideration for us on the supply
Speaker 2: chain standpoint, but also finding whether or not there are
Speaker 2: consumer similarities perspective which will be probably easier to get into.
Speaker 2: So without disclosing too much, I think you know I
Speaker 2: aliated earlier, but western Southern Europe our priority for US,
Speaker 2: North Asia as well, Central Asia, the GCC yet larger,
Speaker 2: the greater GO countries and our few markets to South
Speaker 2: America are also coloring our attention, but I would say
Speaker 2: much further down the pipeline.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very well thought out a strategy which I love
Speaker 1: to hear. Yeah, I love to hear. It's not just
Speaker 1: accepting whoever whoever wants.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no no. We try to stay
Speaker 2: away from that and another look. I mean I personally,
Speaker 2: you know, have been exposed to that type of a
Speaker 2: development strategy, which you know, it's great when you sign
Speaker 2: a deal, but probably painful to support and grow in scale.
Speaker 2: So no, we're very disciplined when it comes to deciding
Speaker 2: where and when and with w we are deciding to
Speaker 2: put Dere a queen on any given.
Speaker 1: Market, it's fantastic. I'd imagine some markets like the GCC,
Speaker 1: where it's hot pretty much year round, would help ice
Speaker 1: cream sales.
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, I mean you the common wisdom is you
Speaker 2: would think that weather influences ice cream consumption as all,
Speaker 2: and it does to something type, but not as much
Speaker 2: as one would think. So weather does play a role,
Speaker 2: but I think it's really about, you know, the the
Speaker 2: affordability of the product, the brand, uh you know, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, relative strength and anticipation from the consumer standpoint.
Speaker 2: So yeah, there's a plenty of other factors which I
Speaker 2: think are probably quite significant. Over the weather, it's help,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it does play a role.
Speaker 1: Nonetheless, Uh do you have any well known franchised partners
Speaker 1: that are operating maybe other brands, other US brand we do.
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're well known, but they're pretty
Speaker 2: large and sophisticated and extremely well capitalized. And above all,
Speaker 2: and this is an important poet for US, is that
Speaker 2: they are extremely dedicated to the brand and and what
Speaker 2: I call them brand builder is not just necessarily by
Speaker 2: building restaurant, but but contributing to make the brand what
Speaker 2: it is today. So a couple of a couple of
Speaker 2: franchise group comes into mind. One is CFB CHINAUS with
Speaker 2: business in In in China, is all master franchise in
Speaker 2: uh In, a part of China and backed by a
Speaker 2: large private withion called Fountain Investors. Very good people, super
Speaker 2: long term, perspective minded individuals and very very a real
Speaker 2: pleasure to work with. The second one, which is probably
Speaker 2: known uh in In in Southeast Asia and and pretty
Speaker 2: much across the world because they're well diversified from a
Speaker 2: from a franchise group standpoint. It's the minor group based
Speaker 2: out of Talent also a very large publicly traded company,
Speaker 2: well diversified in a way where they they do have
Speaker 2: multiple other brands. They do own some brands, but also
Speaker 2: not just in the food space, and as well in
Speaker 2: the hospitality. They've just recently acquired actually at the very
Speaker 2: onset of Covid, a huge hotel chain called n H
Speaker 2: and so, yeah, very very sophisticated, super super dedicated to
Speaker 2: the brand and insactly being with us for a very
Speaker 2: long time. So we have very privileged and a good
Speaker 2: relationship with with those two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so important to have good franchise partners.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: How do your sales shake out based on time? In
Speaker 1: the time of day?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so look from a treat perspective, we do most
Speaker 2: of our trade in the afternoon, uh, in the evening
Speaker 2: and late evening our restaurants, you know, except those who
Speaker 2: are doing breakfast. I mean, we have a quarter of
Speaker 2: ourselves or at lunch, you know, in the afternoon and
Speaker 2: and and and then in the evening. The any of
Speaker 2: the balance between the two uh, the to the to,
Speaker 2: these two day parts are split evenly. So yeah, so
Speaker 2: those are those are you know, day parts. The way
Speaker 2: they are being distributed.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned late evening. You're open pretty late in
Speaker 1: some in some markets.
Speaker 2: In some instances, yeah, sometimes we're actually nearing midnight or
Speaker 2: in some instances, depending on the location, you know, you
Speaker 2: could actually push.
Speaker 1: Up to to am Okay, col, I'm not sure you know.
Speaker 1: The Dairy Queen I frequent is at the Jersey Shore.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what time they're I don't know sure
Speaker 1: what time they're open, so I'm trying not to eat
Speaker 1: ice cream too late.
Speaker 2: So I'm good to you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we visit every summer. Man, It's great. My
Speaker 1: mom loves Dairy Queen. So does your menu vary by country?
Speaker 2: Yes and no. It is consistently built around our iconic
Speaker 2: suff serve and our cold and a blizzard and our
Speaker 2: cakes on the street side, but it does take on
Speaker 2: a localized approach when it comes to flavors and combination
Speaker 2: of flavors or even Brent tie in with regional conflictionary brands.
Speaker 2: So from a food standpoint, our categories are very similar,
Speaker 2: but some of the bills, as an example of our burgers,
Speaker 2: are slightly different. So yeah, but I would say it
Speaker 2: does vary from a flavor standpoint.
Speaker 1: And you know, in the fourth quarter, you know, we
Speaker 1: had expected better results in the Middle East as we
Speaker 1: were lapping the start of the Israel Maas war. But
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we were kind of like pleasantly surprised,
Speaker 1: I guess at the rate of improvement for some of
Speaker 1: the companies we cover, McDonald's being one. Can you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about how sales.
Speaker 2: Are doing in the Middle East, Well, you know, ourselves
Speaker 2: have been pretty consistent up until you know the vess
Speaker 2: that you mentioned the October seventh last year, and then,
Speaker 2: like many other brands, were affected by the overall region turnmoil.
Speaker 2: But we still the course and frankly ourselves have been
Speaker 2: growing as well as our footprint. In fact, as I
Speaker 2: was saying earlier, I think I'm flying to Saudi to
Speaker 2: this week to to meet potential interesting parties, which is
Speaker 2: pretty exciting. So we do have a lot of hope
Speaker 2: and a lot of expectation in that region, and I
Speaker 2: hope to see more dairy Queen good stuff.
Speaker 1: And are you seeing any improvement in China?
Speaker 2: So the market, you know, has had its challenges from
Speaker 2: a domestic demand standpoint. We fell the consumer at large
Speaker 2: less optimistic over the last few months of the last
Speaker 2: twelve months I would say in general, which was you know,
Speaker 2: somehow reflected in their in their spending. So we didn't
Speaker 2: ever react by by leaning heavily on our value offering
Speaker 2: to keep our transactions flowing and then growing. But so yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's it's okay. I think the consumer overall is
Speaker 2: expected to be resilient and I'm hopeful that they will
Speaker 2: feel better about their country economic prospect. I know, franchise
Speaker 2: in the and bankers are so so we are too
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff, So what's your go to water?
Speaker 2: Well, I really like the mango sticky rice, which is
Speaker 2: usually coming from Thailand, but it's been adopted in China. Uh,
Speaker 2: the mango STICKI rise is a pretty interesting uh you
Speaker 2: know flavor which I really I really like color wise
Speaker 2: as well. There's one fault not for the faint arts,
Speaker 2: called the Durian, which is Southeast Asian fruit, which has
Speaker 2: a very uh I would say, special taste and smell,
Speaker 2: but it's more than a quiet taste. But I think
Speaker 2: it's worth trying.
Speaker 1: I have very cool you know, in the States. I'm
Speaker 1: more of a blizzard kind of guy that you know.
Speaker 1: I'll change the flavors based on my mood. But I
Speaker 1: love mango and sticky rice. Man, there's a very good
Speaker 1: mom and pop Thai restaurant. Oh yeah, and they have
Speaker 1: fantastic mango and sticky rice. I'm there when mango's in season.
Speaker 1: I'm there more frequently for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a big, big fruit in the in that
Speaker 2: part of the world, and it's usually seasonal fruits. So
Speaker 2: when when the season is up, I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: we go, we go again bus stars.
Speaker 1: Before very good. All right, thanks again, Nick, this is awesome.
Speaker 1: Where can our listeners go find their closest to us,
Speaker 1: Dairy Queen and what social media channel should we be
Speaker 1: following the chain on?
Speaker 2: Well, derekqueen dot com to begin with, but also or
Speaker 2: any any social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and and
Speaker 2: the and the likes. But yeah, I would say check
Speaker 2: us out. We'd love to have you o our restaurants.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. And I want to thank the audience for
Speaker 1: tuning in. If you like the discussion, please leave us
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Speaker 1: back soon for another episode of Chopping It Up.