We didn't set out to build 13 companies. We were just selling burgers and ice cream.

In this episode of Pillar Mindset, Bob Lozano and John Zertuche break down the full origin story of F&P Group — from being "the DQ team" for decades to building one of the most interesting hospitality-led enterprise structures in the restaurant industry.

Bob walks through every pivot: why F&P Brands started as a P&L separation strategy (not a marketing play), how real estate became a margin engine through FMP Development, why they brought media in-house when the fragmented digital marketing world couldn't keep up, and why the whole ecosystem now rolls up under one simple belief — hospitality has a space in every industry.

Plus: the "sweat the assets" philosophy, the base/ball/curl DQ analogy that explains the whole business in 30 seconds, why you should build the capability before you start the LLC, why tech companies giving you "free" equipment aren't a charity, and the bedroom-to-kitchen analogy that ties it all together.

If you're a franchisor, realtor, or banker — Bob wants to hear from you. This episode is why.

#PillarMindset #RestaurantBusiness #FoodAndPeople #FranchiseBusiness #RestaurantEntrepreneur #BobLozano #JohnZertuche #QSR #HospitalityLeadership #DataOwnership #FMPGroup #RestaurantFranchise #BuildingABusiness

CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 0:39 - Welcome & Sponsor: First Bites / Profine Coffee 1:14 - Why We're Building This Way 1:22 - From the DQ Team to F&P Group 2:49 - "What Are We Good At?" — Food and People 3:54 - FMP Brands: Strategy, Not Marketing 6:21 - Becoming a Management Company 7:53 - Capability First, Companies Second 12:30 - Sweat All the Assets 14:00 - Real Estate as a Margin Engine 17:51 - "Don't Chase the LLC. Build the Capability." 22:00 - How F&P Media Started 24:42 - Companies Are Breathing Entities 30:59 - Base, Ball, and Curl 33:25 - Hospitality Has a Space in Every Industry 37:40 - Managing Beyond Restaurants 40:15 - Focus on Value, Not Revenue 46:00 - Capabilities Create Advantage — Ecosystem Creates Longevity 50:18 - "They're Taking Your Data. And It's Not Free." 52:41 - The Flywheel — One Continuous Loop 53:51 - The Bedroom-to-Kitchen Analogy 55:15 - Outro

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we share real strategies, real data, and honest conversations that help restaurant operators and business owners build better companies.

About Bob Lozano: Bob runs F&P Group — 40+ restaurant locations, digital marketing, and real estate across Texas. He's built teams, scaled brands, and helped operators go from chaos to systems. Pillar Mindset breaks down what actually works in multi-unit operations, franchise growth, and building sustainable businesses in the restaurant industry.

About John: VP of AI at F&P Group. Background in game design and software. Now leads AI implementation across the company.

Most evaluations are built wrong. Here's what to do instead.

In this episode of Pillar Mindset, Bob Lozano and John Zertuche tear apart everything you thought you knew about team evaluations — and rebuild it from scratch.

It starts with hiring. If evaluations hurt, it's probably a hiring problem. Bob walks through Patrick Lencioni's Hungry, Humble, Smart framework for identifying the ideal team player, the mutual hiring philosophy ("you hire us, we hire you"), and why great evaluations only work when the foundation is solid.

Then: 360 Evaluations, painting the career path, creative pay structures (including Phantom Equity and profit share), performance-based vs. time-based reviews, rank and yank, confidence vs. control, the capability model and what Bob calls "the slide," and what it actually means when he says "the harder you work, the richer I get."

Plus: Leaders Create Other Leaders (John C. Maxwell), a tribute to their German mentor Kai (RIP), and why growth is purposeful — but not the most important thing.

#PillarMindset #RestaurantLeadership #TeamEvaluations #PerformanceReview #HiringRestaurant #FoodAndPeople #BobLozano #JohnZertuche #QSR #RestaurantManagement #LeadershipDevelopment #HungryHumbleSmart #360Evaluation

CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 0:26 - Welcome: Evaluations & Career Paths 1:05 - Evaluations ≠ Report Card 3:27 - It Starts with Hiring 5:14 - Hungry, Humble, Smart (Patrick Lencioni) 9:03 - "You Hire Us, We Hire You" 11:51 - "The Harder You Work, the Richer I Get" 15:34 - 360 Evaluations 20:39 - Paint the Career Path 23:01 - "Don't Ask for a Raise — Ask How to Provide More Value" 28:32 - Creative Pay Structures 31:08 - Phantom Equity 33:16 - Performance-Based vs. Time-Based Evaluations 35:51 - Rank and Yank / Vitality Curve 37:36 - Feedback Is Not Punishment 38:32 - Confidence vs. Control 40:51 - The Capability Model & The Slide 44:10 - Leaders Create Other Leaders 45:37 - Lessons from Kai 47:17 - Look Beyond Performance 52:46 - Closing: Hire Right, Show the Path, Measure Growth 55:14 - Outro

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we share real strategies, real data, and honest conversations that help restaurant operators and business owners build better companies.

About Bob Lozano: Bob runs F&P Group — 40+ restaurant locations, digital marketing, and real estate across Texas. He's built teams, scaled brands, and helped operators go from chaos to systems. Pillar Mindset breaks down what actually works in multi-unit operations, franchise growth, and building sustainable businesses in the restaurant industry.

About John: VP of AI at F&P Group. Background in game design and software. Now leads AI implementation across the company.

Forget what you've been told about AI.

Since 2023, over 71,000 jobs have been publicly attributed to companies firing people to replace them with AI. Amazon. Microsoft. Salesforce. IBM. Duolingo. HP. Accenture. Most of those same companies are now rehiring the people they let go.

In this episode of Pillar Mindset, Bob Lozano and John Zertuche break down why — and what it actually means for every restaurant operator and business owner watching.

Bob shares two foundational frameworks he's used for decades to grow F&P: Finders, Minders & Grinders (from David Meister's "Managing the Professional Service Firm") and Working IN vs. ON the Business. Then he walks through exactly how AI is supercharging both frameworks at F&P right now — including AI agents running 24/7 and a daily "brain health" text Bob gets every morning from their systems.

He also gets personal. Before any of the business strategy, Bob shares why Miracle Treat Day on July 30th hits differently this year — and how his newborn son Leonardo's stay in the NICU at Driscoll Children's Hospital brought everything full circle.

Plus: Elon Musk's surprising #1 leadership mistake, the Mark Cuban question every company needs to answer right now, and the night Bob ran out of breath trying to show his family ChatGPT.

#PillarMindset #AIRestaurant #ArtificialIntelligence #RestaurantBusiness #BusinessGrowth #FinderMindersGrinders #FoodAndPeople #LeadershipLessons #ElonMusk #MarkCuban #ChatGPT #QSR #RestaurantOps

CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 0:40 - Giving Back: F&P's Non-Negotiable 1:12 - Miracle Treat Day — July 30th at Dairy Queen 2:24 - Life Currency Podcast Announcement (July 23rd) 4:57 - Leonardo & the NICU: A Full Circle Moment 8:13 - Today's Topic: AI + Two Powerful Frameworks 9:35 - Framework #1: Finders, Minders & Grinders 13:01 - How AI Maps to Finding, Minding & Grinding 17:14 - The Night ChatGPT Launched — Bob's Origin Story 21:03 - Framework #2: Working IN vs. ON the Business 26:16 - AI Agents Running 24/7 — What "Brain Health" Looks Like 32:18 - The 3 Questions to Ask When Working ON Your Business 35:34 - What F&P Is Actually Building at foodandpeople.ai 37:11 - AI Grinding for You: Audits, Deposits & Reconciliations 40:52 - Replace vs. Empower — The Two Sides of AI 41:18 - The Data: 71,000 Jobs Lost Since 2023 41:46 - Ford, Amazon, Microsoft & the Rehiring Wave 46:24 - Elon Musk's Biggest Leadership Mistake 51:03 - Mark Cuban: Rebuild Now or Get Left Behind 52:32 - Closing & foodandpeople.ai

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we share real strategies, real data, and honest conversations that help restaurant operators and business owners build better companies.

About Bob Lozano: Bob runs F&P Group — 40+ restaurant locations, digital marketing, and real estate across Texas. He's built teams, scaled brands, and helped operators go from chaos to systems. Pillar Mindset breaks down what actually works in multi-unit operations, franchise growth, and building sustainable businesses in the restaurant industry.

About John: VP of AI at F&P Group. Background in game design and software. Now leads AI implementation across the company.