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.

Bob's back — and the industry just proved him right. Pizza Hut sold for $2.7 billion. We saw it coming.

#PillarMindset #RestaurantBusiness #QSR #RestaurantIndustry #Franchising #FoodAndPeople #RestaurantOperator #TexasRestaurant

In this episode of Pillar Mindset, Bob Lozano sits down with John Zertuche for a no-filter industry rant. The QSR world is splitting into winners and losers — and the line between them isn't product quality or location. It's whether operators understand what's actually driving traffic right now. Bob breaks down why third-party delivery is eating your margins (15–30% on every order), why value wars don't work the way they used to, what "interest marketing" is and why Raising Cane's and Dave's Hot Chicken are crushing it because of Drake and Post Malone, and why doing nothing is the riskiest move in the room. He also pulls back the curtain on foodandpeople.ai — F&P's new tool for rebuilding restaurant operations systems using AI. This is the comeback episode. And it hits different when the predictions start coming true.

CHAPTERS 0:00 - Welcome Back to Pillar Mindset 2:00 - Top QSR Headlines: Flat Traffic, Disciplined Operators Winning 4:30 - The Pizza Hut $2.7 Billion Sale — We Called This 8:00 - Why Legacy Brands Are in Trouble 11:00 - The Digital Sales Shift Nobody Is Talking About Honestly 16:00 - The 15–30% Delivery Tax Killing Your Margins 20:00 - Is Convenience Actually Sustainable? 23:00 - Value Wars Are Back (But Price Doesn't Hit Like It Used To) 28:00 - Influence Marketing vs. Interest Marketing — The Difference 32:00 - Drake, Post Malone & the New Rules of QSR Marketing 36:00 - Who's Winning: Raising Cane's, Dave's Hot Chicken, Taco Bell 40:00 - The K-Economy: Big Winners, Big Losers, Nobody in the Middle 43:00 - Money, Operators, Leadership — The Three-Way Squeeze 46:00 - Introducing foodandpeople.ai 49:00 - Why Workplace Culture Is the Last Bulletproof Move 52:00 - The Dutch Bros Story That Stopped Bob Cold 54:00 - Independent Restaurants: The Exit Problem Nobody Discusses 58:00 - Think Big, Operate Small 61:00 - Closing: Double Down. Take Action. Don't Do Nothing.

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we challenge mainstream narratives, help franchise owners and restaurant managers build better businesses through proven strategies and honest conversations.

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.

🔗 Learn more about what we're building with AI: foodandpeople.ai 🔗 Visit us: www.foodandpeople.com

Most people think buying a franchise guarantees success. They're wrong — and two operators who've lived both sides of the coin are here to prove it.

#PillarMindset #FranchisingTruth #RestaurantBusiness #Franchising #SmallBusiness #TexasBusiness #RioGrandeValley

In this episode of Pillar Mindset, Bob Lozano sits down at the Playbook Conference in Edinburg, TX alongside Milliy Chirino — founder of Mili's Boutique and the first Latina-owned franchise to come out of the Rio Grande Valley. Together they break down both sides of franchising: what it means to buy into a proven system versus bootstrapping your own brand from the ground up. They get into the hidden costs most operators never see coming, why revenue is vanity but profit is sanity, what "scaling with intention" actually looks like in practice, and why real operators will always outlast finance guys who think a franchise is a passive investment. This is the real conversation from the stage — no filters, no fluff.

CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 1:09 - Mili's Story: From Her House to a Franchise 3:19 - Bob's Story: 2nd Generation and the DQ Legacy 6:09 - What F&P Stands For (Food and People) 7:10 - When Did You Know Your Brand Was Scalable? 9:26 - The First Franchise Out of the Rio Grande Valley 11:20 - Bob's Chapter: Learning the Hard Way 13:54 - The #1 Mistake: Scaling Without Intention 15:24 - Revenue Is Vanity. Profit Is Sanity. 15:53 - Hidden Costs Nobody Talks About 18:52 - This Is a Penny Business 19:02 - You Have to Be Present: The Real Time Commitment 20:32 - Smell Like Your Flock 21:36 - What It Actually Takes to Be a Good Franchisee 24:29 - There's No Perfect Recipe for Success 25:36 - Franchising Is NOT Passive Income 25:45 - Closing: Real Operators vs. Finance Guys

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we challenge mainstream narratives, help franchise owners and restaurant managers build better businesses through proven strategies and honest conversations.

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.

#PillarMindset #RestaurantBusiness #TexasRestaurantAssociation

In this episode of Pillar Mindset, Bob, Marcus, and John go deeper on the TRA conversation. We cover hospitality as a superpower, COVID's impact on the industry, why childcare now costs more than college, why In-N-Out's owner left California, swipe fees and the Visa-Mastercard monopoly, and why so many single unit operators still won't join. We also get into the burger flipper stigma, the influence vs interest marketing shift, and what TRA membership actually does for every operator in Texas, member or not.

CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 5:17 - Marcus's Path to the Board 7:17 - Hospitality Is a Superpower 10:38 - How COVID Changed Everything 12:53 - What $350 Actually Buys You 24:30 - The Childcare Reality 36:10 - Restaurants as a Stepping Stone 44:26 - Why In-N-Out's Owner Left California 59:36 - Swipe Fees and the 85% Monopoly 1:11:39 - How to Join TRA

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we challenge mainstream narratives, help franchise owners and restaurant managers build better businesses through proven strategies and honest conversations.

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. Life Currency breaks down what actually works in multi-unit operations, franchise growth, and building sustainable businesses in the restaurant industry.

Running a family restaurant business is one of the hardest things you can do. Most fail within the first generation. The ones that survive? They have pillars, not just plans. In this episode of Life Currency, I break down the three pillars that built F&P Group: leadership, capability, and non-negotiables. We talk about business succession, why most second-generation operators fail, family business dynamics that destroy relationships, and how to structure an operation that actually lasts. If you're working with family or planning to pass down your business, this is the framework you need. 0:00 - Intro 1:23 - Why Family Business Is Hard 2:23 - Trust Is the Foundation 4:27 - Authority Is Earned, Not Inherited 7:06 - The Power of Mentorship 11:36 - Get Outside Experience First 16:06 - Ownership vs Management 20:04 - Pay Matches Performance 24:30 - Balance Family and Non-Family Leaders 27:28 - Build an Advisory Board 30:08 - Succession Planning 32:17 - Transfer Control Gradually 34:15 - Let Family Choose Their Path 38:46 - Legal and Tax Structure 43:20 - Evolution and Legacy 48:04 - Revisit Your Strategy

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we challenge mainstream narratives, help franchise owners and restaurant managers build better businesses through proven strategies and honest conversations. LIKE this video if you're building a family business COMMENT your biggest family business challenge SUBSCRIBE for more episodes of Pillar Mindset About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. Coming from a family of franchise owners, he's a passionate entrepreneur who builds successful businesses and creates positive company cultures. Bob is dedicated to exceeding expectations and making a positive impact. Interested in starting, growing, or improving your work with multi-unit franchises? Learn more below.

💻 Watch now and start earning Life Currency 📚 Learn More: https://lifecurrencypodcast.com 👍 Follow Us On Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifecurrencypodcast 📸 Follow Us Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifecurrencypodcast/ 🎶 Follow Us TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lifecurrencypodcast 🎙️Follow Us on Amazon Podcast: https://amzn.to/3XCgUID 🎧Follow Us on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/41uBoEf

Subscribe to:

FOOD & PEOPLE https://facebook.com/WeAreFoodAndPeople https://instagram.com/wearefoodandpeople https://tiktok.com/@wearefoodandpeople https://linkedin.com/company/wearefoodandpeople

F&P BRANDS https://facebook.com/DQRGV https://instagram.com/fandpbrands/ https://tiktok.com/@fandpbrands

BOB LOZANO https://instagram.com/bobl_fpg/ https://www.facebook.com/BobL.FPG Produced by F&P Media *The insights and opinions shared on Pillar Mindset are based on F&P Media's years of restaurant industry experience and are intended for informational and educational purposes only. They do not constitute professional business, financial, or legal advice. Every restaurant operation is unique, consult with qualified professionals before making business decisions. Results may vary based on your specific circumstances.

We spent over $6,000 on sealed Burger King Pokémon Gold Card boxes from 1999. Midlife crisis or genius QSR move? This is about pop culture as a business multiplier: how scarcity, nostalgia, and cultural relevance drive traffic and build brands in the restaurant industry. In this episode of Pillar Mindset, I break down why pop culture matters in restaurants, how Burger King leveraged Pokémon to create collectible scarcity in 1999, and what the Goldin Auction (featuring Logan Paul's $16.5M Pikachu Illustrator card) teaches us about marketing, influence, and brand building. From Travis Scott x McDonald's to Taco Bell x Doritos, pop culture collaborations are traffic multipliers, and restaurants that ignore this are leaving money on the table. 0:00 - Intro 2:40 - Pillar Mindset vs Life Currency 8:20 - The $16.5M Pikachu Card 12:15 - Why We Bought $6K in Pokémon 18:45 - The 5 Steps of Scaling 26:15 - The Restaurant Game Is Changing 31:50 - Conference Season Updates

Welcome to Pillar Mindset, where we challenge mainstream narratives, help franchise owners and restaurant managers build better businesses through proven strategies and honest conversations. LIKE this video if you're rethinking the food truck dream COMMENT your biggest food truck challenge SUBSCRIBE for more episodes of Pillar Mindset About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. Coming from a family of franchise owners, he's a passionate entrepreneur who builds successful businesses and creates positive company cultures. Bob is dedicated to exceeding expectations and making a positive impact. Interested in starting, growing, or improving your work with multi-unit franchises? Learn more below.

💻 Watch now and start earning Life Currency 📚 Learn More: https://lifecurrencypodcast.com 👍 Follow Us On Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifecurrencypodcast 📸 Follow Us Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifecurrencypodcast/ 🎶 Follow Us TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lifecurrencypodcast 🎙️Follow Us on Amazon Podcast: https://amzn.to/3XCgUID 🎧Follow Us on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/41uBoEf

Subscribe to:

FOOD & PEOPLE https://facebook.com/WeAreFoodAndPeople https://instagram.com/wearefoodandpeople https://tiktok.com/@wearefoodandpeople https://linkedin.com/company/wearefoodandpeople

F&P BRANDS https://facebook.com/DQRGV https://instagram.com/fandpbrands/ https://tiktok.com/@fandpbrands

BOB LOZANO https://instagram.com/bobl_fpg/ https://www.facebook.com/BobL.FPG Produced by F&P Media *The insights and opinions shared on Pillar Mindset are based on F&P Media's years of restaurant industry experience and are intended for informational and educational purposes only. They do not constitute professional business, financial, or legal advice. Every restaurant operation is unique, consult with qualified professionals before making business decisions. Results may vary based on your specific circumstances.