Jim Roberts is MRCO’s new finance guy. Though he’s only been our Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since May, he’s already visited plenty of our Taco Bells in middle Tennessee and beyond. Georgia, get ready, he plans to see you in August!
Jim enjoys being at the restaurants — after all, part of the number crunching is about operations, and assessing the condition and visibility of our facilities. Being on site allows Jim and his team to see how each kitchen is set up and learn the specifics like how many steps there are between the kitchen and fryer, for example (which affects labor metrics).
MORE RESTAURANTS = MORE MATH
Jim is excited to be part of the MRCO family! Take a look at what he shared on LinkedIn: “[MRCO’s] track record of excellence in employee consideration coupled with impressive restaurant growth is nothing short of amazing. I’m excited to be a part of it and help take it to new heights.”
So what excites him most? The scale of our operations! Jim comes to us from Philadelphia-based Iron Hill Brewery, which he describes as “polished casual” at just a fourth of our size. He shares that places like Iron Hill were trying to get a piece of the brunch business while “Taco Bell is dominating the late nights.”
“The sheer volume, the amount of tickets is just incredible,” he says of MRCO. “We’re operating with 85 stores and the sales continue to be positive. With that, I’m able to do a lot more mathematical analysis.”
Financial planning and analysis is Jim’s jam for sure, but with a twist. He’s used to putting out fires and working with companies that don’t have proper reporting in place. Yet MRCO is sitting pretty with positive sales and growth, so why us?
NEXT GEN PLANNING
Jim was pursued by a headhunter and hadn’t been looking for a new position. He’d only been with Iron Hill for a mere seven months! But the recruiter was persistent, so Jim agreed to an interview.
He first met with MRCO Partners Imaan Ferdowsi and Shareef Aminmadani and says they just clicked right away. But Jim was more of a “turnaround CFO,” someone who comes in to help remedy financial problems. He couldn’t help but wonder what the appeal was.
“When we first met with Jim, the company was in great shape,” says Shareef Aminmadani. “Sales were strong, and our operations were solid, so nothing needed to be fixed. We were looking for someone with an analytical approach to take our financial strategies to the next level and support the next generation’s growth plans.”
LOOKING AHEAD
So here he is! The minute Jim arrived at MRCO, he hit the ground running. His priorities include:
- Fine tuning the budget;
- Streamlining financial reporting through automation;
- Developing a facilities “site score” for each location; and
- Helping MRCO develop its own reporting system.
“I want to marry operations metrics with financial metrics.”
-Jim Roberts, CFO
Please join us in welcoming Jim to the team. May we continue to grow and give you plenty of numbers to play with!