Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Bandy.
Hi Jay, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in Louisville, KY and graduated from the University of Louisville in 1986. I’m single with one daughter that lives in Houston, TX. I currently live in Lake Clair where I’ve been for ten years.
After graduating from U of L, I moved to Atlanta where I took a job with BLIMPIE Subs and Salads where I began my career in food service. I moved a few times with them living in Birmingham, AL, Memphis, TN, Houston, TX and San Antonio, TX. During my tenure there I saw the chain grow from 100 to 2000 restaurants and learned quickly the different facets for the restaurant business including restaurant development, franchising, operations, supply chain, training, and marketing. It was an incredible opportunity for someone just out of college.
After BLIMPIE, I moved back to Atlanta and worked for RTM which at that time owned 700+ Arby’s franchises and several other restaurant concepts. When RTM sold in 2001, I went to work at McDonald’s Corporate and had the opportunity to work on the McCafe project and a number of other rollouts at McDonald’s up until I started Goliath Consulting Group in 2009.
At Goliath, I work with clients around Atlanta metro, the greater US and a few international companies.It was a vision early on in my career that I wanted to start my own consulting firm and help restaurants in the myriad of areas of the business I’ve been involved in over my corporate career.
I have a book that was published in 2023.
Keys to Being a Successful Restaurant Leader: A Guide to Skills and Behaviors Restaurant Managers Need to Succeed Paperback – June 16, 2023 on Amazon.
Hobbies fly fishing, hiking, cooking, working on classic BMWs
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting a restaurant consulting firm in 2009 was very challenging. The restaurant industry was in trouble along with the economy. We started out mostly doing marketing support for restaurants focused on growing sales. It was a lot of small contracts and long hours but we established a good foundation of clients to grow our business.
We’ve been impressed with Goliath Consulting Group, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We have three lines of business at Goliath Consulting: consulting, management contracts, and fraction contracts working in restaurant groups. We take a holistic approach to consulting looking at all the facets of the business. We’re not just focused on one area like menu development but consult to the entire business. In addition, we help develop three to four restaurants a year for clients.
When asked, we help ownership teams with overseeing day to day operations of restaurant. Restaurant managment contracts are generally with ownership that are investors versus hands on owners. We fill the gaps by overseeing all facets of the business.
The third part of our business is filling fractional positions within leadership teams. Currently I’m a COO of a restaurant group in Atlanta and oversee a group of restaurant in Greenville, SC.
Now in our 16th year, it’s our reputation in the industry that I’m most proud of. We work hard to provide the support our clients need to succeed. We support organizations like the Georgia Restaurant Association to fulfill our mission to be stewards of the restaurant industry and help promote the industry.
Our point of difference from many consulting firms is the breadth of our services and our connections within the industry.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Keep going. Charge forward. Learn from your mistakes. Determination is a key attribute of our success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goliathconsulting.com
- Instagram: @restaurantsjb
- LinkedIn: @jaybandy
- Other: https://jaybandy.com
