Andrew K. Smith | Source | Managing Partner at Mercato Partners - Savory Fund

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Andrew K. Smith

Managing Partner at Mercato Partners - Savory Fund
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Andrew began his career as an entrepreneur at the age of 23 as a tech CEO. Between 1998 and 2009, he co-founded 3 tech companies and exited each of them via private and public exists. Since his first successful venture over two decades ago, Smith has raised over $520 million in funding, generated over $1.7B in sales and created over 32,000 jobs which remains his #1 focus. His passion for creating jobs and opportunities for as many as possible continues to be his main driver. In 2008, Andrew co-founded Four Foods Group, a multi-brand restaurant operations and investment company that built and operated 170 restaurants across the U.S. Four Foods surpassed $1.2B in food and beverage sales since inception. In 2017, FFG was named one of the fastest growing restaurant operations companies in the nation 2 years in a row by Restaurant Monitor.

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  • I grew up in Chicago and have always had an affinity for pizza. Despite the crowded fast casual pizza industry, I believe there is a large hole in the market for the nostalgic pizza experience I grew up on. When I met Brandon and Zane Hunt, who introduced me to Via 313, my eyes were opened to the amazing and creative Detroit-style pizza heritage. I knew I had to work with the Hunts and expand their dream to more cities across America. By combining all of our collective experience, we have an opportunity to lead out on this segment of Detroit-style pizza.

  • Thousands of restaurant brands have built winning concepts with a promising mix of culture, flavor profile, and momentum; however, the creativity and courage needed to launch a new restaurant is much different from the skill set required to scale a restaurant concept to dozens of locations in multiple state. Both capital and expertise are essential to create lasting value in the restaurant industry. Savory's unique approach is to 1) identify where consumers have "already picked" a winner through loyal patronage, to 2) provide capital to rapidly expand while preserving the brand's uniqueness and to 3) provide restaurant founders with a capable support team ready to go beyond advice and coaching - and actually do work 'on the business' while the founders continue to work 'in the business' and thereby ensure mutual success.