Guzman y Gomez founder shares ‘brand defining’ moments
Guzman y Gomez’s founder and co-CEO Steven Marks has opened up about some of the brand’s most defining moments, or as he described, “the moments I almost lost my job”.
Guzman y Gomez is one of the fast growing food brands in the world. Speaking at the AANA Reset conference in Sydney on Thursday, Marks shared the Mexican restaurant’s journey from its humble Newtown, Sydney beginnings in 2006, to its global success in recent years.
In it’s first week, the business made $11,000. Now, just shy of two decades later, it is expected to make over $1 billion in revenue across its 245 restaurants globally.
Marks told the 450-strong crowd that throughout its nearly 20-year life, Guzman y Gomez had “reinvented” fast food with bold decisions and marketing tactics.
Steven Marks
“I call these brand defining moments, but I also call them the moments that I almost lost my job,” he said. “These are real stories where I almost got kicked out of my own business.”
The first such moment was when the chain moved to only selling 100% free range chicken. Now, Guzman y Gomez is the biggest buyer of free range chicken in the country outside supermarkets.
While making the switch from barn raised to free range was expensive — over $4 million — he said it was a good investment.
“It’s how you define brand. You’ve got to stand for something,” Marks said. “As a founder, a businessman, I stand for the belief in serving ethical food, and making sure that’s what we’ll get, really changed things.”
That belief continued in 2015, when Marks opened Guzman y Gomez’s first drive-thru restaurant in Nerang, Queensland. Despite his board’s requirement to sell french fries, the company continued with its ethos of “real food”: no preservatives, unnecessary additives, colours, or flavours.
“That’s behind success,” he said. “As a food company, you have a social obligation to serve real food.”
Steven Marks
The real food push led to Guzman y Gomez’s brand slogan, ‘Clean Is The New Healthy’.
He said that building a brand is difficult in Australia, unlike other markets such as the US where he grew up.
“There’s so much Mexican food in America, there’s so much crap in America. The one thing about Australia is … there’s only 25 million people, it’s hard to build a brand,” he said. “In the US, it has such a large population that it supports mediocrity.
“That’s why I love building GYG here in Australia … If the revenue’s moving, that means the food is right, our team is engaged, and we’re nailing that guest experience, and that’s what this business is all about.”
The most recent brand defining moment for Marks was when Guzman y Gomez listed on the ASX last June.
“It was the most successful listing of the year, and it’s about a $3 billion company today,” he said. “And we’re continuing to grow.”
Marks conceded that, despite the success, it had been a tough journey.
“It’s not for everyone, it never ever stops,” he said. “It’s highly rewarding, our culture is extremely strong … but it’s a relentless business to work for.”
GYG’s market cap is currently $3.3 billion.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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