Operators Investing
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Lauded for his entrepreneurial prowess and investment acumen, Andrew is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Savory Fund. Under Andrew’s visionary leadership, Savory has grown to oversee assets exceeding $750 million. The fund’s track record boasts successful closures of Fund I and II at $100 million each in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Fund III launched in January 2024 and is a $200M fund.

Before his commendable journey with Savory, Andrew’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found three technology-centric enterprises between 1998 and 2008. All three ventures experienced prosperous exits, either through public or private acquisitions. A master of adaptability, he transitioned into the restaurant industry during a recessionary period, making significant strides by developing, acquiring, and operating over 475 restaurants across a dozen states since 2008. Cumulatively, these establishments have raked in sales north of $2.5 billion, offering employment opportunities to over 40,000 individuals.

In 2017, Andrew was conferred with the esteemed EY Entrepreneur of the Year® award, closely followed by honors like KPMG’s Quantum Award, BusinessQ’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and the coveted UV50 Triple Crown Award in 2018.

A family man at heart, Andrew has been happily married for 25 years to Shauna Smith. Together, they are proud parents of two boys and a wonderful daughter-in-law.

As CEO and co-founder of Savory, Shauna is an accomplished executive leader with more than 15 years of experience at the helm of Food & Beverage organizations. Shauna has been integral in developing, acquiring, and operating over 400 restaurants across a dozen states since 2008. Cumulatively, these establishments have raked in sales north of $2.5 billion, offering employment opportunities to over 40,000 individuals. Her primary focus is elevating operational efficiencies and accelerating revenue growth across the various brands in the Savory portfolio. With an operational depth supported by a 70-person value-add team, she directly supervises the senior leaders of each portfolio company to ensure both strategic and tactical objectives are met. This remarkable growth trajectory earned the firm multiple accolades, including back-to-back fast-growth awards from Restaurant Monitor, as well as eight appearances on Inc. Magazine’s prestigious Inc. 500 list — a testament to its rapid expansion and success.

Beyond her organizational achievements, Shauna herself has been the recipient of several distinguished industry awards. She was featured on the cover of Franchise Times in both November 2018 and May 2023 and was honored by Utah Business Magazine as one of the “30 Women to Watch” in 2019. Furthermore, she received the prestigious CXO of the Year award in 2020, and the CEO of the Year award in 2022 by Utah Business.

Originally hailing from Dothan, Alabama, Shauna currently makes her home in Utah with her family, husband of 25 years, Andrew Smith, and their two sons and daughter-in-law.

Tyler is President of the Savory Value-Add Platform. In this role, he leverages 23 years of experience in accounting and finance, capital structure advisory, development and implementation of infrastructure and controls, and strategic mergers and acquisitions to aid in leadership and investment strategies.

Prior to Savory, Tyler was the CFO of Four Foods Group, a restaurant investment and management company focused on the underserved lower-middle market in the food and beverage industry. Tyler assisted in developing the FFG platform, successfully integrating and growing five promising food concepts by implementing systems, assembling a best-in-class team, and raising over $75MM in capital for expansion. During his time at FFG, revenue grew from $6MM in 2010 to over $140M in 2017. He has a bachelor’s of accounting from BYU — where he also played football on scholarship.

Josh serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Savory Value-Add platform, performing as the curator of best practices as he oversees the diverse and extensive controls of the organization. His role as a solution architect enables building and optimizing technology to empower core restaurant operations and program communications. Josh boasts 20 years of experience in the restaurant, technology, and insurance industries. Josh joined Andrew Smith at Four Foods Group in 2009 as the second employee. He was a vital component of the success strategy from the early days — only to grow from one restaurant to 170 locations with 5000+ employees in 10 years. Prior to FFG, Josh was the Director of Client Services at AxisPointe Inc., where he led his team to year-over-year increases in customer satisfaction and sales generation.

Steven is significantly involved in new store development and strategic planning in behalf of the Savory portfolio companies. Steven joins the Savory team with 25+ years of experience in business transactions including the areas of real estate, asset-backed acquisitions, corporate law, and tax law. His clients have included Fortune 500 companies, real estate developers, investors, lenders, borrowers, financial institutions, and software companies. Steven holds a Master of Accountancy degree from Brigham Young University and a Juris Doctorate degree, magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University. In his spare time, Steven enjoys playing competitive tennis and coaching the Lone Peak High School boys and girls tennis teams. He also loves to spend time with his amazing wife (who is also a CPA) reading the beautifully poetic language of the Internal Revenue Code.

Jessica is a seasoned restaurant operator and developer of talent committed to producing results through innovation and process execution. At Savory, she has successfully managed and facilitated the opening of 100+ restaurants and counting. Jessica began her career at Best Buy, rising from cashier to general manager of the highest-volume location in the state of Utah. Of more than 100 locations, only 14 were run by women. Her move to the restaurant industry began with a job as district manager at Café Zuppa, which was founded in Utah. Four Foods Group then tapped her to build their leadership institute, and now hundreds of restaurant leaders have participated in the company’s training program. As a growth-focused, lifetime learner, she leads the creation of content, training and leadership education that enables the scaling of brands and is driven to build systems that simultaneously unleash the power of the individual and produce exceptional business results.

Alonso is focused on delivering outsized returns through expansion and replication strategies for Savory’s high-growth brands. He leads the strategic oversight of brand initiatives, brand campaigns, and implementation of consumer-facing systems that enhance the guest experience. During his career, he has specialized in taking fast casual and polished food and beverage concepts and scaling them into 50-unit+ powerhouses. He also serves as a board member for the fast-growing PINCHO, sits on the National Restaurant Association MEG’s steering committee, and is an advisory board member for Branded Hospitality Venture F&B Tech fund.

Taylor has performed diligence on hundreds of emerging food and beverage brands and advised multiple buy and sell-side transactions in the restaurant industry. Previously, Taylor served as Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at Four Foods Group, where he strategized for geographic expansion and new market penetration and was responsible for several supply chain enhancements to increase operating margins. Taylor received an MBA in Private Equity and Venture Finance at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, as well as a BS in Finance from BYU’s Marriott School of Management where he served as president of the Finance Society.

Prior to joining Savory, Matt was a Principal at Clarke Capital Partners and President of Brandless, a health and wellness platform promoting better-for-you consumer products. Before his experience in Private Equity, Matt ran iconic million-dollar and billion-dollar American Brands like Tylenol, Visine, Lactaid and others at Johnson & Johnson. He was also heavily involved in mergers and acquisitions for J&J, including the acquisition of the Zarbee’s Naturals brand, which he then led and subsequently more than doubled in less than a year and a half. Earlier in Matt’s career, he worked at Goldman Sachs in the asset management division, providing investment recommendations to their institutional clients. His background gives him a unique perspective that enables him to both identify and acquire valuable businesses, as well as drive top- and bottom-line growth to maximize investor returns. Matt received his MBA from BYU and graduated with honors as a Hawes Scholar and Student Body President. During his career, he lived in Pennsylvania and Connecticut before returning to Utah with his wife and their five beautiful children.

Rob is involved with every step of the investment and growth process — from discovering high-potential brands to then taking them through the life cycle of diligence, assessment, close and successful harvest. His background spans branded consumer goods, retail, restaurant & hospitality, manufacturing, and technology — both in the operational and private equity worlds. This combination of operating and investing experience allows him to bring a unique perspective to the Savory team and process. Prior to joining Savory, Rob spent five years with Sorenson Capital, a top buyout firm focused on technology, aerospace, and consumer goods, working with portfolio companies to drive operational improvements and prepare for liquidity events. He has served on the executive leadership teams of two emerging companies, leading one to a successful exit and the other to several years of double-digit growth. As an entrepreneur, he helped found an autism school and ran a search fund focused on pharmaceutical marketing companies.

Briana spent the majority of her career at Bennett Communications, a publishing and events company in Utah that produces a variety of magazines, custom projects, launch parties and awards banquets. Briana was managing editor of Utah Valley BusinessQ for 16 years, where she interviewed and chronicled Utah’s top business leaders and companies and reported on the news and trends of the market. Additionally, she was editor-in-chief of Utah Valley Bride, where she planned and produced an annual print magazine, daily online features, and built its Instagram community to 100k followers. Briana joined Savory in 2022, and has been instrumental in Savory’s PR strategy, communications, marketing efforts, and media relations.

Before Savory, Austin worked as an analyst at D.A. Davidson, a middle-market investment bank, where he focused on the consumer, food, and retail sectors. He also has experience in the real estate industry, having worked at Bridge Investment Group and Wells Fargo. Austin graduated from the University of Utah – David Eccles School of Business with a degree in finance. He is passionate about the food and beverage industry and is excited to use his experience — and good taste! — to help Savory’s portfolio companies grow and succeed.

Adam comes to us from Harrison Co., where he was an analyst for the M&A boutique investment bank. Prior to Harrison, Adam worked at Leavitt Partners, a Utah-based healthcare strategy consulting firm, as well as various internships across the investing landscape in Utah (Wasatch Global Investors, Pelion, and Sorenson Impact Center). He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah in Quantitative Analysis of Markets and Organizations, with minors in Financial Analytics and Chinese.

Chad oversees finance and accounting for the platform and its portfolio companies and brings with him over 15 years of finance and accounting experience. He began his career in the technology sector, working as an assistant controller for an emerging data-encryption company. During his 8-year tenure at KPMG, Chad played a key role in numerous public offerings, mergers, acquisitions, and SOX control implementations, showcasing his expertise in retail, renewable energy, and financial services sectors. In his recent role as the Financial Controller and Director of Brands Stores for POC, Chad led a global finance team, achieving remarkable 200% revenue growth. Chad graduated with a BA and Master’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Utah.

In her oversight of all things food and beverage, Maryam Chaney’s mantra is: “Best Product, Best Process.” Her strength is logistics and acute attention to detail. With more than 25 years of experience in the fields of culinary development and education, supply chain and procurement, compliance, and editing, Maryam deftly spots opportunities for improvement and then moves until the job is done. For all brands in the Savory portfolio, Maryam oversees culinary operations and menu engineering, supply chain and logistics, and food safety and compliance. She manages healthy relationships with Savory’s suppliers, from whom over $70 million of product is purchased annually. Having spent more than 15 years as an editor and award-winning designer, Maryam developed a critical eye that exacts refinement. As a lifelong gastronome, Maryam delights in sharing the enjoyment of food. While running a private catering business, she developed and instructed a popular series of culinary courses for the community education arm of Utah Valley University. Maryam was recognized in 2021 by Utah Business as one of 30 Women to Watch. She received an MBA from BYU’s Marriott School of Business.

Brad leads new restaurant growth for all Savory brands by evaluating, selecting, acquiring, and disposing of new restaurant real estate. Employing 20 years of experience in real estate and real estate finance, Brad has been instrumental in expanding multiple Savory brands through the Mountain West, South West, Midwest and Southeast regions. He innovates new strategies to reach restaurants customers more effectively and meticulously positions each new restaurant for both individual location and long-term brand success. Brad was educated at Brigham Young University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Brandon is a hospitality veteran with over 15 years of talent strategy, leadership, coaching, and customer service experience. He has gained accreditations from Harvard Business School and Society for Human Resource Management and is accepted into the Forbes Human Resources Council. In addition, he was named one of Utah Valley’s 40 under 40 and one of Utah Business Magazine’s HR Achievement Award Honorees. Brandon has been responsible for creating the People Operations department at Savory — leading 100+ restaurant openings in hiring and recruitment.

Courtney has more than a decade of diverse human resources experience assisting mid-size and large organizations. She has hands-on experience with HR process and policy development and implementation, benefits design and management, compliance, employee relations, performance management, payroll, and compensation. Courtney earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Resources Management from Brigham Young University-Idaho and is a Certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

JP brings expertise in building strategic relationships and creating scalable solutions for emerging brands that allows for hyper growth as well as successful harvest and transition. With over 20 years of combined restaurant and construction management experience, JP is uniquely qualified to navigate the fast paced and ever-changing environment of the restaurant industry.