Expanding multi-brand franchise company takes drive and teamwork

By STEVE COOMES Al Bhakta and his partners in The Chalak Group didn’t let naiveté about the restaurant business stop them when they became Genghis Grill franchisees in their early 20s. Despite the fact that they had virtually no money and even less experience, the franchisor let them in anyway in 2002. Turned out to be a good move, especially for the franchisor. Bhakta is now CEO and co-owner of the 70-unit Dallas-based Mongolian stir-fry chain. He and five partners also own 33 KFC, Long John Silvers and Taco Bell stores, 11-unit Baker Bros. Deli. On the way to finishing 2012 with 90 Genghis Grills, while acquiring another (unnamed for now) Dallas-based chain, their inauspicious start is but a distant memory. “We had no idea what we were doing, and it showed in the beginning,” said Bhakta. “The first night we opened, nobody came. Nobody.” But while they were short on knowledge, Bhakta and original partners Chet Bhakta, Nik Bhakta, Ron Parikh and Tony Stevens (Dr. Sanjay Patel joined the group recently), were quick learners. In just two years, their store was so busy and profitable that they purchased a corporate unit from owner and franchisor Consilient Restaurant Group. Impressed with the young upstarts’ performance, Consilient sold Chalak the entire company that same year. “We really believed in the concept itself and we thought, ‘No one's really doing this well,’” Bhakta said. “We had a pure belief in the brand.” And pure determination to move forward against great odds. When the deal closed, the Chalak team decided four money-losing units needed to be shuttered. “We knew how to operate our restaurants, but we had to learn how to make the whole business run,” Bhakta said. Much of that included an active scrutiny of all operating costs. The chain’s all-you-can-eat format was changed to a one large bowl concept, and the investment required to open a Genghis Grill was reduced by 40 percent. Frank Barnard, former southeast operating partner for Genghis Grill, credited Chalak Group’s early success to their tireless work ethic and constant reinvestment into their business. “They didn’t quit their day jobs to get into the restaurant business,” Barnard said. They split duties around the clock “by having some work during the day, some at night. These guys worked two jobs for a couple of years after they got started to be sure they would be successful. There aren’t that many people who will do that.” Ron Parikh, chief marketing officer for Genghis Grill, said Bhakta has always set a blistering pace toward growth and expansion. “His will power is amazing,” Parikh said. “In our college days, he’d have two or three jobs at once, be going to school and still thinking of new ideas, really coming up with cool stuff. “Al grew up in an environment where he had lots of struggles to overcome. So it’s that sheer determination to do things makes him who he is.” Bhakta insists that solid and continually tweaked systems are essential to growing his expanding company, and that the addition of new brands broadens the partners’ knowledge. While what’s worked well in Genghis Grill doesn’t always translate directly to operating Chalak’s Yum units, those basic principles of success provide a great foundation. “When you’re focused on adding locations to the company, we have to make sure all our departments are working together toward the same goal,” he said. Not getting bogged down in repetition, however, is a challenge. “We want people’s jobs to be fun, so we don’t want too much paper pushing or data entry. When we make changes, we want them to be as quick and easy as possible so we can keep moving forward.” Lest you think Chalak Group is all business all the time, Parikh said, “no not at all, especially since Al is our class clown.” As the classic “work hard, play hard entrepreneur,” Parikh said Bhakta is the kind inspirational leader who gets the most out of his troops—willingly. “Every year we have a corporate trip to the National Restaurant Show, and he takes the whole operations team there,” Parikh said. “And it’s a given we’ll be out hitting the bars and not getting back until 6 in the morning—but back at the show at 10 a.m. the next day. We know what we have to do, and we work hard. But afterwards we reward ourselves.”