Why Guzman y Gomez Founder Steven Marks Loves Building the Brand in Australia

“The beautiful part is that if the economy's good or the economy's bad, you gotta eat,” Guzman y Gomez co-CEO and founder Steven Marks laughed.

Taking to the stage at AANA’s RESET event, Steven told the room the story of the brand’s explosive growth in Australia and now globally. “When we opened up in Newtown in 2006 the first week, we did $11,000, not great. This year we will do over a billion dollars in revenue,” he said. 

Today Guzman y Gomez has 245 restaurants globally, including over 20 in Singapore, five in Tokyo, and six in Chicago. 

“Nobody can believe that we’re taking it back to America,” Steven said. “There's so much Mexican food in America, but there's so much crap.”

The success of the overseas move is something Steven credited Australia with. 

“One thing about Australia is with brands, when you build a brand in Australia, it's only 25 million people. It's hard to build a brand. In the US, there’s such a huge population that it supports mediocrity, and that's why I love building Guzman y Gomez in Australia. It's hard to make money, right? It's all about revenue.”

According to Steven, the success of the journey can be attributed to both the attention to detail he insists runs through the company, and his “brand defining moments” – or, he laughed, “the moments I almost lost my job.”

Firstly the details of the business extend beyond the food, and are in everything from the logo to the way the restaurants feel.

“If you look at the name Guzman y Gomez [in the company logo], it's actually made out of tape. In building GYG, everything has to be ours. Everything. Nothing at GYG is a copy, because my belief is that if you want to be the best, you can't follow, you can't copy, you have to create it. If you look at ‘Mexican Kitchen’, that ‘E’ in ‘Mexican Kitchen’ took me six months to get right,” Steven told the room.

In the brand’s restaurants, “we also have over 100 pieces of commission artwork, not copy, not taking from anybody else, that's very special.”

The first “brand defining moment” Steven spoke to was when he decided that Guzman y Gomez would only sell 100% free range chicken in its stores. The move cost over $4 million, but is a decision Steven stands by. 

“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.”

These days, Guzman y Gomez is the biggest buyer of free range chicken in Australia outside the major supermarkets.

The second brand defining moment was about the fries. “The problem with french fries is when I was looking to get a great french fry, I looked at the ingredients: 70% potato. What the fuck is the other 30%?” Steven asked.

“I found this potato farming family in Victoria and convinced them to do it for me, and we started selling so many fries that McCain came and made the first clean french fry.”

No matter what the future holds for Guzman y Gomez and the wider industry, Steven said he and the team will be ready. 

“When you hear about all those concerning market stats, it excites me. I like it in times of chaos, right? Really, it makes you think, makes you evolve, makes you come to the top.”