Beyond the Plate: How Tech and Entertainment Are Adding to the Restaurants...and How to Value These Concepts with Mathew Focht, Founding Managing Partner of EMERGING
Consumer VC #340 with Mathew Focht, Founding Managing Partner of EMERGING
Hi Friends,
I chatted with Mathew Focht on the latest episode of Consumer VC on a new topic / type of consumer business that we haven’t covered on the show – social entertainment concepts in the restaurants and hospitality industries. Think Dave & Busters or TopGolf.
Mathew is the Founding Managing Partner of EMERGING. EMERGING is a growth capital fund at the forefront of the technology-driven transformation in the restaurant and entertainment sector. Fund 1 size is $100 million. Some of their investments include Batbox, F1 Arcade, and Puttshack.
We discuss:
00:44 Who is Mathew Focht & What is EMERGING?
03:45 Why Launch EMERGING in 2023 Post-COVID
07:18 How EMERGING Helps Scale Restaurant Concepts
09:01 What EMERGING Looks for Before Investing ($2M–$8M Checks)
12:07 Evaluating Businesses With Limited Pre-COVID Traction
15:01 Are Entertainment Concepts Recession-Proof?
19:26 Fads vs. Long-Term IP in Hospitality
24:29 Can Entertainment Be Integrated Into Restaurants & Bars?
28:12 Scaling from 1 to 6+ Units – What It Takes
31:12 Return Profiles: Tech vs. Concepts
34:36 What Can Go Wrong in Restaurant-Tech Investments
38:04 Fund Cycle & Expected Returns
42:06 EMERGING’s Fund Size Strategy: ~$100M Target
43:00 Lightning Round: Contrarian Beliefs, Favorite Products & Books