Choppin’ It Up by Bloomberg Intelligence
Mar 9, 2026 · 34 min · 13 segments
Dog Haus’ new franchisee deals “mutually align incentives” between the brand and its operators, CEO Michael Montagano tells Bloomberg Intelligence. In this episode of the Choppin’ It Up podcast…
Michael MontaganoGuest
Michael HalenHost
I mean, out of the chains we cover over the last handful of years, the companies with some of the highest food costs have performed the best on traffic, right? Customers notice what they're getting on the plate, right? And when they're being more discerning with their dollars like they are today, you know, they're not going to go to somebody that's skimping out on them versus what they were, you know, what they were getting a couple of years ago, right? They're going to stick with who's taking good care of them.
If you can balance both like Chili's has done, you know, like more power to you.
You know, I think they've done a nice job with their probably lost leaders, you know, to bring people in and their upsells and the margaritas and the pitas and everything else.
I mean, you know, they're doing something that I think no one's ever really, really done.
You know, we have a different segment, different market, you know, and a different experience.
And we just, you know, we're offering a premium product and we're not afraid to charge for it.
Yeah, no, I think that's a good position to be in, in the state of the current K-shaped economy.
And know what's been cool about this conversation, man, is like, you guys aren't greedy.
Like you're very willing to bring in partners to help you grow the brand and cut them in nicely into the growth opportunity here.
I think, you know, we have, you know, a fantastic group of founders that, you know, founded this business 15 years ago.
And the same kind of collective culture that they welcome so many great people into over the years, whether it's at the franchise level or at the employee level.
I mean, heck, our leadership team has been here for over a decade each that I was fortunate enough to, inherit and work alongside every single day and have integrated so well with some of the new partners that we're bringing into that i think you know at some point you know maybe it's us old dogs that kind of realize that that you'd you'd rather have you know a smaller sliver of a big pie than an entire pie that that kind of sucks you know and so um you know and so i think um uh, you know, they have realized that from the beginning that, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a collective community that will, what it will take to ultimately grow the brand.
And I've, you know, been fortunate to take that baton at the right time to kind of expand our thinking beyond maybe just, you know, who's working in the four walls of the store, who are the great partners that we've been fortunate to have over the years, but also, you you know, how do we take it to the next level and bring in new and interesting and different people that have different experiences than us and we'll offer, you know, a whole lot of guidance on, you know, how to become that next big brand.
I learned this in, you know, I worked in restaurant tech for maybe like 15 years and There's companies of baton race.
I mean, there's different people that are great at different parts of it.
And I think this next iteration of who we're bringing in have seen businesses scale on the restaurant side and the growing pains that happened from 60 to 600 and 600 to 6,000 is very different from zero to 60.
You know, but but, you know, on on on these different on these different ways, they're all very, very different.
And I think that our group of board members, owners, stakeholders have been very attuned to that over the years on when is the right time to hand the baton and and.
I mean, out of the chains we cover over the last handful of years, the companies with some of the highest food costs have performed the best on traffic, right? Customers notice what they're getting on the plate, right? And when they're being more discerning with their dollars like they are today, you know, they're not going to go to somebody that's skimping out on them versus what they were, you know, what they were getting a couple of years ago, right? They're going to stick with who's taking good care of them.
If you can balance both like Chili's has done, you know, like more power to you.
You know, I think they've done a nice job with their probably lost leaders, you know, to bring people in and their upsells and the margaritas and the pitas and everything else.
I mean, you know, they're doing something that I think no one's ever really, really done.
You know, we have a different segment, different market, you know, and a different experience.
And we just, you know, we're offering a premium product and we're not afraid to charge for it.
Yeah, no, I think that's a good position to be in, in the state of the current K-shaped economy.
And know what's been cool about this conversation, man, is like, you guys aren't greedy.
Like you're very willing to bring in partners to help you grow the brand and cut them in nicely into the growth opportunity here.
I think, you know, we have, you know, a fantastic group of founders that, you know, founded this business 15 years ago.
And the same kind of collective culture that they welcome so many great people into over the years, whether it's at the franchise level or at the employee level.
I mean, heck, our leadership team has been here for over a decade each that I was fortunate enough to, inherit and work alongside every single day and have integrated so well with some of the new partners that we're bringing into that i think you know at some point you know maybe it's us old dogs that kind of realize that that you'd you'd rather have you know a smaller sliver of a big pie than an entire pie that that kind of sucks you know and so um you know and so i think um uh, you know, they have realized that from the beginning that, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a collective community that will, what it will take to ultimately grow the brand.
And I've, you know, been fortunate to take that baton at the right time to kind of expand our thinking beyond maybe just, you know, who's working in the four walls of the store, who are the great partners that we've been fortunate to have over the years, but also, you you know, how do we take it to the next level and bring in new and interesting and different people that have different experiences than us and we'll offer, you know, a whole lot of guidance on, you know, how to become that next big brand.
I learned this in, you know, I worked in restaurant tech for maybe like 15 years and There's companies of baton race.
I mean, there's different people that are great at different parts of it.
And I think this next iteration of who we're bringing in have seen businesses scale on the restaurant side and the growing pains that happened from 60 to 600 and 600 to 6,000 is very different from zero to 60.
You know, but but, you know, on on on these different on these different ways, they're all very, very different.
And I think that our group of board members, owners, stakeholders have been very attuned to that over the years on when is the right time to hand the baton and and.
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