Dean Haskell has been in the restaurant industry for over three decades. His experience covers everything from “soup-to-nuts”, or in his case from Front of the House, to analyzing the house, to running the house.
His undergraduate work was in Economics and got his MBA from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, with a concentration in Finance and Accounting.
Dean left Tennessee for Chicago and spent the next years as a stock market analyst in the restaurant sector with a focus on QSR, fast casual, casual and fine dining concepts. During this time he worked closely with the investment banking teams raising capital for both public and private companies.
By 2000, Dean had returned to operations, joining Real American Restaurants as President and CEO. The company, founded by celebrity chefs, had lots of creative passion but struggled to maintain a group focus and consistency. Outlining a new strategic direction for the company, he developed operating and financial plans and led the newly-energized team. The turnaround was completed in three years, moving the company from an annual cash loss of $2.5M.to a positive $1.0M in EBITDA.
In 2003, Dean returned to investment banking as an analyst. He broadened his investment coverage from just restaurants to include food manufacturing, C-stores, grocery stores, beverages and recycling. Capital transactions here included raises for food manufacturing, beverage companies and C-stores, with M&A for the recycling industry. During his years on Wall Street he earned a reputation for a strong fundamental, and occasionally controversial analysis.
Consequently, Dean has appeared on many business TV and radio, including CNN, CNBC and CBS. Dean has been widely quoted in news media (The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Times, The Chicago Tribune) as well as many industry publications (Nation’s Restaurants News, Restaurant Business, The Restaurant Finance Monitor, and Franchise Times). He has appeared as a speaker and as a panel participant at industry conferences covering such topics as restaurant strategy, valuations and cost structures, with a focus on labor optimization. These conferences include the Restaurant Finance Development Conference, various state restaurant associations, franchise conferences and the SPARK Conference.
Dean and his partner, Larry DeVries started NATIONAL RETAIL CONCEPT PARTNERS, LLC in 2008. After 10 years, NRCP has established itself as a full-service consultancy with a reputation for confidentiality and integrity, helping their clients to find the optimum financial and operational strategies for today’s highly competitive marketplace.
Past work:
