FROM DOUBT TO DRIVE - Entrepreneurs Only

Delf Ness is a German marketing and communications professional with over two decades of experience in developing strategies, activations, and communications for brands, particularly in sponsorships and partnerships.

In this episode of From Doubt to Drive, we chat with Dina Ravera, the powerhouse behind Destination Italia Group, a company listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. Dina's journey from engineer in telecommunications to President of a travel tech company is nothing short of inspiring.

In this episode of From Doubt to Drive, we sit down with Robert Dahl, a third-generation leader of Karls, a powerhouse business that has evolved from a small fruit and vegetable stand to a retail, entertainment, amusement park, and hospitality empire. Named after his grandfather, Karl, who began selling produce nearly 100 years ago, Robert and his family have grown the business to generate over 200 million euros in sales annually, with six parks across Germany and an expansion planned in LA for 2027.

Claus Meyer is a prominent Danish restaurateur, chef, and culinary entrepreneur who has played a significant role in shaping contemporary Nordic cuisine. He is perhaps best known as one of the co-founders of Noma, together with Rene Redzepi, the world-renowned Copenhagen restaurant that has been awarded multiple Michelin stars and has been named the world's best restaurant five times.

This week with Dr. Gabriele Oettingen, a German psychologist and professor known for her pioneering work in the fields of motivation, self-regulation, and goal-setting. She teaches at New York University and the University of Hamburg.

This week with Axel Weber, Tillman Bardt, Mario C. Bauer and Florian Schneider, the founders of Newmorrow

Today's episode features an exciting conversation with Greg Flynn, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Flynn Group, the world's largest franchisee. With over 2.900 restaurants across three countries — the USA, Australia, and New Zealand — Greg operates well-known brands such as Applebee's, Panera Bread, Taco Bell, Arby's, Wendy's, and Pizza Hut, in addition to 40 fitness clubs and 120 hotels.

Today, we have Darrel Connell with us, a trusted investor in our industry and Managing Partner at IMBIBA, a private equity fund specializing in the UK leisure sector. With over 25 years in the market, IMBIBA employs 14 investment specialists and manages €140 million, focusing primarily on F&B businesses such as Farmer J and Pizza Pilgrims. Notably, IMBIBA is certified B-Corp.

This week with David Baumgartner, founder and CIO of “Dean & David”, known for its fresh, healthy, and sustainable dishes. With a vision to redefine fast food as healthier and more conscious, he opened the first restaurant in Munich in 2007. Today, “Dean & David” boasts over 150 locations across multiple countries and is considered a pioneer in modern, sustainable dining concepts.

Today, we are joined by Laura Harper-Hinton, Co-founder & CEO of Caravan. Caravan, a coffee roastery and restaurant operator, was a pioneer in the specialty coffee sector and has since grown to operate eight stores in London, one in Manchester, and three coffee bars. Caravan has achieved this year €30 million in sales, €2.5 million in profit, employs 500 people, and is proudly B-Corp certified.

This week with Patrick Hennig, CEO and co-fouder of nexenio and of culture4life, the company better known for the Luca app, an app that was launched in 2020 during COVID lockdowns to help restaurants, bars, clubs and events to skip the manual registration of their guests and to allow easier tracking in case of a COVID outbreak.

This week with Andreas J. Young and Sebastian Sung Chu Lechle from Mmaah, Korean BBQ. For the first time, we have two guests—and they're brothers! Having grown up between Germany and Korea, they opened their first restaurant in 2013, combining fast food with a healthy twist inspired by Korean street food. Mmaah now operates 10 locations: 8 in Berlin and 2 in Munich. With over 120 employees, they've reached €9 million in total sales, with 50% of sales coming from delivery.

Today, we have Christoph Hoffmann, Founder of 25hours Hotels, with the motto: "You know one, you know none." With 2.000 employees and almost 40 culinary outlets, including NENI, Christoph discusses how she and other F&B heroes shaped the brand positioning of 25hours Hotels through their culinary focus.

We have spoken 1,6 Mio. words so far in our podcasts and gathered lots of learnings from interviewing 25 entrepreneurs which we summarized in our White Paper. Download for free here: https://www.new-morrow.com/whitepaper

Today, we have Alberto Cartasegna, Founder & CEO of Miscusi, a smart casual restaurant chain centered around pasta, which he started in 2017. Now, Miscusi has 18 restaurants across 7 Italian cities, serving over 1 million guests per year, employing 300 people, and generating €20 million in sales. With top investors on board, they have raised over €25 million in equity, achieved B-Corp certification, and created a place even Italian grandmothers love to dine.

This week with Enrico Sodano, serial entrepreneur, started his career as a goldsmith and jewelry trader before he ended up in the hospitality business. He became a McDonald's franchisee, followed by taking over the Vapiano franchise in Switzerland and Egypt. Today, he runs different restaurant concepts in Switzerland, built his own delivery service and launched recently a small Vapiano format for gas stations – aiming double-digit numbers in stores for Switzerland.

This week, we're speaking with Travis Masiero, Founder & CEO of Luke's Oyster Bar & Chop House and four other restaurants in Singapore and Japan.

This week with Dr. Srikumar Rao, founder and.head of the Rao Institute, former business school professor, executive coach and TED Talk Speaker, who helped thousands of entrepreneurs to achieve “quantum leaps of effectiveness, resilience and happiness”.

This week with Gregor Gerlach, CEO of Seaside Hotel Collection, co-founder & shareholder of Vapiano. Gregor has an amazing track record: 20 years ago, he co-founded Vapiano, bought his co-founders out and led the company as CEO for several years. As a shareholder he experienced then the exciting days when Vapiano first went public and how his “baby” later went bankrupt. He is an integral part of the new shareholders, who bought Vapiano out of bankruptcy.

This week, we feature Thom Elliot, Co-Founder of Pizza Pilgrims, which he started with his brother in 2012 following a pilgrimage to Italy. They have grown the business organically, with a lot of fun, and with massive respect for bringing Neapolitan pizza to London. What began as a street food movement has now expanded to 22 pizzerias across the UK, employing 480 people, generating 30 million in sales, and 1 million in profit.

This week with Stefan Tewes, Founder & CEO of Coffee Fellows, the largest coffee shop chain in Germany, with over 300 units. Coffee Fellows was founded in 1999 and currently generates 120 million Euros in system sales, with 10 million Euros in EBITDA. The company operates in 9 countries with over 150 franchise partners.

This week with Max Kochen, co-founder and CEO of beets&roots. Max talks about their journey and how he grew the company up to more than 15 locations, with a multichannel approach to B2B, delivery, travel hubs and retail.

This week with Robin Rowland, former CEO and Mr. “Yo! Sushi”, where he grew the brand to over 100 restaurants and to a 200 million valuation. Robin is an industry veteran and nowadays an operating partner at TriSpan.

This week with Mirco Wiegert, co-founder and CEO of fritz kola. Mirco founded the company with his friend Lorenz Hampel when they were students in Hamburg. Today, fritz kola is a well-known brand in many European countries, they employ 300 people, make a triple digit million number in sales and position themselves not only as beverage producer, but also use their market power to make strong statements against racism and right populism.

Mats talks with us about his 25 years of experience with McDonald's, Chipotle, PRET, Roti, and many more. He also shares his views on leadership, his investment philosophy, and why the WHY is more important than the WHO, and the WHO is more important than the WHAT.

This week with Haya Molcho, founder of NENI. Haya is a fantastic woman full of positive energy and love for food, people and the business she started 15 years ago. Today she leads the company NENI together with three of her four sons.

This week with Victor Lugger, co-founder of Big Mamma Group and Sunday App.

This week with Tobias Beck, Founder of Tobias Beck Academy, Bestselling Author, Top Speaker and Coach with 23 years of experience and over 400.000 participants.

Richard Bergfors and his brother Christoffer lead the Swedish restaurant group MAX Burgers togehter. Their parents founded the first burger restaurant in 1968 in the north of Sweden. Today, the brand counts more than 170 stores, 7.400 employees and has 400 Mio Euro in revenue.

Federico is THE poster-boy of Italian Ice Cream who co-founded GROM Gelato in 2003 and grew it to 98 shops in 15 countries before they sold it to Unilever. Recently he co-founded LEC together with the Formula One Driver Charles Leclerc

This week with Riccardo Giraudi, Founder & CEO of Beefbar, a luxury steakhouse concept with 30 locations around the world.

In the ever-evolving world of entrepreneurship, one thing remains constant: the journey is filled with challenges and moments of doubt. Mario C. Bauer and Florian Schneider, our hosts and seasoned entrepreneurs themselves, have embarked on a mission to explore this very aspect of entrepreneurial life with our podcast, "From Doubt to Drive – Entrepreneurs Only."

This week with Tom Barton, Co-Founder of Honest Burger (www.honestburgers.co.uk)

This week with Gamze Cizreli, Founder & Chairwoman of Big Chefs (https://www.bigchefs.com.tr/) a full day dining concept based in Turkey, currently operating over 100 restaurants in 13 countries. Big Chef is a public company listed on the Turkish Stock Market.

This week with John Eckbert, CEO & Co-Founder of Five Guys Europe.

This week with Kathy Johnston, Co-Founder and Chief Chocolate Officer of Mirzam Chocolate Makers (www.mirzam.com)

This week with Rainer Becker, CoFounder of ZUMA (https://zumarestaurant.com/), as well as ROKA (https://www.rokarestaurant.com/) and other successful restaurant brands (https://azumirestaurants.com/)

In this episode our two hosts Mario & Florian extend a special invitation to all of you to join our Convention for serious Entrepreneurs: From Doubt to Drive.

This week with Mette Lykke. CEO & Investor of TooGoodToGo (https://www.toogoodtogo.com/), a mission driven company to fight food-waste together. Founded in 2016 and active in 17 countries ToGoodToGo saved 120 Mio. Meals last year (= 4 meals every second). Mette also talks about her former venture ENDOMONDO, which she & her partners sold for 80 Mio. to Under Armor.

Julian co-founded Pret a Manger (www.pret.com), the popular sandwich shop with Sinclair Beecham in 1986. In May 2018, Pret was bought for £1.5 billion, and Metcalfe's stake was valued at £75 million. Julian is also the Founder & CEO of ITSU (www.itsu.com), a fast-casual Asian brand. Please also tune into Episode 3 of our Podcast, where we interviewed his chairman and shareholder Clive Schlee.

This week with Michael Durach, Shareholder & CEO of Develey (www.develey.com), a family-owned business for generations founded in 1845.

This week with Clive Schlee, Shareholder & Board Member of ITSU, former CEO of PRET

Our premiere Episode week with Henry McGovern, Founder of AmRest, Managing Partner of McWin

Welcome to our podcast, "From Doubt to Drive: Entrepreneurs Only." Mario C. Bauer and Florian Schneider have known each other for many years. They have built and grown businesses together, but they have also experienced failure and struggle. This podcast aims to open a door to entrepreneurs and leaders who feel stuck, who experience moments of doubt—not only in their business decisions but also in their personal abilities as leaders.