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bd's mongolian barbeque gets back to its roots
Oct 1, 2004
Ron Ruggles
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - Executives of the 24-unit BD's Mongolian Barbeque chain of Ferndale, Mich., have agreed to open a franchised branch here in Mongolia's capital, to provide an ongoing exchange of operational ideas and to benefit a local youth organization.
Billy Downs, president of BD's, and three members of his management team visited Mongolia in September to iron out details of the deal with Esunmunkh Myagmar, who owns and operates the year-old Modern Nomads restaurant in Ulaanbaatar. Myagmar also is founder, president and executive director of the Mongolian Youth Development Centre, which helps disadvantaged and at-risk children and teens in the capital city of more than 900,000.
The franchise project is expected to open next spring. BD's currently has 10 company-owned restaurants and 14 franchised stores, with a new store to open this fall in Carmel, Ind.
"BD's has been very fortunate over the past 10 years to have a great business and to be very profitable," Downs said. "We've always wanted to find a way to have a connection with and actually to do some good in Mongolia."
The nation has suffered economically since the breakup of the former Soviet Union, with high unemployment levels and thousands of orphaned youths on the streets of the capital in a country dominated by the Gobi Desert and a nomadic herding culture. Mongolia since 1991 has had a democratic government.
"After 70 years of Communist influence," Myagmar said, "our country is trying to adjust to democracy and a market economy. Our young people need to learn these skills and how to adapt."
Downs traveled to Mongolia with Deb Fratrik, chief operating officer for BD's Mongolian Barbeque; Joe Finley, chief brand and marketing officer; and Wayne Wright, regional franchise director.
Besides the opening of a BD's Mongolian Barbeque in Ulaan-baatar, the two companies are setting up an exchange of employees, which is expected to begin in November with the three-month visit of Modern Nomads' general manager, Dijid Dashzeveg, to train in the United States.
"She's coming over because they are really trying to understand American business practices," Fratrik said. "Quite frankly, the art of Mongolian cooking was lost under Soviet rule. Our initial contact was when they were looking at our operations to build their restaurant, Modern Nomads. Now they will be coming over and working with us on our interpretation of Mongolian barbecue, which may be more authentic than what they have."
During the BD's team's tour of Mongolia, it sampled the nation's signature mutton dumplings, steaming hot-pot soups, and potatoes and mutton cooked with sizzling rocks in metal milk containers. They also sampled dried yogurt in nomadic families' gers, or portable homes, often known by the Russian word "yert." In addition, the visitors consumed such typical specialties as milk tea, goat-tail soup, various versions of cooked sheep offal and horsemeat.
Fratrik said the team discovered a number of authentic Mongolian products, service styles and decor ideas during its trek from the capital via plane and a five-hour, rough-and-tumble ride in four-wheel-drive vehicles to a remote freshwater lake on Mongolia's northern border, next to Siberia.
"From what we saw and learned, we are going to be making some changes not only to the menu but elsewhere," Fratrik said, citing some possible additions to the drink menus of the concept and possible changes to uniforms that would reflect Mongolian culture.
She said Dashzeveg's planned visit to BD's headquarters likely would benefit the concept as well. "We're going to get a lot out of her because she's going to work with us on some of the authentic Mongolian recipes and on how we can continue to build authenticity into our brand," said Fratrik, who said she was surprised by Mongolia's female-dominated culture. "We found that the women are the more highly educated gender, and they hold a lot of the high-level, high-profile roles. Because of the nomadic culture, so many of the men have less education and are still working with the herds."
Finley, who heads marketing for BD's, said the objective for the weeklong trip to the nation sandwiched atop China and below Russia was "to identify opportunities to represent authentic Mongolia in our restaurants and ultimately to transmit those nuances to our guests."
The team spent time in both urban and rural settings, meeting a broad spectrum of natives. "We have a clearer understanding of Mongolian culture and the way of life, the traditions, the nomadic lifestyle, the urban living, the combination of all the civilizations," Finley said. "We came home with ideas about menu opportunities. Mongolian is in our name. We think there's a lot of important equity in the name; we can use that."
In addition, the philanthropic component is important to the company, Finley added.
"We are successfully marrying business principles with a sincere interest in articulating the culture through our concept, in both hard ways and soft ways," Finley continued. "Hard ways focus on defining what is appropriately authentic to our customers and what will create market appeal and consumer demand. Softer benefits are embracing their culture in a genuine way and our philanthropic interest in Mongolia."
After listening to the experiences of preteen girls in programs at the Mongolian Youth Development Centre, the BD's team became more intent on helping philanthropically, Finley added. "We experienced what the little girls were going through," he said. "We saw how the infrastructure in Ulaanbaatar needs help. While we're benefiting from Mongolian culture in a commercial sense, we want to give back to them."
The capital city, developed under the Soviet concept of central authority, has centralized steamed heat and hot water for the population. However, for several days the entire city was without hot water for such everyday tasks as showering, which visitors and many residents found better than the rumors that the capital city had no water at all, which had been feared.
Downs, who will return to Ulaanbaatar in November, said he was pleased with the trip, which took him and his companions halfway around the world. "We wanted to do two things," he said. "We wanted to establish a partnership with the MYDC and Esunmunkh. And we wanted to bring more authenticity to the BD's Barbeque brand through whatever means learning about Mongolia, learning about foods.
"The partnership has gone way beyond where I thought it could be," Downs said. "This is an opportunity where we can financially help this organization on an ongoing basis. It's not a drain on cash flow for our company. It's a self-fulfilling partnership." Because interest rates in Mongolia are as much as 23 percent a year, Downs foresees accessing money at a much lower rate for the project.
"There is a great opportunity to educate people and perhaps take kids within the MYDC to work through this program," he said.
"Our hosts showed us so much of Mongolia inside out," Downs explained. "From welcoming us into their homes to getting us out into the countryside, it was eye-opening to see the actual way of life. It's by no means the easiest place to live. It's certainly challenging, especially in the nomadic way of life. And there are challenges of living in the city, with not a great infrastructure or great opportunity for work and employment."
Wayne J. Wright, regional franchise director for BD's, remarked: "We had the opportunity to visit nomadic families in the countryside and go into their homes and into the apartments of the residents in the city. What really wowed me was just how hospitable the people were everywhere."
According to Downs, "You stop by any ger, and they will feed you. There are stories of people traveling in Mongolia, and the nomads in the gers would actually sleep on the floor and give the visitors their beds.
"We see our core values evolving to the way the Mongolians show hospitality," he said. "They are welcoming. We can bring that into our brand."
In addition, he said, the partnership can help the MYDC program. MYDC founder Myagmar approached Downs late last year after discovering BD's on the Internet when he was doing research for his 150-seat Modern Nomads restaurant.
Mayagmar and Downs met at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., late last year, and Downs then met him two weeks later at a Denver BD's unit, where they spent a half day talking. The Mongolia trip, in which Downs and his team also met with members of the Mongolian Parliament as well as U.S. Embassy representatives, allowed the Michigan team "to get an idea of the resources there and the way of life," Downs said.
p>Downs said the trip allowed him to contemplate the direction of the company and his own goals. "We were able to sit back and see not only what was going on with the company," he said. " The company is evolving, and I am, too. It was great to react to these opportunities."Early on the morning of the group's fifth day, over the stained orange tablecloths in the dining room of the Soviet-style Zaluuchuud Hotel, Downs observed how much it meant to him to be able to help Mongolians.
"We have seen Mongolia like very few travelers have," he told his team. "However, it wouldn't take Esunmunkh or the MYDC to show us that there are real problems here. You can see them everywhere. . . . We did see it in the children's eyes at the MYDC."
Downs said the motto of his restaurant company is "Friends Taking Care of Friends," and to partner with Myagmar would be one way to help.
"Our investment of time and money has risk, but just the chance of an upside far exceeds the downside," Downs said.
"Can we save Mongolia?" he asked. "No. That is their responsibility. That is why people like Esunmunkh have seized the opportunity to partner with us." He said BD's "can do its little part in helping this country through its very difficult, elongated transition period."
Near the northern border of Mongolia, Downs was presented with a champion horse as a gift from the Mongolian hosts. "I was completely flabbergasted, speechless and honored," Downs said when he was back in Michigan. However, "The horse lives in a great place in its natural surroundings, and it's best that it stays there."
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