Rick Bayless, Mexican Food, and Building a Business

Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Frontera Foods, and Mexico: One Plate at a Time was featured on the latest episode of CNBC's original series "The Entrepreneurs." I eat at Frontera Grill whenever I'm in Chicago (I will be up there in June and I can't wait!), I love his show on PBS, and after watching the latest episode of "The Entrepreneurs" on CNBC, well... I just like him and his story even more.

It is Rick's show on PBS that introduced me to him and I've been a fan ever since. The cool part is that his show was basically a marketing gimmick that he and his business partner Manuel Valdes, now CEO of Frontera Foods, came up with to further their brand. I didn't realize that. They saw how the Food Network was really growing and Celebrity Chefs such as Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay were using their new found fame as leverage to expand their restaraunt and product empires. Rick and Manuel decided that they didn't want to wait for the Food Network to come calling so they funded and produced the show for PBS themselves.

Now here is the very interesting part. The first season of Mexico: One Plate at a Time cost them $1.4M to produce. One season (26 episodes) of a cooking show broadcast on Public Television cost $1.4M, which they raised in the form of sponsorships. And it most likely took countless staff to pull it off, from on-location logistics, to post-production, the amount of hands in that pot were likely in the hundreds. This is not unusual... look at the credits at the end of a TV show or even more mind-blowing a Movie. Look at all of the people involved in creating and executing on the creation of that show or movie.

Amazing isn't it? Amazing that so much money, time, effort, manpower, etc. can go into the creation of even the simplest of TV show, and yet many entrepreneurs feel that they can build a Software Company by themselves and with little to no money. I mean, best of luck to you, but at the end of the day, if you want to create something that is an on-going concern, that generates profitable revenue in a sustainable and scalable way, you might want to ask yourself this fundamental question: Given what I have now and what I've put into this venture, is it enough to produce even one episode of a TV show? If not, then how do you plan to actually succeed in building a real business?

Fun fact: The last time I was in Frontera Grill, Lanie, Rick's daughter who is often on his show, was working. Okay, so perhaps I'm too big of a fan.

Check out the episode of The Entrepreneurs below: