It’s a Wonderful Life (and a Wonderful Industry)

Friends of Branded!

Happy Saturday and I hope you had a great week (and are enjoying a wonderful holiday season).

This is the last edition of the H^2 for 2025 and it continues to be a privilege to connect with you each and every week on Saturday mornings (or whenever you choose to engage with this newsletter).

In the category of full transparency, we had a little snafu last week that was the result of a word in the title that was apparently upsetting and was flagged by any number of Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”). Our longstanding successful delivery rate, which is typically above 98%, was the lowest of the year last week as a result of our using this word that was deemed problematic.

Several loyal readers, who didn’t receive last week’s edition b/c of their e-mail filter, communicated with me that they had assumed we were taking some time off for the holidays. The H^2 doesn’t take a week off and for those that might have missed last week’s edition, I’ve copied a link to it here (with a slightly revised title to avoid any further issues): Food Paparazzi

Lesson learned and respect to the ISPs will be maintained.

This week a personal tradition was continued as I made sure to watch my all-time favorite holiday film; It’s a Wonderful Life (that’s right Mr. Brandon Barton; we’re drawing inspiration from a 1946 film this week)!

Before diving into the theme of this week’s Top of the Fold, a few searches of the Top Christmas movies suggested I’m not unique in my love of what ranks as the #1 film on the list (but I’m okay with that b/c it is my favorite).

Here’s a list of the Top 10 All-Time Christmas films (what do you feel is missing? What doesn’t belong?):

Anyone here questioning Die Hard as a Top 10 Christmas movie? Me neither! 😊

Every Christmas week I make sure to watch It’s a Wonderful Life and it reminds me of something that’s too easy to forget when times are difficult. Impact isn’t always visible, value isn’t always measured quarterly, and success isn’t always financial (until it is)!

For the hospitality industry, the lesson couldn’t be more relevant: (i) margins are tight; (ii) labor is challenged; (iii) technology is loud; (iv) capital is selective; and (v) patience feels scarce. But despite the preceding, the hospitality industry remains one of the most quietly impactful industries in the world. Yes, it’s hard, very hard, but maybe we just need to draw some inspiration from our very own Clarence Odbody.

Don’t let the name, the Bailey Brother Building & Loan Association, fool you, George Bailey was far more of a hospitality operator than he was a banker or “Finance Guy.” George Bailey never set out to be a hero, he wanted to travel, and he wanted to build. But he stayed, he served and he showed up day after day for his community.

Does that remind you of any profession you know?

Hospitality operators don’t just run businesses, they create places where people gather, they create first jobs, second chances, and moments that matter. Hospitality operators support families, anchor neighborhoods, and turn regulars into relationship. It’s not glamorous, and it’s certainly not easy, but it’s deeply meaningful.

Hospitality isn’t just about the food & beverages, it’s about belonging.

In a world obsessed with efficiency, automation and scale, the hospitality industry’s true advantage remains deeply human. Our industry matters most when care is valued over convenience, purpose over optimization, and community over transactions.

The film’s antagonist, Mr. Potter, represents efficiency without empathy, and wealth without community.

The film’s hero, George Bailey, represents reinvestment, long-term thinking, shared success, and people over spreadsheets.

Today’s hospitality industry is facing some of the very issues and tensions that were part of the story told in this 1946 film. We’re experiencing battles between scale vs. soul, automation vs. authenticity, financial optimization vs. human experience.

Please don’t take any of this to mean or even suggest that profits don’t matter b/c they do (big time). Yes, margins matter and yes, technology matters!

The lesson I’d like to you take is that the best hospitality businesses create value precisely b/c they care about more than money, and in what can only be described as extreme irony, that’s what makes then enduring. What keeps hospitality alive is something that’s harder to quantify and that’s relationships, resilience and showing up, day after day.

In the film, George Bailey doesn’t see his value until he sees what the world would look like without him.

Friends, hospitality operators have the same blind spot. Take a moment to consider what doesn’t show-up in a P&L or a dashboard: the anniversary dinner that rekindled a marriage, a regular who felt less lonely, the employee who found confidence, the community that gathered after a hard day. These moments don’t have stock keeping units (“SKUs”), but they create loyalty no algorithm can manufacturer.

Branded continues to be enthusiastic about technology and innovation, and I don’t want anything here to suggest my drawing parallels from It’s a Wonderful Life is a rejection of progress for our industry.

To the contrary, I’m lobbying for a combination of modern tech with old-school purpose. George Bailey would have LOVED to have better tools, and he would have been even more meaningful if he had them.

The future of hospitality belongs to operators who embrace and use technology to reduce friction, improve consistency, unlock insights, and give teams more time to be human. The tools can (and should) change, but the purpose is what needs to remain!

Technology needs to amplify hospitality, not replace it. Just like the Bailey Building & Loan, it’s the mission that matters.

That moment in the film when there’s a run on the bank is something every hospitality operator has experienced and can relate to. A bad month, a staffing crisis, a surprise visit, or a macro shock. And just like George Bailey, many restaurants remain open, not b/c it’s easy, but b/c it matters. Our industry survives b/c of grit, loyalty, relationships, and belief. Not everything that is valuable is liquid and not everything that counts can be counted.

It’s my hope that It’s a Wonderful Life should remind us that success isn’t just about what you accumulate, but is also about what you build for others. Hospitality is deeply human, profoundly local, and I dare say is more impactful than it often gets credit for. This is true when it’s hard and in fact, it’s especially true when it’s hard.

So as the industry heads into another year of change, pressure, and possibility, it’s worth remembering that hospitality doesn’t just create transactions, it creates lives well lived.

And that, Clarence would tell you, makes hospitality a wonderful industry.

Wishing you a joyous and safe finish to 2025 and I’ll see you next year (aka: next Saturday)!

It takes a village.

🎂 Madrid’s Sobrino de Botín, officially the oldest restaurant in the world, just turned 300 years old. Happy birthday!

🏈 The Miami Dolphins handed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa a mega contract after a breakout season. Just 18 months later, the deal is already raising serious questions.

💍 Why are millennials obsessed with prenups? The New Yorker explores how shifting attitudes toward money, marriage, and independence are reshaping modern relationships.

🏠 Let us introduce you to the McModern—the newest iteration of the McMansion.

📊 Curious what everyone actually clicked on this year? Grub Street rounds up its 20 most-read stories of 2025, from restaurant drama to food-world obsessions.

Tell us what we should read next →

The Deal Room this week highlights the acquisition of Branded’s portfolio, Spendgo by online ordering giant Olo.

This acquisition comes in just under the wire for calendar year 2025 and gives Olo a loyalty offering that integrates with its existing products. In a press release issued by Olo, the company said the acquisition will help it address demand from its customers for an integrated loyalty platform.

The entire Branded team wants to congratulate (and celebrate) the coming together of Olo & Spendgo and while this marks our time as an investor in Spendgo officially coming to a close, the chapter of Branded now having the privilege of being a stakeholder in Olo is just beginning.

Much has been written this week on what I expect will be the last M&A action in the hospitality industry of the year and I’ve included below the links to a few publications / journalists who have done a great job covering this story:

My mom taught her three sons to take joy wherever you can find it and there’s no doubt that there’s a great deal of joy in this acquisition.

However, what’s on my mind as we bring 2025 to a close is what this acquisition suggests for M&A in the year ahead, especially when it comes to restaurant technology and adjacent SaaS markets.

I’ve written about this before and I’m closing out 2025 with more conviction than ever that consolidation around the customer lifecycle platforms will be a key theme for 2026!

If you take only one thing away from Olo’s purchase of Spendgo, it’s that integrating loyalty and unified guest data with ordering, payments, and marketing signals platform consolidation. The big winners aren’t single point solutions (sorry, not sorry), but rather full guest lifecycle solutions.

Restaurants are demanding less fragmented tech-stacks and deeper, contextual data flows across touchpoints. You don’t have to listen to restaurant operators on this topic, but in Branded’s opinion, that would be a mistake.

You can bet on there being more deals where companies with complimentary SaaS modules combine to deliver unified, and highly personalized engagement ecosystems rather than standalone features.

Loyalty is NOT a marketing add-on; it’s a core differentiator.

What should we expect in terms of M&A in 2026? Fantastic question!

The acquisition of Spendgo by Olo reflects a premium placed on first-party data assets and high frequency interactions. Branded expects deals in 2026 will likely revolve around technologies that unlock richer guest profiles, advance personalization, and direct monetization levers (read: repeat visits and guest retention).

You can expect other standalone loyalty and identify-based guest data platforms to be acquisition targets for 2026. If you think I’m about to conclude this week’s Deal Room with a self-interested comment, you’re good and thank you for paying attention. 😊

I’m excited to see how our portfolio companies like Incentivio, Ovation, and Fishbowl are embraced in 2026 as M&A will favor companies built for extensibility as acquirers desire assets that plug into and accelerate core offerings.

Acquiring Spendgo was Olo’s first acquisition since being taken private by Thoma Bravo and represents a classic private-equity strategy of a bolt-on acquisition to expand addressable market and customer value (well played TB and Olo, well played).

The year ahead will see deals that allow acquirers to deepen customer insights and retention capabilities, and ResTech companies that offer to help unify data across channels will prove to be the most compelling acquisition targets.

Interested in talking about M&A for the year ahead or any of the companies mentioned here in The Deal Room? Feel free to reach out or click here.

Don’t just scroll—click! Congratulate everyone on making the B List and send some LinkedIn love their way.