Would Gus Fring have been the richest person in New Mexico?

The richest person in Georgia is Dan Cathy of Chick-Fil-A with a net worth of 11.2 billion. The richest person in Louisiana is Todd Graves of Rasing Cane’s Chicken Fingers with a net worth of 9.1 billion.

Los Pollos Hermanos was shown to be a very successful chicken restaurant chain which leads me to wonder if Gus would have been the richest person in New Mexico. Obviously he would have been when you account for all the dirty cartel money but I’m talking about just the money he pays taxes on. The money Forbes would know about.

in breakingbadby thebaylorweedinhaler

416

96%

DirkNowitzkisWife

464

There are 3k chick fil A’s

Gus says he has like 8 Los Pollos Hermanos

Distant_Pilgrim

251

14 Los Pollos Hermanos locations

DirkNowitzkisWife

Sorry, I watched the episode of BCS most recently where Lalo asks how many he has and he says 7 or 8, I don’t remember exactly. Point stands though

bornelite

Too bad Gus didn’t take Lalo up on his offer to franchise

metal_wires

BCS is a couple of years earlier, so yes, Gus would have had less locations than at the time of Breaking Bad.

Joey333

I have a feeling Los Pollos Hermanos sells some higher margin products than Chick Fil A.

chimpyjnuts

I knew someone would have the number of restaurants. Thanks!

AmethystStar9

I also thought it was funny that LPH operated in multiple states yet had so few locations. I know it was because it was a front for the meth distribution network and all, but that also seems like it should have made law enforcement suspicious?

In New Mexico alone, a chain line that should have had two dozen locations across Albuquerque, Roswell, Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Rio Rancho alone before they ever expanded out of state.

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i-amnot-a-robot-

Everyone talks about how good it is and it’s busy pretty much always. My guess is they make okay money but likely make even more in paper. Most laundering is probably done through his other subsidiaries like the laundry and smaller stuff madrigal “owns” that then pays dividends as investments into pollos

1WordOr2FixItForYou

Nah Gus succeeds at everything.

heyY0000000

425

Gray Matter Technology

thebaylorweedinhaler

223

That one went over my head. Yeah it would definitely be Elliot.

leepeer96

108

You did say richest person though so it may not be Elliott. Yes, while Gray Matter would be worth billions, this doesn't mean Elliott is. He could be taking a salary as CEO, like most do.

As for Gus, he's running a drug empire as well as a legal enterprise. His empire money isn't necessarily owned "by a business" so I think he could be the richest man in New Mexico (obviously ignoring the fact there are many billionaires in America).

hook34

I’m pretty sure Gretchen and Elliot still have a meaningful equity stake in the company, which would contribute to their net worth. I’d place my bet on either of their (estimated) 30-50% ownership of a billion dollar company being worth more than Gus’ total ownership of a ~10-20 location fast food restaurant. Even if we were to include the drug distribution biz into his net worth, it seemed like he only had end markets in NM and the surrounding states. Not nearly enough to assume a higher valuation than a huge corporation like Gray Matter.

IowaJL

Worth noting that Pollos is a subsidiary of Madrigal.

Apprehensive-Bag-324

Methhead

Madrigal is used to launder the money. Meaning Gus pays them a fee to launder just like Saul with Walt and Jesse.

IowaJL

23h

Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

Hank discovers that Pollos is linked to Madrigal, in season 5 when we meet Herr Schuler we see a whole bunch of restaurant chains part of the Madrigal universe, and in BCS Mike insists that he’s labeled as a Madrigal employee so not to raise any eyebrows.

HappyTree1975

C’mon man, we have no idea how much of Gray Matter they still own.

DamoneMcFly

Billions with a B ?

Premium_Gamer2299

i wouldn't be surprised if he keeps it somewhere where he can access it that technically isn't under his name. so officially his net worth would be lower than it actually is. maybe the cartel keeps some of the money until fring asks for it back. unofficially he's probably the richest in NM by far, but officially he's probably 10th or 11th.

imsaneinthebrain

It would be black matter technologies if it wasn’t for Walt

elmasacavergas

Do you think that's still the case if we include Gus' drug money?

heyY0000000

Gus wasnt that rich, Schular financed the lab with his company's money

HappyTree1975

It seems like he was supposed to make the real big bucks once Walt started working for Gus and with the cartel taken out. He died right before making serious money.

heyY0000000

That was the masterplan to become 100% independent. I could never figure out how long he was actually independent before walt killed him? 1-3 weeks?

HappyTree1975

Possibly a few days honestly lol. Mike was still in Mexico

Dolomight206

🎯

casualty-of-cool

This is a good point. If Walt earned as much money as he did in the few months he and Jesse started cooking using Vomonos Pest as a front it seems that Gus would have been been crushing it with the volume he was moving.

Effective-Block6622

Walt was selling the product directly with no serious competitors. gus was the cartels mule for years secretly finacning his lab the whole time. So he had a tone of overhead and a huge investment he needed to make back. way more than walter did.

heyY0000000

Didnt gus offer the cartel like 50 mil for his independence?

yobaby123

Yep. Either way, he’s definitely pretty damn rich.

weirdoldhobo1978

IIRC the real richest person in New Mexico is the founder of a solar technologies company, and prior to that it was an oil baron.

Jabooooooooooo

KFC would be a closer comp with the average store net sales in 2023 doing 1.3m with the average revenue percentage at 6-9%. Assuming Gus owns they all without partners the 14 stores probably puts him in the 25-50m net worth range assuming he’s built the business over a decade or so.

Elliot and Gretchen would smoke him on that end depending on stake side in Gray Matter, but then Gus has the whole meth op to factor in.

Edit: after thinking more into it, I think we are to assume Gus is laundering money through the restaurants meaning so he’d in theory never be able to sell them as the numbers would tell a story. Given the amount that Walt and Jesse made, Gus is probably a billionaire+ liquid cash, just hidden all the over the place like Escobar

Major-Associate-5359

Pollos is implied to be well run and the restaurant is shown to be busy, I'd say CFA is a closer comp than KFC

Jabooooooooooo

CFA is only doing nuggets and sandwich’s though, Gus and Co are using the full chicken. Different operating cost

MODELO_MAN_LV

Pollo campero would be a better equivalent menu wise

Wickedestjr

Hank’s rock collection is worth more

cagemyelephant_

It’s not stone for fucks sake Marie

mack_dd

I could have sworn Rita Benson is the richest person in Louisiana, but I guess Rasin Caines passed her up.

But damn, theres a lot of money in the chicken business I guess.

thebaylorweedinhaler

Yeah she was for the longest but now she’s #2

Ill-Lou-Malnati

Los Pollos is a subsidiary of Madrigal Electromotive which means at some point Gus sold a majority of his ownership. Gus would live comfortably just on the proceeds of the restaurant but certainly wouldn’t be the richest person in New Mexico

Upbeat_Tension_8077

Plus it's only a local chain, not even to the size of a Chick Fil A or even Whataburger

Instantly_New

Not even the size of Lotaburger.

Infamous-Lab-8136

There's a family in owns the Domino's franchises in southern CO. A similar number of restaurants as Gus, 15 or so. They probably don't even crack the top 30 in actual wealth.

There's a difference between owning a chain with a presence nationwide and owning a few chicken joints.

vafrow

The quick answer is no. Gus was wealthy, not billionaire wealthy. The upper crust of New Mexico would have a number of wealthier people on paper. Within the show, there's probably two people with higher net worth (excluding the drug empire), Elliott from Gray Matter and Kevin from Mesa Verde. Kevin is an interesting one as he was probably wealthier during Better Call Saul, but with Breaking Bad being set in the years following the Lehman Brothers collapse, it's quite possible that an aggressively expanding regional bank like Mesa Verde might have been caught in the sub prime lending mess. But without that complication, a regional bank with locations in multiple States likely has a market cap in the hundreds of millions.

But thinking about Gus's wealth, it makes me wonder how he structured the finances. The purpose of the stores were to be a front, but he wasn't running this like Walt's car wash. He was running it as an efficiently run business with tight controls. He probably was still augmenting the revenues, so that it was profitable enough that he could claim to have the free cash flow to finance all expansion efforts without the use of a bank. So, on paper, he's got a bunch of locations that are doing much better than benchmarks, and carrying no debt. At 14-15 locations, that probably puts a paper net worth around $60-70M for the stores. But that's juiced in part by the drug money.

That is wealthy, but not outrageously so. In a state with 2 million people, youd definitely find people a tier above.

OmegaKitty1

I’ve always thought Gus ran los pollos at a bit of a loss, offering very high quality food that he charges comparable prices to KFC, that he prices because he subsidizes things with drug money. It allows him to have a consistent busy business, great reputation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he payed his employees slightly above minimum wage, as he has high standards in all things.

FickleHare

Probably to throw shade off himself. By being a boon to the economy and having a great reputation, he discourages any sour questions.

ikieneng

Jesse, have you heard of a company called Gray Matter?

RarePerspective

I'm pretty sure that distinction would belong to Richard Sipes, President of the unrecognized sovereign nation of the Sandia Republic.

TacticalGarand44

No. He officially owns (partially owns, with Madrigal) 14 fast food stores.

That puts him in the upper tier of the middle class. Wealthy, comfortable. Hardly the wealthiest person in state.

Givingtree310

He is much more than middle class. That’s crazy.

Major-Associate-5359

1 franchised fast food store is worth upwards of $3M, even in a mediocre location in a small town.

He's worth between $10M and $100M with those alone, ignoring the logistics chain etc which also has value.

heelxtiger

Maybe middle class in terms of occupation, but easily upper class income/wealth

jarrodandrewwalker

That's enough locations to get a "The Blindsided"/ Michael Orr situation... that's a movie I'd watch

Ok-Wrangler-1075

12h

Middle class 😁😁

NullOfficer

Well I think given how much he makes from meth. the argument can be made he makes more than Walt and Jesse combined, so it's possible he's the richest because he can fund insane ventures like the whole German worker thing from BCS, but I agree he couldn't be from chicken alone.

For context, my dad's former neighbors owned a Bojangles franchise of like 50 stores and from the way they lived, they did well, but it was not extravagant.

Top_Tart_7558

No, he is a multi millionaire on paper, and that is from laundered money. Los Hermonos is a money laundering scheme and probably doesn't turn a profit with real business.

He probably had more money unaccounted for in other assets in case of a narc, but he wouldn't touch it if he didn't need it.

There is no way to get to a billion with dirty money because the more you make the more the IRS looks into.

GuyDeSmiley

One large question that both BB and BCS raise about the men who run criminal enterprises is, What good is all that money that one struggles for and risks so much for, if one can’t spend it freely on enjoyment? What’s the reward? Only Don Eladio seemed to live it up on his ill-gotten gains.

Pleasant_Job_7683

Not a chance, Los Pollos was equal to like a smaller chain. I'm sure there's a corporate CEO or owner that resides in NM, drug money doesn't compare to that super corporate fast food money or big pharma money etc, but if you really wanna know check the tax code in NM, if it's big business friendly aka a haven then almost certainly Gus would be a peon compared to atleast a few ppl. .

electricmaster23

According to this article from Forbes, "The ‘Godfather Of Solar’ Ron Corio Became New Mexico’s First, And Only, Billionaire". He became a billionaire well after the show ended (about a decade), and Gus's net worth has loosely been estimated by fans as $1–$2b. Therefore, I think it's safe to argue he'd be a contender.

JustJohn8

Gus got his face blown off right when his new spice curls hit the market. Had Hector not dinged Gus into oblivion, Gus would have built out his chicken and meth empire throughout the U.S.

walkaroundmoney

16h

New Mexico didn’t get its first on paper billionaire until 2021, and is currently one of eight states without one.

Gus probably wouldn’t be the richest, but he’d be up there.

Ok-Calligrapher-2550

He only owned 14 franchises and they were spread over four states. No way he would’ve been, on record, the richest man in New Mexico.

rendumguy

I thought that Los Pollos was only in NM? In that case he isn't comparable to Chick Fil A because there's a fraction of the income

andyrooneysearssmell

He's a small portion of the state economy. Even if you include illicit money. People forget about the multibillion dollar military contracts in the deserts in the four corner states. Then there's ofc McDonald's. And someone mentioned Grey matter tech. Gus is a drop in the bucket. ABQ on its own? Probably top 5 of wealth. Maybe.

EXTRAVAGANT_COMMENT

he wouldn't be the richest, but he could do very well for himself anyway. between Walt, Gus, Mike, Gale, Jimmy, and probably others that I am forgetting, it is a common theme that they are choosing a life of crime even though they could be successful in other lines of work

Mike_Honcho_3

Honestly think not even close even with the drug money. 11 billion is an absurd amount of money. Not even sure Eladio would have had that much.

Pleasant_Job_7683

Gus death was hands down the best on the show

riptydo

Mike tells Hank in breaking bad exactly how many restaurants they have, it's between 5-6 states, and I don't remember how many restaurants it is, I want to say 14

Jameswade4771

Yes

BimmerJustin

The fact is that we don’t know how much of the net proceeds of his drug empire ended up within his net worth. We do know that the lab was not operational for very long, and he was taking a significant hit when getting his product from the cartel. Madrigal owns much of LPH. On paper, after all the money laundering, it wouldn’t surprise me if his net worth were in the 200-300mil range at the time of his death. I doubt that is the richest person in NM, at the time the show takes place.

RemarkableRyan

There’s more Lotta Burger locations in all of NM than there were Los Pollos Hermanos locations in ABQ

SeanInMyTree

Around that t8me frame it would have been an obscure math teacher/financier named Jeffrey Epstein

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