On his first day in the restaurant business, Andrew K. Smith was the dishwasher.

Not the investor. Not the strategist. Not the guy fixing tech stacks or analyzing labor margins. Just the guy at the sink, scrubbing trays, rinsing off sheet pans.

It wasn't exactly what he had pictured when he told his wife he was ready for a new challenge.

Today, Smith is the managing partner and co-founder of Savory Fund, a restaurant investment firm known for helping brands scale nationally. But before the boardrooms and portfolios, he started where few investors do: behind the dish pit.

Rewind a year. His wife had launched a bakery, a fast-casual dessert concept that opened in the middle of the 2008 financial crash. Smith, still deep in his tech CEO role, didn't exactly love the idea. "In my mind, I'm like, that's the worst idea," he now admits. "But you know what I responded? I was like, 'I think it's a great idea. Of course. And we should absolutely do that.'"

It wasn't sarcasm. It was marriage. And, as he puts it, "because of that, I just celebrated my 26th anniversary."

Related: His Sushi Burger Got 50 Million Views — and Launched an Entire........

© Entrepreneur