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As you hear about those grant stories, there all feel good stories. They all tug
on your heartstrings because, you know, it could happen to anybody in the
restaurant space. And so again, I just I love what you guys do. I think it's so
amazing the way that you give back so generously. It's really is truly close to
my heart.

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Welcome to restaurant 365 Presents Behind the Numbers, a show where we talk to
restaurant owners, operators, chef's kitchen managers, CFOs, and everyone in
between about what makes a successful restaurants tick. Before we get started,
quick reminder to like and subscribe to the show. Wherever you're watching,
please consider leaving a review. It really does help us continue to bring you
these incredible guests and conversations.

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While we grow and support our amazing restaurant community. And with that, I'm
your host, Mark Cohen, and I'm Rick Sweeney, and we've got a little something
different today, something that's kind of very special, very close to the heart,
so to speak. For more than two years now, restaurant 365 has supported core
children of restaurant employees in their mission to help restaurant
professionals and their families who fallen on hard times.

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Everything from a health crisis to a natural disaster. Everything in between.
Today we've got Jill Chapman, course director of corporate partnerships, and
Christine Miles, a long time restaurant marketing veteran who now works with
Core. Jill, Christine, go tell us a little bit about yourselves and then we'll
jump into all things core. Sure. You guys, and I'll go ahead and start.

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As I said, I'm Jill Chapman. I am the corporate partnership director at Core. I
have been in this position about three years now. It kind of seems when I look
back at where I've come from to get to here, where I am now, I have spent a
majority of my career in the nonprofit sector, so it's just in my blood, I
suspect, but here at Core, I really my, the majority that my job is I work with
our corporate partners and anything that's really relates to bringing in
fundraising that would support our mission.

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Okay. Yes. And hi, I'm Christine Miles, and yes, to your point, I have been in
restaurant hospitality marketing my entire career. I've been involved with the
industry for probably going on 30 years now. Which is crazy to me. But yeah, so
I have helped out everything from large corporate chains to individual
restaurants. And also that leads into helping with core.

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I've been with core as on their marketing department for probably 3 or 4 years
now. And so I'm it's just been an honor to work with them and help out the
hospitality industry that has given so back to me so much to me personally.
Awesome. Well, welcome to Behind the Numbers. We're thrilled to have you here,
and we're thrilled to be partners with you in all things core.

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Just quickly, what is sort of the mission statement of core? Our mission
statement is we are a national nonprofit and we financially support food and
beverage service families across the country. Amazing and needed. And I'm
curious. So so if we're if we'd like to talk numbers on the show, obviously we
always like to start with some fun numbers.

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How many grants did you did you issue last year? Yeah, we issued, over 600,000
grants last year. Wow. Yes. Hang over 600,000. And then we helped 1000. About a
thousand, a little over a thousand people. Okay, so that's incredible. And
obviously, we're we've partnered with you now for how how is the R3 65
partnership sort of blossomed over the years?

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Sort of what's what sort of metrics have we been able to help move the needle?
Oh, absolutely. Restaurant 365. This is our, we're we're we've been put together
for two years now as a partner and a restaurant. 365 is a silver partner. In
this two years, they have helped over 35 families. Whether it be through natural
disasters.

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Keeping the roof over their heads, lights on, and actually over 10,000 meals
provided to families in times of need. Wow. Love to hear that. Yes. Isn't that
amazing? That is incredible. I mean, so kind of. Thank you. Restaurant 365. Yes,
yes. Thank you, thank you. Man, I just I just like take us back. So like how did
core get started?

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I remember that it was the restaurant association. And as happens at the
National Restaurant Association show, adult beverages may have been involved,
but your story is a little bit different. I don't know what you're talking
about, but allegedly, allegedly alleged. Allegedly. Allegedly. Yeah. Allegedly.
Yeah. What was the take that one. Sure. It the you are exactly right.

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There was a group of, of industry beverage beverage industry veterans who went
to the NRA show that's national restaurants. Is it the, you know, the
restaurants, not rifles. You know, the show? Yeah, yeah. And, and they met at a
pub after one of the meetings and we're just kind of talking about the industry
in general and, and just how specifically, how did the children of our industry
needed help and so and the whole family because, as you know, if someone if, if
a child, if there's a family with a child like that affects the whole it's the
whole family.

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Like it's just if something happens to the parent, then the child is affected.
And so there are other organizations that would help out if there was just a
server who's on their own. There are organizations that would help out that
person and specifically. But for has decided to embrace the entire family aspect
of it. So whether it's the server or the, you know, the the employee, their
spouse or their child that needs help, that's where we step in.

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And so there is a little bit of a differentiator there. But yeah, they were just
out kind of had a little napkin idea of how can we help out? And they created
core. And that was 21 years ago. What's what's amazing to me is that, you know,
we've all been part of these adult beverage conversations, and we all have these
grand schemes and great ideas.

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Rarely do they come to fruition. So the fact that this actually happened, right,
that it's moved forward is, is incredible. It's it's a testament to the people
that that, that got this whole thing started. Yeah. I totally agree with you.
That's my biggest takeaway is so many times you have these big ideas, you know,
after a long day and then the napkin is gone the next morning and no one talks
about it again.

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So kudos to that team who created core. And I love that it was industry people.
Right. It's get the the roots are still in that that restaurant you know that
hospitality that that that sort of that spirit of giving that I think is just
inherent in people that work in this industry sort of carries through to what
you're doing now.

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And originally, this was under the umbrella of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Is
that sort of where it's where got it's grassroots as well? Yeah. You're right.
They were trying to figure out how to start it. And, and so they did fold under
the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But as, as time went on, they heard from some of the
families saying, these are great memories.

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But, you know, what we are struggling with right now are the financial aspect,
of the living at our home, all these, expenses that we're incurring. And so
that's when core kind of pulled back and said, oh my gosh, you know, I think we
found our niche within the industry. And that's when they just kind of pulled
away and then created, went on their own and actually ran as a volunteer
organization.

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So about 2015, when they hired their first, full time employee because the need
for Core started growing and they saw it said, we we better we better like start
this and do it with a full time employee and get it this going. And what now?
Gosh, Christine is what's, 11 years later, you know, we're we've grown so much,
and last year we we, you know, as Christine said, granted over over $600,000.

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So. Wow. And it's it's funny too, because you say you guys have grown so much.
But if I remember when we talked before, the core team is, a small but mighty
four and a half people, right? Right. That is correct. Who's the half that is?
Yeah. Okay. Christine seems like I'm. And a half. Yeah, but, I mean, for a
national organization.

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Works like a full time. I bet for for a national organization being able to have
such great output. I mean, that's that's amazing that you can do it with such a
small staff. You know, obviously, it's it's like you said before, you kind of
found your niche, within like kind of the, the giving space, the same way that
restaurants try to find their niche in their neighborhoods or like how they're
going to stand out.

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And obviously, for what you all are doing definitely resonates with with folks
like us from the industry. And Christine, you have a restaurant marketing
background. Is that sort of. Yes. Where so how do you sort of take that and
apply it to what core is doing. Is it, is it the same principles fundamentally
or how is it different.

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It's, it's a little different in that there are kind of some there's there's a
more, I want to say, a more human aspect. Obviously in restaurants there's a
human aspect to it with your guests, but also this just takes it to another
level. And that we're we're helping the people that that serve us every day. And
so that's kind of instead of having, you know, automated systems, you know,
there's so much tech involved with restaurant marketing right now.

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Yep. That's not something really that we, you know, we're a nonprofit that want
to help people. And so we're really going and help you know, getting to the
people directly. So kind of the technology part of it has isn't quite as
important a little more as marketing. Boots on the ground. Grab a little more
boots on the ground a little more.

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That makes sense talking to people directly. And that's why, you know, you see,
Joe, at a lot of these conferences, it's more personal. And so, you know, and
also, you know, we have two members of our team that they they are talking to
the grantees and, and all that. So I mean, obviously that's a personal level to
it as well.

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So yeah, it's definitely a more personal aspect as compared to just, you know,
sending out emails here and there. Yeah. Well, so I guess if you could like tell
us a little bit more about that. Right. Like you've mentioned a few times that
it's grants. I guess. But how does core function operate. You know, how do they
help give back to the restaurant community?

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Well, okay. Well I'll go ahead and go. Well, as far as the as I say, just the
grants go. Yeah. Obviously that's our main that's our main thing is that we give
grants to the front of house, back of the house, hourly employees that work in
the restaurants every day. And so how they can make it, they go online, apply
online, and then there's an application process and then there's an approval
process.

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And then they give they get their money within what, two weeks there. Yeah. Wow.
Wow. So it's a it's a very quick turnover. It's a very yes very quick. And
considering 74% of our grantees are worried about housing, that's their main
issue is that they're worried about losing their house. And so we try to we get
that money to them as quickly as possible.

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Because that way they can make their rent, make their mortgage payment and, you
know, kind of move on, move on. Because, you know, when there's a it's so
stressful, you can imagine if you have some kind of a natural disaster that
you're not able to work. That's your whole thing. And you're right. Living
paycheck, you're not working. You're not getting a paycheck.

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Yep. Yeah. And so, you know, we try to turn that over as quickly as possible,
right. Yeah. Because there's in the industry there's no PTO or lack thereof. And
after about two weeks that hopelessness a fresh start setting in and and and and
Christine, we know because we see the cases come through a lot of times people
just don't want to ask for help.

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So they're already facing eviction before we hear from them. So we want to we
want to turn that sense of urgency so critical. Yeah. Yeah. And how many of
these are single parents? I would imagine quite a few. 56%. And I will tell you
that number kind of fluctuates a lot depending on the the natural disasters that
happen within a year because it, it, it will come if we have a lot of natural
disasters and we've got a lot of grants going to, it'll skew that number down.

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But it's been as high as 72% before in different years. Yeah. And I mean and the
majority of those are single moms. Okay. Yeah. And you're mentioning like
natural disasters I mean I think besides like natural disasters that people
would think of as far as like floods and earthquakes and things like that, even
just like personal natural disasters.

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Right. Like if somebody has a spouse that, that passes or, you know, somebody
has to have surgery because they, you know, got hurt, we're going to be out of
work for a while, you know, things like that. I, I know that there's been a lot
of the, you know, a lot of the stories that you all have shared with us, as the,
the core ambassadors, just saying, you know, you definitely get to, to hear
about some of those stories has been amazing as well.

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How how did the partnership come to be with restaurant? 365 like, how did we
find you? Honestly, I, Morgan, he reached the Harris co-founder. Yes, yes. Yeah.
Morgan Harris because he reached out to our website because he was looking for
some. He wanted to give back to the industry, and he was looking at different
organizations. And I saw.

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And I just reached out to him and we started talking, and let's, you know, we,
we we started working together on a few other mentors that honestly, you just
he's just the most generous. Yeah, he's. I'm going to talk to you. I'm not
surprised. Yeah. And you know, just to talk a little bit more on the partnership
with restaurant 6365, I would love to tell you a little bit because, we have a
lot of partners, obviously.

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And, and as I said, you guys are a silver partner, but, Morgan's from the get
go. Morgan really wanted to embrace an organization that helped with this
industry full circle with, with internally with, your company and externally. So
not many companies do this, and I use restaurant 365 when talking to other
partners that how restaurant?

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365 embraces core because I think it's really important for people to know,
internally, just a few things that, you guys do is you not only have Morgan and
everyone at the top talking about core, but you have ambassadors internally
within your company, spread out in all different departments right there. This
guy's one. So the message never gets lost in the day to day.

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You have challenges. You have, internal payroll deduction. If someone just wants
it off your payroll, you have a word code points instead of someone purchasing,
something for themselves, they can purchase donation dollars to go to court.
Absolutely. And you guys do things throughout the year and a huge annual raffle
at the end of the year from end of the year gifts.

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So those things are amazing. And on the external side, I know your sales team
has back of the house posters that they take to all their clients, so they
personally talk to all your clients about who core is and how we can help. So
they can put that at each location for their employees. And I know that when
disaster relief efforts happen for disasters around the country, your team goes
to all your clients and says, if you were affected and need help, core is here.

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And, and that is very special too, because that means restaurant 365 is a
lifeline to your clients. And that's very, very meaningful. We appreciate that.
And we we feel the same way. I mean, we we've loved this partnership since it
started and we've got so many different avenues to, to, to, to for our employees
to contribute. We just did an internal drive this past quarter.

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We I think we raised $10,000. Yeah. Awesome. But yeah, so many different ways to
to help contribute and support. And you're right, it isn't just the top. It
isn't just the executive team that talks about core. It's throughout the entire
company. And this there's rarely an event we do where where you are not either
present or at least being, you know, talked about for sure at our transform
events.

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Absolutely, absolutely. And so I'm wondering these, these partnerships and
Christine, from a marketing standpoint, is, is part of you know, there's there's
one side of it in terms of getting the word out about core, but then you're
also, you know, setting up these partnerships. How how do these how do you find
partners? A lot of it honestly, is, is is Jill right there?

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Okay. Do you want it's true that she's in charge of corporate partnerships. So I
would imagine there is a marketing component to it a little bit a little bit of
a there is I mean, but it's it's also just the awareness. I mean, honestly,
conferences are a huge part of our marketing budget. I mean, having people and
representatives, primarily.

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Jill, I'll go out there, a few of them, we have Madison Merian, who's also on
our team. She goes out there. So I mean, as I said, there's a lot of personal
when you're talking about stories about our grantees and and the people we help
it really having someone talk to this, talk about it personally has more of an
effect.

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And so I really the conferences are so important from a marketing standpoint.
Yeah. But then also as I said, like Jill mentioned, the, the, like the back of
the house posters and things like that. Another huge part of marketing is how do
we reach the people that we are trying to help. Yeah, right. Because that's
that's our mission.

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We want to help people. And so that's why it's so important for like the back of
the house posters and having partners like you who do go out and talk to your
partners, who share our mission with your partners to say, hey, there's a
resource here for you. I mean, that is just so important to us. And it's just so
helpful because, again, we're a team of four and a half.

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So people. Yeah. So we do we are very reliant on our partners and our
ambassadors to get out there and help spread the word for us as well. Right.
It's I mean, I've been in the industry my entire life and I, you know, I came to
learn about core through Morgan through our 365. So, yeah, getting that word out
is it's, you know, it's important.

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Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we'll have days where the just the team will go out
and just we get stacks of posters and just go visit restaurants in the area and
just ask them, we're here as a resource. Put this up, you know, because it's
again, we want people to know that we're here for them. We're not just here to
get corporate partnerships.

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We're here to we want to help people. And I have to imagine the reaction is
like, wow, yeah, it's never heard thing we've never heard of. That's right.
Yeah. Well that's what's what's interesting. And Jill was there for this. She
probably knows what I'm going to say. We were at, a conference last year where
we were, we were just at lunch, and we were just talking about, you know, people
asking, what do you do?

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Your corner. So can we get financial grants? And one of the leaders that I'm not
going to call them out, but one of the leaders of a restaurant group that was
sitting there and he's like, well, what's the catch? Yeah. It's like, oh, wait,
what do you what do you mean, what's the catch? And he said, well, you don't
just give them money.

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We're like, yes, yes, yes we do. That's exactly what we do. You have to partner
with us for your employees to receive a grant. We grant to everyone in the food
service industry as long as they fit the qualifications. So it's not like a one
on one of like, okay, you're a partner, therefore you get money. It's we're here
for the entire industry.

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Yeah. And Mark you were touching base is is is Christine said our funding how we
can give these financial grants out is by our corporate partnerships and and the
conferences for awareness. And we meet people who want to, you know, jump on
board and become a partner when we meet them. But we also have people who do
events for us throughout the year, maybe even in product promotions.

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When I talk about a product promotion, it could be like, for instance, Lyft.
Last year, Margaritaville got together with Tito's and Kerry Foods, and they put
all their products. They put their brands together and created a drink that was
about for all summer long. And I dollar of that drink comes back to core. So
it's kind of a beautiful thing.

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Everyone wins. They they all get their name out there. They're on, you know,
little cards at the restaurant saying, try this drink at Benefits core. And of
course it benefits us. So all all these different little buckets that we work on
all year long, it's what helps keep our mission alive and funded, to be able to
financially, put these grants out to the people in need.

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We've we've come full circle back to our adult beverage roots. I love Marina.
Yes. That's right. No, but you know what? They're awesome. And the suppliers in
the adult beverage world, they're awesome. Oh, yeah. The support. So you got to
include. Yes, absolutely. I was I was just going to jump on and say we also work
with, the local state and city hospitality organizations.

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So example we're, we're based in Nashville. And just coincidentally, it happens
to be Dine Nashville this month in February. And so there's probably 20 to 30
restaurants in Nashville who are a part of Dine Nashville. And some of their
they have special dinners, and the part of the proceeds go back to help out for.
And so, as Jill said, we have these little activations that go on in different
places throughout the country throughout the year, and sometimes just with the
help of ambassadors, sometimes just with the help of brands.

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It really just we work with everyone. If they want to raise money for us, we
will figure out a way to make that happen. Yeah. And and I always love it too,
especially like fundraising in the restaurant space. I always feel like it's
like a little bit different than just your standard, like go out and try to
collect donations, right?

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Like you can have like a round up at, you know, different restaurants where they
can round your check up and then donate that. But I always just love the idea of
those partnerships that you were mentioning. Right. Like we're going to if you
buy this drink, which already sounds amazing and refreshing and you're going to
probably want a few of them, but now you know that you're drinking for good
because, you know, a dollar from every one of those is being donated back.

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Like, those are the things, I think, that always resonate with people, because
it doesn't feel like they're pulling money out of their pocket to, you know,
like to, to put it somewhere. They're, they're getting something and doing
something great at the same time. Yeah. And so many people come from the
restaurant industry, right. Like we know how hard it is in restaurants.

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We understand that people are living check the check and that you have something
that happens, whether it's, a natural disaster or personal emergency, you know,
something physical, somebody you know is out sick, whatever that might be. That
could just totally take you down. Everybody who's worked in a restaurant has
known someone who's been in that type of situation.

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And so that's where when I heard about Cork, you know, it was like, oh, like
instantly. How do I find ways of giving back? How do I find ways of
participating and and being involved because it just resonates so much with the
with the restaurant guy that's still inside? Yeah, that's exactly right. I
personally think everyone should have to work in a restaurant at some point, and
3,000% we all have.

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Correct? We all. I'm sure we did it. That's why we're here. And I can tell when
I'm dining with somebody that hasn't exactly, exactly. You can learn so many
things from waiting on terrible waiting tables. Yes, absolutely. Well, I always
you know, I've always said that one of the things I love about restaurant 365 is
we do hire a lot of restaurant people, even though we are a SAS company.

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Right? We fundamentally I think we'd like to think we're a hospitality company.
Right. And we hire a lot of restaurant people. And the reason I love restaurant
people and I always say this is there's two things you just can't I can teach
anybody how to use the software. You know how to do debits and credits. What I
can't teach you is that sense of hospitality is just is inherent in restaurant
people and the sense of urgency.

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Which is why people love our support. Because our support team, they were all
restaurant managers and they all know how quickly we need to solve a problem.
Right. So it's it's yeah it's one of the things I love about our and that's very
true. Well yeah. And again you've kind of taken do you have the technology side
of it.

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But again it's like that that human side to it as well. It's huge. It's so
important. And you know talking about the human side, that is one of the things
we we feel is a feather in our cap at core. Because when someone applies for a
grant, they are, you know, they're stressed, they feel hopeless, and they want
to be heard, like, just we can't help them, you know?

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But we can hear them. And after their application, you know, fit the criteria.
They'll get a phone call from one of our committee members on the grant
committee, and they they talk to them and they listen to them. And it it is just
an I hear them on the phone and it's just so heartwarming because that personal
touch, you know, in any, anywhere, is very meaningful, is very meaningful.

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And that's one thing that we love about core is that we give that to every
person. And that's kind of going through a crisis. They're going to feel that
love from us, even if we can. We can't help them. But we you know, they'll
either going to able to get the grant or not. But it's just nice to know
someone's listening.

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Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well then also we do if whether we can help someone out
or not. We also try to offer that there are other organizations that might be
able to help them. So even if we can't, let's say they don't qualify for
whatever reason, there might be another organization or someone else that can
help them. And so that's we also try to recommend them to other resources
because again, we want these people to be up and back at work as soon as
possible.

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And so even if we can't help, we want to find someone that that can help them.
And it's that that hospitality, right, that just translates through, right?
Whether you're able to help them. If you can't let me introduce you to somebody
else, let me point you towards some other resources. It's not just a no. We
can't, you know, slam the door.

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It's really trying to find some way of getting that person helping, you know,
that they need it. We're all in here together. Yep. We're all here together to
help each other. And so. Yeah, that's exactly right. Absolutely. So I'm sure
we've got a lot of people listening that are hearing about core for the first
time. Right. As we've just just, you know, how does somebody get involved with
core.

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Like what what's the best path to sort of reach out and contribute or get
involved if they want to? Oh, you're not not sure a grant, but they just oh,
they just love what we're doing. And you maybe they will contribute to donate.
They will. Got you. Oh, absolutely. Going to our website is probably the easiest
because all of our information's on there where you could just email us or call
us directly.

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And if it's volunteering, we can, we can talk to you about being an ambassador
for Core, where, you know, when your daily life, you'll you'll know about core,
and you can interject it with clients and things like that. Just an ambassador.
You could be a company that might want to be donate or put on an event or do a
product promotion.

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So all the and we've had a listen, we've got tons of ideas. So if you're not
sure what you want to do, we can help you find an idea. That's right. Option for
you. Yeah that's right. And we can tie into things like, you know, we have the
bull, the bull riding like, yeah, there's a rodeo coming in town.

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We'll find a way to put a bull riding event together and make it an event like
that. We will find something like that. And they get multiple phone calls
requesting the bull riding. Yeah, we'll know what it takes, but I just think the
first, the first thing is you do is you just reach out to us and we'll just talk
about where your interests lie and what your when you think you might be able to
do.

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And, and we'll, we'll, we'll find the path, the right path. That's fitting for
you to help. And I know it also be there. So say that one more time. How does
this sorry to become a core ambassador. There's also a page on our website to
become a core ambassador if you want to you know, be like, reach and help spread
the word locally.

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We would love to have you come. You can apply to be an ambassador on our website
as well. And I what I was gonna say is, I know we're going to say this at the
end too, but we keep mentioning the website website as core gives.org. So if
you're thinking about it while you're listening, you can, you know, hop on your
phone and take a look.

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Unless you're driving, if you're driving, don't do that. Wait till you're
parked. But, you know, be able to go check it out so you can learn about ways of
getting in touch and being a part of being a part of core, especially if you
want to ride a bull. Exactly. I mean, it's Asheville. It's happening again at
the end of May.

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We're doing again this year. So come on, whenever the rodeo is sometime in May,
I think. Yeah, come on down. It's fun. It's harder than you think I don't know.
Yeah, I know, I think I've been on a mechanical bull. But again adult beverages
were likely involved. So. Yeah. Yeah. I have to. It's up to, you know, the
restaurant landscape for us as we look at it across, you know, just North
America, the United States.

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Right. Obviously the majority of restaurants are these what we call our SMB
clients, right? Our small medium, like 1 to 2 locations, you know, as they you
know, some of these groups grow in scale and they become these dominant
restaurant groups. But I would imagine for the most part, you know, it's the
smaller restaurants that are probably the ones that are that the hardest, maybe
to get to right, to communicate with them, know that you're there, but they're
also probably represent the majority of the people that I would imagine are
probably reaching out to you.

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I mean we yeah. Small restaurant community. It's a tough spot all around it.
That's true. And then again that's I think where the the local and statewide
hospitality associations really help out. And we're trying to get more involved.
There's some locations have independent restaurant associations and so we're
getting more involved with those. And, and again, that's any, any organization
that will help us spread the word is great.

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But you are absolutely right. It's hard. There's mom and pops. All are hard.
There are so many of them. Yeah. And they are the ones that generally you're
right, they might not have a corporate structure, but you know, that can help
them through these times. And so we're we are actively trying to go and and find
these people so they know that we're a resource for them.

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And like you mentioned before too, it's people always have that perception of
like, well what? Like the what's what's the trade off. What do you want for me?
What's the catch? I think because what you guys do is so specific, for
restaurants and it's just about giving back to all of those restaurant
employees, especially in that small business space, you know, you might have
somebody who doesn't even realize that there is such a great resource like all
of you, you know, or they may know that there's something out there but not know
the best way to find it.

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So hopefully, you know, through the through you all being on today that this can
get shared out to somebody in need so that they'll be able to reach out to you.
Yeah, absolutely. I was curious and not to put you on the spot, but, did you
have any specific grant stories or anything like that that you wanted to be able
to share something some of that you guys wanted to share with the audience?

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I do have one that I, I, I printed out, and it's actually, from an employee from
a client of restaurant 365 who was prepared with, so this is, from an, an
employee, Crystal from Texas. And I'll just I'll read her words because we
always ask for some feedback during the application process after they've
received a grant.

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And this is what she wrote. She goes, I was recently diagnosed with a genetic
disorder that left me paralyzed and unable to work. Poor, stepped in and covered
bills while I was being diagnosed and a treatment plan was was developed. Things
can happen in the blink of an eye. I went from working full time and supporting
my family to laying in a hospital bed, unable to use my legs in less than 72
hours.

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That was terrifying. And then trying to figure out how to care for myself and
how to pay the bills adds to that everyday stress. But core helped alleviate so
much of that stress and we are forever grateful. So wow, that's just kind of one
story of where you know, how core can help a family. That's amazing. I love
that, it's it's one of those things you can kind of be involved with that you
always, as you hear about those grant stories, they're all feel good stories.

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They all, you know, they all touch somewhere and tug on your heartstrings
because, you know, it could happen to anybody in the restaurant space. And so
again, I just I love what you guys do. I think it's so amazing the way that you
give back so generously. It's really is truly close to my heart, you know, thank
you so much.

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Yeah. Yeah. And again, it's it's reaching out for the whole family because it's
not she was the breadwinner the the breadwinner for her family. And so it's not
like she can just go, you know, depend on a friend to go stay. You know, it's
just it's yeah. She's it sees it. And so again that's the the single parent.

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It's it's really tough if something happens and that's why that's why we're
here. Yeah. And that's why we, we embrace that family with a dependent because
they're the most susceptible during a time of crisis. Yeah. So I know you
mentioned that I was because I know you mentioned the the radio coming up. Are
there any, any now, now I feel like I need to go to Nashville and get like a
core cowboy hat and attempt.

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Yeah. Well, I can get you as you should. Oh yeah. You talked about marketing.
Let's go. I took your cowboy hat for a cowboy hat for. I will do it, but I just
signed myself up. I think we have something here. Branded restaurant 365 for
cowboy hat. Let's go. I would wear that. Besides that. That, like what?

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Are there any other upcoming events that you guys are planning on putting out,
or that you have kind of lined up for this year? Anything in the pipeline for
folks to be aware of? Yeah, we certainly do. In, in, let's see, in September,
it's September and October. We have our serving up Hope campaign that goes on
every year.

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That's a traditional a campaign that we do that really pushes people to get out
into restaurants and to support the restaurants during that time. And it gives
decor. So it's just sort of like a highlighted highlight and put the focus back
on the restaurants, just a specific time that we can do that within a year. And,
and a new program that we're kicking off is, classrooms caring for classrooms.

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It's brand new this year, and it's by donation, certain dollars will help ensure
that a families their child will have, the, the basic needs to go to, to go back
to school with their school supplies, book bags and, and things like that. And
then we have a bowling tournament that's local here in Nashville, called Spare
Some Love Bowling.

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And it was our first one last year, and, it was great. Christine. Full credit
for that one. And that actually wasn't me. Honestly, that was our first one
there. Yeah. Maddie, Maddie did a great job with that. I respect a good town,
and I know you do. And then we have our we did the year. Give it did I miss did
you miss anything.

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We have a couple things that I did with gratitude. How did I forget that. That
is at the end of the year as well. And that that is a program where we help, you
can donate a certain dollar amount and, we'll have families, families of 4 to 6
from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It'll provide meals to that whole holiday
season.

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And so, that that started last year and it was very popular week, very popular
last year. So that's going to come back and we can start earlier and really gain
some better momentum on that one as well. So those so, we are definitely growing
in our programs to support in lots of different ways because, you know, some
people go, you know, I really am into that food security.

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And some people, you know, they have the kids and they understand the classroom
and the needs, like they don't want the child doesn't want to be embarrassed or
have their head down. Like I don't have the pencils of the crayons. So everyone,
you know, resonates with different things. And we're trying to provide different
avenues to help. For those different categories that would, you know, that
would, you know, people would latch on to not not just in a moment of crisis.

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Yes. Ongoing support. And I also do want to say, please, I want to plug again
our website and also, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook all at core
gives at core gives if to follow because we always have things going on as far
as different promotions throughout the year and some things like again, the Dei
Nashville that's specifically in Nashville, some other things we might work
with, a regional restaurant group that, you know, for a poor for, for something
on the site.

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So just make sure to follow us on whatever your favorite platform is. And we'll
be promoting that on a on the varying platform. So you'll know what you know.
You'll know about the bowl or not. The morning. Okay. No, we're studying this up
to another level. All right, I know Marcus. Marcus, you're the bull fighting.
I'll just do the whole writing part.

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No, no. Yeah. The bowl writing, things like that people know about. Okay. Thank
you. Christian college. Yeah. You. We will have all of that on our on our
different social channels and on our website. And so please, just, you know,
follow us and, you know, give us a follow, give us a like and stay aware of what
we're doing.

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So you can you know know what's going on with course throughout the year. And of
course our transform event is happening in November this year in Scottsdale. I'm
sure you will be there. Yes, I will be there, yes. So if you want to meet Jill
in person, come join us in Scottsdale in November to meet everybody. Absolutely.
She's very easy to talk to.

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And and this is sort of our year of transform. Right. This is sort of our theme
for 2026. So curious you know for core you've got all these events coming up.
How what what's what's transformative about how you're attacking the industry
this year? Well, I was going to say Jill totally just stole my trans my Prius
from as far as how traditionally poor has done just the flat grants, not great
cost you.

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You know, if you need help, here's a grant. Sure I did, didn't I? You sure did.
No. But that's we are trying to be a little bit more specific and kind of kind
of help. This is a way to help more people out. And that as far as our our
caring for the classroom and our groceries with gratitude and that there is you
don't need to have a specific crisis to happen in order to qualify for those
goals.

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We were helping out low income families in need in the hospitality industry that
might not otherwise be able to afford these types of, you know, groceries during
the holidays and are facing food insecurity. And again, you know, classrooms,
school supplies are so expensive. And so we're coming up with with special
programs like that that don't necessarily need to have a qualifying crisis in
order to get a grant.

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And so that's another way that we can kind of we're reaching out and
transforming to help other hospitality, workers. And for another way that course
transforming in 2026 is obviously, you know, we have our mission, CRS mission,
but we've created a new arm of core called core MSO. And that is where a company
could create their own internal, program, crisis grant program to help their
internal employees.

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But it they so they fund the program for their employees and they can create
their own criteria, but core can run it for them. So they're not hiring a new
person, taking someone and having half their job, trying to figure out how to do
this. We've been doing it for over 21 years. We're streamlined. And, and and
it's incredible.

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It also gives core, and more opportunity to reach more of those industry
families by doing it this way as well. That's I love that you might need to add
another half body depending on how popular. Yeah, we might get you up to five
this year. We might get up to five. Yeah. Maybe. We've. It's been very
successful.

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We have a couple people who are doing the program with us, and it's very
successful, and we're really set it up. We'll run it for you. And yep, we said
it from the get go all the way to the reporting at the end and everything in
between. Yeah. I mean it's so easy. Yeah. No reason to not do it.

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Yeah.

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All right. Well we always like to wrap these things up with sort of a, a hot
take on the industry. I'm wondering if you've got, and, you know. Yes, as as
diners, as people like to go out to eat at a anything that's happening in the
restaurant world that maybe bothers you or something you love or something you'd
love to see come back, that maybe has gone away.

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Well, I have I, for one, I already have my hot take of one. I think everyone
needs to work in a restaurant. And so when I bring that back, top of the list,
everyone needs to go work in a restaurant so they can, you know, you can just
learn so many things, but also, just kind of relating it back to core, just kind
of for, for leaders out there, 75% of consumers will want to support a company
that helps out their community.

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So it is a good business decision to help out nonprofits in your area. So and
90% of brands that help out communities, nonprofits say that it's been
beneficial to them. So it's it's a come work with us. It's makes sense for
business. And I would argue this current workforce cares about that is what I'd
like. Employees care about who you know.

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They care about the culture of the companies they're working for. They want to
know it's more than just a job. So on both sides, I think it's critical. Yeah,
exactly. That's absolutely true. Yes. And I and I guess my hot take is, let's
not have cau be the a best kept secret. It shouldn't be a secret. We want
everybody out there to know that core is here to help for our restaurant, food
and beverage families.

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Screaming from the mountaintops. I'm here for that. Yep. Visit us at Core
games.org. Yeah. All right. Well, Joe Christine thank you both so much for
joining us today. For everything that you do at Core and, for letting us, be
such a, you know, a fun partner with all of you. You can find both of them on
LinkedIn as well as core, and you can also find Core on Facebook and Instagram
at Core Gifts.

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Most importantly, don't forget you can donate to core by visiting core GameStop
org. Any amount really goes a long way to support members of our restaurant
community all across the country. And thanks everybody for joining us. We hope
you have a great day, a great shift, a profitable Monday, wherever your
restaurant may be. And please make sure to like and subscribe everywhere you
listen, watch the podcast or on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, all social
medias, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and of course you can always visit us at
restaurant three 65.com.

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Jill, Christine, really appreciate the time today and I just love what you're
doing. Thank you, thank you, thank you for having us. Yeah. Thank you for
restaurant 365. What you do for the industry is amazing. And thank you for.