1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,166 People love the visuals. 2 00:00:01,166 --> 00:00:04,708 Our new versions going to have slow motion video, and you can send us a slow 3 00:00:04,708 --> 00:00:07,708 mo video of one of your bowls after, and then we'll see. 4 00:00:07,750 --> 00:00:10,750 You got to. 5 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:14,500 Look at that slow motion. 6 00:00:16,416 --> 00:00:19,416 Oh yeah, that slow mo baby. 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,083 Slow motion. 8 00:00:21,083 --> 00:00:24,083 Slow. 9 00:00:27,208 --> 00:00:28,250 Welcome to restaurant three. 10 00:00:28,250 --> 00:00:32,125 65% behind the numbers show where we talked to restaurant owners, 11 00:00:32,125 --> 00:00:35,625 operators, chef's kitchen managers, CFOs, everybody involved 12 00:00:35,625 --> 00:00:38,625 in what makes restaurants tick and how they do it so well. 13 00:00:38,708 --> 00:00:40,458 Before we get started, just a quick reminder. 14 00:00:40,458 --> 00:00:43,375 Don't forget to like and subscribe to the show wherever you're watching. 15 00:00:43,375 --> 00:00:44,458 And please consider leaving us. 16 00:00:44,458 --> 00:00:45,541 A review 17 00:00:45,541 --> 00:00:48,541 helps us continue to bring you all these great guests and conversations 18 00:00:48,708 --> 00:00:51,291 while growing and supporting our amazing restaurant community. 19 00:00:51,291 --> 00:00:53,291 And with that, I'm your host for training, 20 00:00:53,291 --> 00:00:56,875 and I'm Marc Cohen, and we're with a great friend of the show today, Prakash Carmen 21 00:00:56,875 --> 00:01:00,541 Johnny, the CEO and co-founder of Ohio's Balanced pan-Asian grill. 22 00:01:00,708 --> 00:01:02,666 PK, as we love to call him out, 23 00:01:02,666 --> 00:01:03,333 why don't you go ahead 24 00:01:03,333 --> 00:01:06,333 and tell us a little bit about yourself and your organization? 25 00:01:06,458 --> 00:01:07,208 Yeah, absolutely. 26 00:01:07,208 --> 00:01:08,958 So I'm a co-founder of balance. 27 00:01:08,958 --> 00:01:11,500 We got started all the way back in 2010. 28 00:01:11,500 --> 00:01:15,208 Started with a college, roommate of mine, 29 00:01:15,208 --> 00:01:17,875 and we started our first store in 2008, right 30 00:01:17,875 --> 00:01:20,875 when we graduated, kind of the height of the financial depression. 31 00:01:21,208 --> 00:01:23,250 Fun fact I always like to share 32 00:01:23,250 --> 00:01:26,333 because it was kind of risky, but we didn't have any actual capital. 33 00:01:27,208 --> 00:01:31,166 So we used nothing but credit cards and landlord to, to pay the contractors. 34 00:01:31,166 --> 00:01:32,875 And, we got up and running. 35 00:01:32,875 --> 00:01:34,791 But here we are. 36 00:01:34,791 --> 00:01:37,250 We're coming up on our 16th year. 37 00:01:37,250 --> 00:01:39,291 We have four corporate locations. 38 00:01:39,291 --> 00:01:41,041 We've done a little bit of franchising as well 39 00:01:41,041 --> 00:01:43,166 and have a little more coming up this year. 40 00:01:43,166 --> 00:01:46,166 And, yeah, that's a little bit about us. 41 00:01:46,541 --> 00:01:50,041 How all great restaurant empires are built on some debt and a dream. 42 00:01:50,041 --> 00:01:52,583 Right? Hopes, dreams. 43 00:01:52,583 --> 00:01:54,750 Lots of credit cards, lots of tears. 44 00:01:54,750 --> 00:01:56,750 Well, thanks for joining us. 45 00:01:58,041 --> 00:01:58,916 I'm behind the numbers. 46 00:01:58,916 --> 00:02:00,958 Let's, let's dig in. 47 00:02:00,958 --> 00:02:01,500 Yeah. That's. 48 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:04,500 So we always like to, we always like to start asking everybody, you know, 49 00:02:04,708 --> 00:02:08,458 what is the one thing that you think is the most important thing 50 00:02:08,458 --> 00:02:11,541 that you want your operators to be doing every single day in the restaurant, right? 51 00:02:11,541 --> 00:02:12,583 What should somebody always be 52 00:02:12,583 --> 00:02:15,583 focused on to make sure the restaurants are going to do really well? 53 00:02:16,375 --> 00:02:18,833 Listening to customers, listening to employees. 54 00:02:18,833 --> 00:02:21,916 So we spend a little bit of time building and feedback loops. 55 00:02:21,916 --> 00:02:26,250 We use a platform called slack for day to day communication and we have, 56 00:02:26,625 --> 00:02:29,333 also like feedback collection from employees. 57 00:02:29,333 --> 00:02:32,333 But all of our customer feedback comes ported in the slack 58 00:02:32,458 --> 00:02:36,166 so employees can see it in real time and get an idea of what's going on. 59 00:02:36,166 --> 00:02:39,083 And, what, you know, what our customers are saying. 60 00:02:40,458 --> 00:02:43,458 I love that sense of urgency that creates that's that's fantastic. 61 00:02:43,708 --> 00:02:45,166 And that that, you know, we've talked about that before. 62 00:02:45,166 --> 00:02:48,625 That feedback loop is not just it's critical with obviously our guests, 63 00:02:48,625 --> 00:02:51,625 but getting it from the employees is equally as critical. 64 00:02:52,125 --> 00:02:53,125 Also really important. 65 00:02:53,125 --> 00:02:54,250 Yeah, absolutely. 66 00:02:54,250 --> 00:02:56,833 Yeah. They're not sure where they're at. 67 00:02:56,833 --> 00:02:57,500 Yeah absolutely. 68 00:02:57,500 --> 00:02:59,166 The best way to raise revenue. 69 00:02:59,166 --> 00:03:03,541 Listen to your and listen to and dial into your, customer experience. 70 00:03:03,541 --> 00:03:07,791 And then if you want to increase longevity, reduce overall labor costs 71 00:03:07,791 --> 00:03:09,208 and improve again 72 00:03:09,208 --> 00:03:12,208 guest experience listening to your employees makes a huge difference. 73 00:03:13,041 --> 00:03:15,666 And so since the, since the college 74 00:03:15,666 --> 00:03:18,666 dream was born, how many locations do you now have? 75 00:03:18,916 --> 00:03:20,541 We have four corporate locations. 76 00:03:20,541 --> 00:03:21,958 Okay, awesome. 77 00:03:21,958 --> 00:03:23,916 Now just starting to grow corporate now. 78 00:03:23,916 --> 00:03:26,916 We have about 130 employees. 79 00:03:27,583 --> 00:03:29,458 And how long have you been using restaurant? 80 00:03:29,458 --> 00:03:33,083 365 2022. 81 00:03:33,083 --> 00:03:35,625 So we're coming up on our fourth year. Awesome. 82 00:03:35,625 --> 00:03:37,208 Okay. And I love I love it. 83 00:03:37,208 --> 00:03:38,708 They found us at NRA Rich. 84 00:03:38,708 --> 00:03:41,708 I don't know if you know, I was there that year, 85 00:03:42,083 --> 00:03:44,750 but I had a great sales guy. 86 00:03:44,750 --> 00:03:45,666 You probably don't know this. 87 00:03:45,666 --> 00:03:50,250 His name is Ben and he chased us down for like 18 months. 88 00:03:50,666 --> 00:03:52,541 And, we had everything worked out. 89 00:03:52,541 --> 00:03:54,000 But I wanted to come and meet the team. 90 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000 And you guys are great because you bring your whole team out. 91 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,916 And I remember that year because you guys all had these Red Jordans, and, Right, 92 00:04:01,708 --> 00:04:04,000 I got the last of my contract in, and I was like, 93 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,208 I'm also going to need a pair of those Jordans. 94 00:04:06,208 --> 00:04:09,208 So I still have. That's right. 95 00:04:09,208 --> 00:04:12,000 We see that was a signing bonus a lot, right? 96 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:12,250 Yeah. 97 00:04:13,208 --> 00:04:13,708 I'm in. 98 00:04:13,708 --> 00:04:15,500 Just get me some shoes. 99 00:04:15,500 --> 00:04:18,166 It's just it's a lot to your guys's culture, too, though, 100 00:04:18,166 --> 00:04:19,875 you know, it's clear you guys are having fun. 101 00:04:19,875 --> 00:04:21,083 You're building a great product, 102 00:04:21,083 --> 00:04:23,541 and your generally you're having a good time with it. 103 00:04:23,541 --> 00:04:24,708 And we're restaurant guys. 104 00:04:24,708 --> 00:04:27,708 We like to have a good time when we go to work, so I like to see it. 105 00:04:28,083 --> 00:04:30,166 One one of our core values is love, good food. 106 00:04:30,166 --> 00:04:31,708 So yeah, I mean yeah we do. 107 00:04:31,708 --> 00:04:33,916 We have a good time, especially in an era. 108 00:04:33,916 --> 00:04:36,833 Although there were no hot dogs this year, which was a big controversy. 109 00:04:36,833 --> 00:04:39,625 Everybody was freaking out that Shrinkflation is hit 110 00:04:39,625 --> 00:04:43,625 the National Restaurant Association show and they'll never be hot dogs there again. 111 00:04:43,791 --> 00:04:45,125 Well, we'll see what happens this year. 112 00:04:45,125 --> 00:04:47,708 Do you still go to the show? Fingers crossed they're back. Yeah. 113 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,625 I go every three years. 114 00:04:50,625 --> 00:04:53,375 You do, tuned to the show. 115 00:04:53,375 --> 00:04:55,958 We've been lucky and honored enough. 116 00:04:55,958 --> 00:05:00,291 There's a fast casual.com ranking of fast casual concepts, 117 00:05:00,625 --> 00:05:04,916 and, we've ranked every year since 2016, so you've got to go out there 118 00:05:04,916 --> 00:05:06,750 and see where you rank. 119 00:05:06,750 --> 00:05:11,666 So I do go to Chicago for the weekend, but to actually walk the show, 120 00:05:11,666 --> 00:05:13,750 I only do it like probably every three years. 121 00:05:13,750 --> 00:05:17,458 Other than that, I go out, meet with vendors and go to the award ceremony 122 00:05:17,458 --> 00:05:21,625 and smart, you do the fun stuff instead of, you know, just pacing around on the. 123 00:05:21,916 --> 00:05:24,750 That's fairly padded concrete floor. 124 00:05:24,750 --> 00:05:27,500 No, man, you need a fresh pair of shoes just for that. 125 00:05:27,500 --> 00:05:29,666 Well, that was the for that was the year we got the Jordans, 126 00:05:29,666 --> 00:05:32,458 and that was not a fun place to break those shoes in, I will tell you that. 127 00:05:32,458 --> 00:05:33,375 Yeah. No. 128 00:05:33,375 --> 00:05:33,958 Yeah. 129 00:05:33,958 --> 00:05:37,791 So, I want to talk a little bit about you got 104 employees and what's your 130 00:05:37,791 --> 00:05:39,625 what's your average tenure right now with your group? 131 00:05:40,583 --> 00:05:43,416 Our average tenure is something that we track very closely. 132 00:05:43,416 --> 00:05:44,750 It's one of our key KPIs. 133 00:05:44,750 --> 00:05:47,333 Last year we had 4.6 years. 134 00:05:47,333 --> 00:05:50,833 Wow. Which that's first, hourly level staff. 135 00:05:50,833 --> 00:05:53,833 Our leadership team is, longer. 136 00:05:53,875 --> 00:05:56,875 But for hourly staff is 4.6 years. 137 00:05:57,291 --> 00:06:01,500 And I mean, the industry standard is well below 12 months, 138 00:06:01,791 --> 00:06:05,791 like, you know, like that is that is it is our our top competitor. 139 00:06:05,791 --> 00:06:07,416 And, fast casual is Chipotle. 140 00:06:07,416 --> 00:06:10,500 I, I'm sure everybody is aware that they're kind of a market dominator. 141 00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:12,750 But they, they count their tenure in days. 142 00:06:12,750 --> 00:06:13,708 Oh okay. 143 00:06:13,708 --> 00:06:15,166 Oh wow. 144 00:06:15,166 --> 00:06:16,708 That that sort of skews it a little bit. 145 00:06:16,708 --> 00:06:17,791 Right. 146 00:06:17,791 --> 00:06:20,750 That helps pad the numbers a little bit there. 147 00:06:20,750 --> 00:06:22,041 But and so in addition 148 00:06:22,041 --> 00:06:24,416 to sort of this feedback loop that you provide for the employees, 149 00:06:24,416 --> 00:06:26,208 we're like what's what's the secret sauce here. 150 00:06:26,208 --> 00:06:29,541 Like 4.6 years for hourly employees to be engaged. 151 00:06:29,541 --> 00:06:31,416 That's that's incredible. 152 00:06:31,416 --> 00:06:31,666 Yeah. 153 00:06:31,666 --> 00:06:33,750 It's a it's definitely it's a long time. 154 00:06:33,750 --> 00:06:37,791 But I think it starts with great hiring and just being very selective 155 00:06:37,791 --> 00:06:39,416 about who we bring in. 156 00:06:39,416 --> 00:06:41,333 There's always going to be a natural turnover rate. 157 00:06:41,333 --> 00:06:44,458 Whenever we're employing a certain age group, they're going to go off to college 158 00:06:44,458 --> 00:06:48,250 or they may move or get married or life circumstances change. 159 00:06:48,583 --> 00:06:51,625 But when we do look to hire somebody and we primarily hire them in 160 00:06:51,625 --> 00:06:55,583 based on personality, cultural fit, values, 161 00:06:55,583 --> 00:06:59,208 and then from there, we're strong believer that we can train anybody on any skill. 162 00:06:59,583 --> 00:07:05,333 And so our formula or our methodology is that we pay for cross-training. 163 00:07:05,666 --> 00:07:10,041 And the more positions that you learn, the more your cumulative pay rate increases. 164 00:07:10,333 --> 00:07:15,208 And so we have a very well built out, training system with video training 165 00:07:15,208 --> 00:07:18,583 and day by day checklists and, quizzes, 166 00:07:19,041 --> 00:07:22,041 as well as having feedback built into that. 167 00:07:22,041 --> 00:07:26,458 And then by incentivizing cross-training, allowing people to add and remove 168 00:07:26,458 --> 00:07:29,541 these different positions as their life circumstances do change 169 00:07:29,541 --> 00:07:34,166 if they're not moving geographically or, graduating college and moving on to, 170 00:07:34,333 --> 00:07:37,250 you know, a different, industry or whatever it is, 171 00:07:37,250 --> 00:07:39,708 if they stay at balanced, they're able to kind of flex, 172 00:07:39,708 --> 00:07:42,958 they're able to build their job the way they can build a bowl that balance. 173 00:07:43,875 --> 00:07:45,958 I love that, and that's like, that was good. 174 00:07:45,958 --> 00:07:49,541 You practice that one day you were practice that was smooth. 175 00:07:50,250 --> 00:07:53,291 Thanks man to employees how to flex I love it. 176 00:07:53,458 --> 00:07:57,000 And then so like smooth like my hair line there's it sounds like there there's 177 00:07:58,166 --> 00:08:00,500 there's for those of you that are listening, 178 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:03,541 Pike's got a very nice shaved head. 179 00:08:04,375 --> 00:08:07,333 Yeah, I, it sounds to me like you've got a pretty transparent system 180 00:08:07,333 --> 00:08:08,458 across the board with your employees. 181 00:08:08,458 --> 00:08:10,208 Like, everybody's understanding what the cross training 182 00:08:10,208 --> 00:08:12,208 looks like, what the pay rate system is like. 183 00:08:12,208 --> 00:08:15,416 Nothing's hidden behind a veiled sort of wall or anything like that. 184 00:08:15,833 --> 00:08:17,041 Yeah, it's an open formula. 185 00:08:17,041 --> 00:08:20,458 So everybody knows what everybody else makes, and they understand 186 00:08:20,458 --> 00:08:25,500 why it is, like very clear meritocracy of that. 187 00:08:25,791 --> 00:08:29,166 And, and is there any sort of gamification in it. 188 00:08:29,166 --> 00:08:31,291 Can can we like, do they earn badges. 189 00:08:31,291 --> 00:08:32,875 Do they earn rankings? 190 00:08:32,875 --> 00:08:34,500 Yeah, that's what we call it. 191 00:08:34,500 --> 00:08:36,000 So we call it the badge system. 192 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:37,500 So the formula is pretty simple. 193 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:38,666 We have an artificial minimum, 194 00:08:38,666 --> 00:08:41,791 wage that we hire and and it's above our state minimum wage. 195 00:08:42,041 --> 00:08:43,250 Wherever it is that we operate. 196 00:08:43,250 --> 00:08:44,625 It's pretty clear above it. 197 00:08:44,625 --> 00:08:48,041 For that, we train everyone on how to market the brand. 198 00:08:48,041 --> 00:08:52,250 So how to do guerilla marketing, how do you educate your neighbors, 199 00:08:52,250 --> 00:08:56,125 your friends, your classmates all about balance, because now you're working here. 200 00:08:56,458 --> 00:08:59,250 You might work multiple positions, but you're part of the team. 201 00:08:59,250 --> 00:09:02,250 So we want you to be able to promote the brand. 202 00:09:02,500 --> 00:09:04,541 For that, they get the artificial base wage 203 00:09:04,541 --> 00:09:07,083 and that it's whatever positions you train into. 204 00:09:07,083 --> 00:09:09,958 There are a total of 11 positions, and, 205 00:09:09,958 --> 00:09:12,958 you can max out at 24, 50 per hour. 206 00:09:13,041 --> 00:09:17,125 And our average hourly wage is, just over 20. 207 00:09:17,458 --> 00:09:20,708 I think it's just over 21 right now, average across 208 00:09:20,708 --> 00:09:23,916 everyone else, because there's also a ten year raise at the end. 209 00:09:23,916 --> 00:09:25,625 So every year that they stay. 210 00:09:25,625 --> 00:09:28,041 So that's essentially the formula base wage. 211 00:09:28,041 --> 00:09:30,208 How many badges you have, how many years you've been here. 212 00:09:31,875 --> 00:09:34,708 And that's a lot of people are taking notes right now. 213 00:09:34,708 --> 00:09:35,250 Yeah. 214 00:09:35,250 --> 00:09:37,500 It's such a great way to it's a great way to look at it 215 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:39,333 because it's not only like, you know, that ten year base 216 00:09:39,333 --> 00:09:41,208 piece, I think is a really nice, you know, instead of just, 217 00:09:41,208 --> 00:09:44,208 a standard, you know, year over year, you're like, there's race. 218 00:09:44,625 --> 00:09:48,125 But then it's also it's getting people to be more invested in 219 00:09:48,125 --> 00:09:49,791 and be more valuable to the company. Right. 220 00:09:49,791 --> 00:09:53,333 It was cross-training people makes makes them more valuable to us. 221 00:09:53,333 --> 00:09:55,791 It makes, you know, us able to utilize them more 222 00:09:55,791 --> 00:09:57,833 so that they're not kind of pigeonholed in just one role. 223 00:09:57,833 --> 00:09:59,875 So I love the way that you guys do that 224 00:09:59,875 --> 00:10:01,791 and be able to get that buy in from the team. 225 00:10:02,875 --> 00:10:04,916 Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head, right? 226 00:10:04,916 --> 00:10:08,208 Ultimately, an employee can make within a range 227 00:10:08,500 --> 00:10:10,083 as much as they want, as long as they provide 228 00:10:10,083 --> 00:10:11,958 that equivalent value back to the company. 229 00:10:11,958 --> 00:10:14,041 So if we can be as open and transparent with them 230 00:10:14,041 --> 00:10:17,208 as to how they can do that, and there's a lot of collateral benefit 231 00:10:17,208 --> 00:10:21,666 to cross-training for one and allows them to fit into their preferred schedule. 232 00:10:21,666 --> 00:10:23,500 A lot better because a badge. 233 00:10:23,500 --> 00:10:27,458 I didn't say this earlier, but a badge is a body of knowledge that qualifies you 234 00:10:27,458 --> 00:10:31,333 to work a specific shift on the schedule that has a race that's associated to it. 235 00:10:31,333 --> 00:10:33,166 So it's those three components. 236 00:10:33,166 --> 00:10:37,041 We title all of our coursework the same as we title those shift blocks. 237 00:10:37,291 --> 00:10:40,791 So I shift blocks obviously change throughout the year, seasonal sales 238 00:10:40,791 --> 00:10:42,916 and whatnot. That's really what we're adjusting. 239 00:10:42,916 --> 00:10:46,250 And then we just go in and fill in based on who's qualified to work those shifts. 240 00:10:46,666 --> 00:10:49,458 The more shifts that people are qualified to work for, 241 00:10:49,458 --> 00:10:52,458 the more benefit they can hit, because that system works excellent. 242 00:10:52,875 --> 00:10:55,458 The majority of the hours that we are open 243 00:10:55,458 --> 00:11:00,000 and the hours where it really requires everyone just to pitch in, which 244 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,125 are our peaks during lunch and dinner, where we're doing upwards of $2,000 245 00:11:04,125 --> 00:11:09,208 per hour in the fast casual segment, throughput is key at that point. 246 00:11:09,541 --> 00:11:12,958 Badges matter less, bodies matter more, right? 247 00:11:12,958 --> 00:11:15,666 But everybody can kind of do everything. 248 00:11:15,666 --> 00:11:17,541 If you've got a very cross-trained team, 249 00:11:17,541 --> 00:11:21,708 you can stretch that a lot more and you can get a higher SPL, which is how 250 00:11:21,708 --> 00:11:25,708 we ultimately get a lower, labor cost and still run, 251 00:11:26,166 --> 00:11:28,833 you know, like sub20 4%. 252 00:11:28,833 --> 00:11:32,000 So we can literally track ROI on a daily basis. 253 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:32,250 Right? 254 00:11:32,250 --> 00:11:34,916 I can see like I've got this many badges on the floor today. 255 00:11:34,916 --> 00:11:38,583 My sales are up X amount versus, oh, I had this many badges on my floor this day. 256 00:11:38,583 --> 00:11:41,833 And sales were sort of, you know, you're as mileage was a little bit lower. 257 00:11:41,833 --> 00:11:43,583 That's that's incredible. 258 00:11:43,583 --> 00:11:44,250 Yeah. 259 00:11:44,250 --> 00:11:46,708 And immediately rewarding right. 260 00:11:46,708 --> 00:11:49,416 It's not we're not waiting at the end of the month to see how we did. 261 00:11:49,416 --> 00:11:53,541 We can literally see it on a daily basis because you set them up. 262 00:11:53,666 --> 00:11:54,291 That's fantastic. 263 00:11:54,291 --> 00:11:57,500 It's rewarding for everybody and it's got to be rewarding for the employees. 264 00:11:57,500 --> 00:11:59,416 Otherwise you know they're not going to stick around. 265 00:12:02,250 --> 00:12:02,875 And so you're 266 00:12:02,875 --> 00:12:06,000 using your leveraging restaurant 365 on the accounting side 267 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,583 on the operations side on the training side as well that your training platform. 268 00:12:09,625 --> 00:12:12,041 Yes for a lot of this cross training. 269 00:12:12,041 --> 00:12:12,583 Yeah. 270 00:12:12,583 --> 00:12:17,333 We were actually on expand share before we were on restaurant 365. 271 00:12:17,458 --> 00:12:19,750 So big fan of expansion. 272 00:12:19,750 --> 00:12:22,916 You were happy when you got that announcement? Yes. 273 00:12:24,625 --> 00:12:26,541 And what's what's the what's the missing piece now? 274 00:12:26,541 --> 00:12:29,083 Is it just scheduling we're missing? 275 00:12:29,083 --> 00:12:31,000 Yeah, I'm looking to move into it this year. 276 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:32,541 I've been in conversations. 277 00:12:32,541 --> 00:12:35,458 I know you guys are working on developing that out. 278 00:12:35,458 --> 00:12:38,875 You know, without giving away too much, I know that you guys have a lot of, 279 00:12:38,875 --> 00:12:42,666 capital allocated towards developing out your product and workforce 280 00:12:42,666 --> 00:12:45,500 is like a major area for you guys, so I'm super excited about it. 281 00:12:46,708 --> 00:12:49,083 I love, love the way you guys seek feedback. 282 00:12:49,083 --> 00:12:49,541 I talked about, 283 00:12:49,541 --> 00:12:52,541 like, the importance of feedback from our customers and our employees. 284 00:12:52,583 --> 00:12:54,958 But I love that you seek feedback from us. 285 00:12:54,958 --> 00:12:57,458 And I was able to kind of cite out some of the things that are important, 286 00:12:57,458 --> 00:13:00,833 such as employee feedback, but also some of the KPI tracking. 287 00:13:01,166 --> 00:13:03,958 And, my understanding is you guys are in progress of of 288 00:13:03,958 --> 00:13:06,958 doing that and we're excited to try it out, 289 00:13:07,291 --> 00:13:09,250 sort of align with your badge system. 290 00:13:09,250 --> 00:13:11,375 Right. We need to we need to catch up to what you're doing. 291 00:13:11,375 --> 00:13:14,375 It sounds like, oh, 292 00:13:14,625 --> 00:13:17,333 you got to have the right technologies for what we want to do. 293 00:13:17,333 --> 00:13:17,750 You know, 294 00:13:17,750 --> 00:13:21,791 I think you guys have a very flexible piece of software that people can apply 295 00:13:21,791 --> 00:13:24,791 a number of different ways, depending on whatever their business model is. 296 00:13:25,125 --> 00:13:27,791 Not everything needs to be applied the exact same way. 297 00:13:27,791 --> 00:13:29,125 There's a lot of flexibility there. 298 00:13:29,125 --> 00:13:31,125 So I definitely appreciate that. 299 00:13:32,666 --> 00:13:34,708 Yeah, it doesn't have to be a one size fits all. 300 00:13:34,708 --> 00:13:36,750 You know, really comes back to what do you need? 301 00:13:36,750 --> 00:13:39,750 What are the pieces that are going to make the be the best fit for, you know, each 302 00:13:39,750 --> 00:13:42,750 individual group that's coming up? 303 00:13:42,833 --> 00:13:44,208 Yeah, yeah. That's true. 304 00:13:44,208 --> 00:13:45,375 I think like too often 305 00:13:45,375 --> 00:13:48,375 just because I shop for technology a lot, a lot of different areas, 306 00:13:48,750 --> 00:13:51,500 you know, like you'll have these like restaurant tech guys who come in 307 00:13:51,500 --> 00:13:55,041 and I've never run a restaurant before, never worked in a restaurant before. 308 00:13:55,375 --> 00:13:57,041 And they'll want to come in and say, 309 00:13:57,041 --> 00:13:58,708 here's a piece of software that solves the solution, 310 00:13:58,708 --> 00:14:01,000 but you have to run your business this way. 311 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,708 And you guys don't take that approach, which is right. 312 00:14:03,708 --> 00:14:04,500 Which is great. 313 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:06,166 So I, we stuck around with you guys for a while, 314 00:14:06,166 --> 00:14:07,333 and you look forward to the end. 315 00:14:07,333 --> 00:14:10,375 Our solution, you can sometimes break it if you want, but yes, it's very but 316 00:14:11,750 --> 00:14:12,083 I haven't 317 00:14:12,083 --> 00:14:15,125 broken it yet, at least on the accounting and operations side. 318 00:14:15,125 --> 00:14:17,291 But, I'll take that as a challenge, Mark. 319 00:14:17,291 --> 00:14:18,625 I'll try and do a great. 320 00:14:18,625 --> 00:14:19,083 Yeah. 321 00:14:19,083 --> 00:14:21,541 You know, I mean, you know, but workforce is is hard 322 00:14:21,541 --> 00:14:24,958 just because, you know, state by state it's it's a different set of rules. 323 00:14:24,958 --> 00:14:25,250 Right. 324 00:14:25,250 --> 00:14:29,458 So trying to it every you know I, I much prefer when we're trying to adapt 325 00:14:29,458 --> 00:14:30,500 to what you need. Right. 326 00:14:30,500 --> 00:14:32,916 Like there are very specific things that you need in the product 327 00:14:32,916 --> 00:14:35,125 and that that that's the kind of work we love to do. 328 00:14:35,125 --> 00:14:37,666 Because, you know, the way 329 00:14:37,666 --> 00:14:40,708 the fact that your ten years, 4.6 years in the way you've you've set up 330 00:14:40,708 --> 00:14:43,708 your sort of infrastructure for your employees, I think is something 331 00:14:43,916 --> 00:14:46,916 if we can back that up with, with some software, I think that's 332 00:14:47,041 --> 00:14:47,958 that would be incredible 333 00:14:48,916 --> 00:14:49,708 for sure. 334 00:14:49,708 --> 00:14:51,166 Yeah. You guys are close. 335 00:14:51,166 --> 00:14:51,791 We're good. 336 00:14:51,791 --> 00:14:52,500 Yes we are. 337 00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:54,833 We're going to give it a try this year. 338 00:14:54,833 --> 00:14:56,166 Awesome. And then you're. And then you're done. 339 00:14:56,166 --> 00:14:56,750 Then you're all in. 340 00:14:56,750 --> 00:14:58,916 You've got the full suite 341 00:14:58,916 --> 00:15:00,791 to close. Close. Yeah. 342 00:15:00,791 --> 00:15:02,666 We're doing VIP with you guys too. 343 00:15:02,666 --> 00:15:04,041 We didn't mention that earlier. 344 00:15:04,041 --> 00:15:05,666 But we're doing the AI with you guys. 345 00:15:05,666 --> 00:15:07,291 Is is really helpful. 346 00:15:07,291 --> 00:15:11,000 And I know you guys are working on, like, other things that I think 347 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:12,958 are tied to workforce, not payroll. 348 00:15:12,958 --> 00:15:15,958 But you're doing some stuff with your ATS applicant tracking. 349 00:15:16,250 --> 00:15:17,000 Yeah, things like that. 350 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:17,916 So yeah. 351 00:15:17,916 --> 00:15:18,625 The, watch 352 00:15:18,625 --> 00:15:21,833 people hate that we got I call it this, but the hired a fire solution. 353 00:15:21,833 --> 00:15:22,208 Right. 354 00:15:22,208 --> 00:15:25,583 So I hire the lifecycle of the employee hired 355 00:15:25,583 --> 00:15:28,625 to retire, hired to retire, hired or retired. 356 00:15:28,750 --> 00:15:31,291 They swear that's gentler. 357 00:15:31,291 --> 00:15:34,833 That's kind of that's, that's that's how you know, I lost my job 358 00:15:34,833 --> 00:15:37,833 being the main chef when I was just to check back. 359 00:15:37,958 --> 00:15:38,666 Yeah. 360 00:15:38,666 --> 00:15:41,666 And when I was a restaurant manager, I never fired people. 361 00:15:41,666 --> 00:15:43,291 They fired themselves. 362 00:15:43,291 --> 00:15:45,791 They fired themselves. Yeah, man. 363 00:15:45,791 --> 00:15:46,583 That is. 364 00:15:46,583 --> 00:15:48,833 That's a line to live by, right there. 365 00:15:48,833 --> 00:15:49,583 Well, I, 366 00:15:49,583 --> 00:15:51,041 I want to shift gears a little bit and sorry, 367 00:15:51,041 --> 00:15:54,291 I but one of the unique things about your organization 368 00:15:54,291 --> 00:15:57,208 that it just fascinates me is you actually, you have a farm, 369 00:15:57,208 --> 00:16:00,208 so you're sourcing a lot of your own produce. 370 00:16:00,708 --> 00:16:01,041 Yeah. 371 00:16:01,041 --> 00:16:04,208 Specifically three days aren't like wind up. 372 00:16:06,541 --> 00:16:08,000 It's it's been a journey. 373 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,000 Just like everything else. 374 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:09,416 You know? 375 00:16:09,416 --> 00:16:12,083 And also, I would say we're we're very idealistic. 376 00:16:12,083 --> 00:16:15,291 People are kind of like big dreamers, and don't feel like 377 00:16:15,291 --> 00:16:16,375 we have a lot of restrictions. 378 00:16:16,375 --> 00:16:17,666 But when we first started, you know, 379 00:16:17,666 --> 00:16:20,041 we wanted to source locally as much as possible. 380 00:16:20,041 --> 00:16:21,625 We started out the basics. 381 00:16:21,625 --> 00:16:24,625 One store going to a farmer's market, talking to them. 382 00:16:24,875 --> 00:16:26,250 Found out pretty quick. 383 00:16:26,250 --> 00:16:28,375 That's difficult. They like to sell at a high price. 384 00:16:28,375 --> 00:16:29,833 They have limited quantities. 385 00:16:29,833 --> 00:16:33,750 So then we tried, CSA, I don't know if you ever done, like, a crop share. 386 00:16:34,208 --> 00:16:37,000 That didn't work, because that could get us surprised, 387 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,750 but we couldn't get the product, so not really working out. 388 00:16:41,875 --> 00:16:43,833 And we kind of evolved through that. 389 00:16:43,833 --> 00:16:46,666 Ultimately, we just wanted to try it. 390 00:16:46,666 --> 00:16:50,125 One day, my co-founder started sourcing, 391 00:16:50,208 --> 00:16:54,208 lettuce and microgreens from an indoor farm. 392 00:16:54,208 --> 00:16:59,708 And, essentially, we took that concept with that operator, and scaled it, 393 00:17:00,166 --> 00:17:02,708 and then we scaled it again into an independent, 394 00:17:02,708 --> 00:17:05,708 building and operation that's up in Detroit. 395 00:17:06,208 --> 00:17:09,166 So, that's been quite a process. 396 00:17:09,166 --> 00:17:11,875 It's a lot of fun. It's definitely cool. 397 00:17:11,875 --> 00:17:13,958 Independent part of the business. 398 00:17:13,958 --> 00:17:16,375 We essentially it's it's another LLC, 399 00:17:16,375 --> 00:17:20,250 so we just buy product from it, a vendor, we go directly to our restaurants. 400 00:17:20,250 --> 00:17:23,750 We also go direct to other restaurants as well as foodservice distributors. 401 00:17:24,083 --> 00:17:28,458 And our experience, working with produce distributors 402 00:17:28,458 --> 00:17:30,458 gives us kind of a unique advantage to understanding 403 00:17:30,458 --> 00:17:31,791 how difficult their business is, 404 00:17:31,791 --> 00:17:35,208 because the distribution business is not easy on the produce distribution. 405 00:17:35,208 --> 00:17:37,458 It's also not easy. 406 00:17:37,458 --> 00:17:38,125 Yeah. 407 00:17:38,125 --> 00:17:40,083 But I think that that gave us some good. 408 00:17:40,083 --> 00:17:44,291 Those contacts as well as context as to what it takes to be successful. 409 00:17:44,291 --> 00:17:44,500 There. 410 00:17:47,291 --> 00:17:47,750 And I 411 00:17:47,750 --> 00:17:51,833 love that you're running the farm through the Po module in restaurant 365 412 00:17:51,833 --> 00:17:54,833 so your operators can order from the farm 413 00:17:54,833 --> 00:17:58,041 in restaurant 365 and it sends a purchase order out to the farm 414 00:17:58,041 --> 00:18:00,958 and then their producer and it's like it's might as well be 415 00:18:00,958 --> 00:18:03,166 it's it's your main broad line vendor. And and you own it. 416 00:18:03,166 --> 00:18:07,625 It's it's just it's it's got to be great for I mean, controlling inventory levels, 417 00:18:07,708 --> 00:18:10,291 controlling food costs, I mean the ROI on that, 418 00:18:10,291 --> 00:18:13,041 you know, as much work as it probably took to get up and running, I'm 419 00:18:13,041 --> 00:18:16,125 sure that the payback has been, you know, pretty pretty amazing. 420 00:18:16,916 --> 00:18:19,083 Yeah, it's definitely, it's a cool business. 421 00:18:19,083 --> 00:18:20,750 It's not as profitable as a restaurant. 422 00:18:20,750 --> 00:18:23,833 But it's beautiful, and and, I do like it, 423 00:18:25,500 --> 00:18:26,041 but I 424 00:18:26,041 --> 00:18:28,958 like that you have a little bit of empathy for your vendors now that you're playing 425 00:18:28,958 --> 00:18:34,125 both sides of the, just, on just the smallest amount, 426 00:18:34,833 --> 00:18:37,375 tiniest little sliver of it. 427 00:18:37,375 --> 00:18:40,166 Yeah, yeah. 428 00:18:40,166 --> 00:18:43,375 And then in terms of, of revenue streams where, you know what, 429 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:46,750 what's the breakdown for like a balanced grilled dine in versus, you know, 430 00:18:47,458 --> 00:18:49,458 first party, third party. 431 00:18:49,458 --> 00:18:51,833 How does that how does that shake down for you? 432 00:18:51,833 --> 00:18:53,458 Yes, we're heavily digital. 433 00:18:53,458 --> 00:18:55,041 I mentioned earlier we're fast casual. 434 00:18:55,041 --> 00:18:59,416 So to give you kind of a visual, our stores are about 20 400ft². 435 00:18:59,833 --> 00:19:03,458 AUV is around the $3 million range, and we do about 436 00:19:03,500 --> 00:19:07,791 70% of our business through our first party mobile app. 437 00:19:08,333 --> 00:19:13,500 There's about a 15% comes in through kiosks in the store, 438 00:19:13,500 --> 00:19:17,333 and we run about like 6 to 8% depending on the location. 439 00:19:17,333 --> 00:19:21,625 If it's downtown areas, we do more, but about 6 to 8% in third party. 440 00:19:22,208 --> 00:19:24,000 So pretty limited. 441 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,958 We have, really good, pickup and conversion to our mobile app, 442 00:19:29,333 --> 00:19:33,208 which then allows us to control our marketing costs, drive traffic, 443 00:19:33,416 --> 00:19:36,791 even out the traffic flow to become more profitable. 444 00:19:37,250 --> 00:19:39,666 Yeah, that's kind of the the high level 445 00:19:40,958 --> 00:19:43,166 and first party. 446 00:19:43,166 --> 00:19:44,708 Yeah. That is your app. 447 00:19:44,708 --> 00:19:45,166 Yeah. 448 00:19:45,166 --> 00:19:47,458 Yeah, we've we've had an app since 2012. 449 00:19:47,458 --> 00:19:50,625 And then we developed 1 in 2017. 450 00:19:50,625 --> 00:19:54,375 And we are in the process of developing the third and iteration of that. 451 00:19:54,375 --> 00:19:56,541 That's releasing this summer. 452 00:19:56,541 --> 00:19:58,083 That's going to come out as an update. It's 453 00:19:58,083 --> 00:20:02,791 gonna have a series of other features, in it, but as of today, correct? 454 00:20:02,791 --> 00:20:04,916 Yeah. It's our own first party mobile app. 455 00:20:04,916 --> 00:20:06,500 It's fully branded to us. 456 00:20:06,500 --> 00:20:11,625 It has the entire, wireframe and workflow was designed by, 457 00:20:11,625 --> 00:20:16,041 by an agency that we worked with, and it was customized to the brand. 458 00:20:16,833 --> 00:20:19,375 We don't have any, like, fee structure that's involved in that. 459 00:20:19,375 --> 00:20:24,041 So there's not no per order fees or percentage fees or anything like that. 460 00:20:25,375 --> 00:20:26,291 No margins. 461 00:20:26,291 --> 00:20:29,416 If I knew what an app was in 2012, rich like way, 462 00:20:30,833 --> 00:20:33,291 way, way ahead of the curve. 463 00:20:33,291 --> 00:20:36,041 Like, you know, I clearly put something on here. 464 00:20:36,041 --> 00:20:38,416 Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. 465 00:20:38,416 --> 00:20:41,791 I come from a tech background, so my background is not restaurants. 466 00:20:42,416 --> 00:20:45,000 I have always been doing, 467 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,291 work in the technology space ever since I was, like very young. 468 00:20:48,291 --> 00:20:52,041 My first job was 14, and I was building computers and doing networks and stuff. 469 00:20:52,375 --> 00:20:54,250 So always been a bit of a nerd. 470 00:20:54,250 --> 00:20:57,750 But, one of my best friends in college, his family did own restaurants. 471 00:20:57,750 --> 00:21:01,375 He's also a personal trainer, and he grew up in his family's restaurant. 472 00:21:01,625 --> 00:21:06,083 So that's kind of the, skill set that came in initially. 473 00:21:06,458 --> 00:21:09,083 So I've always been involved in technology early 474 00:21:09,083 --> 00:21:12,958 on, adopter of, iPod based, cloud based POS. 475 00:21:13,541 --> 00:21:17,250 Had an app direct integrated very early. 476 00:21:17,250 --> 00:21:20,416 We were very well set up for, Covid 477 00:21:20,458 --> 00:21:24,750 built our curbside system like overnight, never closed a day. 478 00:21:24,750 --> 00:21:27,875 Increased our same store sales more than 60%. 479 00:21:28,333 --> 00:21:31,333 And, we've had positive same store sales since Covid. 480 00:21:31,666 --> 00:21:33,416 Now there's some years that have been 481 00:21:33,416 --> 00:21:37,208 minor, like, I think we had a year that was in 23. 482 00:21:37,208 --> 00:21:39,958 That was like sub 1%, but it was still positive. 483 00:21:39,958 --> 00:21:43,750 So we did not see any drop off since Covid and we were able to retain that 484 00:21:43,750 --> 00:21:44,416 market share. 485 00:21:45,791 --> 00:21:46,291 That's awesome. 486 00:21:46,291 --> 00:21:48,625 To be able to not only see that even if it's little 487 00:21:48,625 --> 00:21:51,625 growth, incremental growth, it's still happening year over year. 488 00:21:51,666 --> 00:21:54,375 To not have any kind of a backslide is is killer. 489 00:21:54,375 --> 00:21:57,375 And I mean, I think a big part of that, I would imagine it's got to be, 490 00:21:57,958 --> 00:22:00,958 return guests repeat, you know, kind of raving fans. 491 00:22:01,125 --> 00:22:04,583 Have you figured out, like, what the what's the magic number for 492 00:22:04,583 --> 00:22:08,125 you guys that you you go from being like, you know, a casual regular 493 00:22:08,125 --> 00:22:11,125 to being like, a rabid, raging fan. 494 00:22:11,208 --> 00:22:13,041 So we look for guests 495 00:22:13,041 --> 00:22:16,583 in our heavy user cohort that are visiting twice a week, 496 00:22:17,083 --> 00:22:21,750 which is, you know, like forex to pull average. 497 00:22:21,958 --> 00:22:25,458 So they're, they're looking for people to get in once a month 498 00:22:25,916 --> 00:22:29,666 and trying to drop that, you know, from once a month to once every three weeks. 499 00:22:30,208 --> 00:22:33,291 But we do have a pretty large, heavy user cohort. 500 00:22:34,125 --> 00:22:38,458 That's, that's in our, first party app ordering experience. 501 00:22:40,625 --> 00:22:43,375 And when did you you mentioned also kiosks. 502 00:22:43,375 --> 00:22:45,208 When did you start using those at the store level? 503 00:22:45,208 --> 00:22:48,000 Because I'm, we're talking when we reopen from Covid. 504 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:48,500 Yeah. 505 00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:51,750 We we played around with one, as far as menu offerings, 506 00:22:51,750 --> 00:22:54,666 we do have like kitchen menu offerings, bowls, tacos, snacks. 507 00:22:54,666 --> 00:22:56,875 And then we sell bubble tea, which is an entire bar. 508 00:22:56,875 --> 00:22:59,583 It's kind of like a self branded kiosk inside of the store. 509 00:22:59,583 --> 00:23:00,125 Okay. 510 00:23:00,125 --> 00:23:05,000 Which accounts for about 20% to 22% of our gross revenue. 511 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,083 So we do a significant amount in our beverage program. 512 00:23:08,333 --> 00:23:13,250 And we were experimenting with a kiosk solution, pre-COVID. 513 00:23:13,583 --> 00:23:17,041 And then during Covid, we were closed for a long period of time with a lot of 514 00:23:17,041 --> 00:23:20,500 other people were we were also not necessarily in a rush to reopen. 515 00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:22,666 As I mentioned earlier, we started with 100% debt. 516 00:23:22,666 --> 00:23:25,250 So when we went into Covid, we had a lot of debt, 517 00:23:25,250 --> 00:23:28,916 and our stores were built using materials that you could buy at a Home Depot, 518 00:23:28,916 --> 00:23:29,875 including the floors. 519 00:23:29,875 --> 00:23:32,875 All of the furniture was built out of Ikea. 520 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:37,625 It was it was it was not not good. 521 00:23:37,625 --> 00:23:40,916 So we also took the time during Covid while we were serving nothing 522 00:23:40,916 --> 00:23:43,916 but curbside and only taking orders into our app. 523 00:23:44,666 --> 00:23:47,375 That was a great model for us, as you would imagine. 524 00:23:47,375 --> 00:23:47,750 Like the 525 00:23:47,750 --> 00:23:51,750 the margins on that were excellent and we wanted to take our time to retrofit 526 00:23:51,750 --> 00:23:56,000 and kind of update our stores, same look and vibe. 527 00:23:56,250 --> 00:23:59,041 It just polish it up, you know, at least put some tile down, 528 00:23:59,041 --> 00:24:02,041 put some commercial grade furniture in there. 529 00:24:02,125 --> 00:24:02,833 So we went through 530 00:24:02,833 --> 00:24:06,375 we did that whole process, and when we did, we realized, you know, 531 00:24:06,750 --> 00:24:11,000 there are a lot of benefits to having customers order themselves. 532 00:24:11,416 --> 00:24:16,166 One, if you factor in packaging into your food cost, you can really control it. 533 00:24:16,666 --> 00:24:19,000 The same you would with the rest of your inventory. 534 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,000 And a lot of people, like, they keep their cogs 535 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,125 and their packaging separate, and they don't look at it, 536 00:24:24,125 --> 00:24:27,833 they don't incentivize managers and things like that to control it as much. 537 00:24:28,208 --> 00:24:30,458 But when you're doing 100% takeout, super important. 538 00:24:30,458 --> 00:24:31,166 Right? 539 00:24:31,166 --> 00:24:34,708 Another piece of it is just the order accuracy components. 540 00:24:35,166 --> 00:24:38,625 You don't save a ton because you do have like, 541 00:24:38,625 --> 00:24:41,791 some, upsell and exploration. 542 00:24:41,791 --> 00:24:46,875 And obviously there is like encouragement when you are dealing and talking directly 543 00:24:46,875 --> 00:24:49,166 to an employee who can explain the menu in different ways. 544 00:24:49,166 --> 00:24:53,166 Now we're working on that with the app through things like flavor tags and, 545 00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:57,458 just smart recognition machine learning on when customers are new, 546 00:24:57,458 --> 00:25:00,583 as well as linking them to other products for smart recommendations. 547 00:25:01,083 --> 00:25:05,666 We have ultimately increased our average ticket through the first party mobile app. 548 00:25:05,875 --> 00:25:08,291 But really what it comes down to is that accuracy rate. 549 00:25:08,291 --> 00:25:11,625 If we can nail accuracy for customers, it's excellent. 550 00:25:11,958 --> 00:25:15,458 Customers can obviously check their own order and, CDs like customer 551 00:25:15,458 --> 00:25:19,875 facing display on a POS system is okay, I'll be honest with you, 552 00:25:19,916 --> 00:25:22,916 if I go out to eat, my brain is pretty turned off. 553 00:25:22,916 --> 00:25:27,500 Like, I'm not like putting a lot of mental energy into that experience, 554 00:25:27,833 --> 00:25:29,500 and I've screwed that up myself, you know? 555 00:25:29,500 --> 00:25:31,041 But when it's on an app, 556 00:25:31,041 --> 00:25:33,583 if there is a mistake, you can always go back and leave a receipt. 557 00:25:33,583 --> 00:25:34,250 You can see it. 558 00:25:34,250 --> 00:25:38,375 And like so much of the time, people are just using the reorder feature. 559 00:25:38,625 --> 00:25:39,500 So they're, 560 00:25:39,500 --> 00:25:41,333 you know, just coming in the creatures of habit, 561 00:25:41,333 --> 00:25:43,291 they're just coming to get the same thing every single time. 562 00:25:43,291 --> 00:25:45,666 So, that's really helpful. 563 00:25:45,666 --> 00:25:49,708 We did build that into the kiosk, which is through a separate integration. 564 00:25:49,708 --> 00:25:52,625 We use bite right now for kiosks in our new tech stack. 565 00:25:52,625 --> 00:25:55,791 It is 100% native vertical up from the POS. 566 00:25:55,791 --> 00:26:00,333 So meaning the POS runs the same software that the kiosk and our mobile app runs. 567 00:26:00,333 --> 00:26:03,416 So that is going to really clean things up. 568 00:26:04,250 --> 00:26:06,958 But we do have our app in our CDP 569 00:26:06,958 --> 00:26:09,958 that's linked to the app integrated to fight kiosk. 570 00:26:09,958 --> 00:26:13,375 And it can recognize you can authenticate yourself on the kiosk. 571 00:26:13,375 --> 00:26:16,375 Obviously earn points and get your recommendations that way. 572 00:26:16,375 --> 00:26:20,166 So we're kind of there, but, we'll be like 573 00:26:20,166 --> 00:26:23,166 way ahead later this year once we get the stuff out. 574 00:26:23,666 --> 00:26:27,250 Yeah, it sounds like a whole, whole other pool of data to dive into, right? 575 00:26:27,250 --> 00:26:29,250 In terms of like all that guest frequency 576 00:26:29,250 --> 00:26:30,541 and how they're ordering and how they're spending. 577 00:26:30,541 --> 00:26:32,666 I think everybody we talked to about kiosks, 578 00:26:32,666 --> 00:26:34,916 they've all their check averages have all gone out 579 00:26:34,916 --> 00:26:38,291 because of that, because just the ability to customize and modify 580 00:26:38,333 --> 00:26:41,333 to your heart's content, they just people seem to love to do that. 581 00:26:42,125 --> 00:26:45,291 It's I think it's that, I think it's the visuals. 582 00:26:45,666 --> 00:26:46,875 People love the visuals. 583 00:26:46,875 --> 00:26:49,541 You just don't get that, you know, you can put it on a print menu. 584 00:26:49,541 --> 00:26:53,666 It doesn't come alive the same way it does on a kiosk that this big 27 inch 585 00:26:53,666 --> 00:26:57,666 yellow screens, high quality professional photography. 586 00:26:57,833 --> 00:27:00,541 Our new versions going to have slow motion video in it. 587 00:27:00,541 --> 00:27:02,583 So it's just going to like, really pop off. 588 00:27:03,625 --> 00:27:05,000 And you know, all of that. 589 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:05,333 It does. 590 00:27:05,333 --> 00:27:08,875 So we have photos for all our modifiers so people can see what they're getting. 591 00:27:09,416 --> 00:27:12,416 Yeah. It all helps. 592 00:27:12,416 --> 00:27:15,291 But I mean, absolutely, we're on a podcast about about the numbers. 593 00:27:15,291 --> 00:27:18,958 But man, data sets CTV one day for you guys. 594 00:27:19,958 --> 00:27:21,208 Could could be huge. 595 00:27:21,208 --> 00:27:23,166 Just putting it out there. 596 00:27:23,166 --> 00:27:26,166 You're not wrong. 597 00:27:28,916 --> 00:27:30,583 What are we going to say, Rich? 598 00:27:30,583 --> 00:27:33,416 Oh, I was, just because it's the idea of, like, you know, 599 00:27:33,416 --> 00:27:36,708 the the not just pictures, but then adding in the slo mo video. 600 00:27:36,708 --> 00:27:40,500 So it's like the, it's it's the old adage that sex sells, 601 00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:43,541 but sexy food sells way more, you know, so 602 00:27:43,583 --> 00:27:46,750 to be able to have something that looks really great like that visual catches you. 603 00:27:46,750 --> 00:27:47,166 You see it. 604 00:27:47,166 --> 00:27:48,750 You didn't realize that you wanted it 605 00:27:48,750 --> 00:27:50,000 until you saw it in front of you, 606 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,500 and then you're like, oh, well, now I've got to get it. 607 00:27:52,500 --> 00:27:54,958 So now I think it's awesome you guys are doing that, playing with it 608 00:27:54,958 --> 00:27:58,041 and and kind of just leaning into into that even more. 609 00:27:58,291 --> 00:28:00,333 I mean, you said like everything now 610 00:28:00,333 --> 00:28:03,333 the tech stack is going to be kind of built from, from the outside. 611 00:28:03,791 --> 00:28:05,666 You know, kind of we're looking at this as like, 612 00:28:05,666 --> 00:28:07,791 you know, a big, a big transformational year. 613 00:28:07,791 --> 00:28:09,833 What what are some of the things with the tech stack 614 00:28:09,833 --> 00:28:12,500 that really helping to transform for for balance, grow? 615 00:28:13,958 --> 00:28:15,208 Really one of 616 00:28:15,208 --> 00:28:19,041 them is, the new customer journey. 617 00:28:19,041 --> 00:28:22,500 So even though we've been around for a while and our existing stores 618 00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:27,500 are kind of, they are mature, we obviously still do get new customers. 619 00:28:27,500 --> 00:28:30,875 And in order to identify that, 620 00:28:30,875 --> 00:28:35,541 we really want to automate at least the initial parts of the experience. 621 00:28:35,541 --> 00:28:38,500 So it's the difference between like segmentation and cohorts. Right? 622 00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:40,583 So like being able to define a cohort 623 00:28:40,583 --> 00:28:44,083 and then define the events that cause people to enter those cohorts, as well 624 00:28:44,083 --> 00:28:47,583 as all the marketing that's automated when people trigger those events. 625 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,416 So we want to be able to identify a first time customer, 626 00:28:51,833 --> 00:28:55,875 we do that because we do require everybody to enter their phone number 627 00:28:55,875 --> 00:28:59,375 when they order, which I know sounds crazy, but I promise you, 628 00:28:59,375 --> 00:29:02,541 and you don't get a lot of pushback on it, because you also get a text 629 00:29:02,541 --> 00:29:05,416 to get your receipt and you get a text when your order is ready. 630 00:29:05,416 --> 00:29:08,416 So people know that you then capture it. 631 00:29:08,458 --> 00:29:11,958 And we do, in our new system, we are doing a process called soft 632 00:29:11,958 --> 00:29:12,708 registration. 633 00:29:12,708 --> 00:29:16,791 So soft registration just means we may not even have anything more than that 634 00:29:16,791 --> 00:29:20,125 customer's first name and their phone number and their very first order. 635 00:29:20,333 --> 00:29:23,875 But then because they're coming back and using that same unique identifier 636 00:29:23,875 --> 00:29:27,250 as their phone number, we then get their second time customer. 637 00:29:27,250 --> 00:29:30,291 So we will send an automated text on the first one, 638 00:29:30,625 --> 00:29:34,083 and that will give them an incentive to come in for their second visit, 639 00:29:34,083 --> 00:29:37,208 as well as, in a way, collect their email address. 640 00:29:37,500 --> 00:29:38,791 And then on their third visit, 641 00:29:38,791 --> 00:29:42,416 we will also collect other information, specific demographic information. 642 00:29:42,625 --> 00:29:45,375 And the entire time they have been accruing loyalty points. 643 00:29:45,375 --> 00:29:48,916 So by the time they get to prior to their fourth visit, 644 00:29:49,250 --> 00:29:51,625 that message is like, finish this up. 645 00:29:51,625 --> 00:29:53,708 You have 84 points waiting for you. 646 00:29:53,708 --> 00:29:55,958 You know, you can download the app or you don't have to download the app. 647 00:29:55,958 --> 00:29:59,125 That's another key thing is I'm trying to separate out. 648 00:29:59,125 --> 00:30:00,791 So we talked about like first party ordering, 649 00:30:00,791 --> 00:30:03,708 but I'm trying to separate out having to have an app. 650 00:30:03,708 --> 00:30:06,708 So having a lite version, being able to order through the web 651 00:30:07,041 --> 00:30:11,916 and having your loyalty card have both points and stored value balance 652 00:30:11,916 --> 00:30:13,833 and have that live within your digital wallet 653 00:30:13,833 --> 00:30:15,000 so that you can authenticate 654 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,416 on the app that way, or to authenticate through checkout online. 655 00:30:19,166 --> 00:30:21,500 And you don't have to necessarily have to have an app to be able 656 00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:23,083 to participate in the program. 657 00:30:23,083 --> 00:30:27,958 Ultimately, is the data that is the most valuable to us. 658 00:30:27,958 --> 00:30:31,416 To understand how many total customers do we have? 659 00:30:31,416 --> 00:30:33,083 How many one time customers do we have? 660 00:30:33,083 --> 00:30:36,583 How many repeat customers do we have within the repeat customer category? 661 00:30:36,833 --> 00:30:39,291 How do they fill in? Are they new meaning? 662 00:30:39,291 --> 00:30:41,041 Are they one, 2 or 3 visit? 663 00:30:41,041 --> 00:30:44,458 Are they light, medium heavy, you know, super loyal. 664 00:30:44,791 --> 00:30:47,250 And being able to know how many are the numbers 665 00:30:47,250 --> 00:30:50,875 that are in there, and being able to dive in like super deep. 666 00:30:50,875 --> 00:30:52,500 So one of the things that we're doing with 667 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:56,791 the new POS system is treating modifiers as products. 668 00:30:57,083 --> 00:31:01,250 That's super important for, analyzing data, right? 669 00:31:01,250 --> 00:31:01,625 Because, 670 00:31:02,666 --> 00:31:03,791 people, 671 00:31:03,791 --> 00:31:06,375 we sell the symbol like, I'm eating one right now. 672 00:31:06,375 --> 00:31:08,250 I'm going to hold it up because I already ate half of it. 673 00:31:08,250 --> 00:31:09,750 If it was full. I'll show it to you right now. 674 00:31:09,750 --> 00:31:11,583 But I'm eating one of our bowls right now, 675 00:31:11,583 --> 00:31:15,000 and you can get this bowl, with chicken. 676 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,250 With fried chicken, you could get it would stay. 677 00:31:17,250 --> 00:31:18,625 You could get it with tofu. 678 00:31:18,625 --> 00:31:20,416 There's so many different options. 679 00:31:20,416 --> 00:31:22,416 And all of that's at the modifier level. 680 00:31:22,416 --> 00:31:25,791 So really what we need to be doing is not analyzing the products people are buying. 681 00:31:26,125 --> 00:31:28,916 But what are the products and context to the modifier 682 00:31:28,916 --> 00:31:31,583 that they're buying to establish a total profile? 683 00:31:31,583 --> 00:31:35,666 We're also starting to store key information within products. 684 00:31:35,666 --> 00:31:38,458 So allergens as well as dietary preferences, 685 00:31:38,458 --> 00:31:41,375 and then also storing those two things within the customer profile 686 00:31:41,375 --> 00:31:45,083 so that we can create like dynamic menus specific to the customer. 687 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,208 You can, you can send us a slo mo video of one of your bowls after, 688 00:31:49,208 --> 00:31:50,833 and then we'll see how you got 689 00:31:52,208 --> 00:31:52,875 that sequence. 690 00:31:52,875 --> 00:31:53,458 Important. 691 00:31:53,458 --> 00:31:55,208 Yeah, I love what I did. 692 00:31:55,208 --> 00:31:57,416 I it's kind of it's it's hilarious to me. 693 00:31:57,416 --> 00:31:59,666 You're talking about customer journeys and cohorts. 694 00:31:59,666 --> 00:32:01,125 You sound like a SAS company. 695 00:32:01,125 --> 00:32:05,000 Like this is this is the language we speak at restaurant 365, right. 696 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,625 Like, what is it called? What is the customer journey? 697 00:32:07,625 --> 00:32:12,458 I love that you're when you're attacked and you're building 70% plus, 698 00:32:12,708 --> 00:32:16,458 digital ordering order ahead, 80% takeout rate. 699 00:32:17,250 --> 00:32:18,208 You kind of have to. 700 00:32:18,208 --> 00:32:21,416 And like, our customer supports the same way we have customer support 701 00:32:21,416 --> 00:32:23,833 that's ticketed like a software company would. 702 00:32:23,833 --> 00:32:24,666 Yeah. 703 00:32:24,666 --> 00:32:27,166 I mean, it's we have to because there's 704 00:32:27,166 --> 00:32:30,416 there's no way somebody is going to come back to fix that, that issue. 705 00:32:30,416 --> 00:32:32,125 You know, if we did make a mistake, we're human. 706 00:32:32,125 --> 00:32:33,458 We're going to make mistakes. 707 00:32:33,458 --> 00:32:34,791 If we screwed up your bill, 708 00:32:34,791 --> 00:32:36,541 I want to be able to send you that bill back, 709 00:32:36,541 --> 00:32:38,083 and I want you to be able to get it right away. 710 00:32:38,083 --> 00:32:39,958 And so we can just land that onto your phone. 711 00:32:40,958 --> 00:32:42,083 Yeah, I'm calling it bounce 712 00:32:42,083 --> 00:32:45,083 grill is a technology company. 713 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:47,708 That's really for for you guys. 714 00:32:47,708 --> 00:32:48,291 It's great. 715 00:32:48,291 --> 00:32:50,875 I mean, I love I love playing all the martech stuff. 716 00:32:50,875 --> 00:32:51,833 We got to be profitable. 717 00:32:51,833 --> 00:32:53,666 So I appreciate that. 718 00:32:53,666 --> 00:32:56,250 And one of the other things that, that, that I know you care about 719 00:32:56,250 --> 00:32:57,291 and I'm passionate about. 720 00:32:57,291 --> 00:33:01,166 So because you're, you're, you're the your main revenue stream is delivery, right? 721 00:33:01,166 --> 00:33:03,666 I always tell people like, if you're doing a ton of third party 722 00:33:03,666 --> 00:33:07,458 packaged food up, drive it around the block for 15 minutes and then eat it 723 00:33:07,458 --> 00:33:11,791 because that's, you know, and I know you, you think about this a lot like I. 724 00:33:11,875 --> 00:33:12,500 Yeah. 725 00:33:12,500 --> 00:33:13,833 Are you planning on attacking like, 726 00:33:13,833 --> 00:33:16,791 I know I think you're going to attack like you're packaging, sort of. 727 00:33:16,791 --> 00:33:20,041 You know how the food was arriving to the to the guest on the other side 728 00:33:20,041 --> 00:33:24,083 you've been looking into that packaging is always a challenge. 729 00:33:24,291 --> 00:33:26,458 It's part of our menu development process. 730 00:33:26,458 --> 00:33:30,125 So, I keep giving out like little dribbles of what our concepts like. 731 00:33:30,125 --> 00:33:33,250 But we do have semiannual menus, so spring 732 00:33:33,250 --> 00:33:36,333 and summer menu, we launch them on the Equinox. 733 00:33:36,333 --> 00:33:37,500 So our next one's coming out. 734 00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:41,291 The spring equinox is coming up on March the 20th, so we're gearing up for that. 735 00:33:41,666 --> 00:33:46,083 And finding the packaging has been extremely difficult 736 00:33:46,083 --> 00:33:48,875 because we do have to test everything you're talking about, right? 737 00:33:48,875 --> 00:33:52,708 Has to be esthetic because if it's not an Instagrammable product, 738 00:33:53,250 --> 00:33:56,250 people are not going to buy it and we don't have the luxury. 739 00:33:56,333 --> 00:33:59,541 When you're in a restaurant, sit down restaurant, casual restaurant, 740 00:33:59,791 --> 00:34:02,458 you have the luxury to take your time to plate it. 741 00:34:02,458 --> 00:34:04,500 Now, not everybody does. 742 00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:07,666 It's not a priority for everybody, but the option is there. 743 00:34:07,958 --> 00:34:09,250 We do that. 744 00:34:09,250 --> 00:34:13,458 Most of our customers 80% plus order takeout, and that means 745 00:34:13,458 --> 00:34:17,375 they're eating the product between 10 to 30 minutes after they order it. 746 00:34:17,375 --> 00:34:19,791 And so yes, it has to be packaged properly. 747 00:34:19,791 --> 00:34:20,583 But more than that, 748 00:34:20,583 --> 00:34:24,250 from my marketing background and like what I want our product to look like, 749 00:34:24,791 --> 00:34:27,791 it has to be Instagrammable when they open it up 750 00:34:28,125 --> 00:34:29,291 10 to 30 minutes later. 751 00:34:29,291 --> 00:34:30,833 And that is insanely difficult. 752 00:34:30,833 --> 00:34:35,291 It drives my co-founder nuts because he is the chef and it's super 753 00:34:35,291 --> 00:34:38,291 limiting on him, but somehow he still comes out with cool stuff. 754 00:34:38,541 --> 00:34:41,666 We do find it. I will say it's been easier. 755 00:34:41,666 --> 00:34:48,541 2012 man was just it was so bad for packaging paper and packaging goods 756 00:34:48,541 --> 00:34:52,166 and the fact that most of all, you can't even buy it. 757 00:34:52,333 --> 00:34:53,458 You know, you couldn't buy it. 758 00:34:53,458 --> 00:34:55,375 The price was insane. 759 00:34:55,375 --> 00:34:59,333 But I, you know, going back, looking at the numbers, 760 00:34:59,333 --> 00:35:02,333 getting behind the numbers and being able to find another supplier 761 00:35:02,333 --> 00:35:06,625 and at least know what is my average use on this item, you know, 762 00:35:06,791 --> 00:35:09,875 so I can quickly and efficiently shop for my other options, 763 00:35:09,875 --> 00:35:11,750 because at that time it's like, do you have this? 764 00:35:11,750 --> 00:35:12,416 Okay, great. 765 00:35:12,416 --> 00:35:15,000 Do you have 15,000 cases a year? 766 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:15,958 Because it's not. 767 00:35:15,958 --> 00:35:18,250 And you know, I said this is not worth it. 768 00:35:18,250 --> 00:35:20,666 I don't want to keep switching it because we do have to. 769 00:35:20,666 --> 00:35:23,000 Yeah, we have to photograph, you know, all this stuff. 770 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,500 It has to look like what you're getting. 771 00:35:25,500 --> 00:35:29,125 So if we have to change our bowl, we have to re photograph our whole menu. 772 00:35:29,125 --> 00:35:30,833 There's an entire series of updates 773 00:35:30,833 --> 00:35:33,083 that we have to make and has to go to multiple touchpoints. 774 00:35:33,083 --> 00:35:38,750 Third party delivery, POS, kiosk, app, employee training and just goes on and on. 775 00:35:38,750 --> 00:35:39,666 Right? Isn't 776 00:35:40,833 --> 00:35:41,916 that's a great point. 777 00:35:41,916 --> 00:35:44,833 You know, it's not something you think about when you're sourcing packaging. 778 00:35:44,833 --> 00:35:48,583 Like what's what's what's the tenure on this packaging, right. 779 00:35:48,583 --> 00:35:49,541 Like how 780 00:35:49,541 --> 00:35:52,791 like I'm going to I'm going to need this for the next three to 4 to 5 years. 781 00:35:52,791 --> 00:35:56,416 And if you can't fulfill that then you're probably not the vendor 782 00:35:56,416 --> 00:36:00,208 or the partner I'm looking for because yeah, that that redoing menus 783 00:36:00,208 --> 00:36:03,208 and photograph I mean that is that is not a cheap process. 784 00:36:03,958 --> 00:36:05,125 It's a big cost. 785 00:36:05,125 --> 00:36:05,333 Yeah. 786 00:36:05,333 --> 00:36:07,916 And you can, you know, if you use the usage data, 787 00:36:07,916 --> 00:36:11,750 you can go in even for a relatively small brand like we are, 788 00:36:11,750 --> 00:36:13,375 we can go in and pull that data. 789 00:36:13,375 --> 00:36:14,875 We have huge usage just, 790 00:36:14,875 --> 00:36:17,875 you know, even compared to other brands that are larger than us. 791 00:36:17,916 --> 00:36:21,416 And so we have good buying power, but you have to have that data 792 00:36:21,416 --> 00:36:22,791 to go in and talk to them. 793 00:36:22,791 --> 00:36:26,333 And you can get a purchase agreement, you can get a marketing, 794 00:36:26,333 --> 00:36:31,041 you know, stipend, it can be annual or one time for switching over. 795 00:36:31,041 --> 00:36:32,916 A lot of times they have a separate budget for that. 796 00:36:32,916 --> 00:36:35,916 And you can also get what's called an FSA and floor stocking agreement, 797 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:37,791 which is that commitment from them that they're going 798 00:36:37,791 --> 00:36:40,500 to prioritize your shipments and you're not going to be shorted. 799 00:36:40,500 --> 00:36:44,875 So lots of things you can get, as long as you can get behind the numbers. 800 00:36:45,166 --> 00:36:46,125 You like that, right? 801 00:36:46,125 --> 00:36:49,750 He said that normally I'm the one trying to throw the punches in here. 802 00:36:49,750 --> 00:36:51,083 You're you're being I am 803 00:36:52,250 --> 00:36:53,125 I'm a funny guy. 804 00:36:53,125 --> 00:36:56,125 Yeah. 805 00:36:56,250 --> 00:36:59,250 But we get along because yeah, I know. 806 00:36:59,541 --> 00:37:01,458 Well, I, you know, I'm. 807 00:37:01,458 --> 00:37:03,125 I'm curious, don't you? 808 00:37:03,125 --> 00:37:04,916 We're talking about transforming 2026. 809 00:37:04,916 --> 00:37:06,708 But but overall, you know, 810 00:37:06,708 --> 00:37:09,833 how's the restaurant landscape looking through your eyes right now? 811 00:37:10,666 --> 00:37:13,583 Yeah, I think opportunity is starting to open up. 812 00:37:13,583 --> 00:37:14,750 Yeah. 813 00:37:14,750 --> 00:37:17,750 We're we're on the cusp of some changes. 814 00:37:17,750 --> 00:37:21,416 I think the real estate market is starting to soften a little bit. 815 00:37:21,625 --> 00:37:24,833 It's gotten more expensive to build out 816 00:37:24,833 --> 00:37:28,125 restaurants, so the ROI calculation is just different. 817 00:37:28,125 --> 00:37:31,333 You know, we continue to have price pressures on margins, 818 00:37:31,333 --> 00:37:35,083 on prime costs, ultimately store level EBITDA does get pressured. 819 00:37:35,083 --> 00:37:38,458 And it's just a ratio between store level labor and startup cost. 820 00:37:38,458 --> 00:37:44,000 And we consciously went extremely slow on growth, triple slow on growth. 821 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,875 These last years since Covid, because you just could not even predict 822 00:37:48,125 --> 00:37:49,541 that startup cost. 823 00:37:49,541 --> 00:37:53,458 And it was you know, you if you're willing to pay the cost, 824 00:37:53,916 --> 00:37:57,541 it used to cost us pre-COVID under 500 K to open a store, 825 00:37:57,541 --> 00:38:00,541 and now it's 800 K to open a store. 826 00:38:00,625 --> 00:38:02,958 The AUV has gone up, but margins 827 00:38:02,958 --> 00:38:05,958 continue to get threatened year after year after year. 828 00:38:06,375 --> 00:38:11,333 And the consumer is not flexible on you taking price. So, 829 00:38:12,833 --> 00:38:16,000 this is a tough combination, but I think that's starting to open up 830 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,000 because you can see it in supply chain availability, 831 00:38:19,083 --> 00:38:23,666 both for products as well as, you know, the the initial stuff. 832 00:38:23,666 --> 00:38:26,125 You're gonna spend CapEx on your furniture or equipment, right? 833 00:38:26,125 --> 00:38:30,875 You're not seeing like massive ten, 15% year on year equipment price changes. 834 00:38:31,166 --> 00:38:32,041 You're starting to see people 835 00:38:32,041 --> 00:38:35,750 get competitive, with pricing again, before it was kind of like, 836 00:38:36,208 --> 00:38:39,958 you know, who has it in inventory, gets the socks or whatever they want. 837 00:38:39,958 --> 00:38:42,250 Now, inventories are good. 838 00:38:42,250 --> 00:38:45,250 So I think it's starting to turn around. 839 00:38:45,416 --> 00:38:49,583 And, you know, once this real estate becomes a little bit more available, 840 00:38:49,958 --> 00:38:53,000 I think it's still a little high, but occupancy costs are going up. 841 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,416 So I think eventually landlords will kind of give em. 842 00:38:55,416 --> 00:38:59,250 And that's our model is to lease and build them out because they cashflow. 843 00:38:59,250 --> 00:39:01,375 So yeah. Yeah. 844 00:39:02,708 --> 00:39:05,125 So does that are we working on a new store right now? 845 00:39:05,125 --> 00:39:06,250 Yeah, yeah. 846 00:39:06,250 --> 00:39:08,125 Yeah, I was going to finish that thought. 847 00:39:08,125 --> 00:39:11,541 So we just hired an a new, operations director. 848 00:39:11,875 --> 00:39:14,750 He just started he came to us from a brand, 849 00:39:14,750 --> 00:39:17,750 that he was at that scaled from 1 to 55 units. 850 00:39:17,833 --> 00:39:21,458 And, before that, my co-founder was running operations 851 00:39:21,458 --> 00:39:23,166 as well as doing menu development. 852 00:39:23,166 --> 00:39:25,375 So this allows him to really focus on the brand 853 00:39:25,375 --> 00:39:28,458 and the product experience and customer experience and dial in on that. 854 00:39:28,916 --> 00:39:32,125 Last year, was challenging. 855 00:39:32,125 --> 00:39:35,541 I think most operators would say that at least in Q1, it was challenging, 856 00:39:35,541 --> 00:39:39,375 but we ended up with good, same store sales at the end of the year. 857 00:39:39,375 --> 00:39:41,875 We rallied through a quarter during quarter four, 858 00:39:41,875 --> 00:39:45,291 and as I look back on it, it's because we very successfully dialed in 859 00:39:45,291 --> 00:39:51,000 on these menu updates with things like on brand, on the on trend food items, 860 00:39:51,458 --> 00:39:55,083 things that are, you know, high protein, have good nutritional content, 861 00:39:55,500 --> 00:39:57,291 and are packaged well. 862 00:39:57,291 --> 00:40:01,041 And that means that customers are able to enjoy them as intended. 863 00:40:01,041 --> 00:40:03,083 So all the things that we just talked about, right. 864 00:40:03,083 --> 00:40:05,791 And we executed that really well twice throughout the year. 865 00:40:05,791 --> 00:40:08,625 So we're looking to improve that, 866 00:40:08,625 --> 00:40:11,166 as well as start to scale corporate stores. 867 00:40:11,166 --> 00:40:15,000 So that's that's kind of my model right now, especially because, 868 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,041 we've taken these last years from Covid and now we have no debt, which is amazing. 869 00:40:19,041 --> 00:40:21,000 And we have cash on hand. 870 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,000 So I can actually play in capitalism. 871 00:40:24,291 --> 00:40:25,500 Wow. Great. 872 00:40:25,500 --> 00:40:26,000 Great system. 873 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:28,916 If you have capital ducks, if you don't, you know. 874 00:40:32,250 --> 00:40:34,208 Well, I love it too, because, I mean, you're 875 00:40:34,208 --> 00:40:36,833 you're saying all of the, the things that I feel like 876 00:40:36,833 --> 00:40:40,208 a lot of times we hear from like people who are running marketing departments. 877 00:40:40,208 --> 00:40:40,458 Right? 878 00:40:40,458 --> 00:40:43,041 I want to see what's on trend, what's, you know, what's, 879 00:40:43,041 --> 00:40:44,958 what what's the hot new thing right now? 880 00:40:44,958 --> 00:40:47,291 Making sure that everything looks like really great and sexy 881 00:40:47,291 --> 00:40:49,416 and the slo mo videos and things like that. 882 00:40:49,416 --> 00:40:51,958 I mean, you said something earlier that I just wanted 883 00:40:51,958 --> 00:40:55,041 to, like, kind of circle back on that you that artificial minimum wage 884 00:40:55,041 --> 00:40:58,708 is to train your people on how to market the brand. 885 00:40:58,916 --> 00:40:59,541 So, I mean, like, 886 00:40:59,541 --> 00:41:02,166 you were building a whole army of people who are 887 00:41:02,166 --> 00:41:03,625 it's not just representing the brand. 888 00:41:03,625 --> 00:41:05,333 It's really just like now you're out there, 889 00:41:05,333 --> 00:41:07,291 you're marketing the brand on a regular basis. 890 00:41:07,291 --> 00:41:09,208 I think it's just a great way to think about 891 00:41:09,208 --> 00:41:12,208 kind of how you bring your people on and how you get them started. 892 00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:13,500 Working at Balance. 893 00:41:14,666 --> 00:41:15,708 Yeah, definitely. 894 00:41:15,708 --> 00:41:19,750 I think people like they often discount your hourly employees, 895 00:41:19,750 --> 00:41:23,125 when in reality your hourly employees nine times out of ten 896 00:41:23,125 --> 00:41:26,541 are also your customers and they are your customer demographic. 897 00:41:26,875 --> 00:41:28,791 So you've got to be dialed into that. 898 00:41:28,791 --> 00:41:31,333 You know, I don't know all the Gen Z slang. 899 00:41:31,333 --> 00:41:33,333 I'm an old millennial at this point. 900 00:41:33,333 --> 00:41:38,375 But it's, you know, I think being dialed in to what they're looking for. 901 00:41:38,375 --> 00:41:40,916 So, like, one of the things that we're doing on our snack menu 902 00:41:40,916 --> 00:41:44,750 that's coming up and super excited about is a Japanese egg sando. Why? 903 00:41:44,750 --> 00:41:48,541 Because it's Japanese that famous through 7-Eleven. 904 00:41:48,541 --> 00:41:51,250 We can help it with just significantly. 905 00:41:51,250 --> 00:41:53,458 Yes. Super Instagrammable. 906 00:41:53,458 --> 00:41:55,500 And we found cool packaging for it. 907 00:41:55,500 --> 00:41:58,083 That's like a little triangle box is clear in the front, 908 00:41:58,083 --> 00:42:01,916 so you're able to see, like halved seven minute jammy eggs 909 00:42:02,125 --> 00:42:05,458 running down the middle with this, like really good egg salad on the outside. 910 00:42:05,708 --> 00:42:06,708 And it's all prep. 911 00:42:06,708 --> 00:42:07,708 It's high protein 912 00:42:07,708 --> 00:42:10,708 and it's hitting like all the key things that people are looking for right now. 913 00:42:10,875 --> 00:42:12,125 I think we're going to bang out with it. 914 00:42:12,125 --> 00:42:15,708 It's just one of like several items that will drop for the spring release. 915 00:42:16,166 --> 00:42:18,000 The kids would say that slaps. 916 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,375 I believe that's what they yes, it will slap. 917 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:25,208 Oh, that sounds awesome. 918 00:42:25,208 --> 00:42:27,250 And yeah, protein is is having its moment. 919 00:42:27,250 --> 00:42:30,166 So get get on that training routine and everyone. 920 00:42:30,166 --> 00:42:30,416 Yeah. 921 00:42:30,416 --> 00:42:32,458 Oh team water protein dessert 922 00:42:32,458 --> 00:42:35,083 something I really love it when you buy a bottle of water 923 00:42:35,083 --> 00:42:36,583 it tells you it's gluten free on the label. 924 00:42:36,583 --> 00:42:39,583 Well thank you, I, I was aware 925 00:42:40,166 --> 00:42:42,250 that, these trends, they're important, though. 926 00:42:42,250 --> 00:42:43,041 They really are. 927 00:42:43,041 --> 00:42:48,000 I mean, they're it's, I heard this, at a conference one time, 928 00:42:48,416 --> 00:42:52,000 and somebody said relevance is revenue. 929 00:42:52,791 --> 00:42:57,041 And that one hit home for me, and then they follow it up with Profit is Power. 930 00:42:57,041 --> 00:43:02,166 And I was like, I mean, it's got like, you know, but relevance and revenue, man. 931 00:43:02,166 --> 00:43:03,750 The tie in on those two things. 932 00:43:03,750 --> 00:43:05,541 I just thought that was so slick. 933 00:43:05,541 --> 00:43:07,041 And, it is so true. 934 00:43:07,041 --> 00:43:08,750 You got to be relevant to your customers. 935 00:43:10,375 --> 00:43:10,916 Absolutely. 936 00:43:10,916 --> 00:43:13,916 Once you stop being relevant, that's when they stop coming back. 937 00:43:14,458 --> 00:43:16,041 Yeah, 938 00:43:16,041 --> 00:43:21,250 well, I'm excited for your hot take, because I'm sure you have one. 939 00:43:21,500 --> 00:43:24,958 We always like to wrap up with a hot take on the industry. 940 00:43:24,958 --> 00:43:27,541 Something you love, something you hate, 941 00:43:27,541 --> 00:43:29,666 what you got. 942 00:43:29,666 --> 00:43:34,000 Something I love is that we do sell food, but ultimately it's about people. 943 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,750 And so just connecting with people, I just love that. 944 00:43:36,750 --> 00:43:38,875 I mean, people in all walks of life. 945 00:43:38,875 --> 00:43:42,750 As I mentioned earlier, I started my career in it in tech and it's 946 00:43:42,750 --> 00:43:45,416 just such an insular little circle. It's tough to break out. 947 00:43:45,416 --> 00:43:46,791 You're trying to meet the same people all the time. 948 00:43:46,791 --> 00:43:50,708 You're in this little echo chamber and with with the restaurant business. 949 00:43:50,708 --> 00:43:54,291 I meet all different types of people and, I love that. 950 00:43:55,083 --> 00:43:55,791 The thing I, 951 00:43:56,958 --> 00:43:58,583 which is a hot take. 952 00:43:58,583 --> 00:44:00,291 I don't like tipping. 953 00:44:00,291 --> 00:44:01,166 We don't take that. 954 00:44:01,166 --> 00:44:03,541 Now we are fast casual. 955 00:44:03,541 --> 00:44:07,708 I know other fast casual brands take to, I just don't believe in it. 956 00:44:08,916 --> 00:44:11,625 As, like, philosophically, 957 00:44:11,625 --> 00:44:14,625 ethically, in practice and anything about it. 958 00:44:14,666 --> 00:44:17,125 I just think we should get rid of tips. 959 00:44:17,125 --> 00:44:20,000 So at the end of the podcast, when I turn the screen around 960 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,000 and you just got the three off, you're just going to ignore that? 961 00:44:24,208 --> 00:44:24,625 Yeah. 962 00:44:24,625 --> 00:44:28,708 Enrich Yours probably starts at 23% and goes to 28%. 963 00:44:29,125 --> 00:44:32,125 Those of you only two and a half, 22.5. 964 00:44:32,208 --> 00:44:33,500 Yeah. Like to give that option. 965 00:44:33,500 --> 00:44:36,000 And I know I like that. 966 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,000 I mean it's definitely, 967 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,250 that it's you know, I mean, they each their own, right. 968 00:44:43,250 --> 00:44:45,750 I just, I, we do a lot of travel. 969 00:44:45,750 --> 00:44:47,333 My parents were born in India. 970 00:44:47,333 --> 00:44:48,958 I was born here. 971 00:44:48,958 --> 00:44:51,958 If you go to India and you're trying to people, they take it like it's an insult. 972 00:44:51,958 --> 00:44:54,625 They're like, what do you mean? Like, you know, you think I don't? 973 00:44:54,625 --> 00:44:57,375 I don't do a good job. You think I can't support my family? 974 00:44:57,375 --> 00:45:00,333 Like it's the complete opposite? Yeah. 975 00:45:00,333 --> 00:45:01,791 And a lot of the world. 976 00:45:01,791 --> 00:45:03,083 Yeah, is like that. 977 00:45:03,083 --> 00:45:06,791 You know, if you go to Europe, I mean, if you come off like an American, 978 00:45:06,791 --> 00:45:08,000 they know to take your tip 979 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:10,791 because they know you're talking about you don't mean anything by it. 980 00:45:10,791 --> 00:45:13,833 But if you're from anywhere else in the world, they will take it 981 00:45:13,833 --> 00:45:14,541 like an insult. 982 00:45:14,541 --> 00:45:17,375 They'll be like, look, I'm a professional server, I. 983 00:45:17,375 --> 00:45:18,916 This is what I do. 984 00:45:18,916 --> 00:45:21,125 I don't need your, like, pity money. 985 00:45:21,125 --> 00:45:23,250 That's kind of the way they see it. 986 00:45:23,250 --> 00:45:25,791 And here, I mean, they have to. 987 00:45:25,791 --> 00:45:28,875 I get it because, like, you're not paid a living wage, right? 988 00:45:28,875 --> 00:45:33,958 So, like, you are 100% dependent on tips, but I think at some points 989 00:45:34,583 --> 00:45:37,500 we're just going to have to absorb the fact that in order 990 00:45:37,500 --> 00:45:41,541 to be a scalable, sustainable business, we do have to pay living wages. 991 00:45:41,541 --> 00:45:43,041 And we cannot 992 00:45:43,041 --> 00:45:47,291 allow people to just like, live on tips at the complete mercy of our customers 993 00:45:47,291 --> 00:45:50,583 because it's not up to them and they are not in business. 994 00:45:51,291 --> 00:45:53,333 We are like having an app in 2012. 995 00:45:53,333 --> 00:45:55,166 I think you are once again ahead of the curve on 996 00:45:56,458 --> 00:45:57,250 it's coming. 997 00:45:57,250 --> 00:46:00,125 I love it, but why are you leading the charge? 998 00:46:00,125 --> 00:46:03,125 I'm here for it. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. 999 00:46:03,375 --> 00:46:04,500 Cool. Okay. 1000 00:46:04,500 --> 00:46:05,750 Thank you so much for joining us. 1001 00:46:05,750 --> 00:46:08,625 And everything that you do to support restaurant 365. 1002 00:46:08,625 --> 00:46:10,666 Love seeing you at all the events and getting to talk to you. 1003 00:46:10,666 --> 00:46:12,416 And I feel like every time I talk to you, 1004 00:46:12,416 --> 00:46:14,291 I walk away feeling like a little bit smarter. 1005 00:46:14,291 --> 00:46:18,833 So if you want to feel smarter, you can find PK on LinkedIn and Balance 1006 00:46:18,833 --> 00:46:21,875 girls restaurants across Ohio and a balanced grill.com. 1007 00:46:22,041 --> 00:46:25,583 And of course, on all social media platforms, look for those sexy slo 1008 00:46:25,583 --> 00:46:26,458 mo videos. 1009 00:46:26,458 --> 00:46:30,250 Yes, and Instagrammable sando egg sandwiches coming soon. 1010 00:46:30,541 --> 00:46:32,875 And of course, thank you for joining us. We hope you have a great day, 1011 00:46:32,875 --> 00:46:35,458 a great shift, a profitable Monday, wherever you are. 1012 00:46:35,458 --> 00:46:37,625 And don't forget to like and subscribe to the show 1013 00:46:37,625 --> 00:46:39,625 wherever you're listening or watching. 1014 00:46:39,625 --> 00:46:41,708 It's no small ass there. We really appreciate that. 1015 00:46:41,708 --> 00:46:44,250 It really does help us to continue to provide this content. 1016 00:46:44,250 --> 00:46:47,541 And of course, you can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, 1017 00:46:47,875 --> 00:46:49,583 and wherever else you might be listening. 1018 00:46:49,583 --> 00:46:51,333 And you can also follow us on, on social media. 1019 00:46:51,333 --> 00:46:54,083 We're on LinkedIn. We're on Instagram as well. We're on Facebook. 1020 00:46:54,083 --> 00:46:57,416 We're not posting, you know, sexy photos on Instagram speaking. 1021 00:46:57,500 --> 00:46:59,083 But we'll get there one day. 1022 00:46:59,083 --> 00:47:01,791 You can always visit us at rest of the food out of me. Yes 1023 00:47:03,208 --> 00:47:05,875 yes, yes, just a peek PK. 1024 00:47:05,875 --> 00:47:08,041 Thanks. This was a this was an awesome conversation. 1025 00:47:08,041 --> 00:47:10,666 Always great to talk to you. Thanks for having me on guys. Yeah. 1026 00:47:10,666 --> 00:47:13,666 Thank you for joining us. 1027 00:47:19,541 --> 00:47:20,125 Today.