May 7, 2026 • 46 mins
What does it take to turn a small, handmade soap shop into one of the fastest‑growing retail franchises in the country?
In this episode of CEOs You Should Know Dallas, iHeartMedia Dallas Market President Chris Long sits down with Enrique Ramirez, CEO of Buff City Soap, to explore the rapid rise of a brand built on fresh ingredients, customer experience, and scalable growth.
Enrique shares how Buff City Soap evolved from a niche concept into a nationwide franchise, while staying true to its roots of handcrafted, plant‑based products made daily in-store. He breaks down the realities of hyper-growth, what it takes to build and support a successful franchise system, and how strong culture and operational discipline drive long-term success.
Along the way, the conversation covers leadership lessons, navigating change, retail innovation, and why creating a memorable in-store experience is more important than ever. Enrique also gives insight into the future of Buff City Soap and the strategy behind its continued expansion.
Guest: Enrique Ramirez, CEO, Buff City Soap
Website: www.BuffCitySoap.com
CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
In this episode of CEOs You Should Know Dallas, iHeartMedia Dallas Market President Chris Long sits down with Enrique Ramirez, CEO of Buff City Soap, to explore the rapid rise of a brand built on fresh ingredients, customer experience, and scalable growth.
Enrique shares how Buff City Soap evolved from a niche concept into a nationwide franchise, while staying true to its roots of handcrafted, plant‑based products made daily in-store. He breaks down the realities of hyper-growth, what it takes to build and support a successful franchise system, and how strong culture and operational discipline drive long-term success.
Along the way, the conversation covers leadership lessons, navigating change, retail innovation, and why creating a memorable in-store experience is more important than ever. Enrique also gives insight into the future of Buff City Soap and the strategy behind its continued expansion.
Guest: Enrique Ramirez, CEO, Buff City Soap
Website: www.BuffCitySoap.com
CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is CEOs You Should Know, with the Dallas market
president of iHeartMedia, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I want to welcome everybody to another episode of CEOs
You Should Know Dallas. I'm Chris Long, market president for iHeartMedia,
and I'm here with my new friend Enrique Ramirez, CEO
of Buff City Soap and Enrique, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thank you, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So we've had a little bit of a thing happen
here that we're gonna have to jump into right away
that we don't normally do.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Enrique, this is the first time. So I have a
belief that you know, you don't wear.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The concert t shirt to the concert. There's just certain
things you don't do. And I've got something I've got
to ask you about. I've got another client texting me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
About your product as we're sitting here. Do we talk
about it? Do we not?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I've got my friend Elizabeth texting me about every product
under the sun.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
That she loves of yours. Oh my god, I love
Buff City. So I mean you probably get a lot
of these every day.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Fortunately we do.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That's good. So this is gonna be a great conversation.
I think Elizabeth loves car sense thanks for making Thank you.
You don't get this very often. I mean, I'm sure
you do, but like someone thanking you for a.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Product, I know, that's terrific. We love it.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
We have a lot of fans and that's part of
what makes our job so much fun.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Absolutely, Okay, So I got to get back on track.
Sorry about that. So one of the things that.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
We like to talk about as a as the largest
audio platform in the United States, iHeartMedia eight hundred and
sixty radio stations across one hundred and sixty markets, podcast
streaming every kind of every genre covered, and podcasting every
music format. I think it's important that we get to
(01:52):
know a little bit about you musically. So I'm gonna
rapid fire a few questions and just first answer that
comes to you. All right, First music crush.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Madonna, Madonna, Olivia Newton, John was mine, uh first concert.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Billy Joel in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Whoa that We've We've been keeping a running list. You
might have cracked the top three with that. We've had
Billy Joel, somewhere House.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
We had Whitney Houston, We've had Uh, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We've had some good ones.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Mine's men at work. So I am nowhere near the
top fifteen. Last concert live show you went to m
I think that was cold Play in fair Park, not
the one where the couple got the.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Not that one, Not that one that's here in town.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, say in town. All right, that's that's really good. Okay.
So last one, what's your walk up song?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
My walk up song? Well, I'm originally from Mexico, say so.
People always give.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Me Latin songs for walk up songs, and I like it.
I used don Enrique Glessie as one called escape esca par.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Okay, and I like that one. You're good with that?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, I'm good with that one.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So the next time when you come see us, we'll
make sure we have that ready to go for you. So, okay,
you know you have such a fascinating background.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Why don't you give us the high.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Level version of you know, school and you went to Wharton,
correct for your NBA and all that.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Let's talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And then as you got into business and you have
an extensive background at Young Brands, You've done a lot
of really interesting things. And what I found especially fascinating
is finance background. Correct, Yes, you came up through the find.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well sort of, Okay, I'll shut up, go ahead, I'll
tell you.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yes and no is the answer to that question. So yeah,
let me tell you. So.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I'm originally from Mexico City, I mentioned, grew up there,
went to high school and college there, started economics in
undergrad and started out in investment research, the investment research
part of banking, so I think like fixed income research.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Or equity research.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
I worked for a very large European bank called Banco Santander,
the largest bank in Europe. And then I got married
and we came to the US for grad school. I
wanted to get an MBA and my wife's an architect.
She wanted to go to grad school here. So we
went to penn and we went we moved to Philly
for a couple of years.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Good school. Yeah, we had a great time. You know.
We just had a blast.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And luckily we had some opportunities afterwards, and I chose
to do management consulting, okay, and that's what brought me
to Dallas, because I had spent a summer doing management consulting.
In the end, I took a job with BCG, the
Boston Consulting Group here in town, and my wife and
I thought we would be here for maybe a couple
of years, get that experience, and then maybe moved back
home to Mexico City to start a family and live
(04:50):
our lives. But we're still here. It's been twenty six
and a half years. Let's go arrived in Dallas, so
it's become our home.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's awesome. So when did you jump over to the
QS side.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yes, and that I'm going to bridge it to the
Did I grow up in finance or not?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So after working for BCG for a couple of years, I.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Actually moved to the company that used to be known
as Kinkos. Oh wow, back then kin KOs this is
I'm talking like two thousand and two to two thousand
and two was owned by a private equity company and
they were trying to implement a turnaround plan and either
take it public or.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Sell it to a strategic buyer. And we sold it
to FedEx.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I saw your FedEx background.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Okay, yes, so.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I came with Kinkos. We saw the company to FedEx.
Ups had bought mailboxes, et cetera. They all wanted more
points of access for retail stagaging, drop off and pickup,
and so I stayed after the acquisition, ended up being
there for about eight years, and I never worked in
finance during those eight years, and I had not worked
in finance in consulting. It was an analytical type job,
(05:56):
but not straight finance. At FedEx and Kinkos, I did mark,
I did operations, I.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Did real estate. You probably development. So I got to
do a lot of stuff. Yeah, and I became a
bit of a generalist.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
And then one day I get a call from this
former colleague of mine from BCG who had become an
executive recruiter, and he said, hey, Yum's looking for someone
to become CFO of Pizza Hut, and I thought of you,
and I showed them your resume and they're kind of intrigued.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So would you meet them?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
And I said, you know, I'm a VP of marketing
for the retail business, right, So it was interesting, but
I went and met them because I had always admired
young brands, their stock price and their performance at the phenomenal,
especially since the spinoff from PEPSI, And so I went
and met.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The team and I joined.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
And then I understood, you know, this was a divisional
CFO job. I wouldn't have to deal with the full
P and L. Really, my P and L stopped at
like operating profit and it was all about growth and
planning and strategy and type of stuff, not so much
about control or the balance sheet. So that's why they
were okay with somebody with a more of a generalist background.
And of course I learned the function while doing the
(07:10):
job and I had a blast. Ended up staying there
for over a decade, about twelve years, and had a
chance to work in the US Pizza Hut business and
in the international business, which where we had a lot
of growth and just had a really good time. And
then from there I joined Buff City Soap and it's
it's been a great ride.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Okay, we're going to get to buff City in one second.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But you you've talked about something this first one of
our guests that has worked on.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
The international side of things.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Compare and contrast a little bit doing, you know, working
US versus internationally.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Well, in the restaurant business, you know, in quick service restaurants,
it's it can be very different. And in the case
of Pizza Hut, it was very different because in the
US we had a lot of corporate stores, company owned stores,
and then a lot of franchise stores, but we as
a company, Rebeccaanoses very well manage the calendar, the marketing calendar,
the promotions, the new product innovation and stuff like that,
(08:09):
and the franchisees and all the store operators executed those
plans right. Whereas an international you have franchise partners who
control entire countries, entire markets in some cases several countries,
and so it's a bit of a different type of
engagement between the franchise or on the franchisee.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
It's more about giving guide.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
It's more like a portfolio management job to a large extent.
But it's fascinating because competition is different. Sure, it's intents
in many markets, but not as intents in some others.
And the opportunity to grow more units, open more restaurants
is just bigger, right than in a saturated market.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
With product affinity correct, And that's.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
It's also fun to to decide when you stick to
your brand standards, to your product attributes, the key elements
of your SPS. Think about like a supreme pizza, for example,
versus when you allow some tropicalizations some customization for the
local consumers taste.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So I would imagine that franchise experience was probably a
big part of the interest Puff City sopad and correct
your experience correct probably the main part of why they
were interested in talking to me because I had spent
a long time working with franchisees and.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Largish franchise organizations and pop City so was starting to
grow precisely with franchise partners that were multi unit, multi
brand operators of several concepts. And you're what two hundred
and forty We're at about two hundred and five stores
right now, so we've grown pretty quickly. You know, the
brand was started a little over ten years ago, but
(09:54):
the growth only started in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Really, Okay, what's been the biggest I mean, it's a
great concept. What's the Clearly people like Elizabeth, Moms like
Elizabeth love the product.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
What do you think the biggest catalyst has been.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I think that it's a very differentiated brand and a
very differentiated product.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Right, So, as you.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Know, we're in personal care, home care, and there are
obviously competitors out there that sell product that are similar
to ours, but nobody.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Does it the way we do, which is.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
First of all, it's a combination of its plan based
no harsh chemicals, handcrafted in stores every single day. And
since the production happens in the retail stores, customers get
to see how the products are being prepared in the makery.
We call it the soap makery. It's like having a
kitchen in the front of house, but we make soaps
and related products instead of food, and so customers see
(10:42):
that we actually only use, you know, a handful of ingredients,
that it's all very natural, very very very good for you.
And since we make it in stores versus in factories,
customers can easily customize the products that they want.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
They can say, well.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
I love your laundry so but you know what, I
really love this fragrance that I smelled on this body lotion.
Can you give me the laundry soap in that fragrance?
And guess what the answer is not only yes, but
it'll take five minutes and we'll so it's kind of
like the Build a Bear of soap exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Kind of. Yeah, it's a good analogy.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
You can use that. That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Actually, you know the CEO of Build a Bear we
were we were on the Jack in the Box boards.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
He's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Sharon John Okay so I saw that you run the
board of six Flags, Yes, and Jack in the Box,
both with iconic, you know, forward facing, you know, brand lead,
you know mister six and then Jack.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Any secrets you can tell us on Buff City.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I just love consumer brands, you know.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I just love the fact that when I talk to
my family and friends about my job and the companies
I try to help, they can relate to them because
they've used them. They know the brand, they know their products,
and I just love that. That's why I've enjoyed those
assignments that you mentioned, and when I love so much.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
What we do at Buff City Soap. Yeah, yeah, there's
always secrets.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
We're going to create our own secrets as a young
company that hopefully will come an iconic part of the
history of Pop City Soap.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Well that's the fun part. So give me a little
bit of the history. It was found in Memphis ten
years ago.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Founded in Memphis around ten twelve years ago. It was
one of those stories of our founder just started making
soap in his garage, you know, one of the better product,
one of the product that was better for skin, that
didn't have harsh chemicals, and it started working, and they
started bringing the products to farmers' markets and people started
to buy them and love them and ask for more.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So that led to the first store.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
That was opened in the Memphis area and a place
called Bartlett, Tennessee. Actually, the first name of the company
was not Buff City Soap. It was the Bartlet Soap Company,
and then later on we rebranded to Buff City Soap, which,
by the way, is a play on words on one
of the nicknames of Memphis.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Which is Bluff City.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Got it, So it's related to that, and Boff has
something to do with like cleaning and soap, so Poff
City Soap all came about that way.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
But yes, the business will started in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So it's interesting, you say, going to farmers' markets and
things like that. So on the podcast, we talked to
founders and then CEOs such as yourself, and you know,
there are two distinct paths, and I find we were.
We recorded an episode that hasn't been released yet with
the founder of Good Ranchers and and Ben talked about,
(13:25):
you know, going with me to markets and things like that.
And I don't know about you, but like for me,
I'm like man the wherewithal it takes to say, you know, what,
I'm going to give this a shot and I'm gonna
go do it, and every one of them, of the
of the founders, and I'd be curious about the Buff
City founder because they just have this unfailing belief.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah. Yeah, no, it's uh, it's you're you're right. You know.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It's a it's a breed in my mind of people
who were like, have the courage and the vision to
go create new concepts, redefined industries, or come up with
things we never thought we would ever need. So that
was no different in our case. So our founder's name
is Brad Kellam super creative guy, lots of different interests.
He started other companies after Above City, so now he's
(14:13):
been out of the company for a while. So I
hear stories from back in the day where he had
so much passion would come to the stores and we
want to make sure that the soaps were made a
certain way and displayed a certain way and all these things,
and that of course has become part of our ethos
and part of our you know what we used to
to continue to develop the brand and create new products. Unfortunately,
they didn't get to interact with him because he was
(14:35):
long gone by the time I joined, but definitely super creative.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
And I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
You know, some of us are are good at taking
something and trying to make it better or grow it
or find areas of improvement, and some others are great
at just creating stuff from scratch. Like I couldn't do it.
I wish I had that ability, you know well.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
And it's funny because you think about I mean, obviously
with your background and you know, the general word is
really interesting because you really do have the whole swath
of experiences. But like with all of that knowledge and
experience and then and the ability to jump around between
(15:16):
each different uh skill set would.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Be interesting to you.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Would you have the wherewithal like you said to say, oh,
I'm gonna take this product and I'm gonna go do it,
and like I I know, like I'll think of things
You're like, oh, I could never get it from I
could start with a but the the bead and why
would be really difficult for me?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Right?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yeah, And even when you have the conviction and you
and you know that the product would work and all that.
I've talked to several founders and it's not just having
the courage to get started, but then having the the
resilience to keep resilience great work, especially in the case
of somebody like like oh Sword like not starting out
our careers. You you probably can develop the self confidence
(15:58):
and you can go try something like that. Well, but
you're already used to a certain type of structure. Resources,
you know, people with whom you can bounce ideas off
or who can help you get stuff done. And a
founder is like, it's a lonely place and you don't
have resource sos, you don't have the money to have
a team, and.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
We wear all the hat to talk to them.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
You have to really have a huge, huge conviction and
be very persistent have great resilience to get it through.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
So so ten years you're probably at an interesting place
where you probably have some people that are originals, you know,
they have the employee number that's like seven or something
like that, and then you have people that you're bringing in.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
How has that been, you know, merging that culture Because
I worked at somewhere at a point where it was
the crossroads of all of the startup people that were
there in the garage when it started going, Okay, now
we're becoming a big company. I don't know if I
like this anymore, and then people like me coming in
who'd always worked in larger companies, and that merging of cultures.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Was really interesting. So I'd love to hear your perspective.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
So first of all, although the company has been around
for a little over ten years, it didn't really start
being managed as a multi unit, you know, multi territory
franchising entity until about five years ago. That's right before you,
right before I joined, and that's when the company got
moved to Dallas. That's when franchising started in earnest and
(17:21):
when people started hiring people and forming a team. Before
it was a family, very small scale operation. But to
answer your question, we literally have a handful, like I'm
thinking maybe three four people that have been with us
longer than five or six years.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Interesting, that's it. So then we have like another I mean,
I guess then if you.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Leave those those like OG folks out of this of
this equation, then we have maybe a third to half
our team who's been around for like three four years
like myself.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And then the other half are newer.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Right, I've only been with us for like months or
a couple of years, and it's fantastic to have the
ability to merge those folk, the ogs, the four or
five that have been here a long time, those of
us who have seen a few things in the last
four or five years, and those who bring new ideas
and are just getting like you know, involved with the
brand in at this time in it's in its in
(18:18):
its evolution, and I always believe that every company, every team,
stands to benefit a lot from a combination constitutional knowledge,
industry knowledge, relationships, all that and new ideas, fresh perspectives,
new attempts at getting things done.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well, that's the best place to be, right right, because
I think if you're overweighted on you shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You can You can't because if it's the ogs, it's like, well,
this is how we do it. We didn't do it
this way back when we were still going to farmers markets.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And when it's all the other there's no tie ack
to the original ethos of the brand.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
But when you have a nice mix, the ogs can say, hey,
let me let's remember the essence of the brand, let's
remember how this started, and and it helps you reground
yourself as you're making decisions and looking for the evolution
of the country.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So you're really in the process of creating what is
the Buff City culture?
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Now, Yes, that's an exciting thing because you look at
your other brands that we're pretty established.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Yes, correct, And I will tell you that if you
were to ask me what was your number one learning
during your decade loss at YAM, it wouldn't be anything
about franchising, or about the restaurant industry, or about customers
or products or service.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
It would be that culture really really fuels results.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Yum has a special sauce and they have created a
fantastic culture that really, I firmly believe yields really powerful results.
And so we're trying to create a really strong culture
at Boff City. So you know, a combination of, like
you know.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Work hard, play hard, be a good peer, be a good.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Partner, be a good collaborator, be resilient. But very very importantly, yes,
achieve results. Go for big results, but do it the
right way. Don't leave, you know, people hurt in the process.
Don't don't do it on your own, don't do it
by yourself. Take people with you, Engage hearts and minds.
And that's what we're trying to create as far as
(20:16):
our culture goes.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
So how many people do you have in the headquarters here.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
About sixty five or so?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Okay, yeah, yeah, So you know, it's one of those
things where you can be the leader of it, but
then there are you know, if you haven't reached it,
you will at some point where it really becomes self policing,
like this is this is how.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
We right, you know, and that's why it has to
be show me, don't tell me. You just say the
same thing so over and over, but you don't, you
don't display those behaviors, and nobody, nobody, It won't last long.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
It's like a lot of things, right, Like if someone
has to tell you, oh, we have a great culture,
if I.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Have to tell you, I'm kind of concerned.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You know, you should be able to feel it and
see it and experience it when you're in the environment.
What's the one thing you're most proud of in the
moment you're four plus years I'm really.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Proud of the team we have built. We have a
nice combination, as.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
We were talking before, of people who kind of have
been growing up with a company and then folks who
grew up in other concepts in other industries and have
come together to bring the best of both worlds, you know, beauty,
consumer packaged goods, franchising, the restaurant industry, and.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So on and so forth.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Digital e commerce people who grew up building digital brands,
which is a big growth avenue for us right now.
Our in store experience is phenomenal, Like that's why you
get texts like you got from your friend. You know,
people love seeing the products and the magic of the makery.
But then at the end of the day, if you're
hooked on our laundry, so for example, you probably don't
(21:49):
need to go to the story every single time to
buy it. You know, you're okay ordering it. We also
have a subscription model you can order your online. So
this combination of the retail footprint and an income is
working really well for us. And so you're having people
in the company from all walks of life in terms
of like how they grow up in business is something that.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
That I feel really good about. But more importantly, the.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I think that the most prideful moments we have are
when we receive messages and emails and texts like the
one you started this conversation with the fact that we
not only have customers who like our products, but who
rave about them.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
It's just it just gives us great, great satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I mean again, first time I've mentioned a podcast or
a brand, I'm talking on the podcast and I got
an immediate reaction like that. So even if Billy Joel
doesn't make it to number one, you are the first
that got in the podcast text about your product.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's pretty pretty incredible. What's what's the biggest challenge you
face right now?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I Mean we've talked about culture and their challenges with that,
but like when you look at your day to day
and how you're growing and all that, what's the biggest
challenge you face is.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Well, we we are still a relatively small company, right,
and as you know, in the consumer space, you need
to do a great job of marketing your product, getting
the word out there, making giving people reasons, compelling reasons
to try your products, right, And when you're a small
company with a relatively small marketing budget, getting that word
out is hard, right, So especially in an industry where
(23:22):
you know, there's many players, there's a lot of advertising money,
there's public companies in the space, you know, these kinds
of things. So that's a big challenge for us getting
the word out, getting awareness to become the brand, to
become more known, getting more trial, you know, those kinds
of things.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
But in this day and.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Age where you can leverage digital advertising and social media
to get your word out, we've been very pleased to
see that occasionally folks post about our brand, just like
your friend texted you. We had a really well known comedian,
you know, should a little video standing outside of our
(23:59):
store or one of our stores a couple of weeks ago,
and that kind of went a little bit viral and
there were a lot of responses and people started commenting
on because really the premise of this video that she
shot was what is this buff city soap?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Why is it popping around everywhere? Who needs that much soap? Right?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And so then people started answering with, oh, I'm the
one buying the soap, you know, I love it. I
can't stop using it. It's the only thing I use
in my house. And it generated all this back and
forth that went a little bit viral, and so that
was great. But having moments like that is challenging, right.
You need to really work hard at getting them, much
harder than just saying, hey, let's invest x million dollars
in a big marketing campaign.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Absolutely, what's something that's coming down the road you're excited
about that you can share with us.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
So we've been on this journey to since customers love
our products so much, we've been on this journey to
give them more of them. Right, So we started with
just bars of soap, bath bombs, the laundry soap, and
a couple other things, shower.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Oil, those kinds of things.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
We've been expanding our product assortment. So for instance, this year,
we room spray. Since people of our fragrances so much,
narcissist narcissists, narcissist this is a you know, is a
favorite for sure, and so they love how they make
their bodies smell, their clothes, their sheets. Why not just
(25:16):
spray it in a room and make the.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Room smell like that.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
So we launch room Spray, and then we have another
new product coming out later this year, which is the odorant.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And so those are a.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Couple of things that are in competitive space right now.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
That's competitive space. But you know this is plant based,
no harsh chemicals, better for you, natural and with our
with our phenomenal fragrances.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
So we're excited about that one.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
So that's later this year. Later this year. Okay, yeah,
it's exciting, Yeah, very exciting.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
And then, of course, in addition to launching big new
products like room spray and the odorant this year, we
always have seasonal fragrances. So we have our our fall
fragrances coming up and our holiday fragrances, and that's always
exciting because it's it's you know, very you know relevant
for the season, and you know it's team members in
the store get really excited about what's coming. It sparks
(26:07):
a new creativity from our team members because I don't
know if you know this, but we have obviously a
core assortment of products, so every store you go to
you'll find narcissist soaps and narcissist laundry soap and body
lotion and body butter and all these things and the
fragrances that are most known for. But our team members
in the stores have some flexibility to create local lines
(26:27):
of products. So they have a shelf in the store
that says local lines, and they can play with form
and fragrance and colors, and they create a soap that
is unique and it's only made in that store, and
it can be like oriented toward kids. If it has
like some like you know, interesting colorful shapes and stuff
(26:51):
like that that kids will be attracted to or to
the general consumer base, or to women or to whatever,
and so so you have, you have they can express
their creativity about creating their own products too.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Okay, since this is there's no pictures with us. My
face kind of crinkled up when you were saying this,
because it springs up to really what I think is
an interesting conversation point. You know, the whole thing about
franchising is about sameness, right, you know you know that
from of course, you know, of course your young days.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Because I think that's awesome because I think that's there's
things that can be very unique to a store on
the East Coast versus the West Coast, a more rural
market maybe than all of that. How do you manage
that like trying to have the same franchise experience overall
but also allow that freedom, Like how do you train
for that and ditch that?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yes, it's obviously a.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Balance, right, But the way we do it is we
are very clear on what the core assortment is.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
That's what we call it.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Right, every store needs to carry these things in these fragrances, right,
and then you can decide, for instance, to give you
an example to make it. Let's say that we say
our core assortment in laundry soap powdered laundry soap is
five fragrances, right, narcissists fresh cotton, magnolia, this and the
other white jasmine and some other one. You have to
(28:12):
carry those, but it's up to you whether you think
you should also carry good Morning Sunshine or any other
of our fragrances, or vanilla or whichever of our fragrance
is because your customers like them, and you want to
have them ready for them to just pick up from
the shelf when they come to your stores. But if
you don't want to carry them, that's okay. You have
the fragrance, and if a customer walks in and asks
(28:32):
for that fragrance that's not on the shelf already, you.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Can make it for them.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
So we give them flexibility that way, and that allows
the customization to the consumer base right, the type of
customer they have in their trade areas. And then in
addition to that, we have this other avenue for creativity
and flexibility, which is the local lines that I mentioned
but it's there's guardrails. You can have half the store
with just local stuff. It's one one area, one dedicated like.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Shelf type thing.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Do they have to run passed you?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
They submit, submit recipes, they submit pictures for approval, and
we quickly respond and we say go And most of
the time it's it's a simple process. But we also
we make sure that for instance, it's not going to
be like a choking hazard for a kid or something.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Or it's not like Bigfoot's foot or something. Not a
positive exactly got it, But that's that is that had
to been at least when you started. We're part of
your role. In previous places, the standard same standardization, absolutely,
and you're like, wait, what what are we doing here?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
But fortunately I had the experience of international great point
where where you go to Asia, for example, and you
go to to pizza to established vacination and you'll be
surprised to find that many of the pizzas are not
tomato sauce and cheese based, but rather like like a
sweet and sour sauce with like shrimp and squid, and
(29:55):
you go, well, that's not.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Really a pizza.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
That's not really how we make pizzas because what customers
in that market love those pizzas, so we allow that,
but we also need to make sure we carry pepperoni.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
So with that experience, I I, you know, I was
able to understand the standardization is important, but it shouldn't
be dogmatic.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
That's too inflexible.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I think I'll pass on the squid pizza. That's okay.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So thinking about the you know, the totality of what
you've done, in the general's term, is really you know,
a great description what you're like if given given a choice,
and and and these these skill sets are thrown in
front of you every day. You're jumping from each one
to one. Where's your lean like?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Is it? Is it marketing? Is it? Oh? Well?
Speaker 4 (30:47):
I like to think that I don't have favorite like
areas of kid business or functions or anything like that,
and that I can.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Contribute to all of our all of our functions.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
But I just think that I do have a natural
curiosity about everything we do. But but I'd say that,
you know, naturally, I'm analytical by nature, and that comes
somewhat natural, and I like to understand the numbers. I
asked questions about how this you know, combined with this
other initiative workout, and does it make sense for our
(31:21):
franchisees and for the company all that stuff? But I
also gravitate a lot. And Rebecca knows this toward toward
marketing right. And I did have a marketing job for
a good chunk of my career. And what are we
going to name the new fragrances? What are going to
name these new products? How we're going to present them?
What are the aesthetics of the marketing collateral? Is a
campaign going to be more about product benefits or have
(31:42):
some humor to it?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I really like that aspect of the job and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So when you see the list of all the to
do is for the day and you're like, oh, marketing meaning.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Naming, naming me.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
You're going to name it something a little bit early?
Do that mean a little bit controversial, a little bit edgy.
We're gonna name it something like very safe and sweet.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And I will say, your face when you said that
did brightening. More So, given your experience in Dallas twenty
six years, what do you what do you think is
the big driver for Dallas being such a hub for headquarters?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I mean, you're the company.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
That well, a few things right.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
First of all, it's a business friendly state Texas is,
and a business friendly city the DFW.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Metroplexis, and that that's we have to start.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
There, right, because if you make it easier for companies
to do business here, they will come. But then also
we have a lot of things going our way. The
geographic location and the ease to get to every part
in the country and really everywhere in the world from
here is.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
A big attractiveness.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
And then I think Dallas has become a lot more
diverse than people give it credit for. You know, when
I came to Dallas in the year two thousand, there
were these perceptions that it's kind of a little bit
like the Old West, and everything is going to be
oil money and these kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But you find out that, no, the suburbs.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Are just like I've moved here, the same thing, right, yeah, yeah,
see a cattle.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Drive correct, correct, And and growth has continued. I remember
very well when we moved here. We lived in Uptown
and we went to Akia to buy some furniture, and
the toll essentially ended there, right, I oh, for sure,
the toy ended at one twenty one. And now there's
miles and miles upon miles of more road north of that.
So I just think we have a lot of things
(33:35):
going our way.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Yeah, it's down.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
It's been interesting. You know, we moved here just.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
About the same time seeing that that growth, and I know,
like moving here from Kansas City, when I looked at
the cost of living, it was the same. And you think,
oh my gosh, you know, running from this smaller city
too much.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Larger cost of living. I failed to mention.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yes, when you're when you're finishing your college degree or
your graduate degree and you want to pick a city
to go do a job in baking or consulting or
accounting or what have you, or marketing agents, who what
have you? And you say, oh, well, I could go
to New York, or I go go to San franciscoor
I go to Dallas.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
What's the rent in each of the places? It's just
mind so.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
You know better.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I would go back to the founder's conversation, because you
you came in at an interesting point where.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
You still saw a lot of.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
The remnants of the founder culture and then the growth into.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
More corporate structure.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
What would you tell someone who wanted to be a fact,
who wanted to be a founder of a company because
you really have that experience. You've seen you know, the
not the tail in, but you know the transition period. Like,
what would you tell someone who.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Wanted to go down that path? I have an idea
I want to go in and what would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (34:50):
I would say, obviously, you have to have a lot
of passion behind your idea and stay true to it
because that's the essence and the starting point, right. But
after that a couple of things. First of all, stay
positive and resilient because there will be many roadblocks along
the way many times when you go is this even
(35:12):
worth it? Could I go do something else that's easier.
That's that's going to be you know, less complications to
get it done. And then in addition to that, I
would say, surround yourself with a team that complements your skills. Right, So,
if you are a very creative, kind of very optimistic,
(35:35):
high energy, but not very structured, not much about process
type personal well, then make sure you hire someone who's
going to compliment you and bring that discipline and process
and order to the organization or the startup so that
you you know, do it the right way.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
Yeah, life is about balance.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
You know, you can't have too much of anything or
too little of anything, or you you face an imbalance,
and that's always troublesome. OK.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Flip it now, what you you went the other route MBA.
So you've got a young you know, professional just out
of college, maybe going to get their MBA. They want
to rise, you know, go through the ranks and all that.
What would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Well, my answer to that is going to make me
sound like a dinosaur. But I think that's okay.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
I do it every day.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
So just my advice would be very simple. If you
want to advance in business, work hard, put your head down,
work hard, deliver on everything you're supposed to do, and
then find time.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
To over deliver. Do that, and don't worry too much.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
About what's going to be my next promotion? Should I
go do something else? Yeah, you need to spend some
time thinking about that, and and you need to be
an advocate for yourself. But the number one success factories
hard work, reliability, being a good partner, grit, being a
good collaborator, not not asking for the next promotion every
(36:59):
five minutes.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, it is interesting. I mean, you know, these conversations
go on all the time. But you know, so much
really should be.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Broken down for It's like you know, I remember, get
to the office before your.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Boss, don't leave until your boss leaves.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Those sound silly, but there are little things like that
because that teaches you, oh, I need to push my hours,
and not that you want to be working eighty hours
a week. That's not it's out a boutance.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
Everybody needs to achieve balance in life. But there's no
question if you work hard, you demonstrate that you are
committed to the CUD, then opportunities will come your way.
People will seek you to grow, get more responsibility, do
different things.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Absolutely it. Do you get a lot of young kids
reaching out to you?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I do, and I really enjoy doing that.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
My kids are actually at that age, you know, I
I mind to My oldest graduated from college last year.
My youngest is only a Your younger graduates from college
next week. Actually, congratulations, thank you. Where so my oldest
one to Notre dame. My youngest is graduating from Clemson
next ausum.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
We're very happy reading for them.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, and so anyway, since they have a lot of friends,
and you know, my my friends sons and daughters are
about that age, I talk to a lot of kids
about careers say that, and we actually try to hire
a couple interns every year, especially in the early parts
of their college career, whether it's it's not that easy
to get a job, to just get an experience, even
(38:22):
if it's some paid, because we're a small company with
a lot of resources, just getting the experience and learning
the business world, it's super useful.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
So I really enjoy mentoring young kids.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
I actually was a college professor very early in my career,
so I always like, I.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Can talk in to to folks and you know, well
the way you communicate really well and and edit ease
that makes it seem real.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
It's it's funny.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I tell my friends with younger kids, like when they're
in their teens, I'm like, you know, I'm really sorry.
I know you're pretty much considered the dumbest person on
the planet in your home, but I'm here to tell
you when they pushed towards graduating from college, it's amazing
how smart I've gotten.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
And I actually I have to say this.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I was I was driving to the airport visit an
uber in Houston yesterday. One of my daughters called, and
she's kind of chuckled, and she goes, I knew you'd
want to hear this. She goes, someone senior in the
company called me. You know, they had done a seminar
for us, and he called me out of blue, and
(39:22):
I thought it was I was kind of unnerved when
he first called me.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
He goes, I want you to know.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Something, because you were the only person of your cadre
and age group that sent me a thank you, and
she started I started laughing, and she goes, well, you
know what. I started laughing, and he goes, what's so funny,
And she goes, well.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
You call my dad and tell me.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
That, and you know, I mean, look, I mean those
thank yous are such little things, and you know, I
mean it's just funny those things and I'm like, those
things stick out, and it goes to what you were saying.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
I know.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
And since you mentioned that, the other day, I received
a ridden thank you guard oh that came in the mail.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
It made me feel very special from from somebody who, like.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah, from a kid who I had had a conversation
with and try to help him.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, no, no, it was else.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yeah, I love that. So what would be what's next?
Not for buff City in the moment, what do you
what do you think about next?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
I just want to keep growing soap.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Our company is selling soap and getting getting bigger and
bigger because I think what we have is so special
that more people need to need to try it, need
to get to know about it. And I just want
to keep growing. I think we have a big, big
growth runway ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Now, are you international yet or no?
Speaker 3 (40:39):
No, No, we're just US based.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
In fact, we're in many states thirty something, but our
our footprint is fairly concentrated. We we are mostly Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia,
kind of central the Midwest as well. We don't have
almost anything up on the East Coast or or or
(41:03):
in California. That by design or it's just the way
we've grown, and so we have a lot of opportunity
to grow there and then at some point international. Now,
having worked so much in the international space, I know
that you need.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
To do that when you're ready.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
It's it's people like the sound of we're international, and
I like it too, But I also know full well
that the the effort to have a couple stores in
Canada and a couple in Mexico is just not worth it.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
You need to do it when you're going to have
scale and have a big presence.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
It's funny I worked.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
I worked in a company and it was at the
precipice of you know, we're in Australian Canada, right, all
anyone wanted to talk about and.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
It was like the two percent of your business and.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
You're and you know, finding the CEO is like, look,
I I think the supply chain is complicated.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Absolutely, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
So it's a great thing. Don't get me wrong. We
want to do it at some point, but we want
to be.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Ready and we want to do it right. Absolutely, Okay
when I am. My final question is something that I
talk a lot with our team about is and I
think you'll identify with this is that you know, as
you're building something, whether it's culture of the company and
all of those things together.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Everyone likes to think there's those big.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Mega moments, you know, those lightning bolt moments, and sometimes
there are you know, you know, I tell sellers all
the time, like in sales, there's no such thing as
a six run home run, Like you know, you just
have to keep going and singles, doubles, triples the whole thing.
So with that, I believe the places you win or
in the cracks and the gray spaces and stuff you
do every day, the foundational things.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Culture is a big part of that. When you think
about that, like, what do you think about.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
As like a cracks and gray spasis thing that you
think about for like a buff city soap or a
thing you believe in that is really sticky and.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Important to success.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
I think that, you know, I always say that we
should always be careful to avoid following the path of
least resistance, because you know, it's easy to do that
versus going down the shard route right, And it's also
easy to follow the path of these resistance now and and.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Do the hard stuff later, you know, put it off
for later.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Because the urgent and the easy is just more pressing
than the important and hard.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
So just always remembering.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
That you have to do the hard stuff and stay
stay consistent at it is something I like to think
about all the time. I'll give you like and then
and so that's one thing, But then another one is
do the things that matter, even if you're not.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Feeling like it at any given point in time.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
So, for instance, when we talk about culture, I think
recognition is a very important part of building culture. I
agree and so, but there are times when you feel
more like giving recognition or participating in a recognition session
than other times.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
You might not be having a great.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
Day, you might have had some discussions, some argument either
at work or outside of work, and you might not
feel like going to this session where we'll have we'll
share some recognition and try to recognize each other for
accomplishments of the last week or a.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Couple, a couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Do that force yourself to go do that because it matters,
because it's important. Because you do it sometimes but don't
do it some other times, then it doesn't really become,
you know, an integral part of your culture.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah, the consistency matters. I'll tell you a quick funny story.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
So when I started, I started to hear six months ago,
and you know, one of the things that I heard.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
A lot is communication we don't know another department streat.
So I started a weekly note for me on Monday mornings.
I called it the skim.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
I thought, you know what, we use this as a
way to point out, you know, cool thing, shout outs
people done. So we found this old trophy in a closet.
It's one of those giant looks like the Stanley Cup,
and you know, we call it Skim Award every week, okay,
And so like the third week, I got to give
the award to someone who remain nameless on this part podcast.
But I go to give it to him and he's
(45:03):
looking at me like where are you walking up to
me with a couple of people with a trophy, and
I said, you won the Skim Award for this week,
and he goes, what's the skim And I'm like, oh,
just the email that I send to the whole office
every Monday. So apparently you're not reading it, you know,
and I'm trying to make it still a funny moment,
I walked away and going like why do I do this?
But from that moment, I think it got around and
(45:24):
so now it's become a thing.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
But it was one of those growing pains.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
I know, that's good to your point.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
At that moment, I was like, do I really want
to keep doing this? Because you know, Sunday night, I'm like,
who did something nice?
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Exactly exactly? But do they care? Will they read it? You?
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Know, does it come across as authentic or does it
come across his forest?
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Yeah you we'll go through those mental gymnastics. Oh yeah,
but you just keep soldiering on, Wriquez. This was a
lot of fun. Thanks for coming in. Amazing experience. Elizabeth
could be thrilled.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
I think you're almost I might have to get an autograph.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Send her my regards.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I will do that. I'm backed up. We don't have
to take a picture after this. Thanks for joining us.
We look forward to talking again.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Thank you very much. Awesome joined it
This is CEOs You Should Know, with the Dallas market
president of iHeartMedia, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I want to welcome everybody to another episode of CEOs
You Should Know Dallas. I'm Chris Long, market president for iHeartMedia,
and I'm here with my new friend Enrique Ramirez, CEO
of Buff City Soap and Enrique, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thank you, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So we've had a little bit of a thing happen
here that we're gonna have to jump into right away
that we don't normally do.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Enrique, this is the first time. So I have a
belief that you know, you don't wear.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The concert t shirt to the concert. There's just certain
things you don't do. And I've got something I've got
to ask you about. I've got another client texting me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
About your product as we're sitting here. Do we talk
about it? Do we not?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I've got my friend Elizabeth texting me about every product
under the sun.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
That she loves of yours. Oh my god, I love
Buff City. So I mean you probably get a lot
of these every day.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Fortunately we do.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That's good. So this is gonna be a great conversation.
I think Elizabeth loves car sense thanks for making Thank you.
You don't get this very often. I mean, I'm sure
you do, but like someone thanking you for a.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Product, I know, that's terrific. We love it.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
We have a lot of fans and that's part of
what makes our job so much fun.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Absolutely, Okay, So I got to get back on track.
Sorry about that. So one of the things that.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
We like to talk about as a as the largest
audio platform in the United States, iHeartMedia eight hundred and
sixty radio stations across one hundred and sixty markets, podcast
streaming every kind of every genre covered, and podcasting every
music format. I think it's important that we get to
(01:52):
know a little bit about you musically. So I'm gonna
rapid fire a few questions and just first answer that
comes to you. All right, First music crush.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Madonna, Madonna, Olivia Newton, John was mine, uh first concert.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Billy Joel in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Whoa that We've We've been keeping a running list. You
might have cracked the top three with that. We've had
Billy Joel, somewhere House.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
We had Whitney Houston, We've had Uh, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We've had some good ones.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Mine's men at work. So I am nowhere near the
top fifteen. Last concert live show you went to m
I think that was cold Play in fair Park, not
the one where the couple got the.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Not that one, Not that one that's here in town.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, say in town. All right, that's that's really good. Okay.
So last one, what's your walk up song?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
My walk up song? Well, I'm originally from Mexico, say so.
People always give.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Me Latin songs for walk up songs, and I like it.
I used don Enrique Glessie as one called escape esca par.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Okay, and I like that one. You're good with that?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, I'm good with that one.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So the next time when you come see us, we'll
make sure we have that ready to go for you. So, okay,
you know you have such a fascinating background.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Why don't you give us the high.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Level version of you know, school and you went to Wharton,
correct for your NBA and all that.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Let's talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And then as you got into business and you have
an extensive background at Young Brands, You've done a lot
of really interesting things. And what I found especially fascinating
is finance background. Correct, Yes, you came up through the find.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well sort of, Okay, I'll shut up, go ahead, I'll
tell you.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yes and no is the answer to that question. So yeah,
let me tell you. So.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I'm originally from Mexico City, I mentioned, grew up there,
went to high school and college there, started economics in
undergrad and started out in investment research, the investment research
part of banking, so I think like fixed income research.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Or equity research.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
I worked for a very large European bank called Banco Santander,
the largest bank in Europe. And then I got married
and we came to the US for grad school. I
wanted to get an MBA and my wife's an architect.
She wanted to go to grad school here. So we
went to penn and we went we moved to Philly
for a couple of years.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Good school. Yeah, we had a great time. You know.
We just had a blast.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And luckily we had some opportunities afterwards, and I chose
to do management consulting, okay, and that's what brought me
to Dallas, because I had spent a summer doing management consulting.
In the end, I took a job with BCG, the
Boston Consulting Group here in town, and my wife and
I thought we would be here for maybe a couple
of years, get that experience, and then maybe moved back
home to Mexico City to start a family and live
(04:50):
our lives. But we're still here. It's been twenty six
and a half years. Let's go arrived in Dallas, so
it's become our home.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's awesome. So when did you jump over to the
QS side.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yes, and that I'm going to bridge it to the
Did I grow up in finance or not?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So after working for BCG for a couple of years, I.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Actually moved to the company that used to be known
as Kinkos. Oh wow, back then kin KOs this is
I'm talking like two thousand and two to two thousand
and two was owned by a private equity company and
they were trying to implement a turnaround plan and either
take it public or.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Sell it to a strategic buyer. And we sold it
to FedEx.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I saw your FedEx background.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Okay, yes, so.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I came with Kinkos. We saw the company to FedEx.
Ups had bought mailboxes, et cetera. They all wanted more
points of access for retail stagaging, drop off and pickup,
and so I stayed after the acquisition, ended up being
there for about eight years, and I never worked in
finance during those eight years, and I had not worked
in finance in consulting. It was an analytical type job,
(05:56):
but not straight finance. At FedEx and Kinkos, I did mark,
I did operations, I.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Did real estate. You probably development. So I got to
do a lot of stuff. Yeah, and I became a
bit of a generalist.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
And then one day I get a call from this
former colleague of mine from BCG who had become an
executive recruiter, and he said, hey, Yum's looking for someone
to become CFO of Pizza Hut, and I thought of you,
and I showed them your resume and they're kind of intrigued.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So would you meet them?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
And I said, you know, I'm a VP of marketing
for the retail business, right, So it was interesting, but
I went and met them because I had always admired
young brands, their stock price and their performance at the phenomenal,
especially since the spinoff from PEPSI, And so I went
and met.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The team and I joined.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
And then I understood, you know, this was a divisional
CFO job. I wouldn't have to deal with the full
P and L. Really, my P and L stopped at
like operating profit and it was all about growth and
planning and strategy and type of stuff, not so much
about control or the balance sheet. So that's why they
were okay with somebody with a more of a generalist background.
And of course I learned the function while doing the
(07:10):
job and I had a blast. Ended up staying there
for over a decade, about twelve years, and had a
chance to work in the US Pizza Hut business and
in the international business, which where we had a lot
of growth and just had a really good time. And
then from there I joined Buff City Soap and it's
it's been a great ride.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Okay, we're going to get to buff City in one second.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But you you've talked about something this first one of
our guests that has worked on.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
The international side of things.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Compare and contrast a little bit doing, you know, working
US versus internationally.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Well, in the restaurant business, you know, in quick service restaurants,
it's it can be very different. And in the case
of Pizza Hut, it was very different because in the
US we had a lot of corporate stores, company owned stores,
and then a lot of franchise stores, but we as
a company, Rebeccaanoses very well manage the calendar, the marketing calendar,
the promotions, the new product innovation and stuff like that,
(08:09):
and the franchisees and all the store operators executed those
plans right. Whereas an international you have franchise partners who
control entire countries, entire markets in some cases several countries,
and so it's a bit of a different type of
engagement between the franchise or on the franchisee.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
It's more about giving guide.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
It's more like a portfolio management job to a large extent.
But it's fascinating because competition is different. Sure, it's intents
in many markets, but not as intents in some others.
And the opportunity to grow more units, open more restaurants
is just bigger, right than in a saturated market.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
With product affinity correct, And that's.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
It's also fun to to decide when you stick to
your brand standards, to your product attributes, the key elements
of your SPS. Think about like a supreme pizza, for example,
versus when you allow some tropicalizations some customization for the
local consumers taste.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So I would imagine that franchise experience was probably a
big part of the interest Puff City sopad and correct
your experience correct probably the main part of why they
were interested in talking to me because I had spent
a long time working with franchisees and.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Largish franchise organizations and pop City so was starting to
grow precisely with franchise partners that were multi unit, multi
brand operators of several concepts. And you're what two hundred
and forty We're at about two hundred and five stores
right now, so we've grown pretty quickly. You know, the
brand was started a little over ten years ago, but
(09:54):
the growth only started in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Really, Okay, what's been the biggest I mean, it's a
great concept. What's the Clearly people like Elizabeth, Moms like
Elizabeth love the product.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
What do you think the biggest catalyst has been.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I think that it's a very differentiated brand and a
very differentiated product.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Right, So, as you.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Know, we're in personal care, home care, and there are
obviously competitors out there that sell product that are similar
to ours, but nobody.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Does it the way we do, which is.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
First of all, it's a combination of its plan based
no harsh chemicals, handcrafted in stores every single day. And
since the production happens in the retail stores, customers get
to see how the products are being prepared in the makery.
We call it the soap makery. It's like having a
kitchen in the front of house, but we make soaps
and related products instead of food, and so customers see
(10:42):
that we actually only use, you know, a handful of ingredients,
that it's all very natural, very very very good for you.
And since we make it in stores versus in factories,
customers can easily customize the products that they want.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
They can say, well.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
I love your laundry so but you know what, I
really love this fragrance that I smelled on this body lotion.
Can you give me the laundry soap in that fragrance?
And guess what the answer is not only yes, but
it'll take five minutes and we'll so it's kind of
like the Build a Bear of soap exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Kind of. Yeah, it's a good analogy.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
You can use that. That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Actually, you know the CEO of Build a Bear we
were we were on the Jack in the Box boards.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
He's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Sharon John Okay so I saw that you run the
board of six Flags, Yes, and Jack in the Box,
both with iconic, you know, forward facing, you know, brand lead,
you know mister six and then Jack.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Any secrets you can tell us on Buff City.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I just love consumer brands, you know.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I just love the fact that when I talk to
my family and friends about my job and the companies
I try to help, they can relate to them because
they've used them. They know the brand, they know their products,
and I just love that. That's why I've enjoyed those
assignments that you mentioned, and when I love so much.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
What we do at Buff City Soap. Yeah, yeah, there's
always secrets.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
We're going to create our own secrets as a young
company that hopefully will come an iconic part of the
history of Pop City Soap.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Well that's the fun part. So give me a little
bit of the history. It was found in Memphis ten
years ago.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Founded in Memphis around ten twelve years ago. It was
one of those stories of our founder just started making
soap in his garage, you know, one of the better product,
one of the product that was better for skin, that
didn't have harsh chemicals, and it started working, and they
started bringing the products to farmers' markets and people started
to buy them and love them and ask for more.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So that led to the first store.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
That was opened in the Memphis area and a place
called Bartlett, Tennessee. Actually, the first name of the company
was not Buff City Soap. It was the Bartlet Soap Company,
and then later on we rebranded to Buff City Soap, which,
by the way, is a play on words on one
of the nicknames of Memphis.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Which is Bluff City.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Got it, So it's related to that, and Boff has
something to do with like cleaning and soap, so Poff
City Soap all came about that way.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
But yes, the business will started in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So it's interesting, you say, going to farmers' markets and
things like that. So on the podcast, we talked to
founders and then CEOs such as yourself, and you know,
there are two distinct paths, and I find we were.
We recorded an episode that hasn't been released yet with
the founder of Good Ranchers and and Ben talked about,
(13:25):
you know, going with me to markets and things like that.
And I don't know about you, but like for me,
I'm like man the wherewithal it takes to say, you know, what,
I'm going to give this a shot and I'm gonna
go do it, and every one of them, of the
of the founders, and I'd be curious about the Buff
City founder because they just have this unfailing belief.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah. Yeah, no, it's uh, it's you're you're right. You know.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It's a it's a breed in my mind of people
who were like, have the courage and the vision to
go create new concepts, redefined industries, or come up with
things we never thought we would ever need. So that
was no different in our case. So our founder's name
is Brad Kellam super creative guy, lots of different interests.
He started other companies after Above City, so now he's
(14:13):
been out of the company for a while. So I
hear stories from back in the day where he had
so much passion would come to the stores and we
want to make sure that the soaps were made a
certain way and displayed a certain way and all these things,
and that of course has become part of our ethos
and part of our you know what we used to
to continue to develop the brand and create new products. Unfortunately,
they didn't get to interact with him because he was
(14:35):
long gone by the time I joined, but definitely super creative.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
And I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
You know, some of us are are good at taking
something and trying to make it better or grow it
or find areas of improvement, and some others are great
at just creating stuff from scratch. Like I couldn't do it.
I wish I had that ability, you know well.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
And it's funny because you think about I mean, obviously
with your background and you know, the general word is
really interesting because you really do have the whole swath
of experiences. But like with all of that knowledge and
experience and then and the ability to jump around between
(15:16):
each different uh skill set would.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Be interesting to you.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Would you have the wherewithal like you said to say, oh,
I'm gonna take this product and I'm gonna go do it,
and like I I know, like I'll think of things
You're like, oh, I could never get it from I
could start with a but the the bead and why
would be really difficult for me?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Right?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yeah, And even when you have the conviction and you
and you know that the product would work and all that.
I've talked to several founders and it's not just having
the courage to get started, but then having the the
resilience to keep resilience great work, especially in the case
of somebody like like oh Sword like not starting out
our careers. You you probably can develop the self confidence
(15:58):
and you can go try something like that. Well, but
you're already used to a certain type of structure. Resources,
you know, people with whom you can bounce ideas off
or who can help you get stuff done. And a
founder is like, it's a lonely place and you don't
have resource sos, you don't have the money to have
a team, and.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
We wear all the hat to talk to them.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
You have to really have a huge, huge conviction and
be very persistent have great resilience to get it through.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
So so ten years you're probably at an interesting place
where you probably have some people that are originals, you know,
they have the employee number that's like seven or something
like that, and then you have people that you're bringing in.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
How has that been, you know, merging that culture Because
I worked at somewhere at a point where it was
the crossroads of all of the startup people that were
there in the garage when it started going, Okay, now
we're becoming a big company. I don't know if I
like this anymore, and then people like me coming in
who'd always worked in larger companies, and that merging of cultures.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Was really interesting. So I'd love to hear your perspective.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
So first of all, although the company has been around
for a little over ten years, it didn't really start
being managed as a multi unit, you know, multi territory
franchising entity until about five years ago. That's right before you,
right before I joined, and that's when the company got
moved to Dallas. That's when franchising started in earnest and
(17:21):
when people started hiring people and forming a team. Before
it was a family, very small scale operation. But to
answer your question, we literally have a handful, like I'm
thinking maybe three four people that have been with us
longer than five or six years.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Interesting, that's it. So then we have like another I mean,
I guess then if you.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Leave those those like OG folks out of this of
this equation, then we have maybe a third to half
our team who's been around for like three four years
like myself.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And then the other half are newer.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Right, I've only been with us for like months or
a couple of years, and it's fantastic to have the
ability to merge those folk, the ogs, the four or
five that have been here a long time, those of
us who have seen a few things in the last
four or five years, and those who bring new ideas
and are just getting like you know, involved with the
brand in at this time in it's in its in
(18:18):
its evolution, and I always believe that every company, every team,
stands to benefit a lot from a combination constitutional knowledge,
industry knowledge, relationships, all that and new ideas, fresh perspectives,
new attempts at getting things done.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well, that's the best place to be, right right, because
I think if you're overweighted on you shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You can You can't because if it's the ogs, it's like, well,
this is how we do it. We didn't do it
this way back when we were still going to farmers markets.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And when it's all the other there's no tie ack
to the original ethos of the brand.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
But when you have a nice mix, the ogs can say, hey,
let me let's remember the essence of the brand, let's
remember how this started, and and it helps you reground
yourself as you're making decisions and looking for the evolution
of the country.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So you're really in the process of creating what is
the Buff City culture?
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Now, Yes, that's an exciting thing because you look at
your other brands that we're pretty established.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Yes, correct, And I will tell you that if you
were to ask me what was your number one learning
during your decade loss at YAM, it wouldn't be anything
about franchising, or about the restaurant industry, or about customers
or products or service.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
It would be that culture really really fuels results.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Yum has a special sauce and they have created a
fantastic culture that really, I firmly believe yields really powerful results.
And so we're trying to create a really strong culture
at Boff City. So you know, a combination of, like
you know.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Work hard, play hard, be a good peer, be a good.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Partner, be a good collaborator, be resilient. But very very importantly, yes,
achieve results. Go for big results, but do it the
right way. Don't leave, you know, people hurt in the process.
Don't don't do it on your own, don't do it
by yourself. Take people with you, Engage hearts and minds.
And that's what we're trying to create as far as
(20:16):
our culture goes.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
So how many people do you have in the headquarters here.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
About sixty five or so?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Okay, yeah, yeah, So you know, it's one of those
things where you can be the leader of it, but
then there are you know, if you haven't reached it,
you will at some point where it really becomes self policing,
like this is this is how.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
We right, you know, and that's why it has to
be show me, don't tell me. You just say the
same thing so over and over, but you don't, you
don't display those behaviors, and nobody, nobody, It won't last long.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
It's like a lot of things, right, Like if someone
has to tell you, oh, we have a great culture,
if I.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Have to tell you, I'm kind of concerned.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You know, you should be able to feel it and
see it and experience it when you're in the environment.
What's the one thing you're most proud of in the
moment you're four plus years I'm really.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Proud of the team we have built. We have a
nice combination, as.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
We were talking before, of people who kind of have
been growing up with a company and then folks who
grew up in other concepts in other industries and have
come together to bring the best of both worlds, you know, beauty,
consumer packaged goods, franchising, the restaurant industry, and.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So on and so forth.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Digital e commerce people who grew up building digital brands,
which is a big growth avenue for us right now.
Our in store experience is phenomenal, Like that's why you
get texts like you got from your friend. You know,
people love seeing the products and the magic of the makery.
But then at the end of the day, if you're
hooked on our laundry, so for example, you probably don't
(21:49):
need to go to the story every single time to
buy it. You know, you're okay ordering it. We also
have a subscription model you can order your online. So
this combination of the retail footprint and an income is
working really well for us. And so you're having people
in the company from all walks of life in terms
of like how they grow up in business is something that.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
That I feel really good about. But more importantly, the.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I think that the most prideful moments we have are
when we receive messages and emails and texts like the
one you started this conversation with the fact that we
not only have customers who like our products, but who
rave about them.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
It's just it just gives us great, great satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I mean again, first time I've mentioned a podcast or
a brand, I'm talking on the podcast and I got
an immediate reaction like that. So even if Billy Joel
doesn't make it to number one, you are the first
that got in the podcast text about your product.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's pretty pretty incredible. What's what's the biggest challenge you
face right now?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I Mean we've talked about culture and their challenges with that,
but like when you look at your day to day
and how you're growing and all that, what's the biggest
challenge you face is.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Well, we we are still a relatively small company, right,
and as you know, in the consumer space, you need
to do a great job of marketing your product, getting
the word out there, making giving people reasons, compelling reasons
to try your products, right, And when you're a small
company with a relatively small marketing budget, getting that word
out is hard, right, So especially in an industry where
(23:22):
you know, there's many players, there's a lot of advertising money,
there's public companies in the space, you know, these kinds
of things. So that's a big challenge for us getting
the word out, getting awareness to become the brand, to
become more known, getting more trial, you know, those kinds
of things.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
But in this day and.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Age where you can leverage digital advertising and social media
to get your word out, we've been very pleased to
see that occasionally folks post about our brand, just like
your friend texted you. We had a really well known comedian,
you know, should a little video standing outside of our
(23:59):
store or one of our stores a couple of weeks ago,
and that kind of went a little bit viral and
there were a lot of responses and people started commenting
on because really the premise of this video that she
shot was what is this buff city soap?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Why is it popping around everywhere? Who needs that much soap? Right?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And so then people started answering with, oh, I'm the
one buying the soap, you know, I love it. I
can't stop using it. It's the only thing I use
in my house. And it generated all this back and
forth that went a little bit viral, and so that
was great. But having moments like that is challenging, right.
You need to really work hard at getting them, much
harder than just saying, hey, let's invest x million dollars
in a big marketing campaign.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Absolutely, what's something that's coming down the road you're excited
about that you can share with us.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
So we've been on this journey to since customers love
our products so much, we've been on this journey to
give them more of them. Right, So we started with
just bars of soap, bath bombs, the laundry soap, and
a couple other things, shower.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Oil, those kinds of things.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
We've been expanding our product assortment. So for instance, this year,
we room spray. Since people of our fragrances so much,
narcissist narcissists, narcissist this is a you know, is a
favorite for sure, and so they love how they make
their bodies smell, their clothes, their sheets. Why not just
(25:16):
spray it in a room and make the.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Room smell like that.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
So we launch room Spray, and then we have another
new product coming out later this year, which is the odorant.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And so those are a.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Couple of things that are in competitive space right now.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
That's competitive space. But you know this is plant based,
no harsh chemicals, better for you, natural and with our
with our phenomenal fragrances.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
So we're excited about that one.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
So that's later this year. Later this year. Okay, yeah,
it's exciting, Yeah, very exciting.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
And then, of course, in addition to launching big new
products like room spray and the odorant this year, we
always have seasonal fragrances. So we have our our fall
fragrances coming up and our holiday fragrances, and that's always
exciting because it's it's you know, very you know relevant
for the season, and you know it's team members in
the store get really excited about what's coming. It sparks
(26:07):
a new creativity from our team members because I don't
know if you know this, but we have obviously a
core assortment of products, so every store you go to
you'll find narcissist soaps and narcissist laundry soap and body
lotion and body butter and all these things and the
fragrances that are most known for. But our team members
in the stores have some flexibility to create local lines
(26:27):
of products. So they have a shelf in the store
that says local lines, and they can play with form
and fragrance and colors, and they create a soap that
is unique and it's only made in that store, and
it can be like oriented toward kids. If it has
like some like you know, interesting colorful shapes and stuff
(26:51):
like that that kids will be attracted to or to
the general consumer base, or to women or to whatever,
and so so you have, you have they can express
their creativity about creating their own products too.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Okay, since this is there's no pictures with us. My
face kind of crinkled up when you were saying this,
because it springs up to really what I think is
an interesting conversation point. You know, the whole thing about
franchising is about sameness, right, you know you know that
from of course, you know, of course your young days.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Because I think that's awesome because I think that's there's
things that can be very unique to a store on
the East Coast versus the West Coast, a more rural
market maybe than all of that. How do you manage
that like trying to have the same franchise experience overall
but also allow that freedom, Like how do you train
for that and ditch that?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yes, it's obviously a.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Balance, right, But the way we do it is we
are very clear on what the core assortment is.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
That's what we call it.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Right, every store needs to carry these things in these fragrances, right,
and then you can decide, for instance, to give you
an example to make it. Let's say that we say
our core assortment in laundry soap powdered laundry soap is
five fragrances, right, narcissists fresh cotton, magnolia, this and the
other white jasmine and some other one. You have to
(28:12):
carry those, but it's up to you whether you think
you should also carry good Morning Sunshine or any other
of our fragrances, or vanilla or whichever of our fragrance
is because your customers like them, and you want to
have them ready for them to just pick up from
the shelf when they come to your stores. But if
you don't want to carry them, that's okay. You have
the fragrance, and if a customer walks in and asks
(28:32):
for that fragrance that's not on the shelf already, you.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Can make it for them.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
So we give them flexibility that way, and that allows
the customization to the consumer base right, the type of
customer they have in their trade areas. And then in
addition to that, we have this other avenue for creativity
and flexibility, which is the local lines that I mentioned
but it's there's guardrails. You can have half the store
with just local stuff. It's one one area, one dedicated like.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Shelf type thing.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Do they have to run passed you?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
They submit, submit recipes, they submit pictures for approval, and
we quickly respond and we say go And most of
the time it's it's a simple process. But we also
we make sure that for instance, it's not going to
be like a choking hazard for a kid or something.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Or it's not like Bigfoot's foot or something. Not a
positive exactly got it, But that's that is that had
to been at least when you started. We're part of
your role. In previous places, the standard same standardization, absolutely,
and you're like, wait, what what are we doing here?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
But fortunately I had the experience of international great point
where where you go to Asia, for example, and you
go to to pizza to established vacination and you'll be
surprised to find that many of the pizzas are not
tomato sauce and cheese based, but rather like like a
sweet and sour sauce with like shrimp and squid, and
(29:55):
you go, well, that's not.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Really a pizza.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
That's not really how we make pizzas because what customers
in that market love those pizzas, so we allow that,
but we also need to make sure we carry pepperoni.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
So with that experience, I I, you know, I was
able to understand the standardization is important, but it shouldn't
be dogmatic.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
That's too inflexible.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I think I'll pass on the squid pizza. That's okay.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So thinking about the you know, the totality of what
you've done, in the general's term, is really you know,
a great description what you're like if given given a choice,
and and and these these skill sets are thrown in
front of you every day. You're jumping from each one
to one. Where's your lean like?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Is it? Is it marketing? Is it? Oh? Well?
Speaker 4 (30:47):
I like to think that I don't have favorite like
areas of kid business or functions or anything like that,
and that I can.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Contribute to all of our all of our functions.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
But I just think that I do have a natural
curiosity about everything we do. But but I'd say that,
you know, naturally, I'm analytical by nature, and that comes
somewhat natural, and I like to understand the numbers. I
asked questions about how this you know, combined with this
other initiative workout, and does it make sense for our
(31:21):
franchisees and for the company all that stuff? But I
also gravitate a lot. And Rebecca knows this toward toward
marketing right. And I did have a marketing job for
a good chunk of my career. And what are we
going to name the new fragrances? What are going to
name these new products? How we're going to present them?
What are the aesthetics of the marketing collateral? Is a
campaign going to be more about product benefits or have
(31:42):
some humor to it?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I really like that aspect of the job and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So when you see the list of all the to
do is for the day and you're like, oh, marketing meaning.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Naming, naming me.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
You're going to name it something a little bit early?
Do that mean a little bit controversial, a little bit edgy.
We're gonna name it something like very safe and sweet.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And I will say, your face when you said that
did brightening. More So, given your experience in Dallas twenty
six years, what do you what do you think is
the big driver for Dallas being such a hub for headquarters?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I mean, you're the company.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
That well, a few things right.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
First of all, it's a business friendly state Texas is,
and a business friendly city the DFW.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Metroplexis, and that that's we have to start.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
There, right, because if you make it easier for companies
to do business here, they will come. But then also
we have a lot of things going our way. The
geographic location and the ease to get to every part
in the country and really everywhere in the world from
here is.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
A big attractiveness.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
And then I think Dallas has become a lot more
diverse than people give it credit for. You know, when
I came to Dallas in the year two thousand, there
were these perceptions that it's kind of a little bit
like the Old West, and everything is going to be
oil money and these kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But you find out that, no, the suburbs.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Are just like I've moved here, the same thing, right, yeah, yeah,
see a cattle.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Drive correct, correct, And and growth has continued. I remember
very well when we moved here. We lived in Uptown
and we went to Akia to buy some furniture, and
the toll essentially ended there, right, I oh, for sure,
the toy ended at one twenty one. And now there's
miles and miles upon miles of more road north of that.
So I just think we have a lot of things
(33:35):
going our way.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Yeah, it's down.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
It's been interesting. You know, we moved here just.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
About the same time seeing that that growth, and I know,
like moving here from Kansas City, when I looked at
the cost of living, it was the same. And you think,
oh my gosh, you know, running from this smaller city
too much.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Larger cost of living. I failed to mention.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yes, when you're when you're finishing your college degree or
your graduate degree and you want to pick a city
to go do a job in baking or consulting or
accounting or what have you, or marketing agents, who what
have you? And you say, oh, well, I could go
to New York, or I go go to San franciscoor
I go to Dallas.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
What's the rent in each of the places? It's just
mind so.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
You know better.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I would go back to the founder's conversation, because you
you came in at an interesting point where.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
You still saw a lot of.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
The remnants of the founder culture and then the growth into.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
More corporate structure.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
What would you tell someone who wanted to be a fact,
who wanted to be a founder of a company because
you really have that experience. You've seen you know, the
not the tail in, but you know the transition period. Like,
what would you tell someone who.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Wanted to go down that path? I have an idea
I want to go in and what would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (34:50):
I would say, obviously, you have to have a lot
of passion behind your idea and stay true to it
because that's the essence and the starting point, right. But
after that a couple of things. First of all, stay
positive and resilient because there will be many roadblocks along
the way many times when you go is this even
(35:12):
worth it? Could I go do something else that's easier.
That's that's going to be you know, less complications to
get it done. And then in addition to that, I
would say, surround yourself with a team that complements your skills. Right, So,
if you are a very creative, kind of very optimistic,
(35:35):
high energy, but not very structured, not much about process
type personal well, then make sure you hire someone who's
going to compliment you and bring that discipline and process
and order to the organization or the startup so that
you you know, do it the right way.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
Yeah, life is about balance.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
You know, you can't have too much of anything or
too little of anything, or you you face an imbalance,
and that's always troublesome. OK.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Flip it now, what you you went the other route MBA.
So you've got a young you know, professional just out
of college, maybe going to get their MBA. They want
to rise, you know, go through the ranks and all that.
What would you tell them?
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Well, my answer to that is going to make me
sound like a dinosaur. But I think that's okay.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
I do it every day.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
So just my advice would be very simple. If you
want to advance in business, work hard, put your head down,
work hard, deliver on everything you're supposed to do, and
then find time.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
To over deliver. Do that, and don't worry too much.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
About what's going to be my next promotion? Should I
go do something else? Yeah, you need to spend some
time thinking about that, and and you need to be
an advocate for yourself. But the number one success factories
hard work, reliability, being a good partner, grit, being a
good collaborator, not not asking for the next promotion every
(36:59):
five minutes.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, it is interesting. I mean, you know, these conversations
go on all the time. But you know, so much
really should be.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Broken down for It's like you know, I remember, get
to the office before your.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Boss, don't leave until your boss leaves.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Those sound silly, but there are little things like that
because that teaches you, oh, I need to push my hours,
and not that you want to be working eighty hours
a week. That's not it's out a boutance.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
Everybody needs to achieve balance in life. But there's no
question if you work hard, you demonstrate that you are
committed to the CUD, then opportunities will come your way.
People will seek you to grow, get more responsibility, do
different things.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Absolutely it. Do you get a lot of young kids
reaching out to you?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I do, and I really enjoy doing that.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
My kids are actually at that age, you know, I
I mind to My oldest graduated from college last year.
My youngest is only a Your younger graduates from college
next week. Actually, congratulations, thank you. Where so my oldest
one to Notre dame. My youngest is graduating from Clemson
next ausum.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
We're very happy reading for them.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, and so anyway, since they have a lot of friends,
and you know, my my friends sons and daughters are
about that age, I talk to a lot of kids
about careers say that, and we actually try to hire
a couple interns every year, especially in the early parts
of their college career, whether it's it's not that easy
to get a job, to just get an experience, even
(38:22):
if it's some paid, because we're a small company with
a lot of resources, just getting the experience and learning
the business world, it's super useful.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
So I really enjoy mentoring young kids.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
I actually was a college professor very early in my career,
so I always like, I.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Can talk in to to folks and you know, well
the way you communicate really well and and edit ease
that makes it seem real.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
It's it's funny.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I tell my friends with younger kids, like when they're
in their teens, I'm like, you know, I'm really sorry.
I know you're pretty much considered the dumbest person on
the planet in your home, but I'm here to tell
you when they pushed towards graduating from college, it's amazing
how smart I've gotten.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
And I actually I have to say this.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I was I was driving to the airport visit an
uber in Houston yesterday. One of my daughters called, and
she's kind of chuckled, and she goes, I knew you'd
want to hear this. She goes, someone senior in the
company called me. You know, they had done a seminar
for us, and he called me out of blue, and
(39:22):
I thought it was I was kind of unnerved when
he first called me.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
He goes, I want you to know.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Something, because you were the only person of your cadre
and age group that sent me a thank you, and
she started I started laughing, and she goes, well, you
know what. I started laughing, and he goes, what's so funny,
And she goes, well.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
You call my dad and tell me.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
That, and you know, I mean, look, I mean those
thank yous are such little things, and you know, I
mean it's just funny those things and I'm like, those
things stick out, and it goes to what you were saying.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
I know.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
And since you mentioned that, the other day, I received
a ridden thank you guard oh that came in the mail.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
It made me feel very special from from somebody who, like.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah, from a kid who I had had a conversation
with and try to help him.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, no, no, it was else.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yeah, I love that. So what would be what's next?
Not for buff City in the moment, what do you
what do you think about next?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
I just want to keep growing soap.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Our company is selling soap and getting getting bigger and
bigger because I think what we have is so special
that more people need to need to try it, need
to get to know about it. And I just want
to keep growing. I think we have a big, big
growth runway ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Now, are you international yet or no?
Speaker 3 (40:39):
No, No, we're just US based.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
In fact, we're in many states thirty something, but our
our footprint is fairly concentrated. We we are mostly Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia,
kind of central the Midwest as well. We don't have
almost anything up on the East Coast or or or
(41:03):
in California. That by design or it's just the way
we've grown, and so we have a lot of opportunity
to grow there and then at some point international. Now,
having worked so much in the international space, I know
that you need.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
To do that when you're ready.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
It's it's people like the sound of we're international, and
I like it too, But I also know full well
that the the effort to have a couple stores in
Canada and a couple in Mexico is just not worth it.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
You need to do it when you're going to have
scale and have a big presence.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
It's funny I worked.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
I worked in a company and it was at the
precipice of you know, we're in Australian Canada, right, all
anyone wanted to talk about and.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
It was like the two percent of your business and.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
You're and you know, finding the CEO is like, look,
I I think the supply chain is complicated.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Absolutely, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
So it's a great thing. Don't get me wrong. We
want to do it at some point, but we want
to be.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Ready and we want to do it right. Absolutely, Okay
when I am. My final question is something that I
talk a lot with our team about is and I
think you'll identify with this is that you know, as
you're building something, whether it's culture of the company and
all of those things together.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Everyone likes to think there's those big.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Mega moments, you know, those lightning bolt moments, and sometimes
there are you know, you know, I tell sellers all
the time, like in sales, there's no such thing as
a six run home run, Like you know, you just
have to keep going and singles, doubles, triples the whole thing.
So with that, I believe the places you win or
in the cracks and the gray spaces and stuff you
do every day, the foundational things.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Culture is a big part of that. When you think
about that, like, what do you think about.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
As like a cracks and gray spasis thing that you
think about for like a buff city soap or a
thing you believe in that is really sticky and.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Important to success.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
I think that, you know, I always say that we
should always be careful to avoid following the path of
least resistance, because you know, it's easy to do that
versus going down the shard route right, And it's also
easy to follow the path of these resistance now and and.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Do the hard stuff later, you know, put it off
for later.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
Because the urgent and the easy is just more pressing
than the important and hard.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
So just always remembering.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
That you have to do the hard stuff and stay
stay consistent at it is something I like to think
about all the time. I'll give you like and then
and so that's one thing, But then another one is
do the things that matter, even if you're not.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Feeling like it at any given point in time.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
So, for instance, when we talk about culture, I think
recognition is a very important part of building culture. I
agree and so, but there are times when you feel
more like giving recognition or participating in a recognition session
than other times.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
You might not be having a great.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
Day, you might have had some discussions, some argument either
at work or outside of work, and you might not
feel like going to this session where we'll have we'll
share some recognition and try to recognize each other for
accomplishments of the last week or a.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Couple, a couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Do that force yourself to go do that because it matters,
because it's important. Because you do it sometimes but don't
do it some other times, then it doesn't really become,
you know, an integral part of your culture.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah, the consistency matters. I'll tell you a quick funny story.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
So when I started, I started to hear six months ago,
and you know, one of the things that I heard.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
A lot is communication we don't know another department streat.
So I started a weekly note for me on Monday mornings.
I called it the skim.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
I thought, you know what, we use this as a
way to point out, you know, cool thing, shout outs
people done. So we found this old trophy in a closet.
It's one of those giant looks like the Stanley Cup,
and you know, we call it Skim Award every week, okay,
And so like the third week, I got to give
the award to someone who remain nameless on this part podcast.
But I go to give it to him and he's
(45:03):
looking at me like where are you walking up to
me with a couple of people with a trophy, and
I said, you won the Skim Award for this week,
and he goes, what's the skim And I'm like, oh,
just the email that I send to the whole office
every Monday. So apparently you're not reading it, you know,
and I'm trying to make it still a funny moment,
I walked away and going like why do I do this?
But from that moment, I think it got around and
(45:24):
so now it's become a thing.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
But it was one of those growing pains.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
I know, that's good to your point.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
At that moment, I was like, do I really want
to keep doing this? Because you know, Sunday night, I'm like,
who did something nice?
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Exactly exactly? But do they care? Will they read it? You?
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Know, does it come across as authentic or does it
come across his forest?
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Yeah you we'll go through those mental gymnastics. Oh yeah,
but you just keep soldiering on, Wriquez. This was a
lot of fun. Thanks for coming in. Amazing experience. Elizabeth
could be thrilled.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
I think you're almost I might have to get an autograph.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Send her my regards.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I will do that. I'm backed up. We don't have
to take a picture after this. Thanks for joining us.
We look forward to talking again.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Thank you very much. Awesome joined it
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