June 26, 2025 • 33 mins
Brandon Stewart, with Hydra Live Therapy, joins Trent and Patrick on “At Home with Roby”. Brandon shares his unique entrepreneurial journey — from growing up in Georgia and attending UGA, to diving into private equity, launching a Jimmy John’s, and then finding his passion in the wellness space.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to at Home with Ruby. I'm Patrick Mcaseac from
Ruby Commercial and Services. Long with Trent. He's in from
the Ruby family of companies. We are your host. Trent's
beautiful outside, nice and warm. It's hot, but nice and sharm.
It's a good time to be in the mountains though,
that where he just came.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And you know, I was thinking you were going to
say good morning, But when I want to podcast is
twenty four to seven.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I want three sixty five, homie, I.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Know, so it could be good night, it could be
good afternoon, goot.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And tog it is.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I was in I was in Boone area, bannerel Is.
We have an office up there. It's about twenty degrees
cooler up there, and I just rode back and then
I rolled down my window when I hit Gaston County
and it was like ninety five degrees in your face.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, it was ninety seven on my train and I
was listening to the radio and the heat index is
one oh eight.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Is it Is it good? Is it good for heating
and cooling? Yes?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I think it is. So if you're struggling with the HVAC,
hit us up.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
This is when they do this when they die when
you don't want.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Them to roby heating and cooling. We don't advertise on here,
but there you go.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It's good. It's good to see you. Patrick.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I don't think i've seen you since we did our
last radio show recording a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I think that's accurate.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We talked on the phone a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, I got a little gnarly.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
We do that from time to time. I think that's important.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Though, right. I think that's how your brainstorm.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Uh no, uh yeah, uh yeah, Like I think I
said this on the last show.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Uh. I go.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now, now you're experiencing this through EO Entrepreneur organization, which
you've been in about six or eight months.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
But I go on these on these conferences with all
these folks and get all geeked up and I call you.
And it's cool because our guest today is a fellow
by the name of Brandon Stewart, who is a fellow
Ypoor and Hell's from Alabama. So we'll we'll keep the
we'll keep the geek up train going.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Well, I can't wait. But before we get too far,
and I know this is going to be difficult. We
had something tragic happened to us at the Ruby Family
of Companies this morning. Gosh it, we can we get
choked up with we lost Dave Fetter.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Man so so tough. David Fetter is one of the
good guys. He's awesome, the best.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He's amazing. And I know you always tell a great
story about him looking like Chuck Norris.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
He looks very similar to Chuck Norris. I think he
has a kick like Chuck Norris. Hopefully he's kicking it
up in heaven with my pops. But I think it
was I talked to him about this a lot. I
think it was nineteen ninety two when he started with
our company, and he was a drywall expert, the best
mud man I've ever met. And I was working during
(02:58):
it was either I think it was during this and
I was fourteen years old, So nineteen ninety two and
I'm back at the office after my day of work,
and my dad said, I got a guy. He's a
drawwall expert and he's one of the best, and he's
gonna be with us a long time.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And well, was he ever?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Straight up? And I used to tell David feederda his wife, Sherry,
worked at our company for a long long time. She's
such a sweet person and such a sweet family. His
kids were always around, I mean during our during early
two thousands, I mean during our work, like work like
bulldog days. So anyway, just a great man. I mean,
(03:41):
I mean, I think David McGuire, our COO, sent out
to Texas morning and I said he was he was
full of goodness and truly that that's what he was
full of, and God bless him, and I hope he's
up there dropped kicking my dad.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It's only right.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Or maybe maybe they're maybe they're throwing some mud on
strowing some mud on a wall.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
D that was a pretty good drawwall guy too. He
Dave was.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Dave was was next level. I never had your dad
helped me out with drywall, but you know, being that
we were, you know, Roby Electric was the first service
that we offer. Inevitably, you know you're gonna have an
accidental you know, maybe step through the ceiling or cut
the canlight wrong, and Dave would get sent in to
repair that. And sometimes a client obviously wasn't pleased that
(04:31):
they had to have somebody else at their house, but
just through his his sheer kindness and dedication and care
would win that client over every time, and it was
always with a positive attitude. He knew, he knew that
we had made a mistake and when I was calling him, yeah,
he knew that we were needing a little grace and
he was always there to produce I.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Mean truly the golden rule. Yeah, I mean what we
say and live and preach. He was that guy. He
always made me feel better when I saw him, and
that's yeah, what we try to carry on this show
and pass on I think is a life lesson.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, he was going into battle when when the client
wasn't happy, and he always made him feel great and
had had tremendous fan favorites from our long time uh
generational clients. So, uh, God bless you, David, Thank you
for all you've done.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And uh if any of your family or share or
ever hear of this, God bless all y'all men.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So, uh, you know what, Brian Delaney is out going
EO president did a nice, nice speech at our our
our all chapter meeting and he brought up the phrase
that they used quite often give more than you take, uh,
and that was what Dave David pitomized.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, he did, he did. I didn't know you used
him a lot in your services business. That disappointsman, Patrick.
I honestly didn't know y'all had that relationship.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Well it was. It was a little harry there when
I first got going.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
We'll have a phone call after after the show.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I'm kidding. So how you been.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
You said you were with your brother up at some
baseball tournaments up in the up in the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Oh, yes, no, man, we had a ball. So he
gave his kids. He's got two boys, eleven and seventeen.
They're both rull into baseball, and so he for Christmas,
he's got my daughter to mid middle daughter.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Ellie as well.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But for Christmas, he gave the boys a trip to
Chicago to watch a Cubs game and then take the
train from Chicago to Saint Louis to watch a Cardinals game.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Y'all went to professional base Yeah, yeah, so we went.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
We went to the Cubs game, they lost, and then
we went to the Cardinals games. They also lost, but
we were actually cheering for the Reds. My little eleven
year old nephew is a huge Ellie Daylight Cruiz fan.
If you don't know who he is.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Looking up? Guys, how Pete Rose do Pete Pete Roadse
did he give for the cycle?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
He wasn't there, but since he was wearing a red shirt,
they threw him. One of the center field guys threw
him a baseball, which is pretty cool. This never happened
to me before, so that was really fun.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, you know, we do our annual pilgrimage up there
to Illinois and visit Reagan's family. Last year we went
through Chicago and stayed a couple of days and with
my family and we.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Toured Wrigley Field.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Oh, it was really cool.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And then about twenty about twenty five years ago, when
Martin McGuire played for the Cardinals, I was doing his
home run chase. We went to a Cardinals game with
Reagan's cousin. That's a great memory I have as well.
So Elie de la.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Cruz Ellie is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
He l l y.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
He's he's one of those guys that's got speed and power.
It's all the kids love him.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Doesn't your brother live in Alabama? He does?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh, Auburn, Brandon Stewart, We're gonna hear about some some Bama.
I mean, this guy has the best Alabama accent to
I can't wait. I think we might need to switch places.
I was just in Mexico and people were like, where
are you from? And I'm like Charlott and they're like,
really from the North. Yeah, they're North Cakilaki. They're like,
(08:05):
no way. I'm like, yes, North Carolina. Everybody says, oh,
South Carolina and I'm like, no, it's North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
But we on the border pretty much.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
We like to step on that state line we see
in the boat.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Letting them people know us up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So I haven't been getting the boat much in this heat.
Look forward to doing some of that as well. My
kids are ready to get out and do the water sports,
you know, the wakeboarding and the wakesurfing and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So looking forward to that.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
This summer summer of twenty twenty five. And I think
there's a heat dome over the United States. It's I've
never heard of the heat dome till reading Yahoo News
lately or maybe seeing in or something. I don't know
what it is, but there is a dome and it
(08:57):
is built, they said, they said the other day it
was one hundred degrees fahrenheit in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I don't doubt it. I mean it was that hot.
And in Saint Louis and Chicago, I mean, which they're
not used to.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
That at all.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Man, you're crazy. It gets hot as blue blazes up there.
And then I always talked to Reagan's family about this.
And then during the winter, we went up there one
time the day after Christmas and stayed for six days.
And when we went through Danville, Illinois, it went to
three degrees fahrenheit and it never got back above three
(09:31):
degrees one time until we came back through Danville, Ainois
six days later. Goodness gracious, I mean, and it gets
as hot as Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I don't think it's as hot as as long as Charlotte,
but it does get as hot. So I want to
hear how it feels down in Alabama. So when we return,
we're going to have Brandon Stewart, a franchise expert and
a good friend of mine, fellow YPO.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Or when we returned on at home with Ruby.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And don't forget Ruby Services is your one unstop source
for all your electrical heating cooling plumbing and handyman needs.
Keep it easy and get it all done by one.
Roby servicesnow dot com. That's Robi servicesnow dot com. Welcome
back to that Home with Roby. I'm Patrick pick Isaac
from Roby Commercial and Services on with Trent Hayston from
the Roby Family of Companies. If you miss the last segment,
(10:20):
we do segment of the podcast these days. Obviously, we
we wanted to pay our tributes to to Dave Fetter,
who we who we lost this morning. Go back and
check that out. Just a remarkable person. And now we
have Brandon Stewart Trent who we always get confused with
because there's a Brandon Stewart that's a good friend and
a good client of ours that works for Prestige Development
(10:42):
who who formerly goes by be stew on the golf course.
So that's that's his nickname. We'll give him a shout out.
But now we got brand Southern Brandon Stewart from Alabama.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
What's up, Brandon? How you doing? Hey? Hey guys, are
y'all we're good? Hey.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Another guy hung out with UH on the YPO trip
was Chris Gomel.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yes, I know Chris very well.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I know y'all.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Also, he's much more south than I am.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Though, Well, what part of Alabama do you do? You
held from Brandon?
Speaker 4 (11:16):
I am in Birmingham. It's the kind of central central Alabama,
I hear you.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
And also in a couple of days, I have a
I have a fellow birminghammer, David Strickland's coming up to
hang out with me a little bit.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
So y'all got it going, man, I'm just I'm just
waiting on the invite. One of these days can happen.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Well, you invited me down for a golf tournament in August,
and I told you I had for him that day,
and all your buddies is the Alabama state, Uh, and
all of your buddies were coaxing me.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
So Grant Zarzer.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Said that if if I got my forum moved, I
would have a spot, even if you've already filled that spot.
So I might work on that and I might get
to come hang out with you. How about that?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Well, that that could be great. I would I would
really appreciate your forum moving that date.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
We will see.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So, Uh, how's your family, buddy?
Speaker 4 (12:17):
You know the family is good. Uh, summer is going
really well. My my oldest is at the longest camp
he's been at so far, so it can be four
weeks stay you know, stay away camp. My youngest is
you know, he's six. We got him busy as heck
with with you know, day camps and things like that.
(12:38):
But he is straight up depressed that his brother is
not here. It is uh, it's it's tough to watch.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Which summer camp is he at.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
He's at. It's called Camp Mac. It's a uh camp
here in Alabama.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Very cool.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
So the way Brennan and I really became wonderful friends, uh.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Through YPO is we were on.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
A family trip planning committee several years ago and you
plan the meeting several years out. So it was through
work kind of like me and you Patrick, I mean,
I mean talking about paying it forward as a principle
(13:22):
in life and why we're really big in our businesses,
the construction business were really big in the industry Remodeling Association,
Homebuilders Association, and trade associations, and everybody's like, I don't
have time for what do you get out of and
we're like, no, we learned from it. I mean, it's
how I learned how to read a P and L.
How I learned how to read my first balance sheet
(13:43):
twenty five years ago. And how valuable is being on
a planning committee for one of these trips.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
I mean it's incredible, you know, just you know the
we're kind of stuck in our silos here in our
individual states. It's just really fun to kind of get
a mix of people that you wouldn't normally hanging out
with and hang out with them for a full year
to plan a trip like that. It's something special. I
really enjoyed it, and it's.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Really cool on a family trip the kids help plan
and give their input, but also your your your tango
and in cashion with your wife, your spouse or whomever
your spouse is, so uh it really it really helps
enhance communication skills between your family as well.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
So you think that's you find that funny path.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I'm just thinking about some of the story. I can't
remember which one it was, but weren't you like in
a plan like some sort of hostage situation.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
They're not talking about that on here, though.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I'm just joking that was that was crazy Steve Prottner's idea.
I just thought about that just maybe chuckle, uh.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Sorry, who I'm gonna also get to spend some time
later this week. So yeah, So Brandon, why don't you
tell us, I mean, are you're from Alabama? Tell us
tell us a little bit about your childhood leading up
to where you are today. I want to hear your story, buddy.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Yeah, I'm not I'm not from Alabama. I am a
complete transplant. I don't have quite the accent that you do. So,
you know, people don't usually think I'm I'm from the area.
But I grew up in Georgia outside of Atlanta, in
a place called Larnsville. Georgia's kind of a suburb northeast,
like forty five minutes outside of town. And you know,
(15:34):
then I went to the University of Georgia. So I'm
a you know, I grew up in Georgia, went to
school in Georgia, and then from there moved around a
little bit. So I met Elizabeth and actually Charlotte. So
I lived in Charlotte for a couple of years, did
investment banking up there, and then did private equity up
in Boston, and then I moved to Birmingham. There at
(15:57):
the time, there were no Jimmy Johns here, and Elizabeth
and I were looking for a place to settle down
or raise a family and kind of in between both families,
not her families from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, so you know,
and she wouldn't let me live on the water. She's
just I guess growing up there, did not think that
(16:18):
that would be a good plan. So we moved to Birmingham.
It's a nice sized city and place for that she
could get a job.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
And right at the time for a Jimmy John's.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Huh that's right, yeah, open that, I guess. I was
twenty eleven when I opened my first unit of Jimmy John's.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Wow, it's so cool.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So when you lived in Charlotte, it's coming back to me, now,
did you live in Dilworth.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I did not. I lived right there in first Ward,
you know, right when, I guess it was like just
a few years after all those you know, townhomes and
condos and everything had been built.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Well, I got two things one real quick. The very
first time I had Jimmy John's, I think was in
two thousand and three. I think I'm getting this right,
was in Athens, Georgia. I remember them having you. I
went to Clemson, but had a lot of friends that
went to Georgia as well. And the second thing is
if you grew up in Lawrenceville. We had Russell Nash
from Legacy Lighting, Oh yeah on the show a few
weeks ago, and I think pretty sure that's where his
(17:14):
h his initial location was in Lawrenceville.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yeah, Russell Nash checked the show out.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
He's awesome, so so on our on our education for
this trip. I did not make this session, but Jimmy
John spoke to everybody, and everybody was raving about about
his story.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
I heard that. You know, Jimmy John is a incredibly
charismatic person, so I can't imagine it being anything but
amazing to hear him talk in any situation I've seen
him in. He's just bigger than life and always enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, they said his wife was there and she was
given some fodder along with him, and they said their
their dual session talking about what we were talking about
earlier was really good. And then you were from Elizabethon
and your wife's names Elizabeth. So that's really crazy, Patrick,
Where is.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
He going with this? So?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Uh so you moved from private equity down to Birmingham
and got into the Jimmy John business. What made you
want to get into that business line.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
You know, I thought that it was a good idea
to get into the food business. And that's really how
it happened, you know. I was I was trying to
choose between going back to business school or doing something
you know, kind of on my own, and I looked
for for some businesses to buy and kind of you know,
I really just felt like if I had gone back
to business school, I would have taken all the money
(18:39):
that I'd earned after college and and sort of spent
it into something that I definitely would have learned a lot,
would have had some great ideas to come out of that.
But I was I was really nervous about coming out
and doing something that you know, was fulfilling and you know,
could could could pay me all those things. It was
a it was a strange time to go back to school.
(19:02):
It was just a couple of years after two thousand
and eight. So so I decided to get into Jimmy
Johnson because, you know, our the private equity firm I
worked for, we had an investment in Jimmy John's. So
I'm seeing all these people that were franchisees and just
you know, how they were doing in the brand, and
it was just a really strong story. Some of these guys,
you know, hadn't even you know, they didn't go to college,
(19:23):
they just straight out of high school, open to Jimmy Johnson,
just absolutely crushing it. So it just it sounded like
a great idea at the time. And so I dove
in feet first and became, uh, I guess it should
be head first, right, dove in head first, and then
I uh, I was general manager of that first unit.
So I mean, I learned the business, you know, as
I feel like most people should, you know that, especially
(19:47):
in restaurant business. I mean it's it's just hard to
understand what your employees to go through unless you go
through it yourself. And so I think I think that
was a really powerful time for me. It was very hard,
very difficult, coming from you know, wearing you know, the
jacket every day to you know, cutting onions and bacon
bread at five am every morning to make ends meet.
(20:09):
So it was a good experience. In overtime, you know,
we grew. I built nine units before I bought any
and then I partnered with some people and we made
an acquisition in Gainesville, Florida, which was the enemy at
the time, So I spent some time, you know, coming
from Georgia. It was really tough a anytime in Gainesville, Florida.
But I did it. I suffered through it. And then
(20:31):
you know, by the end of that I had sixty
two units that I was managing and I exited those
completely as of last year, so I am. I am
out of the Jimmy John's business and you know, got
a couple of new ventures going on.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
So yeah, tell us about tell us about where when
you took a turn and got out of the Jimmy
John's business. So I said, did you did your private
equity firm that you were with owned the first couple
Jimmy Dons and you you were manage them.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Is that how it happened?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Because you said it was a while before you started
being a being a partner in them.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, no, that that would have been nice. No, it
was all my my, my money, uh, the uh me
and the the good old SBA uh made it happen.
So I did you know, uh had SBA loans you
know out the ears at that time, you know, to
to grow these units and just you know, when you're
(21:29):
when you're twenty eight, getting into something like this. I mean,
you'll sign anything you know you have. I did. I
wasn't married at the time, but I had zero obligations
outside of that, you know, no kids at the time.
You know, you're signing personal guarantees like like they're nothing,
you know, and it all catches up to you. You
know what. You don't realize, all right, in four or
five years from now, I'm going to have kids and
(21:51):
I'm going to have obligations and responsibilities and so those
personal guarantees get kind of scary when that went. All
that hits, But that was it was a it was
a great experiperience and you know, we we just fought
through it, made had a profitable business. COVID hit, which
was extremely challenging, but it was a good learning experience
(22:11):
for me and just how to manage through crisis. But
you know it, you know, again the government steps in
and provides PPP money and you know, economic injury and
disaster loons and all these things that just really helped
recap the business and I came out way on top.
So it was a it was a blessing that all,
you know, I don't know what I'd be doing now
(22:32):
if if any of that happened here. There is no question.
I don't have been bankrupt. There's no way we could
have made it through that, but but we did, so
it's really a miracle.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I mean, amen, you know, the government gets a bad rap, bureaucracy.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Gets a bad rap.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
They really saved small business sure during COVID. Yeah, because
we lived through eight, nine, ten eleven as well, which
was the great depression of my lifetime. Hopefully it'll all
always be. I mean, my dad said it was way
worse than the seventies. He always talked about how bad
(23:07):
and inflation arey the seventies were. And when COVID hit,
we started meeting every day Patrick, I few remembered it
outside at our office to a table executive team for
like two hours, and it was like what are our
clients saying? How are our jobs going? What's going on?
(23:27):
And we were deemed a need based business. God b
us that and also PPP helped us as well, So
kudos to the US government on that. But you said,
something is so funny man, because I've signed so many
personal guarantees in my twenty five years. Our businesses is
seventy five years old this year we're celebrating and my dad,
(23:50):
God rest his soul was the man.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And in the early two thousands. I came out of
college in two thousand and I.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Was grow, Grow, Grow, Grow, Grow, didn't have kids, sleep
on the floor, work eighty hours a week, you know,
slept on the office floor two or three nights a week,
go home, take a shower, come right back in.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
And I would say, we're.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Going to do this, and if we don't do it
and we fail, we'll pick back up and do it again.
And Dad's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, you
can't never turn the keys in, son, And I'm like, yeah,
we can.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
He's like, no, no, no, you can't. Like no, that
isn't an option. And you know, I'm twenty five years now, and.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
How right was that man? Because you can't. That can't
be a mentality. I mean, sometimes things happen and you
got you know, you got to get back going.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
But uh, you're.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
A lot more I kept gun slinging back in the
in the young days, right Brandonon. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Think he's absolutely correct. I mean, you you know, you
get into this business at a young age, and you know,
you just you just don't have a care in the world.
Think that, you know, and I felt this way when
I was twenty eight. I mean I was one hundred
percent confident that I was going to make it. And
I'll tell you you know that that mentality came from,
(25:12):
you know, me getting great grades in school, you know,
getting the jobs I wanted after college. You know, just
just sort of everything hit because I worked really hard.
And then once you don't realize is that business will
humble you in an instant. It's not in your control
all the time. There's a lot that is in your control,
but it's not all It doesn't always work out like
(25:33):
your plan.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Well, I mean, I know you guys are talking about
that too, but I was twenty eight when I came
to Roby So and I felt the exact same way.
We know my wife was was you know, we were
expecting a child. But at that time is like, man,
you would risk it all and think everything's just going
to be fine. And through the these I think you've
(25:54):
had humility, Oh my goodness, Like through the through the
trials of really you know, operating a bit business, are
running a business or owning a business. Uh, it'll bring
you to your knees. And you know, I know Trent
has witnessed, it has been through it, all the things.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
It's payroll and cash flow, Homie, you don't have to
if you don't know, you get some coming.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
From corporate America. That's where I came from. Like it
just you just got paid on every other Friday and
you nobody ever really saw the bank accounts.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And so a frankly Brandon, that's the key to YPO, right.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, a rolling cash flow.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I mean, it's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Every time a young person asked me to have a
coffee and kind of what do I want to tell them?
Speaker 3 (26:38):
I'm like, before you have kids. You can be married,
but you got.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
To put in seventy or eighty hours a week and
sleep on the floor a couple of times for your
first five or ten years. And then you start to
understand a little more. And uh, I can smell oil
and vinegar right now, banana pepper's Brandon, every time you talk,
I get the I get in the scent come across
my nose.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
So now the worst, the worst was onions. I mean,
you know, and it didn't it didn't matter how good
of a day you were having, you know, but you
cried every single morning. It just it was part of
the business.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
So tell me.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Uh so tell me you sandwich artists. Tell me what
you're doing now since you're out of the Jimmy John's game.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
I got a couple of things going now. I as
soon as I exited Jimmy John's, some friends of mine
here at Birmingham, or a friend of mine was was
doing some financial consulting for a brand here called Hydrolyzed Therapy.
Uh it is a it's an IV therapy clinic and
they wanted to franchise it. And so he had called
(27:45):
me because he knew I had some franchise experience, really
just to see if I knew somebody that could that
could kind of advise and and sort of help. And
I I was like, well, hey, I just you know,
signed the clothes to sell my Jimmy John's and you know,
I'd love to take a look. And you know, it
was It's just one of those things where I wanted
to help and that's it. And then I started looking
(28:06):
at the unit economics and the brand and I'm really
into this industry anyways, health and wellness and longevity, and
I had I just said, hey, you know, I'd like
to take this and see what I can do with it.
So we've got it's a franchise. We are the franchise
or so kind of on the opposite side of where
I've been. And you know, for me, it was a
it was more of an experience thing. I wanted to learn,
(28:28):
you know, something about the product and marketing, which you
don't really have control of when you are a franchise
Z and your franchise Z you're just executing somebody else's vision.
You know, it was Jimmy's vision when I was a
Jimmy John's and I love doing that and I'm good
at that, but you know, there was there was a
missing piece to my you know, you call it CEO capability,
and I just didn't really have any experience with developing
(28:51):
products or the marketing side of things. So so I
did that, and you know, we raised a little bit
of money at the end of twenty three and beginning
of twenty four, and I'm CEO of that company and
we're we're growing like a weed. We sold fifteen franchises
last year and five five so far this year. We've
actually got somebody up your way kind of north of Charlotte.
(29:13):
That's that's going in here. Soon, so I think they're
working on their their drawings. So yeah, that's going great.
And then right after I signed up to be CEO
of this, Burger King reached out to me, and I
had been working with them. Uh it's a long story
of how I ended up with them, but been working
with them on on sort of getting approved as a
franchisee in case the deal came up an opportunity, and
(29:37):
and one came up and they reached out and said, hey,
it's right in your backyard.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
So now I'm the the proud owner of forty three
Burger Kings between you know, kind of Burger but sorry,
Burger Birmingham and uh in South like you know, we
pretty much go to the border of Alabama and Florida.
So that that ended up being a bankruptcy situation. And
so it was one those things where you know, I
(30:01):
kept putting in offers and they just kept making it
to the next stage. And so really there was really
no excuse for me not taking it down. I thought
I was done with the food business, but but that
kept me in and it's you know, I could be
more excited about Burger King and where it's headed. And
it was just it's it was the deal of a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So well number one, I invested alongside of you a
little bit in in hydro life therapy. So I'm so
excited to hear that it is going well. Uh, that
is wonderful.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
But I might not make it on the next podcast
if you want.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
To come back, boy, No, but but I do think
that your franchisee experience is invaluable as a franchise or
you know how people emotionally, how much they're risking. You
don't take any of that for granted. And if you
ever need a build out partner Roby Commercial Patrick mccosick
(30:57):
is my partner in that and we can help you
with that as well.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
We have advertised twice on this show.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
But so many opportunities. That's great.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Have you have you had a chance to sit down
with Wyatt Bachelor uh in in the Southern seven. He
owns a good number of Burger King franchises as well
I have.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
He's a complete loser. I don't know if you knew that,
but uh.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Why, thank you for saying that?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Why why? And I we got we met each other
long before my Burger Kings. He you know, he got
into Jimmy John's and they were trying to Yeah, they
were trying to navigate that brand. This was back when
I you know, before I exited, so you know, I
got with them a lot. You know, him and his
partners are great, and they were they were anything. I mean,
(31:49):
the number of deals that they've done in the size
of their businesses is incredible. That's an incredible story. I'm
trying to I'm now following in his footsteps. So that's
that's the plan.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Well, that is all awesome, all right, you'll have to
return to continue the story. I can't wait to hear
the next chapter of the Stuart family's life in Brandon's story.
But uh, I'm gonna put you on the spot here.
What is one thing you're such a daggon good dude.
What is one principle that you live by when you
operate your business, your family, your kids, Georgia and your
(32:22):
two sons.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Oh, that has put me on a spot. You know.
I think I think the thing that the thing that
benefits me the most is just putting people first. So
no matter what it is, you know, just really having
having empathy for for other people.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Amen. Well, Brandon, how some people look you up.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Yeah, I'm on I'm on LinkedIn. You can look me
up there. I feel free to reach out a though
I'd get a lot more of those requests than I
used to now. But yeah, that's that's probably the easiest
way to go to the website. I think there's a
contact for them on there at Starboard Investments dot com.
And uh yeah, happy to connect.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
With anyone and go visit a hydrolve therapy. Uh god
speed to that business. My favorite burger, uh mini burger
of my life is the Whopper Junior, which he is
no tomato by the way, so I will continue to
eat that as much as my my calcium test will
(33:17):
allow me to. I got to talk about that, but
uh but Brandon, God bless you. Tell Elizabeth hello for me,
and thanks for listening to at Home with Roby. Uh go,
do the Golden rule, treat others the way you want
to be treated, even when it's tough, and carry a
smile around on your face because you don't know what
other people are dealing with.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Make somebody's day. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to at Home with Ruby. I'm Patrick Mcaseac from
Ruby Commercial and Services. Long with Trent. He's in from
the Ruby family of companies. We are your host. Trent's
beautiful outside, nice and warm. It's hot, but nice and sharm.
It's a good time to be in the mountains though,
that where he just came.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And you know, I was thinking you were going to
say good morning, But when I want to podcast is
twenty four to seven.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I want three sixty five, homie, I.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Know, so it could be good night, it could be
good afternoon, goot.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And tog it is.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I was in I was in Boone area, bannerel Is.
We have an office up there. It's about twenty degrees
cooler up there, and I just rode back and then
I rolled down my window when I hit Gaston County
and it was like ninety five degrees in your face.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, it was ninety seven on my train and I
was listening to the radio and the heat index is
one oh eight.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Is it Is it good? Is it good for heating
and cooling? Yes?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I think it is. So if you're struggling with the HVAC,
hit us up.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
This is when they do this when they die when
you don't want.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Them to roby heating and cooling. We don't advertise on here,
but there you go.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It's good. It's good to see you. Patrick.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I don't think i've seen you since we did our
last radio show recording a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I think that's accurate.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We talked on the phone a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, I got a little gnarly.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
We do that from time to time. I think that's important.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Though, right. I think that's how your brainstorm.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Uh no, uh yeah, uh yeah, Like I think I
said this on the last show.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Uh. I go.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now, now you're experiencing this through EO Entrepreneur organization, which
you've been in about six or eight months.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
But I go on these on these conferences with all
these folks and get all geeked up and I call you.
And it's cool because our guest today is a fellow
by the name of Brandon Stewart, who is a fellow
Ypoor and Hell's from Alabama. So we'll we'll keep the
we'll keep the geek up train going.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Well, I can't wait. But before we get too far,
and I know this is going to be difficult. We
had something tragic happened to us at the Ruby Family
of Companies this morning. Gosh it, we can we get
choked up with we lost Dave Fetter.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Man so so tough. David Fetter is one of the
good guys. He's awesome, the best.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He's amazing. And I know you always tell a great
story about him looking like Chuck Norris.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
He looks very similar to Chuck Norris. I think he
has a kick like Chuck Norris. Hopefully he's kicking it
up in heaven with my pops. But I think it
was I talked to him about this a lot. I
think it was nineteen ninety two when he started with
our company, and he was a drywall expert, the best
mud man I've ever met. And I was working during
(02:58):
it was either I think it was during this and
I was fourteen years old, So nineteen ninety two and
I'm back at the office after my day of work,
and my dad said, I got a guy. He's a
drawwall expert and he's one of the best, and he's
gonna be with us a long time.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And well, was he ever?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Straight up? And I used to tell David feederda his wife, Sherry,
worked at our company for a long long time. She's
such a sweet person and such a sweet family. His
kids were always around, I mean during our during early
two thousands, I mean during our work, like work like
bulldog days. So anyway, just a great man. I mean,
(03:41):
I mean, I think David McGuire, our COO, sent out
to Texas morning and I said he was he was
full of goodness and truly that that's what he was
full of, and God bless him, and I hope he's
up there dropped kicking my dad.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It's only right.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Or maybe maybe they're maybe they're throwing some mud on
strowing some mud on a wall.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
D that was a pretty good drawwall guy too. He
Dave was.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Dave was was next level. I never had your dad
helped me out with drywall, but you know, being that
we were, you know, Roby Electric was the first service
that we offer. Inevitably, you know you're gonna have an
accidental you know, maybe step through the ceiling or cut
the canlight wrong, and Dave would get sent in to
repair that. And sometimes a client obviously wasn't pleased that
(04:31):
they had to have somebody else at their house, but
just through his his sheer kindness and dedication and care
would win that client over every time, and it was
always with a positive attitude. He knew, he knew that
we had made a mistake and when I was calling him, yeah,
he knew that we were needing a little grace and
he was always there to produce I.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Mean truly the golden rule. Yeah, I mean what we
say and live and preach. He was that guy. He
always made me feel better when I saw him, and
that's yeah, what we try to carry on this show
and pass on I think is a life lesson.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, he was going into battle when when the client
wasn't happy, and he always made him feel great and
had had tremendous fan favorites from our long time uh
generational clients. So, uh, God bless you, David, Thank you
for all you've done.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And uh if any of your family or share or
ever hear of this, God bless all y'all men.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So, uh, you know what, Brian Delaney is out going
EO president did a nice, nice speech at our our
our all chapter meeting and he brought up the phrase
that they used quite often give more than you take, uh,
and that was what Dave David pitomized.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, he did, he did. I didn't know you used
him a lot in your services business. That disappointsman, Patrick.
I honestly didn't know y'all had that relationship.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Well it was. It was a little harry there when
I first got going.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
We'll have a phone call after after the show.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I'm kidding. So how you been.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
You said you were with your brother up at some
baseball tournaments up in the up in the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Oh, yes, no, man, we had a ball. So he
gave his kids. He's got two boys, eleven and seventeen.
They're both rull into baseball, and so he for Christmas,
he's got my daughter to mid middle daughter.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Ellie as well.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But for Christmas, he gave the boys a trip to
Chicago to watch a Cubs game and then take the
train from Chicago to Saint Louis to watch a Cardinals game.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Y'all went to professional base Yeah, yeah, so we went.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
We went to the Cubs game, they lost, and then
we went to the Cardinals games. They also lost, but
we were actually cheering for the Reds. My little eleven
year old nephew is a huge Ellie Daylight Cruiz fan.
If you don't know who he is.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Looking up? Guys, how Pete Rose do Pete Pete Roadse
did he give for the cycle?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
He wasn't there, but since he was wearing a red shirt,
they threw him. One of the center field guys threw
him a baseball, which is pretty cool. This never happened
to me before, so that was really fun.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, you know, we do our annual pilgrimage up there
to Illinois and visit Reagan's family. Last year we went
through Chicago and stayed a couple of days and with
my family and we.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Toured Wrigley Field.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Oh, it was really cool.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And then about twenty about twenty five years ago, when
Martin McGuire played for the Cardinals, I was doing his
home run chase. We went to a Cardinals game with
Reagan's cousin. That's a great memory I have as well.
So Elie de la.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Cruz Ellie is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
He l l y.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
He's he's one of those guys that's got speed and power.
It's all the kids love him.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Doesn't your brother live in Alabama? He does?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh, Auburn, Brandon Stewart, We're gonna hear about some some Bama.
I mean, this guy has the best Alabama accent to
I can't wait. I think we might need to switch places.
I was just in Mexico and people were like, where
are you from? And I'm like Charlott and they're like,
really from the North. Yeah, they're North Cakilaki. They're like,
(08:05):
no way. I'm like, yes, North Carolina. Everybody says, oh,
South Carolina and I'm like, no, it's North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
But we on the border pretty much.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
We like to step on that state line we see
in the boat.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Letting them people know us up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So I haven't been getting the boat much in this heat.
Look forward to doing some of that as well. My
kids are ready to get out and do the water sports,
you know, the wakeboarding and the wakesurfing and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So looking forward to that.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
This summer summer of twenty twenty five. And I think
there's a heat dome over the United States. It's I've
never heard of the heat dome till reading Yahoo News
lately or maybe seeing in or something. I don't know
what it is, but there is a dome and it
(08:57):
is built, they said, they said the other day it
was one hundred degrees fahrenheit in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I don't doubt it. I mean it was that hot.
And in Saint Louis and Chicago, I mean, which they're
not used to.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
That at all.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Man, you're crazy. It gets hot as blue blazes up there.
And then I always talked to Reagan's family about this.
And then during the winter, we went up there one
time the day after Christmas and stayed for six days.
And when we went through Danville, Illinois, it went to
three degrees fahrenheit and it never got back above three
(09:31):
degrees one time until we came back through Danville, Ainois
six days later. Goodness gracious, I mean, and it gets
as hot as Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I don't think it's as hot as as long as Charlotte,
but it does get as hot. So I want to
hear how it feels down in Alabama. So when we return,
we're going to have Brandon Stewart, a franchise expert and
a good friend of mine, fellow YPO.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Or when we returned on at home with Ruby.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And don't forget Ruby Services is your one unstop source
for all your electrical heating cooling plumbing and handyman needs.
Keep it easy and get it all done by one.
Roby servicesnow dot com. That's Robi servicesnow dot com. Welcome
back to that Home with Roby. I'm Patrick pick Isaac
from Roby Commercial and Services on with Trent Hayston from
the Roby Family of Companies. If you miss the last segment,
(10:20):
we do segment of the podcast these days. Obviously, we
we wanted to pay our tributes to to Dave Fetter,
who we who we lost this morning. Go back and
check that out. Just a remarkable person. And now we
have Brandon Stewart Trent who we always get confused with
because there's a Brandon Stewart that's a good friend and
a good client of ours that works for Prestige Development
(10:42):
who who formerly goes by be stew on the golf course.
So that's that's his nickname. We'll give him a shout out.
But now we got brand Southern Brandon Stewart from Alabama.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
What's up, Brandon? How you doing? Hey? Hey guys, are
y'all we're good? Hey.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Another guy hung out with UH on the YPO trip
was Chris Gomel.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yes, I know Chris very well.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I know y'all.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Also, he's much more south than I am.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Though, Well, what part of Alabama do you do? You
held from Brandon?
Speaker 4 (11:16):
I am in Birmingham. It's the kind of central central Alabama,
I hear you.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
And also in a couple of days, I have a
I have a fellow birminghammer, David Strickland's coming up to
hang out with me a little bit.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
So y'all got it going, man, I'm just I'm just
waiting on the invite. One of these days can happen.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Well, you invited me down for a golf tournament in August,
and I told you I had for him that day,
and all your buddies is the Alabama state, Uh, and
all of your buddies were coaxing me.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
So Grant Zarzer.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Said that if if I got my forum moved, I
would have a spot, even if you've already filled that spot.
So I might work on that and I might get
to come hang out with you. How about that?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Well, that that could be great. I would I would
really appreciate your forum moving that date.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
We will see.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So, Uh, how's your family, buddy?
Speaker 4 (12:17):
You know the family is good. Uh, summer is going
really well. My my oldest is at the longest camp
he's been at so far, so it can be four
weeks stay you know, stay away camp. My youngest is
you know, he's six. We got him busy as heck
with with you know, day camps and things like that.
(12:38):
But he is straight up depressed that his brother is
not here. It is uh, it's it's tough to watch.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Which summer camp is he at.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
He's at. It's called Camp Mac. It's a uh camp
here in Alabama.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Very cool.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
So the way Brennan and I really became wonderful friends, uh.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Through YPO is we were on.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
A family trip planning committee several years ago and you
plan the meeting several years out. So it was through
work kind of like me and you Patrick, I mean,
I mean talking about paying it forward as a principle
(13:22):
in life and why we're really big in our businesses,
the construction business were really big in the industry Remodeling Association,
Homebuilders Association, and trade associations, and everybody's like, I don't
have time for what do you get out of and
we're like, no, we learned from it. I mean, it's
how I learned how to read a P and L.
How I learned how to read my first balance sheet
(13:43):
twenty five years ago. And how valuable is being on
a planning committee for one of these trips.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
I mean it's incredible, you know, just you know the
we're kind of stuck in our silos here in our
individual states. It's just really fun to kind of get
a mix of people that you wouldn't normally hanging out
with and hang out with them for a full year
to plan a trip like that. It's something special. I
really enjoyed it, and it's.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Really cool on a family trip the kids help plan
and give their input, but also your your your tango
and in cashion with your wife, your spouse or whomever
your spouse is, so uh it really it really helps
enhance communication skills between your family as well.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
So you think that's you find that funny path.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I'm just thinking about some of the story. I can't
remember which one it was, but weren't you like in
a plan like some sort of hostage situation.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
They're not talking about that on here, though.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I'm just joking that was that was crazy Steve Prottner's idea.
I just thought about that just maybe chuckle, uh.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Sorry, who I'm gonna also get to spend some time
later this week. So yeah, So Brandon, why don't you
tell us, I mean, are you're from Alabama? Tell us
tell us a little bit about your childhood leading up
to where you are today. I want to hear your story, buddy.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Yeah, I'm not I'm not from Alabama. I am a
complete transplant. I don't have quite the accent that you do. So,
you know, people don't usually think I'm I'm from the area.
But I grew up in Georgia outside of Atlanta, in
a place called Larnsville. Georgia's kind of a suburb northeast,
like forty five minutes outside of town. And you know,
(15:34):
then I went to the University of Georgia. So I'm
a you know, I grew up in Georgia, went to
school in Georgia, and then from there moved around a
little bit. So I met Elizabeth and actually Charlotte. So
I lived in Charlotte for a couple of years, did
investment banking up there, and then did private equity up
in Boston, and then I moved to Birmingham. There at
(15:57):
the time, there were no Jimmy Johns here, and Elizabeth
and I were looking for a place to settle down
or raise a family and kind of in between both families,
not her families from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, so you know,
and she wouldn't let me live on the water. She's
just I guess growing up there, did not think that
(16:18):
that would be a good plan. So we moved to Birmingham.
It's a nice sized city and place for that she
could get a job.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
And right at the time for a Jimmy John's.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Huh that's right, yeah, open that, I guess. I was
twenty eleven when I opened my first unit of Jimmy John's.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Wow, it's so cool.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So when you lived in Charlotte, it's coming back to me, now,
did you live in Dilworth.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I did not. I lived right there in first Ward,
you know, right when, I guess it was like just
a few years after all those you know, townhomes and
condos and everything had been built.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Well, I got two things one real quick. The very
first time I had Jimmy John's, I think was in
two thousand and three. I think I'm getting this right,
was in Athens, Georgia. I remember them having you. I
went to Clemson, but had a lot of friends that
went to Georgia as well. And the second thing is
if you grew up in Lawrenceville. We had Russell Nash
from Legacy Lighting, Oh yeah on the show a few
weeks ago, and I think pretty sure that's where his
(17:14):
h his initial location was in Lawrenceville.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yeah, Russell Nash checked the show out.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
He's awesome, so so on our on our education for
this trip. I did not make this session, but Jimmy
John spoke to everybody, and everybody was raving about about
his story.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
I heard that. You know, Jimmy John is a incredibly
charismatic person, so I can't imagine it being anything but
amazing to hear him talk in any situation I've seen
him in. He's just bigger than life and always enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, they said his wife was there and she was
given some fodder along with him, and they said their
their dual session talking about what we were talking about
earlier was really good. And then you were from Elizabethon
and your wife's names Elizabeth. So that's really crazy, Patrick,
Where is.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
He going with this? So?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Uh so you moved from private equity down to Birmingham
and got into the Jimmy John business. What made you
want to get into that business line.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
You know, I thought that it was a good idea
to get into the food business. And that's really how
it happened, you know. I was I was trying to
choose between going back to business school or doing something
you know, kind of on my own, and I looked
for for some businesses to buy and kind of you know,
I really just felt like if I had gone back
to business school, I would have taken all the money
(18:39):
that I'd earned after college and and sort of spent
it into something that I definitely would have learned a lot,
would have had some great ideas to come out of that.
But I was I was really nervous about coming out
and doing something that you know, was fulfilling and you know,
could could could pay me all those things. It was
a it was a strange time to go back to school.
(19:02):
It was just a couple of years after two thousand
and eight. So so I decided to get into Jimmy
Johnson because, you know, our the private equity firm I
worked for, we had an investment in Jimmy John's. So
I'm seeing all these people that were franchisees and just
you know, how they were doing in the brand, and
it was just a really strong story. Some of these guys,
you know, hadn't even you know, they didn't go to college,
(19:23):
they just straight out of high school, open to Jimmy Johnson,
just absolutely crushing it. So it just it sounded like
a great idea at the time. And so I dove
in feet first and became, uh, I guess it should
be head first, right, dove in head first, and then
I uh, I was general manager of that first unit.
So I mean, I learned the business, you know, as
I feel like most people should, you know that, especially
(19:47):
in restaurant business. I mean it's it's just hard to
understand what your employees to go through unless you go
through it yourself. And so I think I think that
was a really powerful time for me. It was very hard,
very difficult, coming from you know, wearing you know, the
jacket every day to you know, cutting onions and bacon
bread at five am every morning to make ends meet.
(20:09):
So it was a good experience. In overtime, you know,
we grew. I built nine units before I bought any
and then I partnered with some people and we made
an acquisition in Gainesville, Florida, which was the enemy at
the time, So I spent some time, you know, coming
from Georgia. It was really tough a anytime in Gainesville, Florida.
But I did it. I suffered through it. And then
(20:31):
you know, by the end of that I had sixty
two units that I was managing and I exited those
completely as of last year, so I am. I am
out of the Jimmy John's business and you know, got
a couple of new ventures going on.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
So yeah, tell us about tell us about where when
you took a turn and got out of the Jimmy
John's business. So I said, did you did your private
equity firm that you were with owned the first couple
Jimmy Dons and you you were manage them.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Is that how it happened?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Because you said it was a while before you started
being a being a partner in them.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, no, that that would have been nice. No, it
was all my my, my money, uh, the uh me
and the the good old SBA uh made it happen.
So I did you know, uh had SBA loans you
know out the ears at that time, you know, to
to grow these units and just you know, when you're
(21:29):
when you're twenty eight, getting into something like this. I mean,
you'll sign anything you know you have. I did. I
wasn't married at the time, but I had zero obligations
outside of that, you know, no kids at the time.
You know, you're signing personal guarantees like like they're nothing,
you know, and it all catches up to you. You
know what. You don't realize, all right, in four or
five years from now, I'm going to have kids and
(21:51):
I'm going to have obligations and responsibilities and so those
personal guarantees get kind of scary when that went. All
that hits, But that was it was a it was
a great experiperience and you know, we we just fought
through it, made had a profitable business. COVID hit, which
was extremely challenging, but it was a good learning experience
(22:11):
for me and just how to manage through crisis. But
you know it, you know, again the government steps in
and provides PPP money and you know, economic injury and
disaster loons and all these things that just really helped
recap the business and I came out way on top.
So it was a it was a blessing that all,
you know, I don't know what I'd be doing now
(22:32):
if if any of that happened here. There is no question.
I don't have been bankrupt. There's no way we could
have made it through that, but but we did, so
it's really a miracle.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I mean, amen, you know, the government gets a bad rap, bureaucracy.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Gets a bad rap.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
They really saved small business sure during COVID. Yeah, because
we lived through eight, nine, ten eleven as well, which
was the great depression of my lifetime. Hopefully it'll all
always be. I mean, my dad said it was way
worse than the seventies. He always talked about how bad
(23:07):
and inflation arey the seventies were. And when COVID hit,
we started meeting every day Patrick, I few remembered it
outside at our office to a table executive team for
like two hours, and it was like what are our
clients saying? How are our jobs going? What's going on?
(23:27):
And we were deemed a need based business. God b
us that and also PPP helped us as well, So
kudos to the US government on that. But you said,
something is so funny man, because I've signed so many
personal guarantees in my twenty five years. Our businesses is
seventy five years old this year we're celebrating and my dad,
(23:50):
God rest his soul was the man.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And in the early two thousands. I came out of
college in two thousand and I.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Was grow, Grow, Grow, Grow, Grow, didn't have kids, sleep
on the floor, work eighty hours a week, you know,
slept on the office floor two or three nights a week,
go home, take a shower, come right back in.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
And I would say, we're.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Going to do this, and if we don't do it
and we fail, we'll pick back up and do it again.
And Dad's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, you
can't never turn the keys in, son, And I'm like, yeah,
we can.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
He's like, no, no, no, you can't. Like no, that
isn't an option. And you know, I'm twenty five years now, and.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
How right was that man? Because you can't. That can't
be a mentality. I mean, sometimes things happen and you
got you know, you got to get back going.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
But uh, you're.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
A lot more I kept gun slinging back in the
in the young days, right Brandonon. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Think he's absolutely correct. I mean, you you know, you
get into this business at a young age, and you know,
you just you just don't have a care in the world.
Think that, you know, and I felt this way when
I was twenty eight. I mean I was one hundred
percent confident that I was going to make it. And
I'll tell you you know that that mentality came from,
(25:12):
you know, me getting great grades in school, you know,
getting the jobs I wanted after college. You know, just
just sort of everything hit because I worked really hard.
And then once you don't realize is that business will
humble you in an instant. It's not in your control
all the time. There's a lot that is in your control,
but it's not all It doesn't always work out like
(25:33):
your plan.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Well, I mean, I know you guys are talking about
that too, but I was twenty eight when I came
to Roby So and I felt the exact same way.
We know my wife was was you know, we were
expecting a child. But at that time is like, man,
you would risk it all and think everything's just going
to be fine. And through the these I think you've
(25:54):
had humility, Oh my goodness, Like through the through the
trials of really you know, operating a bit business, are
running a business or owning a business. Uh, it'll bring
you to your knees. And you know, I know Trent
has witnessed, it has been through it, all the things.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
It's payroll and cash flow, Homie, you don't have to
if you don't know, you get some coming.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
From corporate America. That's where I came from. Like it
just you just got paid on every other Friday and
you nobody ever really saw the bank accounts.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And so a frankly Brandon, that's the key to YPO, right.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, a rolling cash flow.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I mean, it's so crazy.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Every time a young person asked me to have a
coffee and kind of what do I want to tell them?
Speaker 3 (26:38):
I'm like, before you have kids. You can be married,
but you got.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
To put in seventy or eighty hours a week and
sleep on the floor a couple of times for your
first five or ten years. And then you start to
understand a little more. And uh, I can smell oil
and vinegar right now, banana pepper's Brandon, every time you talk,
I get the I get in the scent come across
my nose.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
So now the worst, the worst was onions. I mean,
you know, and it didn't it didn't matter how good
of a day you were having, you know, but you
cried every single morning. It just it was part of
the business.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
So tell me.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Uh so tell me you sandwich artists. Tell me what
you're doing now since you're out of the Jimmy John's game.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
I got a couple of things going now. I as
soon as I exited Jimmy John's, some friends of mine
here at Birmingham, or a friend of mine was was
doing some financial consulting for a brand here called Hydrolyzed Therapy.
Uh it is a it's an IV therapy clinic and
they wanted to franchise it. And so he had called
(27:45):
me because he knew I had some franchise experience, really
just to see if I knew somebody that could that
could kind of advise and and sort of help. And
I I was like, well, hey, I just you know,
signed the clothes to sell my Jimmy John's and you know,
I'd love to take a look. And you know, it
was It's just one of those things where I wanted
to help and that's it. And then I started looking
(28:06):
at the unit economics and the brand and I'm really
into this industry anyways, health and wellness and longevity, and
I had I just said, hey, you know, I'd like
to take this and see what I can do with it.
So we've got it's a franchise. We are the franchise
or so kind of on the opposite side of where
I've been. And you know, for me, it was a
it was more of an experience thing. I wanted to learn,
(28:28):
you know, something about the product and marketing, which you
don't really have control of when you are a franchise
Z and your franchise Z you're just executing somebody else's vision.
You know, it was Jimmy's vision when I was a
Jimmy John's and I love doing that and I'm good
at that, but you know, there was there was a
missing piece to my you know, you call it CEO capability,
and I just didn't really have any experience with developing
(28:51):
products or the marketing side of things. So so I
did that, and you know, we raised a little bit
of money at the end of twenty three and beginning
of twenty four, and I'm CEO of that company and
we're we're growing like a weed. We sold fifteen franchises
last year and five five so far this year. We've
actually got somebody up your way kind of north of Charlotte.
(29:13):
That's that's going in here. Soon, so I think they're
working on their their drawings. So yeah, that's going great.
And then right after I signed up to be CEO
of this, Burger King reached out to me, and I
had been working with them. Uh it's a long story
of how I ended up with them, but been working
with them on on sort of getting approved as a
franchisee in case the deal came up an opportunity, and
(29:37):
and one came up and they reached out and said, hey,
it's right in your backyard.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
So now I'm the the proud owner of forty three
Burger Kings between you know, kind of Burger but sorry,
Burger Birmingham and uh in South like you know, we
pretty much go to the border of Alabama and Florida.
So that that ended up being a bankruptcy situation. And
so it was one those things where you know, I
(30:01):
kept putting in offers and they just kept making it
to the next stage. And so really there was really
no excuse for me not taking it down. I thought
I was done with the food business, but but that
kept me in and it's you know, I could be
more excited about Burger King and where it's headed. And
it was just it's it was the deal of a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So well number one, I invested alongside of you a
little bit in in hydro life therapy. So I'm so
excited to hear that it is going well. Uh, that
is wonderful.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
But I might not make it on the next podcast
if you want.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
To come back, boy, No, but but I do think
that your franchisee experience is invaluable as a franchise or
you know how people emotionally, how much they're risking. You
don't take any of that for granted. And if you
ever need a build out partner Roby Commercial Patrick mccosick
(30:57):
is my partner in that and we can help you
with that as well.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
We have advertised twice on this show.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
But so many opportunities. That's great.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Have you have you had a chance to sit down
with Wyatt Bachelor uh in in the Southern seven. He
owns a good number of Burger King franchises as well
I have.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
He's a complete loser. I don't know if you knew that,
but uh.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Why, thank you for saying that?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Why why? And I we got we met each other
long before my Burger Kings. He you know, he got
into Jimmy John's and they were trying to Yeah, they
were trying to navigate that brand. This was back when
I you know, before I exited, so you know, I
got with them a lot. You know, him and his
partners are great, and they were they were anything. I mean,
(31:49):
the number of deals that they've done in the size
of their businesses is incredible. That's an incredible story. I'm
trying to I'm now following in his footsteps. So that's
that's the plan.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Well, that is all awesome, all right, you'll have to
return to continue the story. I can't wait to hear
the next chapter of the Stuart family's life in Brandon's story.
But uh, I'm gonna put you on the spot here.
What is one thing you're such a daggon good dude.
What is one principle that you live by when you
operate your business, your family, your kids, Georgia and your
(32:22):
two sons.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Oh, that has put me on a spot. You know.
I think I think the thing that the thing that
benefits me the most is just putting people first. So
no matter what it is, you know, just really having
having empathy for for other people.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Amen. Well, Brandon, how some people look you up.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Yeah, I'm on I'm on LinkedIn. You can look me
up there. I feel free to reach out a though
I'd get a lot more of those requests than I
used to now. But yeah, that's that's probably the easiest
way to go to the website. I think there's a
contact for them on there at Starboard Investments dot com.
And uh yeah, happy to connect.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
With anyone and go visit a hydrolve therapy. Uh god
speed to that business. My favorite burger, uh mini burger
of my life is the Whopper Junior, which he is
no tomato by the way, so I will continue to
eat that as much as my my calcium test will
(33:17):
allow me to. I got to talk about that, but
uh but Brandon, God bless you. Tell Elizabeth hello for me,
and thanks for listening to at Home with Roby. Uh go,
do the Golden rule, treat others the way you want
to be treated, even when it's tough, and carry a
smile around on your face because you don't know what
other people are dealing with.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Make somebody's day. Thanks for listening.
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