December 8, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast, host Jeremy Julian interviews Jason Ingermanson, the founder of Mokas Coffee and Eatery. Jason shares his entrepreneurial journey from starting a $30,000 coffee shop in a Kansas mall to growing multiple successful brands, including Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. Celebrating Mokas 20-year anniversary, Jason discusses the development and franchising of Mokas, his focus on quality and community involvement, and the core values driving the brand's success. He also shares insights on local store marketing, guest loyalty, and support systems provided to prospective franchisees. Tune in for an inspiring story of passion, discipline, and dedication in the restaurant industry.
00:00 Mokas Coffee & Eatery
00:14 Introduction and Guest Introduction
02:05 Jason's Journey: From Coffee Lover to Entrepreneur
03:02 The Birth and Growth of Mokas Coffee and Eatery
04:01 Navigating Challenges and Expanding During the Pandemic
05:21 Mokas' Unique Brand and Customer Experience
06:59 Commitment to Quality and Community
10:39 Franchising and Future Plans
18:13 The Story Behind the Name 'Mokas'
22:29 Franchisee Success Stories
23:14 The Importance of Transparency
23:41 Challenges in the Restaurant Industry
24:26 Expanding to New Markets
29:13 Local Store Marketing Strategies
32:06 Franchise Application Process
34:06 Discovery Day Experience
37:17 Master Franchise Opportunities
40:57 Connecting with Jason Ingram Manson
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:02):
This is the Restaurant Technology Guides podcast,
helping you run your restaurantbetter.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast.
In today's episode, we arejoined by a very special guest.
If you've ever dreamed ofturning your love for coffee
(00:24):
into a thriving business, orwondering what it takes to build
a brand essentially fromscratch, you are in for a treat
on today's.
I am joined by Jason, who's thefounder of Mokas Coffee and
Eatery, a brand that startedwith a$30,000 coffee shop in a
mall in Kansas.
Ironically, really close towhere my son is going to school
(00:45):
and now they're celebrating 20years.
Jason shares lots of stories ofhow he got into the business,
really what he's seen.
Growing another fantastic brandin Freddy's, um, from kind of
its origins all the way throughto where they're at today.
So for those of you that arelooking to grow a franchise,
looking to start your ownrestaurant from scratch, Jason
(01:08):
shares a ton of really coolstories.
He's a great guy.
I'm grateful that he got to beon the show.
If you don't know me, my name isJeremy.
Julian, I'm the Chief RevenueOfficer for CBS North Star.
We wrote the North Star point ofSale solution for multi-units.
Please check us out.
CBS northstar.com and now ontothe episode.
Jeremy Julian (01:27):
Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining.
Like I'd like to say on everyone of these episodes, I know
you guys have got lots ofchoices and it feels like
there's a new podcast, newYouTube channel, new everything
every week.
So I'm grateful for ourlisteners out there Today, I am
joined by a founder.
Of a couple of different brands,or I guess I know at least one
brand as well as an operator.
(01:48):
And, so I'm excited to haveJason kinda share a little bit
of his backstory.
he and I were able to catch upon the show before I hit record.
But Jason, why don't youintroduce yourself to our
listeners and then we can talk alittle bit about your
professional, progression andthen what, what the topic is for
today, which is the new brandthat you guys are, are trying to
explode onto the scene.
Jason Ingermanson (02:06):
Sure.
Jason Ingermanson, president,CEO of Mokas Coffee and Eatery,
and also CEO of the parentcompany, JRI, HS.
Fatality.
going into a little bit of how Igot started briefly is just, in
2000, early two thousands, Iwas, finishing up my career,
working for other franchisees ofother concepts.
Had a lot of experience with acouple, well-known concepts at
(02:27):
the time, and was just ready togo out and do my own thing.
Always grew up having a passionfor coffee.
It was when the coffee scene,Was really starting to push
across the United States in theearly two thousands.
when I left the companies I wasworking for, the first thing I
did was, borrow some money frommy grandparents who I grew up on
their farm with.
to be able to buy a$30,000coffee shop in the Salina,
(02:48):
Kansas Central Mall.
So that's where it all started.
So a little over a hundredrestaurants later between Mokass
Choys, Freddy's Frozen Custardand Steak Burgers, and a couple
other, restaurant, one-offconcepts that we have.
here I am today and that coffeeshop evolved into Mokas's
Coffee, and then it evolved intoMokas's Coffee and Eatery as we
(03:10):
added food.
To our menu probably in the latetwo thousands.
But the biggest story withMokass is this year, is its 20
year anniversary, and we juststarted franchising though, in
the last 18 months.
And what occurred there is atthe time, the, obviously as I
said, growing up on a smallfarm, I didn't have a lot of
resources to, just launch intobusiness with an unlimited
(03:32):
budget.
So it was a very shoestringbudget that I started on.
One of my opportunities was toget into Freddy's frozen custard
early.
As a franchisee.
And so that occurred after wehad launched Mokass and it put
Mokass, if you will, on the backburner.
my, my wife operated it for the20 years while I was growing,
Mokas and, or expanding Freddy'sacross 15 states in the United
(03:52):
States.
And in, 2019 we decided, hey,we're ready to build our
prototype MOAs and startpreparing the franchise because
we wanna share this with otherpeople.
And Obviously we opened in Marchof 2020.
We all know what kind of fun wewere having at that point in
time.
but It took off
Jeremy Julian (04:08):
doing business in March of 2020.
Man.
Jason Ingermanson (04:10):
Yes, exactly.
Launching a new prototype andadding a significant food menu
was definitely a, it was a funtime.
Like I said, I think what weopened that store about eight
days before everything shutdown.
but we had a drive through andwe all know if you're in COVID
time or the pandemic and you hada drive through, you had an
opportunity to really succeedand what I call an open window
(04:31):
of marketing because everybodywas getting cash in their hand
and wanting to go.
'cause no one was going to workreally.
And so it was really a good timefor us to launch if we look back
at it from that perspectiveoutside of the challenges.
and fast forward 36 monthslater, we've opened, three
additional of those prototypeMokas locations and have begun
franchising.
(04:52):
We signed our first franchiseeand we've got, three of our own
corporate MO'S Coffee andeateries in development right
now.
So we'll end with seven by theend of next year with a
franchisee adding a store.
There'll be number eight, andwe're really engaging with a lot
of, franchisees in our interestfunnel, if you will, right now
just sitting down and makingsure that we are a good fit for
(05:12):
them.
They're a good fit for us, butwe're excited about the growth
going forward.
Jeremy Julian (05:16):
I love that.
And I know you and I talkedJason about the lessons you guys
have learned and so I know we'llget into that.
But for those that have not beento amcas, I guess walk us
through it.
'cause you've got everythingfrom a Dutch bros, which is a,
a-frame, 99% drive through tothe third place Starbucks, that
kind of got dubbed andeverywhere in between.
My brother used to be a baristaup in the Bay Area in San
Francisco, and coffee shops inthe Bay Area are very different
(05:39):
than any other coffee shops I'vebeen to or in Seattle.
For those that aren't familiarwith Mokass, I personally am
not.
I'd love to have you walkthrough what kind of makes
Mokass before the eatery part,and I'd love to talk food here
as well and why that came about,but what makes it unique, what
makes it different?
talk to me a little bit aboutthe brand and what you can
expect if you choose toparticipate and go, go get your
(05:59):
coffee there.
Jason Ingermanson (06:00):
Absolutely.
we design our brands verycomforting for our guests.
A place where meetings can occurfrom a business meeting to a,
I've seen a, date occur at acouple of our stores and now
they're married and those aregood stories.
to be honest with you, the mostimportant thing, I think before
we get into product.
That Mokas is about connection.
Even when we first started it,if you look at our logo, it's
(06:22):
two upside down coffee cups thatmake an m or if you look at it,
it's two heads in conversation.
And so for Mokas, for us, it'salways been about connection and
it's been about, making surethat we always provide a
comfortable environment for thatto occur.
So our model won't be a, a drivethrough.
at any point in time in thefuture, our model is always
(06:44):
going to have that connectivityon the inside where we can
engage with our guests, we caninvite our communities in to
raise money for, the local ballteam or anything of that nature
that's going on.
Now, pair that up with ourproduct and you gotta really,
winning team, if you will.
So our product is, we roast allof our coffee.
we don't roast all of our coffeeto control price, because that's
(07:06):
just not how that trade works.
We roast all of our coffee tocontrol quality and to make sure
that we, are putting our bestfoot, foot forward for our
guests.
And we like to tell the storyabout the coffee, where it comes
from growing up on a farm.
I have a lot of, passion forgrowing things, understanding
how they're grown, and alsounderstanding what our farming
(07:26):
community does to do thosethings for us to eat or have
coffee or whatever it might be.
So coffee product on top of theline.
We always try and stay veryahead on the curve of the
beverages.
What's out there, right?
Used to be a coffee shop.
Now we call it more of abeverage business.
Jeremy Julian (07:43):
Yeah, it's been incredible to
Jason Ingermanson (07:45):
hot drinks and when it got cold.
You were booming and when it gothot, there wasn't really
anything to have when we firstgot in the industry.
And then there's the frozendrinks.
Blended drinks, ice drinks,energy drinks.
You can just keep going on andon.
in the early days, staying ontop of the drinks and having a
high quality beverage.
was definitely our sweet spot,if you will.
We, have had a great offering.
(08:06):
We get great feedback on ourproducts.
Our guests come back very often.
They're very loyal.
In our loyalty program, we haveabout 52% loyalty is what our
market runs.
Probably in the.
Mid to upper twenties and we'rein the fifties now.
Again, we are a small chainstill.
but with what we're seeing islooking really well when we open
stores, we see, people that arewalking in for the first time
(08:29):
and being able to see how oftenthey come back.
When they become an app user,they are, we're becoming their
favorite spot and we're seeingthat, happen in the sales and in
the traffic counts quite.
Quite quickly, if you will.
but probably 10 years intoMokass, I was tired of seeing,
food bags from other concepts incars when they would come to get
their coffee.
And I said, okay, it's time tostart putting a menu together.
(08:51):
In the early days of coffee, itwas just coffee and some
pastries and some light bakedgoods.
that was the industry, right?
that's
Jeremy Julian (08:57):
the whole industry, I learned last week, I
know you and I were talkingabout, there's a, former guest
that I saw at a trade show.
they were telling us on the showthat, back 25 years ago, it was
a lot of drip coffee.
There wasn't a lot of theseblended drinks and a lot of
these super specialty items.
And he would tell me somewherehigher than 70% of drinks.
Now have some form of crazymodification like that.
And I think to your exact point,it was just come in and grab a
(09:19):
cup of coffee, maybe put alittle sugar, put a little cream
in, and you're on your way outthe door.
Not so much anymore.
I've got teenagers and, I talkedabout my son, his, his
girlfriends all about, thebeverage choices.
And she oftentimes will make herchoice on where they want to go
based on whether she can get thebeverage.
sorry, I'll let you keep going,but I think creating a reason to
come in with good food and goodbeverage is huge.
Jason Ingermanson (09:40):
Yeah.
And hey, the coffee industry,the coffee world, and even,
after adding the food to Mokassand the commitment when we added
to food, we always have to bevery intentional about
everything we do.
Whether it's how we treat ourguests and what our, and how we
train our teams to treat ourguests, how we treat our team so
that they're in the rightmentality to treat our guests
(10:01):
appropriately.
but then also if we're gonnaserve food.
The initiative was we want tofocus on our food quality just
as much as we do our coffeequality.
And I have to say, if you lookat the industry, that is a
differentiator in itself.
A lot of places that have somereally good food and they also
serve coffee, some places havereally good coffee and they also
(10:22):
serve food.
I saw that there's anopportunity to do both really
great, and there's not too manyfolks out there doing it.
So outside of the connection,the community involvement.
The type of leadership anddevelopment we give our team
members the way that we alwaysgive back in our community in
any ways that we can.
the way that we look for youngentrepreneurs to potentially
become a franchisee of somethinglike I was able to do.
(10:45):
Without growing up with a lot ofmoney, without having a lot of
resources, is just reallyexciting.
And all of those things is whatmilk is, coffee and Eatery is
about, and we're just so darnexcited that we're finally at a
point where it gets to grow.
And I'm telling you, our guestsare loving it and our team
members are staying with us.
We have a very low turnover ratecompared to the rest of the
(11:07):
industry.
Now, of course, our listenerswill say, you've got four
locations, and that's true, butlet me tell you, I've been in
the industry long enough.
It doesn't matter if you haveone or 500, if you do the right
things the right way, thosenumbers will continue to carry.
Just don't lose your way.
A lot of times when things grow,they lose their way.
They change, they look atdifferent things.
(11:28):
To me, I always wanna step backand look at the most important
things that we always looked at,but then also be ready to adapt
because of the way the worldsays that you need to.
But when it comes to quality,cleanliness, and guest
hospitality, those things shouldnever change.
Those are the pillars thatshould always drive us forward
in any restaurant business orany hospitality business that
we're in.
(11:49):
And so that's what we stand for.
And I'd love for you to followup, on those questions based off
of maybe some things that Ididn't answer that you were
hoping to hear.
Jeremy Julian (11:56):
Yeah.
No, and I love that, thatthought.
Again, I was just sharing that Iwas at a tech conference and
it's like technology and, ourlongtime listeners hear this all
the time.
Technology for technology's sakeis not, doesn't matter.
It's does it make the guestexperience better?
Does it make the staff membersexperience better?
'cause if it doesn't do thosetwo things.
None of it matters.
And so I love that you guys arefocused on having great quality
food, a great place for yourteam members to work.
(12:19):
and really just at the end ofthe day, your guests continue to
come back.
and so I love that idea.
What would you attribute, youalluded to it, Jason, but I
think there's this magical ideaof loyal guests coming back.
And obviously at a Freddy's it'sa different experience than at a
Mokas coffee is one of thosethings that.
If you're a coffee drinker, youpretty much drink coffee seven
days a week whether you want toor not.
(12:40):
whereas you don't have to have acheeseburger or a hot dog or a
grilled cheese every day.
tell me what your thoughts areon how you guys even considered
thinking about loyalty.
Because the numbers that youjust shared are through the roof
as far as comparative numbers towhat the rest of the industry
is.
And I think so many people wouldlove to get there.
And even in the.
Better beverage concepts.
Most people aren't where youguys are at.
(13:00):
So how do you guys think aboutthat and how do you guys even
manage it again at fourlocations as you guys start to
scale?
Jason Ingermanson (13:08):
Yeah.
it's always making sure that weknow what we stand for and who
we are in every decision wemake, we have two things that
are very important to me.
One is.
When I first started inbusiness, I didn't even write
this down, but I had five thingsthat were very important.
I call'em the JRI, high five,and then number two in JRI, by
the way, JRI, hospitality, thatis my initials.
(13:29):
So that's where it came from.
everybody starts saying, Jason'srestaurant, Jason is, it's just
Jason Richard Ingram Man Center.
It's my initials.
Plain simple.
My middle name is my dad's firstname.
but.
When we talk about it, we havetwo things that we run our
funnel through.
It's our JRI high five about howdo we look at things in business
for our guests and our teammembers first, and we know if we
(13:50):
do things in that regard thatwe're gonna be successful.
It just, it works out that way.
People will argue, but it's notas difficult.
A lot of
Jeremy Julian (13:57):
nearly as hard as everybody makes it out to be.
Jason Ingermanson (14:00):
and they make it complicated.
And the goal is to make itsimple and everybody wants to
say, Hey, we need a new system.
And I say.
We need to remove distractions.
Most of the time we have thesystems we need.
We're not using themappropriately.
So someone thinks we need tocome up with a new one.
So I have the motto that says,number one, we're gonna funnel
all of our decisions we makethrough our JRI high five.
(14:21):
number two, we have our corevalues.
And our core values are anotherplace we funnel things through.
If we use those as a filter, ifyou will, with any idea or any
thought that we have on wherewe're going in the future.
If it's an idea that doesn'talign with those two things and
doesn't make it through thefilter of those two things, then
we're really thinking hard aboutwhy are we doing this?
(14:43):
And I would say that we alwaysstart there and we always start
there for the reasons.
and you'll hear me say it a lotand people might even think it's
funny to hear it so much.
If you go and look at anythingthat we do, even in our small
hometown of Salina of Kansasversus the rest of the world,
we're pretty much consideredsmall, right?
50,000 people.
The amount of projects that wedo in our community here is you.
(15:06):
You would almost be head numbedif I took you through all of the
different ones, and then youthink about, we're in 15 states
operating and our objective isto.
If a guest walks into one of ourrestaurants in those 15 states,
our mission is that they thinkthe owner lives right down the
street.
We wanna stay connected, wewanna give back.
We wanna be a part of everycommunity that we're operating
in.
(15:27):
And so we take that to everyrelationship that we have,
whether it's with a franchisee,whether it's with a team member,
team members.
You get a great team member,right?
entrepreneurs, they get a littlegreedy when they get a great
team member.
A lot of times it's I wanna keepyou at all costs because you're
the best that we have.
I'm the type of person thatwants to build them up and
create opportunity for them togo get to do what I got to do.
(15:48):
So to be able to have 3000employees across the country,
nearly being able to think, wow,we could be a franchisee of
Mokass from an internalstandpoint, we also offer that
and we also offer theopportunity for, those things to
occur.
probably a long answer is you'llalways get from me because I'm a
big reason why guy.
there's a lot of thought thatgoes into what we do when we do
(16:09):
it, but not to the point whereit has to slow us down and be
behind the curve.
it's just being intentionalabout making sure that we go to
those things that we believefirst and filter the idea where
a lot of folks, or a lot ofcompanies that I've worked with
or seen, they get 90 way per 90%done with the project they're
(16:29):
thinking of, and then they startthinking about.
Why are we doing this and is itthe right thing?
And sometimes they don't eventhink at all.
They launch it and it's a dud,or they launch it and it's a
deep discount.
And now we've told our gueststhat our product is only worth
whatever we're charging when wediscount, right?
You gotta be proud and you gottastand for who you are, and I
(16:52):
think guests respect that andthey don't mind paying for
quality when they can trust thatyou're going through these
processes to make the bestdecision possible to deliver
what we promise.
Jeremy Julian (17:02):
and I think it, obviously, it resonates with
your guests to the point thatyou guys are hitting those
numbers.
what percentage of the food mixis food versus beverage?
you guys started as a coffeehouse, you guys added eatery.
I'm assuming, a breakfastsandwich is probably a, from a
price point, a little bit higherthan a drip cup of coffee.
But, if you look at the mix, isit 50 50?
Is it 70 30?
where does it come out?
Jason Ingermanson (17:22):
Yeah, I would say some of our stores are 60 40
food to coffee and or beverage,and some of our stores are 60
40, Beverage to food.
And so if you take the fourlocations and probably our
anticipation of where the landis you're exactly right, we're
probably right about.
50 50.
And but the thing that'sinteresting is that, man, if you
can be 50 50 on food and coffee,it really tells you are
(17:45):
delivering the things thatyou're trying to, in regards to
quality.
but the other thing I'll tellyou is we crack every egg when
we make a breakfast sandwich.
we are not doing any of this,heating egg things up or baking
eggs and, and, utilizingproducts like that we're, we use
the best coffee.
We use the best product when itcomes to our food and we're
never going to change that.
Jeremy Julian (18:05):
I love that.
and I love that really you'recreating an environment where
both the staff members want tobe there and the guests want to
be there.
because you went down the pathof JRI.
Where's Mokass come from?
Is that your wife's name?
Is that, wife's maiden name?
You just picked it, pickedsomething there.
love to hear the story of theinception of, of that.
Jason Ingermanson (18:22):
So a friend of mine helped me with that, but
in the early days.
my friend and I were actually,not only wa was I running coffee
shops and coffee houses, but wealso had done a beverage
distribution company.
And so we would go out and helpother small coffee shops start
their business.
In the early two thousands,everybody wanted to open a
coffee shop.
(18:42):
It was a time where Starbuckswas coming into the United
States and really introducingacross the country, not just in
the, on the west coast, whatthis coffee.
Craze was all about.
And so when that happened,everybody was so excited about
the beverage, that everyonewanted to open these.
So we saw an opportunity to helpfolks open their own business.
(19:03):
And then we would become theirdistributor of their coffee
syrups, their powders for frozendrink, mix their recipes, and
we'd go in and train their staffout and help open their business
through consulting, and then wewould be their distributor.
And so Missouri, Oklahoma, andKansas were the areas that we
probably.
Had the most locations in, andwe wanted to come up with a cool
(19:23):
name that resonated with people.
And of course there's the Mokascoffee drink, M-O-C-H-A.
and so we're in Missouri,Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Jeremy Julian (19:31):
I'm like reading it on your shirt, going, ah.
Jason Ingermanson (19:33):
we're.
Yeah, so that's exactly whereMokass came from.
It's supposed to be short, it'ssupposed to be catchy, it's
supposed to be fun, and justlike our logo in connectivity
with our guests or over a cup ofcoffee.
It was also important at thetime when we were helping others
open their coffee shops, that wewere well connected with them.
They could feel like they couldask us anything, and we were
(19:55):
there to help cultivate theminto su success.
And that's again, that's what'sgot my fire going for us,
becoming a franchisor.
To be honest with you, we've hada lot of success in the industry
and we could just open Mokass onour own and control everything
and not have to worry about, ifyou have a franchisee that
doesn't wanna follow yourprocedures or any of those types
(20:17):
of things.
but because of.
Who we are and how we like togive ourselves into others and
help them succeed, whether it'sin our community or if it's in
business.
That's why I'm excited aboutactually franchising is I'm not
worried about having the policea franchisee.
those things are naturally gonnacome.
That's just part of what youcalculate in when you decide,
(20:37):
when you be, when you decide,Hey, I'm gonna be a franchisor.
I'm excited about finding theright franchisors.
Just like we're franchisees,just like we're always trying to
find the right team members.
People that are ready to becultivated into really good
leaders.
They're ready to listen.
They want to be engaged with,they wanna be taught.
They're looking for anopportunity.
(20:58):
And so those are those same,that's the same thing we look
for in our team members, andit's the same thing we wanna
look for in franchisees.
So I'm excited about gettingthose folks in, getting them
connected.
If they do one store or if theysign a five store agreement, I'm
good with either one, but it'snot going to be 60 stores across
10 states, and it's gonna bethis franchise, this franchisor
(21:20):
or franchisee relationshipwhere.
They operate a thousandrestaurants.
I don't think that's where we'regonna start with Mokass.
It's not to say that someday wedon't get there for some of the
large operators, but we'rereally focused on creating
something exciting and havingsome fire behind it, some
passion behind it, somecommitment, and some laser focus
from our initial franchisees.
Jeremy Julian (21:40):
Yeah.
No, and I love that.
the, your passion for people,your passion for watching people
build, that's one of the thingsthat I also am passionate about.
I know that a lot of the peoplethat know me outside of the
podcast.
Talk about that all the time.
'cause it's like how do I helpyou achieve your goals in life?
And so I love that'cause thatcomes through.
Jason, let's talk about whatdoes a franchise look like
today?
'cause you guys are in the earlystages and you're fortunate
(22:04):
enough that you've been down theroad before with.
Another brand that obviouslygot, at the time of recording,
just got purchased for lots ofzeros at the end of that number.
And so you got to watch some ofthe successes and likely some of
the failures.
So I'd love for you to talk toour listeners a little bit about
what, what's gonna make a MoCAsdifferent because we've had a
lot of people come on and we,I've watched over my 30 years in
(22:25):
the career, in my career.
Brands succeed, brands fail.
Franchisees hate theirfranchisor, and then I've
watched the opposite.
I've watched them in beincredibly successful.
So I'd love for you to share alittle bit about what's gonna
make, bringing O Moku on to myportfolio different.
Why do you think that you're thebrand that people should be
looking at to expand what it isthat they're trying to do?
Jason Ingermanson (22:47):
I think it's discipline in how we make
decisions.
It's our focus on how we want togive more of ourselves into
their success than gain successfrom their hard work.
Obviously, if you're gonna be afranchisee of something, you
better be ready to work hard,right?
You better have a team that'sready to work hard.
The restaurant industry is forthe faint of heart.
(23:09):
There's a lot of restaurantsthat close each and every day.
those are the experiences andthe knowledge that we bring to
the table.
And I would also say that webring transparency to the table.
we're not going to tell youeverything great that you want
to hear.
we're not gonna tell youeverything bad and nothing
great.
we're not gonna tell youeverything great, nothing bad.
We're gonna be very transparent,very businesslike, very partner
(23:30):
like, and our success is goingto be based off of your success.
And don't be surprised if youdon't see me in a franchisees
store working their peak periodwith them when they first open
their store.
Because we do also have tounderstand that when you start,
when you get into a franchisesystem early, you know the brand
recognition isn't quite thereyet.
And it was the same way when Igot into Freddy's early, the
(23:53):
brand recognition wasn't thereyet.
Nine of the states that we'rein, we opened the very first
Fred's in that
Jeremy Julian (23:59):
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Had it not been from our mutualfriend, Steve, I would've never
known what a Freddy's was.
When I went to the very firstone out in Arizona, a number of
years ago, right?
the store must have been openfor less than six months.
When I first went there and Iwas like, what is this?
But my buddy had said, Hey dude,you gotta keep an eye out for
these guys.
And to your point, if it hadn'thave been for that, I probably
would've never stopped there.
'cause there was 12 otherrestaurants right next to that
(24:19):
Freddy.
So the fact that you'repassionate about that and
understand that, sir, I'll letyou keep going, but I just think
Jason Ingermanson (24:23):
No, you're
Jeremy Julian (24:24):
so critical for people to understand that.
Just because you're reallysuccessful in the four stores
that you guys have, doesn't meanthat it translates even to
Kansas City, which is only acouple hour drive away from
where you guys are at.
Jason Ingermanson (24:35):
Yep.
So we have to ask ourselves whatthings can we do to overcome
some of the natural obstaclesthat you're going to have?
And, those things areengagement.
it's local store marketingprograms that we've been able to
build out over all the years.
The things that we had to do toget our location successful
across the country in the earlydays of Freddy's, when we go
into a new state, listen, our12th store we opened was in
(24:58):
Northern Virginia in Fairfax,and between Kansas and Virginia,
I don't think there's anotherstate in between going that
direction.
And then after that we went toGeorgia, South Carolina,
Louisiana, a lot of states forthe first stores.
And if you know anything aboutthe East Coast, there's a
company called Friendlies.
(25:19):
And so when we'd open aFreddy's, they say, oh yeah, we
love your concept.
We go the one down the road.
And I said, this is the only onewe have in this area.
And they're like, oh, this isn'ta friendlies.
Jeremy Julian (25:28):
yeah.
you're also in Five Guy'sTerritory, right there in
Fairfax, Virginia.
that's where five guy, it was inthat same
Jason Ingermanson (25:33):
is a retis and we're gonna knock your socks
off with this product.
And so we have a lot of reallygood tools that have been
devised.
But also if you go to our.
Franchising page with, which isMokass franchise.com.
If you go to that page, you'llsee the areas where we're
offering franchises, and it's ina tight group from Kansas,
working three states around.
From Texas, up north, throughNebraska, and into those areas.
(25:57):
And so we're really focused onbuilding a synergy, a nucleus.
We don't want to jump.
I learned not to jump fromKansas to Virginia right now.
That store's one of the topperforming Freddy's in the whole
system right now.
But it took a long time and ittook a lot of work and there's,
and so that's something, peopleget fatigued when it comes to
that.
(26:18):
We want our franchisee to havequick success and hopefully be
ready to go do their second one,or be very happy if they just
did one store and they're offand running with it.
We have a lot of systems, a lotof support, and because we have
a lot of restaurants, we haveall of our team at the JRI
hospitality level, excuse me, upabove Mokass, from HR to
training, to our Chief cultureofficer that does leadership
(26:41):
development classes andaccountability driven leadership
classes for our teams internallythat we'll be able to actually
share with our franchisees aswell is going to be able to
teach them how to deal withtough situations inside the
restaurant.
It's gonna teach them how to.
Market, it's going to teach themhow to use local store marketing
and get out and make connectionsin their community.
Not being a salesman, but beinga really good community partner.
(27:04):
You drive our business, we'regonna drive your business, and
together we're gonna be a greatcommunity of businesses and for
all of our people and ourguests.
So I would say that those arethe things that we'll bring to
the table that, because I knowthat they work after doing it
myself as a franchisee.
I know that they'll work to helpour franchisees be successful,
and I wish that we had thatsystem back when we first got
(27:26):
into the business.
But at the same time, I may nothave learned as much as I did,
and I may not have been able toteach my team as much as I did
because of what we experienced.
So it's all about taking thatexperience and knowledge and not
being protective of it.
I run really good stores becauseI have all these things that I
do, but I'm not telling you no.
It's how do we collaborate?
How do we connect, how do weshare?
Because really, when you buy afranchise, that's what you're
(27:48):
buying.
You're buying my experience, ourexperience, our knowledge, our
systems, and a place for you tocome and learn and be nurtured
into a successful entrepreneur.
Not only in just running ashift, but running a business,
engaging in a community, all ofthose things.
Jeremy Julian (28:06):
and I've watched, a ton of brands that get outside
of their core market and thenthose start to be anchors to the
entire rest of the brand.
'cause now they're focusing ontrying to make this store in
Fairfax, Virginia succeed.
And it comes at the expense ofthe stores that we're operating
really well.
So I love that you guys arestaying somewhat local, Texas,
Oklahoma,
Jason Ingermanson (28:24):
back to that world anticipate and what could
be a distraction and remove it.
We're off and running and doingthe good things every day, and
anchors will drag you downemotionally, physically,
monetarily, all of those things.
We wanna avoid those at allcosts, and you can never
overcompensate for a badlocation.
And so having our developmentteam that's been in 15 states
(28:46):
over the years looking for sitesto be successful.
At the franchisees at thefranchisees disposal to use is
phenomenal.
So we're really a four unitfranchise that's got a hundred
unit experience and a lot ofyears of it.
So we're not as small.
If you think about the knowledgeand the value we bring to
(29:06):
potential franchisee.
Jeremy Julian (29:08):
Yeah.
And I love that you guys aregonna bring that and then truly
make moca successful because ofit.
Jason, I'd love for you to talka little bit about what you guys
consider local store marketing.
A lot of brands come on the showand they, you gotta get into the
local community, you gotta do
Jason Ingermanson (29:22):
Right?
Jeremy Julian (29:22):
but then you watch it and it doesn't actually
succeed.
So I'd love for you to talkthrough what have you found to
be successful?
Jason Ingermanson (29:28):
Yeah, it's connection.
It's getting our product and ourcommunity's faces, it's but
doing it for the right reasons,not because I'm gonna get a sale
out of it that may occur, butthat should be the result of the
reason why you're doingsomething, not the reason you're
doing something right.
Everything's gotta beintentional, like we talked
about earlier.
We go out into our communitiesto engage.
(29:50):
To reward fire departments forwhat they do for us to reward
police departments, what they dofor us to connect with veteran
groups in the community to saythank you.
So we're out in the communityand we call, the term that
everybody uses to be consistentis local store marketing.
I always like to say the wordcommunity involvement, but
really equals local storemarketing.
(30:10):
But it's about actually beinggenuine, going out in your
community, doing the rightthings for the right reasons,
and not necessarily expectinganything in return, but maybe
cultivating others to do thesame thing.
And with those things itnaturally.
You find success in that because
Jeremy Julian (30:27):
You build connections and it's all about
hospitality like we talked aboutearlier, right?
Jason Ingermanson (30:30):
when you support your communities will
support you.
Now, a lot of people think thatmeans if you serve the worst
food and the worst drinks in theworld, they're going to do that.
That's not true.
You still have to hold your, youstill have to, hold yourself to
the high level of, even ifyou're involved in your
community and you can give themeverything you want.
But if you don't deliver onhospitality, food quality, drink
(30:51):
quality, and cleanliness, itdoesn't matter how much you're
going out in your community,folks aren't coming.
So you have to really understandand really be passionate about
what it is you're doing in theindustry and do it right each
and every day to the best ofyour ability.
And you're gonna win.
if you give out a free meal tosomeone, right?
(31:12):
A complimentary meal to them tocome into your restaurant.
You know what?
They're still expecting the sameresult as if they paid for it.
So it doesn't do you any good.
If your product's not good togive someone a free meal to get
'em in there, they're not comingback.
If you're not friendly to'em,they're not coming back and
paying.
So it's not just about going outlocal store marketing, giving
(31:34):
out some free coupons orwhatever.
It's about everything we like todo and what we stand for at
Mokass from our logo forward.
And that's connection.
Doing things for the rightreasons.
And because of that, the rightthings will happen at the sales
line because they're gonnaembrace us as a huge partner in
the community.
And that's what we've seen.
Jeremy Julian (31:50):
and I, and I, based on what you've shared thus
far, I'm.
Suspecting that as you guys getout into these franchisees,
you're going to expect them tospend some percentage of their
time doing this, whichultimately is net, it's a
leading indicator of whatsuccess is gonna look like for
that story in the community.
And Jason, earlier you sharedthe website, but talk me through
what the process looks like.
(32:11):
if I'm interested and I go tothe website and I figure
something else out, Hey, I wannado a MoCAs.
I love what Jason had to say.
I'm a huge fan of this and Iwant to go there.
What does that look like andwhat can they expect as a
potential entrepreneur, as yousaid, that's interested.
Jason Ingermanson (32:26):
Sure.
as you can imagine, when you getinto franchising, there is some
legal things there, so it doesfeel a little bit, businesslike
right from the get go.
So the important part is towatch these podcasts and watch
our communications and what wedo and not get.
Turned off from some of thethings that are just a natural
process.
Obviously there's a requirementfrom a financial standpoint.
(32:46):
There's a requirement from afranchise disclosure document
signature before we can reallytalk about things, and there's a
process you go through.
So if you went to the website,which is moca franchise.com,
it's going to ask you some basicquestions like what's your net
worth?
what's your liquidity of yournet worth?
What percentage of it is liquid?
It's going to ask you whatterritory you might be
interested in.
(33:07):
If it's not one we're offering,then you can type in which one
you may be interested in casewe.
Open it up to franchisees in thefuture.
We still wanna stay connected.
If someone has interest, wewanna stay connected.
Maybe they're not a franchiseenext year, maybe they're a
franchisee five years when weget to Florida or wherever it
may be that we're gonna grow to.
And so number one, go there andput that information in because
(33:29):
that puts you on our radar toreach out and have a personable
conversation and walk youthrough the things that you need
to know.
And just have a quickconversation that's probably
gonna answer some reallyimportant questions.
It's gonna.
Really understand, do we need tocontinue to go further?
You know what I mean?
We don't want to, we don't wantto kick tires.
We don't want to, we don't wantpeople to kick tires.
(33:50):
We don't want them to feelmarketed to.
if you say, I'm not interested,I'm not gonna keep sending you,
20 things in the email.
If you say you're interested andyou wanna stay up to date, of
course we're going to oblige andsend you the information that
you ask for.
that's the process.
But the real fun process isafter that.
Once you get through thetechnical part of the process,
you get to come to Discovery Dayin Wichita, Kansas.
(34:12):
you get to and think aboutWichita, Kansas incubator for
franchises that have grown intomulti-state, businesses, pizza
Hut, Freddy's, rent Center, lotsof others that have started in
Wichita, Kansas.
So we're excited
Jeremy Julian (34:26):
so weird to me, but cool at the
Jason Ingermanson (34:27):
yes, it's it, yeah, exactly.
So you get to come to Wichita,Kansas, where you get to see all
of these things happen.
All of this success happenedover the years, and you're
thinking, wow, could this be thenext one?
it's happened before.
It can happen again.
So you get to come to our officeand we like to call it a
Discovery Day, a Mokas's Coffeeand Eatery Day, where we're
gonna take you across the streetfrom our, from our, office
(34:48):
location over into our,prototype Mokas's restaurant.
There.
We're going to, get you a lot ofcaffeine, a lot of beverages,
and a lot of food to try.
you're gonna be very excitedbecause you get to find, we do
serve breakfast all day.
That's probably one of thebiggest excitements when people
have interest in Mokass, isthat, oh wow, you do breakfast
all day.
That's awesome.
I love breakfast.
(35:09):
And so that's a big thing thatwe, that we've found have been
interested as, potentialfranchisees have came in and
then we're just gonna spend timebeing real people.
We're gonna be very transparent.
We're not gonna be salesy.
We're gonna answer the questionsthat you have.
We understand that this is asignificant amount of money, a
significant investment, asignificant change potentially
(35:30):
for your family.
And we're not gonna take thosetypes of things for granted.
We're going to have aconversation with another
person, what dirt we're doingright now, exchange ideas, and
at the end of the day, we'regonna go have dinner together.
We're gonna wake up the nextmorning, be on our way, and if
you have interest in learningmore or going further, then
great.
(35:51):
If you want us to stay in touchwith you, we'll absolutely do
that.
We'll probably invite you to ournext three Mokass openings to
come see what an opening lookslike, if you want to, et cetera.
But it's gonna be really,personable and not very business
transactiony.
And we're gonna talk about winsand losses, and we're gonna talk
about experiences and learningsand failures.
And we're just gonna be us.
(36:12):
And I think people reallyappreciate that.
in the franchise world, in a lotof cases it's gotten very
salesy.
Jeremy Julian (36:19):
it's smoke and mirrors.
Half the time you're gonnaretire off of one store.
It's it's probably not gonnahappen, man.
you've heard it, I'm sure,
Jason Ingermanson (36:25):
Oh, yeah.
yeah.
It's, it, I get to go play golfall day.
No, I'm gonna tell you, I youdon't get to go play golf all
Jeremy Julian (36:31):
You have to
Jason Ingermanson (36:31):
your goal with this is to get to the point
where you get to go play golfall day, But that's not gonna
Jeremy Julian (36:36):
to work your tail off to get there.
Jason Ingermanson (36:37):
but it's a place where you're gonna wanna
work your tail off.
It's a lot of fun.
There's no business that I'veoperated that I've had as much
fun as going into am Mokass andoperating with our teams and
enter man, when you serve greatproducts to guests and you're a
caffeine dealer, if you
Jeremy Julian (36:54):
Yeah.
Jason Ingermanson (36:55):
you are putting smiles on people's
faces.
It's the easiest smile in theindustry to put on somebody's
faces.
Is to hand them theiroutstanding crafted beverage and
look at their face glow
Jeremy Julian (37:07):
I can tell from the website, you guys have got
some pretty amazing food fromthat perspective too, especially
if you guys are making it allin-house.
Jason Ingermanson (37:14):
yep, absolutely.
Jeremy Julian (37:16):
Excuse me.
So Jason, are you looking formaster franchisees?
you talked a little bit agoabout not looking for, this huge
franchise group and again, I'dlove to help whittle down the
amount of web traffic, but alsodrive the right people there.
You're looking for anentrepreneurial people that are
looking to build a brand in aregion kind of thing, and
currently you're looking forthat, but you're not looking for
somebody that operates athousand restaurants currently
(37:38):
to come take Mokass and do thatat this point.
Jason Ingermanson (37:42):
I would anticipate that we probably
wouldn't leave a discovery daymaking a deal with something
that would be a huge, group allat once because, we're, it's in
an incubator right now.
It's in that phase of growingand.
Really making sure thatwhoever's gonna sign on
understands who we are.
(38:02):
who we are
Jeremy Julian (38:03):
the culture so that
Jason Ingermanson (38:03):
they are and how it portrays.
And so I won't say, don't reachout if you're a large franchisee
of another brand and you want toadd another concept to your
portfolio, because I'd love tohave the conversation because
never say never, right?
I am.
Have a rule.
Say yes until you have to sayno.
And even having a connection ora meeting with someone, even if
(38:24):
you knew before you went intoit.
Nothing's gonna happen here.
I've got some of the bestfriends that I have in the world
out of those types of
Jeremy Julian (38:32):
Yeah.
That you get to go play golf sixdays a week with, because you
got so successful.
I'm teasing
Jason Ingermanson (38:36):
That's right.
so I wouldn't say that we'regonna say no to anyone off the
bat.
We'll say yes until we have tosay no.
I would just anticipate that'sprobably not going to be our
model over the next three tofour years.
After that.
We'll have to reassess and seehow things are going.
But.
I won't say never.
I'll just say that I don't seethat as being our model right
now.
And the master franchise thing,I believe we're definitely too
(38:58):
early for that.
I would see doing that inanother country.
not probably in the UnitedStates anywhere.
So think of master franchisee inCanada or another country.
Something like that is probablywhere I would see that occur
first and definitely a few yearsdown the road.
Jeremy Julian (39:11):
I That makes sense.
I know you alluded to, or yousaid it earlier, how do people
get in touch?
How do people learn more?
I know you guys have got aspecific website outside of
kinda learning about the productand the food.
Mokas usa.com, but then, orMokass coffee and eatery.com I
think it is.
but then you've got, you've gotyour franchise site.
So why don't you, re re-sharethat for those that got to this
point in the show and wannalearn more.
Jason Ingermanson (39:33):
Yeah, Mokass usa.com is where you wanna go to
see all the fun stuff we do, allthe beverages, all the food, all
the menu, where our locationsare.
and that's where I would startfirst, because if you don't like
what you see there, there's noreason to go to the franchise
page and then next after you seeall those things and you're
mouth's watering every time yousee them and you're like, okay,
if my mouth's watering, it'sgotta be a success.
(39:54):
So let me reach out aboutfranchising.
I would say go to Mokassfranchise.com and that's also
going to have some fun picturesthere of food and, limited time
offers and menu and some of thethings we do.
But it's also gonna talk aboutthe systems that we bring to the
table, the experience we havethat we bring to the table.
(40:14):
And it's gonna break down someof the commonly asked questions
that a potential franchisee mayhave.
Then, like I said, there's aform there to fill out and get
in contact with us, and I knowas soon as you hit the send
button, I've got, wonderfulpeople on the other end, ready
to make a connection and reallyget to know who we're, who we're
talking to, in a very family,personable way and take it from
(40:37):
there.
Jeremy Julian (40:37):
I love that.
and Jason, thank you forcreating this.
again, obviously you could have,as you said, you could not be
sharing this with the world, butthe fact that you're going
through the hard work'causeprobably would be easier just to
slow grow it yourself.
But finding the rightfranchisees and picking them and
helping them to be successful.
I love that passion for people.
And I love that you were able toshare the story.
So how do people get in touchwith you personally?
(40:59):
Are you, are you accessible?
Is there a place that, that youwould want people to connect
with you off, offline.
Jason Ingermanson (41:05):
Yep, you can either go to my LinkedIn page,
Jason Ingram Manson.
You can go to our website, JRia.com and hit contact us.
If you go my LinkedIn page, myemail address, contact
information is there.
So feel free to reach out, loveto talk to anybody that's
interested in, any of the thingsthat we do.
we also own and operate acountry club here in Salina is
(41:25):
one of our community projects,and that's been a fun project.
We just opened a prohibitionera, speakeasy called M 1918,
and that's been fun.
So if it comes to hospitalityand putting smiles on people's
faces.
Anybody out there's interestedin that reach out.
We probably have a position foryou or maybe we have a franchise
model for you that will, takeyou to where you want to go in
(41:48):
your life,
Jeremy Julian (41:48):
thanks for sh, thanks for sharing that.
And I, I will definitely giveyou a ring when I'm heading up
to go see, go see my kid, 40minutes north of you, in
college.
'cause as you and I talkedabout, if you're in town, I'll
swing by and say hello.
Jason Ingermanson (41:58):
Yes.
That'd be a lot of fun.
Jeremy Julian (42:01):
awesome.
Jason, thanks for sharing yourstory.
To our listeners, guys, like Isay at the onset, you guys have
got lots of choices, so thanksfor hanging out and make it a
great day.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Thanks for listening to The Restaurant Technology
Guys podcast.
Visit restaurant technologyguys.com for tips, industry
insights, and more to help yourun your restaurant better.
This is the Restaurant Technology Guides podcast,
helping you run your restaurantbetter.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast.
In today's episode, we arejoined by a very special guest.
If you've ever dreamed ofturning your love for coffee
(00:24):
into a thriving business, orwondering what it takes to build
a brand essentially fromscratch, you are in for a treat
on today's.
I am joined by Jason, who's thefounder of Mokas Coffee and
Eatery, a brand that startedwith a$30,000 coffee shop in a
mall in Kansas.
Ironically, really close towhere my son is going to school
(00:45):
and now they're celebrating 20years.
Jason shares lots of stories ofhow he got into the business,
really what he's seen.
Growing another fantastic brandin Freddy's, um, from kind of
its origins all the way throughto where they're at today.
So for those of you that arelooking to grow a franchise,
looking to start your ownrestaurant from scratch, Jason
(01:08):
shares a ton of really coolstories.
He's a great guy.
I'm grateful that he got to beon the show.
If you don't know me, my name isJeremy.
Julian, I'm the Chief RevenueOfficer for CBS North Star.
We wrote the North Star point ofSale solution for multi-units.
Please check us out.
CBS northstar.com and now ontothe episode.
Jeremy Julian (01:27):
Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining.
Like I'd like to say on everyone of these episodes, I know
you guys have got lots ofchoices and it feels like
there's a new podcast, newYouTube channel, new everything
every week.
So I'm grateful for ourlisteners out there Today, I am
joined by a founder.
Of a couple of different brands,or I guess I know at least one
brand as well as an operator.
(01:48):
And, so I'm excited to haveJason kinda share a little bit
of his backstory.
he and I were able to catch upon the show before I hit record.
But Jason, why don't youintroduce yourself to our
listeners and then we can talk alittle bit about your
professional, progression andthen what, what the topic is for
today, which is the new brandthat you guys are, are trying to
explode onto the scene.
Jason Ingermanson (02:06):
Sure.
Jason Ingermanson, president,CEO of Mokas Coffee and Eatery,
and also CEO of the parentcompany, JRI, HS.
Fatality.
going into a little bit of how Igot started briefly is just, in
2000, early two thousands, Iwas, finishing up my career,
working for other franchisees ofother concepts.
Had a lot of experience with acouple, well-known concepts at
(02:27):
the time, and was just ready togo out and do my own thing.
Always grew up having a passionfor coffee.
It was when the coffee scene,Was really starting to push
across the United States in theearly two thousands.
when I left the companies I wasworking for, the first thing I
did was, borrow some money frommy grandparents who I grew up on
their farm with.
to be able to buy a$30,000coffee shop in the Salina,
(02:48):
Kansas Central Mall.
So that's where it all started.
So a little over a hundredrestaurants later between Mokass
Choys, Freddy's Frozen Custardand Steak Burgers, and a couple
other, restaurant, one-offconcepts that we have.
here I am today and that coffeeshop evolved into Mokas's
Coffee, and then it evolved intoMokas's Coffee and Eatery as we
(03:10):
added food.
To our menu probably in the latetwo thousands.
But the biggest story withMokass is this year, is its 20
year anniversary, and we juststarted franchising though, in
the last 18 months.
And what occurred there is atthe time, the, obviously as I
said, growing up on a smallfarm, I didn't have a lot of
resources to, just launch intobusiness with an unlimited
(03:32):
budget.
So it was a very shoestringbudget that I started on.
One of my opportunities was toget into Freddy's frozen custard
early.
As a franchisee.
And so that occurred after wehad launched Mokass and it put
Mokass, if you will, on the backburner.
my, my wife operated it for the20 years while I was growing,
Mokas and, or expanding Freddy'sacross 15 states in the United
(03:52):
States.
And in, 2019 we decided, hey,we're ready to build our
prototype MOAs and startpreparing the franchise because
we wanna share this with otherpeople.
And Obviously we opened in Marchof 2020.
We all know what kind of fun wewere having at that point in
time.
but It took off
Jeremy Julian (04:08):
doing business in March of 2020.
Man.
Jason Ingermanson (04:10):
Yes, exactly.
Launching a new prototype andadding a significant food menu
was definitely a, it was a funtime.
Like I said, I think what weopened that store about eight
days before everything shutdown.
but we had a drive through andwe all know if you're in COVID
time or the pandemic and you hada drive through, you had an
opportunity to really succeedand what I call an open window
(04:31):
of marketing because everybodywas getting cash in their hand
and wanting to go.
'cause no one was going to workreally.
And so it was really a good timefor us to launch if we look back
at it from that perspectiveoutside of the challenges.
and fast forward 36 monthslater, we've opened, three
additional of those prototypeMokas locations and have begun
franchising.
(04:52):
We signed our first franchiseeand we've got, three of our own
corporate MO'S Coffee andeateries in development right
now.
So we'll end with seven by theend of next year with a
franchisee adding a store.
There'll be number eight, andwe're really engaging with a lot
of, franchisees in our interestfunnel, if you will, right now
just sitting down and makingsure that we are a good fit for
(05:12):
them.
They're a good fit for us, butwe're excited about the growth
going forward.
Jeremy Julian (05:16):
I love that.
And I know you and I talkedJason about the lessons you guys
have learned and so I know we'llget into that.
But for those that have not beento amcas, I guess walk us
through it.
'cause you've got everythingfrom a Dutch bros, which is a,
a-frame, 99% drive through tothe third place Starbucks, that
kind of got dubbed andeverywhere in between.
My brother used to be a baristaup in the Bay Area in San
Francisco, and coffee shops inthe Bay Area are very different
(05:39):
than any other coffee shops I'vebeen to or in Seattle.
For those that aren't familiarwith Mokass, I personally am
not.
I'd love to have you walkthrough what kind of makes
Mokass before the eatery part,and I'd love to talk food here
as well and why that came about,but what makes it unique, what
makes it different?
talk to me a little bit aboutthe brand and what you can
expect if you choose toparticipate and go, go get your
(05:59):
coffee there.
Jason Ingermanson (06:00):
Absolutely.
we design our brands verycomforting for our guests.
A place where meetings can occurfrom a business meeting to a,
I've seen a, date occur at acouple of our stores and now
they're married and those aregood stories.
to be honest with you, the mostimportant thing, I think before
we get into product.
That Mokas is about connection.
Even when we first started it,if you look at our logo, it's
(06:22):
two upside down coffee cups thatmake an m or if you look at it,
it's two heads in conversation.
And so for Mokas, for us, it'salways been about connection and
it's been about, making surethat we always provide a
comfortable environment for thatto occur.
So our model won't be a, a drivethrough.
at any point in time in thefuture, our model is always
(06:44):
going to have that connectivityon the inside where we can
engage with our guests, we caninvite our communities in to
raise money for, the local ballteam or anything of that nature
that's going on.
Now, pair that up with ourproduct and you gotta really,
winning team, if you will.
So our product is, we roast allof our coffee.
we don't roast all of our coffeeto control price, because that's
(07:06):
just not how that trade works.
We roast all of our coffee tocontrol quality and to make sure
that we, are putting our bestfoot, foot forward for our
guests.
And we like to tell the storyabout the coffee, where it comes
from growing up on a farm.
I have a lot of, passion forgrowing things, understanding
how they're grown, and alsounderstanding what our farming
(07:26):
community does to do thosethings for us to eat or have
coffee or whatever it might be.
So coffee product on top of theline.
We always try and stay veryahead on the curve of the
beverages.
What's out there, right?
Used to be a coffee shop.
Now we call it more of abeverage business.
Jeremy Julian (07:43):
Yeah, it's been incredible to
Jason Ingermanson (07:45):
hot drinks and when it got cold.
You were booming and when it gothot, there wasn't really
anything to have when we firstgot in the industry.
And then there's the frozendrinks.
Blended drinks, ice drinks,energy drinks.
You can just keep going on andon.
in the early days, staying ontop of the drinks and having a
high quality beverage.
was definitely our sweet spot,if you will.
We, have had a great offering.
(08:06):
We get great feedback on ourproducts.
Our guests come back very often.
They're very loyal.
In our loyalty program, we haveabout 52% loyalty is what our
market runs.
Probably in the.
Mid to upper twenties and we'rein the fifties now.
Again, we are a small chainstill.
but with what we're seeing islooking really well when we open
stores, we see, people that arewalking in for the first time
(08:29):
and being able to see how oftenthey come back.
When they become an app user,they are, we're becoming their
favorite spot and we're seeingthat, happen in the sales and in
the traffic counts quite.
Quite quickly, if you will.
but probably 10 years intoMokass, I was tired of seeing,
food bags from other concepts incars when they would come to get
their coffee.
And I said, okay, it's time tostart putting a menu together.
(08:51):
In the early days of coffee, itwas just coffee and some
pastries and some light bakedgoods.
that was the industry, right?
that's
Jeremy Julian (08:57):
the whole industry, I learned last week, I
know you and I were talkingabout, there's a, former guest
that I saw at a trade show.
they were telling us on the showthat, back 25 years ago, it was
a lot of drip coffee.
There wasn't a lot of theseblended drinks and a lot of
these super specialty items.
And he would tell me somewherehigher than 70% of drinks.
Now have some form of crazymodification like that.
And I think to your exact point,it was just come in and grab a
(09:19):
cup of coffee, maybe put alittle sugar, put a little cream
in, and you're on your way outthe door.
Not so much anymore.
I've got teenagers and, I talkedabout my son, his, his
girlfriends all about, thebeverage choices.
And she oftentimes will make herchoice on where they want to go
based on whether she can get thebeverage.
sorry, I'll let you keep going,but I think creating a reason to
come in with good food and goodbeverage is huge.
Jason Ingermanson (09:40):
Yeah.
And hey, the coffee industry,the coffee world, and even,
after adding the food to Mokassand the commitment when we added
to food, we always have to bevery intentional about
everything we do.
Whether it's how we treat ourguests and what our, and how we
train our teams to treat ourguests, how we treat our team so
that they're in the rightmentality to treat our guests
(10:01):
appropriately.
but then also if we're gonnaserve food.
The initiative was we want tofocus on our food quality just
as much as we do our coffeequality.
And I have to say, if you lookat the industry, that is a
differentiator in itself.
A lot of places that have somereally good food and they also
serve coffee, some places havereally good coffee and they also
(10:22):
serve food.
I saw that there's anopportunity to do both really
great, and there's not too manyfolks out there doing it.
So outside of the connection,the community involvement.
The type of leadership anddevelopment we give our team
members the way that we alwaysgive back in our community in
any ways that we can.
the way that we look for youngentrepreneurs to potentially
become a franchisee of somethinglike I was able to do.
(10:45):
Without growing up with a lot ofmoney, without having a lot of
resources, is just reallyexciting.
And all of those things is whatmilk is, coffee and Eatery is
about, and we're just so darnexcited that we're finally at a
point where it gets to grow.
And I'm telling you, our guestsare loving it and our team
members are staying with us.
We have a very low turnover ratecompared to the rest of the
(11:07):
industry.
Now, of course, our listenerswill say, you've got four
locations, and that's true, butlet me tell you, I've been in
the industry long enough.
It doesn't matter if you haveone or 500, if you do the right
things the right way, thosenumbers will continue to carry.
Just don't lose your way.
A lot of times when things grow,they lose their way.
They change, they look atdifferent things.
(11:28):
To me, I always wanna step backand look at the most important
things that we always looked at,but then also be ready to adapt
because of the way the worldsays that you need to.
But when it comes to quality,cleanliness, and guest
hospitality, those things shouldnever change.
Those are the pillars thatshould always drive us forward
in any restaurant business orany hospitality business that
we're in.
(11:49):
And so that's what we stand for.
And I'd love for you to followup, on those questions based off
of maybe some things that Ididn't answer that you were
hoping to hear.
Jeremy Julian (11:56):
Yeah.
No, and I love that, thatthought.
Again, I was just sharing that Iwas at a tech conference and
it's like technology and, ourlongtime listeners hear this all
the time.
Technology for technology's sakeis not, doesn't matter.
It's does it make the guestexperience better?
Does it make the staff membersexperience better?
'cause if it doesn't do thosetwo things.
None of it matters.
And so I love that you guys arefocused on having great quality
food, a great place for yourteam members to work.
(12:19):
and really just at the end ofthe day, your guests continue to
come back.
and so I love that idea.
What would you attribute, youalluded to it, Jason, but I
think there's this magical ideaof loyal guests coming back.
And obviously at a Freddy's it'sa different experience than at a
Mokas coffee is one of thosethings that.
If you're a coffee drinker, youpretty much drink coffee seven
days a week whether you want toor not.
(12:40):
whereas you don't have to have acheeseburger or a hot dog or a
grilled cheese every day.
tell me what your thoughts areon how you guys even considered
thinking about loyalty.
Because the numbers that youjust shared are through the roof
as far as comparative numbers towhat the rest of the industry
is.
And I think so many people wouldlove to get there.
And even in the.
Better beverage concepts.
Most people aren't where youguys are at.
(13:00):
So how do you guys think aboutthat and how do you guys even
manage it again at fourlocations as you guys start to
scale?
Jason Ingermanson (13:08):
Yeah.
it's always making sure that weknow what we stand for and who
we are in every decision wemake, we have two things that
are very important to me.
One is.
When I first started inbusiness, I didn't even write
this down, but I had five thingsthat were very important.
I call'em the JRI, high five,and then number two in JRI, by
the way, JRI, hospitality, thatis my initials.
(13:29):
So that's where it came from.
everybody starts saying, Jason'srestaurant, Jason is, it's just
Jason Richard Ingram Man Center.
It's my initials.
Plain simple.
My middle name is my dad's firstname.
but.
When we talk about it, we havetwo things that we run our
funnel through.
It's our JRI high five about howdo we look at things in business
for our guests and our teammembers first, and we know if we
(13:50):
do things in that regard thatwe're gonna be successful.
It just, it works out that way.
People will argue, but it's notas difficult.
A lot of
Jeremy Julian (13:57):
nearly as hard as everybody makes it out to be.
Jason Ingermanson (14:00):
and they make it complicated.
And the goal is to make itsimple and everybody wants to
say, Hey, we need a new system.
And I say.
We need to remove distractions.
Most of the time we have thesystems we need.
We're not using themappropriately.
So someone thinks we need tocome up with a new one.
So I have the motto that says,number one, we're gonna funnel
all of our decisions we makethrough our JRI high five.
(14:21):
number two, we have our corevalues.
And our core values are anotherplace we funnel things through.
If we use those as a filter, ifyou will, with any idea or any
thought that we have on wherewe're going in the future.
If it's an idea that doesn'talign with those two things and
doesn't make it through thefilter of those two things, then
we're really thinking hard aboutwhy are we doing this?
(14:43):
And I would say that we alwaysstart there and we always start
there for the reasons.
and you'll hear me say it a lotand people might even think it's
funny to hear it so much.
If you go and look at anythingthat we do, even in our small
hometown of Salina of Kansasversus the rest of the world,
we're pretty much consideredsmall, right?
50,000 people.
The amount of projects that wedo in our community here is you.
(15:06):
You would almost be head numbedif I took you through all of the
different ones, and then youthink about, we're in 15 states
operating and our objective isto.
If a guest walks into one of ourrestaurants in those 15 states,
our mission is that they thinkthe owner lives right down the
street.
We wanna stay connected, wewanna give back.
We wanna be a part of everycommunity that we're operating
in.
(15:27):
And so we take that to everyrelationship that we have,
whether it's with a franchisee,whether it's with a team member,
team members.
You get a great team member,right?
entrepreneurs, they get a littlegreedy when they get a great
team member.
A lot of times it's I wanna keepyou at all costs because you're
the best that we have.
I'm the type of person thatwants to build them up and
create opportunity for them togo get to do what I got to do.
(15:48):
So to be able to have 3000employees across the country,
nearly being able to think, wow,we could be a franchisee of
Mokass from an internalstandpoint, we also offer that
and we also offer theopportunity for, those things to
occur.
probably a long answer is you'llalways get from me because I'm a
big reason why guy.
there's a lot of thought thatgoes into what we do when we do
(16:09):
it, but not to the point whereit has to slow us down and be
behind the curve.
it's just being intentionalabout making sure that we go to
those things that we believefirst and filter the idea where
a lot of folks, or a lot ofcompanies that I've worked with
or seen, they get 90 way per 90%done with the project they're
(16:29):
thinking of, and then they startthinking about.
Why are we doing this and is itthe right thing?
And sometimes they don't eventhink at all.
They launch it and it's a dud,or they launch it and it's a
deep discount.
And now we've told our gueststhat our product is only worth
whatever we're charging when wediscount, right?
You gotta be proud and you gottastand for who you are, and I
(16:52):
think guests respect that andthey don't mind paying for
quality when they can trust thatyou're going through these
processes to make the bestdecision possible to deliver
what we promise.
Jeremy Julian (17:02):
and I think it, obviously, it resonates with
your guests to the point thatyou guys are hitting those
numbers.
what percentage of the food mixis food versus beverage?
you guys started as a coffeehouse, you guys added eatery.
I'm assuming, a breakfastsandwich is probably a, from a
price point, a little bit higherthan a drip cup of coffee.
But, if you look at the mix, isit 50 50?
Is it 70 30?
where does it come out?
Jason Ingermanson (17:22):
Yeah, I would say some of our stores are 60 40
food to coffee and or beverage,and some of our stores are 60
40, Beverage to food.
And so if you take the fourlocations and probably our
anticipation of where the landis you're exactly right, we're
probably right about.
50 50.
And but the thing that'sinteresting is that, man, if you
can be 50 50 on food and coffee,it really tells you are
(17:45):
delivering the things thatyou're trying to, in regards to
quality.
but the other thing I'll tellyou is we crack every egg when
we make a breakfast sandwich.
we are not doing any of this,heating egg things up or baking
eggs and, and, utilizingproducts like that we're, we use
the best coffee.
We use the best product when itcomes to our food and we're
never going to change that.
Jeremy Julian (18:05):
I love that.
and I love that really you'recreating an environment where
both the staff members want tobe there and the guests want to
be there.
because you went down the pathof JRI.
Where's Mokass come from?
Is that your wife's name?
Is that, wife's maiden name?
You just picked it, pickedsomething there.
love to hear the story of theinception of, of that.
Jason Ingermanson (18:22):
So a friend of mine helped me with that, but
in the early days.
my friend and I were actually,not only wa was I running coffee
shops and coffee houses, but wealso had done a beverage
distribution company.
And so we would go out and helpother small coffee shops start
their business.
In the early two thousands,everybody wanted to open a
coffee shop.
(18:42):
It was a time where Starbuckswas coming into the United
States and really introducingacross the country, not just in
the, on the west coast, whatthis coffee.
Craze was all about.
And so when that happened,everybody was so excited about
the beverage, that everyonewanted to open these.
So we saw an opportunity to helpfolks open their own business.
(19:03):
And then we would become theirdistributor of their coffee
syrups, their powders for frozendrink, mix their recipes, and
we'd go in and train their staffout and help open their business
through consulting, and then wewould be their distributor.
And so Missouri, Oklahoma, andKansas were the areas that we
probably.
Had the most locations in, andwe wanted to come up with a cool
(19:23):
name that resonated with people.
And of course there's the Mokascoffee drink, M-O-C-H-A.
and so we're in Missouri,Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Jeremy Julian (19:31):
I'm like reading it on your shirt, going, ah.
Jason Ingermanson (19:33):
we're.
Yeah, so that's exactly whereMokass came from.
It's supposed to be short, it'ssupposed to be catchy, it's
supposed to be fun, and justlike our logo in connectivity
with our guests or over a cup ofcoffee.
It was also important at thetime when we were helping others
open their coffee shops, that wewere well connected with them.
They could feel like they couldask us anything, and we were
(19:55):
there to help cultivate theminto su success.
And that's again, that's what'sgot my fire going for us,
becoming a franchisor.
To be honest with you, we've hada lot of success in the industry
and we could just open Mokass onour own and control everything
and not have to worry about, ifyou have a franchisee that
doesn't wanna follow yourprocedures or any of those types
(20:17):
of things.
but because of.
Who we are and how we like togive ourselves into others and
help them succeed, whether it'sin our community or if it's in
business.
That's why I'm excited aboutactually franchising is I'm not
worried about having the policea franchisee.
those things are naturally gonnacome.
That's just part of what youcalculate in when you decide,
(20:37):
when you be, when you decide,Hey, I'm gonna be a franchisor.
I'm excited about finding theright franchisors.
Just like we're franchisees,just like we're always trying to
find the right team members.
People that are ready to becultivated into really good
leaders.
They're ready to listen.
They want to be engaged with,they wanna be taught.
They're looking for anopportunity.
(20:58):
And so those are those same,that's the same thing we look
for in our team members, andit's the same thing we wanna
look for in franchisees.
So I'm excited about gettingthose folks in, getting them
connected.
If they do one store or if theysign a five store agreement, I'm
good with either one, but it'snot going to be 60 stores across
10 states, and it's gonna bethis franchise, this franchisor
(21:20):
or franchisee relationshipwhere.
They operate a thousandrestaurants.
I don't think that's where we'regonna start with Mokass.
It's not to say that someday wedon't get there for some of the
large operators, but we'rereally focused on creating
something exciting and havingsome fire behind it, some
passion behind it, somecommitment, and some laser focus
from our initial franchisees.
Jeremy Julian (21:40):
Yeah.
No, and I love that.
the, your passion for people,your passion for watching people
build, that's one of the thingsthat I also am passionate about.
I know that a lot of the peoplethat know me outside of the
podcast.
Talk about that all the time.
'cause it's like how do I helpyou achieve your goals in life?
And so I love that'cause thatcomes through.
Jason, let's talk about whatdoes a franchise look like
today?
'cause you guys are in the earlystages and you're fortunate
(22:04):
enough that you've been down theroad before with.
Another brand that obviouslygot, at the time of recording,
just got purchased for lots ofzeros at the end of that number.
And so you got to watch some ofthe successes and likely some of
the failures.
So I'd love for you to talk toour listeners a little bit about
what, what's gonna make a MoCAsdifferent because we've had a
lot of people come on and we,I've watched over my 30 years in
(22:25):
the career, in my career.
Brands succeed, brands fail.
Franchisees hate theirfranchisor, and then I've
watched the opposite.
I've watched them in beincredibly successful.
So I'd love for you to share alittle bit about what's gonna
make, bringing O Moku on to myportfolio different.
Why do you think that you're thebrand that people should be
looking at to expand what it isthat they're trying to do?
Jason Ingermanson (22:47):
I think it's discipline in how we make
decisions.
It's our focus on how we want togive more of ourselves into
their success than gain successfrom their hard work.
Obviously, if you're gonna be afranchisee of something, you
better be ready to work hard,right?
You better have a team that'sready to work hard.
The restaurant industry is forthe faint of heart.
(23:09):
There's a lot of restaurantsthat close each and every day.
those are the experiences andthe knowledge that we bring to
the table.
And I would also say that webring transparency to the table.
we're not going to tell youeverything great that you want
to hear.
we're not gonna tell youeverything bad and nothing
great.
we're not gonna tell youeverything great, nothing bad.
We're gonna be very transparent,very businesslike, very partner
(23:30):
like, and our success is goingto be based off of your success.
And don't be surprised if youdon't see me in a franchisees
store working their peak periodwith them when they first open
their store.
Because we do also have tounderstand that when you start,
when you get into a franchisesystem early, you know the brand
recognition isn't quite thereyet.
And it was the same way when Igot into Freddy's early, the
(23:53):
brand recognition wasn't thereyet.
Nine of the states that we'rein, we opened the very first
Fred's in that
Jeremy Julian (23:59):
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Had it not been from our mutualfriend, Steve, I would've never
known what a Freddy's was.
When I went to the very firstone out in Arizona, a number of
years ago, right?
the store must have been openfor less than six months.
When I first went there and Iwas like, what is this?
But my buddy had said, Hey dude,you gotta keep an eye out for
these guys.
And to your point, if it hadn'thave been for that, I probably
would've never stopped there.
'cause there was 12 otherrestaurants right next to that
(24:19):
Freddy.
So the fact that you'repassionate about that and
understand that, sir, I'll letyou keep going, but I just think
Jason Ingermanson (24:23):
No, you're
Jeremy Julian (24:24):
so critical for people to understand that.
Just because you're reallysuccessful in the four stores
that you guys have, doesn't meanthat it translates even to
Kansas City, which is only acouple hour drive away from
where you guys are at.
Jason Ingermanson (24:35):
Yep.
So we have to ask ourselves whatthings can we do to overcome
some of the natural obstaclesthat you're going to have?
And, those things areengagement.
it's local store marketingprograms that we've been able to
build out over all the years.
The things that we had to do toget our location successful
across the country in the earlydays of Freddy's, when we go
into a new state, listen, our12th store we opened was in
(24:58):
Northern Virginia in Fairfax,and between Kansas and Virginia,
I don't think there's anotherstate in between going that
direction.
And then after that we went toGeorgia, South Carolina,
Louisiana, a lot of states forthe first stores.
And if you know anything aboutthe East Coast, there's a
company called Friendlies.
(25:19):
And so when we'd open aFreddy's, they say, oh yeah, we
love your concept.
We go the one down the road.
And I said, this is the only onewe have in this area.
And they're like, oh, this isn'ta friendlies.
Jeremy Julian (25:28):
yeah.
you're also in Five Guy'sTerritory, right there in
Fairfax, Virginia.
that's where five guy, it was inthat same
Jason Ingermanson (25:33):
is a retis and we're gonna knock your socks
off with this product.
And so we have a lot of reallygood tools that have been
devised.
But also if you go to our.
Franchising page with, which isMokass franchise.com.
If you go to that page, you'llsee the areas where we're
offering franchises, and it's ina tight group from Kansas,
working three states around.
From Texas, up north, throughNebraska, and into those areas.
(25:57):
And so we're really focused onbuilding a synergy, a nucleus.
We don't want to jump.
I learned not to jump fromKansas to Virginia right now.
That store's one of the topperforming Freddy's in the whole
system right now.
But it took a long time and ittook a lot of work and there's,
and so that's something, peopleget fatigued when it comes to
that.
(26:18):
We want our franchisee to havequick success and hopefully be
ready to go do their second one,or be very happy if they just
did one store and they're offand running with it.
We have a lot of systems, a lotof support, and because we have
a lot of restaurants, we haveall of our team at the JRI
hospitality level, excuse me, upabove Mokass, from HR to
training, to our Chief cultureofficer that does leadership
(26:41):
development classes andaccountability driven leadership
classes for our teams internallythat we'll be able to actually
share with our franchisees aswell is going to be able to
teach them how to deal withtough situations inside the
restaurant.
It's gonna teach them how to.
Market, it's going to teach themhow to use local store marketing
and get out and make connectionsin their community.
Not being a salesman, but beinga really good community partner.
(27:04):
You drive our business, we'regonna drive your business, and
together we're gonna be a greatcommunity of businesses and for
all of our people and ourguests.
So I would say that those arethe things that we'll bring to
the table that, because I knowthat they work after doing it
myself as a franchisee.
I know that they'll work to helpour franchisees be successful,
and I wish that we had thatsystem back when we first got
(27:26):
into the business.
But at the same time, I may nothave learned as much as I did,
and I may not have been able toteach my team as much as I did
because of what we experienced.
So it's all about taking thatexperience and knowledge and not
being protective of it.
I run really good stores becauseI have all these things that I
do, but I'm not telling you no.
It's how do we collaborate?
How do we connect, how do weshare?
Because really, when you buy afranchise, that's what you're
(27:48):
buying.
You're buying my experience, ourexperience, our knowledge, our
systems, and a place for you tocome and learn and be nurtured
into a successful entrepreneur.
Not only in just running ashift, but running a business,
engaging in a community, all ofthose things.
Jeremy Julian (28:06):
and I've watched, a ton of brands that get outside
of their core market and thenthose start to be anchors to the
entire rest of the brand.
'cause now they're focusing ontrying to make this store in
Fairfax, Virginia succeed.
And it comes at the expense ofthe stores that we're operating
really well.
So I love that you guys arestaying somewhat local, Texas,
Oklahoma,
Jason Ingermanson (28:24):
back to that world anticipate and what could
be a distraction and remove it.
We're off and running and doingthe good things every day, and
anchors will drag you downemotionally, physically,
monetarily, all of those things.
We wanna avoid those at allcosts, and you can never
overcompensate for a badlocation.
And so having our developmentteam that's been in 15 states
(28:46):
over the years looking for sitesto be successful.
At the franchisees at thefranchisees disposal to use is
phenomenal.
So we're really a four unitfranchise that's got a hundred
unit experience and a lot ofyears of it.
So we're not as small.
If you think about the knowledgeand the value we bring to
(29:06):
potential franchisee.
Jeremy Julian (29:08):
Yeah.
And I love that you guys aregonna bring that and then truly
make moca successful because ofit.
Jason, I'd love for you to talka little bit about what you guys
consider local store marketing.
A lot of brands come on the showand they, you gotta get into the
local community, you gotta do
Jason Ingermanson (29:22):
Right?
Jeremy Julian (29:22):
but then you watch it and it doesn't actually
succeed.
So I'd love for you to talkthrough what have you found to
be successful?
Jason Ingermanson (29:28):
Yeah, it's connection.
It's getting our product and ourcommunity's faces, it's but
doing it for the right reasons,not because I'm gonna get a sale
out of it that may occur, butthat should be the result of the
reason why you're doingsomething, not the reason you're
doing something right.
Everything's gotta beintentional, like we talked
about earlier.
We go out into our communitiesto engage.
(29:50):
To reward fire departments forwhat they do for us to reward
police departments, what they dofor us to connect with veteran
groups in the community to saythank you.
So we're out in the communityand we call, the term that
everybody uses to be consistentis local store marketing.
I always like to say the wordcommunity involvement, but
really equals local storemarketing.
(30:10):
But it's about actually beinggenuine, going out in your
community, doing the rightthings for the right reasons,
and not necessarily expectinganything in return, but maybe
cultivating others to do thesame thing.
And with those things itnaturally.
You find success in that because
Jeremy Julian (30:27):
You build connections and it's all about
hospitality like we talked aboutearlier, right?
Jason Ingermanson (30:30):
when you support your communities will
support you.
Now, a lot of people think thatmeans if you serve the worst
food and the worst drinks in theworld, they're going to do that.
That's not true.
You still have to hold your, youstill have to, hold yourself to
the high level of, even ifyou're involved in your
community and you can give themeverything you want.
But if you don't deliver onhospitality, food quality, drink
(30:51):
quality, and cleanliness, itdoesn't matter how much you're
going out in your community,folks aren't coming.
So you have to really understandand really be passionate about
what it is you're doing in theindustry and do it right each
and every day to the best ofyour ability.
And you're gonna win.
if you give out a free meal tosomeone, right?
(31:12):
A complimentary meal to them tocome into your restaurant.
You know what?
They're still expecting the sameresult as if they paid for it.
So it doesn't do you any good.
If your product's not good togive someone a free meal to get
'em in there, they're not comingback.
If you're not friendly to'em,they're not coming back and
paying.
So it's not just about going outlocal store marketing, giving
(31:34):
out some free coupons orwhatever.
It's about everything we like todo and what we stand for at
Mokass from our logo forward.
And that's connection.
Doing things for the rightreasons.
And because of that, the rightthings will happen at the sales
line because they're gonnaembrace us as a huge partner in
the community.
And that's what we've seen.
Jeremy Julian (31:50):
and I, and I, based on what you've shared thus
far, I'm.
Suspecting that as you guys getout into these franchisees,
you're going to expect them tospend some percentage of their
time doing this, whichultimately is net, it's a
leading indicator of whatsuccess is gonna look like for
that story in the community.
And Jason, earlier you sharedthe website, but talk me through
what the process looks like.
(32:11):
if I'm interested and I go tothe website and I figure
something else out, Hey, I wannado a MoCAs.
I love what Jason had to say.
I'm a huge fan of this and Iwant to go there.
What does that look like andwhat can they expect as a
potential entrepreneur, as yousaid, that's interested.
Jason Ingermanson (32:26):
Sure.
as you can imagine, when you getinto franchising, there is some
legal things there, so it doesfeel a little bit, businesslike
right from the get go.
So the important part is towatch these podcasts and watch
our communications and what wedo and not get.
Turned off from some of thethings that are just a natural
process.
Obviously there's a requirementfrom a financial standpoint.
(32:46):
There's a requirement from afranchise disclosure document
signature before we can reallytalk about things, and there's a
process you go through.
So if you went to the website,which is moca franchise.com,
it's going to ask you some basicquestions like what's your net
worth?
what's your liquidity of yournet worth?
What percentage of it is liquid?
It's going to ask you whatterritory you might be
interested in.
(33:07):
If it's not one we're offering,then you can type in which one
you may be interested in casewe.
Open it up to franchisees in thefuture.
We still wanna stay connected.
If someone has interest, wewanna stay connected.
Maybe they're not a franchiseenext year, maybe they're a
franchisee five years when weget to Florida or wherever it
may be that we're gonna grow to.
And so number one, go there andput that information in because
(33:29):
that puts you on our radar toreach out and have a personable
conversation and walk youthrough the things that you need
to know.
And just have a quickconversation that's probably
gonna answer some reallyimportant questions.
It's gonna.
Really understand, do we need tocontinue to go further?
You know what I mean?
We don't want to, we don't wantto kick tires.
We don't want to, we don't wantpeople to kick tires.
(33:50):
We don't want them to feelmarketed to.
if you say, I'm not interested,I'm not gonna keep sending you,
20 things in the email.
If you say you're interested andyou wanna stay up to date, of
course we're going to oblige andsend you the information that
you ask for.
that's the process.
But the real fun process isafter that.
Once you get through thetechnical part of the process,
you get to come to Discovery Dayin Wichita, Kansas.
(34:12):
you get to and think aboutWichita, Kansas incubator for
franchises that have grown intomulti-state, businesses, pizza
Hut, Freddy's, rent Center, lotsof others that have started in
Wichita, Kansas.
So we're excited
Jeremy Julian (34:26):
so weird to me, but cool at the
Jason Ingermanson (34:27):
yes, it's it, yeah, exactly.
So you get to come to Wichita,Kansas, where you get to see all
of these things happen.
All of this success happenedover the years, and you're
thinking, wow, could this be thenext one?
it's happened before.
It can happen again.
So you get to come to our officeand we like to call it a
Discovery Day, a Mokas's Coffeeand Eatery Day, where we're
gonna take you across the streetfrom our, from our, office
(34:48):
location over into our,prototype Mokas's restaurant.
There.
We're going to, get you a lot ofcaffeine, a lot of beverages,
and a lot of food to try.
you're gonna be very excitedbecause you get to find, we do
serve breakfast all day.
That's probably one of thebiggest excitements when people
have interest in Mokass, isthat, oh wow, you do breakfast
all day.
That's awesome.
I love breakfast.
(35:09):
And so that's a big thing thatwe, that we've found have been
interested as, potentialfranchisees have came in and
then we're just gonna spend timebeing real people.
We're gonna be very transparent.
We're not gonna be salesy.
We're gonna answer the questionsthat you have.
We understand that this is asignificant amount of money, a
significant investment, asignificant change potentially
(35:30):
for your family.
And we're not gonna take thosetypes of things for granted.
We're going to have aconversation with another
person, what dirt we're doingright now, exchange ideas, and
at the end of the day, we'regonna go have dinner together.
We're gonna wake up the nextmorning, be on our way, and if
you have interest in learningmore or going further, then
great.
(35:51):
If you want us to stay in touchwith you, we'll absolutely do
that.
We'll probably invite you to ournext three Mokass openings to
come see what an opening lookslike, if you want to, et cetera.
But it's gonna be really,personable and not very business
transactiony.
And we're gonna talk about winsand losses, and we're gonna talk
about experiences and learningsand failures.
And we're just gonna be us.
(36:12):
And I think people reallyappreciate that.
in the franchise world, in a lotof cases it's gotten very
salesy.
Jeremy Julian (36:19):
it's smoke and mirrors.
Half the time you're gonnaretire off of one store.
It's it's probably not gonnahappen, man.
you've heard it, I'm sure,
Jason Ingermanson (36:25):
Oh, yeah.
yeah.
It's, it, I get to go play golfall day.
No, I'm gonna tell you, I youdon't get to go play golf all
Jeremy Julian (36:31):
You have to
Jason Ingermanson (36:31):
your goal with this is to get to the point
where you get to go play golfall day, But that's not gonna
Jeremy Julian (36:36):
to work your tail off to get there.
Jason Ingermanson (36:37):
but it's a place where you're gonna wanna
work your tail off.
It's a lot of fun.
There's no business that I'veoperated that I've had as much
fun as going into am Mokass andoperating with our teams and
enter man, when you serve greatproducts to guests and you're a
caffeine dealer, if you
Jeremy Julian (36:54):
Yeah.
Jason Ingermanson (36:55):
you are putting smiles on people's
faces.
It's the easiest smile in theindustry to put on somebody's
faces.
Is to hand them theiroutstanding crafted beverage and
look at their face glow
Jeremy Julian (37:07):
I can tell from the website, you guys have got
some pretty amazing food fromthat perspective too, especially
if you guys are making it allin-house.
Jason Ingermanson (37:14):
yep, absolutely.
Jeremy Julian (37:16):
Excuse me.
So Jason, are you looking formaster franchisees?
you talked a little bit agoabout not looking for, this huge
franchise group and again, I'dlove to help whittle down the
amount of web traffic, but alsodrive the right people there.
You're looking for anentrepreneurial people that are
looking to build a brand in aregion kind of thing, and
currently you're looking forthat, but you're not looking for
somebody that operates athousand restaurants currently
(37:38):
to come take Mokass and do thatat this point.
Jason Ingermanson (37:42):
I would anticipate that we probably
wouldn't leave a discovery daymaking a deal with something
that would be a huge, group allat once because, we're, it's in
an incubator right now.
It's in that phase of growingand.
Really making sure thatwhoever's gonna sign on
understands who we are.
(38:02):
who we are
Jeremy Julian (38:03):
the culture so that
Jason Ingermanson (38:03):
they are and how it portrays.
And so I won't say, don't reachout if you're a large franchisee
of another brand and you want toadd another concept to your
portfolio, because I'd love tohave the conversation because
never say never, right?
I am.
Have a rule.
Say yes until you have to sayno.
And even having a connection ora meeting with someone, even if
(38:24):
you knew before you went intoit.
Nothing's gonna happen here.
I've got some of the bestfriends that I have in the world
out of those types of
Jeremy Julian (38:32):
Yeah.
That you get to go play golf sixdays a week with, because you
got so successful.
I'm teasing
Jason Ingermanson (38:36):
That's right.
so I wouldn't say that we'regonna say no to anyone off the
bat.
We'll say yes until we have tosay no.
I would just anticipate that'sprobably not going to be our
model over the next three tofour years.
After that.
We'll have to reassess and seehow things are going.
But.
I won't say never.
I'll just say that I don't seethat as being our model right
now.
And the master franchise thing,I believe we're definitely too
(38:58):
early for that.
I would see doing that inanother country.
not probably in the UnitedStates anywhere.
So think of master franchisee inCanada or another country.
Something like that is probablywhere I would see that occur
first and definitely a few yearsdown the road.
Jeremy Julian (39:11):
I That makes sense.
I know you alluded to, or yousaid it earlier, how do people
get in touch?
How do people learn more?
I know you guys have got aspecific website outside of
kinda learning about the productand the food.
Mokas usa.com, but then, orMokass coffee and eatery.com I
think it is.
but then you've got, you've gotyour franchise site.
So why don't you, re re-sharethat for those that got to this
point in the show and wannalearn more.
Jason Ingermanson (39:33):
Yeah, Mokass usa.com is where you wanna go to
see all the fun stuff we do, allthe beverages, all the food, all
the menu, where our locationsare.
and that's where I would startfirst, because if you don't like
what you see there, there's noreason to go to the franchise
page and then next after you seeall those things and you're
mouth's watering every time yousee them and you're like, okay,
if my mouth's watering, it'sgotta be a success.
(39:54):
So let me reach out aboutfranchising.
I would say go to Mokassfranchise.com and that's also
going to have some fun picturesthere of food and, limited time
offers and menu and some of thethings we do.
But it's also gonna talk aboutthe systems that we bring to the
table, the experience we havethat we bring to the table.
(40:14):
And it's gonna break down someof the commonly asked questions
that a potential franchisee mayhave.
Then, like I said, there's aform there to fill out and get
in contact with us, and I knowas soon as you hit the send
button, I've got, wonderfulpeople on the other end, ready
to make a connection and reallyget to know who we're, who we're
talking to, in a very family,personable way and take it from
(40:37):
there.
Jeremy Julian (40:37):
I love that.
and Jason, thank you forcreating this.
again, obviously you could have,as you said, you could not be
sharing this with the world, butthe fact that you're going
through the hard work'causeprobably would be easier just to
slow grow it yourself.
But finding the rightfranchisees and picking them and
helping them to be successful.
I love that passion for people.
And I love that you were able toshare the story.
So how do people get in touchwith you personally?
(40:59):
Are you, are you accessible?
Is there a place that, that youwould want people to connect
with you off, offline.
Jason Ingermanson (41:05):
Yep, you can either go to my LinkedIn page,
Jason Ingram Manson.
You can go to our website, JRia.com and hit contact us.
If you go my LinkedIn page, myemail address, contact
information is there.
So feel free to reach out, loveto talk to anybody that's
interested in, any of the thingsthat we do.
we also own and operate acountry club here in Salina is
(41:25):
one of our community projects,and that's been a fun project.
We just opened a prohibitionera, speakeasy called M 1918,
and that's been fun.
So if it comes to hospitalityand putting smiles on people's
faces.
Anybody out there's interestedin that reach out.
We probably have a position foryou or maybe we have a franchise
model for you that will, takeyou to where you want to go in
(41:48):
your life,
Jeremy Julian (41:48):
thanks for sh, thanks for sharing that.
And I, I will definitely giveyou a ring when I'm heading up
to go see, go see my kid, 40minutes north of you, in
college.
'cause as you and I talkedabout, if you're in town, I'll
swing by and say hello.
Jason Ingermanson (41:58):
Yes.
That'd be a lot of fun.
Jeremy Julian (42:01):
awesome.
Jason, thanks for sharing yourstory.
To our listeners, guys, like Isay at the onset, you guys have
got lots of choices, so thanksfor hanging out and make it a
great day.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Thanks for listening to The Restaurant Technology
Guys podcast.
Visit restaurant technologyguys.com for tips, industry
insights, and more to help yourun your restaurant better.
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