In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast, host Jeremy Julian speaks with Nicholas Fontenot, CTO and partner at Crust Pizza Co., a Houston-based fast casual pizza brand known for its unique approach to pizza making and franchise operations. Nicholas shares insights into what sets Crust Pizza apart, including their dedication to fresh ingredients and a proprietary tech stack designed to streamline franchise operations. He discusses the journey from his background in tech and franchises to enhancing Crust Pizza's back-end processes with innovative technology solutions. They delve into the challenges and strategies behind building their own POS system and the importance of achieving consistency and quality across all franchise locations. The conversation highlights the balance of growing a brand while maintaining a high standard of food quality and customer experience. Nicholas also teases future expansion plans and emphasizes the importance of selecting quality franchise partners.
00:00 Crust Pizza
01:06 Introduction and Welcome
01:35 Meet Nicholas: Background and Journey
02:46 Crust Pizza: Concept and Quality
05:23 Challenges and Tech Solutions in Franchising
08:26 Building and Automating the Kitchen
16:21 Developing a Custom POS System
25:34 Franchise Growth and Future Plans
29:53 Conclusion and Farewell
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:01):
In today's episode, we are joined by one of the leaders
at Crust Pizza.
Crust Pizza is a brand out ofthe Houston market that is ready
to take the world by storm.
They're producing a verydifferent experience in the
world of.
Pizza and fast casual pizza.
They've got a very uniqueprocess and, uh, my guest,
Nicholas and I talk deeply aboutwhat makes them tick, what
(00:24):
makes them unique, and reallywhy they think they've got a
better brand of pizza fortoday's consumer and the things
that they're looking to do.
They've also done a lot in theway of streamlining the
franchise operation and whatthey think that each of the
franchisees need to have inorder to be successful.
Stay around till the end wherehe talks a lot about his tech
(00:44):
stack and all of the things thatthey have invested in at an
early stage so that they canhelp brands to thrive.
If you don't know me, my nameis Jeremy.
Julian.
I am the Chief Revenue Officerfor CBS North Star.
We wrote the North Star Pointof Sale solution for
multi-units.
Please check usout@cbsnorthstar.com and now
(01:05):
onto our episode.
Jeremy Julian (01:06):
Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining us.
As I say, each and every time.
I know you guys got lots ofchoices, so thanks for hanging
out with us today.
Today is a cool story 'causeuh, we're gonna talk with
Nicholas about the brand, but,uh, they are a brand that, that,
uh, even though you might notthink it, it's uh, it's.
there's not a whole lot ofpeople that are doing what these
guys are doing.
(01:26):
They've built, a lot of theirown tech stack.
And so we're gonna talk withNicholas both about the brand
that he gets the privilege ofworking with, and then why they
chose to go down this route.
So, but before we jump intothat, Nicholas, why don't you
introduce yourself?
You and I got a chance to, uh,pre-show, to talk a little bit
about kind your background, andI'm pretty intrigued about, uh,
about how it's pivoted from thedifferent places you've been to
(01:47):
now, where you're at with Crest.
Nicholas Fontenot (01:48):
Yeah.
No, I appreciate it and Iappreciate you having me on the
show.
So, so yeah, my name's NickFontenot right now.
Uh, I'm a partner and CTO atCrust Pizza Co.
the company's been around, uh,for quite some time.
we've been around since 2011,but, uh, I've been, uh, with the
company now for about three anda half years.
My background comes from, my,my very first, franchise concept
that I created was, uh, calledFix My Phone.
(02:10):
Uh, grew that I think three orfour or five different states.
Uh, learned the franchiseaspect of it.
and after that, uh, got intoanother, I created another
franchise concept, and that'swhere I dabbled in food.
Uh, I was, uh, was a partnerand original creator of Main
Speed's Juice Company.
Uh, and even before all that,I've just always been a
technology guy.
I've always loved tech.
(02:30):
my first, one of my first jobscoming outta college was for at
and t or singular back in theday.
So I've always been that technerd.
But, but yeah, no, I've, it'sbeen quite the journey and, uh,
I ex I'm excited to see whereCress goes.
'cause our, uh, how fast we'regrowing right now is insane.
Jeremy Julian (02:45):
I love that.
So for those that are notfamiliar, 'cause you guys are
geographically kinda in thesouth Texas or Houston market
for the most part.
for those that are not familiarwith it, talk us through what
is crust pizza and I guess whateven drew you to the brand to
even join, three years ago I.
Nicholas Fontenot (02:59):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So Crust is a fast, casual,pizza concept.
we serve Chicago style thincrust pizza.
Uh, we really focus in on, uh,quality.
and so for example, our dough,we make four to five times a day
just depending on, how busy thestore is.
We make our dough four to fivetimes a day from scratch.
Uh, never even hits the fridgeor freezer.
And so I don't know of anyother concept that does that.
(03:21):
Uh, we have our ownproprietary, uh, blend of cheese
that, that is made juststrictly for us.
We hand, hand cut all of ourcheese every day.
We hand cut all of our veggies,hand cut all of our meats.
And so again, we really focusin on quality and, uh, and then
we try not to, uh, to be tooexpensive.
So, our typical customer.
we try to get them to come backa few times a week because,
(03:42):
we're not charging someabsorbent amount, uh, for our
menu items, even though they'regetting that quality.
and then as far as atmospheregoes, we, a lot of our,
furniture and stuff we sourcefrom like Restoration Hardware
and so we, we give you a nice,we tell people it's a place you
can take your spouse for a datenight.
And it's also, uh, somewhereyou could take your kids after a
ball game.
It's, we really do.
I.
Uh, we hit a very niche part ofthe market.
(04:03):
I don't, there's not many.
Whenever people are like, who'syour competition?
we really, I don't even know.
there's really no place likecrossed uh, and we hear that
every day from our customers, soit's really cool.
Jeremy Julian (04:13):
That's awesome.
and I know we, we talked alittle bit about a pre-show.
I've not had the privilege ofgoing yet, but uh, next time I'm
down in that neck of the woods,I'm gonna have to check it out.
What, I guess just 'cause itcaused a little bit of, uh, a
pause in my brain.
What is Chicago thin like?
I always think of Chicago isthick cru thick crust pizza.
So, walk me through, what isChicago thin crust pizza?
'cause I had no idea that theywere even, they even had a thin
(04:36):
crust pizza.
'cause I always think of NewYork as thin crust pizza.
Nicholas Fontenot (04:39):
yeah.
No, it's a, it's funny is wehear that all the time from
guests who you know, aren'tnecessarily from Chicago.
'cause if you're from Chicago,you're not asking that question
because believe it or not, morethin crust pizza is sold in
Chicago than deep dish.
And so, yeah, I
Jeremy Julian (04:53):
Interesting.
It's just the tourists, it'sthe tourist trap to get 'em in
for the, uh, the crust pizza or,
Nicholas Fontenot (04:57):
yeah, so if you're a tor, if you're a
taurist, you're getting thethick, pie slices, and you have
one piece and you're, gotta takea nap, right?
but no, uh, Chicago is actuallyknown for their thin crust.
Uh, and we cut all of ourpizzas and tavern, tavern style
where, it's not necessarily in,in the triangles.
We cut it in squares.
And, it's definitely a uniquetake on it.
and our guests love it.
Jeremy Julian (05:17):
I love that.
thanks for cut.
Cut.
scratching my itch that whenyou said Chicago, then I was
like, what the heck is that?
one of the dilemmas that we'veseen in this world as you go to
franchise when you try and doeverything fresh is that's
really hard.
That's really hard.
So I'd love to talk throughjust even how you guys have done
that.
'cause I think tech has playeda big part in ensuring that you
(05:38):
can make.
Dough fresh.
you think about some of thecontemporary places that are
fast casual, just in general, itdoesn't matter.
It could be corporate owned,like a Chipotle to a, franchise
group.
of a blaze or a ah, mod pizzathat are fast casual, but they
struggle with consistency ofproduct.
They struggle with consistencyof doing that, and that's where
a lot of it's made in thecommissary and brought to them.
You talk about the fact thatyou guys are at a place where
(06:00):
you're making stuff fresh everyday in house.
Help me understand how youguys, are able to do that.
Nicholas Fontenot (06:06):
Yeah, no, it's a great question.
So, yeah, 'cause look, at theend of the day, these stores
only have, enough time in theday to do what they, what needs
to get done.
And so yeah, the more things wethrow at them where it's like,
Hey, you need to make a doughevery few hours, you need to,
prep this and prep that and cutthis, and yeah.
Versus just doing it all andgiving it to him.
So, yeah, so you're right.
Tech does play a big part ofthat.
And that was one thing,whenever my business partner and
(06:27):
I decided to join Cross just afew years ago and to join the
original two, uh, founders ofthe company was we simplify
this?
How can we take, maketechnology and make it easier so
that we can scale this?
And because, the two originalpartners had an amazing brand
and they had an amazing concept.
They had amazing food.
but yeah, they had no tech, uh,they had no tech stack at all.
(06:49):
They, they're not tech guys.
and so, yeah.
Being able to go in, learn,learn the restaurant inside and
out.
I literally lived uh, one ofthe restaurants for a year and a
Jeremy Julian (06:58):
I love that.
Nicholas Fontenot (06:59):
a year before I even.
Started to change anything ordo anything, with tech.
And so just filling out andseeing where all the, what I
felt, where the gaps were andwhere we can use tech to, to
help, scale the brand and makeit what we're, where we are
today.
when we joined, I think we onlyhad a handful of locations and
I think we just opened store 33and by the end of the year we'll
be over 40.
So, having, all the systems inplace is, uh, is what allows you
(07:22):
to just put the pedal to themetal.
Jeremy Julian (07:24):
Yeah.
and so let's talk before wejump into point of sale, 'cause
I know you guys have built yourown point of sale and I wanna
talk about that.
But you alluded to the fact,Nick, that you started in the
stores.
You were there for quite sometime before you tried to enhance
anything.
I know pre-show, we talked alot about kind the back of the
house and how you automated theback of the house.
How did you tackle that?
because I think a lot ofpeople, the franchisees a lot of
(07:46):
times are like, ah.
I dunno is what did corporatetell me to do?
And then I'm just gonna go,follow the checklist and do
that, which is great.
But you had to almost createthose checklists and figure them
out and then say, how do I putthem into a system to automate
them and make sure that they'redelivering on that consistency?
'cause nothing hurts a brandworse than when you get outside
of the core and you can't visitthe stores every day.
And then the product goesdownhill and the.
(08:08):
Operations going down goesdownhill.
And I know you guys are, haveinvested a lot early on so that
you don't get to that place.
So I'd love to get inside ofyour brain and say what exactly
did you do and where did youstart to invest time, money, and
energy to get new things goingto help the brand to be able to
be successful.
Nicholas Fontenot (08:24):
Yeah, no, all.
Yeah.
Super.
Great question.
So, the thing with, if we make,if we back up for a second and
we talk about, my last franchiseconcept, which was main
squeeze, I actually startedfirst building the POS and then
I built all of the tools to helpthe stores operationally behind
it.
And so.
Crust.
I knew that, that should havebeen opposite.
Jeremy Julian (08:44):
POS is hard.
POS is hard, man.
Nicholas Fontenot (08:47):
it is.
And but also runningrestaurants hard
Jeremy Julian (08:49):
Yeah.
Nicholas Fontenot (08:49):
having the right systems in place and not
being able to look back and see,where something went wrong or
where the, the gap is tough.
So.
Yeah, so that's what I did withCrust.
I basically did what I wish Iwould've done with main squeeze.
I started with all the kitchentools, and so when I say kitchen
tools, we have everything youcan imagine and more we can, uh,
that we can do in our kitchen.
So we have our own private appthat, that they can, uh, print
(09:12):
date dots on.
Uh, so corporately we, uh, we.
Put how long things last for.
And so every employee has theirown pen.
So when they put in their pen,it prints out a date dot form.
It tells me who made thedate.at what the time they made
it, how many they made, likewhen they're prepping.
Uh, and at any point in time wecan go in and do audits on the
store to make sure, uh,nothing's expired, whatever.
(09:32):
Uh, we have, uh, we developedit where we have sensors in all
of our coolers, all of ourfridges, all of our, uh, warming
boxes, everything like that,where I can make sure that.
That, uh, the stores are attemp at all time.
It sends the owner and themanager messages if for some
reason temp is not, uh, reportedback three times, uh, what it
should be.
we have opening checklists thatare all automated that all the
(09:54):
employees can do from theirphones or they can do it from
the kitchen app to make sureeverything's being done.
They can upload photos whenthey're, when they finished each
task.
so opening midday closingchecklist that are all
automated.
If they're not doing, if forsome reason they, they fall
behind on a checklist, it sendsthem a, an EA text and email
alert.
Hey, this is not done yet.
You need to do it.
so again, just using technologyso that all of these things, we
(10:16):
hold a brand standard, and thenwe also have somebody from
corporate that their job everyday is to visit multiple stores
and they're doing these random,we call 'em RFCs Restaurant
Systematic Evaluations.
And so they, the stores don'teven know when they're coming,
but they show up and they makesure that, and again, that's run
on another application that webuild.
That it's just a checklist thatthey go through.
They take pictures, it tells'em if they failed that point
(10:37):
last time.
it tells 'em if they've, ifthey failed it again.
and then at the end it gives'em a to-do list that it sends
'em an email and says, okay,this is what you failed.
This is how you need to fix it.
Once it's fixed, you upload ithere, show me pictures.
And then they come back and,and I guess, make sure it's done
properly.
Jeremy Julian (10:52):
and I, the cool part and the, amazing part for
me, Nick, is how often thesethings are an afterthought
before people scale.
they go run out 'cause they'vegot a great product and they've
got a great brand.
They go run out and sell abunch of franchises and then
they get out there and thequality.
Suffers and then they end upgetting, getting beat up about
the quality.
But in the first 6, 8, 10stores that they had that were
(11:14):
core, they were great.
And so the fact that you guyshave put these systems in place,
did that system architectureand that thought from you and
your partner, did it just comefrom realizing, franchising that
these are things that you needto do?
because even what I mean at.
Less than 40 stores.
The amount of tech that youguys have, even in just in your
kitchen before we get to thefront of the house, is pretty
remarkable.
(11:35):
there's brands that are 2, 3, 4times the size, 10 times the
size of you guys that are, don'thave all of these things in
place, or they went and boughtsomething off the shelf.
And I'd love to talk to youabout why you guys built it
versus bought it, but, uh, buttell me really, where did that
thinking come from and why wasit such an important thing to
invest before the scale?
Nicholas Fontenot (11:52):
Yeah.
No, yeah.
Again, great question.
So, one thing that I realizedwhen growing Main squeeze, and
we didn't even talk about this,but we were one of the fastest
growing, uh, fast casual healthconcepts in America at the time.
That when I saw sold out.
But, having a great product anda great brand helps sell
franchises, but.
I learned that sells franchisesmore is good technology and a
(12:13):
good tech stack because peopleget excited about that.
They want to know that whenthey sign up with a brand, it's,
we call it a business in a box.
They wanna know when they signup with a brand that, that
they're gonna get the tools andthat they need to be successful
tech does that.
Jeremy Julian (12:27):
Yeah.
Nicholas Fontenot (12:28):
and so that's, we sold 54 locations in
two and a half years.
That's insane for a brand newconcept.
we had one store and sold 54locations in two years because
of the tech stack.
And
Jeremy Julian (12:39):
That's incredible.
Nicholas Fontenot (12:40):
brand and we had great product as well.
So I don't wanna take all thecredit, but, but yeah, so I knew
that with Crust we needed to dothe same thing, especially if
we wanted to grow, we wanted toscale it because a pizza concept
is, there's a lot more movingparts than making smoothies and
juices.
and so.
to me, just being anentrepreneur and business owner,
I know that the two mostimportant things with owning a
(13:01):
business, and the reason whypeople fail businesses is either
they, they didn't make enoughmoney, so then they spent too
much money on their cost ofgoods, or they spent too much
money on their labor.
and so building tech thatallows our stores to, to see
that at all times in real time,how, where they're overspending,
and if their labor is too highin certain places.
it was vital.
(13:21):
And so we didn't, and we didn'teven talked about that part
yet, how we do that.
but yeah, that was really why Iwanted to focus in on the tools
before the POS.
And so it's been a few yearsnow.
We, I think, it's been abouttwo and a three years.
started the POS and we're,we're on our way to, to launch
it over the next 60 days.
But having that, it's justgonna open up a whole nother
facet of resources and of coursedata is key, so having all that
(13:43):
data at our fingertips is gonnabe incredible.
Jeremy Julian (13:46):
Yeah.
So tell me, on all of yourguys' items, like you guys
aren't making the mixers.
So at, where do you guys, and Ijust left RLCA couple weeks
ago, at the time of thisrecording, Restaurant leadership
conference.
Great conference for restaurantexecutives to learn.
There was a whole debate onbuild versus buy, and it sounds
like you guys are of that.
Build ilk, at least as itrelates to technology, rather
(14:08):
than going and buying somethingoff the shelf.
Or maybe you start with buyingsomething off the shelf, learn
where its frailties are andthen, so talk me through that
before we jump into POS.
'cause I really do want to getinto why did you guys, why are
you guys building your own POSand launching it?
But even in this, a lot ofthese back office things, even
that product for data dots, Ihave people ask me all the time.
What's everybody doing for dataDots and nine Outta 10
(14:30):
customers are still just writingthe name, the date and sticking
it on the data dot without aprep list or without a
understanding what those thingsare.
And you're nodding for thosethat are listening on the audio,
I'm sure so many of ouroperators are still in that spot
where they're still doing itthe same way that they did it in
1996 where a day dot, theywrite the date, they don't even
check who did it or any of thosekind of things.
And so I love that you guyshave automated that, but why
(14:52):
build because it's a lot ofwork.
It's in, it's.
capital intensive to do that.
I agree with you long term,it's the right PLA plan, but
short term it's hard.
Nicholas Fontenot (15:01):
No, you're right.
and again, having my backgroundwhere I've, I guess my take on
it is be because I've done itbefore and because, this is not
like my first rodeo.
Yeah.
I'm, I, I understand mostpeople, it probably makes more
sense to partner with somebodywho's built it and done it.
but what I've found is,especially when you have so many
franchise partners, is the morethird party, companies we ask
them to work with, the lesslikely they are to use it.
(15:24):
Because it's, they now have toremove a login.
They, it's another companythey're having to pay monthly
for this service, and then theyhave an issue, so then they're
having to call 'em.
And it's just, it reallymuddies up when you have,
different third party companiesand nothing talking to each
other either.
and so it's just, it makes moresense for us and especially
with my background and our, andmy tech team that, that's been
with me for, uh, 15 plus years.
(15:45):
to just do it, just build it.
and so, yeah, a lot of timeswe'll find a company that, that
maybe has that tech, we'llpurchase it for, six months, a
year, whatever, learn it, think,figure out the things that we
love about it, things that wehate about it, and then we just
uh, build our own from it.
But, but yeah, so that's, Iguess that's my answer in short.
Yeah.
It's just, it's easier, for me.
Jeremy Julian (16:06):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
and again, I'm sure you guysfound that there's data
companies out there, there'schecklist companies out there,
there's back office companiesout there that do purchasing and
inventory.
And you guys have chosen to dono different than we talked
about pre-show, build your ownpoint of sale.
So talk to me a little bitabout where you guys are at on
the point of sale journey.
'cause, uh.
that's hard too.
it's, there's a lot of movingparts and pieces.
(16:28):
You got a lot of things thatare out there that you guys had
to think about.
and I think you guys startedsimilarly with an Offthe shelf
product and built on top of itand then ran into limitations.
And so you guys decided to gobuild your own ordering
platform.
So talk me through where youguys are at on that journey and
how that whole thing transpired.
Speaker (16:45):
And now a word from one of our sponsors.
Every restaurant operatorunderstands the chaos of a
restaurant kitchen during themeal rush.
Restaurant technologies, oil,total oil management solutions,
an end-to-end automated oilmanagement system that delivers
filters, monitors, and recyclesyour cooking oil, taking the
dirtiest jobs outta your kitchenand letting your employees
focus on more important tasks.
(17:05):
Control the kitchen, chaos withrestaurant technologies, and
make your kitchen safer.
No upfront cost.
To learn more, check out RTIdash i c.com or call 8 8 8 7 9 6
4 9 9 6.
Nicholas Fontenot (17:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So when I joined the company,we were using a, uh, a different
POS, it wasn't evencloud-based.
so if the, our original, my ormy partners, my, the original
founders wanted to know what astore did and sells the night
prior, they'd have to literallygo to the store and look at the
POS or look at the receipts,which I was like.
Whoa, to upgrade.
And so, uh, knowing that I, howI wanted to come into the
(17:41):
company, knowing how I wanted tobuild the backend tools and to
help support the team.
And when I say team, all of ouremployees.
So I wanted to build employeepools that would help them do
their job better.
I.
More efficiently.
I wanted to build tools for ourcustomers to make sure that, we
know they're having a goodexperience.
And we haven't even talkedabout all these different tools.
But, and so knowing all that, Iknew that I couldn't tackle
(18:02):
both at the same time.
And so I found A-A-P-O-Spartner that I felt could grow
with us and get us to the finishline.
and, I made sure they had allthe right APIs so that when we
were ready to integrate in allof our tools, uh, we could do so
and so, we signed up withtoast, years and years ago.
This was before they were evena pub, publicly traded company.
and of course they promised useverything under the sun.
(18:22):
I.
Again, this is not like methrowing shade at them, but, at
the end of the day, I think, alot of things have changed with
their company.
Uh, once they went public and,we're not getting the support
and the help and the futurevision that, that where they're
heading it, there's a lot ofthings that, they, for them,
they built it.
for it to work with everybusiness model.
Not just restaurants, whateveror every type of business, every
(18:45):
type of restaurant even.
And so, things like multi-levelfulfillment, we need, and I
dunno, there, there was, wewrote everything down and sent
it to 'em.
hey, this is the stuff that we,that is gonna help us run our
business.
they're like, this, these areall great ideas, it's just gonna
go in a, it's gonna go in aqueue, we may never get to it.
We may get to it.
and we waited.
Another year or so, and nothingever changed.
(19:06):
And so at that point, again,with my background of already
doing this two other times,building PSS two other times,
I'm like, it's gonna beexpensive.
It's gonna cost, a lot.
It's gonna take a lot of mytime and energy.
obvious, obviously it's gonnabe a big change for all of our
franchisees eventually once,once it's completed.
But are we willing to make thatinvestment and do it?
And and so the obvious answerwas yes.
(19:27):
And so yeah, we've been workingon it for about a year and a
half.
And, and yeah, we're gettingclose to the launch and I'm a
little bit nervous because it'sobviously not gonna be perfect,
but, but yeah, it's, we're gonnahave some tools in there that
we don't have now, which, we'll,I think the stores will be
excited about.
Jeremy Julian (19:41):
and I love that you guys, again, I love just in
general how you guys have taken,control of your own destiny,
not just from the food and theproduction side.
you guys got a unique productand doing different things, and
so it's not your run of the millfast casual pizza place.
And then in addition to that,you guys have said, you know
what?
We're gonna control the guestexperience, which to me is a big
piece of everybody'srestaurant.
(20:01):
And I think sometimes,philosophically I believe, and
as a business, we believe thattech should not dictate how the
restaurant operates.
The restaurant should operatehow the restaurant operates, and
tech should enhance thatexperience and allow them to do
what they need to do.
When you think about pizzathough, pizza is a very unique,
dining experience, and you'vegot really tech forward
companies that are out therethat have.
You know that, that measuretheir sales in billions, a
(20:23):
Domino's and a Pizza Hut and aPapa John's.
And so you guys are, while it'sdefinitely not the same
product, you're still competingfor that same consumer spend.
When they say, do I want pizzatoday?
Do I want crust or do I want togo order Domino's and have it
delivered?
They oftentimes have set thetrend on what the expectations
are for even non pizza brands.
So how do you think about that?
(20:44):
Nick, 'cause whether it's theDomino's Pizza tracker, I was at
EC in March earlier, last monthI guess.
and somebody from Domino's wasup on stage.
Just how they even thoughtabout the Domino's Pizza tracker
and how even delivering to aball field or delivering to a
non-traditional address wassomething that they also added
in.
How do you guys think aboutthat as it relates to the guest
experience?
'cause you've got the in-storepoint of sale, but most pizza
(21:06):
places have some form ofdelivery and or off-prem and I'm
sure you guys are no exceptionto that.
Nicholas Fontenot (21:12):
Yeah.
the thing with us is,especially in the pizza realm,
is it's super easy to get caughtup.
Is, especially in the pizzarealm, is it's super easy to get
caught up.
And even being growing up onpizza, the first thing I would
do.
Back in the day when I'd callup a pizza place, I'd say, Hey,
what dis what promos you guysrunning?
just, I'm like, you don't dothat with any other brand, any
other type of food is, ask themwhat discounts you have.
(21:33):
And so, it's, it was reallytough to.
push away from that.
But I think over the years ourcustomers don't really, they're
not looking at Crust going, Hey,what, what type of discounts do
you have?
What coupons do you have?
Whatever.
'cause we really don't do thatsort of thing.
And so, you look at a brandlike Chick-fil-A, like they're,
they don't really.
They don't do promos.
They, they do have a customer,app that, that you can download
(21:54):
and get rewards and all that.
They have a rewards program,which is really cool.
Uh, and so that's really whatwe're focused in on is creating
a super nice, super cool, uh,reward program for our guests
to, to reward our returnmembers.
and.
And yeah, that's really whatwe're focused in on versus,
trying to compete with theDominoes.
'cause we'll never, we'll neverbe as cheap as them.
but again, we, it's not thesame dining experience for sure.
Jeremy Julian (22:17):
Yeah.
And again, I just, I, it wasone of those things that I was
thinking about.
I'm like, how in the heck?
And I, and again, you guys arenot in the same space, but
consumers continue to drive ourbehavior.
They continue to drive what itis that we're doing, from a tech
stack.
we have to invest in technologyevery day at North Star, and we
have to build features thatconsumers are looking for and
brands are looking for.
So I just was wondering how youguys think through that.
(22:39):
So, Just cause it's hard tocontinue to invest and, uh, know
that you're gonna hit those,uh, those paths.
I'm gonna flip the, not flip itaround a little bit, but I'm
gonna dig a little bit deeperinto kind of your guys'
thoughts.
I know we're recording this inlate April.
You got a couple of, couplemore weeks till you guys are
getting out to the field.
How have you considered.
Rolling out New Tech to thefranchise world.
(22:59):
'cause it's hard too becausethey're used to the ways that
they are.
They're running their shops theway that they're running them.
They likely are on some otherform of tech stack.
And so you guys have had toroll out over the last three
years different pieces oftechnology, whether it's the
point of sale or the back officesystem.
And oftentimes that comes at acost.
And oftentimes that comes at achange management component.
How have you guys consideredthat as a brand?
(23:21):
Because.
I also see technologyinvestments fail because the
franchisees don't adopt them.
So then they don't get theresults.
And when they don't get theresults now they don't trust
corporate when they're bringingout something new.
And again, I'm sure at yourlast two, two roles you had this
problem.
So how do you guys think aboutthat?
For those that are also in thefranchise business that might be
listening to the show, how doyou guys make sure that it's
gonna hit the nail on the headand make sure that it's really
(23:43):
delivering the value that youguys were hoping for prior to
making the investment?
Nicholas Fontenot (23:47):
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
So, I have a handful of storesthat I like to test some of
these new features out with,because at the end of the day,
it can work great in my officeand my developer's office.
And it, it looks fancy and it'sgot all these nice buttons and
I.
it does all these cool things,but if, if the stores aren't,
yeah, aren't using them or don'tunderstand it, or maybe it's
not, in the real worldapplication, it's not doing all
the things it should do.
(24:07):
And so, yeah, I, I usually runit through a handful of stores,
get feedback, fix it, do itagain, get feedback, fix it.
And, I usually give it, I'd saytwo to four weeks of just
testing it, beating it up, andthen roll it out.
with the stores, that issomething I can probably do a
bit, a little bit better job of.
is, uh, to the stores better,uh, about what it does and how
it can help them.
Because for me it's oncesomething rolls out, I'm onto
(24:29):
the next, where do we Versus,but that is also part of, I was
talking about es earlier, thatis part of the RSE is that when,
uh, when they do come into thestore from corporate, they make
sure that they are using all thetools and that they understand
all the tools, and that's partof that checklist.
And so that does help, that aswell.
Jeremy Julian (24:46):
and I think, like you said, they, franchisees get
excited about this stuff 'causethey realize that you guys are
on the cutting edge of, uh, ofreally investing in the stores
and not, it's not some stagnantthing that you guys are doing.
You're constantly looking toinnovate and not, I'm sure the
same.
It sounds like the same cultureexists, whether it's on menu
innovation, it's storeinnovation, it's tech
innovation.
You guys are at that place, andultimately, at the end of the
(25:06):
day, successful franchiseescontinue to grow and continue to
be happy with the brand, andthen they trust you.
And it's a very symbioticrelationship.
Once they stop being able to dothat, it turns problematic.
Medic.
Nicholas Fontenot (25:17):
a lot of these franchisees, signed up
Fort Cross because of, when wedid our discovery day and we
showed 'em the tech stack andwhere we're at and how forward
thinking we are and even showedthem the roadmap of what, where
we want to be, And so I think alot of these franchisees are
excited to get new tech and andthen they embrace it.
Jeremy Julian (25:33):
I love that.
last kind of question or thiyou guys talk about growing,
obviously we spent a lot of timetalking about how you guys have
invested in technology.
What, for those that want tolearn more about cross, help me
understand what, where are youguys at in your guys' kind of
growth cycle, primarily in kindof the Houston market for the
most part right now, but whereare you guys at?
and again, we're recording thisin late, uh, April of 2025.
(25:55):
So some people may listen tothis a year from now.
So, and maybe you guys will beat 500 shops by then, but who
knows?
We'll see.
So if they wanna learn more,about the shops and how to.
How to investigate whetherCrust is right for them.
where do they go and what doesthat look like?
Nicholas Fontenot (26:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, we have a franchisewebsite, crest franchise.com.
Jeremy Julian (26:13):
I.
Nicholas Fontenot (26:13):
we're about tapped out of Houston.
I think we have 27, 28locations in Houston.
So we're about, tapped out ofmarkets in Houston.
But, we are looking atfranchise partners and, I.
Other Texas markets, theDallas, San Antonio, Austin, uh,
and we are open to looking atother bigger markets like
Atlanta and the Carolinas andstuff like that.
As long as it comes with,multi, multi-units, we're not,
(26:34):
uh, it would take a lot of apool for us to take all of our
people out and, go to somewhereelse to train just for one
store.
So we're not super interestedin that, but.
but yeah, we, what's reallycool is because the brand, we
have such a following, with ourbrand, uh.
We get so many, uh, requests aday to become a franchisee.
And so we're, we are, to behonest, we are super selective
and super picky with who ourpartners are.
(26:55):
and so we're not just signinganybody up, but yeah, we'd love
to, we're really looking for,like I said, multi-unit, uh,
people who are already in thegame and not necessarily pizza
game, but franchise game andthen people who want to be, In
it, I don't, we're not reallylooking for somebody who just
wants to put money in it andwalk away.
We're, we want, we're wantsomebody who wants to be an
operator and, uh, get theirhands dirty.
Jeremy Julian (27:15):
and I think, uh, as we talked about quite a bit,
uh, in the show in general, it'sjust the quality of what you
guys do.
Fresh cut cheeses, doughs everyday sauces like you have to
understand and be passionateabout growing the business or
else you're gonna struggle togrow.
'cause it's not, uh, and again.
Lots of different franchiseopportunities and there's people
that are set it and forget.
(27:35):
It doesn't sound like that'sthe brand and there's a lot of
opportunity to make a hugedifference both in the community
and to grow quite a bit andmake some good money.
So, is what it sounds like atleast.
So I love that you guys arethinking that way.
Nicholas Fontenot (27:46):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And
Jeremy Julian (27:47):
I.
Nicholas Fontenot (27:47):
again, we, even though it does sound like a
lot, and yeah, at the end ofthe day we are, full fledged
restaurant.
we really have simplified itand, uh, and made it, dummy
proof, if you will, to, to pickit up and run with it as long as
you're, willing.
So I don't wanna scare anybody.
But yeah, it's, done a lot to,uh, to make it easy to operate,
in my opinion.
Jeremy Julian (28:05):
and I think, in general, in general I think it's
uh, I think it's significant,uh, that you guys are thinking
that way.
'cause I think I've watched inmy 30 year career, a lot of
people that grow so fast andthen they end up getting out
over their skis and they don'tend up having the right
franchisees and now they'respending all of their time
fighting the franchisees 'causethey pick the wrong partners and
it hurts the brand andultimately they lose it.
(28:26):
And so, just 'cause I'm surethis will come up if.
People want to even see what itis that you guys are doing.
Are you guys consideringcommercializing any of the tech
you guys are building for otherbrands?
is that gonna be anotherbusiness opportunity for you
guys or is it kinda only forcross and We're not gonna, we're
not gonna do anything there.
'cause I just, I could seesomebody saying, how do I get
Nicholas's Day dot, thing.
(28:47):
Or how do I get his back officeprogram?
Or how do I get his POS.
Nicholas Fontenot (28:50):
No, I, it's so funny, I've gotten asked this
so many times, even our opsmanager, who's, her background
comes from, I think she was withDickies and, uh, before that or
after that, she was with CleanJuice and, uh, she worked with
Marcus Limonis hand in hand witha franchise that he created.
So she's been in the game.
And so she said, Nick, I'vebeen with so many companies, big
companies, and nobody's hadanything like this, would you?
(29:12):
I.
Ever be interested in, in,licensing this or selling it or,
and I don't know.
I think that's something we'dreally, uh, we'd have to step
back and look at.
I think at the end of the day,there's so many.
paths you can take when you'rerunning a franchise.
And, the problem is I think ifwe white label this, it's just,
it's gonna take my energy andfocus away from what we're doing
right now.
and that's continuing to growthe brand and the business.
The goal over the next eightyears is to hit 250 locations.
Jeremy Julian (29:34):
Love that.
Nicholas Fontenot (29:35):
that's what our focus and energy's on right
now.
And so
Jeremy Julian (29:38):
Okay.
Nicholas Fontenot (29:39):
I'm never gonna say never, but at this
moment in time, it's for trust.
Jeremy Julian (29:42):
Okay.
I had a, I had an assumptionthat was gonna be where it was,
but I figured I'd ask 'cause uh,as you've said internally, it
happens.
And so you're gonna have awhole bunch of listeners that
are gonna be like, how do I getwhat he has?
So, what's the best way to stayupdated on what's going on with
Crust, and what's going on withNick and the team?
Nicholas Fontenot (29:59):
Yeah, that's a good question.
so again, crest franchise.comis our franchise website, crest
pizza co.com is our main one.
we, uh, we have a new sectionthere that, of all the new
things going on and locationsopening and, and so yeah, that'd
be probably be the best way, tostay up to date of what we're
up to.
Jeremy Julian (30:14):
Awesome.
I love that.
thank you for, uh, spendingtime with us and sharing why you
guys have done what you guyshave done.
as I said, I'm excited to, uh,to go check it out next time I'm
down in Houston or if, uh, ifyou guys find your way up this
way, I'll be down there thissummer at one point for sure.
'cause, uh, like I said to youprior to, uh.
I got a daughter who's insoftball.
Any longtime listeners knowthat I'm all over the country on
sporting event, uh, outing.
(30:34):
So I'll check it out.
Uh, to our listeners guys, uh,I know you guys have got lots of
choices, so thanks for hangingout with us.
If you haven't already done so,subscribe to the show on your
favorite listening platform.
Nick, thank you so much, and toour listeners, make it a great
day.
In today's episode, we are joined by one of the leaders
at Crust Pizza.
Crust Pizza is a brand out ofthe Houston market that is ready
to take the world by storm.
They're producing a verydifferent experience in the
world of.
Pizza and fast casual pizza.
They've got a very uniqueprocess and, uh, my guest,
Nicholas and I talk deeply aboutwhat makes them tick, what
(00:24):
makes them unique, and reallywhy they think they've got a
better brand of pizza fortoday's consumer and the things
that they're looking to do.
They've also done a lot in theway of streamlining the
franchise operation and whatthey think that each of the
franchisees need to have inorder to be successful.
Stay around till the end wherehe talks a lot about his tech
(00:44):
stack and all of the things thatthey have invested in at an
early stage so that they canhelp brands to thrive.
If you don't know me, my nameis Jeremy.
Julian.
I am the Chief Revenue Officerfor CBS North Star.
We wrote the North Star Pointof Sale solution for
multi-units.
Please check usout@cbsnorthstar.com and now
(01:05):
onto our episode.
Jeremy Julian (01:06):
Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining us.
As I say, each and every time.
I know you guys got lots ofchoices, so thanks for hanging
out with us today.
Today is a cool story 'causeuh, we're gonna talk with
Nicholas about the brand, but,uh, they are a brand that, that,
uh, even though you might notthink it, it's uh, it's.
there's not a whole lot ofpeople that are doing what these
guys are doing.
(01:26):
They've built, a lot of theirown tech stack.
And so we're gonna talk withNicholas both about the brand
that he gets the privilege ofworking with, and then why they
chose to go down this route.
So, but before we jump intothat, Nicholas, why don't you
introduce yourself?
You and I got a chance to, uh,pre-show, to talk a little bit
about kind your background, andI'm pretty intrigued about, uh,
about how it's pivoted from thedifferent places you've been to
(01:47):
now, where you're at with Crest.
Nicholas Fontenot (01:48):
Yeah.
No, I appreciate it and Iappreciate you having me on the
show.
So, so yeah, my name's NickFontenot right now.
Uh, I'm a partner and CTO atCrust Pizza Co.
the company's been around, uh,for quite some time.
we've been around since 2011,but, uh, I've been, uh, with the
company now for about three anda half years.
My background comes from, my,my very first, franchise concept
that I created was, uh, calledFix My Phone.
(02:10):
Uh, grew that I think three orfour or five different states.
Uh, learned the franchiseaspect of it.
and after that, uh, got intoanother, I created another
franchise concept, and that'swhere I dabbled in food.
Uh, I was, uh, was a partnerand original creator of Main
Speed's Juice Company.
Uh, and even before all that,I've just always been a
technology guy.
I've always loved tech.
(02:30):
my first, one of my first jobscoming outta college was for at
and t or singular back in theday.
So I've always been that technerd.
But, but yeah, no, I've, it'sbeen quite the journey and, uh,
I ex I'm excited to see whereCress goes.
'cause our, uh, how fast we'regrowing right now is insane.
Jeremy Julian (02:45):
I love that.
So for those that are notfamiliar, 'cause you guys are
geographically kinda in thesouth Texas or Houston market
for the most part.
for those that are not familiarwith it, talk us through what
is crust pizza and I guess whateven drew you to the brand to
even join, three years ago I.
Nicholas Fontenot (02:59):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So Crust is a fast, casual,pizza concept.
we serve Chicago style thincrust pizza.
Uh, we really focus in on, uh,quality.
and so for example, our dough,we make four to five times a day
just depending on, how busy thestore is.
We make our dough four to fivetimes a day from scratch.
Uh, never even hits the fridgeor freezer.
And so I don't know of anyother concept that does that.
(03:21):
Uh, we have our ownproprietary, uh, blend of cheese
that, that is made juststrictly for us.
We hand, hand cut all of ourcheese every day.
We hand cut all of our veggies,hand cut all of our meats.
And so again, we really focusin on quality and, uh, and then
we try not to, uh, to be tooexpensive.
So, our typical customer.
we try to get them to come backa few times a week because,
(03:42):
we're not charging someabsorbent amount, uh, for our
menu items, even though they'regetting that quality.
and then as far as atmospheregoes, we, a lot of our,
furniture and stuff we sourcefrom like Restoration Hardware
and so we, we give you a nice,we tell people it's a place you
can take your spouse for a datenight.
And it's also, uh, somewhereyou could take your kids after a
ball game.
It's, we really do.
I.
Uh, we hit a very niche part ofthe market.
(04:03):
I don't, there's not many.
Whenever people are like, who'syour competition?
we really, I don't even know.
there's really no place likecrossed uh, and we hear that
every day from our customers, soit's really cool.
Jeremy Julian (04:13):
That's awesome.
and I know we, we talked alittle bit about a pre-show.
I've not had the privilege ofgoing yet, but uh, next time I'm
down in that neck of the woods,I'm gonna have to check it out.
What, I guess just 'cause itcaused a little bit of, uh, a
pause in my brain.
What is Chicago thin like?
I always think of Chicago isthick cru thick crust pizza.
So, walk me through, what isChicago thin crust pizza?
'cause I had no idea that theywere even, they even had a thin
(04:36):
crust pizza.
'cause I always think of NewYork as thin crust pizza.
Nicholas Fontenot (04:39):
yeah.
No, it's a, it's funny is wehear that all the time from
guests who you know, aren'tnecessarily from Chicago.
'cause if you're from Chicago,you're not asking that question
because believe it or not, morethin crust pizza is sold in
Chicago than deep dish.
And so, yeah, I
Jeremy Julian (04:53):
Interesting.
It's just the tourists, it'sthe tourist trap to get 'em in
for the, uh, the crust pizza or,
Nicholas Fontenot (04:57):
yeah, so if you're a tor, if you're a
taurist, you're getting thethick, pie slices, and you have
one piece and you're, gotta takea nap, right?
but no, uh, Chicago is actuallyknown for their thin crust.
Uh, and we cut all of ourpizzas and tavern, tavern style
where, it's not necessarily in,in the triangles.
We cut it in squares.
And, it's definitely a uniquetake on it.
and our guests love it.
Jeremy Julian (05:17):
I love that.
thanks for cut.
Cut.
scratching my itch that whenyou said Chicago, then I was
like, what the heck is that?
one of the dilemmas that we'veseen in this world as you go to
franchise when you try and doeverything fresh is that's
really hard.
That's really hard.
So I'd love to talk throughjust even how you guys have done
that.
'cause I think tech has playeda big part in ensuring that you
(05:38):
can make.
Dough fresh.
you think about some of thecontemporary places that are
fast casual, just in general, itdoesn't matter.
It could be corporate owned,like a Chipotle to a, franchise
group.
of a blaze or a ah, mod pizzathat are fast casual, but they
struggle with consistency ofproduct.
They struggle with consistencyof doing that, and that's where
a lot of it's made in thecommissary and brought to them.
You talk about the fact thatyou guys are at a place where
(06:00):
you're making stuff fresh everyday in house.
Help me understand how youguys, are able to do that.
Nicholas Fontenot (06:06):
Yeah, no, it's a great question.
So, yeah, 'cause look, at theend of the day, these stores
only have, enough time in theday to do what they, what needs
to get done.
And so yeah, the more things wethrow at them where it's like,
Hey, you need to make a doughevery few hours, you need to,
prep this and prep that and cutthis, and yeah.
Versus just doing it all andgiving it to him.
So, yeah, so you're right.
Tech does play a big part ofthat.
And that was one thing,whenever my business partner and
(06:27):
I decided to join Cross just afew years ago and to join the
original two, uh, founders ofthe company was we simplify
this?
How can we take, maketechnology and make it easier so
that we can scale this?
And because, the two originalpartners had an amazing brand
and they had an amazing concept.
They had amazing food.
but yeah, they had no tech, uh,they had no tech stack at all.
(06:49):
They, they're not tech guys.
and so, yeah.
Being able to go in, learn,learn the restaurant inside and
out.
I literally lived uh, one ofthe restaurants for a year and a
Jeremy Julian (06:58):
I love that.
Nicholas Fontenot (06:59):
a year before I even.
Started to change anything ordo anything, with tech.
And so just filling out andseeing where all the, what I
felt, where the gaps were andwhere we can use tech to, to
help, scale the brand and makeit what we're, where we are
today.
when we joined, I think we onlyhad a handful of locations and
I think we just opened store 33and by the end of the year we'll
be over 40.
So, having, all the systems inplace is, uh, is what allows you
(07:22):
to just put the pedal to themetal.
Jeremy Julian (07:24):
Yeah.
and so let's talk before wejump into point of sale, 'cause
I know you guys have built yourown point of sale and I wanna
talk about that.
But you alluded to the fact,Nick, that you started in the
stores.
You were there for quite sometime before you tried to enhance
anything.
I know pre-show, we talked alot about kind the back of the
house and how you automated theback of the house.
How did you tackle that?
because I think a lot ofpeople, the franchisees a lot of
(07:46):
times are like, ah.
I dunno is what did corporatetell me to do?
And then I'm just gonna go,follow the checklist and do
that, which is great.
But you had to almost createthose checklists and figure them
out and then say, how do I putthem into a system to automate
them and make sure that they'redelivering on that consistency?
'cause nothing hurts a brandworse than when you get outside
of the core and you can't visitthe stores every day.
And then the product goesdownhill and the.
(08:08):
Operations going down goesdownhill.
And I know you guys are, haveinvested a lot early on so that
you don't get to that place.
So I'd love to get inside ofyour brain and say what exactly
did you do and where did youstart to invest time, money, and
energy to get new things goingto help the brand to be able to
be successful.
Nicholas Fontenot (08:24):
Yeah, no, all.
Yeah.
Super.
Great question.
So, the thing with, if we make,if we back up for a second and
we talk about, my last franchiseconcept, which was main
squeeze, I actually startedfirst building the POS and then
I built all of the tools to helpthe stores operationally behind
it.
And so.
Crust.
I knew that, that should havebeen opposite.
Jeremy Julian (08:44):
POS is hard.
POS is hard, man.
Nicholas Fontenot (08:47):
it is.
And but also runningrestaurants hard
Jeremy Julian (08:49):
Yeah.
Nicholas Fontenot (08:49):
having the right systems in place and not
being able to look back and see,where something went wrong or
where the, the gap is tough.
So.
Yeah, so that's what I did withCrust.
I basically did what I wish Iwould've done with main squeeze.
I started with all the kitchentools, and so when I say kitchen
tools, we have everything youcan imagine and more we can, uh,
that we can do in our kitchen.
So we have our own private appthat, that they can, uh, print
(09:12):
date dots on.
Uh, so corporately we, uh, we.
Put how long things last for.
And so every employee has theirown pen.
So when they put in their pen,it prints out a date dot form.
It tells me who made thedate.at what the time they made
it, how many they made, likewhen they're prepping.
Uh, and at any point in time wecan go in and do audits on the
store to make sure, uh,nothing's expired, whatever.
(09:32):
Uh, we have, uh, we developedit where we have sensors in all
of our coolers, all of ourfridges, all of our, uh, warming
boxes, everything like that,where I can make sure that.
That, uh, the stores are attemp at all time.
It sends the owner and themanager messages if for some
reason temp is not, uh, reportedback three times, uh, what it
should be.
we have opening checklists thatare all automated that all the
(09:54):
employees can do from theirphones or they can do it from
the kitchen app to make sureeverything's being done.
They can upload photos whenthey're, when they finished each
task.
so opening midday closingchecklist that are all
automated.
If they're not doing, if forsome reason they, they fall
behind on a checklist, it sendsthem a, an EA text and email
alert.
Hey, this is not done yet.
You need to do it.
so again, just using technologyso that all of these things, we
(10:16):
hold a brand standard, and thenwe also have somebody from
corporate that their job everyday is to visit multiple stores
and they're doing these random,we call 'em RFCs Restaurant
Systematic Evaluations.
And so they, the stores don'teven know when they're coming,
but they show up and they makesure that, and again, that's run
on another application that webuild.
That it's just a checklist thatthey go through.
They take pictures, it tells'em if they failed that point
(10:37):
last time.
it tells 'em if they've, ifthey failed it again.
and then at the end it gives'em a to-do list that it sends
'em an email and says, okay,this is what you failed.
This is how you need to fix it.
Once it's fixed, you upload ithere, show me pictures.
And then they come back and,and I guess, make sure it's done
properly.
Jeremy Julian (10:52):
and I, the cool part and the, amazing part for
me, Nick, is how often thesethings are an afterthought
before people scale.
they go run out 'cause they'vegot a great product and they've
got a great brand.
They go run out and sell abunch of franchises and then
they get out there and thequality.
Suffers and then they end upgetting, getting beat up about
the quality.
But in the first 6, 8, 10stores that they had that were
(11:14):
core, they were great.
And so the fact that you guyshave put these systems in place,
did that system architectureand that thought from you and
your partner, did it just comefrom realizing, franchising that
these are things that you needto do?
because even what I mean at.
Less than 40 stores.
The amount of tech that youguys have, even in just in your
kitchen before we get to thefront of the house, is pretty
remarkable.
(11:35):
there's brands that are 2, 3, 4times the size, 10 times the
size of you guys that are, don'thave all of these things in
place, or they went and boughtsomething off the shelf.
And I'd love to talk to youabout why you guys built it
versus bought it, but, uh, buttell me really, where did that
thinking come from and why wasit such an important thing to
invest before the scale?
Nicholas Fontenot (11:52):
Yeah.
No, yeah.
Again, great question.
So, one thing that I realizedwhen growing Main squeeze, and
we didn't even talk about this,but we were one of the fastest
growing, uh, fast casual healthconcepts in America at the time.
That when I saw sold out.
But, having a great product anda great brand helps sell
franchises, but.
I learned that sells franchisesmore is good technology and a
(12:13):
good tech stack because peopleget excited about that.
They want to know that whenthey sign up with a brand, it's,
we call it a business in a box.
They wanna know when they signup with a brand that, that
they're gonna get the tools andthat they need to be successful
tech does that.
Jeremy Julian (12:27):
Yeah.
Nicholas Fontenot (12:28):
and so that's, we sold 54 locations in
two and a half years.
That's insane for a brand newconcept.
we had one store and sold 54locations in two years because
of the tech stack.
And
Jeremy Julian (12:39):
That's incredible.
Nicholas Fontenot (12:40):
brand and we had great product as well.
So I don't wanna take all thecredit, but, but yeah, so I knew
that with Crust we needed to dothe same thing, especially if
we wanted to grow, we wanted toscale it because a pizza concept
is, there's a lot more movingparts than making smoothies and
juices.
and so.
to me, just being anentrepreneur and business owner,
I know that the two mostimportant things with owning a
(13:01):
business, and the reason whypeople fail businesses is either
they, they didn't make enoughmoney, so then they spent too
much money on their cost ofgoods, or they spent too much
money on their labor.
and so building tech thatallows our stores to, to see
that at all times in real time,how, where they're overspending,
and if their labor is too highin certain places.
it was vital.
(13:21):
And so we didn't, and we didn'teven talked about that part
yet, how we do that.
but yeah, that was really why Iwanted to focus in on the tools
before the POS.
And so it's been a few yearsnow.
We, I think, it's been abouttwo and a three years.
started the POS and we're,we're on our way to, to launch
it over the next 60 days.
But having that, it's justgonna open up a whole nother
facet of resources and of coursedata is key, so having all that
(13:43):
data at our fingertips is gonnabe incredible.
Jeremy Julian (13:46):
Yeah.
So tell me, on all of yourguys' items, like you guys
aren't making the mixers.
So at, where do you guys, and Ijust left RLCA couple weeks
ago, at the time of thisrecording, Restaurant leadership
conference.
Great conference for restaurantexecutives to learn.
There was a whole debate onbuild versus buy, and it sounds
like you guys are of that.
Build ilk, at least as itrelates to technology, rather
(14:08):
than going and buying somethingoff the shelf.
Or maybe you start with buyingsomething off the shelf, learn
where its frailties are andthen, so talk me through that
before we jump into POS.
'cause I really do want to getinto why did you guys, why are
you guys building your own POSand launching it?
But even in this, a lot ofthese back office things, even
that product for data dots, Ihave people ask me all the time.
What's everybody doing for dataDots and nine Outta 10
(14:30):
customers are still just writingthe name, the date and sticking
it on the data dot without aprep list or without a
understanding what those thingsare.
And you're nodding for thosethat are listening on the audio,
I'm sure so many of ouroperators are still in that spot
where they're still doing itthe same way that they did it in
1996 where a day dot, theywrite the date, they don't even
check who did it or any of thosekind of things.
And so I love that you guyshave automated that, but why
(14:52):
build because it's a lot ofwork.
It's in, it's.
capital intensive to do that.
I agree with you long term,it's the right PLA plan, but
short term it's hard.
Nicholas Fontenot (15:01):
No, you're right.
and again, having my backgroundwhere I've, I guess my take on
it is be because I've done itbefore and because, this is not
like my first rodeo.
Yeah.
I'm, I, I understand mostpeople, it probably makes more
sense to partner with somebodywho's built it and done it.
but what I've found is,especially when you have so many
franchise partners, is the morethird party, companies we ask
them to work with, the lesslikely they are to use it.
(15:24):
Because it's, they now have toremove a login.
They, it's another companythey're having to pay monthly
for this service, and then theyhave an issue, so then they're
having to call 'em.
And it's just, it reallymuddies up when you have,
different third party companiesand nothing talking to each
other either.
and so it's just, it makes moresense for us and especially
with my background and our, andmy tech team that, that's been
with me for, uh, 15 plus years.
(15:45):
to just do it, just build it.
and so, yeah, a lot of timeswe'll find a company that, that
maybe has that tech, we'llpurchase it for, six months, a
year, whatever, learn it, think,figure out the things that we
love about it, things that wehate about it, and then we just
uh, build our own from it.
But, but yeah, so that's, Iguess that's my answer in short.
Yeah.
It's just, it's easier, for me.
Jeremy Julian (16:06):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
and again, I'm sure you guysfound that there's data
companies out there, there'schecklist companies out there,
there's back office companiesout there that do purchasing and
inventory.
And you guys have chosen to dono different than we talked
about pre-show, build your ownpoint of sale.
So talk to me a little bitabout where you guys are at on
the point of sale journey.
'cause, uh.
that's hard too.
it's, there's a lot of movingparts and pieces.
(16:28):
You got a lot of things thatare out there that you guys had
to think about.
and I think you guys startedsimilarly with an Offthe shelf
product and built on top of itand then ran into limitations.
And so you guys decided to gobuild your own ordering
platform.
So talk me through where youguys are at on that journey and
how that whole thing transpired.
Speaker (16:45):
And now a word from one of our sponsors.
Every restaurant operatorunderstands the chaos of a
restaurant kitchen during themeal rush.
Restaurant technologies, oil,total oil management solutions,
an end-to-end automated oilmanagement system that delivers
filters, monitors, and recyclesyour cooking oil, taking the
dirtiest jobs outta your kitchenand letting your employees
focus on more important tasks.
(17:05):
Control the kitchen, chaos withrestaurant technologies, and
make your kitchen safer.
No upfront cost.
To learn more, check out RTIdash i c.com or call 8 8 8 7 9 6
4 9 9 6.
Nicholas Fontenot (17:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So when I joined the company,we were using a, uh, a different
POS, it wasn't evencloud-based.
so if the, our original, my ormy partners, my, the original
founders wanted to know what astore did and sells the night
prior, they'd have to literallygo to the store and look at the
POS or look at the receipts,which I was like.
Whoa, to upgrade.
And so, uh, knowing that I, howI wanted to come into the
(17:41):
company, knowing how I wanted tobuild the backend tools and to
help support the team.
And when I say team, all of ouremployees.
So I wanted to build employeepools that would help them do
their job better.
I.
More efficiently.
I wanted to build tools for ourcustomers to make sure that, we
know they're having a goodexperience.
And we haven't even talkedabout all these different tools.
But, and so knowing all that, Iknew that I couldn't tackle
(18:02):
both at the same time.
And so I found A-A-P-O-Spartner that I felt could grow
with us and get us to the finishline.
and, I made sure they had allthe right APIs so that when we
were ready to integrate in allof our tools, uh, we could do so
and so, we signed up withtoast, years and years ago.
This was before they were evena pub, publicly traded company.
and of course they promised useverything under the sun.
(18:22):
I.
Again, this is not like methrowing shade at them, but, at
the end of the day, I think, alot of things have changed with
their company.
Uh, once they went public and,we're not getting the support
and the help and the futurevision that, that where they're
heading it, there's a lot ofthings that, they, for them,
they built it.
for it to work with everybusiness model.
Not just restaurants, whateveror every type of business, every
(18:45):
type of restaurant even.
And so, things like multi-levelfulfillment, we need, and I
dunno, there, there was, wewrote everything down and sent
it to 'em.
hey, this is the stuff that we,that is gonna help us run our
business.
they're like, this, these areall great ideas, it's just gonna
go in a, it's gonna go in aqueue, we may never get to it.
We may get to it.
and we waited.
Another year or so, and nothingever changed.
(19:06):
And so at that point, again,with my background of already
doing this two other times,building PSS two other times,
I'm like, it's gonna beexpensive.
It's gonna cost, a lot.
It's gonna take a lot of mytime and energy.
obvious, obviously it's gonnabe a big change for all of our
franchisees eventually once,once it's completed.
But are we willing to make thatinvestment and do it?
And and so the obvious answerwas yes.
(19:27):
And so yeah, we've been workingon it for about a year and a
half.
And, and yeah, we're gettingclose to the launch and I'm a
little bit nervous because it'sobviously not gonna be perfect,
but, but yeah, it's, we're gonnahave some tools in there that
we don't have now, which, we'll,I think the stores will be
excited about.
Jeremy Julian (19:41):
and I love that you guys, again, I love just in
general how you guys have taken,control of your own destiny,
not just from the food and theproduction side.
you guys got a unique productand doing different things, and
so it's not your run of the millfast casual pizza place.
And then in addition to that,you guys have said, you know
what?
We're gonna control the guestexperience, which to me is a big
piece of everybody'srestaurant.
(20:01):
And I think sometimes,philosophically I believe, and
as a business, we believe thattech should not dictate how the
restaurant operates.
The restaurant should operatehow the restaurant operates, and
tech should enhance thatexperience and allow them to do
what they need to do.
When you think about pizzathough, pizza is a very unique,
dining experience, and you'vegot really tech forward
companies that are out therethat have.
You know that, that measuretheir sales in billions, a
(20:23):
Domino's and a Pizza Hut and aPapa John's.
And so you guys are, while it'sdefinitely not the same
product, you're still competingfor that same consumer spend.
When they say, do I want pizzatoday?
Do I want crust or do I want togo order Domino's and have it
delivered?
They oftentimes have set thetrend on what the expectations
are for even non pizza brands.
So how do you think about that?
(20:44):
Nick, 'cause whether it's theDomino's Pizza tracker, I was at
EC in March earlier, last monthI guess.
and somebody from Domino's wasup on stage.
Just how they even thoughtabout the Domino's Pizza tracker
and how even delivering to aball field or delivering to a
non-traditional address wassomething that they also added
in.
How do you guys think aboutthat as it relates to the guest
experience?
'cause you've got the in-storepoint of sale, but most pizza
(21:06):
places have some form ofdelivery and or off-prem and I'm
sure you guys are no exceptionto that.
Nicholas Fontenot (21:12):
Yeah.
the thing with us is,especially in the pizza realm,
is it's super easy to get caughtup.
Is, especially in the pizzarealm, is it's super easy to get
caught up.
And even being growing up onpizza, the first thing I would
do.
Back in the day when I'd callup a pizza place, I'd say, Hey,
what dis what promos you guysrunning?
just, I'm like, you don't dothat with any other brand, any
other type of food is, ask themwhat discounts you have.
(21:33):
And so, it's, it was reallytough to.
push away from that.
But I think over the years ourcustomers don't really, they're
not looking at Crust going, Hey,what, what type of discounts do
you have?
What coupons do you have?
Whatever.
'cause we really don't do thatsort of thing.
And so, you look at a brandlike Chick-fil-A, like they're,
they don't really.
They don't do promos.
They, they do have a customer,app that, that you can download
(21:54):
and get rewards and all that.
They have a rewards program,which is really cool.
Uh, and so that's really whatwe're focused in on is creating
a super nice, super cool, uh,reward program for our guests
to, to reward our returnmembers.
and.
And yeah, that's really whatwe're focused in on versus,
trying to compete with theDominoes.
'cause we'll never, we'll neverbe as cheap as them.
but again, we, it's not thesame dining experience for sure.
Jeremy Julian (22:17):
Yeah.
And again, I just, I, it wasone of those things that I was
thinking about.
I'm like, how in the heck?
And I, and again, you guys arenot in the same space, but
consumers continue to drive ourbehavior.
They continue to drive what itis that we're doing, from a tech
stack.
we have to invest in technologyevery day at North Star, and we
have to build features thatconsumers are looking for and
brands are looking for.
So I just was wondering how youguys think through that.
(22:39):
So, Just cause it's hard tocontinue to invest and, uh, know
that you're gonna hit those,uh, those paths.
I'm gonna flip the, not flip itaround a little bit, but I'm
gonna dig a little bit deeperinto kind of your guys'
thoughts.
I know we're recording this inlate April.
You got a couple of, couplemore weeks till you guys are
getting out to the field.
How have you considered.
Rolling out New Tech to thefranchise world.
(22:59):
'cause it's hard too becausethey're used to the ways that
they are.
They're running their shops theway that they're running them.
They likely are on some otherform of tech stack.
And so you guys have had toroll out over the last three
years different pieces oftechnology, whether it's the
point of sale or the back officesystem.
And oftentimes that comes at acost.
And oftentimes that comes at achange management component.
How have you guys consideredthat as a brand?
(23:21):
Because.
I also see technologyinvestments fail because the
franchisees don't adopt them.
So then they don't get theresults.
And when they don't get theresults now they don't trust
corporate when they're bringingout something new.
And again, I'm sure at yourlast two, two roles you had this
problem.
So how do you guys think aboutthat?
For those that are also in thefranchise business that might be
listening to the show, how doyou guys make sure that it's
gonna hit the nail on the headand make sure that it's really
(23:43):
delivering the value that youguys were hoping for prior to
making the investment?
Nicholas Fontenot (23:47):
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
So, I have a handful of storesthat I like to test some of
these new features out with,because at the end of the day,
it can work great in my officeand my developer's office.
And it, it looks fancy and it'sgot all these nice buttons and
I.
it does all these cool things,but if, if the stores aren't,
yeah, aren't using them or don'tunderstand it, or maybe it's
not, in the real worldapplication, it's not doing all
the things it should do.
(24:07):
And so, yeah, I, I usually runit through a handful of stores,
get feedback, fix it, do itagain, get feedback, fix it.
And, I usually give it, I'd saytwo to four weeks of just
testing it, beating it up, andthen roll it out.
with the stores, that issomething I can probably do a
bit, a little bit better job of.
is, uh, to the stores better,uh, about what it does and how
it can help them.
Because for me it's oncesomething rolls out, I'm onto
(24:29):
the next, where do we Versus,but that is also part of, I was
talking about es earlier, thatis part of the RSE is that when,
uh, when they do come into thestore from corporate, they make
sure that they are using all thetools and that they understand
all the tools, and that's partof that checklist.
And so that does help, that aswell.
Jeremy Julian (24:46):
and I think, like you said, they, franchisees get
excited about this stuff 'causethey realize that you guys are
on the cutting edge of, uh, ofreally investing in the stores
and not, it's not some stagnantthing that you guys are doing.
You're constantly looking toinnovate and not, I'm sure the
same.
It sounds like the same cultureexists, whether it's on menu
innovation, it's storeinnovation, it's tech
innovation.
You guys are at that place, andultimately, at the end of the
(25:06):
day, successful franchiseescontinue to grow and continue to
be happy with the brand, andthen they trust you.
And it's a very symbioticrelationship.
Once they stop being able to dothat, it turns problematic.
Medic.
Nicholas Fontenot (25:17):
a lot of these franchisees, signed up
Fort Cross because of, when wedid our discovery day and we
showed 'em the tech stack andwhere we're at and how forward
thinking we are and even showedthem the roadmap of what, where
we want to be, And so I think alot of these franchisees are
excited to get new tech and andthen they embrace it.
Jeremy Julian (25:33):
I love that.
last kind of question or thiyou guys talk about growing,
obviously we spent a lot of timetalking about how you guys have
invested in technology.
What, for those that want tolearn more about cross, help me
understand what, where are youguys at in your guys' kind of
growth cycle, primarily in kindof the Houston market for the
most part right now, but whereare you guys at?
and again, we're recording thisin late, uh, April of 2025.
(25:55):
So some people may listen tothis a year from now.
So, and maybe you guys will beat 500 shops by then, but who
knows?
We'll see.
So if they wanna learn more,about the shops and how to.
How to investigate whetherCrust is right for them.
where do they go and what doesthat look like?
Nicholas Fontenot (26:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, we have a franchisewebsite, crest franchise.com.
Jeremy Julian (26:13):
I.
Nicholas Fontenot (26:13):
we're about tapped out of Houston.
I think we have 27, 28locations in Houston.
So we're about, tapped out ofmarkets in Houston.
But, we are looking atfranchise partners and, I.
Other Texas markets, theDallas, San Antonio, Austin, uh,
and we are open to looking atother bigger markets like
Atlanta and the Carolinas andstuff like that.
As long as it comes with,multi, multi-units, we're not,
(26:34):
uh, it would take a lot of apool for us to take all of our
people out and, go to somewhereelse to train just for one
store.
So we're not super interestedin that, but.
but yeah, we, what's reallycool is because the brand, we
have such a following, with ourbrand, uh.
We get so many, uh, requests aday to become a franchisee.
And so we're, we are, to behonest, we are super selective
and super picky with who ourpartners are.
(26:55):
and so we're not just signinganybody up, but yeah, we'd love
to, we're really looking for,like I said, multi-unit, uh,
people who are already in thegame and not necessarily pizza
game, but franchise game andthen people who want to be, In
it, I don't, we're not reallylooking for somebody who just
wants to put money in it andwalk away.
We're, we want, we're wantsomebody who wants to be an
operator and, uh, get theirhands dirty.
Jeremy Julian (27:15):
and I think, uh, as we talked about quite a bit,
uh, in the show in general, it'sjust the quality of what you
guys do.
Fresh cut cheeses, doughs everyday sauces like you have to
understand and be passionateabout growing the business or
else you're gonna struggle togrow.
'cause it's not, uh, and again.
Lots of different franchiseopportunities and there's people
that are set it and forget.
(27:35):
It doesn't sound like that'sthe brand and there's a lot of
opportunity to make a hugedifference both in the community
and to grow quite a bit andmake some good money.
So, is what it sounds like atleast.
So I love that you guys arethinking that way.
Nicholas Fontenot (27:46):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And
Jeremy Julian (27:47):
I.
Nicholas Fontenot (27:47):
again, we, even though it does sound like a
lot, and yeah, at the end ofthe day we are, full fledged
restaurant.
we really have simplified itand, uh, and made it, dummy
proof, if you will, to, to pickit up and run with it as long as
you're, willing.
So I don't wanna scare anybody.
But yeah, it's, done a lot to,uh, to make it easy to operate,
in my opinion.
Jeremy Julian (28:05):
and I think, in general, in general I think it's
uh, I think it's significant,uh, that you guys are thinking
that way.
'cause I think I've watched inmy 30 year career, a lot of
people that grow so fast andthen they end up getting out
over their skis and they don'tend up having the right
franchisees and now they'respending all of their time
fighting the franchisees 'causethey pick the wrong partners and
it hurts the brand andultimately they lose it.
(28:26):
And so, just 'cause I'm surethis will come up if.
People want to even see what itis that you guys are doing.
Are you guys consideringcommercializing any of the tech
you guys are building for otherbrands?
is that gonna be anotherbusiness opportunity for you
guys or is it kinda only forcross and We're not gonna, we're
not gonna do anything there.
'cause I just, I could seesomebody saying, how do I get
Nicholas's Day dot, thing.
(28:47):
Or how do I get his back officeprogram?
Or how do I get his POS.
Nicholas Fontenot (28:50):
No, I, it's so funny, I've gotten asked this
so many times, even our opsmanager, who's, her background
comes from, I think she was withDickies and, uh, before that or
after that, she was with CleanJuice and, uh, she worked with
Marcus Limonis hand in hand witha franchise that he created.
So she's been in the game.
And so she said, Nick, I'vebeen with so many companies, big
companies, and nobody's hadanything like this, would you?
(29:12):
I.
Ever be interested in, in,licensing this or selling it or,
and I don't know.
I think that's something we'dreally, uh, we'd have to step
back and look at.
I think at the end of the day,there's so many.
paths you can take when you'rerunning a franchise.
And, the problem is I think ifwe white label this, it's just,
it's gonna take my energy andfocus away from what we're doing
right now.
and that's continuing to growthe brand and the business.
The goal over the next eightyears is to hit 250 locations.
Jeremy Julian (29:34):
Love that.
Nicholas Fontenot (29:35):
that's what our focus and energy's on right
now.
And so
Jeremy Julian (29:38):
Okay.
Nicholas Fontenot (29:39):
I'm never gonna say never, but at this
moment in time, it's for trust.
Jeremy Julian (29:42):
Okay.
I had a, I had an assumptionthat was gonna be where it was,
but I figured I'd ask 'cause uh,as you've said internally, it
happens.
And so you're gonna have awhole bunch of listeners that
are gonna be like, how do I getwhat he has?
So, what's the best way to stayupdated on what's going on with
Crust, and what's going on withNick and the team?
Nicholas Fontenot (29:59):
Yeah, that's a good question.
so again, crest franchise.comis our franchise website, crest
pizza co.com is our main one.
we, uh, we have a new sectionthere that, of all the new
things going on and locationsopening and, and so yeah, that'd
be probably be the best way, tostay up to date of what we're
up to.
Jeremy Julian (30:14):
Awesome.
I love that.
thank you for, uh, spendingtime with us and sharing why you
guys have done what you guyshave done.
as I said, I'm excited to, uh,to go check it out next time I'm
down in Houston or if, uh, ifyou guys find your way up this
way, I'll be down there thissummer at one point for sure.
'cause, uh, like I said to youprior to, uh.
I got a daughter who's insoftball.
Any longtime listeners knowthat I'm all over the country on
sporting event, uh, outing.
(30:34):
So I'll check it out.
Uh, to our listeners guys, uh,I know you guys have got lots of
choices, so thanks for hangingout with us.
If you haven't already done so,subscribe to the show on your
favorite listening platform.
Nick, thank you so much, and toour listeners, make it a great
day.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.