October 8, 2024 • 17 mins
Joey Cioffi is the founder and CEO of The Salad House, a fast-growing franchise with a passion for offering customizable, fresh meals for everyone. From his New Jersey roots to building a brand that’s now expanding to 19 locations, Joey has always prioritized hospitality and quality. In this episode, we explore how Joey’s background in the food business has shaped his approach to guest experience.
In this episode, Zack and Joey discuss:
- The origin story behind The Salad House and its unique fast-casual concept.
- How Joey ensures every customer feels valued through genuine hospitality.
- Why direct customer feedback is crucial for refining and growing a restaurant brand.
- How The Salad House leverages catering as a growth strategy.
- The importance of being hands-on and building relationships in the restaurant industry.
Thanks, Joey!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Zack (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation, the
restaurant guest experiencepodcast, where I talk to
industry experts to get theirstrategies and tactics you can
use to create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is sponsored byOvation, an operations and guest
recovery platform formulti-unit restaurants that
gives you all the answerswithout annoying guests with all
(00:21):
the questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
And today we have not just aguest I'm excited to talk to
because he's a great guy, butalso he's a fellow 973-er.
He is a Jersey boy born andbred and for those listening,
I'm going to spell you his lastname.
Let's see how well you couldspeak Jersey.
His last name is spelled C-Iokay for those of you from
(00:46):
boston.
No, it's not kioffi, it'skioffi.
Joey Cioffi (00:50):
kioffi, right, yes, sir, yes, all right.
Yeah, c i's pronounced ch.
Zack (00:55):
All right.
Well, joey chaffee, so nice tohave you on the podcast.
Founder and ceo of the saladhouse boasting coming up growing
up to 19 locations right now,lots more in the hopper, lots
going on over there at SaladHouse doing some incredible
things.
So thanks for joining us, man.
Joey Cioffi (01:12):
Thank you brother, I appreciate it.
Zack (01:14):
So, for those who aren't familiar with Salad House, can
you share a little bit aboutwhat is Salad House and the
origin story of it, because it'sfascinating.
Joey Cioffi (01:28):
Absolutely.
I love sharing the storybecause it's pretty cool.
It's multi-layered.
I'm a proud son of immigrantparents from italy.
They came over legitimately onthe boat, 11 days at sea, coming
from naples, italy, coming overhere to achieve the american
dream, and they didn't know whatthey were going to do.
They came here not knowing thelanguage.
They thought the streets werepaved in gold and little.
They know newark is not pavedin gold.
It was very.
It was definitely eye-openingfor them.
They were like, definitelysecond-guessing their journey
(01:48):
over.
Zack (01:49):
And landing in Newark.
You may third and fourth guessit too Exactly.
Joey Cioffi (01:52):
Yeah, and they started off, you know, working
in like a factory seven days aweek.
It was really tough for them.
Then my father, one day therewas this local pizzeria, fellow
Italian guy.
The guy's like hey, tony, whydon't you come and learn how to
make pizzas and come help me outa little bit?
So my father would start tolearn how to make pizzas.
He would go there maybe on aFriday and Saturday and next
thing, you know, the guy waslike he goes here, tony goes
(02:14):
here's $25.
And my dad's like whoa, andthis is 1957.
And he's just like I didn'tmake that.
The entire week I'm working inthe factory and I made $25 here.
I'm like he's like, wow, thisis awesome.
And he started taking a likingto, like, obviously, the food
industry.
And that's my family, I mean,italians are, you know, we share
our love with food.
So, long story short, he endedup striking a deal with a guy.
(02:35):
The guy kind of wanted to beout of the business.
My father took over thebusiness, took over actually,
the building where he livedabove the building, above the
pizzeria, and he ran a telephoneline that went upstairs.
So basically it was open 24hours.
He was that hungry, my dad wasthat much of a hustler.
My mother and father.
They literally ran a phone lineup there and if, like two in
the morning, somebody called tomake a pizza, he kept his ovens
on and he went downstairs he'dmake a pizza, delivered himself,
(02:57):
and that's kind of how he gothis teeth into the food business
.
So fast forward to 19,.
I was born in 77 and I was kindof born into this business.
At about 12 years old I went tomy family.
We have an Italian deli it'sstill there Chiaffi's Deli in
Springfield 1981, we opened upand at 12 years old I just
wanted to be where my brother's,14 years older than me and my
(03:17):
father.
So I was like after school I'dbe like, oh, let me come over
there, let me ring people up,answer the phones.
You know, I just want to do it.
Next thing, you know, after afew, about a week or two, I'm
like where's Rita the cashier?
He's like my father goes, wedon't need Rita, no more, we got
you.
I'm like, oh God.
And I basically got immersed inthe business early on and I
(03:43):
literally was like working, butI was getting an education.
I didn't realize the kind ofeducation I was getting from my
brother and father because youknow, we had a successful
business and it was people-basedand it forced me I was like a
chubby, shy kid and it forced meto be in front of people and to
talk to people and it helped myconfidence and seeing all
layers of the business, from thecustomer interaction, the food
(04:03):
quality to the problems andproblem solving constantly.
There's always a problem and itwas just.
I'll be honest with you, Idon't think there's a school on
this planet that could prepareyou for not only the restaurant
industry but for life, like that, the education I got there.
Zack (04:17):
Oh, amen, right, I mean I know that you got a salad house
in Morristown and that's where Ijust came back from a
friendlies conference and thatwas my first job was the
morristown friendlies okay, Iknow exactly who it is yep, I
would pass that on all the timeon the way to school yeah.
Joey Cioffi (04:33):
So I'm sorry, I'm so prideful of that that dive
deep into that.
But so the salad house is kindof a so my wife would always
complain about there was alwayschopped salads in the city and
there was nothing in the suburbsand and I always hear that in
the back of my mind.
So one day I was at a trafficlight it was like 2010.
And so there was a vacancy inMilburn, short Hills, new Jersey
, and the light bulb moment wentoff.
At that moment I was like, wait, that's a place, I'm going to
(04:55):
put a place there, went home padto paper old school, literally
jotted down a business plan, butI wanted to make it.
A running joke in our office isthat I'm not really a salad guy
.
So I wanted to create somethingthat would lend to myself, that
would like a sandwich and maybesome fries young children at
the time and it was always likeI wanted something that was like
one-stop shopping like, whereit's like you could get a salad
(05:17):
and the healthy salad, choppedsalad, create your own salad,
but at the same time there'ssomething for everybody.
So like you get a crispychicken sandwich or crispy
shrimp sandwich, you get chickenfingers for the kids.
That was the differentiator andthe thing that I wanted to
bring and I believe would workin the suburbs.
So, 2011, I opened up Milburnand it was a success right from
jump.
A lot of growing pains, therewas a lot of things that were
(05:37):
just ironed out, but then fromthere I proved it out and I
opened up the Morissown locationthe Salinas Morissown and
proved out there too.
So at that point I was like allright, we got something special
here.
Then we knew it was somethingspecial.
I knew that it had legs.
So my partner now was acustomer at Chaffee's down in
Springfield.
Jerry Ikey, guy worked at ahedge fund came to the Chaffee's
(05:57):
religiously like three, fourtimes a week and one day he got
an accident it was a paddleboardaccident.
So, and one day he got anaccident it was a paddleboard
accident so he hurt hisshoulders.
He's like Joey, what's yoursalad place?
He goes to Milburn.
I'm like, oh, that's MilburnAvenue, 343 Milburn Avenue.
So he started going there.
Next thing, you know, he's likedude, I love this place, I'm
hooked.
It's amazing.
(06:18):
If you ever want to scale this,you ever want to get, he goes.
We struck a deal about seven,eight years ago and he's just
like all right, let's do this.
We opened up a Westfield, hisWestfield location but and we
assembled a great team Tim Banoshe brought somebody on Tim
Banos amazing talent that wehave One of our other partners,
jared Bravo, who's been with mefrom Jump.
He's our director of operations, like so we assembled a team,
(06:40):
but we were.
It was definitely not.
I came from a mom and popsoperation.
You know what I mean If I wasmaking my pocket, had more money
in it than I did in thebeginning of the week then it
was a success.
But when you're scaling abusiness and you're franchising,
you have to make sure that youtighten up everything, and
that's where Jerry Tim and wewere able to.
Zack (07:00):
so it was a lot of heavy lifting but together we did it
and kind of here we are.
That's incredible and what agreat story and the journey I
love that this isn't just somelike flash in the pan type thing
Like this has been smolderingas it's been growing, and I
think that your obsession withthe guest experience is
something that is very evidentfrom my time going to Salad
(07:21):
House.
I know my mother loves SaladHouse.
What do you think is the mostimportant aspect of guest
experience?
Joey Cioffi (07:27):
Well, and I always go back to my roots, like my
brother, jerry.
He's 14 years older than me andthe way he treats people when
they come into the store is justincredible, like legitimately.
It's like I almost relate himto, almost like a game show host
where like you walk in and likehe knows your name and he just
makes you feel so good aboutjust being there and he's so
(07:47):
appreciative of the customerbecause without them there's not
us.
And it's funny, I always quiznewer employees.
I'm like so who's your boss?
Who's your?
I'm like oh, you're my boss.
I'm like no, I'm not your boss.
I'm like, no, I go, thecustomer is the person that pays
.
I'm just the person is the mostimportant piece to this.
I mean, obviously you got toperform food, but the customer
(08:08):
and their experience is just soimportant and I was taught that
from early on and it'stranslated into our salad house.
So that's a part of our fabricand, listen, our customers are.
That's the blood that flowsthrough the body.
Zack (08:23):
Yeah, and I think that really having that, I like that
idea of thinking of it as like agame show host, of like
celebrating people as they walkin right, making sure that they
know it's special.
Because I know one of myfriends there was a coffee shop
in Brooklyn that was about 30seconds or a minute closer to
her.
That was great.
And there was a coffee shopthat was about 30 seconds to a
(08:45):
minute farther from her.
That was good.
And guess which one she went to?
The closer one, that was great,or the further one, that was
good?
The answer is she went to theone where they knew her name,
which was the further one.
So she was willing to walk alittle bit further have coffee.
That wasn't quite as goodbecause they knew her name.
(09:05):
Yeah, and that hospitality, Ithink, is so critical and it's
tough to scale that hospitalitybut, which is why I know that
you're using some technology tohelp you do that and I'd love to
get your thoughts on how hasOvation been helpful for you?
It's been incredible.
Joey Cioffi (09:22):
I'm not going to lie, a lot of us at first we
were testing it out just oncertain locations we're like, oh
my God, the customer's likewe're getting pegged left and
right.
We're like, oh my God.
But then we started really likepaying attention and we're like
this is so important and likewe had spoke earlier you know I
said it is a microscope, ourbusiness.
Like you have surveillancecameras when you're not able to
(09:44):
be there and so but this reallydives deep into, like, the
customer experience and reallyfiguring out what ways we could
be better.
You know what I mean.
And we're getting this data inreal time and we have a response
rate.
We're responding and customersare so appreciative.
They're like, oh my God, becausethey're used to like, if they
write Yelp, whether it's likepointed comeback or like this is
(10:04):
real time, and we're getting somuch information and we chart
it out for every location andwe're trying to figure out,
we're analyzing it Like it'sbeen incredible.
It's kudos to you.
I mean really it's brilliant,it's helped us a lot and we're
going to be able to make so manycalculated decisions moving
forward and it's just great.
It's been amazing.
Zack (10:23):
Well, and it's one of these things where, looking at
your online reviews beforeOvation, they were great, right
it's you weren't running somelike you're doing a great job,
and the way I always put it islike Ovation is the guitar and
you're the musician man.
The music is beautiful andguests are seeing it.
I mean, like your onlineratings have gone up.
Your volume of reviews havegone up.
(10:45):
I mean you have 9% higher lovegroup than the average ovation
restaurant right, Like peoplethat are coming in or having a
wonderful experience, and itshows.
And I think it's reallypowerful to see brands like
(11:07):
yours, who truly put the guestfirst and want to have a
conversation with them and wantto get better, and I think that
in all that you're doing rightnow as a brand, it really comes
through.
So kudos to you for building anincredible brand and culture.
Joey Cioffi (11:24):
It's our team and our franchise partners, really
surrounded with amazing people.
We had spoke about football andkind of related to football.
I have an amazing team and weall want to get better every day
and I believe we're doing that.
You know, every day we'regetting better, we're learning.
It's constant education, thisbusiness, and we love your tool,
man.
Zack (11:42):
We do Awesome Well, any tactics that you've used to
improve the guest experience.
Joey Cioffi (11:47):
I was asked that recently and I have that.
I have an old school spirit,kind of older now but like I
have this old school spiritwhere I really like connection
with people.
So that's another part ofovation.
I love is that you'reinteracting with people, whereas
, like I actually get on thephone, like with caterings, and
call people, follow up,encourage people to do that, to
maybe go and drop a lunch andmeet the people that you're
(12:09):
catering, because we are sounderrated when it comes to
catering, because our cateringis what you want as an employer.
It's like it'll get you throughthe second half of the day.
I mean, you're eating healthier, you don't just eat that food
and fall into a food coma forthe second half of the day.
We always say you're fueled bySalad House and we truly believe
that you eat Salad House andyou don't feel that lag or that
(12:31):
feeling of like oh, I'm going totake a nap.
It's like.
No, it's like we're puttingfuel in your body with good
quality food and that'ssomething that like.
So I'm really pushing cateringand I'm doing the old school
approach.
I'm literally getting adatabase given to me and I'm
calling people and I'mencouraging my franchisees and
and I'm showing them leading,I'm doing it myself.
I'm saying you know if I'm doingit, and I mean I think you
(12:51):
should do it as well, because Imean just the fact that they
have my cell phone number totext me to get a catering order
last minute.
You know I have pharmaceuticalreps that all of a sudden they
forgot that they have a luncheonon Monday and on a Sunday
evening they'll shoot me a textlike Joey, can you please hook
me up?
But you know, I got 15 peoplegoing to the hospital here and
(13:16):
right away I'm like, yeah, sure,of course.
So like that's something that Ikind of bring back because,
listen, it'll never I thinknothing will ever beat human
interaction and we're kind ofgoing away from that and I truly
believe that we need to reelthat back in in order,
especially now where people area little mindful, the economy's
a little wonky and you kind ofwant to make sure that they're
appreciated and also they getthat feeling of like a concierge
type feeling because we're inthe customer service business,
(13:38):
man, we're not only servinggreat food, but we got to give
them a great experience as well.
Zack (13:43):
Well and hey, one of the things that we can do to help
you out is if you ever want acatering line, we can set you up
another location that's yourcatering line and then that gets
pumped right in there, becauseI think that you're totally
right which is having thatability to chat back and forth,
I think is so critical andespecially if it can go to a
(14:03):
couple of people at the sametime, just like an ovation piece
of feedback.
We found that to be reallyvaluable.
But I think that that is likethat's something where catering
and I'm actually speaking at theOff-Prem Academy with Earl
Dardick October 16th I'm notsure when this podcast is going
live, but if it's live, beforeit come to that, it's going to
(14:23):
be in Denver.
Earl is the godfather ofOff-Prem and catering and I
think, so many people.
Just, they don't have thehustle mentality and you might
not have the phone line up toyour bedroom, but now you got it
in your uh, right on your phone, right.
To have that hustle mentalityis and to go out there and do
those catering drops and do thesales side of things.
(14:45):
I mean that'll add another five, 10, 15% to your business.
Joey Cioffi (14:50):
It's huge yeah.
Zack (14:51):
Yeah, I love that.
Joey Cioffi (14:53):
You know it's funny , like one of the things that
it's an expression my fatherwould always say it's like
sitting on the tree waiting forthe apple to fall in your mouth.
That doesn't work for usbecause we climb up that tree
and grab the apple and that'skind of been my mentality my
entire life.
You know what I mean.
From playing college footballto, I just always had that
mentality Just go up and get it.
You know what I mean Alwayshave that mentality Just go up
(15:15):
and get it.
You know what I mean.
And constantly hustle.
Because, listen, you know Ihate to say it, but like we're
living in an age where peoplejust are waiting for that apple
to fall in their mouth and thedifferentiator and the
successful people in this world,the people that are out there
going out and hustling, climbingthat tree.
You know I actually joke, likebecause, like we opened up a
place in Newark and I lookedaround I saw all these, our
Newark location, and I lookedaround I saw all these gigantic
buildings and I literally lookedat the franchisee I go, those
(15:37):
are your trees, man, those areyour trees.
I go, those right there.
I go that vertically.
I go, that's where you can makemoney, climb those trees and
get those apples.
The guy looked me in the eyesand, sure enough, he's doing it,
and Newark is one of is slowlybecoming one of our top stores.
So that's awesome, love that,and it's full circle.
So it was our 10th location,which was pretty cool too.
(16:01):
I mean, my father came here toNewark and he was pretty
emotional when I said that I'mopening up a place in Newark
only about a mile or two awayfrom Tony's Pizzeria, which is
actually still there.
It's called Tony's Pizzeria.
It's obviously it's not oursanymore, but a Pacific street.
So it was pretty cool to seethat.
That's pretty cool.
Zack (16:13):
Well, joey, where can people go to learn more?
Follow you or your brand.
Joey Cioffi (16:16):
We are at the Salad House on Instagram and then we
are.
Every location has their ownlocation, other own Facebook
page and TikTok is at the SaladHouse and I got to get into that
TikTok teenage daughter.
I got to figure it out.
They can help you.
They can help you.
It's just thesaladhousecom.
There's our website, awesomeWell.
Zack (16:36):
Joey, for telling us that salads can be cool.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGive an Ovation.
Thank you, brother.
Thank you, Appreciate itAwesome.
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts
or your favorite place to listenwe're all about feedback here
Again or your favorite place tolisten we're all about feedback
(16:58):
here Again.
This episode was sponsored byOvation, a two-question,
SMS-based actionable guestfeedback platform built for
multi-unit restaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation, the
restaurant guest experiencepodcast, where I talk to
industry experts to get theirstrategies and tactics you can
use to create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is sponsored byOvation, an operations and guest
recovery platform formulti-unit restaurants that
gives you all the answerswithout annoying guests with all
(00:21):
the questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
And today we have not just aguest I'm excited to talk to
because he's a great guy, butalso he's a fellow 973-er.
He is a Jersey boy born andbred and for those listening,
I'm going to spell you his lastname.
Let's see how well you couldspeak Jersey.
His last name is spelled C-Iokay for those of you from
(00:46):
boston.
No, it's not kioffi, it'skioffi.
Joey Cioffi (00:50):
kioffi, right, yes, sir, yes, all right.
Yeah, c i's pronounced ch.
Zack (00:55):
All right.
Well, joey chaffee, so nice tohave you on the podcast.
Founder and ceo of the saladhouse boasting coming up growing
up to 19 locations right now,lots more in the hopper, lots
going on over there at SaladHouse doing some incredible
things.
So thanks for joining us, man.
Joey Cioffi (01:12):
Thank you brother, I appreciate it.
Zack (01:14):
So, for those who aren't familiar with Salad House, can
you share a little bit aboutwhat is Salad House and the
origin story of it, because it'sfascinating.
Joey Cioffi (01:28):
Absolutely.
I love sharing the storybecause it's pretty cool.
It's multi-layered.
I'm a proud son of immigrantparents from italy.
They came over legitimately onthe boat, 11 days at sea, coming
from naples, italy, coming overhere to achieve the american
dream, and they didn't know whatthey were going to do.
They came here not knowing thelanguage.
They thought the streets werepaved in gold and little.
They know newark is not pavedin gold.
It was very.
It was definitely eye-openingfor them.
They were like, definitelysecond-guessing their journey
(01:48):
over.
Zack (01:49):
And landing in Newark.
You may third and fourth guessit too Exactly.
Joey Cioffi (01:52):
Yeah, and they started off, you know, working
in like a factory seven days aweek.
It was really tough for them.
Then my father, one day therewas this local pizzeria, fellow
Italian guy.
The guy's like hey, tony, whydon't you come and learn how to
make pizzas and come help me outa little bit?
So my father would start tolearn how to make pizzas.
He would go there maybe on aFriday and Saturday and next
thing, you know, the guy waslike he goes here, tony goes
(02:14):
here's $25.
And my dad's like whoa, andthis is 1957.
And he's just like I didn'tmake that.
The entire week I'm working inthe factory and I made $25 here.
I'm like he's like, wow, thisis awesome.
And he started taking a likingto, like, obviously, the food
industry.
And that's my family, I mean,italians are, you know, we share
our love with food.
So, long story short, he endedup striking a deal with a guy.
(02:35):
The guy kind of wanted to beout of the business.
My father took over thebusiness, took over actually,
the building where he livedabove the building, above the
pizzeria, and he ran a telephoneline that went upstairs.
So basically it was open 24hours.
He was that hungry, my dad wasthat much of a hustler.
My mother and father.
They literally ran a phone lineup there and if, like two in
the morning, somebody called tomake a pizza, he kept his ovens
on and he went downstairs he'dmake a pizza, delivered himself,
(02:57):
and that's kind of how he gothis teeth into the food business
.
So fast forward to 19,.
I was born in 77 and I was kindof born into this business.
At about 12 years old I went tomy family.
We have an Italian deli it'sstill there Chiaffi's Deli in
Springfield 1981, we opened upand at 12 years old I just
wanted to be where my brother's,14 years older than me and my
(03:17):
father.
So I was like after school I'dbe like, oh, let me come over
there, let me ring people up,answer the phones.
You know, I just want to do it.
Next thing, you know, after afew, about a week or two, I'm
like where's Rita the cashier?
He's like my father goes, wedon't need Rita, no more, we got
you.
I'm like, oh God.
And I basically got immersed inthe business early on and I
(03:43):
literally was like working, butI was getting an education.
I didn't realize the kind ofeducation I was getting from my
brother and father because youknow, we had a successful
business and it was people-basedand it forced me I was like a
chubby, shy kid and it forced meto be in front of people and to
talk to people and it helped myconfidence and seeing all
layers of the business, from thecustomer interaction, the food
(04:03):
quality to the problems andproblem solving constantly.
There's always a problem and itwas just.
I'll be honest with you, Idon't think there's a school on
this planet that could prepareyou for not only the restaurant
industry but for life, like that, the education I got there.
Zack (04:17):
Oh, amen, right, I mean I know that you got a salad house
in Morristown and that's where Ijust came back from a
friendlies conference and thatwas my first job was the
morristown friendlies okay, Iknow exactly who it is yep, I
would pass that on all the timeon the way to school yeah.
Joey Cioffi (04:33):
So I'm sorry, I'm so prideful of that that dive
deep into that.
But so the salad house is kindof a so my wife would always
complain about there was alwayschopped salads in the city and
there was nothing in the suburbsand and I always hear that in
the back of my mind.
So one day I was at a trafficlight it was like 2010.
And so there was a vacancy inMilburn, short Hills, new Jersey
, and the light bulb moment wentoff.
At that moment I was like, wait, that's a place, I'm going to
(04:55):
put a place there, went home padto paper old school, literally
jotted down a business plan, butI wanted to make it.
A running joke in our office isthat I'm not really a salad guy
.
So I wanted to create somethingthat would lend to myself, that
would like a sandwich and maybesome fries young children at
the time and it was always likeI wanted something that was like
one-stop shopping like, whereit's like you could get a salad
(05:17):
and the healthy salad, choppedsalad, create your own salad,
but at the same time there'ssomething for everybody.
So like you get a crispychicken sandwich or crispy
shrimp sandwich, you get chickenfingers for the kids.
That was the differentiator andthe thing that I wanted to
bring and I believe would workin the suburbs.
So, 2011, I opened up Milburnand it was a success right from
jump.
A lot of growing pains, therewas a lot of things that were
(05:37):
just ironed out, but then fromthere I proved it out and I
opened up the Morissown locationthe Salinas Morissown and
proved out there too.
So at that point I was like allright, we got something special
here.
Then we knew it was somethingspecial.
I knew that it had legs.
So my partner now was acustomer at Chaffee's down in
Springfield.
Jerry Ikey, guy worked at ahedge fund came to the Chaffee's
(05:57):
religiously like three, fourtimes a week and one day he got
an accident it was a paddleboardaccident.
So, and one day he got anaccident it was a paddleboard
accident so he hurt hisshoulders.
He's like Joey, what's yoursalad place?
He goes to Milburn.
I'm like, oh, that's MilburnAvenue, 343 Milburn Avenue.
So he started going there.
Next thing, you know, he's likedude, I love this place, I'm
hooked.
It's amazing.
(06:18):
If you ever want to scale this,you ever want to get, he goes.
We struck a deal about seven,eight years ago and he's just
like all right, let's do this.
We opened up a Westfield, hisWestfield location but and we
assembled a great team Tim Banoshe brought somebody on Tim
Banos amazing talent that wehave One of our other partners,
jared Bravo, who's been with mefrom Jump.
He's our director of operations, like so we assembled a team,
(06:40):
but we were.
It was definitely not.
I came from a mom and popsoperation.
You know what I mean If I wasmaking my pocket, had more money
in it than I did in thebeginning of the week then it
was a success.
But when you're scaling abusiness and you're franchising,
you have to make sure that youtighten up everything, and
that's where Jerry Tim and wewere able to.
Zack (07:00):
so it was a lot of heavy lifting but together we did it
and kind of here we are.
That's incredible and what agreat story and the journey I
love that this isn't just somelike flash in the pan type thing
Like this has been smolderingas it's been growing, and I
think that your obsession withthe guest experience is
something that is very evidentfrom my time going to Salad
(07:21):
House.
I know my mother loves SaladHouse.
What do you think is the mostimportant aspect of guest
experience?
Joey Cioffi (07:27):
Well, and I always go back to my roots, like my
brother, jerry.
He's 14 years older than me andthe way he treats people when
they come into the store is justincredible, like legitimately.
It's like I almost relate himto, almost like a game show host
where like you walk in and likehe knows your name and he just
makes you feel so good aboutjust being there and he's so
(07:47):
appreciative of the customerbecause without them there's not
us.
And it's funny, I always quiznewer employees.
I'm like so who's your boss?
Who's your?
I'm like oh, you're my boss.
I'm like no, I'm not your boss.
I'm like, no, I go, thecustomer is the person that pays
.
I'm just the person is the mostimportant piece to this.
I mean, obviously you got toperform food, but the customer
(08:08):
and their experience is just soimportant and I was taught that
from early on and it'stranslated into our salad house.
So that's a part of our fabricand, listen, our customers are.
That's the blood that flowsthrough the body.
Zack (08:23):
Yeah, and I think that really having that, I like that
idea of thinking of it as like agame show host, of like
celebrating people as they walkin right, making sure that they
know it's special.
Because I know one of myfriends there was a coffee shop
in Brooklyn that was about 30seconds or a minute closer to
her.
That was great.
And there was a coffee shopthat was about 30 seconds to a
(08:45):
minute farther from her.
That was good.
And guess which one she went to?
The closer one, that was great,or the further one, that was
good?
The answer is she went to theone where they knew her name,
which was the further one.
So she was willing to walk alittle bit further have coffee.
That wasn't quite as goodbecause they knew her name.
(09:05):
Yeah, and that hospitality, Ithink, is so critical and it's
tough to scale that hospitalitybut, which is why I know that
you're using some technology tohelp you do that and I'd love to
get your thoughts on how hasOvation been helpful for you?
It's been incredible.
Joey Cioffi (09:22):
I'm not going to lie, a lot of us at first we
were testing it out just oncertain locations we're like, oh
my God, the customer's likewe're getting pegged left and
right.
We're like, oh my God.
But then we started really likepaying attention and we're like
this is so important and likewe had spoke earlier you know I
said it is a microscope, ourbusiness.
Like you have surveillancecameras when you're not able to
(09:44):
be there and so but this reallydives deep into, like, the
customer experience and reallyfiguring out what ways we could
be better.
You know what I mean.
And we're getting this data inreal time and we have a response
rate.
We're responding and customersare so appreciative.
They're like, oh my God, becausethey're used to like, if they
write Yelp, whether it's likepointed comeback or like this is
(10:04):
real time, and we're getting somuch information and we chart
it out for every location andwe're trying to figure out,
we're analyzing it Like it'sbeen incredible.
It's kudos to you.
I mean really it's brilliant,it's helped us a lot and we're
going to be able to make so manycalculated decisions moving
forward and it's just great.
It's been amazing.
Zack (10:23):
Well, and it's one of these things where, looking at
your online reviews beforeOvation, they were great, right
it's you weren't running somelike you're doing a great job,
and the way I always put it islike Ovation is the guitar and
you're the musician man.
The music is beautiful andguests are seeing it.
I mean, like your onlineratings have gone up.
Your volume of reviews havegone up.
(10:45):
I mean you have 9% higher lovegroup than the average ovation
restaurant right, Like peoplethat are coming in or having a
wonderful experience, and itshows.
And I think it's reallypowerful to see brands like
(11:07):
yours, who truly put the guestfirst and want to have a
conversation with them and wantto get better, and I think that
in all that you're doing rightnow as a brand, it really comes
through.
So kudos to you for building anincredible brand and culture.
Joey Cioffi (11:24):
It's our team and our franchise partners, really
surrounded with amazing people.
We had spoke about football andkind of related to football.
I have an amazing team and weall want to get better every day
and I believe we're doing that.
You know, every day we'regetting better, we're learning.
It's constant education, thisbusiness, and we love your tool,
man.
Zack (11:42):
We do Awesome Well, any tactics that you've used to
improve the guest experience.
Joey Cioffi (11:47):
I was asked that recently and I have that.
I have an old school spirit,kind of older now but like I
have this old school spiritwhere I really like connection
with people.
So that's another part ofovation.
I love is that you'reinteracting with people, whereas
, like I actually get on thephone, like with caterings, and
call people, follow up,encourage people to do that, to
maybe go and drop a lunch andmeet the people that you're
(12:09):
catering, because we are sounderrated when it comes to
catering, because our cateringis what you want as an employer.
It's like it'll get you throughthe second half of the day.
I mean, you're eating healthier, you don't just eat that food
and fall into a food coma forthe second half of the day.
We always say you're fueled bySalad House and we truly believe
that you eat Salad House andyou don't feel that lag or that
(12:31):
feeling of like oh, I'm going totake a nap.
It's like.
No, it's like we're puttingfuel in your body with good
quality food and that'ssomething that like.
So I'm really pushing cateringand I'm doing the old school
approach.
I'm literally getting adatabase given to me and I'm
calling people and I'mencouraging my franchisees and
and I'm showing them leading,I'm doing it myself.
I'm saying you know if I'm doingit, and I mean I think you
(12:51):
should do it as well, because Imean just the fact that they
have my cell phone number totext me to get a catering order
last minute.
You know I have pharmaceuticalreps that all of a sudden they
forgot that they have a luncheonon Monday and on a Sunday
evening they'll shoot me a textlike Joey, can you please hook
me up?
But you know, I got 15 peoplegoing to the hospital here and
(13:16):
right away I'm like, yeah, sure,of course.
So like that's something that Ikind of bring back because,
listen, it'll never I thinknothing will ever beat human
interaction and we're kind ofgoing away from that and I truly
believe that we need to reelthat back in in order,
especially now where people area little mindful, the economy's
a little wonky and you kind ofwant to make sure that they're
appreciated and also they getthat feeling of like a concierge
type feeling because we're inthe customer service business,
(13:38):
man, we're not only servinggreat food, but we got to give
them a great experience as well.
Zack (13:43):
Well and hey, one of the things that we can do to help
you out is if you ever want acatering line, we can set you up
another location that's yourcatering line and then that gets
pumped right in there, becauseI think that you're totally
right which is having thatability to chat back and forth,
I think is so critical andespecially if it can go to a
(14:03):
couple of people at the sametime, just like an ovation piece
of feedback.
We found that to be reallyvaluable.
But I think that that is likethat's something where catering
and I'm actually speaking at theOff-Prem Academy with Earl
Dardick October 16th I'm notsure when this podcast is going
live, but if it's live, beforeit come to that, it's going to
(14:23):
be in Denver.
Earl is the godfather ofOff-Prem and catering and I
think, so many people.
Just, they don't have thehustle mentality and you might
not have the phone line up toyour bedroom, but now you got it
in your uh, right on your phone, right.
To have that hustle mentalityis and to go out there and do
those catering drops and do thesales side of things.
(14:45):
I mean that'll add another five, 10, 15% to your business.
Joey Cioffi (14:50):
It's huge yeah.
Zack (14:51):
Yeah, I love that.
Joey Cioffi (14:53):
You know it's funny , like one of the things that
it's an expression my fatherwould always say it's like
sitting on the tree waiting forthe apple to fall in your mouth.
That doesn't work for usbecause we climb up that tree
and grab the apple and that'skind of been my mentality my
entire life.
You know what I mean.
From playing college footballto, I just always had that
mentality Just go up and get it.
You know what I mean Alwayshave that mentality Just go up
(15:15):
and get it.
You know what I mean.
And constantly hustle.
Because, listen, you know Ihate to say it, but like we're
living in an age where peoplejust are waiting for that apple
to fall in their mouth and thedifferentiator and the
successful people in this world,the people that are out there
going out and hustling, climbingthat tree.
You know I actually joke, likebecause, like we opened up a
place in Newark and I lookedaround I saw all these, our
Newark location, and I lookedaround I saw all these gigantic
buildings and I literally lookedat the franchisee I go, those
(15:37):
are your trees, man, those areyour trees.
I go, those right there.
I go that vertically.
I go, that's where you can makemoney, climb those trees and
get those apples.
The guy looked me in the eyesand, sure enough, he's doing it,
and Newark is one of is slowlybecoming one of our top stores.
So that's awesome, love that,and it's full circle.
So it was our 10th location,which was pretty cool too.
(16:01):
I mean, my father came here toNewark and he was pretty
emotional when I said that I'mopening up a place in Newark
only about a mile or two awayfrom Tony's Pizzeria, which is
actually still there.
It's called Tony's Pizzeria.
It's obviously it's not oursanymore, but a Pacific street.
So it was pretty cool to seethat.
That's pretty cool.
Zack (16:13):
Well, joey, where can people go to learn more?
Follow you or your brand.
Joey Cioffi (16:16):
We are at the Salad House on Instagram and then we
are.
Every location has their ownlocation, other own Facebook
page and TikTok is at the SaladHouse and I got to get into that
TikTok teenage daughter.
I got to figure it out.
They can help you.
They can help you.
It's just thesaladhousecom.
There's our website, awesomeWell.
Zack (16:36):
Joey, for telling us that salads can be cool.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGive an Ovation.
Thank you, brother.
Thank you, Appreciate itAwesome.
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts
or your favorite place to listenwe're all about feedback here
Again or your favorite place tolisten we're all about feedback
(16:58):
here Again.
This episode was sponsored byOvation, a two-question,
SMS-based actionable guestfeedback platform built for
multi-unit restaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
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