May 9, 2025 • 19 mins
Rob Ertmann, President of Mo’ Bettahs, joins Zack Oates live to share how the brand scaled from 22 to over 60 locations while staying true to its “be aloha” culture. Rob explains how simplicity, consistency, and operational focus helped Mo’ Bettahs deliver great guest experiences at every stage of growth. He shares insights on training, culture preservation, and why handling mistakes the right way builds loyalty.
Zack and Rob discuss:
- How Mo’ Bettahs scaled without losing its aloha vibe
- Why simplicity beats complexity when scaling a brand
- How leadership stays connected by being present in stores
- How guest recovery creates stronger loyalty than perfection
- Why responding fast to feedback is a competitive advantage
- Tactics for maintaining food quality across rapid expansion
Thanks, Rob!
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-ertmann-61b93927/
https://www.mobettahs.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mobettahs/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mo-bettahs/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to a live edition of Give an Ovation.
I'm your host, zach Oates, andI bring on experts to talk about
strategies and tactics you canuse to create a five-star
experience in your restaurant,and this podcast is powered by
Ovation, an operations and guestrecovery platform for
multi-unit restaurants, whereyou can get all the answers
(00:20):
without harassing your guests.
With all the questions, learnmore at OvationUpcom.
And I am really excited becausein this edition we're here at
RLC and even though Rob and IRob Erman, president of MoBetas
we're in the same state, wehardly get a chance to see each
other.
I'm on the road You're openingup so many locations, got so
much going on, so thanks fortaking some time to chat with us
(00:43):
today, man.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You bet my pleasure.
We love ovation of what youguys do for our business, and so
I always happen to sit downwith you and chat.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, I love Mo Betta's, even before we work
together, because it's greatfood.
If you haven't tried Mo Betta's, it is like a fast, casual
Hawaiian food that makes youfeel good and it's one of those
places you go in and it's got agreat vibe.
People can come in and try toreplicate food, but you can't go
(01:09):
in and replicate the vibe.
And then I love how you guyshave incorporated so much from
the founder's childhood even inthe decor and the history on the
walls and the vibe of it.
Talk to me about what thefeeling of Mo Betters is.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, Well, I mean, first off, it starts with Aloha
and we couldn't be any luckierthan the team that we get to
hire that believes in thatmission.
And our mission is be Aloha.
And so it's really thisemphasis of so many people think
Aloha is saying hello andgoodbye, and really I'd say
Aloha is much more I'd put itmore closely defined as loved.
And so even if you go to Hawaii, you'll see these road signs
(01:43):
where, if you don't get it,you're like why does it say
drive with Aloha?
I don't get it.
But it's this sentiment of justhow do we share that love and
that compassion, that joy withour customers?
And in fact, we talked to ourteam members this week.
We're going to be out inBurleson, Texas, opening up a
new location.
We'll do what we call culturenight, coming up on Wednesday,
and one of always do is I quizthe team and I'm like okay, when
somebody walks in the door, doyou shout aloha at every
(02:05):
customer?
And of course, usually the team.
They're brand new.
They're like yeah, of course wedo.
We're like no, you actuallydon't.
Aloha is a feeling, it's a vibe.
So should you warmly greetevery customer with aloha?
Absolutely, If it feelsappropriate to say aloha, you go
for it.
But aloha isn't about saying it, it's about doing it, being it
what you do.
So I'm glad you feel it, butthat's our intention of the
(02:26):
restaurant, and then the foodreally is just the vehicle by
which we get to share that aloha.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
What is your favorite thing about us to eat?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Oh, it changes, but I'll tell you what.
My most favorite which is a bitof a guilty pleasure is our
katsu chicken.
I was just going to say that,but you've got, so got to
drizzle it with our spicy mayo,which is kind of this creamy
spicy sauce, and then you addour Yobo sauce, which is like a
hot teriyaki, so you get thiscreamy, sweet spicy mix on top
of the fried Katsu chicken.
(02:54):
It is as Kimo says.
It'll change your life.
So, it's pretty freaking good.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
But your Katsu sauce, too, is like Delicious.
It's so good and I love to putthat on the mac salad.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
okay, that's one of my jams is just you drizzle it
on the mac salad and I eat thatwith yeah if you haven't tried,
like the combo I just said, thatwe put on the katsu, put that
on the mac salad, or even putthe yobo on your rice.
Uh-huh, if you like spicy.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
If you don't like spicy, then back away so if you
like spicy yobo amazing, it's aspicy teriyaki.
Yeah, okay, I haven't even likeI haven't even seen that, cause
I go into Mobetta's and I'mlike I know what I want.
It's just a matter of how big.
How much do I want?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah Well, I think we're naive sometimes when we
think that our customers justkind of figure it out.
So we've had some scientistsand things.
We're actually putting oursauces on our menu Cause we've
had that realization of so manypeople come into like I love the
katsu sauce or I love theteriyaki sauce.
They don't even realize we havethese other flavor options and
so, but I tell you, spicy mayo,yobo sauce, it's a little bit
too good.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So I think that's very interesting though, because
thinking about it from theconsumer perspective, it's
oftentimes challenging.
I mean, like, for example, meat Ovation.
I'm like, well, guess feedbackand customer experience is so
important?
Yes, it is, but I also knowthat you running a large brand.
You've got 20 vendor partnersthat you're working with.
(04:15):
You've got hundreds of peopleyou're working with.
There's so many things You'renot thinking about the
day-to-day of what is theovation score this afternoon.
Those are more like high levelthings that help you stay on
track, but so, too, with a brand, like realizing that, yeah, you
sit in the boardroom and youthink of these other sauces.
You go in the test kitchen, youtry these things out, but at
(04:36):
the end of the day, the consumerneeds to know about it.
Yeah, and it's more than just aone time push lto or sign up
there.
It's like it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
It's the training, it's a whole 360 view and look,
I think that's where our teamtalks about it.
Like, I don't enjoy sitting inour office.
I love our team at the supportcenter.
They're amazing, but they allknow and I've said this to them
before like the real magichappens in the restaurants and I
think sometimes you've got tobring in the restaurants, you've
got to get behind the line andserve customers, hear what
(05:04):
they're saying, see what they'resaying.
And to that point, of thesesauces, it's one of those where
you're in there and you're like,oh, have you ever tried this
sauce?
And so many of them have not.
And you're like, okay, wait aminute, we have a problem.
We have this great product thatwe just aren't marketing well
enough.
Now let's go back to thesupport center.
It's like, okay, we got alittle problem to solve, let's
go solve it.
But you don't figure that outsitting in an office.
(05:28):
You figure that out in therestaurant.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Right and talking to your team and making sure that
you're not only getting feedbackfrom your guests.
But okay, team, what do youthink?
What are some ideas, what areyou feeling?
What are you seeing, becausethat's often where the best
ideas come from yeah, teammembers who are doing it every
single day and they're seeingthe problems and they're hearing
these consistent issues,absolutely so.
One of the things that'sfascinating about MoBeta is you
(05:51):
guys have gone through twotransactions.
Yes, right, that is everything.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, you're right, 2017, the Savory Fund.
It was called Four Foods Groupback then.
Yes, Savory Fund invested inand partnered with Kimo and
Kalani Mac and really thatjourney like at that point they
had six restaurants in 2017.
I was fortunate enough to joinin 2021 when we had 22
restaurants, still with theSavory Fund and really with a
mission to continue that growthbut to also professionalize our
(06:17):
team and get it ready foranother equity transaction.
And so then, yeah, actuallythis last October, we completed
another equity transaction withsome awesome new partners of
ours Blue Marlin Partners andTribe Capital.
Savory is still part of thepartnership and involved and we
love them to death, but superexcited about Blue Marlin and
Tribe and what they're nowbringing to the table to help
(06:37):
just continue, fuel our growth.
We're going to open up store 62.
I mentioned we're going toBurleson store 62.
I'm lucky enough, by the time Ihit my fourth anniversary in
July, we'll have tripled thesize of the brand with 66 units.
So pretty, pretty fun journeythus far and we're not done,
we're just getting started.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
When you're looking at that journey and, going from,
you said 20, how many?
22 when I started, 22 when youstarted and 60 plus in two
transactions.
How do you keep the culture?
And, quite frankly, like, howdo you keep the food quality?
Because I feel like that'ssomething that's really
challenging to do as you growand scale and you're able to
keep the culture.
(07:13):
And as investors come in, theywant you to find more affordable
options to lower the costs andthings like that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Our partners want value creation and my job is to
make sure we show them that thevalue of this brand comes from
the two things that you justsaid.
One is the value of this brandcomes from our culture.
It's not easy.
It's not easy.
We have to think about it daily, constantly trying to find ways
to make sure that our foundersare connecting with our teams
and that we're living our values, by the way, and reinforcing
(07:43):
them and connecting them.
And again, it also happens inthe restaurants.
I can't live the culture andshare the culture by sitting in
office.
We've got to be out in therestaurant, so important to me
that we have FaceTime with theteams and we're just constantly
thinking about how do wereinforce what we're doing and,
by the way, evolving, becauseour culture is different when we
were back at six units fromwhat it is now at almost 62
(08:05):
units Not in a bad way, but youget bigger.
You have to evolve and makesure you reinforce for folks
that we're a growth brand andthis is exciting and we get to
spread Aloha across the UnitedStates.
What's better than that?
But then the food quality, asyou said, is important also, and
I think for us, our secret tothat success is the simplicity
of it.
We make a few products reallyreally well and we focus on that
(08:27):
often to make sure that wecontinue that quality high and
even going through COVID andthese weird crazy chicken things
that happened the last coupleof years, we've taken some
moments.
We've said, look, we're notgoing to sacrifice quality just
to make sure we hit our margins.
Luckily, we manage the business.
I think well enough that we cantake a few of those risks and
(08:49):
take a little bit of pain overtime and come out brighter on
the other side.
But making sure that we makethe best teriyaki chicken, the
best teriyaki steak possible,and not just keep adding and
innovating and adding things tothe menu, I think helps us.
In fact our chief operatingofficer, john Conine, was
telling me I didn't get to sitin on it, but somebody from the
recent Chili's success wassharing that they actually
scaled back their menu and werenot focused on just adding and
(09:11):
innovating products, becausethey realized that by doubling
down on simplicity it meant theywere more consistent, they
executed better food anddelivered and that's what
customers wanted and they keptcoming back.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, if you double down on half as many products,
you have a four times betterexperience, and I think that is
so true.
I mean, look at Dave's HotChicken.
How many things I mean I'vegone to the back of.
Look at the SKUs in the back ofDave's Hot Chicken.
I went down to one of theirlocations.
Dave's Hot Chicken, I went downto one of their locations.
They have a whole room that wasfull of empty space.
(09:42):
That's what it was full of, andthat room normally would be
full of ingredients afteringredients, after ingredients,
and they have these.
When they do retrofits, they'llhave these big fridges that
will have like one quarter of itused for product.
Yeah, because it's just amatter of you simplify.
You have a simple menu likewhat you guys do, yeah, and then
you can work on like okay,let's tweak things.
(10:04):
We all know that rice is hardto keep fresh.
You know rice?
to make not mushy or crunchyabsolutely it's very easy to dry
out and so the fact is so goodyou could now focus on.
You got two types of rice.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
You're not dealing with all these different types
of bases to deal with, but wehave some amazing grillers and
some amazing prep folks, andthose are really the outside of
our GM.
That's the most important role,those two roles, and
individuals, if you will.
If we can get those right, therest of the team just has to
know how to put the platetogether.
Yeah, and so we can focus a lotof the training on prep and on
(10:38):
grilling, and then the trainingfor our frontline.
Going back to the point ofAloha is they can spend a lot
more time focused on how they'reinteracting with the customer,
not wait, I've got to rememberthis sandwich.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, seven to three minutes.
Put the katsu on the scale andlet's see.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Here's a scoop of rice.
Here's a scoop of mac.
Here's the proteins.
Close the plate, hand it off tothe customer, make sure they're
smiling as they walk out andaway we go.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But I know that you do a great job in training
because not only are you in theback end system when you look at
speed of response, you guys arein the very top of being quick
to respond to the guests butI've also been on the receiving
end of that, where I ordered adish and I got a side salad.
And that's one of those thingswhere in expo, it's easy to
forget because it's not therehot, you got to keep it cold and
(11:26):
so it's easy to forget one ofthose things.
So I forgot the salad.
I got the survey how waseverything?
I said, hey, you forgot mysalad.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Boom, literally within five minutes I got a $5
off coupon with an apology fromthe GM and like, even though I
know that that's how it'ssupposed to work, like I
designed it that way, but yeahas I said, that's one of the
beauties of the platform is ithelps our teams connect, our GMs
in particular, connect backwith the customers very quickly
as long as they're on it andthen paying attention, right,
(11:54):
but that's and I can't but like.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Ovation is a tool.
It takes someone who eitheruses the tool well and it takes
someone who's training someoneto care about using the tool
well.
So I think that's.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Tammy Mack, who's the wife of one of our panelists,
Kimo like she really establishedour training protocols and
cares clearly so much about ourculture and our of Aloha that
she started it off and had allthat training.
And then actually Malia Dalton,our current director of op
services, which is training andnew store opens and things.
She's just carried that torchon and it's every training we
have is really focused on that.
How do we deliver on thecustomer experience and deliver
(12:28):
that Aloha that we're trying toprovide and you don't get your
salad?
We got to make it right, we gotto fix that and we won't get a
perfect every time, but that'sthe goal.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Well, and the great thing is, even as a customer
like seeing that and seeing thatresponse and knowing that a GM
actually did that I have a lotmore trust in the brand, that I
can order and if something isn'tright, it'll be made right.
Yeah, and I think that's reallypowerful and that builds
loyalty.
Yeah, and it forgives stufflike yeah, okay, I know, yeah,
(12:58):
they missed the salad, but Infact they're on it, which is
great.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's almost like you want to screw up sometimes just
to fix it for the customer sothat they know that you're there
for them.
Not that we really want to makeintentional mistakes, but it's
kind of that funny quandary ofyou get more loyalty out of
solving problems than somebodywho just never has a problem.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Oh, 100%.
Actually like 24 times moreloyalty.
We found that when you look ata recovered guest, they're
actually worth 24 times morethan the average guest based on.
They come in four times moreoften.
They come in four and a halftimes more frequently.
They spend $5 more and they're12 times more likely to leave
you a five-star or a heel, whichis pretty powerful.
(13:36):
And actually we did come tothink of it.
We did that study with MoBettis.
Yeah, I believe so study withMoBettis and yeah, it was like
we looked at 150,000 customersover 18 months and it was just
impressive to see that valuethat's created.
And as we look at kind ofoverall the guest experience,
what's your guest experiencephilosophy?
How do you really think aboutwhat's the most important aspect
(13:58):
of guest experience?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I think it's really consistency.
At the end of the day,Customers want to know they're
going to come in, get greetedthe same way, get treated the
same way and that plate's got tobe the same every time.
And there can be little nuances, but for the most part,
consistency, I think, is themost important thing.
Not a consistently badexperience, of course, but a
consistently good, solidexperience, I think, is better
(14:19):
than these swings of sometimeshave an amazing experience and
sometimes it's horrible.
Like just have a consistentlygood experience and you're going
to drive loyalty.
If you can have good experiencecombined with some amazing
experiences from time to time,even better.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, I love that.
And then let's say, a brand isgrowing.
They're at 10, 20 locations,dreaming of getting to the 60
locations, like you guys aregoing to.
What would you recommend forthem?
What are some tactics that theyshould be thinking about to
improve the guest experience?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Focus on the fundamentals.
I think we have a joke.
I think my team probably makesfun of me for saying it, but you
don't have to get cute as longas you execute.
And so it's like just focus onthose basics of preparing the
food right, serving it with asmile, getting it out in a
timely manner.
Don't try to come up with allthese different ways to be
everything for everyone as well.
I think you've got to know whoyour brand is and be that.
Don't try to be like oh,there's this hot new trend and
(15:08):
we've got to add this to themenu and has nothing to do with
what we're doing.
You're just going to addcomplexity and make it harder
for your team to execute becauseyou're trying to do this cute
little idea that you think isgoing to get an extra customer
or two.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's a great point.
Just talking to jim's jim uhbiddicks, and so I'm just
thinking about dave's hotchicken.
But, like you know, looking attheir milkshakes, their customer
, their franchisees, were likewe need milkshakes and so and
they wanted to do like themix-ins, but they're like it's
too huge.
So they came up with the ideaof just like top loaded.
Right, so make the milkshakeand instead of mixing it up,
just call it top loaded and nowmake it a strength and and I
(15:41):
think that that's somethingwhere it's powerful to test
things out.
But I love that idea of keep itsimple, make sure that it's not
like overly complex and makesure because the more complex it
is, the less consistent it willbe.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah Well, I think you have to also accept you may
not always be right.
We tried this thing, thesehurricane fries.
They were delicious as could be, but all of a sudden we're
frying fries and we've got tohold them and you've got to top
them.
They were, I think, aphenomenal product but overly
complex and our customers, theyweren't getting them
consistently, so they weren'treally selling that well and it
was like, just because I lovedthem and some other people loved
(16:15):
them, they didn't fit the menu.
So let's get rid of that andlet's just focus on let's focus
on the corn.
We'll have another new idea ofsome new product that we've got
a really revolutionary thingwe're testing right now steamed
vegetables.
Ooh, right, but it's likesometimes the simplest things
are the things that people wantand, lo and behold, we've got it
in one store right now, butwe're selling a lot more steamed
vegetables than we ever did.
(16:36):
These awesome tasting hurricane?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, because I think about like kind of like the
that fast, casual people arelooking for better for you
solutions.
And if I can get mac salad orrice and get steamed vegetables
and sub one of those out, yeah,I want to feel a little less
guilty yeah, like I love our macsalad, but it may not be the
thing I feel good eating everyday.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So sometimes I'm gonna get mac salad and have
that treat, and sometimes I'mgonna exactly swap it out.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Sometimes I deserve 450 calories it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Let's not talk about the calories.
It's just it's calorie, it'sjust all goodness, it's just all
goodness.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So you know a lot of people in the industry.
Who's someone that we should befollowing, who deserves an
ovation?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
You know lately who's been really awesome for us
Brock Weeks and his team over atSavos.
Those guys, they have some AImodeling they're playing with
and working with and for us, theway that our lines work.
You pay at the end.
So you walk up, you order yourplate, we make your plate, you
go to the end, you pay.
Well, I mentioned like customerexperience is so important.
We're trying to revolutionize.
How do we get the data thattells us how long it takes to
(17:35):
get through our line?
You're in peak lunch rush Maybe.
It's taking five or six minutes.
We really want it to be muchless than that.
And they've got some cameratechnology they're partnering
with us on to figure out like,okay, what does that actual line
speed work like and how can weevaluate and then say, okay,
here's a bottleneck and here's abottleneck.
How do we coach and teach theteam how to redeploy in this way
?
So pretty cool to just see theexcitement they have around it
(17:57):
with it and the partnership.
It's early days, we'll see howit keeps going, but those guys
have just been I talk aboutsharing aloha.
They've been sharing the alohawith us and working with us, try
to solve this line speedunderstanding just like
drive-through.
We've all got loop timers.
Yeah, that's all figured out.
I don't think I'm gonna dig upthe floors and put loop timers
in the restaurant, but these,this camera technology is pretty
cool yeah, he was telling meall about that and just so
(18:20):
impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
so if you're not familiar with Savvy, go check
them out.
It's wait, what's the spellingof it?
Is it S-A-V-I, s-a-v-i?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I think their website's like getsavvycom, yeah
, super impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
That's why I'm giving him such a plug, and the team
is great, so how do people findand follow you and MoBettas?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Don't worry about me.
You can find us at MoBetas onInstagram or wwwmobetascom or
all the socials that way.
But yeah, love this brand andit's all about growing, growing.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Amen.
Well, rob, for bringing usAloha and for making things not
just a little bit good, but forMoBetas.
Today's Ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us.
Appreciate it, sir.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts
or your favorite place to listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
two-question, sms-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
Welcome to a live edition of Give an Ovation.
I'm your host, zach Oates, andI bring on experts to talk about
strategies and tactics you canuse to create a five-star
experience in your restaurant,and this podcast is powered by
Ovation, an operations and guestrecovery platform for
multi-unit restaurants, whereyou can get all the answers
(00:20):
without harassing your guests.
With all the questions, learnmore at OvationUpcom.
And I am really excited becausein this edition we're here at
RLC and even though Rob and IRob Erman, president of MoBetas
we're in the same state, wehardly get a chance to see each
other.
I'm on the road You're openingup so many locations, got so
much going on, so thanks fortaking some time to chat with us
(00:43):
today, man.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You bet my pleasure.
We love ovation of what youguys do for our business, and so
I always happen to sit downwith you and chat.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, I love Mo Betta's, even before we work
together, because it's greatfood.
If you haven't tried Mo Betta's, it is like a fast, casual
Hawaiian food that makes youfeel good and it's one of those
places you go in and it's got agreat vibe.
People can come in and try toreplicate food, but you can't go
(01:09):
in and replicate the vibe.
And then I love how you guyshave incorporated so much from
the founder's childhood even inthe decor and the history on the
walls and the vibe of it.
Talk to me about what thefeeling of Mo Betters is.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, Well, I mean, first off, it starts with Aloha
and we couldn't be any luckierthan the team that we get to
hire that believes in thatmission.
And our mission is be Aloha.
And so it's really thisemphasis of so many people think
Aloha is saying hello andgoodbye, and really I'd say
Aloha is much more I'd put itmore closely defined as loved.
And so even if you go to Hawaii, you'll see these road signs
(01:43):
where, if you don't get it,you're like why does it say
drive with Aloha?
I don't get it.
But it's this sentiment of justhow do we share that love and
that compassion, that joy withour customers?
And in fact, we talked to ourteam members this week.
We're going to be out inBurleson, Texas, opening up a
new location.
We'll do what we call culturenight, coming up on Wednesday,
and one of always do is I quizthe team and I'm like okay, when
somebody walks in the door, doyou shout aloha at every
(02:05):
customer?
And of course, usually the team.
They're brand new.
They're like yeah, of course wedo.
We're like no, you actuallydon't.
Aloha is a feeling, it's a vibe.
So should you warmly greetevery customer with aloha?
Absolutely, If it feelsappropriate to say aloha, you go
for it.
But aloha isn't about saying it, it's about doing it, being it
what you do.
So I'm glad you feel it, butthat's our intention of the
(02:26):
restaurant, and then the foodreally is just the vehicle by
which we get to share that aloha.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
What is your favorite thing about us to eat?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Oh, it changes, but I'll tell you what.
My most favorite which is a bitof a guilty pleasure is our
katsu chicken.
I was just going to say that,but you've got, so got to
drizzle it with our spicy mayo,which is kind of this creamy
spicy sauce, and then you addour Yobo sauce, which is like a
hot teriyaki, so you get thiscreamy, sweet spicy mix on top
of the fried Katsu chicken.
(02:54):
It is as Kimo says.
It'll change your life.
So, it's pretty freaking good.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
But your Katsu sauce, too, is like Delicious.
It's so good and I love to putthat on the mac salad.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
okay, that's one of my jams is just you drizzle it
on the mac salad and I eat thatwith yeah if you haven't tried,
like the combo I just said, thatwe put on the katsu, put that
on the mac salad, or even putthe yobo on your rice.
Uh-huh, if you like spicy.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
If you don't like spicy, then back away so if you
like spicy yobo amazing, it's aspicy teriyaki.
Yeah, okay, I haven't even likeI haven't even seen that, cause
I go into Mobetta's and I'mlike I know what I want.
It's just a matter of how big.
How much do I want?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah Well, I think we're naive sometimes when we
think that our customers justkind of figure it out.
So we've had some scientistsand things.
We're actually putting oursauces on our menu Cause we've
had that realization of so manypeople come into like I love the
katsu sauce or I love theteriyaki sauce.
They don't even realize we havethese other flavor options and
so, but I tell you, spicy mayo,yobo sauce, it's a little bit
too good.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So I think that's very interesting though, because
thinking about it from theconsumer perspective, it's
oftentimes challenging.
I mean, like, for example, meat Ovation.
I'm like, well, guess feedbackand customer experience is so
important?
Yes, it is, but I also knowthat you running a large brand.
You've got 20 vendor partnersthat you're working with.
(04:15):
You've got hundreds of peopleyou're working with.
There's so many things You'renot thinking about the
day-to-day of what is theovation score this afternoon.
Those are more like high levelthings that help you stay on
track, but so, too, with a brand, like realizing that, yeah, you
sit in the boardroom and youthink of these other sauces.
You go in the test kitchen, youtry these things out, but at
(04:36):
the end of the day, the consumerneeds to know about it.
Yeah, and it's more than just aone time push lto or sign up
there.
It's like it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
It's the training, it's a whole 360 view and look,
I think that's where our teamtalks about it.
Like, I don't enjoy sitting inour office.
I love our team at the supportcenter.
They're amazing, but they allknow and I've said this to them
before like the real magichappens in the restaurants and I
think sometimes you've got tobring in the restaurants, you've
got to get behind the line andserve customers, hear what
(05:04):
they're saying, see what they'resaying.
And to that point, of thesesauces, it's one of those where
you're in there and you're like,oh, have you ever tried this
sauce?
And so many of them have not.
And you're like, okay, wait aminute, we have a problem.
We have this great product thatwe just aren't marketing well
enough.
Now let's go back to thesupport center.
It's like, okay, we got alittle problem to solve, let's
go solve it.
But you don't figure that outsitting in an office.
(05:28):
You figure that out in therestaurant.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Right and talking to your team and making sure that
you're not only getting feedbackfrom your guests.
But okay, team, what do youthink?
What are some ideas, what areyou feeling?
What are you seeing, becausethat's often where the best
ideas come from yeah, teammembers who are doing it every
single day and they're seeingthe problems and they're hearing
these consistent issues,absolutely so.
One of the things that'sfascinating about MoBeta is you
(05:51):
guys have gone through twotransactions.
Yes, right, that is everything.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, you're right, 2017, the Savory Fund.
It was called Four Foods Groupback then.
Yes, Savory Fund invested inand partnered with Kimo and
Kalani Mac and really thatjourney like at that point they
had six restaurants in 2017.
I was fortunate enough to joinin 2021 when we had 22
restaurants, still with theSavory Fund and really with a
mission to continue that growthbut to also professionalize our
(06:17):
team and get it ready foranother equity transaction.
And so then, yeah, actuallythis last October, we completed
another equity transaction withsome awesome new partners of
ours Blue Marlin Partners andTribe Capital.
Savory is still part of thepartnership and involved and we
love them to death, but superexcited about Blue Marlin and
Tribe and what they're nowbringing to the table to help
(06:37):
just continue, fuel our growth.
We're going to open up store 62.
I mentioned we're going toBurleson store 62.
I'm lucky enough, by the time Ihit my fourth anniversary in
July, we'll have tripled thesize of the brand with 66 units.
So pretty, pretty fun journeythus far and we're not done,
we're just getting started.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
When you're looking at that journey and, going from,
you said 20, how many?
22 when I started, 22 when youstarted and 60 plus in two
transactions.
How do you keep the culture?
And, quite frankly, like, howdo you keep the food quality?
Because I feel like that'ssomething that's really
challenging to do as you growand scale and you're able to
keep the culture.
(07:13):
And as investors come in, theywant you to find more affordable
options to lower the costs andthings like that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Our partners want value creation and my job is to
make sure we show them that thevalue of this brand comes from
the two things that you justsaid.
One is the value of this brandcomes from our culture.
It's not easy.
It's not easy.
We have to think about it daily, constantly trying to find ways
to make sure that our foundersare connecting with our teams
and that we're living our values, by the way, and reinforcing
(07:43):
them and connecting them.
And again, it also happens inthe restaurants.
I can't live the culture andshare the culture by sitting in
office.
We've got to be out in therestaurant, so important to me
that we have FaceTime with theteams and we're just constantly
thinking about how do wereinforce what we're doing and,
by the way, evolving, becauseour culture is different when we
were back at six units fromwhat it is now at almost 62
(08:05):
units Not in a bad way, but youget bigger.
You have to evolve and makesure you reinforce for folks
that we're a growth brand andthis is exciting and we get to
spread Aloha across the UnitedStates.
What's better than that?
But then the food quality, asyou said, is important also, and
I think for us, our secret tothat success is the simplicity
of it.
We make a few products reallyreally well and we focus on that
(08:27):
often to make sure that wecontinue that quality high and
even going through COVID andthese weird crazy chicken things
that happened the last coupleof years, we've taken some
moments.
We've said, look, we're notgoing to sacrifice quality just
to make sure we hit our margins.
Luckily, we manage the business.
I think well enough that we cantake a few of those risks and
(08:49):
take a little bit of pain overtime and come out brighter on
the other side.
But making sure that we makethe best teriyaki chicken, the
best teriyaki steak possible,and not just keep adding and
innovating and adding things tothe menu, I think helps us.
In fact our chief operatingofficer, john Conine, was
telling me I didn't get to sitin on it, but somebody from the
recent Chili's success wassharing that they actually
scaled back their menu and werenot focused on just adding and
(09:11):
innovating products, becausethey realized that by doubling
down on simplicity it meant theywere more consistent, they
executed better food anddelivered and that's what
customers wanted and they keptcoming back.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, if you double down on half as many products,
you have a four times betterexperience, and I think that is
so true.
I mean, look at Dave's HotChicken.
How many things I mean I'vegone to the back of.
Look at the SKUs in the back ofDave's Hot Chicken.
I went down to one of theirlocations.
Dave's Hot Chicken, I went downto one of their locations.
They have a whole room that wasfull of empty space.
(09:42):
That's what it was full of, andthat room normally would be
full of ingredients afteringredients, after ingredients,
and they have these.
When they do retrofits, they'llhave these big fridges that
will have like one quarter of itused for product.
Yeah, because it's just amatter of you simplify.
You have a simple menu likewhat you guys do, yeah, and then
you can work on like okay,let's tweak things.
(10:04):
We all know that rice is hardto keep fresh.
You know rice?
to make not mushy or crunchyabsolutely it's very easy to dry
out and so the fact is so goodyou could now focus on.
You got two types of rice.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
You're not dealing with all these different types
of bases to deal with, but wehave some amazing grillers and
some amazing prep folks, andthose are really the outside of
our GM.
That's the most important role,those two roles, and
individuals, if you will.
If we can get those right, therest of the team just has to
know how to put the platetogether.
Yeah, and so we can focus a lotof the training on prep and on
(10:38):
grilling, and then the trainingfor our frontline.
Going back to the point ofAloha is they can spend a lot
more time focused on how they'reinteracting with the customer,
not wait, I've got to rememberthis sandwich.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, seven to three minutes.
Put the katsu on the scale andlet's see.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Here's a scoop of rice.
Here's a scoop of mac.
Here's the proteins.
Close the plate, hand it off tothe customer, make sure they're
smiling as they walk out andaway we go.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But I know that you do a great job in training
because not only are you in theback end system when you look at
speed of response, you guys arein the very top of being quick
to respond to the guests butI've also been on the receiving
end of that, where I ordered adish and I got a side salad.
And that's one of those thingswhere in expo, it's easy to
forget because it's not therehot, you got to keep it cold and
(11:26):
so it's easy to forget one ofthose things.
So I forgot the salad.
I got the survey how waseverything?
I said, hey, you forgot mysalad.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Boom, literally within five minutes I got a $5
off coupon with an apology fromthe GM and like, even though I
know that that's how it'ssupposed to work, like I
designed it that way, but yeahas I said, that's one of the
beauties of the platform is ithelps our teams connect, our GMs
in particular, connect backwith the customers very quickly
as long as they're on it andthen paying attention, right,
(11:54):
but that's and I can't but like.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Ovation is a tool.
It takes someone who eitheruses the tool well and it takes
someone who's training someoneto care about using the tool
well.
So I think that's.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Tammy Mack, who's the wife of one of our panelists,
Kimo like she really establishedour training protocols and
cares clearly so much about ourculture and our of Aloha that
she started it off and had allthat training.
And then actually Malia Dalton,our current director of op
services, which is training andnew store opens and things.
She's just carried that torchon and it's every training we
have is really focused on that.
How do we deliver on thecustomer experience and deliver
(12:28):
that Aloha that we're trying toprovide and you don't get your
salad?
We got to make it right, we gotto fix that and we won't get a
perfect every time, but that'sthe goal.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Well, and the great thing is, even as a customer
like seeing that and seeing thatresponse and knowing that a GM
actually did that I have a lotmore trust in the brand, that I
can order and if something isn'tright, it'll be made right.
Yeah, and I think that's reallypowerful and that builds
loyalty.
Yeah, and it forgives stufflike yeah, okay, I know, yeah,
(12:58):
they missed the salad, but Infact they're on it, which is
great.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's almost like you want to screw up sometimes just
to fix it for the customer sothat they know that you're there
for them.
Not that we really want to makeintentional mistakes, but it's
kind of that funny quandary ofyou get more loyalty out of
solving problems than somebodywho just never has a problem.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Oh, 100%.
Actually like 24 times moreloyalty.
We found that when you look ata recovered guest, they're
actually worth 24 times morethan the average guest based on.
They come in four times moreoften.
They come in four and a halftimes more frequently.
They spend $5 more and they're12 times more likely to leave
you a five-star or a heel, whichis pretty powerful.
(13:36):
And actually we did come tothink of it.
We did that study with MoBettis.
Yeah, I believe so study withMoBettis and yeah, it was like
we looked at 150,000 customersover 18 months and it was just
impressive to see that valuethat's created.
And as we look at kind ofoverall the guest experience,
what's your guest experiencephilosophy?
How do you really think aboutwhat's the most important aspect
(13:58):
of guest experience?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I think it's really consistency.
At the end of the day,Customers want to know they're
going to come in, get greetedthe same way, get treated the
same way and that plate's got tobe the same every time.
And there can be little nuances, but for the most part,
consistency, I think, is themost important thing.
Not a consistently badexperience, of course, but a
consistently good, solidexperience, I think, is better
(14:19):
than these swings of sometimeshave an amazing experience and
sometimes it's horrible.
Like just have a consistentlygood experience and you're going
to drive loyalty.
If you can have good experiencecombined with some amazing
experiences from time to time,even better.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, I love that.
And then let's say, a brand isgrowing.
They're at 10, 20 locations,dreaming of getting to the 60
locations, like you guys aregoing to.
What would you recommend forthem?
What are some tactics that theyshould be thinking about to
improve the guest experience?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Focus on the fundamentals.
I think we have a joke.
I think my team probably makesfun of me for saying it, but you
don't have to get cute as longas you execute.
And so it's like just focus onthose basics of preparing the
food right, serving it with asmile, getting it out in a
timely manner.
Don't try to come up with allthese different ways to be
everything for everyone as well.
I think you've got to know whoyour brand is and be that.
Don't try to be like oh,there's this hot new trend and
(15:08):
we've got to add this to themenu and has nothing to do with
what we're doing.
You're just going to addcomplexity and make it harder
for your team to execute becauseyou're trying to do this cute
little idea that you think isgoing to get an extra customer
or two.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's a great point.
Just talking to jim's jim uhbiddicks, and so I'm just
thinking about dave's hotchicken.
But, like you know, looking attheir milkshakes, their customer
, their franchisees, were likewe need milkshakes and so and
they wanted to do like themix-ins, but they're like it's
too huge.
So they came up with the ideaof just like top loaded.
Right, so make the milkshakeand instead of mixing it up,
just call it top loaded and nowmake it a strength and and I
(15:41):
think that that's somethingwhere it's powerful to test
things out.
But I love that idea of keep itsimple, make sure that it's not
like overly complex and makesure because the more complex it
is, the less consistent it willbe.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah Well, I think you have to also accept you may
not always be right.
We tried this thing, thesehurricane fries.
They were delicious as could be, but all of a sudden we're
frying fries and we've got tohold them and you've got to top
them.
They were, I think, aphenomenal product but overly
complex and our customers, theyweren't getting them
consistently, so they weren'treally selling that well and it
was like, just because I lovedthem and some other people loved
(16:15):
them, they didn't fit the menu.
So let's get rid of that andlet's just focus on let's focus
on the corn.
We'll have another new idea ofsome new product that we've got
a really revolutionary thingwe're testing right now steamed
vegetables.
Ooh, right, but it's likesometimes the simplest things
are the things that people wantand, lo and behold, we've got it
in one store right now, butwe're selling a lot more steamed
vegetables than we ever did.
(16:36):
These awesome tasting hurricane?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, because I think about like kind of like the
that fast, casual people arelooking for better for you
solutions.
And if I can get mac salad orrice and get steamed vegetables
and sub one of those out, yeah,I want to feel a little less
guilty yeah, like I love our macsalad, but it may not be the
thing I feel good eating everyday.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So sometimes I'm gonna get mac salad and have
that treat, and sometimes I'mgonna exactly swap it out.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Sometimes I deserve 450 calories it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Let's not talk about the calories.
It's just it's calorie, it'sjust all goodness, it's just all
goodness.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So you know a lot of people in the industry.
Who's someone that we should befollowing, who deserves an
ovation?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
You know lately who's been really awesome for us
Brock Weeks and his team over atSavos.
Those guys, they have some AImodeling they're playing with
and working with and for us, theway that our lines work.
You pay at the end.
So you walk up, you order yourplate, we make your plate, you
go to the end, you pay.
Well, I mentioned like customerexperience is so important.
We're trying to revolutionize.
How do we get the data thattells us how long it takes to
(17:35):
get through our line?
You're in peak lunch rush Maybe.
It's taking five or six minutes.
We really want it to be muchless than that.
And they've got some cameratechnology they're partnering
with us on to figure out like,okay, what does that actual line
speed work like and how can weevaluate and then say, okay,
here's a bottleneck and here's abottleneck.
How do we coach and teach theteam how to redeploy in this way
?
So pretty cool to just see theexcitement they have around it
(17:57):
with it and the partnership.
It's early days, we'll see howit keeps going, but those guys
have just been I talk aboutsharing aloha.
They've been sharing the alohawith us and working with us, try
to solve this line speedunderstanding just like
drive-through.
We've all got loop timers.
Yeah, that's all figured out.
I don't think I'm gonna dig upthe floors and put loop timers
in the restaurant, but these,this camera technology is pretty
cool yeah, he was telling meall about that and just so
(18:20):
impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
so if you're not familiar with Savvy, go check
them out.
It's wait, what's the spellingof it?
Is it S-A-V-I, s-a-v-i?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I think their website's like getsavvycom, yeah
, super impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
That's why I'm giving him such a plug, and the team
is great, so how do people findand follow you and MoBettas?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Don't worry about me.
You can find us at MoBetas onInstagram or wwwmobetascom or
all the socials that way.
But yeah, love this brand andit's all about growing, growing.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Amen.
Well, rob, for bringing usAloha and for making things not
just a little bit good, but forMoBetas.
Today's Ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us.
Appreciate it, sir.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts
or your favorite place to listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
two-question, sms-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
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