December 22, 2025 • 19 mins
Andrew Pudalov, founder and CEO of Rush Bowls, joins Zack to talk about how he left a high pressure finance career to build a brand centered on real ingredients and genuine guest connection. After years in global trading, Andrew wanted a more meaningful path and a healthier lifestyle for his family, which led to the creation of Rush Bowls more than 20 years ago.
Zack and Andrew discuss:
- How a major career pivot led to Rush Bowls
- Why Andrew left Wall Street to build something meaningful
- What sparked Andrew’s shift from finance to food
- How Andrew transitioned from trading floors to real food
- The turning point that led to creating Rush Bowls
- Why Andrew chose to build a brand instead of staying in finance
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pudalov-07697010/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rush-bowls/
https://rushbowls.com/franchise/research-us/our-story
https://www.instagram.com/rushbowls/?hl=en
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the
Restaurant Guest ExperiencePodcast.
I'm your host, Zach Oates, andeach week I chat with industry
experts to uncover theirstrategies and tactics to help
you create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
Learn what's actually happeningin your restaurants and exactly
(00:23):
how to improve while drivingrevenue.
Learn more at ovationup.com.
And today we have what seems tobe on the surface, a very
quintessential guest that wewould have.
He's the founder and CEO of RushBowls and Rush Bowls
franchising.
He's been doing some amazingstuff.
Andrew Padalov.
What's up, Andrew?
(00:43):
Having a great day.
Great to see you.
Happy to be on your show.
And the reason, Andrew, uh giveyou a bit of a hard time is
because while on the surface,you seem just like the
quintessential guest.
You had a stint outside of therestaurant industry.
Now we're going back 21 yearsbecause you've been at Rush
Bowls for a long time.
But when I sat down with you fordinner, your journey into the
(01:05):
food business was just like sointeresting.
I would love for you to sharehow did you get from where
you're at to where you are?
Sure.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
Yeah, I have a couple of lives basically.
Uh so earlier in my career, andto midpoint in my career, I
would say, depending on how youdefine your career, I was global
head of fixed income derivativetrading in New York City.
Wait, sorry, I fell asleep.
SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
You were fixed the ice.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
I was a gambler for the banks.
Okay.
I was a professional gamblertaking uh positions on behalf of
the bank, not brokering,actually taking the positions
for the banks in veryinteresting structures,
derivative structures, they callit.
So placing bets for a lot ofdifferent banks and generating
(01:54):
returns on them and providingservices for institutional
customers that needed to handlethe balance sheets in certain
ways or handle income in certainways.
So it was a specialty that wouldinvolve currency, interest
rates, futures.
So it was pretty involved, andit involved very large
(02:14):
large-scale trades.
The smallest trade I ever didwas 20 million.
So up to a billion.
SPEAKER_00 (02:19):
When you were like, hey, fam, I got an idea.
Why don't we leave all of thismoney stuff behind and sell
food?
I'm sure they were like, Andrew,do it.
That's amazing.
What a good idea.
How did that conversation go?
Going from like finance, whichis just like so stable, to
something that is just what acrazy asset to have a restaurant
(02:42):
brand.
SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
Well, a couple of things.
It's not stable.
If you're generating revenue,and I was, it's stable, but very
few people can do that for anextended period of time.
So my shelf life at that type ofposition was nearing an end.
But the trigger really was 9-11.
So I was working in New YorkCity.
My wife was working, she was inthe tower in '93 the first time
(03:04):
they bombed it, and that waspretty harrowing for her.
She was really high up.
Wasn't my wife at the time, but9-11 was her first day back from
eternity.
She was in the 20s.
I was in midtown.
She actually saw the plane crashin.
And one of my good friendsworked at Cannor.
He jumped.
Oh my god.
It was pretty catastrophic forus, really emotionally.
Living in New York City, too.
(03:25):
There was anthrax warnings.
You couldn't take the subway.
You had to duct tape yourwindows.
It was pretty harrowing on alllevels.
I wanted to interact with peoplemore.
So when you were in thatposition that I was in, you're
taking big bets.
You're yes, mine, yours.
There's not a lot of interactionwith customers, and it's very
(03:47):
curt.
And I really wanted to move outof New York, do something
totally different that I had noknowledge about, and build it
from scratch based on myabilities.
And I wanted nothing, theindustry that's very different.
I wanted to really challengemyself and really create a
different environment for mykids to grow up in.
(04:08):
So unfortunately for me, I pickfood, which is one of the
toughest industries you canpick.
I think certainly banking is alot easier, I would say, but
food is definitely moreinteractive, more interesting in
many ways, and more fun.
SPEAKER_00 (04:22):
What an incredible story and the journey to get in
here and realizing that this isall about people.
I mean, I often talk about whenI do my keynotes, I talk about
the famous quote that manypeople climb the ladder of life
only to realize it's leaningagainst the wrong wall.
And what good does it do toclimb this ladder if you get to
the top and you're like, wait asecond, everything that's
(04:44):
important is on that wall.
And it often takes somethingpretty dramatic happening in our
lives to push us to make thatchange.
I mean, you look at people thatare unhealthy and they go to the
doctor and they're like, hey,you've got two years to live,
and they turn their life aroundand things like that that take
it.
But it's like, how do we havethat mentality every day on
(05:08):
keeping what's important?
And over the last 21 plus years,how have you kept that mentality
of putting first things first?
SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
What you said was really important in my life,
right?
So, and it's very telling thehighs were lower and the lows
were lower.
I was running a big tradinggroup.
I had really a super highposition at the bank and banks.
And it wasn't about money,really.
They paid me well for what I didthat afforded me to change, but
(05:41):
I wasn't happy on a lot offronts.
And 9-11 just brought thattogether.
So when you say the latter'sleaning against the wrong wall,
well, early in my career, it'sthe greatest life in the world.
You're treated like a rockstory.
But after a while, it's not asmeaningful.
And I wanted to do somethingthat was meaningful.
And I had little kids and I sawwhat they were eating in New
(06:02):
York City, and it was a hot dog,grilled cheese, pizza, chicken
fingers.
That literally is what I'mordering for lunch today.
It's on its way right now.
So yeah.
I wanted to go into a collegetown.
Boulder is known to be a littlemore health-oriented and really
change how people are eating.
And that's how I stepped intothis role and created the bowl
(06:24):
concept 21 years ago, and no onewas doing bowls.
SPEAKER_00 (06:27):
Yeah.
And it's amazing to see how thishas boomed and this concept is
just from this little seedling.
Because at the end of the day,when you're looking at health
and you're looking at whatyou're doing and what you're
building, like people want toeat good and feel good and feel
full.
And looking at your menu, that'swhat you're all about.
(06:48):
And so when you think about thisin the perspective of the guest
experience, and it's kind ofinteresting because you've lived
in the restaurant industry longenough that you're no longer a
finance guy, but you're arestaurant guy.
And when you think about theguest experience, what do you
think the most important aspectsare?
And are there any lessons thatyou've learned from finance that
(07:09):
that have carried over, or haveyou had to like start fresh when
it comes to the guestexperience?
SPEAKER_01 (07:14):
Well, two things.
Finance was incredibly importantfor me running my business.
I think you can't underestimatethe importance of understanding
COGS, understanding running abusiness, how to make it
profitable.
I came into this with a verydifferent approach, and I think
it was very, very helpful forour success.
In terms of customer experience,I've learned a lot, but I will
(07:39):
tell you it's changed a lot too.
And people always want thatinteraction.
They want to feel like that'stheir friend when they come into
the store, right?
They want to have that personalconnection.
And at today's day and age,that's really hard because the
consumer still, I think, evenstriving for it more and more,
(08:00):
but the employees are so it's amore of a challenge for
employees because they're soused to being on their phone,
are isolated.
And I see a very divided societyin many ways because everyone's
insulated into their own worlds,whether it's phone, social
media, whatever else.
And how do you convert that andmake the employee interact more
(08:22):
with the consumer and make theconsumer happier?
Because on a consumer side,they're looking for that
interaction.
I see it every day.
And the consumer to me, they'retelling you everything.
They're telling you, which isgreat for your software too, but
they're telling you, hey, I likethis product, I don't like this
product.
You didn't say hi to me, I'm nothappy about it.
(08:43):
Like, or this is the greatestemployee ever.
And for us as a company, it'sfor us to make that consumer as
happy as possible.
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Yeah.
I mean, I love that.
And if you think about that fromthe perspective of everyone is
striving to make the guesthappy, what does that look like?
What does that look like whensomeone comes in and hey, you
made my bowl wrong?
Do you argue with them?
Because, or do you just say,Great, let's do that again for
you?
Or someone messages in and islike, hey, you forgot my
(09:17):
toppings.
It's like, how do you make thatright?
How do you make them happy?
And I was actually just at aDave's Hot Chicken conference,
and it was really interesting tosee them, while not the most
healthy food, they also aretrying to be like a genuine,
authentic company.
But one of the big things islike they just say yes because
is it worth fighting a guestover a five-dollar thing off of
(09:39):
the principle of it?
Or just like just make themhappy, right?
Because the power that anegative review has is just
dangerous.
I mean, it's gonna hurt yourbusiness genuinely.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
Listen, the consumer's always right, it's an
old adage, but it has to betreated that way.
And in a franchise system, too,it's a little has its own
complications because you have afranchisee who may take it
personally, may be like, well, Iserve that person perfectly.
I don't know, it's not worth it.
(10:12):
And it's really still a customerservice business, right?
So they have to and we have toalways have that mentality for a
successful business that thecons customer is right, even if
they're wrong, they're right.
Our job is to make them happy.
And if they wanna, they don'tlike the bowl, who cares,
honestly.
For us, it's 25-30% cost ofgoods, labor, whatever it is.
(10:35):
What are you giving up?
But if you give them anargument, you're not changing
their minds, right?
It's almost like a politicalargument with whoever you're
supporting, you're not gonnajust convert them because of
your beliefs or you feelingyou're right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:50):
Right.
When's the last time someonesaid you are so dumb for voting
for that person?
And they were like, I neverthought of it that way.
You are right.
I'm gonna switch my politicalviews.
Like, that's just not how ithappens.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
Right.
And I think it's the same thingwith food, right?
And as people are more and moreisolated in their environments,
their opinions are not gonna getsofter, let's put that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:13):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
So, what are some tactics thatyou've used to improve the guest
experience?
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Well, first of all, real and genuine.
I mean, number one, be real, begenuine, interactive.
We even script people because Iknow that doesn't sound real and
genuine, but it at leastinitiates that conversation
going, right?
I view our restaurants ashealthy bars, basically, serving
healthy food without alcohol oranything negative.
(11:42):
You know, we're unique in thisposition because everything is
customizable.
There's no strawberries, noadded sugars.
You can make it, whether youhave a dietary need, an allergy,
any which way.
With that type of product, it'sreally impairing to the
consumer.
The consumer has to alsounderstand you want strawberries
on top, you want blueberries,you want coconut.
(12:03):
We're here to please you.
Have it your way.
I think Burry King was reallysmart early on with that.
That's our same philosophy.
Most of our competitors in thisspace have a pre-made sugar off
sugar ice cream, basically, baseor sorbet that they put fruit
on.
That's not us.
So having the consumer reallyunderstand they're empowered.
(12:24):
We only do real fruit, realvegetables.
We don't have pre-made bases oradded sugars.
So it's really empowering theconsumer and getting feedback
from the consumer about whatthey want.
So you kind of force theinteraction a little bit on that
regard, but also training theemployees.
We've spend tons and tons oftime training employees because
(12:44):
it is difficult.
A lot of employees we hire arecollege age and they're looking
at their phones all the time.
The Gen Z stare, they call it.
So it's just a blank stare, andit's not meant, it can be
perceived as impersonal or rude,and it's not really meant that
way.
So, really redefining how wehandle customer service, and
(13:07):
we're working on that every day.
We put a lot, a lot, and samething with digital, making that
as involved, making the consumerfeel connected, what they want,
what they like, really spendinga lot of time in that arena to
make sure the message getsacross in every which way.
SPEAKER_00 (13:24):
Well, and when you look at your online ratings, you
know, 4.5, 4.8, like it's comingthrough.
People are seeing it and they'redoing it.
Because at the end of the day,this is why, as you know, from a
finance perspective, when PEgroups tend to buy restaurants,
you look at all theserestaurants that have gone
bankrupt, and almost everysingle one of them is owned by a
PE group.
And the reason is because theytry to extract everything out by
(13:48):
canceling programs that theguests care about, by reducing
the quality of food to increasethe margins, and they take a
one-year, two-year bump.
And then what happens?
Guest satisfaction falls off,people stop coming in.
And so when you do, I love thatbehind you says rush is real.
When you're using those realthings and you're trying to be
authentic and you're giving theguidelines, the you know,
(14:11):
putting the bumpers in thealley, but in the uh I don't
bowl very much, obviously.
But what are those things?
Is that what are the gutters?
I don't bother too much.
But like those are things thatare really gonna make a
difference for you in the longrun.
And hey, look, if you're lookingto build a long-term asset,
(14:32):
which obviously you've done 20plus years, it's because you do
it with authenticity and withreal quality.
So kudos to you, Andrew.
It's amazing to see what youbuild.
I've followed you for a longtime, and it's amazing to see
just how consistently you beatthat drum of real and you don't
compromise there, which says alot about who you are.
(14:52):
So kudos to you, man.
Now, being in this industry forso long, you know a lot of
people.
Who is someone that deserves anovation?
Who is someone that we should befollowing?
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
Besides you, um oh, come on.
I don't know the person at all,but I will tell you Kevin
Hotchman from Chili's.
What he's doing for a brand thatwas not known, but was known but
not in a positive light, isreally remarkable.
(15:23):
I think what he's doing issomething that really he's ahead
of the curve.
He's basically taking business,I think, from QSR because people
are now sitting down inrestaurants, so it's going
against the trend, and has donehe he's the CEO of uh Chili's,
he's Brinker International.
I think he's doing an incrediblejob.
(15:44):
I've never met him, I have noaffiliation with them
whatsoever.
But when I look at companiesthat have rethought the business
model and how to be successful,he's number one for me right
now.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
I mean, I will tell you, it was years, I mean,
probably a decade since I hadgone to Chili's.
And I was there with one of mybuddies, and I'm like, hey,
where should we go to lunch?
And I kind of like jokingly waslike, Oh, you want to go to
Chili's?
And he was like, dude, it'sactually good.
I was like, Come on.
He's like, No, let's go.
We went there and I got the bigQP burger.
(16:20):
I walked out of there spendingas much money as I would have at
McDonald's, and I was like, Ihad leftovers, and it was good.
So love that shout out, someonethat we should definitely be
following.
Cause yeah, I talk about someonewho's got something peeking
around corners.
If you are a fast follow of him,you'll probably be on pace with
what's going on.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
So yeah, I mean, it's really interesting because
they are exactly your situation,simpler menu, and we're working
on actually to simplify our menutoo, less items, actually, but
really continue with that superhigh quality.
And he's taking business fromfive guys, McDonald's, all those
(17:01):
businesses because people arenow like, oh, I'll sit down and
eat at a restaurant for the sameprice.
It's really interesting becauseit really stemmed a tide that
was 100% going the other way.
SPEAKER_00 (17:11):
By the way, with that, what's your P-Mix cutoff
of like, hey, this is on thechopping block?
A bull and smoothie-wise?
Yeah.
What do you look for with PMIXpercentage?
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
Well, it's all about data, right?
So we look at well, 80% of oursales are bulls.
So our business is a bullbusiness.
So we're still going through,you know, the bottom 15% to cut
and just really stay with whatsells and adjust.
We're doing more LTOs, we'redoing more interesting
(17:41):
ingredients like mushrooms andstuff like that, and really kind
of upping our game because youalways have to be moving
forward, right?
Love that, Andrew.
Uh, and how do people find andfollow you?
Rushbulls.com,R-U-S-H-B-O-W-L-S.com,
rushbulls.com.
(18:01):
All the information about thecompanies on there.
We have 20 stores to openbetween the really mostly next
year now, as we're the end ofthis year and next year.
We actually have a store openingin a non-traditional store
opening in Greenville.
Uh I saw it.
Yeah.
That's exciting.
I think this weekend, and weopened two stores last weekend,
(18:22):
I believe.
Which is the internationalmarket?
Not yet, actually.
But what's the non-traditionalstore?
Oh, the the I don't even.
I know the woman's day on it,the international market, but
she's a really interestingwoman, also.
But certainly there's beinformation out on that.
And then we're opening inPowell, Ohio in the next few
(18:44):
weeks and in Scottsdale.
SPEAKER_00 (18:47):
Oh, nice.
Okay.
Well, hey, Scottsdale, I mayhave to take a flight down there
to check it out.
Give me give me any excuse to goto Scottsdale.
I'm there, especially in theUtah winter.
But Andrew, for leaving theboring life of finance behind to
give us real authentic food.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGiven Ovation.
Well, thank you for having me.
(19:08):
Always great to see you.
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 based actionableguest feedback platform built
for multi unit restaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
(19:29):
a better guest experience, visitus at ovationup.com.
Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the
Restaurant Guest ExperiencePodcast.
I'm your host, Zach Oates, andeach week I chat with industry
experts to uncover theirstrategies and tactics to help
you create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
Learn what's actually happeningin your restaurants and exactly
(00:23):
how to improve while drivingrevenue.
Learn more at ovationup.com.
And today we have what seems tobe on the surface, a very
quintessential guest that wewould have.
He's the founder and CEO of RushBowls and Rush Bowls
franchising.
He's been doing some amazingstuff.
Andrew Padalov.
What's up, Andrew?
(00:43):
Having a great day.
Great to see you.
Happy to be on your show.
And the reason, Andrew, uh giveyou a bit of a hard time is
because while on the surface,you seem just like the
quintessential guest.
You had a stint outside of therestaurant industry.
Now we're going back 21 yearsbecause you've been at Rush
Bowls for a long time.
But when I sat down with you fordinner, your journey into the
(01:05):
food business was just like sointeresting.
I would love for you to sharehow did you get from where
you're at to where you are?
Sure.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
Yeah, I have a couple of lives basically.
Uh so earlier in my career, andto midpoint in my career, I
would say, depending on how youdefine your career, I was global
head of fixed income derivativetrading in New York City.
Wait, sorry, I fell asleep.
SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
You were fixed the ice.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
I was a gambler for the banks.
Okay.
I was a professional gamblertaking uh positions on behalf of
the bank, not brokering,actually taking the positions
for the banks in veryinteresting structures,
derivative structures, they callit.
So placing bets for a lot ofdifferent banks and generating
(01:54):
returns on them and providingservices for institutional
customers that needed to handlethe balance sheets in certain
ways or handle income in certainways.
So it was a specialty that wouldinvolve currency, interest
rates, futures.
So it was pretty involved, andit involved very large
(02:14):
large-scale trades.
The smallest trade I ever didwas 20 million.
So up to a billion.
SPEAKER_00 (02:19):
When you were like, hey, fam, I got an idea.
Why don't we leave all of thismoney stuff behind and sell
food?
I'm sure they were like, Andrew,do it.
That's amazing.
What a good idea.
How did that conversation go?
Going from like finance, whichis just like so stable, to
something that is just what acrazy asset to have a restaurant
(02:42):
brand.
SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
Well, a couple of things.
It's not stable.
If you're generating revenue,and I was, it's stable, but very
few people can do that for anextended period of time.
So my shelf life at that type ofposition was nearing an end.
But the trigger really was 9-11.
So I was working in New YorkCity.
My wife was working, she was inthe tower in '93 the first time
(03:04):
they bombed it, and that waspretty harrowing for her.
She was really high up.
Wasn't my wife at the time, but9-11 was her first day back from
eternity.
She was in the 20s.
I was in midtown.
She actually saw the plane crashin.
And one of my good friendsworked at Cannor.
He jumped.
Oh my god.
It was pretty catastrophic forus, really emotionally.
Living in New York City, too.
(03:25):
There was anthrax warnings.
You couldn't take the subway.
You had to duct tape yourwindows.
It was pretty harrowing on alllevels.
I wanted to interact with peoplemore.
So when you were in thatposition that I was in, you're
taking big bets.
You're yes, mine, yours.
There's not a lot of interactionwith customers, and it's very
(03:47):
curt.
And I really wanted to move outof New York, do something
totally different that I had noknowledge about, and build it
from scratch based on myabilities.
And I wanted nothing, theindustry that's very different.
I wanted to really challengemyself and really create a
different environment for mykids to grow up in.
(04:08):
So unfortunately for me, I pickfood, which is one of the
toughest industries you canpick.
I think certainly banking is alot easier, I would say, but
food is definitely moreinteractive, more interesting in
many ways, and more fun.
SPEAKER_00 (04:22):
What an incredible story and the journey to get in
here and realizing that this isall about people.
I mean, I often talk about whenI do my keynotes, I talk about
the famous quote that manypeople climb the ladder of life
only to realize it's leaningagainst the wrong wall.
And what good does it do toclimb this ladder if you get to
the top and you're like, wait asecond, everything that's
(04:44):
important is on that wall.
And it often takes somethingpretty dramatic happening in our
lives to push us to make thatchange.
I mean, you look at people thatare unhealthy and they go to the
doctor and they're like, hey,you've got two years to live,
and they turn their life aroundand things like that that take
it.
But it's like, how do we havethat mentality every day on
(05:08):
keeping what's important?
And over the last 21 plus years,how have you kept that mentality
of putting first things first?
SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
What you said was really important in my life,
right?
So, and it's very telling thehighs were lower and the lows
were lower.
I was running a big tradinggroup.
I had really a super highposition at the bank and banks.
And it wasn't about money,really.
They paid me well for what I didthat afforded me to change, but
(05:41):
I wasn't happy on a lot offronts.
And 9-11 just brought thattogether.
So when you say the latter'sleaning against the wrong wall,
well, early in my career, it'sthe greatest life in the world.
You're treated like a rockstory.
But after a while, it's not asmeaningful.
And I wanted to do somethingthat was meaningful.
And I had little kids and I sawwhat they were eating in New
(06:02):
York City, and it was a hot dog,grilled cheese, pizza, chicken
fingers.
That literally is what I'mordering for lunch today.
It's on its way right now.
So yeah.
I wanted to go into a collegetown.
Boulder is known to be a littlemore health-oriented and really
change how people are eating.
And that's how I stepped intothis role and created the bowl
(06:24):
concept 21 years ago, and no onewas doing bowls.
SPEAKER_00 (06:27):
Yeah.
And it's amazing to see how thishas boomed and this concept is
just from this little seedling.
Because at the end of the day,when you're looking at health
and you're looking at whatyou're doing and what you're
building, like people want toeat good and feel good and feel
full.
And looking at your menu, that'swhat you're all about.
(06:48):
And so when you think about thisin the perspective of the guest
experience, and it's kind ofinteresting because you've lived
in the restaurant industry longenough that you're no longer a
finance guy, but you're arestaurant guy.
And when you think about theguest experience, what do you
think the most important aspectsare?
And are there any lessons thatyou've learned from finance that
(07:09):
that have carried over, or haveyou had to like start fresh when
it comes to the guestexperience?
SPEAKER_01 (07:14):
Well, two things.
Finance was incredibly importantfor me running my business.
I think you can't underestimatethe importance of understanding
COGS, understanding running abusiness, how to make it
profitable.
I came into this with a verydifferent approach, and I think
it was very, very helpful forour success.
In terms of customer experience,I've learned a lot, but I will
(07:39):
tell you it's changed a lot too.
And people always want thatinteraction.
They want to feel like that'stheir friend when they come into
the store, right?
They want to have that personalconnection.
And at today's day and age,that's really hard because the
consumer still, I think, evenstriving for it more and more,
(08:00):
but the employees are so it's amore of a challenge for
employees because they're soused to being on their phone,
are isolated.
And I see a very divided societyin many ways because everyone's
insulated into their own worlds,whether it's phone, social
media, whatever else.
And how do you convert that andmake the employee interact more
(08:22):
with the consumer and make theconsumer happier?
Because on a consumer side,they're looking for that
interaction.
I see it every day.
And the consumer to me, they'retelling you everything.
They're telling you, which isgreat for your software too, but
they're telling you, hey, I likethis product, I don't like this
product.
You didn't say hi to me, I'm nothappy about it.
(08:43):
Like, or this is the greatestemployee ever.
And for us as a company, it'sfor us to make that consumer as
happy as possible.
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Yeah.
I mean, I love that.
And if you think about that fromthe perspective of everyone is
striving to make the guesthappy, what does that look like?
What does that look like whensomeone comes in and hey, you
made my bowl wrong?
Do you argue with them?
Because, or do you just say,Great, let's do that again for
you?
Or someone messages in and islike, hey, you forgot my
(09:17):
toppings.
It's like, how do you make thatright?
How do you make them happy?
And I was actually just at aDave's Hot Chicken conference,
and it was really interesting tosee them, while not the most
healthy food, they also aretrying to be like a genuine,
authentic company.
But one of the big things islike they just say yes because
is it worth fighting a guestover a five-dollar thing off of
(09:39):
the principle of it?
Or just like just make themhappy, right?
Because the power that anegative review has is just
dangerous.
I mean, it's gonna hurt yourbusiness genuinely.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
Listen, the consumer's always right, it's an
old adage, but it has to betreated that way.
And in a franchise system, too,it's a little has its own
complications because you have afranchisee who may take it
personally, may be like, well, Iserve that person perfectly.
I don't know, it's not worth it.
(10:12):
And it's really still a customerservice business, right?
So they have to and we have toalways have that mentality for a
successful business that thecons customer is right, even if
they're wrong, they're right.
Our job is to make them happy.
And if they wanna, they don'tlike the bowl, who cares,
honestly.
For us, it's 25-30% cost ofgoods, labor, whatever it is.
(10:35):
What are you giving up?
But if you give them anargument, you're not changing
their minds, right?
It's almost like a politicalargument with whoever you're
supporting, you're not gonnajust convert them because of
your beliefs or you feelingyou're right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:50):
Right.
When's the last time someonesaid you are so dumb for voting
for that person?
And they were like, I neverthought of it that way.
You are right.
I'm gonna switch my politicalviews.
Like, that's just not how ithappens.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
Right.
And I think it's the same thingwith food, right?
And as people are more and moreisolated in their environments,
their opinions are not gonna getsofter, let's put that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:13):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
So, what are some tactics thatyou've used to improve the guest
experience?
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Well, first of all, real and genuine.
I mean, number one, be real, begenuine, interactive.
We even script people because Iknow that doesn't sound real and
genuine, but it at leastinitiates that conversation
going, right?
I view our restaurants ashealthy bars, basically, serving
healthy food without alcohol oranything negative.
(11:42):
You know, we're unique in thisposition because everything is
customizable.
There's no strawberries, noadded sugars.
You can make it, whether youhave a dietary need, an allergy,
any which way.
With that type of product, it'sreally impairing to the
consumer.
The consumer has to alsounderstand you want strawberries
on top, you want blueberries,you want coconut.
(12:03):
We're here to please you.
Have it your way.
I think Burry King was reallysmart early on with that.
That's our same philosophy.
Most of our competitors in thisspace have a pre-made sugar off
sugar ice cream, basically, baseor sorbet that they put fruit
on.
That's not us.
So having the consumer reallyunderstand they're empowered.
(12:24):
We only do real fruit, realvegetables.
We don't have pre-made bases oradded sugars.
So it's really empowering theconsumer and getting feedback
from the consumer about whatthey want.
So you kind of force theinteraction a little bit on that
regard, but also training theemployees.
We've spend tons and tons oftime training employees because
(12:44):
it is difficult.
A lot of employees we hire arecollege age and they're looking
at their phones all the time.
The Gen Z stare, they call it.
So it's just a blank stare, andit's not meant, it can be
perceived as impersonal or rude,and it's not really meant that
way.
So, really redefining how wehandle customer service, and
(13:07):
we're working on that every day.
We put a lot, a lot, and samething with digital, making that
as involved, making the consumerfeel connected, what they want,
what they like, really spendinga lot of time in that arena to
make sure the message getsacross in every which way.
SPEAKER_00 (13:24):
Well, and when you look at your online ratings, you
know, 4.5, 4.8, like it's comingthrough.
People are seeing it and they'redoing it.
Because at the end of the day,this is why, as you know, from a
finance perspective, when PEgroups tend to buy restaurants,
you look at all theserestaurants that have gone
bankrupt, and almost everysingle one of them is owned by a
PE group.
And the reason is because theytry to extract everything out by
(13:48):
canceling programs that theguests care about, by reducing
the quality of food to increasethe margins, and they take a
one-year, two-year bump.
And then what happens?
Guest satisfaction falls off,people stop coming in.
And so when you do, I love thatbehind you says rush is real.
When you're using those realthings and you're trying to be
authentic and you're giving theguidelines, the you know,
(14:11):
putting the bumpers in thealley, but in the uh I don't
bowl very much, obviously.
But what are those things?
Is that what are the gutters?
I don't bother too much.
But like those are things thatare really gonna make a
difference for you in the longrun.
And hey, look, if you're lookingto build a long-term asset,
(14:32):
which obviously you've done 20plus years, it's because you do
it with authenticity and withreal quality.
So kudos to you, Andrew.
It's amazing to see what youbuild.
I've followed you for a longtime, and it's amazing to see
just how consistently you beatthat drum of real and you don't
compromise there, which says alot about who you are.
(14:52):
So kudos to you, man.
Now, being in this industry forso long, you know a lot of
people.
Who is someone that deserves anovation?
Who is someone that we should befollowing?
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
Besides you, um oh, come on.
I don't know the person at all,but I will tell you Kevin
Hotchman from Chili's.
What he's doing for a brand thatwas not known, but was known but
not in a positive light, isreally remarkable.
(15:23):
I think what he's doing issomething that really he's ahead
of the curve.
He's basically taking business,I think, from QSR because people
are now sitting down inrestaurants, so it's going
against the trend, and has donehe he's the CEO of uh Chili's,
he's Brinker International.
I think he's doing an incrediblejob.
(15:44):
I've never met him, I have noaffiliation with them
whatsoever.
But when I look at companiesthat have rethought the business
model and how to be successful,he's number one for me right
now.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
I mean, I will tell you, it was years, I mean,
probably a decade since I hadgone to Chili's.
And I was there with one of mybuddies, and I'm like, hey,
where should we go to lunch?
And I kind of like jokingly waslike, Oh, you want to go to
Chili's?
And he was like, dude, it'sactually good.
I was like, Come on.
He's like, No, let's go.
We went there and I got the bigQP burger.
(16:20):
I walked out of there spendingas much money as I would have at
McDonald's, and I was like, Ihad leftovers, and it was good.
So love that shout out, someonethat we should definitely be
following.
Cause yeah, I talk about someonewho's got something peeking
around corners.
If you are a fast follow of him,you'll probably be on pace with
what's going on.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
So yeah, I mean, it's really interesting because
they are exactly your situation,simpler menu, and we're working
on actually to simplify our menutoo, less items, actually, but
really continue with that superhigh quality.
And he's taking business fromfive guys, McDonald's, all those
(17:01):
businesses because people arenow like, oh, I'll sit down and
eat at a restaurant for the sameprice.
It's really interesting becauseit really stemmed a tide that
was 100% going the other way.
SPEAKER_00 (17:11):
By the way, with that, what's your P-Mix cutoff
of like, hey, this is on thechopping block?
A bull and smoothie-wise?
Yeah.
What do you look for with PMIXpercentage?
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
Well, it's all about data, right?
So we look at well, 80% of oursales are bulls.
So our business is a bullbusiness.
So we're still going through,you know, the bottom 15% to cut
and just really stay with whatsells and adjust.
We're doing more LTOs, we'redoing more interesting
(17:41):
ingredients like mushrooms andstuff like that, and really kind
of upping our game because youalways have to be moving
forward, right?
Love that, Andrew.
Uh, and how do people find andfollow you?
Rushbulls.com,R-U-S-H-B-O-W-L-S.com,
rushbulls.com.
(18:01):
All the information about thecompanies on there.
We have 20 stores to openbetween the really mostly next
year now, as we're the end ofthis year and next year.
We actually have a store openingin a non-traditional store
opening in Greenville.
Uh I saw it.
Yeah.
That's exciting.
I think this weekend, and weopened two stores last weekend,
(18:22):
I believe.
Which is the internationalmarket?
Not yet, actually.
But what's the non-traditionalstore?
Oh, the the I don't even.
I know the woman's day on it,the international market, but
she's a really interestingwoman, also.
But certainly there's beinformation out on that.
And then we're opening inPowell, Ohio in the next few
(18:44):
weeks and in Scottsdale.
SPEAKER_00 (18:47):
Oh, nice.
Okay.
Well, hey, Scottsdale, I mayhave to take a flight down there
to check it out.
Give me give me any excuse to goto Scottsdale.
I'm there, especially in theUtah winter.
But Andrew, for leaving theboring life of finance behind to
give us real authentic food.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGiven Ovation.
Well, thank you for having me.
(19:08):
Always great to see you.
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 based actionableguest feedback platform built
for multi unit restaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
(19:29):
a better guest experience, visitus at ovationup.com.
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