June 24, 2025 • 29 mins
Michael McDermott, founder and former CEO of Kona Grill, is a seasoned restaurant industry leader with a track record of creating and growing successful concepts. His portfolio includes the development of Tavern23, Rojo Mexican Grill, and Sushi on Shea. With extensive experience and a passion for innovation, Michael is now leading Chi-Chi’s into its next chapter.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Adam West CEOs. You should know with me today,
Michael McDermott che Cheese Restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Thanks for coming by, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
All right, So the rumors have been well they're more
than rumors now because I guess you guys there were
rumors before there was anything efficient. But Chee Cheese is back.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah, you know, it's It's something that I'd never had
a desire to do over the last number of years,
and I just.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Last summer I actually was. I was.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm a big, big proponent of meditation. I was meditating
one morning and the thought came to me that I
should bring Chee Chee's back, And.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You, on your own, came up with this.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well I think it was like a divinely inspired moment, right.
I mean, I'm a big I definitely believe in that.
And I ran up by my dad and my uncle
Jack Michael. Jack actually used to be the vice president
chie Chee's back in the day, ok, and he's now
the chairman and Coco Marco's Pizza the the fourth biggest
pizza chain in the country. And I always bounce things
(01:04):
off of these guys, and so I bounced off my
uncle Jack and he's like, you know, the only thing
wrong with that is that I didn't come up with it,
and he thought it was a great idea. So, but
the problem was is that we didn't have the rights
to the name. So so in eighty three Hormel got
the rights to distribute Chichi's related products in the grocery stores.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Was that the salside remember the commercials, the guy with
the overcoat and yep, and the yeah that was again, yeah,
the shortillas and margarita makes. I think they've got like
twelve products and they're all over the country now. But
and then then six, and then in two thousand and.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Four the last sixty five Chi Cheese closed and so
the trademark became available to full Mark, and so Hormel
got it. And so for in order for me to
do Chee Che's, I had to get I had to
make an agreement with them.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
To use the name.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Okay, So I approached their executive team with the idea
of bringing Chee Chee's back, and they loved it, and
we reached an agreement, and so now you know, we
have the rights to do Chee Cheese throughout the country.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I don't entirely remember Chee Cheese. I knew of it.
I'm a little young for not totally young, but I
mean there's probably some younger people. Can you tell me
about the history what you know about Chee Cheese? I mean,
you know, having a relative part of it, you probably
know some.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean so, so the first door opened up in
nineteen seventy six, and was it here in Minnesota? It
was that it was that Nickeolin in four ninety four.
That was the first store, and uh, they ended up
they ended up opening a couple more stores in the
cities and then expanded it. Eventually the company went public.
(02:42):
And the one thing with cheach is it did change.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Ownership a number of times.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So there was probably because they went private after going public,
and so there was a number of ownerships of Chee
Che's throughout the twenty eight years that was around.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Okay, it seems like it was longer than that. Was
it only twenty eight years?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, I don't know, you're see if you're better not.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Technique, but it just I mean, that was such a seventy.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Six to two thousand and four. What is that?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, twenty eight you're right, Yeah, twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, twenty eight years.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I think it's been missed. Yeah, no, good move. Yeah yeah,
because when you hear about different restaurants that are missed
in the Twin Cities, that came up quite a bit.
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
We actually, honestly, I didn't realize how much it was
missed until we did a press release. We we did
a press release in December, and I thought it would
be picked up locally because this is where Chichie started,
and I thought the trade magazines would pick it up.
But I had no idea the coverage it that it
that it received. We had over six hundred articles written.
(03:44):
Every major news organization picked it up. It went viral
on social media, and then I started reading the comments
and all the people that had missed it, and get
I can't tell you them the amount of letters and
emails I've received from people that are thanking me for
bringing it back.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Wow. Okay, And so now you told me some stuff.
I assume that this is public stuff that you told me,
But I'm so I'll just ask you, where's your first location?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So the first location we have announced, and that's going
to be at the West End. So we're going to
convert our Rojo Mexican grill to Chi Cheese, uh huh.
And we're looking at third quarter of this year.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, And so I know that's because that's close to
where where iHeart is, so Minneapolis, so we love it.
So what's what happens to Rojo, Well.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Goes away, That's what happened to so our planets convert
the rows to Chi Che's and then you know, we're
looking to expand it out of state. And we've had
a number of people that already reached out to us
that are interested in franchising the concept. We've had real
estate developers reach out to us about locations. So you know,
(04:55):
our goal is to get this first store open, but
we definitely would like be in a position to expand
the concept.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Talking to Michael McDermott's CEO of Chee Cheese, which is
apparently coming back, tell tell me a little bit about
you did you Are you from Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
So I was born in Minnesota, My parents grew up
in Austin, lived until fifth grade. My dad moved to
Arizona and I spent the next you know, most of
the next thirty years there, and then twelve years ago
my wife and I decided to move up here with
our kids. For a number of reasons I had I
(05:31):
had opened up Rojo, so that was here. We wanted
the change of seasons, just a different environment. Scott still
had gotten really big. So we've been here now for
twelve years.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And so you, I guess you already have a relationship
maybe with Hormel or they say down there hormal Right. Yeah,
my neighbor's from Austin. She told me that. I was like,
what what does that mean? So did that help being
from Austin developing this relationship?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I don't know if that helped her now not, you know,
like with the negotiations or or them being excited.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
About yeah anything. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Think, uh, my uncle Jack as well does business with Hormale,
so and he's been part of this is a part
of my advisory board. So there's probably some connection there.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And so you talked about you just had this idea.
Did it come from? Is there anything that made you
think one day more about this about bringing back chee cheese?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Now?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Literally it was like a like a it came to
me one morning. I mean it was I know, I
had no thought what's over bringing it back every until
that morning and then I then when that happened, I
just literally ran with it.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I thought you were kidding, But yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,
So do you I mean you don't really have any
customers yet, right, I mean you haven't really opened officially.
But what I mean, do you have a vision for
for what serving your customers looks like?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, I mean the so the concept. So what we're
doing with Cheaches is we're bringing the concept forward, right, So,
I mean there's going to be I know, we're going
to get We're going to get emails, We're going to
get comments that people are going to say, this is
not the Cheachers I remember, right, And it's not intended
to be the exact Cheaches that remember. Now, we are
(07:16):
going to bring back a number of the items right
that Chia Chees had. We have all the original recipes,
so there'll be some familiarity with respect to the menu
and with the decor. There's going to be some accents
such as the hanging plants or the tile or some
of the colors that we're using. But it's a new
look and feel and a new menu. So the concept
(07:39):
is being brought forward.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I think for some people to say, it's not what
I remember might be dishonest because they probably don't remember
anything from right, it's from some of the nights they
were there.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Well, yeah, you got to remember the last ones closed
twenty what twenty one years ago? Yeah, so you know,
if you're in your thirties, you probably right exactly, Well,
you weren't old enough to drink I know that unless
you were in your forties.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, but many people probably were. Yeah. How how will
you I mean, Mexican's not new to the Twin Cities
by any means. How will you different differentiate yourselves other
than I mean, you got the Chee Cheese name, which
is a big bonus.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean we're definitely gonna leverage the name.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I think you know what we do too in our concept,
which we've done with when ConA Grill, which is another
concept I started.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
We always have had a big bar.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Presence, unlike some other maybe Mexican restaurants, and we'll continue
that with che Cheese. But I think we'll differentiate ourselves
from the experience people have when they walk in the
doors and all of our food is made fresh from scratch.
There's no third parties, there's nothing we don't know, there's
(08:53):
not a microwave on the premise. I mean, everything is
made that day. So I think from the quality of
our food, the price point, and the ambiance of the atmosphere,
I think will differentiate us.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
What challenges do you see starting up here? Maybe maybe
the industry as a whole. I mean, I think you're
we kind of see what what you're up against. Well,
I don't know, maybe we want to talk about that.
What challenges are you up against?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Well, I think.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
All restaurants have experienced a tough time over the last
two years. I think with inflation, everything costing more, whether
it be at the you know, at the gas station,
at the grocery store. You know, prices have been increased.
There's been so people, you know, one of the first
things they can cut back on is going out to eat.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Right, So we're actually a pretty good economic indicator either
of going into a tough time or coming out of
a tough time. And and so I think there's been
a lot of pressure in our industry with respect to
the top line sales. And we've seen since COVID, we've
(10:00):
seen a lot of pressure too on just hourly labor.
You know, what we pay our hourly labor especially in
the kitchen. It's going up over thirty percent since COVID. Wow,
so you know we've raised prices like a lot of restaurants,
but you can't raise prices to the point are enough
to offset the increase in costs, both from labor and commodities.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah. Do you see pick up and delivery, because that's
obviously taken off since COVID. We pick up sometimes I've
never had anything delivered?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
What's your philosophy on that?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
It's just not a big part of our business now.
It's probably three percent. There are other concepts that it's
definitely a big part of their business. Yeah, but but
for us, you know, we do do it, we will
do it, but it's never been it's never been anything
that's made a difference in our business.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
There's a place in Lakeville that we sometimes will go
to and get takeout and I bring it home and
I'm like, how do they come out ahead on this?
Like there's just there's so much packing and just I
don't know everything. It seems like it's hard to make
a buck that way.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, I mean, your margins are not great on delivery,
but but it adds to the top line.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Sure, what success stories do you have in your resume?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
You know what's so funny is I did my MBA
and I thought, if I go back and teach, I
will go back and teach a class. And all the
things they don't teach you in school actually learn by
doing it. So I've had a lot of things that
you know, I've learned along the way.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
But I guess.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
You know, the one national chain I did was ConA Grill,
you know that was that was a I stepped down
a CEO of that company when we went public. I
just was not there's a difference between starting a company
and running a company, and I didn't want to run
a public company. So that was the one national chain
(12:02):
I did. I have done a number of other concepts
along the way. I mean, Rojo has been a great success.
I think as a you know, as a as a
business owner CEO, I really changed a lot and how
I approach running a business, and a lot of that
is just my journey, personal journey of just my faith
(12:26):
and and and and.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
How that's really.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Been the foundation of of of how I approach business
in general.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So I didn't ask you, so you you actually did
you start ro HO? I did Okay, that makes okay,
it's all make you more said there, You're just like
taking it over somehow, And I feel better about this
now now.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I think my strength has always been developing concepts and
getting the people involved and raising the money and and
then always having a really good operator that's been, you know,
next to me along the way, so I and do
what I've done.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Without the people around me.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I mean, I've always been really good at finding people
that know how to do the things that I don't
know how to do or I don't have the time
to do. And I've just been really blessed with great people.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Well Rojo was awesome, so yeah, yeah, are you ever
a secret chopper? That'd be the best part. Could you
ever go in there? And just I better try it?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I mean, you know my own restaurants, Yeah sure, yeah,
Well I can't go on my own restaurants with people, you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Know, I amises right, Yeah, no, I've never done that,
but I can't help but when every time I go
into a restaurant, I can't help but notice things that
I would do differently A lot.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Of times too, what they do right, yeah? Right? I
mean you pick up ideas?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Did you work in the restaurants at a young age.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I started out.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Uh. My first job was washing dishes at a restaurant
called Lafonda del Sol call mixing restaurant in high school.
And I did that because I wanted to get the
salca recipe. Oh, they had the best sauce in the world.
I worked at night and they made it in the morning.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Wait where was Lafonda's.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Lefonda del Soul was at Scott Still and Shay, it
actually just closed.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
It had been there for like fifty years.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Okay, small little Mexican restaurant, and so I was never
able to get the salsa recipe.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
But I started out.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
There and then I I worked you know, pretty much
every position uh in the business over the next number
of years.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Why couldn't you get the saluca recipe? Was it that
well they made it in the morning. Oh yeah, but
but you'd think that that you could have talked on
the people.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well they didn't write it down.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, and well it's good they make it right out
of their head.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
That's yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, yeah, all right, tell me about being a leader.
What is that? What does that mean to you? What
does it feel like?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Oh? I feel like you should be talking to my dad.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, okay, I mean you talked about having other people,
partnering with other people, the people who really know what
they're doing. I get that, But what I mean they
people look to you. You're obviously very successful.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, you know, I I am.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I am a big believer and making sure that I
prepare myself each day to show up in a way
that I would want a leader to show off. So
I'm a big So we were talking about this before
this interview, But I came to Minnesota thirty six years
(15:23):
ago because I was at Arizona State University and I wasn't.
I wasn't I wasn't graduating when I should have, and
I had I had a big problem with alcohol. Came
up here, went through treatment, and I changed, you know,
totally turned my life around. And so I've been sober
the last thirty five years. But part of that a
(15:43):
big part of that process of my recovery has been
a daily morning prayer meditation that I do, and I
spent at least an hour every morning in peryer meditation.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And and I really believe.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
That that is, you know, that is what sets me
up for being a leader, being showing up for my
employees and being a better listener, you know, making decisions
not based on fear, but based on the principles I
try to live by. So I don't have a philosophy
like you know, this is how what a CEO should be. Like,
(16:19):
I just tried to prepare myself each day every morning
so that I show up hopefully in the right way.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well that's that's the philosophy.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah. Is it hard to focus when you're doing I've
tried different meditations at different points, not an hour, certainly
not an hour and I can fifteen minutes, No way
is it? Do you are you thinking about business or
you know?
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Now you know what's funny is I got So this
was about twenty five years ago. I got introduced in
meditation through a guy that I you know, I really
respected this guy and he carried himself in a way
that I'm like, you know, I want what he has.
And I asked him, I said, what do you do
now to kind of have this type of piece and serenity?
And He's like, I meditate every morning, and so I'm like,
(17:01):
all right, I'm going to try that. Right, So I
got an egg timer because there was way before smartphones
and I set it for five minutes, and I sat there.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
In my living room in my apartment and.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Closed my eyes and was quiet, and I was like,
I think my egg timer is broken. I could swear
five minutes a gone by, and I looked at my
egg timer and it was like two minutes ago by.
And I would rather run five miles barefoot and gravel
and sit for five minutes. It was like the worst
(17:34):
just experience. And so I'm but I kept with it.
I kept doing it every morning, and gradually I was
able to sit for five minutes and then said for
ten minutes, and and and you know, so it's built
up board today. I mean, I don't miss a morning,
no matter where I'm at, no matter what I'm doing,
no matter how sick I am. I spend in at
(17:55):
least an hour every morning. And I've incorporated to a prayer.
You know, I have a faith that I that you know,
I believe in a power greater than me that I
think is give me a second chance in life. And
and so I try to connect to that. Do you
sit on the floor when you do it? I sit
on my couch. I used to sit on my floor,
(18:17):
but my knees can't.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, so I said on my guy and I and
I tell you what.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I work with a lot of guys that that try meditation,
and and I really I'm a big proponent of guided
meditations if you struggle with it. So there's a lot
of people that just really can't sit still. They have
a problem in the beginning. And so I believe in
using guided meditations, and there's a ton of apps for it.
But I think that can be really helpful. And it's
(18:44):
not really how long you go, it's developing consistency.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So if you can.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Start doing it every morning, if it's for two minutes,
and just build off of that. But find a place
that you really like and and you know that as
far as I if it's your in room or at
your office or wherever it is, and find that place
that you can go to every morning and and be quiet.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I think there's probably different types or different ways of
doing it too. It's still being quiet. I guess you
got to be I mean, I can't walk my dogs
and be quiet, But you know what I mean, Like
different things maybe do they count? Would they be the
same as you're looking for an hour or yeah, mowing
the crass and I'm out there on my own. I wish, yeah,
I wish I could sit there.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
There's moving meditations, there's walking in I and I've done
them all, and I've done meditation with trees and everything.
But I really am I'm a firm believer in incorporating
at least you know, yeah, part of your day, your
morning whatever, with just being quiet, okay, and just being
still and connecting to you know, you think that there's
(19:49):
nothing in that silence, but when you start doing it,
you realize that everything is.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
In that silence.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah. Probably people in the restaurant industry could use a
little bit of that, right, I'm just thinking, thinking ahead
a little bit about it.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well, I tell you, you know, what's you know, what's
really amazing is that when we closed down for COVID
in March of that and all the restaurants close, and
this is where my and this is what I'm talking
about how this is used as being a leader and
a CEO and so forth, is that we closed down
(20:20):
and also my income went to zero. You know, I
had no idea, like everyone else, what was going to happen.
There was definitely a period of fear.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I mean I was.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
There was about a week or two where I was
like a little bit of a panic and and but
through this daily practice that I have and in my
belief in something greater than myself, I was able to
get to a point where I totally trusted and believed
that it was all unfolded into goodness and it was
all going to be okay, and the fear went away.
(20:49):
And so my decisions that I made for my business
were not based on fear. They were based on rational
thoughts and being present and having that attitude that it's
all you know, the life was happening for me, not
to me, And so I was able to make better
business decisions as a result of that.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
And the same thing.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
You know, we're doing this crowdfunding for for for Chee
Chees right now, But you know, I've always raised money
through either friends and family or investment banks. And when
we back in October of last year, we were looking
to raise money for Chee Chees, and and I started
the normal procedure of doing that, which is, you know,
either calling people I know that have money or.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Reaching out to investment banks.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, nobody was like like we like I couldn't raise
any money.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
I was like, I was like, oh my god, Like
this is never.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Yeah, you know, And instead of freaking out, you know,
I was like, Okay, what's the next thing to do?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And so I reached out to a friend of mine.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
He's like, hey, I know buddy of mine who raised
money from crowdfunded.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I'm like, I have no idea what that is. What
is Like, I've heard of it, but like, what is that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So I talked to somebody that had done it. I
reached out to a number of companies that offer it,
that have platforms, and we went forward with raising money
for teaches and we're still doing it right now with
start Engine. But it's so, you know, crowdfunding what it
does is it allows people that typically couldn't invest in
(22:20):
something that have done in the past invest. So typically
ten percent of your investors are credited, and those are
who we normally go after or you know that invest
in our business. With crowdfunding, anybody can invest as low
as two and fifty dollars and they get something. Then
we get stock in the company. Yeah, you get stock,
(22:40):
stock and cheach you. So we started this, I don't know,
three or four months ago, cool, and it's been just
we have almost like a thousand investors now and it's
been amazing and we're going to continue doing it.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
But but my.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Point is is that you know, this whole meditation stuff,
it's allowed me to to be open, uh, you know,
new ideas or new ways of doing things and not
being stuck.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah. I think if more people knew about that, more
people be a part of it, maybe unless they've already
what's the crowdsource of the crowdfunding?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Yeah, I mean we're we we we will continue to
get you know, new investors every day, and uh, it's
been a great I mean, it's been an amazing avenue
or platform to raise money because really, unless you have
friends and family that can put in three to five
million investment, banks just aren't doing that today.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
They used to.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
The friends and family thing gets weird.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Well, it gets hard, and there's not a lot of
people that have got friends and family, got three family dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I don't know, I mean you do, you know, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
But you know, it's it's just it's it's a tough environment.
And so it's really been a great experience.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Telling to Michael mcdermot's EO of Chi Cheese, first location
opening in the West End in Saint Louis Park. You
said third quarter, So as specific as you can be.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
That's expecific. Yes, I can say that word.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, what's your what's your thoughts on giving on philanthropy
in that area?
Speaker 3 (24:10):
You know, I'm I definitely try to give back wherever
I can, whether it be my time money. I'm as
I mentioned before, you know, I the recovery community. I'm
involved in being sober, and I just believe that, you know,
(24:30):
there's no amount of giving back that I can do
to equate to what I've been given.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
So I'm on the.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Board of the retreat that's in Wayseeta, which is a
treatment center for both my women. I uh uh, you know,
always get involved in There's a number of local charities
in town that that we do that we that we
contribute to from a restaurant standpoint, and so I just
(25:02):
I've always you know, I always make time too for people.
I just was talking to a person the other day
that's looking to get in the restaurant business, and so
if there's somebody that is new to the business, they
want to, you know, if there's something I can share
with them.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I always try to make time.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Do you ever are you ever on the serving line?
Are you ever playing stuff up or working behind the scenes?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I I have.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You know what, when we opened up the Rojo in
Maple Grove, I was the lead one of the one
of the bussers, actually the lead bussers. And and I
actually love doing that because when I bust a table,
maybe I'll talk to guests, Yeah, and find out how
their experience was, you know what, when right when went wrong?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
And you say who you are when you do that, I.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Don't unless it gets to a point where that's becomes.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Obvious or whatever. But you're wearing a tie, No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
I'm I'm wearing the same shirt the busses wear. Yeah,
I look, I look like now, I look just like
the rest of the rest of the team. But I
I did that, especially.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
When we opened row Hoo.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
April Goova did that pretty much, you know, three four
days a week for the first number of months we
were open.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Wow, not afraid to literally get your hands dirty, be
in there in the in the in the field. That's great. Yeah,
what are you hiring right now?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Well, we're not specifically hiring for chee cheese we will
be I think we're probably about three months out on that,
but we're we're going to be keeping everyone that wants
to stay, We're going to keep them on board.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
But we're definitely need more people.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And the crowd funding where do we Where do we
find that?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
So that's on start Engine Start engine dot com. They're
the largest crowdfunding platform out there. Kevin O'Leary from Shark Town,
so he's behind that company and they've been really a
great company to work with. But if somebody were to
want to, you know, check that out, if they go
(27:07):
on the start Engine dot compage, they can just find
che cheese there.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh that's that's amazing. Anything else you want people to
know about che cheese or about you?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Well, you know what I'm excited about. Except my mom
is still around. My mom you know that's my mom
is che che else?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You knew that?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah, oh yeah, so my dad started cheating. Somebody takes it,
I know, right, so you named it for my mom.
My mom is still around, my dad's still around. They
are both going to be there at the opening. And
I'll tell you one thing that that maybe to answer
that question about what people don't know is that. So,
my mom wore this seventies orange kind of pant outfit
(27:47):
from Mexico at the grand opening in nineteen seventy six
Coach Chee Cheese. She sent it to my wife. My
wife is like the same build as my mom. Yeah,
my wife is going to wear that opening night. Oh
does your mom know this?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Okay, she said, yeah, surprise because this will be out
before No.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
No, no, no, So she's going to wear that output opening night.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Super cool, pretty cool. One thing I didn't ask. I
don't know if you could say this yet. How did
you have a vision for how big Chee Cheese gets.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
No, I mean, I mean we would.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I think there's an opportunity for for sure, fifty stores
in the Midwest, East coast and maybe one hundred. Yeah,
but like I said, there's gonna be opportunities like in
airports where oh yeah, we're chi Che's did not have
that opportunity before when it was around the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Returned to Richfield and a lot of restaurants I feel like,
you know, started in Richfield or had a big presence
in Richfield.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah, that four ninety four strip, I mean, and I
think that would be another great another great opportunity for us.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
All right, I mean it's all it's all location driven.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, of course. All right, Michael McDermott che Chee's looking
forward to third quarter twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yes, thank you, all right, do you want to join
you those questions
It's Adam West CEOs. You should know with me today,
Michael McDermott che Cheese Restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Thanks for coming by, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
All right, So the rumors have been well they're more
than rumors now because I guess you guys there were
rumors before there was anything efficient. But Chee Cheese is back.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah, you know, it's It's something that I'd never had
a desire to do over the last number of years,
and I just.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Last summer I actually was. I was.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm a big, big proponent of meditation. I was meditating
one morning and the thought came to me that I
should bring Chee Chee's back, And.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You, on your own, came up with this.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well I think it was like a divinely inspired moment, right.
I mean, I'm a big I definitely believe in that.
And I ran up by my dad and my uncle
Jack Michael. Jack actually used to be the vice president
chie Chee's back in the day, ok, and he's now
the chairman and Coco Marco's Pizza the the fourth biggest
pizza chain in the country. And I always bounce things
(01:04):
off of these guys, and so I bounced off my
uncle Jack and he's like, you know, the only thing
wrong with that is that I didn't come up with it,
and he thought it was a great idea. So, but
the problem was is that we didn't have the rights
to the name. So so in eighty three Hormel got
the rights to distribute Chichi's related products in the grocery stores.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Was that the salside remember the commercials, the guy with
the overcoat and yep, and the yeah that was again, yeah,
the shortillas and margarita makes. I think they've got like
twelve products and they're all over the country now. But
and then then six, and then in two thousand and.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Four the last sixty five Chi Cheese closed and so
the trademark became available to full Mark, and so Hormel
got it. And so for in order for me to
do Chee Che's, I had to get I had to
make an agreement with them.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
To use the name.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Okay, So I approached their executive team with the idea
of bringing Chee Chee's back, and they loved it, and
we reached an agreement, and so now you know, we
have the rights to do Chee Cheese throughout the country.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I don't entirely remember Chee Cheese. I knew of it.
I'm a little young for not totally young, but I
mean there's probably some younger people. Can you tell me
about the history what you know about Chee Cheese? I mean,
you know, having a relative part of it, you probably
know some.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean so, so the first door opened up in
nineteen seventy six, and was it here in Minnesota? It
was that it was that Nickeolin in four ninety four.
That was the first store, and uh, they ended up
they ended up opening a couple more stores in the
cities and then expanded it. Eventually the company went public.
(02:42):
And the one thing with cheach is it did change.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Ownership a number of times.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So there was probably because they went private after going public,
and so there was a number of ownerships of Chee
Che's throughout the twenty eight years that was around.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Okay, it seems like it was longer than that. Was
it only twenty eight years?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, I don't know, you're see if you're better not.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Technique, but it just I mean, that was such a seventy.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Six to two thousand and four. What is that?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, twenty eight you're right, Yeah, twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, twenty eight years.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I think it's been missed. Yeah, no, good move. Yeah yeah,
because when you hear about different restaurants that are missed
in the Twin Cities, that came up quite a bit.
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
We actually, honestly, I didn't realize how much it was
missed until we did a press release. We we did
a press release in December, and I thought it would
be picked up locally because this is where Chichie started,
and I thought the trade magazines would pick it up.
But I had no idea the coverage it that it
that it received. We had over six hundred articles written.
(03:44):
Every major news organization picked it up. It went viral
on social media, and then I started reading the comments
and all the people that had missed it, and get
I can't tell you them the amount of letters and
emails I've received from people that are thanking me for
bringing it back.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Wow. Okay, And so now you told me some stuff.
I assume that this is public stuff that you told me,
But I'm so I'll just ask you, where's your first location?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So the first location we have announced, and that's going
to be at the West End. So we're going to
convert our Rojo Mexican grill to Chi Cheese, uh huh.
And we're looking at third quarter of this year.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, And so I know that's because that's close to
where where iHeart is, so Minneapolis, so we love it.
So what's what happens to Rojo, Well.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Goes away, That's what happened to so our planets convert
the rows to Chi Che's and then you know, we're
looking to expand it out of state. And we've had
a number of people that already reached out to us
that are interested in franchising the concept. We've had real
estate developers reach out to us about locations. So you know,
(04:55):
our goal is to get this first store open, but
we definitely would like be in a position to expand
the concept.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Talking to Michael McDermott's CEO of Chee Cheese, which is
apparently coming back, tell tell me a little bit about
you did you Are you from Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
So I was born in Minnesota, My parents grew up
in Austin, lived until fifth grade. My dad moved to
Arizona and I spent the next you know, most of
the next thirty years there, and then twelve years ago
my wife and I decided to move up here with
our kids. For a number of reasons I had I
(05:31):
had opened up Rojo, so that was here. We wanted
the change of seasons, just a different environment. Scott still
had gotten really big. So we've been here now for
twelve years.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And so you, I guess you already have a relationship
maybe with Hormel or they say down there hormal Right. Yeah,
my neighbor's from Austin. She told me that. I was like,
what what does that mean? So did that help being
from Austin developing this relationship?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I don't know if that helped her now not, you know,
like with the negotiations or or them being excited.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
About yeah anything. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Think, uh, my uncle Jack as well does business with Hormale,
so and he's been part of this is a part
of my advisory board. So there's probably some connection there.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And so you talked about you just had this idea.
Did it come from? Is there anything that made you
think one day more about this about bringing back chee cheese?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Now?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Literally it was like a like a it came to
me one morning. I mean it was I know, I
had no thought what's over bringing it back every until
that morning and then I then when that happened, I
just literally ran with it.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I thought you were kidding, But yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,
So do you I mean you don't really have any
customers yet, right, I mean you haven't really opened officially.
But what I mean, do you have a vision for
for what serving your customers looks like?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, I mean the so the concept. So what we're
doing with Cheaches is we're bringing the concept forward, right, So,
I mean there's going to be I know, we're going
to get We're going to get emails, We're going to
get comments that people are going to say, this is
not the Cheachers I remember, right, And it's not intended
to be the exact Cheaches that remember. Now, we are
(07:16):
going to bring back a number of the items right
that Chia Chees had. We have all the original recipes,
so there'll be some familiarity with respect to the menu
and with the decor. There's going to be some accents
such as the hanging plants or the tile or some
of the colors that we're using. But it's a new
look and feel and a new menu. So the concept
(07:39):
is being brought forward.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I think for some people to say, it's not what
I remember might be dishonest because they probably don't remember
anything from right, it's from some of the nights they
were there.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Well, yeah, you got to remember the last ones closed
twenty what twenty one years ago? Yeah, so you know,
if you're in your thirties, you probably right exactly, Well,
you weren't old enough to drink I know that unless
you were in your forties.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, but many people probably were. Yeah. How how will
you I mean, Mexican's not new to the Twin Cities
by any means. How will you different differentiate yourselves other
than I mean, you got the Chee Cheese name, which
is a big bonus.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean we're definitely gonna leverage the name.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I think you know what we do too in our concept,
which we've done with when ConA Grill, which is another
concept I started.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
We always have had a big bar.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Presence, unlike some other maybe Mexican restaurants, and we'll continue
that with che Cheese. But I think we'll differentiate ourselves
from the experience people have when they walk in the
doors and all of our food is made fresh from scratch.
There's no third parties, there's nothing we don't know, there's
(08:53):
not a microwave on the premise. I mean, everything is
made that day. So I think from the quality of
our food, the price point, and the ambiance of the atmosphere,
I think will differentiate us.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
What challenges do you see starting up here? Maybe maybe
the industry as a whole. I mean, I think you're
we kind of see what what you're up against. Well,
I don't know, maybe we want to talk about that.
What challenges are you up against?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Well, I think.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
All restaurants have experienced a tough time over the last
two years. I think with inflation, everything costing more, whether
it be at the you know, at the gas station,
at the grocery store. You know, prices have been increased.
There's been so people, you know, one of the first
things they can cut back on is going out to eat.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Right, So we're actually a pretty good economic indicator either
of going into a tough time or coming out of
a tough time. And and so I think there's been
a lot of pressure in our industry with respect to
the top line sales. And we've seen since COVID, we've
(10:00):
seen a lot of pressure too on just hourly labor.
You know, what we pay our hourly labor especially in
the kitchen. It's going up over thirty percent since COVID. Wow,
so you know we've raised prices like a lot of restaurants,
but you can't raise prices to the point are enough
to offset the increase in costs, both from labor and commodities.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah. Do you see pick up and delivery, because that's
obviously taken off since COVID. We pick up sometimes I've
never had anything delivered?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
What's your philosophy on that?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
It's just not a big part of our business now.
It's probably three percent. There are other concepts that it's
definitely a big part of their business. Yeah, but but
for us, you know, we do do it, we will
do it, but it's never been it's never been anything
that's made a difference in our business.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
There's a place in Lakeville that we sometimes will go
to and get takeout and I bring it home and
I'm like, how do they come out ahead on this?
Like there's just there's so much packing and just I
don't know everything. It seems like it's hard to make
a buck that way.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, I mean, your margins are not great on delivery,
but but it adds to the top line.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Sure, what success stories do you have in your resume?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
You know what's so funny is I did my MBA
and I thought, if I go back and teach, I
will go back and teach a class. And all the
things they don't teach you in school actually learn by
doing it. So I've had a lot of things that
you know, I've learned along the way.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
But I guess.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
You know, the one national chain I did was ConA Grill,
you know that was that was a I stepped down
a CEO of that company when we went public. I
just was not there's a difference between starting a company
and running a company, and I didn't want to run
a public company. So that was the one national chain
(12:02):
I did. I have done a number of other concepts
along the way. I mean, Rojo has been a great success.
I think as a you know, as a as a
business owner CEO, I really changed a lot and how
I approach running a business, and a lot of that
is just my journey, personal journey of just my faith
(12:26):
and and and and.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
How that's really.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Been the foundation of of of how I approach business
in general.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So I didn't ask you, so you you actually did
you start ro HO? I did Okay, that makes okay,
it's all make you more said there, You're just like
taking it over somehow, And I feel better about this
now now.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I think my strength has always been developing concepts and
getting the people involved and raising the money and and
then always having a really good operator that's been, you know,
next to me along the way, so I and do
what I've done.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Without the people around me.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I mean, I've always been really good at finding people
that know how to do the things that I don't
know how to do or I don't have the time
to do. And I've just been really blessed with great people.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Well Rojo was awesome, so yeah, yeah, are you ever
a secret chopper? That'd be the best part. Could you
ever go in there? And just I better try it?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I mean, you know my own restaurants, Yeah sure, yeah,
Well I can't go on my own restaurants with people, you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Know, I amises right, Yeah, no, I've never done that,
but I can't help but when every time I go
into a restaurant, I can't help but notice things that
I would do differently A lot.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Of times too, what they do right, yeah? Right? I
mean you pick up ideas?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Did you work in the restaurants at a young age.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I started out.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Uh. My first job was washing dishes at a restaurant
called Lafonda del Sol call mixing restaurant in high school.
And I did that because I wanted to get the
salca recipe. Oh, they had the best sauce in the world.
I worked at night and they made it in the morning.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Wait where was Lafonda's.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Lefonda del Soul was at Scott Still and Shay, it
actually just closed.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
It had been there for like fifty years.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Okay, small little Mexican restaurant, and so I was never
able to get the salsa recipe.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
But I started out.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
There and then I I worked you know, pretty much
every position uh in the business over the next number
of years.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Why couldn't you get the saluca recipe? Was it that
well they made it in the morning. Oh yeah, but
but you'd think that that you could have talked on
the people.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well they didn't write it down.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, and well it's good they make it right out
of their head.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
That's yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, yeah, all right, tell me about being a leader.
What is that? What does that mean to you? What
does it feel like?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Oh? I feel like you should be talking to my dad.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, okay, I mean you talked about having other people,
partnering with other people, the people who really know what
they're doing. I get that, But what I mean they
people look to you. You're obviously very successful.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, you know, I I am.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I am a big believer and making sure that I
prepare myself each day to show up in a way
that I would want a leader to show off. So
I'm a big So we were talking about this before
this interview, But I came to Minnesota thirty six years
(15:23):
ago because I was at Arizona State University and I wasn't.
I wasn't I wasn't graduating when I should have, and
I had I had a big problem with alcohol. Came
up here, went through treatment, and I changed, you know,
totally turned my life around. And so I've been sober
the last thirty five years. But part of that a
(15:43):
big part of that process of my recovery has been
a daily morning prayer meditation that I do, and I
spent at least an hour every morning in peryer meditation.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And and I really believe.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
That that is, you know, that is what sets me
up for being a leader, being showing up for my
employees and being a better listener, you know, making decisions
not based on fear, but based on the principles I
try to live by. So I don't have a philosophy
like you know, this is how what a CEO should be. Like,
(16:19):
I just tried to prepare myself each day every morning
so that I show up hopefully in the right way.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well that's that's the philosophy.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah. Is it hard to focus when you're doing I've
tried different meditations at different points, not an hour, certainly
not an hour and I can fifteen minutes, No way
is it? Do you are you thinking about business or
you know?
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Now you know what's funny is I got So this
was about twenty five years ago. I got introduced in
meditation through a guy that I you know, I really
respected this guy and he carried himself in a way
that I'm like, you know, I want what he has.
And I asked him, I said, what do you do
now to kind of have this type of piece and serenity?
And He's like, I meditate every morning, and so I'm like,
(17:01):
all right, I'm going to try that. Right, So I
got an egg timer because there was way before smartphones
and I set it for five minutes, and I sat there.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
In my living room in my apartment and.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Closed my eyes and was quiet, and I was like,
I think my egg timer is broken. I could swear
five minutes a gone by, and I looked at my
egg timer and it was like two minutes ago by.
And I would rather run five miles barefoot and gravel
and sit for five minutes. It was like the worst
(17:34):
just experience. And so I'm but I kept with it.
I kept doing it every morning, and gradually I was
able to sit for five minutes and then said for
ten minutes, and and and you know, so it's built
up board today. I mean, I don't miss a morning,
no matter where I'm at, no matter what I'm doing,
no matter how sick I am. I spend in at
(17:55):
least an hour every morning. And I've incorporated to a prayer.
You know, I have a faith that I that you know,
I believe in a power greater than me that I
think is give me a second chance in life. And
and so I try to connect to that. Do you
sit on the floor when you do it? I sit
on my couch. I used to sit on my floor,
(18:17):
but my knees can't.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, so I said on my guy and I and
I tell you what.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I work with a lot of guys that that try meditation,
and and I really I'm a big proponent of guided
meditations if you struggle with it. So there's a lot
of people that just really can't sit still. They have
a problem in the beginning. And so I believe in
using guided meditations, and there's a ton of apps for it.
But I think that can be really helpful. And it's
(18:44):
not really how long you go, it's developing consistency.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So if you can.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Start doing it every morning, if it's for two minutes,
and just build off of that. But find a place
that you really like and and you know that as
far as I if it's your in room or at
your office or wherever it is, and find that place
that you can go to every morning and and be quiet.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I think there's probably different types or different ways of
doing it too. It's still being quiet. I guess you
got to be I mean, I can't walk my dogs
and be quiet, But you know what I mean, Like
different things maybe do they count? Would they be the
same as you're looking for an hour or yeah, mowing
the crass and I'm out there on my own. I wish, yeah,
I wish I could sit there.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
There's moving meditations, there's walking in I and I've done
them all, and I've done meditation with trees and everything.
But I really am I'm a firm believer in incorporating
at least you know, yeah, part of your day, your
morning whatever, with just being quiet, okay, and just being
still and connecting to you know, you think that there's
(19:49):
nothing in that silence, but when you start doing it,
you realize that everything is.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
In that silence.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah. Probably people in the restaurant industry could use a
little bit of that, right, I'm just thinking, thinking ahead
a little bit about it.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well, I tell you, you know, what's you know, what's
really amazing is that when we closed down for COVID
in March of that and all the restaurants close, and
this is where my and this is what I'm talking
about how this is used as being a leader and
a CEO and so forth, is that we closed down
(20:20):
and also my income went to zero. You know, I
had no idea, like everyone else, what was going to happen.
There was definitely a period of fear.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I mean I was.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
There was about a week or two where I was
like a little bit of a panic and and but
through this daily practice that I have and in my
belief in something greater than myself, I was able to
get to a point where I totally trusted and believed
that it was all unfolded into goodness and it was
all going to be okay, and the fear went away.
(20:49):
And so my decisions that I made for my business
were not based on fear. They were based on rational
thoughts and being present and having that attitude that it's
all you know, the life was happening for me, not
to me, And so I was able to make better
business decisions as a result of that.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
And the same thing.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
You know, we're doing this crowdfunding for for for Chee
Chees right now, But you know, I've always raised money
through either friends and family or investment banks. And when
we back in October of last year, we were looking
to raise money for Chee Chees, and and I started
the normal procedure of doing that, which is, you know,
either calling people I know that have money or.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Reaching out to investment banks.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, nobody was like like we like I couldn't raise
any money.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
I was like, I was like, oh my god, Like
this is never.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Yeah, you know, And instead of freaking out, you know,
I was like, Okay, what's the next thing to do?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And so I reached out to a friend of mine.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
He's like, hey, I know buddy of mine who raised
money from crowdfunded.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I'm like, I have no idea what that is. What
is Like, I've heard of it, but like, what is that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So I talked to somebody that had done it. I
reached out to a number of companies that offer it,
that have platforms, and we went forward with raising money
for teaches and we're still doing it right now with
start Engine. But it's so, you know, crowdfunding what it
does is it allows people that typically couldn't invest in
(22:20):
something that have done in the past invest. So typically
ten percent of your investors are credited, and those are
who we normally go after or you know that invest
in our business. With crowdfunding, anybody can invest as low
as two and fifty dollars and they get something. Then
we get stock in the company. Yeah, you get stock,
(22:40):
stock and cheach you. So we started this, I don't know,
three or four months ago, cool, and it's been just
we have almost like a thousand investors now and it's
been amazing and we're going to continue doing it.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
But but my.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Point is is that you know, this whole meditation stuff,
it's allowed me to to be open, uh, you know,
new ideas or new ways of doing things and not
being stuck.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah. I think if more people knew about that, more
people be a part of it, maybe unless they've already
what's the crowdsource of the crowdfunding?
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Yeah, I mean we're we we we will continue to
get you know, new investors every day, and uh, it's
been a great I mean, it's been an amazing avenue
or platform to raise money because really, unless you have
friends and family that can put in three to five
million investment, banks just aren't doing that today.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
They used to.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
The friends and family thing gets weird.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Well, it gets hard, and there's not a lot of
people that have got friends and family, got three family dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I don't know, I mean you do, you know, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
But you know, it's it's just it's it's a tough environment.
And so it's really been a great experience.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Telling to Michael mcdermot's EO of Chi Cheese, first location
opening in the West End in Saint Louis Park. You
said third quarter, So as specific as you can be.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
That's expecific. Yes, I can say that word.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, what's your what's your thoughts on giving on philanthropy
in that area?
Speaker 3 (24:10):
You know, I'm I definitely try to give back wherever
I can, whether it be my time money. I'm as
I mentioned before, you know, I the recovery community. I'm
involved in being sober, and I just believe that, you know,
(24:30):
there's no amount of giving back that I can do
to equate to what I've been given.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
So I'm on the.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Board of the retreat that's in Wayseeta, which is a
treatment center for both my women. I uh uh, you know,
always get involved in There's a number of local charities
in town that that we do that we that we
contribute to from a restaurant standpoint, and so I just
(25:02):
I've always you know, I always make time too for people.
I just was talking to a person the other day
that's looking to get in the restaurant business, and so
if there's somebody that is new to the business, they
want to, you know, if there's something I can share
with them.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I always try to make time.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Do you ever are you ever on the serving line?
Are you ever playing stuff up or working behind the scenes?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I I have.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You know what, when we opened up the Rojo in
Maple Grove, I was the lead one of the one
of the bussers, actually the lead bussers. And and I
actually love doing that because when I bust a table,
maybe I'll talk to guests, Yeah, and find out how
their experience was, you know what, when right when went wrong?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
And you say who you are when you do that, I.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Don't unless it gets to a point where that's becomes.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Obvious or whatever. But you're wearing a tie, No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
I'm I'm wearing the same shirt the busses wear. Yeah,
I look, I look like now, I look just like
the rest of the rest of the team. But I
I did that, especially.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
When we opened row Hoo.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
April Goova did that pretty much, you know, three four
days a week for the first number of months we
were open.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Wow, not afraid to literally get your hands dirty, be
in there in the in the in the field. That's great. Yeah,
what are you hiring right now?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Well, we're not specifically hiring for chee cheese we will
be I think we're probably about three months out on that,
but we're we're going to be keeping everyone that wants
to stay, We're going to keep them on board.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
But we're definitely need more people.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And the crowd funding where do we Where do we
find that?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
So that's on start Engine Start engine dot com. They're
the largest crowdfunding platform out there. Kevin O'Leary from Shark Town,
so he's behind that company and they've been really a
great company to work with. But if somebody were to
want to, you know, check that out, if they go
(27:07):
on the start Engine dot compage, they can just find
che cheese there.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh that's that's amazing. Anything else you want people to
know about che cheese or about you?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Well, you know what I'm excited about. Except my mom
is still around. My mom you know that's my mom
is che che else?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You knew that?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah, oh yeah, so my dad started cheating. Somebody takes it,
I know, right, so you named it for my mom.
My mom is still around, my dad's still around. They
are both going to be there at the opening. And
I'll tell you one thing that that maybe to answer
that question about what people don't know is that. So,
my mom wore this seventies orange kind of pant outfit
(27:47):
from Mexico at the grand opening in nineteen seventy six
Coach Chee Cheese. She sent it to my wife. My
wife is like the same build as my mom. Yeah,
my wife is going to wear that opening night. Oh
does your mom know this?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Okay, she said, yeah, surprise because this will be out
before No.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
No, no, no, So she's going to wear that output opening night.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Super cool, pretty cool. One thing I didn't ask. I
don't know if you could say this yet. How did
you have a vision for how big Chee Cheese gets.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
No, I mean, I mean we would.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I think there's an opportunity for for sure, fifty stores
in the Midwest, East coast and maybe one hundred. Yeah,
but like I said, there's gonna be opportunities like in
airports where oh yeah, we're chi Che's did not have
that opportunity before when it was around the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Returned to Richfield and a lot of restaurants I feel like,
you know, started in Richfield or had a big presence
in Richfield.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah, that four ninety four strip, I mean, and I
think that would be another great another great opportunity for us.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
All right, I mean it's all it's all location driven.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, of course. All right, Michael McDermott che Chee's looking
forward to third quarter twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yes, thank you, all right, do you want to join
you those questions
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