January 9, 2024 • 18 mins
Paul Sidhu is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sidhu Realty Capital. Paul has over a decade of commercial real estate investment experience having managed and consulted on multi-billion dollar private equity portfolios as a Portfolio Manager for UBS Investment Bank and a Senior Consultant for Deloitte. Paul graduated from Bates College with a Bachelor of Arts degree and also holds a Masters in Real Estate Finance from New York University’s Schack Real Estate Institute and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Paul is also a licensed real estate broker and a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
Paul is excited about taking Dave’s Cosmic Subs to the next level. The original Dave’s Cosmic Subs started out as a humble sub-shop in Chagrin Falls is now revolutionizing the sub-world. Founded on the principles of quality ingredients, unique “cosmic” flavors, and a Rock’n Roll atmosphere, the original Dave’s Cosmic Subs has been serving subs that rock since 1997. These legendary subs are poised for expansion across the nation for continued success. The brand is unveiling a fresh logo, new website, and mobile app, all aimed for growth and welcoming new franchise locations.
Paul is excited about taking Dave’s Cosmic Subs to the next level. The original Dave’s Cosmic Subs started out as a humble sub-shop in Chagrin Falls is now revolutionizing the sub-world. Founded on the principles of quality ingredients, unique “cosmic” flavors, and a Rock’n Roll atmosphere, the original Dave’s Cosmic Subs has been serving subs that rock since 1997. These legendary subs are poised for expansion across the nation for continued success. The brand is unveiling a fresh logo, new website, and mobile app, all aimed for growth and welcoming new franchise locations.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
This sihear radio. CEOs, youshould know, I'm Keith Hotchkiss. If
you've been in Cleveland for a while, you've probably eaten at Dave's Cosmic Subs,
the quirky, psychedelic subshop that hasbeen rock in Cleveland for decades.
So how does a private equity firmtake that concept nation why without losing what
makes it special? And today,CEOs, you should know you're about to
find out from our guests Paul SadSo, Paul, you've spent more than
(00:24):
a decade in commercial real estate,Why Subs? What happened? That's a
that's a phenomenal question. Keith,you know we yeah, we we started
out as an investment firm, andwe still are very much an investment firm.
Our parent company is Suderrealty Capital.But essentially we wanted to diversify some
of our investments into, you know, the retail hospitality side, and so
(00:47):
Dave's Cosmic Subs was kind of oneof those nostalgic fits that you know,
I've been going to Dave since Iwas, you know, a teenager,
and so for us, it wasa very natural choice. When you all
so Dave and Mary Anne Lombardi Uh, so it was it was a great
fit for us to try to expandinto and diversify kind of our revenue stream.
(01:07):
Yeah, can you tell me alittle bit about I mean, there's
probably no more hot topic these daysin terms of business and finance than the
challenges they're going to be facing commercialreal estate. That's one hundred percent right,
Yeah, And what what in yourwith your vast expertise in finance and
in real estate, where do yousee the world going. I think we
(01:32):
can all make guesses, but it'sinteresting to see from your perspective. Yeah,
So, you know, I thinkone of the things that we see
is that, especially at this timepost pandemic, there's been a shift in
consumer sentiment and also a number ofthe businesses and how how they conduct their
business. A lot of what wethink is the office market is going to
(01:53):
be impacted. I think, youknow, it's it's one of those things
that we're also starting to see indowntown Cleveland, you know, vacancy and
things of that nature. People areworking remotely, they want the flexibility of
their own schedule, especially in apost pandemic environment. So I think it
could be a little bit of abumpy road a little bit ahead, but
I also look forward to the opportunitiesas well. You know, we can
(02:15):
you know, oftentimes there's opportunity topurchase at great costs, and it doesn't
necessarily have to be investing only ina specific asset class within real estate.
I mean, it could be multifamily, it could be retail, it could
be a combination of those types ofasset classes. One of the most intriguing
(02:36):
parts of the way the world worksnowadays is that the rapid speed of change,
and yet there are consistencies that remain. I think of Dave's Cosmic Subs
as a psychedelic subshop run by aponytailed dude who loved rock and roll,
and it still is. And inthat time, you've seen what I would
(03:00):
consider the rise and fall of placeslike Subway and quiz Nos. You're starting
to see some companies like Jersey Mics, and yet Dave's has remained in its
cocoon, in this little enclave,doing its thing. Where what is the
future of both Daves and I guessthe submarine slash QSR business? Right,
Yeah, no, that's that's aterrific question, you know. So Dave's
(03:23):
Cosmic Subs has weathered the times,you know. So it has been there
through the subprime mortgage crisis in twothousand and eight, it's been there through
the pandemic, and it's been resilient. You know, the business, the
sales have grown year over year,particularly post pandemic, during the pandemic and
(03:43):
then post pandemic, and it's somethingthat you know, I think we have
a very loyal and dedicated customer base. They know our product, they know
we're well differentiated, they know wetake pride in our product, and you
know, I think that that's oneof the biggest things now being a smaller
sub sandwich enterprise. You know,we have twenty two locations with another eight
(04:06):
in development. We're actually opening uptoo right now in Toledo and Michigan,
and potentially also we're we should besigning up a deal for Atlanta. But
being that small size allows us toreally focus on the consistency of our products,
focus on, you know, thequality of our products. We're not,
(04:28):
you know, a three hundred fourhundred store enterprise. You know,
we're we're looking to really maintain ourtarget customer base and at the same time
expand, but expand carefully, methodically, We're not saying that, hey,
we want to go from practically thirtystores to you know, three hundred overnight.
We want to do it in gradualincrements and get it right. So
(04:49):
we're probably looking at thirty to getto another fifty or sixty double set in
size pretty pretty aggressively within the nexttwo to three years. But then after
that we're going to be very carefulto make sure that all the logistics behind
our expansion are are really secure.So if folks who are listening might be
(05:09):
interested in being part of the nextgeneration of Dave's Dave's Cosmic subs, what
what can you tell him about theproduct differentiation and what absolutely why, you
know, why is that product goingto remain Why our customers going to remain
loyal to that product in a faceavalanche of evolution. So, you know,
(05:31):
Dave Lombardi has been an innovator interms of you know, the sub
sandwich scene. And even before Imean he was he was, you know,
a rock and roll plant band forplay and you know, he created
you know, great concept based onhis roots, his relationship with his father,
you know, late nights eating subsandwiches, things of that nature,
(05:54):
developed a sauce that is so soiconic and so unique that it's it's not
only just lasted, you know,the two and a half decades, it's
it's become something where people from California, from New York, from they're all
asking us if if they can orderthe retail Cosmic bottles and have it shipped
out to them, and so it'sit's a very dedicated customer base. Why
(06:17):
that Cosmic sauce is very unique.It was something that was developed by the
Lombardes and still is maintained by theLombardies. So there's still a big part
of this. And what we havedone or what we are doing now as
the new as essentially the new owners, is we are trying to take this
(06:38):
into the twenty first century. Ithas had great roots, great ideas by
Mary Anne and Dave. All wewant to do is kind of expand on
those ideas and modernize it and especiallywith technological advancement, that's relevant to our
generation millennials, you know, andeven you know, younger generations. So
(06:59):
right, So it's interesting, youknow when you talk about quality food and
people that food that people remember andpeople that people go out of their way
to find you could make an easycomparison that what's the secret ingredient. It's
the secret sauce. Literally, Dave'scosmic subs is the secret sauce. This
(07:21):
sauce alone allows Dave to have orallows Dave to have a bread and butter
base to bring people in. Right, yep. But there's more to that,
Keith. You know, it's it'sobviously the Cosmic sauce, but there
are a number of other signature proprietaryitems that we've produced. We're not like
(07:42):
a sub sandwich group like Jersey Mikesor Jimmy John's that's just gonna put mayonnaise
on a sub or oil and vinegarand just you know, a standard type
of dressing. We take pride inour sauces and so that's what Dave and
Maryann have really focused on is tryingto make signature sauces. We have our
signature horse Fader sauce, we haveour signature one thousand Island sauce, we
(08:03):
have a signature blues Cheese sauce.So in addition to our Cosmic sauce and
our spicy Mao and things like that. So, and we also just released
a spicier version of our cosmic sauce. So you know, so there's a
lot of development that's happening behind thescenes, but it is proprietary, it
is unique, and you know,the other thing outside of justice sauce is
(08:24):
is we also take a lot ofpride in our bread. Our bread is
not your prototypical bread, soft breadthat you would find anywhere here. It's
a combination of both soft and crispy, soft interior exactly, and that's where
it was formed kind of from theroots and the heritage of Dave and his
(08:45):
family. You know, they wantedto make sure we have a nice crunchy
bread on the exterior and moist interior. So we take pride in that.
What are the challenges in expansion intoday's market? I mean, I could
guess that you know, you're goingto see you on high traffic areas.
You've got to, you know,put yourself out there. Labor and labor
(09:05):
costs, food costs, right,I would imagine talk to me a little
bit about the challenges. So,I mean, there certainly are a number
of challenges, and adapting to thosechallenges is going to be absolutely critical for
our success in the future. Alongwith any other type of sub sandwich or
fast casual restaurant enterprise. I thinkfor us, what we have noticed is
(09:26):
we've seen an increase in the costof our products. Okay, the consumer
has seen that, but we haveseen it as buyers ourselves from our suppliers,
and so we don't set those pricesthat we purchase at. We try
to make we continue to negotiate withthose suppliers. But let's be honest,
I mean post pandemic, in aninflationary environment. Everything's gone up, gas
(09:52):
prices have gone up, and youknow, so we try to kind of
deal with that very carefully and methodicallyin terms of how we price our subs.
The other component of it is certainlylabor post pandemic. It's been hard
finding good people and retaining them inthis type of environment. People want to
(10:13):
have a livable wage, which isimportant, but at the same time,
we also want people to show upat work on time. We want to
make sure that they prep our productscorrectly in the store every day, you
know. So it does take aspecific level of acumen. And in terms
of the locations, we have donea lot recently within this past year to
(10:35):
identify locations based on fundamentals on demographicor psychographic data, media and household incomes,
things of that nature. And alsowho our target customer is, you
know, is that representative of ourtarget population within that area, and so
as well as other things traffic counts, average daily traffic counts, ingress,
(10:58):
egress, signalized intersections. Who ourmarket competitors are, you know, and
what they're doing in sales or ifwe can kind of gauge what they're doing
in sales as an estimate. Soa lot of information goes into our site
selection process. We're not just lookingto open up any store. We want
the store to be well positioned forsuccess. We're talking with paulse Ado,
(11:20):
chief executive's officer, owner of Dave'sCosmic Subs, a commercial real estate investor
for a long time by trade,now getting into a passion project of the
Delicious Subs starting in Cleveland and expandingfurther. You know, I would imagine
the mobile app is going to bea big piece of that expansion, right,
that is huge. We just developedmobile app. So in the past
year we've worked on so many differentfronts. We've redesigned our website, okay,
(11:45):
modernized it, created an order orderingonline platform, created a mobile app,
created gift cards and loyalty and rewardsprograms, started with new POS systems
across every single one of our storesnow has toast POIS system, so people
can pay with Apple Pay, theycan pay with Android, and and and
(12:05):
bringing that type of level of sophisticationand techno technological update is important. Uh.
In addition, we are rolling outdigital menu boards in all of our
locations nationwide. Wow. So there'sand and that has been really a process,
and what we're trying to do isstart a brand new campaign showing you
(12:26):
know, our new prototypes, ournew murals. You know that we're investing
in our new logo, our newsigns that are going to be much more
legible and robust. So there's beena lot of thought process and a lot
of development happening behind the scenes thatare going to be implemented within the next
six eight months. So it's excitingtimes for Daves. You're going to be
(12:46):
able to modernize. We'll stay trueto your roots, right absolutely. We
want to make sure that we're sayingtrue to our psychedelic roots. I would
think that the mobile app, specifically, just as a consumer, it's such
an easy, an important loyalty play, right, because convenience wins in any
business. So I'm a consumer ofStarbucks and Chipotle, and you know,
(13:07):
more than likely than not, I'mgoing to use the app when I'm in
a hurry versus trying to go somewherenew one. Yeah, we see that.
We see a lot of people usingour mobile app. We have partnered
with Incentivio to also be able tocollect information that is going to be positive
in terms of emails and contact information, so we could do blasts and promotions,
send you know, opportunities for peopleto come back into the store,
(13:31):
and so you know that's a bigcomponent of this as well. Well.
That's the unique piece of the newform of sort of targeted advertising, right
because advertising was always seen as youknow, a shotgun approach, blasted out
and hopefully you grab a few fish, right, But now advertising actually one
of the some people look at targetedadvertising as an intrusion of privacy. I
(13:52):
actually look at the opposite way.It's more relevant to you. Now the
advertising you're going to beginning is actuallysomething you're interested in because we know who
you are, right and so sotrue if you think of it in that
terms, that you're going to begetting ads that are going to maybe save
you some money and be more importantto you. I think that that's how
consumers should look at it. Inoticed an article we were recording this in
(14:13):
December of twenty twenty three. Chippolehad just done something very interesting with their
mobile app where they had identified thedata that was coming in and they told
people how many of their particular Chipotleorder, how many other people ordered that
exact same order today, And itcreated this interesting online community and it increased
(14:33):
their sales by like five million dollarsin like its gratis. Right, you
can connect the dots and actually usethat mobile app to connect the community and
bring people in, right, Andthat's that's that's the cool thing, you
know, especially with promotions. Right, So if you know you're going to
be doing some new ltos or youknow, new product offerings things of that
nature, you can now target thosecustomers based on what they have enjoyed on
(14:58):
your menu. And and that's ahuge part that goes into the R and
D component in terms of what's thenext sub that we're gonna launch, What
is the next you know, limitedtime offering that you know is going to
really resonate with our customer base.And so if folks that are listening to
this are interested in either eating atDave's Cosmic Subs, which now I'm definitely
(15:22):
doing today, or potentially owning andfranchising at Dave's that's your new redesign website,
they can just go right there rightYes, So we we are definitely
interested in looking for business partners,franchisees, specifically area developers, things of
that nature. You know, wethe old model used to be one unit
(15:43):
operators. Now we're looking at threeto five unit operators at bare minimum,
and we will consider people from anumber of different diversified backgrounds. So it's
really an opportunity. If you loveour product, even if you're not sure
about franchising, contact us will we'llgo through the questions together. So,
last question, Paul, One ofthe things we like to do on this
(16:06):
podcast is folks like yourself who areCEOs, you tend to have very hectic
schedules, hard driving, challenging jobs, try and have family life. How
does someone in your position, youknow, how do you center yourself decompressed,
stay focused, stay motivated and notburn yourself out? What is some
things like that that's a terrific questiontoo. Again, so and it's often
(16:27):
something that most people overlook is that, you know, there's a component of
this where we put so much ofour time energy into our companies. And
yes, we're a parent company.Is we are a real estate firm at
heart. We operate hospitality as franchisor of Dave's Cosmic Subs and franchise e
of Popeyes by the way, andwe're doing an area development agreement, so
(16:48):
we understand what people, what franchiseesgo through. Handling all those things is
a commitment, and it's a commitmentnot just to the company but to our
customers. I keep myself grounded,you know, I'm I'm I'd like to
think that I'm relatively young, andyou know, I I still like to
have the flexibility in my schedule tobe able to jump on a flight,
head to New York, go outto LA you know, travel around.
(17:11):
So I do a lot of that. I'm an avid tennis fan. I
you know, also was a graduateuniversity school and we were state champions a
number of number of times. So, you know, I think being grounded
and just having the availability to sometimesjust leave it behind for a day or
(17:33):
two, just disconnect, unwind alittle bit on the weekends, not on
the weekdays. You don't even giveyourself a chance to chill on a Monday.
Never, never were. We're gluedto the phones. The phones never
turn off. We I don't evenknow the last time I powered my phone
off. Wow, you connect it. It's always on ring and we're on
call twenty four to seven as businessowners. That's the world we've lived in
(17:56):
and it can have its positives andnegatives, and along you stay in the
right in the center. Yes,you can typically be okay. Pauls to
Do, CEO of Dave's Cosmic Subs, thank you so much for being with
us today. Thank you so much, Keith, and this has been iHeartRadio
CEOs. You should know today's showwas produced by Bob Coates said I'm Keith
Hotchkiss. We'll see you next time.
This sihear radio. CEOs, youshould know, I'm Keith Hotchkiss. If
you've been in Cleveland for a while, you've probably eaten at Dave's Cosmic Subs,
the quirky, psychedelic subshop that hasbeen rock in Cleveland for decades.
So how does a private equity firmtake that concept nation why without losing what
makes it special? And today,CEOs, you should know you're about to
find out from our guests Paul SadSo, Paul, you've spent more than
(00:24):
a decade in commercial real estate,Why Subs? What happened? That's a
that's a phenomenal question. Keith,you know we yeah, we we started
out as an investment firm, andwe still are very much an investment firm.
Our parent company is Suderrealty Capital.But essentially we wanted to diversify some
of our investments into, you know, the retail hospitality side, and so
(00:47):
Dave's Cosmic Subs was kind of oneof those nostalgic fits that you know,
I've been going to Dave since Iwas, you know, a teenager,
and so for us, it wasa very natural choice. When you all
so Dave and Mary Anne Lombardi Uh, so it was it was a great
fit for us to try to expandinto and diversify kind of our revenue stream.
(01:07):
Yeah, can you tell me alittle bit about I mean, there's
probably no more hot topic these daysin terms of business and finance than the
challenges they're going to be facing commercialreal estate. That's one hundred percent right,
Yeah, And what what in yourwith your vast expertise in finance and
in real estate, where do yousee the world going. I think we
(01:32):
can all make guesses, but it'sinteresting to see from your perspective. Yeah,
So, you know, I thinkone of the things that we see
is that, especially at this timepost pandemic, there's been a shift in
consumer sentiment and also a number ofthe businesses and how how they conduct their
business. A lot of what wethink is the office market is going to
(01:53):
be impacted. I think, youknow, it's it's one of those things
that we're also starting to see indowntown Cleveland, you know, vacancy and
things of that nature. People areworking remotely, they want the flexibility of
their own schedule, especially in apost pandemic environment. So I think it
could be a little bit of abumpy road a little bit ahead, but
I also look forward to the opportunitiesas well. You know, we can
(02:15):
you know, oftentimes there's opportunity topurchase at great costs, and it doesn't
necessarily have to be investing only ina specific asset class within real estate.
I mean, it could be multifamily, it could be retail, it could
be a combination of those types ofasset classes. One of the most intriguing
(02:36):
parts of the way the world worksnowadays is that the rapid speed of change,
and yet there are consistencies that remain. I think of Dave's Cosmic Subs
as a psychedelic subshop run by aponytailed dude who loved rock and roll,
and it still is. And inthat time, you've seen what I would
(03:00):
consider the rise and fall of placeslike Subway and quiz Nos. You're starting
to see some companies like Jersey Mics, and yet Dave's has remained in its
cocoon, in this little enclave,doing its thing. Where what is the
future of both Daves and I guessthe submarine slash QSR business? Right,
Yeah, no, that's that's aterrific question, you know. So Dave's
(03:23):
Cosmic Subs has weathered the times,you know. So it has been there
through the subprime mortgage crisis in twothousand and eight, it's been there through
the pandemic, and it's been resilient. You know, the business, the
sales have grown year over year,particularly post pandemic, during the pandemic and
(03:43):
then post pandemic, and it's somethingthat you know, I think we have
a very loyal and dedicated customer base. They know our product, they know
we're well differentiated, they know wetake pride in our product, and you
know, I think that that's oneof the biggest things now being a smaller
sub sandwich enterprise. You know,we have twenty two locations with another eight
(04:06):
in development. We're actually opening uptoo right now in Toledo and Michigan,
and potentially also we're we should besigning up a deal for Atlanta. But
being that small size allows us toreally focus on the consistency of our products,
focus on, you know, thequality of our products. We're not,
(04:28):
you know, a three hundred fourhundred store enterprise. You know,
we're we're looking to really maintain ourtarget customer base and at the same time
expand, but expand carefully, methodically, We're not saying that, hey,
we want to go from practically thirtystores to you know, three hundred overnight.
We want to do it in gradualincrements and get it right. So
(04:49):
we're probably looking at thirty to getto another fifty or sixty double set in
size pretty pretty aggressively within the nexttwo to three years. But then after
that we're going to be very carefulto make sure that all the logistics behind
our expansion are are really secure.So if folks who are listening might be
(05:09):
interested in being part of the nextgeneration of Dave's Dave's Cosmic subs, what
what can you tell him about theproduct differentiation and what absolutely why, you
know, why is that product goingto remain Why our customers going to remain
loyal to that product in a faceavalanche of evolution. So, you know,
(05:31):
Dave Lombardi has been an innovator interms of you know, the sub
sandwich scene. And even before Imean he was he was, you know,
a rock and roll plant band forplay and you know, he created
you know, great concept based onhis roots, his relationship with his father,
you know, late nights eating subsandwiches, things of that nature,
(05:54):
developed a sauce that is so soiconic and so unique that it's it's not
only just lasted, you know,the two and a half decades, it's
it's become something where people from California, from New York, from they're all
asking us if if they can orderthe retail Cosmic bottles and have it shipped
out to them, and so it'sit's a very dedicated customer base. Why
(06:17):
that Cosmic sauce is very unique.It was something that was developed by the
Lombardes and still is maintained by theLombardies. So there's still a big part
of this. And what we havedone or what we are doing now as
the new as essentially the new owners, is we are trying to take this
(06:38):
into the twenty first century. Ithas had great roots, great ideas by
Mary Anne and Dave. All wewant to do is kind of expand on
those ideas and modernize it and especiallywith technological advancement, that's relevant to our
generation millennials, you know, andeven you know, younger generations. So
(06:59):
right, So it's interesting, youknow when you talk about quality food and
people that food that people remember andpeople that people go out of their way
to find you could make an easycomparison that what's the secret ingredient. It's
the secret sauce. Literally, Dave'scosmic subs is the secret sauce. This
(07:21):
sauce alone allows Dave to have orallows Dave to have a bread and butter
base to bring people in. Right, yep. But there's more to that,
Keith. You know, it's it'sobviously the Cosmic sauce, but there
are a number of other signature proprietaryitems that we've produced. We're not like
(07:42):
a sub sandwich group like Jersey Mikesor Jimmy John's that's just gonna put mayonnaise
on a sub or oil and vinegarand just you know, a standard type
of dressing. We take pride inour sauces and so that's what Dave and
Maryann have really focused on is tryingto make signature sauces. We have our
signature horse Fader sauce, we haveour signature one thousand Island sauce, we
(08:03):
have a signature blues Cheese sauce.So in addition to our Cosmic sauce and
our spicy Mao and things like that. So, and we also just released
a spicier version of our cosmic sauce. So you know, so there's a
lot of development that's happening behind thescenes, but it is proprietary, it
is unique, and you know,the other thing outside of justice sauce is
(08:24):
is we also take a lot ofpride in our bread. Our bread is
not your prototypical bread, soft breadthat you would find anywhere here. It's
a combination of both soft and crispy, soft interior exactly, and that's where
it was formed kind of from theroots and the heritage of Dave and his
(08:45):
family. You know, they wantedto make sure we have a nice crunchy
bread on the exterior and moist interior. So we take pride in that.
What are the challenges in expansion intoday's market? I mean, I could
guess that you know, you're goingto see you on high traffic areas.
You've got to, you know,put yourself out there. Labor and labor
(09:05):
costs, food costs, right,I would imagine talk to me a little
bit about the challenges. So,I mean, there certainly are a number
of challenges, and adapting to thosechallenges is going to be absolutely critical for
our success in the future. Alongwith any other type of sub sandwich or
fast casual restaurant enterprise. I thinkfor us, what we have noticed is
(09:26):
we've seen an increase in the costof our products. Okay, the consumer
has seen that, but we haveseen it as buyers ourselves from our suppliers,
and so we don't set those pricesthat we purchase at. We try
to make we continue to negotiate withthose suppliers. But let's be honest,
I mean post pandemic, in aninflationary environment. Everything's gone up, gas
(09:52):
prices have gone up, and youknow, so we try to kind of
deal with that very carefully and methodicallyin terms of how we price our subs.
The other component of it is certainlylabor post pandemic. It's been hard
finding good people and retaining them inthis type of environment. People want to
(10:13):
have a livable wage, which isimportant, but at the same time,
we also want people to show upat work on time. We want to
make sure that they prep our productscorrectly in the store every day, you
know. So it does take aspecific level of acumen. And in terms
of the locations, we have donea lot recently within this past year to
(10:35):
identify locations based on fundamentals on demographicor psychographic data, media and household incomes,
things of that nature. And alsowho our target customer is, you
know, is that representative of ourtarget population within that area, and so
as well as other things traffic counts, average daily traffic counts, ingress,
(10:58):
egress, signalized intersections. Who ourmarket competitors are, you know, and
what they're doing in sales or ifwe can kind of gauge what they're doing
in sales as an estimate. Soa lot of information goes into our site
selection process. We're not just lookingto open up any store. We want
the store to be well positioned forsuccess. We're talking with paulse Ado,
(11:20):
chief executive's officer, owner of Dave'sCosmic Subs, a commercial real estate investor
for a long time by trade,now getting into a passion project of the
Delicious Subs starting in Cleveland and expandingfurther. You know, I would imagine
the mobile app is going to bea big piece of that expansion, right,
that is huge. We just developedmobile app. So in the past
year we've worked on so many differentfronts. We've redesigned our website, okay,
(11:45):
modernized it, created an order orderingonline platform, created a mobile app,
created gift cards and loyalty and rewardsprograms, started with new POS systems
across every single one of our storesnow has toast POIS system, so people
can pay with Apple Pay, theycan pay with Android, and and and
(12:05):
bringing that type of level of sophisticationand techno technological update is important. Uh.
In addition, we are rolling outdigital menu boards in all of our
locations nationwide. Wow. So there'sand and that has been really a process,
and what we're trying to do isstart a brand new campaign showing you
(12:26):
know, our new prototypes, ournew murals. You know that we're investing
in our new logo, our newsigns that are going to be much more
legible and robust. So there's beena lot of thought process and a lot
of development happening behind the scenes thatare going to be implemented within the next
six eight months. So it's excitingtimes for Daves. You're going to be
(12:46):
able to modernize. We'll stay trueto your roots, right absolutely. We
want to make sure that we're sayingtrue to our psychedelic roots. I would
think that the mobile app, specifically, just as a consumer, it's such
an easy, an important loyalty play, right, because convenience wins in any
business. So I'm a consumer ofStarbucks and Chipotle, and you know,
(13:07):
more than likely than not, I'mgoing to use the app when I'm in
a hurry versus trying to go somewherenew one. Yeah, we see that.
We see a lot of people usingour mobile app. We have partnered
with Incentivio to also be able tocollect information that is going to be positive
in terms of emails and contact information, so we could do blasts and promotions,
send you know, opportunities for peopleto come back into the store,
(13:31):
and so you know that's a bigcomponent of this as well. Well.
That's the unique piece of the newform of sort of targeted advertising, right
because advertising was always seen as youknow, a shotgun approach, blasted out
and hopefully you grab a few fish, right, But now advertising actually one
of the some people look at targetedadvertising as an intrusion of privacy. I
(13:52):
actually look at the opposite way.It's more relevant to you. Now the
advertising you're going to beginning is actuallysomething you're interested in because we know who
you are, right and so sotrue if you think of it in that
terms, that you're going to begetting ads that are going to maybe save
you some money and be more importantto you. I think that that's how
consumers should look at it. Inoticed an article we were recording this in
(14:13):
December of twenty twenty three. Chippolehad just done something very interesting with their
mobile app where they had identified thedata that was coming in and they told
people how many of their particular Chipotleorder, how many other people ordered that
exact same order today, And itcreated this interesting online community and it increased
(14:33):
their sales by like five million dollarsin like its gratis. Right, you
can connect the dots and actually usethat mobile app to connect the community and
bring people in, right, Andthat's that's that's the cool thing, you
know, especially with promotions. Right, So if you know you're going to
be doing some new ltos or youknow, new product offerings things of that
nature, you can now target thosecustomers based on what they have enjoyed on
(14:58):
your menu. And and that's ahuge part that goes into the R and
D component in terms of what's thenext sub that we're gonna launch, What
is the next you know, limitedtime offering that you know is going to
really resonate with our customer base.And so if folks that are listening to
this are interested in either eating atDave's Cosmic Subs, which now I'm definitely
(15:22):
doing today, or potentially owning andfranchising at Dave's that's your new redesign website,
they can just go right there rightYes, So we we are definitely
interested in looking for business partners,franchisees, specifically area developers, things of
that nature. You know, wethe old model used to be one unit
(15:43):
operators. Now we're looking at threeto five unit operators at bare minimum,
and we will consider people from anumber of different diversified backgrounds. So it's
really an opportunity. If you loveour product, even if you're not sure
about franchising, contact us will we'llgo through the questions together. So,
last question, Paul, One ofthe things we like to do on this
(16:06):
podcast is folks like yourself who areCEOs, you tend to have very hectic
schedules, hard driving, challenging jobs, try and have family life. How
does someone in your position, youknow, how do you center yourself decompressed,
stay focused, stay motivated and notburn yourself out? What is some
things like that that's a terrific questiontoo. Again, so and it's often
(16:27):
something that most people overlook is that, you know, there's a component of
this where we put so much ofour time energy into our companies. And
yes, we're a parent company.Is we are a real estate firm at
heart. We operate hospitality as franchisor of Dave's Cosmic Subs and franchise e
of Popeyes by the way, andwe're doing an area development agreement, so
(16:48):
we understand what people, what franchiseesgo through. Handling all those things is
a commitment, and it's a commitmentnot just to the company but to our
customers. I keep myself grounded,you know, I'm I'm I'd like to
think that I'm relatively young, andyou know, I I still like to
have the flexibility in my schedule tobe able to jump on a flight,
head to New York, go outto LA you know, travel around.
(17:11):
So I do a lot of that. I'm an avid tennis fan. I
you know, also was a graduateuniversity school and we were state champions a
number of number of times. So, you know, I think being grounded
and just having the availability to sometimesjust leave it behind for a day or
(17:33):
two, just disconnect, unwind alittle bit on the weekends, not on
the weekdays. You don't even giveyourself a chance to chill on a Monday.
Never, never were. We're gluedto the phones. The phones never
turn off. We I don't evenknow the last time I powered my phone
off. Wow, you connect it. It's always on ring and we're on
call twenty four to seven as businessowners. That's the world we've lived in
(17:56):
and it can have its positives andnegatives, and along you stay in the
right in the center. Yes,you can typically be okay. Pauls to
Do, CEO of Dave's Cosmic Subs, thank you so much for being with
us today. Thank you so much, Keith, and this has been iHeartRadio
CEOs. You should know today's showwas produced by Bob Coates said I'm Keith
Hotchkiss. We'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!