From Marines to Biscuits

Join Fast Casual Nation hosts Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler as they interview Amanda Kahalehoe, COO of Vicious Biscuit, who shares how her Marine Corps background shaped the rapid growth of this unique breakfast concept from 2 to 10 locations. Discover how they've cracked the code on bringing full-service hospitality to fast-casual with their signature biscuit menu, innovative "five table touches" service model, and military-precision operations that achieve remarkable manager retention in an industry plagued by turnover. Amanda reveals their franchise strategy, technology integration including an upcoming mobile app, and plans to reach 25 units by 2026 while maintaining operational excellence.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of Fast Casual Nation, the
podcast that started it all, and of course we are
diving in deep and today is going to be a
fun one because we have a very special guest joining us.
You guys are going to love this coming out of
Vicious Biscuit and of course my co host, Mss Shara Chandler.
How are you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm doing great, how are you excellent?

Speaker 1 (00:19):
So we're gonna get to it today because we've got
a really good brand that is an unusual concept that
I think people don't necessarily see this category as a
fast casual category, but it is. I did a lot
of homework on how they run their business. You guys
are going to love that one, So stick around on
that share. We're going to jump into some really good

(00:40):
news over on fastcasual dot Com. You guys don't want
to miss this. We'll be right back. My name is

(01:04):
Paul Baron. As the early pioneer in fast casual, I've
seen the industry evolve from just a few operators to
the most sought after segment by consumers around the world.
Now we're planning to shape its future. Tap into decades
of my expertise identifying the emerging brands and tech winners

(01:25):
in the space Saber capital. We'll be fueling the next
generation of fast casual innovation. Are back here on Fast
Casual Nation, Sherah. Let's get into it. I want to
share a couple of things that you were talking about
with me off camera, and that is this QSR next.

(01:45):
I didn't realize you guys did this. Tell me about
more about it? What is it?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
This is our virtual talk show with Star. Fourth year
we've done it, and we just interviewed several rush On
executives back to back. It kind of feels like a
Netflix series. So we just go it's a twenty minute
interview than three two one and go right into the
next one. And we just announced who we're having on
the lineup. It'll be in November. Yeah, So we're having
a lot of great brands on. The CEO of Taco,

(02:11):
John's a VP at Sabarro, the CEO of Huddle House
and Perkins that brand. So we have more Wiener, Schnitzels
and a few others coming.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
YEA cool.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
And it's free, you know, it's just online. You can
have it on while you are working at your desk.
It's free for operators so it's really fun.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
I'm glad to see more media companies doing this because
this is one thing that I, you know, kind of
built well, build my career on is trying to get
brands and media companies to get into more rich media,
much like what we're doing here with the podcast. So
it's good to see that. I'm glad you guys are
doing it. Let's also hit on one of the big
news items, and that is tips. No tax on tips.

(02:54):
This is do you think this is going to go through?
I mean, you really think this is going to happen.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
I don't know. I'm very negative to the government, so
I feel like this is probably something that should go
through for like the average worker. But you know, I'm
not holding my breath. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
What do you think A couple of points hitting on
this right here? Okay, it's the instant financial This came
through five hundred and seventy one people who said they're
using this for wages and different kinds of tip support.
So this is a is a problem. It's a clear
issue right now on tip sharing and how tips are executed.

(03:31):
But now we're looking at this potential which is maybe
shifting up the way tips are done. Now, whether or
not we see taxation on tips or not coming out
of the Trump administration I think is still the question mark.
It also has a lot of limitations. I won't go
into the details of what I saw on the bill,
but there are a lot of limitations on how this

(03:52):
is going to be.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, it looks like it's happy and like you can
only make so much money, and then even if it
does pass, it's going you know that it'll be taxed later.
So this story was just you know, this company and
reviewed lots like five hundred of its restaurant brands that
use its platform to pay out and obviously the restaurant.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Workers I think we should like to on demand.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, so they think obviously we shouldn't have tax on tips.
Not a surprise that, you know, the restaurant workers are
thinking that because they're the ones that are making the tips.
So but you know, it's cool that Sure looked into it.
So we'll see, I guess.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah. I think another one of the one other thing
that happened yesterday was the situation on the Senate which
passed the Genius Act. Now, for you guys that don't know,
the Genius Act is a bill that sets up a
structure for this new thing called a stable coin. And

(04:44):
stable coins now are legal in the United States, which
means that we're going to see a lot of retail integration.
Likelihood is that Chipotle, possibly even door Dash maybe integrating
the use of these stable coins. And the reason this
is important, including companies like Shopify and all of that.
We're going to probably do a whole episode on this
to give you guys a deep dive. The reason this

(05:06):
is important is because all of you restaurant operators are
paying merchant fees right these stable coins now are an
opportunity to basically skip the line of being able to
use a direct stable coin payment that would eliminate a
credit card transaction. And some of these companies are talking

(05:27):
about actually paying the merchants to use it. So instead
of you paying the two to three percent for them
to use a credit card at your at your retail,
they're going to pay you. Yeah, so this is going
to get very interesting really quickly. On how I think
this is a big topic.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, change, Hopefully they will be changing their fees.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
I'm telling you, MasterCard and Visa is just got served
up a big uh. I think they'll probably integrate it. Yeah,
they get they'll probably integrate. Well, there are ready, Visa
is already integrating this now. But the likelihood of some
of the big companies really going in this direction, mcdonald's'll
probably drop this in. Then you've got Amazon, You've got

(06:10):
Walmart who are talking about creating their own stable coin,
so you'd be able to use their basically their version
of the US dollar in there, uh, in their particular
app to reduce you know, your transaction fees. Is really
all of this bulls down to transaction fees. So anyway,
he listen, we have a big guest coming in today
and this, of course is the chief operating officer coming

(06:33):
in from Vicious Biscuit. If you guys have not seen
this brand before. Out there, Amanda has come in and
she's running a CEO position over there. So welcome into
the show.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, it's great
to see you both.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
So, Amanda, I'm going to let you pronounce your last.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Name, Hollowie exactly is how it's spelled.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
I love it, so a great Polynesian name you told
us about. Yeah, what it means. So that's a cool thing.
Let's get into a little bit about your role at
Vicious Biscuit what it entails, but first give us a
breakdown of where the brand is today.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah. Absolutely, So. The brand has officially opened its tenth
location this March. We have seven corporate locations, three franchise locations,
and we are on deck to open four more franchise
locations by the end of twenty twenty five. Wow. Our
brand goal is to reach twenty five open units by
the end of twenty twenty six, and we are on

(07:35):
pace to do so. So I have been with the
brand since we were two locations, the og Heritage locations
we talked about here at Charleston, South Carolina. So we've
had pretty exponential growth since I've been with the brand. Really,
the growth has been since twenty twenty two. Yeah, you
guys are fighting time for us.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
You guys had my very favorite swag, that shirt that
says body by Biscuit.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
You know, it's so it's so funny because women love
the body by Biscuit and the men love the son
of a Biscuit, and you wouldn't think it would be
the opposite, but it's not.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So I got to get a son of a biscuit. Sure,
we are going I'm going to order one.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yea, No, you can need to order one. At the
end of this call, we're going to send you some great.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, cool, I love it.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
I love this.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Now we're talking, I'll be like, I'm not up to
a tank, stop wearing in the gym lifting my weights,
and we'll say.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
By biscuit, I love it. Check out this biscuits too much. Front,
you guys have a real We'll get into menu array
because it's a very visual and it's a unique menu
for fast casual because we haven't seen that too much.
But before we go into that too much, I want
to ping in on your background because you were in
the military. Is that right?

Speaker 3 (08:50):
I was. I listed in the Marine Corps when I
was nineteen years old.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Wow, so this is good. This is a great job
for you because you know systems. What did you do
in the marine?

Speaker 3 (09:02):
So I let me back up and tell you what
I wanted to do, and let me tell you what
I actually did.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Okay, So I will tell you.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
It's a funny story because I'm probably the last person
anybody would ever guess was in the Marine Corps. It's
often what you know. When I tell people that they
kind of they chuckle a little bit. I was top
of my class. I graduated, you know, seventh in my class.
You know, I went through college with a four oh GPA.
Originally an English major, I desperately wanted to be a
journalism major back in the early two thousands, which in

(09:34):
many ways I'm glad I didn't. I think print journalism
was dying. I had my own column in our regional newspaper.
I love to write. It's really something that I enjoy
and it was something that I've brought into this organization.
I think communication is probably one of the most key,
key resources and probably skills that any leader should have,
just being able to communicate. So however, you know, I

(09:55):
grew up in the family business, and I wanted to
do my own thing, and so, you know, I wanted
to rebel against my dad a little bit, and I said,
you know, I want to join the military. So originally
I was going to go in the Air Force, because
you know, I scored a perfect score on my ASTHMAB.
You know, I could have any any pick of military
occupational specialties that I wanted. So the recruiting offices are

(10:17):
always kind of you know, conglomerated together so I had
met with the Air Force recruiter, and then I went
across the street to the Marine Corps recruiter, and the
recruit training was just vastly different. It was six weeks
in believe of San Antonio at the time, six weeks
of training in the Air Force, and then there was
a thirteen week training in the in the Marine Corps.

(10:38):
And I was like, I want to do that. That
looks really hard, you know. I want to do something
that is challenging and difficult. That's going to change my life.
I think the other I think.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
The one that has the shorter training. But you're like, no,
double double, the training.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Leble, the training harder, you know all those things. Well.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
The other thing too, is women represent such a small
fraction of the Marine Corps. If you don't know anything
about the United States Marine Corps, there are two recruit
training depots in the United States. So all males east
of the Mississippi River, east of the Mississippi River, they
train at Paras Island, South Carolina, which is famous if
you know anything about the Marine Corps history. And then
all males west of the Mississippi train in California at

(11:16):
Camp Pendleton. But all females in the United States train
at Paras Island. At the time that I was in there, Marines,
female Marines were trained separately. We had one battalion. We
had fourth battalion on the Paras Island and it was
very small. I mean, Mike Latoon I think had forty
eight females. So there were three companies, and you know,

(11:38):
they would have dual series, so they didn't train many.
I mean, the Marines are already the smallest branch in
the military, and then women represented such a small portion
of that. And what's ironic is our training was identical.
We were separate. We were separately trained, separately housed. Our
training was identical except we didn't have to do pull ups.
That was the only thing that varied. You know, we

(11:59):
would do what was called the lex ARMHANNG. You had
a flex your arm and a pull up position for
ninety seconds. That was the fitness requirement at the time.
Now fast forward to now that's changed tremendously. Third Battalion
in Paras Island, which you know they talked about closing,
but it is still the only depot that trains females.
Males and females actually trained together. Now, so It's changed

(12:20):
tremendously since I've been in the military. So I desperately,
desperately wanted to be a combat photographer. That's all I
wanted to do. I have a very creative palette. I'm
a hobbyist FI photographer. That's one of my hobbies, which
is you know, ironic. It's really where a lot of
my experience with the branding for the brand has been.
You know, as much as I am very systematic and

(12:42):
technology driven, I have this odd creative talent as well.
So I wanted to be a combat photographer, but that
MOS was closed to females. As we're most you know,
a lot of our MLS was just relative to support.
So you know when you score on that ASBA, you know,
which is basically an aptitude test for military occupational specialties.

(13:04):
You know, I had grown up in a family business
that was technology driven. You know, my father has a
very successful business in New York. And you know, I've
been working in some capacity for and probably since I
was four years old. So I had a lot of
experience just with technology just from his you know, just organically.
And I remember I said, I will take any job

(13:24):
in the military that is not technology driven interesting anything,
and then they gave me my MOS and it was
data communications, which is so that is so that has
been you know, that is where I began my career.
But you know, careers in the military, you know, call
them what they are. You learn a skill, but I

(13:46):
would say that that's probably just you know, a minute
point of what you actually learn in it. What you
really learn is resilience. You learn how to work with
a team, you learn how to you know, work within
a hierarchy. You know, you learn respective leader ship, you
learn how to respect leadership, you learn training, you learn systems.
I mean, those were probably the greatest resources that I

(14:07):
learned within the.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Military was just you know, how.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
To operate, you know, cohesively with people, but also under orders,
under high pressure. And that's something that's significantly undervalued, but
I think it's probably one of the most attributal traits
to what I've learned and how we've helped grow this brand,
because when you grow an emerging concept, in particular, it's
high pressure, extremely high pressure. You know, how do you

(14:33):
operate under that high pressure? How do you make decisions
quickly because you have to, but you're not rushing them,
so you know, A lot of that is just what
I learned in the military, and also some of it
is just you have You're given a mission, right, there's
no option whether you move forward with it or not.
You're not always successful. You always have to be working

(14:53):
towards that truth. You always have to be executing. You know,
failure is not an option per se, but you know,
it teaches you a lot of tenacity. And I would
say that that's probably my greatest takeaway from that. It's
it's really shaped just my entire career and just who
I am fundamentally as a person. So yes, I learned
great trade skills, but what I really learned was, you know,

(15:17):
people skills you are you are also around And this
is kind of the ironic part is you know, I
ended up in tech for a long time. You know, technology,
you're kind of stuck behind computer you don't have you're
not really interacting with the public as much as you
are in restaurant business. But the military does is as
much of a people business. You have to interact with
all walks of life that come from all over the

(15:37):
United States. In particular, I mean there were folks in
my platoon and my battalion that you know, didn't have
running water, you know, and here I came from Long Island.
I mean, just vastly different demographics and just people and
you really learned to how to communicate with them, how
to engage with them. And I think that is just
such an undervalued tool today. And when you really think
about it generationally, you know, I have I have young children,

(15:59):
you know, range thirteen to seventeen, and that's a vastly
underutilized skill today. They don't know how to.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
Gut it out.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
No, I always encourage anybody if you have the opperation, you've.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Got to get out there. You've got to get out
there and experience. You know, you're right, you do. I think,
you know, there's there's a lot of I've talked to
a lot of CEOs. It's interesting you said the resilience parts,
because that was something that comes up a lot of times.
We've talked about military personnel coming into the restaurant space
a lot, and CEOs often tell me that is like

(16:30):
if they're trying to train a manager position, or they're
trying to look at someone they want to see come
up the ladder. They really feature on anybody that's had
military background because of a lot of these core tenants
that you mentioned going into that, does that go into
your hiring process at Vicious Biscuit at all of how
you look at you probably don't see it that much

(16:52):
as much anymore because we don't have a lot of
young kids that are coming out of the military. But man,
what a what an interesting life that would be.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
For sure, I will tell you transparently what it has
helped is shaped a avatar for franchising because okay, yeah,
and I'll speak briefly to the answer is yes, we
would always like to find you know, military folk to operate.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
You know.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Number one, it's because, especially when you're enfranchising, that's very
different than you know, one off concept where you're always
looking for innovation. But franchising is about scalability. So when
you think about military, right, you think about compliance. And
I had a fascinating conversation with a recruiter recently about
brands that have kind of shaped their reshaped their avatar

(17:39):
when they're looking for franchise recruitment. You know, initially you
think you want this you know, self starter entrepreneur to
come into your brand, especially as an emerging brand. They
don't need a lot of support. They know what it
means to run a business, they know all of those components.
They can make decisions strategically and on your own. But
what you realize that enfranchising is you've already built the systems.
You've already built the operationational support. You already have the brand,

(18:01):
the menu, marketing, all of the verticals necessary to operate
the brand. What you need is not somebody who is
challenging that as much as somebody that is complicit and
compliant with it. You want them to take the playbook right,
the operational playbook, and execute on it. And frankly, there's
probably no better folk than military folk to do so.

(18:22):
So we do have a couple of veterans within our
franchise system, some that which will be opening this year,
and it is a very different experience because they execute
on the playbook that you've given them.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
The store Q like when people are lined up to
get to the order point, are they all that long?
They seem to abnormally long.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
So all of our restaurants have different Q iterations, So
in Ohio they probably have the longest. But that is
designed that way in the sense that in our southern states, right,
and that we don't have to battle twenty thirty degree
weather or snow, so we allow a Q line. Those
are you know, specifically designed for the weekends, right, but
the weekend, I mean, listen, we always give the tenant

(19:06):
to our leadership team. Every day is the super Bowl
for us, but Saturdays and Sundays are absolutely our super Bowl.
So some qu lines are a little bit longer than others.
You know, our heritage location, the og if you will,
and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina short Q line. However, on
most weekends you'll see the line all the way to
Coleman Boulevard, you know, that's to the thoroughfare there. You'll

(19:29):
see that.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
But guess no, they're okay with seeing in that line.
Are you doing things to keep them entertained or they
just they're fine the way they're just it's worth it
for them.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, it's worth it for them, number one. So we
do sampling and some other things. We do line engagement
on the weekend. You know, it's not like balloons or
anything of that, but you know, we'll sample food oj
and things like that. What our guests learn is that
our line moves very quickly. So whether you're in that
back of the line by the time you order, you sit,
and receive your food. It's far or less than the

(20:00):
time you would have brunch on a wait in Charleston
any other time, or really anywhere for that matter. So
our average well time is just under forty five minutes
from the time you were in that line. That's if
there is a line, right. Obviously much much quicker on
the weekdays. But you know, we are very efficient with
our throughput in our operation. That's why it's designed that way. So, Paul,

(20:22):
to your point why we say that, You know, we
are fast casual, but we are essentially full service. The
only fast casual component to us is you order it
a counter, but from there we take care of the rest.
We can handle second service from the table, like when
you seen that you have alcohol, so we do. Servers
can lie in say hey, do you want another bluddy

(20:43):
marry or what we can Yes, we offer second service
at the table. They can order another entree, appetizer and
or a secondary beverage.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Or is it like a QR code where they definitely
ordered technology wise or do you have servers that come
We don't say.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
We have bussers and food runners that come around. So
that's why very full service.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
They'll ask you if you want it, and then do
they go get it or is it done there at
the table?

Speaker 3 (21:06):
As far as the pos, so we have a handheld
pos if they can transact the chat, but then the
guest never has to get up, never has to get back.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
And a line that is full service.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yeah, it is full.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
So that was my question back to you, Shera, was
have you seen a fast casual concept that is using
a full service back end model.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Well, it's funny that you mentioned that because we just
did a story a few days ago on Fuzzy's Taco
is testing out a full service service restaurant, So that'll
be interesting. I have, you know, I've seen more regional,
more locals that do that where you order at the
counter and then they bring the food out and then
they come to you know, here's a QR code if
you want another refill or you know, they come by

(21:48):
and clear your food and ask if you want some
more water. I don't see a lot of chains doing
that yet. I think it's definitely more regional. We have
one here in Kansas City that I frequent a lot,
and they always come by and say, hey, do you
want to refill in your drink or whatever. So yeah,
I think with everybody talking about not trying to lose
the hospitality as you put in more tech, I think
that's a smart way to go. I think we'll see
that more.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah. Okay, So yeah, we've talked about the model in
the service model itself, but let's get into the food
a little bit, because this is a different kind of
food as well, in terms of the menu construct, the quality,
the ingredients of the process. The biscuit itself is a
whole process around that. Explain to us how you guys

(22:30):
have been able to take an almost full service casual
dining experience, both by menu and even model, and get
that into an approachable level price wise and service wise
in fast casual.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
What's been the true absolutely, So the trick is the
least amount of complexity. So we have great operations support
team that come from the Chick fil A brand, just
transparently speaking, to know everything there is to know about
complex and throughput. And the menu was really designed initially

(23:04):
for just maximizing the skews that were in the restaurant.
So if you ever stepped in our restaurant and looked
at our dry stock or looked at our inventory. You
would say, where's the rest of it? You have this menu,
but where is all of the product? Everything that's iterated
on that metnu and ideated is using existing product within
the restaurants. So we try to cross utilize a lot
of product, which allows it to be very efficient. So

(23:27):
when you look at our menu, while the biscuit creations
are fairly elaborate, the base is all the same.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Right.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
We have our base biscuits. You know, we have our buttermilk,
we have our cheddar halopeno. We have the absolute best
gluten free biscuit that you will ever consume in your life.
So if you have, if you are gluten free, which
there are, there are many gluten social it's a huge deal.
And I have something coming in the future specifically for
good later. You know. The bases are these great proteins, right,

(23:56):
it's you know, we have high quality chicken that we
brine for twenty four hours, have our house seasoning, you know, eggs.
You know, we have these these proteins that are the
base aside from just the biscuit, and then we're just
you know, utilizing other high quality ingredients to just enhance
the brand.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
So I need lightly the lightly vicious menues.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, Now listen, the biscuits are the show stopped?

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Are they biscuits?

Speaker 3 (24:25):
We do? But lightly vicious. That's where we get the
veto the fourth rider, that's where we get the frequency
out of right, nobody's coming in eating a fat boy
five days a week, but they will come in and
have an omelet, and you know, so we really try
to keep it buried. We have our kids menu because
we know a lot about our consumers. You know, that
is something that drives a lot of families to us.
You know, we're very family oriented because you know, young

(24:48):
parents can come in with young children, they don't have
to worry about their behavior, they don't have to worry
about a long way time. They can come in, have
a great brunch efficiently, and they're out in forty five minutes.
We have kids options, so we really do we play
well into just kind of that family dining segment as well.
And then you know, we really hit all the generational points.

(25:09):
You know, we have We have our you know, the
Old School, which is on this you know, it's actually
one of our best selling product mixed menus. That's you know,
the two eggs, meat protein and the biscuit. It's the
safe choice, you know when folks come in. Well, my
parents first tried the brand, even though I could encourage
them to try a whole palette and array of biscuits.
You know, they went with the safe choice. And you know,
to this day as New Yorkers, they still say it's

(25:31):
the best breakfast they ever had.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Well, you guys started with with actual restaurant tours. I
mean these guys were we did founders. These guys knew
a lot about building brands before, so they did.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah, Georgia, Yes, George came from the mccallister's brand, so
he has a franchisea So that's where the operational and
many ideation comes from. But really where the QSR Fast
Casual came into the model and then Michael being the
chef behind the product. You know, the concept originally started
as a catering concept.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Interesting, that's why that's why you have so much in
terms of the catering offering. Okay, well tell me what
is the top what's the top seller? Because I'm looking
at this menu and I'm like, wow, falling in love
with it. What's the number one like go to for everybody.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
It's regional specific, I'll tell you that, Paul. But there's
always the same three and where they align in the
top three just paid. It depends on regionality. It's the
Fat Boy, the shrimp and grits, and those are the three,
and then the Old Boy Love was the third one.
So there's the vicious that's kind of that was the
original biscuit that's generally third, but our shrimp and grits

(26:39):
have become nearly renowned. I mean, it's the most value
when you look at the plate, it's beautiful presentation, it's
such a generous a portion for the value, and honestly,
the recipe is absolutely phenomenal. So I actually think that's
one of the best biscuits we have on the menu.
Black and shrimp, our grits, you know, they are they
are made slow and low and with love, as our

(27:00):
operator my Ball would say. But those are the top three,
and then the Old School you know, which is right
there that you have up on the screen, and just
kind of that traditional breakfast. That's that's a very you know,
traditional and high volume seller. Honestly, one of our highest
selling items is our orange juice.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
It is we use one of those machines that does
that visual. Okay, yeah, it.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Takes about nine oranges to make one glass. But you know,
it's it's one of our best selling products. It's a
great marketing tool for us. But it's it's it's it's
absolutely phenomenal. You know, we have great beverage.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
One location in Florida. What is going on here?

Speaker 3 (27:45):
So we have one corporate location in Florida. Our founder
is from the Jacksonville area, so that's why that location
is there in Neptune Beach. However, we do have a
multi unit franchisee in Florida who will be developing the
Space coast. So yeah, hoping that happens within the next
twelve months. So we're going to continue to expand regionally,
so our growth yep, you have our map up there.

(28:07):
I can talk a little bit more about that, but
right now our focus. We have a franchise e en
Richmond developing. We're about to sign one in northern Virginia,
So northern Virginia or all of Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina over to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana is where we are.
We're going to be signing a deal in Texas as well.

(28:27):
So our focus is really on that core Southeast and
the Midwest. So that's where our current development is.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
So you've got a few outliers in terms of location,
you know, with Ohio and even out in Mississippi Louisiana.
How do you do? I mean, because this seems like
it is a very it's a very unique menu and
often when I found, especially in the fast casual category,
if you have a very unique menu, supply chain becomes

(28:54):
an issue, you know, of dealing with that, and especially
when you get outside your core market. Yeah, how do
you guys solve that?

Speaker 3 (29:03):
I will tell you with a lot of work we
have problem we have outstanding vendor partners. You know. That
is something that before we began franchising, you know, and
I know this right from my background too, and George
has had tremendous experience in franchising, so you can look
ahead and see, Okay, this is what's going to break
before it does. So a lot of the work that
we did ahead of franchising was foundational, which you don't

(29:25):
see a lot of emerging brands do, and oftentimes it's
just because concept comes out it does very well. The
initial thought is, hey, let's just go franchising to sell
a bunch of these. This is going to work. Franchising
is not that simple. Actually, it's far more complex than that.
So we built a lot of infrastructure prior to that,
not only in just kind of the human human capital component,

(29:45):
we really had to build out our corporate support team.
What does that look like? Back office, supply chain, vendors training.
So you know, we were initially with you know, a
very national brand that supported us in Charleston. We did
very well, you know, as our food supplier, but as
we started to expand, Paul to your point, that's exactly
what happened. We had six restaurants and we were at
four different distribution centers, which pricing was erratic, inventory was erratic.

(30:09):
It just didn't work. And I think this is where
food suppliers really have a lot of room to grow
because emerging concepts, you know, that's very much a market
and they.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
It's the limiter of being able to grow them. It
is in many cases, it really is.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
It is, and you're not always going to grow concentrically.
I would love to tell you all on this podcast
today that, oh I have this great growth plan. It's
so strategic.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
It doesn't make money comes from all over, you know, right,
franchise development's going to grow. Real estate opportunities are out
there in different markets. You have to be able to
expand like that. It has been one of the big
I think downfalls of fast casuals growth is you get
these regional powerhouses that have to get to critical mass
before they can really move on. You know. So, yes,

(30:54):
that's hard.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Are you using several then or you mentioned like one
big national bring now you only.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
So right now, we're with Gordon food Service. They are
a food squire at present. They've been a great partner
with us, you know, always the challenge of franchising is
the challenge that we're working on. It's just development. We're
always solving the problem of development. So right now, you know,
you saw Ohio up there. It's kind of in its
own distribution center. What we're really fortunate about is that
in the Midwest Springville, Springfield. I'm so sorry that distribution

(31:23):
center is one of the largest within the Gordon Foods chain.
So right now we don't really have an inventory issue
and we don't have a lot of proprietary items. That's
what makes our concept also so attractive and so unique. Yes,
our wet mix for our biscuits are made for us
through a copacker, as well as our jams butters are
all made in house. Gordon has been a great supplier

(31:47):
for us. They backhaul our product out of our co
packers location. It's in the inventory everywhere. We've had no
issue with that. But all of our product is not proprietary,
So because of that, we've been able to expand into
these regional dc without any issue because our product is
what's in within their inventory. But we're solving that too.
You know, Ohio is sitting out there on alone right now,

(32:09):
but we're going to be opening in Cincinnati this fall
as well as another location in the Akron Montrose area
in Strongsville. So we are always working toward growth and development.
And we're opening in Indianapolis this fall as well. So
we're solving these slowly. Beings to me in Kansas City, Fisher's,
Indiana as where we're Yes.

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below to get started. See you there. You've got growth
plans going. Obviously you've got some uniqueness here with the menu,
which in you look at this kind of product, especially

(34:18):
with you guys focusing on you know, that cornerstone element
being the biscuit side of things. What about have you
started talking about maybe CpG on doing like biscuit mix
and all that kind of stuff, any of that one.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Yes, actually, so we we do talk about that. One
of our signature items actually is our primento cheese. You
know that is obviously a regional type food, you know
most It's funny. We had a couple, uh, we had
two folks come in from actually Europe. They're just famous
TikTokers and I'll have to find it and you know,

(34:52):
he's a link it, but they called it Cheesycoast law.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
You know.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
Okay, most folks that aren't in the South are have
an aversion to menotees from the texture to the taste.
We have probably one of the best. You know, it's
housemaid every day. So those are the types of items
that we talk about going with retail. But we are
right now, I'll just tell you transparently, very focused on
operational excellence, hospitality and you know, franchise profitability. Right Going

(35:21):
into new markets is not without its own challenge, and
that's where our focus is. You have to create scalability.
We want those that come to Charleston and that's you know,
that's the other advantage of the brand. Charleston is the
number one travel destination within the United States, I think
thirteen years running from travel and leisure. We have such exposure.
So when we and I think we'll talk about this

(35:42):
later on, but we use Placer as a development software.
When I look at a heat map from where my
guests come from and I look at my Charleston locations,
they come from all over the world, you know, And
that's how we've gotten our franchise inquiries. It's not a
per click, don't I don't have to advertise. Our product
speaks for itself or our hospitality speaks for itself. And

(36:02):
we have a lot of exposure being in just great
markets where a lot of people travel to, and so
that's been instrumental in our growth overall. And it's so
funny because a lot of folks have asked, and I
don't know if this is a question you may have
been going towards, is well, how does the brand translate
out of the South?

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Right?

Speaker 3 (36:19):
Very southern menu biscuits being the cornerstone. It's been the
opposite of what folks would have anticipated. So when we
first opened an Akron, it was, Okay, how are we
going to translate out? You know, there's a running joke
in Charleston go back to Ohio. So many Ohio residents
have transplanted to the Charleston area, so a lot of
people from Ohio already do a lot about our brand.

(36:40):
And the reviews were very simple. It was I can
now get a taste of the South in my hometown.
It's exactly what I experienced when I went to Charleston.
You know, we had a little bit of a fear
when we went to Gonzales, thinking how are they going
to like our shrimp and grits? And then it becomes
our number one seller. The brand has just translated so
well everywhere because the product quality is excellent flavor profile

(37:03):
is wonderful, But I think the most important thing is
the consumer today loves the hospitality element. You just don't
expect any quick casual and you're not even getting the
level of service or hospitality in full service today that
you are with us. It's such a core part of
our operations.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Well, I think that's one of the things that is
missing here too with fast casual is a lot of
these hospitality tenets that we talk about on the show
a lot. It's one of the biggest categories that has
not been excelling. I think when you look at the
consumer sentiment ratings that we're seeing the food service space,
ast casual even though growth is still stable and it

(37:42):
isn't as bad as some of the full service operations
that are out there, but it is taking a hit.
Do you think that's generated by the issue of labor
or the expectations of consumers? What do you think is
causing a little bit of that dip in terms of
the quality of customer service? Twofold?

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Right, you know what the labor market is today. You've
seen a mass exibit in terms of those that are
accessible to us. In terms of the labor market, post COVID,
so it's twofold. One thing that we put a lot
of effort in is our leadership, So we're very heavy leadership.
We always have at least three to four managers within
our building. I'll have franchises come in and say what,
I have to have four managers. There's a reason for

(38:23):
that because all boats are eyes when the leadership quality
is there. You can't replace leadership from just to treat
the strategic operation of the restaurant right, food quality, food safety.
I mean that's our number one job is fueled safety
every single day. But you also need folks to mentor
the people beneath you, because I think what's impacting most

(38:43):
brands today is turnover. Whenever you have turnover in a restaurant,
you are going to see a decline in your customer
sentiment scores. So we monitor all of our customers. We
use momos. They've been a great partner for growth for
us in terms of how we calculate reputation schools, how
we provide feedback, and how we receive feedback from the
guest either through menus or Google reviews, yelp, et cetera.

(39:08):
But we can see that and we can track that.
So we're very data driven, so we'll track retention and
we'll overlay that graphically with sediment scores, with product quality reviews.
So if you start looking at all of those things together,
you will see a direct correlation. You know, correlation is causation.
In that case, when you have high turnover, not only hourly,
you also have it in management, you will see just

(39:29):
an overall decrease in customer service longevity. Team first, right,
that's another military tenant, right, it's always people first. They
have to be first. You know, we have some very
tenured managers in our location. So I'm running four or
five years. I mean, that's unheard of in this particular industry.
But that's also why it's attractive for franchising. How many
restaurant concepts out there that are open from seven to two.

(39:51):
We're open seven to two Monday through Thursday, seven to
three Friday through Sunday. Managers are getting out and they're
able to go to their kids' games. They can have
a normal life. And because we have that high leadership structure,
they also only work five days a week, five days
a week max. Forty five hours, and they have they
can rotate their weekends off, so when you have you

(40:11):
can create longevity within your tenure. But the other piece
of that too is you have to have great training,
and I think that is probably the most underserved and
underutilized component enfranchising. We made that investment very early in
twenty twenty three to go full learning management system. We
digitized everything not only for franchise but for corporate, so

(40:32):
that every team member goes through the same training. They
understand the brander, the brand standards, the values, and all
of the core components to their particular position, and that
gives them confidence when they're growing. You know, when you're
ten units and you're dispersed the way they are and
you're just putting the training in the hands of whomever
is operating that day. That's risk and I'm very risk adverse.

(40:54):
So I would say training and labor is probably the
two most core pieces too. Why I think you see
such a decline in customer satisfaction today because there is
no hospitality and our core tenant is table touches. There
should be five table touches within one transaction. When you
come to die with us, you should have you should
have a table touch by at least five people within

(41:16):
that restaurant, and that's the core tenant.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Someone it came to my table five times, I'd probably say, listen,
what's going on.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
About that? Without a cocktail? Right, So think about it
this way, Paul. If you only interacted with one person,
let's say a hostess or a server, and they just
weren't having a great day, that's your experience. So that's
why we ensure that they're engaging. You know, it's not
you know, it's a cashier, it's a food runner, it's
a busser, it's a manager. All of those people interact

(41:46):
with that guest that day to ensure the maximum service.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
And so I got to do it all right, Well,
we got to get into AI and and tech and
you know, the use of what's happening in today's world.
You know, if you look at the his of fast casual,
this is still one of the things that I think
put fast casual on the map, and that was social
media and mobile. If you look at the timing of
the evolution of social and mobile, it happened at about

(42:13):
the same time that we saw this boom and growth
in fast casual. So it changed the dynamic of how
small brands could one talk to the consumer, and it
also changed the way in which a brand could interface.
Now we're getting ready to move into a new phase
of tech. What are you guys seeing How are you
guys leveraging it?

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Yeah, So because of my background, tech has been a
way to do accomplish a number of things. It has
been a way to mitigate a small headcount. Right. You know,
when you're growing a brand like we are, you try
to run as lean as GNA as you possibly can
and really just have those core individuals in place in
your headcount. And so we've utilize technology in a variety

(42:56):
of different ways to help augment the addition headcount that
we need. So one thing that we've always done from
the start is to use really best in class technologies.
So from the beginning, I know the brand was initially
on a point of sale, but since I've been with them,
we've been on toast to This has been a great
partner for us. And one of the reasons they're a
great partner is because of the way they can integrate
with so many other technologies. You're not going to see

(43:18):
many restaurants with only two units using restaurants three sixty five.
You know, we've used them from the beginning. And I'll
tell you why. Using the best solutions and implementing them
early allows you to build a foundational database from the beginning,
because it's so much harder to convert later, it's so
much harder, it's more expensive, and you already have proof

(43:39):
of concepts for a lot of folks. So we built
these technologies. We built a back office system that we
know our true cost around everything, and it's completely replicatable.
I can take my database and I can implement it
to the next franchisee and a next franchise e and
the next franchise e. I can put their charting accounts
directly next to mine and say, you're high here. This
is why, this is how I can help you be

(44:01):
more profitable. We've really built out a very complex system
on the back end so we know our true costs.
We always know our labor in real time and that helps.
And then we also can look at all of our
costs across all of the different supply chain dcs so
that we can go back to our vendor and say, hey,
why are you charging us x over here? But over

(44:21):
here we're being charged more. Where are some options here
substitutions that maintain the product quality but help this franchise
or help this corporate location. So knowing your true costs
from the beginning is extremely important. You're also setting a
precedent for the franchise. And I had actually learned this
at RFDC. I believe it was Maybe it wasn't r FDC.
It was the most recent one in Phoenix, the Restaurant

(44:48):
Leadership Conference that only thirty percent of franchisees report financials
to their franchise or I was astounded by that metric. Yes,
thirty percent of franchisees provide accurate financials to their franchise.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
Or okay, accurate, it's accurate eaters out there, But how
do you.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Your brain?

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Franchise people are going to lie to me.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Or do I do it or not?

Speaker 3 (45:17):
Or they can't provide it, because I will tell you
I talk to a lot of different branches.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
And maybe it's that part. They just can't provide it.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
They can't provide it because there's no required system. So
you know, I'll sit and talk to franchisees prospects, we'll
do an FDD review, and they come from other concepts
and they say, hey, over here, I have the liberty
to do this, and oh, I can run my Facebook
page all by myself, and we don't allow that. We
have set as an emerging concept. We've set very specific

(45:45):
guardrails in place, and I think that's why we've been successful.
Here's the expectation, here are the tools to utilize. And
one thing that you know I learned, having never been
in this industry before, is when I came in here,
restaurant people are terrified of technology. They think it's just
the absolute worst thing. It's complex, it doesn't work, it's
never accurate. So one thing we've really done is to

(46:08):
use AI to help offset the responsibility of the management
team within the four walls. Because to back to your point,
the most what is it? The general manager is the
most important person in your restaurant company, and they're not
always going to have the experience or the business acumen.
But they can run a great strategic operation, they can
run a great team, they can have produce great food quality,

(46:29):
they have great customer service and interaction, but they don't
have a finance background, and that's not the expectation. So
you know, we are all about hiring for skill, for
hiring for Culture's rating for skill right, So you know
our team, all they have to do every day they
get an invoice in it either feeds in automatically or
a point of sale from our great vendors, or they
can scan it with their phone and they don't have

(46:51):
to do anything else. It's already AI generated to allocate
to the appropriate cost accounts. There's such little administrative function within.

Speaker 1 (46:59):
Our restaurants that I think is going to be the
killer use of AI. And have Amanda has used any
of these visual AI inventory systems where you go out,
you take a picture of it and it just like
feeds it all in your to your system, out of
your stock room or in your stock line.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Not yet. So we actually because of our complex are
our particular concept. We only have inventory once a period, okay,
and it is a manual inventory. We are looking at
a barcode type system. But I will tell you there's
some technologies out there that are very attractive.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
That I'm looking into.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
Particure technologies, camera techologies can tell you in the real
time day to day where that is again something to
look for in the future. Not necessary for our current
because we have less than two hundred SKUs. You know,
there's other concepts out there that have far more product
they need to do correct and our food cost is

(47:52):
very relative or cost of goods is pretty static across
the board. So unless you see fairly you know, large
swings and anomalies. I can see brands utilizing that. You know,
maybe they have somebody doing twenty percent food costs and
somebody doing forty percent, or they have a high waste
and loss. Sure, I think those are good right now.
It's just not something that we need as a brand.

(48:13):
We're using AI more for you know, labor modeling for
you know, the actual administrative processing within the four walls.
But AI for us is mostly around reputation management and development.
That's what we're utilizing it for, mostly because that is
probably when you think about it as an emerging concept,

(48:34):
how do you figure out where you need to go
when you only have x units. There's no way to
build a regression model with six units. There's no way
to build it with ten units.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
You don't have enough data exactly. That's that's the issue
where we work Saber Capital. We work with a lot
of emerging brands and leaders and this has been one
of the biggest issues for growth in being able to
establish you know, how do you build a growth plan
and especially if you look at a roadmap for how
you guys are going to do it if you're not
franchising it, or even if you are franchising. That has

(49:07):
been a big one for sure. Okay, so last question
to you and you think about the franchise before we
we're going to do a lightning round with you. By
the way, sure the lightning round I'm going to kind
of give you a little cheap seat. Is some of
your favorite things so like go to productivity all that.
So when you look at a franchise, because you're mentioning

(49:27):
some very interesting things about franchising that I think are
different than what I've heard on this show before. What
is the perfect I guess it's it's probably fairly broad.
But do you find certain types of franchises that rise
to the top that you're like, this is the perfect
one that we're seeing, you know, come around more often.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
That's a great question. The answer is yes. So one
thing that a couple of things. I think the brand
naturally attracts a certain type of FRANCHISEE when you are
not you know, when you think about number one, we
are still running corporate locations and developing them. And I
think that's really important to the franchise model because that's
what allows us to expand and actually support the franchise system.
So because of that, you have more organic growth. I

(50:13):
think it's very different when you go out there and
just try to sell franchising through cold calling, through fso
or through paper, you're going.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
To get it like, yeah, you.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Don't, we get it. I mean when we first started,
we have we had over one hundred and thirty applications
to vet through when we just opened the contact form
to franchising when we were official with our first FD
date and out of that one hundred and thirty we
signed seven. Wow, you know that we went through and vetted.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
It's a big hit rate. That is not I would saying,
I look at it this way. If you don't have
a lot of hits, it usually means you've just saved
yourself a lot of trouble.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
Correct. You have to look at they have to have
the same enthusiasm for the brand when it's a pioneering
brand from the beginning. They have to be just excited
to sell this product than you are. The other thing
is I think this is undervalued. I love the entrepreneur
route and obviously our founders from that route as well,
But there is something to be said when you're an
emerging concept somebody that has been through a franchise system before.

(51:15):
It does help exponentially. They know how to operate systems,
they know how to execute them. They know what it
means to operate within guardrails without having to say, hey,
I have a great idea for what you should put
on the menu today, which is not the focus of
what we need. We need execution. So you know multi
unit experience, you know some level of business acumen, but
most importantly, culturally aligned. They have to be culturally aligned.

(51:38):
We have to like you.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
We have to.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
We call it the layover test. If I can't be
stuck in the airport with you for eight hours, we
probably shouldn't get into this relationship together.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
That's a good that's a good one. That's a good one. Actually,
go get in the locked room. I like it.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
Go get that.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
We're going to get into the fun part. Well, this
has been right anyway, Sharon, do you have some lightning
round quest? Do I lead and get you behind it?

Speaker 2 (52:02):
I mean I've got a million you know, favorite cocktail.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
With an our concept, the Bloody Mary Bye.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Okay, all right, what what libation are you guys using
in that? Okay, all right, you know that's an Austin brand.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Yeah it's great story. Yeah, we only use Tito's. Uh
so along Island we love to juice.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
I went out and I wasn't out. I went out
to the Tito's operations in Austin one time to you know,
just to walk through, and those people were the nicest people.
Have I think I have. I love you Texas surprised.
All right, So go to productivity hack? Especially coming from you,
I'm going to be really listening because you have the

(52:53):
background of being able to do this. So what's the
go to productivity hack for you?

Speaker 3 (52:59):
Software? Project management software? So we use a sauna and yeah, yeah,
we use two different ones. Notion we utilize for kind
of our tech.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
We're rolling out something very very exciting in the next
couple of weeks, our first app. Can't talk much about it.
I'm very excited. So Notion is just kind of our
back end.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Just project buildings software.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
Yeah, just because we can build out a little bit
different boards for it than Asana. But overall our team
uses a sauna. The only way to out an app.
We are rolling out in it some more breaking news.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
More breaking news here on.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
They will be pitching you a press release and I
love it, Okay, perfect, We're really excited about it. We've
got some great partners, very unique for an emerging concept
what we're about to do. So we're really excited for
this and the reason for doing so. Yeah, so we
use a sauna. You know. My job, of course as
COEO is to be the implementer of the brand. And
the most important thing we can do is what I

(53:57):
have learned is if you don't provide a roadmap, timelines
and a plan, nothing's going to nothing gets done.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Totally not listen to that, guys and gals out there.
That's one of the things that I think a lot
of operators don't really spend the time on, is building
out a plan that matches up to a roadmap. I
know it can change, but at least getting that framework
in place is super important. All right, So for you,
most used app will be the new Vicious Biscuit app.

(54:27):
Besides that one.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Outlook outlook Okay, I.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Like it. And then as far as uh well, and
then I got to ask you who's your favorite kid.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
I'm going to answer from the lens of my children.
Apparently my son is my favorite child, and they are
just all the others are neglected. You know what, You're
probably right, he's the nicest to me.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Be nice to your mom. Guys, you'll get you'll go far.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
I love them all equally.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Any other lightning rounds?

Speaker 2 (55:11):
What about your your other other than obviously Vicious Biscuit
on your phone? Like, what other restaurant apps do you
mostly have?

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (55:22):
You know, this is probably embarrassing to say I don't
use an app for order and pickup. I am the
truest millennial that there is. I will go and pick
up the food because I Am not going to pay
for delivery fee.

Speaker 4 (55:35):
However, points like Starbucks? What about the Starbucks is number
one for me? Okay, that is my go to morning
coffee when.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
I do not go to Vicious Biscuit. So I'm going
to give an unfair plug to them. But yeah, Starbucks,
I think they do a great job with loyalty. There's
a lot of really good programs out there, so I
actually have probably more loyalty apps on there. I'll tell
you build the taco does a phenomenal app, really, So
that's one that I've been using and testing. Big Chicken
does a really great job as well, So you know,

(56:05):
I look at apps obviously not so much for usage
for me, but really just looking at what other people
are doing, how the marketing, you know, emulating where people
have done successfully. Nobody's reinventing anything in this industry, so
you know, I think it's something.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
I really learned from heres definitely, And I think there's
a lot of times that you know, with brands, they
you know, they're augmenting much of what has been kind
of gen but every brand has a unique sense, so
it does have kind of an element of i think
independence to a certain extent around the brand itself. So well,

(56:40):
I'm excited about your new app that you guys are developing.
I don't think we've had anybody say that they're developing
an app on the show. That's a first.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
So we just launched a brand new catering We're one
of the only ones in our breakfast segment that has
done the catering iteration that we have with our partner
Olo Catering. Plus that's been live for a couple of
weeks now really into kind of beta test. We're really
big into pilot testing things, so we're currently in pilot
test on our app. Really excited about it. You know,
we've done its own branding around it. It's very it's unique.

(57:12):
You know, we are not a discount brand. We very
much believe in our product and quality. This app is
really designed for a very loyal and viral fan base
that we have. How do we reward them, you know,
how do we keep them coming back and how do
we deliver to them the great dine in hospitality experience
off premise because that is a growing segment and revenue
center for us. So we're really excited to deliver this

(57:35):
to our guests. It's something you know, we are regularly
surveying our guests. You know, we've done a lot of studies.
We're always collecting data and this is something that they
requested for a long time and we want to do
it right. And I think doing it very early on
with franchising allows us to scale. I don't have to
go back and be the unit at three hundred units
and say hey, we're going to go invest in all
of this technology, would you like to pay for it?
I get to do this from the beginning, show them

(57:57):
great results around it, and it just becomes a or
part of their training. So we are trying to do
the things that you know, the great brands. We've got
great brands within our system, franchisees that are Jersey Mic Operators,
Chick fil A, Chicken Salad, Chick Operators, Melow Mushroom, Zasy's.
You know, we have very sophisticated competitors and sophisticated franchisees
that we have to support. So we make the investments

(58:20):
not only in the human capital, but the technology components
so that we can stay competitive with some of the
big brands out there.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
It'll be interesting to see how you're the catering goes.
Maybe we can get you on the catering workshop in
October and Conny, I feel like, what what worked and
what didn't? We have OLO coming there too, so that
would be cool.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
I would love to sit on their panel with them. Okay,
we you know, we we've had a great experience with OLO,
but I will tell you I have plenty of feedback
to give on you know, what to do and what
not to love it.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
So yeah, let me know.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
I'm happy to come.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Out all right here on all right, it's been great
having you on the show today. Thank you so much
for coming in. You guys, check out Biscuit. You guys
can go over to their website and of course visit
one of their locations. If you're a franchisey out there
thinking about a new brand, well maybe this is the
one for you. So there you go. Thanks Amanda, great
having you. Thank you again for stopping it with us.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
Well, thank you all.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Right, what a great what a great interview, another big
banger coming out of Fast Casual Nation. We've got a
lot going on right now. As you guys know, have
we selected all the perfect pitch yet? Or have you
selected all the perfect pitch?

Speaker 2 (59:33):
I am in the middle of I think I have
fifteen more to go through. Okay, I'm going to pick something.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Explain the perfect pitch for people who have not seen
it or heard about.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
The perfect pitch is our Nice We call it the
Nice version of Shark Tank. And we have several brands
pitch at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in October. They
have to be under seven years old and have at
least one unit and they get to come up and
talk about their brand, and we have a panel of
advisors who give them advice and ask them questions, and
then at the end, the audience gets to vote for

(01:00:04):
their favorite. And in the past we've only done it
one hour, we've had four or five brands, but this
year we're partnering with Paul and Frontrunners and we're going
to have three different pitch hours, so we're going to
let eight brands pitch and then the winner gets a
small cash prize, but then also gets to be in
the twenty twenty six season our front Runners, which is

(01:00:24):
Paul's newest podcast endeavor. Oh look, there's Amanda just now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
Yeah, she was on there. I saw that. Yeah. Well,
this is, of course is the summit you guys, so
get registered because this is going to be a big
event this year. We'll be doing the podcast live from
there as well. Front Runners. The way it works is
we go out to emerging brands and we basically create
a documentary about them, and then they get a chance
to promote that documentary and if they are the winner

(01:00:53):
of the most views in most comments on their YouTube video,
then they become the Runner of the year. We invest
some money in them if they want it, and if not,
then we go in and we do a full consulting
package with them, all about building brands. So if you
haven't checked it out, go over to saver Fm. You

(01:01:13):
can learn more about what's going on over there. I'll
share a little bit of information on that. And by
the way, if you're not subscribed to the podcast right now,
you're probably listening in on YouTube. You can go over
and find us on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Podverse and also podcast Guru.
So this show is both in audio and video format,

(01:01:33):
so check it all out and you guys can get in.
And by the way, if want it to become a
host or a guest on the show, there's a little
form there when you go to saver dot fm and
hit Fast Casual Nation in our content feed, you can
get right to it all right that I think we
hit on everything, share I think other one that we

(01:01:54):
will see you guys next time right here on Fast
Casual Nation.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
She