September 3, 2025 • 38 mins
Kansas City's Longboards Wraps and Bowls joins Fast Casual Nation hosts Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler to share their incredible growth story from startup to 8 locations and 130 employees. Founder Gilbert Macapagal discusses his Filipino-inspired menu, innovative Shaka Pop beverage line, and authentic brand approach that's resonating with suburban markets. The team reveals their franchise expansion plans, digital strategy generating 45-55% of sales, and commitment to promoting from within while maintaining their laid-back surf culture identity.
#FastCasualNation #LongboardsWraps #KansasCityEats
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Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
#FastCasualNation #LongboardsWraps #KansasCityEats
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are back here on Fast Casual Nation, the podcast
that started it all. Of course, joining me is the
lovely miss Shara Candler. How are you this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am wonderful. How are you, Paul?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm excited. I've decided to make yesterday a national holiday.
We're going to call it the what do we call it?
Swift Kelsey Union Holiday.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
My bus sy Ta Ta got engaged to the one
and only Travis Kelce, so the chatlines were flying yesterday.
My friends and I are planning our own engagement party
for next week, so.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I can't I can't imagine what's going to happen in
Shera's life. But hey, listen, that's okay because today we
have a special one for you guys. Today we are
going to attempt a three person guest rollout here on
the podcast. I don't think we've had three on every four,
so this will be new and of course it's going
(00:56):
to be with the Longboard team, which is fantastic. I
got a chance to review a little bit about their brand. Hey,
we've got a lot happening here on Fastcasual dot com.
We will be right back and share all that good
stuff with you guys. Stay tuned. This episode is brought
(01:25):
to you by Philadelphia Cream Cheese Chefs. Take the heat
all day, every day. Performing under pressure is what we do.
Just like Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Phillies creamy texture holds up
every time, less cracking, more binding. Ask your distributor for
the original Philadelphia Cream Cheese originals. Deserve the original. All right,
(01:49):
we're back here, Cheryl. Let's get into it real quickly.
One of the things I wanted to focus on, of course, obviously,
is what's happening over here with the Perfect Pitch A
big deal, and that is a of course. The twenty
twenty four winners are like signing deals babies.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
The winner of last year's Perfect Pitch to sign a
twenty four unit deal to expand, and they will be
back this year in October as advisors along with you
obviously to talk to the next eight.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure, So we're really excited.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
This Perfect Pitch has been something that we invented like
eleven years ago, and it's always fun to see somebody
who won really break out and produce them. So very
excited and we're looking forward to listening to the next
eight people who are going to come up and see
what they're going to do all right.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So this one, this is of course for those of
you who are listening in on the audio version of
the podcast. It's Saigon Hustle and they have a major expansion.
This is across the Southeast. Is going to be backed
by partnership with Savory Fund. Different than saveror Capital our team,
but the Savory Fund and also the Varentis partners Group.
So that's a big deal I think, you know, for
(03:00):
a brand new concept. Like they're talking about twenty four units.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Too, Laura, Yeah, they have two right now in Houston,
and they're going to hit Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, wow, that's great. That's great. Also in the news
was this right here, Chipotle launching their build your own
meal kit.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I think this is really interesting because to me, this
should have happened years ago, right, like they don't.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I'm ready, I mean, yeah, but I was looking into it.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
They've had catering forever, but they're really marketing this to
the four to six person. You know, a family catering
sounds too big and kind of crazy for just you know,
somebody looking for dinner on a Thursday night or whatever.
So this really is honing in on the four to
six people, like a ten dollars off promotion right now.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
We got it the other day at our house. It
was fun.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Everybody made their own, so it's plenty of leftovers too.
I think it's very smart of them to do that.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Fun. Fact, when I put the Chipotle effect out the
book in twenty ten, that's fifteen years ago.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
You're old.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I am old, very old. Do I look at I
do not at all. Everybody asked me if I'm a vampire.
That's right, man. Anyway, in that book, there's a chapter
in there that I predicted Uber Wow actually said eventually
we will see UH on demand delivery for food, and
(04:25):
it's probably I thought though it would be Amazon that
was going to do it, and of course I was
wrong on that prediction, but.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
We left a billion dollars on the table.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Paul, Well, I would have invested in the wrong company.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
If I invested in Travis's deal, I would have been fine.
You know, like Cal you might my buddy Jay Cow
who was in early like I think he was the
third guy in that thing, so it was crazy. He's
a billionaire now, of course, you know me, no, not
a billionaire could.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Have been talking to me on Wednesday mornings.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Fine, okay, that's all right. Well today we have have
a good one for you guys today and that of
course we're going to bring in the team from Longboards.
You guys probably know this brand coming out of Kansas City, Longboards,
raps and bowls. Bringing them to the stage right now
from Resita here they are.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Good morning, how are you guys?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Now, we've got John Bailey, mister g money, I don't
want even try that last name. And then of course
Jeremy also on the team. John, give me an update.
First of all, what do you do in the organization?
Speaker 6 (05:35):
Yeah, I thank you for asking.
Speaker 7 (05:37):
Also, I am I would say that the easiest way
to explain what I do. I mean, first of all,
everybody in our company does a little bit of everything.
But the easiest way to explain what I do is
I'm the business side of the business.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
There you go. So yeah, so you.
Speaker 7 (05:52):
Know that encompasses a lot of different things, whether it's operations, marketing, accounting, finance,
whatever it is, the business side.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I love this website. You guys have a beautiful site
here in terms.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Of design designed internally, it's.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Very fun, very fun, and I think probably customers really
kind of tie into that as well. When you look
at operations. We'll get everybody introduced here, We'll go over
to mister is it Macapagal.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
Yes, sir, all right, how do you what is.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
What is your role there at Longboards?
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Well, my first role was just do sling sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
But Gil is the founder of the concept.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yes, I was waiting for him to actually drop it.
You know, as a good guilt, you're supposed to lead
in when we give you the hook, go ahead, lead in.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
Well, you know, my role is just the creative part
of Longboards.
Speaker 8 (06:52):
I did a chef for a long time and I
was introduced to a lot of concept which is beyond
Asian style and kind of like what longboards represent now. Yeah, yeah,
Filipinos are the best cook because they can cook anything.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, yeah, Filipino food is amazing and it's pretty interesting
because there's always an interesting flare of spices and just
a different way. If you've never had Filipino food, you
got to do it.
Speaker 8 (07:28):
Influenced from Spanish to Asian, Chinese to some American because
if you heard about the Filipino sweet spaghetti and.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Jolity Yep, that's a good that's a good example right there.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well, how do you get to Kansas City from the Philippines,
gil Man?
Speaker 8 (07:48):
I immigrated me and my brother is sixteen years old
and eight. We were granted American citizenship because my grandfather
was an army veteran. And you know, it's just that
I kept a little of my culture and then came
here and I just.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
Basically I found my niche in the world.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Now you're living the dream in in Kansas City. I
love it well.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
I'm trying, sir, and.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
You're kicking it.
Speaker 8 (08:18):
Man.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I like it well. And you're bringing a lot of
the I think the fun around what the restaurant sometimes
industry I think sometimes is missing. It's just let's have fun,
have a good time. This is you know, a lot.
All the other stuff that's happening out in the world
kind of leave you and you know, jump into what
you guys are doing A long part.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Jared, he gets to handle all the non fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, Jeremy, Jeremy, Uh, what prison are you calling in? From?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Six four six eight?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
There you go. I knew it was somewhere because you're
in You're in an interesting I haven't seen this background.
Give him the Background of the Year award.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I mean, I'm proud because I live in Liberty, Missouri,
and he's five minutes from my house right now.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
So I love it.
Speaker 9 (09:10):
Well, Paul Sadley, This view is more aesthetic than what's
in front of me.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So okay, okay, man, what are you? What is your
role there at Longboards?
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (09:24):
So I'm the director of operations officially recently.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
I've been many things at Longboards.
Speaker 9 (09:28):
I've been a dishwasher, I've been a rapper, I've been
a cook, I've been a GM I've been a director
or district and I've landed on director.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Of ops here very recently.
Speaker 9 (09:39):
And yeah, man, we have eight brick and mortars and
I think one hundred and thirty employees now, and it's
pretty surreal. We went from I think eight or nine
of us in twenty ten when I started with them,
and now we've got one hundred and thirty. And I
oversee all all those employees and all those brick and mortars.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I just want to I want to fly into the
menu real quick because I'm curious as to which menu
item is the winner here. So that's Cabo Chicken.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It's the top seller.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, is it is Cabo chicken? The best one?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
It is?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Okay, now you go into the state. Okay, all right, okay,
we have a challenge. We have a challenge coming in.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
A spicy crab with extra peanut and.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Okay, wait a minute, let me find the spicy crab.
Where is that one? Is that like an off the
Oh there it is right there, spicy crab. This is
the one right there?
Speaker 5 (10:35):
All right?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, spicy crab? Uh guilt? Give me a how do
you how do you make that? Can I make this
at home?
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You can give me the recipe.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Spices that you desired, your heart desired.
Speaker 8 (10:49):
And mayonnaise and little cream cheese, and you got yourself
a spicy crab.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Oh okay, all right. So operations wise, when you guys
are moving in, how big is this unit? I saw
some of the what looked to be like an end
cap when I was looking up some of the stores.
What do you guys require to run? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (11:13):
Typically we're i'd say we're fifteen hundred to probably twenty
two hundred square feet, usually in line strip malls, those
kinds of things. You know, we tried a variety of
different places, but that that space with a nice little
parking lot with neighbors we get along with.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Usually is what works best for us.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I see, okay, are you no drive through though?
Speaker 9 (11:34):
Right?
Speaker 6 (11:34):
No?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
All right, any plans for a drive through? This looks
like it would be fast.
Speaker 7 (11:39):
Its challenging, it's it would it would take some re
engineering to get to that point. You know, Gilbert and
I and Jeremy as well, we've picked around these ideas
for a long time because I mean, it's it's enticing
drive thro you know, that's oh yeah, man, that's the thing.
But you know, if if you if you came doing
(12:00):
our kitchens and if you saw what Gilbert set up,
you'd see that it's it's not really it's not fast food.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
How big is the kitchen when you go back a house?
Is it a lot of presses, a lot of prep stations?
Kind of walk us through it.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
We actually cut down a lot of the nonsense because
I can come from a kitchen and it's very compact,
and the kitchen doesn't require a lot of a lot
of preparation, complicated preparation, basically just basic kitchen stuff, sauces.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know, cooking on the meat.
Speaker 8 (12:38):
But our challenge about drive through is we don't want
to sacrifice quality, you know, to make it fast. Yeah,
but people will still wait for that five minutes ten
minutes window to wait for their food.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Is so, so you're saying about a five to ten
minute turn. Do people order and then they come up
and pick it up? Do you guys deliver it out
to the table. What's the model?
Speaker 5 (13:03):
H They pick it up through the windows, just like Starbucks?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You know, okay, all right, we.
Speaker 8 (13:07):
Think they're ordered their name and their special orders whatever,
and we call their name.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Usually Shara when you're looking at the This is one
that I always struggle with is the number of business
models inside fast casual. You know, it's the Panera model.
You go to the counter, then the guest comes back up.
Then you have the other concepts out here who have
runners they bring it out to you. You know, there's
all these variations. Are you seeing Shara, any anyone that's
(13:36):
winning better than the other. Do you think it's brand dependent?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I think it's definitely brand dependent.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Like this brand, I think it works really well ordering
at the counter because you don't have to wait that long.
I when I go there, I order at the counter
and then usually take it to go. I don't usually
eat there, so it's pretty quick call. I know, a
lot of people call it in and you guys are
big on catering, so there's not a lot of downtime.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
What's the mix right now for your third party? Do
you guys have a big third party business?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Yeah, we do.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
So we're at this point where probably for all digital,
which is online in third party, we're between forty five
and fifty five percent, and so third party makes up
about twenty five percent of that. And you know, the
truth is like, I don't know, it's it's a love
hate relationship really, because yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
It's it's nice to have that revenue. It's nice to
have that.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
Capability to get our food out to people who can't
make it in the US and they've got, you.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Know, a great marketplace and everything else.
Speaker 7 (14:33):
But at the same time, it's you know, there's a
lot of back end expenses and operational difficulties and you
make it work. But it wouldn't be my first choice
to only run a restaurant on there.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
You guys just got rolled out an app, So is
that are you trying to have customers use that more
instead of the third party or how's that working.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
Yeah, for sure. I mean the app is really cool.
We've wanted one for a long time and so it
finally became possible. We're on Toast. Toast makes it all
pretty easy, and so Toast also has like a toast
delivery tie in and it ultimately the back end is
is Uber and grubhub and DoorDash anyway, but but the
front end is a little friendlier and yeah, so I
(15:17):
would definitely encourage people.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
To order through the app.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
I mean, you know, saves payment information, it's on your phone,
it saves previous orders, it's and it's really super easy
to use.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
What is this, Shaka pop I keep I see it
on your website, you got it on your Instagram? What
am I looking at here? Guys? What is this?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (15:35):
That's that's a brand new thing, Paul. So here's kind
of where that came from. Is you know, I'm a
big kombucha drinker. I make my own kombucha. I'm a fan.
I picked picked up that habit in Covid where I
just kind of needed something healthier to drink, and so
with that, we discovered that there's a lot of flavors
(15:55):
inside of kombucha that lend itself really well to our food,
so turmeric and pineapple and ginger and so we developed
a kombucha with Lucky Lixur and uh and it's done
well and we've we've converted some people who would not
be kombucha drinkers to kombucha. So as a result of that,
we looked at it and said, Okay, we did this
cool healthy drink.
Speaker 6 (16:15):
Is there another one we can do?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (16:17):
And so like, I mean, I love pop, I love pepsi,
but the reality is nowadays, I mean, I know, the
ingredients aren't so great, the sugar content is terrible. And
so we developed this pop that has organic ingredient ingredients.
It's got you know, limon extract, it's got no la,
it's got pomegranate juiceibiscus tea. I mean, it's it's this
(16:38):
really great bubbly drink that only has eighteen grams of sugar.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So if mixed sure with vodka, I think it and
make it unhealthy, I'm in Yeah, that's your choice.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
When you created this product. Is this a CpG product
or only for distribution through your stores?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
It's only through longboards. And so we partner with Lucky
a lickxir. They're in town.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
They do a great job with kombucha and with other
healthy drinks, tea, water, sparkling water, things like that, and
so they're a great partner. And so the process is,
you know, we've we've got these flavors internally, and we
sit down and get together and we start piecing them
together and then we taste tests through our sores and
they're just really good with crafting and so they've delivered
(17:26):
exactly what we wanted and it's really tasty.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
We I talked to the founders of a company called Alipop.
I don't know if you guys have ever seen it.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So they they just I think they were just founded
like in twenty seventeen or eighteen. Yeah, and it was
Ben and David. These guys are very similar in terms
of what they were trying to do, just create a
better tasting. You know, soda that had theirs was more probiotic,
you know, kind of constant. One was a microbiologist or something.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Yeah, we have prebiotics and ours with chicory root.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Okay. So yeah, so that is is a new phase
now and it has very low sugar and it's what
my kids drink.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Now, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So very interesting. Do you think that could be a
big part of your business down the road if you
wanted to go CpG and we have many companies that
are doing that now.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
I think so because I think I think I look
at the food that we make and it falls into
this category. You know, it's it's healthier than a burger
for sure, healthier than what people are traditionally accustomed to.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
And I think in the same way, we're looking at
it and go.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
Well, we've got this cool, unique food. Why can't we
have cool unique drinks? And so that that is going
to be a thing for us in the future. We've
got we've got more on the way.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
You guys also have the other products, Like I know
you sell the peanut sauce by the bottle because that's
my favorite thing that you know, So it's not like
too far off of what you're already been doing.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
What's the peanuts sauce going on? Is it for the
sandwiches or or something else?
Speaker 8 (19:01):
Yeah, I can't apply to anything basically, but they're popular
with wraps and bowls.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, what so guilt when when you're when you're developing
a menu item, like what what do you do to
bring on a new rap?
Speaker 8 (19:14):
Basically sometimes you know, it's just brainstorming a lot of things.
But what difficult is coming up? You know, like being
relevant like YouTube, it's just that you got to capture
the the mask flavor. It's not like to fancy and
too unapproachable. But basically we're trying to bring people in
(19:37):
a gourmet realm with a wrap, you know, vehb.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Jeremy when you get when you get a new order
from from mguil like that, Hey, go go make this,
build this, put it in the operations. Uh, what are
some of the big problems that that you're seeing right now?
Speaker 8 (19:54):
Implementation talent is sometimes you know, we get like maybe
to three managers that are doing it right, and one
is just the consistency. But our managers are so awesome
that they execute. You know, we only execute now that
it's in our catalog because we catalog all our specials
(20:17):
through the years, so we just go cycle through them
so they're familiar with it.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
There's okay, you guys.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
When you're doing those ltos, are you guys trying to
use the same ingredients that you already have or Jeremy,
are you trying to source something brand new.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Sometimes when you're when you're doing those, the.
Speaker 9 (20:33):
Idea is you really want to be in house, and
ten percent of it to be something we might not
have normally. It's just kind of a balance to keep
custs in line. And yeah, the execution of like actually
knowing what to do and how to prepare it. It's
kind of it's kind of our good balance for that
so well.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Cross utilization is kind of a magical superpower of some
brands if they can do it right, you know, that's
a huge advantage and it helps you guys create density,
I think in terms of profits because you don't have
you know, you don't have all these freaking ingredients out
here that are going bad.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Looks like beef prices up right now. I'm assuming you
guys are trying to push some other meat products.
Speaker 8 (21:16):
Yeah, seafood, chicken, a lot like pork, you know, but
the beef prices sometimes, you know, the beef beater don't
care about it, but the casuals are usually stay away
from it. Yeah, but we you know, we try to
introduce things that are not you know, too fancy or
(21:39):
too unfamiliar with people. And that's the beauty of it,
because our menu is designed to have all those but
using the same ingredients, like a Chinese restaurant with two
hundred men used, but they use the say.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
They use nine ingredients. I have a dim sub place
I go to and he's a friend of mine, and
he tells me that same thing. He's like, hey, you
can do all of this, and he's got like ninety
items on the menu, but he's got all these variations
of it. I'm like, man, why do restaurants do not
do this more often?
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Yep? I learned my mentor. I work in a Chinese restaurants.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
There you go, I like it. Well, okay, so I'm
looking at your TikTok page. I got to bring this
up on screen for everybody. And to me, there are
brands that bring a certain style to social media. Okay,
and you guys have this style that I have not
(22:37):
seen before. It's like a slapstick humor crosses to brow
crosses to culinary. How did first of all, how did
you come up with this concept?
Speaker 5 (22:49):
It's not a concept.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
It's not a concept.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's hilarious.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
It's alone.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
Yeah, this is you're just looking at so the guy
you see most of the time as our marketing manager.
His name is Jamie is one that designed the website
and does a lot of the ads.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Let me bring it in.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I'm here. We got a secret for you. Did you
know that you could put pineapples on the hot turkey?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
It's really good. I like it. I like it. So
with that being the case, and uh, just kind of
this very natural narrative that you seem to be painting,
how do customers respond to this? What do you feel
is the connection?
Speaker 8 (23:29):
We feel like they respond well because it's organic. It's
not for warst it's not AI. You know, it's not
it's not well produced by a big market.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Even better, Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:44):
You know, yes, I think people will go back to
organic and natural when all this.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
AI and uh, you.
Speaker 8 (23:54):
Know, it's just that US is we were positioning ourselves,
not chasing that, but we're just being ourselves.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Yeah, and naturally, you.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
Know, there's a it's authentic, it's organic, it's what, it's
whatever you want to call it, but the reality is
it's it's us three. And then we got a whole
bunch of people that you don't see on the screen
that I think collectively, when we get together, you know,
we we all all want to enjoy. All one hundred
and thirty of us want to enjoy our lives and
want to want to have fun.
Speaker 6 (24:22):
With what we're doing.
Speaker 7 (24:23):
And you know, I don't know that we're ever really
like trying to make statements or anything like that.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
I think we just want to get along and have fun.
Speaker 7 (24:31):
And you know, even if people like you know, they
may not like get the vibe or they may not
necessarily get what the concept is, but they come in
and they see smiles on our faces, and we treat
them right.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
And they treat us right back, and that's good enough.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's hospitality, man. Yeah, that's hospitality, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
And I think that you guys do it. I mean,
I think you live that too.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I Mean, that's what I love about the restaurant industry
is like someone can start out as a cook and
like Jeremy started out as a cook, dishwasher you said,
and now your operations guy. So I'm assuming that you
guys kind of follow that path. I'm bringing other people up.
How important is that you know, to hire within.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Huge It's it's the number one goal.
Speaker 9 (25:15):
I think we've really yet to put anyone in a
critical role from outside of the company in twenty one years,
I think everyone's been born and raised inside, so internally
that's awesome.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
I loved it.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, And I like these, you know, these grassroots brands
we run across, you guys, kinds of brands every once
in a while, but these are the ones that usually
end up doing really, really well. And one that I
would say is I want to say similar, but had
a similar story, and that was Tender Green's Eric Obolhartz,
who started that brand in California. He was kind of
(25:51):
that guy, you know, but eventually gil he fell on
the dark side and he sold to the VC money.
So my question is, what's the future for you guys?
Are you are you guys going to cross over and
be the Red Sith or what part?
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
You know, we just opened up our eighth store here
in Casey. It's in Lawrence, and Lawrence is where you know,
Kansas University is, and the energy out there is amazing,
and you know, we uh, they they kind of match
our weird a little bit, you know a lot of ways.
And I mean that in a good way. But you know,
so so that's keeping us busy for now. You know
(26:35):
what the future holds, We've got the Shaka Pop other
of the you know, these kind of healthy drinks, and
then Gilbert keeps developing new specials all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
So you know about franchising. Still it works.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
We're talking about it, We're trying.
Speaker 7 (26:51):
I think the big question for us is, you know,
to your point, Paul is like, how do you how
do you maintain your soul? How do you keep who
you are? And so, yes, we're talking about it. Yes,
we want to know if this can be done. You know,
I don't know regionally or something like that. Lawrence is
a little step out of town, but it's still mostly
in town. But yeah, I know it's a big question
(27:11):
for us, and it's something we're working towards. But it's
definitely we want to do it right. We want to
keep who we are.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
What about the growth of the brand, because you're obviously
talking about a college community, but in Kansas City, you're
also in Kansas City proper, which is not necessarily the
same kind of demographic as what you might find over
like at KU or even if you look at you know,
other colleges that would be nearby. I would think Carbondale
(27:39):
would be good, you know, somewhere like if you have
those kinds of Norman, Oklahoma, I mean some of these
communities that are very unique college towns where brands can
either do really really well or they just never get
locked in, you know, to that particular community. How are
you guys selecting locations right now?
Speaker 8 (28:00):
Since we are a social media presence, we ask people
where they want us to be. Most of them we
have a curiosity about the place we post, like, hey,
how about loanboards here? You know, but we admit that
we are suburban kind of stores. Like you know, we
(28:20):
try to avoid a lot of the cosmopolitan big city,
you know, like the downtown.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Costs down my secondary locations.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
Basically, it's just the logistic and sometimes we run in
with like you know, the employees have to pay more
parking downtown and stuff like that. So we tried to
stay away, you know, from those kinds of locations. But
the growth is we're just trying to do it slowly,
(28:52):
but surely we're not trying to put a rocket ship
and then after we get to the top, we don't
know what to do. Yeah, we just want to learn
a lot more. There's a lot of a lot of
room for improvement. And we're still not done yet. We're
still cleaning up. And yeah, I think the long run,
(29:13):
when the the franchise model comes in, it would be
more kind of streamline.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
And yeah, yeah, to Gilbert's point about you know the
downtown's is downtown's tend to be fast paced, tend to
be in and out. People are kind of in rush,
and you know, I think just kind of our laid
back mentality works a little bit better when people maybe
can can relax a little bit. And I haven't really
I think gotten into like, you know, why why do
(29:41):
we work so well where we are versus like in
these you know, high speed, high traffic type of places.
And then the other thing too, you know, the when
so Gilbert opened the first one on his own, and
then each of them since then I've been a part
of and Jeremy's been a part of and so you know,
there was a belief early on that we can only
work you know, on North Oak Traffic Way in you know,
(30:03):
Ken City, North Missouri. And then we did we did
Liberty and we go these people like us too, and
then we went south of the River and went to Mission, Kansas,
which is completely different. Yeah, we go, Hey, these people
like us too. So we found that that we have
a pretty broad audience. And you know, it's like who
doesn't like good food and smiling faces and you know
(30:25):
it's it's maybe it's not universal, but it's pretty widespread.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Yeah. Well, and I think that's the thing is you
you bring a narrative that's really fun and also I
think approachable you know, to you know, customers. Obviously, the
Panini kind of concept is a perfect for fast casual
because it's good grab and go, it's good catering. You know,
so you pick the right delivery vehicle and you didn't
(30:50):
fall into the pure sandwich category, you know, which is
is the problem?
Speaker 8 (30:56):
Right, I was gonna do you know, like the not
typical I was trying to do the subway concept but
Asian player, Spanish player, you know, and then then pressing
up an eaty and then quiznos came out.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
I'm like, dang.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Out of the balls and salads and things too.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:21):
We the concept was actually invented when Atkins diet was popular.
And are you know the Santa tortilla just blew up?
You find tortillas that you know at the Starbucks, you know,
like right, So anyway, the Atkins died, died down. But
(31:43):
I guess the concept of raps kind of state, you know,
McDonald's doing it now when these they're coming out with
all kinds of raps.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Now the protein crazes back again, just in a different way.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
So you guys are, Yeah, how do you guys feel
like you can stave off the issue that some fast
casual brands face that when you look at niches like
what you're in, where they fall into these cycles of
(32:19):
some of them, you know, go and become a Kava uh,
some of them go and become a Wahoo's, you know,
which was a great concept Wahoo's Mingo Lee.
Speaker 8 (32:29):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
He was in the documentary Amazing Guy and brought just
amazing food. But the brand kind of went south. So
what do you think can hold you guys from falling
into that, you know that issue?
Speaker 5 (32:46):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Well, you know, like a lot of the concept comes in.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
There's a lot of you know like that right now
as you.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
Can seeps hot chicken chicken fingers are hot right now.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
But usually the.
Speaker 8 (33:01):
One that kind of whether the trend then state remain
the same, keep inventing themselves as the one that stays. Yeah,
not the one that just rode the wave and the
bad and all of a sudden, you know, they just
like stayed stale.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Yeah, and then you're not even who you were when
you started, you know, which is is a yeah, I
get what.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
You mean there, I think right, I agree. I think
you got to stay relevant.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
And you know, over the years, whether that's gluten free
tortillas or you know, we have spring rolls in house,
so people have changed and their appetites have changed, and
for sure, we're in a pretty good position to continue
to evolve. I mean, Gilbert came from a scratch kitchen,
so it's it's not that difficult for him to go, Okay,
we're gonna we're gonna turn just a little bit.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
I mean we never do it.
Speaker 7 (33:53):
We don't do a one eighty or anything like that,
but we're able to do these little course corrections and
a lot of times customers.
Speaker 6 (33:57):
Don't even perceive it. Yeah, we've kind of stayed relevant.
Speaker 7 (34:00):
And then the other thing too, the other really big
thing is just the care and being diligent and paying
a lot of attention to the details and what we
do every single day in quality control.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Well, I think you guys have something here. Gilbert the
longboard name. You know, I'm a surfer, so I know
the difference between the board styles and long boards are
a different kind of ride. Then you know, when you
go out and you start carving waves, what was Are
you a surfer?
Speaker 5 (34:34):
No, sir, Actually I tried to serve sort of guy
when I was.
Speaker 8 (34:39):
Living in San Diego area.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Oh my god, that's the best surfer in California.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
Have car Loan Man those spots.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Laguna Beach right up up the coast there in Dana Point.
That's got one of the best breaks that I've seen
yet in California.
Speaker 8 (34:56):
I watched them all the time on the pier. You know,
there's and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Well why longboards, you know, and not you know, like
a slasher or something.
Speaker 8 (35:08):
But uh, you know, Mike, we were thinking about names.
So the sign my brother came in was like those
sandwiches look like bone boards.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Oh okay.
Speaker 8 (35:19):
I was like, well, the San Diego lifestyle, yeah, very cool,
beach lifestyle and the West Coast cuisine, and uh, it's
kind of perfect for that name. So I was like,
all right, but we will do that. And actually I
give the credit to my brother.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Very cool. Hey, those are the best names when you
have those nuances that are you know, kind of create
the concept and then from that the lore begins, which
is is cool, very good having you guys on today.
Thank you so much for coming in. We'll be cognizant
of your time, but we're definitely gonna get you guys back. Well,
we see you at the Fast Cat Summit. Will you
(36:00):
guys be there.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
I'll be in Austin, Okay.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Awesome, John, You'll get a chance to shake hands and
take a look at where you guys are going from
from there. So thanks for coming in on show today.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
We appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (36:13):
Start. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
All right, take care guys, Thank you all right. Fantastic
We've got what a what a great team building a
brand like that and right here in your backyard, Sharah,
what is the deal you got like all kinds of
these concepts like growing in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
City, I know alongboards, Tiki Tako, I mean, it's where
it's at, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, what we need?
Speaker 1 (36:39):
I want to know if she's going to live in
Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I think they have a house here together side, but.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know, where's the swinky the swinkie parts of case.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Well, we have the Plaza and then we have out South,
which is on the Kansas side.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Those are probably the two most swinky.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Okay, all right, okay. The Plaza is a nine area,
but it's mostly in inner city, which is cool. Anyway, Guys,
if you're not by the way, if you're not coming
over and visiting the website and becoming an email member,
make sure and jump over to Fastcasual dot com. Of
course you can jump over there just by going to
(37:18):
fastcasual dot com. And also if you're watching these videos
over on the on YouTube, hit us up, give us
a like, give us a comment. Do you like that?
Do you prefer the audio version of the podcast? Let
us know. We always like to get your feedback right there.
And of course, over on fastcasual dot com you'll catch
(37:38):
the latest news and everything that's happening in the restaurant
industry when it pertains too Fast Casual. So again, thanks
for coming in today. Share was good seeing you. We'll
catch you guys next week right here on Fast Casual Nation.
Take care,
We are back here on Fast Casual Nation, the podcast
that started it all. Of course, joining me is the
lovely miss Shara Candler. How are you this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am wonderful. How are you, Paul?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm excited. I've decided to make yesterday a national holiday.
We're going to call it the what do we call it?
Swift Kelsey Union Holiday.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
My bus sy Ta Ta got engaged to the one
and only Travis Kelce, so the chatlines were flying yesterday.
My friends and I are planning our own engagement party
for next week, so.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I can't I can't imagine what's going to happen in
Shera's life. But hey, listen, that's okay because today we
have a special one for you guys. Today we are
going to attempt a three person guest rollout here on
the podcast. I don't think we've had three on every four,
so this will be new and of course it's going
(00:56):
to be with the Longboard team, which is fantastic. I
got a chance to review a little bit about their brand. Hey,
we've got a lot happening here on Fastcasual dot com.
We will be right back and share all that good
stuff with you guys. Stay tuned. This episode is brought
(01:25):
to you by Philadelphia Cream Cheese Chefs. Take the heat
all day, every day. Performing under pressure is what we do.
Just like Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Phillies creamy texture holds up
every time, less cracking, more binding. Ask your distributor for
the original Philadelphia Cream Cheese originals. Deserve the original. All right,
(01:49):
we're back here, Cheryl. Let's get into it real quickly.
One of the things I wanted to focus on, of course, obviously,
is what's happening over here with the Perfect Pitch A
big deal, and that is a of course. The twenty
twenty four winners are like signing deals babies.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
The winner of last year's Perfect Pitch to sign a
twenty four unit deal to expand, and they will be
back this year in October as advisors along with you
obviously to talk to the next eight.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure, So we're really excited.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
This Perfect Pitch has been something that we invented like
eleven years ago, and it's always fun to see somebody
who won really break out and produce them. So very
excited and we're looking forward to listening to the next
eight people who are going to come up and see
what they're going to do all right.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So this one, this is of course for those of
you who are listening in on the audio version of
the podcast. It's Saigon Hustle and they have a major expansion.
This is across the Southeast. Is going to be backed
by partnership with Savory Fund. Different than saveror Capital our team,
but the Savory Fund and also the Varentis partners Group.
So that's a big deal I think, you know, for
(03:00):
a brand new concept. Like they're talking about twenty four units.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Too, Laura, Yeah, they have two right now in Houston,
and they're going to hit Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, wow, that's great. That's great. Also in the news
was this right here, Chipotle launching their build your own
meal kit.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I think this is really interesting because to me, this
should have happened years ago, right, like they don't.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I'm ready, I mean, yeah, but I was looking into it.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
They've had catering forever, but they're really marketing this to
the four to six person. You know, a family catering
sounds too big and kind of crazy for just you know,
somebody looking for dinner on a Thursday night or whatever.
So this really is honing in on the four to
six people, like a ten dollars off promotion right now.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
We got it the other day at our house. It
was fun.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Everybody made their own, so it's plenty of leftovers too.
I think it's very smart of them to do that.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Fun. Fact, when I put the Chipotle effect out the
book in twenty ten, that's fifteen years ago.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
You're old.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I am old, very old. Do I look at I
do not at all. Everybody asked me if I'm a vampire.
That's right, man. Anyway, in that book, there's a chapter
in there that I predicted Uber Wow actually said eventually
we will see UH on demand delivery for food, and
(04:25):
it's probably I thought though it would be Amazon that
was going to do it, and of course I was
wrong on that prediction, but.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
We left a billion dollars on the table.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Paul, Well, I would have invested in the wrong company.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
If I invested in Travis's deal, I would have been fine.
You know, like Cal you might my buddy Jay Cow
who was in early like I think he was the
third guy in that thing, so it was crazy. He's
a billionaire now, of course, you know me, no, not
a billionaire could.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Have been talking to me on Wednesday mornings.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Fine, okay, that's all right. Well today we have have
a good one for you guys today and that of
course we're going to bring in the team from Longboards.
You guys probably know this brand coming out of Kansas City, Longboards,
raps and bowls. Bringing them to the stage right now
from Resita here they are.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Good morning, how are you guys?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Now, we've got John Bailey, mister g money, I don't
want even try that last name. And then of course
Jeremy also on the team. John, give me an update.
First of all, what do you do in the organization?
Speaker 6 (05:35):
Yeah, I thank you for asking.
Speaker 7 (05:37):
Also, I am I would say that the easiest way
to explain what I do. I mean, first of all,
everybody in our company does a little bit of everything.
But the easiest way to explain what I do is
I'm the business side of the business.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
There you go. So yeah, so you.
Speaker 7 (05:52):
Know that encompasses a lot of different things, whether it's operations, marketing, accounting, finance,
whatever it is, the business side.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I love this website. You guys have a beautiful site
here in terms.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Of design designed internally, it's.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Very fun, very fun, and I think probably customers really
kind of tie into that as well. When you look
at operations. We'll get everybody introduced here, We'll go over
to mister is it Macapagal.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
Yes, sir, all right, how do you what is.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
What is your role there at Longboards?
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Well, my first role was just do sling sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
But Gil is the founder of the concept.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yes, I was waiting for him to actually drop it.
You know, as a good guilt, you're supposed to lead
in when we give you the hook, go ahead, lead in.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
Well, you know, my role is just the creative part
of Longboards.
Speaker 8 (06:52):
I did a chef for a long time and I
was introduced to a lot of concept which is beyond
Asian style and kind of like what longboards represent now. Yeah, yeah,
Filipinos are the best cook because they can cook anything.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, yeah, Filipino food is amazing and it's pretty interesting
because there's always an interesting flare of spices and just
a different way. If you've never had Filipino food, you
got to do it.
Speaker 8 (07:28):
Influenced from Spanish to Asian, Chinese to some American because
if you heard about the Filipino sweet spaghetti and.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Jolity Yep, that's a good that's a good example right there.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well, how do you get to Kansas City from the Philippines,
gil Man?
Speaker 8 (07:48):
I immigrated me and my brother is sixteen years old
and eight. We were granted American citizenship because my grandfather
was an army veteran. And you know, it's just that
I kept a little of my culture and then came
here and I just.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
Basically I found my niche in the world.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Now you're living the dream in in Kansas City. I
love it well.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
I'm trying, sir, and.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
You're kicking it.
Speaker 8 (08:18):
Man.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I like it well. And you're bringing a lot of
the I think the fun around what the restaurant sometimes
industry I think sometimes is missing. It's just let's have fun,
have a good time. This is you know, a lot.
All the other stuff that's happening out in the world
kind of leave you and you know, jump into what
you guys are doing A long part.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Jared, he gets to handle all the non fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, Jeremy, Jeremy, Uh, what prison are you calling in? From?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Six four six eight?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
There you go. I knew it was somewhere because you're
in You're in an interesting I haven't seen this background.
Give him the Background of the Year award.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I mean, I'm proud because I live in Liberty, Missouri,
and he's five minutes from my house right now.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
So I love it.
Speaker 9 (09:10):
Well, Paul Sadley, This view is more aesthetic than what's
in front of me.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So okay, okay, man, what are you? What is your
role there at Longboards?
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (09:24):
So I'm the director of operations officially recently.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
I've been many things at Longboards.
Speaker 9 (09:28):
I've been a dishwasher, I've been a rapper, I've been
a cook, I've been a GM I've been a director
or district and I've landed on director.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Of ops here very recently.
Speaker 9 (09:39):
And yeah, man, we have eight brick and mortars and
I think one hundred and thirty employees now, and it's
pretty surreal. We went from I think eight or nine
of us in twenty ten when I started with them,
and now we've got one hundred and thirty. And I
oversee all all those employees and all those brick and mortars.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I just want to I want to fly into the
menu real quick because I'm curious as to which menu
item is the winner here. So that's Cabo Chicken.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It's the top seller.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, is it is Cabo chicken? The best one?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
It is?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Okay, now you go into the state. Okay, all right, okay,
we have a challenge. We have a challenge coming in.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
A spicy crab with extra peanut and.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Okay, wait a minute, let me find the spicy crab.
Where is that one? Is that like an off the
Oh there it is right there, spicy crab. This is
the one right there?
Speaker 5 (10:35):
All right?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, spicy crab? Uh guilt? Give me a how do
you how do you make that? Can I make this
at home?
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You can give me the recipe.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Spices that you desired, your heart desired.
Speaker 8 (10:49):
And mayonnaise and little cream cheese, and you got yourself
a spicy crab.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Oh okay, all right. So operations wise, when you guys
are moving in, how big is this unit? I saw
some of the what looked to be like an end
cap when I was looking up some of the stores.
What do you guys require to run? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (11:13):
Typically we're i'd say we're fifteen hundred to probably twenty
two hundred square feet, usually in line strip malls, those
kinds of things. You know, we tried a variety of
different places, but that that space with a nice little
parking lot with neighbors we get along with.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Usually is what works best for us.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I see, okay, are you no drive through though?
Speaker 9 (11:34):
Right?
Speaker 6 (11:34):
No?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
All right, any plans for a drive through? This looks
like it would be fast.
Speaker 7 (11:39):
Its challenging, it's it would it would take some re
engineering to get to that point. You know, Gilbert and
I and Jeremy as well, we've picked around these ideas
for a long time because I mean, it's it's enticing
drive thro you know, that's oh yeah, man, that's the thing.
But you know, if if you if you came doing
(12:00):
our kitchens and if you saw what Gilbert set up,
you'd see that it's it's not really it's not fast food.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
How big is the kitchen when you go back a house?
Is it a lot of presses, a lot of prep stations?
Kind of walk us through it.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
We actually cut down a lot of the nonsense because
I can come from a kitchen and it's very compact,
and the kitchen doesn't require a lot of a lot
of preparation, complicated preparation, basically just basic kitchen stuff, sauces.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know, cooking on the meat.
Speaker 8 (12:38):
But our challenge about drive through is we don't want
to sacrifice quality, you know, to make it fast. Yeah,
but people will still wait for that five minutes ten
minutes window to wait for their food.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Is so, so you're saying about a five to ten
minute turn. Do people order and then they come up
and pick it up? Do you guys deliver it out
to the table. What's the model?
Speaker 5 (13:03):
H They pick it up through the windows, just like Starbucks?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You know, okay, all right, we.
Speaker 8 (13:07):
Think they're ordered their name and their special orders whatever,
and we call their name.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Usually Shara when you're looking at the This is one
that I always struggle with is the number of business
models inside fast casual. You know, it's the Panera model.
You go to the counter, then the guest comes back up.
Then you have the other concepts out here who have
runners they bring it out to you. You know, there's
all these variations. Are you seeing Shara, any anyone that's
(13:36):
winning better than the other. Do you think it's brand dependent?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I think it's definitely brand dependent.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Like this brand, I think it works really well ordering
at the counter because you don't have to wait that long.
I when I go there, I order at the counter
and then usually take it to go. I don't usually
eat there, so it's pretty quick call. I know, a
lot of people call it in and you guys are
big on catering, so there's not a lot of downtime.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
What's the mix right now for your third party? Do
you guys have a big third party business?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Yeah, we do.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
So we're at this point where probably for all digital,
which is online in third party, we're between forty five
and fifty five percent, and so third party makes up
about twenty five percent of that. And you know, the
truth is like, I don't know, it's it's a love
hate relationship really, because yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
It's it's nice to have that revenue. It's nice to
have that.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
Capability to get our food out to people who can't
make it in the US and they've got, you.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Know, a great marketplace and everything else.
Speaker 7 (14:33):
But at the same time, it's you know, there's a
lot of back end expenses and operational difficulties and you
make it work. But it wouldn't be my first choice
to only run a restaurant on there.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Right.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
You guys just got rolled out an app, So is
that are you trying to have customers use that more
instead of the third party or how's that working.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
Yeah, for sure. I mean the app is really cool.
We've wanted one for a long time and so it
finally became possible. We're on Toast. Toast makes it all
pretty easy, and so Toast also has like a toast
delivery tie in and it ultimately the back end is
is Uber and grubhub and DoorDash anyway, but but the
front end is a little friendlier and yeah, so I
(15:17):
would definitely encourage people.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
To order through the app.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
I mean, you know, saves payment information, it's on your phone,
it saves previous orders, it's and it's really super easy
to use.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
What is this, Shaka pop I keep I see it
on your website, you got it on your Instagram? What
am I looking at here? Guys? What is this?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (15:35):
That's that's a brand new thing, Paul. So here's kind
of where that came from. Is you know, I'm a
big kombucha drinker. I make my own kombucha. I'm a fan.
I picked picked up that habit in Covid where I
just kind of needed something healthier to drink, and so
with that, we discovered that there's a lot of flavors
(15:55):
inside of kombucha that lend itself really well to our food,
so turmeric and pineapple and ginger and so we developed
a kombucha with Lucky Lixur and uh and it's done
well and we've we've converted some people who would not
be kombucha drinkers to kombucha. So as a result of that,
we looked at it and said, Okay, we did this
cool healthy drink.
Speaker 6 (16:15):
Is there another one we can do?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (16:17):
And so like, I mean, I love pop, I love pepsi,
but the reality is nowadays, I mean, I know, the
ingredients aren't so great, the sugar content is terrible. And
so we developed this pop that has organic ingredient ingredients.
It's got you know, limon extract, it's got no la,
it's got pomegranate juiceibiscus tea. I mean, it's it's this
(16:38):
really great bubbly drink that only has eighteen grams of sugar.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So if mixed sure with vodka, I think it and
make it unhealthy, I'm in Yeah, that's your choice.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
When you created this product. Is this a CpG product
or only for distribution through your stores?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
It's only through longboards. And so we partner with Lucky
a lickxir. They're in town.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
They do a great job with kombucha and with other
healthy drinks, tea, water, sparkling water, things like that, and
so they're a great partner. And so the process is,
you know, we've we've got these flavors internally, and we
sit down and get together and we start piecing them
together and then we taste tests through our sores and
they're just really good with crafting and so they've delivered
(17:26):
exactly what we wanted and it's really tasty.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
We I talked to the founders of a company called Alipop.
I don't know if you guys have ever seen it.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So they they just I think they were just founded
like in twenty seventeen or eighteen. Yeah, and it was
Ben and David. These guys are very similar in terms
of what they were trying to do, just create a
better tasting. You know, soda that had theirs was more probiotic,
you know, kind of constant. One was a microbiologist or something.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Yeah, we have prebiotics and ours with chicory root.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Okay. So yeah, so that is is a new phase
now and it has very low sugar and it's what
my kids drink.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Now, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So very interesting. Do you think that could be a
big part of your business down the road if you
wanted to go CpG and we have many companies that
are doing that now.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
I think so because I think I think I look
at the food that we make and it falls into
this category. You know, it's it's healthier than a burger
for sure, healthier than what people are traditionally accustomed to.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
And I think in the same way, we're looking at
it and go.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
Well, we've got this cool, unique food. Why can't we
have cool unique drinks? And so that that is going
to be a thing for us in the future. We've
got we've got more on the way.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
You guys also have the other products, Like I know
you sell the peanut sauce by the bottle because that's
my favorite thing that you know, So it's not like
too far off of what you're already been doing.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
What's the peanuts sauce going on? Is it for the
sandwiches or or something else?
Speaker 8 (19:01):
Yeah, I can't apply to anything basically, but they're popular
with wraps and bowls.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, what so guilt when when you're when you're developing
a menu item, like what what do you do to
bring on a new rap?
Speaker 8 (19:14):
Basically sometimes you know, it's just brainstorming a lot of things.
But what difficult is coming up? You know, like being
relevant like YouTube, it's just that you got to capture
the the mask flavor. It's not like to fancy and
too unapproachable. But basically we're trying to bring people in
(19:37):
a gourmet realm with a wrap, you know, vehb.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Jeremy when you get when you get a new order
from from mguil like that, Hey, go go make this,
build this, put it in the operations. Uh, what are
some of the big problems that that you're seeing right now?
Speaker 8 (19:54):
Implementation talent is sometimes you know, we get like maybe
to three managers that are doing it right, and one
is just the consistency. But our managers are so awesome
that they execute. You know, we only execute now that
it's in our catalog because we catalog all our specials
(20:17):
through the years, so we just go cycle through them
so they're familiar with it.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
There's okay, you guys.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
When you're doing those ltos, are you guys trying to
use the same ingredients that you already have or Jeremy,
are you trying to source something brand new.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Sometimes when you're when you're doing those, the.
Speaker 9 (20:33):
Idea is you really want to be in house, and
ten percent of it to be something we might not
have normally. It's just kind of a balance to keep
custs in line. And yeah, the execution of like actually
knowing what to do and how to prepare it. It's
kind of it's kind of our good balance for that
so well.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Cross utilization is kind of a magical superpower of some
brands if they can do it right, you know, that's
a huge advantage and it helps you guys create density,
I think in terms of profits because you don't have
you know, you don't have all these freaking ingredients out
here that are going bad.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Looks like beef prices up right now. I'm assuming you
guys are trying to push some other meat products.
Speaker 8 (21:16):
Yeah, seafood, chicken, a lot like pork, you know, but
the beef prices sometimes, you know, the beef beater don't
care about it, but the casuals are usually stay away
from it. Yeah, but we you know, we try to
introduce things that are not you know, too fancy or
(21:39):
too unfamiliar with people. And that's the beauty of it,
because our menu is designed to have all those but
using the same ingredients, like a Chinese restaurant with two
hundred men used, but they use the say.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
They use nine ingredients. I have a dim sub place
I go to and he's a friend of mine, and
he tells me that same thing. He's like, hey, you
can do all of this, and he's got like ninety
items on the menu, but he's got all these variations
of it. I'm like, man, why do restaurants do not
do this more often?
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Yep? I learned my mentor. I work in a Chinese restaurants.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
There you go, I like it. Well, okay, so I'm
looking at your TikTok page. I got to bring this
up on screen for everybody. And to me, there are
brands that bring a certain style to social media. Okay,
and you guys have this style that I have not
(22:37):
seen before. It's like a slapstick humor crosses to brow
crosses to culinary. How did first of all, how did
you come up with this concept?
Speaker 5 (22:49):
It's not a concept.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
It's not a concept.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's hilarious.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
It's alone.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
Yeah, this is you're just looking at so the guy
you see most of the time as our marketing manager.
His name is Jamie is one that designed the website
and does a lot of the ads.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Let me bring it in.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I'm here. We got a secret for you. Did you
know that you could put pineapples on the hot turkey?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
It's really good. I like it. I like it. So
with that being the case, and uh, just kind of
this very natural narrative that you seem to be painting,
how do customers respond to this? What do you feel
is the connection?
Speaker 8 (23:29):
We feel like they respond well because it's organic. It's
not for warst it's not AI. You know, it's not
it's not well produced by a big market.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Even better, Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:44):
You know, yes, I think people will go back to
organic and natural when all this.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
AI and uh, you.
Speaker 8 (23:54):
Know, it's just that US is we were positioning ourselves,
not chasing that, but we're just being ourselves.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Yeah, and naturally, you.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
Know, there's a it's authentic, it's organic, it's what, it's
whatever you want to call it, but the reality is
it's it's us three. And then we got a whole
bunch of people that you don't see on the screen
that I think collectively, when we get together, you know,
we we all all want to enjoy. All one hundred
and thirty of us want to enjoy our lives and
want to want to have fun.
Speaker 6 (24:22):
With what we're doing.
Speaker 7 (24:23):
And you know, I don't know that we're ever really
like trying to make statements or anything like that.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
I think we just want to get along and have fun.
Speaker 7 (24:31):
And you know, even if people like you know, they
may not like get the vibe or they may not
necessarily get what the concept is, but they come in
and they see smiles on our faces, and we treat
them right.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
And they treat us right back, and that's good enough.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's hospitality, man. Yeah, that's hospitality, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
And I think that you guys do it. I mean,
I think you live that too.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I Mean, that's what I love about the restaurant industry
is like someone can start out as a cook and
like Jeremy started out as a cook, dishwasher you said,
and now your operations guy. So I'm assuming that you
guys kind of follow that path. I'm bringing other people up.
How important is that you know, to hire within.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Huge It's it's the number one goal.
Speaker 9 (25:15):
I think we've really yet to put anyone in a
critical role from outside of the company in twenty one years,
I think everyone's been born and raised inside, so internally
that's awesome.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
I loved it.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, And I like these, you know, these grassroots brands
we run across, you guys, kinds of brands every once
in a while, but these are the ones that usually
end up doing really, really well. And one that I
would say is I want to say similar, but had
a similar story, and that was Tender Green's Eric Obolhartz,
who started that brand in California. He was kind of
(25:51):
that guy, you know, but eventually gil he fell on
the dark side and he sold to the VC money.
So my question is, what's the future for you guys?
Are you are you guys going to cross over and
be the Red Sith or what part?
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
You know, we just opened up our eighth store here
in Casey. It's in Lawrence, and Lawrence is where you know,
Kansas University is, and the energy out there is amazing,
and you know, we uh, they they kind of match
our weird a little bit, you know a lot of ways.
And I mean that in a good way. But you know,
so so that's keeping us busy for now. You know
(26:35):
what the future holds, We've got the Shaka Pop other
of the you know, these kind of healthy drinks, and
then Gilbert keeps developing new specials all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
So you know about franchising. Still it works.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
We're talking about it, We're trying.
Speaker 7 (26:51):
I think the big question for us is, you know,
to your point, Paul is like, how do you how
do you maintain your soul? How do you keep who
you are? And so, yes, we're talking about it. Yes,
we want to know if this can be done. You know,
I don't know regionally or something like that. Lawrence is
a little step out of town, but it's still mostly
in town. But yeah, I know it's a big question
(27:11):
for us, and it's something we're working towards. But it's
definitely we want to do it right. We want to
keep who we are.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
What about the growth of the brand, because you're obviously
talking about a college community, but in Kansas City, you're
also in Kansas City proper, which is not necessarily the
same kind of demographic as what you might find over
like at KU or even if you look at you know,
other colleges that would be nearby. I would think Carbondale
(27:39):
would be good, you know, somewhere like if you have
those kinds of Norman, Oklahoma, I mean some of these
communities that are very unique college towns where brands can
either do really really well or they just never get
locked in, you know, to that particular community. How are
you guys selecting locations right now?
Speaker 8 (28:00):
Since we are a social media presence, we ask people
where they want us to be. Most of them we
have a curiosity about the place we post, like, hey,
how about loanboards here? You know, but we admit that
we are suburban kind of stores. Like you know, we
(28:20):
try to avoid a lot of the cosmopolitan big city,
you know, like the downtown.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Costs down my secondary locations.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
Basically, it's just the logistic and sometimes we run in
with like you know, the employees have to pay more
parking downtown and stuff like that. So we tried to
stay away, you know, from those kinds of locations. But
the growth is we're just trying to do it slowly,
(28:52):
but surely we're not trying to put a rocket ship
and then after we get to the top, we don't
know what to do. Yeah, we just want to learn
a lot more. There's a lot of a lot of
room for improvement. And we're still not done yet. We're
still cleaning up. And yeah, I think the long run,
(29:13):
when the the franchise model comes in, it would be
more kind of streamline.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
And yeah, yeah, to Gilbert's point about you know the
downtown's is downtown's tend to be fast paced, tend to
be in and out. People are kind of in rush,
and you know, I think just kind of our laid
back mentality works a little bit better when people maybe
can can relax a little bit. And I haven't really
I think gotten into like, you know, why why do
(29:41):
we work so well where we are versus like in
these you know, high speed, high traffic type of places.
And then the other thing too, you know, the when
so Gilbert opened the first one on his own, and
then each of them since then I've been a part
of and Jeremy's been a part of and so you know,
there was a belief early on that we can only
work you know, on North Oak Traffic Way in you know,
(30:03):
Ken City, North Missouri. And then we did we did
Liberty and we go these people like us too, and
then we went south of the River and went to Mission, Kansas,
which is completely different. Yeah, we go, Hey, these people
like us too. So we found that that we have
a pretty broad audience. And you know, it's like who
doesn't like good food and smiling faces and you know
(30:25):
it's it's maybe it's not universal, but it's pretty widespread.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Yeah. Well, and I think that's the thing is you
you bring a narrative that's really fun and also I
think approachable you know, to you know, customers. Obviously, the
Panini kind of concept is a perfect for fast casual
because it's good grab and go, it's good catering. You know,
so you pick the right delivery vehicle and you didn't
(30:50):
fall into the pure sandwich category, you know, which is
is the problem?
Speaker 8 (30:56):
Right, I was gonna do you know, like the not
typical I was trying to do the subway concept but
Asian player, Spanish player, you know, and then then pressing
up an eaty and then quiznos came out.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
I'm like, dang.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Out of the balls and salads and things too.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:21):
We the concept was actually invented when Atkins diet was popular.
And are you know the Santa tortilla just blew up?
You find tortillas that you know at the Starbucks, you know,
like right, So anyway, the Atkins died, died down. But
(31:43):
I guess the concept of raps kind of state, you know,
McDonald's doing it now when these they're coming out with
all kinds of raps.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Now the protein crazes back again, just in a different way.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
So you guys are, Yeah, how do you guys feel
like you can stave off the issue that some fast
casual brands face that when you look at niches like
what you're in, where they fall into these cycles of
(32:19):
some of them, you know, go and become a Kava uh,
some of them go and become a Wahoo's, you know,
which was a great concept Wahoo's Mingo Lee.
Speaker 8 (32:29):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
He was in the documentary Amazing Guy and brought just
amazing food. But the brand kind of went south. So
what do you think can hold you guys from falling
into that, you know that issue?
Speaker 5 (32:46):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Well, you know, like a lot of the concept comes in.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
There's a lot of you know like that right now
as you.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
Can seeps hot chicken chicken fingers are hot right now.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
But usually the.
Speaker 8 (33:01):
One that kind of whether the trend then state remain
the same, keep inventing themselves as the one that stays. Yeah,
not the one that just rode the wave and the
bad and all of a sudden, you know, they just
like stayed stale.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Yeah, and then you're not even who you were when
you started, you know, which is is a yeah, I
get what.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
You mean there, I think right, I agree. I think
you got to stay relevant.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
And you know, over the years, whether that's gluten free
tortillas or you know, we have spring rolls in house,
so people have changed and their appetites have changed, and
for sure, we're in a pretty good position to continue
to evolve. I mean, Gilbert came from a scratch kitchen,
so it's it's not that difficult for him to go, Okay,
we're gonna we're gonna turn just a little bit.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
I mean we never do it.
Speaker 7 (33:53):
We don't do a one eighty or anything like that,
but we're able to do these little course corrections and
a lot of times customers.
Speaker 6 (33:57):
Don't even perceive it. Yeah, we've kind of stayed relevant.
Speaker 7 (34:00):
And then the other thing too, the other really big
thing is just the care and being diligent and paying
a lot of attention to the details and what we
do every single day in quality control.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Well, I think you guys have something here. Gilbert the
longboard name. You know, I'm a surfer, so I know
the difference between the board styles and long boards are
a different kind of ride. Then you know, when you
go out and you start carving waves, what was Are
you a surfer?
Speaker 5 (34:34):
No, sir, Actually I tried to serve sort of guy
when I was.
Speaker 8 (34:39):
Living in San Diego area.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Oh my god, that's the best surfer in California.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
Have car Loan Man those spots.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Laguna Beach right up up the coast there in Dana Point.
That's got one of the best breaks that I've seen
yet in California.
Speaker 8 (34:56):
I watched them all the time on the pier. You know,
there's and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Well why longboards, you know, and not you know, like
a slasher or something.
Speaker 8 (35:08):
But uh, you know, Mike, we were thinking about names.
So the sign my brother came in was like those
sandwiches look like bone boards.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Oh okay.
Speaker 8 (35:19):
I was like, well, the San Diego lifestyle, yeah, very cool,
beach lifestyle and the West Coast cuisine, and uh, it's
kind of perfect for that name. So I was like,
all right, but we will do that. And actually I
give the credit to my brother.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Very cool. Hey, those are the best names when you
have those nuances that are you know, kind of create
the concept and then from that the lore begins, which
is is cool, very good having you guys on today.
Thank you so much for coming in. We'll be cognizant
of your time, but we're definitely gonna get you guys back. Well,
we see you at the Fast Cat Summit. Will you
(36:00):
guys be there.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
I'll be in Austin, Okay.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Awesome, John, You'll get a chance to shake hands and
take a look at where you guys are going from
from there. So thanks for coming in on show today.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
We appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (36:13):
Start. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
All right, take care guys, Thank you all right. Fantastic
We've got what a what a great team building a
brand like that and right here in your backyard, Sharah,
what is the deal you got like all kinds of
these concepts like growing in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
City, I know alongboards, Tiki Tako, I mean, it's where
it's at, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, what we need?
Speaker 1 (36:39):
I want to know if she's going to live in
Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I think they have a house here together side, but.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know, where's the swinky the swinkie parts of case.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Well, we have the Plaza and then we have out South,
which is on the Kansas side.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Those are probably the two most swinky.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Okay, all right, okay. The Plaza is a nine area,
but it's mostly in inner city, which is cool. Anyway, Guys,
if you're not by the way, if you're not coming
over and visiting the website and becoming an email member,
make sure and jump over to Fastcasual dot com. Of
course you can jump over there just by going to
(37:18):
fastcasual dot com. And also if you're watching these videos
over on the on YouTube, hit us up, give us
a like, give us a comment. Do you like that?
Do you prefer the audio version of the podcast? Let
us know. We always like to get your feedback right there.
And of course, over on fastcasual dot com you'll catch
(37:38):
the latest news and everything that's happening in the restaurant
industry when it pertains too Fast Casual. So again, thanks
for coming in today. Share was good seeing you. We'll
catch you guys next week right here on Fast Casual Nation.
Take care,
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