Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of Fast Casual Nation, the
podcast that started at all. Of course, joining me today
is miss share Candler.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm great, How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's good, It's good.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're going to get a old friend on the show
today talking about the better Burger segment. It is going
to be amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
You guys don't want to miss it. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
My name is 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 in the space sabor capital. We'll be
(01:04):
fueling the next generation of fast casual innovation. All right,
we are back here. We're going to be talking better
Burgers today and it's going to be a good one.
Coming in from San Francisco. They're going to be in
you know, we got a brand out of San Francisco,
Josh Biegelman. We'll be joining us here a minute from
Rome Artisan or Rome Burgers, I think is what it
is called. Now we'll find out Schera, you've got some
(01:27):
news that we're going to share. I want to bring
this up because this is very cool.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I saw this.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Up on the website and then I started to dive
into it and I thought, man, this is amazing. That
gives us a little bit more insight. Explain to us
what the index is.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
So, this is a Fast Casual Index, and we've partnered.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
With loop are Ai to come up with this, so
they have been a really great partner with us. But basically,
you can click here, sign up and drop in all
your restaurants information, ask a whole bunch of quest about,
you know, sales and growth, and then they also combine
those data points with stuff that they already look at,
like you know, Yelp reviews, Google reviews, social media, Instagram followers,
(02:11):
and then we've created this index where it kind of
ranks all the brands, but they rank them in different ways,
so you know, one to one to five units has
their own category, five to twenty five up from that.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
And what we're really.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Excited about is that we use this data to help
us to determine the Fast Casual Top one hundred this year,
which is a first it's always been subjective voted by
the editorial board, and it's still a little bit subjective
because we couldn't just go by the numbers because as
you know, the Top one hundred is all about innovation
and ranking, and sometimes you know a brand needs to
be on.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The list that might have two brands. But this was
one a.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Way that we could really look at some data and
not just be subjective.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
So we have some data back it up, and.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Anybody that can go on here and enter their info
and you can once you sign in, you can compare
your brand to other brands and kind of just see
what everybody's doing. So it's it's really cool, it's free,
and it's just a good way to kind of dive
into the industry.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Well, I think the cool thing is is that you're
right with the Top one hundred that is adding that
data component. I think one it's going to take a
little pressure off you.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
It did.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It helped a lot, but it really made things a
lot different.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
We have a lot we're going to really feel it
this weekend coming up at the gala, and we have
some brands that have never made the list, and we
have some brands who didn't make the list this year
that normally have because we really focused on that data.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So but again it's not just about data.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
It's still a list of ranking when we look at
innovation and creativity. So it's like a perfect match of
numbers and you know, industry leadership.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, you guys of course know you know, this podcast
publishes on Fastcasual dot com. It's over on saber fm.
You can find it on the YouTube channel as well
as across the different podcasts distribution points out there. Of course,
today's topic is you know, a better burger space, and
we're going to bring in none other than Josh Spiegelman,
(04:15):
who is coming in from Rome. Is it no longer
Rome Artisan or is it Rome now?
Speaker 5 (04:21):
We actually have shifted because it was Rome Artists and
burgers from the very beginning. But since we do so
many other things than burgers, we wanted to kind of
let people know that Rome Burger. People are calling it
rom Artists in Rome whatever. But since we have salads
and seasonal veggies, chicken has become a much larger part
of our menu and lots of different things, we just
(04:46):
it's just Rome.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I'm looking at your website here, Josh Man this
is a huge I feel like this is a big
difference than when I was there, gosh, almost a decade ago.
The first time I discovered your con in San Francisco
and I got a chance to sit down with you,
Lan And first of all, in the last few years,
(05:07):
what has really changed for you guys? Give us kind
of a download on where Rome is today.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
I mean, so much has changed in the last few years,
I think for US and industry wide. I think I
mean with Covid it was it was a major kind
of turning point for a lot of restaurants, a big
inflection point of how our business model was and what
the future would be. There's definitely been a bigger shift
(05:36):
towards delivery and takeout. I think in the fast casual
sector in particular. I think people are going to find
dining a lot for an experience, and they're treating some
fast casual just for a lot for takeout and delivery.
So it's definitely become a larger part of our business
with the door Dash and Uber Eats, and we're on
(05:57):
a lot of the different platforms, so really making sure
that our model for delivery and takeout is really good
has become an even bigger focus for us. So I
would say that's one thing, and then also really making
sure we deliver on the in store experience because I
think when people do go out to eat, it is
(06:18):
more of a special occasion thing, because I think during
COVID people learned that I can get anything to my doorstep.
I don't, right, so if I'm going to go out,
I want it to be special. So we've definitely taken
that to heart working with our architects and designers. We
just did a refresh of our Union Street location. We
just opened a Marine County and that is a whole
(06:40):
new aesthetic writer area. Kind of feels like Italian kitchen,
a residential kitchen. I think people want that really kind
of like bright and refreshing experience. So I would say
that in the past few years, those are a couple
of trends. I know we're going to talk about a
lot of stuff, so I won't make two long winded
(07:01):
of an answer, but two others would probably be a
shift in the use of technology more and more for
our business, and then the other would be uh amp
amped up catering.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And yeah, we're going to hit on all those points.
What is the size of Rome. Now as far as
unit count how many where are you?
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Mostly we have we have six locations in the Bay Area,
two in San Francisco, one in San Mateo, and then
one in Lafayette and San Ramon. Those are suburbs in
the East Bay and then south of San Francisco. And
then in September we opened our first location in Marin
County in Corda Madera And that's kind of a new
flagship model for us, really stunning interior, large outdoor area
(07:44):
with a soft served window and then you know, soft
serve and that's also become a bigger part of our business.
So that's really okay, chocolate dipped in addition to the
the shakes that we already have, the cones and cups
and yeah, we're doing housemade popsicles.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Awesome cooking.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Yeah, the menu it looks amazing, like very upscale. It
does not look like your standard you know, even for
fast casual food. It's still I mean I think I
saw on your menu like curried carrots or something, and
I was like wow.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
So that's we're having a lot of fun with our
seasonal menus. Lynn and I and our chef Mauricio, We
kind of get together and do these brainstorming sessions and share.
The dish you mentioned for our spring seasonal veggie is
kind of like a odel Any inspired heirloom carrots with
Labna Krispy Caber's shamula and drizzled with honey. And it's
(08:40):
at a pretty reasonable price point too. And I think
this is a dish you know, you may pay eighteen
dollars or something from Mine dining restaurant, but you can
come to Rome and have that for a much lower
price point. And I think you know, we're we're kind
of growing with our customer base and everyone's getting more
sophisticated and loving to try these different flavors in just
(09:03):
a little bit kind of casual but refined setting.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Josh, it feels like you guys have almost bridged that gap,
and Sharon and I have. I think we've noticed this
a lot with some of the brands that we've been
watching and having here on the show. Is there seems
to be an encroachment on more upscale and we're seeing
it in the Better Burger segment, some in the Fresh
(09:26):
Mech segment Baker Cafe. Do you think that when you
look at the value proposition that Rome brings that that
upscale feel but yet value packed orientation that you guys
have done. Do you think that is the attraction that
you guys have been able to, you know, kind of
connect so well to the customer base.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Yeah, I definitely think it's a big part of the attraction.
I think, you know, sometimes you don't want to go
out to a fine dining, white tablecloth restaurant and make
reservations and wait to be seated, you know, wait for
your server to come by. You can just pop into Rome.
You know, self order kiosks. We're putting in more of
our locations. You can place your order or order at
(10:09):
the counter. We bring you your food, beer and wine,
and if you want, you know, you can stay for
two hours, but if you want, you could be in
and out in like thirty or forty minutes. So I
think the appeal of you know, you can go on
a whim and you can go in sweatpants or yoga gear.
You can go on a date and dress it up
or dress it down. I think the flexibility of Rome,
(10:31):
but people knowing that they can still come in and
get a really great meal and a good price point. I
think I think more and more customers want that.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
You mentioned, you know, beer and wine, which you know,
I know there are some rush past casual brands that
have alcohol, but it's still not widely popular. So I'm
interested in that. It looked delicious. I saw the wine spritzer.
I was like, Wow, that's that's unusual. So can you
talk about the decision, you know, to serve alcohol and
how that does enhance you know, I'm assuming it EPs
check spind obviously, but an important.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Part for sure. I think that, you know, our customers
are pretty sophisticated and they like to have a craft
brew or a glass of wine or you know, we
even have non alcoholic beer and gluten free beer too,
or cider, just just a variety of different options with
their with their food, and it does. We're not a bar.
(11:24):
We're never you know, kind of pretending to be that.
Maybe beer and wine is twelve to fifteen percent of
our sales compared to you know, forty percent or.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Something pretty good, I mean ignificant.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Yeah, you know, we don't. We don't look at it
as like, oh, let's you know, let's kind of up
the ticket. It's just like you're having a great burger.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You Shouldah, it's more convenience factor.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Beautiful seasonal veggies. Why not enjoy a glass of wine
or a nice craft brew with that. And for our
summer menu coming up, we just decided to partner with
a really new spirits company called Vaso and they're making
a pair of TV and this is a strawberry summer sprits,
(12:09):
So we're really excited about doing that. So it's going
to have a splash of Sameo blanc, the Vaso Strawberry
sprits and a little bit of sparkling water. So it's
like kind of like being in Italy in the summer,
sort of like an operall sprit So people are really
enjoying that and having fun with these seasonal.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of challenges.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I think when you look at the way your menu
is lined up along with the price point, how do
you manage or even get close to keeping in with
food costs, Because I mean, first of all, what did
I see wild bore or something of that nature.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
We have had wild born in the past, we don't
right now, that's a seasonal. We've had boor, we've had elk,
we've had venison, we've had ostrich, right now.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So you rotate those in and out based on yeah,
a lottum seasonality.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
And we talked to our butcher, we to the ranchers,
and you know, we see what pricing and availability is
and you know what people are asking for right now.
It's the one hundred percent grass fed beef, free range turkey.
We've been partnering with Diestal for our turkey for you know,
fifteen years. The beef is from four K four K Ranch,
fifth generation cattle ranchers in Montana. The bison we have
(13:21):
is from Great Range in Colorado. And then we have
the Housemaid organic veggie burger in addition to the chicken
menu from Springer Mountain Farms.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yes, that's really cool that you guys are different about,
you know, partnering with these local farmers and so how
do you get the word out? How to the customers
just know that? Is that why they come there? Or
are you teaching them that once they're day?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
It's a little bit of both. We have loyal customers
who've been coming to Rome since opening in twenty ten,
and you know it's it's funny we open in the
suburbs and they're bringing their kids in. Who are you
know teenagers and they're saying, oh, you know, they used
to come to Rome when they were two years old.
So generations and generations of people who know Rome really well.
And then there's new customers too, and we find it's
(14:03):
definitely our job to kind of educate customers on why
roam is better. And we do have a little bit
higher price point than you know, somewhere like a shake
shack or in and out or something like that, and
people want to know why, and it is our job
to educate them. But we don't want to be over
the top about it. We like to let the food
(14:23):
and ingredients speak for themselves, but we use social media,
you know, in our website to kind of provide a
little bit of education on what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I've noticed a couple of things within the market. I'm
going to share this story, and this has been kind
of a lift on protein intake from gen Z. So
a lot more chicken, a lotmore beef. It was an
area or a period of time in which we saw
kind of this vegan craze that has gone away or
appears to that this new kind of gen Z audience
(14:58):
is starting to really migrate more toward protein, which is
good for the burger business.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Have you seen the same thing.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Yeah, we definitely have. And I would even take it
a step further. In the markets we're in, we have
kids from high school coming in and thanking me, saying
thank you for serving one hundred percent grass fed beef. Yeah,
like we know some places say it's grass fed, but
it's not grass you know, and they get it like
they're you know this gen z. They're very they're very
(15:26):
particular about what they're putting in their bodies. And it's
not just about protein. It's like, all right, well, let's
take it a step further and let's see how these
animals are being raised, like how they're treated, what are
the farms. And we're very transparent about that, listening in
our own menu all of our sourcing.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, and I think you get to something that also
is attaching brands to these kind of consumers, and that
is provenance. And we've talked this about this a lot
on the show, is that if you get into sourcing
really great quality ingredients. There's a handful of a good
friend of mine, Lewis Pacil, kind of gave me an
education on this whole thing of really building high quality
(16:05):
product for the fast casual sector and that it would
create this love affair and this kind of almost loyalty
in some case, like a bit of a cult like loyalty.
And that was one thing that I noticed. I remember
when I had a chance to do that big swath
through San Francisco, I got a chance to see you
guys in many other brands that that was kind of
(16:27):
the communities that you were building.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Is that still the case today.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, I think people who
don't have the time to go get home or you know,
they just they don't want to eat at home seven
nights a week when they're going out, they want the
same standards of quality, and they're very concerned. They're going
to Hoole foods, They're going to these fancy grocery stores
and they know where the meat comes from there. But
(16:54):
I think that's not always the case in you know,
sometimes the casual or fast casual set, and you know,
to go a bit further, like sometimes even in a
fine dining restaurant, just because it's fancy, it doesn't mean
that they're paying a lot of attention to the sourcing.
But for us, it's just really inherent to what we do.
That is that is our mission, that is our brand.
(17:16):
We're all about sustainability and sourcing. And but like I said,
you don't want to hit people over the head with it.
You want to have fun with it. You want to
keep it light. And you know, the number one thing
is we got to have delicious food. What's the top
selling Yeah, at the top selling first. You know, if
it's not delicious, people don't want it. So that's always
(17:37):
focus number one. Can we make it delicious because we
already know you know that we're working with good ingredients,
which helps you know, it's like you go to Italy
and you eat a tomato. You don't have to do
much to it. It's altally different, already delicious, and you know,
I think you know, we've talked a bit about like
my experience living abroad and in Italy and Spain and
(17:58):
Japan and all of these diferent countries and then coming
back and it's like, well what are we doing here?
Like why why is it only certain places exactly we
can go? And why why is it not I mean,
you know, when we first opened in twenty ten, this
you know, kind of fast casual idea. I mean Chipotle obviously,
do you know, just the leader for years and years
(18:19):
and continuing on that, on that journey and on that
path to really source responsibly at scale. I think the
more you grow, there can be demands on the business
from investors, from private equity, from whoever it is, would
cost down. But we're you know, we're all you know,
privately held. We do exactly what we want whenever we want.
(18:40):
So as we grow, we're actually just looking to improve
and improve the quality. Yes, we are cost conscious, and
you know you mentioned about keeping down food costs and
labor and all of those things, but there are ways
to do that. You know, how do we keep our
food costs down? Well, we do have some scale with
six locations. We have very good relationships with our butcher
(19:02):
with our produce preveyors, and you know, we're very diligent
about managing waste. We have very high volume, so we
don't have a lot of waste, so very you know,
very careful about pricing and managing our food costs, and
you know, very very efficient on the labor front as well,
because we have very low turnover. We know that in
(19:22):
the in the quick service and fast casual turnover could
be a thing. But we have people at our locations
from bus boys and men and women in the kitchen
and in the front of house that have been with
us hourly employees for twelve, thirteen, fourteen years. We have
people grow throughout the organization from cashier or bartender or
(19:43):
bus or runner to shift lead to manager to you know,
kind of on the executive team. And it's a beautiful
thing about our business. So I think when people are looking,
you know, like oh, well, how do I do both?
How do I have quality and you know keep the
costs down? I think it's just a bunch of different things,
you know, a bunch of things that you're going to
(20:05):
do differently, like always trying to do the right thing,
always doing the right thing when it comes to food,
always doing the right thing when it comes to you know,
the treatment of our team members and our customers.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I saw on your website which I thought was interesting.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
We could go back to the cutting food waste that
you know, you try really hard not to have a
lot of waste, whether it's composting or you said, you know,
turning things into fertilizers. So can you talk about that,
because I don't. I think that's very unique from most brands.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Yeah, I think that somewhere close to ninety percent of
all of our waste is composted, so compostable packaging and
then you know the food scraps and that as well.
And then you know, in the past we've used our
fry oil and it's recycled into biofueld that feels the
unibuses in San Francisco. So really just you know, trying
(20:53):
to have a minimal carbon footprint and impact, and that
that definitely extends to the farms and ranches that we're
partnering with, and they're sustainable practices. The grass fed and
grass finished cattle are really good for the land and
preventing the erosion of soils and really helping the crops
and the grazing and the way that they you know,
(21:15):
kind of eat the grass and take a little bit
of the grass. It helps it grow back and become stronger.
And these regenerative you know, farming and ranching practices. With
a lot of the purveyors like Diestel and four K
that that we're working with, I mean, it's it's just
great for the land.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So Josh, tell me what is like at the top
of the menu miix right now. In terms of popularity, well,
it's always the same.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
It's always burger. As you were both noting, we have
an extensive menu with seasonal veggies and sides and chicken
and all of these different things, but it's the it's
basically the classic burger. Yeah, you know, vanilla shake and fries.
We sell a lot of everything, but we sell most
of those.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Yeah, with the egg on it. That looks amazing.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
It is a big seller. And that's yeah, that's a
that's a pasture raised egg from from Vital Farms that
that we've been working with them. They're a great farm
out of out of Texas. Uh, they're the active colomer
to different farms. We'd love Vital.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
But but chicken is you know, chicken in the egg.
The chicken is definitely making a big impact on our
menu with we have the strips and then we do
a spicy fried chicken sandwich and then a classic fried
chicken sandwich and a rotating season also chickens.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That's interesting though you keep dropping names of these high
end purveyors. I feel like they're high end, Yeah, and
in reality when you guys are doing that because just
you know, selecting these kind of purveyors for your beef,
your chicken, a lot of your your produce. Are you
getting credit from the customer? I mean because your pricing
isn't necessarily that much more expensive.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Yeah, so it's a difficult question.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It gives you the credit.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
I think from some customers yes, and from some customers
maybe not as much. There's you know, there's influencers on
Instagram with hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of followers in
kind of the health and wellness space, and they know
in the post about Rome, so we're working with them
to kind of get the message out. But someone may
come in and not know that and maybe not care
(23:25):
as much about it. So that is something we're always
you know, trying to work on that balance of letting
people know about the quality of these ingredients without you know,
being kind of obnoxious about it.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right. Well, I think that's that's a key thing, is
if you can ever get to that point where the
customer actually realizes the value proposition that you because as
a brand, you know, you're trying to to deliver something
that is very unique and different in fast casual. Yeah,
for sure, I know you have some questions on tech, Cheryl,
let's hit them.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah, I just was wondering, what are you doing.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I know you said catering is important, and so kind
of talk us through that.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
You know, DoorDash has a platform that we're working with
them on and I think as some people are going
back to offices and hosting a lot of people going
back to offices and hosting these larger events, catering has
been really big for us. We do in addition to
the burgers, you know, salads and seasonal veggies. The chicken
(24:28):
holds up really well for catering, whether it's the chicken
stiss or chicken sandwiches. But also something we're really excited
about that we've recently launched as sliders. People have been
asking for a really long time. So about six six
or so of the burgers plus the chicken sandwich on
our menu we have in the slider format and they're
(24:48):
pretty cute, little little burger and fried chicken sandwich sliders,
and that's been a big, big hit for us. So really,
you know, kind of honing in on that in these
box meals, you can see in them middle there where
people can get chicken strips or a burger and a
smaller portion of of fries. Uh you know the carrots
there on the left, soup on the earth, carrots on
(25:10):
the right, soup is on the left, and these big salads.
So I think some of the locations we have are
near these business parks and and also in downtown San Francisco,
which is close to our two s f You know,
locations there's there's just a big demand for catering, so
that that's been really big for us.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Wow, these photos we're showing this on the Instagram right now,
these photos are fann Do.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You guys do this yourself or do you have we
have We work.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
With Stephanie Amberg of Decanter Media and she is just awesome.
She's really yeah, good high end photography and uh you know,
we like what she does with the captions too.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
You gotta have good product to work with when you yeah,
you get to start with that chef.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yea, yeah you can photographer.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Let's say what other you mentioned?
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Technology kind of changing over the years, so what other things.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Are for sure? We're working with Betspot, which is an
inventory management program, so we can see a lot of
stuff in real time about inventory and it helps us
with our pricing model and just also again helping to
reduce waste and making sure we have accurate inventory accounts.
That's that's definitely one thing we're doing. We're using a
(26:26):
system called Dulce for time management for clucking in and
clucking out. Self order Kiosk, as I mentioned before, has
been big for us because a lot of long time
loal customers they don't need to wait in line and
ask a million questions. They just want to go boom boom, boom,
boom boom. Probably that probably increases the order ticket a
little bit as well. I don't know, at least for me,
if I'm ordering, I don't feel like is guilty like
(26:48):
ordering a bunch of things. So this is just for
one person, Yeah, it's just for me. Some people like that.
And then something else I was going to mention is
we have a really cool loyalty program. It's a rewards
platform phone called Hang. It's a web three point zero
based so it's.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Basically playing that.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Yeah, I'm going to do my best.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Because you get it.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
As I understand, very interesting area. It's using NFTs, these
non fungible tokens as the back end infrastructure for the
rewards platform. So all our share you as customers, would
have your unique rewards token so to speak. So when
you come in and you log in, that's your rewards
account and then it can be loaded with a free
(27:32):
fries or free artists and soda. And it's really cool
because what Hang has done has really gamified the rewards system.
So it's no longer go to Subway and you know,
nine sandwiches and get a ten point free what Hang
has found and we found as well as that people
really like games, So we have Wordle like a version
(27:54):
of Wordle on there. We have a version of candy Crush.
We have quests for customers maybe like try all four
of the you know, uh, all four different items from
our seasonal menu and receive a nine out shake or
something like that. We're about to have a roam Bingo
rolled out, so I think people are having a lot
of fun with this and coming in in different tiers, uh,
(28:17):
starting as you know, out as a scout, and based
on your monthly spend, you can move up all the
way up to the icon status and in any given month,
based on your tier, you're going to receive a certain
number of rewards. So that that's been cool for us.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
So this is an area you know, we've covered a
lot on our other channel around you know, Web three
and the innovation, especially around loyalty. I think that's going
to be the killer app of Web three Hang. I've
talked to these guys before.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Have you seen what Bubba guys has been doing.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
Have you followed that?
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Yeah, those guys we're using hang as well.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Okay, So that that's my point is so the point
behind that share. We got to talk about this off
off camera once because what Josh is doing is I
think this is going to be the future of loyalty
for restaurants in terms of building on that. If you
look at Blackbird and where they've kind of gone with
their new innovation around fine dining and selling membership reservations
(29:15):
on the blockchain, which is going to give people the
ability for NFTs. I'm thinking that you guys could be
onto something very early to help do exactly what you
just mentioned, and that is gamify the loyalty component to
create a better connection to that consumer. So what has
(29:36):
been some of the data can you share any like uplift?
How many additional subsorb signups you've got?
Speaker 5 (29:43):
We have? We have probably over twenty close of twenty
thousand members of the awards program and with.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Six units, that'sty good.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Yeah. So and we haven't been out it that long,
only only a couple of years with Haang, I think,
so we built up you know, we had a strong
customer base already, but this is just kind of reinforced.
And yeah, we're seeing both an increase in spend, so
a higher spend from our loyalty rewards members and frequency
of visits. So yeah, two metrics we're really focused on.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
This is an interesting space because as we see a
lot of this regulatory stuff start to get cleared up
in the space, I think we're going to see a
lot more brands. I mean McDonald's already did it with Doodles.
You've got, of course Odyssey, that failed attempt by Starbucks,
but I think they're going to come back with something similar.
(30:38):
Guys like yourself and Boba guys and many others which
I think are starting to bridge that gap. It's good
to see innovators like you really kind of stretching the
limit because that's one of the areas that I think
is broken right now, and that's loyalty.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
In especially a smaller brand.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
I mean, we have, you know, the apps of the
gamification with Chipotle, but that's they're huge, So yeah, exactly,
someone like them. But it's a surprise when it's a
smaller Well, that's.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
The beauty of it. I think it democratizes it so much.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
You know, with Chipotle, they did that deal with tech
and eight which was like a gaming thing and it
integrated well, but you know, at the end of the day,
it was still Chipotle. You know, they spent you know,
almost a million and a half just on that program. Yeah,
plus the sponsorship and the collaboration there. So that's not
something that I think a brand under fifty units would
(31:28):
be doing. So cool to see that you guys are
doing that, Josh. What other things are you finding that
you think are cutting edge? Because we have this demographic
shift occurring right now. Millennials and gen z are the
new pocket of really growth. They clearly are digital natives.
(31:48):
Is there anything specific outside of what you just mentioned
that you feel, oh, this is a way that we're
really going to reach this future customer.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
It's a good question. I mean, I might actually just
go back to what we were talking about a bit
at the beginning and creating an experience, you know, in
the restaurants, because there is maybe such thing as just
too much screen time and too much digital and and
food is something that's so tangible and it's you know,
(32:18):
like that experience. Like a lot of our team members
are their gender themselves, so the relational you know, the
customer service, and I think that's something that you know,
kind of I would say, I've experienced it in some
restaurants where it's fallen off a little bit because everyone's
(32:39):
so digitally focused. So I think we're really leaning in
to the in story experience and just constantly reinforcing customer
service touch points and you know, really going above and beyond.
I'll give you an example. The other day. I don't
manage our social media account, but I have access to it,
(33:01):
and a customer wrote in on Instagram and said that,
you know, there was something wrong with his order. So
I wrote him back right away and said that we
could call him and refund the order and send a
gift card. And this was on Instagram and he was
blown away. So I called our manager at our location
and I said, can you please give this gentleman a call?
(33:22):
And he did it, and that was all within you know,
ten or fifteen minutes. I mean to me, that was
that's just normal. I happened to be checking. But I
think maybe just using technology for those types of purposes,
like for a very rapid response, I think people don't
like to wait for things, and using it responsibly and
(33:45):
using it in the right way to kind of go
above and beyond. But then also like on the other hand,
making sure that in store experience is just getting people
so they don't they don't want to be on their phones,
they want to be in there. We're working with a
company called Gravy that that we have for a while
and they curate a playlist specifically uniquely for Rome and
(34:09):
it changes throughout the day part based on kind of
energy and activity levels. And there's over two thousand songs
that we've worked with Ari who's the founder, to kind
of to you know, to curate based on what kind
of vibe.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Employees love that too, because I remember when I when
I used to work at Chili's in college, it was
the same playlist and it was like every three hours.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
This bare Naked Lady song anymore.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
And we have an app that that Lynn and I
you know, we have access to and a song comes
on and we could put thumbs up, their thumbs down,
so it'll automatically, you know, keep it there or move
it away. And we revisit with Ari every couple of
months to uh to see what we like. So that's
just one more part of the in store experience. And
obviously you know the lighting, the decor, the refreshes we're doing.
(35:00):
We've just got more comfortable barstools and seats, and you know,
just just always continuing to kind of keep our finger
on the pulse of what's what's what's trending in what
we think you guys are.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Always building and improving. It appears right now in terms
of just everything from the tactile side of it to
the food obviously the overall experience. I think I think
you have hit on something that's very important and especially
in fast casual, and that is this experiment experiential possibly
renaissance that could be occurring with this younger generation because
(35:33):
they are exactly like you're saying, they are appreciating the
little things like the nuance of true grass fed beef,
the sourcing, as well as kind of this extra effort
that you guys are making inside the store. You know,
from the looks and fields and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
So very cool.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
Thank you three time. I was going to mention one
more thing we finish, Yeah, go ahead, Yeah, Oh I
just I was I was thinking, like, uh, Another area
where we are focusing is some of these partnerships with
other brands. I mentioned Veso a Pera Teeth yep, so
that's super cool. We're excited about that. And there's a
(36:12):
very cool wine store on Fillmore Street near our location.
They're based out in New York. It's called Verve and
I don't know if you ever seen the movie so,
but it's owned by Dustin, who's a master somlier. So
they curate these really awesome wines from really all over
the world, and we're going to be doing champagne tasting
(36:33):
with them now to try four to six different champagnes
with fried chicken sliders from Rome on the on the
Brioche bunds with fried chicken. And then we're also the
third leg in that partnership is the Caviar Company, which
is San Francisco based and Petra and her firm I've
(36:53):
known them for a while, so we're going to have
two different types of caviar. So they cavear fried chicken
and champagne.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
But you know we're gonna be other fast casual.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Is is that going down? Because I might need.
Speaker 5 (37:06):
To try playing ticket? Yeah, I love it, Josh. Grand
partnerships like that, you know, really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
It's gonna it's gonna be well. And I think you
guys have have really kind of leveraged outside the comfort
zone of what most brands are willing to do. So
that's a big leap forward, I think for sure. Hey, listen,
it's been great having you back on the show after
many years. I'm glad to see you guys are still
out there bawling in the burger business doing the.
Speaker 5 (37:39):
Thank you doing it. It was a real pleasure. Beyond
thank you Paul and Share as well.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Come on, we're gonna get We're gonna come see you
for sure. It anyway, good to see you. Take care.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Thanks all right, man, what a great what a great
story Rome has man?
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Have you seen that.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Kind of is like my favorite?
Speaker 4 (37:59):
You know some millennial whole identity is around Harry Potter,
mind Champagne, so.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Jampagne and caviar wishes, you know right there from from
Share Canceler coming in that should be the next one.
We got so many spots, we've got a hit now
share we're gonna have to do a road tour.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
We are. We need like a fast casual bus where.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
We're just going around the country getting a chance to
see all these amazing The thing I think with Joshi
hit On something that's very interesting, and you mentioned this,
and that is seeing a young well not really a
young brand, they're they're you know, over a decade old.
But seeing a smaller brand innovate at this level is fantastic.
(38:41):
I think it's leveled the playing field, I think where
these smaller brands can really create something that is so
unique and different. All right, so guys, we want to
do a little bit of an update here in reference
to what's happening in the delivery space, but also in
the technology segment. So we wanted to bring in a
special guest today to kind of review all of that,
and part of that is coming in from of course,
(39:03):
door Dash.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
You guys will.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Recognize maybe you've seen this guy out there and the
fish was Chandra coming in from DoorDash.
Speaker 6 (39:10):
How are you. I'm doing great. Thank you for having
me excited for this conversation.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Yeah, excellent. Well, We've got a lot to start with.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I guess chay, do you want to lead us off
with the Yeah, bigest borking news.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
Yeah, big announcement, breaking news today on Fastcasual dot com.
Your partnership with Wing to deliver to Charlotte. So that's
pretty interesting. And just for you guys who don't know
exactly what Wing is as a delivery drone company that
does restaurant food groceries, you name it in fifteen minutes,
and now you're explaining that partnership, So can you talk
(39:44):
a little bit about that.
Speaker 7 (39:45):
Absolutely, you know, Look, this is something we're very excited about,
as you mentioned. Starting today, eligible door Dash customers with
about four miles for the Arbitram Shopping Center in southern
Charlotte can order from a selection of both local restaurants
and participating Panera Bread locations, and guests will be able
to order this through the door Dash app and choose
(40:05):
to have their items delivered by drone. The Charlotte expansion
it's the next step in what has been a very
successful partnership with Wing. We've done drone delivery services to
DoorDash customers and parts of southwest Virginia. The Dallas Fort
Worth Metroplex and now in Charlotte, and this is kind
(40:26):
of part of our broader vision for the future of
local commerce. We do believe autonomous will play a crucial
role in our mission to empower localnomies and build the
most efficient and scalable delivery platform. We do believe that
the future is multimodal right, including dashers, robots and of
course drones. By strategically partnering with folks like wing Right,
(40:51):
we're able to accelerate this integration and drive this multimodal
delivery solution that works within within, within the door our system.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
I like the fact that you guys are well we've
talked about drone delivery here on the show for for
some time. This is a different kind of drone though
this one looks like it's it can handle a lot
longer flight. What is the potential there as far as ldias.
Speaker 7 (41:14):
You know, we will go out four miles within the
within this test and within this pilot, and you know,
as part of DoorDash Labs, we're always going to be
continuing to innovate and support our local merchants, you know,
enhance the guest experience and and create more opportunities in
the long run for everyone, and so we're very excited
(41:34):
about this and and looking forward to sort of seeing
it last today.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
Yeah, there's you know, there's a few drone delivery people
out there. So what made you decide to want to
connect with Wing.
Speaker 7 (41:49):
We've partnered with a number of folks in the industry
right and and through DoorDash Labs, we've had this relationship
with Wing for for a long time. We worked with
them in Australia and then expanded with them here in
the US, and we're excited about how that fits into
our view of a multi modem system.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
A lot happening in the space right now, Well, I'm
excited about this when share because delivery is a huge
sector of fast casual A lot going on in the
space right now, Vish when you look at the trends
that are kind of shaping the industry other than delivery models,
because obviously we've seen you know, driver delivery for a
long time. Maybe we'll see autonomy in the future, especially
(42:34):
around what you're talking about from the robotic and now
with drones, anything else that you feel from the delivery
side of things that are really helping restaurants grow their business.
What's changed recently?
Speaker 7 (42:47):
OK, I've spent twenty five years in the food industry,
and it is I would have it no other way.
Speaker 6 (42:52):
I love the industry.
Speaker 7 (42:54):
You know, there's something so personal when a guest chooses
to order their food from you. And as the industry
has always done, we listen to the guests, right. So,
you know, coming out of the pandemic it changed everything.
It was devastating for many in the industry for sure,
but what it did was it changed guest expectations as
(43:16):
they embraced convenience. You know, over twenty twenty four we
were able to deliver about six billion dollars of sales
for local merchants and through that we learned that what
guests want is they want flexibility, they want a convenience,
they want sort of that that that what started as
the time of trend is here to stay right. And
(43:38):
what's equally exciting for me just I get to spend
a lot of time with our restaurant partners, is restaurants
are thinking about this most strategically. They view this as
a channel and they're partnering with us to say is
how do we think about how this is.
Speaker 6 (43:52):
Going to evolve?
Speaker 7 (43:53):
Over the coming weeks, months, and years and not just
reacting to it. And those that do, those that embrace
it and say, how do we sort of think about
providing guests with this flexibility, with this convenience, are getting rewarded.
You know, definitely what started at the pandemic necessity is
here to stay and we're excited to see this continue
(44:14):
to grow.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
How are customers reacting? Are they excited? Are they freaked out?
I mean, food jops from the sky? Is it cold?
Is it not? How do you control all those variables?
Speaker 7 (44:26):
Well, you know, quality is something that's incredibly important to
us across the board, whether it's a drone delivering, whether
it is a dasher delivering, quality is something that that
that is is always top of mind. It is something
that we spend a lot of time innovating, front around
and focusing on. And for us, while well obviously you know,
(44:49):
we're excited about these new things. We learn a lot
from these tests and we continue to iterate and learn that.
I think the best thing I point to is just
the progress and some of the innovation we've done within
how we deliver through our Dasher fleet. You know, we've
recently had a number of very interesting new product launches
that we've released, live order management, being able to sat
(45:13):
with guests while in order is being delivered, a whole
new tablet experience for those that are in the tablet,
and all of those are focused on delivering quality and
making it easy for operators like we want them. You know,
at the end of the day, operators want to be
able to run the business, grow their business, and we
(45:34):
want to make it easy for them to do so
in the way that they are their custom.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Well, I think you look at the landscape right now
of consumers. Obviously with fast Casual, it's one of the
biggest growing segments out there in terms of just delivery
growth in general, in terms of emerging trends when you
look at not only how you guys are adapting, but
also just in general from the aspect of how can
(46:00):
zumer experience is changing. I know we're going to talk
about AI in a second, but what do you see
as kind of the critical component for a customer that's saying,
all right, I'm going to choose tonight, I'm going to
make it a delivery option and these are the things
I'm looking for. Is there anything that Dordash is doing
specific that really kind of increases that connection.
Speaker 7 (46:21):
Yeah, look, I think I'll give you a great simple
example where you know, we rolled out new tools around
menu optimization. We are inherently all part of the hospitality industry.
We're merchants at heart. We try we spend a lot
of time thinking about our menu and this is a
tool that we've rolled out from to our merchants to
(46:44):
be able to understand, one what parts of their menu
are resonating with guests and what can they do to.
Speaker 6 (46:52):
Actually enhance it. And sometimes it's as simple as.
Speaker 7 (46:56):
You know, a little picture, modified picture, different pictures would
modify and we know that gives a great guest experience
because you know, it helps them choose how they want
to customize the food to what they want. But it
also helps the operator because you know, oftentimes the margin
profile and some of these modifiers are different and they
can be creative to the operator.
Speaker 6 (47:19):
So you know, a lot of what we're.
Speaker 7 (47:21):
Doing is kind of enhance the experience for the guests
in the marketplace, working with our operators to give them
the tools and divisibility to do that, but then also
understanding that how do we actually allow our merchants to
engage with our guests. You know, in December we announced
(47:42):
we had you know, forty two million monthly actives. A
lot of what we're doing is how do we connect
merchants with the guests in the moment that guests that
would resonate most of them. And so whether that's different
day parts, whether that is different cuisine types, whether there's
(48:03):
different types of guests. We're very focused on building the
tools to allow guests to do so. It starts with
deliver great quality. Yeah, make sure you tee up the
right food to the guests that they're excited about, and
make it easy for your merchants to do what they
do best, which is make amazing food and get.
Speaker 6 (48:22):
It to guests.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yeah, for sure, I love it.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
Just a logistical question because I'm imagining being an employee
of Panera and Charlotte and I make a sandwich and
then if the delivery drone comes through, do I like
put it together and then I attach it to the
drone and then I push a button and it flies away,
or like how does that work?
Speaker 7 (48:41):
What's interesting with all of these autonomy innovations, Right the
first the upfront call it ten feet and the last
ten feet are the most important, and we think that's
where a lot of the innovation it needs to happen
and need happen. We're going to iterate and learn through
(49:02):
that with our partners, with our both our restaurant partners
and our technology partners. But know, from our perspective, we're
very folks on what does that first ten feet look
like and the last ten feet both are really important.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
Yeah, I think that's the key is And also it
also resolves I think the customer experience because remember you're
an extension DoorDash being an extension of the brand that
has to deliver that customer experence all the way down
to the curb side.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
So I love it.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
I know when I'm using DoorDash, it's you know, always,
the drivers are so you know, pleasant, and the experience
is easy, and you know that's the cool thing that
kind of lays into this when you look at the
future tech though, especially around AI, how are you guys
going to be utilizing AI in the future to kind
of improve this whole concept of customer experience Because there's
(49:54):
a lot of people that say, ooh, I don't want
AI involved in my food delivery or in my food
ordering or that whole process.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
Can we get past that?
Speaker 5 (50:03):
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 7 (50:05):
Look, we're always focused on technology that makes life better.
Whether it's for the operators who are looking to just
run their business efficiently and focus on what they want
to spend their time on. It's a guest finding the
food that they want, or a dasher who's looking to
continue to connect deliver the food on behalf of our restaurant.
(50:28):
So we always take our guide from things. We're focusing
on making each of their lives better, and technology plays
an important part of that. You know, the menu optimization
piece that I reference, The underlying insight that it says
is this is what would actually resonate and this is
how you can optimize your menu?
Speaker 6 (50:50):
Is what? What? What can drive that? But it's not
just that, you know, we've got better live.
Speaker 7 (50:57):
You know a business measure app which makes easier for
operators to run on the run their business on the go. Look,
it's fascinating how every aspect of technology. If you take
that true north is how do I make each of
their operators, dashers and guests lives easier? It provides you
(51:18):
your true north.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
Chery you want to hit that last question, because I
think both of us were like trying to figure out
what he was going to say in reference to trends,
I have a bet, yeah.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
I mean I didn't think, you know, a couple of
years ago that this would be coming this soon. I
remember getting some stories about eight or ten years ago
where like Domino's was testing it, and I.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Was like, really is this going to take off? But
it looks like it's taking off.
Speaker 4 (51:43):
So where do you think in the next five years
we're going to be surprised to see some kind of
fun new technology that's going to really help, you know,
move the needle in helping rush on operators meet their
customer needs.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
What's next?
Speaker 7 (51:56):
Look, the pleasures of being in the industry for a
while is is you know, you start seeing some of
the commonality across all and you know, one of the
examples I give often is, you know, I remember when
drive throughs became something that was you know, was new
to the industry, and you know, everything changed, right Like
(52:19):
there were folks that said, you know, is this going
to be it? And then changed how we built our locations,
how we operated that.
Speaker 6 (52:27):
And we did that, and we see that same change
when it comes to delivery.
Speaker 7 (52:30):
And so to ask you a question about where we
see us, we do see the world that is multimodal.
We do see that. You know, there will be technology
they will do on the delivery side. There will be dashers,
there will be a ton of vehicles, there will be drones,
but it will be multimodal and in the end of
the day, it will give the right way to fulfill
(52:52):
the order to the guest.
Speaker 6 (52:54):
You will allow the.
Speaker 7 (52:55):
Experience to be more personalized for guests as they I'm
on board and they shop and so it's not just
on the fulfillment side, but the personalization and the ability
to sort of get the experience that meets them where
they want to be met at that moment. You know,
it's interesting people browse and shop very differently at lunch
(53:17):
than they do for dinner. Right, Lunch is typically a
single leater occasion. You typically have a narrow window to
choose and you typically browseless. And so we've got offerings
around how do you actually serve a lunch based program
for that? So I think you'll see this continued innovation,
but it starts in the guest experience and how do
we deliver that well.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
I'm glad to see the innovation continuing to go forward
because I think, you know, when you look at the
fast casual sector, there's a lot of competition, and when
you look at third party delivery and kind of the
evolution that we've seen over the last couple of years,
this is going to be maybe a differentiator very soon,
you know. And how who wins, you know, because it's
(53:58):
very competitive out there right now. So it'll be interesting
to see you guys continue to grow for sure. But Vishua,
it has been great having you on the show today.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (54:07):
It's been my pleasure and I wanted to thank both
of you. A longtime listener, I wan't do the cliche
a second half of that, but I just wanted to
thank you from from all of us in the industry.
We we appreciate you know you're taking the time and
effort to engage with us and have some of these
important conversations.
Speaker 6 (54:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (54:27):
No doubt we'll definitely get you back on as things
start to evolve. For what's going on over there.
Speaker 6 (54:32):
We should we should go dash and do it on
the road.
Speaker 1 (54:36):
That would be fun, a DASH podcast.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
I would love to do that. Remember you got behind
the scene.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
You got Jerry Seinfeld with you know, coffee and cars, right,
so we just we just do a podcast and dash
in the in the cars with the Dashers.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
Okay, we got to think about that and something.
Speaker 3 (54:58):
I think that would be a great.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
That would be a blast industry.
Speaker 6 (55:01):
We're all here because we love it. We love serving guests.
And that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
You got it, Bishua, Thanks again and we'll get you soon,
all right, take it.
Speaker 6 (55:14):
All right?
Speaker 1 (55:14):
So some good stuff there with Vishua. I think the
key thing right now, Shara is man you look at
the amount of innovation that's happening, have you. I've looked
back on the industry over the past twenty years. It
feels like over this last maybe twenty four months, we've
just seen so much AI, the integration of now what
(55:35):
we're going to see in drone delivery coming from a
major platform like Grdash. What do you feel like do
you feel like this is a good thing for fast
casual to really accelerate growth?
Speaker 2 (55:45):
What's your thoughts?
Speaker 5 (55:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (55:46):
Absolutely, anytime we can get any kind of fun tech
in there, I think that customers love that. I mean,
can you imagine I mean just going to you know,
the panair Bread website and ordering, and you're like, oh,
I'm going to get I'm going to get it through.
Speaker 3 (56:00):
You have people with the party, watch the drone and
arrive with you with your.
Speaker 2 (56:04):
Drone drone party.
Speaker 3 (56:05):
I mean it's a novelty right now.
Speaker 4 (56:07):
I mean I have to use any excuse to have
a party.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
But eventually it won't be a novelty.
Speaker 4 (56:13):
But it's like you said, it's a differentiator right now,
and you know, and of course it's in Fast Casual
because this is.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
We're always the first monivation. We're always the first, that
is no doubt.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
And speaking of that, this of course is the first
podcast out there in the space around the restaurant and
hospitality side of things. And of course, if you guys
are not subscribed to the show, make sure and take
some time right now. If you're watching you on YouTube,
just hit that little subscribe button. If you're catching this
on the audio side, whether it's on Spotify or Apple
or even iHeartRadio, go ahead and give us a like
(56:46):
and we'll catch you next time right here on Fast
Casual Nation.