May 16, 2025 • 40 mins
Join Restaurant Masterminds hosts Paul Barron and Rudy Miick as they sit down with Patrick Fore, CEO of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, to explore how this 21-year-old brand is revolutionizing the fresh-mex space. Discover how Lime Fresh 2.0 is blending fast casual convenience with full-service hospitality through their innovative "flex casual" model featuring a full bar program contributing over 20% to revenue. Fore shares insights on creating "Lime Moments" for exceptional hospitality, revitalizing their menu with the "One Whole Lime Project," balancing digital innovation with authentic experiences, and preparing for strategic franchise growth that caters to both millennial and Gen Z consumers.
~This episode is sponsored by: Gusto → https://gusto.pxf.io/PBN ~
#1 rated HR platform for payroll, benefits, and more
With Gusto’s easy-to-use platform, you can empower your people and push your business forward. See why over 400,000 businesses choose Gusto.
FreshMexRevolution #FlexCasualDining #RestaurantInnovation
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
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
~This episode is sponsored by: Gusto → https://gusto.pxf.io/PBN ~
#1 rated HR platform for payroll, benefits, and more
With Gusto’s easy-to-use platform, you can empower your people and push your business forward. See why over 400,000 businesses choose Gusto.
FreshMexRevolution #FlexCasualDining #RestaurantInnovation
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
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 the Restaurant Masterminds podcast, and
joining me, of course, is mister Rudy Mick. And today
we have a special guest for you. It's going to
be talking fresh Mechs and the future of fast casual. Rudy,
how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I am so good and I'm so excited for our
guest today.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Man, that's going to be a good one. We've got
Patrick coming in from Line Fresh. And I think when
you look at in general what's been going on with
this space, I think fresh Mechs in general. First of all,
you know all no pun intended. But when I wrote
the book Chipotle Effect, it was looking at the fresh
(00:38):
Mechs space and the explosion at that time. This was
what twelve years ago, and one of the things that
I put in that book was the connection to the
modern day consumer. And I still think fresh mes is
probably the one sector in fast casual that connects better
than anyone when it comes to the kind of this
next generation consumer. So we're going to break it down
(00:59):
for sure. It's gonna be a good episode. Rudy rock On.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Man who doesn't love fresh Mes?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I like it. We'll be right back. My name is
(01:31):
Paul Baron as the early pioneer in fast casual I've
seen the industry evolve from just a few operators to
the most sought after segment by consumers around the world.
Now we're planning to shape its future. Tap into decades
of my expertise identifying the emerging brands and tech winners
(01:51):
in the space. Saber Capital will be fueling the next
generation of fast casual innovation. All right, Joining us today,
of course, is mister Patrick Forhr coming in from Lime Fresh,
right out of Miami, Florida. How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I'm doing great, Thanks guys, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Hey, listen, it's been good to have you on the show.
I'll flip you up here on the top billing. And
first of all, for some of our audience, I think
most everybody knows who Lime Fresh. They were one of
the first players in the fresh mechs space outside of
Baja Fresh and Chipotle. I would say to Lime is
one of the icons of the industry. It's been around.
(02:33):
You know, we've had some changes with Lime Fresh and
its ownership and it's kind of its whole cycle. Tell
us where Lime Fresh is today, size, how the business
has specked out, all that good stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Absolutely, and again thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Guys.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Lime is alive and well. As you mentioned, it's a
twenty one year old brand being based out of South Beach.
The original store is still in our system. What a story.
It's an honor to help lead after my your tenure
here as the CEO, and I think what the future
of Lime Fresh looks like is innovative and experiential. Our
(03:09):
headquarters is officially in Orlando, Florida, and there we have
what we call Lime Fresh two point zero. If you've
not had a chance to see the see and eat
all the way through it, it is a I think
it would be what the brand would have evolved to.
Miami energy influence was still going to be concurrent to
(03:29):
think fresh fresh plants, live fresh plants, think about indoor
being inside or outdoor.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Our outdoor patio elements some of that Miami energy that
transfer as well, curated playlists, and we've introduced a full
bar program, so each of the Lime Thresh restaurants that
will be growing, enfranchise and growing forward is going to
have a full ball, full bar program to benefit. It's
been a fantastic incubations both of those stores are between
(04:00):
two and three years old. The bar contribution is an
excess of twenty percent of sales. So we've got We'll say,
I mixologists would love this as a SoundBite and say
we've got all the Miami vibe without the Miami vibe
prices in our cocktails, and so would love to swing kick.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
All I get well, I got to we have a
lot to unpack about that when you look at Okay,
so when you mentioned full bar, this is something that
we've seen a handful of you know, fast casual start
to move to. Most of the time it's been beer
and wine. A handful have started to move to full bar.
How much of a transition was that, both for the
franchise community but also for you know, corporate operations.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
To be clear, the existing franchise community still runs off
of a normal beer and.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Wine ice, regular beer and wine.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, correct, So you can still get our strong marderitas.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
What stores will have full bar?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Where were those two company owned stores in Orlando have
a full bar program east coast or east side of town,
the area called Lake Nona and then over by Disney
we're on Disney property. Both of those stores represent with
the future of the program, the Line Fresh program including
rights we'll go to and we are evaluating currently two
(05:13):
locations that are legacy locations with my franchise ease to
convert into that full bar program. They have to be
a certain square footage. I'm sure I'm gonna telling anything
you guys don't already know.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, I was gonna say, as size wise, it's probably
changing the footprint up a little bit. Is it going
to make them larger than a typical line is now.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know VPPR here in Florida changing the regulations or
right around COVID where it used to be, you know,
a certain twenty five hundred square foot, a certain p mix,
and a certain seat count. They actually lowered that threshold
so we can actually run into a space as small
as two thousand square feet, which is roughly the footprint
of most, if not all of our stores at this point.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
What I love with with this dialogue, Patrick, is I'm
hearing that you're doing R and D through the corporates,
the corporate owned stores, no risk to the franchise community.
Prove the concept, roll it out, bravo to you. There's
(06:11):
another culture.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I wonder how much of how much in terms of
sales lift that might look like. In my research, I
was looking at you guys's growth trajectory, and I don't
know if this is correct, but is it one hundred
and fifty billion? What are one hundred? What's what is
the by twenty twenty what we'll see from you guys,
any any potential growth projections? Now with the new bar
(06:34):
segment coming in right, I was.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
We were just having a little pre precession called chat
back and forth with with Rudy. We are and this
is just sort of an environment. We're relaunching our franchising
sales program, okay, and it's not yet live. That's one
of the reasons I'm here in Miami. Oh nice International
Franchise Association. The trade show that's just down the road
from web now, so exciting time. And that will be
(06:59):
the vehicle by which we grow is two point zero
and that that's that's the value proposition. Looking at the
p mix and look at some of the some of
the novel and nuanced cocktails that we're putting together, it's
fun to be in the space. And I think you're right.
I think other other fast casuals are coming to this party.
I don't know whether it's early. I don't know whether
it's late. All I can tell you is it's alive
(07:20):
and well and we enjoy being an incubator. I think
it is wise for a franchise or to take some
of those early risks. Yeah, to do risk the obvious.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I talked with an operator in Dallas a few months back,
and you know, he's been in the space of offering
full bar to his He is it's called village burger bar.
But what he was explaining to me is in the
beginning he said it was still an uplift in overall sales,
but he said, just by offering the full bar, it
has created a new clientele base for them that they
(07:52):
weren't getting to. And now, you know, an average village
burger bar. When it was beer and wine, we're doing
and two point four two point seven, he's saying now
that they're they're bumping four million on AUV. And he
says it's two reasons. One, the bar itself has created
a new revenue center, a whole new you know, right,
(08:13):
But it's also created new day parts for them they
didn't have, which is like the evening which in most
fast casuals it's not the biggest day part. Now with
the right kind of menu, maybe uh Fresh, maybe live
Fresh will become the hot spot.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Renovating a one year old brand has certainly been an honor.
It has been a challenge. It's never a dull moment,
right Rudy in the culture wars and so I think
that there's there's there's room for that, and it's great
to hear that there there are other models moving the
same way.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, what is intriguing to me is you can't sell
it if you don't have it right. And and to
Paul's point, you're opening up a whole another day part
potentially and certainly broadening, broadening the demographic and psychographic of
the guest, still within the same culture. So bravo.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
They got a happy hour running in Orlando right now.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And you know this four to six. Obviously with the
bar only, we looked at rebuilding this design. Was it
was it a major was it a major capital expert
to be able to flip the stores to where they
could do a full bar.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It can be done for fifty k or less. Well,
it comes down to is the engineering. You guys are
a restaurant guys. You know that that's the biggest challenge,
and that's probably the heaviest lift in terms of the capitol.
That is just you know, a fairly small bar can
end up accommodating between twelve and eighteen seats. That feels
right in a space of our square footage where it's
(09:53):
not an overwhelming presence. Some of our competitors have kind
of this, it's a bar. And then by the way,
we share tacos, sexy food, sexy cocktails, right, And I
constantly talk to my team about the you know, the
fact that Instagram and and TikTok have had on our food.
But we've got to people when people eat with their eyes,
you know that bars is such a wonderful show piece.
(10:14):
So anyway, I'm not that expensive to answer your original question.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, and I think the key here is you're you're
starting to really tie into the millennial audience, which is,
you know, it's a big category. One thing I'm kind
of curious about when you look at building and Rudy
and you and I have talked about this before, building
menus around alcohol sales, and there is a little bit
of a flex toward these mocktails. Is there any plan
(10:42):
for going in that direction, or you'll have kind of
a balance of both.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
We actually feature five mocktails.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, all right, you're already on it, man, you're way
ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
No, No, it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
The interesting thing is is we had that hypothesis two
years ago, landed them on on the menu. They're actually
very products. They're not moving. Uh. The margaritas are our
category killer. We have five or six different and anybody
wants the everybody wants the Cadillact. That's of course. Yeah,
(11:14):
it's an interesting scenario and I think it's it. Is
it the veto vote? Is it because we don't have
a mocktail? I don't think so, because because Agua Frescos
and make them something fresh? But yeah, we're going to
keep them there though.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
What I what I love is you have the offer
and you can see where the p mix is going
to go with it, right, and so it's there as
I'm listening to you, Patrick, and in the whole conversation,
the kind to me, the point is we're adding value.
Here's one more reason to show up, and you can
(11:49):
count on the quality and the diversity of it if
you choose right it's really cool, really smart, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Well, I think the key is is your you know,
you're plugging into an audience that is is tuned in
to kind of just more experiential dining, which is something
we've you know, we've talked about here on fast casual.
There's not enough of that out there in this sector.
It's usually more utilitarian, meaning I'm going there to just
get food, launch dinner or whatever it might be. But
(12:19):
the minute that and that's the thing I think that
I would say that the Lime experience, if you've never
been to a Lime Fresh patio, it is a different
kind of experience in fast casual. You're it's so relaxing.
I mean, we take our kids there, they're you know,
hanging out, chilling, watching their iPads doing whatever. They see
their friends there. It's almost like a little community gathering.
(12:41):
And I have found that that is they prefer that
now much more over Chipotle, which is very rarely a
patio experience, you know, so huge difference. Are you going
to continue to keep the patio on the design?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
No doubt? That is a huge brand pillar for us.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yeah, well, I mean you've got it, you know, here
in Florida, it's the you know, it's the perfect patio
concepts out there. What about franchising when you when you
expand outside of Florida, what's the what's the big trajectory there?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
You know, I think the brand was strong in several
states when owned by our predecessor, and I think that
one of the things that should continue is this this place,
the sense of place that is Miami. And as we
start to stand up our sales program, we start to
talk about the brand in two point zero term. I
think that there's some there is a there's a fabric
(13:32):
in Miami that people are interested and part of that
is the lifestyle. Part of that is I think, you know,
and I'm grateful to you for bringing up the patio,
is that inside out? You know I've talked to I
think I talked about at the top being able to
kind of bring this sense of place in Miami, windwood walls,
the fun activities, South Beach, and be able to transport
that into other states. You know, as we grow, I'm
(13:52):
all about responsible growth and slow growth is growth, which
is good. It helps my team. We're a small, small
team of leaders now kind of get their their feet
wet and moving forward. But those elements that the bar
program in patio were certainly going to be something that
we'll we'll look at it and we may you know,
the landscape in real estate is always a challenge. We
may miss a few opportunities because that patio really is
(14:16):
part of our bunch.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, that's the that is a hard spot to find
the right location. I mean, if you look at your
you know, your gardens location or even I haven't been
to the one over off of University. Is that unit
still open?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yes, yeah, the University right across from Smash Burger, Yes
or not Smash five guys, yeah, five guys. Yeah, that's
another that's a huge patio on that at that location.
Haven't been over there much, but man it can house
a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
It was crazy on Cinco. Cinco was Monday, and we're
just kind of getting over that. So that patio, the
weather came through, kind of wiped everything out, It moved through,
the DJs came back out, they put the kids back in.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
But yeah, South Florida, you know it's right in the end.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, I want to come back to a point you
made a few minutes ago about here's this fresh mechs
fast casual segment. Right. But what I'm actually listening or
hearing as I'm Patrick just enjoying the dialogue, especially with
you both down in Miami and have a big smiles
(15:23):
with this. You're creating with your concept, a restaurant experience
that happens to be fast casual in design. Right. But Paul,
as I'm listening to you, your kids are hanging out,
they want to play, right, It's not food as fuel,
(15:43):
It's not kind of one step down from a traditional
restaurant experience. It is a restaurant. What I'm hearing is
is we have experience that happens to be fast casual. Right.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Really connect that, yeah, you and I have talked about this,
uh Rudy, is that this connection to especially from a millennial.
Millennials want more experiences, you know, because listen, let's accept it.
You know, there's a lot of them that probably will
may have a challenge on buying a home, you know,
(16:21):
because of the economic condition. They're looking for other outlets,
and when a restaurant can start to provide those kind
of outlets, especially one in the fast casual space, which
is I will say is much more zoned in from
a economic you know, side of things. And then if
you add bar, you're almost bringing in casual dining, but
(16:42):
doing it at a at an area where you know,
an average millennial that's making fifty to sixty K is
easily going to be able to you know, feed a
family of four and have a really good time and
experience in there. So it I think it hits the
market right now with the economic conditions. What's happening, you
know in the United States right now around spending, what
(17:03):
we're going to see around foot traffic, which is a
concern right now, Patrick, are you seeing any foot traffic
impact because of what has been happening, you know, from
all this tariff garbage.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I think that some of the tariff data needs a
little little time to live in the world. We've not
seen anything terribly dramatic or drastic. The observation I would
make is we're watching a lot more people do first
party delivering, you know, basically come in this pick it
up themselves. I think that that's a fairly consistent theme,
even COVID and pre COVID that I've seen in the
(17:37):
industry before. That's sort of our I don't want to
say Canary and the coal mine, the other thing we're
watching right now is the tips going back through our
partners and saying, you know, in my experience, that's one
of those things that starts to go from a twenty
percent to an eighteen percent, maybe back to fifteen percent.
And it's not a it's not a science thing pulling
in my mind, but it's just something that I can
(17:59):
use with my board as well as growth and expansion
kind of mindset to say, Okay, what where is the
discount versus the value versus the experience? How do we
move those buckets around to make sure we're still seeing traffic.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Well, And we'll get to culture in a second, but
I'm kind of curious. I'm going to stay on service
model for a minute. So because you're mentioning, you know,
the tip side of things. If you look at the
service model, it's an order at the counter, but you
guys run the food out. How does that work? Okay?
So if I'm ordering in Orlando, I go to Orlando
(18:32):
and I want to get in on a frozen margarita,
do I order it then? And what if I wanted
another one? You know? So because of the model, the
way it's set, it's not really server based how do
you guys manage that?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And that's the that's the novel thing I think you
mentioned earlier about kind of bleeding more into casual dime
at our around the bar environment, the service model the
restaurants completely changes. So while you're right, you can go in,
you go make your order at the counter, we give
you a number, and then we we do our hospitality
at the table. You know, leave your mess, we'll pick
it up. But around the bar envelope in the line
(19:05):
two point zero, it's full service.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh wow, okay, we've got This is interesting because now
your flex casual, it's become kind of a combo. So
do I still order at the counter? You can?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
And you know, oftentimes when someone's new to line, kind
of my first question I hate is like, hey, you know,
when's the last time you went to line? Or the
conversation that happens to the door typically is welcome on
how much time do you have right, I've got to
go to soccer practice or I've gone I've got some
time to kill whatever, and saying well tell you what,
let me take car of you at the bar oah
(19:40):
with that, and so that that's kind of the evolution
people with time.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I love that, and that is really Good's that's I
haven't seen that in concept yet where they're worried about
the consumer's you know, time allocation, which is true, that's
a big one.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, I almost wonder how that is the ultimate next
level full service, right, Well, you're dealing, we can we
can support you at eve unbelievable, really cool.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Well, and I feel like that really connects. And this
is something we've talked about before a lot on this show,
is this disconnect in hospitality, you know, since COVID, since
the pandemic, and this is proven by data. I hear
it from all the CEOs that come on the show.
Is there's been this drop in consumer expectation of hospitality
(20:27):
from restaurants, meaning we don't even expect good hospitality anymore.
As a consumer. You go in expecting to get crappy service,
which is terrible for the industry. Yeah, so for somebody
that will deliver good service and then has good food too,
you know, I think that actually, which is so ironic
to say that Rudy is going to be differentiated.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Right if the food's incredible, that Margarito's kick, right, and
all of a sudden we get service as well.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, bingo, Yeah, that's right, which which I think is there? Wow? Yeah,
well and Lime has that. You know. Fortunately I get
a chance to go over there quite a bit, so
I know I would still call it one of the
best fast casual experiences that is out there from a
especially from a hospitality standpoint. Servers are always, you know,
(21:19):
very nice. I mean it's so cool. They'll come to you.
They bring those those chips and salsa. I can just
taste them right now. I'm going to Line for lunch.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Patrick, are you cheaping this right?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
This is the chips and sauce are amazing at Line.
You got to get a big bag, a big bowl
of chips and salsa in their guack. It comes out
nicely presented. They're always smiling, you know what. Yeah, it's
the best thing. You know, it's the best thing. Let's
talk about digital marketing before we get into culture. What
are you guys doing anything specific around this? You mentioned
(21:53):
first party is picking up for you guys. Does that
change your strategy around third party?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
I know it doesn't to answer your your third party strategy.
We're actually kind of in a moment of renaissance. When
I when I encountered the brand and was asked to
take the helm. The previous leadership had already developed an app,
first party app, and it has to be honest, been
very underwhelming in terms of that experience. So we find
(22:20):
ourselves what the what what I encountered was the team
had built just a digital cash register, you know, like
an app that would just take your money. So we
are on We're on a listening tour right now on
capital l loyalty, and I've listened to a couple of podcasts.
I love the one on gen Z by the way, Paul,
So that's that's spot on and trying to activate. What
(22:43):
really gets the shaping the customer is is that that
balance between trying to land that hospitality UH in a
way that's personal, right, and loyalty is certainly a part
of that. It could show behavior. So right now we've
got a we have an app, but we don't have
we through the door backwards. We need a loyalty program
that looks like, you know, a marketplace. Right now, we
(23:05):
just have a place. And so I've got we've got
some discovery with punch Olo and a few others, okay,
and so that'll be a relaunch between now and the
end of the year, I believe, I think we.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
May see a lot of companies. Rudy, have you seen many?
I know we've talked to a lot of guys who
are in the middle of relaunching their loyalty programs of
recent I don't know if there's been a stagnation of
loyalty members that's caused this, but it's interesting that you
say that, Patrick, have you seen more, Rudy.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Well, what I'm seeing I think I think the bulls
I will word you just yet, and I'm sorry to
say this is stagnation.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
We think there is a rush to build apps, loyalty
apps that are built on the same model, and I
don't frankly think it's the right model. I frequency to
get points as opposed to think thank you for being here,
and how do we build the service, the quality, the decor,
(24:07):
the just every touch point that celebrates frequency.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
You go.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I'll tell you what, Patrick, this is a This is
a tip for you. Is we study this a lot.
Within our investment company, Saber Capital. We look at tech,
so we invest in startup tech and one of the
areas that we're working on right now, we've got a
couple of companies that we're looking to invest in their
their app builders and one of them, I won't mention
(24:37):
their name, but i'll mention a derivative product. And they've
created this gamification inside the app. And if you go,
I don't know if you're Robinhood user, but if you
are not, go use Robinhood. Sign up for it. It's
an investing app. But the reason is is because Robinhood
has a program called robin Hood Goal. And the way
(25:00):
it works is you pay five bucks a month. I
have yet to see a restaurant do this, okay, is
to actually get a membership program that creates more value
into whether it's special offers, all sorts of but anyway,
they do it, and it feels though you're paying them,
you as the customer, are paying Robinhood for Robinhood Gold,
(25:22):
but you get so many perks that to me, I'm like,
this should be more expensive than five dollars a month,
you know, And the reason is belonging to create this gamification.
It feels so much more personalized than any other banking
app I use. I'm telling you, if we get this
in the food industry, people will notice. People will notice.
(25:46):
I haven't seen it, yet so it'll be fun to watch.
What about culture, let's talk about that because obviously with
the shift in team structure, I should say, but from
the top, the refocused now on franchising the franchisees you have.
How are you guys addressing kind of that challenging and
(26:09):
turbulent time that you've gone through now and readdressing growth
from here from a culture standpoint.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
No, it's I think that is the question. We did it.
We are doing it rather in two ways. First of which,
four years ago encountered the brand that had no way
to talk about the future innovation and food cycles. So
we worked over two years, traveled all over the country,
and we renovated overs thirty six percent of our menu.
(26:35):
We just launched all of our what I call the
one whole line project. This is a sidebar, but we
renovated the menu and drilled out thirteen new items of
the menu that are now permanently associated there. It's fun,
fun bunny trail. But that was the beginning of the
genesis for our partners, both current in the future to
talk about the future. There was a stagnation within the brand.
(26:57):
The second pillar that we're moving forward and go with
me I'm a little bit of a cheese bawl when
it comes to stuff like this is something that I've
I'm building and we're building as lime lime moments, living
intentional moments exceptionally. So rolling out the lime moments for
us is the second pillar, and it goes to Rudy
(27:19):
our conversation earlier about the culture about how it's supposed
to feel. There is something about lime fresh in Miami
roots that experiential and oftentimes in the transactional world we
live in, that's forgotten. And so we're building the what
what I'm building as the reason, what is the reason
(27:40):
that somebody comes back to us, be it digital or otherwise. Well,
we think that living intentional moments exceptionally can happen anywhere
and when when they're when the guests is coming to us.
That's also a little bit of a sales pitch to
incoming partners and that filter, Rudy, you and I were
talking about before and saying, you know, how how do
they them selves live their lives, their business lives, the
(28:02):
decisions and the filters, and so it's an exciting time
to take both of those and try to start the
growth engine again.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
God, I love that so much. Patrick. Earlier we were talking,
you know, with the addition of your bar service and
this customized fast casual, full service feel. Historically we've looked at, oh,
what's the menu, you know, what's the food, what's the beverage,
what's the decor, what's the service? That's it, right, that's
(28:33):
the whole package. But what's always struck me historically is
because of those aspects, there is a fourth dimension. Right.
The third dimension is the square footage and the buildout,
but the fourth dimension is how do I feel? How
am I engaged? And it's always been intriguing to me
(28:55):
with this word hospitality that we play with the actually
the root of the word restaurant is a place one
goes to be restored, and that is so beyond hospital right,
that is that is the vibe. Right, I leave better
that I came in. Wow.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Okay, So so I love it. Yeah, I think Patrick,
you've got Okay, so you have franchisees there accepting. Who's
the guy that runs the Pembroke is his name Nick?
I've met him multiple times, real nice guy kid. How
(29:35):
was his feedback because he's been a long time, I
mean he's gone through John Conkle and many of the
diriction the revisions of Lime over the years. What was
his feedback as a franchise e to you guys around
this culture shift that you're in the middle of.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
It's it's a great question. I found the two franchise
groups very I think scared to you a word. They
knew that they wanted innovation and renovation, not only cosmetically,
so all of our restaurants now look like Li'm Fresh
two point zero from a from renovated perspective, but also
from a menu and value. You know, there are a
(30:13):
lot of the discussions around Sacred Cows that we've always
done it this way, And so stood up a process
with my team to kind of go through just a
menu innovation process and that took two years. And the
outcome of that was bringing the franchise partner along with Nick,
along with them, bringing the partners and including them in
the journey about PMIX, costing, MSRPs, all the things that
(30:35):
have to happen when menu happens, and then giving them
the opportunity to genuinely give us feedback as a franchise
or was that was tough in terms of the exchange,
But we've healed a lot of the I think of
the that's good.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, well, I think you know, anytime you have a
legacy franchise system that has seen the wars, Okay, they've
seen all of the issues with brands, and when you
have a re you know, kind of a reboot like
what Lime is going through now, sometimes they don't believe it,
you know, because you're exactly Sometimes they just don't believe it.
(31:10):
Can we rebuild that culture, that that panache that the
brand once had. Yeah, So kudos to you guys, because
I think I think you're onto something. I like the
expansion of the beverage side of it. I think that's
going to be a new differentiator for you. I like
this flex on the service side. I think that's going
(31:32):
to continue your hospitality move for sure. And I like
the fact that you guys are getting back in the
franchising business. So I'm going to give you a B
minus right now until I see proof love it.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Lime at the top, Well, my score is a little
bit higher because you actually walk into your talk. Dude,
You're walking your talk and what I I want to
celebrate this podcast at the top, one of the tops
of our list of here you know, here's every touch
(32:10):
point from the fiscal management to the people management, to
the build out to the touch points and that feeling right,
you're holding it all and when anybody is talking about
culture or brand, you know, we we default to all
the there's ice being filled up in the the service Barther,
(32:35):
sorry about that. But the opportunity that every one of
those touch points with the people as well as the numbers,
that is culture, That is brand. I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I like it. Patrick. All right, let's talk about one
last thing before we let you go. Trends. You guys
are watching what the market is doing. Obviously with all
these new innovations that you're you're within line. How are
you addressing the Gen Z audience, the little bit younger
consumer that's starting to kind of direct where mom and
dad eat and this blend of the millennium because between
(33:13):
those two that is pretty much the restaurant industry future
right now. Yeah, So how are you guys addressing because
this is a big dynamic change from Gen X and boomer,
big dynamic change both on menu, appetite frequency, all those things.
How do you guys go about it?
Speaker 3 (33:30):
I'll break it down by generations if you will. For
the millennial type to take the brand from twenty one years.
We want to continue to index on experience, and so
we've got some very exciting upcoming partnerships. Some brands you
know that are Florida based. Tabanniro, a hot sauce company
that's based on Actually we're moving forward a partnership with them
(33:51):
to give mom or Dad some additional flavors and injections.
I'm proud to say that we're going to be launching
a retail collaboration with a company called the State of Graditude.
State of Gratitude is fiction recovery and proceeds. Go for it.
It's a great story, but a lot of three suffers.
Some of those comploit those those comportments are those those
potential issues of recovery, and so the in the millennial way,
(34:13):
you're going to watch the brand evolve to kind of
get reconnected into roots that doesn't necessarily always look like
food for the gen zers. This is why I think
loyalty and the digital landscape is so very important as
we go on our faith walk, so to speak, and
really kind of determine that's the one that I think
I'm still got the question mark around my head for
and playing where it is that they want to be
(34:35):
met as consumers. And you know, we grew up in
the food industry and we've watched in COVID times the
preponderance of third party when the strangers, the livers deliver
strange food, it's kind of a strange outcome in terms
of third party delivery exactly. I think advancing the notion
of how to put that hospitality first person back in
(34:55):
a digital component. Yes, everyone remembers birthdays, and yes you
get extra points if you buy said and said, but
that's the that's where I really want us to continue
to index our time on the gen Z gap to close.
If they're going to be a digital first frontier, a
way to get hospitality across on a computer screen, how
do we do that?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
And that's what well, I think the point you're hitting on.
First of all, kudos to you, because you're you're hitting
on the big area that is the largest question mark
in the restaurant industry, especially in fast casual right now,
is how does the restaurant industry translate hospitality really in
a digital first and digital native guest, which is really
(35:37):
the gen Z audience, because that that's truly the first
true digital native that we've we've encountered in our market,
you know, and now they're you know, they're now starting
to move into their earning years, you know, with the
youngest I think millennial or excuse me, gen Z around
twenty four, our oldest around twenty four, and the youngest
you know at you know, right now, around age six.
(35:58):
So you've got a large sector in there that is
going to be advancing quickly. I've got two of them,
and they drive the decision and not only of where
we're eating. I mean it's almost like every you know,
dinner night out is always trying to match up what
the boy and the girl want and that's always been
(36:20):
a problem. But I think, you know, the approach around
the digital side of things for hospitality is going to
be in trgue.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
One of the things, one of the things that I'm
appreciating about the dialogue Patrick, Bravo to you is I'm
hearing you know, these four very distinct categories and you
describe them in their uniqueness, so bravo. And at the
same time, there's a flow through from beginning to end
(36:49):
to each one that connects and what for the listening audience,
the viewing audience. What a great less you just gave
us about Yeah, look at these pillars uniquely at the
same time, what's the flow through?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, good deal. Yeah, listen, we're gonna we're gonna check
back with Lime Fresh again. We're gonna find out what
you guys are doing on your scorecard. We're going to
bring that us up. What was your score there, Rudy,
would you give it? You gave it a minus or
a bold?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
I would go to a strong A minus. Man. I
think Patrick's anything.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Over a B is fantastic in our show.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
I appreciate just just you wait, we'll get you.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Wait, we're coming, baby, bring it, bring it on. I
like it. Yeah, absolutely, Patrick, thanks so much for coming
in on the show today. We appreciate If you guys
haven't checked out Lime Fresh, make sure and go visit
them on their website. Very simple, just Lime Fresh, Mexican grill.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
And and for those of us on the West coast,
it's worth a plane trip.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Joah, come on.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Miami's great this time of year. Yeah exactly, this is
This has been great, great time and great share, great
great to learn and listen to.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
So thank you both you bet, thank you Patrick for
coming in we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
On you guys, all right, to see.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
You later appreciate it guess all right.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
So excellent stuff there with Patrick. Amazing. I love to
see brands like Lime and others who are in kind
of that reboot phase right now, and especially in fast
casual where you get you know, kind of this next
generation of maybe understanding hospitality. They do it really well
just because of the experience side of things. They have
a little bit of a cheat code going right now. Rudy, Well,
(38:40):
I would agree, and Paul.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
One of the things that I loved about our guest today,
what Patrick is sitting with my experience was in what
I'll is no doubt a really challenging time in our
history and for our industry, this guy shows up with
pure not just hope, but optimism and focus to step
(39:04):
into every opportunity mix right.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
It's just the he said some interesting things. First party.
Really focusing in on first party because of the dynamic
shift that we're seeing, We're going to get more operators
on the show, guys, for all of you watching or
listening right now, because I think this is a big
question this year is first party third party? How do
you create an engaging app that can deliver hospitality in
(39:30):
some way. So as we start, we're doing a lot
of deep dives on restaurants and brands out there right
now and casual dining, fine dining, fast casual to really
find out what you guys are up to. If you
have an idea for the show, make sure and reach
out to producer at Saber dot fm. That'll reach our
producers and if you want to join in let us know.
(39:51):
We always love that. You can always comment down below
here on the YouTube channel. If you're listening on the
audio podcast right now, maybe you're running a or something,
sure and just hit a little Star or alike on
whichever podcast app you're using. Rudy, it was always good
seeing you.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Great man, see you soon.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
We'll catch you guys.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Everybody thank you
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Right here on the Masterminds podcast
We are back here on the Restaurant Masterminds podcast, and
joining me, of course, is mister Rudy Mick. And today
we have a special guest for you. It's going to
be talking fresh Mechs and the future of fast casual. Rudy,
how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I am so good and I'm so excited for our
guest today.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Man, that's going to be a good one. We've got
Patrick coming in from Line Fresh. And I think when
you look at in general what's been going on with
this space, I think fresh Mechs in general. First of all,
you know all no pun intended. But when I wrote
the book Chipotle Effect, it was looking at the fresh
(00:38):
Mechs space and the explosion at that time. This was
what twelve years ago, and one of the things that
I put in that book was the connection to the
modern day consumer. And I still think fresh mes is
probably the one sector in fast casual that connects better
than anyone when it comes to the kind of this
next generation consumer. So we're going to break it down
(00:59):
for sure. It's gonna be a good episode. Rudy rock On.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Man who doesn't love fresh Mes?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I like it. We'll be right back. My name is
(01:31):
Paul Baron as the early pioneer in fast casual I've
seen the industry evolve from just a few operators to
the most sought after segment by consumers around the world.
Now we're planning to shape its future. Tap into decades
of my expertise identifying the emerging brands and tech winners
(01:51):
in the space. Saber Capital will be fueling the next
generation of fast casual innovation. All right, Joining us today,
of course, is mister Patrick Forhr coming in from Lime Fresh,
right out of Miami, Florida. How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I'm doing great, Thanks guys, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Hey, listen, it's been good to have you on the show.
I'll flip you up here on the top billing. And
first of all, for some of our audience, I think
most everybody knows who Lime Fresh. They were one of
the first players in the fresh mechs space outside of
Baja Fresh and Chipotle. I would say to Lime is
one of the icons of the industry. It's been around.
(02:33):
You know, we've had some changes with Lime Fresh and
its ownership and it's kind of its whole cycle. Tell
us where Lime Fresh is today, size, how the business
has specked out, all that good stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Absolutely, and again thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Guys.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Lime is alive and well. As you mentioned, it's a
twenty one year old brand being based out of South Beach.
The original store is still in our system. What a story.
It's an honor to help lead after my your tenure
here as the CEO, and I think what the future
of Lime Fresh looks like is innovative and experiential. Our
(03:09):
headquarters is officially in Orlando, Florida, and there we have
what we call Lime Fresh two point zero. If you've
not had a chance to see the see and eat
all the way through it, it is a I think
it would be what the brand would have evolved to.
Miami energy influence was still going to be concurrent to
(03:29):
think fresh fresh plants, live fresh plants, think about indoor
being inside or outdoor.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Our outdoor patio elements some of that Miami energy that
transfer as well, curated playlists, and we've introduced a full
bar program, so each of the Lime Thresh restaurants that
will be growing, enfranchise and growing forward is going to
have a full ball, full bar program to benefit. It's
been a fantastic incubations both of those stores are between
(04:00):
two and three years old. The bar contribution is an
excess of twenty percent of sales. So we've got We'll say,
I mixologists would love this as a SoundBite and say
we've got all the Miami vibe without the Miami vibe
prices in our cocktails, and so would love to swing kick.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
All I get well, I got to we have a
lot to unpack about that when you look at Okay,
so when you mentioned full bar, this is something that
we've seen a handful of you know, fast casual start
to move to. Most of the time it's been beer
and wine. A handful have started to move to full bar.
How much of a transition was that, both for the
franchise community but also for you know, corporate operations.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
To be clear, the existing franchise community still runs off
of a normal beer and.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Wine ice, regular beer and wine.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, correct, So you can still get our strong marderitas.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
What stores will have full bar?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Where were those two company owned stores in Orlando have
a full bar program east coast or east side of town,
the area called Lake Nona and then over by Disney
we're on Disney property. Both of those stores represent with
the future of the program, the Line Fresh program including
rights we'll go to and we are evaluating currently two
(05:13):
locations that are legacy locations with my franchise ease to
convert into that full bar program. They have to be
a certain square footage. I'm sure I'm gonna telling anything
you guys don't already know.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, I was gonna say, as size wise, it's probably
changing the footprint up a little bit. Is it going
to make them larger than a typical line is now.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know VPPR here in Florida changing the regulations or
right around COVID where it used to be, you know,
a certain twenty five hundred square foot, a certain p mix,
and a certain seat count. They actually lowered that threshold
so we can actually run into a space as small
as two thousand square feet, which is roughly the footprint
of most, if not all of our stores at this point.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
What I love with with this dialogue, Patrick, is I'm
hearing that you're doing R and D through the corporates,
the corporate owned stores, no risk to the franchise community.
Prove the concept, roll it out, bravo to you. There's
(06:11):
another culture.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I wonder how much of how much in terms of
sales lift that might look like. In my research, I
was looking at you guys's growth trajectory, and I don't
know if this is correct, but is it one hundred
and fifty billion? What are one hundred? What's what is
the by twenty twenty what we'll see from you guys,
any any potential growth projections? Now with the new bar
(06:34):
segment coming in right, I was.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
We were just having a little pre precession called chat
back and forth with with Rudy. We are and this
is just sort of an environment. We're relaunching our franchising
sales program, okay, and it's not yet live. That's one
of the reasons I'm here in Miami. Oh nice International
Franchise Association. The trade show that's just down the road
from web now, so exciting time. And that will be
(06:59):
the vehicle by which we grow is two point zero
and that that's that's the value proposition. Looking at the
p mix and look at some of the some of
the novel and nuanced cocktails that we're putting together, it's
fun to be in the space. And I think you're right.
I think other other fast casuals are coming to this party.
I don't know whether it's early. I don't know whether
it's late. All I can tell you is it's alive
(07:20):
and well and we enjoy being an incubator. I think
it is wise for a franchise or to take some
of those early risks. Yeah, to do risk the obvious.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I talked with an operator in Dallas a few months back,
and you know, he's been in the space of offering
full bar to his He is it's called village burger bar.
But what he was explaining to me is in the
beginning he said it was still an uplift in overall sales,
but he said, just by offering the full bar, it
has created a new clientele base for them that they
(07:52):
weren't getting to. And now, you know, an average village
burger bar. When it was beer and wine, we're doing
and two point four two point seven, he's saying now
that they're they're bumping four million on AUV. And he
says it's two reasons. One, the bar itself has created
a new revenue center, a whole new you know, right,
(08:13):
But it's also created new day parts for them they
didn't have, which is like the evening which in most
fast casuals it's not the biggest day part. Now with
the right kind of menu, maybe uh Fresh, maybe live
Fresh will become the hot spot.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Renovating a one year old brand has certainly been an honor.
It has been a challenge. It's never a dull moment,
right Rudy in the culture wars and so I think
that there's there's there's room for that, and it's great
to hear that there there are other models moving the
same way.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, what is intriguing to me is you can't sell
it if you don't have it right. And and to
Paul's point, you're opening up a whole another day part
potentially and certainly broadening, broadening the demographic and psychographic of
the guest, still within the same culture. So bravo.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
They got a happy hour running in Orlando right now.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And you know this four to six. Obviously with the
bar only, we looked at rebuilding this design. Was it
was it a major was it a major capital expert
to be able to flip the stores to where they
could do a full bar.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It can be done for fifty k or less. Well,
it comes down to is the engineering. You guys are
a restaurant guys. You know that that's the biggest challenge,
and that's probably the heaviest lift in terms of the capitol.
That is just you know, a fairly small bar can
end up accommodating between twelve and eighteen seats. That feels
right in a space of our square footage where it's
(09:53):
not an overwhelming presence. Some of our competitors have kind
of this, it's a bar. And then by the way,
we share tacos, sexy food, sexy cocktails, right, And I
constantly talk to my team about the you know, the
fact that Instagram and and TikTok have had on our food.
But we've got to people when people eat with their eyes,
you know that bars is such a wonderful show piece.
(10:14):
So anyway, I'm not that expensive to answer your original question.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, and I think the key here is you're you're
starting to really tie into the millennial audience, which is,
you know, it's a big category. One thing I'm kind
of curious about when you look at building and Rudy
and you and I have talked about this before, building
menus around alcohol sales, and there is a little bit
of a flex toward these mocktails. Is there any plan
(10:42):
for going in that direction, or you'll have kind of
a balance of both.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
We actually feature five mocktails.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, all right, you're already on it, man, you're way
ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
No, No, it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
The interesting thing is is we had that hypothesis two
years ago, landed them on on the menu. They're actually
very products. They're not moving. Uh. The margaritas are our
category killer. We have five or six different and anybody
wants the everybody wants the Cadillact. That's of course. Yeah,
(11:14):
it's an interesting scenario and I think it's it. Is
it the veto vote? Is it because we don't have
a mocktail? I don't think so, because because Agua Frescos
and make them something fresh? But yeah, we're going to
keep them there though.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
What I what I love is you have the offer
and you can see where the p mix is going
to go with it, right, and so it's there as
I'm listening to you, Patrick, and in the whole conversation,
the kind to me, the point is we're adding value.
Here's one more reason to show up, and you can
(11:49):
count on the quality and the diversity of it if
you choose right it's really cool, really smart, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Well, I think the key is is your you know,
you're plugging into an audience that is is tuned in
to kind of just more experiential dining, which is something
we've you know, we've talked about here on fast casual.
There's not enough of that out there in this sector.
It's usually more utilitarian, meaning I'm going there to just
get food, launch dinner or whatever it might be. But
(12:19):
the minute that and that's the thing I think that
I would say that the Lime experience, if you've never
been to a Lime Fresh patio, it is a different
kind of experience in fast casual. You're it's so relaxing.
I mean, we take our kids there, they're you know,
hanging out, chilling, watching their iPads doing whatever. They see
their friends there. It's almost like a little community gathering.
(12:41):
And I have found that that is they prefer that
now much more over Chipotle, which is very rarely a
patio experience, you know, so huge difference. Are you going
to continue to keep the patio on the design?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
No doubt? That is a huge brand pillar for us.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yeah, well, I mean you've got it, you know, here
in Florida, it's the you know, it's the perfect patio
concepts out there. What about franchising when you when you
expand outside of Florida, what's the what's the big trajectory there?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
You know, I think the brand was strong in several
states when owned by our predecessor, and I think that
one of the things that should continue is this this place,
the sense of place that is Miami. And as we
start to stand up our sales program, we start to
talk about the brand in two point zero term. I
think that there's some there is a there's a fabric
(13:32):
in Miami that people are interested and part of that
is the lifestyle. Part of that is I think, you know,
and I'm grateful to you for bringing up the patio,
is that inside out? You know I've talked to I
think I talked about at the top being able to
kind of bring this sense of place in Miami, windwood walls,
the fun activities, South Beach, and be able to transport
that into other states. You know, as we grow, I'm
(13:52):
all about responsible growth and slow growth is growth, which
is good. It helps my team. We're a small, small
team of leaders now kind of get their their feet
wet and moving forward. But those elements that the bar
program in patio were certainly going to be something that
we'll we'll look at it and we may you know,
the landscape in real estate is always a challenge. We
may miss a few opportunities because that patio really is
(14:16):
part of our bunch.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, that's the that is a hard spot to find
the right location. I mean, if you look at your
you know, your gardens location or even I haven't been
to the one over off of University. Is that unit
still open?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yes, yeah, the University right across from Smash Burger, Yes
or not Smash five guys, yeah, five guys. Yeah, that's
another that's a huge patio on that at that location.
Haven't been over there much, but man it can house
a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
It was crazy on Cinco. Cinco was Monday, and we're
just kind of getting over that. So that patio, the
weather came through, kind of wiped everything out, It moved through,
the DJs came back out, they put the kids back in.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
But yeah, South Florida, you know it's right in the end.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, I want to come back to a point you
made a few minutes ago about here's this fresh mechs
fast casual segment. Right. But what I'm actually listening or
hearing as I'm Patrick just enjoying the dialogue, especially with
you both down in Miami and have a big smiles
(15:23):
with this. You're creating with your concept, a restaurant experience
that happens to be fast casual in design. Right. But Paul,
as I'm listening to you, your kids are hanging out,
they want to play, right, It's not food as fuel,
(15:43):
It's not kind of one step down from a traditional
restaurant experience. It is a restaurant. What I'm hearing is
is we have experience that happens to be fast casual. Right.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Really connect that, yeah, you and I have talked about this,
uh Rudy, is that this connection to especially from a millennial.
Millennials want more experiences, you know, because listen, let's accept it.
You know, there's a lot of them that probably will
may have a challenge on buying a home, you know,
(16:21):
because of the economic condition. They're looking for other outlets,
and when a restaurant can start to provide those kind
of outlets, especially one in the fast casual space, which
is I will say is much more zoned in from
a economic you know, side of things. And then if
you add bar, you're almost bringing in casual dining, but
(16:42):
doing it at a at an area where you know,
an average millennial that's making fifty to sixty K is
easily going to be able to you know, feed a
family of four and have a really good time and
experience in there. So it I think it hits the
market right now with the economic conditions. What's happening, you
know in the United States right now around spending, what
(17:03):
we're going to see around foot traffic, which is a
concern right now, Patrick, are you seeing any foot traffic
impact because of what has been happening, you know, from
all this tariff garbage.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I think that some of the tariff data needs a
little little time to live in the world. We've not
seen anything terribly dramatic or drastic. The observation I would
make is we're watching a lot more people do first
party delivering, you know, basically come in this pick it
up themselves. I think that that's a fairly consistent theme,
even COVID and pre COVID that I've seen in the
(17:37):
industry before. That's sort of our I don't want to
say Canary and the coal mine, the other thing we're
watching right now is the tips going back through our
partners and saying, you know, in my experience, that's one
of those things that starts to go from a twenty
percent to an eighteen percent, maybe back to fifteen percent.
And it's not a it's not a science thing pulling
in my mind, but it's just something that I can
(17:59):
use with my board as well as growth and expansion
kind of mindset to say, Okay, what where is the
discount versus the value versus the experience? How do we
move those buckets around to make sure we're still seeing traffic.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Well, And we'll get to culture in a second, but
I'm kind of curious. I'm going to stay on service
model for a minute. So because you're mentioning, you know,
the tip side of things. If you look at the
service model, it's an order at the counter, but you
guys run the food out. How does that work? Okay?
So if I'm ordering in Orlando, I go to Orlando
(18:32):
and I want to get in on a frozen margarita,
do I order it then? And what if I wanted
another one? You know? So because of the model, the
way it's set, it's not really server based how do
you guys manage that?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And that's the that's the novel thing I think you
mentioned earlier about kind of bleeding more into casual dime
at our around the bar environment, the service model the
restaurants completely changes. So while you're right, you can go in,
you go make your order at the counter, we give
you a number, and then we we do our hospitality
at the table. You know, leave your mess, we'll pick
it up. But around the bar envelope in the line
(19:05):
two point zero, it's full service.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh wow, okay, we've got This is interesting because now
your flex casual, it's become kind of a combo. So
do I still order at the counter? You can?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
And you know, oftentimes when someone's new to line, kind
of my first question I hate is like, hey, you know,
when's the last time you went to line? Or the
conversation that happens to the door typically is welcome on
how much time do you have right, I've got to
go to soccer practice or I've gone I've got some
time to kill whatever, and saying well tell you what,
let me take car of you at the bar oah
(19:40):
with that, and so that that's kind of the evolution
people with time.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I love that, and that is really Good's that's I
haven't seen that in concept yet where they're worried about
the consumer's you know, time allocation, which is true, that's
a big one.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, I almost wonder how that is the ultimate next
level full service, right, Well, you're dealing, we can we
can support you at eve unbelievable, really cool.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Well, and I feel like that really connects. And this
is something we've talked about before a lot on this show,
is this disconnect in hospitality, you know, since COVID, since
the pandemic, and this is proven by data. I hear
it from all the CEOs that come on the show.
Is there's been this drop in consumer expectation of hospitality
(20:27):
from restaurants, meaning we don't even expect good hospitality anymore.
As a consumer. You go in expecting to get crappy service,
which is terrible for the industry. Yeah, so for somebody
that will deliver good service and then has good food too,
you know, I think that actually, which is so ironic
to say that Rudy is going to be differentiated.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Right if the food's incredible, that Margarito's kick, right, and
all of a sudden we get service as well.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, bingo, Yeah, that's right, which which I think is there? Wow? Yeah,
well and Lime has that. You know. Fortunately I get
a chance to go over there quite a bit, so
I know I would still call it one of the
best fast casual experiences that is out there from a
especially from a hospitality standpoint. Servers are always, you know,
(21:19):
very nice. I mean it's so cool. They'll come to you.
They bring those those chips and salsa. I can just
taste them right now. I'm going to Line for lunch.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Patrick, are you cheaping this right?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
This is the chips and sauce are amazing at Line.
You got to get a big bag, a big bowl
of chips and salsa in their guack. It comes out
nicely presented. They're always smiling, you know what. Yeah, it's
the best thing. You know, it's the best thing. Let's
talk about digital marketing before we get into culture. What
are you guys doing anything specific around this? You mentioned
(21:53):
first party is picking up for you guys. Does that
change your strategy around third party?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
I know it doesn't to answer your your third party strategy.
We're actually kind of in a moment of renaissance. When
I when I encountered the brand and was asked to
take the helm. The previous leadership had already developed an app,
first party app, and it has to be honest, been
very underwhelming in terms of that experience. So we find
(22:20):
ourselves what the what what I encountered was the team
had built just a digital cash register, you know, like
an app that would just take your money. So we
are on We're on a listening tour right now on
capital l loyalty, and I've listened to a couple of podcasts.
I love the one on gen Z by the way, Paul,
So that's that's spot on and trying to activate. What
(22:43):
really gets the shaping the customer is is that that
balance between trying to land that hospitality UH in a
way that's personal, right, and loyalty is certainly a part
of that. It could show behavior. So right now we've
got a we have an app, but we don't have
we through the door backwards. We need a loyalty program
that looks like, you know, a marketplace. Right now, we
(23:05):
just have a place. And so I've got we've got
some discovery with punch Olo and a few others, okay,
and so that'll be a relaunch between now and the
end of the year, I believe, I think we.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
May see a lot of companies. Rudy, have you seen many?
I know we've talked to a lot of guys who
are in the middle of relaunching their loyalty programs of
recent I don't know if there's been a stagnation of
loyalty members that's caused this, but it's interesting that you
say that, Patrick, have you seen more, Rudy.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Well, what I'm seeing I think I think the bulls
I will word you just yet, and I'm sorry to
say this is stagnation.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
We think there is a rush to build apps, loyalty
apps that are built on the same model, and I
don't frankly think it's the right model. I frequency to
get points as opposed to think thank you for being here,
and how do we build the service, the quality, the decor,
(24:07):
the just every touch point that celebrates frequency.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
You go.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I'll tell you what, Patrick, this is a This is
a tip for you. Is we study this a lot.
Within our investment company, Saber Capital. We look at tech,
so we invest in startup tech and one of the
areas that we're working on right now, we've got a
couple of companies that we're looking to invest in their
their app builders and one of them, I won't mention
(24:37):
their name, but i'll mention a derivative product. And they've
created this gamification inside the app. And if you go,
I don't know if you're Robinhood user, but if you
are not, go use Robinhood. Sign up for it. It's
an investing app. But the reason is is because Robinhood
has a program called robin Hood Goal. And the way
(25:00):
it works is you pay five bucks a month. I
have yet to see a restaurant do this, okay, is
to actually get a membership program that creates more value
into whether it's special offers, all sorts of but anyway,
they do it, and it feels though you're paying them,
you as the customer, are paying Robinhood for Robinhood Gold,
(25:22):
but you get so many perks that to me, I'm like,
this should be more expensive than five dollars a month,
you know, And the reason is belonging to create this gamification.
It feels so much more personalized than any other banking
app I use. I'm telling you, if we get this
in the food industry, people will notice. People will notice.
(25:46):
I haven't seen it, yet so it'll be fun to watch.
What about culture, let's talk about that because obviously with
the shift in team structure, I should say, but from
the top, the refocused now on franchising the franchisees you have.
How are you guys addressing kind of that challenging and
(26:09):
turbulent time that you've gone through now and readdressing growth
from here from a culture standpoint.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
No, it's I think that is the question. We did it.
We are doing it rather in two ways. First of which,
four years ago encountered the brand that had no way
to talk about the future innovation and food cycles. So
we worked over two years, traveled all over the country,
and we renovated overs thirty six percent of our menu.
(26:35):
We just launched all of our what I call the
one whole line project. This is a sidebar, but we
renovated the menu and drilled out thirteen new items of
the menu that are now permanently associated there. It's fun,
fun bunny trail. But that was the beginning of the
genesis for our partners, both current in the future to
talk about the future. There was a stagnation within the brand.
(26:57):
The second pillar that we're moving forward and go with
me I'm a little bit of a cheese bawl when
it comes to stuff like this is something that I've
I'm building and we're building as lime lime moments, living
intentional moments exceptionally. So rolling out the lime moments for
us is the second pillar, and it goes to Rudy
(27:19):
our conversation earlier about the culture about how it's supposed
to feel. There is something about lime fresh in Miami
roots that experiential and oftentimes in the transactional world we
live in, that's forgotten. And so we're building the what
what I'm building as the reason, what is the reason
(27:40):
that somebody comes back to us, be it digital or otherwise. Well,
we think that living intentional moments exceptionally can happen anywhere
and when when they're when the guests is coming to us.
That's also a little bit of a sales pitch to
incoming partners and that filter, Rudy, you and I were
talking about before and saying, you know, how how do
they them selves live their lives, their business lives, the
(28:02):
decisions and the filters, and so it's an exciting time
to take both of those and try to start the
growth engine again.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
God, I love that so much. Patrick. Earlier we were talking,
you know, with the addition of your bar service and
this customized fast casual, full service feel. Historically we've looked at, oh,
what's the menu, you know, what's the food, what's the beverage,
what's the decor, what's the service? That's it, right, that's
(28:33):
the whole package. But what's always struck me historically is
because of those aspects, there is a fourth dimension. Right.
The third dimension is the square footage and the buildout,
but the fourth dimension is how do I feel? How
am I engaged? And it's always been intriguing to me
(28:55):
with this word hospitality that we play with the actually
the root of the word restaurant is a place one
goes to be restored, and that is so beyond hospital right,
that is that is the vibe. Right, I leave better
that I came in. Wow.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Okay, So so I love it. Yeah, I think Patrick,
you've got Okay, so you have franchisees there accepting. Who's
the guy that runs the Pembroke is his name Nick?
I've met him multiple times, real nice guy kid. How
(29:35):
was his feedback because he's been a long time, I
mean he's gone through John Conkle and many of the
diriction the revisions of Lime over the years. What was
his feedback as a franchise e to you guys around
this culture shift that you're in the middle of.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
It's it's a great question. I found the two franchise
groups very I think scared to you a word. They
knew that they wanted innovation and renovation, not only cosmetically,
so all of our restaurants now look like Li'm Fresh
two point zero from a from renovated perspective, but also
from a menu and value. You know, there are a
(30:13):
lot of the discussions around Sacred Cows that we've always
done it this way, And so stood up a process
with my team to kind of go through just a
menu innovation process and that took two years. And the
outcome of that was bringing the franchise partner along with Nick,
along with them, bringing the partners and including them in
the journey about PMIX, costing, MSRPs, all the things that
(30:35):
have to happen when menu happens, and then giving them
the opportunity to genuinely give us feedback as a franchise
or was that was tough in terms of the exchange,
But we've healed a lot of the I think of
the that's good.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, well, I think you know, anytime you have a
legacy franchise system that has seen the wars, Okay, they've
seen all of the issues with brands, and when you
have a re you know, kind of a reboot like
what Lime is going through now, sometimes they don't believe it,
you know, because you're exactly Sometimes they just don't believe it.
(31:10):
Can we rebuild that culture, that that panache that the
brand once had. Yeah, So kudos to you guys, because
I think I think you're onto something. I like the
expansion of the beverage side of it. I think that's
going to be a new differentiator for you. I like
this flex on the service side. I think that's going
(31:32):
to continue your hospitality move for sure. And I like
the fact that you guys are getting back in the
franchising business. So I'm going to give you a B
minus right now until I see proof love it.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Lime at the top, Well, my score is a little
bit higher because you actually walk into your talk. Dude,
You're walking your talk and what I I want to
celebrate this podcast at the top, one of the tops
of our list of here you know, here's every touch
(32:10):
point from the fiscal management to the people management, to
the build out to the touch points and that feeling right,
you're holding it all and when anybody is talking about
culture or brand, you know, we we default to all
the there's ice being filled up in the the service Barther,
(32:35):
sorry about that. But the opportunity that every one of
those touch points with the people as well as the numbers,
that is culture, That is brand. I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I like it. Patrick. All right, let's talk about one
last thing before we let you go. Trends. You guys
are watching what the market is doing. Obviously with all
these new innovations that you're you're within line. How are
you addressing the Gen Z audience, the little bit younger
consumer that's starting to kind of direct where mom and
dad eat and this blend of the millennium because between
(33:13):
those two that is pretty much the restaurant industry future
right now. Yeah, So how are you guys addressing because
this is a big dynamic change from Gen X and boomer,
big dynamic change both on menu, appetite frequency, all those things.
How do you guys go about it?
Speaker 3 (33:30):
I'll break it down by generations if you will. For
the millennial type to take the brand from twenty one years.
We want to continue to index on experience, and so
we've got some very exciting upcoming partnerships. Some brands you
know that are Florida based. Tabanniro, a hot sauce company
that's based on Actually we're moving forward a partnership with them
(33:51):
to give mom or Dad some additional flavors and injections.
I'm proud to say that we're going to be launching
a retail collaboration with a company called the State of Graditude.
State of Gratitude is fiction recovery and proceeds. Go for it.
It's a great story, but a lot of three suffers.
Some of those comploit those those comportments are those those
potential issues of recovery, and so the in the millennial way,
(34:13):
you're going to watch the brand evolve to kind of
get reconnected into roots that doesn't necessarily always look like
food for the gen zers. This is why I think
loyalty and the digital landscape is so very important as
we go on our faith walk, so to speak, and
really kind of determine that's the one that I think
I'm still got the question mark around my head for
and playing where it is that they want to be
(34:35):
met as consumers. And you know, we grew up in
the food industry and we've watched in COVID times the
preponderance of third party when the strangers, the livers deliver
strange food, it's kind of a strange outcome in terms
of third party delivery exactly. I think advancing the notion
of how to put that hospitality first person back in
(34:55):
a digital component. Yes, everyone remembers birthdays, and yes you
get extra points if you buy said and said, but
that's the that's where I really want us to continue
to index our time on the gen Z gap to close.
If they're going to be a digital first frontier, a
way to get hospitality across on a computer screen, how
do we do that?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
And that's what well, I think the point you're hitting on.
First of all, kudos to you, because you're you're hitting
on the big area that is the largest question mark
in the restaurant industry, especially in fast casual right now,
is how does the restaurant industry translate hospitality really in
a digital first and digital native guest, which is really
(35:37):
the gen Z audience, because that that's truly the first
true digital native that we've we've encountered in our market,
you know, and now they're you know, they're now starting
to move into their earning years, you know, with the
youngest I think millennial or excuse me, gen Z around
twenty four, our oldest around twenty four, and the youngest
you know at you know, right now, around age six.
(35:58):
So you've got a large sector in there that is
going to be advancing quickly. I've got two of them,
and they drive the decision and not only of where
we're eating. I mean it's almost like every you know,
dinner night out is always trying to match up what
the boy and the girl want and that's always been
(36:20):
a problem. But I think, you know, the approach around
the digital side of things for hospitality is going to
be in trgue.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
One of the things, one of the things that I'm
appreciating about the dialogue Patrick, Bravo to you is I'm
hearing you know, these four very distinct categories and you
describe them in their uniqueness, so bravo. And at the
same time, there's a flow through from beginning to end
(36:49):
to each one that connects and what for the listening audience,
the viewing audience. What a great less you just gave
us about Yeah, look at these pillars uniquely at the
same time, what's the flow through?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, good deal. Yeah, listen, we're gonna we're gonna check
back with Lime Fresh again. We're gonna find out what
you guys are doing on your scorecard. We're going to
bring that us up. What was your score there, Rudy,
would you give it? You gave it a minus or
a bold?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
I would go to a strong A minus. Man. I
think Patrick's anything.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Over a B is fantastic in our show.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
I appreciate just just you wait, we'll get you.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Wait, we're coming, baby, bring it, bring it on. I
like it. Yeah, absolutely, Patrick, thanks so much for coming
in on the show today. We appreciate If you guys
haven't checked out Lime Fresh, make sure and go visit
them on their website. Very simple, just Lime Fresh, Mexican grill.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
And and for those of us on the West coast,
it's worth a plane trip.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Joah, come on.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Miami's great this time of year. Yeah exactly, this is
This has been great, great time and great share, great
great to learn and listen to.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
So thank you both you bet, thank you Patrick for
coming in we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
On you guys, all right, to see.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
You later appreciate it guess all right.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
So excellent stuff there with Patrick. Amazing. I love to
see brands like Lime and others who are in kind
of that reboot phase right now, and especially in fast
casual where you get you know, kind of this next
generation of maybe understanding hospitality. They do it really well
just because of the experience side of things. They have
a little bit of a cheat code going right now. Rudy, Well,
(38:40):
I would agree, and Paul.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
One of the things that I loved about our guest today,
what Patrick is sitting with my experience was in what
I'll is no doubt a really challenging time in our
history and for our industry, this guy shows up with
pure not just hope, but optimism and focus to step
(39:04):
into every opportunity mix right.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
It's just the he said some interesting things. First party.
Really focusing in on first party because of the dynamic
shift that we're seeing, We're going to get more operators
on the show, guys, for all of you watching or
listening right now, because I think this is a big
question this year is first party third party? How do
you create an engaging app that can deliver hospitality in
(39:30):
some way. So as we start, we're doing a lot
of deep dives on restaurants and brands out there right
now and casual dining, fine dining, fast casual to really
find out what you guys are up to. If you
have an idea for the show, make sure and reach
out to producer at Saber dot fm. That'll reach our
producers and if you want to join in let us know.
(39:51):
We always love that. You can always comment down below
here on the YouTube channel. If you're listening on the
audio podcast right now, maybe you're running a or something,
sure and just hit a little Star or alike on
whichever podcast app you're using. Rudy, it was always good
seeing you.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Great man, see you soon.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
We'll catch you guys.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Everybody thank you
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Right here on the Masterminds podcast
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