Greenlane: Healthy Drive-Thru Is The Future

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are back here on the Restaurant Mastermind podcast. Joining
me today, of course, is mister Rudy Mick, the culture Guru,
and none other than the Pink Stallion. Now now I
keep coming up with names for the Pink Room, and
that of course is miss Stacy Caine, our marketing guru

(00:21):
as well. How are you guys?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Fantastic?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
You're going good?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
You said it was really hot up there they see.
Is that what you're explaining?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Okay, yes, there is no air conditioning in my office
and I am in Baltimore, which is basically the temperature
of like someone's armpit right now is what it feels like.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, Well, we're gonna have some fun today because
we're going to be talking about gen Z kind of
the emerging capacity of how restaurant brands are going to
be dealing with some of the challenges. You guys do
not want to miss this one. We will be right back.

(01:25):
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. Saber Capital will be

(01:49):
fueling the next generation of fast casual innovation. All Right,
we're back here on the Mastermind podcast. We are going
to have some pretty cool guest here today. We've got
the founders and I guess co founders are maybe I
think it's co founders, Yeah, co founders and CEO Erica

(02:10):
Spector wens Wish now which I love that last name
of green Lane, and also Chris Kern, who is a
co founder of there and the president CEO President, And
we'll get into introducing them and to bring them into
the show here in a second. I want to get
into a couple of key points though, before we get started,
and one of them in you and I Stacy. We're
kind of going back and forth on this via email

(02:32):
on some of the data points that we're hitting. One
of the things, let's hit it right here, is gen
Z dropped their restaurant spending twenty one percent from forty
three bucks to forty three dollars.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Now, yeh in not a huge period of time.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, very quick. Yeah, So why do you think that is?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
I think you know, it goes back to the dumpster
fire theory. You know that the world is the dumps fire.
People are nervous about immediate future things. Yeah, so especially
with gen Z that's lived through, lived through the pandemic,

(03:14):
and now they're coming out, they're struggling to find jobs,
and I think that there's definitely like a pocketbook insecurity,
especially hitting that generation.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, it didn't have time.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
To accumulate wealth before all of these things started happening.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well other things. When you look at this, it's not
just you know, spending lists. There was forty eight percent
also choosing cheaper menu items and then they were cutting
their visits. So I'm just wondering if they're backfilling through
grocery or snack or where that data is coming from.
Today's guest is going to maybe answer some of those questions.

(03:52):
So I want to bring in Erica wish Now Spector
wish Now, and of course Chris Kern into the show
from Green Lane. How are you guys?

Speaker 4 (04:03):
Hi, thanks for having us.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
You bet we're going to put you up up on
top billing there, Erica, so you get at least Eric
and yeah, there we go.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
Perfect.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
So Erica let's go into it. First of all, I
think you're the first investment banker we've had on the show.
I've never had an investment banker, so I have a
lot of global economic questions I want to ask you.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
Well, I would always say you shouldn't ask me because
I haven't been an investment banker for about sixteen years.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Sixteen Man, you were right in the heat of it then,
So you do have the information.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
Yes, I have probably of antiquated information.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
But give us a rundown on where green Lane is
right now and a little bit about the brand.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
So green Lane was started two years ago.

Speaker 6 (04:52):
We opened our first store in Tampa, Florida with my partner,
Chris Kern, and we have a third founding partner, Chris Birch.
We started the company because we saw a hole in
the market. We are looking to bring healthy alternatives to
the fast food space. We believe that everybody should be
able to afford healthy meals and that's what we're trying

(05:15):
to provide.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right now.

Speaker 6 (05:18):
We've opened three stores, we're under construction on our fourth,
and our fifth store will also open the end of
Q four. So that's kind of the really quick and
dirty of where the brand is, but we can tell
you all the minutia and how we got here and
why and all that good stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I'm showing some stuff on screen now for everybody
that's maybe listening on the audio version. One thing I
will say, these are all kind of Tampa area, is
that right?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Correct?

Speaker 6 (05:47):
We have two stores in Tampa and one store in
Saint Pete. The store that you're actually seeing on the screen,
that is our third store.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
That's our Saint Pee.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Location Saint Pete. Okay, And what we're when you're looking
at real estate, because obviously it's a drive through content.
When you're looking at real estate selection, what is kind
of the criteria for you guys?

Speaker 4 (06:07):
We want to be in high visibility, high traffic, but.

Speaker 6 (06:11):
Honestly, you know, what we've learned is that being by
rooftops is of equal importance to us.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
We don't need to be in the CBD.

Speaker 6 (06:18):
We have a pretty large part of our businesses actually delivery,
so being near rooftops has been has shown to be
very important to us.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
But in terms of the.

Speaker 6 (06:30):
Size of our location, we operate under half an acre
and our average store is sixteen hundred square feet. We
don't have any interior space. We're only a drive through business.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
You're only I love the concept. I'm down here in Florida.
I probably should come over to Tampa and take a
look at this a little because I haven't seen I mean,
there have been a handful of these that have popped
up around the country that we've seen that have done
a decent job, but we haven't seen anybody scale it,
you know, because of the real estate issue all those

(07:03):
kind of things. Chris, I know you bring in a
lot of expertise from the industry. Obviously, You've been at
a variety of brands out there that have maybe I
wouldn't say directly kind of going this direction, but you
think Duncan obviously is massive drive through product. Your time
over at Pizza Hut A little different scenario. What when

(07:24):
you're looking at building this brand with Erica in real
estate being a constraining factor here, How are you guys
going about this? I mean, do you have like a
whole real estate team? What's the process?

Speaker 7 (07:38):
I no, yeah, good question. Real estate team really comes
is Eric and I and then we have a partner,
or not a partner, a gentleman who works with us
in real estate that helps support Erica's other businesses. But
really it's a nimble team that we're out and about,
you know, driving the market. Obviously, we have bro Career

(07:59):
that we work with here in tan but that is
really strong in the restaurant background, so supports many other
large restaurant concepts. But you know, like I said, the
fact that we're only looking for a half acre really
mix us nimble in finding different opportunities. And what we're
seeing is some of these large developers that are developing
in these retail centers, there's you know, usually a little

(08:20):
bit of an excess in a half an acre three
quarters of an acre that we're trying to find, you know,
somebody like us or you know, there's a big push
here in Florida of all the beverage brands, you know,
the dirty sodas and the coffees and this and set.
So there's really nobody else like us in this healthy, fresh,
affordable food business that drive through only. And so we're

(08:42):
you know, having some pretty good success in finding some sites.
You know. The other thing that's been helpful for us
is as retail has seen a decline in people shopping
at you know, big box locations, there's a lot of
excess parking out there, right, and so we're able to
kind of take down some you know, access parking and

(09:03):
these shopping centers outside of a large grocery stores.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Ross utilized the real estate for exactly what about Okay,
so can you use a container unit for this? Could you?

Speaker 7 (09:13):
We we've explored the idea. We are actually working on
our first prefab building. So our our fifth or sixth
location will likely be our first pre fab. We haven't
gone too far into containers, but you know, like Kerka said,
it's it's a small box.

Speaker 5 (09:32):
It's interesting. I call it a kitchen with windows.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
You know, well, I mean this. I have a friend
of mine he's building barn dominiums in North Florida, and uh,
we were talking about this because I'm always like, hey,
I'm talking to all these different founders out there real estate.
It's a problem. They're dealing the same kind of thing
that you guys are dealing with. Trying to find that
lot is difficult, and he goes, you know, they ought
to really start looking at you know, whether it's container

(09:57):
or you know, the barn dominium, but more miniaturized concept
which are a lot you know, lower cost in production
and easier to you know, to in many cases to
get permits on. I know Stacey's going to have some
marketing questions before we get into the big question, and
that is where the pressure is coming from gen Z.
So Stacy hit it so kind.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Of obsessed a little bit with your brand love the
fact that you've at such a small size already, You've
already got a celebrity not only investor, but a semi
spokesperson in Gronk. How how is that working out? And
how did you land him? Because I mean that's some
pretty big, pretty big brand awareness. Like right from the

(10:42):
get go, he's charismatic, he's in really good shape. We
know that he probably fuels himself with things that are
good for you, So there's a halo effect. How did
that come about? Because every brand that I handle, which
is in the emerging space is looking for that superstar connection.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
Uh, you're probably not gonna like my answer, which is
we don't have enough time on this show to tell
you to. Rob is an amazing partner for us. He
is also as you said, he's an investor. He's incredibly
just involved with us at every level when we need

(11:22):
him to be, but he truly believes in the in
the concept. So that's you know, that's how you see
that authenticit. You see him show up because he believes
in it. He eats it, his family eats it, and
so it's not a huge lift for him to go
out there and talk about green Lane, which you know
we feel honored about.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
But very high level. How do we know him?

Speaker 6 (11:43):
He's a he's a dear friend of ours, and so
you know, sometimes thinks like that and you get lucky
and sometimes you don't.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
I've seen it on both sides.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, for sure, he's really a.

Speaker 6 (11:54):
Truly a uh an exceptional partner and we're very lucky
to have him with us.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Well, it was very impressive, and I also before we
go on, I know this is minor, but I love
this kind of kind of scrappy, fun kind of content.
Tell me a little bit about Gig.

Speaker 6 (12:14):
So I'll let Chris talk a little about this. But
gg so she's evolved a little bit. So I actually
happened to a sticker. But this is our logo.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
And this is put you on close there you go.

Speaker 6 (12:28):
So Gig is our logo and as we've been growing
the brand, we gave her a little bit of personality,
and we decided to bring her a life. And so
what you're seeing in all the social media is part
of the ethos of our company. And you know, the
heart is living in Gigi and the energy, the love,

(12:49):
the excitement, just there was an effervescence about her and
we really she's embodying part of our company, and so
it was a natural progression for her to come to
life and forever you get to meet her and now, you.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Know, I kind of love her, especially in this age
of laboooo mania, like the adjacent So.

Speaker 6 (13:14):
She actually was labuboized, if you can even say that. Recently,
Chris I was like, that's terrifying.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, she's really it's it's just considering you guys are
at four locations, Like your branding is so spot.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
On right now, that's very tight.

Speaker 6 (13:29):
It was.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
It was really fun to research this one.

Speaker 6 (13:32):
Yeah, thank you, we appreciate. It's uh not come without
challenges and by pains. And you know, Chris and I
both come from a background of really strong brands that
you don't have to do that left you plug into
one of these companies and something like Taco Bell has
incredible brand awareness and they have an amazing loyalty and

(13:54):
the people who run that company really are brand geniuses.
So for us to have to create that within Green
Lane has been challenging. It's frightened and a lot of work.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, because often it's the opposite, right with small brands,
Sometimes you don't actually think about like who we are
and what we are until like Location five, when you're like,
oh my gosh, we just opened and started running, but
we don't have the fundamentals, but it looks like that
you guys were very thoughtful about everything before you even

(14:30):
launched Location one.

Speaker 6 (14:32):
We also liked well over a year with our with
our other genius partner, Chris BArch, analyzing every part of
this business, everything from why we want to be in
Tampa to the menu, how we want to design our
salad dressings, who the customer is, what's our price point,
every aspect of it. You know, we sat and put

(14:54):
our heads together and really wanted to create something special, so.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
We a lot of thought has got into it.

Speaker 6 (15:00):
Chris Burch has tremendous experience in creating brands and really
successful launches, and so having him as my partner, our partner,
has also been you know, we're incredibly lucky.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
You said something interesting there. I know you're going to
jump in here, Rudy, but you said something into it
why we selected Tampa. So that's an interesting statement because
it was this, is it proximity because of that market
or was it something else that drew you there.

Speaker 6 (15:31):
I feel like I'm a monopolized the conversation.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
But I'll just I'll give you.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
This seconds really fine. Usually it is.

Speaker 6 (15:38):
One of the fastest growing cities in the country, and
we wanted to be in a market where we were
going to be welcomed for being a drive through so
being in a suburbanish type of city. But you know,
there's been a ton of transplants to Florida. Tampa has
been one of the fastest growing cities outside of Colorado

(16:01):
and Phoenix, Arizona. But also a number of new startups
come out of certain specific markets, and Florida happens to
be one of them.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Or Lando Tampa.

Speaker 6 (16:13):
So when we were looking at why this particular market,
having a temperate climate also is relevant. We wanted to
make sure people felt excited to eat salads year around.
People in Tampa are really healthy, they are body conscious,
looking for a healthier lifestyle. So salads really fit into that.
But people also want to feel satisfied. They don't want

(16:34):
to eat more pieces of lettuce for twenty five dollars
and then an hour later be hungry. We're giving people
really satisfying meals at affordable prices.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, I think this is well. I mean the one
that reminds me of this is Amy's because we've looked
at this one before. And the interesting thing around drive through,
which is unusual in fast at least we haven't seen
it executed well as usually the it's the order throughput
that you're dealing with. So how have you solved that?

(17:08):
You know time? You know when you go to the
queue because I haven't been at one of your location
jet From what I can tell by the photos, it
looks like you have a fairly long queue line. What's
the process of order point to actual delivery or is
it happening through the mobile app?

Speaker 6 (17:24):
That is entirely Chris Current.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Okay, Chris go for it.

Speaker 6 (17:28):
The experience of how we're executing, and he is the
genius behind that.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Do it give it to us?

Speaker 5 (17:34):
Okay?

Speaker 7 (17:35):
Yeah, I mean it's there's a lot of thought and
effort that's put into our operations to be as sufficient
as possible. We've drive through businesses are complicated and challenging
one right, It's something that you know, many other brands
have tried to add on thinking try to capture the
drive through and it's it's not as easy as it sounds.
Not just putting a speaker box on a menu board

(17:55):
out there and then you know, serving through a window.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
You know, we're to be able to.

Speaker 7 (18:01):
Our average through time is under two and a half
minutes as a company. Wow, you know, we're able to
make a solid in about fifteen seconds. And it really
comes down to you know, before we started building and
started opening our you know, open our first location, we
put a lot of thought and effort in how do
we want to be as efficient as possible and to

(18:21):
you know, eliminate as many barriers as possible when it
comes to you know, being as fast and as as
efficient as possible. So you know, we have a you know,
a singular line that runs through the building and it's
an assembly line. You know, basically one side of the
assembly line that delivers everything to the drive through window
and then the other side of the line takes care

(18:42):
of all our of our you know, mobile app orders
and then the three p DE partners. So we've got
really a wish phone going out to both sides where
we're able to optimize speed and be as efficient as possible.
You know, it helps when you know we obviously we
have headsets and everything where you know, our team members
are making your salad as you're ordering it. It's we
often get a lot of comments from customers, especially first

(19:06):
first timers are like, there's no way this especially made,
like you have to have these, you know, sitting in
a cool or somewhere. We're like, no, we make everything order,
which is part of what makes us so unique. And
you know, I know we're going to talk about gen
Z's here in a bit, but you know, so approachable
to that clientele because we can accommodate just about any
dietary preference. You know, if you're you know, if you

(19:27):
have Celiac or you're you know, or you're a Puscatarian.

Speaker 5 (19:30):
Or whatever it may be.

Speaker 7 (19:31):
We can accommodate, you know, just about every dietary preference
because we're making everything to order.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Then Chris and Erica both and to the audience as
a whole man, pay attention this, you guys, have provided
a such content rich show already. Yeah, there's so much
wisdom being sheared to Stacy's question earlier to the audience,
pay attention before unit one, Think through the systems, think

(20:02):
through the touch points. Bravo to you guys, and to
everything that you've said and from from the color package,
from the brand book, piece of your everything you've created
Fresh Fresh Fresh stands out and production stands out, and

(20:23):
from a culture driving brand place. A question I'm sitting
with is God with a sixteen hundred square foot footprint
maybe going smaller and as Chris you just mentioned, with
production being in real time, I'm wondering, how do you

(20:43):
inspire your team in this drive through concept? And or
where is automation coming as you go to six seven, eight, nine,
ten back an automation to coupled with personal inspiration, I'll
stop there.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
Yeah, it's a good question.

Speaker 7 (21:04):
When Eric and I, you know, we we have an
extensive background in other fast food concepts and large brands,
were large brands, and when we were you know, brainstorming
and talked about you know, when we when we're creating
our own concept, you know, how do we want to
be different? One of the main focuses was how do
we remove some of the you know sumbling blocks or

(21:25):
barriers or challenges that not only our team members face
and working in fast food like you know, greasy and
oily and grills and heat hot and all that stuff.
To also like the design of the building and what
makes us different in stand out to all the other
gray tan, beige you know drive through builders out there.

(21:45):
So you know, all of that was really intend like
what have we learned, you know, in our many years
of running other businesses, and then how do we take
the great things from them, like you know, Arka shared
in the branding and in some of the you know,
gg and those things, but then focus on eliminating you know,
some of the bigger challenges and so our team, you know,
it's great. We kind of when we're hiring people right now,

(22:07):
we're in the Met's have hired our first four store.
You know, we joke and say that, you know when
you go home from working that, you know, the worst
thing you're gonna smell like is ranch pressing. Like you're
not gonna go home smelling like greasy, oily you know,
fries or burgers and stuff you're gonna you know, you're
gonna smell clean. You're gonna smell fresh. You're not gonna
stink up your car, You're not gonna fillive your shoes
like in your trunk or whatever.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Maybe so you guys even even talk about that on
your website, right.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
I love that you get the g G aroma.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
That's right. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (22:37):
And and and you know, not having a dining room
and you know public restrooms like some of those are challenges,
like in the fast food drive through business, Like those
are pain points when you're trying to run a business
and employees creating the restrooms and you know, cleaning.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
Up messes or even a freight counter.

Speaker 7 (22:53):
You see all the TikTok videos of all these, you know,
enraged customers like treating some our you know, drive through
fastwood customers, our team members so poorly. You eliminate those barriers,
You eliminate those pain points by being drive through only.
You know, there's a there's a window that separates us.
So frankly, our team enjoys it. It's a great experience.

(23:15):
You know, they rocked out to the music they want
to listen to. You know, that's appropriate obviously for everybody
because they don't have to worry about customers. So it's
really a fun environment where during peak lunch perer peak
dinner period, all they're focus on is making solids as
fasts they can and they you know, we continually seek
their feedback on you know, what's not working, you know,
what can we do to make your jobs easier or

(23:37):
or are more fun, and and then we take that
feedback and make changes as soon as we can well.

Speaker 6 (23:44):
Teak one piece beyond that, you know, celebrating our employees
and really you know, respecting them as just part of
our customer base is what is part of our culture
of you know, Brameline. So it's not just about that
they're not going to go home. So like salad dressing,
we want to sell them to feel like they can
be who they are and we respect that and honor that,

(24:07):
and that helps create part of our culture and it
makes them want to be there. So if you have
a happy employee, you're going to have a happy customer.
I'm sure you've heard that from many other people, but
it's true. And you know, Chris has developed an incredible team.
We have really strong team. We've got you know, this
amazing woman who works right by his hand and you know,

(24:27):
our vision has been you know, sort of trickled down
through them.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
This episode is brought to you in part by Gusto,
the number one 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. Over four hundred thousand
businesses choose Gusto every day. And let's get into it, guys.
There's a couple of things you can do with Gusto

(24:53):
that you should check out. Some of the solutions that
you're just absolutely going to want to know about is
of course, their business type new businesses and startups. You
guys are welcome coming in small businesses. Maybe you have
a mid sized business that needs an all in one
payroll and benefit program as well as HR all of
this scaling. The cool thing about this is it's an

(25:15):
all in one platform. They can also select and punch
in right to your accountants, So check it out. You've
got a Gusto Pro platform. You can become a partner
with them if you're an accountant, So if you have
a CPA already, this is the place for you. And
of course the best thing is pricing. The thing about
Gusto is flexible plans and features honest pricing, no hidden fees.

(25:39):
This is the plan that we use, which is the
Plus plan sixty bucks a month. Guys, you cannot go wrong.
It's about nine bucks a person, so you guys can
definitely afford it. Get in there and choose Gusto with
a full suite of tax services, HR services, time tracking, scheduling, expenses, reimbursements.
You get the picture. Gusto is the place for you.

(26:01):
Check it all out. Just go over to gusto dot
com use our link down below to get started. See
you there. Not your average rabbit food. I love it,
which is you know, it's kind of this irreverent marketing,
but at the same time, I think it probably connects
with gen Z very well, and that obviously is the

(26:23):
topic for today. One note that I thought was interesting
here in our research from our production team is this
frequency number that has continued to drive through and one
of the scenarios is that gen Z is one of
the demographics that eats out the most, and even though
it has been declining, the idea is still it's a

(26:45):
very large percentage of the dine out occasion group. Gen
Z obviously one of the largest demographics as well in
the market out there. When you look at this Erica,
especially from a targeting stampoint point, are you looking to
try to zone in on that particular demographic or is
this something you feel just naturally, you know, attracts that

(27:10):
kind of demographic.

Speaker 6 (27:11):
So the truth is, when we were developing this concept,
you know, we did really look very clearly at who
we were targeting. Who's our target customer And it's not tending.
So it's not that we're trying to fit into them.
We will attract them. We we think, we hope you love,

(27:32):
but that's not our core demo.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
So is it who's our core demo?

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Kurn say it, Kent say it.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
It's it's the you know, it's the busy on the go.

Speaker 7 (27:45):
It's the busy on the go, you know, a man
and woman who are trying to find something quick and easy,
you know, on the uh, you know, as they go
throughout their day for work.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
It's fine.

Speaker 7 (27:56):
It's the people who are coming home from work or something,
you know, just that's not gonna sit in the kind
of their stomach at the end of the day. You know,
we definitely have you know, about five percent of our
customer base is gen Z, but we have a nice
balance between gen Z millennials and accent even you know boomers.
You know, we've got about fifteen percent of our customer

(28:17):
base our boom you know, obviously Florida, that is going
to tend to be a little bit higher than most places.
But you know, you know, they're also looking for you know,
they're not wanting to make a lot of meals at
home anymore, and they want to find something healthy and alternatives.
But we you know, we do see a nice blend,
which is actually was a surprise to us.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Well, I think the key here is you look at
fast casual this section. I've been covering it for decades,
and uh, it continues to surprise me at how fluid
the category is. You know, it's it's getting to the
point where it crosses over into all demographics. It's getting
into all different kinds of themes within these demos. And

(28:57):
you guys have done a really good job across that.
But at the same time, you look at the challenges
right now facing the industry. We are seeing a slowdown,
We're seeing visits drop, We're seeing those kind of things
start to affect many of the operators within it on
your unit economics because you are most likely more efficient.

(29:18):
Maybe everything flows down line into your supply chain. In
terms of cost of goods, all that good stuff. How
do you guys defend against a market Should we see
a deeper cut and downturn in the market right now?

Speaker 6 (29:33):
Yeah, I mean it's truly. Staying nimble is one of
the most important things. You know, Chris spoke earlier about
the fact that, you know, being our own brand allows
us to make changes pretty quickly. So when we see
something not working, we're able to pivot pretty quickly. And
that is very important to not hold on to an

(29:55):
idea just because you thought it was a great idea. Yeah,
if it's not working, move quickly. And we are able
to do that. So how do we how do we
try to head off some of this? It's staying on
top of the cost of goods, trying to look into
the future. You know, where's where's the cost of let
us going, where's the cost of our packaging. We had,

(30:15):
you know, serious impacts of tariffs, which most people dealt with,
and so we were working in those confines to continue
to keep our prices low because in order to pass
that low price point on to our customer.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
We have to manage our cost of goods, our labor.

Speaker 6 (30:33):
So it's the experience that we have from our past
businesses and it's continuing to stay keep your eye on
where pricing is going.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Thanks, Have you've seen value at this level? I'm scanning
through the menu pricing. I know you analyze a lot
of menus out there. I mean, even the top line menu,
which is the barbecue. I'm assuming that's because of the
protein at eleven ninety nine, but a lot of these
under eight.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
Ninely gap sure.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
I mean these are incredibly affordable price points and obviously
kind of given the branding it's got, the the halo
is that this is really great quality. Yeah right, and
so but they're competing in the same I mean, you
guys said it, you're a healthy qs R and we
haven't really seen that in the space.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
No, not really what I'm watching from back here and
just you know, meeting you in the moment, Erica and Chris,
You're you're tapping value at every touch point and the
way you're talking about your team, your staff as customers
as well, every touch point small, nimble, Nimble is a

(31:48):
result almost I would make up the story. It's a
result as much as it is an initiator. I always
love every single touch point. Is hey, it's green and healthy,
but there's also a meat protein. If I choose the
price point, the happiness, the brightness, the fun, the quality.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Go yeah, what do you guys? Yeah? So is that
the only we showed one of the menu items where
you had I think was a barbecue brisket I think
on the as a protein. Are you exploring more of
those kinds of menu items going forward? Because outside of
go ahead, yeah, I.

Speaker 7 (32:27):
Mean we' we you know, one of the things that
we do to kind of keep things fresh on our
menu and kind of you know, keep the customers coming
back is you know, we have a seasonal menu change
every quarter, and so this summer we have a is
there summer barbecue. It's actually a turkey burtends that we
put on top of that, you know, summer barbecue salad,
which is kind of our take to the backyard barbecue
in a in a bowl, which let it sell you know,

(32:49):
we've uh we the season before we did a Cuban salad,
obviously a nod to Tampa's popular Cuban sandwich, where we
add roost support on top of the salad.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
You know.

Speaker 7 (32:59):
But the change in our menu, we actually changed our
menu recently based on feedback from customers, is that not
everybody wanted protein on their salves. And so what we
did is we initially kind of had our salads and
wraps priced with a chicken or tofuo on it, and
based on some feedback from that we got from customers,
we just had to separate that, and you know how

(33:20):
the salad kind of stand on its own, which is
where you see the six nine with the option to
add chicken tofu We also offer you know, steak and
a seared salmon product, and the feedback from that has
been great. You know, we at least as you know,
you know, gen z ers are really focused on vegetarian

(33:41):
and healthy living, so this kind of provides them an
option at a value. You know, you're getting a forty
eight ounce salad at seven eight bucks, and if you
have protein to add protein to it, you know, it's
just a few bucks more and you're still in that
ten eleven dollars range.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Well.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
And also there is also protein and you can always
get a grown which is what people do, which is
double okay.

Speaker 5 (34:02):
Right.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
The other the other thing that I saw on the
menu is you've got besides tofu other non meat proteins, right,
so that you're still getting a balanced meal in a
in a bowl of greens. On one thing that we
moved through on our conversation so far, very quickly, almost

(34:24):
an assumption. I really want to highlight. Erica. You talked
about prime cost management, and Paul you were asking about, well,
what if there's a downturner got to help us with
tariffs or whatever is happening. Is the clarity from you
guys finance background that no matter what happens to the market,

(34:44):
we're going to manage prime costs consistently, right, so your
prime costs aren't going up and down with sales. That's
part of your management skill set, you.

Speaker 5 (34:54):
Know, absolutely.

Speaker 7 (34:57):
It's we're constantly looking at ways that we can save
costs and make it, you know, make it so we
don't have to wait and get you know, caught off
guard and have these you know, secondary plans that we've
got to make dramatic adjustments. I mean, we're constantly looking
our menu items and I made a great example. One
of Erica's favorite things is our Krispy chickpeas, you know,
again an alternative protein for vegetarians, and they're delicious.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
They're great.

Speaker 7 (35:22):
We were buying them, you know, you know, from a
third party and it was expensive, and like you know,
I taught Eric, I'm like, we may have to eliminate
this because we can't keep pricing with this expensive ingredient.

Speaker 5 (35:34):
And we talked about to be reduced to portion.

Speaker 7 (35:36):
Size and then finally, I'm Michael, you know, why don't
we just make them ourselves. And so, you know, we
started you know, roasting our own Crispy chickpeas and brought
it in a house and were able to you know,
reduce the cost of that Chrispy chicken with seventy five percent.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Now that's a point of differentiation house roasted chickpeas exactly.

Speaker 5 (35:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (35:56):
So it's conversation additives and healthier and we use all
the healthy products so you're getting an even bigger bonus
from it, and we get to solve the upside of
you know, we'll cost you.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Know, years and years ago. One way early mentors, when
you know in the phrasing, we're in the restaurant business.
The keyword in restaurant business is business. I just love
that you're looking at this from every touch point of
the brand, driving the culture into profitability and performance and

(36:31):
growth in such innovative ways.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
It's just cool. Let's get into the lightning round. We're
going to ask you guys the killer app in the
marketing component, in the operations component, and then in the
culture component for team building all that good stuff, because
that's kind of our three expertise areas. So let's lead

(36:54):
off with marketing. What was the killer app for you
guys to kind of leverage up?

Speaker 7 (37:00):
Loyalty was something that we really kind of dug into
and we actually continue to evolve. Is that really focusing
on our regular customers and and really making the most
out of our loyalty program. Okay, we started from the
very beginning with our with our own app with knew
that was important for convenience and it was fully integrated
with our PUS system. So again early on, we wanted

(37:22):
to add an app program that was fully integrated, to
be able to you know, have third party delivery, to
be fully integrated, and then add on to a loyalty
program fully integrated from day one. So there are customers
who were used to that from all the other competitors
that larger brands or had it. We wanted to make
sure that, you know, they're going to be asking for it,
so let's have that prepared. And as we've evolved over time,

(37:44):
you know, the past couple of years, we've evolved, you know,
and learned a lot about you know, how to leverage loyalty, specifically,
you know, to get our customers raving, and were about
to roll out a referral program where you know, our
loyal custom our loyal customers can you refer their friends
and family and then get you know, a free salid
or whatever after they prefer four or five customers. So

(38:05):
that's it's a constant thing that we look at to
you know, really help our customers, our little fans, help
spread the word and do the marketing for us.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Is your email list large right now? Because I know
you you feature that on your home page. Not a
lot of brands go after emails as much as it
seems like you do.

Speaker 7 (38:22):
It is growing, the one on our web page, it's
definitely growing. It's not large, it's not large yet, but
we do have a very large loyalty customer base. I
mean with three locations, we have over twenty thousand people
that has rolled into our loyalty program, So we do
have a very large base there.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
That's huge. Can I ask you just a follow up
questions to that for clarification, You guys built your own
app as opposed to like white labeling or did you
great question?

Speaker 4 (38:49):
We white labeled it?

Speaker 7 (38:50):
Okay, Yeah, we found a partner that you know, you know,
some other brands out there that we liked and how
their app worked, and actually Erica, you know, a brand
issues very familiar with in the Miami market, and so
we went out and said, okay, here's what we want,
here's what we need. It's gotta you know, it's got
to fully integrate with our PUS system, and you know,

(39:12):
so we white labeled and that way we didn't have
to hire developers and things develop on our own, which
would have been a ton of upfront calls now over time, yeah, exactly, yeah,
and then you know there, you know, will there be
a day in the future when we have our own
proprietary app that's exactly yeah, for sure, But right now
it's serving us purpose. You know, about twenty twenty to

(39:33):
twenty five percent of our business comes through the app,
so you know, we're seeing seeing some pretty good.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Given it and given a year, I think you'll be
able to use a lot of the AI tools. Now
we started to build apps, uh, you know for some
of our other businesses now with just vibe coding, and
have been able to do it even though it's rudimentary
right now, I look at it in the early stages.
In a year to two years, very possible we could
see app development all right. Next up is culture your

(40:01):
your secret shield for building a culture and getting the
right kind of talent in your operations.

Speaker 6 (40:08):
It's really just you know, funneling down our dream and
finding people that believe in the same in the same
concept and.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
What was that That seems like that would be hard.

Speaker 6 (40:18):
It's not as hard if it's really something you love
and if you really believe. And Chris and I have
a very similar shared vision. You know, we have other
components to our business that are very relevant to both
of us. You know, mental health is something that it's
like our mission statement for our business. We want to

(40:40):
feed people's bodies or in their minds, not just their body.
We have partnered with the Tampa Bay Crisis set NERD
different points, so we really want to lean into the
into our market where we are and not just you know,
a drop in the hat and we're going to go
on to the next city. And that's something that Chris
and I and are partner Chris Brush, really believe in

(41:02):
and you know, having that strong ethos it just kind
of it sounds silly, but it permeates.

Speaker 7 (41:08):
Yeah, And I just want to touch on some of
the ARCA said earlier. You know, you know, it's very
important for us that everyone, all of our team members
feel comfortable for bringing their you know, real self to
work and feel comfortable that they can be who they are.
And so some of the other large concepts that you
know we have hired team members from. You know, you've

(41:29):
got this stuff of uniform. You can't have certain piercing,
certain hair color, certain tattoos, like, none of that matters
to us as long as you were bringing your authentic
self and you're going to be a friendly face interacting
with the customers, like who cares which air color? Yeah,
she cares what your tattoos are. Like, that's not going
to you know, have an impact on the forty eight

(41:49):
downs solid you're going to get up the window right
that's at ten bucks and so by really enabling our
team to you know, bring their authentic self to work
every day. You know, we've you know, had some pretty
good success and some great retention where people you know
who've worked at you know, some of the other Burger
Shucks or talking places are like, thank goodness, I don't

(42:10):
I'm I'm able to you know, I don't have to
cover things up enough to cover my hair color up
and such.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
What what operational power would you say? Is like, hey,
this has been our secret weapon from an operation standpoint, I.

Speaker 7 (42:24):
Mean being maniacally focused on being as efficient as possible
in our operations.

Speaker 5 (42:30):
You know, where it's not.

Speaker 7 (42:31):
Having multiple portion tools for an ingredient where every salad
it gets proutons gets the same amount of cruetons and
the rock gets the same amount of cruetons.

Speaker 5 (42:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (42:40):
Very systematic, very simplified, very focused and constantly looking at
ways to you know, make it easier for team members
to execute on our brand promise, which is a fast, affordable, fresh,
made to order salad or rep Continually to keep that
as kind of the pointing start of our operations will
allow us to you know, rebelieve, allow us to achieve Alleygles.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yeah, for sure, listen, Erica, Chris, you guys are doing
a great job. I'm down here in Florida. I gotta
go over to Tampa and drive through one of these
green lanes, uh and get a full experience. So when
I do, I'll let you know because I'm gonna film thing.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
I want to time in the green line.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
I want to see if this under three minutes is real.
I'm going to hold you. I believe then I will
hold you to it.

Speaker 7 (43:26):
If you if you order ahead of time, if you
want Toner app, it'll take you on a thirty second
in the drive through.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
So and that's done through the app, right, so you
just order ahead of time through the app? Can you
do it on the website?

Speaker 5 (43:37):
So?

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Yeah, do it? How do you do that?

Speaker 5 (43:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (43:40):
You can pick your time. There's a ten minute buffer
that gives us. But yep, you pick the time you
want to pick it up.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
It at Kudos.

Speaker 6 (43:50):
We also do a lot of catering, so you can
also order that on our website.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Hmm, all right, now I have to go to Tampa.
All right, let's it was great having you guys on
the show. Thank you so much for stopping in.

Speaker 5 (44:03):
We appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Apci thanks Chris Man. What a great what a great
brand here. What do you think about this one?

Speaker 3 (44:12):
Yeah, well culture drives brand right, the vision ahead of
time and the Stacey's question early on to actually think
through all the touch points in advance of unit one
and then use unit one to tighten it and then
take off right.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Well, hey, listen, having gronk and you know those kind
of things, does that helps too a little bit?

Speaker 3 (44:41):
I mean, but those don't happen by accident.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
That's true. Yeah, it's kind of a natural evolution of brands.
And sometimes I you know, of all the brands we've
watched grow in the market, sometimes you just see brands
that have that X factor. You can't really say why
it just they just have it. And this may be
one of them.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
So yeah, I think we need to keep an eye
on them. One thing that I'm curious about is at
that price point, for that crazy for.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
That kind of need to raise their prices, I think
they got I'm.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Saying, for that kind of clear quality.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
You know.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
One of the things when I worked on beef Steak,
you know, the veggie forward brand of Jos Andreas. Not
to name drop, but you know I only met him
once like, let's be clear. So one of the things
we really talked about was eventually getting these into food

(45:41):
deserts at a six ninety nine price point.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
You're there, You're there. Yeah, that's that's a.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
That's definitely a bigger mission, a bigger goal, and I
would love to see what this brand does in five years.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Yeah really, you.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Know we did. Okay, Well, we're going to have them
back because I think this is one of those checkbacks,
you know, like in six months to a year and
see where they are.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Want to I want to also say from a from
from a brand place, backing into culture. The conversation you know,
we didn't really question about automation, didn't really get picked up,
and that's okay. But what I'm really struck by. One
of my big takeaways with everything both of you have said,

(46:32):
is that, so here's this box, and I can make
a salad from scratch in fifteen seconds. Yeah, Yet the
team can actually be at least a Unit three. We'll
see where it goes with Unit ten. But can I
keep this staff inspired to stay in a drive through

(46:55):
in a catering environment, go, go, go, and have them
be excited to go to work. Yeah, that's going to
be the touch point and uh, well that's going to
give you scale major as they scale.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah, for sure. Uh, Stacey, you know we're we're finishing
up our front runners. I'm wondering if this brand would
be a good front runner because they are a hybrid
fast casual QSR. I feel like that is one of
those that I don't know, I'm going to talk to
share about it because that I.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Mean, I would love it. But wait till you see
my brand.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Oh you got a front Runner? Okay, all right, well
then out I'll wait. Now we only have we only
have one more slot in the front Runner deal this year,
so to do those documentaries and kind of push that
out there. So listen, guys, if you haven't checked out
our front Runner series, go over to savor dot fm.
You'll see us over there. It's very easy to basically

(47:55):
pitch your brand concept. Visit that sav dot fm. We'll
probably I'll put a little screenshot here at the end
for Nico, but it's really easy. We're going to be
presenting those There are documentary series of the best fast
casual and emerging brands, which is what might fall into
or twenty twenty five. We do a docuseries around all

(48:16):
of them, and then there's some big awards and all
kinds of cool stuff at the Fast Casual Executive Summit
that is later this fall, so it's kind of going
to be paired up with perfect pitch. A lot happening
out there, guys. We will be back here on the
Restaurant Masterminds podcasts very soon, so we'll catch you then.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Take carey, bye bye, guys,

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

The Joe Rogan Experience

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Greenlane: Healthy Drive-Thru Is The Future

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

The Joe Rogan Experience

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

Greenlane: Healthy Drive-Thru Is The Future

On Purpose with Jay Shetty