November 15, 2024 • 35 mins
As Gen Z reshapes the restaurant industry, understanding their distinct dining preferences for interactive, tech-integrated experiences is crucial. Restaurants should offer customizable meals, shareable snacks, and strategic social media presence to attract this influential demographic.
Guest: Troy Hooper | CEO of Hot Palette America
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📈 Learn More ~ Restaurant Power Index featuring the top 50 brands' performance in consumer sentiment based on 12 performance markers in food, service, and overall brand consumer sentiment. The RPI features historical and current sentiment analysis for key brands based on the overall market sentiment data. Subscribe for weekly reports on the top brands in the restaurant industry. https://www.savor.fm/restaurant-power-index
Follow on X: Savor_fm
Guest: Troy Hooper | CEO of Hot Palette America
🫶 Subscribe NOW - Unlock a world of knowledge, innovation, and growth from the largest podcast network in food service! - https://savorfm.substack.com/
📈 Learn More ~ Restaurant Power Index featuring the top 50 brands' performance in consumer sentiment based on 12 performance markers in food, service, and overall brand consumer sentiment. The RPI features historical and current sentiment analysis for key brands based on the overall market sentiment data. Subscribe for weekly reports on the top brands in the restaurant industry. https://www.savor.fm/restaurant-power-index
Follow on X: Savor_fm
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back in to another episode of Rock My Restaurant.
Today we're going to be diving into gen Z topics
and why this particular demographic means something for you guys.
You don't want to miss it, and that's for sure.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Turn up the volume and subscribe now to Rock My Restaurant,
the podcast setting your brand on fire for you. Come
into you live every week. Branding, marketing, innovative tech, don't
get left behind. The future is now.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
All right, Shelly, we are back here. It's going to
be a good one today. How have you been.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I've been good, good, good. It's been a busy, busy
couple weeks. And excited to talk to Troy today.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So we got Troy Hooper on coming in from Pepper
Launch and this is one that we've been looking to
have on the show for quite some time. Finally we
were able to get everybody's coordinated and we got it done.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
So it's going to be a.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Good topic, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I wanted to kind of touch on a couple of
things before we get Troy in here, because our topic
is really going to be focused in on gen Z
and this demographic shift that has been occurring in fast
casual for quite some time, I would say, over the
last maybe seven eight years. And you look at where
we are now, which is maybe at the beginning of
(01:21):
something really big in terms of growth. You guys, obviously
a Devour already know this with what you're doing with
you know, with Devour Go and just the whole integration
into gaming. Are you finally seeing enough shifts on the
gen Z audience.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, shifts as far as let me make sure I
understand where you're going there, Paul, adoption, you know adoption, Yes, Yes,
the gen Z wants to be entertained, right, they want
immersive experiences, and so it's putting the things out there
that tap into that. You know, we're definitely, especially with
(02:00):
the launch of our Devour play, we're seeing that. You know,
for us, our community has been an older demographic to
this point. Our followers are our supporters, and we're seeing
that shift then, you know, really more to our target demographic,
which is exciting.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, I think the key there when you think about
the gen Z demographic, what at least what I'm seeing
with a lot of restaurant operators when I talk to
them about this specifically, it's like, hey, we're finally getting
them into When I say they, the gen zs themselves
are finally in a position now where they have a
little bit more expendable income. They're starting to move into
(02:41):
almost like the early years of the millennials in terms
of spending, but their habits and traits are different. And
I think that's what we're going to talk about today
with Troy. So let's bring him on and get going.
Of course, we've got to bring in mister Troy Hooper
coming in from pepper Lunch.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
How are you, Troy, I'm.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Doing that's right. Hey, Paul, Hey Shelly, good to see you.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yes, great to have you on the show.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
We want to dive into it for some of our
audience that don't really completely know about Pepper Lunch. Give
us the story. You guys have been around a lot.
I did some research. I've been in fast casual in
the mid nineties and I look back and you guys
launched in nineteen ninety four in Japan. I was like, oh, right, holy,
(03:24):
this could be one of the genesis fast casuals here.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
So wow, tell me the story.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
Yeah, we had a master Tepanyaki chef owned a number
of Japanese steakhouses, and he wanted to make beef more accessible.
Be very expensive in Japan, especially in that era. Most
people don't know that almost all of the beef consumed
in Japan is actually imported, and it's mostly imported from
(03:50):
the United States, so that makes it quite expensive. He
wanted to make it more accessible both on price and
on convenience. Right, you have to go to a steakhouse
sit for twenty you know, for an hour, hour and
a half whatever. He wanted to be faster, so he
created a fast casual version of his already existing steakhouses
and called it Pepper Lunch. And it's based on a
(04:11):
dish called beef pepper rice or pepper rice dishes.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
It's a category of food and so that's where the
pepper comes from.
Speaker 6 (04:18):
Black pepper and lunch is meant to denote the value
proposition that prices are more affordable at lunch, right, lunch
prices are more reasonable. So he created in nineteen ninety four,
started franchising the very same year, got very fortunate and
franchised to a group called Sunatory. Some people know Sunatory
is the liquor company they also they started as a.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Food and beverage company so interesting.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
They actually had restaurants and they became our first franchise
e outside of Japan, and that was in nineteen ninety four.
Thirty years later, we have five hundred and twenty stores
in sixteen countries, growing in the US, Canada, going to
the Middle East this coming year, and have our sites
set on Brazil in two years.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Okay, a lot of things going on.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
What's the largest country right now in terms of unit
count Japan?
Speaker 6 (05:09):
We have two hundred stores in Japan, but Indonesia's next
with eighty six.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Thaie Lands in the.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Fifties, Singapore has thirty two, Hong Kong has about twenty eight.
Very global, Yeah, pretty pretty good depth with country.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
In nineteen ninety four, was it the was it the
diy cooking at that time?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Was the same model?
Speaker 6 (05:32):
Okay, yeah, so our chef invented the plate. So the
iron plate we cook on is actually a proprietary, patented product.
It's not just a piece of iron pressed. It's got
a proprietary metal core in the middle of it. That's
what allows it to superheat to five hundred degrees and
what allows it to hold heat. So this thing will
be over two hundred degrees for between twenty and thirty minutes,
(05:53):
so you can you could eat your whole meal and
potentially cook on it a second time if you had
the If you had the you won't need to. The
poor are quite ample, and so that coupled with a
very unique induction cooking system, which is an on demand,
high energy induction cooker. That system is what allows us
to produce in most restaurants eight plates every three minutes.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Was just reviewing the numbers with one of my team members.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
Our average global customer count per day or entree count
per day is over four hundred units per store per day.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Globally, we have lots of stores knocking on.
Speaker 6 (06:32):
The seven hundreds per day, lots of stores doing five
to six almost seven hundred covers a day, so high volume,
fast turnover, you're in and out in twenty minutes for
under twenty dollars.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
In the US.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
Certainly those numbers are variable for a country, but extremely valuable,
high value, proposition, high quality ingredients.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
It's a really great experience.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Interesting I've unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get
to one. I don't think there's one in Is there
one in Florida?
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Well, we are coming to the Tampa Bay area late
December early January.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Will be in Panela's Park, Florida.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
First, Oh wow, that's a good spot.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
Tampa Bay and Orlando markets are committed with our franchise partners,
so you know over the next four years. We already
have seventy stores under active development that will open in.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
The next four years.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, I saw, I saw your release on that. That's
a first of all, that's a lot of growth I
think for the US. Do you think the US market
you look at the Asian category. I don't know if
I would call this the Asian category, but I feel
like it probably fits in there, and there's a lot
of fairly good competition, but we haven't seen an Asian
category fast casual that exploded.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You look at Peyway, maybe it's been off there with
Pfchain's Asian Box. There's a handful that have done fairly well,
but no real Kava like explosure you know that we've seen.
Do you feel like pepper Lunch could be the one?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
I think pepper Lunch is going to have constant high
volume growth by uniqu out and even sales count.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
You know, the biggest.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Competition in Asian would be BB dot Q Chicken. They're
one of the largest globally and they're growing very rapidly.
They're also extremely small format. I would say that they're
the fried Korean fried chicken version of like a wingstop.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Right.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
They're mostly off premise, they're high volume, et cetera, and
so they can open really quick. We're very scalable, but
we want to manage growth as well. And look, we're
going to get to a point in two years from
now where we're opening up to fifty stores a year.
Just the compounding, the compounding cadence of the commitments we
have today will put us to over fifty store openings
in a year three years from now. So you know,
(08:39):
that's that's pretty darn good and I'm pretty happy with that.
I don't know that I want to beat Dave's on
Chicken open one hundred and seventy two hundred a year up, Yah,
my goodness. You know, Also, we want to open very
high quality, high performing stores. Obviously, we're going to learn
as we go and we're going to make a really good,
really state decisions and improve upon those. So we're being
(09:02):
cautious here and sort of scaling up at a manageable
rate so that we can have those learnings.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
It's a brand new concept.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
You know, we've been here for seven years, but we've
only had five stores in North America for seven years,
and so we still have a lot to learn in
a lot of markets and how the market will respond
and what kind of you know, fantastic you know, what
kind of things we're gonna get from the well.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I think you know you're coming at the right time,
because this is something I've talked about. Actually, Shelley and
I were talking about this not too long ago, is
that there is a genesis happening in fast casual again.
You know, when we when I first started tracking fast Casual,
I started Fastcasual dot com. It was in the early nineties,
and it was just a handful of brands here in
(09:44):
the US, and most of those were, you know, kind
of somewhat the Titans that we see out there today,
with exception of the Kavasweekeren kind of guys that have
been here in the last decade. But now we're starting
to see the evolution because back in the mid nineties
it was gen X and the early stage millennials that
we're beginning to experience fast casual. Now we're moving into
(10:07):
gen Z early stage that are becoming a little bit
more of a spender, and fast casual is the category
that they're spending the most in right now. Shelley, you
and I were chatting about this because of the connection
to creating brand and community. We've had many people on
the show to talk about that. When you look at
(10:28):
what Pepper Lunch is doing and you think about community
and the opportunity there for it, is this one of
those brands that you feel like matches well with this
new demographic.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, you know that Troy and I have had an
opportunity to talk about this a few times. I was
able to go with him to their Vegas location and actually,
you know, experience it. The idea that it's a you
know kind of you are building your the ingredients come
and you've got the hot plate and you're kind of
building it there at your table. That is communal right
(11:00):
in a in a lot of ways, And so you know, absolutely,
you know, I look forward to even hearing more from
from Troy that as his experience as a restaurant operator, Like, really,
what stuck out for you at Troy, you know, with
pepper Lunch in North North America because you know, I
know the experience I had with you at the Vegas restaurant.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
You know, I see it.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I'd love to hear from from you what you know
what really stood out for you with it.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Look what I say today, having had some time with
it obviously, is that I think pepper Lunch was built
thirty years ago for the challenges of today. You know,
I looked at this concept from the lens of the
consumer and the lens of a business operator, because I
was going to be tasked to convincing experience multi unit
business operators in the restaurant business, especially ones who understood
(11:51):
QSR and fest casual, that this was a good opportunity.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
This made sense from a business standpoint.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
So from the consumer standpoint, experiential fast casual, there's really
no other restaurant you can go into in the fast
casual sector that you're going to have a dining experience.
You're going to go down the line and build you know,
maybe at Sweet Greens, if you go to an Aperville
or a couple of other stores, you're going to see
an automated assembly line, robotic type experience. That's that's a
(12:16):
really cool I've been there a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
Those are some cool things, but sustained across all stores.
Our business model, our service model is that we bring
you a sizzling hot plate of wrong ingredients protein rice
and veg, or protein pasta and veg, and you get
to make the food the way you want it. If
you want your steak medium rare, then take it off
and lay it on top of the veggies right if
you want. If you want certain foods mixed together and
(12:39):
others not, you do that. If you want to add
a different sauce, this is where it starts to get crazy.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
We have eight categories of food and you pick an
entree from there, and then you can do add ons.
It's kind of like ramen in that way. You can
add some garlic chips, add some onions, take off some things.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
That's easy.
Speaker 6 (12:55):
But then we have six sauces and so we'll see
folks that are mixing sauces and putting a sauce on
a dish that in a different category. That's all fun,
and that's when you really get to know the brand
and you get to be playful. But right out of
the gate, you don't need to know anything. Order it
off the menu, bring it to your table, sauce it up,
stir it up, sizzle it the way you want it,
and then enjoy it. And what with the experiential part
(13:17):
of the cooking is one part. But the experiential part
to what you said, Shelley, is the other sharing. People
get really intrigued by, oh, what did you do?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
How did you make that? You know, how did you
choose to make your dish?
Speaker 6 (13:27):
You know, and we see that when you see first
time they come in groups, they all take out their phones.
It's incredibly instagram worthy and everybody loves to share that sizzling,
steaming eff vescence. You know, it's every sense that gets
gets met. So that's the consumer side. On the business side,
you know, as a longtime operator and executive in this business,
(13:47):
I've launched brands, I've owned restaurants, I currently own restaurants today.
The fact that we have a no prep labor model,
a no skilled labor labor model, and a low total
labor count labor model, which means that you don't have
any prep hours to pay for, you don't have any
skilled kitchen staff labor to pay for, no chefs, no cooks,
(14:11):
no prep and then we run these stores between four
and six humans.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
And so, you know, compared to a.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
Chipotle or you know, a Sweet Greens or a lot
of other brands, our total employee count per shift is
half or less. And so it really gives the business
the ability to be resilient, to have good margin returns.
It doesn't mean your experience is any less. It just
means that the operation is so simple and we're just
(14:39):
portioning and assembling and delivering and then hopefully bringing some
really good hospitality to the table. In that environment. It's
a great business model. High quality food, great price value,
good portion value.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Hot steaming, tasty.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
The Asian thing was a big part, right, so I
understood the the growth of the Asian not only cuisine,
but cultural, the adoption of Asian culture in media and
gaming and sports and other areas. So all of those
things came together to create a picture to say this
is probably a winner. And by the way, it already
(15:18):
had when I joined just under four hundred stores and
we were growing at fifty to sixty stores a year sustainably.
We still do all over Asia and Australia and Canada
and Guam, so that really gave me a lot of
confidence in the brand.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, why do you think that the connection for gen
Z's You guys have a large demographic position right now
around General S and Z. Why do you think pepper
Lunch has been so connected to that? Because I've talked
to other you know, other concepts that are I won't
call them DIY, but if you think about Beatie's Mongolian
you can go into that whole stir fry concept that exists.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
If you look at Craveworthy and all the things they've
been building, there's a lot of that there, and their
demographic isn't as large.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
In gen Z as you guys are.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So why do you think that connection is there for
that particular demo?
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Yeah, to a couple of things. One is that the
brand is fairly ubiquitous in the Asian culture. We're in
almost every Asian country in the world, So wherever there's
an Asian population, exist and we existed with depth, right.
We don't just have one or two stores, We have
a lot of stories. So I think that that has
a trickle down effect over the thirty year period to
(16:32):
the generational sharing. These kids grew up knowing about going
to or hearing about pepper lunch in a lot of cases,
a lot of cases, we hear it every day. That's
one two. The growth of Asian culture in America among
that demographic. They're in the games, they're in the manga,
they're in the anime, they're into the music, they're into
the movies and shows. You start turn on Netflix today,
(16:55):
don't even have to search the word Asian.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Anything.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
You're going to see About five to ten ten percent
of all content on Netflix in the US has an
Asian connotation connection, uh stars, line of line of information
in it. So you know that that general cultural awareness
and interest in not only just Asian, but specifically Japanese
because we are truly authentic Japanese, you know, has put
(17:19):
put us in a position to have some discovery and awareness.
Now that being said, experiential, right, gen Z wants an
experience and when they hear about and that's how how
people find out about pepper lunch. One person goes to
pepper lunch, they immediately go and tell lots of people
and within the same week bring people back to pepper lunch.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
This is what we hear all the time. It's a
very cravable food. Product. It's a very interesting experience and.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
People want to be the first one to share it,
and who shares better information wise than gen Z. They
immediately get on Snapchat, they immediately get on variable social
media channels and in gaming channels and they start talking
about Ay about pepper lunch.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
I went, and you get to like cook your own
food and it's.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
An interactive experience, which I think you know, you're right
that gets of it. Yeah, I totally get it. What
it's kind of like, if you think about it, Shelley
is kind of like gaming.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
You know you're in it. You know you're in the.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Game, you know, and you're getting a chance to kind
of integrate with that. And then if you look at
something like this, which is one of those great products,
I'm kind of curious, how does this apply to food delivery?
Because I'm a If I'm prepping my own thing, who's
prepping me? If I do a delivery a Uber eats
or a takeout?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
How does that?
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Great question?
Speaker 6 (18:37):
Paul, So, only seven percent of sales in the United
States are delivery. We're in the high teens, low twenties
in Asia. That's been growing actually in Asia really dramatically
over the last two years, we're actually not promoting it
because it is an in store experience. Now you can
get in and out in twenty minutes for under twenty dollars,
So so don't be discouraged by that.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
You can get a good meal.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
We are going to stir it, cook it to your
preference or your instruction. That being said, we're in the
beginning to middle phases of an R and D project
with what are called rotating kettle walks. And there's been
some Mongolian concepts and others that have used these iron
rotating machines. They've become more and more self automated and
(19:19):
almost fully autonomous in some ways, and so we're experimenting
with some of that equipment and some of that process.
We are going to be rolling out an entirely new
prototype with these new stores opening in the US, and
that prototype does have a third make line because we
do have disruption on our workflow in our kitchens when
we have to stop and stir your food and cook
it for you.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
So we're going to segregate that to a third line.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
That line becomes a backup supply chain for the main line,
but we're going to send that food down a different
production cadence, and then we are doing a complete packaging,
customized to go program. It's all going to come out
together sort of as a singular campaign, probably March to
June of next year, once the old women's side is
(20:04):
built out. So for today, it's not something we really encourage.
It's not a bad experience, but it's not the true
in store pepper lunch experience.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Of course, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Well, I think a lot of brands lose their in
store experience and when it translates to you know, third
party delivery, it's somewhat expected today.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I get a chance to talk to a lot of
millennials that order Chipotle, which is like one of the
big ones at least in our studio, and they always
tell me they're like, you know, the to go food
is like fifty sixty percent as good, but because it's
so much better than fast food, consumers are willing to
even downgrade in that quality level, which I was like, wow,
(20:45):
that's a huge statement. But if someone comes in and
hits a home run. This is something we've talked about
many times, is that if they can hit a home
run on delivery and the model in which they can
get it tover. You know, it's probably going to be
a combination of packaging and food, and then land it
at home and make it almost as good as the
(21:08):
in store experience. Whoever does that, whoever cracks that code.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Is going to kill it.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I mean they're gonna there's absolutely going to kill it
for sure.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Paul not ready to announce today because I'm signing the
documents today. That's exactly what we're working on. We view
this experience as an entire business unit. You have to
you have to take it that seriously. So when it
comes to the packaging, we've actually partnered with an incredible
business partner vendor that we've been working with for about
(21:37):
fourteen months, and we are bringing a product to market.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Our container that our food is going okay, run in the.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
World to use a truly actually a space age technology
that is a natively sustainably sourced and compostable but holds
our food hot for twenty to thirty minutes.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
So you cane that.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Man, you got a license that well.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
We do share the IP, the patent and trademark with
the company that brought it to us, so we do
share that it is going to be the shape of
our iron plates.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
So I'm giving out a few little secrets. Very cool,
but the point being is that we.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
Don't just view it as equipment. As workflow in the kitchen,
the menu will likely be different, right. We may not
offer certain things to go that we do in store
because it can't make it to you correctly or in a.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Fashion we would want it, you know.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
So we're looking at holistically and I think to your point,
that's what brands need to do. And the brands that
think about it as a complete system and really focus
on the end user experience as well as the employee
and in store workflow experience, then you've got a chance
to really do something special. And I think we're headed
that way, but we're taking our time to get it right.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Shelley, I know you guys are working with a lot
of fast casual concepts because of the loyalty mechanism. You
look at the use of NFTs.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I won't get into politics, but most likely with a
regulatory alignment now that's going to be somewhat in favor
of innovation in blockchain and what is happening there, it's
probably going to open up the loyalty opportunity because there's
so many companies if you look at GRAB, some of
the ones in Asia, some of the ones in.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
The EU.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Even they've already started to go down this direction of
blockchain loyalty, integration of NFT for loyalty. I don't know
if you guys saw the news on TGI Fridays and
how much they had on loyalty. I mean it's like
fifty million dollars worth of loyalty and rewards cards built
into a company that's going bankrupt. This is where blockchain
(23:45):
comes in, and this is where something like devour comes in.
When you think about that Shelley, the number of fast casuals,
the rising gen z, what is in store for that
kind of innovation coming soon?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Yeah, the you know, just even as as Troy's been
talking and you think about their isle it your Way concept,
the different options, the different sauces. I'm picturing a dynamic
you know, loyalty based n f T. Where As a
consumer because it's a you know, communal experience and a
you know, really a go to a pepper lunch and
(24:21):
experience it, I've got a dynamic card that's I'm working
my way through what are all the different combinations and
you know that that is something that able is able
to be attributable then to and and tracked on a
dynamic n f T. All your staff stats and and
everything are there, right, not just a general you know,
(24:43):
plastic loyalty card, but experience card for my pepper lunch experiences.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I think, well, and you hit on something there. I'm
not sure everybody on our on our audience will understand
dynamic n f T because great, most everybody think of
n f T s as JPEGs, you know, static thing
you go over you would get a pudgy penguin, or
you get an ape or you know, and it sits there.
Sure some of it's in value, but those are you know,
kind of the early stages. What you're talking about is
(25:11):
real innovation around how this digital tool can be used.
Explain dynamic n f T.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So dynamic nf so your point.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
A lot of people would think of n f ts
as overpriced jpeg, but it's really it's technology, right, and
it's a digital digital token. So when you're looking when
you say, when I say dynamic n f T s,
they aren't static. They don't have to stay. You can
change the imagery. You could, you know, a brand could
use them as a marketing tool to present new products
(25:42):
campaigns that are going on, but you also can change
the data on them. So as a as a user,
you know, if the different combinations of pepper lunch, meals, sauces,
et cetera are different data points on that, that can
all change as I'm placing orders and and then the
imagery the experience can change. Do I get a different
(26:04):
discount because you know, I'm a power Pepper lunch uh
visitor and have I worked my way through, you know,
all the combinations and options, so you're it's a it's
a living, breathing tech that you know, token and piece
of tech versus being static, which we're very used to with,
(26:24):
you know, loyalty cards and in public able to be
viewed versus that only being inside a system's database.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, well, we are seeing the at least the adoption
of that. We're already seeing it in a handful of
big brands that have gone down this direction. We talk
about Nike all the time, but there's a handful of
these mid level fashion brands that have started to move
in this direction around loyalty. We know the story of
Starbucks and Odyssey, but I think there's going to be
(26:55):
some opportunities in the restaurant space, Troy, I want to
hit this topic before we let you go, and that
is the issue of gen Z's snacking. So they're snackers
out there, and they are you know, this is talking
about beverage consumption. But we're seeing this trend across all
of the gen Z and that gen Z demographic, and
(27:16):
that means are we getting away from the typical day
parts of a restaurant, you know, lunch, dinner, et cetera,
and instead building out kind of an always on food access.
How would that work with what you guys are doing
if that trend continues.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
Yeah, I think it's going to your starting to see
brands in the pizza space. I've had some conversations with
some folks just in the last week that wanted to
float some ideas by me. And these are brands that
people know and then they were testing some things. They
showed me some pictures and wanted some ideas and feedback.
You know, there's a lot of brands thinking this way.
(27:57):
For us, I don't want to pat ourselves on thet
but it was probably obvious to us that we had
items on our menu that we could also make available
in small formats snackables.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
So our chicken karag and karg is.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Basically battered chicken pieces like chicken nuggets, just sort of
a little bit more battery. We have a fried pancoa shrimp,
you know, very long prawn usually comes three on a
salad or on our sizzling curry dish. We made both
of those items available as sides. You could get them
just not only as an add on to any dish,
but you just order them in aside, just like we
(28:31):
do our fries, onion rings and sweet potato wedges. We've
expanded our sides menu to include those items. We are
absolutely investigating new products in the market that will meet
this sort of demand as well. So I concur with you,
it's something that every brand has to be looking at.
For us, we were lucky and had a couple of
(28:51):
sort of fried items. We're going to be looking for
items that are not fried as well.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
In addition, I'll say one more thing is we discovered
this by accident during a photoshoot. But we have these
amazing onion rings, and we have this phenomenal you know,
imported curry sauce.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
That's the same worldwide, and I was.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
Like, what happens if you dip an onion ring in
this curry sauce and it's a flavor explosion of them.
And so now I literally was in the store two
days ago three young high schoolers in on their lunch break, athletes,
and they had two sauces, a curry and a fry
and an onion ring and they were all dipping it.
So this is absolutely, you know, things that we have
to all think about and make available. And look, it
(29:33):
didn't cost me anything. I had both those ingredients in
the building. I had to create sort of the Instagram
image and video and gifts that say, hey, you should
dunk your.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
On your ring in our amazing curry sauce. Now people
discover our curry sauce and maybe order a curry dish.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
So yeah, showing the onion rings there.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
For those of you guys listening on the podcast, you
got to join the video version of this show over
on YouTube just search saver fm. Of course, that's a
good one. I think the last question. I'll let you
ask that last question, shall I kick it off?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
You know one, you know, congratulations on the ASU. I'm
here in Phoenix, I look forward to having one that
is close, but you know one also just as you
plan for that future growth continuing to expand in that way,
how are you leveraging technology, digital platforms, you know, really
(30:26):
to enhance that experience as you're you know, hitting campuses
and continuing to target gen Z.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
Yeah, and we're doing a lot of research in market
around the demographic first and understanding what platforms are they on,
what are they responding to, who are they paying attention to.
So it's a multi ProMED approach. Organically, we're going to
hit it out of the park and probably get buried
at ASU, you know, eighty thousand students, one hundred and
twenty thousand people on campus at any given time. But
(30:57):
you know, naturally in technology a couple things. Influencers. I
still believe in micro influencers. It's not about their follower account,
it's about their engagement. Second is we are developing a
native app for the brand. That app will be very
nimble and very flexible and capable of partnering with programs
like Devour and others. We're working with a company called
(31:19):
Sparkfly develop gamified interactive sort of pick your own journey,
pick your own adventure type opportunities that can be built
into the app, the website and or embedded on other
platforms like Snapchat and things like that. So we're really
investigating the entire ecosystem around that generation at that venue
(31:40):
and what is different about ASU from you know, any
other school in the country that there are going to
be some specific sort of nuances and how they live
their lives and what activities are involved in and where
they come.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
And go to.
Speaker 6 (31:53):
So we are we are going to be very attuned
and listening, and we do have some platforms that allow
us to listen globally to and hone down to the
street and really listen to what the demographic is saying
in the market and then be creative and be responsive
and by the way, include them. We're really excited about
the idea of bringing them in. You know, EGC is
(32:16):
now a thing with the employees, UGC with the consumers.
We put those two things together, and maybe our employees
are doing dances with our customers on the tables. I
don't know, but they're all going to be sizzling and
steaming together for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I like it. Well, you guys have an active TikTok
page that was following it along, so make sure and
check it out for you guys listening. And Troy, it's
been great having you on the show today. Thank you
so much for stepping in. We appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Paul Shelly, thank you so much, glad to be here.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Keep great having you. Thanks Troy.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Wow, what a great what a great story. First of all,
I didn't realize that they were born in the mid nineties.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah and crazy yeah, crazy stuff out there. So Shelley,
you got to tell me, is there anything new with
Devour right now? What's going going on?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
You know, we we released of our play last Monday.
I think maybe we talked about that last week. It's
been we could not it could not have gone better.
We our team doesn't seem to know how to do
m v p s. They like to build, you know,
experiences and kind of go that next level. Continuing to
to really expand there. We've got our first few Gaming
(33:27):
Creator Ambassadors, a couple of them with you know, million
plus followers coming on to to start getting that out
to the release. Anybody's name, you know in their game
gaming creators Let me matter z is is uh one
of them? And hang on. Let me see if the
(33:48):
other has has signed signed their stuff. Hank the tank
is uh is one of one of the other uh,
former I love it, former Green Bay packer among Green
is coming on partnering. Yeah, so uh yeah, we're we're
going for it.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I like it. I like it.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Well, you guys go over and check out Devour Go.
Of course you can learn a lot about what they're
doing over there, so make sure and check it out.
We always love to, you know, kind of promo our
partners here. But Shelley, it was good, haven't you? And
we will catch you next week for sure. We got
we're gonna have some good ones coming up through November
and December here on the show. We've got a lot
(34:32):
of big topics. So you guys make sure and tune in.
If you're not following us over on YouTube. We are
absolutely flying on YouTube, and you guys got to get
out there and check it out. One of the things
that we're doing on YouTube that's kind of interesting, I
thought was the amount of views that we're getting now
(34:52):
on YouTube is insane, you know. For did you guys,
did you see the the Forbes video how well it did?
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yeah, I haven't seen the numbers over the last few days.
I knew it was skyrocketing and it was a great
conversation with you, lenn Anny.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, thirty one thousand views in two weeks. That is fantastic.
So you guys follow us on YouTube which is just
saver Fm. And of course if you're listening in over
on Apple iTunes or over on Spotify, leave us a review,
give us a couple of stars. It's the one thing
that we appreciate out there. And again, we'll catch you
(35:30):
next time right here un rock my restaurant
Welcome back in to another episode of Rock My Restaurant.
Today we're going to be diving into gen Z topics
and why this particular demographic means something for you guys.
You don't want to miss it, and that's for sure.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Turn up the volume and subscribe now to Rock My Restaurant,
the podcast setting your brand on fire for you. Come
into you live every week. Branding, marketing, innovative tech, don't
get left behind. The future is now.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
All right, Shelly, we are back here. It's going to
be a good one today. How have you been.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I've been good, good, good. It's been a busy, busy
couple weeks. And excited to talk to Troy today.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So we got Troy Hooper on coming in from Pepper
Launch and this is one that we've been looking to
have on the show for quite some time. Finally we
were able to get everybody's coordinated and we got it done.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
So it's going to be a.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Good topic, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I wanted to kind of touch on a couple of
things before we get Troy in here, because our topic
is really going to be focused in on gen Z
and this demographic shift that has been occurring in fast
casual for quite some time, I would say, over the
last maybe seven eight years. And you look at where
we are now, which is maybe at the beginning of
(01:21):
something really big in terms of growth. You guys, obviously
a Devour already know this with what you're doing with
you know, with Devour Go and just the whole integration
into gaming. Are you finally seeing enough shifts on the
gen Z audience.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, shifts as far as let me make sure I
understand where you're going there, Paul, adoption, you know adoption, Yes, Yes,
the gen Z wants to be entertained, right, they want
immersive experiences, and so it's putting the things out there
that tap into that. You know, we're definitely, especially with
(02:00):
the launch of our Devour play, we're seeing that. You know,
for us, our community has been an older demographic to
this point. Our followers are our supporters, and we're seeing
that shift then, you know, really more to our target demographic,
which is exciting.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, I think the key there when you think about
the gen Z demographic, what at least what I'm seeing
with a lot of restaurant operators when I talk to
them about this specifically, it's like, hey, we're finally getting
them into When I say they, the gen zs themselves
are finally in a position now where they have a
little bit more expendable income. They're starting to move into
(02:41):
almost like the early years of the millennials in terms
of spending, but their habits and traits are different. And
I think that's what we're going to talk about today
with Troy. So let's bring him on and get going.
Of course, we've got to bring in mister Troy Hooper
coming in from pepper Lunch.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
How are you, Troy, I'm.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Doing that's right. Hey, Paul, Hey Shelly, good to see you.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yes, great to have you on the show.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
We want to dive into it for some of our
audience that don't really completely know about Pepper Lunch. Give
us the story. You guys have been around a lot.
I did some research. I've been in fast casual in
the mid nineties and I look back and you guys
launched in nineteen ninety four in Japan. I was like, oh, right, holy,
(03:24):
this could be one of the genesis fast casuals here.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
So wow, tell me the story.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
Yeah, we had a master Tepanyaki chef owned a number
of Japanese steakhouses, and he wanted to make beef more accessible.
Be very expensive in Japan, especially in that era. Most
people don't know that almost all of the beef consumed
in Japan is actually imported, and it's mostly imported from
(03:50):
the United States, so that makes it quite expensive. He
wanted to make it more accessible both on price and
on convenience. Right, you have to go to a steakhouse
sit for twenty you know, for an hour, hour and
a half whatever. He wanted to be faster, so he
created a fast casual version of his already existing steakhouses
and called it Pepper Lunch. And it's based on a
(04:11):
dish called beef pepper rice or pepper rice dishes.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
It's a category of food and so that's where the
pepper comes from.
Speaker 6 (04:18):
Black pepper and lunch is meant to denote the value
proposition that prices are more affordable at lunch, right, lunch
prices are more reasonable. So he created in nineteen ninety four,
started franchising the very same year, got very fortunate and
franchised to a group called Sunatory. Some people know Sunatory
is the liquor company they also they started as a.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Food and beverage company so interesting.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
They actually had restaurants and they became our first franchise
e outside of Japan, and that was in nineteen ninety four.
Thirty years later, we have five hundred and twenty stores
in sixteen countries, growing in the US, Canada, going to
the Middle East this coming year, and have our sites
set on Brazil in two years.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Okay, a lot of things going on.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
What's the largest country right now in terms of unit
count Japan?
Speaker 6 (05:09):
We have two hundred stores in Japan, but Indonesia's next
with eighty six.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Thaie Lands in the.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Fifties, Singapore has thirty two, Hong Kong has about twenty eight.
Very global, Yeah, pretty pretty good depth with country.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
In nineteen ninety four, was it the was it the
diy cooking at that time?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Was the same model?
Speaker 6 (05:32):
Okay, yeah, so our chef invented the plate. So the
iron plate we cook on is actually a proprietary, patented product.
It's not just a piece of iron pressed. It's got
a proprietary metal core in the middle of it. That's
what allows it to superheat to five hundred degrees and
what allows it to hold heat. So this thing will
be over two hundred degrees for between twenty and thirty minutes,
(05:53):
so you can you could eat your whole meal and
potentially cook on it a second time if you had
the If you had the you won't need to. The
poor are quite ample, and so that coupled with a
very unique induction cooking system, which is an on demand,
high energy induction cooker. That system is what allows us
to produce in most restaurants eight plates every three minutes.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Was just reviewing the numbers with one of my team members.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
Our average global customer count per day or entree count
per day is over four hundred units per store per day.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Globally, we have lots of stores knocking on.
Speaker 6 (06:32):
The seven hundreds per day, lots of stores doing five
to six almost seven hundred covers a day, so high volume,
fast turnover, you're in and out in twenty minutes for
under twenty dollars.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
In the US.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
Certainly those numbers are variable for a country, but extremely valuable,
high value, proposition, high quality ingredients.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
It's a really great experience.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Interesting I've unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get
to one. I don't think there's one in Is there
one in Florida?
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Well, we are coming to the Tampa Bay area late
December early January.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Will be in Panela's Park, Florida.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
First, Oh wow, that's a good spot.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
Tampa Bay and Orlando markets are committed with our franchise partners,
so you know over the next four years. We already
have seventy stores under active development that will open in.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
The next four years.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, I saw, I saw your release on that. That's
a first of all, that's a lot of growth I
think for the US. Do you think the US market
you look at the Asian category. I don't know if
I would call this the Asian category, but I feel
like it probably fits in there, and there's a lot
of fairly good competition, but we haven't seen an Asian
category fast casual that exploded.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You look at Peyway, maybe it's been off there with
Pfchain's Asian Box. There's a handful that have done fairly well,
but no real Kava like explosure you know that we've seen.
Do you feel like pepper Lunch could be the one?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
I think pepper Lunch is going to have constant high
volume growth by uniqu out and even sales count.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
You know, the biggest.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Competition in Asian would be BB dot Q Chicken. They're
one of the largest globally and they're growing very rapidly.
They're also extremely small format. I would say that they're
the fried Korean fried chicken version of like a wingstop.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Right.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
They're mostly off premise, they're high volume, et cetera, and
so they can open really quick. We're very scalable, but
we want to manage growth as well. And look, we're
going to get to a point in two years from
now where we're opening up to fifty stores a year.
Just the compounding, the compounding cadence of the commitments we
have today will put us to over fifty store openings
in a year three years from now. So you know,
(08:39):
that's that's pretty darn good and I'm pretty happy with that.
I don't know that I want to beat Dave's on
Chicken open one hundred and seventy two hundred a year up, Yah,
my goodness. You know, Also, we want to open very
high quality, high performing stores. Obviously, we're going to learn
as we go and we're going to make a really good,
really state decisions and improve upon those. So we're being
(09:02):
cautious here and sort of scaling up at a manageable
rate so that we can have those learnings.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
It's a brand new concept.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
You know, we've been here for seven years, but we've
only had five stores in North America for seven years,
and so we still have a lot to learn in
a lot of markets and how the market will respond
and what kind of you know, fantastic you know, what
kind of things we're gonna get from the well.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I think you know you're coming at the right time,
because this is something I've talked about. Actually, Shelley and
I were talking about this not too long ago, is
that there is a genesis happening in fast casual again.
You know, when we when I first started tracking fast Casual,
I started Fastcasual dot com. It was in the early nineties,
and it was just a handful of brands here in
(09:44):
the US, and most of those were, you know, kind
of somewhat the Titans that we see out there today,
with exception of the Kavasweekeren kind of guys that have
been here in the last decade. But now we're starting
to see the evolution because back in the mid nineties
it was gen X and the early stage millennials that
we're beginning to experience fast casual. Now we're moving into
(10:07):
gen Z early stage that are becoming a little bit
more of a spender, and fast casual is the category
that they're spending the most in right now. Shelley, you
and I were chatting about this because of the connection
to creating brand and community. We've had many people on
the show to talk about that. When you look at
(10:28):
what Pepper Lunch is doing and you think about community
and the opportunity there for it, is this one of
those brands that you feel like matches well with this
new demographic.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, you know that Troy and I have had an
opportunity to talk about this a few times. I was
able to go with him to their Vegas location and actually,
you know, experience it. The idea that it's a you
know kind of you are building your the ingredients come
and you've got the hot plate and you're kind of
building it there at your table. That is communal right
(11:00):
in a in a lot of ways, And so you know, absolutely,
you know, I look forward to even hearing more from
from Troy that as his experience as a restaurant operator, Like, really,
what stuck out for you at Troy, you know, with
pepper Lunch in North North America because you know, I
know the experience I had with you at the Vegas restaurant.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
You know, I see it.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I'd love to hear from from you what you know
what really stood out for you with it.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Look what I say today, having had some time with
it obviously, is that I think pepper Lunch was built
thirty years ago for the challenges of today. You know,
I looked at this concept from the lens of the
consumer and the lens of a business operator, because I
was going to be tasked to convincing experience multi unit
business operators in the restaurant business, especially ones who understood
(11:51):
QSR and fest casual, that this was a good opportunity.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
This made sense from a business standpoint.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
So from the consumer standpoint, experiential fast casual, there's really
no other restaurant you can go into in the fast
casual sector that you're going to have a dining experience.
You're going to go down the line and build you know,
maybe at Sweet Greens, if you go to an Aperville
or a couple of other stores, you're going to see
an automated assembly line, robotic type experience. That's that's a
(12:16):
really cool I've been there a couple of times.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
Those are some cool things, but sustained across all stores.
Our business model, our service model is that we bring
you a sizzling hot plate of wrong ingredients protein rice
and veg, or protein pasta and veg, and you get
to make the food the way you want it. If
you want your steak medium rare, then take it off
and lay it on top of the veggies right if
you want. If you want certain foods mixed together and
(12:39):
others not, you do that. If you want to add
a different sauce, this is where it starts to get crazy.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
We have eight categories of food and you pick an
entree from there, and then you can do add ons.
It's kind of like ramen in that way. You can
add some garlic chips, add some onions, take off some things.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
That's easy.
Speaker 6 (12:55):
But then we have six sauces and so we'll see
folks that are mixing sauces and putting a sauce on
a dish that in a different category. That's all fun,
and that's when you really get to know the brand
and you get to be playful. But right out of
the gate, you don't need to know anything. Order it
off the menu, bring it to your table, sauce it up,
stir it up, sizzle it the way you want it,
and then enjoy it. And what with the experiential part
(13:17):
of the cooking is one part. But the experiential part
to what you said, Shelley, is the other sharing. People
get really intrigued by, oh, what did you do?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
How did you make that? You know, how did you
choose to make your dish?
Speaker 6 (13:27):
You know, and we see that when you see first
time they come in groups, they all take out their phones.
It's incredibly instagram worthy and everybody loves to share that sizzling,
steaming eff vescence. You know, it's every sense that gets
gets met. So that's the consumer side. On the business side,
you know, as a longtime operator and executive in this business,
(13:47):
I've launched brands, I've owned restaurants, I currently own restaurants today.
The fact that we have a no prep labor model,
a no skilled labor labor model, and a low total
labor count labor model, which means that you don't have
any prep hours to pay for, you don't have any
skilled kitchen staff labor to pay for, no chefs, no cooks,
(14:11):
no prep and then we run these stores between four
and six humans.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
And so, you know, compared to a.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
Chipotle or you know, a Sweet Greens or a lot
of other brands, our total employee count per shift is
half or less. And so it really gives the business
the ability to be resilient, to have good margin returns.
It doesn't mean your experience is any less. It just
means that the operation is so simple and we're just
(14:39):
portioning and assembling and delivering and then hopefully bringing some
really good hospitality to the table. In that environment. It's
a great business model. High quality food, great price value,
good portion value.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Hot steaming, tasty.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
The Asian thing was a big part, right, so I
understood the the growth of the Asian not only cuisine,
but cultural, the adoption of Asian culture in media and
gaming and sports and other areas. So all of those
things came together to create a picture to say this
is probably a winner. And by the way, it already
(15:18):
had when I joined just under four hundred stores and
we were growing at fifty to sixty stores a year sustainably.
We still do all over Asia and Australia and Canada
and Guam, so that really gave me a lot of
confidence in the brand.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, why do you think that the connection for gen
Z's You guys have a large demographic position right now
around General S and Z. Why do you think pepper
Lunch has been so connected to that? Because I've talked
to other you know, other concepts that are I won't
call them DIY, but if you think about Beatie's Mongolian
you can go into that whole stir fry concept that exists.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
If you look at Craveworthy and all the things they've
been building, there's a lot of that there, and their
demographic isn't as large.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
In gen Z as you guys are.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So why do you think that connection is there for
that particular demo?
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Yeah, to a couple of things. One is that the
brand is fairly ubiquitous in the Asian culture. We're in
almost every Asian country in the world, So wherever there's
an Asian population, exist and we existed with depth, right.
We don't just have one or two stores, We have
a lot of stories. So I think that that has
a trickle down effect over the thirty year period to
(16:32):
the generational sharing. These kids grew up knowing about going
to or hearing about pepper lunch in a lot of cases,
a lot of cases, we hear it every day. That's
one two. The growth of Asian culture in America among
that demographic. They're in the games, they're in the manga,
they're in the anime, they're into the music, they're into
the movies and shows. You start turn on Netflix today,
(16:55):
don't even have to search the word Asian.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Anything.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
You're going to see About five to ten ten percent
of all content on Netflix in the US has an
Asian connotation connection, uh stars, line of line of information
in it. So you know that that general cultural awareness
and interest in not only just Asian, but specifically Japanese
because we are truly authentic Japanese, you know, has put
(17:19):
put us in a position to have some discovery and awareness.
Now that being said, experiential, right, gen Z wants an
experience and when they hear about and that's how how
people find out about pepper lunch. One person goes to
pepper lunch, they immediately go and tell lots of people
and within the same week bring people back to pepper lunch.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
This is what we hear all the time. It's a
very cravable food. Product. It's a very interesting experience and.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
People want to be the first one to share it,
and who shares better information wise than gen Z. They
immediately get on Snapchat, they immediately get on variable social
media channels and in gaming channels and they start talking
about Ay about pepper lunch.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
I went, and you get to like cook your own
food and it's.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
An interactive experience, which I think you know, you're right
that gets of it. Yeah, I totally get it. What
it's kind of like, if you think about it, Shelley
is kind of like gaming.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
You know you're in it. You know you're in the.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Game, you know, and you're getting a chance to kind
of integrate with that. And then if you look at
something like this, which is one of those great products,
I'm kind of curious, how does this apply to food delivery?
Because I'm a If I'm prepping my own thing, who's
prepping me? If I do a delivery a Uber eats
or a takeout?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
How does that?
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Great question?
Speaker 6 (18:37):
Paul, So, only seven percent of sales in the United
States are delivery. We're in the high teens, low twenties
in Asia. That's been growing actually in Asia really dramatically
over the last two years, we're actually not promoting it
because it is an in store experience. Now you can
get in and out in twenty minutes for under twenty dollars,
So so don't be discouraged by that.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
You can get a good meal.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
We are going to stir it, cook it to your
preference or your instruction. That being said, we're in the
beginning to middle phases of an R and D project
with what are called rotating kettle walks. And there's been
some Mongolian concepts and others that have used these iron
rotating machines. They've become more and more self automated and
(19:19):
almost fully autonomous in some ways, and so we're experimenting
with some of that equipment and some of that process.
We are going to be rolling out an entirely new
prototype with these new stores opening in the US, and
that prototype does have a third make line because we
do have disruption on our workflow in our kitchens when
we have to stop and stir your food and cook
it for you.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
So we're going to segregate that to a third line.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
That line becomes a backup supply chain for the main line,
but we're going to send that food down a different
production cadence, and then we are doing a complete packaging,
customized to go program. It's all going to come out
together sort of as a singular campaign, probably March to
June of next year, once the old women's side is
(20:04):
built out. So for today, it's not something we really encourage.
It's not a bad experience, but it's not the true
in store pepper lunch experience.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Of course, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Well, I think a lot of brands lose their in
store experience and when it translates to you know, third
party delivery, it's somewhat expected today.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I get a chance to talk to a lot of
millennials that order Chipotle, which is like one of the
big ones at least in our studio, and they always
tell me they're like, you know, the to go food
is like fifty sixty percent as good, but because it's
so much better than fast food, consumers are willing to
even downgrade in that quality level, which I was like, wow,
(20:45):
that's a huge statement. But if someone comes in and
hits a home run. This is something we've talked about
many times, is that if they can hit a home
run on delivery and the model in which they can
get it tover. You know, it's probably going to be
a combination of packaging and food, and then land it
at home and make it almost as good as the
(21:08):
in store experience. Whoever does that, whoever cracks that code.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Is going to kill it.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I mean they're gonna there's absolutely going to kill it
for sure.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Paul not ready to announce today because I'm signing the
documents today. That's exactly what we're working on. We view
this experience as an entire business unit. You have to
you have to take it that seriously. So when it
comes to the packaging, we've actually partnered with an incredible
business partner vendor that we've been working with for about
(21:37):
fourteen months, and we are bringing a product to market.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Our container that our food is going okay, run in the.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
World to use a truly actually a space age technology
that is a natively sustainably sourced and compostable but holds
our food hot for twenty to thirty minutes.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
So you cane that.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Man, you got a license that well.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
We do share the IP, the patent and trademark with
the company that brought it to us, so we do
share that it is going to be the shape of
our iron plates.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
So I'm giving out a few little secrets. Very cool,
but the point being is that we.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
Don't just view it as equipment. As workflow in the kitchen,
the menu will likely be different, right. We may not
offer certain things to go that we do in store
because it can't make it to you correctly or in a.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Fashion we would want it, you know.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
So we're looking at holistically and I think to your point,
that's what brands need to do. And the brands that
think about it as a complete system and really focus
on the end user experience as well as the employee
and in store workflow experience, then you've got a chance
to really do something special. And I think we're headed
that way, but we're taking our time to get it right.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Shelley, I know you guys are working with a lot
of fast casual concepts because of the loyalty mechanism. You
look at the use of NFTs.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I won't get into politics, but most likely with a
regulatory alignment now that's going to be somewhat in favor
of innovation in blockchain and what is happening there, it's
probably going to open up the loyalty opportunity because there's
so many companies if you look at GRAB, some of
the ones in Asia, some of the ones in.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
The EU.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Even they've already started to go down this direction of
blockchain loyalty, integration of NFT for loyalty. I don't know
if you guys saw the news on TGI Fridays and
how much they had on loyalty. I mean it's like
fifty million dollars worth of loyalty and rewards cards built
into a company that's going bankrupt. This is where blockchain
(23:45):
comes in, and this is where something like devour comes in.
When you think about that Shelley, the number of fast casuals,
the rising gen z, what is in store for that
kind of innovation coming soon?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Yeah, the you know, just even as as Troy's been
talking and you think about their isle it your Way concept,
the different options, the different sauces. I'm picturing a dynamic
you know, loyalty based n f T. Where As a
consumer because it's a you know, communal experience and a
you know, really a go to a pepper lunch and
(24:21):
experience it, I've got a dynamic card that's I'm working
my way through what are all the different combinations and
you know that that is something that able is able
to be attributable then to and and tracked on a
dynamic n f T. All your staff stats and and
everything are there, right, not just a general you know,
(24:43):
plastic loyalty card, but experience card for my pepper lunch experiences.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I think, well, and you hit on something there. I'm
not sure everybody on our on our audience will understand
dynamic n f T because great, most everybody think of
n f T s as JPEGs, you know, static thing
you go over you would get a pudgy penguin, or
you get an ape or you know, and it sits there.
Sure some of it's in value, but those are you know,
kind of the early stages. What you're talking about is
(25:11):
real innovation around how this digital tool can be used.
Explain dynamic n f T.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So dynamic nf so your point.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
A lot of people would think of n f ts
as overpriced jpeg, but it's really it's technology, right, and
it's a digital digital token. So when you're looking when
you say, when I say dynamic n f T s,
they aren't static. They don't have to stay. You can
change the imagery. You could, you know, a brand could
use them as a marketing tool to present new products
(25:42):
campaigns that are going on, but you also can change
the data on them. So as a as a user,
you know, if the different combinations of pepper lunch, meals, sauces,
et cetera are different data points on that, that can
all change as I'm placing orders and and then the
imagery the experience can change. Do I get a different
(26:04):
discount because you know, I'm a power Pepper lunch uh
visitor and have I worked my way through, you know,
all the combinations and options, so you're it's a it's
a living, breathing tech that you know, token and piece
of tech versus being static, which we're very used to with,
(26:24):
you know, loyalty cards and in public able to be
viewed versus that only being inside a system's database.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, well, we are seeing the at least the adoption
of that. We're already seeing it in a handful of
big brands that have gone down this direction. We talk
about Nike all the time, but there's a handful of
these mid level fashion brands that have started to move
in this direction around loyalty. We know the story of
Starbucks and Odyssey, but I think there's going to be
(26:55):
some opportunities in the restaurant space, Troy, I want to
hit this topic before we let you go, and that
is the issue of gen Z's snacking. So they're snackers
out there, and they are you know, this is talking
about beverage consumption. But we're seeing this trend across all
of the gen Z and that gen Z demographic, and
(27:16):
that means are we getting away from the typical day
parts of a restaurant, you know, lunch, dinner, et cetera,
and instead building out kind of an always on food access.
How would that work with what you guys are doing
if that trend continues.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
Yeah, I think it's going to your starting to see
brands in the pizza space. I've had some conversations with
some folks just in the last week that wanted to
float some ideas by me. And these are brands that
people know and then they were testing some things. They
showed me some pictures and wanted some ideas and feedback.
You know, there's a lot of brands thinking this way.
(27:57):
For us, I don't want to pat ourselves on thet
but it was probably obvious to us that we had
items on our menu that we could also make available
in small formats snackables.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
So our chicken karag and karg is.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Basically battered chicken pieces like chicken nuggets, just sort of
a little bit more battery. We have a fried pancoa shrimp,
you know, very long prawn usually comes three on a
salad or on our sizzling curry dish. We made both
of those items available as sides. You could get them
just not only as an add on to any dish,
but you just order them in aside, just like we
(28:31):
do our fries, onion rings and sweet potato wedges. We've
expanded our sides menu to include those items. We are
absolutely investigating new products in the market that will meet
this sort of demand as well. So I concur with you,
it's something that every brand has to be looking at.
For us, we were lucky and had a couple of
(28:51):
sort of fried items. We're going to be looking for
items that are not fried as well.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
In addition, I'll say one more thing is we discovered
this by accident during a photoshoot. But we have these
amazing onion rings, and we have this phenomenal you know,
imported curry sauce.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
That's the same worldwide, and I was.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
Like, what happens if you dip an onion ring in
this curry sauce and it's a flavor explosion of them.
And so now I literally was in the store two
days ago three young high schoolers in on their lunch break, athletes,
and they had two sauces, a curry and a fry
and an onion ring and they were all dipping it.
So this is absolutely, you know, things that we have
to all think about and make available. And look, it
(29:33):
didn't cost me anything. I had both those ingredients in
the building. I had to create sort of the Instagram
image and video and gifts that say, hey, you should
dunk your.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
On your ring in our amazing curry sauce. Now people
discover our curry sauce and maybe order a curry dish.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
So yeah, showing the onion rings there.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
For those of you guys listening on the podcast, you
got to join the video version of this show over
on YouTube just search saver fm. Of course, that's a
good one. I think the last question. I'll let you
ask that last question, shall I kick it off?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
You know one, you know, congratulations on the ASU. I'm
here in Phoenix, I look forward to having one that
is close, but you know one also just as you
plan for that future growth continuing to expand in that way,
how are you leveraging technology, digital platforms, you know, really
(30:26):
to enhance that experience as you're you know, hitting campuses
and continuing to target gen Z.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
Yeah, and we're doing a lot of research in market
around the demographic first and understanding what platforms are they on,
what are they responding to, who are they paying attention to.
So it's a multi ProMED approach. Organically, we're going to
hit it out of the park and probably get buried
at ASU, you know, eighty thousand students, one hundred and
twenty thousand people on campus at any given time. But
(30:57):
you know, naturally in technology a couple things. Influencers. I
still believe in micro influencers. It's not about their follower account,
it's about their engagement. Second is we are developing a
native app for the brand. That app will be very
nimble and very flexible and capable of partnering with programs
like Devour and others. We're working with a company called
(31:19):
Sparkfly develop gamified interactive sort of pick your own journey,
pick your own adventure type opportunities that can be built
into the app, the website and or embedded on other
platforms like Snapchat and things like that. So we're really
investigating the entire ecosystem around that generation at that venue
(31:40):
and what is different about ASU from you know, any
other school in the country that there are going to
be some specific sort of nuances and how they live
their lives and what activities are involved in and where
they come.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
And go to.
Speaker 6 (31:53):
So we are we are going to be very attuned
and listening, and we do have some platforms that allow
us to listen globally to and hone down to the
street and really listen to what the demographic is saying
in the market and then be creative and be responsive
and by the way, include them. We're really excited about
the idea of bringing them in. You know, EGC is
(32:16):
now a thing with the employees, UGC with the consumers.
We put those two things together, and maybe our employees
are doing dances with our customers on the tables. I
don't know, but they're all going to be sizzling and
steaming together for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I like it. Well, you guys have an active TikTok
page that was following it along, so make sure and
check it out for you guys listening. And Troy, it's
been great having you on the show today. Thank you
so much for stepping in. We appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Paul Shelly, thank you so much, glad to be here.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Keep great having you. Thanks Troy.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Wow, what a great what a great story. First of all,
I didn't realize that they were born in the mid nineties.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah and crazy yeah, crazy stuff out there. So Shelley,
you got to tell me, is there anything new with
Devour right now? What's going going on?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
You know, we we released of our play last Monday.
I think maybe we talked about that last week. It's
been we could not it could not have gone better.
We our team doesn't seem to know how to do
m v p s. They like to build, you know,
experiences and kind of go that next level. Continuing to
to really expand there. We've got our first few Gaming
(33:27):
Creator Ambassadors, a couple of them with you know, million
plus followers coming on to to start getting that out
to the release. Anybody's name, you know in their game
gaming creators Let me matter z is is uh one
of them? And hang on. Let me see if the
(33:48):
other has has signed signed their stuff. Hank the tank
is uh is one of one of the other uh,
former I love it, former Green Bay packer among Green
is coming on partnering. Yeah, so uh yeah, we're we're
going for it.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I like it. I like it.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Well, you guys go over and check out Devour Go.
Of course you can learn a lot about what they're
doing over there, so make sure and check it out.
We always love to, you know, kind of promo our
partners here. But Shelley, it was good, haven't you? And
we will catch you next week for sure. We got
we're gonna have some good ones coming up through November
and December here on the show. We've got a lot
(34:32):
of big topics. So you guys make sure and tune in.
If you're not following us over on YouTube. We are
absolutely flying on YouTube, and you guys got to get
out there and check it out. One of the things
that we're doing on YouTube that's kind of interesting, I
thought was the amount of views that we're getting now
(34:52):
on YouTube is insane, you know. For did you guys,
did you see the the Forbes video how well it did?
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yeah, I haven't seen the numbers over the last few days.
I knew it was skyrocketing and it was a great
conversation with you, lenn Anny.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, thirty one thousand views in two weeks. That is fantastic.
So you guys follow us on YouTube which is just
saver Fm. And of course if you're listening in over
on Apple iTunes or over on Spotify, leave us a review,
give us a couple of stars. It's the one thing
that we appreciate out there. And again, we'll catch you
(35:30):
next time right here un rock my restaurant
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