May 24, 2024 • 30 mins
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Rock N' Roll Sushi is shaking up the restaurant franchising world with its innovative and unique concept - a rock-themed sushi restaurant chain. Founded on a love for rock music and sushi, it offers an approachable sushi experience that appeals to a broad audience.
What sets Rock N' Roll Sushi apart is its ability to make sushi accessible to those who may have found it intimidating or unapproachable in the past. By creating a fun, casual atmosphere and using technology to simplify the sushi-making process, the brand has successfully introduced sushi to Middle America.
franchiseexpansion #restaurantbusiness #franchise #franchiseavaliable
📈 Learn More ~ https://www.revernetworks.com/restaurant-power-index
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.
Rock N' Roll Sushi is shaking up the restaurant franchising world with its innovative and unique concept - a rock-themed sushi restaurant chain. Founded on a love for rock music and sushi, it offers an approachable sushi experience that appeals to a broad audience.
What sets Rock N' Roll Sushi apart is its ability to make sushi accessible to those who may have found it intimidating or unapproachable in the past. By creating a fun, casual atmosphere and using technology to simplify the sushi-making process, the brand has successfully introduced sushi to Middle America.
franchiseexpansion #restaurantbusiness #franchise #franchiseavaliable
📈 Learn More ~ https://www.revernetworks.com/restaurant-power-index
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Everybody's been wondering from entrepreneurs and businesstypes around what is the best franchise and
how do I get involved? Whatare the pitfalls I need to look for?
In today's podcast, will break downone of the best out there,
and that is Rock and Roll Sushi. We'll dive into what makes this brand
unique and also some of the pitfallsyou should be looking for in your own
(00:21):
franchise selection. Today's episode is goingto break down a sushi concept that is
an American style sushi restaurant founded onlove and true love for rock and roll
music. It's the only themed restaurantin the world where local and loyal fans
can experience rock they love and rolesthey want to have. So this is
going to be interesting. We'll breakdown the business side of it. We'll
(00:44):
also take a look at what makesthis brand unique. Stick around right here
on the Restaurant Report. Welcome backto the Restaurant Report. Today is going
to be a good one. We'regoing to talk about some franchising and joining
me today, of course, isChris Crommelus, who is the chief development
(01:07):
officer over at Rock and Roll Sushi, a brand that I actually discovered by
accident. So Chris, great tohave you on the show. I had
I had never been in one.I saw it. I'm driving by and
I was on a business trip.I'm driving by one, and I'm like,
(01:27):
whoa, whoa, what is that? I've heard that brand before?
And then I swung in a veryinteresting experience. I loved it. It
was fun and uh, well theone that I was in was in Alabama.
Ok yeah, Alabama. We werewell, we started well, we
(01:47):
were at a conference in Birmingham andwe got going and of course we were
doing these restaurant tours and there's Ididn't realize this that there's a lot of
restaurant brands that started in Alabama.Okay, you know in terms of you
know, not necessarily big brands,but a lot of multi unit guys that
are starting to build and out ofAlabama, which I thought was kind of
(02:08):
interesting. But anyway, so let'stalk about let's talk about the brand itself,
because I'm not sure everybody understands kindof what you guys represent. So
give us a rundown real quick.Okay, yeah, I mean rock and
roll sushi. Well got me interestedin rock and roll sushi. Maybe a
little bit of my background. We'llset that up because I came from the
(02:29):
quick service franchising a brand called TropicalSmoothie Cafe, and I've been a developer
and a multi unit franchisee for thatbrand for fifteen years and sold out twenty
seventeen. So it took some timeoff, and I, like, you
discovered rock and roll sushi on accident. I was not looking for full service.
Yeah, I knew I was goingto get back in. I started
(02:50):
kicking the tires on some other QSRbrands and just happened to have a mutual
friend that I work with who said, hey, you need to check out
this concept brother is doing. AndI'm like, He's like, it's sushi,
said I'm not interested. That's youknow, sounds hard or difficult,
not what I'm used to. Andhe just kind of kept bringing it up
when we would meet, and thensaid, my brother's blowing up the sushi
(03:14):
concept in Alabama. And I said, say that again out loud, that
makes no sense. So I reallydid you know? It was a total
accident, but I got interested init because he was explaining what they had
done and they had made an approachablesushi experience for folks. That really made
he didn't feel invited to the game. Yeah, because it was not approachable.
(03:36):
The experience was either like a highend sushi experience that was expensive and
you know, you could wear aball cap in or bring your kids,
or it was a you know,more of a mom and pop traditional and
that wasn't really approachable either because maybethey didn't understand the menu and there was
just it was just they didn't know, right. So when I found out
(03:57):
that Joe and Lance and through myfriend had created this concept in Alabama,
and I started to drive around,I said, all right, I'm going
to go check these out. SoI started cruising around the state, and
you know, I finally like mythird fourth visit because I'm still trying to
understand it, you know, andI'm mainly focused on what's going on behind
the scenes. That's where my eyeball, my eyeballs were focused at first.
(04:20):
Then I swung around in the barstool and I looked at the customers and
I was like, got it,Yeah, brilliant. So I'm from Arkansas
originally, and I called my operatingpartner back there and I said, I
got it rock and roll sushi,and he said, absolutely not we're not
doing sushi, Chris, I said, no, dude, you've got to
(04:41):
come check this out. So sureenough, I get into Alabama, and
you know, we just saw whatthey were doing, and it was like,
you know, how rare to findsomething in the restaurant business that is
super limited competition that really nobody's doing, right y, I saw all this
incredible white space in our industry becauseotherwise you the chicken wars of coffee wars,
or the pizza or sandwiches, onand on and on, right sports
(05:04):
bars, and then we saw this. I said, all right, we're
going to open one a little Rock, and we did in two thousand,
right in the middle of COVID,which was yes because we were under construction
and then boom, here's COVID.But it ended up working out great for
us, and it was exactly whatwe thought. So Little Rock, Arkansas
was the perfect place for us totest that. Right, this really is
(05:26):
Middle America, you know, well, and it's one of those It's one
of those things I think when youthink sushi, you're normally considering the coastal
country. You know, a lotof places like Florida, New York and
Los Angeles, et cetera. ButI think you're right. I think the
key here is certain types of cuisinehave started to seep into pretty much the
(05:48):
fabric of everywhere. You know.I would say Mexican was kind of one
of the first ones that you know, kind of became a national treasure.
Then you started seeing Asian food reallymake its way in, and then there
are certain sectors sushi. I feellike, I don't know yet if it's
there, but I feel like it'smuch more accepted now as a cuisine that
(06:11):
pretty much anybody would go in andorder. It's no longer you know,
kind of that selected cuisine type.So, right, kudos for you guys.
So let's talk about the franchising sideabout this, because you guys joined
up with apple Pie Capital here recently. That's a big move. Obviously,
this is going to be a significantstep in a growth plan for you guys.
(06:34):
What is the plan now with franchisingnow that you've got apple Pie Capital
kind of partnered up with you guys. Yeah, so we view it as
you just you know, back tothe history again, the growth has mainly
been organic to this point. Sowe're at seventy one locations and we really
didn't have a development plan other thanthe organic growth or people we knew in
(06:57):
the industry, or you know,you get some hits on the website.
A lot of times you're converting customersinto franchisees. They love the brand,
they're interested, and that's that's howit goes. But now that we have
a development plan, the apple Piepart is really crucial because when you put
the word out right and you're reallytrying to market that you are a very
interesting brand that people should take alook at, you're going to have quite
(07:18):
a few people that don't possibly qualify. So with apple Pie, we're able
to immediately put them into the funnelof finding out if they qualify financially.
Okay, it's the first step.Yeah, So that and that's important because
you know, when you look atselecting franchisees and really kind of jumping up
(07:39):
to that next level of growth thatis selecting the right franchise e is super
important because I don't know that franchisesystems the ones that I've talked with that
are been upstarts and good friends ofmine who thought they might franchise and then
immediately kind of rethought the whole thingbecause of the difficulty level just finding the
(08:00):
right people. Uh, that's prettysignificant. I was going to share something
off you guys's website. I thinkI've got it up here now. I
thought this wash was a good pointto get in on, and that is
kind of the whole process to investin a rock and roll franchise. So
you guys break it down right thereon the on the web website in terms
of the average sales for units.Uh, breakout concept low food costs.
(08:24):
Explain that because low food costs,I'm not sure that if I was just
looking at this brand, I wouldsay that that would be even possible.
How have you guys been able todo that? And what's the process there?
Well, I thought the same thingwhen I first, you know,
looked into the brand. But whatI did, what I didn't connect was
the value proposition for smooth for sushiis very high, you know, and
(08:48):
you can really get a premium pricepoint for it. So that's why the
food cost is so good, becauseit's not like I try to explain it
to people. Okay, I getit, Yeah, yeah, your price
look at a sandwich or a wrap. You can those expectations on prices a
little bit, you know, youget that maybe that ten or fifteen percent
lift that you don't typically get whenpeople don't look at that as a price
(09:11):
increase. They look at that asa value add you know. So,
Yeah, it's hard, and it'shard, and you can't most people.
Ninety five percent of people can't makeit at home. Yeah, it's not
like a sandwich. And if youlook at a sandwich that you can sell
for ten bucks, that's a goodpoint. Yeah, and you look at
that we can sell for sixteen andlook how much food is in each.
(09:31):
I mean, really, we haveless product. Yeah. I was looking
at one of your YouTube trailers.Does that actually happen in a restaurant?
What's that? I mean the lastfallback here and I'm thinking maybe I've got
a new career opportunity here. I'mnot sure, but maybe I will tell
(09:54):
you that actual shot was totally impromptu. We did have a group there.
This guy just said, hey,I brought my guitar and answer that table,
get up there, do it?Well, that's fun. I mean,
we have a place down here inSouth flor called Rocos Tacos. I
don't know if you ever have heardof it, but Rocco himself will get
on the bar and he pours tequilain these crazy outfits and that on a
(10:18):
Saturday night. If you can evercatch Roco at one of his restaurants,
is probably one of the most It'sjust, you know, it's it's the
restaurant hospitality side of things that people, I think a lot of people forget.
That's what we're here for, youknow, in terms of food and
entertainment. I want to talk aboutthe franchising side, though. We got
to get back to that, anduh, the thing I want to get
(10:39):
to here is because this is thequestion we get a lot, you know,
whether it's people asking, hey,do more shows on franchising and I'm
looking to get in the restaurant industry. Best practices for a franchise you now
as a franchise e and also afranchise or how did you and do you
go about the process of saying andhey, these are the best practices that
(11:01):
I look for. You've been inmulti chains here now, so you kind
of know a little bit about theDNA of a winner and a loser.
You know, have you looked atbrands and said, okay, these are
the things that have to be inplace for it to work the biggest one.
And look, I mean if wecan all figure that out, it's
(11:22):
still a bit of a mystery.Any dates really really well for me franchise
selection process. They all see myhome runs. But I think what it
comes down to, and what Itell people is if you can build a
culture and people want to work foryou, we have the processes and systems
(11:43):
in place. So the first one, no brainer is trust the process,
all of the system, right yeah, And I think anybody looking at a
franchise, you know, they shouldunderstand that part, but you still have
to make sure that they do.But really, it's in today's environment.
It's not like it was when Istarted twenty five years ago, where you
(12:03):
could really take a workforce and almostbend them to what you wanted in a
more militaristic fashion. That is notthe world today. You know, people
expect to be treated you know,well and like humans and they and that
is so important right now that whenI when I look at somebody specifically somebody
(12:24):
that wants to do a multi unitdeal and they have other restaurants, I
really want to go in there andsee them and see how they're you know,
what is the culture like in right, that's the peascet. I own
eight stores of myself, and Ican tell you, you know, it's
you know, still playing whack themhole sometimes, but our culture at my
Loarrocks stores is spot on, right. I have the right team. We
funneled a little bit in other areas, but we're always working towards that and
(12:48):
that is the success metric. SoI like that people because that's you know,
I know, that's the easy thingthat many people will say, Yeah,
it's always going to be about thepeople, But that's in almost every
business. Is there one metric whenyou think franchising, Because I'm looking at
tropical smoothie success. We've seen successin the smoothie business, but we've also
(13:09):
seen challenges out there a lot ofthe well, it's almost like the category
of froyo frozen yogurt had a lotof challenges. But originally in that breakout
period, Pinkberry was a huge one. There was a handful of others,
and then you had, you know, some of the ones like down here
in South Florida. I can't rememberthe brand. It come to me,
(13:31):
but there's there's a handful of themthat have made it through here. Menchi's
so that have made it through andhave actually seemed to succeed. What is
it that you think is the successfactor outside of people that makes these franchise
systems a success going forward, especiallyin crowded markets. Have you seen anything
(13:54):
out there that kind of tracks foryou guys, Yeah, because it flows
a little bit into the people part, but it's more making sure that you
stick with that training. I mean, I think when I look at the
same thing happened that you're talking aboutin the Frozen the every thing with the
pizza thing again, you know,the pizza every bran jumped in. We've
watched this time and time again,and you know, only about two we're
(14:16):
going to make it. And Ithink the ones that make it are the
ones that invest back to the peoplethat into the training, so the processes
and systems and then following that andhaving the leadership team in place to make
sure that you're adamant about that training. Yeah, you don't just hire people
in you're like it's your first day, you're on registrate or you're a server.
(14:37):
I mean, you have to train. So when I look at the
ones that are successful, it isfollowing. It's back to processes and systems.
You have to be able to followthat. So you've got to be
able to build you know, aleadership team that then takes care of your
people. So I hope you know, well, I think that the training
component is it's very indicative of thesuccessful chains that we've seen build out,
(15:03):
you know, into the mass systemsbecause obviously with the franchise, replication is
the key, and eventually it becomesan asset because customers can be anywhere and
get the same experience and feel like, yeah, yeah, the consistency is
there. And I think that's thepoint. But to your point, for
somebody maybe watching this show today orlistening in on the podcast and you're trying
(15:26):
to figure out what restaurant franchise tobuy or to get into, I think
what Chris hit on is perfect youthink about training, I would almost recommend
any franchise e U and I lookedat buying a franchise system here in South
Florida not too long ago, andI asked to come in and work the
store. So I wanted to seethe process, you know, because they
(15:50):
had new hires happening, so Iwould watch how they were training a new
hire. I also saw how theywere doing everything from food handling, guest
service. You know, you've gota chance to really see the DNA of
the brand. Do you have franchiseesthat do that with Rock and Roll Sushi
to say, I want to like, come do a test drive. I
just did one two weeks ago witha prospect in Michigan and they came or
(16:11):
it was our discovery day. Yes, so you know, I like to
bring people into a market and tourthem around. In this case, it
was a little Rock We have fivestores there and you know they happen to
be stores that you know, I'mpart owner in. So we went around
and we look at that and theyget to see behind the scenes. They
get to see how we do thingsto your point, and they go into
(16:32):
a store and see a trainee,they are welcome to talk to you know,
all the folks there and watch it. And I think it's it's a
really important piece of it because youknow, like I tell them, just
that discovery day is going to bea success. Either way, You're either
going to leave and say this isnot for me, right, which is
a good thing. That's a goodthing sometimes, I know, is one
(16:56):
more step to a yes, youknow right, and look I've done this
long enough where getting somebody in isnot the goal because if it becomes a
problem, it takes a long timeto work through it. So you really
want to make sure you've got agood culture fit, brand fit for the
perspective franchise z and I think whenthey leave a discovery day, if you've
done your job, it is clearcut they're not on the fence anymore.
(17:18):
They're either no or they are in, and it's what they wanted to be.
Yeah. I like that. Okay, so let's talk a little bit
about the industry right now, becauseI think you hit on a lot of
points for franchising understanding whether you're onthe franchise or side or the franchise e
side, getting the right people,getting your training lockdown, making sure it's
(17:38):
a good fit for the right youknow, franchise e that's coming in.
I'm kind of curious. We weretalking about this off off the show earlier
before we started. Any stories thatyou can share of people who have never
been in the restaurant business that havemade it in a rock and roll sushi
what can you tell me? Yes? So, one of the things that
(18:00):
really got me interested in the brandis when I first started doing my homework
and I looked at their early growth. There were people that had never been
in the restaurant business that were eitherfriends or contractors or you know, you
know what I mean, like familymembers and everyone. Yeah, and how
did they how did they do that? Now, to the credit of the
(18:21):
founders, they were so hands onand it was so important for them to
keep the consistency. And you know, it's your baby, it's what you
feel that they did a fantastic jobtaking these people that may not have known
anything about the restaurant industry and helpedthem be successful by you know, because
in the early days which this youknow, this true startup like this has
(18:42):
been they did they're creating processes andsystems on the fly. When we came
in and you know, my friendbought the company in two thousand and bought
the controlling interest and I became CEO. The first thing we did was took
all of our years of experience,brought our team in and put those rock
(19:02):
solid processes and systems in place.There he had all the concepts and ideas
and we're doing it. We justmade it uniform and simple where it's more
turnkey. Well, I think that'sthe that's a very you know, it's
a missing element when you have afranchise system that is coming from a similar
similar to what you guys have done, coming from grassroots really and being able
(19:26):
to put a really coherent system togetherand get it in there in the right
way so you're not dealing with andI've seen some of these franchisee manuals from
some of the biggest brands out there. I remember a friend of mine,
he runs several franchises in the mcdonnalsystem, and he and I were talking
about one night. I looked at, you know, just some of the
(19:47):
documentation that they offload on the front. It's a mountain of stuff that these
guys are constantly on dealing with.So I think keeping it simple is pretty
is pretty legendary. As you guyssay, yeah, you know, it's
a big part of our brand becausewhen people look at this concept, they
would probably look at it the wayI did. When you hear sushi,
(20:08):
I think chef, I think complicated. And what we've done, you know,
it's one of our taglines, Nosushi chef required. And it's because
we're bringing in technology and robotics andthings that make the process of making sushi.
It's not chef driven, right.We create the way where we can
take you know, college kids likethe stores I have in Tallassi and you
(20:32):
know, a couple of good weeksof training, they can make sushi quality
pretty, you know, artistic sushi. I like that. I was just
looking at some of the marketing youguys are doing. There's the guy with
that nice sled there, well,very cool. I like the component.
Let's talk a little bit about thecomponent of the consumer, because this is
(20:52):
one that is starting to break downa little bit here. A lot of
people are looking at the industry.Sales are starting to go a little bit
flat. We're seeing a little bitof pressure on the consumer in terms of
veeding out. How does this affecta brand like you, guys, because
you seem to be I wouldn't saycasual dine, but a little bit more
upscale on casual dine. Where wheredoes this does this hit you guys at
(21:18):
all? Or what is your opinionon how the market seems to be trending
right now? And I think itdoes. I was having a conversation with
a couple of friends yesterday and I'mlike, you know, people are talking
about, you know, the economy, but I mean look at the market
and I'm like, well, that'stwo different you're talking about. You know,
there's a customer that's got a greatportfolio and then there's the you know,
the average person out there that's makingdecisions about are they going to eat
(21:41):
out or not? Exactly, itis very different for those two groups of
people. We are seeing it.It is happening, There's no doubt about
it. One thing we have onour side that's an advantage is because probably
ninety five percent of people can't makesushi at home. Yeah, are already
a treat, right, Like youcan make a sandwich at home. You
(22:03):
can make so you could be thatoccasion, right you end up on the
Friday night or the Saturday night occasion, or the midweek that's a you know,
a party after a baseball game orsomething. You get that occasion selection
as opposed to I'm just going togo eat out to eat, you know,
which is that's a good point,I think because there are a lot
(22:23):
of brands that fall into that categorythat are just hey, I can make
a taco at home. I canalso do a burger at home. And
we're seeing so much more of that. So that's an interesting point because that
could be and what was your averageyou know, volume one point one?
Is that what I saw? Allright? So with that kind of AUV
(22:45):
what what kind of box do Ineed? What's what's the size of my
plant? We're looking for somewhere betweensixteen hundred and two thousand square feetskay,
relatively small footprint for a sushi concept. Yeah, and it's a very small
bar, you know. That's whywe don't need a massive bar. And
we're just really good and efficient atsqueezing him what we need to squeeze in
(23:06):
and forty percent of our business acrossthe brand goes out the door. So
that's a pretty great because it's sucha great food for travel. Is it
is one of the best foods fortravel. In fact, my wife and
I talked about it a lot oftime. If we get anything to go,
sushi is usually at the top ofthe list, like get sushi.
It holds it's a thirty minute,making them easy. You know, if
(23:29):
you're coming in from somewhere typically ifI'm driving over from Fort Lauderdale, you
know, that's a forty five minuteyou know haul. If it's if there's
any traffic, and we've got agood sushi place that I go to down
there, so that's usually where Ipick it up. What about the outlook
for franchising, because this is somethingthat some people say franchising is dead.
Some people say this is the rebirthof franchising. Sell me on the idea
(23:55):
that franchising is going to keep ontrucking. I mean, oh yeah.
I mean I was at the MultiUnit show in Vegas in March, and
I think all you had to lookat was record attendance and be at that
show and see the excitement and allthe new brands and everything that's going on.
So the last thing I would thinkis that franchising is dead. If
anything, I think that because ofthe processes and systems that are in place
(24:18):
that these brands are creating. Imean, there's some exciting brands out there.
I was really impressed with some ofthe new concepts that are coming out.
Yeah, I think it's anything butdead. Really. I mean maybe
people when they say that they're thinkingof some legacy brands that they're starting to
see fade away. That's just youknow, it's always a war of attrition
in this business. You have gotto say on your game and innovative and
(24:44):
innovate or die in our business.In the restaurant business, I think is
at an all time hime because theyare exciting, new things happening, and
you better stay on top of itas far as social on your marketing and
techology and you know who knows wherethey're And I think there's to your point,
there's a crop of brands that arestarting to fade out. You know,
(25:07):
good example, Red Lobster just filesfor bankruptcy. You know, they're
all you can eat Shrimp was oneof the I guess the worst marketing,
best marketing, but worst executions maybein the history of their brand. And
but we've seen this with a lotof restaurant brands that have already started to
see a lot of challenges. Andthese are had been mainstays. And what
(25:29):
seems to be percolating now at leastfrom our data, has been these regional
powerhouses, these brands like A Rockand roll Sushi who are kind of staying
tight knit and they're growing strategically,and maybe that's where the future is going
to go. Here's kind of thesemid range, moderate size as opposed to
these massive you know, major brands. How do you guys handle marketing?
(25:55):
You know when you look at localstore marketing, how you guys do it.
I'm a franchise Do am I incharge of everything on the marketing side
or do you guys help out?Now? We help out as far as
like setting up all the social makingsure that you've got a feed that is,
you know, we put one outfor you so you don't have to
think about that and you can runyour restaurant. You know, right now
you've got to look at everything fromyour Google updates. We teach all that
(26:19):
you know, where you can stillcontrol it as a franchise e. But
there's still nothing better than getting involvedin your community. Yeah, just nothing
can replace that and will go overyou know, and we'll check a lot
of the boxes for you on thecorporate end, but I just you know,
preach that it's just still local.Local community is the way to go
(26:40):
for the franchise systems. I've heardthat time in and time out. If
you can lose it easy with thefranchise, you know, somebody if you're
not careful when you get caught upjust in the multi unit pop pop pop
and you're not thinking about being apart of that community. People are real
these days, and I think theypick up on that more now. Ever,
this is happening with a brand thatis a Florida brand that I like,
(27:03):
and that is Burgerfi. They havebeen really struggling. They're starting to
see some closings. I've seen theirsales numbers starting to decline. This is
a brand now at grant it.It could be just the fact that we've
seen pressure on the market and alot of burger chains, you know,
because there's a lot of competition inthat category. So but to your point,
I didn't really see the franchisees divinginto the local communities. We have
(27:30):
a good example here where I live. We have a Burger PI. They're
not active in the local community,but there's a local restaurant tour that he
and her. It's a mother husbandwife team. They absolutely dominate. You
know, anytime you're at a sportingevent, they're there. Anytime you've got
something going on with school systems,they're there. And they seem to just
(27:53):
be kind of become the industry orthe community staple. And I think it
pays off for him because when Igo to their restaurant, man, it
is packed constantly. It makes abig difference. We just had a road
show. We did a roadshow andwe have a convention this year where we
go out in the field corporate crewright and let the franchisees come in so
(28:14):
we can get more GMS and morepeople on the on the ground level.
And one of our main topics wasletting our best franchisees get up there and
talk about their community involvement. Youknow, it's easy for us to look
at it and we can see topmarkets being like Nashville, Birmingham, Little
Rock and there's a definite common denominator. Yeah, you can tell. Yeah,
And it's making sure that you're atthat you know, big sampling event,
(28:37):
fundraiser and you know rock and rollSushi's right there front and center.
That goes a very long way.And people like that. They want to
know that, you know, becausefranchise can get a bad name in certain
area. It's franchise right. Wewant to eat local, Eat local.
I try to tell people, especiallyif we get that knock of Little Rock,
I'm like, where is low?Yeah, I realized that you know
(29:03):
we're from Arkansas, like we are, We're in your community, in your
school, you know, so,I think people need to see that sometimes
and then they just they gravitate towardsit. Yeah, for sure. We've
been here with Chris Crommelis, whois the chief development officer over at Rock
and Roll Sushi. Chris, beengreat having you on the show. Will
definitely be watching as the Sushi continuesits band tour across the United States.
(29:29):
It seems like so good to haveyou. Thanks again for stopping and we
appreciate it. Rock and Roll,Thank you. SIPs Protect Sarpatspotots and Sports
(30:06):
Potato Pets, Contass
Everybody's been wondering from entrepreneurs and businesstypes around what is the best franchise and
how do I get involved? Whatare the pitfalls I need to look for?
In today's podcast, will break downone of the best out there,
and that is Rock and Roll Sushi. We'll dive into what makes this brand
unique and also some of the pitfallsyou should be looking for in your own
(00:21):
franchise selection. Today's episode is goingto break down a sushi concept that is
an American style sushi restaurant founded onlove and true love for rock and roll
music. It's the only themed restaurantin the world where local and loyal fans
can experience rock they love and rolesthey want to have. So this is
going to be interesting. We'll breakdown the business side of it. We'll
(00:44):
also take a look at what makesthis brand unique. Stick around right here
on the Restaurant Report. Welcome backto the Restaurant Report. Today is going
to be a good one. We'regoing to talk about some franchising and joining
me today, of course, isChris Crommelus, who is the chief development
(01:07):
officer over at Rock and Roll Sushi, a brand that I actually discovered by
accident. So Chris, great tohave you on the show. I had
I had never been in one.I saw it. I'm driving by and
I was on a business trip.I'm driving by one, and I'm like,
(01:27):
whoa, whoa, what is that? I've heard that brand before?
And then I swung in a veryinteresting experience. I loved it. It
was fun and uh, well theone that I was in was in Alabama.
Ok yeah, Alabama. We werewell, we started well, we
(01:47):
were at a conference in Birmingham andwe got going and of course we were
doing these restaurant tours and there's Ididn't realize this that there's a lot of
restaurant brands that started in Alabama.Okay, you know in terms of you
know, not necessarily big brands,but a lot of multi unit guys that
are starting to build and out ofAlabama, which I thought was kind of
(02:08):
interesting. But anyway, so let'stalk about let's talk about the brand itself,
because I'm not sure everybody understands kindof what you guys represent. So
give us a rundown real quick.Okay, yeah, I mean rock and
roll sushi. Well got me interestedin rock and roll sushi. Maybe a
little bit of my background. We'llset that up because I came from the
(02:29):
quick service franchising a brand called TropicalSmoothie Cafe, and I've been a developer
and a multi unit franchisee for thatbrand for fifteen years and sold out twenty
seventeen. So it took some timeoff, and I, like, you
discovered rock and roll sushi on accident. I was not looking for full service.
Yeah, I knew I was goingto get back in. I started
(02:50):
kicking the tires on some other QSRbrands and just happened to have a mutual
friend that I work with who said, hey, you need to check out
this concept brother is doing. AndI'm like, He's like, it's sushi,
said I'm not interested. That's youknow, sounds hard or difficult,
not what I'm used to. Andhe just kind of kept bringing it up
when we would meet, and thensaid, my brother's blowing up the sushi
(03:14):
concept in Alabama. And I said, say that again out loud, that
makes no sense. So I reallydid you know? It was a total
accident, but I got interested init because he was explaining what they had
done and they had made an approachablesushi experience for folks. That really made
he didn't feel invited to the game. Yeah, because it was not approachable.
(03:36):
The experience was either like a highend sushi experience that was expensive and
you know, you could wear aball cap in or bring your kids,
or it was a you know,more of a mom and pop traditional and
that wasn't really approachable either because maybethey didn't understand the menu and there was
just it was just they didn't know, right. So when I found out
(03:57):
that Joe and Lance and through myfriend had created this concept in Alabama,
and I started to drive around,I said, all right, I'm going
to go check these out. SoI started cruising around the state, and
you know, I finally like mythird fourth visit because I'm still trying to
understand it, you know, andI'm mainly focused on what's going on behind
the scenes. That's where my eyeball, my eyeballs were focused at first.
(04:20):
Then I swung around in the barstool and I looked at the customers and
I was like, got it,Yeah, brilliant. So I'm from Arkansas
originally, and I called my operatingpartner back there and I said, I
got it rock and roll sushi,and he said, absolutely not we're not
doing sushi, Chris, I said, no, dude, you've got to
(04:41):
come check this out. So sureenough, I get into Alabama, and
you know, we just saw whatthey were doing, and it was like,
you know, how rare to findsomething in the restaurant business that is
super limited competition that really nobody's doing, right y, I saw all this
incredible white space in our industry becauseotherwise you the chicken wars of coffee wars,
or the pizza or sandwiches, onand on and on, right sports
(05:04):
bars, and then we saw this. I said, all right, we're
going to open one a little Rock, and we did in two thousand,
right in the middle of COVID,which was yes because we were under construction
and then boom, here's COVID.But it ended up working out great for
us, and it was exactly whatwe thought. So Little Rock, Arkansas
was the perfect place for us totest that. Right, this really is
(05:26):
Middle America, you know, well, and it's one of those It's one
of those things I think when youthink sushi, you're normally considering the coastal
country. You know, a lotof places like Florida, New York and
Los Angeles, et cetera. ButI think you're right. I think the
key here is certain types of cuisinehave started to seep into pretty much the
(05:48):
fabric of everywhere. You know.I would say Mexican was kind of one
of the first ones that you know, kind of became a national treasure.
Then you started seeing Asian food reallymake its way in, and then there
are certain sectors sushi. I feellike, I don't know yet if it's
there, but I feel like it'smuch more accepted now as a cuisine that
(06:11):
pretty much anybody would go in andorder. It's no longer you know,
kind of that selected cuisine type.So, right, kudos for you guys.
So let's talk about the franchising sideabout this, because you guys joined
up with apple Pie Capital here recently. That's a big move. Obviously,
this is going to be a significantstep in a growth plan for you guys.
(06:34):
What is the plan now with franchisingnow that you've got apple Pie Capital
kind of partnered up with you guys. Yeah, so we view it as
you just you know, back tothe history again, the growth has mainly
been organic to this point. Sowe're at seventy one locations and we really
didn't have a development plan other thanthe organic growth or people we knew in
(06:57):
the industry, or you know,you get some hits on the website.
A lot of times you're converting customersinto franchisees. They love the brand,
they're interested, and that's that's howit goes. But now that we have
a development plan, the apple Piepart is really crucial because when you put
the word out right and you're reallytrying to market that you are a very
interesting brand that people should take alook at, you're going to have quite
(07:18):
a few people that don't possibly qualify. So with apple Pie, we're able
to immediately put them into the funnelof finding out if they qualify financially.
Okay, it's the first step.Yeah, So that and that's important because
you know, when you look atselecting franchisees and really kind of jumping up
(07:39):
to that next level of growth thatis selecting the right franchise e is super
important because I don't know that franchisesystems the ones that I've talked with that
are been upstarts and good friends ofmine who thought they might franchise and then
immediately kind of rethought the whole thingbecause of the difficulty level just finding the
(08:00):
right people. Uh, that's prettysignificant. I was going to share something
off you guys's website. I thinkI've got it up here now. I
thought this wash was a good pointto get in on, and that is
kind of the whole process to investin a rock and roll franchise. So
you guys break it down right thereon the on the web website in terms
of the average sales for units.Uh, breakout concept low food costs.
(08:24):
Explain that because low food costs,I'm not sure that if I was just
looking at this brand, I wouldsay that that would be even possible.
How have you guys been able todo that? And what's the process there?
Well, I thought the same thingwhen I first, you know,
looked into the brand. But whatI did, what I didn't connect was
the value proposition for smooth for sushiis very high, you know, and
(08:48):
you can really get a premium pricepoint for it. So that's why the
food cost is so good, becauseit's not like I try to explain it
to people. Okay, I getit, Yeah, yeah, your price
look at a sandwich or a wrap. You can those expectations on prices a
little bit, you know, youget that maybe that ten or fifteen percent
lift that you don't typically get whenpeople don't look at that as a price
(09:11):
increase. They look at that asa value add you know. So,
Yeah, it's hard, and it'shard, and you can't most people.
Ninety five percent of people can't makeit at home. Yeah, it's not
like a sandwich. And if youlook at a sandwich that you can sell
for ten bucks, that's a goodpoint. Yeah, and you look at
that we can sell for sixteen andlook how much food is in each.
(09:31):
I mean, really, we haveless product. Yeah. I was looking
at one of your YouTube trailers.Does that actually happen in a restaurant?
What's that? I mean the lastfallback here and I'm thinking maybe I've got
a new career opportunity here. I'mnot sure, but maybe I will tell
(09:54):
you that actual shot was totally impromptu. We did have a group there.
This guy just said, hey,I brought my guitar and answer that table,
get up there, do it?Well, that's fun. I mean,
we have a place down here inSouth flor called Rocos Tacos. I
don't know if you ever have heardof it, but Rocco himself will get
on the bar and he pours tequilain these crazy outfits and that on a
(10:18):
Saturday night. If you can evercatch Roco at one of his restaurants,
is probably one of the most It'sjust, you know, it's it's the
restaurant hospitality side of things that people, I think a lot of people forget.
That's what we're here for, youknow, in terms of food and
entertainment. I want to talk aboutthe franchising side, though. We got
to get back to that, anduh, the thing I want to get
(10:39):
to here is because this is thequestion we get a lot, you know,
whether it's people asking, hey,do more shows on franchising and I'm
looking to get in the restaurant industry. Best practices for a franchise you now
as a franchise e and also afranchise or how did you and do you
go about the process of saying andhey, these are the best practices that
(11:01):
I look for. You've been inmulti chains here now, so you kind
of know a little bit about theDNA of a winner and a loser.
You know, have you looked atbrands and said, okay, these are
the things that have to be inplace for it to work the biggest one.
And look, I mean if wecan all figure that out, it's
(11:22):
still a bit of a mystery.Any dates really really well for me franchise
selection process. They all see myhome runs. But I think what it
comes down to, and what Itell people is if you can build a
culture and people want to work foryou, we have the processes and systems
(11:43):
in place. So the first one, no brainer is trust the process,
all of the system, right yeah, And I think anybody looking at a
franchise, you know, they shouldunderstand that part, but you still have
to make sure that they do.But really, it's in today's environment.
It's not like it was when Istarted twenty five years ago, where you
(12:03):
could really take a workforce and almostbend them to what you wanted in a
more militaristic fashion. That is notthe world today. You know, people
expect to be treated you know,well and like humans and they and that
is so important right now that whenI when I look at somebody specifically somebody
(12:24):
that wants to do a multi unitdeal and they have other restaurants, I
really want to go in there andsee them and see how they're you know,
what is the culture like in right, that's the peascet. I own
eight stores of myself, and Ican tell you, you know, it's
you know, still playing whack themhole sometimes, but our culture at my
Loarrocks stores is spot on, right. I have the right team. We
funneled a little bit in other areas, but we're always working towards that and
(12:48):
that is the success metric. SoI like that people because that's you know,
I know, that's the easy thingthat many people will say, Yeah,
it's always going to be about thepeople, But that's in almost every
business. Is there one metric whenyou think franchising, Because I'm looking at
tropical smoothie success. We've seen successin the smoothie business, but we've also
(13:09):
seen challenges out there a lot ofthe well, it's almost like the category
of froyo frozen yogurt had a lotof challenges. But originally in that breakout
period, Pinkberry was a huge one. There was a handful of others,
and then you had, you know, some of the ones like down here
in South Florida. I can't rememberthe brand. It come to me,
(13:31):
but there's there's a handful of themthat have made it through here. Menchi's
so that have made it through andhave actually seemed to succeed. What is
it that you think is the successfactor outside of people that makes these franchise
systems a success going forward, especiallyin crowded markets. Have you seen anything
(13:54):
out there that kind of tracks foryou guys, Yeah, because it flows
a little bit into the people part, but it's more making sure that you
stick with that training. I mean, I think when I look at the
same thing happened that you're talking aboutin the Frozen the every thing with the
pizza thing again, you know,the pizza every bran jumped in. We've
watched this time and time again,and you know, only about two we're
(14:16):
going to make it. And Ithink the ones that make it are the
ones that invest back to the peoplethat into the training, so the processes
and systems and then following that andhaving the leadership team in place to make
sure that you're adamant about that training. Yeah, you don't just hire people
in you're like it's your first day, you're on registrate or you're a server.
(14:37):
I mean, you have to train. So when I look at the
ones that are successful, it isfollowing. It's back to processes and systems.
You have to be able to followthat. So you've got to be
able to build you know, aleadership team that then takes care of your
people. So I hope you know, well, I think that the training
component is it's very indicative of thesuccessful chains that we've seen build out,
(15:03):
you know, into the mass systemsbecause obviously with the franchise, replication is
the key, and eventually it becomesan asset because customers can be anywhere and
get the same experience and feel like, yeah, yeah, the consistency is
there. And I think that's thepoint. But to your point, for
somebody maybe watching this show today orlistening in on the podcast and you're trying
(15:26):
to figure out what restaurant franchise tobuy or to get into, I think
what Chris hit on is perfect youthink about training, I would almost recommend
any franchise e U and I lookedat buying a franchise system here in South
Florida not too long ago, andI asked to come in and work the
store. So I wanted to seethe process, you know, because they
(15:50):
had new hires happening, so Iwould watch how they were training a new
hire. I also saw how theywere doing everything from food handling, guest
service. You know, you've gota chance to really see the DNA of
the brand. Do you have franchiseesthat do that with Rock and Roll Sushi
to say, I want to like, come do a test drive. I
just did one two weeks ago witha prospect in Michigan and they came or
(16:11):
it was our discovery day. Yes, so you know, I like to
bring people into a market and tourthem around. In this case, it
was a little Rock We have fivestores there and you know they happen to
be stores that you know, I'mpart owner in. So we went around
and we look at that and theyget to see behind the scenes. They
get to see how we do thingsto your point, and they go into
(16:32):
a store and see a trainee,they are welcome to talk to you know,
all the folks there and watch it. And I think it's it's a
really important piece of it because youknow, like I tell them, just
that discovery day is going to bea success. Either way, You're either
going to leave and say this isnot for me, right, which is
a good thing. That's a goodthing sometimes, I know, is one
(16:56):
more step to a yes, youknow right, and look I've done this
long enough where getting somebody in isnot the goal because if it becomes a
problem, it takes a long timeto work through it. So you really
want to make sure you've got agood culture fit, brand fit for the
perspective franchise z and I think whenthey leave a discovery day, if you've
done your job, it is clearcut they're not on the fence anymore.
(17:18):
They're either no or they are in, and it's what they wanted to be.
Yeah. I like that. Okay, so let's talk a little bit
about the industry right now, becauseI think you hit on a lot of
points for franchising understanding whether you're onthe franchise or side or the franchise e
side, getting the right people,getting your training lockdown, making sure it's
(17:38):
a good fit for the right youknow, franchise e that's coming in.
I'm kind of curious. We weretalking about this off off the show earlier
before we started. Any stories thatyou can share of people who have never
been in the restaurant business that havemade it in a rock and roll sushi
what can you tell me? Yes? So, one of the things that
(18:00):
really got me interested in the brandis when I first started doing my homework
and I looked at their early growth. There were people that had never been
in the restaurant business that were eitherfriends or contractors or you know, you
know what I mean, like familymembers and everyone. Yeah, and how
did they how did they do that? Now, to the credit of the
(18:21):
founders, they were so hands onand it was so important for them to
keep the consistency. And you know, it's your baby, it's what you
feel that they did a fantastic jobtaking these people that may not have known
anything about the restaurant industry and helpedthem be successful by you know, because
in the early days which this youknow, this true startup like this has
(18:42):
been they did they're creating processes andsystems on the fly. When we came
in and you know, my friendbought the company in two thousand and bought
the controlling interest and I became CEO. The first thing we did was took
all of our years of experience,brought our team in and put those rock
(19:02):
solid processes and systems in place.There he had all the concepts and ideas
and we're doing it. We justmade it uniform and simple where it's more
turnkey. Well, I think that'sthe that's a very you know, it's
a missing element when you have afranchise system that is coming from a similar
similar to what you guys have done, coming from grassroots really and being able
(19:26):
to put a really coherent system togetherand get it in there in the right
way so you're not dealing with andI've seen some of these franchisee manuals from
some of the biggest brands out there. I remember a friend of mine,
he runs several franchises in the mcdonnalsystem, and he and I were talking
about one night. I looked at, you know, just some of the
(19:47):
documentation that they offload on the front. It's a mountain of stuff that these
guys are constantly on dealing with.So I think keeping it simple is pretty
is pretty legendary. As you guyssay, yeah, you know, it's
a big part of our brand becausewhen people look at this concept, they
would probably look at it the wayI did. When you hear sushi,
(20:08):
I think chef, I think complicated. And what we've done, you know,
it's one of our taglines, Nosushi chef required. And it's because
we're bringing in technology and robotics andthings that make the process of making sushi.
It's not chef driven, right.We create the way where we can
take you know, college kids likethe stores I have in Tallassi and you
(20:32):
know, a couple of good weeksof training, they can make sushi quality
pretty, you know, artistic sushi. I like that. I was just
looking at some of the marketing youguys are doing. There's the guy with
that nice sled there, well,very cool. I like the component.
Let's talk a little bit about thecomponent of the consumer, because this is
(20:52):
one that is starting to break downa little bit here. A lot of
people are looking at the industry.Sales are starting to go a little bit
flat. We're seeing a little bitof pressure on the consumer in terms of
veeding out. How does this affecta brand like you, guys, because
you seem to be I wouldn't saycasual dine, but a little bit more
upscale on casual dine. Where wheredoes this does this hit you guys at
(21:18):
all? Or what is your opinionon how the market seems to be trending
right now? And I think itdoes. I was having a conversation with
a couple of friends yesterday and I'mlike, you know, people are talking
about, you know, the economy, but I mean look at the market
and I'm like, well, that'stwo different you're talking about. You know,
there's a customer that's got a greatportfolio and then there's the you know,
the average person out there that's makingdecisions about are they going to eat
(21:41):
out or not? Exactly, itis very different for those two groups of
people. We are seeing it.It is happening, There's no doubt about
it. One thing we have onour side that's an advantage is because probably
ninety five percent of people can't makesushi at home. Yeah, are already
a treat, right, Like youcan make a sandwich at home. You
(22:03):
can make so you could be thatoccasion, right you end up on the
Friday night or the Saturday night occasion, or the midweek that's a you know,
a party after a baseball game orsomething. You get that occasion selection
as opposed to I'm just going togo eat out to eat, you know,
which is that's a good point,I think because there are a lot
(22:23):
of brands that fall into that categorythat are just hey, I can make
a taco at home. I canalso do a burger at home. And
we're seeing so much more of that. So that's an interesting point because that
could be and what was your averageyou know, volume one point one?
Is that what I saw? Allright? So with that kind of AUV
(22:45):
what what kind of box do Ineed? What's what's the size of my
plant? We're looking for somewhere betweensixteen hundred and two thousand square feetskay,
relatively small footprint for a sushi concept. Yeah, and it's a very small
bar, you know. That's whywe don't need a massive bar. And
we're just really good and efficient atsqueezing him what we need to squeeze in
(23:06):
and forty percent of our business acrossthe brand goes out the door. So
that's a pretty great because it's sucha great food for travel. Is it
is one of the best foods fortravel. In fact, my wife and
I talked about it a lot oftime. If we get anything to go,
sushi is usually at the top ofthe list, like get sushi.
It holds it's a thirty minute,making them easy. You know, if
(23:29):
you're coming in from somewhere typically ifI'm driving over from Fort Lauderdale, you
know, that's a forty five minuteyou know haul. If it's if there's
any traffic, and we've got agood sushi place that I go to down
there, so that's usually where Ipick it up. What about the outlook
for franchising, because this is somethingthat some people say franchising is dead.
Some people say this is the rebirthof franchising. Sell me on the idea
(23:55):
that franchising is going to keep ontrucking. I mean, oh yeah.
I mean I was at the MultiUnit show in Vegas in March, and
I think all you had to lookat was record attendance and be at that
show and see the excitement and allthe new brands and everything that's going on.
So the last thing I would thinkis that franchising is dead. If
anything, I think that because ofthe processes and systems that are in place
(24:18):
that these brands are creating. Imean, there's some exciting brands out there.
I was really impressed with some ofthe new concepts that are coming out.
Yeah, I think it's anything butdead. Really. I mean maybe
people when they say that they're thinkingof some legacy brands that they're starting to
see fade away. That's just youknow, it's always a war of attrition
in this business. You have gotto say on your game and innovative and
(24:44):
innovate or die in our business.In the restaurant business, I think is
at an all time hime because theyare exciting, new things happening, and
you better stay on top of itas far as social on your marketing and
techology and you know who knows wherethey're And I think there's to your point,
there's a crop of brands that arestarting to fade out. You know,
(25:07):
good example, Red Lobster just filesfor bankruptcy. You know, they're
all you can eat Shrimp was oneof the I guess the worst marketing,
best marketing, but worst executions maybein the history of their brand. And
but we've seen this with a lotof restaurant brands that have already started to
see a lot of challenges. Andthese are had been mainstays. And what
(25:29):
seems to be percolating now at leastfrom our data, has been these regional
powerhouses, these brands like A Rockand roll Sushi who are kind of staying
tight knit and they're growing strategically,and maybe that's where the future is going
to go. Here's kind of thesemid range, moderate size as opposed to
these massive you know, major brands. How do you guys handle marketing?
(25:55):
You know when you look at localstore marketing, how you guys do it.
I'm a franchise Do am I incharge of everything on the marketing side
or do you guys help out?Now? We help out as far as
like setting up all the social makingsure that you've got a feed that is,
you know, we put one outfor you so you don't have to
think about that and you can runyour restaurant. You know, right now
you've got to look at everything fromyour Google updates. We teach all that
(26:19):
you know, where you can stillcontrol it as a franchise e. But
there's still nothing better than getting involvedin your community. Yeah, just nothing
can replace that and will go overyou know, and we'll check a lot
of the boxes for you on thecorporate end, but I just you know,
preach that it's just still local.Local community is the way to go
(26:40):
for the franchise systems. I've heardthat time in and time out. If
you can lose it easy with thefranchise, you know, somebody if you're
not careful when you get caught upjust in the multi unit pop pop pop
and you're not thinking about being apart of that community. People are real
these days, and I think theypick up on that more now. Ever,
this is happening with a brand thatis a Florida brand that I like,
(27:03):
and that is Burgerfi. They havebeen really struggling. They're starting to
see some closings. I've seen theirsales numbers starting to decline. This is
a brand now at grant it.It could be just the fact that we've
seen pressure on the market and alot of burger chains, you know,
because there's a lot of competition inthat category. So but to your point,
I didn't really see the franchisees divinginto the local communities. We have
(27:30):
a good example here where I live. We have a Burger PI. They're
not active in the local community,but there's a local restaurant tour that he
and her. It's a mother husbandwife team. They absolutely dominate. You
know, anytime you're at a sportingevent, they're there. Anytime you've got
something going on with school systems,they're there. And they seem to just
(27:53):
be kind of become the industry orthe community staple. And I think it
pays off for him because when Igo to their restaurant, man, it
is packed constantly. It makes abig difference. We just had a road
show. We did a roadshow andwe have a convention this year where we
go out in the field corporate crewright and let the franchisees come in so
(28:14):
we can get more GMS and morepeople on the on the ground level.
And one of our main topics wasletting our best franchisees get up there and
talk about their community involvement. Youknow, it's easy for us to look
at it and we can see topmarkets being like Nashville, Birmingham, Little
Rock and there's a definite common denominator. Yeah, you can tell. Yeah,
And it's making sure that you're atthat you know, big sampling event,
(28:37):
fundraiser and you know rock and rollSushi's right there front and center.
That goes a very long way.And people like that. They want to
know that, you know, becausefranchise can get a bad name in certain
area. It's franchise right. Wewant to eat local, Eat local.
I try to tell people, especiallyif we get that knock of Little Rock,
I'm like, where is low?Yeah, I realized that you know
(29:03):
we're from Arkansas, like we are, We're in your community, in your
school, you know, so,I think people need to see that sometimes
and then they just they gravitate towardsit. Yeah, for sure. We've
been here with Chris Crommelis, whois the chief development officer over at Rock
and Roll Sushi. Chris, beengreat having you on the show. Will
definitely be watching as the Sushi continuesits band tour across the United States.
(29:29):
It seems like so good to haveyou. Thanks again for stopping and we
appreciate it. Rock and Roll,Thank you. SIPs Protect Sarpatspotots and Sports
(30:06):
Potato Pets, Contass
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