Chick-fil-Cast

Join us in this episode of 'Chick-fil-Cast' as we sit down with Kristen and Drew, the passionate owners of Chick-fil-A 54th Street & US-131. Discover the secrets behind their success, from crafting delicious meals to building a welcoming community hub. Learn about their commitment to quality, service, and giving back. Whether you're a fan of Chick-fil-A or aspiring entrepreneur, this episode offers a glimpse into the heart and soul of a beloved fast-food franchise.

Transcript

00;00;06;11 - 00;00;21;00
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Max and Chris Show. We have a couple of special guests here today and a really cool franchise that they own. And we'll obviously dive into that and dive into their personal story as well to solve our Max, do some quick introductions and then we'll get started.

00;00;21;04 - 00;00;45;10
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's a small QSR that most of you guys have probably never heard of. It's called Chick-Fil-A. So we're super excited about this. And thank you, Chris, Kristen and Drew for coming on. I pointed at Drew when I said Christian for some time, we're the same. Yeah. Thank you for coming on. And this is Jake Adkins, second group that he's invited.

00;00;45;12 - 00;00;49;04
Speaker 2
He he keeps he's like my booking agent.

00;00;49;07 - 00;00;51;18
Speaker 1
She's from.

00;00;51;20 - 00;01;08;08
Speaker 2
The service. He's like, You got to have these people on one leg. I'm like, Of course, I'm super excited about this because you always hear the you kind of hear tidbits of the process of getting approved and what you're allowed to do or not do. So yeah, it's super excited to dive into it with you guys today.

00;01;08;14 - 00;01;09;05
Speaker 3
Yeah, thanks for having us.

00;01;09;05 - 00;01;09;24
Speaker 4
We're glad to be here.

00;01;09;24 - 00;01;25;26
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, and last part, it's been a couple of weeks since we put a podcast out, and that's my fault because we did a two and a half hour podcast with I won't Say Who we are and only 16 minutes of it recorded on this show.

00;01;25;26 - 00;01;28;00
Speaker 1
It's all good. Yeah.

00;01;28;02 - 00;01;36;05
Speaker 2
In the last 5 minutes of me scrambling around, I double checked, but.

00;01;36;08 - 00;01;37;23
Speaker 1
I hope.

00;01;37;25 - 00;01;38;27
Speaker 3
That's fingers crossed.

00;01;38;27 - 00;01;39;19
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.

00;01;39;24 - 00;01;46;02
Speaker 2
I'm sweating right now and it's I'm nervous about that, actually. Like, that's how we.

00;01;46;04 - 00;01;46;25
Speaker 3
Do it again.

00;01;46;28 - 00;01;48;25
Speaker 1
That's a one time mistakes. Never gonna happen again.

00;01;49;00 - 00;01;50;12
Speaker 2
Well, that was our second time.

00;01;50;12 - 00;01;52;01
Speaker 1
Are you sorry? It was my first time.

00;01;52;01 - 00;01;52;28
Speaker 2
The first one was his.

00;01;52;28 - 00;01;53;29
Speaker 1
With this sound system.

00;01;53;29 - 00;02;16;20
Speaker 2
First time with this sound system that I loaded the SD card up and it's got now it says 12 plus hours. And what had happened is my kids came in here and Trevor's kids came in here one day and they recorded their own podcast. And apparently it was like 4 hours. Well, it must have seven and I didn't I, I have two SD cards.

00;02;16;20 - 00;02;33;26
Speaker 2
I thought I grabbed the right one at clearly been. So yeah we got done with the podcast and I look at the guys and I'm like, I'm not sure how much of that record. And then they're like, It's all right, it's all right. Like, just figure it out and let us know how much time recorded two and a half hours.

00;02;33;26 - 00;02;52;07
Speaker 2
Only until I get home, put it on the computer, and usually it takes a while to upload it to the what's what's the Dropbox uploaded to the Dropbox and it didn't take very long. 16 I like you know now I save a little humility.

00;02;52;08 - 00;02;53;19
Speaker 3
Fingers crossed that there's a happened.

00;02;53;19 - 00;03;03;12
Speaker 2
Today. Well yeah he's sent and you guys are so gracious to come in and so is this other person and you take their time up and then that happens. Is it humiliating to say mistakes happen?

00;03;03;13 - 00;03;06;08
Speaker 4
Yeah. You got the wrong chicken sandwich, everyone. Yeah.

00;03;06;10 - 00;03;18;16
Speaker 2
Yeah. And I yell at you guys for that. Yeah. So super excited to talk to you guys. And, and I guess location will just start with that. Which location are you guys the owners of.

00;03;18;17 - 00;03;23;04
Speaker 3
Sure. Yeah. So we own the Chick-Fil-A on 54th and 131 in Wyoming Michigan.

00;03;23;06 - 00;03;28;00
Speaker 2
And and I so we were talking about it before is I always thought that was the first one.

00;03;28;03 - 00;03;38;10
Speaker 3
Yeah. So technically the first one was the Chick-Fil-A. It's called Grand Rapids South, but it's Kalamazoo and M is Brad's Berlin. And so he opened about four weeks before I did.

00;03;38;13 - 00;03;52;05
Speaker 2
So I'm still shocked. Like I'm still shocked personally. Like I live in Gaines, so I live right down the road from there and still shocked that they got that approved. Because you like base. I mean, you have to drive back what is.

00;03;52;10 - 00;03;54;03
Speaker 3
It's a back up to a neighborhood. Yeah, it.

00;03;54;03 - 00;03;56;14
Speaker 2
Is. There's Bob Evans and then what.

00;03;56;14 - 00;03;58;17
Speaker 1
It is, it's right next door. Yeah, it is.

00;03;58;19 - 00;04;02;02
Speaker 3
It's right next to. Yeah. There's I don't think there's anything nice but.

00;04;02;02 - 00;04;06;13
Speaker 1
It makes it easy for like the traffic to come in that way to the drivers and back out to the road.

00;04;06;15 - 00;04;14;13
Speaker 3
What was hard was the sales volume with the location only having one. Yeah. The excitement around it is backed up on them.

00;04;14;15 - 00;04;16;04
Speaker 2
So you guys are competing too, you know.

00;04;16;04 - 00;04;29;11
Speaker 3
But yeah, we did all that we could, but there's just I was telling them there's just so many layers to it. Like a training team comes in and like, corporate comes in. So you can't change all those flights, you know? Yeah, yeah. On the drop. It just. It's impossible.

00;04;29;11 - 00;04;30;27
Speaker 2
That's what's back up here.

00;04;31;03 - 00;04;38;11
Speaker 1
Yeah, I was going to say, well, let's back up like to the beginning. We're obviously you guys are married. Yeah. Yeah. Take us.

00;04;38;13 - 00;04;43;18
Speaker 2
Was that before you guys opened the Chick-Fil-A? We go all.

00;04;43;18 - 00;04;51;16
Speaker 3
The way back. So I started with Chick-Fil-A when I was 15 years old. So I'm going on 18th year on his 19th year.

00;04;51;16 - 00;04;54;13
Speaker 4
With 15 as well. 15 is a job for both of us.

00;04;54;13 - 00;04;55;09
Speaker 1
Yeah, same.

00;04;55;09 - 00;05;13;03
Speaker 3
So I'm sure. No, no. So I'm originally from Booneville, Tennessee. So small town. When I went off to right, eventually my family moved and so I moved to Greenville, South Carolina, which feels a lot like Grand Rapids. I think that's why it feels like home and it's born.

00;05;13;04 - 00;05;14;06
Speaker 2
I as it.

00;05;14;06 - 00;05;14;20
Speaker 4
Is it's.

00;05;14;20 - 00;05;29;25
Speaker 3
It's it's not that like when I was there, it wasn't such a cool city. It was, you know, just home. But I went to a school called Landry University for college. And when I went there, I worked at a Chick fil A, a transfer to a Chick fil A, and Drew worked there. So.

00;05;29;27 - 00;05;32;14
Speaker 2
So you were working at Chick fil A in Tennessee first?

00;05;32;15 - 00;05;34;28
Speaker 3
No, in South Carolina. So right in Greenville, South Carolina.

00;05;34;28 - 00;05;35;20
Speaker 2
The first one?

00;05;35;21 - 00;05;52;05
Speaker 3
Yeah. There was a Chick fil A down the street I in South Carolina at that time. You could get your license at 15 and a half. And so I just wanted to make money. I wanted to have freedom. And Chick-Fil-A was one of the very few places that hires 15 year olds. And so I got a job there.

00;05;52;10 - 00;06;01;21
Speaker 3
I worked there all through high school. And when I went off to college, I took a semester off from working. And then that's when I started working at the Greenwood Chick-Fil-A, and that's where I met Drew.

00;06;01;23 - 00;06;06;05
Speaker 1
So we were different talents. When you first started working there, what was your day to day? I mean, were you?

00;06;06;06 - 00;06;22;09
Speaker 3
I was a regular team member. I mean, scrubbing toilets, serving guests, working in the drive Drive-Thru had set like any any position up front, because as a 15 year old, you know, there's restrictions. You can't touch certain sharp things, no ladders, things like that. So I was in front of house team member.

00;06;22;11 - 00;06;29;09
Speaker 2
Was it was a love at first sight sight for Drew or was it like the chicken sandwich is like.

00;06;29;11 - 00;06;35;05
Speaker 3
Dream version? It's like I was scoop and fry. Kristen Sorry for that shoot.

00;06;35;07 - 00;06;37;25
Speaker 4
I don't know. I was slow.

00;06;37;27 - 00;06;42;00
Speaker 2
In those pleated pants, in those exact.

00;06;42;02 - 00;06;43;22
Speaker 3
Really ugly uniforms back then.

00;06;43;22 - 00;06;47;25
Speaker 4
And so grease stains on my pants, I was a back of house guys.

00;06;47;27 - 00;06;52;14
Speaker 1
If you had some original photos, please send that out.

00;06;52;17 - 00;07;06;11
Speaker 2
Like we post on our Instagram. I embarrassed to say I don't remember what the handle is, but I think it's Max and Chris Show blog post. We post a lot of the things that we talked about on the air and that will be what's.

00;07;06;12 - 00;07;08;21
Speaker 1
Send you guys. You know we can and find.

00;07;08;21 - 00;07;09;10
Speaker 2
But yeah.

00;07;09;12 - 00;07;10;21
Speaker 3
The dive in the vault for that.

00;07;10;21 - 00;07;11;13
Speaker 1
To see.

00;07;11;18 - 00;07;14;13
Speaker 2
So you were how old when you started working.

00;07;14;13 - 00;07;23;13
Speaker 3
There so 15 when I first started anyway and that's in Greenville, South Carolina in my college was about an hour away in a place called Greenwood, South Carolina.

00;07;23;16 - 00;07;25;17
Speaker 2
okay. That's what started me for a loop, which is.

00;07;25;17 - 00;07;27;02
Speaker 4
Where I was born and raised.

00;07;27;08 - 00;07;28;04
Speaker 2
In Greenwood.

00;07;28;04 - 00;07;40;23
Speaker 4
Greenwood? Yeah. So that's where my family still lives. Like, we're all from there. And I started for who became both of our operators when she was in college. I stayed with them from 15 till the time that we were once.

00;07;40;23 - 00;07;46;03
Speaker 2
The age gap on this, this wasn't like, you know, manager picking up the young, you know, like myself.

00;07;46;06 - 00;07;50;18
Speaker 4
But Kristen did get promoted a lot faster than Yeah, yeah.

00;07;50;20 - 00;07;52;00
Speaker 5
Yeah, yeah.

00;07;52;03 - 00;07;54;02
Speaker 3
We're only a year apart, but.

00;07;54;05 - 00;08;08;15
Speaker 4
Kristen's a year younger than I am. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, she started working there. The guys were like, Hey, there's this new girl work and an okay, cool, whatever. And then she started scooping fries or I started scooping fries. And she was not very nice to me because apparently I was going to slow.

00;08;08;17 - 00;08;11;19
Speaker 2
So she had already had been doing it since 15.

00;08;11;19 - 00;08;14;24
Speaker 1
She was in the process. Yeah.

00;08;14;26 - 00;08;16;16
Speaker 2
Why? GREENWOOD Well.

00;08;16;18 - 00;08;33;23
Speaker 3
I just I just had a friend at the time whose sister went there and I didn't want to go far away. I wasn't like a big university person. And truthfully, school to me was like a means to an end. I'm not a school person. I just knew like I had to go to do something. At the time I thought I was, which is a learning conversation.

00;08;33;23 - 00;08;35;22
Speaker 3
I thought I was going to school for nursing. That was.

00;08;35;22 - 00;08;36;09
Speaker 2
What.

00;08;36;12 - 00;08;40;17
Speaker 3
I wanted to go for. But then that changed, obviously.

00;08;40;19 - 00;08;47;08
Speaker 2
Okay. Yeah. And so you went to Greenwood, you grew up England. How big is Greenwood?

00;08;47;11 - 00;08;57;28
Speaker 4
Small. I mean, maybe the size of Greenville. Yeah, not very big. Okay. Not I mean, good size. One major high school like, Yeah.

00;08;58;00 - 00;09;02;02
Speaker 3
We're just like an hour away from anything else. Big, right? We're kind of on our own.

00;09;02;02 - 00;09;09;22
Speaker 2
So it's like Greenville. Do have you been saying? Yeah. I mean, they got the Walmart, they got the bigger they got nice city there, but it it's.

00;09;09;24 - 00;09;11;22
Speaker 1
A 45 minute radius around it.

00;09;11;25 - 00;09;14;12
Speaker 2
Right. Yeah it's it's own little my little.

00;09;14;12 - 00;09;16;23
Speaker 4
Navy is where everybody bought their clothes from.

00;09;16;26 - 00;09;17;20
Speaker 3
Like.

00;09;17;23 - 00;09;20;28
Speaker 4
There's a J.C. Penney a Belk you know so nothing major.

00;09;20;28 - 00;09;22;12
Speaker 2
But you're big enough to have a Chick-Fil-A.

00;09;22;13 - 00;09;25;08
Speaker 4
Exactly. Yeah. And and it was a huge success.

00;09;25;09 - 00;09;32;20
Speaker 3
Yeah. So that Chick-Fil-A was a company called a DTO, so a drive thru only. So it was an old Checkers building.

00;09;32;23 - 00;09;36;28
Speaker 2
So and we have checkers so like a hot now over here too.

00;09;36;28 - 00;09;40;00
Speaker 1
And this Chick-Fil-A to even do that anymore drive thru all these.

00;09;40;03 - 00;09;46;05
Speaker 3
Super rare but yeah it's not I think operators really love the model just because it's so fast.

00;09;46;05 - 00;09;50;06
Speaker 2
And you don't have the play area that kids destroy.

00;09;50;08 - 00;09;50;29
Speaker 3
To clean up after.

00;09;51;00 - 00;09;52;08
Speaker 2
Kids. Yeah yeah.

00;09;52;14 - 00;10;01;22
Speaker 3
So let's are we both I would say for both of us that was like a turning point in our lives at working for Brian Whitaker. He's the operator of that greenlit chick flick.

00;10;01;24 - 00;10;03;28
Speaker 1
Is he still the operator? Still is, yeah. That's.

00;10;04;01 - 00;10;15;08
Speaker 3
Yeah. And he has two now, So there was a Chick fil A, so we actually had a DTO, Chick fil A, and then an old school cook. Cook up fry is what it's called. So like the penny pennies are up front.

00;10;15;11 - 00;10;17;15
Speaker 4
It was in a mall, a very small mall.

00;10;17;17 - 00;10;21;27
Speaker 2
Where did and I should have the where did Chick-Fil-A start. Did it start over in that area. Yeah.

00;10;22;01 - 00;10;22;29
Speaker 3
When in in.

00;10;22;29 - 00;10;23;17
Speaker 2
The Carolinas.

00;10;23;22 - 00;10;25;06
Speaker 3
Area in Atlanta.

00;10;25;08 - 00;10;25;25
Speaker 2
Atlanta.

00;10;25;27 - 00;10;31;24
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah. The first Chick fil A was actually called the dwarf house and it started in April, Georgia.

00;10;31;26 - 00;10;36;10
Speaker 4
But the location is still there. They remodeled, obviously. But yeah, yeah.

00;10;36;13 - 00;10;39;08
Speaker 3
I think they they just remodeled about two years ago.

00;10;39;10 - 00;10;43;20
Speaker 2
Yeah and that's only little Atlanta is probably what like.

00;10;43;22 - 00;10;44;08
Speaker 3
3 hours.

00;10;44;14 - 00;10;46;05
Speaker 2
Before. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.

00;10;46;05 - 00;10;55;08
Speaker 4
So every restaurant number so that mall that she's talking about, our restaurant number was 64. So I was the 64th Chick fil A open ever.

00;10;55;08 - 00;10;57;04
Speaker 3
And as ditto was 502.

00;10;57;04 - 00;11;00;13
Speaker 4
So the both were relatively varied. Now there.

00;11;00;13 - 00;11;00;28
Speaker 3
Are six.

00;11;01;05 - 00;11;03;01
Speaker 4
It's how many are there now? man.

00;11;03;01 - 00;11;03;16
Speaker 3
Over.

00;11;03;17 - 00;11;07;17
Speaker 2
35. And do you remember what year they open, like with the first one or.

00;11;07;23 - 00;11;08;09
Speaker 3
I don't.

00;11;08;09 - 00;11;13;05
Speaker 2
I mean, did it catch fire right away or was it kind of a slow and then ramp up Chick.

00;11;13;05 - 00;11;14;17
Speaker 3
Fil A in Greenwood or.

00;11;14;18 - 00;11;16;15
Speaker 2
Just in general. The the whole.

00;11;16;17 - 00;11;34;22
Speaker 3
Yeah, I think I think it took a long time for people. So Chick was a pioneer of putting restaurants in malls like there were. That was not a thing. A food court was not a thing. True, Cathy is who started Chick fil A, and so he said, Hey, like this makes sense. People will stay longer in your mall.

00;11;34;22 - 00;11;37;29
Speaker 3
There was nothing to eat, so they would leave to go eat. And then they're done shopping.

00;11;38;02 - 00;11;38;27
Speaker 4
In Greenbriar.

00;11;38;27 - 00;11;41;12
Speaker 3
Mall. In Greenbrier Mall. Yeah, that's in Atlanta.

00;11;41;14 - 00;11;42;05
Speaker 2
No kidding.

00;11;42;05 - 00;11;49;12
Speaker 3
Yeah. So. So Dorf House is like the original plan. And then Chick fil A is what it evolved into over the years.

00;11;49;14 - 00;12;01;16
Speaker 4
So Dorf asserts, like cheeseburgers. Yeah, like a bigger menu. We mastered the chicken sandwich. We are the first chicken sandwich, butter first, and the most chicken sandwich.

00;12;01;19 - 00;12;02;21
Speaker 3
Where you you.

00;12;02;22 - 00;12;10;14
Speaker 2
Can you can actually, if you feel comfortable making that claim, you're the first chicken sandwich shop. Okay, No kidding.

00;12;10;16 - 00;12;14;02
Speaker 4
That's a fact.

00;12;14;04 - 00;12;27;04
Speaker 2
I love it. Yeah. Yeah. And then. Okay, so you guys are working out there in Greenwood, North Carolina, your home town. You guys start dating at some point.

00;12;27;11 - 00;12;36;02
Speaker 3
And so we started dating probably in 2009. And then we got married in 2012. But to back it up.

00;12;36;02 - 00;12;37;05
Speaker 2
Yeah, please.

00;12;37;08 - 00;12;55;05
Speaker 3
When I was in college, I was a junior and, I don't know, 2011 and Brian Whitaker, the owner of the Chick-Fil-A in Greenwood, said, Hey, I'm going to take you guys on these leaders on a tour of the support center, which is Chick fil A's home office, and that's in Atlanta. So I got to be part of a group of maybe ten that went.

00;12;55;05 - 00;13;14;22
Speaker 3
And I was really, really questioning my major at the time. I was like, I don't really want to be a nurse. You do not want to do this. But I didn't know how to, like, vocalize that was feeling like that. I was starting over. And I think Brian, without even realizing it, like he saw that that back and forth and me, that I was just not happy.

00;13;14;24 - 00;13;31;19
Speaker 3
So he took me to the sports center. And I remember that that tour when I left, I was so encouraged by all the different jobs I could do there that I really wanted to be an owner, But I didn't come from money. I didn't I didn't know all the processes and things like that. I went home, we got out of his car.

00;13;31;20 - 00;13;46;25
Speaker 3
It was probably not a o'clock at night and I was like, I think I want to own a Chick-Fil-A and say, We'll start tomorrow. I went home. I called is no exaggeration. I got to my apartment, I called my dad and I was like, I'm going to the office tomorrow at school and I'm change of a major and I think I'm going to fly there.

00;13;46;25 - 00;13;54;20
Speaker 3
Fully expected him to say you're a psycho. But he was totally on board. He was like, Why not? I mean, you should at least that's.

00;13;54;20 - 00;13;57;13
Speaker 2
What are your parents? Are they entrepreneurs? Are they Not at all.

00;13;57;13 - 00;14;15;05
Speaker 3
So so my my birth mother and my father, like, were together 11 years of my life. But whenever when I was nine, my mom actually got diagnosed with colon cancer and so super rare she was 32. And so she fought for two years, passed away when she was 34.

00;14;15;07 - 00;14;16;08
Speaker 2
How old are you? I'm sorry.

00;14;16;08 - 00;14;17;17
Speaker 3
I was 11 at the time.

00;14;17;19 - 00;14;17;24
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;14;17;28 - 00;14;25;03
Speaker 3
Yeah. So she was totally healthy. We have no history of colon cancer in our family. She just it was.

00;14;25;03 - 00;14;26;09
Speaker 2
It was as far.

00;14;26;12 - 00;14;42;28
Speaker 3
As I know. Yeah. And but, but I always hear that part because it truly changed who we were. I didn't have to have a source or didn't have a partner for several years, so I had to grow up really fast or I had other responsibilities that I don't think most 11 or 12 year olds had.

00;14;43;02 - 00;14;44;07
Speaker 1
Did you have other siblings?

00;14;44;14 - 00;15;04;07
Speaker 3
I have one biological sister. And then after that, my family's very blended. So he's married now to someone who I refer to as my mom. Her name's Laura and she has two sons. And then from a marriage in between that my dad was married and he has a son named Caleb. So there's five of us all together. Very confusing family tree.

00;15;04;09 - 00;15;14;26
Speaker 3
Yeah, but so because of that, I mean, it really changed the course of my life, so. Yeah. And then we when he married Laura, we moved. And that's how I ended up in Greenville, South Carolina.

00;15;14;29 - 00;15;17;18
Speaker 2
What what did your dad do to support you guys?

00;15;17;20 - 00;15;40;25
Speaker 3
He, He was a pastor, a majority of my life. And then as I entered into college, he did that actually my entire life. And then when I was in college, he took a step back from ministry because he really wanted to see where this thing ended up. So he worked at like a Starbucks, He worked at a gym, like he just did a bunch of different jobs that were just like placeholder jobs.

00;15;40;27 - 00;15;58;02
Speaker 3
He still volunteered in ministry, but he just couldn't do it full time anymore. And then my mom, Laura, has been a teacher. cool. Like, I don't know, 30 years or something. So they both the timing worked out. Whenever we got selected. They my mom retired and so my dad.

00;15;58;05 - 00;16;00;10
Speaker 4
And they live in Michigan, they.

00;16;00;12 - 00;16;01;07
Speaker 2
Came volunteer.

00;16;01;14 - 00;16;02;13
Speaker 4
They work at Chick-Fil-A as well.

00;16;02;13 - 00;16;03;28
Speaker 2
Yeah, no kidding. Wow.

00;16;04;01 - 00;16;08;09
Speaker 3
So the whole thing expected him to be like this is not going to get you crazy.

00;16;08;14 - 00;16;10;10
Speaker 2
Stick with nursing. It's a sure thing.

00;16;10;15 - 00;16;17;00
Speaker 3
Too big a risk. Like how are you going to do this? But I think he really believed in Bryan Whittaker that Bryan could do it.

00;16;17;00 - 00;16;30;14
Speaker 1
Yeah, I was going to say a lot of respect for Bryan. Yeah. Pulling together all your team leaders and saying, okay, let's go down to the corporate office rather than just kind of keeping you guys there and say, Hey, I'm asking to work that to the bone basically and get get every little bit I could. He pays you.

00;16;30;14 - 00;16;31;14
Speaker 3
For the trip. You know.

00;16;31;17 - 00;16;37;11
Speaker 2
I'm part of their the Chick-Fil-A process too or was that him Bryan Whittaker was.

00;16;37;11 - 00;16;48;25
Speaker 3
Just sort of saying like, we should go check it out. It's it tour even as a so if you weren't an employee of Chick-Fil-A, you'd go on their website and you could pay. I think it's like $10 for a tour of the support center if you're ever in Atlanta.

00;16;48;29 - 00;16;50;00
Speaker 4
It's a really great tour.

00;16;50;02 - 00;16;51;25
Speaker 3
It really just like the history and.

00;16;51;25 - 00;16;52;08
Speaker 2
Just we.

00;16;52;08 - 00;16;55;20
Speaker 1
Just we're just.

00;16;55;22 - 00;17;02;11
Speaker 2
And I was don't have to ask where the first place is. So just last.

00;17;02;11 - 00;17;22;13
Speaker 3
Week you could go check it out. It's pretty cool that I mean, every time I tell my long version of my story to my team members, I'm like, it changed my life. So it is quite the investment to take people. But we've gone, I think, five times. So we our leaders down. It's been about a day and a half at the Sports Center meeting with different people, just showing him that it's much larger than a chicken sandwich.

00;17;22;13 - 00;17;28;29
Speaker 3
It's there's like foster care. There's there's all these different things that the sandwich pays for. It's not just.

00;17;29;06 - 00;17;51;22
Speaker 2
Make it rich not to get completely off track. But like, that is the, in my opinion, like to me, like it's at the end of the day it is just a chicken sandwich. But it's not. It's the whole experience, it's the Chick-Fil-A experience that you get and the quality and the cleanliness and the just the way you guys must hire every like good 15 year old and town.

00;17;51;25 - 00;17;58;24
Speaker 2
Like they're racist, like I'm like sitting at the window and they're like, So how's your day? And I'm like, yeah.

00;17;58;27 - 00;18;02;01
Speaker 1
Like, why are you asking that.

00;18;02;03 - 00;18;12;28
Speaker 2
Is so hard? But it's like, yeah, you're training process must be, which I'd like to get into at some point. But yeah, yeah. I mean, Drew for you too. I mean, where I grew up, Greenwood.

00;18;13;04 - 00;18;25;05
Speaker 4
Group, Greenwood started Chick-Fil-A when I was 15, kind of stayed there, didn't think anything long term of it. We both worked actually worked different places at some point. So we weren't just Chick fil Straight on, like I worked at a.

00;18;25;07 - 00;18;27;03
Speaker 2
You worked at KFC, Popeyes.

00;18;27;03 - 00;18;31;29
Speaker 1
You still see us? You know.

00;18;31;29 - 00;18;46;26
Speaker 4
I worked at like a manufacturing plant. I was like, I do not want to be somebody that works on an assembly line. Like, that's not me. So I ended up going back to Chick fil A to Brian and Kristen started we started dating. Kristen is being very humble. She is the owner operator of this Chick fil A. Yeah, you walk in.

00;18;46;26 - 00;18;53;21
Speaker 4
She's the face of it. I am not an owner shop.

00;18;53;23 - 00;18;57;19
Speaker 2
I definitely, as you say, you're the back of the back of that.

00;18;57;21 - 00;19;06;13
Speaker 4
Yeah. I enjoy like the the basics, like breading, the chicken, Like I love when it's fast pace and like, helping out in the kitchen or like, helping out when.

00;19;06;13 - 00;19;26;24
Speaker 2
They're running around, like, as their last time and the, the like. This giant charter bus pulls up. Yes. And the guy I'm in the drive thru and the young kids like, we've got a team. You can see like walkie talkie say, we've got to go get fired up.

00;19;26;29 - 00;19;48;23
Speaker 4
Turn it up a notch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so yeah. Anything I could do to support her as far as like making our. at that point we, we saw we would end up getting married in like being together and like starting a family. So anything that I could do at that point to help her get to where we needed to be to make our family better and like support her, I was willing to do so.

00;19;48;25 - 00;19;49;12
Speaker 3
It's a great place.

00;19;49;14 - 00;19;55;16
Speaker 2
The mission was I mean, how old are you at this point when you get out of the car at 9 p.m.? And yeah.

00;19;55;18 - 00;19;58;18
Speaker 3
I'm probably like 29 now.

00;19;58;24 - 00;20;00;13
Speaker 2
I'm in on this Chick fil A.

00;20;00;14 - 00;20;09;16
Speaker 1
Yeah, Yeah. Okay. So now Chick fil A's, like $10,000 for the field. Yeah. And then they kind of help you with everything else. What was it back then? Is it, what, The same thing.

00;20;09;18 - 00;20;33;23
Speaker 3
The same thing. I did not get selected until I was 26. So there's a gap. We can talk about that, like the process to get there. But yeah, at that point I was probably 19. So. So I change our major, I change from nursing to technically. I ended up getting a degree, a business degree, but my emphasis is health care management because I had so many health care classes I had taken.

00;20;33;26 - 00;20;55;09
Speaker 3
So I finished school and Chick-Fil-A has a program. It's called the Leadership Development Program. It is essentially, I would say my personal opinion is it's designed for people who are young and need time to save money and need experience and I was when I was 22, when I finished college, 23, when I entered the program, actually 24, 24.

00;20;55;09 - 00;21;11;07
Speaker 3
So so I applied for this program, this leadership development program. And the whole gist of it is you pack up your life for two years and you travel around the country and you are the grand opening team to open these now. So we have no kids.

00;21;11;07 - 00;21;12;07
Speaker 4
We're married at this point.

00;21;12;07 - 00;21;13;02
Speaker 3
Yeah, we're married at this point.

00;21;13;02 - 00;21;15;14
Speaker 2
You have to do this as a part of the deal.

00;21;15;16 - 00;21;28;18
Speaker 3
You do not. You have actually more than two options, but I felt like I had two options. I can either apply outright, probably not going to get selected. I don't have enough experience. I've worked at Chick-Fil-A specifically only in South Carolina.

00;21;28;25 - 00;21;30;29
Speaker 2
Which is just the drive thru only.

00;21;31;00 - 00;21;51;29
Speaker 3
And the one I worked at when I was like 15 to 18. So like that one was a regular free standing Chick-Fil-A. So I just didn't have like enough experience to really say like, give me this multimillion dollar franchise. So as I entered into the program and for two years journey, I we packed everything up and we put it in a storage unit.

00;21;52;01 - 00;21;58;07
Speaker 3
We traveled for two years and one week. That's how long program you can be in longer. But it's all about your selection, how.

00;21;58;07 - 00;21;59;25
Speaker 1
Long you stay the grand opening.

00;21;59;27 - 00;22;13;06
Speaker 3
It's 6 to 8 weeks. So I had about 14 assignments. Okay, So we went from California to Seattle to Jacksonville, Florida. I was in Jersey. I didn't have a midwest assignment until I was already selected.

00;22;13;08 - 00;22;14;12
Speaker 2
What was your favorite spot?

00;22;14;12 - 00;22;24;05
Speaker 3
That you're our favorite one. We really loved, I would say White Tucson only because we went to like, Sedona, like like we just saw so many photos.

00;22;24;05 - 00;22;25;15
Speaker 4
Of there in like February where.

00;22;25;18 - 00;22;27;23
Speaker 1
They felt.

00;22;27;23 - 00;22;28;29
Speaker 3
Like they had really great.

00;22;29;06 - 00;22;32;19
Speaker 2
And they put you just in a hotel or, you know, rent a place or.

00;22;32;20 - 00;22;44;16
Speaker 3
As the program has changed a lot. But when we were in, it was a long term stay hotel, so like a residence. And if that's an option, but if you're in a very small town, you're in a regular hotel room.

00;22;44;16 - 00;22;50;08
Speaker 4
For there are a couple of times we're in a Hampton Inn. Yeah. And that was a little more difficult, but we also didn't have children, so. Yeah.

00;22;50;09 - 00;22;50;24
Speaker 3
So just us.

00;22;50;27 - 00;22;52;06
Speaker 4
Yeah, we made it work.

00;22;52;08 - 00;22;56;22
Speaker 1
And did you guys have, like, a whole team that you traveled with then to where people come in and out or.

00;22;56;26 - 00;23;13;11
Speaker 3
Yeah. So you so I was a grand opening supervisor. That's the title that you have. If you're on the grand opening side, the program again evolved while I was in it, so it split up into two sides. So grand opening side. And you would do that maybe a year. And then the next side was the interim manager side.

00;23;13;11 - 00;23;20;27
Speaker 3
So this is a core restaurant where an operator is no longer with Chick-Fil-A and corporate comes in and takes over the.

00;23;20;27 - 00;23;21;20
Speaker 1
Contract.

00;23;21;22 - 00;23;28;17
Speaker 3
And then they take it over for the next person. So so I never did that. I only did grand openings.

00;23;28;20 - 00;23;36;13
Speaker 2
Did you have any nightmare experiences where you're like, there's no way this guy is going to make it type thing because you're dealing directly with the owner? Yeah.

00;23;36;15 - 00;23;57;24
Speaker 3
You know, I think we almost said this earlier, like we are 100% in the people business, but if we can't serve a good product, we're not in business. So I think what some people lose sight of is that you have to be able to have some operational excellence. You have to be able to serve that fresh hot Chick-Fil-A sandwich or you don't have a restaurant.

00;23;57;24 - 00;24;02;14
Speaker 3
They do have people. And, you know, so there were definitely times I was like.

00;24;02;17 - 00;24;02;25
Speaker 2
Is this.

00;24;02;25 - 00;24;05;00
Speaker 3
Person going to be okay if you're.

00;24;05;02 - 00;24;16;22
Speaker 2
If you're waiting a half hour for a sandwich and it doesn't matter how nice you are, you're for quick service. And if you're waiting a half hour, yeah, you're going to people are going to they're already you're actually going to worry.

00;24;16;26 - 00;24;17;12
Speaker 4
Yeah, I guess.

00;24;17;13 - 00;24;21;21
Speaker 2
You guys have probably seen some pretty major explosions.

00;24;21;23 - 00;24;27;12
Speaker 3
And seeing all those different cultures and like, sure, I've never really been outside of.

00;24;27;14 - 00;24;32;20
Speaker 4
Our first assignment was in Pasadena, California. And for us that was a big culture shock. Yeah, as far as like coming from Greenwood.

00;24;32;22 - 00;24;39;04
Speaker 3
We were there for the Rose Bowl, so we got in that restaurant on the parade route. So it was just it was wild.

00;24;39;09 - 00;24;48;11
Speaker 4
We had a lot of great experience, so we did the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. So for us, like without kids like it, I think it was great for our marriage. I think obviously it was great.

00;24;48;13 - 00;24;53;29
Speaker 2
So you guys were married at this point? Yeah, obviously. I mean, we've been married.

00;24;53;29 - 00;24;54;13
Speaker 3
For like two.

00;24;54;13 - 00;25;01;03
Speaker 2
Years. I was a kid. I mean, you can't do that outside. You either probably are doing goodness. It's a whole lot of.

00;25;01;03 - 00;25;04;19
Speaker 3
Yeah. I don't even I don't know how now that you bring it on you.

00;25;04;19 - 00;25;08;20
Speaker 2
Probably wouldn't have been is flexible in being like Yep. Ready to go here.

00;25;08;20 - 00;25;17;25
Speaker 4
Yeah yeah right just so I was able to be at the restaurant too so I would be one of her trainers. Her grand openings, like helping train the kitchen staff as she's helping train the operator.

00;25;17;25 - 00;25;21;18
Speaker 2
Well, she was she always like, good or did she get.

00;25;21;18 - 00;25;23;24
Speaker 4
Trained in.

00;25;23;26 - 00;25;32;18
Speaker 2
Like, I'm talking like even back in the day, was she like everyone's like, yes, You know, like she says this like she's right type thing. You see that personality?

00;25;32;21 - 00;25;50;07
Speaker 4
For me, an honest person has been technically my boss for a while. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah, but she's. No, she really is great. And honestly, like, if she wasn't standing here or sitting here, I would tell you this either way. Kristen is a people person. People are drawn to her. So like her working with operators, like it was just a natural fit.

00;25;50;07 - 00;25;54;11
Speaker 4
Like she's, she's honest but in a loving way.

00;25;54;13 - 00;26;01;12
Speaker 2
How do you keep the love for people when you see I mean, you got to see the worst. Some people, I got to imagine how you keep the love for people.

00;26;01;12 - 00;26;28;28
Speaker 3
I think I just anyone that we have on staff, I truly do want what's best for them. And if what's best for them is to not work for me, that's okay. And it just it doesn't always work out. And and I feel like especially I have like a true passion for about the high school age, you know, like 15 to 18 because I'm probably their first job and I feel a huge responsibility to teach them work ethic, communication skills.

00;26;29;05 - 00;26;37;24
Speaker 3
You know, I don't need to talk to your mom and dad. I can talk to you. So just I feel like a huge responsibility to to set them up for success for whatever's next.

00;26;37;26 - 00;26;46;19
Speaker 1
Do you feel like you're nursing? Like, just. I know is brave, but do you feel like that kind of preparedness? Because I feel like nurses are just some of the nicest people ever, like the stuff they have to put up with and go through.

00;26;46;19 - 00;26;50;22
Speaker 2
And that's yeah, that's literally when you're seeing people way it.

00;26;50;25 - 00;26;52;12
Speaker 1
Is is probably it was probably.

00;26;52;12 - 00;26;53;08
Speaker 3
At the.

00;26;53;08 - 00;26;57;00
Speaker 2
Restaurant or Yeah.

00;26;57;04 - 00;27;14;08
Speaker 3
Well I think I I've thought so much about this over the years like why did I choose this. But I think I attributed helping others to like physically helping them and because we had had so because my mom was so sick and we were in the hospital a lot, I was like, I have to be a nurse. That's the only way I'm going to make a difference.

00;27;14;11 - 00;27;20;12
Speaker 3
And over the years, I couldn't have got it more wrong, you know? So I think I just thought I was helping.

00;27;20;14 - 00;27;22;02
Speaker 2
Yeah. Are you the oldest sister to.

00;27;22;06 - 00;27;22;16
Speaker 3
I am.

00;27;22;16 - 00;27;26;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. So you took on the nurturer. The mom role almost.

00;27;26;06 - 00;27;42;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, I my sister is only about 13 months younger than me, but we are so different. And I think I just felt like I'm not a rule breaker. I'm like, would I'll do what I'm told to do. And stepping outside the box and saying I'm going to own a Chick-Fil-A was probably the riskiest thing I've ever done in my life.

00;27;42;19 - 00;27;43;28
Speaker 3
I feed off.

00;27;44;00 - 00;27;44;29
Speaker 1
That.

00;27;45;01 - 00;27;49;09
Speaker 2
Does she work at Chick-Fil-A now? She does. You're joking.

00;27;49;09 - 00;27;53;03
Speaker 3
But Drew has like a drizzles of seven.

00;27;53;05 - 00;27;54;10
Speaker 2
You got seven. Okay.

00;27;54;15 - 00;27;55;23
Speaker 3
That was a blended.

00;27;55;25 - 00;27;59;11
Speaker 4
So far from me. Yeah. So all from my mother. Father.

00;27;59;17 - 00;28;07;27
Speaker 3
Okay, so you have three of your siblings over to Chick-Fil-A. Two of my four have worked at Chick-Fil-A and my parents were you.

00;28;07;29 - 00;28;14;06
Speaker 2
No kidding. Yeah. Yeah, your parents were. They're the ones that moved from Greenwood.

00;28;14;12 - 00;28;15;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, they moved here.

00;28;15;20 - 00;28;17;29
Speaker 2
And they work for you at Chick-Fil-A.

00;28;18;00 - 00;28;21;27
Speaker 3
So my mom, they've had different roles over the years, but my mom has always paid the bills.

00;28;21;27 - 00;28;25;00
Speaker 2
She has. We thought about firing them before. Yeah.

00;28;25;03 - 00;28;35;26
Speaker 3
Yes. Just kind of no, no, no, no. But my dad and I are like the same person, so it works out really well. And then Laura, because we're so different, she she pays our bills. She keeps.

00;28;35;26 - 00;28;45;23
Speaker 2
That's funny. I'm, I, I know who I am. I know who your dad is. Like, just from being in the store. And. No, it's like I can picture him and mine.

00;28;45;29 - 00;29;00;26
Speaker 3
Megan and I sound the same. I would say we. I don't think we look that much alike, but like, if you're talking to her, she's, like, the only one in the building with a Southern accent. And so, yeah, my mom and dad, they work full time. So Megan works full time. So laura does, like h.r. Payroll, things like that.

00;29;00;26 - 00;29;03;20
Speaker 3
My dad does all the hiring and my sister does all the training.

00;29;03;20 - 00;29;06;16
Speaker 2
In town as well. Yeah, she's in town. She's in.

00;29;06;20 - 00;29;07;23
Speaker 3
yeah, Yeah. So, meg, she.

00;29;07;23 - 00;29;08;06
Speaker 4
Works at our.

00;29;08;13 - 00;29;10;05
Speaker 1
Works. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

00;29;10;06 - 00;29;12;26
Speaker 2
Goodness, this is a legit family, so we're here.

00;29;12;28 - 00;29;16;06
Speaker 4
I can got someone from Norway to go, and they have two boys, so.

00;29;16;09 - 00;29;17;07
Speaker 3
Yeah, we're like this.

00;29;17;07 - 00;29;18;14
Speaker 4
We're here to start three.

00;29;18;16 - 00;29;20;15
Speaker 3
Siblings work at chick flying Greenwood. Yeah.

00;29;20;22 - 00;29;33;28
Speaker 2
Okay. And is there and maybe, I don't know, maybe they don't want to talk about this or you don't. But like, is their goal or they're like, where they're tracking to then also own one as well. Is that kind of their goal or are they content and happy?

00;29;33;28 - 00;29;40;08
Speaker 3
And yeah, my, my parents are like grandparents day, you know, they just want to be close to their just.

00;29;40;08 - 00;29;40;27
Speaker 2
Wanting to be with you.

00;29;40;27 - 00;29;51;22
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. They just my dad they told us the day the celebration celebrations like called ringing the bell. So there's this bell that you ring when you finally get selected with Chick-Fil-A, it's like in the building. No, that's.

00;29;51;22 - 00;29;52;11
Speaker 2
Going to be super.

00;29;52;12 - 00;30;09;28
Speaker 3
It's really it's pretty cool. But my parents came out, you know, I knew they were there, but they just popped out and my dad just leaned over was like, we're going to move like, you know, we were 100% sure of it. But I was like, we're going. We're going to go. And so then my sister moved up and neither Meghan definitely doesn't have a desire to own a Chick-Fil-A.

00;30;10;05 - 00;30;25;26
Speaker 3
I think they all just really like being a part of the process. Like Meghan is a mom and so this job very cool, like flexibility. She can be a mom and have a job and and she knows that I care about both of those things. Yeah, my parents will probably retire at Chick-Fil-A. I don't think they'll ever work anywhere else.

00;30;25;28 - 00;30;36;26
Speaker 2
that's so cool. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So you're you're doing the traveling, the grand opener around the country and you how long did you guys do this for? Yeah.

00;30;36;28 - 00;30;41;06
Speaker 3
So two years. Like when I left the program, I was two years and one week.

00;30;41;09 - 00;30;50;05
Speaker 2
my goodness. So. So were you burnt out at this point? Like, I think it was. You still have the fire of like, I'm going on one of these things like, you had that fire.

00;30;50;05 - 00;30;59;19
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. That, that's, I think what I was done doing it for someone else if that makes sense. Like very grateful for the program. I do too that you.

00;30;59;19 - 00;31;15;29
Speaker 2
Also you get to go around the country for two years and watch all the mistakes that other people made in opening and or the successes. Like what did this guy do that made his blow up versus this one that.

00;31;16;02 - 00;31;30;06
Speaker 3
I mean, really frustrated an assignment one time and call my dad being like, why not me? Like, why could I not have this on? I would take this one in a heartbeat. And he said, You're going to learn from people what you want to do, what you don't want to do. And so just learn from this person just so that we do not.

00;31;30;06 - 00;31;40;28
Speaker 2
Want to be the first guy was I'm sorry, I forgot his name. Your first Ryan with Ryan? Yeah. Like you probably learned a ton from him. so how you want to try? yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;31;40;28 - 00;31;54;01
Speaker 3
I mean, he didn't have to take me to the sports center That day, right? And take me to any other training or things like that. But Brian is. He's the most generous person I think that we know. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, he is.

00;31;54;04 - 00;31;56;10
Speaker 2
And you guys stay in touch today. Yeah.

00;31;56;13 - 00;31;57;10
Speaker 4
absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

00;31;57;11 - 00;32;01;25
Speaker 3
I used to say he was like a dad, but now it's like an uncle. You know? We're getting closer today.

00;32;01;28 - 00;32;02;27
Speaker 2
But you know.

00;32;02;29 - 00;32;09;16
Speaker 3
There was obviously, like, a difference of respect thing and. But now he's just somebody I can pick up phone and I can tell me what you.

00;32;09;16 - 00;32;15;04
Speaker 2
Can and you can lean on him. What what would you do in this situation And yeah yeah he's wonderful.

00;32;15;04 - 00;32;29;23
Speaker 1
But I like how Chick-Fil-A does that with kind of a two year trajectory because I feel like I do what some franchises, bless their souls, but they'll be like, okay, come here for work and a store for two months to three months and okay, now you get your own and open it and do what you need to do.

00;32;29;24 - 00;32;36;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I don't know if they can get enough like failures and successes to figure out how to best run that operation.

00;32;36;11 - 00;32;45;07
Speaker 3
Yeah, so you can be. I think now it's three years, but it's, it's a timing thing. So you've got to interview, you've got to create that business plan. You got a lot of things.

00;32;45;09 - 00;32;50;12
Speaker 2
To take us through, like, okay, you get done with this. Have you applied to own the store yet or No, No.

00;32;50;12 - 00;32;56;04
Speaker 3
So, so I applied in April of 2016. So I mean, you fill.

00;32;56;04 - 00;33;02;24
Speaker 2
Out a piece of paper or you call somebody and say, Hey, will you put my name in for me? What does that look like.

00;33;02;24 - 00;33;21;09
Speaker 3
When you're internal, like working for Chick-Fil-A in that program or, you know, in a restaurant you I had to contact like you're it's called a grand opening consultant. So they're assigned to me. And so I had to call this person. You have to hit a year and a half in the program back then. You'd have to hit your year and a half mark.

00;33;21;09 - 00;33;33;18
Speaker 3
And then you'd get your application. And so at that point I was there and I got my application, which is I it's been so long, but I think it was like five questions that were paragraph, answers, pages, answers, whatever you want.

00;33;33;18 - 00;33;36;10
Speaker 2
It to be used in check. Yeah.

00;33;36;13 - 00;33;47;13
Speaker 3
Yeah. Well that doesn't have. So I did that and a lot of the other questions are like, you have to answer your financial questions, like how much you have saved up and how long can you survive off that.

00;33;47;14 - 00;33;50;21
Speaker 2
So this is like 2015.

00;33;50;23 - 00;34;01;20
Speaker 3
2016, 16. Okay, So April 2016, I remember I got my application and it probably took me a month to fill it out. I mean, I tried my best to like, send it to other people. I mean, this is it.

00;34;01;25 - 00;34;03;04
Speaker 2
What do you think you said?

00;34;03;06 - 00;34;06;23
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's always great. It just gonna take.

00;34;06;26 - 00;34;09;18
Speaker 2
Hundred thousand times. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;34;09;21 - 00;34;19;20
Speaker 3
And then you go through an interview, like an actual interview process. So it's a phone interview and then it was a video interview and then it was an in-person interview.

00;34;19;23 - 00;34;26;13
Speaker 2
How long are you in it? I'm assuming it's like a callback on each one, right? Yeah. Like, if this doesn't go well.

00;34;26;15 - 00;34;31;28
Speaker 3
You have to know if you're in the program, you're going to make it to that in-person interview. You you're going to make it there. At least.

00;34;32;01 - 00;34;38;15
Speaker 2
It's probably somebody that probably I can I can find a way to do this.

00;34;38;18 - 00;34;57;27
Speaker 3
Interview is it's kind of a top grade interview. And so at that point, they're just trying to decide like, what kind of candidate are you and what kind of restaurant is going to match you best. So, yeah, top grade and then you would the next one is called a focus interview. And so you focus for a specific restaurant and then the last one is called a final interview.

00;34;57;27 - 00;35;13;23
Speaker 3
And that's like you're getting interviewed by the last top people to make sure you check all the boxes. So overall, three in person and a couple virtual are on the phone. But if you're an external candidate, it's much more you. If you have no travel experience, you're getting interviewed, probably twice so much.

00;35;13;25 - 00;35;14;12
Speaker 2
It's a wow.

00;35;14;15 - 00;35;39;07
Speaker 5
Yeah, it's pretty exciting when a popular business moves to a new location, especially when they come to your city. All seasons, living has moved from Wyoming and is now in their new showroom in Hudsonville. Even better, it's twice the size. Check out live all seasons dot com a wide selection of premium outdoor furniture featuring everything from tables, chairs and sofas to umbrellas, rugs, firepits pillows and more.

00;35;39;08 - 00;35;44;28
Speaker 5
All seasons living is now in hudsonville to visit live all season dot com.

00;35;44;28 - 00;35;56;05
Speaker 2
And so yes, you go through that. Did you feel like did you nail them in person or were you? I felt like you called you right after crying. You're like.

00;35;56;07 - 00;36;04;09
Speaker 3
I felt like after my interview I was like, I feel like I did pretty good. But they were it was the end of the day.

00;36;04;10 - 00;36;05;29
Speaker 2
You left some morning person.

00;36;05;29 - 00;36;26;20
Speaker 3
Like I was like, Man, I just I was so I tried my best to be awake and alert and like, I had plenty of time to prep. But I remember walking. I mean, like, I could have said more. I got too wrapped up in certain things that didn't matter. Yeah. So, yeah, so I could have done better. But I remember walking away from my focus and our being like a crush that like, if I did anything, they know exactly who I am.

00;36;26;20 - 00;36;41;15
Speaker 3
It's a matching process. At that point, I try to, you know, when I left my interview, they said, at this point, you should know, you're probably going to be an operator, just a matter of where. But that where is very important. There's a difference. And, you know, you have to put your top regions.

00;36;41;18 - 00;36;46;10
Speaker 1
So are they looking for things like based on your personality? Okay, they're going to be good for this region.

00;36;46;10 - 00;37;03;20
Speaker 3
You know, focus interview. I was going for Michigan as a whole idea because they didn't was Michigan. It was so they didn't say, you're going to interview for this one restaurant. They were like, we just want to see where you fit in and if you fit in. So when I went in, my business plan was just like, Why she moved to Michigan?

00;37;03;20 - 00;37;28;22
Speaker 3
I mean, it was not that it wasn't that specific about the actual location. I truly thought they were going to actually pick me for Kalamazoo because it's a college town. Greenwood is a college town. It was like every other thing. I thought, that's for sure where they're going to pick me to go. But yeah, so you, you pick regions and then you pick like certain states and then you pick certain restaurants and that's on your application.

00;37;28;29 - 00;37;35;12
Speaker 3
So I had we were just so open because of our big families, I would've gone anywhere because we wanted to do our own thing.

00;37;35;14 - 00;37;39;20
Speaker 1
So when you say you pick restaurants, do they have like the real estate kind of already picked out for you? Yeah.

00;37;39;20 - 00;37;40;18
Speaker 3
So I have no say.

00;37;40;18 - 00;37;45;03
Speaker 2
You don't get to say you don't get one say in site selection.

00;37;45;03 - 00;37;57;10
Speaker 3
No, not at all. You don't get to pick like where it's located. Even if I wanted to go for another restaurant, I get calls all the time from people like I have this land, I want to sell Chick-Fil-A. That's great. You have to call Chick-Fil-A because I can't do anything about it.

00;37;57;13 - 00;38;03;13
Speaker 1
So if you didn't get to pick the location, you still have a 131 pylon. I'd say you did pretty good, right?

00;38;03;15 - 00;38;04;07
Speaker 3
They do a great job.

00;38;04;10 - 00;38;04;22
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00;38;04;24 - 00;38;16;07
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you guys, the the traffic flowing down, up and down both, right on 31, obviously, but then even 52nd guys on like that's Yeah.

00;38;16;10 - 00;38;27;15
Speaker 3
With the new intersection it's just, it's like it's just so much smoother over there. We have a new I don't know if you guys go over there often, but we have that new intersection where you can cross off 131 Now that's.

00;38;27;17 - 00;38;27;21
Speaker 1
A.

00;38;27;27 - 00;38;29;11
Speaker 3
Lot better for us.

00;38;29;13 - 00;38;42;23
Speaker 2
And then as far as like just sticking in the the location topic like I do almost get like do you get a little defensive a little bit like because I'm six and Kalamazoo is not that far away. We go to war.

00;38;43;00 - 00;38;51;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, I think so. His name's Brad Ferland, who owns that Chick-Fil-A. And we have we have a menu bread.

00;38;51;20 - 00;39;00;12
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's like the anchor scene where you show up for the fight. Like the street fight. Yeah, that's right. You guys, you guys are loving and all the.

00;39;00;12 - 00;39;01;03
Speaker 3
Operators.

00;39;01;10 - 00;39;02;23
Speaker 2
Get along really well. Yeah, Yeah.

00;39;02;26 - 00;39;13;07
Speaker 3
We spent just on Tuesday, we spent 9 to 4 together. We had our annual planning meeting where we decide what we're going to go in on together. It's a no. It's like.

00;39;13;09 - 00;39;19;02
Speaker 2
Do you do like bias together and stuff as far as like group bias because a and not that cool We'll do Yeah.

00;39;19;02 - 00;39;23;05
Speaker 3
No we'll do so we have shared funds in like.

00;39;23;09 - 00;39;24;08
Speaker 2
Advertising to.

00;39;24;08 - 00;39;27;14
Speaker 3
Advertise marketing that so so we'll do like because your.

00;39;27;14 - 00;39;38;16
Speaker 2
Signs are definitely I mean they're going to hell yeah everyone in town if you're putting yeah if you're putting a billboard sign up it's going to hit the guy that's driving to Alpine now or whoever might be.

00;39;38;23 - 00;39;54;17
Speaker 3
We have a pretty large billboard campaign going on right now, so all of our mm6 one 3194 like towards Battle Creek. So technically Kalamazoo and the Battle Creek operator are on our team. So all the Grand Rapids, Holland, then Battle Creek and.

00;39;54;20 - 00;39;59;11
Speaker 2
You guys get to choose how much gets allocated to the marketing funds or is that a franchise?

00;39;59;11 - 00;40;15;06
Speaker 3
We do the say, well, we had to come to an agreement, so we create our own bylaws and then we decide what that percentage is. So it's all the purchase percentage of sales. So for some of the lower volume restaurants, it's you know, it is a large commitment because we're paying for some.

00;40;15;06 - 00;40;23;23
Speaker 2
They spend a lot of money. Yeah, I mean, you're talking in Super Bowl ads all the way down to billboards and trucks. Yeah, I think I saw a Chick-Fil-A van the other day and. Yeah.

00;40;23;26 - 00;40;40;17
Speaker 3
Yeah. So most of us have like a catering vehicle and that's each restaurant's own expense. But yeah, as a team, we just decided that we're going to continue billboards and we do like Unity Fest or any big events. We go in together and try to support the other operator talk time.

00;40;40;17 - 00;40;52;26
Speaker 2
What do you see them most in your opinion? That's probably hard to track for a drive thru or get in a restaurant? It's like, what do you feel you get the most return on? As far as advertising?

00;40;52;28 - 00;41;02;07
Speaker 3
I can see a huge change with these billboards. Really. I wish they were more directional, but we went with more of an approach of like just brand awareness.

00;41;02;09 - 00;41;04;14
Speaker 2
Of the whole market. Yeah.

00;41;04;16 - 00;41;25;19
Speaker 3
The thing about being in a low awareness market, which is what they would consider at Michigan or in most states in the Midwest, is that you don't know that there's separate owners for Chick-Fil-A, as you said, in Chick-Fil-A. Yeah. So we don't we try not to differentiate ourselves too much, especially in the Grand Rapids area, because like, no one cares that Jami owns 28th Street and Cascade.

00;41;25;21 - 00;41;26;22
Speaker 3
Yeah, they how many.

00;41;26;23 - 00;41;38;11
Speaker 2
People in the area and you guys have 54 the 131 and six Kalamazoo, Alpine's opening up. So it turned out it just opened. Dale Yeah, it did. Stan Dale And then Cascade.

00;41;38;11 - 00;41;39;26
Speaker 3
Cascade said, yeah.

00;41;39;28 - 00;41;41;03
Speaker 2
Beltline and 28th.

00;41;41;09 - 00;41;43;02
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, yep, yep.

00;41;43;08 - 00;41;46;18
Speaker 2
Ah, they do. They even tell you if they're opening more or not.

00;41;46;21 - 00;41;52;28
Speaker 3
So there's a real estate report that shows you like a five year plan, but deals fall through all the time.

00;41;52;28 - 00;41;55;15
Speaker 2
Kim, Kris, get back and.

00;41;55;18 - 00;41;57;05
Speaker 1
Take a peek at.

00;41;57;07 - 00;41;57;23
Speaker 3
Me.

00;41;57;25 - 00;41;59;00
Speaker 2
Yeah, it is.

00;41;59;03 - 00;42;11;07
Speaker 3
It things fall through all the time. So there's been a down the street from us ever since I opened like Metro at the hospital on the map, saying, like, we're going to open a Chick-Fil-A here and nothing yet.

00;42;11;07 - 00;42;16;19
Speaker 2
And same with like, I know they wanted Knapp's corner Superbad. Yeah they couldn't get the.

00;42;16;24 - 00;42;18;25
Speaker 4
Drive done apartments.

00;42;18;28 - 00;42;19;19
Speaker 3
We were like.

00;42;19;21 - 00;42;20;28
Speaker 4
Thinking.

00;42;21;00 - 00;42;21;20
Speaker 1
A story.

00;42;21;23 - 00;42;23;11
Speaker 4
That it could be a possibility.

00;42;23;11 - 00;42;26;17
Speaker 3
But yeah but I don't think I think that'll happen anytime soon. So a challenging.

00;42;26;24 - 00;42;28;05
Speaker 1
That township as their mine.

00;42;28;06 - 00;42;30;23
Speaker 4
Traffic is scary for I mean a lot of a lot of it.

00;42;30;23 - 00;42;37;14
Speaker 2
Wasn't even the township was, it was the city that you guys were the Chick-Fil-A was going to shut down with a almost after the.

00;42;37;17 - 00;42;38;14
Speaker 1
Township is wasn't.

00;42;38;14 - 00;42;40;01
Speaker 2
That ownership there was a city.

00;42;40;01 - 00;42;43;24
Speaker 3
I don't yeah I don't know it's most of the time it's that they have a problem with the drive thru it.

00;42;43;24 - 00;42;44;11
Speaker 2
Was a drive.

00;42;44;11 - 00;42;46;29
Speaker 3
Thru don't want the traffic go I don't want to drive.

00;42;46;29 - 00;42;47;03
Speaker 1
To.

00;42;47;07 - 00;42;51;09
Speaker 2
Argue the fact that I mean you guys stack like crazy as far as cars go.

00;42;51;09 - 00;42;56;20
Speaker 3
So yeah, it is short term like I know for someone who lives there.

00;42;56;21 - 00;43;06;21
Speaker 2
It's a it's a learning experience right. Yeah. And, and it's hot out the gate and it's going to be packed but then it simmers and then it's a learning the patterns and stuff.

00;43;06;23 - 00;43;16;03
Speaker 3
But yeah, it's so the grand opening team is typically somewhere for about three weeks. You can pay for people to stay longer. So you've got these trainers, I mean, several.

00;43;16;05 - 00;43;18;25
Speaker 2
Did you wave them off? You said?

00;43;18;28 - 00;43;39;08
Speaker 3
Yeah, I shouldn't have. So we ended up keeping, I think a few, maybe three from I think they're from the Chicago area and and they say the fourth week. But you know we had the fly knowledge but I can't hold every spot, you know, to that. So I think I was just a glorified manager the first six seven months.

00;43;39;09 - 00;43;57;28
Speaker 2
What did you what was your biggest like from grand opening all over the country, opening these things all over the country to, then you actually do your own. What was like what did you feel like your guys as big as Miss was or like all of a sudden like, yeah, now I get why this guy acted like that.

00;43;58;00 - 00;44;02;18
Speaker 2
Was there anything like that, or did you just have so keyed in and done in so many times that.

00;44;02;20 - 00;44;19;29
Speaker 3
So I have. I think the most shocking thing for me was like for so long it was someone else's business. And so people slip and fall or, you know, things happen and you can be sued. And for me, when the first person slipped and fell in my dining room, I was like, man, this I am in charge now, you know?

00;44;20;04 - 00;44;32;08
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. Like, what do I do? I'm not sure, you know. So for me, I was just like, I wish I would have paid way more attention to, like, the legal aspect of things. I just think I was a little like rose colored glasses. Like what.

00;44;32;08 - 00;44;33;22
Speaker 2
Happened when that person slipped and.

00;44;33;22 - 00;44;36;08
Speaker 3
Fell? You know, thankfully, they were okay, but it was.

00;44;36;10 - 00;44;36;18
Speaker 1
Like.

00;44;36;19 - 00;44;44;11
Speaker 3
I didn't have the number, like the insurance for our insurance company saved in my phone. Like things are you even think about that.

00;44;44;13 - 00;44;53;25
Speaker 2
But yeah but it's really I mean it comes down to like it it would have to be like something pretty malicious as far as, like, slip and fall and you be at fault like it was.

00;44;54;01 - 00;44;58;17
Speaker 3
It was just a scare. I was 27. yeah, You know, I did. I just.

00;44;58;19 - 00;45;01;15
Speaker 2
Every word. Now, when you opened your store, I.

00;45;01;15 - 00;45;02;28
Speaker 3
Was 26 when it opened.

00;45;03;05 - 00;45;04;08
Speaker 2
So you were 27?

00;45;04;15 - 00;45;04;29
Speaker 4
Yes.

00;45;05;04 - 00;45;12;16
Speaker 2
Senior leader. Yes. That's pretty wild actually. And did you have kids? Yeah. Now.

00;45;12;21 - 00;45;22;12
Speaker 3
So I so we opened in February and then I found out I was pregnant like end of August. And I was a little, you know, overwhelming. Overwhelming.

00;45;22;12 - 00;45;28;20
Speaker 4
But things are a little more calm then. Like the first few months we were working. I mean, crazy. I mean, 80, 90 hours a week.

00;45;28;23 - 00;45;36;24
Speaker 2
I mean, I don't know how what you were. Did you guys opening in 2017? Yeah. And I mean people were pumped about. yeah.

00;45;36;26 - 00;46;00;08
Speaker 3
yeah. It didn't die off. I mean so, so what's unique is so the city of Wyoming sent out a text message. If you're a Wyoming resident and basically said, do not go to the 54th intersection because of the traffic, because they saw what happened with the first Chick-Fil-A and six. Yeah. So first few days, it was like, like would you like 25,000, which isn't a lot, but it's not like what they expected that expected like double that.

00;46;00;08 - 00;46;05;14
Speaker 3
And then it was like next day 35, next day 45. And then we just stayed at 45 every single day.

00;46;05;14 - 00;46;06;05
Speaker 4
It actually was great.

00;46;06;05 - 00;46;08;25
Speaker 2
45,000 vehicles, no.

00;46;08;27 - 00;46;10;10
Speaker 3
$45,000 in sales.

00;46;10;16 - 00;46;11;01
Speaker 2
45.

00;46;11;02 - 00;46;19;28
Speaker 3
Okay. I mean, it would not stop. And, and it's just hard to train the team because you know, I've actually appreciated now looking back the slow the.

00;46;19;28 - 00;46;20;10
Speaker 2
Builder the.

00;46;20;10 - 00;46;21;14
Speaker 1
Gradual build.

00;46;21;16 - 00;46;25;09
Speaker 3
Because it was I think if some of them would have had that the first day, they probably would have never come back.

00;46;25;14 - 00;46;33;29
Speaker 2
That is that pretty like from other grand openings that you saw around the country? I mean, is that pretty competitive or right in the mix of it?

00;46;34;05 - 00;46;48;00
Speaker 3
As far as the sales numbers, it was strong at the time. It was a strong sales number was something to be proud of for sure. But because of what M6 was experiencing, it was a little scary. It was like, is it going be that much of a difference? I mean, he is so busy.

00;46;48;02 - 00;46;58;07
Speaker 2
And sixes and sixes. It's such a weird spot though, to like where the with the stack as you're stacking on a public street south traffic. So you guys I mean you.

00;46;58;10 - 00;46;59;13
Speaker 1
Guys can go to the Meyer park.

00;46;59;13 - 00;47;02;10
Speaker 2
I was going to say you're starting your stack in the park.

00;47;02;12 - 00;47;17;21
Speaker 4
So we had a plan originally to run our drive thru line behind Meyer and around the other side, which we luckily never had to do. If it got to be like if it got too bad, yeah, I would just say all the way around behind Meyer. And Meyer was okay with it for a few weeks, but it never got that bad.

00;47;17;24 - 00;47;18;17
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00;47;18;19 - 00;47;23;25
Speaker 3
We got to learn from the other restaurant, like what was a challenge for them. We got to kind of. And I'm very lucky you.

00;47;23;25 - 00;47;25;25
Speaker 2
Part of the design though.

00;47;25;27 - 00;47;28;15
Speaker 1
So you guys are a part of like the construction you.

00;47;28;15 - 00;47;45;08
Speaker 3
Have say, in like small things. But, but as far as like changing a parking lot, when I, when we got here, the building was done except for the inside there were they were, you know, coming up against winter. So we moved in end of October of 2016. And so when we got here, the building was like.

00;47;45;13 - 00;47;48;21
Speaker 2
Basically moving is pulling your stuff out of the storage.

00;47;48;24 - 00;47;52;07
Speaker 1
Seriously isn't a lot just to get a guy like,

00;47;52;12 - 00;47;53;11
Speaker 3
We have no furniture.

00;47;53;11 - 00;47;57;01
Speaker 2
Where did you choose to live? Where did you move to? Like, did you have a plan?

00;47;57;01 - 00;48;04;12
Speaker 3
And I found this place somewhat. We were as a as they call it, River Town. It's river. It's like the Greenville area.

00;48;04;12 - 00;48;05;25
Speaker 4
South Wilson in green.

00;48;05;25 - 00;48;06;19
Speaker 3
Condos over there.

00;48;06;19 - 00;48;07;14
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah.

00;48;07;17 - 00;48;11;08
Speaker 4
Not the new really nice ones, but I mean, it was nice enough.

00;48;11;10 - 00;48;17;14
Speaker 3
Yeah. And we had a great landlord. She was so nice. She was very excited about Chick-Fil-A, so we lived there for like a year.

00;48;17;14 - 00;48;21;20
Speaker 1
I was going to say really your pride just living at the Chick-Fil-A. We did, and I just.

00;48;21;21 - 00;48;22;27
Speaker 2
Went there.

00;48;22;29 - 00;48;29;12
Speaker 4
And we didn't look at the condo until like we put a deposit down while we were still traveling so that she would hold it for us.

00;48;29;14 - 00;48;30;00
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00;48;30;02 - 00;48;30;09
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;48;30;11 - 00;48;47;09
Speaker 3
Couldn't find apartment. there are crazy. Wait lists and we got super lucky. So sometimes the process can be really drawn out. So that's why they want to know your finances. They want to know that you once you signed that contract, you cannot work anywhere else. So you go to some training, which is what I was doing in October of 2016.

00;48;47;09 - 00;48;50;07
Speaker 2
If you learn anything new at this training or did. Yeah, you did for.

00;48;50;07 - 00;48;57;25
Speaker 3
Sure. Yeah. More but more on the the business side of things. Yeah. Operational. I didn't there's nothing else I could learn.

00;48;57;26 - 00;49;02;03
Speaker 4
They talk about what to do when people trip and fall in first.

00;49;02;05 - 00;49;04;01
Speaker 1
Make sure I have your insurance agents.

00;49;04;01 - 00;49;06;21
Speaker 3
Like it's like a four week thing.

00;49;06;21 - 00;49;13;00
Speaker 2
So first thing you do, delete the camera? Yeah. Yeah. All right.

00;49;13;02 - 00;49;29;15
Speaker 3
All the insurance that you need, they just are, like, telling you all these things. my gosh. Yeah, it's. It's a little overwhelming, but. So, yeah, let's. We lived in Greenville, and then whenever we find out we're pregnant with Connor, who's now five, we were like, okay, we need. We want to find, like, a home. Like, where are we going to be?

00;49;29;15 - 00;49;32;09
Speaker 2
Does this feel like home yet? yeah, it does feel like.

00;49;32;12 - 00;49;50;09
Speaker 3
Yeah, we are so lucky. And I'm not just saying this because I'll probably listeners, but we are so lucky to have the friends that we have in our neighborhood like it just I can't imagine our lives without them. So it feels like in my parents movie, you know, how could we ever live anywhere else? I guess it is what it feels like.

00;49;50;09 - 00;49;55;09
Speaker 3
And then we have friends in Greenville like Hudsonville, and we just like we have like a strong community.

00;49;55;09 - 00;50;00;16
Speaker 4
I met a few friends on golf courses and got to know them and that always our best friends friend. Yeah.

00;50;00;18 - 00;50;05;04
Speaker 3
And they're like our best friends. You just met them golf on one day? Yeah. Come on. Yes.

00;50;05;06 - 00;50;06;12
Speaker 2
That's great. Yeah.

00;50;06;15 - 00;50;11;13
Speaker 4
Good. We've been very lucky with. Yeah, we've developed a community here and we like it.

00;50;11;16 - 00;50;12;25
Speaker 2
That's cool. That's really.

00;50;12;25 - 00;50;14;25
Speaker 3
Cool. Drag us out of here. We're not going anywhere.

00;50;14;25 - 00;50;25;05
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah. So you guys have Connor's five? Yeah. So that's how long you guys have been open. Now, is that so about. You've been open six weeks or six years?

00;50;25;10 - 00;50;26;08
Speaker 4
Seven in February.

00;50;26;11 - 00;50;27;02
Speaker 3
But yeah, seven.

00;50;27;02 - 00;50;31;06
Speaker 2
February. Okay. And is here one right now?

00;50;31;06 - 00;50;40;28
Speaker 3
No. So we have three. Okay, So we have Connor, who's five, and then we have Camden, who's three. He'll be four in December and then we have Cooper who just turned to.

00;50;41;00 - 00;50;41;18
Speaker 2
Okay, so.

00;50;41;19 - 00;50;41;25
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;50;42;02 - 00;50;42;19
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.

00;50;42;25 - 00;50;50;02
Speaker 3
We felt that, you know, we had to see names we liked, and so we felt like we couldn't leave her out. And I said I had to give him a name.

00;50;50;07 - 00;50;57;14
Speaker 2
It's cool. And then you guys are living in Byron Center, right? Yeah. Not that close to Jake. Lives in Philly, so. Yeah, it's.

00;50;57;14 - 00;50;58;01
Speaker 3
Like a street of.

00;50;58;04 - 00;50;58;29
Speaker 4
People.

00;50;59;02 - 00;51;13;18
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's. So, six years in Chick-Fil-A, what's the thing? I mean, what's been your biggest learning experience? And I guess running this thing for six years now, Are you burnt out at work.

00;51;13;21 - 00;51;14;05
Speaker 3
Now.

00;51;14;09 - 00;51;16;23
Speaker 2
That you don't seem to be? I still seem to.

00;51;16;23 - 00;51;42;06
Speaker 3
Really enjoy it. I but my role has changed over the years. So I would say the I thought being an operator would be that I have to be very hands on. I come from a very hands on operator Brian who so helps us like he would still bag and you know, he was, he was doing anything and everything and I still do those things, but my time is way more leadership focus developing like our business plans or just thinking about like forward thinking.

00;51;42;08 - 00;51;59;27
Speaker 3
A few years ago I was just challenged on that from someone at Chick-Fil-A. You're thinking to current you need to think bigger, which is hard for me because I want to be beside the team members. I want to show them like, I can still do this. I just closed a couple weeks ago because I wanted see, like, what are the processes and how can we get better?

00;52;00;02 - 00;52;04;26
Speaker 3
So I think for me it's just that that my role has changed so much that I didn't expect.

00;52;04;26 - 00;52;10;26
Speaker 2
And in the you're my understanding, I don't know if this is right you're only allowed to own one Chick-Fil-A.

00;52;10;26 - 00;52;22;01
Speaker 3
Is you can own three, but you have to go through this same process. So if I ever wanted to own a chick for a different Chick-Fil-A, more than one, I would do the same thing I would interview. But then it also be the business results.

00;52;22;01 - 00;52;26;24
Speaker 2
On top of that, what would they give you? A Chick fil A like within driving distance.

00;52;26;24 - 00;52;43;28
Speaker 3
Of it has to be. So it's changed. It used to be a certain mileage, but now it is. You have to have a shared trade area, so there has to be a Chick fil A close enough where our customers, my customers overlap with this new location or current location to where it makes sense for me to own. But I can't own like mine.

00;52;43;28 - 00;52;46;23
Speaker 3
And then 28 Street, we don't share customers, you know.

00;52;46;23 - 00;53;02;09
Speaker 2
Okay, So and then as far as like and I don't want to dive into personal financials or anything like that, but it's like, I mean, are you guys, you guys, your income is based on sales and everything. It's not it's true ownership. It's not like a salaried position of like placement holder or anything.

00;53;02;09 - 00;53;15;11
Speaker 3
Like now there is a base salary. I don't know the exact number, but like if I was a a restaurant that was not turning over profit, Chick-Fil-A does make sure that you are. I think it's 60,000 you do you can pull a salary.

00;53;15;13 - 00;53;30;23
Speaker 2
But but at some point they're going to come yeah well what makes or breaks for the the people that are that don't hack it I mean what are the types of things is it a lifestyle like a life change event or is it maybe illness.

00;53;30;25 - 00;53;31;13
Speaker 3
Is it.

00;53;31;15 - 00;53;36;14
Speaker 2
To fail? Because I haven't seen one even post like how you feel like it's always busy.

00;53;36;14 - 00;53;59;01
Speaker 3
I think it's like anything else where you just get really comfortable and you and you make Chick-Fil-A. I think if it's moral choices, if you make some really bad moral choices, that could also translate into bad business choices. Okay? That's why some people will get it taking away from them. But then there's operators who, just like I have done this a long time I've saved up enough to where I can just live and do whatever I want.

00;53;59;02 - 00;54;10;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, I'm going to retire early, so it varies. But if it's like somebody giving up on Chick-Fil-A, it's probably like this is a lot harder than I thought it was because I think that if you're.

00;54;11;02 - 00;54;13;24
Speaker 2
You're in the you're in the people business, you're there.

00;54;13;25 - 00;54;14;05
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00;54;14;09 - 00;54;15;22
Speaker 2
It's how many hours you put in.

00;54;15;22 - 00;54;33;17
Speaker 3
And we well, right now I would say I'm anywhere from like 20 to 25, like in the restaurant, 2025. But a couple of nights ago we had an issue with our walk in freezer and I was on the phone for 3 hours trying to figure out who's going to come fix it. You know, we have a great leadership team, but I also know that they have a life and I do not expect them to.

00;54;33;20 - 00;54;36;01
Speaker 1
Call kids and grandkids. STONE balls. Yeah, it's a.

00;54;36;01 - 00;54;36;16
Speaker 3
Family owned.

00;54;36;16 - 00;54;53;15
Speaker 1
Business and myself. Yeah. That's what's nice too, is you need it's family owned. It's privately owned. You don't have to worry about the stock price. Yeah, right. They had they put these expectations on you guys are just unrealistic. Yeah, well, I feel like some franchisees and some corporate America is just. Okay. We just have to grow because we have investors to look at.

00;54;53;15 - 00;54;56;00
Speaker 1
We have stock price and all that kind of adds up.

00;54;56;04 - 00;54;59;07
Speaker 3
We had an insane year when the pandemic happened.

00;54;59;10 - 00;55;01;03
Speaker 2
It was I want to tell you.

00;55;01;06 - 00;55;02;06
Speaker 3
We were we were.

00;55;02;09 - 00;55;10;12
Speaker 2
Built for you probably like you probably go from like, my gosh, like, what are we going to do? Yeah. To then I mean, the drive was.

00;55;10;13 - 00;55;11;06
Speaker 1
The drive.

00;55;11;09 - 00;55;13;12
Speaker 2
On the drive crash.

00;55;13;12 - 00;55;25;25
Speaker 3
Vividly. Remember everything else closed. Yeah. So, but like, as far as operationally we were built for that. We were built, we had curbside, so you didn't have to get a car. We had mobile orders like it was.

00;55;26;02 - 00;55;28;25
Speaker 4
We just started DoorDash and yeah, I think like the month before.

00;55;28;25 - 00;55;44;10
Speaker 3
You know, right before we it was new to us. And so I remember, I remember being in my car on Brad Sterling from the other chick Fly Me, like, what are we going to do? Like, if she shut us down? This is when Gretchen Whitmer was like, not sure if she was going to close restaurants. It's probably the day before.

00;55;44;10 - 00;55;58;26
Speaker 3
And then on the opposite side, I was like, What about our team members? Are we like putting them at risk right now? Like what are so many different feelings? But then at the same time, I was like, I can only focus on one thing at a time. And you know, then you know how it all is.

00;55;59;00 - 00;56;13;07
Speaker 2
Just I'm sure the catering portion drives sales for you guys too, because, I mean, as several events where it's catered, like you got to be like, that's done. Yeah. But then you're like, is it going to backfill? And yeah, I mean, it had to be just.

00;56;13;08 - 00;56;13;20
Speaker 3
It was.

00;56;13;20 - 00;56;14;07
Speaker 2
Wild.

00;56;14;07 - 00;56;19;04
Speaker 3
Yeah. So you need less team members. So that was great. So we'll soon run into higher.

00;56;19;04 - 00;56;22;21
Speaker 2
Profit and a ton of a lot of them having like there's still.

00;56;22;22 - 00;56;24;22
Speaker 1
Servers are still closed. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

00;56;24;23 - 00;56;37;08
Speaker 3
Yeah. So dining rooms, those are closed. So our dresser business obviously was through the roof because that's all we had. But just like the mobile side of it, being able to place an order from your house and have it delivered.

00;56;37;10 - 00;56;38;13
Speaker 2
In the drive up too.

00;56;38;13 - 00;56;43;05
Speaker 1
Yeah, I would say the nice thing is you guys have a good mobile app too. Yes. Where some restaurants never.

00;56;43;07 - 00;56;45;18
Speaker 3
Had to build that right like that. And then we just had.

00;56;45;18 - 00;56;47;28
Speaker 1
A or people could just click click. Okay, I'll go pick it up.

00;56;48;03 - 00;56;52;04
Speaker 3
Yeah. So it was, it was a crazy year for us and.

00;56;52;07 - 00;57;01;11
Speaker 2
And it has it tape have you seen it taper since now that things are back opening and open again or as sales tapered some of these back.

00;57;01;11 - 00;57;05;14
Speaker 3
So it's also when they open a new Chick-Fil-A we will take a hit some.

00;57;05;14 - 00;57;07;03
Speaker 2
You can feel that. You can feel.

00;57;07;03 - 00;57;22;27
Speaker 3
It. Yeah. So when I first opened I can't remember exactly. I think we did like 5 million the first year we were open and in sales. And then this year we'll probably we'll get anywhere from like 8.7 to 900. So we'll get pretty close. So yeah, it has.

00;57;23;02 - 00;57;32;02
Speaker 2
Okay, that's really interesting. Yeah. Are they allowed to? Because you don't get to say like, are they allowed to open one anywhere they want anyway. So choose.

00;57;32;02 - 00;57;33;18
Speaker 3
Yeah. So if it's close enough.

00;57;33;20 - 00;57;36;25
Speaker 2
You can't be like you better.

00;57;36;28 - 00;57;49;01
Speaker 3
Not so tight. I mean when, when I say Walker is probably the one that we most recently felt the biggest it from, I didn't feel anything on the Alpine opening. So Walker's like on Wilson Yeah, yeah.

00;57;49;03 - 00;57;49;16
Speaker 2
I know.

00;57;49;16 - 00;57;57;20
Speaker 3
So I wasn't. We have some shared customers and so we saw about a 15% decrease when they opened that also.

00;57;57;21 - 00;58;00;12
Speaker 2
Because trying to think of why the traffic pattern.

00;58;00;16 - 00;58;01;03
Speaker 3
You know.

00;58;01;05 - 00;58;08;15
Speaker 2
Yeah because you're south of your south of downtown, you're north of downtown also downtown on business. That's interesting. Yeah.

00;58;08;22 - 00;58;23;11
Speaker 3
So but it comes back, you know, you get it back. It was just I'd say we only really felt it for maybe four or five months. And then it was like, okay, we're leveling out. But the summer months are my months. I mean, those are the months I catch all that traffic of people going out.

00;58;23;13 - 00;58;24;07
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00;58;24;09 - 00;58;28;15
Speaker 3
So, so like June to September really for me is.

00;58;28;17 - 00;58;29;01
Speaker 2
Do you get.

00;58;29;02 - 00;58;30;02
Speaker 3
Money with.

00;58;30;05 - 00;58;49;20
Speaker 2
Obviously I must be a jealous person because I'm thinking about like all the other restaurants, like thinking like, okay, like you see a new restaurant open like yeah, like the Walker one. It's a tighter side. Smaller or Yeah, same with the cascade one seems to. I haven't been there, but driving by it seems a little bit smaller. Like the actual square footage of the restaurant.

00;58;49;20 - 00;58;55;11
Speaker 2
Like are those things you like look at and you're like, Man, I wish we had or not really so much.

00;58;55;11 - 00;58;58;00
Speaker 3
I get jealous of all the, like, new things they have, like you.

00;58;58;05 - 00;58;59;07
Speaker 1
Like.

00;58;59;10 - 00;59;05;02
Speaker 2
They just the canopies on six in Kalamazoo this summer and it was yeah.

00;59;05;04 - 00;59;10;03
Speaker 3
I get jealous of like they're new shiny things but we're all on same teams like as far as you're cheering.

00;59;10;03 - 00;59;12;24
Speaker 2
For. Yeah, yeah. It's like a friendly competition.

00;59;12;24 - 00;59;15;23
Speaker 3
But I want that dress, you know? How can I get that?

00;59;15;28 - 00;59;24;29
Speaker 4
Yeah, we did get a remodel. Yeah, we just. It just does a great job about that. Like the new restaurants that open, like they might have the new updated drive thru, but they went back. We were closed for two weeks and.

00;59;24;29 - 00;59;25;13
Speaker 3
February.

00;59;25;16 - 00;59;28;25
Speaker 4
February and they gave us a larger but it's our drive.

00;59;28;25 - 00;59;29;22
Speaker 2
You pay for that.

00;59;29;22 - 00;59;32;02
Speaker 4
Or not so Chick-Fil-A.

00;59;32;04 - 00;59;40;18
Speaker 2
Does it not the case they sell a lot of them on on cap rates like in the real estate market like does Chick-Fil-A own your location or is that.

00;59;40;18 - 01;00;00;15
Speaker 3
A Yeah. So think of it as like I'm renting the brand from them. So as far as like the numbers part, Chick-Fil-A will take 15% of the sales, the top and then past that, I pay, I think it's like .05 percent for me for equipment and then I pay a 6% rent. And then at the bottom, we split what's left.

01;00;00;17 - 01;00;10;28
Speaker 3
Okay, So so we're paying them rent. But like, if if something, God forbid, happened to me and I passed away, it doesn't go to Drew. He would have to interview all over again.

01;00;11;01 - 01;00;12;10
Speaker 2
so naked, right? Yeah.

01;00;12;10 - 01;00;12;15
Speaker 3
Yeah.

01;00;12;15 - 01;00;19;19
Speaker 2
So that's like I would. Thank you. I mean, you've been there just as long, you know? I mean.

01;00;19;21 - 01;00;22;23
Speaker 4
Being an operator here is the branding that you.

01;00;22;26 - 01;00;25;00
Speaker 2
Doing. Yeah.

01;00;25;02 - 01;00;27;28
Speaker 3
Dirt is not like the, like, confrontation.

01;00;28;04 - 01;00;30;01
Speaker 4
I'm too nice to have to let people go.

01;00;30;03 - 01;00;30;26
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah.

01;00;30;28 - 01;00;32;11
Speaker 2
I never would be. So I.

01;00;32;11 - 01;00;34;16
Speaker 1
Would. I'd be the way. Are you sure.

01;00;34;16 - 01;00;35;27
Speaker 4
You could be on time?

01;00;35;29 - 01;00;36;10
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;00;36;11 - 01;00;37;09
Speaker 4
All right. You can come.

01;00;37;09 - 01;00;41;23
Speaker 1
Back or just out of the chair. This will be different, this.

01;00;41;26 - 01;01;01;08
Speaker 2
Whole with that, too. Like, how are you? Because you guys never seem understaffed. One And the quality, they're younger than most places that you're the the the team members or whatever they're called. They're younger, but they are so well trained too. Yeah.

01;01;01;12 - 01;01;02;23
Speaker 4
And now that team members.

01;01;02;29 - 01;01;06;09
Speaker 2
Yeah, that is our team members. eight.

01;01;06;11 - 01;01;06;18
Speaker 3
Take us.

01;01;06;20 - 01;01;12;22
Speaker 2
Through that process too. And like how do you like go recruiting at like band camp or something? Because these kids are like.

01;01;12;22 - 01;01;17;16
Speaker 1
Yeah, Have you had any when they started day one from the team member, it's still, he's still, they're.

01;01;17;16 - 01;01;22;29
Speaker 2
Like, they're all like super smart, clean cut kids and one super impressive. Yeah, I'm.

01;01;22;29 - 01;01;40;24
Speaker 3
Trying to think so. My top person, we refer to him as an executive director. His name's Bryan Torres and Bryan. He was not in high school. He was in college, but he started. As a team member. Yeah. Became a manager, then a director. And now he runs the place. Same for my number two. Guy's name is Jared. He's been with me ever since he was 16 years old.

01;01;40;26 - 01;01;45;22
Speaker 3
So. So, yeah, it just. I can think. I think there's like eight people from.

01;01;45;27 - 01;01;55;22
Speaker 2
The start are willing to hire at 15 years old that you see or is it or is it the culture you think that attracts those kids to? Yeah, working for you.

01;01;55;22 - 01;02;14;13
Speaker 3
Guys, I think it's the culture. If you look at the team that we had the first year and the team we have now, nine day, a lot of turnover that first year, a lot of like I'm not really buying what she's selling kind of, you know, because we talk about family a lot. I mean if they invite me to a football game, a anything for school, I'm going I'm going to it.

01;02;14;20 - 01;02;31;21
Speaker 3
Invite me to open house. If I can't make it, you get a gift like I, I do all the things that I can to be a part of the life. They just have to let me be a part of their life. So that's up to them to choose how involved they want to be. But I would say that they feel like it's an emotional connection for sure.

01;02;31;23 - 01;02;45;25
Speaker 3
They they could go somewhere else easily and make more money, but they choose. They enjoy working because of you. Like if you have a if you're my sister, right. Like when she was pregnant, like I cared about that. Not because she was my sister, but yeah, you know, we, we worked with her on what works best for her.

01;02;45;25 - 01;02;48;21
Speaker 4
Flexible, schedule wise college students.

01;02;48;21 - 01;02;56;26
Speaker 1
Yeah, well, you like to be part of those life events, too, or feel like a lot of people, they can go in and go out and it's like, okay, I don't know anything about their personal life.

01;02;56;29 - 01;03;11;11
Speaker 4
What's happening, What's going on? I just part of our history too, Like us both starting at 15, like we understand where they're at in life and we can relate to what they have going on because we do the exact same thing. It's not always fun to have to wash dishes and work till midnight and then have to go to school the next day.

01;03;11;15 - 01;03;11;27
Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah.

01;03;12;00 - 01;03;28;12
Speaker 3
I live in gray like I'm not black and white. I know some people are, but like, I can't let someone go. Or if I catch someone stealing, let's go there. Like stealing food. Why are you stealing food? And there's, like, a deeper issue for me. Like, you're not eating enough at home, you know, have money to buy this food.

01;03;28;12 - 01;03;36;06
Speaker 3
Like, talk me through it. I can't just. I can't just be black and white. There has to be some gray, especially with these young kids, you see.

01;03;36;07 - 01;03;45;02
Speaker 2
I mean, there's a that happens a lot in every restaurant. But you guys, I'm assuming you have to deal with that, too. Or like, hey, Joey's best friend came up to the store and.

01;03;45;02 - 01;03;45;20
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah.

01;03;45;25 - 01;03;49;02
Speaker 2
I don't see anything wrong up on the register. Yeah, he's sitting or listening.

01;03;49;02 - 01;04;12;26
Speaker 3
It's rare, but it does happen. And typically, you know, if it's like giving their friend food, they're trying to look cool in front of the friends so I can do this. But I think that those are like, very early on issues for us and now it's not so much of a thing. It's for me with high schoolers, that age group, it's more like being on time and balancing like there's a lot put on them between school and if they play a sport or any clubs.

01;04;12;26 - 01;04;26;26
Speaker 3
I do not know how they do it all sometimes, but our bare minimum is you have to be available three days and work three days. It can be a three hour shift, but you have to be available three days. And then how about you open up that availability as how much more you'll be paid?

01;04;26;26 - 01;04;30;00
Speaker 2
What's the interview process like just to be a team member?

01;04;30;05 - 01;04;46;25
Speaker 3
Yeah. So you apply online and then Brad, my dad will give you a call so they get about a 30 minute interview a day. It's if it if it's someone with a lot more job experience, it can take a little longer. But I can't teach you how to be a good person. There has to be something you come in with.

01;04;46;25 - 01;04;57;01
Speaker 3
So I feel like with Chick-Fil-A, what we get right is like, these are people, in my opinion, who have high moral standards or high standards for themselves.

01;04;57;03 - 01;05;12;08
Speaker 3
As far as high school is, the ones who are the best, are the ones who are involved in all the things. They're just so busy and are adults. They they vary during the day. I've got college students, I've got grandmas. I mean, we're all over the place, got moms who just have a few hours for their kids while they're in school.

01;05;12;08 - 01;05;15;07
Speaker 3
But it's all the things So.

01;05;15;09 - 01;05;32;11
Speaker 2
And then so you you're bringing these kids and they're probably attracted to Chick fil A because of the culture. So you're getting I mean, for them, I'm very impressed. Whenever I go there for Chick-Fil-A and how they how they treat you and what what's the thing?

01;05;32;13 - 01;05;33;00
Speaker 1
My pleasure.

01;05;33;01 - 01;05;36;23
Speaker 2
My pleasure. Thank you.

01;05;36;26 - 01;05;41;19
Speaker 3
We get a lot of referrals at this point and in our business. So it's that friends, they want to work with their friends.

01;05;41;19 - 01;05;48;13
Speaker 2
Do they do you guys I mean, are they you're training them or they don't have to, like, do Chick-Fil-A school online or what?

01;05;48;15 - 01;06;03;17
Speaker 3
So, Megan, my sister gets up of the training and so there's a whole process and plan based off of what area of the business you're going to work in. So front house or back house, how old are you? So like, if you're a 15 year old, you can't touch all the things. So they want, you know, like what restrictions you have.

01;06;03;20 - 01;06;23;09
Speaker 3
Then you have your training plan. So I would say that they're in training probably. I mean, they also have like an orientation they go to that's a few hours, so probably and training for like three weeks. And by the fourth week we're like, you can do these two jobs on your own. But the more complicated jobs, I think, take time because you're making quick decisions.

01;06;23;09 - 01;06;25;16
Speaker 3
We don't deal in minutes. We deal in like seconds.

01;06;25;16 - 01;06;32;01
Speaker 2
What is like like what is like very basic coming in? Like, what are you probably doing as a 15 year old?

01;06;32;04 - 01;06;34;21
Speaker 3
you're in the dining room. You're on register.

01;06;34;21 - 01;06;39;07
Speaker 2
So your clean trays on table go wipe your.

01;06;39;10 - 01;06;40;19
Speaker 1
Drinks. Yeah, yeah.

01;06;40;21 - 01;07;01;13
Speaker 3
Cleaning to clean the restrooms like you're cleaning the playground. They're doing like the the the jobs they earn are kind of like the basic jobs. And then from there, you'll probably evolve into being on a headset and bagging. Those are probably a most challenging positions or in the window because you're having to make decisions about like, do I move this car for or do I park this car?

01;07;01;15 - 01;07;09;27
Speaker 3
Did I make a mistake? Did we pass out the wrong food? So you have to be forward thinking enough. And I haven't really found that my 15 year olds, you know, they're scared, you know.

01;07;10;00 - 01;07;10;29
Speaker 4
Just as well.

01;07;10;29 - 01;07;14;23
Speaker 3
Yeah, you have to handle an adult yelling at you. Can you do that as a 15 year old? Yeah.

01;07;14;25 - 01;07;29;20
Speaker 2
So does that work you do I wonder if that like even like with the Chick-Fil-A culture and the training and everything, I wonder like I, I don't know how they would track this, but like, compared to different quick service restaurants, Like, I wonder if you guys see less of that.

01;07;29;22 - 01;07;40;23
Speaker 3
I don't it's rare, I think in my lifetime of being an owner, I've fired like four guests being like, do not come back. Yeah. And those are like extreme situations.

01;07;40;26 - 01;07;41;27
Speaker 2
So I'm not allowed back.

01;07;42;04 - 01;07;50;19
Speaker 1
Yeah, sure. I'm right on the long.

01;07;50;21 - 01;07;54;18
Speaker 2
So like, only six refills is enough for you.

01;07;54;20 - 01;08;00;03
Speaker 3
At Chick-Fil-A so that sort of people get lit up there. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01;08;00;04 - 01;08;04;11
Speaker 2
We go through enough. We're like, we just buy them eating the bottle. Yeah.

01;08;04;12 - 01;08;08;08
Speaker 1
We say you can point to the mirror and be like, you can go on the shelves, you know.

01;08;08;15 - 01;08;10;05
Speaker 2
Don't you get it there anymore.

01;08;10;07 - 01;08;12;03
Speaker 3
you can get it. Family fare. Just like the other day.

01;08;12;05 - 01;08;14;17
Speaker 2
It might be back. And my boys gone.

01;08;14;19 - 01;08;18;06
Speaker 3
You buy it from us? I don't know the exact price. I've talked my head, but.

01;08;18;09 - 01;08;32;28
Speaker 2
It's seven now. I'm about my wife could fry it and the ratio is it's the Chick-Fil-A ramming. It's the honey mustard.

01;08;33;00 - 01;08;33;10
Speaker 4
okay.

01;08;33;12 - 01;08;35;02
Speaker 2
I don't know. What else.

01;08;35;04 - 01;08;37;16
Speaker 3
Have you all tried this new sandwich that we have while we're talking.

01;08;37;20 - 01;08;38;10
Speaker 2
Now.

01;08;38;12 - 01;08;40;29
Speaker 3
Honey? Pepper, Pimento sandwich. It's still.

01;08;41;01 - 01;08;43;18
Speaker 1
Somebody was telling me commercial. Let's get a man.

01;08;43;18 - 01;08;47;01
Speaker 2
To do that before we did this. Honestly So, yeah, it might have been.

01;08;47;02 - 01;09;02;27
Speaker 3
Changed, even though I think it's. It's probably because I harassed him. I'm like, you're going to you're going to love the sandwich. I just know you're going to like it. And our whole neighborhood, we were sitting here over September 1st, November 11th is it started like in September, November 11.

01;09;02;27 - 01;09;07;00
Speaker 2
I can't say that word. I'll be too nervous ordering. How do you say honey.

01;09;07;03 - 01;09;10;18
Speaker 3
Honey, pepper, Pimento sandwich. It's written on the board.

01;09;10;21 - 01;09;14;08
Speaker 1
That's just point. She's just come to.

01;09;14;10 - 01;09;15;08
Speaker 3
Give me new sandwich.

01;09;15;08 - 01;09;17;05
Speaker 2
I'm not ready for the drive thru. Yeah, it's.

01;09;17;05 - 01;09;17;21
Speaker 3
Delicious.

01;09;17;21 - 01;09;20;25
Speaker 2
I'm cleaning toilets. Yeah.

01;09;20;27 - 01;09;21;27
Speaker 3
You're your back house. Got.

01;09;21;27 - 01;09;25;17
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.

01;09;25;20 - 01;09;27;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. I'll take you in the back.

01;09;27;10 - 01;09;50;07
Speaker 2
Man. So another that like with the culture, with the values, with the family own that Chris brought up earlier like the, the Christian based organization. I mean, do you guys still is it still Christian based organization? Is that important? And are you guys is it is it driven into the culture or are you guys praying before. Yeah. So like, what does that look like yet.

01;09;50;08 - 01;10;12;03
Speaker 3
Christian base principles are where the business is built off of. So we have all operators from all different walks of life like we are all unique. So but every time we come, so our conference is called next and it's in February of every year, there are optional events that are like a worship event or just every day. We start our day with a devotional.

01;10;12;08 - 01;10;25;18
Speaker 3
You're not required to be there, but I mean, everyone's there. So I think just having like an, an encouraging thing to, to focus on and like for bigger than the sandwich is probably what most people are drawn to. Yeah.

01;10;25;20 - 01;10;32;24
Speaker 2
How important is happen to you as a part of you say it's different for everybody is pretty different to you or is it you.

01;10;33;00 - 01;10;55;23
Speaker 3
To go through that whole process? I mean, I grew up in the church, I grew up Baptist, so I grew up and Drew grew up Pentecostal. So when we we usually choose a like a non-denominational, you know, nondenominational church, I guess. So we feel like we are who we are without that. And so it's encouraging to have a company that supports us.

01;10;55;26 - 01;11;16;09
Speaker 3
But like I said, there are people who who grew up different and they still participate in all those things. I think it's just because it's encouraging. It's like something that gives you some sort of hope. Yeah, Yeah, it can be a tough process, right? The whole interview process. So having something else to cling on to kind of give you like the encouragement to finish strong, I would say for us is important.

01;11;16;11 - 01;11;37;27
Speaker 2
Yeah. And it seems, I mean, I personally I think it, I think it drives people to the brand as well. Like they feel not, not necessarily that you get that it's being pounded in their faces or anything. But I think people like to spend their dollars on things that they believe in and yeah, yeah, you know, that, that they value eyes, I guess, you know.

01;11;37;27 - 01;11;47;28
Speaker 1
Yeah. And also just I think people like to support an organization that maybe that close on Sunday like give your employees go let's talk about some of.

01;11;48;00 - 01;11;53;15
Speaker 3
It was it was it true it was or closed on Sunday because the chicken tastes better on Monday.

01;11;53;18 - 01;11;54;22
Speaker 4
And Sunday.

01;11;54;24 - 01;11;59;14
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. So I mean is there even is there talk about opening Sunday. There's got to.

01;11;59;14 - 01;12;00;26
Speaker 4
Be that's hour one.

01;12;01;01 - 01;12;02;28
Speaker 2
Is this a nonstarter.

01;12;03;01 - 01;12;03;19
Speaker 4
We'll never.

01;12;03;22 - 01;12;09;00
Speaker 2
I would imagine some store owners and stuff are like please let us open something please quick.

01;12;09;00 - 01;12;25;29
Speaker 3
Way to get the boot out If you try to open on a Sunday. No. And you know, obviously it started so you could go to church, but back then it was like we don't do a Sunday so you can go to church. And it is pretty bold that we've made it this long and we have not caved on that at all.

01;12;26;02 - 01;12;51;00
Speaker 3
And we never will. I would argue that the family that there's probably some sort of agreement like this will never, ever happen. So, Dan Cathy, is it true a Cathy started Chick-Fil-A has three children and one of those children is Dan Cathy and he was the CEO after true it and Dan just retired two years ago and so now is Andrew Cathy who happens to be one of Dan sons.

01;12;51;02 - 01;12;52;10
Speaker 3
So I don't know who will next.

01;12;52;13 - 01;12;56;14
Speaker 2
The amount of pressure on them to go public has to be.

01;12;56;16 - 01;12;57;09
Speaker 3


01;12;57;09 - 01;13;01;11
Speaker 1
Imagine why they don't need to start doing the numbers They are. It's like.

01;13;01;13 - 01;13;22;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, well, they have our control, so they don't want to get that. Why give their families very impressive. I mean, there's too many to even name but every year for next they come up, they introduce their family like I guess like the parents and then like the grandchildren and then like the great grandchildren they talk through that they have like a family council that certain members are on and they make decisions together.

01;13;22;21 - 01;13;37;18
Speaker 3
They have very, very important people come in and basically it's not just like public speaking and teach you how to talk to people, but like how do you make smart decisions together? I probably do some pretty intense therapy like they are a family unit. It's pretty impressive.

01;13;37;25 - 01;13;48;15
Speaker 4
Also, encourage their family, like when they go out, when they're encouraged to work in a different business other than Chick-Fil-A before they start their career with Chick fil So it's not like they're just, you know, all in Chick fil A.

01;13;48;15 - 01;13;56;22
Speaker 3
I think most of them have been a Chick-Fil-A operator and then transitioned to working at the Sports Center or for the foundation, which provides scholarships and things like that.

01;13;56;26 - 01;14;10;24
Speaker 2
that's cool. That's awesome. And for you guys, three, three young kids, that's a lot running a restaurant. That's a lot. But are you guys I mean, is the plan are, you know, go for more? Don't know. Yeah.

01;14;10;28 - 01;14;19;08
Speaker 3
Or you know, I would really I mean it's still pretty more Yeah. Because I just I just always envisioned myself being a multi-unit operator.

01;14;19;11 - 01;14;21;19
Speaker 2
I think I saw Drew just got.

01;14;21;21 - 01;14;22;12
Speaker 5
A.

01;14;22;15 - 01;14;23;13
Speaker 4
Lot of.

01;14;23;15 - 01;14;24;22
Speaker 1
Yeah.

01;14;24;25 - 01;14;39;04
Speaker 3
Truthfully, there wasn't there was almost an opportunity on that map and I was I think I was pregnant with Cooper or, and, or I just had him and I was like, how? How would I even. But I would have to go for it because it would I would take an income hit. I would want to go for it.

01;14;39;06 - 01;14;49;18
Speaker 3
So now I really just I'm waiting at this point for an opportunity to open up. But our boys being older, I think they'll definitely be busy. They'll have busy schedules, but it won't be sleepless nights and things like that.

01;14;49;18 - 01;14;50;03
Speaker 2
Yeah, change.

01;14;50;04 - 01;14;55;12
Speaker 3
Yeah, it'll just be it'll be different. Kind of busy. Yeah. So yeah, we would like to, but it's just got to be.

01;14;55;14 - 01;14;55;24
Speaker 1
Right after.

01;14;55;26 - 01;14;57;20
Speaker 3
The opportunity has to happen for us.

01;14;57;22 - 01;15;21;12
Speaker 2
Okay. that's, that's really cool. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's got to have, it sounds like super fast, but I mean it's been a long time they used get in this, but it's also the last five years has to be finally getting the location up through moving. Yeah. New friends, new family following behind three kids restaurants just had been whirlwind.

01;15;21;13 - 01;15;38;12
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's been it's been exciting. We both didn't come from much just our living situations, parents, big families. So to be able to provide opportunities for our boys that we either didn't get or or our team members, things like that, I mean, it's like the dream, you know.

01;15;38;13 - 01;15;43;00
Speaker 2
It's cool to do that. Circle What about grand Rapids? You guys have enjoyed living here. Yeah.

01;15;43;00 - 01;15;50;11
Speaker 4
Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, it really is. Like, it's big enough, but not too big or things to do. Like, we like living outside the city.

01;15;50;11 - 01;16;07;03
Speaker 3
Yeah, we love Garden Center. We were talking about this before we started. It just feels like a small town. Like we went to the homecoming game the other week and we knew people there and I was like, got in the garden. I was like, I could cry. We actually knew people that just didn't live in our neighborhood, but just other relationships that we had made.

01;16;07;06 - 01;16;28;11
Speaker 3
Because there are some people, you know, talk about feeling they fail because they don't go out and they don't find that community. And then it's like, I don't want to be here anymore. Yeah, I'll move somewhere else, or I don't want to do this anymore because be an it can be a little lonely at times. You don't have you can't divulge all your personal information to one of your employees, you know, So if you don't have a partner.

01;16;28;13 - 01;16;30;06
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, that's hard.

01;16;30;08 - 01;16;41;03
Speaker 2
It probably does. I mean, how many how many operators around the country have family in the is it a lot or is are you guys different that way?

01;16;41;04 - 01;16;50;29
Speaker 3
Well, I would say we're unique in that we have family in the business which yeah, I don't know we have some some friends who have like a family member but to have both of your parents and then your.

01;16;50;29 - 01;16;51;15
Speaker 2
Husband and.

01;16;51;15 - 01;17;07;21
Speaker 3
Your husband and your sister, it's a lot. And at one point I had a one of my brothers worked at Chick-Fil-A and he moved. He lives in Grand Rapids. He just moved further from the restaurant. So he he has a different job. So anyways, it's pretty unique to have that many family members and that we actually like working together.

01;17;07;21 - 01;17;15;00
Speaker 3
Yeah, you know, I truly enjoy working with them and I can't say that for some of the other people I know who work with the family, it can be challenging.

01;17;15;06 - 01;17;17;04
Speaker 1
So family dynamics, yes.

01;17;17;04 - 01;17;18;27
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, my.

01;17;18;27 - 01;17;20;01
Speaker 3
Dad has to listen to me.

01;17;20;05 - 01;17;23;25
Speaker 2
Yeah. In the pecking order. Yeah.

01;17;23;26 - 01;17;35;18
Speaker 4
It's like. It's like we all feel bad for Justin, Megan's husband. When we get together. Yeah, we have to. We have to have a cut off of when we stop talking about Chick-Fil-A. It was also, you know. Yeah, yeah, we can talk about it for 10 minutes, but that's it. Yes.

01;17;35;24 - 01;17;42;13
Speaker 2
Do you still like the food after work and then that's a song. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Are you just like you actually do?

01;17;42;15 - 01;17;46;09
Speaker 3
I don't eat the same thing every day. There was a time where I did.

01;17;46;09 - 01;17;47;19
Speaker 2
And what was your go to?

01;17;47;21 - 01;17;48;19
Speaker 1
What was your go to?

01;17;48;21 - 01;17;56;01
Speaker 3
I mean, a Chick-Fil-A sandwich with American cheese. It's like my favorite thing. I think our our sandwich is like such a strong product.

01;17;56;01 - 01;17;57;16
Speaker 2
You use a sauce or no sauce?

01;17;57;23 - 01;18;07;21
Speaker 3
No sauce. So it wasn't mayonnaise on my sandwich. Okay. Yeah, but then as far as my sauces actually barbecue and ranch, I did my fries in that. Or I get the avocado lime ranch salad dressing.

01;18;07;27 - 01;18;09;25
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah, that's great. Yeah.

01;18;09;27 - 01;18;15;02
Speaker 3
I'm not I'm actually not a Chick-Fil-A sauce person. I'm not a big like honey mustard.

01;18;15;04 - 01;18;19;10
Speaker 4
Sauce is relatively new as far as like, Chick fil A goes, I guess what.

01;18;19;12 - 01;18;21;22
Speaker 3
Not. Yeah, maybe closer to ten, but yeah.

01;18;21;28 - 01;18;47;18
Speaker 2
And then with the Chick fil A success and you guys are crushing, but then it's also it's a business and new competition and like it I mean it seems like a lot of people are trying to push into that chicken sandwich market. Is that have you guys seen any reflections? Has that been felt in sales or anything or is it it's not even been a competition yet at this point.

01;18;47;21 - 01;18;49;01
Speaker 4
The Popeyes thing was interesting.

01;18;49;01 - 01;18;49;10
Speaker 3
That was a.

01;18;49;15 - 01;18;50;04
Speaker 2
Surprise.

01;18;50;04 - 01;18;51;13
Speaker 1
But also for me.

01;18;51;15 - 01;18;53;00
Speaker 2
And it seems like it's tapered.

01;18;53;02 - 01;18;59;26
Speaker 3
But what's your point also, I would say what's your opinion? But my opinion is they couldn't deliver on the service. Yeah.

01;18;59;27 - 01;19;01;07
Speaker 1
So yeah, it wasn't.

01;19;01;07 - 01;19;05;05
Speaker 3
So people were waiting hours just to try this sandwich and we had it. It was good.

01;19;05;06 - 01;19;05;17
Speaker 4
It was good.

01;19;05;18 - 01;19;08;28
Speaker 3
It was good. But getting it was a we're.

01;19;09;01 - 01;19;16;04
Speaker 2
In the we lived in L.A. Heights so they have the Tim Hortons. Yeah. So 28 that they took over. Yeah.

01;19;16;05 - 01;19;18;22
Speaker 1
Hello. 28 and Burton. Yeah.

01;19;18;22 - 01;19;39;16
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. They and the stacking there was so bad it was out on 28th Street but it wasn't like, it wasn't a stacking like a Chick-Fil-A where it's like rapid fire. Yeah. Everyone rushes sitting and sitting and it's funny, I haven't even thought about it until you asked me that. Like, that's probably why I didn't go back, because it took me.

01;19;39;16 - 01;19;44;06
Speaker 2
I think I was there for like and it wasn't like I wasn't upset or anything. It was busy, but I.

01;19;44;06 - 01;19;45;08
Speaker 3
Knew it was getting into.

01;19;45;08 - 01;19;51;29
Speaker 2
It was like a 45 minute wait. And I'm like, No, not, not, not worth you. You're going position isn't there. Yeah.

01;19;52;01 - 01;20;12;00
Speaker 3
When we talk about as an operator team giving food away, if we're tying it to like the Chick fil A app or like you have to have our app to get this free breakfast item, we always I always our game on the side of like if you're asking me and doing a mystery item for example, let's say that you like it's like you don't know what you get until you show up.

01;20;12;02 - 01;20;24;01
Speaker 3
You're asking me to like, deviate from my pattern in the morning, not happening because I don't have enough time to do that. And I think why? Popeyes was like, very popular with that sandwich, but then died off like, I have 45 minutes waiting.

01;20;24;01 - 01;20;24;21
Speaker 1
Yeah, right. Yeah.

01;20;24;23 - 01;20;28;20
Speaker 3
Like, I can't do that. So it's a good sandwich. I'll give them that.

01;20;28;23 - 01;20;30;22
Speaker 2
But they couldn't keep up on.

01;20;30;25 - 01;20;34;03
Speaker 1
Yeah, they couldn't keep it. So Wingstop came out with one two.

01;20;34;06 - 01;20;37;23
Speaker 3
And I had to see that the other day and I said, I think we're in the battle. The chicken sandwich right.

01;20;37;23 - 01;20;40;24
Speaker 2
Now, the Guy Fear is pushing to chicken as.

01;20;40;24 - 01;20;44;07
Speaker 4
Well. I think this has one opening in Lansing, MI or the other side of the state.

01;20;44;07 - 01;20;49;18
Speaker 2
Is east side right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't remember. Chicken, chicken guy.

01;20;49;19 - 01;20;51;21
Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01;20;51;23 - 01;20;56;17
Speaker 3
For us, biggest competition in the south is Zaxby's. I don't know if you guys had that.

01;20;56;20 - 01;20;58;23
Speaker 2
And then there's the other next to.

01;20;58;23 - 01;20;59;15
Speaker 1
Raising Cain.

01;20;59;15 - 01;21;01;26
Speaker 3
Raising raising.

01;21;01;26 - 01;21;03;07
Speaker 2
Cain has a lot of.

01;21;03;10 - 01;21;05;02
Speaker 3
It's I, I it's really good.

01;21;05;04 - 01;21;05;25
Speaker 4
I enjoy it.

01;21;05;28 - 01;21;16;21
Speaker 3
Much more basic menu which is if you ever get a chance to like do research on that guy. It's a pretty interesting concept why I chose that but but just he won't ever add anything to his menu. The menu is what it is.

01;21;16;26 - 01;21;17;20
Speaker 2
It's interesting.

01;21;17;25 - 01;21;19;11
Speaker 3
Yeah, No, it's very good.

01;21;19;13 - 01;21;20;00
Speaker 4
Yeah.

01;21;20;02 - 01;21;21;06
Speaker 3
So. But Zaxby's.

01;21;21;06 - 01;21;34;21
Speaker 2
This is their setup. I mean, are you, are you seeing other markets and stuff trying to set up and duplicate that Chick-Fil-A process. I, but I feel like you can't even do it without the, without the culture of the Yeah.

01;21;34;26 - 01;21;39;12
Speaker 1
The kid. So your sense with the culture. Yeah. If you don't have that like yeah.

01;21;39;14 - 01;21;59;09
Speaker 3
The training definitely is it's like you either make it or break it after that like three month if you're not buying in, it's there's very obvious signs of a team member that's like they don't get it, they don't understand. And truthfully we just make a conscious choice to let those people go. Like if they can't after three month mark, that's our cut off.

01;21;59;09 - 01;22;05;24
Speaker 3
If you don't buy in, if you don't see this is bigger than just a clerk and clerk out, you can clerking our guy. You don't have to be a leader.

01;22;05;26 - 01;22;09;22
Speaker 2
She's like, well, maybe four months. Yeah.

01;22;09;24 - 01;22;10;29
Speaker 3
Said, Yeah.

01;22;11;02 - 01;22;12;17
Speaker 2
That would be so hard to.

01;22;12;19 - 01;22;16;16
Speaker 3
Make mistakes, but not have that in like we don't have to do that.

01;22;16;18 - 01;22;17;20
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01;22;17;21 - 01;22;19;26
Speaker 3
But it happens. It Happens from time to time.

01;22;19;28 - 01;22;30;11
Speaker 1
It is fine because I remember Steak and Shake came out with like ten. If you pay $10,000 and we'll give you the restaurant, like, I think they tried to copy it, but again, it comes down to the operation. And so yeah, they just didn't have it.

01;22;30;18 - 01;22;38;26
Speaker 3
You know, in passing people are like, it's only $10,000. Yeah, but then you have to interview. yeah, yeah. They're going to tear your funding highly.

01;22;38;26 - 01;22;40;01
Speaker 2
Competitive and.

01;22;40;05 - 01;22;59;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's, and you're going, I think the year that I applied, 100,000 people expressed interest, which means you just go on the website, you click a button like I want to go to Chick-Fil-A and you fill out a short form. 100,000 people did that and I think they selected maybe 102 people. But that's it. I mean, it was the low hundreds.

01;23;00;03 - 01;23;17;12
Speaker 3
It was not. It's not. Yeah. So I think the statistic when I went through I mean, I'm a female, obviously, so it's not the same, but they were like, have a better chance of making it in the NFL than becoming a Chick fil A operator. And then two years ago they came out and statistically, you have a higher chance of getting into Harvard than owning a Chick fil A restaurant.

01;23;17;14 - 01;23;39;00
Speaker 2
No kidding. Wow. Not me. Yeah. Yeah, maybe That's impressive. Yeah, that's. So how do you think I mean, do you guys get to, like, do you get to give input back to Chick fil A on how do we stay competitive? How do we come out with new items? How do we and I mean, are you guys involved in that?

01;23;39;00 - 01;23;45;19
Speaker 2
Is that kind of more at that next conference? But are they doing things? Are you seeing things happen to stay fresh and stay?

01;23;45;19 - 01;24;03;06
Speaker 3
I think so. We're a little slow for decisions and in my opinion, Chick fil A kind of dragging their feet, but they just want to be so sure that they're making the right decision. So I understand that. But they have several different teams and panels. People's jobs are like, What does that even mean when they bring in operators?

01;24;03;06 - 01;24;14;26
Speaker 3
And like personally, I'm on a panel that deals with playgrounds and the future of what play looks like for kids. And I really enjoy that because I get to see like what their thoughts are.

01;24;14;26 - 01;24;19;27
Speaker 2
Around footpaths and they want to put those screens in there. I was going to say.

01;24;19;27 - 01;24;21;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, no I don't.

01;24;21;14 - 01;24;49;07
Speaker 3
Even like I guess I'm talking like, Well, yeah, how do you have a playground? But to like, what are your kid's toys look like? And, and then is it more interactive like a family game or is it an individual game? Like there's so many different things out there that, that they get input from operators on it. Chick-Fil-A was created by an operator and his team in the restaurant they were just playing player created took place also, they definitely listen to us for sure.

01;24;49;09 - 01;25;04;02
Speaker 4
But they do a lot of research. I mean, the Honey pepper, a pimento sandwich was in test markets a year and a half ago. Yeah. And so they test them in places where they think it's probably going to do well and also in places where they think it may not do well just to see. Just so then this year it rolled out chain wide as a seasonal item.

01;25;04;05 - 01;25;04;14
Speaker 4
Wow.

01;25;04;14 - 01;25;15;13
Speaker 2
So I got to try it now. Yeah, that's good. What? And then as far so you guys, I mean, do you have those? The other thing I want to ask, do you have secret menu items now?

01;25;15;13 - 01;25;16;12
Speaker 3
Not like an in and out.

01;25;16;15 - 01;25;18;09
Speaker 2
She does start.

01;25;18;12 - 01;25;25;24
Speaker 3
To, I guess, you know, after the pandemic and everyone was on TikTok, we would get these crazy requests. I'm like, what is going on? And so.

01;25;25;25 - 01;25;27;04
Speaker 2
They'd be like, If.

01;25;27;06 - 01;25;46;03
Speaker 3
It was me, It was like, yes, you can buy all those things and create that item. But it's not something like we have, like we don't make it for you. So like, I think the trendy one right now, which is not something I would ever eat, but it's you take a salad bowl and you put fries and mac and cheese and nuggets, and then you put like your choice of sauce all over it.

01;25;46;06 - 01;25;49;13
Speaker 3
I'm like, Yeah, you could buy this. Yes, You could make that, but.

01;25;49;17 - 01;25;58;02
Speaker 2
I want to eat that. That sounds like a to a when you don't talk about it like that.

01;25;58;04 - 01;26;04;08
Speaker 3
Yeah, I can do this. Yeah. But then like a cheese. It took forever to get mac and cheese.

01;26;04;10 - 01;26;07;08
Speaker 2
yeah. What's your mac and cheese is good.

01;26;07;10 - 01;26;07;20
Speaker 3
So good.

01;26;07;21 - 01;26;09;14
Speaker 1
Sorry. So.

01;26;09;17 - 01;26;11;11
Speaker 3
So what about.

01;26;11;11 - 01;26;16;17
Speaker 2
The. The catering, the the truck. I mean, did people use that a lot? Is that out on the road. Yes.

01;26;16;18 - 01;26;39;04
Speaker 3
Like using the food truck or. Sorry, that is a specific operator. So you have to apply from Chick-Fil-A to get this food truck. And then I think you can only have it for like three years. I could be wrong, but that's Brass. Berlin's food truck. I'm sorry. He has the capability. Correct me if I'm wrong, he can make shakes in there and he can make, like, fresh waffle fries.

01;26;39;04 - 01;26;52;20
Speaker 3
He has fryers in there for that, but he doesn't have like a Henny Penny. Or we would cook like a like a chicken sandwich or anything. So he has to bring the meat like, you know, sandwiches and stuff pre-made, but he can make fries and shakes. I believe in there.

01;26;52;20 - 01;27;13;20
Speaker 2
I think, yeah, maybe I'm remembering this wrong, but I feel like one time I had Chick-Fil-A catered like we have a huge family, so we had Chick-Fil-A catered for all the the grandkids and stuff and they're like, no, we two fries. Yeah. And I'm like, No, you're doing fries. I don't care if they're soggy. Like a bunch of you don't care.

01;27;13;20 - 01;27;15;27
Speaker 1
But like, we tried.

01;27;15;29 - 01;27;20;06
Speaker 2
And said are going to be here. Please, for the three of us.

01;27;20;09 - 01;27;23;23
Speaker 3
I know some people are like, can you just like it's a tray of fries. Like that does not exist.

01;27;23;23 - 01;27;24;17
Speaker 2
But they made.

01;27;24;17 - 01;27;25;10
Speaker 3
It for me. Yeah.

01;27;25;10 - 01;27;27;14
Speaker 2
So just maybe I shouldn't say. yeah, I did.

01;27;27;16 - 01;27;34;17
Speaker 3
But it's like we don't have, like, a button to press. It says, like, this is how much a tray of fries cost we can make you can get right.

01;27;34;23 - 01;27;35;25
Speaker 1
You dump it in there.

01;27;35;25 - 01;27;37;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, sure. But we don't have like an actual item.

01;27;37;27 - 01;27;44;03
Speaker 2
And that's, that's literally because you don't want to deliver something low because it doesn't travel as a distraction to our travel.

01;27;44;04 - 01;28;01;22
Speaker 3
Well, they get soggy. It's a it's a quality issue. That's why we won't do it. But we will do it, you know, if it's the right scenario. But if it's something like I want to order 150, which just happened just for like I want to order like 150 small fries, like, Yeah. Doesn't, can't do that.

01;28;01;24 - 01;28;08;26
Speaker 2
Do you feel like dude, does catering drive like sales at all or is it mostly just in store that.

01;28;08;28 - 01;28;14;09
Speaker 3
It's in store for us? No, it's because I don't focus. I don't focus on it a lot.

01;28;14;11 - 01;28;19;26
Speaker 1
And when you say in-store, does that include drive thru then? Like what percentage of your sales come through that drive thru?

01;28;19;26 - 01;28;24;08
Speaker 3
It's like 6040. So 60% is the drive thru, 40% would be the dining room.

01;28;24;08 - 01;28;30;01
Speaker 2
Does that count drive up as well? The drive thru drive curbside pickup?

01;28;30;03 - 01;28;41;16
Speaker 3
I don't know. I know as a as a market, our curbside is about 29% they said of our sales. But that's like as a whole that's everybody I don't know about mine specifically like what it is, but.

01;28;41;18 - 01;28;49;09
Speaker 2
I would imagine like a michigan where it's cold. Yeah, nine months out of the year, drive thru is going to be heavier for you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01;28;49;09 - 01;28;59;07
Speaker 3
We get a lot of curbside, which we eventually cut off whenever we start going to want to ice because cars can't stop as fast, they can't see my team members, so we just don't do it a lot. In the winter.

01;28;59;08 - 01;28;59;27
Speaker 4
It's darker and.

01;29;00;06 - 01;29;09;28
Speaker 3
Darker, it's safer. So we'll cut it off like right now, it cut off at nine, we'll cut it off by eight, you know, so that our team doesn't have to go outside. Yeah.

01;29;10;00 - 01;29;15;13
Speaker 2
So I love the I love the minions seats. Yeah, yeah. The bubbles.

01;29;15;15 - 01;29;24;26
Speaker 3
I know everybody makes I feel bad for the minute, but it keeps them dry and they prefer it, you know, standing, holding an umbrella while holding an iPad. You know, it just.

01;29;24;29 - 01;29;25;28
Speaker 1
Seems like a lot more work.

01;29;25;28 - 01;29;28;04
Speaker 3
Yeah, it is, but it's a silly little thing.

01;29;28;07 - 01;29;51;05
Speaker 2
And then water like this is totally back. But I'm just saying like during COVID, like making that, this was it your decision to reopen or was it Chick-Fil-A is like you guys are opening or how did that go to bring team members back? Because like that no one really knew what it was? Yeah, I know I have my personal feelings on it and, and, you know, I would have opened.

01;29;51;05 - 01;29;51;25
Speaker 2
I know I would have.

01;29;51;25 - 01;29;55;07
Speaker 3
But yeah, we never we only closed the dining room.

01;29;55;09 - 01;29;57;28
Speaker 2
So did you get pushback from.

01;29;58;00 - 01;29;58;20
Speaker 3
From Chick-Fil-A.

01;29;58;25 - 01;30;02;01
Speaker 2
From not even public or employees.

01;30;02;01 - 01;30;08;07
Speaker 3
Or you know in the there were people like you're putting people at risk, but we actually gave them a choice. We sent our.

01;30;08;08 - 01;30;09;23
Speaker 2
Most people to work. Yeah.

01;30;09;25 - 01;30;28;11
Speaker 3
Who can not work for months at a time. Now There were some for like who had health conditions, who are like scared or some of my older maybe team members who didn't want to put themselves at risk. But eventually everyone came back. I think out of the whole too, people didn't return. They got different jobs, but and that was it.

01;30;28;11 - 01;30;40;06
Speaker 3
I mean, everyone else came back, so we closed the dining the day before. It was like state mandated. We actually made the choice to close it because my team was getting really, like, scared. Sure.

01;30;40;08 - 01;30;40;16
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;30;40;16 - 01;31;02;05
Speaker 3
So let's close the dining room We can control. I mean, we tried so many different things. There was like a shelf right at the door, so you couldn't step all the way into the dining room. You'd pick your food up like a mobile order, right there and then drive through, obviously. But we got I don't know how long we were like that, but Chick-Fil-A eventually mandated like you have to open your playground and you have to open your dining room.

01;31;02;12 - 01;31;18;26
Speaker 3
But it was months after we were able to like we we opened, I would say, if whatever the state said to do, maybe a month later I opened my dining room. But I don't remember if we ever had to close it back. I think once we opened it, it was open and then.

01;31;18;29 - 01;31;20;02
Speaker 4
It would be open and then close.

01;31;20;02 - 01;31;20;17
Speaker 1
Again.

01;31;20;19 - 01;31;22;26
Speaker 4
Go back for the open until we knew.

01;31;22;27 - 01;31;35;08
Speaker 3
Yeah. As all the things you move to the front, like all the different systems and sure, several team members who never even walk to the dining room. Sure they had to have a training like this is how you serve a guest in the dining room. Yeah. So you like my little business?

01;31;35;10 - 01;31;36;13
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, you just do.

01;31;36;15 - 01;31;39;22
Speaker 3
You just don't think about it. The playground took a little longer, but.

01;31;39;24 - 01;31;48;02
Speaker 2
I Was that I was at Starbucks, like, right when they, like, just working. And it was when they said you didn't have to wear masks anymore.

01;31;48;02 - 01;31;48;19
Speaker 3
Yeah.

01;31;48;21 - 01;31;55;25
Speaker 2
And this lady came in the Starbucks and she was having a panic attack. She's screaming at it. There's too many people.

01;31;55;25 - 01;31;56;05
Speaker 3
And they're.

01;31;56;05 - 01;32;20;06
Speaker 2
Without masks. Yeah, she's like, yelling, like cussing out the Starbucks staff. And I'm like, Ma'am, excuse me. Excuse me. And she looks at me and I'm like, There's a disaster. I guess. She's like, Yeah, she's standing. She ran outside, made them server outside. And she was yelling at me through like, Wait.

01;32;20;09 - 01;32;23;28
Speaker 3
We got we're not, I'm sure a few times, but yeah, yeah.

01;32;24;02 - 01;32;30;21
Speaker 2
Those are busy. I want to hear your best. Like we got like shame thrown in the face story or anything like that happened.

01;32;30;23 - 01;32;31;29
Speaker 3
You know, I think the we've.

01;32;31;29 - 01;32;33;14
Speaker 2
Seen some of those videos like where.

01;32;33;14 - 01;32;33;24
Speaker 4
They like.

01;32;33;29 - 01;32;37;16
Speaker 2
I just wanna just wish you could find that person and.

01;32;37;16 - 01;32;39;20
Speaker 3
Lose my mind.

01;32;39;23 - 01;32;42;02
Speaker 2
I'm like, that's so disrespectful.

01;32;42;08 - 01;32;50;17
Speaker 3
There is just like I can think of times I really we don't have very many stories at our location. Like I'm thinking back about it.

01;32;50;22 - 01;32;57;14
Speaker 2
We just talk about one like maybe in the grand opening, Hey, there's got to be a good story out there.

01;32;57;14 - 01;32;59;05
Speaker 3
So I'm sure there is.

01;32;59;07 - 01;33;04;10
Speaker 2
A how about a really good story about like a customer? Is there like, been a very positive experience.

01;33;04;15 - 01;33;09;06
Speaker 1
We go see on the Chick-Fil-A commercial at some point. Like I said, town college.

01;33;09;08 - 01;33;22;21
Speaker 3
I think. Right. We tried to think of who's like the best guess story that we can tell. We have, a lot of like older guests who come in on a consistent basis.

01;33;22;23 - 01;33;23;11
Speaker 1
Are regular.

01;33;23;12 - 01;33;34;18
Speaker 3
Regulars, like and just like watching them, like their grandkids grow, things like that. Like that's really cool for me. Just I just don't have like, I'm trying to think that's good.

01;33;34;21 - 01;33;45;08
Speaker 4
Some not. We've had like adults, obviously. For me it's like the grown men who are yelling at like a 15 year old girl chicken sandwich is like it's five bucks or whatever.

01;33;45;11 - 01;33;46;18
Speaker 3
So like, I'll tell you, my sister.

01;33;46;26 - 01;33;47;20
Speaker 2
Said, Yeah, yeah.

01;33;47;21 - 01;33;48;07
Speaker 4
That's fine.

01;33;48;08 - 01;34;07;25
Speaker 3
I think there is one. I have like this person's name, like, written in my phone, and they yelled at like a 16 year old team member, but they were placing an order for like a local. And I guess you better hope you'll calm down after that, because I will call. Sure. So to this day I'm like, I will never.

01;34;08;01 - 01;34;16;04
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I will find you. I mean, I told the team answering it protected. I mean, you, you probably had this.

01;34;16;05 - 01;34;21;03
Speaker 3
You know, we've been yelled at, you know, but if someone's just coming to do their job, it is my.

01;34;21;03 - 01;34;21;29
Speaker 2
Job. They don't.

01;34;22;02 - 01;34;24;12
Speaker 3
To see. yeah, yeah. You made a mistake.

01;34;24;18 - 01;34;25;26
Speaker 1
Let them learn from their mistakes.

01;34;25;26 - 01;34;44;29
Speaker 3
Yes. So it is our job to protect them. And I will. Like we are so thankful for our. Our growth and our business and our customers. But when it comes down to, like, if you make me choose, I'm going to choose the team member unless they've made a huge mistake, obviously. But like if, if they're just being the team members, they're getting our support.

01;34;44;29 - 01;34;49;08
Speaker 3
The leaders are getting our support because, you know, they they're just coming to work. Yeah. You know.

01;34;49;12 - 01;34;53;25
Speaker 2
So many humans are like in the store or drive thru every day, you know.

01;34;53;25 - 01;34;54;11
Speaker 3
Working, you.

01;34;54;14 - 01;34;56;15
Speaker 2
Know, like, like customer.

01;34;56;15 - 01;35;11;09
Speaker 3
Transactions. I don't know. I mean, our peak periods we serve in the drive thru alone will serve about 120 530 transactions for one hour. So like from 12 to 1 will serve 130 guests.

01;35;11;14 - 01;35;12;15
Speaker 2
130.

01;35;12;17 - 01;35;25;22
Speaker 3
And that's just in the drive thru. So franchised, let's say 100, we serve 100 people from 12 to 1. So then when you multiply that over, I mean the some hours are less than others. I mean yeah, exactly how many transactions. But yeah, I mean easily 1500.

01;35;25;24 - 01;35;33;19
Speaker 2
There's got to be some benefit to then like when you like just like cleaning and stuff like close Sunday. Like do you do a lot of the clean deep cleans.

01;35;33;19 - 01;35;49;23
Speaker 3
Yeah. Once a quarter we do a deep clean. We just did it a few weeks ago and so like my favorite thing I'll get the pressure washer out and you know pressure wash our sidewalks just like ceiling tiles, like things you just don't think about. Like we will we will clean that place top to bottom, pull out things we can't pull out whenever we're operating.

01;35;49;24 - 01;35;51;20
Speaker 1
Things like that check out the AC.

01;35;51;21 - 01;35;52;05
Speaker 3
Yeah, just.

01;35;52;05 - 01;35;53;07
Speaker 1
Like change out the filters.

01;35;53;07 - 01;35;57;10
Speaker 3
Yeah. And that's just part of it. And we always go like we actually enjoy it. Our favorite thing.

01;35;57;10 - 01;36;10;24
Speaker 2
But do you guys do a good job of that though? Like you go into a lot of the restaurants anywhere and the bathroom facilities or something and like, Yeah, everything's clean, top to bottom. And yeah, it's.

01;36;10;26 - 01;36;14;24
Speaker 3
Well, I think so we, we make mistakes like we, you know, we there are times you can't.

01;36;14;24 - 01;36;19;06
Speaker 2
Check it every 2 minutes if somebody reports it. Yes. It's getting better and.

01;36;19;06 - 01;36;20;03
Speaker 1
I'm sure.

01;36;20;05 - 01;36;32;01
Speaker 3
In general not to toot my own horn, but our restaurant has one before. It's called the Guardian of the brand. And so you basically have got like perfect food safety from the Chick-Fil-A health Department if think of it like that.

01;36;32;03 - 01;36;34;26
Speaker 2
So Chick-Fil-A has their own standard above and below.

01;36;34;27 - 01;36;36;16
Speaker 1
Do they do like random inspections?

01;36;36;16 - 01;36;37;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, they show up support.

01;36;37;29 - 01;36;38;15
Speaker 1
Or support my.

01;36;38;17 - 01;36;39;17
Speaker 2
White glove on.

01;36;39;17 - 01;37;00;07
Speaker 3
And yeah, I mean, it's like down to like I mean, time and temperature is a big one, obviously for food safety concerns. But they look at everything. And so you have to get a one which is the highest you can get, which that allows you to make like maybe two mistakes, maybe three. There's different levels. And so two years ago we won.

01;37;00;07 - 01;37;06;00
Speaker 3
Last year, we got to the last quarter and we got a two. So we had ones all year and this year we're so trending two one and again.

01;37;06;00 - 01;37;07;01
Speaker 4
One of the best one.

01;37;07;01 - 01;37;07;11
Speaker 3
Is the best.

01;37;07;12 - 01;37;08;02
Speaker 1
One.

01;37;08;05 - 01;37;18;15
Speaker 3
And I think that there are I think there's three of us on track and all my operator team to win that this year. So like, it's awesome. It's just like food safety is so important. You think about Chipotle fears.

01;37;18;18 - 01;37;19;17
Speaker 1
Of several, you know?

01;37;19;19 - 01;37;25;16
Speaker 3
Yeah, like eat like that ruined them for a while. And still to this day, if you ask someone, especially our age, it.

01;37;25;16 - 01;37;27;07
Speaker 1
Took down a lot of.

01;37;27;07 - 01;37;28;10
Speaker 2
The momentum off. Yeah.

01;37;28;12 - 01;37;29;24
Speaker 3
Yeah, for sure. For sure.

01;37;29;27 - 01;37;30;08
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;37;30;14 - 01;37;34;00
Speaker 3
So those are the sort of things that, you know, can keep you up at night. Yeah.

01;37;34;02 - 01;37;55;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. But, and it's so funny, like when you think about the brand and just like it, like not to get into the direct decision, but with Bud Light and everything, like, and one major, one small, little tiny decision made or not and can completely tarnish the brand. So how many store you said 3500.

01;37;55;08 - 01;38;00;07
Speaker 3
I think the future of 100. Yeah. Yeah. So that's it kind of goes back to like we're so used to one.

01;38;00;08 - 01;38;07;07
Speaker 2
Operator make a mistake. Yeah yeah in some weird bizarre way whatever might choose you like.

01;38;07;10 - 01;38;19;10
Speaker 3
If you like you know like you think about the worst case scenarios, like we're talking, like, making someone sick, you know, like, that doesn't translate like that one. Chick-Fil-A. No, it's like every Chick-Fil-A makes you sick.

01;38;19;14 - 01;38;20;25
Speaker 1
So that's the brand here.

01;38;20;25 - 01;38;30;06
Speaker 3
Yeah. So it can be that's what's scary about is that you're you're essentially going into business with 3500 other people. You know, you don't share sales, things like that.

01;38;30;06 - 01;38;31;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, but you.

01;38;31;23 - 01;38;33;07
Speaker 3
You're trusting that you're all going to be.

01;38;33;07 - 01;38;37;24
Speaker 2
The same. The expectation if need to keep the expectations high for everybody other.

01;38;37;27 - 01;38;44;09
Speaker 4
Yeah that's why the interview process I think it's so and so yeah. You want to make sure you make the right decision. Yeah.

01;38;44;11 - 01;38;48;22
Speaker 2
Do you expect more growth in West Michigan for Chick-Fil-A or.

01;38;48;24 - 01;38;56;03
Speaker 3
Yeah. So right now they're focusing heavily on the east side because there's just so many places that they're that they can be, you know, so, so.

01;38;56;03 - 01;38;57;02
Speaker 1
Much density over there.

01;38;57;02 - 01;39;07;08
Speaker 3
Yeah, you could do a lot. So I don't think there's much like in the middle of Michigan. So I think they're going to focus on the east side and then they're going to come back to the west side. I Don't know if anything else on the map.

01;39;07;11 - 01;39;10;19
Speaker 4
Traverse City opened last year. Yeah.

01;39;10;22 - 01;39;17;13
Speaker 3
There's not much else I can think of. That's like coming soon. Yeah, they tried. Greenville for a long time. Yeah. Yeah, but it just hasn't worked out.

01;39;17;20 - 01;39;25;27
Speaker 2
It's just so like you, almost like, because it is like, you know, you don't want to see one on every corner. Almost either, though, because you're like.

01;39;26;00 - 01;39;31;11
Speaker 1
No, you don't want a Dunkin Donuts approach and you're in Boston. You can't turn to blocks, right?

01;39;31;12 - 01;39;32;24
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01;39;32;25 - 01;39;45;21
Speaker 3
Early on it was they were open. I felt like they opened them a little too quick, like closer together, you know, Brad and me than Jamie on 28th Street. It just felt like too much at once when there was only maybe three on the east side. Maybe so.

01;39;45;24 - 01;39;52;03
Speaker 2
Yeah, but I'm sure part of that was driven because you guys were crushing it. Incident like this market loves Chick-Fil-A.

01;39;52;03 - 01;39;57;05
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah. So there's like me and Brad were open for a full year before I think Jamie was next is.

01;39;57;05 - 01;39;59;16
Speaker 2
That Brad more and Taylor.

01;39;59;19 - 01;40;02;05
Speaker 3
Yeah Jamie at 2020 the Beltline was really.

01;40;02;05 - 01;40;02;17
Speaker 2
Nice like.

01;40;02;20 - 01;40;19;23
Speaker 3
Know so she and that's just what we call them so I heard she had that one and then there's like one in Kalamazoo, but that didn't, you know, affect us very much. But There's only two Chick fil A's for a whole year. Yeah. On this side we had people who would drive hours to just have Chick fil I.

01;40;19;26 - 01;40;36;03
Speaker 3
Still, I think they do this survey a certain mark in your career with Chick-Fil-A, like in your restaurant. And I think it was like a year, year and a half when they came and did ours. And they will sit and talk to guests in dining room on a Saturday or Friday, whatever. Where are you coming from? What are you doing today?

01;40;36;06 - 01;40;51;04
Speaker 3
And I was still getting on Saturdays specifically. I was getting I think 20% of our customer base was first time Chick fil A. Now while later, like, yeah, so we still we start people who like I don't I'm scared of the line at Chick-Fil-A once you get.

01;40;51;04 - 01;40;53;06
Speaker 4
There but you all know that we serve breakfast Yeah.

01;40;53;12 - 01;40;55;07
Speaker 1
your breakfast is so good.

01;40;55;09 - 01;40;58;24
Speaker 4
It's 630 to 1030.

01;40;58;26 - 01;40;59;28
Speaker 1
Well, folks.

01;41;00;03 - 01;41;18;03
Speaker 2
I think we I'm remembering a story where, like, I think my brother went to Chick-Fil-A breakfast and he got, like the sausage egg sandwiches, but he didn't get any of the chicken sandwiches. And everyone's like, Why did you buy it for everybody? It's just like ridiculing him.

01;41;18;08 - 01;41;26;24
Speaker 3
Yeah, I'm just like chicken. I think even one of our marketing strategies few years ago was like chicken for breakfast and still is times you like really chicken breakfast. It was.

01;41;26;24 - 01;41;27;03
Speaker 2
Pretty.

01;41;27;03 - 01;41;27;29
Speaker 1
Good.

01;41;28;01 - 01;41;30;18
Speaker 3
Yeah. My favorite thing is the mayonnaise. I don't know if you had.

01;41;30;22 - 01;41;32;17
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are good.

01;41;32;17 - 01;41;35;12
Speaker 4
Yeah, that's. Our burritos are really good. Our breakfast burritos. Yeah.

01;41;35;14 - 01;41;37;29
Speaker 2
What? What's your favorite menu item?

01;41;38;02 - 01;41;55;24
Speaker 4
I really like the spicy sandwich and enough cake. It's not too spicy. Spicy nuggets. Our salads are actually where, you know, as you get older, I like, try to, you know, get ourselves frozen southwest. Southwest salad. Yeah. Yeah. That's black on it. And that's the grilled spicy.

01;41;55;24 - 01;42;15;10
Speaker 2
That's what I get when I'm doing good. I have a any crispy fried chicken. Yeah. Yeah. And then like my, go to order. I'm so fast. let's I go to work. I get the deluxe chicken sandwich, and then I get a spicy chicken sandwich. Okay? And I get the fries and a Coke.

01;42;15;18 - 01;42;16;20
Speaker 1
Yeah, you got to shake.

01;42;16;20 - 01;42;21;09
Speaker 2
Everyone's and then no, but. But then when.

01;42;21;11 - 01;42;23;24
Speaker 1
You're in reality coke, you don't go the lemonade.

01;42;23;24 - 01;42;24;13
Speaker 2
No, I get it.

01;42;24;16 - 01;42;27;20
Speaker 1
I say that's bad. You got to go to the lemon and then the lemonade is like.

01;42;27;21 - 01;42;29;03
Speaker 2
Is it really that. Yeah, it's.

01;42;29;03 - 01;42;29;17
Speaker 1
Been at it.

01;42;29;18 - 01;42;31;11
Speaker 2
Now. pretty good. My kids have.

01;42;31;18 - 01;42;39;08
Speaker 3
It's really sweet. So like some people do like half diet lemonade, half. I get so many if it's too sweet for you. But I really like that too. I like to do have now.

01;42;39;11 - 01;42;39;29
Speaker 2
Yeah I.

01;42;39;29 - 01;42;41;02
Speaker 3
Splenda with the diet.

01;42;41;02 - 01;42;52;07
Speaker 2
And I'm only being half honest with my order because and I usually have stuff that they they need for chicken tenders the rest of their face. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I love.

01;42;52;07 - 01;42;53;00
Speaker 3
The mac and cheese.

01;42;53;00 - 01;42;53;28
Speaker 2
Like the mac and.

01;42;54;02 - 01;42;54;25
Speaker 3
That's like they're.

01;42;54;27 - 01;42;55;14
Speaker 2
Really good.

01;42;55;22 - 01;42;57;05
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah.

01;42;57;07 - 01;43;02;25
Speaker 2
I fall in like it's a chicken noodle soup too. yeah. And that I've tried this. Really. God.

01;43;02;27 - 01;43;04;28
Speaker 4
We have tortilla soup. Let's see.

01;43;04;29 - 01;43;06;26
Speaker 3
Season in the winter. Yeah.

01;43;06;28 - 01;43;11;03
Speaker 2
No pumpkin spice. Yeah. Jumping on.

01;43;11;06 - 01;43;11;13
Speaker 4
It.

01;43;11;18 - 01;43;19;07
Speaker 3
The caramel crumble is What, The chicken. That's good. That's good. It's really sweet. That's like, the feedback we're getting is like you either love or hate it too sweet or you like it.

01;43;19;07 - 01;43;23;00
Speaker 4
But there's little bits of like snickerdoodle and it's like.

01;43;23;03 - 01;43;24;09
Speaker 3
Okay, yes.

01;43;24;11 - 01;43;31;13
Speaker 2
Do your kids like, you're like, my kids are like, Well, let's go to Chick-Fil-A. Like, do your kids go like, not Chick-Fil-A again, being.

01;43;31;18 - 01;43;35;29
Speaker 4
Honest, our kids love Culver's. Gosh, there's one right around the corner, which.

01;43;35;29 - 01;43;42;22
Speaker 3
Is like too much Chick-Fil-A when I was pregnant. But like, they just don't I don't know. They just they don't.

01;43;42;22 - 01;43;43;11
Speaker 4
They like.

01;43;43;11 - 01;43;44;03
Speaker 3
It. They like.

01;43;44;03 - 01;43;44;21
Speaker 1
You like.

01;43;44;24 - 01;43;45;22
Speaker 4
Mac and cheese.

01;43;45;24 - 01;43;58;27
Speaker 2
Those are if we're doing fast food it's those are well, it's it's Culver's is Chick fil A and then it's Mr. Burger, too. yeah, Mr. Burger. I love Mr. Burger, too. Yeah, I guess we've.

01;43;58;27 - 01;43;59;13
Speaker 3
Got Husker.

01;43;59;13 - 01;44;00;22
Speaker 1
Burger. yeah.

01;44;00;24 - 01;44;03;18
Speaker 2
And that's a very scary thing. Yeah.

01;44;03;20 - 01;44;05;02
Speaker 4
There's no one near us, so it's.

01;44;05;02 - 01;44;06;14
Speaker 3
It's not an effort to get there.

01;44;06;14 - 01;44;09;24
Speaker 1
Yeah, Yeah. Opening one. Allendale. Still not that close?

01;44;09;24 - 01;44;11;20
Speaker 2
No, no, not really.

01;44;11;26 - 01;44;13;18
Speaker 1
40, 44th. Yeah.

01;44;13;20 - 01;44;15;01
Speaker 4
Closest. Yeah. Yeah.

01;44;15;04 - 01;44;17;07
Speaker 2
We'll go. Me and Jake, we got. All right.

01;44;17;09 - 01;44;17;18
Speaker 4
I mean.

01;44;17;21 - 01;44;25;12
Speaker 2
So. But what we do and I have to recruit your kids for hockey too. It sounds like Jake and putting the pressure out has awesome.

01;44;25;12 - 01;44;26;23
Speaker 3
Jake's got a lot of hobbies. He's going to.

01;44;26;23 - 01;44;28;24
Speaker 2
Love.

01;44;28;26 - 01;44;38;25
Speaker 3
His roommate. I said that, but we just didn't grow up with hockey, so, like, we just don't get this, like, infatuation, like, where we do like to watch it. Yeah, but it's a commitment.

01;44;38;25 - 01;44;39;24
Speaker 2
It's a huge commitment.

01;44;40;02 - 01;44;40;25
Speaker 3
So the kids in our.

01;44;40;25 - 01;44;42;15
Speaker 1
Neighborhood, no financial commitment.

01;44;42;18 - 01;44;43;12
Speaker 3
yeah.

01;44;43;14 - 01;45;01;15
Speaker 2
They'll start Saturday and they say center. Yes. It'll be coaching, you know. Okay. My brother and I, Jake is out. There are actually three, two of my brothers, Jake Ekins, my brother in law and. And I'm sure it's like.

01;45;01;21 - 01;45;02;25
Speaker 3
Yeah, and we're.

01;45;02;27 - 01;45;25;22
Speaker 2
Just right over. Jake always complains about it because we probably it's a lot closer to go to Southside is 100 hours and he has to drive all the way like basically right by that angle Eagles I say 28 then yeah behind the Palermo's pizza tucked in back behind there it's kind of Christian.

01;45;25;25 - 01;45;26;08
Speaker 3
okay. Yeah, I.

01;45;26;08 - 01;45;27;05
Speaker 2
Bought the ring.

01;45;27;07 - 01;45;30;00
Speaker 4
Am I too old to learn to skate Better?

01;45;30;02 - 01;45;32;03
Speaker 3
That's about it. It's like, teach your kids all skate now.

01;45;32;03 - 01;45;36;15
Speaker 2
You got your own logo. You coach real, right? Yeah.

01;45;36;18 - 01;45;39;11
Speaker 3
Pretend you're a coach and they're like, she can't skate.

01;45;39;13 - 01;46;06;20
Speaker 2
Yell a little bit. That's okay. We'll get the kids a little bit. Like none. Yeah, not in a bad way, but it's Sydney that's pretty high. It's. It's. We keep it high intensity for little kids like that. I think Trevor is daughter to my partner and my partner is, he said. I think Kennedy came out and she said something like, Hey, Coach, Max really scared me for like yelling at these kids and like, sweating from yelling like red faced.

01;46;06;20 - 01;46;07;09
Speaker 1
Like, you.

01;46;07;11 - 01;46;10;04
Speaker 3
Know, in our like, they'll want to play like tribal hockey and

01;46;10;07 - 01;46;11;24
Speaker 1
Yeah, travel is fine.

01;46;11;25 - 01;46;16;18
Speaker 2
It would be nice if they play triple A hockey. That's a whole nother Pittsburgh.

01;46;16;23 - 01;46;17;29
Speaker 3
Cadence like 15.

01;46;17;29 - 01;46;20;04
Speaker 2
Was concerned the whole nine yards.

01;46;20;04 - 01;46;21;04
Speaker 3
Yeah. He's always.

01;46;21;06 - 01;46;24;25
Speaker 2
On. You'll love it. Yeah. Bring them out. Yeah, I think so.

01;46;24;27 - 01;46;26;01
Speaker 1
Okay, so.

01;46;26;03 - 01;46;32;13
Speaker 2
So you got to at least try it. Yeah, they'll probably cry the first I I'm sure it's five, five.

01;46;32;20 - 01;46;33;12
Speaker 3
Five, three, two.

01;46;33;16 - 01;46;39;05
Speaker 2
So probably the five year old, you could send both of them out. So maybe you can wait a year.

01;46;39;09 - 01;46;44;29
Speaker 3
Cam our middle one built like a football player. He's thick, so he's just seasonal.

01;46;44;29 - 01;46;54;04
Speaker 2
So Jake's built like a football player, too, but he. He can skate. It's incredible that he can move. Jake.

01;46;54;07 - 01;46;56;02
Speaker 3
His head is going to be huge listening to this.

01;46;56;03 - 01;47;04;29
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, added that we don't need that. You don't need that. Anything else Like, I mean, Chris, you can think of any.

01;47;05;01 - 01;47;07;04
Speaker 1
Anything else you want to say to Yeah.

01;47;07;04 - 01;47;08;21
Speaker 2
Like something that people.

01;47;08;21 - 01;47;09;25
Speaker 1
Don't know like secret.

01;47;09;26 - 01;47;15;14
Speaker 2
Is something people don't know or wouldn't associate well if they think of with Chick-Fil-A. Like, how about.

01;47;15;15 - 01;47;20;03
Speaker 1
How about we closer with tell us about the foster foster care program or some of their Yeah charitable.

01;47;20;04 - 01;47;23;02
Speaker 3
So I'll talk about foster care with then I'll talk about the scholarships because.

01;47;23;04 - 01;47;23;24
Speaker 2
Please hear.

01;47;23;26 - 01;47;40;03
Speaker 3
About that so true it just he didn't he grew up very poor and so he his mom ran a boarding house. And so as he grew up, he just there are a lot of people in and out of his house. And then he just has this true love for children and just especially children who just don't have like parents the home.

01;47;40;06 - 01;48;01;03
Speaker 3
So I don't know how many foster homes there are, but there are these foster families that are employed by the Chick-Fil-A Foundation who I mean, there's 15 kids in the house. I mean, he just kind of depends. But and and when you go through your training with Chick-Fil-A, you get to go in and see these houses, not to show off the children, but to see like this is what you're actually doing.

01;48;01;03 - 01;48;15;28
Speaker 3
Yeah. Okay. On top of that, there's wind shape camp So your kids can go to these camps, check fibers at the sponsor at a church. But these camps that kids can go to and it's life changing for them. What else is also.

01;48;16;01 - 01;48;19;15
Speaker 2
What kind of thing? I mean, whatever what makes it special? It's just.

01;48;19;15 - 01;48;22;10
Speaker 3
Like I was not overnight camps like day camp and.

01;48;22;10 - 01;48;23;09
Speaker 2
Vacation Bible.

01;48;23;09 - 01;48;46;08
Speaker 3
School. Yeah, there's definitely some some sort of like a Christian in there, but it's really more focus on like team building, character building. Sometimes it's in a gray area, sometimes it's in like an area that might, you know, need really need a program like that. Yeah, yeah. There's, there's a million things, but the Chick-Fil-A Foundation has scholarships available.

01;48;46;08 - 01;49;05;12
Speaker 3
I received a scholarship and back then it was only 1500 dollars and you can only get at one time, but now it's $1,000 or 20 $500 and you can receive it all four years that you're in school. You have to meet certain requirements. But last two years ago, every person that applied for two had 11 apply and all seven got it.

01;49;05;12 - 01;49;08;29
Speaker 2
Do you get to apply? Does it? Do you have to refer them?

01;49;08;29 - 01;49;30;05
Speaker 3
I just I basically say like, yes, they work here. This is what they do. This is their role here. But I have no control over if they get it. I think this past year we had 13 and two didn't get it. So as a whole, I think with West West Michigan, I think we received about $250,000 in scholarship so across all of our awesome like all of our restaurants.

01;49;30;08 - 01;49;34;03
Speaker 2
So it's a lot and yeah they can take that and by.

01;49;34;06 - 01;49;35;04
Speaker 3
That's Michigan as a whole.

01;49;35;07 - 01;49;39;25
Speaker 2
Do they like restrict it at all or can go like literally to straight to tuition they.

01;49;39;25 - 01;49;53;08
Speaker 3
Can go it has to go to tuition books. They can go to trade school. I mean it has to have a couple females who just got it who are in cosmetology. cool guys and trade school and universities, associate's degree bachelors.

01;49;53;10 - 01;49;54;26
Speaker 2
Whatever. That's all.

01;49;54;28 - 01;49;55;19
Speaker 1
That's cool.

01;49;55;27 - 01;50;01;18
Speaker 3
I just don't think people realize when they buy something for Chick, they're supporting those things. Yeah. So it's pretty cool.

01;50;01;20 - 01;50;06;02
Speaker 2
That's all part of the brand and the culture. Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool.

01;50;06;04 - 01;50;14;02
Speaker 3
They and that conference that we do in February, the Cathy family pays for that. It's not Chick-Fil-A. I guess they take it out of.

01;50;14;06 - 01;50;15;17
Speaker 1
The family funds.

01;50;15;19 - 01;50;16;17
Speaker 2
cool. So there's.

01;50;16;20 - 01;50;17;28
Speaker 3
Several million dollars.

01;50;17;28 - 01;50;22;05
Speaker 1
Back. you say because you have probably what, 3500 year.

01;50;22;09 - 01;50;23;15
Speaker 3
And you get to bring your spouse.

01;50;23;21 - 01;50;27;17
Speaker 4
wow. And it's it's support and support that's about it was about 10,000 people ask.

01;50;27;18 - 01;50;29;05
Speaker 1
Where do they do that?

01;50;29;07 - 01;50;36;04
Speaker 3
It varies from year to year. This year we Orlando last year was San Diego. So yeah, it's pretty much money they.

01;50;36;04 - 01;50;40;00
Speaker 4
Pay for hotel flights. Yeah. Events. Yeah.

01;50;40;03 - 01;50;43;16
Speaker 2
Yeah. Per diem spending money magazine on the plane.

01;50;43;19 - 01;50;45;12
Speaker 4
They do meals every night. Yeah.

01;50;45;15 - 01;50;45;26
Speaker 3
Two years.

01;50;45;26 - 01;50;51;26
Speaker 2
Ago. Not Chick-Fil-A though, right. All right. Yeah, we got you. Chick-Fil-A.

01;50;51;28 - 01;50;56;24
Speaker 3
A Chick fil A. I know when they did in Nashville. That was right. My favorite part.

01;50;56;27 - 01;50;58;20
Speaker 2
And Nashville's a blast.

01;50;58;21 - 01;51;06;00
Speaker 3
They always have, like, a surprise, like a person, you know, comedian, whatever. Entertainment, entertainment industry. Right. So Crystal Appleton show.

01;51;06;04 - 01;51;06;25
Speaker 2
At night and they are.

01;51;06;25 - 01;51;14;02
Speaker 3
About to leave and they and Kathy was like, all right, guys, Garth Brooks. And the way it was incredible.

01;51;14;03 - 01;51;14;08
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;51;14;08 - 01;51;16;14
Speaker 3
Yeah, it was so thought we were done with Chris Stapleton.

01;51;16;19 - 01;51;21;10
Speaker 2
And then Yeah. Now does she up at this year. Yeah. Well, I don't know where you're going.

01;51;21;12 - 01;51;24;20
Speaker 4
Orlando. Yeah. We think we might do a night at Disney or something like.

01;51;24;21 - 01;51;25;12
Speaker 2
Universal.

01;51;25;12 - 01;51;26;13
Speaker 4
Park or.

01;51;26;16 - 01;51;28;20
Speaker 3
Something, which is what they did a couple of years ago when they're there.

01;51;28;20 - 01;51;31;03
Speaker 2
But I bet you the universal. That'll be fun.

01;51;31;05 - 01;51;33;18
Speaker 4
The cruise ship several years ago. that's cool.

01;51;33;19 - 01;51;37;12
Speaker 3
They did. We didn't get to go out. We had just had Camden. So I can get on cruise ship.

01;51;37;16 - 01;51;40;09
Speaker 5
You can't buy no first.

01;51;40;12 - 01;51;42;09
Speaker 1
You'll never.

01;51;42;11 - 01;51;43;15
Speaker 3
Fly. You'll want to go.

01;51;43;16 - 01;51;45;12
Speaker 2
Please be my kid. I can't.

01;51;45;15 - 01;51;50;10
Speaker 3
See her. Four weeks old. Can we make it go? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, we didn't get to go to that.

01;51;50;10 - 01;51;58;10
Speaker 2
But what about Drew? Anything that we don't know or should know about Chick-Fil-A or anything you want? Any thoughts you want to leave us with?

01;51;58;11 - 01;52;00;15
Speaker 4
No, I think we covered most of it.

01;52;00;17 - 01;52;07;06
Speaker 2
What about any other additional thoughts or anything you want to leave us with? It doesn't even have to be Chick-Fil-A related. Anything else?

01;52;07;07 - 01;52;32;25
Speaker 3
Yeah, I don't know. I don't I think we've covered like I think if anything, if anybody's listening to this, they're like, what is Chick-Fil-A like? I think we've covered, you know, that culture piece is extremely important and it is the backbone of that brand. And we would not be I've spoken at, you know, like a major corporation of and I've gone to different colleges and every time it's always like how, do you replicate those people?

01;52;32;27 - 01;52;40;18
Speaker 3
And I think my personal opinion is it starts with that operator that they select and then the processes that are in place to just create the culture.

01;52;40;20 - 01;52;41;06
Speaker 2
That's awesome.

01;52;41;07 - 01;52;42;14
Speaker 3
That makes us different. So.

01;52;42;14 - 01;52;59;20
Speaker 2
Well, we're happy to have you in West Michigan and look forward to the stores. You said you can open up to three three. Yeah, yeah. Well, hopefully going happen. Hang on, Drew. I know we're good. Operator First base is looking for sites right now.

01;52;59;23 - 01;53;01;00
Speaker 1
Exactly. Yeah.

01;53;01;03 - 01;53;03;22
Speaker 2
Thank you so much stuff.