[00:00:00] Speaker A: The relationship between franchisor and franchisee can sometimes be a tangled and fraught one. It's difficult to make the expectations known on both sides so that both sides can succeed. We're here to talk all about that. Walk ons Sports Bistro is 21 years old. Jennifer Stripling is here to talk about how they try to do it and what makes a good franchisor, what makes a good franchisee. Because I know a lot of you guys out there are in one of those two boats or considerations.
So we're going to talk about all of that and more on today's episode. Plus a very special announcement.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Don't go anywhere.
There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Foreign.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Chip Close here, host of the Restaurant Strategy podcast. This is a weekly show, two different episodes every single week, meant to help you build a more profitable and sustainable business. I run a mastermind program called the P3 Mastermind. I travel the world giving talks. I wrote a book. I also host two live events every year. The wait is over. The next one is coming October 19th, 20th and 21st in Fort Worth, Texas. The P3 profitability summit. Are you ready to level up and make more from your business? Are you ready for a consistent, predictable 20% return than you need to be? In Texas, this event is capped at 100 people. To date, we have already sold 72 tickets because I open it up first, always to my current P3 members. If you want to be there in Fort Worth, Texas to learn about how to build a more profitable and sustainable business, then I want you to go to the website chipclose.com or you can click the link in the show notes. It'll take you right to the Summit page. You can watch videos from last year's event in St. Louis. You can look at all the bullet points, see what we're going to cover. The bottom line is we are helping you level up. How do you drive more revenue from an operational perspective? And how do you use marketing to drive more revenue? How do you manage cogs? How do you actually manage lab labor? All of that we're going to cover when we go there. There's general admission tickets which get you into both days, right? So Monday and Tuesday 10 to 6, two full days of education plus the big P3 party on Monday night. Or we have VIP tickets available as well which include a welcome dinner. A VIP welcome dinner reserves only for VIP ticket holders. It also includes a four week workshop for you, your managers and your staff in November. Four one hour workshops after the live event. So if you want to come join me in Texas, you go to the link in the show notes and get your tickets. Either general admission or VIP. There are only less than 30 tickets left. I hope to see you there. Go get your tickets now. Torque understands that expectations for food service, sustainability and guest experience are higher than they've ever been. That's why Torque provides products and services that help restaurants actually meet those demands. With more than 50 years of global food service expertise, Torque can help you keep up with hygiene standards and food safety guidelines in every area of your business. Foh Boh restrooms and drive thru. From ExpressNap, the world's favorite napkin dispenser to multi purpose cleaning towels that clean smarter and high capacity restroom dispensers that reduce runouts, Torque offers better hygiene for better guest and staff experiences. You can check them out and get more
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[00:03:59] Speaker B: Of the products they have.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: As always, that link is going to be in the show notes.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: So my guest on today's show is Jennifer Stripling. She is the Chief Development Officer for Walk Ons Sports Bistro. It is a 21 year old brand, six corporate stores, another, I don't know, 70 plus franchise owned stores.
She's going to chat all things franchise because there are good and bad franchisors, there are good and bad franchisees. That relationship is core and I know for so many of you guys out.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: There, you are on one side or.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: The other of that conversation. So Jennifer is going to be somebody really great to to shed some light on this situation. Jennifer, welcome to the show.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: Good morning Chip. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I really appreciate it.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: One of the things I say, I don't know, I say this every other interview at least. The best part about having somebody like you on the show is you get to peek behind the curtain at a lot of different businesses and you've had a long career, which I want you to fill in the blanks in just a second. But the value that you bring to a podcast like this and to the audience who tunes in is the ability to share all of your perspective and experience and obviously the insights that come from there.
So many independent restaurant owners and I have to imagine this is gonna be Part of my questions I hope we can dig into. But even so, many franchisees often feel siloed. They feel there's this imposter syndrome, oh, am I doing as well as somebody else?
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Could I be doing better?
[00:05:31] Speaker B: And all of that.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: So you get to peek behind the.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Curtain at a lot of different places and you can bring the common threads to all of us. So I hope we can do that today. Absolutely. Give me a quick intro. Tell me what Walk on Sports Bistro is. Tell me about the genesis of it. Tell me about you and your career, your relationship to it and what you are doing now. And we'll use that as the jumping off point for, I think a much deeper conversation.
[00:05:53] Speaker C: Sounds great. Walk on Sports Bistro is a elevated sports restaurant. We make all of our food from scratch. Our founder Brandon Landry and his partner Jack Warner were playing on the basketball team at LSU and decided they weren't going to make the NBA. So they started sketching out a restaurant on a napkin. And 21 years later, to your point, we have 80 plus locations, we are still crafting our menu items from scratch along with a very large bar. And the key is the family friendly sports environment where you can bring your family.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: So when you talk about the family friendly environment, dig a little bit deeper in there because one of the questions I had was this. And I'm going to get back and let you talk about your background, because I want to know it.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: But just real quick there we talk.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: A lot about value proposition, right? So it's this like academic marketing term that says, you know, why does a consumer pick one over the other? Is that your differentiator? Is that the thing you guys really try to lean in on?
[00:06:53] Speaker C: It is our differentiator in partnership with that elevated sports bar.
[00:06:57] Speaker D: Right?
[00:06:58] Speaker C: What, what the team doesn't want is you go to a sports bar, right? Whether it's a local or another dining, and you eat because you want to go and watch the game. And then you feel terrible. Like, I'm going to spend the next three days at the gym because I just had, you know, a pile of nachos and a pretzel, right? That's not us.
You know, if you want to do that ahead, we have those options. But I think with everything being made from scratch, not a lot of brands can say that. So that family friendly component where we really thrive is the connection to the community.
Those little league games, you know, whether they just won or they lost, we can seat a team of 50 or a team of 30 and the parents can have A drink. And the kids can be kids.
[00:07:41] Speaker D: Right?
[00:07:42] Speaker C: We design our restaurants, you know, somewhat proof.
[00:07:46] Speaker D: Right.
[00:07:46] Speaker C: Walk in with your cleats on or your dirty, you know, uniform. I don't care. Our team doesn't care. We just want you to enjoy the experience and be able to revel in the wins and, you know, commiserate and enjoy, you know, the loss and learn from it and move on. And so it's that tie to the community that I really think is our differentiator, along with our food.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: I love it. So talk to me a little bit about you, because this is. And we said this before we hit record. I think all the listeners always tune in and say, okay, who's this person? Why should I listen to what they have to say? Say, and you've had a long, storied career, so. So fill people in the. Fill. Fill in the blanks as to why. As to why, you know, a thing or two.
[00:08:24] Speaker C: Sure. Yeah. No, I'm. I'm definitely going to date myself.
I have been waiting tables since I was 15, 16 years old.
Worked my way up with Chili's Brinker back in the day and became a regional field trainer and traveled. I'm originally from Chicago, so traveled throughout Chicago and Wisconsin. And it paid. My college paid, my wedding paid, was going to school for business and interior design. And I saw an ad I'm definitely going to date myself on monster.com, that Darden, Olive Garden restaurants was looking for a designer, that they were going to remodel their restaurants for the first time in 20 years and went through a very rigorous interview process and got the job. They had never had a design department, really never touched those restaurants. So I was very fortunate early on in my career to be able to work for one of the largest casual dining brands in the world.
You're right. And Olive Garden.
[00:09:24] Speaker D: Right.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: When you're here, your family. I got to sit in on those marketing calls, and we got to create the design with the design firm. And then I, you know, I joke that I became a vampire. I was on the road for six years, remodeled all 475 locations, and then started the design for the new locations, the ground up, which was the Tuscan farmhouse. And I spent six, almost seven amazing years with Darden.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:52] Speaker C: And from there, you know, once you kind of start off on this high note, it's like, where do I go from here?
And, you know, interviewed and spoke with a lot of people, and I'm like, no, I'm going to start my own. And actually went back and consulted for Darden and Beef, o' Brady's and Rosati's Pizza and did independent restaurants throughout the Midwest. And.
And then Blooming brands came knocking and I went, okay, another heavy hitter for.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Those, for those that are listening.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. As my grandma would say, I really should be in church like every day because I've been very fortunate and spent almost nine years with Bloom Brands. Worked on all six brands at the time. Outback, Crabbas, Flemings, Bonefish.
We had Roy's at the time. And then we tested two QSR brands and domestically and internationally. So I've been to some countries that were never on my bucket list, but really in that time, because I worked in the restaurant as a trainer, as a bartender, as a host.
When I go to a restaurant, my team and even our CEO Chris Porcelli joke that I have ruined the restaurant experience for them because they can't just sit and relax because I'm walking like, she shouldn't be doing that or did you see how many steps she had to take to do that?
So I really am OCD about kind of the guest experience and the execution in the kitchen.
So been with Wakons almost two years now and we have literally just hit the ground running.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: So talk to me about. So when you talk about these two massive companies and all of that, right. That. That informs. To your point, that informs how you walk through the, how you walk across the earth.
One of that were you able to bring in and to help shape, you know, you're, you know, heading up development. So it's about continuing to grow this brand.
How has that shaped your role here or what were you able to bring in to help continue to shape the growth of, of this company?
[00:12:00] Speaker C: I think with walk ons being 21 years old, finally old enough to drink.
[00:12:06] Speaker D: Right.
[00:12:06] Speaker C: Is the joke.
It. Brandon put heart and soul into it, right. And it was really this, you know, mom and pop or you know, family run business and they wanted to be able to look at, you know, how do we scale, how do we help the franchisees kind of evolve this DNA, this fabric of who we are and kind of take it to the next level. And that was what really intrigued me about Walk Ons.
[00:12:32] Speaker D: Right?
[00:12:33] Speaker C: So when I joined, instead of just, okay, we're going to design a new prototype and we're going to restructure the team. That came later. Not much later, but it came later. I got on the road and went to every location and I sat down with the franchisees as, why did you do this? What is your favorite part? Walk me through your team and just really understood the common denominators and the successes that each of them had and then the opportunities.
[00:13:00] Speaker D: Right.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: If you could start over knowing what you know, you know, five, six, seven, 10 years later, what would you do?
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:13:08] Speaker C: And that was important to me. And, you know, Chris Portelli and I is, as we look at the team, you know, your question is, what does it take to be a great franchisor? I think that's what it takes to be a grant franchisor. It's not welcome to walk ons. Here's a binder or here's a link to a binder. Call us if you need anything. It's having that partner that, like me, has been fortunate enough to do this and is truly an expert in their field that can help them and create that collaborative experience. Because you're there with them every day, but you're not there with them every day. They're going to be in the ditch, they're going to do the heavy lifting. So how do we make a. So they have that life, career balance, right? They have kids, wives, lives, husbands, whatever, but they're delivering to that guest every day. So they see it through a completely different lens than we do. And so it's our job to be able to help them with that lens and that success.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Talk to me about. So an offshoot from that question. Right. Like, so, right. What does it take to be a great franchise or. Because we've seen good ones, we've seen not good ones. Once you hang around, how does someone know.
How does a, you know, somebody who's running a business is growing now to three, four or five locations and thinks, okay, there are two paths you can take if growth is something you're interested in. Right. Either you can continue building out corporate stores and you can turn into some massive corporate giant.
Maybe that's all the way down the road. Or you can franchise. So how does, Right. What's the litmus test? How does somebody. How would, how would you. You've done all this consulting. How do you shape that conversation and say, well, you should go this way or that way. How do, how do people determine which is the best way?
[00:14:50] Speaker C: I think, you know, it's going to be different, right. If you, you look at the leadership and what's that path? And then you need to look at how is, how are you structured? Because to be able to have this opportunity to franchise, I am a process nerd. So in my mind, you need to be able to have that book and that level of support Every step of the way.
And to your point, I've had the benefit of working 100% corporate, a little bit corporate and a little bit franchise. And I think for some people in certain organizations, I think it's hard franchising. You have control and I don't like to use that word, but not as much control as you have corporate.
And you know, and I've had this conversation with my team.
[00:15:35] Speaker D: Right.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: Is when you're corporate, it is almost like you're franchising.
[00:15:41] Speaker D: Right.
[00:15:41] Speaker C: Because every restaurant has a general manager, Every restaurant has a regional manager. And those are the people that you are putting in the franchisee role. How are you helping them and what is making them execute flawlessly to the guests? That's all that matters. From a development marketing, I don't care what department you're in. That's all that matters is that guest experience, because they're going to come back or they're not.
And so I think those are the questions you need to ask yourself if you're willing to franchise, is how much are you willing to give up and collaborate or are you just strictly going to focus on, I'm in the driver's seat and I'm not taking passengers.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: The flip side of that question I'll ask is what makes a great franchisee? Because I'm sure you have lots of conversations with potential franchisees.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: How do you know that someone's got the stuff, that somebody is going to succeed? I mean, I. Nobody can predict the future, but having seen enough of these, what makes a.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: Good franchisee for other brands that I've worked on that were more in the QSR space, I think the lens was a little different for casual dining. The lens is, do you understand the size of what you need to execute? And then there's that fun little component in the middle of liquor.
[00:16:56] Speaker D: Right.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: Liquor and beer and wait times and in scratch kitchen. So what we look for, for at walk ons is someone that has casual and fine dining experience and can understand those dynamics. I think an experience at a fast casual is very different.
[00:17:13] Speaker D: Right.
[00:17:13] Speaker C: You have limited interaction with the guest. You have a limited staff.
[00:17:18] Speaker D: Right.
[00:17:19] Speaker C: Whereas our staff levels are very different. You have, you know, host, hostess, you have the bartenders, you have the servers, you have the back of the house team. From prep to the kitchen team, all the way to whoever's delivering your food. There is a very large dynamic, which why I love it so much is because something can go wrong at any time and it will on like a fourth of July weekend. But I think it's those people that understand those dynamics and thrive in that environment and don't get scared of it.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: Understanding all the moving pieces, so to speak.
[00:17:50] Speaker C: Absolutely.
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[00:19:21] Speaker B: To that end, talk to me about the I'm. I'm always interested in the relationship between franchisor and franchisee.
I think I can't help but shape the conversation in that way. But talk to me about how the onboarding and the training and talk to me about how all of that works and how you're maybe different than other companies out there. What you guys believe that other people may not believe.
Talk to me about that, that about that relationship.
[00:19:47] Speaker C: When a franchisee comes into the walk on system or to your point is even talking to us, it's spending time with us, spending time with our existing franchisees and then spending time with the leaders and the team members in each of the departments and really getting an understanding of that business and the training. Right? So a general manager, for example, has anywhere from 9 to 12 weeks of training based on their past experience.
We have certified training restaurants so they'll go to multiple certified training restaurants. And kind of understand, even though the environment is the same, you and I both know team members, personalities, things different. I think it's great that they go and they meet with them because it's one thing to talk to myself or our CEO or head of ops, but talk to the people that are doing it every day. And I think that gives them that clear lens of training and level of expectation. And our franchisees, I'm very fortunate.
[00:20:46] Speaker D: Right.
[00:20:47] Speaker C: We don't have any problem children.
But our franchisees, I do talk to them daily, weekly.
[00:20:53] Speaker D: Right.
[00:20:53] Speaker C: And, you know, sometimes it's not a development question, it's, hey, I'm running into this. Did you run into this in your past or do you know how you can help me? I.
I'm probably one of the team members that talk to them the most because they start with development. When they first start talking to walk ons, they start with me and my team and then obviously make friends along the way, but really make sure that we stress that level of support. I don't ever want them to feel like they're on an island by themselves and they don't have someone that they can pick up, even if it's just to vent or I'm concerned or I'm lost. How can I help them get that clarity?
[00:21:33] Speaker B: So talk to me about the other ways. So they start with you.
[00:21:36] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: They get going. They obviously make friends along the way. How does the support continue? Being able to pick up the phone and talk to somebody and say, is huge. But talk to me about some of the other ways that you feel. I mean, obviously this is. You're passionate about this. And being able to support franchisees ultimately goes back to help the mothership, the success of the franchisees. Everybody's. The more invested you are in their success, the more invested they literally are in the company's overall success and growth. So talk to me about how else maybe beyond even just the development team, in the other support and the other resources that are available, how do you continue to support the franchisees?
[00:22:14] Speaker C: So we are heavy in the community, as I mentioned. So we have local marketing that's dedicated to. So it's. It's a team of three, if you will. You have your local marketing lead, you have your culinary lead that's going into the restaurant and make sure that they're executing every dish perfectly per the way that we've laid it out. And then you have your franchise business partner. And that really kind of ties it all and encompasses it together on that level of support that they need. Anything else Outside that, whether it's financial, we have a partner that either they come through me or their franchise business partner that connects them with, hey, I have a question on this, or I have a question on, you know, what does the FDD say about this? It'll usually come back to me or finance, but they have a lead or a point of contact for every specific restaurant as to who they can call.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Gotcha. Talk to me about you talked about how you had no problem children, which I find amazing because I've talked to enough franchisors.
It's inevitable just because of the numbers. So my guess is either you're doing.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: A very, very good job at the.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Front door to make sure you're letting the right people into the club, which is a big part of it, I believe. And the other piece is that ongoing support.
How do you use, I mean, dad is everywhere. I always say, like, like data is this new word. Data is not a new word. We've always had data, data. Now I think we're getting better at being able to use the data. And, you know, our decisions are only as good as the information we use to make those decisions. So I think the fact that we can slice and dice numbers in all different ways.
So as you're looking at 70, 75, you know, franchisees, and you obviously have the, the KPIs, I guess part of this is me understanding what are the KPIs that you look at from a 30,000 foot view and then all the way down to the unit level. How do you think about that? And how do you get the franchisees to think the way that you guys think? I don't know if that's the right question, but do you know sort of where I'm going with that?
[00:24:19] Speaker C: No, I agree. I mean, to your point, the word data is new, right?
You know, that that's kind of been this thing from a leadership perspective of, I think historically in any brand, it's been, you know, the, the brand president or the CEO doesn't like the color blue. So we're not going to use the color blue. But there's no research to say why we're not going to use the color blue.
From a real estate perspective, that was part of my initial journey, was evaluating every restaurant that we've ever built and which ones are successful and why.
And, you know, our head of operations has now done the same thing as far as an operational scorecard. So that that team of three that I mentioned previously sits down with those franchisees every month, week, every few weeks, Months, depending on their needs or what. And here's your opportunities, here's your strengths, here's your opportunities. The team and I are gonna. I'm making it up. We're gonna visit you every other week for the next six weeks because we think you should be here in liquor sales or you should be here in marketing and number of visits. So the team has really amped up, if you will, the level of how we're using data in the LE lens to educate them on their keys to success. And is it in addition. Go ahead.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: And is it a matter of looking and say, hey, liquor sales is a perfect example. Right. So, hey, you're looking. Sales are at 26%. We find that the best performing stores are somewhere between 30 and 33%. I think there's an incredible opportunity here. I mean, I love the way that you use the word opportunity. I talk about it all the time. I spend my week looking at hundreds of PNLs for hundreds of clients every single week.
[00:25:58] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: And I say, say we're not looking for problems. Of course, on one hand you're looking for, but you're looking for opportunities. This is where we're losing points. This is where. So I use that all, all the time. Is that like a fair example, fair representation of how that conversation might go?
[00:26:14] Speaker C: That's 100% accurate. Agreed. There's always an opportunity.
And, you know, same with the people side.
[00:26:21] Speaker D: Right.
[00:26:21] Speaker C: We have a leadership team that, you know, maybe you don't have the right leader in place because the energy is different here. Maybe go and visit at our restaurant in Wesley Chapel, Florida. The energy from the time you walk in the door to the time you go out the back door, you can feel it.
And I think sometimes, you know, franchisees don't want to have those hard conversations of, yeah, this, this probably isn't the right person to be the leader, but maybe we should have them be second or third in command, which is so which.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Which sort of goes back to one of the first things I said. You know, the, the, the hard part about so many restaurant owners is they're so busy, they're in the restaurant all the time, that you lose perspective.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Right.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: And culture exists, whether you like it or not, whether you've crafted that culture to be a positive one or representative or of your values, of the company's values, or whether it's just the personalities in there will create the culture. Seth Godin, right, Public speaker, bestselling author, he always says culture is so closely related to marketing because he said it's Seven words. People like us do things like this. This. So people who work here are cranky and treat each other badly. People who work here care a great deal and always go out of their way. So we have to make caring cool. We've got to bring people in who have the capacity to care. We have to show them ways that they can exhibit caring. You know, all of that. It either it exists one way or another, whether you've crafted, whether you've crafted or not. And when you're in an environment, don't. It's tough to even see past your nose. To see that there's another way of doing it is a long way of saying that that's a benefit from being.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: Part of a larger organization.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: Because a regional, a regional director, a manager can say, hey, listen, I've popped in eight stores in the last two weeks, and you know, there's something you're not doing here that all the others are, or vice versa. You can say, there's something really cool that they're doing here.
[00:28:17] Speaker C: Right.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: I think we should take that to the other ones. That that's a. It's a benefit you get, I think.
[00:28:21] Speaker C: Absolutely. And to your point, which is a great one, is it's one of the amazing things about a franchise e organization.
[00:28:30] Speaker D: Right.
[00:28:30] Speaker C: Everyone's going to have different perspective, different experiences, different viewpoints. And that's a strength to be able to learn from each other and collaborate. You know, the franchisor, you know, you don't want to be. We don't want to. To be the franchisor in the ivory tower going, it has to be, you know, I'll stick with my blue analogy. It has to be blue because I said so.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:51] Speaker C: Well, to your point, in these eight stores, this is working and their liquor's up 6%. But in your restaurants, you're not doing this. And we see the same opportunity here, you know, so we have a great team that, you know, I. I like to use the phrase humor me. Let's. Let's try it for 30 or 60 days and let's see what happens.
[00:29:11] Speaker D: Right? Let.
[00:29:12] Speaker C: Let's see what happens. You know, I love that it's that opportunity of, you know, that collaboration. You have to have it. I think if you come in and you just lay down the hammer and say, you know, you have to stop doing this or you have to do this. You know, to your point, like, I love Simon Sinek.
[00:29:27] Speaker D: Right.
[00:29:27] Speaker C: And it's start with why. And I think that that's really important of. I'm going to ask you to do this or try this from. And this is why not just because.
And it's, it's. One of the great thing about our franchisees is at any given time I can pick up the phone and to go, go, how is this going? How is the new bar layout going or how, you know, how are the new uniforms or how are the menus going from your perspective? And we have an FAC that obviously isn't shy and they gather that information from the other franchisees because it may be filtered to. Sometimes to the leadership team. But the FAC will come back and be like, hey, this was a great rollout, or we have some opportunities here.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: I love it. I think it's the, you know, I'm a restaurant coach. That's what I spend the majority of my time doing, coaching people. And it's different from being a consultant coming in, you know, as a consultant, as, you know, it's pointing at things and identifying, drawing attention.
But coaching is. Is different. I always say, now the new leadership style has gone from a push mentality to a pull mentality. So rather than pointing at people and saying, you better do this or else it's. It's pulling and asking more questions, right? Which as I find my, my job as a coach and as I train other people to coach with my organization and for my clients, it's teaching them just to ask questions. And, and it's so much more productive to, to pull. And again, that's, I think, what does humor mean? Right? Or let me ask you a question.
Wouldn't this be. Wouldn't your P and L look better if we had increased your liquor sales by 6%? That's not me telling you to do it. That's me saying, hey, don't you think life would be better if we did this right? Talk to me. So the brand is 21 years old. It can. It's now old enough to drink. You've been franchising for the last decade or so.
It strikes me that half that time is pre pandemic and half that time is post pandemic. I'm going to give a little preamble to ask what I think will be a really.
What I think will be a really meaningful question.
I had Jon Taffer on the show, and Jon Taffer talked a lot about the restaurant of the future. And he said the restaurant of the future is the restaurant of now. And he talked about Taffer's Tavern and building it in such a way that he could run at 50 to 52% prime cost. He said, Because I know 52% prime cost is going to be 56 before we know it because minimum wage goes up, cost of goods are going up. So he built it totally different. He talked about compression in the industry. So people are going out less, but they're dining better. They're being more thoughtful about where they go. They're not in the office anymore, so they're not doing as much traveling. Which means no bagel on a coffee on the way to work, no salad at lunchtime, no happy hour and drinks afterwards. We're losing, you know, at least two or three days a week, we're losing three meals outside of the home. He's like, if you think that's not impacting our industry, you're an idiot. So he talked a lot about compression, smaller footprints, less staff, smaller tighter menus, you know, more focused experience for people.
And he said this has all really come out of the pandemic. So you guys have been building this company for 21 years. I am sure it has changed over the last five years since the pandemic and as dining habits have changed. So talk to me about how you think about new locations, about footprint, about efficiencies and all of that, right?
[00:32:40] Speaker C: Historically, we built 10,000 square foot buildings, right? So you need a piece of dirt for that.
And right now dirt's expensive and the trades are expensive, right? H vac, electrical, plumbing, those guys have their pick of work and they're not cheap. And not a lot of people are going to school, quite frankly, to be a plumber. That would really help me out as well.
So as we look at real estate and as we look at what we talked about when I first started of what are the positives and what are the opportunities. We literally have a whiteboard in the office and I have the same one here in my office of what can we build on. And one was we can't just do dirt. We have to be able to go in line and cap and even get more creative.
So that's where it started with the new prototype. As we looked at the data, we looked at historically, what's our wait time, what was our throughput on ticket times, what's our ticket time average? What's the complexity? With all of the prep, there was no stone unturned.
I always joke with the team. One of my non favorite conversations is ice is a cubed, ice is a crushed ice and it takes, it turns into Charlie Brown's teacher. But it is important, right? It's important because every, you know, you look at that capacity and that Throughput.
So as we looked at the real estate, it turned into the wait times and all of the data that we get out of the toast system and the menu. What, what's our P mix? What did it used to be? What is it now? Because to your point, people are making thoughtful choices, very selective choices because they're their, their occurrences, their visits have completely changed.
[00:34:27] Speaker D: Right.
[00:34:27] Speaker C: And even the party size, right. In previous brands, our average party size was 2, tops. But here, that's not the case. It's those little league, those soccer teams, those football teams, those large families, those church groups, they're all coming in. But it also is, right, It's a group of girls going out. I'm a big hockey fan. Going out to watch the game. Blackhawks are currently golfing, but that's okay. Going out to watch the game.
And of course the group of gu, and maybe then again the kids and the families and the couples. But as we looked at all of that data, we don't need a 10,000 square foot building to be able to create that experience.
We now have a new prototype that is 5,500 square feet. It's 246 seats.
And our kitchen has been reduced because we introduced technology.
I mean, it's not the Jetson kitchen. We don't have a robot out there, but we have timers on the fryers, we have clamshells that we have stress tested and programmed and we have some other gems that I, I don't want to share. But we, we, we locked ourselves, you know, so many times I worked for brands and it's like we found this new magical piece of equipment and it's going to revolutionize our menu, which we also evaluated.
[00:35:45] Speaker D: Right.
[00:35:46] Speaker C: Well, there was some things that we retired and maybe we'll bring them back as an lto. But we didn't see the PMIX there or the execution where it needed to be to get that consistency. And the guests, you know, five stars across the board every time. So we put them in the bullpen for a little bit until we can kind of fine tune them.
But we set up this kitchen in a warehouse in North Carolina. And the team was locked in there for about four weeks.
They all gained about 15 pounds. And we, we stress tested that piece, each piece of equipment with the layout and we ran mock trials. So this restaurant, you know, we have our very first restaura at in the shadows of LSU right there in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
And so, okay, what'd they do Friday night? And the team's like, jen, Friday night was the game night. I don't care. Like, let's run it.
And guess what? You're going to start with three bodies, not nine.
And let's see what happens. And so we did that for four weeks straight. I did let them go home on the weekends.
We did that for four weeks straight. And we had a contractor on site with us and we moved the pieces of equipment that, you know, as we drew it maybe wasn't working in real life.
And we did that because we needed to move quickly. We have franchisees that have existing restaurants. They're building restaurants and we didn't have the luxury of time.
And so since then, we have stress tested each piece of equipment. We fine tune the recipes, we have that down.
In conjunction with the menu reduction and the changes, we also did a brand study. We know that we're family friendly, we're upset, obsessed with an elevated sports bar, sports restaurant experience.
But does the guest think that? And so one of the things that even I heard when I took this job is, you know, I. What, what's walk ons? Like, if I look at the building, am I going to get a haircut? Somehow sports clips got involved. Sorry, guys. Or am I going to buy a pair of sneakers? They weren't really sure. So we didn't physically, from the street, look like a restaurant. Restaurant.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:56] Speaker C: So the new prototype, instead of it just being. And most of the time in my past, it was an aesthetic.
[00:38:03] Speaker D: Right.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: We're going to bring the aesthetic up because we have a dated brand. Very much so. What Olive Garden was all about. We didn't touch the kitchen back then.
And it became this holistic business evolution is these are all the positives and here's where we can improve the guest experience.
And we hired a design firm and we partnered with our architect and it became this holistic evolution.
In five months, with very little sleep, supply chain was able to work with our food suppliers and craft these recipes and update everything and again, taste test it. Poor Brandon. I think he did not eat for like three weeks. And I think I only had him for like a day and a half.
So I'm sure he was definitely hitting the gym. I'm like, brandon, just one more. He's like, jen, I don't know if I can do like you can do it. Like, we got this literally won't fit. Right.
[00:38:57] Speaker B: So all of that's, all of that's so important, right? Understanding how do we run with a smaller footprint so we've got more flexibility. How do we make the kitchen more efficient?
You know, we Talked about how hard ever since the pandemic and actually a little bit before. People forget what it was like hiring in 2019. But it's so hard to find good people, people who want to be here. I think you find people who want to be here. I don't think we could find 10, but I think we could find five.
[00:39:21] Speaker C: Right.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: And whatever those numbers are, I think every restaurant's got handful of people who really want to be there.
Handful of people who really don't want to be there.
[00:39:29] Speaker C: Right.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: And so if we can build a restaurant that, that doesn't need the people who don't want to be there.
[00:39:35] Speaker C: Right.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Then they don't have to be there. We don't need them there. And I think those kind of efficiencies are going to make us more profitable, which ultimately allows us to get more longevity and sustainability out. Out of it.
[00:39:48] Speaker C: Absolutely. No, I agree 100%. It's a game changer. And when we locked ourselves in that warehouse, to your point, we brought in seasoned and non seasoned restaurant team members from several of our corporate and franchise locations. And we specifically wanted a range of tenure for that reason. I don't just want the trainers and the people that have been with the brand for 20 years. We had a guy that I think started like two weeks before, and I'm like, we're going to bring you to the secret warehouse in North Carolina. I know you just started a week ago.
And then, you know, another woman that had been with us actually in Baton Rouge for 13 years, and you know, she got tears in her eyes. She's like, this is amazing. Like, we need this now.
So I'm very thankful to everyone that really just rolled up their sleeves and put this together because a lot of love and care and hard work has gone into it.
[00:40:41] Speaker B: So I want to be really respectful of your time and wrap things up. But one of the things that strikes me, talking to a lot of different franchises and talking to a lot of independents and then talking to a lot of franchisors, is that there is a feeling in probably the worst franchises out there where it's like, no, no, no, we did it. We know it works. Just like, go and do it.
And there isn't this commitment to iteration to evolution that I think is wrapped into this entire conversation, which I appreciate, because we have to evolve, we have to iterate. The world has changed in profound ways over the course of five and a half years. Years.
We'd be an idiot to not recognize that when we open the headlines of Nation's Restaurant news every single day. It's some 40 locations of this brand are closing. 300 of this, this brand comes out of bankruptcy. Dining habits are changing and I think if we don't pay attention to that, we don't do ourselves any service nor do we give our franchisees a fighting chance.
[00:41:45] Speaker D: Right.
[00:41:46] Speaker B: Final words of wisdom. Anything, anything you want to pass on to the, to the public while you.
[00:41:51] Speaker C: Got him here, basically come see us, you know, at a walk ons near you.
Happy to cater any event or you know, bring it to the ball field and then obviously learn more about franchising at walk ons. Reach out to us through walkonsports bistrofranchising.com and or I can be found on LinkedIn. Give me a shout and happy to answer any questions questions that you have. I can't wait to see everyone in the restaurant.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: Perfect. We will include all of those links including the link to to Jennifer's LinkedIn profile there so you guys can connect. And obviously if you've got further questions you could take them offline and connect with her directly. Jennifer, I said at the beginning the best part about having somebody like you on here is that you've peeked behind the curtain in a lot of different restaurants, a lot of big companies, small companies, everything in between. So I appreciate you taking the time time to sit here and share some of your wisdom with us. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.
[00:42:45] Speaker C: Thank you very much. Have a great day.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: You too.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: As always, got to thank Jennifer, taking time out of her day to sit and chat with me. If you want to learn more about walk on Sports bistro, about their franchising opportunities or anything, if you want to connect with her on LinkedIn, all of those links are in the show notes. And one final reminder, the P3 Profitability Summit happens October 19th, 20th and 21st in Fort Worth, Texas. Tickets are on sale now. I open them always. I always open them first. To the P3 members, 72 tickets are already gone out of the hundred. If you want to be one of the remaining 30 people to attend the event then I want you to go get your ticket. General admission tickets are available. VIP tickets are still available as well. Go find the link in the show notes.
