Five Things E22: Char Grill Franchising with Ed Yancey https://brandascentmedia.com/?page_id=1255 00:02 [Music] 00:06 the truth is adding value will never go 00:08 out of style 00:13 hello and thanks for joining us for 00:15 another five things podcast today we've 00:17 got a longtime friend at Yancey who's 00:20 been in franchising business ownership 00:23 for a long time banking in the past 00:24 which I just learned this morning it's a 00:27 cold rainy Raleigh North Carolina day 00:29 here and that I watched security brand 00:32 ascent media headquarters so thank you 00:34 so much for dropping in and joining us 00:36 thank you Brian for having me here and 00:37 look at board you know Ed's uh it's one 00:40 of those guys speaking for me personally 00:42 you know you meet ed the first time you 00:44 just like them just a a good guy that 00:46 I've never heard anybody talk bad about 00:48 you except for maybe Sean you haven't 00:50 met my wife you think that's funny I'm 00:53 joking about Sean but other than that 00:56 where'd you grow up at right here in 00:59 North Carolina born and raised yes I was 01:01 born in Smithfield North Carolina moved 01:04 to Greenville when I was about five and 01:05 stayed there till 15 and then we moved 01:08 to Raleigh so I went to high school 01:09 right up the street here at Millbrook 01:10 high school okay turn around and went 01:13 back to Greenville for college and got 01:15 out of college in 85 and went to work 01:17 for Wachovia Bank if if you've ever gone 01:21 to ECU you own you owe ed a lot of 01:24 thank-yous because he started the trend 01:27 definitely started the trend and so 01:31 graduate college yes and went right into 01:34 banking and was in banking for about 01:36 eight or nine years but I was always 01:39 entrepreneurial some banking was a 01:41 little bit of a straightjacket you know 01:42 it was a lot of process and Loan 01:46 administration but I you know I got to 01:49 see a lot of businesses SBA lending was 01:51 my specialty at the bank because that's 01:53 kind of how I got into franchising 01:54 because I got to see a lot of franchise 01:57 concepts at an early age and how well 01:58 they performed and it just got my gears 02:01 turning is it related to franchising 02:03 nice so you always had that itch when 02:05 you were in corporate America absolutely 02:07 you kind of knew that there was a 02:10 restlessness inside of you absolutely 02:12 and I think that you know honestly I 02:15 think most people that are 02:16 entrepreneurial or self-employed you 02:19 feel kind of suffocated in that 02:20 environment have 02:21 while that's right that's right and for 02:23 all the good things I liked about the 02:25 military I felt absolutely suffocated 02:27 that I just couldn't leave or quit or 02:29 write you know I could look at a little 02:32 chart and say you know if I do this for 02:33 20 years I'm gonna make X yeah you know 02:36 even if I'm the best at what I do it's 02:38 it's really limited right so that's 02:41 great to know so you get into banking 02:44 you're seeing business and all this kind 02:46 of stuff as far as family goes how'd you 02:50 meet your new bride so I met my wife in 02:52 Greenville I had just started working at 02:54 the bank and she was at East Carolina 02:56 University she had been there just a 02:59 year and we met and we dated for many 03:02 years she left school and also went into 03:06 banking as well so we dated for about 03:08 eight years before we finally married 03:10 you know ten five and have four children 03:12 beautiful kids okay a lot smarter and 03:15 better kids and I was when I was their 03:17 age so that's awesome got a great family 03:19 and you got a young rock star coming up 03:21 right I got a couple of rock stars but 03:23 both of my songs were very accomplished 03:25 guitarist my oldest son who's 18 is at 03:28 Appalachian State right now he's been on 03:30 a couple different bands put out a 03:31 couple of EPS he's actually playing a 03:33 gig this weekend and in Chapel Hill so 03:36 he gets around and makes the circuit and 03:38 they got a good following that's awesome 03:40 yeah what he's obviously passionate 03:42 about it oh yeah that's what he's 03:43 studying at Appalachian music production 03:45 and music business side of music that's 03:47 awesome yeah need to connect you with a 03:49 friend of mine Khmer Jack's and her sons 03:51 of you know all about the guitar right 03:53 real is really just constantly you know 03:56 but that's awesome I didn't realize you 03:58 had four as well two girls and two boys 04:00 okay yeah expensive yeah so so you get 04:08 married you're you start your your first 04:11 venture doing one so when I was at the 04:13 bank you know as I mentioned it was an 04:15 SBA lender specialist most bankers don't 04:17 like that program because it's a 04:19 government-backed program but it's where 04:20 the bank puts their risky deals like 04:23 restaurants hotels etc so you know I got 04:26 to look at a lot of the PLS on 04:28 restaurant concepts and I always knew 04:31 that I wanted to own a rest 04:32 I just have the hospitality gene and I 04:35 one day was out with my girlfriend now 04:38 my wife we were over on the east side of 04:41 Raleigh and we stopped in at Oakland 04:45 Capital Boulevard at a shopping center 04:47 to get something to eat cuz I was 04:48 looking for a place to live and she was 04:51 like what do you want to eat and I said 04:52 you choose and she chose Jersey Mike's 04:54 Subs and it was the first Jersey Mike's 04:56 in North Carolina it was the about the 04:58 sixteenth Jersey Mike's in the country I 05:01 hate the product fell in love with it 05:02 saw that they were franchising so I 05:04 reached out to Jersey Mike's and I 05:07 bought a franchise I was the second 05:09 franchisee in North Carolina and the 05:10 18th franchisee in their system nice one 05:13 of the cool things about Jersey Mike's 05:14 at that time because it was so small and 05:17 young I got to know the the founder and 05:20 the owner of Peter cancro who still owns 05:21 it today we're still very close Peter 05:25 and I hit it off really well and we 05:28 opened up our restaurant it was very 05:30 successful it's right over here on 05:31 Creedmoor Road in North Raleigh and we 05:34 just had a lot of people that were 05:36 interested in Jersey Mike's this is 1993 05:39 a lot of people started getting 05:41 interested in Jersey Mike's and so Peter 05:43 would have them call me I was still 05:45 working at the bank when I opened up the 05:47 restaurant Peter would have them reach 05:48 out to me and I'd have them come to the 05:50 bank they'd sit in the office like you 05:52 and I are doing right now we talked 05:53 about franchising they needed financing 05:55 and so I knew how to do the SBA programs 05:58 faster than both sides of anxiety so I 06:00 started creating business plans and it 06:02 was kind of a turnkey you'd come in and 06:04 you'd want financing I do your business 06:07 plan your projections get all of your 06:09 personal information put it together in 06:11 the SBA package all the forms hand it to 06:13 you so now you take it back to your bank 06:15 and it became a rubber stamp we just 06:17 started doing a lot of deals so 06:19 throughout the 90s you know I I was at 06:23 the bank for a year and we were doing a 06:24 lot of these these transactions and I 06:26 finally said Peter I don't want to work 06:28 the rest of my life in the bank so he 06:29 made me the first area director so I got 06:31 to share in the royalties in the 06:33 franchise fees anything that grew in 06:35 North Carolina and we had a great run we 06:37 opened up 110 restaurants throughout the 06:39 90s I owned and operated 14 restaurants 06:42 here in North Carolina 06:44 in 2001 we pretty much maxed out on 06:49 development in the metro areas so I sold 06:52 my contract back to Jersey Mike's I had 06:54 five restaurants at the time and decided 06:56 that you know it's just gonna focus on 06:57 the next chapter of my life but Peter 07:00 reached out and said why don't you move 07:02 to New Jersey so we packed the family up 07:04 moved to New Jersey and I headed up 07:05 franchising in New Jersey for about five 07:07 years okay but um but it was a great 07:10 experience so we went from 17 07:12 restaurants to about 400 when I finally 07:14 left Jersey Mike's and I was awesome and 07:17 again I you know every time I go there 07:19 get the big old Italian I mean I love 07:21 that thing gotta get the juice on it 07:23 he had def : burger yeah yeah and 07:25 oregano making me hungry thinking about 07:28 it but from 17 to 400 that's awesome yes 07:32 and but usually you know what do you 07:34 without jumping in our topics let me 07:38 rephrase that I won't go there because I 07:39 don't want to jump right into the topic 07:40 what uh let me ask you this what do you 07:43 think that has happened in the past that 07:46 you've learned from that was maybe a 07:47 negative situation at the time well I 07:50 mean in my life I've had over 20 07:53 restaurants I have two today lots of 07:56 garbage to deal with when you have to 07:57 absolute so I mean I've made I've made 08:00 some mistakes location wise you know 08:02 picking the wrong spot I've made 08:04 mistakes people wise and you know so you 08:07 learn from those and you you get wiser 08:10 but you know the restaurant business is 08:13 a very difficult business but you know 08:16 if you have a successful restaurant it's 08:17 very rewarding but you know trying to 08:19 you know navigate through those waters 08:21 you know can be can be somewhat 08:24 challenging mm-hmm I can see that it's a 08:27 very competitive industry and personally 08:31 I think when when the economy shifts you 08:34 know restaurants are probably in danger 08:36 a little bit because you know that's 08:38 disposable convenient expenses I would 08:42 think it is and yet the the restaurant 08:44 business today I mean I'm sure every 08:46 business owner says is it's much 08:47 different than it was you know 26 years 08:49 ago when I got started in it you know 08:51 now you have third party which is just a 08:53 complete game changer in the restaurant 08:56 industry where you've got 08:57 your grub hubs your post mates your 08:59 mover eats and most restaurant tours 09:02 don't have a choice they have to 09:04 participate in third-party delivery 09:07 because if they don't then their 09:08 competitors are gonna mm-hmm 09:10 be doing it and it's it's a very 09:12 expensive platform mm-hmm well it's no 09:15 different than Toys R Us didn't want to 09:16 get out on the internet and so they're 09:18 no longer around exactly you know and so 09:20 that's a great learning lesson is that 09:23 as business owners we have to constantly 09:25 add adapt and improve and you know at 09:28 the end of the day we have to cater to 09:29 the client right know if we don't we 09:31 can't take care of employees we can't 09:32 take care of the baby which is the 09:34 business absolutely so you better pay 09:35 attention to your client you better 09:37 serve them and you better make it 09:39 convenient and the one of the things 09:42 Gary Vaynerchuk says that I love he says 09:44 the reduce the friction you know he's 09:47 talking about absorbing his content he 09:49 wants to eliminate friction so if you 09:51 want to read it listen to it watch a 09:53 video you know he wants to create 09:55 content every way he can for media and 09:59 for for his brand but it's really the 10:01 same thing with a business yeah 10:03 absolutely so those are some negative 10:07 things you've learned from talking to 10:09 employees you know there's a real real 10:12 big let's say the $15 minimum wage sure 10:15 and honestly when I think of the like I 10:18 honestly I don't have anybody that I pay 10:20 for less than 15 an hour but I'm a 10:24 different business I don't own a 10:25 restaurant right you know if I did own a 10:27 restaurant you know looking from the 10:31 outside in like there's not a whole lot 10:33 of people in a restaurant that you're 10:34 gonna deserve better than 15 bucks an 10:36 hour 10:36 right you know you lower the fries you 10:38 click the little timer you push them up 10:41 three shakes of the salt I mean that's 10:43 not a it's not a skilled position but 10:46 that being said coming coming from the 10:48 horse's mouth if you know my and the 10:50 horse here I mean another problem you 10:51 know when one of my favorite sayings 10:53 this is when you provide maximum effort 10:56 and you then you're never gonna have to 10:59 worry about minimum wage right so from a 11:02 business owner that is historically 11:05 paying a low wage to two workers 11:09 upon entry what would you say to those 11:11 workers no I mean you're 100% correct 11:14 you know the reality in America is 11:17 minimum wage is definitely on the rise I 11:19 mean I you know I've worked at a lot of 11:20 different concepts the mountain country 11:22 I'm working from with one out of Boston 11:24 right now and you know minimum wage in 11:26 Boston's 13 class concept I was with was 11:29 out of LA $15 an hour in LA 11:32 I've told you know my managers you know 11:35 that that's just I understand you know 11:37 we can't start people at $7.25 an hour 11:40 anymore we have to pay a little bit 11:42 better wage mm-hmm and what we try to 11:44 you know do set the expectations when 11:47 we're interviewing people that you my 11:49 primary concern as you mentioned of 11:51 dropping the fries and put the salt on 11:53 that that's important that's a task but 11:55 to me it's more about the guest 11:58 experience and that's what I hammer home 12:00 with my managers and with the hourly 12:02 folks when we have meetings as that 12:03 whatever you're doing whatever task 12:05 that's not nearly as important as the 12:08 guest in the restaurant so don't you 12:11 know ignore the guest because you feel 12:13 like you have to get your tasks done 12:15 first you drop everything if the guest 12:17 needs assistance if they have a problem 12:19 or challenge I tell everybody you're 12:22 empowered to make refunds you know make 12:25 the guests happy don't ever let them 12:27 leave dissatisfied because yeah I don't 12:30 want a customer's money if they feel 12:32 like they didn't get the money's won 12:34 from me you know I'll be willing to eat 12:36 that so we do reward the employees that 12:39 demonstrate the hospitality Jean as I 12:41 mentioned earlier because we feel like 12:43 that's invaluable so and what any kind 12:46 of feeds on itself so if I have managers 12:48 at that instill and coach that and then 12:50 we have our leads that also do it the 12:52 others around you know all ships rise 12:54 sure yeah so I guess the point would be 12:58 that when you work hard and you've got 13:00 the right attitude 13:01 you're gonna be more valuable to the 13:04 employer that's exactly right so you 13:07 know those people and I guess that's 13:11 where the debate comes in I guess is 13:12 that to me as a business owner when I 13:16 have someone that I value I don't want 13:17 to lose them and part of the probably 13:20 part of the not being able to get away 13:22 with minimum wage is supply 13:23 - man there's so many openings for jobs 13:26 now because the economy is so great that 13:28 to attract a good caliber person as a 13:32 business owner we're willing to pay more 13:34 to get that good quality person in and 13:37 that's the beautiful thing it's supply 13:39 and demand right you know in my opinion 13:42 you don't have to necessarily legislate 13:43 that when things are good because you 13:46 know we want the best people we can have 13:49 because then our clients are gonna have 13:50 a better experience you're absolutely 13:52 right you know we're at a 50-year love 13:54 for unemployment right now so every 13:57 retailer restaurant 13:59 clothing store you name it is all trying 14:02 to attract that diamond-in-the-rough 14:04 which drives up wages absolutely right 14:07 so everybody's winning absolutely so I 14:10 won't get into a bunch of political 14:11 stuff there but you know at the end of 14:13 the day it's it's good for everybody 14:14 involved and the customer ends up 14:17 winning because they're getting a better 14:19 experience as well so you know I've said 14:22 a long time ago that that I think if if 14:25 I completely relocated to I don't know 14:28 Boise Idaho and I worked at a McDonald's 14:31 let's say I'm making minimum wage barely 14:34 getting by I would want to find a you 14:37 know a franchise or corporate owned 14:39 store and I believe with all my heart 14:42 and three four five six years I'm gonna 14:44 be running stuff and to me that comes 14:47 back to attitude and work ethic and so I 14:51 think that there's opportunity even 14:53 starting at the very very bottom of 14:55 McDonald's or something if you're 14:57 willing to work hard you got the right 14:59 attitude there's gonna be owners and 15:01 managers and at some point somebody's 15:03 gonna notice and it may be someone that 15:05 walks in the front door you know may not 15:07 even be the restaurateur that really 15:09 sees it in you but maybe a guy that 15:13 comes there once in a while says you 15:14 know what this kids always got a great 15:16 attitude always working hard you smiling 15:19 like I want this type of talent you know 15:22 I could work with this young guy so 15:24 that's another thing is you may not have 15:26 a boss or management or what some 15:29 somebody that's appreciating the right 15:31 now but if you keep you keep grind and 15:33 you know and doing good work someone's 15:35 gonna take notes 15:36 and then you know that's where I think 15:37 setting the expectations up front we 15:39 during the interview process because 15:40 you're absolutely right I tell anybody 15:42 that comes to work as an hourly employee 15:44 or even a manager you know I do not 15:47 expect you to be here the rest of your 15:49 life but if you like to be you know 15:51 there's there's opportunity but you know 15:53 here's what you need to demonstrate so 15:55 that you know you can have a great 15:57 career path here but I don't want to 16:01 hold anybody back sure so I think it's 16:03 awesome you set up expectations you have 16:05 that good conversation with people ahead 16:07 of time absolutely you know even coming 16:11 back to dating or employees or this and 16:13 that one of the things that I've learned 16:15 over the years is set the expectations 16:16 on the front end the best you can and 16:18 this is where I'm at this is what I'm 16:21 expecting this is what I'm not expecting 16:23 from you and and gosh everything just 16:26 seems to go smoother when you do that 16:27 and then you reinforce and coach it as 16:29 you know because every day people have 16:32 circumstances in their lives you know at 16:35 home and everything else and that's what 16:36 we you know try to tell people you know 16:39 it's hard to put those things in the on 16:41 the back burner when you come into work 16:43 but you got to be on point when the 16:45 customer comes in it's about being guest 16:47 focused and it's about caring yeah if 16:49 they can demonstrate you know those two 16:52 qualities you know yes I'll definitely 16:54 pay them well to to work in my 16:56 restaurants sure let me ask you this 16:58 what what are a few things that you love 17:00 to see in an employee and and I beat my 17:03 chest about initiative you know because 17:05 there's there's no shortage of great 17:06 ideas I've got lots of things that I 17:08 know will help or be good or this and 17:11 that 17:11 it's but I can't physically do 17:13 everything right it goes back to caring 17:16 I mean you know I I don't really 17:18 necessarily need them to demonstrate 17:21 initiative I mean I want them to get 17:23 their tasks done and try to find 17:24 something else to do but again just just 17:27 demonstrate in care care for their 17:30 manager care for the other employees 17:31 care for the guests like we talked about 17:33 care for the quality of the product they 17:35 put out you know I think the ones that 17:38 demonstrate that are the ones that have 17:40 been with us you know the longest and 17:41 you know we definitely want to take care 17:43 of them mm-hmm I could definitely see 17:45 that so it's that's good advice to 17:47 anybody coming up 17:48 work hard and take care of the client 17:52 and like you said it'll get recognized I 17:54 mean in shame on me and my managers if 17:57 they don't recognize and reward that 18:00 kind of individual and if they go on to 18:02 someplace else you know that's our loss 18:04 sure and the one thing I'll say to that 18:06 is is maybe to that employee that's out 18:09 there in that scenario is is demonstrate 18:12 some patience as well I mean you know ed 18:14 Yancey has a lot going on sure you know 18:17 and he's thinking about this he's got a 18:19 CPA he's got tax stuff he's got the 18:21 switch and accounting departments he got 18:24 you know new credit card processing you 18:27 got equipment goes down you know the 18:30 camera systems not you know I can't get 18:32 online mm-hmm 18:34 you know business owners deal with so 18:37 much you know and so just demonstrate a 18:39 little patience if you don't feel like 18:41 you're getting that recognition to that 18:42 it might not happen in a week you know 18:45 so so coming back to that you end up 18:49 kind of Jersey Mike's kind of runs its 18:51 course yep and then so you you start 18:53 looking around well I left Jersey Mike's 18:55 no six we were living in New Jersey we 18:57 wanted to get back home Peter at the 18:59 time couldn't wrap his head around me 19:01 working remotely so I left Jersey Mike's 19:04 and did some consulting in the Philly 19:05 market was with a concept and then 19:08 Dunkin Donuts offered me a position to 19:10 handle the southeast for franchising so 19:13 came back home they moved me back in 19:15 North Carolina covered the southeast and 19:17 I've been back since 2006 and it was 19:20 when I came back to North Carolina that 19:22 I was pursuing char grill the hamburger 19:24 concept here in Raleigh and purchased 19:27 the rights to that concept and we we 19:30 grew to about five or six restaurants 19:32 from a franchise standpoint but we 19:34 launched in 2008 which mean when the 19:35 economy took a tail sir 19:37 and so you know we kind of just limped 19:40 along but we got a few restaurants open 19:41 and like I said I've got two of those 19:43 today that I own and operate and we have 19:45 franchises using Davidson and one at the 19:47 airport and one in Cary okay awesome and 19:50 I can definitely vouch for char grill I 19:53 mean great food definitely enjoy the 19:56 concept and amazing fries but the 19:58 burgers are really really good 19:59 I got steak trimmings in them they 20:01 cooked on an open Charlotte grill you 20:04 know it's been around since 1960 when I 20:05 was in high school I used to go there 20:07 and eat and that's what drew me back to 20:09 it mmm it making me hungry again so you 20:13 know the one thing I will say about this 20:14 is that as we start Gearin towards the 20:18 five things five things about choosing a 20:20 franchise is that you know from starting 20:24 I watched security from nothing even 20:27 knowing the industry even having lots of 20:29 experience in this you have to create 20:31 everything in processes and 20:34 presentations and standard operating 20:37 procedures and having your graphics made 20:39 up and just you having your contracts 20:42 done I mean just countless amounts of 20:44 things that you have to think about 20:45 whereas when you have a franchise 20:47 everything is kind of laid out for 20:49 you're not kind of its its laid out for 20:50 that or I guess a good franchise right 20:55 so with that you know having a franchise 21:00 is going to increase your chances of 21:02 success because they've you know just 21:05 see what I did do what EDD does you know 21:07 if there's any questions talk to Eddie 21:09 write you know talk to your your guy who 21:11 runs your territory who does this all 21:14 the time you know so with that I'll turn 21:17 this over T and let's go right into the 21:19 what are what are the five things that 21:21 people need to think about when choosing 21:22 a franchise well first and foremost you 21:24 have to have a passion for the product 21:26 or service that the franchise is 21:27 offering so with Jersey Mike's when I 21:29 started with them you know I walked into 21:31 the restaurant ate the food and fell in 21:33 love with it so you know if I sometimes 21:36 I'll get people that will come to me 21:38 that have never eaten at my restaurant 21:39 but they're just looking for something 21:42 they can invest in to get a return on 21:43 and that's really not my ideal candidate 21:46 so you really want to spend some time 21:47 you know doing your homework making sure 21:49 you know what what the product is you're 21:52 selling is something that you firmly 21:53 believe in mm-hmm and enjoy probably 21:56 absolutely you know the old saying when 21:58 you love what you do you never work a 21:59 day in your life you know if you hate 22:01 cooking or cleaning or customers exactly 22:04 no service you probably want to find 22:07 something else so that's number one 22:09 yep number two culture of the con 22:11 you know so you may from the outside see 22:14 you know some franchise that you really 22:17 like but then as you start to do your 22:18 due diligence there may be some things 22:20 about the the concept that you don't 22:22 like you know you may meet some of the 22:24 leadership and they may tell you it's 22:25 our way or the highway you know and 22:28 because you're entrepreneurial you know 22:30 that may not hit you right and you may 22:32 decide to go the independent route and 22:34 do it yourself you know so I think you 22:37 you know anybody investigating a 22:39 franchise it takes 22:41 I tell people three to six months to 22:43 make that decision because not only are 22:46 you doing due diligence on the concept 22:48 the concept was doing their due 22:49 diligence on you they want to make sure 22:51 especially in the restaurant business 22:52 that you have a hospitality gene that 22:54 you're prepared to coach and mentor 22:56 those hourly employees so it's a process 23:00 but you know both sides need to mesh 23:03 sure and they have to protect their 23:05 brand absolutely you know if there's you 23:07 know Johnny Rotten opens up a char grill 23:09 in Fayetteville and you know everybody 23:13 is talking bad about it all of a sudden 23:15 it makes you look bad in Raleigh you 23:17 know so that's that's a good point um 23:20 number three the leadership of the brand 23:22 you know get to know the CEO the chief 23:26 operations officer all the leadership 23:28 behind the brand because sometimes 23:30 concepts start and it may just be ed 23:33 Yancy you know he's he opened up one one 23:35 of something and it did really well and 23:37 all the people are interested in doing 23:38 it too but it may not be a lot of depth 23:40 or background in that one individual if 23:42 the brand is one individual it can be it 23:46 can be a short-lived franchise brand so 23:48 understand the background of the people 23:51 that are leading the brand and what the 23:52 support and processes are in place 23:54 that's a great great tip I would think 23:57 that you know a lot of businesses work 23:59 because of a specific personality or a 24:02 business owner or something and when you 24:03 remove that person the brand is not as 24:07 powerful exactly you know so that's a 24:09 great tip number four this is go sounds 24:12 stupid but make sure it's a money-making 24:14 model mm-hmm you know definitely you 24:16 know every franchisor is required to 24:18 give you a document called the franchise 24:20 disclosure document or FDD there's a lot 24:22 of information in there the item 19 is 24:25 the financial information but you also 24:26 want to speak to franchisees because the 24:30 franchisee always gonna put the best 24:31 looking information in their FDD that 24:34 makes the opportunity look attractive so 24:36 you want to peel the onion back and 24:38 speak with franchisees and make sure you 24:40 understand at a store level what that 24:42 concept is doing okay and what a 24:44 realistic expectations is you know so 24:47 you don't want to buy into the 24:48 pie-in-the-sky because you know you and 24:51 I both know there's always things that 24:52 come up that you're not expecting that 24:54 might not be in that you know rapport 24:56 absolutely that you're gonna have to 24:58 deal with and lastly number five well as 25:01 we've talked about throughout this 25:02 podcast you know being of people in in 25:05 the people side of the business you know 25:07 making sure that you have what I say I 25:10 call the intestinal fortitude so young 25:12 people starting out if they haven't 25:13 managed a lot of people it can be 25:16 daunting because they get tested you 25:19 know when you have 15 to 20 hourly 25:21 employees working for you they are going 25:23 to try every way possible to take 25:27 advantage you know no call no show 25:29 things like that sir you know it's great 25:32 if you've gotten some of that experience 25:33 under your belt but and you just may be 25:35 the type of person that can handle that 25:38 and can you know positively coach and 25:40 mentor those people to get the best out 25:42 of mmm so you know that to me is very 25:45 important I get guys that have been 25:47 working in corporate America their whole 25:49 lives and they've got you know big 401k 25:51 and now they want to do the next thing 25:53 in their life the next chapter in their 25:54 life and I say you know why the 25:57 restaurant business but if that's what 25:59 you want great what I would recommend 26:00 you to do is spend a couple weeks you 26:03 know behind the counter seeing what it's 26:05 all about and decide then if it's really 26:07 what you want to do because a lot of 26:08 people when they buy at a late stage in 26:11 life and get into the restaurant 26:12 business they they figure out real quick 26:14 then you know they don't it's not what 26:16 they were cut out to do so but some 26:19 people are you know get along famously 26:21 with it sure but uh but I just tell 26:24 people you know do your homework you 26:25 know spend some time immersing yourself 26:27 in the concept and the brand even if 26:29 it's like Jiffy Lube or 26:31 you know if if that's what you want to 26:33 do then spend some time in the unit and 26:36 understand what all goes on in a day in 26:39 the life from that franchisee and I 26:42 think mentally being prepared to do 26:43 everything that you have to do in that 26:45 restaurant absolutely you need to be the 26:47 expert you're right you're right you 26:49 need to you know a lot of people say I 26:50 don't want to do all the training you 26:52 know I got another guy that will do that 26:53 you want to be the expert in the 26:55 business so that you can recognize when 26:56 you walk in the things that aren't going 26:59 right that aren't being doing being done 27:01 well and so I think that's very critical 27:04 that you know you you know I tell new 27:07 franchisees plan to spend a year you 27:09 know every day doing the the job of 27:12 being a franchisee after a year you can 27:15 start developing more you built your 27:16 bench of people you coached and mentored 27:19 them so now you're prepared to grow with 27:21 you continue you don't get the 27:23 impression a lot of people think they're 27:25 gonna start a business and hire this 27:27 other person and they're gonna do it 27:30 yeah just gonna roll in and they're 27:33 gonna manage from home and maybe there 27:35 are opportunities out there like that 27:36 but I just I'm not willing to have my 27:40 success or failure rely on Joe who I'm 27:43 hiring because at the end of the day I 27:46 need to know everything going on in that 27:47 business and tillman Fertitta who you 27:51 probably know being the restaurant 27:52 industry in this and that billionaire 27:54 you know talks about when he walks into 27:56 a restaurant he's just starting to 27:58 things are popping at him left and right 28:00 and that's because he's in the game yes 28:01 guys a billionaire yeah you know and but 28:05 I think that that is a testament to what 28:08 you're talking about I know when you 28:09 walk into your restaurant you see the 28:11 trash cans full and you know what 28:13 there's three fries and the the foyer or 28:17 something that you know it probably 28:18 drives you nuts when you walk in you 28:19 know like am I the only guy in this 28:21 place that sees these fries on the 28:22 ground you know but any case I know you 28:26 got to get going here and and I 28:27 certainly appreciate you stopping in and 28:29 sharing some great content with us and 28:32 by the way if you're considering 28:34 franchises or consider and start your 28:37 own deal Edie would probably be open to 28:39 talking 28:40 help you out and other than that thanks 28:43 for joining us for another five things 28:44 podcast make it a great day 28:47 [Music] 28:54 hello the sprites myth and thank you for 28:57 watching please subscribe for more 28:58 valuable content