Podcasts about Smashburger

After nearly two decades together at major shops, Brett Banker and Eric Segal launched X&O (Experts and Officers) in 2023 with a bold proposition: no pitching and no “agency bloat.” Just expert-led sprints designed to solve real problems — fast.As the traditional holding company model faces change and independent agencies gain prominence, Banker and Segal provide a candid perspective on contemporary creative collaborations and guidance for aspiring agency leaders. In this episode of Campaign Chemistry, the longtime duo share the story behind their nimble consultancy built to challenge the traditional agency model. Banker and Segal unpack what it means to work "top-to-top" with clients like Coca-Cola and Smashburger, what they look for in clients in order to pull off their fast-paced work style and their embrace of AI as their “third founder.”  AI Deciphered is back—live in New York City this November 13th.Join leaders from brands, agencies, and platforms for a future-focused conversation on how AI is transforming media, marketing, and the retail experience. Ready to future-proof your strategy? Secure your spot now at aidecipheredsummit.com. Use code POD at check out for $100 your ticket! campaignlive.com What we know about advertising, you should know about advertising. Start your 1-month FREE trial to Campaign US.

In this episode of Tigs Tonight, we dive into the unbelievable crowd reactions at the new Minecraft movie (yes, someone really brought a live chicken to the theater). We also revisit the Smashburger debate that broke the internet, unravel the wild government cheese conspiracy, and drop a major bombshell about the future of the show.FOR ALL OF THE LATESThttps://www.tigsbits.com/

A magic belt that produced burgers? It's before 10:30am, which means it's time for McDonald's Breakfast! Learn the history of this iconic (and, in my opinion: better) half of McDonald's menu before diving into the clown lore of Ronald McDonald himself with the Clown Boss Chad Damiani Chad tells the story of a McDonald's fiasco his brother experienced all to try and save a few bucks McDonald's breakfast started as something offered by one location just "trying it out" -- something that would never be tolerated in today's corporate landscape The creator of the McGriddle is a fast food maverick also response for the SmashBurger chain, the stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut, JIF peanut butter, and more! Ronald McDonald isn't very visible these days, and that's no accident New segment! Hear the restaurant of Chad's dreams: The Tiny Diner A Yelper reviews the drink he got at McDonald's on his way to dinner somewhere else "Fine" Dining is now on video! Head on over to my YouTube to watch this episode! Music by: James McEnelly (@Ramshackle_Music) Theme Song by: Gabe Alvarez (@spooky.gabe) Segment Transitions Voiced by: Sandy Rose "Fine" Dining is on Patreon! Get an extra episode every month (I closed the year with my Patreon exclusive episode covering rude-service-on-purpose restaurant chain Dick's Last Resort after driving to Las Vegas with friend and season 1 cheese correspondent Steven Zurita), extended Yelp from Strangers segments every other week, merch discounts, download access to our music including the 7 singles from our Olive Garden musical, and more! Patreon Producers: Joyce Van, & Sue Ornelas   Get the 5 Survival Tips for Casual Dining at www.finediningpodcast.com!   Send in your McDonald's stories at finediningpodcast@gmail.com.   Follow the show on TikTok and Instagram @finediningpodcast Follow Chad on Instagram @thechaddamiani   Let me know where I should go next by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, PodcastAddict, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I read every one!   Next week on "Fine" Dining: McDonald's Breakfast Review [Part Two]! Chad Damiani returns to eat fast food for the first time in a long time, and discuss how the employees thought I (as Ronald McDonald) was sent from corporate as we break down the Good, the Not Good, and the Just There of McDonald's. Ever work at McDonald's? Send your stories to finediningpodcast@gmail.com.

 My guest this week is Thomas Prather, the Chief Marketing Officer at Smashburger.Thomas brings over 30 years of marketing expertise, beginning in automotive advertising, where he managed Cadillac's resurgence in 1995. He transitioned to the food and beverage industry in 2003, joining Starbucks and eventually becoming VP of U.S. Retail Marketing.At Starbucks, he drove growth across more than 17,000 U.S. locations, notably overseeing the brand's third-party delivery partnerships with UberEats and DoorDash, while leading the brand's most successful fall season with the 20th anniversary of the Pumpkin Spice Latte.As Smashburger's CMO, Thomas now applies his extensive experience to drive the brand's growth through innovative global strategies focused on elevating Smashburger's brand presence. He aims to attract a broader audience by aligning the company's offerings with emerging trends and consumer expectations, all while ensuring the brand remains relevant and committed to delivering an exceptional guest experience. 

Berühmte Food-Blogger feiern ihre Burger ab, vor den Läden bilden sich mitunter meterlange Schlangen: Die Köche Kajo Hiesl und Vladislav Gachyn haben rund um die Smashburger ihres Fast-Food-Franchises Goldies einen riesengroßen Hype ausgelöst. Im OMR Podcast sprechen die beiden über ihre Anfänge in einem der besten Restaurants Deutschlands, ihre Expansionspläne und die grundlegenden Unterschiede zu anderen deutschen Burger-Konzepten wie dem Franchise "Hans im Glück".

„Goldies“ gilt als eine der interessantesten Imbiss-Ketten Deutschlands - auch wegen ihrem Social-Media-Auftritt. Hazel und Thomas haben „Vladi“ - einen der Gründer - in der neu eröffneten Frankfurter Filiale getroffen Inhalt: 00:00 Geschichte Goldies 08:41 Gastro-Szene & Secret Menu 13:37 Sterneküche zu Imbissbetrieb 18:53 Social Media Auftritt Goldies 23:11 Konzept Goldies 34:29 Vegane, vegetarische Burger & Skinny Fries 38:45 Essgewohnheiten & mehr Filialen 47:19 Smashburger 49:48 Five Guys, Vapiano & Blockhouse 56:45 Zukunft Goldies 1:02:28 Vladi als Koch 1:10:51 Smashburger or Passburger Zeitstempel können variieren. Goldies auf Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goldies_smashburger/ Vladi von Goldies https://www.instagram.com/vladi_ga_ching/ David Friedrich auf Instagram https://www.instagram.com/diesdasdavid/ Thomas' Buch mit David https://www.amazon.de/Bunt-kühl-Erdmann-Friedrich-Spitzer/dp/3940768405 Haftbefehls „Golden Brown“ https://youtu.be/dSsjwDNfpxI?si=1E8mIf9hM-dEQcrd Vox über Desserts und Gewinn-Marge bei Restaurants https://youtu.be/VtTLUnH5vps?si=LH8so1qbapuM4OyU Wachstum von Five Guys https://youtu.be/YzeqP7FHT-s?si=j9FX5U-Ga7ZFEp5T Dishoom wird das beste Restaurant in UK https://www.restaurantonline.co.uk/Article/2016/02/16/Dishoom-tops-list-of-UK-s-100-best-restaurants/ Shake Shack im Delta https://news.delta.com/now-boarding-delta-serve-shake-shack-burgers-flights Glossar / Namen / Gastro-Läden: Loaded Fries - Pommes mit Belag (zB Soße, Fleisch, Käse) Shake Shack - Super Burger-Kette aus den USA Tim Raue - TV-Koch und Restaurant-Besitzer Grill Royal https://grillroyal.com Martin's Potato Rolls - Kartoffel-Brötchen Sven Elverfeld - Chef-Koch im 3 Michelin Sterne Restaurant Aqua New Yorker Pastrami-Laden Katz' Delicatessen New Yorker Fisch-Restaurant Russ and Daughters Agentur Dojo https://www.instagram.com/dojoruinedmylife/ George Motz („Burger-Prophet“) https://www.instagram.com/motzburger/?hl=de Maillaird-Reaktion (Smash-Burger haben größere Kontaktfläche zum Grill, deshalb wird der Geschmack intensiver) Kado Lakritzfachgeschäft https://kado.de/de/ Louis Lunch - angeblich 1. Burger-Laden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis%27_Lunch Block House Steak-Restaurant https://www.block-house.de Hiltl vegetarisches Restaurant https://hiltl.ch Kebapland in Ehrenfeld Mustafas Gemüse-Döner in Berlin Loco Chicken https://loco-chicken.com Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte: https://linktr.ee/hoererlebnis Du möchtest Werbung in diesem Podcast schalten? Dann erfahre hier mehr über die Werbemöglichkeiten bei Seven.One Audio: https://www.seven.one/portfolio/sevenone-audio

Heute im Fokus: Wir tauchen ein in die faszinierende Welt der Smashburger – vom Hype über die perfekte Zubereitung bis hin zu den besten Adressen. Dieses Mal haben wir einen besonderen Gast dabei: Thomas, bekannt als der Fleischbotschafter, der uns nicht nur von seiner Leidenschaft für Burger erzählt, sondern auch seinen brandneuen Laden Grabz Smashburger in Köln vorstellt. Themen der Episode: Begrüßung und Einstieg Warum Smashburger? Der Hype um dünne, krosse Patties und die Maillard-Kruste. Thomas aka Fleischbotschafter: Unser Experte für Fleisch und Burger-Perfektion. Ein Rückblick: Wie wir durch verschiedene Burger-Stile zu unserer Smashburger-Leidenschaft gefunden haben. Was macht Smashburger so besonders? Die Maillard-Reaktion: Wie Röstaromen die perfekte Kruste formen. Einzigartige Zubereitung: Das „Smashen“ des Fleisches und die richtige Technik. Fettgehalt und Fleischqualität: Warum 20 % Fett das Minimum für Genuss ist. Warum Tomaten tabu sind: Die Diskussion um den idealen Belag. Die besten Smashburger-Locations in Deutschland und Europa Champions Burger: Ein Highlight auf unserer Tour. Uno Burger in Köln: Unsere Nummer eins in Sachen Liebe zum Detail. Goldies in Berlin: Klassiker wie der „Super Smash Bros Burger“. Die Smashburger-Tour durch Amsterdam: Inspiration und Geschmackserlebnis pur. Das perfekte Patty Vom Fleisch bis zum Grill: Wie entsteht das ideale Patty? Nur einmal wenden: Tipps für den richtigen Umgang mit der Smash-Technik. Warum industrielle Fertig-Patties dem Hype nicht gerecht werden. Die Kunst des Burger-Buns Martin's Potato Rolls vs. selbstgebackene Buns: Die Vor- und Nachteile. Nachhaltigkeit und Qualität: Warum nicht jedes Bun aus den USA kommen muss. Brötchen mit Charakter: Die Bedeutung von Butter und die perfekte Textur. Beilagen und Soßen Smashed Potatoes: Die revolutionäre Beilage von Grabz Smashburger. Soßenvielfalt: Was macht eine gute Secret Sauce aus? „Overhyped“ oder genial? Der Einsatz von Käsesoßen und Dips. Ein Blick hinter die Kulissen von Grabz Smashburger Die Entstehungsgeschichte: Von der Idee bis zum Ladenbau. Innovation und Qualität: Warum Grabz mehr als nur ein weiterer Burgerladen ist. Smashed Potatoes und Apricot-Design: Was den Laden einzigartig macht. Ein Hoch auf die Lage: Warum die Brüsseler Straße die perfekte Heimat für Grabz ist. Die Zukunft der Smashburger Trends aus den USA: Von LA-Style bis Oklahoma Smash. Neue Techniken und Rezepte: Was erwartet uns in der Burger-Szene? Nachhaltigkeit und Veggie-Optionen: Die nächsten Herausforderungen. Links und Empfehlungen Unsere Partner und Quellen: Fleischbotschafter auf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fleischbotschafter/@fleischbotschafter  Grabz Smashburger: Grabz.smash auf Instagram https://www.instagram.com/grabz.smash/ Burger-Wissen: Das Buch „Die Burger-Bibel“. https://amzn.to/3D87kGh Die besten Smashburger-Locations: Onur Burger, Köln https://www.instagram.com/onur_beefandfries/ Freddy Schilling, Köln https://www.instagram.com/freddy.schilling/ Goldies, Berlin https://www.instagram.com/goldies_smashburger/ Supportet uns! Hat euch die Folge gefallen? Dann freuen wir uns über eure Unterstützung: Bewertet uns auf Spotify und Apple Podcasts. Teilt eure Meinung zu dieser Folge auf Instagram. Postet eure Smashburger-Kreationen mit #Smashcast und markiert uns! Wir sind gespannt auf eure Meinung und eure liebsten Smashburger-Tipps!

More Canadians means more Tim Hortons. Cherry Bounce Hospitality picked up a hot chicken concept on the rebound. And a tiny chain is suing Smashburger over trademark issues.

Stephen oversees Baldi Management Group (BMG), an airport concessions and management consulting company that manages restaurants in Reagan National Airport, JFK International Airport and Dulles International Airport. Established in 2008, BMG operates various food and beverage outlets, including franchises like Dunkin’ Donuts, Potbelly, and Smashburger. Stephen is an alumnus of Georgetown University, where he was a Community Scholar and student-athlete. He attributes his success to mentorship and now mentors young people, aiming to provide growth opportunities within his company. As founder-led company, Stephen has formed connections with other DC-based founder-led restaurants like Founding Famers and Timber Pizza as well as with larger national brands. About 15-20% of BMG's customers are employees from the airport itself. Stephen is a strong advocate of mentorship and helping employees grow and advance within an organization, even if it means the employee leaving the organization for a better opportunity. QUOTES “My commitment to making meaningful connections with people comes from way back then when I was forced to do it, not only because of who I am but my circumstances and I've tried to carry that out through my career and my life.” (Stephen) “There's something different about a founder-led company, because you've built it.” (Stephen)“Airports are a wonderful place to work. Once you end up in this ecosystem, it's hard to walk away.” (Stephen)“(In airports), the passengers are dynamic. We get to meet and connect with them all. We have the privilege of participating in whatever journey people are on every day and the following day, we get a whole new group of people.” (Stephen) “The (airport concessions and restaurant industry) is about an $8 billion a year industry nationally but the industry is controlled by about 20 key companies. It's a small ecosystem.” (Stephen) “Operating a streetside restaurant versus a restaurant in an airport is a completely different sport. The speed, the requirements, the logistical challenges (of being an in airport), all of our crewmembers have to go through background checks. Unless you're a serious player, you're not trying to participate in airports.” (Stephen) “We encourage our crewmembers just to meet people where they are. It may be the 50th time you've welcomed someone to our restaurant but it's the first time you've spoken to the person in front of you. You should be additive to their experience and not add additional stress or complications.” (Stephen) “We welcome the chaos. When it's raining and snowing outside and your flights are delayed, we kind of welcome that because that means we get to hang out with you a little bit longer.” (Stephen) “If I bring in someone as a front line worker who's pouring coffee, if they're still pouring coffee in three years, both them and the organization has done something wrong. We want to scale people up.” (Stephen)  TRANSCRIPT 00:01.9900:01.99vigorbrandingHey folks, welcome to Fork Tales, and I’m excited. Today’s guest is Stephen Baldi He’s the founder and president of Baldi Management Group. Baldy Management Group is an airport concessions and management consulting company. It’s a mouthful there. ah Manages concessions in Reagan National Airport, JFK International Airport, and Dulles International Airport. Stephen, welcome to Fork Tales, and thank you so much for joining us.00:25.82Stephen BaldiMichael, thank you for having me. I’m looking forward to the conversation.00:29.01vigorbrandingSo for those that don’t know, all of these are located in the sort of DC Metro, Baltimore or down at DC Metro area, right?00:36.21Stephen BaldiCorrect.00:37.04vigorbrandingYeah.00:37.19Stephen BaldiYeah, even though Philadelphia is my hometown, I’ve been in Washington DC for almost 30 years. um So this is home base for us.00:46.37vigorbrandingyeah Well, you you you know, I have a little trick question because that was going to be my first question. Are you still a Philly sports fan? I mean, do you bleed Eagle Green?00:53.03Stephen Baldiif If you cut me, it would be nothing but green. I live in Washington, DC.00:56.48vigorbrandingOK, beautiful.00:57.88Stephen BaldiMy heart is in Philadelphia.00:59.81vigorbrandingBeautiful, beautiful. Wow. There’s, there’s guys, I don’t even know what they call themselves these days. these’s The commanders, the Washington football club.01:04.91Stephen Baldioh The Washington football team, they’re all.01:05.40vigorbrandingI mean, they’re just, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just, it’s irrelevant. It’s irrelevant.01:10.11Stephen BaldiYeah, Michael, my family would disown me if anything other than my ah zip code changed as far as my hometown affiliation.01:10.06vigorbrandingSo that’s fantastic. Hey, it’s awesome. You got to bring, I had a gentleman come in, uh, from, uh, Oregon last week to speak to a bunch of advertising agencies from North America. We hosted them in Philadelphia and this guy was so excited. He was, he, he, he came from there, but he was Philly through and through. So everything in his presentation tied back to a Philly icon, something about Philadelphia that was iconic. And, you know, ah in our company, we’re,01:44.34vigorbrandingWe’re very proud that we’re an independent advertising agencies. We have an agency called Vigor and an agency called Quench. Vigor’s restaurant branding. Quench is food and beverage marketing. And the whole thing was around independence and how it’s how important it is.01:57.06vigorbrandingAnd he had all these great icons from like Nick Foles to, ah you know, ah Mike Schmidt to the Fanatic to, I mean, Will Smith.02:07.11vigorbrandingI mean, he just went through all the Philadelphia stuff, you know, the Liberty Bell and everything else. and So it was cool. It was cool.02:11.77Stephen Baldium I love it. I’ll tell you an interesting story about Nick Foles. So I had a really good feeling about our Super Bowl run, even though you know Carson Wentz, who was leading as the MVP that year, went down. And the Friday before the Super Bowl, something told me to go online and buy a Nick Foles autograph helmet.02:33.57vigorbrandingWow.02:34.10Stephen BaldiAnd I did. Now, I did not expedite the shipping, Michael. So it was not in my possession on Monday after we had won the Super Bowl. And many of my friends said that helmet’s never going to show up, but it did.02:47.65Stephen BaldiSo I bought it for $99.02:47.77vigorbrandingThat’s awesome.02:49.77Stephen BaldiAnd I can tell you, it’s it’s worth a lot more than that.02:51.92vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Yeah, it’s worth a lot to people in Philadelphia. So it’s fantastic. And the pride of that city runs deep. So alright, so tell us about Baldy enter Management Group and what it does what inspired you to get into the airport concession games. I mean, you started I think in residential property, right?03:06.90Stephen BaldiI did. I started in residential property management in 2002. And I started in airports in 2005. And it was all kind of serendipitous. I had a really ah prickly history before starting in 2002.03:23.22Stephen Baldiat Kettler Management, which managed tax credit properties, but also Class A luxury communities.03:29.04vigorbrandingOkay.03:29.23Stephen BaldiAnd I had a tenant coming to my office. And she said, Steven, I see you engaging with the residents and how you handle issues. And I think you should be doing more. And I thought to myself, like this woman doesn’t know me.03:39.92Stephen BaldiYeah, I just fixed her fireplace. But who are you to come in my office and tell me what I should be doing? And at the time, I was making $22,000 a year with a Georgetown degree. And the job that they wanted me to interview for paid $85,000 a year.03:54.21vigorbrandingwow03:54.39Stephen BaldiSo as you can assume, Michael, goal I took the interview, I got the job. And so for three years, I worked in development for Westfield, which most people know as shopping mall developers, they have an airport division.04:05.82vigorbrandingHmm. Ah.04:07.99Stephen BaldiAnd so I was responsible for the redevelopment of national airport here in Washington, DC from 2005. to 2008. And then I leveraged a relationship with OTG Management, which has a very large presence at Philadelphia International, um into a joint venture relationship and actually launched the company, BMG, in 2008. And two thousand and eight and it’s we’ve not looked back since.04:31.36vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. you know It’s funny. I really i don’t know you. we’re We’re really talking for the first time. I can tell right away, like youre you have a positive attitude, and I can tell you’re engaging. And so I could see how someone would see you in action and be like, hey, you know you you could do more. like You can be a part of something bigger. And it’s obviously what’s happened, which is it’s awesome. I’m a big proponent of attitude. I mean, i I love to know where people went to school. I mean, if you if I interview you, I want to see your brains on the table.04:58.39vigorbrandingBut I really want to know what your personality is like. I want to know about your attitude. I want to know ah how ah how much of a ah person you are that wants to win and be engaging and help people. And it’s ah like it comes through with you right away.05:09.91vigorbrandingAnd that’s ah it’s cool.05:10.18Stephen BaldiI appreciate that.05:11.03vigorbrandingnow it’s it’s05:11.32Stephen BaldiYeah, i’ll I’ll take it back if you if you want me to. So ah back in 1988, I was turning 13 and I begged my mom for a pair of Air Jordan sneakers.05:24.58Stephen BaldiAnd you’ll remember when Gordon’s first came out, ah they were the first shoe over a hundred dollars.05:25.72vigorbrandingOh, yeah.05:29.85vigorbrandingOh, yes, they were.05:30.36Stephen Baldiyeah I grew up in a upper lower class household and it was a stretch for my mom to purchase these shoes.05:31.49vigorbrandingYep.05:37.09vigorbrandingMm hmm.05:38.21Stephen BaldiBut I begged her and I begged her and I begged her and and she ended up buying them for me. And she said, you know, I just want you to be safe. Well, you probably can assume where the story goes. Within like a month of getting these sneakers, I was an attempted robbery, and I acted very violently to defend myself, and it resulted in me getting expelled from the school that I was at.05:59.94Stephen BaldiAnd as a punishment, ah rather than letting me play basketball for the entire summer, my mom forced me to go to the reading math and basketball clinic at Friend Central, which is a very prominent independent school on the main line of Philadelphia.06:14.39vigorbrandingMm hmm.06:14.96Stephen BaldiAnd that decision changed my life. um I went from living in a predominantly all-Black neighborhood to a private school that I was the only Black male in my class.06:25.11vigorbrandingWow.06:25.74Stephen BaldiAnd what it did was it changed my perspective of what was accessible. like I had never seen a computer before.06:31.75vigorbrandingRight.06:32.14Stephen BaldiAnd at this school, there was in a computer lab where we could sit down and navigate things.06:34.40vigorbrandingYeah.06:36.15Stephen BaldiAnd so going to Friends Central, having my mom make that leap of faith changed my trajectory in many ways. I matriculated from there to Georgetown University here in Washington, DC, which is how I got.06:48.20Stephen Baldito Washington DC. So I am a super Philadelphia sports fan, because not only am I from Philly, but Allen Iverson was my classmate at Georgetown University.06:51.93vigorbrandingThat’s awesome.06:55.50vigorbrandingIs that right?06:56.61Stephen BaldiYeah, we were the same class.06:56.89vigorbrandingWow.06:57.61Stephen BaldiAnd so, yeah, very cool.06:58.33vigorbrandingThat’s so cool. Yeah.07:00.38Stephen BaldiAnd so maya my commitment to making meaningful connections with people comes from way back then when I was forced to do it, not only because of who I am, but my circumstances.07:00.74vigorbrandingAI. It’s legendary.07:12.75Stephen BaldiAnd I’ve tried to carry that out through my career and my life.07:15.84vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. what a great That’s great. That’s a great story. you know it’s like It’s funny that on the Air Jordans, at that time, when they came out, and I can follow you on that. i know you You nailed it. You said the first sneaker that was over $100. My dad had ah this like mom and pop retail sporting store. We sold mostly like hockey stuff. We were from Hershey, Pennsylvania.07:35.39vigorbrandingAnd I was working in a store in in Camp Hill and outside of Hershey. It’s up in the West Shore, they call it. Anyway, long story short, I was in the mall and we sold some sneakers and the Air Jordans came out and we had them on the wall.07:48.37vigorbrandingAnd it was like, it was insane. $100 for a pair of sneakers.07:52.08Stephen BaldiYeah.07:52.28vigorbrandingAnd I mean, like, whereas I’ll say the average then was probably like on the high end was probably like 50, 55.07:57.40Stephen BaldiYeah, for sure.07:58.58vigorbrandingAnd this went right to 100. And it was funny, my dad, maybe that’s where I started learning about, and I really did learn a lot about marketing, working in retail, because you have to talk to people, you have to sell. And I think that’s the most important skill a person can learn. Communicating with people and learning how to sell, like, you know, at least present yourself, right? So I put these sneakers at the very top. I said, dad, you know what? ah I said, everybody wants the Air Jordans. Most people can’t afford them.08:21.42vigorbrandingbut everyone wants to come and look at it. So I always sell them the white, the white, men’s the body they’re like but you know, so for every one Air Jordan, I saw, I used to sell like 30 other pairs of shoes.08:25.49Stephen Baldiah yeah08:30.65vigorbrandingYou know what I mean?08:31.05Stephen BaldiIt’s been up in the store. It’s like a newspaper. People don’t necessarily want just the newspaper, at least the retailer does it, but they come in to buy the newspaper and then they buy the water, the soda, the candy.08:33.13vigorbrandingThat’s right.08:39.73vigorbrandingThat’s right. yeah I lured them in with the Air Jordans. I think we had like five parrot the most. I mean, we couldn’t afford, you know, it’s a little mom pop store.08:46.41Stephen BaldiProbably two sizes.08:47.56vigorbrandingYeah, right. That’s exactly right. So that’s funny. So okay, you talked about sports and and and you know, Philly and all that you you pride yourself on um being a local company and playing in front of the home crowd.08:58.99vigorbrandingTalk a little bit about the the local connection in DC that you have.09:02.34Stephen BaldiYeah, so I’ll tell you, when you fly into most airports, what people don’t automatically see, but being a former developer, I understand that any airport authority, when you land in their airport, they want you to know what city you are in.09:18.24Stephen BaldiSo national brands are extremely important. So you’ll have your Dunkin’ Donuts. You’ll have your Pop-Belly’s, which are ah franchises that we operate.09:22.12vigorbrandingMm hmm.09:25.89Stephen BaldiBut every airport wants you to have a sense of place. So when you fly into Philadelphia Airport, you’ll have a Jim Stakes, because that’s you know historical to that region.09:34.38vigorbrandingYeah.09:34.93Stephen BaldiWhen you fly into National Airport here, or Dallas International, you’ll have your South Blocks, which is an ASE base. com concept here in the DC.09:45.49Stephen BaldiYou’ll have Ben’s Chili Bowl, which has been around since the 60s.09:45.90vigorbrandingMm hmm. Mm hmm.09:49.41Stephen BaldiAnd so we’ve prided ourselves from identifying and connecting with other founder-led brands, because I’m a founder. And nothing against a hired gun.09:56.93vigorbrandingMm hmm.09:58.81Stephen BaldiI know they are often effective at their job. But there’s something different about a founder-led company because you’ve built it.10:06.95vigorbrandingYeah.10:07.27Stephen Baldiit probably has more ah meaning to you behind just the bottom line um results that you drive. It’s personal.10:15.52vigorbrandingYeah.10:15.69Stephen BaldiAnd so we’ve developed very deep relationships with companies like founding farmers, with timber pizza, who are all local based companies here. And we expect to continue to grow it, not just in this region that we’re in, but as we grow into other markets to do the same.10:30.68vigorbrandingYeah, that’s that’s fantastic. And you nailed it. I mean, like, I’m a founder, I’m an entrepreneur. And you know, and ah again, wonderful folks that that work with me, I’m very, very, very lucky. But you know, for for most people, it’s their job, you know, their career, and and hopefully there’s a sense of of a family and a real relationship.10:49.53vigorbrandingBut for me, it’s my life. I mean, i am I am defined personally by this, which is probably pretty shallow.10:51.05Stephen Baldiright10:54.86vigorbrandingI mean, i mean look, um I love my daughters. I’m a dad. I’m ah a husband. I love my family with all my heart, but I feel like I’m defined by my company and the what I’ve built. and and all of that And I just, you know, so again, I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or a good thing or whatever, but it’s just, it’s ah it’s a lot deeper, right?11:11.93vigorbrandingWhen you found something and ah it’s it’s a lot deeper, everyone thinks it has to do with like money and stuff, and it really doesn’t.11:12.49Stephen BaldiRight. For sure.11:17.73vigorbrandingIt’s a it’s really about, you know, sort of like your life’s life’s work. and You know, you know, I get I get the most excitement out of seeing the growth of the folks in the company. ah It’s great to see the brands grow and the companies grow.11:30.42vigorbrandingBut I really get a kick out of of seeing the folks that have been here a long time and and all that. So anyway, that’s just that’s me.11:35.91Stephen Baldiright11:36.26vigorbrandingBut I just I totally I totally concur with what you’re saying as far as the founder led. I mean, that’s that’s fantastic.11:41.40Stephen BaldiYeah, at some point as a founder, you most likely had to put something at risk that meant something to you.11:47.14vigorbrandingYeah.11:47.50Stephen BaldiWhether it’s personal guaranteeing, first leverage to build the company or, you know, having to bail it out because you run into a pandemic, which we all face back in 2020.11:47.75vigorbrandingOh, yeah. Yeah.11:55.18vigorbrandingAll right.11:57.80Stephen Baldium Oftentimes you can’t just walk from that business and matriculate to another W2 position because this is yours. And so I love when I can connect with founders.12:04.69vigorbrandingYeah.12:07.41Stephen BaldiI’ll work with non-founders also, but there’s something unique about the journey we’ve all been on.12:09.54vigorbrandingSure.12:11.88vigorbrandingYeah, absolutely. So let’s let’s talk a little bit. I just so folks know, I mean, what’s really cool about this conversation is I, ah you know, with vigor, we work with restaurant brands, right?12:22.32vigorbrandingSo we’re very familiar with restaurant brands. And you you have brands like Potbelly, Smashburger. You said founding farmers soon to come. ah Timber Pizza, Dunkin, I mean, some some household names.12:33.94vigorbrandingI don’t know if I’m um yeah any ants.12:34.26Stephen BaldiOn the end, don’t forget on the end, this is what else we have.12:35.99vigorbrandingNo, I can’t actually. Yeah, we actually worked on any answers. We have an agency called quench that a branding agency, Food and Beverage, that that actually worked with Auntie Anne’s because they started here in Lancaster.12:40.96Stephen BaldiOkay.12:45.88vigorbrandinghu Yeah, and I got to meet Anne Byler in the beginning.12:45.98Stephen BaldiThey did.12:48.81vigorbrandingSo, Auntie Anne is actually a person and she’s a wonderful lady and It was a really really awesome to meet her and and and what a she was so she’s a very philanthropic lady very very ah ah Generous and very successful very so she’s got a phenomenal story as well. But so yeah, I certainly won’t leave the auntie hands out But you so you have all these great brands um Talk a little bit about I mean, you know, you said somewhere founded by they you know the founders and all that what’s it like to to manage all these different brands and13:18.00Stephen BaldiI’ll tell you, it’s a dynamic environment. Airports are a wonderful place to do business. Again, I share with you briefly how I matriculated into them, but once you end up in this kind of ecosystem, it’s hard to walk away.13:33.35Stephen BaldiWe get the privilege of serving the traveling public every day. And what’s special about that are the passengers are dynamic. There are people who are going on business trips. There are people who are going on vacations. There are people who are going to be celebrated and there are people who are going to, you know,13:51.28Stephen Baldiusher people off into a transition of life. And we get to meet and connect with them all. And so I tell our crew members that we have the privilege of participating in whatever journey people are on every day.14:03.68Stephen BaldiAnd then the following day, we get a whole new group of people coming through.14:06.48vigorbrandingyeah yeah14:07.36Stephen BaldiSo that’s dynamic in the industries are small. I will tell you it’s about a $8 billion industry nationally in the United States, food and beverage and airports.14:14.57vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah.14:19.40Stephen BaldiBut the industry is really controlled by about 20 key companies. And within those 20 companies, you probably have 50 total key players.14:23.32vigorbrandingyeah14:27.50Stephen BaldiAnd so we know each other. you know You typically don’t leave the industry. Your business card may change. So you may go from company to company, but it’s a small ecosystem. And so I’ve enjoyed being in the industry now.14:40.58Stephen Baldi18 years. I started when I was two. ah But it’s a buy it’s been an extraordinary 18 years, except for some of the challenges like COVID. But you know for the people who were able and blessed to push through it, I think we have a different perspective on what we can be and what we should be in the businesses that we lead. To your point,15:00.50Stephen Baldium being defined by your business is not necessarily shallow, but there’s levels, there’s there’s depth to what we do.15:08.62vigorbrandingYeah.15:08.91Stephen BaldiAnd I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to swim in those depths ah for many years.15:14.41vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. We’ll get to COVID in a second, but I want to go back to airports. ah I’ll say, fortunately or unfortunately, I’m a customer. I’m in an airport every single week. So when you’re describing the people you see there, it’s like, yeah.15:21.70Stephen BaldiAwesome.15:24.71vigorbrandingI mean, you know there’s it’s every single walk of life. Everyone seems to have a higher level of stress.15:30.65Stephen Baldiyeah15:30.77vigorbrandingEveryone’s in a hurry, even when they’re not, or even worse, if someone’s really not in a hurry and they’re walking slow in the airport, that can actually be more frustrating and stressful. but ah So how do you how do you deal with that chaos? I mean, you got all these people that are amped up and nervous and they have anxiety or whatever, and then all of a sudden you’ve got to serve them and take them, you know, and represent these great brands and and and actually make the stuff and and in a and a fast time because they’re always running late, even if they’re not, they just think they’re always stressed.15:56.04Stephen BaldiRight.15:59.20vigorbrandingTalk about airport concessions. Talk about that chaos.16:02.08Stephen BaldiYeah, so you meet people where they are. And I will tell you, operating a street-side restaurant versus an airport, it’s a completely different sport.16:09.79vigorbrandingI cannot imagine.16:10.73Stephen BaldiI tell ah these founder-led companies when they’re thinking about matriculating in the airports, I tell them you know it’s like playing high school varsity basketball.16:10.80vigorbrandingyeah16:19.70Stephen BaldiAnd then you get drafted to the and NBA, like the speed, the requirements, you know, we have to go through the logistical um challenges of having every box that comes into your restaurant scan.16:20.40vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. Yeah.16:31.21Stephen BaldiLike Cisco’s not pulling up to our back door and delivering our ground beef for Smashburger.16:31.53vigorbrandingYeah.16:34.05vigorbrandingRight.16:35.85Stephen BaldiLike it’s going through an X-ray, just like your luggage is.16:38.86vigorbrandingYeah.16:39.39Stephen Baldium All of our crew members have to go through a 10 year federal background check.16:44.03vigorbrandingSure.16:44.19Stephen Baldium There’s complexities to the business, which are to our challenge. But to me, it’s also kind of to our benefit, Michael, because it reduces my competition. Because unless you’re a serious player, you’re not trying to participate in airports.16:54.14vigorbrandingMhm.16:56.81Stephen BaldiAnd so for me, understanding those barriers and be able to navigate them are great. But from a day to day operation standpoint, We encourage our crew members just to meet people where they are.17:07.93Stephen Baldium It may be the 50th time you’ve welcomed someone to our restaurant, but it’s the first time you’ve spoken to the person that’s in front of you. And again, you don’t know if they’re going on vacation or they’re going to a celebration of life to send a family member home.17:16.31vigorbrandingright17:22.96Stephen BaldiRegardless, you should be additive to their experience and not adding additional stress or complications. Just try to deliver them fast, friendly, exceptional,17:34.09Stephen Baldiservice because that’s our standard. That is our vision for the company, which is being exceptional is our standard. It’s not something that happens intermittently.17:42.84vigorbrandingAll right.17:44.59Stephen BaldiIt happens all the time. And so we welcome the chaos.17:45.78vigorbrandingYeah.17:48.05Stephen BaldiYou know, when it’s raining and snowing outside, even though your flights are delayed, we kind of welcome that because that means you get to hang out with you a little bit longer.17:54.78vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah.17:55.63Stephen BaldiSo as long as we’re not canceling flights, if they’re just delayed, that’s kind of our sweet spot.18:00.01vigorbrandingThere you go.18:00.65Stephen BaldiSo we welcome it all.18:02.58vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. You know, you you said something really interesting. So as I mentioned, Vigor is our agency that that does branding and marketing for restaurants. I know, and it’s not, you know, it’s common knowledge that turnover and and employees in the restaurant industry is like the biggest hassle, right? and Everyone’s dealing with that that turnover. But you just said something. they They have to go through this long, arduous process to get through. So do you find that you have, I’ll say, maybe better better qualified, better quality,18:32.38vigorbrandingah team members in your restaurants?18:34.64Stephen BaldiI would tell you that our hourly and even our salary leadership ah on some levels, they’re more committed because it is a personal investment to get through the process.18:39.98vigorbrandingMm-hmm.18:45.54Stephen BaldiAnd so, you know, typical food and beverage turnover is anywhere from 100 to 150%. And only ours is closer to like 30.18:51.64vigorbrandingRight.18:54.91vigorbrandingthat’s hey That’s fantastic. I never thought that that would have never dawned on me that that would be ah an unfair advantage. you know It’s funny, like yeah I was telling someone the other day, you know the higher the barrier to entry in business, actually the better the business is because you don’t have just everybody and anybody competing.19:12.66vigorbrandingSo you you have a higher barrier of entry.19:13.25Stephen BaldiCorrect.19:15.58vigorbrandingum And with that, you have you sort of have ah have a capture to a degree ah group of people, right? ah But the one thing that is interesting, I think if I remember correctly, I think there’s like 30%, I’ll say of ah if it’s a Dunkin Donuts on the street corner, 30% of their their ah customers will probably repeat, right?19:35.43vigorbrandingah you You are not, I mean, you know you might have the same business guy that flies every Thursday out to you know wherever,19:37.58Stephen BaldiNo?19:40.80Stephen Baldiwe have We’ll have our Michaels.19:41.81vigorbrandingYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.19:42.16Stephen BaldiWe have our Michaels.19:43.59vigorbrandingI’ll hit your place and at the airport get a coffee on the way out, but that’s it. Yeah, that’s it. So that’s.19:48.43Stephen BaldiI will tell you, though, we do have outside of the the traveling public, we do have recurring customers who are the people who work at the airport. I mean, at National and Dulles Airport, you get anywhere from five thousand to ten thousand employees that are there every day.19:56.97vigorbrandingNo, that makes sense. Sure.20:03.65Stephen BaldiAnd so ah they are also extremely important to us.20:03.75vigorbrandingMm hmm. Hey, they got to eat and drink, right?20:07.86Stephen BaldiThey got to eat and drink and they have to do it fast.20:09.70vigorbrandingRight. That’s right.20:10.84Stephen BaldiWell, we have different incentives to get them in and out, but they are our recurring customers and they’re about 15 to 20 percent of our business.20:15.10vigorbrandingYeah, that makes sense. Hey, going back to the old mall days that I was talking about the sneakers, I sold a lot of sneakers to people that worked in the mall, not many Air Jordans, but a lot of the, you know, a lot of the lower end sneakers.20:22.26Stephen BaldiYeah, for sure.20:27.36vigorbrandingSo, we talked to you hit on earlier and I know we, we inevitably, hopefully one day we, we don’t, and we don’t have to talk about, we always go back and talking about COVID and, uh, you know,20:35.54Stephen BaldiOh, yeah.20:37.21vigorbrandingOne of our companies and our holding company is a company called Varsity. And Varsity does retirement communities around the country, we market retirement companies. Well, that that industry shut down. I mean, no one was going, no one was visiting, and people were sick. It was bad. Restaurants, another one of our our agencies, right? We marketed restaurants. No one was going. It was basically shut down. you know Your hospitality Uh, and your restaurants, I mean, and your travel, I mean, you’re, you’re combining it all and how, talk about that a little bit.21:06.75vigorbrandingI mean, you were hit from both ends.21:07.11Stephen BaldiOh, I had the privilege of double dipping.21:11.81vigorbrandingYeah.21:11.93Stephen BaldiSo we were in hospitality beverage, but we were also in travel.21:12.41vigorbrandingIn turmoil.21:15.47vigorbrandingYeah.21:16.03Stephen BaldiAnd so I remember very specifically on March 11th, 2020, President Trump came on television and he announced a 30-day travel ban to Europe.21:27.16vigorbrandingMm-hmm.21:28.65Stephen BaldiAnd at the time, ah most people only thought about the impact of air traffic travel to Europe, places like London, Paris.21:37.58vigorbrandingright21:38.31Stephen BaldiBut I anticipated that this was really the big moment for our industry.21:43.00vigorbrandingRight.21:43.21Stephen BaldiI know a lot of people associate kind of their aha moment with COVID becoming a significant thing when the NBA shut down and more importantly, when the NCAA tournament shut down.21:53.85Stephen BaldiBut that announcement on March 11th signified for me that things were about to change for my business.21:58.60vigorbrandingYeah.21:58.72Stephen BaldiNow, I didn’t know it was going to be 18 months.22:02.21vigorbrandingRight.22:02.55Stephen Baldium But within about two weeks, we lost 85% of our top line revenue. And so on March 18, we shut the company down for 18 months. um And it was a challenge to what we talked about earlier, where a lot of my identity was tied up in this company that I built.22:20.39Stephen BaldiWell, there was no company to have an identity he tied to. And so for me as a leader, It really pushed me during that time to redefine who I was in that moment and who I was going to aspire to be if we were privileged enough to come out of it. And we did. We’ve come out very strong, stronger than actually we went in. um We actually sold 35% of the business last year to some strategic, but then also some individual investors. And so I’ve had the privilege of surrounding myself where before I was the only voice in the room and now there are many.22:55.69vigorbrandingRight.22:55.77Stephen BaldiAnd it presents some unique challenges, but also some extraordinary opportunities for me to low to learn and grow from other individuals and institutions that have built companies to scale, not all in food and beverage, many not.23:10.17Stephen Baldium But it’s really given me the opportunity to become a better leader um and to take our company into the next five to 10 years of what we will be.23:20.35vigorbrandingThat’s fantastic. you know i the the The COVID obviously affected everybody. It affected everybody in different ways. and like For us for a business, it was and it was really interesting in that you know because we have several different agencies in our holding company, it was sort of a little bit of a like a mutual fund where one or two stocks could be really down, but then others can be up. Our CPG agency, Quench,23:40.72vigorbrandingyou know we’ We’re doing we’re doing brands national brands like you know Sunmade Raise and Stark Institute. To me, COVID, to to that to that company and those brands, COVID was like the greatest sampling program in the history of Earth. i mean If you put it in a package back then, it was on a shelf. People bought it. They stuck it in their pantries. They ate it. They bought more of it. i mean They couldn’t get enough of it. i mean It was just ah an insane time.24:01.94vigorbrandingfor those companies. and then the other the The negative side obviously was the restaurants and everything else. i mean It’s a really interesting time. and and you know You said about how you it can define things. the other thing One of the other things we did was we took adversity. We had all these CEOs that were like, what is everyone doing? i mean like you you know This just happened. It was unprecedented. What is everybody else doing? so We thought, well,24:23.89vigorbrandingAll right, we’re not making i mean and and again it’s not we’re not making revenue businesses down, but we still have these relationships. They’re our clients. So what can we do? So it wasn’t my idea, but one of our guys said, hey, let’s create sort of a round table. of that And our agency is called Varsity. So we called it the Varsity Round Table. So we got all these CEOs that were just like,24:41.34vigorbrandingWhat’s everyone doing? And they were able to talk and it was so successful that we did it the next week. And then they talked more and then more and more CEOs jumped in. They weren’t even our clients and became this open source sharing that has now been, we are on about, I think it’s like 250th.24:58.49vigorbrandingroundt We’ve been doing them every week since the first month of COVID.25:04.38Stephen BaldiWow, impressive.25:05.19vigorbrandingAnd what’s done for a company, for us, i mean again we don’t make any money from it. And it wasn’t about that. It was just a place for people to really vent and help. And now we have speakers come in and talk, and everyone’s obviously well beyond COVID.25:16.71vigorbrandingBut it’s really allowed us to be a thought leader and assist these folks. And you know at the end of the day, it’s what it’s all about. And I know a big thing for you is is mentorship, right? I mean, you know talk about giving back. you want you Do you want to talk a little bit about that?25:27.81Stephen BaldiYeah, I’ll talk about that but I’ll also talk similarly to your roundtable so in February of 2020 I had the privilege of joining the organization YPO, which is Young President Organization, which is very similar to what you define there’s 35.25:42.82Stephen Baldi1,000 YPO members globally. And it’s really for business leaders who have decided that they want to walk towards betterment as a person, as a leader, as a family member, as someone contributing to their community in partnership with other leaders.25:58.55Stephen BaldiAnd so I am in the Washington DC Baltimore chapter here ah in the region.25:58.93vigorbrandingMm hmm.26:04.18Stephen BaldiAnd I’m in leadership. And I can tell you that organization was really critical in me navigating everything that I had to go through ah during COVID.26:14.98Stephen BaldiNow, we didn’t we didn’t meet weekly, um but we do meet monthly in a small group of seven to 10 people, and we have forum.26:15.26vigorbrandingSure.26:19.82vigorbrandingMonthly forum.26:22.81Stephen BaldiAnd, oh, there you go.26:22.85vigorbrandingI didn’t know I’m i’m YPO, too. I didn’t know your IPO. Yeah, I’ve been.26:25.92Stephen BaldiYeah!26:26.21vigorbrandingYeah.26:27.01Stephen BaldiSo YDO is really what sustained me during COVID.26:27.03vigorbrandingSo Oh.26:29.86Stephen Baldium And I’m privileged to be on the ladder now in leadership.26:32.72vigorbrandingDo for you.26:35.01Stephen BaldiAnd so, yeah, as far as mentorship, when I started the company, you know it was a priority for me to give opportunity to underrepresented populations. um Now, as I started to grow the company, my focus started to turn inward, Michael, if I’m being honest. And you know the beginning of 2020, it was difficult for anybody to tell me that I wasn’t the shit. I built this company from zero to something much larger than I had ever aspired to as a young person.27:04.34vigorbrandingRight.27:06.68Stephen Baldium But COVID took all of that away.27:08.81vigorbrandingYeah.27:09.14Stephen BaldiAnd so what it reminded me of is that there was a mission that I started this company with. And it was something that I needed to recommit to when we reopened.27:19.90Stephen BaldiAnd so now um we’re really pouring into our crew members um When I hire someone, specifically, let’s take Dunkin Donuts.27:30.76Stephen BaldiIf I bring in someone as a frontline worker that’s pouring coffee, if they’re still pouring coffee for us in three years, both them and the organization has done something wrong.27:34.59vigorbrandingMmhmm.27:41.17Stephen Baldium We want to scale people up. It is not cost effective for us to have people in the same position for multiple years. So if we’re not scaling someone up to take on additional responsibility inside our company and sometimes even outside of our company, then we’ve done something wrong. you know My mentor told me a good leader ah expects or wants people to leave. A great leader expects them to.28:08.64vigorbrandingYeah.28:09.01Stephen BaldiAnd so either they’re leaving the position that we’re hiring them for or they’re leaving to go to another organization. But either way, we have to invest in our hourly crew members because we can’t afford not to.28:20.86vigorbrandingYeah.28:21.76Stephen BaldiAnd so that’s something that we really communicate out and share out. to our community and our organization and people know that we’re gonna invest in them in ways that other companies might not to and we feel like that gives us a competitive advantage and as a leader it makes me feel a good about not only our bottom line results but also the success that we can feel. I have a manager who’s been with us for eight years.28:46.57Stephen BaldiHer name is Marta. And she started as a single unit manager. And now she’s a multi-airport director.28:53.24vigorbrandingawesome.28:53.39Stephen BaldiAnd to see her growth and to understand the impact that that has has had on her family is tremendous. And I want to do that a hundred times over.29:00.50vigorbrandingSure.29:00.79Stephen BaldiAnd I have the privilege of being able to do that as a leader of our company.29:01.01vigorbrandingYeah.29:04.70vigorbrandingand And think of it this way, I mean, and that’s what’s so great about this country, I’ll say is like, you were making whatever $22,000 a year, I think you had free room or board or whatever you were managing, right?29:12.60Stephen BaldiI did.29:13.65vigorbrandingSo you you’re probably like, I’m getting by, this is okay. And look, you and you know, obviously, you’re you’re very well educated, you have a great drive and personality, but you you created a a huge company. And that’s, that’s, that’s really super cool, really super cool.29:25.90Stephen BaldiWell, Michael, I can tell you specifically in that first year, 2002, I made $19,117 and 43 cents. I can tell you that specifically because that W2 still sits on my desk.29:36.80Stephen BaldiI have it framed.29:36.84vigorbrandingYeah, yeah.29:37.68Stephen BaldiI look at it every day just to remind me of where all of this started and where now we’ve grown the company to I’m, I’m extremely proud.29:45.15vigorbrandingYeah. And you know, you mentioned YPO and I’ve been very privileged to be in that organization for, gosh, I think at least 20 some years.29:53.06Stephen BaldiSo you joined when you were 17.29:54.45vigorbrandingYeah, no, but yeah, it’s one of those things, is we you know, it used to kick you out when you’re 50. In fact, I did, I got the rocking chair and showed up at the front door.30:02.59Stephen BaldiOh, there you go.30:03.68vigorbrandingYeah, that was the thing. And then they decided to have YPO Gold, WPO and all that. stuff So I stayed in and now we’re like a forum for life. So my guys, we meet once a month and we are together. ah we A lot of it’s virtual because these guys, a lot of it, we’re retired and stuff.30:15.91vigorbrandingSo um I’m old. I mean, the it’s YPO o Gold, but I always say it’s Silent G, you know, YPO old. So, but it’s a, it was the greatest thing I’ve ever done for me.30:26.29vigorbrandingMaybe a better husband, better father, better businessman, a better employer, better ah a friend. I mean, and I i mean that.30:32.27Stephen Baldiand human30:33.29vigorbrandingYeah. It’s just a better human. And I think a lot of people see it from the outside and think it’s all, it’s a bunch of guys didn’t talk about how many cars they have and where they want vacation. It’s not that at all.30:40.24Stephen BaldiIt’s not that it’s a transformational community, you know, having a high trust network is invaluable.30:40.92vigorbrandingYou know, it’s, you know, it’s a, it is, it is.30:47.41vigorbrandingYep. Yeah. Someone’s got your back, right? You can always pick up that phone and call your, one of your folks and just, they got your back. No, that’s yeah.30:54.39Stephen BaldiAnd it’s nobody, and it’s nobody, nothing, never. And to have that level of confidentiality is special.30:57.03vigorbrandingThat’s right. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, that’s that’s awesome. That’s all good for you. I had no idea. That’s fantastic. um So, but now I’m going to do a little ploy here. You got to go and you should go to Austin this year to the food and beverage round table.31:10.60vigorbrandingI mean, if you can check it out, it’ll be, I think it’s in in January, you know, I’ll probably be speaking there, but you should go.31:14.55Stephen BaldiOK.31:16.84vigorbrandingI mean, you know, I’d love to meet you in person. It’d be fantastic.31:18.67Stephen BaldiYeah, I’d love that.31:18.88vigorbrandingAnyway, so could we do,31:20.42Stephen BaldiMaybe we’ll be celebrating a Phillies World Series by then.31:22.74vigorbrandingOh man, you’re making me nervous. um I hope so. I hope you’re right. I hope you’re right. But our company, we do it we do an annual food and beverage trends report every year. We’ve been doing them for like, jeez, 15, 16 years. And so a lot of times we launched it at the food and beverage round table. So it’s always really cool stuff.31:40.96Stephen BaldiAwesome, send me an invite and I’ll be there.31:41.00vigorbrandingum Yeah. All right. Well, definitely. I’ll make sure you get it after this, after our conversation here. So, okay. When you go to a restaurant, you you have a choice between human interaction or self ordering kiosks. I know that, you know, you guys need to be really ah high speed, efficient and all that. What what do you, what do you prefer?31:58.57Stephen BaldiWell, it depends, right? Deploying technology is a strategy that ah should be done with intention and asking the question, and then what, right?32:12.55Stephen Baldium I will tell you a story. So the first time we experimented with self ordering technology was in 2008 at JFK airport terminal five.32:24.65Stephen BaldiAnd we deployed at the time iPads um at our Dunkin Donuts because we thought, you know, technology is moving in this way and it’s fun and it’s cool, but nobody wants to walk up to a counter and order a coffee by pressing buttons.32:29.75vigorbrandingMm-hmm. Yep.32:39.85vigorbrandingMm-hmm.32:44.46Stephen BaldiYou know, communicating to a cashier, ah medium cream and sugar takes about 15 seconds. When you are forcing someone to press hot coffee, then medium, then sugar, then extra sugar, like that’s just, we found that that was a ah strategy that wasn’t ah successfully deployed at that time.32:58.57vigorbrandingwho33:05.34Stephen Baldinow That was back in 2008. I will say trends have matured since then and so there is an opportunity to have self ordering technology at a place like Dunkin Donuts and people have learned to navigate it quickly. um You have hot buttons for certain high usage items and so I say to people all the time because my friends question me, whenever they see an iPad, they assume that that means that that technology has taken someone’s job. And what I try to educate people on is that you know if you deploy technology in a intentional way, in a smart way, it allows you to redirect33:45.29Stephen Baldiwhat you would have otherwise spent on front of house and the back of house.33:46.57vigorbrandingMm33:49.72Stephen BaldiOr maybe you’re deploying it at a ah leadership level that’s multi-unit capable.33:49.78vigorbrandinghmm.33:55.24Stephen BaldiAnd so it’s not necessarily ah replacing jobs, but allowing savvy business leaders to take that investment and redeploy it in other ways. I will tell you that the benefit is you know technology doesn’t call out. Sometimes you have to reboot the system, but it always upsells. It always asks you if you want a dessert and always ask you if you want to package your burger with fries. And so to be able to grow your top line ticket, ah that’s only going to drive bottom line outcomes, which allows a business owner like me to look at expansion, to go into other cities, to be able to bring other people along with us because the business is growing. And so there’s opportunity beyond just taking someone’s order. And so34:40.31Stephen BaldiTechnology is something you have to look at in parallel kind of decision making. But I enjoy it. There’s some concepts that it resonates more significantly than others. But I think there’s a balance and there needs to be a balance of both going forward. I don’t think we’re ever going to have an industry that is exclusively technology or self ordering driven. um And I think you go in with a bunch of assumptions, you understand how your customers respond to it, and then you be agile enough to adjust appropriately.35:08.96vigorbrandingYeah, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. And i I concur. I mean, you know, I don’t want to wait in a massive line, especially from an airport. But, you know, just ordering, pre-ordering and all that kind of stuff isn’t all that funny either.35:19.32vigorbrandingSo it’s just you with that happy balance. You know, I do like talking to somebody and, you know, because I talk a lot, I guess. But plus, I always ask for some ice in my coffee just a little bit. I don’t want nice coffee.35:27.30Stephen BaldiThere you go.35:27.67vigorbrandingSo it’s a little tough to explain to an iPad, you know, so very soft.35:31.57Stephen BaldiTo drop it into a couple of cubes, yeah.35:32.20vigorbrandingWhoops. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t want to burn my, burn my mouth. So now I know you have at least one daughter, correct?35:38.70Stephen BaldiI’d have two daughters and a son.35:39.87vigorbrandingTwo daughters. right All right. Sorry. There we go.35:41.61Stephen Baldi26, 25, and eight.35:41.75vigorbrandingThis will be great then. Wow. Wow.35:45.67Stephen BaldiI started over, Michael.35:45.74vigorbrandingA little gap here.35:46.59Stephen BaldiI started over.35:47.16vigorbrandingYou had a little gap here.35:48.55Stephen Baldihad I had a couple of gap years.35:48.93vigorbrandingA couple of gap years. i well so I have two daughters, 26 as of last week and coming coming up on 29. The reason I bring up these families is you know we all know we love all our kids the same.36:01.78Stephen BaldiNo, we don’t.36:01.79vigorbrandingBut on any but okay but on any given day on any given day, depending on the phone call, depending on the visit, there’s certainly ones that we like other better than others.36:02.97Stephen BaldiNo, we don’t.36:09.94vigorbrandingMichael Alex, it happens it back and forth all the time, just in case you’re listening. Those are my daughters. um36:14.34Stephen BaldiLove it.36:15.04vigorbrandingso you know, we talked about pot belly, we talked about smash burger, we talked about dunking, we talked about timber, we talked about founding farmers, am I missing any any ends?36:25.21Stephen BaldiThere you go.36:27.03vigorbrandingWhich one?36:27.28Stephen BaldiIt’s the end. Yeah.36:27.84vigorbrandingWhich one’s your favorite? What’s your favorite kid there?36:29.64Stephen BaldiMy favorite. Wow. You’re going to force me to say that.36:33.77vigorbrandingYeah, yeah.36:34.15Stephen BaldiWell, I will tell you, because I don’t know if any of our franchisors are going to listen to this part. I love them all equally, and I am privileged to be able to operate them. I will tell you the one that probably um sits deeply in my soul as a person ah is probably Dunkin’ Donuts.36:55.45vigorbrandingNice.36:55.85Stephen Baldiand And I’ll tell you Dunkin’ Donuts because when I was growing up ah in Southwest Philadelphia off of Cobbs Creek Parkway, I had family that lived out by the airport. And in order to get into that area of the city, you have to travel on Cobbs Creek Parkway.37:11.63Stephen BaldiAnd there’s a Dunkin Donuts on the corner of Cobbs Creek Parkway and I can’t remember the cross street, but it’s been there for close to probably 30 or 40 years. I’m 48 and I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t there. And I remember seeing that Dunkin Donuts and thinking how rich that franchisee must be to have that score.37:30.65Stephen BaldiNow I know that owning a single franchise is not necessarily a path to generational wealth, but it did, that Dunkin Donuts did put in my mind like what was possible.37:40.22vigorbrandingYeah, that’s cool.37:40.70Stephen Baldium And so to be able to be now a 14 year franchisee of that brand, um which is our longest franchise relationship, it’s pretty special.37:46.48vigorbrandingSuper.37:50.20vigorbrandingThat’s cool. And you know, I’ll say this from the, from the branding side of the world. Uh, what a phenomenal job. I mean, Duncan’s been around forever. I mean, at one point time it was getting a little tired. It was sort of just fading in the woodwork.38:01.35vigorbrandingAnd we know, I mean, all these brands, I mean, they come on strong. They’re, they’re always started somewhere. There’s this regional thing. And then they become these big brands and is they, they struggle to stay relevant.38:10.04Stephen BaldiRight?38:12.62vigorbrandingRight. And I think Duncan has just done a remarkable job.38:16.08Stephen BaldiWe have, yeah.38:16.24vigorbrandingof staying relevant i mean from their graphic design from their marketing their branding to their advertising and all the cool stuff they’ve done that you did you did they blew it away they they absolutely did and yep38:22.42Stephen BaldiI mean, we had the best Super Bowl commercial in my opinion. I mean, Ben Affleck and J.Lo, they did their thing. And Mark Wahlberg, it like it was it was a beautiful commercial.38:33.65vigorbrandingYeah, and you know, it just shows like when you have passion for something, and those guys certainly have passion for for for that part of the world and ah from the Boston area. I just think it’s it was exceptional. In fact, ironically, we have at at our holding company level, Pavone Group, we have the longest running, okay, this is no kidding, the longest running Super Bowl commercial voting mechanism called spotbowl.com.38:56.66vigorbrandingSo every year we get38:57.28Stephen BaldiOK.38:59.26vigorbrandingyou know, thousands and thousands and thousands of votes from around the world, and people vote for their favorite Super Bowl commercial as it’s being played, as the game is being played. And then the the national media outlets reach out to us, and then we tell them the results.39:13.08vigorbrandingAnd Dunkin Donuts was was certainly a stellar winner.39:13.26Stephen BaldiOK.39:16.02Stephen BaldiIt was and had to be at the top.39:17.26vigorbrandingYeah, it was awesome.39:17.88Stephen BaldiCome on out. Tell me Michael it was at the top.39:19.04vigorbrandingYeah, yeah. It was, well, I’m looking over here at my guy that runs it. it was It was the top one. Yeah, it was, it definitely was.39:24.42Stephen BaldiIt was, it I thought it was.39:25.10vigorbrandingOh, yeah, yeah, yeah.39:25.89Stephen BaldiThere you go. Thank you for, thank you for phoning your friend and getting confirmation.39:26.59vigorbrandingIt was it was awesome.39:29.55Stephen BaldiIt was a pretty special advertising.39:31.41vigorbrandingYeah.39:31.85Stephen BaldiAnd yeah, I didn’t get a chance to order my Duncan jumpsuit, but I’m sure it’s in the mail somewhere.39:36.72vigorbrandingYeah, there you go. there That’s that that everything.39:38.41Stephen BaldiMaybe Duncan corporate will see this and they’ll send me one.39:38.96vigorbrandingAlthough. yeah Yeah, all the merch, everything they did around that was super cool. and the take the outtakes from the39:43.99Stephen BaldiSuper cool.39:46.35vigorbrandingyou know It’s funny too because when it comes to this marketing stuff, like it used to be just a TV spot. and The reason I looked over to ask Dave, Dave’s the guy you spoke to. He’s the one that that kind of heads up this podcast. He’s also the one that really runs Spopple. We’ve been doing this so long that In the beginning, we didn’t know anything.40:03.48vigorbrandingIn other words, they would the game it was all about the game. The game was played. And then people realized, well, people love the commercials. So we never knew, like like you and everybody else, we just sit there and watch the game, cut the commercial. Oh, it’s a commercial for fill in the blank.40:15.61vigorbrandingNow, they release the commercials to us ahead of time.40:15.73Stephen BaldiYeah.40:18.45vigorbrandingThey tell us what it’s about. They send us outtakes. They give us information. Because they realize it, because it’s a couple million dollars for 30 seconds, that they need to get as much juice out of the you know squeeze as much juice out of this as possible so they want to know they put stuff online they do teasers and it’s it’s turned into a an event unto itself and uh we’re really proud to have been a part of it so it’s kind of funny that you brought that up that’s cool stuff all40:39.58Stephen BaldiYeah. Now I will tell you my all time favorite Super Bowl commercial.40:44.35vigorbrandingright uh40:45.67Stephen BaldiNow I remember the star, but I don’t even remember the brand.40:49.95vigorbranding-oh40:50.06Stephen BaldiRemember the the commercial with the kid and the Star Wars mask and he was going around zapping things and he went and he zapped the car and the car started.40:55.24vigorbrandingVolkswagen. Yeah. Yeah.40:58.28Stephen BaldiThat was my all-time favorite more commercial.40:58.46vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. That was ah that was a Volkswagen spot. That was a fantastic spot.41:03.91Stephen BaldiFantastic commercial.41:03.93vigorbrandingIt was a fantastic. You know, I’ll i’ll tell you mine next. i’m I’m a simp and I, you know, ah the Budweiser commercials and41:11.83Stephen BaldiOh yeah.41:13.17vigorbrandingThere was one though in particular where the guy, you know, he raises these horses and it goes on to be a Clydesdale and it it takes off and the horse leaves and there’s a parade. And I almost get choked up thinking about it.41:24.28vigorbrandingIt was so well done. There’s a parade, the guy standing there to parade and the horse sees him, breaks away, chases him down on the road. Oh my gosh. It was, it was, I had to do a live TV commercial. I had to do a live segment on the news about the the best TV spot and and they they, you know, they played it and I wasn’t expecting them to play it.41:40.60vigorbrandingI’m like, I had tears going down my face.41:42.56Stephen BaldiOh, you got emotional.41:42.51vigorbrandingI’m like, That’s my favorite.41:43.64Stephen BaldiOh, look at you.41:45.41vigorbrandingI still get emotional. i think but i think it I think it was the best all-time i mean story. It was just cute. so anyway That’s right, man.41:50.70Stephen BaldiAnd the best story always wins, Michael. Best story always wins.41:53.25vigorbrandingThat’s right. right yeah Yeah, you know, we always tell people a brand is a promise, ah but you have to tell a story. You have to draw a motion, make them laugh, make them cry, make them feel something about your brand. And that’s how you break through. And it’s always important, you know, a lot of times clients will say stuff, um you know, hey we just want to sell more, we got to do this, we got to do that. And and really it comes down to ah the fact that you’ve you got to do great creative to break through to get people’s attention.42:19.09vigorbrandingSo, well, I have a couple more questions for you and I want to hit them for sure.42:21.03Stephen BaldiOkay.42:22.25vigorbrandingSo now look, ah we talked about the airports you’re in, in the in the in the greater DC area, some of the most, I mean, they’re they’re busy, they’re they’re important, they’re huge. Other airports, I mean, you have great concessions in those airports.42:34.37vigorbrandingOther airports that you think have great concessions in the country?42:37.16Stephen BaldiYeah, I will tell you, Atlanta, one of the busiest airports in the world, definitely in this country.42:42.95vigorbrandingOh yeah, oh yeah. yeah42:45.86Stephen Baldium And then Houston, Orlando, Chicago, Charlotte, these are all markets that we kind of look at.42:49.80vigorbrandingMm hmm. Oh yeah.42:54.54vigorbrandingMassive hubs.42:56.51Stephen Baldium It’s important for us to be in high demand airport systems, because you never know how the world’s going to,43:02.80vigorbrandingYeah.43:05.21Stephen Baldirespond. And Morgan Hausl is one of the people who I look to for kind of strategic direction.43:12.04vigorbrandingMm hmm.43:13.49Stephen BaldiI’m thinking about my business. And one thing he always says is that as a business leader, if you’re only planning for the risk and threats that you can predict, you’re probably missing the biggest one.43:24.90vigorbrandingOh, yeah.43:25.41Stephen Baldium And so how we kind of shelter ourselves from that is we go into high demand markets. So even if an airline, a legacy airline like an American or United or a Delta or a Southwest ah decides that they no longer want to operate in that market, there’ll be another legacy carrier chomping at the bit together.43:44.09vigorbrandingSure.43:44.40Stephen BaldiAnd so that’s one of our strategy when we’re looking to grow nationally is to look at high demand airport markets.43:44.77vigorbrandingSure. Mm hmm.43:51.29Stephen BaldiAnd those are just a few that I named.43:53.58vigorbrandingI’m a big fan of Morgan has effect. We have him speaking at our, at our YPO. He’s, he’s one of, I think he might even be next month’s speaker. So I’m really, really, are you really, that’s all his book.44:00.64Stephen Baldiah We’re bringing them in on the 13th of November. Yeah.44:04.00vigorbrandingHis book’s incredible. Incredible. I made my daughter’s read it. So, um, what’s next for balding management group. And mean we talked about in other airports. What’s, what’s next for you? What’s what’s your vision? Where are you were are you hoping to go?44:13.26Stephen Baldimy My vision is to grow the tent and plant trees that I may never even know their shade, um because that’s when I think a community and when a business is thriving is when you’re willing to do things that you might not be able to see to fruition. And so we’re trying to build a company, not trying, we are building a company that will rise the tide for all the boats. I want to create another 20, 25 stories just like mine.44:41.46vigorbrandingYeah.44:41.62Stephen Baldium I can invest and grow my company so that it’s beneficial and creates generational wealth for me, but I also have the opportunity to listen to the individuals whose stories might not necessarily be taken to the top because they’re not fully formed or well articulated.44:59.34Stephen BaldiI try to look for those people, because I was once that person.45:00.66vigorbrandingyeah45:02.15Stephen BaldiI was the property manager in the office, and Cynthia Garber came and tapped me on the shoulder, which she did not have to do.45:02.50vigorbrandingyep45:08.96Stephen BaldiAnd so I’m trying to identify those voices in our companies, the people in leadership, but also the people who we don’t necessarily identify with immediately, because a lot of our workforce our ESL where English is a second language.45:24.24Stephen BaldiAnd so verbal communication is a challenge, but I don’t want that to get in the way of us knowing or ide

The best french fries in Southern California Featuring Tommys, Five Guys, Daglas, In N Out, Jack In The Box, McDonalds, Blue Dog, Wahlburgers, Smashburger, Hitching Post, Eureka!, Outback, Fatburger, Islands, Del Taco, Rallys, Fat Sal's, Raising Cane's, Weinerschnitzel, Dodger Stadium, Grill-A-Burger, and Heavy HandedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fork Reporter, Neil Saavedra, joins Gary and Shannon for #TastyTuesday to talk about Hooters closing locations, the key to a great Smashburger and much more!

No stranger to the restaurant industry, Max Sheets got his start as a teenager scraping cheese off pans in a Pizza Hut kitchen. He later spent more than 20 years in real estate and development for such brands as Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Smashburger, and Ted's Montana Grill. In fact, he was with Smashburger when the footprint transformed from a handful to hundreds, and was at the floor of Ted's Montana Grill when Ted Turner and George McKerrow pioneered the better-burger segment. His responsibilities took him across the country. And in those travels, he saw things done well, and  saw the opposite. He then took those learnings to Chick N Max, a six-unit fast casual, with more than 50 locations in various stages of development across Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.

Bob Evans is apparently for sale. McDonald's price increases are not created equally. And what CEO Denise Nelsen plans to do at Smashburger.

Embark on a gastronomic adventure with me, Carl Fiadini, as Chef Jeffrey and I chat with the illustrious Amy Drew Thompson. We'll whisk you away to the bustling streets of Orlando, unveiling three of the cities burger havens that are flipping the script on traditional patties and buns. If you're a fan of unconventional pairings, wait until you sink your teeth into the concept of Reuben Pizza – it's the kind of culinary mash-up that will have your taste buds doing the tango. As the holidays loom, we're also spicing up the festive table with twists on corned beef and Easter classics, ensuring your celebrations are anything but ordinary.As the aromas of smoked corn beef waft through the air, we'll share a plate of foodie insights, including a spotlight on the Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards. This year, Primrose Lane's classic Smashburger reigns supreme, but don't take our word for it – come along as we explore the flavors that clinched the title. And for those craving a nostalgic sip, we reminisce about Miami's quintessential cafe con leche and Cuban sandwiches, proving that food is not just about taste but about the memories it evokes.Rounding out our feast of conversation, we invite you to raise a glass at our upcoming events where brewers and chefs unite to create unparalleled dining experiences. We'll tease your palate with hints of a mango hefeweizen that pairs like a dream with pizza, and muse over the perfect number of courses for a dinner party. From a smoked fish dip that left a lasting impression to the promise of collaborative mixers with local food heroes, this episode is a smorgasbord of ideas for the discerning food enthusiast. So, loosen your belts, sharpen your forks, and tune in as we serve up a heaping helping of food fun and cooking wisdom. Walk-In Talk Podcast now sweetened by Noble Citrus! Bite into a Juicy Crunch tangerine, 40 years perfected; seedless and oh-so-tasty. Or savor a Starburst Pummelo, the giant citrus with a unique zing. Don't miss Autumn Honey tangerines, big and easy to peel. Noble - generations of citrus expertise, delivering exceptional flavor year-round. Taste the difference with Noble Citrus! Peninsula Foodservice: The Best Beef! Peninsula Foodservice delivers Creekstone Farm beef, with top-quality meats and #1 service for Chefs Here is a word about our partners:Citrus America revolutionizes the retail and hospitality sectors with profitable solutions:- Our juicing machines excel in taste, hygiene, and efficiency.- Experience fresh, natural, and exciting juices as an affordable luxury.- We promote a healthier lifestyle by making it effortless to enjoy fresh, natural ingredients.- Join us in transforming the way people enjoy juices.Elevate your beverage game to new heights! Support the showThank you for listening to the Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and Company. Our show not only explores the exciting and chaotic world of the restaurant business and amazing eateries but also advocates for mental health awareness in the food industry. Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness. Be sure to visit our website for more food industry-related content, including our very own TV show called Restaurant Recipes where we feature Chefs cooking up their dishes and also The Dirty Dash Cocktail Hour; the focus is mixology and amazing drinks! Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch you next time on the Walk-In Talk Podcast. https://www.TheWalkInTalk.com Also rate and review us on IMDb:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27766644/reference/

Chef Kelsey Murphy and Pete Ferriero recap the auditions and dive deep into the Smashburger episode. 

The inaugural LA Wine and Food Festival is coming to Santa Monica pier next week (March 1-3). Organizer Cecile Rebbot joins us to offer a sneak peak at what you can expect from this bona fide chef-a-palooza. Plus, my thoughts on Eater's 2024 "Where to Eat" list, Mona Holmes' article on whether LA has achieved "peak smashburger," and what restaurants can do to weather the junk fee-related storm ahead. Helpful links: LA Wine and Food Festival https://www.lawineandfood.com/ LA Wine and Food Festival on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lawinefoodfest/ Eater Where to Eat 2024 https://www.eater.com/24009889/best-places-to-eat-restaurants-travel-2024-list Mona Holmes on smashburgers https://la.eater.com/2024/2/15/24074061/smash-burgers-hamburger-takeout-pop-up-los-angeles-opinion-southern-california Stephanie Breijo on junk fees https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2024-02-15/new-california-hidden-fees-law-service-fee-ban Top Chef Season 21 trailer https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-21/videos/your-first-look-at-top-chef-season-21 Unlistables on Gold Spoon https://www.instagram.com/thelacountdown/reel/C3lOu9rvlDH/ Episode in which I give my take on why smashburgers are like making out https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-infatuations-brant-cox-on-eeeeeatscon-and-a/id1667175207?i=1000611882092 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thelafoodpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thelafoodpodcast/support

Tuesday, February 20th. In this episode we talk about: Doug tries kava on his weekend getaway Weather report: Smashburger adds jackfruit burger but bun isn't vegan, Korean vegan tour launches, BK includes Impossible Whopper in new app promo, new documentary Pignorant Could the 'Third Wave' of Vegan Cheese Move Flexitarians Off Dairy? () Culture War Trolls Add to UK Vegan Restaurants' Struggles (https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/17/we-block-10-people-a-day-culture-war-trolls-add-to-uk-vegan-restaurants-struggles) Tune in live every weekday at 11am to watch on  or on Instagram ( and ), or watch on Twitter or Twitch! Follow , , and for more.

Lasst euch niemals von Daniel erklären, was laut ihm angeblich ein Smashburger ist. Überlegt euch außerdem auch zweimal, ehe ihr eine vertragliche Beziehung mit Internetanbieter PŸUR eingeht - selbst wenn ihr bereits dort Kunde seid. Zögert dagegen nicht, ins Boot zu steigen, wenn die Skipper persönlich mit echten Orcas befreundet sind. Eure überlebenswichtigen Weisheiten der Woche, in Der Letzte Podcast mit Co-Host Brobert.

Friday – Can sour candy reduce anxiety? Prime Time Kitchen with Orlando Weekly Restaurant Critic Faiyaz Kara on a KISS watch party at Rock & Brews, Iron Chef Morimoto in town, a new Smashburger joint called Cow & Cheese, The Current in College Park, Miracle on Orange at the Courtesy & Death in the Afternoon. Rich Tips with Candace on saving when traveling. Rauce Thoughts on being interviewed by a kid. Plus, WOKE News, Sink or Sail, Embers Only, Trivia & Last Call.

✨ Christine Ferris, Director of Marketing (True Food Kitchen and Smashburger Alumna)☁️ The power of trusting your gut in decision making☁️ Pros and cons of participating in sports in college☁️ Restaurant social media marketing at Smashburger☁️ The importance of taking risks and being uncomfortable in making career decisions☁️ Investing in your mental well being and work-life balanceJoin the Sky Society Women in Marketing private LinkedIn group.Follow Sky Society on Instagram @skysociety.co and TikTok @skysociety.co

The weekend is so close you can almost taste it. So we're digging into the biggest food story of the week: A blockbuster trial involving DIA, two homegrown burger empires, allegations of bribery, and a car chase on I70. Newsletter editor and resident foodie Peyton Garcia joins host Bree Davies and producer Paul Karolyi to break down the DIA concessions scandal that went to court this week. Plus, Peyton shares her top picks for the super spooky weekend to come.  Would you prefer Cherry Cricket over Smashburger at DIA? We want to hear where you like to eat at the airport, and what you think might be missing from the menu. Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: 720-500-5418‬ Bree mentioned our episode about the Cherry Cricket. The podcast about spiritualism she mentioned was in fact American Hysteria host Chelsey Weber-Smith discussing the topic in a members-only episode of You're Wrong About. Here are links to all the events Peyton highlighted: Carving & Cocktails (Union Station) South Broadway Halloween Parade (Baker) Spirits & Spirits (Four Mile Historic Park) Trick-or-Treat Trail (Denver Zoo) For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver at denver.citycast.fm. Follow us on Instagram: @citycastdenver Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver Learn more about the sponsors of this episode: “Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks” at the Denver Art Museum Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the line between fast-casual and casual-dining continues to blur, Smashburger is hopping on the more upscale, experiential trend within the limited-service category. Recently, somewhat in defiance of the off-premises focus of the COVID-era restaurant, Denver-based fast-casual burger chain, Smashburger, has been trying to get guests to linger longer instead of grabbing their food at a pickup window or multi-lane drive-thru.Over the past few years, Smashburger has elevated its brand with new digital-first prototypes that focus just as much on technology as they do aesthetics. The new prototypes, which began rolling out in 2021, feature open concept kitchens so that customers can see their burger being smashed and milkshake being made in a sort-of “culinary theater” experience.

Brian Owen is the planting pastor of Grace City Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Brian has a heart for redemption and helps us to see the terrible fall of sin in Genesis 3, but the great hope of the gospel that is pointed to first in that passage of Scripture. Along the way we discuss the differences between Boston and Camden, we celebrate the joy of Waffle House and Cracker Barrel, and SmashBurger. Along the way we wrestle with some of the gruesome details that are often overlooked in teaching about sin and shame. As you hear this conversation, please take time to pray for Brian, his church, and the city of Boston. Consider whether God might desire for you to join him in the work he and others are doing in Boston, Mass. Subscribe to The Ordinary Christian Podcast

Happy Sweet 16, Smashburger! Taco Bell's "Taco Tuesday" is back for a limited time, Wendy's has a new taste of Fall, and more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Full show - FrYiday | Ask us anything | Booze News | Ice vs Iced | Joking off | Steve went to Smashburger

Steve had an interesting experience at a restaurant, which leads to everyone debating the best burger instead of listening to his story!

Title: Prospecting With A Purpose Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: It's Your Choice, Reluctant Or Relevant Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: Getting Real: Asking the Hard Questions Before Signing a Lease Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: The Importance of Grasping Tenant Sales Performance Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Season 13, Episode 6 In this episode we dive into the often overlooked aspect of tenant sales data. Kyle sits down with Beth and Cory, seasoned commercial real estate professionals, and they unravel why it's critical for landlords to keep an eye on their tenant's financial health. From identifying red flags to exploiting growth opportunities, they shed light on how this knowledge can significantly impact a landlord's success. About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: Harnessing Market Dynamics: Supply, Demand, and Leverage Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Season 13, Episode 5 In episode 5, Beth and Cory, divulge actionable tactics for becoming a 'Tenant Magnet' in the competitive retail environment. They reveal effective strategies for minimizing vacancies and attracting desirable tenants to your commercial property. Learn how to optimize your properties for maximum profitability and maintain an appealing, revenue-generating asset. About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Adam talks to Jeremy Morgan, CEO of WellBiz Brands.  They discuss the secrets to being a successful multi-brand CEO as well as how to run a small business effectively with highly engaged employees.  This leads to exceptional customer experience!  Listen to this episode for some of those great secrets that Jeremy shares.  Jeremy Morgan is the Chief Executive Officer for WellBiz Brands, Inc, the nation's premiere franchisor of five beauty and wellness franchise brands: Drybar®, Amazing Lash Studio®, Radiant Waxing™, Elements Massage® and Fitness Together®.  With nearly 900 locations, 350,000 members and $600 million of system-wide sales across the portfolio, WellBiz Brands builds profitable businesses by catering to the needs of the affluent female consumer.  Jeremy began his tenure at WellBiz as the as the CEO for Elements Massage, where he worked diligently to support and build relationships with over 250 Elements Massage franchise owners, a community of 4,000 massage therapists, and over 120,000 members nationally. As a result, he led Elements Massage to achieve its most successful year in performance in 2018, as measured by studio revenue, client growth and customer satisfaction. Due to his open leadership style, he was recognized with a 91% Glassdoor CEO approval rating from the Elements system. Previously, Jeremy was a Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Consumer Insights for Smashburger, and the CEO of Tava Kitchen.In addition to his professional achievements, Jeremy is an active member of the community and supports Colorado Succeeds Board of Advisors, The Denver Boys and Girls Club, The Denver Chamber of Commerce and Duke Alumni Committee Denver, and is a member of the Kellogg Alumni Club of Colorado. Morgan was a member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce 2015 Leadership Denver Class, was recognized by the Denver Business Journal as a member of the 2018 40 Under 40 class of leaders, and is an active member of Young Presidents' Organization (YPO). Main Topics03:10 How does a CEO divide his time with multiple brands?06:26 Brands are unique, here is what it takes to run a brand.09:25 What does customer experience mean to you?11:49 The number one challenge in a small business!13:35 Best First Day Ever?17:05 Can you transfer culture from HQ to the franchisees?19:53 Best piece of adviceConnect with Adam:http://www.startwithawin.comhttps://www.facebook.com/AdamContosCEO https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcontos/ https://www.instagram.com/adamcontosceo/ https://www.youtube.com/@LeadershipFactoryhttp://twitter.com/AdamContosCEO Listen, rate, and subscribe!Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle Podcasts

Title: Harnessing Market Dynamics: Supply, Demand, and Leverage Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠ Season 13, Episode 4 In this episode, industry experts Beth and Cory guide brokers on how to harness the laws of supply and demand to create leverage in the commercial real estate market. Discover the subtleties of market dynamics, learn how to anticipate changes in supply and demand, and understand how to exploit these changes to maximize opportunities. About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: Mastering The Long Game In Commercial Real Estate Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠⁠Beth Azor⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠⁠here.⁠⁠ Season 13, Episode 3 Join Beth & Cory as they delve into the intricacies of a career built on strategic patience to sustain growth. About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠The Azor Academy⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: Small but Mighty: The Power of a Close-Knit Network in Commercial Real Estate Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - ⁠Beth Azor⁠ and ⁠Cory Zelnik.⁠ Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida. Owns and manages five shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials, and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out ⁠here.⁠ Season 13, Episode 2 In this episode, Beth Azor and Cory Zelnik underscore the power of nurturing a close-knit network of influential relationships. From detailed breakdowns of successful networking strategies to insightful analyses of the commercial property market, Beth and Cory help you build the foundation of your commercial brokerage community. Whether you're a seasoned broker or a newcomer. this episode equips you with the know-how to form a strong, influential network to propel your career. About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - ⁠Azor Advisory Services⁠ - ⁠The Azor Academy⁠ - ⁠Links to "Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook”⁠ Cory Zelnik - ⁠Learn more about Zelnik & Co⁠ - Follow Cory on ⁠Instagram⁠ & ⁠TikTok⁠ Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Title: Get REAL Market Knowledge Welcome to Season 13 of Commercial Real Estate School! In this season, I sit down with not one but two commercial real estate veterans - Beth Azor and Cory Zelnik. Beth Azor, the Canvassing Queen™, is the founder and owner of Azor Advisory Services, a commercial real estate advisory and investment firm based in South Florida.Owns and manages 5 shopping centers in Florida and travels the country consulting with and training associates in the commercial real estate industry. With over 36 years of expertise, case studies, testimonials and a-ha moments (good and bad), she has personally canvassed over 10,000 hours and still today canvass every week. A veteran real estate broker and Founder/CEO of Zelnik & Company, Cory Zelnik has launched, crafted, and packaged some of the largest corporate real estate expansions on the east coast. From working with legendary banking and investment staple JPMorgan Chase and food service giants Panda Express, Smashburger, Lenwich and Dunkin Donuts, Cory has presided over and specialized in the retail needs of prominent property owners and institutions, along with some of the top national retailers for more than three decades. With his independent real estate firm and team, Cory continues solidifying his name as a brand with preparedness, discipline, and integrity. Cory recognizes that the real estate market in the tri-state area is constantly evolving; thus, so is he. His track record has mirrored the upward swing of the real estate business, growing, building, and maintaining its structure and polish since the late 1980s. In a quickly transforming world, Zelnik & Company happily pivots in the direction of change; social media. Cory (@coryzelnik) and his company account @zelnikco have made great strides in entering and engaging in the social media world. Zelnik & Company understands that properly utilizing social media platforms boosts one's brand and increases opportunities for their clients. Exclusive Sponsor Digsy Virtual Assistants are a great resource, but people don't hire them because it takes a lot of training, management, and documentation to make them effective. Digsy solves this problem with its fully-managed virtual assistant service. Check them out here. Season 13, Episode 1 Join commercial real estate veterans Beth Azor and Cory Zelnik in Season 13, Episode 1. Their shared wisdom and firm belief in fostering relationships and networking within the community really sets the tone for the season. Learn how to gain first-hand market knowledge and understand the art of giving in order to get. Whether you're a seasoned broker or just getting started, Beth and Cory's insights will empower you to understand the market and become a part of the commercial real estate community. So, check it out to learn how to expand your network, increase your market intelligence, and elevate your business. About "Commercial Real Estate School" Welcome to Commercial Real Estate School. Every episode is a lesson featuring some of the top names in the business, sharing insights and expertise to inspire your commercial real estate journey. Our powerhouse guests offer a wealth of expertise, guiding you through the complex commercial landscape and providing actionable insights to fast-track your success. Class is in session. Links and Resources: Beth Azor - Azor Advisory Services - The Azor Academy - Links to "“Don't Say No For The Prospect: How I Went From A Sales Rookie to a Retail Leasing Rockstar to a Shopping Center Owner With More Than $79 Million in Assets!!" & “The Retail Leasing Playbook” Cory Zelnik - Learn more about Zelnik & Co - Follow Cory on Instagram & TikTok Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Commercial Real Estate School on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your friends and colleagues who might find it useful. Your support helps us continue bringing you the best in commercial real estate content. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creschoolshow/support

Ain't nothin' like a juicy, meaty, and cheesy homemade burger!But today's recipe will change how you view burgers.Well, you've probably known (or heard about) Guga if you've been in this food space for a while.He's been my guy for years and has been leading the way in our type of content.And when he said that a burger changed his life AGAIN, dude, I'm givin' it a try!However, instead of doing his Smashburger test, we went ahead and recreated his winning burger recipe.I tried it to be as close as possible to Guga's smash burger recipe, and boy, oh boy… Wanna know my freakin' honest review of this burger? Check the full episode now! Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)Guga's game-changing burger ingredient (00:30)What does Guga's smash burger sauce taste like? (01:43)A bit about Guga (03:22)Is hand-ground meat worth the trouble? (05:20)The ideal hamburger meat ratio (05:56)Why you should make your own hamburger patty? (08:06) Additional Resources:Share this podcast with someone on social media!Visit Kosmo's website here.Check out Kosmo's YouTube channel. Connect with Kosmo:Instagram: @kosmosqFacebook: @kosmosqTikTok: @kosmos_q--Follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or anywhere else you listen to your podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts! 

Why is Smashburger ditching traditional drive-thrus? This week's episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Carl Bachmann, president of the fast-casual burger chain that is looking to get back on the growth path after some difficult years. The chain is operated by the Philippines-based Jollibee Corp. It operates fewer than 250 locations, down by about a third over the past five years. But Bachmann talks on the podcast about why the brand is ready for growth again and what Smashburger has been doing to prepare for that growth. And he talks a lot about the company's new “virtual” drive-thrus, or mobile-order drive-thrus and why that will be the company's option going forward. That goes in a different direction from many other fast-casual chains that have focused on increasing the number of traditional drive-thru lanes. It's an interesting discussion about fast-casual drive-thrus so check it out.

Carl Bachmann, President of Smashburger, joins Dana to talk about the restaurant's first ever virtual drive-thru that's now open in Houston.Follow Dana: https://www.instagram.com/danatyson/

LIVE weekdays at 1pm!Lot's to cover today, including PK's beef with his apple watch, a quickie on the indictment of Former President Trump, and a roll call as we join our livestreams. Plus, we're listening to your Instant Voice Notes and Clo agrees with Yessica - a parent DOES spy on their kid! DK reads your DM's, including one about a SMASHBURGER, while PK details his “slut burger” + “hot chicken” meal at Underground Hall in Houston!We're tackling the tough questions today, like whether it's ever appropriate to tell someone they look like an “adult” actor, and whether Irish Spring soap really helps get rid of bugs. And speaking of bugs, we'll reveal the real reason why your food tastes better at 3AM.But that's not all! We're also detailing an aquitaine “Drunk Life,” sharing Norby's time on “Price is Right” winning the final SHOWCASE + a trip to Hawaii, and discussing what top 3 game shows we want to be on. Twitter removing verified check marks unless you pay up, Shiba Inu taking over the Twitter bird, and a 5-year-old buying over $4K in toys on Amazon are just a few of today's top 3 things.And let's not forget PK having to wear the “grumpy” umbrella hat, Duryan wanting to create a terrarium, and our guess of 156 for “What's That Noise.” We'll also be discussing the Town Crier's report of “A Loud Noise In The Morning.”In our final thoughts, Duryan shows us an apple watch hack using gestures, DK updates us on her health issues, and Duryan has a change of heart and gets his 13-year-old son an Easter basket. Plus, we'll share our first colognes and what goes into an Easter basket. And there's so much more! Don't miss out on this exciting episode.The PK and DK ShowA daily interactive comedy podcast. Prizes and funny business (our only business)! LINKS!Home/PK and DK PLUS: PKandDK.comDiscord: https://discord.gg/VYhrfqKDY6Podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/dailylaughsMerch + Stickers: https://www.pkanddkshop.comSponsorships: hello@pkanddk.com PROMO CODES!Podium: “PK and DK” for 20% off Art Car IPA 5K: Code “PKDK” for 15% off

This week on the Extra Serving podcast, NRN editors Holly Petre, Sam Oches, and Leigh Anne Zinsmeister spoke about Texas Roadhouse’s latest quarter earnings. Texas Roadhouse reported its Q4 earnings recently and, during that call, revealed that January and February saw the highest traffic numbers in the chain’s history. Is this an outlier, or a sign that people aren’t trading down? The editors discussed this and more. Next, the editors discussed Panera’s latest subscription program updates and its benefits. Are subscriptions the future of loyalty programs? The editors discussed that and whether or not customers have subscription fatigue. Finally, the editors discussed Starbucks’ new olive oil drink that was introduced in Italy. The team talked about the future of this novelty drink and whether it could take off in the U.S. This week’s guest is Carl Bachmann, president of Smashburger, who spoke to Joanna Fantozzi about the chain’s technology.

On today's 2-23-23 Thursday show: Snow is on the way for the Bay Area!, a new study showed that drinking certain sodas had an interesting effect on mice, super pigs are invading the United States, low rise jeans are officially back, a plane spent 16 hours in the air only to be forced to return to the same airport that it took off from, Smashburger launches a Mac and Cheese burger and Graham thinks they stole the idea from him, and there is a new law being proposed in Florida to make it illegal to have your dog stick its head out of the car window, plus so much more!

Tuesday, January 31st — In today's episode we talk about: Weather report: Smashburger trialing jackfruit burgers, UK Prime Minister declines vegan challenge, lots of Germans are flexitarian, Dirty Vegan launches food brand Impossible and Beyond Burgers are Hard to Find In Stores (Business Insider) Running to Escape Emotions May Worsen Well-Being (Yahoo! Finance) The Plant-Based Morning Show is presented by Complement. Tune in live on Instagram (@nomeatathlete_official and @complement), or watch on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Twitch every weekday at 11am Eastern! Follow @plantbasedmorningshow, @realmattfrazier, and @itsdoughay for more.

Chipotle wants to hire 15,000 workers nationally. Smashburger is testing a jackfruit-based veggie burger. And Papa John's has a new international prototype.

In this episode, Phillip Lanos and Jason Miller are joined by Scott Crane, previous CEO of SmashBurger. Scott Crane, Former CEO of SmashBurger and Board member of many companies. Scott has had a highly successful business career and is now spending much of his time as a board member mentoring CEOs to success.Tune in to learn more!For more go to: https://www.strategicadvisorboard.comConnect:Strategic Advisor Board: www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-advisor-boardJason Miller: www.linkedin.com/in/jasontmiller-sabPhillip Lanos: www.linkedin.com/in/philliplanosScott CraneLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-crane-9279817/Website: https://smashburger.com/

November 04, 2022 [00:00] START [04:36] Lil Yachty frozen pizza [10:05] People give bad food reviews [14:28] Bad hiphop names [17:34] Bad chicken places [21:44] Fast Food is not worth it [28:36] The Decline of Boston Market [37:38] Jolliebee's [39:58] Smashburger is terrible [43:38] All these crab places! [49:57] Barbarian movie [1:00:32] Movies NOT to watch [1:15:49] Paul Thomas Anderson movies [1:19:51] Items no longer in the home [1:30:27] BREAK [1:00:00] Streaming / TV /  Movie updates [1:36:32] Bob Odenkirk in the MCU [1:43:08] The Machine movie trailer [1:46:49] PLUGS / Show Close Brough to you by: Steven Singer Jewlers www.ihatestevensinger.com 'It's Erik Nagel' Show Audio | Video | Social Media | Discord www.itseriknagel.com VIDEO EPISODE: YOUTUBE

Smashburger is paying the price for claims it exaggerated the size of its burgers. Swig has a new CEO. And New England Sysco workers are ending their strike.

On this week's episode of The Diet Obsessed Podcast, I discuss my recent hangover and the only thing that would cure it, Smashburger with a side of Haystack Onion Strings, yum, yum!  Why can't I be like the people who crave a big salad when they have a hangover?  Apparently it's just not in my DNA, but there are people who prefer a salad, so which type of person are you?  I then launch into a review of one of my favorite podcasts, "Diet Starts Tomorrow" with guest host Jared Freid.  Jared gives a detailed review of his food experiences while doing a comedy show in Buffalo, NY...home of the Buffalo Wing.   The place he went ran out of true wings, so he ended up ordering "boneless wings" which are actually just chicken tenders.   He provides all of the delicious food details I love, including: descriptions of dipping sauces, pizza logs, perfectly fried onion rings and how he managed to stop himself from eating until he was sick.  Other topics include, how to enjoy your workouts and does an infrared sauna, actually help with anti-aging?  If these topics interest you, you will love this episode!  Follow @thedietobsessedpodcast and don't forget to rate, review and subscribe!Also, follow me on instagram @thedietobsessedpodcast

Don't get us wrong, we know food service and retail is IMPOSSIBLE right now so this is more of a comical take on how Kyle has back luck.. lol! BUT CMON MAN!! SAFE DRIVING HAS TO COUNT FOR SOMETHING RIGHT? Haha. TODAY ON THE SHOW, Pet-Peeves and Petty Dealbreakers, YOU GUYS HAVE A TON!!! So we take the first round of calls (with more to come). Plus, we have some new talkbacks, and NIC HAS A NEW ROUND OF HIS NOISE MACHINE GAME!!! YAY!!!!

Summary:The 'Fountain of Youth' was first mentioned in the writings of Herodotus in the 5th century BC. The world may have changed a lot since the Ancient Greeks, but our desire to look better, look younger, has not. Fast forward to today, Tiktok "beauty hacks" and YouTube videos promising to help us "look younger in seconds" flood the internet. The human obsession with youth and beauty has been alive and well for thousands of years, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the aesthetics category is giant, and continuing to grow.Today's guest is Dave Prokupek, CEO of Ideal Image, North America's leading aesthetics brand with over 1000 doctors and medical professionals who have performed more than 20 million FDA approved treatments. Backed up by 20 years of experience, Ideal delivers affordable and effective health and beauty services including laser hair removal, Botox, filler, body sculpting, skin rejuvenation, and medical grade skincare. Prior to joining Ideal, Dave built a cross-industry career by leading transformational growth as the CEO of an impressive list of companies like Smashburger and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service.In this episode, David and I discuss the mechanics of Ideal Image's successful business model, the massive growth they are seeing in the health and beauty market, and how digital innovation is giving them a leg up on their competition.Highlights: Dave unpacks the opportunities he saw that led him to Ideal Image (02:57) Dave discusses the broad consumer pool that Ideal Image is targeting (04:59) Dave explains the benefits of partnering with a private equity firm like L Catterton (06:40) What business model allows Ideal Image to scale rapidly while maintaining a personal experience for customers? (07:45) Dave talks us through how the pandemic affected Ideal Image (10:35) What is the Ideal Image tele-aesthetics platform? (12:16) Dave explains how Ideal Image is using technological innovation to grow the business (13:38) How are current market conditions affecting Ideal Image's bottom line? (18:04) Dave describes Ideal Image's affiliate program (19:05) Dave offers advice to CEOs on growing their companies, regardless of the industry they're operating in (20:38) Links:ICR TwitterICR LinkedInICR WebsiteDave Prokupek LinkedInIdeal Image LinkedInIdeal Image WebsiteFeedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, elizabeth@lowerstreet.co.