Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. Yeah. So time check 121. All right, here we go. We're gonna try to keep it 121 plus 26.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Let's go.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: There you go. Do the math.
Well, yeah. So super excited today. What episode are we. Here we go. We're back at that again. We're an episode more than last time.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Really, really excited.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: It's my favorite one.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So we got Matt Higgins.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Yeah, that's me.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And you are the proprietor and founder, creator.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: That's right. I'm co, founder, co proprietor, co creator of Origin Coffee bar. My wife and I started this back in 2020. We were living in D.C. at the time. Had our dream jobs out in California. Gave up everything we had, even the dream job. Sold everything, moved back to Savannah, start a mobile coffee bar. I thought my wife was out of her mind when we did it, but I'm so glad that I pursued this with her. And now we have a wonderful flagship location, Coffee roastery catering program here in Savannah. And about to open one up in Hilton Head.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we went to Hilton Head.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: What was the name of the mobile coffee bar?
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Origin Coffee Bar.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: So that's how we started. We only want to do mobile events.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: So we were doing and still do a lot of film sets, a lot of stuff with universities and corporate events, but we traveled everywhere from Maine to Florida to Michigan.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Serving with that coffee bar. And we're like, oh, we can travel whenever, wherever. Nah, that thing grew super quick. And now we're about to open our second location.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: So that is incredible. So you open Origin in Savannah When?
[00:01:27] Speaker B: In 2020.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: 2020. Okay. So you opened during. During hard times. I signed a lease for our now flagship downtown. Original dunes of our location. Oh, yeah. Under construction the entire time. You know, people that do that shit. Yeah, let's go. They are. There's an entrepreneur. They're a different breed if you're in the restaurant business. Entrepreneur. And then when you're saying, hey, there's opportunity when there's an event like that.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: You know, I saw it as when everybody's going crazy during COVID and losing their minds. There's opportunity. Right? And so let's keep our state, let's keep it in line. Let's stay focused on what we want. There's always good in every problem if you look for it. So good. And so, you know, you certainly did that for our listeners for the first time. You know, for those who have, you know, we're getting More and more people that are watching on our socials. I'm seeing the views go up, which is really cool. Really. What, you know, the goal of this is to create awareness of the restaurant business. Yeah, you know, we talk about what sucks about the restaurant business and bar, anything, hospitality, what you love about it, what makes you say shit, yeah, why you're doing what you're doing and then what you're doing, that's different. There's a lot of coffee out there. So I'm super excited about your vision, where that comes from and what you have for that. And you know, and then, you know, the goal is to find like minded individuals and hopefully be able to change the restaurant business, make it better and talk about, you know, what are things that we can do as a whole. Because if one person doesn't, that's great. But. But if you can get other people to adopt the same principles and really focus on serving others, which is a coffee shop certainly does. It's a great gathering place. You know, everybody eats and most people drink coffee. You can change the world in doing that. And so it's some big vision stuff, but man. So great intro there. On it. You nailed it. You're a pro.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Oh, thank you.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Way better. You know, I don't know where, you know, you're practicing or whatever it is, but really, really, really good. I was mumbling and fumbling with it, but, you know, so let's see. So to go back, how did you get in the restaurant business? Is there like food there? You have like pastries and.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: Oh yeah, we have a full scratch kitchen that my wife actually headed up. So she was, she's the start of it all. I'm really just the pretty face that talks a lot. She's at home like creating this beautiful painting of our daughter right now. Not even kidding.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: And so she started all this. I was working in digital marketing. Branding is my specialty. And so I had an agency for about 13 years. Her and I have started Leather Good Studios before. We've done a whole bunch of other things. We took some corporate jobs outside of DC for a while with a nonprofit and we were working in the same studio together. And we had these dream offers out at a record label in California. So we went out and it was March 2020, not a big month for anybody in this world. But we went out there, on the ride back, we're like, hey, there's this like guy that's sick in California. Super weird, right? And so on our way back, she's like, you Know what? I just don't feel right about those jobs. Like, what do you mean? This is my dream job. This is your dream job. Let's go for it. She's like, what if we sold everything? Start a mobile coffee bar. I'm like, you're out of your mind. You've had this dream for two hours. I've had this dream for at least two years. Three hours later, she convinced me, got back to dc, sold everything, moved back to Savannah, opened this tiny little mobile coffee bar and realized we had no idea what we're doing. Right. So she came from a background being an accessory designer. I had a background being a designer and a performing artist. Like, I was an actor, I was a musician, but I had always loved coffee. She had been a barista in college. And so we just developed this idea of like, okay, how can we serve the people of our community through this thing that we love? Right. So similar to what you were saying, it's like, you gotta do it in a way that benefits the community and the people that you're serving in such an impactful way. And you can do that through those 30 second interactions.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: And so we knew that that's what life is.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And so we knew we could do that with a coffee cart. So after about three months, we moved into a pop up location at an event venue. We're there for about a year and a half and then we had the opportunity to open up our flagship forever to build it out. My goodness. No one tells you that. But. But yeah. So we got it open and now we're doing better than we ever have before. We're so grateful we got to do it and impacted so many lives. Feeding the houseless community, helping out folks that are immigrants, that are going through some really rough times as well. We don't publicize a lot of the stories to respect the privacy of those individuals, but it's just a wonderful opportunity to take something that we all take for granted. A cup of coffee. Right. And use that as a catalyst to benefit the community in so many different ways.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: That's amazing. Thank you, dude. That is. Yeah, it's a high five specialty.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Thank you, dude.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: Incredible.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Incredible.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: I appreciate that.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: And I am usually the one. You know, there's two. Two ears, one. One mouth. Right. And normally I think it's the reverse because I have a big mouth and I could listen to that all day.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Incredible. So your passion. One of our values is live with passion.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: And it's, it's matching which Is really, really fun already. We're going to have you on a lot.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Let's go.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Okay. And we'll turn the temperature up in. In. In all of that. So.
So how you got in the business, that's your first time in the restaurant business ever. Okay, good.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Ever.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Understood. That's for both of you. Oh, yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Well, no. She'd been a barista.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Barista.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: So she'd been a barista. She'd been a counter girl a few times.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Barista versus let's. Let's sell it.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Let's own this thing.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: So where did. What's the genesis of that leap of faith?
[00:06:58] Speaker B: So when she was in college as a barista, she had said so many times, this is the most fun I've ever had working, just meeting with people, getting to be a little part of everyone's day. And we carry that mentality of you have 30 seconds to make someone's days better. So better coffee, brighter days. That's what we go after every single day when we're at the shop. And so that's kind of what spurred her on to want to do this. It was always in the back of her mind. We're like, oh, when we retire, then we can do that. Right now we have this opportunity to do it, and we're like, savannah doesn't need more coffee. It had, at the time, 23 independently owned coffee shops.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: It's not about the coffee.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Not about the coffee. That's the thing. And when we discovered that, that's like, well, let's just fricking go for it, right? Let's run after this thing.
And again, I was running a design and branding studio. Super fun, super exhausting. And I was like, you know what? I'm getting to do everything I wanted to do on paper, right? Everything I was told I wanted to do. I'd studied graphic design undergrad. I was a performing arts grad student at scad. And I was like, this is it. I'm in the entertainment industry. I'm designing brands. I'm doing all these things for, like, global tours. It's sick.
I felt so unfulfilled. I was super panicky, all this. And then, you know, I had to take a step back. And where do I find that most joy? It's serving other people. And so that's been at the heart of everything we're doing, Whether it's our team members, whether it's the folks that are coming from down the street or literally across the globe. And we were number one on there to see list in Savannah.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: What that's wild.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: But we get to make their days better. And so like at our shop. And maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but we even have this system. Everyone once a month has a have a good day. What the have a good day is, it's one little button on our POS on our side, but it's a big impact on the other. So if someone you see coming in, they're having the best day of their life, literally. This happens quite often. They just got off the altar and got married. Their first stop. Come get coffee at the shop. It's on us if they've had the worst day ever. We had an elementary school teacher come in about a month ago and she teaches orchestra. All the parents were ripping her apart for the latest concert or something that happened, and she's just weeping. And I could tell you're normally someone that carries joy. I can see that on you. What's going on? And so we genuinely asked. She told us what was happening. And she's on a tight budget. She's like, you know what, I'll just get a drip coffee today. I'm like, you don't want a drip coffee. I see you eyeing the cappuccinos. I see you eyeing the signature drinks. What do you want? She's like, well, in a perfect world, I'd get, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I got her all that and more. We sent her off with a whole bag of food and drinks to go all of it on us. And that's have a good day. Because if you can have that moment and you can take someone's crappy day or glorious day and make it better, that's what we're here to do.
Shit.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I did the same thing at five guys. Great, great story.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:09:56] Speaker A: So I had a. It was called the Silver Bullet, okay? And it was, how do you build sales? Because we weren't allowed to do any marketing or branding. It was all four walls, burgers and fries in a great location, clean store, great service, quality, focus, Seven minute checks. Like childlike faith business. You do it, it works. They're about to go make some big things happen. Okay, great. Let's say that from what I've heard, you know, they're blowing up internationally. Really cool. So I said, huh, Well, I gotta win somebody over, right? Like every day. What if I had one customer a day I could turn into a raving fan. One a day. That it's because there's repeat business of just the coffee. Hey, how you doing? But what if you could just blow somebody's mind to where they go back to the office and say, guess what happened today? Right. That's a silver bullet for sales. It's the incremental focus that. The genesis of the shit. Yeah. Experience that we want to do every time and build it in. That was a franchise. So I was limited, but I said, okay, it's going to be somebody who's a first time customer. Because how do I get them to become a once a week customer? Right. And then what if you. Every day you can create a once a week customer.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: My Bluffton location did it. It was up 22% sales every year. Okay. Crazy numbers. The manager believed in it. Right. And we tracked every customer. You had to have a story about the customer. If we couldn't tell a story about the customer, they couldn't tell a story about us.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: So we had to engage enough to be able to do that. And they had to write a summary every day. Good. It was a silver bullet for driving sales. And so what we did is the staff would engage and then if it was a first time customer. Right. Then the manager would listen and say, hey, it's their first time. Manager would engage. Oh, explain the menu. But they'd say, hey, how'd you hear about us? Right. Oh, I work around the corner. How long? 10 years. Ding, ding, ding. Right? They're eating a burger, right? Oh, well, thank you so much. Let me take your order. I'm gonna walk you through the whole process. The manager would go make the burger perfect, the fries perfect. They would call the person out by name, go and check in on them. It was the best experience. Blow them up. They would comp it too, say, hey, it's on me first time. It's on me today. So they're already like, what's going on? Am I being like punked?
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: And then they would say at the end, hey, John, how was everything? Was that the best burger ever had? And they say, yes. Are we gonna see you again next week?
Make them lie to you.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Make them lie to you 100%. Yes, I will see you. What day you see me? Tuesday, same day. What time? I'll be there. Be there.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: Good.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: Be there at that time. Boom. Right? And if the manager's there working lunch, where the peak hour is, you're going to have that. And we did that. And I talked to the founder of Five Guys. I was getting pushback about it. Jerry Morell. They flew down 20 story, quirky guy, five sons, all burger flippers. Probably. They were probably all Going to be burger flippers. Anyways. Now they're a billion dollar burger flippers. He's the genius that recognized that he had a football team. And he's like, let's just go ahead and play football with the boys.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: Yeah, right. So he started it, but he comes in and it's like the exec team. And I pitch the whole thing to him. He's listening in my office. He brings his fan, a little box fan, because he can only sleep with the box fan. So he travels on the private plane with a box fan.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Good for him.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: And so. So they're there and all, all the people around him. I'm sitting there pitching and I know he's eating it up and they start questioning it. And then I go, thanks, guys. I know your opinion. Jerry, what do you think? He goes, why don't you do that for every customer?
And everybody looks like they're shocked. I said, explain. And he goes, why wouldn't you just give it to free for every customer and give them that experience the first time?
Why do you think we do Zoonzi Fest? Why do you think we do these things smart? It's tough to do it with every customer all the time. It's just free every day for your first time. No, but you can batch it and you can do things. The 26 Club is a way that we can do that, right? So it's a way of doing it. Giving to grow is the key. We have six values of Zunzies, right? Six values. And here's the thing. I don't even remember all the six values of Zunzies. I always stumble on it. Let's play the game. We've got. Be a pro, let's get weird. Live with passion, right? But the 26x values, you want to 26x your business by valuing the relationships. Number one, restaurants are the worst at being a good steward of the two most important relationships that God gives you in business. Number one is your team. Number two are your customers who we call fans. Yes, they're coming in your business. You're advertising on social media. You're working hard, you're doing it. You're advertising for applicants. And then when they come in the four walls, it's a shitty place to work. The squeegee's broken, probably in our restaurants right now. And I will lose my mind if it happens, right? Everybody knows the standard. We are here to serve our team, period. Right? And be good stewards of it. If you're a good steward of it, you will get More if you're not. It's cap there. So if your business isn't growing, it's because you're not being a good steward of the relationships that you already have in the business. Right. Your fans, you bring them in with a deal, right? You're starting off, hey, let's run a deal. You know, customer appreciation. Two for one coffee. They come in and they don't get a shit. Yeah. Experience. They don't get your experience. Right. Of what that is. And then they leave. Right. And then you're like, why aren't there more? It's. Cause the people that came in that day did not get the same experience. And where. What I'm talking about, we have 1x businesses right now. Zunzies and Zunzibar, they're 1x. There's certain metrics that we're talking about that we're creating in the company that are 26x. That if you're operating with those values, you're getting a certain level of reviews, certain sales growth, certain retention rate, these things. We are tracking that and we're stamping that as a 26x business. It means they value the relationships they have in their business more than anybody else. And that's what we strive for in our business. Our X factor of business. Tony Robbins said it.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: Every business needs an X factor.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: We've chosen ours to be. We want to value the relationships that we have in our business more than anybody else. So you see a lot of new things. We started with our 26 club, started with our fans. We have a 26X club. A text number for our team. Our team can text me anytime. Right? We have it there.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: Right now I've been so busy, I haven't been able to text them. Yeah, I'm. We're too busy. So now I'm hiring staff to free me up because that's. That's. You guys haven't gotten the text. Why? You know, I'm too busy. Yeah, yeah. I'm not a good steward of that relationship I've created.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: My business will limit if I outgrow that and I don't fix it now. So I have these indicators of like, hey, you're redlining on growth.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Right. And so we will only grow at the rate we can be a good steward. But if we align with people in other businesses and vendors that can do that, we can grow our business. So we're taking a big sidetrack. Two visionaries coming together. I love it. Risk takers. We're going to do a part 2, part 3, part 26 as we do this.
But so, so, so, so good. And the fact that you've come to that on your own. Right. Don't know where we'll get to the origin of it and mine comes from being a customer of having shitty experiences. Not shitty. And seeing it, but as well as also seeing one of the best franchises that has ever been true and growing and doing it all the way through is there's a lot of opportunity in the 1x business. It's the relationships. The restaurant business. Squeeze that relationships and you're gonna see it. You're gonna enter Hilton Head. Well, that is a unique market. I'm gonna help you in Hilton Head.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: Appreciate that.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Here's why you have relationships in Savannah. Right. You went to scad. You knew the market. You had some people you could tell a story.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: They already have that over there.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: I know.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: It's different. And then you split your time. Right. And you do that. I'm going to help you figure this out. Yeah. And it's. It's figuring out what are the, you know, what I've come to say is one of the 26 most important relationships at that every location.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: The bid for that business.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Write them down. And those are the most important. And you need to be talking to them all the time.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: And you need to make sure they get a free coffee.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Every time when you're not there. Good. How do you do that?
[00:17:51] Speaker B: That's the thing.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: That's it. And so we figured it out.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Look at you.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: We figured it out. It's pretty cool. We'll talk about it later.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Right. And our fans will see it. Investors, franchisees, they're all starting to engage with it, with what it is. But one of the things that you have is passion. I brought it up. But sales is a transfer of energy.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: It is.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Right. So you have that and you're in there. And now you're in the point of growth. And you know, I think let's. Let's do a rapid fire of the question. So what sucks about the restaurant business?
[00:18:23] Speaker B: People don't care.
The people that are working in it, the people that are going to it. We see so often if we go around shopping around to other businesses because we like to keep an eye on what's happening in the market, as anyone would. Of course.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: So you go around and you look for the things to inspire you. Right. That's what we walk in the door waiting to see. And nine times out of 10, I hate to say it, we leave disappointed because we were not cared for. We weren't seen as the individual, we were seen as the number that came in. Very transactional. Yeah, very transactional.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: It's people serving people.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Numbers serving numbers.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Exactly. But these interactions have such the opportunity to be transformational for people. We have the opportunity to do that. And so that's what sucks about the industry right now. It's way too transactional.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: Here's why it's getting worse. Private equity is destroying it. And here's why. They are numbers serving numbers.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: And founders are people serving people. When they scale, private equity swoops in. And now it's people serving numbers. Mark this down, this right here, there's a book that's going to be coming off of that of people and numbers and how it switches. And it says, that's that simple. And so what we're doing, we are actually coming on the other side of it. While the conversation next in regards to what that is, we're solving that problem.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Great.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: We are going to be helping people grow people by focusing on people perfect with the business and doing it and so good stuff. So people don't care. Why people don't care is the question. But that would not be a rapid fire.
What makes you say shit, yeah.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Oh, makes it shit, yeah.
I would say when there is this guy goes into the next question I'm sure you're going to ask. When there's excellence, not only an execution, but an intention.
What I mean by that? Excellence in execution. Things can look great, sound great, taste great, feel great. But then why they're doing it? If they're going for the bottom dollar, if they're going for growth, you can smell that immediately. That's duplicitous. That's not what I'm in the business for. If I'm doing everything with excellence because I care about you, I care about you and I care about the rest of your day, week, month, life. Looks like because of this tiny interaction, you may forget it, but I know it's gonna stick with you. Somewhere deep down, it's gonna stick with you. And if not you, it's gonna stick with me.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Right?
[00:20:41] Speaker B: So it's the excellence in execution and intention. If I can go somewhere and I feel that y'all, that's incredible. I was recently out in Wyoming going on a ski trip with some buddies and there was this roasting company out there I went to. I was like, I don't know. There's this other one I heard of, it was pretty good. I went to the other one first and I was a little disappointed. I was like, this is not the experience I had last time when I was here three years ago, right? So I walked into this new roastery and I've left them all the five star views. Everything else, I've messaged them, I've fangirled over them. Probably a tattoo of them somewhere on my body. But I walked in there and it was 6pm they're still open, God bless them. 6pm I walked in, I got my macchiato, I was served wonderful coffee. I was served with an incredible experience. The vibes were there, the aesthetics were there. Everything was there. And I could tell that they genuinely cared how I was doing that day. Genuinely cared that my experience was excellent. Genuinely cared that everything was dialed in perfect. Just for that first sip, for that moment, knowing they could see.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: Here's the question. How many locations do they have?
[00:21:47] Speaker B: They just opened, okay? They just opened.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Just opened. So here's what I say. I say to everybody this. If you're in the restaurant business and you can't do this, what you're doing and what they're doing at one location, do not try to open a second one, right? And here's what I would say.
You should be doing that. You should be doing that. If you're not able to do that, you don't have the passion. You're not serving people right? You're in it because it's like you bought a job and a franchise, cash or 401k, whatever it is, you're doing it for the money, right? Nothing you say says you're doing it for the money. You have to make money and you're doing it. And there's obviously, money is how you measure the game.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Money is how you measure the game. I measure value created, right? And it's different. And so it goes together, right? And we can talk about what that looks like. But, you know, that's the problem, is everybody goes, now the question is, how big do you want to grow? How big do you want to grow Origin coffee? Then it's why I'll come back to that. What are you doing to change the coffee business?
What do you do when you look at a Starbucks? You know what? Starbucks. Mr. Starbucks. Mr. CEO of Chipotle. That ruined Chipotle, in my opinion.
You removed the 13 characteristics. I'm speaking to you, Brian Nichols. You're now at Starbucks. You are now at Starbucks, right? You're really good at Driving the value up. Chipotle was 78 billion before probably it crashed the past two days of like the rest of the stock market. I have no idea. Right. Okay. But that founder wanted to change the supply chain using rice and beans with a burrito. Okay. CIA trained chef. Right. He did that. Right.
And now you look at it and William leflower. We're going to talk about it and we're going to talk to Brian Nichols again. We'd love to get Brian Nichols on. Love to get Howard Schultz on. Let's go ahead and talk about it right here. Because I get a lot of fire in regards to it. Love Howard Schultz. Brian Nichol's not a fan.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: Okay. Because he ruined my favorite burrito shop. Right? He did. You go in, it's dirty. There's no throughput. And he removed the 13 characteristics of Chipotle that were on the hat of who you hired the people piece. And now it's a mobile ordering spot that's dirty. And they're out of guac and they're out of stuff. And they're mad at you when you show up for some reason. I give them money and the stock has gone up. Everybody who go, why? Why? You know why? Because the money side doesn't make sense and it pisses me off. Okay. Not happy about it.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Starbucks. He's doing some very good things at Starbucks.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: He's added to where he can get a mug back. Right. He's minimized closing the menu in. He's doing some good stuff. That's there. Very, very smart, low hanging fruit things that he should do. He wants to get people back as a third place to gather. Work, home and Starbucks. Right. It's a place to gather. You're doing that at origin. I got my great friend. I'll connect you with Southern grounds down in Jacksonville doing amazing things. Gonna blow up with them. And partner with our bakery as we expand and start offering breakfast in locations.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: Great.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: Doing really good stuff. But man, I, you know going into a Starbucks when I used to go, my first ever date was at a Starbucks and I didn't drink coffee. Okay. Right. Okay. And it was packed. Now I go in, there's a homeless guy out front. Houseless. You said it. Much better. Houseless instead of homeless. There's intention in the words and I love that.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: Right. Because wherever are and they're sleeping is their home. And that's sad. That's right.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: They're neighbors.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Right. And that's it. A million percent. Union Mission is a partner of ours that Refer in April is our fundraising partner. We're going to be doing some damage for them. Right. But yeah, now go to Starbucks. It's wildly expensive, and it's why what we're doing and some of the things you're going to see and probably what we're going to, you know, we're going to do something together. There's no doubt about it. I hate when my team members go spend $10 at Starbucks.
Oh, my God. You want to see me pissed off? They come back with that cup. It is full of shit. Excuse me. And then it's processed. Is that Starbucks? No. Good. Okay. All right. All right. It's. I actually, I've got a lot of funny names for different brands. Starbucks, though, you know, I'm watching that closely. Right. He's great at driving the market value up. He's great at creating value and he knows how to play the game. That's his role.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Okay. But Mr. Starbucks, focus on going back. Go ahead and read the book. Right? What is it? Onward by Howard Schultz.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Think so.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Read that and just do what he said. Read it and just do what he said. Right. Amazing. Right? Go back to it. They were so obsessed. Have you ever read the book?
[00:26:23] Speaker B: I have not.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: Oh, you got to read it.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: I will.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: You got to read it. Of all the changes of Starbucks and when he came back and doing it, right. And where they added breakfast sandwiches.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: And the cheese would melt and he lost his mind because he walked in instead of hearing coffee and hearing you would hear steam going off and the smell of burnt cheese in a Starbucks versus coffee. And he lost his mind. Right. And it like, you had it rolled out and it's like, whoa, this is an experience.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: Right?
[00:26:49] Speaker A: An experience. We're not a, you know, convenience store on the best corners.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Right?
[00:26:55] Speaker A: Right. They lost it. And they lose the focus when the founder gets disconnected, the founder leaves for money. And that's it. What we're doing is different. We're going to talk about it in regards to it. Because my goal is for the founder to always be engaged.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: Good.
[00:27:09] Speaker A: Always, always be a part of the business. They will have a check. It's just an ongoing check that always comes in. It's mailbox money. And be engaged as much as you want and do it, but the why is always intact. Right. And that's how you change it. What's happening now is private equity comes into the business. Right. And when that happens, they don't care. And you see it. Your favorite brands get destroyed and what happens along with it, the team loses Jobs I lose my favorite, you know, restaurant that might be there that I enjoyed. Right. I don't go back. Somehow the stock goes up and it's like, who is winning here? Who's winning here? Yeah, there we go. We're at 20. We're at 20. Ten minutes, I think is what it is. Right. So we're going to talk a whole lot more.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: Sounds great.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: 26X more minutes. Next time we're going to do that. I think we covered the three questions. My passion got a little fired up here because it's iron sharpening iron. And, man, I got warmed up for William. So the next one is gonna be off the chain. Oh, I can't wait. Let's go ahead. William gets the dank. You get shit. Yeah, no doubt. I don't think we have a sploater.
Right. Once a sploter, always a sploater, as Sam says. Oh, geez. Oh, man. All right, so we're gonna go ahead and do that, and then we'll take our picture and to schedule you very soon.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: All right. Cheers. Clink. It's got that, like, nice whole milk cream top.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Ooh, yeah.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: There you go. All right.
There we go. Our new batch is so much better. So much better.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: Delicious.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: It's really good. I appreciate you saying that. You don't have to say that.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Oh, but I mean it.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: It's good on something and almost anything. Yeah. You just do it so often. Oh, God. But our new sauce, we do small batches. Plastic bottles coming.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: And then we're also going to be able to be shipping all of our sauces seaside grown and then Frogmore bottling our partners there and. Awesome. So, man, so good. Let's get a picture and we'll talk some more.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Sounds great.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Thanks. Yeah.
