SHIT YEAH! SHOW Episode 8 with Sam Case

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I think we're on episode eight. Yes. [00:00:02] Speaker B: I think so too. [00:00:02] Speaker A: I think so. It's episode eight. It's gonna be great. Really excited to be here again. Dahlia, my co host. [00:00:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:10] Speaker C: Shaya. [00:00:10] Speaker A: Yes. [00:00:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:11] Speaker A: Not here all the time because sometimes, you know, there's traffic on I16 or whatever it is. As we know for the record. Blame on the traffic. That's all good. [00:00:20] Speaker B: The train. Blame it on the train. [00:00:21] Speaker C: I'm always here. [00:00:22] Speaker A: Really excited to have guest of the day, Sam Case. [00:00:26] Speaker B: I'm excited. I'm so excited to be here. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Shit yeah. Shit yeah. How long have you been with the company, Sam? [00:00:31] Speaker B: I have been with the company a year and five months. [00:00:36] Speaker A: Zunzi's time. I cannot believe it's been a year and five months. [00:00:38] Speaker B: I can't either. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's been that long. [00:00:41] Speaker B: Since I moved to Savannah from Nashville. [00:00:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:43] Speaker B: Because I started immediately. [00:00:45] Speaker A: Another great town. Well, excited to have you on. As you know, this is the Shit yeah show. I think lately it's been a little bit of a shit show as of late. [00:00:56] Speaker B: It's been some surprises that you guys. [00:00:59] Speaker A: Will all find out at some point, that's for sure. But. And you've kind of been tip of the spear in regards to what's been going on there. But just. Just to reiterate because sometimes we have some first time listeners that are. That are on. The purpose of this show is really to create awareness that the restaurant business sucks. [00:01:15] Speaker B: It does. [00:01:16] Speaker A: It's something that I love. And so there's three things that we really talk about is what sucks about the restaurant business, what do we love about the restaurant business? And then what are we doing to make it better and. Cause so many people are stuck in the restaurant business and not making it better. And it really just. It sucks when you're in that position. But to start off, want to just chat with you about how you got into the business. I think it's always interesting how most people get in the business. It gets in their blood and they. They're drawn back to it. You're with our company, you're really passionate about what you do. You've done a lot of different things in your career. And so maybe you start off about that of kind of your 2 minute wiki profile of the restaurant business and. And then, you know, kind of that timeline of what got you here. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm definitely stuck in the industry now for sure. It's crazy. I've actually been doing this for 32 years. I started when I was 14 at McDonald's. They actually hired 14 year olds back then. I couldn't really do a lot because there was labor laws. So I cleaned the lobby and took out trash for 18 hours a week. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:16] Speaker B: And then I actually stuck with McDonald's for almost 10 years. Up through colle. I started, had some friends that were in the restaurant business that were servers. I saw that they were making a lot more money than I was and they were working a lot less. So I started working with Applebee's, has a server, moved up to bartender. Kind of like a key hourly manager. Was in college, have two college degrees. So I'm. What are those then I have a bachelor's in video game programming and computer software development. [00:02:47] Speaker A: Wow. [00:02:47] Speaker B: And then I have a bachelor's in home interior design. [00:02:50] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:51] Speaker C: If you tell Chris that you have a degree in video game programming, we will have to come out with a Zunzies video game next year. [00:02:59] Speaker B: Yes. Sauce. You just throw sauce at people? [00:03:01] Speaker A: Yeah, we have some sauce that is no bueno that we could certainly use at some point sitting in storage. Okay. So journey McDonald's. So McDonald's is a great place to start because they're very system oriented. [00:03:13] Speaker B: They're very. [00:03:13] Speaker A: Kevin Hart, chief operating officer, who's had amazing stints with some with. Some started at McDonald's corporate in Chicago and then with. With RTM, which was the largest Arby's franchisee, eight to almost 1200 locations with a big exit to Roark Capital. He was there for that whole ride with turnarounds, doing that. And then as the largest Five Guys franchisee, growing from zero to 97 locations, I think over eight years. You know, that pedigree started though with McDonald's. So maybe let's talk about that of just that McDonald's experience back then. Because it was probably a simpler business back then. I think they're trying to get back to those roots. [00:03:48] Speaker B: It was awesome. I was fortunate enough. I worked at several locations. One of the locations that I worked at was a test store. So we got to test like hot dogs and pizza and all this stuff that didn't really make it out the menu. It was kind of. But it was. But I loved it. I mean a lot of people give a lot of crap to McDonald's, but they are very well structured in literally everything. Like literally everything they do. So if you've ever watched that movie about how it started, it's very true. Like it was crazy watching it to see how they actually came up with like you have everything is precise and planned out. Like how if you have this Many people, this is where positions that they need to be in. Like you, it's. It's so well organized. [00:04:31] Speaker A: And there's time, motion studies of even just how many steps it takes to get to a certain spot. And, you know, I talk about McDonald's a lot with Kevin because one of the keys to their, their ability of their to grow is they have systems in place to where really somebody could probably start at day one. And they've made it so simple and standardized that they can hop in and be effective. And you know, there's one of my quotes, and it talks about donkeys and racehorses. And in this business, you need both, right? And really, you know, there's the workhorses. Call them donkeys, not saying asses. But there's this. You can't afford all racehorses, right? And there's that process that's there. And, you know, McDonald's is really able to take anybody who has a good attitude, work ethic, and a little bit of want. They can pop them in there and very quickly make them effective. [00:05:22] Speaker B: And they, the training program is very well organized. Like you, you come in and they gold standard. And they want you to learn stuff. Like, you're encouraged to cross train because back then you got like little pins, little flares that you can put on your hats. [00:05:34] Speaker A: So there's recognition. [00:05:35] Speaker B: There's recognition for like everything. There's a sandwich dressing station, there's the grill, there's fryers. Like, and you. Everything had a pen associated to it. And I was like, I'm a collector, so I love Pokemon. So I'm like, I have all the pins. It literally hurt to put my hat on because it had so many, so many pins on it. [00:05:55] Speaker A: Now it's probably considered a food safety joke hazard or something, right? Things change. So McDonald's was really good for you? [00:06:01] Speaker B: McDonald's was good. I moved up to Applebee's. I was. I mean, I didn't really find. I don't think I really found my passion for the business to where I just wanted to just not focus. Focus on my college degrees until I got to Romano's Macaroni Grill. [00:06:13] Speaker A: Okay, so is there. And then Romano's Macaroni Grill. [00:06:16] Speaker B: So that's where I found. I fell in love. I became a trainer for them. I was with them for almost 10 years. I used to travel the country and then the world, opening locations for them. They didn't call their trainers trainers because they, they said that there was just astigmatism to the word trainer. So people thought like, they're only focusing on doing a good job when they're training someone. So we were called developers because you're constantly developing people. So an on the road traveler, an on the road developer for them. I got to go to Germany, the Middle East. Incredible. And I got to go to Canada. [00:06:52] Speaker A: So that's this country take you all over. And I think people don't realize that there's so many things. Look, I. I was just at a conference and, you know, actually, it wasn't a conference. It was the awards center for the hospitality hero. And they were talking about how looks like the restaurant industry is the second largest employer in this country. Right. In Georgia. Right. And it, like, serves the most people. Insane. [00:07:18] Speaker B: It is. [00:07:18] Speaker A: And that's how much it impacts everybody. Yet, you know, people think, unfortunately, it's one of those stigmas. What sucks about it? William has talked about it, Larry's talked about it. People like, downplay the restaurant business, but everybody goes to must have, you know, a great experience. And what we're trying to do is elevate that and your experience with it, it's taken you all over the world. [00:07:37] Speaker B: And that's what career. I remember one of my dad. I'd been out of college for a while. My dad was like, when are you ever going to do anything with those degrees we paid so much money for? And I was just like, dad, I'm literally traveling the world for free. [00:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:48] Speaker B: And I'm loving it. And it was. It wasn't until I started traveling overseas, I really recognized how powerful food is, how, like, it can change a mood in an instant. Like, you put your favorite food in front of a person, regardless of how you're feeling, you're instantly happy because of that. And just I. And. And that's when I dec. Hey, I want to be a part of this. Because bringing happiness and joy is something that I live every day to do. And I'm like, you know what? That's what I need to do. [00:08:17] Speaker A: Well, you know, food is something that we all need. Right. So we'll die without it. Yeah. But. And there's just sometimes where you don't want to cook at home. Right. And so it's a splurge or it's. You're celebrating something. There's so many ways that you can, you know, engage with food. And. And so restaurants in the restaurant business, it's why there's so many. It's why people are attracted to them. People want to invest all of that. So macaroni Grill and then Zoe's Kitchen. [00:08:44] Speaker B: That'S where they had a very. Their mission. I started with them right when they were almost in their growing starts. Kind of like Xinzes is. So I went through all the motions when they changed from Birmingham to Plano, Texas and when they grew up to I think I was 20 store 27 to 320 something. [00:09:06] Speaker A: One of our investors is good friends with the founder of Zoe's. Hope they connect some dots. [00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So we had. Yes, I loved Zoe. Casimas was the one that founded and then. But it was her son John when he graduated, I want to say from the University of Alabama or Georgia. And he was. That's when he really took it big. He's like, mom, we've got something. Cause it's almost the very same story. Because they started in this little shack and they sold soup. [00:09:29] Speaker A: Uh huh. [00:09:30] Speaker B: Kind of how we started. [00:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:33] Speaker B: And then it just blew up. [00:09:35] Speaker A: Okay, so Zoe's and then, then you Kava. Right? [00:09:38] Speaker B: Well, Kava purchased. Okay. [00:09:39] Speaker A: Were you there when that happened? [00:09:40] Speaker B: Yes. So they purchased Zoe's in 2000, August of 2018. And then I was with them until they started closing down locations. Well, they started converting locations from Zoe's to Cava's. [00:09:52] Speaker A: And so what were you doing there? [00:09:54] Speaker B: I was a general manager at the Green Hills location. At the Wide, I was green. I was at several locations. But when I left Zoe's Kitchen I was at the. I was running their third oldest location. [00:10:06] Speaker A: Okay. And Zoe's. [00:10:07] Speaker B: When to then where I came here. Well, I worked for Velvet Taco for a minute. Just has like a little spacer before. Before. [00:10:15] Speaker A: And so you've been with some brands that have really great success and you've been there at times where they were really growing. And so I think it's a, it's a great asset to have you with a team. So when you came on board, it was the GM of our downtown location. [00:10:28] Speaker B: I was actually hired as the agm. Okay. So it was crazy how like I wasn't even looking. I was trying to find a job living in Nashville in Georgia for whenever we moved here. And it was a recruiter. Just out of the blue, George called me and it was like, here's this brand. And it was weird. I was just like, I was like, they've only got two locations. Like I don't. Is this what I really want to do? At that point in time I didn't know about the. The plans on expanding. I was like, I've never really worked for a mom and pop because that's how like there's only two locations. That's what I. In my head, that's how it looked. But he sold me. I researched you all saw the mission statement, the umbrella. There was something just drew me to everything that. Yes, everything. Well, everything that we, everything that we, that we stand for. [00:11:18] Speaker A: It just told you it's important. [00:11:19] Speaker B: And I wanted to. And then I interviewed with Kevin. I actually think I pretty much interviewed Kevin because I was asking him all kinds of questions. I think he was kind of shocked because I was just like, so, you know, I know Kevin enjoyed that because. [00:11:31] Speaker A: Kevin is a very thorough interviewer and for it to pass George, because George. George and Kevin have worked from that headhunter talent acquisition position for I think 30 years. So he knows like exactly what Kevin wants from acquisition. And so to get to that point. [00:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I did a Google Meet with Kevin and then I had just happened to be having a trip to come down to look at property for when we moved. And I was like, hey, I'm going to be in Savannah. And he's like, do you want to meet? So I met with Kevin at the Drayton location. It was right before. That was literally probably a couple weeks after we brought on Nicholas and Danelle has that part of that. [00:12:07] Speaker A: There you go. So that was when Kevin came on and we were really starting to build our org chart to get ready for growth and, and make some changes to our systems. And it's really a transition I've talked about from a founder led company, really me being involved in every decision, really Kevin coming in and building a professional organization that we can actually scale. And with 20, 25, like 5, 6, you know, plus locations happening next year, looking to triple in sales as a company. It's some big stuff, but you can't do without the growth of our people and finding the great people. So you're obviously a huge part of that. I want to keep, keep rolling in regards to this because now you're here, now I'm here. You know, we don't say that our restaurant doesn't suck. All restaurants suck at some point. And that's our battle cry along with shit. Yeah. So let's talk about that. There's three things. What sucks about the restaurant business? What do you love about it? Right. Clearly you're passionate about it. You've been able to grow and be successful and you see some of the really good stuff about it. And then we'll talk about what you're doing and what you think we're doing that attracted you, that we're making positive change in the Business. So what sucks about it? What's your. Because I've got that list. We talked about it earlier, but go ahead. [00:13:19] Speaker B: I'm a firm believer that to a degree, everything really sucks in the restaurant business. I think it just depends on where you are in the mix, whether you're working on the line, whether you're a bartender. There's gonna be different levels of suck just based on what your role is. And it's for all the reasons that sucks is also probably all the reasons that I love about it. It's. Especially when it seems half the time it's just controlled chaos. It is a roller coaster of. [00:13:46] Speaker A: My goal is Groundhog Day. My goal is actually like boring restaurant business. [00:13:50] Speaker C: The funniest thing you've ever said in. [00:13:53] Speaker A: Your role, I can understand. But the goal of when I was in operations and running it, it was let's try to know what our budget is, know what our sales target is, right. Staff accordingly. Have the product, it's people product. Marry those two you have. And then you're able to sell it. Right? Pretty simple process there. But. And then try to keep it consistent. And then the spice of it is just maybe you're a little busier than you expected, right. Or some fun things happen, whatever it is, but the chaos happens when that usually doesn't go as planned. And so that. So what's. Let's figure out, you know, everything sucks then probably there's a lot of everything good. But what's. What's kind of that thing that you know when. When you think what. You know, who is it? What sucks for who? Right? In. In your role maybe right now. So you were the general manager agm, then the gm, you know what. What kind of have you seen is just the most frustrating thing over time and possibly why you've left places or why you think people leave. [00:14:55] Speaker B: I think for me, what can we fix from the GM thing? I think the only part that really sucks, really totally sucks for me when it comes to the restaurant business is when you're unexpectedly busy, you're not staffed, and then something happens. And then next thing you know, you're expecting a slow day. You have the staff for what you thought you were going to do, and then your patio gets completely full. And at that point in time, it's just stress, it's just pushing. I love it because there's just something about when it's all done, just a sense of accomplishment. But like, it's stressful because you're like, oh, ticket times. I hate that. I'm probably Letting my fans down. [00:15:39] Speaker A: So let's talk about that. So that's gonna happen. There's no way, Right. Cause you have your projections, and then the bus shows up. And you can't staff for the bus every day. Right. You have to be ready, but you have a plan for when that happens. And so we have the shit. Yeah. Promise. And so there's really important when that happens, right. Our team needs to say shit. Yeah. For our fans to say it. And if we're not ready from a, hey, all of a sudden, we're really busy. What do you do? Right? It can be mass chaos. And as the manager, it's your job to keep it level and say, here's our plan. But also I say, everybody has eyes and ears, right? So when they come in, they see that all of a sudden this isn't normal. Right. It's a thing. [00:16:19] Speaker C: They see everybody in survival mode all of a sudden, and they see that. [00:16:22] Speaker A: But also, too, if we react and say, hey, we're way busier than normal for this time of day. Right. We're going to do the absolute best we can. We want to make sure you leave saying shit. Yeah. Want to let you know, though, it may take a little bit longer than. [00:16:35] Speaker B: It's all about communication. [00:16:36] Speaker A: And that's communication. It's people talking to people instead of just going into chaos mode and trying to do it and then get buried in the kitchen or behind the bar, you know? And so setting in the expectation, really, it's saying, hey, we're known for the best experience, and our food's normally quick, but today might not be that day. And I just want to let you know, it may take three times as long. I'd rather put that out there. [00:16:57] Speaker B: And the guests appreciate that. The fans appreciate, like, they just want to be. They just. They just don't want to feel like they've been forgotten about. [00:17:03] Speaker A: And that's what I think. [00:17:04] Speaker B: And I tell servers that all the time, like, hey, just go talk to your tables. Get to know them, have some genuine conversations. And they'll never. If you are talking to your tables, they will never know that it actually took 20 minutes. [00:17:13] Speaker A: The other thing in this business that's. [00:17:14] Speaker B: True, they'll be like, oh, oh, really? Really. [00:17:16] Speaker A: The other thing in this business that can be really tough is you get a table of 20 or 30. It is this big group that comes in, and then you've got a bunch of people that are just the small, easy tables and orders to execute, and you let that one big group mess up the entire experience. For all of them versus just going to that one group and saying, hey, want to let you guys know it's going to be a lot longer for you guys. Right. And then make sure that you prioritize all the other tickets or all the other drinks, whatever it is, to make sure all. It's really what you want is one fire to put out. One of our things that we talk about the way to execute 26x, which is how we can really grow our business. [00:17:52] Speaker B: Right. [00:17:54] Speaker A: Setting fires and setting out fires. Right. And so when we know there's one about the start, let's go ahead and get proactive with that and then. Then just constantly focus on making sure everybody's saying shit. Yeah. [00:18:04] Speaker B: Just got to get ahead of the situation. Yep. [00:18:08] Speaker A: Slow down to speed up, too. When that happens. Let's get the game plan in place first. So that sucks about the restaurant business. Certainly have that. What do you love about it because you're in it. [00:18:17] Speaker B: I love. I love the fans. I love the team. I'm really big on culture. Culture is huge for me. I think if you have a healthy culture at your restaurant, it just. It just works better. And even in those high pressure moments, like, people just pull together. But I love the fans. I love. I love when people say shit yeah. I love when people come in and they have that we just blow their mind unexpectedly. Like, that's where my just seeing the joy and happiness that we. Of the service that we provide people. That's what I love each day. [00:18:50] Speaker A: And that's it. So shit, yeah. Is just exceeding expectations. [00:18:53] Speaker C: Speaking of shit, yeah, Sam, what award did you get? [00:18:56] Speaker B: I got so of course we have Zinzifest. So this past Zinzifest, we recently rolled out superlatives for the Drayton location, and I was voted most likely to say shit, yeah in my sleep. [00:19:11] Speaker A: There you go. That's really good. That's really good. [00:19:14] Speaker B: I say it literally all the time. [00:19:15] Speaker A: Wake up. [00:19:16] Speaker B: It's just one of those. It's just one of those restaurant lingos now. Like, corner. Like, anytime I walk in the grocery store, like, corner or behind you now. Like, if I'm somewhere, I'm like, shit, yeah. Like, if they talk to me, I'm like, shit, yeah. And then I was somewhere the other day, I didn't even have my uniform on, and I was like, shit, yeah. And they're like, either you've been to Zinzis or you work for Zinzes. I was like, it is pretty amazing. [00:19:39] Speaker A: How the strength of that motto works. Works really well. Okay, so we got what sucks. We got what you love about it. It's very clear, you know, passionate about. About that. What, what do you think we're doing different? You know, what's something that you've done in your career that you've just kind of said, hey, this is how I'm, I'm different. One of the things that's fun, you know, you're a certified life coach. Yes. So you've, you know, you're passionate about that. I think in this business, you know, we wear a lot of hats. We're a cheerleader, we're a coach, we're a mentor. We're where, you know, psychotherapists sometimes, you know, we wear all of these different hats and I, you know, there's no doubt when, kind of when we have problems like some stuff that's happened earlier this week. [00:20:23] Speaker B: Problems have happened this week. What problems are we talking about? [00:20:26] Speaker A: Yeah, right. This week. This week. You know, let's, let's pivot from that. But say this, this gift card roll out. This gift card rollout that we just did was bonkers. It was bonkers. We did bundles. We got our sa Right first time we've ever really seen it and we. [00:20:44] Speaker B: Figured that out in like three days and we're like, this is what we're doing. Like that was some of the highest pressure. But it's been so reward. Like we've really realized what we could actually do when we focus on something. [00:20:56] Speaker A: I think combined for the four locations, it was like 150,000 plus in gift cards. Total gross. [00:21:01] Speaker B: Yes. Right. [00:21:02] Speaker A: Wasn't it like that? [00:21:02] Speaker C: You know, just total gross from the Tuesday of the week of Black Friday. [00:21:09] Speaker A: To what, Cyber Monday maybe. Yeah. [00:21:14] Speaker B: 1220 bundles. Yeah. [00:21:16] Speaker A: And so 1220 bundles went out right in this. Really leveraging the 26 Club. So all via text was the main. You know, we tested email marketing. We doing it but it really showed the power of that relationship we have with our fans. And this was you and your new role. So you had been AGM and GM at the downtown location had success there. But we saw the passion that you had and we wanted to put energy into catering and private events and the retail. [00:21:40] Speaker B: And retail. [00:21:41] Speaker A: And retail. And so you know, we really had this big opportunity with gift cards. Shout out to Kathy Wood. Yeah. She had an amazing program that on basically a six figure gift card program for the holidays that we put our spin on it added a little shit. Yeah. [00:21:58] Speaker C: To it was a life saver. [00:21:59] Speaker B: She really was like it was such a very well put together three hour. When I was holiday. It was three hours. I'm like, what is this? But I still actually wanted more. I was just like, I kind of. [00:22:10] Speaker A: She was really dropping some good stuff. And so we're going to keep working with her. I met her at a founders conference and she has a great book, Founderology. I have it at my destiny. Why I am the way I am. [00:22:20] Speaker B: Maybe I have that book at my desk. [00:22:22] Speaker A: There you go. And so, you know, with. With that gift card program, wildly successful, very stressful in regards to it. There were some tears in the office as that was getting executed, but it was me. We're way. [00:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it was mostly done. [00:22:36] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:22:37] Speaker A: But there's passion, right? There's passion. I was like, then what do we do? We huddled up. We got through it together. [00:22:42] Speaker C: We cried together. [00:22:43] Speaker B: We got it done. We got it done. We're still working on it. But it's, it's. It went right. [00:22:47] Speaker A: But we went from no gift card program to now, like setting records, a new benchmark. Now we have a new, new tool in our tube belt. It's Gonna absolutely crush Q1 sales. [00:22:57] Speaker B: Well, that's what we do. We set records at Xen Z's. [00:22:59] Speaker A: That's what we do. Because we're pushing the limits. [00:23:02] Speaker B: We've set a lot of records this year from a company like St. Patty's Day. We said we haven't. [00:23:07] Speaker A: You know, the score on 24 was our big thing. So, you know, we've got arrive in 25, which is going to be awesome. That's where I really want to, you know, make a splash on the scene. But, you know, with, with. With what we're doing different. Right. So we're obviously pushing limits, but life coach, you know, I think probably you're one of the most engaged in the 26x club, which is our team's version of the text message program. Very similar to the 26 Club. You're one of the most engaged on there. [00:23:35] Speaker B: I think it allows the 26x club, even the community. I think what I love the most about it, I mean, we're doing a lot of. We're doing a couple of things that are differently, like the podcast, for example. Like, we're bringing awareness to the realness of the restaurant business. And I love that. And what I love also the most is especially when it comes to community, being a certified life coach, like mental health is very, very important to me. And a lot of people don't know how to express how they're feeling. And sometimes just the healthiest part of a feeling is just Bringing it to life and putting it out there. So I think when you with that club, it allows. And that's what I love. Cause I mean, it's stressful. And especially when you send out the text, it allows me the opportunity to get something out of my body via. [00:24:24] Speaker C: Text, like an outline. [00:24:25] Speaker B: And it just kind of just like. Cause once you get that out, you're like. [00:24:30] Speaker A: So to talk about that, it's not. [00:24:31] Speaker B: Weighing me down anymore. [00:24:32] Speaker A: So that text that I send out almost every day, and I'm building a team to be able to help to execute that. But one of the questions I ask is, what's your number today? And it's zero is I can't be doing worse. Ten, I can't be doing any better. Five is I'm lukewarm, just drifting through life. And seven to eight is I know where I am. I know where I'm going. I have a plan and I'm working towards it. Right. And that's really kind of where that sweet spot on life is. It means you have growth. And I think that's the quality of your life, is the quality of the emotions that you associate to what's going on in life. And it's what you're focused on. And so I think what's happening and I'm seeing as we've engaged in this is people are engaging more. The numbers they're getting are going higher. Right. We're seeing more engagement. The whole thing, it's a really cool thing, is I don't think people really think all the time, how am I feeling today? [00:25:23] Speaker B: And you should, like, you should constantly be self analyzing your feelings. [00:25:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:25:27] Speaker B: And I love that we did that. And we do that on the store level. We don't just do that here on the podcast. [00:25:31] Speaker A: Every team meeting, we do it. [00:25:33] Speaker B: And I love that because it allows us as a leader or a fellow server, to know where to meet somebody. Cause if I normally hover at a solid 8 to 9, 10 a lot, but I just believe that it's so sad. Well, it's just all choices. Like every day we wake up with two choices. We can just let the. Yeah. Nonsense of yesterday affect our today, or we can just learn from it and just get over it. Build a bridge. [00:26:00] Speaker A: Give this 24 hours. Because I don't think I could handle 25. [00:26:03] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:26:04] Speaker A: It's like I get a new day to start again. [00:26:06] Speaker B: What about 26? Could we handle 26? [00:26:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe I should operate. I think dalia operates on 26 hours. That's why it's all. [00:26:13] Speaker C: At least 27. [00:26:14] Speaker A: There you go. [00:26:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:26:15] Speaker A: Okay, so to wrap this up. Wrap this up. We're gonna wrap this up. What's your number today? [00:26:20] Speaker B: I am a solid nine. [00:26:22] Speaker A: Nine. [00:26:22] Speaker B: I love it. [00:26:23] Speaker A: Dalia. [00:26:24] Speaker C: Eight. [00:26:25] Speaker A: Eight. I'm a nine today. It is really fun being here, being able to talk about this, being able to hear your passion at this stage of your career. I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. I think the growth. I think the enhancement of the culture and what we're doing. People ask how you're gonna scale this culture. Our culture is only getting better right now. [00:26:43] Speaker B: It really is. [00:26:44] Speaker A: It's only getting better. And because we're doing things different, right, we have systems in place that I believe will only get stronger. We're putting energy and resources into things like the 26 Club, the 26X Club, this. It's all about relationships, right? I think the most important thing that we all have in our life is our relationships. Honestly, I think what's wrong in the world right now is people think they have relationships and they don't. [00:27:07] Speaker B: They don't. [00:27:07] Speaker A: Right. They don't have face to face communication. It used to be face to face and calling. Now it's. Texting has replaced that. Then it's like following on social media. [00:27:16] Speaker B: I even said that yesterday. I was just like, I'm just gonna call him. I just hate texting people. [00:27:20] Speaker A: So we had that. And there's a time and place for everything. But the more we can get this. And I think to finish on that, that's what restaurants do, right? Restaurants bring people together. It's a gathering place. Throw around at third place. It's becoming very popular. Post Covid. Starbucks built their whole business model of being third place. From home, work, and then meet at Starbucks. Everybody kind of has that third place. I've got one. There's a mate factor. Locally. That's where we all get our mate. Stay hopped up. [00:27:46] Speaker C: They want you to stay forever. [00:27:47] Speaker B: Forever. [00:27:48] Speaker A: They do. They do, definitely. [00:27:50] Speaker B: Here comes Chris. We're making like 12 today. [00:27:54] Speaker A: But it's a gathering place. And so that's one of those things that when we really focus on the relationships and what I believe are the two most important relationships that God gives you in this business, your team, number one, and then your fans. This business provides more of those relationships than really any other business. I think when you focus on that, I think that's where your emotions rise and your number rises and. And then you can transfer that energy and it's just a great thing. So we're doing that today makes me really happy, Sam. [00:28:19] Speaker B: Shit. [00:28:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Keep doing amazing things with the company. So blessed to have you. [00:28:22] Speaker B: Thanks for having me, Dalia. [00:28:24] Speaker A: Thank you. And episode nine, coming up. [00:28:27] Speaker B: Chit. Yeah. [00:28:28] Speaker C: Oh, we didn't drink the sauce. [00:28:30] Speaker A: Oh, we didn't drink the sauce. [00:28:32] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Shake it up, shake it up, shake it up. Uh oh. Everyone all right? [00:28:36] Speaker C: Say prayer. [00:28:37] Speaker A: There we do. There we do. [00:28:41] Speaker C: I'm sorry, I don't have anything. [00:28:43] Speaker A: All right, no fizz. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Please hold. Oh, I didn't. [00:28:47] Speaker A: There we go. All right. Look at that. There's a gentleman opening dish. There you go. All right. [00:28:56] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:01] Speaker A: That'S spot on. [00:29:02] Speaker C: Every time. Actually, this one's really. [00:29:05] Speaker B: This is really good. That one was good. [00:29:06] Speaker A: It's the last version we did. It's the best one. [00:29:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:09] Speaker A: That's why we're doing small batches. So if we can copy that one. Golden. [00:29:14] Speaker C: It was in my car being cold all night. Maybe it'll. [00:29:17] Speaker A: Maybe that's it. [00:29:18] Speaker B: That was really good. All right. Add that to your fridge. [00:29:21] Speaker A: All right? All right, good deal.