Latest / The Weekly Run / Did someone say Pickleball? | #12
Transcript
- Jeff Perera: to the Weekly Run. Jeff's. ⁓ And today talking about what's hot Jeff's's Bagel Run. We have another news store Aaron. Aaron: I'm Aaron. I this one was so quiet internally. I should I should highlight ⁓ from from all accounts great soft launch today, but ⁓ where it's a an franchisee some of these franchisees are getting so good at them. They sort of just launch and we're like wait did you guys launch like it's just so smooth and this was one of those ones just opened. We just did it. That's great. Jeff Perera: Yeah, they just opened a store. So here we go, we got a store. It's sort of the dream. It's what you want, right? You've got an established franchisee with ⁓ an operations team, a system in place ⁓ ready to execute on brand, and ⁓ it happens. And so we opened in Port St. Lucie ⁓ today, grand this Friday. It's exciting. ⁓ Aaron: It's to see the systems working ⁓ and the process is working and all the stuff we do and all the hard lessons learned from openings and just to see that manifest in our own sort of tools, but then to see a franchisee, like you said, take that and run with it. ⁓ It's great to see. ⁓ That group knows what they're doing down there, so they're smooth sailing. The only way I knew that it was happening this week, just because with our spring break and everything, we haven't had some of our coordination meetings internally, they just asked me for one thing. They're hey, can you flip this on for us? I'm like, ⁓ yeah, sure, let me flip it on for you. I guess you're opening in two days. Exactly, exactly. Then they're like, do you? Jeff Perera: They're like, how about you turn on pricing, Aaron? That'd be great. Aaron: Do you need anything else? Like what else? No, we're good. We're good. Jeff's flip that on. We're jamming. Jeff Perera: I'm I this has been a highly anticipated location. think the ⁓ construction process takes a long time. ⁓ Some municipalities have ⁓ that feels like it goes on forever. ⁓ ⁓ this was one those And so ⁓ they're finally open. had sign up on the outside of the building. one of the busiest roads in the county. ⁓ I believe that the store is going to open a ton of fanfare, lots of customers. They're very, very excited about bagels coming to their community. I've seen the store show up ⁓ on ⁓ and not even open yet because people are like, when are you opening Jeff's's Bagel Run? ⁓ I feel like there's going to be a lot of energy around this one. ⁓ I'm hyped for it. I mean, I'm hyped for all of them, but. ⁓ Aaron: So in your mind, this is more similar to, I guess, when we open stores in Orlando and the Central Florida market where you've got that customer base, you've got people that are familiar with the brands. Is that what you're starting to feel down in South Florida where, hey, they know the brand, they've either been up here to Orlando or they know it from our existing two stores. So when new stores come, it's like, oh, yes, it's more of an expansion, it's closer to me, it's more accessible. Jeff Perera: I think that's exactly what it is. You have a market that has needed bagels badly for a while. They knew we were coming. It's a bagel desert in Port St. Lucie. Aaron: Is it that kind of vibe? Bagel desert, as we like to say. Jeff Perera: we're finally opening and they know us, right? They visited us when they're in Orlando or they drove down to the Bocas store. You know, it's not too far out of the realm of possibility for them to have made the day trip down, you know, an hour to get bagels and plenty of people come to Orlando and visit us and have our bagels and then wish that we were in their community. So that's sort of where we're at. Aaron: I had a funny experience with that recently when I was in O-Town and I'm sitting there doing my thing just quietly at the end of the little table in a little bar top that we have there in O-Town. And I always like, if the opportunity presents itself, I always like to try and chat up a customer. So it was busy and a family of three sat down and were having their bagels. They seemed like they were first timers and they were kind of talking amongst themselves. So I was like to, if I can, without being too bothersome, like, you know, lean in like, hey, what'd you get? What are you interested in? What flavors, whatnot. And so I started chatting them up and they were excited and they were really loving the bagels ⁓ Turns out they were up like a volleyball tournament ⁓ they're South Florida folks. I'm like, realize we've got a store right down there? They're like, we didn't, we heard something, but we hadn't checked it out. And they just hadn't, you know, made the trip over. And I'm like, hey, you need to go down. Oh yeah, we're going straight back now that we get back. So it's funny that people are still discovering us in sort of nonlinear ways like that too. And then they finally get their store and they can go back and have it without having to travel. Jeff Perera: We were in the Vegas store this morning, so I'm on the road again in Las Vegas for the multi-unit franchise conference. I'm at our booth. You can kind of see it behind us. It's a cool show. I mean, it looks like a bagel shop. The Vegas store was a, we did a quick visit this morning to meet with a prospective franchisee and just kind of hung out in the store, spent time with the team, Aaron: For those on audio only, it looks great. Looks like a bagel shop. Jeff Perera: had an opportunity to interact with some customers and I met a guy who buying bagels from my porch. ⁓ now is a regular at Vegas location. ⁓ I ⁓ two ladies who had never been to a Jeff's Bagel Run before, ⁓ but like, it just keeps popping up on my TikTok, so I had to go. ⁓ And have one here in Vegas. ⁓ I a ⁓ instructor ⁓ is excited because the store had just created a new like relationship with them and like some cross marketing cross promotional opportunities and it's just really cool to see franchisees putting in work. It's cool to be in a place that is so away from where we started ⁓ physically ⁓ I know maybe emotionally too. ⁓ And ⁓ been one being successful but two ⁓ being recognized, being something worth noting. That's cool. Aaron: you mentioned a second ago, but you're in Vegas for the multi-unit show. And we talked about it a little bit last week, but thinking about sort of how far we've come now that you're there, you're what, an hour, two hours away from doors opening, booth set up, I can see it behind you. How has it feel now to be back again after another year's worth of progress and another year's worth of sort of all the stuff that's happened that we've done, challenges, wins, you know, like what's it like to be back in an annual sort of way to an event like this? Jeff Perera: third time back, ⁓ know, ⁓ first year. Aaron: Which is crazy, let's just pause on that, that's crazy. The business is barely three years old, from a franchising perspective. Jeff Perera: Yeah, third year. Yeah. ⁓ no, we literally were here, I think, in the infancy of our franchising. And we had just a table and a backdrop, and now we have a full-blown, yeah, the whole deal. Yeah, quality tablecloth, you know. But now we've got a full-blown built-out store in ⁓ a double-wide booth. ⁓ Aaron: Is that the card table in a nice curtain sort of scenario? Jeff Perera: It feels like we've got momentum. know, last year I think we were here, we had maybe 11 or 12 stores opened at the time, might've been 13. But certainly not 32 with our 33rd opening the week that we're here. And it good. it's also a bit of like a highlight reel, because I think, ⁓ you know, true operators, people like... ⁓ the dough of the business under their fingernails. That's a ⁓ cheesy but a little pun for you this morning, Aaron. But ⁓ those know the hard work it takes to get to this point, right? ⁓ the is there, ⁓ Aaron: Yeah, a pun is appreciated. really... Jeff Perera: but there's a ton of hard work that took place. And so it's mixed emotions, I guess is what I'm trying to say. ⁓ And ⁓ I'm grateful to be here. grateful all the hard work of the team because it's obviously it's not just me. It's not just Danielle. It's ⁓ a ton of people. There's seven of out here this week to ⁓ actually ⁓ be on the show floor sampling talking about our brand. There's an entire store team locally that created all the samples for us, made sure the cream cheese was ready for us, is gonna transport it from their store to the convention hall. So it takes a team effort to make this happen and I'm grateful for all of them and excited for the future because we got a lot of cool stuff happening and people are starting to take notice. Aaron: As you talk to people at a show like this, I'm curious, what is the thing that you find surprises somebody most about Jeff's Bagel Run? So when they come up to the booth, whether they're making a beeline for you because they've heard something or whether they're just doing the random walk and, I got too close to the booth, now I have to talk to these people. You know how that works, you know how a trade show works. I always walk. Jeff Perera: Yeah. Aaron: Like I try to make sure if you measured where I was in the aisle, in the aisle carpet, I would be equidistant from anybody that could talk to me. Like, cause I don't want to get too close to any single person and invite that conversation. I'm the exact opposite of that. yeah. No. Jeff Perera: Yeah. Aaron, have you ever gone deep sea fishing? Okay, so when you go deep sea fishing, you have these outrigger poles that have just lines that just run for hundreds of yards behind the boat and then way out to the sides. And I feel like when you're at one of these shows, you start creeping outside the zone of your booth and you're like an outrigger trying to pull people in. So yeah, I get it. ⁓ Aaron: Yeah, for me with the boats. Jeff Perera: The thing that I think surprises most people is I started this business with zero experience in culinary ⁓ have no formal bake training. I'm not a chef. I've never went to culinary school or pastry school. ⁓ ⁓ how to make bagels, ⁓ YouTube videos, ⁓ experimenting in my kitchen. ⁓ that surprises people ⁓ ⁓ Aaron: Yeah. Jeff Perera: The next question they ask is, how many stores are you operating? What are the union economics? And we tell them, and they're like, holy cow. That's insane. Aaron: Basically, how did you do that without knowing what you're doing? Initially, of course. Jeff Perera: Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course, yeah, there's like the, yes, how did you do that without knowing what you were doing? And I think that's where it's fun, because then you start to talk to people, like really talk to people about journey. And as they start to ⁓ peel back those and understand ⁓ what we've been ⁓ This is a ⁓ systematic ⁓ process that we have built to create the tools, resources, technology that we need to grow this brand. Me figuring out how to make bagels, Maybe there's a little bit of luck in that, I'm also a relentless and obsessive person who isn't going to accept failure by any... Aaron: Yeah. Jeff Perera: by any form. So failure is not an option. And when Danielle said, you should make me a bagel, I was like, I got this. Aaron: There was only one outcome, either wasting more dough or nailing the bagel. Jeff Perera: There we go. In my ⁓ In my mind, there was only one result that was ever going to be, and that was creating a bagel that she liked. The fact that we subsequently built an entire business around that is a completely different story to tell, yeah. Wild. Wild, wild, wild. Aaron: But I think that sets apart, that resonate with people as being and sort of, you know, they get connected to them versus brands that maybe just make sense but ⁓ maybe feel a little bit more corporatey, right? Like this wasn't ⁓ a boardroom concept. Somebody didn't look at ⁓ the landscape and say, ⁓ the moment is bagels right now, so let's put together a bagel concept and let's test this and let's think through, ⁓ it should have this kind of feel like this didn't come out of a corporate brand strategy. This didn't come out of analyzing the market. This came out of ⁓ Danielle wanting a bagel and then just of it snowballing from there. And then as you said earlier, the lock is maybe in. ⁓ some of the chance sides of it, but it's not in the hard work that goes into it. And this is, you know, I always love the joke. It's a five year, 10 year, whatever, overnight success. And that's kind of what it is. Like we get to enjoy this part right now as it's catching, but that's built on the backs of years and years of trial and error, figuring things out. And I think that's where people resonate with certain brands. I always hope that ours has seen that way too, where it's like, hey, I can see Jeff Perera: Yes. Aaron: the work in this. I can see the learning, the trial and error, I can see the systems that you've built. It's not lightning in a bottle. It might be catching at the right time, but it's not, it's not accidental. Jeff Perera: Yeah. Yeah, think there's, ⁓ man, there's so much to unpack there because I think that as we grow, staying cognizant of who we are is so critical to our future success. there's saying, like, ⁓ what got you here won't get there. ⁓ I believe that ⁓ to be in the sense ⁓ change is always evolving and you to be able to ⁓ make an effort to evolve. But I think our core values, the things that make us who we are and what we believe in and stand for, those ring true all the way to the end. And the companies, I believe, that are steadfast in that. maintaining their principles, understanding what their mission, vision, values are, and aligning those incentives to all of their customers are the ones that have long-term success. So how do you do that? That's the hardest, that's the question. How do you do that? And today, the prospective franchisee asked me that. She said, do you keep a founder-led experience? How do you make sure that something that's growing and getting bigger feels small still? And I said it's a, you know, and she said it asking, you know, she was asking for herself, selfishly, you know, they have a franchise group and they have 27 locations and they're growing and getting bigger and they're looking to add a third brand and doing more. she's got a big team of area managers and GMs and she's like, how do you keep the culture of, like it used to feel so like mom and pop or used to feel so small. And, and I told her, said, you have to protect that You know, when you walk into a store. you're going to see the quality of the product, you're going to see the service that the employees are providing, but you should walk in first and say, how's your day? What's going on? How can I make your job easier? What's happening? And then secondarily address product experience, operational challenges, because if you don't set the tone with the culture and the team doesn't trust and believe in the thing that you're trying to achieve, then you're not going to be able to maintain that long-term. Aaron: I fully agree with you. And it's ⁓ you're saying that what I find ⁓ to mind is that there's a difference between feeling small and cozy ⁓ feeling ⁓ and community. Right. And I think that's a very important distinction. And I think that's why ⁓ always been a really big fan of our of our way of saying we talk about building community. ⁓ don't talk about staying small it's a very different frame. ⁓ It's ⁓ in real sense of, I think, the intent, but it's very important because ⁓ you get big and be small. Like that has conflict and then that leads to conflict, right? ⁓ But can be big and connected to the community. And I think it's a much more aligned way to approach sort of the same thing, but ⁓ to build cultures around. Cause what's really important is, hey, when you those customers come in to your... Jeff Perera: Yeah. Aaron: to the point you just made, and those customers come in, make them feel seen, make them, you know, focus on the experience. And even, just for the people listening, like what's interesting about how we sort of put that into our company culture, like in technology, our goal is to reduce the load on the store employee, right? Now have a thousand other sort of supportive things that we do with that, but like at the core of it, if we can... reduce the load on the employee, that employee can spend that time with either the customer first or the product second. And both of those two things get better. And so that's just how as departments in different parts of this company, we can feed into that overall vision of connecting with customers by just each doing our little part. And then the sum hopefully creates that feeling. And it's not something we dictate from the top down by saying, be nice to every customer or. ask them about their dog. You know what I mean? It's not prescriptive. We're gonna give you space to engage as humans. Jeff Perera: that ⁓ something you see the stores. that's something you see in the franchisee selection process. that's something you see ⁓ in our office when ⁓ we're bringing teams. know, some teams work some teams work office, and ⁓ they co-mingle and they interact, and they all are driven for that same outcome. it's a, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. ⁓ Aaron: Speaking of in office, I'm not gonna lie man, I'm already getting requests for the next taco Tuesday day. Then my team was very disappointed. I was like, listen, Jeff's's traveling. Jeff Perera: ⁓ man, how... how are we ever gonna get the, Okay, replicating the initial Taco Tuesday is gonna be hard, because that thing... slapped. Aaron: happened. Jeff Perera: Yeah, that was a... have to do it again. I don't know, maybe we'll have to do Pizza Monday or we could do ⁓ ⁓ don't know. ⁓ pick a different... ⁓ We'll make it happen. ⁓ was a success. Dessert, you know, ⁓ a success. Taco Tuesday was success. ⁓ it's little stuff like that. ⁓ ⁓ we should do pizza bagels. ⁓ just saying. ⁓ Aaron: It, it. I think a pizza day works. I think a pizza day works. 100%. We just need to line up like 50 toaster ovens. That's four. To bake them. To bake the cheese. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Jeff Perera: Like just heat them like the little convection ovens. ⁓ the mini countertop convection ovens. ⁓ We could do an air fryer too. It works in an air fryer. Aaron: Listen, all I know is that when I told everybody, because we were talking about this on Monday at my team meeting, and they're like, so we do it. So you know what's going on Tuesday or whatever. I'm like, listen guys, nothing going on. ⁓ did it, Jeff's's traveling. They're like, we're starting to realize who the real hero is with Taco Tuesday. I was really riding in your coattails. Listen. ⁓ Jeff's drafting off your success, Jeff's. Jeff Perera: Let's... Listen, I'm happy to have you as ⁓ a... Every... In the eyes of your team, every superhero has a sidekick, right? So, you can be my Robin, yeah. Another thing that I wanna talk about today ⁓ I like... ⁓ Aaron: Yes, that's fine. I can be Robin. That's it. Jeff Perera: a lot of pride in was we were nominated again as part of the Fast Casuals Movers and Shakers Top 100. And last year we were nominated, which was a surprise because it was kind of early in our journey, only 10 or 12 stores in at the time of nomination. And we ranked 88th last year. So this year we are in the Top 100. I don't know the ranking yet. They announced it at a big gala they have in May. that coincides alongside the National Restaurant Association show. So we'll be in Chicago in the middle of May to see where we fall. it's nice to be I'm excited to see we ⁓ rank and how we slip in there. ⁓ it's It's kind of an unbiased ⁓ look ⁓ the business from a ⁓ growth union economics, revenue. ⁓ size of the team, the places you're impacting, your community, and they factor a lot of things into it. see where we land. See where we land. Aaron: And we went to, I think you guys were at store openings, but another group of us went to a fast casual event. And what struck me about them as well is that they really represent a very wide swath, right? You've got businesses at the very beginning. You've got businesses in growth stage like us. And then you've also got established, multi-hundred units of change, thousands, you know, like they really sort of Jeff Perera: Yeah. Aaron: look at the entire space. It's not just focusing on one segment or one sort of size or niche. it's really everything. So it's a neat cross-section of the space altogether. Jeff Perera: Yes. Yeah, so perspective, last year, the number one top brand in 2025 on the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers and Shakers was Dave's Hot Chicken. So to be on a list with Dave's Hot Chicken is, honestly, it's a list I want to be a part of. It's a list I want to be a part of. They're great brand. there were lots of other brands on that list. I think it's just, again, it goes back to it's nice to be noticed, it's nice to be recognized, and nice to see that the hard work is. Aaron: which is definitely moving and shaking. Jeff Perera: is being seen by others ultimately I it just adds to the credibility of what we're doing and ⁓ validation for the and ⁓ it's fun. ⁓ I'm excited. And going back to NRA is fun. If you've never done the National Restaurant Association show, it's about 32,000 steps, almost nine miles of walking. Every brand under the sun exists there in that show to support the growth and prolification of the restaurant industry. It's really something that's... Aaron: That's crazy. And when is that? Jeff Perera: It's in Chicago in May. I mean, they basically take the entire McCormick Center. If you've ever been to the McCormick Center in Chicago, they take the entire thing. and ⁓ 32,000 last ⁓ One day. ⁓ a good you're walking though, because the amount of food you eat is insane. ⁓ Aaron: Yeah. ⁓ I was gonna say, this is the one, this is the show that you wanna walk, nobody's using those little scooters, everybody wants to make sure they get their steps in. Jeff Perera: You wanna walk. Yeah. ⁓ you're walking, man. You're walking, you're getting bags full of swag. You're eating your way through, name a cuisine. It's represented. And you can try food there. Aaron: Ha ha ha So basically what you're telling me is if you're familiar with the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, it's basically the Treachio version of that with less lines. Jeff Perera: It is 100 % that. It is Epcot Food and Wine Festival trade show. What a vibe. man. They sell tickets to it. You can go. Anybody can go. It's a few hundred dollars to gain admission and walk the floor. So it's quite the experience. So I'm excited for that. Be fun. Aaron: It's a busy calendar for the summer with these events. Jeff Perera: Listen, the calendar doesn't end, Aaron. Busy is just what we do now. Busy is what we do. We're opening stores, we're going to award shows, we're visiting conventions. We're playing pickleball in April. Can't wait for that. Aaron: I am excited about that. That is another marketing opportunity. Jeff Perera: We might have to, I think what we're gonna need to do for that, as I digress here briefly away from our agenda, this will be a great thing to end on actually. Let's just wrap this thing up after we talk pickleball. ⁓ restaurant leadership conference, April, real meaningful, this is deep, we're going real deep. ⁓ Restaurant leadership conference in April, Phoenix, Arizona, Aaron and I are competing in a pickleball tournament and... Aaron: the meaningful stuff. Which for the record, we actually don't know anything about the rules. This could be a completely friendly game with pickleball that we've trumped up into being a tournament and we don't entirely know. I don't even know if we can play on the same team. We don't have a lot of details about this. We just know what we want and we're just going for that. This could literally be. Jeff Perera: We'll see. We don't. We're manifesting. We're gonna be the doubles team of the conference. We will definitely make a show of it as we arrive and as we play, well or not, it doesn't matter really. It's more about the, it's secondary. But I do believe we're gonna have to ⁓ enlist the rest of our leadership team in capturing content so that when we get this pod, Aaron: That's secondary. Yes Jeff Perera: on YouTube, we can do some clip work and show a little bit of our pickleballing skills because it's going to be a sight to see. Aaron: Yeah. Listen, when we get to talk about my inevitably shattered ACL from playing pickleball, and then we can have a little breakout on all of my medical bills from said shattering of ACL, then yeah, we'll tear it right off. I'll be full into third surgeries by then, I'm sure. Jeff Perera: too. What I know about you, Aaron, is that if you rupture something, tear an ACL, break something, you're just going to tape it up and keep going. Aaron: ⁓ I mean, yes. the game's not done, it's not done. Jeff Perera: I've learned that about you and you're just going to tape it up and put me in coach. You know what I mean? It's nuts. Aaron: I Jeff Perera: Your doctor's gonna be like, you literally are hanging by a thread again. Again. Aaron: Again, see this is why I'm hoping, see I really wanna make sure that if I do get injured that I can just funnel that into any of my known injuries so that I can reuse some of my medical equipment just because they're real pain to have to go buy new things. So as long as we can injure previously injured things, although it might be hard to break that titanium plate in my ankle. So that might be the only part that's solid left. Jeff Perera: I know. pickleball injuries are different though, Aaron. people fall in this sport. Aaron: It's like hips, broken hips. Jeff Perera: I'm approaching, I'm in late ⁓ 40s now. ⁓ comfortable enough say that. ⁓ I just, I'm worried I don't heal the same way I used to. So we'll see how it goes. I'm going to play hard, ⁓ my goal not to break anything. Aaron: Yeah, yeah, I get that. I'm there. when my ankle was being repaired from my previous injury, which is soccer, but when that was being repaired, my pick up. Jeff Perera: Pickup, let me clarify for the listeners, a pickup soccer game. is not a, this was like at a corporate retreat, corporate retreat pickup game in like the woods. Aaron: It was a, it was a, yes. Coed, coed with families. So they were like, kids running around. Yeah, yes, yes. And they destroyed me. So as my orthopedist is like diagnosing this and explains what he sees, and we're chatting and he goes, listen, there's two things I will never do as an orthopedist. That's what he sees. There's two things I'll never do. I'll never climb a ladder. Jeff Perera: You're playing with kids. Basically you're playing with kids. Yeah, alright, so. Aaron: and I will never play pickleball. That was his two non-negotiables from all the things he's repaired over the years. And I'm like, great, thanks. Jeff Perera: Well, I was on a ladder last week and I'm playing pickleball next month. So let's go. ⁓ Riding on the edge of danger. Aaron: Exactly. Hey it'll be glorious anyway you cut it. Jeff Perera: No doubt. This has been an absolutely fantastic episode of the Weekly Run. I'm glad you've done it with you, Aaron. Bake fresh, bring joy, build community. We'll see you next week.