Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Turning Mistakes into Opportunities: Jeff Martin's Unconventional Path to Restaurant Success | Restaurants & Franchises Series

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Turning Mistakes into Opportunities: Jeff Martin's Unconventional Path to Restaurant Success | Restaurants & Franchises Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
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how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
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they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:19
the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their
0:22
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:25
by how they've overcome adversity.
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My name is Anthony Kotaspoti and today's guest is Jeff Martin,
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owner and founder of FN Egg, a craft breakfast sandwich
0:35
concept. He previously built the largest
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cupcake company in the US. He built small cakes to over 200
0:42
franchisees. He was featured on the Food
0:45
Network several times as well as the hit daytime talk show The
0:49
View. He sold small cakes to a private
0:52
equity firm in 2021 and put all his passion into F An Egg, which
0:56
is just started franchising and growing throughout the USA where
1:00
they already have 12 locations and at least 30 more that are
1:04
opening very soon. Before we get into all the good
1:06
stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
1:09
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To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
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AD back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
1:37
CEO and Founder of F and AG. Jeff, I appreciate you making
1:40
the time to Share your story today.
1:42
Hey, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
1:44
OK, Jeff, let's start with small cakes.
1:47
What gave you the idea to start a company that focuses
1:51
specifically on making cupcakes? I did not want to work for the
1:54
man anymore. Pretty much that was it.
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I'd wanted to work, you know, I, I was a chef in some high end
1:59
restaurants and, you know, the idea of just working late nights
2:03
and working for someone else, it just really, it really wasn't
2:07
what I wanted to do, you know? And I was visiting a friend out
2:11
in California and I saw this place that was just selling just
2:15
cupcakes. And I was like, this is the
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dumbest thing I've ever heard of.
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But there was a line out the door and I was like, OK, wait a
2:20
minute, how, how do I get into this?
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You know, and, and that's really where it came from.
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I was like, you know, I really want to do this.
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Cupcakes seem easy. I have no baking experience at
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all, no money at all. But I wanted to try to do
2:34
something different. I was living in Kansas City at
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the time, and there was nothing like this going on.
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And that's kind of how the the thought started.
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I flew back home and that was the that was the whole thought.
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The entire way is like, how do I bring cupcakes to a place that,
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you know, doesn't have anything like what I saw in California
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so. So there were a couple of big
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chasms to to crossover here, right?
2:59
Because you had experience as a chef, but you were making food
3:03
you weren't baking. And maybe to the uninitiated,
3:06
seems like those are highly related.
3:07
It's stuff in the kitchen, right?
3:09
But this is a a new set of skills.
3:11
Totally. And And so it's, yeah, it's not
3:13
like cooking. I mean, bacon is like science
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and in theory, bacon is a science.
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So, you know, in cooking, you can add a little bit of this,
3:20
add a little bit of that and you can enhance it on the fly, right
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when baking. It's a very exact science.
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There's no, there's, there's not a lot of, you know, wiggle room
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to get things wrong. And I learned that along the
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way. And, and then finally created,
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you know, a great product that, that that people love.
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So. So not only did you have to sort
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of cross this gap of the, the, the knowledge of how to do it,
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but you had to find the money, you had to come up with the
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money. We weren't sitting on a trust
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fund, were you? Exactly.
3:51
Yeah. So that was the biggest thing,
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right? And I think that's a that's a
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big thing with people today, you know, that they get scared about
3:58
trying to start something. It always goes back to money,
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right, Which is the biggest part.
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But you've got to figure out a way to to to try to make it
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work. So you know, what I did was, you
4:10
know, I had about $5000, right? And that's not enough money to
4:14
to start a small business not even 15 years ago.
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But being creative, you know, I found a small little coffee shop
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that went out of business behind a Mexican restaurant, right?
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Horrible location. And they always tell you when
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you open a business, location, location, location.
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Well, this was a horrible location, but the guts were
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done, right? So it was a small little coffee
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shop. I had some friends help throw
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some paint on the wall. But then the other part was
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equipment. So in the early days, I would
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bake everything at home in the middle of the night, transport
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it to the store, and then work the store until I sold out, you
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know? And so the $5000 a lot of people
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goes. What'd you do with the $5000?
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Well, it was either buy an oven or get a sign to go in the
5:03
building. And so I was like, OK, let's get
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a sign because I can bake at home, you know.
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Now, little did I know bacon in a little oven at home is a lot
5:12
different than bacon in a commercial oven, right?
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But it was a lot of late night, early mornings.
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Well, anyways, so we, we got the sign, right.
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We put the sign up on this horrible location behind this
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Mexican restaurant. And then for the first probably
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two months, three months, I would bake at home, middle of
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the night, work the store and then do it all over the next
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day. That sounds exhausting, but
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probably exhilarating as you're starting to create your own
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thing for the first time. A couple couple of things.
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I went on unpacked there. First of all, how was it that
5:43
you learned how to bake? Were you just, were you looking
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on the side of a box? Were you going online?
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Did you find some mentors that helped?
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No, almost. It was all just on the back of a
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it was, it was either online and then on the back of a box is
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seeing what other people did and trying to figure out how to make
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it, you know, mine, you know, we first started small cakes.
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We only had about six different flavors right as we grew to the
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big company we were when we sold, we had over 250 flavors.
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So but in the beginnings it was all like, OK, so how do you get
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this thing to proof? How do you get in the pop?
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How do you ice it? And then how do you sell it?
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You know, and so, yeah, it was a lot of trial and error, you
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know, but again, we only had those six flavors.
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And then as we started growing and we started listening to, you
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know, customers and stuff and, and, and different flavors and
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really putting our own spin on it, it just grew into something,
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you know, a lot bigger than what you know, I expected so.
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What was that first day like when you opened your doors?
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It was terrifying because I had these six flavors and I probably
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only made I think about 50 cupcakes, right?
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And I thought, Oh my God, that's a lot of cupcakes, 50 cupcakes.
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The first two people who walked through our door and think about
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it, a small business, you have no money at this point in time,
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right? And so the first two people that
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walked in, they said, hey, this is so cute, but this is never
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going to work. And then they walked out.
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They didn't even buy anything, you know, So that was, you know.
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The first two people who walked. In.
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Turned around and walked out. They said it was so cute,
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though, but no one's going to pay $3.75 for a cupcake.
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And then they walked out, right? But within like probably an
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hour, those fifty cupcakes were gone.
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I had to close shop, drive back home, make more cupcakes every
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day. You know, the next day I may
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like maybe 75. The next day it was 100.
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We kept selling out every day until we got to a point was
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like, OK, wait a minute, we really need to get an oven in
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this store, right? But it was, you know, it was, it
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was, it was hard in the beginning because you had a lot
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of naysayers. I mean, and, and back, you know,
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15 years ago, no one knew, no one's going to, you know, no one
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thought someone would pay 375 for a cupcake, right?
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And, and then that became the average and that became everyone
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started doing it, you know, but a lot of people were very
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naysayers, you know, especially those first two ladies that came
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in, they're like, Oh my God, this place is so cute.
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It's pink, It's, it's great, but you're not going to make it.
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You know, even my landlord who, that, that horrible location, he
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goes, hey, I'm not going to put you on a lease because you're
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probably going to go out of business within a month because
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no one's going to pay $3 for a cupcake.
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So after the first couple months, he goes, OK, now time to
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put you on a lease. But you know, that was like a
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hurdle to get over. And that's hard for some people
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to kind of think about And but you got to have passion and
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faith in what you're doing. And I thought, you know, if I
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can get this to work and I don't and and I don't have to work for
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anyone, this is great. So what was it about the
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cupcakes that had people wanting to pay almost $4.00 for them?
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Was it the presentation? Is it the taste?
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Is it? What's that?
9:03
Sorry. Yeah, I think we have a little
9:07
Internet hiccup. I don't know if if you've got
9:09
any other apps open. Yep, sorry I got to know.
9:13
If there's any other apps open on your computer, maybe shut
9:16
them down just so we're not sharing any bandwidth there.
9:20
OK. Yeah, I think we're good.
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OK. So, so tell me Jeff, what was it
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about these cupcakes that had people in the Midwest wanting to
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pay $4.00 a piece for them? Is it the flavor?
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Was it the presentation? Was it the cute pink walls that
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you had? Yeah.
9:37
So, so, you know, think about it.
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Back in the day, you, you would only get bakery goods at your
9:42
grocery store, right? So we branded it as we're not
9:44
your grocery store cupcake, right?
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So they were bigger, they had more frosting.
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They were packaged in a pink box and it appealed to a lot of
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people. You could use it for a gift.
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So a lot of, you know, women especially would use it for
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gifts, right? So it became a big gift giving
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treat, but a lot different, right?
10:08
So hey, I got my cupcake from small cakes, not from the local
10:12
grocery store, right? They were most people who were
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buying them. Were they buying like one?
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Were they buying 3 or 6 or 12? Yeah, so it was crazy.
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I I thought, you know, in the beginning people just buy one.
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Well, dozens, you know, people were buying dozens at a time.
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And then once you taste it, you know, the, the quality was
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great. You know, I created something
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that was really flavorful and good, but it, but it really
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transpired to people, they wanted a whole box of these,
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these cute little cakes that, that, that they, that they
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didn't get from the grocery store.
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And that's what that's what started out.
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You know, that's how we got so popular.
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And then we got so busy. We opened up a second location
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in Kansas City and it, it turned out to be busier, obviously,
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because it was a better location than our, you know, first
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location, but then it got busier.
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So we were just baking cupcakes. It seemed like every hour on the
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day, but people in really enjoyed it.
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They wanted that little pink box of joy.
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Kids loved it, women loved it. They took it home to their
11:14
husbands. The husbands would eat it out of
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the pink box and they would love it.
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It just became like a, it became a crazy thing at the time.
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And so how many corporate stores did you get to before you're
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like, yeah, we should really franchise this concept?
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Yeah. So we got to about 5 stores in
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Kansas City, right? And, and again, in the
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beginning, it was always, I just don't want to work for someone
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else, you know, And then as we started, you know, I would, I
11:37
would travel around and taste cupcakes from some of the, these
11:40
little places and they just weren't as good.
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And I was like, how do we grow this thing?
11:45
How do we get to another city? And I had no idea how to
11:47
franchise at all, right? It was just an idea of, of, of I
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saw these other places that would franchise and I was like,
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how do you do this? And so we learned how to
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franchise by ourselves. You know, it was OK, get a
12:01
lawyer, get, get these franchising papers, do this.
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But it was all trial and error, right?
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It was all like, OK, well, if we get all this work, how do we get
12:08
people to to try the product? Well, at the same time, I
12:12
started getting phone calls from.
12:16
So I was at the store one day. This is a great story.
12:18
And this, this the phone rang and I was very busy.
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I was the only employee for a very long time, it seemed.
12:23
And they call and say, hey, we're getting ready to start a
12:26
new TV show. We want you to come to LA and
12:29
film. And I hung up on them.
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I didn't want to hear anymore because I was trying to sell
12:32
these cupcakes, right? Call back and say, hey, you
12:36
know, we really, we're starting a new TV show.
12:38
It's about cupcakes and go, hey, I'm very busy.
12:40
I don't have time for this. Hung up again, right?
12:42
But thank God, the third time they called and said, hey, don't
12:45
hang up. We've got this new show called
12:48
Cupcake Wars. And we're going to pit people
12:50
against each other. And if you win, you, you get
12:52
$10,000. So I was like, oh, my God.
12:54
OK, wait a minute. Let me take this phone call.
12:56
You know, so they, you know, they're telling me, hey, you got
12:58
to come to LA. You got to, you know, film this
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show called Cupcake Wars. So I did.
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And so I was like, OK, this is great.
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So I fly to LA Cupcake Wars. They pit these four bakers
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against each other. You get eliminated each round.
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And if you win, you get $10,000. Well, I was so nervous, right?
13:19
Because I've never done anything like this.
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And I'm still thinking about the stores at home that I need to be
13:24
running because, you know, I mean, that's that's how I'm
13:27
making my money right now. So get on the show.
13:30
And the first, you know, they give you these crazy ingredients
13:33
to use. And I said, Jeff, you know, we
13:35
need to make you a pump. You need to make a pumpkin
13:37
cupcake and use this cardamom, you know, seed.
13:42
I had no idea what a cardamom anything went right.
13:44
Again, not a Baker, right? So.
13:48
You're really a fish out of water here, huh?
13:50
1000% I had all these other people around me.
13:52
They were bakers and they like were doing and they lived in LA
13:55
and it was like, Oh my God, you know, so, so I'm, I'm nervous.
14:01
I'm making the cupcake. I finished the cupcake.
14:04
I go with this Cartaman seed. I'm just going to put in some
14:05
buttercream and you're like, I don't know, right.
14:08
So when I make the cupcake, as I'm presented to the judge, I
14:13
realized I didn't put the pumpkin in the cupcake.
14:18
I had to use the ingredients they gave me and I forgot to use
14:20
the pumpkin. So I really just made a white
14:22
cupcake with this cardamom. So, so the judges tasted and I'm
14:28
thinking to myself, Oh my God. And so they say before I can
14:30
tell them about the pumpkin, they go, Jeff, this is the
14:32
greatest cupcake we've ever had on this show.
14:36
And so I had a a moment to where I go, OK, you got to tell them
14:40
that you didn't use the ingredients.
14:42
Or do you lie and just just, you know, see if you can get to the
14:46
next round? And so in the moment I, I told
14:50
him I said, hey, I didn't use the pumpkin for the cupcake, you
14:53
know, and they were so devastated.
14:55
And they were like, well, you didn't use the ingredients.
14:58
You didn't, you know, follow the rules.
14:59
So you're voted off, right? After telling you that you just
15:03
made the greatest cupcake that. They've ever had on this show
15:05
yes yes so flew back in Kansas City and I was thinking Oh my
15:10
God, I'm a look like an idiot on TV right This is horrible.
15:14
What turned out to be the greatest thing, because what
15:17
happened was two things. We, we, I'm a I'm a big
15:20
jokester, right? I think, I think if you make a
15:22
mistake, you make fun of it and you and you find, you try to
15:24
find the best in everything, right?
15:26
So what we did was we made T-shirts that said I forgot the
15:29
pumpkin. We took out a billboard that
15:31
said I forgot the pumpkin. I.
15:32
Love it. Right.
15:33
So, so I thought that was genius.
15:37
Well, that was the 2nd that was that was great and it really
15:40
helped. But when the show aired, it was
15:42
all about people sitting in front of their televisions with
15:45
kids going, Oh my gosh, look, you told the truth.
15:48
It was the right thing to do. And then that alone took us to
15:54
not even another step. It was like three or four more
15:56
steps where we we just got to super fast, right?
16:01
So it was the guy who forgot the pumpkin, the guy who told the
16:04
truth, who didn't care about the money.
16:07
And it just blew up. I love this story on so many
16:11
levels. Right?
16:12
It's such a. Yeah, so then people started
16:16
coming from all over, right? I want to meet the guy who
16:19
forgot the pumpkin. I want to meet the guy who told
16:21
the truth. My kid.
16:23
I had church people calling me going, oh, my God, you did the
16:25
right thing. And again, all I wanted to do
16:28
was like, I really wanted that $10,000.
16:30
But it was the greatest thing that could have ever happened.
16:35
And again, making fun of it, we sold tons of T-shirts.
16:38
I said I forgot the pumpkin. I shipped them all over the
16:40
United States. Well, then Cupcake Wars called
16:43
again. They said, hey, Season 2, people
16:46
want to see you on it again because, you know, you had the
16:48
best cupcake. Can you come out for Season 2?
16:51
Absolutely. You know, And this time I was
16:53
like, OK, I'm going to win this. I mean, like, why not?
16:56
I've made the best cupcake. So again, we get there.
17:00
And then in the heat of the moment and everything's fast in
17:04
LA, you got cameras in your face.
17:05
You got, you know, people yelling, producers yelling to do
17:08
things. And I ran into a table, the
17:16
cupcakes flew up in the air and I got voted off again, first,
17:20
right? But again, people love the like,
17:24
Jeff, you just make this look so bad but so good.
17:28
And then again, more people, right?
17:30
And at the same time, we're trying to franchise this thing.
17:33
And so then people are like, I want to take this cupcake that's
17:36
been on TV. This guy seems like really cool.
17:42
Then we started selling some franchises, right?
17:44
And then it started, you know, we'd open one.
17:47
And I've always said product sells itself, right?
17:49
You can have these pretty places and, and, and people put
17:52
hundreds of millions of dollars into restaurants, right?
17:55
It's all about the product, right?
17:56
And so I've always said these cupcakes are so great.
17:58
Maybe our stores weren't as sexy as some others because again, my
18:01
first store was in the back of a Mexican restaurant, right?
18:04
But you know, once people tried the product, someone else would
18:09
want to come in and open a store.
18:10
And then it just started spreading like wildfire.
18:15
And then I got on Cupcake Wars a third time and I set the kitchen
18:17
on fire. So at that point in time, it was
18:19
like, just get this guy on here to get him to do something funny
18:23
because obviously he doesn't want to win, but I did.
18:26
But it was always something, you know, It was always.
18:28
How did you set the kitchen on fire?
18:30
You know, I forgot about a pot on the on the counter.
18:33
I go to pull the cupcakes out. I come back and like the, the,
18:37
the, the sauce I'm making is on fire.
18:39
And it was just bad and it but, but again, you know, they, I, I,
18:44
I have someone said this a long time ago.
18:46
It was always good for ratings because whenever I was on there,
18:48
it's, it was an hour long show and I always got about 35 to 38
18:53
minutes worth of being on the show.
18:56
And I was the first one kicked off every time.
19:00
No, Jeffrey, are you the kind of guy where you're the life of
19:02
every party? Like, are you the center of
19:04
attention? Typically, yeah, I have to be
19:06
the center of attention too. So yeah, I am.
19:09
Yeah. And are you also the kind of
19:11
person where maybe you're a little like ADHD, like brain
19:14
sort of zip, zip, zip? Or was it like the pressure of
19:16
the camera and the lights that really sort of like had you a
19:19
little unnerved? No, no, everything.
19:22
I've got 20 other things going on, right?
19:23
You know, a lot of people say I'm just, I, I'm, I'm never
19:27
satisfied because I have all this other stuff going on.
19:30
So I have this one great thing, this cupcakes, we're selling it.
19:33
But then I'm thinking, OK, how do we, how do we grow this
19:35
thing? How do we add more product?
19:36
I mean, I'm always thinking six months to a year ahead, you
19:41
know, and, and I tell people, I think a lot of CE OS
19:43
entrepreneurs do that, you know, they don't think about the next
19:46
day. They're thinking the next six
19:48
months to a year, where are we going to be or what, what, what
19:51
product do I have to have or whatever?
19:54
But as all this is going on, we're we're growing franchises.
19:57
I mean, we're, we're, you know, one store opened another store
20:00
and then it's just like people are calling it again.
20:03
I don't know how, how long or how far I can take this thing.
20:06
I don't know if this cupcake thing's going to end tomorrow,
20:08
right. So I'm the guy who's taking the
20:10
sales calls. I'm still baking cupcakes.
20:13
I'm still training stores before I hire anyone.
20:16
You know, I mean, I'm trying to do everything my, myself and but
20:20
it was good. It was a it was a crazy learning
20:22
curve. I think we got to about 30
20:25
stores in the US and and this is a a great story because this was
20:28
my ten year. It was 10 years.
20:30
Couple days ago I got a call from a guy in Dubai who wanted
20:34
to open up a small cakes in Dubai.
20:36
I never even heard of Dubai, right.
20:38
I mean, it wasn't Dubai like it is now, you know, and so he
20:43
flies, he flies me out to Dubai. And so it was 10 years ago, we
20:48
had our first Dubai store open and I thought, Oh my gosh, we're
20:53
going out to the desert. And you know, I mean, again,
20:55
it's not ten years ago, Dubai wasn't what it is now, but it
20:59
was crazy that someone wanted to open a small cakes in Dubai.
21:05
It was unbelievable, right? So it really, it really helped
21:09
me grow not only, you know, here locally, but internationally we
21:12
grew. I mean, I was even shipping, I
21:14
forgot pumpkin cupcakes or pumpkin shirts to, you know,
21:18
over in, in Europe, in the Middle East.
21:21
I mean, it was crazy. So, yeah, I want to rewind a
21:23
little bit and just sort of like highlight like what what a great
21:27
series of stories that was. I mean, as you pointed out very
21:31
astutely, like it was so awesome how you put what was right in
21:36
front of what you've really wanted in that moment, right?
21:40
You're like, OK, I really need that $10,000 for my young
21:45
business that's really trying to get off the ground.
21:47
I didn't follow the rules. I'm going to feel bad.
21:50
I'm going to feel terrible if I don't do the right thing here.
21:53
So I'm going to speak up. I'm going to say something and
21:56
and you kind of leave feeling a little bit deflated.
21:57
But as you're heading back, you're like, you know what?
21:59
I am just going to embrace the mistake.
22:02
I'm just going to love who I am and love what happened.
22:05
And and I'm going to highlight it.
22:06
I'm not going to stick my head in the sand.
22:07
I'm not going to hide from it. And it's like, Yep, that was me
22:09
forgot the pumpkin. And and then those two things
22:13
that the honesty and the sort of, you know, just laughing at
22:16
yourself really help this to blow up, right.
22:19
I mean, it really started the the snowball down the hill in a
22:23
way that I don't know if you could have bought that kind of
22:26
publicity any other way. I know, right?
22:28
I mean, it just, it was just a, it was a perfect storm in a way.
22:31
People always say that it was like lightning in a bottle.
22:34
And you can either catch it and run with it or let it go.
22:37
And I mean, I think we, we caught it and we, we tucked it
22:40
and we ran as far as we could with it.
22:43
And again, I never knew. I thought this cupcake thing,
22:46
you know, people always say, you always said it could end
22:48
tomorrow, it could end tomorrow. And then, you know, 15 years, it
22:52
was still going strong, you know.
22:54
And So what was behind the decision to sell?
22:57
So you know it was. You got up to 200 franchisees.
23:02
How many locations was that? So, yeah, so that was, that was
23:07
around 220 locations, right, International as well.
23:12
And it just got to, I mean, again, I was doing other things
23:14
as well. I was always thinking of other
23:16
concepts to start. Even when we were doing this
23:19
small case, I always started other concepts too, right?
23:23
Started some coffee shops, you know, just little things that
23:26
were popular at the time. Just trying to get on the next
23:29
wave of how the food industry was changing.
23:32
But then 15, you know, in 2021, it just felt right because in
23:37
2020 I started F and egg, which we'll get into, but I really had
23:42
a passion for that, right? I really saw the food industry
23:46
changing after 2020 and where breakfast was going and it just
23:52
felt right. And, and again, 15 years, I
23:54
mean, I felt that I did as much as I could do at the time, you
23:58
know, and it was just time to move on.
24:01
And it was just an opportunity that came.
24:02
We didn't go out looking for it. It was it was an opportunity
24:05
that came to us and we were just like, you know, let's just do
24:07
it. I have two kids now that are,
24:09
that are 16 and 15. So they're getting, you know, up
24:13
to that age where they'll be leaving and going somewhere.
24:15
And so it was just like, you know, let's do this, Let's enjoy
24:20
my time with them. And, and, and put everything
24:23
into F and egg. And again, when we sold, people
24:26
say you took like 3 days off and then you jump right into growing
24:29
F and egg. I'm like, I know I can't stop.
24:31
I mean, like this is going to be big too, I think.
24:34
So that's kind of how the the sale went.
24:37
So what was what were the changes that you saw coming in
24:40
the food space that had you kind of interested in breakfast?
24:44
Yeah. So, you know, not only did
24:47
marketing change, right. So 15 years ago it was like, you
24:50
know, TV, it was magazine ads. That's how you marketed your
24:53
business. Well, now marketing is all
24:56
social media, you know, and then after 2020, we saw these big
25:01
restaurants, not not naked. So everything was going to a
25:03
smaller type of a smaller type of box type of restaurant and
25:09
then third party, right? I mean, everything, everyone's
25:11
ordering food online now and then the breakfast segment.
25:15
No one really did, no everyone. It's almost like grandpa's,
25:19
right? I mean like the breakfast place
25:20
you go in, you get your, you get your side of eggs, you get your
25:23
grits, you get your two hard pieces of bacon.
25:25
No one was trying to do anything and scale it with like a
25:29
breakfast sandwich, you know, and what we saw was a breakfast
25:33
sandwich instead of like getting something from like McDonald's
25:36
that was like not great quality. We really want to do something
25:39
quality that you could grab on the go.
25:43
And again, it was all take, you know, take to go and 3rd party.
25:48
And that's where I really saw it going.
25:49
And if you see that a lot of these companies are building
25:52
smaller models, you know, they're doing a lot of like
25:57
third party, you know, some just kiosk only.
26:00
I mean, people just aren't eating in stores like they used
26:02
to. So, you know, we saw that's
26:04
where that was going and we really wanted to jump on the
26:06
breakfast market of it because no one in the breakfast market
26:09
was doing anything like it. And did you see this change
26:12
coming? Was this prior to COVID?
26:14
Was this during COVID that you saw the shift?
26:17
Happening, yeah. I think it was before COVID, but
26:20
then COVID accelerated everything, right?
26:24
You you had big, you know, you had these other fast food
26:26
companies who were experimenting with kiosk, experimenting with
26:30
just third party, but it was. When you say kiosk, you mean a
26:33
kiosk ordering station? Yeah, yeah.
26:35
Right. So, so they were just in it all
26:38
it was was an experience or, or experiment.
26:41
But then when COVID happened, it all accelerated everything,
26:44
right? So like in our stores now
26:46
they're kiosk based, right? So you come in, you order from
26:49
the kiosk and it's just that we saw that's where that was going.
26:55
And and we, I wanted to implement it right away because
26:58
I mean, in, in theory, that's the future of, of, of
27:00
restaurants, right? So, yeah, so I saw that before
27:05
2020, but then 2020 just accelerated I think for
27:08
everyone. Tell me about the name FN Egg.
27:12
FN egg. You know a lot of people go.
27:15
Do you just like the word effin? Do you say effin a lot?
27:19
You know, and and if you talk to a lot of my friends, I do.
27:23
I mean like, I just love the name.
27:24
I mean you'll you'll catch me. I'm like what the F you know,
27:27
and like effing this and it's just funny, right?
27:30
Some people will take a little offense to it, but it but it's
27:33
not the word you think it is. It's a funny meaning of effing
27:36
and you and you know, you can, you can.
27:39
I think it's hilarious, right? I think it shows that the brand
27:43
has got a little edge, a little personality to.
27:45
It I know so it's funny because small cakes are so family driven
27:48
and so like Foo Foo and pink and F and egg is kind of like the
27:52
the step sister, the step brother who's bad or something,
27:56
you know, but I I love the name. I think it's funny.
27:58
A lot of people love the branding, right?
28:02
We, you know, the big thing on our social media is like, you
28:05
know, the F you of the day is it could be I spilt my coffee on my
28:09
paper or the F you of the day as you know, someone came in and
28:12
and, you know, threw their sandwich at us.
28:15
I mean, it's just funny stuff that you can make into anything
28:17
but, but the name is very once the sign goes up, a lot of
28:20
people have a lot of interest. It's brilliant marketing if you
28:24
ask me, you know, And I look at some of the menu item names and
28:27
it looks like you're having some fun there too.
28:29
You've got chronic brisket tacos.
28:32
You encourage customers to roll their burrito into a fat one or
28:36
make it into a bowl. You know, kind of.
28:38
If you know, you know. If you know, you know, you know,
28:40
and so our, even our coffee is, you know, we, we do a potheads
28:44
welcome, which is a coffee pot, but potheads welcome.
28:46
We, you know, we, we roast our own beans and stuff.
28:49
And I've got this whole thing like our beans are great.
28:51
But what people really want is a potheads T-shirt, you know,
28:54
because they love it. But it's, it's a coffee pot.
28:56
But we try to make we try to make it fun, right, Because it
28:59
is a fast casual higher end breakfast sandwich.
29:04
I mean, our breakfast sandwich is about, you know, 10 bucks,
29:06
for example. And it but it's thick cut bacon.
29:09
It's a great, you know, quality egg.
29:11
It's a brioche bun. But but we want to have fun with
29:16
it. But at the same time, it's a
29:16
quality product that you're getting.
29:19
And again, going back to, I think people, you can build
29:23
these pretty places, but it's all about the quality of the
29:25
product, right? And so the quality of the
29:27
product is, is amazing and, and, and then you know, you have fun
29:30
with all the, all the branding. And so is it breakfast?
29:34
It's breakfast food only, but is it breakfast time only?
29:37
Do you serve lunch? Do you serve later in the day?
29:39
Yeah, we, we go a little bit later.
29:40
So we go to around 7:00 to 4:00, right.
29:42
So there's a little bit lunch. So we do have some lunch items
29:44
as well. And again, you know, and I
29:47
learned this with small cakes as well.
29:49
The more you grow and the more you let new owners come in,
29:52
franchisees, right? Everyone's got an idea.
29:55
And so you got to kind of listen, right?
29:57
You don't take every idea, but you listen.
29:59
So yeah, so you know, we've expanded our lunch menu a little
30:02
bit, but again, the the majority of what we do is all breakfast
30:06
based. And, and again, you know, our
30:09
burritos, they're big or huge or fat, you know, it's the same
30:13
customer that eats at Chipotle, right?
30:15
So it's a younger gener, a younger demographic of people.
30:22
And, and we just try to, you know, we just try to make, you
30:24
know, it's a great product, So and it appeals to a lot of
30:26
people though, so. And so we've got 12 locations
30:30
open now and 30 more coming. What's the geography?
30:35
Where can people find these right now?
30:37
Yeah. So right now, primarily in the
30:39
South and then the farthest W we're going is right now is in
30:43
Phoenix, but mostly in Texas, Georgia, New Jersey, New York.
30:49
So up that way, which works really well because again,
30:51
you're fast-paced, grab a sandwich on the go.
30:56
You know, we're working out really well in college towns.
30:58
College kids love it. They love the branding, they
31:01
love the product, but you know, they definitely want a potheads
31:04
T-shirt and stuff. But but yeah, it's, it's really
31:07
all over the place right now. And but then as we grow, you'll
31:10
see more in the Midwest coming a lot more in Texas.
31:13
So we're really excited about about this because we're really
31:18
the only one that's really accelerated the breakfast
31:20
sandwich market right now. And, and I think we can do a lot
31:24
more and grow a lot more once people, once we open up these
31:26
stores and people taste it. And, and even the buy into our
31:29
product or the buy into the franchises is really, I hate the
31:34
word cheap, but cheaper than like building a big restaurant.
31:36
You know, you can get in for this thing for AT200K or less,
31:39
which is unheard of in the restaurant industry, right?
31:41
I mean, and again, we always look for second generation
31:44
locations to help people out with, with, you know, putting
31:47
that money into it. But you know, we're we're a lot
31:50
different than other places. But again, the product sells
31:54
itself. It's a great product.
31:55
What are some of the other advantages to this franchise
31:57
concept? If there are people looking at
32:00
AI want a franchise, I want to, you know, I want to grow what
32:02
I'm doing. What are some benefits of this
32:04
over other opportunities? So one thing I hated about
32:07
franchises is that they take so much money from people, right?
32:11
So people put their whole life savings into this and they want
32:14
it to work and their goal is to make money, right?
32:17
So what I did different even with small cakes and I do the
32:20
same thing with F and egg is, is we don't take a lot of money
32:23
from our owners, right? So what that means is in a
32:26
normal franchise, they would a franchise or a royalty fee would
32:28
be anywhere from 6 to 12%, right?
32:31
So what we do is we only take 3%.
32:34
I think that's more than enough, especially with marketing these
32:37
days, a lot of people, they take this marketing fee.
32:39
Well, marketing these days is all social media, right?
32:42
So these local stores can do it on their own.
32:44
So, you know, we take a 3% flat fee each month and that's it,
32:48
you know, and a lot of these other places, again, 6 to 12%,
32:53
we let people kind of design their own store.
32:55
Now you have to use our like ethnic colors and branding
32:58
because it's cool and fun. But as far as as far as store
33:01
design, we want you to be really connected to your community,
33:05
right? So in California we can see like
33:09
the they could be, you know, surfboards or something cool
33:12
there in New York. It's very New York ish.
33:13
It's very like fast pace on the go.
33:16
They're small in our college towns.
33:18
There's college stuff all over, you know, the, the store.
33:23
So I think people like that too. They, they can put their own
33:26
twist on it, even though it's a, you know, franchise.
33:29
So I think a lot of people like that and it appeals to them.
33:32
They have a lot more flexibility.
33:35
I'm going to put in a plug. I live in a pretty great college
33:37
town myself. Columbus, OH.
33:39
Is there anything coming to this area?
33:41
Not yet, but let me tell you that would be awesome though I I
33:44
know Columbus very well. Yeah, you spent some time here.
33:47
Yes, yes, yes. So the geographies that you're
33:51
talking about, you're, you're kind of spreading out.
33:53
Yeah, you, you're in the South. You're going as far West as
33:56
Phoenix. I'm curious, is there anything
33:58
about the supply chain of the food items and the ingredients
34:02
that's been challenging for you to figure out?
34:04
Or is that pretty easy and standard to find?
34:08
It is, yeah. So, yeah, we, we, yeah.
34:09
So it's very, it's easy now, right.
34:11
So I think in 2020-2021, you know, it was a little difficult,
34:15
but it's, it's easy now. You know, you, you, we have
34:19
partnerships with national suppliers.
34:22
So it's, it's easy now. Yeah, yeah.
34:26
And I want to talk about, you know, this is kind of your
34:29
second go round you, you did it at scale with small cakes and
34:33
and now you're able to take a lot of the lessons that you
34:35
learn from that and apply it to F and egg.
34:38
But you know, I'm curious. I always love to hear from
34:41
business leaders who were able to make the transition from
34:44
small startup to scale because it's it's a different set of
34:50
skills that's required to get something small and new figured
34:55
out and off the ground versus, OK, we've got it working now I
34:59
need to focus more on the systems.
35:01
I need to put the right people and the right structure in
35:04
place. Talk to me about how you made
35:06
that transition and what was helpful to you and what what is
35:09
typically a difficult learning curve.
35:11
Yeah. So that was very difficult for
35:13
me because I'm a control freak too, right?
35:17
So it was like, Oh my God. So I started the small cakes.
35:20
I did everything. So it was very hard for me to
35:24
take a step back and let someone else, you know, control recipes
35:28
or test recipes. And it, it, it took a lot.
35:33
It took a long time actually for me.
35:35
But what I learned was, you know, it's good to hire the
35:37
right people, right, And to get a good circle of people and to
35:42
build that team. And when I sold small cakes, I,
35:45
I, it was a small circle of people, but it was a great, it
35:50
was a great quality of people that was around me.
35:52
That was that, that saw my vision, that could help me grow.
35:57
And and so as I started F and AI put, I put that, I put that what
36:03
I learned there and in place right away, right, because I
36:06
think that could help us grow quicker by by having all these
36:10
people in place in the beginning to grow, right?
36:14
To give that support to franchisees right away.
36:16
When when I started small cakes, I was doing, you know, 40
36:19
different things. So to get a question answered
36:21
from a franchise took a little longer than expected, right?
36:24
And so, you know, putting that putting the people in place to
36:28
help grow what was very important.
36:31
And then beginning couldn't do that, right?
36:32
We didn't have the money to do that beginning.
36:34
Well, you know, now we're starting this new one is, is
36:36
just getting the right people around you, the right team to,
36:39
to help grow. As you were learning those new
36:42
squid skills and trying to acquire, you know, this new
36:45
knowledge, were there particular mentors or coaches that were
36:49
helpful to you and making that transition?
36:52
You know, I just always love, you know, restaurant people,
36:58
right? I love reading articles about
37:01
different types of concepts that were coming from different
37:04
people. It wasn't anyone in particular,
37:06
but it was, it was always, you know, what's the next best
37:09
thing? What, what are these other
37:10
bigger guys than me doing? Where are they opening up?
37:15
It was always about staying in the the conversation of the
37:18
business and seeing what other people in the industry was doing
37:21
so. Anybody in particular that you
37:24
drew inspiration from? You know, I always wanted, there
37:27
was a, there was a cupcake company called Sprinkles, right?
37:30
And I always just wanted to beat them because everyone was there.
37:33
They had their they had their cupcakes and celebrities hands
37:35
and I was like, OK, you know what?
37:37
My goal is to beat you now. So it was always about
37:39
competition. You know, it's always about.
37:41
Competition. That's what fuels.
37:42
You. That's what fuels me, yes.
37:45
What are some fun things that you've done for new store
37:47
openings to help get the word out?
37:51
So, yeah, so I mean, in the beginning it was, you know, it
37:54
was funny in the beginning, it was always about me being there,
37:59
right? So the guy who dropped, who
38:01
forgot the pumpkin or dropped the cupcakes, he was there
38:04
taking pictures. And then as we grew, it's it's
38:07
always just about, you know, doing things in the community to
38:10
get the community out there, right, Giving back to that
38:13
community wherever you're at. And we, we did things a whole
38:17
lot of different ways. You know, Small cakes was all
38:19
about family. So it was all about family fun.
38:22
What can you do for families? And then as of F and Egg, we
38:25
really just do, we really just push our branding and, and, and
38:30
things like that when we when we open.
38:33
You know, I've seen some pretty significant price swings in eggs
38:37
over the past couple of years. How does that impact your
38:41
business? So, yeah, so you know, I think a
38:44
lot of people think when you order a lot of eggs like we do,
38:48
it doesn't affect it a lot, right, Because we order in
38:50
bigger quantity. So it's not like when we go to
38:52
the grocery store here, because every time I go to the grocery,
38:54
I'm like, Oh my God, these eggs and milk, this is crazy, right?
38:57
When we order larger quantities of, it's a little different.
39:00
But I do get that question a lot.
39:01
And so, yeah, I mean, like I said, our breakfast sandwich is
39:04
a little pricier than, you know, if you went to a McDonald's or a
39:08
Chick-fil-A, right? But I think those prices are
39:11
set. So unless something not going to
39:14
look crazy happens, we buy in such bulk that it really doesn't
39:18
affect us that much. You're mostly protected from
39:21
that. We are.
39:22
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.
39:25
You know, I think a lot of people look at somebody like
39:29
you, that success that you've had, the exposure that you had
39:33
the, the, the media exposure that you you've benefited from.
39:36
And they think, man, this is a guy that just everything comes
39:40
easy to him. And, you know, he's a pillar.
39:43
Nothing knocks him down like he rolls with the punches.
39:45
Like, man, I, yeah, I could only be so lucky to be a guy like
39:48
that. But what they don't realize is
39:50
that behind the scenes, there's a lot of struggle, there's a lot
39:52
of strife, there's a lot of sleepless nights.
39:54
I I'm curious to hear maybe a specific story about something
39:58
challenging that you've gone through and some lessons that
40:01
you learned coming out the other side of it.
40:04
Yeah, yeah, you're right. A lot of people were like, Oh my
40:07
God, you just hit the lightning in the bottle, which we did,
40:10
right. But it took a long time to get
40:12
there, you know, And, you know, I grew up the way I grew up was
40:18
in a very, you know, lower middle class type of area.
40:23
And it's, it's funny. The goal was when you grow up
40:27
that way, it was like just go get a job, you know.
40:30
And so there was not something I wanted to do.
40:33
I wanted to do something more. I didn't know what it was at the
40:35
time, but, you know, wanted to do something more.
40:38
So again, I go back to this word that a lot of people, this is
40:42
Jeff, you're never satisfied. Well, it's because, you know, I
40:44
want more. I want to do more.
40:47
So there's been a lot of times where, you know, it's gotten a
40:50
lot of dark because, you know, in today's society just need
40:54
money to do everything. And then back then it was like,
40:56
well, you got to have money to, to open a small business And,
41:00
and we, we, you know, I would go to banks and try to get a loan
41:03
again, didn't have anything to get along with at the time that
41:05
you think about it. But you, when you get turned
41:07
down that much, it does get dark because you're like, you know,
41:12
and my is, my, is, is it all just, is it all about just going
41:16
to get a job and being done? And, you know, so I think it got
41:20
dark at times when I got turned down so much from, you know,
41:24
banks, Oregon, people in my life that wouldn't see the vision,
41:27
you know? And so that's hard to do and
41:32
that's hard for people. And I can see that's where a lot
41:35
of people quit sometimes. But you just got to keep going,
41:39
right? I mean, and that's what I had to
41:40
do was keep going even though everyone said no, I couldn't get
41:43
any money. So the solution was to do what
41:47
we did, right? Bake it home, buy a sign, grow
41:49
from there, you know, and we put every single dollar we made back
41:53
into the business for the first probably three to four years of
41:56
just growing, you know. Was there any point in those
42:01
first few years where you thought about just throwing in
42:03
the towel like, this is too hard, This, this, this is not
42:06
worth it. Not about throwing in the towel,
42:08
but it was all about OK, I hope I make just enough money on this
42:11
one store so I don't have to go work for someone else, you know,
42:15
and that that's a little that's dark too.
42:16
Going home, going OK. I mean, I think I made enough
42:18
money. You know, I think we did OK this
42:20
time, but just don't quit. And then, you know, but but I
42:25
think I'm always all over the place.
42:27
It was always, I mean, the one store was great.
42:29
But I think once I started seeing the vision of this, it
42:33
was always OK. Wait a minute, how about two
42:35
stores? And if we got three stores, then
42:37
I know I wouldn't have to work for someone else.
42:40
And then it grew into what it grew into.
42:42
But but yeah, you know, I think I think a lot of naysayers in
42:47
the nose, it can hold a lot of people down.
42:48
And you just got to kind of, you know, in the in the beginning,
42:52
it's funny, when Facebook kind of started, when we kind of got
42:56
going, I would read these comments, right?
42:59
And the people around me goes, Hey, stop reading the comments.
43:02
You know, you got a great thing, right?
43:04
And I think that's harder for today's society right now with
43:08
everything TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, right?
43:12
You, you can't buy into the comments, right?
43:16
I tell my kids this all the time.
43:17
I mean, I don't, I don't even read the comments, you know, but
43:21
that's hard for a lot of people to do, I think.
43:24
But that that was a dark moment too, because I would read and
43:26
go, I try my best to make everyone happy and I would go
43:29
through everything I would do to really go beyond making a
43:33
customer happy or whatever, right?
43:36
And and that they at the end it was like, OK, you can't make
43:40
everyone happy. You know, you got a great
43:41
product, move on. And so now I don't read
43:45
comments. I hadn't read comments in 10
43:47
years probably. It's better for your sanity.
43:49
You know, I've, I've always noticed it is way easier to hate
43:53
than it is to create. And you could have something
43:56
that is as fantastic as handing out free money to people and you
44:00
are going to find somebody that's going to complain about
44:02
it. Right 1000 percent 1000.
44:05
I think, I think what's interesting is, you know, in
44:09
those early days when it was really hard, the fuel for your
44:12
fire, the motivation that really kept you going was this.
44:15
I do not want to work for somebody else.
44:17
I want to be my own guy. I want to be my own boss.
44:20
And that's what got you through the first few stores.
44:22
And then once you got some momentum going, tell me, tell me
44:25
if I'm hearing this correctly. But it seems like now that fuel
44:29
sort of transitioned into a competitive spirit, like I want
44:33
to beat the other guys. I want to come out on top.
44:35
I, you know, I, I really want to, to beat the other guys
44:37
across town. It is and and that's what it
44:40
was. It was once we got to that point
44:42
and and I didn't know what an entrepreneur was at the time,
44:44
right? But it was being competitive and
44:46
being the best at what I want, what I whatever I was doing
44:49
right. And so it, it wasn't even about
44:52
the money at that time too, because we were very fortunate
44:54
and we were selling these franchises, but it was all about
44:58
how do you open more stores than someone else?
44:59
How do we get to this point? How do we get to the state of
45:01
Texas? How do we get the state of it
45:02
was all about that, you know, which I think was really great
45:05
when you can the money was going to come, right?
45:09
But it was all about, you know, making the best product and
45:12
growing it. And I think when people can do
45:13
that and not worry about the money part, you know, things can
45:16
really change really fast for people, you know.
45:19
So this next one, Jeff is kind of a two-part question.
45:21
You know, as as business leaders we got to keep an eye on the
45:24
bottom line all the time, right? And you, you do that in two
45:27
ways. You're looking to drive new
45:28
sales and and you're looking for ways to to reduce expenses.
45:31
So I want you to think about both of those levers there and
45:34
maybe some creative ideas that you've tried that we haven't
45:37
already heard on the sales side for for boosting sales and then
45:40
also on the expense side, maybe a creative lever that you found
45:43
to pull for that. Yeah, so, so talking about not
45:47
reading comments, but getting customers suggestions, you know,
45:54
when we first started out F&X for example, you know, a
45:56
breakfast and like I said, a breakfast and was like 10 bucks,
45:58
you know, and people would always say, well, I can go to
45:59
McDonald's and get like a sandwich and coke and hash
46:03
Browns for X. So, but you know, we, I was
46:08
always like, OK, well, we could spend a little more money and
46:10
offering a meal deal, right? And will that boost our will
46:14
that help ourselves? And it's hard to get franchisees
46:17
to buy on to, to say, hey, we're going to give away some product
46:23
and not give away, right? You know, you're going to give
46:24
away a little bit more, but I promise we're going to sell
46:28
more, you know, and so that's a great example.
46:30
That's something we just implemented several weeks ago, a
46:34
month ago, like a meal deal, right?
46:38
And that we gave a little bit more, we spent a little bit
46:41
more, but our sales have actually taken off on things
46:45
that we offer meal deals for now.
46:48
So that can you. Share some numbers like maybe it
46:51
cost. An extra so for example.
46:53
Giveaway, but sales went up 20. Percent, yeah.
46:54
So let's say, you know, in a month we would we call the OG
46:59
our bacon, egg and cheese, our most popular one, right?
47:01
We would sell maybe 800 sandwiches a month, right, in
47:05
this one specific location since we've done the meal deal that
47:10
now has went up to about 1400 sandwiches because people think
47:15
they're getting a value and value is so important right now
47:18
where we are and in the world, right?
47:20
And it didn't cost us that much to add coffee, some hash Browns.
47:26
And what we saw was that almost doubled ourselves in a month for
47:30
one sandwich, right? And it took some trial and
47:34
error. It took, you know, show us on
47:35
the corporate side, boss, that it's going to work and then
47:38
we'll implement it in our stores.
47:39
And it did. I mean it, it took off because
47:42
people were like, OK, even though they spent a little bit
47:45
extra because they were getting extra, they thought they were
47:49
getting and they are, but they thought they were getting a
47:51
deal, you know, And that totally worked just by giving away just
47:55
a little bit. And how did you promote that?
47:57
Just like a sign in the store, like change the menu.
48:00
Signs, but social media, right? I mean, we posted and posted and
48:04
I mean we just crammed it down social media's throat, right?
48:08
Tik toked it, I danced about it, we Instagrammed it.
48:13
You set something on fire. I, I mean, I should, right.
48:15
I mean, I did everything I could to say, hey, you're going to get
48:19
some hash Browns and a cup of coffee.
48:20
All you got to do is, you know, spend two more dollars and, and
48:23
it worked. You know, I mean, that's where
48:24
people go to now they, they don't even go to the, you know,
48:27
like on our kiosk, right? We have a sandwich section, then
48:30
we have our meal section, middle sections where everyone goes now
48:34
and it's good for us because it's an extra like two or three
48:37
dollars per per order, but it's good for the customer as well,
48:41
right? They get a little bit extra, a
48:42
little bit more value, a little bit more food.
48:45
So it worked well off each other.
48:46
So now and so you know we did it with just sandwiches now we
48:48
offer with our burritos and our tacos now so.
48:53
So I love that that's the lever where your your boost in sales.
48:56
Is there a creative lever that you found to reduce expenses in
48:59
any way? We're still working on that one.
49:03
You know, we, you know, I mean, we don't have a ton of, again,
49:07
our stores are very small, right?
49:09
So our, an average store size is about 600 to 900 square feet.
49:15
So we don't have a ton of things going on.
49:17
We have the kiosk, which labor's, you know, labor I guess
49:20
is our big biggest expense right now.
49:23
But again, we have our kiosk that takes away from that
49:26
person, you know, running a register and that's all they're
49:28
doing. And then just finding ways to
49:31
reuse. You know, a lot of our menu
49:33
items we put in in, in a bunch, you know, we, we, we utilize
49:38
right. So not only does our Turkey
49:40
sausage go in one item, it goes in maybe five or six items.
49:43
So we really try to do that as well.
49:45
So we don't just have one standing product for one, you
49:49
know, sandwich and that's all we use it for.
49:51
So there could be waste there. So besides that, that's that's
49:54
kind of what we're doing, just watching waste trying to utilize
49:57
all of our products in the different things.
49:58
Sounds like we've got a lot of efficiencies built in already.
50:01
Yeah, Yeah, we do. And then again, that was trial
50:03
and error from small cakes, right?
50:05
And then we brought in here and said, OK, we're dealing with a
50:08
little more expensive food now. How do we try to not not have a
50:12
ton of waste? You know, restaurants have tons
50:13
of waste, right? So we try to, you know,
50:15
capitalize on not doing that. So you mentioned labor being
50:19
your biggest expense right now, you know, coming out of COVID,
50:22
super competitive job market, hard to find people, hard to
50:26
keep good people. I'm curious if you've found, if
50:30
you've tried and found anything that has worked for retaining
50:33
and recruiting good folks. So I've always been a believer
50:37
even when we even when we couldn't, but paying people
50:43
well, not overpaying, but paying people well, right?
50:46
And then I think if you know, I mean, if you think about the
50:48
average employee, they come to work to make money, right?
50:51
I mean that that's it. But also pay them a better than
50:56
decent wage and then a good environment.
50:59
And everyone says that. And what I mean by that is like,
51:03
you know, you hire people who can do the job and they don't
51:06
need to be managed, right? And they have that flexibility
51:09
to make decisions, right? So, you know, whatever decision
51:13
that I can't make at the time, if I'm not there or, you know,
51:15
whatever that they feel that they can make that decision,
51:19
they feel like they're a part of the team, you know, and I've
51:22
always been that person and I've always, knock on wood, have had
51:25
have I've had great people that work for me that's been around
51:29
me. And the great thing about F and
51:31
Egg is we're open for the morning, right?
51:33
So a lot of our people have, you know, kids or things to do at
51:37
night. So they have that night time, so
51:40
they're not stuck at a restaurant 1516 hours a day.
51:44
But, but it's, I, you know, again, I, I really think it's
51:46
just taking care of people. I'm, I'm very passionate about
51:49
that, taking care of people, paying them what they're worth,
51:52
but giving them the opportunity to, to be a, not a manager, but
51:56
to be that person who can make decisions, you know, and being
51:59
so they feel like they're a part of the team.
52:02
I love that. Yeah.
52:04
I'm curious, what's something, Jeff, that you wish you could
52:05
teach a younger version of yourself?
52:08
How to be patient. Jeez, I was not patient back in
52:12
the day. Let me tell you, I wanted
52:13
everything now, now, now. Nothing was good enough.
52:15
I mean, not no matter no matter what, you know, and but being
52:20
patient would have, would have helped me with a lot of things.
52:23
So I'm very patient these days. The people who had who've known
52:26
me for a while, go wow, you have changed.
52:29
You really simmer down, huh? I really simmer down.
52:32
Yes, yes. So.
52:34
Jeff, what's a fun fact that most people wouldn't know about
52:36
you? So a fun fact was, you know how
52:41
I've used that word never satisfied.
52:43
Not long ago I started AI wouldn't say a clothing brand,
52:47
but I, I, I started a clothing brand that said never satisfied,
52:51
right? And so I, I wear hoodies, my
52:56
T-shirts all the time. And people are like, what does
52:58
that mean? I'm like, well, let me tell you
52:59
the story, right? It's about a guy who was never
53:02
satisfied. He started a cupcake company and
53:04
then grew. And so I think that's funny when
53:07
people see and they go, Oh my God, I love that hoodie.
53:08
Where'd I get them? Like, well, I actually make
53:10
them, you know, so not only I'm in the restaurant business, I, I
53:13
have a, you know, a little never satisfied clothing brand too.
53:16
And so people would know that. And and so this is like T-shirt
53:20
hoodies. T-shirts and hoodies, yeah, just
53:22
T-shirts and hoodies. Got some ball caps.
53:25
But, but you know, the more I wear it and the more I see young
53:27
people, it really resonates with them because you know, where
53:33
we're at and today, I mean, a lot of these young entrepreneurs
53:36
that I run into, they get it right.
53:38
They want more. And, and the never satisfied
53:42
thing, you know how funny it is or how how you take it, it's
53:45
really resonates to entrepreneurs who go, OK, I want
53:48
to start with one store, but I really want 200 locations or I
53:51
really want to grow my brand into this or, and, and, and my
53:55
story is, is that story alone? I mean, that is the story of of
54:00
how it started. Well, and you've got some merch
54:03
background, I mean, from the cupcake days, you know, you're
54:06
capitalizing on it with these, these funny T-shirts.
54:09
And yeah, so it, it's sort of a, a natural, natural progression
54:13
for you. So Jeff, I just have one more
54:16
question for you. But before I ask it, I want to
54:17
do 2 things. First, if you're listening today
54:20
and you like today's content, please hit the like, subscribe
54:23
or share button on your favorite podcast app.
54:26
I also want to tell people, Jeff, the best way to get in
54:29
touch with you. What is that?
54:31
Yeah, so you know, straight to my, my e-mail, my personal
54:34
emails on our website fandegg.com comes directly to me
54:39
and. And effing for people who are
54:40
listening and and not watching the visual, it's EFFIN e.g.
54:45
G so F and egg. So sorry.
54:48
Go ahead your your e-mail address again.
54:50
Yeah, fandegg.com, you go straight there.
54:51
My personal emails, my name is jeff.martin10@me.com.
54:55
I get all the emails, I respond to them so.
55:00
OK. So last question for you, Jeff,
55:01
I'm curious, where do you see your industry and maybe your
55:05
business in particular evolving in the next five years?
55:08
What do you think the big changes that are coming into
55:10
this space? I think the food industry is
55:12
changing so fast right now. You see brands like Chick-fil-A
55:17
who are doing, you know, just stand alone stores of walk up to
55:21
the window and grab it or, or it's all just to go.
55:24
So the industry alone is, is changing to that delivery grab
55:30
and go. And I think we're, you know,
55:33
we're like I said, we're one of the first ones in the breakfast
55:36
industry to try it that way with breakfast sandwiches.
55:38
So you know, I think and I and I hope and knock on wood, but I
55:41
foresee, you know, F and egg growing, you know, like I said,
55:44
we got 30 more stores opening soon.
55:46
I see us growing a lot faster, you know, the next couple years
55:50
to get to that over 100 to 150 units and, and, and hopefully,
55:54
you know, two to three years, I think that's feasible.
55:58
I think when you have people in an economy that want to invest
56:01
in themselves and what can I open?
56:05
And again, F&X got a really great model, an inexpensive
56:09
model compared to most. If people want to get into the
56:11
food industry, it's a great, it's a great place to get into.
56:14
And, and they can not only make money, but you know, have an
56:17
outside life too. And I think that's important for
56:19
people right now is they do, they want to do more outside of
56:21
life, but yet they want to, they need to make the money, right?
56:25
And F&X is a perfect, perfect concept for that.
56:28
Are there specific locations, geographies that you're looking
56:31
for, new franchise opportunities?
56:34
You know, we're wide open right now.
56:35
I mean, you know. Lots of opportunity exists.
56:39
Yeah, yeah. And so the great thing about
56:40
coming into our company right now is we're still really small,
56:44
you know, and so the great getting in the ground floor
56:46
opportunity, there's a lot of locations out there that are
56:49
still open, great location, so. Jeff, I want to be the first one
56:54
to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us
56:57
today. I I really appreciate it.
56:59
I appreciate you having me on, this was fun.
57:00
Thanks a lot. Absolutely, folks.
57:02
That's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
57:06
Thanks for learning with us today.