Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Randy Wyner on Third-Generation Recipes, Owner-Operator Franchising, and Taking Chronic Tacos Beyond Southern California

Transcript

Randy Wyner on Third-Generation Recipes, Owner-Operator Franchising, and Taking Chronic Tacos Beyond Southern California · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. As you listen today, let one
0:17
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:21
today's guest is Randy Weiner, founder and President of Chronic
0:25
Tacos, a fast casual Mexican restaurant chain that lives by
0:29
the motto Taco Life. Chronic Tacos serves made to
0:34
order tacos, burritos and bowls based on Randy's third
0:37
generation family recipes. Walk into any location and you
0:41
will see bold street art, hear punk rock and feel a laid back
0:46
Southern California vibe. Since opening 1800 Square Foot
0:51
Shop in Newport Beach in 2002, Randy has grown the brand to
0:55
more than 30 restaurants across the US and Canada.
0:59
The company has appeared on several Best Mexican Chains list
1:03
and was invited back for the 2024 season at Angel Stadium.
1:08
Media outlets like Authority Magazine and QSR have featured
1:12
Randy's journey of building a global franchise while keeping
1:16
food authentic. Randy grew up in Orange County
1:20
and credits his community for sparking the idea behind Chronic
1:23
Tacos. He now mentors new franchise
1:26
owners and often speaks on industry podcasts about culture,
1:30
growth, and customer experience. But before we get into all that
1:34
good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
1:37
Add Back Benefits Agency. Listen, if you run a business,
1:40
you are likely stuck in the cycle of rising insurance
1:43
premiums. You're paying more, but your
1:45
team is getting less, and many people can't afford coverage at
1:48
all. We do things differently.
1:50
We offer a solution that provides your restaurant
1:53
employees with unlimited access to doctors, therapists, and
1:56
prescriptions. That's always free for them to
1:59
use, but here's where you really need to pay attention.
2:02
Unlike every other employee benefit out there, our program
2:05
puts more money into your company's bank account.
2:09
As an example, we recently helped the client increase net
2:12
profits by $900 per employee per year.
2:16
Results vary, but the consultation is free.
2:18
See if you qualify today at AD Back benefits.com.
2:22
All right, back to our guest today, founder of Chronic Tacos,
2:25
Randy Weiner. Thanks for making the time to
2:27
Share your story today. Thanks, Anthony.
2:29
Thanks for having me on. I'm excited.
2:32
All right, so how did you first get started in the restaurant
2:34
industry before we move into chronic tacos?
2:37
OK, so when I was, I think 16, I, my sister got me a job at
2:45
Marie Callender's and I was a post a host with the most and I
2:54
became a waiter. So I was really excited to move
2:57
up. But you know, it was part time
2:59
and it was kind of my first gig in the in the restaurant and
3:02
seeing how it works. And eventually I was always in
3:05
the kitchen and I was making pies and having fun.
3:10
But that was my first experience employed at a restaurant.
3:16
Oh, but I got another one when I was 15.
3:18
I worked at this big Irvine park in Orange County, and they had a
3:22
concession stand and they did bike rentals.
3:25
And I kept on begging the owners to let me get on the grill and
3:29
they never did. And I ran into them later in
3:32
life and I was like, man, I really wanted to do that grill,
3:35
but they kept me in the bikes. But but again, I was always like
3:39
in the kitchen and helping the cook and stuff and, and I just,
3:42
I always loved the kitchen is just like the dynamics of a
3:46
kitchen and making food and making people happy.
3:48
But Bree calendars my first job at a restaurant.
3:53
And then I did other things and, and, and managed companies and
3:58
learned how to run a business, not even just a restaurant, but
4:02
like learned PNLS. And you know, I never went to
4:05
college. So I I learned from working and
4:09
and get in the opportunities were given to me to become in
4:12
management roles and the owners would teach me everything, which
4:16
was really cool in my early 20s. What kinds of companies were
4:19
those? I was actually one of the
4:22
youngest managers at Jiffy Lube. I, I worked for a franchise.
4:28
They had about 27 stores and it was in Orange County.
4:34
And I, I was 18 and I had a young child and I needed a full
4:41
time job and my buddies worked there and I started washing
4:44
windows and vacuum checking, checking tire pressure, washing
4:55
windows at Jiffy Lube. I was making 5 bucks an hour and
5:00
I got promoted to assistant manager within a year and then
5:03
became a manager and I started training all their stores and
5:08
new hires and and then they taught me so much and I was
5:13
there for 5-6 years. They actually wanted me to go
5:16
back east to New Jersey and open up a bunch of stores and I
5:19
didn't want to leave my kids. And so I I stayed but but Jiffy
5:24
Lube taught me a lot about the behind the scenes of business.
5:28
Driving force in with chronic tacos.
5:30
But where did the idea to actually start Chronic tacos
5:33
come from? Sure.
5:34
So I, I was living in Newport Beach and there was no good Taco
5:40
shops in my little vicinity of that part of Newport Beach.
5:45
There was one I could ride my bike to that was maybe about a
5:48
mile away. And I would go there quite a
5:51
bit. I grew up in the city of Orange
5:53
and we had taquerias on every corner.
5:55
And my mom was a teacher in Santa Ana.
5:58
And I, I grew up eating, you know, taquerias, Mexican food,
6:03
and there was nothing like that. There was 1 and I would go
6:08
there, but their tortillas sucked.
6:10
And I remember telling the owner, I'm like, man, these
6:13
tortillas are terrible. And he was like, not, you know,
6:16
he didn't like hearing that. And I said to myself, I'm going
6:19
to open a Taco shop one day. And, and there was a need for
6:24
it. And I was I was I had some other
6:26
businesses in the clothing industry and apparel and they
6:31
just needed a Taco shop in this little spot. 800 square feet
6:36
came of was going to be available.
6:39
I found out I got the spot before it hit the market and it
6:43
was a great story. The the I've never been in the
6:45
rest never owned a restaurant. I called the broker and I said,
6:49
I hear this little store is going to be available.
6:53
I would like it. And she's all what do you want
6:55
to do there? I'm all I don't know yet.
6:57
And I said, I'll give you $2000 non refundable.
7:02
Give me two weeks to come up with an idea.
7:04
And I thought she would be like, no way.
7:06
She's like OK. And she she took the money and
7:10
two weeks went by and I was like, what am I going to do?
7:13
Is like, do I do a Taco shop? Do I do a retail store?
7:16
I didn't know. And then the Co founder Dan
7:19
Biello, I was having breakfast and he came in and I'm like, I
7:24
need to talk to you. I got, I got 24 hours to make a
7:26
decision on the spot or I lose 2 grand and I'm like, what do you
7:30
need in this little center? And he's all tacos, Randy, we
7:33
don't have any tacos. And I said, yeah.
7:36
And my other company was chronic Industries.
7:39
And I said, well, what do we name it?
7:42
He's all chronic, chronic tacos. And I was like, OK, so I called
7:47
the broker and I said, OK, I I want to do a Taco shop.
7:52
And it wasn't zoned for it. I had to, you know, get ACP and
7:56
and change the zoning. It was retail and she's like, if
7:59
you can get it done, it's yours. And and that's how it started.
8:04
Was she give it giving us a a chance and.
8:10
So you you had other businesses, what was chronic industries?
8:14
I was a licensee for Disney, for Mattel.
8:18
We did hats and T-shirts. I did a lot of T-shirts in the
8:22
music industry for bands. Then I started getting into the
8:26
surf like with RIP Crow O'Neill. We would do like stuff for
8:30
Vulcan for their marketing and we had AT shirt factory and made
8:34
T-shirts. And I, I did my own brand called
8:37
Chronic Industries and would sell it all at the beach out of
8:39
my trunk and out of my house and, and just sold merch.
8:43
And then I started printing for people and I'm like, Oh, this is
8:46
cool. I can get paid and it'll fund my
8:49
my clothing company and I ended up selling when I when I when we
8:53
got into the tacos and we started expanding, I sold it to
8:56
my employees and they're still around.
8:58
They're still printing T-shirts. What's behind the name Chronic?
9:02
So that's a good one. My, it's a funny story.
9:05
My oldest son, his mother's name, maiden name is Chronic and
9:13
but it's spelled CRONICK, but he's Jacob Chronic and we
9:18
weren't married. So his birth certificate said
9:22
Jacob Chronic whiner on his birth certificate at school,
9:28
they'd be like Jacob chronic whiner.
9:32
So when he got older, he's like Dad.
9:34
The whiner name is just, that's tough.
9:36
You know, I really just want to be chronic.
9:39
And I was like, all right, and so he's Jacob chronic.
9:44
And when we did the Taco shot or when I did chronic industries,
9:48
I, I named it after that name chronic, but I spelled it
9:51
CHRONIC, which was the popular, you know, kind of chronic, you
9:56
know, cannabis and all that stuff.
9:58
And so and, and, and chronic, you know, in the dictionary is
10:02
excessive, repetitive, you know, kind of addicting, whatever
10:05
it's, it's you're always going to want, it's always hitting
10:08
you. So I thought that would be cool
10:10
because you got people that understand chronic in a medical
10:15
term, like excessive repetitive, like my fault.
10:17
My dad is like chronic. That's I don't get it.
10:20
And but then when I at the time I was 27, I was like, yeah,
10:25
chronic, you know, people will know, but they won't know.
10:29
And, you know, it was weird at first because when we started
10:33
expanding, landlords were like, what is this?
10:37
Like they once we started the getting the momentum, it was
10:42
just, I always wanted chronic tacos to be a household name.
10:47
And people are like, there's no way.
10:48
There's no way. And it, it is now.
10:51
And it's gotten to that point where chronic is is a normal
10:55
thing, you know, chronic tacos. And so that that's where the
11:00
name came from. So I've never been to a chronic
11:02
tacos yet. What's the customer experience
11:06
like? So, you know, I, I also come
11:09
from Nordstrom's and, and it when I was with when I left
11:13
Jiffy Lube, I ended up opening a company for Nordstrom's, a valet
11:17
company and I ended up working for Nordstrom's as well.
11:21
But I, I got my customer service like degree in Jiffy Lube.
11:28
We treated customers, we were taught like my district manager
11:31
actually came from restaurants. So Jiffy Lube was managed like a
11:35
restaurant, super clean, great service above and beyond.
11:39
Then I went to Nordstrom's, Nordstrom's customer service.
11:42
So on point customers always, right.
11:45
So I kind of, you know, that seven years, eight years of my
11:48
life was all about customer service.
11:50
And when I was a kid going to taquerias and, you know, you
11:54
know, there was always someone as a language barrier, but I
11:56
didn't get great service. You know, they were just like,
11:58
what do you want? You know, And it was just like,
12:00
here you go, it's out the door, you're gone.
12:02
And I really, really, we really wanted Chronic Tacos to have
12:07
super good service, you know, hey, how are you, you know,
12:11
conversation recommendations. And that was what I was used to
12:17
was having a clean spot and great service and obviously good
12:20
food. But you know, when you walk into
12:22
a crying tacos, I want it to feel like you're at home or, you
12:25
know, everybody and they all know you.
12:27
And we've gotten there where, you know, we have customers 3 *
12:30
4 * a week, same, you know, same customers.
12:33
And so it, the customer service was so important for us in the
12:39
beginning. I knew if I had really good
12:42
service and good food and a clean environment, people will
12:45
come back. So tell us about the tacos.
12:48
Where do the recipes come from? So one of our original partners,
12:52
Jason Bonilla, when we first got this Taco shop, I called my good
12:58
friend that I went to elementary school with and said, Jason, you
13:01
know, they owned a bunch of markets in Santa Ana.
13:04
He had a meat company they made, you know, they, they, they've
13:07
been in the business 40 plus years.
13:10
And I said, Jason, I need recipes, you know, I want some
13:13
real authentic recipes, you know, and he brought in
13:17
grandma's third generation recipes.
13:19
He partnered with us. He helped us with all the food
13:23
we ended up buying about a year later.
13:26
But you know, he came in and, and, and brought all his family
13:30
recipes and, and, you know, I'm very thankful for the bonillas.
13:34
They're a big part of this. And that's where I got all the
13:38
recipes from the bonillas. And so is it like a standard
13:41
menu like here we've got like 1020 things on the menu you pick
13:45
from it. Is there a lot of customization
13:48
that takes place? What's?
13:50
Yeah, so it's all made to order. I, I, I, I don't know how this
13:55
is. I was a picky eater, so I really
13:57
wanted it to be how you want it. And you know this when we opened
14:02
Chipotle was just coming out to California.
14:06
I don't even think we had one yet.
14:08
But right when we opened, I think they opened one in order
14:11
like in our in our area or something.
14:12
But I wanted it to made, made to order.
14:15
I don't want, you know, hot sauce.
14:17
I like Verde I so it was so important to make it custom and
14:22
I wanted it to be customed by the customer however they want
14:26
it. We make it.
14:26
You know, I was always like, we have the we have these awesome
14:30
breakfast burritos and people will be like, oh, can I get egg
14:33
whites? And I'm like, absolutely, it's
14:35
not on the menu, but if I got eggs in the back, I'll make you
14:38
egg whites. And so it was always like,
14:40
whatever they want, just make it happen.
14:43
If we have the ingredient, make it happen.
14:45
And you know, that's what we did.
14:47
And when we first opened, you know, I was running other
14:50
businesses and I would work Tuesday nights, Thursday nights
14:53
and all day Sunday. And I'm making tacos.
14:57
And my partner Dan, we're in it like, you know, we were grinding
15:00
and, and, and making tacos, mopping floors, like we did it
15:03
all. And you know, I don't, I think
15:05
it's so important when you have a business, you got to know your
15:07
business from every part of it. And, you know, we were on the
15:11
schedule, you know, making tacos for years and, and it was so
15:16
important, you know, right when they walk in, I'm the first
15:19
person like, hey, what's up? How are you high fives?
15:22
Nobody's getting your carne asada burrito.
15:24
But the customization was really important to us and we wanted to
15:28
go quickly. It's only 800 square feet.
15:31
There's four bar stools. And it's one of our top grossing
15:34
stores to this day. And we knew everyone.
15:38
It's, it's at the beach. So it was just in and out.
15:41
So you couldn't eat it. You know, you don't want people
15:43
waiting forever. So we, we just got this, this
15:47
rhythm. And, you know, music's going.
15:50
Yeah, we're having fun. And, and you know, it was, it
15:54
was getting people in and out and giving them great food and
15:59
how they like it, how you know, whatever they want on it.
16:01
So you mentioned the egg whites. Hey, can I get egg whites?
16:04
Sure, I'll get some eggs for you.
16:06
You know, get you some egg whites.
16:07
What are some other fun toppings, accessories that
16:11
people get that maybe they wouldn't find it at Chipotle?
16:14
Well, like we, so it's, it's funny because we're set up, you
16:17
know, you made to order, you know, but our menu like
16:20
breakfast burritos, our chorizo burritos are so good.
16:24
Hands down probably the best breakfast burrito I've ever had.
16:27
And I eat all the time. Mexican food everywhere I go.
16:30
It doesn't have to be chronic. I go everywhere just to try it.
16:33
But breakfast burritos are big and which Chipotle doesn't have.
16:38
We do a chronic fries where it's like nachos but with French
16:42
fries. That a franchise he actually
16:44
came up with and and and it's a big seller.
16:47
The Cali burritos with fries and guac and carne asada.
16:52
Our carnitas, we cook for three hours.
16:54
Everything's homemade. Like there's our hot sauces we
16:58
make, we're cooking tomatillos, our Verde are red, our pico de
17:02
Gallo, our guacamole we make almost every day.
17:06
So it's, it's so important that we wanted this fresh, you know,
17:11
real quality food. And like, you know, we do, we do
17:15
a fajitas fajita veggies. We, you know, we, we cater
17:19
towards vegetarians. We have impossible meat, so
17:23
it's, you know, a quesadilla choice.
17:27
Yeah. Our menus big and, you know, we
17:30
always look at it and we, we analyze it and it's so hard to
17:34
take items off. And, you know, Chipotle's models
17:37
very simple 4/4, I think four or five items.
17:41
But I, we always say we want to be different than Chipotle.
17:43
And like, our fish tacos are mahi mahi.
17:46
It's the best fish Taco ever had, ever had.
17:48
It's so good. And I'm not just saying that it
17:51
is so good. Our fish tacos and you know, our
17:55
biggest seller is carne asada burrito, but we just felt we
18:00
wanted to have things that were different.
18:02
Our bowls, you know, we do salads, but we do this rad bowl
18:08
and you know, it's just we wanted to be a little bit
18:12
different a lot so. So, Randy, take me back to the
18:15
opening of that first store the first day.
18:17
What was it like? People lined up around the
18:20
corner. No, not at all.
18:22
The first day we opened, me and my two partners, we're working
18:27
it. I think we did $500 that day.
18:32
And, you know, at first I was like, OK, I'm not going to get
18:37
rich off this, but it's fun. So but you know, people in in
18:42
Newport, they knew us, but they're like, who are these
18:45
gringos trying to make tacos? And I'm all just come and try
18:50
it. You're going to love it.
18:51
Just try it. And you know, so I think our
18:54
first day was like 500 bucks and then we started doing, you know,
18:57
almost 1000. And when we hit $1000 a day,
19:00
we're like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing.
19:04
And I think like my first checks or cat whatever distribution I
19:08
got was like $500 a month or something.
19:10
I was like, OK, well. And what year was this?
19:13
2002 OK And, and by the way, it took us a, a, a year to build
19:20
this thing out. We had no idea what we were
19:22
doing. And, you know, I signed a lease
19:25
and I all my buddies were like, oh, I can be your contractor.
19:28
I'm like, OK, cool, you're in. And they did it all wrong and we
19:32
had to redo it. And it, it took us a year to
19:35
open this because we had no clue what we were doing.
19:38
Now we open them in 90 days, but it was such a learning curve.
19:43
So when we finally opened, we were just like, Oh my gosh, is
19:47
this real? And and yeah, we were not busy.
19:51
We were slow. And then we got a write up about
19:55
667 months after we opened and people started coming, starting
20:01
to get busier. And people were like, wow, the
20:03
food's great. We started getting really good
20:04
reviews and it was the Daily Pilot when people used to read
20:09
newspapers. It came out and I'm not kidding,
20:13
the next day we had a line down the corner and it was.
20:19
Like an older group that came like I always say, they go like,
20:22
you know, what's your age, age group, you know, your
20:24
demographic. I'm all 2 to 80.
20:26
And the, the newspaper brought these people that don't live at
20:32
the beach that came up from the hills and, and families.
20:35
And they just read this really great article that they did on
20:39
us. And from that day on, it was
20:42
packed. People were driving from LA,
20:45
from Riverside, 45 minutes. Just because of this one
20:48
article. What did the article say?
20:51
What was the right? Place said, you know, these two
20:52
local guys from Newport Beach, you know, opened up a chronic
20:56
tacos and they, they talked about all the food.
20:59
They they went through the whole menu.
21:01
It was a really big article and it was like front page of the
21:05
Daily Pilot, which is the local kind of paper.
21:08
And but man, it, it, it, it made it so different, like where all
21:13
these people were coming and we were tripping.
21:16
And I remember like we were so busy.
21:20
We were starting to do $5000 a day.
21:22
And this is back in 20 years ago, over 20 years ago.
21:26
And we were like, Oh my gosh. And back then everyone paid
21:29
cash, you know, they barely used debit cards.
21:31
But it was like, we were just what the heck.
21:35
And but that article really set us up.
21:38
And then when people came, they got what the article said.
21:41
They got good food and then, you know, after a year we were just
21:44
like, wow, this is awesome. We got to open up more of these.
21:47
I ended up selling all my businesses and I'm like, we're
21:49
doing this. I'm focusing on chronic tacos
21:53
and we're going to take this to the next level.
21:56
And and then, you know, we opened up our second store 2
22:00
years later. And hang on, sorry to interrupt,
22:02
Brandy, where did you get the money to open up the first
22:05
store? We, we paid for it ourselves.
22:07
We, my partner Dan was working at Home Depot.
22:10
I had my, my printing business. We spent $90,000 to open the
22:16
first store, which was very cheap.
22:19
You know, we didn't change the floors like we had ceramic tile,
22:23
slippery tile in the lobby like it was, it was, it was done very
22:28
low budget. But we, we were new.
22:30
We didn't know, you know, and, but yeah, we spent 90,000.
22:34
We put it in ourselves, it was our own money and.
22:38
So just from savings, yeah, you guys had had jobs and other
22:41
businesses. And so you start this things,
22:44
you know, they start out slow, they start building, then this
22:47
article comes out and it is just like throwing, you know, rocket
22:51
fuel on, right. And so what's the timeline where
22:54
you start thinking about the second store?
22:56
How long between the first store and the second store?
22:59
Two years so two years went by and we were solid.
23:04
Our numbers were big. We were doing over a million.
23:07
Now that store does like 2 million a year, but we were
23:10
solid numbers. We were killing it and that's
23:14
when we started getting a lot of calls.
23:16
So people would be calling us saying we want to open a chronic
23:19
tacos. How do we open a chronic Tacos?
23:21
And we I'm franchising was I didn't even really know too much
23:26
about it. I mean, I knew about
23:27
franchising, but you know, never got into it.
23:30
And we started getting a lot of calls after about a year and we
23:35
picked 1 buddy. And we said we'll partner with
23:38
you, you fund it and we'll run it.
23:41
And we wanted to pick a city that was close to us.
23:44
We are getting a lot of people from Huntington Beach coming to
23:47
Newport, you know, 3 miles, whatever, a couple miles away.
23:50
And so we picked a spot in Huntington Beach.
23:53
I wanted to keep it not too close, but you know, the next
23:57
city over where I knew we had, we had a following.
24:01
So we opened up in Huntington two years later and we opened up
24:06
with a line out the door. It's packed and we're like, OK.
24:10
And then we got more calls and then more calls.
24:12
And then about 2006, we had three corporate stores.
24:20
We're like, you know, instead of partnering with everybody, let's
24:23
look into this franchising model.
24:25
And so I started talking to, you know, one of my mentors was John
24:31
Gallardi from Wienerschnitzels. And there was a chicken guy, I
24:37
think like Charo chicken MO. He he was talking, you know, I
24:40
was, I was picking his brain on franchising called some
24:43
attorneys started picking their brains on franchising.
24:46
And in O 6, we started franchising.
24:51
And so you'd had three corporate locations at that time.
24:54
And so you continue to develop corporate locations, but put a
24:57
lot more energy now into growing the franchise side of things.
25:00
Yeah, yeah, I really wanted to take it national.
25:04
And, you know, we had three super successful stores.
25:08
We knew the operations, we knew how to build them now.
25:12
And so we started franchising and we only franchise to friends
25:15
and family. It wasn't like, you know, there
25:18
was no, it was all just people calling us and, and people we
25:23
kind of knew and we started franchising and, you know, it
25:29
was, it was very, we are very, you know, at first, you know,
25:33
I'll be honest, when we first started, I was like, we can open
25:35
these anywhere and make money. And you know, no, that's not how
25:40
it works. There's a lot of due diligence
25:43
you have to do and you know, that takes years and years of
25:47
learning and having the right systems to know, you know, where
25:51
you're going to pick locations. Because like, I would have a guy
25:53
call me and say, I got to have one across the street from my
25:55
house and I'm like, all right, you're in.
25:58
And now it's a lot different. You know, we, we're very
26:01
particular who we franchise with, what kind of experience
26:05
they have. We run the demographics on the
26:08
locations, you know, parking lot, daytime population,
26:13
incomes. There's so much to it to have a
26:15
successful Taco shop and you know, that takes experience and
26:18
years of of learning the the do's and the don'ts.
26:21
So what is it that you're looking for in a franchise?
26:25
You know, we're looking, we love owner operators and when you
26:29
have we, we, we, we don't consider ourselves like a
26:33
corporate chain. We're we're, you know, they're,
26:36
they're owned locally and we want people to feel like the
26:40
owner's there and they don't have to, you know, they can put
26:43
a manager in and have a good team, but I really love when
26:46
owners are and that's how we were, we were in our restaurants
26:49
meeting the customers, talking to the customers.
26:51
So they had a name. So when they went to a Chipotle
26:54
or somewhere else, they it felt like they were cheating on us
26:56
and they would be like, Randy, I'm so sorry I had to go to
27:00
Chipotle because there was no chronic tacos in this area.
27:03
And I'm so sorry. But that's what I felt was so
27:08
important about this brand. And the what's behind the brand
27:13
is that it's we're all local, we're owners that, that care,
27:17
we're in it. So now I do have franchisees
27:20
that have great management teams and, and they do other things
27:23
and, and they go to their store a couple days a week, but you
27:26
know, in the beginning they were very hands on.
27:27
And, and that's, it's a big thing for us is, is if we, if we
27:31
have a big group that comes in, they always, they'll have a
27:34
management team and have a good staff in place.
27:36
But owner operators are great understanding business.
27:41
You know, I can teach you how to roll a burrito.
27:43
I can teach you how to make a Taco, but you got to have some
27:47
kind of business mind, you know, where you understand numbers, P
27:50
and LS and and and we teach we we have, you know, the chart of
27:54
accounts all set up for your accountant.
27:56
And and you know, we do a a heavy eight week training
27:59
program where we're with you every day.
28:01
And but you got to have some kind of, you know, a business
28:05
behind you that weather is any any business really just
28:08
understanding numbers. That's a big key to and then,
28:13
you know, like if somebody calls to me and is like, you know,
28:17
Randy, I want to retire and open a Taco shop in Florida and I'll
28:23
be like, I love the idea. But when you restaurants is not
28:27
something you just retire and open, you've got to be involved,
28:30
you know, and, and, and so you get a lot of that.
28:35
But most people understand, you know, especially nowadays
28:39
restaurants, you know, it's work, but it's fun work and you
28:43
know, we have a good time doing it.
28:44
What kind of personalities are you looking for?
28:48
You know, outgoing, vocal, not shy, you know, they've, they've,
28:54
you know, they've got if they're, if they're a shy person
28:57
or or not a Pete like the talkers.
28:58
You got to have the manager that's doing that, but you got
29:02
to have personality, you know, you got to be able to solve
29:05
problems, you know, you got to be able to think fast, work
29:10
hard. You know, I'm not above any of
29:13
my employees. You know, if I walk in and
29:16
there's toilet paper or the toilet, you know, something
29:19
needs to be cleaned, I clean it, you know, and, and getting
29:22
respect from your, your staff and, and people you work with,
29:25
your Co workers because you'll do whatever they do, you know,
29:29
and, and that was a big thing. And, and in our, with chronic
29:34
tacos was when I, when I go and open stores, you know, I go and
29:37
train the stores with my trainers because I want them to
29:40
know what the, the personality and the culture is and where it
29:43
came from and how I talk to customers and how I become
29:46
friends with the customers. And I'll do anything, you know,
29:50
for the restaurant, like there's nothing I'm not going to touch
29:53
or do. And they respect that.
29:55
So most of the locations are in California currently, so I'm in
29:59
Canada. Most of are in California, I got
30:01
Vero Beach FL, one in Atlanta, Alpharetta we got a few in
30:07
Canada and then but mostly in SoCal but one up in Washington
30:12
too. So when you're doing sort of
30:15
that hub and spoke like you originally described, like, hey,
30:18
I'm going to go over to Huntington Beach because it's
30:19
just a few miles away and we've got a following from a
30:22
logistical standpoint, that makes things a lot easier,
30:24
right, to get sort of the ingredients, the foodstuffs
30:27
there. But when you open up in
30:30
Washington or Canada or Florida or Georgia, was that a strain on
30:35
kind of the supply chain or were you able to easily find vendors
30:39
that could get you what you needed there?
30:41
Well, when we started to get bigger and we knew we needed a
30:47
national supplier. So you know, you go with the big
30:50
dogs and the big step. It's a lot of work because you
30:55
want your products to be the same as buying from the little
30:58
guys. And, you know, that was a big
31:01
challenge was making sure distribution and our products
31:06
are the same, You know, we, our meat cuts were.
31:10
So, you know, it has to be perfect.
31:12
It can't be something else in another state.
31:15
So, you know, we did a really good job doing our due diligence
31:19
and making sure that everything that we have is the same
31:22
products that we have here. But we needed a national
31:25
distributor. So that was a big, a big thing
31:28
for us to, to get to the, you know, move up to the big guys.
31:31
And you know, we, we've, we've had different distributors and
31:36
we know what we're doing now. So it's, it's a lot easier, you
31:39
know, when stores open, you know, I can supply anywhere in
31:42
the United States and Canada with our suppliers.
31:47
So how well does the concept translate into other states?
31:50
It's one thing when it starts out in Socal and like you guys
31:54
catch fire and so that it's easy to open up a few miles away and
31:58
a few miles away again. But then you go to Florida, you
32:02
know, do people know you? Is it?
32:03
You know, it's so funny because we were always worried about,
32:07
like, what do we do in the state?
32:09
And, you know, a lot of people haven't heard of us, but because
32:13
we started in Southern California.
32:15
Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Corona Del Mar, people vacation
32:20
out here. So we would get so many
32:23
vacationers when we would open up on the East Coast.
32:26
They're like, Oh my gosh, I've been to Chronic Tacos.
32:28
This is crazy. And then they tell all their
32:30
friends. And so, you know, at the
32:32
beginning, yeah, I'd say like 30% of the people have kind of
32:36
heard of us, maybe 20% because of vacationing or, you know,
32:40
they didn't have social media like, like it is now.
32:43
So it was really people just visiting California and chronic
32:47
tacos was either right next to one of their the beach houses
32:51
that they rented or so we it would be fun when we would go
32:54
into a new town and people were like, Oh, I know I've heard of
32:57
this or I've eaten at in a Newport, but it did it.
33:02
It's definitely, Oh, and then I feel like a lot of the locals
33:05
would be like, they just wanted good tacos.
33:07
You know, there, there's not a lot of, you know, great tacos in
33:12
other states. California, it's everywhere.
33:15
So when we would open in these other states, people are like,
33:18
Oh my gosh, we've been waiting for like a California Taco shop.
33:21
And so it was. It was received very well.
33:25
And so franchising opportunity now, are there specific
33:29
geographies that you're looking for, not looking for, is it
33:32
pretty much all of the US and Canada?
33:34
Yeah, all of the US and Canada, you know, I've got like South
33:39
Carolina, I'm working on a big deal right now.
33:42
But yeah, we want to expand because we have the stores out
33:45
there. So now it's like Florida, you
33:47
know, Nashville, there's a, there's a lot of states are on
33:51
the radar, but we are, you know, we want to hit everywhere.
33:55
The whole USI, it's time. Like we, you know, we've built
33:59
this up and now, you know, we this this year, we really, you
34:03
know, are on track already. We've got another store in LA
34:06
coming. We got one up in Danville coming
34:09
in like near San Francisco. And then I'm working on a big
34:13
deal in South Carolina right now.
34:16
You know most are most of these franchise referrals, are they
34:21
coming from word of mouth? Are you working with brokers?
34:24
How, how is it you guys are growing right now?
34:26
Yeah, a lot is word of mouth. We usually when we receive an
34:30
application, it says it visited existing location.
34:34
So we get a lot of vacationers that come out to Southern
34:37
California, try the tacos, say, Oh my gosh, we need one of these
34:40
at home. Also, Google searches, there's
34:44
not a lot of franchises for, you know, Taco shops, unless you
34:49
want like a Del Taco or a Taco Bell.
34:51
And and, you know, people kind of want something different,
34:54
especially out of state. And we do work with brokers.
34:59
So we'll get calls from brokers with interested parties.
35:02
So we kind of work with everybody.
35:04
Yeah. Can you hold up your knuckles?
35:07
Yeah, Taco life. Taco Life, What is that?
35:11
So Taco life to us, have fun, enjoy, life is good.
35:18
You know, being in Southern California, Taco shops are
35:20
everywhere. So, you know, for us, Taco life
35:23
was really like doing what you want, eating how you want,
35:29
enjoying music, the California kind of vibe, very chill,
35:34
relaxed, no stress, you know, that kind of thing.
35:39
Ties into the chronic theme we were talking about earlier.
35:42
So for those folks who are just taking in the audio version and
35:45
the video version, you can see Randy's got quite a bit of
35:48
beautiful body art and specifically on his knuckles, he
35:52
has tattoos that says Taco Light.
35:54
So that's what we were addressing there, Fun stuff.
35:59
So I understand you guys have done a lot in terms of like
36:02
different partnerships and promotions over the year.
36:07
Is there a particular collaboration that you feel has
36:11
really captured the brand spirit?
36:14
Yeah, we've done a lot. You know, I like the, you know,
36:17
when we do like no kids hunger. Like go get no kids, get hungry
36:21
or no kids hunger. You know, we did a lot.
36:24
Oh, well, homeless stuff we do a lot in like LA, Long Beach,
36:28
where we feed the homeless. I think it's really fun and,
36:30
and, and good for the, for the community.
36:34
We want to give back. Like whenever we do have a new
36:36
location pop up, it's always like first thing, get in the
36:40
community and give back, you know, and, and help people and,
36:45
and, and that was a big part of us is, is giving back and
36:48
helping veterans. We've done a ton of stuff with
36:50
veterans. That's huge.
36:53
You know, my dad's a veteran and, and my grandpa, so, you
36:57
know, those kind of things that I really enjoy doing.
37:00
And then we have really cool sponsorships.
37:02
Like we've done big music festivals and partners with Live
37:06
Nation at a point. And, you know, that was a big
37:09
part of us was being in in these festivals and, and serving
37:12
people and doing all the backstage stuff and VIPs and,
37:18
you know, and putting our food all over Angel Stadium.
37:21
Angels has been a great partner, you know, with Major League
37:24
Baseball and have you so you have a.
37:27
Stand inside the stadium. Yeah, we have 3, three Taco
37:30
shops. We've been there I think 15
37:33
years. And I was actually just there
37:37
for Monster Jam and went to all the Taco shops.
37:40
And it's just, it's really cool to see, you know, it's such a
37:43
big platform and, and, and, and, and all these people eating in
37:47
there. And that's exciting always for
37:49
us, for the brand. Tell us about the work that
37:52
you've done with veterans. So we've done a bunch of stuff
37:55
with veterans, you know, whether it's giveaways, food,
37:58
promotions, you know, we discount veterans, but we do,
38:04
you know, where we give them a part of the proceeds.
38:08
We've done quite a few things with different veteran groups
38:13
and that was big and. When you guys come into a new
38:16
city and you want to get involved with the community and
38:20
you specifically mentioned feeding the homeless, what does
38:22
that look like? Are you sort of walking up and
38:25
down the streets handing out tacos?
38:27
Is there like a location where you're sort of trying to bring
38:30
them to? Yeah, like in Long Beach, we, we
38:33
would just set up shop and whether we're grilling on, on
38:36
the, in the parking lot, there was, there was always be like
38:39
organizers who would invite us to come in and then we would
38:43
come in and serve food and, you know, serve a couple thousand
38:46
homeless people. We've done that quite a bit.
38:49
We have a Taco truck that we bring out if, if we can get it
38:53
there. But you know, we get calls all
38:55
the time where people are like, hey, do you, are you interested
38:58
in, in doing this and helping this community?
39:00
And we're, you know, if it works for us, then we're in.
39:03
Yeah. You know, it's interesting that
39:06
you mentioned there aren't a lot of Taco shop options for
39:10
franchising and never really occurred to me yet.
39:13
You've got your, you know, Taco Bell and Del Taco and, you know,
39:16
big chains like that. But I, I mean, it just sort of
39:19
highlights how competitive the restaurant landscape is.
39:23
Are there some of the things that you guys are doing to stay
39:26
ahead of the curve, whether it's new tech, food items, even
39:30
further enhancements to the customer experience?
39:34
All the time you have to evolve, you know, from 20 years ago,
39:38
it's so different, like with just social media and where you
39:41
market, you know, radio commercials, bus ads, like it's
39:47
so different now. And yeah, it's, it's such a
39:53
change on, on what we how we think of things.
39:57
But evolving was a big part of us.
39:59
We always wanted to, we didn't want to get stale or like, you
40:03
know. So we're always changing
40:05
artwork, changing music, the atmosphere of the Taco shop,
40:10
evolving the inside of the Taco shop, the aesthetics, you know,
40:14
the chairs, the paint colours. It's so different from what it
40:18
used to be as far as just evolution of what people are
40:22
inspired or, or, or our artists that do our, you know, we do
40:26
custom murals, graffiti artists that, that, you know, if you
40:29
look at our old one of like Day of the Dead, you know, that was
40:33
a a big inspiration for years. And now it's more graffiti art
40:37
and bright colors. But it's, you know, focus
40:41
groups, knowing what customers are looking for when they come
40:44
to a restaurant, the music, how loud you play the music.
40:48
But we were always, we're always looking at everything.
40:52
And you know, third party deliveries, Grubhub, Uber Ease,
40:58
DoorDash, you know, that's a huge part of the business
41:00
nowadays. People, you know, 10 years ago I
41:03
would have not even thought about it, but it's such a big
41:07
part of the business and perfecting that and making it
41:11
easy for our staff to to do because it's all however you
41:15
want it. So sometimes our tickets are
41:16
like no, this, no, this, yes, this, yes, this.
41:18
So, but evolving for that, evolving the marketing part of
41:23
it to stay true and being out there.
41:27
And you know, food influencers are huge now.
41:29
So it's teaming up with these food influencers and, and having
41:33
them in your Taco shops and, you know, talking about you.
41:37
It is so big with the marketing side of it.
41:40
But yeah, we've had to evolve a lot and we keep evolving and
41:43
we're always looking. I mean, we're on meetings daily
41:48
with, you know, food influencers, marketing
41:51
department, what's hot, what's not, what's working, what isn't
41:55
working. You know, it's a, it's a daily
41:59
thing and, and just staying on top of it and not going.
42:02
OK, we're good now. Let's just leave it the way it
42:04
is. And so a food influencer, this
42:07
is probably somebody young on Instagram or TikTok that's
42:10
coming in and sort of doing like live reviews of your product.
42:14
Yes, yes, they, well, yeah. So they have, there's some big
42:17
influencers out there. Food influencers have millions
42:19
of followers and they'll come and do you know, they'll come
42:23
and eat a burrito and tell you what they think of it.
42:26
And it's it's huge. You lost the traction.
42:31
There's some really big ones. And, you know, and we don't even
42:34
small ones are great. It's just anybody coming in and
42:37
posting and talking about us is great and, and, and, and
42:42
spreading it to their, you know, their fans and people that
42:45
follow them and might not have heard of us.
42:48
And when you guys open up a new location, call it like a
42:51
franchise location in a different part of the country or
42:53
in Canada, are you sending your graffiti artists there to do the
42:59
inside of the stores or do you ever recruit local talent for
43:02
that? We have before, but we like
43:04
sending our guy Kooser. He's awesome and he's, he's
43:08
amazing graffiti guy. We've sent him all over the
43:10
world and he, he loves it. And so we send our guy out.
43:16
We've had a couple local artists do stuff, but it's just not the
43:19
same. He, he's so good.
43:22
So what's his name? His name's Twooser.
43:25
Twooser Twooser knows your vibe. And he knows our vibe and he
43:29
does all he's big time, like he's big time.
43:33
But he's, he's rad. So we try to get him to all our
43:36
spots to do it and once in a while we've had some others, but
43:41
he's definitely we we send him up.
43:45
Randy, you know, in my experience, behind every success
43:47
story, there's usually a chapter that almost broke someone.
43:51
Can you share a serious challenge that you've overcome,
43:55
personal or professional, how you got through that and what
43:58
you learned? Yeah, No, I think personal, you
44:04
know, in this business, in any business, I, I, I'm a big
44:08
believer of balance. And you know, when we first tend
44:15
plus years, 15 years, I was so into just work tacos, you know,
44:23
I lost balance. You know, I've got kids and
44:25
family and, you know, business was just over.
44:29
It just took over and it was great.
44:32
Everyone loved it. My family was fine.
44:33
Everybody knows that I'm I'm working, but you know, getting
44:37
older and doing this for over 22 years.
44:41
The biggest thing was I wish I would have focused in on
44:44
balance. And my partner, Mike Mohammed,
44:47
he he was a big teacher to me to say, Randy, you always got to
44:52
have balance. You know, you got to have your
44:54
family, you got to go, you know, if you don't have balance,
44:57
you'll go nuts. And I, I wish I knew that
45:01
earlier on, you know, having the balance and not, you know, being
45:05
over, not overwhelmed, but just always work was first.
45:09
Tacos was first. I got to blow this up.
45:11
I want this to be huge. And you know, kids grow up.
45:15
I got grandkids now and it's crazy how fast things have gone
45:19
where I wish I would have had a little bit more balance in my
45:23
life but. So your partner said you need
45:27
balance, you're going to go crazy.
45:28
Did you ever go crazy? Was there a flip of the switch
45:31
that happened? I think like, you know, watching
45:35
him, you know, he's very successful and, and, and
45:38
watching him, you know, balance his life and family.
45:42
I learned from it and, you know, I have a, if I get into
45:49
something, I get in it all the way.
45:51
And, you know, he helped teach me how to have some balance and,
45:55
and that's made me sane and, and, and say, OK, you know what,
46:00
I might not need to take this call right this second, You
46:03
know, 'cause I get, you know, it's still to this day if, if
46:06
I'm very close to the franchisees, I mean, they have
46:08
my cell phone, I might call me anytime.
46:10
So, and it, it's, it's very personal.
46:13
So if I see a phone call, I jump on it.
46:15
But now if I'm with my kids or, you know, doing something, I'll
46:18
be like, Hey, can I call you back as an emergency?
46:20
They're like, no, no, no, just calling to say hi.
46:22
So, you know, learning, learning balance from someone that's was,
46:27
you know, working 17 hours days, you know, it took, it took years
46:32
to kind of get there. But now, you know, I, I feel it.
46:36
And I always say, you know, if I mentor or anything, I always say
46:38
always have balance, always have balance, you know?
46:41
Do you feel like you have that balance now?
46:43
I do, I do, I, I'm, you know, we have a great team.
46:47
My partners are awesome. Our corporate structure are, you
46:51
know, we have, you know, franchise support managers.
46:54
It's not, you know, the marketing team.
46:57
So we all have what we're good at and it's not overwhelming.
47:02
We all split the the workload and, and what we do and it's,
47:07
it's, it's awesome. What's your superpower, Randy?
47:11
I love. People I, I can make you laugh
47:16
and have fun even if we're deep in the trenches, you know, I
47:22
love, I, I just, I love making people happy.
47:25
And that was a big thing about food was how many people would
47:29
be like, man, these tacos are so good and that made me really
47:34
happy. And, you know, yeah, there's a
47:36
lot of hard work, but it, it pays off when people come back
47:39
and see you and the relationships I've built and,
47:43
you know, the people that I, I have around me.
47:45
And it, you know, chronic Tacos has done so much for me in my
47:50
life. And I'm so blessed, so blessed.
47:55
Is there any daily habits that help get you started, keep you
48:00
on track, maybe help you find that balance that you're looking
48:03
for? You know, it's like, you know,
48:06
when I wake up in the morning, I set goals.
48:08
I don't make them too crazy. You know, you said three to five
48:12
things that I really need to accomplish today.
48:14
If you overwhelm yourself, you won't get them done.
48:16
And then you, you feel like you're messing up communication.
48:21
You know, we have meetings daily with all our departments.
48:25
And, you know, I wake up, I have a cup of coffee, enjoy the birds
48:32
singing and, and then I go hit up Taco shops and you know, my,
48:37
my schedule. I, I love being in the Taco
48:40
shops. I'm not a big sit in the office.
48:42
You know, I'm, I like to be in the shops working with
48:47
franchisees. I love when people want to buy a
48:51
Chronic Tacos and I'm on the phone calls and going over
48:54
everything and you know, it's for me, I feel my job is to
48:57
educate people that want to get into franchising A Chronic
49:01
Tacos, whether they franchise us or somebody else or any other
49:05
business. I really feel my duty is to is
49:10
to teach you what it's like and educate you on owning a
49:15
restaurant. You know, it's, yeah, it sounds
49:17
fun and great, but there are, you know, challenges and there's
49:20
things that you got to do. And I'm very upfront and open
49:22
and, you know, most of the time people are like, Yep, Nope, I
49:25
get it. So for me, it's really important
49:28
to educate people about franchising, whether it's food
49:32
or anything. But, you know, that's my, my job
49:35
is to, when somebody wants to open up a Taco shop.
49:38
And I love that conversation. I love being totally upfront,
49:42
honest. There's no BS.
49:45
This is how it is, you know, and and that makes things easy when
49:50
you just tell it how it is. Yeah.
49:56
You mentioned a mentor or two earlier.
49:59
Anybody else you want to give voice to that's been helpful in
50:02
your path? You know, my partners, Mike,
50:06
Dan, Dave, Dan Biello, everybody that you know is it with my
50:12
partners, we all do different things.
50:14
You know, Mike's the financial guy, numbers driven, super
50:18
smart. Dan's also an operator who's
50:21
super smart. Real estate, knows everything.
50:24
Dave does our marketing, he's another brother.
50:26
So it's like the team that we have, everyone is good at what
50:32
they are pointed to. You know, like Randy, you're
50:35
great at, you know, being in the Taco shops, training, vetting
50:41
chronic tacos, potential franchisees out.
50:46
But you know, John Gelardi, he passed away, but he started
50:50
Wiener Schnitzels. You know, he was a big part of
50:54
of my my life in the beginning and gave me the do's and don'ts
50:58
and you know, was just a great guy.
51:01
And and, you know, I feel now like when people ask me, you
51:04
know, what do you need to succeed?
51:06
You always need a mentor. You need somebody to tell you
51:10
what not to do. And even me when we were young
51:14
and, you know, John Gallardo say, hey, you shouldn't do that.
51:17
We're like, oh, no, we're going to do it anyway.
51:18
And if, you know, it didn't work or something.
51:20
So I always remember, you know, you know, my dad's a big mentor,
51:27
you know, business guy, not a restaurant guy, but just the
51:29
corporate world. But you know, it was, it was, it
51:34
was listening to them and, and saying, you know, they've
51:36
already been through this. And so now, like I get calls
51:39
from people opening up restaurants or whatever and they
51:41
try to pick my brain. And first thing I say is you
51:43
need a mentor. You need someone to guide you to
51:46
the do's and the don'ts. And that's so big.
51:51
You know people find a mentor. You know, it's, it's hard.
51:56
I mean, I know there's probably, you know, consultants and stuff
52:01
like that, but I, I, it was, it was, I knew this guy actually
52:05
called us and he's like, hey, John Gallardi called us.
52:08
The guy has, you know, over 500 restaurants, owns the real
52:11
estate. He's, you know, worth, I mean,
52:14
he's worth, I don't know, 500, six, $100 million.
52:17
And he liked the, what Chronic Tacos was doing.
52:19
And we only had ten stars at the time.
52:21
And, you know, he thought it was cool.
52:23
He thought it was a good upcoming brand.
52:25
And, and so he reached out to us and, and, and became a good
52:31
friend and, you know, and it was just, you know, invited us to
52:34
the office all the time. I would be there at 8:00 at
52:36
night at his huge corporate office, hundreds of employees,
52:40
no one in there, just me and him.
52:42
And we've got the marker board and he's like, this is what you
52:44
got to do. This is where you got to go.
52:45
This is like, and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is priceless.
52:49
But yeah, I, I just feel it's kind of like word of mouth.
52:53
Or if you, or if you see a business that you really like,
52:55
reach out to them, reach out to the owner or the founder or, and
52:59
just ask, hey, you know, do you offer any mentorship or is there
53:02
any, you know, any, anything you can, you know, any, anything you
53:06
can suggest or because like if somebody called me, I would be
53:10
like, yeah, I'd love to talk to you.
53:14
OK, think about outside of work. Think about not going to Taco
53:20
shops. What is your favorite thing to
53:22
do outside of work? My favorite thing to do I well,
53:29
I love, I like to relax. I like to sit by the pool.
53:35
I go to the beach a lot, you know, camping, love to travel.
53:42
But you know, for me, it's like if I can get some time with the
53:45
kids and relax at the house, go to the beach, you know, the
53:51
beach is a big part of my life and relaxing, you know, putting
53:57
the phone away for a couple hours, that's fun.
54:01
You know, I've got kids and and spending time with them really,
54:06
really is my therapy and my my go to.
54:11
I love it. I've just got one more question
54:14
for you today, Randy. But before I ask it, I want to
54:16
do 3 quick things. First of all, anybody wants to
54:19
get in touch with Randy, go to their website, chronictacos.com.
54:23
Super easy. It's the classic spelling
54:25
chronictacos.com. It'll be on the show notes, but
54:28
you can get to it on your own. Chronictacos.com.
54:31
Also, if you're enjoying the show, a quick review on your
54:33
favorite podcast app goes a long way towards helping others
54:37
discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick
54:39
moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, if you want
54:42
to get more restaurant employees access to therapists, doctors
54:45
and prescription meds that, as paradoxical as it seems,
54:49
actually increases your company's net profits, reach out
54:52
to us at Add Back benefits.com. So last question for you, Randy.
54:56
A year from now, what is 1 very specific thing that you hope to
54:59
be celebrating? You know, I want to, a year from
55:05
now celebrating, I, I, I want to break, you know, 40 stores.
55:10
I'd like to get to 50. But I think, you know, if, if we
55:13
can get up to 40 stores, I will definitely be celebrating and
55:18
just bringing chronic tacos to other states.
55:23
That's my goal. That's my dream.
55:25
And to keep this going as long, you know, forever, you know,
55:29
this is a legacy that we're building for all of our kids.
55:32
And you know, I I want this to to be around for a long time.
55:36
Randy Weiner from Chronic Tacos, I want to be the first to thank
55:39
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
55:42
I really appreciate you being here.
55:44
Thank you, Anthony, it was awesome.
55:46
I'd love to see you again. Folks, that's a wrap on another
55:50
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
55:53
Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, try
55:55
putting that into action today.