Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / UnchainedTV: How Mr. Charlie's Is Changing Fast Food Forever!

Transcript

UnchainedTV: How Mr. Charlie's Is Changing Fast Food Forever! · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

0:00
Welcome to the Unchained TV podcast with me,
0:03
your host, Jane Velez Mitchell.
0:06
What an exciting show we have for you.
0:08
Mr. Charlie's is the up and coming plant
0:10
-based fast food chain, sometimes dubbed the vegan
0:14
McDonald's.
0:15
Now it made headlines recently when, huh, guess
0:20
who showed up?
0:21
Mike Tyson did a media event at Mr.
0:24
Charlie's in Los Angeles to celebrate the brand's
0:27
three year anniversary.
0:29
And I gotta tell you, the crowd went
0:31
wild.
0:32
Turns out Tyson, who is famously plant forward,
0:35
is an investor in Mr. Charlie's.
0:39
This innovative company loves to riff on popular
0:43
culture in a humorous way, making any visit
0:47
a very entertaining experience.
0:49
And great news, Mr. Charlie's is now offering
0:53
franchise opportunities.
0:55
So could you be the next new franchisee
1:01
of Mr. Charlie's?
1:02
Now, Unchained TV brings you the inside scoop
1:05
on their super popular potato ice cream, and
1:08
so much more with founder Taylor MacKinnon and
1:10
Karma Hold Company CEO, Adam Wilkes.
1:13
Now, Adam, you have said that Mr. Charlie's
1:18
isn't just a restaurant, it is a movement.
1:21
So tell us, sir, what did you mean
1:25
by that?
1:27
So first of all, thanks for having us
1:29
here today.
1:29
I greatly appreciate it.
1:30
I'm excited to be talking about Mr. Charlie's
1:33
and Karma Hold Co.
1:34
But this all falls into just the story
1:37
behind Karma Hold Co.
1:38
and the authenticity of connecting Mike to plant
1:42
-based products.
1:43
Everything we do is about authenticity, and Mr.
1:47
Charlie's is as authentic as it gets.
1:51
Focused on bringing plant-based products to the
1:55
masses as we had with Karma Hold Co.
1:59
So for us, it was love at first
2:02
sight.
2:03
The bold, grand identity, the scalability.
2:07
There was so much that went into just
2:10
the excitement to myself and Mike and the
2:13
whole team over at Karma Hold Co.
2:15
that drew us to Mr. Charlie's.
2:17
And I mean, just working with Taylor has
2:21
just been unbelievable.
2:24
And being able to work again on such
2:26
a exciting concept and scaling this to our
2:31
goals as we have with Karma, scaling to
2:34
19 countries, we hope to bring Mr. Charlie's
2:36
to people all over the world and really
2:39
just push forward on that plant-based movement.
2:42
It's so exciting because it is, looks very
2:46
much like McDonald's-ish, the products, the design,
2:52
but it's vegan.
2:54
So Taylor, what I thought was so fascinating
2:57
about this is that this was your brainchild.
3:01
And when you arrived in Los Angeles from
3:03
Australia, you were in crisis, really.
3:07
Is it true that you were actually out
3:09
on the streets?
3:11
Yeah, yeah, that's what past mistakes will do
3:15
to you.
3:15
You don't look at your pain and want
3:17
to move forward.
3:18
So I was just stuck in a never
3:20
-ending cycle of never being able to get
3:22
out of my own way until I received
3:24
some help.
3:25
You know, that's what we all need sometimes,
3:26
right?
3:26
It's a bit of help.
3:28
So a little bit of help goes a
3:29
long way.
3:30
How did you go from being an unhoused
3:32
person on the streets of Los Angeles to
3:35
creating this incredible brand that now has the
3:37
backing of one of the most famous men
3:39
in the world?
3:41
You know, good people, actually.
3:43
I think it took a lot of people
3:45
to see it, a lot of people to
3:46
support it.
3:48
To answer your question, I received an opportunity.
3:51
I met a team of people at the
3:53
Dream Centre that were helping people get back
3:55
on their feet.
3:56
The Dream Centre is a rehabilitation centre in
3:58
LA that has about 500 rooms.
4:00
It's founded by Matthew Barnett, one of my
4:02
favourite people in the world, naturally, these days.
4:05
And he saw something in me and gave
4:08
me an opportunity, which was a bed in
4:10
the shelter.
4:11
I was there for many months, trying to
4:14
recover from addiction and pain and just a
4:18
lot of mistakes.
4:19
You know, it's just, it all stemmed from
4:21
my childhood, really, not being able to grow
4:23
past anything that was too hard.
4:25
And I finally met a team of people
4:27
that were willing to give me a second
4:29
chance at life and show me that I'm
4:31
not my mistakes and that we're all more
4:34
than the hardest and worst thing that we've
4:36
ever done.
4:36
So I moved in, supported them back by
4:41
chores and things.
4:43
And then one afternoon after service on a
4:45
Sunday, Matthew Barnett called me into his office
4:49
and gave me a check for $1,000
4:51
and said, I need you to leave.
4:53
And I was like, okay, what did I
4:55
do?
4:56
And he said, nothing.
4:57
And he said that God had told him
4:58
that I was gonna leave and come back
5:00
one day with an idea that was gonna
5:01
change things at the Dream Centre.
5:03
So I did that, I left.
5:06
At the time, I was seeing a girl
5:09
who was volunteering and I later married her,
5:12
had some kids.
5:13
It's been an amazing journey.
5:14
And I got to a point in my
5:16
life after a lot of plant medicine, which
5:18
is why I'm connected to Adam and Tyson
5:21
and many others.
5:22
And thank you, Jean, that's very kind of
5:24
you.
5:25
But I realised that it was time to
5:30
do something back, give something back.
5:33
So in a crazy plant medicine journey, I
5:36
asked the universe the one question that I
5:38
was scared to ask myself for so long.
5:40
Why was I homeless?
5:41
What's that about?
5:43
And then I heard it.
5:44
How do you say it without getting too
5:46
emotional?
5:46
Because it's hard to talk about it, but
5:48
it's beautiful at the same time.
5:49
But how do you help them if you
5:50
don't know what it feels like?
5:52
So then I became an example of change
5:55
because I'd been supported by so many people
5:57
to get back on my feet.
5:59
I met Aaron, my business partner at Charlie's,
6:01
our co-founder, and he gave me a
6:03
shot.
6:04
We built a brand together.
6:05
We had a creative agency helping people find
6:07
their voice and just making the world a
6:10
better place.
6:10
So it was the love from the Dream
6:12
Centre.
6:13
It was the team over there, the outreach
6:15
team that are constantly on the streets of
6:17
LA looking for people that want help.
6:20
I think I got to a point where
6:22
I wanted to help.
6:23
I think we're all scared to look under
6:25
the carpet of what we create in our
6:27
life, good or bad sometimes.
6:28
And I needed a place to rest and
6:31
find solitude, and I did.
6:33
And it was enough for me to shift
6:34
my perspective, my direction, and connect me to
6:37
my heart.
6:39
So when the opportunity came up to build
6:42
Charlie's, I've been a chef my whole life.
6:46
I love cooking.
6:47
I love plants.
6:49
I've been on a very strict diet for
6:51
a long time because of health and I'm
6:53
kind of borderline bipolar a little bit, so
6:55
I'm a bit quirky.
6:56
So I have to maintain myself.
6:58
I have to work out.
6:59
I have to eat good.
6:59
I have to nourish my mind.
7:01
I have to meditate.
7:02
I have to, you know, I spend a
7:03
lot of time healing with plants.
7:05
So it seemed like the right thing to
7:07
do to create a concept for food that
7:09
people put in their bellies that was made
7:11
of plants, that was plant healing.
7:13
But with a twist, what would happen if,
7:15
you know, I said to Aaron, what would
7:16
happen if we did this but didn't hire
7:19
conventionally?
7:20
What if we went to the Dream Centre
7:21
and got a load of people that were
7:23
ready to rehabilitate like I was but just
7:26
needed a second chance where they could come
7:27
to an interview and not be judged by
7:29
their past?
7:30
Oh, you've been in jail?
7:31
Yeah, we're gonna turn you down.
7:32
That's what we were finding everywhere.
7:34
You know, an example, Andrew, you know, our
7:36
store manager in LA, took him out of
7:38
jail three years ago, came straight out of
7:39
jail, lost his kids, alcohol abuse.
7:42
He had a couple of dreams.
7:43
One, get his kids back.
7:44
And two, his mom was dying of stage
7:46
four cancer.
7:47
I'll never forget this conversation.
7:48
And he said to me, Taylor, I just
7:49
wanna get my mom with me and let
7:52
me be with her for the last moments
7:54
of our life.
7:55
And they gave her six months to live.
7:57
She passed away three years later, actually, not
7:59
too long ago.
8:00
And, you know, that's what Mr. Charlie's does.
8:02
It creates an opportunity for people to do
8:04
better, you know, without judging you.
8:06
There's no judgement.
8:07
Like, we're all broken.
8:09
Like, none of us are perfect.
8:11
You know, society likes to treat us that
8:12
way.
8:13
But, you know, we're not perfect.
8:16
We're a work in progress.
8:17
And it's about being kind to yourself and
8:19
realising that every hard thing that you ever
8:21
do, it shapes you to be better in
8:23
some way.
8:24
So that's really kind of the story of
8:26
how I got at the Dream Centre and
8:28
back out.
8:30
Unconditional love.
8:31
But I had to work at it.
8:32
I have to ask you these questions.
8:35
Fascinating story.
8:37
And congratulations on your sobriety and your success.
8:41
By the way, on April 1st, I'll be
8:43
30 years sober.
8:44
Knock on wood.
8:45
Oh, wow.
8:46
Congratulations.
8:47
So- It's nice up here.
8:49
Beg your pardon?
8:50
It's nice up here.
8:52
It is.
8:53
It's a- Yes, we're happy.
8:55
Yes.
8:55
I like to say I thought alcohol was
8:57
my solution, but it was my problem.
8:59
And so one day at a time, I'm
9:01
30 years sober.
9:02
April 1st, knock on wood, that's a few
9:05
days away.
9:06
So yes, I totally relate to what you're
9:08
saying.
9:09
So your whole mission is to use the
9:13
unhoused and the recently incarcerated, hire them, get
9:17
them to work at your stores, and now
9:20
you're creating franchise opportunities.
9:22
My question is, if somebody wants to be
9:25
a franchise owner, do they have to follow
9:27
that process?
9:29
Do they have to hire people who are
9:31
unhoused and or recently incarcerated?
9:34
Or just give us a sense of how
9:36
that would work.
9:37
Well, we don't try and reinvent the wheel.
9:40
So we're just trying to be a spoke
9:42
on the wheel to help it turn a
9:43
bit better, a bit smoother.
9:45
So there's a lot of great places like
9:47
the Dream Centre.
9:47
So I'll give you an example.
9:48
We just did another rehire from the Dream
9:50
Centre yesterday, and we took on some new
9:52
people, but they've been on the programme for
9:54
many years.
9:55
They found where they needed to be.
9:58
They are just now ready to get back
9:59
into work and settle down.
10:01
For a lot of people, it's very hard
10:02
to find jobs once you've gone through so
10:04
much.
10:05
So we don't specialise in anything other than
10:09
not overlooking anybody.
10:11
Everyone's got an opportunity here.
10:13
So we have lots of people that work
10:15
for us that haven't been through anything.
10:17
They just want to be a part of
10:19
the team because they want to be a
10:20
blessing to other people.
10:21
They feel they've got something to offer.
10:23
And then we have people that have been
10:24
working for us, with us, since day one,
10:27
three years now, that are still living in
10:30
shelters, some of them.
10:31
So it's just, it's a work in progress.
10:33
But it's not about any stigma or any
10:38
type of category.
10:39
It's open to everybody that wants to just
10:41
do more for their life.
10:43
Charlie's is a stepping stone.
10:45
I don't want it to get confused about
10:46
a long-term kind of career.
10:48
Maybe that is the case for some people,
10:50
but it's a kind stepping stone where you
10:52
can come in, be a part of something,
10:55
rework who you are, if that's what you're
10:57
looking to do, and just find a way
10:59
to give back.
11:01
Healing, and internally is great, but I'll tell
11:07
you what, there's no better feeling than helping
11:08
somebody else.
11:09
Not for me, anyway.
11:11
Absolutely.
11:13
Taylor, this is such a fascinating story and
11:15
it's so inspiring.
11:17
Getting back to Adams, you're the CEO of
11:21
the holding company, and Mike Tyson is a
11:25
big investor in that holding company and in,
11:29
therefore, Mr. Charlie's, and he was there recently.
11:34
I wanna play that video again, because honestly,
11:36
we were there live.
11:37
Unchained TV went and was live, and it
11:40
was a wild scene.
11:42
If the video looks a little bumpy, it's
11:44
because there were so many people there crushing
11:46
into the place.
11:49
And that's a good mob scene.
11:51
You want that.
11:52
Oh, what an exciting day.
11:54
So how are you changing the dynamics of
12:00
making money?
12:01
Because what Taylor said was so much about
12:04
giving and about compassion.
12:06
And I also read that you have days
12:08
where you do 99 cent hamburgers.
12:10
How are you able to make money and
12:13
still do all those wonderful things for the
12:15
community?
12:17
So there's two parts to it.
12:18
I mean, yes, it's in the end, we'd
12:21
all love to make money at it, but
12:23
what attracted Mike himself, just knowing his background,
12:27
his story, and the life that he's lived,
12:29
is the whole story of giving back, doing
12:32
our part, having the opportunity to scale this
12:35
brand globally and bring this opportunity and plant
12:39
-based products to the masses, but also give
12:41
back at the same time, whether that's donating
12:44
to charities or as Taylor mentioned, hiring from
12:49
the Dream Centre.
12:50
There's two parts to this, right?
12:52
It's the extremely innovative and crave-worthy menu
12:56
and bringing vegan products to the consumers, as
12:59
well as being able to give back.
13:00
And in turn, as we create days like
13:04
having Mike there where the lineup was around
13:06
the building and we had a very successful
13:09
day, great turnout, launching new products, the interest
13:14
in opening new stores has just skyrocketed, right,
13:17
from a dozen new states lined up to
13:19
multiple countries.
13:21
So we feel you give back, you do
13:23
your part, and the rest kind of follows.
13:28
It's part of the business model, and again,
13:32
it's working for us.
13:33
So we're excited about the whole process.
13:36
So how many stores do you have now,
13:39
Adam?
13:40
And where are these, let's say I want
13:42
to be a franchise owner.
13:43
I'm not saying I could.
13:45
I'm not saying I could at all, but
13:47
let's say hypothetically.
13:48
Anyone could be.
13:50
Yeah, but I mean, is it California?
13:52
Tell us about the details and how much
13:55
it would cost.
13:56
Yeah, so we already have two stores opening
13:58
in California, one in San Francisco and one
14:01
in LA.
14:01
We have additional stores coming online in California,
14:04
in the LA area.
14:06
We have some new stores coming online in
14:08
the East Coast.
14:09
We launched Australia, which we're all super excited
14:13
about with some more stores coming online there.
14:15
And then with our network, and again, my
14:18
past experience in the QSR space, we have
14:21
dozens of countries we're in talks with around
14:24
the globe on bringing Mr. Charlie.
14:27
So the excitement since bringing Tyson and Carmen
14:31
has really just hockey stick, really blown up
14:35
the interest in Mr. Charlie's.
14:38
And we'll continue to build the awareness of
14:43
this movement we've created.
14:45
Well, Taylor's created that we're helping with and
14:49
bring more doors to consumers all over the
14:54
world.
14:54
We have people wanting it everywhere.
14:55
So we vet our franchisees, looking for people
14:59
with obviously the financial ability to open one,
15:03
and we'll continue to vet them and open
15:06
stores all over the place.
15:08
Well, what is that?
15:09
And yes, we hope to come to Dallas
15:10
too.
15:11
Yes, people are asking, when are you coming
15:14
here?
15:14
When are you coming there?
15:15
What is the bottom line?
15:17
What's the bottom line investment?
15:20
And people could maybe group together and gather
15:24
the investment, but I think people will wanna
15:26
know, if let's say somebody says, I wanna
15:28
do this, how much money do they have
15:30
to come up with?
15:31
Let me do this.
15:33
Let me take you back a step to
15:34
a question that you asked a second ago
15:36
about making money and being profitable and giving.
15:39
So in life, if you go through some
15:43
hard stuff, you're gonna get to a point
15:45
in your evolution where you're gonna continue to
15:48
keep banging your head against the wall, or
15:50
you're gonna lean into some change.
15:51
You're gonna lean into your faith.
15:52
You're gonna lean into people.
15:54
You're gonna start listening.
15:55
I became two ears, one mouth in my
15:57
life.
15:58
When you create a dream, when you create
16:02
something meaningful, and you're passionate about it, and
16:06
you've got a story like I have, like
16:08
many have, no different to anybody else.
16:10
I'm just another example.
16:12
And you create a plan.
16:16
All I did was go to some of
16:18
the best people in the industry, people like
16:20
Tyndall, who make all of our chicken product
16:22
directly with us.
16:24
And I went to Tyndall and said, this
16:26
is a dream, but we need help to
16:28
be able to achieve past the status quo,
16:31
where it has to be about profit.
16:33
It has to be about penny pinching.
16:35
It has to be about that.
16:36
I'm not interested in any of that stuff,
16:38
because it sorts itself out if you're doing
16:41
the right thing.
16:42
If you're love in everything you're doing, you're
16:46
gonna find love back.
16:47
So we created a foundation that was scalable
16:52
through the support of great brand partners.
16:54
We get unique pricing on certain products, and
16:58
then the ability to distribute globally to different
17:01
places like Australia.
17:03
There's so much support from marketing, from product,
17:08
to just everything that we could ever need.
17:10
So this isn't about a brand that's just
17:13
open and done really well.
17:14
This is about a brand that connected with
17:17
great people to form a mission, to go
17:20
out and do something that's never been done
17:22
before, to treat people with so much respect
17:26
that you don't take advantage of anything or
17:29
anyone in the situation.
17:30
You just trust.
17:32
So what does it cost to become a
17:34
franchise partner?
17:35
That's gonna vary on how many stores you
17:37
want.
17:38
Our email for franchise- Let's say one.
17:43
Adam, do you know more about- I
17:45
can't say exact numbers, but I can tell
17:46
you, with my decade in the QSR space,
17:49
working with dozens of different QSR brands, it's
17:54
an extremely affordable investment and a great entry
17:59
point for someone who wants to get into
18:00
the food space and really be a part
18:03
of the vegan movement.
18:05
I think it's super exciting.
18:07
And I've been saying for years, we need
18:10
to have a vegan McDonald's and you've created
18:12
it.
18:13
Who makes your hamburger patties?
18:14
That I'm very curious about.
18:16
Do you use a variety of companies or
18:19
is there one company that makes your patties?
18:21
Well, we work with Tindle as our main
18:24
point.
18:25
We're currently working with the Impossible Light Burger,
18:28
which is a lot cleaner than what you
18:30
can get in a supermarket or anywhere else.
18:32
We've been working with them for a long
18:33
time, but we've been R&Ding, working on
18:36
new concepts, new things, ice cream with clips.
18:39
That was amazing.
18:41
Having an ice cream made of cassava, it's
18:42
nuts.
18:43
Never in a million years thought I would
18:44
ever eat anything like that that would resemble
18:47
ice cream.
18:47
Blows my mind.
18:49
So it's just, you know, it's fun.
18:52
The ice cream, I gotta say, I gotta
18:54
say with, again, almost a decade in the
18:57
dairy space, working with yoghurt and ice cream
18:59
brands, I was blown away with the flavour,
19:03
the texture, everything about the ice cream.
19:05
Mike loved it so much.
19:06
I think he had three of them when
19:07
we first came through for the testing.
19:11
It's just been a home run.
19:13
So I can't wait for everyone to try
19:15
them.
19:15
If you haven't, get in the store and
19:16
try it.
19:17
It's unbelievable.
19:19
You can also get the fun little Mike
19:20
bite on it too, the chocolate ear.
19:23
It's funny.
19:24
It's reminiscing on the 1987 break with Holyfield.
19:28
Yes, I'll never forget.
19:30
It's really funny, that chocolate ear, because I
19:32
have a personal story on that.
19:34
I'm not a personally a fan of boxing
19:37
and I didn't want to go to the
19:39
event and the person I was with was
19:41
like, come, it's a big event, it's a
19:42
big event.
19:43
So we went into this bar where they
19:44
had the screen and literally within 30 seconds
19:47
of me walking in, the infamous ear bite
19:50
occurred.
19:51
And I was like, see?
19:54
It's 1987, right?
19:57
Yep, yep.
19:58
That was so funny, but you've turned it
20:00
on its head and now you have this.
20:03
Now my understanding was it's potato ice cream,
20:06
which is absolutely fascinating.
20:09
How did you arrive?
20:10
And again, if you see the chocolate ear,
20:14
it's the infamous bite that, well, you can,
20:19
again, not being the boxing expert, you can,
20:21
I don't want to mess it up.
20:23
Adam, what was the moment?
20:26
Mike Tyson fighting Evander Holyfield, 1997.
20:30
And it was a very viral moment.
20:33
25 years after the fight, we released the
20:36
Mike Bites product line, which has now evolved
20:39
into so many new products.
20:41
One that we're extremely excited about is the
20:43
vegan ice cream with Mr. Charlie's.
20:45
And this is potato ice cream?
20:48
Originally it started out as potato based and
20:50
we moved to a cassava base with Eclipse,
20:52
which is a lot healthier, has no GMOs,
20:56
no artificial flavours or colours, just really clean,
21:00
really great actually.
21:01
Very proud of it.
21:02
We've been open for three years and people
21:04
have requested ice cream for three years.
21:08
But I'm never going to put anything out
21:10
that's not mad, mad special.
21:12
And again, it comes back to the point
21:14
of scalability, like need a brand partner, need
21:17
somebody that we can work with that can
21:18
help us scale.
21:20
Back to your franchise question, we have made
21:23
it very affordable.
21:24
Not to dodge the question about how much
21:26
does it cost, it varies on different people
21:28
and size, but our model is scalable with
21:32
not just our support, but the support from
21:34
all of our vendors, all of our support.
21:36
Everyone's there to help it thrive.
21:38
So when you get involved with Mr. Chutley's,
21:40
you kind of, it's almost like a marriage
21:43
in a way.
21:46
That's what it is, where we can all
21:48
do good together.
21:50
We all want to see the world be
21:51
better.
21:53
It starts with us.
21:55
We all spend so much time worrying about
21:57
the world ending and this happening and that
21:59
happening, but the truth is you can only
22:02
focus on what you can control.
22:04
And if that means that you want to
22:06
see the world better, then you've got to
22:07
do better with you.
22:08
You've got to wake up in the morning,
22:09
make better decisions and choose self-love, choose
22:13
to meditate, choose to eat good.
22:16
We created this brand, not for vegan people.
22:19
We created it for everybody.
22:21
It's a vegan people already vegan.
22:24
So we're gonna need converting.
22:26
They already made the decision, really good decision.
22:29
Like we wanted everybody else.
22:31
Those that are confused.
22:32
There've been so many people that have come
22:34
to the store that have just been like,
22:37
what does it taste like?
22:38
How good is it?
22:39
We get the same questions all the time.
22:41
I'm gonna stand up and say our menu
22:43
is absolutely fantastic.
22:46
You know why?
22:47
Because I have owned multiple restaurants.
22:49
I've worked in multiple kitchens and I've failed
22:53
many times, more than I can remember.
22:55
And the more you fail, the more you
22:57
get good at it.
22:58
And then you meet someone like Adam, who's
22:59
been in the QSR space forever, who really
23:02
knows how to scale a brand.
23:04
And so him coming in wasn't just about
23:06
money or anything like that.
23:08
It was really just about how do we
23:10
have the best guys, the best people in
23:13
our team to help drive it?
23:14
Well, he understands the market, but he's also
23:16
a beautiful human being.
23:18
Like even Mike Tyson, I'm from London.
23:22
I grew up on a council estate with
23:24
no money.
23:25
And then all of a sudden, this little
23:27
kid from London is now teaming up with
23:29
Mike Tyson.
23:30
It was a pinch yourself moment for me.
23:33
And then you wonder, what's he gonna be
23:35
like?
23:36
You've seen all the trials and everything he's
23:37
been through in his life.
23:39
But when you meet him, you realise that
23:42
the guy's got a heart bigger than his
23:43
punch.
23:45
And he cares more than most people understand.
23:48
And he's so smart, like so intellectual.
23:51
Like your conversations have been profound.
23:54
And his kindness towards this brand, his support,
23:57
like literally jumping on a plane and flying
23:59
across one side of the world to the
24:01
other, just to be at our event, which
24:02
is what happened.
24:04
That means everything.
24:06
He's a champion of people.
24:08
He's a champion of his own life.
24:10
Because you see, the thing that Mike Tyson
24:12
did and the example to all of us,
24:14
I believe, it's that he never gave up.
24:18
It got sticky, it got tough, it got
24:20
very heavy.
24:20
I'm sure many times you've read about it
24:22
in his life, all the trials and tribulations.
24:24
Same with me, but we never gave up
24:26
in the end.
24:27
We decided just to choose self-love, to
24:30
keep pushing forward.
24:32
And we are a product of great people.
24:34
We both shared plant medicine.
24:36
We've both done very similar plant medicines, which
24:38
are one of the reasons why I believe
24:40
we're all together.
24:41
It's in those teachings where you can really
24:44
let go of everything and all attachment and
24:47
remove the ego from your life and your
24:49
mind for a minute.
24:50
We realise that actually we're all really, really
24:53
special.
24:53
I always say this to our team, everyone,
24:55
look at your fingerprint.
24:56
I encourage everyone watching this right now, look
24:58
at your fingerprint.
24:59
It's the only one.
25:01
There's not another one.
25:03
What does that mean?
25:05
It means you're so special.
25:07
And that if you've been through hard things,
25:09
if you're going through something hard right now,
25:12
it's because you chose it before you came
25:13
here.
25:14
It helps you evolve.
25:16
It helps you spiritually grow.
25:18
And what we've got to get good at
25:19
doing is learning how to be more honest
25:21
with ourself.
25:23
We've got to learn how to ask for
25:24
help because we're so proud of that that
25:27
we don't want to seem to be a
25:28
failure in front of the world.
25:30
So it's not okay to ask for help.
25:32
Yes, it is.
25:32
It's bloody great to ask for help.
25:33
I ask for help all the time these
25:35
days.
25:35
And my life's a great, happy place because
25:38
of that.
25:39
It's when I try to do it all
25:40
myself.
25:41
That's why I went wrong in my life,
25:44
overcompensating on the love that I never had
25:46
as a kid.
25:46
And then what you try to do is
25:48
you become a people pleaser like I did,
25:50
trying to give everyone everything and then falling
25:52
short on everything and then creating a bad
25:54
picture about yourself.
25:55
And then- You know, I'm gonna jump
25:56
in because there are so many questions that
25:59
people have, but I agree with you.
26:01
In fact, I'm listening to this great book
26:02
right now called Let Them, which is a
26:04
bestseller.
26:06
And it's basically, if you're having problems with
26:08
people, just let them.
26:10
And it's like a weight off your shoulders.
26:12
I love it.
26:13
Okay, so many questions.
26:16
Everybody's asking, the ice cream is now made
26:19
out of something else, but they didn't catch
26:21
the word.
26:22
I didn't really catch it either.
26:24
It's not potatoes anymore.
26:26
What- It's cassava.
26:28
So it's still- What is it?
26:29
It defies from a root vegetable.
26:32
It's very similar.
26:33
We work with Eclipse.
26:34
Eclipse are a profound company that have been
26:37
making vegan ice cream products for a long
26:40
time.
26:41
Their original base had potato in it.
26:43
They moved to a more sustainable option.
26:46
Less in it, it's cleaner.
26:48
And it has- Cassava.
26:49
It has more of a fluff to it
26:51
as well, cassava.
26:52
Okay.
26:53
It's a little bit more fluffy.
26:55
So it's been clutch.
26:57
Again, like- You have gluten-free options.
27:02
Yes.
27:03
Yeah.
27:04
Yeah, of course.
27:05
We just, actually, we're just working on a
27:06
new gluten-free bun right now.
27:09
I feel bad for people that are gluten
27:11
intolerant.
27:12
It's like, I love bread.
27:13
I can't imagine not being able to eat
27:14
bread.
27:15
Like, it'd be devastating.
27:16
So we think about that when we're planning
27:18
menus, when we're doing drops.
27:20
You know, we want to accommodate for everybody.
27:23
So we have just introduced a new gluten
27:25
-free bun that's absolutely fantastic.
27:27
I'm very proud of it.
27:29
So yeah.
27:29
All right.
27:30
Here's a question.
27:31
Is there a story behind the name and
27:35
the various names?
27:36
Okay.
27:37
Gene wants to know.
27:38
Okay.
27:39
Gene, I'm a deadhead.
27:42
The only band I would ever tattoo on
27:45
my arm.
27:45
There you go.
27:46
I went to, when I was going through
27:49
my healing stages, I ended up somehow, ended
27:54
up at a Grateful Dead concert, a Dead
27:55
& Company concert in Utah.
27:58
And I decided that that was the night
28:01
that I was going to experiment with my
28:03
life and broaden my horizons a little bit.
28:07
As you do within the dead, if you
28:09
know anything about the scene, you kind of
28:11
know what goes with it.
28:12
And I had an out-of-body experience
28:14
where I got to hear music for the
28:16
first time, but I got to witness a
28:18
family of people dancing in front of me
28:19
that were just loving each other, having a
28:21
great time.
28:24
So when we first started putting this concept
28:27
together, I was in a brainstorming session with
28:30
Aaron, my co-creator, my co-founder, my
28:33
man-wife, as my wife calls him.
28:35
And I remember meditating and I saw Bob
28:40
Weir from the dead standing in front of
28:41
me on the stage going, I'm going to
28:43
roll you over and shoot you because Mr.
28:44
Charlie told me so.
28:46
And I was like, ah, Mr. Charlie told
28:48
me so.
28:49
So it's really about cosmic Charlie, who is
28:52
a dead character.
28:54
And really what the brand represents, other than
28:57
the obvious of creating jobs for people in
28:59
need, supporting our voiceless animals, but that's huge.
29:02
But it's really, it's a proof of concept
29:06
for every single person looking at it, which
29:08
is you can be really brave and succeed.
29:11
You can choose to put people over profit
29:13
and succeed.
29:15
And the real concept is to make you
29:18
feel like a child.
29:19
I'll share a quick story.
29:21
I had a, we used to have these
29:22
little yellow stalls outside the building when we
29:24
first opened.
29:25
From Ikea, we had no money.
29:26
So it was like, you know, that's the
29:28
other thing too.
29:29
We didn't borrow any money to build this.
29:30
Everything that it cost to create it, me
29:32
and Aaron personally paid for it with everything
29:34
that we've ever made.
29:35
It was a real sacrifice.
29:36
But on that day, this gentleman came in
29:38
and he says to me, why do you
29:40
have these stupid little kids' stalls outside?
29:43
Why don't you have some proper seating?
29:45
And I said to him, can you do
29:47
me a favour?
29:48
And he went, sure.
29:49
I went, I'm going to buy you lunch
29:50
today and I want you to sit on
29:53
that stupid little yellow stall and I want
29:55
you to eat your lunch and tell me
29:57
what you think.
29:58
And I gave him his food.
30:00
He sat on the stall and I came
30:01
back and I asked him, how are you
30:06
feeling?
30:06
And he was cheek to cheek with a
30:08
smile.
30:09
And he told me in that moment that
30:10
I helped him feel like a kid again,
30:12
that I recreated a childlike experience that he
30:15
once remembered.
30:16
And that's really what it's about also is
30:19
that inside of us, all of us, is
30:22
a beautiful, enlightened, kind, glorious little child.
30:27
That's your real self.
30:29
And we get conditioned at a very young
30:31
age through schooling, people's emotions, pressures of life,
30:36
money, whatever you want to call it, to
30:37
start to shift into a place of fear
30:40
and everything else.
30:41
And then you start to lose track of
30:42
who you are.
30:44
Well, where I went wrong in my life,
30:45
I had no connection to my inner child
30:47
and where I went right in my life
30:49
is when I connected with him.
30:51
So I am a seven-year-old Taylor
30:53
who creates Mr. Charlies.
30:56
I am seven in my mind, you know?
30:59
I love it.
31:00
And we all have to work on that
31:02
inner child, myself included.
31:04
I want to talk about the branding a
31:06
little bit because this is very interesting to
31:10
me.
31:10
And I love on your website, you say
31:14
we are sarcastic disruptors, community, love, change.
31:18
And this is one of your logos.
31:20
So what does it mean?
31:22
To me, it was sort of the opposite
31:24
of the Happy Meal, which obviously involves a
31:26
dead animal.
31:27
So to me, it's not a Happy Meal.
31:29
I invite McDonald's on anytime, but is that
31:32
a direct reference to the Happy Meal or
31:35
what is it?
31:37
I'll tell you exactly where it came from.
31:38
I was, when I left the Dream Centre,
31:41
I didn't have anywhere to go.
31:43
So my girlfriend, now my wife Amanda, at
31:45
the time gave me her couch.
31:47
So I lived on her couch for the
31:49
first couple months.
31:50
And I remember being, she went to work
31:53
every day and I stayed back, didn't have
31:55
a job or anything.
31:56
And I'd watch Netflix and eat Lucky Charms
31:58
at that time.
31:59
I was like, I needed a Lucky Charms
32:01
sponsor at that point, actually.
32:02
I was that good at it.
32:04
But I was so depressed because I couldn't
32:07
get out of my own head.
32:09
And then one day before my wife went
32:10
to work, she looked at me and she
32:12
said, Taylor, can I share something with you?
32:14
And I went, sure.
32:15
She said, it's okay to be sad sometimes.
32:18
Through your sadness is your complete happiness.
32:21
I was like, wow.
32:23
I never forgot that and I never will.
32:25
So what that logo represents that it's okay
32:27
to be sad sometimes.
32:29
And the Xs are, it's death to what
32:33
we once knew that overextends this planet.
32:37
That's not gonna allow it to be here
32:39
for our children's children.
32:41
So we're gonna do something about that.
32:43
We're already doing something about that because we
32:47
can.
32:48
And we've caught the eye of great people,
32:51
sponsors, Adam, Mike Tyson.
32:54
When you bring people like that into the
32:56
equation, people start to take you a little
32:58
bit more seriously.
33:01
And it's, thank you, LULAC.
33:04
So many great comments.
33:06
You guys are so nice.
33:07
Thank you.
33:09
Everybody's super excited about it.
33:11
And just when we saw that Mike Tyson
33:15
event, it was just, people are swarming.
33:18
What percentage of your clientele is vegan and
33:20
what percentage is just going in for a
33:22
fast food meal?
33:23
And then what do they discover?
33:25
Is there any kind of eye-opening aha
33:28
moment that you hope your customers have about
33:32
animals, about climate change, about nonviolence?
33:37
Because it looks just like, quick glance, it
33:43
looks like the fast food that many people
33:46
grew up on, but it's not because no
33:50
animals die.
33:55
It's a great question.
33:56
You know, for us, it's really about just
33:58
creating opportunities for people to do better.
34:02
Like we can't force anyone to do anything.
34:04
Well, nor do we want to.
34:06
Everyone's so individual.
34:07
We want to respect everybody with where they're
34:08
at.
34:09
But all we did was make plant options
34:12
more accessible in a unique, fun way that
34:14
felt nostalgic, that really made us laugh.
34:18
Like we enjoy it.
34:20
Like, you know, red and yellow are the
34:22
most dominant food colours to make you feel
34:24
more hungry.
34:25
Aaron and I love the circus.
34:27
We are clowns.
34:29
Like the brand makes me feel like the
34:31
circus.
34:32
Like it sparked my own curiosity, my own
34:35
need to make the world a better place,
34:38
you know?
34:39
And after everything I've been through to be
34:40
in a position to be able to help
34:41
people on this level, it just, it's inspiring.
34:44
So again, like we're nothing without the customers
34:47
that come in.
34:47
We're just an idea.
34:49
For years, people have poured in, supported, purchased,
34:53
loved, told their friends, you know?
34:56
And back to your question, I would say
34:58
20, 25% of our audience are actually
35:02
vegan.
35:03
Everybody else is curious, very curious.
35:07
So a couple of hard questions.
35:10
You know, Hard House recently reportedly shut down.
35:13
There was, it had opened with much fanfare
35:15
and also had a famous person behind it.
35:17
How do you hope to avoid that given
35:20
that the plant-based movement is under attack
35:23
right now?
35:24
It's widely reported that the meat industry has
35:27
launched a massive campaign against plant-based restaurants
35:30
and food and products.
35:33
Let Adam take that, if you would.
35:36
Yeah, I don't think it has to do
35:37
with the actual product being sold.
35:39
I think it was just mismanaged, to be
35:40
honest.
35:42
Don't wanna talk negatively about anybody, but I've
35:47
been in the restaurant space long enough understanding
35:49
running lean is the only way to go
35:52
when operating these businesses.
35:54
We've acquired dozens of fast food brands in
35:56
the past that went through a very similar
35:59
situation as the Hard House individuals, overspending and
36:06
just not being able to maintain their staying
36:08
power.
36:11
And again, just pair that with the quality
36:15
and craveability of the food.
36:18
I mean, I can tell you, I crave
36:19
Mr. Charlie's all the time.
36:20
My kids who, again, my kids were not
36:23
vegan.
36:23
I mean, when I brought them into Mr.
36:25
Charlie's, they fell in love at their first
36:27
sitting.
36:31
It's incredible to taste, incredible to experience.
36:34
And again, you feel the love as you
36:38
eat and enjoy your experience at any of
36:41
the Mr. Charlie's that you visit.
36:43
So it's just, it's different.
36:47
I don't put us on the same playing
36:51
field as anybody else.
36:53
It's one of a kind and I don't
36:54
think anybody else is doing what we're doing.
36:56
So, I don't- And so let me
36:58
ask a follow-up.
36:59
In terms of achieving economies of scale, what
37:02
I'm hearing is that as you open these
37:05
franchises and you're using the vegan companies, whether
37:08
it's Tindle or Impossible Burger to supply you,
37:13
you're able to reach the economies of scale
37:16
that some smaller vegan restaurants cannot because they're
37:21
obviously not franchised across the globe.
37:25
How many franchise restaurants do you foresee?
37:29
In other words, maybe, where do you see
37:31
yourself, let's say, in five years?
37:33
Globally, every country, all over the world.
37:37
And again, how we're able to scale is
37:39
through collaboration.
37:41
You think about it, like we'll use Tindle
37:42
as an example.
37:44
Like, Timo is an amazing CEO who has
37:47
supported us since the beginning.
37:50
We help them with marketing.
37:52
We are the perfect serve for that burger.
37:56
If you're an investor trying to invest into
37:58
Tindle or you're interested in working with Tindle
38:00
or you see them in a supermarket and
38:01
you wanna try it and you go to
38:02
Charlie's, you're gonna get a great experience.
38:05
We strive to be that for the brands.
38:07
We are here to bring these brands up
38:09
at the same time and we will only
38:11
work with somebody who values the same things
38:13
as we do and that's where we're at.
38:16
We pass on all of our savings, all
38:18
of our discounts at volume because it will
38:21
get easier directly to our franchise partners.
38:25
We don't mark up anything.
38:27
That's not what it's about.
38:28
It has to scale.
38:29
This model needs to be scaled.
38:32
So what we need at that point is
38:34
people that are like-minded, have some experience
38:38
and wanna do something with their life and
38:40
change it up a little bit.
38:42
And Charlie's is a fantastic opportunity that one,
38:44
is incredibly affordable to get involved in.
38:47
One, is very scalable but two, three, comes
38:49
with so much support that I don't believe
38:52
any franchise partnership has ever received before in
38:55
the world.
38:57
Like what we're giving, it's like we're holding
38:59
your hand.
39:00
We're with you, making sure that we deliver
39:02
on something that's really ethical and kind, that's
39:04
long lasting.
39:06
And again, we are only here doing as
39:08
good as we are because of great customers,
39:10
people supporting us but the brands that are
39:13
supplying us, they're giving us everything to make
39:15
it more affordable.
39:16
And that's what we've been doing.
39:19
So where do you see yourself in, let's
39:22
say five years in terms of the number
39:25
of franchise restaurants?
39:28
I'll say this and hold me to it.
39:31
You are looking at the biggest fast food,
39:35
plant-based company on planet earth in the
39:38
making.
39:39
That is not an entity, energy, frequency on
39:43
this planet that is going to stop us
39:45
from achieving that goal which is a Mr.
39:48
Charlie's in every major city in every country
39:50
in the world, doing good, changing the narrative,
39:54
creating options for people to get more involved
39:56
in plants and helping people start a plant
39:59
journey because it's just one thing.
40:00
You know, you look at Tyson 2.0,
40:03
they make great products that improve your quality
40:06
of life.
40:08
That's the real.
40:09
So for us, it's all rounded and it's
40:11
not just about where we're at right now.
40:13
It's about where we're gonna meet other people
40:15
in this space in the future and be
40:16
an ambassador.
40:18
You know, we spend a lot of time
40:19
coaching other plant-based restaurants.
40:21
Now you mentioned Hart House.
40:23
I'm very good friends with Andy Hooper, the
40:25
CEO of Hart House and back to Adam's
40:27
situation, it's nothing to do with the product.
40:29
It's just sometimes the market share isn't there
40:31
and sometimes you can grow too quick.
40:33
You know, we could have easily have opened
40:35
five, six, seven Mr. Charlie's stores in the
40:37
last two years, but we probably would have
40:40
closed them all within a year or two
40:41
because we wouldn't have been ready.
40:43
We decided to go completely backwards, going unorthodox
40:46
and learn how to really master this, learn
40:49
how to do it, go through the growing
40:50
pains, learn how to build, learn how to
40:53
grow.
40:53
And we've done that.
40:54
And then we were in a position of
40:56
expansion.
40:57
And then when it came up to talk
40:59
to Adam and Mike and everybody, it's a
41:01
no brainer.
41:02
Like I was just, I never forget the
41:03
conversation with our team when they told me,
41:07
hey, we've got someone who is interested in
41:10
coming in.
41:11
And I was like, oh, okay, who?
41:13
Mike Tyson.
41:13
And I was like, yeah, right.
41:16
Like Mike Tyson?
41:18
They're like, yeah, he loves it.
41:21
He wants to meet you.
41:22
And I'm like, holy shit, Mike Tyson.
41:24
Okay.
41:25
So then I remember going to meet Mike
41:26
for the first time and I was like,
41:28
scared shitless.
41:30
Like he's 50% terrifying and 50%
41:32
beautiful, but when you meet him, he's all
41:34
beautiful.
41:34
He's just, I love him.
41:35
I just want to eat him up, put
41:36
him in my pocket.
41:38
Like he's uncle Mike these days.
41:40
A man who's never given up on himself.
41:43
A man who's constantly pushed forward.
41:45
A great husband, an incredible father.
41:49
Like, oh my God.
41:50
But a great friend, good human being.
41:53
Like I love him.
41:56
I'm so grateful for him.
41:57
So grateful for Adam.
41:59
I want to jump in and ask, I
42:02
think you raised a very good point because
42:04
I think overexpansion is a danger.
42:09
And I've seen it actually, I'm no business
42:11
expert, but I've seen what I consider to
42:13
be overexpansion and saying, why are they opening
42:17
another one?
42:19
Just in general, I'm not talking about any
42:21
specific restaurant.
42:23
How do you find that balance, Adam?
42:28
You know, how do you decide, well, I'm
42:32
working too slow or I'm working too fast?
42:35
Because you're talking about world domination.
42:37
So that requires expansion.
42:39
How are you going to mitigate the dangers
42:42
of expanding too fast?
42:44
How do you do it?
42:45
Yeah, with our experience, it's all about doing
42:47
your due diligence, spending the proper time and
42:49
reevaluating each market as you launch, ensuring you're
42:53
not overlapping.
42:54
Again, ensuring what competition is around, what the
42:57
demographic is in each area and ensuring that
43:00
again, you're not cannibalising your own business, right?
43:03
Not opening too close to any of your
43:05
existing locations.
43:06
There's benefits to opening to near other vegan
43:10
concepts as we create a one of a
43:15
kind product.
43:16
But again, there's a whole process of due
43:19
diligence that we run through before selecting new
43:22
regions, territories, cities, and so on.
43:25
I like that because I've noticed just in
43:28
the LA area where I live, a lot
43:29
of times vegan restaurants seem to be in
43:31
a cluster.
43:32
I'm like, wait a second.
43:33
You know, there's not that many over here.
43:35
Put them over here, not just all in
43:37
this area.
43:38
So I think it's very wise that you
43:40
do that.
43:41
We've got a whole bunch of questions from
43:42
people who are watching.
43:44
Can't wait for you to come over to
43:45
the UK.
43:46
Are you there?
43:47
Oh, it's great, bring it on.
43:50
I had a great conversation with somebody huge
43:55
in the UK recently who sparked a lot
43:57
of interest.
43:58
I've gotta take it.
43:59
I was born there, it's the motherland.
44:01
I'm taking it home for sure.
44:03
That's happening, I can't wait.
44:04
I need, all my family are there, so
44:06
it actually gets me more time with my
44:07
family as well who I miss dearly.
44:09
So it's been a journey, you know?
44:11
But yes, UK, definitely, for sure.
44:17
There was another comment here, somebody asking, are
44:20
you going to adjust your menu depending on
44:24
what country you're in?
44:25
For example, if you were in India, would
44:27
you adjust your menu?
44:28
Now, I noticed that, well, maybe I'm wrong,
44:31
but the big fast food companies seem to
44:33
just export the, you know, what I would
44:37
call the bad fast food across the world,
44:41
but- It's a great question.
44:43
It's very, very important.
44:45
Like one of my favourite things that I've
44:47
been able to do and been so blessed
44:49
to have done over the last few years
44:50
is travel the world a little bit.
44:52
You know, this brand, Stephanie, helped us kind
44:54
of go some places, but I've travelled a
44:56
lot.
44:56
And one of my favourite things is really
44:57
appreciating different cultures.
44:59
Like it's what makes the world so great.
45:01
Like we're all so individual, but so when
45:04
we go to different countries, you know, we'll
45:06
use India as an example.
45:08
I'm going to team up with the best
45:09
Indian vegan restaurants and the best vegan chefs
45:12
to come in and do limited runs and
45:14
core things and adjust flavour profiles and just
45:17
keep it really exciting.
45:18
Like that's, I'm a chef.
45:19
I'm not a one trick pony.
45:21
I can do anything.
45:22
And I'm, cause I love it.
45:23
You know, I've been doing it my whole
45:24
life.
45:25
So it will vary from different places.
45:28
You know, some terminology may change as well
45:30
as menu items, but as a base, we're
45:33
pretty much there.
45:34
We want people to experience what we've done
45:36
in LA everywhere, you know, and that's the
45:40
goal.
45:40
Now we hear you're coming to Brentwood.
45:43
Yeah.
45:43
Yeah.
45:44
Woo baby.
45:47
We found the most amazing store that has
45:51
been vacant for years.
45:53
And the amount of people that are businesses
45:56
that have tried to rent this particular store
45:58
have all come up short.
46:01
And the reason why is because the owners
46:04
of the building have owned it forever.
46:07
It was their previous business and one of
46:09
them passed on.
46:10
And when I went to meet them to
46:12
talk about it, the first question I asked
46:14
was, why did you do this?
46:15
Why did you build this?
46:16
And I got to hear the whole life
46:18
story of the brand.
46:19
And that's how I can connect with people.
46:22
You know, I want to take the legacy
46:23
of that feeling because it's really all about
46:26
feelings.
46:26
You know, it's like, even when I'm manifesting
46:29
these days, I'm not really manifesting a particular
46:32
outcome.
46:33
If you think about it, like it's your
46:34
best feeling in everything you're doing, that's what
46:37
you want.
46:37
You want to feel your best self in
46:38
everything you're doing.
46:39
So in that moment, I wanted to feel
46:42
like that would be our store.
46:44
And the only way I could do that
46:45
was by showing the owners how beautiful this
46:49
brand is and how authentic we are.
46:52
And because of that, she fell in love
46:54
with us.
46:55
And she's like 96 years old.
46:57
She's a little girl.
46:59
And you know, she's like three foot, like
47:01
tiny.
47:01
And I remember the first time I ever
47:02
met her, like she was struggling looking up
47:04
at me in the meet and I sat
47:05
on the dusty floor so she could look
47:07
down, like little things, showing the respect.
47:11
So when that store came up and we
47:13
got the approval to go in, oh man,
47:16
I was so excited.
47:17
And it's a great store.
47:18
It's the first store that we've ever opened
47:20
that actually has some internal seating with a
47:22
bathroom, which is nice.
47:25
More event space.
47:26
And you know, it's just, it's really exciting
47:28
for us.
47:29
And again, like, you know, you think about
47:31
what we've gone through in LA with the
47:33
fires and everything recently.
47:36
You know, we almost lost that store.
47:38
And then it was, it was the brave
47:41
work of the firefighters putting out the fire
47:43
on the hill that stopped it from leaning
47:44
into Brentwood.
47:45
So we're so grateful for everybody.
47:47
Let me jump in with a question.
47:49
And that is how many Mr. Charlies do
47:53
you have now?
47:54
How many are, I don't even really know
47:56
how many are in the Southern California or
47:58
Los Angeles area.
48:00
Do you have any in New York?
48:02
Funny you should say that.
48:04
We're working on something in the Big Apple
48:06
right now.
48:07
I'm gonna take a big bite of that
48:09
with some really special people.
48:11
When we announced that, I think it's gonna
48:14
shock the world a little bit.
48:16
So I'm excited for that.
48:17
We have one in Hollywood.
48:20
We did a pop-up in Venice for
48:22
six months just to test that area, which
48:24
is why we ended up taking a store
48:25
in Brentwood, which is technically Santa Monica.
48:28
We have a store at Union Square in
48:31
San Francisco, right in the centre.
48:34
And then we also just opened one in
48:36
Australia.
48:36
So Brentwood will be our third California store
48:40
with many more coming.
48:42
So we're in good conversations right now with
48:44
many people.
48:45
Now, is this a turnkey operation?
48:47
Like when, let's say somebody decides to become
48:49
a franchise owner, do you design everything?
48:53
Do you keep it?
48:54
Because apparently one of the reasons why the
48:58
mainstream meat and dairy fast food restaurants have
49:03
had so much success in their franchises is
49:07
that they keep to a very strict formula.
49:10
People cannot sort of personalise it that much.
49:14
Well, we want personality in the mix.
49:16
We're gonna definitely be a little bit cautious
49:18
about who's coming in.
49:19
Well, we have been.
49:21
So we want you to feel like you
49:23
can add a little bit of your personality
49:25
in.
49:26
But the question you have to ask yourself
49:27
is why are you getting involved in it?
49:29
Why are you buying?
49:29
Why are you buying into Mr. Charlie's?
49:31
If you're buying into it because you love
49:32
it.
49:32
So therefore we have created a system that's
49:34
so scalable, that's so easy to maintain.
49:37
Again, like our team, we've had the same
49:40
team at core since the day we've opened.
49:45
Think about that.
49:46
Since day one, most of them haven't left,
49:48
they've stayed.
49:49
And they've now been trained into regional managers.
49:53
So an example, like when we opened Australia,
49:57
we flew out our store GM from LA
50:01
to Australia to open that store so the
50:03
consistency was there.
50:05
So it's very much a hand-holding process
50:07
with great internals of how to deliver.
50:09
But it's so organised that we take kind
50:13
of the hard part out of it for
50:15
you.
50:16
We've created that consistency.
50:18
And then that gives you an opportunity to
50:20
be completely 100% yourself in making it
50:23
work and sharing the message.
50:24
Which also a lot of what it is,
50:26
it's getting people excited about it.
50:28
That's what I do on the daily, get
50:30
people motivated and in love with the brand
50:32
by understanding it.
50:33
Like most people don't know that we employ
50:34
homeless people.
50:35
Most people don't know that, I was homeless
50:37
11 years ago, they don't know.
50:39
We've talked about it a little bit, but
50:40
it's not about any one individual or certainly
50:42
not me.
50:43
I'm just an example.
50:44
I think it's a great story and I'd
50:46
love to see it as a New York
50:48
Times piece profiling you.
50:52
It's a good story.
50:54
And I'm excited to be able to cover
50:56
it because it's not your regular business story.
51:00
It's a unique story.
51:01
And so many aspects of this is unique.
51:05
Do you see what you've created here as
51:09
a template for let's say capitalism 2.3,
51:14
4.0?
51:15
100%, it's just an example of how to
51:17
do better.
51:17
We've already gone into multiple plant-based businesses,
51:23
businesses that you've all eaten at and I've
51:25
gone in and I've helped them already.
51:27
I've already given support and love.
51:30
I want everyone to come up.
51:32
It's not about Mr. Charlie's at all, it's
51:33
about everybody doing better, winning together.
51:36
We're all gonna win together.
51:38
It's way more cool if we can get
51:39
to the top of change and then go,
51:41
oh, look what we did together, guys, and
51:42
actually share it instead of just this solo
51:45
battle of, you know, it doesn't work, so.
51:49
Well, I have to say, we've only got
51:51
a minute or so.
51:52
This has been such a fascinating conversation and
51:55
I do feel it's an evolved business approach.
51:59
So final 30 seconds, Adam, what would you
52:02
like to say and how can people get
52:03
in touch if they wanna have a franchise,
52:06
a Mr. Charlie's franchise?
52:08
Absolutely, check us out online, go to our
52:10
website, send in your request and we'll happy
52:14
to lead you to success.
52:16
As Taylor stated, it is a turnkey operation.
52:19
We come out, we train you, set your
52:21
store up with you, again, and lead you
52:23
to success to ensure everything goes smoothly.
52:27
Providing you with all your SOPs, menu items,
52:29
everything you need, again, for a turnkey operation
52:32
and excited to continue to grow the brand
52:34
together.
52:36
And last 30 seconds, Taylor.
52:39
Just gratitude for everybody that's put their hand
52:41
on this brand in any way.
52:42
And then, you know, if I've got 20
52:44
seconds of that left, I'm gonna say to
52:46
everybody that's watching this that's having a hard
52:47
time, I know that's had a hard time,
52:49
keep going.
52:51
Keep going.
52:52
Yeah, that's it.
52:53
I love it.
52:54
I love your enthusiasm and I really love
52:58
this model of making money.
53:01
It doesn't have to be a zero-sum
53:03
game.
53:04
It can be a win-win for everybody.
53:06
And to that end, I would also love
53:09
to encourage everybody watching to download Unchained TV.
53:12
We are the world's only vegan streaming television
53:17
network and you can download it on your
53:20
phone, any phone, just go to the app
53:22
store, and any TV with streaming devices.
53:24
And we're also on all Samsung TVs, soon
53:27
to be on all LG TVs.
53:29
So it's a vegan Netflix.
53:31
Okay, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
53:33
I love Unchained TV.
53:34
Unchained, Unchained TV.
53:36
Your life will change, it's just that easy.
53:38
Unchained TV has all sorts of content for
53:41
everybody.
53:42
Unchained TV changed my life.
53:44
Unchained TV is crushing it.
53:47
I love Unchained TV.
53:49
Unchained TV is my go-to.
53:51
Unchained TV.
53:52
Who knew?
53:53
Unchained, baby, yay!
53:57
This episode was brought to you by Unchained
54:00
TV.
54:00
Unchained TV is a nonprofit organisation producing plant
54:04
-based content filled with tips and tricks to
54:07
spice up those healthy veggies, grains, and legumes.
54:10
For more information on Unchained TV productions, just
54:14
visit unchainedtv.com.
54:17
That's unchainedtv.com.