Latest / The Keri Croft Show / Jane Grote: The Donatos Empire, Building a Legacy & Leading with Love

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Jane Grote: The Donatos Empire, Building a Legacy & Leading with Love · The Keri Croft Show

• 0:00
  Keri Croft: Donato's has officially entered game day mode.
• 0:02
  Keri Croft: They just launched the brand new loaded nacho pizza, which is basically exactly what it sounds like.
• 0:07
  Keri Croft: Nachos and Pizza had a baby.
• 0:09
  Keri Croft: You've got Donato's signature crust loaded with seasoned chicken, cheddar and provolone, black beans and corn, tomatoes, jalapenos, and mariachi seasoning.
• 0:19
  Keri Croft: And then it comes with crispy nachos and cool sour cream on the side.
• 0:22
  Keri Croft: So if you've got people coming over for the big game and you just want something a little more fun than your normal pizza order, this is it.
• 0:29
  Keri Croft: And don't forget the$5 pizza pals.
• 0:31
  Keri Croft: They're such an easy way to throw a couple more pizzas into the mix without spending a fortune, especially when you're feeding a big crowd.
• 0:38
  Keri Croft: More flavor, more food, more reasons for everybody to come over and cheer on their favorite team.
• 0:44
  Keri Croft: Donatos, gotta love more.
• 0:46
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• 0:49
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• 0:55
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• 0:56
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• 0:59
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• 1:06
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• 1:11
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• 1:12
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• 1:14
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• 1:19
  Keri Croft: Mention the Carrie Croft Show and get$100 off your first time visit.
• 1:24
  Keri Croft: Hey there, you beautiful badass.
• 1:26
  Keri Croft: Badad.
• 1:29
  Keri Croft: Welcome to the Carrie Croft Show.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jane Grody.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Carrie Croft Show.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited to be here.
• 1:37
  Keri Croft: I'm excited.
• 1:38
  Keri Croft: I mean, kindred spirits, the vibes are 10.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: 10 for me too.
• 1:42
  Keri Croft: Because I feel like I've heard so much about you, you know, and then I kind of, you know how somebody swirls your orbit.
• 1:48
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 1:48
  Keri Croft: And we just had never had a chance to lock eyes.
• 1:51
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 1:51
  Keri Croft: And then when we finally did on FaceTime, I was like, okay, she coo.
• 1:55
  Keri Croft: And I can't wait for her to come to the IRL and be a baddie.
• 1:58
  Keri Croft: And then when you came to the IRL, I kept seeing you.
• 2:01
  Keri Croft: You were a vision in the light blue suit.
• 2:03
  Keri Croft: Just like with a lot of people that night, it's like I can't really like zone in and have the kind of deep conversation that I wanted to have with you.
• 2:10
  Keri Croft: So this is just great timing.
• 2:11
  Keri Croft: It is great timing.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad it happened after the IRL.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: That was amazing.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want to get your thoughts on it.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think just to walk in a room with so many women that are really doing great things in all of their lives at all different ages, but just this support of women.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it felt like, right?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like lifting each other up rather than being in a room where maybe you're elbowing or feeling like you need to be out in front.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody and the energy was contagious and you were spectacular and you looked spectacular, but just to hold that space for people to come and feel safe and uh celebrated, which is exactly what you did.
• 2:47
  Keri Croft: I mean, I was just so I was like, obviously it was like system overload, but I just love that people are getting that feeling from what it is.
• 2:54
  Keri Croft: Columbus, Ohio, to me, I love that it's a humble Midwest town.
• 2:58
  Keri Croft: I love the the roots of Columbus so much.
• 3:02
  Keri Croft: And I think, you know, the people here, like look at the Donados culture.
• 3:05
  Keri Croft: I mean, that's that is like Midwest roots at its core, like caring about people and love.
• 3:11
  Keri Croft: And it's about so much more than just making a buck, but there's so many entrepreneurs here, and not just female, you know, but but so many that I've interviewed and got the pleasure of knowing.
• 3:22
  Keri Croft: And I just feel like we should have a little more shine on the city.
• 3:25
  Keri Croft: Like we the there's brilliance here.
• 3:27
  Keri Croft: Brilliance.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I agree, especially in women.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Women leadership.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: What I've learned over my career is how many women say yes.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So asking someone to lunch or have coffee or just a mentor throughout my life.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've had so many women say, Absolutely.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'll meet with you.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:46
  Keri Croft: Which has been great, which is awesome.
• 3:48
  Keri Croft: So, you know, growing up in this wild company that is Donato's, you know, you've always had, like, it was like Jane Donato's, synonymous with Donato's.
• 3:57
  Keri Croft: And having a brother, too, or multiple siblings, four, right?
• 4:02
  Keri Croft: Four of you?
• 4:02
  Keri Croft: Just four of us.
• 4:03
  Keri Croft: And what it was like growing up, it was like he was gonna be the one probably to kind of like take the reins.
• 4:08
  Keri Croft: And like, did you always have a little voice inside of you where you're like, hell no, like I I'm gonna add my value here?
• 4:14
  Keri Croft: Like, when did that kind of like switch on for you?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a great question.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I would say, when I was a little girl, I really just wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and be a really good mom.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: For me, and I would say, and we grew up in the stores, grew up behind the first restaurant, grew up in the restaurants, most operations my entire life until I became a single mom.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then I my choice was I was gonna be working.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I worked all through college.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: I worked after college, et cetera.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I think for me, my older brother was always my biggest fan.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: He always was my biggest fan, and he was always like, you know, you can do this.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say he always had a dream of going off and doing something different, which he did.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so he I was probably his right hand person as we were in the company.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't until McDonald's bought us and my whole family left.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So my mom and my brothers and my sister all chose to go fulfill their own dreams.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: That I think the CEO that had come on board had said to my dad, I don't think you see the leadership in your daughter.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's really there.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like she could run this company.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you just need that little push from someone outside of your circle that says, Gosh, you could do this.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when obviously then we bought the company back, and my dad and I bought it back.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And right.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was, it was probably, you know, having a cheerleader alongside of you all this time.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I knew obviously I was gonna have to work, but I also fell in love with our people when I wanted to.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So was I thought was not a choice at first became a choice because it's what I love and I I we we have the best people in the entire industry.
• 5:38
  Keri Croft: Oh, I don't doubt it.
• 5:39
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 5:39
  Keri Croft: So back to your brother.
• 5:40
  Keri Croft: What's your older brother's name?
• 5:41
  Keri Croft: Tom.
• 5:42
  Keri Croft: Tom.
• 5:42
  Keri Croft: Is he the one that lives in the ranch in Colorado?
• 5:44
  Keri Croft: No, that's my younger brother.
• 5:45
  Keri Croft: What's his name?
• 5:45
  Keri Croft: His name's Kyle.
• 5:46
  Keri Croft: Kyle.
• 5:47
  Keri Croft: So I heard you say that, and I was like, oh, he's got it figured out.
• 5:49
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 5:49
  Keri Croft: Are you kidding me?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: He has a ranch in sh in Colorado.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: He has a working farm ranch.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So he has about 400 yak on his ranch.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Seriously?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And he has well, he grows organic vegetables.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: He has the largest artesian water supply in Colorado.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so you'd say it was easy.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: He works from sunup to sundown.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I bet it's not easy.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he loves it.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now he also grows marijuana and um does lots of stuff.
• 6:14
  Keri Croft: Kyle, if you're out there listening, I like you more and more.
• 6:16
  Keri Croft: My daughter's name's Kyle.
• 6:18
  Keri Croft: Really?
• 6:18
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 6:19
  Keri Croft: That's a great name.
• 6:19
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 6:20
  Keri Croft: It is a great name.
• 6:20
  Keri Croft: So going back to you being a single mom, you married your high school sweetheart.
• 6:24
  Keri Croft: Shit didn't pan out.
• 6:25
  Keri Croft: It doesn't a lot of times, over 50% of the time, as a matter of fact.
• 6:28
  Keri Croft: And climbing.
• 6:29
  Keri Croft: And my my entire story is.
• 6:32
  Keri Croft: Did your husband, the ex the first ex, when you say single mom, was he a part of your son's life, or did he just go rogue?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: He had other interests.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: He he had other interests.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I would say he tried.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:45
  Keri Croft: But you was just viewable, but yeah, it was yes.
• 6:47
  Keri Croft: I am because you know, getting a divorce is one thing and having the help of the other person, it's still a grind.
• 6:53
  Keri Croft: But when you are like a single mom on your own with no help, that is just like a whole nother level.
• 6:59
  Keri Croft: And then trying to like find yourself at that point in in a career, you know, like establishing a power position in a career too at the same time.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I was young.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was only 22.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but fortunately I had it was a family business.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Dude.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And but it's restaurants.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and I don't want to miss talking about my sister who's my best friend, but you know, she I was in our training department, so I would drop my son off at her house, and I would go work nights and clothes and train our managers, and then come to her house at one in the morning and pick my son up.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And she was is still such a big part of my life.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: She's really truly that person that's always just been there.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um, she just most recently bought our franchise in Naples, Florida, which is but what's your sister's name?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Katie.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Katie.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then she's younger than you.
• 7:44
  Keri Croft: She's 15 months younger than me.
• 7:46
  Keri Croft: Is she tall like you?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: She's five.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll say five seven.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do you guys look alike?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, she looks a lot like my mom.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: I tend to look a little bit more like my dad, the face structure.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And attitude, probably.
• 8:00
  Keri Croft: That is that has served you well.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: It has.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: In this business, I think it has.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and I say attitude, but I just mean perseverance and resilience and just looking at a challenge as an opportunity.
• 8:10
  Keri Croft: How did your so your dad and mom, you know, every just simple people doing what they love, have no idea other than your dad's sort of vision, right?
• 8:18
  Keri Croft: Which is how everything starts.
• 8:20
  Keri Croft: But then you start have success.
• 8:22
  Keri Croft: One turns to 10, turns to a hundred, you know, next thing you know, you have this sort of pizza empire.
• 8:26
  Keri Croft: And with that comes money, power, all the things.
• 8:30
  Keri Croft: How is your dad able to love you all equally?
• 8:34
  Keri Croft: But then when it came to like where you were contributing in the business, like I'm sure that that's where things get messy, right?
• 8:40
  Keri Croft: So it's like, okay, you're contributing X to the business.
• 8:43
  Keri Croft: Like, how do you, how do you disperse the like the equity or whatever in the company or how you with kids that you love equally?
• 8:51
  Keri Croft: How do they balance that?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So my mom and dad were both in the business for a long time.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say, we got no favors.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're not trust fund kids.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: There was no, we were owners on paper.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, when I was young, all that meant to me was I was paying a lot in taxes, more than I made in a salary.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think for him, it was find your passion.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And my passion was people.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so there came an opportunity for me to interview for the um human resource job, which is what it was called.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it was called personnel.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's how old I am.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Was called the personnel director.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I interviewed with my mom and dad for that.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And mostly because one, I love our people, but also after I graduated from the Ohio State University in organizational design and communications, I knew that the people side of the business was where I wanted to be.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but I had to interview for it, and it was helpful for me because it wasn't necessarily working in the restaurants, closing the restaurants anymore as a single mom.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: It could, you know, I could find child care, et cetera.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: My brother's passion was always, you know, I would say strategy growth.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: How are we going to build the business?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: My mom was doing our real estate and oversaw our people department.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: My sister was in marketing.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very natural catering, building the business through relationships.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then my younger brother was in our marketing department, but it was more allowing us to figure out what our passion was.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if a position became available, then that was something that we could talk about or interview with.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, honestly, it was being in operations.
• 10:11
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 10:11
  Keri Croft: And I think it would surprise people to hear when you say we we're not trust fund kids.
• 10:16
  Keri Croft: That's like an interesting thing.
• 10:18
  Keri Croft: I want to unpack that.
• 10:19
  Keri Croft: Okay.
• 10:19
  Keri Croft: Because you know, I'm sure you know that.
• 10:21
  Keri Croft: I mean, hello, you know this more than anyone.
• 10:23
  Keri Croft: You're looked upon, you know, it's like, oh, Jane, Denada.
• 10:26
  Keri Croft: I mean, you've dealt with that your whole life, the optics of what that looks like.
• 10:29
  Keri Croft: And as we all know, yes, of course, it's part of it's true.
• 10:32
  Keri Croft: And there's other parts that like aren't what people probably glamorize in their heads.
• 10:36
  Keri Croft: So, like, when did your dad finally say, Okay, guys, here's some cash, here's some money?
• 10:42
  Keri Croft: Like, was it the McDonald's sale where he's like, you're all gonna get X amount of dollars and see what, like, so he could watch and kind of see what you guys would do with it?
• 10:50
  Keri Croft: Was that kind of a thing for him?
• 10:52
  Keri Croft: Or was it like, hey, here's here's some money, go have at it?
• 10:54
  Keri Croft: Like, how was your dad with money being the first generation business owner?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Always reinvested in the business.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like we had this big cash flow, it was always reinvesting in the business.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's you know, we also have another business to grow to manufacturing company, and now he has agape out of my automation, but it's all about making our pizza the same every single time and consistency.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Which you do, God bless it.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's a no, it's a it's actually amazing.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Consistency isn't a very glamorous word, but it's really important.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's how you build trust with your customers, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: But he always reinvested if we need this.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: That was a lesson I had, if we needed new ovens, and that's what we bought.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, I'll backtrack.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: That was his lesson early on.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So when he first went into business, and you know the story, it was he worked with men and women, but the older mentors at the time were like, Whatever you do, don't show all your cash in this business.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do, you have to pay taxes.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so at first, dad would like put the put the money in a cigar box, right?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And like not do it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then he needed a new oven.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, and they're like, Well, you can't buy a new oven with it, because then you're showing your taxes, you're showing your sales.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so dad grew up, he grew up Catholic.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's just like, wait, give the Caesars what is Caesars.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's like, I'm not gonna operate a business like that.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make sure that we do it based on the principles that he had grown up with.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so very early on, and that's what we did throughout we still do.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So all the money we have is reinvested in the business.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the same with my kids that you know they joke about it all the time because they do not have trust funds.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's all ownership in the company, but for them, the salary that they earn is what they make.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And two of my three kids are in the business.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: But that's that was just always his belief and philosophy.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then our oh, funny story.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, our first time I ever remember receiving any amount of money other than my salary, and I made$20,000 a year out of college.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Out of that was in 1997.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you remember, but Pizza Hut decided to copy our pizza, and we ended up taking them to court.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it was 1997.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they had a whole project called The Edge.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's called Project Woody for Woody Hayes for Columbus, Ohio, and they studied our pizza.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And gosh, this is a forgotten story.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I had just had my daughter, and we were having all kinds of phone calls about it, and they were getting ready to roll it out nationwide, and it was called The Edge.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a trademark, Edge to Edge.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so we ended up taking them to court.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was a whole David and Goliath story.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of that, we won.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what we won with, I think it was five million dollars, right?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: It went back in the day.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Dad bought all of our franchise partners, or our company did bought all of our franchise partners new proofers, uh, new delivery bags, everything to make sure their business was better.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: But we did, I think I got like$5,000 and I was so excited because I was gonna buy a new TV.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like that was the first time.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Couldn't have been, but maybe 20, 30.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then shortly after that, McDonald's approached us.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And because we were all owners on paper, then everybody got their early inheritance.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which you're like cha-ching.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: I well, for me, I put it all back in the business.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:46
  Keri Croft: But still, I mean that's amazing.
• 13:48
  Keri Croft: So you guys, you guys never disclose the amount that you like the sale amount is a secret.
• 13:53
  Keri Croft: But I've done my own little thinking around this, my own little like, okay, what do I think?
• 13:57
  Keri Croft: I'm gonna tell you what I think.
• 13:58
  Keri Croft: First of all, you you sold it high, you bought it back low, which is like, okay, this is a good deal for you guys.
• 14:03
  Keri Croft: Even though you were losing like seven and a half million when you bought it back, you got that shit back up to 10.
• 14:09
  Keri Croft: So this is like a great deal for your family, like when it's all said and done.
• 14:12
  Keri Croft: So I'm thinking that you guys made like 50 million.
• 14:15
  Keri Croft: I like it.
• 14:16
  Keri Croft: I think you sold it for like around a hundred and you bought you bought it back for 50.
• 14:19
  Keri Croft: That was in the that I think that was, but no, wrong.
• 14:22
  Keri Croft: We less.
• 14:22
  Keri Croft: Okay.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Less.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: The pennies.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: More pennies than I had at the time.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I find my dad.
• 14:28
  Keri Croft: So you guys are actually at the end of the day, you're high-fiving because you got everything you want.
• 14:32
  Keri Croft: Like you literally sold to the beast, they fucked it up.
• 14:35
  Keri Croft: Okay, I know they're great people and everything else.
• 14:37
  Keri Croft: Like they they did too much.
• 14:39
  Keri Croft: You get to get it for pennies on the dollar.
• 14:41
  Keri Croft: So you get really everything.
• 14:42
  Keri Croft: I mean, I know it's probably really tumultuous, and there was a lot of stuff in the wake of it.
• 14:47
  Keri Croft: Yes.
• 14:47
  Keri Croft: But when you look at it now, do you it was a win?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I always say it should be a Harvard business case, right?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like you would have thought it was a strategy that we had.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: It certainly wasn't a strategy, but it was definitely a a sell high, buy low.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, what was great about that is it allowed my brothers and sisters, uh say in a family business, you have this umbilical cord.
• 15:07
  Keri Croft: Right.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: But it it allowed them to go do what they wanted to do financially and emotionally.
• 15:12
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, it was put it all back into the company and buy it back because that's so that's what dad and I did.
• 15:18
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 15:18
  Keri Croft: So you've really, you're the lone, the lone soldier, still like in the bit, like it's but I feel like just talking to you the other night and hearing what you were saying at the IRL that so much of your identity has been wrapped up in this business, which I mean, you wouldn't trade it for the world.
• 15:33
  Keri Croft: But looking forward, right?
• 15:34
  Keri Croft: You're like in the prime, like you're in the nectar right now of your life.
• 15:38
  Keri Croft: Flammy, you've come into your own, you just had a milestone birthday.
• 15:41
  Keri Croft: Like, what's it look like down, you know, what's it look like for you?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm single.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't expect that part.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I am so grateful.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I have healthy kids, they're all three very unique individuals, but also very faith-based.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're all married to incredible people.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Two of my three are in the business.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: They, the between the two of them, they have the seven grandchildren.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: My youngest, one of the things I did different is tell each of my kids, go work somewhere else.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I learned this in YPO.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Get your own identity, make sure you know who you are as a person.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to come back to Donato's, then you'll start in operations and and work through it.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so they did.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: My son owned and operated uh five SNAP fitness gyms for 12 years, which was a great experience for him to own a business, know what it felt like to be a franchisee.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then my daughter worked for Cameron Mitchell restaurants in their people department, which they were great.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And she learned a lot, and now she's in our people department.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And my youngest, who's not in the business, is a clinical behavior therapist.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: I always say she chose that because we need a lot of therapy, but right.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: But she's actually a school-based counselor at North and High School and just is does an amazing job.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And her husband's at Ohio State and gonna be a dentist.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So very, very different, but we've been very strategic about it, and just and I did learn that through IPO.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, make sure for my dad, he did, you know, we could go work somewhere else, or we could be in the business.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we all chose to be in the business.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this was much more intentional.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you need to go work somewhere else before you come back in the business.
• 17:05
  Keri Croft: Very, I mean, very good, very sage advice.
• 17:08
  Keri Croft: Let's talk about the divorce a little bit.
• 17:09
  Keri Croft: Well, let's talk about the which one was so this could be a really dumb question.
• 17:13
  Keri Croft: Which one was harder?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're all hard, mostly because I'm uh when I was a little girl, it's not this isn't the story I was writing or journaling about.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So they're all hard.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're just hard differently because they were for different reasons.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, most recently we worked together, and it's funny because my mom and dad ended up getting a divorce when they were working together, and I was like, I am never doing that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not gonna work with someone and ended up being we did, and we were married for 11 years, and he's a great guy.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: But after he retired, I think, you know, and there isn't this talking about pizza every night and every day we'd go to work together, and every day we, you know, would go home together.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think, and he's and he has a passion for music and doing other things, so so they're all hard differently.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:58
  Keri Croft: So you think that's what like maybe your common thread was the business?
• 18:01
  Keri Croft: Because that is like a glamorous, like, and then he was a CEO, so you like fall in love, and then when that's gone, you're forced to like figure out how you connect otherwise.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right?
• 18:12
  Keri Croft: Yeah, probably.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's like people when they have kids and then become empty nesters.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Same exact thing.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh wait, what are we talking about now?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're not you know what I mean?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he and I didn't have kids together, but we had the business together, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: So he had come on board actually when we sold.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: He was with Wendy's, he came on board, and so we worked together during that time.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when we were buying the company back, actually, all of the leadership that had come on board from McDonald's, everybody was leaving and going and looking for jobs.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, after I decided to buy it back with dad, Tom had gone and interviewed with KFC, he got the job, and he was gonna go work somewhere else.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so unfortunately, when he got there the first day, they they were like, sorry, we just let go of the CMO.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I know she hired you, but you're not gonna be here anymore.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: He was our marketing person, and so he's like, Uh, can I come back?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yes, I don't know what it's gonna look like because we we had not presented to McDonald's yet.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't know what our organizational chart's gonna look like, but yes.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so then he came back and I was our president and CEO at the time, and my dad was just trying to unravel all of the contracts that we were in with McDonald's, and Tom was stone marketing, and he went to work on just redefining our brand.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was just overseeing, you know, franchise and development, and he reported to me at the time.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so it wasn't until years later, honestly, he started a band and my dad and I started to go watch.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, that was it.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: You were hook, line, and sinker, yeah, something like that.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: The band did it, something with the guitar.
• 19:35
  Keri Croft: I was gonna say, oh god, forget it.
• 19:37
  Keri Croft: Hook, line, and sinker with the guitar.
• 19:38
  Keri Croft: Yeah, especially if you're halfway decent.
• 19:41
  Keri Croft: So being more mature and wise, did you hand do you feel like you were able to handle it better, saying, Okay, I've got this really full life, these grandkids, my kids, you know, like kind of parting ways felt maybe a little less, you know, than it would maybe when you were 30 or 25.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and also I have my own identity.
• 20:01
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Financially, I'm very financially secure, emotionally secure.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, and my kids are just really great and in the business.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: My parents are still alive, they're healthy.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: My brothers and sisters have a great family unit.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: I have an incredible circle of friends.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is amazing.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: I still have friends from high school.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I work out with one of my best friends every morning from high school.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we're talking 45 years of friendship, right?
• 20:24
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: To new friends like Tany Crane, who I did read with and Julie Chris, like this incredible circle of women friends that that make it different than when you're still trying to gosh, I have to hold this all financially and emotionally, right?
• 20:38
  Keri Croft: Now, Tani Crane, that's another name that swirls in my orbit too.
• 20:41
  Keri Croft: I haven't met her yet.
• 20:41
  Keri Croft: You have to know.
• 20:42
  Keri Croft: No, I that's what people keep telling me.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: She's it's funny, she's like half my height.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: We always say we're we're connected at the hip, but it's really she says like yeah, shoulder in the hip, probably.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, she's fierce.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's a fierce, she's tenacious.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: She just retired.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: She's executive chair of her family business, also.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think we really connected in one in YPO, but then secondly, through Reeb and just having the servant heart and leadership and doing something different.
• 21:09
  Keri Croft: Being two badass bees out there in the streets of Columbus.
• 21:13
  Keri Croft: I mean, you want to tell me twice.
• 21:15
  Keri Croft: I know where I'm hanging out.
• 21:17
  Keri Croft: You need to spend some time with her.
• 21:18
  Keri Croft: Oh my god, I would love it.
• 21:20
  Keri Croft: So, do you feel like?
• 21:22
  Keri Croft: I mean, look at you.
• 21:23
  Keri Croft: Like, you are, do I need to tell you?
• 21:26
  Keri Croft: Like you're gorgeous, you're kind, you're smart, you are a freaking catch of the day.
• 21:33
  Keri Croft: So, do you feel like when you think about your life moving forward, do you think there's still like another great love out there?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hope there's a love that I haven't ha experienced before.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm not.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm also I'm a very independent person.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: If it happens, it happens.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: If it's supposed to, it's supposed to.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:50
  Keri Croft: So you might be ready to mingle.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have a different lens on it now on what I need.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it is different.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm excited.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be excited to have a companion.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And someone in my life, but I'm also if it happens, then the door will open and it'll happen.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I moonlight is a matchmaker.
• 22:07
  Keri Croft: No, I actually do.
• 22:09
  Keri Croft: It's so funny.
• 22:10
  Keri Croft: So I've had so many people in the chair, and like if they're single, I'm like, wait, are we are we like are we making you like a match here?
• 22:17
  Keri Croft: Um, but I think what you're you're to your point is like you have everything, and this is like the modern day woman, and this deserves some airtime here.
• 22:25
  Keri Croft: We don't need a companion.
• 22:27
  Keri Croft: If someone's additive and they make our lives better and they're improving the atmosphere around you, then of course they're welcome.
• 22:35
  Keri Croft: But you don't what a great empowering feeling to not need very different, right?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, very different.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's funny.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've always my kids will always repeat this all the time.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be like, We know mom.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm always like, You don't need a man.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean you don't want one, but you don't need one.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad taught me that early on, like be independent, learn to be independent and how important that is.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and sometimes that that can be hard for a man because sometimes men don't they are attracted to independent, strong women, but sometimes it's also a hard thing for for people.
• 23:07
  Keri Croft: Yeah, well, you know, that's another, you know, thing to dissect.
• 23:10
  Keri Croft: It's like the type of man who would be attracted to a strong, independent female.
• 23:14
  Keri Croft: I mean, that's the type of man.
• 23:16
  Keri Croft: If someone's threatened, if there's a man who's threatened, and believe me, I've had more than my share of that.
• 23:20
  Keri Croft: You know, my one of my comp businesses called Maneater Media because I was called man eater when I was coming up in corporate America.
• 23:26
  Keri Croft: So I thought I'd make a joke out of and just name my LLC Maneater Media.
• 23:30
  Keri Croft: I am no stranger to the man who does not like the strong woman, okay?
• 23:34
  Keri Croft: But there, I I am very sure there are men out there who, you know, are sure enough of themselves and have enough going in their life where they're like, oh yeah, that's my girl.
• 23:42
  Keri Croft: You know what I mean?
• 23:44
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 23:44
  Keri Croft: I didn't expect to have this conversation.
• 23:46
  Keri Croft: Well, you know, I'm always going down weird alleyways, Jane.
• 23:50
  Keri Croft: I appreciate that about you.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's what makes you real.
• 23:53
  Keri Croft: You know what I mean?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:54
  Keri Croft: Back to the women making their own money thing, too.
• 23:56
  Keri Croft: That's another thing with the other night with the IRL.
• 23:58
  Keri Croft: It's like every woman really should be able to earn a dollar on their own because it's such an empowering thing.
• 24:06
  Keri Croft: Like to depend on another person for your financial livelihood.
• 24:11
  Keri Croft: I don't know.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, also we are we see a lot of women stepping away from the workforce today because one, child care is so expensive.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And two, wanting to be at home.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so, how do you do that in a way where you still feel like you're contributing and deserve?
• 24:25
  Keri Croft: It's like an impossible thing for a woman sometimes, right?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard, right?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: I would say looking back, and especially our restaurant managers, we have so many incredible, strong female restaurant managers, and they balance it.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I wish there was an easy silver bullet to say, here's how you balance it.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Even my own daughter who's working in the company, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, she she would love to stay at home, but she also loves her career and she has to be able to balance financially the world.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: It can be a challenge for sure.
• 24:50
  Keri Croft: Oh, yeah.
• 24:51
  Keri Croft: That's why women run the world.
• 24:52
  Keri Croft: Yes.
• 24:52
  Keri Croft: Yes to everyone out there listening.
• 24:54
  Keri Croft: We run the world, girls.
• 24:56
  Keri Croft: So let's go back because infertility clearly is something that I have struggled with in a big way.
• 25:01
  Keri Croft: Infertility, child loss, the whole isolating, tumultuous thing that is infertility.
• 25:07
  Keri Croft: And you struggled with that as well.
• 25:08
  Keri Croft: I'm curious for how long and what type of like what did you end up having to do to actually have your other two?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I and I already had a son.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so at the time, it was three years.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I was we were ready to have a child, and it took three years.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I did, you know, not nearly the journey that that you had, but anyone struggling with infertility, like there is this emotional roller coaster, and you live two weeks every two weeks, you're either ovulating or you're gonna start, right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like so, I did try for a couple years, and then we did three years of artificial insemination, and it's just it takes a toll.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I was time, my husband was a stay-at-home father, and so I was the financial provider and I was trying to really do what I wanted to do, which was have more children.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, you you know, I mean, it is it's a journey, and I think for me, actually, I just said this the other day, but I went to Hawking Hills and I spent a weekend in prayer and a devotion, and just got to the point where I was like, I need to be grateful for what I have and learn to have joy and gratitude, and instead of this what I want, have gratitude.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that that changed the course for me.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: It did.
• 26:14
  Keri Croft: What's the space between so tell me your kids' names?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Tony, who's my oldest, okay, I'll be 38 next week.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then Brianna's 29.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then Tori's 26.
• 26:23
  Keri Croft: Okay, so there's pretty there's a pretty big like age gap with 10 years.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 10 years from my my son to my daughter.
• 26:29
  Keri Croft: Do you do you feel like the relationships with your kids are different?
• 26:32
  Keri Croft: Like with Tony, you you probably like raised yourself with him.
• 26:36
  Keri Croft: You were you were like figuring shit out with that kid, right?
• 26:38
  Keri Croft: Yeah, poor kid.
• 26:39
  Keri Croft: And then, well, or you know, like to me, I mean, a calm sea never made a good sailor.
• 26:45
  Keri Croft: And a lot of my, you know, like I think about when I grew up and kind of the turmoil and the things that happened.
• 26:50
  Keri Croft: Like, had I not gone through those things, I wouldn't be sitting here the same way that I am.
• 26:54
  Keri Croft: So you kind of have to but then the question is so you then become cognizant of that.
• 26:59
  Keri Croft: Like, I want to go to more games, I want to be involved.
• 27:01
  Keri Croft: I've got these other two kids, so maybe you were able to like have a you were a little more evolved at that moment.
• 27:06
  Keri Croft: Has it like are the relationships different because of that, or you feel like you're all equally kind of now?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: I that's a great question.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: I would say, well, and your relationships with sons are different than your relationships with daughters, right?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say he's a gentle giant, so he's he is just this gentle giant.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: He was always a leader, whether he's the pitcher on the baseball team or the quarterback on the football team.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um, he always had this, and you know, as an older brother, always looking out after his sisters, and they all went to the same school.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was a nice age difference, you know, and he would drive into school, and he was all I felt like he was their big brother, but also a protector.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was a great relationship.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: As adults now, actually, we're getting ready to go do it in a couple weeks.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: I do a family summit every year down at Hawking Hills, and we spend the weekend with the kids and the grandkids, and we write out our mission and what our values are and what our family stand for.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it's me and my kids and their spouses, and who are we to the world, and who do we want to present ourselves to the world.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they did a really great job.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: They wrote out their mission statement.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: They we sat down and they each talked about what the strengths are of each other, and so it's all Brene Brown.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: I stole it all from her.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's so great.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love her.
• 28:15
  Keri Croft: I love her too.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so they wrote out how they would make decisions together if they're gonna be in the business together and starting a family foundation, how they would make decisions of where they're gonna give.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we talked about what our priorities are, and we do it every single year.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: So then I update them on how the business is going, and I update them, of course, Tony and Brino, but also what the estate plan is, what it looks like.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then we just talk about I'm really excited this year.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna create a family coin.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so when the when our grandchildren get to a certain age, which we're gonna talk about in a couple weeks, like what is that age?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: When they turn 18, they're gonna be presented with their family coin of this is who we are, this is what we stand for, and this is what's important to us.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So what you're given, you give back, you know, trust, values, respect, faith are all part of who we who we believe we want to stand for.
• 29:02
  Keri Croft: I love that so much because how many people really take those steps as a family?
• 29:07
  Keri Croft: You know, in business, it's so intuitive.
• 29:10
  Keri Croft: You go and you create strategy and you figure out your you know, your values, your vision.
• 29:15
  Keri Croft: In the business world, you don't operate any other way.
• 29:18
  Keri Croft: But then it's like with our family, we just kind of wing it.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:21
  Keri Croft: I love that.
• 29:23
  Keri Croft: I love that you're doing that, that you do that.
• 29:25
  Keri Croft: That's so great.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a great experience.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: So to talk about that, they all respect each other's as as adults.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say my Brianna sometimes can be the mom of my youngest daughter, right?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: And but it's all it's wonderful to see your kids grow up and and adult and be adults, but also become parents.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's it is such a blessing to be able to see that.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think doing this annually and their spouses are involved, which is awesome.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it is about who are we as a family unit, not just who am I with my three kids.
• 29:55
  Keri Croft: Oh, yeah.
• 29:55
  Keri Croft: No, it's great.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's fun.
• 29:57
  Keri Croft: Actually, it's a lot of fun.
• 29:58
  Keri Croft: I bet it is.
• 29:59
  Keri Croft: I bet you guys have a like a time.
• 30:01
  Keri Croft: We do.
• 30:01
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• 30:02
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• 30:10
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• 30:17
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• 30:20
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• 30:26
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• 30:30
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• 30:54
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• 30:58
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• 31:00
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• 31:01
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• 31:30
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• 31:32
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• 31:36
  Keri Croft: So let's talk about.
• 31:37
  Keri Croft: I do want to talk about reeb because I think it's so cool.
• 31:40
  Keri Croft: It's so funny.
• 31:40
  Keri Croft: It's so great.
• 31:41
  Keri Croft: So for the person has like no idea, like what is this reeb you speak of?
• 31:44
  Keri Croft: Help them understand what it is.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we grew up on the south side of Columbus behind our very first restaurant.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very strong industrial, blue-collar, hardworking south end of Columbus at the time.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: So technoglass was there, Buckeye Steel, et cetera.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I paint the backstory to say it was a great environment over the years, unfortunately.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Buckeye steel closed, technoglass closed the in the neighborhood fell on really hard times.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was 2012, Mayor Michael Coleman at the time had called my dad.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, how are you doing?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Dad's like, good, because things work out pretty good for you.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: And dad's like, yeah.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, well, I need a champion on the south side of Columbus.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And dad, if you know my dad, he time, talent, and treasure is important, but he's not a, I'm gonna go put my name on a building and have my name out there.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: He gives back, but he gives back.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: And same with my mom, both in very quiet ways.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so time, talent, treasure.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: My dad said, okay, treasure, Jane, find the time, which is about when I stepped out of my role and into the executive chair.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Find the time and talent and do something.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, at that time, Mayor Michael Coleman had Erica Clerk Jones, who is gotta have her on a show, amazing.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: She's currently the chair of Escape Me, Adam H CEO.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: She's amazing.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: She got together and Mayor Michael Coleman, all the champions from the South Side.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it was nonprofit leaders and profit leaders and business leaders.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I had called my friend Tanya Crane because her grandfather started on the south end of Columbus.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, their one of the first businesses was extruding Hula Hoop.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Which is super cool.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so right after my dad called me, I called her and I just said, hey, let's go to dinner.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, This is, you know, we've got to do something on the south side of Columbus.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what what it is or what it's going to look like, which is a little bit of what I do.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's buy the company back.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to do it, but let's do it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um, by the end of the evening, she had matched in dollars.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: She said, okay, let's stack hands and do it.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so we met with Erica Clark Jones and a whole group, it was a village of people, um, time and time again.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, it was Don Kelly and his family that just kept the vision out there because there was this old elementary school building called Reeb Avenue Elementary School, and it's 67,000 square foot, and it sat there vacant in all this time.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: So during this time, the neighborhood had one in four houses that were boarded up, 18.5% unemployment, no transportation, a lot of uh violence going on in the neighborhood, drug activity, human trafficking, gangs.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and all that time that building sat there and there was not no graffiti on the building, no broken windows, no squandering, hopper on the roof, nothing taking.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: And around it, this neighborhood was asking for help.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it is Mayor Michael Coleman who raised his hand and said, We need to do something.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so Don Kelly just kept saying, We we've got to do something with this building.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say, Tanny and her like, this is 67,000 square foot vacant building.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we did, and I it's we, it was a team of people, we did a survey in the neighborhood.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: And there's this great book called Toxic Charity, and it's all about people that come into the neighborhoods and say, Here's what you need, and then they leave, right?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so we knew we didn't want to do that.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so we did a survey of the neighbors, and the neighbors all said, we need affordable housing, we need access to health, we need safety, it needs to be a safe place, we need jobs and we need education.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so, kind of Maslow hierarchy of needs.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: The city went to work and they built a free health clinic on the corner of Readham Parsons.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my dad and Don Kelly and a whole bunch of other people went to work on renovating over 200 homes in the neighborhood.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then the city also went to work on safety, which is streetlights and sidewalks and more police presence in a friendly way, not a gotcha way.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so Tanny and I said, okay, well then let's take this building and really look at workforce development and education.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we raised$14.5 million.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: We renovated the building and we did a lot of tours.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: We were there every week, and both of us, and and Carrie Millard, who was our consultant at the time.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: She's fabulous.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And we just put together the strategy to say, we don't want to grade another nonprofit.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's 18,000 nonprofits in our city.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: We want to bring them together.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are a master tenant.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Reeb is a master tenant, and inside of the building, we have 10 nonprofits.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a whole adult education floor with Goodwill and Godman Guild and St.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen's and Safer House with Franklin County.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have Boys and Girls Club on the third floor, which is so much fun.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have a Littles, so Columbus Early Learning runs a program for infants through five-year-olds.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then what brings people in our door every day, about three to four hundred people are fed through the Mid Ohio Collective Cafe.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's truly a cafe.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um people come in and they are able to have a free meal and they can order off of a menu, and then they're able to sit and have community.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we have social workers on staff.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: We have the best team at Reeb Avenue.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: We just hired a new executive director.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: His name's Kareem Jackson.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's awesome.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really just about bringing our community inside so that we can help them get past their next step to help them find a job, help them get the education that they need.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it is a it is a labor of love.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a labor of love.
• 36:32
  Keri Croft: It's so great.
• 36:33
  Keri Croft: It's and I love the idea too.
• 36:34
  Keri Croft: Like you said, there's 18,000 nonprofits doing what they do.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so why not kind of you leverage them and and they all and the wonderful thing about no one was on the south side.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: So only one nonprofit, I would say two nonprofits were actually there um holding space and helping people.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was able to bring the nonprofits that already exist to have a hub on the south side where they could service their our neighbors, which has been really great.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: You have to come see it.
• 37:00
  Keri Croft: No, I want to come see it.
• 37:01
  Keri Croft: And I we've been talking about doing some content at Reeb.
• 37:04
  Keri Croft: Oh, so doing some cool, like just I think it would be really cool to do like just put shine on whoever is comfortable, right?
• 37:11
  Keri Croft: Just um, we did that for Maryhaven maybe a couple of years ago.
• 37:14
  Keri Croft: It was really cool.
• 37:15
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 37:15
  Keri Croft: So I think creating some kind of strategy with your folks, we've Amy and I have been talking about it, going into Reeb and doing something like that.
• 37:22
  Keri Croft: That is great.
• 37:23
  Keri Croft: Putting kind of a Carrie Croft show spin on it, but like, you know, have some levity, have some serious stories, kind of like just a well-rounded kind of thing.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you'll love it.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so many great success stories, and we have so many great programs.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: So Chelsea and her team and Bailey, they all do a great job.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we have like trunk retreat coming up.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: We do a holiday party for everyone.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we bring the neighborhood together.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a place where people can come and feel safe.
• 37:46
  Keri Croft: Do you have anybody like some people in particular that you've gotten to know that like you see that are regulars that you see there all the time?
• 37:51
  Keri Croft: Yes.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you the interesting part about the story.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been open 11 years, and so there's a number of people that have come in every day, and then there's some people, actually, Richard, who would be like, Hey, where's your car been?
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen you, right?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like people that look are us, Tanny and I, and the rest of the people that all go.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Pat Kelly is Don Kelly's son, who also is there a lot.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: But one in particular, and every day I won't say her name, but she would show up.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: Every day she would show up, and every day she would get a lunch, and I would talk to her.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: And she was a wonderful woman, but she had some addictions.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I do tours there a lot.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: I showed up, it's five years later, and I show up and she said, I'm doing it.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, What are you doing?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, I'm going to Maryhaven right now.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go get help.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it took five years for her to get there, but it took that safe place for her to continue to be there and understand that she could get some help.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's a day, sometimes it's just helping people get a pair of shoes, find their driver's license, understand that they have benefits that they don't even know that they had.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's changing the course of their entire life by helping them find a job and get an apartment and get housing.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: We have a uh social worker that's dedicated just to the homelessness that's on staff that every day, and I think he has a caseload, unfortunately, of 90 some people.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's truly just helping them get into a shelter or find a safe place for them to live.
• 39:05
  Keri Croft: It's got it's like how how grounding.
• 39:07
  Keri Croft: Like there's nothing more grounding and to to know the privilege that we really have when you see, you know, someone trying to figure out their next meet.
• 39:15
  Keri Croft: I mean, it's really um extraordinary what you guys have done.
• 39:19
  Keri Croft: It's not even, it's because it's not about okay, let's slap some money over here and say we did a good thing.
• 39:24
  Keri Croft: It's like you guys thought through this in such an intentional, meaningful way.
• 39:28
  Keri Croft: And it just, it's so, it just shows.
• 39:31
  Keri Croft: I mean, it's it's what ever it's it's the way people should be doing it.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting because I and Tanny had said it too.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we stacked hands and said, you know, we are gonna be here and be present.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's an important part of it, right?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so the cool thing about it is we've gotten national attention because it's a different kind of model.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we had 90 mayors uh from across the United States come and tour the facility.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: We had the Obama administration had come and toured the facility.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: We had Warren Buffett's son, Peter Buffett, come.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: We were listed as one of the top nonprofits across the United States doing something different through United Way.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: So Lisa Cortis brought him to Reeb.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: He was impressed.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up, I got to go and meet Warren Buffett, who basically was like, this is a strategy.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: We should be doing this in every neighborhood.
• 40:12
  Keri Croft: So let's talk about Warren for a minute.
• 40:14
  Keri Croft: Was it more, was it like a shake hands and like 30 seconds, or like did you get to like chop it up with them?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know about chopping it up, but it was super cool.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it was because of Lisa Cortis with United Way.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: We were able to go and we sat in a room about the size with about 15 other nonprofits and got to talk about what we were doing.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really just we sat in a circle in a chair and you know, an amazing human being.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Just humble and kind, and you wouldn't have known had he been walking down the street who he is.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like he didn't make anyone feel uncomfortable.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was just you were just having another conversation with a human being that cared about giving back.
• 40:50
  Keri Croft: Yeah, I think he's just another person that cares about the right things.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it just shows.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal would be, and it it's not for us, but two, there's so many vacant buildings out there, so many neighborhoods that need help.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we didn't intend this to be a strategy, but if you have business people that really care about the neighborhood, whether they grew up in or their businesses in, and the city, and the city was a great partner in this.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a it's a private public partnership.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: But then the idea is really understanding what the neighborhood needs because you could go in the neighborhood and say, Oh, you need these same five things, and they may need something very different.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: So Delaware is doing something, Delaware and the city of Delaware, with my cousin Gina actually is doing something similar.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a little spin-offs, and I think that's the best thing out of all this is being able to spark that energy and vision just to say, wow, you know, we could do this in our own neighborhood, whether it's the hilltop, you know, boys and girls has been instrumental on the west side with that, or just across the United States.
• 41:43
  Keri Croft: I'm gonna switch gears to the superficial.
• 41:46
  Keri Croft: Okay.
• 41:46
  Keri Croft: Okay.
• 41:46
  Keri Croft: So we talked about hair.
• 41:47
  Keri Croft: What type people are gonna want to know this?
• 41:49
  Keri Croft: Like, what's your skincare routine?
• 41:51
  Keri Croft: Because you have beautiful skin.
• 41:53
  Keri Croft: Oh my gosh, I can't believe you said that.
• 41:55
  Keri Croft: Why?
• 41:55
  Keri Croft: Look at it.
• 41:55
  Keri Croft: It's like it's it might be the lights, I don't know, but it's like shining like a shine bright like a diamond, Jane.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's happening with oily, but I appreciate it.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, I will say.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I am very try to be very consistent about doing a facial with skin perfect, which we talked about, Jacqueline.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, once a month.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like Do you do the um where they're shave your face is that what it's called?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the and the microneedling baby's ass.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I only do that once a month.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: So in between time, which is like right now, it's kind of like, yeah, you start noticing.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I'll never forget my daughter at one time when she was six, maybe my youngest daughter, she's like, Mom, your face is like a caterpillar.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, hmm.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should get it.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's supposed to be a caterpillar.
• 42:39
  Keri Croft: Um, okay, so then you blonde, you're natural blonde.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was, I used to be.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't start doing highlights probably until I was 33.
• 42:47
  Keri Croft: Really?
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then now I can't, yeah.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: I said I was gonna like, I'm gonna like freak people out and change things up and just go brown.
• 42:54
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: I and Bob, I am gonna get a haircut.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're a blonde.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're for sure a blonde.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: I am an I it's more natural blonde.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're like a bombshell blonde.
• 43:02
  Keri Croft: Like, yeah.
• 43:02
  Keri Croft: You could I think you could pull off brunette, but I think you've got a good thing going with the blonde.
• 43:06
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 43:06
  Keri Croft: So what about skincare, like what you do every day?
• 43:09
  Keri Croft: Are you like a expensive serum, like all kinds of shit, or are you just like a s like a very cheap, like throw on some face wash?
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the worst kind of everything.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a oh, it's on Instagram.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna fall for that, right?
• 43:21
  Keri Croft: Like, yeah, you're very influent, like influential.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I I use skin medica.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I do do Botox like only twice a year, which I'm also past due on that.
• 43:31
  Keri Croft: Are we doing just the forehead, or are we do here too?
• 43:33
  Keri Croft: I do I I had them do here.
• 43:34
  Keri Croft: I yeah, definitely 11s and oh my 11 is like I'm like, if you if you could only do one thing, because I've got an eleven that like will literally you'll be like, Man, I yeah, she's got a resting bitch fit.
• 43:45
  Keri Croft: And I'm like, no, it's just my eleven.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, I know.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, why are you mad all the time?
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's so bad.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm way I'm a month away from my treatment.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 43:54
  Keri Croft: What about filler?
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 43:55
  Keri Croft: I'm I do do do I have not done f I did it one time.
• 43:59
  Keri Croft: It was it's Probably been, God, I don't even know, maybe five years now.
• 44:02
  Keri Croft: I'm really not feeling the like.
• 44:04
  Keri Croft: I don't know.
• 44:04
  Keri Croft: Talk to me when these are even more like pronounced, but yeah.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny you say that.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: My dad, and he'll die when I but he has been saying to me, he's like, No, you're you're you need to smile or your lips are starting to frown.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: You see this right here?
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, those are jowls, dad.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: You bring them in here, I'll give him the old knuckle sandwich.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, they're your jowls.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like you go look in the mirror, I have the same jowls you have.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: So those things, but uh a filler just kind of makes me a little nervous.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 44:28
  Keri Croft: Isn't it funny how men they just get away with shit?
• 44:30
  Keri Croft: It's like you can bald and be bald and have wrinkles, and it almost works for you.
• 44:34
  Keri Croft: Like, and then we have to like do all this shit.
• 44:36
  Keri Croft: And it's like, why aren't we talking about your jowls?
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Which is what I did to my dad.
• 44:40
  Keri Croft: It's so crazy.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: Although I will say I know more men that are getting chemical peels and laser treatments.
• 44:45
  Keri Croft: I know, but it doesn't.
• 44:46
  Keri Croft: Okay, let's talk plastic surgery for a minute because I am not against like I would love a little this.
• 44:52
  Keri Croft: Me too.
• 44:53
  Keri Croft: I want a little of this, okay?
• 44:55
  Keri Croft: Yeah, like what happened.
• 44:56
  Keri Croft: Listen, you may find me at some point like like this.
• 45:00
  Keri Croft: Like, I don't want to be like over the top, but like just a little of this.
• 45:04
  Keri Croft: But I've seen some men doing the upper blef.
• 45:07
  Keri Croft: Here's the thing you have a good, like you are in a great situation because you don't have to do it.
• 45:13
  Keri Croft: You're not judged by it.
• 45:14
  Keri Croft: It's like distinguished as you age.
• 45:16
  Keri Croft: It's like somehow men are allowed to age.
• 45:19
  Keri Croft: So why are you now jumping on this bandwagon trying to be it makes you look more effeminate and like I think you look more?
• 45:25
  Keri Croft: Yeah, I don't know.
• 45:25
  Keri Croft: I guess if you do it very like carefully, yeah, doesn't it feel a little like not masculine to you or something?
• 45:31
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: I well, it doesn't feel no, it's uh it is an interesting thing because it's why is it okay for women to do it and men not?
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it is true, yeah.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I've I've just seen where it's changed people's complete look, right?
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's very interesting.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I yeah, I don't know.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you saying that.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: I my skincare is something that it looks good, especially as I get to this age, has been uh one of the things I did fall for is that EMS little red light.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I just started using that.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: That was an Instagram middle of the night.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's probably what I need.
• 46:01
  Keri Croft: What about how do you keep yourself so fit?
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, you are kind.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna come on your show every week.
• 46:06
  Keri Croft: I mean, I just speak the truth.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: I so I love and did core power every morning, five well, five days a week.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to do it on the weekends also.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hit a thousand and twenty-five classes.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Wow at Core Power on the Short North.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Great community.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the teachers are awesome, love them.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Met my friend there every morning.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: We'd we go, I leave the house at 5 30.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: And after, wow, I'm like, I just don't look any different.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I loved the practice, core powers, weights, and cardio in a hot room.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we just switched to body alive and it's hot Pilates.
• 46:35
  Keri Croft: Are you on lane?
• 46:36
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 46:36
  Keri Croft: Hey, you should come visit me.
• 46:37
  Keri Croft: I live literally right down the street.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do you really?
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you should come do a class.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: I will I would love it.
• 46:41
  Keri Croft: Oh, what no, please interrupt.
• 46:43
  Keri Croft: Sylvia, you're the chief chief operating officer of the Carrie Croft show.
• 46:46
  Keri Croft: You can interrupt whenever you want.
• 46:48
  Keri Croft: Do you go?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're kidding me.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we just started like four weeks ago.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you love it?
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it is a very different class than core power yoga because I well, I can tell because my muscles are sore.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and Kendra, I is I love her.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there's weights, and the room is hot.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't sweat as much as I did at Core Power.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: But so I'm always in the back on the left with my other older friend.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: But she she would kill me for saying that.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we have our spots.
• 47:14
  Keri Croft: I feel like this, I feel like we have our little spots we go.
• 47:17
  Keri Croft: I feel like I don't know.
• 47:18
  Keri Croft: I think the age thing also, it's like it's just shifting.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I love this decade, even though my life shifted.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the best.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is a great decade.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have great nonprofits I'm involved with.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on a public board, which I love.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um learning so much.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: I get to be the executive chair of our family business and see my kids in the business.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you met Kevin, pressed him to run the business.
• 47:42
  Keri Croft: He's can we give a little shout out to Kev?
• 47:44
  Keri Croft: He's pretty and his wife.
• 47:45
  Keri Croft: And well, Leslie, I mean, she's obviously, you know, the better half there.
• 47:49
  Keri Croft: Of course.
• 47:49
  Keri Croft: Hello.
• 47:50
  Keri Croft: Yeah, she runs the show.
• 47:51
  Keri Croft: We all know that.
• 47:52
  Keri Croft: Hi, Kevin.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: But he is he's wicked smart and he's working on all the right things.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I think the biggest thing for Donato's, especially in Columbus, is people don't realize we really are a family business because when you grow, people get this, oh, now you're a big corporation.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: And really, I mean, we really truly are a family business.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what I love about it is we believe in franchising.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we have franchise partners that are now moving into their third generation.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: So their family businesses and their kids get to run them in in the business.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I just to me, that is so rewarding.
• 48:26
  Keri Croft: No, you guys walk the damn walk.
• 48:28
  Keri Croft: You do.
• 48:28
  Keri Croft: I mean, even as a consumer, so obviously I'm ordering Donatos a lot on a weekly basis because Fridays are for Donatos.
• 48:35
  Keri Croft: I don't know if you guys knew that or not, but you know, I'm here to tell you as a chief influence officer, Fridays are for Donatos, but I would argue any day is for Donatos.
• 48:44
  Keri Croft: But anyway, the guy that delivered, I thought his name was Kyle.
• 48:47
  Keri Croft: Anyway, whoever it was, really good guy, but he and I got to chatting it up a little bit because I had to tell him on the chief influence officer.
• 48:53
  Keri Croft: I mean, you know, I am you know you're you're delivering to the chief influence officer of Donatos, act accordingly.
• 48:58
  Keri Croft: And he was talking and he said that he has been with Donatos.
• 49:01
  Keri Croft: He said like 20 years at that, like the one on Northwest.
• 49:04
  Keri Croft: Sorry, at Burlington location.
• 49:06
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 49:06
  Keri Croft: I mean, you guys are just we have it's pretty remarkable what you guys have been able to build and sustain.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I appreciate that.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: It it is truly our people.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have delivery drivers that have been with us for 35 years, and at our Gran View location, our Hilliard location, like it is amazing to me.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and at the same time, our short north location.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: They've put their kids through college, they've they're and they're proud of it, right?
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they've bought houses and sometimes it's just a part-time job for people.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we really like when we can hire people and they work for Donatas versus Love DoorDash and the third-party stuff.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the experience that you had, oh yeah, is because you know, when I say that we had that turnaround that year, it is truly those are the people that turned the company around.
• 49:46
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 49:46
  Keri Croft: And I will say, and people like to say, you know, you're just saying this because you're the chief influence officer.
• 49:51
  Keri Croft: Your ranch dressing is so excited.
• 49:53
  Keri Croft: No, I I have been telling anyone who will listen because I am a big ranch girly.
• 49:58
  Keri Croft: I mean, I have to have ranch dressing on my pizza.
• 50:00
  Keri Croft: Like it's it makes or breaks the situation.
• 50:02
  Keri Croft: And so when I tried it, I dipped that, because I get the chicken for Kyle.
• 50:06
  Keri Croft: I dipped that chicken in the ranch, and I was like, oh, it's kind of runny, like I like it.
• 50:10
  Keri Croft: It's like it's that homemade, like runny.
• 50:12
  Keri Croft: And I took a bite and I was like, holy, it's up there.
• 50:15
  Keri Croft: Oh, your ranch dressing is so good.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to hear you say that.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's so good.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Funny story behind that.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Years ago, we changed it for health reasons.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: We changed it to what we had, which we've had for years.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so we brought on a new menu person.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: She her name's Haley.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: She just had a little girl, but she's awesome.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: She had been with Wendy's for a long time, and she's like, the first thing I'm gonna do is change a ranch dressing because it's not very good.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Kevin was talking to me about it.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, of all the things we're gonna work on, like that's what she's gonna do.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I did a little social media post on it, which whatever.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I did.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, taste what we're serving and taste what we're gonna do now.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it is way different.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and we are making it in-house, so we make it in the restaurant.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know every day.
• 50:54
  Keri Croft: I wonder if as a chief influence officer that I can come and watch the sauce being made, watch you making the sausage.
• 51:00
  Keri Croft: You can make that'd be some that'd be some good content, wouldn't it?
• 51:02
  Keri Croft: That would be really good.
• 51:03
  Keri Croft: That'd be really fun.
• 51:04
  Keri Croft: That would be fun.
• 51:05
  Keri Croft: So back to you.
• 51:05
  Keri Croft: I'm not done with my questions about you.
• 51:08
  Keri Croft: So, what else do you do in terms of cardio?
• 51:10
  Keri Croft: And like, do you do like do you walk, do you run like, or is it do you do the the core power and that's what you do?
• 51:14
  Keri Croft: Well, I do body alive.
• 51:15
  Keri Croft: Now you do body alive.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: So body alive, that's what I do.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: Every day.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: So seven days a week?
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I do five days a week.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: I try to get in a six day.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my youngest daughter will, she also works out there.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'll either meet her on a Saturday morning or Sunday after church.
• 51:30
  Keri Croft: What is your are you really regimented with your food?
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have to be now.
• 51:35
  Keri Croft: So did you eat anything this morning already?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: I did not.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: I had coffee.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can you hear my stomach right now?
• 51:39
  Keri Croft: No, so will you do your intermittent intermittent faster?
• 51:42
  Keri Croft: So you eat at noon?
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I eat a l uh either a smoothie at noon or I snack on almonds and okay.
• 51:47
  Keri Croft: I eat a smoothie at noon too.
• 51:49
  Keri Croft: Okay.
• 51:49
  Keri Croft: What's yours?
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh right.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today it's gonna be a Panera green tropical smoothie.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I make it only because I have a meeting and she asked me what I wanted, and that's what I'm doing.
• 51:57
  Keri Croft: Okay.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: But Smoothie King also has really great smoothies.
• 51:59
  Keri Croft: Okay, so you usually do that.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_00: Or honestly, I'm a snacker, so and then what will then you'll have dinner.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I have dinner.
• 52:06
  Keri Croft: And it's like what?
• 52:07
  Keri Croft: Protein and like what's your vice?
• 52:09
  Keri Croft: What are you doing that's like I probably shouldn't do this?
• 52:11
  Keri Croft: Is it chocolate?
• 52:12
  Keri Croft: Is it like what's your like little thing that you're like, I can't I can't live without my a pizza?
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I eat pizza a lot.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the other thing.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_00: We always have pizza in the in the office.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm in the office, I'm always either in the test kitchen grabbing some pepperoni and cheese and banana peppers and wrapping it up and eating it like that, which I do at home, or eat our pizza, our cauliflower crust.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_00: Is good too.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is my favorite.
• 52:35
  Keri Croft: Some people actually like that better than regular crust.
• 52:36
  Keri Croft: Yeah, it's so good.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're gluten intolerant and I am, um, that's what I that's our go-to.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's our second highest selling crust, honestly, which is amazing.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I'm you I just was reading about I'm not a red meat eater, but it and I also have hashimata's, which I ended up getting during the whole COVID and all that stuff.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: So my di I I have to be cautious on what I eat.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's no gluten.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm usually a chicken or salmon.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a very exciting person if I'm not eating pizza, but I just read this whole article about how important red meat is.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: So protein, um, and how important red meat can be.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I haven't I haven't eaten red meat in a really long time.
• 53:12
  Keri Croft: Yeah, it's good.
• 53:13
  Keri Croft: Yeah.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna switch up.
• 53:15
  Keri Croft: I think you need to throw caution to the wind and add some red meat into your into your your deal.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I should.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm on the board of Texas Roadhouse, so that's you are on the board of Texas Roadhouse, and they're they're another people company, right?
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I wasn't looking to get on a public board.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on a uh several different nonprofit boards and and I love it.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so they had reached out to me.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they were looking for people that were in founder-led companies or family businesses, um, because they really want to stay focused on their people.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so anyway, interviewed with them and I had nothing against McDonald's, but it got in a kind of a bad taste in my mouth about public companies.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because my whole life it was like, oh, we always reinvest in the business.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then during McDonald's, it was like quarter by quarter.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if their stock went down, then we closed a market.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or like it was just really strange to me.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm never gonna run a I don't want to run a business like that.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like family businesses, it's lasts a lifetime.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_00: Texas Roadhouse is a very different company, they are true, truly a people-first company.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: They care about their people first and foremost and the quality of their products, and it's just been really impressive.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's my third year on the board to watch how they grow and how they care about their people.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I you know, when I first interviewed with them, I told my dad, um, because I know Kevin talked to you about agape capitalism coin.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, agape, yeah.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, I was thinking that as you were talking, like agape.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, at the end of the day, I'm gonna give everybody an agape capitalism coin, which I'm hoping Kevin gave you one last time.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: He missed on that one.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 54:43
  Keri Croft: Although he did come bearing gifts, so I have to say, I have to say I give him a 10 out of 10.
• 54:47
  Keri Croft: I have to give you a coin.
• 54:48
  Keri Croft: Yeah, there's one down there.
• 54:49
  Keri Croft: There's plenty of there's plenty of time for that, Jane.
• 54:51
  Keri Croft: I plan on, you know, coming in and doing all kinds of things at the good.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're the chief influencer.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: You should have a stack of them so you can hand them out to people.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because on the coin is leading with love, the golden roll, and doing the right thing.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love them.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not about donados, it's about just being human and that's how we should all behave.
• 55:09
  Keri Croft: But it's so good.
• 55:10
  Keri Croft: I totally agree.
• 55:10
  Keri Croft: And I think that's a really good place to end the conversation.
• 55:13
  Keri Croft: Except I do think we should have, you know, I would love to have you and someone else come in.
• 55:18
  Keri Croft: Like, I don't know, is it your dad?
• 55:19
  Keri Croft: Is it your one of your kids?
• 55:21
  Keri Croft: Wouldn't that be kind of fun to have like a family, like a dynamic, you know?
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would love that actually, as I was filling out um some of your questions, I was like, you know, I would have loved to like have my son and my daughter, even uh both my daughters at some point because they all have a different perspective on business, probably, and also on me.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I'd love to, I'd love to do that.
• 55:40
  Keri Croft: Well, this has just been so much fun.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_00: It has been.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful for you.
• 55:44
  Keri Croft: I mean, I'm just honored that you sat and gave me, you know, an hour and 10 minutes.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you have said you've done a great job creating space where people can be authentic and real and just share and so that we can all lift each other up.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate that about you.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: Your story is incredible.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're an inspiration.
• 56:01
  Keri Croft: Thank you.
• 56:01
  Keri Croft: I'm out here trying, girl.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you do it.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 56:04
  Keri Croft: If you're still out there following your girl, follow me on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
• 56:08
  Keri Croft: And until next time, go order some Donato's pizza and keep moving, baby.