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Chris Gannon's Bolay Journey: From Chief Osceola to Building a Gluten-Free Fast Casual Brand · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:13
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:16
today's guest is Chris Gannon. He is the founder and CEO of
0:20
Ballet Fresh Bold Kitchen, a fast casual restaurant brand
0:24
launched in 2016 and headquartered in the West Palm
0:28
Beach area of Florida. They focus on 100% gluten free
0:33
bowls, fresh ingredients and bold international flavors with
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a mission to fuel communities to live healthier lives.
0:41
Now under Chris's leadership, Ballet has grown rapidly,
0:44
earning praise for its clean menu and hospitality first
0:48
approach. Chris Co founded the company
0:50
with his father Tim Gannon, who was also a Co founder of Outback
0:54
Steakhouse. He travelled extensively,
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collaborating with top chefs to bring fresh ideas to Ballet's
1:00
ever evolving menu. Not only is Chris a seasoned
1:04
entrepreneur, he's also an accomplished athlete as well,
1:08
having been the second youngest player ever to win the US Polo
1:12
Championship. His diverse background and
1:14
restaurant innovation and healthy living has made ballet a
1:18
stand out choice for those seeking flavorful and nutritious
1:21
meals. Now before we get into all that
1:24
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AD back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
2:07
today, CEO and Co founder of ballet, Chris Gannon.
2:10
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:12
Aw. Thank you very much, Anthony.
2:14
Super excited to be here to, yeah, share a story and inspire
2:18
somebody because, you know, we've all been inspired along
2:21
our journey to, to be where we're at.
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So I think it's it's important to pass that, pay it back, pay
2:26
it forward. I like that.
2:29
So Chris is we covered in the intro there?
2:32
Your dad was a Co founder of Outback Steakhouse, so it sounds
2:36
like this was probably the environment that you grew up in.
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Safe to say that the restaurant business was in your blood?
2:42
It was in in the, you know, I love every aspect and watching
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my father create greatness with his wonderful partners and, and
2:50
take a brand and culture and and and and grow it.
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And he he always said, Chris, don't do this business.
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It's the hardest business in the world.
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Then I ran from it. I tried to, I was a marketing
2:59
executive, tried the professional Bowl player out.
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But there's something when it's this business is in your blood,
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it, you can run from it, but it pulls you back in.
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And and I'm so blessed to be still part of it because what
3:12
we're able to do for our team and our guests, it's it's, you
3:17
know, hopefully make some money along the journey, but it's
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very, it's a very rewarding industry of what we're able to
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accomplish. There's a lot of there's a lot
3:25
of gratitude. Sorry.
3:27
There. Yeah, you.
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So you tried to run away from it, but at some point you came
3:31
back to it. Where did you first cut your
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teeth? In the restaurant.
3:34
I would say Outback Steakhouse, right?
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I was a busser when I was very early on and learn, you know,
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they almost didn't hire me in the early days.
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Anthony, they they have to be 3 restaurants of experience where
3:44
you can work it Outback and I didn't have that.
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I was young. I was just my father's son and I
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never utilized that card. So I almost didn't get hired by
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convinced the manager that I would work hard and everybody
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else. And we did a great job and
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learned a lot. And then I think where I really
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cut my teeth though, was when I asked to get back in the
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industry, but I didn't want to work underneath my father
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because I don't think right at a gate you should work for our
4:05
families. So I worked for an incredible
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restaurant group called Trulux Steak and Seafood based in
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Austin, TX underneath Stewart Sargent and and Dave Tripoli's
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leadership. And there I learned I was.
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I went right into fine dining. So I truly learned ladies and
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gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen in the art of getting
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to the word yes, and you know all the all the fun that comes
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with fine dining, service and and execution.
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So you didn't play that dad card when you got your first job at
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Outback so they had no idea that your dad was one of the Co
4:41
founders. You just used your good looks
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and charms to go in and say, hey, I know I don't have the
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requisite experience, but I'm going to outwork everybody and
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they saw something in you and they let it happen.
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Yeah, well, they, I think they knew.
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They kind of knew. And I think obviously the last
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name in the early days was a pretty dead giveaway.
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But I was so convincing. And I still have a great
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relationship with that proprietor these days.
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And, and I think I did a good job because I know that, you
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know, when you're the owner's son and so on and so forth, you
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have a bullseye on your back. And I was telling my kids, you
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know, they're, they're only 6:00 and 9:00, but when they're in
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the restaurant, they got to be 110% 'cause you're wearing a
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proud name that you have to set that bar high.
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And then you mentioned something about another job that you took.
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Good point that, you know, not great to come in and just start
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working right under the family, go out and get some outside work
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experience. Sometimes as kids, we're a
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little bit more receptive to teachings and lessons from
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people who aren't our parents. Plus, I think there's the added
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benefit of being able to bring in some outside ideas, some new
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and fresh concepts that you know weren't there before.
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Is that kind of part of your thinking too?
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Yeah, 1000%. And I think one of the cool
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things that I didn't realize now is I'm ACEO company bringing in
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some some powerful other leaders into our ecosystem is it brought
6:00
my father into their world. So my father inadvertently was
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giving them some great advice on different desserts or how do you
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do this better, this and that. Just that inspirational thinking
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we all derive from you never know where.
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But no, I'm a huge believer that you got to cut your teeth
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outside. You know uncle always gives
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great advice versus dad, right? And what did you mean by you
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learned the art of getting to the yes?
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You know, especially in Trulucks, we had a mission and
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it was from the moment that you pulled up to that restaurant,
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the valet station at the valet tried to make sure that every
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experience was possible. Best, best in class, you got to
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the word yes, yes, we can take care of your car.
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Yes, we can do this. To the getting into the quoting
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of the times, to the service, to the last moment where you leave
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the restaurant and the Hostess is greeting you with a goodbye
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and have a great evening, right. Your last part of the
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experience. And then the and then the valet
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as well is trained in the hospitality and that ladies and
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gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen.
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So if you have that an entire journey from the moment you pull
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up through your whole meal to the moment you leave, that's
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what we call that. That when it all comes together
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like a perfect Symphony and making that happen.
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And as you know, in this industry, Anthony, day in and
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day out is the hardest part. People don't realize, and it
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dawned on me the other day of why the restaurant business is
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so much more challenging than the other business because you
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have to be excellent and great on hours that are not normal to
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us as human beings. We are trained Monday through
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Friday, 89 AM, whatever till six, 7:00 PM and then you're off
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the clock in the restaurant business.
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No 6:00 at night. You're just starting for round
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two of the day. The the dinner PM service Sunday
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morning we have our leaders and our people are in walk in
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coolers, checking in produce and getting the the shift ready for
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the day on Sunday when other people are just going to church
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or enjoying their days. So you got to remember we have
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to be great in the non normal hours and that's hard.
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Not just manufacturing or loading buses and trucks and
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whatever may be and and not knocking on any beautiful
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industry out there, but the restaurant business.
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We have to be on our A game taking care of others during
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those nine hours and that. I thought about that the other
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day and it dawned on me how why our industry is so much more
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challenging than others. What do you think that taught
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you those early days with Trulux having to be on your A game all
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the time at later hours? You're when you're in our
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business, you just kind of get into it in a rhythm and a focus
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and it's Showtime. I always tell people our
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business is like, like putting on a show and those curtains go
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back and you start welcoming in people, guests into our
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buildings. It's you put your game face on
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and you know, that's what you do.
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And, and it, I think it really starts with making sure, like
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every business, it's all about the human capital, the talent,
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but making sure that we really select individuals to join our
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team, select talent that truly want to serve others, because
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that's what the restaurant business is.
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It's the art, the act of serving other human beings.
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And if you don't want to serve others, you're not in the right
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business. Go get in tech or construction.
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Our world is is all about service.
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Now you're not in the fine dining space anymore and we'll
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kind of get to where the whole idea to start ballet came from.
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But do you find that those same principles or things that you're
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looking for and the people that you hire 100?
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Percent and and I think that's what sets sets us apart as we
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look for individuals that want to come in.
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We put our, you know, our interview process, our, our new
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leaders can't believe how challenging our interview
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process sometimes because we do want to make it a challenge to
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get an organization. We do want to make sure we're
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finding the best of the best to go win.
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I mean, that's, you know, your, your professional football team.
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They got scouts out there putting you through the ringer
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to join the team. We're trying to look at it the
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same way, Look at every aspect. Who are you outside of the
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organization? Who are you inside the
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organization? And how do you, how do you talk
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to our team? How do you talk to our guest?
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Because we have a, a sacred brand to protect.
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And you know, it was, it was born on the back of a napkin in,
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in an airport with my closest friend and, and, and my wife,
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the name. And I never realized how
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important the brand becomes. You know, we had an idea I
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didn't understand until now. The transformation of an idea on
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a napkin into what is now becoming a brand that is a
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sacred thing to protect. Tell us about that napkin.
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Where'd this idea come from? Yeah, so we were running, I was
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managing a fast food restaurant franchisees, my father and, you
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know, I just kind of got tired of serving fried chicken and so
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on and so forth and felt that we could bring a healthier kind of
10:53
fuel food to to the industry. But it had to taste good.
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That was the biggest thing, Anthony, was we wanted to make
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sure that our cuisine not only fueled you so you didn't have
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that after kind of lunch crash, right as we all feel by eating
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food. They're like, oh, I want to take
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a nap. Ours.
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We want to energize you, inspire you, but it has to, you know,
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for my New Orleans roots and and great flavor and my father with
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the great and the bloomin onion, the flavors had to be great to
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where people talked about the food and what it tasted like.
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So they would come back. And my father always told me
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it's it's the comeback flavor, making sure that our flavor has
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that comeback where you want to come back again.
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We can't just make you happy once.
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We got to make you happy over and over and over again.
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And so, yeah, we created the name.
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If you want to try and create a business these days and even 10
11:41
years ago when, you know, we're almost drowning, 10 years, it's
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impossible. Every name is taken or it's a
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slang word for something or it means something in different
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language. So we created it and it came
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from the idea of, you know, the bowl, a sunglasses and then bowl
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because it's going to be a bowl restaurant.
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And then I think someone said Olay to have fun and we're kind
12:03
of just spitballing over a beer and I wish I still had that
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napkin. I have a picture of it of
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drawing that out of the word. And then we circulated through
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friends and people started adding stuff above the Y and how
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it symmetrically, the B and the L kind of flowed.
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I mean, it was just fun. I mean, those were the magical
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days of the creation that you don't have the the capital for
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agencies and, you know, professionals, you just figured
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it out. And so between, you know, good
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old fashioned Google and social media we had access to, we, we,
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we figured out a lot of stuff and it just it rhymes Bole and
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bole all day. So one of our things sayings now
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it's bole all day. So we say bole all day is our
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cheers and guests say it. It's really, it's really just
12:52
been a, a look back on it now in 10 years and it's gone by fast
12:56
and it's been a wonderful ride. So it's it's an interesting
13:00
story on how you chose the name. How did you actually choose what
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was going to be served inside the four walls?
13:06
How did that come? Yeah, so that's a great
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question. So it ironically, at the same
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time we were like, we're going to create a concept.
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I'm not a chef. I can tell you what's right,
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what's wrong. A lot of food.
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I can tell you the flavor profiles.
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I've dined at restaurants all over the world from being, you
13:19
know, international poll player and lived in, you know, nine
13:21
countries and around my father and watching tastings and all
13:24
that. He just so happened to come
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across this wonderful chef in Aspen at a small little diner.
13:30
His name is Martin Oswald and Chef Martin, and he was written
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about in the book Eat to Live by Joel Furman.
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And my dad created a relationship with him.
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He had this amazing 100% gluten free, what was it?
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A blueberry pie that he made with a gram, a crust that was
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from walnuts, I believe. I can't remember exactly, but it
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was amazing. And so we had him come down and
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he created this menu that was just off the charts.
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Now it's pivoted and, and been up daltered in here and there,
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tweaked I guess for scalability in some aspects.
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But for the most part, the original recipes still stand.
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I mean, the, the coconut infused black rice with the Kaffir lime
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leaf. I mean, we just, you know, our,
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our lemon chicken, lemon chicken sauce, It's just been, yeah.
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Amazing creation brought together.
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Why was 100% gluten free important to you?
14:26
That's a funny question. At that time, I don't know if it
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was because of seeing the success of it on the Tito's
14:35
vodka. Who would have ever thought
14:37
gluten free on a vodka, right? It just stuck out.
14:40
It was different. It was unique.
14:42
So that just kind of connected. I didn't have a gluten
14:45
sensitivity. I didn't know what gluten was.
14:46
I didn't know much about it, right.
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And so over time, we've even analyzed, do we need to be 100%
14:51
gluten free? Can we be gluten friendly and
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blah, blah. And we've, you know, even
14:56
through COVID and we were trying to figure out everything.
14:58
We, we leaned in and we kept with it.
15:01
And it's just been something that as you know, that the
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celiac and the gluten intolerance is now with our very
15:08
messed up food supply chain. And, and I've got so many great
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stories of kids coming to our restaurants and having allergies
15:19
and being able to eat everything on our menu and looking up at
15:21
mom and the mom saying that you would pick whatever you want and
15:24
they can't do that other restaurants, right?
15:26
They're always siloed to different things.
15:29
How many people have come up to me and said that it's helped
15:32
with their children's behavior at school when they eat better
15:36
food and so and so forth. And obviously we make our food
15:38
taste great. So the kids love it.
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And for me to go in a restaurant and see, you know, our youth
15:45
eating broccoli and actually like liking broccoli as we make
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it taste great is really powerful, you know, inside.
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That's why I say the reward of what we're accomplishing by not
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only creating, you know, a business that's got scalability,
15:59
but also the give back to humanity and society by bringing
16:03
something that's actually better for you then, you know,
16:08
something not better for you. More, more processed.
16:12
Yeah. So I've never had the
16:15
opportunity to visit a Belize and I'm sure a lot of our
16:17
listeners haven't either. Can you explain what the
16:20
customer experience is like? I walk in to one of your
16:24
restaurants and what do I notice?
16:25
Yeah. So we're all over the state of
16:27
Florida right now trying to go nationwide at some point.
16:31
We only have guests. We do not look at our, our, our
16:34
customers as customers. We look at them as guests.
16:36
And that started from my fine dining and even my roots back in
16:38
New Orleans of taking care of others.
16:41
And it's truly big part of our our experience.
16:43
But when you walk in our restaurant, you're going to get
16:45
great smells from the char grills to the high energy music,
16:51
because we believe in human energy.
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We've got big fans that create energy and great colors and and
16:57
so on, so forth. And then you're going to go down
16:59
the line and get to choose. You create your creation.
17:02
We've got chef creations that are designed for those who don't
17:05
want to kind of be adventurous and choose.
17:07
And then we have you have your bases that are many different
17:12
options to choose. Then you have roasted
17:14
vegetables, char grilled proteins.
17:16
We have oven roasted salmon. We've got many different forms
17:21
of chicken. We've got a beautiful steak that
17:24
we see are to perfection. And then we add a, a, a
17:28
combination of toppings, whether it be an avocado topping or
17:31
seasonings or, or, or, you know, herb seasonings or cheeses.
17:35
And then obviously we have some great in house made sauces that
17:40
you just bring it all together. And and that's the beauty of
17:42
bullets. You can make so many different
17:44
combinations to take you so many different directions from a
17:47
cuisine perspective. So you don't get bored of coming
17:49
to bullet. And we and we, we like that,
17:53
right. So you can not eat the same
17:55
thing. Just come in and try something
17:57
new. And how many locations are you
18:00
up to right now, Chris? We're blessed with 23 locations
18:03
all over the state of Florida, all the way from Gainesville
18:05
down to South Florida and just go ahead and throw in the old
18:08
Google and it'll bring you right to one of our locations if
18:10
you're in the state of Florida. And are these franchises or
18:15
these all corporate owned? All corporate.
18:17
Owned at this time, we've been asked by many people to
18:20
franchise this and we've we've slightly declined that because
18:24
it's not in our DNA. However, this time we are open
18:28
minded to finding great regional partners to help expand our
18:32
brand into for example, like the Northeast and the New Jersey or
18:35
the Carolinas or Texas or so and so forth.
18:38
So yeah, that's kind of a little bit of a change in our mindset
18:40
these days. Why the declining of the
18:46
franchise opportunities? You say it's not in your DNA.
18:49
You know, our concept is, is because we're so chef curated,
18:54
if you will, all of our menus take so much.
18:57
It's not like you're just pulling food out of a bag and
18:59
put it in the in the oven or something serving it.
19:01
We everything is made from scratch everyday and that's a
19:04
challenge to to do consistently. And so if you're not like a
19:08
restaurant tour or from the restaurant industry, we don't
19:13
know if people would be able to follow because of that, right?
19:17
I mean, obviously you can put so many things in standard
19:20
operating procedures, but there's certain nuances to our
19:23
our world that you really have to have the years of experience.
19:27
We believe in the in the culinary and hospitality world.
19:31
Am I am I right in thinking of this as fast casual?
19:34
Yes, we consider ourselves polished fast casual, so most
19:40
guests, listeners don't understand the journey of that.
19:43
You know, you got fast food right QSR, then you've got fast
19:47
casual, then you've got polished fast casual, which I like to
19:51
consider ourselves casual dining, which are your outbacks,
19:54
your Chili's of the world. Then you have your fine dining
19:56
and then you have your ultra fine dining, which is the, you
19:58
know, 17 course meals and so on and so forth.
20:00
So there's many different sectors, but to the broader
20:03
audience there's probably only four.
20:06
OK, and I guess it surprises me that at a polished fast casual
20:11
restaurant that the menu is so curated that you just don't feel
20:16
comfortable with it being replicated in a franchise
20:18
bottle. At this time, probably not, you
20:22
know, and I because I've also seen a few of our wonderful
20:26
competitors have tried to do that and I've also seen them
20:30
fail and I've gone in the restaurants and you'll see the
20:34
franchisees potentially wearing sandals and shorts buying the
20:37
line and immediately up. Yep, we don't have to worry
20:39
about these guys just because there is a certain dedication to
20:44
excellence that needs to be done.
20:46
And our business is all about consistency, delivering the same
20:50
consistent product cooked the same way day in and day out.
20:54
And that's a challenge, right? Because it's, you know,
20:55
broccoli, broccoli doesn't come in this perfect form every
20:59
single time. It's got its nuances of
21:01
seasonality and rightness and you know, avocados, etcetera,
21:05
plus, you know, all of our proteins and food safety and
21:08
just there's, there's a lot, there's a lot that comes into,
21:11
to to executing day in and day out.
21:13
And look, we are both by no means experts at it.
21:17
We are in the pursuit of excellence.
21:19
But it we are, we can make mistakes just as much as a
21:22
franchise, right? So.
21:26
Chris, how would you define the culture there at ballet and how
21:31
are you interviewing to get the right people in that fit that
21:36
culture? Great question.
21:38
So I would say that number one, defining part of aspects of our
21:45
culture would be teamwork. I think there's nobody on our
21:47
team that's not willing to jump in and help and do something.
21:51
And I think our team knows that because I know at the corporate
21:56
restaurant support center, our, our support team, it, you know,
22:00
we know that there's no registers and we at the
22:03
corporate office, our registers where the cash is collected are
22:06
in the restaurant. So we need to make sure that we
22:08
do everything in our power to make sure that we are supporting
22:11
in our in our restaurant operators, the general managers
22:14
to be successful. And so I think the culture is
22:17
they know that they were there to help to to get block and
22:21
tackle to help support them. But I would say teamwork to land
22:25
the plane on that. And so really going into the
22:27
interview questions, we have a lot of our leaders to working
22:30
interviews. So we have them, you know, join
22:34
the team for the afternoon. And so they get to see behind
22:38
the scenes And look, we want you to interview us just as much as
22:40
we're interviewing you. We want to make sure that you
22:43
see that this is something that want to be part of versus, you
22:46
know, just us altruistically looking at you.
22:49
It's, it's a, it's a symbiotic relationship.
22:51
So it's got to work on both ends.
22:54
Let's take a sidestep for a second because a couple of
22:57
interesting stories I want to pull out here that we touched on
23:01
this earlier. You were once a professional
23:03
polo player, becoming the second youngest to ever win the US Open
23:08
Polo Championship. How did you get into polo and
23:12
and tell us what it's like to play competitive?
23:15
Polo, Yeah, great question when polo is the oldest team sport.
23:17
So you heard me tell our teamwork in the history of the
23:19
world started in Persia as a war game, which is really
23:22
interesting. And it you can't just be good,
23:27
you have to be good, but you have to have all three of your
23:29
other players be good. And that's the same in our
23:31
business. Everybody's got to bring their A
23:33
game to be successful. So I got into it because my
23:36
father started playing once he had a love for horses and
23:40
passion. And so Once Upon a time, you
23:43
know, he's won the US Open many times, played all over the
23:46
world. And so I kind of grew up with
23:47
seeing that later on in life and and got good at a younger age
23:52
and I played the World Cup in Paris, which is exciting.
23:55
I've played, you know, while and try to be a professional
23:57
athlete. That's that's a long journey.
23:59
It's tough using your body and my father always taught me that
24:03
early on. Work with your mind, not your
24:05
back. And that kind of stuck with me.
24:07
And so, but growing up around it, you know, it's, it's
24:11
exciting, it's, it's sexy, it's fine.
24:13
It's, it's you travel the world. You know, when I get, I get
24:17
good. I, I'm no longer the second
24:19
youngest. I held that title for a while.
24:21
There's been a, you know, I'm 42 now.
24:23
So there's a bunch of young studs that have come behind me
24:26
and, and top of that title. So I I like to see, I'm one of
24:29
the youngest to have won the US Open, which is one of the most
24:33
prestigious title here in the United States in polo.
24:36
And it was with played with the best player in the world as
24:38
well. So that helped.
24:40
But yeah. And then realized that I, I
24:43
really wanted to be in the restaurant business and go be a
24:45
businessman because I was so excited.
24:47
I'll never forget it. I was playing the Hamptons and
24:51
these, you know, stockbrokers and guys in suits were coming in
24:55
the field and hearing their stories.
24:56
That to me was so much more exciting than the day in and day
25:00
out of doing the same thing as an athlete, which is also great.
25:04
But business is fun because it's just a new set of opportunities.
25:07
And I and I think business is a sport.
25:10
I truly do. It's just on a different type of
25:12
field. But hey, we're we got to go
25:14
every day to accomplish a mission as a team the same way
25:16
you do as a sport, you know? And you see that competitive
25:21
spirit carries over from the professional sport into your
25:26
building of your restaurant. Yeah, not franchise empire
25:30
organization. Yeah, I, I think you got to want
25:34
to win. You know, at the end of the day,
25:35
if you want to be successful, you've got to have that winning
25:38
spirit in in you. And I, I've seen, you know,
25:41
people that are winners or want to win more than the others.
25:45
And I've seen people that want to win at all cost and overlook
25:48
some things and, you know, their morals and ethics aren't
25:51
correct. So I think there's a balance of
25:53
that competitive spirit winning versus, you know, and that's
25:57
that balance of, you know, winning, but also lifting
26:00
others. And so I've always attributed
26:02
that I want to win, but I also want everybody to do well.
26:05
I want the restaurant next door to us to do well.
26:07
We just want to do a little bit better, but we want everybody to
26:10
do great. Because I think when the, the
26:14
community, your old state, your whole country, you know, and
26:18
they're not down the, the bigger side when the world does better,
26:21
you know, when the, when the, when the lake rises, all boats
26:24
rise. So we don't wanna, you know, we
26:26
wanna make sure that the whole lake rises and, and all the
26:28
boats rise. We just want us to rise a little
26:30
bit bigger and faster. Yeah.
26:33
And speaking about your whole state doing better, you guys
26:37
are, you know, right now for now anyways, exclusively in Florida.
26:41
And I understand that when you were going to college at Florida
26:45
State University, you had a special privilege there.
26:49
What was? That yes, I was selected by the
26:52
incredible Seminole Indian tribe to portray Chief Osceola, who
26:57
was one of their wonderful war heroes.
27:01
And we were unconquered because he was captured under a flag of
27:05
truce and never actually conquered in the Seminole tribe.
27:08
Wonderful, wonderful group of, of, of people here that support
27:13
us. And yeah, I got to portray a
27:16
wonderful living legend and represent Florida State
27:19
University at all the the home games and a couple of the bowl
27:22
games. So that was what a ride that was
27:25
being no pun intended, getting to be out there on a horse with
27:28
a flaming spear rearing up no saddle and and you know, no
27:33
shoes on the horse as well. So we were slipping and sliding
27:37
all over the field. But we we held together and, and
27:40
gave the, the, the fans a great show and, and fired up the team.
27:43
That was my job is we were considered the 12th man on the
27:46
football team. So that was fun to again, being
27:49
part of team. It's all comes back to being
27:51
part of a great team. Tell us about that selection
27:55
process and meeting with the tribe.
27:57
Yeah, so I, there's a great family, Allen Durham, who runs
28:01
the program. They've run it for many years
28:03
and they hold it very coveted and very tight.
28:05
And you have to be of upstanding moral character.
28:09
You have to apply for the position.
28:11
I, you know, it's very coveted. So they kind of go and search
28:15
out for people. So I got connected through a
28:17
great friend of ours, Adam Corey, who connected us to the
28:20
to the family and we went out and met.
28:23
And I remember Alan said, hey, Chris, now I need to actually
28:27
see if you can ride. And he said you can.
28:28
Being a polo player, he didn't know much about polo.
28:30
I said, OK, you pointed out a horse, you know, I said, hey,
28:33
just pick one in the field and we're out there.
28:36
And most time you don't just go jump on a horse without a saddle
28:39
or making sure that you know, they don't have the buck in them
28:41
and so and so forth. And I, you know, I was like,
28:44
hey, choose a horse. I was younger a lot more fear
28:46
fearless then. And I went out and jumped on a
28:49
horse and took off and held on and and Alan comes to me.
28:52
OK, you you got the riding part. So it was full scholarship, had
28:56
to maintain the three-point O higher GPA.
29:00
All home games. I was in bed the night before.
29:04
I mean, it was, it was a serious, serious program.
29:07
It was not just run around in a in a stuffed animal suit.
29:10
And because of that, I learned a lot from the program, a lot from
29:15
Alan Durham on every day we were at 3:00 AM on game days washing
29:21
the truck and trailer because if we went to that game, there
29:24
wasn't going to be a spot of dirt on that trailer.
29:25
And we pulled in. We don't need to.
29:27
I don't see the dirt, Chris. We're getting every dirt off
29:30
this this vehicle, and I remember just his incredible
29:34
dedication day in and day out to doing it the exact same way
29:38
every time. And because of that, it's been a
29:41
flawless program. Knock on wood, right?
29:44
But I've been transcended that into our business, following the
29:49
playbook every day the same way and you will get the same result
29:56
with all things being considered to the best ability.
29:58
So I, I, it's so honored looking back on that and I haven't
30:02
talked about that in a while. So I appreciate you asking that
30:04
question. Yeah, you know, and I hear
30:07
you're talking about making sure that there's no dirt spots on
30:10
the trailer. Hey, doesn't matter if somebody
30:12
can see it or not. There's a standard of excellence
30:15
to be met, right? And I'm assuming you.
30:17
Yeah, that's the same kind of thing you carry over to your
30:19
restaurants. Today, no for sure.
30:23
So I know that, you know, part of your mission there at Belay
30:26
is to fuel communities to live healthier lives.
30:30
Is there a specific story you can share that you know where
30:33
you saw that mission come to life for one of your guests?
30:36
Yeah, so there's so many events that we partake in and we love
30:41
being partaking in 5K runs, triathlons, anything that has a
30:47
community gathering together to get that heart rate up, if you
30:50
will, right, because we all need that.
30:52
We're all pretty sedentary in our worlds these days.
30:54
So we want to support that and be there for those events.
30:58
And many people have come to learn about our brand through
31:02
trying our, our homemade GSE pudding, right?
31:06
Or, or one of our homemade juices or our our lemon chicken
31:09
after a long race, as if anybody's ever done a race, you
31:12
know, the first thing you want to do is put some food in you.
31:15
And and then we've had these stories that, you know, over the
31:19
years, you know, we served, you know, over 3.5 million guests
31:23
last year. So in that you got a lot of
31:26
wonderful stories and many people have come to us.
31:29
Oh my God, the one that resonates the most is just how
31:32
much we've changed children's behavior from eating our food.
31:36
That one to me, if I would look back at any one of our stories,
31:39
is just how parents have come to said that their child focuses
31:42
better in school, less anxiety, less nervous is whatever may be
31:47
because they've eaten our food more often.
31:50
And I hold that one near near my heart.
31:52
I've got countless stories of people coming to us and saying
31:55
how much they've lost weight off of eating our food and we've
31:58
never claimed to be a health food restaurant.
32:01
That's not what we're trying to be.
32:03
We want to be a better for you brand that serves incredible
32:07
flavor and that's just trusted that it's not laced with all the
32:11
wonderful new additives that are are creative, creative food
32:14
scientists out there have decided to make food last
32:17
longer. And so we try to to always have
32:20
food with integrity as best as we possibly can.
32:25
You know, if I don't put it in my own home, I won't put it on
32:27
our menu, quite frankly. Starting a restaurant from the
32:32
ground up, Chris, is pretty tough.
32:35
You know, even with the prior experience that you've had, the
32:39
experience that your father's had and all the connections that
32:41
you guys were able to kind of bring to the table.
32:44
What was maybe this most surprising hurdle that you faced
32:48
early on and how did you overcome it?
32:51
Think early on realizing how difficult it is to scale the
33:00
magic of your early days with their early team.
33:07
That is everybody was all in on the mission, the passion, you
33:13
know, Then when you start growing a bigger company, how do
33:16
you how do you continue that magic into new areas, new
33:19
regions, new territories, new people coming into your
33:21
ecosystem, right with the training systems and processes
33:24
and culture, scaling your culture.
33:28
It is so difficult because cultures are different in
33:32
regions. You know what, what is something
33:35
here in Palm Beach County is not the same in Miami or up out of
33:39
the state, you know. And so scaling that and I think
33:43
to, you know, 10 years is a lot of meetings, a lot of people in
33:50
our team asking if we should do this or change that or alter
33:56
this or do this for simplicity. And not only that, but with the
34:01
headwinds that we get COVID, the four horsemen of COVID after
34:06
supply chain crisis and the great resignation and we barely
34:10
could have anybody come to our our to work and then inflation,
34:15
blah, blah, blah, and all the fun staying true to your brand,
34:20
your training, your execution while evolving with times
34:28
changing. And this is nothing that just
34:31
our business. This is every business, but I've
34:34
learned a lot of wonderful lessons that I would love to
34:36
pass on to people. Just how important it is to
34:39
figure out your brand early on, keep it consistent, pivot when
34:45
needed, constantly look for opportunities to get better, but
34:53
staying true to your brand and staying true to what made you
34:57
great and never taking your eye off the ball on trainings,
35:01
training and development of your people and standard operating
35:04
procedure, systems and processes.
35:06
I think if I could pass that knowledge on any entrepreneur is
35:11
figure out your brand, lean into it, own it and never take your
35:15
eye off the ball and training in systems and processes and
35:17
development of people. So, Chris, this is something
35:22
I've run into as an entrepreneur and I've seen it with a lot of
35:25
my friends too. And you touched on it here.
35:28
There's sort of this, you know, questioning of, you know, when
35:31
does it that you need to stay true to your original concept,
35:35
your brand, you know, the the picture that you had painted
35:39
from early days. And you know, how do you decide
35:42
when it's time to let go of some of those ideas and pivot?
35:46
Have you developed a rule of thumb for how to figure that
35:48
out? Never gonna ask that question.
35:52
So not a rule of thumb, not a specific thing that we can post
35:58
on it. Obviously.
36:00
You know, I think the biggest thing as you ask that question,
36:05
which is probably one of my profound questions I've ever
36:07
been asked, is you've got your KPIs in your business.
36:11
And when you see one of the KPIs coming off, whatever measure
36:16
that is right, making sure that we ask why it's changing, why
36:23
it's going up or down, and then ask why five more times the,
36:28
the, the, the rule of the five why's.
36:30
And, and I think sometimes we even fall short of doing that,
36:34
but it's so important to really understand their root cause.
36:41
Getting great information from your guest customer, however
36:44
people want to look at it, great information from your team,
36:48
great data and then learning on what you can do to improve to to
36:53
to change that. But also making sure that you
36:56
put it through. You know the brand DNA exercise
37:00
where you're not altering your brand that that your your
37:04
customers guests have come to to know and love you by.
37:12
That's that's really insightful. And I think maybe you, I'm kind
37:16
of reading between the lines, maybe where you were going with
37:18
this is don't compromise on the brand.
37:23
Like you can make changes, you know, to suit customer needs or,
37:28
you know, to make it fit into the employees workflow better.
37:31
But you know, there's some core concepts, there's some core
37:36
values to the ballet brand that you created that you know you
37:41
don't ever want to compromise on, am I right?
37:43
Yeah. And understanding why do people
37:46
come to your brand? Why do people come to your
37:49
product, your service? And really leaning in on that
37:53
cause because there's nothing more important than than trying
37:57
to solve, you know, it's not what you're what we're trying to
37:59
do for ourselves. We're trying to make sure that
38:01
we're, we're solving someone else's opportunity or their
38:04
problem, right? And our, their problem is they
38:06
don't want to cook at home or they don't want to be in this
38:08
situation they're in. They want to go to an experience
38:12
and they want to have great food cooked for them and made for
38:14
them and prepared for them. Because if not, they'd be doing
38:17
at home or their home, which as we all know, doing your own
38:20
dishes is not fun. And, and the amount of food you
38:23
have to buy and cook and waste at home is so challenging.
38:28
It's so challenging. And that's why I think our
38:29
business serves such a wonderful need for for society.
38:36
So Chris, you guys are working on your first drive through
38:39
concept in South Tampa, is that open?
38:43
What's the? Timeline on that?
38:44
No, we've had it open for a few years now and you know, it's
38:47
actually performing quite well. It was a it was a beta concept
38:53
to see, you know, obviously for drive through, for speed.
38:55
And really it's for her, the, the, the working person who
38:59
doesn't have the time. And, and you don't realize how
39:02
challenging it is for a mom to get her kids out of a car,
39:06
especially when they're in still in the car seats, unbuckle them,
39:09
carry them in, deal with their little Rugrats.
39:12
And I know because I just kind of got out of that zone and then
39:16
get back in the car with the food.
39:18
And so if you can just stay in the in the drive through, drive
39:20
through, order your food and hand it to you and go on your
39:23
very way is there. So, you know, and and people,
39:27
you know, time is so precious these days.
39:29
And so if we can focus on our guest time and making sure that
39:33
we're there so, you know, it's going good.
39:35
I'm not sure if it's a, you know, long term plan in Bolay
39:41
because it it does offer some unique challenges.
39:44
But yeah, we're still we're still in it.
39:46
And I think that's that to back to our earlier question, right,
39:49
Anthony is innovation and how much you innovate and how much
39:53
do you execute what you know works.
39:56
And I think, you know, across the journey is is those there's
40:00
those lessons learned of over innovation can can lead to
40:04
distraction. Taking your eye off the prize
40:08
and of execution. So again, that's the balance of
40:11
innovation and execution. So Chris, let's talk about
40:16
growth. You mentioned earlier in the
40:18
interview being open now to strategic regional partners.
40:23
Aside from that, how else do you think about growth here in the
40:27
next couple of years? So we've got a, a real strong
40:32
five year vision and it's really to increase our, our traffic in
40:37
our restaurants, our current existing restaurants.
40:39
We believe that we can do so much more in our current
40:42
footprint and, and getting way more involved in our communities
40:46
and taking that up. Then secondarily, we believe
40:49
there's so many, so much more white space in the state of
40:52
Florida to grow our brand and bring our beautiful food to and,
40:56
and, and bold flavors to, to new communities, while also looking
41:01
for great partners that can help us expand the brand outside of
41:05
the state that have, you know, regional operational excellence.
41:09
They know that this corner is stronger in this corner because
41:14
with our smaller team, we don't have the resources right now to
41:18
grow it out of state at this time.
41:19
But yeah, and I think I don't, we don't care what the framework
41:24
is. It's the right person and you
41:26
find the right person. The framework will fall into
41:29
place and everybody will be successful because we have more
41:32
guests choosing us than than other restaurants and more so
41:35
than cooking at home. Yeah.
41:38
So obviously, you know, you want somebody who has that
41:40
operational experience in the industry.
41:43
But aside from that, what personality traits do you think
41:46
you're looking for? Hard work, oh man, hard work to
41:50
understand that if you're going to be building a brand in a new
41:53
community that you're doing that.
41:55
You know, Olay is a household name brand here in, in some of
41:58
these parts of Florida, but it's not a household name in the
42:01
United States, right? So we, you know, building that
42:04
name and in an in a regional area is going to be a fun
42:09
journey, but it's a journey, I think teamwork and
42:13
collaboration, realizing that, hey, you're going to give us
42:16
some great new ideas and we're going to put those in test and
42:20
learn and get better from your ideas.
42:23
But also listen to us because we've made a lot of mistakes
42:28
along the journey and we know what works and what doesn't work
42:31
and always hope willing to try that said procedure again in a
42:37
more controlled environment and see what works and what doesn't
42:41
work. Yeah, collaboration.
42:44
That's key. Chris, let's take a little bit
42:48
of a turn here. I'd like to hear about a big,
42:50
serious challenge that you've overcome in your life, how you
42:53
got through that, who you leaned on, and what you learned coming
42:55
through it. Oh man, there's a lot.
42:59
There's a lot there. I think, you know, when you,
43:03
when you ask that question, the first one that comes into it is
43:06
when I started the brand, my wife was six months pregnant and
43:10
we, we decided to have a restaurant and a baby at the
43:12
same time, which is anybody could ever know.
43:15
And I think I have learned that the more you throw at me, the
43:21
the better I do. I get, I get very bored with a
43:24
few problems. I like to have a lot of problems
43:26
and like, and I just step up and, and go to work.
43:29
So I think my wife and I, you know, leaning in to, to, to take
43:34
care of the kids and she's a full time working mom too.
43:36
So that's always been one of our challenges.
43:39
Another time, though, it is ironic.
43:44
I was working in the restaurant industry out out in Texas and
43:47
working 65 hours, I mean, long, long hours, right?
43:50
And making little, little money and realizing that, you know, at
43:54
that time I didn't have a college degree because I thought
43:58
it would be a professional polar player.
43:59
I didn't need a college degree. So I, I, I left college and
44:03
thought I could just do life without it in the United States.
44:05
And what I realized was how just what did I learn from college?
44:10
I learned to get through college right?
44:12
I think I took a lot. I was a finance major and I
44:14
learned a lot about, you know, accounting and numbers.
44:17
But do I remember any of that stuff now?
44:19
No, I think it gave me the ability to to dig deep and learn
44:23
and collaborate and teamwork. I love some of the history
44:26
lessons I learned. But where I'm landing the plane
44:29
here is that I thought you could be successful in in America
44:36
without going to college. And I really learned how many
44:40
people ask you where you go to school and if you don't really
44:42
have that kind of check mark, that rite of passage.
44:45
It's important. I think it's important.
44:48
It doesn't matter where you go to college.
44:50
I think, you know, I don't think so.
44:52
I think it's just that, hey, you, you, you got past that part
44:55
of our society and that's I don't know how accurate or
44:58
honest that is, but that's what I felt and what I learned.
45:00
So going back to college at 22 years old in classes with 19
45:06
year olds, you don't realize that age gap, but there's a big
45:08
age gap there. I didn't go back to party at
45:11
that time, which is cool. I went back to really become
45:15
friends with professor, sit in the front row, go deep.
45:18
So I don't know, I don't think every person is meant to go to
45:26
college right after high school. I think for me, it was a
45:29
beautiful journey was my journey was different.
45:31
I learned the importance of college versus just go to
45:35
college. That's the next chapter.
45:36
You know, I went back as I wanted to go back.
45:38
I wanted to be there and I wanted to learn and I didn't
45:41
want to go just to, to, to be part of the party and have that
45:45
fun. I really wanted to go back and,
45:47
and, and get that great degree. And I think, you know, that's
45:52
something for people to think about.
45:54
Not if he's meant to go right out of college.
45:55
He's good to go do some trade, go work and understand the why.
46:00
I'm always about you got to tell me the why.
46:01
If you don't give me the why, why are we doing this?
46:05
Yeah, this is interesting because I've had a similar
46:07
conversation with my wife. We both got college degrees.
46:10
She has a a master's, she's a a speech therapist.
46:14
But as I look back on that college experience, yeah, I
46:19
don't really remember too much of what they actually taught us
46:23
in the courses It did, You know, there was a lot of, you know,
46:26
life management skill, learning, you know, being on my own,
46:31
having a job, you know, learning to study, you know, just kind of
46:36
all that independence. But there's a part of me that
46:38
wonders. And would I have just been
46:40
better off in that time, like going and getting a job and just
46:45
like learning, you know, from the real world, 'cause I know
46:49
there were parts of my college career where I sort of got
46:51
stuck. And I'm like, all I'm learning
46:53
is how conceptually things work. I want to go, like, get my
46:57
fingers dirty. And I'm a parent.
47:00
Two young kids. You've got two young kids.
47:02
How do you think about it for them?
47:03
Like, I hear what you're saying about like, it's sort of the box
47:06
that society intends you to check, but I don't know, guys
47:11
like us, sometimes we zig when everybody else is zagging.
47:14
So how do you think about it for your kids?
47:17
You know, we're going to have a lot of open conversations as
47:19
long as they're going forward, right at the end of the day,
47:23
happy and being contributing society and going forward and
47:26
developing their brain, getting skills, constant teachings is
47:30
important. You know, it's, it's, it's a,
47:40
it's a challenging question and a challenging environment,
47:43
especially now with AI and good God, the, the, the, the speed at
47:49
which life is changing right now.
47:52
I will say one of the most profound things that my father
47:54
said to me, and I'll never forget it is I was when I went
47:57
back to college, I wanted to get out so fast.
47:59
I wanted to get it, get out, get in done because I was, you know,
48:01
he was Chris. Here's some advice I'm going to
48:04
give you. You got the rest of your life to
48:08
worry about mortgage payments, college, making money.
48:12
And you do, you only have a small window of a little bit of
48:17
that carefree, you know, where you do still have a spring break
48:21
and a college break and summer off if you want.
48:24
And, and everybody's got different work ethics.
48:26
But I will tell you as you and I both know that time away from
48:29
work and pressures of life that, that, that, that never stop
48:35
until you retire. And even then, I don't know if
48:38
I'll ever retire. I'm not the retired type.
48:41
So really enjoying that go study abroad.
48:44
I will tell you me living in all the countries I lived in through
48:48
polo and my study abroad when I was at I was in college.
48:52
I think to me, those worldly experiences are probably more
48:58
important than than some of the stuff I learned in college.
49:01
Now you still need to really learn, you know, to, to going
49:04
way off topic here, but to develop your brain, that brain.
49:07
I, I talk to my kids. That's the most important thing
49:09
is it's the strongest muscle in your body and you got to work it
49:12
and take care of it, feed it with great food and, and, and
49:17
keep challenging yourself too. I mean, even us in business,
49:19
right, we all get caught in ruts doing the same thing.
49:22
So I, I find myself, you know, I'm scratching the edge to be a,
49:26
you know, get my pods license, something that's just constantly
49:30
forcing your brain always push to be uncomfortable because
49:33
growth comes from being uncomfortable.
49:35
I truly believe that. Yeah.
49:38
What do you think your superpower is, Chris?
49:43
Finding the fun and everything. I can sure find fun.
49:47
You put me in any situation. I think I get that from my
49:49
father, no matter what. If it's sitting in a line in an
49:53
airport or I'll find the fun. If it's at the restaurant doing
49:59
line check, I'll find a way to put a game in it and gamify it.
50:02
I just think that I'm I'm a serious person, but I like to.
50:07
I don't know, life short, enjoy it like have fun because I think
50:12
when you have fun things just you, you do better at it.
50:16
I don't know, you just excel when you're enjoying it versus
50:19
something you're not enjoying. OK, well, let me ask for a
50:22
little parenting advice there. You've got, you know, kids about
50:25
the same age as mine, little younger.
50:28
And man, I got so many things I want to teach them in so many
50:31
ways. I want to try to help them with
50:33
their school work, but I, I must be like the opposite of you
50:37
because my kids look at me as like the king of anti fun.
50:40
And so like, how do you approach kids?
50:43
Because I think the way that you approach kids and you think
50:46
about we're all just big kids, right?
50:49
And so you, if you can get to the core of how to make
50:52
something fun for your kids, I think it's a little easier to
50:55
translate that into making it fun for the big kids that work
50:59
with you. Well, I think a great question.
51:01
I think, you know, I take my, both my children, 6 and 9 year
51:04
old to Balay and I say, Hey, what would you all want to do
51:08
when dad goes in there to, to, to celebrate our team and, and
51:12
kind of check in on a restaurant and they say I want to work the
51:15
cash register. I want to serve cookies to
51:17
people. Awesome.
51:19
So I, I, I don't tell them what to do.
51:22
I'm obviously kind of probing and I have fun with that and I
51:26
love that I watch my daughter jump behind the register and the
51:30
team members teach them. And I just said this is what
51:32
it's all about. That's how I grew up in the
51:33
business. And they get to see hard work
51:35
doesn't just money just doesn't come.
51:38
It comes from being there and really taking care of our
51:40
people. I think you have to love
51:43
teaching. I love to coach and teach.
51:45
I love giving my kids lessons and taking that, you know, you
51:48
could do stuff with them. And sometimes I find myself
51:50
rushing through a project, you know, home improvement project.
51:54
But then I say, what's the point?
51:55
The whole point of me having my kids do this is not, you know,
51:58
for, for free labor because by all means they're not, they're
52:01
not easy good labor. At that point, it's a teach them
52:05
and, and teach them how to fix an air conditioning at your home
52:09
or a pipe that's busted. My, you know, we love doing PVC
52:13
out in our yard for irrigation and I love doing that, but I
52:15
love teaching my kids something new all the time, So constantly.
52:19
And then when my son can repeat back to me or my daughter can
52:22
repeat back to me how to do something that I taught them,
52:26
that's rewarding. Like to me, I don't know, I
52:30
think that that's that dopamine that you get.
52:33
I just taught another human being, especially the most
52:35
important human beings to me or my children.
52:37
And when they get to, to like teach it back to me or tell me
52:41
or teach someone else, I don't know, sometimes that's 90% of
52:46
time for me that's I know more about that than what's in our
52:49
bank account. I mean that that to me is
52:52
rewarding, right? I love it.
52:55
How about some daily practices, habits, rituals for you?
52:59
Get your day started, keep you going.
53:01
Yeah, and they're hard to stay on top all the time.
53:04
But I have found that when I don't do these rituals, my day
53:08
doesn't go well. So I can directly correlate.
53:10
If I didn't do that, that's where my day didn't start off
53:14
with success, Right. You always hear that, that
53:16
incredible general talk about making your bed in the morning.
53:19
I think, you know, my wife and I went for a run this morning.
53:23
It doesn't have to be 15 mile run.
53:26
I'm a triathlete so I do a lot of that fun stuff.
53:28
But even if you just get out there and get a one mile run in,
53:31
you know, you get that heart rate going.
53:33
And I was talking to my wife this morning when I run and I
53:36
just said, man, what would it be like if we didn't get to see
53:38
this part of the day and, you know, seeing the sun come up or
53:41
smell that air and get that day started?
53:45
I think making sure that we always say we love each other
53:49
when we leave the house and, and and never leave the house in a
53:53
fight with your significant other.
53:55
That's important. And I am very big on reminders,
54:02
you know, because we get so busy.
54:03
So one of my secret secret successes, I have a lot of
54:07
reoccurring reminders in the using technology to help us
54:11
because I think we're get so much going on that I just have
54:14
these pop up reminders on my phone.
54:15
Hey, remind to do this on Mondays or think about this, top
54:18
three things that you can do to move the needle, send
54:21
inspirational message to the team, things that come
54:25
naturally. But if a lot of things pop up in
54:28
the way. So it's good to just have those,
54:30
those little using technology to not do our work, but to remind
54:35
us to do work. Yeah.
54:38
So you mentioned technology, AI is, you know, here we are at the
54:43
tail end of 2025, top of everybody's mind.
54:46
How are you guys using it and how do you plan to use it going
54:50
forward? We are constantly with our
54:55
fingers on the pulse on it to the best of our abilities.
54:58
Remember, we're in the restaurant business, we're not
54:59
tech and I constantly am using it to help us do what we're
55:05
doing faster, right said procedure faster, analyze this
55:10
faster, being part of it to where we're not missing it, but
55:20
also not being so bleeding edge where we just focus on that.
55:23
Because I think if you just focus too much on the AI aspect
55:26
of it, you become, I don't know, again, it's that innovation
55:32
versus execution, where is that balance?
55:35
So I think that kind of constantly looking how we can
55:39
make I, I want to utilize it in our business to do things that
55:45
is pointless for our people that do.
55:47
If it's not moving the needle for a human being to be doing
55:50
it, then we should be using AI to do it.
55:53
And I think that's a big part of what we we do.
55:55
So what's something fun that you like to do outside of work,
56:00
Chris? I think everything outside, I'm
56:06
an outdoors person. So we, we love being in the
56:09
outdoors, mountain biking, hiking, running, do triathlons,
56:13
riding horses. I think anything I'm at we're,
56:15
we're, we don't sit very often. My wife, I always talk about,
56:20
you know, Mondays where we're tired, but it's because our
56:22
weekends were just as intense as our weeks.
56:24
So we, we, we go pretty hard in our family.
56:27
Now, what's one thing you wish more people knew about your
56:31
industry? How much goes into it behind the
56:38
scenes to get that food made right every single day?
56:42
And I understand that people don't need to care because we
56:46
are asking for their hard earned money and we respect that.
56:50
But I also know that if people knew that what it takes for
57:00
broccoli to end from the field, getting picked by somebody,
57:03
implanted by incredible farmer that journey to getting it into
57:08
our restaurant unboxed, quality checked, cooked, served, and
57:14
then also with a smile. There's a long journey there and
57:18
and I think people sometimes take for granted of our food
57:22
supply chain and how fragile and beautiful and hard it is to get
57:26
it right. I mean, our, our farmers and
57:28
what they do to produce our, our, our food and, and, and, and
57:33
and make the world go around is important because I don't know
57:36
about you, but I don't, I don't have a pill yet to do all that.
57:38
So it's still someone's hard work out there doing it.
57:41
But but again, this is what we do it.
57:44
We're we're we're humbled and honored that we get to serve so
57:46
many people with our hard work. That's really cool.
57:50
Chris, I've just got one more question for you today.
57:53
But before I ask it, I want to do three things.
57:55
First of all, anybody who wants to get in touch with Chris
57:58
directly, best way to reach him is on Instagram at Chief Chris
58:02
Gannon under score belay. What's the chief part of it for?
58:06
Is that chief executive officer? No, I was Chief Osceola at
58:09
Florida State. I got to represent Osceola, an
58:14
amazing pageantry. And so I've always kind of just
58:16
held on to that chief chief word.
58:18
So it's kind of fun. I love it and we'll have a link
58:21
to that in the show notes. Also, you can e-mail them at
58:24
info@belay.com and any relevant messages his team will forward
58:29
directly to Chris. Also, as a reminder to
58:32
listeners, if you want to get more employees access to
58:35
benefits that won't hurt them financially and carries a
58:39
financial upside for the company, reach out to us at Add
58:41
Back benefits.com. And finally, if you'll take just
58:44
a moment to leave us a comment or review on your favorite
58:47
podcast app, you will hold a special place in my heart
58:50
forever. Thank you very much.
58:52
Last question for you, Chris. A year from now, you and I
58:56
reconnect and you are celebrating something big.
58:59
What's that big thing you hope to be celebrating one year from
59:02
today? Sounds simple, but Char grills
59:11
completely rolled out at all our restaurants.
59:13
So we were doing oven. Now we're going back to char
59:15
grills and it's a daunting task to re put those back in our
59:18
company, our culture. And I think along with that the
59:22
growth mechanism of building restaurants again in a very
59:27
controlled approach. I would love that.
59:31
Explain to me the different effect of oven versus char
59:34
grilled and why the switch? It's a deep conversation, but
59:38
really the flavor enhancement when you're when you're giving
59:41
that Mylar reaction, which is the charring effect on a
59:45
protein. Get it just right.
59:47
It just, you know, as you know, put a piece of chicken in an
59:50
oven, put a piece of chicken on the char grill and you taste
59:53
them side by side. And when you get it right on the
59:55
char grill, it's infinitely better.
59:58
You know, it just puts that beautiful smell of of BBQ ish.
1:00:03
You know that kind of char smells in the restaurant?
1:00:06
Not BBQ BBQ, but just. That great searing smell in our
1:00:12
dining rooms and it and it gets us back to being not push button
1:00:16
people, but really said and forget, you know, chefs with
1:00:20
culinary passion. And it's a big, it's a big
1:00:25
initiative within our brand right now.
1:00:28
Well, it's really cool. Chris Gannon, CEO and Co founder
1:00:32
of Ballet. I want to be the first to thank
1:00:34
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
1:00:37
I really appreciate. It honor to be here.
1:00:39
Thank you. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:00:42
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:00:44
Thanks for learning with. Us today.