Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep 10: They Turned Burgers Into an Experience… Now It’s Going Nationwide (Brick & Mortyz Burgerz)

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Ep 10: They Turned Burgers Into an Experience… Now It’s Going Nationwide (Brick & Mortyz Burgerz) · Glovisor Podcast

• GLOVISOR: Four friends have the mission to take the burger experience to the next level and become a well-known brand. Today's episode is about more than burgers. It's about building an experience people remember. Four friends came together to create Brick and Morty's Burgers, where the grill is the show and the cooking the entertainment, and catering becomes something people talk about long after the event is over. Today, we're diving into the journey, the passion and the vision behind what they're building. Glovisor welcomes the founder and CEO, Michael Islitzer. Michael Islitzer: Hello, everybody. GLOVISOR: Hey Michael, pleasure to have you here today. you're welcome. All right, Michael, so tell us, what's the business you're in? Michael Islitzer: Thank you for having me. ⁓ we're in food and beverage industry. So I mean, the food and beverage and hospitality industry, I'd say. GLOVISOR: Okay, great. tell us a little bit about brick and morty's How that different? Michael Islitzer: So, Brick and Morty's burgers, mean. I'd have to say the best way to put it is we took a lot of popular burger brands and we, mashed them together. I'm a big person on vibe is everything, especially in today's generation with, with millennials taking over in a way you could say. and you just kind of look at the examples we have put in front of us, like with what Dave's hot chicken is doing with what Kane's is doing. And you just look at all those big brands and what they're doing. And we're like, we don't have a burger brand that does that. So how can we bring that together and, and like, GLOVISOR: ⁓ was the original concept? When did it form? Michael Islitzer: ⁓ I'd have to say like, when I was growing up in Idaho, believe it or not, my dad would take us to a burger restaurant all the time and it was called Rogers Ice Cream and Burgers. And it was their location down on Sherman and we'd always go get the bubble, ⁓ bubble gum cream and maybe a burger or some fries. So I'd have to say like growing up, coming into business and entrepreneurship, that really sparked my interest is how can I ⁓ design a brand around that? And then really we just, we've been finalizing and fine tuning everything. GLOVISOR: how long ago was that? That initial concept Michael Islitzer: I'd have to say like, of course, I'd always dream about it when I was a kid, like, ⁓ this would be cool to open a restaurant or whatever the case may be. But then I'd have to say ⁓ around 18 years old, ⁓ worked at Roger's Ice Cream and Burgers kind of like as ⁓ a stepping into the job force. And that's when I really started clicking, what can do to make this ⁓ better and and take it to next level? And then I'd have to say it was really something something I constantly always thought about for four or five years. And then I was fortunate enough to start working at Dave's Hot Chicken, the one in Seattle, Washington. I was helping open those locations And that's when I met my business partners, ⁓ Josue, Isaiah Sean. And when we originally we all kind of love the restaurant industry, but ⁓ we dream big, right? we were constantly talking about, well, what are we gonna do? And believe it or not, one day we were having ⁓ pancakes at IHOP. And all started talking possibly franchising into a brand. And then I kind of pitched the idea while I was like, guys, if we're going to franchise into a brand, why not just start our own brand? Because I'm a big person and I dream big, right? if you think about it, like, especially with the way these franchises do things nowadays, they make a lot of money off the royalties and off the marketing fees. And I was like, I want that to be me. Of course, I want to lead a successful brand. But if I'm going to pay anyone, like I want to be the guy getting paid, if that makes sense. GLOVISOR: Sure, yeah, yeah. Michael Islitzer: ⁓ we really just started talking about it and I'd have to say we probably went to breakfast and just pondered the idea four or five times. And then on that sixth breakfast, we were eating our pancakes. And that's when I had pulled out my laptop and I was like, you guys want to do this thing? And everyone was on the same page. So we had filed our LLC that morning and, that's where the journey began. ⁓ ⁓ GLOVISOR: Wow, tell us a little bit about how ⁓ your concept is than an existing burger place right now. Michael Islitzer: Well, I mean, it's different. One, there's no other vibe like the vibe we're building at Brick and Morty's. I'd have to say our vibe really sets us apart. But on top of that, we're not boring. And I don't mean that in a bad way or trying to hold shots at any of our competitors, but a lot of the burger restaurants are boring. I mean, you have a couple of ones that stand out, but a lot of them are boring. And like I our biggest goal is just, ⁓ one, bringing the together with food all of the communities we serve, but having that vibe, having that next level product. So we focus on fresh everything. We make our sauces fresh. We cut our lettuce fresh. We cut our tomatoes. So just have a major focus on quality, a major focus on the guest experience, a major focus on just creating a vibe, a vibe that carries out throughout the country, I'd say. GLOVISOR: you have an actual brick and mortar location that people can into Michael Islitzer: yeah, so. I mean, I'll explain it like this. our entire last year, we did a lot of like community days. So that's one of the things we were adamant about is building this brand with the community. So we would go out and we'd set up a pop-up booth and we'd be handing out free burgers, free fries, and just kind of getting the feedback. And we welcomed all feedback, whether it was tough feedback, good feedback. We welcomed it all because, you know, community matters. And especially when you're trying to build a brand with that community first motto that's important and it was important to us so like the entirety of last year we we did a couple events that were paid but a majority of it was the community days and building the brand that way. I'd have to say we hosted probably four community days to where we were just handing out thousands of burgers for free. And you know, it's a good feeling, especially like first community day was a little slower, but then our second one, everybody was posting about it on Facebook and ⁓ of that stuff. So we had people surrounding us in this park You're like, this is what's possible. Like you have all these people showing out for and a lot of people were saying good things But then we go into the end of last year and that's when we started going into, how are we gonna grow the brand? And that's when we started really outreaching to franchisees. ⁓ We signed contracts with Foodie Land ⁓ I think it was 21 events, we lost five of them. So it's now 16 events throughout Texas, Atlanta, So there's events, California, Washington. So just events throughout the entire United States. So we have that. And then this year we're opening two ghost kitchens. We'll be opening one in Texas and one in the Seattle market. And then our flagship will also be opening a little bit closer towards the end of ⁓ year in the Seattle market as well. GLOVISOR: That's great. before we move on, something that I find interesting is that you wanted some feedback from people that you're giving these burgers to. was one of the most common things that you think that it was totally worth giving out just to get your feedback? Michael Islitzer: ⁓ we got a lot of criticism on our sauces and one of our sauces specifically was the Buffalo Mayo. It was too runny. And of course, a lot of people take feedback in there like, ⁓ my burger's the best in the world. It's not. You know what I mean? So that was just one the things that we were adamant about. We were, we were grateful to have opportunity to receive that feedback because to me, we can take it and we can look at it as a bad thing or we can take it especially as an new brand and use it to better the brand. And that was our biggest goal. GLOVISOR: ⁓ that, for example, the sauce, you took that back and made that sauce a little bit better. Michael Islitzer: Yep. Yep. GLOVISOR: Okay, wow. Michael Islitzer: Every of advice, I mean, even with our Cajun seasoning, that's another one. A lot of people said our Cajun seasoning wasn't Cajun-y enough. So went back to the drawing board on that. We revised the recipe and then boom, ⁓ new improved Cajun seasoning that everybody loves. of course you're going to have your people to where maybe Brick and Morty's just isn't their mesh, right? They just don't really like what we have to offer. But there are people that are like, okay, this brand has a lot of potential. GLOVISOR: you said that in the brick and mortar, the actual flagship store, let's you want to be a little different and give different customer experience when they come in. So how is that different when I come Is there more lively music? ⁓ How is it Michael Islitzer: ⁓ yeah, I mean... I mean, again, I think, especially in today's generation, leads everything. you have to have a good vibe, know, good music, you have to have a culture first environment, And it all starts, especially with your people ⁓ in restaurant working, A lot of times, like, especially I know I've seen it, I'm sure you've seen it to where you walk into a restaurant and everybody's just kind of down and out. And it's just not the vibe, you know? So it's all about vibe. GLOVISOR: Right. Michael Islitzer: It all starts with your employees making sure that again, guest, get customer service, guest satisfaction. That's top tier. It's, why we're in this industry. So if we don't have top points of that and that's where we're failing, you know, you will never be successful. But again, like I said, I think it's just about setting the vibe apart. You know, you want to have good music, you want to have good vibes, you want people to come in, you know, maybe they're having a bad day, but you want to leave with them having a good day. GLOVISOR: now, you and your pancake buddies are having wonderful breakfast here over and over, trying to flesh this out. But one those ⁓ breakfasts, sure you had to figure out who's going to do what. Because I'm sure, if I were your partner, I have no idea how to change that sauce and make it less runny. No idea at all whatsoever. did you guys have different skill sets Michael Islitzer: Yeah, I it's all about strengths and especially working this industry, you identify strengths in people and you kind of run with that. One of the things I learned in this and I use this to this day, I don't remember exactly who said it to me, but I believe it was when I was early on in my management career and I was working at Taco Bell and everybody talks about aces in their places. What does that mean? You want to have your best people in your places to where you're setting your team up for success. does that look like on an executive level for us? Sean has a really good eye for training, training people just that eye on what needs to be done for training. So we kind of gave him the lead on training operations, writing all the SOPs And then Josue is really, good about picking operations apart. And we gave him VP of operations. then Isaiah is really, good with paperwork, keeping everything organized, keeping all of those guys on the right track. So we let him do his thing there. then me, I'm very good with negotiation, talking, communicating, So this is where the piece fit. Let's run with it. GLOVISOR: thus far, what do you think the biggest for launching this business has been? Michael Islitzer: I'd have to say whenever someone steps into the, the entrepreneur vision, mean, I didn't ever think it was going to be as much as it was like with the, with the paperwork, with the negotiations with, with this, that, and the other, it's a lot, it's a lot to step into. And I mean, I'd have to say our biggest hurdle was getting over the financial hurdle because especially starting a business like this, there's a, there's a lot that goes into it. And especially when you want to build the brand, like we wanted to build the brand and we want to have the community involved in. And that's what's important to us. It's an investment. I probably ⁓ like from invoices from US foods just for handing out burgers and going, going, going. And ⁓ I'd to say that's the biggest hurdle is just being set up financially. And especially for me, I'm a younger guy, I never really understood the importance of money when I was growing up. I would get those big paychecks. And next thing you know, like I'm in things left and right. And then especially when you start to step into the ⁓ world, you understand the importance of credit, ⁓ management, this, that, and the other. So I'd have to say that was our biggest hurdle. GLOVISOR: now in hindsight, what you think is one thing probably you would have done differently to expedite the process to get you to where you are today? Michael Islitzer: ⁓ one of the things I'd have to say... Probably reaching out for help. Like reaching out to a lot of people, like for me, we reached out to a lot of people that have entire backgrounds of being in the restaurant industry, being in the hospitality industry. And I think if I were to do anything differently, would that way earlier. Like I would do that before I filed the LLC is start communicating and start having those right people in your corner. when you do have those hiccups and those roadblocks come up, you have a better way of how to navigate those because you can communicate with people that have been through those. GLOVISOR: Absolutely. one of those things that, you know, we work with a lot of different businesses as we that we coach and ⁓ often it's the same thing. A lot of the issues that they currently have, they would probably have solved them much, much earlier if and gone through the learning curve much sooner if they would have worked with someone. And are a lot of people that are willing to help people who are experienced and just want to work together to help other businesses grow. And it's to everyone's advantage. mean, you take a community that you're going into, I'm sure they're very excited because it's another business. It's another opportunity for the community to mesh together. Is that what you're seeing? Michael Islitzer: a lot of the communities we've into, I mean, it all started off like are you guys are new and then like over time it's developed like we can't wait for you guys to ⁓ open your restaurant. We can't wait to be able to go on Grubhub and and order our delivery like and that's what feels good is just watching the groves like we went from a brand that had nothing nobody we started at zero scratch and then even Dragging it on now like we have 14,000 followers on Instagram and like we have a lot of growth and we have a lot of people batting for us and and we have a lot of people like We can't wait for you to come ⁓ it's it's exciting for sure GLOVISOR: how are you the word out, aside from ⁓ Instagram? Michael Islitzer: ⁓ we, ⁓ we have a lot of marketing and like I said, I mean, especially in Washington state where we're home based right now, we've, we've been trying to go out and do as many of the events as we can. and on top of that, getting that exposure is really good, but I mean, just things for how we're going to get name out there. Once we start opening ghost kitchens and, and our flagship location towards the end of this year is just like, don't be afraid to market. Like one of of things that are written out in our marketing plan is we're gonna print 25,000 little flyers our grand opening and we're gonna go put them on cars, we're gonna go put them in restaurants, we're just gonna go put them everywhere because my biggest thing is the worst someone can say is no. what's the worst that can happen? They're gonna take our poster and throw it away. You know what I mean? But you're gonna a lot of people that see that poster. new burger restaurant opening next Friday. Let's go check GLOVISOR: That's right. Michael Islitzer: about, right? So don't be afraid to put yourself out there, put yourself in those uncomfortable situations and market your business. And on top of that, like we've tried to stay away from paid marketing, like on in the early stages, because it can eat up a lot of cost, especially, I don't want to pay for too much marketing right now when I don't have a ghost kitchen operating and I don't have a flagship operating. So it's like we've tried to stay away from the paid marketing while still trying to push that exposure. GLOVISOR: can you explain to us a little bit, what is a ghost kitchen? Michael Islitzer: Ghost Kitchen focuses on online orders, third party pickups, it's pretty much like having your own mini restaurant without having the eat-in necessarily. you'll still have DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Postmates, and then online ordering. And they can go to a kitchen and typically with the Ghost Kitchen setups, they'll have anywhere from 6 to 20 different kitchens inside one physical location. I've seen a lot of it nowadays to where a lot of people that's how they're getting started is through the ghost kitchens and all that stuff because it costs you $40,000 to open a ghost kitchen compared to opening a physical location which can cost you anywhere from 650,000 to 1.2 million. GLOVISOR: Exactly. And now, in a ghost kitchen situation, would customers be able to put in an ⁓ and pick it up? Michael Islitzer: Yes. with us, we're using Cloud Kitchens for our Ghost Kitchens. ⁓ pretty much what Cloud Kitchens does is they take you through the entire setup process. So they help you get licensed. They help you get set up on all the delivery services. And then they use, I think it's a system called Otter. So Otter pretty much puts all that into their system. And then on top of that, it'll give you a link that you can throw on your website or throw on some flyers maybe to where they can scan the QR code. And then it'll take it to a link to where they can just place a pickup order. GLOVISOR: of the things I'm thinking about right now is you're mentioning in Seattle you'll have a location and then you'll have a ghost kitchen in Texas. Is the team splitting to be able to run those locations? Michael Islitzer: our executive chef is based out of Texas so she's gonna man like our menu operations and then kind of just make sure that the ghost kitchen stays operating. We'll have employees on top of that but she'll kind of be that manager role in the ghost kitchen and then we have our team in Seattle and then believe it or not probably within the next three or four years our entire corporate office is getting moved to Texas GLOVISOR: Okay, so is the executive person who's cooking for you, is that the person who changes the sauce from now on? Who decides those changes? Okay. Michael Islitzer: Yes. Yes, yes. So our executive chef will handle like one of the things we're creating for marketing is like, especially a lot of the burger places you see them have the promotion. So one of the things we're doing to stay hip is we're doing like a burger of the month menu and a shake of the month menu. every month we'll have two or three new shakes and then two new burgers every month. And those will change out. then she's going to like a major focus she's going to have is if something's not working, ⁓ that month she's gonna pull it out of the burger of the month menu and put something else in for the following and making sure all of our stores are staying compliant with the the new menu drops and all of that fun stuff GLOVISOR: So is that how in a restaurant business you would bring a new ⁓ product to market? Would you try it out for a month or two and see what response you're getting? Michael Islitzer: typically, like, I'd say with the burger of the month menu, that's going to be a little bit different. So because your testing is going to be that month, right? And ⁓ we've a lot about it to where if we have a burger of the month that does really good, the numbers are ⁓ astronomical. Well, then going to talk about, OK, so maybe we should put that menu or put that burger on the full menu. But yeah, we're really ⁓ we probably will get point to where we're testing products before they're released, but a lot of our like burger of the month menus, our menus, all of that stuff is pretty much finalized. GLOVISOR: Gotcha. ⁓ does it take for a burger to stay on? You're testing a brand new burger and you have it out for a month. Do you do it by percentages? Do you do it by number of purchases? ⁓ do you quantify that? Michael Islitzer: typically, we want to see it. So our best-selling burger is going to be the double burger. So if it's getting up towards that and it's selling, we're going to look at those numbers and then determine that. We haven't really started basing anything off percentages or anything like that, but I could see that being a thing in the future. GLOVISOR: ⁓ were working a lot in a lot of the community events and you were handing out a lot of these burgers trying to get some feedback. ⁓ we past that point now where we're not going to be doing that? Now we're selling the burgers. Michael Islitzer: So, yeah, I think no matter what, the community days will always be something that we hold regardless, maybe a couple times a year, a couple times a quarter. Of course, I'm not going to say anything specific right now and set anything in stone because, of course, like, it's my team and my decision. So I'm not going to make that decision only by myself and force that on to everybody because I do care about my team. And but it is of those things to where, again, the community is important to me and especially when we're getting into new markets, community days are going to be a huge driver on getting into that market. Like, ⁓ hey, we're exploring Florida. Well, why don't we go down there for a weekend and hold a weekend of community days and kind of see how the market responds to it. GLOVISOR: So now you had mentioned these festivals around the country. I think you have about 16 left that you said. Is that? Michael Islitzer: Yeah, so we have 16 and they are between California, Arizona, Texas. So they're just they're scattered a little bit all over the place, but it's the Foodie Land Food Festival and they just recently acquired. I believe it was last year they had acquired the Bite of Seattle, which the Bite of Seattle. If you're in Washington, you know that event brings between 350 to 400,000 attendees for for a three day weekend event, which is just It's just crazy. Those numbers are crazy. But yeah, so they run the Bite of Seattle, which will be at that event this summer. And then they run the 626 Night Markets out of California. And then they have some other events in California. They have a decent amount of in Texas and Phoenix. And then I think they have one in Atlanta. GLOVISOR: ⁓ is the logistical setup? ⁓ I mean, are you bringing a trailer or do you have the kitchen set up? Michael Islitzer: Yeah, it'll be a truck and trailer and it's kind of like a pop-up setup. I've used seen the food tents at fairs. So it's kind of like a setup like that almost, but I know that's all they do is just mainly strictly food. They have some other different vendors in there, but they're mainly like a food festival. So they bring out like vendors from California, vendors from Washington, and they kind of just fill out all GLOVISOR: Yes. Michael Islitzer: these food festivals with different vendors. And typically we have like a 10 by 20 pop-up booth and then we have our floor plan for the pop-up booth. GLOVISOR: And when you're getting ready for these events, you trying to accommodate for 1000 people, ⁓ people? Because that's so hard to know, right? How many people are actually gonna step by? Michael Islitzer: So. Yeah, typically, yeah, typically, I do a low end and a high end. So typically, especially with these food events, you'll typically see anywhere from five to 15 % foot traffic at your booth. So we we do a low end. So we base it off 8 % and 12%. And then when we're doing our orders, we we base it off that middle ground. So we'll order off that 10 % foot traffic. And then we always have emergency plans. backup plans to where, hey, if something hits the fan, I'm gonna call our food rep. He's gonna make sure we can go do a pickup tomorrow at 6 a.m. if we have to. GLOVISOR: are there any major events or any major projects that are coming up for your business or dates? Michael Islitzer: The Bite of Seattle is going to be huge. That's probably one of our biggest events this year. And then next year, we're dreaming and hoping that we can get into Coachella. GLOVISOR: are there any other expansions that you have planned Michael Islitzer: ⁓ so right now we're working with Lexicon Bank out of Nevada, to, ⁓ our expansion into Nevada. And then we're working with a bank in Florida as well to begin our expansion into Florida. GLOVISOR: this is, growing pretty quickly. Michael Islitzer: Yep. mean, luckily, luckily, and this is why I'm so grateful we have the team we do is because we have a lot of restaurant experience if you add it all together. And of course, we're learning day by day. It's a learning progress and day by day things change. And that's one of the things we know. And we're not scared of it, especially when you're when you're scaling as quickly as we are right now. and then we GLOVISOR: Get up. Michael Islitzer: at Dave's. Dave's went from zero to 500 stores within 10 years and they just had probably one of the biggest acquisitions in the restaurant industry that we've seen in a while. it's like it's possible and you just you have to be willing to put in the work because it's it's a lot of work. GLOVISOR: Now, do you have any major marketing moves that are coming up? Michael Islitzer: Yeah, so we actually have a couple big things in the work. Of course, we're working with our marketing team in the house on daily marketing, but we also were working with the Inside Success Studio of Florida, because they're working with Daymond John on his new show, Next Level CEO. So we are getting casted on that and we should have an episode coming out a little bit later ⁓ this GLOVISOR: Wow. So how does that happen? I mean, do they contact you or do you just keep knocking on doors until finally somebody says, hey, you know what, you have a good thing here. Michael Islitzer: Yeah. ⁓ had to go through, I put in an application for it and we had to go through probably four different screening calls and all of stuff. And then they put together kind of like a synopsis of what our episode would look like. And then that had to go into a room full of producers and then they green lit our episode for production, which is really huge. GLOVISOR: Wow, that's really cool. So now what? mean, so what happens? They'll fly out to you or do you fly to them and then produce this at one of those ghost kitchens? Michael Islitzer: So we'll, yeah. we'll kind of start working on scripting out the episode, just getting all of our facts in line. I'll be sending them over pictures that they'll use in the episode. And then I'll have to fly down to Miami we could record the studio session and just get into the nitty gritty of it. But ⁓ timeline wise, they're like, it's like a six to eight month process. So just going back and forth with working all the kinks and stuff out. GLOVISOR: Okay. this is an episode we'll probably see. What channel? you know ⁓ which channel going to play on? Michael Islitzer: ⁓ so I don't know exactly what channel it'll play on, but I know that Inside Success TV, they have their own TV network, so that's really huge in itself. And then ⁓ I know that I'll have like a long list of where the episode is being streamed. and once we get closer to that, that information will be available on our website. GLOVISOR: I think that's going to be huge for your business. I you're going to get national marketing. I mean, can't beat that. Michael Islitzer: ⁓ yeah, no, we're definitely excited for it, I mean... Especially when we're in such a pivotal phase and going into next year towards summer, we're going to be franchising the business. So that's exactly what you want, especially for a TV network like that, where their focus is business and education. truly do believe it's also going to connect us with a world full of entrepreneurs, investors, franchisees, and I think it's going to do a lot of good. GLOVISOR: That's great. All right, so what do you see yourself in five years from now? Michael Islitzer: In all honesty, I want to be the fastest growing franchise. That's a big goal of mine. mean, going to take a lot of work, but ⁓ do believe we have it in us. In all retrospect, I want to have a brand that outlives its founders. And that's been a big goal from the start is building. We want this to be a legacy brand is what they would call it. GLOVISOR: Absolutely. So that's great. I like that you have that in mind, that you're thinking beyond yourself. It's not just during your time, but you want something to outlive you. what does scaling look like? mean, you you have many locations all coming in at the same time. You have the ghost kitchens, you have the actual trailer out there, that's the festivals, and every aspect is needed, right? Because they're all helping one another. build on the brand. So what does scaling look like and how does that feel as a team to put this together? Michael Islitzer: to watch brand go from zero to where we're getting to grow rapidly. ⁓ It's a bittersweet feeling and we're ready for it and we're excited it. And I think that three years ago, you could have asked me if this is where I thought I'd be. I'd be like, no, no way, Jose. ⁓ But it does. It really is. ⁓ It's a whole different world. especially like a big thing I've talked is connections. The connections you have is GLOVISOR: Ha ha ha! Michael Islitzer: is crazy because I mean, especially for us starting off so early and so young, we haven't even reached the franchising point and I've already received letters of intents for 50 locations once we do reach that franchising point. So it's like it's all about connections and how you push the business and how you push yourself and and it's one of those things to where I tell myself every day like every day we can get better every day we can grow more every day there's room for improvement and that's just the mentality you have to continue to carry, especially being in this industry, because again, it's always changing. It's always crazy. There's always hiccups and, and especially being in a position like mine, your job is to navigate through all the chaos, right? GLOVISOR: does your day look like? Are we about eight hour days? Are we talking about 15 hour days? Michael Islitzer: it really just depends. like right now ⁓ typically working 10 to 12 hours and then on that I'm heavy with meetings, it can go up to 16. So it's always crazy. I mean, I love it. I was the type of guy to where I was working two years ago. was working like 16. to 80 hours a week so now I'm doing it for myself so it feels a lot better you know GLOVISOR: sure. But ⁓ someone were to start a burger shop in their local community, what would be the one advice you would give them? Michael Islitzer: Don't be afraid to take the chance, but start small. And don't bite off more than you can chew. Don't ⁓ too much stress than you can handle. I'd say the best way for anyone to start off in this industry is look at the little food carts people are starting. Look at the ghost kitchens. start small. ⁓ You know what mean? And get your foot in ⁓ the door and the brand and streamline the processes and try to get moving in the right direction. before you try to bite off a full establishment and then two ghost kitchens. I would definitely try to be more prepared. GLOVISOR: Okay. And now who are the types of people or partners that you're looking to connect with? Michael Islitzer: I mean, I think it's just like-minded individuals. ⁓ want to be around people that believe in the brand and believe in the vision because I think negativity is a killer. I don't like it when people crap on your dreams, per se, right? So it's about, I want to be around positive people, like-minded people, entrepreneurs, and it's just, that's what I want to build myself around. Just having the right people around. GLOVISOR: And you also want people to contact you about franchising Michael Islitzer: mean, we're ⁓ our website right now. It's going through an entire official corporate rebrand. But yeah, we're getting a franchising section set up. going ⁓ to our contact email on our website probably within the next couple of days. So yeah, we have a contact me form on our website. So if anybody wants to reach out, anybody's interested, they can just go to our website, fill out that contact me form. GLOVISOR: And I'm sure you're always open to raising capital. Michael Islitzer: ⁓ yeah, ⁓ yeah. I mean, most definitely, of the things I will say is like, we have a really, really good team and we are ready to grow and grow quick. And ⁓ not afraid to bring on more capital because that just helps the purpose, right? That helps us grow faster and that helps us get to where we want to be. And ⁓ I said, I think my biggest goal for right now is getting into next year when we get into that franchising aspect because that instantly opens the door and puts 50 stores and developments. GLOVISOR: And you haven't even marketed this franchise aspect yet. Michael Islitzer: No, and it's really just like I said, that's why I think connections and and just not being afraid to talk to people and put yourself out there is so so important because you're gonna see people they're like, how old are you? Like I've gotten that so much like you're how old? I'm only 25 and you're building an entire brand like I got respect for that. it's one of those things don't be afraid to put yourself out there and push because nobody's gonna push your business for you you have to push your business you have to be the voice you have to be the one selling your company it's like if you're afraid to sell your company you're not gonna nobody's gonna know about you GLOVISOR: That's great closing advice. should listeners go to follow you, support you, ⁓ get in touch? Michael Islitzer: if you go to our website, it's www.bricknmortys.com the N, mortysburgers.com. At the of the page, our homepage, you'll have the contact me form, and then you'll have the links to all of our social medias. so that's where you guys can reach us. I hope to hear from everybody. GLOVISOR: Well, thank you, Michael, for sharing your journey, and I look forward to seeing your business grow. Michael Islitzer: Well, we appreciate it, Joe. And like I said, I truly do appreciate you having us out here to be able to share the journey and kind of share working more days. And I'm definitely excited to see this come together. GLOVISOR: Excellent. All right, till the next one.