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Mecha Noodle Bar’s Blueprint for Giving Back · Choppin’ It Up by Bloomberg Intelligence

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Bloomberg Intelligence. BI provides research on industries, companies
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and expert topics, delivering key data from BI analysts and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: they're given industry. Now Here is your Bloomberg Intelligence research team.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Chopping It Up Episode eight. I'm your host,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Mike Allen. I'm the senior restaurant and food service analyst
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: at Bloomberg Intelligence, and it's my pleasure to introduce this
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: week's guest, Rich. Yes, Rich is the co founder and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: CEO of Metcha. Uh hey doing today, Rich, fantastic, happy
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to be here, Thanks, Thanks for thanks for joining me.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: It's been it's been a busy week for both of
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: us at a restaurant finance and development conference. Um so,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time. So, so why don't we
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: start by you just kind of letting the listeners know
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: about Metcha, you know, talk about the cuisine, a service type,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: price point, anything else that that you think is important
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: for the for the listeners to know. Yeah, I mean
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Metria can be summed up in three words, foam, ramen,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and cocktails. We focus on those three things in a
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: design forward space with a full service bar, a full
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: service restaurant service. However, also can be quick service in
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: terms of grabbing a bowl and going at the end
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: of the day, we always talk about about a bowl
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and a stiff drink. That's Metria with some great hip
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: hop vibsh That sounds like it's right up my alley,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: so I have to get over to Metcha. It's it's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: it's everyone's alley, man, everyone's out. I'm telling you, I
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: don't care if it's a fifteen year old or fifty
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: five year old. You know, heads bob, and they smile
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: when they when they taste that braw that's awesome man.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: And uh and where you located throughout Connecticut and recently
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: opened up in Massachusetts. So we have five locations in
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the Connecticut market. Recently opened up in downtown Boston and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Seaport and also Brookline as well. Okay, very cool. So
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: what what where did the name come from? So I'm
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: actually the co founder, my best friend since childhood as
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the founder. He started Metcha in two thirteen, and you know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: his goal was very simple. He wanted to create a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: mom and pop restaurant that had clean bathrooms. So we
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: took that inspiration to create the name. And the name
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Mitcha breaks down to mom and pop in Vietnamese. So
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  Speaker 1: we put him together and MITCHA was born. Very cool. Uh.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And so you grew up in the restaurant business, but
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: your career journey really wasn't a straight line. So uh
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: kind of time to talk about how you got here. Yeah, yeah,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: not at all. I mean, at the end of the day,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the food service business, I always say it was my
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: greatest teacher and the reason why it's been teaching me.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: So as I was five years old, my dad was
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: an immigrant to this country from day a car Republic,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and he opened up a Delhi. So I was five
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and I was the kid who was going to work
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: before going to PM kindergarten. You know, I was on
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the milk create, I was behind the register. Um. I
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: grew up in that Delhi, and you know, I learned
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a lot about people. I learned a lot of hospitality. Um.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And because I learned all that, I swear it off
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and I went to college and I said, you know what,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be an attorney. Uh. And I did
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: an internship. I remember my first summer after a freshman
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: year at n y U, and I said, this is
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: not for me, absolutely not. Um. So I pivoted and
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I went into pre business at n y U, and
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to make you a long story short, graduated and did
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: some investment banking, a little private equity work, and still found, like,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you know what, this is just not for me. Uh.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Took one more pivot before getting a restaurants, which was
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: doing some nonprofit work helping diverse communities get jobs on
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Wall Street, believe it or not. And it was amazing
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and it was fulfilling, and it was everything I wanted
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  Speaker 1: it to be, but it just wasn't enough. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: wake up every day if you know, like you know what,
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  Speaker 1: I'm making the impact I want to make. So I
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: called them my dad and said, hey, you know you've
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: been visiting me at n y U every year for
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the last four years. We go to the best restaurants
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  Speaker 1: in the city. Like there's a there's a love and
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: art to this industry, and I want to apply that
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  Speaker 1: to your Delhi, meaning I want to take that soulful
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  Speaker 1: Latin cuisine that we eat and grew up eating in
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  Speaker 1: our home and I want to put in a full
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: service environment with the bar. And he said, you know
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: you've never steered yourself wrong. Come home and give it
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  Speaker 1: a shot and that's on his own, which was our
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: very first restaurant was born back in two thousand eleven.
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  Speaker 1: Very cool, And that's a good segue into my next question, right,
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  Speaker 1: because charitable charitable giving is key to the d n
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  Speaker 1: A of the Metro brand. So can you talk a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: little bit about eat Justice and and how that's how
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  Speaker 1: that got started and now it's evolved. Yeah, it's not
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  Speaker 1: just key of the brand. Is the reason why we exist.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: And the reason why I say that is at that
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  Speaker 1: first restaurant was just me and myself, uh concurrently my
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: business partner. He was working inside of his family's like
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: little nanager square foot mom and pop Vienamese restaurant, and
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: he evolved out of that after seeing me kind of
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: take the jump on my own and started Metcha in
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and thirteen his own and at the time
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  Speaker 1: there was no Roman in Connecticut whatsoever, and he felt
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: like there was a big opportunity to scale the business,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: but he needed some help. He needed somebody with a
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: more finance background and operations background, and he turned to me.
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  Speaker 1: But there was a precondition to being his partner. There
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: was two One was to see a spiritual coach which
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  Speaker 1: he saw just to make sure meet him on the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: same page interest of energy and intention. But the second one,
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  Speaker 1: which we always tell people was that we had to
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  Speaker 1: find a way to get back. We will not grow
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  Speaker 1: much unless giving back because as part of our DNA.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So when I joined, you know, that was a leading
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: thought process for us. And what we came up with was,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: how can we leverage the existing revenue stream of our
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: business to do good in our community? Right? Restaurants generate
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: a ton of revenue, right, and if there's a way
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to leverage that to make an impact, then that's why
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: we want our restaurant brand and our restaurant company to grow.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: So we created in Justice and been rolling ever since.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Very cool. Um, you know, I'd imagine that this drive
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: sales and creates a more loyal employee base. Um. Can
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: you talk about how you know, I guess, how you
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: raise the money and um, how the employees have some
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: say and where the money goes. Yeah, I mean you
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: started with the guests. That's outside in. We'd like to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: talk about Injustice from the inside out, right, So the
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: inside out meaning is the company intention first and foremost
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: to give back. So the way the company does that
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: is by adding fifty cents to every bowl around and
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  Speaker 1: we sell each month, and that fifty cents is collected
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  Speaker 1: throughout the entire month, and at the end of the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: month is donated to a nonprofit in the local community.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: The reason why I say it's inside out is because
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  Speaker 1: it starts first with our intention and our commitment to
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  Speaker 1: highlighting on our menu. Hey, we're increasing everything fifty cents.
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  Speaker 1: The bowl says fourteen and then a little asterisk and uh,
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  Speaker 1: the justice purple as fifty cents. And that starts with
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: us as owners and as leaders. But from there, that
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  Speaker 1: fifty cents and where it goes is actually determined by
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the restaurant staff and the leadership. Each person, whether you
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: are a general manager or a dish washer, has the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: opportunity to say, hey, I cared deeply about this cause.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Here's a community or a group of people or nonprofit
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  Speaker 1: doing really great work in this space. Can we raise
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: funds for them? And our answer is absolutely uh. And
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: we ask that person who makes the nomination to be
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: part of the process. Right, we want you to engage
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: that nonprofit. We want you to really learn about what
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  Speaker 1: they do so that we can better spread that message
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  Speaker 1: to not only our staff, but to our guests as well. Um.
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  Speaker 1: And you know each month that that my mouth has
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  Speaker 1: has changed from the first very first campaigns about three
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars and our last campaign just cracked twenty dollars. Awesome. Um.
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  Speaker 1: What are some of the charities that your employees have
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  Speaker 1: picked over the last year. I mean, they ranged the
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  Speaker 1: gamut because that's the beauty of the whole idea of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: putting it back in their hands, right, it's the human experience.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Every single person cares about something different. And as much
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: as it's amazing to rally behind a single cause like
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: some companies do, we like to celebrate our staff and
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: we have this ethos that says, be excellent BU and
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  Speaker 1: we see this as a way of leaning into that.
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  Speaker 1: You know, b excellent means do the best that you
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  Speaker 1: can possibly do every day. But BU means don't don't
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  Speaker 1: hide behind what you care about and and don't conform to,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you know, a generalist idea of what it means to
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  Speaker 1: be charitable. UM. So, I mean, most recently we did
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: one with the Catalyst Foundation. It was actually our very
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: first international campaign rates and what the Catalyst Foundation does
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  Speaker 1: is that the aim to stop human trafficking and they're
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: based out of Vietnam, so we have that all the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: way down to cancer, which is a big one. UM
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  Speaker 1: Special Disabilities was one of our favorite ones. There's a
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: local nonprofit of fair Field and they hire UM students
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: with certain learning disabilities to make dog treats. Uh So
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it was a great way for us to lean into
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  Speaker 1: the dove levels in our company, to lean into education
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: in our company, and ultimately able to touch and feel it.
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  Speaker 1: Because they're in fair Field and we operate in fair Field,
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  Speaker 1: we were able to go down there and it kind
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: of helped make treats and interact and it was probably
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: one of the most fun campaigns that we've done. That's
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  Speaker 1: very cool, man, And I'm blessed to work for Bloomberg,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: a place that that UM you know, has charitable giving
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  Speaker 1: really in its d n A right and and UM
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  Speaker 1: they're very generous generous with their donation matches every year
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  Speaker 1: and you know, they'll give us a day off to
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: work in a soup kitchen and different things like that.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: So I think it creates a lot of loyalty to
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: the brand for the employees, right. So, uh, I decided
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: assume the same thing for you and uh, it's very
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: important in a tight labor market. So do you have
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: any turnover data that you'd like to share? Remember to
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: do is something that we're actually working on. We just
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: hired you know, we're emerging brand. Right, We're at seven units,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: so we just hired our director of HRS. I don't
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: have the exact figures, but what I can definitely tell
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: you is that beyond a shot of a doubt, it
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: makes an impact. And I'll tell you why. I can
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: give you an actually anecdotal experience. Very recently went out
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to Brookline to Massachusetts, and we were talking to the GM.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: They're just asking your kind of how it's going and
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: you know, being out of market, and she raised her
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: hand and volunteer to move from the Haven to Brookline
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: for us. Uh. In that conversation really kind of she
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: turned and said, you know it's great. I love it.
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  Speaker 1: Um working Justice is doing is a big reason why
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I'm here. But I want to do more right. I
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: want you justice to evolve from simply adding fifty cents
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  Speaker 1: and raising funds, raising awareness to making it a facilitated
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: process where not only myself and my staff can volunteer
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: that month with the organization. So to me, that's how
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: everything I need to know about the power of each justice.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: She's not just thinking about her four walls or operation.
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  Speaker 1: She's thinking about how can I make an impact in
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that community. And when you are interconnected in so many
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: different ways and and kind of have your feet on
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the ground, I think it makes it a stickier value
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: proposition to the employee as beautiful man. And and like
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, you know brands that that have charitable
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: giving in their DNA. You know, out of the companies
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: that cover I think shake Shack, you know, UM with
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: their donations off their concrete sales that they've been doing
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: from day one, is one where I'd imagine it definitely
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: boost your sales as well. And and from what I understand, Uh,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: you're looking to grow pretty significantly. So can you talk
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a little bit about your development goals for metcha. Yeah.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: The development goal is, uh, you Justice will grow as
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Metric grows, So that means match is donna grow because
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: we want to make this impact as big as we
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: possibly can. And uh, to kind of lean into what
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: you were talking about. The gen Z another example actually
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: from Vegas right in Tony and the last night we
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: went out to our own dinner at MAT thirty two
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and we were sitting next to two I would say
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: about year olds, UM, and we just got to chat
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: with them, uh, and they asked us what we did,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and we explained to them, you know about matchup is
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: then the third and of course what's the first thing
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: they do. They pull out their cell phone, right and
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: they go on to our Instagram and the very first
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: thing that they click on is a video of an
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: e justice campaign reveal and it was us UM giving
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: out a scholarship to Latino Scholarship Fund students and that
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was the video. That was the little thumbnail that they
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: clicked and they watched it and that was the conversation.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So to me, that tells me everything about you know,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: that generation and what they want to be connected to it.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: What they noticed right there. They're not going to notice
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: that perfectly built bowl and that the photo that you
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: took of it, but they're gonna notice what is it
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: you're doing for the community, What is the bigger purpose here?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: How can I be connected to it? UM? So we
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: think about it as you know, if we have seven
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: matches that's raising dollars, imagine when it's at and fifteen.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: We actually recently, just recently, the last campaign wrote the
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: half million dollar mark. So since we started Adjustice, we've
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: raised a half million dollars of impact in our local communities. Um,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: so we want that to be a million to three
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: million or more. So that's gonna mean opening in DC,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: that's gonna be I mean opening you know throughout the
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Eastern Seaboard and possibly beyond. Right. Um, yeah, that's awesome. Um,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: it's a great way for you to to expand your reach.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: It's it's uh and it's just fantastic what you're doing. Uh.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned d C, Are there any other areas
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: that you're looking to expand any plans to come to
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: New Jersey? New Jersey is something that's on the list
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: along that side a lot of others, right. Um, So
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: you know, we're definitely thinking about, you know, that kind
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: of Eastern corridor d C, Connecticut, Boston, but you know,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of other parts of this country that
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: we think would be really fun and exciting to bring
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: this to write. Whether it's something a little bit further
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: south to Charlotte or a little more west like Denver
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: or even Ohio. Um, you know, in the Midwest. Ultimately,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: we always tell people that, you know, we sell hugging
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a bowl and I don't care where you live. Like
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: a hugging a bowl feels good and it makes you
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: feel good. So if we can bring that experience to
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: other parts of the country, UM, there's no real limit
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: as to where we may want to go. I'd imagine
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: college towns would would be a pretty attractive spot for
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: you if if the if the real estate price makes sense, yep,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: it's college towns, it's young professionals, and then it's families.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Because our average guest pre COVID was nineteen. You know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: with the environment that we're in, we're at twenty three.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: But twenty three is affordable for a family as a
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: once a week, twice a week take auuption UM. So
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you know, we really are able to service a big
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: breath of different guests and different life cycles that they're at. Um.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And because of that, you know, it kind of really
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: opens up the white space for us across the country
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: in different communities. Cool, very cool, And uh have you done?
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Do you have a kid's menu? If families are important?
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: You know what what do kids tend to order from?
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Macha don't need one don't need one. Noodles and broth.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Think about it, right, every kid loves spaghetti, every kid
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: loves noodles. So when you take that noodle experience and
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: drop it into like an unctuous salty ramen broth, I mean,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: there's just no way that you know, you can lose um.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: So you know, we do have a chippy ramen we
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: call it, but it's basically ramen within now toppings. But
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: the kids that can have whatever they want, right they
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: want chicken, if they want flam meat balls, if they
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: want half an egg. But ultimately, you know, you give
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: a kid a bowl of broth and noodles and watch
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and that is your kids bending at the other day, rightful,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: do you do? You get a lot of orders for
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: no green stuff. That was my son's favorite order pretty
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: much anywhere we went, no green stuff, you know. Yeah, yeah,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: that's how we keep it basic noodles and broth. Right,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: it's the it's the heart of the bowl and let
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: them add to it from there. Great, and it's uh
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: and is it took table service? Fast casual? What's the
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: It's what you wanted to be, right. It is a
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: full service restaurant. There are servers there is a full bar,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: but because of the nature of the cuisine, you know,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Raman being you want to devour in seven minutes piping
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: hot uh. And then the snacks are are bows and dumplings.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: So two or three bites, you know you're done with
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: your bow or you're dumpling. You can be in and
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: out less than a half hour we'd like to say
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes. Or you can take it and turn it
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: into an hour hour and have dinting experience. Right. We
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: have twelve to sixteen small plates and our menu. You
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: can order four or five of those, uh and consider
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it like a top of style experience where you're all
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: sharing um. So you know there's a gennatic fertility and
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: how the brand is used depending on the moment in
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: time and the consumer. Very cool and so being a
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: full service restaurant, are you employing tablets or server handhelds
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: or is that something you plan on doing in the future.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I know that that's been a big movement over the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: last couple of years as as wage rates have gone
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: up in the industry. Yep, it's actually a really a
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: proud moment of my meaning we transition to handhelds about
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: two years ago, right before the pandemic um And it
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: was something that we resisted for a while because we're
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: people first, right, we always say profits matter, but people
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: matter more, UH, and we felt like a handheld is
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: an excuse to make profits matter more, meaning a handhels
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: about efficiency, handheles about execution, and what it does is
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: for most parts, it makes UH staff members and team
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: members have their nose in the screen and not really
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: connect with the guests in front of them. So you
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: really thought about how do we train against that, how
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: do we train to use the efficiency of the handheld
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: but not take away from the human experience. And I
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: can honestly say we've been quite successful. You know when
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: we do some of these hires. We've been building our team,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: we hired ahead of ops. You've had a director of
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: training HR director. We tell them coming to our stores
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and let me know if this is for you, like,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: just come in and eat, have the full experience, and
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: time after time after time, when the things we get
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: back is how engage your staff is. I cannot believe
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: how much they care, how excited they are to be there.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: And I asked the question about the handheld, like how
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: was the handheld and three times or three times it
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: was I didn't even know it was there. So we
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: make sure that they're trained to interact, answer questions, make
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: sure that you have all the information you need to
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: make your menu decision. Make your decision, and then we
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: pull out the handheld from our back pocket and use it.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: But we never approached the table with the handheld in
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: our head. Leading with efficiency, that's great, and I'm sure
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the servers love it. They could carry cover more tables
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and or more in tips, right and uh, you know,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and and to your point, service is so important. I
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: went out to dinner with my son last night and
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: we had a great experience, you know, and and and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: uh and it was because of the server. We had
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: been to the restaurant a lot of times. You know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: it's a good, good spot, uh, quality food. But he
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: made it special because he he was on top of
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: h he was on top of his game. Anytime we
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: need a drink, as soon as you finished drinking, was
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: at the table. Anything you needed, uh, he got with
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: a smile, joked around with us, had a good time,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and it really made it a great experience, you know.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: So so it's it's definitely critical. Can you talk a
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: little bit too about uh, other technologies that that you're
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: implementing in the restaurant. You know, a lot of times, um,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: it's harder for some of these established brands to start
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: implementing technology because they have to redo some of the
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: mistakes they made in the past. And from from a
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: lot of the emerging brands we speak to, it's it's
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: kind of easier to start with a blank slate almost.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: So can you talk about some of the other tech
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: initiatives you have going there and metcha? Yeah, I mean
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: we're we're testing a lot of stuff because we're truly
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: on that cust of emerging. You know, we just went
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: out of market for the first time. Um, so it's
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: it's a really fun time to see what's working and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: what's not working. So I would say, you know, beyond
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the transition to the handhelds and the tablets at the table, uh,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: you know, we're we're looking at ways to leverage things
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: like wisely, uh, to you know, better improve the guest experience.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: And I'm not talking just about the host management you know,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: part of the software. I'm talking about the guest sentiment, right, So,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: how are the guests, you know, viewing their experience and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: how are they talking about your experience? And how can
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: we use that information and data to improve within our
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: four walls. So that's something we recently started about three
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: or four months ago, just kind of scouring the digital
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: universe about you know, how do they see us? We
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: know how we see ourselves, but how do they see us?
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: And how do they talk about us? And what can
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: we lean into or what can we correct for? Right
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: if there's something that you know is consistently coming up
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: as you know, mencha is not this, but we believe
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: that we can offer that, we have to be able
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to train and pivot towards that. Um. So I would
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: say that's one of the bigger ones right now is
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: really guest sentiment and feedback and the different tools that
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: are out there. I mean, we're evaluating black Box at
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the moment as well. Um, just to kind of understand,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you know, how does you know staff engagement again going
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: back to the people first piece, how does staff engagement
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: impact that guests experience? So I think those are the
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: two that we're really leading with. They're leading into the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: most right now in early stages, but you know, excited
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to see what can come out of it. Our club
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: for our partners that black Box. They do a great
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: job and what they found throughout history as success of
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: a restaurant core lights closely with the quality and experience
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: of your GM. Right, So i'd imagine your growth plans
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: gives your employees some motivation they they may see some
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: growth rate with your company. Can you just talk a
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: little bit about the motivation that your your employees have
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and are they motivated because they see a growth opportunity
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: with MATCHA Yeah, I mean I would actually say that
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: they see a bigger growth opportunity that we do. Meaning um,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: you know, when we get together, we bring out the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: leadership in the room, uh, and we talk about our
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: growth plans, you know, and you ask people who wants
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to move to a market and help open a mature
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: who wants to take the next step in their career.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: All the hands go up. So I always like to joke,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: you know, we have seven gms, we have seven multi
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: units as well. Um, So I think that you know
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the idea of always being people first, but understanding that
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: how important profits are because profits facilitate a good job,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: right and a good work environment. Those two things cannot
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: be taken apart from one another. UM. So when we
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: talk about excellency, we talk about leading into the operation
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and running a tight business with good margins to allow
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: you to always stay people first, to allow you to
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: offer the benefits that are first in class, to allow
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: you to offer a better work life balance. UH. And
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: when you do all those things and give somebody a
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: purpose larger than themselves, like the justice, UM, I think
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that it creates a motivation level where you know, they
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: want they want to see you succeed. And when your
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: employees want to see you succeed, UM, they believe in
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the growth more than you do. And that's great man. UM.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: You know one of the companies I covered, Popeyes, UH.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: You know, Cheryl bad Shelter was the CEO, and she
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: did a great job of engaging those UH franchise ese
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: UM and and the kind of motivating them to do
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the same thing. On the employee side, they experienced, you know,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: astronomical growth and was a phenomenal and phenomenal growth story.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: And hopefully you have a similar type of story ahead
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: of you. Man. I think what are doing there is
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: absolutely phenomenal. I think customers know when UH companies are
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: really really interested in in charitable giving and when it's
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: for part or the DNA or if it's not right.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And so the fact that you guys are doing such
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: great things engaging your employees in it, um, giving customers
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a place, a fun place to eat where they feel
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: like they can be a part of something better is
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: just a fantastic story. And I'm looking forward to year
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and more about uh, you know, your growth over the
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: years and I can't wait. I can't wait to visit
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: when your restaurants. Yeah, but I need to get you
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: out here. We need to get to get you out here.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that really want highlay is
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that you know it could be done a by anybody, right.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: The whole original intention was to leverage the power of
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: capitalism at what we call the power of this skew.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: So every purchase is a decision and a decision to
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: vote with your feet, vote with your wallet. Um. So,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: whether you're in hospitality or not, the idea of using
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the power of this you to create change that you
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: want to see is the message that I want to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: really hope that resonates and people take play without sacrifice.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: In the bottom line, Uh, you know, we're a highly
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: profitable company who are high growth company, but we have
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: engaged employees and we have a way to make an impact.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: And you know, I don't see anything that in that
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: equation that requires you to sacrifice one thing over the other.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I think that's perfect spot to wrap up. Can you
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: just let our listeners know where we can We can
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: find matcha, Instagram, TikTok um. You know what's what's the
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: based best place to to find the brand on social media? Yeah,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: you can. You can find it across all those platforms.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Eat robbin is the handle for Metta Little bar Uh
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and on there you'll you'll see the links to our injuice,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: to our TikTok all those content kind of social media places.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: So you know, go check us out and pop into
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: our stores. Hi Create. Thanks Rich. Bloomberg Intelligence is a
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: service provided by Bloomberg Finance LP and its affiliates. This
• 24:12
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• 24:16
  Speaker 1: investment advice, investment recommendations, or a recommendation as to an
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: investment or other strategy. Bloomberg Intelligence should not be considered
• 24:26
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• 24:31
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• 24:34
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• 24:39
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• 24:43
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