Qu - Restaurants Reinvented - Peter Wiley - Transcript
[00:00:00] Jenifer Kern: [00:00:00] Hi everyone. This is Jen. Thanks so much for stopping by the show today. Really appreciate it. Today's episode is very near and dear to my heart. I could easily say that about every episode and every guest, but this one is really special because I'm joined by two fantastic and phenomenal men. Peter Wiley, the Co-Founder of Rapid Fired Pizza and Hot Head Burrito.
[00:00:22] And Sean Brennan, one of Qu's finest account executives and just all around, amazing human. Now, if you don't know these two guys and their names don't sound familiar, here's why I believe you should know them. To start with Peter and his brothers, co-founded Hot Head Burritos and later Rapid Fired Pizza to now thriving fast-casual brands with over 120 locations in 10 states.
[00:00:45] But beyond those stats, Peter is the most innovative and entrepreneurial restaurateur you'll ever meet. And he has a marketing background. Prior to his current role as the Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Rapid Fired Pizza, [00:01:00] he built and cultivated the Hot Head Burritos brand and marketing for many years.
[00:01:04] Now, why do I classify him as one of the most innovative restaurateurs? Surely, that's saying a lot. Well and full disclosure to start with, he is a customer of Qu's and a very close partner with us in all that we do with our technology. He's constantly challenging, challenging us as his technology partner to keep his brands ahead of the curve with new and innovative ways of working.
[00:01:26] For example, you'll hear him talk about cryptocurrency at his restaurants and his new venture, tasty equity that launched during COVID for community investing. And if that's not proof enough, he was an easy and early adopter of the Qu vision, which was way ahead of its time, a few years ago, all around unifying the food experience using a very different and modern technology approach that represents quite a large paradigm shift for many operators.
[00:01:54] And while Sean Brennan, all I can say is that he is absolutely like no other account [00:02:00] executive you will ever meet. Before coming to work for Qu, 3 years ago, he was a Pediatric Trauma Nurse. He spent many years in the emergency room with pediatric patients. And today he's a father of five children and many pets and you'll hear he hails from Boston and has an awesome New England accent.
[00:02:19] And he's just one of the kindest, sweetest souls on the planet. I can truly say I'm a better person now for knowing both of these men and getting to know them a lot better through this episode. So I hope you'll really enjoy listening and learn lots of great stuff. Thanks everyone.
[00:02:36] (End of Intro)
[00:02:36] Hello everyone and welcome back to Restaurants Reinvented. I am Jen Kern, your host this year. And today's a very special show because I'm joined with two very special gentlemen. I've got Peter Wiley here with me, the Co-Founder from Rapid Fired Pizza and Hot Head Burritos.
[00:02:54] Peter Wiley: [00:02:54] Good to be here. Thank you.
[00:02:56] Jenifer Kern: [00:02:56] Thanks for coming on the show. This has been a long anticipated [00:03:00] episode. Meaning, can't wait to have you. Sean, my co-host is joining today. One of my favorite people from Qu. Sean and I have been working together for over two years. He's just everything awesome. So, hey Sean.
[00:03:15] Sean Brennan: [00:03:15] So excited to be here. Of course, anytime I can get with Jen Kern is great time spent in a, you know, I am very excited about this podcast. This is, you know, Peter Wiley, one of my favorite operators, these brands, some of the greatest group of operators have had the pleasure of working with. So, excited for some Jen Kern time, sitting down with Hot Head Burritos,
[00:03:37] Rapid Fired Pizza. Great way to kick off the day.
[00:03:42] Jenifer Kern: [00:03:42] Fantastic. I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. Bring it, Sean. Bring it. Okay. Well, to, to kick off let's let's hear a little bit about you, Peter. Give, give our listeners a little background on your two fantastic brands, Rapid Fired Pizza and Hot Head Burritos. Tell us why you came to start [00:04:00] those brands,
[00:04:00] a little bit of your history in the restaurant business as well. I know that you've been in restaurants for quite a long time. So...
[00:04:06] Peter Wiley: [00:04:06] Yeah, I'll to clarify all credit goes to my brother Ray, for starting them. I'm just kind of coming alongside and helping him get it done. So he started, he was a Subway franchisee for 25 plus years.
[00:04:19] We actually go way back to, my family was involved not as founders in Pizza Hut, but new the founders of Pizza actually help, helped them open some of the first couple ones.
[00:04:28] So we've been in restaurants for a long time. We, in the Columbus and Cincinnati area, Skyline Chili's very popular. So we helped spread that across Ohio back in, gosh, I don't know. I was in middle school and I just turned 47 yesterday. So it was a two years ago when Ray got...
[00:04:44] Jenifer Kern: [00:04:44] Happy Birthday.
[00:04:45] Peter Wiley: [00:04:45] Thank you. Ray got in the Subway when we got out of Skyline and like I said, did that for a number of years. And as Chipotle was starting to catch on, he looked at it and said that looked like a really cool concept. He always wanted to start something of his own. Not necessarily be a franchisee, but be a franchisor [00:05:00] and he just kind of went for it.
[00:05:02] You know, his goal was to, at the time Chipotle doesn't offer franchises or still doesn't offer franchises. And he said, "I can do that. I can do it. You know, give more flavor, more options, more choices." Chipotle has a very limited menu. Obviously it's been wildly successful, but we, you know, he came in with the mindset of, "Let's, let's give a few more choices." So he rolled out. I think we started with like 20 sauces or something. I see you can really change the flavor, but yeah. I mean, I have the files going back to, I was living in Oregon at the time and he was out here getting it started and we were working on logos back and forth.
[00:05:33] So I've been around since the beginning, but he's definitely the driving force. So I've, I've played the, the marketing side. And Rapid Fired kind of follows a similar pattern if you will. You know, we saw the fast casual pizza coming up or quick-serve, depending on how you'd like to say it and again, this saw what we saw as a great opportunity.
[00:05:50] He's, like said, "We might back to Pizza Hut." So we've always had pizza kind of hanging in the back. Like, "Can we come up with a pizza concept?" And so we all kind of brainstormed together with a number, a number of people [00:06:00] on the team and ended up launching Rapid Fired Pizza guess as five, five years ago, so maybe six. And expanding that again, taking what we saw, maybe a Blaze or a MOD doing, putting our spin on it, putting our options on it, you know, a few more toppings, few more ingredients to choose from. So that's, those are the two brands we do right now. And we've got a third one that we just spun up.
[00:06:23] So-called Wiley's Wings, Tenders and Fries or as I like to call it WTF, so...
[00:06:29] Jenifer Kern: [00:06:29] I love it. Well, so it sounds like you're in every hot segment. I mean, you're hitting the Mexican and the burritos. You're hitting a pizza and now you're going into wings. So that's different. That's pretty exciting. And as someone who hasn't had the pleasure of dining at any of your establishment, although hopefully soon, what would you say with, with your first brand, your starter brand, the Hot Head Burritos?
[00:06:52] If I went to a Hot Head Burritos and I wanted to describe to our listeners how it's different from Chipotle, what would you say?
[00:07:00] [00:07:00] Peter Wiley: [00:07:00] What I used to, I run social media for like eight years, answered every comment and everything. And the number one, that's really one of the popular questions, right? What's different with Chipotle and Hot Head? And why do I want to go to Hot Head versus Chipotle? And the real big difference is, Chipotle you kind of get their flavor. So you get their chicken, you get their steak, you get, you know, their four or five ingredients.
[00:07:21] And you can't customize it too much. Yeah. You can customize your Salsa, but if I want something super spicy, I get what I get. I mean, you could throw some Tabasco, if they have it or something like that on it. And the difference is in Hot Head you can really walk in and get any flavor you want. You know, Sean really likes the combination that's odd is we developed a Hot Head sauce, which is our proprietary sauce.
[00:07:41] Again, Ray had put that together with the team that started Hot Head and just kind of a zesty garlic creamy sauce. It's really good, really popular. That's probably one of the number one sauces. And we also have a Sweet Habanero sauce, which is all sweet no heat, I like to say. And, but it's, so you can walk in and get chicken and you can get spicy chicken.
[00:07:59] You can [00:08:00] get mild chicken, get spicy steak, mild steak and really tailor it to what you like versus again, most of our competition is want, if you would get their steak, it's their steak, you know. Sean likes to walk in and throw Hot Head sauce and Sweet Habanero on the same bowl, which is actually very common.
[00:08:15] That, that shocked me. I never thought about doing that, but that's what makes it fun. You can really do what you want to do. You know, we brought in Teriyaki, a couple of years ago. It was wildly successful. And so now you can walk in and get a Teriyaki bowl at a Hot Head Burritos. So again, lots of flavors, lots of choices.
[00:08:30] And that's the main difference between our competition.
[00:08:33] Sean Brennan: [00:08:33] Yeah, I just need to interject.
[00:08:36] Jenifer Kern: [00:08:36] Please. 'Cause you were just out there.
[00:08:38] Sean Brennan: [00:08:38] Although menu, you have to, this sauce is really open it up. You take your standard plates in you, you know, you exponentiate the combinations when you add sauces. So they have a, a variety of how many sauces now, Peter, craft sauce?
[00:08:55] Peter Wiley: [00:08:55] 13, and then we have spicy sauce and we'll occasionally bring in a unique [00:09:00] flavor a while back we brought in Dave's Ghost Pepper sauce for an LTO. So we continue to try to keep it interesting.
[00:09:05] Sean Brennan: [00:09:05] So 13 sauces that can be combined in, in so many variety of ways. It really takes a simple menu in, you can customize it and it brings such variety. And again, anyone who's heading out to a Hot Head that combo of, of the Hot Head and the Sweet Habanero is a must try.
[00:09:25] Jenifer Kern: [00:09:25] That sounds amazing. I'm a big fan of the creamy sauces myself. I like the creamy mexican sauces and I stopped counting calories when it comes to sauces. I just go all out, salad, dressing, sauces, just boom.
[00:09:38]Peter Wiley: [00:09:38] Yep.
[00:09:39] Jenifer Kern: [00:09:39] Anyway, so, okay. So you w what was the year that Hot Head was started?
[00:09:46] Peter Wiley: [00:09:46] Somebody is going to, I'm probably get it wrong. I want to say 2007 was the first one.
[00:09:50] Jenifer Kern: [00:09:50] 2007. And how many locations are both of your brands out today?
[00:09:53] Peter Wiley: [00:09:53] Hot Head is pushed in, we just opened another one, I think we're 85 and then Rapid Fired is at about [00:10:00] 35.
[00:10:01] Jenifer Kern: [00:10:01] Okay.
[00:10:01] And what's the journey been like with those two brands? And how has that all played out versus what your, your vision was in the early days?
[00:10:09] Peter Wiley: [00:10:09] You know, as my brother Ray says, "If it was easy, everybody would do it". And it is just not easy. You know, anybody that's been on your podcast, that's done a restaurant, done a brand, done a mom and pop it's never easy. So it's, it's always a challenge and an adventure. You know, Hot Head started off and he opened one, one restaurant.
[00:10:28] Again, I wasn't living here at the time. I was doing all the marketing from out West and you know, it took off. People lined up out the door and he's like, "Let's go." So we started another one. Then, you know, signed another lease within like six months and then another lease within another six months.
[00:10:43] And so then I was taken off and then you got people interested in Hot Head of the benefit of, people really being interested in Chipotle at the time, but you couldn't franchise. So now we have a, you know, a fast growing efficient concept that people were really interested in and that segment was taking off.
[00:10:59] So [00:11:00] I think we're at the right place. He made the right decision, made a nice bold move. And here we are, you know, number of years later.
[00:11:06] Jenifer Kern: [00:11:06] Yeah. Yeah, that's fantastic. What occurs to you, I know it's not easy, the restaurant businesses is not for the, the weak or faint of heart, right? I mean, it's, it's, it's hardworking, hardworking business and it's been quite, quite the last year and a half as well. One of the things we were talking about on my last episode with Lydia Davidson was the value and the importance of a brand refresh as we're coming out of this, this pandemic.
[00:11:29] Right? And making sure that your brand is really relatable, not just to your guests, but also to your employees. Your employees can live that mission and vision in their day. And maybe that will help with, you know, the labor crisis and the retention and the motivation and all those sorts of things. What do you guys really circle around when it comes to your mission and your brand vision?
[00:11:52] Peter Wiley: [00:11:52] I, I think we, we started a few years ago, right before COVID. We started rolling out a new, new look and a new field. And that's still kind of evolving across [00:12:00] the restaurants. But we definitely wanted to freshen it up, focus more on the fresh, healthy aspects, the flavor combinations. You know, one of our sayings is a flavor revolution, so really trying to empower guests and empower employees to have some fun, enjoy the brand.
[00:12:14] You know, we are, Leroy is what we call a little happy face guy in between Hot Head, if you haven't seen the logo. So he's a fun, you know. So we have the, the vibe of trying to have some fun. We, we wholeheartedly believe in having fun and then we got go-karts, we got paint guns, we got, you know, as, as a team, we'd like to have fun.
[00:12:31] And so we want our franchisees and our employees to also have fun as well. And I think that keeps it fresh. And we're always working on trying to improve that, we're certainly not the best probably in the world at it, but we're getting better and the goal is to always be better. We always like ideas to improve.
[00:12:47] So...
[00:12:49] Jenifer Kern: [00:12:49] Awesome. Well, speaking of fun and fresh, I'm going to hand over to my esteemed colleague, Mr. Sean Brennan, who has been working with your [00:13:00] brand for over two years and really knows the ins and outs. And he's going to really, well while all of us, when you're talking together about just the past couple years and how you in our mind have been such an innovator and really embracing the whole paradigm shift and how restaurants think about their digital transformation. How restaurants think about their technology stack and their platform and how they really operate using that blended and unified model of marketing IT ops all being on one track versus three silos. So Sean, thanks so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you jumping in here.
[00:13:39] Sean Brennan: [00:13:39] Of course.
[00:13:40] Jenifer Kern: [00:13:40] And grilling Peter a little bit more.
[00:13:44] Let's do this. So, yeah, super... It is a, it's an honor to, pleasure again. This has been an amazing journey. I've worked with Peter and his team for about two years in, in a true digital, you know, what we would define as, as a digital partnership. And [00:14:00] what I think is unique about you, Peter, is you really define and embody that modern day operator, right?
[00:14:07] That it, you know, marketing's really evolved and pull volted into such a prominent role within the C-suite. I think you really embody a modern day marketer and that it's, it's no longer simply arts and crafts and guest touch, but it's really understanding all aspects of the operator and guest experience.
[00:14:26] And, you know, let's talk a little bit about how you approach the role of CMO or head of marketing, but really you're doing ops tech guest engagement the whole nine. So that Swiss army knife solution style. How would you describe yourself?
[00:14:47] Peter Wiley: [00:14:47] That's a pretty good description. I think what we've realized is it all has to work together. I mean, it always has, but now you have more and more ability to actually tie them together. I think we're rolling out. I get it right [00:15:00] for the Pepsi folks that Cheetos Flamin' hot Burritos will be our next LTO for Hot Head.
[00:15:04] And, you know, that's fun. It's great for us on a marketing side, you know, we can play with Chester and we can use their brand and partner with them and it's, you know, we're super excited about that. But then in reality, it comes down to it's gotta be an operational thing. It's gotta be an executable thing.
[00:15:19] So, I have morphed a little bit into keeping, as you said, tabs on everything. I got to keep tabs on, okay, what's the marketing plan, how does that tie into the POS? Because Qu gives us a lot of flexibilities to tie in and track stuff. Hot Head cyber using Punchhfor loyalty. So it has to tie into there and then, you know, heavy digital marketing now.
[00:15:39] Obviously, COVID and a lot of things pushed us that way and it's evolving that way. So, you know, how much can you track through your click-through? How much can you track for your online sales? So it's, it's not just, as you said, arts and crafts, make a cool out and mail it out or record a radio spot and go. It's like, "Now we record those or mail those and, [00:16:00] and run digital, you know, targeting and try to figure out how best to track them and track them up. You know, not only in the store, but online, you know, how are they operations going? How's the flow going? You know, do we have the product and all the stores?" So it, it becomes a real team effort.
[00:16:16] I think, I think it always has been, but yeah, I think even more so now, because we have so many tools at our disposal to tie things together, engage and monitor results. It, you have to have a pulse on all of them. All I did was design art, I wouldn't have a concept of what the operations team had to go through when they make the LTO.
[00:16:34] I wouldn't have a concept of, you know, the food distribution right now. It's crazy, right? It's not, it's not, you just order something and it shows up. COVID chucked that out the window. Hopefully it's getting better, but you have to really coordinate with all of your food distributors. Can I get this product or whatever it is into market in time for the marketing? So I have, I keep my fingers or pulse on each part of the business to try to [00:17:00] make sure executes. And it succeeds and makes it a successful, not only in a marketing level, but successful and easy to execute for the crews, easy the execute for the franchisees. We try to do the best we can to make it as smooth as possible when we roll something out.
[00:17:13] And that requires having a grasp and understanding of all aspects.
[00:17:18] Sean Brennan: [00:17:18] Yeah, no. All in, all incredible points. And you talk about your team, right? And being able to role model that type of cross-functional necessity that's needed for restaurant success these days. I've had the pleasure of working with your team. I think you've built a real dream team of operators there. You talked about fun has a major ingredient.
[00:17:39] It's not necessarily on the menu. But it, I think it's the most important ingredient, both not from a, you know, on the guest experience side, but also on the employee side. In terms of building that team, you know, running a lean mean restaurant machine, what goes into that? And how did you attract, [00:18:00] you know, what I view is one of the best operator groups I've had the pleasure of working with?
[00:18:05] Peter Wiley: [00:18:05] Thank you. Appreciate that. I think we try to find people and put them in the right place. Right? You know, we can have both of our IT guys came out of working in the restaurants and we realized, "These are great IT guys. So, let's transition them, you know, out of the restaurants, into our IT department."
[00:18:24] And that, and it works well because they bring the operational knowledge on, "Okay. I had to interact with the POS. I have to know how to order food." After the all these different things and you would think that's completely separate from IT, but in reality, it all again plays together. They have to know, got to be able to get it in the POS.
[00:18:41] They gotta be able to make it how's it impact, how's it go into online ordering, you know, how does it go to DoorDash, all these different places where operations and IT actually cross over. So I think, you know, and I can't take credit for much of that. We have a lot of a large team that helps with everything, it's not just me by any [00:19:00] means. But finding what people are good at and putting them in those roles and then helping them to succeed the best we can. This is our mission.
[00:19:09] Jenifer Kern: [00:19:09] And, Peter, can you talk a little bit about how you approach marketing? I mean, I, I kind of skipped over that in the beginning. I mean, you obviously have a market, you're co-founder, but you have a marketing background. How have you managed the marketing through the pandemic and now coming out of it?
[00:19:23] I mean, you said you're leaning heavily into digital marketing. And how does marketing intersect with, with those folks in IT and ops?
[00:19:30] Peter Wiley: [00:19:30] Yeah, COVID obviously just, you know, threw a curve on everybody. You know, what do you do? How do you do it? What do you advertise? Do you advertise? You know, and we took the approach of advertise, right? Advertise, you know, meet people where they're at, whether it was curbside, whether it was embracing delivery through, you know, third party. Just doing everything we could to help, support all the franchisees and our corporate stores.
[00:19:52] We own a number of corporate stores as well. Throw it and figure it out how did, was it a lot to carry out? So if we're [00:20:00] better than Rapid Fired, which was much more dynamic, a little more dynamic experience, but figuring all those out and building things to accommodate it. I mean, for IT team, we didn't necessarily have a curbside mechanism in place because it wasn't really a big deal for us prior to COVID. Then instantly you needed a curbside mechanism. And they, you know, within a week or two from saying, "We need something." They put together a quick text messaging system that could interact with the store, interact with customers, interact with online ordering to a certain degree and gave us a quick solution.
[00:20:30] Obviously we're looking at some more sophisticated solutions coming from Qu as a roll it out, but that was a great example of crisis, pull together, focus and figure something out and not worry about the, does it have to be absolutely perfect. It's like, "No, we're in make this work mode." And that gave us then a little way to market curbside.
[00:20:50] We could say, "Hey, we now have curbside delivery, what we didn't two weeks ago," right? That's pretty quick. And then you get it into your ads, get it into your billboard and go from there. So...
[00:21:00] [00:21:00] Jenifer Kern: [00:21:00] That's great. That's great.
[00:21:02] Sean Brennan: [00:21:02] Yeah. And I think, you know, certain brands, depending, you know, everybody has, you know, different agendas, but you guys really, it seemed to have doubled down on your outreach and your guests touch. And you actually doubled down on, on, on digital as well, you know, to, to come out of COVID as resilient as possible.
[00:21:20] I think we're coming out, you know, knock on wood on the other side of that. But I think a lot of those marketing investments and digital investments that you guys have made have really paid off in terms of the brands resiliency through a, through a difficult time.
[00:21:34] Peter Wiley: [00:21:34] I think you saw a big shift of people really, were living on their phones, right? They're stuck in their house. So they're, they're watching Hulu, they're watching YouTube. They're watching anything online, anything on their phone, any engagement there. They're not out driving around as much or interacting.
[00:21:49] So we looked for any, any way we could, you know, we experimented with the, we've done pre-roll, we've done digital, we've done videos. We've done, you know, some Spotify stuff, dif different digital mediums that meet people where [00:22:00] they're at. Even more so than before COVID because it was such a, everybody just sitting there looking at their phone all day long.
[00:22:09] Sean Brennan: [00:22:09] No, excellent. I think it really is all about the guests and meeting them when, where, and how they want. Right? And you guys have done, really done a great job in doing so. Speaking of the guests, what are they asking for? You know, you guys, you mentioned Flamin' hot Cheeto Burrito that's coming. I was waiting for at least a couple of my kids' faces to pop up in these glasses behind me.
[00:22:30] Right?
[00:22:31] Peter Wiley: [00:22:31] Yep.
[00:22:31] Sean Brennan: [00:22:31] Flamin' hot Cheetos is the craze. It's part of every grocery run for me, for sure. I know it will be a smashing success. I can't wait to try it. When we talked about the innovation of sauces and how it really revolutionizes the menu, there are some other unique things in terms of guests demand you guys are doing, whether it's, you know, self-pour beer, wine, margaritas, tequila shots.
[00:22:54] You know, let's talk about that guest innovation. And it seems that you guys are really always on the bleeding [00:23:00] edge of what's relevant and how to really optimize that guest experience. Can we talk a little bit about those unique whether it's an LTO or some of the things you guys are doing in the out, you know, merging, the fast casual space with an alcohol offering in making that fun infused Mountain Dew? Talk to me what,... I need to know that.
[00:23:19] Peter Wiley: [00:23:19] Yeah, we're, we're not afraid to try stuff. As I mentioned Ray's a driving force that we all try to support, right? You know, you've got to have some vision to push and be willing to try stuff. And never willing to try stuff, there's no gain. Yeah. So, you know, we've tried, over the last few years, Hot Head menu's expanded, Rapid Fired menu's expanded as we look to find that mix of what is it geu guest wants, you know. On the Hot Head side, we brought in Churros and we brought in Jalapeno Poppers and to bring in some more side elements. Did a partnership with Killer Brownie out of Dayton. If you're outside of Dayton, you've probably never heard of them, but Dayton, Ohio Killer Brownie is super popular and that's been a huge success.
[00:23:58] So bringing in those new [00:24:00] products and being willing to try them, you know, we brought in Fish Tacos. We had never had fish before. We've had them for about the last two years or so. That'd be kind of on the food side, on the LTO side, you know, sauces are always a fun option, right? So it's an easy option to execute.
[00:24:13] It's a fun option for guests to try. So we try to bring those in and rotate through, like I said, we did, Teriyaki was very popular. We brought in Jalapeno Ranch a few years ago. And just always, and we test them all the time. We're looking for different ones to potentially bring in or use in an LTO. The beverage site...
[00:24:27] Oh, go ahead.
[00:24:28] Sean Brennan: [00:24:28] Just raising my hand to, you know, as an employee, like... Put me on the sauce tasting. I'm ready to be part of the sauce adding. You know, I'm a condiment connoisseur, so. Sorry to interject a bad.
[00:24:42] Peter Wiley: [00:24:42] Oh no, you're...
[00:24:43] Sean Brennan: [00:24:43] But just sign me up.
[00:24:44] Peter Wiley: [00:24:44] It's fine. I mean, and we kind of did the same thing with, we take same approach with a Rapid Fired. Yeah, it was what can we do to have some fun with the pizza product? I mean, it's, it's made, made the order. Right? You can build your own any way you want, so you can build yours, Jen can build hers. But people, we find people also [00:25:00] like craft recipes. So on both Rapid Fired and Hot Head, we rolled out craft recipes. So, you know, here's our favorite build some of the things we like. Like I really like a Chicken Pesto pizza. It's got Pesto sauce. You know, we've done, we did a Mac n Cheese pizza, which hung out.
[00:25:13] It's still on the menu. We've done, we experimented, we did actually roll out a Thai pizza, Thai sauce pizza, but you know, those things we're always looking at doing and seeing what we can make it more interesting for guests, give them opportunity. And that's, that's a successful theme in the restaurant industry.
[00:25:28] Obviously we're not the only ones doing it, but we do have a little bit of a niche, I think, on the sauce play because it's easy to play sauces on pizza. It's easy to put sauces on, on the burritos, you know. On the pizzas, we we'll drizzle it on top, it's not only on the base, but you can drizzle it on top.
[00:25:42] So you throw a BBQ sauce on the bottom and then maybe a Ranch drizzle on top, so it adds a whole nother element. Those have been really popular. On the beverage side, I'm a big craft beer guy. So we came across a company called iPOUR two years ago and we were like, "Man, this is really cool." It's [00:26:00] self-pour beverages are hard, craft beer, cider, hard alcohol, mixed drinks, whatever you want to do. Know, if you go to a restaurant, you got to wait for the waiter. You got to wait for somebody to bring you the beer or wait for the bartender, whatever it is. There's a lot of fast casuals where you can walk in and get your food and then go to another line and go get your beverage. You know, get your beer, get your margarita or whatever.
[00:26:22] So we were looking at, "How can we... let this seems like a pain, right?" It's it's I got to get in two lines. What do I want to do that? That's annoying. So we have two locations right now, one Hot Head and one Rapid Fired with self-pour system. And the first one we did was in Bowling Green, Ohio and put in 18 taps of craft beer. Say, grab a, grab your pizza, order your pizza, get a bracelet or a card and basically open a tap and go pour your own.
[00:26:50] So, we quickly found out, you know, we rolled through a whole bunch of beers. I manage the beer up there. It's one of the stores I personally own and operate. And, you know, we've gone through several hundred [00:27:00] kegs over the last couple of years just because we keep it rotating. Right? And people want to come back and check it out.
[00:27:04] Obviously COVID put a little damper on that last summer. So we're looking to ramp back up the beer sales this year. Then we figured out, "Hey, we can put margaritas on these things." Right? So that's pretty cool. So now you going to self-pour margarita? Then we went into, we opened a Hot Head Cantina. So again, always willing to try pivot a little bit.
[00:27:22] So Hot Head Burritos traditionally never had any alcohol. It was just a quick-serve, fast casual mexican restaurant. So we did the Cantina model. We brought in several taps of beer mixed drinks. We got Daiquiris. We, our team again always willing to try something put together. Leroy's loaded do. Again Leroy's our little happy face and the logo. And they got a pretty stiff drink. It tastes pretty good. So we got permission. We talked to Pepsi folks. Hope they watch this. We talked to the Pepsi folks, they said, "Okay." Then, yeah, so, you know, self-pour shots. Self-pour Margaritas. It's a little bit of an experiment and middling. It's, you know, putting it into the fast casual space is not as common as saying just [00:28:00] opening a tap-room with that type of system.
[00:28:02] But it's, and there's been a little bit of adventure, but I think it's pretty cool. Hope to see it continue to grow as people get used to the concept it's very new in Ohio. We're the only ones in the Dayton and I think even Cincinnati market with them right now.
[00:28:14] Sean Brennan: [00:28:14] So tell me a little bit about the infused Mountain Dew. What are we infusing up here? What do we got going on? What's going on?
[00:28:21] Peter Wiley: [00:28:21] That's proprietary. So, I know it, I know it's got some, some vodka and a Mountain Dew and probably a little Sweet and Sour, but...
[00:28:31] Sean Brennan: [00:28:31] A little mystery.
[00:28:31] Peter Wiley: [00:28:31] Total combination. Yeah. I would have to defer to Ryan who was our main ops guy and it was spearheaded that.
[00:28:38] Sean Brennan: [00:28:38] Again, on the craft beer side, more than happy to be a taste tester if, if you're looking to expand that, that role. It's definitely fun. I got to sample lots with...
[00:28:47] Can you guys sit even some innovation with COVID and the impact? And, you know, I don't know about you guys, but I needed an extra drink or two to just get through that, you know. I know you guys had it...
[00:28:59] Peter Wiley: [00:28:59] I have a [00:29:00] lot bigger bourbon collection.
[00:29:01] Sean Brennan: [00:29:01] But you and I, we can talk bourbon for sure, but you also added alcohol on the delivery menu.
[00:29:09] Peter Wiley: [00:29:09] Yeah, Ohio opened it up so that you could deliver alcohol. Previously in Ohio was never allowed. And I think several states did as well. And they just put a few parameters on it. You know, and get it by a meal, get a drink, so. We rolled out growlers into the self-pour places, at least in Bowling Green.
[00:29:24] Was not a mind blowing success. They're actually kind of a pain, if anybody's ever done a draft beer system, you don't exactly pour a growler the same way you pour a pint. But we implemented that. We implemented you know, pints to go, growlers to go, margaritas to go, were pretty successful.
[00:29:37] No carbonation. So it's a little easier. Warning, don't put a lid without a whole lot on top of a beer because the lid will pop off as the carbonation releases. So I have a case of lids that we couldn't use. Anyways... But yeah, and I think, I think it's still rolling. I don't know if Ohio even repeal it.
[00:29:54] Because I think they found that it's actually very reasonable, right? I can go to Kroger's and buy a bottle and take it [00:30:00] home, why can't I go to any restaurant and buy whatever their drink is, as long as I'm not drinking and driving. Take it home and enjoy it. You know, that's so... I think we learned that's a positive and hopefully it sticks around.
[00:30:12] So...
[00:30:13] Sean Brennan: [00:30:13] Yeah, I mean, you brought up Kroger's and, you know, I know that there's even, you know, a smaller footprint that, you know, expanding some Rapid Fired within, you know, Kroger almost redefining some of their fresh food marketplace. I know that Rapid Fired is, has a footprint in some of those locations and so, again, not just standard brick-and-mortar stores, but also looking at other opportunities to scale the brand.
[00:30:38] Peter Wiley: [00:30:38] Right. Yeah. One of our franchisees, Patrick Carter had a connection with Kroger. He really spearheaded that. I'm not sure it was, to be honest, was even on our radar as an opportunity. And he brought it to us and, you know, as four locations in Rapid Fired, I'm sorry, in Kroger. if you've ever walked into Kroger, they usually have, you know, a salad bar.
[00:30:56] They had a brick oven-style pizza and some of them [00:31:00] chicken place and some of them. And so we, he went in and negotiated and we put it in a Rapid Fired there. So it's a little pared-down menu, but essentially the same choice gets same sauces, same quick pizza, same fast ovens. And it's been a good adventure. You know, we're looking forward to getting Qu into those locations to make it way easier to manage POS wise, 'cause it's currently independent.
[00:31:20] So I think that was we're very excited that that will be happening. Previously they didn't allow a POS in, so...
[00:31:26] Sean Brennan: [00:31:26] Yeah, we're excited about that partnership. And then it'll be, you know, you're seeing restaurants expand in very unique ways that, that, you know, we we've all been forced to, to adapt and evolve. And, you know, you talked about delivery space. How are you guys managing that right now? How are you guys handling third-party delivery?
[00:31:43] I know prior to COVID, it was somewhat of a necessary evil. COVID really forced adoption on so many people. But how, how are you improving the operational side of it, the menu management piece and then, you know, thickening that margin as much as possible? How, how have you guys made [00:32:00] third-party delivery something that's more embraced throughout the, throughout all of your brands?
[00:32:07] Peter Wiley: [00:32:07] The most helpful part was having an integrated with Qu and I don't say that as a sales pitch, but it really from an operational standpoint, without the integration, it's a nightmare. You know, one of the third parties currently doesn't have an integration. We're contemplating turning them off, simply because it's so difficult to deal with.
[00:32:24] There's other, you know, we were using a service that kind of integrated, but it didn't integrate the menu prior to switching to Qu. So having the full menu control from Qu going to online ordering and store and now third party, and right now most of our stores have DoorDash, Uber Eats, you know, that just changes the game for simplicity.
[00:32:43] Now for the crew, it's an online order. There's not, "Oh, this is a third party. I got to execute it this way." It's simply, it's an online order that comes in. Yeah, it says third party or it says DoorDash, you know who it's for, but makes it so much easier operationally in the store and from an IT [00:33:00] management, it makes it way easier because I'm managing everything from one interface.
[00:33:03] Previously you'd have to update the POS, then you'd have to go to DoorDash and update it. Then you had to go to Uber and update Uber. And then you had to make sure the third party we were using in the middle synchronized all the IDs, product IDs right, so that, it showed up and printed and got into the POS.
[00:33:19] And now we just have one product ID, you know. Qu gives us a flexibility to manipulate the menu's a little bit different for Uber Eats or DoorDash, depending on their limitations. But yeah, game changer to have that functionality integrated from an IT and operational standpoint. So we don't think about it as much on how to execute it because it executes just like everything else now. Big, from a profit margin standpoint, the biggest thing we do different is simply raise the prices.
[00:33:46] People have been willing to pay more for third-party delivery and that was our approach because they do take a significant margin.
[00:33:53] Sean Brennan: [00:33:53] And to be clear,... Go ahead. Sorry, Jen.
[00:33:57] Jenifer Kern: [00:33:57] Yeah, I'm just curious. You know, with that [00:34:00] integration, 'cause we talked about, we do talk about the efficiency of the single menu platform, a good amount. We have some customers who are seeing that they're able to accept more orders with the consolidated version. Have you seen an uptick there? Are you able to process more orders or take more orders, having that, having the system unified?
[00:34:19] Peter Wiley: [00:34:19] Yeah. Having it print and function, you know, print real kitchen sheets for the orders is, certainly makes it easier to handle. So I would say, yeah, they don't... The biggest challenge is getting too many at once right now because the third parties don't play very well with each other on third party on order, how many orders can come in as well.
[00:34:38] So DoorDash, you know, says they throttle the orders, but they still might let 10 orders come through within a 10 minute window. That's the biggest challenge with third parties being too busy, so...
[00:34:47] Jenifer Kern: [00:34:47] right. Right. And do you see that trend continue? I mean, one of the things we've been talking about a lot on the show is, you know, obviously there was such a huge uptick of the third-party delivery during the pandemic. Do you see that [00:35:00] that is going to level off, but maintain higher than it was pre pandemic or how do you see your business sort of growing and, and being reshaped coming out of this?
[00:35:11] Peter Wiley: [00:35:11] I don't think it's going to go away. I think people have adopted it. It is what it is. Stuff like Dash password, you pay a flat fee and not just pushing DoorDash, but that model of... People don't like friction. Right? So if you can eliminate the friction whether it's in store, online or third party or delivery, whatever it is, you know, our employees don't like friction, our customers don't like friction and franchisees don't like friction. So third party has done that to a certain degree. It makes it easy to reorder. You can get your favorites, it shows up at your door, you know. And they don't seem to care pay 25 percent more. Not only for maybe what the restaurant charges, but the fees, right? I mean, we laugh sometimes to get an order for, you know, a $3 item.
[00:35:53] Yeah, cheesecake idea, I guess, five bucks or something like that. And by the time it hits their door, they're paying $14 for it. It's [00:36:00] like, "Do you have any crickets? Just get off the couch and go get it." But they don't anymore. Right? They're like, "I'll pay for it." So I don't think that's going away. I think it would just continue to grow, you know. From a restaurant operator, I hope we can get the margins down more and more as we continue to grow and develop that business relationship with our parties or partners. But yeah, it's not going anywhere.
[00:36:20] Jenifer Kern: [00:36:20] Yeah.
[00:36:21] Sean Brennan: [00:36:21] Yeah.
[00:36:21] Jenifer Kern: [00:36:21] What do you say, Sean? Are you ordering, are you ordering third-party delivery as much?
[00:36:25] Sean Brennan: [00:36:25] Yeah, Jen. I mean, you know, I have five children, so I'm packing up the bus and, and driving out to Hot Head, you know, when it can be take taken right and drop the right out off at our door is, is a value in my phone. It, you know, those third-party delivery apps are, are one of the most frequently used. But, you know, again, as long as there's a bump in there and the brands themselves are being supported, I think that's important. I think when third party first came out, it was all about a frictionless experience for the guests, which it [00:37:00] should be. You know, this is hospitality, we're catering to our guests first and foremost. I think the second side of that coin is the frictionless experience for the operator.
[00:37:09] And now we're starting to see digital providers lead with that. And, and, you know, with Qu, that's where our focus is, you know. Our, our guests is the operator, right? So I think, you know, first and foremost guest comes first. And then now we're starting to see the second wave of innovation really focused on the operator and making sure that they have a seamless and frictionless experience in terms of managing multiple menus, managing multiple databases.
[00:37:35] How do we unify data and have single item IDs? How do we make that omni-channel experience so much more fluid? And partnering with Peter and his team and kind of revolutionizing that space has, has been a pleasure. You know, not perfected yet, but I, I think we've, we've done a good job of working in collaboration to, you know, focus on streamlining that operator experience, not only the guest experience.
[00:37:57] Peter Wiley: [00:37:57] I think it comes back to use it when we [00:38:00] started off with what our customers want, what are you seeing that guests want? And that's what they want. So we, as restaurants, we better figure it out. Right? It doesn't matter whether we think it's the best idea, it's easiest idea. It's there, it's here to stay. So how can we make it as simple and as efficient as possible? So like Amazon, right? By every, everybody buys Amazon 'cause you just open it up and click order. And that's where we're at. So...
[00:38:26] Jenifer Kern: [00:38:26] well, and the guest wants choices, right? The guest doesn't want to be told, "Here's how you need to order. When you need to order and it's going to take you 10, 15 minutes to order." The guest wants choices and they want it to be done fast. They want that Netflix like approach. And, you know, I, I like how you're talking about it, Sean.
[00:38:42] I mean, we, you know, first is like the guest and eliminating that friction and then it's for the operators. And as you said, our, our guests, our customer is the operator. I got to think that reducing part of that friction though also would come into play in terms of converting those [00:39:00] third-party guest to your first to be first party guest.
[00:39:02] So that you're owning more of that guest experience so that you can personalize and create that Netflix like approach directly to them. Where are you in that process?
[00:39:11] Peter Wiley: [00:39:11] I think we're, you know, not a sales pitch for Qu necessarily, but the online ordering gives us way more flexibility than the previous platform we're using. I don't think we've even maximized it all out. You know, there's a lot more we can do as far as improving the online or what we already have. And that's on our agenda to, to make it as best we can.
[00:39:30] And you guys are continuing to roll out more and more features. So I think if we can make it simpler, we can make it reorder. We can make it, you know, order Jen's pizza or Sean's burrito and save all those functionalities again. To your point, we would love to transition as many people from third party to native online ordering. And the native online ordering being integrated again, keeps it simple for us to manage rather than having to go to another menu, another platform to manage and [00:40:00] figure out how to integrate it. So yeah, our goal is to try to transition. We've looked at different marketing ideas and how do you target the the users of say DoorDash. And say, "Hey, they ordered on DoorDash now." You know, give us a try, you know, try out regular online ordering and work on it that way.
[00:40:15] So...
[00:40:15] Sean Brennan: [00:40:15] And you guys, in terms of moving from third party to first party, you've also done some innovations in the loyalty space, right? And that's, I think that's a major differentiator when you move from a marketplace to a native solution. And so I know that you guys have recently released an app. I know that you guys are very, you're always on the forefront of unique discounting and incentivizing the guest experience.
[00:40:39] So, you know, can you talk about the release of that app? What type of promotions are you able to deliver to the guests through that application?
[00:40:49] Peter Wiley: [00:40:49] Sure, yeah. With on the Hot Head side, we just rolled out Punchh as a loyalty system. With an Android or an iPhone native app integrates, accuse online ordering inside of it, allows the [00:41:00] redemption earning points, both in store and online seamlessly and then redeeming points in store and online seamlessly.
[00:41:06] So it gives the guests a lot of flexibility there. You know, from a marketing side of it, the Punchh gives us a ton of flexibility on tracking different things and finding out that... Sean likes to order Sweet Habanero and Hot Head sauce together, you know. That's, that's great information to have because now as a marketer, I can come back and say, "I'm not gonna send Sean a Jalapeno Ranch promo.
[00:41:30] I'm going to send a, I'm going to make something for Sean or for all those people that I see order Hot Head and Sweet Habanero." You know, that's almost, you could almost make like a secret club out of that and target that say, "Hey, we see you guys really like this. Try this combo or something else." So it gives us between Qu's data and Punchh's data, which worked very well together.
[00:41:54] We're looking how can we leverage that and make it relevant. Right? People don't like getting things that [00:42:00] are irrelevant to them. So if we can refine our marketing, at least on the loyalty side and email and social media and target things that you like, that we know you like, that's a win for everybody because it's more efficient in the ad spend. The customer then is getting things they like and they get. Maybe we give them a dollar off or maybe we give them a buy one, get one free to try something, but as relevant to them. And that's, I think what matters because otherwise it's spam, right? We don't want spam. We want good deals or, you know, fun things to try that.
[00:42:34] I want...
[00:42:34] Sean Brennan: [00:42:34] Yeah, a hundred percent. Brand affinity, right? And so we, we, I mean, we're, we're in, we're in sales, you know. And, and so I, you know, how often are we over solicited with canned emails that aren't personalized. Right? So we know from a guest having, having an incentive hit my app or hit my phone that I know is actually catered to me and it's taken into consideration my past purchasing habits. I mean, that's how [00:43:00] brand affinity is built. So I think you guys are doing a great job in, in combining the Punchh system and their ability to, to really target market based on previous purchase habits, an amazing asset for sure.
[00:43:13] Peter Wiley: [00:43:13] Yup. I agree.
[00:43:16] Sean Brennan: [00:43:16] Excellent. Jen, I don't know if you wanted to move into kind of the, the segment where we kind of go back and forth. You want to do that piece?
[00:43:25] Jenifer Kern: [00:43:25] Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm curious about the growth, you know, your growth trajectory. And I'm just thinking of folks that might be listening from, you know, other owners or marketers and coming out of, of the pandemic and looking at, you know, how quickly are you looking to continue your growth trajectory? I know you opened up a couple Hot Heads just during or right after the pandemic.
[00:43:49] What is the rest of this year or look for you and how are you looking to really drive growth using that, that innovation and that, you know, the innovative DNA that you have?
[00:43:59] Peter Wiley: [00:43:59] Could [00:44:00] be too much, but I'm pretty sure we got I believe five Hot Heads on coming soon. And then I believe three Rapid Fired within the next 90 days, maybe, maybe six months on as we try to keep tabs on them all. But yeah, it's definitely, again, COVID just kind of put the brakes on a lot of things, but I think people are looking for opportunities now.
[00:44:21] I think they're coming out saying, "Okay, things are going to open back up." And we'll see. I mean, we're in Ohio, that's where we're based out of, you know, June 2nd was the lifting of pretty much all the mandates of wearing a mask and seating restrictions and all that. So, you know, it's now June 8th. So has it been life shattering in five days or six days?
[00:44:39] Not quite. So we'll see how it continues to evolve, but I think from a franchise growth standpoint, people are looking for an opportunity now. They're seeing that, you know, Hot Head did sustain sales well through COVID. So I think people will see this is really, I don't know, Hardy brand, right? If it, if it can do do sales, do well through there, then [00:45:00] it's going to do well anytime. Back we had a few set sales records during that time. So...
[00:45:04] I think, I think across the restaurants you find there were some restaurants that restaurant brands that blew up, right? You know, you see drive-throughs wrapped around the building for...
[00:45:13] Jenifer Kern: [00:45:13] Yeah.
[00:45:15] Peter Wiley: [00:45:15] Way longer than I'd want to wait. And some didn't, you know. And that, that will be one of the areas we look at is, you know. We've added routed drive-throughs to a couple of locations where we could get them in.
[00:45:23] So certainly new locations, we'll be looking at drive-throughs on the Hot Head side, how we've kind of debated it on the Pizza side. Yes, it's it's quick, but can we actually pull it off and be effective? You know, how would that work 'cause it does take a little longer than making a burrito, to cook pizza, even if it's less than a couple of minutes, so...
[00:45:41] Jenifer Kern: [00:45:41] yeah. Yeah. Well, and you have to have the real estate. You have to have the space to what the drive-through, I guess being in Ohio and Kentucky and some of the other states that, that you're in there, there might be a little bit more space, but if you're an urban brand, I mean, adding a not happening.
[00:45:54] Peter Wiley: [00:45:54] Right.
[00:45:55] Jenifer Kern: [00:45:55] Yeah. What about ghost kitchens and virtual brands? Have you thought of that as is your [00:46:00] Wings concept of virtual brand?
[00:46:01] Peter Wiley: [00:46:01] No, it's a freestanding building.
[00:46:04] Jenifer Kern: [00:46:04] Okay.
[00:46:04] Peter Wiley: [00:46:04] It's we've talked about it and we definitely brainstormed it. I mean, it was one of the topics for the Wings place. Do we just do a ghost kitchen? And we'd talked to you guys about ghost kitchen, kitchen options and LMS and KDS type stuff. We just, we felt with a new brand we really wanted to have a physical location.
[00:46:24] Jenifer Kern: [00:46:24] Yeah.
[00:46:25] Peter Wiley: [00:46:25] And take advantage of this one that have a drive-through.
[00:46:27] So we have a drive drive-through and really leverage that. See how it goes. Drive-through in middle East is not something we have done. I mean, we've had them in a couple of Hot Heads, but it hasn't been traditional drive-through you know. The Wings place, Wiley's is much more of a quick, quick serve, drive-through driven grab your food, right?
[00:46:45] You're not building wings, right? You're just picking a sauce and getting the wings or picking the sauce and getting the tenders. So very simplified menu. So, we thought it was key to actually have that physical building to do it. I don't, we don't have any plans to do ghost kitchens right away, but it doesn't, we'll never [00:47:00] write anything off completely.
[00:47:02] Jenifer Kern: [00:47:02] Yeah. So what's keeping you up at night these days? What's your biggest challenge?
[00:47:07] Peter Wiley: [00:47:07] Hiring. I mean, just hands down. And I, I can't imagine there's any restaurant you talk to or any industry you talk to right now that doesn't stress about hiring. I mean, we have, I talked to one of our franchisees, the store manager yesterday said, "Am I the only one?" I'm like, "No, man. everybody." Like, you know, it's like I had 13 people scheduled for interviews.
[00:47:29] Four showed up. One came in and worked half a day or worked a day and that's it, you know. Our supervisors and managers and just busted there, you know what to keep these restaurants open. I mean, I personally, one of my restaurants is running shorter hours because I don't have enough staff. You know, we're spending more, feels like not quite, but it feels like you're spending as much on hiring ads as we are on advertising just trying to get [00:48:00] applications, let alone, get them in the door and get them to hire, you know?
[00:48:03] And that goes for even our tr our suppliers, you know, Cisco and Presto. Having a hard time getting truck drivers, which makes it hard to order food, you know. And they, those are substantial jobs. So we'll see, you know, the changing of the unemployment here in the next, I believe ended June.
[00:48:21] Some of that changes with the federal government and the states. So we're kind of crossing our fingers that that'll get people back to work, because this is the lowest... I mean, it's just crazy that. So...
[00:48:33] Sean Brennan: [00:48:33] Yeah. And I can already see, you know, I can see now, as people are listening to this, every heads nodding. You know, everyone's in agreement, labor is such an iss in, in, you know,... We're used to talking about solutions on this channel, right? Where you're on this pod and it's one of those things that there is no magic recipe or secret sauce when it comes to labor in this industry right now.
[00:48:53] And...
[00:48:53] Peter Wiley: [00:48:53] Yeah. I wish I had one. I mean...
[00:48:55] Sean Brennan: [00:48:55] So do we.
[00:48:56] Peter Wiley: [00:48:56] You could pay enough. I mean, you could, you know, raise your [00:49:00] hourly rate, but then it doesn't become, ceases become a functional profitable business at some point, because you have to wage or gauge. You know, if it's 15 bucks an hour, then my meal's going to be 15 bucks an hour.
[00:49:14] That's kind of a metric. My brother has always touted, right? "Whatever your minimum wage is going back years is going to be what your, your meal is." So if...
[00:49:25] Sean Brennan: [00:49:25] Yeah. And I think, you know...
[00:49:27] Peter Wiley: [00:49:27] $10 minimum wage, then you're probably gonna have a $10 meal.
[00:49:32] Sean Brennan: [00:49:32] And I think of one of, one of the things that helps in that regard, and I know that you guys it's near and dear to your heart is, you know, hopefully you, you know what an honor it is to feed the community. Right? We talk about that all the time. To, to be able to feed your community it's it's why a lot of us are in this industry, right?
[00:49:49] What an honor that is. And when you take care of community, hopefully your community tickets, takes care of you at times too. And it's a reciprocal, stylist setup. I know that you guys are a philanthropic [00:50:00] bunch, I know you guys are often doing supporting local charities. Can you talk about, a little bit about that?
[00:50:05] You know, putting the unity back in community and in some of those philanthropic efforts that you guys have?
[00:50:12] Peter Wiley: [00:50:12] Yeah, we push fundraisers a fair amount. Some of our stores do a lot of them, some of them not as many. But essentially we recommend doing a 25% donation on a night. Right? So if we said bands are really popular, so I live in Beaver Creek in Ohio. You know, Beaver Creek band wants to do a fundraiser to raise funds or the football team.
[00:50:33] It can be really any organization. We just pick a night, we have on our, each of our websites, you can go on and schedule a fundraiser. We typically do one a week is what we recommend. Makes it easy to manage, makes it easy to plan for work. Really lets it be a focus for that organization so that they can market, you know, get the word out.
[00:50:49] And then that we just donate 25% of everyone who comes in and mentions that or orders online and mentions it and says, "Hey, we're with that organization." Then we track it. And we use again, [00:51:00] a profit share function that's in Qu which makes it really simple. So our crew just hits a button and says fundraiser or donation.
[00:51:07] So there's nothing, there's no grabbing receipts and adding them up at the end of the night, you just run a report and it tells you what it is. And then we write the check. So, our, our Bowling Green location probably leads the group of stores. It was doing one a week, you know, every week throughout the year by Bowling Green University.
[00:51:23] So a lot of university things were there. It's pretty cool. It gets to be fun.
[00:51:28] Sean Brennan: [00:51:28] Yeah. I mean, I don't know, Jen, I don't know anybody who's doing weekly fundraising. That is really impressive.
[00:51:35] Jenifer Kern: [00:51:35] Right. That's that's fantastic. That's fantastic. And I mean, these restaurants, they're all, you know, every community's a little bit different. And I think being able to show up and participate in the local connect community and drive those connections, you know, those healthier connections with not just the people and the employees that are obviously living in a lot of these local communities, but then helping out the people who are a little bit disadvantaged or are [00:52:00] less fortunate.
[00:52:00] So certainly I appreciate all your contributions there. Absolutely. As we wrap here, I know, you know, we haven't talked a ton about Qu. I wouldn't mind doing a little, you know, talking a little bit about how you guys have been working so closely together for so long. But you know, and, and I won't put you on the spot, but Peter, but I'd love to know how, you know, embracing a more modern technology platform has really changed your business and the way you approach your business.
[00:52:26] And, and if that has also kind of trickled down to your employees and they're, they're, you know, we're talking about the labor, but their quality of life.
[00:52:34] Peter Wiley: [00:52:34] When we first saw in Qu and get them in then doing this about 10 years or so. And looked at a number of POS's anything from, and we were on PixelPoint a long time ago. We were on Odello and a couple of different ones. And I wasn't necessarily over IT as much then, because that was more just on the marketing side.
[00:52:51] But then, as we grew, you know, we needed more functionality, more stability, more options. We eventually got to the point the last one, [00:53:00] we were just having so many challenges with, we started looking for another one. Again, reviewed five, six, real hardcore, you know, getting proposals and stuff. And they all seem to have very similar architecture, right?
[00:53:11] I'm enough of a data nerd to get databases and development. And, you know, having a local server to handle everything versus a cloud, you can argue both ways. But they all had essentially the same structure. And what we came across Qu the structure, the database structure, the manipulation, the flexibility was really radically different than anything we'd seen.
[00:53:33] You know, we'd, we'd looked at a Rebel and some of the other cloud-based ones, we were coming off of Brink and while they were cloud, they were still basically the same thing, basically very structured. You know, if you kind of old school getting pushed to the cloud. And what we felt like or at least I felt like heavily was Qu was built from the cloud first down to the POS. You know, and one [00:54:00] of the first things we did was this thing better run without internet.
[00:54:04] Right? So you guys shipped us to terminals, plugged them in and I think we were on the Mike and I are on the phone probably was Sean and we yanked the network cable in the middle of a transaction and see if it's still worked. Because you know, the cloud stuff's cool, but if it doesn't work without the cloud, you're screwed. Right? I mean, that's where we run into with some of the other platforms. And we didn't... pull it off, not needing a local server, like a server in the back room. Nobody use the terminals and be cloud-based, you know, it was, you know, I hadn't really seen anybody do it. Couple of them tried to do it, but they didn't really do it.
[00:54:40] You guys seem to pull it off better than anybody else. And as we've put it through the ringer, I mean, this wasn't a slow rollout, right? It's been, you guys, you flew out. I think with Nico, it could be wrong, two years ago. And we s we said "Close, but not, not good enough. We need these [00:55:00] core functionalities."
[00:55:00] You know, about a year later, I think you developed the 3.5 platform. Came back out and we put it in Bowling Green, Rapid Fired round it there for, I don't know, felt like three or four or five, maybe six months even. And then put it through its paces tried to break it. Broke it a little bit sometimes, but you know what was really cool and what excited me about it was not, it wasn't a "Here's a product, here you go.
[00:55:26] Have a nice day." It was, "Yeah, we're developing this. We want this to be the best and we need, we know we can't do it in a box without operators. We need operators to do this. Are you willing to partner with us and help us develop it, to be everything we all want it to be?" And that was an opportunity that had, I'd never been offered before.
[00:55:47] You know, we brainstormed, so we're willing to try a lot of stuff and we kept throwing around, you know. "Do we just build our own POS? This is just so frustrating." And it's like, "No, that's really not what we want to do." But you guys kind of gave us [00:56:00] that hybrid opportunity to say, "Here's a platform. You know, sign sign it up.
[00:56:05] You know, it's going to be a few, probably some bumps and bruises as we went along." But the core was there, the functionality was there and the opportunity to provide direct feedback, not just to some Zendesk sales, you know, support. But you know, you guys were kind enough to open up a Slack channel. You get daily Slacks from me with your dev team, right?
[00:56:25] It's, it's not,... And it's, and our agreement was, "You're going to give us the software and we're going to provide you feedback." Right? And, and we, and we, I think we do that. We try to very diligently, not just disregard something or dismiss something, but really develop that partnership. It's like, "Okay, cool. This works this way. We need it to work this way. Can you tweak it?" And I've lost track of all of the innovations and versions and changes you guys have rolled out in the last two years. You know, we really rolled out Rapid Fired last fall. So that's been, I guess, eight months or so November, [00:57:00] December, we transitioned all those in the Hot Head.
[00:57:01] We just rolled over and basically February, March, and April. So we're, we're still relatively new on the all having all the franchisees on the brand. But for me, it's been a two year adventure of working through it and looking at it and testing it and just really finding lots of very cool things with it.
[00:57:17] Sean Brennan: [00:57:17] Yeah, Jen, I'll give you some insight into what the evaluation process look like. So, it was unique on our end as well. I mean, these, these are the guys that when they were looking at ovens for the Rapid Fired concept, they'd have oven vendors come in, disassemble the entire oven and then put it all back together.
[00:57:36] Right? Yeah.
[00:57:37] Peter Wiley: [00:57:37] Yeah, that wasn't me, that was Ryan, but...
[00:57:38] Sean Brennan: [00:57:38] That's Ryan and that Ryan's thing, but we really had to...
[00:57:42] Jenifer Kern: [00:57:42] Come to my house, please.
[00:57:43] Sean Brennan: [00:57:43] We really had to do similar things on the POS. Right? So, so come in, show them. Really unpack it and get into the guts of the system. And, you know, there's a lot of sexy things that we're doing. And we're, we're on the bleeding edge, but none of it means anything if it's not built upon [00:58:00] stability and stable architecture.
[00:58:01] So I think it's great to see all this innovation. It's good to be on, you know, pioneering the industry, but it has to be built upon solid infrastructure. Stability first, safety first. So we are innovating fast. We are doing, you know, sprints, almost monthly sprints, but it has to be safe. And so working with Peter and his team has been..., I think we're,
[00:58:24] we all know POS in general has been a jaded industry. And there's been a lot of over promising and under delivering. And our vow is being kind of the anti vendor in, in, in that contract with Peter and his team was. And what we really try to do with all our brands is changing that game, you know, and building true partnerships.
[00:58:45] Jenifer Kern: [00:58:45] Yeah.
[00:58:46] Peter Wiley: [00:58:46] I think...
[00:58:46] Jenifer Kern: [00:58:46] Partnership aspect is so important for us. Go ahead.
[00:58:50] Peter Wiley: [00:58:50] Oh, I was just going to say that the key element to Qu is very easy to use, right? From even a crew standpoint. So, just when we rolled it out, [00:59:00] you want everybody to go through training. We did training videos, we did Zoom meetings. 90% of people never looked at anything.
[00:59:07] Right? But you stick to POS and, and they used it. Right? I mean, and there's, you don't have to,... it was a little different. It's a paradigm shift from what we were doing, but, you know, that's key when you're asking, "How does it affect the crew?" Right? 'Cause ultimately the crew has got to be the, the team, has to be able to use it quickly, easily and not be a pain.
[00:59:28] Right? And I think for the most part, you know, if we, if we surveyed everybody, like, "Yeah, it's super easy to use." You know, could there be things that can be tweaked and improved? Yeah. And we actively solicit those and say, "Give me a list. You know, I did it on our last franchise call. Don't stop giving me feedback. Because if you don't give me feedback, we don't have any chance to make it better.
[00:59:46] You can't make it better. I can't make it better. We can't fix stuff." And, and they do, you know. I get a phone call usually or text once a day on, "Hey, this can be tweaked or this could be improved and we pass it on directly to your team." But overall it's, it's just so easy to use in the [01:00:00] store that there's no training.
[01:00:02] I mean, you can literally take somebody who's never rung anything up in their life, at least on our menu, the way our menus are built in both brands and say, "Figure it out." You know, they figure it out. They'll get, so that's a huge plus.
[01:00:17] Jenifer Kern: [01:00:17] Well, the partnership aspect too. I mean, as you mentioned, you know, two years ago, we had just rebuilt the, the platform to be this modern. You know, arc, you know, microservices, architecture, open APIs. It was very different and very innovative in this space. And mind you, this is before COVID. I just want to, I should call that out.
[01:00:35] And you were really early on right there with us. Kind of doing, like you said, that, that test test and fail fast. And so we certainly, my gosh, I appreciate the partnership that you've had, but I also think it's really important to acknowledge. I mean, the way that the p people view POS I mean, our tagline is beyond POS. And a lot of times people ask what that means.
[01:00:57] And Sean alluded to a little bit, I mean, POS has become this [01:01:00] jaded industry. It's, it's, it's a structure of the past, if you will. And it's really about the omni-channel, it's about commerce. Right?
[01:01:08] And we we're, we're talking about, you know, the unified commerce platform. Right? And, and being able to bring all that stuff together, but I'm curious from your, your view and an operator perspective, what do you think is the shift that needs to happen in the way people view and purchase technology on the restaurant side? This whole idea of going out with an RFP around a POS and checking 14, 15, 16, 17,000 boxes. It, it just doesn't seem to be the right model.
[01:01:39] And I mean, of course, I'm going to say that being on, on this quote unquote side. But you guys have been talking about like the evergreen nature, like this isn't a one and done thing. It's gotta stay fresh, it's gotta be evolving. We know new technologies are gonna come into this space, new ways of ordering are going to come align. Your platform and your [01:02:00] technology has to also be able to shift and pivot.
[01:02:02] Okay.
[01:02:04] Peter Wiley: [01:02:04] Yeah. I mean, admittedly, Sean can probably go find the 40 checkbox list we sent him. And that you had to..
[01:02:12] Jenifer Kern: [01:02:12] Short by the way. That's very short, if there were only 40.
[01:02:14] Sean Brennan: [01:02:14] Yeah. And also they, they were based in reality. Right? You know, I, I think the important contract that gets executed, it was one of trust and transparency. Right? And so, you know, having operators that are based in reality that don't want unicorns and rainbows and, and have, you know, every one of your guys' requests is reinforced with user stories.
[01:02:36] And if you have those requests, most likely guess what. The rest of our portfolio would benefit from those feature requests. So it's not where a custom dev shop. There's no way we could be or you would want us to be, but, but really we're based in reality, we're agile enough to take your feedback into consideration.
[01:02:52] And I like to say, you know, I always say Peter, "It's not a suggestion box of oblivion." I'm sure with previous providers, you make suggestions to some sort of [01:03:00] portal. They're never responded to. Right? We never had one thing implemented and...
[01:03:04] So, you know, I think, you know, you guys have made suggestions, you've provided the user stories and feedback that not only benefit your brands, but benefit our entire offering to all of our portfolio of clients. And from when you make that suggestion, we vetted out with you, you know. You have you, I would, I'd like to think you have more product insight and influence than you have with other technology providers. Oh, a hundred percent.
[01:03:31] That's, some of those suggestions are actualized in product in a minimal timeframe.
[01:03:37] Peter Wiley: [01:03:37] Okay. Yeah. Oh, I, like I said, I can't keep up with all of the changes and a lot of them were things you don't notice what's not a problem. Right? So if we bring something up, whether it's just a formatting issue or something like that and it gets fixed, I probably never say 'thank you' because I don't even realize it got done, you know?
[01:03:54] But it's, it's only the squeaky wheel, right? So if something keeps coming up, then we keep bringing [01:04:00] it up. And that gets the attention. But if, again, if we don't bring it up and nobody,... I can't, I can't tell you how many times we've walked into a restaurant and, you know, from an equipment standpoint or something, they're like, "Oh yeah, that's been broken for 30 days or a month or two months."
[01:04:13] We're like, "Are you kidding me? I mean, you have my cell phone, you got my email. You know, call me if there's a problem. Like there is no, don't wait. Right? If you don't tell me I can't help you." And your team has been amazing about that of like, "There's an issue. It might be a little thing. And we prioritize it."
[01:04:30] You know, I appreciate that. Not everything's a fire drill and your team's been willing to say, "Okay, you give me 50 things, you know, what do you want really want?" And we try to narrow those down and check those off. And most of those have been checked off and then we change the list. And, you know, every couple of months we reevaluate that list.
[01:04:48] So that opportunity, I assume you extend to your other brands to a certain degree, just makes for a better product. Right? And yeah, it doesn't have to be accustomed dev for us, in fact, we really don't want [01:05:00] that because as soon as you start doing custom things for us, you're going to break it for somebody else.
[01:05:04] Or you end up with all these splintered versions and we don't want that. We want a core foundation that has options and I think you guys have done a great job doing that. You know, I know you're working with some of the other brands are very different than us. I always remember the conversation, I think it was with Parjad, he said, "Yeah, there's at least 20 things that all seem very common sense to me. Are those even on the list of the other group of your clients?"
[01:05:29] And he's like, "No." I was like, "Are you kidding me? Like, how's that possible?" Like, because they have different priorities, they run different restaurants. They're not necessarily fast casual or build your own. And it gave me a really good perspective of everything you guys have to deal with yet at the same time, you still listen.
[01:05:44] You still take feedback, you know. Roger on your team has been, I'm astounded at when he replies and helps with things. He's just like, "Dude, you don't have to deal with it right now." And he'll jump on and we'll deal with it right away because it's, I can get the information right now. [01:06:00] And he sees your team and, you know, he sees the value in getting it right now because it can always reproduce stuff.
[01:06:06] And when you can grab that, document it and get it to your dev team, they can work on it and make your product better.
[01:06:13] Sean Brennan: [01:06:13] Yeah. I mean, I, I think at the end, you know, when the, when the eventual credits roll on the Qu movie, it it's, you guys are part of it, our operators are part of it. There is no ego here. We think we have a really good, strong, operational and technical sense on how to build a modern restaurant platform. But who better, how often do you look at a POS or some sort of other technology in the hospitality space and you ask yourself, "Were operators even consulted when they wrote this?" So there was no egos here, you know. Who knows your business better than you? No one. Right? So you guys are super savvy. You're part of this team, I like to think where extensions of one another's team and a true partnership standpoint.
[01:06:54] So in the credits of Qu your, your guys' names are right there, helping us pioneer the future. And, you [01:07:00] know, as much as brands are RFP and POS, like we're, we're doing the same. We're looking for brands like you, that want to do this together, right? In lock step. We can't do it without the brands, there's no egos here.
[01:07:12] We need to do it with innovative forward-thinking brands that are looking to reshape things in a true partnership environment prior, you know, nothing like our predecessors. So we're excited about that. It's been an honor working with you throughout, you know, the years now. Incredible. Yeah.
[01:07:28] Excited about the future.
[01:07:31] Jenifer Kern: [01:07:31] Yeah. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today. It was really fun getting to know you a little bit more and talking about the brand. And, and Sean, thank you so much for joining and bringing that love you have for the brands that you work within, especially with the RFP and the Hot Head Burritos team. I, know that they have enjoyed having you on board as much as we have here at Qu. So, you know, I like to give a little wrap infomercial time for our guests. Peter, is there anything else you want to throw out there and, and [01:08:00] promote for your brand as we wrap?
[01:08:04] Peter Wiley: [01:08:04] I, you know, I think both brands are exciting, you know. I enjoy both of them. And I think I look forward to just growing, getting the fan base, you know. We're pretty regional right now. We have a couple of locations outside the markets, but I'd love to continue to expand that footprint and let more people enjoy it.
[01:08:19] So, you know, Sean can, doesn't have to take a bowl back through TSA. He can have one in there.
[01:08:26]Jenifer Kern: [01:08:26] In Boston. Yeah. Come on over to the East Coast. Come on to DC, please. We can always use more, better, fast casuals here. That's for sure.
[01:08:37] Sean Brennan: [01:08:37] I might have to.
[01:08:37] Jenifer Kern: [01:08:37] And you can never have enough pizza chains.
[01:08:39] Sean Brennan: [01:08:39] I might switch teams and jump on the operator side. I might have to start franchising. Be it, yeah, yeah, a district developer in this area. I'm ready to grow.
[01:08:50] Jenifer Kern: [01:08:50] Well, thank you guys so much. Sean Brennan from Qu and Peter Wiley, Co-founder for Rapid Fired Pizza and for Hot Head Burritos. Check them out. If [01:09:00] you're in the area, they've got phenomenal food. If your mouth isn't watering now, you haven't been paying attention, but that's okay. It's a podcast. So thank you, guys, so much. And all my best to you Peter and Sean. I'll be seeing you.
[01:09:13] Sean Brennan: [01:09:13] Awesome. Thank you, Jen. Appreciate.
[01:09:16] Jenifer Kern: [01:09:16] Thank you guys. Have an awesome day.
[01:09:19] Sean Brennan: [01:09:19] Bye.
[01:09:21] (2nd Day Segment)
[01:09:21] Jenifer Kern: [01:09:21] Start recording. Hi, Peter. Thanks for doing this part two. So we'll cut that part out guys. So Justin, Tristan, we just hit record. I'm going to ask Peter three other things that we wanted to cover in our, our episode yesterday. So the first one Peter is we've talked a lot about the changing industry and technology obviously has a big role there. I'd like to know in your opinion, in your very humble opinion, how you believe restaurant operators need to really change how they view technology? And, you know, obviously everyone's like talking about digital transformation. It's sort of a [01:10:00] buzzword and it ends up being meaningless at the end of the day.
[01:10:02] But how do you, you know, as being a very innovative operator that you are, how do you really believe operators need to change how they view, approach, leverage and use technology?
[01:10:14] Peter Wiley: [01:10:14] Yeah. It's a, it's definitely a big question and one, I wrestle with personally on probably a daily basis. I'll go back to, you know, my brother was in Subway for 25 years and we, as the technology is crept into the restaurant industry, you know, he was telling me he had, his tech budget was $125 a year.
[01:10:34] Right? I mean, all you had was a basic POS, you didn't have to worry about online ordering, you didn't have to worry about third party. You didn't have to worry about you know, internet, you know, you just had a cash register and maybe a POS that you then faxed in your sales reports to your franchise or type thing.
[01:10:52] So, there was no tech. And now it's just part of life and getting people who have been in the industry a long time [01:11:00] to accept that, is, can be a little bit of a challenge and getting new people in they're coming in, like you're not just a restaurant operator anymore. You have to have either you do or you have to hire somebody who has the understanding because we rely heavily on the internet now. You know, from online ordering to third party all of those play on the internet.
[01:11:17] And, you know, we just rolled out the a hundred, a basically 120 locations on Qu. And part of that was revamping the tech stack, if you will, all the way to your internet provider. You know, a lot of people think, "Just get internet." Like, "Well, you need internet." "Okay, but what happens if the internet goes down?"
[01:11:34] You know, that was a major point with Qu, is what happens when the internet goes down. One of the things we did with Sean is yanked the internet out from underneath the POS while we were running an order and see what happens. So you have to be able to know when what's going to happen when you don't have internet versus when you do.
[01:11:50] So, you know, I have an internet provider. Is it stable? Is it fast enough? With Punchh we're using for loyalty on how to inside. It relies on internet. If you don't have internet, you don't have Punchh [01:12:00] because there's real-time data transfer between Qu looking up the customer information from the back.
[01:12:05] So we have to make sure you're not only have internet, but do you have an internet backup. Because if you don't, you got challenges. But Qu will run completely without the internet, which is awesome. Again, one of the main points we, we did processes credit cards offline and stuff. And that's a major question to ask if you're looking for new POS, but I still need internet.
[01:12:24] Right? And I still need myself back up because if I, internet goes out and I don't have a cellular backup which thankfully the internet providers are most around the country are now offering at a reasonable rate, 20 bucks a month or something. Then it keeps all my third parties going, right? 'Cause some of them Uber Eats and GrubHub and DoorDash runs itself, but you lose all of that capability. You lose all of your online ordering which in some restaurants right now, especially because of COVID could be 70 to 90% of their business, you know. Some restaurants just closed their dining rooms during COVID because they had to. And so if you lost internet and you didn't have a [01:13:00] backup, you were done for the day, right?
[01:13:01] You didn't have any in store. So, you know, thinking through the internet, thinking it through then down to your firewall, what kind of firewall are you using to protect yourself? If you're not using a firewall, you're just asking for trouble and you're not PCI compliant, which is... Hold on the discussion, but it's part of the reality, you know. How difficult is it to use?
[01:13:19] How difficult is it to set up? Lots of things need wifi in the store now and I don't mean public wifi. I mean, like to run your restaurant. We use Jolt and a number of restaurants and number of franchisees do. And there's other software like that, that relies on wifi in the store to do checklists, temperature logs, you know, scheduling, shift management, all those things rely on wifi. And we haven't even gotten to making food. We're just talking about how do I, how do I operate the restaurant and how give my crew the tools they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability and make life easy for them. So if you've got your self-backup, you got your internet provider, you got your firewall and then now you're going to get down to the POS, that's got to [01:14:00] run again. Kind of mentioned that, but you gotta be able to run and take credit cards and not rely a hundred percent on the internet because if is it blips for a minute, it still got to function. So it's no longer just a piece or something you have to deal with.
[01:14:15] It is an integral part of running a restaurant nowadays from the marketing all the way to the ops, right? Because our ops, a lot of our ops pages are online now. We use Google Drive heavily and our brands and other, other companies, different things. So if you don't have, you can't look something up, what do I do if I can't, you know, check my email, get the latest information, what do I do?
[01:14:37] So it, it is just so key. I think of Domino's a few years ago said, "We're no longer a pizza company or a tech company." You know, they have some of the most sophisticated tech in the industry the way they track everything, which is super cool. And Chipotle came out with an article two or three days ago all about. They didn't, it was, emphasis was about their loyalty system which is a lot of what we're putting together with Punchh's, but it all relies on tech. It relies on somebody [01:15:00] to analyze data, put together campaigns, you know, have knowledge and understanding of click-through track rates. You know, what happens if I run an ad on Facebook, I want to know that I'm getting a click through to that sale.
[01:15:12] And that's something we're working on with Qu. So it is not optional, it's a reality. You have to embrace it. If you don't embrace it, I think you're just going to struggle. If you do embrace it, it, yes, it, it chips away, it's another line item on your bottom line, but hopefully the returns are there to justify it. Because it's not going away.
[01:15:32] Jenifer Kern: [01:15:32] Yeah. Well, so it sounds like you're saying operators need to pretty much change everything then about how they view and use some leverage technology.
[01:15:40] Peter Wiley: [01:15:40] You know, we're, we look at everything that way. I've always been a tech guy from audio industry to video and then in the restaurants. So I always look at how can I leverage tech, right? How can I leverage it to make life better for myself, my crew you know, as simple as something as simple as using online QuickBooks. It to [01:16:00] me makes it easier, right? It leverages everybody, all my ownership team and my stores can see the data. You know, there's integrations we're working with market man, testing that out in several stores to do inventory integration, to make it easier for the crew to have my food costs be more accurate. There's Jolteon 7shifts on scheduling and all these things have on expense, but if you do them right, they can pay for themselves.
[01:16:23] If I, if my scheduling gets better by 1%, well, my labor gets better by even half a percent or a quarter of a percent. I'm paying for some of these scheduling tools and it makes it way better for us as ownership. Second, look down and see the schedules, my managers can see the schedules, my crews can see the schedules. I mean, instead of spending three hours making a schedule on paper and trying to figure it all out or even in a spreadsheet, some of these tools you can do it in 15 minutes.
[01:16:49] So now you're saving labor on that way, the crews happier and you can cut it, tick through a bunch of those different data points, even getting sales into QuickBooks. There's an [01:17:00] integration called Shogo I believe in that, doing sales pitch. But to me it was cool 'cause I've never really done that part of it.
[01:17:05] Like Qu provided that opportunity that we can take all our sales data, just dump it right into QuickBooks. So it saves hours of data entry. And you're like, "Wow, it's like 15 bucks a month." Again, not a sales pitch, but if I have to pay somebody to enter that data or I can just have it connected, I just saved that time monotonous thing of having to be done all the time. It just goes away and now they can do something that only they can do. Not, you know, if the computer can do this, great. Let's let the computer do it. That's that. It's a long rabbit trail for me.
[01:17:38] I...
[01:17:38] Jenifer Kern: [01:17:38] Yeah. No, that's great. I mean, you're obviously very tech savvy. I mean, I know your background, originally was at a market as a marketer, but this is, this is how the space is changing now. Right? Marketers are becoming more tech savvy, restaurants are becoming more tech savvy. I mean, I sometimes take issue with the Domino's brand saying, you know, "We're a tech company." Because you know, I go to them for pizza, but I [01:18:00] get the sentiment. I get where they're going with that.
[01:18:02] Peter Wiley: [01:18:02] Yeah, you got, you got two sides, so...
[01:18:05] Jenifer Kern: [01:18:05] Right.
[01:18:05] You have
[01:18:05] Peter Wiley: [01:18:05] to have the awesome customer service, you have to have the awesome food. But the customers and the crew are expecting tech. They expect it to be super simple to order online. They expect it to be super simple to get their rewards. They expect it to get pertinent relevant marketing information, not spam that hits everybody. So that all comes from tech.
[01:18:26] Jenifer Kern: [01:18:26] And one of the reasons Qu started and why we're so passionate about what we do is because we do see the Domino's of the world as the gold star and we want to make that attainable for brands your size, right? That's our that's our mission is, to, to make that attainable for other brands, because there are very few brands that can invest the billions of dollars that Domino has invested in their technology infrastructure to get to where they are.
[01:18:51] So it's sort of like, Nico Papa Dimitra, he calls it the democ, democratization of POS.
[01:18:58] Peter Wiley: [01:18:58] Yeah.
[01:18:59] Jenifer Kern: [01:18:59] And it's like [01:19:00] democratizing.
[01:19:00] Peter Wiley: [01:19:00] To look at it, you're trying to bring everything that's available down to a level that's affordable.
[01:19:06] Jenifer Kern: [01:19:06] Yeah.
[01:19:06] And attainable by, by folks like you and, and so, you know, you really got to the heart of talking about a lot of integrations and unification which is, as you know, our, our brand promise is, is unification and driving those healthy connections. How has that translated into efficiency for you and your team?
[01:19:24] Peter Wiley: [01:19:24] It's way more efficient dealing with on probably two or three levels. One just the crew, a third-party order, Currently we're integrated with DoorDash and Uber Eats on Qu. I'm still waiting on DROP Hub, but it's just an online order to the crew. It's it tells them it's third party they know it's third party, but they don't have to go look at a tablet.
[01:19:44] They don't have to really do anything different, it's just more online orders. So it makes their life much simpler from an IT side, we're managing the menu all inside Qu. We used to have to go to, we were using Challies and integration and they were a great team to work with. Just didn't [01:20:00] have the in depth integration that Qu does or hosted if you will. And we'd have to change the price in the POS, then we have to go to DoorDash and I got an Uber Eats then we had to go to Charlie. Make sure the product IDs right everywhere and if you screwed it up, then it broke and the order didn't go through. And, you know, trying to synchronize changes across four platforms, so that one product could go live was just a nightmare.
[01:20:27] And some, sometimes we just didn't even do it. It's it's, it's not going to, it's not worth the effort. And now in Qu, we just simply turn it on. I mean, it's, you know, it sinks every night and if we have a new LTO, we add it and then the next day it shows up on Uber Eats and on DoorDash and in Qu and online.
[01:20:45] And we can make adjustments. What's really cool is we can make adjustments, if I can say for differences in how DoorDash handles it, how Uber Eats handles it. We can run separate pricing for DoorDash and Uber Eats versus in store. So, IT side makes it very easy. And then from an ownership or an [01:21:00] accounting standpoint all the sales are right there.
[01:21:02] It shows up in your report line item does Uber Eats and DoorDash. You know, when you go to do your reconciliation and go look at DoorDash and say, "DoorDash says I have $2,100 in sales and Qu says I have 2150." Well maybe then you can figure out, "Okay, well, there was a refund on the DoorDash side." Or whatever the discrepancy is, you can figure it out.
[01:21:24] And the Qu team has been great as we've worked through these integrations and providing feedback. 'Cause you're kind of, it's a little bit of a moving target for you guys, 'cause you're working... Uber Eats has an API, DoorDash has an API, GrubHub as an API. So it's been really from my end, pretty seamless as you guys have to sort that out.
[01:21:40] I don't. I just need to put an item into Qu and tell it to go to Uber Eats and DoorDash in our case.
[01:21:46] Jenifer Kern: [01:21:46] Right. So making your internal teams as, as you call them your crew more efficient, right? Which is very important right now when we're in the middle.
[01:21:54] Peter Wiley: [01:21:54] Yeah.
[01:21:54] Jenifer Kern: [01:21:54] Terrible labor shortage. Yeah.
[01:21:56] I also would think it would help with total cost of ownership. Right? I mean, or at least [01:22:00] technical debt, right?
[01:22:00] Not having as many systems. I mean, we work with Charlie. We, you know, they're our friends over there, but you know, having one system versus two to manage and then you add the other, you know, third parties on there. And you're like you said, you were at four or five. I would think that is some sort of efficiencies, total cost of ownership and some savings in there as well.
[01:22:20] Peter Wiley: [01:22:20] Correct. 'Cause I'm no longer paying that additional service or the additional fee per transaction type.
[01:22:25] Jenifer Kern: [01:22:25] Right, right. Fantastic. Well, that's part of our goal is to get you guys get your costs down and get your profit profit margins up and your revenues up. So that's great. Well, thank you so much, Peter. I mean, I know like, as we wrap here and we've been rapping for awhile, but we'll keep rapping. I'd love to know what's your moonshot?
[01:22:42] What's the one thing...
[01:22:43] I mean, listen. You are such an innovator when it comes to restaurant entrepreneurship. I mean, all the people we've worked with, I mean, you, you always come to the top of top of our mind as someone who's super innovative. So I'd love for you to share with the audience what are some of your innovative strategies. What you would consider your moonshot?
[01:23:00] [01:23:00] Peter Wiley: [01:23:00] I first, I appreciate that. I don't know how I can live up to it, but I'll do my best. Yeah, one of the things we got really excited about was, I'm a big craft beer guy. So I'll get to the point here. BrewDog is a company that recently came to the US actually in Columbus, kind of, not too far away from our hometown in Dayton, Ohio.
[01:23:18] And they had this whole platform about people buying an ownership, actually purchasing shares into the restaurant or into their brewery. Man, how cool would it be to have restaurants where people who love the food, love, you know, love coming to their local Hot Head franchise or local Rapid Fired Pizza franchise could actually invest in that restaurant?
[01:23:42] And so as crazy as it sounds, my brother Chris and I, independent of the franchise or so I have to disclaim that very carefully. Like this is not part of Hot Head franchisee, this is not part of Rapid Fired Pizza franchisee. This is part of an entity we call tasty equity. And Chris and I put this together and he said, "Man, how cool [01:24:00] would this be, if you showed up and you owned a part of that restaurant?" And so we have, right now, we have four restaurants that are part of the Regulation A offering, which is the technical term for a government regulation. And we have a lot of owners who have bought shares into the restaurants. And you know, now they're, they're part of the team. As we build more restaurants, they will be part of those more restaurants that tasty equity builds. You know, it was an adventure launching it during COVID. Was probably not the best timing, but... So it's still a bit of a moonshot for us, but it's something we're super excited about.
[01:24:37] We think it, it can really revolutionize community support, help, actually get people into restaurants. You know, our goal is to provide some backing as a, as a possibility. Somebody has to be a franchisee, we can come alongside them. Their community is effectively coming alongside them to help them get a restaurant in that area.
[01:24:53] So it's still a big goal. It's just getting started, but it's something we're definitely excited about. I think it can, [01:25:00] it will be something revolutionary in the industry, I think, as it continues to grow and it takes on legs.
[01:25:06] Jenifer Kern: [01:25:06] That's so cool. And can anyone invest?
[01:25:09] Peter Wiley: [01:25:09] Yes. Yeah. It's open to shares started a minimum of 20 shares at five bucks for a a hundred dollars. So...
[01:25:16] Jenifer Kern: [01:25:16] That's awesome.
[01:25:18] Peter Wiley: [01:25:18] Yeah. You just go to tasty or investintastyequity.com or tastyequity.com and check it out. So a bit of a sales pitch, I admit it, but...
[01:25:25] Jenifer Kern: [01:25:25] Go for it, investintastyequity.com, folks, tastyequity.com. It's hard to forget that word, that.
[01:25:30] Peter Wiley: [01:25:30] It's pretty cool. And again, I'll give some credit to the BrewDog guys, they provided some inspiration. And from a marketing aspect, I think they do some awesome stuff. I used to watch their TV show and things. So we've, we've been inspired by you know, really grassroots reaching out to people style marketing and working hard to try to get that into our brands as we go.
[01:25:50] So...
[01:25:51] Jenifer Kern: [01:25:51] That's fantastic.
[01:25:53] Peter Wiley: [01:25:53] Appreciate that opportunity.
[01:25:54] Jenifer Kern: [01:25:54] Yeah. And I think you had one other innovation.
[01:25:57] Peter Wiley: [01:25:57] Yeah. Yeah, we've got one more, we're working hard on. If I [01:26:00] pivot just a little bit, you can see the Bitcoin art behind me.
[01:26:03] Jenifer Kern: [01:26:03] Oh, is that what that is? I've been meaning to ask you about that.
[01:26:05] Peter Wiley: [01:26:05] There's Ethereum one on, on the other wall. But we're, we're big crypto proponents again, separate from this or kind of a personal venture, but we would love to see it get into restaurants.
[01:26:16] And we're actually had several conversations with Amir about it. actively looking into it. We know our credit card processor middleman supports it. So yeah, we, we look at it as it's on credit cards are unavoidable. Kind of like tap, right? It's an expense that didn't use to be there years and years ago is heavily cash.
[01:26:37] Right? And now credit cards take anywhere between 2 70 and 2.75, probably on average, maybe two and a half, if you're really big brand. All the way up to three and a half percent of every transaction. And we're like, man crypto provides a way to do that. And at least gives us an alternative and an opportunity.
[01:26:55] Is everybody going to switch over and not use credit cards? No. That's like, yeah. [01:27:00] It's not quite going to happen. I mean, Visa and MasterCard already have crypto type credit cards going. So, but to be able to accept that online ordering, which there's a lot of sites that accept online crypto payments and then in store crypto payments, you can do through some third parties, but having it really seamless. It's something we're very excited about offering hopefully in the next, within the next year.
[01:27:20] Potentially even straight through Qu if I can keep a richer than a mirror on my side. Just like you guys want to be innovative, we want to be innovative. What's more innovative than crypto right now?
[01:27:32] Jenifer Kern: [01:27:32] Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's get it done. I mean, crypto is super high. I, I we've talked about this 'cause my husband is very bullish with crypto and helping some companies get lodged. He's doing using mostly your Ethereum. Am I saying that right?
[01:27:46] Peter Wiley: [01:27:46] Ethereum.
[01:27:47] Jenifer Kern: [01:27:47] Thank you.
[01:27:47] Peter Wiley: [01:27:47] Yup.
[01:27:49] Jenifer Kern: [01:27:49] Close. So yeah.
[01:27:50] I mean, it's definitely hot and wow.
[01:27:53] That you're right. I mean, that's a huge innovation. Can we get restaurants, you know, using crypto and as payment? I mean, that would [01:28:00] be fantastic. Again, you would be, you would be a trailblazer amongst all of our customers, if we could get, get that going. So, yeah.
[01:28:07] Yeah. Yeah.
[01:28:07] So that's awesome. So, well, thank you so much for sharing all those insights and innovations with us and with the audience here at Restaurants.
[01:28:14] Peter Wiley: [01:28:14] Thanks for the opportunity.
[01:28:15] Jenifer Kern: [01:28:15] Yeah. Thanks Peter.
[01:28:17] Peter Wiley: [01:28:17] All right. Have a good day.
[01:28:19] Jenifer Kern: [01:28:19] You too.