The Bounce Rate Podcast

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Music.

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McDonald’s might come up today. Today’s going to be a fun episode.

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Well, number one, is everyone doing okay?

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James, you’re doing okay? Eric, we’re doing okay? Yeah. I mean, why not?

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Define okay. Okay. All right. So we’re not doing great, but we’re slightly better

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now that we’re talking to y’all.

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And today’s going to be a really fun episode because recently USA Today released

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their 10 best fast casual restaurants.

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As y’all know, we support fast casual restaurants. restaurants,

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hundreds and hundreds of them across the nation.

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And it’s an area very near, near, very near and dear to our hearts and our tummies

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because they’re fast, they’re casual.

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I’m a fast and casual guy, but anyone else? Well, you have to,

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because you’re, you’re the right, because, because your generation ruined formal dining.

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Yeah. I was just watching Antiques Rogue Show last night and they were showing

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a sideboard and the guy was like, this is a beautiful,

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masterwork art piece of art the inlay

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outside the materials the ash the

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popular you know some some of the woods you can’t even get anymore and he’s

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like it’s worth like 1200 bucks because nobody wants it because nobody does

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formal dining oh i see yeah it was really depressing we a lot of us can’t afford

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formal dining i for one like olive garden thing i don’t know if that’s formal.

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Cash or if that’s going to come up today but i do

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know i do want to take this moment to plug my upcoming podcast

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called the never-ending podcast bowl in september

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where me and a guest we go to the never-ending pasta bowl and just record it

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so until one of you has to go to the bathroom it’s like those things they do

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at bars right like you can get free beer until somebody has to go to the bathroom

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maybe i the the thing about the don’t take me then i’ll be a bad partner i like

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And they would hate you. Oh, gosh, yeah.

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No, I went to Never In Impossible last year. I sound like I overeat,

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and I do, but I have a lot of it.

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It’s more that I just have opinions on it. You know, if you didn’t eat out so

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much, you could afford a lovely sideboard for your formal dining room.

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True. That’s true. That’s where all it’s going.

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No, it’s so funny because I

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went to an all-garden last year when they were doing Never In Impossible.

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Bowl and i asked the lady

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after i ate i think it was like four bowls i

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asked what’s the record that she’s seen

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and she goes oh you you’re you’re

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the record i’m like four bowls that’s crazy four bowls of pasta yeah ouch well

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how big are the bowls right but you’ve never done everything possible he’s your

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james has like a sensitivity there that’s we shouldn’t make fun of his disability

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I would have, like, 15 years ago, probably.

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Listen, they start with a bowl about the size of a regular dinner plate.

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Then I think you get, like, maybe one more that size. But then after that,

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they’re, like, little tea saucers.

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That’s still a lot of pasta. It is. You know who…

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I think the record really is probably whoever ate the last all-you-can-eat shrimp

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that put Long John Silver’s out of business. Oh, the person that really pushed

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them over the edge. Yeah.

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They’re out of bankruptcy now. I know, but, you know, so think about that, though.

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Here, this is my new phrase. Let this sink in. I wish that was more of a meme. I saw that.

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It was kind of becoming a meme, and it kind of faded away. I’m disappointed

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because it’s so annoying.

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But there is a shrimp that somebody ate that caused the bankruptcy.

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That was the last. Yeah, it was the marginal shrimp.

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Well, I did listen to a podcast on that. And one of the things that was interesting

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is one of the owners of Long John Silvers also owned a shrimp distribution company.

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And they were using their shrimp. Yeah. So that partner.

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Jacked up prices. Was doing fine. Yeah. You know what I mean?

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But at the expense of Long John. You know what I mean?

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You could say it was the shrimp that broke the lobsters back.

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Oh. I like that. Oh, that’s fine. It’s good. Well, get in touch with us a lot

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if you want to use that Red Lobster.

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As someone who attended several endless shrimps, it’s more like endless butter.

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Like, that’s the thing. It was just so much butter that you’re just like,

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well, what I can tell you about the thing is like the first person I talked

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to, she said, oh, with four bowls, you’re the record.

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I went again at the end of October, whenever it ends, and I asked her what the

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record was And she looked like she would have returned from Vietnam.

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Do we have any updates on our fantasy draft protocol?

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Yeah. So I sent y’all a doc about an hour ago.

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And ultimately, I’m like, let’s keep it pretty simple. So let’s go over the

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rules and see what you guys think. We do a three-month season to start.

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We update scoring, possibly weekly or monthly. Three teams, snake draft.

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And at the end of the day, I said, let’s just do four tape reps, four car reps.

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Scoring for all new tape and car sales, one point for a thousand sold.

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Renewals, two points per thousand sold. And digital sales, two points per thousand sold. Okay.

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Just keep it simple. Let’s just see how it goes. I was trying to get reports.

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I was struggling in, you’re going to have to help me run these reports year

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to date for, because we needed like some data to go off of. You know what I mean?

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It wouldn’t be fair to Roger because, you know, I talked to him.

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I know I’ve got inside information. You know what I mean? No,

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but that’s just confirmation bias then.

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Well, we need to print out a list so that we can, you know, have a cheat sheet. Yeah.

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Well, we have more, we have another statistical point of data,

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which is we have the summer sales contest winners for june that’s true yeah so we’ve got,

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sandeep depison is that correct sand

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oh my gosh i totally i totally blended this

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together yeah i was like into one video i i don’t have my

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glasses i am so sorry sandy i don’t have my glasses

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on i can barely read this i’m gonna let james read it i’m who we got i got sandy

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we got joshua Ewing second place so Sandy you were first place this is tape

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and that’s tape and then cart first place was Christine Rimery.

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Remembering and second place was jeffrey

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head all right i know jeffrey all right for something

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pronounceable jeffrey yeah thank you i i get really

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nervous that’s awful i know all these folks and i

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and i am so sorry yeah so yeah congratulations everybody

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that is awesome yeah yeah we need to

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label these carton tape on here i just noticed so some

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it sounds like some of these names are going to show up in our draft and but

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who knows i can’t i don’t i have not met all these reps

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so I might be better because I’ve

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talked to a lot of them and I might have some personal bias based

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on like I really like that guy or girl you know when

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I might throw him on my team and then it might let me down I might make some

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calls though and be like hey you gonna go on vacation next month because that

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will impact your tempering I can’t do inside information you totally would our

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draft is coming up so stay tuned for that we’ll let you know when

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when that’s about to happen and it’s going to be exciting and we have to figure

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out what the loser has to do yeah that was the thing you’re right i’m glad you

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brought that up there has to be a punishment for the loser yeah i mean that’s

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how all fantasy works we talked about this this is not my fantasy like yeah

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i’m like can’t we just play where we all win it’s not a participant.

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What are you come on you grew up in the era

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of losers lose and i’ve been

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and i’ve amended my ways oh okay well brace

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the millennial yeah participation trophies for

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all still gonna do your punishment i don’t know where it’s gonna be it could just

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we won’t go extreme you’ll shave your head that’s

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extreme no no not really not really

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i’m okay with it so today.

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I’ll do it yeah but i’ll go buzz cut i’m

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not going all the way so today we’re going

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to run down the top 10 best fast casual

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restaurants of 2025 as determined

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by usa today so obviously

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our sales reps are out there talking to a

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our tape sales reps are out there talking to a

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lot of fast casual restaurant owners

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and i’m so curious of what trends they see

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in the market because they’re you know they’re talking

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to these people they’re they’re moving and shaking so this

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is just what usa today has to say and

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you know what we have to say about

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their rankings are there any so you looked

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at the list you’ve looked at the list maybe i

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was going to say maybe we nominate a fast

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casual that we like but we might name one that’s already on the list so what

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if we just we’ll go down the list and then we’ll give our our general feelings

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about it and then we will say what we think they’re doing right And if we,

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you know, think they should be higher.

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Coming in at number 10, we have five guys. James, what’s your brief assessment of five guys?

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I love five guys. I love the, you know…

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Feel simple menu i think it has a really good burger they

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do have it’s a little bit of more of an expensive burger

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right they do have a lot of locations across the u.s i

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think we looked it up and have about 15 000 100 sorry

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yeah 1500 yes big difference still it’s a lot of locations

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so eric what do you think yeah i mean it’s got

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that diner feel i it’s interesting because that brand

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is clearly a pretty big brand

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there’s another brand on here that that has

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a diner feel as well and it’ll be it’s interesting because

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it’s nice to tie into something people know

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from nostalgia and so you and you can play

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off of that so they got that’s really good i definitely agree it’s a higher

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price point but it is a nice treat they’ve got the shakes they’ve got the the

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dogs they don’t have the peanuts anymore because they probably could the allergy

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i’m curious you guys say it’s a higher price point higher than what that’s a

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good point burger king Well,

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but that’s not a fast casual, right? It’s more than jellies.

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It’s a higher, more expensive. Oh, it is? Yeah, okay. I would say,

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I do think the burgers have gone up. Because the last time I went,

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I was surprised. I was like, whoa.

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I think just me by myself, I spent like 18 bucks. Yeah. And I was like,

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what? For two people, it’s almost 15.

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Yeah. It’s kind of like with, you know. So that’s a little bit more than I would,

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I’d expect it to pay. Maybe I would compare it to like a Shake Shack, maybe.

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But sometimes you deserve it.

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Coming in at number nine, we’ve got Panera Bread. I’m a fan of Panera Bread.

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It’s fresh, it’s light, it’s nearby. What do y’all think?

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I like Panera’s. I think it’s a nice, there’s not too many fast casuals that

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are fitting that niche of what they serve, even though it’s sandwiches.

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So it’s kind of deli, but then they have the soups and other stuff and they

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have the fresh bakery, which is pretty awesome.

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I, I think it’s interesting comparing them to five guys.

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They don’t have that, you know, their brand is kind of, Hey,

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we’re Panera bakery, right? They’re not trading in on any other kind of nostalgia

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or theme or anything like that.

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And I do think that makes it a little more complicated for them to brand, to market.

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Yeah, personally, I mean, I’ve eaten Panera for a long time. I used to really love it.

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I’m just kind of like a little tired of the brand. I don’t know why.

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Maybe they need to like change it up a little because there’s always,

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this industry is changing.

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I mean, it’s not changing, but the faces, right? Like, you’ve got to keep that

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excitement up to keep people coming back. For sure.

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But that’s good food. I mean, don’t get me wrong. If I go there,

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I’m going to be happy, right?

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I like that they have mac and cheese. I also think that their artistic direction

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kind of reminds me of that World Cafe style back from the 1990s with the swirly people. Yeah.

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But don’t get me wrong. When I had my, I had esophagus surgery about a year

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ago and I could only eat soup for a while and I ate a ton of prayer. Yeah.

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Next up coming in number eight, we’ve got Moe’s Southwest Grill.

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I’ve never been, it looks light and fresh, but my understanding is it’s one

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of the, uh, similar burrito line contenders.

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Yeah, you know, it’s funny. I don’t know what USA, this list came from a panel,

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and I don’t really know why they said that they beat out, you know,

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the Chipotles or the Codobas or things like that.

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I’ve been there when I visited our North Carolina facility in Burlington,

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and I think it’s very tasty, very well done.

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I think it’s a little faster than fast casual. I mean, it kind of feels,

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it’s not really casual to me, the fast casual, it’s more quick serve.

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I see. James, have you ever been? I’ve never been. Well, we wish them best of luck.

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I wish myself best of luck trying to travel on sometime because now I’m sure.

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Number seven, we’ve got one very near and dear to us here at the, what street is this?

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Langham Creek location. And that is number seven.

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It’s been around since 2004. I didn’t have it until well after that. I’m a fan of Shake Shack.

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It is a, I think, a slightly lower price point than five dollars.

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I’m not sure about that. Very similar. Yeah.

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I think they make a quality burger, and they make, I think, even better shake.

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What do you all think? I like crinkle fries because it gives it more crispiness.

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The funniest, Shake Shack, the way I was introduced to them was at outlet malls.

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I think like going to Vegas outlet mall and a couple other is where I really

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found out about them and started going there.

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And of course I actually went for the shakes first.

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So, I mean, anybody that puts that foot forward is okay in my book. Oh, sure.

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I’m looking at Grok AI and it says there’s 371 shake shack locations in the

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United States. That seems low.

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I don’t know. 371. Compared to like five guys. I find it interesting that you’re using Grok.

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I don’t know. Like Grok, have you,

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they did a bunch of things lately and

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grok like out the chat gvt i was

00:14:47.980 –> 00:14:53.240
thinking no gemini no james what’s your order at shake shack oh man i get i’m

00:14:53.240 –> 00:14:57.640
burger all the way burger and fries keep it keep it simple my kids go with the

00:14:57.640 –> 00:15:02.880
kids we go to shake shack a lot uh as a family um my one son gets a grilled

00:15:02.880 –> 00:15:07.320
cheese i don’t understand that the other kid gets a fried chicken sandwich my wife and.

00:15:09.322 –> 00:15:13.302
And they get shakes, too. I feel like I want to try their take on grilled cheese.

00:15:13.662 –> 00:15:16.802
Coming in at number six, we’ve got another burrito.

00:15:17.582 –> 00:15:21.602
Bohemoth. It’s the burrito Bohemoth. It’s Chipotle Mexican Grill.

00:15:22.022 –> 00:15:26.582
I am a fan of Chipotle. I pay the extra for the sour cream.

00:15:27.082 –> 00:15:33.442
I am one of those people that have a genetic disease where the cilantro does

00:15:33.442 –> 00:15:34.522
taste a little bit like soap.

00:15:34.642 –> 00:15:41.342
But what I love about Chipotle is that it’s just enough cilantro that it’s tasty, but not too soapy.

00:15:42.242 –> 00:15:46.202
I’m a big fan. What do y’all think? They get a lot of hate for some reason from

00:15:46.202 –> 00:15:48.442
some people, like from my wife, but I love them.

00:15:48.722 –> 00:15:52.182
I absolutely love them. And there’s 3,726 in the US.

00:15:52.342 –> 00:15:54.982
I don’t know why I keep stating how many there are, but I think it’s a curious,

00:15:55.282 –> 00:15:58.062
it’s relevant. Well, it helps their standing, right?

00:15:58.662 –> 00:16:03.662
I’m not sure that I would say that Chipotle is necessarily top of my list.

00:16:04.082 –> 00:16:07.522
I certainly, I mean, if I were driving somewhere and I saw Chipotle,

00:16:07.542 –> 00:16:08.962
I’d be like, oh, sure, yeah, I’ll go there.

00:16:09.922 –> 00:16:13.202
I think the thing that’s interesting about them is they’ve done a lot more marketing.

00:16:13.382 –> 00:16:16.262
Because they’re the size they are, they’ve done a lot more marketing,

00:16:16.262 –> 00:16:21.522
which is, I think, also why they’ve put a target on themselves as the leader for all the hate.

00:16:21.702 –> 00:16:24.882
And a lot of that has died down, I think, good for them. Yeah, yeah.

00:16:24.982 –> 00:16:29.882
So it’s interesting because we’re seeing a little bit of a mix on this list.

00:16:30.202 –> 00:16:35.242
They had to be restaurants that had a good number of locations because otherwise

00:16:35.242 –> 00:16:37.662
people wouldn’t be reading, would be reading this and be like,

00:16:37.842 –> 00:16:44.042
oh, I don’t know about, you know, Bobby’s tacos in their one location in Odessa.

00:16:44.442 –> 00:16:50.422
So the team that put this list together has all these restaurants have some,

00:16:50.522 –> 00:16:55.422
some cachet, but some of these are a lot bigger than others. For sure.

00:16:55.742 –> 00:17:00.602
Well, and interesting enough, I’ve been looking at our coupon portals and our testimonial portals.

00:17:00.642 –> 00:17:04.902
And most of these brands we’ve talked about before, we have ads running non-registering. Oh, yeah.

00:17:05.562 –> 00:17:07.602
Like Denny’s for, did we talk about Denny’s? No.

00:17:09.882 –> 00:17:12.682
What are we talking about we were talking about denny’s anyways

00:17:12.682 –> 00:17:15.502
most of them have some testimonials as well

00:17:15.502 –> 00:17:18.182
but like chipotle doesn’t look like they’re on our

00:17:18.182 –> 00:17:20.862
list so that’s interesting why do you think that why do

00:17:20.862 –> 00:17:27.582
you think that is i don’t know is our is chipotle is it a franchise or is they

00:17:27.582 –> 00:17:32.982
all corporate that’s a great question yeah i think that’s that’s one of the

00:17:32.982 –> 00:17:36.882
things to really consider for all these restaurants too you know all these are

00:17:36.882 –> 00:17:39.842
for i mean they’re franchises or they’re corporate either way,

00:17:39.862 –> 00:17:42.962
but they have a lot of locations.

00:17:42.962 –> 00:17:47.542
And when you, and when you look at the category of fast, casual,

00:17:47.722 –> 00:17:49.902
quick serve, it really makes a difference.

00:17:50.042 –> 00:17:54.242
Rather, that person is somebody that has complete control over all their branding

00:17:54.242 –> 00:17:56.882
and is really doing a lot of it.

00:17:57.062 –> 00:18:01.562
If they’re corporately owned and you have no choice, but you’re responsible

00:18:01.562 –> 00:18:05.382
for delivering sales and you’re one little restaurant and a couple of restaurants,

00:18:05.382 –> 00:18:11.762
and you have to really do micro-targeting for your location, it makes a difference.

00:18:11.962 –> 00:18:16.522
And to be able to talk a little bit about that and relate to their challenges

00:18:16.522 –> 00:18:18.142
is really important when you’re in sales.

00:18:18.662 –> 00:18:22.262
Interesting you say that. I’ve looked Shake Shack, Five Guys.

00:18:22.522 –> 00:18:27.082
They’re all, I think they’re a mix of company and franchise-owned,

00:18:27.242 –> 00:18:31.362
but Chipotle is 100% entirely company-owned. Yeah.

00:18:32.042 –> 00:18:36.802
And that’s why they’re not big on our list. It’s not because we couldn’t be amazing for them.

00:18:37.762 –> 00:18:45.742
Yeah, it’s getting in at the corporate level because at and Chipotle is huge.

00:18:46.242 –> 00:18:51.922
So talking to marketing people at the enterprise level like that and then convincing

00:18:51.922 –> 00:18:56.622
them, hey, you know, print ads really work that boy, it’s just such a disconnect

00:18:56.622 –> 00:18:59.842
for them, despite all the evidence we have to the contrary.

00:19:00.062 –> 00:19:04.402
I mean, look, so sorry, I was going to say, so here’s the gauntlet.

00:19:04.402 –> 00:19:07.262
Here’s the here’s the gauntlet and right now

00:19:07.262 –> 00:19:10.522
is somebody in our sales team go

00:19:10.522 –> 00:19:13.382
connect to chipotle it’s huge look at that i

00:19:13.382 –> 00:19:16.722
mean look at one one call three

00:19:16.722 –> 00:19:20.522
thousand contracts i mean that’s one you could chase for a long time and the

00:19:20.522 –> 00:19:24.662
payoff would be amazing more than worth it yeah but stay on this subject like

00:19:24.662 –> 00:19:28.182
i really think you know if you look at register tape we’re talking about register

00:19:28.182 –> 00:19:35.262
tape with this with this type of restaurant or service i i love the the franchise,

00:19:36.042 –> 00:19:40.702
scenario because they spend a lot of money on advertising and so when they come

00:19:40.702 –> 00:19:45.742
on to register tape they don’t need as much time to build up the reputation

00:19:45.742 –> 00:19:50.822
and the name brand like it’s already built in so the chances the chances of them having.

00:19:51.948 –> 00:19:56.168
Success right out of the gate is huge, right? Yeah. And they really vamp up

00:19:56.168 –> 00:19:57.748
that growth curve. Yeah.

00:19:58.008 –> 00:20:01.408
Right. They put that thing on steroids because they’ve already done the name

00:20:01.408 –> 00:20:06.948
recognition. Now you’re giving them the call to action to actually go to your specific location.

00:20:07.528 –> 00:20:11.148
Yeah. So I think that’s, I mean, definitely something I would focus on.

00:20:11.208 –> 00:20:15.288
Not that we have a ton of independents that do great, right? And that can do great.

00:20:15.448 –> 00:20:19.028
But I think there is more, statistically, there’s a little bit more volatility

00:20:19.028 –> 00:20:21.828
because they aren’t doing all that advertising. Some of them aren’t, right?

00:20:22.168 –> 00:20:26.848
You don’t know 100% what they’re doing, their image and branding in their community.

00:20:27.128 –> 00:20:30.588
Yeah. And it’s a lot of, I think, looking at franchise versus independence,

00:20:30.848 –> 00:20:32.608
kind of top down versus bottom up.

00:20:33.648 –> 00:20:39.508
Franchise looks at all of their franchise and their brand across the entire area that they’re in.

00:20:39.688 –> 00:20:44.048
So if they’re a national brand, they really worry about that mass media hitting

00:20:44.048 –> 00:20:48.008
everybody. It doesn’t matter so much for them if they’re hitting multiple locations

00:20:48.008 –> 00:20:52.588
at the same time, because it’s all for the betterment of the brand.

00:20:52.808 –> 00:20:57.528
And they have the size and the number of locations to make that work.

00:20:57.628 –> 00:21:02.428
So they kind of start at that top high level advertising.

00:21:02.808 –> 00:21:06.468
It might even be Super Bowl commercials or something like that, if you’re really big.

00:21:06.648 –> 00:21:11.608
And they do this mass kind of advertising, and hopefully that kind of trickles down.

00:21:11.888 –> 00:21:15.668
When you’re an independent, your whole market is your local market.

00:21:15.988 –> 00:21:21.248
And so when you’re an independent, you want to start first, how do I get to

00:21:21.248 –> 00:21:22.928
the people that are coming into my door?

00:21:23.148 –> 00:21:27.148
And for our people, if they’re meeting code, it’s going to be the grocery store.

00:21:27.468 –> 00:21:33.168
Then we do it the other way, right? The way we build up to that is we add digital boost on top of that.

00:21:33.288 –> 00:21:37.608
We make sure that your online profile is really looking good and can be found.

00:21:37.808 –> 00:21:41.108
Then we, make sure your website is great. And then we eventually move you to

00:21:41.108 –> 00:21:45.108
pay-per-click, all targeted locally because that’s your whole market,

00:21:45.428 –> 00:21:50.908
but building up to more general brand advertising, like with Digital Boost,

00:21:51.148 –> 00:21:54.788
once we’ve already targeted with the call to action.

00:21:55.008 –> 00:21:59.148
Yeah. Well said. I like that. Yeah. We’re now in the homestretch,

00:21:59.308 –> 00:22:02.808
number five, regional favorite, Culver’s. I’ve never been. Anyone ever been?

00:22:03.388 –> 00:22:06.608
There is a, isn’t there a Culver’s? Oh no, it’s a Freddy’s. There’s a Freddy’s.

00:22:06.628 –> 00:22:09.488
There’s not a culver’s i don’t know that there is i’ve seen

00:22:09.488 –> 00:22:12.248
the name but yeah i’ve never had it i haven’t feeling it’s like

00:22:12.248 –> 00:22:15.768
it looks like a northern brand to me but as soon as i saw cheese curds i was

00:22:15.768 –> 00:22:20.048
like oh crap i need to go there right cheese curds are awesome wisconsin staple

00:22:20.048 –> 00:22:25.028
number four we’ve got portillo’s now we’re not supposedly one that’s opening

00:22:25.028 –> 00:22:31.288
up here best in chicago looks delicious chicago beef looks good yeah.

00:22:32.332 –> 00:22:36.672
Italian beef, I mean, Italian beef sandwiches. So I think it’s,

00:22:36.772 –> 00:22:42.712
you know, they’re a competitor for burgers and it’s a different feel.

00:22:42.832 –> 00:22:46.392
You know, it’s kind of a, it’s a burger Panera, right?

00:22:46.512 –> 00:22:52.112
Because it’s on freshly baked French bread, but it’s got this Italian beef sandwich.

00:22:52.772 –> 00:22:56.472
So it’s got the beef and the bread. You can’t really go wrong with that.

00:22:56.472 –> 00:23:05.512
But I am interested to see over time, like in Houston, we’ve seen a big shift in the market.

00:23:05.792 –> 00:23:10.632
Back 30 years ago, our staples were burger joints and barbecue.

00:23:10.992 –> 00:23:17.832
And barbecue has become very high end in Houston now. It is not your just go buy, get a cheap.

00:23:18.032 –> 00:23:20.832
It was really an alternative to a burger.

00:23:20.992 –> 00:23:25.092
That’s all gone. We have a lot more fusion restaurants, a lot more alternatives.

00:23:25.092 –> 00:23:28.072
Some of them are very good i miss the really cheap

00:23:28.072 –> 00:23:30.932
chip sandwich chip beef sandwich at luther’s but

00:23:30.932 –> 00:23:33.692
oh well and so we have also have

00:23:33.692 –> 00:23:36.732
a couple other unique things like our james coney island

00:23:36.732 –> 00:23:39.472
which is chili cheese dogs and so forth i think a

00:23:39.472 –> 00:23:43.192
portillo’s could be interesting yeah i can’t wait even coming to number three

00:23:43.192 –> 00:23:47.872
another elevated classic is torches tacos we were there the other day i think

00:23:47.872 –> 00:23:51.632
they’re doing a lot of fun stuff right they have fun names for their tacos and

00:23:51.632 –> 00:23:57.112
they have some unique sauces and ways of doing things. Pro Torchy’s?

00:23:57.392 –> 00:23:58.932
Definitely Pro Torchy’s.

00:23:59.432 –> 00:24:01.872
Yeah, I like that they have other

00:24:01.872 –> 00:24:07.392
kinds of Mexican dishes, not just a build-your-own burrito. Cool job.

00:24:07.892 –> 00:24:13.252
Just really quick, we’ve got a ton of Culver’s in our confines online and in testimonials.

00:24:14.012 –> 00:24:17.032
Cool. Curious about Torchy’s. Go find more Culver’s. Number two,

00:24:17.172 –> 00:24:20.832
we’ve got another burrito behemoth, Kudoba.

00:24:20.832 –> 00:24:25.012
I remember I had one years ago, and I can’t remember what it tasted like,

00:24:25.132 –> 00:24:29.412
but supposedly they’re doing really well. I can’t speak to Cordova.

00:24:30.212 –> 00:24:36.252
And then finally, number one, I’ve never heard of this place, Habit Burger and Grill.

00:24:36.752 –> 00:24:41.552
They get paid. Yeah, I did a quick, well, or it’s the cousin of one of the panelists,

00:24:41.672 –> 00:24:43.012
because I did a quick search.

00:24:43.152 –> 00:24:48.672
They’ve got like 260 locations in California, and I think about 30 outside the

00:24:48.672 –> 00:24:52.172
state. if you need a supply back oh yes I do yeah,

00:24:57.107 –> 00:25:01.907
Yeah, so I think Habitberger, this is interesting.

00:25:02.087 –> 00:25:06.807
I think there’s another takeaway across this. This was an expert panel who put this together.

00:25:07.087 –> 00:25:12.827
They gave us absolutely no criteria for this as to why things are on here.

00:25:13.387 –> 00:25:17.467
There’s not even an idea of definition of what fast casual is.

00:25:19.127 –> 00:25:26.067
Newsflash, the media that you consume, is not completely there across the board.

00:25:26.067 –> 00:25:29.067
Not a hundred percent fair and open. Yeah.

00:25:29.587 –> 00:25:35.887
I mean, sound off. How do you fare with these rankings? I might switch some things around.

00:25:36.127 –> 00:25:41.327
I might have some sleepers that I think I would add in there.

00:25:41.407 –> 00:25:44.567
All right, Roger, who’s missing? James, he just left.

00:25:46.647 –> 00:25:53.247
Well, yeah, James is missing. The fast, casual, and who’s doing it great here.

00:25:53.247 –> 00:25:56.507
And that is there’s

00:25:56.507 –> 00:25:59.547
no there was no ramen on here i think oh yeah there’s

00:25:59.547 –> 00:26:02.467
not a single asian restaurant is there i think ramen place

00:26:02.467 –> 00:26:05.807
was really killing it lately side note

00:26:05.807 –> 00:26:08.907
have you have you done hawaiian barbecue oh that’s a

00:26:08.907 –> 00:26:11.927
big trend now too i am i love

00:26:11.927 –> 00:26:15.027
getting a protein pack and with just

00:26:15.027 –> 00:26:18.627
extra rice oh my gosh they it’s

00:26:18.627 –> 00:26:21.787
it’s hawaiian barbecue is the new barbecue

00:26:21.787 –> 00:26:24.887
because you don’t have to wait in line you know hours for

00:26:24.887 –> 00:26:29.607
it yeah and it’s it’s not as expensive so one thing that you might do if you’ve

00:26:29.607 –> 00:26:34.927
got a lead that made this list reach out and congratulate them you know it might

00:26:34.927 –> 00:26:39.747
not be the most scientific list but it’s out there and it’s great to celebrate

00:26:39.747 –> 00:26:44.667
innovation whenever you can find it and um,

00:26:49.905 –> 00:26:53.685
Yeah. So I’d say a couple of things to think about when you’re out there.

00:26:54.325 –> 00:26:59.025
Think about franchises and whether they lean into their brand.

00:26:59.425 –> 00:27:04.085
Really talk that owner up about how they have this huge asset of their branding.

00:27:04.205 –> 00:27:08.825
And a lot of owners that we’ve talked to and operators of franchises will tell

00:27:08.825 –> 00:27:11.065
you, they’ll say, oh, it’s great.

00:27:11.205 –> 00:27:14.565
You know, we have this commercial whatever, but it’s not helping me.

00:27:14.565 –> 00:27:17.765
And that’s one of the things where Indoor Media can really step up is because

00:27:17.765 –> 00:27:23.465
we cross that bridge between your national or franchise level branding and messaging

00:27:23.465 –> 00:27:28.625
that they’re doing and your targeted local market. So that’s definitely one thing to talk about.

00:27:29.065 –> 00:27:34.385
Another thing you can talk about is are these brands tooting their own horn?

00:27:34.565 –> 00:27:35.785
Are they even in alignment?

00:27:36.165 –> 00:27:40.765
So much of making an ad campaign successful isn’t that one campaign.

00:27:40.765 –> 00:27:46.285
So if you’re talking to one of the brands that’s on this list,

00:27:46.585 –> 00:27:51.105
why don’t they have a sign that says, hey, we just got on the USA Today?

00:27:51.545 –> 00:27:56.185
I mean, absolutely put it out there. If their regular customers see that,

00:27:56.345 –> 00:28:00.745
then they see their ad campaign in the grocery store.

00:28:00.925 –> 00:28:04.065
You’re just giving it that one-two punch, same way digital does.

00:28:04.065 –> 00:28:05.365
And you make a great point.

00:28:05.585 –> 00:28:12.765
The headquarters, the main office can probably pay for their name to get added

00:28:12.765 –> 00:28:17.465
to, you know, any number of lists or so on and so forth.

00:28:17.505 –> 00:28:21.445
But does that translate to actual sales?

00:28:21.705 –> 00:28:29.025
And that is the major strength of tape and grocery store advertising,

00:28:29.025 –> 00:28:33.005
which is we are actually in front of eyeballs.

00:28:33.005 –> 00:28:36.765
And local eyeballs eyeballs and those

00:28:36.765 –> 00:28:40.605
eyeballs belong to people who are in a purchasing mindset

00:28:40.605 –> 00:28:43.805
they are decision makers

00:28:43.805 –> 00:28:47.625
rather than just people on the internet stab off

00:28:47.625 –> 00:28:50.505
in the comments were there any that you think are

00:28:50.505 –> 00:28:53.645
really nailing it really in knocking it

00:28:53.645 –> 00:28:56.845
out of the park that are on there i don’t know which one if

00:28:56.845 –> 00:28:59.705
you could go to one of those right now where where which one

00:28:59.705 –> 00:29:05.265
would you go to food good question i assuming that i wasn’t past my calorie

00:29:05.265 –> 00:29:11.245
count already which i am yeah god that’s a good question i i think i think i’d

00:29:11.245 –> 00:29:14.805
go for a burger i think shake shack or five guys is what i’d probably do right

00:29:14.805 –> 00:29:18.085
now i just i’m dreaming of this culvert’s.