Ashley Morris’s journey from finance professional to the CEO of Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop is a story of perseverance, and a relentless passion for quality. He has led Capriotti’s from a regional favorite to a national franchised brand that is constantly expanding.
Morris’s love for Capriotti’s began in college when his roommate introduced him to the brand. Years later, Morris had a great career in finance, working as a portfolio manager at Wells Fargo. Capriotti’s remained a consistent favorite for Morris. “I just found myself still eating at this place all the time, loving it and just being excited about going and getting my lunch,” he said.
The obsession lead him to franchise a Capriotti’s location with a friend. Morris called it their “first entrée into Capriotti’s” as absentee franchisees. They owned 3 locations in 3 years, but wanted more. That’s when things changed.
Watch now to learn about buying his favorite sandwich shop, how to keep quality up while scaling, and operating a fast-casual franchise.
Morris’s love for Capriotti’s began in college when his roommate introduced him to the brand. Years later, Morris had a great career in finance, working as a portfolio manager at Wells Fargo. Capriotti’s remained a consistent favorite for Morris. “I just found myself still eating at this place all the time, loving it and just being excited about going and getting my lunch,” he said.
The obsession lead him to franchise a Capriotti’s location with a friend. Morris called it their “first entrée into Capriotti’s” as absentee franchisees. They owned 3 locations in 3 years, but wanted more. That’s when things changed.
Watch now to learn about buying his favorite sandwich shop, how to keep quality up while scaling, and operating a fast-casual franchise.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers, presented by Entrepreneur.
00:08I am your host, Sean Walsh.
00:10If this is a Cali BBQ Media production in life, in the restaurant
00:14business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through lessons
00:18and stories. Want to give a special shout out to Toast, our primary
00:21technology partner at our barbecue restaurants in San Diego for
00:25believing in digital hospitality, for believing in storytelling,
00:28for giving us the opportunity to have conversations with the best
00:32storytellers and hospitality professionals on Earth. Today, we
00:36have Ashley Morris, the CEO of Capriotis and the CEO of WingZone.
00:42Ashley, welcome to the show.
00:44Hey, thanks for having me.
00:47What separates Capriotis from all the other amazing sandwich
00:53brands in the marketplace?
00:56Well, I think first and foremost, you know, the brand started in
00:591976 by a founder who had just this love of real proteins.
01:05And so she grew up in Little Italy, Delaware, which is basically
01:09Philadelphia, DMA.
01:10And so there's a sub shop on every corner.
01:13And what she said was, is I'm going to create this brand that rather
01:16than going in and getting sliced processed meat, you know, walking
01:20down a line, you know, asking, you know, what you'd like on the
01:23sandwich, I'm going to chef curate incredible proteins and incredible
01:26sandwich experiences.
01:28And so the primary differentiator is, in our particular sub shop,
01:32when you walk in, you don't go down a line, you order off a menu,
01:36and the proteins are actually in-house made.
01:39So when you order a turkey sandwich, you're not getting a sliced
01:43fresh sandwich, you're getting a slow-cooked 24-pound butterball
01:47turkey that we slow cook in every one of our restaurants every
01:50single day, and we pull it apart every single morning.
01:53So you're getting, you know, fresh roasted proteins when you're eating
01:56cheesesteaks and different other hot items on our menu.
02:00It's the same thing.
02:01So our steaks are the highest quality stuff.
02:03So you want a cheesesteak at Capriati's, you're getting a Snake River
02:06Farms Wagyu cheesesteak, which is, you know, basically white table
02:12cloth, you know, approved.
02:14So you're getting fine dining quality stuff inside of a fast food
02:18restaurant. And same with our roast beef.
02:20It's American Snake River Farms Wagyu roast beef, and the list of
02:24proteins go on and on.
02:25So where possible, where we make our food, we make it in-house.
02:28And that's the primary difference with Capriati's.
02:31When did you fall in love with the brand?
02:34Oh, man.
02:35So I actually fell in love with the brand in college.
02:38My best buddy introduced me to it.
02:40And growing up in Vegas, you know, there wasn't a sub shop on every
02:45corner, but for some reason as a little kid, I fell in love with
02:48sandwiches and particularly cheesesteaks.
02:51I just thought what a great combination, what a magical combination
02:55to put in between bread.
02:56And so whenever I would find a cheesesteak, I would inevitably
02:59gravitate towards trying it on the menu.
03:01And my buddy came home from school one day and we were both roommates
03:05and he said, hey, you got to try this place called Capriati's.
03:08It's the greatest sandwich I've ever eaten and you're a huge sandwich
03:11fan, you got to go try it.
03:12And I said, okay, no problem.
03:14So the next day I came home from school, I sort of dropped my bag at
03:17the door and he looked at me and said, hey, did you go to Capriati's
03:19today? And I said, no, dude, I went to school and work and, you know,
03:23I'll get there.
03:23And so this happened like a couple of days and by Friday, he said, I've
03:26literally eaten at the sandwich shop for like four days in a row.
03:29I'm just dragging you there.
03:30Let's go.
03:31And so we went and I got a cheesesteak from Capriati's and thought,
03:36man, this is literally the best cheesesteak I've ever had.
03:38And, you know, I've had a bunch of cheesesteaks in Philly at that
03:41time. I had all the West Coast cheesesteaks, which, you know, may
03:44or may not be on the on the conversational board, but, you know,
03:48I knew what a real cheesesteak tasted like.
03:51I knew, you know, my flavoring and I just fell in love with this
03:54thing. And so it became this labor of love in college where I started
03:57eating it just about as much as possible.
04:01And when did you buy into the brand?
04:03Like when did that happen?
04:05Well, I had no idea that I was ever getting get involved in the
04:09company like this.
04:11I mean, you know, truth be told, you know, my first like three jobs
04:14I ever had as a kid at like 16, 17, 18 were in restaurants and
04:19you know, but I wanted to make my career in finance.
04:21I had always dreamed of working on Wall Street, so to speak, and
04:25being in the financial world in the capital markets.
04:27And so when I went to college, I managed, I became a graduate of
04:32finance and I got a job at 18 years old for Wells Fargo Bank.
04:36And so when I left, you know, the food to go to Wells Fargo Bank
04:39to pursue a career, I never thought a million years I'd be back in
04:41food. In fact, you'd have caught me back then and said, I'll bet
04:44you a million dollars.
04:44I'd have lost that bet.
04:46So I was pursuing my career in finance.
04:50I'd continue to work for Wells Fargo post-college and I became a
04:53portfolio manager and you know, about 25 years old, I was running
04:57a very large portfolio for the bank and was making a pretty good
05:01living for a 25-year-old young adult.
05:04And I just found myself still eating at this place all the time
05:10loving it and just being excited about going and getting my lunch.
05:14And I thought, hey, you know, if there was ever a time to invest
05:17into a business, you know, now would be the time.
05:19I'm making tons of money.
05:21I have very low expenses.
05:22I don't have a family.
05:23Let me see what this Capriati's is all about.
05:25And so my buddy and I, you know, we pursued franchising and were
05:29able to convince the owners to let us franchise a store.
05:33And so our first entree into Capriati's was us becoming absentee
05:37franchisees, basically.
05:39And so we started to build our first location in Las Vegas and
05:43my girlfriend at the time who, you know, today is still my wife
05:46of many, many years.
05:47She went and ran the restaurant for us and in running the restaurant
05:51for us, our passion pendulum sort of swung from, you know, what
05:56we were doing for our career into this sandwich shop.
05:58I started sitting around my desk at Wells Fargo thinking about
06:01marketing and finding out how to create, you know, data and analytics
06:05around, you know, the business we had and building food cost modeling
06:09and labor matrixes and all the things and it just really, really
06:12found some excitement there.
06:14And so I went back to the owners and said, hey, can we buy two and
06:17can we buy three?
06:18And eventually we had three stores within about three years.
06:21We had three restaurants operating in and that moment in time.
06:23I knew I was I was destined to make my life in this business.
06:26I just cared about it more.
06:28I loved it more.
06:29I get excited about it.
06:31And so I went back to the owners and said, hey, you know, can I do
06:33ten? And they were like, nope, you're three and done.
06:37You're never going to build any more restaurants.
06:40This is our maximum.
06:41And I thought to myself, well, I don't really take no so well for
06:44an answer.
06:45I'll just, you know, I'll work on her.
06:47And so I spent about a year of my life working on her hearing her
06:50say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
06:52And eventually I gave up and I said, okay, well three stores is all
06:55we're going to have.
06:57That's that's what it is.
06:58I went back to work, put my head down, went back to Wells Fargo
07:00and started, you know, grinding it out again.
07:02And I happen to be visiting my sister in California one weekend
07:06and you know, this is back in in 06.
07:11And so the world of the world was rallying around ESPN was rallying
07:15around poker, right?
07:16The World Series of poker back in 03456 was just it was like the
07:19biggest thing.
07:20So I was totally in I was watching it all the time and I'd watch
07:24this like the World Series like satellite event.
07:28And this 22 year old young man won two million dollars and he's
07:31holding these stacks of cash up doing this raise the roof with
07:35these stacks of cash and Mike Sexton the announcer says there
07:38you have it folks 22 years old the new prime and poker and if
07:42you're 26, you're a dinosaur you can't win and at that moment
07:46in time some lightning bolt hit me and I went holy crap Mike
07:50Sexton is right and I'm 26 and and and he just called me a
07:54dinosaur and I'm going to wake up and I'm going to be 40 years
07:57old and I'm going to have let this founder sell me a no.
08:00Yeah, I hung I literally picked up the phone.
08:02I called my buddy.
08:03I said, hey, listen, we're not buying more franchises.
08:05We're buying this whole company and he said, yeah, right and I
08:08hung the phone up and I called the owner back and I said, hey,
08:11if you won't sell me more stores, then I'll just buy the whole
08:14company and she said, well, it's not really for sale.
08:17And I said, we'll take a meeting and at least hear me out.
08:19And by the end of the meeting, we had shook hands on us putting
08:22a group together to buy the company amazing.
08:26Yeah, we took about a year to to close the deal and we wound
08:29up closing the deal Jan 108, which was the absolute perfect
08:32time to start a brand new business being, you know, 20 something
08:37with no capital very under capitalized.
08:40Absolutely.
08:41No franchising experience whatsoever.
08:43Very little restaurants experience and and the world ending
08:46three months later financially, right?
08:48So it was a it was a fun time to start but here we are nevertheless.
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09:32today.
09:36I I smile.
09:37I laugh only because I have so much empathy because we opened
09:41up our restaurant in 2008 and April of 2008 and we were 26 at
09:46the time thinking that we were going to take over the world
09:48and the world kicked us right in the face.
09:51I said, welcome to the restaurant business.
09:54All right, bring me bring me back.
09:57Sure.
09:58We built it.
09:58We built a 12-month business plan, right?
09:59So one of the things that that that Jason my partner and I did
10:02while we were in escrow and all about seven, you know back when
10:05there were bookstores.
10:06We went to Barnes and Nobles and said we will read every single
10:09book on franchising.
10:10There is because we're going to get a good education.
10:11And so we did.
10:12Yeah, I built this business plan and literally I think it was
10:16mid-April of 20 of the 2008 business plan in the trash.
10:19None of these books could help us anymore and it was heads
10:22down blinders on let's just try to preserve what we have and
10:25not go out of business in our first four months.
10:28So it was it was crazy.
10:29How many stores did you have when you took over there were
10:32about there about like almost 40 operating 40 opera how many
10:35states it was really two three four.
10:39It was really like two geographic areas.
10:41I mean, it was very regional rights, but was Las Vegas primarily
10:45and then it was Delaware which was where the company was founded
10:48and then surrounding areas.
10:49But it spilled over to Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
10:52So it was really those two geographic areas and probably
10:55about six states.
10:57So bring bring me back to 2008.
11:00Let's call it the the early years.
11:02The first the first from 2008 for the first five years.
11:07Once we get out of that, once we get out of the recession, once
11:09you kind of get your feet under you and understand, okay, we've
11:13we've we've raised this money.
11:14We took over this company.
11:15Now what now we're learning about franchising.
11:17What did you learn?
11:18Yeah.
11:19Well, you know, we spent the first 10,000 hours learning
11:22thousand ways not to build a successful franchise organization
11:26that I can tell you, right?
11:27So, you know, we were under capitalized which was a real problem
11:30in the beginning and we had just, you know, again, we just we
11:34literally raise this money from everybody that we had known.
11:37We had not gone to take in private equity.
11:38We didn't have, you know, real real, you know, sophisticated
11:42business partners that were well capitalized.
11:44It was if I knew you back then you were getting a phone call,
11:47right?
11:49All my family, all my friends, all my friends, friends, and
11:52you know, asking for introduction.
11:53So we were we were under capitalized.
11:56So it was really difficult for us to to build an infrastructure
11:59and what I had known for sure is that we had this great base,
12:03but I knew the brand was going to be much larger.
12:05And so I really was concerned about not growing too fast and
12:09not getting too far ahead of my, you know, on my skis and and
12:12I've read so many stories about, you know, these companies
12:15that grew too fast, then all of a sudden they imploded and so
12:18that was a real fear of mine.
12:19So I spent the first really probably 18 months raising more
12:22capital before we did much and bringing in enough capital to
12:26like have some money to actually build a team.
12:28And so, you know, first five years was really building a small
12:32enough team, but a large enough team to manage what we had and
12:36then go out and try to franchise and what we learned very
12:38quickly is how hard, you know, franchising really is in terms
12:42of growing, right?
12:43You know, you have to have so much infrastructure in order to
12:47be successful, right?
12:48You can't, you need a construction department and a real estate
12:51department and a franchise sales department and a supply chain
12:54department and the list goes on and on and operations and franchise
12:57support training.
12:59And so as we kept building this thing, we kept realizing we need
13:02to grow in order to pay for what we're building.
13:05And so we started very slowly growing methodically in places
13:08where, you know, we were hoping we would have good success.
13:11So we filled out Las Vegas, right?
13:13Step one, fill out Las Vegas, fill out Delaware, fill out the
13:16surrounding areas, which got us to about 75 units.
13:19And at that moment in time is where, you know, the real challenge
13:23began because we started to try to get outside of that sphere.
13:27You know, the curse of being in Vegas is unfortunately when you
13:30leave Las Vegas, it's 200 miles in every direction of desert.
13:33So there is no concentric building, right?
13:36If we'd have been in the South or we would have been in the East,
13:38you could just sort of get on the freeway and go forever.
13:40But in Vegas, it was really hard to do.
13:43So as we dipped our toe into that, we really tried to figure out
13:46how to build a brand outside of our sphere of influence, which
13:49took more capital and more help.
13:51And so, you know, fast forward a little farther than five years
13:54in about years, you know, eight or nine, we realized we needed
13:57help. And so we went out and raised more capital and got some
14:00strategic partners.
14:01I wanted to go raise capital with someone who had done this
14:04before or people who had done this before.
14:06Still not private equity, but individuals who could sit on a
14:09board and add value and teach me all of my deficiencies and
14:12what I didn't know.
14:13And we did that and we went out and find a tremendous partner
14:16who then helped us have build a real senior leadership team.
14:19And once we were able to bring in the right people and really
14:22you know, bring in the right systems, it was off to the races.
14:25And so all of a sudden the flywheel started moving and we
14:28started growing.
14:29What do you think was your looking back before you had that
14:32board and that aha moment?
14:35What do you think your biggest blind spot was?
14:37Oh, man.
14:40We were terrible at marketing back then.
14:43We're probably, you know, we continue to get better.
14:46But, you know, marketing is such an interesting thing because
14:50the back then marketing was expensive for our size.
14:56Yeah.
14:56Today, marketing is more expensive for our size.
15:00Everything seems to be going in the same direction, right?
15:02And if you're growing like this and marketing is continuing
15:05to get more expensive, you're sort of always chasing this
15:08ability to do it effectively and communicate loudly.
15:12And so we've always been in a position where it's very difficult
15:15for us to market and very difficult for us to cast a loud
15:18voice without being super creative.
15:20So, you know, blind spot A thinking, hey, you just go out
15:23and put some ads on television.
15:25Life is good.
15:26You know, that's make-believe.
15:27I think blind spot B was how hard supply chain is when you
15:31don't have critical mass and you're out there growing.
15:34And so, you know, we made this determination.
15:36Hey, we're going to go out there and we're going to cast the
15:37wide net and build capriotis everywhere because the world
15:40deserves capriotis and we know it translates, but that became
15:43very difficult for supply chain.
15:44So we started to have a lot of those issues too.
15:47So probably those two were probably the biggest blind spots
15:51I had just not realizing the complexity of that and, you know,
15:55you open a store in Washington and it's like, okay.
15:58Yeah, you have a store in Washington, but the closest store
16:00is Las Vegas.
16:01It's really difficult, you know, supporting it with operations
16:05is less difficult, but making sure your product, making sure
16:08you have your proprietary products, all the things that happen.
16:11That's a big tall order.
16:15That brings me to my next question.
16:16Is Washington, was that the most difficult location out of
16:20all the locations?
16:21One of, for sure.
16:23One of.
16:23Give us a story.
16:24You don't need to name the exact location.
16:26It opened and closed actually pretty fast because of how
16:29challenging it was.
16:30Tell us about it.
16:31Well, I mean just exactly to my point.
16:33So, you know, having having a, you know, sort of one store on
16:37an island in a market that, you know, probably is not, you're
16:42not even relevant and, you know, in the Seattle DMA, you're
16:44not even relevant until you're, you know, five or ten stores
16:47out there.
16:48And so our hope was we were going to get to five or ten
16:50quickly. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Cost of product
16:54was way too expensive.
16:55The cost of advertising too expensive, cost of labor too
16:57expensive, you know, and all those things add up quickly
17:00when you're not, when you don't open up and do tremendous
17:02top-line sales.
17:03So, you know, we took a shot and, you know, naively thought,
17:08hey, you know, this will work everywhere and we believe
17:12it will.
17:12I mean, we have stores today, you know, as far as Hawaii and
17:16they're doing great.
17:17But back then we just were not prepared for that kind of
17:21growth, you know, that kind of growth plan and trajectory.
17:24And as we sit right now recording this interview in August
17:27of 2024, how many stores do we have currently?
17:30How many in development?
17:31Where are we and where are we going? Just under 160
17:35operating today.
17:37We got 12 more probably 12 to 15 more to build this year.
17:42We have just under 200 in the development pipeline.
17:44So we are, we have, we have sort of broken through that
17:48glass ceiling of the old and, you know, have a great pipeline.
17:53We have a great growth trajectory.
17:55We're capable of building about 25 new stores a year right
17:58now with the infrastructure we have.
18:01So that's where we are today, where we're going.
18:05I'd like to get to a point where we're able to build 50 to
18:0875 new restaurants a year.
18:09I think that would be a great goal to have.
18:13Our vision is 750 profitable shops executing our uncompromising
18:18standards of quality and service by December 31st, 2032.
18:22So we have some work to do to get there for sure.
18:25But, you know, the reality is, you know, I'd love to build
18:29an infrastructure big enough to do 50.
18:31So we probably don't have to double in size, but we definitely
18:34have to, you know, make some substantial ads to do that and
18:37continue to have the pipeline, you know, growing.
18:40So that's our next 60-month challenge.
18:43Do you have any advice for anyone that has multiple stores
18:46that's looking to scale of how do you maintain brand integrity
18:51before you scale?
18:53Yeah, sure.
18:53So I think that, you know, if you were looking from a, if
18:57you're talking about a franchisee, I think it's different than
19:00if you're talking about an individual operator who owns the
19:03brand. So I'll speak to both, right?
19:06So if you're a franchisee and you have three stores, I will
19:10tell you that three for me was easier than one.
19:14One was really hard and mastering the one was really difficult.
19:18We got to two when we were franchisees.
19:20We became two-store operators very quickly.
19:24And at three, you sort of are able to take a step back and
19:28go, okay.
19:29I don't have to be working in the business as much.
19:32I can be working on the business and I think that's a really
19:35big distinction.
19:36I think that there are many people out there who love to
19:40be in the store behind the counter, you know, running every
19:44single detail.
19:45And if that's you, that's phenomenal.
19:47Like you are a catch.
19:48You are amazing.
19:49That's just really hard to find.
19:52But a lot of times that acumen doesn't always translate into
19:57getting yourself out of the restaurant and being able to delegate
20:00and because when you start to delegate you move your skill
20:03set from operator to coach.
20:06Right from player to coach.
20:08And I think that's the best analogy.
20:09I can give is when you have three stores, you can't run three
20:12lunch rushes, you know about yourself.
20:14It's literally impossible.
20:16So now what you're doing is you're developing talent.
20:18You're becoming the coach.
20:19You're no longer the player and you have to have the right
20:23headspace for that and you have to have the right personality
20:26for that.
20:26And you have to look yourself in the mirror and say, am I a
20:29player or am I a coach or am I both?
20:31And if I can be a coach and I can coach well and I can develop
20:35talent, then I should scale if I can't and I'm a, you know,
20:39sort of a hands-on person who have who has limited ability
20:42to delegate and and I freak out when other people handle my
20:45stuff and I get to see like then you probably shouldn't scale
20:48then you should you should continue to grow your mindset to
20:52what is the business that I can control by myself?
20:55What's the biggest business?
20:55I can control myself and make the most amount of money.
20:58So it's it's it's it's a blessing and a curse to scale, but
21:03you need to have that acumen, you know, I in the same really
21:06if you're not under a franchise system, right?
21:08If you're if you're yourself, I think scaling becomes something
21:11that when you start to scale a restaurant company and you're
21:14by yourself and you're not under a franchise system.
21:18You have to be prepared for the amount of capital.
21:20It's going to take you because this is not one plus one equals
21:23to when you get to store five, you're going to need it people.
21:27You're going to need accounting people.
21:28You're going to need all kinds of things that you didn't budget
21:31for in your PNL.
21:33And so you need to make sure your PNL is healthy enough for
21:36that scaling.
21:36And so the way I kind of look at it is your NOI your net operating
21:40income or the profit that you're making from that restaurant
21:43should be able to to finance 5% of those sales.
21:47You should be able to use for for GNA.
21:49So so quick math right a million dollar you're doing a million
21:54dollar top line.
21:55You're making a hundred thousand dollars a year profit out of
21:58that.
21:58You need to allocate 5% of that million dollars or 50,000 in
22:03a pool to start paying for above store management.
22:06So in that particular example, if I was making a hundred thousand
22:09on a million, I would never scale that business much higher.
22:12Excuse me, you're going to scale yourself out of business.
22:15So you need to find and make sure that your profitability is
22:18more like a 250,000 in that million dollars, right?
22:22And if you have that then that that metric is telling you you
22:25can scale so because you can take 50,000 in a restaurant and
22:29you can start using that for above store management because as
22:32you grow so will the need for you to layer on infrastructure.
22:36Do you have mentors many?
22:39Do you have a story or a lesson from a mentor recently?
22:43Something that someone taught you or an ocean moment.
22:47Oh man.
22:48Yeah, we could talk about that for hours and hours and hours and
22:53hours, right?
22:53But I will tell you, you know, here's maybe a better way to look
22:57at it is so when I first got involved what I what I have always
23:00tried to do myself is find mentors that help offset my weakness.
23:05My biggest weakness and so at 2627 years old raising capital going
23:11into this business knowing I'm going to have a bunch of franchise
23:14partners.
23:15My biggest deficiency was law.
23:18My biggest deficiency was knowledge of law fear of lawsuit things
23:22like that.
23:22Don't make a mistake.
23:23If I make a mistake, you can put me out of business and ruin my
23:26shareholders lives.
23:27So I went out and found a tremendous mentor, you know, that was
23:32a 25-year litigator practicing and actually was former Attorney
23:35General for the state of Nevada.
23:37I mean, the guy was incredible brilliant had so much to teach on
23:41on multiple levels bringing that experience on for business, but
23:44more importantly to have us, you know, help with my deficiency.
23:48And so as we sort of went through he's still very much involved and
23:52he's still a mentor today as we started to scale this business.
23:56I really wanted to find a mentor who had scaled businesses before
23:59right?
23:59So I'm always looking out at the next five years and saying, you
24:03know, what is going to be my biggest deficiency for these next
24:06five years and how do I bring someone in as a mentor who has done
24:10what I'm about to do and who doesn't have that deficiency and that
24:14is what I found to be really helpful that sort of helps my my learning
24:17curve, you know, become a J curve and so yeah, so give you what you
24:22were asking for.
24:22So one of the people who sit on my board today, you know, he ran a
24:27two billion dollar company on Wall Street back in his, you know, in
24:30his former years and it was in manufacturing and so he was very
24:34systematized.
24:35He was very much by the numbers and very much.
24:38I will build this factory and it will do this and the paint line will
24:41do that and so forth and so he brought in to help me think about
24:46franchise organization is a proven system, right?
24:49You're buying into a system that says if you do this and then you do
24:52that you should expect this result and so growing very quickly.
24:56How do you go out and manage and make sure you protect your franchise
25:00partners with helping them follow the system and having the tools
25:04necessary, right?
25:05And that is it's easier to send the done and so, you know, it's not
25:09just an operations manual.
25:10Hey, follow the system in the real world people have challenges, right?
25:14And so he's constantly driving me to get better process.
25:18He's constantly driving me to utilize, you know, teach and utilize
25:22tools that we have within our system and make sure our franchise
25:25partners know about it.
25:26So that's probably, you know, a real-world example of things that have
25:29happened, you know, very recently to me.
25:31So I have this guy saying do better you better, of course, how do you
25:36view technology in in your business?
25:39Well, it's entirely necessary.
25:41I think it's also terrifying, you know, and and you know, as a as a
25:48young kid, I used to read these science fiction books about what the
25:52future is going to bring and you know, you sort of and watching the
25:56Star Wars movies and Star Trek movies and all the things that you know,
25:59we all did as kids and you know, it's fascinating and to live in a
26:03world where I've seen in just, you know, my 20 years of working see the
26:08technology go from where it was to where it is.
26:12It's just unreal, right?
26:13And to see this AI revolution that's coming out today that you know, in
26:18nine months, these language learning models are doing, you know, 1,000
26:212,000 times better than they were seven eight months ago.
26:24It's terrifying and it's awesome.
26:27So, you know, I think there's a need for it.
26:30I know there's there's there's so much opportunity in our space, but
26:33it's going to be through disruption, right?
26:36And so that's the scary part is all these industries are going to get
26:38disrupted and some more than others in a really bad way and you're going
26:43to have to adapt to that.
26:44And so if you're unwilling or unable to embrace these technologies or
26:48to make sure you stay maybe not bleeding edge, but at least leading
26:52edge on the curve, you have you have a chance of getting disrupted out
26:56pretty hard.
26:56And again, that's kind of terrifying to think about, right?
27:00It's not it's just a little bit harder now today to run your business
27:04than it was back then.
27:05Well, number one, I'm going to applaud you for finding a show like this
27:10to come on to talk about Capriotis because I don't think enough founders
27:14are out doing this kind of work.
27:16And I think that you coming on a show like this makes Capriotis as a
27:20business decision as a place to go eat a much more compelling decision.
27:24I would love for you to talk about your social strategy storytelling
27:30strategy.
27:30How do you guys look at it with you that many stores that many different
27:34locations?
27:35How do you how do you view the current state of the internet the YouTube
27:41and TikTok and Instagram and Facebook worlds that we live in?
27:44It's it's it's amazing.
27:46And it's and it's just it's just so cool to see.
27:51I think I think the obviously in all things are blessing and curses,
27:55right?
27:55The blessing is everything is not so curated anymore, right?
27:59It's not scripted.
28:01The world isn't so planned out.
28:02It really is spontaneous and and it's moving fast.
28:06I mean, you can't hold your customers attention for more than.
28:11If you're great at this, you're going to hold them for 10 seconds.
28:13If I mean, if you're best in class, you're going to hold them for 10
28:16seconds.
28:16Most of the time, you're going to hold them for 1.35 seconds.
28:19And so if you can break through in that in that medium and you can find
28:24ways to communicate and talk to your customers and still translate, not
28:28only your message, but your but your mission and your vision and why you
28:31do the things you do, then then then you're going to have a very successful
28:35company and you're going to be able to use those channels effectively.
28:39Like I will admit we are not like, you know, we're not I'm not sitting
28:43here telling you.
28:44I'm the greatest of all time at this by any means, but I will tell you
28:48that I do think, you know, it makes the world much more approachable and
28:52it makes the world much more real and so, you know, you don't know who's
28:57going to blow up.
28:58You don't know where people's minds are going to go.
29:01You don't know where that landscape is going to take you, but I can tell
29:04you that you need to be involved on every platform, right?
29:08You have to be involved in every platform.
29:09You have to see it as a real commitment, a real opportunity and a real
29:15Part of your business and you've just got to keep getting smarter and just
29:18when you think you got to figure it out.
29:19They're going to change all their algorithms anyways, and you're going to
29:21have to refigure it out again, right?
29:23So so having just a commitment to it and and going out and saying we're just
29:28going to tell our story.
29:29We're going to take say tell the customer why we do what we do.
29:32We're going to continue to just be real, right?
29:36Just be genuine.
29:36One of our values is genuineness and we define it as a hundred percent real
29:40and I think that translates very well today by today's standards because
29:44that is, you know, everyone has this cell phone this magical little device
29:48in their pocket that that has the world's information and you know, God
29:52help you if you put you at GBT on the front of your screen, you now have
29:55access to literally every piece of information in real time.
29:58And so there's no need to search hard to find the answers and people
30:04want it now and if you're not giving them what they need, they're just
30:07simply going to find it somewhere else.
30:08Yeah, I mean we started this show obviously, I'm in the restaurant
30:12business.
30:12We created a media company on top of our restaurant business basically
30:16because we could we also knew that no one was coming to tell our story.
30:19I thought if we made great barbecue, we provided phenomenal hospitality
30:23in a difficult location in San Diego.
30:25All these people would come and we built a great business but like
30:28ultimately no one's coming.
30:29Not only is no one coming but no one can tell the story better than you
30:32can and the people that love your brand and love your business and because
30:36of all these digital tools, we say be the show not the commercial, you
30:40know, I have little kids and my seven-year-old boy, my five-year-old
30:42girl.
30:43The first digital button that they learn how to hit was skip because
30:47they don't want their stories interrupted.
30:49They don't want their content interrupted and you know, the reason
30:52why we do this show is to hopefully empower the person that's listening,
30:55you know, you the listener you the viewer to get involved, you know, get
30:59involved and start to have conversations.
31:01It's never been easier to reach out to leaders like Ashley reach out to
31:05someone like myself, you know, we're trying to make this industry better.
31:08You obviously I I'm a huge fan of capriotis.
31:11I didn't tell you that when we started the show but I'm a huge fan of the
31:13brand.
31:14The sandwiches are phenomenal.
31:15I mean Thanksgiving sandwich, you can sign me up for that all day 365.
31:19That's fantastic.
31:22But anybody that's listening to the show, if you guys want to join us on
31:25LinkedIn every Wednesday, every Friday on LinkedIn live, you can follow
31:29Cali BBQ media and join a live podcast.
31:32We have a community of digital hospitality leaders restaurant owners
31:36marketers sales professionals and technology professionals that need it's
31:40a chance for you to come on stage.
31:41We also do a shout out.
31:43So this week shout out goes to Eric Farrell.
31:45Eric is a ghostwriter for technology leaders and he's been coming to the
31:50rooms.
31:50We appreciate you Eric Ashley.
31:52I want to give you a chance.
31:53I know every time I ask a CEO give me one person to shout out.
31:59They give me the political.
32:00I'll shout out my entire team.
32:02I need one person.
32:02I needed a single out one person.
32:06One person, one person, any person, any person.
32:12This is for entrepreneur.
32:13This is a chance for them to get shouted out who they are what they do
32:17one person.
32:19Got it.
32:20So you don't want me to shout out like my kid or anything like that.
32:23Oh, you said shout out your child.
32:24But if you have two children, you might you might have three children, but
32:28it's okay.
32:28The two boys know I really like my daughter.
32:31Fair enough.
32:32Now, I will say, you know, right now, I definitely want to shout out.
32:42David Bloom is our chief development officer here and you know, making the
32:48track from building very large corporations.
32:51He, you know, came back and said, I want to do this again and I want to do
32:55it with a smaller group and people that I believe in and the thing that I
33:00thought was so great, you know, with having that experienced executive, you
33:04know, in our in our walls day in and day out is, you know, having someone
33:09like that and you being, you know, being the CEO, sometimes it's you're on
33:12an island, you know, a lot of times you're on an island.
33:15You're everyone's looking to you and what's the right answer?
33:18What's the right answer?
33:19What's the right answer?
33:20If I had the right answer for everything, you know, you know, we'd be
33:24talking about a whole bunch of other things and we're talking about today,
33:26but the reality is you don't have the right answer.
33:29You almost never have the right answer and it's it's having the confidence
33:32to be able to go and say, hey, let's just go this way, you know, it could
33:36be wrong, but I'm going to lead you guys down this road and I'm going to
33:39be so passionate with my words and I'm going to be, you know, so confident
33:43that no matter what it is, we can get through it together and we're going
33:46to progress and it's hard to do in a vacuum and so having someone, you
33:51know, side by side with you day in and day out that you can say, hey, you
33:55know, what have you seen before?
33:56How have you done this before?
33:57How are the challenges, you know, today versus what we've seen and just
34:00having that sounding board for me was was, you know, invaluable and
34:05continues to be today.
34:06So I'll shout him out all and you know, I will still shout out my daughter
34:10because I do like there you go.
34:14We appreciate that David and your daughter.
34:18We're going to go.
34:18So we do personal tech stack.
34:20I want to know your own smartphone storytelling.
34:23Are you iPhone or Android iPhone and what version?
34:2815 pro 15 pro.
34:29How many emails do you get a day?
34:33With junk way too many by 700 750.
34:38Okay, but you know, real emails probably 150 and how many of those
34:43150 do you enjoy reading?
34:4810% percent 15 emails that works.
34:53Do you prefer phone calls or text messages text messages?
34:57Do you still want?
34:58I am still one that will answer the phone.
35:00If I recognize the number, I'm actually actually excited.
35:03If I if the number I recognize hits me, I'm good to go.
35:06But do you leave voicemails?
35:09Rarely, do you get voicemails and listen to him?
35:12I get a lot of voicemails and I try to listen, but I will be honest.
35:18It's maybe like once a week.
35:19What's your favorite digital playground?
35:22What app do you use the most?
35:24Probably Instagram.
35:26Instagram, do you prefer photos or videos?
35:34Probably probably videos videos.
35:37Do you use Apple Maps or Google or ways or something that I don't know
35:43about?
35:43I use Google mostly and if it leads me astray, I go to ways.
35:47Okay, and where do you listen to music?
35:51Spotify and Apple music and book that you would recommend someone in the
35:59restaurant business book that you.
36:03Game-changing book, something that you would give to your team.
36:06Something to give to a new leader.
36:08Got it.
36:09If you were, I'm glad you meant quantified it that way.
36:12So the book is called traction written by Gina Whitman.
36:15That book is instrumental in scaling any organization.
36:19So if you if you have a business you want to scale, this is the single
36:24greatest book in all of books and and and it is a formula and a framework
36:30for you to run your company and grow your company to a very large size and
36:36have eliminate dysfunction and it's it's actually doable.
36:39You know, it's the culmination of basically every business book on the
36:42planet written into an operating system and it is life-changing for sure.
36:47And if someone comes when someone that listens to the show comes to
36:52Capriotis to order a sandwich and they don't order the Bobby because you
36:56can order.
36:56That's the Thanksgiving one.
36:57What are they supposed to order for me all day?
37:02It's a cheesesteak or the Capistrami and the Capistrami is our version of
37:06that was a good one.
37:07So it's grilled pastrami coleslaw Russian dressing.
37:09I mean, it's next level.
37:13All three of those sandwiches will change your life in a positive way.
37:18Well, Ashley, if you make it or anyone from the team X to San Diego, I'd
37:22be honored to host you at Cali barbecue and that goes for anybody that's
37:25listening.
37:25You guys are all part of the family.
37:26We appreciate you for watching the show for listening to the show for
37:30sharing the show.
37:31Ashley, if people want to learn more about Capriotis and franchising, where
37:35do they go?
37:35Capriotis.com and that'll get you to you know, our franchising page or
37:41own a Capriotis.com.
37:43We'll do it as well.
37:43And are you posting on social personally your personal brand?
37:47Personally?
37:49No, I do not post on social often.
37:51I'm a I lurk in the shadows of your on LinkedIn, but you don't post.
37:57I do.
37:58I have people who post for me, but I lurk in shadows.
38:01But yeah, we do.
38:03We are very engaged and we have a lot of people here.
38:05Jason Smiley is the president of our company.
38:08He's a very engaged on all of that.
38:11And so I let him handle that because he's he's just cooler than me and
38:14way better at it than me.
38:15So I'll reach out to Capriotis Ashley.
38:20I appreciate it.
38:20If you guys want to reach out to me, I'm weirdly available at Sean P
38:23Walsh F SHA WNP WALCH EF.
38:27We appreciate you guys as always stay curious get involved and don't be
38:31afraid to ask for help.
38:32We'll catch you guys next week.
38:35Thank you for listening to restaurant influencers.
38:38If you want to get in touch with me.
38:39I'm weirdly available at Sean P Walsh F SHA WNP WALCH EF Cali barbecue
38:48media has other shows you can check out digital hospitality.
38:52We've been doing that show since 2017.
38:54We also just launched a show season 2 family style on YouTube with toast.
38:59And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand and you're looking
39:04to launch your own show Cali barbecue media can help you recently.
39:08We just launched room for seconds with Greg Majewski.
39:12It is an incredible insight into leadership into hospitality into
39:18Enterprise restaurants and franchise franchisee relationships.
39:22Take a look at room for seconds.
39:24And if you're ready to start a show reach out to us be the show dot
39:28media.
39:29We can't wait to work with you.