WEBVTT - Golden Corral’s Improved Operations Boost Sales 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.320 Welcome to Chopping It Up. I'm your host, Mike Hallen, 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:20.280 the senior Restaurant and Food Service Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.800 Our research and that abi's five hundred analysts around the 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.720 globe can be found exclusively on the Bloomberg terminal. If 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.880 you enjoy the pod, do me a solid and please 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.720 give us a five star review on Apple or Spotify. 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.000 Today we're joined by Lance Chenari, the president and CEO 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.760 of Golden Corral. The fifty three year old brand is 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.960 primarily franchised with three hundred and sixty restaurants in thirty 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.160 eight states and Puerto Rico. Welcome to the pod. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.240 Lance, Hey, thank you so much. Mike. Good to see 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:50.640 you again. 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.320 Yeah, man, I've been looking forward to this since we 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.840 first met you know whatever it was last month. So 0:00:57.960 --> 0:00:58.680 let's get into it. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:00:58.840 Man. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:02.320 According to your LinkedIn profile, you've been with Golden Corral 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:06.640 for twenty five years. Loyalty like that. Wait, what do 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:06.959 we got? 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.400 Actually? Actually forty years? 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.280 Forty years, dude, That's that's incredible. I love seeing that. 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:18.280 Loyalty like that is so uncommon today. What initially drew 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:20.520 you to the brand and what's kept you there? And 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.319 you have to update your LinkedIn profile. 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.240 Fair enough, fair enough. I'm a little bit a little 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.600 behind on that. But you know, the thing about Golden 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.840 kraw what initially grew me to it was the opportunity 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.839 to grow with the company that value people first. And 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.680 that was true forty years ago, it's true fifty years 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.399 ago when our brand got started in nineteen seventy three. 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.640 It is still true today. And our beliefs and values 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.200 have stood the test of time and they are what 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.480 really helped us make decisions. So it was one of 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.160 those things that there were always other opportunities that came 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.640 along in the last forty years, and some very lucrative things, 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.560 but I never felt like it was something that was 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.880 better than what I had at Golden Corral. And when 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:15.560 you don't want to leave to go to something better, 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.000 why would you ever change. So that's what's kept me 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.960 here for forty years. And then you know, in all honestly, 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.760 it becomes family to you, this this group of people 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.959 who call it the GC family, And it's very much 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.280 the case that the way that we operate, the way 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:36.240 that we coexist as an organization is the GC family. 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.320 And and you know, we have ninety nine percent retention 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.840 in the Golden Karl support team, and which is almost 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.600 unheard of. But that's because no one ever leaves. We 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.760 hire incredibly great people. We take a long time in 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.280 making sure resource the very best of the troll but 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.800 once they join us, there's not a better opportunity out there, 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.640 so they don't leave. So we're very fortunate in that regard. 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:06.480 And that really came across the first time we spoke, 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:08.440 and that's why I wanted to get you here. Man. 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.519 That's that's fantastic. So let's go back to the pandemic. Man, 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.600 it was especially rough on buffets. CNBC in the Journal 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:22.720 incorrectly predicted the company's demise. Would they underestimate about Golden Corral? 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.520 Yeah, you know, you're so right in that media as 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.919 a whole really said the buffet segment is dead and gone, 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.119 and we were being the largest, we were singled out, 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.080 and there's probably forty different articles written about us, and 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:41.760 multiple television financial shows that just said, Golvin Kraal, they're 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.720 dead and they're gone. You know, we that was what 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.440 they believed. That's not what we believed. And we really 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:52.000 thought that after all the outside advice we got and 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.760 all the reasons being told to us that we'd never 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.600 make it. What we finally decided was they don't understand 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.440 our culture that I don't understand and our people. And 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:06.160 it wasn't just false hope. It wasn't you know, don't 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:07.880 worry about what they say. We're going to win in 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.760 any way, you know, rah rah, Or that wasn't the case. 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.960 We had real time data that we said, you know, 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.719 this is the relationships that we built over the last 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.680 forty seven years at that point that we really believe 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.120 we're going to come back to pay us off in 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:31.240 a great way. And fortunately we were right. They underestimated 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:36.360 our people, they underestimated our culture, and they greatly underestimated 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.800 the good will that we had built not only with 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.960 our supplier community, but with our banks, with our landlords, 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.480 with our franchisease, and within our own self. We had 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.400 so much trust among each other that we lived each 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.040 other in the eye and we said, can we do this? 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.400 Are we going to be able to prevail or we're 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.680 going to be a sustainable restaurant company on the other 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.240 side of this, And we all we're shaking our head 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.080 in the same direction, and we said, all right, well, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.000 let's get to work. We rolled our sleeves up twenty 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.160 four to seven for you know, a year there. That 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.599 first year of COVID was twenty four seven days and 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.640 and uh literally twenty four to seven when I say 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.719 we'd start a zoom call at that time, we'd started 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.880 on say a Tuesday, and literally three days later we'd 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:24.599 in the call. If you had to get off and 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.599 sleep for a few minutes or or take a quick 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.080 shower or whatever. But we had so much to do 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.119 during those time periods that it was around the plot 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.080 work and uh, but it paid off in a huge way. 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:43.440 I'll never ever be able to repay the team, which 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.840 is all still intact today, for the incredible effort that 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:51.080 they put in. And uh, you know, and it did 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.560 something to our team that galbamized our team. You know, 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.000 we've we've been through it. We've been through a cyber attack, 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.840 We've been through you know, times like now you get 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.719 the government shut down and promodities out of control and 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.960 red meat and an all time high. It's like, hey, 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.840 keep calm and carry on. We can handle this, just 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.719 like we've handled everything else. So it gave us a 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.640 sense of confidence, not false confidence. It gave us a 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.400 sense of real confidence that we're going to be able 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:20.839 to prevail no matter what headwinds or we're facing. 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.520 Yah, kudos to you and the team. Is a scary time. 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.760 Had to be especially scary for you and everyone at 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.559 Golden Corral with everyone talking about how buffets were done. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:36.719 You know they were wrong about that. They were wrong 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.479 about ghost kitchens being the next big thing too, man, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:44.599 So good job sticking sticking with it. Man. Do you 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.200 remember the particular moment when you were like, you and 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:48.760 the team are like, yeah, we're gonna make it. 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.640 You know. I think when we did that round table 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:56.240 meeting that we said, look, we're getting advice that we 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.200 need to claim bankruptcy. We're getting advice that we need 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.000 to let somebody ill handled our release liability. We're getting 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.680 advice that we need to stiff landlords and walk away 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.720 from some suppliers and some obligations that we had. When 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.280 we sat around that table and we said, that's not us, 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.920 that's not who we are. We need to do this 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.320 the right way. Our founder, James Maynard, is always about, 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:21.720 no matter what, at the end of the day, just 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.040 to do the right thing. And if you can do 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.200 the right thing, consistently over a long period of time, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.080 it will always end up working out. It may not 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.280 work out the way you think, but at the end 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.600 of the day, things will work out. And so we've 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.240 had things not go our way. We had some things 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:39.640 that we wish you had gone differently, but at the 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.040 end of the day, we were so pleased with the 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.200 way that the response was from all of those communities. 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.880 And I think that when the franchisees really started saying, Okay, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.720 we're going to believe you, We're going to stay in, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.640 We're not failing, and really started rolling up their sleeves 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.160 as well, I said, all right, we're gonna We're gonna 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.120 make this. We're going to make it. Then we we 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.040 had to have some things to our way. We had 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.840 we have a saying a thousand things had to go 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.320 right and a thousand things weren't right. And thank goodness 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.680 God loves a buffaith because we were definitely blessed during 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:21.480 that time, there's no doubt, but we ended up on 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.680 the other side of it. I think we made the 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.600 decision that we wanted to not only survive, but we 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.920 took it as an opportunity to how can we rebuild 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:36.360 our company into a more sustainable, better position than what 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.280 we ever have. So we wanted to learn every weakness 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.760 that we had during COVID that was exploded. We wanted 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.360 to understand that fully and then try to put plans 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.920 together to combat those in the future and in the 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.800 event that something like this ever happened again. We wanted 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.560 to understand where every weakness was throughout the field, what 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:00.480 the consumer sentiment was, Why did people why were they 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.600 so nervous about Blefet's nationwide. What are the things that 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.160 triggered in their mind. We took all of that stuff 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.040 to heart and we said, I first things first, we've 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.240 got to survive. We got to sure up our cash. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.400 We've got to make sure our balance sheets strong enough 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.240 to do to what we think we can do. And 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.480 then we had to make a lot of strategic moves. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.800 We had to bet early that our franchisease were going 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.760 to be our growth mechanism going forward. So we didn't 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.040 take royalties for almost a year, and because we said, 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.120 you know what, We're going to do everything we can 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.640 to make sure our franchisees are healthy and are ready 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.200 to grow again. And the second thing is we said 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.000 we're going to own value early on, this was in 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.199 twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, we said, as a brand, 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:47.960 we have a good value equation, but we need to 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.960 own value. We need to absolutely own it in family dining. 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.160 And as we get further into the conversation, I'll tell 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.360 you some of the metrics we absolutely own value now 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.080 in family domming. And that's not our opinion, that's the 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:05.920 consumer sentiment opinion. So those couple of decisions made all 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.360 the difference in the world for us. And when you 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.920 combine that with us improving on every one of those weaknesses, 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.520 if you will, those opportunities that existed for our brand 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.040 and for the buffet segment as a whole, it gave 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.400 us the strength that we needed to be able to 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:27.520 not only survive COVID, but ultimately end up driving twenty two, 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.920 twenty three, twenty four record years for Golden Keral And 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.680 it's just it's been a phenomenal renaissance of our brand 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.199 in so many different ways. 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.680 Yeah, I mean, and you're up to an impressive four 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.640 point seven million AUV. Can you talk a little bit 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.200 more about the data and the operating metrics that you're 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.040 looking so closely at and that has helped you achieve 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:50.599 those record results. 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:56.640 Yeah, no, absolutely, oauvs are thirty percent higher than where 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.240 they were pre COVID, thirty percent higher than where they 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.960 were pre COVID. Our meal count average per unit, it's 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.640 the same that it was pre COVID. So yes, we 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.200 lost a ton of meals in twenty twenty. We were closed, 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.400 I mean, it wasn't an opportunity to serve, so we 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.640 were closed on twenty twenty one. We still weren't reopened 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.679 everywhere as far as buffets, we're concerned. We were trying 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.520 all these different you know models until municipalities or health 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:28.080 departments would allow us to finally start serving. So it 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.160 was mid twenty twenty one before we finally got every 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.439 restaurant back to the buffet format. So we were down 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.400 on meals during you know, a love those times. We've 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.280 regained all of that, all that momentum that we lost 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.400 during that rough period, and we're back to meal counts 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.800 that we had in twenty nineteen on an average unit 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:53.280 volume store. So so we're we're really excited about that. 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.960 We're you know, I'm not going to say this year 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.400 is we're down a little bit in meal count, but 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.319 We're not anicked about it because we know we look 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.480 at it on a two year span and we had 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.760 such phenomenal growth and twenty two three, twenty four being 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.959 down just a little bit this year, we're still ahead 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.000 of where we were two or three years ago. So 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.400 I still feel really great about our trajectory. I feel 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:21.360 great about where the financials are. Our gross margin in 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:27.360 our restaurants this year twenty five, despite the commodities, despite 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.040 the rising labor costs, our gross margin is the highest 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.480 it's ever been in our fifty two and a half 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:37.400 year at history. So our franchisees are are in a 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.839 great position. And this is what's really cool, Mike, is 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:45.160 that we we made that decision to own value. So 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.080 we're in a position now where we were parody with 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.720 Family Dining on a ticket average basis, we're now three 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.520 dollars and twenty three cents below Family Dining. 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:56.920 Wow. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.959 The way we did that is we focused on every 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.360 area of the P and L so that we ran 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.880 the best possible food costs, the best possible labor, the 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.120 most efficient productivity that we could run, and we even 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.480 got into our controllable costs with our franchisees. Things like you, 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:18.560 chilly management, pay for goods, management, insurance management, whatever it was, 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.040 that we could save a dollar and not take anything 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.640 away from our guests, not cut quality, but save a 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.920 dollar in any way that we possibly could so that 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.080 we didn't have to take it on the top and 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.800 pass it on to our customer. And with time and 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.679 time again we were able to do that through the 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.400 last four years. We would have gone up two percent 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.880 and ticket this year and you know what the industry's doing. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.240 Our ticket average at dinner is only up two percent 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:49.160 this year. So that's why we're winning on the price side. 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:54.640 But we'd also don't define value just in price. As 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.960 we were talking earlier, I really believe that you have 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.880 to define value on a much broader scope than just frights. 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.439 You have to give the guests something that exceeds their 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.560 expectations when they walk through the front door. You better 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.640 be the cleanest restaurant they've ever walked in. You better 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.120 have out with the top service and hospitality, and you 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.520 better make sure that you're in irrelevant facility that's clean 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.360 and well maintained, and that the guest feels comfortable in. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.640 Those are almost table stakes today. So when a guest 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.600 is considering value. They're thinking about more than just Christ. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.160 They're thinking about where can I go that I today's 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.440 hard earned dollars. My money is hard to come by, 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.160 So if I'm going to give it to gold in Corral, 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.280 I'm better be able to trust them to deliver an 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:47.000 experience that meets or exceeds my expectations every single time. 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.600 And that's not on the guests. That's on us. We 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.200 better make sure that we understand what their expectations were. 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.920 We better be listening very closely to those customers and 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.960 what they want, what they need, and deliver all of 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.800 that plus a little bit more. And so that's the 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:08.280 way that we think about how we deliver value. It's 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:12.240 not just price, it's across the whole equation of the 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:13.200 guest experience. 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.160 Yeah, what you get for what you pay. We've seen 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:22.440 Casual Dining focus pretty strongly on operations since having a 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.160 tough twenty twenty four, and they've bounced back a little 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.840 bit this year. So it's good to see some of 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:33.400 the chains we cover getting back to basics. What operational 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.600 improvements are you currently working on now? 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.320 I think it's a great question, because, as I said earlier, 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.800 there are some of those weaknesses that were glaring, if 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:46.080 you will, I want to guess we're thinking about buffet dining, 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.800 and they tended to center around commonness. That was an 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.800 achilles heel for the buffet segment. And when you think 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:58.520 about commonness in a buffet setting, the reason it's always 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.600 a problem for us is that people are constantly up 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.600 and moving around our restaurant with plates full of food. 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.880 We feed families, little kids are running around with plates, 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.240 and they're spilling things all the time. So inherently of 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:18.240 a face segment has a cleanliness achilles heel that has 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.840 hung out. You know what, that's not the guests problem, 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:22.920 that's our problem. So it was up to us to 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:27.680 fix that. And we said, you know, during COVID in particular, 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.720 we went through the extremes of making sure that people 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:36.040 felt safe dining in our restaurants, that they felt safe 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:40.440 from a food safety and sanitation. So we had all 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.880 these extremes that we were going through, and we said, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.360 you know what, the guest is reacting so positively to this. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.360 We've got to make this permanent. We've got to do 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.680 things that are over the top, overtly telling our guests 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.160 that this is a sanitary environment. It's a clean environment 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.240 that you're going to love when you're dining with us, 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.240 because we're not going to have any of those negative 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.399 marks when it comes to your you know, old time 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.520 thinking of what buffets were. And so we're working on 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.760 all these fundliness initiatives and then one day I was 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:15.840 I was actually on a site visit and I stopped 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.159 in a BUCkies that was next to this site that 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.200 we were going to look at. Perfect teams from the store, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.080 and I went in and they had the signage up about, 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.040 you know, the cleanest restrooms in the world, and you know, 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:29.720 they are so proud of that. I walked in and 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.199 I looked at their restrooms and they are. They're phenomenal. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.680 They do a fantastic job on that. And I came 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:38.200 back to our team and I said, you know what, 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.320 that just puts a hay little effect around the entire 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:45.480 operation at BUCkies. Why can't we be known for the 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:51.480 cleanest restaurant bathrooms and the entire industry? And so we 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:55.400 put an initiative together. Our bathroom scores have gone through 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.399 the roof. They're way above industry average now, and we 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:05.800 measured that particular metric it's something that we think we're 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.359 never going to stop working on this. It's something that 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.000 we think puts a halo around the clembingness scores in 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:15.440 our restaurants, but our clumbing the scores typically we're ten 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.920 points behind family dining. We now leave family dining. According 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:26.800 to black SMG Technomics data. The restaurant clumbing the scores 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.119 have gone up exponentially over the last few years. And 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.000 we're not done. We've got work to do. We still, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.600 you know, have our bottom twenty percent that we've got 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.719 a laser focus in on those restaurants that aren't at 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.159 the same levels the rest of them are, and so 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.240 we've got great room for this to even get stronger 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.359 and stronger. But we eventually will be known for the 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.160 cleanest restaurants in the entire restaurant industry. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.520 Yeah, hearkens back to the Howard Johnson's days. 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.879 Man, that's absolutely I love it. 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.520 Yeah, yeah, I love it. And it's so smart too 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.520 to focus on it, because I will never forget those videos. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:10.359 I think it was on like the Nightly News or 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.280 something during the pandemic when they were showing how germs 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:15.520 can spread at a buffet. 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:20.240 Absolutely, that was so difficult for us because and that's 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:24.040 what really put us behind the curve is because all 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.840 those videos and the cruise ships and the Vegas buffets 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.959 and the science was wrong. It wasn't shared surfaces, it 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:36.480 was airborne behind COVID, but it didn't matter. The damage 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.280 was done, and our guest mind, it was like, what 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:40.919 are you going to do to make it safe for 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.600 me to dine in a buffet again? So we've had 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.600 to go over the top. And it's okay because the 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:51.680 whole perception of Golden Kral our consumer centiment has gone 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.840 through the root. Our net promoter SCOR is up eighteen points, 0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:01.520 eighteen points. The folks that do our measurements for I 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.120 asked them to go back and recheck because they told 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.640 me that we've never seen this kind of an increase. 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.560 And so when we said, you know what, go back 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:15.280 and rerun the numbers. Make sure that before we start, 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:18.399 you know, really getting excited about this, make sure that 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.120 we really understand that these numbers are correct. And it 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:26.760 had to do with us maintaining variety, maintaining quality, and 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:31.280 this massive improvement and the commonness perceptions of our restaurant. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:34.879 And then we tied all of that around with value. 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.720 The consumer's opinion of Golden Corral has just launched this 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.359 renaissance of our brand over the last four years. That 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:46.119 it's just I think I've told you before, we feel 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.480 like we kind of captured lightning in a bottle and 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:50.200 we don't want to take the lid off, So we're 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:53.680 figuring out everything we can do to maintain that type 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:55.240 of momentum. 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.920 I love it. I love it. So there's been some 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:03.479 concern around those coveted gen Y and gen Z consumers. Uh, 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:07.199 you know, Chipotle was talking about how, you know, some 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.600 of that anecdotal stuff that's out there that they're they're 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.600 having a tough time finding jobs. But our friends at 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:18.400 our mess and restaurant inside Monitor as well have data 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.480 is showing that you know, they've they're ready, they're ready 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.600 to keep spending. So you know, how are you doing? 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:27.919 What do you with those cohorts? What are you seeing 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:28.760 out of them right now? 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.480 Yeah, you know, I think it's up to us to 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:35.160 go find where they are right now, and we're doing 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:40.560 that partially tough marketing. We're we're taking different avenues than 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:45.160 we historically have ever taken. You know, we're on electronic 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:52.080 media TV, if you will, about thirty weeks a year. Historically, 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:57.480 we've never got deep into social media, geopens and digital 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:04.280 avertising off premas, all those areas that those particular generational 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.840 groups are really that's where they reside, that's how they 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:12.560 think about the business. And so when we're trying to 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:19.879 grow across all generational genres, it's really important to us 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:23.560 to make sure that we're very intentional about reaching out 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:29.200 to different age groups. So if it's social media, if 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:34.280 it's a particular demographic, we reach out specifically to Hispanics 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:38.119 who have drawn back a lot in the restaurant dining 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:43.440 right now. We built a big business with the Latino group, 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:48.280 and with all the immigration issues, ice issues going on 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.960 right now, they've drawn back and it has affected our business. 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:57.240 The restaurants that are heavily Hispanic more than thirty percent 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.119 in their trade area, those russants are down six to 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:04.080 one versus the rest of our system. If you've separated 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:07.399 out the group, we're up in the remainder of the system. 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:10.560 The restaurants that are in the heaviest manitaries are actually 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:14.080 down right now, but we don't use that as an excuse. 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:17.000 We're going and finding ways to talk to that group. 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:22.560 We're making sure that it's not dubbed commercials, that it's bilingual, 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:26.920 you know, people that are actually speaking in their language. 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.520