WEBVTT - Using Data to Shape Your Future 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:05.800 Ruby. 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.640 The views, information, and opinions expressed during this podcast are 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:12.160 solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.320 those of Into It QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.599 brands or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.400 or other professional advice or services. No assurance is given 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.440 that the information is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors, 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.520 and the information presented is for information purposes only. Into 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.159 It QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.920 revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:37.920 on them. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:39.640 Welcome back everyone. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.760 This is Mine the Business Small Business success Stories, a 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.240 podcast brought to you by Into It QuickBooks and Ruby 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:46.880 Studio from iHeartMedia. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:48.360 I'm Jenny's Torres. 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:49.600 And I'm Austin Hankwitz. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.599 And we are on the road again, this time in Nashville, Tennessee, 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.000 to talk to another entrepreneur. But in this episode, we're 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.800 actually live in a restaurant called bag Ladies. 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:01.800 I joined in Nashville and. 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.400 I am surrounded by the delicious smells of French fries. 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.080 Not just the delicious smells of French fries, but also 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:13.759 beverage machines, French fry seasoning going all over the place here. 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.280 We've got some really cool memorabilia all over the walls, 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.240 and we're getting ready now for the lunch rush that's 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.120 going to happen here in the next call it fifteen 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:20.880 to twenty minutes. 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:22.119 I can feel the vibes. 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.039 The vibes are hot, the vibes are high, and the 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:26.200 French fries are hot. 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:31.080 New Year, New business challenges, new business goals. Were getting 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.480 excited about everything that twenty twenty five is going to 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.720 offer us. What are some data points and metrics that 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.120 you are now saying, okay, I need to keep tracking these. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.200 These are the most important and all right time to 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:42.120 leave these in the past. 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.120 I always love doing kind of an end of year 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.640 recap on the business, seeing where income streams came from, 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.040 what was flourishing, what needs more attention. I think there's 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.160 no such thing as too much information. As a business owner. 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.520 I would totally agree with that. All the information that 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.040 can absolutely be overwhelming unless you have an awesome tool 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.400 like into it QuickBooks to help you decipher it and 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:05.920 take these row numbers and put them to work. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.799 Absolutely all the data is super important and it really 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.240 shows you where your strengths are what is working for 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.720 you and also what you need to improve, and all 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.920 that feeds into how I make decisions about where I'm 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:18.800 going to focus my energy as a business owner as 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.640 well as where I'm going to focus from a profitability perspective. 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:22.160 How about you? 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:23.679 Yeah, I'm right there with you, right. 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.200 I think every year something that we like to do 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.519 as we sit down for several hours, my team and 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.640 I and we say, Okay, what really really worked over 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.600 the last three, six, nine, twelve months? How did that 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.680 move the bottom line? How much time did we spend 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.440 building this? Was it something that actually moved the needle 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.640 for us? And then we say, what is something we 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.760 just don't like doing? Is it a process of the business, 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:47.600 is it a product we're selling? Is it a service? 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.560 Where what is going on that does not move the needle? 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.799 And just being able to have that wherewithal and the 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.480 self awareness to reflect on some of that, but more importantly, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.280 have the real data in front of you to be 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.600 able to make those decisions is incredibly important. 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:06.880 Absolutely, But enough about us, Let's introduce our guest. French 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.360 fries are known as a side dish, but in Brandon 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.519 and James Lyttleton's family. It was the main event. Their grandmothers, 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.680 Vessa and Irene, expertly prepared handcut fries, stored in brown 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.400 paper bags, and seasoned with love and culinary wisdom. So 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.079 when the brothers decided to go into the restaurant business together, 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.400 they knew the exact dish they were going to build 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.840 their business around. But it was a rocky start. Unable 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:31.560 to find a bank willing to take a chance on 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.840 their unconventional idea, and with the COVID nineteen pandemic in 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:39.760 full swing, opening an actual storefront location was looking nearly impossible, 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.240 but Brandon and James refused to give up and instead 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:43.840 saved what money they could and. 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:44.800 Started a food truck. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.560 That food truck, powered by their grandmother's fry recipe, took 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.360 off into such a success that they were finally able 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.680 to open the brick and mortar restaurant they originally dreamed of. Today, 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.240 Brandon and James run Bag Ladies, a fry centric restaurant 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.480 affectionately named after the woman who inspired it, and one 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.440 that is quickly sizzling its way into the very fabric 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.720 of Nashville's vibrant restaurant community. 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:09.280 Brandon Littleton. Welcome to the show. 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:11.720 It's a honor to be here. Welcome to the Home 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:12.680 of bag Ladies. 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:13.840 This is amazing. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.359 I mean, you've really ducked this place out with some 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.440 really cool memorabilia, which we'll get into, but let's kick 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.680 things off with this whole idea of going from recipe 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.839 from grandmother to now established brick and mortar in Nashville, Tennessee. 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:29.480 Walk me through the entire story. 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.640 Absolutely, So the foundation came from our two grannies, So 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.200 we spent a lot of time with them during the summertimes. 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.000 And me and my brother have two vastly different taste buds. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.599 Like he likes spicy stuff, I don't. I like peanut 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.240 butter and jelly he doesn't. But one thing that we 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.080 always landed on was fries. So our granny has had 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.240 this special process of making fries. They would kind of 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.840 chop them up, have them brind and then put them 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.080 in these brown paper bags and then put them in 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.320 deep freezers. So in the garage there would be brown 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.600 paper bags everywhere and as where we kind of got 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.479 the nickname bad Ladies. So fast forward twenty years. We 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.960 wanted to start a restaurant and Basically what happened was 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:10.560 we just kept getting rejected by banks, so it was 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.000 a little hard to kind of get funding. But it 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.239 ended up being a blessing in disguise simply because COVID happened. 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.880 So one thing that happened during COVID, we saw that 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.640 food trucks kept coming up, so we you know, turned 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.920 over every cushion in a couch. We scratched up any 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.040 money that we could purchased a food truck. And you know, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.200 on the first day, didn't no one to come. The 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.600 second day, didn't no one come. The third day was 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:35.520 like two people game, and it was like our mom 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.080 and dad. But then the fourth time, we started to 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.359 get lines, we started to get awards, we started to 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:45.320 be you know, invited to festivals and everything, and then 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:47.800 that created the opportunity for our first brick and mortar, 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.680 which we call our first neighborhood frau joints. So we 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:52.800 wanted to be tucked in neighborhoods. We didn't want to 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.920 be like centralized downtown. We wanted to be like deep 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:57.359 in a neighborhood that we grew up in. 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.159 That's amazing, And you mentioned you started getting in festivals, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.880 and one Awards. What was the process of that? I mean, 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.000 were people reaching out to you? Were you kind of 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.160 working maybe with a PR team to try and get 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.040 your guys on the front cover of Nashville Today? 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.640 Right, great question. So a lot of it has been organic. 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.320 So what we did We started on Gallatin Pike. There 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:19.600 was just an area that was just open, So we 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.159 didn't know the regulations, we didn't know anything like that. Again, 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.840 we're just two brothers just trying to figure it out, 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.480 and customers started to come back, customers start to talk. 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.320 We would run into you know, media outlets that would 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.960 come and taste the food, and all of that kind 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.599 of transpired and just created opportunities. So then when we 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.560 would go to vestivals or have events, that would create 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.960 opportunities for something else. So it's just kind of just 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.040 being in the field being active is what created all 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:46.039 the noise for us. 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.680 What kind of information were you looking at from like 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.440 a budget perspective as far as like how are we 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.720 going to set aside money for marketing and how much 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.480 are we going to set aside for inventory costs? 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:58.159 Like where did that information come from? 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.839 So all of that comes from quick books, To be honest, 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:02.800 with you. So we look at our p and L 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.800 every day. We have this just saying that, you know, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.599 if we have good days, we're going to have good weeks. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.320 We have good weeks, we're gonna have good months. We 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.200 have good months, were gonna have good quarters. And so 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:13.680 we look at our p ANDOL every day to just 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.280 make sure this aligned with the benchmarks of restaurants that 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:17.120 are in our area. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.480 Yeah, I love that, you know, I don't think it's 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:21.560 like such a thing as being too involved with your 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:23.960 numbers as a business owner, because you kind of got 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:25.960 to know what's happening so that you can be reactive 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.600 instead of, you know, just kind of waiting for things 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.120 to happen and then figuring out what that solutionship. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.160 Is going to be. Absolutely, in those first couple of months, 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.880 really first year, we are deering the hairlights. I mean, 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:37.920 we didn't really know because we were working in the 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.480 business every day. We did not have the time. So 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.680 just having a resource that we can just pull up 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.480 on our app, pull up on a website and online 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:47.680 and just be able to see, Okay, we spending too 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.520 much on food, so let's dial it back, you know. 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:51.920 So just having that information in front of us helped 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:53.280 us make more informed decisions. 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:55.320 So looking at your P and L statement every day 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.000 super important. Some of that does that as well, but 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:00.840 I'm curious. Being able to see this information in real 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.960 time allows you to react quickly, right, So talk to 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.960 me about sort of the process of you see this information. 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:08.560 Are you someone who's diving deep in the. 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.720 Numbers on a daily and weekly basis to try and 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.120 figure out where, you know, what's causing some of these 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:14.960 spikes or maybe trops in revenue. 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.680 So that's a great question. And we all know the 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:21.600 survival statistics of restaurants and so if you're not on 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.600 top of your numbers, it's very hard to maintain because 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:25.840 we're hear in the news all the time, you know, 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.720 it's restaurants closing down. So one thing that we do 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:30.240 is we, you know, looking at the P and L 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.840 every day, we do turn those into actable insights. And 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:35.880 what we mean by that is, for example, when we 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.520 first opened, our labor was extremely high and that's just 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.320 something that we didn't look at at first. So being 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.120 able to know that you can do more with less 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.160 individuals helped us, you know, keep our prom costs down 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.160 and as an actually again, it's just we can have 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.120 a feeling that is a lot of people in our restaurant, 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.720 but having just hard data numbers, you just can't refute that. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.280 So that makes a lot of sense. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.560 Do you have any advice for small business owners that 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:59.640 doing a restaurant that are listening right now as it 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:01.560 relates to analyzing their own data? 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.240 So the most common is just prom casts. I mean, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.360 so it's labor, it's food, if you manage your prom 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.280 costs well, if you are always looking at your margins, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:11.720 and if it's going to be a healthy So like 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:13.599 you always want to look at what are the benchmarks 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.679 of similar restaurants in your area, And that's exactly what 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.640 we did. But also coming from my finance background, I'm 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.000 benching off of companies that are publicly traded because that 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.640 information is readily available. So I'm using that information to 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.160 kind of gauge where we're at. So again, we don't 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.440 want to just be at one location. Of course, we 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.560 want to expand, so we want to make sure that 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.680 our you know, our key performance indicators are performing two 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:37.720 publicly traded companies. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.000 To be honest with yeah, I think he has a 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.400 strategic advantage having that finance background. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.720 I think he does. I think it's the IPO himself. 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.920 That's great, Okay, So I think when I, you know, 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.199 kind of try to balance data with my instincts as 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.120 an entrepreneur, sometimes there's not a match with the information 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.280 that you know. You might have data that's saying one thing, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.040 but your gut instinct is telling you maybe I should 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.839 pay attention to something else. So can you talk about 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.679 a scenario where maybe the numbers were telling you one thing, 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.120 but you're thinking, I don't know if I'm going to 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.120 follow this. I'm going to try and see what's on 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.000 the other side. And maybe you turned out to be 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.520 right by not just like strictly following the numbers. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.800 Right, So, our relationship with the prime costs and so 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.920 labor costs and food costs, there was a quarter where 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.120 our food cost was extremely low, and if you were 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.400 just looking at that at first impression, you would be 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.400 able to realize that, Okay, that's very good, keep that 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.679 going on. But what we found out is that when 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.360 we worked with a certain food distributor, the quality of 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.640 the food wasn't as good, and we completely switched that. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.880 So just because you are driving costs down, just know 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.200 that you're sacrificing on a whole other side that you 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:46.360 have to be reminded of. 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.160 Yeah, and that can have real long term consequences. So 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.040 just being able to see where that trade off is 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.280 where it's like, if we're going to serve lower quality food, 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.520 that's probably going to lead to bad reviews and then 0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:59.760 we're going to lose our customer base. It's not always 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.160 a good thing to go with the cheapest option. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:04.640 You mentioned you're here in a neighborhood in Nashville. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.360 Neighborhoods come with school districts, they come with sports teams, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.160 they come with a lot of moving parts. I mean, 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.440 this is a thriving city. Talk to me more about 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.440 the information gathering process of foot traffic people coming in 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.520 and out around the town. How are you guys dissecting 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.520 this foot traffic, you know, this sort of intangible information 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.760 to make forecasts for the next call it week, month, 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:25.199 or quarter. 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.160 Absolutely so. One thing that helps is that we're from 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.040 the area. The customer frequency of the individuals that are 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.240 in the actual neighborhood are extremely high and above just 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:36.839 the normal benchmarks, and and that's something that we do 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.040 want to replicate as we grow and as we go forward, 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:42.840 that's one of our key performance indicators. That is, when 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.439 somebody comes in, when's the next time do they come in? 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.400 That's something that that's in the business model that we 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.360 kind of accidentally stumbled upon, but it has actually been 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.440 one of the biggest advantages that we've had. 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.080 How are you guys tracking that? Do you have some 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.480 sort of rewards app or a punch card or something 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:57.680 that says, hey, you come back and we'll reward you 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:58.000 for it. 0:11:58.040 --> 0:11:59.840 Absolutely, so we have a loyalty program. So a lot 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.680 of that is associated with our POS system. So we 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.800 have a loyalty program which gives us reporting as well 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:07.880 in regards to you know, when they come in, it 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.000 automatically pulls up their profile, It shows how many times 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.440 they came in, what they ordered. So all of that 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.200 information allows us to make more informed decisions when it 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:17.960 comes to what needs to be on the mean versus 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:19.120 what doesn't need to be on the mean. 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:20.400 That's so fascinating. 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:21.960 I ever thought about it like that, but yeah, I mean, 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.600 if you have evidence that shows that you know, people 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.440 come in eighty percent of the time for three specific things, like, 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.760 let's figure out how to make sure that those specific 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:31.959 things are made very well. So these eighty percent of 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:33.360 customers want to come back. 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.880 And keep it in. Yeah. Yeah, And so that's a 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.000 mistake that we stumbled upon because if you looked at 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.920 our menu day one, it look like an Encyclopedia book. 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.000 It was huge, it was huge. But now if you 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.160 go to our menu now, I mean it's eight things. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.800 So we are definitely streamlined. We condensed it, We limited 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.040 the choices that consumers can make, and it's just and 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:53.400 it's benefited us financially. 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.679 Yeah, sometimes less is more, I think, especially when you're 0:12:55.679 --> 0:13:00.800 thinking about scaling. Absolutely coming up on Mind the Business 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:02.640 small business success stories. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.000 Having that information in regards to the customer's email, their 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.240 phone number, how many times do they come in, and 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.640 kind of understanding who is your customer. It just helps 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.079 you build your customer experience, build your experience of your restaurant, 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.800 and just align with what they actually want versus you 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:18.360 just guessing. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:29.959 We'll be right back, Welcome back to Mind the Business. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:33.600 Brandon. 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.280 So you've mentioned KPIs and a little bit about your 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.280 finance background, but that tells me that this was not 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.280 the original plan. So can you talk about how you 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:42.840 go from finance to French fries. 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.560 Absolutely, I like that. I liked how you said that. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.880 So when it came to leaving my cushy finance job, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:52.080 one thing that I looked at there was actually a 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.800 story that resonated with me. So I have three children, 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.680 and being in the finance background is very time consuming. 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.400 And remember that in Nashville there was an eclipse that 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.120 was happening, and this was not the most recent one, 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.760 but it was one a little further back, and my 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.720 wife and her kids, they were at the Nashville Zoo 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.520 and I was, you know, behind a computer screen, just 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.679 kind of working and working real late, and my wife 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.320 sent me pictures and they were just really you know, happy, 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.360 They really enjoyed it. And I was an opportunity that 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.880 I was just not there. I wasn't present. And one 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.720 thing that I always knew, because me and my brother 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.640 we've always started businesses, we kind of knew that we 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:33.960 always wanted to do that, but I just didn't want 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.640 to be confined in four walls anymore. I love the 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.520 opportunity to create something and push something out in the 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.080 world and to see how the world reacts to it. 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.200 I mean, so again, I've always been kind of that 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.640 entrepreneurial type of person, and that was kind of the light. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.800 It's like, yeah, we gotta change some things. 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.080 So yeah, I love it. I think that's called, you know, 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:54.640 following your dreams. Right. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.200 And I know we mentioned off camera when we were 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.560 talking you traded a four hour work week for were 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:01.680 working twenty four Stevens. 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:02.200 Yes. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.680 Yes, That's one thing that I will say to any 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.040 entrepreneur that is out there, especially if you have a spouse, 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.440 just talk with them about it, because they are experiencing 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.320 it just like how you're experiencing it, and it weighs 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:19.080 on you financially, spiritually, psychologically, everything. So just just be 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.280 aware of what that journey looks like and just have 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:23.600 a conversation with to spouse. 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.000 I remember when I quit my job, I had all 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.120 these people saying, don't do it, don't do it, it's 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.960 gonna be a mistake, right. I took some very specific 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:33.640 steps to make sure. You know, I had sort of 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.960 an emergency fund figured out, and I had, you know, 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.560 a business that was thriving and doing well before I 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.200 just jumped into it. What's sort over those first three 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.520 or four steps you took to begin to work toward 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:44.760 that and achieve that dream. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.000 Good question. So I would love to say that it 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.440 was very structured. Really, COVID was the kind of the 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.360 nudge to go ahead and jump. I didn't have a 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.320 business plan written out. I did have savings just being 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.240 in a finance background, I did have that, but I 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:01.840 got the opportunity need to work with my brother. We 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.320 just happened to be like, let's just do this together 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.120 at the same time, at the same moment. So kind 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:08.920 of the star is a ligne. So it wasn't like 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.200 this well thought out strategic plan to jump from the 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.720 nine to five to the entrepreneurial world, but it just 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:17.560 there was an opportunity to work with my brother. So 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:18.040 it's cool. 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.600 Yeah, all right. So it's not just enough to know 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:22.560 your numbers as a small business owner for your day 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.120 to day operations, but it's important from a tax perspective 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.320 if you want to get loans and so into it. 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:29.400 Quick books is a great tool obviously that you're using 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.960 for that. Can you talk about what methods you use 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:33.360 to track the numbers. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.760 So at the beginning, we were dying it and it 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.800 just became so overwhelming with managing a food truck and 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:43.840 also a restaurant. But actually in quick Books, they have 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.080 a marketplace where you can find a CPA final bookkeeper. 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:49.440 We found one and we've been rocking with them since. 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:51.280 So they're the ones that are updating our data in 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.640 real time, so they're able to foul our taxes, they're 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.680 able to, you know, just make sure that we're on 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:57.480 the up and up when it comes to bookkeeping. 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.840 Yeah, and you can reach out to them virtually do 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.600 consultations and things like that. If you guys have any questions, right, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.600 is there something that you wish you'd started earlier knowing 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:07.440 what you know now, or what advice would you give 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.680 to small business owners who are still kind of trying 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.720 to figure out how to best optimize how they're gathering data. 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.480 So it would be customer data. So it's one thing 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.560 to have your financial statements, and that's great because it 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.720 gives you just that information that you need. But having 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.520 that information in regards to the customer's email, their phone number, 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:26.439 how many times do they come in, and kind of 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.920 understanding who is your customer. It just helps you build 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.399 your customer experience, built your experience of your restaurant, and 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.200 just align with what they actually want versus you just guessing. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.240 So, yeah, looking. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:39.800