WEBVTT - Next Level Burger Aims to Change US Eating Habits 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:07.160 Welcome to Bloomberg Intelligence. BI provides research on industries, companies, 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.959 and expert topics, delivering key data from BI analysts and 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:19.840 their given industry. Now Here is your Bloomberg Intelligence research team. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.520 Welcome to Chopping It Up Episode seven. I'm your host, 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.880 Mike Hallen. I'm the senior Restaurant and food Service analyst 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.840 at Bloomberg Intelligence. Uh. And it's my pleasure to announce 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:34.120 our guest today, Matt de Grouterer from Next Level Burger. Uh. Matt, 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.400 how you doing today? I'm doing fantastic, brother, great to 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.600 see on a Friday. Same man. So, so, can you 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:43.640 start by telling the audience a little bit about Next 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.360 Level Burger, your mission, your menu, and anything else that 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.280 you think would would be important for them to to 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.440 kind of get a feel for for the brand. Absolutely 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:59.280 appreciate that might. So we are America's first plant based 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:03.720 burger joy and burger joint chain. Uh. We started way back, 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.039 if you can remember, so many years ago now, way 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.040 before the Kevin Harts of the world had gotten into 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.919 the vegan burger joint game. Uh. And we really founded 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:21.280 Next Level Burger on a value set of plant based Sure, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:23.920 even though there are only a couple of plant based 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.120 multenew concepts at the time, but we wanted to take 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.759 it to the pun intended next level by committing to organics, 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.720 non GMO and before anybody was really talking about it, 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.800 living wages and really what we asked ourselves, Mike, is Okay, 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:44.279 if you were reinventing the burger joint for the twenty 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.840 one century, what would it look like? And for us, 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:49.880 it looks like Next Level Burger. So I am the 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.520 CEO and co founder of Next Level. My partner in 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:58.240 life and crime or chief visionary Officer, Sierra, who I 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.280 met way back when I was out of the Rain 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.520 Corps and it just gotten into college and she was 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.440 in college. Uh and little did you know, uh, we 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.000 were meeting at a restaurant. But we eventually build one together. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.079 So it's been a pretty unbelievable journey so far. It's 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.640 very cool, very cool, and and you know you you 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:23.079 have a great backstory, you know, you and Next Level Burger, 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.280 and you know everybody loves a good backstory. Um, so 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.880 can you talk a little bit about kind of your journey, 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.000 how you got here and then what motivated you to 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:36.240 start slinging vegan burgers? Yeah, absolutely so I am long winded, 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.280 as my wife will definitely attest to let me see 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.960 if I can put this in a nutshell so um. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.400 I grew up on a hundred percent not plant based diet, 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.000 and not plant based diet. My mom was an amazing 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.480 chef cook really uh you know, we always had pies 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.760 and cakes and brownies and cookies, none of which forever 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.720 vegan of course on the counters um it was scratched 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.040 in her is every night, roasts and steaks and pork 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.720 chops and mashed potatoes, piled high with as much dairy 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.160 as you could possibly get into a plate. And and 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.600 that was that was my idea of a really healthy 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.240 way of living life, you know, um, you know, avoiding 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:18.240 process what we would call it at that point, just 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:22.000 fast food, uh, and for the most part, eating this 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.320 amazing food that my mom will prepare from scratch and 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:29.360 our home kitchen with lots of love. And that was 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.840 the diet that I carried forward into my late twenties. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.280 By the time I was in my late twenties, I 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:39.200 was consistently eating you know, ten pounds of red meat 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:43.200 a week in sixteen to twenty four ounce porterhouses every night, 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.600 big salad, baked potato, wash it down with the beer. Uh, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:49.720 And I felt like that was as good as a 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:54.440 man could eat. And so this what was that? It 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:56.760 tastes pretty good? Oh? It does it? Do? It tastes 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.480 good it indeed? I mean I don't look forward to 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.360 that steak. I would have it five six nights a week, 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.840 and every night I would look forward to that steak 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:11.720 like like nothing else. Um. But when I was twenty seven, um, 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.400 and at this point just kind of set the stage. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.920 So I'm I had joined the Marine Corps of High 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.040 school Infantry. When I got out of the Marine Corps, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.760 I had, I had gone to school, and I had 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.359 planned to go to law school at DU in Denver, UM. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.120 But my wife and I UH found out that we're 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.200 having our firstborn about ten years ahead of schedule. Okay, 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.719 So I realized that I need to pivot quote friends 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.719 ross from friends, pivot uh, and I needed to shift 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.760 in a different direction. And so I ended up getting 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.039 a job, um. And that job was in oil and 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.599 gas venture capital. Now what's funny about that is that 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.000 I come from a family of oil and gas and 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.560 I never ever intended on going in that direction. My 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.680 dad is a geophysicist, so he would bore me to 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.280 tears as a kid and a teenager, show me all 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.800 this three dimensional seismic and so I never expressed any 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.600 interest in it. But I ended up through an interesting 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.400 series of events in a position where I'm wearing a 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.279 Versace suit and I'm in this oil and gas venture 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.839 capital business on the finance side, not on the expiration side. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.760 And so you know, I'm moving forward in life. I'm 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.960 feeling great, beautiful wife, beautiful son, working hard on building 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.720 a career. And on the tenth anniversary in two thousand 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:34.200 and ten of my mom beating breast cancer stage four, uh, 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.160 she is diagnosed with it again and we lost her 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:42.279 less than two weeks later on June two thousand and ten, 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.800 and I was heartbroken. I I adored my mother, uh 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.760 and and and she was only fifty six years old. 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.720 And so four days later, on June the two thousand 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.720 and ten, my son is turning three, and I met 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:00.880 his birthday party in our house in Dallas, Texas. And 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.560 you know, we're obviously a wreck, but we're you know, smiling, 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.919 and we're trying to make it as as magical a 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.640 third birthday party as we possibly can, and I remember 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.840 so well this sense of sadness and grief um in 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.240 my heart, uh, and looking across the table, and in 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.599 the equal measure and perhaps greater measure, this sense of 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.880 love for my son and wanting to see him grow 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.000 old and and and and for whatever reason at the time, 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.520 it just hit me that if I could get myself 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.600 to a hundred healthy, that means I'm getting him to 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:41.400 about seventy. I've done my job, right. And so what 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.719 was happening at the same time that we were saying 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.719 goodbye to my mother is that my wife had gone 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.880 just in this very strange direction called being a vegetarian 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.720 the year before the first Mike, the first vegetarian I 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.159 ever met my whole life, Okay, my whole life. And 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.400 I know that sounds crazy because it's not like you 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:04.080 know this is this is literally two thousand nine, uh, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.200 two thousand and eight, two thousand nine, when she decides 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.800 to go on this path, and I say, honey, I 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.280 love you and I will support you, but do not 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.920 try to guild me into going vegetarian because it is 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.960 never and I mean never gonna happen, right, famous famous 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.480 last words. And so what she had started with in 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:27.160 this vegetarian shift. Uh, became this even stranger concept that 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.400 I couldn't conceive of, which was this vegan word which 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.160 I never even heard, right, vegan. Um. I've met a 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.400 couple of vegans. They were very nice, but very strange. 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:42.000 And that was like my association with this this word vegan. Uh. 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.720 And so my wife and I are both big readers. 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.480 She started buying all these books, right and and the 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.640 one that stuck with me was a book written by 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:54.720 Alicia Silverstone called The Kind Diet. Okay, And of course, 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.600 you know I'm forty now, so so I grew up 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.840 on clueless and as if way hard tie, I mean 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:05.560 you know, the sort of classic move Oh yeah, classic 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.040 thought out of the nineties. I mean, I can't even 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.040 tell you anytimes I saw Paul Rodd looks the same 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:11.800 today as he did when he was in that movie. 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:13.800 So some of the years ago, so I had been 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.640 so long I forgot he was in it. Yeah, I know, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.120 and he doesn't look at any different. I mean it's hilarious. 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.000 And and so I'm making fun of Sierra for taking, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.360 you know, diet and life advice from Alicia Silverstone, right 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.600 and and and of course all in good fun. But 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.920 after my mom passed away, Um, I was, you know, 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.720 a Saturday or Sunday, and I pick up this book 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.400 and I'm kind of like rolling my eyes and I 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.840 start flipping through it, and it's actually really good. It's 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:46.000 like written, well, it's interesting, she's citing her sources, and 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.760 so I flipped back to the bibliography and I'm like, wow, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.360 this seems like some legit stuff. And my wife had 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.000 already bought a bunch of the books. So I started 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.520 picking up those books. And I started reading books by 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:00.160 doctors and and and scientists. You know that in his 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.839 study which has sold like three million copies at this point, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.480 by a Collin T. Campbell, How to Prevent and Reverse 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.319 Heart Disease by cold Will Esselston, famous probably one of 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.320 the most famous heart surgeons in the world. And these 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.600 guys are all saying the same thing that there's this 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:20.680 unbelievable correlation between diet and health outcomes, particularly heart disease, 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:25.640 particularly cancer. And you know, my mom uh passed away 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.120 from a breast cancer that metastasized her whole body. Um, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.600 but her heart gave out. That That's that that final 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.040 moment when I was holding her hand that's what I 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:38.480 watched happen. And and and six months after my mom 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.680 passed away, her younger brother had his first and only 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.200 heart attack, widow Maker, that was all she wrote. And 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.520 my and her dad had had four heart attacks. He 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.920 had four open heart surgeries. Um and And I had 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.920 kind of always just run with the assumption that cancer, 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.680 heart diseases are like it's the Russian Roulette of life. 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.640 Like you get it, you don't get it right. And 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.400 yet here I am, I'm reading all this science that 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.760 does not support the way that I am eating, and 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.760 you know, living every day on this type a personality. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.320 I'm eating ten paths of red meat a week. I 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.520 drink more than that should if I'm being honest. But 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:15.800 I had always, you know, felt like that was part 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.439 of living a whole life. And I exercised a lot uman. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:21.760 I grew up in a family uh that that that 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.760 prioritized that, and had played sports and in the Marine 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:26.439 Corps and so on and so forth. So I felt 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.000 like I was doing everything I could. But then I Mike, 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.280 I was open up to this fact that I wasn't. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.280 And then I was at this crossroads moment where I 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:36.920 was going to choose whether to take the blue pillar 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.160 or the red pill, you know, take it to the matrix, right, 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.080 And so I decided that I'm all right, all right, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.559 thirty days, thirty days, I'm gonna try this this this 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.200 this no meat thing for thirty days, right, which at 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.280 the time was like asking me to walk around my 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.520 hands for the next thirty days and not my feet. 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.520 I mean, it just felt impossible, And so I don't 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.560 even carrian or vegetarian at the time. Was just pascatar, right, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.400 which which which I wouldn't have put it as that 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.040 because I didn't even know the word at the time. 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.760 But I was just gonna sypically where people start, right, yeah, 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.839 but more intelligent people than me, Mike. It was. It 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.560 was less like, Okay, I'm gonna go pestytarian. It was 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.880 more like, okay, I'm gonna stop eating this, you know, 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.520 massive amount of animal protein, and I'm gonna go real 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.720 light on the dairy. But at this point, like all 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.600 I'm thinking about is this, Like I mean, ten pounds 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:26.560 of beef a week, you know, every once in a while, 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.720 pork chop, every once in a while, some chicken, but 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.480 for the most part is beef, bison. If I could 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.400 get it. And and so I don't say any sier 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.280 because I like have very little, you know, confidence in 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.240 this being a long term shift, which sounds so crazy 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.120 at this point, but was the case. And I and 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:48.439 I just started. I just started. And two weeks into it, brother, 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.800 I was sold. I mean, I felt so damn good. 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.800 I was at the gym, and I remember I was 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.000 just like, dude, I can just keep going. I just 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.040 I felt late. I felt clean. My sleep, uh, you know, 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:06.640 felt so much deeper and so much more restorative. Uh. 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:11.320 And the stress at work, it just felt so much less. 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.960 Nothing had changed, right, My stress was still high, my 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.600 environment was still ultra competitive, you know, stakes were still high. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:23.640 No pun intended, but but I felt better about it, 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.400 and and so I was sold. And I just I 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.280 just kept going. And I of course told my wife 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:31.640 once I felt pretty competent in my ability to keep 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:35.120 going with this, she was thrilled. And I went on 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:39.840 this three year, four year journey of shifting from uh, 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.520 you know what was a very I mean, I wasn't 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.960 a carnivore technically, but leaned in that direction to what 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.520 you would call a Pasketerian with a little dairy here 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.839 and there um and over that three years, my entire 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.559 family shifted to this plant based diet. Um and my 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.040 daughter was born. Uh in Mom was vegan the whole time, 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:01.679 has been vegan since birth, except for one time with 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.120 dad screwed up better some egg addressing, which he still 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.000 brings up to this damn like I didn't know. I 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:11.280 didn't know. But other than that one time, um and uh. 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:16.000 And so in two thousand thirteen, I am coming up 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.079 on my thirty first birthday. I made my first million 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.800 by thirty. Um. And you know, we're living the all 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.760 American dream right living Laguna Niguel in Orange County, southern California. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.200 In my office is in Newport Beach. I drive a 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.600 red race car, red bmw M three, my dream car 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.800 from high school, you know. And I've got two beautiful kids, 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:40.240 beautiful wife, and like we have hit the jackpot. And 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.839 yet my wife and I are feeling this sense, this 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.920 itch to do something bigger than just ourselves. And I've 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:52.640 come to this conclusion that my whole life, my whole 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:58.200 life orients around making money, and that's it, Like that's it. 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.520 It's that taking care of my family of just so 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.880 thankful for because that's what I set out on as 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:08.120 a journey when I left the path of becoming a lawyer. Um. 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.720 But that in the charitable contributions flash four thirty five 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:13.720 years and maybe I made a bunch of money and 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.440 that was it, and I was just not comfortable with it. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.440 And so we had all sorts of ideas, all sorts 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.400 of directions we felt we could go, but we chose 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.640 the most insane path, Mike, and that was this idea 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.400 that my wife had had three years earlier when we 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.240 first started this journey of a plant based burger concept, 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:39.120 and in two thousand thirteen, it didn't exist. And so 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.720 we made the insane or the inspired probably a combination 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.160 of the two decisions that we were going to be 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:50.160 the crazy people that we're going to start America's first 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.320 plant based burger joints. So, you know, under the age 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.360 of thirty one, two kids under the age of six, 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.520 leaving a career that was very lucrative behind selling our house, 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.800 moving from California to my wife's home state of Oregon, 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.880 and opening up America's first plant based burger joint. And 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.480 oh boy, oh boy, did we have any idea what 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:16.240 we were signing up for so I left my career 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:21.720 on July thirty one. We opened up our prototype next 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.440 level Burger a little less than a year later in 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:28.520 July a fourteen, and we did not know. And any 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.080 restaurant tour can tell you, if they're being honest, that 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.440 one of the most anxiety inducing, one of the most 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.960 nerve racking aspects of building restaurants is you never know 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.520 if anybody's gonna show up, right. I mean you hope 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.960 and you think, but you never know. And and we 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.200 were taking that to the punt intended to the next level, 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.680 because we're building something that didn't exist, and we didn't 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:51.800 know if there was an appetite for it in the world. 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:56.840 And so we opened up with this deep like breath 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.520 hold it, what's going to happen? And our doors got 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.080 blown off and people were just, you know, lining up 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:07.400 out the door excited about what we brought. Now, Elon 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:11.280 Musk has said famously something that I have I have 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.760 I have felt myself time and time again that entrepreneurship 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:19.400 is like chewing glass and staring into the abyss. And 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:23.640 and I I our CFO brought that to my attention. 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:25.840 I laughed when he said it because so many times 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.680 I have I have felt the layers of that, and 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.800 it's this sort of roller coaster ride of being an entrepreneur. 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:36.280 So the journey of Next Level Burger just from two 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.880 thousand thirteen when we incorporated fourteen when we opened up 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:46.320 our prototype UH that same year, employee number seven from Twitter, 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.120 speaking of Elon musk fellawame Alex Paine, walked into our 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:53.880 prototype restaurant two months after we'd opened and said, love 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:57.800 what you're doing, Vision Ethos Alliance. He became our first 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.720 seven figure outside investor. We opened up in Portland in 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:06.119 two thousand and fifteen. It was insanity, Mike, I'm talking 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.520 line out the door for days. We actually had to 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.159 close our seven and a half day in business because 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.840 we couldn't keep food on the shelves or distributors couldn't 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.320 keep up, which is good because our staff had that 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:24.840 like thousand yards stair. Just absolute overwhelming insanity. UH. The 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.560 explosion of of of of excitement around Next Level Burger 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.360 in Portland put us on Whole Foods map. We ended 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.480 up doing business with Whole Foods at their three six 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.720 five concept That led to John McKie and I co 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.399 founder and now former CEO of Whole Foods getting to 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.320 know each other. That led to Whole Foods investing on us, 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.040 becoming our biggest shareholder. UM. It led to a national 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.640 expansion from coast to coast, with locations not just in Oregon, 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:56.640 but in Seattle and San Francisco, Austin, Texas, Brooklyn, uh 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:01.119 in New York City and uh, you know, just unbelievable 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:06.680 alignment again of mission of ethos Um. And of course 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:08.680 we just kept that good thing going. So we now 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.400 have nine restaurants in six states, three time zones. We've 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:16.040 served millions of guests, helped conserve billions of gallons of 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.560 water and stop millions of pounds of carbon emissions from 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.240 going to the atmosphere. And peck man, we're just getting started. 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.320 And that's awesome and and uh, you know, I can 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.639 relate to so many aspects of that story, but I 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:32.359 love how um you know you've used you know, a 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.919 grief stricken moment, you know some misfortune, and you know 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.959 you were able to change your own life and the 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.160 lives of your family members with your diet. And then 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.200 you know, from there searching up for a higher meaning 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.080 right and trying to do some good in the world. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.520 And and this bringing you into the crazy world of restaurant. 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.960 It's it's awesome, man, It's it's a fantastic story. And 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.040 I think it's very important to you know, the ethos 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:00.800 of the brand and understanding what Net Level Burger is 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.160 all about. So so thank you for that. So let's 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:07.720 thinking a little bit about your business, um, you know, UM, 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.240 I guess we'll start with why beyond meat and not 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:15.399 impossible burgers? And I love that question. Yeah, and what 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.200 percentage of your sales are coming from from that product? 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.879 So that is a phenomenal question, Mike, and I love it. 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.440 We started there, you know, at the beginning. Thank you 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:26.920 for your kind of words to um. And I think 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.960 I think our mother's whole important places in our respective 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:36.560 hearts for sure, for sure. So when we started Next 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.679 Level Burger, the first version of the business plan was 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:46.080 a thousand units okay, because we didn't start NLB to 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.160 just drive some impact. We wanted to drive global impact. 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:54.239 And the first part of that was health. Uh you know, 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.879 the average age today in America, Mike of being able 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:02.360 to uh measure the initial symptoms of heart disease. It's 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.879 not forty Like I just turned in September. It's not thirty, 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:10.640 it's not twenty. It's eleven years old. Eleven years old. 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.720 My daughter is about the tournament. And we have an 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:19.280 obesity epidemic, We have a diabetes epidemic, we have a 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:23.200 cancer epidemic, we have a heart disease epidemic. We have 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.720 all sorts of challenges that are pushing our species in 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.000 the wrong direction from a health perspective. And that was 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.359 I've shared my reason for shifting gears, and it was 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.680 our number one reasons for starting next level burgers. Diet 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.960 makes an impact. Man. All the research points to diet 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.439 making a massive impact. Huge, you know, so huge, huge, 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.919 and so much of our problem in America. It is 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.560 is the process bit, which you know is a whole 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.520 another conversation that I'd like to have. Um, But let 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:59.119 me answer your question. Why beyond and not impossible. It 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:03.040 has to do of our perspective on health. So when 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:07.679 I said value set, you know, I said, that's plant based. Yeah, 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:11.960 but it's also organics. It's also non GMO, and so 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.399 I highly respect what impossible is doing, highly respect what 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:20.320 impossible is doing. That being said, they do use genetically 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.440 modified ingredients that they are very very forthright about that. 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.160 They're very bold about it. It is nothing they're doing 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.440 in the dark that they're hoping doesn't come into the light. 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:32.160 But it is not something that we plan to sign 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:36.040 up for. So our non GMO policy is absolute and 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:40.080 really at next level, the unofficial official way that we 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:43.439 determine whether an ingredient or a menu item is going 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:45.560 to make its way into a restaurant is would we 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.480 put it in front of our kids? Because look Beyond 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.040 Me Burger, which is, you know, a healthy percentage of 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:53.200 our sales, but just part of our sales. We've got 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.720 lots of housemade burgers that that are some of our 0:21:55.760 --> 0:22:00.520 absolute top sellers. But they're processed and that's okay, right, 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:04.280 They're made out a whole food ingredients that are processed. Uh. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.159 You know, it's like my my protein shake every morning. 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:09.439 You know, it's got a few things in it, but 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:13.879 it's baseline of protein is organic yellow p protein growing 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.840 in Canada. Right, That's how I start my day almost 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:20.399 every single day. And my kids eat Beyond Me probably 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:22.800 about once or twice a week. You know, it's it's 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:25.280 more of a treat for us as opposed to something 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:29.840 that's absolutely whole foods based um and and so for us, 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.000 what it really boils down to is creating a spectrum mic. 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:35.479 You know, my father in law who has been one 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:38.360 of our biggest cheerleaders from the beginning. He is a 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:42.320 cross between John Wayne and Yosemite. Sam. I kid you not. 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:46.040 He is got the handlebar mustache. He built a steel 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:49.800 rebar infrastructure company from the ground up, got it up 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:52.879 to twenty million, and revs built the Trump Tower in 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:56.119 Toronto and said bomb boyage retiring. And he's eating it 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:00.760 every diner between here in the Mississippi back I mean literally, uh. 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:04.000