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Speaker 1: heart or text I Heeart to five hundred, five hundred.

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Speaker 1: My next guest celebrations this day, all the time with

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Speaker 1: the world's most fabulous Cheesecake from Junior's Restaurant. The man

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Speaker 1: behind this extraordinary success is a third generation of the

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Speaker 1: Rosen family to lead the Junior's Restaurant brand. Born and

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Speaker 1: raised in New York, one of my favorite cities, he

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Speaker 1: grew up watching his father, Walter, run their original Junior's restaurant.

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Speaker 1: While in high school and college, he spent his summers

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Speaker 1: learning the business while also acting as a manager at

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Speaker 1: the original Brooklyn location. Please welcome to money making conversation

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Speaker 1: on National Cheesecake Day, Alan Rosen, Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate such a nice introduction. Now, Allen, I I built

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Speaker 1: you up. That's what you're gonna give him. Man, you

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Speaker 1: really built me up. That was I mean, that was

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Speaker 1: almost too much, too much of our building. No, no,

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Speaker 1: you know, because because I like cheesecake and this is

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Speaker 1: your day, you know, and so so tell me is

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Speaker 1: this this is a big media day for you on

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Speaker 1: National Cheesecake That big? This is a big media day.

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Speaker 1: I've been doing media since about six forty five. This

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Speaker 1: morning in New York. Um, you know, this is you know,

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Speaker 1: we've been around sixty eight years. National Cheesecake Day didn't

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Speaker 1: exist in nineteen fifty. So we're very fortunate to have

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Speaker 1: one of these names. You know. You know, every day

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Speaker 1: is a different day. But today is our day. And

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Speaker 1: it's nice in the summer, you know, in July to

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Speaker 1: have a little shot in the arm, if you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, get some attention for our business. Come

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Speaker 1: up with a new flavor of cheesecake because we wanted

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Speaker 1: to have some fun with it and just generally have

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Speaker 1: a really nice day in all four of our restaurants. Now,

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Speaker 1: the new flavor is Strawberry Shortcake. Right, It's strawberry shortcake cheesecake.

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Speaker 1: So what we did was we baked our New York

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Speaker 1: style and we're winning cheesecake which strawberries blended into it,

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Speaker 1: and on top of it, we built a strawberry shortcake.

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Speaker 1: So you get a combination of two of the most

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Speaker 1: popular deserts in America. Certainly, now to tell me again, okay,

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Speaker 1: I got the you. You you put the strawberries in

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Speaker 1: the milks mixed right, and then you said the top layer.

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Speaker 1: We finished that. Then we take a layer of whipped cream.

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Speaker 1: Then we take a layer of strawberry jam. Then we

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Speaker 1: take another layer of cake, and then we put some

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Speaker 1: more whipp cream around the whole thing, and then we

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Speaker 1: finish it with some strawberry and fused butter cream. No, man,

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Speaker 1: that sounds very very good. But now let me ask

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Speaker 1: you this, who thought of that? Alan, your master chef.

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Speaker 1: All of that we have, We have a pastry chef

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Speaker 1: in Amanda for you and see helped us talk with

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Speaker 1: that flavor. And so so do you do like a

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Speaker 1: sample session? Oh yeah, we said every time. We were

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Speaker 1: so proud of our cheesecake heritage because it that we

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Speaker 1: would sit around and we will taste and test because

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Speaker 1: we don't want to cover it. Up as you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. You want to make sure it all

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Speaker 1: enhances the experience doesn't take away from it. Okay, let's

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Speaker 1: let's talk. Let's talk with Sean McDonald and my experiences

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Speaker 1: at Junior's. Okay, first of all, they've all been fantastic. Okay,

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Speaker 1: let me just put that out right there. I lived

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Speaker 1: in New York twice. I lived in New York in

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Speaker 1: eight eight. I lived in New York in ninety in

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Speaker 1: two thousand five to two thousand and seven. So I've

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Speaker 1: had a good experience. And I go to New York

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Speaker 1: all the times. One of my favorite cities now, the

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Speaker 1: Time Square location I go there is packed all the time.

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Speaker 1: What is your most population? Can I ask you that question?

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Speaker 1: What is your most popular location? The one, the one

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Speaker 1: shrink between Broadway and Eighth that you're referring to was

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Speaker 1: probably in the top ten busiest restaurants in the United

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Speaker 1: States of America. I know every time I go in there,

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Speaker 1: you know, because I don't know anybody, so you know,

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Speaker 1: I gotta stand in lide so you know, you know

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Speaker 1: somebody now, but then he's gonna be there. I'm He's

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Speaker 1: my main dad. To do your text me and we'll fld.

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Speaker 1: You go to Jason, I go in there, I go

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Speaker 1: in there. Okay, I've been at the Foxwood location. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I've also been, which is really great. Is that menu

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Speaker 1: a little bit different than Foxwood? That's the Foxwood the

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Speaker 1: scenes by the way. A little more. We add on

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Speaker 1: a couple of local dishes wherever we are, so up

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Speaker 1: at fox which we might have prime red yes dishes,

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Speaker 1: just because we want to. You know, we want to

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Speaker 1: please the local clienta we we don't want to act

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Speaker 1: like a change each one of our restaurants or have

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Speaker 1: each have a chef in them. You know, everything is

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Speaker 1: from scratch and we want to pay attention to the

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Speaker 1: local environment where we are. We want to be part

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Speaker 1: of it. If you want a good hamburger, everybody, you

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Speaker 1: want a good hamburger, we're gonna go through his menu.

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Speaker 1: If you want a good hamburger, go to Junior's because

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Speaker 1: they have what I love, steak fries. See steak fries.

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Speaker 1: Who you though? Those good steak fries in front of me?

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Speaker 1: You win in right there. And so so when you

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Speaker 1: start breaking down that menu. The reason I like your

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Speaker 1: menu is that it feels like a hearty experience. Eating experience.

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Speaker 1: Is that by design? Yes, absolutely so. It's what I

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Speaker 1: call it is Brooklyn comfort food. But when you're so

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Speaker 1: for instance, when you get one of those deluxe burgers,

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Speaker 1: it has steak fries, that has homemade or rings. It

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Speaker 1: had a ten ounced burger on it. Um you me.

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Speaker 1: All of our portions are very large, and you know

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Speaker 1: that's part of the charm of what we do. You're

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Speaker 1: never gonna feel like you got you paid too much

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Speaker 1: and didn't get enough. Yeah, because I just go in

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Speaker 1: there with my crew. One of my crew members, with

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Speaker 1: Steve Harvey, the comedian, famous comedian, was going at all

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Speaker 1: the time and to juniors. Remember absolutely Fox when we

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Speaker 1: go into the Brooklyn location when we had our book

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Speaker 1: signing back in two thousand and nine, we hung out

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Speaker 1: and juniors in Brooklyn, and then, like I said, at

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Speaker 1: Times Square whenever I'm over there, you know, because it's

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Speaker 1: got a ton of options to eat at. And I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna let everybody know it. If you've never been,

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Speaker 1: if you've ever been to New York, you will know

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Speaker 1: what I'm telling you. You're true. There are a ton

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Speaker 1: of eating options. And to say that his restaurants, that

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Speaker 1: bus is a testament to the quality of service, the pricing,

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Speaker 1: and the type of good food that you consistently get,

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Speaker 1: because that's what that's what kind of happens, because you

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Speaker 1: know when you when you spread out to these you know,

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Speaker 1: we're not gonna use the word chain. I want to

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Speaker 1: say individual restaurant. You get the same service and the

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Speaker 1: same smile. Because I'm that guy. I eat all over

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Speaker 1: the country and so I go into the place, I

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Speaker 1: expect that hamburger or that fries. I'm telling you something

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Speaker 1: else about Junior's that y'all don't know. They sell grits.

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Speaker 1: We do went breakfast time. See you say that like that.

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Speaker 1: Ain't every actors you get your choice of home fries

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Speaker 1: and grits. So say so. See, I'm a Southern ball

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Speaker 1: from Houston, Texans. So you know I lost my mind

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Speaker 1: when I went to Junior's and they had grits on

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Speaker 1: the menu. Yep, so is man. That's what's what's so

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Speaker 1: great about Juniors. You know. That's that there's two items

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Speaker 1: on the menu. For instance, if you go there tonight

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Speaker 1: and you want to a cheeseburger the luxe or you

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Speaker 1: want a piece of rod salmon or chicken carm a

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Speaker 1: jan or a broiled you know, uh, you know, broiled steak.

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Speaker 1: We have it all. And I mean there's there's almost

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Speaker 1: TEMs on that man, but is not you know something.

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Speaker 1: The thing about it, I'm gonna tell you somebody, because

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Speaker 1: a lot of players, you have a a lot of

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Speaker 1: menu items, it kind of like confuses you, you you know,

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Speaker 1: like no, no, no, no, this is all done. So

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Speaker 1: Juniors when originally started, was almost like a kosher style restaurant.

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Speaker 1: But over the years, what we've added is local favorite.

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Speaker 1: So we have the Southern influences like the grids and

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Speaker 1: barbecue chicken and ribs, because that's what our customers wanted. Okay.

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Speaker 1: And when we ever my father or my uncle added

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Speaker 1: something to the menu, he said, if we're gonna add something, guys,

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Speaker 1: it's got to be great. So everything's done with a

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Speaker 1: real attention to detail. And if you're gonna go have

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Speaker 1: a slice of cheesecake or a burger or a corny

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Speaker 1: from strawmy sandwich, why shouldn't it be the best, most delicious,

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Speaker 1: served in a really nice environment by some really nice

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Speaker 1: family members. That's what That's how we talked about the

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Speaker 1: people I work with, and we have you know, close

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Speaker 1: to a hundred people working with us only with four restaurants, um.

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Speaker 1: But that's that's how busy these restaurants are. Absolutely, and

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Speaker 1: I agree now before we're end this break because I'm

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Speaker 1: bringing it back because I want to learn about your

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Speaker 1: the whole history of you, your brand, your development, because

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Speaker 1: I love the fact you worked worked at the restaurant

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Speaker 1: and you learn your crap before you inherited the business

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Speaker 1: the way you supposed. I didn't inherit I didn't correct

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Speaker 1: you shortly. I didn't inherit anything. I thought I bought

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Speaker 1: my business from my uncle. That you're in a real transaction. Nothing,

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Speaker 1: nothing is a gift in this family. That's why. That's

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Speaker 1: why you know, up until my kids were seven years old,

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Speaker 1: I work seven days a week, okay, and then I

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Speaker 1: decided to take one or two days off just because

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Speaker 1: I wanted to watch him play little weak. That's important

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Speaker 1: to say that because of the fact that that's the

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Speaker 1: part of the business I want to talk about when

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Speaker 1: you come back. But today is National Cheesecake Day. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking to a third generation owner, Alan Rosen, and he celebrated.

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Speaker 1: He's been busy all day. Guess what he's been doing.

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Speaker 1: Promoting his brain. And that's what money making conversations about,

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Speaker 1: promoting your brain. They got playing playing cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake,

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Speaker 1: cherry cheesecake, blueberry chach cake, and today strawberry shortcake cheesecake. Wow.

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Speaker 1: Be right back with more money making conversation, Allen Rosen,

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Speaker 1: don't you go nowhere. We'll be right back with more

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Speaker 1: from mar Shan McDonald and money making conversations. Don't touch that.

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Speaker 1: Don hi this ra Sean McDonald. I think I jumped

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Speaker 1: in a little bit too earlier on this is National

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Speaker 1: Cheesecake Day again. I need some applause for that national

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Speaker 1: cheese on the phone against third and third generation um

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Speaker 1: Allen Rosen and Alan, you said you were very important

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Speaker 1: for you to correct me, which is very good to say. Rashan,

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Speaker 1: I did not inherit this. I bought this because this

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Speaker 1: is an entrepreneurship show. And I always tell people, you know,

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Speaker 1: that was a big decision for you to do that.

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Speaker 1: Why why did you do it? And what was the

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Speaker 1: nervousness in it doing it? Or was it any well

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Speaker 1: to tell to tell you the truth, when I went

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Speaker 1: when I was a kid, when I was thirteen fourteen

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Speaker 1: years old. If you ask me what I wanted to

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Speaker 1: do with my life, I would have told you I

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Speaker 1: wanted to be in the restaurant business. So all I

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Speaker 1: ever wanted to do, Okay, So from that time on

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Speaker 1: that that was my own Bumpus. Every summer I had

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Speaker 1: a job at a different restaurant in my community. You know.

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Speaker 1: Then when I could drive, you know, sometimes I would

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Speaker 1: I would go to Brooklyn and work with my dad.

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Speaker 1: If I wanted to see him. When I was five

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Speaker 1: years old, I'll go back even a little further. He

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Speaker 1: worked every day, so I would get up at four

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Speaker 1: thirty in the morning, he would knock on my door.

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Speaker 1: I'd be ready to go, and I would spend as

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Speaker 1: much time as I could with my dad, which really

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Speaker 1: meant I was at work. And I mean some of

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Speaker 1: the people I worked with when I first started working

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Speaker 1: there twenty five years ago, where people I knew from

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Speaker 1: them when I was six years old. So I just

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Speaker 1: always loved it. And then I went to a hotel

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Speaker 1: and restaurant school. Um, you know, when I when I

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Speaker 1: graduated high school, I worked at different chain restaurants like Chilies,

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Speaker 1: the Charred House. I did a whole bunch of stuff,

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Speaker 1: and then I went back to my uncle, my father,

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Speaker 1: and I literally had to beg for a job because

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Speaker 1: you know, they weren't from the modern day school of thinking.

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Speaker 1: Now was one restaurant. They ran it, you know, pretty

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Speaker 1: iron fisted, you know, from a booth in the back.

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Speaker 1: They sat down there, didn't even have an office one.

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Speaker 1: They had great cheesecake and they had great food and

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Speaker 1: great people and um, you know, over time, you know,

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Speaker 1: we started a mail owner business. And then I made

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Speaker 1: a deal with my uncle to buy the business because

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Speaker 1: I believed, in my heart of hearts that I could

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Speaker 1: grow it and make it, make it more popular than

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Speaker 1: it was, which is kind of hard to imagine while

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Speaker 1: still keeping those roots that tradition. When yeah, the integrity

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Speaker 1: we we you know, when someone says, you know, someone

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Speaker 1: says to me chain, I said, no, we're not a chain.

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Speaker 1: Each restaurant is run by individuals who are restauranturs. You know,

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Speaker 1: I visit every one of the stores all the time,

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Speaker 1: so there's always you know, that touch that I think

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Speaker 1: is vital. But we also have wonderful people who have

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Speaker 1: worked with me for a long time, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: we everything is you know, everything's made from scratch. We're

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Speaker 1: roasting bones to make grabies. Chicken stocks made fresh every night.

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Speaker 1: Onion rings are made four times a day. Um on

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Speaker 1: your yeah they are you think gloss over some that

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Speaker 1: great food like you just throw out on your read

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Speaker 1: like those your wings are fat. Yeah, I just try

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Speaker 1: and bring out the stuff that's really identifiable with Junior.

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Speaker 1: So we have a sandwich sandwich and our men you

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Speaker 1: call it something different. What is it something different? It's

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Speaker 1: a brisket sandwich on potato pancakes. And you can either

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Speaker 1: get it with aju, which is a natural gravy, or

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Speaker 1: you can get it with mushroom gravy, which is what

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Speaker 1: I prefer. But have different strokes, are different folks, And um,

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Speaker 1: what else can you get? Southern fried chicken, broiled salmon,

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Speaker 1: barbecue ribs, corned beef, the strawmy roast turkey, fantastic burgers

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Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier? Um, you know, and breakfast matter

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Speaker 1: ball suits. For get the breakfast there, you know, but

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Speaker 1: it's a full line breakfast there. So because breakfast your pancakes,

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Speaker 1: you're offful of your bags, your armlets comes a little

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Speaker 1: minute trey miniature danishy you can snack on when you

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Speaker 1: sit down, you get a little seet to, you get

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Speaker 1: that take care before you get to get to the

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Speaker 1: savory stuff. So let me ask you this, um, it

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Speaker 1: is about your brain. Um when you start expanding. Were

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Speaker 1: you nervous when you thought about opening Brooklyn location? I

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Speaker 1: mean that mana, it had to okay, it had to

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Speaker 1: be authentic. It can't be contrived. People can smell out

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Speaker 1: a mile away. So I went there for the first

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Speaker 1: I don't know year, and I worked there every day.

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Speaker 1: My brother stayed in Brooklyn and watched that store, and

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Speaker 1: I stayed at that store. And every time we opened

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Speaker 1: a new restaurant, I lived there for a while. We

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Speaker 1: just told the one or Street was so busy. We

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Speaker 1: just opened another one on forty ninth and Broadway. I know,

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Speaker 1: I haven't been in that yet. That next time. That's like,

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Speaker 1: that's the one for two thousand twenty, if you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. It's it's built like the future. Absolutely. So.

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Speaker 1: Now when you went up to the casino and I

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Speaker 1: lived there, I lived there for six months because that's

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Speaker 1: a different that's a different atmosphere because you know it's

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Speaker 1: inside the casino and trappic comes in there. But did

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Speaker 1: you bringing people just from the neighborhood coming into We

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Speaker 1: get a little bit about but we all saw our captive.

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Speaker 1: But imagine you're staying at casino and you know, in Connecticut,

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Speaker 1: and you want everyone eats breakfast and everyone gets hungry

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Speaker 1: late at night. That's perfect for us. Plus they have

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Speaker 1: a pool outside and we do the food service to

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Speaker 1: the pool, so it's it's really just a fantastic location breakfast, lunch, dinner,

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Speaker 1: late night. Um, there was such great entertainment up there,

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Speaker 1: So we're happy to be a part of Foxwoods. Now, Litten,

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Speaker 1: let me ask you about their own line because you

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Speaker 1: also do catering as well. All right, and by the way,

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Speaker 1: I forgot about the South Today because besides it being

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Speaker 1: National Chiefs Kit that you know a lot of your

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Speaker 1: listeners may not be able to get to New York

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Speaker 1: Today or Foxwoods. So if you go online, we have

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Speaker 1: literally the best sales of the year, So even less

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Speaker 1: than when we try and promote for Thanksgiving or Christmas,

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Speaker 1: you can order now for Thanksgiving or Christmas and save

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Speaker 1: a bunch. Well, it means I gotta bring you back

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Speaker 1: on the show, because you are told we're going to

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Speaker 1: bring you back on the show because you you're the

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Speaker 1: spokesperson for juniors and you're making an a little more

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Speaker 1: than that. Okay, I love this guy. I love I

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Speaker 1: love the rich. You're not gonna short tell me. You're

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Speaker 1: not gonna say I inherited this place. You're not just

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Speaker 1: gonna call me spoke first. I'm in there, buzzet my behind,

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Speaker 1: doing my thing. I got to you know, I got

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Speaker 1: a T shirt on today, on any of my dress shirt.

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Speaker 1: You know why. Uh I'm sweating. Okay, could you work

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Speaker 1: it every day every day? Let me ask you this.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned your children, and uh, all are they are they? Are? They?

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Speaker 1: Are they like you? Or they engaged in seventh seventeen,

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Speaker 1: seventeen fifteen. So you have twins boy girl twins who

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Speaker 1: are seventeen and other boys who's fifteen. Um, I think

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Speaker 1: they're fond of the business. I don't think they're clear yet.

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Speaker 1: Don't what they're gonna do with their lives. I want

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Speaker 1: to give them plenty of opportunity to make their own

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Speaker 1: minds up. You know it always always you always amazed

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Speaker 1: me people. This is a positive statement, Alan, because you

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Speaker 1: got it. You know, you understood that this is what

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Speaker 1: I wanted to do. Whether you know and and and

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Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to be in the restaurant business.

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Speaker 1: What passion drove you in that direction? I think when

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Speaker 1: you're a young boy. I was the youngest of three boys.

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Speaker 1: I saw my dad working tirelessly, and I used to

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Speaker 1: go to work with him, and I you know, when

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Speaker 1: you're a kid and you're five years old and you're

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Speaker 1: not as tall as the counter that you're working behind,

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Speaker 1: and you look up, everything is so grand. And I

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Speaker 1: just took this great view of it. Some people might

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Speaker 1: look at it, Oh, my dad worked too harder, was

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Speaker 1: too tough for too many hours, and I, for some

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Speaker 1: reason just loved it. And you know, there's an expression,

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Speaker 1: and it's true for me. You never work in Daniel

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Speaker 1: life if you love what you do. And I'm so

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Speaker 1: fortunate because I'm fifty years old now and I love

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Speaker 1: what I do, and so it's great. I'm going I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna go. You know, I'm sitting here in New York

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Speaker 1: right now. I'm going to Brooklyn and I'm gonna go

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Speaker 1: work in the kitchen for a few minutes. Okay, it's

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Speaker 1: not because I have to, but because I want to.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna put on my chef Scot and I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: go make some sandwiches with you guys. That's awesome. Never

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Speaker 1: to answer you, you do a number nine hundred employees now, yep,

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Speaker 1: four restaurants, that's what you say it, right, and plus

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Speaker 1: a plus a hundred thousand square foot bakery in South

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Speaker 1: Jersey to make all of the wholesale cakes that are

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Speaker 1: going across the country. Now, you know, you're busy, my friend,

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Speaker 1: and that's a positive busy. So what's the what's the

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Speaker 1: what's the what's the goal? What's the what what's the

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Speaker 1: brand reach? I don't, I don't. I think the goal

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Speaker 1: is to be good, but the goal is also I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna lie and say we don't want to grow.

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Speaker 1: We're growing. Um. You know every time we digest the location.

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Speaker 1: We just had a location in Florida, to be honest,

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Speaker 1: we didn't make it, much to my chagrin. Um, So

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Speaker 1: now we've got to go back to the drawing board

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Speaker 1: and find the next location. Um. We've got to keep

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Speaker 1: growing our wholesale business. You know, we gotta get into

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Speaker 1: into supermarkets that are in your neck of the woods

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Speaker 1: down in Atlanta, because right now in the northeast were

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Speaker 1: very popular, but we gotta spread out and keep working it. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're still on QVC selling hundreds of thousands

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Speaker 1: of cheesecakes are here and we sell you know, over

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Speaker 1: a hundreds of thousands something cheesecakes a here direct to consumer.

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Speaker 1: We're selling probably you know, a couple of million more

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Speaker 1: in the wholesale channels. Um, you know, we're we're we're

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Speaker 1: fairly like you know, you got their own live business

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Speaker 1: on fire, you know, because that's like, that's that's you know,

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Speaker 1: that's what you call no brick and mortar. You know,

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Speaker 1: you just there and you and you know what's what's

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Speaker 1: great is it is a store. And and don't think,

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Speaker 1: you know, everyone thinks once you build your website it's

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Speaker 1: sort of just done. You are constantly reinvesting in that.

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Speaker 1: It is a store. It needs new it needs new paint,

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Speaker 1: and needs new walls, it needs new plumbings. It constantly

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Speaker 1: has to be worked done, and we are working on

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Speaker 1: it every month to make the experience better for people.

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Speaker 1: On the phone is my man, Alan Rosen. He oversees

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Speaker 1: the restaurants. Junior's restaurant, retail, bakery, wholesale and mail are

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Speaker 1: the operations which generates it. You can correct me. It

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Speaker 1: say's over sixty five million dollars in annual sales. Closer

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Speaker 1: closer to a hundred. Okay, we've had a good couple

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Speaker 1: of years. Okay, you know something, man, whoever said to

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Speaker 1: me this information usually listen to only because I like you,

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Speaker 1: and by letting that out there, usually I don't say

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Speaker 1: those kind of numbers. I find it almost embarrassing because

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Speaker 1: that's not the goal. I'm being totally honest with you.

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Speaker 1: Our goal is to be good at serving food to

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Speaker 1: people in a great environment, having a great time every day,

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Speaker 1: serving great cheesecake. How many it says, five thousand customers

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Speaker 1: daily and approximately twenty thousand cheesecakes every week. It's probably

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Speaker 1: up to sixties seventies thousand cakes a week. Now, I

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Speaker 1: love it. I love this guy. I love this guy's

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Speaker 1: National Cheesecake Day. I'm on the phone with Alan Allen.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on my show. I'm gonna tell

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Speaker 1: you some man, I I patronize your business before I

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