Welcome to restaurant influencers presented by entrepreneur. My name is Sean Walsh, founder of
Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ media in life in the restaurant business and in the new creator,
economy, we learned through lessons and stories. I wanna get a special shout out to
toast our primary technology partner at our barbecue restaurants. They power so many of the
restaurants that we have on this show. Thank you for believing in hospitality and thank you
for giving us the opportunity to have bad ass guests like we have today. Today's guest is
Jason Udre. You can find him at J Ere underscore you can find his
world's sickest pizza joint, pizza HQ underscore on Instagram as well. Jason,
what's up, man? Welcome to the show, but I'm Sean. Awesome to be here, man. Appreciate it.
So, favorite random question. Where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage or venue?
So I'm an east coast guy. Uh K le, I'm not a huge sports fan. Uh So I'm gonna go with MS G
here. Uh You know, I MS G is MS G, right? It's uh you know, Ive been to a few concerts there
growing up and whatnot. And then, I mean, you can't go wrong. Uh With that answer, we're
going, uh we're going to MS G. We're gonna pack it. I'm gonna talk to entrepreneur, talk
to toast. We're gonna fill it with people that listen to this show, people from all over the
earth that care about hospitality, care about hospitality storytelling. Uh people that are
creators, not just entrepreneurs but online storytellers. And uh I'm gonna give you the mic
on center court and I'm gonna say, pitch us, pitch us your crazy idea of building the
world's sickest pizza joint. What is it? Yeah, absolutely. So, uh pizza HQ the,
the idea it came from, you know, uh my partner and I were in the traditional pizza business.
Um, my background is food manufacturing, uh you know, and then joined the, the restaurant
industry and, uh you know, we had a traditional pizzeria, uh we built it up, uh you
know, high volume establishment. We're looking at scaling it to location two, location three,
so forth and so on. And, you know, with that was, uh you know, eliminating the bottlenecks,
um, you know, putting systems behind it, uh you know, really, uh you know, creating uh uh a
very lean process and, you know, something that, that uh has scalability behind it. Um,
you know, some of the, the, the pain points that we had was uh you know, very skilled labor,
uh especially with the pizza makers. Um, you know, uh, it comes at a high price point with
that labor, but also more so it's just very hard to find, um, a huge menu we had, uh, at,
at the time. Um, and, uh, you know, we're looking, ok, how do we eliminate some of these
things we brought, uh, you know, we, we tested a bunch of different equipment for automation,
um, bring it into the back of house. Uh, we slim down the menu to just pizza. Uh That's
what we do here. Uh We're all about perfecting pizza. And uh what we did is, you know, we, we
brought the same product that, uh you know, was loved by the neighborhood. Uh Again, a very
high volume establishment, we brought it at uh almost half the price point, um much quicker
speed. Um And uh you know, it would with a much easier back of house uh infrastructure uh
and, and a lot of scalability behind it. So, uh you know, PC H can we rely heavily on
technology uh heavily on the back of house, um , you know, automation and, and uh you know, the
newest trends in tech, um to, uh bring, you know, the most efficient, quickest, low cost uh
pizza product that's, uh you know, still not compromising the quality where you're not pizza
robots. It's a robots baby. Yeah, we uh II I wanna say, you know,
we're probably, you know, you see it popping up a little bit now. Uh, in, in the restaurant
industry, I mean, you know, a lot of this stuff on the food manufacturing side has been
around in terms of the automation, right? But the restaurant industry, I think it just hit so
recently. And, um, I mean, you know, we, we started here, uh, last May. Um, so that's May
2022. And, uh, yeah, at the time I think we were the only, or it's not like one of the very
first, uh, people bringing, uh, this side of technology to, on the restaurant side to, uh,
to pizza. Um, so, you know, it started with, uh, again the, the skill side of, of pizza, uh,
is, is stretching a dough, right? That, that's the hardest part. Um, yeah, there's, you know,
guys that work for us that, uh, um, you know, I couldn't sit there and fill their spot on a
Friday night. It just is what it is, right? It's a very, it's acquired scale. It takes
years of, uh, you know, experience, uh, and it's not something we could train very easily.
Um, and, you know, it's been a problem for us, right? Uh, it's very hard to find those guys.
Um, and, uh, you know, if you lose them, you, you get in a bad spot. So, uh, you know, that's,
that's the one thing we want to eliminate and, you know, not to eliminate the job behind that,
but to be able to bring anyone into that role and train them on it. Right. And be able to do
that successfully. So, uh, we tried a lot of different, uh, dope presses, right. Uh, you
know what we didn't wanna do, uh, it was sacrifice quality, as I mentioned before. Um,
you know, there's a lot of presses that you press it down and, you know, it comes as like a
frozen pizza or, you know, that type of setting. We really wanted to keep the
authenticity of New York style pizza. Um, and really mimic the same product that we had at
the time. Um We were very successful with it. You know, we wanted to keep that going. We
didn't want to um streamline this into, you know, more of a commodity type product. Um So,
uh we tried many different dough presses. Um We, we went with uh Capone, uh pizza press has
a beveled edge, you know, you have the crust uh that, you know, the plates are heated and,
uh, you know, we were able to bring down to the process and I mean, it, uh again, it, it
fills in one of the hardest uh roles to secure . Um And then, you know, followed by that the
pizza, you know, you could see on our, our website or Instagram some of the rendering we
had. But the pizza, you know, goes on a conveyor, um, you know, sauce, cheese is
applied, toppings, pepperoni, slice, fresh, um goes on a pie, the users inputting what uh what
type of pizza it is. And then from there it goes into the conveyor oven. Um You know, on
the conveyor oven, like uh you know, traditional pizza, you have deck ovens, there's
hot spots uh on a Friday night when a door keeps open, the the temperatures fluctuate
takes longer to cook. Um And uh you know, we partner with Hot Rocks, we actually just
installed our sixth oven here uh at our uh Woodland Park facility and we have another two
on order at, at uh a new facility that uh we're opening up shortly. And, um, you know,
it's what do you think of conveyor ovens? Right? You think of, uh you know, some of the
chains that use it where, where, uh you know, inside it's like a mesh. Uh and it's like kind
of like a convection cooked pizza. Um, but Hot Rocks uh has a pretty unique product in the
marketplace where, um, once it gets onto the stone, it's actually cooking on a black granite.
Um, and that, you know, that stone follows it through it. And uh it, it creates uh like a New
York style crust, right? A crust that's authentic to our market here, um which
consumers expect. Um, you know, one thing that , you know, we said from the beginning, right?
We're not gonna be in business that the pizza is not good. Yeah, that just is what it is,
right? Um there's a very, uh, um, you know, high expectation of, of quality and
authenticity here. Um, there's many different options. Right. It's not like, you know, pizza
is hard to come by. There's, there's a, you know, peach on every corner. Um, so, uh, you
know, we, we knew we had to put out a good quality product. Um, it took a good amount of
time and a lot of playing around with, you know, different equipment vendors to build that
back of house infrastructure. But yeah, I mean , you know, jumping back to the original uh
point piece of robots, I mean, you know, that's the idea behind it. Uh we really wanted,
uh you know, tech driven but very efficient uh back of house. Um, you know, and, and the idea
that, like I said, one of our uh one of our pillars is price, um you know, we're able to
achieve a very low price when our cheese pizza is 1099 for a large buy uh in the market here.
Uh you know, on a low end maybe starts at 15, goes up to 19. Um So it's, you know, it's price
very uh aggressively and uh you know, we're able to achieve that with, you know, really
just again creating very efficient product and just focusing selling on pizza. So currently
you have one shop up and operating and another shop that is soon to be open. Yeah, we
have uh this facility here. Uh, in Woodland Park. This is our first facility. Um, again, we
started, uh, I guess a little over a year ago, almost a year and a half. Uh, we have a second
facility down in Roselle, New Jersey, um, which is, you know, hopefully, yeah, deadlines
are always, uh, pushed back. But, you know, we're, we're hoping like middle of October to,
to really be up running there, um, starting with, uh, you know, two ovens and then we'll,
we'll ramp up. So, um, that, that facility is a little larger. It's about five or 6000 square
feet. Um, uh, you know, it was a old Dunkin Donuts commissary. So it's like, it's pretty
interesting, you know, it's like a kind of production facility feel, uh, built out food.
Great. So, you know, it worked for us and, uh, you know, again, the idea is to shift some of
the volume down there and, uh, you know, just keep doing what we do. Well, I think, you know,
when you and I first connected, we jumped on a call. I don't remember how we found each other.
Some, a mutual friend, some, some connection, but I remember talking to you and knowing that
you were thinking about things differently, I mean, you're not even calling them restaurants,
their facilities. And, you know, I was telling you about the barbecue business that we were
building and we were removing seats in our restaurant and adding more smokers and you were
telling me about the automation and trying to, you know, really get more quality pizza at a
better price to more people in the local area. And we both connected on that. I'd love for you
to talk a little bit about the economics behind why you're building this way and how
someone that's listening to the show can possibly start to think a little bit
differently about their business. Yeah. Um, the original spot that I was mentioning that uh
you know, where the idea here started? Um has a dining room, uh you know, and majority of the
business is delivery. Um pick up and delivery. What's the percentage? 80%? 90%? Yeah, probably
about uh great over a little over 80% is uh pick up and delivery. Um Honestly might even be
a little higher than that. Uh Once COVID hit, we installed new pizza ovens there and uh you
know, kind of took a little bit away from the dining room so that, that, that number might
have dropped a little on the dining side. But, um you know, with, with dine in 11 of the, like
I said, my background is food manufacturing. One of the things I really liked about coming
to the restaurant business was being able to interact with the guests, you know. So I, I, I
do enjoy it. I enjoy the dining aspect of it and, you know, being able to talk to people and
sit down at their table and, you know, um, really having that one on one interaction. But,
um, just, you know, going back to the economic side of it, right, you can only turn over a
table within, you know, so much time. Right. And, uh, you know, each ticket your, your
ticket price, um, whereas delivery and pick up , I mean, you know, it's as much as your kitchen
can handle, you can push out there and, you know, what we saw is like I said, we had more
pizza ovens there. Um, you know, we enhance the, you know, back house infrastructure as
much as we can to, uh, accommodate more volume . Um, you know, and, and there became a point
where we got tapped out, uh, uh, on, on a Friday night, we have four pizza guys and I
mean, cranking, you know, it's, it's very hard , you know, to keep, to keep adding to it. Uh,
you know, you start to run some mistakes and, and bottlenecks. But, um, you know, we built
this over here. We, we don't offer any dining, it's just pick up and delivery. Um, you know,
and, and it's a little bit of a different model and a little different like, you know,
avatar for a customer. But, uh, you know, what we want is a portable pizza, right? We, we
bring pizza down to the price. Uh, you know, we feel it should be, um, you know, pizza is
probably, I say one of the highest margin items on like, uh, you know, traditional pizza
ria menu. Um, but, uh, yeah, we, we, uh, um, you know, built this, uh, our back of
house here to like, really not have those peak , uh, paint the, the pain points on those peak
hours. Um, our back of house here, uh, with, with the six ovens, I mean, we could run close
to 660. I miss our forecast. Right. We, we, uh , we'll see next week when we really start
pushing it out, we could run about 660 pies an hour. Um, we do, uh, you know, we, we do have
business also with like, uh, you know, some, uh, we have corporate accounts and, you know,
some other customers that, uh, you know, really enable us to push that kind of
throughput out. Um, but on a Friday night, you know, uh, there's never a two hour wait or an
hour and a half wait for delivery. Um, you know, it's half an hour. We're out at your door.
Um, pick up is always 15 minutes and it doesn't matter. Right. Ticket comes in, bill
gets pressed, goes through and we, you know, within that, that amount of time it's at the
end of the oven and our customers ready to pick it up. So, um, you know, that was
something that was very, uh, you know, we, we, we relied on heavily when, when building this
models you know, being able to, again on a Friday night, have a pizza in half an hour over
here. Uh, it, it's, it's, it's hard to get, um , let alone being able to have five pizzas or
eight pizzas, uh, you know, within that time and, and, uh, uh, you know, being able to, uh,
accommodate the customer like that. Um, but yeah, uh, you know, back to the economics. Um,
you know, we still, like I said, we took dining out of the equation. Um we just offer
pick up and delivery and, you know, with being able to have this kind of back of house
infrastructure, um it uh you know, it enables better economics, right? We, you know, labor is
reduced. Um There's less uh you know, less bottlenecks in the process. Um You know, and
we're able to, again just do what we do best to just make pizza and make it as efficient and
cost effective as possible. How do you get corporate accounts? Um So
my partner handles that side of the business, uh sales. He's a beast. But uh yeah, u up until
now, it's been a lot of just uh cold calling and, you know, being able to fulfill a need
that seem to uh be there in a marketplace. Um We have a few different types of corporate
accounts. Um One of them is uh which is probably the most dominant one is schools. Um
We're able to accommodate like I said just from our throughput standpoint, uh, you know,
schools during lunch here in New Jersey schools do pizza once a week. Uh, it's, you
know, it's pretty standard. Uh, some schools do offer it every day. Um, and, you know, all
those, all those, uh, pies are going in within a period of, uh, you know, two hours or
whatever it may be like, uh, between the different lunch times. Um, so the market was
very segmented when we came in, we saw, uh, we saw a big opportunity there. Um, that's
actually one of the, the points that, like segued us into like all, how do we, like,
really produce a lot of volume, like within a certain amount of time, right? And really build
out these ovens and, and, uh, whatnot. Um, but , uh, you know, right now, you know, they'll go
to different pizzerias. There's towns that we, uh, there's this one town we just picked up, uh,
a contract with, but they ordered from Domino's because Domino's is the only one that
could fulfill that many pizzas. And the Domino's that could do, it was a few towns over
like a different territories and they couldn't deliver because the franchise, uh, you know, uh,
borders and whatnot and, uh, you know, the school would actually go and pick up the pizza.
So, um, you know, what we saw at the market is very segmented schools are really struggling
with pizzeria is being able to do it on time. Right. That's, that's a critical component to
pizza. Lunch has to be there on time. Um, slices cut evenly. Um, uh, you know, so we, we
started seeing some of these, uh, opportunities, um, and tackling that market and,
uh, between word of mouth, you know, we, that, that part of the business has really grown, uh,
very quickly. Um, and then, uh, corporate accounts, right? Like, uh, trampoline parks,
birthday party venues, car dealerships. I don't, you know, order regularly. Um, you know,
these are our target customers the whole weekend long. We're going, uh, you know, going
to these places and, and bringing pizza. Um, so, yeah, that, that part of the business is,
like I said, growing, growing, uh it's been very nice for us. Um, you know, and then the
other side is, is the retail customer, right? I know that comes from marketing and, you know,
social media and I mean, you know, you, you know, well, yourself, uh you know, the
different uh channels to, to bring that kind of type of guest in. Tell me about social media,
social media. Uh So when we first started this , uh and I'm gonna say starting a business when
we, when we were putting it together the business plan, right? Like we had, uh, you know,
these three revenue streams, we had the schools, we had the B to B uh, you know, we
sold the wholesale accounts and then, uh, you know, we had the, the direct to consumer, right?
And we, you know, had this picture of like, OK , they're all gonna grow in unison equally and,
and whatnot. Um When we started, we really saw like, just again, the opportunity I said with
the schools like that, that market has grown so quick. And uh we kind of really had to put
our attention there and like, uh you know, we started last May with uh 200 pies. Um you know,
week, over week on, on uh on uh all our business and uh you know, we're projecting I
like next week it should be somewhere around 7000. Um So like the business has grown
dramatically. Um Yeah, 200 pies to 7000, 7000,
7000 pies a week. 7000 pies a week. Yeah. Come on. Do you have enough
robots for that? No wonder you're opening up more facilities. Yeah, we uh yeah, we, we, we
just uh purchase a lot more equipment. Um you know, within the past few months um stacking
different machines together for, you know, we have some stuff for like higher throughput, uh
sauce. Cheers and, and all that. But um yeah, it's a pretty cool operation. Um We'll see if
we have enough, you know, we're uh we just keep adding on to it. Um But uh but yeah, so
we'll be, we'll be doing 7000. Um And uh I forgot actually the original uh tell me about
the 7000. These are all hot rocks pizza ovens or is it a combination of other pieces of
equipment? Because, like, that's a huge contract with an, with a, with a brand. I mean,
that's a lot of trust. We have, we use all hickory pits for our barbecue and we went from
one pit to two pits and now we have four pits. Um, I wish we were doing 7000 racks of ribs a
week. Yeah. Yeah, we're, we're pretty close closer to the Hot Rocks team. I mean, they've
been good to us. Um We've started with our first oven in May and like I said, we just got
a 45 and six installed. Uh It was just last week. So, um so far so good, you know, uh we,
we like them, we plan on growing with them. Um But yeah, and, and, you know, to jump back to
your original question I remember was social media. So the, the wholesale side of the
business grew very fast and we didn't get a lot of time to um you know, really spend on, on
the retail consumer. Um So just, just uh now with summer slowing doubts on the school
business and you'll have a little more time on our hands. We have uh we've partnered with uh
target. Uh We use them for, you know, our, our social, organic, social as well as uh paid ads.
And uh um you know, we've just been starting to ramp up that past few months. So, uh, yeah,
it's going to do, do they do creative for? Yeah, they, we, they do creative. Um, it's
funny all, all these things, I, I'm a very hands on person. Right. I, I like doing, you
know, stuff myself. I have Photoshop, I've all these apps. I'm not like an expert in any of
them, but I enjoy it and, uh, you know, I always just get uh caught up and then I'm like,
all right, you know, what, what I'm taking two hours for these guys can do in 10 minutes. So,
uh we, we all forward it. Yeah, they, they do all our creative um or most of it, you know, we,
we have photographers coming in, you know, at least just give them some of the content to, to
work with. But uh they do our creative, they do our posting. Um It's been going well, you
know, it's, it's, that's a part of the business. You know, we've uh started like a few
times where we'll go hard with like, uh you know, it's good on Instagram, Dores once a week,
right? It's cool. Like, you know, they start trending, you watch how many viewers you have.
Um But it's something you really just have to stay consistent with and, you know, there's so
many moving parts. Uh So it, it's tough. So, um it, it, it's working well, you know, we, I I
like just having them, uh, you know, consistent three times a week. They're, they're
posting, you know, we don't have to worry about it. And then, you know, if, uh, there's
something cool in the middle of it, you know, we'll, we'll post ourselves. Um, but, you know,
at least we have a consistent, uh, um, you know, voice on, on organic channels, huge news,
toast. Our primary technology partner at our barbecue restaurants in San Diego and the
primary technology partner of so many of the guests that we have on this show have announced,
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we've wanted for a long time. How do you integrate reservations? Wait lists into your
point of sale. Toast has done it. Check it out . Have you gotten any push back from
the other people? Yeah. So, pizza shop owners. Not too much.
Not, I, you know, I could think of maybe one or two very small examples but, uh, push back.
We've got a lot from the consumers. Um, so when we first opened up, uh, our, our thing was,
you know, automation. Right? I mean, I think it's like the coolest thing in the world and
the partners, you know, uh think so as well. Uh And, you know, when we first opened up, we
put on our windows, big vinyl rendering of like, you know, what we're gonna have and they
always bring robots and everything. Um We've got a lot of interest from press. Um you know,
we're on, you know, all like the mainstream media channels, uh you know, north jersey dot
com, a bunch of uh newspapers and an online presence. Um And like, initially there was a
huge push back, like we were like taken back, like people just hated it, you know, um they
wanted to, it, they, what I think we failed to do a little bit in the beginning. Um You know,
a little bit of a learning lesson is I, I don't think we pushed out really the
authenticity and they like the quality, right? We just went out on this like automation. Like,
I mean, you remember when easy pass first came out, like nobody went in those pollings, right?
Everyone boycotted it. They didn't want it and , you know, now you can't live without it. Um,
you're talking about the toll booth operator, the toll booth. Yeah. Yeah. People, I don't
know, they're called the Easy Path nationally. But, yeah, um, you know, nobody wanted to go
through those, uh, the, the lanes with the tag . Right. Everyone wanted, uh, you know,
boycotted it. So, uh, and, you know, same thing like Amazon. Right. There's a lot of
pushback on Amazon. There still is, um, you know, came about, um, people will adopt it,
it'll take time. But, you know, we, we want this like very strong, uh, foot forward on
automation and what we saw, you know, especially just being in the New Jersey, New
York market. Um, people didn't, didn't uh see like the, the authenticity behind it, right?
They, they didn't, they didn't, uh, you know, they, they, they, they weren't aligned with it.
Um So we, you know, a lot of like comments like, no, thank you. Get this out of here.
They're gonna fail. Um I have so many of them saved. I just print that. I just can't wait one
day to like, you know, make a cool post about it in like five years. Like, you know, like
those, uh those stories when you first start up and, you know, that's why we document,
that's why we document everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's cool. It's, uh it's
motivation for sure. But um you know what, what we fail to do obviously as a brand was
really push out there like, hey, this is a quality product at a lower price point. Um And
it's, you know, it's made differently but it's made with the consumer in mind, right? Like,
you know, uh the automation that we have is um of course, listen, there there's business
advantages to it, right? You know, we, we bring it out for that, but there's also
consumer advantage, right? You get a consistent product every time, right? It's not
gonna be extra cheese one time and light cheese, one another time, it's gonna be the
same amount of cheese, right? Because it, you know, the machines are, are much more
consistent and uh than, than a hand person uh sorry, a hand operator. Um and uh you know,
we're able to deliver a better product, we're able to deliver way faster, we're able to
deliver at a lower price point. And it's still that that quality product. Um I, I always give
this example. I have a cousin in, in uh Canada . And uh you know, the first time he came down,
I I talked to him all the time and he knows, uh we talked about the business and what not.
But the first time he came down, he tried like , wow, this is actually really good which like
it just shows like the the initial perception is it may not be here you know, it's just gonna
be like a manufactured product. So that was like an obstacle that we had to overcome. And
like when I tell you, like, push back, like, man, you on some of these, you could still look
at it some of the initial press releases. Um you know, the comments are like terrible. Um
but uh you know, we've really changed the brand voice a little bit. Um You know, we
worked with Target on that. Like, let's, let's hold back. I'm not saying to hide behind the
automation. You know, that's what we do, right ? That's our model. Yeah, but let, let's really
push qua quality, right? Let's really push some of the other pillars of our brand that are
important that we want the consumers to see. And uh you know, the automation is just how we
do it, right? That's not who we are. We aren't , you know, just this automated brand and, you
know, at the end of the day, like the consumers don't care as much about that as they
care about getting delicious pizza. Um But yeah, you know, fast forward like a year and a
half, you know, word of mouth spreads like people come here, they love it. They, you know,
we get, you know, good reviews online and, you know, people in, in like the Facebook group and,
and uh you know, we do tons of events with the community, you know, I I'm sure, you know, too,
like how important that is and you know, where abouts get at and, uh, you know, they see we're
not just these like robots that are like running this company, right? We're like, very
involved with the community. We got families, we got kids, like, you know, we love our
customers and, you know, we just took a different approach to doing things. Um, so,
yeah, a lot of pushback. It was, uh, it was interesting, you know, there's definitely the
first few times we're like, oh, you know, uh OK. Are you sure you wanna do this? You know,
this is like a little crazy, like, you know, I feel like everyone's opposing you, but um it's
cool to have like, you know, gotten through that and, or at least like getting through that,
you know, and, and being able to uh you know, a lot of people now like stick up for us like,
no, you guys gotta try though. It's really good. Like they, the owners are super friendly.
Um You know, and, and we, we got that uh that image out there. So, one of the coolest things
about for me for doing this show is that it allows me to connect with people like you uh
people all over the globe that are running these incredible hospitality businesses. Um It
also allows us to connect with uh hospitality technology companies that help uh restaurant
operators like yourself and myself. You shared a story with me that I was hoping you could uh
share with the audience. But, um, anything that you've implemented recently that's been
game changing, that uh it doesn't have to do with pizza, but it has to do with uh the
business of pizza. Yeah, so, you know, we talked about the back of house tech uh and
automation. Um, but you know, there's above store, there's the, you know, the front of
house technology. Um, and, you know, we, we are committed to being like a tech forward
brand, right? We believe that helps us and enables us to uh you know, do, do what we're
doing. And you know, our, our slogan is like the future of pizza, right? And, and uh you
know, I think that fits appropriately. Um Yeah , you know that the story you're mentioning,
I've seen uh you know, you post a few times about Dav Davo. Am I pronouncing that right?
Davo? Um Oh Davo, I remember the first time you posted it, you know, I was like, uh it's
interesting like, you know, what, what's the point, right? Background? Just to give a
background for the, for the listeners that haven't heard of it, you know, Davo is exactly
you said sales tax automation, right? Files it for you. And uh yeah, whatever. I didn't think
much of it. But um yeah, I have a funny story. We, uh you know, I, I mentioned we're started
last May. Um we actually just got some financing from like a New Jersey, uh, nonprofit
organization. You know, we need a sales tax clearance so I'm going through it. I'm like, oh,
shoot, like, you know, we haven't filed for like, last three quarters or sales tax. And,
like, like I said, you know, a lot of our business is, uh, tax exempt and stuff like that.
So, you know, whatever I figured, you know, you file it for, you know, the tax season and,
and it's fine. Um, but I realized there's some fees and interest that come along with that.
And I mean, I was like, wow, this is terrible, you know, just going through the numbers and
trying to figure out where everything is. So I , uh, I remember, you know, you, you mentioned,
I looked into it and I was like, I couldn't really figure out how it would work because
like, yeah, how are they gonna file it for me? And uh, you know, no, like because you have to
put in your tax link of non taxable income. But, um, I mean, lo and behold, we signed up is
super, super simple process, took like five minutes and uh, like so quick I was a little
skeptical, like, am I on board already or is there, you know, is there more to this man
every day? They take out a little bit of money out of our bank for sales tax? Like that's the
one thing I look at the bank every morning and I smile, that's the only, the only debit that
comes out of there. I'm like, this is great. That's one less thing to worry about. I mean,
so they doing their job? Yeah, it's so cool. Yeah. No, they're, they're, uh, kudos to that,
man. Such a great idea. I mean, for, I, I think it's like 50 bucks a month. Uh, I mean,
it's, it's, uh, you, you can't go wrong there. Um, but yeah, you know, I, I mean, just on the
other side, right? I, I know we're both mutual users of ovation, uh, you know, Zach and a team
there. They're, they're awesome. Like, you know, love Ovation. Um, you know, while we're
on the subject of tech, right? You know, you know, they released their call to, uh, text, I
believe that's, that's the term for it. But, uh, um, you know, for those listening, like
someone calls in right at the store right now, you know, thank you for calling PC Two. This is
Jay. How may I help you? Um, you know, where Ovation has this feature now where you call in,
like place an order one, you press one and you get a text message with the online ordering
link. I've, uh, probably for like the past four weeks I talked to Derek like a month ago
and I've just been back and forth and I, you know, rev I, I talked to him about it. I've
been picking everyone's brain. I'm like, is this, do we do this? Like, I, I don't want to
disappoint the consumer. I feel like pizza is a little bit of a different industry than, you
know, like a Chipotle. Right. Everyone knows you have to order online Chipotle or you go
there and try in like five minutes. We're a little bit longer of a ticket time, you know,
we're about 10 to 12 minutes. So I, and, and people are accustomed to calling in there, you
know, Friday night dinner at the pizzeria. Um, finally, I just, you know, I pushed over the
edge like the last few days is talking to people and not. So we're, we're on boarding
that like, you know, things like that, right. It's, it's, it's, uh, it's important to, you
know, at the end of the day, look, we're in the hospitality industry and it's important to
make sure that, you know, while all this new tech is coming out and evolving that, you know,
we do think of the consumers first, right? And how they, you know, the consumer experience,
right. That is the most important part, you know, before like the efficiency and, and, uh,
you know how it helps the operation. But, um, you know, there's, there's a lot of, a lot of
cool new Softwares, a lot of cool new platforms coming along. I mean, ovations, an
awesome one just with guest, uh, you know, guest, uh, reviews and you know, being able to
hear the voice of the customer, right? I mean, there's, there's customers that leave a four
star that, uh, you know, just say, hey, maybe something was wrong and maybe it happened like
three or four times. Uh, you know, they give us like a four star but, you know, they, they,
they would never go and review it online. It's just not important enough, but that helps us
know, hey, there's, there's a kink in our process. We've been forgetting something. You
know, we're able to, to hear that, that voice of uh of the customer and you know, it's more
and more important, especially as you go, more digital and, you know, have online ordering and,
you know, there's less interaction with the guest to be able to, you know, really get a
feel for their pulse and you know, their level of satisfaction with you, your brand. Um and
what not? Can you share some advice with any new dads or new moms that are in the
hospitality business and how to, how to balance our, our crazy lives with uh with our
family life. Uh Let's put it this way if your spouse isn't supportive, just don't do it,
you know. Um I, you know, I'm super, super fortunate. My wife is awesome. She's uh she
gets it. Uh you know, she's a hustler herself. She's in sales. But um look, there's a lot of
hours, there's a lot of demand, right. Uh you know, the thing about the hospitality business
is, you know, your peak points are Friday nights and weekends and, you know, times where
everyone else is off and spend time with families, um advice I can give. And, you know,
I, I've played both sides of the spectrum here and realize that one's way better than the
others. You know, you just have to create that balance, right? You have to time block, you
have to create that balance. It is so easy and uh inevitable if you don't control it for your
whole day to get taken and just, you know, I can sit here and spend 15 hours for the next 20
days. I just won't catch up on everything, right? Uh You know, it's about prioritizing, um,
you know, just keeping a calendar and, and just blocking that time out for family,
blocking the personal time out. Um, you know, uh hiring help as needed, right? You know, it's,
you know, you fill in the positions, right? You save on your margin obviously. But, uh you
know, it's just not worth it. You know, if you know that work life balance, it's, uh you know,
what, what are you doing for it? Right? What are the, what's the big goal for pizza? Pizza
is CHQ if we look back on this interview, five years from now, what will you guys have built,
take over the world, baby? No. Uh we, we plan to keep growing we're, uh, you know, at a rapid
rate right now, tons of pivots, you know, even just looking over the last year of, uh, of the
direction. Um, but we are, you know, really just trying to be the pioneers in, in the
future of pizza. Um, we're constantly testing out new equipment vendors, new, you know, back
of house technology, new front of house technologies. Um, you know, one thing that's
like unison with, with uh my partner's eyes, like we're down to try anything, right? Um You
know, when, when you're a pioneer in the industry, there's gonna be like a lot of uh
trouble with it right there. There's, you know , things break, right? When you're first to use
it, you gotta deal with those kind of things. But um if you're, if you're down with that and,
you know, you have that, that tolerance level and, you know, there's, there's a great upside,
right? Being like the first to, to market with a lot of these cool new technologies. So, yeah,
five year plan, you know, we're continuing our growth trajectory. Um We really wanna take over
on uh you know, the, the, the local market with, you know, uh uh a cost effective
authentic New York style pizza. Um You know, we're not, we're not trying to be the next
Domino's. Uh you know, we're, we're not like a local mom and pop pizzeria, right? We're right
in the middle of the road. We want the authentic product that the customers want um
and create it with like all the corporate appeals of speed efficiency and uh and low cost.
Um But yeah, over the next five years, man, we also just take over like the market in northern
uh northern half of New Jersey, at least. So I have a challenge for you. Is there, is it
possible for you and your partners to start documenting this, this testing that you're
doing with these vendor partnerships? I know it's not B to C content, but the B to B content
is a huge opportunity, especially when you're a disruptor in the space. Yeah, definitely.
Um Yeah, we had a consultant early on Ryan Grain. Uh great guy. He uh he told us like, you
know, before we even started it, document everything, take pictures like, you know,
you're gonna look back like it's, it's uh yeah , it's cool to have that journey. And um yeah,
we did a few times that we, we lose track of it but no, II, I do think it's super important.
I uh I accept the challenge, accept the challenge. Well, uh anybody listen to the show,
the reason we put on this show is to meet with people like you that are playing the game
within the game. Um You're disrupting the pizza space. You're teaching restaurant owners,
um food manufacturers that we're all playing the same game. You know, we're all trying to
build sustainable, profitable businesses that allow us to spend time. I know you have girls.
Uh, I wanna spend time with my kids. I want do things like this. It's, it's Labor Day for me,
but there's nothing I'd rather do than sit here and have a conversation like you like this
where you and I, we get to, you know, hopefully help one restaurant tour out there
that, you know, starts to look at their business a little bit differently. Can you tell
me a little bit about the, the delivery side of the business? You have your own pizza
drivers or are you using third party deliveries? How, how do you guys manage that?
Um, a little bit of both. Uh, we do have our own delivery drivers. Um, you know, we flirted
with the idea of, of really outsourcing everything, uh, to third party deliveries. But
the thing is we do utilize that labor also while they're inside to make boxes and, you
know, help with other stuff. So, um, we, we have a pretty lean team on the delivery side.
Uh, we do use some contract drivers or a lot of contract drivers, I guess if you feel like,
you know, some of the school order are, are just like single runs. Um, but, you know, I, I,
I've been, uh, the past month or two, been seeking out and, you know, talking to some
other players that are, uh, you know, a third party delivery spaces, you know, develop a
partnership. Um I, I think as we grow, uh that becomes a bigger and bigger challenges, you
know, being able to source delivery drivers, especially within like a small, you know, you
only need them for a few hours a day and, you know, you're not offering like a full time
position. Um So it'd be nice to, you know, be able to leverage someone else's platform that,
you know, has other volume that uh you know, then we can kind of fill in gaps, uh you know,
with drivers for them. So, uh we, but, you know, we, we do when, when uh we run short on
drivers, uh we know we, we use ship day for uh delivery um platform and, you know, right
through there, it's pretty soon as you call Uber Eats called doordash driver, you could see
how long until they come the exact cost of uh of the service. Um very uh very simple. So we,
we do that sometimes during peak times, we run out of drivers and then uh yeah, right as of
right now, we, we have our own uh small fleet as well. It's awesome. Uh So every single week
on Wednesday and Friday on the social audio app Clubhouse, you the listener, you can join
us 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1 p.m. Eastern time. That's Wednesday, Friday. It's a chance for you
to be on a live show. Us to hear your story about your restaurant. If you're a food creator.
If you're in sales marketing technology, uh we have digital hospitality leaders from all over
the globe. But uh we also do a social shout out um this week social shout out. Usually I
pick someone but I'm not gonna pick anyone because I hope it's you the listen, if you have
a toast story, if you just onboarded toast, um if you use toast in your restaurant, then send
me a message on Instagram at Sean P Welch Shawnpwalchef.
Um I want to hear some toast stories, some toast on boxing and uh you could possibly make
it onto this show uh or our other show, Digital Hospitality. We'd love to hear from you,
the listener. Uh Jason, can you give me a social? Shout out one person on your team that
you wanna give some love on entrepreneur on my team? One person.
Um Yeah, I'm gonna give a shout out over here to uh our uh first employee and uh
he, uh you know, he, he's our right hand and in the back of the house, his name is Gabe. Um
He came in day one. you know, we, we underestimate completely, you know what, what
it was gonna be like. We, we didn't have the right equipment and um look, you know, at the
end of the production run right, there was pieces on the floor. Uh You know, we didn't
have a docker, the bubble was coming out of them um he came in the first day and I was
looking for a job and started there and, you know, help us start to clean out the kitchen.
But uh he's been here from the beginning and, you know, he's a team, uh team hustler. So, uh
definitely give him a shout out. I love it. Uh So we believe in smartphone storytelling. This
is a chance for us to get a little bit deeper inside of uh Jason's uh smartphone usage. I, I
want to know are you an iphone or an Android user, iphone, iphone, what version?
Uh iphone 10, iphone 10. Do you believe? Uh do you, do you prefer text or emails or phone
calls? Text? Uh How many emails do you get a day?
5050. How many do you enjoy? I, I have 22 inboxes through the primary inbox, you know,
and I got the junk one about 50. I mean, I enjoy reading about like four. Uh what's your
favorite social media app? Instagram, Instagram. Uh Do you, are, are you a cord
cutter or do you still uh follow watch direct TV. Uh Not much of a TV
guy but you know, when I do it through the apps, it's through the apps. Got it. Uh What's
your least favorite app? Least favorite app? Oh, that's a good
one. That are the ones that just keep giving notifications that uh which ones annoy you the
most? Um I'm gonna go with, I'm gonna go with mail. So I have two inbox. I have Gmail and
mail. Mail is like the, you know, the, the, the junk and the sign up. So, yeah, that, that
one's, uh, it's terrible. Um, what's your favorite app for your store?
Pizza HQ app? Yeah. Who, who builds the Pizza HQ app? Uh, it's through incentive.
We have our app, our, our loyalty. Good. Why do you, why do you like them? So we
originally chose them uh because some of the functionality behind it, uh the seamless
integration with toast. Um and we, you know, they, they have a pretty cool robust loyalty
program for, you know, early stage, right? I, I know there's, there's bigger companies that,
you know, come at a higher price when that um a lot more bells and whistles. But um yeah, I
think, you know, you download our app and look at it, it looks professional. Um There's,
there's a lot of uh you know, a lot of creativity that we can still put to play on, on
our side. Um And it works right? Simple to use works well, integrates right into toast. Um
Yeah, I love it. Why did you guys pick toast? So at uh the other location I was
mentioning earlier, we did not have toast. Um We use Hunger Rush Great system for it used to
be revenge great system for pizza. Um Great delivery uh you know, uh platform on there, but
very closed. Uh, so you have to use app. You know, it wasn't the best app it worked. Uh, you,
we got a lot of customer complaints actually with, you know, it's difficult to use or, or
things of that nature, um, you know, etcetera, etcetera, um, pick toast. You know, we, when we
were looking over here we're betting a few different ones. Pick toast just because of the,
um, you know, open functionalities with it. Uh one, it's, you know, it's best in class, it's
called what it is, right? Uh You know, you know, between the menu and in the back of the
back end, it's, it's super simple to use. Um, but the most appealing thing about toast was,
right? Like, you know, if you don't like the delivery, that's fine, bring in your own, right?
We should pay for delivery. Uh I prefer it over the toast delivery platform and uh it's
literally a click of a button and entering a code and, and integrates with toast, no problem.
So now, you know, you can't expect one service to be the best at everything. So, you know, the
little pieces like, for instance, you know, toast online ordering is awesome. Um Toast take
out and whatnot, but we do use incentive, you know, I think it's uh you know, those guys just
focus on the app, they just focus on, on or just focus on loyalty, right? Um Whereas Toast
is, you know, the central brain, but it, we chose toast because of the ability to connect
all these different tech partners. Um Super easy and uh uh you know, super effectively. If
someone's listening to this and they're dreaming about getting into the pizza business,
what is your advice for them? Do it now? Uh Just do it. It's fine.
It's fine. Go raise a bunch of money and go open up a shop, don't do it. Uh With automation.
Stay out of Jersey. No, it's, it's uh it's New Brook. It's super fun. Super rewarding. So my
background is food manufacturing. I've, I've been in so many different industries from meat
and poultry to candy to, you know, bread. Um I the, the thing about pizza that's just
fascinating to me is like, it's an art, right? You know, it's, it's part of our mission
statement is like, you know, we're obsessed with the art of making pizza. Um the dough, the
complexity with the dough from the, you know, your hydration levels to, you know, your
fermentation period to um you know, the 30 different types of flowers. I mean, probably
way more different types of flowers you can put in it. Um You know, there's so many, so
many variables that uh you know, it, it's an art, right? And you know, you get obsessed with
it and you wanna just tweak it more and more every day. Um So it's fun. It's super rewarding.
Um You know, there's no two people out here that have the same pizza, right? There's
something different. Um But you know, listen, it takes dedication, right? It's, it's, there's,
you know, like we talked about the weekend and night um as anyone else in the, in the
hospitality business, uh you know, deals with, but that's awesome, man. Well, we your dreams,
if you're into the chase your dreams, chase the dream. Uh If you guys wanna follow them,
where, where is the best place for people to follow along the journey? Support you guys. Uh
Definitely Instagram or uh go on our website. It's pizza dash HQ dot com and do our email
sign up. Uh You know, we post at least once a week. Uh you shoot an email blast for people to
follow. But yeah, Instagram and uh over there and when are you guys getting on Tik Tok?
Uh see I keep giving you homework assignments. You like that you like coming, you like coming
on the show? Yeah. No talent. No, we, we have homework assignments.
We signed up for it when we started and we're trying to like break in and find the password.
Uh We might have like a new channel. We, we have like one post on there between me and my
partner. We can't find out who, who uh actually signed up. We're trying to have an
email to reset the password, but uh it'll be on tiktok.
No, you're all good man. We uh we appreciate it if you guys want to connect with me. It's at
Shan P, Walch Shawnpwalchef. Easiest way is on Instagram.
Send me a message. Uh, ask us any question you like answered on the show or uh just connect
with us. Come up on Clubhouse every Wednesday, every Friday. It's a chance for you to tell
your story. No one's coming to tell your story , use that smartphone in your pocket and uh if
you're in Jersey or even if you're not, no matter where you are, check out pizza HQ and uh
support these guys. They're, they're building something special and we're, we're excited that
we had you on so early on in the journey. Can't wait to see what you guys build next.
Yeah, I appreciate it, Sean. Pleasure to come out. You, you had some uh and some pretty
impressive guests. So it's a, it's a pleasure to sit here with you. Yeah, you got it, man.
Appreciate you. The best way that you can help us with. The show is to subscribe and write a
review. We love the opportunity to connect with you no matter where you are on the globe,
no matter what restaurant you are running. Please send us ad M on social at Shan P Wal
Chef. If you are interested in toast. If you want to improve your digital hospitality,
please send me ad M I will get you in touch with a local toast representative. We
appreciate you listening to this show, the best way that you can help the show is share it
with a friend and we will catch you all next week or we will see you on one of the digital
playgrounds that we call social media.