The Profit Playbook: Strategies for Menu Mastery and Leadership Wins With David Wyatt

Unlock the doors to a flourishing pizza empire as I, Tyrell Reed, invite you to join my rich conversation with fast food aficionado David Wyatt. With two decades at Sonic Drive-In shaping his journey, David unpacks the strategies behind managing a pizza store for profit, far beyond mere appearances. Our dialogue takes us from Missouri to Florida, where David's mastery of multi-location oversight and a deep Sonic family heritage come to life. As we slice into the financial delicacies of restaurant management, you're guaranteed to grasp why dissecting P&L statements and controlling costs can transform your bottom line.

Ever wondered how to increase customer loyalty while simultaneously boosting ticket averages? Lean in as David and I share the secret sauce of menu optimization and the nuanced finesse of upselling. Discover how a well-crafted menu and shrewd pricing tactics are more than just about adding extra toppings—they're about building a base of devoted patrons. Furthermore, we'll expose the critical role of leadership in fostering a winning team. Drawing parallels with the dynamic world of football, learn how preparing the next generation of management and building a bench of potential leaders can set your business up for an unyielding win.

Finally, don't miss our playbook on networking and mutual support, where I reflect on the pivotal role of professional relationships in the fast-food industry. With David's vast experience as a beacon, we highlight how mentorship and shared knowledge are the bedrock of sustained success. So, put on your apron, and let's cook up some business acumen, leadership strategies, and networking know-how, perfectly seasoned with wisdom from our seasoned pros.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

Welcome to the Pizza King podcast, your destination for all things pizza business. I'm your host, tyrell Reed. Every week, we're taking a deep dive into the behind the scenes world of running a successful pizza business, from team building, sales growth, multi-unit strategies and much more. Doesn't even matter if you're a pizza vet just starting out in the game, just your first shop. Whatever you're doing, this podcast will be your go-to resource for tips, strategies and success stories. As always, send me your questions to info at tyrellreidcom. Go connect with me on Instagram at Pizza King Podcast. Let's get into the episode.

Speaker 3: 1:49

Are we back? Another episode of Pizza King Podcast. I got a special guest this week, good friend of mine, david Wyatt. David has been an area supervisor for Sonic Burgers. He spent a lot of time. He spent years with me at Checkers Rallies. He's come from, he's here in Florida now, but he spent some time. I think David came from Missouri and I'll let him come on and tell his story.

Speaker 3: 2:10

But really good episode today, really going to dial in on what it takes to, at the store level, run a successful, profitable business, because businesses run one way and they're not always profitable. And we've seen and David can tell you about his experience, but we've seen a lot of stores that look great on the outside but when you got, when you, when you started to dig in, there wasn't shit for profit going on in there. So he he was. He was really one of the special guys that I worked with in my in my time in this business. So you know, without further ado, I'm going to let him give his introduction. That was probably not, as I didn't do him the right justice, but I'm going to bring David on, let him introduce himself and, you know, tell you about what he's, what he's doing out here in the world, david, what's happening, brother?

Speaker 2: 2:57

How much tea? How's it going, man?

Speaker 3: 2:59

Man, I cannot complain. I get to sit here, I talk about pizza, and now we could talk about burgers and you know all those different things with football and all that. What the hell do I have to complain about?

Speaker 2: 3:10

absolutely nothing at that point. We woke up every day, so we got nothing to complain about absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 3:16

How's the family?

Speaker 2: 3:17

family's good man, family's good getting. Big kids are 12 and 6 now, or 11 and 11 and 5.

Speaker 3: 3:22

They'll be 12 and 6 very soon holy smokes they're getting big man getting big oh man, I feel like she was like just have you. You were like fresh, brand new baby when I met you absolutely no, very young.

Speaker 2: 3:35

We moved. We moved to florida. When I met you, my youngest was one wow, so literally, literally a baby.

Speaker 3: 3:43

Well, I mean absolutely I appreciate you coming on, coming on the show and not just coming on. You've been a big supporter and always engaging with the content and giving me feedback. And you know, even beyond that, you've been a big part of even the stuff that I get to talk about, these lessons that we get to teach. So you know, you were there firsthand for a lot of these things that I get to recount now. So tell the people who you are, what you do and you know, you know why they should be listening to you and if they want to take their careers to the next level.

Speaker 2: 4:13

Absolutely. I mean my name is David. Of course Tyrell gave you that David White. I came most recently from Missouri, lived up there for quite a few years, graduated high school in Arkansas, I got into the fast food game. My first job was actually with Sonic Drive-In in 2004. So it's been 20 years now. I've tried to leave, I've tried to come back and a couple things here and there, but I've always landed my way back to where I'm at. So now I'm with Sonic. It's been in my family. My father's been doing it for over 25 years with Sonic. Saw him drive in. I've been doing it for just as long now 20 years approximately and it's just. You know it's very vital to stay the course and just listen to the lessons that people like you are talking about and you know things we're going to discuss today and different information that's out there, and if you stay the course and do the job, then the possibilities are endless in this industry 20, 20 years in in in the game and your story is a lot like mine.

Speaker 3: 5:11

When it was, I tried to leave so many times. I tried to quit. I thought I was going to go, get into it and do all these things. But you know, a few months later I'm back. I'm back in there and one of these kitchens somewhere or you know what, another brand or something, but the industry just didn't let me go.

Speaker 2: 5:29

It's just riding a bicycle man, it's hard. It's going to get you where you need to go and you're always come back and learn how to do it, so I can appreciate it now.

Speaker 3: 5:38

I can appreciate it now because you know at that point I thought there were there was greener pastures in other places. But you know the restaurant business has been really good to us.

Speaker 2: 5:47

It has, and it's always people got to eat. It's not going anywhere, so how can we make it better?

Speaker 3: 5:52

Straight up, straight up. What are you doing now?

Speaker 2: 5:55

So I'm now an area supervisor for um, a Sonic franchise, planet franchise group, um in the Crystal River area of Crystal River, florida. I supervise five stores from Crystal River up to Tallahassee.

Speaker 3: 6:10

So you're overseeing five restaurants in multiple cities. How do you even manage the time that it takes to do that? I know people and there's going to be people listening like shit. I'm having trouble just taking care of my one store. How in the world do you manage multiple restaurants in multiple cities?

Speaker 2: 6:30

So I mean, the biggest thing for me is scheduling. You can't just fly by the seat of your pants every single day. Operators think we'll always fix this, We'll always get this, We'll always get this. You've got to have a schedule. My schedule every day, every week, consists of even my drive time. So when I open up my Outlook I put in my drive time. I leave the house at eight o'clock. I get to the store at this time. I spend 45 minutes. I drive to the next one. My whole day is planned to the minute, including that drive time, including if I'm going to take some lunch time or if we have certain topics to talk about. You know this right here, is built into my day so that my stores know how to run while I'm occupied for a few minutes. It's all about scheduling.

Speaker 3: 7:18

I imagine. Well, I know that schedule thing all too well and that was one of the big things, especially when I was in that region coach role. Where you're looking at restaurants that are all over the place and people that have their own things to worry, to take care of and worry about, how does your team play into your schedule? So if you're scheduling, how does that calendar and that planning work with the people that you have to? You know, the worst thing that can happen is you drive a couple of hours up to Tallahassee from where you are and the people that you need to work with aren't there. So how are you managing that part of it?

Speaker 2: 7:53

So I mean that's communication. You know communication is vital just as much as scheduling, and I see their schedules every week. So when you get into that role as area supervisor, regional coach, whatever that industry calls it, you know it. It's communicating with their needs too, not just your schedule. So, yeah, I might want to be home on tuesday at five o'clock because there's a baseball game on tv, but that might be the only time that that general manager is available, so I need to be there for them at five o'clock so that we can have that conversation uh yeah, you can't just hope that they're going to be there, because nothing will work out.

Speaker 3: 8:30

Yeah, well, now you'll end up doing their job when you get there anyway, so you better have somebody to work with when you get there.

Speaker 2: 8:39

Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 8:43

So then there's the other side of managing multiple places. There's different needs at different places, right? How are you keeping track and keeping you know, making sure you're seeing the right things when you're in a restaurant or when you're in an area, versus just doing what you want to do?

Speaker 2: 9:01

Well. So I'm fortunate enough to work for a solid franchise. We do have policies and procedures set in place for my visits. So when I go into a location I have 10 to 12 things I have to look for every single time. So that really does help narrow down the tunnel vision. You know, you get into a drive-in that has not performed on the P&L it may be food costs so you're going to have to address that a little bit more than the store that's not performing on labor or controllables, uniforms and things like that. So those items we have to individualize. But the 10 to 12 items that we always look for cleanliness, staffing, things like that inside-outside presence those are things we just look for every single visit and it really keeps us on track.

Speaker 3: 9:53

So and it sounds like that helps to really helps to set the standard when it comes to all right, not just when David visits, but this is how we need to operate every single day. If they know that every week or three or four times a week, someone's checking on my cleanliness, they're checking on how my labor performance is happening versus budget, all these things are happening, that helps to really keep people online and on track. When we worked together, you were always really really in tune and dialed in with your numbers. I heard you talk here about controllables and know your labor costs and these different things. You know when, when you were in your GM role, you were, you know, hands down, our best GM when it came to just financially managing that business. How much do you you know? How much do you have to teach that those components now? And what advice could you give to a new GM or a future GM when it comes to just running the financials in a business?

Speaker 2: 10:53

The biggest thing is just ask. You know is one of my philosophies and how I learned to be so in tune with the numbers is an area supervisor that I had a long time ago back in Missouri at the didn't appreciate what he was trying to teach me. Then I got you know, more developed and more into my role as a, as a seasoned GM, and it began making sense. But a closed mouth is never fed. So if you have a question, ask, because I can't teach you. I can only assume that you know what labor is. I can only assume that you know what controllables are, but I can't break it down If you don't ask the question. I don't think you. I don't know that you have a question.

Speaker 2: 11:35

So for me, I spend a lot of time breaking it down to their personal P&Ls and not just their business. So when they don't understand something you know, I break it down to their house, to their rent, to their light bill, and I just take the numbers from thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars down to how much do you make in a month? Okay, well, now how much do you pay for rent? And we start breaking it down. And then they get to the end of the month they go. Well. I only got about $300 to spend. I was like well, we're no different. So when you broke that ice cream or not, when you broke that ice cream machine, but when you called to get that repaired and it cost me 1200 bucks, where did that come from?

Speaker 3: 12:16

Everything has a cost right, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 12:19

And. And when you get into labor you know it's 10 bucks a day. They're like oh well, I just spent one extra hour. Well, that's right. But if we're paying people $15 an hour here, in the next couple of years that one hour a day is going to be $450 a month. And then you multiply that by 12, we're talking a good amount of change every year just because we wanted to spend time to take the trash out.

Speaker 2: 12:41

We've got to find a way to build that into the day and make sure that we're utilizing our people you spoke on it a couple episodes ago where we can't afford to pay people to do less work. No, not anymore, I believe that's what it was Over time.

Speaker 3: 12:57

we can't do it.

Speaker 2: 12:59

It's too expensive and it's just got to break it down and make it personable to them. Not everybody has a business mindset, but when you start breaking it down and you start talking about their finances and how we can help them make more money by controlling the things that they can control, it starts to make more sense and that's when you see the numbers start to come down.

Speaker 3: 13:21

How often are you having those P&L discussions with your team?

Speaker 2: 13:26

So we see our P&Ls once a month but I discuss it weekly. We do a weekly report that kind of shows us where our ticket average is, our traffic, where we are versus last year and last week, and then we just kind of really discuss on it that, yeah, you were up 5% this week in sales. That's fantastic. But we had a 2.5% menu increase last year, so you should be up two and a half percent.

Speaker 3: 13:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 13:52

And then you're down 10 percent in traffic. So theoretically you're down seven and a half percent. What do we have to do to get that back? Because you could easily be up 13 percent rather than five.

Speaker 2: 14:30

Yeah, that helps that helps bring it home to when you're like, ok, well, it feels good in the moment, but when you compare it to where we should be, that now it's OK. Now I got some work to do because you can and you can get your ass kicked one day and it feels like you know you're really doing something. And then at the end of the week, the end of the week comes and you still lost money and you're like what in the world happened? Absolutely, you can. I mean, I don't know how it relates in the pizza industry um, as far as you know, sales and what have you?

Speaker 2: 14:39

But a ticket average for sonic a really good ticket average, uh, for my drive-ins is in about the 13 range. Um, yeah, but you know, 10, you're not going to make any money. Average 15 you're going to make really good money. So you got to really just find that happy medium. And what do we have to do? How do you get that ticket to? From 1275 to 13? While it may not seem like a lot on that ticket, yeah, what do we have to do? Cause 25 cents a ticket times 2000 tickets a month is a lot of money.

Speaker 3: 15:10

Yeah, that's a lot. That is a lot, so it no-transcript. You know, let's make sure that we understand our menu and our offerings and our customers well enough to to get that upsell, to get that add-on, what. What pairs well with that? If someone gets a, if they get a spaghetti, are we, are we trying to upset the meatball? If they get, you know, a meat eaters pizza, can we add extra bacon or extra cheese? Like what? What do we say? Bacon goes well with anything. That's what we'll put bacon on anything and this pizza shop you know to try to get that extra couple of bucks up and it matters absolutely, and you take that same conversation.

Speaker 2: 16:13

Sonic put bacon on a peanut butter cheeseburger. Here last month we did a supersonic bacon double cheeseburger and a peanut butter bacon shake.

Speaker 3: 16:21

So bacon goes on anything it was delicious but, I'm about to see if they can make it at this one over here. What?

Speaker 2: 16:28

it's delicious. They have all the stuff. Um, it's delicious, but you know, in in the same right of upselling and trying to get that ticket average higher, you know it's. I'm a people, person not only in the business but also in our customer base, because if somebody orders a burger and a fry, I can get you a drink for 30 cents.

Speaker 3: 16:53

So I'm going to, you know when I when my mind is right and I think that, like, hey, look, let's 30 more cents. Hey, you want to put an extra quarter on that and get the, get the combo?

Speaker 2: 17:02

Absolutely, and you're building value for the customer. You know, a lot of times our customers will order a cheeseburger and mozzarella sticks and a milkshake. So you know, you talk to them. Oh so you want the number one combo and they say, no, no, I just want this, this and this. I'm like yes, ma'am, or yes, sir, it's the exact same thing, but I'm going to charge you $4 less. Yeah Right, you're losing $4 on that ticket, but you're building a customer for life because they saw that you understood their value and you appreciated their hard-earned money.

Speaker 2: 17:33

So they come back and then I love that you lose $4 today, but if you get $12 three times a week now, that's 36 instead of four.

Speaker 3: 17:45

Yeah, Then you really you really want tripled your money, yeah, and on the other side, if they, if they leave, and then they figure it out on their own that I could have paid $4 less than that, they're never coming back and they're telling their friends they're never coming back. So there's, I love that. So it's building value for the guest while taking a little bit of a hit up front and at the same time, we're still trying to make money and we're trying to grow our sales.

Speaker 2: 18:16

But you got to have a little bit of long-term thinking when it comes to it, and that's hard to do at, you know, when it comes down to the team level, absolutely, and you know the that is built in on our cost side. Sonic already knows that it's. We got to get our general managers to understand that and and teach it down to their crew because, yes, top line sales are great, but repeat customers is where we need it, because that's what's going to grow top line sales. And then all the things we're talking about controllables, uh, labor, food costs, it all comes down and then you start making money.

Speaker 3: 18:46

Yeah, break it down. For someone who is doesn't understand the businesses or maybe they're new they're going to start a pizza shop. I talked to a lot of pizza. You know pizza folks and you know future pizzeria owners or new pizzeria owners. How important is it to control? Well, first, can you tell them what big two are and how important it is to control big two when it comes to just being profitable?

Speaker 2: 19:10

So, as far as big two goes, I think I understand what you're talking about is in labor and food costs. For me are the big two. You got to keep those, depending on your industry, at a certain percentage. But if you can keep those under 50, 55 percent of your business costs, you're going to be doing. You're going to be doing. Ok, food cost is hard. We know that it's rising, it's going up every single day. Uh, we're limited because we have to buy certain food and you know you might be limited because you have to buy certain food, but it's. How can you prep right, how can you cross, utilize? You know your ingredients and how do you minimize waste?

Speaker 2: 19:54

Keeping those things down, keeping those down and keeping your labor controls. I'll hire people all day and I'll pay them what they're worth when they show me. What they're worth is when they'll get the hours and when they'll get the pay raise, because I got to know that you've got my back and I've got yours 110%, as long as you're doing the job. We all got home lives and we all got everything going on outside of the business. But when you're in the business, I need you to work and I need you to do what you're being paid to do.

Speaker 3: 20:24

Yeah, I think there's this misconception that you know, especially, especially in fast food. I know before I was, you know, in the, in the drive-through business, I didn't know how much business was really was really going through those drive-through lanes and how much, how much traffic we were actually able to push through. Mistakes add up very quickly in a high volume business. So and and I talk about this too with folks that I, that I coach, and even with my team mistakes cost us double. So we try to make sure that we're we're perfect, we're perfect on that.

Speaker 3: 20:57

So if food costs is, you know, 30% on an item, if we screw that item up, we're paying for it twice and that's and that and that tear I mean that can tear your profit down so quick. So I love, I love that you said that and I love that you touched on giving people what they're worth, because that's always another misconception is you're not going to make money there, you can't get the hours or you can't get paid, and I think it's all based on performance, especially the business needs. Then you can. You can turn that into a really good job and and you know for your example and even mine a long-term career.

Speaker 2: 21:41

Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, and some people don't see it as a career for them, and that's perfectly fine, but those that want to be there, you have to develop them. You have to take care of your people so that your people take care of the people, because without the people, without the customer, without the guests me and you are talking about air we're not doing anything. Right now, it ain't me paying you Because we don't have jobs.

Speaker 3: 22:11

I might be the one that handed you the paycheck or onboarded you, but it's not me paying you.

Speaker 2: 22:16

Absolutely not, it is a customer that you get back every single day and you know. You made the comment about mistakes and I teach every one of my GMs this and I teach every one of the crew members or assistant managers that I train You're going to make a mistake, it's going to happen, don't stress on it. It's part of it, because when you do pay 60% for that item, you need to make sure that that is the best 60% you've ever paid, because now it's not just an item going out the door, it's advertising and it's an investment. It's advertising how you're going to take care of the guest and it's investing in that guest to return, because without that guest, they come back three or four times. You've knocked your food costs right back down because they're going to spend more money with you, they're going to come more often and then you'll get that money back.

Speaker 3: 23:04

That's long-term thinking again.

Speaker 2: 23:06

You have to take the time, you have to invest in that person, you have to take care of the employee that made the mistake and you have to take care of the guests and just make it right, no matter what the cost.

Speaker 3: 23:19

How often is it? You know, do you get? This isn't right, but, but you know we get the fight in our place all the time where I know I did it right, but they're. They're just saying that they, but they didn't order it that way. Is there? Is there a win there? Is there any right and wrong? When it comes to just, are you? I mean, I always say I'm not about to argue with anybody over a pizza, I'll give you a pizza, are you? Where is the? Where do you draw the line there? Because it seems like it could be it can get out of control.

Speaker 2: 23:48

Yes, I mean as far as the employee goes, as being nice, nice as possible. I just inform the employee that maybe you are right, maybe the customer wasn't even close, but you're paid by the hour to perform a job and you're not paid by the burger or the pizza that you make. It's not a commission job, it's not coming out of your pocket. We're growing the business. We got to take care of our guests. Coming out of your pocket. We're growing the business. We got to take care of our guests. As far as the guest is concerned, I just talk to them and, within reason, I'll make them whatever. You know, they can't tell me that they ordered a super sunny bacon double cheeseburger when we rang them up for a hot dog. Those two items aren't even close.

Speaker 2: 24:29

But if you put pepperoni on something that should have been sausage. You know that's probably feasible, but we'll just talk to them and at some point in time I'll draw the line and just let them know I will do anything I can to help you and make this right. But if we're not going to see eye to eye today, then I think it's just best that we talk about this another time.

Speaker 2: 24:50

And I'll just leave the conversation, because you will go back and forth all day over a $2 cheeseburger and it's just not worth it. So try to make it right If you can't, remove yourself from the situation and tell them to have a great day.

Speaker 3: 25:04

I've seen it. You know we spent time in St Pete. So I've seen it. You know we spent time in St Pete. So I've seen, I've seen an argument get way, way out of control over a dollar. So absolutely it could happen. I do just here. Go go eat this somewhere else.

Speaker 2: 25:17

Tallahassee is not any different.

Speaker 3: 25:19

Really, really. No, I did Fuzzy's up there. I didn't, I didn't work, I didn't work a whole lot. I was, I was, uh, uh, an FBC with fuzzy, so it was super corporate in that.

Speaker 2: 25:32

On the ground in Tallahassee is pretty interesting.

Speaker 3: 25:35

Nice, well, you know, I, I, I love that you're out there doing a job and they got a good leader you talked about. You know what you teach and how you train your GMs and your assistants and your, your, your shift leads and your, you know the team people that you work with, the team members that you work with. We learned an interesting concept from our days with you know another brand that we won't name, called Highway 142, which was, you know, pretty much our team building concept, and I still, I still, you know, live by some of these rules today in my business and what I teach the folks that I work with. Tell us what Highway 142 is.

Speaker 2: 26:15

Highway 142, I mean it's it's like you said. I've been doing this a long time and it just recently came into the understanding of it and then implementation of it. But Highway 142 is a is a restaurant leader or a team leader, and then you got your four shift managers or assistant managers that are growing up in the line and two that have potential to be part of that four. It's just building a bench and making sure that your business can always operate with the right people. And you know, in my time as a supervisor, which has been short, it's been since November of 23. So we're going on six months, right, and it's been very interesting switching over from an operator to a to a supervisor.

Speaker 2: 26:57

But it's very vital because I've I've had a couple of GMs go down, whether it's, you know, policies they didn't appreciate or just performance, and I had to let one or two go. But having that 142, it wasn't really in place and it struggles. I had a hard time finding ways to keep these restaurants open and I was able to do it because we did have a strong enough team that hadn't been talked to. We sit down and have those hard conversations, find out what their goals are and just really look inside of who you have and if you don't have anybody that can be on that 142, maybe they're just a really strong crew person and they will always be that they might be in that too.

Speaker 2: 27:38

They could be a crew leader for you, they might be able to train your incoming crew and they may develop one of those four people just in teaching them the techniques and the standards that you have. So it's very vital that you invest into that core group of people, yourself at the top and then, of course, the six people underneath you there.

Speaker 3: 27:57

So I love it and to me, it was always this it drove home the point that we that we're always hiring and we're always in development mode and we're always preparing for what's next, always hiring and we're always in development mode and we're always preparing for what's next. And just to recap, it is Highway 142. That's one senior manager or one GM, four junior managers and two people in development to be leaders, team leads, managers, shift leads, trainers, whatever that may be, but we're always searching for who that next round of leaders is going to be in the restaurant, and I think that's important for any business, especially our business, where we rely so heavily on people to spend the time and get to know your folks. And you made a really good point about just talking to them, have those conversations, find out what their goals are, because you could have someone who has the potential and no one ever knew that and they never, and they were too shy to ever say anything or they didn't have the platform to have that conversation or, you know, no one ever even noticed them or even touched the store and hadn't been there in six months.

Speaker 3: 28:58

So and you could lose that person. Too often you can lose that person. They walk in the door somewhere else and they're like a superstar over there. So it's important to have those conversations and thanks. I learned that from Michael Murphy. I know. I know you know you spend a lot of time with Murphy too. We give him his flowers right here, murphy's. Murphy's one of the one of the strongest leaders I'd ever worked with and you know, great teacher, you know, great motivator, most positive guy I've ever, ever, ever met in my life, even more positive than me. So you know, I appreciate that dude.

Speaker 2: 29:32

That dude was. He turned a whole leaf for me. You know I was. I was always a positive individual for the most part, um, but after working with Murphy, after working with you and and we'll throw Justin in there after working with some Justin, you know there's a lot of different approaches to how you can look at the same problem and I think when our four heads were together, we really accomplished a lot of things, both in our personal lives and in our professional lives. And while we've all gone separate ways, at this point we're all still doing things and we're all still very successful based on a lot of the times of the meeting of our minds, and you know I'm really thankful for that.

Speaker 3: 30:11

Hell yeah, I'm trying to get Justin to come on the podcast but he won't text me back. Text him and say send him a message. And say I just did it with T, you better answer him. I don't know.

Speaker 2: 30:23

As soon as I'm done. I'm reaching out to him as soon as I'm done. I'm reaching out to him as soon as I'm done.

Speaker 3: 30:27

Just as my guy. I did text him right after you booked it. I'm like I got to send it. I sent the booking page to Justin. I'm like man, come on the podcast, especially now he's doing pizza. Come on, bro, yeah he's doing pizza.

Speaker 2: 30:39

We won't name the two, but he's doing pizza and I think he's doing all right. Yeah, yeah, he is. We spoke on 142 right there and I just want to tell you about. You know you might overlook somebody and I almost did it recently, not having a conversation, but I have an individual.

Speaker 2: 30:56

I lost a GM last week due to some personal reasons. They had to step down and step out of the position and I struggled to keep a restaurant running all week. I had one individual within the restaurant that clocked 75 hours for me last week and this individual has been through three different GMs at this location, been with the company numerous years and actually at the end of our conversation today, I'm going up there to sign her offer letter Because I was like you know what. She's pushed through enough. I can teach her how to use a computer. She's been in the trenches too long. I said I'm going to give her an opportunity. What can it hurt? All we can do is be back at square one in 90 days, but let's fly it and let's see what happens.

Speaker 3: 31:38

So I'm headed there after this to go to get that done. Man, sometimes those intangibles are like all you need, right? If someone is willing to show up, they're putting their heart into it 75 hours, are you kidding me? Like last week. You know what I mean. That's, that's dedication and loyalty that you just can't, you can't expect from people. We'll teach you. We'll teach you the stuff you need to learn, we'll figure it out, and I tell everybody all the time yeah, I can teach you how to sonic. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:06

I can teach you how to sonic. I cannot teach you how to lead or how to have integrity or have personal conviction. Those things I can't teach you. You either come with those or you don't. But I can teach you the job.

Speaker 3: 32:18

Man, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. Let's see what else we got here. We talked about numbers. We talked about 14, 42. I love what you're doing with with you know, just taking care of your people. Um, I'm a big fan of. I'm always team first, like I'm going to take care. I'm going to take care of the folks on my team before anything, because that's that's what solves the problems.

Speaker 2: 32:41

Absolutely. And you know one one, 42 and having those people like you said, you always got to have the next person up that has a negative connotation in itself if the wrong person hears it, because all too often and you see social media and everything out there that just says you know, make sure you take that family time, because if you die tomorrow, your office will be cleaned out by the end of the day. Well, that is the case. That doesn't mean the owner and the operator is not going to be hurt personally. We're connected to these individuals all the same, but this is our livelihood too and we have to be ready to move forward. We have to be ready to continue the business while we hurt and grieve alongside you and alongside your family. We are people and we understand what's going on, but the business doesn't stop.

Speaker 2: 33:28

No, that's the downside as to what we're doing.

Speaker 3: 33:31

Yeah, and I agree that it does kind of have that negative connotation to it when you think about. I'm easily replaceable, but this business is bigger than me. This business is not only just a pillar in the community but it takes care of dozens of people and their families. And you know the. You know the customers that love, that need to come here every single week or can only afford to get to get shop on our dollar menu and they counted us to be here every day because that's the only meal they're going to get. There's so many, there's so many different layers to it and it's not to be insensitive, but it's also. You know, we have a responsibility as leaders to keep this thing going for everyone. It's a mini economy in itself for all of those folks.

Speaker 3: 34:16

And you see it, we've seen restaurants that I've had restaurants that were closed or had to shut down for whatever reason. If it was leadership or we had a lot of closures during COVID and people were hurting. We had a lot of closures during COVID and people were hurting. People were hurting during those weeks or those days or those half days where we couldn't find staff or we couldn't get late night. So I agree with you 100%. You got to stay ready and it's okay.

Speaker 3: 34:40

And I think the other side of it is having the leadership at the store level that knows like I'm training you to do my job so that you can do this one day and I can be whatever's next. And I always appreciated that about you because you kept a manager ready. I think about the work that you did with Stacey right or some of the other folks that work with you especially I mean hell, even Josh and I'm just throwing names out there that people don't know but the work that we did with those junior managers allowed you to go to what was next and to the to the point that we even literally had to create a hybrid role for you because we had so many ready managers that it was okay, let's, let's find something that he can do that suits his skillset and keeps him engaged. So I think those things are important.

Speaker 2: 35:28

Absolutely, and you know I appreciate that because you know it allowed me to develop into what I am today and in my position now. You know I took a step back when I left the company and went back to Sonic, but I did it for personal gain, right, and I did it for professional growth, for my family and what we had going on. But you always have to be developing because if you're not developing people, that day is going to come and everything you've done over the last 18 months can go out the window in a matter of days if you don't have the right person to step in there. So I want to move up at this time. So I've got to find GMs that are very capable to start doing what I do, so that I don't know what the next step is for me, but I want it to be something in the next 18 months to two years. So I've got to begin to develop so that I can get to the next level.

Speaker 3: 36:20

Yeah, I mean, you won't even touch it if you don't have someone that can step into where you are now.

Speaker 2: 36:26

Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 36:27

Man, I love what you're doing, all right. Last question, and this is for my boys, brock, purdy or Patrick Mahomes man on.

Speaker 2: 36:37

On what level? That's the question, right? No-transcript. But Purdy is a character, you know. He's got so much character on the salary that he's playing on to be doing what he's doing. It doesn't do anything different than a general manager or an operator, because he could underperform. What are they going to do? They can't replace him, right? He's all they have. He's why they're good. So he has to perform at whatever level he's. He's all they have is. He's why they're good. So he has to perform at whatever level he's comfortable with. But his personal integrity has got him performing so well and mahomes is just a beast. So I'm from missouri, I lived in missouri for a little while I'm gonna have to say my home, side by side. But the character of brock purdy is just.

Speaker 3: 37:29

So if you were going to start, he's not there for money.

Speaker 3: 37:32

Oh no, he's playing out of straight love and passion, and I think Mahomes does too. But I think it's different now. A couple of Super Bowls later, some MVPs, $500 million, it looks and it feels different. It should be pretty damn good every single week. Absolutely. I think that the expectations are much higher for him. And that's the same thing for leadership when you perform and you grow, the expectations grow and change with that too. If you're killing it in a restaurant, you got to make sure that you continue to prepare and perform. But I love watching Brock Purdy because it's clear that he's a football player, right? That dude prepares, that dude knows what he's doing, he's taking care of himself, he understands the game well enough to go out there and, do you know, with limited experience or expectation, go out there and just kill the league. So I ain't mad at Brock Purdy.

Speaker 2: 38:25

I ain't mad at him at all, but I think side by side, mahomes still has the edge. Of course, like you said, the, the expectations are just higher, and you know that. That also translate back to business where if you're the, if you're the operator or the supervisor that has two operators like that, you can't be harder on one because of your expectations of that person. You got to be fair across the board and you know you have to expect the same thing and praise the over on the over performer. So Mahomes should receive all the accolades in the world for performing way above league standards, but you can't knock Purdy for doing anything less.

Speaker 3: 39:09

No.

Speaker 2: 39:11

Because he's still knocking it out of the park. So you still got to give him all of his praises too, but I think seven-a-side Mahomes beats him.

Speaker 3: 39:17

Well, when it comes to wins and losses, to me the results are the same regardless of how they got there and they have different teams and different coaches, different situations, but both of those guys play, play great ball, and I'm a fan of preparation. I'm a fan of, you know, doing the work behind the scenes. I know I'm on this, on this and on the podcast, but most folks that work with me know I'm more. I'm more of a behind the scenes guy, like I want to have that one on one conversation and not stand in front of the group, so like you can tell that those guys are putting in the work to, to, to get the results that they are. So I respect the hell out of both of them, but I'm I'm a Dak Prescott guy.

Speaker 2: 40:00

Me too, man Cowboys for life. We just signed Zeke again for a year. Let's see what happens.

Speaker 3: 40:10

It can't. It can't be too bad. Zeke's more comfortable in Dallas. So as long as we can get that yard or two on third and still be a threat, we should be good and look expectations are always high for Cowboys, if we can get some backside protection.

Speaker 2: 40:22

if we can get a little bit of backside protection from him picking up some of those pass rushers, maybe it'd be a game changer. But we always say it's our year and we're always going to hope it's our year until it's December and January and then we'll see what happens.

Speaker 3: 40:35

I'm still screaming it. So I'm still screaming it, but again, man, thank. Thank you so much for for joining and reaching out and hang out on my. I'm going to end the recording, but hang out for a second. Tell people you know how to find you, where, where your Sonics are. You know if they see you can they wave at you and get a. Get a free Sonic burger or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Speaker 2: 40:58

Peanut butter bacon peanut butter bacon burger. Yeah, so we will always make it. It's not on the menu anymore, but we'll always make it. Uh, you know, I'm in, like I said, I'm in crystal river, I'm in perry, I've got one location in crawfordville and two locations in tallahassee. Um, if you're at any of those locations, uh well, most all of them have a facebook page. I admit I manage all of the facebook pages for those five locations. Um, feel free to reach out. I'll connect with you. If you got a school event, anything going on, you know, just reach out. I'll connect with you. If you've got a school event, anything going on, you know, just reach out. I'm on Facebook.

Speaker 2: 41:32

David Wyatt, the second, I believe you'll see my two little girls hanging out in my profile picture, so I'll get some of that information over to you. I don't know how that works. Maybe you can get some of it tagged to the video or something, but they're more than welcome to reach out, and anybody up in this area that that has any questions, comments, concerns or, you know, might want me to stop by on the on a personal side and work with them. I'm glad to do that too. That's something I'm branching out to on my own. I'm going to try and begin a little small business consulting side gig, so that's something I'm looking forward to.

Speaker 2: 42:06

If anybody anybody's got got something going on, I'll be glad to sit down with you.

Speaker 3: 42:10

Do you should, and I know we talked about it before with, like the like, the food safety training being becoming a proctor. You know, any time I'm an instructor.

Speaker 3: 42:18

Yeah, you know this, this business development, you know you got. You got skills. Put that out there, use it, because somebody needs that. So look for David, I'll tag you and I'll put your links in the show notes and anything that we put out in regards to this podcast. So thanks again. I know you got mad things going on over there, so don't forget to text Justin. Tell his ass to come on and come on on the podcast. Let's do it.

Speaker 2: 42:46

I get him. Right now I wouldn't do or even think about going where I'm going with this without watching your podcast over the last little bit. I'm like man, if he can get out there and do it, I can do it too. So I really appreciate your time put on here and, you know, having me on and and just uh, really continuing to work with me, even though we're not even in the same, we're not even the same business or industry anymore, and and you're there if I pick up the phone. So I appreciate that.

Speaker 3: 43:10

Man, this is once you get me. You got me for life, bro. You already know that. Yes, sir All right, I'll let you hang out real quick.

Speaker 2: 43:19

Yes, sir.