#Clockedin with Jordan Edwards
Are you feeling stuck in life, wanting to grow, improve your income, or build a stronger community? Join performance coach Jordan Edwards as he interviews world-class achievers—including the Founder of Reebok and the Co-Founder of Priceline—who share their success stories and actionable strategies. Each episode provides practical tips on how to boost your personal and professional growth, helping you implement changes that can make a real difference in your life.
This podcast is designed for anyone looking to make progress—whether you're aiming to improve your mindset, relationships, health, or income. Jordan distills the wisdom of top performers into easy-to-follow steps you can take immediately. Whether you're stuck in your career or personal life, you’ll find new ways to get unstuck and start moving forward with confidence.
How to get unstuck? It’s a question many face, and in each episode, you’ll hear stories of how successful individuals broke through barriers, found purpose, and created systems to overcome obstacles. From building resilience to developing a success mindset, you'll gain insights into how high achievers continue to evolve and grow.
Looking to improve your income? This podcast also dives into financial strategies, offering advice from entrepreneurs and business leaders who have built wealth, created multiple revenue streams, and mastered the art of financial growth. Learn how to increase your income, find opportunities for advancement, and create value in both your personal and professional life.
Jordan also emphasizes the importance of building community. You'll learn how to expand your network, foster meaningful connections, and create supportive environments that contribute to personal and professional success. From philanthropists to community leaders, guests share their experiences in building impactful, values-driven communities.
At the core of the podcast are the 5 Pillars of Edwards Consulting—Mental Health, Physical Health, Community Service/Philanthropy, Relationships, and Spirituality. Each episode integrates these elements, ensuring a holistic approach to self-improvement. Whether it's enhancing your mental and physical well-being, giving back to your community, or strengthening your relationships, you'll receive actionable advice that’s grounded in real-world success.
This podcast is for everyone—whether you're an entrepreneur, a professional looking to advance, or simply someone seeking personal growth. You’ll gain actionable steps from every conversation, whether it’s about increasing your productivity, improving your health, or finding more purpose in your life.
Jordan’s interviews are designed to be perspective-shifting, giving you the tools and inspiration to transform your life. From overcoming obstacles to building stronger habits, these episodes are packed with practical insights you can use today. Whether you're looking to grow in your career, improve your income, or enhance your personal life, you’ll find value in every conversation.
Join Jordan Edwards and a lineup of incredible guests for thought-provoking conversations that will inspire you to take action, improve your performance, and unlock your full potential. No matter where you are on your journey, this podcast will help you get unstuck, grow, and build a life filled with purpose and success.
#Clockedin with Jordan Edwards
#221 - From Near Failure to Franchise Success: Gregg Majewski’s Journey in the Restaurant Industry
What happens when you invest emotionally in a poorly located restaurant, nearly flunk out of college, and then land a transformative career at Jimmy John's? Gregg Majewski, the visionary behind Craveworthy Brands, joins us to share his incredible journey and the tough lessons he's learned along the way. Gregg's story is a testament to the power of taking risks and believing in oneself, as he candidly recounts his path from near failure to a life-altering opportunity in the restaurant industry. Listen as we explore the art of building successful franchise teams and why betting on your own potential can unlock unforeseen opportunities.
Gregg offers a treasure trove of insights into the dynamics of franchising, emphasizing the importance of hiring motivated individuals and nurturing franchisee relationships. Discover unique strategies that helped Jimmy John’s stand out, including transitioning from single to multi-unit operations while maintaining brand integrity. We uncover the challenges of rapid growth and the pitfalls of unaligned advertising advice, revealing how thoughtful training and systems can drive consistent success. Gregg’s innovative approaches, like acquiring a $43 million asset for just $1, highlight the bold moves that can lead to remarkable achievements.
As we look towards the future, Gregg shares his ambitious plans to revolutionize the restaurant sector by 2025, focusing on technology, consumer packaged goods, real estate, and franchise development. Learn how Craveworthy has expanded to 225 restaurants across 15 brands since its inception in 2023, achieving $225 million in system-wide sales. Through tales of negotiation mastery and understanding self-value, Greg inspires us to seize opportunities aligned with our financial goals, ensuring that his team thrives along the way. Join us for an episode that promises to equip you with strategies for growth and transformation in the restaurant industry.
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Hey, what's going on, guys? I got a special guest here today. We have Greg Majewski. He's a leader in the restaurant world. You may know him for his time at Jimmy John's where he served as CFO, coo and eventually CEO. He's also started Craveworthy Brands, where he helps new franchisors have great restaurant success. Greg, I'm so happy to have you on the Hashtag ClockedIn podcast. I know there's going to be a ton of value today.
Speaker 2:So let's start off. What's a big mistake you've made, cause you've had so much success? I mean, you make mistakes every day and that's one of the biggest things that it took me a long time to learn. It's okay to fail, and so I mean biggest failure I ever had was I opened up a restaurant after I left Jimmy John's and I put my sweat and blood, sweat and tears into this business and food was great. Everything was great about it, except the location sucked.
Speaker 2:And instead of giving up on it like most you should because it was my baby, I went ahead and I pumped a hundred thousand to $200,000 a year into this thing for about 15 years, and I did it because it was so important to me emotionally that I didn't want to let something that I created down and I'm like, well, the area is going to build up, this is going to happen, myers will actually develop and, you know, put their facility in where I would have had a gold mine, and it just never came and I kept believing everything and just praying that it was going to work. But I mean, I threw away money after money after money because my ego got in the way that I couldn't let something go that was so dear to my heart. So during that time and that lesson that I finally learned was you got to fail. You know it's okay. It's okay to walk away.
Speaker 2:Not every business, not every job, not every thing you're going to do. Every relationship is going to be a home run and a success. You got to know when you can move on and not learn something from it. And the lesson that I learned from that was that you know everything that a PE group would tell you. You know, cut your losses faster, move on to the next thing and go ahead. And you know what you're doing just go ahead and do it somewhere else and do it again. And as you do that more and more, you become more and more successful. But it was a costly lesson for me.
Speaker 1:And I can only imagine, because you had such great success at Jimmy John's and you start going from 33 to over 300 units, you start to realize I'm indestructible, I can do anything. And what was your mindset at that time? Because I know you went from University of Kentucky and you started this journey of hey, I might go accounting. And then you get the call from Jimmy Explain to the audience that.
Speaker 2:I mean to think everyone, when they go through school, think you're going to go, take your job out of school and you're going to work your way up. And I was no different. I worked, you know, after nearly flunking out and having to pay for school and all this other stuff. And once I finally got my head on, I had an opportunity to take a job that every CPA student wanted. And all set was good going to go.
Speaker 2:And out of the blue, someone by the name of Jimmy Johns called me. I had no idea what Jimmy was. I had no idea what Jimmy Johns was, and he somehow got my resume and offered me an internship and Arthur Anderson at the time told me to take a semester off. I didn't need to start. And I'm like, okay, great, I'm going to take this internship and see.
Speaker 2:And after a couple of weeks, him and I met and he offered me a full-time job and told me he was going to change my life. And couple of weeks, him and I met and he offered me a full-time job and told me he was going to change my life. And I looked at him and said, well, it's not as good as what I'm going to make over here. And he said I'll match it. And I'm like, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2:And you know, but I took a huge, huge gamble to take a restaurant or a guy that I had no idea about and believed in the vision that he was setting forth for us and jumped in full force and that decision has changed my life to this day. It was the best decision I've ever made in my business career, that I gambled on an unknown brand to me, an unknown guy that was struggling at the time to make it himself, and went all in because I saw a career path that I could eventually run that company because he had nothing. So I gambled on myself and him and it worked.
Speaker 1:That's, that's incredible, and you start to realize how much like curiosity really opens the door because there's so many people who would have been like go with the safe path, go with this, go with that. But you start to realize like sometimes those big breaks come from risk being open to risk sometimes.
Speaker 2:So I mean, if you talk to any entrepreneur out there, if they don't take the risk, they don't get to the next level. And you can look at Elon Musk, you can look at anyone. The big gambles is what makes you or break you. You know, and that's no different than the gamble that I took, I felt I knew I was good and I knew I was what I was capable of and regardless it was a risk for me. That set me up for the rest of my life and to this day it still pays the fact that I took that risk.
Speaker 2:But if you don't, if you're not going to gamble on yourself, then you really should be working for someone else. And I know that's hard for people to hear and hard for that communication. But if you want to make your lives better and if you want to get to that next level, you always got to bet on you. You know, don't take the safe bet, Don't sit there and wait. Take the gamble on yourself, Because if you believe in yourself, you should be able to move up every rank of the way.
Speaker 1:So many people are just so comfortable living with that paycheck and they're making a ton of money they don't want to jeopardize it, they don't want to risk and take that risk, but I think the cool thing about what your story is is that you took a risk but it wasn't. Hey, I'm about to start my own sandwich shop. You know what I mean. You were took a risk with someone who was already doing it as well, so that there's a dynamic to that as well, because a lot of people and I'm just sharing this for the audience like a lot of people, think I have to go start my own business to be an owner, and that's not always the case.
Speaker 2:No, I mean you've got to gamble with anything. It's do you take the promotion, do you move jobs and take a startup position with a new company Because you have a career path to move forward. It doesn't matter what the risk is, it doesn't? You don't always to be successful. It doesn't mean you have to go and start your own business, you know.
Speaker 2:But being successful is continuing to move yourself up, and everyone's goal in life is to create generational wealth for yourself and anyone who says that that's not their goal for going to work every day and that you get us coming back and forth. You don't want to live to paycheck. You want to set yourself up so you can have the life you always dreamed about Boats, cars, vacations, whatever it is that makes you happy. You work for those things your family, making sure your kids can go to college, all of that those are the things you work for, and if you don't gamble on yourself, you're never going to get to that next level to be able to give them more and do more. And at a certain point in people's lives they just get comfortable, and that's when you see the true leaders are the people that are those entrepreneurial spirits in companies starting their own businesses and all that. The people that are always willing to take the risk tend to be the ones that always get the reward.
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%, and you see that so often where it's there's comfort that's causing you like you don't enjoy the comfort and you want to get away from that which is challenging, or there's so much discomfort that you want to run away from that. So it's like running towards pleasure or running away from pain, and a lot of people wait for the pain to be so bad that they need to run away. But the real incredible people are the one who find the opportunities where it's hey, I'm not the hat, I'm not that happy where I'm at. It may be comfortable, but I need to make that change today and I need to force some sort of change to occur. So, right, when you got to jimmy johns, what? What allowed you to like move up the ranks because everyone's in there going like how old are you at this time? Was it 22?
Speaker 2:23, 20, 21, I just I. Just when I took the job I was 21 and I turned 22 shortly after. Um, but I mean, yeah, I was 22 years old. I was a stupid rat kid that thought he could do anything yeah and most people yeah, most people are 22,.
Speaker 1:Aren't even capable of focusing on something for that long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean I was lucky enough in a way, that I had to survive for the last four years, and again I screwed up and so I knew that I had to prove myself and then I had to work and that I had the work ethic to sort of do the things that I needed and work to me, if I'm doing something that's fun and again I have only done things that I find fun it's not work. So I don't feel that, hey, outworking somebody is hard because I'm enjoying what I'm doing. All the time that I look up at the clock and realize, oh my God, it's been a 15 hour day or a 16 hour day, Not a big deal. I go home and I do it again and I'm excited to get up every morning. You know where most people, when they wake up on a Monday morning, they're like oh, I think it's Monday. I wake up and go, let's go, it's Monday. You know, it's so much fun and I'm ready to go. I can't wait to walk in on Monday morning because it's just it's fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that comes down to for the audience realizing what you associate is work, right, so a lot of us have work as like it's, these long hours, long commute, not fun, et cetera, et cetera. But you hear, greg, who's someone who's very successful, has the complete opposite of what he views work as, and a lot of the entrepreneurs I've interviewed always felt that way. So how did you find the fun in what you were doing? Because there's a lot of people who are like I can't find the fun in this and it's, it's such a mistake.
Speaker 2:So I mean, to me it's always the challenge of proving again. You got to have a chip on your shoulder to prove to other people that what you're doing you're going to be better at. So having that always on my shoulder that I'm going to be capable of. Hey, I was a 22 year old kid that I was going to be a CFO at 22.
Speaker 2:You know I had a chip on my shoulder to prove everybody wrong that said I couldn't do it, that I could do it, you know. And having that chip on my shoulder to constantly prove to people what I could do help motivate me and that was fun. Proving people wrong to me was fun. Proving people wrong to me was fun. Proving people wrong with the company at Jimmy John's that we were going to actually become the number two sandwich concept in America was fun, because we did it differently than the Subways or the Blimpies of the time or all that. We did it because we built that big on our franchisees and we went all in on the way. We knew what the hell we were doing and we were going to do it better and we all had this mindset that we were just going to kick ass with it and not worry about what anything else done. And no one thought we'd do it. That was another chip on our shoulder that just made it fun.
Speaker 2:Hiring and being with the right group is part of what makes it fun. You know, having the right people on the bus. I know that gets a lot of negative connotation, but if you're in a team and there was wrong people on it that are constantly complaining about what we're doing. It brings you down at work. Getting rid of the people like that and making sure the team is all bought in and focused, that makes it fun, you know.
Speaker 2:And then when you're all firing a one common goal and everything is about that goal and the whole organization is beating to the same drum, you don't ever feel like you're working. I mean, I've got shift leads in restaurants that email me their numbers at night because they're proud they did X in sales because I set a goal for them. You know, and that's the type of fun that we have. And they're thrilled that the CEO of this company texts them back and says great job, you exceeded. You know it means a lot to them, but then they go and do it more. Those are the type of things that in an organization how you make it fun and again for you constantly wanting to be the best you know, if you're not motivated to be the best and you're just going to collect a paycheck, it's never going to be fun. Nothing you do is going to be fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one thing you brought up there that I think is really important that Jimmy probably said was number two sandwich shop in the US. Like you start to realize when you have big goals, other people can be inside of your big vision. So, when you have these goals and these desires that you want, you want to have huge visions so that so you can get other A players inside of your vision. Vision because otherwise it never works out. So, as you're going through this and you go CFO, coo, ceo how did you feel about that experience? Cause I feel like most people would have been imposter syndrome. This isn't me. How is this going on? Cause you probably have a bunch of friends who are just going their regular path, doing their thing and you're like dude, I'm running a big business here.
Speaker 2:I mean it changed my life day one Like I never. I didn't get to live my twenties like a normal 20 year old, you know, and I look back at things and some of the regrets. I miss some of the things that most 20 year olds get to do, you know, and that's building the friendships and stuff like that with that group of people. I was dealing with people way older than me that were my peers and I was always the oddball and so I didn't get that friendship that you got and, looking back at it, you miss it. But because of that I had a bigger chip on my shoulder that I was going to belong, and getting people like Dave Thomas and other great restaurant people to see that I was actually doing the work and mentoring me through the process was my validation that I was doing the right thing.
Speaker 2:you know, and having those people come and support me when they did, when nobody else would talk to me at conferences just proved that I was capable of being there and they saw that my work ethic and what we were doing was right. I never didn't think I belonged Like again when I was in the being there and they saw that my work ethic and what we were doing was right. I never didn't think I belonged Like again when I was in the company in the walls. I knew that was my spot. But when you walked out and went in the public for the first time and you started talking to others, they looked at you like what? And you had to find a way to sort of fight through that and figure out that. One, they were jealous. Two, they wish they could have done what you did at that age.
Speaker 2:You know that someone believed in you enough to give you the keys to his castle back at the time. That he did I mean Jimmy, looking back at it, was an idiot for allowing me to do that. I mean he gambled and trusted me. And again, if I'd go back and do it today, I don't know if I would have given the keys to myself, you know, but he saw something in me that was going to. He knew I was going to work my butt off and that we may not have known what was right or what was wrong, but we were going to, together, find a way forward and we knew what the principles of the business was.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And then one of the other huge things I think is super important is the importance on the franchisees. So can you harp on that a little bit? When you guys at Jimmy John's were getting new franchisees, how did you allow them to be successful? Because I feel like when you're a franchisor, you just got to sell, sell, sell and it's such a challenging dynamic.
Speaker 2:So what made Jimmy John's so special and what we do at Crave Early today, is that we don't believe in that sell, sell, sell. It's not about selling 5,000 restaurants. It's about having your franchisees make as much money as humanly possible and letting them win. So we give bigger territories, we allow them to grow with us. We don't oversell them or make them have huge build-out schedules that they're never going to hit and we bet on them. We pick a guy that is hungry like we are and that's going to work their butts off to get to that next level. And one of the greatest joys that I see is now some of these Jimmy John's franchisees that now have 30, 40, 50 Jimmy John's but now have 30, 40, 50 other brands three or four times. And they built these empires for themselves because we gave them an opportunity when most other franchise systems would have said no, and it just.
Speaker 2:You need a starting point, you need someone to believe in you, and that's what made Jimmy John's so special is that we believed in the person that wanted to come in and we chose people that had the same chip on their shoulder as our employees, did Something to prove to everybody else that this was what they should be doing. And when you pick right and you surround yourself with people that are all bought into that same vision and again, as a franchisee, you want to be bought into the franchisor's vision when you got that message down and they were all marching to that same drum at Jimmy John's Free, fast delivery, hospital, clean, perfect bread when everybody was focused on those things and going out and sampling, everybody was seeing significant growth, the brand wasn't that special. I mean, the thing that set us apart was we were delivery. You know, before delivery was cool, um, you know that was our point of differentiation to most people, but it was really the fact that we made a sandwich in 15 seconds, you know, and that you could be out the door.
Speaker 1:I mean you bring this, yeah, you bring this up. It's funny that when I was so I'm in Tampa and we would go out and there's this street called South Howard and everyone would always go to Jimmy John's as the hours would get later and later and later because it would turn a sandwich, like that when you're waiting two minutes for a pizza, you already got your sandwich, and it was this interesting dynamic where it would just go. You're waiting two minutes for a pizza, you already got your sandwich, and it was this interesting dynamic where it would just go. You're like how'd that happen so fast?
Speaker 2:I don't get it, but that was what we built the culture on. And having all that going at the same time and then allowing your franchisees to open up store number two and not cannibalize their area, but open up store number two in an area that doesn't hurt store number one. Number two in an area that doesn't hurt store number one having that happen and allow them to have two home runs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, All of a sudden then they're starting to make serious money, that they then are like oh, let me get five, six, seven, eight of these things and open up in a much bigger territory. But it worked because we bet on them.
Speaker 1:And what does that jump like? Because I know, when you're a single operator, you're running it and you're like this is amazing, but I'm doing everything. How do you get people to that mindset of like let's go multi-unit, Because there's so many people that are stuck, Like you got to start building the team.
Speaker 2:You have to give them the tools to be able to do that. So we created a training procedure and a training mechanism that allowed them to learn how to operate one restaurant and then, when they were ready, we taught them how to operate two restaurants, three, four, and then, once you got to four, we put in an area manager over the four restaurants. That allowed them to sort of balance and manage all four at the same time. When we started doing those things, that's when we kicked it into another high gear. But we had to learn that you couldn't just operate one restaurant. You had to teach them how to operate two, three and four.
Speaker 2:And everyone in this industry would tell you going from one to two is really, really hard. Going from two to four is as hard, you know, because you can't be in the two restaurants. You can split your time 50, 50 for restaurants. You cannot split your time 50, 50. You're in each store maybe 20, 15 to 20% Cause then you got other responsibilities you got to do.
Speaker 2:How do you manage them? How do you hold them accountable? What are your procedures that are going to allow you to make sure that the integrity of the brand is always working when you're not present, and so the checklist and the procedures that we bought into part of the culture that we built were so important that everybody followed these same systems and we created them. So if the system broke, you knew that, hey, we fixed the system, the procedure that we're supposed to do. But nine out of 10 times it wasn't a system failure, it was a training mistake. You had to go and retrain your employee to do that procedure properly. You know and we continue to redefine the system to make it almost monkey proof to be able to operate a restaurant.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And then, as going through that journey, what were some of the mistakes that you've had or you felt that you did? Maybe not you, but maybe the team had, just because it's moving so fast, I mean, you're going at hyper speed. Nothing goes correctly at all times.
Speaker 2:I mean, we made mistakes with advertising.
Speaker 2:That was a continual one because we didn't have the budget to go and we always thought we had a bigger budget than what we did.
Speaker 2:So we would do big ads, even though we should have probably been doing small ads, because we couldn't do it at that point. We also listened to people that were in the industry for a long, long time and took their advice instead of staying true to what we were. So, you know, and because they didn't get the DNA of what Jimmy John's was or made it special. So every time we brought in someone outside to sort of look at us and do that, they gave us all these things that we should go and work and do, and after a little bit we realized they didn't know our brand and we ended up throwing them out because they just didn't get the fact that this was so unique and so simple that we made a restaurant so easy to operate. We didn't think like those big restaurant chains. We basically thought like a manufacturing company. You know, it was a system or procedure for everything and nothing besides that system or procedure mattered.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think that's so important because whenever anyone's building a business or building anything, you have to realize that it has to be replicatable. And there's so many people that are like no, I'm special and it's like no, no, no, Like everybody can do this. Let's make it as simple as possible and make it easy for everyone to do so. For you, Greg, why would you step away from this? Why would you step away from Jimmy's after you're still pretty young, Like? What were your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:So I mean I stepped away because the what, what was supposed to happen didn't, and Jimmy and I started to have a difference of views and, as you start getting to a certain point, the philosophy of not cannibalizing areas and not populating stores and all that became very important to me. And that wasn't always eye to eye. And, as you see, inspire and the bigger groups that have now bought the brand you've seen cannibalization left and right because they just care about top line and top line sales and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And to me that wasn't what we built, Just for the audience, really quick. What is cannibalization if they don't know what that means?
Speaker 2:So cannibalization in the restaurant industry is basically you put too many of the same type of stores within the same demographics of your store. So you put store one and store two, then start pulling from the same people that are in the middle. So instead of having people drive that extra little bit to get to store one, you get more sales between the two stores but the top line volume drops from store one because store two opens and once that starts happening your franchisee doesn't make as much money because you want that top line as high as possible. So the bottom line continues to grow and that just continued to churn. And to me that was always the biggest no-no with any brand. You know you have to have a, you have to. Your box has to make this money 15 to 20% for your franchisee all the time and that's got to be the goal. And if it's not, the franchisor has to do something continually to make sure that they're striving to get to that number.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's one of the coolest things I think about you is that you constantly focus not on the overall business like you focus on the overall business as a whole, but the major key is that the franchisees are happy and profitable and making money and able to succeed.
Speaker 2:How do you, I mean. I mean, that's the most important thing. They're buying, they're trusting you with their investment and paying you a percent of what they do every day. So if you're not focused on that every day, then you're not. You shouldn't be taking their money.
Speaker 2:And we have a brand that I bought recently that you know sold to people that shouldn't have bought Box, economics wasn't right and we've taken a year to sort of fix everything. And there was this fighting with you that, hey, why am I doing this? I didn't have to do this. I was an owner. I didn't need an operator. We could just open it and make money. Well, that's not the way the restaurant works.
Speaker 2:So I sort of had to change the philosophies of this brand and get them in, philosophies of this brand and get them in. We worked on getting food costs down. We worked on that. Now we got to work on getting top line up. But it's taken a year to get to the point where now I say food costs is right, service is right. You know, we have the model somewhat right now. Let's build top line. You know, but you couldn't do that until you got the other things working. So they you know the franchise community's hurting during this time, and so when I bought it and I first took over the operations, I had a meeting with the franchise community and I point blank told them 50% of you should shut your doors. I know that's not what you want to hear, but the hard conversation you know I'm not going to be able to save all of you.
Speaker 2:Nothing I can do can fix bad locations or the fact that you don't you're not operating your restaurant. You know you have to be truthful to yourself. Do you want to go through this and continue to lose money, or do you want to go ahead and make a change and get out?
Speaker 1:And because of what?
Speaker 2:I learned firsthand. There's no reason to pump more money into something that's never going to get there. Yeah, four or five years from now you may get to break even, but guess what? Your lease is up, yeah. And so why do it? Negotiate and now get out, you know, and see if you can be fixed.
Speaker 2:And some of them just opened it and had high school kids opening up these restaurants. They lived in Utah and the restaurant was in Dallas and they had someone putting their key in that they never saw. So if you're going to do that, that's not. You're not at that stage with one store investment to be able to do that. You have no operating partner. You're not going to win that way. So we had to change that mentality of this brand and now we're starting to see stores that have come on that have bought into once we were here that opened after we took over and explained it, opening with record sales every time because they're buying into our system, you know, and got an operator and in the right locations and all this other stuff. But I can't fix the past. I can only fix going forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And what caused you to open up Craveworthy so Craveworthy was.
Speaker 2:After consulting and doing everything else in this industry and had a bunch of different PE groups try to get me to run their PE funds, I knew that I wanted to create a platform company for emerging restaurants. I wanted to take the brands that in today's world can't compete because the big boys are the big boys and someone's going to come in and buy you early and you're going to get taken out or that. You're going to have a great idea and they're going to copy it. And, trent, I wanted to give them an avenue to grow at the scale and the speed that they should in today's time, without having to give up who they were in the DNA of the brands and allow the founders to still be a part of the company and run them without making the mistakes that we all made in our beginning stages.
Speaker 2:So, picking the right franchisees, negotiating proper food costs, helping them with branding and all that. That was the idea behind Crave, where they did rocket fuel on emerging brands. So they, you know, have that rocket ship, go off and get to the scale that they should, because now the restaurant industry is in hey, let's take 20 years to get to the you know, 3000 units. It's hey, in five years you've got to be 200 open and 300 or 400 more sold. Yes, because the consumers meant you know everything's gone.
Speaker 2:They get hot for a second and then move on to the next one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which can be very challenging. So for you, it seems like at that point you were probably very like not needing the money. What caused you to want to do this? Because we know that money doesn't drive people, but what actually drives people? What drives you?
Speaker 2:So I wanted to prove that we could do it again and again no-transcript. I did this more to again chip on my shoulder that I could do it over and over again with what I learned in my past, and we could do it at such a scale that then we could compete with the works and everything else to be the holding house of all these incredible brands, but doing it from the operator perspective and not from a financial side.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to be dependent on the franchise results or having a PE guy come in and say build, build, build. I wanted to build this as operators and do it the way operators should be and be true to the franchise community the entire time and when, when, you get away from that yeah, you know you sell to whoever in the franchise side, and that's just never been what I've been about.
Speaker 1:And what's the major difference between, like you're saying, an operator and then someone who goes the PE path? What's the major difference there?
Speaker 2:You have to hit certain stores no matter what, and that means you're selling or doing things that you know you really shouldn't be doing. But you got to get your numbers to continue to get funding, and that's usually the death nail of most restaurant companies. You know, and I got an argument at a conference that I spoke at that I called PE the devil. You know, and I mean this in a way that, yes, there's a place for PE all the time, but the PE's got to buy into the right way to do things.
Speaker 2:And in the restaurant industry, especially in the emerging side. They don't build emerging franchisors very well. They're great at building corporate restaurants, they're great at building corporate-owned brands because money is needed for that, but they're not good at building franchisors because you've got to open up so many stores so fast to get to any type of income for them that they're pushing things that they shouldn't be pushing. Yes, and so that's a big differential for me. So we took a blanket of multiple brands, knowing that, hey, if we sell 50 of one brand, 20 for another, let them grow at the speed that they're supposed to. Yeah, of course we'd like to sell 400 of them if that's what the market dictates, but let them start to steamroll and see where they go and build them at the speed that they're supposed to build.
Speaker 1:Yes, because when you put that pressure way too much on one brand, it might not work out. You know what I mean. And sometimes stuff does, sometimes stuff doesn't. And for those who don't know with craveworthy you opened in 2023 and how many brands do?
Speaker 2:you have at this point, because this is very quick, I mean so open with zero of everything in 2023. We now have 15 brands, 225 restaurants, um about 225 million in system-wide sales uh, wow, you know, in about 100 corporate owned locations out of those 225, um, you know, not bad for a two-year sort of ramp up no, not, not at all, not at all.
Speaker 1:like that is incredible. And how? How did you think about going about this? Because 225 restaurants like that's a lot of restaurants, like that's a lot of moving pieces, and going from zero to that. Obviously you've had the experience with what you've done, but to build the team that you're not ever ready for that.
Speaker 2:No, you weren't. No, I mean, mistakes were made. You know, you, you make hires because you think you need to go and make these hires and sometimes they fit the culture, sometimes they don't. You know, you've got to build a team so fast and what I made mistakes here is that I brought in people that I thought would fit my culture, that I had to pivot and bring in people that do fit my culture. You know, it was more important again to hire the right person to sit on the bus than sometimes to hire the body that everybody thinks is this great individual. We had to pick and choose what we do and you know the challenges are real, just whenever you grow that fast. When we announced Craveworthy in 2023, I announced that I acquired three restaurants brands. Craveworthy in 2023, I announced that I acquired three restaurants brands. I thought I'd have one more deal that year and never in my wildest dreams would have thought we would have gotten to the point we did the way we did. But with the lightning in a bottle moment was sort of real.
Speaker 2:And we continue to get new deals and new offers and new opportunities that we never thought we were going to be able to get, and we've taken some gambles. I bought a brand, a company, for $1. It was a $43 million asset that the PE group said enough, there's no more funding for it. And the 29th hour I came in and offered them a buck. I take all the liabilities and everything off their plate and we go to see if we could fix it.
Speaker 2:We've done stuff like that because it was the right time, right moment and we knew we had the infrastructure to sort of drive down the cost to do that and that brand. We've added almost 12 and a half points to the bottom line at the restaurant level, but we're still getting through all the crap that this company had before. We can get our head above water, but it was a $1 gamble and for a $43 million asset that this other group put money into, it was a great deal. If we're able to fix it, you know who wouldn't want that return, and if we're not, it's okay. We shut the doors and we move on and we have nothing that hurts because we bought the stock of that company, you know. And so we bankrupt it like they were going to, but it was a big risk.
Speaker 1:Of course, company, you know, and so we bankrupted like they were going to. But it was a risk, yeah, of course, and I think that's such an important fact to bring up, that when you can do a very low risk and see a very high return on the back side, it's like why not give it a try? So for me, what I find very interesting is that you're going through all these different restaurants. Where did you get all this deal making experience? Because it's it's a fascinating area and it's a little bit different than operating a restaurant. So it's amazing to me watching all the different pieces together.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know, it just sort of came natural and I wish and as I've done more and more, I've learned how to, you know, do more and more. And one of the things that Jimmy told me back in the day if you don't ask for it, you don't get it, you know. So I've made crazy terms and people have said yes, um, like the dollar. No one should have taken a dollar for that company. But you know, we got that for a dollar at throughout, a dollar, um, and I just sort of learned from those experience that it's that if you don't ask, you don't get, and it's okay to be told no, then you figure out where you need to go and if that's not right for you, walk away.
Speaker 2:So there's another group that I love to acquire right now that we're negotiating and they're stuck on this huge number for their establishment. It doesn't make sense to me and as much as I think I want this brand and I think the brand's going to do exceptional, it's over my price range of what I want to invest in an individual four-store group. Yes, you know. So sometimes you got to know also, it's okay not to get that one.
Speaker 1:You know yeah.
Speaker 2:And when, too many times, when you're fighting for that one deal you're going to, you think you're stuck. You have to go with it. If I get it, I get it, if I don't, I don't. The price has got to be right for what I want to pay.
Speaker 1:I think there's two major points. There's one that if you don't ask, you don't get, and what I mean by that is like you're already at a no Like. If you don't offer anything, it's a no, so like as long as you offer something, you might get something. And then the abundance of knowing. There's so many deals out there and if it's not the right deal at this time, that's okay, because there's such an attachment and a fear of rejection for a lot of people that they go no, I can't offer. That that's embarrassing and it's like you have to offer something or it's not going to. The conversation is not going to get started.
Speaker 2:And it's not going to. The conversation's not going to get started. And it's the same as when you negotiate a contract of any need. Yes, you know they're going to give you a price. That price they're giving you is the price that wins for that. You know that's their best price they're going to get. They're going to make the most money off of it's the price that they come with you on. You know.
Speaker 2:So everyone goes back. It's like negotiating in car. You think there's so much room to be had and usually there's a ton of room to be had. You know, and you know we've also gotten to the point now that I have this reputation that when I make an offer it is my best offer. You know, I, I go in and I I don't negotiate. I go in because I've done this so long. This is the price I want. Either hit it or don't. You know, if you don't, no big deal. And we did this with Coke and Pepsi on our contract. You know, I just went in I wanted X amount and told them both it. They both sort of looked at me like okay, whatever. And I'm like great, I won't sign a contract with either. I'll be a free agent for a year, you'll regret it. Coke comes back and gave me exactly what I asked for Because they didn't want to risk that I do more. I'd accomplish what we said we were going to accomplish and then go to Pepsi and have let me over there. They took the gamble because they knew that's what I wanted and how to do it.
Speaker 2:You know, if you don't ask, it doesn't happen. And if you don't push them for what's right for you, it doesn't happen. And that goes for your career too. It's no different. If you don't ask for a raise or ask for your number, you know and accept whatever you're going to get, whatever they're going to offer, they're not going to give you the highest number that's budgeted in a year. They're going to give you what they can to help them be more profitable. So it's the same thing. You know, know what your worth is, know what you're capable of and ask. If you don't ask, you're not going to get it. Yeah, maybe it costs you a job, you know. Or you don't get the raise, but then if that's what you truly feel you're worth is, find that spot where you're worth is supposed to be and then ask for it and make sure you get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's so important because you have to realize, especially in America, there's so many opportunities out there and if you don't like, it's funny, we'll go to places. And like we went to this like a light show yesterday and the girl's like yeah, I have a s'more and it's $3, but I'm like if we get two s'mores, can we get it for five? And she's like no, no, like the owner's going to be upset at me. We don't allow that. And I'm like my, my wife immediately goes here's the card, we'll pay for that, no worries. And I'm like you have to let people have that conversation because you're just practicing the skill and I'm just giving this so that the audience can see negotiations everywhere. It's little things with people all the time, and the more you practice is like a muscle. The more you practice, the more you can do, because you get past that.
Speaker 1:How do you feel about rejection and how do you overcome that? Because a lot of people are like I can't handle rejection. It's one of the biggest fears I.
Speaker 2:I, in all honesty, I could care less. Um, adds another chip on my shoulder, you know. So if a brand says no or turns me down or something like that, and I want that segment, I'll go find something else. I'm going to put them out of business. You know, that's sort of the mentality that I have. You know, and it's that killer instinct that you hear about athletes and everything else is that when someone tells me no, I'm going to make sure that's the biggest regret they have ever had.
Speaker 2:You know, in some way, shape or form, I may not always do it, but, man, it just gives me that extra little bit of motivation on my shoulder to go ahead and stick it to somebody and, but that's, you got to have what drives you and you got to. Hey, you're going to be told no, absolutely. But use that to make yourself better, use that as a driver, use that as a reason to get up and go harder. Um, you know, and everyone talks about Jordan and getting cut from his high school team and all that other stuff. But you know, the guy used that motivation to become the best basketball player ever and you know that is a crucial component because he, he continued to just nag that on him continually, because he wanted to prove everybody wrong.
Speaker 2:You know that is you've got to find a driver to make yourself better. You know, and you can't in today's age, especially the younger generations in the workforce think everything's got to be cuddles and you know cotton candy and candy canes and oh, you got to treat me with this and that. And the fact is is that that's not a real world environment. Getting a participation trophy at work doesn't happen or in life doesn't happen. You know, if you're going to go out there and prove yourself, it's not about a participation trophy. It's not always about winning either, but it is also about doing the best and knowing that you have to exceed expectations day in and day out. And I tell my kids on a regular basis that you can't half-ass.
Speaker 2:Trying just because that gets you by doesn't actually make you better. You know, if you're not going to put the work in day in and day out every day to make yourself better, then why are you doing it? And that goes for their sports. They would go in and I'm like how was practice? It was all right, I go. It didn't look like you were really trying today. I didn't want to be here. I'm like then why are we doing this and had that conversation because they have to want to put in the time to get better If you want to be the best negotiator, practice it.
Speaker 2:If you want to start a company, you got to go and do it. You may fail, but if you don't do it, you're never going to know if you're capable of doing it.
Speaker 2:And once you start doing it magically, something kicks into most people that it's a thrill that they don't want to ever stop type world, even though people say it is, you know, and all these millionaires are being made and all that. There's as many phonies out there and this young generation is so stuck on seeing oh, I can look, this guy has a plane, you know for posting all the time, uh-huh, sure, they do. Look a little closer. There's a tarp over the engine that they just got off, doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:Did you see, uh, I don't know if if you saw this, but one of the biggest businesses out of new york right now is someone bought, uh, like the plane structure. They didn't even buy a plane. They literally bought a little canvas area like a back area and then they made it a plane and they just made it like, and then they're taking their photo shoots there and it's booked out all the time because it's no, no one's like. A lot of this stuff isn't really happening, so it's. It's that realization of like putting in the actual work. And one of the biggest realizations that I've had this year is that if I have to work hard for something and I don't get the result, but I proved to myself that I can work hard it's a bigger skill set that I got than actually accomplishing said goal, because you push yourself through. You know what I mean. There's so many times where we don't get what we want, we don't get the answers and we have to keep pushing through I mean, every day you don't succeed in what you want to accomplish.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean and that goes for anyone, I mean elon, elon Musk. He bought Twitter, thought it was going to be, he was going to make money right away. It's got what 68 million or 680 million valuation today, bought it for 6.8 billion. I mean, the guy took a butt kicking. He for sure thought he was going to make money on that deal. As much as he wants to go and say, oh, it was about freedom of the speech, loony, he thought he was going to make deal on money on it. We fail, you know, and you don't always get the results you want. But man, the guy tried. The guy changed it the way he said he was going to. And you know, it's a better company maybe today than it was before, but it's not seeing the valuation yet.
Speaker 2:I mean, the guy was almost bankrupt at Tesla, you know, and so let's think about that. He was done no more money. He was out and he got that one deal, one contract that gave him enough to get by, and now he's the wealthiest human being in the world and he didn't give up, he didn't go run in a corner. And how am I going to get through it. He just knew he was going to do it. There's reasons why these sick individuals and again having that in your head makes you a little sick. I don't disagree with that, but having that in you that you're not going to give up and not going to fail, tends to you're going to get by and even if that business fails or that task fails, you're going to be better off for it because you tried to do it.
Speaker 1:Yes, I completely agree, and there was even if you really think about it, like with Elon. He was part of the PayPal mafia, ended up he had enough money to do nothing, Like he could have just sat there and done nothing, and he chose because he wanted to be a builder and he wanted to do more, and that's the way his mindset was, where it's like no, we have to do. And he's very high on the risk tolerance place compared to a lot of others. So you have to know yourself. But it's this knowing and learning process of learning yourself through these different experiences and these different opportunities, to become the best version of whoever you want to be and whatever you want to be. So what motivates you today?
Speaker 2:I mean truly. We set a goal and that's the motivation. So when we started Graveworthy, I wanted to be a billion dollar company in five years. No way did that a doable number, you know. If we achieve that, god be amazing. But I set such a lofty goal that we're able to march towards, and I wake up every day trying to figure out a way to get us closer and closer to that goal. And so I said something that most people laugh at me for saying that's my goal, or even spilling it out, and you know they're probably right. But they also told me I wouldn't be a hundred million after two years, and I'm at 225 million. You know that's pretty damn good, you know. And so we doubled each year as we've been doing it. And again, if we double next year, we'll have four. If we double after that, I'm at eight. I'm really, really close Now. Is that doable? Who the hell knows. But I believe that's what we're marching towards and we're constantly trying to figure out a way to get there.
Speaker 2:But I mean the motivation that really gets me up every day is that, when I left Jimmy John's, the amount of millionaires that we created and the amount of people that I was able to help get their next job and create change their lives that's really what motivates me every day. The fact that I'm seeing this team, that other people may not have hired or had been washed out or, you know, didn't get bypassed for certain promotions at their companies. They were come into my company and buy into what we're doing and now seeing them excel, and the fact that they bet on me that I'm going to change their lives and that together we're going to change their lives and set a different course. That's what motivates me every day. You know and there's a couple on here that never had an opportunity or would never get their chance to be in the positions that they're on and the fact that they went all in and believe in what we're doing is all the motivation I need, because I'm going to make sure that their lives are changed forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's absolutely amazing because you start to realize that it's not just about you, but it's about the people you impact. And when you can find a role and find a job and find a business where you're really creating change in other people's lives and them seeing for the first time that they can go on that family vacation because they never had the resources to, or they are able to, send the kids to that private school, there's no better feeling than that able to send the kids to that private school.
Speaker 2:There's no better feeling than that, and I think that's kind of no, I mean, and it's making them feel like and again, the youth of today will think this is cliche but making it a family and making it where everybody cares about themselves.
Speaker 2:And if you're not in the office and not working with the individual, you can never have that because you only see them across the screen. And so, having this sort of environment where you truly are and you truly care about each other and you check in and you ask them how they're doing and you know about their family and the issues that they're having, and you know that certain people are making sacrifices, that you know they're away from home and they're missing. You know bedtimes and you know that for their girls, when they're gone, giving them experiences, that allows them to have that time so they know that their kids are, that mom or dad is being taken care of and that, hey, you now get to go to Disney world with your family because the you know it's a perk that you have. You know, and doing those types of things as you're always gone, those are the types of things that make a company different and make people want to work for you.
Speaker 2:you know, and you know giving more than what you should. And then I've always been a big, big believer in way overpaying.
Speaker 2:You know if you're going to do something that's going to be so hard and so changing, you can't have someone worried about where they're going to get their paycheck. So you know cause you got to all be focused on the reality. So I've always overpaid, and overpaid for the positions that are the people that I depend on, because I don't need them to ever worry, I don't need them leaving, for you know $10,000, you know so way, overpay them so they're all bought in and we can all be focused on the same thing. And in the end, just like my franchisees, my franchisees win today. My staff will win today. I'll win at the end, and that's okay, you know that's how we go ahead and we march.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that Because I think it's so important, because when people are worried about the money, then they can't be fully present in their role, and when they have people that help them, hey, now you can hire a cleaner. And hey, now you can hire the dry cleaner, hey, we can get the meal preps coming in, so you're not worrying about all these extra hours and you're able to put that into the work. Then you're able to build something truly incredible, which I think is amazing. So for you, greg, what is the thing that you are looking to do in 2025, as we're kind of winding down the year?
Speaker 2:What's the big thing for you? I mean it's I mean Craveworthy is going to continue to focus on changing the restaurant space. We've done something so different and so unique in how we bundle this. We want to truly change the way the restaurants industry works, and that's thinking more not just one group, but other ways that you can earn revenue off of. Can I now invest in restaurant tech? Can I now own my real estate for the restaurants that I'm open? Can I now put bundles of franchise groups together and operate them for them?
Speaker 2:But we open up 20 or 30 stores as a collective group to guarantee that they operate properly and make them more of an investment strategy? How can I change the industry by allowing people into my company and touch other aspects? So we're going to focus on CPG, restaurant tech, real estate and then, of course, building our franchise brand. Those are the four pillars of what we're building. So in the next year, you'll see restaurant tech and CPG come online In real estate. We're hoping to raise a fund for north of $100 million to open up real estate in 2025.
Speaker 1:That's incredible Because you start to realize that as you get bigger and bigger, there's more collective power and buying power, so that you guys can do a lot of things more efficiently than other people, which is the real thing of what you're doing with Craveworthy, because I think about it, the amount of restaurant owners I know who are one, two, three shop people and they're like this is my impact, but you're doing this on a real big level very, very quickly, which I think is absolutely incredible. So, as we're winding down, where can people learn more about you? Where can they learn more about Craveworthy? Where can people find you?
Speaker 2:You can go to crepeworthybrandscom and find everything, but you can also follow me on LinkedIn, greg Majewski, or follow my podcast Room for Seconds, where we do this every week with different guests in the industry, outside of the industry, you know sports stars. We're going to have a couple TV personalities come on in the next year, but again we're going to talk about leadership and how there's always room for more.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love it. I hope you guys got a ton of value from this and I can't wait for you guys to hear it all.
