Jay Ashton [00:00:00]:

I said this to an AI company yesterday. What if it was, I want to open a restaurant tomorrow or next month or whatever. Three months from now, let's say in Calgary, build it. And it does everything for you. I want to make it so it's, it picks everything. And they actually said, yeah, there is an ability, because AI has the ability now to put out job postings for humans. Have you heard about this? They put job postings out for humans now to teach AI how to be more human like. So when you look at where technology is going, can we get to that degree where you can actually tell AI, I need a restaurant in Calgary, build it.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:00:46]:

You got three months done. And then next thing you know, it's up and running. It's robotics. It's got everything going. No human interference, and it's running.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:00:58]:

Welcome to WISKing it all with your host Angelo Esposito, co founder of WISK.ai, a food and beverage intelligence platform. We're going to be interviewing hospitality professionals around the world to really understand how they do what they do. Welcome to another episode of WISKing it all. We're here today with Jay Ashton, hospitality and food service business coach and consultant and the co host of the late night restaurant show. Jay, thanks for joining us.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:01:32]:

Thank you.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:01:34]:

It's great to have you here. So look, really, I know you have over 33 years of experience in the restaurant industry. So one of the first questions I want to ask you, which might be a loaded question, but what got you into the restaurant industry in the first place?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:01:50]:

You know, it's interesting as a lot of people ask a lot of those questions. It's actually, come on. My 35th year, too.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:01:57]:

Oh, wow. Okay. 35 years.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:02:00]:

35. So January would be 35. So we're, we're getting there. You know, I guess it started with there's a lot of things, like a lot of people do these things for the purpose of reward of like financial or for their own business. And so this, I do this for personal reasons. Is that really the, the restaurant or food service industry really saved me in a way. And I have a book coming out in December. Is my book plug coming on December? That we'll talk about this as well.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:02:27]:

But I grew up really in a house of chaos, was screaming and fighting all the time. And when we were able to go to a restaurant, because those days, it wasn't like it is today, where it's part of your culture, part of your lifestyle now. Then it was just really for more celebrating different special occasions, you know, those kind of things. So when we got to go to the restaurant. A restaurant, typically the same one, but mostly at like a restaurant on a Friday or Saturday night. It was like my safe place. It was a place to really not have people fighting and screaming at each other and in a very uncomfortable place that I really started to like enjoy being in a restaurant. So, you know, my, my grandpa was a rum runner with Al Capone back in the days.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:03:20]:

My grandma ran a restaurant above Al Capone's hideout in Saskatchewan. So some connections there. But it became really a connection because of the safety I felt from a restaurant. So we go up. I started in the restaurant industry when I was 14 years old, KFC, and kind of started there and didn't really understand the industry and what it was like at all. It was just a job, right? So then we moved from there to really working with restaurants, working in pubs, cafes, running restaurants, working for large franchises. I started through, you know, the chain that a lot of people do, the model, the journey. And it was really until probably about five years ago we found out really the reason why I like this industry so much, why I want to protect it when I want to help it, why I want to help operators.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:04:14]:

It came back to, it was kind of my saving grace for what I was doing as a kid and going through as a kid. So I've dedicated really, I would say over the last 1718 years supporting and helping restaurants really succeed and to make sure that they're out much longer as independent operators and chains and franchises and everything else is that our industry is continuing to thrive. So that's personal. It's not because of making money off it. You get to have an amazing career in it. But it's really personal, which is kind.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:04:49]:

Of, that's really cool. It's funny because you mentioned like, you know, especially back in the day with special occasions which I totally agree, it was like, you know, once in a while and it was a very special occasion, you go out. And the other thing, interestingly enough, and we could probably talk about this trend more generally was at least from, from my upbringing, you, you know, I think about my parents. They typically frequent the same place.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:05:11]:

Yeah.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:05:11]:

You know, so you kind of alluded to that. But it was a lot of, I feel like that was a normal back then. If you liked the place you're like, that's our spot. Whereas today it's like you can try a different restaurant every day.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:05:21]:

It was almost. That was your spot. That was your table.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:05:23]:

Right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:05:24]:

Right. You got this at the same booth or the table or. It was odd. If you sat somewhere else in the restaurant. This is weird. I never sat here.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:05:32]:

Yeah, it's interesting to see how things have kind of evolved and now it's more about like, quantity thing. Like, can I want to try every different new place in the new place? Which is also, I think, a challenge when you talk about that because sometimes you see if a, you know, a new restaurant opens, especially in like the full service space, it's like they're hot when they open. And then it's like the real struggle is after the first, you know, x amount of months or the first year when that kind of hype fades and it's like, how do you become a sustainable business and not just the kid on the block?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:06:03]:

Yeah, I think that model's changed a lot when you look at it. I really think when you look at today, the purpose of running a restaurant then versus now, I think is shifting a little bit. You know, I think it's as make as much money as you can out of it. Opposed to back in then, it was more about, a little bit different in a mindset. I think it was more about the service that you were providing to the community and the people and your passion. And I know people have passion on that. It still exists and there's a lot of that still there. But I think more and more today, people are chasing the mighty dollar more and more and trying to get as much as they can and they have to in a way.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:06:42]:

But definitely there's a different mindset when it comes to the business. The drivers of the business behind restaurants say 100%.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:06:51]:

And I'm curious, like, on that note, again, maybe another loaded question here because it's 35 years of experience, but what are some notable kind of trends that you've seen? Right, like, obviously you've gone from, you've seen a lot of evolution from, you know, free pos and cash only businesses. But like, what are some that maybe kind of stand out when you think of like the evolution in the, in the restaurant space?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:07:15]:

There's, there has been such a change in so many areas, consumer. From operators to consumer behaviors. Right. Like we're talking about. But when you look at the overall trends and necessarily, like, it could be from, you know, today we're talking about restaurants that have to have so many locations or revenue streams that didn't exist. It was just like one revenue stream or. Right, like you only had. You didn't take out was very odd.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:07:47]:

Like, I always, I always thought, like, takeout was very rare and I pizza takeout when restaurants used to deliver their own pizzas. Or you had a pizza guy, or you had a couple pizza guys in crappy little cars. Remember those days? They're gone. Or the chinese restaurant with the chinese food and that had a car, and that was the guy that delivered that. And that was very rare. I see a lot of shift in the last 34 to 35 years is that it's becoming more complicated than anything. And I'm worried that the complications will take away the passion because of making it actually really complicated to succeed, not only from a financial side of all the challenges that are coming into the market. It's more or less like, do you have this tool? Do you have this shiny tool? Do you have this resource? And that is becoming very problematic as well because there's so much stuff out there.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:08:47]:

How do you keep your finger on it and how do you know what's changing? And then we got to deal with social media, and then we got to deal with this and that. It is mind blowing. So when you go back, the biggest impact, I think, to our industry has been the Internet. And I think if we go back before Internet, because I remember those days is before the Internet was a part of our industry, of even Google. And why do we need the Internet? Or why do I need email? Or why do I need a Facebook page? All these things. Prior to that, it was a different world. It wasn't. It was, you know, the old advertising models, all these things that we had to do to generate in people into the business.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:09:28]:

It was simplistic.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:09:29]:

Right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:09:30]:

Create good food. Open right to Friday.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:09:32]:

Yeah. Start reading.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:09:34]:

Simple. Right. And it was profitable.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:09:37]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:09:37]:

Really profitable then, too. Well, today it is like completely flipped upside down. Like if you took someone from 1985 and put them in today and said, this is what the restaurant industry looks like, is they wouldn't even know what it is. It's completely different. So, yeah.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:09:51]:

Or another way to think of it is if, and I agree with you, if you would take someone, like you said, from 1985, put them, get them to open a restaurant today, chances are they would probably closer than the first.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:10:04]:

Well, it's funny you say that because a lot of people in the, that are, you know, moving into the industry that come from the 85 that haven't adapted to the new technology, guess what? Those restaurants do close quick. I have seen them. Right?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:10:17]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:10:17]:

So, yeah. It is crazy how much it's changed.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:10:20]:

Yeah. And it's, it's interesting because it's true what you say, and it makes me think about it because it's, back then you know, you had one primary goal. It's like, okay, serve your guests and obviously make good food. But like, that's the main thing. Make good food. Serve your guests. Service food, service food. You're a restaurant.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:10:33]:

That's what you do. Or if you're a bar, drinks, but that's what you do.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:10:36]:

And it seems like even really talked about either.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:10:38]:

Right. Because the margins were there. Right. And that now. And I was going to say, I think that's probably, and, you know, I'm sure you have a lot of experience here, too, but just thinking about, like, cost of goods and just labor in general. So, like, your prime cost with everything going up so much, it's crazy. But you're right. It's like all of a sudden now you have like ten channels, not just because you want more revenue, but it's like you need ten channels.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:10:59]:

So you have on premise and off premise and you have, you know, the takeout, but pick a curbside pickup and you have, you know, online loyalty stuff. And yeah, you know, there's a million and one ways to sell.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:11:10]:

Like, I don't know, like, it's almost like your operational stack. Not even just your tech stack, but your operational stack is huge today.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:11:18]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:11:19]:

You have to have multiple things going on. Like, it's absolutely mind blowing. And then also to give that experience. Right. Like operators, most are in the industry because they love taking care of people. They want to provide that value and that experience. Well, they can't do it if they're dealing with what's going on behind the scenes. It's mind blowing.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:11:38]:

Right? There's so, there's so many things to think about that, that I think one of the things I've always noticed, and it's actually one of the inspirations behind WISK and the reason why we started. But it was like to give restaurants or time back to focus on the things they love. Because I always joke around, but it, but it's very true. It's like most restaurateurs don't really know what they're getting into. I mean, once, once they're seasoned, their season, they know what they're doing. But like most new restaurateurs, they don't know what they're getting themselves into. And they have the right intention. They're like, oh, I love serving guests.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:12:05]:

I love food. So, but it doesn't often translate to a successful restaurant because there's all these things they didn't realize they had to do, which might be like understanding p and ls and labor cost models. And cost of goods sold stuff and recipe cost cards and kind of these things that are not to downplay, but they're boring, but they're super necessary. And so it's like you got this guy or girl who opens a restaurant for their, like you said, love of hospitality, and then they get sucked into excel sheets and very dull, dull tasks. And it's like, this is not what they thought it would be. Right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:12:40]:

That happens more. Well, I don't know as much as I used to, but five years ago, that was. That was becoming more and more common. Right. I think today, hopefully they're doing their homework.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:12:49]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:12:49]:

But on that, I have seen restaurants hope, you know, people buy pizza places and go, I need help. How to make pizza. I don't know how to make it. You just bought a pizza place. What are you talking about? I don't know how to make pizza. Right. So I think there is still some of that, but hopefully they do their homework because it is. It's tough.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:13:08]:

It's tough. And the reward, like, it's. It is tougher and tougher. And I think it's going to get tougher and tougher is my mind.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:13:17]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:13:18]:

And not to give your company a plug, but companies like WISK is really going to be beneficial as they understand it. And you were on my show recently talking about this as well as WISK. And I think what's cool about it is that, like I said, you have a heart in the industry to do what's right and what's good for the industry. A lot of companies out there are doing it to make money. And you can start seeing, actually starting to see the separation now. Companies over here trying to make money at it, and people like yourself that's got a heart in it as well. And I honestly believe that. I think.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:13:53]:

I think you'll maybe you'll mix out, but hopefully the ones that have the heart are the ones that succeed.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:13:58]:

Yeah, I hope so, too. And it's funny because literally today I was in talks with a potential new client, and there were a group and we're talking, and he was a bit worried because he's like, you know, what happens? I just want to understand the terms of, like, what happens if I don't like it? Because he had multiple restaurants and whatnot. And he's like, you know, because he's like, I don't know if you remember, but there was this thing called Covid, and I started laughing. Of course I remember. And he's like, a lot of my suppliers or tools, I was using, you know, they were like, hey, you're stuck into a contract. And I told them, I was like, and you want to know what we did? Which maybe was a horrible idea, you know, business wise, but we did it for more. The long term goal is we paused all our clients subscriptions, which is very hard. It's not like we just have random money sitting around.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:14:41]:

It was like, that's our revenue. And now we paused all their subscriptions because we knew, like, the restaurants, at least the ones that were closed, so we kept their accounts alive, but, like, paused the subscriptions. And so that's, that's where the heart comes in. But it was, it was just a good example of where I was telling the guy, it's like, we're in it for the long run. We're in it to, like, really give value. We don't want someone to be using WISK because they're stuck. That's the last thing we want, is like someone's like, stuck in a contract. Like, that's.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:15:06]:

To me, it's almost like degrading. It's like the worst place to be. Like, I'm stuck in this contract.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:15:11]:

I think it's where I think a lot of people do that because maybe, you know, maybe it isn't. The connection back to, like I always say is put your money where your mouth is and if it is willing to be that good, you don't need contracts. I think sometimes contracts are placed in there because 1 may question subconsciously, maybe.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:15:30]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:15:30]:

The program is just not that good. So we gotta hook them in somehow. Right? So I do. I do like that about what you guys offer, but it is. It is. Honestly, I have never seen in my careers the amount of change that's happening right now. Big integration with AI. Like, I think that's gonna change things upside down.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:15:50]:

Yeah. I'm even doing a talk that might be a little bit outside the norm, doing a keynote. And I shared it with the people yesterday that we're doing it for and we're doing. I'm doing a keynote. And it is how will AI save the industry? The restaurant industry?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:16:09]:

Interesting.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:16:10]:

By removing the human element. So the flaw, and this might be from me being on my show of me thinking about this.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:16:16]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:16:17]:

Looking at the equation of restaurants, like there's an equation, right? We all know that. And it's multiple fossil. It's not just one plus one.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:16:26]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:16:26]:

It's definitely like one plus one equals five. It's different. But when you look at, there is an equation. So when you look at the common denominator that causes restaurants to sink.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:16:36]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:16:37]:

It's actually the human element. So when you look at all the flaws, no matter from menus to location selections to costing everything else, cooking. Human element. It's the human. So what if we were able to build restaurants without human interference? Open, run them. It's all coming. So then you start looking at can AI. I said this to an AI company yesterday.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:17:04]:

What if it was, I want to open a restaurant tomorrow or next month or whatever, three months from now, let's say in Calgary, build it. And it does everything for you. I want to make it so it's, it picks everything. And they actually said, yeah, there is an ability, because AI has the ability now to put out job postings for humans. Have you heard about this? They put job postings out for humans now to teach AI how to be more human like. So when you look at where technology is going, can we get to that degree where you can actually tell AI, I need a restaurant in Calgary, build it. You got three months done and the next thing you know, it's up and running. It's robotics.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:17:53]:

It's got everything going. No human interference, and it's running. I think, you know, I think, I think it's, you know, people may say, oh yeah, I never have. I have to tell you, man, the speed of the AI is coming. Yeah, the ability. I really think if it can hire humans, it can do that, I hate to tell you. So I think, I think when you look at that, removing that human element out of the equation might actually save our industry.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:18:20]:

That's an interesting perspective because I do see that, like, I have like two, two kind of sides on one side. I think, like, as AI keeps advancing, I think full service restaurants, like, there'll be a good chunk of them that close and don't survive. But I do think they'll be the ones that do survive. Will, will become like, will do even better in the sense that people will seek that kind of experience. Maybe.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:18:47]:

Sorry, interrupt, but you think, you made me think here. Do you think then maybe we'll circle back to those full service restaurants will just be for special occasions?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:18:55]:

I do. I do that. That's what I was gonna say. And the reason I think that is like, because when you look, when you look at the world, there's a lot of examples of just like these kind of cycles, you know what I mean? And it could be for anything, could be as simple as, like, I don't know why. Oh, look, look at this old picture of my grandfather. And he has, like, aviator glasses and then, you know, came back and, you know, bell bottom jeans. And it comes back. So a lot of trends do come back.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:19:16]:

And, like, another good one could be like, with food, right? Like, for the longest time, it was like eating on the farm was normal. Right? Like, that was the thing. It's like, of course, farm to table, because we have a farm years ago.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:19:27]:

Farm, everything was organic, too.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:19:29]:

Exactly right. And now it's like, cycled back where it's like, it's hard to get organized. So when I think of it that way, it's, it's, it's. I do think it'll cycle back to at least a point where, like, people will seek full service. But I do also agree on maybe the more, you know, QSR and fast casual side. Like, people are going to need this automation. And I do agree with you that to certain point, sometimes humans do complicate things. You know, the perfect example, or an easy example to imagine is menus, right? A human might be like, oh, yeah, but we should give them this option.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:19:58]:

In this option, we know if people more options, there's decision fatigue and usually makes it harder and it makes things worse and it makes the kitchen more complicated.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:20:07]:

Look at the US Army, 2005. They moved AI to make decisions faster, more effective, more accurate, and takes out the emotion, the human emotion. So same kind of thing. Take that human emotion out of making menu decisions. And it's based on profitability, customer experience, all these different things. You remove that human out of there, which causes the air, which I like. I'm not out there wanting to see this. I just think that it's crazy to think like that.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:20:39]:

I think it helps us think where we're headed and what we're looking at, and to understand, to kind of backpedal now to go, okay, if humans are the problem, what are we doing to make the solutions so humans don't get replaced? Or humans use AI to support themselves and making those decisions? I think that old saying, that scene is, AI won't replace you, but people that use AI will. So I think that's what we have to look at, and that's what I'm trying to get people to understand through AI, is that either we leverage and use it in our industry, or it could replace us completely. It doesn't even need it. Right?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:21:17]:

Yeah. And at a more micro level, it's also going to be hard to compete. Right. If you have like, Group X and group Y of restaurants and one is leveraging the hell out of AI and the other one isn't, like, there's a certain point, like, obviously one is going to be profitable and growing. And the other ones, you're absolutely right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:21:35]:

And here's my theory on that. So when we look at the profitability of QSRs, because QSRs, I'm going to say within five to ten years, they're probably going to be, a lot of them will be robotic models or they will be, you know, AI, AI and robotics, maybe even less.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:21:49]:

Like, when you see what's happening, some of these qs.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:21:54]:

Yeah. They're already there. Right. So we're getting into that. Now. My theory on this is that right now, the only area that really you can adjust to generate higher profits, eliminate humans. You take out the human labor, you take out the labor side. Right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:22:10]:

So then you have on your p and l. Like, there's, there's talks about the no labor P and ls. I don't know if you've heard that, like, where you're removing labor completely off p and ls, which is huge.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:22:21]:

30% on your PNL.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:22:22]:

Exactly. You're adding 30 points. So let's say you reduce your p and L or your labor by 20%.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:22:29]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:22:29]:

Okay. Or 20%. So you're doing 10% on your labor is costing you. That's maybe buddy comes in, turns the lights on. No one robs the blade, whatever it is.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:22:39]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:22:39]:

So you think about that.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:22:40]:

Charges the robots. Yeah, exactly.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:22:43]:

But I think when you look at today, as margins get tighter operational costs, all these costs are factoring the p and l to have that small margin at the end. Yeah, I think we're going to see people going because you can't. Most franchises are owned by groups. Right. Or publicly traded. Well, you can't sell in a public traded market. Someone that makes puny margins for too long, there's just nothing there. The investor models will be like, forget it.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:23:11]:

Not going to invest. So they need to make them more profitable. And the quickest and easiest way is remove the labor side because food prices probably not going to, you know, go back to what they were. We're going to see maybe some fluctuation, you know, a couple points there and there. They may even go down 20%, whatever, to the number. Whatever it is, we may see it. But guess what? Your operational cost ain't. I don't think many leases are going to be like, sorry, I guess we charging you too much.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:23:36]:

We're going to decrease your labor so your operational costs are not going to, I hate to tell it ain't going backwards. Yeah, it never has in the history. Has things got cheaper in a sense, unless there's some new technology comes in the. So I think from a profitability on QSRs for investor models, which are most of them, I think you're going to see robotics have to come in and AI have to come in to shrink the labor side like you. It's really the only area, I think, left.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:24:06]:

Yeah, labor side and also the cog side. Because on the cog side, I think what can happen is like more efficient forecasting, buying the right things, maybe optimizing the menu so then you can get better deals because you're buying more of. Right. So the more you could do that type of stuff and even just like, yeah, optimizing menu seems like a simple one, but it's like, I don't know, if you're not buying ten skus and you're buying five skus now, you could probably negotiate a better price. And so there's, there's a bunch of stuff that can happen there. But I agree with you on the operational or the kind of admin expenses, you're not going to do much. Where there may be or where. I think this is just my personal thought, where I think there could be opportunities maybe on the, you know, admin expenses, like said leases.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:24:46]:

Yeah.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:24:47]:

Says and whatnot. Could be like, thinking differently. And I've seen this, I think I remember seeing this in Toronto. I can't remember the company, it says to me, but they were basically trying to get unused spaces in restaurants, turning them into kind of co working spots. So finding like nice restaurants. Yeah. So, like, I'm not. I don't know if it works, I don't know if it doesn't.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:25:05]:

But like, that idea, obviously, I can't think of others or else I would have the idea. But things like that are interesting. Where I think there'll be things in the future that's just an example where maybe they can have a dual purpose for a restaurant or a.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:25:20]:

If you go back to looking at the p and l model, if you look at the restaurant model, it hasn't been changed since it came out. Right? Like when you think about it, right? Like we rely on that one source of income in our inner restaurant chains. You know, like we buy the food, we mark it up, we sell it for the value, what it is, and we sell it, blah, blah, blah, has been always the same.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:25:45]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:25:45]:

And I think when you look at like, we did a show, we did a show back in January of this year called the dollar or that we took the dollar, dollar store model.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:25:56]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:25:56]:

And built it into a restaurant. Well, okay, so you know the dollar store. So the dollar store sell things between two to $3. Right. They. Whatever volume is what they're working on to generate the income that they want. We said, let's do the same. Can we generate a restaurant that has that much volume at a discounted price? But look at new revenue streams.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:26:23]:

So we added in, I think, five new revenue streams into that restaurant, not including take. Well, did we have take? We might have takeout, but we had five, generating, offsetting the cost of what we would have to charge. So we dropped the price down to a two to $3 meal.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:26:42]:

Wow.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:26:43]:

So we took the dollar store mentality, and we actually built.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:26:47]:

That's interesting. And did you see sales significantly increase? I imagine the prices are so low.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:26:52]:

Or we didn't build it. This was all a challenge. But it is where we could see it would work. You know, we used AI, we used the model. We used. We generated model examples of it. It would work. So you have to look at.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:27:06]:

And that's what I'm saying is, like, the one revenue stream model today. I'm sorry, those. Those ships sailed. You need to look at multiple and you see that today. Unless you have the power to be able to purchase better or whatever the case is. Yeah, but we built it. It was incredible. Because you can.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:27:24]:

If you take that wiggle room, every restaurant's got wiggle room still and tighten it up and then add in additional revenue streams, you can have it. It works. Is that why you have to get volume, though? Volumes.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:27:40]:

And I'm curious, from your point of view, like, what are. You know, I'm thinking about, like, even just, okay, if you build certain brand or selling merchandise, whatever. But, like, what are some revenue streams you could think of outside of the classic, like, takeout and delivery? Like, what are some that come to mind for you?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:27:54]:

Most restaurants are in prime locations, right?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:27:57]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:27:57]:

Especially for freestanding. And honestly, I know. Look, I work. I know a guy that does a. Owns a CPK location. And they actually built the wall to put up advertising on the outside of the building on the backside. That's on the main highway. So advertising.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:28:14]:

So most advertising billboards like that are 20,000. So if you got two of those and you're charging $20,000 for advertising in a prime location, that's $40,000 more. Well, take $40,000 on a 30% food cost forever. That's a lot of sales.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:28:30]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:28:30]:

Yeah, that's a lot of money. Right? So put that into the price. Right? So then you have to build. So when you're building out those additional revenue streams, you have to not just wing it, you have to have a strategic plan on those additional revenue streams. We did the same thing with, like, swag. Like, who's selling swag? Cookbooks, books, social media. How many of them have a social channel? Right? How many of them have a podcast that use that, monetize a podcast out of their restaurants? I think a restaurant monetized podcast is a must because you can market your business through your own network.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:29:05]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:29:06]:

Like, it's brilliant, right? So you're making additional money through that channel. I think there's so many things that you can look outside. We looked at product placement. We looked at product integration. No different than the movies, right. How much money people pay to have everyone wearing a watch in the restaurant, that's from a certain company, right? Like, there's certain ways to look at it in a different lens than it is always the traditional sell. Food is what it is, right? So I think that's what we built into a dollar store model.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:29:37]:

That's super cool. Yeah, you got. You got my juices flowing. I'm thinking about, like, clothing, sponsored stuff for their uniform. Like, it could be when you start thinking outside the box, like you just mentioned, it's interesting because all of a sudden, yeah. Between that advertising space, maybe uniforms, maybe sponsorships from. And even, like, the classic, like, you know, menu placement stuff, like, hey, putting certain product photos. Like, it's.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:30:00]:

It's interesting when you kind of push the boundaries.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:30:02]:

Well, think. Think, Angelo. The power of a drive through. Okay. Think of the power of a drive through. What's a drive through time average? Probably between two to three minutes. That is a commercial locked in, usually because they put the fucking borders up. That is a commercial genius location.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:30:23]:

So I took a picture on my channels quite a while ago because I drove through one and it had advertising down the one wall of the business behind me in my drive thru. In the drive thru I was in, staring at it for like five minutes. Tell me how much you would pay for how many cars to go through a drive through if you're a busy drive thru that have that advertisement down the side.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:30:45]:

Right, right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:30:47]:

The funny thing is you can track all of it because it's got an Ro. You can actually build an ROI model out of that 40 cars.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:30:53]:

It's like a better version of a billboard. Billboards. Like, they might be driving and looking at their phones. I don't know, but like if you're in a narrow driveway, you're probably looking up at some point, right, in a drive thru. I mean, that's interesting.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:31:04]:

Like the power of a drive through or the power of co branding your products on pizza boxes, on containers. All those things we forget about. So when you look at the traditional model of marketing today, we know it's kind of tired, it's kind of done, so we have to. And these companies are looking for new channels to market their products into. And that includes car companies, food companies, you know, everything out there. Clothing. Right? Like, do you imagine a franchise, a mini franchise that partners with Adidas? Who says all the people in our restaurant are going to have Adidas? Like, imagine like a chain like McDonald's. Here's a McDonald's treat for you at McDonald's.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:31:45]:

Is that imagine McDonald's partnering with Adidas and coming out with a whole Adidas McDonald's brand because it's kind of trendy. Nostalgia. Nostalgia, yeah. And all of a sudden you got an Adidas in there. How much Adidas would pay at McDonald's to have their products branded?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:31:59]:

That's really cool.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:32:01]:

Like, this is so much money.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:32:02]:

And why do you think we don't see more of that right now? Is it just like people are not thinking of. Because it makes sense.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:32:08]:

It's this. I think we get caught up in the work. Right? We got caught up in the work. And you also have to be quite innovative in that sense. Yeah, but I think that's the. I think that's the simplicity of it, is that there people are busy in the work, some people are getting out there, but they also. A lot of people just don't have the ability to kind of maybe think outside the box in a way. And trust me, it takes that.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:32:30]:

You need to work it all the time to come with ideas like that. But I tell you, there's so much stuff out there. Coffee, coffee places. I tell you, coffee places have a million ideas of my, like, just to be able to generate extra income through coffee sales. Right? Like, there's just not enough. I think when you look at the ability to build into co brand with companies, we know that helps better with even social media, all these different things, two brands working to where. I think we're going to see that next year. I think we'll see co branding come back next year.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:33:02]:

Starting to see a little bit already, but I think you'll see more and more of it come back into our market. We have to. We're getting it power and it's untraditional co marketing, right? Like maybe it is a high end brand partners with like a QSR model and they come out. We saw that with Arby's when they did the subscription models. And we talk about subscription models. I know court does in the US a lot of. And I think subscription models for restaurants is brilliant, right? And every month they're part of a, they're part of a community and part of that. Arby's did it a few years ago and it was awesome.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:33:38]:

It was brilliant. I started looking at the subscription commerce model for restaurants. Freaking brilliant. It's brilliant, right? Like, who doesn't want to subscribe? And then every month you get a little gift basket, or when they pull up, they call you by name, or I, wherever the case is. Like, there's always to be innovative in this space. That's why I say there's always wiggle room. Just lots of wiggle room. Yeah, yeah.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:34:01]:

No, thinking outside the box is super interesting. I gotta ask you this now. If you. This will be interesting. If you had to open a restaurant, well, you know, let's say next year, 2025, where would you go? You mentioned maybe coffee, coffee, coffee. Tell me, tell me, tell me more.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:34:18]:

50,000 times over again.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:34:20]:

Hey, tell me more. I'm sure our listeners want to hear this. Tell me.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:34:24]:

Okay, here's.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:34:25]:

I guess margins are good. That's where I start.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:34:27]:

Margins are great. Like, I don't know if people know this, I'm gonna. Maybe we'll let the, the magic. So, coffee today, if people don't know this, most coffee packs that you buy to make, let's say, twelve cups of an eight ounce cup of coffee, it's usually about 1210 to twelve. It depends on your coffee size.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:34:47]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:34:48]:

Costs $2. Okay. Yeah, $2 to make twelve cups. Now, if you sell a cup for at least four to $5, let's say.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:34:56]:

$5 because costing you $0.20, let's say it's.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:34:59]:

It's costing you next to nothing to make the coffee. Now that's why you see coffee places that have like ten people on, like when you step back from businesses and understand, like, what you look at. Yeah, look at coffee places, obviously something's going right. They got ten people on all the time. It's so different than people come to me like, what should I open? Burrs. Greasy burrs and fries is what I always say. Why? Because that worked for McDonald's. Just reinvent that space.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:35:27]:

It works for them. People love grease and they love fries and I. Burgers and stuff. Like, it's sad. Coffee I like because the margins are high, but no one has really disrupted it, in a sense. In a sense with a brand that comes in that can compete against Starbucks. We see some off brands, like, they're trying, in a sense, but they haven't really put the gears in a sense. Some have tried to.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:35:53]:

Starbucks, and I think Starbucks is very clever. And what they do with experiences, you know, calling you by name, asking you to tip the, you know, the coffee other, their staff, all these different things.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:36:07]:

Their guests are as geniuse.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:36:09]:

The gift cards, I had the guy that made the app on my show, and it was brilliant. You know, all these different things. I think they're brilliant. I just think no one's really kind of said, you know what? Let's go up against them. Let's challenge them. Let's. Let's. Let's give them a run for their money because they're out ahead from anyone else.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:36:26]:

Like, they're just, like, they're way in the front. They're up there. But we know that everyone needs a little challenge, but you need to think a little bit more innovative, in a sense. I think you need to be careful because they. I think they are bridging the high on the price points.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:36:41]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:36:42]:

You know, I think they're, they're testing it. Very smart operations. But I think there's time that people come in with that model. I think we can simplify it a little bit. I think challenging the cultural mindset of Starbucks. You know, they've got this whole, almost, like, community culture thing going on. We all know the secret menus or what to say we've created almost like an identity there. Yeah, yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:37:06]:

Identity. So I think someone could come into that space and go after it. It has to be. I think. I think you have to pull in the tech a little bit more, maybe on the technical side of it, but I would go up against them any day.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:37:22]:

What's interesting about Starbucks is, like, I was actually thinking about this. I can't remember what I saw or read, but it just triggered something in my head where a thought where I was like, okay, Starbucks, obviously, they're doing something right because massive company, and, you know, so I'm not here to downplay a multi billion dollar company. They obviously know what they're doing. I know their gift card was genius because they were one of the first to do it. And I think, like, the whole idea of, like, having that unspent money, I forget what it is, but some crazy number, like, hundreds of millions of dollars a year on their p and l come from the unspent money because it's, you know, $5 here that I never spent and $12 here or whatever. Brilliant. But one thing I will say is I've been thinking about how, like, they've obviously done something great culturally from your, you know, like you said, because people, you know, these trends on TikTok and secret menu. But when you really think about it, it's like, what's so special about Starbucks? Like, not.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:38:13]:

Nothing, really. Like, you go in, they're not particularly nice places. They're, like, normal, okay, coffee's not that good. It's like, it's expensive. So it's like they've built something. But I also wonder how long it'll last. And maybe. Maybe a long time.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:38:25]:

But it's like, I feel like, what? You know, like when you really take a step back, like, what is special? There's nothing where you're like, okay. No, it's. It's the way they make their coffee or it's the beans they buy.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:38:35]:

It's like, I think it's a combination. I think it's a combination for them.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:38:40]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:38:40]:

It's like a recipe. Okay. So I think when you look at it, they're, I think, catering to. And I say this with the most respect, because I'm one of them, but to the one wannabes of a higher status within they have today. Okay, so the people that don't drive the Porsche, but drive a car, a nice car, but don't have the Porsche, but can feel like they're driving a Porsche when they go to start.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:39:07]:

Okay?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:39:08]:

So I think they cater to the general public so well that this is your time. We're gonna make you feel like you drive a Porsche or you're wealthy, because when you go into the locations, you feel a little bit of a higher status than you feel like they're messing a sense with your status. And I think that's. I think that's brilliant. I think it's brilliant because you go in there, you know, you say that like it's like the knock on the door three times. What's the password? Right? Like, it's like that status thing. Okay, well, I know. I only know it, right? Like, I.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:39:40]:

I know the secret. I think that's playing on that. The environment, the way that they brand stuff their own way. You know, like it's a club almost like they've created this club feeling that you feel like you're a highest status. I think in today's world, that is. It is very difficult to have that status to feel. That's why when you even look at Starbucks food category without pacing their coffee sales like their food is growing is because you can go in there. And I think they're challenging the restaurants lunchtimes models because you can go into Starbucks, get a fancy dancy sandwich and a fancy dancy coffee under a dollar 20 framework.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:40:20]:

Right? So that's my lunch. And because they've created this status of a higher level than a lot of coffee places that you can go there and go, hey, I went Starbucks. I got my coffee in my sandwich. No one goes, ooh, like, it's already kind of got that brand standard, a very higher brand standard. Everyone knows celebrities walk around with white cups, right? Like, you know, like, there's a lot of this. In a sense, I think it's more psychology in a model that's actually making them more people go, I need to go get my Starbucks. Every day or twice a week I'm gonna go to Starbucks because that's my treat.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:40:55]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:40:55]:

Because I feel like I'm a higher level of royalty. And that's. I think they play on a lot. They call you by name for that one reason. You know, what's your name? You know, they call you by name. And then now they're adding that tip feature. I think the tip feature has nothing to do with actually the tip, but to make you feel like you're at that level of a restaurant so we can charge more for those products. Psychology is crazy around that restaurant.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:41:20]:

Now, here's the secret. So build a coffee shop chain. Challenge Starbucks. What's the one thing I'll ask you back. I think you asked me a question. Ask this one question. What is the one thing that would flip our industry, make a franchise extremely attractive that no one has ever done before? That would change everything in the game that we don't do when we go out to eat.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:41:51]:

What's something that we don't do today that would make.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:41:55]:

I'm gonna give a little hint. It's about money.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:41:59]:

Is it, is it, is it the idea of maybe, like, so what? I'm looking for a profit sharing. Like, the idea of, like, getting people to be mini owners.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:42:12]:

Like corporate.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:42:13]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:42:13]:

That's the world they've been around.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:42:15]:

Okay. Okay. What's a good one? I don't know. It's a tough one. I'm trying to think, what is it? Some, I don't know.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:42:23]:

What if we paid people to eat at our place?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:42:26]:

Can you elaborate?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:42:28]:

What if you made money when you ate at a restaurant.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:42:30]:

I'm there. Count me in.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:42:33]:

But, you know, I'm saying, like, what if there's a way to gamify it in a model where it actually made money while you ate at the restaurant or you went there?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:42:42]:

How elaborate. Because obviously, this sounds amazing, but how.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:42:45]:

Okay, well, think about, is there a way that we can build a model where I go there and I made $2 today, but it is actually money. It goes into your account. I think it's possible. I think it's possible based on the margins, the dollars, your marketing. Because that would just nail your marketing budget, right? Check.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:43:08]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:43:08]:

What if we paid people? They made money when they came to your restaurant. So different than if you play a game today, like on, you know, Nintendo or on PlayStation. What if you paid people to play games? We do. We have a lot of games now. Are paying people to play them.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:43:28]:

It's pretty interesting.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:43:30]:

What if we could build a model? I think you can. I'm pretty sure I've built it before that you would pay them to eat. They actually made money. Right. Think about the energy a person physically does into your business. I always say is the best thing I love about brick and mortars that I see from a brick and mortar model is you physically have a building. You're. There's a physical.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:43:58]:

It's not like Uber or these other companies out there physically don't have buildings. Right. You have a physical building, and sometimes that's against you, and sometimes it's for you.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:44:09]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:44:10]:

But I look at. You've already got real estate. It's so different. Here's my theory. Golf course. Let me get. So think about that. If you can make money, because that would change the game.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:44:18]:

Right.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:44:19]:

And just to iron out the detail. So you're not. You're not saying, hey, I'm going in, buying a meal, and then my reward is $2. You're saying, I'm going in and I made $2 after eating my meal. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:44:32]:

Okay, so.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:44:33]:

So.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:44:33]:

So there's that. Now, I'm gonna give you another idea on this. A little bit outside the box on this one I've done before, and I've actually built the concept with a group of people. It's crazy. It's freaking. I love it. Every k. I'm gonna go into golf courses.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:44:47]:

So we go to golf courses. I work with a lot of golf courses as well. So in Canada, golf courses, six months of the year, they shut down.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:44:54]:

Right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:44:55]:

So this is me. How I look at golf courses. Golf courses have the most prime real estate in the community, usually.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:45:01]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:45:02]:

Right. They have the most beautiful scenery, best locations, central usually, because they're not way on the boonies, rarely. Right. And what do they already have members. And what do they usually are? Bothy. Okay, you're like five, five or six things working for you.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:45:17]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:45:18]:

Now you're going to close your whole operation down for the winter because no one's golfing. That makes no sense. So I'm like, well, let's put dinner domes through the field, through the run, through the fairways, right. Dinner domes. And that creates an experience for your diners. It's usually dark in Canada in the winter. Put lights in there, put a little heater. What I did with the group is we actually reimbursed a presentation where they actually built this concept for me for my presentation, during my presentation, and we looked at the profitability of it.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:45:53]:

It actually makes you a lot of money.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:45:54]:

Interesting.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:45:55]:

And you can have, I mean, they.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:45:57]:

Already have the kitchen and everything, right? They got their restaurants.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:45:59]:

They have everything there. Once again, everything's there. Right. So when you look, do you imagine driving past the golf course in the winter time? Snow's coming down. They have these domes that are lit up all over the fairways and the whole golf course and the trees, some animals running around. And then you get into either a horse drawn carriage in the wintertime or a golf cart with the back seat, and they give you hot chocolate and a blanket. You drive the party out to the, to the dome, right. It's pretty neat.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:46:28]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:46:29]:

You bring out the food in, in those catering cabinets, and they have a table and it's scenery and it's beautiful. It's an experience. You could have 20 of these on your course, pre sell them. Sell them for a dollar more than you would inside. People will pay. Now, you don't need to let go your staff, you don't need to let go your chef. You don't need to close down. Now you've got a golf course, winter wonderland, happening on your.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:46:55]:

Put it on the greens, you don't even have to put it on the fairway. If you're worried about it, you put it tucked in the corner. There's always tons of space around, right. You only need a 2020, you know, a diameter dome. And they cost, you know, a couple thousand bucks for a good dome. Little here. Plugins usually are in the course anyways. That's how I think when you think about businesses.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:47:18]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:47:21]:

Take what you have already and utilize. It's so different than thinking. Can you pay people to eat. Do you imagine how long those lineups would be? Right? So it's so different. I did this other thing. I'll share one more example is that I remember working with a bingo place, doing bingo, okay. And they came up to me and they said, jay, we give away free coffee. I think it's 2008.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:47:47]:

And I'm like, all right. I don't know if that's a good idea anymore, because the coffee price went up. They're like, oh, we got it. We want to charge. And I said, okay, well, what about a dollar? They're like, oh, no, no. I said, what about a dollar? But 50% goes to charity. Well, then it was like, wow, okay. Said, yeah, why don't we give 50% to charity? You're still making $0.50 you didn't make.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:48:10]:

Yeah, I rounded out about $80,000 that year for them.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:48:14]:

Wow.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:48:15]:

Yeah. Just in coffee sales.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:48:18]:

That's right.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:48:19]:

Because. And no one would ever complain, and you actually did something good for the community. Right. So think about this. I think when you look at pulling the status quo of what it is today, you have to really push the boundaries of how you think to really make a difference. I think the golf. Don't we call the golf Dome project. The golf dome project is.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:48:39]:

It would be incredible, I think, being able to give people money back when they ate at your place, and somehow you built it into a model that made sense based on volume, but it.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:48:53]:

Would be a subset of people, right? Like, because now you'd make no money. So you have to have a way to figure out who or when.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:49:05]:

Said of that you saved this much. Maybe you got $3.50 back in your account today. I'll be back tomorrow. Yeah, see you tomorrow. Right. Like, in that cell. So the point is, I think in this sense, the profit. So let's say as you be stupid busy, you just look at what it is.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:49:27]:

It's no different than some of the models when they look at loyalty programs. But loyalty programs, as we know, they work sometimes. And sometimes people don't reward themselves on the loyalty programs. And we have unused money, like the Starbucks stuff.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:49:39]:

Right?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:49:40]:

What if that went back and paid people? I don't know. Just an idea. I just think if someone can figure out how do you make money while they eat? You will have a gold mine restaurant.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:49:52]:

It's interesting. No, I definitely love the concept, and I think this will be really cool for our listeners of just thinking outside the box and using the things you have. But, you know, like, even going back to what you said about Adidas and McDonald's. But, like, even just locally, like, you don't have to be a big chain and think about these ways or the billboards you mentioned or the drive through advertising or the. There are so many good examples. Product placement, maybe even product placement on your website or your social. We have a lot of, like, you know, sponsor. You can have sponsors.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:50:19]:

So I love the idea of, like, pushing the limits of how restaurants are thinking today. The same way someone from maybe 1985, as we said before, wouldn't believe, like, oh, what you're selling online and takeout and this, and what's this uber thing and what's. What's, you know, doordash and it's. Or what's dynamic pricing, which is, you know, a new thing. So it's like, as these things are coming up, I could definitely see how this. The next evolution, right? It's like, how do you.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:50:46]:

Yeah, I think it has to. I think the other thing, when you look at the ability to market the same way too, right, is I think the more that we embrace our competitors in the market space, so we support each other as we market our brands and support those. It's going to be a game changer as well. It's just, you have to look at the. I don't know what it is. It's, in a sense, just really pushing the status of what it is today and saying, how can we do this differently? Or what do we do different to make. Make it better? And I think it needs to be better. But there's so much.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:51:24]:

There's so much ways to look at businesses today or marketing or social media. Like the podcast thing for restaurants. I think it's brilliant. Yeah.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:51:33]:

Studio in the restaurant.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:51:34]:

Well, they can. A booth. Do it in a booth. I got my phone. I have it where I go around to different restaurants. I can do a podcast. I can actually do a live podcast in a restaurant through my systems and interview someone. Like, I'm in the studio.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:51:47]:

But why wouldn't you do that? Like, I, like, I know it's work, but we put work, we put energy into other crazy things in a restaurant. Right? Put it into this. Now you've got a full time network. You're interviewing your locals and guests. You're asking them to come back to your restaurant. You're advertising the QR code to your podcast, and your pizza boxes are on the table. While they're waiting there, listen to us while you wait. Talk about the, you know, bring in celebrities in your community, right? Get.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:52:15]:

Get people that never been in there. That they want a podcast channel. Everyone wants to be a rock star, right? Give them the opportunity. Talk with your chefs. Introduce new products on your show. Introduce new menu items.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:52:27]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:52:28]:

New locations. Podcast is an incredible marketing machine.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:52:32]:

Yeah.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:52:33]:

30 minutes to an hour, you have someone's attention, like, like, it's nuts. So those are the things I think when you look at how you market your brands out, I tell you, I don't even think we've, we've touched the ability. Like, everyone kind of gets into that trail, following the goat, you know, like following the herd. Everyone gets into that goes, everyone gotta do this way. Well, no, sometimes I think, I think that was one of my teachers, my football coach, who's my english coach as well, Mister Goleness. He said, I remember this one time, and I teach this, don't go home the same way every time. Take an alley, take a back alley, take a different way. You will see so much new things and it's so true.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:53:15]:

And I think the same thing within business, don't do it always the same way. Take a back alley. Try a different way. You'll be amazed what you can see and allow for those errors. Trust me, I have a lot of errors, but you can only get through those. I think the errors become less and less. I was thinking about this yesterday. The errors become less and less as you get better and better at innovation or credence or that entrepreneur mindset.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:53:38]:

I think you get better and better at it.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:53:40]:

Yeah, that's super interesting. And I want to ask, you know, you mentioned kind of locals, celebrities. I know you're known as the Canada's restaurant guys. So I'd love to maybe just touch on that as we wrap up. Like how, how is that influenced, you know, your career and just opportunities in the industry, then I definitely want to end off by hearing more about your book and definitely doing a plug. But first, tell me about Canada's restaurant guy. Like, how's that influence your career?

‍

Jay Ashton [00:54:06]:

And so, yeah, like, so I forget who labeled that with me. I think it was a few years ago. Really. When you look at that brand, in a sense, is really where I'm here to help the industry, especially in the canadian market, is no one's really taken that by the horns and said, hey, I'm really the guy that looks outside the box, provides knowledge. And then, like, on our shows, we interview so many people and it's a different show. I think the most is that we try an edutainment style model. So we try to have fun and goofy stuff on our shows and then bring in the serious content of it. So we, so Canna's restaurant guy is really around that model of having a little fun, not being too serious, but also being able to provide edutainment and content to be able to help our operators.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:54:58]:

And I think it's, you know, I think when you look at, it's like the new version of the, of the way of providing a coach or a consultant is just having a little fun with, with what we do. But it's been great. It's been outstanding. It's led to being the voice for the NRA show, the national association show in Chicago, to being the voice for Restaurants Canada, to being able to have our show, which we have two new shows coming out this fall, and then a book.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:55:30]:

And speaking of the book, tell me a bit about the book. What's the book about? What inspired you? What's it called? Where can people get it? Give me all the good stuff.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:55:38]:

So it's gonna be, I think Christian's gonna be on Amazon. I'm gonna have it everywhere in Canada. That's my goal, is that we're gonna put it in Amazon. It'll be everywhere in Canada. It's called a loan in hospitality. They're already talking about it in New York, saying this might be the new kitchen confidential of our era. So I'm pulling a lot of old stories, I'll tell you two, because they're funny, but all they're really like. So I've been putting little snippets on LinkedIn right now of kind of the.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:56:07]:

What's coming?

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:56:08]:

Nice.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:56:08]:

And I have had an incredible career, but by no means has it been easy. And when you're a disruptor or a person that thinks outside the box, you feel alone. Like, you can have all this success. Even successful people feel alone. And you feel alone because you're always the one that they kind of go, well, he's the crazy one, or he's the one that thinks outside box or my favorite. Oh, he's creative or he's artsy. Oh, yeah. Like, I can't handle that.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:56:37]:

Right. And it's just because I have an art degree. You know, I grew up in the art world, so I use that other side of my brain now. I also use the business side now. And that's what works kind of nice together, right. Is when, when I, when I look at our book, my book, it's called Alone in hospitality. Is you is really around that. It's nothing much more simple is being kind of that outcast, you feel alone.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:57:02]:

And then I thought, well, through my journey, I've always been that alone guy. I love people. I love hanging around people. I love having people on my show, but I've always felt very alone. And that's from the childhood of being that alone kid in the restaurant, right in the booth, falling asleep, being secure to growing up and being very alone. It's been a very rewarding, but definitely a hard time. And so then I'm also then bringing in stories that I had to do with myself as running restaurants. Like, what do you do when your manager, I just posted today, your manager says, or your ownership as you manage this location? Just pay the fines on Monday.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:57:48]:

They're cheaper than if we try to abide by all the rules. Those things I had to deal with or having to. What do you do when you freeze a keg? There's all these different things that we do when we look at in our industry, being a chef or being an owner or a server. It's really weird because you think people are part of a community, which you are, in a sense. But I think more and more today, people are feeling alone. And we have a. I think it's like an epidemic almost of people feeling this aloneness model. So I want to bring everyone together within my book.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:58:26]:

Being able to tell the stories, get people to relate to them, have a laugh or two, but also reflect back on what their journey is. By no means. It's like, it's perfect in a sense. And this is what the journey you must take. Here's my story. And it's been mind blowing, but you don't. You don't really know it until you start doing it. Then you start bringing back those memories going.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:58:46]:

I remember when I forgot about that story. Right? Yeah, it's been. It's been crazy.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:58:53]:

And. And so that comes out. You're saying October, December, December, December, December. So December comes out. Okay. And then. So to wrap things up, I would love to give you a chance to just plug away so I know people can find you as Canada's restaurant guy, but this is a chance just to really just plug. I know you got more than one show.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:59:12]:

You got the book. You're on LinkedIn. So we'll put it in the notes as well. But just. I'd love for you to just share.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:59:18]:

Yeah. There's so much going on. So late night restaurant show. It's on daily, Monday to Friday everywhere. We also have the first NHL restaurant show starting October 4.

‍

Angelo Esposito [00:59:31]:

Okay.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:59:32]:

Which is really cool. We're bringing hockey and restaurant. And on Friday we're working on the NFL and restaurant show. So that's cool. So we're working on that. I know it's toy said. It's either brilliant or a train wreck. We don't know yet.

‍

Jay Ashton [00:59:46]:

Those are the rest you gotta take. So we have that. And then we have the am marketing show on Wednesday's mornings. Crack a dawn that starts. And then I just starting to do. Just starting to build out Tuesday talks in correspondence with my alone book. So this is for people that feel alone in the industry.

‍

Angelo Esposito [01:00:05]:

Okay.

‍

Jay Ashton [01:00:06]:

That's great. Tuesday talks where people. This is an audio event on LinkedIn to be able to talk to people and share their stories and stuff just to stay connected. Yeah, that's working on that right now. Book launch. I'm also doing two keynotes this fall, and then I'm coaching. I'm building out two courses right now, 26 classes, one on marketing and one on our industry, business side of our industry. And then I'm traveling for like everybody.

‍

Jay Ashton [01:00:36]:

Little city you can think of. And yeah, it's. It's been. So that's where you can find me. It's pretty much LinkedIn, Google, wherever else. And. And then the book will be launched and we'll make sure everyone knows where.

‍

Angelo Esposito [01:00:50]:

That is because that's exciting.

‍

Jay Ashton [01:00:52]:

Very exciting. Very exciting.

‍

Angelo Esposito [01:00:54]:

Yeah. And look, we'd love to support. So definitely as the data approaches, happy to share it. Put it in our newsletter as well, at risk and promote it. So keep us posted with that project.

‍

Jay Ashton [01:01:06]:

Awesome. Absolutely.

‍

Angelo Esposito [01:01:07]:

That's awesome. Well, Jay, thanks for joining the show. Honestly, I had such a fun combo just, just talking about trends, the future of the industry, thinking outside the box. And that's the big theme in this one. And good luck with all your projects. You're quite the busy man, so good luck with all that stuff. And looking forward to the book launch.

‍

Jay Ashton [01:01:26]:

Awesome. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

‍

Angelo Esposito [01:01:28]:

If you want to learn more about WISK, head to WISK.ai and book a demo.

‍