Zack: 0:00

Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation, the restaurant guest experience podcast, where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five-star guest experience. This podcast is sponsored by Ovation, an operations and guest recovery platform for multi-unit restaurants that gives you all the answers without annoying guests with all the questions. Learn more at OvationUpcom. And today we have not just a guest I'm excited to talk to because he's a great guy, but also he's a fellow 973-er. He is a Jersey boy born and bred and for those listening, I'm going to spell you his last name. Let's see how well you could speak Jersey. His last name is spelled C-I okay for those of you from boston. No, it's not kioffi, it's kioffi.

Joey Cioffi: 0:50

kioffi, right, yes, sir, yes, all right. Yeah, c i's pronounced ch.

Zack: 0:55

All right. Well, joey chaffee, so nice to have you on the podcast. Founder and ceo of the salad house boasting coming up growing up to 19 locations right now, lots more in the hopper, lots going on over there at Salad House doing some incredible things. So thanks for joining us, man.

Joey Cioffi: 1:12

Thank you brother, I appreciate it.

Zack: 1:14

So, for those who aren't familiar with Salad House, can you share a little bit about what is Salad House and the origin story of it, because it's fascinating.

Joey Cioffi: 1:28

Absolutely. I love sharing the story because it's pretty cool. It's multi-layered. I'm a proud son of immigrant parents from italy. They came over legitimately on the boat, 11 days at sea, coming from naples, italy, coming over here to achieve the american dream, and they didn't know what they were going to do. They came here not knowing the language. They thought the streets were paved in gold and little. They know newark is not paved in gold. It was very. It was definitely eye-opening for them. They were like, definitely second-guessing their journey over.

Zack: 1:49

And landing in Newark. You may third and fourth guess it too Exactly.

Joey Cioffi: 1:52

Yeah, and they started off, you know, working in like a factory seven days a week. It was really tough for them. Then my father, one day there was this local pizzeria, fellow Italian guy. The guy's like hey, tony, why don't you come and learn how to make pizzas and come help me out a little bit? So my father would start to learn how to make pizzas. He would go there maybe on a Friday and Saturday and next thing, you know, the guy was like he goes here, tony goes here's $25. And my dad's like whoa, and this is 1957. And he's just like I didn't make that. The entire week I'm working in the factory and I made $25 here. I'm like he's like, wow, this is awesome.

Joey Cioffi: 2:25

And he started taking a liking to, like, obviously, the food industry. And that's my family, I mean, italians are, you know, we share our love with food. So, long story short, he ended up striking a deal with a guy. The guy kind of wanted to be out of the business. My father took over the business, took over actually, the building where he lived above the building, above the pizzeria, and he ran a telephone line that went upstairs. So basically it was open 24 hours. He was that hungry, my dad was that much of a hustler. My mother and father. They literally ran a phone line up there and if, like two in the morning, somebody called to make a pizza, he kept his ovens on and he went downstairs he'd make a pizza, delivered himself, and that's kind of how he got his teeth into the food business. So fast forward to 19,.

Joey Cioffi: 3:03

I was born in 77 and I was kind of born into this business. At about 12 years old I went to my family. We have an Italian deli it's still there Chiaffi's Deli in Springfield 1981, we opened up and at 12 years old I just wanted to be where my brother's, 14 years older than me and my father. So I was like after school I'd be like, oh, let me come over there, let me ring people up, answer the phones. You know, I just want to do it. Next thing, you know, after a few, about a week or two, I'm like where's Rita the cashier? He's like my father goes, we don't need Rita, no more, we got you. I'm like, oh God.

Joey Cioffi: 3:30

And I basically got immersed in the business early on and I literally was like working, but I was getting an education. I didn't realize the kind of education I was getting from my brother and father because you know, we had a successful business and it was people-based and it forced me I was like a chubby, shy kid and it forced me to be in front of people and to talk to people and it helped my confidence and seeing all layers of the business, from the customer interaction, the food quality to the problems and problem solving constantly. There's always a problem and it was just. I'll be honest with you, I don't think there's a school on this planet that could prepare you for not only the restaurant industry but for life, like that, the education I got there.

Zack: 4:17

Oh, amen, right, I mean I know that you got a salad house in Morristown and that's where I just came back from a friendlies conference and that was my first job was the morristown friendlies okay, I know exactly who it is yep, I would pass that on all the time on the way to school yeah.

Joey Cioffi: 4:33

So I'm sorry, I'm so prideful of that that dive deep into that. But so the salad house is kind of a so my wife would always complain about there was always chopped salads in the city and there was nothing in the suburbs and and I always hear that in the back of my mind. So one day I was at a traffic light it was like 2010. And so there was a vacancy in Milburn, short Hills, new Jersey, and the light bulb moment went off. At that moment I was like, wait, that's a place, I'm going to put a place there, went home pad to paper old school, literally jotted down a business plan, but I wanted to make it. A running joke in our office is that I'm not really a salad guy. So I wanted to create something that would lend to myself, that would like a sandwich and maybe some fries young children at the time and it was always like I wanted something that was like one-stop shopping like, where it's like you could get a salad and the healthy salad, chopped salad, create your own salad, but at the same time there's something for everybody. So like you get a crispy chicken sandwich or crispy shrimp sandwich, you get chicken fingers for the kids. That was the differentiator and the thing that I wanted to bring and I believe would work in the suburbs.

Joey Cioffi: 5:31

So, 2011, I opened up Milburn and it was a success right from jump. A lot of growing pains, there was a lot of things that were just ironed out, but then from there I proved it out and I opened up the Morissown location the Salinas Morissown and proved out there too. So at that point I was like all right, we got something special here. Then we knew it was something special. I knew that it had legs. So my partner now was a customer at Chaffee's down in Springfield.

Joey Cioffi: 5:54

Jerry Ikey, guy worked at a hedge fund came to the Chaffee's religiously like three, four times a week and one day he got an accident it was a paddleboard accident. So, and one day he got an accident it was a paddleboard accident so he hurt his shoulders. He's like Joey, what's your salad place? He goes to Milburn. I'm like, oh, that's Milburn Avenue, 343 Milburn Avenue. So he started going there.

Joey Cioffi: 6:11

Next thing, you know, he's like dude, I love this place, I'm hooked. It's amazing. If you ever want to scale this, you ever want to get, he goes. We struck a deal about seven, eight years ago and he's just like all right, let's do this. We opened up a Westfield, his Westfield location but and we assembled a great team Tim Banos he brought somebody on Tim Banos amazing talent that we have One of our other partners, jared Bravo, who's been with me from Jump. He's our director of operations, like so we assembled a team, but we were. It was definitely not. I came from a mom and pops operation. You know what I mean If I was making my pocket, had more money in it than I did in the beginning of the week then it was a success.

Joey Cioffi: 6:52

But when you're scaling a business and you're franchising, you have to make sure that you tighten up everything, and that's where Jerry Tim and we were able to.

Zack: 7:00

so it was a lot of heavy lifting but together we did it and kind of here we are. That's incredible and what a great story and the journey I love that this isn't just some like flash in the pan type thing Like this has been smoldering as it's been growing, and I think that your obsession with the guest experience is something that is very evident from my time going to Salad House. I know my mother loves Salad House. What do you think is the most important aspect of guest experience?

Joey Cioffi: 7:27

Well, and I always go back to my roots, like my brother, jerry. He's 14 years older than me and the way he treats people when they come into the store is just incredible, like legitimately. It's like I almost relate him to, almost like a game show host where like you walk in and like he knows your name and he just makes you feel so good about just being there and he's so appreciative of the customer because without them there's not us. And it's funny, I always quiz newer employees. I'm like so who's your boss? Who's your? I'm like oh, you're my boss. I'm like no, I'm not your boss. I'm like, no, I go, the customer is the person that pays. I'm just the person is the most important piece to this. I mean, obviously you got to perform food, but the customer and their experience is just so important and I was taught that from early on and it's translated into our salad house. So that's a part of our fabric and, listen, our customers are. That's the blood that flows through the body.

Zack: 8:23

Yeah, and I think that really having that, I like that idea of thinking of it as like a game show host, of like celebrating people as they walk in right, making sure that they know it's special. Because I know one of my friends there was a coffee shop in Brooklyn that was about 30 seconds or a minute closer to her. That was great. And there was a coffee shop that was about 30 seconds to a minute farther from her. That was good. And guess which one she went to? The closer one, that was great, or the further one, that was good? The answer is she went to the one where they knew her name, which was the further one. So she was willing to walk a little bit further have coffee. That wasn't quite as good because they knew her name. Yeah, and that hospitality, I think, is so critical and it's tough to scale that hospitality but, which is why I know that you're using some technology to help you do that and I'd love to get your thoughts on how has Ovation been helpful for you? It's been incredible.

Joey Cioffi: 9:22

I'm not going to lie, a lot of us at first we were testing it out just on certain locations we're like, oh my God, the customer's like we're getting pegged left and right. We're like, oh my God. But then we started really like paying attention and we're like this is so important and like we had spoke earlier you know I said it is a microscope, our business. Like you have surveillance cameras when you're not able to be there and so but this really dives deep into, like, the customer experience and really figuring out what ways we could be better. You know what I mean. And we're getting this data in real time and we have a response rate. We're responding and customers are so appreciative.

Joey Cioffi: 9:58

They're like, oh my God, because they're used to like, if they write Yelp, whether it's like pointed comeback or like this is real time, and we're getting so much information and we chart it out for every location and we're trying to figure out, we're analyzing it Like it's been incredible. It's kudos to you. I mean really it's brilliant, it's helped us a lot and we're going to be able to make so many calculated decisions moving forward and it's just great. It's been amazing.

Zack: 10:23

Well, and it's one of these things where, looking at your online reviews before Ovation, they were great, right it's you weren't running some like you're doing a great job, and the way I always put it is like Ovation is the guitar and you're the musician man. The music is beautiful and guests are seeing it. I mean, like your online ratings have gone up. Your volume of reviews have gone up. I mean you have 9% higher love group than the average ovation restaurant right, Like people that are coming in or having a wonderful experience, and it shows. And I think it's really powerful to see brands like yours, who truly put the guest first and want to have a conversation with them and want to get better, and I think that in all that you're doing right now as a brand, it really comes through. So kudos to you for building an incredible brand and culture.

Joey Cioffi: 11:24

It's our team and our franchise partners, really surrounded with amazing people. We had spoke about football and kind of related to football. I have an amazing team and we all want to get better every day and I believe we're doing that. You know, every day we're getting better, we're learning. It's constant education, this business, and we love your tool, man.

Zack: 11:42

We do Awesome Well, any tactics that you've used to improve the guest experience.

Joey Cioffi: 11:47

I was asked that recently and I have that. I have an old school spirit, kind of older now but like I have this old school spirit where I really like connection with people. So that's another part of ovation. I love is that you're interacting with people, whereas, like I actually get on the phone, like with caterings, and call people, follow up, encourage people to do that, to maybe go and drop a lunch and meet the people that you're catering, because we are so underrated when it comes to catering, because our catering is what you want as an employer.

Joey Cioffi: 12:16

It's like it'll get you through the second half of the day. I mean, you're eating healthier, you don't just eat that food and fall into a food coma for the second half of the day. We always say you're fueled by Salad House and we truly believe that you eat Salad House and you don't feel that lag or that feeling of like oh, I'm going to take a nap. It's like. No, it's like we're putting fuel in your body with good quality food and that's something that like. So I'm really pushing catering and I'm doing the old school approach. I'm literally getting a database given to me and I'm calling people and I'm encouraging my franchisees and and I'm showing them leading, I'm doing it myself.

Joey Cioffi: 12:49

I'm saying you know if I'm doing it, and I mean I think you should do it as well, because I mean just the fact that they have my cell phone number to text me to get a catering order last minute.

Joey Cioffi: 12:59

You know I have pharmaceutical reps that all of a sudden they forgot that they have a luncheon on Monday and on a Sunday evening they'll shoot me a text like Joey, can you please hook me up? But you know, I got 15 people going to the hospital here and right away I'm like, yeah, sure, of course. So like that's something that I kind of bring back because, listen, it'll never I think nothing will ever beat human interaction and we're kind of going away from that and I truly believe that we need to reel that back in in order, especially now where people are a little mindful, the economy's a little wonky and you kind of want to make sure that they're appreciated and also they get that feeling of like a concierge type feeling because we're in the customer service business, man, we're not only serving great food, but we got to give them a great experience as well.

Zack: 13:43

Well and hey, one of the things that we can do to help you out is if you ever want a catering line, we can set you up another location that's your catering line and then that gets pumped right in there, because I think that you're totally right which is having that ability to chat back and forth, I think is so critical and especially if it can go to a couple of people at the same time, just like an ovation piece of feedback.

Zack: 14:07

We found that to be really valuable. But I think that that is like that's something where catering and I'm actually speaking at the Off-Prem Academy with Earl Dardick October 16th I'm not sure when this podcast is going live, but if it's live, before it come to that, it's going to be in Denver. Earl is the godfather of Off-Prem and catering and I think, so many people. Just, they don't have the hustle mentality and you might not have the phone line up to your bedroom, but now you got it in your uh, right on your phone, right. To have that hustle mentality is and to go out there and do those catering drops and do the sales side of things. I mean that'll add another five, 10, 15% to your business.

Joey Cioffi: 14:50

It's huge yeah.

Zack: 14:51

Yeah, I love that.

Joey Cioffi: 14:53

You know it's funny, like one of the things that it's an expression my father would always say it's like sitting on the tree waiting for the apple to fall in your mouth. That doesn't work for us because we climb up that tree and grab the apple and that's kind of been my mentality my entire life. You know what I mean. From playing college football to, I just always had that mentality Just go up and get it. You know what I mean Always have that mentality Just go up and get it. You know what I mean. And constantly hustle. Because, listen, you know I hate to say it, but like we're living in an age where people just are waiting for that apple to fall in their mouth and the differentiator and the successful people in this world, the people that are out there going out and hustling, climbing that tree.

Joey Cioffi: 15:30

You know I actually joke, like because, like we opened up a place in Newark and I looked around I saw all these, our Newark location, and I looked around I saw all these gigantic buildings and I literally looked at the franchisee I go, those are your trees, man, those are your trees. I go, those right there. I go that vertically. I go, that's where you can make money, climb those trees and get those apples. The guy looked me in the eyes and, sure enough, he's doing it, and Newark is one of is slowly becoming one of our top stores. So that's awesome, love that, and it's full circle. So it was our 10th location, which was pretty cool too. I mean, my father came here to Newark and he was pretty emotional when I said that I'm opening up a place in Newark only about a mile or two away from Tony's Pizzeria, which is actually still there. It's called Tony's Pizzeria. It's obviously it's not ours anymore, but a Pacific street. So it was pretty cool to see that. That's pretty cool.

Zack: 16:13

Well, joey, where can people go to learn more? Follow you or your brand.

Joey Cioffi: 16:16

We are at the Salad House on Instagram and then we are. Every location has their own location, other own Facebook page and TikTok is at the Salad House and I got to get into that TikTok teenage daughter. I got to figure it out. They can help you. They can help you. It's just thesaladhousecom. There's our website, awesome Well.

Zack: 16:36

Joey, for telling us that salads can be cool. Today's ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation. Thank you, brother. Thank you, Appreciate it Awesome. Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen we're all about feedback here Again or your favorite place to listen we're all about feedback here Again. This episode was sponsored by Ovation, a two-question, SMS-based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at OvationUpcom.