Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Give an Ovation, the restaurant guest experience podcast. I'm your host, zach Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five-star guest experience. This podcast is powered by Ovation, the feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. It gives you all the answers you need with none of the annoying questions for your guests. Learn more at OvationUpcom. And today we have a gentleman who's got a name and a face right out of the movies. His name is Anthony Bambino or, as his Nona called him, tiny Tony. I'm kidding about that, by the way, he didn't have a Nona. Apparently no one ever calls him Tony, but he is the CEO and founder of Three Natives, which, interestingly, began as a 900 square foot juice bar in Florida. It now has over 40 locations around the country with a whole menu of better for you food and drink and bowls. And Anthony, welcome to the podcast man.

Speaker 1: 0:58

Thanks, Zach Excited to be here, and truly, though, your name is just legendary. I mean, when I saw that I was going to have a podcast with Anthony Bambino, I'm like I better call in some backup here, but it's great to have you on. I'm sure you get that all the time, though.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Yeah, thank you, anthony Michael, bambino, good Irish boy, oh my.

Speaker 1: 1:20

I love that, mcanthony. All right, here we go. So tell us a little bit about Three Natives. What inspired you to start it? And I know it was in Mission Beach and I just kind of used that as my hub.

Speaker 2: 1:46

I was a traveling sales rep and I would sit there with my laptop and my cell phone and in between calls and emails, you know, just watching customers come in and out, and this little bowl shop he worked at.

Speaker 2: 1:57

They had like an extensive coffee and pastry menu but nobody was coming in for the coffee and pastries. They had one acai bowl and people were in and out all day long having this one bowl. So after working for two years and just kind of seeing, I guess, the trend of the way people in Florida were viewing food and health and wellness, I made a decision. This is something that I really wanted to try on my own and luckily at the time I mean how young I was. If it didn't work I would have enough time to rebound and go into something else in life and if it did work, I think Florida was a great place to really roll these out. As for the longest time, florida just had greasy spoon diners, kind of chain barbecue restaurants, and I know I'm going to make fun of my italian heritage, but really bad italian food.

Speaker 2: 2:46

so it's kind of good bagels yes, bagels yep, yep, yep, then good bagels.

Speaker 1: 2:51

So it was a no-brainer to give it a shot and when you started it 900 square feet what was your vision? Was it like, hey, I want this to be a successful location. Or were you thinking in the beginning, I want this to be a franchised nationwide brand.

Speaker 2: 3:09

No at first, because it was such a risk and so new, I just wanted to pay rent. So if we could pay rent, then it was hey, we could go to the next step After our I'd say, first seven months. That's when it really hit me like wow, we're on to something, I want to try this again. And then we started looking for our second location about seven months in.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Wow, that's really fast.

Speaker 2: 3:32

Very fast, very nerve wracking, probably pushed my body to the limit because, as most people who have done anything was a multi-unit you cannot duplicate yourself. So you got to learn really, really, really quick how to be a leader, how to delegate, how to get people to respond. It was tough, it was a very challenging I would say six to eight months of my life, but very thankful we did it, because then it turned into a third location and then turned into franchising.

Speaker 1: 3:59

In the last two years you've doubled your footprint, so talk to me about the challenges that you've experienced in that growth.

Speaker 2: 4:07

So I would say three natives mantra. We've kind of like slow and steady wins the race. There's a lot of other brands out there that have expanded really, really fast. A lot of other brands. They've already tapped into the private equity funds to grow faster. Even though we're a franchise, I still look at us as a very mom and pop brand. Me and my father are the only owners we have no, outside no way.

Speaker 2: 4:29

Yeah, there's no outside investment, there's no board meetings. This is still a brand that if someone is involved, your voice is heard. If you look at our menu, a lot of this stuff that comes on our menu, especially LTO items, that all comes from franchise feedback. So the one thing I will say with us in the last two years, when we doubled our size, which I think was about 16 stores that we added my team has been with me for nine years it was not nearly as daunting as a task as going from one to two or from two or three.

Speaker 2: 5:01

It just felt right, we're all ready for it. We were like we're ready for the next step. Let's add a couple of corporate stores in here, let's add some more franchise and let's continue to expand throughout Florida. And we, I think, out of that tranche of stores we did, we're opening the last three to four, which will put us over 50 stores. And we're now back to where we were two years ago where signing a bunch of LOIs, signing leases, attracting new franchisees, looking at new corporate stores to the goal is to go from 50 to 75 to 80.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Yeah, I love that. That's awesome, and the fact that you've done it slow and steady, the fact that you've been building and learning as you go, as opposed to when you get a lot of money. A lot of times it's easier to make the mistakes that you would learn at a less risky time of the business.

Speaker 2: 5:52

I think one of the things I started Three Natives is I wanted a healthy outlet for people on the go, and stress is a big factor in everyone's life. And there was a big thing for us is we could go out there, we could raise a bunch of money, we could have a bunch of people sitting at a board telling us what we need to do, but at the end of the day it's noise and it's stress and we just want to be able to manage having a healthy business where people can come take their little 15 minute oasis from their day to day and for us, you know, peace of mind. That's the same people that work for us. Their family, they've been with us from day one, so we don't want to overboard anybody. It's also once you have a culture. I will say it's really, really hard to hire people from the outside that have maybe had much more experience at another level or at another restaurant, another concept, and then bring them into your culture. So we found it's easier to just grow organically, even on our corporate level. It's all people that have started One of the guys who's ahead of my development.

Speaker 2: 6:50

He was a dishwasher when he hired. Then he went to delivery drive From delivery driver to running a store. It just so, I would say, there is a little bit of a struggle to try to bring some outside money in when everything we've done has just been so mom and pops and grassroots. But with that being said, same store sales continue to grow. So I do think there is a lot to be said about just focusing at one thing and being very, very good at it.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Yeah, love that. And one of the things that obviously you're very good at is your guest experience. I mean, that's what this all boils down to, so I'd love to understand your philosophy on guest experience. What do you think is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays?

Speaker 2: 7:27

So I'm a firm believer, even though we're doing a podcast. I had made a joke beforehand. You had asked me a question and I'm like I'm sorry, I don't have social media. I'm kind of a caveman with technology. So I'm the biggest believer that people buy from who they like and it doesn't matter if it's a restaurant, whatever industry you're in. So as we've grown, unfortunately I can no longer be the face of the restaurant which I was for the first eight years.

Speaker 2: 7:54

But now my managers and my staff, they understand that their presence is the first thing a customer comes in. Before they even get a bite of the food. They're eating with their eyes and they're eating with their nose first. So customer service is it's just everything. And in this space there is so much competition and it's funny we get franchisees who get a little nervous. They're like, oh, this brand's opening up or this brand was here first. And I'm like guys, competition's a good thing. People want quick service, fast, healthy food. That's the space we're in Now. You just got to win people with kindness, doing that little bit extra that our competitors aren't is what separates us.

Speaker 1: 8:34

And it shows I mean, your online reviews are great. You've got some stores that you know, over a hundred reviews and 4.9, but 4.8, 4.6, like you've got customers that love your brand and I think that goes to show that you're really putting the guest first and I think that's really powerful. And what would you recommend to any restaurant owners that are looking to improve their guest experience? What are some things that they should be looking at, doing some tactics?

Speaker 2: 9:00

Number one thing and this is the number one thing I tell my franchisees you have to invest in your employees Because, again, your employees are the face of your business. So if you want a better customer experience, you have to give your employees a better experience, Because when they come to work happy and energetic and excited to be there, that radiates right to your customers. When they come in and they feel like they're getting gypped on their pay or their hours aren't what they should be when the guest is there, all of that gets spewed onto them indirectly, but everyone picks up on that energy. So my biggest thing and it's very, very easy to do with corporate stores, it's harder to do with franchising, because it is their business but at the end of the day, our managers they are the face of our stores. The staff members are the face of our. You have to empower them to do what's right and to make that customer rave, Because we all know in 2025, everybody knows what an acai bowl is now.

Speaker 2: 9:57

It's not this item that was sought after because it was so new and unique. There's a lot of places that offer them. You got to be able to offer an acai bowl, but you can have an incredible experience to go with that food. And that's what we do. We empower our employees to, hey, go above and beyond. Make someone's day, Make it exciting. I don't know if you saw this, but I find this really, really amazing. Starbucks, which is the behemoth in the industry, they're focusing now on handwritten notes and ceramic mugs, to go back to what Starbucks was, which I think if you have a brand that's that big and their CEO is saying guys, this is where the focus is, Every other brand doesn't matter. If you're a mom and pop, you need to follow. Customer service is the difference maker right now.

Speaker 1: 10:43

And this day and age we cannot afford to have somebody walk out of our door not to come back. We have to focus on that recovery and that retention because if you make and competition is so steep right now and there's so many people giving discounts that if you mess up, it's really easy to fall out of the rotation of someone's top five places that they go to. And when you fall out it could take a really long time, if ever, for you to get back in that rotation.

Speaker 2: 11:15

It's very long and we've noticed too. And this, going back to your reviews say, for example, if store does 200 transactions a day and two of them are really bad, chances are you're going to get a review, but those 198 that went spectacular. It's really hard to get somebody to take that extra 30 seconds to write a review for you.

Speaker 1: 11:37

It's a whole concept of the vending machine, right? If two candy bars come out of the vending machine, I'm like, oh wow, that's really cool. If the candy bar that I paid for came out, I got what I paid for. If the candy bar doesn't come out Anthony I know that you're calling your cousins you're breaking some kneecaps of those vending machine people. It's a dollar, but it's not a dollar.

Speaker 2: 12:00

It's the principle, right, and that's exactly how it is in restaurants 100% and, as things are just, everything's more expensive than every space and customers really value their hard earned money. And that's again that goes back to customer service. We offer an amazing product. I'm not going to take anything away from what we offer but more importantly, we offer great customer service, and that allows you If you mess someone's order up. Zach, if you came in and you ordered a tuna wrap and I gave you a chicken salad wrap, you're going to be upset at first. But if we handle it and go above and beyond, we give you a gift card, we comp the mealto-day motions and they forget the little simple hey, how are you? How was your food? Can I get you anything else? It just goes so much further into the customer.

Speaker 1: 12:55

I totally agree with that, anthony, and the way that I look at it is what's written on my hat do good and eat well, right, and that's the whole concept of let's be kind to people. Let's hire people that are kind. Let's be kind to people. Let's hire people that are kind. Let's be kind to those people Because, as we say on this podcast all the time, the guest experience cannot exceed the employee experience, and so you need to make sure that your team members really feel empowered to do good things, and I think that that's amazing what you're doing.

Speaker 1: 13:22

Love the brand, love the philosophy Totally agree on that recovery piece. The philosophy totally agree on that recovery piece. What we found in our data is that a guest who has a negative experience and is with proper service recovery is 24 times more valuable than your average guest. I mean, that's bananas. And we see people walk out the door who have a bad experience and we're like, oh well, it's like no, no, no. Imagine 24 people just walked out and then imagine that there's 30 people who don't come in because of that negative review they posted. So now you're losing actually 50 customers and thousands and thousands of dollars because you're not focused on that individual and I think that's amazing and I love that that you're doing that, anthony.

Speaker 2: 14:08

And, as you know, it's really really simple to say I'm sorry I messed up. Let me fix this for you.

Speaker 1: 14:13

Yeah, I mean, is your pride worth 50 customers?

Speaker 2: 14:17

And I will tell you this and this is for anybody who's starting their own business because it's your baby you're emotional. You care about things that you probably shouldn't care about. You're like, oh, this is going to eat into my food cost At the end of the day. Having somebody walk out of your restaurant upset is going to hurt you more than making another item. The joy that you bring somebody, the anger that you have taken away, it goes so much farther and it's one of those things. It's hard to suck up your pride, but so much easier to say I'm sorry, we made a mistake. Let me fix this right away.

Speaker 1: 14:50

Amen. Oh, man, anthony, love it. By the way, for those listening, just let's all remember that's not just good business advice, that's good life advice and really good marriage advice and, quite frankly, it's good parenting advice. I recently read an article about parenting and this whole concept of service recovery paradox. It's not just in business, but they found that marriages and even kids, parent-child relationships if you go and you mess up and you apologize to your child, even a five-year-old kid, if you say, marty, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you, your relationship is going to get stronger. And now we all know that. That doesn't mean that we should go and yell at kids to have the apology, but it means that we're humans and, as that happens, show your humanity and that creates that connection and that creates that love.

Speaker 2: 15:47

You'll love this. My wife, she's pregnant with our first. So I'm saying hey, mazel Tov, thank you. Thank you, I'm saying I'm sorry a lot. Right now I don't even know what I did, but I'm so sorry, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: 16:01

You know what you did, anthony, you know, anyway. Well, anthony, who is someone that we should be following in the restaurant industry?

Speaker 2: 16:12

So I want to give a shout out to Melissa.

Speaker 2: 16:14

She's the general manager of Evo. The book behind you Unreasonable Hospitality. She gave to me about two years ago. My wife makes fun of me. She says Anthony only reads chapter one. I have a whole bunch of books and it's hard for me. I will tell you this Unreasonable Hospitality I only reads chapter one. I have a whole bunch of books and it's hard for me. I will tell you this Unreasonable Hospitality. I've read it twice. I've cried at the end of it both times.

Speaker 2: 16:34

I think it doesn't matter if you're a five-star restaurant or you're a small mom and pop. The stuff that he talks about, about going above and beyond if you can switch your mindset to give the customer whatever they want. And again in that book they go to an extreme, which is amazing. If your customer experience is through the roof and they will keep coming back and they'll bring their families in and they'll bring their friends in and then you are now a part of their life. And that was one of the big things with Melissa. She said Anthony, I've watched people come in after their baptism with their newborn to first communion, to graduate in middle school, to graduate in high school. She's like we are a part of these people's lives. So once I read that book, it was another way for me to just hey, customer service is everything.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Love that and I would encourage everyone to go to our podcast and go check out the episode I did with Will Gadara. I have to admit I was total fan bowing out and it was probably the worst interview I've ever done, but it was such an honor to have him on the podcast, so go give that a listen. If you're not familiar with the book, go buy it. I love that. Shout out, anthony. Now how do people find and follow you? But, as you said, you're not on social media a whole lot, so maybe three natives.

Speaker 2: 17:51

Yes, we have Facebook. We have Instagram. I am new to LinkedIn, so if you want to connect, you can find me at LinkedIn I believe it's at Anthony Bambino and then our social media handles it's all three natives Very, very easy to find and I'm excited.

Speaker 1: 18:08

Thank you for having us this was a great podcast Well, hey, you made it great. Anthony, I'm just a microphone, you're spitting the wisdom and for giving us a masterclass on creating a great guest experience from the great Bambino. Today's ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation. 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, 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.