Welcome And Brandon Landry Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to another edition of Give and 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 AI feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what's actually happening in your restaurants and exactly how to improve while driving revenue. Learn more at ovationup.com. And today I am so excited because we have the founder of a brand that you know about and you might not know where the name came from, how it started. And so I'm super excited to introduce Brandon Landry. He is the founder of walk-ons. And now he also is running Supper Club and Small Sliders. Is that right? That's right. Man, so you're staying busy here, Brandon.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yeah, we find time for a little golf every now and then. But yeah. We cook a lot of food around the country right now. So it's been fun, man. Appreciate you having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah. Now, for those who aren't familiar, do you just want to give a quick explanation

How Walk-On’s Became Walk-On’s

SPEAKER_00 1:01

of the three brands? Because I think they're all quite different. So I'm excited to talk about the lessons between the three brands and and how you're looking at the guest experience across the portfolio.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yeah, absolutely. So walk-ons is the original, right? I was a walk-on on the LSU basketball team in the late 90s and uh played seven minutes my junior year. And uh if you know anything about basketball, that's not a whole hell of a lot. Seven minutes for an entire season. So figured out I probably wasn't gonna play in the NBA. I wasn't gonna be playing for Utah Jazz out there, and so I needed to figure out another way to make a living. But my founding partner and I, we did it as a school project. We had a business plan that we had to prepare, and we did an R Walk-ons idea. Got a C on the project. Oh, nice. Just that walk-on mentality kicked in at an early age and said, Let's keep grinding, you know. We started going to banks, got turned down by the first six banks. Bank number seven was crazy enough to give us a loan. And we got the original open in 2003. It was the original walk-ons, and uh it was supposed to be one restaurant, and here we are, 23 years later, almost a hundred across 16 states. American dream, man, right? In 2018, once again, kind of entrepreneurship hard. I had an idea about a QSR brand. Uh, we had really good little cheeseburger sliders at walk-ons. I'm a burger guy, and I just loved our little sliders. I said, man, that's this should be a concept, really, you know, concentrate on doing this really well, cooking it to order, have the quality out there. And um did the first one. I put a plan together, and my partner, Drew Brees, who was at walk-ons with me, I was kind of telling him about the idea about smalls. He's like, man, I'm wanting

Small Sliders Growth And Franchising

SPEAKER_01 2:44

it. Can I can I be a part of this with you and start it with you? And so we did. We opened up one in 2019, kind of same story, and and developed it as a franchise motto as well. And uh did a second one, and then we had some early franchisees that said, hey, okay, I want to try it, I want to try it, I want to try it. Or here we are, uh, six and a half years later, and got, I think, 62 units open now and over 400 franchises sold. Really good concept that's growing throughout the country. And then in the midst of all this, in 2022, just throughout my travels and just seeing great restaurants, I'm a fan of hospitality, of just really good food and how the whole operation works, right? Uh aside from really good food, you know, just the service aspect and all the different senses that people really, it's more than just how the food tastes, right? It's it's the music, it's the lighting, it's all this. And just picking up on all these different places, traveling throughout the country. I developed the fine dining here in Baton Rouge. It's kind of a passion project. Dinner only, five nights a week. It's called Supper Club. We're getting the best wagyu out of Japan. We're getting New Zealand

Supper Club And Fine Dining Details

SPEAKER_01 3:55

salmon and lamb. And uh, I mean, it's been really fun. I got a great operating partner that came along the ride with me, and uh, we're five years already, and it's pretty tough to get a reservation at Supper Club now, and so we've had a really good time with it. So, yeah, I'm across from QSR to find dining and um having fun, man. And but it's it's all about building teams and building culture and doing it the right way, starting with your vision and getting everyone to buy in, or you can execute that vision day in, day out.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Well, I think that I grew up, well, I guess I I still am, but you know, my father, he is a professional athlete, was. And you know, he played in the NFL for 14 years, and just having that high octane mentality of what's the right play? How do you get the team together? And just understanding that teamwork and how you work together to make something happen is so powerful. And having that same goal in mind of, hey, we want a successful company and this and a successful restaurant is really broken down into two things a good PL and a great guest experience. So, what are some of the things that you've done to help improve the P ⁇ L and the guest experience? And maybe a little bit of a leading question. I'd love to understand your thoughts on how big a restaurant needs to be

Culture First Across Every Brand

SPEAKER_00 5:11

to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

It's great questions. I mean, I I go back to what you said mentioned there, just the teams. Everything we built is from, I mean, I didn't play very much in college, but everything that I've built in the businesses is from those experiences and being a teammate. And you just mentioned it because there's nothing better in life than being a part of a team. And teams can be so many different things, right? It can be sports teams, it can be your family's team, it can be your spouse. I mean, they they're like just forming this teamwork, right? And I took those days of being the 13 guy out of 13 guys on the bench and kind of crafted it into how do we make a successful business out of this? And that was the really the roots and the pillars of founding walk-ons. And I didn't, I mean, I was 23 years old when I opened up the first restaurant.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Like, really, you knew everything. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

But ignorance is blitz, right? I mean, I probably wouldn't have done it now at 47, knowing what I know now about the risk of the business and all this. But I mean, it was just like, let's go, let's just figure it out. We'll we'll work hard, but we really spent a lot of time and effort and energy on creating that type of culture where we took care of each other and it was more about the team than it was themselves. And so, yeah, I mean, fast forward into where we are today, back to your question about just hospitality and taking because it doesn't matter if you're fine dining. Of course, fine dining, like people are gonna expect really good service. If they're gonna come pay that type of price, it's more than just the filet mignon. It's how we greet them, it's how we're interacting with them, it's the attention to detail, it's the bathroom attendance that we have. And I mean, just all these little things that versus the bathrooms over there. No, let me show you to your private restroom and I'm here with a towel and everything. I mean, so everything's been thought out, but it I mean, it's the same in QSR, right? I mean, when you think about fast food and the ones that are really successful out there, of course they have good product. But I mean, when you think about the raisin canes and the Chick-fil-A's and the in-and-out burgers, it's a lot more than their product. It's the way they make you feel when you pull in those drive-throughs. And so we've spent a lot of time just trying to create that at smalls, too. And I mean, with our rapid expansion, I mean, sometimes we we gotta pull back and say, okay, make sure we're doing this the right way. And then, I mean, when you look at walk-ons as well, it's making sure that even in this kind of middle ground, right? When you hear that the middle ground is where these brands have gone to die, I mean, we've spent a lot of time here recently just doubling down on what got us to the party. And of course, we're a sports bar that is a little bit different because we bring a little Louisiana cuisine in there. But I mean, it goes back to our roots of being walk-ons and taking care of each other, name on the front versus the name on taking care of the name on the front versus the name on the back. All these little things that we just embedded in our company culture for years and years, and it's proven to be successful. And that and now we're seeing, you know, the ones that have really, I guess, focused and emphasized that in their brands, those are the ones that are successful today in a crazy restaurant world.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

I love that because I think that you're going after the core of what people are doing, which is they want to feel fulfilled as a team member. And the best way that you could help them feel fulfilled is by allowing them to provide others a great experience, right? And giving them that meaning of, hey, we care about hospitality here because I mean, you mentioned Chick-fil-A. I have been to Chick-fil-A's all over the world. And I have never walked out of a Chick-fil-A outside of like maybe an airport licensed location, which I think like those are a little different. Yeah. Outside of the airport locations, I've never walked out of a Chick-fil-A and felt like anything other than, wow, like that was great. And yet there are other chicken restaurants who may have better chicken sandwiches, but I walk out of there feeling like not just, you know, kind of like uh, oh wow, that was unhealthy, but like, oh, I feel bad about myself. I feel worse than when I walked in the door. And I'll tell you what, that's the reason that Chick-fil-a's AUVs are so much higher than other chicken restaurants' competitive AUVs, because of how they make you feel and of the consistency. You gotta have both.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

We joke all the time. It's the only place in the world you can pull out of the drive-thru with fried chicken and French fries and feel good and feel like you're eating healthy.

unknown 9:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

It's food for the soul, Brandon. Yes, it is. But I mean, it goes back to they established this culture years ago. They've created an environment where their team can flourish. And then it it transpires to the guest. And so it doesn't just go, oh, we're gonna have a great culture and the guests are gonna see it. No, it starts internally. And we spend a lot of time in all my brands to make sure that because even though it may be a different product or a different price point, it's all still the same on how you set the vision, you take care of the teams, and then hopefully it disseminates all the way down into the field and eventually to the

Smaller Footprints With Same Revenue

SPEAKER_01 10:31

guest.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

I was reading about one of your locations that you're working on making smaller footprints. And that there was a correct me if I'm wrong, but tell me about the the one of the stores and what happened to the revenue. Because as I remember, you were able to shrink the store but keep the revenues the same. So talk to us about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yeah, well, I I'm mentioned often, you know, COVID, as bad as it was, we tried to take some lessons out of it. And that was one of the lessons that we saw, especially in some of our markets where they were reducing capacity and things like that. And so we could we would only be able to seat half the restaurant. And we still saw some of the same revenues, and we started scratching our head. It's like, okay, maybe we could just be more efficient, right? And then in a climate of rising costs and, you know, I mean, just everything over the last few years, it's really hard. You know, I mean, you I'm not the first to say it. I mean, it's the margins have shrunk. So I would say that I'm not saying they're over, but the days of big boxes and big rents are going to be few and far between. So we just started looking at it and saying, man, we got such a good concept, such a great product, our culture, everything's working. How do we look at this and just get a little bit more efficient on the buildings, on our technology, on our kitchen, on our menu? And so we went down this path and we were able to, I mean, almost in half the size of our buildings reduce. And then we also looked at, I mean, yes, it's great to have a big outparcel out front, but once again, dirt's expensive, sitework's expensive, all this. And so we've taken our concept and really made it efficient enough to where we can go on an in-cap or inline or something like that and still get the great things, what what people have have come to love from walk-ons over the last two decades. But now we have an occupancy cost that's reduced dramatically. So for our franchisee that can still have a walk-ons in their community and still be able to execute the same kitchen and still be able to have that great walk-ons culture and have a rent or an occupancy cost dramatically different, it's big. And so it just becomes a much more profitable system when you look at it that way.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah, and you get a much better pick on locations. You get, you know, you're not as uh restricted in terms of where you can go. And so you you are able to pick better locations because if you're looking for a very specific type of building, you may not be able to get the best location in a specific city at a specific time because you've got all these restrictions. When you can lift those, that opens up the aperture, increasing your likelihood of success. And so anyway, love that. Love how you're thinking about it. I know you've seen a lot of things in the industry. Are there any other tips or any other learnings that you can take from both that the casual, the fast casual, casual QSR as well as fine dining?

Connection Beats Convenience After COVID

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Like when you think about the guest, what do you think is one of the most important aspects of guest experience nowadays?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Well, like you just made, I mean, it's the connectivity, it's the experience in general. It's of course you have to have a good product. I'll never not say that, but man, you can overcome a lot if you really create that experience. And I think when you look from every aspect of the business, from the QSR all the way to the fine dining, I mean, what we've been spending a lot of time lately on smalls, just I mean, you might have 30 seconds to a minute, but how do you make that experience where you can form some sort of connection with that guest? Once again, you want people to feel a certain way when they leave. And then I I think in the full service side. During COVID, after COVID, you kind of saw the world go so digital where it was I don't need to talk to anyone, I need to place an order, I need to pick it up, I don't need to have a human interaction, and let me just go along my way, right? And it went that way for a little bit, but I also see you think the pendulum is swinging back the other way right now. We're seeing it and we're feeling that guests and just humans are wanting that connection again. They're wanting to come sit down and have a conversation with a bartender or a server and have conversations with other people, maybe put their phone away and watch games and all. And so in this

Sports Bar Of The Future Design

SPEAKER_01 15:02

smaller model that we're calling kind of the sports bar of the future, right? I mean, it's 37 to 4,500 square feet. And so we've gone from an 8,000 or 9,000 square foot print to that, but making sure that that we're enhancing the viewing experience with the TVs and creating a lounge area to where maybe it's not just all the hardback seats and you got couches and things like that. You can sit in, come in with a group of guys or gals and watch your own private TV right there, and making sure that we still have the 3PD experience and but also having it to where it's efficient, right? And understanding that kind of putting on our DoorDash or Uber Eats driver's lenses and how do they interact with our team and how do we have it more efficient so they can get in and out. So, I mean, we've really tried to peel back the onion and look at every aspect of the design, but also through the guest lens and make sure that that we can still create that have that community focused design along with that guesting experience. But once again, it goes back to that human connection with our staff and with other guests in there.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I love that. You know, I do a keynote where we always talk about how the ladder of loyalty starts off with convenience, works its way up to consistency, and then at the top, it's about connection. And as you build up to that, that's how you build a brand. That's how you build nostalgia, that's how you build generational opportunities that people are going to come in and say, Oh, I remember coming here with my grandparents. I'm so excited to come here with my kids. And that's what it's about because how you feel as a kid, how you feel as an adult, as a parent, as someone going in there with friends, like whatever the occasion is, I think that if you can again put yourself in someone's shoes like you were talking about, that makes all the difference.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

People want more than a meal, man. Look, if they just wanted a meal, they would buy some turkey and some bread and go make themselves a turkey sandwich at home. Really. I mean, they want this. Uh we always say walk-ons is more than a restaurant because we bring people together. And there's no better way to bring people together than food and sports. Yeah. And I mean, think about it. I mean, I mean, because it's amazing how a community will come together when they're cheering for the same team. And that we can put some quality product in front of them, and then also teaching our team and coaching our team that it's more than just that cheeseburger that we're going to bring out. It's like, how are we making them feel? And it goes back to our walk-ons roots. So once again, it's creating the teamwork inside of our walk-ons culture that is definitely going to translate to the guest. I love that.

unknown 17:53

Cool.

Loyalty Ladder And Bringing People Together

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Well, Brandon, this has been such a great chat. Anyone you want to give a shout-out to? Anyone that deserves innovation or someone that we should be following?

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Well, I mean, look, we got tons of team members out there, but yeah, I mean, I've had the luxury of following one of my best friends and mentors here in Baden Rouge, Louisiana, is the founder of Raisin Canes, Todd Grapes. So being able to have a front row seat at what he's done with this brand has just been unbelievable. And so I learned a lot from him. I pick his brain as much as I can. He's just, he's like a big brother to me, and uh it's really helped out. So most people out there are already following him in Raisin Canes, but it's just I can't go without saying just because he's helped me so and I didn't meet him until after I got in the restaurant business. I was a freshman at LSU when when the very first Raising Canes opened. And so I got a bunch of chicken fingers late night as an 18-year-old freshman and uh ended up meeting Todd after we opened up in 03. And uh it's been one of my best friends since. So um, yeah, definitely a lot of love from my guy. Awesome. Love it, Brandon.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Well, for running with walk-ons

Mentor Shout-Out And Closing CTA

SPEAKER_00 19:02

and thinking big with smalls, today's ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Giving Ovation. Thanks, Zach. Appreciate you having me. 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 estimates-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 ovationup.com.