CEO Scott Snyder's journey with Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii began as a mission to help the brand regain its footing, but it quickly evolved into a larger vision. Brought in to assist with turning operations around, he soon saw the incredible potential the brand held.
Watch now to learn more about revamping Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii, building an experiential brand, and marketing to a diverse fanbase.
Watch now to learn more about revamping Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii, building an experiential brand, and marketing to a diverse fanbase.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers, presented by Entrepreneur.
00:09I am your host, Sean Walchef.
00:11This is a Cali BBQ Media production.
00:14In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through
00:19lessons and stories.
00:21We are grateful to Toast, our primary technology partner at our barbecue restaurants, for powering
00:27this show, for sponsoring this show, for giving us the stage to bring on the greatest storytellers
00:32on earth, the greatest professionals in the hospitality space.
00:35Today, we have the CEO of Bad Ass Coffee, Scott Snyder.
00:39Scott, welcome to the show.
00:41Hello, Sean.
00:42Glad to be here.
00:43We're going to talk about brand transformation.
00:46We are going to talk about merchandise, alternative revenue streams, experiential dining, the
00:52business of coffee, and your business, how you got involved in this incredible brand.
01:00Where in the world, Scott, is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:05Ooh, good one.
01:07Red Rocks.
01:08Red Rocks Amphitheater, right here in Colorado, is one of the most spectacular settings, whether
01:15it's classical music or rock and roll.
01:21It is without peers.
01:24It's my favorite place.
01:25Let's go to Red Rocks.
01:26I'm going to talk to entrepreneur.
01:28I'll talk to Toast.
01:29I'll talk to some other brands.
01:30We're going to sponsor a TEDx-style event.
01:34We go to a lot of restaurant-specific events, incredible conferences, trade shows, but one
01:40of the things that we love is story.
01:42I want to put you on stage at Red Rocks.
01:45I need to know ... We're going to fill it with hospitality professionals, people that
01:52listen to the show, people that love business, that love stories.
01:56I want to know the badass coffee story.
01:58Can you share the dream, share the vision of why are people buying into this badass
02:06coffee brand, not just from a consumer standpoint, but also from a franchisee standpoint?
02:12Happy to do that.
02:13This brand has a great story.
02:15Actually, my story is only in the last seven years.
02:19The brand actually started in 1989 and had pretty rapid growth just on the islands of
02:26Hawaii with coffee stands, kiosks, and a few stores.
02:31The brand was sold and brought to the mainland in 1995.
02:37That's when they started to do some franchising.
02:40Like a lot of first-time franchise brands, I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned.
02:49The economic situation in 2008 was really tough on this brand.
02:53I think at their peak, they were in the mid-30s in terms of number of stores.
02:59After 2008, they lost about half of their stores and more were continuing to drop.
03:05That's where I came in in 2017 based on my background and working with a lot of really
03:13great brands, probably over 100 different brands in my career.
03:16I was brought in as a consultant to help them.
03:19They said that they had a sales problem.
03:22Turns out they had a much bigger issue than a sales problem.
03:25They had a business model problem.
03:28The brand was shrinking and really on its way to irrelevance.
03:34What I saw in this brand, and this is where the story really begins, was a brand that
03:40hadn't sold a franchise in over 10 years from 2008 until the end of 2017.
03:47Actually, not until we sold the first one in 2020.
03:51What I saw as a brand, when I look at brands and in the brands that I've worked with in
03:57my marketing and consulting career, I look for the three legs of the stool, the strength
04:05of the brand, the first leg, the strength of the brand.
04:07Is this a brand that you remember?
04:11Is it a brand that's disruptive?
04:13Is it funny?
04:14Is it serious?
04:15Is it something that really jars you, that you can't get away from?
04:20Number two, is the product any good?
04:23It can't all be marketing.
04:27Despite the best name in the world, if you don't have a solid product, you may be dead
04:32where you stand.
04:33In the third leg of the stool, this is the expensive one.
04:36This is the infrastructure.
04:39Does it have the people, the process, the systems, the technology, the innovation, all
04:45those things that provide for sustainable success?
04:48Usually, when I've been brought in to work with brands in my career, that's usually an
04:53issue with the brand itself, or there's an issue with the product, and there's some smattering
04:58of an infrastructure.
05:00Well, in this brand, with Badass Coffee of Hawaii, what I saw was tremendous brand recall.
05:06People love this brand.
05:09They remembered it, and they would tell you stories.
05:11You'd wear a hat going through the airport, and someone would go, Badass Coffee, oh my
05:15God, we were there in 1998.
05:18We got married in Maui, or we had a family vacation in Destin.
05:24The stories were amazing, and it's a common occurrence.
05:27It's one of my favorite things about this brand.
05:30People know the brand.
05:32They tie it to a significant event.
05:35It was part of their life.
05:37It was part of the brand experience, usually followed by an, oh my God, that was the best
05:42coffee we've ever had.
05:44Right?
05:45Perfect.
05:46Music to yours.
05:47What this brand really lacked was that infrastructure.
05:51When you looked at the health of the franchisees themselves, they were really struggling.
05:57What I saw, really, for the first time was, rather than working on everyone else's brand,
06:04this is a really unique situation.
06:06Yes, it's going to be costly.
06:07Yes, it's going to be time-consuming to build all that infrastructure, but man, if you've
06:13got a ... We referred to ourselves as a 33-year-old startup, because basically, that's what we
06:20were doing.
06:21We were starting with a logo and a great product, a name and a great product, and the rest of
06:27it was a blank canvas.
06:29The story is, if you could build the perfect franchise brand with everything that you've
06:35done in your career, with all of your experiences, and all the best practices that are out there,
06:40what would you build?
06:41Right?
06:42How would you do it differently to really make a mark?
06:45That's where we started with Badass Coffee.
06:47We acquired the assets of the brand, I, along with some other investors here in Denver.
06:54The brand was located in Salt Lake City at the time.
06:57We acquired the assets of the brand and went to work putting this master plan together.
07:04Again, when you've got such a great brand name like that that gets people's attention,
07:10and you have this opportunity to put your signature on something, we've been so blessed
07:15in attracting top-notch talent that a brand of this size normally wouldn't be able to
07:21attract.
07:22The vision and the passion for what we were going to create and how that was going to
07:26differentiate itself was just really exciting.
07:30We went to work in 2019.
07:33Even blessed with impeccable timing, we launched the new logo, the new packaging, and the new
07:39store design on Friday the 13th, March of 2020.
07:44Nice timing.
07:45As we all know, the whole world shut down within a week after that, but despite that,
07:51we were able to bring in some amazing people in marketing, and operations, and finance,
07:57and started rebuilding this brand from scratch.
08:03It's been a great ride.
08:06We acquired the brand with about 18 stores at that time.
08:10Over the next year, we dropped that down to about 12 stores.
08:14We lost a couple stores due to COVID, a couple non-renewals, and a couple that we let go
08:23that weren't going to get on board with where the direction of the brand was going to go,
08:28and the culture, and everything else.
08:30Today, we're getting ready to open up our 33rd and 34th stores.
08:35We've got about another 18 under construction right now, and about another 108 that have
08:42been sold that haven't started construction yet.
08:46We're buckling in.
08:47Wow.
08:48It's a fun ride.
08:49That's incredible.
08:50Yeah.
08:51Prior to this interview, I was doing some digital research and checking out videos across
08:57all social, but TikTok in particular was amazing because I got to go to so many different
09:04stores through the eyes of TikTok influencers all across the country and all in different
09:12places.
09:13Can you give us an idea for the audience of why these stores are all so unique, yet they
09:19all have a same feel to them?
09:22Yeah.
09:24Great question.
09:26What we acquired were 18 completely different stores with 18 completely different interpretations
09:32of what the brand was, and really no governance to reel that all in.
09:37I think what we really focused on, Sean, upfront was, what is the brand identity?
09:45I think as I work with different brands over the years, we would always focus on trying
09:51to identify that one unique and identifiable, ownable truth of the brand, and then build
09:58the brand around that.
10:00There can only be one Coca-Cola.
10:04You might argue that trying to be everything like Coca-Cola and being in a number two position
10:09could be a pretty lucrative strategy, but for most, what is the one thing that you do
10:15that's different than everyone else?
10:18This brand, and this was the education process with the legacy franchisees that we acquired,
10:26but it was the number one selling point of where we were going with all the new franchisees
10:31that we've attracted, because remember, we didn't have any stores that actually looked
10:36like what we were talking about.
10:39We were selling a vision.
10:40We were telling a story about what this brand would look like, what it would sound like,
10:46if it walked up to you in person, what would it be wearing, what would the attitude be,
10:52and all those cultural things that we talk about with Aloha and with Ohana and family
10:58and the way that we are going to treat people.
11:00But again, going back to that one unique and ownable truth, most brands only have one.
11:05This brand is blessed with five or six.
11:09Nobody does Hawaiian coffee on the mainland like badass coffee.
11:15If you're going to a coffee shop, you might be lucky to find one Kona blend or 100% Kona,
11:20something like that.
11:21I mean, we've got an entire shelf full of SKUs that are 100% and unique Hawaiian blends.
11:28Number two, with the name like badass coffee and the story behind that with the donkeys
11:33and bringing the coffee down the volcanic slopes, I mean, that's as much a part of Hawaii's
11:38history as coffee itself, right?
11:42And so that's a unique and ownable truth.
11:45You can't deny that there's a multiple meaning behind badass, right?
11:51Badass referred to the donkeys, but there's a little badass in everybody, right?
11:56And a true badass isn't a self-promoter, a true badass goes out and does really great
12:00things in the world and does that without a lot of self-promotion.
12:04And so that's a unique and identifiable trait of this brand.
12:08Walking into the stores, and I think this is what you really want to talk about.
12:12That's an experience.
12:13I mean, 100%, this is an experiential brand.
12:16It's not Disney World, right?
12:18It's not meant to be, but you walk into our shops and to your point, there's a little
12:23bit of variation from store to store, but we've created an environment that feels like
12:30an escape.
12:31And if you've ever been to Hawaii, you'll appreciate the authenticity of it.
12:35If you've never been to Hawaii, it's what you imagine Hawaii would be, right?
12:40So greens and blues for land and sea, you've got vintage Hawaiian photography.
12:46You've got a really eclectic mix of Hawaiian music, beach music, surfer music, Jack Johnson,
12:55Jimmy Buffett.
12:56I mean, it's just a really laid back, chill sort of place.
13:01And then, even our menu, try to take those cues.
13:04If you're going to be in the coffee business, you've got to have a breakfast sandwich, right?
13:08And so, how do you make that breakfast sandwich even more craveable, even more unique and
13:14ownable to us?
13:15And so, just little Hawaiian twists, right?
13:18Instead of a croissant or an English muffin, we use King's Hawaiian bread.
13:22It's amazing.
13:23Amazing, right?
13:24So craveable.
13:25And best of all, the culture itself and the attitude, getting a big aloha when you walk
13:33in the door is unusual, right?
13:35And you get used to it and you love it.
13:38And so, just the whole interaction and engagement, again, the whole environment just as differentiates
13:46us from the tried and true kind of dark, industrial, somewhat friendly or somewhat unfriendly depending
13:55on which brand you're going into.
13:57We want you to leave going, man, that was amazing.
14:00And this is the best cup of coffee or the best beverage or food I've ever had, right?
14:06I want to come back.
14:07I want to do that again tomorrow because I work really hard, but I want to chill really
14:11hard too.
14:12So...
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14:53Was the aloha welcome part of the training manual before you took over?
15:00You know, I think it was encouraged.
15:03The training manual was way put in.
15:09And again, I think that was really part of somebody's fault, but it was just the style
15:15of the prior ownership.
15:17There wasn't a lot of hands-on attention.
15:20And I think when you do something like this, there's a lot of change.
15:25Change is hard.
15:26You go first.
15:27Right?
15:28Change is hard.
15:29You go first.
15:30That's good.
15:31For us.
15:32I might steal that.
15:34That's good.
15:35Change is hard.
15:36You go first.
15:37We had a lot of trust that we had to earn with the OGs, the OG franchises.
15:44We had a lot of trust.
15:45And so just doing the little things, just proving that what we were doing was going
15:51to make a real difference.
15:52And we saw the AUVs in the original stores increase from about $425,000 to $700,000 in
16:06the first year.
16:09And that was just by paying attention, and by reducing costs, and by actually having
16:16a plan.
16:17And so, yeah, there was a lot of change.
16:20And so we had to build a lot of trust with them, and that trust was through 2020.
16:25So a lot of that was, how did we take care of our franchisees only a couple months into
16:32our ownership, and in the worst economic collapse of the history of the country?
16:39So we earned a lot of trust.
16:41And then I think as you then start to enroll people in that change, it's not so much, can
16:47I talk you into this, it's, do you believe in it?
16:51Do you believe that this makes a difference?
16:53And if you do, then that becomes part of the culture.
16:57Model the behaviors that you seek to see.
17:00And so for us, it starts with the leadership team.
17:04Are we aligned in our vision on what we want to create?
17:08Is our staff aligned with the vision that we're trying to execute?
17:12Is our relationship with our franchisees aligned to where they believe in that?
17:17And then do they model that with their ohana, with their team in the stores?
17:24If we're successful in doing that all the way down, that aloha and the mahalo, the thank
17:29you at the end, that comes natural.
17:31It just becomes part of the vibe.
17:36And you know you've gotten there when the customers start saying it back.
17:40When they come in the door and say aloha, that's awesome.
17:43What percentage of your business is coffee business versus food business versus merch
17:49business?
17:50Right now, that's a great question.
17:52Right now, it's about 55% to 60% is beverage.
17:59This is kind of over our averages.
18:02About 15% is merchandise and retail coffee.
18:08And then the balance is food.
18:10So yeah, so the merchandise and retail coffee, I have to check my numbers.
18:16I have to check my numbers, Sean, you'll have to correct me later.
18:19I believe the national average for coffee shops is about 2% to 3% sales of retail coffee
18:26beans and hats and mugs.
18:30And so I think nationally, the average is about 25% to 35% food.
18:40And the balance is largely beverage.
18:44Our stores are a little different with as much merchandise as we have and kind of going
18:49back to being a badass.
18:52You may not be a self-promoter if you're a badass, but you don't see a lot of people
18:55walking around the street with some of those other coffee brands on the front of their
19:00t-shirt or on their hat, and you can fill in the name of whatever brand you want to
19:04put into that statement.
19:05For sure.
19:06People love to have something that says badass on it, right?
19:09Whether it's a travel mug or it's a hat or a shirt or a hoodie or whatever.
19:14So right now, our stores, it's kind of an even split, about 7.5% retail beans.
19:20That goes to the quality of the product.
19:24Another 7.5% goes to the merchandise, which is part of that fun factor and really brand
19:29advocacy, right?
19:31We want...
19:32They're our best billboards on the planet, right?
19:34Absolutely.
19:35And our destination stores are stores that are Miramar Beach or Naples or places like
19:42that on the water, Maui.
19:45That number can be 25% to 35% of their sales.
19:50So it's a really another unique differentiator for this brand in the coffee segment.
19:57What have you seen in your time working with the amount of brands that you have unsuccessful
20:02merchandising programs?
20:07Explain that a little bit more.
20:08What do you...
20:09You've obviously figured out how to do it successfully.
20:12You've taken the badass, not just the name, but you have the donkey and you've made the
20:17donkey something that is relatable, is desirable, is something that looks cool on a hat, looks
20:22great on a sweatshirt, looks cool as a stuffed animal.
20:26That's obviously helping attribute to those sales.
20:29What have you seen unsuccessfully?
20:30Because a lot of restaurants that listen to this show, if you're listening to this show,
20:36you want to grow your revenue streams in your restaurant.
20:38We know how hard the restaurant business is, and we're trying to figure out other ways,
20:43whether it's consumer packaged goods, whether it's merchandise, whether it's becoming a
20:46media company, doing brand deals, whatever that might be.
20:49There's multiple ways to grow revenue streams in a restaurant business.
20:55Give us some of the horror stories that you've seen on the merch side.
20:59Yeah.
21:00I don't know that they're horror stories.
21:02I think it's just a lack of execution and, in general, a lack of understanding the basics
21:09about merchandise.
21:11I'd break it into two categories, Sean.
21:14I think when we talk about merchandise, not the retail beans, you can put a logo on anything.
21:22That doesn't mean you should.
21:23Does that make sense?
21:24It's very true.
21:25Yeah.
21:26Number one, that's kind of our guiding principle.
21:30I think when we acquired the brand, one of the things I questioned was the consistency
21:38of how they represented the brand.
21:41Some cases, it was pretty funny.
21:42In some cases, it was a little over the line into the territory of maybe being a little
21:47inappropriate.
21:50Part of that is just coming back and saying, hey, we are serious about our coffee and we're
21:56serious about Hawaiian heritage.
22:01When you have a donkey in your logo and you have ass in your name, you've got to be able
22:05to laugh at yourself a little bit.
22:06If you take that sort of guiding principle, you should be okay.
22:11Keep it clean.
22:14You can be on the edge, but keep it in good taste.
22:17When we look at what those products are, we're looking at different ways to represent.
22:26It's not just slapping a logo on everything.
22:29It's exploring creative.
22:31Think of Tommy Bahama or think of any of those other brands.
22:36Hard Rock Cafe, we've been called the Hard Rock Cafe of the coffee world from time to
22:40time.
22:41It's all about the name drop.
22:44They have a lot of fun with the creative and sometimes the logo, sometimes the brand
22:49is in logo form.
22:50Sometimes it's in script form, but you try to find something that's appropriate for what
22:55your audience is.
22:57Really it comes down to what do they need that they didn't know that they needed?
23:02They didn't know until they saw it and said, I've got to have that.
23:07They're not all winners.
23:08We've got a few stinkers in there too that we've a little deep in inventory on.
23:13The name drop is really important for the stores that identifies that that's their store.
23:19We have customers that post on Facebook and Instagram.
23:24They're on a nationwide tour to collect a name drop shirt from every badass coffee store
23:29in the country.
23:30That's cool.
23:31Right?
23:32That's really cool.
23:33Both on the merchandise side and the retail bean side though, I think a lot of it comes
23:37down to what sort of customer engagement experience do you create in the store?
23:45If you're going to sample a coffee, you ought to be brewing that coffee that day as well.
23:52If they like the sample, that's what they're actually serving.
23:55Maybe you're giving them something off because that's what you're sampling today.
23:59Or better yet, go back and point to the merchandise wall and say, if you really like that today,
24:05get a dollar off that bag here on the shelf.
24:07Oh, by the way, whenever you buy a bag of coffee in our store, you get a free 16-ounce
24:14brewed coffee that day.
24:16Now you're bundling.
24:18Now you're taking an experience where you're educating them about what they're tasting.
24:21They like it.
24:22You're engaging with them.
24:24You've got opportunities to upsell that.
24:27A lot of times that's with bundling and upselling merchandise, packaging merchandise with retail
24:34beans.
24:37That wall of merchandise is a revenue opportunity.
24:41It will just sit there and it will generate revenue if you don't do anything, but it can
24:45be a goldmine for you if you make that part of your engagement with customers.
24:50Really at the end of the day, it's all about the experience.
24:54They want to feel like nobody rolled their eyes at them because they didn't know what
24:58that kind of coffee was.
24:59There was somebody there to help them and they got to try it.
25:03They just had a great experience.
25:04They felt a little smarter when they left.
25:07With your background in digital advertising, running an agency, what lessons have you implemented
25:14that you've learned over the years that you're now utilizing in 2024 and beyond for Badass
25:19Coffee?
25:25Not everybody consumes media in the same way.
25:29I think one of the great challenges and one of the great opportunities for our brand is
25:38usually if you work with a brand, you find where is your current customer base and somewhere
25:44on the spectrum.
25:45Then we make decisions whether we're going to reach up for a more affluent customer and
25:50reach down for a value customer.
25:54Badass Coffee has two distinct audiences.
25:57At one end of the spectrum, they have a very high-end customer who appreciates the high-end
26:02premium coffee that is 100% Hawaiian.
26:05They know their coffee.
26:06They're educated.
26:08They don't think twice about dropping a significant amount of money for a premium coffee.
26:13On the other end, you've got people that are just introducing themselves to the brand for
26:16the first time.
26:18They're younger or they're in their teens or their 20s or 30s.
26:23As their income level rises, they move across that customer spectrum.
26:30Because we have such a diverse and broad audience, you need to make sure that your messaging
26:37is in the right message at the right time to the right person through the right channel
26:44and with the right sense of urgency and reason to act.
26:50That's different for everybody.
26:52My mother reads newspapers and barely gets through email.
26:58My daughter is on more social channels than I can count.
27:04Knowing what the right product is and what the right channel, I think, is the most important
27:07thing that I learned in the agency days.
27:09It's the one thing that we've brought here.
27:11Know your audience.
27:13Know what you're trying to position for that audience.
27:16Especially from day one, Sean, our intent here was some people knew about this brand.
27:24There was a cult-like following, but to build a base, you're going to have to build it.
27:29We intentionally drove a lot of initial brand awareness through social with the idea that
27:38this becomes the cool, hot new thing.
27:41They tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on and so on.
27:44Network effect.
27:45Yeah.
27:47Then they start buying product.
27:48Our online store became a way of putting the product in their hands.
27:54Then they became advocates for that to the point to where the same base grew from awareness
28:00to product purchaser to advocate to when are you going to build a store in our hometown.
28:07That's been intentional.
28:08Again, the marketing has to be product-specific.
28:13It has to be designed to move our customers through this introduction to being a user,
28:20to being an advocate, to eventually being a franchisee perhaps, or at least a built-in
28:25base when we're building a store in your hometown.
28:29When we look back at this interview specifically, we're doing this in 2024 in June, when we
28:35look back five years from now, what's the big dream?
28:40You had a big dream when you pitched the investors to get the brand and to get to where
28:45you are.
28:46Obviously, you couldn't plan for a pandemic, but we're here in 2024.
28:50The economy is what it is.
28:51The world is what it is.
28:53You've got an incredible brand.
28:54You've got incredible brand recognition.
28:57What you guys are doing.
28:59You have a store here in San Diego that I can't wait to go and visit.
29:02I'm going to be visiting it probably very soon, given all the digital research that
29:07I've seen of how many people enjoying your coffee and your food.
29:10What is it going to look like five years from now?
29:16Wow.
29:17I'm not much for putting numbers to it, X number of stores, things like that.
29:22I think the big dream for me personally is that we really made a difference in the market.
29:32There are two camps out there.
29:33One says, man, coffee, as a result of the pandemic, really became – the three big
29:40winners in the pandemic were coffee, pizza, and third-party delivery.
29:46It is a very crowded space.
29:48For me, I think the dream is that in a very crowded field with some very mature and very
29:54sophisticated and very accomplished players, and we all know who they are, that we created
30:02something that's really unique that people buy into.
30:05I think the in-store experience – certainly, we adapted like everyone else, and we have
30:10a push for building drive-thrus, and we've advanced our technology.
30:14But I think, for me, the dream is that, boy, that became a really desirable change, kind
30:21of the face of coffee again.
30:23It's kind of the next generation of coffee, kind of going forward by going back a little
30:28bit.
30:29But it really is about the experience, and it really is about how you're treated at the
30:32counter, and it really is about feeling welcome and feeling like that's your place.
30:39I think Starbucks coined third place.
30:42We love it when people come into the cafe, and they spend time because they enjoy it.
30:47We like it even more when they then bring two friends, and then they bring two friends,
30:52and it just keeps going.
30:54I think, for us, really making a difference and making this the desirable model and having
31:00others looking to see what we've done and say, maybe we should do a little bit more
31:04of that.
31:05Maybe we should be a little bit more part of the community.
31:08Maybe we should be a little bit more back to interaction with one another.
31:14When time doesn't permit, we've got that for you, too.
31:17That's awesome.
31:18We believe that every business, every person that's listening to this, not only do you
31:21have a personal brand, but you can also become a media company.
31:24We turned our barbecue business into a media company.
31:27That's why I get to have incredible conversations with the best storytellers and hospitality
31:32professionals on earth.
31:33Scott, I have a few questions before I let you go about your personal tech stack.
31:38Are you an Android or an iPhone user?
31:41Me, personally, I am an Apple user.
31:44An Apple user.
31:45Which version of the phone do you have?
31:47I have 15.
31:4815.
31:49You always get the upgrade?
31:50No.
31:52My phone broke, so I had to get it.
31:56Fair enough.
31:57Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
32:00I love phone calls.
32:02Phone calls.
32:03Do you leave voicemails?
32:04Short ones.
32:05Short ones.
32:06Do you like it when people leave you voicemails?
32:10If they tell me what the call was about.
32:12They were very concise.
32:16How do you do meetings?
32:17In-person meetings.
32:19What are your rules around meetings?
32:21Well, in 2020 and early 2021, they were all remote.
32:27I prefer face-to-face whenever we can get it, but we have a blended staff and team of
32:34people that are here in the office.
32:36Now we're hiring some really talented people that aren't here in the office, so sometimes
32:40it's a blend of both.
32:42What do you look for when you're hiring?
32:45Look for passion.
32:46Look for people who want to make their mark.
32:49Look for people who have something to offer.
32:53I had original vision for this brand, and when I started looking at it with a different
32:58eye in 2018, but that vision is so much better and so much bigger now because we brought
33:06in other folks who have the same sorts of experiences that I have.
33:10I think you're always better by bringing in outside influence and outside excitement
33:16and passion and talent.
33:20How many emails do you get a day?
33:22Too many.
33:23How many do you enjoy reading?
33:27About a third of them.
33:28A third of them?
33:29That's pretty generous.
33:33Which app do you use for maps?
33:35Apple Map, Google Map, Waze?
33:38Apple Map and Waze.
33:40Waze is when it's going to be tough.
33:41Apple Map, if it's just from here to there.
33:45What music?
33:46What app do you listen to music on?
33:48Oh, gosh.
33:49I have a lot.
33:50I have several.
33:51Several?
33:52Okay.
33:53What was the last question?
33:56The last question is, what is your favorite app on your phone?
34:01Ooh, good question.
34:04Strava.
34:05Strava?
34:06What's that?
34:08I cycle a lot.
34:11I like Strava because it's both a community and it gives you data on your rides.
34:18So I use that to get better at what I'm doing and enjoy it more and to get some accolades
34:23and give some accolades to other folks that are doing the same thing.
34:27That's fantastic.
34:28And the best place for people to connect with you is what, LinkedIn, I'm guessing?
34:33You know what?
34:35I don't mind giving out my email address at all.
34:37It's scottatroyaloha.com.
34:42And you can find us at badasscoffee.com.
34:44Beautiful.
34:45And if you guys want to keep in touch with me, it's at Sean P. Walcheff, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
34:53We want to hear about your restaurant.
34:54We want to hear about your story.
34:56If you're a storyteller, a creator, no matter where you are on earth, we appreciate you
35:00for listening to this show.
35:02Please share the Badass Coffee story.
35:04Please buy some merch.
35:06Please go and make a video when you go and get some coffee.
35:08I can't wait to bring my family to Hawaii one day and try.
35:13Where's the location to go?
35:14I know there's too many locations.
35:16Is there an original location?
35:19One of the original locations sadly burned down in Lahaina last summer.
35:26They're all great locations, but some of the oldest ones are in Naples, Florida.
35:33Right up the road from you in Rancho Cucamonga is one of the locations as well.
35:37Beautiful.
35:38Well, we appreciate you, Scott.
35:40Thank you so much for sharing the secrets today.
35:43As always, stay curious, get involved, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
35:47We'll catch you guys next week.
35:49Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
35:52If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P. Walcheff, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
36:01Cali Barbecue Media has other shows.
36:04You can check out Digital Hospitality.
36:06We've been doing that show since 2017.
36:08We also just launched a show, Season 2, Family Style, on YouTube with Toast.
36:14And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand and you're looking to launch your own
36:19show, Cali Barbecue Media can help you.
36:21Recently, we just launched Room for Seconds with Greg Majewski.
36:26That is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality, into enterprise restaurants
36:33and franchise, franchisee relationships.
36:36Take a look at Room for Seconds.
36:38And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us, betheshow.media.
36:43We can't wait to work with you.