Leaders Eat Last: The Franchise Growth Model Built on Internal Promotion w/ Carlos Lopez (Part 2) - Ep. 52

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Yeah, it's it's not something that that comes easy, really. Like you said, we have a hundred, a thousand things to do, right? So uh we have to intentionally decide to invest our time in our team. To us, our team is very important, and we're fortunate to have great people uh in the company. We one of those stories, actually, since you you mentioned about the path, is uh we have a franchisee right now. She is probably like two or three months away from opening her location, and she grew up in the company from team member to regional manager. Um and that was like in a you know, in a few years, a few years ago, actually like uh a couple years ago, she decided that she wanted to be a franchisee. And we spoke to her, we had a meeting, we're like, yeah, we we want to help you, we want to help you get there. Uh, and we help her with her finances, getting her credit, getting everything set up so she could qualify for uh for a um a construction loan and be able to find her location. So we're just waiting for that store to open so that we can tell the story to our team because we love we love sharing uh you know good stories like this and good news uh about how she was able to start, you know, I think it was her first or second job. Wow. And grew growing the company and decide, okay, you know, we didn't push her. We're like, you're good there, stay there. But she said, no, I want to become a franchisee. I see the opportunity, I know how the business works. I think that's my next step. Uh, and we were able to do that. So I'm happy, you know, and very fortunate to have people like that that we could say, um, these people helped us get to get where we are. We also want to help them um take their next step if if that is a franchise or whatever next step really is. We like to help our team be able to grow uh either in the company or even after they leave the company if that's their the road where they want to lead.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

That's incredible. That's an incredible story, and and I'm certain that that will be one of many to come in the future of stories just like that. Uh because I can imagine that this story is going to inspire more of your team when they've seen, wow, this is actually someone did this from the full cycle, and now she runs her own store. Like it's he's you know, they're not full of shit. Like that it's real, right? And that's and I mean what that and then from a business perspective, that's just going to compound the amount of natural growth that occurs for new stores because people your team are gonna see the opportunity to create something amazing that they may have not have had the opportunity to do uh elsewhere. They're gonna take that opportunity, you're gonna help them through it, and as a result, that your business is gonna just keep expanding internally and like j without any outside uh you know people or parties uh wanting to open stores, uh, you know, which is you know the normal course of uh how franchises you know often get uh get new stores to open. It's you know, it's I I don't hear too frequently about, you know, and there's cases, but uh too frequently about employees going through that cycle from internally within to being store owners and store man uh of their own locations. So when you you clearly have a really great team. When you're hiring four team members, what are the what kind of things are you looking for?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

The main thing we look for is personality. We like people who who enjoy serving others, uh, because that is the job. The job is serving other people, and it's not complicated, it's not difficult, um, but we look for that personality of somebody that that's enjoys that job, because then we wouldn't have to be behind them or be pushing them, oh you gotta smile, you have to say thank you, you have to say my pleasure. No, they're gonna do it anyways, right? They're gonna do it from the beginning. Now, we don't necessarily look for people with experience because just because you had an experience in a restaurant working doesn't necessarily mean that you enjoy that experience and you enjoy that job. So uh even if somebody doesn't have experience, it's more important that they portray that, yes, I enjoy talking to people, I enjoy serving people, I enjoy being of help. Uh, and if that's who you are, then yes, we're happy to train you in every role that you want to jump into. If you want to start here and grow, we want you to grow in uh in the company. We also um like to put ourselves in a situation where we're always promoting from within rather than hiring someone for in a specific role. Uh I'm happy to say that we don't have any managers that we hire and just put in a row in a in a store and say, you're the manager here. Because then we feel that person doesn't have the um the respect, it's not gonna earn the respect of the team. Um I I like it better when somebody comes in even in a few months, even if they had experience as a manager, they were able to start washing the the dishes, they're able to start cooking the meals, making the drinks, and serving customers, and then they grow in the company because now everybody else is gonna see like, look, this person, yes, this person is my leader, this person sends me to do things, this person holds me accountable if I'm not doing my best job. But I know that that person has the high standards. I know that if they need to do the work, they're gonna do it. If they need to get their hands dirty, they're gonna get their hands dirty as well. No, that's that's that's really what we're looking for in a team.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, so it and I I I honestly I love that because that's how I approach hiring too, is I don't I look at soft skills uh as the biggest part, you know. Um even in an industry uh the industry that I'm in, which is technical, uh, and you know, you have to, you know, even now today, it's like it's questionable whether how you know, do you really need background in this? It's like, well, it depends how long of an on-ramp you need, because you can you I can teach you the skills in the technical side of things, but some of these soft skills you you just you can you you can't teach. And those are the ones that are valuable. Um, you know, a person's integrity, um, if they have, like you said, um that attitude of and that passion for service, serving people. Um because you know, that's a huge one. Because if if you love serving and helping people, then you just insert this like this is this is your vessel for doing that. And you just you're gonna care more. And I mean, I don't care how talented anyone is, I will always bet on the person who cares more to to do better and to achieve more. Um on the future, so obviously you've got a lot in the pipeline. Uh there's gonna be new store openings, uh, you're expanding, you're growing, you're you're training leaders, promoting with from within. What does how do you guys how do you approach growth? And what what uh what's your long-term vision for where you you guys want to take this?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

So currently uh our vision is to have uh a hundred successful franchisees. So we measure successful franchisees, uh successful franchise locations, uh, as our our target, right? We that's how we measure success. Not so much, you know, we have eight of our of the stores we own and operate, uh, but when we decide to franchise look like success for franchisees, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

What makes a store successful?

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Um basically meeting or beating the sales projection that they had uh when they first opened the store, uh, which means that they're happy with their investment. You know, they're happy that they bought into the the franchise. And if somebody will ask them, hey, will you do it again? They would say yes, of course. So uh we really measured you know their numbers and how they feel with the the operations and how they feel that they're being served as franchisees. Um we once we started franchising and we saw uh the benefits of having a win-win relationships with other partners, and the fact that every individual puts in their own investment for the brand. So they believe in the brand in order to do so. They need to be committed to the to the brand, um, then it's a win-win for us. You know, we we see it as they win, we win, the community where they open wins. Uh so it's a no-brainer. That one what we want to do now is we want to bring in more franchisees and implement the systems, develop the leaders within uh uh the brand so we can serve these franchisees the the level of service, continue the level of service that we're offering them as we open the the third that we're opening now, uh the fourth that we should open by the end of the year, and continue to deliver that high amount of um of service to these franchisees by helping them through any through the whole process. We help franchisees from when they when they start looking for locations, the construction, the grant opening, um, getting the team, training their team, and beyond through um inspections, audits, and helping them uh improve their their metrics.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

That's awesome. No, and I have no doubt that that 100 successful franchisees target uh you will hit and then uh and exceed. Uh I have no I have no doubt about that after just this short conversation that we've had and how you approach your you know your how you lead yourself, like as to put it in your words, and how you lead the people and the development and what you place importance on. Uh, I have no doubt about it. And Carlos, we we end each show with the same question. So what is your one trade secret in business or in life? Trade secret.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Oh that's a great question. I would say lead yourself as if Jesus is watching. Right? Lead yourself as Jesus is always watching you. Um so because sometimes you know, we all make mistakes. Mistakes are fine, mistakes are great, you learn from them, you get better from them. Um but sometimes when we do things that are unethical, or they're not good for other people, or they're not good for your family, uh, it's sometimes because we're being selfish, right? We're not thinking of other people's first. Um and one of the leadership traits that we like to uh exemplify and ask our team to develop is to lead yourself as if um other people always come first. Because if you help other people, they're gonna take care of you. You know, there's a book out there and there's a phrase that says, leader eat last. If you take care of your team, your team is gonna feed you. There's no reason for you to be or to think that you're gonna starve. No, because your team is gonna take care of you as long as you take care of them first. They're gonna see how much you care, they're gonna see that um that you deserve it. Whatever you have. Man, I love it. So um no, I love thank you very much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Yeah, thank Carlos, thank you so much. Um you know, your story from coming over here, uh, obviously, uh, you know, I'm biased towards immigrant stories being one myself. So, but I love I love your story. I love what you've built and what you're building, and I'm so excited to watch uh everything you do in the future, uh, because uh, I mean, I've learned a lot from this conversation uh and uh some things that I'm gonna even go and take a look at. What can I change about how we develop leaders internally and take from because there's a lot of really great things that you touched on that uh that uh every founder should take a look at in their own businesses if they want to, which they should want to, develop great leaders uh and a great culture inside of uh whatever your business is. So thank you for that. Thank you for sharing your story and uh can't wait to watch all of your success.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

It's my pleasure, and same here. You know, I started watching some of your uh other videos, and I'm gonna keep doing some digging and getting to know you and the other listeners better. Thank you for doing this. This is uh an amazing uh uh service that you're doing for other people like myself, people that may listen to this episode, and take away those golden nuggets that uh it's impossible sometimes to spend time with uh all those all those successful leaders out there and successful people. So, through what you're doing, you're creating uh the channel to where we can do that. And we can do that while we're driving, we could do that while we're uh at home relaxing and learn from others. So that's one of the things that I always you know exemplify and I ask my leaders hey, one thing that we need to do is learn from other people that are successful, learn from other people who have done it. So thank you for doing this. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Oh, thank you so much for the kind words. I uh I really appreciate that. And um we're gonna put all of the links to where people can find you and get in touch with you or uh take a look uh at what you're doing and what you're building and the show notes. Um so I'm excited for people more people to to know about you know what you're building with Tropical Juice Bar, and I cannot wait for uh there to be, hopefully in the not too distant future, uh the first store in Kansas City. So uh that's because that's where I live, and I would love to have one local that I could go to.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

I'll start working on that.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Thank you. Thank you, Carlos.