Everybody's been wondering from entrepreneurs and business types around what is the best franchise and
how do I get involved? What are the pitfalls I need to look for?
In today's podcast, will break down one of the best out there,
and that is Rock and Roll Sushi. We'll dive into what makes this brand
unique and also some of the pitfalls you should be looking for in your own
franchise selection. Today's episode is going to break down a sushi concept that is
an American style sushi restaurant founded on love and true love for rock and roll
music. It's the only themed restaurant in the world where local and loyal fans
can experience rock they love and roles they want to have. So this is
going to be interesting. We'll break down the business side of it. We'll
also take a look at what makes this brand unique. Stick around right here
on the Restaurant Report. Welcome back to the Restaurant Report. Today is going
to be a good one. We're going to talk about some franchising and joining
me today, of course, is Chris Crommelus, who is the chief development
officer over at Rock and Roll Sushi, a brand that I actually discovered by
accident. So Chris, great to have you on the show. I had
I had never been in one. I saw it. I'm driving by and
I was on a business trip. I'm driving by one, and I'm like,
whoa, whoa, what is that? I've heard that brand before?
And then I swung in a very interesting experience. I loved it. It
was fun and uh, well the one that I was in was in Alabama.
Ok yeah, Alabama. We were well, we started well, we
were at a conference in Birmingham and we got going and of course we were
doing these restaurant tours and there's I didn't realize this that there's a lot of
restaurant brands that started in Alabama. Okay, you know in terms of you
know, not necessarily big brands, but a lot of multi unit guys that
are starting to build and out of Alabama, which I thought was kind of
interesting. But anyway, so let's talk about let's talk about the brand itself,
because I'm not sure everybody understands kind of what you guys represent. So
give us a rundown real quick. Okay, yeah, I mean rock and
roll sushi. Well got me interested in rock and roll sushi. Maybe a
little bit of my background. We'll set that up because I came from the
quick service franchising a brand called Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and I've been a developer
and a multi unit franchisee for that brand for fifteen years and sold out twenty
seventeen. So it took some time off, and I, like, you
discovered rock and roll sushi on accident. I was not looking for full service.
Yeah, I knew I was going to get back in. I started
kicking the tires on some other QSR brands and just happened to have a mutual
friend that I work with who said, hey, you need to check out
this concept brother is doing. And I'm like, He's like, it's sushi,
said I'm not interested. That's you know, sounds hard or difficult,
not what I'm used to. And he just kind of kept bringing it up
when we would meet, and then said, my brother's blowing up the sushi
concept in Alabama. And I said, say that again out loud, that
makes no sense. So I really did you know? It was a total
accident, but I got interested in it because he was explaining what they had
done and they had made an approachable sushi experience for folks. That really made
he didn't feel invited to the game. Yeah, because it was not approachable.
The experience was either like a high end sushi experience that was expensive and
you know, you could wear a ball cap in or bring your kids,
or it was a you know, more of a mom and pop traditional and
that wasn't really approachable either because maybe they didn't understand the menu and there was
just it was just they didn't know, right. So when I found out
that Joe and Lance and through my friend had created this concept in Alabama,
and I started to drive around, I said, all right, I'm going
to go check these out. So I started cruising around the state, and
you know, I finally like my third fourth visit because I'm still trying to
understand it, you know, and I'm mainly focused on what's going on behind
the scenes. That's where my eyeball, my eyeballs were focused at first.
Then I swung around in the bar stool and I looked at the customers and
I was like, got it, Yeah, brilliant. So I'm from Arkansas
originally, and I called my operating partner back there and I said, I
got it rock and roll sushi, and he said, absolutely not we're not
doing sushi, Chris, I said, no, dude, you've got to
come check this out. So sure enough, I get into Alabama, and
you know, we just saw what they were doing, and it was like,
you know, how rare to find something in the restaurant business that is
super limited competition that really nobody's doing, right y, I saw all this
incredible white space in our industry because otherwise you the chicken wars of coffee wars,
or the pizza or sandwiches, on and on and on, right sports
bars, and then we saw this. I said, all right, we're
going to open one a little Rock, and we did in two thousand,
right in the middle of COVID, which was yes because we were under construction
and then boom, here's COVID. But it ended up working out great for
us, and it was exactly what we thought. So Little Rock, Arkansas
was the perfect place for us to test that. Right, this really is
Middle America, you know, well, and it's one of those It's one
of those things I think when you think sushi, you're normally considering the coastal
country. You know, a lot of places like Florida, New York and
Los Angeles, et cetera. But I think you're right. I think the
key here is certain types of cuisine have started to seep into pretty much the
fabric of everywhere. You know. I would say Mexican was kind of one
of the first ones that you know, kind of became a national treasure.
Then you started seeing Asian food really make its way in, and then there
are certain sectors sushi. I feel like, I don't know yet if it's
there, but I feel like it's much more accepted now as a cuisine that
pretty much anybody would go in and order. It's no longer you know,
kind of that selected cuisine type. So, right, kudos for you guys.
So let's talk about the franchising side about this, because you guys joined
up with apple Pie Capital here recently. That's a big move. Obviously,
this is going to be a significant step in a growth plan for you guys.
What is the plan now with franchising now that you've got apple Pie Capital
kind of partnered up with you guys. Yeah, so we view it as
you just you know, back to the history again, the growth has mainly
been organic to this point. So we're at seventy one locations and we really
didn't have a development plan other than the organic growth or people we knew in
the industry, or you know, you get some hits on the website.
A lot of times you're converting customers into franchisees. They love the brand,
they're interested, and that's that's how it goes. But now that we have
a development plan, the apple Pie part is really crucial because when you put
the word out right and you're really trying to market that you are a very
interesting brand that people should take a look at, you're going to have quite
a few people that don't possibly qualify. So with apple Pie, we're able
to immediately put them into the funnel of finding out if they qualify financially.
Okay, it's the first step. Yeah, So that and that's important because
you know, when you look at selecting franchisees and really kind of jumping up
to that next level of growth that is selecting the right franchise e is super
important because I don't know that franchise systems the ones that I've talked with that
are been upstarts and good friends of mine who thought they might franchise and then
immediately kind of rethought the whole thing because of the difficulty level just finding the
right people. Uh, that's pretty significant. I was going to share something
off you guys's website. I think I've got it up here now. I
thought this wash was a good point to get in on, and that is
kind of the whole process to invest in a rock and roll franchise. So
you guys break it down right there on the on the web website in terms
of the average sales for units. Uh, breakout concept low food costs.
Explain that because low food costs, I'm not sure that if I was just
looking at this brand, I would say that that would be even possible.
How have you guys been able to do that? And what's the process there?
Well, I thought the same thing when I first, you know,
looked into the brand. But what I did, what I didn't connect was
the value proposition for smooth for sushi is very high, you know, and
you can really get a premium price point for it. So that's why the
food cost is so good, because it's not like I try to explain it
to people. Okay, I get it, Yeah, yeah, your price
look at a sandwich or a wrap. You can those expectations on prices a
little bit, you know, you get that maybe that ten or fifteen percent
lift that you don't typically get when people don't look at that as a price
increase. They look at that as a value add you know. So,
Yeah, it's hard, and it's hard, and you can't most people.
Ninety five percent of people can't make it at home. Yeah, it's not
like a sandwich. And if you look at a sandwich that you can sell
for ten bucks, that's a good point. Yeah, and you look at
that we can sell for sixteen and look how much food is in each.
I mean, really, we have less product. Yeah. I was looking
at one of your YouTube trailers. Does that actually happen in a restaurant?
What's that? I mean the last fallback here and I'm thinking maybe I've got
a new career opportunity here. I'm not sure, but maybe I will tell
you that actual shot was totally impromptu. We did have a group there.
This guy just said, hey, I brought my guitar and answer that table,
get up there, do it? Well, that's fun. I mean,
we have a place down here in South flor called Rocos Tacos. I
don't know if you ever have heard of it, but Rocco himself will get
on the bar and he pours tequila in these crazy outfits and that on a
Saturday night. If you can ever catch Roco at one of his restaurants,
is probably one of the most It's just, you know, it's it's the
restaurant hospitality side of things that people, I think a lot of people forget.
That's what we're here for, you know, in terms of food and
entertainment. I want to talk about the franchising side, though. We got
to get back to that, and uh, the thing I want to get
to here is because this is the question we get a lot, you know,
whether it's people asking, hey, do more shows on franchising and I'm
looking to get in the restaurant industry. Best practices for a franchise you now
as a franchise e and also a franchise or how did you and do you
go about the process of saying and hey, these are the best practices that
I look for. You've been in multi chains here now, so you kind
of know a little bit about the DNA of a winner and a loser.
You know, have you looked at brands and said, okay, these are
the things that have to be in place for it to work the biggest one.
And look, I mean if we can all figure that out, it's
still a bit of a mystery. Any dates really really well for me franchise
selection process. They all see my home runs. But I think what it
comes down to, and what I tell people is if you can build a
culture and people want to work for you, we have the processes and systems
in place. So the first one, no brainer is trust the process,
all of the system, right yeah, And I think anybody looking at a
franchise, you know, they should understand that part, but you still have
to make sure that they do. But really, it's in today's environment.
It's not like it was when I started twenty five years ago, where you
could really take a workforce and almost bend them to what you wanted in a
more militaristic fashion. That is not the world today. You know, people
expect to be treated you know, well and like humans and they and that
is so important right now that when I when I look at somebody specifically somebody
that wants to do a multi unit deal and they have other restaurants, I
really want to go in there and see them and see how they're you know,
what is the culture like in right, that's the peascet. I own
eight stores of myself, and I can tell you, you know, it's
you know, still playing whack them hole sometimes, but our culture at my
Loarrocks stores is spot on, right. I have the right team. We
funneled a little bit in other areas, but we're always working towards that and
that is the success metric. So I like that people because that's you know,
I know, that's the easy thing that many people will say, Yeah,
it's always going to be about the people, But that's in almost every
business. Is there one metric when you think franchising, Because I'm looking at
tropical smoothie success. We've seen success in the smoothie business, but we've also
seen challenges out there a lot of the well, it's almost like the category
of froyo frozen yogurt had a lot of challenges. But originally in that breakout
period, Pinkberry was a huge one. There was a handful of others,
and then you had, you know, some of the ones like down here
in South Florida. I can't remember the brand. It come to me,
but there's there's a handful of them that have made it through here. Menchi's
so that have made it through and have actually seemed to succeed. What is
it that you think is the success factor outside of people that makes these franchise
systems a success going forward, especially in crowded markets. Have you seen anything
out there that kind of tracks for you guys, Yeah, because it flows
a little bit into the people part, but it's more making sure that you
stick with that training. I mean, I think when I look at the
same thing happened that you're talking about in the Frozen the every thing with the
pizza thing again, you know, the pizza every bran jumped in. We've
watched this time and time again, and you know, only about two we're
going to make it. And I think the ones that make it are the
ones that invest back to the people that into the training, so the processes
and systems and then following that and having the leadership team in place to make
sure that you're adamant about that training. Yeah, you don't just hire people
in you're like it's your first day, you're on registrate or you're a server.
I mean, you have to train. So when I look at the
ones that are successful, it is following. It's back to processes and systems.
You have to be able to follow that. So you've got to be
able to build you know, a leadership team that then takes care of your
people. So I hope you know, well, I think that the training
component is it's very indicative of the successful chains that we've seen build out,
you know, into the mass systems because obviously with the franchise, replication is
the key, and eventually it becomes an asset because customers can be anywhere and
get the same experience and feel like, yeah, yeah, the consistency is
there. And I think that's the point. But to your point, for
somebody maybe watching this show today or listening in on the podcast and you're trying
to figure out what restaurant franchise to buy or to get into, I think
what Chris hit on is perfect you think about training, I would almost recommend
any franchise e U and I looked at buying a franchise system here in South
Florida not too long ago, and I asked to come in and work the
store. So I wanted to see the process, you know, because they
had new hires happening, so I would watch how they were training a new
hire. I also saw how they were doing everything from food handling, guest
service. You know, you've got a chance to really see the DNA of
the brand. Do you have franchisees that do that with Rock and Roll Sushi
to say, I want to like, come do a test drive. I
just did one two weeks ago with a prospect in Michigan and they came or
it was our discovery day. Yes, so you know, I like to
bring people into a market and tour them around. In this case, it
was a little Rock We have five stores there and you know they happen to
be stores that you know, I'm part owner in. So we went around
and we look at that and they get to see behind the scenes. They
get to see how we do things to your point, and they go into
a store and see a trainee, they are welcome to talk to you know,
all the folks there and watch it. And I think it's it's a
really important piece of it because you know, like I tell them, just
that discovery day is going to be a success. Either way, You're either
going to leave and say this is not for me, right, which is
a good thing. That's a good thing sometimes, I know, is one
more step to a yes, you know right, and look I've done this
long enough where getting somebody in is not the goal because if it becomes a
problem, it takes a long time to work through it. So you really
want to make sure you've got a good culture fit, brand fit for the
perspective franchise z and I think when they leave a discovery day, if you've
done your job, it is clear cut they're not on the fence anymore.
They're either no or they are in, and it's what they wanted to be.
Yeah. I like that. Okay, so let's talk a little bit
about the industry right now, because I think you hit on a lot of
points for franchising understanding whether you're on the franchise or side or the franchise e
side, getting the right people, getting your training lockdown, making sure it's
a good fit for the right you know, franchise e that's coming in.
I'm kind of curious. We were talking about this off off the show earlier
before we started. Any stories that you can share of people who have never
been in the restaurant business that have made it in a rock and roll sushi
what can you tell me? Yes? So, one of the things that
really got me interested in the brand is when I first started doing my homework
and I looked at their early growth. There were people that had never been
in the restaurant business that were either friends or contractors or you know, you
know what I mean, like family members and everyone. Yeah, and how
did they how did they do that? Now, to the credit of the
founders, they were so hands on and it was so important for them to
keep the consistency. And you know, it's your baby, it's what you
feel that they did a fantastic job taking these people that may not have known
anything about the restaurant industry and helped them be successful by you know, because
in the early days which this you know, this true startup like this has
been they did they're creating processes and systems on the fly. When we came
in and you know, my friend bought the company in two thousand and bought
the controlling interest and I became CEO. The first thing we did was took
all of our years of experience, brought our team in and put those rock
solid processes and systems in place. There he had all the concepts and ideas
and we're doing it. We just made it uniform and simple where it's more
turnkey. Well, I think that's the that's a very you know, it's
a missing element when you have a franchise system that is coming from a similar
similar to what you guys have done, coming from grassroots really and being able
to put a really coherent system together and get it in there in the right
way so you're not dealing with and I've seen some of these franchisee manuals from
some of the biggest brands out there. I remember a friend of mine,
he runs several franchises in the mcdonnal system, and he and I were talking
about one night. I looked at, you know, just some of the
documentation that they offload on the front. It's a mountain of stuff that these
guys are constantly on dealing with. So I think keeping it simple is pretty
is pretty legendary. As you guys say, yeah, you know, it's
a big part of our brand because when people look at this concept, they
would probably look at it the way I did. When you hear sushi,
I think chef, I think complicated. And what we've done, you know,
it's one of our taglines, No sushi chef required. And it's because
we're bringing in technology and robotics and things that make the process of making sushi.
It's not chef driven, right. We create the way where we can
take you know, college kids like the stores I have in Tallassi and you
know, a couple of good weeks of training, they can make sushi quality
pretty, you know, artistic sushi. I like that. I was just
looking at some of the marketing you guys are doing. There's the guy with
that nice sled there, well, very cool. I like the component.
Let's talk a little bit about the component of the consumer, because this is
one that is starting to break down a little bit here. A lot of
people are looking at the industry. Sales are starting to go a little bit
flat. We're seeing a little bit of pressure on the consumer in terms of
veeding out. How does this affect a brand like you, guys, because
you seem to be I wouldn't say casual dine, but a little bit more
upscale on casual dine. Where where does this does this hit you guys at
all? Or what is your opinion on how the market seems to be trending
right now? And I think it does. I was having a conversation with
a couple of friends yesterday and I'm like, you know, people are talking
about, you know, the economy, but I mean look at the market
and I'm like, well, that's two different you're talking about. You know,
there's a customer that's got a great portfolio and then there's the you know,
the average person out there that's making decisions about are they going to eat
out or not? Exactly, it is very different for those two groups of
people. We are seeing it. It is happening, There's no doubt about
it. One thing we have on our side that's an advantage is because probably
ninety five percent of people can't make sushi at home. Yeah, are already
a treat, right, Like you can make a sandwich at home. You
can make so you could be that occasion, right you end up on the
Friday night or the Saturday night occasion, or the midweek that's a you know,
a party after a baseball game or something. You get that occasion selection
as opposed to I'm just going to go eat out to eat, you know,
which is that's a good point, I think because there are a lot
of brands that fall into that category that are just hey, I can make
a taco at home. I can also do a burger at home. And
we're seeing so much more of that. So that's an interesting point because that
could be and what was your average you know, volume one point one?
Is that what I saw? All right? So with that kind of AUV
what what kind of box do I need? What's what's the size of my
plant? We're looking for somewhere between sixteen hundred and two thousand square feetskay,
relatively small footprint for a sushi concept. Yeah, and it's a very small
bar, you know. That's why we don't need a massive bar. And
we're just really good and efficient at squeezing him what we need to squeeze in
and forty percent of our business across the brand goes out the door. So
that's a pretty great because it's such a great food for travel. Is it
is one of the best foods for travel. In fact, my wife and
I talked about it a lot of time. If we get anything to go,
sushi is usually at the top of the list, like get sushi.
It holds it's a thirty minute, making them easy. You know, if
you're coming in from somewhere typically if I'm driving over from Fort Lauderdale, you
know, that's a forty five minute you know haul. If it's if there's
any traffic, and we've got a good sushi place that I go to down
there, so that's usually where I pick it up. What about the outlook
for franchising, because this is something that some people say franchising is dead.
Some people say this is the rebirth of franchising. Sell me on the idea
that franchising is going to keep on trucking. I mean, oh yeah.
I mean I was at the Multi Unit show in Vegas in March, and
I think all you had to look at was record attendance and be at that
show and see the excitement and all the new brands and everything that's going on.
So the last thing I would think is that franchising is dead. If
anything, I think that because of the processes and systems that are in place
that these brands are creating. I mean, there's some exciting brands out there.
I was really impressed with some of the new concepts that are coming out.
Yeah, I think it's anything but dead. Really. I mean maybe
people when they say that they're thinking of some legacy brands that they're starting to
see fade away. That's just you know, it's always a war of attrition
in this business. You have got to say on your game and innovative and
innovate or die in our business. In the restaurant business, I think is
at an all time hime because they are exciting, new things happening, and
you better stay on top of it as far as social on your marketing and
techology and you know who knows where they're And I think there's to your point,
there's a crop of brands that are starting to fade out. You know,
good example, Red Lobster just files for bankruptcy. You know, they're
all you can eat Shrimp was one of the I guess the worst marketing,
best marketing, but worst executions maybe in the history of their brand. And
but we've seen this with a lot of restaurant brands that have already started to
see a lot of challenges. And these are had been mainstays. And what
seems to be percolating now at least from our data, has been these regional
powerhouses, these brands like A Rock and roll Sushi who are kind of staying
tight knit and they're growing strategically, and maybe that's where the future is going
to go. Here's kind of these mid range, moderate size as opposed to
these massive you know, major brands. How do you guys handle marketing?
You know when you look at local store marketing, how you guys do it.
I'm a franchise Do am I in charge of everything on the marketing side
or do you guys help out? Now? We help out as far as
like setting up all the social making sure that you've got a feed that is,
you know, we put one out for you so you don't have to
think about that and you can run your restaurant. You know, right now
you've got to look at everything from your Google updates. We teach all that
you know, where you can still control it as a franchise e. But
there's still nothing better than getting involved in your community. Yeah, just nothing
can replace that and will go over you know, and we'll check a lot
of the boxes for you on the corporate end, but I just you know,
preach that it's just still local. Local community is the way to go
for the franchise systems. I've heard that time in and time out. If
you can lose it easy with the franchise, you know, somebody if you're
not careful when you get caught up just in the multi unit pop pop pop
and you're not thinking about being a part of that community. People are real
these days, and I think they pick up on that more now. Ever,
this is happening with a brand that is a Florida brand that I like,
and that is Burgerfi. They have been really struggling. They're starting to
see some closings. I've seen their sales numbers starting to decline. This is
a brand now at grant it. It could be just the fact that we've
seen pressure on the market and a lot of burger chains, you know,
because there's a lot of competition in that category. So but to your point,
I didn't really see the franchisees diving into the local communities. We have
a good example here where I live. We have a Burger PI. They're
not active in the local community, but there's a local restaurant tour that he
and her. It's a mother husband wife team. They absolutely dominate. You
know, anytime you're at a sporting event, they're there. Anytime you've got
something going on with school systems, they're there. And they seem to just
be kind of become the industry or the community staple. And I think it
pays off for him because when I go to their restaurant, man, it
is packed constantly. It makes a big difference. We just had a road
show. We did a roadshow and we have a convention this year where we
go out in the field corporate crew right and let the franchisees come in so
we can get more GMS and more people on the on the ground level.
And one of our main topics was letting our best franchisees get up there and
talk about their community involvement. You know, it's easy for us to look
at it and we can see top markets being like Nashville, Birmingham, Little
Rock and there's a definite common denominator. Yeah, you can tell. Yeah,
And it's making sure that you're at that you know, big sampling event,
fundraiser and you know rock and roll Sushi's right there front and center.
That goes a very long way. And people like that. They want to
know that, you know, because franchise can get a bad name in certain
area. It's franchise right. We want to eat local, Eat local.
I try to tell people, especially if we get that knock of Little Rock,
I'm like, where is low? Yeah, I realized that you know
we're from Arkansas, like we are, We're in your community, in your
school, you know, so, I think people need to see that sometimes
and then they just they gravitate towards it. Yeah, for sure. We've
been here with Chris Crommelis, who is the chief development officer over at Rock
and Roll Sushi. Chris, been great having you on the show. Will
definitely be watching as the Sushi continues its band tour across the United States.
It seems like so good to have you. Thanks again for stopping and we
appreciate it. Rock and Roll, Thank you. SIPs Protect Sarpatspotots and Sports
Potato Pets, Contass