Roland Gonzalez CEO of Church’s Texas Chicken on Brand Building & Franchise Growth | Still 400

[00:00:00]And then Cash Money used to always buy these billboard right here.

[00:00:04]>> Right across the street.

[00:00:04]>> That's across the street. So when you come up town, you come off the bridge, the first thing you see Oh, yeah. you see Church's Chicken and you see Cash Money Records.

[00:00:13]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. So we got a lot of history right here. So that's the >> But that's a heck of a collab we should talk about about about that, man.

[00:00:20]>> [music] [music] >> World, what's up, world? This is Still 400 with your boy DJ Mannie Fresh and my brother right here. Your boy Juvenile the Great. And man, today is a special day. Today is National Biscuit Day. Yeah.

[00:00:48]>> Did you know that? Yeah, I knew it.

[00:00:50]Well, anyway, man, we're going to give it up for CEO of Church's Chicken, my dog, Roland Gonzales. Let's do it.

[00:00:57]Roland, what's up, brother? Y'all want to start this beef? Thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here, guys. Man, thank you for thank you for coming out.

[00:01:04]Uh this is such an honor to have you on on the set with us today. And you know, we had a lot of conversations about your Beef.

[00:01:10]>> hip-hop background. Yeah.

[00:01:12]>> And your your your Church's Popeyes Beef.

[00:01:16]>> Beef.

[00:01:17]Beef. [laughter] Which I like, which we we really love.

[00:01:20]>> So all right, let's get real for a second.

[00:01:24]How does it feel being uh a CEO of a such a a a huge company at a young age? You you just you you told me you were 40 years old.

[00:01:33]How how does it feel? Yeah, man, it's it's crazy, you know, it's it's kind of like um it's a huge it's humbling, you know what I'm saying? Like it's $2 billion There's a lot of people don't know there's 800 restaurants in the US, but another 750 outside the US. So we're in 27 countries outside growing like crazy, too.

[00:01:49]So um but I grew up in sports, you know, and just like you guys in the in the in the music industry, it's competitive, man.

[00:01:56]You either hit or you don't, you know?

[00:01:59]And so But you got to you got to be persistent.

[00:02:02]You got to you can't quit. You got to keep going. It's not ever going to be up into the right all the time, you know?

[00:02:06]And so that's that's all it was, man. I I wasn't I was, you know, baseball, played in college, played a little bit of minor leagues, and then got into the business world and just use that competitiveness. And in the restaurants, there's nothing more competitive you know, industry than than than food.

[00:02:21]>> So it's like a constant it's like a constant uh uh a a a fight to see who who who comes up with the best ideas. So every time ask this, every time the competition comes out with a campaign, do y'all start a campaign like right after it?

[00:02:36]That's a That's a great That's a great question. And so we just turned 74 years old last week, okay? If you think about all the brands I asked I asked somebody I was like, "Hey, I want to know all the brands in the last 75 years that had a big name and you don't hear anymore about them, right?" And I saw the list, you know, things like like Circuit City, Radio Shack.

[00:02:58]Then you go to the Bennigan's, Sears.

[00:03:01]Like a lot of these brands that were just Payless Shoes, you know, stuff like that.

[00:03:07]>> Yeah. And Shoe Town. You know, you just like, "Oh, I I remember when, you know, Blockbuster's obviously the most, you know, famous one, right?"

[00:03:14]>> And the thing about it is it's a balance of changing with the times, like and having a good product, but also staying true to who you are. If you keep chasing, that's that's one thing when Church's was not, you know, in its what it's had its ups and downs, you know, but whenever it's had its downs, it's whenever it tried to chase something that it wasn't, you know?

[00:03:34]But the more that we stay true to who we are, which is serving underserved communities, serving the best chicken in the world at the best value, that's that's when we win, you know? And so the way our mindset is right now, where we're winning is let everybody else do what they want to do, but if we focus on our plan and do what I just said, that vision, that mission, serving the communities that best chicken at the best value, we're there's nothing that can stop us.

[00:03:57]So, that's kind of the the mindset we're we're in right now. And this this location in particular, through my childhood, has always been a constant. I mean, when you when you come off that bridge, then you you you you drive down on Martin Luther King and Claiborne, the first thing you see is the line in Church's Chicken. And you got to you know, you you have to be somebody who really understands the neighborhood to come around here and stand in the line at Church's Chicken. You getting in this line, you got to understand you got to get there early, man, cuz when that chicken come out that come out that grease, it go fast, man. Back in the days, y'all had the bun.

[00:04:33]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:34]>> Speaking of Even I learned about that.

[00:04:36]You know, we used to have a bun before it turned into the biscuit, which now everybody is, you know, the world-famous biscuit, but that was a that was a great evolution. You know, what I'm talking about?

[00:04:44]>> Y'all Y'all came >> Good products, you know, that's that's the way to go.

[00:04:47]>> Yeah. When y'all came, I'mma tell you cuz I historically I remember it just I remember it like yesterday. So, y'all had the Y'all had the bun, right? Then Popeyes had the the the had their biscuit, right? And then y'all came out with their honey butter biscuit.

[00:05:01]I was mad at first till I I ate it.

[00:05:04]The honey was the >> Oh, it's over for Popeyes.

[00:05:06]>> [laughter] >> The honey was the money?

[00:05:09]Oh, y'all got one right here. That was the That was a killer blow right there, man. Who came up with the put with the idea to put honey on the biscuit? I would love to know that. You know, I I I think there was So, the guy So, we our brand started in San Antonio 74 years ago. Guy named George Church. That's why it's Church's Chicken.

[00:05:29]>> Okay. Wow, I never knew that.

[00:05:30]>> Yeah. And so, when I became CEO, the first thing I wanted to do was get as close to the founder as possible because from what I just said, you want to get to the core of who you are, you know?

[00:05:39]So, he has a granddaughter named Laura.

[00:05:42]And then Laura took me through the kind of like the evolution of everything like that, you know?

[00:05:45]>> Okay. And they wanted something that was just as, you know, handmade as the chicken. So, our our chicken, you know, is double battered, double hand breaded, you know, each and every day in the back. And that bun, although it was good, it wasn't it didn't have that, you know?

[00:06:01]So, we went to this the biscuit, and the biscuit's also its own thing. A lot of people don't know about. What was your like your first thing at ownership? Was it Was it Church's or did you have some other business?

[00:06:12]Yeah, so so Church's is a privately held company with private equity. And that that was actually the first big change. Like it's gone through different ownerships over the years, 74 years.

[00:06:23]But for the first time in a long time, we have owners that and they're fellow board members of mine that really understand said, "We got to invest in this brand, you know?" There's a part of, you know, 74 years old, you got a lot of buildings that need some updating, you know, different ideas, different you bring in the best people.

[00:06:39]And And these guys really got it. And so, I came in and they gave me the opportunity to to run it. And um And so, they they got the money and they've been putting it putting it in, investing in the brand into the community. So, Yeah.

[00:06:50]I started at other brands like Burger King and and then ultimately uh came over here.

[00:06:58]It was rumored at one time, you know, we was hearing this that Popeyes actually bought Church's. Like, you know, Al Copeland, the guy who had it. That's right.

[00:07:05]>> Yeah. Yeah, they they they used to be together and then they broke off. Okay.

[00:07:08]Oh, I I didn't know that. But I heard that, but I didn't think it was true. I never thought it was >> true. They used to be one company and then it broke off.

[00:07:16]Popeyes did its thing and Church's was, you know, kind of but the core chicken, you know, like we talked about, things change, brands go and come and go, but the chicken has always been >> Yeah. That's how That's one of the great things about the recipe remained the same, no matter what happened. And I think that's one of the things that keep people coming back. Yeah. And is that something that's important to you, like to keep it that way, or do you see change in Church's coming in the future?

[00:07:40]Or will you just leave, you know, this this formula obviously works. Yes.

[00:07:44]>> So, Yeah, as a matter of fact, so when when I came in, there was a there's So, we have team members, franchisees, you know, the the owners of the restaurants and all that that have been It's not uncommon to talk to somebody, "How long you been with Church's?" 40 years, 45 years, you know. We have a guy that's got more than 50 years, okay? And so, I asked him, I said, "Hey, if you would change one thing, you know, what would it be?" He's like, "Hey, the chicken is tasting a little bit different than it used to back, you know, 40 years ago."

[00:08:09]And so, we looked, and there was actually over the years to try to save costs, a little bit of a difference here on the marination, a little bit different here. And we said, "Man, we got to find the exact formula for this thing."

[00:08:19]>> Yeah. So, we found it in Puerto Rico.

[00:08:22]Okay? So, >> Wow.

[00:08:23]>> Puerto Rico's got more than 40 years in that market. We got 120 restaurants on that small island, if you could believe it, okay? We went there, and they're still They still had that. So, we said, "We got to go, and we got to make sure that anything that was done to the formula, we got to reverse it." And we did that about a year and a half 2 years ago. And so, that's why everybody's kind of like, "When you coming back with the chicken? Hey, this is tasting a little better today." Yeah.

[00:08:44]>> It's not huge. It's not It's not different, but it's just those little things that make it, you know.

[00:08:48]>> It tastes real good.

[00:08:49]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. I'm sitting here talking, and you're thinking about biting that thigh right now.

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[00:10:02]So, I got another question. This is and this is crazy as a question, but I I I I think I think you you you this might have happened to you before. You ever pulled up to your own building and the line is you can't get nothing to eat?

[00:10:17]>> [laughter] >> Absolutely. So, I got a um whenever I go to the field, I always like to be undercover. I don't like people knowing because for some reason whenever the boss is coming, you know, everybody just starts cleaning. It scares the hell out you. Man, listen, on any job when the boss is coming, it >> Yeah. Exactly though. It's just it's You just start cleaning. You start picking stuff up. You don't know why you're doing it. I don't I don't like that. I like you know, there there's no reason because if you're if you're great, you don't have to do anything different to be great. That what you just do every day. Just do what you do every day. And so, that's what I like to do. But so, yeah. And I always like to go in the drive-thru. I put up my my my clock, see how long it's going to take, you know, make sure the speed of service is doing good. I'll check it all that stuff, but what and you were talking about how hard it is to, you know, sometimes during peak time get chicken and all this what we've been working on that for a long time. How how can we be more efficient, faster in the drive-thru, all that?

[00:11:09]>> Yeah.

[00:11:09]And I think we've gotten a little better, but now the app has been huge.

[00:11:13]So, now when I started 3 years ago, all the delivery or what the orders that would go through the app was only 6% of the sales. It's not a lot. It's now almost four times that. So, we're we're going to be at like 20% soon where people all the orders are coming through the app, either delivery or pick up order ahead. Okay. So, that that's the if you want to know a little inside tip secret, you download the app and then you can get the same chicken ahead of time and go a little faster and skip the line.

[00:11:38]>> I You know what? I guess I'm a millennial cuz my son always Every time I go in a restaurant with him or fast food restaurant, anywhere we go at.

[00:11:47]He already ordered? Yeah, he he pick the [laughter] bag up. I'm sitting there like, "Damn, man.

[00:11:53]Can I get a fry or something?"

[00:11:54]I get that part. The whole app The whole app game has changed in the fact that y'all going along with what's going on.

[00:12:01]>> with it. Yeah.

[00:12:02]>> Yeah. How do you >> he was talking about earlier.

[00:12:04]>> you keep your your prices where they at?

[00:12:06]Like what what with other competitors, you know, to like cuz the world is going crazy right now, you know, and and and you you you got a fair price for, you know, something that the world wants and and you and you're steady like where is that? The numbers stay there. So, what is what's y'all, you know, if you could give us just a little bit of it. You ain't got to give us all >> 100% It It all comes down to faith in what you're doing and what you're believing. So, what I What I mean by that So, if you keep prices the So, what what a lot of brands do say, you know, "Man, this these cars are going up. We got to What's inflation?" Oh, inflation is 3 or 4% things are going up this much. We got to put our prices that high. Right.

[00:12:43]>> Yeah. I believe the opposite. I believe if especially with this brand, if you keep prices the same as much as you can, you're actually going to get more people to come to you than would have, you know what I'm saying? It's going to more than offset that.

[00:12:54]>> We don't want no tariff chicken. Yeah, >> [laughter] >> we don't want no tariff chicken here.

[00:13:00]>> [laughter] [laughter] >> So, if you think about it, right? Like we got a two-piece, you you know, whirls and can you get two pieces of the double hand breaded, you know, uh chicken a jalapeno that you can squeeze on it for some flavor >> that, too. and that biscuit for $3.79.

[00:13:21]Where can you get that, right?

[00:13:23]>> Yeah, the pepper is so important.

[00:13:25]Right? It is so so important.

[00:13:27]>> you a dollar for wing and they don't even have the whole wing.

[00:13:30]>> You want the pepper, though. The pepper [laughter] That makes They That That makes it all together. So, I mean >> Yeah. You go to the airport, you you buy a bottle of water, it's $6. It's twice that, you know what >> Man, you get at the airport.

[00:13:41]>> Right. But I'm saying six wings right now is like $5.99, and that ain't even the full wing. So, you you you you It make a lot of sense. You getting the pepper, and you getting the biscuit, and two So, we do that. We also, you know, the the the prices of white meat are going up. So, tenders Everybody's selling a lot of tenders. We have great tenders, but we also have a lot of bone-in chicken, and a lot of people like our dark meat. Our dark meat Our Our dark meat's actually a little bit less expensive, so we can keep that price the same, so people can get that that tremendous value.

[00:14:08]>> Yeah, yeah. That's some of it. And then >> What's What's some of your sides?

[00:14:12]Ooh. Oh, man. So, Y'all good over there? So, we got My My personal favorite are the jalapeño bombers.

[00:14:18]>> Okay. Okay. So, those those bombers are real good. Mashed potatoes, you know, we got the fries. The most polarizing one So, people either love it, but we can never take it out, is that fried okra.

[00:14:29]Yeah. You know what I mean? I like the okra. Yeah. So, if you love it, you love it, you know what I mean? Um it's not for everybody, but those that we can't, you know, >> Yeah. can't miss it out. So, we got all that. Um and and we just always innovating, you know what I'm saying? So, we're looking at different type of cobblers that we can use for the biscuit. Mhm.

[00:14:45]>> So, you imagine having a cobbler with the biscuit as like the foundation of the cobbler. Yeah, yeah. So, there's some really cool innovations that are that are coming from that. Uh we got some casseroles coming up, like a sweet potato casserole type thing that we're playing around with.

[00:14:57]So, um I There's a probably about 30 different products that we're testing at any point in time.

[00:15:02]>> So, there's a lot of churches, restaurants right now, establishments that are that exist right now. How do you pick locations like for anything that's new? Or is it on the person that, you know, that that is trying to get the the place? Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's it's like a science, man. Um well, first of all, we only have 800, and the map, like when you do all the analysis and all that, it says we can have about 3,000 churches, okay? Mhm. So, we're just we got a long way to go, and we're in growth mode now, so we're accelerating this.

[00:15:32]Um that will tell you, "Hey, you know what? In this particular area, like we got a lot in Texas, right? Church's Texas Chicken. Um we still got a lot to grow there." So, there's going to be places where we grow where we're already in, but then there's also new places that say, "Hey, based on these demographics, based on, you know, how much people consume chicken in this area, here's how many you can fit in here, and here's where to put them." Got you. Philadelphia's one of them. So, we're going to be in Philly uh in the next couple months down there opening three restaurants. So, that's going to be like a new entry back in the market.

[00:15:57]>> I definitely know people want to know this. This how do you acquire a Church's? If if if if I wanted to, you know, get one, you know, just me, a regular business person, entrepreneur, franchise. Yeah, how how would you go about that?

[00:16:12]>> Yeah, I love it. So, on on on our website, you can go in and see all that with the you know, franchises. We we want to we're open in to all anybody who's interested in owning a Church's.

[00:16:21]It is a small business, okay? And the thing about the cool part about Church's >> a bag of money outside. Hey, we can bring it in.

[00:16:29]>> [laughter] >> You said the website before you get to Church's Chicken.com? Church's the website.

[00:16:33]>> Church's.com.

[00:16:34]>> Church's.com.

[00:16:35]>> Yeah, you go to Church's.com. But, what it is it So, it's just a it's a small business, and you're really getting the good the good thing about it is other franchises, especially in food. Food is hard, let me tell you. Like, if you're going to open a business, food is one of the most hardest things to to do it in, right? Especially when you don't have a brand name recognition, you're dealing with products that expire. It's not like you're dealing with a service that you can kind of right? It's you bring the product, got to sell a product, all that. So, we have all those systems, we got all that, you know, we got the name, Church's, everything.

[00:17:03]And we're a lot less expensive to get into to others. So, the restaurants are smaller, you don't have to spend as much money, right? You see what I'm saying?

[00:17:10]So, you got a smaller footprint. Um you got a lot more uh uh volume going through, so you don't have to worry about that that I talked about.

[00:17:17]Everything's fresh. Yeah, yeah. Um and so and in another brands they're only looking for people that hey, need to open 20 restaurants or something like that. We're not like that. If you're if you're interested in one restaurant, two restaurants, or three restaurants in any area of the country, we're open to it.

[00:17:32]>> Got you. And so so you know, obviously you got to have uh some you know, some some money to do it, you know what I'm saying? But we can also help you get loans if you need to, too. So >> Um there's there's nothing I love more than like young hungry entrepreneurs that are interested in Churches and going and and opening some restaurants.

[00:17:50]Yeah.

[00:17:51]>> I hope y'all listening. You know, we preach entrepreneurship and I I I was talking to you about that earlier cuz I'm interested in I'm I'm definitely interested in um owning a few Churches if it's possible. But this one in this one in in particular just so near and dear to my heart, my history. And he was talking about Let me get hit you with one.

[00:18:12]Birdman had a fight out there on the [laughter] You know, y'all family. Give me that.

[00:18:20]>> [laughter] >> So we got a lot of history and then Cash Money used to always buy these billboard right here.

[00:18:26]>> Right across the street.

[00:18:27]>> That's across the street. So when you come up town, you come off the bridge, the first thing you see Oh, yeah. you see Churches Chicken and you see Cash Money Records.

[00:18:35]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. So we got a lot of history right here. So that's what that's all about.

[00:18:38]>> of a collab we should talk about about about that, man. Yeah, yeah. This spot can be yours. This spot could be mine.

[00:18:44]>> [laughter] >> So so what city you would say that Churches is the biggest brand in in in, you know, does the most business in? Who loves Churches the most? Oof, man, that's a that's a tough that's a that's a tough question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of love in New Orleans for sure, no doubt about it. Um we so we started in Texas, San Antonio, there's a lot there. We got South Texas all the way down in McAllen, right by by Mexico.

[00:19:09]>> I I know exactly what you're talking about. That's where that's where I actually went to college. And so we got about 40 restaurants down there. They do great. Love the brand.

[00:19:17]You know, you go to the You go to the East Coast. We got We're North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, California. It's also It's also So man, anybody who goes to Churches loves loves it. It's hard It's hard.

[00:19:30]>> though? What's the best store? The best store?

[00:19:32]Oh.

[00:19:33]>> What's the best store?

[00:19:34]>> [laughter] >> You got to tie them, boy. We had a block party here at the Super Bowl a couple of days ago.

[00:19:40]>> out here eating chicken. And so So what's so great about this location to me, what what I think this is one of the greatest locations, cuz you got Calliou housing development. You have Melpomene down there, and people from the And there's no other Churches that close right here. So you have You really don't have a choice but to go to this one.

[00:19:57]So it's it's it's it's just crazy how this place survived, and it survived through everything. Everything around here changed except this. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of I mean, the one that's in the Seventh Ward, I I want to say is on on St. Bernard, but it's been there forever. It's been there like right there in that location, you know.

[00:20:16]Popeyes gone and went, but Churches is still right there.

[00:20:18]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. Now, I I love bringing Churches to across the world, because you know, like I said, there's 27 different countries. If you go, you know, I'll be in in Qatar, you know, And what's interesting about the international is here it's all about value, but when they try the chicken over there, like, "How much do I got to pay for this? I want more of it." So we actually are a little bit more premium over there. When we come in so like in Qatar, we're right next to a Ferrari dealership. That's how it is.

[00:20:47]Do y'all have different options overseas and stuff like that for us the the meat?

[00:20:51]>> Yeah, yeah. So we keep certain standards the same, you know, we got to make sure that we do that, but like the flavors, absolutely. Sauces, spices.

[00:20:58]We do a lot of different testing with the people there to say, "Hey, you know, how how do you work with this great amazing chicken to add different flavors to it that are local." So we localize that. We're like I said, Mexico, Puerto Rico. We're in Jamaica. We opened in Jamaica uh about a year ago.

[00:21:13]>> bars. So, so you go there, you're going to see some different chicken bars.

[00:21:17]>> [laughter] >> Would y'all like say if somebody celebrity bought a Church's, would you would you be open to letting them make it a super Church's if they you know wanted to put just a little bit of twist on it? Not mess with your recipes at all, but just a different theme.

[00:21:31]You know why he's saying that? Cuz I see somebody >> somebody got some ideas for you.

[00:21:36]>> Your competition, man. Your enemy had this place called Super Popeyes and uh they shut down, man. So, somebody you know we we we need to start a super Church's.

[00:21:45]>> a mega Church's. That would be okay.

[00:21:47]>> Yeah. Mega Mega Manny Church's.

[00:21:49]>> Yeah. Mega Manny [laughter] Church's.

[00:21:51]You going to have a club in there?

[00:21:53]You know what that mean?

[00:21:54]>> to go down.

[00:21:55]>> to have a club in there? It's going [laughter] down.

[00:21:59]I can see this happening. Club Church's?

[00:22:02]Yeah. I'm going to I'm going to keep the recipes the same. Well, you know what?

[00:22:06]Since we since you know we we we speaking of music and stuff like that, I need to hear that diss rhyme. I know you I need to I need you to give me cuz I know I I heard you rap.

[00:22:16]>> [laughter] >> I heard you got bars. Spit bars.

[00:22:18]>> know about that, man. I think if I rap, then you know you're going to have to go back there and make some chicken or something like that. Give me all right.

[00:22:23]Just give me one line. Give me one diss line.

[00:22:26]One diss line as if I'm going to like Popeyes diss line?

[00:22:29]>> Yeah, to the competition. Give me give me that diss line. Man, no. Popeyes Popeyes, we don't talk about about those guys. They got you choking on biscuits like with your popped eyes.

[00:22:39]>> [laughter] >> They're smaller than small fries.

[00:22:46]>> [laughter] >> With your popped eyes.

[00:22:52]Hey man, you going to get us killed, man. Everybody eats uh Popeyes chicken in trouble. Yeah, it's it's a it's a feud around here, you know. And and and and it went crazy when we was talking about Popeyes and churches, you know what I mean? And and the it was like how many people picked churches, it was phenomenal. You was just I was like, I really thought this was a Popeyes place.

[00:23:11]Obviously, it's not. Like, you know, so that is that's hey, you're doing your job. You on you on here. I appreciate that. What was it We were talking about the spices, right? Internationally. That was So, when we launch a sauce internationally, like it everybody goes to get the sauce.

[00:23:26]It's like 15% of all the sales are on the So, I said, "Man, what's the last time we ever put a rub or a spice or a sauce on the fried chicken?" You know, we've done it with wings before or tenders, but on the fried chicken, nobody could give me an answer. And I was like, we got to we got to change that. So, that's why we have the three you know, all the three different rubs that you can get. You can get the lemon pepper rub now, garlic parm, hot honey or hot hun- hot lemon pepper on the actual bone-in chicken. Yeah.

[00:23:53]Yeah, because they would only only do it it would only be a wing option, right?

[00:23:57]Right. Yeah, that's small. That's super small.

[00:23:59]>> So, now So, now you can do that and then we got the new Church's sauce, which was long overdue to have our own sauce.

[00:24:04]Yeah. Yeah, I mean, everybody else made their own sauce and it's not that good, so Anything else y'all thinking about adding to the menu or y'all just kind of in development? We're doing a lot, man.

[00:24:13]We're thinking about like, you know, different kind of desserts. I think that's one thing we got a great we got great apple pies. We've been we've been doing the different flavors, but I think there's there's some cool unique stuff on the way.

[00:24:22]>> got a request.

[00:24:24]She want that icing back on the apple pie.

[00:24:26]Ah, the icing. The famous icing. Okay.

[00:24:30]Icing back.

[00:24:31]>> [laughter] >> She want that icing on the apple pie.

[00:24:36]>> [laughter] >> You in a You in a position where you can ask for the [laughter] icing back.

[00:24:44]Yeah, now's the time.

[00:24:48]You told us So, it was a story behind icing with the apple pie, right? Like, what actually happened with that? Well, the the thing about it is um there's a lot of different Anytime you bring in something new product into the restaurant even if it's just icing.

[00:25:00]Icing was one of the most expensive things by the way, like that and the honey are the are the two most I think about how much honey comes through the restaurant icing and all that. The icing no not a lot of people you know, ate the icing and and what happened was is we we we we tried to see like okay, you know, are we going to get but there's still ways to get it. So we got to bring it. We got to we got to bring it to you when you when you want it. What You got to answer me, there you go.

[00:25:25]>> [laughter] >> Cuz you know, um they always say your your order what you order says a lot about you, right? So my my order is you know, when I come in my order is I want the two-piece dark with the biscuit of course and I got to have the rice. Mhm. What's your favorite order?

[00:25:45]Okay, so if I'm in the mood for tenders, I'm going to go spicy tenders. Okay.

[00:25:50]Okay, I do spicy tenders with mashed potatoes and that's kind of I keep it there and then I probably have three biscuits. I'm not getting I I usually have three biscuits. I can't I can't that's the first thing I eat. So some Some people wait for it till the end.

[00:26:03]They're like oh, that's going to be my dessert. Usually the ladies do that.

[00:26:06]Usually they they do the dessert with the with the biscuit. I can't I if it's there it's gone.

[00:26:10]>> [laughter] >> And then if not, I do original chicken.

[00:26:15]The original chicken with the jalapeno like you were talking about earlier.

[00:26:17]>> Yeah, yeah, I like it like that. Yeah, you give me a box with some jalapenos and I'm good.

[00:26:21]>> figured that. I'm a blessed >> [laughter] >> My biscuit gone like a mother [ __ ] >> [laughter] >> That biscuit in there saying look for me.

[00:26:31]>> [music] >> Yeah.

[00:27:05]>> Give him some air, maybe.

[00:27:08]Some honey, give him >> [laughter] >> some drink. Give him SOME DRINK, LEMONADE.

[00:27:14]GIVE HIM SOMETHING TO DRINK. GIVE HIM SOMETHING TO DRINK, THEN. Turn him sideways. Hey, back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up.

[00:27:22]I am a food AND BEVERAGE COORDINATOR. I NEED space for this. Who made you coordinator? Who made YOU SO NOSEY? BACK UP, LADY.

[00:27:32]You told us to leave.

[00:27:33]>> Told us?

[00:27:35]Told you to back up? That was That was earlier. WHAT THE BISCUIT GANG?

[00:27:39]WHERE YOU GET THE BISCUIT FROM?

[00:27:42]THIS biscuit You want to tell you what it is?

[00:27:49]Damn it. What is this ain't Churches.

[00:27:51]Well, what is it? Sure ain't Arby's.

[00:27:53]That's not Arby's.

[00:27:54]We ain't got no Arby's. Man, don't be like that. They doing bad biscuit around here.

[00:27:58]Bro, bro, bro, get back down, bro. Get back down. Yeah, just You know what?

[00:28:02]Yeah, just just lay down. Just Yeah.

[00:28:03]Good thing you still alive cuz I I got I got promotion to do. Excuse me. Excuse me.

[00:28:07]LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WORKERS, elderly people, cats, chickens, ducks, snakes, it is National Biscuit Day.

[00:28:20]And it's also Churches vs. Churches Everybody.

[00:28:24]If you think your biscuit cuz outdo, outbutter, outlast, outflake Churches, well, be my guest. Step right on up and be embarrassed. Respectfully, of course.

[00:28:36]Boy, I took my cats, dogs, chickens, elderly people, people with jobs, people without jobs. That boy really practiced that. Yeah, in the mirror.

[00:28:46]Hold on. Who was that?

[00:28:50]>> [music] >> What what do y'all What what is like your number one seller out of everything that, you know, is it a a three-piece?

[00:29:04]Maybe it's a side or what's what's what's kind of like Uh it's uh two the two-piece feast I was talking about earlier. It's a two pieces of chicken, the biscuit, the jalapeno. That's that's going pretty quick. Okay. And a dark meat. Usually our our guests like the the I like both.

[00:29:18]>> the drum the the drum and the thigh.

[00:29:19]Yeah.

[00:29:20]>> Um I'm a white meat guy, but it doesn't really matter. Yeah.

[00:29:23]>> [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:29:25]>> So, we're going to play a game right quick.

[00:29:27]We're going to call it mashed potatoes or fries. Start it off, Manny.

[00:29:33]I'm starting off? Mashed potatoes or fries? He already said that. Which one would you prefer, mashed potatoes or fries? I prefer mashed potatoes. But I'll give you I'll give you an insider on that. So, there's the gravy on the mashed potatoes. It's becoming a trend now. Yeah.

[00:29:47]>> Where you just order the gravy on the side to dip the chicken into.

[00:29:51]Yeah. Nah, I wouldn't might be becoming a trend, but cats I grew up with, they kind of been doing that, you know, y'all >> [laughter] >> You know, they It's just It's just getting viral now. Yeah.

[00:30:01]Got you. Got Been hip on that one, though.

[00:30:03]>> [laughter] >> Like we're going to use the We're going to use >> Like I already know You know how they do, man? They always The young folks always come out with the dances that we did back in the day and call it something else.

[00:30:13]>> [laughter] >> That's what they did. So, the next one is >> did that. Church's seasoning or hot sauce?

[00:30:20]Oof. Uh I'm going to go with the new Church's sauce. All right. Walk-in or drive-thru?

[00:30:27]Drive-thru.

[00:30:29]I got to I got to question you on that.

[00:30:30]Why why drive-thru over walk-in?

[00:30:33]Well, I mean, it just depends. Like if if uh like I I was talking about the app earlier. I mean I mean, if I had the option of the app, I would do app and then come in and get it. If I didn't order in the app, I'd come through the drive-thru. So, that's the trick right there. I'm I'm saying that because this one ain't never had a drive-thru.

[00:30:49]>> [laughter] >> I was like I asked that a lot of times like, "Man, why they just don't put a drive-thru on this one?"

[00:30:54]>> like he going to force you to do a lot of stuff.

[00:30:56]>> Yeah, man. I got to make a list right here.

[00:30:59]I WANT A DRIVE-THRU.

[00:31:00]>> [laughter] >> YOU KNOW THAT LINE YOU STANDING out there in that hot sun, man?

[00:31:04]Cuz they get packed quick in here in that line there.

[00:31:07]>> like he going to make you do all the stuff that he wants you to do then all for the Biden police.

[00:31:11]>> [laughter] >> Tomorrow's going to be drive-thrus everywhere and Icee at all restaurants.

[00:31:15]>> [laughter] >> So, fresh [snorts] out the fryer let it sit for a minute.

[00:31:20]Uh that one's easy. Fresh out the fryer.

[00:31:22]Fresh out the fryer. I can't let it just I've [laughter] burned so much. I mean You ever You ever eat something bite something and when it get in your mouth you realize, I shouldn't have did that.

[00:31:34]>> [laughter] >> Especially chicken. I mean, hey.

[00:31:38]Hot chicken.

[00:31:40]>> [laughter] >> Uh soda or sweet tea?

[00:31:44]Uh soda. All right. Soda. I'm a I'm a Dr. Pepper guy. Well, we already we already he already kind of told us the the answer to this next one, but I'mma ask it anyway. Lemon pepper wings uh smokehouse chicken?

[00:31:56]Lemon pepper wings for sure. I love the lemon pepper.

[00:31:59]>> [laughter] >> Nah, dog. That's the competition, dog.

[00:32:03]Lemon pepper wings. Nah, bro. We ain't doing that, dog.

[00:32:07]The next time we do smokehouse, you can you're not going to have to choose. You can choose whichever one you want. You can do lemon pepper or smokehouse on the smokehouse chicken. I got to try smokehouse. I never tried smokehouse. I had the lemon pepper though. Yeah. We do pretty good on the orders. We sell a lot of them here. Y'all sent us a whole uh I would say a whole getup and when we was in Houston they hooked us up with all kind of One of the One of y'all reps came over there in Houston and bought Oh, yeah? Yeah, bought us all kind of chicken pies. Chicken fest. We had everything.

[00:32:36]2026.

[00:32:38]Yeah.

[00:32:39]>> [laughter] >> It went down.

[00:32:43]>> [laughter] >> That's one of our biggest opportunities that I'm trying to change right now is you could not really order Churches catering wise. Like if you had a party, I want like Churches and all Churches. I want Churches, you know, at the at the kids party. Churches in the hospitals.

[00:32:57]You could never really do that. There was never a a catering program. So, starting this summer in in the end of June, it's going to be everywhere. So, you can go if you're having a party or whatever, boom, Churches will will be able to deliver everything fresh. Okay.

[00:33:10]So, I need y'all to I need you to do me a favor cuz I'm on tour now. I'm leaving back to tour. Can you give me some chicken in the back stage with me?

[00:33:18]>> Oh, man.

[00:33:20]TELL ME THE >> [laughter] >> NAH, I ACTUALLY GOT A SMALL CREW, MAN.

[00:33:27]MANNY got half the band.

[00:33:28]>> [laughter] >> Half the band up. We we we work together.

[00:33:33]So, so why should people visit Churches Chicken on National Biscuit Day? Ooh.

[00:33:39]Well, there's a couple things. One, on the app, you can go and put still 400 and get get some free free biscuits. So, that's the first reason.

[00:33:46]>> So, that's the That's the That's the code. That's the code. Code still 400.

[00:33:49]>> Still 400.

[00:33:50]>> You can get you can get some chance to get some free biscuits there. But, man, it's just it's going to be We got the best prices out there right now like you were talking about earlier. We've held those prices. Things have gone through the roof. We want to be able to give back to the community. We're throwing block parties all over, you know, you don't know when it's going to pop up. We got one back here today, you know, that people are starting to get >> that, man. He's setting up. Got the food. And so, that's what it's all about about the community, you know? So, if you want to good community >> participate with Fried Chicken Festival?

[00:34:16]Uh well, we we also have a National Fried Chicken Day. We got a lot of stuff going on for that. So, there's a Fried Chicken Festival here that's in New Orleans and it's big. So, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:34:25]>> We're putting y'all name in the hat. We want Churches there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, y'all got to be there cuz you know the other dudes is be out there doing >> yeah.

[00:34:33]>> [laughter] >> He can't let them eat. We got to fight for our rights. Don't let them steal our rhymes. Don't take all the shine. We'll see if they're there after that, this, you know, we'll see. Yeah, yeah, bro.

[00:34:40]>> I don't think Popeye's got no body with no rhymes. I ain't seen Nah, [laughter] man, they ain't coming for you. They they not coming for you at all. So, if I was um if I seek out employment at churches, just started, could I work my way up the ladder, you know, from just all right, I just started, I'm I'm working the cash register, but I got thoughts of I want to be a manager. Can I grow Kind of like Louie on Coming to America.

[00:35:05]I'm I'm on fire, man.

[00:35:07]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is this company does it work that way?

[00:35:11]>> 100 100% like that's that's kind of how I started. So, when I I graduated, you know, with my with my degree, I started with Burger King and I started in their leadership program. And the first thing you needed to do with the leadership program was spend 3 months in the restaurant. First month learning everything and by the end of it you're running the restaurant. Yeah. go in and you take that cuz and I'm a big believer in that, man. So, if there's any industry where you can actually work your way up, it's the restaurant industry. Yeah. You know, um it what but a lot of people don't realize is like most restaurants, it's a million dollar business. It's a you're running your your your knowing how to hire, how to, you know, how to how to do your your inventory, everything like that. So, you can really show your skills at a restaurant. You can go quick. So, the way it works you you know, you start in the restaurant, you you become a manager, you do good, then you get like three or four of them to run as a district manager. Then you become a director and you got now, you know, the la- the ladder there. Yeah. And then you go to corporate and you all the stuff you learn there, you get to apply. And that's that's all I did. I just got the right opportunities at the right time and delivered, you know. Did did you have days where when you was when you was doing this that you stumbled, where you had to, you know, pick yourself up and start from scratch all over again?

[00:36:22]>> like you say like, I don't know if I could do this.

[00:36:25]Baseball helped me for for that cuz in baseball they always say, right? If you're hitting 300, you're failing 70% of the time. Yeah. So, you got to learn to shake it off. You got to learn to just, Yeah, I think the world the world needs to hear that. You know, that was the reason why I asked you that question cuz so many people see the end result and think that's what the story is.

[00:36:42]That's right. You know, the story is, you know, you sometimes you you're not going to win all the time. You got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back out there. There's plenty of time, man.

[00:36:51]>> And and the other thing is like you can't worry about what other people around you, you know, if you started at the same same person and you see, "Oh man, this guy it's a marathon, man. Life is a marathon, man. You don't know what's going to happen when or what you just you do you and, you know, you're going to be able to get to where your goals are. Yeah.

[00:37:05]>> So, you know, I I I know you I know you stole a whole lot of bases in your lifetime >> [laughter] >> about your baseball career.

[00:37:11]I got it, you know, I'm going into baseball. I'm a new Yankees fan. I don't know who your team is.

[00:37:15]>> Yankees fan.

[00:37:16]>> Yeah, cuz I my brother been a Yankees fan all my life. Okay.

[00:37:19]>> But I'm I'm a new Yankees fan. I haven't won I've been there I ain't been there long enough to win a championship.

[00:37:24]Right? So, Fair enough.

[00:37:25]>> I've been seeing all bad since I've been there.

[00:37:27]Who would be Who is your favorite baseball team?

[00:37:33]My favorite baseball team is the Marlins cuz I'm from Miami.

[00:37:36]Oh, man. But and then let me tell you why. Miami The Miami Marlins used to be the Florida Marlins. Back then, the thing about the Marlins is you don't know if they're going to be the worst team in the whole league or they're going to win the World Series. You have no idea.

[00:37:48]>> Right. Right.

[00:37:49]Right.

[00:37:50]>> that's why it's fun because usually it's, you know, a bunch of young players that they just come together and they either come together they don't. So, Miami but the Phillies are the ones that I actually after after college that I signed with for a little bit and I played in in the minors within Clearwater, Florida. So, Phillies is also, you know, tied because they gave me, you know, a chance to to play a little bit out there.

[00:38:10]>> So, what's your record stealing bases?

[00:38:13]So, my senior year I led the country in stolen bases all Division 1 baseball. I had 46 steals that year. And I think till today, nobody's stolen as many than I did that year. Before you said you got the record. Yeah, so I was blessed with the speed there. I was blessed with the speed, yeah.

[00:38:27]>> So what's your speed? What you running?

[00:38:28]What you was running at at your top speed and your prime? What you was running?

[00:38:32]>> Baseball, you do the 60-yard dash and I was running a 6.5.

[00:38:36]Uh in in football it's a 4.3. Okay.

[00:38:40]Yeah, 4.3, yeah. That's smoking football, brother.

[00:38:44]This man running dust dust kicking up every time he take a step. But but the thing is other other guys were just as fast if not faster than me at like certain levels.

[00:38:53]But it was just how you stole the bases, right? I had it down to an art about like, you know, the how how long it would take the pitcher to lift his leg and get to the plate.

[00:39:02]You know? And how many steps too, right?

[00:39:04]>> you know, all the timing, how much of a lead you took. I had it to where it was like a step and a dive exactly to the tip of my finger on the base. Like little little things like that that you would you would do, you know? And if the if pitcher was quick to the plate, then there'd be other ways that you could steal, you know?

[00:39:19]It was just one of those things you get obsessed about, you know, like when just like if you're doing a art or whatever it is, you know, you you just get obsessed about it. That's how it was during that year.

[00:39:28]>> It's our approach at music. Yeah, plus all the time. That's that's just crazy, [laughter] man.

[00:39:35]I personally I personally watched baseball, you know, all my life and I always marvel at the the catcher stealing base and I always look at the pitcher like, well, how far is that far?

[00:39:47]Cuz I just feel like the pitcher should be able to get him out every time how far these guys be out. And I'm like, man, this dude way Like way off the bat? You lightning fast.

[00:39:57]That's That's just, man, that's a I like to brag on my slow walks.

[00:40:01]>> [laughter] >> Your slow Hey, you didn't run. You just had to walk. I took a lot of slow walks.

[00:40:06]You a walk.

[00:40:07]>> [laughter] >> You the slow walk champion. I think his numbers is in the hundreds.

[00:40:13]>> [laughter] >> Took a lot of cool slow walks.

[00:40:16]>> you did you take your baseball career and and also your the money that you made from baseball, did that turn you into this or that this was something that you just wanted to Yeah, I mean I was once once baseball, you know, I knew that I was going to turn the page there. I got the opportunity to go back and get my masters in business back in Texas, which I did. And then after that it was, you know, kind of searching what's the next thing going to be, what's the next thing going to be. And I wanted something that was like super competitive, so that's, you know, business. That's That's kind of drawn to that. And then when you're part of sports, you kind of develop a lot of leadership skills, you know, you know, you're you know, you're either leading people your team team, you know, how to Everybody's got their roles.

[00:40:54]>> Yeah. That's right. And so that just translated into into food and beverage.

[00:40:58]It is so competitive, man, like the restaurant industry is so competitive.

[00:41:01]You got to always be on your game.

[00:41:02]Things are changing. Uh it's never the same, you know, if there's a government shutdown one day, how are you going to do that, you know, how how wages are going to go up, you know, how do you got to make sure you take care of your people while at the same time keep the prices low. Uh Speaking of that.

[00:41:15]product, so Did the tariffs did those tariffs and stuff like that do that take an effect on you any kind of No tariff chicken. No tariff [laughter] chicken.

[00:41:22]Did that take any kind of effect on you on on you?

[00:41:25]>> Thankfully no and and the reason why is because our supply chain team does a great job, so that these guys is kind of like day traders, you know, like when you're buying stocks and stuff like that, they do it with commodities. So, they'll look and they'll say, "Okay, what is like the the food the chicken feed?"

[00:41:40]Okay, cuz that that costs us a lot.

[00:41:42]"The chicken feed is down right now.

[00:41:43]Let's lock in those prices for the next 6 months." So, boom, they'll do that.

[00:41:46]The chicken feed what the chickens eat?

[00:41:48]>> Yeah. If that price that goes up, then the price of chicken goes Oil, okay, like what we use to to fry the chicken, right? Like if that's up, then prices are going to go up. So, they'll lock in they'll look at all that and bunch of smart guys what much smarter than me out there and they'll lock in the prices. So, thankfully that team did that well before any tariffs came in, so our prices were locked in and we were able to hold the prices the same. What was your first store?

[00:42:12]What you What What What was your very first store that you acquired?

[00:42:16]>> uh uh Um You mean like The first store that you had that that was yours.

[00:42:20]>> Churches. Yeah, churches.

[00:42:22]Or did you have Or did you do a couple of them? Like churches as a as a Did you have like three or four of them at one time or did you acquire one?

[00:42:30]>> Oh, no, no, no. I came in so like uh Our our private equity company owns the whole brand so they own all the you know all the 1,500 plus restaurants across the world.

[00:42:40]And then they're franchised. They brought me in uh as COO first. So I was the chief operating officer.

[00:42:46]And then uh and then I got the opportunity um about a year and three months ago and they said, "Hey, you know >> Got you want to you know we think that you could take it to the next level."

[00:42:54]And I said, "Yeah, man, let's let's do it." Yeah. What was the first thing you changed?

[00:42:59]What was your first thing that you like I don't know if this going to be received but I know it's got to change.

[00:43:04]>> Okay.

[00:43:05]>> [laughter] >> Okay, that's a really good question.

[00:43:07]So it actually was Lent season. So you know like Lent when you do shrimp and everything like that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:13]>> Okay. So right when I became CEO we had just um broken the record not because of me but because it was just the time I became CEO the the highest sales week we ever had and it was during Lent season, okay? For us whenever it's first of the month our sales go boom. Yeah.

[00:43:29]>> Right? Yeah. Tax tax tax payment day, right? Boom, right? So I looked at that and I said I said, "Yeah, but how much shrimp and fish do we really sell, you know?" And it was like not a lot. So we broke all these records but like what we were promoting out there wasn't it.

[00:43:44]Yeah. The reason we did it was cuz of value. So what I did was I said next This was the biggest risk I took. So we just broke Remember a year ago sales record. I was like, "You know what?

[00:43:53]We're not going to do the same thing.

[00:43:54]We're actually going to flip it. And we're not going to talk about fish and shrimp. We're going to talk about value and that's when the $5 box came in.

[00:44:00]Yeah. You've seen this $5 box.

[00:44:02]>> Yeah, that $5 box was killing. Right?

[00:44:04]So I said That was murder right there.

[00:44:06]>> [laughter] >> I don't know that ran for a minute, too. I mean, that was straight murder.

[00:44:11]That line was stupid over there.

[00:44:13]So, that was the first thing I did was a $5 box.

[00:44:17]And And oh, by the way, you know, with this box you can get the shrimp, and we broke a new sales record. So, that was the That was the first thing I did. That was That was smart. That was super smart. Yeah.

[00:44:26]Yeah, it shows you got cool entrepreneurship going on, bro. So, in the movies you see like the CEO, you know, if if it doesn't go bad, it's all your fault. You know what I'm saying? If it's great, you you know, you you get the gusto. Is it really like that? Like, you know, and if it goes bad, it's your fault.

[00:44:44]Well, what's true for sure, man, is like the the team around you is the key to everything. Like, for sure for sure, you guys know this, like, the people that around you are the ones that really are the ones making happen, and they're counting on They're counting on you to make certain decisions and all that, and and lead certain things.

[00:44:59]But, man, you got to have the right people. So, I I'm really blessed to have I really think the best team, executive team, all the way down through the restaurants. Like, it's great. Okay.

[00:45:07]But, that said, I mean, yeah, I mean, you at the end of the day, people are looking at you for direction, you know, decision.

[00:45:14]You can't be afraid to fail, you know?

[00:45:15]And you got to be humble enough to know when hey, I made a mistake here, you got to own it, too, you know? And And people people respect that. That's not Same thing in this music business, right?

[00:45:24]>> Yeah.

[00:45:25]Definitely the same thing. So, to own like if if you want to own one, what's what's like criteria's that, you know? Do y'all hold people to a certain standard like, you know, y'all y'all do background checks and we got to know things about you before you just Yeah, bring bring the bag in.

[00:45:41]>> [laughter] >> Like, there's a guy out here he said he want one of these.

[00:45:46]>> [laughter] >> He said, "Killer Killer Anthony, what's up, man?" Hey.

[00:45:50]He said, "Man, I got the bag right here, man. Yeah.

[00:45:53]>> [laughter] >> Trying to grow a business, dog."

[00:45:57]I'm trying to grow a business, man.

[00:45:58]>> So, if you're thinking about getting one of these and your business not right, it's just not going to work out for you.

[00:46:05]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, the bag is one thing, but you got to love you got to love the food. You got to be able to operate.

[00:46:10]>> to have the passion for it. We got We'll train you. We'll do all that, but you know, you got to have you got to have the passion for it, you know, and and we'll make something happen.

[00:46:17]>> So, tell me something about tell me what item that's on the menu that almost didn't make the menu. That almost didn't make the menu.

[00:46:25]>> Yeah.

[00:46:27]Is there anything on your menu that you said, man, somebody let that go?

[00:46:32]What was that? I mean, the only one is the okra that I would say.

[00:46:35]>> I was going to say that.

[00:46:35]>> Because there's nobody else that has okra out there. And and I you know, you look at it and it's kind of like the icing. You're like, oh, only a couple people get the icing. Yeah, yeah.

[00:46:44]>> But for this one, if it there's the people that come and get the okra like they'll really won't come back to Churches. Yeah. take away the okra. And so, it's one of those things we got to keep it in there and and people that love it love it and Hey, if you got people out there listening that you listening out there, we got the people, you know. I'm going to tell you, man, I knew there was a lot of black people.

[00:47:02]Now, you lose a lot of old black women.

[00:47:04]>> [laughter] >> Old black women love some of that okra.

[00:47:08]They're not giving away that okra.

[00:47:10]>> [laughter] >> You're going to lose all the grandmothers.

[00:47:12]>> Now now that they know it, you get phone calls. Yeah, I can't be out there. See, since you said that, they're going to have They're going to say, "That's a nice young man.

[00:47:19]>> [laughter] >> He was raised the right way."

[00:47:24]>> [laughter] >> That was there for sure. Yeah, they ain't going nowhere now. Don't get rid of the okra. No, don't mess with the okra.

[00:47:29]>> So, what would a a a Still 400 box look like? What would What would be something that if me and Juvenile had our own Still 400 box, what what would be in it?

[00:47:38]>> Oh, that's for you to answer. I'd love to know that.

[00:47:40]>> see what you doing?

[00:47:41]>> [laughter] >> He He's smooth. Yeah, yeah, he wants me to throw the ball back to him. There you go.

[00:47:47]>> [laughter] >> We ain't stopping. We can drop that Still 400 chicken right now.

[00:47:52]He got a beat in his head. Let's do it.

[00:47:54]>> Still 400 box coming soon, y'all, to to Churches [laughter] near you. You heard me?

[00:48:00]And the mega churches, you heard?

[00:48:02]>> [laughter] >> He's been working you the whole for this moment right here.

[00:48:07]He's been asking me every question.

[00:48:09][laughter] Restaurant is going public.

[00:48:13]Yeah. I like it though, bro. I I mean, so what would you say to anybody who wanted to do this? Like what's what's the the the pros and the cons? You already told us like it's hard doing um just the being food. Like what what what what would be the success story of of having a Churches? Yeah, having a Yeah, look. I mean, I think like I said, it's about um you know, just like you can grow, you can do it the corporate track. That's the thing That's the cool part about it, man. Like we have people that you can be uh that that are running restaurants as a district manager. And there's opportunity to go and run a Churches, you know? And if that's what you want to do, we'll put you in that. If you want to go the corporate route, and that's what you want to do like the the what I did, you can do that, too. So, you can be your own owner, or you could, you know, do do what you love. There's There's by the way, um managers who love what they do every day. And they don't want to do anything else. Right. Right. Because if there's the routine, they're able to like do their own schedule, whatever. And so, um that's what I That's what I think is the beautiful part about the the the restaurant industry, man, is that you can kind of choose your path. And the key is like, you know, to be part of a brand that, you know, already has 75 years and could have 75 more, you know what I'm saying?

[00:49:26]And so, that that's that's the cool part about it. So, you know, we're willing to give you whatever opportunities you got out there, like let us know. Hey.

[00:49:33]>> You know.

[00:49:34]So, uh the question I asked you earlier, I kind of had it wrong. I The question was really um what's a menu item that all that you almost released that never made the menu? Oh, that I almost released?

[00:49:46]>> Yeah.

[00:49:48]Ah, that's a good question.

[00:49:49]Um well, we're we're talking about There's some stuff that that are of like making the cut or not making the cut. A turkey leg is one of them.

[00:49:57]Oh.

[00:49:58]Fried turkey leg. A fried turkey leg?

[00:50:01]Yeah, like a big fried turkey leg. I love turkey legs.

[00:50:03]>> a differentiator.

[00:50:04]>> They sell high at Disney.

[00:50:07]>> [laughter] >> That's a smoked >> [laughter] >> That's not a fried one.

[00:50:15]And you better better hope you get your tender one cuz you bite it too hard, you lose teeth.

[00:50:19]>> I mean, but fried turkey is so good.

[00:50:21]>> Yeah, so we got We got that. Uh chicken and waffles is another one. That's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one. You know. Cuz it that goes, you know, real good together, obviously, but we got to make sure the price points there. Do churches have breakfast options?

[00:50:35]So, in some countries, yes.

[00:50:36]>> no grits on me.

[00:50:37]>> in not in the US yet.

[00:50:38]>> Not in the US So, what are y'all options? What What do y'all have on on on the um uh the farm?

[00:50:43]>> Man, so if you go to like Puerto Rico, we talked about that. They have a whole a whole menu. I mean, they got fresh cracked eggs, uh different type of sandwiches. Um I mean, though it's a whole thing, man.

[00:50:54]>> And they got chicken in the morning and everything.

[00:50:56]>> it's a whole thing. Yeah, but they got chicken for sure. But it's like a lot of the your traditional like type of potatoes. They got different wraps, like uh breakfast wraps.

[00:51:05]>> why everything overseas be better than ours? All of this going to be at Manny's churches. It's all right.

[00:51:10]>> [laughter] >> Manny's mega churches. Yeah.

[00:51:13]Location coming near you.

[00:51:16]>> [laughter] >> All of these items will be right at Manny's spot. That's okay, y'all.

[00:51:21]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, maybe it'll be a steal for 100 bucks for breakfast. I don't know. Yeah.

[00:51:24]Yeah, we we got the price, $4.

[00:51:27]Steal 400 bucks for $4. Well, maybe $4.99, you know what I'm saying? $4.99 >> [laughter] >> We going to be reasonable.

[00:51:37]That'll be a great one. What you think about that? Uh Hey, I'm Anything could happen. Anything could happen. Keep working. Hey, if you don't ask for >> now, y'all. We got them.

[00:51:46]>> [laughter] >> It's It's going up, y'all. It's going up.

[00:51:50]>> What are the other you got cuz Churches, you know, one of the things has been part of culture, you know, like I It's an honor to be part of a brand that's just part of like has swag natural swag over the years, you know?

[00:52:00]>> Yeah.

[00:52:01]>> How have you guys seen Churches like in the culture, you know, you know, people are rapping about it in songs and all that? Like, why do you think that that is for the brand? I'mma tell you my reason is is cuz it is is familiar It's It's just so familiar to what we see in the in the hood. Everywhere you go across the country, it'd be the same way. People in is aligning there. People buying chicken because the prices are so great. Everybody can't afford to go to those other places. And that's keeping it real.

[00:52:25]>> the most important thing is the recipe never change. You know, like when you said it wavered away, you know, the most important thing, like if you ask anybody old school, they going to say the recipe. The recipe has got to be the You know, >> Followed the And and if and if somebody even, like you said, mess with it a little bit, somebody know Some You know, they like, "This ain't Something happened." Right. You know, they like, "I don't know what happened." Something happened. Something off, yeah. Something went down. But but I think it's because the recipe has has been that way. That makes it iconic.

[00:52:56]>> Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that.

[00:52:57]>> And like he like like he said, man, you know, keep staying true staying true to that taste. And knowing your lane, you know, like I feel like that's why I asked you how do y'all pick locations cuz they they A lot of them are placed in the right place where they need to be at. Like, you know, it works for that neighborhood. It works for, you know, that what whatever the demographics is right there, whatever, you know, however people make money or whatever, however they spend their money, that's important to you. You know, and the the fact that they they're in places where it works for that neighborhood. Yeah. No, you nailed it.

[00:53:31]Yeah. Yeah. 100%. This is one of them spots right here, though, man, that I don't think it's going to be another 100 years this place is going to still be This ain't going nowhere. That's That's the great part. It's like a staple in the neighborhood.

[00:53:44]>> to make a bid on it?

[00:53:46]>> [laughter] >> If you going to talk, we got a lot of talking to do.

[00:53:51]How how important is social media to y'all? Yeah. Do y'all Do y'all have a big social media presence? And who runs that?

[00:53:58]>> It's It's good It's good. I think it could be better. I think we need to get out there more. Um we've done a lot of things with uh uh people that are in the community being the influencers themselves, right?

[00:54:07]So, like >> uh our family meals have taken off, Yeah. right? A lot of it because of social media. So, finding families that are just in the day-to-day grind Yeah.

[00:54:18]>> sharing how Churches just saved them at the end of the day. Like, man, I just finished a big day. My my my my family's hungry. Boom. Churches, you know, is is there for them, you know?

[00:54:27]>> One of the things I really think that y'all doing right with y'all social media is you don't force it. Yeah.

[00:54:33]>> It's It's It's It's regular people doing regular things. Like, you know, well, you could tell like, okay, this is a this is a commercial.

[00:54:39]>> scripted.

[00:54:39]>> Right. Y'all's are just regular people talking about, you know, what what happened. It was a great meal.

[00:54:44]It was affordable. This is what happened. And I think that that right there reach more people than somebody just trying to tell you something that, you know, it's unbelievable. 100% The script when when you see stuff that's scripted, it you can it just don't feel genuine. You know what I'm saying?

[00:54:59]Versus somebody look like they just got off from work.

[00:55:02]>> [laughter] >> They get chicken to take home. That's just more realer to to us. And that's what the relates That's why this relates to us so much. This bus stop right here, a lot of people get off from work and go to work right here. It's It's just a Yeah. So, we use those real stories and we think that that's the best way to really bring it out, you know? I think we could do more of it and but but that's the track we're on, you know?

[00:55:23]Well, you got me now, so I'm I'm going to help you with social media, >> [laughter] >> you know?

[00:55:26]I'm pretty good with social media.

[00:55:28]Yeah. I think we need your juice, yeah.

[00:55:29]>> Yeah, man.

[00:55:31]You got me now. Yeah. Popeyes is over.

[00:55:34]Who who brought it to your presence who that that we had this Popeyes and Churches beef on on our show and it went viral. Oh, man. [laughter] Popeyes and Churches. Mhm.

[00:55:45]I ain't going to lie, Churches, bro. I [ __ ] with the biscuit and I like fried okra. I like Churches rice. I like the rice, you know what I'm saying? I've been stuck on that.

[00:55:53]>> feel about the honey butter biscuit at the Popeyes?

[00:55:56]>> what I'm about to tell you. So, I like Churches biscuit, too. That be falling apart and you see the honey The honey is into the dough of the biscuit.

[00:56:05]Everything else I'm not mad at.

[00:56:06]>> it like y'all see the Popeyes commercial, they brush the butter on there.

[00:56:10]Oh, man, we got Yeah, we have a great team that's that's out there scouring everything, you know what I'm saying? So, like if anything is popping up, there's like a little, you know, hey, check this out. What's going on here? Yeah. And you definitely It was more than just that. It was like, hey, Yeah. look at what these guys are doing.

[00:56:26]Man, I When they saw me, I was like, I loved it, man. Do you know that's always that's always been an argument? I don't know if you know that. That's always There's some There's some There's some cats out there, man, that think Popeyes is And it's always it's always people like me that's getting to argument with them cuz they they want to discredit Churches for everything. They want to say they ain't started, they ain't first, they ain't did the Man, you don't even know who made Popeyes chicken. Get out of here.

[00:56:51]>> [laughter] >> But they said Al Copeland, the lady who was washing Al Copeland made the chicken. I need to know who really I don't know where that chicken came from, man.

[00:57:04]>> [laughter] >> And the other part is the price range. I'm like, man, you going to go down there with $20 and probably get a few pieces of chicken. You can go feed the multitudes by Churches and still get a good meal.

[00:57:15]What what city in the states that y'all you have the most stores?

[00:57:19]Uh Houston, Dallas, San Antonio. Okay.

[00:57:22]Uh so, all the you know, the Texas the Texas is really where we have a we have a lot, but we have we have some in Birmingham. We got another six or seven in Miami. We're in Tampa uh on the Florida side. All right. Um so How many currently in New Orleans?

[00:57:37]New Orleans? How many we got now?

[00:57:40]10? 10.

[00:57:41]>> Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[00:57:43]Yeah, 10 in New Orleans. So, but I think we could do another 35 here, probably.

[00:57:48]Like easily.

[00:57:50]>> Easily, especially they got areas up uptown. They got areas uptown and downtown. But that's the thing like they the brand, like I said, it's kind of lost its way. It tried to It tried to grow in places that it should not have grown. It should have said, "Hey, let's you know you know, let's try to go to this this different type of neighborhood where competitors are, build larger restaurants, more affluent areas."

[00:58:09]That's not Church's, man. Yeah.

[00:58:11]>> So, now that we kind of fix a lot of these fundamentals, we got the menu right, um we got the traffic coming through the restaurants, we're in growth mode now. So, expect to see a lot more Church's like in these areas. So, now's the time.

[00:58:23]Sound like music to my ears, man.

[00:58:26]>> [laughter] >> So, what's harder, making great chicken or running a business?

[00:58:30]You know, um the behind the scenes. Which which one is more more hard?

[00:58:36]I mean I I I respect you know what everybody does in the restaurants.

[00:58:40]To do it consistently, it's kind of like hitting a a 95 mph baseball. Like anybody could do it one time, but how can you do it consistently? Making the chicken and the food consistently is definitely by far like I think the hardest. Running a business, I mean you just you just got to have your the right people and the right routines in place.

[00:58:56]Yeah, right. If you got the right people with the right mission and the vision you give them the tools, that's what it's about, you know?

[00:59:03]>> Yeah, yeah. And so and just being relentless, man. Just having the perseverance in in in what you have. And just knowing like you said, like not everything's going to go perfect, man.

[00:59:12]>> Yeah, yeah. Not everything's going to go perfect.

[00:59:13]>> So, do y'all have like update meetings with with people that own them? With owners? So, how do how do y'all usually do that? Like do you you just do it like maybe twice a month or maybe sometimes a Great question. There's so there's a association that uh it's called Churches International Franchise Association.

[00:59:31]They're voted on by the franchisees themselves. So in the US there's like about 120 franchisees, okay? And then they vote this board um maybe like 12 of them.

[00:59:41]And then we meet with them every quarter.

[00:59:44]We talk to them about hey, this is what the the business is. And they've been great because they're they'll give you feedback. Like hey, this is what we're thinking about doing. You what do you guys think? No, this is going to be really hard to execute or hey yeah, love this idea or they'll give you ideas. So it's a good partnership and we would not have been able to get here like without them, you know?

[01:00:00]>> All right. So that's so that's how that works.

[01:00:02]>> Do you offer assistance? Let's say I got a store and my store started out slow.

[01:00:07]Like you know, or can I come to you as CEO or or the or the company and say hey, how can we get my store on a on a on a better pace of what it's what it's doing or is it something where you like I give I give you supplies, I give you this and you know, you you have to figure out how you make it work or can I come to you guys?

[01:00:25]>> No, absolutely. You come to us and that's we got a team just for that, you know?

[01:00:30]So we got a team that's a local marketing team. So if you know, they're going to come with ideas kind of like you know, this this awesome balloons and everything that's going on. They'll do like block parties, get get traffic to your restaurant, help you out with what's going on there. We also have an operations team. So if you have questions around like hey, I don't know how to you know, this new product I'm really struggling with. Can you help train my team? Like we got a team that goes ahead and does that. So yeah. So yeah, and they're dedicated by the parts of the country. So that's our job. Part of what you get as being part of Churches is this network to support you.

[01:01:00]You don't just open it and do that because it's in our interest too. We want our guests to have consistency across the country. Yeah, cuz some people some people need that extra that next that extra push.

[01:01:11]You know, that extra how do you say it? Like you're nurturing a kid sometimes.

[01:01:15]>> Yeah, yeah. But there's accountability, you know? You got to make sure that like if you're a franchisee that we give you the tools and you're not you know, the guests are not having a good experience, you're not doing Yeah. Then there's other other things we also got to do to protect the brand, you know.

[01:01:28]>> Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.

[01:01:31]That makes all the sense in the >> [laughter] >> world.

[01:01:36]So, is it is it easy to Let's say I found the Churches and it and it was it was closed already, but I contacted I I get in contact with you or y'all your your company and I say, "Hey, I want to reopen this." Mhm. Is that possible to do? Mhm. I think I Do you know my business plan? Like have you gotten like some inside information that I don't know about?

[01:01:57]>> [laughter] >> That That's one of our biggest strategies. There There's a bunch of restaurants right now that have closed down, you know. So, if you look at the different brands uh brands like Boston Market Yeah. Boston Market really took a hit.

[01:02:11]>> others uh Fazoli's died. Yeah. I won't call a lot of other ones out there, but there's a lot of other brands that are closing their doors.

[01:02:18]And cuz where the way that their business model is, they need a lot more sales to go through. You Churches doesn't need a lot of a lot of a lot of high sales to get be profitable. So, you can convert those Got you. abandoned buildings.

[01:02:31]Make it a Churches for half the money now.

[01:02:33]>> Yeah. And you're you're in business. So, that's really how we're going to be uh growing a lot.

[01:02:38]>> I just saw I think it was Walgreens or one of them or CVS closed down their chain and Dick's bought Foot Locker.

[01:02:46]And and a lot of the CVS's are going to be Foot Lockers now because those buildings was leased by, you know, whoever whoever that company was. Yep.

[01:02:54]So, it's kind of So, you can still do that kind of same concept if if it's something that's closed down, like you say, without calling no names or whatever, but I see something I get in touch with y'all and I say, "Hey, I want to put a Churches right here."

[01:03:07]>> Exactly. Exactly. And then we'll line it up with that science uh thing that I talked to you about and say, "Hey, this is a good location."

[01:03:13]Because because of the demographics and everything, you know, boom, we hit the jackpot. And then and then we're able to open spend that up real quick. You don't even have to build it, you know, so you're you're open in 4 5 months versus, you know, 8 8 to 9. Yeah.

[01:03:25]>> You know, and so >> buildings up in 4 5 months?

[01:03:28]If it's a conversion, if it's already there, you can convert it. Yeah, yeah.

[01:03:32]So that's that's that's the you know So so what's one church's rumor conspiracy that people say that makes you laugh that you think is real funny?

[01:03:43]>> [laughter] >> Uh so I don't know if you if you guys seen the movie One of Them Days?

[01:03:50]It was with Keke Palmer and and SZA.

[01:03:52]>> Nine times out of 10 I probably have. So it it came out it came out maybe about a year and a half ago. Okay, it was number one on Netflix. One of Them Days. I probably saw it. Okay, and so in that movie churches is there. Okay, and in a lot of different scenes and there's a biscuit burglar. That is going out [laughter] Wait, they had burglar had a biscuit burglar. Exactly. Exactly. And so during that time, you know, it's kind of like telephone game, you know, people start thinking, oh, there's a biscuit burglar out there.

[01:04:23]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, so we actually >> see that, man. I ain't never >> [laughter] >> That was funny as hell. Biscuit burglar.

[01:04:31]Yeah.

[01:04:32]>> Was he actually out there stealing burg uh biscuits?

[01:04:35]>> No, no, it I mean people were thinking about there was somebody out there stealing biscuits because of the movie One of Them Days. Definitely check it out. It's pretty funny. But so we actually trademarked biscuit burglar in case we need to get to the letters.

[01:04:45]Yeah. Biscuit burglar [laughter] trademark. So nobody take it.

[01:04:49]I would love to sign somebody drawing a picture of him.

[01:04:52]>> [laughter] >> The biscuit burglar.

[01:04:56]He got the pie and the pie and the water and everything. He all the ingredients.

[01:05:01]Yeah. Hey. He stole everything. Biscuit burglar strikes again.

[01:05:05]>> [laughter] >> Well, you gave us a lot a lot of information that we really really needed. Like, you know, and and and anybody who thinking about doing this, so now you know, go on Churches website, you know, get all the information, gather it all up, and contact them, and you can start your business today. Don't wait till tomorrow, do it today, you heard me? That's what I'm saying.

[01:05:27]>> And I got one more question. If if Popeyes and Churches was in a versus like we did the versus what would be dope what what would you put up? What three items would you put up against Popeyes?

[01:05:40]in a verse with >> you know It's biscuit day, so we know that's not even a question, but Yeah, y'all got it.

[01:05:47]Round one, smoke.

[01:05:49]>> [laughter] >> Down goes Frazier.

[01:05:54]I would say I would do spicy tenders. I think our spicy tenders are very underrated, and and I think if you're looking for the spice like that the tender our tenders are spicy like through the marination and on the outside, where some others are just on the outside. So, I'll put tenders out there.

[01:06:12]Um And then I would put something that they can't compete with, which is bombers, cuz they don't have them. Those jalapeno bombers.

[01:06:18]Yeah. You had to go there, huh?

[01:06:19]>> [laughter] >> Down goes Popeye again, man. Brutus wins again. the pepper, you know Popeyes had that, but but y'all they don't have it anymore. Y'all Y'all went with the with the pepper all the time.

[01:06:29]>> away the pepper, too? Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah, and you know what? They got rid of the rice, too. They got rid of Yeah, that's no no What it was, Cajun rice? They ain't got none of that no more, y'all. So, y'all would win. Y'all would win.

[01:06:41]>> you was going I thought you was going to throw the rice up there, cuz I'm like the rice, yeah, you really like that.

[01:06:45]Y'all been whooping it.

[01:06:47]>> [laughter] [laughter] >> There you go. Anything else you want to do before we close out?

[01:07:00]>> That's it. They said food taste test.

[01:07:02]Oh, this is THE STILL 400 BOX?

[01:07:05]>> [laughter] >> MY PICTURE ON IT?

[01:07:09]THE STEEL 400 BUCKS.

[01:07:11]This show do look like a Steel 400 bucks.

[01:07:14]I got a honey butter biscuit, leg, thigh, and mashed potatoes.

[01:07:22]That biscuit right out the oven. Mhm.

[01:07:25]Thank you. Thank you, sir. Everything's out of the fryer on this one.

[01:07:29]Now, that's how you end the show.

[01:07:32]All right.

[01:07:32]>> Right there.

[01:07:33]Y'all give it up for Rolling Dallas, man, right here with me and my dog, man, here on Steel 400. Another great week.

[01:07:40]We appreciate you for coming out. And look, man, anybody out there, I know it's going to always be an argument about who got the best chicken. I'm telling you Church's got the best chicken. You hear me? I appreciate you guys, man. Thanks for having me on.

[01:07:52]>> Thank you. Thank you. I love to see you all to stand behind his product. Okay, we know you played baseball, so we just about to have a little fun with it.

[01:07:59]Let's take it in the parking lot and play a game of hardball.

[01:08:02]I won't play baseball and let you hit the hardest thing I know.

[01:08:07]>> [laughter] >> Let's go.

[01:08:09]>> You got your wild. Let's go.

[01:08:10]>> The biscuit!

[01:08:15]>> [screaming] [music] [music] [laughter] [music and singing] [music] [singing] >> Hey.

[01:09:00]Only right here on Steel 400. You heard me? Now I can pop eyes biscuits out the park.

[01:09:15]>> [music]