Are you ready to learn the key ingredient for an independent child? Much more than just a cooking school for kids, Little Kitchen Academy is changing lives from scratch as the first-of-its-kind Montessori-inspired cooking academy for kids ages three through teen focused on providing a safe, inspiring, and empowering space for children to identify, develop, and refine their senses. Through joy, mindfulness, and learning we are creating a foundation for a healthier lifespan through responsible eating choices: from scratch to consumption. Little Kitchen Academy recently announced their plans to develop 75 locations across the state of Texas, focusing on the major cities of Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, over the next ten years. Little Kitchen Academy’s mission is to empower children with practical life skills and knowledge in a positive and joyful environment, while promoting positive lifestyle changes that result in a healthier world. Little Kitchen Academy lives to create a more educated, able, and healthy society through mindful, healthy eating choices, and is committed to changing lives, from scratch to consumption. Partnering with Wonderful Chaos Kitchen, LLC, Little Kitchen Academy’s expansion will be led by Bill Duffy, who has over a decade of franchise experience, alongside a team that offers over 50 years of experience in franchising, both as franchisees and franchisors, specializing in restaurant, retail, and multi-unit development across Texas. Bill has become a student of leadership, inclusion, equity, and diversity. Bill believes that affinity for, and strength of brand are at the core of successful hospitality entities. An uncompromising operational culture of excellence tied to brand commitment is the foundation of community and customer inspired growth. Bill is a proud husband to an elementary school educator and a father to two extraordinary boys. This is just one half of the Little Kitchen Academy duo that joined the podcast today. Joel Lazarovitz over the past 20 years in franchising experience. He has assisted both emerging and mature brands to grow their domestic and global footprint in over 65 countries and 150 North American cities. Most importantly Joel focuses on children education and franchises that help that mission. His unbridled passion and enthusiasm for Children’s education brands come from the realization that children are powered by their imagination. A willingness to learn, love, smile and adapt. This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future. Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA --- Lance Graulich Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising Eye On Franchising
Are you ready to learn the key ingredient for an independent child?
Much more than just a cooking school for kids, Little Kitchen Academy is changing lives from scratch as the first-of-its-kind Montessori-inspired cooking academy for kids ages three through teen focused on providing a safe, inspiring, and empowering space for children to identify, develop, and refine their senses. Through joy, mindfulness, and learning we are creating a foundation for a healthier lifespan through responsible eating choices: from scratch to consumption.
Little Kitchen Academy recently announced their plans to develop 75 locations across the state of Texas, focusing on the major cities of Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, over the next ten years.
Little Kitchen Academy’s mission is to empower children with practical life skills and knowledge in a positive and joyful environment, while promoting positive lifestyle changes that result in a healthier world. Little Kitchen Academy lives to create a more educated, able, and healthy society through mindful, healthy eating choices, and is committed to changing lives, from scratch to consumption.
Partnering with Wonderful Chaos Kitchen, LLC, Little Kitchen Academy’s expansion will be led by Bill Duffy, who has over a decade of franchise experience, alongside a team that offers over 50 years of experience in franchising, both as franchisees and franchisors, specializing in restaurant, retail, and multi-unit development across Texas.
Bill has become a student of leadership, inclusion, equity, and diversity. Bill believes that affinity for, and strength of brand are at the core of successful hospitality entities. An uncompromising operational culture of excellence tied to brand commitment is the foundation of community and customer inspired growth. Bill is a proud husband to an elementary school educator and a father to two extraordinary boys.
This is just one half of the Little Kitchen Academy duo that joined the podcast today.
Joel Lazarovitz over the past 20 years in franchising experience. He has assisted both emerging and mature brands to grow their domestic and global footprint in over 65 countries and 150 North American cities.
Most importantly Joel focuses on children education and franchises that help that mission. His unbridled passion and enthusiasm for Children’s education brands come from the realization that children are powered by their imagination. A willingness to learn, love, smile and adapt.
This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future.
Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA
---
Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising
Lance Graulich 00:00
Welcome to Eye on Franchising, where you will learn the A to Z's of franchising. Hello everyone and welcome back to another great episode of Eye on Franchising. I am your host, Lance Graulich. Well, today we have one of our guests is actually a returning guest. He's already a veteran of ion franchising the podcast, and that is my friend Joel Lazarovitz. I always have a difficult time with Joe's name, but I love the guy. Joining Joel to discuss Little Kitchen Academy the brand today is an area rep. This gentleman has committed heavily to bringing little kitchen Academy to the state of Texas. Welcome my new friend Bill Duffy.
Bill 00:44
Awesome. Thanks so much for having us.
Joel 00:46
Thanks for having us, Lance.
Lance Graulich 00:47
You're You're Welcome, gentlemen. All right. So let's start off bill, let's let's hear the backstory. We gotta go. Gotta go back to have a heck did you get into franchising? From what I understand? This is your very first franchise. So congratulations.
Bill 01:02
Awesome. Yeah, thanks. Very first franchise, but not my first rodeo in terms of multi unit, restaurant retail hospitality, I've spent my entire career as kind of an ops and ops guy, I've run franchises. For other people. I've been on the franchisor side. And I've been on the company outside, through a lot of really strong fun brands, including some that I'm sure you're aware of including Tower Records. One of the finest brands that anyone can imagine a coffee bean and tea leaf. I've been in the trampoline park industry with Sky Zone, and a few other stops along the way. And the one piece that's that's that's strong with this Lance is you know, if by hearing those you probably can think of it this way, each of those little each of those brands is a place where people on both sides of the counter really want to be there. Right? The guests, the customers love what's there, they're there for a reason. And quite frankly, the kids working behind the counter, then anyone working on the counter, it loves to be there too. So I've been fortunate about that. And little kitchen Academy is literally the same thing.
Lance Graulich 02:14
I love it. I love it. Yeah, in fact, one of my friends owns coffee bean and tea leaf for Nevada. So there you go. Small world, small world. Yeah, you know, you bring up a whole other story. I don't know if we'll have time to discuss this. But you know, there are quite a few people in this world that want to follow their passion. But their passion doesn't always take them in the right direction. You know, you see it often Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank talks about, you know, well, that sounds great. But that's a hobby. That's not a business. So clearly, you're a smart guy. And you've been there. So what got you excited about little kitchen Academy?
Bill 02:51
Yeah, very much just that it was kind of I'm at a point in my career, right? Like many I was I've been there I've done that. I've done a lot of things that I'm very, very proud of. And now I'm in a place where where can I do something that's completely head and heart. And I wasn't actively looking but heard about little kitchen Academy for through another area rep who's already signed on in Canada, who I'm close with, and started talking with her, we were 15 minutes into that conversation, just asking her about it. And I just kind of got kind of lost in the clouds thinking, wow, this, this might be perfect for me. And she literally stopped and said, Bill, you're perfect for this. So it was one of those moments where it was obvious that you know there's more here than just a casual interest. And within a week, I was on the phone with Joel within two weeks I was on the phone with the founders. And and that's
Lance Graulich 03:49
history. How soon did you get to Canada go check it out.
Bill 03:52
It that did take me about four or five months. So I did end up in LA relatively quickly to see the first US location based in LA. But going to Canada and spending some time in the founding their original location. Just sealed the deal. I mean, just getting there and just sensing it and feeling it in sitting there with Brian and Felicity watching a class actually in motion. Just every little piece of the, I just needed to connected a few more threads. And it did it in spades. I was just this is it. I get it. I'm here I'm in.
Lance Graulich 04:28
I love it. I love it. All right, Joel, you got to give everyone your background and talk about how you got involved with little little kitchen Academy and holy cow I'm hearing about all the you know, it's more it's not just expansion plans expansion reality that's about to unfold here. And it's, it's pretty impressive.
Joel 04:48
It is you know, and it's a funny story, and I'll try to paraphrase it to the best of my ability but
Lance Graulich 04:54
you needed to learn to cook I know the truth.
Joel 04:56
That's true, but I suppose still Do but um, I found little kitchen Academy myself around three years ago and just immediately was drawn to it because I've been in franchising myself for 23 years. So, during that time, I've worked with a number of what I would call children's edutainment brands, you know, brands that are both educating and entertaining simultaneously. And when I saw a newsletter that I subscribed to saying little kitchen Academy franchising internationally, I said, well, first of all, whose little kitchen Academy and how come I don't know who they are, this is, this is strange, right? 23 years, but am I doing my job properly. So I did a little bit of homework went onto the website, and everything I saw was just top notch. And as you know, Lance, with most companies that are first franchising, they usually come up with an idea. And then they the idea, they say, you know, what I'd love for my brand to be in this market, that market and they franchise, but they rarely have the operations manual, they rarely have the systems in place, they don't have a site selection or Real Estate Guide, they don't have a 26 week seed marketing plan. And so what they have is an idea. With little kitchen Academy. Everything was just so beautifully put together. You know, Bill, mentioned it earlier. So I reached out to Brian Curran, who's a serial entrepreneur and, and I said, you know, I really want to talk to you, because I'm just fascinated by everything that's little kitchen Academy. So it's to this day, he still tells me, he goes, Yeah, we're expected to be on the phone with you for 10 minutes, blow you off, and then go on with the rest of my day. And it ended up being a two and a half hour. Yeah, two and a half hours later. It wasn't it was honestly, I'll always get and it ended up being two and a half hour conversation. And what I what came out of that conversation was that this is a Montessori inspired culinary academy for kids that teaches practical life skills that are desperately needed for children of all ages. It's the key ingredient for an independent child. It builds self confidence and self esteem, and allows children to go in with a perpetual smile and leave with that same smile. And it just, it resonated so much with me that I wanted to be part of it. And so we started conversations. And you know, they were just on the cusp of starting the franchise aspect of little kitchen Academy and had an area developer and British Columbia. And really the last two years has been an absolute whirlwind. It just we've found fantastic people like Bill, and we have a number of multi unit deals, statewide deals, area developments, you name it. And obviously we're not the only two that are as captivated about okay. It's just It's been fantastic.
Lance Graulich 07:49
Right? So the name itself, let's little kitchen Academy, obviously you think, Oh, it's a cooking school for kids. But as you just explained, it's a heck of a lot more than that. Especially the results and the confidence, self esteem and all these other things that happen like in any education setting. Talk a little bit more about that, especially what the Montessori inspired model is really all about as it as it appeals to or applies to LKA.
Joel 08:22
Sure. And what it is, is it's guided instruction, right because Montessori is such where you give children the opportunity to build their self confidence, their self esteem, you aren't making mistakes, you know, so for us, what I love about Montessori is that a child will go in, they'll walk in, they'll put in their put on their little kitchen Academy chef coat, they'll put on their Birkenstock shoes, their chest is out, you know it this is my environment. There's no adults that are allowed in the environment because they're a distraction. This is the child's environment. This is for them. And so when they come in, you know, they're leaving our programs saying, oh, you know, mom, dad, I'm going to make dinner tonight. This is a five year old. Remember, you know, I'm going to clean up the entire kitchen. So Montessori really instills that self confidence. And that allows you to want to do so much more. Because you're building that self confidence and self esteem. You're not having someone hovering over your right or left shoulder, scolding you that's not little kitchen little kitchen is about learning practical life skills, teaching and making food from scratch to consumption. Sitting at our community table that's made under 33,000 recycled chopsticks that promote sustainability. It's on it's on brand it's it's about it's a message to children that you can do anything. That's really what it is. So it's it's so much more than it's funny. You said it earlier, Lance. You know, it's not just the cooking school and the people that get who we are. Realize it lead me immediately. Cooking School is the last thing we are. Yeah, honestly.
Lance Graulich 10:04
Yeah, and that's so important because any franchisee and Bill this is this is heading over to you in a second. Any franchisee when people talk to me about, well how do I know if I have the right franchise? And I always tell them, I said you'll know, you'll know it's it's like in a way when you got married? Well, hopefully that was successful. But the idea is you have to have the right partner. And in most cases as people go through the franchise process, you figure it out. So Bill, like what was your first clue with all of your experience? What was your first clue in the process with little kitchen Academy? And Joel, walking you through the process when you're like, you know, because you had to have some skepticism in the beginning. Like, is this? Is this really for me?
Bill 10:51
Yeah. So one thing to say that will lead into that is just to finalize what Joe said, is I the way I've been describing it to other people, or I'm talking to whether it's my partners, or other people are like, what is this is that they do they they jump right onto the cooking aspect of and I say, You know what? Cooking is just the vehicle. Right? This is all about that child development, that kid development kind of thing. So, yeah, I think one of the things that and this may come as a shock to some people who are getting into franchising is when Joel and I first started talking, and then I started struck talking to Brian as well. One of the things that struck me that I liked to hear, even though Joel probably was shocked that I like to hear it was how much I asked them questions like, Well, can I do this? And the answer was no, he can't. And I want to try this. Well, can I I would add this? No, you can't. And I know that's how franchising works. But it doesn't necessarily how it actually works. The point is this young of a brand, who understands who they are, and what's extremely important to them, they needed to understand that I was the right person who's not going to come in as I want to do it my way. And quite frankly, I was sort of looking for someone who was going to stand up for that, because I've been in this the opposite situation where the franchisees run wild for lack of a better word in the brand. So as as, maybe from an entrepreneur standpoint, that may sound a little bit odd. But that's exactly what attracted me so well, to Joel conversation. And then also when I started speaking with Brian, granted, he heard everything I had to say, and he's like, No, this is how we do it. Again, in hindsight, I find that fantastic. And it makes me proud of what that brand is. And I just joined and I'm proud of what the brand is.
Lance Graulich 12:40
Yeah, I studied with some PhDs years ago. They were PhDs in organizational development, organizational design. And it's interesting, what you just said, was a big piece of their studies that when studied, people don't want to be able to do whatever the heck they want to do. They actually want structure. They want a system in a way they want to be told what to do. But it's got to be the right system and the right structure. And more importantly, it's got to be a system that eventually can can make money. I suspect you didn't set up as a nonprofit Bill.
Bill 13:18
Exactly. One of my favorite things, though, that that Brian told me when I was pushing, I wanted had birthday parties and I wanted to Can I sell this and that, you know, and he's like, no, no, it's not. It's not our model. And he finally said, he says, Bill, if you're that successful, open another one is point was and his point is well taken is it is a defined business that we know works. It's capacity based, you will be largely successful. You don't have to sell lollipops, right? You're gonna get there. And if you're successful, just open another one because that means you're being successful. Yeah, it's an airplane. There's only so much you can put in there and do that and do it. Well.
Lance Graulich 13:58
I'll mention the obvious chain. You know, people have tried to convince Chick fil A to open on Sundays. They're already successful six days a week. It's part of who they are. They're not going to be open Sundays anytime soon. And that's okay. Because that's their choice. So and it's a selling point for them. Yeah. So I love that. So Bill, tell us more though, in this process. Tell it tell us your exact plan. Now. You signed the agreement when
Bill 14:30
just three or four weeks ago, we just fine.
Lance Graulich 14:32
And your first location is going to open Where and When
Bill 14:35
So I'll be again in Austin is where I'm based. So I'll be building out Austin signed up for five locations minimum to build out myself. But we're also going to start subbing so franchisee and ran away with Joel's help. So I expect that my first location will open if not late in 2022 early in 2023. And you know, Joel and I firmly believe that We'll start having potential subs here very soon. And my guess is we'll see them opening in mid 2023. And again, if you know anything about, you know, the state of Texas, you've got some massive markets here. We've got Houston, DFW San Antonio and Austin, so we can be doing some of that simultaneously.
Lance Graulich 15:17
Yeah, I was just just there for my niece's wedding and landed in San Antonio and went to Canyon Lake, the hill country. There you go. So Joel, explain a little bit, what Bill's talking about, when it comes to the area rep model for little kitchen Academy. Sounds a little bit like a master franchise type deal, as well.
Joel 15:39
It is, you know, in fairness, you know, Bill is one of our two area reps. And you know, when we find people that are of his ilk, and quality, you know, we're more open to the area rep model, our preference has always been to do an Area Development, which is more, we find someone who's going to be open, like we had a partner in Colorado who bought the rights to the entire state, and they're going to be opening up 20 units, why because that protects our bandwidth, and we can give the absolute best of ourselves, you know, to to our partner, in the case with Bill, you know, we're gonna be working very closely hand in hand, because as he opens his locations in Austin, we're going to get more brand impressions, we're going to get more eyeballs, you're gonna have more people that are like what's little kitchen Academy they have. So the goal is for us is to find multi unit partners in Houston in San Antonio in the DFW that are going to open up a large number of locations, we typically will not enter a partnership unless someone's going to open a minimum of three. And we do that purposely because of the bandwidth. And because we want to give ourselves give us the very best of ourselves to our partners. So we're not as interested in having 75 single unit operators in the state of Texas, our preference is to deal with strong people who have a passion for the brand, who believe in our mission are like minded. And then they can open up multiple locations across, you know, cities that can obviously support, you know, little kitchen academies. So that's the typical new aspect master franchising. It's, you know, for all intents and purposes, Bill and I are going to be pre qualifying people to make sure they're of the utmost quality, and they bring a certain skill set to the brand. And of course, we're going to end up looking for more Bill Duffy's. Ideally, you know,
Lance Graulich 17:30
the, you know, the the three unit that you said the minimum, it's a great strategy, because with your concept, you really want to create that community. And it's, you can do it with one, but it's easier when you have three units in a certain geographic area. It's nice, it's a good idea. When it comes to let's talk about investment. What is the typical? What is the FTD? Showing for investment, Joel, the, you know, roughly low and high, and then we'll see how Bill's doing with that in Texas.
Joel 18:02
So I would share with you that, you know, within our FTD, you're gonna have a range, usually tops out just over $600,000, we found that thus far, the majority of the people are coming in in that 450 to 500 range. And that's including build out costs franchise fee. But I would say that's where you're we're looking at with leasehold improvements build out. That's, that's the real part of the investment. Right? Once you separate the franchise fee, it's really getting that 1500 square foot location, which is typical for us in all those costs together will usually come in at around between that four to 500,000. Now, we've had more when you open in certain areas that are very, very affluent pockets,
Lance Graulich 18:47
Los Angeles, for example, you have a location coming? Well,
Joel 18:51
since since you mentioned it, um, you know, you have the Century City location, which actually it's Beverly Hills, and that's open. It's been a it'll be a year in August. And so, you know, in a situation like that, it costs like a little bit more, and that's when we actually run corporately, because it's it's a fantastic showpiece for us. There's so many visitors to that area. It's a tremendous Mall. But again, I wouldn't say that's our typical storefront or, you know, for us, we usually look for an area that has, you know, other children's education franchises, maybe a pediatric dentist office, a pizza and pediatric doctor's office, it could be a Mathnasium are Kumaon somewhere where parents are comfortable bringing their children where you don't have to spend some ridiculous amount, you know, per square foot because ultimately the kids are going to be there for three hours. So the child the parents not sitting there waiting for their child. They're not allowed in anyways, child's environment and if we're doing school partnerships, they're you know, they're being dropped off brought right to the venue and then there for three hours at a time so that works better
Lance Graulich 19:56
for great. So Bill, I guess you're lucky you're not in Los Angeles. So you're in Texas doing construction a little bit better for you a little better. But
Bill 20:05
as you likely know, Austin is kind of a booming town at the moment. And it ended for a while. So it's, it's getting a little closer to La than I that I'd like to say it is. But it's, we're, we're working on it. Well, the
Lance Graulich 20:17
positive is more families, more people, the population is booming.
Bill 20:22
Oh, there's all the right signs are for this to really take off in Austin. And similar to what Joel said, you know, I've already sort of mapped out where the first handful locations could and should go, based on trying to bring a central location sort of like Century City, because this is not a it's not a chicken finger place, you can open it, you can you know, if you have this new czinger, chicken finger place, you go into suburbs, you're fine. I need to explain what this, this is through PR. And I can't do that spreading out in the suburbs, I've got to hit, you know, a very heavily traffic location where people are coming from outside the city on a regular basis. And there's lots of great opportunities in Austin for them.
Lance Graulich 21:02
Ya know that? That sounds great. You know, Bill I wanted to I wanted to ask, so when you and Joel are strategizing about these sub franchisees, these additional franchisees coming into Texas doing an el que what do you what do you what are you looking for, with all your experience on the ops side? Especially? What are you looking for? And most importantly, what are you not looking for? And this question obviously, relates to anybody and everybody that wants to look at a franchise in general?
Bill 21:32
It's a great question. And I don't think there's any very specific pieces of qualifications that, that hit there. There's obviously lots of different things that are important there. But if my knee jerk is looking for someone who's got humility, you do not go into this strictly for bottom line, is that part of the conversation? Of course it is. But there's much more to it and much more involved here. And if you're strictly a bottom line person, I feel like it's just not going to feel right to you. And it's not going to feel righteous, we people who've got, again, I'll use this phrase I just used a few minutes ago was head and art, it's, you know, this is this is not simply one business or the other. It is an involved process. And definitely look at people who've got humility, and some operational chops, right. So understand their market, this is community based, there's no way around it that you cannot expect to walk into this and put a sign up, this is community hitting the pavement stuff, which I love. And you get the right people involved with that. And you can and will be successful, simply by being a part of your community.
Lance Graulich 22:41
Yeah. And obviously, you're looking for owner operators in this especially to prove that they can operate one of these, and then maybe they can put some people in place afterwards. Right. I mean, yeah, yeah,
Joel 22:55
I was gonna say that, you know, it's an interesting question. Because when I first started with little kitchen Academy, I was like, are we gonna get, you know, the mom and pop operator who's just gonna want to be there 24/7 And just see the smiling faces. And we get that the other way around. But we also get the sophisticated business, people that love the societal impact, that we have the difference that we're making children's lives, and they just want to gravitate towards and attach themselves to it. So you know, when you do like, Bill? Yeah, well, honestly, yes. You know, and so when you do a deal with someone like Bill, who's gonna be not only open five, but also, you know, we need to be like minded. And that's what we always use the term like minded Lance, because Felicity will come to me and will she'll say, Joel, don't bring on someone who I'm not going to be comfortable sitting across our community table with having not having dinner with I need to be comfortable with the people that you're bringing to me. So for us, we're getting those sophisticated business people also that love the unit economics, love the potential of, you know, everything we stand for, and they're signing up for multiple units. Because, because of who we are, and because they're like minded to our beliefs, so it's really, it's flattering. I would say it's probably the right word to find those types of people, but thus far in such a short period of time. It's been amazing to find, you know, the bills, the Caroline's who introduced bill to us, you know, it's it's six degrees of separation in some way. Yeah, absolutely.
Lance Graulich 24:33
I think it was, I think it was Steve Jobs that used to have he it was either Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett. He had to have a meal with his top folks before they were ever hired. Because he wanted to see how they interacted in a restaurant scenario, how they treated the food servers or the staff and you know, whether they fit or not, he said you could learn a lot about somebody when you have a meal with them. They are as a human being, as they are as a human being well said. So, your competition, when people are talking to you, Joel or Bill, you're you're talking to different folks. What other franchises are they looking at? Because you really don't have any immediate or direct competition. I mean, whether it's a cleaning brand, or whether it's a burger franchise, there's a lot of competition, I can't think of much of any competition. Unless it's just, you know, like you said, Mathnasium, or another kids quality franchise?
Joel 25:39
You know, it's a great point, because oftentimes, people when I'm on the phone with prospects, they'll say, Who is your closest competitor in, though, there are other culinary academies for kids? None of them are Montessori. None of them? You know, some of them have been around for many years and with a very small footprint. And, and I think the reason behind it, is because they don't have the depth of curriculum. You know, for us, it's, it's about finding people who, who, who look at us, and see that we're completely different than anything else that's out there. It's funny you say it, because as you're, you're mentioning it to me, I'm thinking to myself, Do I have the same brands that come up in conversation, when I'm talking with another prospect? I don't. And so I think they gravitate to our sense of beliefs, our core beliefs, and just want to be part of it, because of the difference that we're making in Child's lives. You know, we have chosen kids that come to us with, you know, with food trauma issues with exceptional learners we have. So I think people look at us, and the reason they're attracted to us, is because we're so different than anything else that's out there. So having been in this industry for 23 years, you're always compared to someone, we're not really compared to anybody, interestingly enough, and I think, you know, nothing wrong with that. Yeah, that's really flattering. I think, you know, I'm, I'm not up against not having these conversations with our CEO saying, Oh, I hope you win this deal from x company. Yeah, that's not the people that are talking to us. It's more about how many units do I want, as opposed to is this the right fit for me, which is great.
Lance Graulich 27:29
So let's talk about launch plans. Bill, when you are getting ready to open location number one, or you could you guys can talk about? You know, Joe, you could talk about how LA was launched as the first location that's been there over a year already? What are the plans to get? You know, Bill, you said it perfectly before, you know, with the PR campaign, and I'm sure there's social media backing that up, to really communicate what you guys are doing. And, you know, I mean, you're already flooded with new franchisees. So you're doing something right. But how does that ramp up get even quicker?
Bill 28:06
I think Joel can probably speak to a little bit better in terms of what what the plan is that the franchisor produces and offers and the tools and all those pieces, the obvious thing for me is to follow that to the best of my ability and curb it to the local needs that I know better than Joel does, and anyone at the franchise franchisor side is going to know. So there is a fantastic playbook that I'm actually learning right now. To your point, Joel is 26 week plan out all all these things is is stuff that a franchisee coming from the outside would hope for, right? I don't want to reinvent this, I may want to tweak and I may want to say hey, this may work better here, because this market has this that you may not know about. But that's a heck of a lot better than going in there and saying, Okay, I'm gonna go hire a marketing agency to help me out who doesn't know the brand? Who doesn't understand franchising per se, and go ahead and do this. So having those tools that Joe can speak to better than I can at this point has been has been huge.
Lance Graulich 29:03
I think if you have a bunch of two and a half foot chefs roasting a pig on the sidewalks of Austin, I think that would get a lot of attention. That's very true.
Joel 29:13
Hmm. Just telling us pick up on on Bill's point, you know, that's why I was attracted. Okay, to begin with, because two bills earlier point. People at companies in franchising at this stage of their infancy don't have a little kitchen Academy has it, they did it, they don't. And so having the 26 weeks lead marketing plan, having the real estate and Site Selection Guide, having the curriculum and the recipes, you know, our training, which is fantastic, it's just everything is about systems, and I think there's a lot of franchisors that are very happy they have a good idea. But if someone's gonna give up their livelihood, to get into bed with To you, so to speak, and join your franchise, family and become your partner. And we only use the word partners, we don't use the word franchisees that's very important to us, then they want to make sure that what they're buying into, it's not something where they have to reinvent the wheel completely. So having all the tools and systems in place, especially when you're bringing on someone who's an expert in OPS, you, you're going to know if, if there's something that you don't like, and everyone we've talked to who are different many, many of its secret, many of the franchise partners we have are diversifying their portfolio, they just love the practical life skills aspect of what we're doing, have all come back to us and said, Man, you have great systems, the systems are great. And, and that's flattering, when you've been dealing with people that have 20 plus years experience or, you know, or made investments into other brands that are, you know, seven figure investments, but at the same time are saying our systems are better than anything they've seen. So that's pretty awesome, to be honest.
Lance Graulich 31:04
So you know, you talk to both of you talk a little bit about the process for new franchisees prospective franchisees, let's kind of sum that up a little bit. You know, obviously, there's a trip to Canada involved in in all of this. So let's talk about how long that process generally is how many steps there are, Meet the Team day, Discovery day, whatever it might be.
Joel 31:28
So the first thing they do is they actually go to our website, and they fill out what we call a recipe card, which is pretty unique in and what we're looking for is there's probably what I would call five to seven pre qualifiers of which they need to have at least three or four of them, you know, and so once they fill that out, that goes directly to me, I obviously have information I forward, I set up a phone call, I love to do it via zoom, because you can always get feel people's passion and enthusiasm for for who we are.
Lance Graulich 31:58
Or you can hang up on him if they don't fit.
Joel 32:03
Yeah, maybe they'll hang up. But yeah, what would end up happening from there is that we coordinate that call, you'll get to know them better. And as you know, Lance, you've been in franchising, you usually know within 10 minutes, whether you have someone who's a really good fit for, you know, for the brand. And then from there, we guide them through a process, they fill out our pre qualification forms, we make sure they have you know, the financial capabilities, because we're not shy about it. This is a known probably half a million dollar investment plus, and we want to make sure that we're setting people up for success. So it's our responsibility that they they are the right fit. From there, everything goes well, I introduced them to Brian and Felicity fairly early on, so we can get a good feel for whether they feel they're a good fit for us. And then of course, it's deciding which geography they're interested in which areas making sure we're offering franchises there. And then at the same time, then eventually having them come to Vancouver where they get to see a couple of academies meet our entire team come to the LK Nast, which is you know, our offices, and really just get to understand who we are our culture, and what our brand is all about. And it all comes back to the people. For for us, it's all about if they go so they go through this entire process they've identified, we ask them to do due diligence, we send them like a 15 to 20 page pamphlet, which Bill will attest to have asking them to do a wealth of information. And I have some people who come back and go, geez, you all my firstborn before I can join your but at the same time, yes, we kind of do. Because we want to make sure that we're both walking into a situation where it's gonna be mutually beneficial, mutually successful, and that you've done your homework to prove that you want to be part of our family. You know, so we got
Lance Graulich 33:50
what's a hazing process? It's a what, it's a hazing process, something like that
Joel 33:55
without getting in trouble. Yeah. But it works. It works in the people. It's funny, it's when I add one other thing. Everyone who starts his due diligence with us is like, Oh, do due diligence. And then when they're finished the deal and due diligence, like oh, the due diligence, I learned so much more about my community that I never knew. So it's it's, it's it's pivotal to their their, you know, to the relationship and for them proving that they want to do the necessary homework to be able to place their academies in the appropriate positions.
Lance Graulich 34:25
Yeah. Well, you know, Joel, I'm glad you made those points. You know, there are so many people think that you get on a call with a franchise brand and they slide your credit card to authorize a transaction of some kind. The reality is, it's a two way street, you have to decide whether you even like each other in the first place. And you bring up a great point, the more work you make them do, the more they have to earn it and show not only that they're committed more than interested, but that they've done their homework because the worst thing people always ask me all the time Why do franchisees fail? Well, they generally pick the wrong franchise for them, doesn't mean the franchise is bad. It's a mismatch. And a lot of cases, maybe the franchisor didn't ask the right questions. And if they did ask the questions you asked, the franchisee might eliminate themselves from the process early on to say, You know what, this might not be for me.
Bill 35:26
You know, that's the statement that I use. And Joel has not heard me say this. But when when he when he sent me over this due diligence plan, first of all, I like it, I think it's fun stuff to do. It's important, but it might as well be entitled, is franchising little kitchen Academy for me? Because it helps you make the decision up to your point. Am I making the right decision? Oh, this is a little more complicated. Oh my Wow, this is a lot more complicated than I even thought about. And and that's what the how but without having Joel or someone's make it feel like they're condescending to you. It's like you take a look at this and tell me of this. So it's kind of like it's franchising for me is literally waiting to be called.
Lance Graulich 36:07
I love that summary. That's, that's fantastic. Yeah. So the last step, so they're going to Canada or Vancouver coming
Joel 36:18
to Canada, we always want them to come to Vancouver, because that's our parent location. Number one point. Great. But number two, our entire team's there. So for us, we make all these decisions collectively. Is there anything that stands out to you about this particular candidate that you're concerned about? Or is there any reason you feel they're not a good fit, we have a small, small but robust team. And you know, when we were big believers in everyone having input and allowing people to meet with our with our candidates. So once they do that, they usually go back home, the likelihood of them coming to Vancouver, and not being approved is unlikely, because by that point, they will have had multiple calls with me, they will have had to zooms with Brian and Felicity. And if there were alarm bells that were going off, before, we would know about it. However, you always learn something new face to face with someone and shaking this, I always say what I missed during COVID The most was shaking people's hands. You know, I just just always learned something new about that person. So assuming that goes well, which we expected to there's always some surprises, that's just reality is, you know, then we, you know, we ideally move forward, because by then we have an idea when the person comes in, they usually have a roadmap of how many they want to open how long period of time. So these things have been, obviously been predetermined, but they've been just discussed. So as long as everything goes, well, at that point, then we put together you know, the agreements, based on whether it's a multi unit narrative element and area rep, you know, in bills case, you know, and then we, we move forward. Absolutely.
Lance Graulich 37:59
So let's talk about purchasing. Do you use one of the major food service providers like Cisco us foods, any of those types of proprietary?
Joel 38:11
No. So that's what's so interesting about LK is that most people when they think of anything that's food based, if touristy things, they think of Zope labor and food, those costs are going to be astronomical. Right? And there's no question you know, for for the labor component of this, we typically have three instructors that are teaching 10 Kids, we have 10 stations in an academy that it's so we have that ratio to make sure that the you know, there's enough adults to be looking after the children. That's critically important. But our food costs are 10 to 12%. And the reason is because we don't cook with protein. So there's no no red meat, no chicken, no fish. So what happens is that your overall food costs it's like going to your local grocery store and doing your groceries for the week for the kids that are coming in. So we also have an arrow garden wall in the back they make their own vegetables you know, it's a very well thought out space and environment for the kids. So because of that our food costs are really really low. So that's a big attraction it's only Indigo like it's now get Texas is a great example. We haven't experienced that yet. There What are you not making steak in Texas? You're not making any you know. And I have yet in two years to have anyone who's come to us and said oh my god, I'm not interested because you guys don't cook with you guys aren't cooking with me. And having access to Iron Chef Cat Cora, who's the best and or felicities culinary background Italia for recipes. We have access to so many recipes It just we have kids who have never duplicated the same program and cook the same meal. So I think, for us, we're very, very fortunate that the unit economics of course, it helps us because our food costs are very, very low. I love it.
Lance Graulich 40:15
How about staffing? So, you know, there's a apparently a labor shortage in this world, people are free to work these days, perhaps. So, you mentioned the instructors, what are the requirements? And what what do most of them do before they come to LK? Are they it's it's so not all chefs
Joel 40:32
You know, and you know what they don't need to be. This is one of the things that probably surprises people the most when I'm having conversations with them, because there's this automatic assumption that someone needs to be a cordon bleu chef to be able to teach at little kitchen Academy. What we're looking for is kind people that can captivate an audience of children. It's sometimes you can have four letters after your name, or you know, a bunch of degrees and talent from culinary school, and then you get 10 Kids in front of you for yelling and screaming, you're like, well, well, now what do I do? You know, so we found we theater students to drama students, that people starting to get their education degrees to Montessori teachers, stay at home moms, what we look for kind people who love what we do. And what's interesting about little kitchen compared to a lot of the other service based businesses is we've had people that have been with us forever. And I think it's because we're a particular niche where we haven't had knock on wood, you know, the same challenges that a lot of the other service based businesses that I mean, we I've heard the same stories that you've heard about trying to find busboys in California for $25 an hour, and you can't find anybody, yet, for a little kitchen Academy, we're paying a very competitive wage. And maybe it's because I know, it's because they love the environment. But it's also because they're three hour blocks. So you know, they stay with us for six hours. They're earning nice revenue, nice money for themselves, and at the same time, adoring what they're doing, because there's only 10 kids, and they can get the attention that they need and still allow them to be independent on their own. So it's, we've been very, very lucky that we haven't had those same challenges in finding the right people. And maybe because we've widened the scope to a certain degree, but finding people that just love being with kids and love what we do
Lance Graulich 42:33
So Bill, how you doing on your staffing plan.
Bill 42:35
So it's a very interesting point. So the press release for Texas went out about three or four weeks ago. And I have more inquiries about becoming an instructor than real estate or marketing, execs or whatever, more people saying, I understand what this is, Oh, my Lord, I want to be a part of this. I love it as an instructor. And I think it to that point. It's if people who've been camp counselors before, people who are working another job that wanted to get a part time job, but this is somebody's like, Is this something I can do part time? You know, and that's sort of exactly I mean, if we can build a stable of, I don't know, 1012 instructors inside of a location that could work 20 hours a week. And they're having that much fun doing it, and they're paid well enough to be a part of it. It's a passion. And we all know that when you get somebody who's passionate about something for the right reasons, that's going to that's going to increase their level of skill and desire to do well.
Lance Graulich 43:35
You know, and similarly, the way you're talking, we're talking about working with kids, there's not really a shortage, whether it's retired people, whether it's, you know, college kids, whoever that want to work with kids, it's it's, it's not that difficult. And, look, the economic times we're in are uncertain for so many. Everybody, no one no one sure what's happening next, are we going into a recession? Are we already in a recession, and you guys are in a hell of a great spot because surveys show And history shows that, you know, parents want to take care of their kids, regardless of the economic climate. They might do without with the fancy dinner out. But Johnny or Susie is going to get their l ka training, if you will, or sessions. So I think you guys are in a good spot. So final words of wisdom and final thoughts for today.
Bill 44:28
Guys, I have one thing that may be of interest to your to your listeners. And it sort of goes on your point about competition and and also marries into Jill's point about the incredible systems and structures are here. One of the questions that I've been getting from friends and family and potential investors and in the Texas market is they use the phrase barrier to entry right? Why can't someone else do this? And that is a fantastic question. And once I've had a chance to dive in? The answer is, there isn't a barrier to entry. Except for little kids Academy is so good. The detail is so much there. Yeah, I think someone else could come in and reproduce this and not be 1/10 as strong as this. Again, it's not overly complicated, but it's complicated enough. And yet all those details, so if someone else decided to reproduce this, they're gonna be way many, many years behind. And I don't think that's very attractive to folks, unless you've really got a solid skill and background and history and again, desire at heart to do something so important. So to me, that was one of the things that people would ask me, and I was like, You're right. And wow, you couldn't come do this quickly at all. This is this is not a gas station, you know, or hamburger joint. There's, there's a lot more going on here. And it's done. So
Lance Graulich 45:53
well. Yeah. And you know, Bill, that's a that's an incredibly important point you just made, which always leads into why a franchise why this franchise, and at the end of the day, I still look at you guys as one of the first to market and maybe the first to market that's done it right. To my knowledge. And that's always very important. Look at McDonald's, whether you like it or not, it was the first major brand new market and nobody ever caught up to them.
Bill 46:22
Yeah. Yeah. And to your point it, I think we are the first Yes, there are to Joe's point, other academies, but from a Montessori style, where you're gonna come in there as a three or four year old for three hours, without your parents there, and you're gonna walk home, cracking an egg, that's three years old. And I've already watched that happen. I've seen the kids pre rolls on their first class breaking an egg. And I'm just, you know, like, oh, wow,
Lance Graulich 46:51
it's amazing what kids can do, and you just teach them. They're very pliable. moldable, right. And
Bill 46:58
if the parents are not there, you know, there's there's other ways for them to express themselves and feel comfort or discomfort in a different environment. Love it, Joel.
Joel 47:09
We're really on my end. I want people to really understand that, where we're going, and I think that's to be, you know, the global leader and teaching practical life skills to kids, helping them make healthy eating choices, helping them understand that there's so much that they're capable of, they've just given the opportunity. And when you look on the Food Network, it's not a secret now, like food shows, everyone loves food shows everyone that you know, but in the past the idea of becoming a chef, or maybe the idea of, you know, following on non traditional, you know, you're not going to be an engineer, you're not going to be a lawyer, you're not going to be a doctor yet. You know. It's amazing what little kitchen Academy does for kids in the gift that it offers them. So for anyone who's interested or wants to inquire as curious about what's available in their market who use have to go to work, go to our website, there's so many fantastic videos, but when
Lance Graulich 48:10
you reach out to me no problem.
Joel 48:13
Yeah. There's so many fantastic videos. And I think no for me, I'm just appreciative of the opportunity gave Bill and I just to share a little bit more about our passion
Lance Graulich 48:23
for you guys are awesome little kitchen Academy is awesome. Thank you both so much for being here, Bill and Joel and I look forward to you know, seeing what it's like in the kitchen, a little kitchen Academy if I'm allowed. I mean, I know I'm a little tall but love to come check it out soon enough.
Joel 48:40
Absolutely. Always. Welcome. Thanks, gentlemen.
Lance Graulich 48:43
Have a great day.
Joel 48:45
Thanks, Lance.
Lance Graulich 48:46
Bye bye. Thank you very much for listening today. Please like follow and subscribe. This is Lance Gallic. Until next time