As the cookie industry explodes, it is time for everyone to learn about how Cookie Plug, the hottest new cookie franchise concept inspired after hip-hop culture and graffiti, has taken off in its first four months of franchising. Each Cookie Plug location has a colorful design, street art-themed graffiti on the walls and rap music blasting to create a vibe that is unmatched. Using only the finest ingredients, Cookie Plug offers 16 unique flavors at each location, including Snooperdoodle, Purple Haze, Pink Elephant and Black Velvet. Cookie Plug’s cookies are 100% kid-friendly and do not contain any cannabis, THC or CBD. The novel cookie concept has already added 62 units to its development schedule since April. With 23 corporate locations currently operating in California and one in Texas, Cookie Plug expects to open an additional 10 locations by year’s end. These plans include the opening of the first franchisee-owned locations in the Las Vegas market this month, as well as plans to debut in markets such as Dallas, El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix and Portland. Cookies aren’t hard to find. In fact, when something becomes so common, they call it “Cookie Cutter”. All around the world cookies follow the same blueprint. At Cookie Plug, we realized that something new was long overdue. Three years ago we decided we had to bake it till we make it. We stepped out of the kitchen and into the streets. There we were inspired by graffiti and street art, Paired with hip hop culture, the Cookie Plug brand was born. We then put a twist on cookies that has never been seen before. FAT, THICC, and BOMB AF. Cookie Plug exploded onto the scene. In less than three years, 25 locations are slangin dope cookies that are baked fresh daily, with an experience that is unmatched. Fresh out the oven! You know the smell. Created by using only the highest quality ingredients. Dropping a limited edition flavor every month, while servin’ up the G.O.A.T cookie, the OG Chocolate Chip, nonstop. It’s a vibe, combined with the finest cookies that you will find anywhere on the planet, that’s the Cookie Plug. 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
As the cookie industry explodes, it is time for everyone to learn about how Cookie Plug, the hottest new cookie franchise concept inspired after hip-hop culture and graffiti, has taken off in its first four months of franchising.
Each Cookie Plug location has a colorful design, street art-themed graffiti on the walls and rap music blasting to create a vibe that is unmatched. Using only the finest ingredients, Cookie Plug offers 16 unique flavors at each location, including Snooperdoodle, Purple Haze, Pink Elephant and Black Velvet. Cookie Plug’s cookies are 100% kid-friendly and do not contain any cannabis, THC or CBD.
The novel cookie concept has already added 62 units to its development schedule since April. With 23 corporate locations currently operating in California and one in Texas, Cookie Plug expects to open an additional 10 locations by year’s end. These plans include the opening of the first franchisee-owned locations in the Las Vegas market this month, as well as plans to debut in markets such as Dallas, El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix and Portland.
Cookies aren’t hard to find. In fact, when something becomes so common, they call it “Cookie Cutter”. All around the world cookies follow the same blueprint. At Cookie Plug, we realized that something new was long overdue. Three years ago we decided we had to bake it till we make it. We stepped out of the kitchen and into the streets. There we were inspired by graffiti and street art, Paired with hip hop culture, the Cookie Plug brand was born. We then put a twist on cookies that has never been seen before. FAT, THICC, and BOMB AF. Cookie Plug exploded onto the scene. In less than three years, 25 locations are slangin dope cookies that are baked fresh daily, with an experience that is unmatched. Fresh out the oven! You know the smell. Created by using only the highest quality ingredients. Dropping a limited edition flavor every month, while servin’ up the G.O.A.T cookie, the OG Chocolate Chip, nonstop. It’s a vibe, combined with the finest cookies that you will find anywhere on the planet, that’s the Cookie Plug.
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
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchisees, cookie, people, brand, franchise, locations, stores, plug, cake, open, erik, connie, puerto rico, big, day, sold, love, wanted, franchising, purple haze
SPEAKERS
Erik Martinez, Lance Graulich
Lance Graulich00:06
Hello and welcome back everyone to another fabulous episode of ion franchising. I am your host, Lance Graulich Of course, you knew that. Today we have a hot new franchise, not a surprise inspired by hip hop culture and graffiti. Let's talk about let me give you a couple of hints Purple Haze, snooper doodle, pink elephant and black velvet. Yes, those are all within this concept. And yes, those are all cookies. This is a major cookie dough disrupter, you want to make some dough. This is good franchise. Cookie plug. And I want to welcome to the show. Erik Martinez, the founder of the brand welcome, Erik.
Erik Martinez00:48
Hello. Hello. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for wanting to hear about my brand. I'm always honored anytime someone wants to talk to me about it.
Lance Graulich00:55
Well, you know, Erik, we all want to talk about cookies and making making some cookie dough and making some dough all together. So let's, let's start with the distant past. How did this whole thing come about? How'd you get in the world of franchising? And how did it become cookies?
Erik Martinez01:13
Well, I feel like I've been an entrepreneur at heart my entire life because I was pretty much a bad employee at corporate America. Really bad because I'm asking many questions. I wanted to do things differently in corporate America and I have really high standards. I like to push, push people to be better. And unfortunately, in the current temperature society, that's not that's not a that's not a encouraged as much as it used to be. So I realized real fast that if I wanted to be anything, I had to work for myself. I probably would have made I mean, I worked for target, Amazon Kohl's, I realized that just my personality in general, that probably would have held me back I probably would have made middle management at best. Because, like Target had this thing. Where's the target, right? And they had 10 different leadership expectations. And they wanted you to constantly working on how to be come those 10 things and I realized like, hey, you know what I can't, I can't be great being target. I can only be great being Erik. So at that time, it was the cupcake, cake decorating boom, you know, when like, Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars, and my wife she worked at, there was one in where she grew up at in the city she grew up at and she go over there to work with her mom, a couple of days after her regular job, make a few extra bucks. And since I feel like I've been a retailer my entire life as well. I started asking questions like, hey, what what type of business does this does this cake supply store do? And she told me, and I was like, so then I went and went to go look at it. And I said they do that business out of this place. So like if you know about kick decorating stores. It looks like they put things on the shelf and shake up the store and then they open the doors and then people come in and violence. So I was like, You know what, I think we could do a better. So we opened a case short called on the Cakewalk back in 2012. In Redlands, California, and over the next six years, we opened up one every year for for six years, I felt like you know what I'm doing pretty good, right? Like, but at the same time, cakes weren't really my thing. It's I grew up in the in the in the 90s Listening to hip hop, and I was like here I am doing cakes and cake for early successful, but I'm like we got to do something better. Something more for myself. So we fortunately, I was able to travel around to visit different cake stores, different conventions. And every time I just go try cookies. And there's this one in particular in London called Ben's cookies. And they had like this 300 square foot storefront that you couldn't even walk in there just selling the cookies right out the front door in London at London. Wow. It's like it's pretty cool. I got in line. They had a line. Probably about 15 people deep. I've got some cookies and I'm like, Are these are all right. So then I just tried different cookie shops. And I was like no one really makes it a cookie that that I liked. And since I was in the cake and candy supply business, I had all the ingredients. So I started making some cookies. Customers would come in my employees would come in we'd have throw downs of who made the best cookies I always win. Sometimes the customers would get mad and be like, Oh, you cheated or the employees would be like I quit because they didn't want us
Lance Graulich04:51
It got pretty rough in these competitions.
Erik Martinez04:55
Yeah, full on Bobby Flay throw downs. I knew I wanted to do that. But then when I looked at the landscape Paul's like, there's nothing cool about any cookie shop out there. They're all they all have this kind of blend in. Gotcha. So I was like, You know what, let's, let's put a gangster twist to it. Since like I said, I grew up with an IV listening I, the my first CD, I ordered from the Columbia House where you get 10 CDs for a penny, and you're supposed to pay later. I don't think I ever paid but I got the CDs popped it in my mom was like, What are you listening to? So I was like, you know, and the plug, right, so we got created plug in plugs, is a relatively new word that's really in with the with the young crowds on like cooking plug. We've tried to like cootie, connect and cartel and things like that. So we're like, let's just do some graffiti on the walls, play some hip hop music and see what happens. And we opened the first one. connected to our cake store in Riverside in May of 2018. It was just a little is literally six by 10. So 60 square feet. And we just started selling cookies. We opened the day before Mother's Day, I think we did like $200. And I was like, okay, and at that time, our cookies were there probably like six inches, and they were real thin. And so, next day was Mother's Day, and nobody came in and like okay, well, let's just stick to it. And slowly, I mean, when we opened the first one, we're barely doing like four or 500 ollar days, if we did $700. I know. That was nice. And then in my hometown of Redlands, in November of 19, I came across a little 600 square foot building that was downtown. And it was 1300 bucks and one so like it was to see what happens. We sold our second one. So I was like it can't go wrong here. So we opened it. And at that point, it just, it just caught viral. went viral. Like we had lines out the doors at both. And
Lance Graulich06:58
what do you think caused it to go viral? Obviously, the fact that you did things differently. You you you certainly had a unique decor, but what do you think really sparked it? Yeah, so I think I think
Erik Martinez07:12
we're just so different from any of the other any other cookies out there on the landscape. We made it more fun, like it's more of a of an experience when you come into the cookie plug. It's not like a lot of the other ones we walk in, and it's a white wall with with a black writing or a white wall with teal writing or whatever, whatever it is they do that that's just spacing. So, so boring, right? Like, yesterday, I'm on LinkedIn, I was like great brands aren't for everybody. And I truly believe that, like, I just the cookie plug needs to be the cookie plug. And that's why it works. Right? Yeah. It's polarizing to some because they think they're like, Oh, well, you're promoting hip hop, some of the names are are connected to the cannabis industry. Well, why why would you the purple drink, right? So that upsets some people and I realized a long long time ago that if you tried to make everybody happy, all the demand to make nobody happy? Absolutely. I got a DM on Instagram the other day like Hey, I walked in and this there was an explicit language on some of the some of the music and I said, Hey, you know what, I appreciate your feedback. I definitely appreciate you come check us out. But this is who we are. This is what the friend, we have options for the franchisees display explicit or not, and they chose to go with explicit and we're gonna stay true to who we are. Once again, I appreciate you for coming in. And she actually wrote back and she's like, I respect where you're coming from. Yeah, right. I love it. Society, everyone is so worried about being canceled, that they've just been they get bent over by everybody, every time they get a little complaint and that's not who I am. And that's not who the cookie plug brand is. I joke around all the time from someone and I'm like, Well, hey, go ahead and cancel us right like I'll take that free promotion like how terrible the cookie ballgames music and because we have a cookie called Purple Haze, like if that if that if that's the biggest thing that you're that you're mad about, like one your life isn't that bad. And you want to tell your friends about about us because of that, then I welcome that. Thank you.
Lance Graulich09:25
So and Erik, I gotta take you back to something you said earlier. What really? Like you got into cakes, and then you got into cookies because you saw it as an opportunity. What was your baking experience through this whole process added? None. You just figured it out on your own?
Erik Martinez09:42
Yeah, yeah. So I'm not culinary trained. So here's the thing, right? So I tell people all the time with a with the cakes, right? Like I didn't know anything about it but getting into it when I got into it, but you have to honor your craft. So can I tell people how to bake a cake? Yes, cutters helped me a lot of decorate cakes. Yes. Can I tell people how to make French macarons? Yes, I had to learn those things through the process because you are out of your craft. Right? So I pick up on things on how to mix ingredients and how to do things. Sure. Now, when we came up with a, with the cookies, like how they ended up now with four inches, and they're like four inch wide by one inch thick, that was just me, like, we got to be different, right? Like I want it to be. I don't want anyone like you see the lawsuits with the other ones where they're suing each other, because they say they're copying each other. And I always joke around because I'm like, no one could say we copied anything about them. I love it. Copy them. So with that was just my thing. And kind of what I mentioned is the polarizing effect, I think is just is what makes it what makes it work. And you saw like how the Superbowl was so big last year with whistle Dogg and Dr. Dre and all them like that.
Lance Graulich10:57
That's when school old school rappers you don't see together often anymore. So whether
Erik Martinez11:03
people come out and say right away, that they're down with it like you this all by their sponsor, the Super Bowl, like how many people love the culture? Yep. I mean,
Lance Graulich11:13
look, you know, EriK, I've been an experienced franchisee, and helped on advisory councils. And, you know, I love I love what you're doing, you know, because at the end of the day, whether you're doesn't matter what brand McDonald's, or Chick fil A Chick fil A has had its share of controversies, as you know, you know, stick to who you are, if that's what you believe. You're not gonna appeal to everybody no matter what. And you might appeal to more people because of what you are doing. And obviously, I can't believe you have 23 corporate locations. Is that correct?
Erik Martinez11:50
Yeah. So I can tell you that. So like I said, we opened the first one in May of 19. We open the second one in November of 19. And then we opened the third one in February of 2020. And then as you know, in March of 2020, that pandemic hit. And when everyone was pulling back, I was like, Oh, now the time, we got to push forward all the time. And so from May of 2020, the last few weeks of May of 2020, until the end of June of 2020, open one location every week. So we did six locations in six weeks. And then we opened up three more at the end of the year. So at the end of the first year, we had 12. And then in 2021, we opened another 10. And that's awesome. In January of 2022. This year, was our last corporate store that we opened. And I was in Miramar. And so since then we've we've opened the four franchise locations have four more scheduled open in December. And then we've sold I don't even I don't even really keep track of it anymore. It's it's in the mid 100. I think
Lance Graulich12:58
it's great when you can count. So over well over 100 locations sold. And in developed in some phase of development looking for locations. What have you. Let me let me take you a little bit back. So where did franchising? How did that all come about? Because you know, you're building corporate locations at some point. You thought about franchising? How did this come about? Yeah.
Erik Martinez13:22
So when we got hot, right, everyone started asking like, oh, is this franchise a franchise? And I'm like, No, this is just my corporate stores. And I never really thought about it. And I guess I kind of had that ego was like, I don't want to let anyone else do this. It's just my thing. And I probably do better than anyone. So I wanted to hold on to it, right. But that's all I was like, well, maybe we can license and we look at that angle. And then I bet Chris and Chris was like, Hey, we could this actually, let me explain to you what, how it actually goes. And so the thing with franchising that I wasn't expecting, is that I was really fulfilled opening my corporate stores, like I felt really accomplished. Like I was proud of that. Like Connie, our first franchisees, here's a check cashing manager in Vegas, and watching her and helping her build location and now watching her be able to accomplish things that she wants to accomplish. Like that's fulfilling for me at a whole nother level that I wasn't expecting. So now I'm like, I don't want overnight homework or relocation. I just want to help other people wind. So let's
Lance Graulich 14:24
wait. Let's talk a little bit about Connie. So, you know, some of the hardest things for people like yourself is okay. You know, you open some corporate stores, you're successful, which is amazing. And it's a perfect sort of runway or template to launch a franchise system. But then you start to involve other people, they're putting their hard earned money into the brand and you know, you gotta you have to make sure you pick the right people in the first place. You don't want it to you don't want it to be like a bad marriage, you know. So how did you how did you find Connie? I mean, because the first franchisee is it's like the first Maybe, yeah,
Erik Martinez15:01
yeah. So Connie, she she loved the brand. Right. And now in retrospect do I do I feel like she probably would have been qualified for where we're at now, but probably not like, but I'm glad that she's a part of it. And I wouldn't have had any other way where things a little more challenging with someone that was inexperienced as Hirscher. Right. But that's also the fulfilling side of helping someone come from here and get him over there. So yeah, Kakani Connie has been a great, she's, she's a huge advocate for the brand. And then watching and watching this watching her win and, and learn things as she goes, right, and then watching her stumble, and then learn from it, and then make the adjustments. Those are the things that are really cool, right to me. And now we have like these guys here that asked us I express that they bought the entire island of Puerto Rico and then watching them operate and right, so a side right,
Lance Graulich16:00
share a little bit about that. For the listeners out there. Eric is actually in Puerto Rico right now in the office of OSI Express, which is another franchise system. And they are franchisees of cookie plug. So Erik's visiting them there right now, you know, the entrepreneur that he is, I'm sorry, you had to go to Puerto Rico. It's just terrible. Right? I love Puerto Rico,
Erik Martinez16:26
ya know? So my, my mom's Puerto Rican. So I always say, like, I manifested this because in our stores, we have some Puerto Rican imagery imagery of the cookie frog. And they this came out in California, because I guess they were looking for a cookie brand. And they met us and they walked into our conference room, and there was a big Puerto Rican flag with a cookie. And I was like, how could you not right?
Lance Graulich16:49
It was meant to be?
Erik Martinez16:52
Yeah. So they just leased a couple of cases out here. So I told him had come out and check it out. Help them with some of the design and how to set up their store. And then kind of talk through because like, in Puerto Rico, there's like a big trailer type, container type.
Lance Graulich17:12
Unit shipping, shipping containers.
Erik Martinez17:13
Yeah So we've kind of wanted to see that and then just kind of see if that would work for us and drive throughs are real big on those. So it's been a great experience, like seeing how they operate a lot, a lot we can learn from. I mean, I'm gonna take more away from here than they gave to me probably than what I gave to them, because they just have so much experience, because I think they've been they've been, I think they started in 2013. And they've been franchising for a little bit longer than us.
Lance Graulich17:41
But you know, what, Erik, you hit on something important. A lot of people don't realize this, a lot of people that I talked to that say, Well, I don't need a franchise, I can do it on my own. And I look at them. And I smile, because I've done it both ways. And I said, Well, there's a lot of time and a lot of mistakes and a lot of money that you have to invest in figuring it out on your own. So if you want to find that that blueprint, that's right for you, just like the guys that I say Express Did you know it's a shortcut to success?
Erik Martinez18:14
Yeah no I definitely agree. Right? Like, keep you if I keep you from bumping your head against the wall, and then I would love to be able to do that. Yeah. And then at the same time, I mean, any good any good. franchisees is a strong entrepreneur, which also makes them stubborn. And they also think they know everything, just like, I think I know most things and so that those, those are always good conversations to have to get to get into with, right because iron sharpens iron. Right. So I love having I love having those conversations have been like because because we we have a bunch other for experienced franchisees. And then they're like, Oh, well, why don't you do it this way of approval? Because we've done it this way. And I'm not saying that what you're saying is wrong. But my thing with with my staff, and everyone too, is if you're gonna give me an idea. Like that can become my idea because I have 1000s of other things going on. So if you have an idea, then show me. And then if you if you can execute on it, then yeah, let's let's move forward. Yeah. Right. So
Lance Graulich19:16
but you know, when Erik, as your franchise system matures, and you have talented franchisees and talented team members, you guys will continue to evolve your system and happens all the time, because you're a smart guy. Collaboration is the key. And you don't you don't have every last original idea. You had a lot of great ones which got you to this point, but that's the beauty of the franchise system. Let's talk about who you're looking for today. As a franchisee you got hundreds of locations that are opening soon. So you've already had an amazing amount of success people are seeing and obviously tasting the success of cookie Plug, who you're looking for how much? How much is an average location to open and who you're looking for?
Erik Martinez20:05
Yeah, so I think that's what definitely gives us the edge over a lot of the other ones is our initial investment is quite lower like Connie. She only put in 75,000. And she got her location open.
Lance Graulich20:19
Wow. Yeah, what's what was their square footage roughly.
Erik Martinez20:22
She has 1100 square feet. So we were we were really aggressive whether whether whether negotiations, like she got a six months of beta rent, so she, by the time she started paying rent, she's already to recoup Oliver Oliver investment loving, which is awesome. And I think that's what led to, to our success in when we started is we just took the money from one and put it to the next and took the money from one and we never took any we never had to take any money from anybody. We just reinvest what we had. And, and I think that's what a lot of people these days struggle with is the delayed gratification. Like I just, I'm good with taking less now to make a whole lot later. And that was kind of the strategy that we did with one we're extending out could be blown. We're like there's just reinvest it all, and eventually pay pay pay off.
Lance Graulich21:16
Yeah, there are other franchises to your point, there are other franchises, you're not going to open it for less than 350,000. Right, maybe even 500.
Erik Martinez21:25
Yeah. And that's kind of the conversation I was just having with these guys. Because we're looking at different counter finishes, and things like that. And I'm like, I'm on my challenge to any of the franchisees, I'm like, one do you think it's gonna? Is it gonna make a difference? Like, is it gonna result in in additional sales to spend 20,000 on the counter, or to spend versus spending 5000 on the counter? And to, I wouldn't ever ask a franchisee to spend dollars that I wouldn't spend myself. So is are there some elements of cooking plug stores that maybe aren't as refined? Or are polished? So far? Sure. Right. And but I think that's a wall also is kind of a cool plugin in general, right? It's not the brand in general isn't isn't as polished. Like when we first started. Chris And Chris was like, Hey, I think we should tune down the day the Instagram a little bit. And after about two months of that, and I was like, our Instagram sucks. It's terrible. Now. I'm like, we need to go back to what to what we're doing. Because that's what, that's what works, right? And thing was like, well, franchisees don't like it. I said, Yeah, but the people that buy the cookies, do like it. So I can't and we're not appealing to the people that buy the cookies, and we're not gonna have any franchises anyways. Yeah. So we need to stay true to who we are. And this continued to march to the beat of our own drummer and, and you know what, I've always believed that, like, if you stay consistent, if you're good enough, like your tribe will find you. Right, like, people will come in the wrong people will might take a look, and then they'll go and that's fine. Right? Like, I've never been offended by anyone that said anything about the Cooper brand. Like, there's nothing anyone can say where I'd be like, Oh, shoot. Yeah, right. Right. Like, I'm just like, alright, it's not for you. It'll be for someone else. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Lance Graulich23:33
So tell everybody who Chris is because you mentioned Chris a couple of times, we didn't talk about who he is.
Erik Martinez23:37
Yeah. So Chris, Chris Weiland, he's, he's he's been in the franchise business for about 20 years. He's he handled all the development of, of the sales of the franchisees and as he moved on from a roll up, he was the chief development officer roll them up. And so he took on the position of CEO at a with a cookie plug and he's focusing on cooking plug now full time and and we've definitely seen the results in in sales just kind of take off when we're not kind of now that he's no longer splitting time between two brands.
Lance Graulich24:13
Yeah, no, that's awesome. Chris is a great guy. So in the process, you'll obviously if somebody's interested in a franchise, they're going to talk to you they're going to talk to Chris is there a process where you have to force feed them all the cookies to make sure they like them? What do you do?
Erik Martinez24:30
Yeah, so I think the typical name is discovery day. Yes, change initiation day with the with the brand, so yeah, they come out they tried to cook us a tour stores. And then they just really get the whole the whole vibe and I like to meet with all the franchisees because I want people to know who I am. Because obviously like I'm part of the deal, so if you don't like me, then you're probably not sign up. But if you do, then Let's go.
Lance Graulich25:02
Big, big, big daddy, the franchisor Eric himself. So you obviously make money at a cookie plug. And you signed up all these franchisees. So I would venture to bet when people see the low cost, and everybody knows there's great profitability and selling your cookie. You know, I would imagine that is something people are quite happy with. They're making some dough.
Erik Martinez25:31
Yeah, we've, we've made it so easy. Like, we have centralized production. So which definitely reduced the cost of the equipment that's even in the store, which also gives us more consistency across all of our cookies and all the locations nationwide. So we made it super easy. Plus, we have I mean, we have 17 cookies, we have 12 or 12 flavors that are available every day. Plus, we have one secret stash, which is available for a month like this month. It's called Snow White, which is cranberry pecan cookie. And then we have four keto cookies.
Lance Graulich26:08
Gotta do your keto. Yep. And then we know but no cannabis, right. No, you're not doing any of that. No, no, no, I want to make that clear to everybody out there.
Erik Martinez26:17
Yeah, correct. Although some of the names might infer it. It's not it's all just for fun. Family friendly. Yeah. 100% we say? 100%. kid friendly and mom approved. Got it. Got it.
Lance Graulich26:31
So where are some of the hot areas? That might have surprised you? I know you can lose track easily because you've sold so many franchises. But where are some of the hot areas you surprised? You haven't sold yet? Give me one or two areas.
Erik Martinez26:45
Atlanta, like in this is Brian is gonna kill Atlanta because hip hop is Atlanta is culture. Houston, those are two that I like, I would not sold there yet. Those kill there. So I think there's a couple of deals that might be coming up. But nothing, nothing concrete. But we just did some in in, in Miami, so it's gonna be great. They're like, obviously, the culture of Puerto Rico like it's gonna kill here. Love it. But I mean, Atlanta and Houston, like, someone gotta get it get on board with those ones.
Lance Graulich27:20
So what's what's the goal in the next few years? How many locations open? Well,
Erik Martinez27:25
see, that's a that's always an interesting question. Because we went over my cake stores and we're looking for the second location. My realtor was like, Hey, how many of these you want to open? I said, Hey, maybe just five. And then I feel like I go right off into the sunset, right? So looking back, right? Like that was such a low bar that I had set for myself, right. So like, I don't want to, I don't want to set a number. I just want to see how far we can go. If we just do our very best, like a real best every day. Like everyone on my team. That takes us right? And people were like, Oh, do you want to? Are you trying to compete with a with crumble and do 1000s? I'm like, I'm trying to compete with crumble. I'm trying to compete with General Mills, right? Like I don't. That's how big I want to be right? Like, I don't want to, I'm looking so far out. That's like, how can we this be? What was most important to me, and kind of what you mentioned earlier, is we're going to be an authentic brand. And I think the US and society right now is wanting to see more authentic brands right now, everyone, just all the brands are just just trying to blend in not making any waves just and they lost that authenticity.
Lance Graulich28:41
They're homogenized. Yeah.
Erik Martinez28:43
100% I think people are hungry, to support authentic brands. And I think we're starting to shift in, in our culture back to that rather than everyone being upset about every little thing about 10 years ago, when they don't agree with you on it. Now they're gonna hold your feet to the fire. It's like,
Lance Graulich29:02
Erik, I love what you said earlier, too. And it goes right into that authenticity. You know, some people think that all franchises hate to use the expression, you know, cookie cutter, you know, where they're, they're all exactly the same. You're allowed in a franchise system, you being the franchisor can give people some flexibility. And I love that you give the flexibility on the music. It sounds like there's some flexibility on which of the cookies you're picking every day. You just get to pick, you have to have at least 12 Every day, right? Yeah, yeah. And and there's some that you can rotate differently based on what region or area and Right, correct. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So I was with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts a million years ago. We were the second franchisee. And, you know, Maple was one of those things like a maple doughnut. Nobody ate on the West Coast and I was in Las Vegas and And, but then all of a sudden, people started asking for it maple became popular. So guess what, took out the recipe card and started making it make maple donuts as one of the options. So it's crazy how that happens. Right and tastes change. Yep.
Erik Martinez30:13
We actually went to a Krispy Kreme at the San Juan mall yesterday, because they were telling me about what type of numbers are doing. They're looking at putting a cookie plug in the mall there. So
Lance Graulich30:23
yeah, no doubt malls, malls are a good spot. So when you look at the cross section of people that you brought into the system that you got to meet, what do you notice they all have in common? You got a lot of people signed up, putting their hard earned money into a cookie plug, what do they have in common? All these franchisees?
Erik Martinez30:45
I would say that they all just wanted something a little bit more outside of everything else that's out there. I when I talked about it, they everyone's just like, I love how the brand is so much different than anything else out there. It's not a it's not even close. And that's what they all that's that's been the common theme of, of every one is just like, we love it. We love how it makes some people mad. We love how it makes some people dance, right, like
Lance Graulich31:16
So you have I would also imagine there's pretty a pretty wide age gap, you probably have some really young franchisees that borrowed money from family perhaps and really wanted to do this badly. And then you have, you know, probably some older folks out there too.
Erik Martinez31:34
Yeah, yeah. And I would say this from the diverse background of people that have bought into the brand that I wouldn't necessarily have thought that they would have taken interest in do it. They have and so that's been pretty cool to them. How it how the more everyone tries to say we're different, the more we're all we're all the same. And and that's what I think Hip Hop does really well is like it brings different cultures to brings different cultures together.
Lance Graulich32:06
Yeah. So what's, what's next? Who would you have? What? How is your team grown through this process? Because I mean, shoot with just 23 corporate locations, and all these franchises opening? Gotta have a hell of a team at this point.
Erik Martinez32:22
Sure, yeah. So fortunately, I think that's actually a blessing that we have the 23 corporate locations, because we had a lot of people that that are homegrown with us that understand the brand and understand how we do things that that's awesome, have the mentality of zero compromise and are willing to and now, it's a great opportunity for them to grow into other into other end other roles and take on bigger roles, and then help them accomplish the things that they want to accomplish. So we have a lot of people that have come out of our corporate stores that are like, what do you need? Let's do this. And they all so we we've been building training teams. So since they already know it, right? Like it's already there. Right? So
Lance Graulich33:05
and by the way, sorry to cut you off. But that's I do want to talk about that. Next is talking about your training, what's required of all new franchisees as well as you know, what you're obviously doing for marketing, obviously, you have a unique brand that stands out, which certainly helps as well.
Erik Martinez33:23
Okay, well, the training, we we do a lot of hands on, like, we, we visit so far, we visited every question before, before they open, we help them do that. And then prior to that, the franchisees come out to the stores. Depending on their experience level, they spend three to five days in our corporate stores, learning the process, and then the week of grand opening, we go out there. So we've been doing our soft openings on Thursdays, grand opening on Saturdays. So we show up on the Monday before we help them prep. We help them go through we do baking we we do a soft opening helps them get ramped up and then we stay until the following Monday. So normally we're there for like a 10 day period to help them get going. And that's kind of worked out pretty well.
Lance Graulich34:10
Love it. Love it. Talk about marketing now. So obviously the uniqueness of what you do and how much you stand out. How are you getting the word out these days? Obviously, social media, you have very great, great visual products to look at that people go wow, I want that.
Erik Martinez34:28
Yep, yep. So we're definitely really heavy on sponsored ads on social media. And we're right now we're currently working on getting to watch in in all locations in all the cities that we're gonna we're have locations on you said getting what? Billboards, billboards that are good. And then there's a ton of influencers that loved that are always reaching out to work with us so. So those I'm very proud ticular on because I want to pose the timing Florence's more free stuff. Yeah. So just being picky on that, and also like, who they are and what they represent, right? Because I mean, I think it's important, even though they might have a million followers if they're not on brand of the cookie blog. They don't no matter to me.
Lance Graulich35:20
Yeah, you gotta find great people to partner with. And you got a great head on your shoulders. So you know that for sure. So final thoughts, words of wisdom for the audience? I mean, look, I talked to people all day as a franchise broker. They're like, I don't know how I know, which is the right franchise for me. And obviously, I take them through my process. But man, you guys are unique. You guys are fun. You guys are low cost. You know, there's a lot of people, you show them a home services brand. They're like, Oh, that's not sexy. I don't want to do that. And people love the food business. Because it's a fun, they think it's a sexy business. Would you say it's a hard business to operate?
Erik Martinez36:05
Look, I I would say I'm the business. What I say I say it's, it's a it's simple, but it's not easy. Right? Like, we made it so simple to operate. But you got to be willing to do the work. Right, like and I think that's what people most people just in general, think they can just come and throw 100 grand at it, open it up and think that it's just all going to happen for him. And it's like, no, you got to you got to do the work. You have to inspect, inspect what you expect. It's like you have to set the tone for your team. Right. Like, those are the things that are really important to me. Like I would anyone any franchise potential franchisee that's going to come across to me as an absentee owner. I just say no, right? Because it because I think there's, that's gonna damage the brand. So, to me, it's important, like, okay, yeah, you're, you're experienced, and yeah, you have great people in place, but you got to show me and maybe those processes all get in place in 30 days, 60 days. But if you think that you're just gonna, we're gonna build a location, and this is going to be all sunshine and rainbows after. After that. That's I don't think that's real life. And I think that's short sighted. Yeah.
Lance Graulich37:14
So are they are a lot of the investor types, hiring managers, or you're just not allowing unless they're not. You want them to participate for a period of time, right?
Erik Martinez37:26
Yeah, yeah, definitely in, like, we're down in Texas, we got a we got a guy, he was a bunch of subways. And he introduced us to his manager, and I feel comfortable with that, with him. Having him do that. And so I would just say it's case by case basis. Like, we just got to feel comfortable. I think we got to get to know each other and understand, like, here's the thing, right, like, everyone has holes in their games, and people just need to know where those are. And so if someone isn't aware enough to know where their holes are, then I think we have we have bigger problems. But yeah,
Lance Graulich37:59
absolutely. Well, Erik, any final thoughts for today for the audience, you've delivered some great information. So I love sharing your story. Appreciate it.
Erik Martinez38:10
Yeah, I mean, if you want to come over, and anyone that wants to come over and win, and be the anti culture of cookies, like, that's the cookie plug, right? Like, as you mentioned, it's a low cost. It's a simple operation. But everyone do the work, like, let's win together. And I want to I want to help. I only win, if my franchisees win. And that's, that's not missed on me at any moment. Like, anytime someone wants to talk to me a brand, like about my brand, like, that's not miss, like, I appreciate it. So I want to do whatever I can. Kind of what you mentioned early earlier, is like I don't take it lightly that anyone gave me money to tell them to invest in my brand like that. I don't take that lightly at all. People are counting on me people, people people invested their hard earned money in. And the very least I could do is is is help them win with real all I can write like in and I always say but as we're growing, right? People always start talking about limitations or what can you do and I'm like, Look, those are your limitations. Keep them like we all are, we're gonna work our face off to make sure everyone is is successful. Right. So you might not you might have your limitations, but those are mine. So so keep them over there.
Lance Graulich39:28
Love it. Love it. Love it. Well, Erik, you've been awesome. Erik Martinez, founder of cookie plug. What I'm who I'm calling the cookie disrupter. Thanks again, Erik, for being here.
Erik Martinez39:40
Appreciate it. Thank you. My pleasure.