People First, Pizza Always: The Donatos Growth Playbook

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Chatzi (1:29): Learn more at builtdining.com backslash hangout. That's builtdining.com backslash Hangout, and check out what Built Hospitality is gonna do for you and your restaurant. What is something you guys have automated?

Jimmy (1:44): Sauce application on our pizzas. Already invented a machine. It perfectly sauces a pizza in seven seconds, and you cannot do that. A a person cannot do sauce perfectly in seven seconds.

Chatzi (1:55): I would like to have a sauce off. I would have a robot versus chimney. Live from Workstream Studios at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago. It's the hospitality hangout podcast. I'm Chatzi, the restaurant guy, and we've got a great show here tonight, Jimmy.

Chatzi (2:15): It's not you know, it says National Restaurant Association show. Jimmy, that's a mouthful. It's just the show.

Unknown Speaker (2:21): The show. Right? It's just the show. For years, we've been saying it wrong. It's just we call it the big show.

Unknown Speaker (2:25): And then somebody yelled correct to me and said, excuse me. Excuse me. It's no big.

Chatzi (2:28): Just the national retail show in New York. That's the big show. There you go. So I feel like it was probably a cease and desist.

Unknown Speaker (2:37): There you go. Is this like the Super Bowl, the big game versus

Unknown Speaker (2:39): This is Super Bowl versus e.

Unknown Speaker (2:41): Yes. Alright. Game. Yeah. Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (2:44): I'm stepping in.

Unknown Speaker (2:45): Shatzy said he's our restaurant guy. You you that is correct. I am Brandon's the finance guy.

Unknown Speaker (2:49): You

Kevin King (2:50): are. I'm excited excited to welcome back a guest to our series today with our friends from Workstream, I, we We. Hospitality. That's right. Workstream.

Chatzi (3:00): Is it WeHeart hospitality? I Heart hospitality?

Unknown Speaker (3:02): I'm gonna stay away from iHeart because I don't want another cease and desist coming our way. We'll go with WeHeart hospitality. We have a gentleman today who has been in this industry since he was 14 years old. That's a hustler, Jim. Working at working at the dishwasher, which means not only is he part of our We Heart Hospitality series today

Unknown Speaker (3:19): I thought it's iHeart Hospitality. We

Kevin King (3:21): he is a hustler. Hustler, as we define, is the gentleman sorry. The people in this industry that started in the dish room and went to the boardroom. At age 14, he's in the dish room. He's run operations for on multiple continents, and now he leads one of the most value driven ban brands.

Unknown Speaker (3:38): Brands or bands? Brands.

Unknown Speaker (3:40): Although he might play in a band, but he leads one of the most value driven brands in the pizza category.

Unknown Speaker (3:45): Steady, we drink in McCann. What were you drinking

Unknown Speaker (3:46): last was drinking I was drinking Guinness.

Unknown Speaker (3:48): Are working right now. It's the recollection of what you're drinking.

Unknown Speaker (3:50): It was yeah. Ezem Guinnesses. Mister Kevin King, president, CEO of Donato's Pizza, welcome back to the Hangout.

Unknown Speaker (3:57): Oh, thank you. Kevin, welcome back.

Unknown Speaker (3:59): Thank you. Thrilled to be here.

Unknown Speaker (4:00): No. You know, that's a lot.

Unknown Speaker (4:01): Well, it's true.

Unknown Speaker (4:02): It's like somebody forced me. He's like, oh, god. No. I could have been I could have been having a nice breakfast at the hotel.

Jimmy (4:08): I I gotta tell you that when I first did your podcast a number of years ago, it was one of the favorite ones I've done. It was like, we talked for thirty or forty minutes and it seemed like two. We had a great time.

Chatzi (4:18): It did because it feels very seamless. You know, did a little research on you and I wanted to, you know, because it was a long time ago since we had you on. As Jimmy said, I mean, 14 four at 14, you were dishwasher at a pizza place. Yes. Right?

Unknown Speaker (4:33): Absolutely. What was that pizza place?

Unknown Speaker (4:34): It was called Tony's Villa.

Unknown Speaker (4:36): Is Tony where is that?

Unknown Speaker (4:37): Oh, it's long gone. It was in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus, Ohio.

Chatzi (4:40): And then so from there, what was your you went to Domino's?

Jimmy (4:44): Yeah. Out of college, I went to Domino's. It's like, you know, you went to a restaurant company out of college? Yes. Absolutely.

Jimmy (4:50): I did.

Unknown Speaker (4:50): But was that a love of hospitality? Was it I just needed a job? My dad? Or was it or was or no. I I liked it.

Jimmy (4:56): No. I, had worked in a pizza shop, same on Tony's, until I graduated from college, and it just seemed natural.

Unknown Speaker (5:04): Are you making pizzas there? What were you doing

Jimmy (5:06): over I did everything at that, at at Tony's over that, not at 14, but later on, I managed, one of the stores. And, when I even when I was in college, I'd go back from college and just plug right in. It was so natural. Out of college, I was looking at a couple different opportunities, including one with Procter and Gamble, and the Domino's one was exciting me the most. It was a great opportunity.

Chatzi (5:29): P and G. That's like yeah. That's like cleaning supplies and stuff. Right?

Jimmy (5:33): Yeah. You got everywhere from Charmin to who knows what What papers

Unknown Speaker (5:37): are that? Did you want the diapers?

Unknown Speaker (5:38): Yeah. They got all that.

Unknown Speaker (5:39): So you want pizza instead of diapers. I want pizza. Yeah. Now you went you went to the you were at Donato's for a period of time.

Unknown Speaker (5:46): I was.

Unknown Speaker (5:47): And you left, and you went to Papa Murphy's. I did. Now and and then you went to Smoothie King, right? Yes. And back to Donatos.

Chatzi (5:55): Now is that odd? Like, left? Like, to me, if you leave, it's goodbye and good luck, you're never coming back. But somehow, you must have charmed somebody, or you had pictures. Something was going on.

Chatzi (6:04): How'd they take you back?

Unknown Speaker (6:05): No pictures. But that was before

Unknown Speaker (6:07): That's a big thing then.

Unknown Speaker (6:09): Well, you didn't

Unknown Speaker (6:09): have phones as no pictures.

Jimmy (6:10): Well, that's right. Back then, you took a picture of somebody everybody knew, and you had to keep that stupid picture for your whole life. So no pictures. No, Donatos is a great brand. It was then.

Jimmy (6:22): I loved working there. The Grody family, I knew really well. And Jane Grody reached out to me in 'twenty one and said, we want you to come back. And so it was a great conversation, and it was just seemed natural to come back.

Unknown Speaker (6:37): So you should come back. See, Shatzy's never left a job where he hasn't torched the bridge after he crossed it. See? So this this is confusing to him. Julie is giving you some headlines here.

Unknown Speaker (6:46): Oh, I see. And then be invited back because you left on very good terms. You've been a you've been a good person. You've done the right things. There's a company that leads with love.

Unknown Speaker (6:55): They welcomed you back.

Unknown Speaker (6:56): Shout out

Unknown Speaker (6:56): to that experience.

Jimmy (6:57): Well, you know, you guys know this. This is a small industry.

Unknown Speaker (7:00): Yes.

Jimmy (7:01): So anybody out there listening, don't burn bridges.

Unknown Speaker (7:03): Don't burn bridges. Don't burn bridges.

Jimmy (7:05): You don't know where those people are gonna go and end up. You don't know where you're

Unknown Speaker (7:08): gonna go and end You never burn bridges.

Unknown Speaker (7:10): You come

Chatzi (7:11): and you obviously did. You didn't burn any bridge. Kept up. Now I looked up a little something here. Now Donatos founded in 1963, right?

Unknown Speaker (7:20): Yeah. I want I'm asking you a question.

Unknown Speaker (7:21): Wanna know what

Chatzi (7:22): you know. Do you know what Donatos means in Latin?

Unknown Speaker (7:25): It does, to give a good thing.

Unknown Speaker (7:27): I just wanna make sure Sure, again?

Unknown Speaker (7:28): I was To give a good thing?

Chatzi (7:30): Yes. I like that. I was asked to ask you that question because your job

Unknown Speaker (7:34): Dependent on?

Chatzi (7:34): Yes. They're like, if Kevin doesn't know what Donatos means

Unknown Speaker (7:39): That's It would not have been a good thing.

Chatzi (7:40): Back to Smoothie King, he goes. Yeah. Back to Smoothie King. So now you got 175 stores, 300 nontraditional locations. Wait a minute.

Chatzi (7:49): What is this? Including select Red Robins?

Unknown Speaker (7:51): Yeah. We're in over 250 Red Robins around the country.

Unknown Speaker (7:54): Wait. What is that? What?

Unknown Speaker (7:56): So Wait. What's going on? Donato's branded on the menu.

Unknown Speaker (7:58): Yeah.

Jimmy (7:59): You go into Red Robin to maybe get a burger or maybe you're gonna get a great Donato's pizza. Who did that deal? It was done by the CEO of Red Robin at the time and Tom

Unknown Speaker (8:09): And GJ?

Unknown Speaker (8:10): It was before GJ. Really? Long before. Yeah.

Chatzi (8:12): That's interesting. And that's still going strong?

Unknown Speaker (8:15): Still is.

Unknown Speaker (8:15): Yes.

Chatzi (8:16): That's incredible. I like that. So you guys were like, OG on that having, like, the cross kind of branding and

Jimmy (8:22): Yeah. It it's a really interesting and unique partnership. But Is it working? Yeah. It works great.

Unknown Speaker (8:28): I love it. Alright. Well, there we go.

Kevin King (8:29): Alright. I do wanna jump in here because I don't want I wanna make sure we don't miss one of the last factoids we learned about Donatos. What? QSR magazines, one of its best one of the best brands to work for 2025, which, again, kind of the theme we're playing out today with our friends at Workstream, the the we love hospitality. And by the way, it all starts with the people.

Kevin King (8:50): I wanna talk about the Donatos philosophy that's baked into the DNA of the company. I find it fascinating. I even had to learn how to make sure I was saying the word correctly, but it's

Chatzi (9:00): With Donatos? Agape capitalism. Agape.

Kevin King (9:03): Sorry. Sorry. Thanks. See? I didn't agape.

Kevin King (9:05): Thank you. Agape capitalism. It has three tenets. It is lead with love. Okay?

Unknown Speaker (9:11): It is follow the golden rule, and it's do the right thing.

Unknown Speaker (9:15): Spike

Kevin King (9:15): Lee? Spike Lee, they were first. Take it easy, Spike. Okay? And founder Jim Grody has been living this since he founded the company in 1963 in the great Columbus, Ohio.

Kevin King (9:25): What's the reaction from our our man Nate back there?

Unknown Speaker (9:27): Wait. Shout it in the Cavs. The Cavs won last night.

Unknown Speaker (9:30): And the Cavs won last night.

Unknown Speaker (9:31): That's right. Knicks.

Unknown Speaker (9:32): You know, it's the

Unknown Speaker (9:33): Cavs Knicks Jimmy. Who are you taking?

Unknown Speaker (9:36): On. Love Columbus. I love Columbus, but I'm an I'm a dire Knicks fan.

Unknown Speaker (9:39): Yeah. Now what about Kevin? Kevin, what who are you gonna like, who are

Unknown Speaker (9:42): you You gotta go with Cleveland.

Unknown Speaker (9:43): You you're gonna Absolutely. You gotta go

Unknown Speaker (9:44): with the Cavs.

Unknown Speaker (9:44): For sure.

Kevin King (9:45): Respect. I'll you what. Knicks win, we get some Donatos pizza sent over to Brandon's office. Uh-huh. Cleveland wins.

Unknown Speaker (9:50): What?

Unknown Speaker (9:51): We'll send over some What? Isabelle's, pasta. We got pasta. It doesn't ship. Well, have

Unknown Speaker (9:58): You sent me tequila last night. We There we go.

Unknown Speaker (10:01): We'll send

Unknown Speaker (10:01): a bottle. Send pizza? Oh, bottle of booze?

Unknown Speaker (10:03): We we don't have a pizzeria in our port actually, you know what? We do. We have fresh brothers. We Yeah. We'll send him know what I

Chatzi (10:08): like about this? He sends us pizza. That's be a New York thing. We got bagel.

Unknown Speaker (10:13): Well, you know what? Yes. We'll send bagels to your office.

Unknown Speaker (10:15): Love

Unknown Speaker (10:15): it. And, if if the Cavs win, you send us enough pizza.

Unknown Speaker (10:18): Yeah. Get the Knicks figure

Unknown Speaker (10:19): it out. Alright.

Unknown Speaker (10:20): But back

Kevin King (10:20): back to Agape Capitalism. Alright? You're the president of the company in 2022. You took over as CEO in 2024. You've been in this industry.

Kevin King (10:28): You've seen it all. You know the difference between, you know, statements that are hung on a wall versus things that are really part of the culture.

Unknown Speaker (10:35): For sure.

Kevin King (10:36): So talk about agape capitalism and how it's working, the philosophy. Tell talk to all listeners about it.

Jimmy (10:41): Yeah. First of all, Jim Grody, when he set out to go in business, everybody had told him, you know, it's a dog eat dog world. You gotta kill them before they kill you. And he just said there's gotta be there's gotta be more to business than that. And so

Unknown Speaker (10:56): Either kill or be killed.

Unknown Speaker (10:57): I was just thinking it's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing milk bone underwear. Yeah. Exactly. Cheers, Norm. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (11:02): Cheers. That's that's what cheers. Right?

Jimmy (11:05): Yeah. And and he just he's like, I wanna bring my principles to work, and and he did. And, agape capitalism is something he coined later, but it was really the philosophy. It really defined what he was doing all along. And what I would tell you about that is leading with love is really about, you know, assuming innocence and not jumping to conclusions with people.

Jimmy (11:29): You know, people want to love. This world is about love. The golden rule, who doesn't wanna be treated? Know, you you treat people the way you wanna be treated. And we say if you do those first two, if you lead with love and follow the golden rule, the last one is just really easy to do.

Jimmy (11:45): So doing the right thing is really easy to do if you do the first two.

Unknown Speaker (11:48): Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The lead with love I get. But the golden rule, what's that? I mean, I think I know the golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (11:53): What's what's what's Jim's take on the golden rule? Jimmy knows the golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (11:56): Well, I think there's two versions of it. Believe with the gold rules. I believe what mister mister King is saying

Unknown Speaker (12:01): Oh, what's

Unknown Speaker (12:01): he saying? Is the

Kevin King (12:02): golden rule, which we teach our children and we should follow, is treat people the way you wish to be treated.

Unknown Speaker (12:07): That's right.

Kevin King (12:07): That is the purest, and that is, I believe, the kindest and the golden rule that we want our listeners to know about. There's the other golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (12:14): I always thought they had

Unknown Speaker (12:14): the golden They had the golden rule. Whoever's gold

Unknown Speaker (12:16): That makes the rules.

Unknown Speaker (12:17): Rule. Makes the rules.

Unknown Speaker (12:18): I wish I thought was the golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (12:19): Well, that

Unknown Speaker (12:19): that's the more the finance y golden rule, that's not Dad

Unknown Speaker (12:22): always said that rule.

Unknown Speaker (12:23): That's not that's not the love that Donatos puts out there.

Unknown Speaker (12:25): That that is not.

Unknown Speaker (12:26): We're Treat people though you wanna be treated.

Jimmy (12:27): We're we're going with the the little more traditional

Unknown Speaker (12:30): golden love, do the right thing.

Kevin King (12:32): Is that the golden rule? Again, Shazzy, the golden rule is treat people

Unknown Speaker (12:36): Treat others the way you wanna

Unknown Speaker (12:37): be treated. Way you wanna be treated.

Unknown Speaker (12:38): Okay. Yes. I'm gonna move on from that. Okay. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (12:41): In fact, in your case, Shazzy, treat people better than the way you You wanna

Unknown Speaker (12:45): be treated. Yeah. Exactly. The Shaqi rule.

Unknown Speaker (12:48): I have to

Unknown Speaker (12:48): think the golden rule in New York's a whole lot easier than it is in the rest of the country, because, you know, you don't have the same expectations we have. But, you know, the

Unknown Speaker (12:57): You set the bar

Chatzi (12:58): so low. When I come to Chicago for a couple days, I feel like the niceness of Chicago rubs off on

Unknown Speaker (13:04): me from Midwestern values, man.

Unknown Speaker (13:05): That's good. You bring

Unknown Speaker (13:06): it back to New York.

Unknown Speaker (13:07): Just But I got back to

Unknown Speaker (13:08): New York.

Unknown Speaker (13:08): I'm a

Unknown Speaker (13:08): I I hit LaGuardia. I'm right back. It it takes fifteen minutes.

Unknown Speaker (13:11): I don't know. Hasn't LaGuardia changed you a little with the way it is now? Definitely.

Unknown Speaker (13:14): It's nicer, so I feel Before,

Unknown Speaker (13:16): you had to be angry when you arrived And at today, it's beautiful. I'm little

Unknown Speaker (13:20): less angry when I get no. I'm still angry. I'm still angry. Once you hit

Unknown Speaker (13:24): me or

Unknown Speaker (13:24): do get angry again? Because inevitably, once you get out of LaGuardia and you hit the Grand Central, it's back to back traffic. Yeah. You get angry again.

Unknown Speaker (13:30): Alright. You're stuck then.

Chatzi (13:32): Alright. Let's talk a little bit about technology and robotics because that's a big thing. Mean, I know everyone's talking about AI, and I think AI and robotics, I mean, really it's it kind of works

Unknown Speaker (13:44): together. Don't think robotics exists without AI.

Chatzi (13:47): Right. So you got robotics. And you guys have kind of leaned in pretty heavy into robotics. And there's always like a whole, everyone's talking about robotics. And is all restaurants going to become, and we're going get rid of everyone and fire everyone.

Chatzi (13:59): And and it's just gonna be robots there. And I think I don't think that's what's happening from my perspective. See so where are you guys kind of into on robotics and what's happening? These guys are are in heavy into this.

Unknown Speaker (14:10): Yeah. So

Unknown Speaker (14:11): where do you see

Jimmy (14:11): it? So first of all, would say automation and robotics because there's they can go hand in hand. Right. When we look at automation and robotics, we start with how do we use, automation and robotics to improve the consistency of our food? Right.

Jimmy (14:25): Jim Grody maniacally focused on quality and consistency, and really believes you can't have high quality if it's not the same. Consistency. Yeah, consistency is key. Yep. And that's where automation and robotics come in.

Jimmy (14:39): And we look at where can we implement automation and robotics, not to replace people, but to focus people on serving our guests. Right. And a lot of times we start with automation is what are the things that people don't wanna do or don't enjoy doing?

Chatzi (14:57): Like, give me an example. What is something you guys have automated?

Jimmy (15:01): Because we've So we've automated- application on our pizzas. So Jim Gertie invented a machine. He invented it? He invented it. It perfectly sauces a pizza in seven seconds.

Jimmy (15:14): You guys know pizza. Sauce Guy

Unknown Speaker (15:16): goes changes like this, and he goes like this.

Unknown Speaker (15:18): That's right. And there's ridges and valleys. Yes. There's dry spots and wet spots. There's places that are

Chatzi (15:23): I get very angry sometimes when I get my pizza, and it's not sourced properly.

Jimmy (15:27): That's right. It happens. Applies a perfect portion of sauce in seven seconds, and you cannot do that. A person cannot do sauce perfectly in seven seconds.

Unknown Speaker (15:36): I would

Unknown Speaker (15:36): like to have

Unknown Speaker (15:37): a sauce off. I would have a robot versus Jimmy. Yeah. And I wanna give Jimmy the bucket of sauce. I wanna see if

Unknown Speaker (15:42): a how fast

Unknown Speaker (15:42): it can come to Columbus. We'll set you up.

Kevin King (15:44): Yes. And I wanna be very clear since I will lose to the machine, I will then quickly argue that the imperfection to my pizza is what makes it

Unknown Speaker (15:52): perfect. Special. They said don't say that you're a competitive person.

Unknown Speaker (15:55): I am but if I jump the loop robot. I will lose

Unknown Speaker (15:57): to the robot. No. Stop

Unknown Speaker (15:58): it. But I would just call them pizza. You call them What was it? Ridges and valleys. Ridges and valleys.

Unknown Speaker (16:02): I will have a

Unknown Speaker (16:03): Lot

Unknown Speaker (16:03): of ridges. Pizza with a

Unknown Speaker (16:04): lot of ridges and a lot of valleys. Yeah. I hear you.

Jimmy (16:06): And you bite into that Yes. You bite into that ridge, and you burn your mouth. There it is. And then you can't taste the rest of the pizza.

Unknown Speaker (16:12): Yes. So No. No.

Jimmy (16:13): Yes. We want you to have a great so that

Unknown Speaker (16:15): So that so that and when did

Unknown Speaker (16:16): he when

Unknown Speaker (16:17): did he invent this?

Jimmy (16:18): Well, the the machine we're using in our restaurants today was invented in 2018, 2019.

Unknown Speaker (16:25): Wow. Okay.

Jimmy (16:26): So relatively recent. But Jim started inventing in the early seventies with if you know Donatos, we put 100 pieces of pepperoni on a large pizza. Takes lot of time.

Unknown Speaker (16:38): It sounds like a lot of pepperoni. That's a lot

Jimmy (16:40): of time. So he said in the late '60s, early '70s, there's gotta be a better way, because they were slicing pepperoni by hand Right. And then applying it to the pizza. And so he invented a manual machine that drags a blade over the sticks of pepperoni and dropped it down. And everybody laughed at him.

Unknown Speaker (16:58): I mean, it was.

Unknown Speaker (16:59): So the pizza was down here and you just went, Good, good, good, good, A good, good,

Jimmy (17:02): couple times and it dropped. And actually then, in frozen pizza applications, they were still putting pizza on by hand. Wow. And so they said, If you can automate that, we'll buy That's couple of right. And so he built a company based upon the pepperoni slice.

Chatzi (17:17): This guy's not just a pizza guy. This guy's a real inventor of it.

Jimmy (17:20): No, he is so curious and so focused on consistency. He's always thinking about how to make it better by making it more consistent. And so we also have a machine in our restaurants that slices pepperoni. It does it in about forty five seconds from a stick, drops it down, perfectly placed. That's unbelievable.

Jimmy (17:39): So when we think of automation, we go right there, and we expanded upon that. With a partner out of Canada called Appetronics, we put a fully automated kitchen in the Columbus Airport. So this is not frozen pizza where they just reheat it and serve it to you. It takes one of our crusts, it sauces it, cheeses it, tops it, bakes it, cuts it, and puts it in a box and serves it to you fully automated. No people.

Unknown Speaker (18:12): Jimmy, this is Kramer's idea.

Unknown Speaker (18:14): It is.

Unknown Speaker (18:15): Make your own bacon.

Unknown Speaker (18:16): Don't buy.

Unknown Speaker (18:16): Yes. But as we say

Unknown Speaker (18:17): It's not Kramer.

Unknown Speaker (18:18): It's a robot. But you cannot but no cucumbers. No cucumbers.

Unknown Speaker (18:21): Cucumbers on

Unknown Speaker (18:21): a pizza. Can't put a cucumber on a pizza.

Jimmy (18:22): Well, I can't is a little hard. I think, you know, it's round. It's like pepperoni. So I'm guessing you could. The question is whether you want it.

Unknown Speaker (18:32): Whether you want it.

Kevin King (18:32): I wanna stick with this automation and and and robotic theme for a second because so often, as we talk about how tech and innovation could be accretive for operators, I think people quickly assume that it's at the expense of human capital and and the team. And and and I can't argue enough, and I think Donatos does this and you're articulating as well as anybody. The idea is the mundane task. The idea is to have the human capital, have the people engaging in a way that really does enhance the guest experience. The slicing of the pepperoni to a certain extent is not the is not the that's not gonna win versus the That's

Unknown Speaker (19:11): not the love, Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (19:12): That's not

Kevin King (19:12): the love. So I understand Donatos has a four point strategy and it starts with the people. Okay? It's the innovation. It's the brand relevance and its growth.

Kevin King (19:21): And since we're iHarding sorry. WeHarding hospitality in the cohort. I wanna do the people because I think you you talk about a fully autonomous brand. And, again, an assumption could be, oh, you just eliminated eliminated the, the human capital without thinking about how you're again, it's the face to face interactions that the machines can't do that Donatos is really focusing on. So talk about that.

Kevin King (19:45): Talk about the hiring the right people, getting them onboarded, and the culture that comes from just engaging with your team that way.

Jimmy (19:52): Yeah. So first of all, some people call it the restaurant industry, but, really, we call it the hospitality industry. Yes. So the hospitality industry doesn't exist without people, because a robot is not friendly. So, it is the hospitality.

Jimmy (20:07): It starts with our people. Hiring and retaining and keeping great people is core to what we do. And when I talk about that four point strategy, it had to start with people. It had to be the most important thing. And I actually call it passionate people.

Jimmy (20:24): Love We passionate guests because they're gonna spread our brand, but we want passionate people in our restaurants who are gonna engage guests and talk to them. So when we think about automation and robotics, we think about what are the things our people don't wanna do so we can focus them on the things that they do really well, and that's to interact with our guests. And, so that's the important part is making sure we we continue to do that.

Kevin King (20:49): Can I can I get you to add a p in front of that from passionate people to prioritizing passionate people? That way we I

Unknown Speaker (20:56): love that.

Unknown Speaker (20:56): Way we have the triple p.

Unknown Speaker (20:58): You didn't you

Unknown Speaker (20:58): didn't Triple p.

Unknown Speaker (20:58): You didn't trademark that. I didn't trademark that. Please.

Unknown Speaker (21:01): Take it.

Unknown Speaker (21:01): Alright. Take it. I love that.

Kevin King (21:03): Was triple p. Prioritizing passionate people.

Chatzi (21:05): I thought it was proper preparation prevents poor performance.

Kevin King (21:07): That's my five p's. I'm not giving up the five p's. Okay. Proper preparation prevents poor performance. You add the Donatos is getting me the triple p.

Unknown Speaker (21:15): Prioritizing passionate people with the triple p.

Unknown Speaker (21:17): Well, I love it.

Unknown Speaker (21:18): Boom. My gift to you. Paid for my trip.

Unknown Speaker (21:20): There we go. So thank you. I appreciate

Unknown Speaker (21:21): it. So wait. What was it? What was it? Triple P?

Unknown Speaker (21:23): Prioritize people.

Unknown Speaker (21:26): Prioritize passionate Donatos, the

Unknown Speaker (21:29): triple P.

Unknown Speaker (21:29): The triple P. Prioritize passionate Also, you don't wanna get into the habit of going the PP. What They don't want

Unknown Speaker (21:35): to be that. Triple p. Agape capitalism, lead with love, do the right thing, and then what's the things again? Three Oh, yeah. The golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (21:44): Golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (21:44): I'm not happy with the golden rule.

Unknown Speaker (21:46): Chat to you. They're not getting rid the golden rule. But the golden rule is even the gold rules. That's a golden rule.

Chatzi (21:49): You can't change the that's like singing a martini.

Unknown Speaker (21:51): No. No. Do the right thing. Yeah. K.

Unknown Speaker (21:53): Lead with the lead with love. Mhmm. Golden rule. Do the right thing.

Unknown Speaker (21:57): You don't think the golden rule should replace with these three p's?

Kevin King (21:59): No. Then you can add you can add the triple p.

Unknown Speaker (22:01): I love it.

Unknown Speaker (22:02): Alright. There we go. Chatty, then we gotta take a break.

Chatzi (22:04): We gotta take a quick break. Be right back. Don't go anywhere. We've got a lot to get to. We've got the quick fire.

Chatzi (22:09): We got hot or not. And, what do we got? We were supposed to who said it, but it was so terrible, Jimmy, that we're not doing that section. Yeah. Julie, it was a terrible section.

Unknown Speaker (22:19): By way by the way, we are we are we heart hospitality. We heart hospitality. And we are doing, we are doing fake headlines brought to you by Workstream.

Unknown Speaker (22:28): Well, there's two there's two real headlines.

Chatzi (22:29): Much better. Oh oh, real headlines. Real headlines brought to you by Workstream. Okay. So don't go away.

Chatzi (22:34): We'll be don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with Kevin King, president, CEO of Donatos, which in Latin means?

Unknown Speaker (22:42): To give a good thing.

Chatzi (22:43): Alright. To give a good thing. And Jimmy, agape capitalism is?

Unknown Speaker (22:47): Lead with love. Golden follow the golden rule. Do the right thing.

Unknown Speaker (22:51): Thank you. I gotta tell you. Jimmy, you're amazing. These guys are paying attention. Alright.

Chatzi (22:54): Don't go away, bro. Right back. Hey, everybody. I gotta tell you. We're gonna talk about BUILT.

Chatzi (22:59): BUILT hospitality. Millions of people use BUILT every day. That's right. Every day to earn awards on housing and in their neighborhood. But now now it extends to your restaurant.

Chatzi (23:09): That's where Built Hospitality comes in. Built Hospitality shapes how guests are recognized and taken care of. Built's restaurant facing platform is designed specifically for dining operators to drive loyalty with their guests. It combines reservations, guest preferences, VIP management, and payments all into one platform alongside an agentic concierge. That's right.

Chatzi (23:35): An AI concierge that thoughtfully designs and executes experiences around your guest taste. Using the latest and greatest in AI technology. When a guest walks in, your team already knows what they like without digging through notes. Built Hospitality works across the entire guest journey. That's right.

Chatzi (23:56): The entire guest journey from delivering a complimentary course at the right moment, just the right moment, sending a personalized offer that brings them coming back again and again and again. That's right. That's what Built Hospitality is doing. It is allowing you to communicate with your guests and keep them coming back over and over. Make every guest feel like a regular every time, not just their first time, every time.

Chatzi (24:19): They're a regular. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurant groups everywhere. Learn more at Built Dining dot com backslash hangout. That's builtdining.combackslashhangout, and check out what Built Hospitality is gonna do for you and your restaurant. Alright and we are back.

Chatzi (24:39): I gotta tell you, we got Kevin King, president, CEO of Donatos here with the hospitality hangout by Workstream presented by Workstream, Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (24:47): Workstream. Because I gotta tell

Chatzi (24:48): you, if you don't have really great employees working for you and staying there, you really got nothing.

Unknown Speaker (24:52): You got nothing. And you

Chatzi (24:53): know what's really important in restaurants? No turnover. Am I right? Oh, yeah. Because training's a bitch.

Chatzi (24:59): It takes a lot of time, a lot of money, and it really right? So once you go through that training, you want people being happy and staying there. And one thing that, Workstream does is I gotta tell you, they're making it really easy to hire, and pay and be compliant and keep people happy. And that's what Donatos is all about, right?

Unknown Speaker (25:16): Yeah, we go.

Unknown Speaker (25:17): Because why Jimmy?

Kevin King (25:18): Because They they prioritize passionate people.

Unknown Speaker (25:21): That's damn right.

Unknown Speaker (25:22): Yeah. Three piece.

Chatzi (25:22): Oh, work and Donatos. Yes. Work stream and Donatos are the three piece. Anyway, alright. Here we go.

Chatzi (25:27): Jimmy, fake fake fake headlines.

Unknown Speaker (25:30): I know the game. Tell our friend Kevin how we're gonna play the game.

Unknown Speaker (25:32): Well, I like to say your name. You. Jimmy? Sorry. Yes.

Unknown Speaker (25:34): We're gonna

Unknown Speaker (25:34): play the headline.

Chatzi (25:35): Let's play the headline. Kevin, I am gonna read three headlines. One of them is fake. Two of them are actually broke yesterday, and I got them from one from The Wall Street Journal, one from CNBC, and one from the the the what's the Chicago? The Tribune.

Chatzi (25:53): Chicago.

Unknown Speaker (25:54): Can I can I beep can I beep in and say, I think that was a lie?

Unknown Speaker (25:57): I think

Kevin King (25:57): what you just said was a lie. No,

Unknown Speaker (26:00): Jimmy. That's what I did. Alright. Here we go. Are you ready?

Unknown Speaker (26:02): Yes. I'm

Chatzi (26:03): Michelin Star restaurant debuts a $38 bowl of Frosted Flakes. That was breaking news yesterday on CNBC. Okay. From The Wall Street Journal, and I quote Jimmy, Burger King introduces a nightmare burger designed to cause bad dreams. That was broken yesterday.

Chatzi (26:24): That was the news. Okay? And the last one from the Chicago Tribune, which I read this morning before having breakfast with Jimmy, Pizza Hut test delivery via a jet pack. Okay? So which one is fake?

Chatzi (26:36): Is it the Michelin Star restaurant debut is a $38 bowl of Frosted Flakes, the Burger King, the nightmare burger designed to have bad dreams, or the Pizza Hut and the Jetpack? What is fake, mister Kevin King, president CEO of Donatos, which in Latin means to give a good thing?

Unknown Speaker (26:52): I'm gonna go with the Jetpack.

Chatzi (26:53): The jetpack? Jimmy? I'm gonna Jimmy's been very bad about the last Yesterday, he

Kevin King (26:58): he I it on the last one. I'm gonna be so I'm gonna be bad again today because I think that Burger King statement is like, even to achieve that would be such a horrific idea. That has to be fake. But because it has to be fake, I bet it's true. I think that's the fake one.

Unknown Speaker (27:12): So where you going with?

Kevin King (27:13): I'm going the fake the the fake one was Burger King creating a bad burger to manufacture bad dreams. That has to be fake.

Chatzi (27:20): I gotta be honest. I I wish I could say it was, Jimmy, but you're both wrong. It was the it's the Frosted Flakes. Mission Star restaurant ever debuts a $30 bowl of Frosted Flakes, which I gotta be honest with I'm shocked because with going on today, you'd think that, like, you know, they sprinkled Goldbust or something on it.

Kevin King (27:36): There were some headlines yesterday that they thought were ludicrous, but the the the the the butter candle that melts, butter over a basket of bread. I think that's a genius idea even though it was fake. I thought that was a genius one. A burger that inspires bad dreams. Shame on you, Burger King.

Unknown Speaker (27:51): Shame. Shame. Shame.

Chatzi (27:52): The MO for that. Like, why would you wanna do that?

Kevin King (27:54): You're so happy all the time that somebody ordered you the burger to bring you down a little bit. Again, bad idea genes here. Bad

Jimmy (28:00): idea. I think it's all about news.

Unknown Speaker (28:02): What? They got us We're talking we're talking about it.

Unknown Speaker (28:04): There you go. About it. So That's why he's the CEO.

Unknown Speaker (28:07): That's why

Unknown Speaker (28:07): Now I'm doing a podcast with Shatsi.

Unknown Speaker (28:08): Alright. Let me keep let me keep going over here. I'm supposed to read something about Workstream, but I don't even know if it's relevant, but I'm gonna read it anyway. No, can't. It makes no sense.

Unknown Speaker (28:18): We can't go that.

Unknown Speaker (28:18): We have

Unknown Speaker (28:18): to go we have to go with hot or not. Alright. Here we go. Hot or not. Alright.

Unknown Speaker (28:22): Kevin, are you ready?

Unknown Speaker (28:23): Yeah. I'm ready.

Unknown Speaker (28:23): I'm gonna just say something and you just tell me if it's hot or not. Are you ready?

Unknown Speaker (28:26): I'm ready.

Unknown Speaker (28:27): Mushroom coffee. Is that hot or not?

Unknown Speaker (28:29): It is hot. Hot.

Chatzi (28:32): Protein everything, is that hot or not? Hot. Is Spam hot or not?

Unknown Speaker (28:38): I think only in Hawaii.

Chatzi (28:40): And it's the number one consumer of Spam, I look

Unknown Speaker (28:42): at Yeah. I I knew that.

Chatzi (28:45): Ketchup on hot dogs. Is that hot or not? No. No. Pickle flavor everything.

Unknown Speaker (28:54): Everything. Pickle everything. You can get pickle on a Donatos

Unknown Speaker (28:57): pizza slice. Say is that So puke

Unknown Speaker (28:59): comes No. No. No. Oh my goodness.

Unknown Speaker (29:01): But that basically means a puke. Oh, that is amazing.

Unknown Speaker (29:04): Yeah. Donatos is doing it. I gotta show respect.

Jimmy (29:06): We have a Nashville hot chicken pizza with pickles on the top. It is, phenomenal.

Unknown Speaker (29:11): Big seller?

Jimmy (29:11): Yeah. Yeah. It's a it's one of our specialty pizzas. It's good seller always available? Nope.

Unknown Speaker (29:16): Always available. Always available. Always available. I gotta tell you, Keith. An LTO.

Unknown Speaker (29:19): Always available.

Chatzi (29:20): You go. If you get a pickled pizza and they didn't pickle it all that much, it's basically you got cucumbers.

Unknown Speaker (29:25): Got cucumbers. You got

Chatzi (29:26): cucumbers. Pineapple on pizza. Is that hot or not?

Jimmy (29:29): It's hot at Donato's. We've we've had pineapple on pizza for over thirty years.

Chatzi (29:34): Did that start in Hawaii? Like, who started that?

Jimmy (29:36): I I'm pretty sure it started in Hawaii, but, we have a fantastic Hawaiian pizza with pineapple, and you'd be surprised. Ham, pineapple, we put slivered almonds on as well and a little bit of cinnamon.

Unknown Speaker (29:47): See, would think that it would be macadamia nuts. That's what I believe.

Unknown Speaker (29:51): Oh, that's a good idea.

Unknown Speaker (29:52): What do you think about that? Jimmy, do you like that? What are you throwing stuff?

Unknown Speaker (29:56): I was throwing something.

Unknown Speaker (29:57): Oh, yeah.

Unknown Speaker (29:57): I saw.

Unknown Speaker (29:58): Yes. Is that alright?

Unknown Speaker (29:58): Yeah. That's alright.

Unknown Speaker (29:59): You're gonna fight with Booth next door?

Unknown Speaker (30:00): They were they were giving me this stink

Unknown Speaker (30:02): eye. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (30:02): Right? They were like, you guys are too loud. I'm like, yeah. I'm loud. That's what we do.

Chatzi (30:05): Jimmy, do you like the idea of putting macadamia nuts on the pineapple ham pizza? I instead of almonds.

Unknown Speaker (30:11): As long

Unknown Speaker (30:11): as they're as long as they're sliced in, little got a thin slice to them. Yeah. Nice little crunch to

Chatzi (30:15): it also. Right? There. And private dining club. Is that hot or not?

Unknown Speaker (30:18): Hot. Jimmy? A lot of hots. Almost every hots. Right?

Unknown Speaker (30:22): And I appreciate Kevin and I

Unknown Speaker (30:24): Kevin hot dog was not hot.

Kevin King (30:26): We're bond yeah. We're and and I'm agreeing with Kevin. I'm agreeing. Actually, I appreciate the Donatos as someone who's representing and and leading the brand would agree with me that the ketchup and the hot dog is is a no.

Unknown Speaker (30:36): But I wanna ask about

Kevin King (30:37): the mushroom coffee because I agree with you. Incredibly hot, and it's not about my taste. But I've tried it. I've tried many. I can't get there.

Unknown Speaker (30:46): It it's it's it's almost to me. Damn. Don't I drinks it every I don't yuck on someone else's yum, but to me, like drinking dirt.

Jimmy (30:52): I I, I agree. I'm not there either. Not there. But, I know, Tony Capuana, our, senior VP of operations, loves mushroom coffee, breaks it every morning. We're out in Vegas, the Cosmopolitan.

Jimmy (31:05): There's a place down there on the food court level. They have a mushroom coffee. Was like,

Unknown Speaker (31:10): I didn't You ate at the Cosmo?

Unknown Speaker (31:11): Yeah. Where? It's right on that food court level, like right

Chatzi (31:14): between Oh, know where the where Tech what place is

Jimmy (31:18): It's it's right near where

Unknown Speaker (31:21): because we go there all the time.

Unknown Speaker (31:22): I'm I'm curious. It's it's right in that food So

Chatzi (31:24): I got you where the egg place is.

Unknown Speaker (31:26): Yeah. They smooth they have smoothies there.

Chatzi (31:27): Yeah. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Oliver's food court, Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (31:31): Cheers to you, Oliver Wharton. Cheers to you, my friend. Yeah. No. That's okay.

Unknown Speaker (31:34): Look. Quick fire shots.

Unknown Speaker (31:35): Let me ask you this. What about bone broth? Is that hot or not?

Unknown Speaker (31:39): You asking me? Yeah. I'm going no.

Unknown Speaker (31:42): What do think, Jimmy?

Unknown Speaker (31:43): I'm sticking with Kevin.

Unknown Speaker (31:44): It's not. It was hot for a while.

Unknown Speaker (31:45): Was very hot.

Unknown Speaker (31:46): I feel like it's going back, though.

Unknown Speaker (31:47): We we gotta have protein.

Chatzi (31:48): That's what I'm saying. Protein, everything. Protein, Do you think we'll run out of protein? Like, will there be a time there'll be no protein left on

Unknown Speaker (31:54): the Well, what's the price of beef right now?

Chatzi (31:56): It's expensive, right? Yeah. That's why chicken's going through the roof because, I mean, people are eating chicken so much because that's a great

Unknown Speaker (32:01): produce fast. Right? What's the life of a a broiler chicken is not very long?

Unknown Speaker (32:06): No. It's like a think it becomes forever. Go flying a chicken, I think it's like a Now we're gonna now we're gonna

Unknown Speaker (32:11): have the animal rights robbers all over

Unknown Speaker (32:12): us. Really?

Unknown Speaker (32:12): We're trashing the we we have we're we're trashing the lifespan of chickens. Also, go

Unknown Speaker (32:16): look trash. Go look at the price of whey.

Unknown Speaker (32:19): Why? Whey protein Why?

Jimmy (32:21): So huge. It is, in the last couple years, think it's up because

Chatzi (32:25): four my kids are they're getting jugs of protein and they put in everything. Yep. Alright. Let's go on to the branded QuickFire. It's the somebody's calling me.

Unknown Speaker (32:35): They may be Jimmy. It may be Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (32:38): It's not me. It's not me.

Chatzi (32:40): It's a 332 number. It's a spam. I told you my phone's all messed up. Alright. Brandon Quickfire.

Chatzi (32:44): This is, it's a lightning round, so don't think too hard. We'll go really fast. This is the last usually last last yesterday's lightning round was twenty five minutes.

Unknown Speaker (32:53): Okay.

Chatzi (32:54): Oh, okay. What what's your go to when you go to, Donato's? Or I haven't been to Donato's. So if I go for the first time, what are you as the CEO and you've been there for so long? What what are you what is the order I should

Unknown Speaker (33:07): get?

Jimmy (33:07): So easy. First thing you get is a pepperoni pizza. Again, I said we put a 100 piece Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely go for a large pepperoni pizza.

Unknown Speaker (33:14): Versus the industry, is that, a lot more?

Unknown Speaker (33:17): A lot more. I mean, it's almost triple what

Unknown Speaker (33:19): you get.

Unknown Speaker (33:19): Can I quote you on that?

Unknown Speaker (33:20): Absolutely.

Chatzi (33:21): Okay. You heard it here live. Jimmy, that was breaking news.

Unknown Speaker (33:23): I like that three x

Chatzi (33:24): for breaking said that that's a lot more than any other pizza place.

Unknown Speaker (33:28): Yeah. It is.

Unknown Speaker (33:28): And a lot is a, that's a real that's real thing. Right? That's technical term, Jim.

Kevin King (33:33): Right? According to Kevin, a lot is a three x.

Unknown Speaker (33:36): A lot. It's a three x. It's a lot. I like it. What is your favorite food city in the world, mister King?

Unknown Speaker (33:40): Where do you go?

Unknown Speaker (33:42): Favorite food city? Portland, Oregon.

Unknown Speaker (33:44): Ah. Interesting. Well, there we go.

Unknown Speaker (33:46): I did it as a first. What about yourself?

Jimmy (33:48): What Portland. Great food town, great farm to table, really care about the ingredients, the food. Really? You know, I I had the privilege of living in Portland for eleven years, and I think it's

Unknown Speaker (33:58): a I've great never been there. I have to get over there. It's a

Jimmy (34:00): huge independent restaurant town. Know, a lot of lot of places. They love they love local. It's a great restaurant.

Unknown Speaker (34:08): Is there Donatos there?

Jimmy (34:09): Inside Red Robin.

Chatzi (34:11): Yeah. Oh, nice. Okay. Alright. Listen out there.

Chatzi (34:13): Alright. Let me ask you this. This is something that Jimmy and I fight about all the time. Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Unknown Speaker (34:20): No. It's a hot dog.

Unknown Speaker (34:22): And what about a hamburger?

Unknown Speaker (34:25): It's a it's a sandwich.

Unknown Speaker (34:27): Oh, Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (34:28): I know. I kinda went odd there, but It's a sandwich.

Kevin King (34:31): I appreciate that Kevin quickly, rejected DK. The hot dog is a sandwich. The hamburger, I understand, has a little bit of flex. I consider the hamburger a hamburger, not a sandwich. But I respect that it's clearly two distinct pieces of bread with, you know, all the fillings.

Kevin King (34:48): That's I I get it. I'm a I'm a still a no, but I respect that that that's got some flexibility. The hot dog under no circumstances could be a sandwich.

Chatzi (34:56): Unless the bun gets separated.

Unknown Speaker (34:57): It wasn't the intention. The intent matters.

Chatzi (35:00): How do you take your bagel, mister King?

Unknown Speaker (35:03): Just cream cheese. We're going for

Chatzi (35:04): cream cheese. Everything? Is it egg? Is it salt? Is it plain?

Chatzi (35:07): What's your

Jimmy (35:08): I do love an everything bagel.

Chatzi (35:10): Everything. Everyone loves the everything bagel.

Unknown Speaker (35:12): But I also am a plain fan. I I gotta tell you, a purest.

Chatzi (35:15): What I remember when I was younger, I feel like like it it kinda reminds me of the tomato. Like, when I was younger, would never eat a tomato. I would never eat onion. I would never eat a a bagel with anything but plain. But as you mature, your palate matures, and now everything I like tomato.

Chatzi (35:29): I like onion. Right?

Jimmy (35:31): Yeah. I do. I I would tell you on a plain bagel, I'm gonna take the cream. I'm just going with butter on a toasted plain bagel.

Chatzi (35:37): Let me ask you this. We heard this yesterday from somebody. They did, okay, a plain bagel with chive cream cheese Okay. And bacon.

Unknown Speaker (35:46): Well, bacon's good on everything. We know that. It is. I'm probably gonna have to go home And, and do

Unknown Speaker (35:52): Kevin, you were right. Peking should be its own food group.

Unknown Speaker (35:54): Yeah. I think it is. Didn't they move it to the top of the chart

Unknown Speaker (35:57): right now?

Chatzi (35:57): I just saw the new I think bacon is the Kennedy came out today with the new what is it, like, the the pyramid, the food pyramid? And you know what moved up to the top? Bacon. Bacon. Yeah.

Chatzi (36:07): And you know who put a $100,000,000 into, into his campaign? The, pork, growers.

Unknown Speaker (36:14): Is a

Unknown Speaker (36:15): pork. Smithfield. Smithfield Farms.

Chatzi (36:17): Smithfield and Hormel have donated to his anyway, let me ask you this. What's the last thing you Googled or chatted or whatever?

Jimmy (36:28): You know, put into Gemini and got my AI answer? I, I think I Googled how to get get to

Unknown Speaker (36:35): McCormick?

Unknown Speaker (36:36): No. I knew that. Take the bus. There's no better way to get here than the bus from the hotel.

Chatzi (36:40): Yeah. We just saw we just saw everybody at the Marriott by Joe's by Joe's Stone Crab waiting and waiting for the bus. That was the

Unknown Speaker (36:48): last thing.

Unknown Speaker (36:48): Are you a do you use Claude or do you use ChatGPT or is it just or is Gemini? Or none of the above?

Jimmy (36:55): I got first of all, I use all three. Okay. But the world today is about Claude. Everything I hear as a leader, every conference, every communication, everybody's talking Claude. Weird because we

Chatzi (37:08): came out, we had to get chat. And, like, within a few months, it's like, Claude, I just renamed my youngest son. His name is Sam. I just changed it legally. I don't if I allowed to do that or not, but I did, and he's Claude now.

Jimmy (37:18): I think I that makes total sense.

Unknown Speaker (37:20): Yeah. I I just think that Claude is the way to go.

Unknown Speaker (37:22): It's better than a child named Alexa. I can tell you that.

Unknown Speaker (37:25): Yeah. And I'll bet you all the kids like, next year, the number one names would be Claude. Jimmy, what do you think?

Unknown Speaker (37:29): I'll take the other side of that bet.

Unknown Speaker (37:31): You should have named your dog Claude. Tell us the name of your dog, Jimmy.

Kevin King (37:35): Redford. What do think? Redford Sundance Frischling. Redford Sundance.

Chatzi (37:38): It's a nice name. Nice. Alright. Last thing here. If you were to I don't even understand this, Julie, but I'm gonna read it anyway.

Unknown Speaker (37:45): If you were to challenge Jim Greider game of bocce ball, do you like bocce ball? No. I was where did I'm just curious.

Unknown Speaker (37:52): Let's go let's go with the Uber one. I love that.

Unknown Speaker (37:54): Okay. What's your Uber rating?

Jimmy (37:55): It's a it's a 4.95.

Unknown Speaker (37:57): Oh, that's why you like it. That's why I likes it.

Unknown Speaker (37:59): Oh, yeah.

Unknown Speaker (38:00): Let me look at We my

Unknown Speaker (38:01): had really fun when I was at Smoothie King. Overrating.

Unknown Speaker (38:04): Did you do you have proof, Ed?

Unknown Speaker (38:05): Yeah. I'll show you. My phone's right over there, but I'll show you.

Unknown Speaker (38:09): Julie, let's get the phone, please. Oh, we have to wrap it up? Alright. Fine. I mean, I thought we had a very engaging seven five.

Unknown Speaker (38:17): I think I went there.

Unknown Speaker (38:17): You're dropping. For a New Yorker, that's phenomenal. It is. I'll put you in the top 5%.

Unknown Speaker (38:22): There you go. I'm a four eight seven.

Unknown Speaker (38:23): Do you know how many times

Unknown Speaker (38:24): I canceled yesterday at the Uber? My my Uber rating has gone up since I stopped traveling with Shats. Usually, my Uber, and he'd yell at the driver.

Jimmy (38:31): So we had a competition, at Smoothie King with some of us on, the highest Uber rating. Yeah. And the worst thing was when we were traveling together, no one would order the Uber because it was our opportunity to lower their score.

Unknown Speaker (38:41): Yes. Right. Right. Right.

Unknown Speaker (38:43): You

Unknown Speaker (38:43): just yell at the driver, but it's on

Unknown Speaker (38:46): a no seat belt. Slam it there.

Unknown Speaker (38:47): Absolutely. I spilled my soda.

Unknown Speaker (38:49): Bring a bring a large soda. No lid. Alright, Kevin. We wanna thank you so much for being on the hangout with us today. Thanks for joining us again.

Kevin King (38:56): So clearly your first time wasn't, wasn't so bad. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (38:59): I love

Kevin King (38:59): And we got you back. Congrats to everything that's going on with team Donatos and big appreciation for for the agape capitalism. Lead with love, the golden rule, and do the right thing.

Unknown Speaker (39:11): Jimmy, thank you. You. Thank you. This was awesome.

Unknown Speaker (39:14): Thank you, Kevin. I gotta tell you. It's great having you back on the show. How do we find Donatos? Just donatos.com.

Unknown Speaker (39:20): Donatos.com is the

Chatzi (39:21): best way. Donatos.com. And thank you for our friends at Workstream, presenting the hospitality hangout live from Chicago with mister Kevin King. At the show.

Unknown Speaker (39:32): Cheers, everybody. Thank you.