Emerging Brands Podcast

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Sandra Noonan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Just Salad, home of the world’s largest restaurant reusable program, talks about the Just Salad concept with a mission to make everyday health and everyday sustainability possible.

Just Salad is a restaurant chain founded in 2006 in New York City and their cause empowers customers to eat with a purpose. When it comes to leading the brand, prioritizing sustainability is at the top of Noonan’s list. Just Salad is the first United States restaurant chain to carbon label its menu and has partnered with research scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, Tulane University, and Harvard University to study the effects of its carbon labels on consumer behavior.

Noonan shares how she reached out prior to her joining the team, to the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Just Salad, Nick Kenner. Kenner was tired of plastic salad bowls piling up in trash bins and thought there had to be a better way. The philosophy behind there must be a better way has really persisted throughout the company's growth.

Noonan talks about the Reusable Bowl Program and how it works in two ways:

-Purchase a bowl for a dollar and every time you bring back your reusable bowl you get a free topping.
-Delivery or pickup you can opt in to the bring back bowl program, it will be professionally cleaned when you bring it back.

The carbon labeling program at Just Salad, will help consumers to understand the carbon footprint of what they eat. Noonan discusses the partnership with three universities designed to study the impact of carbon labels and how consumers would make choices to purchase one salad over another.

Noonan explains Just Salad’s partnership with Arcadia on an offer that would enable their customers to choose clean energy for their homes. Arcadia is a company that empowers homeowners or renters to support clean energy through their utility bill. This partnership fits perfectly with the Just Salad mission to make everyday health and everyday sustainability possible.

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Carl Howard, Chief Executive Officer of Fazoli’s shares his restaurant and franchise experience, Fazoli’s double-digit growth and the brand's significant expansion plans.

Howard takes us back to his humble beginning as a busboy at Bill Knapps when he was sixteen. He had various roles at restaurants and at age twenty Howard got his first management position at The Elephant Bar. Next he became the general manager at one of his father-in-law’s italian restaurants.

Eventually Howard moves his way through the ranks at Damon’s Grill, he became a franchisee of the restaurant and later became the Chief Executive Officer. Shortly after, Howard had an opportunity to join Fazoli's team in 2008.

Howard talks about Fazoli's interesting history that started thirty-three years ago, it’s rocky beginning, and how cod played a part in the brand. Today Fazoli’s has 215 locations and continues to grow rapidly, they will open fifteen to twenty locations this year. Fazoli’s model combined with no franchise fee and zero royalty in year one has contributed to the growth, say’s Howard.

When Howard began at Fazoli's he took a deep dive into the brand, trying to understand the double-digit decrease. Through changing food, service and technology, Howard quickly turned the brand around.

Fazoli’s has always had to adapt over the years and during the pandemic, they used analytics to understand what was driving their customers. Fazoli’s was able to meet the changing needs of their consumer, and take pride in that every aspect of the brand has been upgraded.

Howard says Fazoli's is definitely in the virtual concept business, having three virtual brands Macaroniville, Wingville, and Wow Bao.

Be sure to listen to the Emerging Brands Podcast to hear Carl Howard talk about how Fazoli’s gives back and the programs in place for taking care of their employees. Howard also shares his personal connection in partnering with Feed The Children.

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Kelly Roddy, President and Chief Executive Officer of WOWorks, talks about the early beginning of his career at Walmart. Roddy worked up through the ranks and learned leadership and business skills. He moved to Scholastic Books and then back to the retail segment with HEB, a large retail grocer out of Texas. Roddy’s first restaurant job was CEO at Schlotzsky’s under the FOCUS Brands umbrella. 

In 2019 Roddy started at SaladWorks as the Chief Executive Officer with the intent to create a holding company to bring in several good for you brands. WOWorks set out to acquire brands well positioned for a guest that has educated themselves on food as fuel. WOWorks added three additional brands to the portfolio with plans to add more. 

Roddy discusses the pandemic and the difficult time it was for the restaurant industry. He talks about supporting his franchise partners, working closely with the community, and giving back to first responders. 

The brand’s growth was also a priority focusing on third party delivery and virtual opportunities, they successfully added ghost kitchen partners. Roddy wanted to make SaladWorks more accessible to customers across the country and partnered with several grocery stores. 

As far as WOWorks brands, SaladWorks was the start and is the largest salad chain in the United States today with about 140 units and growing. Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh was acquired, offering fast-casual authentic Mediterranean cuisine. Frutta Bowls was another acquisition that will triple in size over the next year, offering a clean variety of fresh to order bowls. The latest, The Simple Greek with a fresh and healthy take on ancient greek recipes. 

Listen to Roddy speak on the future of the restaurant industry and what to expect from WOWorks in the next five years.

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Anita Adams, Chief Executive Officer of Black Bear Diner, talks about her unusual path from being a certified public accountant to landing in the restaurant industry. Adams shares her transition from Chief Financial Officer and her commitment to fiercely protect the brand that is one of the fastest-growing franchises in the country.

Adams took over as Chief Executive Officer shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a dramatic impact on the restaurant industry. As a leader Adams had to navigate through the challenges that came along with running fifty corporate diners and close to ninety franchise diners. It was important to protect their teams at the diner and ensure long term viability for franchise partners.

Adams shares that they want Black Bear Diner employees just starting out or have been with them to have a clear career track with the company. Their employees have defined positions and know how they will be promoted within the system. Especially as a growth company it is imperative that they grow their teams internally. Three key points to their employees growth:

-Defining their human resource track.
-Incredibly strong training.
-Being a great employer.

Coming out of the pandemic, Adams wants to focus on providing an amazing experience for their guests at the unique cabin themed restaurants. Getting back to the hospitality component and staying true to who they were before the pandemic.

Adams, being named one of the fifty most influential women in the foodservice industry, shares her beliefs in pulling people up and fostering that kind of environment. Her advice is to make an impact, work for great companies, and invest in the teams that are below you.

Looking to the rest of this year and beyond, Black Bear Diner is well-positioned to grow the brand and Adams talks about the focus and steps to continue growing.

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Ashley Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and the newly acquired Wing Zone, talks about growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and going to school for finance. Morris shares how his best friend introduced him to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop when he came home from school.

Ashley Morris was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Las Vegas. He went to school for finance and he started early in his career in financial services and portfolio management with Wells Fargo. While in college, his best friend Jason introduced Morris to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop.

Morris gets around to going to Capriotti’s and because he had a love for cheese steaks, he orders the sandwich. Morris says, “This was the greatest cheese steak I had ever eaten of all the cheese steaks that I had eaten.” Morris became passionate about the food at Capriotti’s and sometimes would eat it twice a day!

While at Wells Fargo, Morris wanted to diversify and find a side business with his best friend. They both looked into Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop because they had a high passion for the food and business. They became franchisees in 2003, and two years later they were building their third.

When it becomes clear to Morris that Capriotti’s was his true passion, he goes back to the founder’s wanting a larger territory. Through their negotiations Morris ends up acquiring Capriotti’s and becomes the franchisor in 2008, owning the entire company.

Morris talks about the overall philosophy and the rebranding of Capriotti’s as well as the total economic meltdown ninety days after the purchase of Capriotti’s. Their business plans at that point had gone out the window, forcing them to survive instead of grow and thrive. Learn why company values became the driving force for their vision.

Morris talks about the big picture, says the future of On this episode of Emerging Brands, Ashley Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and the newly acquired Wing Zone, talks about growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and going to school for finance. Morris shares how his best friend introduced him to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop when he came home from school.

Ashley Morris was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Las Vegas. He went to school for finance and he started early in his career in financial services and portfolio management with Wells Fargo. While in college, his best friend Jason introduced Morris to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop.

Morris gets around to going to Capriotti’s and because he had a love for cheese steaks, he orders the sandwich. Morris says, “This was the greatest cheese steak I had ever eaten of all the cheese steaks that I had eaten.” Morris became passionate about the food at Capriotti’s and sometimes would eat it twice a day!

While at Wells Fargo, Morris wanted to diversify and find a side business with his best friend. They both looked into Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop because they had a high passion for the food and business. They became franchisees in 2003, and two years later they were building their third.

When it becomes clear to Morris that Capriotti’s was his true passion, he goes back to the founder’s wanting a larger territory. Through their negotiations Morris ends up acquiring Capriotti’s and becomes the franchisor in 2008, owning the entire company.

Morris talks about the overall philosophy and the rebranding of Capriotti’s as well as the total economic meltdown ninety days after the purchase of Capriotti’s. Their business plans at that point had gone out the window, forcing them to survive instead of grow and thrive. Learn why company values became the driving force for their vision.

Morris talks about the big picture, says the future of Capriotti’s is on track to be a national brand within five years and the pieces are in place for a successful...

On this episode of Emerging Brands, Andrew Pudalov, founder and CEO of Rush Bowls, talks about the trigger and emotion that drove him from New York City to Boulder, Colorado and the need to create a healthy meal.

In this episode, Akash Kapoor, Co-Founder, CEO, and self-described “Chief Troublemaker” at Curry Up Now, shares the biggest challenges he’s encountered growing the company, if he thinks ethnic fast-casual restaurants face a different set of roadblocks than more traditional offerings do, and why the restaurant-bar duel concept is becoming a key part of their brand.

In this podcast episode, Charlie Guzzetta, chief brand development officer at BurgerFi, shares how BurgerFi keeps customers coming back with their NAE (no antibiotics ever) beef, how they’re expanding into nontraditional spaces such as airports and military bases, and why offering plant-based options is an essential part of their business model.

As they drove from Los Angeles to Phoenix for a bike race, Field Failing and a group of his cyclist friends grew hungrier by the minute, and frustrated with the lack of healthy offerings they had on the road. Eventually stopping at a Subway, Failing wondered why there weren’t more accessible options for him to get lean protein, whole grains, and fresh vegetables to fuel his long rides.

So, he started Fields Good Chicken in 2014, focusing on the protein he’d been obsessed with for most of his life. While many fast-casual restaurants focus on fried chicken, Fields Good Chicken opts for a 24-hour slow roasting process to make their signature “damn good” poultry. In this episode, Failing shares how he has succeeded in his mission to deliver superior chicken and give back to his community.

Veza Sur is a craft brewery located in the heart of Miami’s Wynwood district. Every drink is influenced by or infused with Latin-American flavors.