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EPISODE 25: How One Restaurant Sold Out in 3 Hours Online, using Social Media & Digital Strategy & What Hospitality Brands Need to do to Win in the Next Digital Age
Welcome to episode 25 – How 1 Restaurant sold out in 3 hours online using social media and a committed digital strategy; What hospitality brands need to do to win in this digital environment.
You'll hear me interview bbq restaurant owner, Shawn Walchef of Cali Comfort Barbeque. Shawn emphasizes how important it is to have your leadership and employees engaged and contributing to your brand's social media conversations,
We highlight text messaging as the "next" effective way to delight your customers and give them instantaneous 2 way interactions allowing you the ability to convert orders AND! how humanity can be a winning factor in post modern branding; when you show and express kindness, and you participate with your community it will build connections that go a very long way.
Speaker 1: (00:02) Hello, everybody. Welcome back. So excited today to introduce you to Sean Wall shop and he is owner of Cal. Um, I wanna want to say it right, Sean, um, Speaker 2: (00:18) Cali comfort Barbecue Speaker 2: (00:32) That is correct. That is our restaurant. We're serious about media and we're serious about barbecue. Speaker 1: (00:41) Love it. So I found you on social media as I do many of my guests. And I really, you know, you caught my attention because how you are really serving, serving your customers digitally. I think you're a standout. I mean, it just really struck me. Um, you have a huge social media following and I just, I'm so excited to have you today. So thank you. Speaker 2: (01:10) Well, it's an honor to be on the show. I see the work that you're doing in Atlanta and the work that you do digitally. And, um, anytime that someone has the same DNA, I, I, I love having a conversation. So thanks for having me on. Speaker 1: (01:23) Yes, my pleasure. Well, tell us a little about yourself and Cali comfort BBQ, and how you got started. Speaker 2: (01:32) Yeah. So we've been in business since 2008. We opened, you know, kind of during the great, the great recession, which was, um, about a year after the iPhone, the first iPhone came out. And the reason I say that that first iPhone is because it was, it was very important for us as a barbecue restaurant and sports bar that was in kind of an undesired location in spring, uh, in San Diego. So when you, when you open up a business, they always tell you, you know, the mantra is location, location, location, and our location is definitely not something that a real estate expert or restaurant expert would've told us to open. Um, but like I said, it was during the time of the explosive growth of web 2.0, which was, you know, really when all these apps started their proliferation, where Facebook had turned into Facebook business pages and Instagram came along after that, but Twitter was getting popular. Speaker 2: (02:27) Yelp was getting popular, Google maps was getting popular. We could to keep people coming into our restaurant so we could pay our bills. So really the having an undesirable location forced us to be on social media in a way that other restaurants probably didn't have to because they had the foot traffic. so we learned early on that, you know, brand was very important. So we always say that ABB, which has always be branding, it's very important for us, not just to care about our, our, our name, who we are, but also what we do in our community. And, you know, we always made a point of always giving back and, you know, whether that was to a local, little league team or whether that was to a local church or the firefighters, or, you know, a local event, not only would we participate by providing barbecue or our services, we would also participate by promoting it on social media and taking pictures, taking video when we were there and, you know, sharing the village news with the internet, which was something that allowed us to really build our skills to what they are today. Speaker 2: (03:51) And it's helped us really significantly during the Coronavirus. You know, we've, we've been able to do what a lot of restaurants and bars haven't been able to do, and that's really let their village know that we are open, that we need their support. And, that we're an eCommerce company that you're able to buy a barbecue online and that you're able to buy barbecue and have it delivered to your house. Speaker 1: (04:13) That's phenomenal. And so it sounds like you got into really being good at digital because you felt like you had to, but then it's been successful for you and really, truly connecting with your community. And it seems like you, you like it and like you have a passion for it. So it's not like this huge chore. Is that kinda how you feel? Speaker 2: (04:37) Yeah. You know, I think, it's a great point that we live in a world. You know, we, we talk our, my podcasts, I have every week it's called digital hospitality and digital hospitality is it's a way of being, and that's really that in order to win as a business, a small business and midsize business, even big business, you have to put yourself on the internet, you have to share what you care about. Um, you have to sell things online, you have to talk about things, you have to participate, you have to add value to people. Um, and the only way you do that is by doing a little bit, you know, every single day and doing a little bit better, you know, whether that's learning, how to use Yelp and respond to a negative review. Um, we just had mother's day was yesterday and it was, we sold out a barbecue in three hours. Speaker 2: (05:24) It was a historic day for us. We did more in three hours than we typically would do in 14 hours. So we'd be open for 14 hours. We did more sales because of the internet yesterday. Um, then we would have in 14 hours having a full 5,700 square foot restaurant, you know, with 300 seats inside another 50 outside. Um, but we also had a lot of complaints. We had to do that kind of volume in that short of time, our infrastructure is not set up to handle that kind of volume. Um, it's certainly not set up that kind of volume in a socially distance world where we're keeping people essentially segregated from one another, keeping them segregated from our, our, our staff. You know, it's the opposite of hospitality. It is the Coronavirus has attacked the heart of hospitality, but how do you, how do you pivot you pivot by doing things online, by selling things through your website, by being active on social media, by thanking people. Speaker 2: (06:21) And when you make a mistake, you know, you own it. And that's what we've had to do. You know, for the last day I've been answering messages on Facebook messages, direct messages on Instagram. I've been answering tweets, with people that, you know, they say that I ruined their mother's day. And I know that the last thing we want to do, we didn't open this business to ruin anybody's day, let alone a special day, like mother's day. And you know, we're so fortunate to have people that want, they choose us because they know there's so many other places they could choose. They chose us and we let them down. But what do we do when you let somebody down is you apologize, you take accountability and you tell them we're going to get better. You know, a lot of the people, they couldn't believe that the owner was responding to their reviews and, you know, they, they just really, a lot of people, they have a lot going on and it's hard. Speaker 2: (07:07) Sometimes the easiest way is to let a restaurant owner know that, um, why, because we're responsive, we're responsive. And our job is to be responsive. You know, we treat anybody that sends us a message online, the same way we do when someone walks in the restaurant and the number one priority is to not be ignored. You know, the last thing you can do is ignore somebody in this day and age. And that's where the digital hospitality comes in. The businesses that will win the brands that will win, will understand that there's so many different channels that people can reach your brand. And if you're not willing to engage them, let them know that they matter. Um, then they're going to find somewhere else to do business. Speaker 1: (07:46) Oh, very well sad. Well, one thing I've noticed about you is your attitude. You have such a good attitude and positivity, but also realistic. And that, you know, you take responsibility, I'm reading a book that was just talking about that. And, you know, to truly be open to having something happen to you, but then instead of ignoring, it are these, all these different ways you can go about it. And as you and I both know as entrepreneurs, you know, there's nothing more, that's going to like make yourself vulnerable than owning a business. Cause you know, there's just so many things that happen on a daily basis. And, but you know, the other thing that stands out about what you just were talking about too is, and are you, are you a father? Sean? Speaker 2: (08:38) I'm so blessed. I have a, I have a one year old daughter she's turning one this summer. And then I have a son that will be turning three this summer. And yeah, it's getting big, biggest blessing in the world for sure. Speaker 1: (08:50) And you're in, you're in, you're close to San Diego, right? That area. Speaker 2: (08:55) Yeah. We're in San Diego County. So a restaurant is in spring Valley and then I live in a community just South of spring Valley called East Lake. Speaker 1: (09:04) Gotcha. Okay. So, well when your kids get older and you might know this through just friends and other relatives extended, but it's like they get to that age where they get their phone and then you have to teach them, you know, what you type is you think of it as being face to face like you have, it's just because you're behind a device or you're behind your keyboard. Doesn't take away the feelings. And there is a lot of hate out there on the internet and everything, but like teaching children. But you get that, like you're saying, like when you talk to your customers online, you answer to their feedback, positive or negative. You, you try to engage with them and I've noticed your engagement is really high. It's not easy. Speaker 2: (09:45) Yeah. No, thank you. And it's, it is very important, you know, especially when you're talking about children and the next generation and you know, those are the things that I think about that my wife thinks about. Speaker 2: (10:31) And it was just, you know, it's, it's so sad. And I know there's a lot of people that don't want to share things that are personal and share things about their family, but each person has their ability to make that decision. You know? And if you do choose to share that, I know that it puts, you know, my family in a position where somebody could say something negative about my son or my wife or my daughter. And, um, but I also know that they could also say that in real life and, you know, as, as much as we try to, to protect our children, we also need to let them know back to what you said is that, that there, there is hate on the internet, but there's also hate in real life. But that also means that there's love, you know, there's love out there. There's great people out there there's people that support us and, you know, letting them know that we appreciate their support by liking their posts by engaging, by saying, thank you for coming in. Um, you know, thank you goes a long way. And you know, I mean, you're in Atlanta - Chick-fil-A built an incredible business by recognizing people recognizing humanity. And, um, I think that's the, those are the brands that are gonna win, you know, not just, uh, not just have one that will continue to win in the new digital future. Speaker 1: (11:40) That's right. And a lot of it, I had the pleasure of working with Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters, when I was with Forester and I, it really opened my eyes to the people, the people that actually work for your brand and represent your brand and become this culture that then goes out into the community that you're serving. And so speaking of that, this wasn't like anything I planned to really talk about, but I'm curious about your team kind of how you guys are set up and who helps you with social media and digital anybody, or is it all you? Yeah, Speaker 2: (12:13) so I've got an incredible team. Obviously. You can't do anything by yourself. I have, you know, my restaurant team, which is led by Eric, my general manager, and they've got incredible catering manager, Steven, and, front of the house managers that really, you know, they've, they've been able to take the business and allow me to grow the media side of our business, which includes Stover my producer of my podcast and our blog. Um, he's in Portland. And then I have, uh, a writer, Ian Stonebrook, um, who's in Austin that helps me create content based off of the audio that we produce, which is our weekly interviews. And, um, you know, on all the social stuff, we were all posting as a theme. You know, that's one of the things I think gets lost is people want to hire an agency and have everybody do it, which is great. Speaker 2: (13:01) And sometimes you need that, but also just understanding that it's so much more exponentially powerful when everyone in the company has an active LinkedIn page. So if you have your page and you're liking the posts from your company and you're talking about it and you're commenting on it now, all of a sudden you you're you and the other people within, within the company become a voice, an industry voice. And it's so much exponentially powerful for the entire brand and the entire company. And I know it's hard to do. I mean, there's a lot of things that are very difficult to do, but you know, if you chip away and you know, you know, how do you boil the ocean? You know, you, you boil it a little bit at a time, or how do you eat a whale, one bite at a time? And if you do a little bit every single day on a platform that that means something for your brand or your company, it's amazing what you'll see in the longterm. Speaker 2: (13:53) You're not going to see that ROI. Everyone wants to know what's the, what's the ROI of me wasting time on a, on an app. And, you know, if somebody told me it's gonna take you 12 years to get all these, you know, incredible local press opportunities, what I do, what I did and what I sacrificed the hours. And I would have said absolutely yes, because now, you know, I can post something on Instagram that we sold out of barbecue in three hours and a local incredible hall of fame producer for QSI. Tommy blonde is going to send me a message. Hey, are you willing to be on the news in the morning? Of course, I'm going to be on the news 12 years, trying to build a business, to get people to care about what we're doing. And now if we have an opportunity to do it, what time do you need me? They're like, well, I'm going to send a reporter at six in the morning. We'll be there. And, you know, Jean, my Pitmaster, Steven, my catering manager, we were here at three 45 in the morning getting ready for the new segment. But that, that didn't happen overnight because I decided to start posting on Twitter, you know, in 2009, it happened, happened, you know, 12 years later. Um, but I'm grateful that it did happen because it's given us so many opportunities, um, moving forward. Speaker 1: (15:00) You're awesome. Seriously - what you were first starting to talk about is really employee engagement. And having employees partake in the outgoing and incoming communication and having people kind of have their own voice integrated into like the brand pillars and what you guys are all about. And, you know, I've worked with companies about with this and one of the first responses, sometimes are well, I'm afraid of what my employees might say and what they might put up there. And that's why you have to have, I mean, depending on your culture, depending on how much, you know, your leaders, you know, how close you are to your leaders and kind of the overall size of the company, it's really about like having some frameworks around it, because there are legality issues. You know, if you have young people that might, you know, have a different way of looking at things, or it could be any variety, but there is absolutely a program that you can put around it. Speaker 1: (16:06) And maybe I'll put that in the show notes. And, Sean, I love to see what you think, about it, cause there's different ways to approach it. But I do think that definitely sets you up for success, coming out of the gate and it also gives employees some comfort and the leadership, some comfort because they already kind of know what they can and can't say, and I mean, it depends on people's sort of social maturity too. You know what I mean? Like their experience, but you do get some people that really aren't socially savvy. Speaker 2: (16:39) And I, you know, it, it's very, it's fascinating because you know, at the, at the heart of technology is humanity. You know, if it's not, it's a person, there's a person with a heart. That's sending this digital communication no matter where it goes. And you know, one of the things that I firmly believe is that the brands that will win to the future are going to be the ones that understand that it's fear. Isn't going to be what wins it's going to be. What's embracing the fact that we are living in a different world and that this mobile device, this audio device, this things that are connected to our house, this internet that we're talking about is so much more powerful than we give it credit for. And we need to talk to our team, no matter if they're an accountant, if they're in marketing, if they're in sales, we all need to talk and we all need to learn and respect the device that we're all spending so much time on. Speaker 2: (17:32) We spend all this time on this device and we go home and our wives are on the device or husbands are on the device. Our kids are on the device yet. We don't think that it's important to talk about how our brand appears on this device every single day. Like it's important. So those skills that you teach, all those different people is only going to help them. And people are like, well, what if I teach them the skill? And they go somewhere else, then that's great. You've done something for them. And they will always remember that for that. But if, if they care about the company, if they care about your mission, then they should want to share, they should want to follow the company page, right? Speaker 1: (18:06) Yes, yes, totally. I love the way you put that. Well, one reason I wanted to feature you and your restaurant and your media company with our listeners is to share about text messaging as a digital strategy. Text is really the next thing, one of the next things. Um, and it's been proven to convert more and more quickly than, than some other marketing avenues. Um, you know, a lot of restaurants around us in the greater Atlanta area. And just like in our little community here in Alpharetta are not using it. And I mean, what you talked about happened, to yesterday with having such massive success and learning opportunities through, you know, some of the growth that you've had.....and just one that one holiday, you know, people, restaurant owners and just businesses period are losing out. If you guys aren't paying attention to this. So I wanted to hear and have you share why, and when did you decide to incorporate text messaging and how you all use it, Sean? Speaker 2: (19:11) Yeah. So it's a great, it's a great topic because text messaging is so important. Texting is just another digital tool, another digital way to communicate. And we're, you know, we're really talking about communication at the end of the day. And that's whether that's communication through Facebook communication, through email communication, through text communication with right in front of somebody or six feet away from them. And, you know, text messaging is, is so important because it's, it's yet another platform. It's another app that's integrated onto this voice device that we call a smartphone. Um, but it's something that people open, you know, it's something that people open and they respond to, and if you're doing it in a way that is adding value to somebody and it's not interrupting, I mean, that's the problem with marketing, right? And the power problem with advertising is that we bombard people with things they don't want to hear. Speaker 2: (20:01) You know, so it's, it's back to the Seth Goden, you know, the, the philosophy of permission based marketing and stuff. Goden, obviously he's written all these incredible books about marketing, but permission-based marketing is when you're opting in, you're choosing to like a page you're choosing to, yes, I will receive texts. Yes, I will receive, you know, your email newsletter. So if somebody's saying yes, then they want to receive something of value. So give them something of value. And then they're going to want to be a super fan of your business. They want to be an ambassador of your business. They want to share because they're proud of the business, not just the brand, but the people behind the brand that they support. And, you know, it's so important for restaurants for not just restaurants, but for all small businesses and middle, middle sized businesses, to understand how many different communication tools and techniques that people are using to learn about your business. Speaker 2: (20:53) Because, you know, the issue that we have yesterday and, on Easter with our text communication is that we live in an Amazon prime world. So Amazon prime has given us the ability to buy anything, our heart desires and have it be shipped from another part of the world and end up on our doorstep tomorrow. Um, but even Amazon during this pandemic is having issues fulfilling those requests. So things that are supposed to arrive in one day now they're arriving in five to 10 days, you know, but they are using technology texting and through their app to notify customers of when their packages arriving. Now, door dash is one of our favorite third party delivery features. The reason why we love it so much as the same reason we love Uber is that it gives you a play by play of where your car is, where your driver is when you're going to get picked up. Speaker 2: (21:46) And the things that people value the most is time. You know, so our communications failed yesterday because we have a text. We actually have multiple systems that we're using. We're using Yelp, you know, a Yelp business feature that allows us to text people to say, your order's ready at the pickup window. You know, we've confirmed your order, but we have to integrate that with all of our third party delivery. So we're working on doing that so that it's more seamless, but at the end of the day, the most important thing that we want is to never lie to a customer, which is the same thing we do in the restaurant. And honestly, we don't know when their order is going to be ready due to the sheer volume of orders that we have. I mean, we've been trying to get a package from ups, our local ups, two different packages. Speaker 2: (22:32) One was paychecks. One was rubber ducks for our fishbowl cocktail for three weeks. They've said that this package gets on it, but on the truck, that's right next to where I live and it's supposed to come to our restaurant, we call them, we wait. And we said, well, I'll just go pick up this package after 10 hours of calling and waiting on hold. They, they ultimately, they don't know where the package is until we finally realized that the woman said, you know, there's trucks in our parking lot that have so many packages and we don't have the staff to be able to go in and find your package we're starting. And that's just that, that's the honest truth, but we're living in a, we're living in a world where that those digital sales happen at a volume that no retail business set up to deal with. Not even ups, not even Amazon. So, you know, we all, as customers, as business owners, we have to see that adjust for it and then build our businesses to be successful because of it. Speaker 1: (23:26) Love it. Yeah. There's some, um, why I love it. I mean, I'm in my fifties, my early fifties and I am, I guess not, like other people, my age as love, text messaging service, you know, I guess more young people prefer it as far as the surveys have come out so far. But I mean, I like having the instantaneous feedback and having, like, if I have a dentist appointment, I know it's on my calendar, but if it comes to my texts to remind me and be able to confirm, or, or reschedule or click on a link that I could go right straight to their website or click on the link and be able to call them, you know, I just love how like instantaneous it is. So, and I think, I think as people Speaker 2: (24:10) that's a great example is, is that's just one example of many, but you're completely right. Just to a simple text notification from a doctor, from a dentist, you know, from your, your local church, whatever it might be as a reminder with a link it's the power is, is it's exponential power. Speaker 1: (24:31) Absolutely. Well, one more question. And then we're kind of running out of time and, I know you've, you've got a million things to do today, but I found it pretty simple. I just set it up for us and my firm and, you know, I found it simple and easy to manage on my, on my laptop, on my PC. I'm like, I love the interface of the company I chose. Can you share Sean, how you guys manage the set up and chose keywords and stuff? Like, do you do campaigns or is there anything around that, that you could share with our listeners Speaker 2: (25:02) as far as text messaging goes, or as far as, uh, our digital market? Speaker 1: (25:06) Yeah. Text - with a text messaging service. Speaker 2: (25:09) Yeah. The text messaging service, to be frankly honest with you. We're, we're still vetting new companies because we want an integrated solution for all of our different platforms. So because we have our media brand, cause we have our restaurant brand because we have customers that love our podcasts that listen in Australia and in Norway, what we text message them is different than somebody that lives here in spring Valley that wants to buy a rack of ribs or, you know, celebrate their local birthday. Um, so really coming up with a strategic way to not it's the same way we do email, um, segmentation, is that we don't want to send out something that doesn't get value that plugged clutter somebody's inbox. Um, so we're, to be honest with you, we don't have a platform that we've picked yet. Um, because right now we're really just trying to figure out how to not screw up father's day we're we're we're planning on we're planning on selling a lot of barbecue on father's day we're planning, where we hope to show, you know, as much volume that we're able to put out, but we're also hoping not to have any unhappy, uh, fathers. Speaker 2: (26:18) So that's our priority right now at this time. But I guarantee you texting is it's not only coming it's here and it's very important that people figure out the best platform to use for, for their business. But I would also encourage them to find out, you know, that that's the problem with the issues that a small business owner and entrepreneur has is that you need integration. You know, we need integration with just because you have a texting email, text list, you also need to have the person's email. Right. You know, and then there's always the traditional sending somebody of value in the mail that is different than, you know, a mailer or, you know, a piece of junk mail. It's actually something that's a handwritten, thank you note. Now there's a lot of power in understanding what your customer profile is, but also having a database that actually lets you know, you know, how often they've come in, how often they've received the text, did they open the text? Did they open the email? Did they click the link that was in the email? Did they buy something on the website because of the link? Um, all those things are important and you know, if people don't know how to do those things, they definitely should be hiring companies that understand how to do it. Speaker 1: (27:29) Absolutely. Yes. I just found a new developer and I'm just thrilled because you know, being able to move quickly, um, being, you know, having really a true partnership with the person that's helping you with the integration or the firm or whoever, however you go about finding that key component to integrate is critical. And I mean just doing things now and to indeed urgent and, and making, making your, your customer experience better and better digitally. So this has been great. I could talk to you all day long, Sean. Um, so can you tell everyone where they can find your podcast, where they can follow you on social media? Speaker 2: (28:06) So I think I'm going to give everyone a homework assignment because, um, I think it's a good assignment to do and that's go to Google and search their own name, so their own name and do a Google search on that and then do a Google search for Google alerts and signed up a Google alert for their name, their name and their business. So that way, anytime something on the internet is written published you or your brand, you're notified by an email through Google. It was one of the most powerful things that I've done, because it allows me to understand that there's other people that are doing barbecue. There's other events that are happening. because I get notified when the keywords that I put into those Google alerts happen. If you want to find Kelly BBQ, search Kelly, BBQ on Google, and you'll see all the different things that come up, our job as an entrepreneurs, our job as brand ambassadors, our job as small business owners is to make sure that we're showing up across all these different platforms. Speaker 2: (29:13) So, you know, what do we look like in Google images? What do we look like in Google news? What do we look like on Google maps? What are we looking like? Um, you know, on Twitter, all those things. If you're not searching for what your, what your customer, what's your potential customer. If, if they're able to find out who you are and they're interested in who you are, what you do, what are they going to do? They're going to go to Google and find out, well, what is Google going to tell me what they're doing? How they're doing it, how do they look that that's your resume? Your resume is in the search result. Speaker 1: (29:47) That's right. Okay. I completely agree. And then what's the name? Did you say the name of your podcast? Speaker 2: (29:56) It's digital hospitality and that's on all podcast platforms and you can find it on YouTube, Cali BBQ. We have two YouTube channels every week. Speaker 1: (30:16) Yeah. So I love it. I listened to a couple episodes is so good. Thank you, Sean. This is just so great. I know people will get a lot out of it. And, and when next to my, my sister lives in San Diego. So next time I'm in your neck of the woods. I'm going to come by, I'll give you a heads up, Speaker 2: (30:32) please. I look forward to that. And anybody that's in San Diego, please do the same. And any business owner, I'm always willing to have a conversation and, love finding out what people are doing, what kind of struggles they have or any, any, anything they think is, that I could be of help with. Speaker 1: (30:49) Awesome. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks everyone. See you next time!
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By Carey Sperry-Brown: Digital, Media Consultant, Tech Blogger and PodcasterWelcome to episode 25 – How 1 Restaurant sold out in 3 hours online using social media and a committed digital strategy; What hospitality brands need to do to win in this digital environment.
You'll hear me interview bbq restaurant owner, Shawn Walchef of Cali Comfort Barbeque. Shawn emphasizes how important it is to have your leadership and employees engaged and contributing to your brand's social media conversations,
We highlight text messaging as the "next" effective way to delight your customers and give them instantaneous 2 way interactions allowing you the ability to convert orders AND! how humanity can be a winning factor in post modern branding; when you show and express kindness, and you participate with your community it will build connections that go a very long way.
Speaker 1: (00:02) Hello, everybody. Welcome back. So excited today to introduce you to Sean Wall shop and he is owner of Cal. Um, I wanna want to say it right, Sean, um, Speaker 2: (00:18) Cali comfort Barbecue Speaker 2: (00:32) That is correct. That is our restaurant. We're serious about media and we're serious about barbecue. Speaker 1: (00:41) Love it. So I found you on social media as I do many of my guests. And I really, you know, you caught my attention because how you are really serving, serving your customers digitally. I think you're a standout. I mean, it just really struck me. Um, you have a huge social media following and I just, I'm so excited to have you today. So thank you. Speaker 2: (01:10) Well, it's an honor to be on the show. I see the work that you're doing in Atlanta and the work that you do digitally. And, um, anytime that someone has the same DNA, I, I, I love having a conversation. So thanks for having me on. Speaker 1: (01:23) Yes, my pleasure. Well, tell us a little about yourself and Cali comfort BBQ, and how you got started. Speaker 2: (01:32) Yeah. So we've been in business since 2008. We opened, you know, kind of during the great, the great recession, which was, um, about a year after the iPhone, the first iPhone came out. And the reason I say that that first iPhone is because it was, it was very important for us as a barbecue restaurant and sports bar that was in kind of an undesired location in spring, uh, in San Diego. So when you, when you open up a business, they always tell you, you know, the mantra is location, location, location, and our location is definitely not something that a real estate expert or restaurant expert would've told us to open. Um, but like I said, it was during the time of the explosive growth of web 2.0, which was, you know, really when all these apps started their proliferation, where Facebook had turned into Facebook business pages and Instagram came along after that, but Twitter was getting popular. Speaker 2: (02:27) Yelp was getting popular, Google maps was getting popular. We could to keep people coming into our restaurant so we could pay our bills. So really the having an undesirable location forced us to be on social media in a way that other restaurants probably didn't have to because they had the foot traffic. so we learned early on that, you know, brand was very important. So we always say that ABB, which has always be branding, it's very important for us, not just to care about our, our, our name, who we are, but also what we do in our community. And, you know, we always made a point of always giving back and, you know, whether that was to a local, little league team or whether that was to a local church or the firefighters, or, you know, a local event, not only would we participate by providing barbecue or our services, we would also participate by promoting it on social media and taking pictures, taking video when we were there and, you know, sharing the village news with the internet, which was something that allowed us to really build our skills to what they are today. Speaker 2: (03:51) And it's helped us really significantly during the Coronavirus. You know, we've, we've been able to do what a lot of restaurants and bars haven't been able to do, and that's really let their village know that we are open, that we need their support. And, that we're an eCommerce company that you're able to buy a barbecue online and that you're able to buy barbecue and have it delivered to your house. Speaker 1: (04:13) That's phenomenal. And so it sounds like you got into really being good at digital because you felt like you had to, but then it's been successful for you and really, truly connecting with your community. And it seems like you, you like it and like you have a passion for it. So it's not like this huge chore. Is that kinda how you feel? Speaker 2: (04:37) Yeah. You know, I think, it's a great point that we live in a world. You know, we, we talk our, my podcasts, I have every week it's called digital hospitality and digital hospitality is it's a way of being, and that's really that in order to win as a business, a small business and midsize business, even big business, you have to put yourself on the internet, you have to share what you care about. Um, you have to sell things online, you have to talk about things, you have to participate, you have to add value to people. Um, and the only way you do that is by doing a little bit, you know, every single day and doing a little bit better, you know, whether that's learning, how to use Yelp and respond to a negative review. Um, we just had mother's day was yesterday and it was, we sold out a barbecue in three hours. Speaker 2: (05:24) It was a historic day for us. We did more in three hours than we typically would do in 14 hours. So we'd be open for 14 hours. We did more sales because of the internet yesterday. Um, then we would have in 14 hours having a full 5,700 square foot restaurant, you know, with 300 seats inside another 50 outside. Um, but we also had a lot of complaints. We had to do that kind of volume in that short of time, our infrastructure is not set up to handle that kind of volume. Um, it's certainly not set up that kind of volume in a socially distance world where we're keeping people essentially segregated from one another, keeping them segregated from our, our, our staff. You know, it's the opposite of hospitality. It is the Coronavirus has attacked the heart of hospitality, but how do you, how do you pivot you pivot by doing things online, by selling things through your website, by being active on social media, by thanking people. Speaker 2: (06:21) And when you make a mistake, you know, you own it. And that's what we've had to do. You know, for the last day I've been answering messages on Facebook messages, direct messages on Instagram. I've been answering tweets, with people that, you know, they say that I ruined their mother's day. And I know that the last thing we want to do, we didn't open this business to ruin anybody's day, let alone a special day, like mother's day. And you know, we're so fortunate to have people that want, they choose us because they know there's so many other places they could choose. They chose us and we let them down. But what do we do when you let somebody down is you apologize, you take accountability and you tell them we're going to get better. You know, a lot of the people, they couldn't believe that the owner was responding to their reviews and, you know, they, they just really, a lot of people, they have a lot going on and it's hard. Speaker 2: (07:07) Sometimes the easiest way is to let a restaurant owner know that, um, why, because we're responsive, we're responsive. And our job is to be responsive. You know, we treat anybody that sends us a message online, the same way we do when someone walks in the restaurant and the number one priority is to not be ignored. You know, the last thing you can do is ignore somebody in this day and age. And that's where the digital hospitality comes in. The businesses that will win the brands that will win, will understand that there's so many different channels that people can reach your brand. And if you're not willing to engage them, let them know that they matter. Um, then they're going to find somewhere else to do business. Speaker 1: (07:46) Oh, very well sad. Well, one thing I've noticed about you is your attitude. You have such a good attitude and positivity, but also realistic. And that, you know, you take responsibility, I'm reading a book that was just talking about that. And, you know, to truly be open to having something happen to you, but then instead of ignoring, it are these, all these different ways you can go about it. And as you and I both know as entrepreneurs, you know, there's nothing more, that's going to like make yourself vulnerable than owning a business. Cause you know, there's just so many things that happen on a daily basis. And, but you know, the other thing that stands out about what you just were talking about too is, and are you, are you a father? Sean? Speaker 2: (08:38) I'm so blessed. I have a, I have a one year old daughter she's turning one this summer. And then I have a son that will be turning three this summer. And yeah, it's getting big, biggest blessing in the world for sure. Speaker 1: (08:50) And you're in, you're in, you're close to San Diego, right? That area. Speaker 2: (08:55) Yeah. We're in San Diego County. So a restaurant is in spring Valley and then I live in a community just South of spring Valley called East Lake. Speaker 1: (09:04) Gotcha. Okay. So, well when your kids get older and you might know this through just friends and other relatives extended, but it's like they get to that age where they get their phone and then you have to teach them, you know, what you type is you think of it as being face to face like you have, it's just because you're behind a device or you're behind your keyboard. Doesn't take away the feelings. And there is a lot of hate out there on the internet and everything, but like teaching children. But you get that, like you're saying, like when you talk to your customers online, you answer to their feedback, positive or negative. You, you try to engage with them and I've noticed your engagement is really high. It's not easy. Speaker 2: (09:45) Yeah. No, thank you. And it's, it is very important, you know, especially when you're talking about children and the next generation and you know, those are the things that I think about that my wife thinks about. Speaker 2: (10:31) And it was just, you know, it's, it's so sad. And I know there's a lot of people that don't want to share things that are personal and share things about their family, but each person has their ability to make that decision. You know? And if you do choose to share that, I know that it puts, you know, my family in a position where somebody could say something negative about my son or my wife or my daughter. And, um, but I also know that they could also say that in real life and, you know, as, as much as we try to, to protect our children, we also need to let them know back to what you said is that, that there, there is hate on the internet, but there's also hate in real life. But that also means that there's love, you know, there's love out there. There's great people out there there's people that support us and, you know, letting them know that we appreciate their support by liking their posts by engaging, by saying, thank you for coming in. Um, you know, thank you goes a long way. And you know, I mean, you're in Atlanta - Chick-fil-A built an incredible business by recognizing people recognizing humanity. And, um, I think that's the, those are the brands that are gonna win, you know, not just, uh, not just have one that will continue to win in the new digital future. Speaker 1: (11:40) That's right. And a lot of it, I had the pleasure of working with Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters, when I was with Forester and I, it really opened my eyes to the people, the people that actually work for your brand and represent your brand and become this culture that then goes out into the community that you're serving. And so speaking of that, this wasn't like anything I planned to really talk about, but I'm curious about your team kind of how you guys are set up and who helps you with social media and digital anybody, or is it all you? Yeah, Speaker 2: (12:13) so I've got an incredible team. Obviously. You can't do anything by yourself. I have, you know, my restaurant team, which is led by Eric, my general manager, and they've got incredible catering manager, Steven, and, front of the house managers that really, you know, they've, they've been able to take the business and allow me to grow the media side of our business, which includes Stover my producer of my podcast and our blog. Um, he's in Portland. And then I have, uh, a writer, Ian Stonebrook, um, who's in Austin that helps me create content based off of the audio that we produce, which is our weekly interviews. And, um, you know, on all the social stuff, we were all posting as a theme. You know, that's one of the things I think gets lost is people want to hire an agency and have everybody do it, which is great. Speaker 2: (13:01) And sometimes you need that, but also just understanding that it's so much more exponentially powerful when everyone in the company has an active LinkedIn page. So if you have your page and you're liking the posts from your company and you're talking about it and you're commenting on it now, all of a sudden you you're you and the other people within, within the company become a voice, an industry voice. And it's so much exponentially powerful for the entire brand and the entire company. And I know it's hard to do. I mean, there's a lot of things that are very difficult to do, but you know, if you chip away and you know, you know, how do you boil the ocean? You know, you, you boil it a little bit at a time, or how do you eat a whale, one bite at a time? And if you do a little bit every single day on a platform that that means something for your brand or your company, it's amazing what you'll see in the longterm. Speaker 2: (13:53) You're not going to see that ROI. Everyone wants to know what's the, what's the ROI of me wasting time on a, on an app. And, you know, if somebody told me it's gonna take you 12 years to get all these, you know, incredible local press opportunities, what I do, what I did and what I sacrificed the hours. And I would have said absolutely yes, because now, you know, I can post something on Instagram that we sold out of barbecue in three hours and a local incredible hall of fame producer for QSI. Tommy blonde is going to send me a message. Hey, are you willing to be on the news in the morning? Of course, I'm going to be on the news 12 years, trying to build a business, to get people to care about what we're doing. And now if we have an opportunity to do it, what time do you need me? They're like, well, I'm going to send a reporter at six in the morning. We'll be there. And, you know, Jean, my Pitmaster, Steven, my catering manager, we were here at three 45 in the morning getting ready for the new segment. But that, that didn't happen overnight because I decided to start posting on Twitter, you know, in 2009, it happened, happened, you know, 12 years later. Um, but I'm grateful that it did happen because it's given us so many opportunities, um, moving forward. Speaker 1: (15:00) You're awesome. Seriously - what you were first starting to talk about is really employee engagement. And having employees partake in the outgoing and incoming communication and having people kind of have their own voice integrated into like the brand pillars and what you guys are all about. And, you know, I've worked with companies about with this and one of the first responses, sometimes are well, I'm afraid of what my employees might say and what they might put up there. And that's why you have to have, I mean, depending on your culture, depending on how much, you know, your leaders, you know, how close you are to your leaders and kind of the overall size of the company, it's really about like having some frameworks around it, because there are legality issues. You know, if you have young people that might, you know, have a different way of looking at things, or it could be any variety, but there is absolutely a program that you can put around it. Speaker 1: (16:06) And maybe I'll put that in the show notes. And, Sean, I love to see what you think, about it, cause there's different ways to approach it. But I do think that definitely sets you up for success, coming out of the gate and it also gives employees some comfort and the leadership, some comfort because they already kind of know what they can and can't say, and I mean, it depends on people's sort of social maturity too. You know what I mean? Like their experience, but you do get some people that really aren't socially savvy. Speaker 2: (16:39) And I, you know, it, it's very, it's fascinating because you know, at the, at the heart of technology is humanity. You know, if it's not, it's a person, there's a person with a heart. That's sending this digital communication no matter where it goes. And you know, one of the things that I firmly believe is that the brands that will win to the future are going to be the ones that understand that it's fear. Isn't going to be what wins it's going to be. What's embracing the fact that we are living in a different world and that this mobile device, this audio device, this things that are connected to our house, this internet that we're talking about is so much more powerful than we give it credit for. And we need to talk to our team, no matter if they're an accountant, if they're in marketing, if they're in sales, we all need to talk and we all need to learn and respect the device that we're all spending so much time on. Speaker 2: (17:32) We spend all this time on this device and we go home and our wives are on the device or husbands are on the device. Our kids are on the device yet. We don't think that it's important to talk about how our brand appears on this device every single day. Like it's important. So those skills that you teach, all those different people is only going to help them. And people are like, well, what if I teach them the skill? And they go somewhere else, then that's great. You've done something for them. And they will always remember that for that. But if, if they care about the company, if they care about your mission, then they should want to share, they should want to follow the company page, right? Speaker 1: (18:06) Yes, yes, totally. I love the way you put that. Well, one reason I wanted to feature you and your restaurant and your media company with our listeners is to share about text messaging as a digital strategy. Text is really the next thing, one of the next things. Um, and it's been proven to convert more and more quickly than, than some other marketing avenues. Um, you know, a lot of restaurants around us in the greater Atlanta area. And just like in our little community here in Alpharetta are not using it. And I mean, what you talked about happened, to yesterday with having such massive success and learning opportunities through, you know, some of the growth that you've had.....and just one that one holiday, you know, people, restaurant owners and just businesses period are losing out. If you guys aren't paying attention to this. So I wanted to hear and have you share why, and when did you decide to incorporate text messaging and how you all use it, Sean? Speaker 2: (19:11) Yeah. So it's a great, it's a great topic because text messaging is so important. Texting is just another digital tool, another digital way to communicate. And we're, you know, we're really talking about communication at the end of the day. And that's whether that's communication through Facebook communication, through email communication, through text communication with right in front of somebody or six feet away from them. And, you know, text messaging is, is so important because it's, it's yet another platform. It's another app that's integrated onto this voice device that we call a smartphone. Um, but it's something that people open, you know, it's something that people open and they respond to, and if you're doing it in a way that is adding value to somebody and it's not interrupting, I mean, that's the problem with marketing, right? And the power problem with advertising is that we bombard people with things they don't want to hear. Speaker 2: (20:01) You know, so it's, it's back to the Seth Goden, you know, the, the philosophy of permission based marketing and stuff. Goden, obviously he's written all these incredible books about marketing, but permission-based marketing is when you're opting in, you're choosing to like a page you're choosing to, yes, I will receive texts. Yes, I will receive, you know, your email newsletter. So if somebody's saying yes, then they want to receive something of value. So give them something of value. And then they're going to want to be a super fan of your business. They want to be an ambassador of your business. They want to share because they're proud of the business, not just the brand, but the people behind the brand that they support. And, you know, it's so important for restaurants for not just restaurants, but for all small businesses and middle, middle sized businesses, to understand how many different communication tools and techniques that people are using to learn about your business. Speaker 2: (20:53) Because, you know, the issue that we have yesterday and, on Easter with our text communication is that we live in an Amazon prime world. So Amazon prime has given us the ability to buy anything, our heart desires and have it be shipped from another part of the world and end up on our doorstep tomorrow. Um, but even Amazon during this pandemic is having issues fulfilling those requests. So things that are supposed to arrive in one day now they're arriving in five to 10 days, you know, but they are using technology texting and through their app to notify customers of when their packages arriving. Now, door dash is one of our favorite third party delivery features. The reason why we love it so much as the same reason we love Uber is that it gives you a play by play of where your car is, where your driver is when you're going to get picked up. Speaker 2: (21:46) And the things that people value the most is time. You know, so our communications failed yesterday because we have a text. We actually have multiple systems that we're using. We're using Yelp, you know, a Yelp business feature that allows us to text people to say, your order's ready at the pickup window. You know, we've confirmed your order, but we have to integrate that with all of our third party delivery. So we're working on doing that so that it's more seamless, but at the end of the day, the most important thing that we want is to never lie to a customer, which is the same thing we do in the restaurant. And honestly, we don't know when their order is going to be ready due to the sheer volume of orders that we have. I mean, we've been trying to get a package from ups, our local ups, two different packages. Speaker 2: (22:32) One was paychecks. One was rubber ducks for our fishbowl cocktail for three weeks. They've said that this package gets on it, but on the truck, that's right next to where I live and it's supposed to come to our restaurant, we call them, we wait. And we said, well, I'll just go pick up this package after 10 hours of calling and waiting on hold. They, they ultimately, they don't know where the package is until we finally realized that the woman said, you know, there's trucks in our parking lot that have so many packages and we don't have the staff to be able to go in and find your package we're starting. And that's just that, that's the honest truth, but we're living in a, we're living in a world where that those digital sales happen at a volume that no retail business set up to deal with. Not even ups, not even Amazon. So, you know, we all, as customers, as business owners, we have to see that adjust for it and then build our businesses to be successful because of it. Speaker 1: (23:26) Love it. Yeah. There's some, um, why I love it. I mean, I'm in my fifties, my early fifties and I am, I guess not, like other people, my age as love, text messaging service, you know, I guess more young people prefer it as far as the surveys have come out so far. But I mean, I like having the instantaneous feedback and having, like, if I have a dentist appointment, I know it's on my calendar, but if it comes to my texts to remind me and be able to confirm, or, or reschedule or click on a link that I could go right straight to their website or click on the link and be able to call them, you know, I just love how like instantaneous it is. So, and I think, I think as people Speaker 2: (24:10) that's a great example is, is that's just one example of many, but you're completely right. Just to a simple text notification from a doctor, from a dentist, you know, from your, your local church, whatever it might be as a reminder with a link it's the power is, is it's exponential power. Speaker 1: (24:31) Absolutely. Well, one more question. And then we're kind of running out of time and, I know you've, you've got a million things to do today, but I found it pretty simple. I just set it up for us and my firm and, you know, I found it simple and easy to manage on my, on my laptop, on my PC. I'm like, I love the interface of the company I chose. Can you share Sean, how you guys manage the set up and chose keywords and stuff? Like, do you do campaigns or is there anything around that, that you could share with our listeners Speaker 2: (25:02) as far as text messaging goes, or as far as, uh, our digital market? Speaker 1: (25:06) Yeah. Text - with a text messaging service. Speaker 2: (25:09) Yeah. The text messaging service, to be frankly honest with you. We're, we're still vetting new companies because we want an integrated solution for all of our different platforms. So because we have our media brand, cause we have our restaurant brand because we have customers that love our podcasts that listen in Australia and in Norway, what we text message them is different than somebody that lives here in spring Valley that wants to buy a rack of ribs or, you know, celebrate their local birthday. Um, so really coming up with a strategic way to not it's the same way we do email, um, segmentation, is that we don't want to send out something that doesn't get value that plugged clutter somebody's inbox. Um, so we're, to be honest with you, we don't have a platform that we've picked yet. Um, because right now we're really just trying to figure out how to not screw up father's day we're we're we're planning on we're planning on selling a lot of barbecue on father's day we're planning, where we hope to show, you know, as much volume that we're able to put out, but we're also hoping not to have any unhappy, uh, fathers. Speaker 2: (26:18) So that's our priority right now at this time. But I guarantee you texting is it's not only coming it's here and it's very important that people figure out the best platform to use for, for their business. But I would also encourage them to find out, you know, that that's the problem with the issues that a small business owner and entrepreneur has is that you need integration. You know, we need integration with just because you have a texting email, text list, you also need to have the person's email. Right. You know, and then there's always the traditional sending somebody of value in the mail that is different than, you know, a mailer or, you know, a piece of junk mail. It's actually something that's a handwritten, thank you note. Now there's a lot of power in understanding what your customer profile is, but also having a database that actually lets you know, you know, how often they've come in, how often they've received the text, did they open the text? Did they open the email? Did they click the link that was in the email? Did they buy something on the website because of the link? Um, all those things are important and you know, if people don't know how to do those things, they definitely should be hiring companies that understand how to do it. Speaker 1: (27:29) Absolutely. Yes. I just found a new developer and I'm just thrilled because you know, being able to move quickly, um, being, you know, having really a true partnership with the person that's helping you with the integration or the firm or whoever, however you go about finding that key component to integrate is critical. And I mean just doing things now and to indeed urgent and, and making, making your, your customer experience better and better digitally. So this has been great. I could talk to you all day long, Sean. Um, so can you tell everyone where they can find your podcast, where they can follow you on social media? Speaker 2: (28:06) So I think I'm going to give everyone a homework assignment because, um, I think it's a good assignment to do and that's go to Google and search their own name, so their own name and do a Google search on that and then do a Google search for Google alerts and signed up a Google alert for their name, their name and their business. So that way, anytime something on the internet is written published you or your brand, you're notified by an email through Google. It was one of the most powerful things that I've done, because it allows me to understand that there's other people that are doing barbecue. There's other events that are happening. because I get notified when the keywords that I put into those Google alerts happen. If you want to find Kelly BBQ, search Kelly, BBQ on Google, and you'll see all the different things that come up, our job as an entrepreneurs, our job as brand ambassadors, our job as small business owners is to make sure that we're showing up across all these different platforms. Speaker 2: (29:13) So, you know, what do we look like in Google images? What do we look like in Google news? What do we look like on Google maps? What are we looking like? Um, you know, on Twitter, all those things. If you're not searching for what your, what your customer, what's your potential customer. If, if they're able to find out who you are and they're interested in who you are, what you do, what are they going to do? They're going to go to Google and find out, well, what is Google going to tell me what they're doing? How they're doing it, how do they look that that's your resume? Your resume is in the search result. Speaker 1: (29:47) That's right. Okay. I completely agree. And then what's the name? Did you say the name of your podcast? Speaker 2: (29:56) It's digital hospitality and that's on all podcast platforms and you can find it on YouTube, Cali BBQ. We have two YouTube channels every week. Speaker 1: (30:16) Yeah. So I love it. I listened to a couple episodes is so good. Thank you, Sean. This is just so great. I know people will get a lot out of it. And, and when next to my, my sister lives in San Diego. So next time I'm in your neck of the woods. I'm going to come by, I'll give you a heads up, Speaker 2: (30:32) please. I look forward to that. And anybody that's in San Diego, please do the same. And any business owner, I'm always willing to have a conversation and, love finding out what people are doing, what kind of struggles they have or any, any, anything they think is, that I could be of help with. Speaker 1: (30:49) Awesome. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks everyone. See you next time!