Bob invited Alex Velasco back for a franchising update. Instead he found out Alex had quietly taught himself to code and built a proprietary AI platform — 6 provisional patents, an official Garmin partnership, read/write access to Toast, and zero outside capital. "Do I really need outside capital to accomplish what I wanna do?" He got off LinkedIn, went heads down, and built it himself.

#LifeCurrency #RestaurantBusiness #Franchising #RestaurantTech #AIForRestaurants #ForkToFit #RGV #FoodAndPeople

Life Currency sits down with Alex Velasco, co-founder of Fork To Fit, for his second appearance — 15 months after the first. Alex walks through building ForkPulse from scratch starting last October: food logging, biometrics, telehealth, supplements, and ordering in one closed loop, running on an in-house AI model rather than a wrapper on someone else's. He explains why he walked away from the private equity conversations he'd been courting, what it took to get read and write access out of Toast (a six-month fight and an ultimatum), and why he thinks most SaaS vendors serving restaurants should be nervous. Bob mirrors it with his own build — then demos it live, asking his business out loud how the McAllen Dairy Queens are performing. They get into the CAC problem most operators ignore, why Alex awards franchisees instead of selling to them, the commissary model behind the G5 Restaurant Group deal, and the goal he's actually chasing: $5 meals and 100 million lives fed by 2030. Plus the emo band ambush and a live walkthrough of the app.

0:00 Cold Open: A Secret App

About Alex Velasco: Co-founder of Fork To Fit and The Grill, built with no outside capital alongside his partner Jose. Self-taught developer behind ForkPulse — 6 provisional patents, official Garmin partner, integrated with Apple Health, WHOOP, and Toast. Former competitive bodybuilder, biology graduate, and before all of it, a teenage guitarist in the RGV emo scene.

About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. Coming from a family of franchise owners, he's a passionate entrepreneur who builds successful businesses and creates positive company cultures. Interested in starting, growing, or improving your work with multi-unit franchises? Learn more below.

We are the only creatures in the known universe that uses an indirect form of exchange." That's how Terrence Howard opens this conversation and for a podcast called Life Currency, it's the perfect place to start. The Oscar-nominated actor sits down with Bob Lozano for a wide-ranging conversation about currency as flow rather than debt, why he spent his early acting career believing "being the better liar was the way," the five generations who lived in his childhood home, and the geometry project he says he's building in the Rio Grande Valley.

#TerrenceHoward #LifeCurrencyPodcast #RGV #Brownsville #Philosophy #Acting

Life Currency sits down with Terrence Howard for the first celebrity episode of the show. Terrence opens on currency itself, that money is an indirect form of exchange, and "current" means flow, not accumulation. He talks about the garden where he does his thinking, what Deepak Chopra taught him about dissolving ego, and the turn in his career when he stopped performing and started telling the truth: "When I first came into acting, I thought that being the better liar was the way." He shares what may be the most revealing line he's ever said about himself — "I feel like a fraud as an actor because I'm always doing an impersonation of Terrence Howard" and the memory of his great-great-grandmother's warped applesauce pan that still transports him every time he smells cinnamon. He and Bob also trade notes on the restaurant business through Terrence's wife, a chef whose sold restaurants still hold four-and-a-half stars twelve years later.

0:00 Cold Open: Currency as Indirect Exchange

About Terrence Howard: Academy Award-nominated actor known for Hustle & Flow, Crash, Iron Man, and Empire. In recent years he has focused publicly on his independent research into geometry and propulsion systems, and says he is developing a technology he calls "the linchpin" in collaboration with partners in the Rio Grande Valley.

About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. Coming from a family of franchise owners, he's a passionate entrepreneur who builds successful businesses and creates positive company cultures. Interested in starting, growing, or improving your work with multi-unit franchises? Learn more below.

Produced by F&P Media

*Life Currency by F&P Media features candid conversations with guests sharing their own stories and opinions, for informational and entertainment purposes only. See the full disclaimer above.

⚠️ A NOTE FROM F&P MEDIA: The scientific, mathematical, historical, and technical claims made by our guest in this episode are entirely his own. F&P Media and F&P Group have not independently verified any of them, do not endorse them, and they do not represent the views of our company, partners, or affiliates. This episode includes discussion of a technology our guest says he is developing and for which he states he is seeking business partners. F&P Media has no financial interest in, and has performed no due diligence on, any venture discussed here. Nothing in this episode is an offer, solicitation, endorsement, or recommendation to invest in or partner with any business, and nothing here constitutes investment, financial, scientific, or professional advice. Any references to third-party organizations or institutions reflect the guest's own statements, which we have not confirmed. Please research independently and consult qualified professionals before making any decision based on this content.

🍦 THURSDAY, JULY 30 IS MIRACLE TREAT DAY.

Every Blizzard sold at Dairy Queen on July 30 becomes a donation to Children's Miracle Network — and at every F&P Brands Dairy Queen, 50% of ALL Blizzard proceeds go directly to Driscoll Children's Hospital, the Rio Grande Valley's only designated pediatric hospital. F&P has been giving since 1987. This year, we need you.

▶ Find your local Dairy Queen: https://www.dairyqueen.com

#MiracleTreatDay #DairyQueen #DriscollChildrens #CMNHospitals #BlizzardForACause #RGVGivesBack #LifeCurrencyPodcast

Life Currency sits down with Matt Wolthoff, President of Driscoll Children's Hospital RGV, and Laurie Lozano, President of the Driscoll Development Board and Bob's mother, for the real story behind Miracle Treat Day, the hospital your Blizzard helps build, and why one Rio Grande Valley family has been showing up for Driscoll since 1987. Bob shares candidly what it was like to be a father in the NICU with his newborn son Leonardo. Matt walks through what it took to bring the first designated children's hospital to the Rio Grande Valley — 134 beds, a brand-new PICU, a 63-bed NICU, and an ER that's led the nation in patient experience for six straight months. Laurie shares the story of the $1 million Lozano Family Endowment — the first major gift to Driscoll RGV — and the Clara Driscoll history most people don't know: the savior of the Alamo who left her entire 200,000-acre South Texas estate to found the foundation that would one day serve Bob's son. And they meet Tesla, the Golden Retriever who lies on the CT scan table so kids have something to rest their head on. This one is personal. Please show up July 30.

0:00 Cold Open: "We've Been Giving Since 1987"

About Matt Wolthoff: President of Driscoll Children's Hospital RGV in Edinburg (opened May 2024). Air Force veteran and career healthcare administrator in the RGV before joining Driscoll 4+ years ago. Leading the only designated children's hospital in the Rio Grande Valley — 134 beds serving Port Lavaca to Eagle Pass and now expanding into El Paso and New Mexico via the cardiovascular program.

About Laurie Lozano: President of the Driscoll Development Board and F&P Group co-founder. Bob's mother. Longtime CMN Hospitals advocate and driving force behind the Lozano Family Endowment — the first $1 million major gift to Driscoll Children's Hospital RGV.

About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. F&P Brands has operated Dairy Queens in South Texas since 1987 and has participated in every Miracle Treat Day since. Interested in supporting Children's Miracle Network beyond the Blizzard? Learn more below.

Welcome to Life Drops — the essential cuts of Life Currency episodes, built for multi-unit operators who want the lessons without the hour. This is the inaugural drop: twenty-five minutes of every tactical rule, every quotable line, every hard-won franchise insight from Life Currency's very first episode. Luke Ryner is the franchise banker who finances multi-unit QSR and hospitality operators from LA to New York, and in this condensed cut he shares consistent persistency (including the 13 emails it took to land one of his closest client-friendships), the 10-unit threshold every operator should know, why "you don't build stores to have stores," and the Robert Lozano advice that changed his career: "if you want to lay bricks, talk to a bricklayer."

Matt Singer started serving ice cream out of a Foster's Freeze window as a kid. He had a finance degree and was headed to New York to become a stockbroker — but restaurants kept pulling him back. Ten years and a VP of Finance title at Lazy Dog Restaurants later, he's now CEO of EchoTrack — the facilities and asset management platform running on 30,000+ locations across 300+ restaurant brands, including Burger King's Reclaim the Flame initiative. Bob is a paying EchoTrack client, which makes this less an interview and more a candid operator-and-founder conversation.

In 2008, Larry and Jessica Delgado left Austin to open a wine and high-end furniture store in McAllen. The recession hit, they went from 120 employees to 6, and the electricity disconnect notice was on its way. Larry sold a $10,000 couch at the bar that night to keep the lights on — then they went to dinner, and he looked at Jessica and said, "something's missing." Seventeen years later, that pivot is House Wine & Bistro, Salt New American Table, and a Beat Bobby Flay championship that took two years to be allowed to talk about.

#BeatBobbyFlay #ChefLife #McAllenTX #RioGrandeValley #HouseWineBistro #LifeCurrencyPodcast

Life Currency sits down with Chef Larry Delgado and Jessica Delgado of The Delgado Collective for the unfiltered version of how a failed furniture concept became one of the RGV's most respected restaurant groups. Larry and Jessica walk through their Carrabba's Austin days, the pink shag carpet building they took over in McAllen, the stranger who tossed a credit card on the counter for a $10,000 couch, and the "Dinner and a Movie" nights that accidentally turned a wine bar into a destination restaurant. They share the philosophy that carried them seventeen years — "people forgive food, but they won't forgive service" — and why they said no to the karaoke and disco ball customers swore they needed. Then Larry tells the full Beat Bobby Flay story: the producer call about carne asada, the line he gave Bobby on set ("that's not your thing — that's our thing"), the $250,000 NDA, the COVID delay, and watching it air with his mom on the Salomé patio.

0:00 Cold Open & Welcome

About Chef Larry & Jessica Delgado: Husband-and-wife owners of The Delgado Collective in McAllen, TX — House Wine & Bistro (opened 2008) and Salt New American Table. Larry is a self-taught chef who learned by watching every episode of "Chopped," competed on Guy's Grocery Games, and won on Beat Bobby Flay in 2019. Both came up at Carrabba's in Austin as managing partners.

About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. Coming from a family of franchise owners, he's a passionate entrepreneur who builds successful businesses and creates positive company cultures. Interested in starting, growing, or improving your work with multi-unit franchises? Learn more below.

📺 Watch now and start earning Life Currency

BOB LOZANO

Produced by F&P Media

*Life Currency by F&P Media features candid conversations with restaurant industry professionals sharing personal stories. The insights and strategies discussed are based on individual journeys and intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. They do not constitute professional business, financial, or legal advice. Consult with qualified professionals before making business decisions based on what you hear.

Most kids grow out of comics. Ramsey Ramirez turned them into an empire. Late one night at a Denny's in McAllen, his wife Marla and his friend Chris Ponce told him, "Dude, you love comics — open a comic store." Fifteen years later that napkin idea is KaBOOM Comics, the anime store Anime Boom, the boba shop Boba Bomb, South Texas Comic Con (grown from 3,500 attendees to 17,000), and now his own comic book launching on Kickstarter.

Most operators read Unreasonable Hospitality, hand it to their managers, and wonder why nothing changes. Preston Lee got fired four times as a server making $90K with tips, went broke when nobody would hire him back, and then built 30% — a consulting firm that's now in the rooms with Tyler Florence, Will Guidara, and Jamie Oliver. The lesson he keeps coming back to: hospitality without a system is a slogan.

#Hospitality #RestaurantBusiness #UnreasonableHospitality #LeverageYourTime #SoberEntrepreneur #RestaurantOwners

Life Currency sits down with Preston Lee, founder of 30%, for the unfiltered version of how he went from getting fired repeatedly to working with 250+ businesses last year alone — restaurants, hotels, dealerships, med spas, private clubs. Preston walks through the toxic mindset that cost him his serving career, the 8–9 months of zero sales when he started 30%, the single viral reel that flooded his DMs, and the cold outreach that landed him Tyler Florence and Will Guidara on the same stage. Along the way he breaks down the systems behind 140 five-star reviews from a single server in 60 days, why 7-day restaurant training is malpractice, the "leverage your time" framework for hourly employees, the cardinal sin every hostess commits, and why an $850K mom-and-pop and a $27M restaurant have the exact same problems. He also opens up about 5 years of sobriety and why he's never had a drink with a client.

0:00 Intro

About Preston Lee: Founder of 30% (Thirty Percent), a hospitality consulting firm working with 250+ businesses a year — from $800K mom-and-pops to $500M portfolios. Author, speaker, and host of a sold-out event with Will Guidara (Unreasonable Hospitality), Tyler Florence (Miller & Lux), and Jenny Castro (Coffee Dose). Five years sober. Find him on Instagram and learn more about 30% at his site.

About us: Bob Lozano is the CEO of F&P Group, a company involved in restaurant management, commercial real estate, and digital marketing. Coming from a family of franchise owners, he's a passionate entrepreneur who builds successful businesses and creates positive company cultures. Bob is dedicated to exceeding expectations and making a positive impact. Interested in starting, growing, or improving your work with multi-unit franchises? Learn more below.

📺 Watch now and start earning Life Currency

Most owners confuse a tough decision with a failure. Kevin Jackson and Stan Cummins took over 5x5 Brewing Company in 2023, grew the UTRGV Vaqueros beer into half the business, and made the hard call to close the taproom so the brand could keep going. The beer is still on shelves, the partnerships are intact, and the next chapter is already in motion.

💻 Watch now and start earning Life Currency

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