The Unconventionals

The next time you’re at your favorite bar, take a look at the beer menu and count how many craft choices are on it. Chances are the list is growing each day. So after you order a delicious brew, raise your glass in honor of Lagunitas Brewing Company.

Lagunitas reshaped the beer industry when it became one of the first brewers to regularly bottle an India Pale Ale. This helped create a craft beer craze, which is now posing a serious threat to big beer companies like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Coors. Lagunitas recently opened a brewery in Chicago — making it easier for them to distribute fresh beer nationwide and further disrupt the American beer market.

In this episode, host Mike O’Toole visits Tony Magee, founder and CEO of Lagunitas. They discuss how craft beers have all the momentum with young drinkers — and why the industry giants should be worried.

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Walk into a fast food restaurant and count the number of smiling employees. With the way fast food workers are paid, chances are your count won’t be too high. That’s the MO John Pepper, founder and former CEO of Boloco, tried to erase when he started the burrito chain. Pepper wanted to create a culture where employees received better wages — which would lead to them caring more about their job and treating customers better. And hopefully the customers would be more satisfied with being treated well and it’d lead to future visits.

In this episode, host Mike O’Toole sits down with John Pepper. They discuss how John wanted to make a difference in the fast food industry by improving the wages of the people who work in it — and why that idea didn’t necessarily fly with key stakeholders.

You can also subscribe to The Unconventionals on iTunes and Stitcher. And be sure to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter as well.

When Evernote came along, it re-shaped note taking by giving us a way to use technology to remember things. Many thought the application would fail with the business model it had — there was no specific target audience and people could use it for free, forever. But what those naysayers didn’t see was that Evernote’s value to the user grows over time — and ultimately, that value is significant enough for people to pay for the premium version.

In this episode, host Mike O’Toole chats with Evernote’s Chief Technology Officer, Dave Engberg. They discuss how Evernote users become more dependent on the app each time they use it — why that eventually leads to them paying for it.

You can also subscribe to The Unconventionals on iTunes and Stitcher. And be sure to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter as well.

It seems odd that a large corporation would launch a campaign that’s neither proprietary nor tightly controlled. So when American Express — a not-so-small business — created Small Business Saturday, they must have envisioned a great opportunity. And with the President and U.S. Senate’s support, in addition to countless Mom & Pops, it’s clear they were on to something.

Join host Mike O’Toole as he chats with several guests including one of the leaders behind Small Business Saturday, Mary Ann Fitzmaurice Reilly. They discuss how the initiative was started and how it has helped small, local shops gain a fair share of the holiday shopping season.

Having a sense of naïveté is never a bad thing. Because there are no risks, when there are no rules.

In the Beginner’s Mind, the most outlandish and bizarre ideas could be the best. And who knows? Maybe they’re right.

In this episode, host Mike O’Toole is joined by David Rogers of the Columbia Business School to discuss the "Zen mentality" importance of naïveté for new, unconventional brands. Using previous guests – such as Higher Ground Farm and Unreal Brands ­– they explain how sometimes not having an expertise gives brands more options to succeed.

You can also subscribe to The Unconventionals on iTunes andStitcher. And be sure to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Is it a store, an agency, or a community center? According to founder Rachel Schechtman, Story is a little bit of all three. Based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, Story is an unconventional boutique that reinvents itself every few weeks around a new theme, complete with new merchandise, brand partners, and in-store experiences. And while doing so, it’s reinventing the perceptions of what a brick-and-mortar shopping experience can be.

In this episode, host Mike O’Toole visits Story to chat with Rachel Schechtman. The two discuss the shortcomings of traditional retail, innovation within the category, and how brands are collaborating in new ways.

Many unconventional brands are proving that you can succeed while managing around ideas that aren’t typically measurable. With the right leadership and culture, you can certainly get by defying conventional business practices.

In this episode, host Mike O’Toole discusses how unconventional brands are measuring success with David Rogers of the Columbia Business School. Using former Unconventionals guests as examples, they examine how disruptive brands are carrying out these practices.

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Believe it or not, there can be such a thing as a “Good problem to have” in business. The highly popular fresh burger franchise b.good are finding themselves in these types situations lately as they continue to grow. Founded a decade ago in Boston with the mission to never be a "typical fast food joint," b.good always set out to make the best food possible made by people, not factories.

Now as they begin to expand to almost 50 locations across the east coast, PJA President Mike O'Toole sits with b.good Co-Founder and President Jon Olinto as they discuss the challenges of growing their business without losing focus on why they started the freshest fast food chain around. 

When you think of a busy city a few images may come to mind. Bustling streets, busy shops, bumper to bumper traffic.But one thing you probably don’t picture is a green space and 55,000 sq ft farm sitting eight stories high. That's the scene at Higher Ground Farm here in Boston. We spoke with founders Courtney Hennessey and John Stoddard about their uniquely challenging journey to expand the "Green Scene" around the city and establish themselves within the restaurant community. In this fun and appetizing episode, we'll get our hands dirty with Courtney and John as they share -The structural and practical challenges of building a rooftop garden in the city -An inside look into the elite Boston restaurant scene and how they’re adapting to the ever-changing and demanding "food to table" market -Why it pays to be "Scrappy" Discover your inner green thumb and stream the latest episode of The Unconventionals in its entirety...And be sure to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple unconventional question to change everything… Our friends at Warby Parker asked, “Why do eyeglasses have to cost $700?” The Dollar Shave Club wondered “Why do we pay top dollar for unnecessary shaving technology?” Which brings us to Unreal Candy, which was founded on a question we’ve all thought at one time or another: “Why does all the food we love the most have to be so bad for us?” Join us for an in-depth interview with Unreal Candy founders Michael and Nicky Bronner as we discuss - Their quest around the globe to find chefs to “Unjunk the world” - The intiative to question the standards of candy shelf life - How celebrities such as Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Tom Brady all got involved in the cause Stream the latest episode of The Unconventionals with the folks who set out to change the way we think of “junk food”  in its entirety.