Revolutionizing Pizza Franchising with Crust Pizza Co.: A Deep Dive into Tech Innovations

In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast, host Jeremy Julian speaks with Nicholas Fontenot, CTO and partner at Crust Pizza Co., a Houston-based fast casual pizza brand known for its unique approach to pizza making and franchise operations. Nicholas shares insights into what sets Crust Pizza apart, including their dedication to fresh ingredients and a proprietary tech stack designed to streamline franchise operations. He discusses the journey from his background in tech and franchises to enhancing Crust Pizza's back-end processes with innovative technology solutions. They delve into the challenges and strategies behind building their own POS system and the importance of achieving consistency and quality across all franchise locations. The conversation highlights the balance of growing a brand while maintaining a high standard of food quality and customer experience. Nicholas also teases future expansion plans and emphasizes the importance of selecting quality franchise partners.

00:00 Crust Pizza

01:06 Introduction and Welcome

01:35 Meet Nicholas: Background and Journey

02:46 Crust Pizza: Concept and Quality

05:23 Challenges and Tech Solutions in Franchising

08:26 Building and Automating the Kitchen

16:21 Developing a Custom POS System

25:34 Franchise Growth and Future Plans

29:53 Conclusion and Farewell

Transcript

Speaker: 0:01

In today's episode, we are joined by one of the leaders at Crust Pizza. Crust Pizza is a brand out of the Houston market that is ready to take the world by storm. They're producing a very different experience in the world of. Pizza and fast casual pizza. They've got a very unique process and, uh, my guest, Nicholas and I talk deeply about what makes them tick, what makes them unique, and really why they think they've got a better brand of pizza for today's consumer and the things that they're looking to do. They've also done a lot in the way of streamlining the franchise operation and what they think that each of the franchisees need to have in order to be successful. Stay around till the end where he talks a lot about his tech stack and all of the things that they have invested in at an early stage so that they can help brands to thrive. If you don't know me, my name is Jeremy. Julian. I am the Chief Revenue Officer for CBS North Star. We wrote the North Star Point of Sale solution for multi-units. Please check us out@cbsnorthstar.com and now onto our episode.

Jeremy Julian: 1:06

Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast. I thank everyone out there for joining us. As I say, each and every time. I know you guys got lots of choices, so thanks for hanging out with us today. Today is a cool story 'cause uh, we're gonna talk with Nicholas about the brand, but, uh, they are a brand that, that, uh, even though you might not think it, it's uh, it's. there's not a whole lot of people that are doing what these guys are doing. They've built, a lot of their own tech stack. And so we're gonna talk with Nicholas both about the brand that he gets the privilege of working with, and then why they chose to go down this route. So, but before we jump into that, Nicholas, why don't you introduce yourself? You and I got a chance to, uh, pre-show, to talk a little bit about kind your background, and I'm pretty intrigued about, uh, about how it's pivoted from the different places you've been to now, where you're at with Crest.

Nicholas Fontenot: 1:48

Yeah. No, I appreciate it and I appreciate you having me on the show. So, so yeah, my name's Nick Fontenot right now. Uh, I'm a partner and CTO at Crust Pizza Co. the company's been around, uh, for quite some time. we've been around since 2011, but, uh, I've been, uh, with the company now for about three and a half years. My background comes from, my, my very first, franchise concept that I created was, uh, called Fix My Phone. Uh, grew that I think three or four or five different states. Uh, learned the franchise aspect of it. and after that, uh, got into another, I created another franchise concept, and that's where I dabbled in food. Uh, I was, uh, was a partner and original creator of Main Speed's Juice Company. Uh, and even before all that, I've just always been a technology guy. I've always loved tech. my first, one of my first jobs coming outta college was for at and t or singular back in the day. So I've always been that tech nerd. But, but yeah, no, I've, it's been quite the journey and, uh, I ex I'm excited to see where Cress goes. 'cause our, uh, how fast we're growing right now is insane.

Jeremy Julian: 2:45

I love that. So for those that are not familiar, 'cause you guys are geographically kinda in the south Texas or Houston market for the most part. for those that are not familiar with it, talk us through what is crust pizza and I guess what even drew you to the brand to even join, three years ago I.

Nicholas Fontenot: 2:59

Yeah, that's a great question. So Crust is a fast, casual, pizza concept. we serve Chicago style thin crust pizza. Uh, we really focus in on, uh, quality. and so for example, our dough, we make four to five times a day just depending on, how busy the store is. We make our dough four to five times a day from scratch. Uh, never even hits the fridge or freezer. And so I don't know of any other concept that does that. Uh, we have our own proprietary, uh, blend of cheese that, that is made just strictly for us. We hand, hand cut all of our cheese every day. We hand cut all of our veggies, hand cut all of our meats. And so again, we really focus in on quality and, uh, and then we try not to, uh, to be too expensive. So, our typical customer. we try to get them to come back a few times a week because, we're not charging some absorbent amount, uh, for our menu items, even though they're getting that quality. and then as far as atmosphere goes, we, a lot of our, furniture and stuff we source from like Restoration Hardware and so we, we give you a nice, we tell people it's a place you can take your spouse for a date night. And it's also, uh, somewhere you could take your kids after a ball game. It's, we really do. I. Uh, we hit a very niche part of the market. I don't, there's not many. Whenever people are like, who's your competition? we really, I don't even know. there's really no place like crossed uh, and we hear that every day from our customers, so it's really cool.

Jeremy Julian: 4:13

That's awesome. and I know we, we talked a little bit about a pre-show. I've not had the privilege of going yet, but uh, next time I'm down in that neck of the woods, I'm gonna have to check it out. What, I guess just 'cause it caused a little bit of, uh, a pause in my brain. What is Chicago thin like? I always think of Chicago is thick cru thick crust pizza. So, walk me through, what is Chicago thin crust pizza? 'cause I had no idea that they were even, they even had a thin crust pizza. 'cause I always think of New York as thin crust pizza.

Nicholas Fontenot: 4:39

yeah. No, it's a, it's funny is we hear that all the time from guests who you know, aren't necessarily from Chicago. 'cause if you're from Chicago, you're not asking that question because believe it or not, more thin crust pizza is sold in Chicago than deep dish. And so, yeah, I

Jeremy Julian: 4:53

Interesting. It's just the tourists, it's the tourist trap to get 'em in for the, uh, the crust pizza or,

Nicholas Fontenot: 4:57

yeah, so if you're a tor, if you're a taurist, you're getting the thick, pie slices, and you have one piece and you're, gotta take a nap, right? but no, uh, Chicago is actually known for their thin crust. Uh, and we cut all of our pizzas and tavern, tavern style where, it's not necessarily in, in the triangles. We cut it in squares. And, it's definitely a unique take on it. and our guests love it.

Jeremy Julian: 5:17

I love that. thanks for cut. Cut. scratching my itch that when you said Chicago, then I was like, what the heck is that? one of the dilemmas that we've seen in this world as you go to franchise when you try and do everything fresh is that's really hard. That's really hard. So I'd love to talk through just even how you guys have done that. 'cause I think tech has played a big part in ensuring that you can make. Dough fresh. you think about some of the contemporary places that are fast casual, just in general, it doesn't matter. It could be corporate owned, like a Chipotle to a, franchise group. of a blaze or a ah, mod pizza that are fast casual, but they struggle with consistency of product. They struggle with consistency of doing that, and that's where a lot of it's made in the commissary and brought to them. You talk about the fact that you guys are at a place where you're making stuff fresh every day in house. Help me understand how you guys, are able to do that.

Nicholas Fontenot: 6:06

Yeah, no, it's a great question. So, yeah, 'cause look, at the end of the day, these stores only have, enough time in the day to do what they, what needs to get done. And so yeah, the more things we throw at them where it's like, Hey, you need to make a dough every few hours, you need to, prep this and prep that and cut this, and yeah. Versus just doing it all and giving it to him. So, yeah, so you're right. Tech does play a big part of that. And that was one thing, whenever my business partner and I decided to join Cross just a few years ago and to join the original two, uh, founders of the company was we simplify this? How can we take, make technology and make it easier so that we can scale this? And because, the two original partners had an amazing brand and they had an amazing concept. They had amazing food. but yeah, they had no tech, uh, they had no tech stack at all. They, they're not tech guys. and so, yeah. Being able to go in, learn, learn the restaurant inside and out. I literally lived uh, one of the restaurants for a year and a

Jeremy Julian: 6:58

I love that.

Nicholas Fontenot: 6:59

a year before I even. Started to change anything or do anything, with tech. And so just filling out and seeing where all the, what I felt, where the gaps were and where we can use tech to, to help, scale the brand and make it what we're, where we are today. when we joined, I think we only had a handful of locations and I think we just opened store 33 and by the end of the year we'll be over 40. So, having, all the systems in place is, uh, is what allows you to just put the pedal to the metal.

Jeremy Julian: 7:24

Yeah. and so let's talk before we jump into point of sale, 'cause I know you guys have built your own point of sale and I wanna talk about that. But you alluded to the fact, Nick, that you started in the stores. You were there for quite some time before you tried to enhance anything. I know pre-show, we talked a lot about kind the back of the house and how you automated the back of the house. How did you tackle that? because I think a lot of people, the franchisees a lot of times are like, ah. I dunno is what did corporate tell me to do? And then I'm just gonna go, follow the checklist and do that, which is great. But you had to almost create those checklists and figure them out and then say, how do I put them into a system to automate them and make sure that they're delivering on that consistency? 'cause nothing hurts a brand worse than when you get outside of the core and you can't visit the stores every day. And then the product goes downhill and the. Operations going down goes downhill. And I know you guys are, have invested a lot early on so that you don't get to that place. So I'd love to get inside of your brain and say what exactly did you do and where did you start to invest time, money, and energy to get new things going to help the brand to be able to be successful.

Nicholas Fontenot: 8:24

Yeah, no, all. Yeah. Super. Great question. So, the thing with, if we make, if we back up for a second and we talk about, my last franchise concept, which was main squeeze, I actually started first building the POS and then I built all of the tools to help the stores operationally behind it. And so. Crust. I knew that, that should have been opposite.

Jeremy Julian: 8:44

POS is hard. POS is hard, man.

Nicholas Fontenot: 8:47

it is. And but also running restaurants hard

Jeremy Julian: 8:49

Yeah.

Nicholas Fontenot: 8:49

having the right systems in place and not being able to look back and see, where something went wrong or where the, the gap is tough. So. Yeah, so that's what I did with Crust. I basically did what I wish I would've done with main squeeze. I started with all the kitchen tools, and so when I say kitchen tools, we have everything you can imagine and more we can, uh, that we can do in our kitchen. So we have our own private app that, that they can, uh, print date dots on. Uh, so corporately we, uh, we. Put how long things last for. And so every employee has their own pen. So when they put in their pen, it prints out a date dot form. It tells me who made the date.at what the time they made it, how many they made, like when they're prepping. Uh, and at any point in time we can go in and do audits on the store to make sure, uh, nothing's expired, whatever. Uh, we have, uh, we developed it where we have sensors in all of our coolers, all of our fridges, all of our, uh, warming boxes, everything like that, where I can make sure that. That, uh, the stores are at temp at all time. It sends the owner and the manager messages if for some reason temp is not, uh, reported back three times, uh, what it should be. we have opening checklists that are all automated that all the employees can do from their phones or they can do it from the kitchen app to make sure everything's being done. They can upload photos when they're, when they finished each task. so opening midday closing checklist that are all automated. If they're not doing, if for some reason they, they fall behind on a checklist, it sends them a, an EA text and email alert. Hey, this is not done yet. You need to do it. so again, just using technology so that all of these things, we hold a brand standard, and then we also have somebody from corporate that their job every day is to visit multiple stores and they're doing these random, we call 'em RFCs Restaurant Systematic Evaluations. And so they, the stores don't even know when they're coming, but they show up and they make sure that, and again, that's run on another application that we build. That it's just a checklist that they go through. They take pictures, it tells 'em if they failed that point last time. it tells 'em if they've, if they failed it again. and then at the end it gives 'em a to-do list that it sends 'em an email and says, okay, this is what you failed. This is how you need to fix it. Once it's fixed, you upload it here, show me pictures. And then they come back and, and I guess, make sure it's done properly.

Jeremy Julian: 10:52

and I, the cool part and the, amazing part for me, Nick, is how often these things are an afterthought before people scale. they go run out 'cause they've got a great product and they've got a great brand. They go run out and sell a bunch of franchises and then they get out there and the quality. Suffers and then they end up getting, getting beat up about the quality. But in the first 6, 8, 10 stores that they had that were core, they were great. And so the fact that you guys have put these systems in place, did that system architecture and that thought from you and your partner, did it just come from realizing, franchising that these are things that you need to do? because even what I mean at. Less than 40 stores. The amount of tech that you guys have, even in just in your kitchen before we get to the front of the house, is pretty remarkable. there's brands that are 2, 3, 4 times the size, 10 times the size of you guys that are, don't have all of these things in place, or they went and bought something off the shelf. And I'd love to talk to you about why you guys built it versus bought it, but, uh, but tell me really, where did that thinking come from and why was it such an important thing to invest before the scale?

Nicholas Fontenot: 11:52

Yeah. No, yeah. Again, great question. So, one thing that I realized when growing Main squeeze, and we didn't even talk about this, but we were one of the fastest growing, uh, fast casual health concepts in America at the time. That when I saw sold out. But, having a great product and a great brand helps sell franchises, but. I learned that sells franchises more is good technology and a good tech stack because people get excited about that. They want to know that when they sign up with a brand, it's, we call it a business in a box. They wanna know when they sign up with a brand that, that they're gonna get the tools and that they need to be successful tech does that.

Jeremy Julian: 12:27

Yeah.

Nicholas Fontenot: 12:28

and so that's, we sold 54 locations in two and a half years. That's insane for a brand new concept. we had one store and sold 54 locations in two years because of the tech stack. And

Jeremy Julian: 12:39

That's incredible.

Nicholas Fontenot: 12:40

brand and we had great product as well. So I don't wanna take all the credit, but, but yeah, so I knew that with Crust we needed to do the same thing, especially if we wanted to grow, we wanted to scale it because a pizza concept is, there's a lot more moving parts than making smoothies and juices. and so. to me, just being an entrepreneur and business owner, I know that the two most important things with owning a business, and the reason why people fail businesses is either they, they didn't make enough money, so then they spent too much money on their cost of goods, or they spent too much money on their labor. and so building tech that allows our stores to, to see that at all times in real time, how, where they're overspending, and if their labor is too high in certain places. it was vital. And so we didn't, and we didn't even talked about that part yet, how we do that. but yeah, that was really why I wanted to focus in on the tools before the POS. And so it's been a few years now. We, I think, it's been about two and a three years. started the POS and we're, we're on our way to, to launch it over the next 60 days. But having that, it's just gonna open up a whole nother facet of resources and of course data is key, so having all that data at our fingertips is gonna be incredible.

Jeremy Julian: 13:46

Yeah. So tell me, on all of your guys' items, like you guys aren't making the mixers. So at, where do you guys, and I just left RLCA couple weeks ago, at the time of this recording, Restaurant leadership conference. Great conference for restaurant executives to learn. There was a whole debate on build versus buy, and it sounds like you guys are of that. Build ilk, at least as it relates to technology, rather than going and buying something off the shelf. Or maybe you start with buying something off the shelf, learn where its frailties are and then, so talk me through that before we jump into POS. 'cause I really do want to get into why did you guys, why are you guys building your own POS and launching it? But even in this, a lot of these back office things, even that product for data dots, I have people ask me all the time. What's everybody doing for data Dots and nine Outta 10 customers are still just writing the name, the date and sticking it on the data dot without a prep list or without a understanding what those things are. And you're nodding for those that are listening on the audio, I'm sure so many of our operators are still in that spot where they're still doing it the same way that they did it in 1996 where a day dot, they write the date, they don't even check who did it or any of those kind of things. And so I love that you guys have automated that, but why build because it's a lot of work. It's in, it's. capital intensive to do that. I agree with you long term, it's the right PLA plan, but short term it's hard.

Nicholas Fontenot: 15:01

No, you're right. and again, having my background where I've, I guess my take on it is be because I've done it before and because, this is not like my first rodeo. Yeah. I'm, I, I understand most people, it probably makes more sense to partner with somebody who's built it and done it. but what I've found is, especially when you have so many franchise partners, is the more third party, companies we ask them to work with, the less likely they are to use it. Because it's, they now have to remove a login. They, it's another company they're having to pay monthly for this service, and then they have an issue, so then they're having to call 'em. And it's just, it really muddies up when you have, different third party companies and nothing talking to each other either. and so it's just, it makes more sense for us and especially with my background and our, and my tech team that, that's been with me for, uh, 15 plus years. to just do it, just build it. and so, yeah, a lot of times we'll find a company that, that maybe has that tech, we'll purchase it for, six months, a year, whatever, learn it, think, figure out the things that we love about it, things that we hate about it, and then we just uh, build our own from it. But, but yeah, so that's, I guess that's my answer in short. Yeah. It's just, it's easier, for me.

Jeremy Julian: 16:06

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. and again, I'm sure you guys found that there's data companies out there, there's checklist companies out there, there's back office companies out there that do purchasing and inventory. And you guys have chosen to do no different than we talked about pre-show, build your own point of sale. So talk to me a little bit about where you guys are at on the point of sale journey. 'cause, uh. that's hard too. it's, there's a lot of moving parts and pieces. You got a lot of things that are out there that you guys had to think about. and I think you guys started similarly with an Offthe shelf product and built on top of it and then ran into limitations. And so you guys decided to go build your own ordering platform. So talk me through where you guys are at on that journey and how that whole thing transpired.

Speaker: 16:45

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Nicholas Fontenot: 17:21

Yeah. Yeah. So when I joined the company, we were using a, uh, a different POS, it wasn't even cloud-based. so if the, our original, my or my partners, my, the original founders wanted to know what a store did and sells the night prior, they'd have to literally go to the store and look at the POS or look at the receipts, which I was like. Whoa, to upgrade. And so, uh, knowing that I, how I wanted to come into the company, knowing how I wanted to build the backend tools and to help support the team. And when I say team, all of our employees. So I wanted to build employee pools that would help them do their job better. I. More efficiently. I wanted to build tools for our customers to make sure that, we know they're having a good experience. And we haven't even talked about all these different tools. But, and so knowing all that, I knew that I couldn't tackle both at the same time. And so I found A-A-P-O-S partner that I felt could grow with us and get us to the finish line. and, I made sure they had all the right APIs so that when we were ready to integrate in all of our tools, uh, we could do so and so, we signed up with toast, years and years ago. This was before they were even a pub, publicly traded company. and of course they promised us everything under the sun. I. Again, this is not like me throwing shade at them, but, at the end of the day, I think, a lot of things have changed with their company. Uh, once they went public and, we're not getting the support and the help and the future vision that, that where they're heading it, there's a lot of things that, they, for them, they built it. for it to work with every business model. Not just restaurants, whatever or every type of business, every type of restaurant even. And so, things like multi-level fulfillment, we need, and I dunno, there, there was, we wrote everything down and sent it to 'em. hey, this is the stuff that we, that is gonna help us run our business. they're like, this, these are all great ideas, it's just gonna go in a, it's gonna go in a queue, we may never get to it. We may get to it. and we waited. Another year or so, and nothing ever changed. And so at that point, again, with my background of already doing this two other times, building PSS two other times, I'm like, it's gonna be expensive. It's gonna cost, a lot. It's gonna take a lot of my time and energy. obvious, obviously it's gonna be a big change for all of our franchisees eventually once, once it's completed. But are we willing to make that investment and do it? And and so the obvious answer was yes. And so yeah, we've been working on it for about a year and a half. And, and yeah, we're getting close to the launch and I'm a little bit nervous because it's obviously not gonna be perfect, but, but yeah, it's, we're gonna have some tools in there that we don't have now, which, we'll, I think the stores will be excited about.

Jeremy Julian: 19:41

and I love that you guys, again, I love just in general how you guys have taken, control of your own destiny, not just from the food and the production side. you guys got a unique product and doing different things, and so it's not your run of the mill fast casual pizza place. And then in addition to that, you guys have said, you know what? We're gonna control the guest experience, which to me is a big piece of everybody's restaurant. And I think sometimes, philosophically I believe, and as a business, we believe that tech should not dictate how the restaurant operates. The restaurant should operate how the restaurant operates, and tech should enhance that experience and allow them to do what they need to do. When you think about pizza though, pizza is a very unique, dining experience, and you've got really tech forward companies that are out there that have. You know that, that measure their sales in billions, a Domino's and a Pizza Hut and a Papa John's. And so you guys are, while it's definitely not the same product, you're still competing for that same consumer spend. When they say, do I want pizza today? Do I want crust or do I want to go order Domino's and have it delivered? They oftentimes have set the trend on what the expectations are for even non pizza brands. So how do you think about that? Nick, 'cause whether it's the Domino's Pizza tracker, I was at EC in March earlier, last month I guess. and somebody from Domino's was up on stage. Just how they even thought about the Domino's Pizza tracker and how even delivering to a ball field or delivering to a non-traditional address was something that they also added in. How do you guys think about that as it relates to the guest experience? 'cause you've got the in-store point of sale, but most pizza places have some form of delivery and or off-prem and I'm sure you guys are no exception to that.

Nicholas Fontenot: 21:12

Yeah. the thing with us is, especially in the pizza realm, is it's super easy to get caught up. Is, especially in the pizza realm, is it's super easy to get caught up. And even being growing up on pizza, the first thing I would do. Back in the day when I'd call up a pizza place, I'd say, Hey, what dis what promos you guys running? just, I'm like, you don't do that with any other brand, any other type of food is, ask them what discounts you have. And so, it's, it was really tough to. push away from that. But I think over the years our customers don't really, they're not looking at Crust going, Hey, what, what type of discounts do you have? What coupons do you have? Whatever. 'cause we really don't do that sort of thing. And so, you look at a brand like Chick-fil-A, like they're, they don't really. They don't do promos. They, they do have a customer, app that, that you can download and get rewards and all that. They have a rewards program, which is really cool. Uh, and so that's really what we're focused in on is creating a super nice, super cool, uh, reward program for our guests to, to reward our return members. and. And yeah, that's really what we're focused in on versus, trying to compete with the Dominoes. 'cause we'll never, we'll never be as cheap as them. but again, we, it's not the same dining experience for sure.

Jeremy Julian: 22:17

Yeah. And again, I just, I, it was one of those things that I was thinking about. I'm like, how in the heck? And I, and again, you guys are not in the same space, but consumers continue to drive our behavior. They continue to drive what it is that we're doing, from a tech stack. we have to invest in technology every day at North Star, and we have to build features that consumers are looking for and brands are looking for. So I just was wondering how you guys think through that. So, Just cause it's hard to continue to invest and, uh, know that you're gonna hit those, uh, those paths. I'm gonna flip the, not flip it around a little bit, but I'm gonna dig a little bit deeper into kind of your guys' thoughts. I know we're recording this in late April. You got a couple of, couple more weeks till you guys are getting out to the field. How have you considered. Rolling out New Tech to the franchise world. 'cause it's hard too because they're used to the ways that they are. They're running their shops the way that they're running them. They likely are on some other form of tech stack. And so you guys have had to roll out over the last three years different pieces of technology, whether it's the point of sale or the back office system. And oftentimes that comes at a cost. And oftentimes that comes at a change management component. How have you guys considered that as a brand? Because. I also see technology investments fail because the franchisees don't adopt them. So then they don't get the results. And when they don't get the results now they don't trust corporate when they're bringing out something new. And again, I'm sure at your last two, two roles you had this problem. So how do you guys think about that? For those that are also in the franchise business that might be listening to the show, how do you guys make sure that it's gonna hit the nail on the head and make sure that it's really delivering the value that you guys were hoping for prior to making the investment?

Nicholas Fontenot: 23:47

Yeah, no, that's a great question. So, I have a handful of stores that I like to test some of these new features out with, because at the end of the day, it can work great in my office and my developer's office. And it, it looks fancy and it's got all these nice buttons and I. it does all these cool things, but if, if the stores aren't, yeah, aren't using them or don't understand it, or maybe it's not, in the real world application, it's not doing all the things it should do. And so, yeah, I, I usually run it through a handful of stores, get feedback, fix it, do it again, get feedback, fix it. And, I usually give it, I'd say two to four weeks of just testing it, beating it up, and then roll it out. with the stores, that is something I can probably do a bit, a little bit better job of. is, uh, to the stores better, uh, about what it does and how it can help them. Because for me it's once something rolls out, I'm onto the next, where do we Versus, but that is also part of, I was talking about es earlier, that is part of the RSE is that when, uh, when they do come into the store from corporate, they make sure that they are using all the tools and that they understand all the tools, and that's part of that checklist. And so that does help, that as well.

Jeremy Julian: 24:46

and I think, like you said, they, franchisees get excited about this stuff 'cause they realize that you guys are on the cutting edge of, uh, of really investing in the stores and not, it's not some stagnant thing that you guys are doing. You're constantly looking to innovate and not, I'm sure the same. It sounds like the same culture exists, whether it's on menu innovation, it's store innovation, it's tech innovation. You guys are at that place, and ultimately, at the end of the day, successful franchisees continue to grow and continue to be happy with the brand, and then they trust you. And it's a very symbiotic relationship. Once they stop being able to do that, it turns problematic. Medic.

Nicholas Fontenot: 25:17

a lot of these franchisees, signed up Fort Cross because of, when we did our discovery day and we showed 'em the tech stack and where we're at and how forward thinking we are and even showed them the roadmap of what, where we want to be, And so I think a lot of these franchisees are excited to get new tech and and then they embrace it.

Jeremy Julian: 25:33

I love that. last kind of question or thi you guys talk about growing, obviously we spent a lot of time talking about how you guys have invested in technology. What, for those that want to learn more about cross, help me understand what, where are you guys at in your guys' kind of growth cycle, primarily in kind of the Houston market for the most part right now, but where are you guys at? and again, we're recording this in late, uh, April of 2025. So some people may listen to this a year from now. So, and maybe you guys will be at 500 shops by then, but who knows? We'll see. So if they wanna learn more, about the shops and how to. How to investigate whether Crust is right for them. where do they go and what does that look like?

Nicholas Fontenot: 26:09

Yeah. Yeah, we have a franchise website, crest franchise.com.

Jeremy Julian: 26:13

I.

Nicholas Fontenot: 26:13

we're about tapped out of Houston. I think we have 27, 28 locations in Houston. So we're about, tapped out of markets in Houston. But, we are looking at franchise partners and, I. Other Texas markets, the Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, uh, and we are open to looking at other bigger markets like Atlanta and the Carolinas and stuff like that. As long as it comes with, multi, multi-units, we're not, uh, it would take a lot of a pool for us to take all of our people out and, go to somewhere else to train just for one store. So we're not super interested in that, but. but yeah, we, what's really cool is because the brand, we have such a following, with our brand, uh. We get so many, uh, requests a day to become a franchisee. And so we're, we are, to be honest, we are super selective and super picky with who our partners are. and so we're not just signing anybody up, but yeah, we'd love to, we're really looking for, like I said, multi-unit, uh, people who are already in the game and not necessarily pizza game, but franchise game and then people who want to be, In it, I don't, we're not really looking for somebody who just wants to put money in it and walk away. We're, we want, we're want somebody who wants to be an operator and, uh, get their hands dirty.

Jeremy Julian: 27:15

and I think, uh, as we talked about quite a bit, uh, in the show in general, it's just the quality of what you guys do. Fresh cut cheeses, doughs every day sauces like you have to understand and be passionate about growing the business or else you're gonna struggle to grow. 'cause it's not, uh, and again. Lots of different franchise opportunities and there's people that are set it and forget. It doesn't sound like that's the brand and there's a lot of opportunity to make a huge difference both in the community and to grow quite a bit and make some good money. So, is what it sounds like at least. So I love that you guys are thinking that way.

Nicholas Fontenot: 27:46

Oh yeah. Yeah. And

Jeremy Julian: 27:47

I.

Nicholas Fontenot: 27:47

again, we, even though it does sound like a lot, and yeah, at the end of the day we are, full fledged restaurant. we really have simplified it and, uh, and made it, dummy proof, if you will, to, to pick it up and run with it as long as you're, willing. So I don't wanna scare anybody. But yeah, it's, done a lot to, uh, to make it easy to operate, in my opinion.

Jeremy Julian: 28:05

and I think, in general, in general I think it's uh, I think it's significant, uh, that you guys are thinking that way. 'cause I think I've watched in my 30 year career, a lot of people that grow so fast and then they end up getting out over their skis and they don't end up having the right franchisees and now they're spending all of their time fighting the franchisees 'cause they pick the wrong partners and it hurts the brand and ultimately they lose it. And so, just 'cause I'm sure this will come up if. People want to even see what it is that you guys are doing. Are you guys considering commercializing any of the tech you guys are building for other brands? is that gonna be another business opportunity for you guys or is it kinda only for cross and We're not gonna, we're not gonna do anything there. 'cause I just, I could see somebody saying, how do I get Nicholas's Day dot, thing. Or how do I get his back office program? Or how do I get his POS.

Nicholas Fontenot: 28:50

No, I, it's so funny, I've gotten asked this so many times, even our ops manager, who's, her background comes from, I think she was with Dickies and, uh, before that or after that, she was with Clean Juice and, uh, she worked with Marcus Limonis hand in hand with a franchise that he created. So she's been in the game. And so she said, Nick, I've been with so many companies, big companies, and nobody's had anything like this, would you? I. Ever be interested in, in, licensing this or selling it or, and I don't know. I think that's something we'd really, uh, we'd have to step back and look at. I think at the end of the day, there's so many. paths you can take when you're running a franchise. And, the problem is I think if we white label this, it's just, it's gonna take my energy and focus away from what we're doing right now. and that's continuing to grow the brand and the business. The goal over the next eight years is to hit 250 locations.

Jeremy Julian: 29:34

Love that.

Nicholas Fontenot: 29:35

that's what our focus and energy's on right now. And so

Jeremy Julian: 29:38

Okay.

Nicholas Fontenot: 29:39

I'm never gonna say never, but at this moment in time, it's for trust.

Jeremy Julian: 29:42

Okay. I had a, I had an assumption that was gonna be where it was, but I figured I'd ask 'cause uh, as you've said internally, it happens. And so you're gonna have a whole bunch of listeners that are gonna be like, how do I get what he has? So, what's the best way to stay updated on what's going on with Crust, and what's going on with Nick and the team?

Nicholas Fontenot: 29:59

Yeah, that's a good question. so again, crest franchise.com is our franchise website, crest pizza co.com is our main one. we, uh, we have a new section there that, of all the new things going on and locations opening and, and so yeah, that'd be probably be the best way, to stay up to date of what we're up to.

Jeremy Julian: 30:14

Awesome. I love that. thank you for, uh, spending time with us and sharing why you guys have done what you guys have done. as I said, I'm excited to, uh, to go check it out next time I'm down in Houston or if, uh, if you guys find your way up this way, I'll be down there this summer at one point for sure. 'cause, uh, like I said to you prior to, uh. I got a daughter who's in softball. Any longtime listeners know that I'm all over the country on sporting event, uh, outing. So I'll check it out. Uh, to our listeners guys, uh, I know you guys have got lots of choices, so thanks for hanging out with us. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform. Nick, thank you so much, and to our listeners, make it a great day.