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Bobby's Burgers: The Innovation Behind the Unbeatable Burger Experience

• Erika Rivas

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In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guides podcast, host Jeremy Julian welcomes Anne Pritt, Chief Marketing Officer for Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay. Jeremy and Anne discuss the collaboration with celebrity chef Bobby Flay, focusing on how Bobby's travels inspire seasonal and craveable menu items including burgers, fries, and shakes. Anne shares her extensive background in marketing with brands like Tim Horton's and Sbarro, and explains the philosophy behind Bobby’s innovations and limited-time offerings, including the use of high-quality ingredients like certified Angus beef. They also discuss the tech stack used to ensure consistent product quality and the strategic growth plan for expanding Bobby’s Burgers through traditional and non-traditional franchises. Listeners are encouraged to learn more about Bobby's Burgers and potential franchise opportunities.

00:00 Bobby's Burgers

00:54 Introduction and Warm Welcome

01:22 Meet Anne Pritz: Chief Marketing Officer of Bobby's Burgers

01:36 Anne's Professional Journey

02:53 Who is Bobby Flay?

03:48 The Unbeatable Burger Experience

04:58 Personal Stories and Bobby Flay's Approachability

07:24 Bobby's Burgers: The Fast Casual Concept

10:07 Menu Innovation and Limited Time Offerings

14:16 Marketing Strategies for New Products

18:39 Latest Menu Innovations: Greek Town Burger and Blueberry Cheesecake Milkshake

26:25 Franchising Opportunities and Expansion Plans

33:03 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This is the Restaurant Technology Guides podcast, helping you run your restaurant better. In today's episode, we are joined by Anne Pritt, who works for Bobby's Burgers. Bobby's Burgers is a collaboration with Bobby fla. They continue to make waves in the restaurant space, and her and I talk a bit about what it's like working with Bobby, how they continue to create menu items that are seasonal, but are so craveable. Uh, you won't want to miss this episode where we talk. All about those new items. 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. I.

Jeremy Julian:

Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast. I thank everyone out there for joining us as I see each and every time. I know you guys have got lots of choices, so thanks for hanging out this week with us today. I am joined by somebody that I've gotten to know, ironically via email as her and I have been talking. And so I want Ann to talk a little bit, about her background. The cool part that, that I've loved getting to know her via email is just that, she works for a brand that we've had, one of her coworkers on before. And, selfishly I love their product. And Anne, why don't you introduce yourself before we jump into kinda what you get to do professionally, and then we'll talk a little bit about all the new and exciting things that you guys got coming

Anne Pritz:

Sure. thank you for the very warm welcome, Jeremy. that's gonna be a tough act to follow and a lot to live up to, but yes. I'm Anne Pritz. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer for Bobby's Burgers by Bobby Flay. And a brief background on me, I have been on in the marketing department of some very well-known brands over my more than two decade long career, so we won't.

Jeremy Julian:

You started when you were like eight,

Anne Pritz:

Thank you. Yes, that's exactly right. but yes, I've worked for Tim Horton's and their marketing department on the US side of the business. I was there when they went public during kind of a spinoff, and we did a, strategic plan for the US side of the business to really understand. I helped the brand to understand the difference between the US consumers and Canadian consumers. and then from there went and did a very similar role, to better understand a brand and consumers for Sbarro, was part of their rebranding effort after their second restructuring, to redefine that brand. And from there, moved into a behind the scenes role, or a B2B role for the first time in coffee at Royal Cup Coffee and Tea. And now I'm with Bobby's at Bobby's Burgers and we talk burgers, fries, and shakes, all day long, each and every day.

Jeremy Julian:

I love it. and I know, like I said on the onset, had Patrick on a while ago and I was just with him a couple weeks ago, talking a little bit about, for those that are, I guess have lived under a rock. Don't even know who Bobby Flight is, Walk through, who is Bobby Flay from a marketer's perspective?'cause Patrick was all about the tech and what you guys were doing to make the operations better. But, I'd love to hear your spin on who is Bobby Flay and why is the partnership so critical and why is the burger the concept that you guys are growing

Anne Pritz:

Certainly, for those who may not know Bobby Flay and there, there are some out there. he has a four decade long career as a world renowned chef, and yes, he is the food network as we like to say. but first and foremost. He runs terrific restaurants. He's known for his fine dining restaurants, his television shows on the food network, as well as his cookbooks. He ha he's the first chef to have a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so he has built a brand for. Self, that is truly built on a talent and a skill that he is an expert in. And so when we transition to how does that, support our brand? Bobby's Burgers by Bobby Flight in a nutshell, we call it the Unbeatable Burger Experience, and it is built around Bobby's passion for just classic and craveable. Food done right? The men, the menu, it focuses on burgers, fries, and shakes. And, it uses only the highest quality ingredients with recipes. and this is the quintessential piece, recipes that are solely created by Bobby. So he is our r and d department. He's one guy. but he certainly knows what he's doing and he, sets trends. one of the things we'll talk about, I think in a little bit will be some of our limited time offerings and how we shake up the menu a little bit, but. You know the recipes that Bobby has created, they use, for instance, certified Angus beef. We cook everything to order so you can have your burger with us done. Medium, if that's your preferred temperature. Or you could even have it, well done so you can have it the way that you would enjoy having a true burger.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah. I dunno why Anybody'd have a well done burger, but that's beside the And,

Anne Pritz:

thank you saying that. I'll agree with you on that one, Jeremy. Yes.

Jeremy Julian:

and, I'll get a little bit personal here. 20 years ago when my wife was pregnant with her oldest sh she was the cook in the house and she got really sick with my oldest. And so I dug into really Bobby flas. I've got, I could go pull the cookbook off of the bookshelf in the kitchen. my Bobby Flay was one of the very first cookbooks, and I used to watch Iron Chef every Sunday night. I'd watch him on Iron Chef and, the thing I always loved about his stuff is it wasn't super pretentious. While it was really high, quality and made fresh, he also wasn't super pretentious. It wasn't, this big elaborate scheme when you would watch him plate food and, for those, again, like you said, that, are less familiar with him. his stuff was always approachable and he always came off as this very approachable character on tv. That was like, Hey, we're in the backyard grilling. Let's grill a burger. and it was something that he might have a small twist and a little bit of spice here, and a little bit of

Anne Pritz:

Okay.

Jeremy Julian:

but nothing that was not approachable for the people that, that may have, have wanted to do that. is that kind of where you guys come from?

Anne Pritz:

That's exactly it. you said it very well, and I think one of my favorite stories to tell about Bobby is that he is a self-proclaimed burger guy. That is one of the reasons that he created. Bobby's burgers was because he just loves the quintessential all American hamburger. he believes in melting the cheese all the way. So if you're having that cheeseburger, you're getting cheese in each and every bite. And then he blends textures. one of the things that we're known for is. To crunchy any burger at Bobby's burgers, and that's just a thin layer of crispy potato chips added to any burger or sandwich within our restaurant. And that's complimentary so that you get that texture when you buy it into it, but. Back to that story I was saying I love to tell about Bobby is, yes, he's a self-proclaimed burger guy. And what you might find if you're ever on set with him, a triple threat or beat Bobby Flay, he's known to film a couple episodes in a day, and that's a lot of work. You might find him in the kitchen making himself a burger. That is what he prefers to eat. after a long day of filming, he likes to wrap it up with a burger.

Jeremy Julian:

I love that. for those that have not had a chance to experience Bobby flight, whether it be on TV or even the concept that now is a brick and mortar, and I know you guys are growing and that's part of why your coworker Patrick was on the show a while back is I. Talk us through what is the experience, what is the restaurant that you guys are building prior to us working our way into to some of the new product offerings that you guys are putting

Anne Pritz:

Sure. So we're a fast casual burger concept. You would walk into our brick and mortar restaurant, or even some of our non-traditional locations, and you order at the counter, you're gonna have a team member that's gonna be able to walk you through the menu. we have seven burgers on the menu. We have two sandwiches, which one of'em is a veggie burger That. It's the beat Bobby FLA winning recipe, veggie burger. it was so good on the show, he wanted to put it on the menu. we have five sides and we have five shakes. And it's just one of those things where, like you said, it's unpretentious, it's an unpretentious very approachable menu. You're gonna recognize the ingredients that are housed within each one of the incredible burgers and you're gonna have an experience that you're gonna remember, which is terrific. So order at the counter, the team will walk you through it. You'll be able to go sit down in, in the restaurant. in the traditional locations, we do have dining rooms and booths and that kind of, dining experience. And then in some of the non-trads, it's more of a food court setting where you might take your tray and go and enjoy your food amongst some other concepts. with either travelers or entertainment, goers in some of the casino restaurants with Caesar's Entertainment.

Jeremy Julian:

No, and I know you and I talked before I hit the record button about my experiences have been both at the two stores, the one in the Paris and the one in the Harris, casinos back in, in Vegas. And, from that perspective, it's great because you can walk up and I had the experience, most recently where I walked up and I asked the, Hey, this looks really good, but that looks really good. And they walked me through to your point, this is what I like. I tweak it a little bit here. I tweak it a little bit there. But it was a very approachable and it. The other piece that, that you talked about earlier, Ann, is just the quality of it. it's not the run of the mill, Whataburger, McDonald's, burger King, but it has some of those familiar flavors that you're looking for when you sit down to have a cheeseburger, for a lunch or dinner or

Anne Pritz:

you can go with classic, you can get a Palace Classic, classic cheeseburger at Bobby's, or you can go a little more extreme. You can go nacho with Brian Jalapenos and have that little bit of a kick, But like you said. It is a burger's burger. It's six ounces of certified Angus beef. And if you do have it grilled Jeremy, as to medium temp, it's gonna be juicy. You're gonna bite into it and you're going to taste the beef in the burger. And of course, like we talked about, the textures and the flavors that Bobby adds, but ultimately it is burger forward and you're gonna enjoy eating that six ounces of certified.

Jeremy Julian:

It was certainly a multiple napkin burger when I had it, a couple of weeks ago.

Anne Pritz:

I might steal that from you, Jeremy,

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah,

Anne Pritz:

you for giving me that.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah, no, it certainly was.'cause I, we were in the food court and I, I only had a couple of napkins. I'm, and I'm sitting there eating and I'm like, Hey, I'm gonna have to go get some more napkins. I was there with some coworkers at a trade show and, and so it was funny. so talk to me a little bit about Min Innovation. I know we're here to really talk, talk about kind of some of your new product offerings. And I'd love to walk through, you talk about your RD department being

Anne Pritz:

Yeah.

Jeremy Julian:

That's gotta be, for me it'd be super intimidating what you wanna put a new burger or a new shake on the menu. But talk me through, how do you guys even think about releasing these new products and how does the process work internal to Bobby's?'cause I'd love for our listeners that maybe are in a place that they don't have a system, they don't have a process to be able to do these things, to know that you can execute it at a high level, that it's gonna meet the flavor profiles that you guys are looking for. I'd love to understand what your guys' process is as you guys go through

Anne Pritz:

Yeah. with Bobby, what we tend to do, because he is well traveled, especially domestically and internationally, but what you would find in our limited time offerings or in our recipes that we're bringing forward are celebrations of his travel. They might be flavors that he's picked up along the way that he remembers, and he then crafts them into the space that it makes sense to have that flavor. On a burger, so one of the first LTOs that, that we had brought forward was a buffalo burger, and that's that classic chicken wing. You might say. that's a chicken wing, right? And so you think of, how can you take that flavor profile and move it into the burger space? it's relatively easy when you have Bobby Flay ideating for you and being your RR and D department. he's terrific as far as being open to feedback and he loves creating things in the kitchen. where we netted with this one was, it's our toasted brioche bun, which we use in all of our burgers. That certified Angus beef patty that we talked about before. And then what's really interesting, I mentioned earlier that Bobby, says, melt the cheese. We have a sign in our kitchen that says, Bobby says, melt the cheese, because he does believe that every bite should have cheese in it. So when you think about buffalo or buffalo chicken, you probably think blue cheese.

Jeremy Julian:

Yes.

Anne Pritz:

And what you might also think are crumble, crumble Bluetooth.

Jeremy Julian:

Crumble blue cheese. I don't think of melted blue cheese. I don't know that I've ever had melted blue cheese unless it's on top of a wing and it's melted into the

Anne Pritz:

It just happened to melt. No.

Jeremy Julian:

yep.

Anne Pritz:

so guess what? We use sliced blue cheese. So we use sliced blue cheese so that it can melt over that burger patty. Then you'll see us add that tangy barbecue sauce, cool ranch, dressing to give it that, that cooling factor in your mouth. And then for texture, like I've been mentioning. Watercress is the green. And again, that's a little bit of a surprise, that elevated burger experience that again, I think you would, if Bobby, you're gonna expect it to be a little bit elevated, but if you love that buffalo wing or that buffalo chicken flavor, you're gonna be willing to try it because it's created by a chef who is proven to know what he is doing in the kitchen. and it's ironic because with that one being our first LTO, one of the unique things with Bobby's that I didn't mention in the upfront was you can substitute grilled chicken into any one of our burger recipes. So if you are, a frequent guest and you just don't feel like a burger. At Bobby's, that's an okay thing. We've got, we've got options. So if you're a tried and true buffalo chicken, flavor person, you can have that experience at Bobby's and sub a grilled chicken breast in there. Have it built, of course the same way, and enjoy it on a bun,

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah. and I love that, walking through what that process looks like as a marketer.

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Jeremy Julian:

How do you tell that story? I guess I'd love to, to get inside of your brain that says, how am I telling that story?'cause yes, it's great and it's easy to say, oh, this is a Bobby Flay created thing. But you still gotta get it down to, the consumer that is now coming in and you're gonna try and change them from. Buying the traditional burger that they came in for to try and drive that LTO to drive, the craveability factor and such. I'd love to get inside of your brain and how you think about these things prior to us talking about the latest LTOs that you guys have got

Anne Pritz:

Yeah, certainly. we do have Bobby Flay that we can lean on a little bit, right? So a lot of times what we do when we introduce new flavors or new features, we let Bobby announce it. There's nothing more credible in any brand, a chef aside. So if it, the chef in your brand whomever's leading your culinary innovation, if you will. When they're the one in the forefront talking about the food that they've created and that they have developed, through whatever process that they adopt, to do. the credibility comes when it's that individual sharing the news. So oftentimes Bobby, he'll get the spotlight, and we'll have him share it across his social media channels and not only the Bobby. Burgers brand, but in the Bobby Flay brand as well. So there, there's a bit of a following with Mr. Flay and all of his branded pieces. But then we lean into some of the very traditional, aspects of marketing, if you will. So when you walk into the restaurant, you need to know that there's something new. So we rely on. A little bit of tech, digital menu boards to help us timely deliver that message throughout the customer journey. Once they're inside, hopefully to influence their purchase occasion, as you mentioned, maybe they came in for that Bacon Crunch burger, but then they see this new flavor and it is craveable to them and they might break from their norm and try it. but if not, what we would certainly hope is that we'll get an incremental occasion. That's really what we're after, maybe I don't wanna give up my bacon crunch burger visit that I had my heart set on today, but I'll come back later in the week or I'll come back on the weekend with the family and we'll all get to try that limited time, featured offer.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah, sorry. I was just gonna say, I love that you guys continue to innovate because I think, oftentimes what I find with brands is that they get stuck and it's oh, it's working, let's not innovate, and then you don't get that incremental visit or, you get the I, I joke about it. daughter doesn't eat beef. And so the fact that, high highlighting that you can change for a chicken breast, if there was a Bobby's in our neighborhood, it's Hey, I don't feel like a burger. Hey, you can get a chicken breast. So it's sometimes it's that education that says there are new things on the menu.

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Jeremy Julian:

There are things that are coming out. Because if I'm not feeling like the Bacon Crunch burger,'cause that's what I always get at. Bobby's now moving their. Their purchase behavior to trying something new and then making it fantastic to eat. Now it's, now I have to weigh, do I want two things? do I want one of these two things rather than just going for the one that I always, always would go for. Is that, your guys' thinking from the

Anne Pritz:

That is our, that is absolutely our thinking. And so it, and it also just having the variety on menu, we are first and foremost. Burgers. It's in our name, it's center plate, it's the hero, whatever you wanna call it. That is what we are all about, but we recognize, your number of burger occasions in any given week or any given month. You could probably tell me how many times you eat a burger in a week or in a month. But when you give that variety of chicken, or like you said, you'll bring your daughter. You may want a burger, but she has a menu solution too, and I call some of those, healthy halos, if you will. So again, we're a burger, burgers, fries, and shakes all the way. But you've gotta carve out on your menu some type of. Of offering that speaks to those who might just have a different dietary preference. things like that. So we're highly aware of those things as well.

Jeremy Julian:

No, I love that thought. And so talk to me about your guys' latest menu innovation.'cause I, that's really where we're

Anne Pritz:

Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

And we wanted to highlight some of the new things that you guys have created

Anne Pritz:

Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

and ultimately where they're at. Why did they get created? And and even really, I'd love for you to talk in about kind of the LTO concept of it, but let's talk first about the items and then we'll talk about how do you guys put'em on and how do you guys take

Anne Pritz:

Yeah, no, fair enough. Okay, so moving into where we are now. This one is actually, one of my favorites, so I'm excited to talk about it as, as you can imagine. but it's our Greek town burger. And so again, earlier I had mentioned celebrating Bobby's travels. When I say Greek town, you're, you can probably in your mind kind of visualize.

Jeremy Julian:

cheese. It's gotta be feta somewhere. It's gotta be feta somewhere in my brain I'm like melted feta normally have crumbled feta on my Greek salad, but I'm sure you guys figured out some way to melt some feta cheese on top of a

Anne Pritz:

The good news is it's gonna have those crumbles, but it is going to melt. So that's the great part. But you're spot on. So what we've got with, the Greek town Burger is again, that certified Angus beef patty. Housemate, Taki sauce, fresh cucumber, tomato, red, onion sliced, with that feta cheese on top. And it is that perfect Greek experience that you would expect, whether it's in a salad, whether it's in a Euro, but now where Bobby Fla and we're Bobby's burgers, you're gonna.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah, I might have to take a special trip to go, to go have one of these burgers. I know there's not one of the, one of the stores close to me, but that

Anne Pritz:

we want

Jeremy Julian:

missing is the ka outta olives. I think

Anne Pritz:

Yeah,

Jeremy Julian:

as I think about,

Anne Pritz:

fair enough.

Jeremy Julian:

and, or my Greek, Greek products.

Anne Pritz:

Fair enough.

Jeremy Julian:

love that. and really at the end of the day, it came from his travels and trying to create something that is approachable, but maybe not directly on the center, but just a slight. Slight navigation from that.

Anne Pritz:

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And we're in the summer months. And you mentioned Greek salad, but I think tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion. it is that season where it's, and you're gonna want the fresh veggies and you're gonna wanna enjoy'em. In every setting, right? It's a little bit easier to say, eat your veggies in the summertime.

Jeremy Julian:

absolutely. It's funny you say that. so I know that, it's not just the burger though, that's kind of part of this new offering. So talk me through some of the other things, because again, I think you guys are hitting the summertime. You guys are hitting the warmer weather. I don't think of Greek salad or Greek food at all in January. Probably. It's too cold. I don't think about that. But, in summertime for sure. So help me understand some of the other things that you guys have created.'cause I'd love to, to learn a little bit more about it because I, quite frankly, it's like one of those things I'm like, all right, I need to find my way there.

Anne Pritz:

we want you to come, we want you to come to C We want come to the training center, we'll put you through your paces and you can make theses yourself too. So

Jeremy Julian:

Love that.

Anne Pritz:

on. Bobby also recognizes the need for innovation in sweet in treat, right? So the way to cap off your meal at Bobby's burgers with Bobby FLA is a milkshake. Bobby's favorite is our pistachio. So if you like pistachios, you will absolutely love this milkshake. I do catch him every once in a while. Taste testing when he is in the kitchen, the pistachio shake. but what we have now featured as a sweet treat is a blueberry cheesecake milkshake.

Jeremy Julian:

That sounds so decadent and

Anne Pritz:

Okay.

Jeremy Julian:

and so

Anne Pritz:

It is. And what makes it even better is the fact that we use custard for our milkshake. So just again, mouthfeel texture. Just think about that. you can taste it as we talk about it. So if

Jeremy Julian:

yes.

Anne Pritz:

thick, the custard is blended with blueberry, then we make our whipped cream in house. So it's house made whipped cream that we put on top more of that blueberry drizzle. And then it's not cheesecake without a little bit of graham cracker. So it is at the graham cracker crust expression as, spring, a sprinkle on top of the whipped cream. So blueberry

Jeremy Julian:

sounds

Anne Pritz:

a cup?

Jeremy Julian:

I, not that it's good for the sales on that side, but I'm glad there's not one too close to me because I probably would go for both of those products. That sounds

Anne Pritz:

Yes.

Jeremy Julian:

and where, I think they're on the menu now. talk me through your guys' theories on the LTO type of thing, because I think it's a, again, many innovations, really critical. Create reasons for them to come in, but there's also a scarcity effect, when it's

Anne Pritz:

Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

and there's certain items that are always there, but then there's things that you guys decide to take on and off seasonally because of lots of different reasons. But I'd love, your guys' philosophy

Anne Pritz:

Yeah, what we're doing now, and again, we're still relatively a new brand, right? we're still young, so we're, we are learning and that's really what we're wanting to do with these LTOs is bring forward yes, innovations and flavors that are proven, and speak to Bobby's travels as we've committed. We also wanna learn what works. So of these craveable flavors that we've talked about before, is there an opportunity ever to have the Buffalo burger live on the menu permanently? What if there is a significant demand for the blueberry cheesecake milkshake year round? So what we're wanting to do is. Enable our guests, of course, to try these products, but then to give us the feedback to say, Hey, you know what, that Greek town burger that I had, last week, I want that to stay on the menu. Bobby, do you hear me? and we could talk a little bit of tech on how we do that and guest feedback. We use Ovation for that purpose. Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

Amazing guys. Amazing founder. great

Anne Pritz:

Incredible. and the way that they distill the information and serve it up to brands to be actionable is like none that I've ever seen so quick, have to say that. but we do value our customer feedback and we ask for it. And in several spots throughout the journey. and then we utilize thanks as our loyalty program also. and we speak to those guests. We serve up exclusive offers to those guests, as you can imagine. they know about these LTOs, they know about these flavors. And when we get, Feedback from third party ordering sites, that they love those flavors too. It all aggregates together so that again, we can make those informed decisions on maybe where we've really hit a home run with an LTO, whether that's now or in the future. or where maybe we missed a little bit of the boat. in my previous experience, in some of the other concepts that I worked in, regionality played a huge part in the success, or lack thereof for LTOs and flavors on menu, right? And so us being able to learn and understand how that fits into the burger space from a regionality perspective. Is really important to us. long story short, what I see us doing with these LTOs Jeremy throughout this sort of infancy stage as we continue to build the brand, is succeed swiftly. where we do, fail fast is the other coined term, but what we would do is take learnings from where maybe we've missed the vote at, per our guest feedback and tweak and move forward.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah. No, and I love that thought because again, I think you've gotta create reasons for people to come in, and then if it becomes something that everybody just loves and you guys can execute well, now it turns into one of those things that you guys decide to move into the menu permanently and drives those incidents. I. Incidental, visits to the stores for those you've talked about the infancy of the

Anne Pritz:

Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

for those that are not familiar and want to be a consumer and are

Anne Pritz:

Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

alright, I gotta figure out how to get my Greek burger. I gotta figure out how to get my blueberry shake. blueberry cheesecake shake, where can they find Bobby's? I already alluded to the two stores in Vegas, but I'd love to, where can they find a Bobby's burgers and then, to go consume it. And then, obviously you guys have got your feedback channel so they can give you that

Anne Pritz:

yes. Okay. So we have nine restaurants in total. As it stands today. There are five in partnership with Caesar's Entertainment. So those, those five breakdown, there's actually three in Las Vegas, one in Atlantic City and one in New Orleans. And then if you're a Yankees fan, and I don't know if I'm gonna get booed or cheered right now, but.

Jeremy Julian:

I happen to be a Yankees fan. so we'll, I'm sure I'll get some hate mail for that, but that's okay.

Anne Pritz:

sorry to set you up for that. but we do have a Bobby's Burgers inside Yankee Stadium, so if you're there to catch a game, you'll be able to grab, Bobby's Burgers. We just opened, in Orum, Utah this past December, with franchisee out that way with intent to open additional restaurants in the state of Utah, Phoenix Airport. If you're flying Southwest through the new terminal in Phoenix Airport, you'll see us there. And then we've touched briefly on what we have here in Charlotte. Charlotte is our headquarters, our corporate headquarters. but our restaurant here also serves as our test kitchen and training center. So it is a full fledged restaurant, serves every item on the menu, but it's also where franchisees will come experience, the training side of things and all of the tech that we have, housed within the tech stack and within the restaurant. So that's really the showpiece, if you will, where we can. To teach about Bobby's burgers by Bobby Fla.

Jeremy Julian:

Is that also where you catch Bobby with his, with his pistachio shake, testing, in the restaurant downstairs? I love that. I love that. and so you talked a little bit about how you guys go to market. I love that you guys are in non-traditional. in traditional brick and mortar locations. So if, if I'm sitting here listening and I'm like, you know what? I want to be on this rocket ship that you guys are, at the infancy stages of how do they learn more about, engaging with your guys as a franchise partner potentially and putting'em into a city near them.

Anne Pritz:

Thank you for that. So we are actively, seeking experienced multi-unit restaurant operators to join our system. they might be a pizza franchisee, a taco, a chicken, you might have those in their portfolio, but not burger yet. That's who we're looking for. We're doing statewide or large metro deals. and we're not after world domination. Here, Jeremy. So what we're looking for specifically is an operator who knows their market, who knows where our fast casual concept is gonna fit and be successful. So where you can learn more is of course our website. So Bobby's burgers.com/franchise. As we like to say, franchise with fla, there's a little bit of a form to fill out. Nothing daunting. and what we would do then is receive your information and we would give you a call and we would chat through, what your experience looks like and you could share with us what it is about Bobby's burgers that appeals most to you, and continue conversations. If we find that you're a match and we're a match for you, it's just as.

Jeremy Julian:

I love it. and I would say, and I'm not saying this just'cause you're on the call, you and I talked a little bit about it pre-show the amount of investment that you guys have put into not only creating great products, but helping a franchisee to be successful is something that I applaud. You've got great market. you guys have built a fantastic leadership team that really is gonna help these franchisees succeed. And so if I were putting out a word of encouragement to somebody that's at. minute 31, 32 in the recording. Really, if you're looking for a franchise, these guys have gotten it figured out. They hired some people that have been in the space for a while that really get it and know what it takes to make things work within the franchise community. It's not just let me go sell as many franchisees as I. As I can, it's how do I help you to be successful as a franchisee in your space? And so I I applaud the efforts and the amount of investment that you guys have already put into it.'cause, having watched from the sidelines for the last couple of years, it's been fun to watch it continue to grow and watch the investments and it. Is also non-traditional and traditional. So if you've got a space that's in a hospital or in, just different places that you might not think, oh, this will work. They've figured out ways to do that because they've automated the tech and made it really easy to operate the store. sorry, I'm just a plug for you guys, but I've watched it over the last couple years and it's been fun to

Anne Pritz:

No, I appreciate that. and you're spot on. We put together a tech stack that we feel does set a franchisee up for success. we've vetted, we took the time to build the right sort of architecture when it comes to, what is needed to run the restaurant. I love your plug for the non-traditional and traditional Jeremy. we talk a lot about our 400 square foot engine. you might have heard it before and you're smiling about it. So our kitchen is designed, in 400 square feet. To be able to, pump out over 400 burgers per hour. So volume isn't an issue. space, you gotta build around that square foot engine, right? but man, I tell you, it can fit anywhere.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah.

Anne Pritz:

some of the non treads have shared kitchens. Great. Some of them we can house, of course, in our brick and mortars. We can house everything all in one unit. But ultimately it's the efficiency in the kitchen design, and the tech that supports it, that's gonna deliver the consistency of product that we demand, and most certainly is Bobby flas vision when it comes to eating food that, he has crafted, the rest.

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah. No, and I think, you can go back and listen for those that, that want to go, that episode I did with Patrick, because the amount of kitchen tech that you guys have is pretty remarkable. A lot of people think about tech and we talked about, everybody says, oh, point of sale, or your online ordering, or your third party delivery, or your feedback or your

Anne Pritz:

Yep.

Jeremy Julian:

All great pieces of tech. You guys have also invested quite a bit in that and some of the kitchen technology is really where I was impressed when I learned more about it and I've watched how creating consistent product out of the kitchen because you guys do cook everything from scratch and have to melt the cheese on the burgers because it's Bobby's way and all of those kind of things. I just, I love that you guys have made those investments.'cause I think a lot of restaurant brands are like, ah, we're just gonna buy whatever the oven is or buy whatever the. the grill top is and such. And I think it's, it's great that you guys have done those investments prior to blowing up because I've seen too many brands get out to 20 or 30 stores and go, ah,

Anne Pritz:

Yeah.

Jeremy Julian:

screwed up and we need to go back and retrofit. And then now the franchisees are frustrated about it,

Anne Pritz:

Yep. No, it we're, we've been very purposeful about the decisions that we've made, and we're seeing a lot of success with all of our partners. and if we find down the line, Jeremy, we have one of those Oh, no moments. The thing that I am super confident about with the team that I work for and work with every day is. We'll evaluate it, we'll make a change, we'll make it right, and we'll move forward,

Jeremy Julian:

Yeah. Anne, thank you so much for sharing more of the story of where Bobby's came from, where you guys are going, really how you guys think about these things. Is there anything that we missed on today's show that, that you would wanna share with our audience?

Anne Pritz:

I would just say again, we look forward to franchising and growing throughout the United States and internationally. there's some news. That will be coming out soon. We have a great pipeline of franchisees and announcements coming, but we definitely want to chat with more. So again, if you're that multi-unit experienced operator and you don't have burger in your portfolio, Bobby's burgers might be the fit for you. So we hope that we'll get to talk with you.

Jeremy Julian:

hopefully you guys find somebody here in, in Texas so that, I can go another, another notch on my belt

Anne Pritz:

There you go.

Jeremy Julian:

just a little bit higher for those, those shakes and burgers.

Anne Pritz:

Perfect.

Jeremy Julian:

Anne, thank you so much. Thank you for what you guys continue to do To our listeners, guys, I know you guys got lots of choices, so thanks for hanging out with us. If you haven't already done so, please subscribe to the show. Give us a rating on your favorite podcast player and make it a great day.

Thanks for listening to The Restaurant Technology Guys podcast. Visit restaurant technology guys.com for tips, industry insights, and more to help you run your restaurant better.

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