Ben Little
@TRUmav
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Following
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14 QSR franchises 55m in annual sales 800 employees/ @Tour_Junkies CBO/ Futures trader /Lazy River Connoisseur
GA/NC
Joined October 2009
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無料クーポン
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Pinned Tweet
If this guy is across the negotiating table from you, you’re in trouble
The tells:
-wears a 3XL, but should probably wear a 2XL
-old school Rolex
-jeans w/ worn in loafers
-took 4 calls before takeoff at 6:30am
-been talking about racing for an hour
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I have a theory that almost 100% of high achievers hate to lose more than they love to win.
My favorite MJ hating-to-lose story goes as follows:
MJ asked Jeremy Roenick (NHL great) to play a round of golf. Roenick had the day off, so he agreed.
Roenick: 'I beat him for a
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This is one of the most fascinating charts I’ve ever seen.
Been staring at it all morning trying to draw assumptions from it
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I have a theory that almost 100% of high achievers hate to lose more than they love to win.
My favorite MJ hating-to-lose story goes as follows:
MJ asked Jeremy Roenick (NHL great) to play a round of golf. Roenick had the day off, so he agreed.
Roenick: “I beat him for a
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-shirt aggressively unbuttoned 2 to many
-wallet so fat w/ business cards it looks like he has a growth
-raspy voice, most likely former chain smoker
-keeps phone in shirt pocket
A pros pro
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A huge pet peeve for me is when restaurants try to be cheap. A perfect example:
I stopped charging for extra sauces 3 years ago.
The best in the biz (chick) doesn’t charge, so how can I possibly justify it?
It inserts needless friction, & can cost you a lifetime guest over
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@EricPoortinga
He doesn’t negotiate over those. The room just understands that he gets the last one
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'If this guy is your boss, your gonna make it through the recession'
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A real-life example of how wasteful our government is:
A federal agency placed a $5k catering order w/ one of my stores. They asked for net-30 invoicing...done, no problem. All the standard rules apply, ie 10% late payment charges after 30 days, every 30 days.
Catering day
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Is there a way I can short the private equity car wash boom?
Did Americans just start washing their cars 400% more the last couple of years?
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I believe sending young kids to 2-4 week overnight camps is one of the best investments you can make in your children.
Yes, there will be tears the 1st year. BUT
-it gets them out of their comfort zone
-teaches them a lot about goal setting
-they learn to work with other kids
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-uses old spice deodorant
-hasn't paid income tax since the 80s (bonus deprec) or worn a tie since the 80s
-gold pinky ring
-only uses a desktop (PC obvi)
-has 1 flats & 1 deep sea boat
-laughs entirely too loud at his own jokes, & slaps his knee 100% of the time at the punchline
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-name is Tony or Chad
-could sell a ketchup popsicle to a lady in a white dress
-has an African mahogany wood desk w/ papers covering 100% of the surface
-has 8 fully mounted animals in his primary residence
-recently switched to Diet Coke, which he crushes 10 a day of
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I've seen people lose their entire business & livelihood because they were cheap (or just didn't know any better) by setting up bad (or no) Operating Agreements
I'm in the process of redoing all mine & here are the top 10 things that can really screw you:
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A real-life example of how wasteful our government is:
A federal agency placed a $5k catering order w/ one of my stores. They asked for net-30 invoicing...done, no problem. All the standard rules apply, ie 10% late payment charges after 30 days, every 30 days.
Catering day
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Favorite new additions:
-You realize years later that he slayed you on a deal but inexplicably still have fond memories of him
-Kept his BlackBerry until 2018 (still mad he shattered the screen in the Wynn high rollers bathroom at 4am)
-can recite from memory the best streak
If this guy is across the negotiating table from you, you’re in trouble
The tells:
-wears a 3XL, but should probably wear a 2XL
-old school Rolex
-jeans w/ worn in loafers
-took 4 calls before takeoff at 6:30am
-been talking about racing for an hour
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Here's a couple dirty little secrets about Raising Canes:
-Todd Graves is a UGA grad, not an LSU grad (kudos to the social media team though). He was raised in Baton Rouge & that was location
#1
.
-The story he tells about the LSU professor giving 'him' a C- was actually his
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In trading we called this:
'Picking up pennies in front of the freight train'
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I've seen people lose their entire businesses & livelihoods because they were cheap or just didn't know any better by setting up bad (or no) Operating Agreements.
I'm in the process of redoing all mine & here are the top 10 things that can really screw you:
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Something that I can give my strongest endorsement:
4 years ago we made the executive decision as a family to stop giving physical gifts & take a nice trip every year for Christmas
The kids (& us) will remember the trips, they won’t remember the presents.
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Another thing that just kills me about our relationships w/ the banking system:
18-year-old w/ no income or job that can't do laundry & doesn't know how to pay a utility bill getting a degree in Egyptology, Puppet Arts, Gender studies, Art History.
Bank: Yes that is a great
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Just a PSA since it's almost grillin szn.
Walmart can thaw & re-freeze their steaks up to 3 times
If you see a ton of juice in the plastic (like the one on the left). It is most likely because it's been thawed multiple times.
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Here is a super simple template to see how a restaurant that cost $3.2m to develop (& thereby pay $18k in rent) at $2m in sales looks like
Bottom line of $104k...& we haven't even factored in the FF&E note repayment, interest expense, etc.
There's basically nothing left at
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One of my favorite studies ever was done by Google
They sought to discover the key characteristics of what makes a high-functioning team
The results had nothing to do w/ background, education, intelligence, talent or other similar malarky
Instead, they found these 5 key traits
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PSA for all your boys that are boycotting
@budlight
this weekend
BUD also owns the following brands
Kona, mich/mich ultra, Stella, Busch, natty, land shark, goose island, shock top, wicked weed, Red Hook, Elysian, Breck, Golden Road, Hoegaarden, Rolling Rock, Corona, Modelo
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If someone wants a billion dollar blue collar business that is ripe for disruption…
Look no further than Cintas, Unifirst, Aramark
Never seen companies that *actively* try to screw their customers like they do
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Some restaurants are so dumb.
Putting in a $750 catering order for tomorrow afternoon, won't let me do it.
'Need at least 24 hours notice'
This is a great way to have zero catering business
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It kills me when I see a new coffee drive-thru concept being built on the wrong side of a busy road (on the 'going home side' vs. the 'going to work side')
This one stupid mistake is going to cost that business literal millions of dollars, assuming it survives at all
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First time!
Looking forward to seeing firsthand how a brand at $2.6m AUV is losing money
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Here’s the sneaky genius of Gov Newsome (can’t believe I just wrote that). Let me explain:
By making fast food min wage $20, it effectively makes the state wide min wage $20.
There’s 500k fast food jobs in Cali. Why would anyone now work for less than that?
The genius part:
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Can't post the W's w/o also posting the L's.
We had to close a store last year
A story of the risks of not owning your location, playing chicken w/ the landlord, & franchise license agreements :
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I let any & all of our employees bring their children to work, & if a customer has an issue with it they kindly f*%k off
I respect hard working single parents more than any other class of humans
You do not know sacrifice until you have heard their stories
Some people say she is wrong for bringing her baby to work. Because its unsafe for a child. And others respect the fact she is doing what she has to do. What yall think 🤔 👀
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If your lease sucks, it impacts almost every aspect of your business cash flow & overall value negatively.
Here is what an (almost) perfect tenant-side lease looks like. And despite what some CRE brokers will tell you, it is very, very possible to achieve 90%+ of this:
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I'm currently testing going from bi-weekly pay to weekly pay for my 800 team members.
Someone tell me why I'm an idiot
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Wow. Doordash is offering loans to restaurants now.
What could possibly go wrong
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Between the ages of 17-20 I was arrested 7 times.
The lowest point was spending my sophomore spring break of college in jail (I told my girlfriend at the time I was going to the Bahamas & wouldn't have cell service 🤦♂️).
I did 7 days in general population.
It was as terrible
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Observations from Disney:
1. We (Americans) are a grossly obese lot
2. Internationals are almost the opposite (sans UK. We have apparently rubbed off on you)
3. Lots of Italians & Brazilians here. All huge families & all very attractive
4. People come here & don’t lightening
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I used to be a diamond trader in the early 2000's.
Had 'a guy' in both Antwerp, Belgium & Tel Aviv, Israel. The two diamond capitals of the world.
I sold them everywhere. But my favorite place to sell them was on a website called 'I Do Now I Don't . com'
It was a
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-You realize years later that he slayed you on a deal but inexplicably still have fond memories of him
-Kept his BlackBerry until 2018 (still mad he shattered the screen in the Wynn high rollers bathroom at 4am)
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My old man has stage 4 cancer
Ever since the diagnosis, I seem to always be able to make time for these last min trips.
In years past I would be to ‘busy’ w/work. Im grateful for the realization now, but there’s also some regret of all the trips I missed
‘It’s later than you’
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Here is the beauty of owning free-standing brick & mortar businesses:
You get to have a PropCo for the real estate
And an OpCo for the operations
The OpCo pays rent to your PropCo. Here are the top 10 business advantages of this model:
1. Huge tax advantages (bonus deprec,
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Fun fact: Dunkin paid $1m non refundable just to get a meeting with Affleck to start the partnership
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Every time I go to Chipotle now, I think that there's no way the experience can be worse than it was the time before.
And every time, it manages to get worse. Literally couldn't tell you the last time I ate at 1 & the dining room wasn't a complete disaster $CMG
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If your lease sucks, it impacts almost every aspect of your business & overall enterprise value negatively.
Here is what an (almost) perfect tenant-side lease looks like.
And despite what some CRE brokers will tell you, it is very, very possible to achieve 90%+ of this:
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How we structure our Operating Partner model & common questions/answers around it:
Why this & not your traditional org chart of Director/VP, DM, GM, etc: The only way we have ever found to make people think & act like an owner is to make them one. We are both working towards the
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Situations they don't cover in business school:
When a grown man who was an outstanding employee is crying on your shoulder because you have to let them go for 1 very, very poor choice they made.
No matter how bad the offense, I will never understand how anyone can find joy in
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Here is a real life example of why we focus on compounding results & not month to month PnL's.
This is my
#1
unit that we took over from someone else:
05': $698,201 (lost money)
06': $785,343 (lost money)
07': $902,776 (lost money)
08': $1,068,264 (lost money)
09': $1,158,044
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First time having 4 stores hit 100k in a week, just missed having 5 by $500.
Yes, its an arbitrary number, but still cool to see. All these stores were in the 40-50k range not that long ago
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One of the best things we ever did:
Move all our bank accounts & loans from one of the big 6 over to a small community bank.
-loans get closed on time
-cut our fees in half
-no crazy covenants
-gave us a large line of credit
-issues get resolved quickly
-they actually care
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-Favorite celebrity: Chuck Norris
-His primary residence has giant columns w/ an obnoxiously large wrap around front porch
-Licks his fingers before he turns a page. ANY page
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-Completed 1 year of college & promptly dropped out to make more money than his idiot professors
-‘Don’t worry about the guys in suits. It’s their bosses in jean’s you gotta worry about.’-Him
-Favorite snack is peanuts. He leaves a bread crumb trail of shells wherever he goes
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Doing some year-end review stuff today. Here are the sales for all my locations.
All 13 are above the brand average unit volume. Extremely proud of our operating partners.
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Cats out of the bag! News release below
Incredibly excited for this partnership with Mr. Beast
Will be able to share more in the coming days. It's been really fascinating to see this come together behind the scenes
Goes live in stores tomorrow
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-can recite from memory the best streak house in every American city
-always sits in the back seat with sunglasses on and forces you to turn on the AC.. even if it was 30°
-Devoted family man, but has a secret long time lady in at least one other city named Sharlene or Sherry
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Friends & family day 1!
It’s been 4.5 long years to get to this point.
But couldn’t be more excited
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'You can pay for a location once, or you can pay for it every. single. day.'
The difference between a B- & A+ site can be measured by yards, not miles or trade areas. This is one example where the difference of about 400 yards probably cost us 20k a WEEK in sales
We're
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@realEstateTrent
As a restaurant owner I know exactly what happened.
He/she smoked a j on the way to grab ur food then couldn’t resist the sizzle of the fajita
A tale as old as time
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Tax refund season is upon us.
This means our bone-in wing sales go up 20% almost overnight
See it happen every single year
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Real world lesson.
2 months ago I asked my wife to retire from her corp job to be able to stay at home w/ the boys
Ever since, her old boss has been making Hail Mary sweet heart offers to bring her back at twice the pay & 1/2 the work
You have more leverage than you think
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How long before we start having to pay extra to not fly on a Boeing plane?
I already actively avoid them, particularly the MAX
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If you’re a public speaker & start your talk w/:
‘Good Morning’
‘Oh come on we can do better than that! GOOD MORNING!’
There is 100% chance I do not like you
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As of Friday, I am officially a
@SweatHouz
franchisee. We signed a 10-studio multi-unit development agreement for greater Raleigh, w/ the option to add the rest of central & eastern NC down the line. Here are the things we weighed before signing 👇
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-He always puts on glasses to use his phone & looks down through his nose at the screen
-On the rare occasion he takes notes, it’s on a yellow legal pad
-When he travels alone he prefers a dirty martini at the airport bar
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Since Strip Malls are a hot topic right now, this was our one experience w/ one:
-All 8 tenants in late 2008 quit paying rent
-3 of the 4 partners quit paying the note
-note gets sold
-note gets called in
-we fight in court for the next 5 years
-eventually settle for 850k loss
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As I complete my 37th trip around the sun, these are some of the things I’ve learned & would encourage you to do:
1. Have a hobby that you are completely irrational about. And have fun being irrational about it
2. Take your kids to Disney World (or Land) before the age of 8.
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I had the opportunity to help out on-site for the Mr. Beast video that just dropped yday.
It was super cool to see behind the scenes how everything works.
But being the business nerd that I am, I, of course, latched on to their head of sponsorships & peppered him with
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More lessons they don't teach you in business class:
Getting a phone call that the parents of the 1st manager we hired for our new store found him dead this morning. We're opening in 2 weeks.
Was only 28.
Please say a prayer for his Mom & Dad tonight. No parent should ever
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Today we paid off our 2nd ever site in full
We pay ourselves $19k a month in rent. Thats $228k straight to the bottom line every year + ops
It takes a decade+, but this how you get to 'mailbox money' status. Plus, you get to avoid situations like this:
Can't post the W's w/o also posting the L's.
We had to close a store last year
A story of the risks of not owning your location, playing chicken w/ the landlord, & franchise license agreements :
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99.5% of all life on Earth has died from extinction.
Likewise, only about 50 companies remain from the original S&P 500 created in 1957.
Here's a couple things your advisor won't tell you:
-If you bought in 1929, it took you until 1954 to get back to break even (25 years)
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Here is everything you ever wanted to know about trying to get a business into an airport & all the hell that comes along w/ it:
Corruption & Bureaucracy:
I've been shaken down a time or two, but no other experience was even remotely close to this one.
During the 2nd meeting,
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I would like to announce my 40th & final (final) retirement from IPA’s
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'This is insane. You have to find some balance for me, the boys, & for yourself.'
As a business owner, it's oh so easy to put the blinders on & move forward no matter the home life cost.
I've been there brother. It's a bad place to be.
In 2018 my wife sat me down & had 'The
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Having to give bankers 'projections' for a new business always blows my mind. They're educated guesses at best, yet it's a very serious part of what they look at. Don't like the numbers? K, let me delete them from the spreadsheet & put some numbers in that you'll like
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Hiring an Operating Partner is one of the most important decisions in SMB & franchising.
We've built our entire structure around it.
If I could create someone from scratch, these are the top 10 attributes I would want:
1. Long Term Greedy Capitalist
You'd be surprised at the
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The inner monolog of an entrepreneur:
-'Holy hell, how on earth am I ever going to get all this paid off'
Followed quickly by
-'I'm going to double the org size in 5 years. Lets go!'
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This place is the greatest mystery on the eastern seaboard
-literally never seen a soul on any of the ‘attractions’
-never seen a car at the ‘motel’
-never seen a car at the ‘fireworks’ shop
-they must own 100 billboards in both directions
What is this a front for???
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Starting a 401k program for my full time employees. Give me all your best advice & horror stories
Things I’m leaning towards: Safe harbor, auto enroll, 3% match, 3 year vesting, no loans.
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The entire concept of absentee franchises & businesses is such a crock of sh!t.
It is 100% someone trying to sell you something that is not real.
Imagine putting a large sum of money into something & *hoping* you never have to make a strategic decision, build a team, cast a
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@sweatystartup
I just installed this one for my tenants.
They are absolutely loving it. Great use for recycled wastewater
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I can tell a lot about a business owner by observing one singular thing:
Where they park when they pull up to one of their locations.
Do they park front & center in the A1 guest spot?
Or do they park in a corner or 2nd/3rd row?
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The things that keep me up at night as a business owner are not what you would think.
I love the 4 examples in 'The Black Swan' on the most significant losses (or near losses) The Mirage casino in Vegas has ever taken, none of which & had anything to do w/ gambling:
1. When
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I’m honestly shocked we don’t have a Christmas Tree Farm guy yet
I would follow for the next 6 weeks
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How to make F-U money in the restaurant biz:
1. Own the real estate
2. Have profitable operations
That's it
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13 days until all hell breaks loose.
Will be a full soft open w/ no advertising & still think we might break some records
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