#6: How Mijo Alanis Turned One Smoothie Shop into the Beyond Juicery + Eatery Franchise

Daniel Tsentsiper (00:00.192) and it's just gonna flash straight to us talking. So without further ado, Myjo, how's it going? Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. Let's just jump straight into it. So we were talking right before the show started a little bit about how you got into the industry. Wanted to hear from you. Maybe my audience can learn a little bit more about your story and kind of what inspired you to start Beyond Juicery. So if you want... Mijo Alanis (00:06.519) Great. Nice. Thank you. Thanks for having Daniel Tsentsiper (00:28.896) You can start all the way from the beginning or you can start wherever you want, but I think it would be awesome for my audience to hear it coming from you. Mijo Alanis (00:35.287) So the beginning is actually where inspiration actually came from. So I'll let you know that. I started off washing dishes when I was 15 years old, because I needed a car. And it was $400 for that car. And when I was washing dishes on Fridays and Saturday nights and going to high school and playing baseball, I was working hard. But man, my feet would be pruned and my hands would be pruned. And I would look out over the dish rack and see the prep cook over there. The prep cook didn't do, he kind of was just like making stuff for me. His job looked easy. But there was one thing I noticed when I was in the dish room. I knew what people did and did not like because I had seen the remains in the bus tub. So fast forward, I went over to the bus to the prep cook guy and I asked him to teach me how to do his job and. He taught me how to do his job before long. was actually doing prep cooks. Then as I was feeding the line, I would go up to the front and the cook, the guy, he was like, ooh, he was the dude. And I asked him to help me teach me how to cook. And before he knew it, I learned how to cook. And I always have always been looking for that next step up, the next step up. fast forward, I became a general manager of that particular chain when I was 18 years old. Daniel Tsentsiper (01:50.382) Yeah. Mijo Alanis (01:59.575) And I was trying to do that, trying to do college, wound up getting married, had a daughter. And I knew that I could make more money, waiting tables, bartending. So I was doing everything. I was actually the guy that they locked into the restaurant at night at two o'clock in the morning. And then they would open the door for me at six o'clock in the morning. had to clean the whole restaurant. So when I say I've done every position in the restaurant, I truly have. Fast forward a few years past that marriage didn't work out so well and I'm working in a restaurant Always worked in corporate chains and I was working in a restaurant and it was It was two minutes to close and my Future wife walked in was not sitting in my section and another guy asked me if I would wait on the table now I tell this at our conference in front of all everybody who works there. know, we have close to at one point, all my corporate stores, they had close to 600 people working. And that last minute, I actually waited on her. And we had some conversation. And before you know it, I asked her out. And she said yes. And we went out and I can speak a lot about that. But she was going there. in Arizona for international management. She was getting her master's degree. And when she graduated, which I still call it a conspiracy theory, she couldn't find a job. And she took a job in Michigan and begged me to come with her. That was 31 years ago. And I said, I will go out there, but I'm not working for your dad. Cause her dad owned a restaurant that was established in 1967. It was a family restaurant and, and yeah, old school. So I was working at various restaurants and, but I still had the general manager. and I knew, I knew operations and I knew how to run a restaurant and, her father, his name was Johnny. I called him Johnny. name was John. He, he asked me to come work one day. I'm like, no way, man. Daniel Tsentsiper (03:59.906) Yeah, old school. Daniel Tsentsiper (04:08.918) Right. Mijo Alanis (04:23.767) He's like, can you just come help me out for a day? So I went in there and it was. It was, it was, you know, I got to give them credit because they did a lot for what they had. But when I realized the systems and procedures that weren't in place and I kind of like, I worked the day and then afterwards we went out to dinner and they weren't talking about it. And I'm like, I got to talk about this stuff. Let's talk about it. So I, I brought it up and he's like, you want to come work tomorrow? I'm like, no. He's like, okay. Like, why don't you just come back tomorrow? I'm like, Johnny. Daniel Tsentsiper (04:36.93) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (05:00.343) Anyways, I think it was after a few drinks. He convinced me to come back. And that day is the day that changed my life. He taught me what it was like to stick the key in the door in the morning, turn it at night. He taught me what electricity was. The mom told my mother-in-law Shirley taught me the cost of a lemon, the cost of straws, of napkins, insurance, payroll taxes. Like I got to know everything. Daniel Tsentsiper (05:05.816) Nice. Mijo Alanis (05:28.555) But the one thing they taught me more than anything was how to live the life of a restaurateur. I think that I'm in more holiday pictures with other families than I am with my own. I did hard work, I worked nights, and I believe that if it was any other woman other than my current wife, I mean, I don't think we would have made it because, you know, walk-ins down, people walk out, problems, cook didn't show up. Daniel Tsentsiper (05:40.684) I know how that is, Mijo Alanis (05:58.675) I had to go in, I was there. like, I I laugh about it because I didn't really know the difference. I just thought that's what you're supposed to do as an owner. So, and they made me feel like I was an owner and a partner. And currently I am today a partner in that restaurant, me and my wife. My father-in-law has passed away, but no, we still own and operate that restaurant. But... Right around 2000, I was at the restaurant and I started seeing hamburger buns and french fries thrown away. And I'd ask the question, why are they throwing them away? Because at that time we were trying to put more on the plate, make the plate look bigger and no one knew. So I'd go to the customer and they'd say, I'm just tired of feeling like crap after I eat. Daniel Tsentsiper (06:48.362) Yeah, supersizing everything. Mijo Alanis (06:59.329) I said, huh, so they wanted to substitute salad or sliced tomatoes for French fries, cottage cheese instead of hash browns. They were trying to substitute those. And I just really didn't grasp that idea just yet. And... We still have a place in Arizona. My family is still from Arizona, so we go back frequently. And when we go back, there's a mountain, it's Camelback Mountain, and we'd climb it, and it's extremely hard mountain to climb. But afterwards, we'd come back down, and I would go to this little juice bar there. Me and my wife would go to the juice bar, was on Sundays, we'd go look at real estate, and I'd read the magazine. And I started to walk out, and I just, I wanted to tell her, like, I feel so good after. eating here and it hit me. like, that's what the customer is thinking about. So I thought about that and I got home and I was driving up the main drag here in Michigan that going to and from work. And I realized there's no place to buy a banana. Started thinking about that. There was Wendy's, which they right around that time started to bring on a salad. You know, all the major players. And that's when the idea was born. Daniel Tsentsiper (07:50.222) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (08:15.799) And my wife and I scraped up all our money and we went and opened our first smoothie shop. And when that first smoothie shop opened and that first drink went out, I'm like, what did I do? The customer came in, paid like $4, turned around and left. They didn't do that in the restaurant business. They sat down, had an appetizer, they had multiple drinks, they'd order dinner. So I'm like, I'm going to have to do like 150 customers a day. Daniel Tsentsiper (08:34.954) Yeah. Totally, yeah. You're gonna have to churn it. Yeah. Mijo Alanis (08:45.857) to turn it. So, you know, fast forward to where we are today at my company meeting when I'm talking to him, I'm like, if I didn't take care of that guest at that last minute, none of this would be here today. So it all comes down to taking care of the guest. That first guest is just as important as the last guest. You never know what that last guest may bring to your business. And I've got last guest stories over and over and over again from people who spend tens of thousands of dollars, who have my personal cell phone number. Some people became my best friends just because I took care of them just the same as the last customer, as the first customer. Anyway, so back in 2005, we opened our first smoothie shop and I was doing like 35, 40 orders a day and we just kept grinding. And I can remember many Sundays that I had to work in the back and my wife ran the register. just so we could pay payroll. We still had our other jobs. So we were working really hard. I, my first location was close to our house in Birmingham, Michigan. And I was able to stop by there every single day. I had some great team players. Some of them are still here today that were able to grow and learn through the business. I would have to say I was probably about four years too early, but That fourth year, my goodness, we got busy. And when we got busy, people started knocking on the door saying, hey, how do I buy one of these? I want one of these. And I'm like, I had no clue and no idea what to do other than talk to my attorney. My attorney says, don't do it. Don't do it. I'm like, what do I do? He's like franchise. I'm like, I don't know anything about franchising other than like, how much does it cost? Because that was the thing. How much does it cost? Daniel Tsentsiper (10:37.23) You Mijo Alanis (10:42.165) And he's like, well, he's probably going to cost you around a hundred thousand. He was way off by the way. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, I, I can't, I can't do that. So I was very torn by the amount of people that wanted one of these, my, my concept. And he's why don't you go to IFA, which I still go to a lot of conferences matter fact, it just came from my FA and. I went to the conference and I realized something. Daniel Tsentsiper (10:46.796) Yeah, I'm sure higher, right? Much higher. After his fees. Daniel Tsentsiper (10:57.71) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (11:12.887) When I walked into that room, I walked into a new room with a bunch of other people like-minded like me with businesses that I was able to, like the clouds cleared and the conversations that we were having were so much different than the conversations that I was having at home. And that was probably the lift to move me to a franchising. I said, all right, we're going to go back home. I'm going to open. I'm going to open five restaurants. We're going to build out training materials because I learned all this at IFA. We're going to training materials, SOPs, job descriptions, operational playbook. And at the time, which not very many people know, I'm making my own food because I know that going back to what makes you feel good is all about the food. We've never really. what do call it, advertise that it's about the food that we're making, the quality of it. yeah, so I like to say, you know, when people come in, they feel good, they get their meal, it's right, and they take a bite of it, and they walk out and they feel good. They don't know what it is, they just know it makes them feel different. And I know if I can make you feel different, you can change the way you feel when you come in, I think that there's a good possibility that you're gonna return, especially, you know, that feel good part. Daniel Tsentsiper (12:17.576) speaks for itself, I'm sure. Daniel Tsentsiper (12:23.864) Right. Daniel Tsentsiper (12:36.984) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (12:39.339) So we were making stuff at my other restaurant because they had a full kitchen and we were driving it and dropping off every day. And so we had to create the commissary piece of it. So we created the commissary piece. We built that out and we opened four restaurants in 14 months. We were flying and we decided to take the step towards franchising. Daniel Tsentsiper (12:47.832) Wow. Daniel Tsentsiper (12:58.797) Wow. Mijo Alanis (13:07.936) and we opened our first franchise in January of 2018. Daniel Tsentsiper (13:13.624) So much to unpack there. I have to tell you this. My first job was at a juice bar at the gym. And there was a guest that would always come in every single morning right before we opened. He was the early bird at the gym, like around 6 a.m. And I remember seeing before I got this job, the juice bar was always empty, even 30 to an hour minutes after the gym was closed. But I made sure to be there first thing in the morning to just something about me. very punctual. And this guy would come in every single day. Mijo Alanis (13:15.084) Yes. Daniel Tsentsiper (13:43.15) And I think it was a year into working at that business, he forgot his credit card and he only had a hundred dollar bill. And he handed me the a hundred dollar bill and he's like, I'm like, I don't have cash to give you. I don't even think we use cash here. It was mainly just credit card. And he said, nah, that's for you you. know, keep, the change for all the hard work and all the customer service. And I think that was the moment that like really kind of clicked in my mind that you have to take care of people. Right. At the end of the game, it's a people game. Sorry? No. No, it's not at all. No. Mijo Alanis (14:11.383) then money is not driving factor. and you know, typically what we find is the people that come to our place are, they're mindful of what they're eating. And the price factor is not the issue when it comes to the benefit that they get from Daniel Tsentsiper (14:29.57) Yep. Mijo Alanis (14:41.109) Now, of course, in our boardroom is how do we keep these prices as low as possible? need the first thing is the benefit has to be there. It has to taste good because a lot of healthy products doesn't taste good and it needs to be priced right. If we can't hit on those three, we don't launch it. Daniel Tsentsiper (14:42.808) I'm sure. Daniel Tsentsiper (14:48.034) Right. Daniel Tsentsiper (14:56.376) Right. Daniel Tsentsiper (15:01.292) No, I totally totally understand it. And I think the the conversation, especially these past couple of months to a year has all has been about how do we lower prices? How do we give the most value? And I keep saying that it's not just about solely on price, right? It's about the entire customer experience and the positive externality that you provide customers by making them feel good. I think that is that speaks for itself. Like that is so much value you're providing to the customer. Let me let me actually double tap on when you were deciding to go franchise, why didn't you decide to go down the licensing route? What stood out about the franchising model that Mijo Alanis (15:39.831) for licensing route to me, you had less control. You're basically licensed the name. Because my biggest fear was, I already know where the changes would be with other owners. I'll buy a cheaper chicken. I'll buy a different type of tortilla. I'll buy seconds at the produce market. And I didn't want to lose that control, which was part of all those conversations with my attorney is like, how do I ensure that this Daniel Tsentsiper (15:43.65) I see. Daniel Tsentsiper (16:03.714) make sense. Mijo Alanis (16:09.143) partner comes in and does exactly what I said. Say to do. Even in the culture, our core values, as well as how we treat our guests and how we treat our employees. Because I believe you don't treat your employees good. I got to believe that why there's a people ask me all the time. What makes you so successful? I can't put I can't put my finger on one thing. Daniel Tsentsiper (16:12.898) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (16:38.335) It's a bunch of tiny little things. It's in our opening when you come to work for us. As when somebody goes to reach my number one thing is the front door needs to be clean. It needs to be spotless. Because whether you know it or not, when someone reaches for that door handle and they go to pull it open, if there's smudges on it, they're not gonna say, the smudges are bad or whatever. They're gonna walk in. They go to the register and they go to order and the screen's got a little bit of fingerprints on it. They're not gonna say anything. Daniel Tsentsiper (16:56.654) you Daniel Tsentsiper (17:00.717) Yeah. Mijo Alanis (17:06.583) When they go and they look at the stuff on the shelves and stuff's turned the wrong way and there's a little dust on there, they're not going to say anything. They go to the bathroom and there's water specks. And the toilet hasn't been flushed. There's paper towels on the floor. Doesn't look like anybody's throwing the trash out. They go to wash their hands. leave. And then they grab their smoothie and the smoothies got a little bit of drip on it. They're like, this place is disgusting. Like they, they, it doesn't trigger. So as many of those tiny little things that we can work on every day that Daniel Tsentsiper (17:27.438) 100%. Mijo Alanis (17:34.645) We already know that we have a great product, then we deliver it. It's confirming why they like this brand. We've made them feel good all through every step of the way, the whole journey as they get their stuff and they walk out the door. And then we're able to stay in touch with Daniel Tsentsiper (17:44.373) I see. Daniel Tsentsiper (17:55.234) Totally. So you wanted to keep that control and you believe that the overall experience, especially the way that you present the food, the way you present the audience, the way you present the stores is as important as the prices and the quality of the food. So let me ask you then, when you started franchising, how did you keep that control? Cause a lot, a lot what I hear, a lot, what I hear is like when, when owners start franchising, it's almost like they're giving away their baby and they, they're very, Mijo Alanis (18:15.992) that's what a franchise is. Daniel Tsentsiper (18:25.226) they start to micromanage, making sure that everything is done correctly. What was that experience like for you giving the first franchise out and how did you keep control as you start to scale? Mijo Alanis (18:34.945) So that's in operations, that's in your franchise agreement, that's in your operations manual. you I watched the, I don't know, you wouldn't notice this until, I tell you this, but movie Jurassic Park, I got younger kids and we actually watched Jurassic Park. And there's a scene where they call in and Samuel L. Jackson's there with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. And they say, the headlights are not working. And he says, yeah, I'm going to put this on my list. Number 1310, fixed headlights. So there's lot of that. So what you think you might know and what happens in real life changes. You just got to have a path in which you can go and fix it. I like to deliver the why. That means if you, like, for instance, if I say we're wearing a green hat, Daniel Tsentsiper (19:05.271) Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (19:10.414) Yep. Yep. All the way at the bottom. Mijo Alanis (19:31.499) And then the rest of the franchise, he said, why were we wearing a green hat? I don't want to wear a green hat. Well, I want to deliver the why to them. So before we walk out the door and once you're shaking your head, I get what my Joe saying or I get what the brand is saying. I understand it because then when we get it, then they own it. And when they own it, they they live it. When they live it, then we can feel it. So those are those are those tiny little things when it comes to. And don't get me wrong. mean, What I've really realized over the course's last, what's it, eight, six, seven years is franchisees have great ideas. Like some of them have great ideas and we're able to bring those in and it was for the first time ever that someone else was looking at pricing. Someone else was looking at the things that only I looked at, insurance costs. When you start growing, you forget to go back and start looking at these things. Mike, do I have the right? Daniel Tsentsiper (20:08.504) They do, yep. That's right. Mijo Alanis (20:29.591) your phone carrier, they might, you know, as our distributor, right, which is, the way, during this time, when you talked about inflationary times, we went to our suppliers and I wasn't telling them I was, I mean, I literally told them, like, for us, we're trying to get financially fit, which means we took the instead of pointing at you, we pointed at ourselves and like, what are the things we can do right now to become financially fit? to get more nimble, to get leaner. What you're doing is you're getting a price increase from the people you're getting it from and you're passing it straight through to me. What are you guys doing? Because I'm to tell you what's going to happen is when the consumer quits purchasing, that's when this is all broken. And if we continue to keep rising without looking at yourself, if you're not looking at yourself to see what can I do? And they're like, Daniel Tsentsiper (20:59.895) Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (21:09.464) right. Mijo Alanis (21:29.143) And I've seen this and I said, and if you don't, then you give me no choice but to go look for an alternative. And some of them thought I was crazy. I went and I found alternatives that were a 10 % swing. From their 5%, I was 5 % below what I was banned for. know, some people like appreciated the amount of volume or could see my vision, could see where we're going. Daniel Tsentsiper (21:50.638) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (21:56.235) was hungrier for the business. So I strategically now can look at vendors and ask them different questions. Aligning on core values is a huge thing. Like if you're not aligning on core values, it may not happen today, but eventually at a certain point when rough waters happen, they're gonna be thinking one way and you're gonna be thinking another. then you've built this foundation on a house of cards. When it comes to... the franchisees, yes, have they all been great, but no, but once I learned, now I have the conversations with the head of time. Are you agreeing to be part of the community? Are you agreeing to take care of your employees? Because we're gonna have these discussions all the time. My teams, that's what they're gonna monitor when they come in. They're gonna make sure, and we can tell right away. I can tell in any restaurant when I go in right away whether or not there's a system in place for... Daniel Tsentsiper (22:30.99) Mm-hmm. Daniel Tsentsiper (22:44.535) Right. Mijo Alanis (22:52.767) I like Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's is a great example. You walk into Trader Joe's, you have Trader Joe's? Yeah. I don't care. I don't care what Trader Joe's I go into. The person who runs your smiles, says something nice about me and has conversation. Now, is that by design or was that by training? I don't know, but every single one of them opens the egg carton up. Every single one of them opens the egg carton up and at, although I already did it. Daniel Tsentsiper (22:57.48) Absolutely. It's the number one place I shop. Daniel Tsentsiper (23:04.782) It's a good example. Mijo Alanis (23:22.357) And I watch it and I'm like, that is the piece that there's all these tiny little things that people do or companies do that make you feel different that you're wanting to go back there again. So I take these nuggets from conferences and apply them to, I used to say, I'd have gentlemen say, this person isn't good at the register. And I'm like, maybe they're not registered people. Daniel Tsentsiper (23:52.651) Yep, that's true. Mijo Alanis (23:52.663) doesn't mean they're a bad employee, just means that they need to be doing something that they excel in. And as a leader, that's where you put the right people in the right places. And don't expect them to do the things that they can't do. Now, going back to me, if they're trainable and they wanna learn those things, then you're able to train them to get them to where they wanna be. Those are my favorite people. I can't even tell you how many kids that I've raised, so to speak. Daniel Tsentsiper (23:59.022) That's right. Mijo Alanis (24:20.353) to go on to get college degrees and buy their own restaurants. Some have become franchisees of the model. So those are the things that really truly inspire me is that when then I feel like, you know. Daniel Tsentsiper (24:20.726) Yeah Daniel Tsentsiper (24:31.32) Amazing. Mijo Alanis (24:37.013) I used Steve Jobs as an example. He created this iPhone and on this iPhone, there's all these icons. So what he did is he truly created a canvas in which all these entrepreneurs could go out and just the expansion from this thing is unreal. So I think of the same thing with me is in 20 years from now, how many people's lives Will we have changed? If you have the heart and the desire, I like to say, you're gonna be working anyways, right? You're gonna work no matter what. Why not work for yourself? Which is something that I always found out for myself, because I felt that I worked really hard, like really hard. My parents instilled in me, don't care if you're a ditch digger, just be the best damn ditch digger there was. Unfortunately, sometimes I don't know what place I'm in. So I'm working really hard. I don't know if I'm in first place or I'm last place or so, but I just know we're on a path with a great vision and we're heading that way. Daniel Tsentsiper (25:44.59) Amazing. can tell just listening to you speak that you are definitely the visionary. And when I think of, especially on my team, I look at myself and I consider myself more of a support character. I'm more of the operations guy. I make sure that everything gets done on time. And I let my, you know, CEO make sure that he has everything he needs in order to run the vision of the company. And, you know, as we start to grow, I start to see that there are certain people that have certain tendencies, like you can't, I believe it's very difficult to teach hospitality to someone. I don't know if you agree with me. I think that some people are just born with it. You can coach them. You can train them a certain way, but some people just have it in them. And what I liked, what you said is that you need to find what someone is good at and give them the path and give them the right training to succeed in that particular area. And then when thinking about bringing on franchisees, what are the sorts of questions? and the criteria that you evaluate to make sure that they're the right fit for your brand. Mijo Alanis (26:47.179) First question I asked him is why? Why do you want this? Why this path? And then, you know, I asked him the financial expectations you think that you're going to get from this. How much time you plan on dedicating towards this? I mean, I don't know if you've seen the movie, The Founder, but my goodness, that is almost dead nuts on as to like what you can experience right away is the fact that Daniel Tsentsiper (27:07.702) I have multiple times. Yeah. Mijo Alanis (27:17.173) the expectations didn't align in the beginning. And it was my fault, you know, because I didn't ask those questions. But again, we were going to get 1 % better every day and fix those things moving forward. So I like when they've done the research and they're wanting to buy into the core values, when they're wanting to buy into the vision and they want to live the brand. Daniel Tsentsiper (27:28.835) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (27:46.753) To me, that's... I used to say this about management teams and even team players is I would rather have someone all heart than somebody with all talent and no heart. Daniel Tsentsiper (28:05.102) 100 % agree. Totally agree with you at that. Mijo Alanis (28:06.753) Cause with heart, with heart, I can give you, I can give you the tools and the training to get you where you want to be, but it's going to take heart to get there. And I used to tell the team, if I get one good comment, and when I mean good comment, it's like someone goes out of their way to grab me, Mijo and tell me thank you for what we provided to them. That makes that month worth it. So. Cause sometimes it takes a lot for someone to say that to you. More people are apt to tell you the bad things you do versus the good things you do. So I've had, had, was just bringing this up yesterday. had a, I had a girl that she just retired from one of my restaurants and it's, she was worked for me for 20 years. And I'm like, Mary, how, like, what was it? You know, what was the driver? And she said, I love the customers. I love them. And ironically, I heard Danny Myers having a conversation with Anna Katessa, I forget her name, she's on Food Network. And she asked him, what's your favorite restaurant? And he said, it's the same as yours. It's the one that loves me the most. And I'm like, you know. Daniel Tsentsiper (29:22.21) You can. Mijo Alanis (29:34.613) As I reach out into the world and I see what we're doing is that we're living, we're living in organization that is living by a certain set of goals that's working. And the more people that we have like that, and you got to have a strategy and plan. I mean, I tell them, you know, If you don't love what you're doing, why spend another day? Why spend one more day, one more hour doing this? Go find your passion. There's a passion out there. There's 28,000 other franchises. Let's figure out how to move on. Or you can change your mindset a little bit and live the life that which you bought into. Daniel Tsentsiper (30:17.422) 11. Mijo Alanis (30:24.073) I get a lot of, you you're right, you're right. You know, there's is a special person that has to, you know, When you've got a franchise, they don't really sometimes really understand what it really truly means, but you're following a set of rules and guidelines which has been built over time and has proven success. Don't try to reinvent that. So, because I'm the driver of the ship. Daniel Tsentsiper (30:24.429) Love him. Mijo Alanis (30:53.045) Everybody needs to be rowing in unison. And if I got one ore going faster or going slower, we're not gonna hit our destination, right? So. Daniel Tsentsiper (31:01.324) tip over. That's right. That's right. I love that. What are your goals for the next couple of years? Mijo Alanis (31:13.239) opening franchises. So back in 2023, we were hit with, you know, the food cost changes and labor issues. And we really focused in on our goal for that year. After that was to lower food costs, we were able to lower food costs by 8%. We were able to drop food, labor, I'm sorry, food costs by 8 % and labor costs, we were able to drop by 3%. Daniel Tsentsiper (31:21.24) Right. Daniel Tsentsiper (31:34.551) Wow. Mijo Alanis (31:39.223) And that's by strategically re-engineering the menu, bringing things in, getting items off, going in, really negotiating hard with our distributors, some key products, making sure that we tighten those relationships, them understanding where we're going and how we're gonna get there, because I know the number one thing that every franchisee says to me when they meet me for the first time is, Daniel Tsentsiper (31:50.294) That's right. Mijo Alanis (32:07.937) How much money am I gonna make? And I wanna be able to give them as much money as possible. Because I know that if my food cost is in line, labor's in line, we do the real estate properly, we have the build out at the right cost, and we can get you an ROI as quickly as we can, I'm gonna have more candidates. Just because I've been to IFA, I've been to these conferences, I know, I see these other brands gaining momentum, and that's where we are. Daniel Tsentsiper (32:30.242) Right. That's That's right. Mijo Alanis (32:37.643) The piece that I like the best is we have a food product that's different than a lot. And it's a main focal point as to it's not coming out of a bag. It's basically chef prepared meals out of our kitchen and we use cool new technologies in order to deliver the freshest, healthiest food we possibly can do. Daniel Tsentsiper (33:07.822) That's right. That's right. And absolutely. So let me ask you then you the the the model is you have commissaries right that delivers you prepare all the food or is the food prepared on site? That was in the past. Okay. Mijo Alanis (33:17.921) No. We we did that before. So yeah, in the past we were able, we were doing it and one day when the tire blew on my refrigerator truck and the phone call comes and says, by the way, the week before he got ran into and he's telling me what's going on. And then I got to juggle and I'm like, what business am I in? Am I in the manufacturing business? Am I in the distribution business? Daniel Tsentsiper (33:42.988) Mm-hmm. Daniel Tsentsiper (33:47.981) Right. Mijo Alanis (33:48.161) I'm in the restaurant business, I'm in the franchise business. So I always heard about co-packers. So I went to New York, I went to Atlanta, I went to Miami, I went to California, went to Chicago and started talking with people that can make my product the way that we wanted to make it. The issue was even kind of locally is finding someone to make our product in. Sometimes we're way too big and sometimes we're way too small. Daniel Tsentsiper (34:07.917) Bye. Mijo Alanis (34:17.961) Either way, I always say we're in between pants sizes. So I have to go and convince somebody that's big enough to handle us that we're going to get there. And then they got to make it the way we want. And then you got to make sure they can deliver like they got to be. So we've gotten really good at that over the course of last two years, where I don't think we're manufacturing anything at the commissary level anymore. And we have really good support. Daniel Tsentsiper (34:20.782) Mm-hmm. Daniel Tsentsiper (34:33.386) Exactly. Mijo Alanis (34:45.623) I got an opportunity to go to California in the Salinas Valley. I don't know if you've ever been there. It's the most incredible place in the world. It's one of the most fertile places in the world. So they're produce farms. Literally the manufacturing of them moves with them as the season goes. It moves all the way down. The company that took me out there was called Markon. Daniel Tsentsiper (34:51.872) I have is tremendous. Mijo Alanis (35:13.493) Markon didn't really do anything other than the fact that they were there speccing, making sure that what they were giving to their customers met their needs. And I thought that was remarkable because... And I saw it on the fields. I saw they were measuring them to make sure that they were correct. If there was any blemishes, it went into that box. It went to, and I'm like, where's that box going? They're like, that's going to X supermarket. This one's going to this supermarket. And I'm like, why? And they'd say, well, these ones will accept a certain grade and the other ones won't. And Markon was there to give, to oversee it, to make sure that their customers getting it and making sure. Daniel Tsentsiper (35:49.077) Yeah. Mijo Alanis (35:58.103) Like from the time it was cut, from the time it was put into the warehouse, the time it was delivered, the time it was getting, I got to understand. There are boots on it, well they were, so I said, we need to do the same with our co-packers. That's where their true value is, because that's what they do. And I love to say this to people, what business are you in? Because I'll find the lady that comes to me she's got a great candy bar or a great, you know, healthy thing, a bread, whatever. Daniel Tsentsiper (36:04.246) That's like boots on the ground inspectors. Daniel Tsentsiper (36:12.715) Yeah. Mijo Alanis (36:27.031) And I could see it. I'm like, what business are you in? Should I make bread? I'm like, who does your sales? I do. Like who manufactures it? I do. Who distributes it? She's like, I do. Like sooner or later, you're going to have to pick one because you're just not, can't do all three, which goes back to what you were talking about earlier. I did go to a Tony Robbins business mastery event in 2016. Daniel Tsentsiper (36:41.71) That's right. That's right. Mijo Alanis (36:54.357) And while I was there, was like five days of intense information that I was able to soak in everything we talk about. He has touched my life in that manner. But one of them was there's four parts of the business. There's visionary manager, leader, entrepreneur, and board of directors. And once I figured that out, I was all four. Daniel Tsentsiper (37:18.776) What's the difference between the entrepreneur and the, and the visionary, what's the Mijo Alanis (37:23.285) Visionary visionary so that was my largest struggle was between being those two and I didn't realize it and that was I worried about money and As a visionary as an artist artist sometimes it's very hard for them to pull in the money side of it and be able to make their vision come true so when you when you pull in that other person that help that you're gonna need or the support that can tell you Daniel Tsentsiper (37:41.55) That's right. Mijo Alanis (37:52.735) your artist's mind or your visionary mind, how we're going to get to where you want to be with, you know, in some cases, I think I was a little naive. And if I would have known some of this stuff ahead of time, maybe I never would have done it. But I didn't have a plan B. Like we had, you had to execute. And for the life of me and every restaurant I've been in, I could not understand. Daniel Tsentsiper (37:58.923) Mm-hmm. Mijo Alanis (38:22.231) Why you couldn't make it work? All you do is take care of the guests. Give them what they want. Listen to them, talk to them, hear them out. And I knew that if I did that and you had my phone number, like anything you want, like I was shaking everybody's hands. I was at the front door. I was seating them. I was making their drinks. was like, You name it. I did everything for them. And I thought that's the way that everybody did. I just assumed that's the way everybody did it. So as I got older and getting more wisdom, I really realized there is a differentiator between every restaurant and there's the operations piece, there's the brand. So those are the things that we work on, that we refine. Is it easy? No, nothing's easy. but it's again, the reward, whatever your reward is, if you can attain that reward for yourself, then it becomes fulfilling and you have a purpose. And that's part of basic human needs is you gotta have reward. Daniel Tsentsiper (39:00.142) Mm-hmm. Daniel Tsentsiper (39:18.478) Amazing. Mijo Alanis (39:22.743) My wife and I, you we talk about the future and what it holds and retiring and these kinds of things. I don't know if I'll ever retire. I go on vacation and I'm like, this place is nice. And by the fourth day I'm looking to where can I put a store here? Daniel Tsentsiper (39:36.814) Yeah. I'm the same way. If like I, I was recently in Vietnam for, I was there supposed to be there for three weeks, decided to come back a week early because I was like, I'm itching to get back to work. But, amazing. I've noticed a trend from the conversation and also from learning more about you is that you truly are a visionary and you've been kind of ahead of the curve. A lot of the times you started in this industry. what I would consider is like, healthy eating, good, you know, good culture. were in this industry and almost like a trend sender ahead of the curve. And then you, also read that you, started doing the mobile app way before anyone else did. And absolutely. I'm sure it's like, why are you, why is a restaurant developing an app? It boggles my mind. And. Mijo Alanis (40:23.051) Yeah, it's considered crazy. Daniel Tsentsiper (40:32.246) Right now, listen, the last thing I want to ask you right now, we're seeing a shift. We'll see if it actually comes true. you know, we have new administration. have a certain without getting political, we have a certain person in the house of RFK that is going to be mandating healthier eating across the board, whether it's in our school systems and restaurants. And I think that's personally, if I had to take a bet, I think that's going to have a very, very impactful. It's going to be extremely impactful for restaurants. It's going to be extremely impactful for schools. And I think it's going to trickle down into our society. If you had to say something about this, this, upcoming trend, do you think your position in a good spot right now? And where do you see the industry going? Mijo Alanis (41:16.759) So going back to my bus tub analogy, I have bus tubs all over the place. When I look inside those bus tubs and I can see what they do and do not like, I was gonna bring that up earlier with the administration and RFK. I really got to know a lot more about him in the past, I'd say year of understanding who he is. Again, not to be political, but. You know, that guy's like 69 years old. Did you look at him? He's ripped. And I'm like, my goodness. my goodness. Like, and what I'm seeing, I have at 11 and 14 year old, my kids today are eating nowhere near what I was eating it for. Like they are so keen on what's in stuff and talking about protein, talking about carbohydrates. Daniel Tsentsiper (41:48.992) He looks amazing. He blows me away. He's ripped. Daniel Tsentsiper (42:13.678) That's right. Mijo Alanis (42:15.799) Talking about the energy level, talking about sodium. I I was going to McDonald's every day for lunch when I was in, and for $2 burgers. And they will give me like suggestions all the time. And then I can tell you some of the places that, know, I don't want to sound like I'm crazy, but you take your kids to any party, anywhere you go, I don't care where it is. You know what the number one food is going to be there? Pizza, you're right. Daniel Tsentsiper (42:42.894) pizza. Mijo Alanis (42:44.981) And my kids for the first time were saying, can we eat before we go there? And I'm like, why? they're like, cause we don't want to eat pizza, dad. And I'm like, wow. Like I don't know, it's just barely think it's raising. I think it's the environment, which I brought that up earlier. The environments are changing. And with the exposure of our food systems, which is by the way, the environments. Daniel Tsentsiper (42:53.132) Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (42:56.494) You raised them right. Daniel Tsentsiper (43:01.421) That's right. Mijo Alanis (43:14.269) rapidly changing right now on, you know, just I'm learning stuff that, you know, I thought about, but I didn't really know. Like, you know, you hear things, but as you, got to go out and dig and do your information. And sometimes you dig too deep, you might be ahead of the curve, you know, it's coming. And that's, that's kind of where we live. I look at the school system, my kids don't like to eat at school. It's free. It's free. And I look at the school system and I'm like, Where does "Beyond" fit there? Where is it that maybe it's meal prepping for kids? Maybe it's meal prepping for the teachers. Maybe it's meal prepping. We don't need a lot. You know everybody can afford it. how do we work legislation in to help subsidize it? I mean, there's many things that we can do, but there's clearly a gap. Daniel Tsentsiper (43:56.022) Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (44:09.793) I agree. Mijo Alanis (44:10.557) And because I'm living in this space and I go to school and it's breadsticks one day, pizza, the next chicken tenders, which I've I know that I look at the different types of tenders. It's fruit juices like high corn syrup. Fruit juices we're giving them to the kids. Kids are consuming them. How do they stay? How do they feel good about themselves? Daniel Tsentsiper (44:20.577) It's scary. Mijo Alanis (44:40.319) An hour after lunch, we're just pushing all this stuff. So you got me on a on my podium here with you. That's right. There's great opportunities. Daniel Tsentsiper (44:46.816) Yeah, no, I know I and I grew up and I grew up as a product of the LA Unified Public School System. My parents could not afford food, so everything was subsidized for me growing up. I was a heavier kid and I wonder how much of that was due to the fact that I was eating coffee cake for breakfast and I was eating pizza for lunch and I was snacking in between getting sodas and chips at the vending machine. Mijo Alanis (45:04.535) It was all. Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (45:14.51) And then for me, it sort of clicked when I got to a point where I went to the doctors and they told me at 16, I was diabetic, pre-diabetic, and something in my mind just flipped and I could never go back to that food again. And that's why I ended up working at the gym after losing a lot of weight, you know, selling protein shakes at the gym, working at the juice bar. And then my first business was I was selling meal preps to my personal training clients. So for me, it's all, it's always been around good food because something in me clicked and I realized what I was eating was not making me feel good. If I eat a pizza for lunch, I'm going to feel like shit. I'm going to be sleepy. And I truly believe if I had to put money on the line that this is where we're going to go. especially with all these, you know, all these drugs, OZMPIC, people are just not eating as much and are now starting to actually take a look and peel. behind the curtain and see what's really going on. So I'm bullish on you guys. think you have not only do you have an amazing product, you also yourself, you seem like an amazing visionary. You're an amazing operator. And I think you are one of the few people I've spoken to that actually I think has a really good pulse on what it means to to be a good leader. So I wish you guys the best. And if there's anything else you want to say before we close off on my audience here watching, potentially looking to to franchise, any last words you wanna tell them. Mijo Alanis (46:47.425) Does it cost you anything to check us out? Just come check us out. Peek underneath the hood and take us for a test drive. Daniel Tsentsiper (46:51.8) Love it. Daniel Tsentsiper (46:55.902) I it. All the information will be in the description. Thank you so much, My Joe. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. I hope you have an amazing rest your day. Mijo Alanis (47:04.437) All right, talk to you. Thank you.