Turning Mistakes into Opportunities: Jeff Martin’s Unconventional Path to Restaurant Success | Restaurants & Franchises Series

Intro  

Welcome to another edition of inspired stories where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes, how they’ve overcome adversity, and explore current challenges they’re facing.

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Anthony Codispoti: Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories, podcast where leaders share their experiences. So we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Kodisbodi, and today’s guest is Jeff Martin, owner and founder of effing Egg, a craft breakfast sandwich concept

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Anthony Codispoti: he previously built the largest cupcake company in the US. He built small cakes to over 200 franchisees. He was featured on the food network several times, as well as the hit. Daytime talk, show the view.

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Anthony Codispoti: He sold small cakes to a private equity firm in 2021, and put all his passion into F and egg, which has just started franchising and growing throughout the U.S.A. Where they already have 12 locations and at least 30 more that are opening very soon

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Anthony Codispoti: before we get into all the good stuff. Today’s episode is brought to you by my company. Addback benefits agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line.

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Anthony Codispoti: One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year to their bottom line by implementing one of our proprietary programs. Results vary for each company, and some organizations may not be eligible to find out if your company qualifies contact us today at add back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest. Today the CEO and founder of F and egg. Jeff, I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

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Jeff Martin: Hey? Thanks for having me on! I appreciate it.

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Anthony Codispoti: Okay, Jeff, let’s start with small cakes. What gave you the idea to start a company that focuses specifically on making cupcakes.

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Jeff Martin: I did not want to work for the man anymore. Pretty much. That was it. I wanted to work, you know. I I was a chef in some high end restaurants.

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Jeff Martin: And you know the idea of just working late nights and working for someone else. It just really, it really wasn’t what I wanted to do, you know, and I was visiting a friend out in California.

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Jeff Martin: And I saw this place that was just selling just cupcakes. And I was like, this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. But there was a line out the door, and I was like, Okay, wait a minute. How do I get into this? And that’s really where it came from. I was like, I really want to do this. Cupcakes seem easy. I have no bacon experience at all.

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Jeff Martin: No money at all. But I wanted to try to do something different. I was living in Kansas City at the time, and there was nothing like this going on, and that’s kind of how the the thought started. I flew back home, and that was the that was the whole thought the entire way is like, How do I bring cupcakes to a place that you know doesn’t have anything like what I saw in California so.

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Anthony Codispoti: So there were a couple of big chasms to to cross over to here, right? Cause you had experience as a chef. But you were making food. You weren’t baking, and maybe to the uninitiated seems like those are highly related. It’s stuff in the kitchen, right? But this is a new set of skills.

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Jeff Martin: Totally. And and so it’s yes, not like cook. I mean, bacon is a science in in theory. Bacon is a science, so you know. In cooking you can add a little bit of this, add a little bit of that, and you can enhance it on the fly right well. In baking. It’s a very exact science. There’s no

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Jeff Martin: th. There’s there’s not a lot of, you know, wiggle room to get things wrong. And I learned that along the way, and and then finally created, you know, a great product that that that people love so.

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Anthony Codispoti: So not only did you have to sort of cross this gap of the the knowledge of how to do it, but you had to find the money.

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Anthony Codispoti: You had to come up the money we were.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, so

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Anthony Codispoti: Trust fund! Where are you?

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Jeff Martin: Exactly. Yeah. So that was the biggest thing, right? And I think that’s a that’s a big thing with people today. You know that they get scared about trying to start something. It always goes back to money, right? Which is the biggest part. But you’ve gotta figure out a way to

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Jeff Martin: to to try to make it work. So you know what I did was.

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Jeff Martin: you know, I had about $5,000 right, and that’s not enough money to smart to start a small business not even 15 years ago.

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Jeff Martin: but being creative, you know.

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Jeff Martin: I found a small little coffee shop that went out of business behind a Mexican restaurant. Right? Horrible location. And they always tell you when you open a business location location location. Well, this was a horrible location, but the guts were done right. So it was a small little coffee shop.

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Jeff Martin: I had some friends help throw some paint on the wall.

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Jeff Martin: But then the other part was equipment. So in the early days I would bake everything at home

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Jeff Martin: in the middle of the night.

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Jeff Martin: transport it to the store and then work the store until I sold out.

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Jeff Martin: you know. And so the $5,000 a lot of people goes. What would you do with the $5,000. Well, that it was either buy an oven or get a sign to go in the building.

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Jeff Martin: And so I was like, Okay, let’s get a sign, because I can bake it home, you know. Now, little did I know. Baking in a little oven at home is a lot different than baking in a commercial oven right? But it was a lot of late night. Early mornings. Well, anyways. So we we got the sign right. We put a sign up on this horrible location behind this Mexican restaurant, and then for the first, st probably 2 months, 3 months, I would bake it home middle of the night, work the store, and then do it all over. The next day.

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Anthony Codispoti: That sounds exhausting, but probably exhilarating. As you’re starting to create your own thing for the 1st time. Couple of things. I wanna unpack there 1st of all, how was it that you learned how to bake? Were you just? Were you looking on the side of a box? Were you going online? Did you find some mentors that helped.

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Jeff Martin: No, almost. It was all just on the back of A. It was. It was either online and then on the back of a box of seeing what other people did, and trying to figure out how to make it. You know. Mine, you know, we 1st started small cakes.

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Jeff Martin: We only had about 6 different flavors right

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Jeff Martin: as we grew to the big company we were when we sold we had over 250 flavors.

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Jeff Martin: So. But in the beginnings it was all like, Okay, so how do you get this thing to proof? How do you get the pop? How do you ice it.

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Jeff Martin: And then how do you sell it? You know. And so yeah, it was a lot of trial and error, you know. But again, we only had those 6 flavors. And then, as we started growing, and we started listening to, you know, customers and stuff and and and different flavors, and really putting our own spin on it. It just grew into something, you know, a lot bigger than what you know. I expected so.

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Anthony Codispoti: What was that 1st day like when you opened your doors.

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Jeff Martin: It was terrifying because I had these 6 flavors, and I probably only made, I think, about 50 cupcakes right? And I thought, Oh, my God, that’s a lot of cupcakes, 50 cupcakes.

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Jeff Martin: the 1st 2 people who walk through our door and think about it. A small business.

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Jeff Martin: You have no money at this point in time. Right? And so the 1st 2 people that walked in they said, Hey, this is so cute, but this is never going to work, and then they walked out. They didn’t even buy anything, you know.

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Jeff Martin: So that was, you know, the 1st 2.

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Anthony Codispoti: People who walked in.

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Jeff Martin: That was a little hard.

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Anthony Codispoti: Turned around and.

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Jeff Martin: They said it was so cute, though, but no one’s gonna pay $3 and 75 cents for a cupcake. And then they walked out right.

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Jeff Martin: but within like probably an hour, those 50 cupcakes were gone. I had to close shop, drive back home, make more cupcakes

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Jeff Martin: every day, you know. The next day. I may like maybe 75. The next day was a hundred. We kept selling out every day until we got to a point. Was like, okay, wait a minute. We really need to get an oven in this store.

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Jeff Martin: Right? But it was, you know it was. It was it was hard in the beginning, because you had a lot of naysayers, I mean, and and back, you know, 15 years ago no one knew no one’s, gonna you know. No one thought someone would pay 375 for a cupcake. Right?

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Jeff Martin: and then that became the average. And that became everyone started doing it, you know, but a lot of people were very naysayered, you know, especially those 1st 2 ladies that came in. They’re like, Oh, my God! This place is so cute. It’s pink, it’s it’s great. But you’re not going to make it, you know, even my landlord. Who that that horrible location he goes, hey? I’m not going to put you on a lease, because you’re probably going to go out of business within a month, because no one’s going to pay $3 for a cupcake.

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Anthony Codispoti: Yeah.

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Jeff Martin: So after the 1st couple of months he goes. Okay. Now, time to put you on lease. But

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Jeff Martin: you know, that was like a hurdle to get over, and that’s hard for some people to kind of think about and but you gotta have

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Jeff Martin: passion and faith in what you’re doing. And I thought, you know.

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Jeff Martin: if I can get this to work and I don’t, and and I don’t have to work for anyone.

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Jeff Martin: What that

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Jeff Martin: this is great.

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Anthony Codispoti: So what was it about the cupcakes that had people wanting to pay almost $4 for them?

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Anthony Codispoti: Was it the presentation? Is it the taste? Is it.

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Jeff Martin: What’s that? Sorry?

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Anthony Codispoti: I think we have a little Internet hiccup. I don’t know if if you’ve got any other app.

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Jeff Martin: I got you open. Yup. Sorry I got you down.

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Anthony Codispoti: If there’s any other apps open on your computer, maybe shut them down. Just so we’re not

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Anthony Codispoti: sharing any bandwidth. There.

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Jeff Martin: Okay, yeah, I think we’re good.

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Anthony Codispoti: So

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Anthony Codispoti: so tell me, Jeff, what was it about these cupcakes that had people in the Midwest wanting to pay $4 a piece for them. Is that the flavor? Was it the presentation? Was it the cute pink walls that you had.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. So so you know, think about it. Back in the day you you would only get bakery goods at your grocery store right? So we branded it as we’re not your grocery store cupcake, right? So they were bigger. They had more frosting. They were packaged in a pink box.

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Jeff Martin: And it appealed to a lot of people you could use it for a gift. So a lot of you know, women especially would use it for

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Jeff Martin: gifts right? So it became a big gift, giving

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Jeff Martin: treat.

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Jeff Martin: but a lot different, right? So hey? I got my cupcake from small cakes, not from the local grocery store. Right?

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Anthony Codispoti: Were most people who were buying them? Were they buying like one? Were they buying 3 or 6 or 12.

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Jeff Martin: So very, very, yeah. So it was crazy. I I thought, you know, beginning, people just buy one. Well, dozens, you know, people were buying dozens at a time, and then, once you taste it, you know the the quality was great, you know I created something that was really flavorful and good but it but it really transpired to people they wanted a whole box of these these cute little

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Jeff Martin: cakes that that that they that they didn’t get from the grocery store.

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Jeff Martin: And that’s what that’s what started out, you know. That’s how we got so popular. And then we got so busy we opened up a second location in Kansas City, and it it turned out to be busier, obviously cause it was a better location than our, you know, 1st location, but then it got busier.

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Jeff Martin: So we were just baking cupcakes. It seemed like every hour on the day

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Jeff Martin: but people in really enjoyed it. They wanted that little pink box of joy. Kids loved it. Women loved it. They took it home to their husbands, the husbands that eat it out of the pink box, and they would love it. It just became like a. It became a crazy thing at the time.

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Anthony Codispoti: And so how many corporate stores did you get to before you’re like? Now, we should really franchise this concept.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. So we got to about 5 stores in Kansas City right? And

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Jeff Martin: And again in the beginning it was always, I just don’t want to work for someone else, you know. And then, as we started, you know I would, I would travel around and taste cupcakes from some of these little places.

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Jeff Martin: and they just weren’t as good. And I was like, How do we grow this thing? How do we get to another city? And I had no idea how to franchise at all. Right. It was just an idea of of. I saw these other places that would franchise, and I was like, how do you do this? And so we learned how to franchise

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Jeff Martin: by ourselves. You know, it was, okay, get a lawyer. Get get these franchise and papers do this, but it was all trial and error. Right? It was all like, Okay, well, if we get all this work, how do we get people to

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Jeff Martin: to try the product. Well, at the same time, I started getting phone calls from

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Jeff Martin: So I I was at the store one day. This is a great story. And this this the phone rang, and I was very busy. I was the only employee for a very long time, it seemed, and

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Jeff Martin: they call and say, Hey, we’re getting ready to start a new TV show. We want you to come to La and film. And I hung up on them. I didn’t want to hear anymore. Cause I was trying to sell these cupcakes right?

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Jeff Martin: Call back and say, Hey, you know, we really we’re starting a new TV show. It’s about cupcakes about, hey? I’m very busy. I don’t have time for this hung up again. Right? Thank God! The 3rd time they called and said, Hey, don’t hang up.

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Jeff Martin: We’ve got this new show called Cupcake Wars, and we’re going to pit people against each other, and if you win you, you get $10,000.

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Jeff Martin: So I was like, Oh, my God, okay, wait a minute. Let me take this phone call, you know.

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Jeff Martin: So they you know they’re telling me, hey, you gotta come to la. You gotta you know film the show called Cupcake Wars.

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Jeff Martin: So I did. And so I was like, Okay, this is great. So fly to La

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Jeff Martin: Cupcake wars. They put these 4 bakers against each other. You get eliminated each round, and if you win, you get $10,000.

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Jeff Martin: Well, I was so nervous right? Because I’ve never done anything like this, and I’m still thinking about the stores at home that I need to be running, because, you know, I mean, that’s that’s how I’m making my money right now.

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Jeff Martin: So get on the show and

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Jeff Martin: the first, st you know, they give you these crazy ingredients to use. And it, said Jeff. You know we need to make you a pump. You need to make a pumpkin cup cupcake and use this cardamom, you know. Seed

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Jeff Martin: I had no idea what a cardamom anything was right again. Not a baker, right? So

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Anthony Codispoti: You’re really a fish out of water here. Huh?

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Jeff Martin: 1,000. I had all these other people around me. They were bakers, and they like were doing. And they lived in La. And it was like, Oh, my God, you know.

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Jeff Martin: So so I’m I’m nervous. I’m making the cupcake.

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Jeff Martin: I finished the cupcake. I go with this cardamom seat. I’m just gonna put in some buttercream, and you’re like, I don’t know right? So when I make the cupcake

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Jeff Martin: as I’m presented to the judge.

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Jeff Martin: I realized I didn’t put the pumpkin in the cupcake.

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Anthony Codispoti: Oh!

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Jeff Martin: I had to use the ingredients they gave me, and I forgot to use the pumpkin. So I really just made a white cupcake with this cardamom.

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Jeff Martin: So so the judges tasted, and I’m thinking to myself, oh, my God! And so they say, before I can tell them about the pumpkin they go. Jeff, this is the greatest cupcake we’ve ever had on this show.

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Jeff Martin: And so I had a moment to where I go. Okay, you gotta tell them that you didn’t use the ingredients? Or do you lie? And just just, you know, see if you can get to the next round. And so in the moment I I told him I said, Hey, I didn’t use the pumpkin for the cupcake, you know.

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Jeff Martin: and they were so devastated and they were like.

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Jeff Martin: Well, you didn’t use the ingredients, you didn’t, you know, follow the rules. So you’re voted off right.

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Anthony Codispoti: After telling you that you just made the greatest cupcake that they’ve ever had on this show.

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Jeff Martin: Yes, yes. So we’re back in Kansas City. And I was thinking, Oh, my God, I’m gonna look like an idiot on TV, right. This is horrible.

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Jeff Martin: What turned out to be the greatest thing, because W. What happened was 2 things. We we I’m I’m a big jokester, right? I think I think if you make a mistake, you make fun of it, and you and you find you try to find the best and everything right. So what we did was we made t-shirts that said I forgot the pumpkin. We took out a billboard that said I forgot the pumpkin.

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Anthony Codispoti: Love! It.

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Jeff Martin: Right. So so I thought that was genius. Well, that was the second. That was, that was great, and it really helped. But when the show aired. It was all about people sitting in front of their televisions with kids going. Oh, my gosh! Look! You told the truth, it was the right thing to do, and then that alone

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Jeff Martin: took us to

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Jeff Martin: not even another step. It was like 3 or 4 more steps where

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Jeff Martin: we we just got to super fast. Right? So it was the guy who forgot the pumpkin, the guy who told the truth, who didn’t care about the money?

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Jeff Martin: And it just blew up. I love.

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Anthony Codispoti: This story on so many levels, right.

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Jeff Martin: But you.

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Jeff Martin: yeah.

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Jeff Martin: And then people started coming from all over. Right.

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Jeff Martin: I want to meet the guy who forgot the pumpkin. I want to meet the guy who told the truth. My kid, I had church people calling me going. Oh, my God! You did the right thing! And again all I wanted to do was like, I really wanted that $10,000, but

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Jeff Martin: it was the greatest thing that could ever happen.

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Jeff Martin: And again making fun of it. We sold tons of T-shirts, I said. I forgot the pumpkin. I shipped them all over United States.

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Jeff Martin: Well, then, cupcake wars called again. They said, Hey, season 2 people want to see you on it again, because you know, you had the best cupcake. Can you come out for season 2,

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Jeff Martin: absolutely.

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Jeff Martin: you know. And this time I was like, Okay, I’m gonna win this. I mean, like, why not? I made the best cupcake. So again

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Jeff Martin: we get there and then

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Jeff Martin: In the heat of the moment, and everything’s fast in la! You got cameras in your face, you got, you know, people yelling producers yelling to do things.

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Jeff Martin: and

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Jeff Martin: I ran into

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Jeff Martin: a table.

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Jeff Martin: The cupcakes flew up in the air.

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Jeff Martin: and I got voted off again first, st right?

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Jeff Martin: But again people love the like, Jeff, you just make this look so bad, but so good.

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Jeff Martin: And then again, more people right? And at the same time we’re trying to franchise this thing. And so then, people are like, I want to taste this cupcake that’s been on TV. This guy seems like.

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Jeff Martin: really cool.

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Jeff Martin: Then we started selling some franchises right? And then it started. You know, we’d open one. And I’ve always said product sales itself right? You can have these pretty places and and and people put

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Jeff Martin: hundreds of millions of dollars into restaurants right?

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Jeff Martin: It’s all about the product, right? And so I’ve always said these cupcakes are so great. Maybe our stores weren’t as sexy as some others, because again, my 1st store was in the back of a Mexican restaurant, right? But

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Jeff Martin: you know, once people tried the product.

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Jeff Martin: Someone else would want to come in and open a store, and then it just started spreading like wildfire

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Jeff Martin: And then I got on cupcake wars a 3rd time, and I set the kitchen on fire. So at that point in time it was like, just get this guy on here to get him to do something funny, because obviously he doesn’t wanna win. But I did. But it was always something, you know. It was always.

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Anthony Codispoti: The kitchen on fire.

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Jeff Martin: You know I forgot about a pot on the on the counter. I go to pull the cupcakes out. I come back, and, like the the the sauce I’m making is on fire, and

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Jeff Martin: it was just bad, and it but but again, you know, they I, I I. Someone said this a long time ago. It was always good for ratings, because whenever I was on there it’s correct. It was an hour long show, and I always got about 35 to 38 min worth of being on the show, and I was the 1st one kicked off every time.

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Anthony Codispoti: Jeff, are you the kind of guy where you’re the life of every party like? Are you the center of attention?

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Jeff Martin: I am. Yeah, I have to be the center of attention, too. So yeah, I am. Yeah.

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Anthony Codispoti: And are you also the kind of person where maybe you’re a little like Adhd, like brain sort of zip, zip, zip!

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Jeff Martin: Like the.

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Anthony Codispoti: Pressure of the camera and the lights that really sort of like. Had you a little unnerved.

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Jeff Martin: No, no, E. Every I’ve got 20 other things going on right, you know a lot of people say, I’m just I. I’m

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Jeff Martin: I’m never satisfied because I have all this other stuff going on. So I have this one great thing, this cupcakes. We’re selling it. But then I’m thinking, okay, how do we? How do we grow this thing? How do we add more product? I mean, I’m always thinking, 6 months to a year ahead, you know. And and I tell people I think a lot of Ceos entrepreneurs do that. You know they don’t think about the next day they’re thinking the next 6 months to a year where we gonna be, or what what product do I have to have, or whatever

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Jeff Martin: but as all this is going on, we’re growing franchises. I mean, we’re we’re, you know, one store open another store.

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Jeff Martin: and then it’s just like people are calling. And again, I don’t know how how long or how far I can take this thing. I don’t know if this cupcake thing’s gonna end tomorrow, right? So I’m the guy who’s taking the sales calls. I’m still baking cupcakes. I’m still training stores before I hire anyone, you know. I mean, I’m trying to do everything my myself and but it was good. It was a it was a crazy learning curve.

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Jeff Martin: I think we got to about 30 stores in the Us. And and this is a great story, because this was my 10 year. It was 10 years couple of days ago. I got a call from a guy in Dubai who wanted to open a small cakes in Dubai.

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Jeff Martin: I never even heard of Dubai right? I mean, it wasn’t Dubai like it is now, you know.

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Jeff Martin: and so

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Jeff Martin: He flies. He flies me out to Dubai and

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Jeff Martin: So it was 10 years ago we had our 1st Dubai store open, and I thought, my gosh! We’re we’re going out to the desert. And you know, I mean again. It’s not 10 years ago Dubai wasn’t what it is now, but it was crazy that someone wanted to open a small cakes in Dubai.

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Jeff Martin: It was unbelievable, right? So it it really it really helped me grow, not only, you know here locally, but internationally we grew. I mean, I was even shipping. I forgot pumpkin cupcakes or pumpkin shirts to, you know, over in in Europe. In the Middle East. I mean it was crazy.

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Anthony Codispoti: So yeah, I wanna rewind a little bit and just sort of like highlight, like what? What a great series of stories that was! I mean, as you pointed out, very astutely, like it was so awesome. How

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Anthony Codispoti: you put what was right in front of what you’ve really wanted in that moment. Right? You’re like, okay, I really need that $10,000 for my young business that’s really trying to get off the ground.

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Anthony Codispoti: But I didn’t follow the rules. I’m going to feel bad. I’m going to feel terrible if I don’t do the right thing here, so I’m going to speak up. I’m going to say something.

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Anthony Codispoti: and and you kind of leave feeling a little bit deflated. But as you’re heading back, you’re like, you know what I am. Just gonna embrace the mistake. I’m just gonna love who I am and love what happened. And I’m gonna highlight it. I’m not gonna stick my head in the sand. I’m not gonna hide from it, and it’s like, yep, that was me forgot the pumpkin. And then those 2 things that the honesty and the sort of you know, just laughing at yourself. Really help this to blow up

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Anthony Codispoti: right? I mean, it really started the the snowball down the hill in a way that I don’t know if you could have bought that kind of publicity any other way.

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Jeff Martin: I know right? I mean it just. It was just a. It was a perfect storm, in a way. People always say that it was like lightning in a bottle, and you could either catch it and run with it or let it go. And I mean, I think we we caught it. We we tucked it, and we ran as far as we could with it. And again I never knew. I thought this cupcake thing, you know. People always say you always said it could end tomorrow. It could end tomorrow, and then.

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Jeff Martin: you know, 15 years. It was still going strong, you know.

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Anthony Codispoti: And so what was behind the decision to sell.

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Jeff Martin: So you know it was

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Anthony Codispoti: You get up to 200 franchisees. How many locations was that.

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Jeff Martin: So yes. So that was that was around 220 locations right? International as well.

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Jeff Martin: And it just got to. I mean again, I was doing other things as well. I was always thinking about the concepts to start even when we were doing this small case. I always started other concepts, too. Right?

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Jeff Martin: started some coffee shops, you know, just little things that were

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Jeff Martin: popular at the time, just trying to get on the next wave of how the food industry was changing. But then 15, you know, in 2021 it just felt right, because in 2020 I started

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Jeff Martin: fnatic, which we’ll get into. But I really had a passion for that right. I really saw

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Jeff Martin: the food industry changing after 2020 and

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Jeff Martin: where breakfast was going, and it just felt right, and and again 15 years, I mean, I felt that I did as much as I could do at the time, you know.

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Jeff Martin: and it was just time to move on, and it was just an opportunity that came. We didn’t go out looking for it. It was an opportunity that came to us, and we were just like, you know, let’s just do it. I have 2 kids now that are

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Jeff Martin: that are 16 and 15. So they’re getting, you know, up to that age where they’ll be leaving and going somewhere. And so it was just like, you know. Let’s do this. Let’s enjoy my time with them and and and put everything into F and egg. And again, when we sold, people say you took like 3 days off, and then you jump right into growing F and egg. I’m like, I know, I can’t stop. I mean, like this is gonna be big, too, I think so.

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Jeff Martin: That’s kind of how the the sale went.

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Anthony Codispoti: So what was what were the changes that you saw coming in the food space that had you kind of interested in breakfast.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. So you know, not only did marketing change right? So 15 years ago, it was like, you know, TV, it was magazine ads. That’s how you marketed your business. Well, now, marketing is all social media, you know. And then, after 2020, we saw these big

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Jeff Martin: restaurants not not make it. So everything was going to a smaller type of

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Jeff Martin: a smaller type of box type of restaurant. And then, 3rd party, right? I mean everything. Everyone’s ordering food online now,

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Jeff Martin: and then the breakfast segment. No one really did. No, everyone. It’s almost like grandpa’s right. I mean, like the breakfast place you go in. You get your, you get your side of eggs, you get your grits, you get your 2 hard pieces of bacon. No one was trying to do anything and scale it with like a breakfast sandwich, you know, and

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Jeff Martin: what we saw was a breakfast sandwich instead of like getting something from like Mcdonald’s. That was like, not great quality. We really want to do something quality that you could grab on the go

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Jeff Martin: And again it was all take, you know, take to go. And 3rd party.

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Jeff Martin: and that’s where I really saw it going. And if you see that a lot of these companies are building smaller models, you know. They’re doing a lot of like 3rd party, you know, some just kiosk, only I mean, people just aren’t eating in stores like they used to. So

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Jeff Martin: you know, we saw that’s where that was going, and we really wanted to jump on the breakfast market of it, because no one in the breakfast market was doing anything like it.

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Anthony Codispoti: And did you see this change coming? Was this prior to Covid? Was this during Covid that you saw the shift.

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Jeff Martin: I think. Yeah, I think it was before Covid. But then Covid accelerated everything. Right? You you had big, you know. You had these other fast food companies who were experimenting with kiosk experiment with just 3rd party. But it was.

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Anthony Codispoti: When you say kiosk, you mean a kiosk ordering station.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, yeah, right? So so they were just in it all it was was an experience or or experiment. But then, when Covid happened. It all accelerated everything right? So like in our stores. Now they’re Kiosk base, right? So you come in. You order from the kiosk

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Jeff Martin: It’s just that we saw. That’s where that was going. And we I wanted to implement it right away. Because I mean in in theory, that’s the future of of restaurants. Right?

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Jeff Martin: so yeah. So I saw that before 2020, but then 2020 just accelerated, I think, for everyone.

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Anthony Codispoti: Tell me about the name

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Anthony Codispoti: F and Egg.

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Jeff Martin: F. And A, you know a a lot of people go. Do you just like the word Ethn? Do you say, Ethan? A lot, you know, and and if you talk to a lot of my friends I do, I mean, like I just love the name I mean. You’ll you’ll catch me. I’m like what the F you know, and like F in this. And it’s just funny, right? Some people will take a little offense to it, but it, but it’s not the word you think it is. It’s a funny meaning of. And you and you know you can. You can.

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Jeff Martin: I think it’s hilarious, right?

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Anthony Codispoti: I think it shows that the brand has got a little edge.

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Jeff Martin: Don’t!

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Anthony Codispoti: Nowadays to it.

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Jeff Martin: I know. So it’s funny cause small cakes are so family driven, and so like fufu and pink and f and egg is kind of like the the Step sister, the step brother who’s bad or something, you know. But I I love the name. I think it’s funny. A lot of people love the branding right?

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Jeff Martin: we, you know. My, the big thing on our social media is like, you know, the fu of the day is, it could be. I spilt my coffee on my paper, or the fu of the day is, you know, someone came in, and

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Jeff Martin: and they know

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Jeff Martin: through their sandwich at us. I mean, it’s just funny stuff that you can make into anything. But but the name is very once the sign goes up, a lot of people have a lot of interest.

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Anthony Codispoti: It’s brilliant marketing, if you ask me, you know, and I look at some of the menu item names, and it looks like you’re having some fun there, too. You’ve got chronic brisket tacos. You encourage customers to roll their burrito into a fat one or make it into a bowl, you know kind of a if if you know, you know.

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Jeff Martin: If you know, you know, you know. And so our even our coffee is you know we we do a potheads welcome, which is a coffee pot, but pot heads welcome. We, you know we we roast our own beans and stuff, and I’ve got this whole thing like our beans are great, but

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Jeff Martin: what people really want is a pot has T-shirt, you know, because they love it, but it’s it’s a coffee pot. But we try to make. We try to make it fun right? Because it is a

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Jeff Martin: fast, casual higher end breakfast sandwich, I mean, our breakfast sandwich is about, you know 10 bucks, for example, and it but it’s thick cut bacon. It’s a great, you know, quality egg. It’s a brioche bun

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Jeff Martin: But but we want to have fun with it. But at the same time it’s a quality

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Jeff Martin: product that you’re getting. And again going back to. I think people you can build these pretty places. But it’s all about the quality of the product, right? And so the quality of the product is is amazing. And and and then, you know you have fun with all the all the branding.

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Anthony Codispoti: And so is it breakfast? It’s breakfast food only. But is it breakfast time? Only do you serve lunch? Do you serve later in the day.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, we we go a little bit later. So we go to around 7 to 4, right? So there’s a little bit lunch. So we do have some lunch items as well. And again, as you know, and I learned this with small cakes as well. The more you grow and the more you let new owners come in franchisees, right? Everyone’s got an idea.

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Jeff Martin: And so you gotta kind of listen right? You don’t take every idea. But you listen. So yeah. So you know, we’ve expanded our lunch menu a little bit. But again, the the majority of what we do is all breakfast base and and again, you know our burritos.

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Jeff Martin: They’re big or huge or fat. You know, it’s the same customer that eats at Chipotle right? So it’s a younger genera, a younger demographic of people.

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Jeff Martin: and and we just try to. You know, we just try to make you know it’s a great product. So and it appeals to a lot of people, though so.

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Anthony Codispoti: And so we’ve got 12 locations open now, and 30 more coming. What’s the geography? Where can people find these right now?

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. So right now primarily in the South,

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Jeff Martin: and then the farthest west we’re going is right now is in Phoenix.

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Jeff Martin: But but mostly in Texas, Georgia,

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Jeff Martin: New Jersey, New York. So up that way, which works really well, because again, you’re a fast pace. Grab a sandwich on the go. You know, we’re working out really well in college towns. College kids love it. They love the branding. They love the product. But you know, they definitely want a podcast T-shirt and stuff. But but yeah, it’s it’s really all over the place right now and but then, as we grow you’ll see more in the Midwest. Come in a lot more in Texas. So we’re really excited about

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Jeff Martin: about this cause. We’re really the only one that’s really accelerated the breakfast sandwich market right now, and and I think we can do a lot more and grow a lot more. Once people, once we open up these stores and people taste it, and and even the buy into our product or the buy into the franchises

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Jeff Martin: is really I hate the word cheap, but cheaper than like building a big restaurant. You know, you can get in for this thing, for at 200 k. Or less, which is unheard of in the restaurant industry. Right? I mean and again, we always look for second generation locations to help people out with with, you know, putting that money into it. But

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Jeff Martin: you know, we’re we’re a lot different than other places. But again, the product sells itself. It’s a great product.

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Anthony Codispoti: What are some of the other advantages to this franchise concept? If there are people looking at, hey? I I wanna franchise. I wanna you know, I I wanna grow what I’m doing. Wh? What are some benefits of this over other opportunities?

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Jeff Martin: So one thing I hated about franchises is that they take so much money from people. Right? So people put their whole life savings into this, and they want it to work. And and their goal is to make money right? So what I did different, even with small cakes. And I do it. The same thing with F and egg is is, we don’t take a lot of money from our owners, right? So what that means is in a normal franchise they would a franchise or royalty fee would be anywhere from 6 to 12. Right? So what we do is we only take 3.

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Jeff Martin: I think that’s more than enough, especially with marketing these days. A lot of people. They take this marketing fee.

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Jeff Martin: Well, marketing these days is all social media, right? So these local stores can do it on their own. So you know, we take a 3% flat fee each month. And that’s it, you know, and a lot of these other places again, 6 to 12. We let people kind of design their own store. Now you have to use our like ethnic colors and branding because it’s cool and fun. But as far as as far as store design, we want you to be really connected to your community right? So

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Jeff Martin: in California, we can see like there could be, you know, surf boards or something cool there in New York. It’s very New Yorkish. It’s very like fast pace on the go. They’re small and our college towns. There’s college stuff all over, you know, the the store. So I think people like that, too. They they can put their own twist on it, even though it’s a, you know franchise.

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Jeff Martin: So I think a lot of people like that and appeals to them. They have a lot more flexibility.

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Anthony Codispoti: I’m gonna put in a plug I live in a pretty great college town myself. Columbus, Ohio. Is there anything coming to this area.

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Jeff Martin: Not yet. But let me tell you, that would be awesome, though I I know Columbus very well.

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Anthony Codispoti: Yeah, you spend some time here.

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Jeff Martin: Yes, yes, yes.

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Anthony Codispoti: So the geographies that you’re talking about you’re you’re kind of spreading out. Yeah, you you’re in the South. You’re going as far West as Phoenix. I’m curious. Is there anything about the supply chain of the food items and the ingredients that’s been challenging for you to figure out? Or is that pretty easy and standard to find.

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Jeff Martin: It is. Yeah. So yeah, we we yeah. So it’s very it’s easy. Now, right? So I think in

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Jeff Martin: 2020, 2021, you know, it was a little difficult. But

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Jeff Martin: it’s it’s easy. Now, you know, we have partnerships with national suppliers.

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Jeff Martin: So it’s it’s easy now. Yeah.

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Anthony Codispoti: Yeah. And I wanna talk about, you know, this is kind of your second go round you. You did it at scale with small cakes. And and now you’re able to take a lot of the lessons that you learned from that and apply it to F and egg. But you know, I’m curious. I I always love to hear from business leaders who were able to make the transition from small startup

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Anthony Codispoti: to

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Anthony Codispoti: scale, because it’s

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Anthony Codispoti: it’s a different set of skills that’s required to get something small and new figured out and off the ground versus, okay, we’ve got it working. Now, I need to focus more on the systems. I need to put the right people and the right structure in place. Talk to me about how you made that transition and what was helpful to you and what what is typically a difficult learning curve.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, so that was very difficult for me, because,

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Jeff Martin: I’m a control freak, too. Right? So it was like, Oh, my God! So I started the small cakes. I did everything.

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Jeff Martin: so

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Jeff Martin: it was very hard for me to take a step back and let someone else, you know, control recipes or test recipes. And

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Jeff Martin: it. It took a lot. It took a long time actually, for me. But what I learned was, you know, it’s good to hire the right people right, and to get a good circle of people and build that team. And when I sold small cakes, I I. It was a small circle of people, but it was a great

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Jeff Martin: It was a great quality of people that was around me that was that that saw my vision

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Jeff Martin: that could help me grow. And and so as I started F and egg

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Jeff Martin: I put, I put that. I put that what I learned there in in place right away, right? Cause. I think that could help us grow quicker. By by having all these people in place in the beginning to grow right, to give that support to franchisees right away. When when I started small cakes, I was doing, you know, 40 different things. So to get a question answered from a franchisee, took a little longer than expected. Right? And so, you know, putting that

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Jeff Martin: putting the people in place to help grow

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Jeff Martin: was very important, and in the beginning couldn’t do that right. We didn’t have the money to do that beginning. Well, you know, now we’re starting. This new one is is just getting the right people around you the right team to to help grow.

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Anthony Codispoti: As you were learning those new squa skills and trying to acquire. You know this new knowledge. Were there particular mentors or coaches that were helpful to you in making that transition.

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Jeff Martin: You know. I I just always love, you know.

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Jeff Martin: restaurant people right? I love reading articles about

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Jeff Martin: you know, different types of of concepts that were coming from different people. It wasn’t anyone in particular, but it was. It was always, you know. What’s the next best thing. What? What are these other bigger guys than me doing? Where are they opening up? It was always about staying in the the conversation of the business, and seeing what other people in the industry was doing. So.

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Anthony Codispoti: Anybody in particular that you drew inspiration from.

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Jeff Martin: You know, I always wanted there was a there was a company called Sprinkles, right.

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Jeff Martin: and I always just wanted to beat them because everyone was there. They had their. They had their cupcakes and celebrities hands. And I was like, Okay, you know what my goal is to beat you now. So it was always about competition. You know, it’s always about competition.

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Anthony Codispoti: That’s what fuels you.

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Jeff Martin: As what feels me. Yes.

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Anthony Codispoti: What are some fun things that you’ve done for new store openings to help get the word out.

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Jeff Martin: So yeah. So I mean in the beginning it was, you know, it was funny in the beginning.

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Jeff Martin: it was always about me being there right? So the guy who dropped who forgot the pumpkin or dropped the cupcakes? He was there taking pictures. And then, as we grew. It’s it’s always just about, you know, doing things in the community to get the community out there right? Giving back to that community wherever you’re at. And

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Jeff Martin: we we did things a whole lot of different ways, you know, small cases all about family. So it’s all about family fun. What can you do for families? And then, as of F and egg, we really just do we really just push our branding and and

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Jeff Martin: and things like that when we, when we open.

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Anthony Codispoti: You know, I’ve seen some pretty significant price swings in eggs over the past couple of years. How does that impact your business?

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Jeff Martin: So, yeah, so you know, I think a lot of people think

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Jeff Martin: when you order a lot of eggs like we do, it doesn’t affect it a lot, right? Because we order in bigger quantities. So it’s not like when we go to the grocery store here, because every time I go to the grocery. I’m like, Oh, my God, these eggs and milk! This is crazy. Right? Well, when we order larger quantities it’s a little different. But I do get that question a lot. And so, yeah, I mean, like, I said, our breakfast sandwich is a little pricier than

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Jeff Martin: you know. If you went to a Mcdonald’s or a chick-fil-a right? But I think those prices are set. So unless something

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Jeff Martin: knock on what crazy happens. We buy in such bulk that it really doesn’t affect us that much.

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Anthony Codispoti: You’re mostly protected from that.

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Jeff Martin: We are. Yeah, yeah, yep.

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Anthony Codispoti: Right. You know. I think a lot of people look at somebody like you. That success that you’ve had the exposure that you’ve had the the media exposure that you you’ve benefited from. And they think, man, this is a guy that just everything comes easy to him, and you know he’s a pillar. Nothing knocks him down like he rolls with the punches like man. I I could only be so lucky to be a guy like that. But what they don’t realize is that behind the scenes there’s a lot of struggle. There’s a lot of strife. There’s a lot of.

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Jeff Martin: But is.

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Anthony Codispoti: Sleepless nights. I I’m curious to hear, maybe a specific story about something challenging that you’ve gone through, and some lessons that you learned coming out the other side of it.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, yeah, you’re right. A lot of people are like, Oh, my God, you just hit the lightning in the bottle, which we did right, but it took a long time to get there.

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Jeff Martin: you know.

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Jeff Martin: and

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Jeff Martin: The way I grew up was in a very lower middle class type of area. And it’s funny the goal was when you grew up that way. It was like, just go get a job, you know. And so there was not something I wanted to do. I wanted to do something more. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but wanted to do something more. So again I go back to this word that a lot of people.

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Jeff Martin: Jeff, you’re never satisfied. Well, it’s because, you know, I want more. I want to do more. So there’s been a lot of times where you know it’s gotten a lot of dark, because, you know, in today’s society, you just need money to do everything and and back. Then it was like, Well, you gotta have money to to open a small business, and and we we, you know, I would go to Banks and try to get along again. Didn’t have anything to get along with at the time, if you think about it. But you mean you get turned down that much. It does get dark because you’re like.

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Jeff Martin: you know.

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Jeff Martin: am I? Is Mike? Is is it all just? Is it all about just going to get a job being done, and you know, so

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Jeff Martin: I think it got dark at times when I got turned down so much from

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Jeff Martin: you know banks or people in my life that wouldn’t see the vision, you know.

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Jeff Martin: And so that’s hard to do. And that’s hard for people, and I can see that’s where a lot of people quit sometimes. But you just gotta keep going right, I mean, and that’s what I had to do was keep going, even though everyone said, No, I couldn’t get any money, so the solution was to do what we did right. Bake at home, buy a sign.

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Jeff Martin: grow from there, you know, and we put every single dollar we made back into the business for the first, st

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Jeff Martin: probably 3 to 4 years of just growing, you know.

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Anthony Codispoti: Was there any point in those 1st few years where you thought about just throwing in the towel like this is too hard. This this is not worth it.

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Jeff Martin: Not about throwing in a towel, but it was all about. Okay. I hope I make just enough money on this one store, so I don’t have to go work for someone else, you know, and that that’s a little. That’s dark, too. Going home going? Okay? I mean, I think I made enough money, you know. I I think we did. Okay this time.

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Jeff Martin: but just don’t quit. And then, you know. But but I think I’m always all over the place. It was always, I mean, the one store was great. But I think once I started seeing

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Jeff Martin: the vision of this, it was always okay, wait a minute. How about 2 stores? And if we got 3 stores, then I know I wouldn’t have to work for someone else. And then it grew into what it it grew into. But

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Jeff Martin: But yeah, you know, I think that I think a lot of naysayers in the nose. It can hold a lot of people down. And you just gotta kind of.

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Jeff Martin: you know, in the the beginning, it’s funny when Facebook kind of started when we kind of got going.

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Jeff Martin: I would read these comments right, and the people around me goes, hey, stop reading the comments. You know, you got a great thing right, and I think that’s harder for today’s society right now, with everything Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook. Right?

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Jeff Martin: you, you can’t buy into the comments, right? I tell my kids this all the time. I mean, I don’t. I don’t even read the comments, you know. But that’s hard for a lot of people to do I think?

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Jeff Martin: that that was a dark moment, too, because I would read and go. I try my best to make everyone happy, and I would go through everything I would do to really go beyond making a customer happy, or whatever right

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Jeff Martin: and and that they be at the end. It was like, okay.

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Jeff Martin: you can’t make everyone happy. You know you got a great product. Move on. And so now I don’t read comments. I haven’t read comments and

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Jeff Martin: 10 years probably.

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Anthony Codispoti: It’s better for your sanity, you know I’ve I’ve always noticed it is way easier to hate than it is to create, and you could have something that is as fantastic is handing out free money to people. And you are gonna find somebody that’s gonna complain about it right.

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Jeff Martin: 1,000%.

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Anthony Codispoti: So

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Anthony Codispoti: I think what’s interesting is in those early days when it was really hard.

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Anthony Codispoti: The fuel for your fire, the motivation that really kept you going was this, I do not wanna work for somebody else. I wanna be my own guy. I wanna be my own boss, and that’s what got you through the 1st few stores, and then once you got some momentum going, tell me, tell me if I’m hearing this correctly, but it seems like now that fuel sort of transitioned into a competitive spirit like, I wanna beat the other guys, I wanna come out on top. I you know, I I really wanna to beat the other guys across town.

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Jeff Martin: It is, and that’s what it was. It was once we got to that point, and I didn’t know what an entrepreneur was at the time right, but it was being competitive and being the best at what I want, what I whatever I was doing right. And so it it wasn’t even about the money at that time, too, because we were very fortunate, and we were selling these franchises.

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Jeff Martin: But it was all about, how do you open more stores than someone else. How do we get to this point? How do we get to the State of Texas? How do we get the state of it was all about that, you know, which I think was really great when you can.

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Jeff Martin: The money was gonna come right. But it was all about, you know, making the best product and growing it. And I think when people can do that and not worry about the money part, you know, things can really change really fast for people, you know.

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Anthony Codispoti: So this next one, Jeff, is kind of a 2 part question, you know, is, is business leaders. We gotta keep an eye on the bottom line all the time. Right? And you do that in 2 ways. You’re looking to drive new sales, and and you’re looking for ways to to reduce expenses. So I want you to think about both of those levers there, and maybe some creative ideas that you’ve tried, that we haven’t already heard on the sales side for for boosting sales, and then also on the expense side, maybe a creative lever that you found to pull for that.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. So so talking about not reading comments, but getting customers

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Jeff Martin: suggestions.

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Jeff Martin: You know, when we 1st started out F and egg, for example, you know, breakfast like I said. A breakfast sandwich is like 10 bucks, you know, and people would always say, Well, I can go to Mcdonald’s and get like a sandwich and coke and hash browns for X.

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Jeff Martin: So but you know, we I was always like, Okay, well, we could spend a little more money and offering a mill deal right? And will that boost our will that help ourselves? And that’s hard to get franchisees to buy onto? To say, Hey, we’re gonna give away some product

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Jeff Martin: and not give away. Right? You know, you’re gonna give away a little bit more. But I promise we’re gonna sell more.

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Jeff Martin: you know. And so that’s a great example. That’s something. We just implemented it. Several weeks ago.

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Jeff Martin: a month ago. Like a mill deal right and that we gave a little bit more. We spent a little bit more, but our sales have actually taken off on things that we offer mill deals for now

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Jeff Martin: So that.

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Anthony Codispoti: You share some numbers like, maybe it costs.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, so so for example, for say.

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Anthony Codispoti: Way. But sales went up 20%.

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Jeff Martin: So let’s say you know, in a month we would we call the og, or bacon egg and cheese, or most popular one? Right, we would sell maybe

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Jeff Martin: 800 sandwiches a month right in this one specific location.

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Jeff Martin: Since we’ve done the mill deal

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Jeff Martin: that now has went up to about 1,400 sandwiches.

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Jeff Martin: because people think they’re getting a value and value is so important right now where we are in the world, right? And it didn’t cost us that much to add coffee, some hash browns, and what we saw was that almost doubled ourselves in a month for one sandwich right? And

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Jeff Martin: it took some trial there. It took, you know. Show us on the corporate side, boss, that it’s gonna work, and then we’ll implement it in our stores. And it did. I mean it. It took off because people were like, okay, even though they spend a little bit extra

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Jeff Martin: because they were getting extra.

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Jeff Martin: They thought they were getting. I mean they are. But they thought they were getting a deal, you know, and that totally worked just by giving away just a little bit.

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Anthony Codispoti: And how did you promote that? Just like a sign in the store like change the menu.

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Jeff Martin: Signs. But social media, right? I mean, we posted and posted and post. I mean, we’ve just crammed it down.

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Jeff Martin: Social Media’s throat right tick tocked it. I danced about it. Instagram. It.

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Anthony Codispoti: Set something on fire.

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Jeff Martin: I I mean I should right. I mean I did everything I could to say, Hey, you’re gonna get some hash browns and a cup of coffee. All you gotta do is, you know, spend 2 more dollars and and it worked, you know. I mean, that’s where people go to now. They? They don’t even go to the, you know, like on our kiosk, right? We have a sandwich section, and we have our meal section.

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Jeff Martin: middle sections where everyone goes now and it’s good for us, because it’s an extra like 2 or $3 per per order.

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Jeff Martin: but it’s good for the customer as well right. They get a little bit extra a little bit more value a little bit more food. So it worked well off each other. So now, and so, you know, we did it with just sandwiches. Now we offer with our burritos and our Tacos. Now

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Jeff Martin: So.

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Anthony Codispoti: So I love that. That’s the lever where you’re you’re boost in sales. Is there a creative lever that you found to reduce expenses in any way?

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Jeff Martin: We’re still working on that one, you know.

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Anthony Codispoti: Fair enough.

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Jeff Martin: But you know, I mean, we don’t have a ton of again. Our stores are very small, right? So

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Jeff Martin: an average store size is about 600 to 900 square feet.

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Jeff Martin: so we don’t have a ton of things going on. We have the kiosk, which labor’s, you know. Labor, I guess, is our biggest biggest expense right now. But again we have our kiosk

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Jeff Martin: that takes away from that person, you know, running a register, and that’s all they’re doing

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Jeff Martin: and then just finding ways to reuse. You know a lot of our menu items.

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Jeff Martin: we put in in in a bunch, you know we you, we utilize right? So not only does our Turkey sausage is going one item, it goes in maybe 5 or 6 items, so we really try to do that as well. So we don’t just have one standing product for one.

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Jeff Martin: you know, sandwich, and that’s all we use it for. So there could be waste there. So besides that, that’s that’s kind of what we’re doing, just watching ways, trying to utilize all of our products and the different things. So.

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Anthony Codispoti: Yeah, a lot of efficiencies built in already.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah, yeah, we do. And and again, that was trial and error from

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Jeff Martin: small cakes. Right? And then we brought in here and said, okay, we’re dealing with a little more expensive food. Now, how do we try to

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Jeff Martin: not not have a ton of waste? You know, restaurants have tons of waste right? So we try to, you know, capitalize on not doing that.

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Anthony Codispoti: So you mentioned labor being your biggest expense right now, you know, coming out of Covid. Super competitive job market, hard to find people hard to keep good people. I’m curious if you

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Anthony Codispoti: found, if you’ve tried and found anything that has worked for retaining and recruiting good folks.

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Jeff Martin: So I’ve always been a believer, even when

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Jeff Martin: we, even when we couldn’t, but paying people well, not over paying, but paying people well, right.

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Jeff Martin: And then I think, if you know, I mean, if you think about it, the average employee, they come to work to make money right? I mean? That’s that’s it, but also

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Jeff Martin: pay them a better than decent wage. And then a good environment. And and everyone says that. And what I mean by that is like.

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Jeff Martin: you know, you hire people who can do the job and does. They don’t need to be managed right. And they have that flexibility to make decisions right? So

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Jeff Martin: you know, whatever decision that I can’t make at the time. If I’m not there, or you know whatever that they feel that they can make that decision. They feel like they’re a part of the team, you know, and I’ve always been that person, and I’ve always knock on wood, have had have. I’ve had great people that work for me that’s been around me. And the great thing about F and egg is we’re open from the morning. Right? So a lot of our people have, you know, kids or things to do at night. So they have that nighttime.

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Jeff Martin: so they’re not stuck at a restaurant 1516 HA day. But but it’s I, you know, again, I I really think it’s just taking care of people.

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Jeff Martin: I’m I’m very passionate about that, taking care of people, paying them what they’re worth, but giving them the opportunity to to be a not a manager, but to be that person who can make decisions, you know, and being so, they feel that they’re a part of the team.

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Anthony Codispoti: I love that.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah.

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Anthony Codispoti: I’m curious. What’s something, Jeff, that you wish you could teach a younger version of yourself.

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Jeff Martin: How to be patient, jeez.

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Jeff Martin: I was not patient back in the day, let me tell you. I wanted everything now, now, now nothing was good enough, I mean not no matter

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Jeff Martin: no matter what you know. And but being patient, would a would have helped me with a lot of things. So I’m very patient these days. The people who’ve known me for a while go, wow! You have changed.

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Anthony Codispoti: You really simmered down. Huh?

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Jeff Martin: I really simmer down? Yes, yes.

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Jeff Martin: so.

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Anthony Codispoti: Jeff, Jeff, what’s a fun fact that most people wouldn’t know about you.

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Jeff Martin: So a fun fact was you know, have used that word never satisfied. Not long ago I started a

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Jeff Martin: I wouldn’t say a clothing brand. But i i i started a clothing brand that said never satisfied. Right?

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Jeff Martin: And so

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Jeff Martin: I I wear hoodies, my T-shirts all the time, and people are like, what does that mean? I’m like, well, let me tell you the story right? It’s about a guy who was never satisfied. He started a Cupcake Company, and then grew. And so I think that’s funny when people see and they go. Oh, my God, I love that Hoodie! Where do I get them like, well, I actually make them, you know. So not only I’m in the restaurant business. I I have a you know, little never satisfied clothing brand, too.

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Anthony Codispoti: And so this.

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Jeff Martin: Wouldn’t know that.

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Anthony Codispoti: And and so this is like T-shirt hoodies.

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Jeff Martin: And hoodies. Yeah, just t-shirts and hoodies.

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Anthony Codispoti: That’s okay.

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Jeff Martin: Some ball caps. But but you know, the more I wear, and the more I see young people.

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Jeff Martin: it really resonates with them, because you know

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Jeff Martin: where we’re at. And today I mean a lot of these young entrepreneurs that I run into. They get it right. They want more and and the never satisfy thing. You know how funny it is or how you take it. It’s really resonates to entrepreneurs who go. Okay. I want to start with one store. But I really want 200 locations, or I really want to grow my brand into this. Or my story is is that story alone? I mean, that is the story of

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Jeff Martin: of how it started.

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Anthony Codispoti: Well, and you’ve got some merch background, I mean, from the cupcake days, you know you’re capitalizing on it with.

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Jeff Martin: Yes.

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Anthony Codispoti: These funny T-shirts. And yeah, so it’s sort of a natural natural progression for you.

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Anthony Codispoti: So, Jeff, I just have one more question for you. But before I ask it, I wanna do 2 things. First, st if you’re listening today and you like, today’s content. Please hit the like, subscribe or share button on your favorite podcast app.

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Anthony Codispoti: I also want to tell people, Jeff, the best way to get in touch with you. What is that.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. So you know, straight to my my email, my personal emails on our website, F and egg.com comes directly to me and

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Anthony Codispoti: Fn for people who are listening and and not watching the visual. It’s EFFI, n.

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Anthony Codispoti: eg, so f and egg so sorry. Go ahead. Your your email address again.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. F and egg.com. You go straight there. My personal emails. My name is Jeff Martin, 10@me.com. I get all the emails. I respond to them, so.

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Anthony Codispoti: Okay? So last question for you, Jeff, I’m curious. Where do you see your industry, and maybe your business in particular, evolving in the next 5 years. What do you think? The big changes that are coming into the space.

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Jeff Martin: I think the food industry is changing so fast right now. You see, brands like

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Jeff Martin: Chick-fil-a, who are doing, you know, just standalone stores of walk up to the window and grab it, or or it’s all just to go

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Jeff Martin: so the industry alone is is changing to that delivery

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Jeff Martin: grab and go. And I think we’re.

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Jeff Martin: You know we’re run like I said. We’re one of the 1st ones in the breakfast industry to try it that way with breakfast sandwiches. So you know, I think, and and I hope and knock on wood. But I foresee, you know, F. And egg growing, you know, like, I said. We got 30 more stores opening soon. I see us growing a lot faster, you know. The next couple of years.

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Jeff Martin: to get to that over a hundred to 150 units, and and and hopefully, you know, 2 to 3 years. I think that’s feasible. I think when you have people

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Jeff Martin: in an economy that want to invest in themselves. And what can I open? And again, F and eggs got a really great model, an inexpensive model compared to most. If people wanted to get into the food industry, it’s a great great place to get into, and and they can not only make money, but, you know, have an outside life, too, and I think that’s important for people right now is they? They want to do more outside of life. But yet they wanna they need to make the money right.

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Jeff Martin: and F and eggs a perfect, perfect concept for that.

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Anthony Codispoti: Are there specific locations, geographies that you’re looking for new franchise opportunities.

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Jeff Martin: You know we’re wide open right now. I mean you know.

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Anthony Codispoti: Opportunity exists.

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Jeff Martin: Yeah. Yeah. And so the great thing about coming into our company right now is, we’re still really small, you know. And so the great getting in ground floor opportunity.

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Jeff Martin: There’s a lot of locations out there that are still open. Great location, so.

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Anthony Codispoti: Jeff, I want to be the 1st one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I I really appreciate it.

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Jeff Martin: I appreciate you having me on. This was fun. Thanks a lot.

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Anthony Codispoti: Absolutely folks. That’s a wrap on another episode of the inspired stories Podcast thanks for learning with us today.