Rolling with Impact: Building the World’s Largest Food Truck Franchise with Tony Lamb

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we'll be breaking down, rolling with impact, building the world's largest food truck franchise. To drop these value bombs, I brought to Tony Lamb and to EO Fire Studios. Tony is the founder of the world's largest mobile franchise and is the CEO of Kona Ice, traveling Tom's Coffee, and Beverly Ann's Cookies. And today, we'll be talking about community fund and fundraising. We'll also be talking about diversifying and becoming unique, company culture, embracing innovation, and making a positive impact, and oh, so much more.

0:40And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Tony and our sponsors. Is this your year to grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and now featuring Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. If you've ever considered launching a show on YouTube, I may have the solution for you after launching a very successful show on YouTube in 2024 micro strategy today. I've learned a lot on what it takes to create a successful show and have launched a one-on-one mentorship program called YouTube 100.

1:25If you want to jump on a call and learn more about this program, shoot me an email, john at EO fire.com. This is the year of YouTube. Let's go. Tony, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I was on a podcast one time and the guy asked me, what is the secret? What is the sauce? What is the secret sauce? And I said, I think it's luck. And he could not have disagreed more. I said, listen, I'm a hardworking guy. I'm fairly intelligent, you know, not any more intelligent than a lot of people. But, you know, when perseverance and hard work intercepts with luck, that's when success happens.

2:09And so, so I do, I chalk a lot of it up to the right time, the right place, the right idea. But, you know, I was working hard head down in the game. And we've just, we've been very, very fortunate. Well, I love that. And actually, I have a little different way of saying that I say luck is when effort meets opportunity. You have to be putting in the effort day in, day out. And then when that opportunity comes, you're just there to pick it up. It's just like, it's right there. Just pick it up. So today, Fire Nation, we're talking about rolling with impact, building the world's largest food truck franchise.

2:44And Tony, I want to start with Kona Ice. What the heck sparked the idea for Kona Ice? And just as importantly, how did you turn it into the world's largest food truck franchise. The story is, the origin story is I was in my backyard with my young family 18 years ago. We heard some dysfunctional music coming from a 72 Chevy van pulling up into our front yard. And my kids went instinctively just running for this thing. And I was appalled as a As a father of four kids, I was appalled that my kids, through all the training and teaching, were running towards what could have been just a terrible situation.

3:30But they were running at full blast, wanting to engage with this person that was in the van. And I thought, this has got train wreck written all over it. But it started a conversation with my wife that I kept saying, can you imagine the excitement that's already in the kids? I didn't even know they knew anything about ice cream truck or, you know, neighborhood ice cream truck, but it was in their DNA. And I said, imagine if the truck would have been like Disneyland. Imagine if it would have been beautiful. Imagine if it would have been exciting or the driver didn't look like they were fresh out of prison.

4:07You know, imagine that if you would. Imagine if the driver would have had a shirt on. And imagine if the treats that they had got from the truck were, you know, delicious. or a good value. And this conversation goes on for weeks and weeks until finally, I just had enough. And I thought, I started looking into it at a very deep level. And I thought, how far is this industry devolved? Is it possible to resurrect? Is it something that's, is it too far gone, you know, in so many ways. I really struggled for a long time thinking, you know, this is already gone. There's already too many laws. There's already too many regulations.

4:52There's already too many things that are trying to prohibit this kind of interaction. So because they're trying to get rid of this unsightly element in our society, our culture. So so maybe it's, maybe it's too late. Maybe it's passed on, but, but so I, you know, I just kept going and I kept going. And at some point I'm sitting there with my friend in a restaurant and I said, he said, well, you've thought it to death. You've analyzed it to death. What are you going to do? And I said, I think I'm going to do it. And so I ordered five trucks the next day. And I thought, cause I could get a deal on five.

5:26I would prefer to order one, but I ordered five. so the and I I went up to Elkhart Indiana I interviewed a bunch of manufacturers I got the right guys we started building the truck I hired a designer uh engineer went through the whole thing the truck rolls in about I don't know a year later uh it was fantastic it rolled in and my wife finally said oh now I get it so I thought okay I've got her approval uh and then but the success was really strong early on. And for me, my success was just incredible in Northern Kentucky market. But I think the thing that really kind of showed me was those early franchisees, and I say early, probably the first 10 or so.

6:15And I didn't have all successes. You know, a couple of them didn't make it. We're trying to run it more passively. We're trying to do it, you know, different than the way I was doing it. And so we learned a lot early on, but man, some of the level of success they were having was fantastic. And I thought, okay, we've got something. This is a spark. It's starting to smoke. Let's pour some gasoline on it and let's see what happens. Hey, you're speaking to the right people. I mean, this is Fire Nation. This is Entrepreneurs on Fire. We are always prepared to ignite. We are always looking for that spark to turn it into a flame and to just pour on that heat.

6:51But the reality is, and you know this, Tony, I mean, standing out in this world is so tough, but you created a unique brand identity that was centered around community and fund and even fundraising. Tell us more. Yeah. I mean, if you think about what we have as a company, we go into the community where we don't set up on a street corner. We don't, you know, rent a brick and mortar. We don't build something. We just go into the community. So it's, it's so much more community involved than anybody else, than anything that happens that I've seen out there. Cause we're, we turn out to be everywhere.

7:27I know when franchisees, they're just amazed how fast the branding works in their new community. They're like, well, I never thought it would go, but people think we're everywhere. They think there's like 10 trucks. Well, it's because you're everywhere that their customer base is, which is kids, you know, kids, I don't know, three to 21, whatever our customer demographics are. Actually, it's pretty broad, but the really good customers are the really psychotic customers are the three to, I don't know, three to 14, maybe three to 21 is a good group. But so when you're in the community, that kind of creates that connection.

8:05And then you've got these, you know, these amazing business economics that allow you to be partners, a true partner with the groups that you're engaging with, you know, the high school football team. You're able to raise money for them because you've got amazing economics. You know, it's a great value. It's an inexpensive product that allows us to be able to go in and sponsor, go into fundraise, all the schools that we're in, the youth organizations, all the clubs, the, gosh, anything that you really want to be involved in, all the great charities that are out there. But it allows us immediately to connect.

8:49And all these things happen. And it just starts, it starts very virally going from one, because here's the thing, and we say this to everybody, John Lee, we say this to our franchisees, the 20 % of the people in your community that are getting things done are so well connected and they know each other. And those are the people that will be so responsive to a great valued product like Kona. And it works because the PTA mom in the elementary school is going to be the band booster president when she gets to high school. It's the same people. So you engage them and you ingratiate them and you help them raise money for their cause.

9:29They're going to stay with you the whole way. And that's the journey. That's the process is to really get community deep, get family deep, and everything else takes care of itself. That's one thing that I've always believed in is that if you want to get something done, you ask the busy people because busy people, they get stuff done. There's a reason why lazy people or people that don't have much going on don't have much going on because they can't get stuff done. They're not movers and shakers and leaders. And Tony, I love sharing secrets. Tell us the secret to Kona Ice's successful franchise model.

10:06I mean, let's really dive into that secret. It started, I think, in those early stages I was talking about. You know, the first franchises, you know, I'm talking to people. I'm assuming everybody works. I'm assuming it all is going to be great. I remember an early guy, probably franchisee number seven or eight. you know just he was a plumber great guy great individual got his first Kona truck had some territory north Cincinnati put some ads in Craig's list to hire drivers never went up there and just told his drivers to drive around and and he he he didn't fail he was positively cash flowing but it was not not like anybody else was doing and we and one of the other franchisees because I didn't have a lot of trucks at the time, offered to buy him out and he sold out.

10:57And that was the lesson for me was get involved with the right people. So I started very critically looking at how are you going to be in this business? How are you going to approach this business? Are you going to approach it the same way I do? Not necessarily a copycat of me, but certainly with the same tenacity and the same vigor and the same, you know, just never say die attitude. And that's what I was, you know, so persistent about. And if you think about this, we're at 1900 franchises. I still talk to every single person at some point in their journey to be a Kona franchisee. They have to have an hour long conversation with me.

11:40And it's not me talking, it's them talking. I want to know, I want to know what's driving them to this brand. I want to know if it's family, if it's community, what's the motivating factor? John, I have turned down, and I don't know if I'm proud of this or complaining about it, I've turned down more area developers, more big money guys than you can possibly imagine. I remember early on I had a guy call, and he wanted most of Florida. He wanted definitely the southeast Florida, the Miami-Dade, all that. He wanted this entire territory. He was talking big numbers and he was an area developer for another brand.

12:20And he said, here's what I want. I was like, I just don't want to be in business with you. I want to be in business with the people that are coming into this naturally, the people that are leaving their job, their corporate jobs. You've got to remember, I started in 08, started franchising in 08. There was quite a few people that were misplaced or displaced in America. And I was getting those people, signing up for Kona, getting involved in their communities, and that's what the success was. So I've stayed true to that, and I've really worked hard to over-deliver, always beat everyone's expectations.

12:57But, man, I've got to start with the right person. And so that's why, to this day, at some point in their journey, they have to get on the phone with me, And I have to hear them say something that sparks me, that inspires me for them to get into this business. I can't do it with just finance people. And sure, they're good. Don't get me wrong. Finance people are great. But you got to have that community connection, that family drive, something that's a little extra than just pure ROI investment. I love that focus that you have. I love that commitment that you just will not walk away from. Because Fire Nation, that's what it takes to really grow something special.

13:36And we're going to be talking about two other things that Tony has grown that's pretty special, as well as some really important topics to dive into when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Travel has always been a top priority for Kate and I. And since having a baby, you might say travel looks a little bit different, but we're committed to continuing our travels with Bo in tow. This year, we're looking at spending three weeks in Europe between Italy and the UK, which will be Bo's first European adventure. So if you're like us and traveling this year, don't let your home just sit there. Host on Airbnb.

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14:46Is this your year to grow a successful business? Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month and it costs less than hiring a minimum wage employee. Yes, it's month to month and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Schedule your free 13-point assessment with Clay Clark himself today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire.

15:22Because Clay only takes on 160 clients and only allows 300 attendees to each business conference, you will interact with Clay directly. See thousands of real success stories and learn about attending the Thrive Time Show two-day in-person workshop featuring the legendary Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Become the next success story. Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join Eric Trump and Robert Kiyosaki at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Tony, we're back and I mean, check this out. You were rocking and rolling And then you diversified into mobile coffee with Travel and Tom's and then gourmet cookies with Beverly Ann's.

16:06Why did you take on those challenges? Like, weren't you just rock and rolling enough as it was? I think the other brands were always in the plan, but there was just never the impetus, never the catalyst to make it happen. I mean, once you understand mobile and you build an organization around mobile, because you've got to understand, most cases, everyone in mobile is always, it's a bridge to brick and mortar. You know, I see article after article in the Cincinnati paper that says, you know, Jimmy's food truck is finally getting his own restaurant. And it's like it's a rite of passage. And I think completely the opposite.

16:45I'm thinking, oh, poor Jimmy. Jimmy doesn't understand. There is great things in mobile. And if you will just accept where you're at and be and be the best at where you're at. So we are the absolute best hands down quintessential mobile franchise in the country. We have all the support stuff, all the software, all the the parts that make it so good. And we focus on that. We don't think about brick and mortar. It's not the goal is to get to brick and mortar. The goal is to be phenomenal in mobile. And so we always had that in the, I guess, orbit. And it wasn't until COVID actually kind of hit and kind of was the impetus for us to say, okay, now we've got some energy here.

17:31We've got some time with several of the staff. Let's go ahead and start down this road. coffee has been absolutely amazing we have about 300 franchises moving i've only got four of the beverly annes warm cookies and ice cream trucks uh it's not a deal yet both of those are named after my parents traveling tom's is our coffee con i say coffee it's actually moved into beverages now because it's got the energy drinks and the teas and the lemonades and everything else uh but it's doing really, really well. We're putting it into the thing. And then the Beverly Ann's, the cookies, which is, like I said, just still in prototype, it's doing sufficiently.

18:12We still got some things to figure out there, but I'm very proud of it. And I want it to be bigger than my father's brand. So I told my mom I'm going to work hard to make sure her brand is bigger than dad's and her bobblehead is one inch taller than my dad's bobblehead. So. I love that. I mean, Fire Nation, when you can really get excited about what you're doing and you just see the vision and you execute, I mean, things are great. But then sometimes, Tony, life throws us a little bit of a curveball. I mean, you navigated challenges like COVID-19, but you also were able to stay committed to your vision while doing that.

18:48So talk to us how you navigated challenges like that and just kept rolling forward. You know, we've had several challenges over the years. Sometimes I think back in the Obama administration when Michelle Obama had come in and went really heavy and hard at school health and nutrition, we were in a lot of schools and we had to pivot our product to where it would make and meet the specifications in the smart snack compliancy. We are able to do that fast. We have a product that's smart snack compliant that it meets all the nutritional guidelines and we're back in schools. And then we end up being one of the only people allowed in schools because of we've met these guys.

19:28So sometimes obstacles are your greatest separator. I love a good obstacle, a good compliance change, because I know we have the tenacity to get through it. And a lot of people don't. And it is a good separator. It clears the path. It clears everything up. When a state like California just continually changes their regulations on mobile, and they always do, we have the capacity, the engineers, the compliance officers, everybody to get through it. A lot of people don't, and it's advantage. It's a competitive advantage. But let me talk about COVID because I think that was the kicker, man. I think everybody right now, they look back and they say, you know what I did when COVID hit?

20:12And they're all arrogant about it. And I'm like, I think I remember crying for anybody. I mean, if I'm being honest, I remember curling up in a ball. I've got a business that's 95 % event-based, and for a solid week, my inbox was just full of screenshots of my franchisees losing hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of events were just being canceled. and what do you do to pivot there? How do you navigate that? And it's just, you know, I always went back to that Churchill quote. He said, you know, never let the opportunity offered by a good crisis go to waste. And that was it. We circled the wagons.

20:57Immediately, I met with the staff and I said, you guys, we've got enough reserves. You're going to have a paycheck for the next three years. This is all about saving the franchisees. Let's go to work. We immediately contacted the lenders that had lent money to the franchisees, and we got some firstalments. I'd hired this amazing attorney, and she went off and built a team around getting the stimulus from the government for our franchisees. And our franchisees had some of the highest participation rates in the stimulus that any franchise. We were featured in a magazine one time that we were top five for our franchisees being able to receive some sort of stimulus.

21:35The other thing we did was we created some software. Within a couple weeks, we had bought and rescanned a delivery software that people could get online and have Kona trucks in their neighborhoods, social distancing, coming up to their house, providing a treat when they were just quarantined in their house. And a lot of my franchisees had the best April in 2020 that they've ever had. so those kind of things allowed us but then I had like I said earlier I had some I had some weight in my my team that really wasn't going to be involved and we moved over and said hey I've got all these artist renderings of coffee of cafe trucks let's pull these things down let's go to work and we had launched Tom's traveling Tom's coffee by that fall by October of 2020 we had a prototype on the road.

22:26So we didn't waste any time. You look at obstacles differently as an opportunity to get ahead, opportunity to separate yourself and distinguish who you are. So many powerful things here, Fire Nation. I really hope you're taking this to heart is that the higher the barrier, the lower the competition. And this is what Tony's been able to do over and over again. When regulations get put in or barriers get put in, he says, well, this is actually an opportunity because I'm going to rise above this. I'm going to figure this out. And because I'm going to figure this out and my competition is not, when the dust settles, when the dust clears, I'm going to be here.

23:02I'm going to be around. I'm going to be able to capture even more market because of that. I mean, that's the attitude we have to have at life and business because it's going to be a roller coaster. And I want to end with some real specific advice, Tony, for Fire Nation. Give us your top tip for building a strong company culture, embracing innovation, and making a positive impact. There are so many good ideas out there. Very few of those people get to the runway where they start going down the runway to take off. I can't tell you how many people have brought ideas to me and like, what do you think?

23:35And I'm like, great idea, great idea. The question is, do you have the tenacity to get it off the ground? So we were lucky enough to get it off the ground. And then I always think about this when I get into a plane, you know, you get into a plane, you start going down the runway at 200 miles an hour, you lift off and within a few minutes, you're six miles in the air. It is. And then I think about what Orville Wright was thinking when he flew like, I don't know, 200 feet, a couple feet off the ground. And you're like, this is amazing where we're at in the world. And, and it's amazing how business works.

24:11And so we've, we're going down the runway at 200 miles an hour. We've gotten off the ground. We're lucky enough to be in the air at six miles. What got us there? And that's the point. I always go back and I look at the applications and I look at the testimonials of our franchisees and we survey them and we talk to them. We have incredible communication with our franchisees, but I always ask them and I always at some point in the yearly survey, in the FBR survey, why did you get into Kona? And that answer, that answer that they give is what I make sure we stay true to. And it was either the transparency of our leadership.

24:50It was the values of our leadership. It was the tenacity. It was the vision of our leadership. It always comes down to people. The personification of Kona Ice was me and our leaders and our staff. That's what motivated and excited people ultimately to get in and get involved with this. And so you got to stay true to that. I have a monthly video newsletter. I'm in front of my franchisees as much as I possibly can be. I want to share my enthusiasm. I want to share my inspirations, my motivations, and I want to educate them as I get educated. But always stay true to the fact that I believe in this company and I believe in what we're doing more than anybody else believes into it.

25:37And so I have to keep that message coming out. I love that. And Tony, if Fire Nation is just connecting with what you're saying and they want to learn more about you, about your company, what is your call to action for our listeners today? do your research is to go online is to go to kona or onacona.com is is our sell site we call it is where all of our information is for that we also have a uh onatoms we have a onacoffee truck uh dot com we have all these websites and do your search but but but before you just pick up the phone and call do the research get online you know watch the youtube videos get get all the reviews that you can understand what you're going to be involved in.

26:20I think that's what I tell franchisees or prospective franchisees early on is to make sure that the expectations are being met. Don't have these wild, unrealistic dreams. At the end of the day, being a small business owner is hard work. It's not nine to five. It's nine to nine sometimes. And I mean, 9 a.m. to 9 a.m. It's it's hard work. So understand what you're getting into, be excited about it because the opportunities are limitless. And I, you know, it's such a cliche, but the reality is the truth. I've got franchisees that started with me in 08 that are still here. Their whole lives are different.