Farrelli’s Pizza and Why People Come Back for More Than the Pizza

0:00Hey everybody, I gotta tell you, we're gonna talk about Built. Built Hospitality. Millions of people use Built every day, that's right, every day to earn rewards on housing and in their neighborhood. But now, now it extends to your restaurant. That's where Built Hospitality comes in. Built Hospitality shapes how guests are recognized and taken care of. Built's restaurant-facing platform is designed specifically for dining operators to drive loyalty with their guests. It combines reservations, guest preferences, VIP management, and payments all into one platform alongside an agentic concierge. That's right, an AI concierge that thoughtfully designs and executes experiences around your guest tastes.

0:47Using the latest and greatest in AI technology. When a guest walks in, your team already knows what they like without digging through notes. Built Hospitality works across the entire guest journey. That's right, the entire guest journey from delivering a complimentary course at the right moment, just the right moment, sending a personalized offer that brings them coming back again and again and again. That's right. That's what Built Hospitality is doing. It is allowing you to communicate with your guests and keep them coming back over and over. Make every guest feel like a regular every time, not just their first time, every time.

1:24They're a regular. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurant groups everywhere. Learn more at BuiltDining.com backslash hangout. That's BuiltDining.com backslash hangout. And check out what Built Hospitality is going to do for you and your restaurant. We have these woodstone ovens, open-heart ovens. People, they'd walk through the door and maybe for the first time, they'd see that oven and they'd think, Like, oh, I know what this is. We had to change their expectations because what we have, it's not thin. It's not flash baked at 800 degrees, baked at 550 degrees, a little thicker rise.

1:58Pour more food on the pizza, put a meal on there. We call it Working Man's Pizza. It's made for Northwest people by Northwest people. Live from the Pizza Cloud Studios at QSR Conference in Atlanta, It's the Hospitality Hangout Podcast with me, Chatzy, the restaurant guy, and Jimmy, the finance guy. Jimmy, this is podcast number six. Podcast number 426. 426. And I'm still the finance guy. Jimmy, I gotta tell you, we've got a great show. We are so excited to have the hangout here. Let's jump into it, man. Let's jump into it. Our next guest, he is an OG hospitality hustler. In fact, I would say he is a full-on, might be one of the first OG hospitality hustler that has come full circle.

2:54Stay with me. He worked as a dishwasher and a line cook before working his way up to chief marketing officer. He cut his teeth back in the day when a Facebook fan actually meant something. But before we had boost posts and algorithms, he's hustling. 15 years later, okay, he's gone from the CMO at a wood fire pizza brand out of the Pacific Northwest, helping lead Ferrelli's Pizza to a pizza company of the year, okay? And we get to welcome CMO for Ferrelli's Pizza, Mr. Clayton Kruger, who has returned to the brand of which he started as a dish guy. I thought he never left. I thought when we spoke he never left.

3:42I started at 16. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No, you lied before. No, no, no, no, no, no. Take it in. No, no, no, no. Clayton. Clayton, I will kick your ass. We just met. You need a lot to kick my ass. You need Clayton to kick. You and Clayton. You got to get. She was like, Clayton, you and me got to go kick shots. I didn't know this was what this was going to be. Okay. No, at 16, I started with the company as a dishwasher. Worked my way up through the kitchen. Went off to school. Yes. you didn't mention god agree we didn't have time to talk about that quite yet but i went off to school got a degree came back to the company in 2007 as a director of marketing so it really was your only job or you had a job like when you're in college or no i had a different job when i was in college you did yeah it's different industry entirely okay yeah yeah all right that was the that was the full circle i mean there was a window there was a window when he wasn't there and then he came back into the front door and it's like hey guys i'm back been back for 20 years there we go But you see, Jimmy, you did it again.

4:40See, now there's no guest background for me. All I'm going to say is he went to the University of Washington to coma. He's 6 '5", 225 pounds. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Clayton Kruger. I mean, there's nothing we've been to say, you know. You just got to go right into it, Jimmy. You know what? Let's go right into it. Is that the plan? By the way, that meeting was really, you were there for the meeting. I don't recall. I don't recall being there to me. I want to talk about the OG hospitality hustler. Because when you cut your teeth as a dishwasher and a line cook, and now you've got the C in front of your name, the chief marketing officer, I think you learn a few things from those early days.

5:23How has that helped you, let's say, be better, not only at your job and your role in the leadership, but even kind of a better manager and ambassador of the company? I think it was Anthony Bourdain that said, the most important things I learned, I learned as a dishwasher. I loved washing dishes. Yeah. It was therapy. Oh, it's therapy. As a matter of fact, we just opened our newest restaurant, and I was washing dishes. I was back there washing dishes again. Did you have the thing that squirts? Oh, yeah. High pressure, yeah. I love that. So you learn teamwork. You learn humility. You learn how to—the most important job in the restaurant is a dishwasher.

6:00You can't eat the food. The dishwasher doesn't show up. The whole restaurant. The whole operation. It doesn't come to a halt, but it slows down and gets bad. It gets bad. It gets bad. So, you know, that taught me a lot. And we're such a tight-knit family, such a tight-knit team. We all wear different hats. Yes, I do have a C in front of the title now. But at the end of the day, all that means is I'm overseeing an area of responsibility for the same team, same company, same great people. I got to tell you, I really like your glasses. Oh, thank you. Jimmy? I do as well. I really like the glass. I got to tell you.

6:35Thank you. Good hat. Good glasses. Right? We got to get one of those hats. I got you. And is that an official Pharrellian shirt? This one's not official, but I'll tell you, it's probably my best fitting shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. I like it. Yeah. Let's jump into a little pizzas. I mean, it's like one of those things that I feel like everyone's like, can there be more pizza? And there was this whole craze I remember when, like, Blaze and Ad, and there's a whole, and now we just see Pizza Hut just got sold. Yep. You know what I mean? Yep. So is just pizza always, everyone just always loves pizza, or is there peaks and valleys?

7:15What is it about pizza? Yeah, I definitely think there's, well, I'll tell you what I think it is about pizza. Yeah. It's a communal food. it's a circle in the middle of the table that forces you to reach into the center and get closer with the people that you came there and sat you never ate with jimmy well

7:34so you know and i guess you know maybe in new york it's a lot of slices so maybe that's not true but in our concept it's on a pan it's in the middle of the table people are reaching in they're sharing conversations they're sharing a meal you're bringing family around the table friends around the fire that those are that's what we like to say and um that's what that's why it's special yeah i agree and it's a universal thing that people all love so it's a you have a really good shot at getting people there chad you gotta say we've been doing this for a little while yeah we've certainly talked about you know if you're on a deserted island right you know you have one food what you're gonna be it we always say it's pizza i think it's a lot of pizza and even if it's guests this might be in the chicken business the burger but they always say pizza yeah no one's ever described that meal as the but it makes so much sense but no one has ever said think about this circle this pie that's going in the middle and that everyone's going to lean in that's a great moment I'm going to say something here and I don't want anyone to laugh it's the circle of life circle of life circle of life is a pizza cue the Lion King please like yeah it's the circle of life right because it's the circle it's the circle of of pizza life yes right yes that's what it is there hashtag now what about let me ask you this so is like what i'm thinking right now is like things that go viral things that like social media things like this and i'm thinking like we had mike's hot honey on our show not that long ago and when i was growing up pizza was jimmy and i always joke you can't have cucumber on pizza you know from science yeah yeah whatever you want but and poppy's like you can't have cucumber we grow up it was pepperoni you know you have meatball mushrooms i mean that was pretty much right pretty standard and pretty standard right and and and then this honey comes on pizza and like everyone's going nuts when they love it and now it's not even mike's hot honey it's just it's just honey and people and people People are selling honey on pizza.

9:40Yeah, so we definitely are familiar with the hot honey in our restaurants as well. But we take it a step further. We have a whole section of, so create your own pizza. We walk them through a process. The final step of the process is choose your finisher. And so you could get a ranch drizzle, a honey drizzle, a busalamic reduction drizzle. The finisher. We got the finishers. So drizzle. The drizzles are. The drizzle. Is that your sizzle? It should be. The drizzle is the sizzle. So is that something you've always done? He's on a roll. He's on a roll. Yeah. Oh, Jatsy, you must be butter. You're on a roll.

10:10I'm going to tell you, I'm not even coming to the party tonight. You know what I'm doing? I'm going home. It's not going to get any better than this. It's not going to be better than that. It's not going to get any better than this. That's it. And the only thing I'm going to have at the party is I'm probably going to get drunk and pass out. So, you know what? Let me just end it right now. Yeah. Am I right? Yeah. Did you always do the drizzle for sizzle? No. No, we did not always do the drizzle. Always had, always, you know, side of ranch, big thing. People like to dunk their pizzas. Right. But once we got, it was really the balsamic reduction was our first finisher.

10:39And then from there, we've got pesto finishers, ranch finishers, hot honey finishers. So when you did the balsamic drizzle, that was on the pizza. Yes. And that kind of led you into the finishers. Yep. Aha. Because I love the balsamic, the reduction. It's so good. I buy that at home, and I do when I do like tomatoes and muds. Sometimes I just do it like if, you know, people do the whipped cream. You're just screwing the reduction. Sometimes. times yeah and it's good for you man but i do like that and like like dave portenoy big fan love what he does i like dave uh barstool sports and his whole one bite yep is that like is that something like are you trying to get him out could have can we get out to you i gotta be dave if you're listening come on out washington state we'd love to see you um but i gotta be honest with you i don't know i it'd be really not a one bite pizza i we're not it's it's meant to be But to be fair, neither is he.

11:33Really? No, he's not really. I wanted to say. He calls it one bite. I was going to say, I'd like to see a single clip where he takes just one bite. Just one bite. You all know the rules. One bite. I think that's what's funny about it. And then you inhale. It is funny. Yeah. But I will say. Jimmy, it's ironic. It's ironic. Well, there you go. It's irony. It's like rain on your wedding day. Oh, wow. That's good luck. It's like winning. But that's good luck. It's like winning a lottery. And what? It's a free ride when you're already there. It's a free ride when you're already there. And get struck by lightning on the same day?

12:05No, that's not a lyric from this song. It's not part of it. Oh, I don't know what the hell we were doing. I will say, as far as Dave is concerned, though, he has lifted a lot of pizza brands up. And he's done some really great work for our sector of the industry. And so I give him a lot of props for that. And then, like, LTOs, is that a big thing for you guys? It is. So for us, we have a couple different layers of that. We have a really fun pizza of the month. program that we do so that's like hyper limited time all the stores you got 14 stores and right now we have the kitchen leader at each one of those locations in a competition they each get a month and they they get to come up with their own pizza of the month and then everyone runs their pizza yeah yeah the whole company runs and then the next month it's another store i love that it's it's really cool and is it a competition yeah it's competition and who decides so we have a scoring sheet our all of our general managers senior leaders executive team we're filling out each month a scoring sheet uh on each pie so that it's it's not like oh let me think back to right that pie in january it's like no we have we're tallying it up and we have a real score sheet all right let me ask you this yes yeah so you got 14 stores he's their one chef store however you guys do it that has been like five of the you know like these guys are killing it on the lto's or you don't allow that because it's more come it's more to try and bring everyone together yeah that's what it's that's what it's about and it's also those are the types of things you know we talk about you know virality it's like that when we put something fun out there everyone's still going to come in and order the pepperoni pizza right but by having this fun pizza like we had a french fry a ballpark pie it was a pepperoni pizza had garlic french fries on top um super fun and something that really photographed well and was fun to show right online so i mean people get excited about that they remember for ellie's that come back in and and order their pepperoni pizza.

13:53Let me ask you this. Do you allow two meats on a pizza? Oh, hell yeah. You do? Yeah. What two meats? Any two meats. Any two meats you want? Any two meats. You have it on a pizza? Yeah. We have a pizza, my personal favorite pizza that we have is called the James Favorite. Now, this might break your brain, me and from New York, but I'm just going to put it out there. Alfredo base, minced garlic, sausage, chicken, bacon, cheddar oh yeah moths wow out of the world because i'm thinking the alfredo and the bacon well that i know works well together the cheddar i i didn't know about the cheddar you just you and it's not like cut it's not smothered in cheddar right it's just a little little bit little bite you know yeah it's nice jimmy you wouldn't do that look jimmy won't do two meats It's not that I don't.

14:46You won't. You're not a two-meat guy. I'm not a two-meat guy. You're a traditionalist. Traditionalist. Now, as I said to Shadzi, I'm sitting at a table, community pizza. Sure. People want to order that, what's that pie called? The James? The James, yeah. And my name is Jimmy. My formal name is James. Oh, you've got to have the James. Someone orders the James. You've got to have the James. I'm diving in, and I'll enjoy it. But if I'm ordering, it's a single meat. Okay. Shadzi likes to make fun of me. I don't do the bacon cheeseburger. Not to your face, Jimmy. Not to my face. It's not too much. You know?

15:13All right. Well, listen. I mean, you guys were founded back in 95, right? That's right. In Washington. Washington State. And it's still family run. It still is. Yeah. I got to tell you. Yeah. The founder, co-founders, John Farrell, his late wife, Margaret Farrell, and their daughter, Jackie, founded the company in 95. Their offices are right down the hall from mine. You know, still very involved. He's 83 years old. 83 years old? 83 years old. And this guy has more energy, more passion in his, you know, fingernail than some of us will have in our entire lives. So he's he's a he's wonderful. And he's he's been the energy, the driving force behind our brand.

15:49Amazing. I want you to ask this question about the family business, because so many restaurant companies we know and work with. And again, people should do with their company as they wish. Right. They get acquired by a multi-brand operator or they might attract capital from an institutional private equity firm and grow in scale. But when you're a family business, are there any moments or things that you guys can do as family business that, let's say, is unique or kind of special to Forelli's because you're a family business? Well, you know, what I'd say about that is that we are all part of a real family that we've built together.

16:32We don't share the same blood. But because the family that founded it, they really wanted the culture to be, our mission is to use our business systems to create vibrant working families that nourish our neighborhoods. And so we're all part of this vibrant working family. That's awesome. And I think when you get into the venture capitalism and franchising, you risk losing that. And so the benefit that we have is that we haven't lost that. We still have that. Culture is very strong. And that's our secret sauce. Yeah, I love it. Let me ask you this. Pizza Company of the Year. Yeah. You guys won Pizza Company of the Year.

17:12We did. Who voted you Pizza Company of the Year? You guys decided yourselves would be Pizza Company of the Year? Yeah, we just put that on the door. Yeah, it'd be like voted by Paranelli's. Yeah. Pizza Today magazine is the one that does that every year. I love that magazine. Yeah, great. Pizza Today, you kidding me? Those guys are great. We've had a great relationship with them. So how much did you pay for something like that? Zero dollars. Oh, come on. And you know what? No, and it afforded us so much opportunity in the industry. We've got to go down to Pizza Expo, and, you know, founders have given keynote seminars down there and everything like that.

17:47So it really put us on the map. What does it mean to be the pizza company of the year? Yeah. And is there a category? There's no. Awesomeness. You know what? Yeah, but is that like an awesomeness or is there like chain? It's independent. Okay, independent. So it's independent, smaller operations. At the time when we were voted that. We had 14 stores. We had 14, but at the time we had five. Okay. So, you know, it was really kind of a badge of honor. By the way, you know what you get when you win pizza company of the year? You get nine more stores. There you go. There you go. There you go. I like it.

18:18what's the secret sauce I mean I know we talked earlier what is the secret sauce you know what I'm going to say I want to hear because Jimmy doesn't know the secret sauce it's our people and then I got mad when you said that I know but you know what what is truly the secret sauce I'm glad you said that because great pizza our slogan is great people make great pizza so you can't have a crappy pizza have great people that's not a winning strategy It's not great people make okay pizza. It's great people make great pizza. And what that means is that the great people are what make it great. The pizza has to be great, to your point.

18:59Right. But it's the great people. It's the hospitality. It's the care and the fun that we all have with each other. Our customers want it on that. The whole oven and brick thing you were talking about. That's what I'm trying to get to. The oven. The whole oven thing. The whole Northwest thing that you made up. that whole thing okay so artisan pizza cooked on stone in front of an open flame right that's our style of pizza and it is great very unusual it's great it's our northwest style pizza you know people because here's what happened i'll tell you how how we came up with that let's go we have these wood stone ovens open hearth ovens right yep people in our neck of the woods associated those kind of ovens with neapolitan style pizza yes i was about to say it reminds me like the rome roman kind of stuff yeah and so they'd walk through the door and they'd maybe for the first time they'd see that oven and they'd think oh i know what this is i'm familiar i know what i know what i can expect sure we had to change their expectation because what we have it's not thin it's not flash baked at 800 degrees it's baked at 550 degrees a little lower a little slower you can it's a little thicker rise to pour more food on the pizza put a meal on there We call it working man's pizza, you know, so that is that is what it is.

20:12Wanted to change the expectation of what it was. So this is unique to the Northwest. Well, some people might say it's very similar to a West Coast, California style pizza artisan wood fired. But for us, you know what? You know what? The thing that finally pushed us over the edge and say, yeah, we have the right to call this Northwest style pizza is because it's made for Northwest people by Northwest people. And listen, we suffer in the Northwest with nine months of rain and darkness and cold. And we get this beautiful, so we have to suffer through this, the dark to get to this beautiful summer months.

20:54Right. And all of us experience that together. And so it's like a badge that we wear. And so it's made for Northwest people by Northwest people. We get it because we're those people too. I dig that. I want to talk a little bit about off-premise. Yeah. And pizza is the OG. Yeah, it is. When it comes to a meal that will travel. Yeah. And, but Chast and I know the phone is still the go-to way that guests communicate with restaurants. And I'd say particularly with pizza joints. Yeah. So, you know, you'll live or die by the phone and miss calls and miss sale. So talk a little bit about, you know, that's the problem that our friends and our partners at Pizza Cloud are solving.

21:42And you guys have a relationship with them. So talk about technology, because whether it's the phone or online or AI or anything. Yes. The fact is, the guest has got to feel seen and heard. 100%. So talk a little bit about how that's working. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, yeah, if the technology you're investing in doesn't make the hospitality better, then it's not the right solution for you. Yep. And so that's, you know, when we're evaluating technology like automated answering, AI assisted answering, you know, that's what we're looking for is, is it making the hospitality experience better for our guests?

22:19Yes or no. And that's the same with AI. It's the same with the handhelds we have when we're interacting with our guests, allow their food to come to the table quicker. It's a better experience for them. It gives our people a better chance of interacting with them more. So that is our benchmark for selecting if we're going to have a technology. You guys are full serve sit-down, right? That's right, yep. But you've got a big takeout business, I'm sure. We do. Because it's pizza. Yep. And what else have you got of them pizza on the menu? Salads, pastas. So it's full menu. Yep, full menu. Full menu.

22:52Yep. And when we're talking about tech and things like that, I find it funny to me. that when I go to travel outside of America, every restaurant you go to, you know, they come over with a little gizmo, whatever it may be. It could be the simplest device to pay. And you go to any supermarket, it means to wherever you go today, it's there's the, it's all PCI compliant. But in America, the restaurants, most restaurants have still not adapted to the that what the whole world is adapted to and most of retail in the united states of america almost all retail right restaurants have still said uh here's your check here's the presenter here's your credit card take credit card go back yeah and how is it like what do you what are you guys like oh no we're bringing handhelds yeah we did We did.

23:51We made the switch in 2017 was the year when we really changed our tech stack and started going forward with that. You know, cloud-based POS. Right, right, right. Handhelds, app-based loyalty, you know. So we really embraced it. And I think, so we got there first in our neck of the woods. But to your point, the restaurant industry has been late, late to adopt technology. And now there's so much of it now. The emergence, I think they're overwhelmed. You know, I think a lot of operators are overwhelmed. I agree with you. But then you say, well, this one, the pay at the table, that's one that's actually mandated by, like, it's the rules.

24:34I'm not going to say it's a law. It's not a law. It's the rules of the credit card processing rules. And most restaurants don't know that. It's just weird to me. Like, right, Jimmy? I mean, in New York City to this day, most of the restaurants you go to, are you still throwing your credit card down? I would say that I had the privilege of being a big traveler for much of my career. And pay at the table was the norm probably two decades ago. Without a doubt. And here in New York, for example, while it's much, much more common now. Yes. It is still, I would say, less than 50%. Without a doubt. Less than 50%.

25:07In full serve, I'm not talking about obviously all the quick serve. Yeah, no, yeah. I'm talking full serve is less than 50%. Less than 50%. Most restaurants in New York City still don't. Wow. No, no, no. You know, there actually has been a pretty good wave of adoption up where we're at. Yeah, so it's becoming pretty ubiquitous. We've got to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back, okay? We've got Clayton Kruger, CMO of Ferrelli's Pizza. It's the greatest pizza in the entire world, certainly in Olympia, Washington. Absolutely. And 14 other locations as well.

25:41And we've got, by the way, we've got Hot or Not, Jimmy. I like that. We've got the Quick Fire. Love that. And it's all presented by Pizza Clouds. Don't go away. Hey, everybody. I got to tell you. We're going to talk about Built. Built Hospitality. Millions of people use Built every day. That's right. Every day to earn rewards on housing and in their neighborhood. But now, now it extends to your restaurant. That's where Built Hospitality comes in. Built Hospitality shapes how guests are recognized and taken care of. Built's restaurant-facing platform is designed specifically for dining operators to drive loyalty with their guests.

26:18It combines reservations, guest preferences, VIP management, and payments all into one platform alongside an agentic concierge. That's right, an AI concierge that thoughtfully designs and executes experiences around your guest tastes using the latest and greatest in AI technology. When a guest walks in, your team already knows what they like without digging through notes. Built Hospitality works across the entire guest journey. That's right, the entire guest journey from delivering a complimentary course at the right moment, just the right moment, sending a personalized offer that brings them coming back again and again and again.

27:01That's right. That's what Built Hospitality is doing. It is allowing you to communicate with your guests and keep them coming back over and over. Make every guest feel like a regular every time, not just their first time, every time. They're a regular. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurant groups everywhere. Learn more at BuiltDining.com backslash hangout. That's BuiltDining.com backslash hangout. And check out what Built Hospitality is going to do for you and your restaurant.

27:33We're back. Hot or not, presented by Pizza Cloud. Okay, here we go. All right. I am going to throw out a couple of lines, terms, topics, if you will. You just opined hot or not. Got it. Clayton Kruger, CMO for Ellis. Started when he was 15. Left, came back, CMO. Right? Hot. Yes, that is hot. That is. Thank you. Boom. Ghost Kitchens, is they hot or not? Not. Not. pineapple on pizza is that hot or not hot pickles on pizza hot hotter than hot jimmy i don't think you've ever had a hotter than not because the pickle we know is in the is in the cucumber family yeah that's a vegetable oh no it's a fruit that's a fruit i'm just saying because of the seeds yeah yeah a pickle's a fruit i'm just saying you dial back that pickle a little bit.

28:34You got yourself a cucumber. We know on Seinfeld, we know that's fighting words to poppy. That's what we talked about. So pickles was hot. Pickles on pizza is very hot. Honey on pizza. Also very hot. Gorgonzola on pizza. Not. Okay. I was just trying to find something that wasn't hot on pizza. I'm not a hater. I'm not a hater. You're putting gorgonzola on your pizza? No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not going to yuck on someone else's eat yum. I may not sit at your table if you guys are putting gorgonzola on your pizza. We do have a great tomato gorgonzola. That I'm okay with. Okay. Okay. Is protein hot or not?

29:18I don't mean like, you know, protein. Like everybody's putting protein everywhere. Like protein frosted flakes now. It is hot. It is. Is protein, are you doing a protein pizza? No. I mean, everything that's going on the podcast is called pepperoni, pepperoni, sausage, meatball. Do I have protein on top of that? You know, like protein powder. No. Okay. Is drone delivery hot? I think it is. It's not in our area, but I would love to see it. It's coming, right? It's coming. Are you calling pizza a pie? Is that hot? Or is calling pizza a pie hot? Not in our neck of the woods. What is it, just pizza?

30:08It's just pizza. Not pizza pie? You know, we say pie sometimes. I don't think we'd ever say them together. Never. We're not a pizza. That was my point. We're not pizza pie. Don't say them together. Who wants pizza? What do you want on your pie? Or how many pies? You guys want pizza tonight? Yes. How many pies? Single meet Jimmy. Single meet Jimmy. Single meet Jimmy can't go pizza pizza. So you've got to go pizza pie. Oh, I used to love myself some pizza pizza. As long as it's not two meats. Yeah, it's not two meats. By the way, if you were a mom, should that be your name? Hey, call two meat. Call two meat, Jimmy.

30:42Single meat. Single meat, Jimmy. Call two meat, Jimmy. Who should I give this to, boss? Give it to single meat, Jimmy. I love it. Don't single meat, Jimmy, to take care of this guy. It's a new career route for you. AI phone ordering. What about that? I think it's hot. I think it's heating up. When I call your restaurant, are you picking up the phone or is the first thing an automated? Thank you for calling. No, we're picking up the phone. Automatically. Automatically. Someone picks up the phone. That's right. How many rings? I'd love to say one, but, you know, the reality is we're looking at three.

31:13Three rings. Yeah. The three ring rule is always in effect, Jimmy, because after three rings. You lose that guess. You lose them. It's done. They're gone. They must be closed. They're out of business. Yep. And they go right to demeanors. Or, hey, you know what? It's too busy. They can't even answer the phone right now. How long is it going to take to get my food? I don't want to order from that place. It's a good way to take too long. That's why, you know, we test in a bunch of our restaurants, and we've been very happy with it with the AI order, the voice, where, you know, because most of the calls coming in are your address, kind of make a reservation, you know, order, and you just direct it to wherever you want.

31:47That's right. You keep your people focused on providing hospitality for the people that are walking through the door. But for you answering the phone, that's hospitality. That's hospitality as well. We are evaluating all the solutions, though. Jimmy, do you want to talk about the hot or not? Because I've got to get to the quick fire. I'm getting the. Let's go play some quick fire. I'm getting this. Let's go play quick fire. Oh, you don't even want to opine. I love opining. Let's go quick fire. Why do I say opine? I like it. You do it. Because I gave you that one. Oh, you did? I did. Keep it. That's a good one.

32:13Oh, you gave me opine? Yeah. Oh, I like that, Jimmy. I would say I'm an opine. Jimmy has an excellent vocabulary. I love that. I speak real good. Honestly, Jimmy has an incredible. He uses words that, honestly, I have. I don't even know what they mean, but I'm just like, oh, let me just use this. What's that one you've been using? Hubris. You throw the hubris out. I say there was no hubris. I'm like, what the hell is he talking about? Confidence is very attractive, very sexy. Hubris, not so much. Not so much. Not so much. All right, here we go. Quick fire. Lightning round. Don't think too long.

32:44Don't think too hard. Here we go. What is your go-to order? the chief marketing officer of Ferrelli's, 14 locations, most delicious Northwestern pizza. What is your go-to order? Yeah, I already told you about it because it's the James' favorite pizza. Oh, right. It's a dad salad on top of that as well. Little salad. Little dad salad. I like this salad pie. And I don't get salad pie, but I get salad, and I get the pie, and I put the salad on the pie. And you know what happens to me? I put a piece of pizza on top of that? Yeah. I make a pizza pie sandwich. You make your pizza salad and it's healthy.

33:20It is healthy. You're getting salad in there. Salad in there. What is your favorite pizza topping? It's got to be the crisp and curl pepperoni. What's crispy curl pepperoni? Cup and char. It basically turns into a little cup. And the edges of the pepperoni get a little, I don't want to say burnt, but they get a little crispy. They get a little crispy. I like everything well done, I think. Yeah. Right? Is there something you don't like well done? Eggs. Steaks. Steaks. Steaks. Steaks. Steaks. Eggs. Yeah, steaks. Forks. I guess there's a lot of things. Well done. A lot of things. Let me ask you. I've never been to Pharelli's.

33:58Yes, so please come out. Yeah, I'm going to. But when we come there, and we will be there, what do we get? What are you getting? Yeah, what is my go-to order? I've never been. You're going to get the Northwest Traditional Pizza Arts Award. So I'm not getting the James. Well, you should definitely also get the James. Oh, get two. Come with the group at Two Pies. Yeah. Two Pies. So what is that one? oh the northwest traditional it is one of the best uh pepperoni people so we won um best northwest pizza in the northwest division at the world pizza game you were the only people in that competition though no no no no no northwestern part of the united states they have quadrants right and so our pie emerges the best one in that quadrant the united states it is tomato sauce mozzarella thick cut pepperoni so not the cup and char thick cut pepperoni sausage and then baked comes out finished with a drizzle of honey cream cheese so that's our finisher didn't even tell you about this one honey cream cheese the honey cream cheese never even heard of honey cream cheese get out of here it's so good oh and red pepper flakes so you got a little heat a little sweet a little heat a lot of meat have you heard of honey boom Boom.

35:08Heat, sweet, meat. Hit it off. So let me ask you this. You bring up cream cheese. I asked somebody, how do you take your bagel? And they said peanut butter and cream cheese. Now, have you ever heard of that before? No, I've never heard of that, but I'll tell you what. What? I'm going to try it. Because I love peanut butter. I love peanut butter. And I love cream cheese. And I love cream cheese. I'm going to try it. So what could possibly be bad about that? I never thought about it. I don't know. Because I'm just thinking he made a mistake because cream cheese and jelly, that goes together. Right.

35:40So I think he came to America, and he's thinking everybody likes cream cheese and jelly, but he didn't. He threw up the jelly with the peanut butter and jelly, and he got all confused. He got mixed up. And he got mixed up. He's like, oh, I'll have the cream cheese and peanut butter, please. And he got all messed up, you know. And what he really, really wanted was cream cheese and jelly, please. And the guy was like, what the fuck, right? Yeah, but now that's his order. I'm trying it. People are like, he can't get away from it. He might not even like it. He started a whole trend there. You know that.

36:08You know that. What is your Uber rating? Oh, my gosh. You know what's funny about that? What? I didn't know what it was until we got to Atlanta. Why? You looked at your rating? We started talking about it. Really? Someone said, hey, mine's a 4.9. I'm like, I don't even know if I've ever checked mine. What is it? It is 4.86. That's not bad. That's respectable. I would like to know. Can you see your reviews? Who marked me down? No. Jimmy has a lot to do with it. Okay. Jimmy's very influential on that. Nobody knows. I'll make a call. Yeah, I'll make a call. I'd like to get bumped up. I'm a very nice ride.

36:40Jimmy told me that my rating is low because I do things like New York or things like tell them how to get places. Oh, yeah, I can see that. But I understand that when you order an Uber, they don't know your rating. Okay. I hope not. They rate you after the drive. So they don't know that I'm good or bad until after. Uber, if you're listening, we need confirmation on that. Also, if you could bump up my rating, that would be great. Jimmy's like a four. I think you start with a five and you work your way down. Yeah, yeah. Well, that makes sense. I'm a 487. I'm a 476. You're like a 476. Yeah. My rating got better when I stopped picking him up on my Uber account to the airport because he'd be telling drivers which way to go.

37:26Yep. But he wouldn't be telling them. All right, listen. It would be more scolding them. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Yes. I'm not going to lie to you. I have asked that question at least six or eight times today. You're on a good run today. You know what? Everybody said yes. Yes. Everybody in Atlanta has said a hot dog is a sandwich. Can I throw one at you? Yeah. Is cereal a soup? Whoa. I know. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah, sure. Whoa. I'm not a no. I'm a whoa. It's like a gazpacho or something, right? Julie, I love that. That's a good one. Cereal is a soup. Cereal is soup. Thank you, yeah. Cereal is a soup.

38:04I think you guys just set up a debate for me. Is soup a cereal? Oh, no, no, no. So I have matzo ball cereal? Is that what you're telling me? I got to think about that one. Cereos with matzo ball? There you go. I do not. I respect your answer about the hot dog. I do not agree with that. Okay. Which part don't you agree with? The hot dog? The hot dog. Well, move down from the hot dog. I was just saying I agree. I disagree with our friend about the hot dog, but I had to think about the cereal and soup. Well, I had to think about it. What is the last thing you Googled, speaking of Googling, or looked up on the Internet?

38:40Yeah. Or whatever. It's not an exciting answer, but it's the conference schedule. Conference schedule. Yeah. That's solid. I got to know where to be. That makes sense. You got to know where to be, when to be where. I like that. I like that. And the last thing I want to ask you is pizza a sandwich. if you fold it in half whoa you are killing jimmy so you're telling me if you fold the pizza in half that is a sandwich yeah and i'll give you one better what not only is it a sandwich in our restaurant it's called a pizzini is a pizzini made up or like you just made that up it is on our menu and it's exactly what it sounds like it is pizzini a pizzini jimmy jimmy you have You have been just taken down.

39:28Not my day. I can't wait for you guys to come out. Not my day. Because Jimmy is all about fighting me on. He doesn't think a hamburger is a sandwich. No, a hamburger is definitely a sandwich. He doesn't think anything is a sandwich. I said tuna and rice. He's like, no. Tuna and rice. That's a sandwich. No, Jimmy, a grilled cheese. Absolutely a sandwich. Okay, good. All right. Well, anyway, listen. Jimmy, we got to bring it home. From washing dishes, okay, to running the marketing at the same company, that's the kind of story that makes That's a true hospitality hustler. That's a true hustler. Okay, so congrats on everything Ferelli's has built and really appreciate you taking some time to sit and hang out with us.

40:08Jimmy, if you're not wearing socks, you can't sit. Oh, sorry. Honestly. If we want to order from Ferelli's, how do we do that? Order.Ferelli'sPizza.com Oh, order.Ferelli'sPizza.com What does the order. have to do with anything? That takes you right to the thing. Yeah, right to it. You skip all the nonsense and go straight to the order. And if anybody wants to get in touch with you about a collaboration, what's your cell phone number? Yeah. No, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah. How about email? Yeah, email's good. Email's good. He wasn't falling for that. He wasn't falling for that. He can find me on LinkedIn.

40:39All right, let's wrap it up, baby. All right, Clayton, thank you so much. My pleasure. Appreciate you. Everyone, thanks for joining us on Hospitality. Hang out. Thanks to our partners at Pizza Cloud. Pizza Cloud. All right. Cheers, everybody. Cheers, everyone. Thanks.

40:54Thank you.