Why Busy Restaurants Still Fail: Bruce Nelson on the Math Behind Profit

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. Jimmy will get a kick out of my first restaurant I opened right out of college. I was 22 years old. I literally went to my nearest competitor. I copied their menu and did it for a dollar less. That was my brilliant marketing strategy at my first restaurant. And guess what? We didn't make any money. I'm doing 20 ounce prime steak for$1. That was the problem.

2:04We are still live from the Spot On Studios in Chicago, Jimmy. We are having a great time. It is not the big show, Jimmy. It's just the show. The show. It is just the show. And it is the hospitality hangout. and we are live. I am the restaurant guy and we have had like 15 podcasts today and Bruce Nelson is bringing up the rear, bringing up the rear. We haven't had that many authors on the show. Not that many. We haven't had. But this is one of my favorite books. I read it all the time. Sometimes when I'm feeling sad and lonely, I cuddle up in my bed and I read The Myth, The Magic, The Math. And if you haven't, get it.

2:40All books are sold. And I know the Netflix film is coming out just very soon. So we have our friend Bruce Nelson here. Jimmy, let's kick this baby off, huh? Let's kick this baby off. Because this is a good story. I'm Jimmy Fritshing. I'm the finance guy, and we are having a blast here at the Spot On Studio. You look like you're having fun, Jimmy. I am having fun because we are doing the hometown heroes, okay? Yes. It is a show we're doing about the restaurants. You know what? No matter how big a restaurant may or may not become, they all start with one, okay? It starts with one. That's right. It all starts with planting the local roots.

3:17It starts with the risk that somebody took. And we're going to call those folks our hometown heroes. And we're excited to, with our friends and partners at Spot On, to be sharing their stories. Today's guest, not only is a hometown hero. What is he, Jimmy? He's also a hustler. What do you mean a hustler? He's a hospitality hustler. Why? Why, Jimmy? Because he started as a dishwasher at age 13. Really? Okay, from the dishroom to the boardroom. Yeah. Started as a dishwasher at age 13. opened his first restaurant at 21. He taught knife skills at Cordon Bleu. Cordon Bleu? Cordon Bleu, yes. Do I have your attention?

3:52Because I love the chicken Cordon Bleu. Do I have your attention now? You got my attention, Jimmy. He ran suite-level operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves. You know who owns the Timberwolves? Who's that? I'm pretty sure A-Rod and Mark Lurie. There you go. Mark Lurie and A-Rod, right? Absolutely. No, no, we just lost. You're in the playoffs. And, Chanson, a theme I sense today is we've had a number of guests, including our new friend, Mr. Bruce Nelson, that wears a lot of hats. A lot of hats. You wear a lot of hats, too. I wear a lot of hats, too. But you've been feeling a little like maybe you don't wear enough hats because after all the things I just said, dish washing, opening restaurants, teaching knife skills, he also, as you just said, we have an author.

4:36Okay? We have an author. What does that mean you teach knife skills? That's what I want to hear. We're going to talk about it. And now he's a fractional CFO. And he's a fractional CFO. Okay, behind some of the most trusted brands in the great Twin Cities. So here's a guest that bridges the boardroom to the dishroom, better than anyone in the business. Welcome to the Hangout, Mr. Bruce Nelson. Mr. Bruce Nelson, I got to tell you, let's jump into it. So you are a chef by trade. I was raised in the restaurant industry, so yes, I started learning how to cook when I was about 14 years old. And you went to Cordon Bleu?

5:08I didn't go there. I taught there. You taught there. Yeah. And what does it mean when you teach knife skills? Are you teaching how to throw knives? Are you teaching how to kill people? What exactly are you doing with these knives? Well, it depends on the student. Right, exactly. No, it's going through all the French knife cutting skills. Yeah, or better, the French or the Japanese with knife skills? Because I see these sushi guys, and they're really into their knives. Like, you know, you could really, that's crazy. Like, what do you think? Is it the French or the Japanese? I'm going to go with Japanese all the way.

5:39It is, right? Absolutely. So were you teaching Japanese knife skills? Nope, nope, just the basic knife skills. What is a basic knife skill for Jimmy? Because he doesn't cook much. Learning how to do various different cuts, julienne, dicing, slicing. That's a job? You're teaching people how to dice and slice? I don't know how to do any of those things. I could use a lesson. That was a job. So I went to Cordon Bleu, one of my classes, how to use a knife. Yes. All right, I like it. All right, so let's jump into a little bit over here. Sure. You are a Temple Hospitality. Tell us a little about Temple Hospitality.

6:14Temple Hospitality is a fractional executive firm that I started last year. So you're a CFO. I am a CFO. I've been in this business for 45 years. 45 years. And for the last 15 years before I started this company, I was a full-time CFO for a restaurant group in the Twin Cities. Who was that? Can you tell us? Dover Restaurant Group. Okay, and a lot of restaurants. About 10. 10 restaurants. Okay, they were doing like, you know, 8, 10 million a pop? A little bit more than that. 15, 20 million a pop? Not quite that. Jimmy, this is a big group. They're doing over$100 million. 70 million? No, about 70.

6:5270, 80 million dollars. So he's a CFO. Okay. So you know a lot about that. You're a knife guy. You're a catering manager at Target Center. You're in an Italian eatery. I mean, you've got a lot of things you do, right? Well, I've been doing this a long time. You have been doing it a long time. So my question to you is, are you, restaurants hire you to become their outsourced CFO so they can focus on the restaurant operations? Absolutely. And you take care of the bean count. Jimmy's a finance guy. I know. I want to talk to Jimmy about that. Do you want me to step out? Do you want me to step aside?

7:27Every day and twice on Sunday. So let me not talk. All right. I'm not going to talk about it. I'm going to let Jimmy go. Go, Jimmy. You want to talk? You talk to Bruce about it. Go talk some numbers. Go talk some numbers. Actually, I am excited about, I'm going to get the book. I'm going to ask Bruce to sign the book because I'm going to read Bruce's book. Yeah, I got one signed already. I didn't know you were here, Jimmy. Yeah, thank you. I'm the guy behind the guy. Yeah, you don't get one, Jimmy. I get one. I will get my book. But no, you uniquely, from the dish, we joked at the top of the show that from the dish room to the boardroom.

7:59And I said, you're not just a hometown hero. You're also the ultimate hospitality hustler. Someone who starts in this business as a teenager, even a tween. You're 13 years old. But you do bridge the gap. So I think most – what has it taken this industry to win? You actually started and have a feel for what dishwashers – that is so freaking important for the restaurant. Shatsy would say that was one of the most amazing – That's the backbone. The backbone. The whole restaurant falls apart if the dishwasher goes down. If they don't show up, if they don't open up the restaurant for me at 6 o 'clock or shut it down for me at midnight, I don't have a job.

8:40That night sucks. So here you are, the dishwasher, the chef, the court of blue. We talked about those things. The Timberwolves, you opened your own restaurant with a philosophy degree and a very bold pricing strategy, okay? You sat across from table owners, bankers, investors, and you translate the reality of restaurant operations into financial terms that they can actually act on. I think that's what's a rare thing. So many people enter this industry from a creativity perspective. Well, it is the culinary arts, Jimmy. I'm just saying. Yes, but it's also math. Bruce went to the Cordon Bleu. But it's also math.

9:17So talk about that. What does it mean to truly understand the business inside and out? You said 1 plus 1 equals 11. That's the perspective that you bring. I want to hear you talk about that a little bit. From a 13-year-old dishwasher to now the CFO to explain to people how the math works. I was raised in an industry. My father was a hospitality guy. He was the guy that knew everybody's names and really taught me the love of this industry. And I didn't learn it until I opened my own restaurant that there actually is math behind this. It's the restaurant business. It's the restaurant business. In fact, the whole premise of that book came from a restaurant I opened.

9:58You mean the book that you gave me and signed for me? Yes. Myth, magic, the math? A restaurant I opened in 99 that was unsuccessful. I closed it 13 months later. And at that point, I'd been in the business 20 years. I thought, I know how to do this. I know how to cook. I know how to schedule. I know how to write a menu. I know how to build. that we built it from the ground up, but I still lost. So what lesson did you learn? Because from success you learned and from failure you learned. So what did you learn? Because you knew everything. I learned that most restaurants don't know how to price their menu for success, don't know how to price it for profit.

10:36I think the dollar meal was probably your first mistake. You're like, listen, I'm going. McDonald's doing dollar meal. I'm doing dollar meal. I'm doing 20-ounce prime steak for$1. That was the problem. Jimmy will get a kick out of my first restaurant I opened right out of college. I was 22 years old. By the way, 22-year-olds shouldn't have liquor licenses, but we'll get into that later. Probably any license. I literally went to my nearest competitor. I copied their menu and did it for a dollar less. That was my brilliant marketing strategy at my first restaurant. And guess what? We didn't make any money.

11:07We didn't make any money. No, it's interesting. It's great that you have that experience and knowledge. So after that failure, did you jump back in? Or you're like, you know what? I learned from that. I'll take those lessons and I'll apply to other things that I could be, you know, or did you go open another restaurant? Well, it defines, you know, it depends what you mean by jump back in. I mean, there was a lot of depression, a little bit of alcohol abuse and some things that happened after that. But yes, I ultimately got back in. You got back in. Yes. Yeah, that's all right. No, this is no, I hear, you know, it's really, it's really interesting.

11:42Let's jump into. So you took some time off. And what was the next move? Well, the next move was going into Nova Restaurant Group. After I took some time off, I didn't write the book. How many restaurants did they have at the time when you jumped in there? When I came in, there were about 13 million and four stores. And I was brought in actually as a consultant back then saying, we don't understand why we're not cash flowing. So I opened up the hood on this thing, and it's like, well, you had$80 ,000 a month in institutional debt that you couldn't cover. And it was like the bones were great. These guys were great.

12:17The food was good. The stores looked good. Yeah, fabulous. Fabulous. Great build-outs. What point is there were they using at that particular time when you went in there? Aloha. Aloha. Okay. So this is old. This is old school, yeah. It's old school. Aloha and QuickBooks was the back office. Sure. And after being there for a couple of years and really figuring out what's going on, first thing we did is we restructured the debt. That went from$80 ,000 to about$23 ,000 a month. It's amazing how$50 ,000 a month really helps swing cash flow. You think? That's a big number. That was a big thing. And then we ultimately ended up growing that group to the 10 stores.

12:54We switched over to actually Spot On as the POS with that group. When you went in to look for a new point of sale system, I would imagine you were part of the process to some degree. I was indeed. In fact, I found this company before it was Spot On. It used to be called Imagine. Really? Yeah. And what attracted you? I mean to this I mean you had been restaurants for quite a few years the technology the the language and what it was written yeah so many the old old legacy systems were written in old code and I wanted something I knew at that time that we were all shifting to web base I wanted something was written web base right not an old type of uh an old uh what is it server base right oh we're in the server we're in the cloud right it's it wasn't really cloud yeah I get it yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah.

13:43So they were the first ones I found. I flew my group out to Detroit to meet Marshall. It was one of the original on spot on. Right. That's amazing. So let's talk a little about AI. Jimmy's been talking about AI, and we have a joke going that every time somebody mentions AI, we'll drink, we'll get shot. You know, so Jimmy finished that can very quickly. AI is all the talk. But let's just talk about hospitality and AI because a lot of people are like AI, AI, AI. And in a lot of industries and a lot of business, it will help. And it'll certainly be a piece of hospitality to help in certain areas.

14:19And as a finance guy, I'm sure you're going to find amazing tools that you can use for reporting and analytics. But it's not going to replace hospitality. Not a chance. Not a chance, right? So where are you guys? What's your take on where does AI start and stop in restaurants? AI is brilliant at the analytics. We use it all the time. It's wonderful at setting up a sequence of going in and auditing between systems, your POS to accounting. Brilliant at that. Where I stop is if it ever gets between me and the customer. See that, Jimmy? I told you. I told you, Jimmy. I did see that. I want to just follow up.

15:00I know we just chatted about spot on, but given your background and given your expertise in the financial side of the operations, you know, in 2026, what does a POS have to be to really earn that place at the center of the operation? You know, from a CFO's perspective, what does it cost an operator when the technology is not working the way it should? Oh, it's devastating. This is all web-based right now, and it's contingent on Internet. you lose those things especially with the kids these days none of them can operate a paper and a piece of pen and a pencil well most can't write yeah exactly i mean in the old days we used to have to write stuff down and give it to the kitchen i mean take away the technology we call them hand dupes yeah these guys these guys are lost so no it's hugely important uh the pos for me is always just been the basic driver of the business yep i got you need to be able to take that order you You have to be able to send it to the kitchen accurately.

16:00You got to run that credit card and put it in my bank account and track my labor. All I want is you to do that every day. I'll take that data somewhere else and do all my analytics and everything else I need to do with it. So be the best thing you can be to run my day-to-day operations. You see, Jimmy, because the point of sale, that decision of what point of sale you're going to go with, certainly you want you know the manager to be a part of you know looking at how the you know the user experience and interface but your cfo your finance guy's got to be a big part of that yep because it's a big because it's it's tying it all together and you got out the finances right like you guys framed it earlier culinary arts restaurant business we're going to take a break and come right back to but before we do jimmy i you know i decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their story, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

17:05What do you think, Jimmy? It's poetry. Poetry. Socrates. Socrates. How about Shazzy? I thought you would have known immediately who that was. I think it's Socrates. Well, that was one of my... I think it's pronounced Socrates. That's my line out of The Myth, The Magic, The Math by Bruce Nelson, my favorite new book. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to get back into a little bit of the book. We're going to go back to hospitality headlines. Jimmy, you've been terrible at it. I've been terrible at it. I bet you, Bruce Nelson, my new favorite guest, is going to kick your ass.

17:32Okay? And we're going to be hot or not in Brandon Quickfire. So don't go away. Be right back on the hospitality hangout presented by Spot On. Spot On. Hey, everybody. I've got to tell you. We're going to talk about Build. Build hospitality. Millions of people use Build every day. That's right. Every day to earn awards 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.

18:08It 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.

18:52That'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.

19:24We are back, everybody, and I got to tell you, we're having a great time here in Chicago. The Hospitality Hangout live at the show. The show. Not to be confused with the big show, but it seems pretty big, Jimmy. A lot of freaking people here. I don't think they like you saying the big show anymore. Yeah, I don't think I'm not. No, it's just the show. It's just the show. All right, we're going into the hospitality headlines with Bruce Nelson, okay? You ready? Tempo Hospitality Group, CFO. I didn't explain the game. I'm going to explain. You need a second, Jimmy. Explain the game. All right. I'm going to give you three headlines.

19:54You were going to tell me two are real headlines. One is fake. Okay. Completely made up. I'm 0 for it. I've not gotten any of these right today. Restaurant. This is breaking news. Restaurant launches emotional support mozzarella sticks as an office menu category. That is breaking news. That was on CNBC yesterday. Today when I woke up, Jimmy, I read in the Wall Street Journal, Baskin Robbins released a turkey dinner ice cream flavor for Thanksgiving. That was from Wall Street Journal Today. Earlier today, Jimmy, this was at lunchtime when I was sitting with you having lunch. You're doing a lot of reading today.

20:32I read in the New York Post, IKEA published a recipe written like furniture assembly instructions. instructions ikea published a recipe written like furniture assembly instructions bruce what say you what is the fake story there i thought they were all real there was restaurant launched emotional support mozzarella sticks braskin robbins has a turkey dinner ice cream flavor and ikea has a recipe that is written like a furniture assembly instruction well i actually think the ikea one's true. You think that's true? I think it's the Baskin Robbins turkey ice cream. Jimmy, what do you think? So I actually, I know I'm going to be wrong because I've been wrong every single time.

21:16I don't want you thinking like that. You're special. I love the idea of emotional support mozzarella sticks. I think that's a great idea for a menu item. So I'm going to say that's the fake headline because that is a great idea. I'm going to say that's the fake headline. I got to tell you something, Jimmy, this is your lucky day. Bruce, you are incorrect. The fake story is restaurant launch emotional support mozzarella sticks. That is absolutely untrue. But Baskin Robbins did release a turkey dinner ice cream flavor. I think emotional support mozzarella sticks is genius. And have you ever tried to put anything together from Ikea?

21:50Oh, yeah. It is definitely not easy. Not easy. That's why I think TaskRabbit even got invented. It was just an offshoot of ikea i think whenever we get furniture like that i'm like oh we need we need to get the guy to assemble it and my wife barbara barbara will say isn't that you i'm like no i'm not the guy we need a guy you need a guy to assemble the call the guy i'm not the guy all right here we go hot or not are you ready we were bruce nelson famous cfo and famous author of my new favorite book that i will be cuddling up tonight with the myth the magic the math okay triple m and by the You know what I like about this book the most, Bruce?

22:27There's pictures in it, so I don't have to read too much. A lot of pictures in it. Jimmy, I don't know if I'm going to read this book. Well, there's some math in there, too. There's a lot of math stuff in there, too. Actually, there was one. That's the only picture in the whole book. There's no pictures. All right, anyway, I'll wait for the movie to come out on Netflix. All right, here we go. Hot or not, are you ready? Bruce Nelson, famous CFO, restaurant operator. What is your ketchup on hot dogs, hot or not? Not. Pens broke, this Fairmont piece of shit pen. Could have hit somebody in the eye.

23:02Ah, I lost an eye. Mocktails, hot or not? Hot. Protein, everything. Is that hot or not? Hot. Pickle-flavored everything? Not. Dipping fries in Frosties? Disgusting. Disgusting. Private dining clubs? That's a new one. Hot. Look at my shit. Spam. I'm from Minnesota. That's where they make that stuff. Odd not. Wow. Music festivals turning into food festivals. Hot. Cloud-based point of sale. Insane. Fractional CFOs. Oh, I hope it's hot, baby. Is that very hot? Actually, it's really growing. Fractional CFOs writing books. Not. Not hot, Jimmy. Not hot, Jimmy. Jimmy, care to opine? I would have answered that last question with, it's not easy.

24:02Not easy. It's not easy. Not easy. Which part? To be a fractional CFO and dedicate the time to write a book. That's not easy. I want to go to mocktails because I have a lot of thoughts on this. But as a numbers person, my sense is the reason why, clearly there's been a drop in alcohol consumption across wine, across beer. I must say, Jimmy, not you and I. Not you and I. We are still helping. I don't drink anymore. My industry thanks you. I don't drink less either. But the industry is right now, we're, I think, a 30-year low across the board. So Mocktails, on the one hand, it's meeting, not ALK is meeting the guests where they want to be.

24:43Mocktails, I believe, is a financial engineering to try to make up for the lost revenues associated with the move away from alcohol. And my sense is that's why you're seeing it as hot. I'd love to hear you comment more on that. Am I reading the room right? You are reading the room absolutely right. Alcohol sales are down across every industry that tracks it. Mocktails are one thing we're doing. Also, the other thing is craft cocktails. All restaurants are putting out$16,$18 craft cocktails because they know if I'm going to sell you one, I'm probably only going to get one. Yep. So the mocktail is just a logical follow from that because there are some people that don't drink and they'll do the same thing.

25:21They'll spend$10 on basically sugar and water. Yes. So I actually think there's really almost a delineation between non-alc and mocktails. Non-alc is your club soda. Non-alc is your soda fountain. Non-alc is your juices. Even your non-alc beer, that's respectfully simple. The mocktail is a crafted experience for the guests and you get to charge. Exactly, because I don't drink alcohol, so most restaurants, I can get a Minterwater, a San Pellegrino, an iced tea. That's it. You can't get any more money out of me because half those have free refills. That's why I think dirty sodas, which is in that whole thing, is growing in gangbusters.

26:08Yeah, because at the end of the day, people are drinking less for a myriad of reasons, and now you can create these things that you had Coke or a Pepsi for, I don't know,$2,$2.50. Now you can charge like$16. Yes. And it's like you said, it's the same, basically. Maybe you put a nice little garnish in it. Yeah. Has anybody been through a swig? Yeah, well, I mean, a swig, I mean, they sold for a lot of money. We know the Andrew Smith and the Sabre guys. Exactly. I mean, it's brilliant. They're opening all over the place. I know it. I can't imagine paying that much money for a soda. People are digging it, man.

26:40It's an experience. All right. I love it. I love it. Let's go to the Brandon Quickfire, okay? Are you ready for the Brandon Quickfire? Bruce Nelson edition, spot-on edition here in Chicago. Yes. Jimmy, are you ready? I'm ready. What's your go-to dish at Hazelwood? That's one of your restaurants, right? That's one of the restaurants. So at Hazelwood in Minnesota, that's one of your star restaurants that you have CFOs. What do you like to eat? And do they feed you, and do you get a discount? Or as the CFO, you say, no, I like to pay full price. No, I don't pay a dime when I go in there. Now, wait a minute now.

27:13That seems to me, as a CFO, you should be like, no, no, no comping I pay. Jimmy, right? Am I right? He paid up front. No, he did? Okay. We'll call it part of my compensation. Okay, all right, there we go. The rotisserie chicken is fabulous. The rosemary chicken? Rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken is outstanding. You like that? That's your go-to? So if I go into Hazelwood, I'll see you sitting there by yourself with your non-alph drink, reading your book, and saying, why the hell did I write this book? Right? Right. Favorite food city in the world for you? Favorite food city in the world for me is, boy, Chicago's one of them.

27:47I love Chicago because so many great independent restaurants. Without a doubt. There's not a lot of chains here. So when you walk into these restaurants, you're getting authentic. You're getting authentic. I like it. How do you take your bagel? What does a Bruce Nelson do on a bagel? What kind of bagel? How do you take your bagel? Bacon and chives, baby. Cream cheese. Cream cheese? Chive cream cheese? Bacon and chive cream cheese. Bacon and chive cream cheese. On a bagel? You got it. What kind of bagel? I don't know. Usually just a plain one. A plain bagel? Yeah. Bacon and chive. Yeah, that's where all the flavor is.

28:22Bacon and chive cheese? Yeah. Jimmy, have you ever heard this? I'm curious. I've not heard. You've never heard that? I've never heard it. I'm curious. Oh, really? He has me curious. I've never heard of bacon and chive. I've never heard anyone put outside a bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel. I've never heard this before. You are the first. Hey, I had to go to Hormel just to get some bacon right before I came over here. Bacon burst. I wonder, is bacon the next thing to be, like, people aren't going to like? Oh, don't say that. Why would you say that? Why would you say that, Ron? Why would you say that?

28:50Is bacon the next thing to, like, young people don't eat bacon anymore? No, you know what I will tell you? My kids are so into protein. I got three boys. And you know what? When I grew up, we ate Slim Jims. Remember the Slim Jim? Yeah, of course. Remember the Slim Jim? Now the Slim Jims are back. They're not Slim Jims. But now they're, like, these protein sticks. They're basically Slim Jims, but I guess they're healthier. They are. I prefer the Jack Links over the Slim Jims. Right, but, I mean, they have, like, these healthy ones. All right. Is a hot dog a sandwich, Bruce? A hot dog a sandwich?

29:18No. Thank you. You said it like I was crazy to even ask that. Yeah, it's crazy. Is a hamburger a sandwich? No. Thank you. Is a bagel with bacon and chive cream cheese a sandwich? No. What's a sandwich to you? A sandwich is anything between, anything that's meat, cheese, that can be served hot or cold on a bun or on two slices of bread. Oh, wait a minute. Don't leave that. He said a bun. A hot dog bun? Doesn't count. A hamburger bun? Doesn't count. Wait a minute. You just said anything served between a bun. Do we have to go to the video tape? Bruce, you are correct, sir. You are correct, sir. A bun.

29:59All right, what's the last thing you Googled? We're going to put that up all over social media. I'm going to call Bruce a liar, liar. Pants on fire. No way. Bruce is an honest agent. Honest man here. And he's right. His pants are actually on fire, Jimmy. Stick with Bruce on this. Last thing I Googled was probably the hotel. Here I'm staying here just to find out where it was. Oh, wait. Are you staying at the Hyatt Regency over here? No, I'm staying at the Marriott. Oh, great. Now everybody's going to come find me at the Marriott. Now we come find you. Listen, if you want to look at the Marriott's in the lobby at the Marriott, right here on Martin Luther King Boulevard or whatever it is over here.

30:33And if you want, Bruce is signing books in the lobby over there. So check it out. Bring us home, Jimmy. I got to tell you. Yes, yes, yes. Bruce, you've been a fantastic guest today. Thank you for joining us on the special edition of the Hometown Heroes, powered by our friends at Spot On. We love what they're doing for the industry. Appreciate you saying some nice things about them. And you're truly a hustler. The Hustler Day Hustler. Dishwasher 13, a philosophy major at Hamlin, a restaurant owner at 21. What's Hamlin? Hamlin? Hamlin University. Hamlin University. He didn't say that. I said it now.

31:08I didn't know that he talked about it. Okay, a restaurant owner at 21 with a very creative pricing strategy, a cordon bleu instructor, timberwolves suite operator, published author, now a fractional CFO, keeping some of the best brands in Minnesota sharp. Ladies and gentlemen, our friend Bruce Nelson, Temple Hospitality Group, one customer, one plate. One time. That's right. And if we want to find Tempo Hospitality, what do we do? Tempo Hospitality. You can find us at TempoHG.com. TempoHG.com. I got to tell you. And I forgot to ask you something. What is the hottest point of sale company right now to you?

31:45I think it's these guys. That's what you're supposed to say. These guys. Thank you, Zach. He's over there. I mean, what are you supposed to say? You're supposed to say spot on. Like that. Well, I like my point. Jesus Christ. I'm like, what's the holly? He's like, let me think. He was working his way into it. You know, that Touch Vista's been doing some really good stuff. And you know, I saw the shift for him when I was walking in. Very nice things over there. Spot on, spot on. Zach, tough guest over here, man. Thank you, Bruce. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Bruce. Cheers.