252. He Makes $15M/Year Selling Fried Chicken Sandwiches

0:00For 10 years, Joe chased a music career, touring the country, playing in a band, even landing a record deal. Watching friends from the plain white tees make it big only fueled the dream further, but it didn't work out. So he and his wife packed up and moved to California to start over. He landed a corporate marketing job and on paper, it looked like the dream. It was a steady paycheck, a nice life in California. In reality, it was slowly breaking him. He was so stressed, his own dermatologist confirmed he was losing hair on his legs just from anxiety alone. but one conversation changed everything.

0:32A friend's father-in-law told him the simplest advice, build a business around something you actually love. For Joe, that was food. His first idea was massive, 50-page concept called Meatball Republic. It never got off the ground. But when a real estate deal fell through and left him with a tiny over-the-counter space in Southside, Chicago, Joe scraped the plan in just a few days and pivoted to something totally different, a chicken sandwich shop. He sold his California home, moved his pregnant wife and toddler into his in-laws basement and bet everything, including his mother's life savings on the idea.

1:07I'm Ryan Atkinson and you're listening to Health Food Podcast where we interview entrepreneurs to hear their advice on how you can start a business too. I am so excited to welcome Joe Fontana to the podcast to talk about all things Fry the Coop that now has over 10 locations, over 200 employees and more than a million dollars a month in revenue. So Joe, thank you so much. So excited to have you on today.

1:27Joe Fontana:Ryan, this is awesome. You nailed that. I'm like flabbergasted over here. Thanks for having me on. That was wordy, but we got through it. But I am so excited to have you on. But let's talk about Fry the Coop. Let's first lay the foundation for our listeners. If they're hearing about Joe Fontana for the first time, give them the high level. What do you do? What is Fry the Coop? Yep. My name is Joe Fontana. I am the founder owner of Fry the Coop. We are a fast casual chain that specializes in beef tallow fried chicken sandwiches. We got 10 locations around the Chicagoland area. Building number 11 right now.

2:05Joe Fontana:And we're just delivering happiness to the Chicagoland area. One chicken sandwich at a time. One chicken sandwich at a time. I love that. And what are you guys doing in revenue? Because obviously when I hear soon to be 11 locations, like this isn't a small operation anymore. What are you guys doing in revenue? know. Yeah, we are at, we're on track to do$15 million this year in sales, which is awesome. And you know what, you know what I love about that is that only 1 % of small businesses will ever get to$10 million and more in revenue a year. And this will be our fifth year in the row over 10 million.

2:37Wow. That is amazing. We're going to dive in the blueprint of like exactly how a listener can do something similar before we do that. Let's really rewind the clock. Tell us about like this music career, the passion for music and like what you were wanting to do. because that really lays the foundation for$15 million a year in revenue.

2:52Joe Fontana:Oh, man. Well, I was a little punk rocker growing up. Went to all the punk shows back in the day in Chicago. And my friends, that's kind of all my friends, we all got together. We loved punk music and all my friends were musicians. And then their friends were musicians. And so before we knew it, a lot of my high school years were just playing shows with my band and then our friends' bands. and we'd go from here to there and parties. And I just like absolutely love the whole scene, the idea of, you know, being a rock star. And then you kind of mentioned it a little bit, you know, in my 20s, our friends were in the Plain White Tees.

3:28Joe Fontana:We all grew up together and, you know, we started seeing their success. And so, you know, before you know it, and they had toured five years aggressively and then they got signed to a record label and Hey There Delilah, which went number one for like a month in a row. So, you know, it just, I mean, you still hear it constantly in elevators and, you know, stores, I mean, on the radio, but, you know, we saw them playing arenas and they were just crushing. So that kind of gave us the hope, like we could do it too. You know, it's kind of cool. That is so cool. I've actually seen them playing White Tees in a concert.

4:01They were in like small town aisle. They were, they were fun to see there. But so how did music into corporate then? So you left the music world to go into the corporate role. What were you doing with that?

4:10Joe Fontana:Well, I think, you know, what's funny about like being in a band, you know, you have to promote your stuff you have to oh yeah all like the shows coming up you have to create your brand the brand image there's like so many things you learn being in a band that like apply to it but basically we screwed up we decided for our second album we were going to rent a house we were going to build a recording studio in the basement we're going to do that for one year and then we were going to continue to like tour after that well one year turned into two two turned into three. Next thing you know, this becomes like the party house and every bar that gets let out, you know, after every show, you know, it's just like, go back to the Michael Lane house.

4:50Joe Fontana:That was the name of the band. And for four years we did way too much partying and that kind of like, that's amazing. You know? Yeah. And we had so much fun, but that fun came in lieu of like being successful because we were so focused on like party and, uh, that kind of bit us in the asked. So I was bartending part-time. Bartending was a great job to like, you know, bartend and play in the band because it gave me the flexibility to do that. And when I turned 28 years old, I kind of, you know, it was kind of like time to get done with playing shows and partying until five in the morning. I saw the sun come up like every day for years, you know?

5:28Joe Fontana:So it's like, all right, that's crazy. It was a long time. So then my mom was the one who, you know, I wasn't living at home. I was supporting myself and whatnot. But she was like, hey, like, you got to get a real job. Like, you can't bartend and play shows, you know, you know, for the rest of your life. And I was like, well, that's what I want to do, you know. Yeah, come on, mom. So she kind of pushed me into like, hey, you got to get a real job. Before you know it, I was like putting on a suit and tie in an office. And yeah, I hated it. But the big change. I was going to say, talk about a complete like 180 in the life.

6:00But OK, take us to the origin story of Fry the Coop then. Take us back to like the moment where like the seed was planted, like, okay, let's start like a chicken shop.

6:08Joe Fontana:Yeah. So basically I worked corporate for six years and they were still like mom and pop smaller businesses. But I just could not like, you know, the whole sitting in front of a computer just wasn't for me. And so I did some soul searching and you kind of mentioned it. I got some advice from my friend's father-in-law and this was in lieu of two of I wasn't making any money. So that was another kind of like problem where I'm like not making cash. And my wife's pregnant now at this point. I'm like, I got to figure out how to support a family. So that was like the moment when it was like, all right, you got to do something you love and you got to open up a business.

6:44Joe Fontana:Those were like the impotence of like, hey, I'm going to start something. But my original concept was going to be meatballs. I came up with an idea for Meatball Republic because I'm Italian. and I grew up with my grandma making meatballs and chicken cutlets. And I was always in the kitchen with her. Yeah, 100%. One thing led to another with the Meatball Republic of me trying to open up that concept. It didn't end up coming to fruition. A lease I signed had fell through. And so while I was trying to find a new spot for the Meatball Republic, I landed on this location, our first door. It wasn't right for the Meatball Republic.

7:21Joe Fontana:So I had to pivot the concept. and I would happen to be addicted to these chicken sandwiches that you couldn't get anywhere. I also lived by an In-N-Out burger. So I was like, okay, this location is not going to be right for Meatball Republic, but maybe I can do something else. And then I kind of paired like, oh, well, I love these chicken sandwiches. I love the In-N-Out simple menu. And I was like, let me write up a quick business plan. And that's when I was like, oh, this is a hit. Like it dawned on me, there was like a light bulb moment where I was like, this is such a cool concept. I don't care where you put it.

7:53Joe Fontana:It's a hit on every corner. And born was fry the coop. Born was fry the coop. So yeah, I absolutely love that because you're combining like two passions, like do something you love and you love food. So we alluded in the opener there that it was about a$60 ,000. So like startup costs are, you know, upfront investment here. What did like that investment go to? And like, tell a story about like how you got the $60 ,000 as well. Yeah, a hundred percent. And this is what I recommend. There's a book called the Lean Startup. And it basically is about, you know, you start with version 1.0 and you get customer feedback and then you release version 1.1.

8:26Joe Fontana:You don't start with version 9, you know, and like a version 9.8, you know, because it takes a lot of investment. So we found a second generation restaurant. It was a restaurant that opened and closed within eight months. And so then that's the way I was able to go in for such little cash. I had my friend who owned the building, they were about to lose it. They had a real estate deal and they were going to give me some basically TI money or like they call it 10 improvement money, which was going to be about 40 ,000. It was actually supposed to be the whole 60 to 80 ,000. We didn't know how much we needed or I needed, but basically, I mean, I went in with$0, got the keys to this place, just started painting and cleaning stuff and pulling equipment out and throwing it away.

9:12Joe Fontana:So I was doing it for almost nothing. I find out the money was going to fall through. They had some tax thing that they had sold the building and they were going to use some of the cash from the building sale to kind of help me with the money, the TI money. Well, it got held up in some escrow account for some tax hiccup. And so they called me up. They're like, Hey, you know, the money we were going to give you, we don't have it yet. And I was like, wait, what? But I need to open, you know? So I call my mom. My mom is not rich at all. My parents, you know, they're very blue collar. they've done phenomenal for themselves and even better now.

9:45Joe Fontana:But going back now a decade ago, I called my mom. I'm like, Mom, how much money do you have to your name? She's like, I got$21 ,000. I was like, great. I need all of it. Oh my gosh. And to my mom's credit, she was like, you got it. I believe in you. I trust you. Boom. She went to the bank the next day, wired me 21 grand. So I was able to use that to kind of get most of the stuff going. then the money from that tax thing freed up so then i got another 40 grand from my guy so that was like the 60 000 and yeah sure enough i was able to open up the doors we leased equipment too that was the other thing i got some company which by the way don't ever lease restaurant equipment for 17 000 of equipment it took me five years to pay it off and i ended up paying 34 grand for all the equipment.

10:36Joe Fontana:So it was like double, you know, like in the interest, you know, that's kind of how they make their money, right? So it helped me out in that pinch. But if I could go back, I would have never done that again. I would have like put the money on a credit card and probably paid it off sooner. You can't pay those leases off. They don't let you pay them off quickly. You know, that's like they want you to be in that five-year period so they can get their interest. So that was all the startup funds. And I'm so proud to say that I was able to pay that back every dollar in six months, which was awesome.

11:03Dude, that's so nuts. Are you ready to launch, grow and scale a business? Inside the Uplip Academy, you'll get a complete roadmap to shortcut your success with 25 plus step-by-step programs taught by active business owners, not gurus, who share their step-by-step blueprints. Plus, ongoing live workshops, skills training, a business idea database and community to share resources and celebrate your wins. Click the link in the description below to join the Elphalp Academy today and start surrounding yourself with the people and tools that can change everything for your business. Take me to like the conversation of like with your mom, because that is like, that's not an easy conversation to be like, I mean, your mom supported you right off the bat there.

11:46But like, were you nervous making that phone call? Was she nervous at all? Why are you like 21 ,000? And like, I love that's like the power of like a support mother. Like it'll just bring you so far. But like, yeah, tell us all like that conversation. Cause that to me would have my stomachs like doing flips there.

12:01Joe Fontana:Well, I think too, I've never been a person to borrow money from anybody. So like that wasn't like the 30th time I asked my mom for money. You know, this was maybe like the second time in my life, you know? So it was kind of like, Hey, I'm in a pinch. Like I need your help. And I think there's something too about when you are using the startup capital, when you borrow it from your parents, your best friend, somebody you love, your grandparents or something. I mean, there is like a deep personal connection where like you feel like indebted to like if some company in New York gave me cash, you know, it's like, I don't who I don't care about them.

12:38Joe Fontana:I'll file for bankruptcy and like see you later, you know. But when you borrow those initial, you know, startup funds from, you know, your parents, like you really want to make sure they get those dollars back. So just asking my mom, I wasn't nervous about it. It was just more like, Hey, can you do this? Like, are you in a place to do it? And she was like, yeah, sure. You know, she's like, I'm happy to. So yeah, my mom was really, really great about it. And I love that I was able to pay her back, you know? Well, let's talk about some growth levers here. Cause now you guys are close to doing like$15 million this year.

13:07You guys are on track to do that. You guys are opening your 11th location, which is so nuts. So people are probably sitting there wondering, okay, like how the heck did you do this? But I'm not going to ask the big question of how'd you go from zero to 15 million? Cause there is way too much there, but zero to like a million. That's a little bit smaller. Obviously there are ups and downs along that way. What were some of the levers you guys pulled? And what are some of those keys to get your first million dollars in the restaurant business?

13:31Joe Fontana:Yeah. So I think a lot of it unfortunately has to do with marketing because you could have the best product in the world. You can have the best service. And if nobody knows about it, even if you have a good location, it is really hard to make it unless you're good at the marketing piece. And this is kind of funny, tying it back to my friends in the Plain White Tees, they had their Hey There Delilah song. They played it live for five years every night. They toured for 11 months of the year and that did not get the recognition until they signed to a record label and then it got on the radio and became a number one hit.

14:09Joe Fontana:So they have this number one hit song they're playing every day and it never became a number one until it got the marketing and promotion behind it. Where I'm going with all this is I hired a publicist. I had studied restauranteurs in New York City and they all hired publicists. I couldn't wrap my brain around like I thought a publicist was for somebody who was like a celebrity. You know, like why does a restaurant need a publicist? But I learned that these New York restauranteurs, the rents are so high. Competition is so cutthroat that they need to get on the Food Network. They need to go on the Today show.

14:42Joe Fontana:They need to get that exposure to get people in the door. And then I talked to a friend who owns a really popular restaurant, like a Michelin star in Chicago. He's a part owner. And I asked him, I go, Hey, I go, you know, how have you guys been so successful? And I thought he was going to say, Oh, well, we have this Michelin star chef and we have all this. He credits the publicist. I was like, wait, what? And he was like, well, we get written up a lot. And that's how we're like, They do these big 16-course dinners and it's crazy expensive. And I thought he was going to list about how great the food was.

15:18Joe Fontana:I thought he was going to go on and on about what they do. And he literally, without hesitation, credited the publicist to their success. And I was like, geez, what? I'm like, all right. So after learning about these New York guys and then my friend telling me about this with their restaurant, I started reaching out to publicists. And this is, by the way, we're three months into opening the restaurant. I'm in the Southside suburbs of Chicago. And I basically can barely like pay for our, you know, food costs, our labor, you know, our chef that we hired. So like, this was like a real leap of faith to like, jump off the cliff and just like hire a publicist and kind of like hope that it worked to, you know, start getting some cash in the door.

16:01Yeah. So what were the results of that? Because you did it, I think three months in, like, I mean, did you notice it like right away? Like what were some of the placements? And yeah, tell us about that. Cause I think that's a really interesting tidbit, especially for the restaurant industry there.

16:12Joe Fontana:And you can do it for any business, by the way, you know, hiring a publicist is a great move no matter what you're in. And I think you have to have the right publicist. So that's a key. And then you have to be ready for it. You know? So it's like, once they open the floodgates and start promoting, like you need to be ready. And by the way, we were not ready. And so we had a lot of angry customers after that, But I was trying to get on TV. I was emailing these producers. I would find out who they are. I'm cold calling. I'm sending DMs on Instagram. Crickets. No one's replying to me. The week we hired the publicist, she had booked me on WGN for a national segment.

16:46Joe Fontana:And then we had, yeah. And then one of the biggest food influencers in Chicago at the time, a TV guy named Steve Dolinsky, the Hungry Hound. He had a thing on ABC Chicago. And so within a week of hiring her, I was booked on WGN and then I got booked on ABC. And then right after that, the Hungry Hound reached out, brought a camera crew and did a feature on us. So after those three segments aired, I had to hire about 25 people overnight. I mean, it was like, wow, we could not keep up. There's how you get your first million for anyone that wants to start a restaurant business. I love that. But okay, let's talk about let's kind of graduate from the 1 million to like that 2 to 5 million like dollar range.

17:29Like what are some of the key things in this range? I'm really curious. Is it operationally you need to be excellent? Is it still like have some amazing marketing or like, yeah, from the 2 to 5 million dollar range, like what are some of the most important things a restaurant is here, right?

17:41Joe Fontana:I think it was consistency was one of the things. So we got over the hump where we like were able to keep up with the demand that was coming in the door. I opened up the second location about 14 months later, and then we'd open up the third location and the fourth location. And I think that's kind of when we went from 1 million to kind of over 5 million. We got up to like 6.7 million, I think in the four years. So it was opening up multiple locations, you know, because now I got multiple streams of income coming in. The other thing was the consistency was so key. We worked really, really hard making sure that at restaurant A was exactly like restaurant B and C and D.

18:22Joe Fontana:And so like anyone who came in to any one of the restaurants that said they'd been to the other ones, I like drilled them. Like I wanted like feedback cards, like what's different? What do you notice? What do you like? What's the same? And we just kept kind of getting the report that it was consistent. Oh, this tastes exactly like, you know, from over there. Consistency is really, really key in your product. And then, you know, we went all in on social media. The publicist was still doing her thing. So we were getting written up and all these different magazines, newspaper articles. I was going on TV like every couple months I was doing segments here and there.

18:58Joe Fontana:So I think it was a combination of all those. And then the systems and processes to actually like, you know, have that KPIs is something we always focused on. And then the restaurant business, it's your labor and your cost of goods sold. So we've monitored those like a hawk. The other thing we got really into is training our team. We did these monthly meetings where we'd bring everyone together and just constantly training, making customer service the number one. I always tell our team, what business are we in? We're in the happiness business and we're not in the restaurant business. We're in the people business.

19:33Joe Fontana:And so I've really made our North Star like, hey, great service is number one by a long shot. And I always used to say, there's a thing with vanilla ice cream and chocolate ice cream in terms of sales. So vanilla and chocolate ice cream outsell every other ice cream on the planet by like a long shot. But the crazy part is vanilla ice cream outsells chocolate by like five miles. Like if this is all ice cream sales and this is chocolate, vanilla is like in the clouds. And so I would say vanilla ice cream is our customer service. That's how good the service has to be. And I think like when you add all that in, you know, together, that's how we kept doubling revenue year after year.

20:15Yeah. I think it's really interesting because your answer from like zero to a million was like get a publicist. Your answer from like two to five was like KPIs, like consistency. Like it just sounds like, like for you, did it feel like more mature of a business once you like got to that$5 million range? I mean, so much like has to change obviously from going from one to five, that's five X in the business there. So like, what were some of the biggest things you saw from yourself as well from the business from like 5 million to one?

20:41Joe Fontana:You know, I think like it went so fast and I think it was, um, it didn't feel cause I think with, with the one to 5 million, I still had my hands in on everything. And so I knew everyone's name in the company. I would go into any restaurant. I knew everybody. I knew all the drama, you know, I knew everything going on. It was really more from five to 10 million. That was a bigger, like, Oh, this is like a real company and I need to like have some more HR policies. And like, there's like litigation and there's like more like serious things that happen where you're like, oh, this isn't me just like running around, like making chicken sandwiches anymore.