Full transcript of Barry’s Bagels on Lean Franchise Growth — episode 334 of the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast, with Mark Greenblatt and Jim Nusbaum, Barry’s Bagels. Speaker labels preserved; lightly edited for readability.
What this episode covers. Mark Greenblatt and Jim Nusbaum on growing Barry’s Bagels beyond a local bagel shop without losing what makes the product work. The centrepiece is a hub and spoke model: fresh dough produced centrally, bagels finished and stored at spokes, which opens up trade areas the brand could not otherwise reach. They also cover why bagels are having a moment, what they tell prospective franchisees about the reality of the business, and diversifying past walk-in sales through wholesale routes and campus and hospital placements.
- In this transcript:
- Meet Mark Greenblatt
- Jim Nusbaum and the Path From Law School
- Why Bagels Are Having a Moment
- Fresh Dough, and What That Requires
- The Hub and Spoke Model
- Why Hub and Spoke Opens New Areas
- Talking to Prospective Franchisees
- What Franchisees Need to Understand
- Diversifying Beyond Walk-In Sales
- The Wholesale and Delivery Route
- How to Engage With Barry’s Bagels
- What to Order
Jeremy Julian (0:01): Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast. I thank everyone out there for joining as I like to say each and every time. I know you guys have lots of choices. it’s, I’m grateful that you guys get to hang out with us. ah These are some really cool stories. I love bringing you guys founder led stories or stories of brands that are kind of, you know, do really good work and kind of learn what makes them tick and where they’re at. And so it’s always fun for me.
Mark (0:11): you
Jeremy Julian (0:25): selfishly as I travel, it’s always cool when I get to go walk into one of those brands that I had on the show or I get to run into somebody at a trade show. so today we’re meeting with the team from Barry’s Bagels. so Mark, I’m gonna let you introduce Barry’s to the team yourself, I guess, where did you come from? And then can introduce your business partner, Jim, and we can get rolling on the conversation.
Meet Mark Greenblatt
Mark (0:45): For sure. Yeah, my name is Mark Greenblatt. Owner of Berry Bagels. My father Barry started in 1972. We’re located in Toledo, Ohio. He came from Detroit, Michigan. Had a little bit of a background in food. Came to Ann Arbor, Michigan, actually, to follow my mother. Was going to Eastern Michigan at the time. Worked at a bagel shop, very much enjoyed it, decided he wanted to do his own thing. Came up to Toledo after looking at a few other random cities to see if that’s where he wanted to be. But like the proximity of Toledo with family, came up with another gentleman who he had worked with and they started a location called The Bagel Place, again in 1972.
Jim Nusbaum (1:39): I oh
Mark (1:43): operated for a couple years. The gentleman, his partner, Peter, was about 10 years older than him at the time and really didn’t want to go any further beyond that. So my father bought him out uh and started, changed the name to Berry Bagels, um proceeded to open up multiple locations in the Northwest Ohio, Southeast Michigan area. And I came on, let’s see, probably in the, I was working through high school, went to college for a little while, came on board permanently in the early 2000s. Actually very much enjoyed working with my dad. We had a great time and uh decided it was something that I wanted to continue with. Took over permanently. In 2008, we decided we wanted to expand a little further outside of our reach at a couple sisters that were in the Cleveland area. We were very interested in opening in Cleveland, found a couple locations that we liked um in around probably 2010, 2011-ish. And then we both realized that neither of us wanted to move to Cleveland. um we thought one of the other one would at the time, but, also realized that our stores run very well because we were both operating them ourselves, but still wanted to continue to expand our brand and then realized that maybe franchising would be the next great step. So I reached out to a friend of mine, Jim Nussbaum, who was on our call today and
Jeremy Julian (3:14): Okay.
Mark (3:42): Ask him if he’d be interested in possibly looking at doing something with us and subsequently he did and I’ll let him take the story over from there.
Jeremy Julian (3:57): Yeah, Jim, tell me a little bit about your background before you came and hung out with Mark, because it sounds like you guys knew each other prior to you working together, and now you get the privilege of uh hanging out more regularly. where’s your background come from? Tell me a little bit about your background and how you, I guess, even encountered the brand, uh and then where you’ve been at since then.
Jim Nusbaum and the Path From Law School
Jim Nusbaum (4:20): Sure, no thank you and thank you for having us. Yeah, Berry started in 1972. I like to tell people I was probably one of the first customers, a little younger back then. But this is actually my second time employed with Berry’s. My first was as a 15 year old in the back cutting onions and taking out the garbage. Berry took mercy on me and gave me a job when I was in high school. I then went to
Mark (4:25): you
Jim Nusbaum (4:49): College and law school, I’m kind of a recovering lawyer. uh did a lot of, yeah, well, I sort of hold it against myself. uh And did a lot of corporate work, corporate formation, uh represented businesses. Went in as an in-house counsel to a business that had a very similar structure to a franchising system. That business got sold and I became a free agent.
Jeremy Julian (4:54): We won’t hold that against you.
Mark (4:55): Okay. So. Is this too loud? uh
Jim Nusbaum (5:19): And right around the time when Mark and Barry had really made this kind of internal decision to expand, because the three of us knew each other very well and we had very complimentary skill sets, uh we thought and think it made sense for us to sort of join together to grow the brand this way. And so we came up and formed a holdings company and with the charge of growing the brand through franchising. that’s. uh… and now yes i i spent a lot of time with mark which is great business partner great you know he’s the brand and and that’s that what him and that is that built uh… something special and i’m i’m glad to be a part of it
Mark (5:58): I’m sorry. All right.
Jeremy Julian (6:04): I love that. Mark, talk to me a little bit about kind of the inception. Where did bagels come from? And it obviously you were, you know, uh, I’m guessing much younger, younger when, when dad started it, but I’d love to kind of talk a little bit about, know, and I think about bagels. I’m part of what I was excited about is, is, um, I love a good bagel. Unfortunately, there’s never really been a, uh, I don’t say there’s been, you know, I guess the bagel brands out of, uh, out of Denver is the only one that I can think of that even has.
Mark (6:14): Thank Thank Okay.
Jeremy Julian (6:31): a footprint kind of beyond a local bagel shop. And so I love the idea of kind of spreading the love of bagels out. You know, you get a lot of donut shops that are nationwide or those kinds of things, but bagels really haven’t, in my opinion, there’s not anybody that really owns the space other than your local corner bagel shop. I’d love to talk through kind of even the inception of where it was at. then as you guys got to the second and third stores, what makes people kind of want to come back in and make sure your guys’ brand kind of different, special, you know, whatever. um other than having a bunch of 15 year olds in the back cutting onions like Jim said when he started years ago.
Why Bagels Are Having a Moment
Mark (7:05): Right, right. Yeah, know, bagels, you know, it’s interesting. And you’re right. We hear it all the time that, you know, geez, you got to come to this city. There’s no good bagels here, whatnot. And yeah, I’m biased. I think our our products real good. We boil and bake them. It’s sort of the the old school, you know, everyone I think believes bagels came East Coast, you know, New York style, where again, yeah, there’s a water boiled
Jim Nusbaum (7:28): Thank you.
Mark (7:34): you know, fresh dough, drop it in the water, boil them, throw them in an oven, bake them, finish them off. You know, that is what we typically do. You know, the East Coast bagels, a little crispier, a little harder on the outside. We’ve softened them up over the years to kind of put our own little unique twist on them. You know, what… What we offer, guess a little different than everybody else. know, most bagel shops are sort of just bagels and cream cheese and, you know, get in, get out and open first thing in the morning, close one, two o’clock. That’s it. You know, we do offer that. We offer, you know, significant breakfast. We do like the egg sandwiches on the bagels, which are, you know, quite delicious, bacon, sausage, cheese, whatnot. And then, you know, we do a a very large lunch. Corned beef, is, you know, one of our top two sellers. Turkeys, hams, roast beefs, all the deli meats, ah smoked salmon, big deal for us. All the cream cheeses we make fresh. You know, and then we provide, you know, dinners, soup salads, whatnot. We try and stay open as late as possible and give you all three meals for
Jim Nusbaum (8:55): you
Mark (8:57): know, families and whatnot. So, you know, we think we provide something a little more unique than the, you know, local corner bagel shop. And, you know, we want to try and bring it to every city in the country and hopefully we can.
Jeremy Julian (9:17): I love that. Well, and funny enough, there’s, live in a small little town in, in Texas. And there’s a guy that actually he was, uh he is also recovering large gym who couldn’t find a good bagel shop. And he’s from the East coast and he literally went and just went super nerdy and figured out how to go build bagels, uh like make bagels and him and his wife, I’ll put a bagel shop in the pandemic. And
Mark (9:36): Okay.
Jeremy Julian (9:42): they’re doing really well and they’re open five days a week. But it’s funny because he kind of did the same thing. was like, you know what, I can’t find a good bagel. I’ve actually talked to Dan because Dan’s bagels and Dan’s is like, you know what, I really was wishing that I could just find a good bagel, but in DFW it was a 30 minute drive to find a decent bagel, not even a good bagel. And so he and his wife…
Mark (9:43): Great.
Jeremy Julian (10:04): super nerded out and they’re doing really well and I’m happy uh to call them friends and they’re here in town. But I think to your point, it’s hard. It takes a lot of work and to do it well and it sounds like you guys have even pivoted. You talked a little bit about the East Coast Bagel and what you guys have done to continue to pivot to meet both consumer demands as well as your own taste profiles, I guess.
Fresh Dough, and What That Requires
Mark (10:09): Yeah. Sure. it’s, bagels seem to be having a little uptick in, know, it’s a little more popular these days and we love it. You’re hearing about it a little more and, you know, the more the merrier. We’re happy that bagels are hitting the mainstream.
Jeremy Julian (10:51): Love that. So Jim, talk to me a little bit about, you and I talked kind of pre-show before we hit the record button. One of the big things that, that again, I know a lot of people struggle with, especially, which is kind of the state of our industry through the pandemic is site selection. We know, I know, you know, after 30 years in this business, site selection and being able to build out a store so that you have the right amount of square footage, but not too much, because you’re paying for too much, you you got to sell more. But if you have too little or you don’t have the right
Mark (11:19): you
Jeremy Julian (11:20): location, you don’t have the right ingress and egress and the right parking. You and I talked a little bit about the fact that you guys have found a way to help on the franchising model. I’d love for you to talk a little bit about that because uh it’s been really cool. had a previous guest from Rita’s Italian Icon.
Mark (11:32): you
Jeremy Julian (11:37): um a few weeks ago and he and I were talking about the fact that they’re taking old bank buildings and turning them into Aritas and they’re taking some different non-traditional locations. I’d love for you guys to kind of talk through what’s an ideal location and how have you guys helped some of the franchisees to find the right location to be able to offer your guys’ product into the space.
Mark (11:38): you Okay. Okay.
The Hub and Spoke Model
Jim Nusbaum (11:57): Sure. yeah, obviously, you know, everyone needs to be, uh you want to be sensitive to a couple of things. One is we want to create locations, which is kept an obvious, right? I mean, the correct side of the road and ingress, egress, and all of the things that make a location great. uh Secondary to that, but also very important is, you know, we have decided at least strategically, we aren’t going to reinvent the wheel relative to the interior of these spaces.
Mark (12:24): Okay.
Jim Nusbaum (12:26): And what we mean by that is, you know, if I’m not trying to pick on Wendy’s, they certainly are successful. But if I blindfolded you and dropped you into a Wendy’s, you would have no idea where you are. It would look the same. You know, it’s, and again, that’s their strategy and it’s fine. um We’re a little different. We want to work with ah what’s already there to minimize, you know, build out costs as much as possible.
Mark (12:37): you
Jim Nusbaum (12:53): while still maintaining the integrity of our branding and our operational efficiency. So we will use as much as we can in the current space to, you know, uh do those two things. And so we’re not going to strip it down to the studs unless, you know, it just has to be done that way. But the second thing we do is, you know, we start off, we really focus on multi-unit development. And so the first store in a region is going to be what we call a hub store where we bake.
Mark (13:03): you All right.
Jim Nusbaum (13:22): and we store bagels and we have a walk-in cooler, freezer, and oven, and all the things you need to do to produce. And it’s also a retail store. That store, just by definition of the equipment and necessary HVACs, is to be our pricier of the two footprints. from there, we’re going to build spoke locations, which are probably half the size of the hub location. And really, we don’t bake there. And what we do is we take bagels throughout the day and kind of milk runs from the hub to the spokes. you know, we can turn, because we’re not baking, we can turn a Verizon, a Gray Clips into Berry Bagels with, you know, some cosmetic work and some FF &E and get going for, you know, somewhere between, usually between 10 to 25 % of the cost of a hub. It’s a great way for us to get in very dense.
Mark (14:00): you
Jeremy Julian (14:17): Well.
Why Hub and Spoke Opens New Areas
Jim Nusbaum (14:21): areas because now we don’t have to be afraid of high per foot rents. It’s a great way to build out efficiently and it’s a great way to smooth out capex costs for hubs over multiple locations. So we think it’s a pretty good model. It’s sensitive to franchisees who want to build out multiple locations but also were sensitive to their capital needs and requirements and so far so good. And again, we make sure the bagels are fresh. That’s sort of the first commandment, right? And so we make sure we deliver them and do all those things. But at the same time, it allows us to back off the capital necessary to grow in a market. And I think it’s a nice uh way to be sensitive to macroeconomic trends at this time.
Mark (15:06): you So
Jeremy Julian (15:17): Well, and think like you said, you can get into a smaller space because you don’t need, I’m sure permitting is easier because you’re not having to deal with all of the permitting. You’re taking a retail store that’s just retail and you’re just selling products that’s already kind of made somewhere else. And so it makes it a lot quicker, easier to get up and running. And so I love that idea. I hadn’t even considered that. And that’s great that you guys have been able to figure out how to pull that off.
Jim Nusbaum (15:40): Yeah, so far so good. Mark and Barry really figured out how to pull it off here in Toledo. We’ve, I think, been able to do a nice job exporting it to our different franchise territories. And again, our brand’s going to be as successful as our franchisees are, and we’re very cognizant of that. And so we want to give them every opportunity and every possibility to be successful, and this is one of the ways we do that.
Mark (15:45): you you
Talking to Prospective Franchisees
Jeremy Julian (16:09): uh Awesome. uh Mark, talk to me a little bit about the culture ah and kind of how you guys have been able to not just export the culture, but I’m sure family business, you you’ve been in the stores for much of your life. I’m sure there’s lots of people that come in and kind of are on a regular basis. How do you export not just what you believe, but you’re now out in franchises, you know,
Mark (16:19): Sir.
Jeremy Julian (16:30): Jim talked about fresh bagels and all of that kind of thing. That’s part of it. Being at the forefront of the brand and talking to people. There’s lots of things that you have to do to be successful, especially as you get out of your core markets. I’d love for you to talk a little bit about how you export that out to these different regions. Because when it was family, a little bit easier. Now that it’s not family and you guys are getting beyond that and getting outside of your core geography, what would you give our listeners that are in that place? What have you found to be successful?
Mark (16:35): Yeah.
Jim Nusbaum (16:47): Ahem.
Jeremy Julian (16:57): you most important roles as you’re going out and looking for franchisees and watching them continue to grow. And to Jim’s point, you’re only going to be as successful as they are. So how do you make sure that that happens?
Mark (17:00): you Yeah, you know, it’s tricky uh and you’re right. oh The success we’ve had here to try and get it to um translate outside of the market ah what we’ve been telling people and we’re pretty specific about who we look for in franchise ease. know, first and foremost, we want owner operators. I think that’s very important. ah You know, as I tell these people when we interview them, you know, it’s not a hobby. ah If you think you’re going to open the doors and cash is going to come flying in, you just, you don’t know the restaurant business. It’s, as you know, 24 seven, 365. I give each one of them when they sit down and I try and give them, I give them the good.
Jeremy Julian (17:42): Mm-hmm.
What Franchisees Need to Understand
Mark (18:00): you know, the prospective franchisees, I give them the good and there’s so much good, right? And I give them, you know, and I don’t want to call it the bad, but um I’m a realist and I give them the heart and I give them the same story every time. it’s what I told my wife when we were dating. said, listen, you know, we’ve got a, I’ve got a good gig going. But, you know, at the same time, I’m going to get phone calls at
Jeremy Julian (18:11): hard.
Mark (18:30): three in the morning that the walk-in freezer is at 40 degrees and the phones ring. And when we’re on, if we’re on vacation, the phones ring and I answer them. And, you know, like you said, it’s 24 seven, 365. If you can handle that, we can do a lot of fun stuff, you know, but if you’re not a part of it, it’s, it’s tough. It’s, it’s demanding. And so again, you know, owner operators, ah that’s what we look for. And you know, I think I, I try and show them that, you know, obviously treat your employees great. We I’ve been fortunate. I actually just had another employee. I think we were looking, it’s now my seventh employee that just turned 40 years working for us. You know, and we started in 1972. So that’s a pretty good chunk. I’ve got another, got another
Jeremy Julian (19:25): That’s incredible.
Mark (19:28): couple that are going to hit 40 years within a year. I’ve got a few that are going to hit 50 years pretty soon, one that’s over 50 years, and another handful that are well over 30 years. So treat your employees good. Tell the employees, know, treat them how you expect them to treat the customers and, you know, show it as a family. run it as a family-owned business, put that out there. Customers appreciate that. They want you to converse with them. They want you to make them feel like they’re coming in for just more than just food. um And that’s been successful for us and we’re hoping that’s gonna translate out further aside from the fact that we think we have a great product. Like I said, maybe I didn’t mention it before. Again, where we’re a little more unique or a lot of bagel shops are just baking, you know, first thing in the morning and sort of just letting those ride out. We bake small batches all day long. We want you to have a, I don’t like to use the word fresh. They’re always going to be fresh, but a hot, you know, and a perfect roll right out of the oven. Maybe not right out of the oven, but within a very short time. little batches all day long. So you’re getting a fabulous. know, product consistently. And so, yeah, that’s, you know, that’s what’s worked for us to date since 1972. That’s what we push on the franchisees. That’s what we, you know, strive to get them to do and follow up on. And we’re hoping that’s the successful recipe moving forward.
Jeremy Julian (21:26): Yeah. I mean, we’ve talked about, Jim and I talked about site selection and franchise selection is key. Finding the right people, understanding it’s, they can’t just be a huge fan of the brand that just, oh, I love having very bagels. Like they need to understand that it’s hard. I was talking to a president of a 30-ish unit brand out of the Carolinas and I was like, Hey, why don’t you grow in faster? Cause their product is fantastic. He’s like, cause everybody that comes in that’s just like, I love Groucho’s Deli.
Mark (21:33): game.
Jim Nusbaum (21:33): Thank
Mark (21:38): for sure. Good luck.
Jeremy Julian (21:51): They, they, they, you know, they’re fine, but they don’t really understand how hard it is to run a restaurant. And, and to your guys’s point, it’s a, it’s, it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work. It’s super fulfilling and it’s great when you do it right, but it’s also not for the faint of heart. And it’s not just cause you love to eat bagels or love the product innovation. And you got to actually be willing to put in the, the, you know, the elbow grease to get there.
Mark (21:56): Yeah. 100 % and yeah, I mean, could we could could I you know, sit there and open up, know, 10 more and you know, everywhere and you know, see how they do I could but you know, I’ve got I’ve got great employees and I you know, again, like I said that the tenure that that that they have, so I’m comfortable with, you know, obviously, I can’t be more than one place at one time, but these people have been with me and so, you know, they’re like pseudo owner operators. So yeah, you open slowly, but in a smart way as you progress and get better. But yeah, it’s not easy, but they learn it and they understand it and hopefully they’re successful with it.
Jeremy Julian (23:01): Yeah, yeah, I love these kind of success stories. um Last kind of line of questioning, Jim, you and I talked em kind of again when we were hitting, before we hit the record button about some of the non-traditional revenue channels that you guys have been able to figure out. You get the Hub & Spoke, which I think is really innovative and a really cool way to do that, but you’ve also… shared a little bit of uh kind of your off-prem, you I don’t say strategy, but I’d love for you to talk to our listeners a little bit about that. A lot of people are trying to figure out the whole catering. They recognize where catering can move the needle and whether it’s catering or it’s kind of off-prem, I know you guys got some unique ways of going about that, but I’d love for you to share another uniqueness about what you guys do because I do think that that is a little bit of an unlock if you want to be in this business, that you can drive some additional sales in unique ways that I hadn’t heard of before we got on the call.
Diversifying Beyond Walk-In Sales
Jim Nusbaum (23:49): Sure, no, happy to talk about it. So obviously, know, off premises revenue, as you said, you know, is certainly of high priority for everybody and catering or what we’re sort of calling group ordering, you know, is something that um most, if not all brands are either have developed or are working to develop. And we certainly do a lot of it. um But what we do in addition to that,
Mark (24:10): you
Jim Nusbaum (24:18): in terms of off premises is we have found that there is a lot or there are a lot of organizations that want to either consume or resell food but not make it. I’ll give you a good example would be a school system maybe that doesn’t have a cafeteria or a college uh professional school or office complex. So we push to our franchisees in their territories this idea of what we call wholesale.
Mark (24:36): Okay.
The Wholesale and Delivery Route
Jim Nusbaum (24:47): which is every day we sell fresh bagels for resale and consumption or consumption to schools, universities, hospitals, office complexes. What that means practically speaking is at six or seven in the morning, the franchisees send, know, well, probably at 4.30 they come in and bake dozens or hundreds of dozens of dozens. And we then
Mark (24:56): Okay.
Jim Nusbaum (25:14): deliver them to just do a route and we take them to, for example, our Dayton franchisee does the University of Dayton, our Ann Arbor store does the University of Michigan. We do all sorts of office complexes, school systems, hospitals, and you know what it really signals to our franchisees from a value proposition is we aren’t content with just waiting for people to come in the store. We’re certainly going to do and emphasize driving customer accounts.
Mark (25:23): you uh
Jeremy Julian (25:39): Mm-hmm.
Mark (25:39): oh Correct.
Jim Nusbaum (25:43): right in our four walls and you know it’s obviously an area of high emphasis but we are going to provide these other revenue streams and these other opportunities for you to go out with our help and you know get accounts or make contacts or or do anything like that. So the idea is again while there’s those four walls of the store the ability to do off-premises is expanded with our brand and we think it’s a value. um know, our franchisees and something, you we’re excited.
Jeremy Julian (26:19): Well, and I think the thing that I love about your guys’ offer is just that they’ve almost got a built-in sales base that can help cover some of that, know, if for whatever reason you don’t have the people coming in. I’ve had two different people come on the show in the last six months that talk about off-prem and how to maximize off-prem, whether it’s B through technology or the sales methods and some of these kinds of things. I love that you guys have got this offer. And clearly, because you’ve already built out the hub and spoke model,
Mark (26:32): Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (26:48): you’ve got the ability to figure out how to produce product and get it transported to a place that people can still enjoy it and have a great experience without compromising quality. the other thing that I also love about it, I guess I’d love for you guys to talk about this before we wrap up, just that also was probably an awareness thing. They’re now seeing it at the college and they’d never had the bagels, but now they’re at this college, they’re at this university, they’re at this office complex. And I was like, oh, I’m driving home. and I see it now it turns into a great marketing venue. So I guess I’d love for you guys to talk a little bit about that as well.
Mark (27:19): That’s great.
Jim Nusbaum (27:22): Yeah, I’ll let Mark Handel talk about that one.
Mark (27:24): Yeah, it’s, it’s perfect. Yeah, exactly. I mean, take University of Michigan, for example, it, you know, we have a store that does it’s very successful in Ann Arbor, but just outside of campus. But we do, we do all the bagels for the university, the dorms, the fraternity houses, sorority houses, we also do the hospital systems. So yeah, it’s uh like you said, a perfect marketing ploy for us because ah now these people, they’ve tried us, we’ve since, you we’ve gotten the fraternities and sororities to call us to um cater their organizational events, um their philanthropy events. ah We’re getting the um drug reps come to the hospital, they seen us, they’ve our bagels at the kiosks at the coffee shops. They’re now catering in from the doctors. So yeah, it’s perfect. It’s aside from the fact that it’s a great revenue stream of business for the store. It’s picking up additional revenue from these people that don’t necessarily get on our side of town in Ann Arbor. But now they can and now, you know, they can order online and we can bring it to them and it’s It’s just, it just works hand in hand and it’s been fantastic for us.
Jeremy Julian (28:58): Yeah, so I must ask the question, Ohio based brand going into the University of Michigan, are you Ohio State fans? Are you Michigan fans? Or you’re Bagel fans, I guess, at the end of the day, huh? Obviously I’m teasing.
Mark (29:03): Right. Yeah. We’re bagel fans. Yeah, right.
Jim Nusbaum (29:07): We’re divided family on this call. Mark is a, yeah, Mark’s a season ticket holder at U of M and I currently have two children at The Ohio State University. yes, yeah, so we are, we’re a house divided.
Mark (29:13): Yes.
Jeremy Julian (29:22): The Ohio State University, I love it. um Well, I won’t tell you, I’ve got a good friend who uh is a Michigan State guy and uh about a year and a half ago, I went to Michigan State, Michigan hockey at the Michigan State Stadium and that was a lot of fun. Yeah.
Mark (29:22): That’s right. Yes. Alright. Oh, very cool. Oh yeah. They’re all great rivalries. Yeah. And great schools. And great schools.
Jim Nusbaum (29:37): Oh wow, great. That’s awesome. Michigan State’s great. Yes.
Jeremy Julian (29:45): Yes, no, for sure. Awesome. Yeah, no, and I’ve got a, we’ve got somebody that works on our team that lives up in Columbus because his stepdaughter goes to the Ohio State University and he actually is a UT guy, is from Texas. And so it drives him crazy when he walks into places and people have to have two people to spell the word Ohio, you know, for him, that’s his big joke. Yeah.
Mark (29:57): Yes.
Jim Nusbaum (30:06): ah We’re proud of spelling. Yeah, we’re real proud of spelling here in the Midwest. But yes, it’s a, you get brainwashed real quick. It’s a great school. Michigan’s fantastic, but it’s, it’s a lot of fun.
Mark (30:09): Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (30:21): Yeah, no, I obviously had to take a couple minutes to pick on you guys, and funny enough that you guys are house divided. tell us, Jim, I know you kind of head up franchising. What does it look like to engage? do you get? Mark kind of shared a little bit earlier in the episode of uh what you guys are looking for. I’d love for you to walk our listeners through if they want to learn more, they want to get, you you guys are looking for, sounds like master franchisees.
Mark (30:31): you
Jeremy Julian (30:44): How far out do you guys go on? they need previous restaurant experience? Talk through a little bit about what you guys are looking for and how they can engage with the team.
How to Engage With Barry’s Bagels
Jim Nusbaum (30:51): Yeah, so they can engage with us at uh BarryBagels.com. uh There’s a franchising tab and there’s a place to send in an inquiry. It actually comes right to me. In terms of what we’re looking for, you know, we really do focus on multi-unit developments with a caveat that, you we do the hub and spokes, you know, to be sensitive to capital needs. I think in terms of previous experience, it’s a plus, but not required. What we’re looking for more are people who
Mark (31:04): you
Jim Nusbaum (31:20): And again, I don’t want to get too cliched, but you know, who want to provide service. I mean, people who are comfortable working with the public, people who are comfortable supervising employees. ah You know, I always tell people, listen, there’s nothing wrong with being an introvert. And, you know, that’s totally fine. But this might not be a great fit. And that’s okay. You know, we want people who are want to learn, but we also want people who have their own ideas that we can also benefit from, you know.
Mark (31:35): So. Okay.
Jim Nusbaum (31:50): our franchisees have come up with some really good ah innovation suggestions and you know one thing I’m particularly proud of is that we’re good listeners. If there’s a better way to do something or a new way to do something we’ll certainly listen and copy or put it throughout the whole brand. But we want people who are going to be good stewards of the brand in their community, who want to be involved in their community, who want to be you know, the person who hires high school kids or college kids in their community, um, provides a great place to work. You know, I think our first duty is to serve our employees, um, you know, to make sure that they’re happy and safe and comfortable and working in a, in a positive environment. If they are, that translates to customer service. Um, if they’re not, that also translates to customer service. Um, and then, you know, obviously, you know, the customers in the community, you know,
Mark (32:40): you
Jim Nusbaum (32:48): Are you, you know, we want them to be the CEO of Berry Bagels within their market and take that position and, and, you know, be the face of the brand with our support. And we can teach them the food business, you know, we can teach them, you know, through our training and our support that we can teach them. You know, we’ve, gotten our operations pretty efficient and easy to learn. ah We provide a lot of training, but we can’t.
Mark (32:53): Yeah. that.
Jim Nusbaum (33:18): train you to be supportive and a good person. All those things. So we want those sort of intrinsic positives with people. We can train you on the skill set. And I think that’s really what we’re looking for.
Jeremy Julian (33:25): Yeah, I can’t change the way that your mother raised you is what I like to say around our business. Awesome. Mark, what did we miss that you want their listeners to hear about Berry Bagels and kind of the legacy that you and your family are continuing to put out into the world?
Mark (33:48): I don’t know, we covered a lot. Listen, just, boy, I don’t know. Fabulous brand. told I’ve been telling everyone I just want to get my dad’s name um everywhere across the country. Because I know how great it is. And I know how great he was. And so I want to. That’s what I’m trying to do. And Jimmy’s doing a great job making that come to fruition. So hopefully, it’ll happen. And hopefully, there’ll be a Barry’s everywhere for for everyone to experience.
Jeremy Julian (34:32): one last question for you rapid fire real quick what’s your go to mark what’s your go to item and Jim what’s your go to item if they’ve never been to a very bagel what’s what’s the number one thing you need to you need to try.
Jim Nusbaum (34:39): Marco first
Mark (34:44): Yeah, I’m a everything bagel, a corned beef, Havarti. That’s me. That’s what I get. I love it.
Jim Nusbaum (34:44): I’ll let Marco first.
Jeremy Julian (34:54): How about you, Jim?
What to Order
Jim Nusbaum (34:56): My go-to, the things you need to try are pastrami and corned beef, are fantastic. My daily go-to is our Eggo, which is a breakfast sandwich. I get an everything bagel toasted with egg, pepper jack cheese, and bacon. And it cures what ails you, no matter what. It’s pretty great. But yeah, in terms of things to know, and I mean, Jeremy, for you.
Mark (35:13): It’s pretty good. you
Jeremy Julian (35:20): Awesome.
Jim Nusbaum (35:25): We are in, you know, we do have a hundred and nine stores either open or under development in seven states. One of them happens to be Texas. We’re looking right now in the DFW uh area actively. And so we’re excited to keep growing and, you know, work with great franchisees and serve great communities. So we’re excited about it.
Jeremy Julian (35:41): Awesome. you guys for sharing the story. Thank you guys for what you guys have built. I’m grateful for you guys coming on and, uh, um, to our listeners guys, like, like I said at the onset, you guys have got lots of choices. So thanks for hanging out with us. Um, if you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to the show, check out buried bagels and see what their offerings are for franchising and make it a great day.
Jim Nusbaum (36:16): Thank you.
Mark (72:08): Thanks a lot.
