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Katie: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. I'm Katie Laird.
Esther: And I'm Ester Steinfeld.
Katie: And we're here in Segment 2 with Aaron Webster, the managing member of Webster Foods, LLC. And as we mentioned earlier in the show, we are here trying not to stuff Tasti D-Lite in our mouths -
Esther: It's sitting right in front of us, actually.
Katie: Yeah. It's really, really tempting. I think Aaron did this just to harass us.
Esther: I know.
Katie: Aaron, welcome to the show.
Aaron: Thank you. You're welcome. Appreciate that.
Katie: You've been Tasti D-Liting us so far and now we can't wait to hear a little bit about Tasti D-Lite itself. What is this magical place that we sit in? [Laughs]
Aaron: This is New York City transplant concept that we brought here. This one opened past June, but we've been working on the project for a couple years and we've actually now got two stores open.
Katie: Fantastic.
Aaron: Our product kinda fits in the same category with ice creams and frozen yogurts that most of the public would place it that way. But we really have differentiated ourselves a bit. Nutritionally, our product is a skim-milk-based product which I think is sorta the key difference between us and everybody else that's out there. Sugar content and carbohydrates, calories, just go down list. It's gonna be a lot less than what your other choices are offering out there.
Esther: Actually, one of the things you're doing right now is a weight-loss challenge, which is a great community-builder, I'd say.
Aaron: That's right.
Esther: People really are losing weight eating this.
Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. We're two weeks in, just starting our third week of sort of our version of The Biggest Loser challenge. The point we were trying to make with that is that some of our larger items, like the milkshake are a parfait or smoothie are sizeable enough to get you through a meal, and usually one of those is a substitute for lunch or dinner and will really help you drop some pounds. So the first two weeks, we've got 20 contestants average 8 pounds down, so we've knocked off 160 pounds.
Esther: It's amazing.
Aaron: So everybody's pretty excited.
Katie: That is absolutely amazing. [Laughs]
Esther: So what really got you interested in this business?
Aaron: I was looking to do something on my own. I wasn't really necessarily looking to get into food retail, even let alone frozen desserts. But I spend some time in the northeast. My wife is from New York City. My sister lives up there. Then Tasti D-Lite is just prolific. It's everywhere. I just kind of was a little intrigued with the product and what everybody was saying about it. But, yeah, it is something that you can eat.
Esther: It's got kind of a cold following.
Aaron: Yeah. You can be in New York City in the wintertime and there's ten people in the Tasti D-Lite store. And you look at and that you just ask why.
Katie: Right. [Laughs]
Aaron: So I did my research and I started chasing this thing. I guess it's been over two years ago it was bought by a private equity firm and the opportunity just sorta fell in my lap to actually take it on in a big way. And they called me and said, "Hey, you'd made inquiries into concept, bringing it to Texas. How interested are you?" And I've been in the investment banking business for nine years and I'm pretty -
Katie: Well, that's a little different, right?
Aaron: I'm pretty over working 90-hour weeks, and so this was an opportunity for me to do something for me and to be able to build a business that's scalable and in the franchise format. It's a different product. They've done a good job of separating themselves from the rest of their competition, which I think is very difficult to do in any business. Texas is a warmer climate. It's a big market. I think we're about to take over Chicago as the third biggest market in the country. So I figured it's my hometown, could -
Esther: Lots of room for growth here.
Aaron: - good place to start and give this a shot. So we're building our third store. We got two open right now and kind of collection points is what I like to call 'em in Houston. We've almost got our pilot completed and we'll step back and see what we have here. But the response has been good so far.
Esther: That's awesome. And you guys really do have great customer service, too. I speak from experience because I know for my birthday last year, Aaron drove up to my house in a big pink truck -
Katie: Giant pink, pink truck.
Esther: - and served all 50 of the people that were at our house, instead of birthday cake. And actually, I blew out a candle in a cup of Tasti D-Lite. And Katie was there. She can vouch for that.
Katie: I was.
Aaron: History was made.
Katie: Yes. History was made. [Laughs]
Esther: History was made. That's how Aaron and I became friends over the phone. So that's a big part of it, I think, especially in a fledgling business, even though it is an establish a concept in New York, not necessarily down here in Texas. Maybe not everybody knew about Tasti D-Lite down here. How did you finally start getting your name out?
Aaron: In the same way any startup business would, just kind of a grassroots attack. I luckily had been in this market in a different capacity, but been here nonetheless, for a long time. And so friendships and business relationships, any place you can say, "Hey, let us introduce our product to you." You're giving away a lot of free stuff. You're doing whatever you can to just get people to try it. Our product is good enough to where I feel like if give it to you once, if I let you experience it once and you do spend a minute or two to see what we're all about, I feel like you're gonna come back of your own will.
Esther: So it's kinda like you're a dealer. You give free samples.
Aaron: Kind of, a little bit.
Esther: So then we're like, "Oh, my gosh. That's so good. I have to have more."
Aaron: Yeah.
Esther: Well, we are hooked.
Aaron: I hadn't been described that way, but I can't disagree with that since -
Katie: You're a pusher.
Esther: Let's - Aaron, you're a pusher. [Laughs]
Katie: Can you talk more about these magical pink trucks? [Laughs]
Aaron: Well, there's only one in the country. I actually -
Katie: There's the one? And it's yours.
Aaron: Yeah. It was up in New York City. They were using it for promotional stuff. They were opening new stores, a couple flagships out there, and it was part of their marketing campaign. They wanted to have Tasti D-Lite on the street, obviously in a big way. So they put this thing together. It's really an entire store on wheels. We do 130-plus flavors out of it.
Katie: Oh, my gosh.
Aaron: We use it for catering, but also marketing, of course. It stretches our reach, recognition in the brand. Just to be going to and from an event, being on the road even, it's just like having a moving billboard.
Esther: It definitely stands out. It's hot pink.
Aaron: It does. It does.
Esther: So tell me about the challenges you're facing right now. It sounds like you guys are having great success, but I'm sure there are some difficulties.
Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. I came from a completely different world, so for me, the first go at running a restaurant-type business, so the challenges I'm having internally are just becoming a better manager and operator. You don't wanna keep the wheels on the bus. You don't wanna get too far ahead of yourself. But at the same time, you wanna be fair and reasonable with your staff, your employees, and make sure you're maintaining a happy environment rather than sort of - I come from a world of ruthlessness. It's -
Katie: That doesn't fly so well in frozen -
Aaron: - get it done. I don't care if it's 3:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon kinda thing. So it's just a big mindset adjustment for me. And then I would say just our business in this market, challenges obviously are what do you do to keep people coming in the door when it's 30 degrees out. This business in general has a hard time with that. But we are very different. We do offer warm deserts. We have a full coffee bar. We have lots of things for breakfast in the morning. We open at 7:00 a.m., which I don't think that any of my competitors are doing that. But we still are sort of grouped into the category of frozen desserts and not much more. So someone who drives by and sees our sign with a swirl and it says Tasti D-Lite assumes we're an ice-cream-type product, which they'd be correct. But we have so much more. So they're probably gonna drive by and maybe go a Starbucks or a Panera Bread and grab a muffin and coffee, where our muffin and coffee not only healthier, but probably quite a bit cheaper as well.
Esther: Okay. That's good to know.
Aaron: Those sorts of things we hope by next winter we've done a good enough job of talking to our customers that are in here that we can expose those sorts of things to that they would come back at different times of the day and different months of the year and still be customers year 'round.
Katie: Well, and we're seeing you grow your presence online as well. So I mean, you're on Twitter. You're on Facebook.
Aaron: Yeah. Twitter's a great vehicle. So many people are into it and it's such a fast way to communicate your immediate market and those who are being exposed to it for the first time.
Esther: And right before we started interviewing you, somebody actually Tweeted to us an article about Tasti D-Lite, how you can now synch up the treat cards - they're kind of the loyalty cards - with Twitter, where you allow that to happen. And the anytime you use it, it posts to your Twitter profile saying, "I just earned" -
Aaron: Right.
Esther: - "Eleven Tasti points," or whatever.
Aaron: Thankfully, I've got some good support helping drive that. Our IT group is - they've got some pretty creative guys who are doing good stuff for us. But yeah, so Tasti D-Lite Corporate, which is one of the nice things about being a franchise, you do have support in other ways that you wouldn't if I was just going at this alone.
Katie: So now that you're mildly seasoned in the frozen desert industry -
Aaron: Right.
Katie: [Laughs] You've been in here a while - what advice or tips would you like to share with people., whether it's come into the industry you're in or just making that giant transition from investment banker to guy who drives an awesome pink truck? [Laughs] which we love.
Aaron: I think my kinda philosophy or the way I've approved this business is to really focus on number one, not stretching yourself out too quickly, and you can see that literally physically in my first two stores are a mile and a half from each other. So that enables me as a two-or-three person groups from a management standpoint to not let things get outta control. And then also to make sure that - I don't know how people go about analyzing a small business like this. I took it from a very probably overkill standpoint. I modeled this thing to death and I just -
Katie: Of course, you did. [Laughs]
Aaron: I just assumed - when I look at something like this I assume kind of a worst case scenario, kinda take that approach that this is gonna be the reality for me for the next year or two and just, again, monetarily don't get ahead of yourself physically where you're setting up your locations or manage it yourself. You kinda have to feel like you're one person 'cause the people that are working with you can leave at any time. If I was here on my own and business was 50 percent of what I want it to be, how would I manage that situation? That's how I looked at this and said would I be able to survive. Would I be able to keep this thing floating if these things were to happen or if this is the world I was living in? If the answer is yes, get after it. You take that risk and you hope that it's gonna be better than that. And so far it has, so -
Katie: So what's your favorite flavor?
Esther: I know. That's really - that's the biggest question.
Aaron: A lighter question. Actually, what we have on tap today. Oreos and peanut butter is tough to beat. It is tough.
Esther: That's the best flavor.
Aaron: yeah. That's a real bruiser. It's 100 calories a serving, but -
Esther: They all are. They're all -
Aaron: Actually, Esther's is less now 'cause it's melting over the side.
Katie: Yes. [Laughs]
Esther: Well, thank you, Aaron. Really appreciate you taking the time and letting us set up shop in your shop.
Aaron: Sure.
Katie: Thank you.
Aaron: My pleasure. Thanks for coming out.
Esther: Absolutely. We've been speaking with Aaron Webster, managing member of Webster Foods. And now it's time for another Business Survival Tip with Carl Kleimann of Odyssey oneSource.
Carl: Hello business owners this is Carl Kleimann from Odyssey One Source with another Business Survival Tip. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this week a Federal ban on texting for drivers of commercial vehicles. This ban became effective immediately and violators may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.
This action is the latest in a series at both the Federal and State level to address Distracted Driving. 19 States have already banned texting while driving and 6 states have banned talking on handheld cell phones while driving. Thus far, Texas has only banned texting and handheld cell phone use for novice drivers during their first year of driving. A complete list of state laws on this subject can be found here. The research makes it clear that distracted driving is deadly and authorities have vowed to continue the fight against it.
If you have employees that operate a vehicle in the course of their employment, you should consider adopting and enforcing a policy that prohibits distracted driving. Employers are commonly held liable for the actions of their employees while driving on the job. That means that you could be sued if one of your employees has an auto accident while working. The fact that your company has and enforces a policy against distracted driving will not only reduce the risk of such an accident but will also serve as a key element of your defense if you are sued.
Developing such a policy should begin with a review of the applicable State and Federal law. Your policy should be at least as restrictive as the law. As an employer, you are free to set more a more restrictive policy. For example, if you wish to prohibit cell phone use altogether, you are free to do so. Just remember, having a policy is useless unless you enforce it. And as always, you must enforce it in a non-discriminatory manner.
I am Carl Kleimann and this has been another Business Survival Tip by Odyssey One Source, ranked as the number one Professional Employer Organization three years running by the Black Book of Outsourcing. For more information on this and other issues affecting employers, please visit www.odysseyonesource.com.
Esther: You're listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.