Episode 6

Communication & Customer Expectations

In this episode of In The Bunker Joshua Maddux talks with Wing Lam of Wahoo's Fish Taco. Wing shares about some of the challenges that they faced at the onset of the pandemic. Some of those challenges changed their business and one launched a nonprofit called the CA Love Drop.

Our episode highlights:

  • Look around and talk with your neighbors, customers, and competitors. Get creative when you are trying to make changes. 
  • Think about how you are packaging your “offering”, and get creative making a solution that solves the full problem.

Bio: Wing Lam is the co-founder of Wahoo’s Fish Taco and has nearly 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Wing Lam, a Chinese immigrant, spent his childhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before he moved to Costa Mesa. In 1970, Lam’s father, Cheong Lee, opened a Chinese restaurant called Shanghai Pine Garden, which the family still owns, on Balboa Island. Wing and his two brothers co-founded Wahoo’s Fish Taco in 1988.

Links:

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wing-lam-2303294/
  • Website: https://www.wahoos.com
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WahoosFishTaco
  • IG: https://www.instagram.com/wahoosfishtaco

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Transcript
Joshua Maddux:

Welcome back to in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

As you know every business owner faces challenges in your day-to-day business,

Joshua Maddux:

and we love to share those stories.

Joshua Maddux:

Today.

Joshua Maddux:

We have wing lamb in the bunker with us.

Joshua Maddux:

When was faced with the challenge of adapting to the pandemic

Joshua Maddux:

and pivoting to take out.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so much to learn here and I'm excited to jump in and

Joshua Maddux:

talk about overcoming this issue.

Joshua Maddux:

Good to have you on the.

Wing Lam:

All right.

Wing Lam:

Thanks for having me Joshua, just to give you a little quick background, we've

Wing Lam:

been in business just about 33 years.

Wing Lam:

Started back in 88, me and my two brothers and a Mingo.

Wing Lam:

Today we have about 52 stores.

Wing Lam:

We lost a few due to the pandemic.

Wing Lam:

We're in a bunch of different states.

Wing Lam:

So about half of the stores are appropriately on about half

Wing Lam:

her franchise out, but within.

Wing Lam:

30 issue franchise stores.

Wing Lam:

You basically got about five guys that own them all.

Wing Lam:

So it's a very tight, small group of friends.

Wing Lam:

I call them now business partners and we're out there, prebend and Nick, 60, 70%

Wing Lam:

of our business was tying in lunch time.

Wing Lam:

And because obviously 85% of the offices that wiped out with people working

Wing Lam:

remotely from home, that basically meant.

Wing Lam:

85% of our business overnight, between two days from Wednesday to

Wing Lam:

Friday, we got a ginormous circuit, the worst we've ever had in the

Wing Lam:

entire time I've been in business.

Wing Lam:

And I said, we've done about three recessions.

Wing Lam:

The.com bus, this bus or that bus and nothing like this.

Wing Lam:

So I don't know, we can share all the fun stories, but I'm telling

Wing Lam:

you, this is probably something that you can never plan for.

Wing Lam:

And we're still not out of the wheats.

Wing Lam:

We got to get through this winter.

Joshua Maddux:

That's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

I do want to preface one thing.

Joshua Maddux:

For those listening.

Joshua Maddux:

What business do you own?

Wing Lam:

Oh, I Y whose fish taco, we started the same back in 88

Wing Lam:

and it's been a great adventure.

Joshua Maddux:

So if you live near a location or have frequented

Joshua Maddux:

their establishment, I know they had one local here apparently.

Joshua Maddux:

It didn't have the sales volume that was required to keep it, or I imagine

Joshua Maddux:

it would still be in its location.

Joshua Maddux:

Apparently I didn't go enough, but Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

So yeah, talking about, before we hit record you'd mentioned that, there

Joshua Maddux:

was a few locations that were lost due to the pandemic and that you guys

Joshua Maddux:

had the opportunity to not renew the leases on those facilities, thankfully.

Joshua Maddux:

What is it.

Joshua Maddux:

Transition that pivot look like, for the business as a whole, you mentioned

Joshua Maddux:

that literally was an overnight element.

Joshua Maddux:

What did that look like?

Wing Lam:

So basically we'd be announced that came out on Wednesday morning, that

Wing Lam:

all nonessential businesses, we're not going to be open portable to the public.

Wing Lam:

So in the small print, they said, oh, by the way, restaurants are okay.

Wing Lam:

But by the time they said, non-essential, everybody's fine.

Wing Lam:

Really between Wednesday and Friday, it just August, right supermarkets

Wing Lam:

on the other hand, big boxes that cost or whatever, they went through

Wing Lam:

the roof they've had record sales.

Wing Lam:

So I would say that in our category restaurants, all the

Wing Lam:

fine dining went off the cliff.

Wing Lam:

Everybody went off the cliff.

Wing Lam:

It basically relied on the dining room.

Wing Lam:

People that have drive-throughs on the other hand had record sales

Wing Lam:

because people were willing to wait, an hour for hamburger or an hour for

Wing Lam:

a chicken sandwich or whatever pizza.

Wing Lam:

So they had record numbers because it was non-contact.

Wing Lam:

So basically we have to learn how to take care of our customers

Wing Lam:

without engaging with them.

Wing Lam:

So again, that whole, thinking about customer service, how do you provide

Wing Lam:

customer service when there's no current.

Wing Lam:

So the cash, all that base, it was credit cards, everything, there

Wing Lam:

was no touching of each other.

Wing Lam:

And luckily for me though, we weren't adapting as quickly as we could

Wing Lam:

because all of my friends were making the masks or making the face shields.

Wing Lam:

Actually, I still might have samples here of some of the stuff that.

Wing Lam:

I just keep it just for, I call it souvenir purposes, but here's a little

Wing Lam:

face mask that you could not, when it hit you couldn't find these right.

Wing Lam:

And more important.

Wing Lam:

I had another friend who had a 3d printer and I helped

Wing Lam:

them make these little things.

Wing Lam:

Nice.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Wing Lam:

These are all things that nobody had.

Wing Lam:

So people felt a little safer talking to our cashiers because we

Wing Lam:

got masks, gloves, hand, sanitizers.

Wing Lam:

We took all the precautions, but here's what really happened, is

Wing Lam:

I called a bunch of my friends.

Wing Lam:

And what we did is we had some problems.

Wing Lam:

That was going to expire because it was going to go back because when

Wing Lam:

you have fresh tomatoes, all that.

Wing Lam:

So by calling a few friends, we literally went out and made meals

Wing Lam:

and delivered them to the hospitals and accidentally, I joke about it.

Wing Lam:

We started this group called the California love drop.

Wing Lam:

So it was a very noble idea to start.

Wing Lam:

So we did about four deliveries within leftover food.

Wing Lam:

We had.

Wing Lam:

And then my kid, brother Mingo reminded me that we were down 85% in sales was,

Wing Lam:

this was really good that you're giving me this food, but we're about to go broke.

Wing Lam:

So he said, so at the same time, the two messages came was we

Wing Lam:

already closed these stores down.

Wing Lam:

I don't think we're going to reopen it.

Wing Lam:

But there's four additional stores that are like right on the cusp.

Wing Lam:

If they don't get their sales.

Wing Lam:

What happened trust, but we have to shut them down as well.

Wing Lam:

So between not having income and the possibility of closing four additional

Wing Lam:

stores, I says, what are we going to do?

Wing Lam:

And he said, if we can just get them to a hundred dollars was more a date.

Wing Lam:

We can bake it so that they don't bleed as bad.

Wing Lam:

So if you get four stores in space, 400 bucks a day, it doesn't sound like

Wing Lam:

a lot, but basically turns into about literally about 40 customers more.

Wing Lam:

I couldn't get him in cause nobody was coming into the restaurant.

Wing Lam:

So I says I know where they're at.

Wing Lam:

They're busy at hospice.

Wing Lam:

They're busy.

Wing Lam:

He says, yeah, that's great that you know where they're at.

Wing Lam:

They're not coming in now you're going to figure out how to fund it.

Wing Lam:

And I'm like this is what I do with advance because there's always

Wing Lam:

people willing to underwrite the centerpiece, the valet parking, all

Wing Lam:

the things that happen at events.

Wing Lam:

And since everything, music, sports, jury, everything was put to a halt.

Wing Lam:

I called up my buddies that I know had money set aside for charity events.

Wing Lam:

And I say, Hey, You guys want to help me out here and they're living here.

Wing Lam:

He goes, you're crazy, but why not?

Wing Lam:

So we teamed up yogurt, land, monster energy, drink, hint, water,

Wing Lam:

Cholula, hot sauce, cliff bar, vans, all to be with a hat stuff.

Wing Lam:

And then we asked a few other friends that happened.

Wing Lam:

And if we don't have the physical product consumer that they can eat

Wing Lam:

or drink or snack on, but we're more than willing to help fund the costs.

Wing Lam:

So we got together with a little bit of money.

Wing Lam:

We started this movement and to date, we've done over 350 billion.

Wing Lam:

We've done almost 55 blood drives with American red cross.

Wing Lam:

We've been to almost every police fire Sr.

Wing Lam:

You name it school, delivering the frontline heroes.

Wing Lam:

So that was one part.

Wing Lam:

And the other part was renegotiate our delivery fees with our partners

Wing Lam:

because prior to the pandemic door, Josh was charging us upwards of 40%.

Wing Lam:

Per transaction, which would say we're losing 40 cents on the dollar,

Wing Lam:

during it convenience factor.

Wing Lam:

We say, Hey, we can't afford to do this anymore.

Wing Lam:

And everybody's ordering more.

Wing Lam:

So they, we said, Hey, if you want our business, what about

Wing Lam:

if we do an exclusivity with you guys, but let's waive the fee.

Wing Lam:

So again, the one take away from this is if you're willing to take one partner

Wing Lam:

instead of three delivery, guys, you might be able to renegotiate your base fee.

Wing Lam:

So today I joke about it.

Wing Lam:

If you use one of the delivery companies, you will pay 30% more.

Wing Lam:

And if you did, when you walk in and it's your choice, but a lot of consumers,

Wing Lam:

they don't want to drive whatever.

Wing Lam:

Look at gas prices close to five bucks.

Wing Lam:

So it makes sense to have a ability.

Wing Lam:

So you may pay a little bit more, but the one hour, a day you might spend in traffic

Wing Lam:

or the one hour you might wear and tear on your car, whatever that it may be all

Wing Lam:

of a sudden you're like, Hey, no problem.

Wing Lam:

So there's a cost of doing business that we don't longer have to offer.

Wing Lam:

And we don't have to cover, if you want to eat our food,

Wing Lam:

we love it for you to come in.

Wing Lam:

But if you're too busy or for whatever reason, you want the convenience

Wing Lam:

to be delivered to your front doorstep, you might as well pay for

Wing Lam:

it and people are going to do it.

Joshua Maddux:

So I think the convenience aspect, I.

Joshua Maddux:

I know at the beginning of pandemic when businesses, small restaurants,

Joshua Maddux:

especially, you guys, we were talking before we hit record and

Joshua Maddux:

you guys have about 50 locations.

Joshua Maddux:

And when you guys have a little bit more leverage than a average, single

Joshua Maddux:

mom and pop location restaurant.

Joshua Maddux:

And so I know we were seeing some of these small businesses that

Joshua Maddux:

were posting on their Instagram.

Joshua Maddux:

That these delivery services were taking 50% of the actual

Joshua Maddux:

check, which your profit margins.

Joshua Maddux:

Aren't 50%.

Joshua Maddux:

They're less than that.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

10.

Joshua Maddux:

And so your profit margins 10%, which means

Joshua Maddux:

for you guys, you were losing potentially 30% on every order.

Joshua Maddux:

So it doesn't make sense at all to even continue doing that

Joshua Maddux:

delivery service as a business.

Joshua Maddux:

That's not a business model.

Joshua Maddux:

I think on the convenience aspect, most consumers are okay with paying

Joshua Maddux:

a little more, 20 or 30% more because it's delivered to your door.

Joshua Maddux:

And if you're not okay with that, then they're going to be so frustrated with it.

Joshua Maddux:

They're going to hop in the car and go, go get the food from the location,

Joshua Maddux:

or they're just not going to order.

Joshua Maddux:

And they're going to eat leftovers or make something else, which they

Joshua Maddux:

weren't going to buy it anyway.

Joshua Maddux:

And we're seeing.

Joshua Maddux:

With grocery delivery services, food delivery, all of those industries.

Joshua Maddux:

I think it's understanding that it is a little bit of a

Joshua Maddux:

convenience factor which is okay.

Joshua Maddux:

I know our team, we'll do a work meeting and the whole

Joshua Maddux:

team will get lunch delivered.

Joshua Maddux:

We're all working from home zoom and everybody gets it because.

Joshua Maddux:

You can, yeah, you can pay an extra two, three bucks, have it delivered

Joshua Maddux:

to your front door and you don't have to go out to lunch or, leave your

Joshua Maddux:

office type thing, which is convenient.

Joshua Maddux:

And it is a nice aspect

Wing Lam:

and you can start looking at most people that work in an office

Wing Lam:

environment, you're probably making them be 16 to 20 bucks an hour.

Wing Lam:

So do the math, for you to go out and back to pick up anything, it's at least

Wing Lam:

a half an hour, if not more right.

Wing Lam:

Round trip.

Wing Lam:

So 30 minutes, 20 bucks, it's 10 bucks right there.

Wing Lam:

So on a meal that it's usually about say $3, maybe, whatever, the 10, 30% on a $10.

Wing Lam:

So it more than it's way cheaper for you to have a deliver while you can still be

Wing Lam:

working, be produced.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, absolutely.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's the assumption that someone's maybe walking somewhere.

Joshua Maddux:

If you've got to go get your car, move your car, find parking again.

Joshua Maddux:

You're downtown what?

Joshua Maddux:

Downtown Irvine, downtown LA good luck.

Joshua Maddux:

You're taking a two hour lunch, which means you're, you

Joshua Maddux:

go pay the $3 for delivery.

Joshua Maddux:

With this whole shift, I know.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so many businesses that just overnight, changed.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's crazy just to think about how much that's changed our habits.

Joshua Maddux:

As now things have not entirely, but mostly.

Joshua Maddux:

Point started to head back towards a normal ish direction.

Joshua Maddux:

What are you guys seeing when it comes to people back in, in the physical dining

Joshua Maddux:

room, are you guys seeing a lot of that?

Joshua Maddux:

Are you guys seeing, still a majority takeout?

Joshua Maddux:

What is, what does that look like?

Wing Lam:

It depends on the location, because for instance,

Wing Lam:

some of our locations that are in heavy, I call it office space.

Wing Lam:

They were all supposed to go back at the beginning of September, but then

Wing Lam:

remember at the end of the summer, after everybody had their 4th of

Wing Lam:

July and all their vacations family gatherings travel, you saw a huge

Wing Lam:

spike at the beginning of all this.

Wing Lam:

So by the middle of August, all my friends that were due to be back

Wing Lam:

in their office by September 4th, I believe right after labor day,

Wing Lam:

they were all told we're not getting anybody back in until after January.

Wing Lam:

So everybody, no travel and a no going back to the office.

Wing Lam:

So maybe some of the offices that we're seeing, if let's say last

Wing Lam:

April, they were down to almost 10%.

Wing Lam:

If they're up to 30, maybe 40% occupancy now I'd be pretty happy,

Wing Lam:

but again, it all depends on the area.

Wing Lam:

So where it's a little bit more industrial, meaning your mechanic

Wing Lam:

can't work on your car remotely via zoom, where an attorney or a

Wing Lam:

CPA or your investment banker, they can do a lot of things virtually.

Wing Lam:

So I think that jobs that can be done virtual.

Wing Lam:

Those people are not, they still haven't been back to their

Wing Lam:

offices on a regular basis.

Wing Lam:

But the mechanics, your landscaping guy, all the things

Wing Lam:

that require a physical presence.

Wing Lam:

And those people are back.

Wing Lam:

So some of my, areas, like the beach stores and then much better,

Wing Lam:

especially when there's a heat wave, you're going to see everybody

Wing Lam:

working remotely from the beach.

Wing Lam:

Because as long as you got wifi, you can do whatever you want.

Wing Lam:

So Huntington beach.

Wing Lam:

I look at a beach Sacramento.

Wing Lam:

They've seen very, I call it even numbers compared to pre pandemic.

Wing Lam:

But when you take something, let's say south coast Plaza, a mall

Wing Lam:

that is really, and people can shop virtually fashion island.

Wing Lam:

So a lot of offices are still not reopened.

Wing Lam:

So you have that issue.

Wing Lam:

Yeah.

Wing Lam:

And then all the mall employees are not eager to spend their

Wing Lam:

money either because they don't know if they're going to be next.

Wing Lam:

Because you saw a lot of store closures and every different aspect retail wise.

Wing Lam:

So that's all the stuff.

Wing Lam:

And, there's this whole.

Wing Lam:

Changing because people are like I'm used to, critical brown bag in my lunch now.

Wing Lam:

So there's a little bit of that because I have more time in my

Wing Lam:

hand or I'm a little bit more flex time because you're not necessarily

Wing Lam:

at the office at exactly eight.

Wing Lam:

So there's a lot of flexibility on everybody's work schedule.

Wing Lam:

So where, again, I might drive through a Starbucks, but I'm

Wing Lam:

not going to stop at one.

Wing Lam:

So you, again, you've seen the whole change in all the businesses that if it's

Wing Lam:

not convenient, I may just make it myself.

Wing Lam:

So you got a lot of better that.

Wing Lam:

And again, we saw the brown bag effect a few years back when gas

Wing Lam:

price, top five bucks a gallon.

Wing Lam:

So these are all the things where as a consumer, you decide

Wing Lam:

how you spend your money.

Joshua Maddux:

And from a business perspective, there's a lot of that.

Joshua Maddux:

As I, or as a customer, you may not necessarily think of.

Joshua Maddux:

And the one thing I will add, with everybody making their own

Joshua Maddux:

lunch, I everybody over what, the first three months of pandemic,

Joshua Maddux:

everyone started baking and, everyone became an expert chef.

Joshua Maddux:

I felt like I had so many friends who were like, oh, I started, baked

Joshua Maddux:

14 loaves of bread this weekend.

Joshua Maddux:

Like it's just, an insane.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah it's amazing to watch some of these trends and the shift and how, businesses

Joshua Maddux:

like your guys's has adapted to this.

Joshua Maddux:

Obviously, as you mentioned, you, you guys aren't totally quote unquote out

Joshua Maddux:

of the weeds, you're still, working to get back to the numbers that

Joshua Maddux:

you were prepared demic, but has.

Joshua Maddux:

The expansion and or awareness of delivery has that, or do you guys feel

Joshua Maddux:

like that has added a new or expanded revenue stream to the business?

Wing Lam:

Yeah.

Wing Lam:

If you're able to keep your costs down, remember the fees then the

Wing Lam:

delivery becomes a very viable option.

Wing Lam:

The problem is, again, is you got to make sure that you can manage it because.

Wing Lam:

If you start getting a lot of these delivery orders and it's impacting

Wing Lam:

your customer, that's walking in, you better be careful because

Wing Lam:

that customer doesn't understand.

Wing Lam:

He's the only guy in your store physically yet he's waiting 30 minutes for an order.

Wing Lam:

So again, communication, letting him be aware, cause anybody to wait, just FYI.

Wing Lam:

We have about 15 orders ahead of you.

Wing Lam:

They're not.

Wing Lam:

But the drivers are all coming.

Wing Lam:

So again, that communication, because I get it at least once a week, somebody

Wing Lam:

goes, how's the only guy in your store and they can't get my order.

Wing Lam:

My, by the way, did you see them all running around?

Wing Lam:

Oh yeah, it was, they were doing delivery or so oh, so people are not used to it.

Wing Lam:

So again, the people that are old school that are coming in,

Wing Lam:

you don't want to penalize them.

Wing Lam:

So make an effort to get their order out because the last thing you want to do is.

Wing Lam:

And you're the only physical person in the store.

Wing Lam:

And you don't understand, I don't understand it.

Wing Lam:

Why am I waiting 30 minutes and there's nobody here.

Wing Lam:

So communication is a big factor in educating the consumer, and I laugh

Wing Lam:

because I'm like, you don't, you have to understand you've got a manage And there

Wing Lam:

has been making a plate and taking it as opposed to making it packing it bagging.

Wing Lam:

It there's three or four more steps than just making the food and taking it out.

Wing Lam:

So all the orders requirement extra say 30 seconds, extra minutes.

Wing Lam:

And it's a lot easier to see food.

Wing Lam:

It was, oh, here's the top.

Wing Lam:

What is it in a box you're like what was that?

Wing Lam:

Was that the taco was that the burrito, so mistakes are going to happen as well.

Wing Lam:

So these are all the things that we're adjusting to and

Wing Lam:

some people believe it or not.

Wing Lam:

When you make a taco and it's open, it looks this big when you fold it.

Wing Lam:

And wrap, it looks just big.

Wing Lam:

You're like, oh my God, my tacos shrunk because no, it's the same taco, but when

Wing Lam:

you wrap it it's no longer that ginormous burger bursting, it all gets compacted in.

Wing Lam:

So perception on portions.

Wing Lam:

The presentation because, oh my God, my fries are a little soggy.

Wing Lam:

You've heard all that, right?

Wing Lam:

Because yes.

Wing Lam:

Fries do not travel well.

Wing Lam:

No, because once it's in that box, it starts steaming.

Wing Lam:

It starts getting soggy.

Wing Lam:

So there's been a lot of adjustments, pizza, all these things that you're

Wing Lam:

normally piping hot at a restaurant.

Wing Lam:

When a Susan that cardboard wilds, it's going to be warm.

Wing Lam:

It's not going to be piping hot anymore.

Wing Lam:

It all depends.

Wing Lam:

And how far it traveled, how long the driver waited to pick up the order?

Wing Lam:

Because it's not all on us.

Wing Lam:

Cause sometimes the order will say, Hey, it will be ready in 15 minutes, the

Wing Lam:

driver is shown for 30 and then he's still got to get to your house in 15 minutes.

Wing Lam:

That's 45 minutes later after it was done.

Wing Lam:

So everybody is a consumer.

Wing Lam:

You got to bring your expectation down a little bit because you're

Wing Lam:

not eating right off of the.

Wing Lam:

Yeah, it might be 1530 or 45 minutes after got off the grill.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's the aspect of, if I'm sitting in a restaurant and

Joshua Maddux:

someone brings you a plate of food, to me, it probably was on the grill with.

Joshua Maddux:

Two minutes.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Where we're taking this from a two minute to a 20 minute

Joshua Maddux:

it's exponentially by 10 times.

Joshua Maddux:

Leave your food out on the dining room table for 10 minutes and see what happens.

Joshua Maddux:

Like it's not going to be the same meal.

Joshua Maddux:

And I know, there's a restaurant I've picked food up from and.

Joshua Maddux:

They have tacos and stuff and they have to like, they portion out, okay.

Joshua Maddux:

The sour cream goes in this container and then the cheese and this, and then

Joshua Maddux:

the, and so literally you open it up and you've got your two tacos and you've got

Joshua Maddux:

eight little containers that you've got to like, cause if you throw, lettuce and sour

Joshua Maddux:

cream on top of a hot chicken taco, and now it gets all warm and soggy and it's.

Joshua Maddux:

And there's also the potential of what happens if I just leave my car

Joshua Maddux:

for 30 minutes could I get sick?

Joshua Maddux:

It's just it's yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so many elements.

Joshua Maddux:

That there's some delivery food pizza has always worked amazing for delivery.

Joshua Maddux:

Cause you just throw it in the microwave for 10 seconds.

Joshua Maddux:

If it's a little cold.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

But a meal that's been crafted to look nice on a plate in a restaurant

Joshua Maddux:

is a very different situation.

Joshua Maddux:

And just the aspect of you guys being able to figure that out.

Joshua Maddux:

A few days of just, what the heck does this look like?

Joshua Maddux:

What did it look like?

Joshua Maddux:

Pre pandemic?

Joshua Maddux:

Did you guys do a lot of takeout or was that fairly minimal?

Wing Lam:

Let's just say pre pandemic, maybe 20% takeout as opposed to 70 now.

Wing Lam:

And swore important.

Wing Lam:

The majority.

Wing Lam:

And when I say the majority, again, this say 80% of what to take out was

Wing Lam:

picked up by the people ordering it.

Wing Lam:

So it was really hard for you to complain because if you were late to meet, don't

Wing Lam:

complain, you got caught in traffic.

Wing Lam:

But when you order it through a delivery, then you can you

Wing Lam:

took too long, you back home.

Wing Lam:

No, because literally, unless you tell somebody.

Wing Lam:

You're going to be picking it up at this time and you're going

Wing Lam:

to be delivering at this time.

Wing Lam:

Which again, if you're good at it, you can minimize the downtime.

Wing Lam:

But the problem is, you can't, so I'm going to say in the old days,

Wing Lam:

Even if you came and picked it up and went back to your house or office,

Wing Lam:

the food might've been, let's say 20 minutes, let's just be generous.

Wing Lam:

You're going to 40 now minimum, right?

Wing Lam:

From the time it was made to the time you're eating.

Wing Lam:

So if it was already critical, not as good at 20 minutes

Wing Lam:

after it was made, think about.

Wing Lam:

But if you're good at ordering, and this is my advice to all the people

Wing Lam:

in the restaurant don't order food items to have hot and cold together.

Wing Lam:

I E a burger that has led us into.

Wing Lam:

And lettuce is going to be cooked.

Wing Lam:

It's not going to be crispy.

Wing Lam:

That tomato is going to be warm, but it's okay.

Wing Lam:

Tomatoes, not bad.

Wing Lam:

A soggy lettuce, not a big fan of right.

Wing Lam:

And if you got fries with it, good luck because it's going to be Saki.

Wing Lam:

So again, your expectations and we're doing the best that we can't the

Wing Lam:

package of stuff, but it doesn't always work because these days there's a

Wing Lam:

shortage and all kinds of packaging.

Wing Lam:

So there are certain items that just are not going to travel

Wing Lam:

well, but for us, I love the idea.

Wing Lam:

For instance, a two, we're going to go to a burger place

Wing Lam:

order like a Patty melt, right?

Wing Lam:

Everything in it, the cheese, the onions that.

Wing Lam:

It's all going to be warm.

Wing Lam:

So even if it's a little bit cold, you get through the whole thing

Wing Lam:

in a microwave, it's happened.

Wing Lam:

You can't zap a hamburger because unless you tell them, Hey guys, can you put

Wing Lam:

the lettuce and tomato on the side?

Wing Lam:

Trust me, it's a pain in the ass, but it's the only way you can reheat.

Wing Lam:

I am burger with lettuce and tomato.

Wing Lam:

You can't because the lettuce is going to be cooked.

Wing Lam:

So for us, I advise my people, especially my friends, because these are the items

Wing Lam:

that travel better and I, or burritos or bolts because there's no lettuce

Wing Lam:

and tomato on there, the ways and the way I make it for my friends and

Wing Lam:

that way I say, Hey, you can zap it.

Wing Lam:

But even if it's warm, it'll still be amazing because everything

Wing Lam:

in it will blend even better.

Wing Lam:

We'll have time to season it each other.

Wing Lam:

So the rice, the beans, the protein, the salsa, as long as everything is.

Wing Lam:

Would be fun.

Wing Lam:

So I tell people don't maybe order as many tacos.

Wing Lam:

And again, I'm just telling them I'm being honest, right?

Wing Lam:

The bowls, everything is going to be in that page.

Wing Lam:

So get home a little cold through the microwave, right?

Wing Lam:

So these are the items that helped me was there are certain items

Wing Lam:

that trouble better mix a pizza.

Wing Lam:

Amazing.

Wing Lam:

That's why I think one of the items that's become really

Wing Lam:

popular a fried chicken sandwich.

Wing Lam:

Unless there's pickles in it or something that doesn't microwave.

Wing Lam:

It be right.

Wing Lam:

If they're slow on it, once, it tell the guy that can I have my swung, the

Wing Lam:

psych and up my pickles on the side.

Wing Lam:

There's like the lettuce.

Wing Lam:

So be smart.

Wing Lam:

And if you give us a little bit of the direction, you're going to end up with

Wing Lam:

a much better product when you get home.

Wing Lam:

Yeah.

Wing Lam:

Yeah.

Wing Lam:

I think that's really good.

Wing Lam:

And I think.

Wing Lam:

Taking sort of that aspect and expanding it just to all businesses.

Wing Lam:

It's thinking about the delivery method.

Wing Lam:

And if your delivery method is it's got to do a 40 minute car ride type

Wing Lam:

thing versus a two minute, getting, a car on a tray across the dining

Wing Lam:

room, that's a very different.

Wing Lam:

We're talking like a 20 times difference in travel duration and

Wing Lam:

thinking through what's the packaging.

Wing Lam:

Am I putting the wrong items together?

Joshua Maddux:

And this can be food.

Joshua Maddux:

This can be product.

Joshua Maddux:

This can be, you don't want, oh my gosh.

Joshua Maddux:

My, a good friend of ours ordered my wife, a candle for her birthday.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Easy.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, but target decided to ship the candle and another item,

Joshua Maddux:

like a soft item in the same box, except the box, which is fine.

Joshua Maddux:

If they were to put air packing and everything all in it.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

The box, the candle was a typical size of a mug and the box was a large

Joshua Maddux:

shoe box size, no packing, no nothing.

Joshua Maddux:

And so when this showed up on my front porch, I picked it up and it sounded.

Joshua Maddux:

There was a bunch of rocks in the bottom and I opened it and there's

Joshua Maddux:

shattered candle everywhere.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

And target set.

Joshua Maddux:

I need, they need the order.

Joshua Maddux:

The receipt for the item was on the bottom of the box covered

Joshua Maddux:

in wax and glass shards.

Joshua Maddux:

And I was like, yeah, I'm not getting that.

Joshua Maddux:

And so we took it back to the store and showed them and they

Joshua Maddux:

were just like, this is ridiculous.

Joshua Maddux:

That's a great example of a terrible packet.

Joshua Maddux:

And you can pack food in the same way.

Joshua Maddux:

It doesn't matter what the product is.

Joshua Maddux:

You can pack it terribly.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's thinking about what that travel distances and how that might change.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's crazy, your guys', his business has gone from

Joshua Maddux:

10% delivery to 70% delivery.

Joshua Maddux:

Do you see that going maybe back down a little bit as things reopened.

Wing Lam:

Not until people go back to their offices and which means,

Wing Lam:

and no one, I don't want to get out of their offices to come through.

Wing Lam:

But people at home, not necessarily want to go out of their house, but

Wing Lam:

because they've got their kids, whatever reason, they're fine.

Wing Lam:

So the restaurant going out, they'll go out afterwards, but not during the day.

Wing Lam:

And joking about your packaging.

Wing Lam:

So a three compartment box is horizontal, right?

Wing Lam:

That means the rice and the beans in your food, whatever that is.

Wing Lam:

And I've seen people in my store, literally pick up the

Wing Lam:

bag and go and I'm like, okay,

Joshua Maddux:

rotate 90 degrees.

Wing Lam:

Everything is mixed out and it's leaking and I'm

Wing Lam:

like, no, gotta carry it off.

Wing Lam:

So again, same thing.

Wing Lam:

If you put through the pizza box and you turn it on its

Wing Lam:

side, it's going to be a mess.

Wing Lam:

All these things, but most people know how to carry a pizza box, but everything else.

Wing Lam:

So I don't understand.

Wing Lam:

I know you can't carry a sideways.

Joshua Maddux:

Just shake it real well.

Joshua Maddux:

It'll be all mixed.

Joshua Maddux:

Hey, it all ends up in the same spot anyway.

Joshua Maddux:

Oh, geez.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, that's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

So I think one of the things, as we're wrapping up here, I think one

Joshua Maddux:

of the things that we have seen, just as a society with everything

Joshua Maddux:

that's happened over the past two years or so with COVID and pandemic.

Joshua Maddux:

The two things, one the conditioning a little bit more to delivery.

Joshua Maddux:

And also the expansion of delivery services.

Joshua Maddux:

So many of these delivery services like door dash and grub hub and all these.

Joshua Maddux:

Annual subscriptions to minimize, delivery costs.

Joshua Maddux:

I know a family member of ours gets their groceries delivered

Joshua Maddux:

from Walmart every Saturday.

Joshua Maddux:

I personally have done groceries that are pre shopped and I just pick them up and

Joshua Maddux:

the fact that I can do that and I can say.

Joshua Maddux:

An hour or two hours grocery shopping every week is awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's in reality, it's also a budgetary thing.

Joshua Maddux:

If I go to the grocery store with a shopping list, I will inevitably

Joshua Maddux:

come home with five or six extra things that were not on my list.

Joshua Maddux:

Impulse buys.

Joshua Maddux:

Yes.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

And then they'll, and the worst is go shopping right before you eat dinner.

Joshua Maddux:

Then your paycheck's gone.

Joshua Maddux:

But I think I.

Joshua Maddux:

As things do get back to normal.

Joshua Maddux:

I think we're going to still continue to see, personally, a lot of people

Joshua Maddux:

utilizing services, like delivery services, and yes, someone may before may

Joshua Maddux:

have come to the restaurant and picked up their, or sat down and ate their food.

Joshua Maddux:

But maybe not, they're not going to hang out at the restaurant.

Joshua Maddux:

Maybe they're going to go to a local park or maybe they're going to go.

Joshua Maddux:

Just eat their lunch elsewhere.

Joshua Maddux:

Like it they may not take it back to their office, but they

Joshua Maddux:

may not eat there, who knows.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think it's going to be interesting to see.

Wing Lam:

And the biggest thing too, looking from a restaurant, or any.

Wing Lam:

Place to eat, right?

Wing Lam:

The biggest margin, like the sports venue, for instance, the Neal may be

Wing Lam:

slightly more, but the alcoholic beverage is aside all my God, $18 for a beer.

Wing Lam:

So at a sporting event, you don't have the option because you can't go

Wing Lam:

outside and enjoy that live event.

Wing Lam:

But if you are, like I said, near the beach and you say.

Wing Lam:

I can probably stop at the liquor store in the old days.

Wing Lam:

You might not drink on the beach, but today, the cops are

Wing Lam:

being a little bit more lax.

Wing Lam:

I'm not saying it's legal, but they're not really enforcement.

Wing Lam:

So the idea that you can go to the liquor store and buy a beer for, let's

Wing Lam:

say three bucks as opposed to 10, right?

Wing Lam:

So those are some of the things we're seeing.

Wing Lam:

And so it takes away from our.

Wing Lam:

But it is a free country.

Wing Lam:

I'm not telling them that I haven't done it.

Wing Lam:

Everybody's done some way of trying to save a buck or whatever it is.

Wing Lam:

So that's where we're seeing some of our losses where before somebody would

Wing Lam:

come in and order a lunch and a beer or a lunch and a cocktail for dinner.

Wing Lam:

Now they're like, Hey, if I take it home, I'm going to get

Wing Lam:

a nice bottle of wine at home.

Wing Lam:

So that's some of the stuff that you got to adjust and figure it

Wing Lam:

out is, Hey, how do we make it?

Wing Lam:

For what we're not selling.

Wing Lam:

So maybe we can sell an extra appetizer.

Wing Lam:

We've gotta make it up somehow.

Wing Lam:

So that's where everybody's being creative.

Wing Lam:

Try to bundle it as best you can so they can still have your average.

Wing Lam:

15, 20, 30 bucks a person, whatever that may be, but you got to find a different

Wing Lam:

ways to do it because the beverage option when you're taking it out is not as good.

Wing Lam:

But again, if you have mocktails or ready to drink, they call them RTDs.

Wing Lam:

You might be able to make up the difference.

Wing Lam:

Cause somebody goes, you know what?

Wing Lam:

I'll just take that little thing of margarita and I'll drink it

Wing Lam:

at home because they truly, there is something about freshly made

Wing Lam:

cocktails as opposed to bottle there's that freshness that comes with.

Wing Lam:

Again, as long as you're doing something that's value added, you may not make

Wing Lam:

as much margin as if they were dining in, but you're making up something,

Joshua Maddux:

I know there was a.

Joshua Maddux:

I can't remember the restaurant chain.

Joshua Maddux:

There was a restaurant that was doing meal prep kits.

Joshua Maddux:

And so they were doing meal prep kits.

Joshua Maddux:

I know CPK was doing, if you order one pizza, they'll do a take and bake, so

Joshua Maddux:

you can bake the second one at home.

Joshua Maddux:

So the first one's ready, hot and ready for you.

Joshua Maddux:

And the second one you can bake.

Joshua Maddux:

And so I think those are all great examples of thinking about your

Joshua Maddux:

customer base and how you can, like you said, increase that.

Joshua Maddux:

Total ticket order a little bit because yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

With someone not buying alcohol or not buying, you're sitting in the

Joshua Maddux:

restaurant and you're like, oh, let's grab another order of such and such.

Joshua Maddux:

Someone can jump up, hit the register and they'll be on the table in a few minutes.

Joshua Maddux:

That's not really super possible when you are at home because the wait time is

Joshua Maddux:

going to be an hour from now in reality.

Joshua Maddux:

So awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

As we wrap up, what is your advice to someone who's challenged with trying

Joshua Maddux:

to adapt and pivot their business?

Joshua Maddux:

I know obviously that is a massive element there, but what

Joshua Maddux:

would be your advice to someone.

Wing Lam:

The biggest advice is look around, talk to your neighbors, your

Wing Lam:

competitors, whatever, and see what everybody's doing, because at the end of

Wing Lam:

the day, it's not that difficult, right?

Wing Lam:

There are certain things that are better than others.

Wing Lam:

Some solutions that work better than others, but as long as you and you

Wing Lam:

talk because one of the things you can figure it out is, okay, five,

Wing Lam:

not doing a lot of dining business.

Wing Lam:

Maybe I can take out some of my dining front of the house, labor out.

Wing Lam:

And how do I increase the out part?

Wing Lam:

Like the takeout part.

Wing Lam:

So you've just got to think, like you talked about earlier family meals, a lot

Wing Lam:

of my friends were doing family packages.

Wing Lam:

You got to find ways to.

Wing Lam:

Added value perception, whatever it is.

Wing Lam:

And maybe bulk up a little bit and say, Hey, when you buy this,

Wing Lam:

you get the free cake and dessert.

Wing Lam:

When you buy this, you get the free appetizer.

Wing Lam:

So there's things that you can bundle it to add a little more value to it.

Wing Lam:

Like you said, increase the ticket average.

Wing Lam:

Decrease the fact that you might not be selling beverages, but at the end of

Wing Lam:

the day, you want a full, complete kit.

Wing Lam:

Again, you don't want the guy stopping at your place and then stopping at the

Wing Lam:

ice cream shop or whatever it may be.

Wing Lam:

So if you can find a solution that includes.

Wing Lam:

The full experience somehow.

Wing Lam:

And again, you might partner up with somebody cause there's a lot

Wing Lam:

of places that, pre pandemic, we just do this and now they're saying,

Wing Lam:

Hey, you can do this and that.

Wing Lam:

So whatever that may be, you might have to bring it in house.

Wing Lam:

Or we partner with somebody and say, Hey, I'm willing to

Wing Lam:

carry the frozen yogurt with it.

Wing Lam:

So in my store you can get to dinner and the frozen yogurt.

Wing Lam:

So we've done that in our deliveries.

Wing Lam:

So literally we can go out and deliver almost 80.

Wing Lam:

Because we have all these partnerships, but at the end of

Wing Lam:

the day, it's Hey, what can we do to make it worth everybody's time?

Wing Lam:

And again, when we bundle things together, the perception is as much

Wing Lam:

bigger than if I just went on my own.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's, that absolutely applies to not just the food industry.

Joshua Maddux:

Thinking about how you package the sort of offering and getting creative to make,

Joshua Maddux:

to make sure that the solution solves the full problem, like he was talking

Joshua Maddux:

about with the meal experience, providing dessert, in addition to, or drinks in

Joshua Maddux:

addition to, or, whatever that might be.

Joshua Maddux:

Especially with convenience factor, if someone is going to be dining at their

Joshua Maddux:

house and they're having a meal deliver.

Joshua Maddux:

Then that means that they are intentionally trying not to leave

Joshua Maddux:

their home for whatever reason.

Joshua Maddux:

Maybe they have family or friends or, they're sick or they're crazy busy.

Joshua Maddux:

They just don't have time to do it.

Joshua Maddux:

So the more, oh, you can add dessert.

Joshua Maddux:

Oh, you can add beverages.

Joshua Maddux:

Oh, you can add whatever instantly, like you said, it increases that

Joshua Maddux:

value because now they don't have to go to another app or find another

Joshua Maddux:

delivery for that other item.

Joshua Maddux:

And you've solved the whole problem, which is really critical.

Joshua Maddux:

It's been really good chatting.

Joshua Maddux:

I imagine we could probably sit here for the next two hours and chat about

Joshua Maddux:

business experience and issues and a ton of other stuff, but Where is the best

Joshua Maddux:

place for people to connect with you?

Wing Lam:

You can find me, social media and my handle is at Wahoo's wing.

Wing Lam:

So Instagram, Facebook, whatever, LinkedIn, whatever,

Wing Lam:

I'm all over the place.

Wing Lam:

And if you also go to our website, why was.com?

Wing Lam:

And it also.

Wing Lam:

California live, drop.org.

Wing Lam:

You can see what we're really doing.

Wing Lam:

And I would be, crazy if I didn't mention the fact that all this is amazing,

Wing Lam:

but without having somebody out there telling the world that you're doing this.

Wing Lam:

Why have I not worked as well?

Wing Lam:

So I really think kill alas and KTL for being, I call them our media partners

Wing Lam:

because when you have one of the number one radio stations in the DJs, Heidi

Wing Lam:

and Frank talking about what you're doing, it really amplifies the message.

Wing Lam:

And people are like, oh my God, how do I become a part of it?

Wing Lam:

So it's been amazing, like 18 months and we're still doing it.

Wing Lam:

And I don't see.

Wing Lam:

Stopping anytime soon.

Wing Lam:

And we're out there.

Wing Lam:

And luckily also I've been able to keep all my friends working through all the

Wing Lam:

pandemic because we're out there doing.

Joshua Maddux:

I know you and I initially connected through Charles antis with

Joshua Maddux:

antis roofing, and he was telling me about what you guys were doing.

Joshua Maddux:

And he's man, I got to connect you with him.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

It is.

Joshua Maddux:

It is some crazy stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

It's been awesome having you on the show.

Joshua Maddux:

Appreciate the time.

Joshua Maddux:

And it'll have the link to your website company site, your social

Joshua Maddux:

media California, love drop.

Joshua Maddux:

All that stuff will be in the show notes for anyone who wants to check that out.

Joshua Maddux:

Appreciate the time and have anyone.

Joshua Maddux:

Thanks for listening to this episode of, in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

As always we can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Joshua Maddux:

at, in the bunker podcast.

Joshua Maddux:

Be sure to share this episode and what you're going to apply from it.

Joshua Maddux:

And how that can affect your business, make sure to tag us in that post so

Joshua Maddux:

we can highlight your journey as well.

Joshua Maddux:

But before you go.

About the Podcast

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In The Bunker
Exploring the biggest challenges in starting and running a business.

About your host

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Joshua Maddux

Joshua Maddux is an entrepreneur who has helped numerous businesses grow and thrive.