Veteran restaurateur David Grossman has created his serial success by working at notable franchises like Subway and DMK Burger Bar. His experience in the hospitality industry sparked an entrepreneurial passion to start his very own company. David’s latest endeavor is being the President and CEO of Epic Burger, a specialty burger restaurant with a mindful approach to cuisine that has seven locations in Chicago.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- David Grossman discusses the importance mindful food has in his life and business
- The idea behind the Epic AF Challenge
- David shares the key factors to turning around a struggling franchise
- Find solutions to the pandemic’s long-term impact that suit your business
- David’s insights on making his business enthusiasm resonate across multiple locations
In this episode…
In this episode of the SpotOn Series, Chad Franzen is joined by David Grossman, President and CEO of Epic Burger. They discuss the powerful impact of personal values in creating a long-lasting brand, establishing exciting traditions for customers, and overcoming the persisting effects of the pandemic. David goes on to share his expert tips on turning a struggling restaurant around and how to spread team enthusiasm in a multi-unit business.
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:04
Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25 Media. We featured top founders, executives and business leaders from all over the world.
Chad Franzen 0:20
Chad Franzen here, co-host for the show where we feature top restaurant tours, investors and business leaders. This is part of our SpotOn Series. SpotOn has the best-in-class payment platform for retail and they have a flagship solution called SpotOn Restaurant, where they combined marketing software and payments all in one. They’ve served everyone from larger chains like Dairy Queen and Subway to small mom-and-pop restaurants. To learn more, go to spoton.com This episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help b2b businesses to get ROI clients referrals and strategic partnerships through Dunphy podcasts. If you have a b2b business and one of those great relationships from clients referrals, referral for referral partners thought leaders in your space, there’s no better way to do it than through podcasts and content marketing to learn more, go to rise25.com or email us at support@rise25.com. David Grossman is a Chicago native and a lifelong player in the restaurant industry. From his first job in high school working at a local pizza shop. He knew the restaurant industry would be his future. He spent seven years working at Subway opening up over 150 restaurants in the Chicagoland area, and then another 13 years at General Growth Properties where he ran a restaurant leasing team. These experiences gave him the entrepreneurial desire to form his own company and acquire the rights to Freshii where he opened 39 locations around Chicagoland before selling in 2018. In 2020, he bought an existing burger chain called Epic Burger and is focusing on growing that chain, which currently has seven units. I’ve spoken to him once before, and I’m pleased to welcome them back to the podcast. Hey, David, how are you doing?
David Grossman 1:51
Hey, great, Chad. How are you? Good. Thanks.
Chad Franzen 1:53
Hey, it’s nice to talk to you again. So just kind of tell me a little bit about Epic Burger. And when a customer might expect when going there.
David Grossman 2:02
Well Epic Burger founded in Chicago in 2008, our tagline, which maybe a lot of people don’t know what it really means our tagline is a more mindful burger. And it really goes back to how our food is sourced. Now where we get our meat or chicken or turkey. It’s all premium, no antibiotics or beef. And our chicken is halal certified, which I’m not sure if you know what halal is, we can get into it if you want. But it’s a process in how animals are raised, fed, processed and delivered. It’s a more humane way of treating and processing an animal. And we care about not only how our food is processed and delivered to us, we try to buy local, but we care about how our stores are designed. We care about our people, we care about how we hire promote from within. We care about energy, we care about our packaging. So more mindful burger is something that I want everyone to know about. And know what it means because it really means a lot to us. It’s why we’re in this business. And it’s what makes Epic Burger really so unique and special.
Chad Franzen 3:11
Yeah, it sounds like it. You know, there are a lot of restaurants who don’t kind of pride themselves on on a more more mindful food, I guess, why is that important to you?
David Grossman 3:21
Okay, I like I care about what I eat. I care about what my families I care about what my customers eat. You know, so you know, when Epic was founded, and they only served halau beef, and only, you know, source vegetables and various products from local farmers. It really resonated with people. So again, a hamburger isn’t something that you should eat every day. Don’t get me wrong again, an Epic Burger, we’ve got a veggie burger, burger and grilled chicken sandwich. But if you’re going to eat a burger, it might as well be quality beef, premium ingredients. And it might as well be an Epic Burger.
Chad Franzen 4:04
So I was looking at your website, and this is probably not something you’d want to do every day. But tell me about this epic, Epic AF Challenge that you have going and how you came up with that idea.
David Grossman 4:14
Yeah, so we again, I wanted to bring some fun back into the restaurant business. So we created the Epic AF Challenge and as as you know, stands for about food. Or you think about food, okay, in case any kids are listening. So basically we we launched that in January. And basically it’s to double bacon cheeseburgers, two orders of fries and order of chicken tenders. In order sweet potato fries, and a milkshake. I believe that the cost is $39.99 which is really an incredible value. It’s not a moneymaker. And if you finish that amount of food and 20 minutes and eight seconds, which is the year we were founded 2008 you become a member of our Epic AF Hall of Fame, you get this really cool Epic AF t-shirt. And you know, so your friends come in, they cheer you on. And it’s really designed to bring some fun back into our restaurants and and just kind of get get get on board with the whole food Challenge. Can you put your conversation? You’ve had several we’ve had several winners all different ages, men and women. Yeah, there’s been people that people have finished it like 10 minutes. It’s been a really, wow. See, people come in, they stretch out, they wear a headband, they get all focused, and they they get after it. They take this very seriously. So we’ve had a few professionals come in and try it. We’d love to get Joey Chestnut to come in and try it. But I have not tried it. You
Chad Franzen 6:00
have not tried it. I feel like I feel like the milkshake would be a big stumbling block for me. You know,
David Grossman 6:05
it’s funny originally when we designed it, we did we tested it without the milkshake. And we had these four young you know, 20 something year old kids come in and eat it. In three of the four all four finished it three of the four actually asked for a milkshake afterwards to wash it down. And I’m like you really like Yeah. And they drink it. So we added that to the mix, which we’re happy about because it really represents our entire menu you get some burgers and fries and potato fries and chicken tenders and milkshake. Come and really try everything and epic for you know, $39.99 price point. You do it you get this really cool t-shirt. And you’ll have some fun at the same time.
Chad Franzen 6:48
Yeah, sounds good. Hey, you so you purchased Epic Burger in 2020. As I mentioned in your intro, I spoke with you about a year ago. How will things kind of changed for you since then? Or how was Epic Burger changed? What issues have arisen things like that?
David Grossman 7:02
Yeah, well, I mean, it’s been two years during a pretty difficult time. But for the most part, we really fix our menu. Our menu was really broken previous management company, previous ownership, kind of tried to cut some corners and they shrunk the patty. They shrunk the bong and cut some corners with adding pickles and tomatoes on burgers and no whipped cream on milkshakes. And I certainly don’t want to bash you know, the previous owners, but we fixed the menu, completely fixed it. And we’ve remodeled a handful of stores. You know, four of the seven stores are completely remodeled, and they look great. I really the brand was somewhat neglected. The employee morale wasn’t there. So, so two things last year, we entered into this hamburger half competition. I’m not sure if we talked about that last year. We actually won last year. And the hamburger Hoppel event is this Friday, and we are no one’s ever want to back to back. We were invited back. There’s only 14 restaurants who were invited. Now we’re the only fast-casual chain. All of the other chefs are white tablecloth, serious chefs it’s all part of the Chicago gourmet event that’s taking place in Chicago this weekend. Hamburger hop is sold out. So we want to win it again this Friday. So we’re excited about that. And then the other thing is, you know again, last year was my one year anniversary with epic so we did the anniversary event. The first epic really opened in May 2008. But my anniversary September so we celebrated 13 years last year we did these $1 burgers, who picked one day we did a $1 burger and it was just awesome. It was madness for one day. Wow. So this year to celebrate our 14th anniversary, the entire month of September. Every Thursday we’re doing a $5 Burger, which is basically $5 off. So we’ve done the cowboy. We’ve done the honey hot chicken, we’ve done the garden veggie ranch. Tomorrow is the cercado which is Turkey, avocado, grilled onions, cheddar cheese on a wheat bun. And then next Thursday is our epic classic burger. We’re going to finish the month. So every Thursday in September $5 burgers and $2 fries. So it’s $1 off an order of fries. So we’re having some fun with Epic. We’re engaging our staff and we’re engaging our storefronts. We added outdoor seating and flowers and plants and trash cans to a number of our locations which just didn’t exist for the last two years. So again, like the Epic AF we’re trying to bring fun back into the business. Bring our food quality back to where it was in 2008. And really, it’s just all about creating a great experience for our guests to come in and have a great meal and get a good value, hopefully smile on their way out and have some fun.
Chad Franzen 10:09
What is kind of the key I guess to, you know, taking over a brand that maybe is thought of by employees as a not the greatest place to work, maybe by customers, as as, as, you know, being a little bit disappointing, as you kind of talked about, what’s the key to kind of turning things around in the minds of everybody?
David Grossman 10:29
Well, just trying to, you know, bring some of my passion back into each restaurant. In some cases, you know, you had to eliminate some people that just don’t get it. But you really want to try to bring the idea of my vision into what Epic Burger is my idea is to grow it, my idea is not to calf seven locations. Obviously, I took Freshii from zero to 39, in, you know, eight years. So I would like to ramp up even quicker with Epic. So if you want to come along for this ride, and be a part of something truly special. Again, my goal is to open up 200 of these over the next eight years, then show me then prove to me that you want to be part of this team. And people get excited about that people love growth. They love to see remodeled stores, they love to see us putting money back into the business and money back into the menu boards and making some changes and in listening to them. Because previous ownership really didn’t listen to them didn’t take their suggestions didn’t take their criticism seriously. So I think that’s a big part of it is hearing what my customers have to say, hear what my staff has to say, and doing something about it.
Chad Franzen 11:43
Were you aware of kind of some of the issues involved with Epic Burger when you made the decision to buy it?
David Grossman 11:50
Yeah, I was. So they brought me on as like an interim CEO for 60 days to help them figure out the company, this investment firm. So I really started as the interim CEO, and they said, hey, help us figure out what we should do with this company. Should we close all eight locations? Should we close seven Should we close to be closed any. So when I got involved, I saw, stores were dirty, the product had totally changed. There were no window posters. There were no promotions going on. Actually, the website was down, you couldn’t even order from our website. So I saw this opportunity. Because I knew epic in 2008. I knew the founder of epic, I knew what happened was all about I knew there were lines I knew epic was once great. And I knew I could make it great again. So I was well aware of the challenges the issues, and I thought that I could overcome them. And certainly we’ve been able to so many of the stores sales are way up. We have one store that’s still struggling, it’s downtown in the loop at Clinton, Adams. And that’s really as a result of people not returning back to work as quickly as we had hoped. So we’ve got to make a decision as to what we want to do long term with that store. We’d like to keep it open. But it’s been it’s been tough people aren’t returning to work. And that’s making it challenging for us to operate that one particular location.
Chad Franzen 13:21
What do you have some ideas as to how to, you know, over, I’ve talked to some of the people who are trying to do or dealing with the same issue as to how to how to overcome that.
David Grossman 13:31
I mean, obviously, it’s just to be patient, it’s try to just manage your costs. I mean, so again, the store looks good, the stores paid for stores operate, we’ve got a great staff in place. I don’t want to close it, the landlord has been really friendly and is working with us, which is a huge expense. But you know, we still lose money every month, and we’re obviously not in business to lose money. So we’ve been pretty patient the last, you know, two years. So, we were hoping that after Labor Day, you know, two weeks ago, things would pick up a little bit and they did pick up a little bit. Really like on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays, Mondays and Fridays are still a bit slow. People just aren’t coming into the office. You know, maybe it’s a summer thing maybe things will pick up again next week. I think today is actually the last official day of summer. So you know, I’m just trying to be patient. I’m trying to be optimistic, trying to hold on because it was a great location and I know it still can be if people returned back to work.
Chad Franzen 14:38
Hey, I can tell that you have great passion and enthusiasm for Epic Burger. How do you kind of translate that among seven different locations?
David Grossman 14:47
So we have weekly staff meetings with our managers. I visited stores, you know basically like tomorrow, our anniversary day I’ll be at all seven stores. A walk in, you know I put up some tables, give some words of encouragement, I’ll help out where I can. But really, it’s just store visits, it’s manager meetings, it’s, you know, just various promotions. We’ve got employee of the month, every month, we give out little awards and prizes and T shirts, and you know, some epic swag. It’s really trying to just create some excitement amongst the team, maybe a little friendly competition, to just try to, you know, translate my passion into, you know, 120 employees, sometimes it’s not easy. But I do have staff meetings, not only with my managers, but with each store to try to tell my story, let them know that there’s opportunity to grow. Step up, lead by example, ask questions, there are no dumb questions. If you’re not happy with what you’re doing, you know, talk to me, if you’re a creative person, and you want to get involved with maybe your marketing or design or you want to help create a new product, Tommy, every three months, we launched new promotions. And next spring, we’re gonna do a chicken that was created by my Lincoln Park manager. He created it, we’re gonna bring it to action. He is super excited about it. So at today’s meeting, we asked for a holiday milkshake idea whether it’s eggnog or peppermint. Here’s some ideas get involved, like people like that. So it’s fun. What I like to do every day, some people think this business is really hard. But I love it. I know it’s meant for me, I try to just pass on a little bit of love every day. And so far, it’s working.
Chad Franzen 16:42
Nice, very nice. Hey, I have one more question for you. But first, how can people find out more about Epic Burger or follow Epic Burger on social media or whatever?
David Grossman 16:51
Yeah, I mean, that’d be great. So obviously, you can go to our website, you can like it, you can go to Instagram, which is @TheEpicBurger, you can follow us, you know, sign up. For our rewards program. You get all kinds of information on new products coming out, you get a free milkshake on your birthday, you get loyalty points, which will translate to some free food and so that’s those are the three you know, follow us like us and join our rewards program. You know, stop in if you want to email me, I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have dg@epicburger.com Yeah, so hopefully that answers your question.
Chad Franzen 17:31
Yeah, sounds good. The website is epicburger.com. And if you don’t want to, if you want to be hungry, look at the website for more than a few minutes. Hey, last question for you. When you when you’re there as a customer, what’s kind of your go to item I feel like just looking at the pictures now. I would go for several of them. But yeah
David Grossman 17:48
I mix it up. I swear I do like a turkey burger. I get the veggie I get the beyond but if I’m gonna go for a burger. I go with the farmhouse with a hard egg. I love an egg on a burger. The farmhouse really has everything that you find on a farm and it is a tasty burger. But the burger that we are launching Friday night for hamburger hats that will soon be in our stores. For the rest of the year. October November December. It’s a limited-time offer is a bacon kettle crunch burger. It’s got a bacon jelly, little sweetness and a little spice and then some potato chips on there. Some kettle chips and it’s got some crunch, some spice some bacon some cheese. It’s a double burger with bank and credit crunch. will debut Friday night at the hamburger house and will be an epic location starting October 1. It’s a pretty tasty burger one that you guys should try.
Chad Franzen 18:48
Yeah, sounds awesome. Hey, David, it’s been great talking to you. I really appreciate it.
David Grossman 28:52
Thanks so much. Take care, buddy.
Chad Franzen 18:55
You too.
Outro 18:55
Thanks for listening to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25. Visit rise25.com to check out more episodes of the show and to learn more about how you can start your own podcast