Anna and Lauren from Netchex

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. We are talking today with Anna and Lauren from NetChex. They are an amazing company out there that will help you with your payroll, they'll help you with hiring, they'll help you with your taxes, help you with scheduling, with so many amazing things. HR, I mean, gosh, they've got, they're just, they do a ton of stuff. They're a sponsor, and I'm not the best at describing exactly how they do or what they do. So let's get in and let's do an interview where we get to know them as people, because I think that when you think about HR and payroll, it's just bean counters and people that do the number stuff that's aside from what we do in the hospitality world, but they kind of do both.

01:12Lauren works with restaurants predominantly, and she brings that level of service to you. So I really was really excited to talk to them today and bring them in studio. But I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This was a, I think it's been crazy because everybody has the flu. I really think that my youngest has the flu right now. It's flu A. I don't know if you know, there's two different types of flus. There's a flu A and a flu B. And I went to the store to buy some children's Tylenol, and they were out. I went to Publix, I went to Walgreens, and then I went to Kroger, and they were like out. Unbelievable what is going on out there. Apparently this is just going rampant. So if you have children, you're probably like, yeah, or maybe you have the flu yourself. So just prayers out there for everybody who is dealing with illness right now. I know this is a tough time. Mary gets together for Thanksgiving, y'all hang out as a family, and then everybody comes home sick.

02:13Yay. I have managed to avoid it up until now. So I have been dealing with vertigo. You guys know what vertigo is. I had some inner ear deal. I had it a year and a half ago, and it was really terrible. And I've just been lightheaded and dizzy, and it kind of sucks. So let's tell you all about my medical issues. We're really excited to go into December in this holiday season. We're going to take a break. We're going to take a break for the month of December on putting out interview episodes. Let me tell you what we're going to do. Caroline and I are working on some episodes, some topical episodes, where we bring multiple people in and have multiple people in one episode, really talking about topics that are important to you out there. The state of the industry here in Nashville, what's happening in Nashville, new Nashville versus old Nashville. What can we do to sustain that? We want to talk about tipping. We want to talk about a lot of things.

03:14So what we're going to do is we're putting up some polls at the Nashville Restaurant Radio Instagram page. It's at Nashville underscore restaurant underscore radio. And we would like for you to go follow us. And from there, I need you to respond to put polls up there. We want to know what you think because we want to start off 2023 like with a bang. We want to come in with some of the best content we've been able to do. I think that we've been doing this almost three years and I couldn't be more excited to have Caroline and she's got some great ideas and I'm excited, excited, excited. I know I say I'm excited a lot, but this I'm like over the moon excited. You know, another thing that we're going to start doing here is we're going to start helping other people facilitate podcasts. So I've got this amazing studio right in Hillsborough Village. And if you are out there and you kind of wanted to start a podcast and you wanted to do something like that, but you don't know how and you don't know what to buy, what equipment you don't know how to do it, we're going to be renting out the studio. So if you and I think what I'd like to do is I'd like to work with restaurants.

04:18I think if you're a restaurant out there or anybody who's in a small business and start your own podcast, even if you have like four listeners, it doesn't matter. If you're out there connecting with your guests, here's my thoughts for what you could do with your restaurant. So let's just say you have a restaurant and it is in a neighborhood and you have regulars that come in who own small businesses or whatever it might be. You could bring your regulars in and tell their stories on your podcast. Does that make sense? So if you had a podcast that you could talk about your specials, you could bring your chef in, you could do employee spotlights, but you could also bring in some of your guests and share the stories of the people in your community. How powerful would that be if people are deciding where they're going to go at this company? This restaurant actively promotes me. So give me a call or message me, go find again, find that Nashville restaurant radio Instagram page and send me a message that, hey man, we're thinking about something or we'd like to do a podcast.

05:19Let me know. And I'd love to help you facilitate that. Just kind of an extra little fun thing that we'd like to do here since we have the studio and it sits empty most of the time. We'd like to help you. We'd like to help you do get the word out. I kind of feel like podcasting is the next medium, the Instagram is so big, and then you had all these other, you know, TikTok is real big. Well, this could be both. This could be a way for you to create content, put the content out there as well as sharing on Instagram and everywhere else. But we're going to be doing that. So if you follow me on Nashville restaurant radio or Brandon underscore in RR or you can email me Brandon at Nashville restaurant radio dot com. Those are all ways to communicate with me directly and happy to respond to you. So this month in December, we're going to have a lot of random stuff on. We're going to have some we're going to do Brandon's book club. We're going to put an episode out there with some of the folks who read The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. We're going to discuss that book.

06:20We're going to have maybe a pop up or two come around. We're going to be talking with some of our sponsors. I've got a contest I want to lead off where Caroline and they're going to come back next week and we're going to have an episode where we talk about exactly what we're doing with all of the sponsors this month and we want to give back and we think that there's some fun stuff happening since it's the giving season. So yeah. So it's Monday. I think I don't know when giving Tuesday as if it's tomorrow then then go out there and find the giving kitchen was an episode we had last week. That was just absolutely amazing. If you're looking for somewhere to give to give to the giving kitchen, they're great people or Ben's Friends National Ben's Friends is a it's a company it's not a company it's a nonprofit and they help people in the industry with drug and alcohol abuse. So there's a meeting every Monday and it happens over at the Oak Steakhouse. There's a Ben's Friends meeting for industry people who are struggling with alcohol abuse or whatever depression you just want to be around a group people.

07:21It's a kind of a support group. So you're welcome to show up at 11 a.m. on Monday at the Oak Steakhouse. My buddy Jamie Pruitt is the kind of the leader of that group. You hear his episode about a month ago, maybe a little more than a month ago. He is the director over at the Frothy Monkey Bakery or bakery by Frothy Monkey. Good stuff happening out there y'all. I just want to tell you, we talk about being thankful and thankful for so many things this season, especially this podcast. I'm thankful for everybody who listens. I'm thankful for all of the positive notes you guys send the messages I get where people have newly found the podcast or somebody told them about the podcast and they just love it and they're learning and they're like, wow, I didn't know this this even existed. I'm just I'm thankful every time you share this podcast with somebody and they get something out of it. It really is just the most amazing thing for us. That is our goal. We want to want you to feel seen. We want we want you to this industry, the really the real side of this industry we want to put out there.

08:25And I'm just so thankful that this is something that you're responding to and that you love and I'm just so thankful for all of you. I'm thankful for my sponsors because without them, I couldn't do it. And you know, I know I've said this a hundred times, but I don't take money from restaurants. I've had several restaurants reach out and say, hey, can we advertise on your podcast? I mean, no, I can have you on the show, but my goal is not to take any money from restaurants. And when I go out to eat, I don't want anything for free. I have sponsors for the show and these sponsors are the ones who are supporting me talking about all of these locally owned and operated restaurants. So if you compost company, Robin's Insurance, Gordon Food Service, Sharpies Bakery, What Chefs Want, Net Checks. Like I said, Super Source is just the most amazing people over there. Jason Ellis, Justice Industries, Just.Glass, Poached Restaurant Jobs. We've got so many great sponsors, guys.

09:25They're the ones who are supporting me. So you need to go support them. If you can, that would be absolutely amazing. Let them know that you heard about them on Nashville Restaurant Radio, or go to our website, nashfordrestaurantradio.com. Click the sponsor tab and there you go. You can find all of our sponsors. So that is my 10 minute lead up to this awesome episode today with Anna Smith and Lauren Demaine from Net Checks. Let's jump right in. We are super excited today to welcome into the show. We have a sponsor here today and it is Net Checks. We have Lauren and Anna. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Happy to be here. Thank you, thank you. All right, so let's get voices down so you guys know who we're talking to. Lauren, say hello. Hello. Tell us a little about yourself, Lauren. Give us like the 60 second, like what's your sign, you know, all your stuff.

10:27I'm a cancer, single mom, three, single mom of three, and a Net Checks account executive. Single mom of three and a Net Checks account executive. Correct. You stay busy. All the time. All the time. You don't know what it means to stop, do you? No, not at all. Bless you. You make the world go round. Keep trying every day. Okay, so that's Lauren. So when you hear Lauren speaking, that's what she sounds like. Anna, same thing. I want to say a little bit about Lauren. Actually, and her three kids are boys. Oh, you didn't say that. I'm a mother of three boys. That's a whole game changer there. And they are the most respectful, engaging, just really kind kids. And it's truly a reflection of Lauren. And so I was super impressed. I think I need to add that in there. She's a great multi-tasker. Not only does she do awesome at work, and I'm just like blessed to have her on the team.

11:29She's a great human and a great mom and definitely doesn't give herself enough credit. Well, that's what I have Anna for. I'll do her own introduction. So we have a third person here in the studio. So when you- I didn't even get to talk about me. Oh, that's right. I was like, that was your thing. Lauren. Anna, tell us about yourself. Hi. So I've been in the industry about 17 years, which is crazy. But it net checks about a year and a half. Yes. And so I can kind of give you the backstory on how I ended up in payroll and HR. We can do that later if you'd like. We can do that later. Well, let's definitely do that later. But today is senior shadow day at Ravenwood High School. Yes, it is. So I'm so blessed to have my beautiful daughter Ruby here joining me today and doing much more fun stuff today than I would normally be doing on a daily basis. So she lucked out. Hey, Ruby. Hi.

12:29If you're watching this online right now, you can see Ruby. I've moved my camera over to see Ruby. Ruby is the 17 year old daughter of Anna. They're doing a shadow day. She is chomping at the bit to tell her story. And I told her, I said, not today. Today's not the day, Ruby. So did she say hi? Did you say hi? I did. Okay, good. And what do you do for a living, Ruby? I work at Tito's in Nolensville. So you're a restaurant worker. Yes. Look at that. And you love it? Yes. Tito's a great place to work. Great place. Best thing on the menu? Tacos. Tacos. Okay. Yeah. I love that. That's good. I love tacos and I love Tito's. I have a Tito's like half a mile from my front door. So it makes it very easy. High 100, like in the Bellevue area. I love that Tito. Shout out to Juan who has been so great. And Marco as well for working around her school schedule, her soccer schedule. They've just been awesome. So as a mom, very thankful for them as well.

13:30Anything you'd like to say to the listeners of Nash Restaurant Radio, Ruby? Wait, let's see your eyes. Do that again. Tell me I only had to say hi. We're doing a little bit of hazing with Ruby. All right. I'm going to turn your mic off now. Thank you for joining the show. I'm excited that she's here, by the way. This is really fun. And for a day where you're like, I'm going to shadow my mom and talk about payroll and HR, you get to come to a studio and do an interview. So that is kind of fun, right? So exciting. Way better. All right. You can now officially sit back and relax, Ruby. Do you have anything else you want to add? You just turn this up to right there. That'll turn your mic on. Okay. All right. I'm sorry. I'm having so much fun with this. I'm like a 12-year-old at heart. So I apologize. So NetChex, you guys have been a supporter. We did the 60-14 bracket. We crowned Memo's Mexican Restaurant. It was really fun to be there to present them with the best Mexican restaurant in Nashville, as voted by the listeners of the podcast.

14:33I think we had like 70,000 votes. I mean, it was incredible, the engagement that we've had. But you guys do, I mean, when I talk about NetChex on the show and I hear nothing but positive things from the people that you guys work with, there's like 25 different things that you do. And today, I want to dig into some of those and how you specifically are working with restaurants. And if I'm out there and I don't, if I have a pair of what I've done from trying to do it myself, hopefully we can educate some restaurant owners and managers today on exactly what you do, why you do it. So hopefully this will be a fun interview for our listeners. I'm excited to learn more about you too, also as people. So there's the setup. Lauren, you've been, I keep looking at you saying, Anna, you've been in the business 17 years, year and a half with NetChex. Tell us the funny story about how you got in this industry. Okay, well, so I was 22 years old, had a one-year-old daughter that I needed to support and I just needed a job.

15:35And back in the day, you looked in like newspaper ads to see who was hiring or whatever. And I saw a company and it said, century, what I thought, 21. You thought it was real estate? I thought it was real estate. Okay. So called my uncle, hey, I'm going to go interview at this real estate company, not to do real estate, but it said I would be like the administrative assistant of like the president of the company. And it has benefits and like eight to five, it works well with my daughter's daycare schedule. Like I'm going to go interview. What are some tips? So I show up to the interview and I'm sitting in the lobby and I see a sign on the wall. It says century. And then it has like a Roman numeral. And I'm like, I don't think that Roman numeral is 21. I was like, I think that is just a two. Maybe the one fell off. Like this says century two. So I pick up a pamphlet and I start reading it and it's like century two HR. And I'm like, maybe this is recruiting office. Like I'm at the recruiting office. It's going to interview me for century 21.

16:37And I start reading more. I'm like, no, no, no, I don't think so. You're 22. It's like century two. Just that you're 22 years old. I was 22 years old. That's awesome. Instant panic. What am I going to do? I'm not prepared for this. They call me back and I'm with the president of the company and I'm thinking I got to think quick on my feet. So before she could ask me a question, I said, tell me, tell me about you. What are you passionate about? Why did you start this business? Why do you think this business is successful? Talk to me. Of course I got her thinking and she just started giving me all I needed. Right? So she started telling me everything they did, how they helped clients, why it was important to her, how they got started. And then I immediately knew what kind of company I was interviewing for. So based on what she told me, then I started answering her questions. I left there. I'm like, I'm either a genius or I'm never getting this job. I don't know which one, right? They called me up and offered me the job. I was shocked. So I go and I start there on my first day and I'm the receptionist, I'm her admin assistant.

17:39And I start learning what the business does. They do outsourced HR, payroll, benefit services. I'm like, okay. So I did that for a little bit. And I'm like a position opened up in the back where I would actually be client facing. And I'm like, I think I've done a good job as being the administrative assistant. Like, is it okay to have an interview to actually work with some clients now? Because I like talking to people and they're like, sure. So I interviewed for that in the same company, got that job, did that for a year or so. I really like learned the ins and outs of like why HR is important, why benefits are important, why people outsource and don't try to handle this stuff on their own. Well, then a position in sales opened up. I'm like, okay, I think I can do sales. Like, I think I have it in me. I think my personality is good for sales. Like, can I interview for the sales role? They're like, sure, go ahead. So I interviewed for the sales role there, got the job in sales. So then I started selling this outsourced HR model for a couple of years there, got my feet wet. And then here we are 17 years later, I've worked at, you know, other competitors, much bigger, some smaller. And so just kind of accidentally fell into it and I'm still somehow doing it.

18:42There you go. Wow. I'm not in real estate. You're not in, did you ever, do you have any regrets? Are you like, damn it, I wanted to show houses and do this whole thing. And now you're- No, I mean, my husband's in real estate and I'm just going to leave that to him. Okay. The HR part, their husband towns, I'm like, why am I doing this? And I think the answer is the business owners we meet with. That's why, like hearing their stories and like why they're passionate about what they do because every day looks different, right? So every business you meet with has a different story and getting to hear that and then seeing the ways that we're helping them is why I've kept doing this for so long, right? It's not that it's glamorous, it's just that it's fun and that I like engaging with people and helping people focus on their passions and the why they got in business. Yeah. And why we take over the, well, because you're in business, you have to do all this. Hey, we got to pay your people. You have to make sure taxes are deposited on time. You have to provide benefits. You have to keep your employees engaged. You have to recruit.

19:43There's all these things that just aren't fun that we take over and let you really focus on your passion. So that's why I'm here. Can you tell me a story of a way, like I'm going to put you right on the spot. Yeah. I'm going to look in your eyes and see you're like, are you serious, dude? Do you have an actual story where you feel like you helped somebody and it was a really cool, like you get to meet with the client and give them a high five and be like, dude, we did that together. Yeah. I'm actually going to phone a friend. The sales manager here at NetTex, but Lauren is one of my senior sales consultants and she really is like the feet on the street, right? It's really meeting with these people and creating a huge impact. So I know that she talks to clients a lot. So Lauren, I'm going to pass that over to you. Yeah. So I speak with the restaurant owners and general managers quite often and I'll just kind of give a brief history too. I grew up with parents that were restaurant owners. So I was day to day knowing what they were doing and this was before. So it's in like your DNA. It really is. Yeah. It was, I watched my dad with those yellow, you know, notepads and payroll journals and doing time clocks and all of that.

20:51So that was before kind of the internet, right? I'm doing all of this, but I still talk to restaurant owners that are doing it that way and GMs and they're wanting something better because they're spending so much of their time doing that. How are they doing it again? You know, they've got time clocks where people are actually, you know, punching a card or manually writing down what time they came into work. So, you know, being able to kind of get them away from that pen and paper, but providing them a lot of tools behind that. They've been able to just focus on other things because they haven't had to spend their time every Sunday at two o'clock, you know, going into their office and manually doing things. So when I speak to them, they've always are just wanting, how can you help me be successful? And so, like Anna said, we are taking that why they got in business but not, you know, having them do everything besides taking care of their clients, taking care of their staff.

21:57They don't have to worry about- Serving guests, they can serve and all the backend stuff you guys kind of handle. You do that for them. Data, you guys generate data for people and then you can make educated decisions, right? Absolutely. I mean, there are a lot of different analytics that can come out of the system. Like if people are trying to say, okay, who's approaching over time or what is turnover costing me right now, right? That's a huge, huge. I just had this conversation the other day and I said, I think the number is like $2,000 a person that you have. This is from my culture index. I don't know how to figure that number out. I've never been able to figure that number out but the number that I hear ballet around is $2,000 for every hourly employee that you hire and that they don't work out within the first month. Like that's what the overall cost is from payroll, getting them into the system, hiring them, doing orientation, starting the training, the time it takes for somebody to train them. How do you figure that number out? I mean, it's hard, right? But there are things in the system that track that, right?

23:00So it's looking at, okay, how many hours did this new hire work? How many were training hours with someone else getting paid to also train them? That's the thing I don't think you realize. Like you're paying me a training wage to train this person. It's taking away their time, right? And then it's like, how much did you pay on taxes for this new hire, right? And a lot of people don't know this, but your state unemployment tax is your only controllable tax rate. People don't realize that. So all the other federal taxes is like, here's your rate, you just pay it. But your unemployment rate is something that you can control. And what happens is, so for Tennessee specifically, when you hire someone, the new business rate is 2.7%. That's what you get assigned. So you pay 2.7% on the first 7,000 wages of every employee, okay? So you're paying that 2.7% on $7,000 for employee A that you hired, right? Let's say they work there three months and then they quit and you rehire for that position, guess what? 2.7%.

24:01You're starting over. Now you're paying 2.7% on this employee. So if in one position, let's say it turns over seven times, you're paying that seven times. When that one employee, if they stay on and once they hit that 7,000 in wages for a year, you stop paying it on them. All together? All together for a year. So you're zeroed out. But if you keep having to rehire, you keep paying it. And let's just say the turnover, they file for unemployment and they get it. The state is going to need to recoup the money that they are now paying out. So what do they do? They jack your rate up. So now you may be paying 3.3% on 7,000 wages of every employee, right? So you can control that by controlling your turnover, making sure that you're properly tracking things in the system. Like if you gave a written warning, a verbal warning, so you making sure that you are terminating people effectively, right? But the goal is that you don't want to terminate people and you don't want people to leave. So what are you doing to hire the right people, which we have tools to help you do that. What are you doing to keep them engaged? We have tools to help you do that, right? And creating a culture where employees want to work there.

25:02So it's more than just a technology. We really are trying to create a whole experience to where we're not only saving you money from a tactical or tax perspective, but we're saving you the time and energy that goes into having to recruit and retain and rehire over and over and over again. Yeah. And those are, I was, that was, that was awesome. I mean, that's stuff that most people on the front end don't think about. They just think, hey, this guy came in when you're hiring you're interviewing people and you interview somebody and you in the back of your mind, you go, they might not work out, but we really need a warm body. We're going to hire you. We're going to take a flyer on you. It's a 50-50 shot. Maybe we can train you. Maybe you turn the corner and you worked out. But if you don't, you don't. That's a really bad business practice. Is that what you're saying? It is a bad business practice and it's costly, right? So when you look at ways we can save companies money. Yeah, we may save you money if we bring you a competitor and let's say we're cheaper, but hey, we may also save you money because we are going to better prepare you to run your business and give you the tools, the analytics, the reporting and the support that you need to catch things before they happen.

26:10Right? So being proactive is a lot easier than being reactive. But in today's market, we have a lot of reactive going on and what we can do to even lessen that a little bit ends up putting money back in the business owner's pocket. Absolutely. And kind of piggybacking on that, you know, the conversations that I've had recently, restaurant owners, GMs, they're trying to figure out how to control cost. Well, there are certain things that they just cannot control. The gas prices, inflation, supply chain. But when I can show them all of these tools that we provide to help them control the cost and their compliance, they really start to, you know, the light bulb goes off, you know, with the, you know, hiring and retention being able, you know, you mentioned culture and engagement of the staff. Well, we also have tools that can help give back to your staff. So, you know, they're able to really create a nice warm culture where people want to stay and they don't have that turnover. What are those things? Can we talk about those in depth?

27:10Can we like get it? Because let's talk about features and benefits, right? So all of these things that you're referencing right now are no brainers. I mean, if I'm listening, I'm like, I don't care about the tax credit. That's just extra money I have laying around. I don't care about what it costs. Nobody's thinking that. I mean, these are things that you're talking about. Yes, if you're not doing these things, you need to be the really savvy people that operate really great businesses or doing these things on a regular basis. Let's pretend that like I am a new business. Where do you start and what are some of these tools? Let's give some of it away. Let's wet people's appetites as to things people might not be doing, but that you do really well. And then how hard is it? I think that the part of change is the hardest thing too, right? I use this company and their subpar. They get the job done, but they may have five things they do and you guys might do 15 things, but it's so hard to change from that company to this company. Let's talk about ease of that and then some of the intentional features and benefits of what you guys do.

28:15That's a lot right there, but I think that's what people want to hear. Casey, where do I start? Let's start with what's the first question you asked me. You guys are walking in. You're coming in and talk to me for my two restaurants. What's the first question you're going to ask me? So I would say we always want to know on a scale of one to 10. How happy are you with how you're doing business right now? How have my overall like my bottom line? I would say more or less. Let's just say you're using a competitor of ours, right? How happy am I with your competitor? Correct. Okay, I'm not super happy. I'm like a five. They're getting the job done, but a lot of times the checks because we tell people to get paper checks, they come in a day late or they don't and people don't like it when their paper checks come a day late. Right. You have a bunch of people show up to the restaurant. Can I have my check like, oh, they didn't come in today, man. You got to come back tomorrow. Like the bank is closed tomorrow and I have like rent due. Like that's a problem.

29:15Right. So it depends on what number they give us, right? So if you're saying you're like a five happy, like you're not really that happy, right? So we try to figure out in an ideal world, what are the things that you would like to change, right? And so we want to get to know what those are. And I do a world, if everything could stay the same, what do you feel like is working well? So we really want to know what's working and let's make sure we don't break it. What's not working and let's see if we can fix it. And so one of ourselves engineers who's so awesome always says when we kind of get in a deeper dive is we want to make sure that we don't break two things to fix one. Yeah. Because it's not a mutual partnership at that point because not both parties is winning. So we really want to take a deeper dive to make sure that we're going to be able to help you. And that if you actually are doing okay, we're okay to walk away, right? We say, hey, what you're doing is actually working for you right now. Doesn't mean that you're not ever going to be a client. It just means, hey, you keep doing what you're doing and we're going to find a better fit. So I think we don't try to put everyone in a box, right?

30:16So our technology is awesome. We built it from the ground up. We have in-house engineers that can, you know, get updated to make sure our clients are getting everything that they need. You're not going to be like, okay, well, I'm logging in here to access this. And then you're going to log in here to access this. You're employees and you have one place to go. Everything from the recruiting all the way to the off-boarding retirement and everything in between. And so I think people really like the ease of use of our system. And so when we're meeting with people, if it's that they have multiple systems that maybe independently work okay, but don't talk to each other. So they're wasting a lot of time. There's a lot of human error. We can help with that, right? You can bundle those things together. Exactly. Probably save some money. Typically. Yeah. Maybe it's like, hey, the actual cost of the technology is fine, but our service is bad. Then we're like, okay, let me tell you about what our service model looks like. Do you think that that would take you up from a five to an eight just based on that? Right. So those are just conversations that we have. We don't walk in and say, hey, here are our three packages. Pick one. Yeah. We want to get to know you and make sure that we really can have a positive impact on your business.

31:22So your North Star is making sure that I have all of the tools that I need to be successful and that I feel successful in what I'm doing. You want that is eight to 10 your sweet spot or is 10 your sweet spot? I don't think anyone's going to be a 10 happy because, hey, you're still dealing with humans and issues and all of that. But if we can get you to a nine, you know, then I feel like, you know, we're winning there, restaurants specifically. Here's what I feel like. I feel like I have analysis paralysis. I hate that term, but it's true. Every day, every guest walks into my building. They're just data generating things. How many people per hour? How many guests come in at each table? How long does it take them to get their drinks? How long, how much did they order? Did they order wine? Did they order water? Did they order the entree, the special? There's just data being generated everywhere. And I think there's so many tech companies right now that are taking that data and they want to say, we can capture that data for you, but it doesn't matter if I don't know what to do with it, right?

32:31So I think the main thing for me is I have this company that I use that is okay. They're not blowing my skirt up by any means. I mean, they're just there, but what is like, I don't know. I feel like if somebody was able to generate this data and then kind of tell me what to do with it or help me. I just went to a conference in Dallas called FS Tech, a food service technology conference, and Billy Bean spoke. Does anybody know, Ruby, do you know who Billy Bean is? Okay. Do you guys know who Billy Bean is? It's an interesting name. Love that, but no. There was a book, there was a movie called Moneyball. Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. Remember he was the A's GM. Well, the actual dude, not Brad Pitt, which I'm actually more excited to hear the actual, that guy's name is Billy Bean and he's the general manager for the A's.

33:33He flipped the world upside down in the baseball world, right? So he came into a perennial losing team, the A's who didn't have a huge payroll and he changed everything. So traditionally you have a hundred people you draft every year. I'm going somewhere with this, just trust me. You draft a hundred people every single year and you have all these scouts that travel all over the country and they try and find the guy in the farm town in Iowa who throws the ball 103 miles an hour who wears cutoff shirt and they're like, this guy has no idea how good he is. Bring him in and we're going to sign him and they pay, five million dollars for an entry level contract for a high school kid because they want to draft him. They draft a hundred people a year based on look and feel, right? So restaurant owners have the old school restaurant people. They have a good, I have a really, I can walk into a restaurant and my gut, I can tell you so many things from my experience in restaurants. But what I can't tell you is the data, the actual data, nine out of 10 times, maybe not that much.

34:39Most of the time I'm wrong. So what Billy Bean identified was what is the number one data set that creates winning teams? What's the one thing out there that will translate, will correlate with winning baseball games? And he did, he ran all the data and he figured out that number was on base percentage, the ability for people to get on base. And so he scoured, he used data, 100% data. And he found that and slugging percentage and then pitchers like a K through nine and whip walks plus hits per inning pitch, then strikeouts through nine innings for the non-baseball people. There's some insight. This is some detailed stuff, but he went into a draft and told all of the scouts, I don't need you. He drafted an entire draft, 100% without looking at the player, only on data. And he won the ALS championship that year because he got people on base and it worked.

35:41And he went away from the traditional idea of gut and feel. And I contend that people out there right now in restaurants go on gut, feel, and they look at, oh, this guy, he's got a lot of experience. He looks good, but he had nine jobs in the last year. He's a she, whatever it is. I want to know what that data set is. And I'm just asking you, because we have it now. We haven't had this amount of readily available data. I don't think you'll know what to do with it. But what, if I was to ask you, what do you think the data set is for restaurant employees? My question when I left here to my GMs was what is the number one data set that we need to look at that will make in an employee that makes every guest a repeat guest? Because that's the number one thing we want to do, right? We want to have employees that make every guest a repeat guest. We want guests to want to come back based upon the level of service what they had. What's the number one attribute? What would you guys think it would be?

36:41And I don't know the answer to this. I have my own hypotheses. That's the number I'm trying to figure out. And I think as a company like yours, who's so technologically driven, being able to identify what that is and how to identify that in a potential employee. And this isn't a setup. I'm just talking like, I don't know. But utilizing that data to make important decisions versus your gut, I think will take you so far in a bone meal. People don't have to do that yet. I agree. And I talk to Lauren about this a lot. I'll answer it specifically about the technology and the data and all that. But when I'm interviewing, I find myself going on my heart and my gut as well. And be like, I'm just going to throw this resume away and we're just going to have a conversation, right? But maybe I really need to take a look at the actual data that's painting a picture and telling me a story because people tell you who they are every day, listen to them, right? Like if someone has a track record of this, they all of a sudden don't typically change their spots.

37:42So always like, Lauren, okay, interview this person, I'm on the fence. Can I set up a time for you to talk to them since you are the feet on the street and they'll be doing the same job as you. I really need you to have that conversation, right? But while we're doing that, we're really making it about a feeling, not necessarily about the data. So I think that when you're recruiting, the goal should be finding the right people, putting them in the right place at the right time, okay? And so because of that, there are tools that help you do that by, okay, you're posting a job description of what you're hiring, but you're going to list five or six questions that that person has to answer before you're even going to get to look at their resume. Because let's say you need someone to work in the back of the restaurant and they need to be able to lift 20, 30 pounds, whatever it may be, yes or no. If they can't do that, then you don't need to be hiring that person to be in that position because you're setting them up for failure and you up for failure because they can't complete the job tasks that are needed. Or is it, hey, are you a people person?

38:45Are you okay being up front talking to people like you were hiring for a hostess? Ask questions that's going to let you know, is that a good fit? That way you are not interviewing people and hiring people that are not aligned, but maybe they answer the question in a different way. You know, like, oh, I actually have this other position that's open. I'm going to put them there, right? Jim Collins, good to great. Right people, right seats, get the right people on the bus. My answer to this question, it was very simple. I went through the whole thing like, well, is it wine knowledge? Is it attitude? Is it like, what is it? Do they match all of our core values? And I came to this decision. I don't know if this is going to be controversial or not. I can't wait. Ruby, are you ready? She said yes. I think it's full-time employees. It's what? Full-time. Full-time. I think in a restaurant, in order to make every guest a repeat guest, you've got to be there. You have to be there. You have to be engaged. You've got to lean in. You got to know the specials.

39:46You got to know the chef's rhythm, what kind of food he is. And you can't do that on two shifts a week. Two shifts a week, you're rented. You come in and you're just, I'm just a warm body. I'm just here to make my money and leave. You can't form relationships with the guest. You can't form relationships with your teammates. Like anything you do, the more you put into it, the more you're going to get out. And I think if you have a whole staff full of part-time people, nobody's fully engaged. I think full-time employees that spend at least 32 hours a week inside the building or five shifts, six shifts a week, are able to lean in and form those relationships. Learn more about your team, your culture, everything you're doing. And that's what drives engagement. And that's what makes every guest, repeat guest, is them knowing I can go to that restaurant and see Ruby. I love Ruby. I want to go back and see Ruby. You can't do that if she only works two shifts a week because you'll go there three or four times. You won't see her. Then you're like, I will go somewhere else. I have a question for you. Sure. So if you want these, I'm turning the tables. Oh, bring it.

40:47So if you want to have these full-time people working in a restaurant, right? And I think Lauren could attest to this. When we're talking to people, restaurants, hospitality in particular, they're having a hard time even finding people, right? Then if they get them, a lot of them feel like they have to work multiple jobs to be able to afford their rent or their mortgage or whatever it may be. So how do you feel like you're finding these people who say, okay, I will agree to work full-time at this restaurant. And how do you as a manager and owner say, we're going to make sure that this is the only place that you really would have to work to be able to meet your financial goals because I think there's been this mass exodus of hospitality workers that we hear. And I'm thinking, well, where did they go and what are they doing, right? What are you doing to combat that? That's a great question. I do two things. I treat people with respect. And I recognize that full-time people are the butter to my bread. And what we do is we offer benefits.

41:49We have a 401k plan for anybody after their first year. You can join our 401k. We match it. We offer a full health visual and dental to anybody after 60 days, maybe 30 days. After 30 days, we offer full benefits to everybody. Maternity leave, paternity leave, paid time off for every full-time employee. You can't, you have to be a full-time employee. But also, our culture is that we love our community and our culture, we have core values and we live by our core values. And we love our community as one of those. And it's not just we love the people that come into the restaurant. We love each other. When we're in the building, we respect each other. And what that does is it changes your culture of just get them out, just fire them. Oh, I don't like that guy. He came in today with a bad attitude. Get him out. He's a cancer. He's not supposed to be here. Now, if that's a full-time employee, which we've recognized is a very desirable thing, we lean in. We have empathy versus me going, you were late three days in a row. You're gone. I don't like you, which is an ego-driven thing by restaurant managers who are frustrated because they're working their asses off every day.

42:53You stop and you lean in and you go, hey, I've noticed you were late three times this week. Is everything okay? No, I'm a single mom. I got three boys and one of them has COVID right now and I'm getting a babysitter, but it's hard because it's this and this. I'm really working hard. I don't want to be late. I didn't even want to bring this up because I don't want you guys to think I'm weak and I'm prideful. And it's like, wow, thank you for telling me that. And that's amazing. And why don't I schedule you 20 minutes later every day? Come in whenever you want. It's fine. Just let me know. I won't say anything about any of this stuff, but thank you for telling me. You have to have vulnerability. You have to be able to talk to people in real time and respect them. And I don't think of restaurant work as a part-time gig or until I get, you know, the biggest thing to me is someone says, I'm just going to do this until I get my real job. I'm like, no, this is a real job. We work on a tip pool and we pull all of the tips. So we really, we do that because it creates equity for everybody.

43:54If I get three bad tables or two tables stiff, me one walks out and then I'm cut because I'm a double and I make $9 on a lunch, that's anxiety-inducing and that's stressful. And we want everybody to share in this thing. Let's all come to work. Let's all focus on the guest. Let's make every guest a repeat guest and let's all share in the benefits of that. And if everybody works full-time, you get people that work full-time, I give them the moon and the stars. I've changed my managers. We call it performance-based compensation instead of a bonus. But I've changed that to where we don't, I don't pay them just based on food cost in the top three, right? Labor, food cost and liquor, beer, wine. I pay a retention. Like if you fire, if you lose people, I have a head count number at each place. If you lose people, you lose money, right? So for me, it's about don't be quick to fire, be quick to seek to understand. And I think that's a cultural thing that a lot of restaurants miss. You've got to understand that these are real people, they're real humans with real lives. And if you treat them that way and you let them understand, this is a real job.

44:57Everybody that works, I don't say everybody, I think that the average at Maribor, if you work full-time, you're making 60 grand. So I mean, if you're a server at Maribor and you work full-time, I think the average is 60 grand. And it's like, that's a real living wage. And you get paid time off and you can add your 401k and you have full insurance. I'm like, that's not just some little job that you need to go get other jobs. I don't know, everybody has their own, what they have to do. If you want to drive a Maserati, then maybe that's not enough. But if you are supporting, if your husband and wife both work and you both make 60 grand, and then that's a nice little six figure income that can support a family. And I respect the shit out of that. Pardon my French, Ruby. You work in a restaurant, you understand this. But I mean, that's me personally, what I do. But now with a company like yourselves, with my culture and what I'm doing, how can you guys add to that? I mean, can you add, hey, look, what data do I need to know in order to help identify what I need to do next?

46:00That's the main question, right? That's the thing. And Lauren, I'll have you talk about this in just a second. But when you're talking, I'm thinking, you can't take the human element out of it. You just can't do it. You can't. And so every day, I know Lauren and I have these conversations a lot, like we're moms of busy kids. You know, I've got a 12 year old son, Ryland, and then obviously my daughter Ruby that's here. I'm a human. I don't show up every day as my best self. So sometimes I say to the team, guys, I'm going to be transparent, right? But I think we've created a culture within our team and within net checks to where we're not numbers. We are humans. And I think that that has really set us apart from maybe other places that I've been where I haven't felt known. I could pick up the phone right now and call Will Boudreau, our CEO, and I guarantee he would pick up. And if I had an issue or a question, I know he's going to be there, right? So that's what I think is really cool. And we really try to get to the pulse of our clients too.

47:02And like hearing, okay, your goals and the culture that you're creating, what can we do to mirror that? And so, yes, there's data that we can provide you all day long, right? Yeah. But if we're trying to help you with the human element and the people element, there's things we do there too. So we have something called Helping Hands, which is built into the net checks platform. So it's a giving type platform. So you don't have that. We always say that little thermometer up on the break room where you're like taking a marker. Oh, we've raised $2,000, right? This is a way that let's say you have an employee that maybe they had a house fire or an illness in the family, and you really want to do a campaign to raise money for them. Employees can set up an automated deduction to come out of their paycheck for however long they want it to be to go to contribute to that cause, right? And then as a company, you're saying, oh, look, guys, we've raised $7,000 for this family. It just creates a culture of giving and especially when COVID happened, that's really when this got started. And so we really want to give our clients a way to give back and make it easier to track.

48:05And it's all set up there. So that's one thing that we do. I think it's awesome. The other thing is that Lauren recently developed a partnership with a company called Abinity. They are a perks program and we have co-branded it NetPerks. And so I'll let Lauren talk a little bit about that. Oh, okay. Well, thank you. Better on the spot. Well, Abinity is actually a Nashville company. So it's been really nice to be able to have that partnership with them. Not only are they a partner, they're a client now, which we're very excited about, but NetPerks, which we've kind of, like you said, branded, powered by Abinity. It is basically, it's, you know, there are restaurants, you know, that are not, you know, your marbles, right? That can't offer full on health and insurance benefits, but they want to give their employees something. So this is basically like, it is a perks tool. So as part of our platform, they can log into their NetPerks and they can have savings on, you know, whether it be gas, hotels, maybe they want to plan a trip to Disney and they need some savings there.

49:11There's all of those savings for those employees. So if you can't offer full on, you know, health benefits, dental vision, things of that nature, you're at least giving back to them so they can save some money and put some money back in their pocket with the things they buy all the time. I love that. Yeah, it's a non-traditional benefit, right? So if I need to go put, you know, new tires on my car, which I probably do, I would go on the, I'll go on the Abinity app, search for it, and I could typically get, you know, my four tires for the price of two. Or if I needed to go get, you know, new glasses, and maybe I don't have the best vision insurance because I work for maybe a smaller company or a restaurant that just can't provide that, I can get my glasses for 50% off, right? So it's day-to-day things, not just like Disneyland tickets, right? But it's actual things that are helping a lot of families get discounts and they can do it right through our platform. So that's another way that we're helping kind of give back and build that culture that you were speaking of. That's amazing. I didn't know you guys, I didn't have no idea you guys did that.

50:13See, and I didn't tell you guys this, but like when I do interviews like this, I don't, every time I hear somebody do an interview with like, and tell me about the wonderful solution you have for this, and it's like, I actually like to give you pushback in these. I mean, I know you guys are sponsoring, I love you, but like, I'm so confident in what you guys do, that like, I like to kind of just have, I like these conversations to be organic. I don't, while you guys are sponsoring, I don't want this to be like, hey, they paid me to do this episode. I genuinely am interested. And I think that there is a need for this out there. And it's just not something that's talked about. It's just not like the, hey, this is the main, let's have a conversation about payroll. Like it just doesn't happen. So- Boring. Well, it's, I am enjoying this. I don't think it is- No, this is not boring. Payroll is boring. So we're making payroll fun. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the thing. And I think that there is a big human element to it and what you guys are doing is amazing. We are running a little short on time. We've almost, that's just 45 minutes in, 45 minutes.

51:17What are we missing? Like you guys, tell me what, what do we want to talk about right now? Well, I'll just say, you know, to your point where you were saying, hey, how do we have repeat customers, right? Yeah. And part of your method is creating this culture, right? With full-time employees and offering those things. Every business is unique. I talked to business owners that can't do that, right? But I think if you have a culture, if you've developed a staff full of people that are leaning, you're leaning into that are helping each other out, you can have those repeat customers because every server, every hostess that you approach is enjoying their job. They're doing that because your general manager, your owner is not worried about all the other stuff, right? That's what we're there to help with. The stuff that they have to do versus why they are in business, right? They're in business because they want to be successful.

52:18They want to be part of a community and they can have a great staff and create a wonderful culture if they're not having or feeling like they're having to put out fires on the back end. I completely agree. And I think you're thinking, well, why net checks, right? Like there's a lot of other payroll and HR companies out there, several of which I've worked for that are great companies. But I would say like the thing that keeps me showing up every day is knowing that we care about you individually, right? So, you know, with some companies out there, like the ship is going in the direction that it's going and it's either going to hit an iceberg or it's going to be smooth sailing. And I feel like I have very little to do with steering that ship, right? At Net Checks, I feel like we're all in the driver's seat, all of us, right? So like I said, calling our CEO, we're calling the service team to say, hey, this restaurant is having this issue. Can you help, right? So it really, we become an extension of you, your business, your vision. We listen to you and try to make changes or adjustments that are going to make your life easier because you aren't just a number, right?

53:19So we're not this huge conglomerate payroll company, but we're also not doing payroll in our backyard. So we've got, we're kind of that middle of the road, white glove type service experience to where we're large enough to have enough money to put into research and development to make sure that our clients have the technology that they need, that we're hiring the right staff that's highly trained and going to take care of you. But we're still small enough to where we hear you, right? Yeah. That Lauren and I can pop into your restaurant or your hotel or your retail store and have a conversation with you and say, you tell us what you need and let's see if we can help you and go into a mutually beneficial, hopefully long-term relationship. And Lauren, you work exclusively with restaurants? I do work with lots of industries, but I love restaurants just because I grew up in it, right? But that's your sweet spot. You really understand the language, the language of what goes on in restaurants. And I love that. I love that it's not just this gigantic corporation. And this is with all the sponsors. I mean, listen, I turned down a bigger company to go with you guys.

54:21I mean, because I had a couple different randomly payroll companies like, hey, we'd like to sponsor the show. But after talking to everybody, I really, I loved your vibe. I loved everything about you guys. And I wanted to go with you guys because you're the ones I believed in. You were the company that I was like, they really mean when I, when you look somebody in the eye, when I sit in this room and I talked to somebody, I really believed what you guys were saying because that's who you are. And when I said, hey, look, let's do this contest. Let's do this. You guys have been like, yes, we want to support this community as best we possibly can. There's not really a medium to do it until now. And I just, I don't know. I love, I love what you guys are doing. Thank you for everything that you're doing. And like, I mean, if you look over behind your shoulder, Robin's insurance, I mean, they're a local insurance company. They're a larger local, but like, they're not progressive. You know, and I don't want progressive in here because anybody like, I want to introduce people to companies that are really focusing on personalized.

55:26I love these are the white glove service because that's something that is lost. I told my leadership team yesterday, tell me if you agree with this. I don't know. I said, I don't expect good service anymore. I go, when I go anywhere, I expect service to suck. I go, it's terrible. Unless I'm like at the, unless I'm like at Audrey or like a really nice restaurant. Like I expect service wherever I go to suck. And so I keep a $5 bill on me at all times. I always have a $5 bill on me. And like, I was at Home Depot the other day and I needed to buy some paint that I bought at Sherwin Williams. And I told the guy, I was like buying other stuff and I go, hey, I have a paint color from Sherwin Williams. I need to buy. I can go there. It's right down the street from my house. But can you Matt? He's like, yeah, man, what do you got? What's the name of the paint? Let me figure it out. And then he took me on the island. He's like, what type of paint do you want? What's the finish? Is it a high traffic room? What is this, this and this? He's like, don't get the really expensive stuff. That's like in your kid's play room. You'll want that because they're going to mess it up and that'll hold. And this one's going to work out really well. It's a great mid tier. But he sat down and helped me figure it out.

56:27Then he went and matched the paint. Does this look like the color? Does this look good? Awesome. What can I get you? And I was just like, dude, that was amazing. I would just on a whim. I was going to go to Sherwin Williams anyway and get it. But this guy came in and I gave him a $5 bill. And he was like, what's this for? And I'm like, I appreciate the level of service he gives. Man, that's my job. And I'm like, I know. And I want to reward you for doing your job really well. It's not $100. It's $5. Just as I say, thank you for what you're doing because I think it's a loss. I think there's just everywhere you go. I'm just expecting it to be bad. We have a choice every day. And I think that you guys choose every day that high level of service and you actually care about your clients. And that is, it's not expected that you guys do that. Do for others what you don't have to do. You guys crush it. Thank you so much for joining today. Final thought, the Gordon food service. Final thought. We're just appreciative to be here.

57:27Honestly, like to get to hear your stories too. And just to have this experience, like I'm loving it. So thank you. I really appreciate the work that you're doing and the example that you're setting, you know, for other, um, you know, owners or managers, if they followed suit, um, what a better place we'd be in. Definitely. We wouldn't have to worry about, you know, sucky service, right? Because everybody would be doing their job. You just got to show up to show up, show up, but it's not just show up. It's show up and care and listen. I mean, care, care about, take pride in what you do. Like take pride in, you work hard for something and you like take pride in it. Own it. You know, this guy at Home Depot was passionate about paint and I love that. I'm not, he is, he, I felt passionate about paint when I left there. Ruby, are you passionate about paint? That was a no. That was a no from Ruby, but home design.

58:32And she's okay. We find a slight interest. I'm going to start designing her college dorm room pretty soon. So we'll see how passionate she gets. Oh, are you going to school? Come on, pull the mic. She needs the mic. Were you going to school? Hopefully Knoxville. I didn't know Knoxville was it is Knoxville University. Yes. What you, what would you fully call that school? University of Tennessee. Oh, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. I was like, just go to Knoxville. I'm just going to Knoxville to learn. I'm going to make moonshine. But one thing I always tell her, like when she goes to work at Tito's, I'm like, look, like put a smile on your face. Like make sure you are the face of the restaurant when someone walks in and you need to make them feel good about that. Right. Or if you're working in the back and you're doing expo, like you want that plate to look beautiful. What else do you do there? What all positions do you do at Tito's? I sit people, I pack to go orders and I do expo. So you, you, you host. Yes. You, you host, you pack orders like to go, you do to goes.

59:35You're very valuable. You have, you're multifaceted. Everyone should have to work in a restaurant at some point in their life, whether it be temporary or full time. Truly believe it. And I think it's been the best experience for her just to learn how to like deal with the community. The community can be very difficult. Right. And then to have someone tell her what to do other than me. Right. She's like, but listen to me, but listen to your mom, but listen to your mom. Thank you for allowing her to come as part of her shadow day. I think it's been awesome. So we just really appreciate you. You can wave to the camera. If you guys are going to watch this on YouTube, you can actually see Ruby. You look just like your mom. Everyone tells us that. Yeah. Well, cause it's true. I don't think she likes to hear that, but I take it as a huge compliment. So do I. She's like, damn dude. I said, I was going to say hi on the show and now you're interviewing me. What is this?

01:00:37You want to talk about Owen? Do you want to talk about Owen? No. Shout out to Owen. We give a shout out to Owen. Hi, Owen. Who's Owen? My boyfriend. Oh, how long you guys been dating? Almost a year. Almost a year. Is he going to UT Knoxville also? I don't know. Oh, was that a big source of contention right now in your lives? No, no, just kind of cool. Does he want to go? Does he want to college? Yeah. You might go to Alabama or Knoxville. I know that'll break it up. Damn. You know that that's a rivalry now. Happen to catch that game. Go Vols. Yeah, who won? Yeah. Are you guys Vols fans? Yes. We all Vols fans here? I'm not a Vols fan, but I honorarily was one two weeks ago. Yeah, right. How do you not be a Vols fan? Give me an orange sweatshirt. Give me a hat. I'm not going to go that far, but it was musty. Doesn't really look good on anyone. It was musty television.

01:01:37No, I've seen it look good on some people. There's some people that look good on you. It looks good on me. She's like, it looks good on me. I love it. But I don't know. We've gone off the rails now. No, we are. But squirrel. Thank you, guys. I definitely did not take my ADD medicine this morning. You can contact either of these lovely women to talk about all of the things that they do. And Lauren, do you want to go down a list of all the things that you do? Oh, gosh. There's a big list there, right? Let's do it. Yeah. So payroll, taxes, recruiting, onboarding. Gosh. Benefits administration. Benefits administration. I mean, there's just so much that we have to offer. But you pick what is best for you at your time, right? Your unique business. But we're going to take care of those back end things for you.

01:02:39I would say restaurant specific. And then we'll quit rambling. We have a great scheduling tool. We know that in restaurants, scheduling is super important. That's a huge thing. If you're using Excel spreadsheet, stop. Yeah. It's a big headache. And just, again, making sure right people, right place, right time. And then we realize that people are hiring people that speak all kinds of different languages, right? And so there's a lot of hiring anxiety and a lot of interview anxiety when people are walking in. And maybe English isn't their first language. And they're like, what if I can't read the application? I can't fill it out. Or wonder if I'm filling out my new hire forms and I really don't know what it says. Or you shy away from hiring these people. Yes. Everything can be translated into pretty much any language from our technology to our app to all the forms. And so it really does help a lot of restaurants be able to diversify and make sure they have enough workers and that the workers feel comfortable showing up, knowing that they'll be able to read and hear it in their own language. Lauren, do you do that, the translating? How many languages do you speak? Yeah, I speak, I speak mom.

01:03:42We're doing good with English currently. Yes. Learning baseball, football, hockey, soccer. Soccer, wrestling. Wrestling. Yeah, all of them. Yeah. You play any sports, Ruby? I play soccer. Yeah. My oldest, we just signed up for winter soccer. He's big into it. That's why I have a sprained ankle right now. Because I'm 43 and I'm a giant and I don't play soccer, but I play one as a dad. Didn't work out well for me last weekend. Well, best of luck. Big man fall hard. I want to just kind of say one thing real quick. Bring us back to business, Lauren. Sorry. Bring us back. We talk about, we're all part of this community. We want our business, Nashville restaurant businesses to be successful. And I think being able to help in even some small way is just really why we are in business, why Anna and I do this every day. And it's also very nice to know when someone shoots you a text or an email to say you have made a difference.

01:04:48So I'm going to share just a text I actually got yesterday. She said, hey, Lauren, net checks, I just want to tell you has been a wonderful experience for me. I was so frustrated with my prior company's constant errors. I couldn't even focus on my business. Every month was a different disaster. Since I switched to net checks, I haven't had one single worry about payroll. I can now fully commit all of my energy to working on my business instead of my business working on me. That's why I'm here. We did not pay her to text that. No, we didn't. I'm like, Ruby, are you texting Lauren again? Copy paste Mr. Lauren right now. That's what we do it for, right? Correct. That's why you get up in the morning. So I will, if you're listening to this and you haven't written a text message like that to a purveyor or somebody who does that for you, do that. Go right now to a local restaurant or any of your, I don't want to say local restaurants are great, but go to Yelp and leave a five-star review somewhere right now for somebody who does a great job for you.

01:05:51I think it is so vital and I think that you should definitely go do that. Thank you guys both for coming in today. Thank you. Ruby, thank you for shadowing your mom today. She said so many more words than hi. That was my goal was to get her to like have a whole conversation. I did not sign up for this. She did not sign up for this. The first time this has happened on the show, by the way. A lot of people have been in here and this is the first time that like we've had a shadow. I think I probably owe her like a sushi lunch or something. Yeah, you do. Yeah, or a good like a hamburger or something like a really good one around the diner across the street. She's like, sushi. Yes. Well, good. Well, you guys do that. Thank you for joining us and thank you for listening. We appreciate you guys hanging in there with net checks. Feel free to contact them. We would love for you guys to have Lauren come in and just do an audit of what you're currently using. We're going into 2023. If you don't like who you're using for payroll and HR, if you don't have an HR solution, they're a great option.

01:06:55If you go to our website, nashrestaurantradio.com, you can click the net checks tab. For everybody that does an audit, everybody that calls Lauren and sets up a demo, your name is going to be put into a hat. We're going to be giving away some prizes at the end of the month for every single person who uses one of our sponsors. We're going to outline that on our show next week. We are so excited to have you guys here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a wonderful week. We will be with you soon. Caroline back on the show next week. Bye.