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00:00We are super excited to introduce Maintain IQ for restaurants. Maintain IQ is a modern digital checklist system that simplifies your operations. They are designed specifically for restaurants. You can standardize, track, and manage food safety procedures, temp logs, daily checklists, preventative maintenance, and ongoing repairs. He's saying that you can, managers will save up to 10 hours per week. You can repair, you can reduce repairs and maintenance spend by $5,000 a year. Staff will know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Everything is digitally recorded. Minimize liability, ensuring safety, cleaning, and compliance standards are upheld. This is the best thing since sliced bread, guys. And we're gonna talk about that in just a sec, with Sharpies. But we are talking about a checklist to do every single thing in your restaurant that's all kept nice and neat in a little app. You need to call Will Joxon. His number is 888-534-0261 and set up a 30 minute demo.

01:04If you do that, I'll give you a free Nashville Restaurant Radio hat, or I'll give you a free Nashville Restaurant Radio T-shirt. Just send me a message on Instagram. Check out Maintain IQ. We absolutely love partnering with Sharpies Bakery. Aaron Mosso has been selling bread, fresh baked bread, to locally unoperated restaurants six days a week for 36 years. Yes, her father started the company 36 years ago and Aaron took it over five years ago. And it is doing amazing things. I have so many guests that come in the studio that are like, I love Sharpies. They save me so much time and the bread is so good. So we've got round buns, specialty round buns, dinner rolls, hoagies, baguettes. They do cheesecake, they do flourless chocolate, tortes, they do specially loaf breads and regular loaf breads and bullies. Bullies, B-O-U-L-E-S, sourdough, long tuscan, wheat, multigrain. They got everything. You should go check them out at sharpies.com.

02:04That is Sharpies, C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. Or you should give them a call at 615-356-0872. Supporting local is so damn important. And Aaron Mosso and all of our friends over at Sharpies Bakery do that daily. Give her a call, right now. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. Fresh and relaxed back from vacation. Had an absolutely wonderful time in the Panhandle of Florida.

03:07I felt like I was living in John Cougar Melon Camp Song where we vacation at the Gulf of Mexico. Lot of fun spending time with the family. I missed doing podcasts. What an awesome episode with Preston Denny that Kayla Ellis put out with her Gospel of Cocktail podcast. Another episode coming up this Wednesday. You're gonna love it. She's talking with Twin Nguyen. And she is, I think she's the head bartender at Oku in Germantown. They've been working close together for three years and this is just a fun interview. I cannot wait to put it out for you on Wednesday, a brand new episode of Gospel of Cocktail. Now I am telling you guys, we've got some good stuff coming up. We are working with net checks. Now here is the thing that we are doing. We are gonna be creating a bracket. So it is Bracketology in August, late July in August. We've got 64 Mexican restaurants. These are locally owned and operated Mexican restaurants and everybody has their favorite.

04:13I've got my favorite, you've got your favorite. Is it the Rose Pepper, is it Memos? I love my local El Aguero. I love Cancun in Bellevue. There's so many amazing Mexican restaurants and everybody has their favorite. They got their favorite guy. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna put a 64 team bracket and it is gonna be put out at the end of this month. You're gonna go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com. You're gonna click the, I wanna vote. And from there, you will vote for your favorite Mexican restaurant or plural, however many you have. You can vote for one, you can vote for 50 or for half of 64, whatever you wanna do. And we're gonna whittle it down to a final four. And in those final four, we're gonna pick a winner. And that winner will then get a party. We're gonna throw a Mexican Independence Day, which is September the 16th. We're gonna throw a party on the 15th, which is a Thursday. We're gonna have mariachi bands, the whole deal. I'm gonna be recording live from the restaurant. We are going to have a blast. So if you want your neighborhood repped, we've been on all the different sites asking for who the best Mexican restaurant is, all that stuff, I think we've got them down.

05:18That's gonna be up next week. Hopefully we're doing our final meeting on Tuesday this week. So we're gonna make that happen. So excited that NetChex has decided to partner with us on this. NetChex is just an amazing partner in all things that do. So if you need an HR solution, if you need a hiring solution, you need a payroll solution, NetChex is the company for you. If you go to netchex.com, that's N-E-T-C-H-E-X.com, you can sign up. I have a feeling that the winner of this contest is gonna get a really great deal with NetChex. They're gonna be somebody they're going to completely, completely hook you up. So that being said, back from vacation, had a blast. We went to Destin and man, I tell you what, I'm with family just hanging out, but I cannot go to a restaurant and have bad service. Do you guys know what I'm talking about where you go somewhere and people just do not give a shit about you?

06:19I felt like I got that in a lot of places. It was all over the place. Like it was just a, why are you here? What are like, just fine. I mean, the service was so, it wasn't good. It was almost like, look, we know you don't live here. You're only here for one week and then you're gonna go back to wherever you're from and just eat and leave. That's what it felt like. That's what it felt like to me. We went to a place called Beauchamps, which is like my wife's favorite restaurant in the world. That place, amazing. Service, top, top notch. We also got to go eat at Partyfowl, Partyfowl, which is now in Destin. It was so much fun because we had Austin on the show and Austin told us he teased us because I got something really big coming up, Brandon. I can't tell you about it for another week, but it's really big. And it was their location in Destin. That was the thing that he was holding back. And now it is open. I got to eat there. We had an amazing time. It was so much fun. That restaurant, again, service was amazing.

07:20Dawson was our server. Shout out to Dawson. And he brought us the poultry guy sauce. My kids, seven and eight years old, got to eat the hottest sauce in the world. And it was hot. It was really, really hot. They just had like a tiny, tiny little taste and they had an absolute blast. I hope that you got to take a vacation this year. Hope you got to spend some time away. It was nice. I enjoyed the drive down there. Does anybody else like driving? I love just being in a car and driving for like multiple hours. I love listening to music. I love just talking. I just love road trips. Really, really, really love road trips. There's just something about them just like fills my soul, makes me so happy. We made it down to Destin in six and a half hours. The kids, we stopped one time we got off the interstate. One time, the whole way there with two kids that are seven, eight years old. That has to be some sort of a record. The last thing I did on my vacation was yesterday. I tested out my new smoker. I did not buy a smoker. I built a smoker. 95 cinder blocks, a four by six foot grate for cooking things on.

08:24And I bought a couple ricks of cherry wood and I cooked, yesterday I cooked a brisket. I cooked two racks of ribs and I cooked a pork, but I didn't know anything. I had no clue what I was doing, but it turned out really, really well. The food is great and I thought that it was just a blast. So that was really fun. I got to actually cook. I had a fire, a really hot fire going all day long in my fire pit. Now I transfer the coals underneath the thing, just like Pat Martin said in the book, Life of Fire. I followed it to a tee. It worked amazingly. So awesome, so much fun. Thank you, Pat, for doing that. Putting that book out there and giving me the goal, the new hobby of now smoking meat. So I can't wait to do different things and have some people over and do that. But today's episode's gonna be a lot of fun. I can talk for hours and I want to talk for hours because I miss talking into a microphone. But we're talking to Rich Wolowski today and this is an episode I did a year and a half ago. This is a replay because I just haven't been out of town.

09:26I wanted to put something out there for you. And GFS is our title sponsor. They're our title sponsor because they're amazing. They do amazing things. They live their core values. And this is something that I talk about in the interview with Rich. And I wanted to reshare this interview because this is not just something that GFS said, hey, we want to pay you to be part of your show. I really wanted them to because them, and What Chefs Want, those are great people. And they're people that I trust and they're people that I work with and I trust. I do vendor negotiations. And most of the vendor negotiations that I do, GFS wins. And they know exactly what we're looking for. So we thought, hey, look, let's partner together. And if you would like to talk about your broad line business in any kind of a way, you want to learn some kind of some of the inside stuff as to what to do, how to put out an RFP. What does RFP stand for? Feel free to message me. I'm happy to talk to you about it. I'm working one right now. And I've got a couple more on the books. So fun, fun things coming.

10:27GFS has been an amazing sponsor. They're also really good friends of mine. And this episode was cool because the CEO of the entire company said, yeah, I'll come on your podcast, let's go. So here it is. I've reached out to Cisco. I've reached out to US Foods. I've reached out to PFG. Now one of them even returned my call. I wanted to do four episodes where I had the CEOs from all four companies and I asked them all the same five questions back to back. None of them would even return my call. And Rich Wolowski from GFS said, yeah, man, I'd love to. So what do you do? Good, good people. And I just wanted to share this interview because it tells a lot about why they're our title sponsor and why they're amazing in what they do. So without further ado, let's jump right in with Rich Wolowski. Super excited to welcome in Rich Wolowski and he is the CEO of Gordon Food Service. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Great to be here, Brandon. Thanks for the invite.

11:29This is pretty exciting. So I got to meet you a few weeks ago and we had an amazing lunch. I just enjoyed our conversation so much that I said, we got to continue this on air on Nashville Restaurant Radio and you said, I'd love to. What have you gotten yourself into? Yeah, it was a, like I said, it was a great lunch and just to learn more about your business and just what you're doing during COVID was inspiring to me. So I want to thank you for that time together and just excited to be here to tell our story. Well, so I'm so excited to do that, but let's get into a little bit of you and thank you for those kind words, by the way. Oh yeah. The one question I'm asking people in a literal sense through all of this, there's a lot of people that are not okay and I think that the term, the general greeting of like, hey, how you doing? How are you? Is like a real question.

12:31It can be a, hey, what's going on? How you doing? Hey, I'm good, how are you? But like, how are you doing? Are you making it through? You doing okay? Yeah, I'm doing great. I will tell you, it's been a roller coaster ride over the last 13 months. There's no question about that. I mean, we've been, I've personally been throwing every curve ball imaginable. I will tell you that someone asked me the question the other night, if I was the same question and they asked me, am I sleeping okay? And I thought that was a funny question, but it made me think about it. I mean, the first four months of the pandemic, I will tell you, it was confusing and chaotic. And I think everyone's lives were turned inside out and with the question of what's gonna happen next. And so I would tell you, the first four months were pretty crazy for me, but we hit our stride.

13:36We flexed new muscles. I'm so thankful for the company, our people within the company. And from a family perspective, we always try to look for the good things. I got to spend some cherished time with my kids. I mean, all of our kids got thrown back home and they were doing their virtual thing, but just having dinner every night and being with them during this time was just, I mean, it was just amazing. And in my job, I get to, I travel quite a bit. I mean, I'm probably gone three, four days a week before the pandemic. And of course, during the pandemic, I haven't been traveling much except for lately when I came to see you. That was actually my second trip out since the pandemic started, but I'm doing good. You know, I'm healthy. I'm so excited about the future.

14:37I'm so excited about the future. And I'm just grateful for the experiences and how we've all grown through this whole thing. So, but I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I did gain 20 pounds, but for the record, I lost 20 pounds also over the last couple of months. So I think- We're on a similar track here because I gained like 25 pounds and I'm down 20. I got like five to go, but I'm like hitting the gym every day and making it happen. I tell you, January 1st, I said, boy, I got to lose this. And so I got out of, I feel a lot better about that. So you mentioned you had to spend some time at home with the kids. How many kids do you have and what are their ages? Yeah, so I've got married 27 years. My wife, Kristen, she's a great, great partner and she's a rock and just love her to death. I've got three kids. I've got a 23 year old who's actually in the Congo right now and she graduated from Taylor University.

15:37And then I've got two boys, one 19, one 17, a 19 year old, goes to school at Taylor also. And then my youngest is a junior in high school right now. And what is your daughter doing in the Congo? So she got a degree in public health at Taylor. And so think of public health, just think about the last year, that's a public health issue, but no kidding. She got a degree in public health and she's working for an organization called Samaritan's Purse. Yeah, yeah. And Samaritan's Purse, a long time organization. The Grahams started this and she's in their internship program on the International Relief Task Force. So she's over in the Congo for an extended period of time working on projects over there and then she'll be deployed to another country potentially the Philippines or somewhere else.

16:39But she's got a heart to serve and she's got just a big passion about public health and it's water, it's sanitation, it's all the preventive measures that you put in place to make the world a better place. So she's thriving over there, doing wonderful. We keep up to date with her on WhatsApp. We probably talk to her more now than we did before when she was in college, but she's doing terrific and the two boys are doing great as well. That is so amazing. I love to hear that. Kudos to her. So let me ask you, let's jump into some work stuff because I know that I could talk about family and all this stuff all day long. But I wanna get into some GFS stuff because you mentioned that there's been curve balls and the first four months was crazy. I kinda wanna do a little bit of a deep dive into some of that. First off, how large is GFS?

17:40How big of a company is it? How many employees do you have? Well, before COVID, we had 17,000 employees and we're a North American company. So we're coast to coast in Canada and if you drew a line from West Texas up, we're East of Texas in the US. We have multiple pieces of the business. So we serve restaurants, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, anybody that would buy food away from home. And then we have 170 plus stores in the US that are like 25,000 square foot stores open to the public. People can come by and buy chef food, institutional food products. And, but 17,000 before COVID. So if you looked at it right now, right now we're probably about 14,000 employees. What a, the chef stores, some of the, your stores, Gordon food service stores, what an innovative idea.

18:46Yeah. So many people take advantage of that here in Nashville. It's just a, it's a huge help to a lot of restaurants. Yeah, and it's not just for restaurants. It's also for, you know. Anybody. I mean, you can combine and, you know, there's no membership. You just walk in and, you know, there's about 4,500 items in every store. And, you know, you buy chef grade, you know, restaurant quality products to take home and have a catering event or, or just whatever you do. There's all sorts of opportunities at your shop. So how long have you worked for Gordon food service? So I've been with a company, my anniversary is in a couple of weeks. So I've been with the company for 17 years. And I got to know the Gordon family before that. I've been in food service my entire life. I grew up on a farm in Western Pennsylvania. I've been in restaurant operations, distribution, and did two startup companies in the food service industry.

19:49And the second one, that's how I met the Gordon family. We were raising money from partners in the food service supply chain and approached the Gordon family and they put money into the company. They became actually our largest shareholder after multiple rounds of funding. But then we sold the company to KKR. And that's when Dan Gordon asked me to come to Gordon food service. So you guys are a privately held company currently, right? Yep, we're gonna celebrate our 125th anniversary next year, family owned, always family owned and fifth generation in the business today. I think we've got nine fifth generation family members in all different levels of the business. So it's an exciting company. It's an amazing family to work for, which is one of the things I just love about the company.

20:52So I worked for US Foods when US Foods went public and they had this big announcement and everybody was jumping up and down and I kept looking around and I'm like, why is everybody excited? Like now the shareholders control everything. Like why is everybody jumping up and down? Do you guys have any plans to go public? Is there any, I mean, you got PFG, GFS, PFG, US Foods in Cisco, which are all public companies. You're kind of one of the big four that's still privately held. Anything in the future? Yeah, we're the largest independent food service distributor in North America. And the answer is there are absolutely no plans to go public. We're a company that is gonna stay private, family owned and we talk about, and this is the way we think, our business, we think about it being around in perpetuity, which means forever. And so that's just the backbone of the company being independent, private and thriving as an organization.

22:01What are some of the benefits to being a private company? You say, we're gonna do this forever. Obviously there's a cash injection when you look at going public, but like what are some of the benefits of being a private company? How would you want to stay there? Well, you just mentioned about being a public company. I think the benefit of being a public company would be the cash infusion. You're able to raise money and expand and grow with just a lot of capital behind you. But I think the benefit of being a private company and being a family owned company especially is that we think about the business long-term. We don't think about the business by quarter. And so we double down and make bets on long-term opportunities for the company. Public companies, they just can't really do that because they have shareholders, they get quarterly results. And not to say that we don't meet our goals because we are very passionate about goals and passionate about being a high performance growth company.

23:08But a private company just gives you, it just gives you more flexibility to do things differently. And that's really what I love about the company. You can be more nimble. Yeah, absolutely. Especially during a time like this, during the pandemic when you have to be nimble and you have to think about the future. I think about what you guys do. I mean, that's why we love the food service industry and we love, it's so tenacious. And I was just amazed by what you guys have done with your business and how you just embraced the moment and the takeout, the delivery, just all the things that you're doing. It's just the way you gotta operate in this industry. We are, we're trying to do everything. We're trying to be innovative. We're trying to look at this as a positive, as an opportunity versus, oh, you know, we're really trying to ask what can we do to excel our business during this time?

24:14And which is a good segue, talking about kind of what you're doing. March 13th last year was the day of my first podcast. And March 12th was the day that they canceled all of the tournaments, SEC Tournament. They canceled the March Madness. The NBA season canceled. They stopped spring training. Hockey season was postponed. All concerts were shut down. All of a sudden, March 12th, it was like a, every, it became real for everybody. What was that day like for you? Man, it was a day that I'll never forget. It would take a whole chapter in a book to cover that day. I just, right before that, I just got back from Brazil. I was meeting a bunch of coffee growers down there, just way in the hills of Brazil. Just got off of long-range planning exercise. Just got finished with a board meeting. And so we had, we were off to a fantastic year and March 13th came and everything that you mentioned, all the shutdowns.

25:25I mean, it was just rapid fire, one thing after the other. And March 13th was a day, I mean, that we as a senior team, we said cancel all your appointments for the next week. Let's huddle today. Let's wipe the plans out for the weekend. Let's be in the office over the weekend. We had all sorts of war rooms orchestrated in our home office, different teams of people, conference calls, town halls. I mean, we were just going after it, just trying to figure out where's this gonna go? When does it end? What is the impact? What about our customers? That was the biggest thing. It was like, what's gonna happen with our customers was the biggest thing that we were thinking about March 13th. So it was rapid fire that day. And it just kept on going and going for the days ahead and months ahead.

26:27Who's the first person you call? Like, can you start talking March 13th, you're watching the news. Who do you call and go, holy cow, we gotta get together. We need to call, war rooms, I need this happening, this happening. Who do you call to set all that in motion? Well, I will tell you. I mean, I'm just gonna lean on my faith here. I'm okay to say that on the radio, right? 100%, I talk about it all the time. Yeah, I will tell you, the first person I called was the man above. And all of us were in deep prayer. We had numerous meetings where that was the first thing that we did. And that was the first thing I did was just guidance and patience and wisdom. Those were the three things that I prayed for. But from a physical standpoint, who did I call? The team, our leadership team.

27:27And it was getting everybody together and getting everybody on the same page and attacking this just piece by piece. And also the Gordon family and our board, just keeping them up to date and getting their insight and their wisdom. Our company has been through 125 years. We've been through many, many different episodes throughout the 125 years. And so we just tried to do the best that we could, get all the information that we could, but then also coming together as a team was really, really important. So I never felt like I had the 400 pound gorilla just on my shoulders. We all carried the weight. We all did the work. We all figured it out together. And so that was a big part of it. What was the first big decision that you had to make?

28:28Was it going into the pandemic that you remember going, are you sure? Like, yes, we're gonna do this. And you went all in on. Yeah. Well, the first thing we had to do was, I mean, we were, like I said, we were a $17 billion company. And then overnight we became a $13 billion company. So the first thing I did was pull an income statement from 2013 when we were a $13 billion company. And I started peeling it apart, looking at what did we look like back then? How many people did we have? What was our run rate, our KPIs? I mean, that was the first thing I did was pull the income statement out because we had to recalibrate the entire company to be a $13 billion company. And we had to think that way, because we couldn't blindly think that we were just gonna ride the storm with the current build.

29:30And so that's the first thing that we had to do was really kind of recalibrate the company and look at how many people we had and go through that awful process of downsizing the company at that point in time. And we did it in a very methodical way, but we also made sure that we did it in a very caring way. We wanted to recalibrate the company in a way that met our culture, which meant providing extended healthcare benefits and just all the different pieces of relief that we really owed our people as we went through that process. And I think that's, again, where being a private company, you guys can make those decisions and you're not beholden to stockholders who are saying, we're in the middle of this thing. I mean, all the stocks tanked during this, but I mean, you could, hey, look, we're not gonna be as profitable right now, but it's okay.

30:37We need to take care of our people and really follow through with our, you guys call them cornerstone values, but how, so let's talk about that. I'm a big fan of core values and having a strong foundation. It sounds like faith has a strong foundation for you as well. What are the cornerstone values at GFS and how are you able to lean on those during this time? Yeah, I mean, I think above the cornerstone values, we're accompanied with purpose and intent. And we're here for a purpose, for a higher calling, and we wanna make the world a better place. And it is how you take care of your people. It's also how you take care of your communities. And it's not what you do, it's how you do it. And that's a big part of our culture. And then the cornerstone values are values that fit underneath that, that help us do our job every single day.

31:41And so the first one that we have is customers came and we're here to serve the customer. We're here to make our customers successful. And that's really, really important to us. And so making sure that in every conference room that we can, in every conversation, in every piece of recognition, that the cornerstone values are a way that we gauge, how are we doing and what are we doing to live to those values day in, day out. And I will tell you, because I mean, I'm blessed to be able to see the entire company from A to Z every single place. And it doesn't matter whether you're in Winnipeg or British Columbia or Key West or New England, our values are alive. And it's something that we hold our people accounted for.

32:42And we're just very passionate for it. I love that you guys have, I love that war room mentality is one of your, one of your cornerstone values. I love that because everything is all, it's very nice and it's customer is king and we're gonna do the best integrity and all of these things. And there's war room mentality. So it's a, we wanna do everything the right way. We wanna do it respectful. We wanna work with our customers. We wanna care about our employees, but damn it, we're gonna fight. We're gonna fight really hard and we're gonna be intentional. We're gonna be strategic. Don't think we're soft over here because we want it. We want it bad. And I just, I don't know what it is. I just love that. I know it's funny on the war room mentality. We went through a rebranding a couple of years ago and we were talking about redoing our cornerstone values. Just maybe choosing a couple of different words that are more relevant today.

33:45And that war room mentality came up and we were actually thinking about changing that. And we got out into some focus groups with the company and oh my gosh, the passion behind, behind that cornerstone value was so significant. We said, we're not gonna touch that. But, and also if you think about this last year, think about what you guys have gone through. That is war room mentality. This industry, what we've gone through in COVID, war room mentality is how you make it through it. And so I think that's a cornerstone value that's not gonna get changed, at least on my watch, because it is alive and well and it's such an important part of who we are. It's digging in, it's having grit, it's working together to solve any problem that comes in front of you. I wanna get past talking about just the pandemic and all the things throughout the pandemic. I think it's fascinating to hear your perspective when you have a company of 17,000 employees at the time, just how your brain works.

34:52I think that's really fascinating to me. So thank you for entertaining my questions. If you could go back right now and give yourself today, March 31st, if you could go back to Rich Wolowski on March 12th, what advice would you give yourself? And we're gonna get the answer to that question right after these words from our sponsors. We are so excited to introduce you to the future of restaurant technology. GoTab is it. With GoTab QR-based online ordering and payment processing solution through the all-in-one Restaurant POS software, you have the flexibility to adjust your service model based on your guest preferences and staffing levels. Our system even allows easy menu management based on what you have in stock. Unlike traditional Restaurant POS hardware, you don't have to be locked in to one way of doing things that starts and ends with a server taking manual orders and swiping credit cards.

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37:59I love it. And I just, I love that. They're so perfect because they work with locally owned and operated restaurants better than anyone. And let me tell you how they do it. No minimums, no fees, no fuel surcharges, no surcharges any time. They deliver seven days a week. They have 24 seven customer support. You can call, text, chat, email anytime from anywhere, or you can reach them at 502-587-9012. They have a diverse line of products. Their chefs have access to thousands of items across many different categories that allow them to receive fresh product daily. What Chefs Want is the perfect addition to any broad line company, as they've got all of your fresh produce delivered daily, plus custom meats, anything that you need that your broadliner can't get. Give them a call, 800-600-8510, or visit them at whatchefswant.com. March 31st, if you could go back to Rich Wolowski on March 12th, what advice would you give yourself?

39:04That's a good one. Yeah, I'm kind of peeling that apart now because what we're doing is we're gonna document and create a playbook of what we've been through this last year. But me personally, you know, I talked about the first four months and I would probably look back and tell myself that this is gonna be a marathon and treat it like a marathon, not like a sprint, because the first four months was kind of like a sprint to get things done. And, you know, I think history will tell itself, I mean, tell all of us, you know, what we did right or wrong. But I'm really proud of the way we handled the situation and the moments that we went through. And like I said before, it's not what you do, it's how you do it. I'm very proud of how we did it, you know, how we made it through.

40:06But I would just probably say, you know, back then a year ago, just, hey, it's a marathon, take care of yourself, get a good night's sleep, be fresh. First four months were a lot of sleepless nights. I can imagine. Were there any big mistakes that you made? Anything you look back on and go, yeah, that was a bad call. I mean, I'm a big fan of mistakes. I encourage people to make mistakes. I met with my general manager yesterday and I said, what mistakes did you make this week? What do you got for me? Like, tell me what you made. Like, what did you learn? Like, where are we at? He's a newer general manager. And anything that you can recall over the past year that maybe was a learning experience for you? Yeah, the one thing that just I think about all the time is we're going through a ERP migration right now to SAP. And when we were going through March 13th and the weeks after, you know, the first thing you need to think about is your balance sheet and resources and, you know, all those things that you have to make decisions on.

41:09And we put that on pause and, you know, we got it back up and running in the fall. But when we put it on pause, it just, you know, we just lost momentum. We lost some resource. We lost some people through that. And I wish, you know, I think that, you know, it's six months. If you look at it, it's six months that we put it on pause, but it probably costs us more than six months as we start to ramp up. But, you know, just certain decisions like that that you just, you know, I felt like I made a knee-jerk decision on that. But then again, you know, you just don't know what you don't know. And it gets back to this marathon, not a sprint. But I would have, if I would have done that over again, I would have just kept that thing humming because we were making great progress. It's been a great journey as hard as it is. You know, it's all about the future and making an investment for the future. All right. So thank you for all of that.

42:11Super interesting. And I want to move into general Gordon food service. And you mentioned that you did a rebranding was, cause you used to have these trucks that just said GFS, and it was like the little stripe down the side and it was red and orange, I think. And then all of a sudden this big truck that said Gordon food service real big on the side with like a pepper and something else. There's these real pretty trucks. Was that about the time that you guys did that? Yeah, that was the rebranding. And we changed our tagline also. And it was needed. We had a, you know, logos only last so long. Colors only last so long. But we felt it was important to put the Gordon name on the brand, you know, versus something abbreviated. And we still say GFS, although we told ourselves we wouldn't. But I mean, we're a family owned company. We should proudly have the Gordon name out there. That was part of it.

43:11The other part too was, I mean, if you think of our trucks going down the road, I mean, that's our brand. Those things are billboards when they come down the road. And we're a food company. We're not a company that just ships boxes. I mean, we're a food company. And so we wanted to make it really appealing and put some beautiful pictures of what food looks like in our restaurants. And every year, well, we didn't do it this last year because of COVID, but we always come up with, you know, five or six different, you know, pictures that we want to put on a truck. And we have our employees do a survey and the one that gets the highest score gets that new logo in the fleet. Nice. Which has been a lot of fun. And then the second part of the rebranding was our tagline is always at your table. And it was funny when we came up with a new tagline, you know, we had, oh, I remember the consulting company had well over a hundred different taglines.

44:17And I said, you can't bring a hundred into the boardroom to the family. And so they narrowed it down to 20. And that one was picked out immediately. And the Gordon family, they picked it. And I'll never forget. I mean, it was almost, I think there was almost tears in our eyes when we picked that. And the reason why was because the family just feels so passionate about, you know, the table. And a table is a place that you come together for fellowship. A table is a place that you come to get away from, you know, the day-to-day activities. You know, it's the center of just fellowship and relationships. And that's what we do. I mean, we bring food to you to take to your table. We bring food to, you know, a mom or dad at a house to bring to their table.

45:19And that's what we're all about. And we're all about serving others and we're all about fellowship. And so that was the backdrop behind always at your table. But we're having a lot of fun with the rebranding and the trucks and, you know, the social media tie-ins that we do. It's been a lot of fun. Well, that's such a good story to hear. I mean, that kind of puts a bow on the warmth that I feel from your company. You know, everybody that I deal with that is from GFS, I get a sense of the warmth. And for those of you who wonder how these taglines and how this stuff is made, I love the fact that you bring it into the boardroom and the family loves it because it has such significance. Like it's not based upon, you know, these different focus groups that thought that this word sounded better because then people would buy from it. It's like, no, this is the family name and we're a family and this is our company and we provide food at your table.

46:20It means a lot, the significance behind, like it's that easy. It doesn't have to be some crazy thing. Like it's, that's who we are. And I love, that's warm. That feels like, it feels like family. It's a good thing. I call it a tissue moment. It was a tissue moment when we picked that out. I'll never forget it. Wow, so I could go a million different directions with that. I know we don't have all the time in the world. So I'm gonna ask you general GFS questions. What do you think, if I had you, if I was the panel right now and I had you and the CEO of Cisco and PFG and US Foods all lined up and I said, Mr. Wolowski, what is the biggest differentiator between Gordon Food Service and these other gentlemen and these other companies? What would you say? Well, they're all great companies. I mean, we compete in a very fragmented market and I mean, there's just so many great businesses out there.

47:22Some are public and some are private, but they're all good companies. But I would say what makes us different is our people. And that's just something that we're very passionate about. We have a strong culture. I mentioned before that we strive to every day to meet our customer needs, but our people really care. And I think that's the difference with us versus the rest of the competition. I mean, not that they don't, I'm not saying that they don't, but it's something that we really cherish. We really care for our people and we care for our customers and we care for our communities. And I feel like that's what makes us different. I mean, it's not that they don't, it's just that that's the center of what we do. And I'm just really proud of it. I'm just proud of our people and proud of our teams and what they do day in, day out. I mean, we just super care about each other and the world.

48:28How do you identify those people? Is that when you're interviewing people, is there like one interview question that they have to ask that is a, you know, that kind of helps you identify or do you use like a disc profile when you hire people to identify people that might fit? Well, it really depends on the position, you know, it depends on what everybody does, but we try to get to the heart of who everybody is. And, you know, we don't always get it right. I'll be the first to say that, but we put a lot of emphasis on making sure that people know the job and that people understand what this company is all about. And when you get into the company and you get to see it and you get to feel it and you get to see how we recognize people, we have profit sharing as an organization. How many companies share the profits with the employees? Very few. And when people get indoctrinated into the culture and to the fabric of who we are, you know, that's when it all sticks.

49:37But it's, you know, it's always a challenge. People can find opportunities out there, especially in this day and age. And, you know, we try to find people, the right people, ask the right questions. And, you know, there's not just one single silver bullet question. You have to, you know, just do some great interviewing. And then when you get them on board, you know, then you gotta just show them and mentor them and, you know, have them be part of the bigger organization and celebrate their performance and reward them for performance and have them part of the family. Because every, it's not, you know, the Gordon family is not just, you know, the Gordons. The Gordon family is, you know, all employees within the company. That's what it's all about. I love that. I love all of that. So what do you, you've been going around visiting, you live in Michigan, correct? I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

50:37And- 41 in Grand Rapids today. How much is it? 41. We got 52 here today. All right, you're good. It's a little chilly here today, full overcast. We're ready for spring to happen. What have you been seeing as you've been going around? You said you've just recently been going out. The trip to Nashville a few weeks ago was one of your first that you've gone out. Are you optimistic about what you're seeing out there? What are you getting from the restaurant tours and chefs that you're visiting? What do you see for the future? Well, first, everything doesn't look like Michigan. Let me just say that. Michigan has been pretty buttoned down. And, but the rest of the states that we serve, you know, further south look a lot different and the business is rebounding. There's no question every week we see, you know, you know, growth every single week from the week prior. So that really excites me and it excites the organization.

51:42But what am I seeing with the operators? This is what just really excites me is on what people are doing to survive or thrive. I mean, you know, the actions that they've taken, the stories that they tell, how they're reinventing their business. And it's the menu, it's the customer experience, it's ghost kitchens, it's takeout orders. It's doing new things that they've never done before. And it's been fun and just inspiring to see how our customers are making it through this challenge. And I think the industry is gonna look different in the future. I don't know how, I wish I had a crystal ball, but I feel like there's gonna be just a lot of new ways to do things, a lot of new innovation, a lot of new concepts, a lot of new menus. And that's what really excites us is the future as we think about, you know, post COVID.

52:47Well, I am optimistic as well and I am excited. I've had a very similar kind of a view for you sitting down talking to chefs and restaurateurs for the past year as we've gone through it. So I've really got to talk it out with a lot of them. And it's been unbelievable for me. It's inspired me getting to gain this many people's perspectives as to what they're doing. And it motivates me. And I'm like, wow, the human spirit is so resilient. And that somebody asked me the other day, I was being interviewed and they said, what do you think's the most important thing that going into restaurants post pandemic, what's the most important thing that restaurants need? And I said, leadership and an attitude, like a can do attitude. People that are not willing to give up and are hard, like this is it, we're gonna fight for this thing. A positive attitude and leadership is the two things that you've gotta have moving forward in a restaurant because we have no idea what can happen.

53:53And you've seen the people that have had both of those things are thriving right now. Yeah, and I, you know, yeah, I think the restaurant industry has just rewritten the definition of the word tenacity through this pandemic and, you know, how people have just kind of retold what they did. And it's been interesting for us to watch and hear about, you know, even though the dining rooms are open, the portability, the, you know, the, you know, the pickup or delivery service, you know, for to go orders, it's still there. I mean, people's business is still thriving on that. And that's been, you know, great news for us to see that as well as, you know, customers are gonna continue to have a, you know, grown piece of their business that is gonna be a takeout or delivery orders. So last question, I know we gotta get you out of here. The supply chain, I keep hearing about right now that there's these chicken plants and everybody's walking out and COVID and just I'm hearing now worse than ever coming up right now, the supply chain is in real trouble.

55:07What are you seeing? Yeah, it's a challenge. And every single one of my visits I've made, it's kind of, I think you actually brought it up. Do you know about the chicken wing shortage? Yeah, I know about the chicken wing shortage. Yes, we did talk about that. Yeah, it's been a challenge and it's kind of hit and miss. And, you know, it's on certain products, a lot of the, you know, portability products, the single serve, the to-go items have been a big challenge. But, you know, it feels like the center of the plate items, the chicken, you know, the pork, the beef, it feels like that is getting resolved because, you know, a lot of the manufacturing facilities are getting better at managing COVID in their manufacturing plants. So I feel it's getting better. But I do think it's gonna be very dynamic as we look forward. I think it's gonna continue to be a challenge. And so it's just one thing that we're really focused on is the top, you know, 20 vendors that, you know, we have, you know, 80% of the issues with.

56:19You know, we're just staying really focused on them and having constant conversations. We're, you know, changing vendors when we have to, if one vendor's not meeting our need. And I think it's just gonna, you know, for the operators, you know, just keep putting pressure on us. We need that pressure on fill rates and product availability. And, you know, I think it's gonna require the operators to be a little flexible on certain menus, unfortunately. But I feel like this is gonna be, you know, just full transparency. This is gonna be a challenge for a while. I mentioned at our last board meeting that if I was gonna write a book, chapter 12 would be, you know, it's harder coming up than it is coming down because, you know, ramping up is, we're just gonna have supply chain issues. And I'm hoping we have mild inflation versus heavy inflation for the industry.

57:19I think about it all the time about, you know, inflation and, you know, all sorts of inflation, how it impacts our customers. And, you know, you got rent, you got taxes, you got minimum wage, you have, you know, product inflation. I mean, that's just a lot to be thrown to our customers. So we talk about that and think about it all the time. But to answer your question, I think it's gonna be around for a while and just keep putting the pressure on us to solve the problems. I know that we think about it all the time. That was my seven o'clock meeting this morning. What motivates you? What sucks you out of the sheets every day? You know, I would say that the reason why I come to work every day is that I know when I come to work at GFS, it's making an impact. And it comes from many different, you know, variations and many different descriptions on what that impact is.

58:22But it's the people. I mean, I just love being around people and I just love our company and I love our people. And that inspires me every single day. When I go to work, it is not a job. And I like to win. And I'm working for a winning company that just continues to keep me very motivated and very excited about the future. Rich Wolowski, thank you so much for taking time today. You're not off the hot seat yet. I knew you had one more in you. I don't have another question. I don't have another question. What I have is every single episode that I do, I do not take us out. I ask my guests to leave us with a Jerry's final thought so to speak. Whatever you want to say to whoever you want to say it to, if you said, you know, nib high football rules, I don't care. Whatever you want to say for as long as you want to say it, take us out.

59:28Well, you didn't tell me you were going to ask me this question. No, a good question. It's not a question. It's just you say whatever you want. Well, I would, I guess what I would say is when you get up every single day, and you put your shoes on and you walk out that door, think about the impact that you could make on others. And don't get like wound up about the moment that we're in right now. Just what can you do to make an impact for other people in every interaction? Don't miss a moment to get to know a person. Don't miss a moment to give somebody appreciation. That has been something I've learned over the years that has been so important to me. And just don't miss opportunities to make an impact on people in the world. It's it's such a big part of of my my mantra today. I love it.

01:00:29Thank you so much for joining us today. And best of luck and success through the rest of all of this. All right. Thank you. Take care. Thank you, sir. Once again, big thank you to Rich Wolowski for coming on the show and spending that amount of time and being so honest. I really, really enjoyed that. Hopefully we can get him back and get an update here as to how things are going now that they are our title sponsor. I mean, come on, we got to get that right. And now that will be the Gordon Food Service final thought. It's a lot of fun there. We're going to have Sam McGee from Buds and Brews coming up here real soon. We have got so many people that are going to be on the show in the next month. I am booked up with people coming in. I am so damn excited. Thank you for listening. I hope that you love the show. Please go to Nash restaurant radio dot com in the next week and vote in the bracket challenge. Hope that you guys are being safe.

01:01:30Love you guys. Bye.