PLEASE NOTE: This episode is part of the discontinued Sow What Podcast. We are now the Honey Badger Seller (www.honeybadgerseller.com).
There's a special guest for this episode!
Yes, someone wants to talk to me and I didn't even have to pay them =P
Tony Lam is a family guy and serial entrepreneur in the consulting, restaurant, franchise, tech, HR, and consumer products business (and I'm sure I left some other industries out).
He made time for me and was super-present, despite his back-to-back schedule; so I hope I made the most of the interview and that he enjoyed it!
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In this episode, we cover a wide-range of topics; including:
Why he chose franchising versus creating and fully-owning his own food concept, and why he decided on partnering up with Wingstop amidst all of the franchise opportunities available.
How he opened the second Wingstop restaurant in San Francisco, and opened the door to the rapid growth of 48 more stores in a few years.
How he turned his fifth Wingstop store - which was underperforming - into the top store in his chain of five locations.
How he blows past imposter syndrome, doubt and lack of knowledge to achieve huge feats - like being nominated President of the Wingstop Co-Op Fund (they manage the marketing budget and initiatives for Wingstop in San Francisco); getting on Shark Tank (and win, might I add); and competing in the hyper-competitive coffee and consumer products market.
How he get involved with OmniBev and why it gives him a huge sense of mission in heritage and charity.
OmniBev being his first foray into packaged consumer products, how he did the math to assess profitability.
Advice for those who want to attract consumer products who can get you into Whole Foods and Costco.
How he is getting people to try OmniBev in a pandemic, and how his Wingstops are doing.
His math on how much his product needs to cost; the lifetime value of a customer; and his goal of being sold in 10,000 outlets.
How Tony focuses on and achieves "sales velocity"
How he overcame his shy, introverted self to scheduling 15 podcast interviews in a week (part of it is thanks to our mutual friends Bill Chiem and Andy Nguyen)
His commitment to mentoring startup founders.
How he chooses successful and unsuccessful partners for his companies.
How Tony DOESN'T read books, where he pays his "college tuition," and my warning of "procrastilearning."
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Hope you enjoy this episode. I'd love your honest feedback on my delivery, since I want to create better content for you, and improve my public speaking skills. I'd also love if you had any suggestions/introductions for awesome podcast hosts.
