In this episode of The Meal Prep Growth podcast, Johnny welcomes back Brad Miller, the owner of Punch Drunk Chef meal prep service based in Dallas, Texas. Brad shares updates on how his business has evolved over the last nine months, including new strategies for growth, team management, and operational challenges. He dives into the importance of building a strong community connection, leveraging word-of-mouth marketing, and integrating tools like the Too Good To Go app to minimize food waste and reach new customers. Brad also discusses the importance of trusting your team, allowing yourself to make mistakes, and the power of consistent, high-quality customer service. This candid conversation provides valuable insights for anyone looking to start or grow their meal prep business.
Brought to you by bottle.com
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00:00 Welcome Back to the Podcast
00:59 Brad's Business Update
01:32 Team Dynamics and Growth
04:14 Milestones and Challenges
12:21 Grassroots Marketing Strategies
15:14 Leveraging Too Good To Go
22:56 Building Community Connections
27:10 Community Engagement and Business Growth
28:00 Consistency is Key
30:04 Embracing Technology and AI
31:24 SEO and Online Presence
32:38 Reddit and Community Strategies
36:32 Lessons from Experience
44:20 The Importance of Saying No
50:27 Believing in Yourself
52:38 Future Plans and Expansion
[00:00:08] Johnny Watson: Amazing. Brad, that is us live in the Facebook group. Welcome on the pod again. Great to see. Hey
[00:00:14] Brad Miller: everyone. Thanks. Thanks for having me, Johnny. Love being here.
[00:00:16] Johnny Watson: Yeah, it's so good to have you back as we like reactivate the The Meal Prep Growth podcast here.
[00:00:22] Brad Miller: Yeah.
[00:00:23] Johnny Watson: I'm just gonna say for anyone who's joining, uh, as this notifies people on the timeline, just as we used to just share where you're calling in from, what meal prep service you're building, and throughout this entire conversation, there's gonna be an opportunity to ask Brad questions.
I have plenty. Um, but I, I figure Brad, like the best way to kick this off maybe like a little intro on yourself. Where you're calling in from and maybe how things have changed for you and the business since you had you on the, the podcast last year.
[00:00:58] Brad Miller: Awesome. Uh, I'm Brad Miller. I'm here in Dallas, Texas and I own operate Punch Drunk Chef meal prep.
I've been around six and a half years and just continue to slowly grow and advance and, you know, with Bottle by my side, it's just cool. New tools on, on helping us get to where we wanna be. So, um, I think Johnny mentioned it's been about nine months since I've been on, so man since then man, it seems like it, it is just been, you know, snowball, but it's been good.
So, you know, steadily building steadily building the brand. Acquired a new vehicle that's, you know, been in and outta shop, but it will help us expand deliveries. Really just putting our ACEs in places and one thing that, you know, especially Bottle allowed me to do is really sit down and manage my team more.
So, you know, putting, you know, like my chef Ariel, she's great at front of the house and introductions and finding new people, new clients and new gyms, and really making it so that that position her into a way where she, you know, she's still still my purchasing chef, still doing prep work with me and all that.
Also out there on the ground really pounding the pavement because up until this point, we haven't done advertising or marketing or anything like that, all word of mouth. And um, you know, really like us getting out in the field and feeding the people. That's what we do best. And, and that's now kind of pivoting her role.
My other chef, Sean, you know, he's taking more of a back of house role where it's like, Hey, I'm here, you know, managing the team. I'm here, uh, making sure ordering is correct. I'm here, you know, helping me with caterings as we venture into that field, uh, that Johnny and I are working on and are exciting new ventures.
But really it's just slow, steady growth and really, really meeting the people. But, um, yeah, that's kind of where we've come since the last, uh, time we talked.
[00:02:33] Johnny Watson: Yeah, it's amazing. It's so cool to see that progress as you as an operator, as a business owner, thinking like, how do I continue to increase the impact I have with my customers and the community whilst also growing the business?
And sometimes that means finding ways to empower other people to step in and let go of. Some of that and hold other people accountable. So like what, what's that process and that journey been like for you?
[00:02:56] Brad Miller: Uh, that's, that's trust. So when, when I first started this, you know, and as a small business owner, you know, this is end of 2018, beginning of 19, like allowing someone to grab part of my business and me not have full control was, was breathtaking.
It was like, oh my God, I, I have to do everything I have to, but by not delegating, you know, I'm only just cheating my own leadership and allowing my business to be stagnant. So. Having faith in those around you, hiring good people, surrounding yourself with great people allows you to grow at a much faster rate, uh, a sustainable rate as well.
Because you know, you're giving someone faith and saying, Hey, I trust you. I want you to take on this task. I think you can do this. And really just, it makes them have ownership of something that, they don't technically own, but it, it makes 'em feel like family. Hey, I'm a part of something that's growing and bigger.
And I think people like being a part of that because nobody likes being stagnant. Nobody wants to be, you know, you look back four years from now, you're doing the exact same thing over and over. It's like, you know, keep it growing, keep it changing, you know, so really, you know, one of the, you know, I always talk about the Success, Success Principles book, but once your time becomes more valuable elsewhere.
Some of the smaller tasks, I mean, that were smaller or smaller now, but weren't smaller back then, you know, allow your team to take those on it. It grows them and the more they grow, the more you grow.
[00:04:13] Johnny Watson: Brilliant. And maybe for the, the viewers and people listening to the recording, can you give us a bit of a picture of where PDC Punch Drunk Chef has been?
How many years have you been operating? Maybe like a feel for how many customers.
[00:04:28] Brad Miller: Yeah, so I guess the real measuring rod was beginning of 2020, you know, like 2019. I was figuring it out. No real idea, like just barely making it work. And you know, or my goal was 220 meals a week, right? That's it. 220 meals was my break even.
I had the, an amazing opportunity to open a commissary kitchen. Um, and so we kind of bartered me managing that space with. Very, very low rent. So you know, I was fortunate enough to be able to grow my business. With the overhead and not the other way around where you just start with this massive overhead and you're like, how do I make these these work?
So, I guess kind of touch on that, like the growth was, you know, it was like me death gripping my own business. And so 2020 obviously was a wild year. Uh, it ended up being good for us and we probably saw a 70% growth that year. But, you know, scary at first 'cause. All of a sudden my business got cut in half.
I'm doing 130 meals, right? And that's, and that's just for me to pay rent, you know, and, you know, get by and no other income, no other nothing. But I learned a lot that year. And, you know, Ariel, that's when she started with me and has been an amazing growth factor in not only her personal, but also our professional, uh, lives and.
Me loosening my grip on the business, me being like, I don't have to do everything. I don't have to see everything. I don't have to necessarily be in full control of everything and allowing someone else to, to share the burden and like I said, it grows them and then here comes 2021.
We, or we stay in the same kitchen for two years and then come 2022, we had to switch kitchens to a temporary. I think it was beginning of 23 as we finally we finally got our own space and then that's kind of where we are now. And it's just, but it's been growing with the overhead, , and just really being mindful about, okay, we just got to this next level.
Alright, now we have these challenges and every time we get to the next level it's, it's a nightmare. You know? 'cause it's like new challenges, new growth, new this, and we just sit back afterwards and be like, okay, how could we have done that better? It's just like kind of growing with that pace, you know?
So really, um, I, I guess I, a lot of the credit goes to empowering those around you, you know, and then beginning 23, chef Sean through the way the world works, you know, came into our lives and all of a sudden I realized like, that's the new factor we need, we need to now divide this role and, and, and conquer that, you know, and, and back in a few years before that, I thought we were ready for it.
I actually hired another manager and didn't work out very quickly, uh, because I, I thought I had the vision of, no, here's the third tripod piece we need, but it wasn't the right timing, you know? It's all about timing. It's all about people. It's all about place and, and you can't force it. You know, I, I was, it's sad because I realized I was forcing that side of the business, hiring that manager back in the day when we weren't ready for that.
You know, I didn't have the, the revenue source, I didn't have necessarily my leadership style up to par. I didn't have the, the amount of clientele we needed to justify that. And it's like realizing that I had already had the pieces we needed in house. I just needed to pivot them. So Ariel actually took on that position that I was originally hiring for.
It just made so much more sense. And then Sean comes around and it's like, I need more of a strong guy to sit back, watch the kitchen while Ariel can be in the field. Uh, if you meet her, you'll understand her personality. And it's just, and me being in the field as well and really just putting ACEs in places in where we're all different in our own ways.
We're all similar in certain ways, but it's, it's a tripod, you know, so we're all leaning on each other to hold up the one standard object. And, , by trusting the other two chefs and them trusting me, we all know that. Our strengths are gonna be applicable to all fields. And then, you know, anyone's weaknesses is carried by another chef, so, or another one of my teammates.
And it's just, it's really just trusting your people. And now we're looking back and we're doing, I dunno, 15 to 1800 meals a week, something like that. And that's just selling, that's not what we're actually, we're reducing much more, but, and it's like, if you told me that back in 21, I, I thought I told you you're crazy.
If I had to make more than 50 of one dish, I was having a panic attack. Now if I have 50 of one dish, I'm like, where did my sales go? You know, like it's, it's, it's wild. But managing your growth is, is, is just as much as managing yourself, managing your leadership, and allowing yourself to grow as much as you want the business to grow.
You don't have to know it all at first. That's the big part. I, at the beginning I was like, I know it all. And then looking back, I'm like, that was dumb. That was dumb. That was dumb. So be flexible. Allow your people to grow while allowing yourself to grow.
[00:08:55] Johnny Watson: I love that. And something I've been really curious about for, for a while now is to ask you as an operator who is in the trenches and has gone from zero through to 1800 meals that you're selling a week.
Can you see like clear milestones that you think are applicable to every meal prep business as they launch and grow? Or do you think it's like gonna be unique for different businesses?
[00:09:19] Brad Miller: See, I wanna say yes. I, I, I do think it's a combination of both. So you're gonna have your own unique milestones. For us, we had very, very notable milestones.
And like I said, every time we hit one of those, it's just like, it rocks the boat and it's, it's tough and it's, you, you make it work. You put in the extra 12 hours, you, you look back and you choke back the tears for the walk in, and then you figure it out and you just make it happen. So big milestones for us, were visual visibility.
So, you know, first kitchen, we're in the basement of this commissary. It's at the bottom of a church, uh, renovated church building and. Word of mouth. We had, you know, eventually I got this, you know, beat up white male truck and still no branding, but word of mouth. Eventually I got that truck wrapped and then people are like, oh my God, you are legitimate.
And I've always been, but this makes you appear more legitimate. Then, you know, along comes truck number two and it's wrapped and so people are like, I've seen you driving around town. Then we upgraded to our next kitchen and we got a third truck, and now people are like, oh my God, I, you have a quasi storefront, and then.
Each one of these steps came with a significant increase in business. And then once we got our own kitchen, we saw a little bit, but once we put a sign on the building, like it's a big 21 foot punch, drunk chef meal prep. Like my man's too long. It costs a lot, but people were just like left front. Oh my God, you're legitimate.
I'm like. I have been for six and a half years. But each step and the more visibility I've gotten and the more word of mouth and just along the lines of creating relationships with gyms and trainers and coaches and you know, we don't really do anything with influencers. We've had bad experiences with that, but establishing a real.
Real connections. And that's what's gotten us along the way. , I have dishes named after some of my former head coaches and people that have helped me start these things and then they see, hey, I've got this meal Solo Bogula it's my name. She tells her friends and then they tell their friends.
And like, and I'm sure y'all's communities are similar to ours, but our fitness community is very tight knit here. And everybody knows everyone. Everyone's trying to uplift everyone. Everyone's trying to be, build those around them. And then they see, you know, you're a small local business and. My main competition being Factor.
They're like, well, we'd much rather talk about the small guys. You know, the, you know, the small medium up and coming the local, the supports our community as much as PD supports us and yeah, and each, I'm sorry I'm getting off topic, but each one of those different phases and the more relationship you made was a notable milestone.
And you know, you hit one when you get rocked and you make it and you, and you, you're successful and you are like, okay, that wasn't fun, but we did it and now we know moving forward. We can do even better. So,
[00:11:58] Johnny Watson: it's a perfect segue. That's just seems right, what you shared. Yeah. And for everyone, it's gonna be coming up against the resistance and feeling that, and then breaking through.
And they know in hindsight that they, that they crossed the threshold. And when, when you were on the podcast last time, what stood out for me was what you shared around like your grassroots. Word of mouth, guerilla marketing approach, partnering with local gyms and, uh, doing a lot of sampling events and getting your foot into the community.
I'm curious if nine months later, this is still at the foundation of how Punch Drunk Chef grows.
[00:12:37] Brad Miller: It. It is. So, literally when people try your meals, they buy your meals. And I, I, I stand by that 110% and you know, yeah, it costs you food costs, it costs you labor and logistics. But I've found there is no better way to get out there than just feeding the people, you know, every week make 50 extra meals.
You can either use that for introductions, you can use. We do a lot. We make more, a little more than that, um, because we partner with a lot of charities and we donate meals to these charities every week. And then. That's also like you giving back to your community and people like seeing that, people like seeing these grassroots and, and you know, we're not doing it just for exposure.
It feels great. You know, along those lines, well then you're feeding a clientele that might not have normally heard you. And then, you know, they're like, oh, hey, I work out at this gym. And it's like, oh my God, I've never heard of them. I'm gonna go introduce myself there. It's just this big spiderweb. It's not always just the fitness community, it's even like offices in, you know, here in downtown Dallas we have tons and tons and tons of offices and it's like, oh, well, hey, I work at the ATT headquarters.
Well. We've gotten connection with them. We did a popup, 10 more clients signed up, you know, and it's, it's, we did this whole thing for free. We've fed 150 people and 10 new clients that are gonna order 51 weeks a year. That pays for itself, you know, and you did something cool by exposing your business to new markets so that you wouldn't normally have had the opportunity to.
And it's just, it's just natural organic growth. And it's that guerilla style. Marketing that Marketing. Yeah. It takes extra work. It is. It is work, but it's worth it and it's fun.
[00:14:08] Johnny Watson: Mm. And this is you and I only at a point in the business where you're seriously considering what are my options to do paid advertising.
Yeah. As an extra lever for your growth. Yeah. And I think this is such a important point for any business is usually the thing that is, , the most time intensive. That has the biggest impact sometimes, and in your case, getting out and meeting people and feeding them is such a good way to get people to have that interest in supplementing their their week with your meals.
When you talk about having, that strategy and wanting to get your food into the community more. I know you mentioned there's an app that you have come across Oh yeah.
[00:14:54] Brad Miller: Yeah.
[00:14:54] Johnny Watson: And it's basically allowing you to turn some of that extra meals that you may have that that didn't get used in a week and getting them to the community.
Can you share a bit more about this experience?
[00:15:04] Brad Miller: Absolutely. So, um, if anyone on this call takes anything away from this, uh, and you're a small business, I'm looking to reduce your costs, get yourself out there. Get a little bit of return on investment. Alright. It's called Too Good To Go. Too Good To Go. And, uh, and I'm, I'm not paid by 'em, responsive by 'em.
It's just something that they approached us and we've really used this to just, I mean, it, it's been, it's been awesome. So lemme tell you how it works. So, pretty much, you put your Too Good To Go on and you're saying, Hey, we got extra meals. We'll have 10. Right? Just give you a small example, and then what you do is it's discount 66%, so you're pretty much just covering your food costs and then people you know say, Hey, here's your pickup window.
They come in, they swipe the app, you get like 3$ Right. So it's, it's just literally covering your cost. But what we've used that for is we'll do like 20 plus meals, but then there's also this extra option, and I'm sure other meal prep companies have experienced this. So let's say you're boxing your meal, right?
You have to make a hundred buffalo chickens, right? So you, you box up a hundred of those. Well, afterwards you've got four pounds of extra protein, three pounds of extra veggies. Fill in the blank. So what we do is we make one pound boxes. 'cause we normally have this on our menu anyway, like one pound of chicken or Turkey or whatever.
Calculate the macros for that. Make one pound. So now you have all these one pound boxes. All the proteins you made for that week, all the veggies you made that week. And then you add that on there too. 'cause the people that are on Too Good To Go. They're, they're, they're bargain hunters, but they're also looking to try things that they didn't know existed.
Uh, so there's a lot of pizza places, Italian and donuts, lot of pastries and just, you know, your sugary carbs and that's what people are experiencing. And then all of a sudden here comes a meal prep company pops up like, oh my God. And I'm telling you the feedback we get. The feedback we get is just awesome.
Like, I didn't know you existed. Uh, I've been looking for something like this. I'm so glad to see something healthy on here. Flavorful. 'cause, you know, I'm sure everyone on this call specializes in that as well, is what makes it successful. But then we use it as an even further marketing opportunity, right?
So we'll have upwards of 50 of those pickups a week, right? Anywhere from 30 to 50, just depending on what we have left that didn't sell in the storefront. Or that we don't plan on donating to one of our charities. Mm-hmm. Um, we, we have these flyers I made you put a flyer in, you put a sticker in, you tell 'em, Hey, this is good all the way until Saturday.
Um, because a lot of these people have these discount things on here and, and they expire the next day. We, we give 'em four days, you know? So, um, it, it really just, I mean, we've seen such an uptick in. Just random people finding us and discovering us and having a, like thanking us because, you know, groceries are expensive these days and now all of a sudden they have an access to a discount form of healthy food exposure to your brand.
They get a sticker, they get greeted with a smile. Unlike, you know, a lot of these other shops that just are just trying to shovel out food when we're just literally just trying to feed more people. And so yeah. Too Good To Go is a great way if you use it right to just. Crazy exposure. And you know, you gotta get past the fact of like, yeah, you're selling your $12 meal for three to $4, but it, it's worth it.
It, it's absolutely worth
[00:18:07] Johnny Watson: it. It's incredible. And it's funny you brought me through your reviews recently you have 108 incredible reviews, people absolutely. Reading about your food, which speaks volumes. Yeah. You showed me that one of the only one star reviews you've had. Maybe the only one star view. Only one star did come from, somebody came through this channel.
Can you speak to that briefly and maybe Oh,
[00:18:32] Brad Miller: oh no, no. I'm sorry. The, the one that was Too Good To Go. Okay. Yeah. So here's the challenge that you might face with it. And we've only had experienced this once, so it was like a three star view.
Uh, and remember this is a third party service, so we don't directly control it. They pay through them. Pays us. So if they cancel their order and they don't get refunded, sometimes they're like, Hey, I didn't get my five bucks back. And they're pissed. So they wrote us a review of Three Star, didn't get my money back.
I wrote 'em back. I'm like, uh, we don't control this. If you could please like alter this and reach out to them. Well, they didn't. So we got that one three star and I, ironically enough, we still think that client orders. Too Good To Go. And I think you know who it is, but it's like one of those anonymous reviews, so they're like, just, just treat 'em with a smile, you know?
Eventually they'll get back around to it, give you a real review, but just make 'em happy, man. Get, you know, there's an old book, I think it's called, Give 'em The Pickle, and it's about just go that extra mile. Just give 'em the pickle, man. Get one a little extra. Give a little extra, you know, so. Mm-hmm.
[00:19:32] Johnny Watson: Amazing.
And despite that experience, it's been overwhelmingly positive, overwhelming being connect to the you'll.
[00:19:38] Brad Miller: You'll see some people like, you know, I'm not gonna say take advantage of it. It's a cheap way to get good food, you know? So, someone will order like 10 of 'em for themselves. So then that's like essentially eight other potential people that weren't getting to.
Get our meal because we, we cap it. We're very strategic about making it like, Hey, you got a three hour window to say yes or no. And so people can favorite thank you can favorite us on there. And so they'll get alert right when we pop it up. And so we don't always do it every week, but when they get alert and then people buy, buy, buy, buy, buy.
You know, and you'll see it's got great analytics too on how many people save your stuff, what your clientele is like, you know, male, female, age range. Location. Like it's got a lot of good data too. So, yeah, there's, with anything, there's gonna be someone that takes advantage of it, but it's generally speaking very, very beneficial.
[00:20:26] Johnny Watson: And it's been a way of growing your Google reviews as well.
[00:20:28] Brad Miller: Yeah, yeah. Oh, so yeah, what we, we've, we've gotten a number of Google reviews from it because it's like, uh, hey, discover them on this app. Um, then I started becoming a client. These Too Good To Go, people come in, you know, there's a chance to talk to 'em, to be like, Hey, how'd you hear about this?
Hey. And then they're like, oh, oh my God. This is a company that actually cares, that actually comes in and, and like, wants to say hi. They're not just paid to be nice. Like we genuinely have great people working for us. And they're like, Hey, let me tell you about this great, this and that. Hopefully we'll see you next week.
I don't know why, but just that little extra bit of these Too Good To Go clients, they're like, they turn around and write at your review. We don't ask for it, but they're like, I'm like, we just tell 'em like that's our only form of advertising and they just, they, they pay it forward.
[00:21:12] Johnny Watson: Beautiful. So you, you mentioned.
A number that you would cook additional in a week so that you've got them on standby to go to a charity event, hand out the meals, and then if you have a surplus, they can go onto Too Good To Go. And then you're able to get more food into the community, get more Google reviews. What would you say as a percentage of number of meals that someone cooks a week?
They could be implementing in their business. Now if they aren't already,
[00:21:42] Brad Miller: like would you, are you asking like how many, so let's say I had to make a hundred meals. How many extra would you make? Percentage wise?
[00:21:49] Johnny Watson: Yes. Yes, exactly.
[00:21:50] Brad Miller: Okay. 15 to 20%. And I, I know that sounds like a lot. You know, so every week I'm making, I can actually calculate it out about 350 extra meals.
Roughly about 350 to 400 extra meals a week. Right? Uh, it doesn't include bulk stuff, like a pound of potatoes and stuff, you know, because I, I use that for our storefront. Fortunately, you know, we we're open three days a week. So if it's like an extra 15% of the business is people coming, I forgot to order.
They can grab and go. But that's your advertising. That's your marketing. So I have 350, we'll sell 200. I'll set aside 75 for donations. Then we will take the other bar, and that's your marketing. You know, Hey, here's the new gym popping up. Well, I'm gonna go meet the owner or meet some of the coaches and bring 'em a bag.
There you go. There's meals. Here's my cards. Hello. And you do that twice a week and you, you're gonna see not only you grow your community, but you're gonna see some solid ROI on that. And that's just extra meals. You're already making them. It's not gonna take you, you know, that much extra time your food costs isn't gonna spike or anything like it pays for itself.
[00:22:52] Johnny Watson: Pays for itself. And what would be your approach? So new gym opens in the community, they just opened the doors, they're excited to have people come in and meet them. How would you go about that interaction?
[00:23:04] Brad Miller: There's two ways that I do it. Well, a couple ways actually. But the main two is I'll either reach out on Instagram, Hey guys, I'm Brad with PDC meal prep.
Love to come by and say hi, or, um, you just figure out a class time. You know, big, big thing about these small gyms is. They need exposure, like opening a gym. I, I can't tell you how hard that must be, especially in Dallas because we have a very saturated market. But you know, these guys, they're all about local.
They, their, their populace is gonna come within two square miles, right? So you go to them, you drop in, take a class, say, Hey, I'm gonna come do this class with you. I'm gonna pay my drop-in fee and introduce myself. That's you supporting their business. And they're just like, oh my God, you didn't have to. I can comp your class.
No, no, no, no, just pay the 25, 30 bucks. Right? Yeah. Come bring some meals, pop it in their fridge, and at the end talk to them. And if, if they give you the opportunity, talk in front of the class as well. But it, the more you support your local small businesses, the more they turn around and just naturally will do that for you.
And now you have an even better relationship. It could potentially become a drop location. It could, you set up for a popup or, Hey, here's your five busiest classes. I'm gonna set up for three of them. And feed people. And it's just like, just going in and being naturally hospitable and just feeding the people and supporting your local small business is, is that's the way to do it.
[00:24:23] Johnny Watson: I really love that and I can, I can see that interaction. Like I'll be, I could be in that gym class. Yeah. The mat to the mats away and, and see this interaction. And it's just really organic and human connection. And
[00:24:34] Brad Miller: always be branded. Always, always be wearing your logos and your shirts and all that stuff.
And always be branded, you know? So it's like people, it's another way for someone to ask the question, Hey, what's that? Hey, I've been looking for X, Y, Z. So,
[00:24:46] Johnny Watson: yeah. Yeah. So for people listening to this who don't have video, that's just, that's the punch. What kind of logo is that you have on? Uh, that's
[00:24:53] Brad Miller: the Santa Cruz logo.
Okay. But we did, we it for Punch Drunk Chef Meal Prep. So that was a Chef Errol's idea. Uh, she's an amateur skater, so. I'll longboard from time to time, but I don't fall so well anymore. But yeah. So yeah, she thought it was a, it's a great, great design she came up with, so
[00:25:11] Johnny Watson: it looks really cool. It's really, you can read it really clearly to imagine people can remember the name and then you gotta do it big on the back.
Yeah. Okay. That's way more visible.
Yeah. Good stuff. Um, yeah, it looks really good. I love the design. Um, there was one. Quote here, uh, that you, you said last time that it really stood out to me. Consistency beats gimmicks. We keep showing up. Yeah. You also said this kind of around about the same time as we don't just sell meals, we sell time back to families.
And you also said, we're not trying to be the biggest, we're trying to be the best for our people.
[00:25:47] Brad Miller: Yeah. So, uh, kind of on that one, that last one especially. And then, you know, when people ask me like, what does your growth look like? What is it, what is your financial goals? What is this? And that, and then, and that last, that last statement especially rings most near and dear to me because, you know, from the beginning, you know, like, I didn't set out to make a million dollars, right?
I set out to make a million dollar community. Zig Ziglar, he was a Dallas-based motivational speaker way back in the day. My mom would put his cassettes in the car. That's how old it was. But this quote always stuck with me. Um, you help enough people get to where they want, uh, where they want to be, and you'll find yourself exactly where you wanna be.
And you know, when you help these families and you help people, uh, individuals or whoever have more time in their life and live a better life, and then they're like, oh my God, I just saved two hours from grocery shopping and cooking and doing dishes. Now I have time to pursue my life and you know, get on my hustle and all this.
And then they're like, how do I, who do I credit this to? And then you're a small factor of that. Then they tell their neighbor, they tell their friend. And then, and just like I said, with the new gym introductions, I. You're building a community, you know, and you know, then that leads into like, you know, one of these things as we do is we got in touch with this guy, um, uh, Mike Rum, he's a former pro skater and you know, we partner with his charity organization and he was a client at first, and then he's like, I'm helping him have more time because he's crazy busy.
And he is like, Hey, I got this organization. Turns out it's huge. They feed the community, they do drive throughs, like awesome stuff. And so now we partner with them and it's like, you build your community, make that million dollar community, and then. Not only are you gonna be like mentally and, and, and, uh, just like emotionally rewarded, but you know, it, it gives your business more exposure.
It helps grow your brand. And it's just like another natural, organic way to be like, Hey, I am Dallas, Texas. I am email prep that you want to go to because we are given extra community. We're feeding our, our, our family feeding, our friends, feeding anyone who just comes in the door and it's like, you know what?
Better love language is there than food.
[00:27:48] Johnny Watson: None.
[00:27:49] Brad Miller: Yeah, I
[00:27:51] Johnny Watson: of the day, yeah, there are a few, but that it's so high up there and it's such an amazing part of the core businesses. That you're building.
[00:28:00] Brad Miller: And small note on, I think on that first quote was about the consistency. And I, I can't stress that enough.
You know, we get a lot of people, uh, you know, I'm not gonna dog any of the big brands here, but a lot of clients from bigger brands that are just like, consistency's gone down, you know, they've had a change of management, change of ownership, something like that. Or they just, you know, and it's like, you know, there's been so many times where we open up a case of chicken and it's like, if, if we question anything.
When in doubt, throw it out. You know, if the plating is different, if, you know, the portion sizes are different, like people know, the dollar's tight these days, you know, all this stuff and the world's getting expensive, like people are watching their dollars, you know, so one of the things we use is we, we don't do scoop methods or eyeball methods or anything like that.
Everything is done on a digital scale. And we have these very nice, like lab, lab level digital scales. You know, they cost extra money, but. It's, it's consistency. People know every time they open that box, this is the portion because it matches the macros, because it matches what they had last week and it matches what they're gonna have six months now.
And always, when in doubt, just throw it out. Start over. You know, like, I, I can't stress that enough. And, and this is what I live, I. Or build and, you know, I guess live my business off of is I would rather lose the sale and keep the business than lose the business. And keep the sale. So anytime there's a doubt, I mean guests like, Hey, I had a question about this.
Give it, give it to 'em, give it to 'em, refund them, credit 'em, whatever. Like, maintain your consistency and what you, what you stand for, and, and, and you'll grow. You will grow.
[00:29:32] Johnny Watson: Sounds like there may have been another love language growing up for you. Yes. You got an incredible education in the car, with your mom.
[00:29:40] Brad Miller: It was, uh, yeah, it was, uh, we had, we had a lot of commutes when I was a kid, so, you know, it was always like putting in, you know, I remember when CDs came out, it was like, what? Those whole technology and then, but cassette tapes was when I was, when I was a kid, so yeah.
[00:29:54] Johnny Watson: Phenomenal. So good. And talking about change in technology.
We've moved on a lot from CDs. We just heard a new era you, you mentioned last week that a customer who's new to Punch Oh yeah. Self-identified that they, maybe you can tell the story for us.
[00:30:15] Brad Miller: Okay. So this was the first time, I've never heard this before. So new client comes in, you know, we haven't, you know, as a pickup client, so we always have 'em on a list.
It's like, oh, hey, it's your first week. How'd you hear about us? So good. Well, those guy's like, oh, I used ChatGPT, and I was like. Find us. He is like, yeah, you know, put in the prompts for meal prep Dallas consistency qualities, and he said keywords. Then he cross-referenced that with Gemini, and this is all above my head.
And so he is like, yeah, and then cross-referencing one eye AI with the other AI and now I'm here and you know, he's a big order. He orders like 150 bucks a week, and I just saw him for a third week in a row and I was like, it's my AI guy, you know. So that's on the next thing for me to learn how to do. So, um, yeah, it's, it's just wild, you know?
And I think that also comes down to a lot of things about your consistency. 'cause when you're consistent, people wanna talk about you, people wanna give you a Google review so he's using, you know, this to cross that. It's out there on the internet. I got some funny things on my website and Instagram, but it's really like what people say about you.
And with Google reviews like that helped whatever algorithm, sent him my way.
[00:31:22] Johnny Watson: That's it. And it, this is the payoff of you spending so much time in the community and investing in getting those Google reviews and being consistent, winning the bi, keeping the business, losing the sale, like it, it all adds up and it's even from our experience, the Bottle networking with somebody who was an SEO expert and is quickly learning.
How, how do we rank on AI search as well? So chat, GPT, Google, Gemini. We had somebody came through this week who found us on Grok X Twitter's version of chat, GPT. So it's a really crazy time where this stuff is getting more important than ever. And I think the thing that we've been able to distill it down to is still having really good search engine.
Ranking and a fundamental foundation of that is always gonna be making your Google business profile super relevant to what you do. Keeping your information up to date, getting the description on there with the keywords for meal prep in your business. But then obviously just getting really good reviews.
Yeah. And then getting out, getting into the community and seeing like where are people hanging out that you. Serve and they're being content there. I'm not sure if Reddit is a place that pe that these LMS are using to index and, and get information about businesses, but I'd be really interested to maybe look ahead to the next podcast.
A couple weeks. We have
[00:32:49] Brad Miller: had a handful of people, um, find us on Reddit, you know, 'cause there's not much meal prep on the subreddit. Dallas. Okay. And one of our really, really good clients happened to like. Someone asked, he posted a couple things to our other clients chimed in apparently, and I was like, yeah, we heard about you on Reddit.
I'm like, okay, I'll take that. Wow,
[00:33:08] Johnny Watson: that's really cool. So do you have like a strategy where you're actively posting there now or looking? No, I do not.
[00:33:14] Brad Miller: No.
[00:33:14] Johnny Watson: But you know, it works or
[00:33:16] Brad Miller: I, I, I have seen it work. Yes.
[00:33:18] Johnny Watson: You've seen it work. Amazing. Well, maybe in our next podcast we can bring in Clayton, who we've been working with to try and understand this AI search or.
They're calling it generative AI engine optimizations of GEO. Yeah. Could be a word that we all hear very soon, but maybe we could use, um, Punch Drunk Chef as a case study for us to have a conversation about like how, how
[00:33:42] Brad Miller: Guinea pig. So,
[00:33:43] Johnny Watson: but maybe in Yeah. In two weeks time, we're gonna have a lot of tips for everyone on, on how we can get ahead and, and win in this new kind of.
Frontier and like a change in how human beings are searching for things. Pretty, pretty crazy time and could be a really good opportunity.
[00:33:58] Brad Miller: Yeah, we're looking forward to it.
[00:33:59] Johnny Watson: Yeah. Just, I, I guess we do have, um, I've been able to reload the comments. I can now see them. So if anyone has any questions for Brad, I'd love to, um, to take those now in the chat and, and we can ask Brad and while they're coming through.
I wanted to touch on that specific point. So there's a lot happening right now here at Bottle where we're looking to just learn and, and add value. So we, we have these heat map, SEO heat maps. Brad, you, we looked at yours very recently. If anyone is listening, we, if you wanna reach out, like, we're happy to provide these and just give you like a, a really clear idea of where people.
Within like a six by six mile radius of your kitchen, depending on where you stand on that grid where you rank from like one through 20. So it's a really cool idea, uh, really cool opportunity to see. Where on that grid you could be going at it and feeding people more.
[00:34:57] Brad Miller: So it's kind of a, actually, we have that coming up.
So, uh, what Johnny did for us is he, he created one of these heat maps, and this is new, new stuff to me. And it showed like, and we were ranking like one and two under, like, people searching for meal prep or meal prep near me. So our SEO was like pretty optimizing. I, I think it's a lot to do with Google reviews, some luck, but also website.
But then in areas where we weren't ranked number one, two, or three. Or areas that we service. And so I was like, well, why, why are we not there? And it's, it's like, you know, downtown or this one off shoot. So we're gonna do part of our grill strategy is, uh, next week, I believe it's either next week or the week after, uh, we're gonna make like a hundred extra meals and we're gonna go blanket that area.
Just drive around. You know, if you look at my branding our, our trucks are very loud, and so we're just gonna drive around and say, honk for a free meal or something like that, and, and just have all the refrigerators running and just, Hey, here you are. Here's a card. Here you are, here's a card. And all because of this heat map.
And I'm just like, I'm gonna get number one. That's, that's our goal. We're gonna be number one, but we're not there yet. So,
[00:35:58] Johnny Watson: so good. Yeah, and it's possible. It's absolutely possible. And, uh. You're already moving in the right direction. When we think about somebody launching a meal prep business for the first time, there's so many things to think about and we've covered a lot of really good areas in the conversation today, including the big ones that stand out for me are the consistency and like really being customer first and getting out and feeding people, which means investing more in food cost and using what you're already doing, which is.
Your production space, your commissary, to get that out in the community, what would you say like the biggest three tactics would be right now, Brad, if you were
[00:36:40] Brad Miller: getting started,
[00:36:41] Johnny Watson: if you were in the early stages of launch a meal prep business or in a, a growing meal prep business, but you, things feel stagnant.
What would be your tactics to shake things up? Uh,
[00:36:51] Brad Miller: alright, so this is a great question. So, quick rundown on my background. Uh, I got a biochem degree bachelor's of science. I got three culinary degrees. I've got all those GM chef, been bartender, been bar manager, been bus or been, you name it, everything.
So, you know, one of my biggest struggles at the very beginning is you don't know it all and you don't have to know it. When I first started this, I was using a lot more like, oh, classic technique and fancy cuts and this and that, and you know, way more than I should have. Right? So allowing yourself to be flexible, allowing yourself to learn and grow with your business.
That was a hurdle for me, and that was a personal ego thing where it's like. No, I've done all this. I, I, I know every, well, there's a lot of things that are gonna pop up at the beginning of this business that you couldn't have foreseen, that you couldn't have predicted. But by being flexible, by being, allowing yourself grace, and just like what I do with my team, allowing yourself to fail and allowing yourself to learn from that, that is probably, if I were to go back and do this all over again, I would've allowed myself to fail a lot more, because you're not gonna win every time.
And as much as I'd like to. It's not simply, it's just not true. So allowing yourself to be flexible, allowing yourself, to make those mistakes. And as long as you correct them, as long as you're consistent with them, everybody understands. It's like, Hey, I fucked up here. I'm gonna make it right. I'm gonna do everything I can to learn from this experience and just 'cause education's power and you know, do you need background?
Like I have? Absolutely not. You know, you do. You need culinary school, it's great, but you don't need it. Do you need your bachelor's of science? It helps, but you don't need it. You know, like education's power, and whether that's learning by fucking up or learning by watching someone else mess up, you know, then, then it, as long as you're learning, you're continuing to grow.
And that would probably be the number one thing. I would've changed when I started this business. You know, now we, we, we make mistakes, uh, on different scales, but we learn from, we grow them and, you know, we're much better at, at what we do and have systems in place, have great people in place, but we also allow them to make mistakes so they can grow with us.
Because without growth, like you're gonna be stagnant and then you're gonna be stuck in your ways, and then you're gonna lose love for what you do, you know?
The other big thing I would be is you don't have to do everything, right? So when we, when I first started this, I was like, you know, people were like, Hey, can you do vegan? Can you do vegetarian? Can you do paleo? Can you do gluten-free? Can you do, you know, narrow it down like, you know, we have a, there's another awesome Bottle client here in Dallas and uh, Nature's Plate and we love them.
Um, and they're a plant-based meal prep company. That market's covered. I don't need to do vegetarian. Vegan we're, we have a great relationship with them and you know, if they have, you know, more meat per preferring clients, they send 'em our way. If we have more vegetarian, vegan se uh, forward clients, we're like, Hey, we do some of it.
I'd love for your to have your business, but these guys specialize. We're not afraid to promote those around you. And that's part of like, you know, narrowing it down. 'cause when I, when I started this, like if you have 10 different meals and you're just starting off that you're trying to make, that's a lot of ingredients.
That's a lot of waste. That's a lot of, you can't cross over ingredients for carrots in one dish, but not the other nine. Like, narrow it down. You, you're not for everybody and you don't have to be, but at the same time. Make it broad enough to where you can cover a lot of different bases. So, you know, we do all the allergens and the gluten-free and, and dairy and egg-free.
And, but we also have options for, for not that, you know, so it's as long as you can kind of incorporate all that, but you don't have to do everything I used to have a much more smaller mindset when it came to competition. Well, this is Dallas, Texas.
We got how many millions of people here. There's always enough mouths to feed, right? No matter what city you're in, there's, you're gonna have competition, you're gonna have other businesses. Don't worry about small guys, don't worry about your size guys. Don't worry about, you know, whatever. There's always enough mouths to feed right?
And so competition's good. You know, as long as you're consistent, as long as you stick to your, to your roots, as long as you engage your community, you can do just fine. So, you know, not worrying about who's. Necessarily taking food off your table, sticking to what you are good at and what your niche is. Like there's just quick example.
There's another meal prep company that's pretty new to, we'll say, DFW. They're a little outside of my current zone, but he asks me questions all the time and I technically competition. And they're technically competition, but they're different. They're more like country style. They're more just like meals where we're health focused, low fat, medium carb, high protein.
So, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna help build them up, you know, and, and now they're doing great and they're, you know, a few towns over, but it's like, they're not gonna directly affect my clientele. They're not gonna directly, take food off my table, so why not help those around, you know? So really engaging your communities, sticking with what you're good at and allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Failure breeds lessons, which if as long as you keep learning, it's a lesson, not a mistake.
[00:41:44] Johnny Watson: That's brilliant And even in like the, the, the doubling down of like, what are we really good at? Where are we making 80% of our revenue from? Really focusing on that, that's an experiment in of itself. That can be scary at times. Oh,
[00:41:59] Brad Miller: yeah.
Oh, it, it, it's scary the whole time. If you're not scared, you're not doing it right. You know, if you don't fear, feel the fear of failure and the fear of success, you're not doing it. Right. That's, that's, that's a part of being an entrepreneur. It's a part of starting something new. It's a part of jumping into the void, you know?
Mm-hmm. Courage is not the absence of fear, it's the acceptance of fear and continuing to move forward.
[00:42:19] Johnny Watson: Beautiful. What do you think the three. Biggest discomforts are for someone trying to grow their meal prep business. It could be walking into the gym class. Do you, can you think of a few?
[00:42:33] Brad Miller: Um, I'm naturally extroverted, so I could see that as being one, like I can walk into a room and just all of a sudden walk out with 10 new friends.
Right. And that's just 'cause, you know, I, I, I take that I'm uncomfortable social anxiety that I'm, I'm assuming everyone feels, and I feel it as well, but just moving past that, just be like, you know what? I'm gonna get past this and then introduce yourself. I say, I say getting, forcing yourself to get past that.
That's big. That's gonna be one of your uncomfortable steps. Finding good vendors. That's a good one, I think. 'cause you know, especially now we have a storefront. We got people left and right coming in. Hey, check out this, check out this, here's my pricing, here's, and that, and it's like, you know, establishing your relationship with your vendors and then also not being afraid to shop around, you know?
So, just 'cause it comes to you on a truck doesn't mean it's the best quality or the best price. You know, maybe it's you actually doing legwork, going down to Restaurant Depot, going down to, to your farmer's market or to, you know, like I, I used to, so Chef's Produce is a company that helped me get started.
Uh, the owner, Richard Torres, great guy, loves supporting small business. Uh, his company's family owned and operated, but I used to drive up to their docks for, I don't know. First two years of business, you know, 'cause they had great pricing, but they have the best product. And I didn't meet order minimums or anything like that.
And you know, at that time I didn't have an easily deliverable kitchen. So I would go down there, put in the extra time, put in the extra effort, and go pick up my own produce, go pick up the stuff from them. And, you know, it's like, that's part of the flexibility is like, you know, the extra step that's uncomfortable.
Like, okay, how am I gonna load this up? How am I gonna, establish these relationships and like getting through the door. But I mean, food is what you're selling, so as long as you have great quality and you're putting the extra effort to obtain it, you're not gonna go wrong.
[00:44:10] Johnny Watson: So good. I've learned so much on this call.
[00:44:13] Brad Miller: No, thank you.
Mean, trust me, there's a lot of uncomfortability, uh, in growing your business. I guess. Okay. Well, another big one I would say is, is the ability to say no. Right? So I'll, I'll try to keep this one short, but there's a, this is the very beginning phase of my business, right?
Remember 220 was like, oh my God, I, I can eat this week. Right? And I had gotten the opportunity to, to feed, uh, 350 people at one of the corporate headquarters here in in downtown Dallas. So I'm dealing with this office manager and 27 emails back and forth, and I, I couldn't get the right answers.
I couldn't get, I was like, I was asking very direct questions like, Hey, hey you know, I wanna make sure I feature people appropriately. Here are the allergens. Here's this. And I, I, in hindsight, because it was, it was, it was a good relationship at first because one of my clients worked there and she recommended me, but I should have said no to this, right?
I, this is one of those opportunities where I made the sale and lost business. Feeding 350 people. I'm like that, that is twice my weekly load. So I called in all these extra people and I go to make this delivery. And somehow a loss of communication office manager didn't realize that I'm a meal prep company.
I make individually portioned meals that are served cold, that come in plastic boxes. Well, they're, they're a very green company that has two microwaves and everyone gets off at lunch at the same time for one hour. And I was like, oh my God. And so here I am. Like even just the delivery was a nightmare.
Even just, you know, like getting an invoice together. Even just everything. I was like, and, and we never communicated again. And I, and that was one of those things where I was so hungry at the beginning because like there was times it's like where I had to borrow money to pay rent when I was first starting.
Right? And, you know, sometimes you just, just gotta bite the bullet and that's a very uncomfortable stage. But it's like, I, I overshot. My hunger for growth with my capability of, of execution. And so I made that sale. But every one of those people I guarantee, were like, what the hell is this? You know? And that was 350 potential clients that could have, you know, overnight just dramatically increased my business, but I wasn't ready for it, and I, I didn't.
I, I didn't have the ability to say no, and so it's okay to sometimes, you know? Mm-hmm. There's many times where we, we'll turn down an event or this and that because it'll like, like a catering or something like that, because it'll, it'll step on the toes of what my bread and butter is, you know, and that's part of finding your identity early, finding what you're good at, and being like.
This is what I do. So Dallas has had a lot of, a lot more competition. Like my size are smaller chefs and, uh, meal preppers and this and that. And the reason I attribute our success is 'cause I'm not running a hotline. I'm not running a a kitchen, or excuse me, a, a restaurant. I'm not, uh, also taking on a hundred caterings.
I'm not also trying to do X, Y, z. I do one thing and I do really, really well. And that's meal prep. And so focusing on your bread and butter, you know, I should have said no to that because that wasn't what I did. I wasn't doing a 350 person catering. I that, I wasn't equipped for that. I wasn't staff for that.
I wasn't, I, I made 350 meals, but it wasn't what I was good at. And so it cost me probably a lot of business.
[00:47:29] Johnny Watson: Mm. So learning to say no, because in that phase of the journey, you do not have. The infrastructure set up, not
[00:47:38] Brad Miller: have the infrastructure Correct, yeah. Now, nowadays, somebody came up to me and said, that'd be, yeah, we can do that overnight, you know?
Yeah. But so there was like
[00:47:45] Johnny Watson: a week of preparing, I'd imagine there was a couple days of fulfillment.
[00:47:48] Brad Miller: Yeah, it was, it was, it was a learning experience. So, you know, at that, that phase my business, I, I, I was, I was not capable of successfully executing that, and I didn't allow myself the ability to, to say no.
And I didn't allow myself the ability to, to. To get outside my own, my own ego, right? Mm-hmm. That's where it's like, it's, it's, you know, I made that mistake and it took me, it took me about a month to actually like sit down and learn from that. And then I was like, yeah. We need to do, but allowing yourself to fail, like some, it's gonna happen.
And it's embarra that, that was, I'm telling you, that was the most uncomfortable, one of the most uncomfortable parts of this entire growth period. Yeah. So allow yourself to fail, but also allow yourself to say no, understand the scope of your business and where you're at in your current growth. And you know, if, if you're not that, if you're not there yet, you're not there yet, other opportunities will come.
Yeah, there is a way mouth to feed, you're gonna be fine.
[00:48:39] Johnny Watson: And it's just that it's, it is finding the line between like, what's an experiment that I can fail at? And like, say no sometimes. How, how can, how do you walk the line between those two?
[00:48:50] Brad Miller: It, it's, it's easier nowadays just 'cause, you know, I've got, I got my own kitchen.
I got a wonderful team that, I mean, there's nothing they can't do. But really it's, if it's, if it's going to impede. On your ability to do what you're good at, impede your ability to feed the community, impede the ability for you to be consistent. So, you know, what, what are we all here doing? We're all here doing meal prep.
Right? If it, if it's gonna jeopardize that in any way, just say no. You know, you know, we used to, if, if somebody's like, Hey, can you come to a pop-up on a Saturday? Well, I'm sure like most of y'all, that's your main day in the kitchen. I was like, I would say yes sometimes. But then I was like, I'm coming back.
My kitchen's stressed, my, my team's melting down. And it's like, you know, but that was, this was a couple years ago, but nowadays, we're at a position to where we can see us, or I can pop out for a three hour event, go do, you know, like, feed this fitness competition, come back. The kitchen's doing great.
Everyone's still doing their thing. I jump in where needed. And it's like knowing when you are able to do that. So these days it's a lot easier. We say, you know, 95%. Yes. But just making sure you're, you're not hindering. Your consistency, if it ever is gonna question your consistency of, you know, making it a little extra sale but possibly hindering your business.
Just, just pass on it, it's not worth it.
[00:50:05] Johnny Watson: Mm-hmm. Alright. To say no. So good, Brad. Thank you. This is a really interesting way to kind of wrap up. During our last conversation on the podcast with Eric Stein from Mama Meals, I asked him at the end, what questions should we ask? The next person who comes on the podcast, this was borrowed from Diary of a CEO, one of my favorites.
Okay. And he asked, do you believe in yourself?
[00:50:32] Brad Miller: Yes. Astoundingly yes. But it's taken me six and a half years to get there. You know, like I was saying in early phases of growth, I've lost friendships, uh, relationships. You just name it through this whole process of people that were either hindering my growth or I was not allowing myself to grow with.
And back then it was a lot of like personal, personal insight, personal self development, personal this, and I believed in myself, but it was more cocky than confidence. And as you grow this, as you get better at what you do, as you, you allow yourself to learn. You really believe more and more in yourself, because I'm telling you, there's, there is phases where I had to borrow money for rent and I was up to my gills and stress up to my, just like, did I fuck up?
You know, because I, I jumped into this with nothing, you know, credit card and a few trusted friends, you know? Mm-hmm. And there's a lot of times when that doubt felt real, and I didn't quite believe. But if you keep pushing through the fear, keep. Up the courage. Keep knowing that what you're doing will succeed and there's a need in the market.
You've got great clientele, you've got all these tools, it's gonna work. And then with that, with your growth, with your education, your confidence in yourself, growths, and then, then you get to the point where we're at now where you ask me that question, I instantly said yes. 'cause I, I fullheartedly know the answer.
You know? And so it's, it's, it's a part of the process of, of allowing yourself to grow. As fast as the business can, you know? And so yeah, once you get there, it's pretty cool.
[00:52:07] Johnny Watson: So cool. I've been reading, uh, the ego is Ego is the enemy. Yeah. And, uh, it's encouraging that entrepreneurship and when you're building a startup, the fear and the anxiety is normal and part of the experience and especi showing up and meeting it every day.
You can look back at a phase that you're at now. And to see how strong you are, and there's all this evidence for, for how much belief you can have in yourself. Um, where do you think this takes you now, looking forward four or five years?
[00:52:38] Brad Miller: Good question. You know, so we're working on strategies to expand our, our delivery range and this and that.
I mean, really it's just, it's just growing the bubble, you know, building our community further. Really putting ACEs in places like, you know, I said, you know, stick with the one thing you're good at. But now we're at a position to where, you know, we're, we're starting to dabble with the idea of catering.
We're starting to dabble with the idea of maybe doing some advertising marketing and really getting other strategies of growth to get out there. And it's like once you have your people, your place and your product. And you wholeheartedly put everything into those. Like, it just, it just naturally grows and then continue to build your community.
And that's, that's our strategy, you know, and so really just seeing how many mouths we can feed, you know, obviously I'd like to, you know, pop up in a different city as well, but also DFW has millions and millions of people. So if we can just keep growing in this realm, continuing to find new markets, and really just building up those around us, like it's, it.
I mean, I, I think we're gonna double again in the next two, three years.
[00:53:39] Johnny Watson: I believe you.
[00:53:40] Brad Miller: Thank you.
[00:53:42] Johnny Watson: And we'll be here to help.
[00:53:43] Brad Miller: Yep. And, and honestly, I couldn't do it without Bottle. So one day I'd like to do a podcast with y'all and tell you how we did it pre Bottle and it, it'll blow, it'll blow your mind.
Like
[00:53:54] Johnny Watson: let's pencil it in, essentially
[00:53:56] Brad Miller: 300 people a week. Like
[00:53:59] Johnny Watson: that's superpowers right there. Thank you so much, Brad, for, for coming on. I'll, I'll pleasures always connect offline and get a question for our next guest. Maybe that's a tradition we can, we can keep. I like it. I it, I love your answer there.
Thank you. Left on a real high. And, um, yeah, I know we're working on a lot of experiments together and. Really hoping that, and optimistic that it's gonna be able to help you unlock the next step of growth. And that's something we can share with other meal prep owners around the country now around the world.
We launched in Canada this week, so that's good. Oh, get
[00:54:33] Brad Miller: outta here
[00:54:33] Johnny Watson: on our side. Yeah. And we have the UK coming at the end of July,
[00:54:37] Brad Miller: so No way. Ooh, actually remind me, I got some UK people for you. So
[00:54:40] Johnny Watson: Brilliant. Thank you so much, Brad. Thanks for coming on and,
[00:54:43] Brad Miller: I hope everyone got something out of this, and if you ever wanna reach out or ask me some personal questions, hit me up on Instagram.
Yeah, I'd love to help out any way I can.
[00:54:51] Johnny Watson: Thank you so much, Brad. See you soon. Bye. Bye.