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with Jorge Hermez

Jorge Hermez dives into stories with industry experts to discuss the intersection between retail and technology.

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Episode 021, June 26, 2019

021

Tyler Carlson, SiteZeus

Talk Highlights

  • What can listeners gain from the Tech and Mortar podcast?
  • Why retail isn’t dead – just evolving
  • The importance of having young perspectives in business

Speaker Bio

Tyler Carlson is a serial entrepreneur who was involved in a company acquisition while attending Florida State University. As a freshman, Tyler began selling study guides for his classes and went on to sell more guides than any individual in the country.

In 2015, Tyler joined the sales team at SiteZeus, a mapping and predictive analytics company assisting in the growth for brands like Subway, Checkers, Burger King, Coffee and Bagel Brands, Bojangles, and many more. After leading the sales team as the VP of Sales, he transitioned to the VP of Customer, for a closer role with our partners.

Tyler enjoys playing golf, spontaneous traveling, and learning from people. He loves leaving customer experience/service reviews and considers himself the ultimate secret shopper. His goal is to touch a million lives.

Show Notes

  • 1:04 – The beginning of Tech and Mortar
  • 2:03 – The Tech and Mortar mission
  • 2:41 – Who should be listening to this podcast?
  • 3:10 – What can you expect to gain from Tech and Mortar?
  • 5:03 – Key stories Tyler has heard from guests that shape the idea of Tech and Mortar
  • 8:26 – Technological advancements that are going to impact the future of CRE
  • 10:26 – Tyler on interviewing Danny Meyer
  • 11:31 – Is the idea of “retail apocalypse” real?
  • 13:18 – In-store experiences Tyler has witnessed that are leveraging technology
  • 15:08 – Tyler on clicks-to-bricks
  • 17:00 – The advantage of having young individuals in all organizations
  • 18:55 – Speed of change in the retail/real estate industry
  • 20:30 – Tyler’s tips for emerging brands
  • 23:50 – Future of Tech and Mortar
  • 24:35 – Rapid Fire

Episode 020, June 12, 2019

020

Bobby Shaw, Bobby Shaw Consulting

Talk Highlights

  • What went wrong when introducing Chipotle in Jacksonville that led to Bobby’s biggest insight?
  • How $8 and 10 minutes can facilitate creating culture at a Whataburger
  • Know the difference between good and great performers - if you can’t define it you can’t find it

Speaker Bio

Recognized in 2016 by Fast Casual in their annual Top 100 report as a Top 25 Executive, Bobby Shaw has held senior leadership roles with several restaurant companies including Freebirds World Burrito, Chipotle, and McDonald’s.

Bobby got his start in the restaurant business at McDonald’s where he spent 17 years, starting his career in the kitchen and working his way up to a successful multi-unit leader. He joined Chipotle as an Area Manager in 2002, where he was one of the chief architects to the strong culture supporting the high growth Chipotle experienced during that time. Bobby grew the South Region to over 200 restaurants during his tenure. His focus on developing people gave him the opportunity to guide numerous individuals into senior leadership roles throughout the organization.

An avid writer, Bobby writes and about leadership development extensively on LinkedIn, various industry publications, and on his ​blog. His first book, "Cutting Onions: Leadership Lessons Learned from the Restaurant Industry" releases in March 2020 from Morgan James Publishing. Pre-order it now!

Show Notes

  • 1:23 – How Bobby got into the restaurant industry
  • 3:04 – Transition to Chipotle
  • 3:55 – What Bobby gained from the original training he received from McDonalds
  • 5:43 – Why is experience overrated?
  • 7:25 – Creating a culture that recognizes internal talent
  • 8:18 – Bobby describes the mistakes made when Chipotle opened in Jacksonville
  • 11:50 – What would customer’s have noticed being off about this location compared to others?
  • 13:10 – What methodology was used to select the Nashville site?
  • 15:45 – What he pays attention to that the average person may not look at?
  • 19:57 – What strategies help find the best employees during interviews
  • 22:00 – How can a company create the ideal culture for their team?
  • 24:54 – Finding the difference between good and mediocre performance
  • 29:30 – Technology’s biggest impact on the future of the industry
  • 31:15 – Rapid fire questions

Episode 019, May 29, 2019

019

Ryder Jeanes, Canntilever

Talk Highlights

  • What is the state of cannabis today and how is the west coast leading the way?
  • What can retailers do to embrace the changing tide?
  • What are some of the expanding applications of cannabis?

Speaker Bio

Ryder Jeanes has unparalleled expertise in the intersection of cannabis and retail having spent decades on the retail side. He is also a member of the very first cannabis hedge fund. Through his experience in the industry, Ryder founded Canntilever.

Canntilever operates at the intersection of real estate, capital markets and the global cannabis industry. The main objective of Canntilever is providing strategies and solutions to the complex and growing cannabis industry.

Show Notes

  • 1:15 – Founding story for Canntilever
  • 3:32 – The state of the cannabis industry today
  • 4:10 – 4 stages of introducing cannabis
  • 5:40 – Evolution of cannabis being used for recreational to medical purposes
  • 8:08 – The real estate site selection process within the cannabis industry
  • 11:30 – How different regions in the US compare when introducing cannabis
  • 14:40 – Number of dispensaries in each state
  • 16:00 – Ryder discusses Moe Greens and cannabis in the hospitality space
  • 17:40 – Cannabis affecting the alcohol industry
  • 19:10 – How retailers will be affected by the change in consumer demand
  • 20:43 – Untangling the pile of coat hangers created by outdated regulations
  • 21:55 – How big will this industry become?
  • 22:43 – Growing types of consumer goods that will embrace cannabis
  • 26:18 – What surprised Ryder the most within the industry
  • 27:38 – Rapid Fire

Episode 018, May 16, 2019

018

Barry Wolfe, Marcus Millichap

Talk Highlights

  • What is going to happen with all the big-box real estate?
  • “Dont care how much I make on a particular deal as long as the client is happy!” Best mindset for success
  • Is the industry ignoring the facts and looking through rose-colored glasses?

Speaker Bio

Barry Wolfe is the Senior Managing Director of Investments at Marcus & Millichap. Prior to joining Marcus & Millichap in 2001, Barry was a practicing attorney for nearly ten years, initially in private practice with a transactional, real estate focus. Subsequently, he served as in-house counsel for a publically traded company where he ran the legal real estate department. Barry's legal background frequently proves invaluable in assisting his clients in navigating through the landmines inherent in real estate transactions.

Barry's success on behalf of his clients has resulted in several awards and recognition both from within Marcus & Millichap as well as within the industry. Some of these industry awards include being a multi-time recipient of CoStar's "Power Broker" award as well as being recognized by "Real Estate Florida Magazine" as being among the top ten investment sales agents within the State of Florida.

Show Notes

  • 1:30 - Being a lawyer to being in real estate field
  • 3:37 - 5-10 deals per year to significantly more
  • 5:05 - First couple hires
  • 6:08 - Difference between average and great
  • 7:09 - “how I built my business ties to people I’ve met at various conferences.”
  • 8:52 - Avenues for success in prospecting
  • 10:27 - Beth Azor is the Godmother of Social Media
  • 11:52 - What can you give to others, not what you can get?
  • 13:29 - Walmart adopting tech that the others didn’t went from 800 lb gorilla to irrelevant
  • 16:18 - Rookies don’t listen to the vets and what do vets need to hush up on?
  • 17:37 - Panera bread 2.0, Chickfila and Walmart acquired jet.com
  • 19:50 - What is going to happen with all these big boxes?
  • 21:48 - Can’t make the mistakes you used to get away with before!
  • 24:31 - Not that retail is dead but it is going to die faster
  • 25:39 - CRE behind on technology, catalyst to facilitating adaption
  • 27:36 - Speed of change is accelerating
  • 28:37 - Rapid Fire Questions

Episode 017, May 1, 2019

017

Mo Asgari, Monkey Group

Talk Highlights

  • What is a leader’s true job? To help them see what they don’t see
  • 5 year outlook on off-premise
  • What is going to happen to those 30% fees third parties are charging?

Speaker Bio

Mo is an expert at aligning technology development and corporate strategy to anticipate, shape and lead major market trends. As a professional manager with over 25 years of software development and technology experience, most of his career has been spent in an executive technology management role developing and managing products ranging from an extensive enterprise solution, to corporate-wide client-server solutions, to an off-the-shelf consumer-based solution. He has owned and driven entire releases of major software solutions, taking ownership of tasks and believes in management through empowerment.

Mo is results oriented, energetic, with entrepreneurial spirit, thriving on new challenges andopportunities, with the ability to wear different hats and properly communicating information to individuals with different backgrounds and focus areas. He has proven success attracting and retaining technical and non-technical resources, allowing him to build dynamic teams in avariety of company structures/environments, and defining technical and operational processes to help those teams be highly effective. As a volunteer high school coach, Mo’s leadership and coaching skills transcend into his professional world motivating his teams to maneuver difficult, changing, fast-paced environments.

Mo scored in the top 5% of all senior managers tested in an internal in-depth leadership assessment evaluation. Scoring above average in all aspects of the test including: vision, execution, inspiration, drive, ownership and empathy.

Show Notes

  • 1:15–How Mo came into computer science
  • 4:31–Lessons Mo’s learned from important people along the way
  • 6:31–The idea of the founding of Monkey Media software and how Mo got involved
  • 13:38–Customer loyalty
  • 14:50–Applying the 80/20 principal
  • 17:16–Relationships verse transactional and how brands can apply that to their brands
  • 20:42–The five year outlook on the off premise
  • 24:37–Thoughts on the high level of percentages that third parties are taking
  • 28:14–The importance of pausingand reflecting and the steps to take
  • 31:41–Rapid fire questions