The Hidden Power of Day One and Why It Determines Everything

(02:05) A strong first-day experience helps set expectations, ease uncertainty and introduce new team members to workplace culture.
(05:12) Digital platforms enhance traditional training by reinforcing values and standards through consistent, accessible content.
(06:59) Adapting training methods to different learning styles supports better knowledge retention and overall employee performance.
(09:29) Guest feedback provides valuable insights that can shape coaching conversations and reinforce what’s working well.
(11:25) Recognizing all staff roles for their contributions, even when not publicly acknowledged, builds a sense of inclusion and appreciation.
(13:16) Welcoming new leaders from outside the industry creates opportunities to shape habits and instill values from the start.
(15:30) Clear communication channels and structured peer groups help maintain consistency and alignment as organizations grow.
(16:58) Regular forums for knowledge-sharing allow teams to exchange practical strategies and promote operational excellence.
(18:00) Feedback loops between leadership and staff can drive innovation and continuous improvement in systems and workflows.

Wisetail website

Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit

Eggs Up Grill

Wesley: [00:00:00] you can hire anyone and teach them how to crack eggs, flip pancakes, brew coffee, but you can't teach someone how to care. You can't teach someone, what it means to be a good person. 

Josh: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Wise Tales podcast. today our guest is Wesley Epstein as Director of Training for Ex Up Grill. Wes leads the development and execution of comprehensive training programs across multiple locations and departments. He is responsible for assessing training [00:01:00] needs.

Designing curriculum and implementing training initiatives that enhance employee performance and operational efficiency. In his role as digital training and development specialist, he leverages technology to create and deliver engaging digital training content. He designs e-learning modules, webinars, and interactive training sessions that cater to diverse learning styles.

Finally, as franchise business consultant for Ex Up Grill, he plays a pivotal role in. Supporting franchisees to achieve business success, providing strategic guidance on operations, marketing, financial management, and helping franchisees optimize their performance. Welcome Wesley.

Wesley: Thank you so much, Josh. Happy to be here.

Josh: Yeah. How are you doing today?

Wesley: I'm doing great. Great. How are you?

Josh: I am doing well. so to kick off the episode, you were at the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit earlier this year where you joined our panel on building authentic connections with your restaurant team. And during the discussion you had some incredible insights that I'd like to continue the conversation a [00:02:00] bit.

You had emphasized the critical importance of day one in terms of the your onboarding process. Can you expand on how that first day experience sets the foundation for authentic relationships and long-term success at EXE Grow? I.

Wesley: Yes, I would love to. and it was a pleasure to be a part of that panel. a lot of great insights, a lot of great conversations. I learned a lot and I hopefully passed along some useful, tactics and knowledge, really for day one for our trainees. it's such an impactful day. I believe it's a day where they come into the restaurant or come into to any building, and they really don't know what's going on.

They don't know what to expect, and, they don't know what success looks like. So, as the trainer, I feel like it is my duty. To make sure thatthat day is as, laid out as possible. That they have an understanding of what their day looks like, what their training agenda looks like, what the end goal really is, and to kind of set the [00:03:00] stage for that.

I always like to have a sit down breakfast. With our trainees that first day. I believe sitting down for a meal is such a great way to kind of let the walls down and really get to know someone, ask some fun, interesting questions while you're eating some scrambled eggs or french toast. get to talk about the food in general at our locations, but really get a chance to understand what the culture.

The DNA of Eggs Up grill is, and by sitting down eating, having someone serve you, you get a firsthand experience of what that entire kind of journey can look like. and I love that it gives me a chance to, learn more about the, it's really important that, you know, we bring on the right.

Individuals. And, you know, that starts in the interview process, all the way through training and through employment basically. but I think, you know, hospitality is [00:04:00] what differentiates us, eggs Up Grill, from anyone else. it's not the food, it's not the hours, it's not the location, but it's how we make guests feel and that can be accomplished.

Through a kitchen employee, a server, a host, a manager, just really important that, culture is how we make people feel. And, when culture and hospitality are dialed in, results follow.

Josh: Yeah, and I love that you're setting that precedent. Early with the first day on your onboarding process, you said obviously the, the culture you want to shine through your guests, but I love that you're setting that on the first day of onboarding for each employee. and yeah, I mean, just as obviously your first day you've got so many questions like, where are the bathrooms?

Where, what's my schedule? What is this gonna be like? And I love that you just take the guards down early with that breakfast, make people feel comfortableso since o obviously that, that gets into a little bit of the personal side of your onboarding process. but you also have a digital training side and [00:05:00] I've talked to a lot of customers and their fear, kind of from the corporates that managers are just saying, oh, just go take these onboarding courses, go in the back office, and they're just there for hours or days, going through digital training, so.

Since implementing a digital training platform across your system, how has technology enhanced your ability to maintain culture and consistent training while still preserving that personal touch that seems to be so important to your philosophy?

Wesley: Yeah. great, great question. since we've adopted. Wise tale. we actually call our platform Egg Yolk University. and it is, designed to be thorough, yet supportive. and what that means for me as the director of training for any of our, franchise owners or managers, it's a tool that is supposed to kind of supplement their hands-on training.

really, you know, you can hire anyone and teach them how to crack eggs, flip pancakes, brew coffee, but you can't teach someone how to care. You can't [00:06:00] teach someone, what it means to be a good person. And with Eggo University, we've been able to put together courses that really resemble our DNA that really resemble our culture, whether that's just the language throughout.

Each course that is pretty consistent, whether that's the pictures and the diagrams that we, insert in every course or, just kind of the overall flow of how you train from station to station or position to position. really what's important is that our DNA is consistent. you know, consistency is key in any job, in any position.

but I want people. I want guests that walk into our Charleston location to have the same experience that they would walking into our,Greenville, South Carolina location. That the delivery is the same, that the servers, suggestive selling tactics are the same, that their pancakes are consistent across the board, from location to location.

What's been [00:07:00] really exciting about Egg Oak University for me and for,the managing team that I work with, is that we're able to, track training progress, you know, through, Wisetail, there's an entire tracking platform that you can see where each individual stands as far as their training agenda and their journey.

so you can understand maybe what they're having trouble with. What they're struggling with, what they're excelling at, things of that nature. That really helped me. I. Kind of mold the training to each individual, where it's not just a one shoe fits all. people learn in different ways. People are visual learners are text learners, are hands-on learners.

Eggo University. And the,platform with Wisetail has really given us the opportunity to train in so many different ways that it has felt. So, consistent across the board that we're really getting our culture and our DNA,at the forefront of training.

Josh: Yeah. And I [00:08:00] think that's great. what are some of the metrics or KPIs that you,you judge that by that consistency, by, obviously you're dealing with a lot of franchisees, which can bring in a lot of variables in itself. So what are you looking at to, to know that you're maintaining that consistency?

Wesley: Yeah. we obviously as a franchise business consultant as well, I'm looking at a lot of operational metrics, food cost, labor percentage, alcohol percentage, catering, things like that. So I'll look at all those metrics and really get an understanding of what that team, that location is doing to bring those.

Percents up, you know, up. Are we,are we selling as much alcohol as we should? Are servers, suggestively, selling mimosas and our liquor based cocktails? all of that information is within EYU Eggo University, where it gives servers, a kind of a. A script or suggestions on how to sell these items? with catering, we have a whole section on catering, but not just [00:09:00] catering recipes.

We have a section on how do you get catering off on a good foot? Are you knocking on doors? Are you wearing out the leather on your shoes going after office administrators, school boards. school athletics, things like that. Giving them all of these ideas that we can have one on conversations about when I.

to kind of have that consistency on EYUA digital training platform that they can always call back to, is really important. Guest reviews is a huge part of our business right now. Everyone's a food critic. Everyone has their phone. Everyone can put a negative review, a positive review, whatever that is, and I love looking at that and understanding, okay, what are the overall sentiments of these guest reviews?

They do they talk about speed of service? Do they talk about food quality? do they talk about hospitality? That helps me frame my conversations with my franchise partners, with my managers [00:10:00] on what they need to work at, what they should celebrate. far too often we call out the bad and we don't celebrate the good.

so I think that's really important to kind of, always look at those, positive things. Of course, we'll have the negative reviews kind of sandwiched in there. but luckily Since being part of up, I haven't seen many negative reviews, so that's been really nice to.

Josh: Yeah, that, that's great. What are some of the strategies you have in highlighting those positive reviews? Is that just more like one-to-one? Do you post it on your platform? how do you highlight those? [00:11:00] I.

Wesley: it's a big talking point for me, when I. See positive reviews. I love when ge guests call out the server, so name dropping the server, and I'm always, you know, kind of looking at their managers. What are you doing for these people that are getting called out? Do they get a, you know, a free employee meal?

Do they get, you know, maybe a,gas gift card or, some kind of gift card? You know, everyone loves, gas cards or Chick-fil-A cards or anything like that. but really, you know, it's about celebrating that win, with the server, with the staff. and it's really funny, I actually had this conversation yesterday with one of my locations.

We were talking about they, their name dropping servers left and right. They're getting five star reviews and they said, well, what do I do for my kitchen? The kitchen doesn't get called out for positive reviews. And I looked at their reviews and I noticed about 10 to 12 reviews that highlighted food quality, that highlighted hot food, that steam was, you know, rising from their french toast when it hit the table.

Those are things to celebrate with your, [00:12:00] those are things to call out. Those are things that, you really should celebrate with them. so they understand that they're part of the journey, they're part of the experience, as much as the server is. even a host, a host, you know, bringing guests to the table, having a couple suggestions, things that they love to eat here.

Maybe they ask where they're from, if they're visiting, if they're vacationing somewhere. We have a lot of locations in Myrtle Beach and Charleston. so just kind of. Bringing that whole experience, to a little bit more of like a personal level. I think can be had on every level of employee, host, server and kitchen.

Josh: Yeah. And that's great. And then switching gears a little bit to the franchise business. Consultant part. you had said something in our prep call that stood out to me. You said that 75% of the franchisees that you have coming in don't have restaurant experience. when they're coming in.

Is that by design? and what is the process like bringing on a new franchisee?

Wesley: I wouldn't say it's by design. [00:13:00] we have a very attractive business model, and, we have a lot of success stories, so I think that that's very attractive to anyone looking to franchise. Any kind of business, whether it's, you know, haircuts, big air, urban air, you know, any of those that are franchised.

The restaurant industry is positively chaotic. Is a great way to kind of say it, that it attracts a lot of individuals, whether they have the experience or not. it makes my job a lot of fun because when you have franchisees that come into the company, that don't have any experience, I.

You're, you have a blank slate, you have a blank page to teach them. they don't know any of the negative habits, that may be an experienced or veteran, restaurant group. Does not to say that all habits, you know, there are negative, but that usually comes with the experience. And, it gives me an opportunity to, Excite them to motivate them, to really kind of bring to the forefront of like, this is your [00:14:00] opportunity to do something so special within your community, that you really don't get an opportunity like that, within a rest, not within a restaurant. I'd say, you're serving great food. You are, involved in community events.

you're the face, you're the owner of this restaurant, and that's important to kind of look at that and kind of level up your expectations, you know, whether, you're, thinking about, you know, how you're going to do your time and temperature logs, or how you're going to host your first pancake dinner.

all of these kind of, fundraising campaigns that we offer, that we have a model for. Are really exciting and it just kind of gives me another opportunity, to bring into the world a great franchise owner that. Wants to do good, that understands what it means to be successful. And that's hard work.

That's, accountability, that's hospitality, that's culture. That's DNA kind of words that we drill into them from day [00:15:00] one. to understand that you can't just show up. It,how you act. It's how you lead. It's how you hire, it's how you train, it's how you execute. and it really gives me a great opportunity, to, from day one, just really be a part of that journey.

And it's a special feeling.

Josh: Yeah, and I, I mean, I can feel the passion just in your voice as you're describing those things, which is awesome. so Eggs Up Grills, obviouslyit's quickly growing and as it approaches its 100th location milestone. What advice would you give other growing brands about balancing systemic training, with creating that sense of belonging that you emphasize?

especially for listeners in our audience who are facing similar challenges within their organization.

Wesley: It's a great question and something, our company, our brand has obviously been thinking about a lot, you know, little bit of a plug for Wisetail, you know, that's why we looked for an LMS program, a digital platform that we can keep our brands. Consistent DNA and [00:16:00] culture alive as we grow from location to location.

it's communication, it's open, transparent, honesty. we have a lot of committees, within our brand. we have a franchise advisory council. We have a franchisee marketing. Council, where there's a select group of franchise owners that have a voice for the brand, for the system, to talk about marketing initiatives, to talk about operational initiatives, things that work, things that don't work.

so I think what Eggs Up Grill has done a great job at it's listening to our franchisees. We listen. We investigate, we experiment. we test, we, we love doing LTOs. And LTOs are kind of like a test for the core menu to see if things work. we have a marketing initiative that we've tested, that have done really well.

We have some that. Kind of faltered a little bit so we know what works and what doesn't work. for me and my other [00:17:00] fellow FBCs,it's communication. It's weekly check-ins, it's phone calls. we just started a monthly webinar for each of our territories called The Monthly Scramble, where we're gonna get together every month with our territory and talk about different subjects, whether that's profitability.

Whether that's hospitality and culture, different things where they can learn from each other kind of best in class. What works and what doesn't work. I, by no means am an expert in everything. I know enough to be dangerous, I'd like to say, but when you talk to a franchisee that's doing 50,000 a week.

Versus the franchisee that's doing 20,000 a week. They have some really great insights. They have some really great operational insights that help, you know, turn tables that help, push food out the window. you know, third party, Has become such a huge avenue of sales for us. you know, DoorDash, Uber Eats, all of those kind of third party [00:18:00] channels.

how do you best manage that on a busy Saturday or Sunday? You know, you've got your dining room full, and then you get all these orders from DoorDash. How do you manage the dining room correctly so you don't have, so you don't negatively impact? The dining room. Dining room, you know, those are things that you learn from experience.

You really don't have a clear cut answer in. And I think that communication amongst our franchisees, communication from the brand team to our franchisees is what kind of close the gap a little bit on those things. once we get to location 200. I have no idea, but We'll,we'll learn, you know, as we kind of grow and, that's the exciting thing about Ex Up right now.

It's learning, you know, what's working. We just actually, I'm, I'm with our culinary director today, talking about Kitchen 3.0, so our third iteration of what a kitchen looks like and we're. Literally going through station by station, what belongs there and what doesn't belong there. And those are the things that we've [00:19:00] learned from our franchise partners.

And that's really exciting that they have a voice and we listen to that voice.

Josh: We'll have to cover opening of episode or of location 200 on the

Wesley: Definitely. Yes, yes.

Josh: of a whole 100 to 200. and then we like to end every episode with a fun question that's a little bit more personal. If you could Create your own custom bumper sticker, what would it say and why?

Wesley: Oh man. Alright, so I am, I'm a corny dad. I've got, you know, all those dad one-liners,that my, wife, cringes at, I'd say things don't get easier. We get better.

Josh: I love it. 

Wesley: Yeah. 

Josh: Yeah. Ties in directly to that last conversation, 

Wesley: right.

Josh: uh, wanna thank you again, Wes. It was a pleasure having you. And for those who are just listening and not watching, I, I hope Wesley's enthusiasm sh shown through, but for sure, check out the video. he is basically [00:20:00] smiling the entire time too. Love to 

Wesley: Thank you so much, Josh.

Josh: Yep. Thanks.