WEBVTT

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When you're conservative and you're successful

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and you have notoriety or influence and you don't

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go along with the left's ideology, you are marked.

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I mean, the media is going to attack you because

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you don't believe in their ideology. And under

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Biden, the DOJ, the legal system will, I mean,

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they will literally, you're not safe. You've

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lost your freedom of speech. You've lost your

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liberties. In a matter of seconds, 10 seconds

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to be precise, somebody can go from pillar of

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the pizza universe to being the attention of

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a globally shameful experience. Today we have

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Papa John Schnatter. So happy to have you here.

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Can't wait to hear your story. You'll share a

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little bit of your story, how you took it from

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literally nothing, nothing, borrowed money no

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less, and built it into over 5 ,000 stores worldwide.

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And then the unimaginable happened, and they

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forced you out of your own company. Welcome,

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John. Nice to meet you so much. Welcome, John.

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Thank you for being here. This was lovely. Yeah.

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So I know you've shared the story a million times,

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but you can't share it enough because there's

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a lot of people out there who don't know the

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story, and you should share the story. I hope

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you don't get tired of sharing your story. rock

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stars who keep performing their hits. Some of

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them really don't like singing their songs, but

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I hope you like singing your song. Will you share

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with us for a few minutes how you started the

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company and how you started to get some traction?

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Well, this was interesting because I tell you

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today, you know, the key to success is find something

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you're good at and something you love to do.

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So I worked for Joe John and Frank Fondrisi,

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the Fondrisi brothers, and they had Rocky Sub

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Pub. And it wasn't doing particularly well, and

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they hired me as a dishwasher for, you know,

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like $2 .35 an hour. And I hated washing dishes.

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I hated it. Across from where the dishwasher

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was was where Joe Fondrisi made pizzas. And I

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wanted to make pizzas. I just wanted to get out

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of the dishwasher and making pizzas. And so they

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got a write -up in the Sunday newspaper and just

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blew the doors off the plate. So they went from

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actually running the operations to the front

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of the house taking care of the guests. And I

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got a promotion from washing dishes to making

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pizzas. That's awesome. And I fell in love with

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it. I mean, I just love pizza. And it was just

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like, this is... The greatest thing since sliced

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bread, the sauce, the cheese, the toppings. I

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was dating a girl and I would actually write

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little notes on the pizza out of pepperoni when

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she would come in. I'd flirt with her with the

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pizza. I just love pizza, and I made pizzas at

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Greets Pizzeria in college. I worked nights.

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And I drove a forklift during the day at Cutrate

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Liquors, later welded bars during the day, and

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then I would make pizzas at Rocky's, and that's

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how I would, you know, get through school and

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then also get through college. And then went

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to college with Chris Karamasini, the Greek,

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and learned about volume and learned, you know,

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a few other tricks about Munster cheese and the

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best ovens, Zadek ovens, Fondrisi cooked out

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of Oblogit. Good oven, but it didn't really have

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the horsepower to maintain the heat, so the busier

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you got, the cooking quite goes good. Chris Caramacini

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told me about the Breaker's Pride 601, 602. 602

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means there's two decks instead of one. And it

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was a more powerful oven, and you could really

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cook good pizzas. In college, we were just blowing

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the doors off of it. I mean, we would do $8 ,000

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a week at Rocky's in pizza, and at Greek's Pizzeria,

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we'd do $8 ,000 a day. So I had this love of

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pizza. And I was at college, almost dropped out

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of college, and my mom was a disciplinarian.

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And she was tough, tough as nails. Total integrity.

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Almost dropped out because you loved pizza so

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much you wanted to open your own pizza place.

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That's awesome. I wanted to go to Bloomington,

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Indiana and start a Greeks franchise. And so

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I... came up with the recipes of what I thought

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was the best between the two. I had done a little

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work at Gaddy's, worked at Domino's to learn

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the system on delivery. And so I basically went

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around and stole the best ideas from all the

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major players. That's good. Mr. Gaddy's, yeah,

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yeah. Had everything but a name. Had the recipes,

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had the layout, the store, the equipment. Had

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everything but a name. But we had a marketing

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guy on the fifth floor of La Follette Dorm. And

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I said, hey, I need a name. And he was from Chicago,

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a marketing major. And he came back three days

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later with the name Papa John's. And it was a

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print -driven business with coupons. And I love

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the way the name Papa John's. That's cool. And

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he was named after me, so I guess my ego kicked

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in a little bit with that. And I told him, I

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said, if it ever goes big, you get a pizza a

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week for the rest of your life. Wow. Did you

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honor that? Well, I would if he'd ever come forward.

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So this guy's in Chicago. He's on the fifth floor

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La Follette dorm. It's 1982. He came up with

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it. He's got to know that Papa John's has gone

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big. Wow. So I said, I'll give you a pizza a

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week. for the rest of your life free if it ever

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goes big. So I think if you run the math on 40

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years at $10 a week, I think I owe this guy $20

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,000, whatever the math is. That's awesome. So

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anyway, I took all the recipes and the name and

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everything, and I hid it in a box. And I hid

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it in my closet under my clothes back in Jeffersonville,

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Indiana, where I lived, and finished college

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in three years and came out of – college would

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you study john i studied business okay i had

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i was almost had a minor in math i love math

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yeah it's god's language at least the elementary

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level um and um i was just so blessed through

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the years to have great miss jenkins in third

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grade rick myers in middle school Philip Peters

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in calculus and algebra, math. And so I took

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a math four in college. And I love, you know,

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we went so far with math where, you know, when

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you're 10th to the negative 37, I think it is,

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mathematics actually bends. So as you get them

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from the three -dimensional world to the fifth

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dimensional, mathematically, it actually bends

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a little bit. So we got a little bit of taste

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of that in college. But I was a few hours short

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on the minor, but I wanted to get back and get

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a job at Cummins Diesel or Brown Foreman. In

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Indiana. In Indiana. And my dad had this bank

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run. bar and wanted to know if I'd go in and

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run it. Well, in the interim, I'd made good grades,

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finished college in three years, and was a pretty

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good athlete. And, you know, had a lot of fun

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with it. But I always had to work harder than

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the other kids. And I remember being 18, 19.

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And it was like yesterday, it was like, you know,

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God, just give me something that I could do better.

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That I don't have to work so freaking hard to

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be average a little better. And didn't think

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much of it. And so dad throws me in this bar.

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We're $64 ,000. He thought he was $10 ,000 in

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debt, but it ended up being $64 ,000, headed

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for bankruptcy. Filthy. Employees are ripping

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him off. Beer's not cold. McBurgers aren't hot.

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And I go in, and in eight days, it was, I don't

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know, was it the DNA? The genetics? It was like,

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my God, I could run a business. It was the most

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natural thing, intuitive, that I'd ever done.

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Wow. And Dad came in day eight and says, you

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know, just do the best you can. Cut the losses

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because this thing's going under. And I said,

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no, Dad, I think I can fix this. Wow. And we

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put in Denise Robinson and Sonny, the bartender.

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We got personal people, Roxanne, Glenn. And we

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made the beer really cold, 33 degrees. We made

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that McBurger better and everything. We had,

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you know, fried steak, a meatloaf, fried chicken.

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My dad used to, he was a great cook. So he would

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cook the plate lunches. And this thing's doing

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like. $2 ,000 a week and is losing. And within

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a month and a half, we were doing $7 ,000 a week

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in beer sales and $1 ,000 a week in pool tables.

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And when I bought there, it was two pool tables.

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They were doing $500 a week, but we had to splint

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it with the vendor. But there was no contract.

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So I bought the vendor out, put two more pool

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tables in. Pool table rent to $1 ,000 a week

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cash. So we went from $250 to $1 ,000 in coins

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every week. And that was my savior. That vendor

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money, the cigarette money, the poker machine

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money, and the pool table money. And we slowly

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clawed back. And from Labor Day weekend of 83

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until January 4 of 84, we paid off $32 ,000 in

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debt. And see, in pool table revenue in Indiana,

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you don't pay taxes. Oh, really? I had no idea.

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We were broke. I mean, we were survivors. Cash.

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And we were just, I'm sending that $1 ,000. I

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mean, I'm robbing Peter to pay Paul. We owed

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Teddy Throckmorton $13 ,000 in beer. We owed

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the Indiana State Sales Department $10 ,000.

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We had our IRA and Ruth McKinley. If we come

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back to that story, that's a pretty interesting

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story because Ruth McKinley saved my tail. We

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owed him $10 ,000 in about three weeks in. They

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cut me off. And I said, I swear to God, Ari,

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I'll pay you back. And Ruth looked at Ari's.

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Who cut you off? My Budweiser distributor. Oh,

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wow. Budweiser, Pabst, which was the number one

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seller, and Bud Light, Michelob. And they cut

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me off. And I paid them like, and I sold my car.

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And I took that $2 ,500 on that car, and I gave

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it to Ruth and Ari, and he still tried to cut

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me off. And this was. Like, bad. This was the

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bad. I had my merchant services cut off from

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my company, credit card processing. You don't

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ever forget that. Yeah, yeah. And so she looked

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at Ari and said, you know, Ari, send him the

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beer. Now, if I don't get that load of beer,

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I'm not sitting here today. I mean, it was a

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big deal. So we paid all these people off, $32

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,000, and then Clark County and Citizens Bank

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loaned me the other $32 ,000, and that was about

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$64 ,000. Wow. um that i got you know that i

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got um uh out of debt with and so we were solving

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january 1st of 84. wow um we were off the races

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and you know we're making your dad happy or what

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yeah he was real happy he's proud of you huh

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he's like yeah yeah and then later in 84 is when

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the first papa john's opened 40 years ago I hated

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the bar business. I hated all the alcohol, all

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the smoke. We had smoke, you know, filters and

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all that. But just still, we had, you know, we're

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doing 7 ,000 a week, 8 ,000 a week in beer sales

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with 50 cent, 75 cent beer. So you've got, just

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run the math. So if you take the 200 people that

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came in there and you divide it by 16, 15 ,000

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beers a week, whatever the number is, I mean,

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the average consumption is like 17, 18 beers

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per person per day. I mean, so my dad had a joke

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is that, you know, John would get him drunk during

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the day. and then I would get them divorced in

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the morning. So it was an immoral arrangement,

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and I hated it. But, you know, it was my start.

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So I had that box of all the pizza, you know,

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recipes in the closet. And so I'm sitting at

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the bar, like, March of 84, and I'm like, looking

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at this broom closet. It's got a wall facing

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the dining room. In the back of Mix. In the back

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of Mix Lounge. And I said, that's what I'm going

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to do. I'm going to sell pizzas in the broom

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closet. How many square feet? Was it big enough

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for an oven? Well, the furnace was here, and

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there was a little slot right here where we put

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the oven. And then it was probably here to that

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screen, so what, at 15 feet, 14 feet? And then

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it was about 8 feet wide, so it's 80 square feet,

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100 square feet. It was really tiny. Oh, it was

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tiny. But you put an oven in there. I put an

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oven between the furnace and the wall that we

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built. Wow. And so, anyway, I took a sledgehammer.

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This is kind of how we used to do things because,

00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.580
you know, I'm, what, 22, 21 years old. I'm a

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pretty high -strung mammal. You know, I'm wired

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up pretty good. So I took a sledgehammer, and

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I just tore the wall down because we're going

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to expand it out four feet. And I left a note

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on the cash register for my partner, Bob Arringer.

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I said, Bob, I got a great idea. So the next

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day he walks in. Just shit and shit everywhere.

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You know, I mean, there's stuff all over the

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place in this drywall. And brought him in the

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box. I said, we're going to sell 50 -cent beers

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in the front. We're going to sell $5 pieces out

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the back. Wow. So all of a sudden, here I am,

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84. We opened April 11th of 84. So I would have

00:12:32.419 --> 00:12:38.299
been 22. That's almost 41 years ago to this day.

00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:43.519
Yeah, 41 years. And so all of a sudden, I've

00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:47.559
got what I love to do. making pizzas and i could

00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:50.320
run a business i got something i'm good at and

00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:55.120
we started off the first like two months we we

00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:57.559
were doing maybe 800 bucks a week because i didn't

00:12:57.559 --> 00:12:59.529
understand marketing I didn't understand you

00:12:59.529 --> 00:13:01.269
had to have a sign on the front door. I just

00:13:01.269 --> 00:13:02.970
thought if you had the best pizza and you took

00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:05.009
care of your people, you'd win. So I know nothing

00:13:05.009 --> 00:13:06.830
about marketing. They didn't teach that in college.

00:13:07.309 --> 00:13:10.409
And so we did $200 one night. My brother was

00:13:10.409 --> 00:13:12.129
in law school. I put him through law school and

00:13:12.129 --> 00:13:14.289
he did all my legal work, which came huge for

00:13:14.289 --> 00:13:20.149
the franchise curriculum and the UFOC and then

00:13:20.149 --> 00:13:23.450
all my leases. And we'll come back to this. This

00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:26.490
was, remember. Louisville to Lexington to Columbus

00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:29.210
is the fast food capital of the world. So if

00:13:29.210 --> 00:13:31.830
you can have a successful concept, so Long John

00:13:31.830 --> 00:13:37.350
Silver's, Rowley's, KFC, Donato's, White Castle,

00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:41.690
Bob Evans, all started there. We understood franchising.

00:13:41.929 --> 00:13:44.870
And John Y. Brown had made $15 million at KFC

00:13:44.870 --> 00:13:47.690
franchising. And Jim Patterson, who's my hero

00:13:47.690 --> 00:13:52.370
to this day, and just a great restaurateur, he

00:13:52.370 --> 00:13:54.009
did Long John Silver's and made $20 million.

00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:57.179
And so I thought, this franchising must be lucrative.

00:13:57.320 --> 00:13:59.480
So we franchised like store number five or six.

00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:02.559
Wow. So early. It's amazing. We were off to the

00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.480
races. So one night, Tuesday night, my brother

00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:08.379
worked Tuesday night shift because he was at

00:14:08.379 --> 00:14:10.720
law school the rest of the days. And we're in

00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:12.720
there, and he and I are working it. And we did

00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.340
$200 in a day in a broom closet. We're jumping

00:14:16.340 --> 00:14:18.419
up and down. We're doing shots of beer. Wow.

00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.899
Wow. I mean, $200 in a broom closet. We thought

00:14:22.899 --> 00:14:25.519
we were rich. We thought we were rich. We just

00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:27.440
thought, nobody can do $200. And that was kind

00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.980
of the start. Then I did $1 ,000. That it did

00:14:29.980 --> 00:14:33.059
$1 ,500. And by January, February of the next

00:14:33.059 --> 00:14:35.159
year, we're doing $3 ,000 in the broom closet.

00:14:35.299 --> 00:14:37.539
Wow. We're doing $1 ,000 a week in pool revenue.

00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:39.539
And we're doing $7 ,000, $8 ,000, and $0 .50

00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:43.539
beers. We're making $140 ,000 a year. Wow, that's

00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:45.820
awesome. In Jeffersonville, Indiana, at 22, 23

00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:48.320
years old, selling $5 pizzas and $0 .50 beers.

00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.539
That's amazing. So this gets interesting. So

00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:52.120
the broom closet, we're busting at the seams.

00:14:52.179 --> 00:14:54.539
So the space comes up next that we had another

00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:57.419
couple pool tables in. And we converted that.

00:14:57.580 --> 00:14:59.879
You got it in the next door. And you merged them.

00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:02.740
Yeah, they were contiguous, the properties. Oh,

00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:05.399
amazing. And so we actually were building. We

00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:08.080
built the stores ourselves. My partner and my

00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.759
uncle were really good carpenters and trim people,

00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.360
really good with their hands. And so we built

00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.080
the dining room, which I'll come back to. built

00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:18.840
a kitchen, and we slowly migrated from that broom

00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:20.639
closet with that equipment over to the first

00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.679
store. So April 11th, a year to the date later,

00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.860
we didn't know that. It was just serendipitous.

00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:28.879
We opened the first freestanding Papa John's

00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.000
with a sign on the front door. Sales went to

00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:34.440
$9 ,000. They tripled. And I went, daggone, man,

00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:35.940
you put a sign on the front door. It really helps

00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:38.840
business. I mean, it was like, okay. That's awesome.

00:15:41.139 --> 00:15:43.679
Remember, I'm pretty. You got your MBA live on

00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.820
the spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And remember,

00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:50.120
I'm pretty, you know, I'm like ready to go. You

00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:52.919
know, I'm pumped up. I know I'm sitting on something.

00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:54.440
I hated the bar business, but I'm making a bunch

00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:57.559
of money in this pizza thing. So I get in the

00:15:57.559 --> 00:15:59.500
car and I drive down to Domino's. And, you know,

00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:01.879
this is back when the t -shirt was too tight

00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:03.840
and I'm wearing jeans, you know, and I'm just

00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.899
looking for a fight. So I walk in this Domino's

00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:08.720
and I go, what are you doing a week? He goes,

00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:10.769
we're doing five, six thousand a week. And I

00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:12.190
look at this guy, and I said, we're doing nine

00:16:12.190 --> 00:16:13.870
a week. I'm going to kick your ass in the whole

00:16:13.870 --> 00:16:17.789
world. I thought, if I can beat Domino's in Jersey

00:16:17.789 --> 00:16:21.090
City, and I thought this. This is how crazy that

00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:23.950
I was. It's like, if I can beat them in Jersey

00:16:23.950 --> 00:16:25.429
City, and I can beat them in the whole world

00:16:25.429 --> 00:16:27.350
because we make a better pizza. That's awesome.

00:16:27.549 --> 00:16:29.490
I felt like that. But it's good to have a good

00:16:29.490 --> 00:16:31.889
mindset. It's everything in life. It's crazy.

00:16:32.090 --> 00:16:35.090
It was arrogant. It's over the top. Even mindset

00:16:35.090 --> 00:16:37.190
is everything. He really believed it, and you

00:16:37.190 --> 00:16:39.269
had a point of differentiation in the product

00:16:39.269 --> 00:16:43.799
as well. Before we sold the company he started,

00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:45.879
I don't know how much you know about it, but

00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.899
I call him the king of tolls. He's the guy that

00:16:48.899 --> 00:16:52.039
invented, if you rented a car and you went through

00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:54.379
the toll road, that was my husband's company

00:16:54.379 --> 00:16:56.379
who did all the technology in the background.

00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.840
So if you called Enterprise yelling at them about

00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:03.019
a charge, it was his company that would answer

00:17:03.019 --> 00:17:06.759
the phones. But, you know, to have that courage

00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:10.359
to basically say, like, I can do this. And when

00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:12.119
we were going to sell, I told him, David, this

00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:14.119
is the number we're going to get for the company.

00:17:14.259 --> 00:17:16.779
And we got exactly that number. So when you put

00:17:16.779 --> 00:17:19.400
your mindset to something, watch out because

00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:22.480
it will happen. Yeah, it's like if you look at

00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:29.480
Musk or Gates or Jobs or Ford, they all look

00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:32.579
crazy. I mean, everybody else thinks you're crazy.

00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:37.259
And we kind of are. We just see things other

00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:40.720
people don't see. And so they don't see it. And

00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:42.980
so it's not something they can predict, something

00:17:42.980 --> 00:17:46.019
they can understand. So their default is you're

00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:50.140
crazy. I mean, I had kids from my class that

00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:52.000
said, man, you've got a college degree and you're

00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:53.960
working at a bar and you're making pizzas. I

00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:55.839
mean, really kind of making fun of me. But I

00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:58.519
can see in your eyes, though, the passion, the

00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:01.740
love to this day for pizza. And what you said

00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:03.660
earlier, I think you hit the nail on the head.

00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:06.430
If you're going to do something, Do it from your

00:18:06.430 --> 00:18:08.809
heart and soul and do it better than everyone.

00:18:08.990 --> 00:18:11.890
I think if anybody hears that message and takes

00:18:11.890 --> 00:18:14.450
it to their heart, it is so, so true. My husband

00:18:14.450 --> 00:18:17.170
says it. In fact, something we all have in common

00:18:17.170 --> 00:18:20.630
is I worked at a pizza place at 16. He worked

00:18:20.630 --> 00:18:24.059
at a pizza place at, what, 15? 15 to 19, 20.

00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:27.299
And probably one of the reasons why we're so

00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:29.180
madly in love. I worked as a dishwasher at age

00:18:29.180 --> 00:18:31.759
12 at International House Pancakes until I got

00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:33.839
promoted to busboy, and then I got promoted to

00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.480
short -order cook. And I worked four jobs at

00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.250
the same time when I was 16. Wow. Yeah. And I

00:18:39.250 --> 00:18:41.049
was going to say, part of the reason why we're

00:18:41.049 --> 00:18:43.089
so mad. I hated being a dishwasher. The smell,

00:18:43.289 --> 00:18:45.589
I'm sure you remember, you come home, you wear

00:18:45.589 --> 00:18:48.490
the apron, but the food particles get stuck in

00:18:48.490 --> 00:18:52.349
the apron and you just stink so bad, right? You

00:18:52.349 --> 00:18:54.329
just cannot shower enough. I didn't do that part.

00:18:54.410 --> 00:18:58.009
But what I was saying is I think the reason why

00:18:58.009 --> 00:19:00.410
we're so madly in love is we had the same philosophy

00:19:00.410 --> 00:19:02.869
when we met. It's like if I was on the floor

00:19:02.869 --> 00:19:04.789
cleaning that floor, I was going to make that

00:19:04.789 --> 00:19:08.380
floor the shiniest floor ever. I wasn't... you

00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:10.039
know, in the back in the kitchen, but I was learning

00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:13.259
how to flip pizzas, and I was so eager to flip

00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:15.519
it better than anybody else, and I was 16 years

00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:18.140
old. But I think that's the drive, especially

00:19:18.140 --> 00:19:21.420
this young generation who seems to, you know,

00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.839
want that quick dopamine fix that, you know,

00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:27.460
social media star and get $10 ,000 for a post.

00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:30.059
They don't understand where we come from. We

00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:32.819
come from a place of do it, love it, and be it.

00:19:32.900 --> 00:19:35.059
Do the best that you can be. Old school, just

00:19:35.059 --> 00:19:37.420
deliver the best experience you can to the customer.

00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:39.460
The one thing I would want to leave with your

00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:42.539
audience is energy. We talked about that focus.

00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.539
A beam is just a beam when it's a laser cut steel.

00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:51.109
And energy. If I went back to Papa John's today,

00:19:51.450 --> 00:19:56.029
I know 100 % it's in a mess. Stocks in the 30s.

00:19:56.390 --> 00:20:01.490
I love the franchisees. That was your baby. Yeah,

00:20:01.549 --> 00:20:05.089
you want it to do well. They kind of upset with

00:20:05.089 --> 00:20:06.549
me because I pointed out some things that are

00:20:06.549 --> 00:20:09.869
a little deficient the last six years. They think

00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:12.319
I'm like... wanting them to fail or, you know,

00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:15.200
I'm like, no, it's cause and effect. If you behave

00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:18.359
like this, you know, and you don't take care

00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:20.059
of the product and you don't care, take care

00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:22.000
of your people, you know, you're going to end

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.880
up at $35 a share. Here's a question for you.

00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:27.700
Who's writing your story? You or some random

00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:30.200
dude on the internet? If you're sick of Google,

00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:33.599
gossip blogs, or that one angry ex controlling

00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.059
how the world sees you, it's time to do something

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about it. Erased .com helps you take back your

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00:20:44.380 --> 00:20:46.599
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00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.099
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00:20:54.900 --> 00:20:57.480
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00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:00.500
Links in the description. Click it. Your future

00:21:00.500 --> 00:21:03.339
self will thank you. Last week, they're doing

00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:05.259
on the weekends, buy one, get one free. It's

00:21:05.259 --> 00:21:08.000
week before last. And I think they're running

00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.140
negative sales. And I mean, this is not, and

00:21:11.140 --> 00:21:13.539
this is, you know, when you're over 30, 31 food

00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:15.200
and you're running negative sales and you're

00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:18.539
running negative traffic, this is a recipe for,

00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:21.880
and back to that corridor, Louisville, Lexington,

00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.920
and Columbus, you see all the successes, but

00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:26.799
you also see a lot of bones in the graveyard.

00:21:27.589 --> 00:21:30.789
So you know intuitively what happens when certain

00:21:30.789 --> 00:21:34.470
things don't happen in the business. Energy,

00:21:34.710 --> 00:21:38.950
but it's the energy of the three -dimensional.

00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:41.940
You've got to slim. You've got the Lincoln Continental

00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:45.680
Railroad. I mean, 1862, he had a vision of hooking

00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:48.140
the new artery system from the whole country,

00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:50.880
New York all the way to San Francisco. But people

00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.640
had to sling hammers and build that railroad.

00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:55.059
I mean, there is a three -dimensional world,

00:21:55.140 --> 00:21:56.460
and you've got to have that in there, but you've

00:21:56.460 --> 00:22:02.380
also got to have that energy of thought and creativity

00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:08.319
and curiosity to... Let the field, which Einstein

00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:12.539
said the field runs the particles. So the field

00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:14.559
dictates the particles, the three -dimensional,

00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.559
the three -dimensional. So you've got to have

00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:20.680
dreams. But I want you to take us back to your

00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:22.619
dream and your vision after you knocked on the

00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:24.759
door of dominoes and said, we're going to kick

00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:27.299
your butts. I want to hear more about that dream

00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:30.859
and how fast you grew and how you grew. Share

00:22:30.859 --> 00:22:33.220
more about that. Well, the original goal was

00:22:33.220 --> 00:22:36.160
to make $50 ,000 a year. 50 grand in the bank

00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:37.500
because I thought I could get a date because

00:22:37.500 --> 00:22:39.839
I could take her shopping the whole thing is

00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:43.000
all my success to the the opposite sex but I

00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:45.240
wanted to get a date you know and when you're

00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:47.119
in a bar and you smell like smoke and pizza every

00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:50.259
night you know it's not exactly easy to get a

00:22:50.259 --> 00:22:53.299
date so that was the original goal is to you

00:22:53.299 --> 00:22:55.319
know just make 50 grand a year and have 50 ,000

00:22:55.319 --> 00:23:00.400
bucks in the bank but We believed in franchising.

00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:03.579
My brother has the legal part of it, so the UFOC,

00:23:03.619 --> 00:23:06.539
we had that covered. And so we went to Clarksville.

00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:09.619
The first store we built a dining room, and 98

00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:12.299
% of our business was carry -out delivery. So

00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:14.299
immediately, store number two, we got rid of

00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:16.880
the dining room. The customer and the creator,

00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:19.609
if you just listen. And you get your ego out

00:23:19.609 --> 00:23:21.569
of the way. You stay grateful. You stay humble.

00:23:21.869 --> 00:23:23.789
You're truthful. You've got to have the integrity.

00:23:23.970 --> 00:23:25.670
None of this works if you don't have personal

00:23:25.670 --> 00:23:29.269
integrity and truth. It just will not work. You

00:23:29.269 --> 00:23:30.910
can't get to the next level if you don't have

00:23:30.910 --> 00:23:36.450
that foundation. So we always had positive energy

00:23:36.450 --> 00:23:38.150
and positive thoughts. So then you opened the

00:23:38.150 --> 00:23:41.000
second one, lost it on your own. Or slimmed it

00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:44.559
down. So we cut the investment from $60 ,000.

00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:46.500
I think we built that store for like $8 ,000

00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:47.759
or $10 ,000. Because we were building our store

00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:51.000
ourselves. And so we switched from full -size

00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.680
service dining room with mozzarella sticks, zucchini,

00:23:54.980 --> 00:23:57.359
salads, a waitress. You know, it was beautiful.

00:23:57.460 --> 00:24:00.380
I had a little, you know, kind of pedestal for

00:24:00.380 --> 00:24:02.079
the pizza. I mean, it was world -class. Cold

00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:09.339
beer, cold beer. To the tens, you know. put 100

00:24:09.339 --> 00:24:13.539
grand in, do 10 ,000 a week, pay $1 ,000 a month

00:24:13.539 --> 00:24:17.279
rent, and make 10%. 10, 10, 10. That's nice.

00:24:17.299 --> 00:24:20.240
I like that. And so that's a 50 % return and

00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.740
low investment. And that was the formula that

00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:27.480
got us to store 200. So we're sitting here on

00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.700
store 200. And you own 200 stores or you franchise?

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:37.069
Franchise. So we are a limiting factor. was not

00:24:37.069 --> 00:24:39.730
knowledge, product quality, what to do. Our limiting

00:24:39.730 --> 00:24:43.369
factor was talent. And so what we found, 80 -20.

00:24:44.009 --> 00:24:46.769
We could run 20 % of the stores competently and

00:24:46.769 --> 00:24:48.990
lead by example, but we franchised the other

00:24:48.990 --> 00:24:51.930
80. So we stuck with 20 -80 pretty well up with

00:24:51.930 --> 00:24:56.250
North America to store 3 ,000. So we had 10 -10

00:24:56.250 --> 00:25:00.809
-10, the 20 -80 rule. So you had 3 ,000 total

00:25:00.809 --> 00:25:05.240
stores or 3 ,000? Part of it was 80 % franchise

00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.759
and 20 % corporate owned. So out of 3 ,000 stores,

00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:12.400
I think we had 550, 580, 18, 19%, and then the

00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:16.460
other 2 ,400 plus were franchisees. Amazing.

00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:20.759
So we're cruising along here, and the smartest

00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:22.640
thing or most, everything is about discipline.

00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:24.480
One question. How long did it take you to get

00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:28.960
to 3 ,000 stores? Well, the first year we had

00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:35.539
three, and then by 1990, In 89, we had 20. By

00:25:35.539 --> 00:25:42.200
1993, we had 236 as we went public. And so that's

00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:45.559
what I was going to kind of tell you. But it's

00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:47.420
discipline. I mean, if you don't have discipline,

00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:49.940
accountability, you've got to have passion. You've

00:25:49.940 --> 00:25:53.619
got to be resilient. But we knew we had to grow

00:25:53.619 --> 00:25:56.579
in contiguous circles. Those delivery areas had

00:25:56.579 --> 00:25:59.920
to touch. In later days, these executives, these

00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:03.299
corporate. you know geniuses they'd finance uh

00:26:03.299 --> 00:26:06.099
china and they built one store in shanghai and

00:26:06.099 --> 00:26:09.059
one in beijing we went from jerusalem to clarksville

00:26:09.059 --> 00:26:11.420
because they touched in clarksville to new albany

00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:14.019
because you can leverage your marketing your

00:26:14.019 --> 00:26:17.299
word of mouth your supervision your distribution

00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:21.740
so you want to keep Growing in concentric circles

00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:24.799
like wiping iron around or yarn around a ball.

00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:27.160
You just want to keep going and growing and where

00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:30.359
it just grows out. So we did southern Indiana

00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:32.980
because there's a river, natural boundary. And

00:26:32.980 --> 00:26:35.039
then we jumped to Louisville. Mistake. Should

00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:37.240
have gone to Lexington. Louisville, I'd have

00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:41.140
20 stores, 23 stores before I could be saturated

00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:44.140
enough for marketing, et cetera. Lexington with

00:26:44.140 --> 00:26:46.390
a university and a big hospital. Two, three stores,

00:26:46.569 --> 00:26:48.589
you own the town. So that was a mistake. It cost

00:26:48.589 --> 00:26:51.430
me about a year of my life to have to fix Louisville.

00:26:51.650 --> 00:26:55.269
So we finally did. Just to rewind, because we

00:26:55.269 --> 00:26:58.329
also own a school, Centner Academy, and our focus

00:26:58.329 --> 00:27:00.569
on entrepreneurship. And so we have these little

00:27:00.569 --> 00:27:02.990
kids from third grade that are doing their own

00:27:02.990 --> 00:27:05.309
little businesses. And what we try and teach

00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:08.750
them is if there is a big mistake that costs

00:27:08.750 --> 00:27:13.220
you, it's an opportunity to grow and learn. and

00:27:13.220 --> 00:27:15.359
make it better next time so this is a real life

00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.980
example that you made a strategic mistake oh

00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:22.440
and you were able to apply it to do much better

00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:25.019
with it right it's not a failure it's an opportunity

00:27:25.019 --> 00:27:28.000
yeah mistakes are the fertilizer that growth

00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.640
comes i mean if you ain't making mistakes you

00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.319
ain't you ain't learning you know if you're not

00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:34.920
if you're not pushing the envelope on getting

00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:37.019
better every day in every way you ain't learning

00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:40.970
so it's like uh elon what a What a gift from

00:27:40.970 --> 00:27:43.069
God he is. I mean, he's getting attacked for

00:27:43.069 --> 00:27:44.980
just... Telling us, by the way, you are getting

00:27:44.980 --> 00:27:46.240
taken advantage of. I mean, that's what blows

00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:47.880
my mind about what's going on. He's getting attacked

00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:50.900
for showing the people where the fraud is. It's

00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:53.680
crazy. If you don't have truth, you don't know

00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:57.299
nothing. He's just trying to show us. Can you

00:27:57.299 --> 00:27:58.700
imagine running a business and not having the

00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:01.319
balance sheet or the income statement? Or a trillion

00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:03.940
dollars missing and nobody is accountable for

00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:05.640
it? It's crazy. Yeah, but you've got 20 million

00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:07.619
people that are dead on Social Security. You've

00:28:07.619 --> 00:28:10.559
got 2 million illegal immigrants. This guy uncovers

00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:12.220
that and gets attacked, which we'll talk about

00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:15.809
that. This is crazy. This is a crazy audiology

00:28:15.809 --> 00:28:17.430
going on. We could do a whole show just on that.

00:28:17.609 --> 00:28:20.950
I want to fast forward. At some point, the NFL

00:28:20.950 --> 00:28:22.630
and Major League Baseball became an important

00:28:22.630 --> 00:28:27.470
part of your marketing campaign, and big ad dollars,

00:28:27.509 --> 00:28:30.369
I think like $40 million or more, was directed

00:28:30.369 --> 00:28:32.789
towards some of these efforts. How did that idea

00:28:32.789 --> 00:28:34.549
come about, and how long was that partnership,

00:28:34.809 --> 00:28:38.450
and how was it working for you? Real quickly,

00:28:38.630 --> 00:28:43.009
we got to 236. June of 93 went public. So our

00:28:43.009 --> 00:28:46.529
limiting factor was talent, management, and capital.

00:28:46.869 --> 00:28:50.529
Even at 230 stores, I couldn't make enough money

00:28:50.529 --> 00:28:54.690
to do as fast as I wanted to go. We had somewhat

00:28:54.690 --> 00:28:58.170
of a capital restraint. I was overdrawn. Fast

00:28:58.170 --> 00:29:01.829
growth. Bouncing checks. Because if I saw a better

00:29:01.829 --> 00:29:03.690
oven, I bought it. I mean, I did not, you know,

00:29:03.750 --> 00:29:05.690
Baker Pride, you can buy one for three grand.

00:29:05.930 --> 00:29:07.630
A Middlebury Marshall was 12, but it cooks a

00:29:07.630 --> 00:29:10.390
better pizza. You know, the awnings, technology,

00:29:11.009 --> 00:29:14.049
anything that made Papa John's better, I didn't

00:29:14.049 --> 00:29:16.509
care. I was going to fire. I mean, I fired at

00:29:16.509 --> 00:29:19.369
it because I knew in the long run that we'd be

00:29:19.369 --> 00:29:22.730
successful. 95 % of customer loyalty is customer

00:29:22.730 --> 00:29:27.349
experience. Okay, that's a problem because the...

00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:31.720
The customer experience can't exceed the employee

00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:33.980
experience. So if you don't have a good culture,

00:29:34.099 --> 00:29:36.440
if your people are not happy, you're not going

00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:40.519
to have happy guests. So we hired the best people.

00:29:40.660 --> 00:29:43.339
We paid them every dime we could pay them that

00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:45.519
hopefully overpaid them. We eventually got to

00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.079
that point. That's what I would do. And, yeah,

00:29:48.259 --> 00:29:50.680
you want to. I mean, leadership is simple. What's

00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:53.180
the goal? Time always works out. You know, what's

00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:55.579
the goal? What's objective? Give them the resources

00:29:55.579 --> 00:29:57.380
to get it done. And when they get it right, make

00:29:57.380 --> 00:29:59.940
sure they get a bonus. You know, give them, you

00:29:59.940 --> 00:30:02.160
know, celebrate. So leadership to me is an easy

00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:05.500
thing. So we go public. In 93, we raised $25

00:30:05.500 --> 00:30:08.319
million. I went from where we didn't literally

00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:12.000
have $5 ,000 for a vacation in June of 93 to

00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:13.980
I think one day I was worth $100 million. And

00:30:13.980 --> 00:30:17.019
one day, and I'm 31. They don't have a book on

00:30:17.019 --> 00:30:19.819
that. You know, and it's a problem. You know,

00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:23.180
in a good way, but it's like a lot. I was CEO

00:30:23.180 --> 00:30:25.140
of a publicly traded company when I was 30 as

00:30:25.140 --> 00:30:29.019
well. But I actually got a little bit of cash,

00:30:29.140 --> 00:30:30.920
but I felt like a king of the world. Most of

00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:34.299
it was all on paper, pretty much. So the NFL,

00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:37.099
to answer the question, that was Andrew Varga

00:30:37.099 --> 00:30:41.039
in 2010, 2009. He said, let's move the business

00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:46.869
to sports. And so he had the nerve to put a $10

00:30:46.869 --> 00:30:50.309
million bet on the NFL. And this was a big bet

00:30:50.309 --> 00:30:51.789
because if it didn't work out, he would have,

00:30:51.890 --> 00:30:53.750
you know, franchisees would have murdered the

00:30:53.750 --> 00:30:55.950
guy. And he would have lost his job. So, you

00:30:55.950 --> 00:31:00.390
know, he got in the NFL. And then we got involved

00:31:00.390 --> 00:31:02.730
with Peyton and Jerry Jones with the Cowboys

00:31:02.730 --> 00:31:04.990
and that family. And we kind of went off to the

00:31:04.990 --> 00:31:07.750
races with that. So that was Andrew Varga, wasn't

00:31:07.750 --> 00:31:12.410
John Schnatter. Wow. And how many years? Does

00:31:12.410 --> 00:31:15.130
that relationship still exist, or how long is

00:31:15.130 --> 00:31:18.809
that? No, the NFL relationship ended, I think,

00:31:18.809 --> 00:31:21.490
in 18. Okay. All right, so that's probably a

00:31:21.490 --> 00:31:23.990
good segue to talk about, you know, what the

00:31:23.990 --> 00:31:27.589
heck happened in 2018 when all the craziness

00:31:27.589 --> 00:31:33.269
started. Yeah. We had a succession plan in place,

00:31:33.430 --> 00:31:35.549
and I'd become a prisoner of my own creation.

00:31:38.059 --> 00:31:41.160
We had 5 ,000 stores at the time. We had over

00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:44.680
100 ,000 employees. And between commercials,

00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:50.099
appearances, podcasts, speeches, 162 days a year.

00:31:51.900 --> 00:31:54.420
Todd Pentago is the CEO of Papa John's. So he's

00:31:54.420 --> 00:31:56.660
got a huge, he's got, you know, I mean, almost

00:31:56.660 --> 00:31:59.160
impossible task because the previous leadership

00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:02.920
and management left this guy in a really precarious,

00:32:02.920 --> 00:32:06.019
tough position. They loaded up on debt. You know,

00:32:06.019 --> 00:32:07.980
they lost their quality. They kind of commoditized.

00:32:08.019 --> 00:32:09.900
I mean, you do buy one, get one, freeze, and

00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:12.640
you run negative comps. You've pretty well commoditized

00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:14.660
his brand. So you've got a guy that's chasing

00:32:14.660 --> 00:32:16.220
the Wall Street number because they don't want

00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:19.019
a hostage takeover. And at the same time, he's

00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:21.519
a Wendy's guy. We both have a mutual friend.

00:32:21.700 --> 00:32:26.059
Who's one today? Today, yeah. So, you know, we

00:32:26.059 --> 00:32:29.140
have a mutual friend, and he was number two at

00:32:29.140 --> 00:32:31.180
Michigan State in golf. So he's obviously sharp,

00:32:31.319 --> 00:32:34.160
always competitive. He understands our David

00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.619
Thomas and Wendy's. So he's a good guy. He's

00:32:37.619 --> 00:32:40.099
just been left a mess, and now he's got a choice

00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:43.339
of taking care of quality and people and making

00:32:43.339 --> 00:32:45.680
sure the franchisees are helping and chasing

00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:50.089
EPS. And that is a very – deaths spiral down

00:32:50.089 --> 00:32:53.390
to closing stores. So I wish them the best because

00:32:53.390 --> 00:32:56.109
it's my namesake, but they're in a rough position

00:32:56.109 --> 00:33:00.150
right now. So 2018, as I understand it, you were

00:33:00.150 --> 00:33:04.990
having a private board call, and you said something

00:33:04.990 --> 00:33:10.009
that there were two incidents, right? Two recordings

00:33:10.009 --> 00:33:13.029
that were leaked? Is that what happened? No,

00:33:13.049 --> 00:33:18.519
there was three different things that... got

00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:22.940
a lot of press. The first one was when Obamacare

00:33:22.940 --> 00:33:25.279
came out. Everybody was worried that it was going

00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:28.000
to destroy restaurants and fast food, in our

00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:31.279
case the pizza business. And it's like 11 cents,

00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:34.480
13 cents a pizza. So on the call I said, you

00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:38.480
know, it's not a problem. you know 11 13 cents

00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.240
a pizza our delivery charge is 225 250 a pizza

00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:43.579
so we can with our volume and our traffic we

00:33:43.579 --> 00:33:46.779
can absorb that uh real quickly if we have to

00:33:46.779 --> 00:33:48.680
we can always raise the price 10 cents a pizza

00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:52.059
a very logical comment and they blew that up

00:33:52.059 --> 00:33:54.200
so all i'm saying is that we have the if you

00:33:54.200 --> 00:33:57.519
read it i mean it says you know if um if we do

00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:01.950
have a 13 cent Per pizza cost with Obamacare,

00:34:02.049 --> 00:34:03.930
we had the volume and the frequency to handle

00:34:03.930 --> 00:34:07.450
it. So it was like, okay, there's your first

00:34:07.450 --> 00:34:10.710
indication that something's going on. What year

00:34:10.710 --> 00:34:16.289
was that? That would have been 2017. I think

00:34:16.289 --> 00:34:18.710
it would have been November the 31st. What were

00:34:18.710 --> 00:34:21.329
they trying to, what was the controversy, what

00:34:21.329 --> 00:34:23.789
were the implications? That's the beautiful thing

00:34:23.789 --> 00:34:27.300
about, when you're a conservative, and you're

00:34:27.300 --> 00:34:30.500
successful, and you have notoriety or influence,

00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:32.820
and you don't go along with the left's ideology,

00:34:33.260 --> 00:34:37.539
you are marked. We have to happen. You're marked.

00:34:37.780 --> 00:34:39.679
I mean, the media is going to attack you because

00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:42.159
you don't believe in their ideology. And under

00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:46.219
Biden, the DOJ, the legal system, will, I mean,

00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:48.619
literally, you're not safe. You've lost your

00:34:48.619 --> 00:34:51.000
freedom of speech. You've lost your liberties

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:53.860
in that four -year period. They tried to come

00:34:53.860 --> 00:34:56.809
after us, too. So you walked them out. You understand

00:34:56.809 --> 00:34:59.309
the game. 100%. Why? Because you don't agree

00:34:59.309 --> 00:35:01.309
with them. I mean, you know, and if you don't

00:35:01.309 --> 00:35:04.469
agree with their ideology, you're going to get

00:35:04.469 --> 00:35:07.630
attacked. I mean, it's inhumane. I mean, Melania

00:35:07.630 --> 00:35:12.750
Trump, the most, I mean, graceful, elegant, four

00:35:12.750 --> 00:35:15.329
languages, intelligent, and she gets attacked.

00:35:15.650 --> 00:35:19.650
I mean, Trump's just trying to fix the mess that

00:35:19.650 --> 00:35:22.269
Biden created. I mean, he doesn't need this.

00:35:22.409 --> 00:35:26.280
Exactly. And, I mean, you know. November, late

00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:28.639
November of last year, the markets are all -time

00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:32.539
high with open borders. You know, interest rates

00:35:32.539 --> 00:35:35.199
are going to stay the same, maybe go up. And,

00:35:35.300 --> 00:35:38.980
you know, high inflation, you know, high commodities,

00:35:39.179 --> 00:35:40.639
you know, high gas. People don't understand that

00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:45.300
the inflation is an additional tax. And the inflation

00:35:45.300 --> 00:35:48.000
that we endured during those... The last four

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:50.119
years has been astronomical. Yeah, yeah. You

00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:51.900
print money because you have deficit spending.

00:35:52.179 --> 00:35:54.159
It's a hidden tax on the middle class. I want

00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:55.260
to come back to the middle class because that's

00:35:55.260 --> 00:35:58.079
the heartbeat. Trump is a middle class guy. He's

00:35:58.079 --> 00:35:59.360
going to fix the middle class, and that will

00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:03.619
fix America. So run the movie here four months

00:36:03.619 --> 00:36:06.519
forward. We now have a secure border. Interest

00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:10.500
rates are going down. The price of gas is going

00:36:10.500 --> 00:36:13.449
down. They're not, I mean, all these illegal

00:36:13.449 --> 00:36:15.449
immigrants that are tearing up our cities and

00:36:15.449 --> 00:36:18.909
doing great harm to our citizens, they're now

00:36:18.909 --> 00:36:20.829
noticed. If we catch you, we're sending you out

00:36:20.829 --> 00:36:22.989
of here. So you know just from an event. Crime

00:36:22.989 --> 00:36:25.690
has gone down. Crime has gone down. So fix the

00:36:25.690 --> 00:36:28.389
border, crimes go down, lower products at the

00:36:28.389 --> 00:36:30.989
grocery, lower interest rates, lower fuel, and

00:36:30.989 --> 00:36:34.269
the market crashes. These people are crazy. So

00:36:34.269 --> 00:36:38.170
that's why you've got to be set up with your

00:36:38.170 --> 00:36:40.869
personal finances when they do stupid stuff.

00:36:41.230 --> 00:36:43.150
You've got to pounce on them. You've got to pounce

00:36:43.150 --> 00:36:44.429
on them. And I've been pouncing on these guys

00:36:44.429 --> 00:36:46.769
now for the last four days. I mean, like right

00:36:46.769 --> 00:36:49.369
now I'm like, okay, you've got to have some dry

00:36:49.369 --> 00:36:52.869
powder because these guys do nutty things. It's

00:36:52.869 --> 00:36:55.010
almost not logical. It is not logical. People

00:36:55.010 --> 00:36:57.349
don't understand, like, if he can actually sell

00:36:57.349 --> 00:37:01.070
a million dollars in visas for $5 million each,

00:37:01.230 --> 00:37:04.429
that is going to take down this debt, this enormous

00:37:04.429 --> 00:37:06.630
debt that we have that we need to take care of.

00:37:06.630 --> 00:37:08.570
Otherwise, we're headed towards bankruptcy. Yeah,

00:37:08.570 --> 00:37:11.420
he's going to. Trump knows exactly what he's

00:37:11.420 --> 00:37:13.480
doing. Trump gave us our liberty back. He gave

00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:15.639
our freedom of speech back. I mean, I now know

00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:17.579
I'm not going to get attacked by the government.

00:37:17.780 --> 00:37:22.360
I mean, you watch Trump. This guy, I mean, nothing,

00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:24.619
he's always right. I'm usually right if I think

00:37:24.619 --> 00:37:26.659
about something 98, 99 % of the time. I don't

00:37:26.659 --> 00:37:29.179
miss things if I'm really looking at it. He's

00:37:29.179 --> 00:37:32.219
right 100 % of the time. He's got 10 ways to

00:37:32.219 --> 00:37:34.519
win. He's going to lower interest rates. He's

00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:36.280
going to lower inflation. He's going to lower

00:37:36.280 --> 00:37:38.800
the fuel. He's going to lower crime. He's going

00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:41.880
to. protect the police he's gonna fix the borders

00:37:41.880 --> 00:37:44.199
i mean this guy he's gonna set it up where he's

00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:47.019
got 10 ways to win and he's gonna win and back

00:37:47.019 --> 00:37:49.239
to the middle class what makes america great

00:37:49.239 --> 00:37:51.840
is the middle class the lower middle and upper

00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:54.719
class if they're healthy the rest of us will

00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:57.280
do fine that's what differentiates us from europe

00:37:57.280 --> 00:37:59.059
and the soviet union and all these crazy i mean

00:37:59.059 --> 00:38:00.880
they have one percent of the top two and then

00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:02.860
the rest of everybody's the same we have the

00:38:02.860 --> 00:38:05.460
middle class and the middle class gets healthy

00:38:05.460 --> 00:38:08.280
which i've been several interviews i've said

00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:10.309
you know it's Eight, ten months, you have no

00:38:10.309 --> 00:38:12.690
idea how good this is going to get. And you just

00:38:12.690 --> 00:38:16.030
saw what he did with the tariffs. I mean, he's

00:38:16.030 --> 00:38:19.210
going to do the right thing for the middle class

00:38:19.210 --> 00:38:21.650
and to make America. Again, he doesn't care what

00:38:21.650 --> 00:38:23.869
anybody thinks. He's on a mission. And what's

00:38:23.869 --> 00:38:26.449
really bizarre is he told us what he's going

00:38:26.449 --> 00:38:28.210
to do. He said tariffs is his favorite word.

00:38:28.309 --> 00:38:30.570
He puts tariffs in, they crash the market 25%.

00:38:30.570 --> 00:38:33.230
I mean, these people are nuts. We need to buy

00:38:33.230 --> 00:38:36.309
some stuff. But if you go back to 2017, so basically

00:38:36.309 --> 00:38:39.829
they're out to get you. Okay, which we understand.

00:38:40.429 --> 00:38:43.349
You guys can feel it. You know it. You know when

00:38:43.349 --> 00:38:45.550
somebody's getting ready. They're looking for

00:38:45.550 --> 00:38:47.989
technicality. They tried to pound on you, but

00:38:47.989 --> 00:38:49.909
you were able to come back. And then the second

00:38:49.909 --> 00:38:56.309
one was when? Okay, the second one was with the

00:38:56.309 --> 00:39:05.289
NFL. That call was the NFL was 40 % of our spend.

00:39:06.089 --> 00:39:09.409
And their ratings were down 20%. So franchisees,

00:39:09.409 --> 00:39:11.010
which are nothing but small business owners,

00:39:11.150 --> 00:39:13.530
are getting hurt. Well, I'm the CEO. I'm the

00:39:13.530 --> 00:39:17.489
leader. I dictate the pace. And I'm like, Goodell's

00:39:17.489 --> 00:39:18.769
got to get his act together. And Jerry Jones

00:39:18.769 --> 00:39:20.409
called me the night before with Dan Sider and

00:39:20.409 --> 00:39:23.190
said, you've got to call Goodell out. Goodell's

00:39:23.190 --> 00:39:26.550
the commissioner. This guy was in charge of having

00:39:26.550 --> 00:39:29.949
the meal, taking meat? No, he's the former commissioner

00:39:29.949 --> 00:39:31.650
of the NFL. He's still the commissioner. Oh,

00:39:31.650 --> 00:39:34.230
is he? But, I mean, who was? Somebody, they were

00:39:34.230 --> 00:39:37.409
taking a knee, right? Well, no. They were taking

00:39:37.409 --> 00:39:39.130
a knee, but I didn't say anything about taking

00:39:39.130 --> 00:39:41.489
a knee. I didn't say anything. I said, this has

00:39:41.489 --> 00:39:44.050
to be resolved to the owner's and player's satisfaction.

00:39:45.710 --> 00:39:47.949
That's what I said. That's no more. That's no

00:39:47.949 --> 00:39:50.710
more, no less. And they turn it into Johns against

00:39:50.710 --> 00:39:54.210
kneeling, Johns against the players. No, it has

00:39:54.210 --> 00:39:57.469
to be a mutual agreement, and that's Goodell's

00:39:57.469 --> 00:40:01.550
job to bring the parties together. And when the

00:40:01.550 --> 00:40:04.090
players and the owners can't get along and it's

00:40:04.090 --> 00:40:06.010
causing controversy and hurting pizza sales,

00:40:06.190 --> 00:40:08.710
that's not good for Papa John's. It's that simple.

00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:11.440
But at the end of the day, what was wrong? Even

00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:13.840
if you were to say, like, stop this, you know,

00:40:13.940 --> 00:40:17.159
this is an American sport. We're in America.

00:40:17.300 --> 00:40:20.440
Like, why are you turning your back towards everything

00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:22.539
that this foundation was built off? Like, what

00:40:22.539 --> 00:40:24.460
would be wrong with saying that anyway? I didn't

00:40:24.460 --> 00:40:26.380
take sides. I know you didn't, but I mean, even

00:40:26.380 --> 00:40:28.360
if you did, the fact that you didn't and you

00:40:28.360 --> 00:40:31.000
still got beat up baffles my mind. But even if

00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:33.980
you did say something, is it? Why is that even

00:40:33.980 --> 00:40:36.099
a bad thing? Am I missing something? Why is that

00:40:36.099 --> 00:40:38.480
bad? Well, I think he had a target on his back.

00:40:38.519 --> 00:40:40.920
They were out together. That's the key. Okay,

00:40:41.059 --> 00:40:43.840
don't look at the irrational. Irrational behavior

00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:47.099
always ends up being immoral results. You open

00:40:47.099 --> 00:40:49.500
the border up, irrational. What do you have?

00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:53.760
Sex trafficking for young girls. You have fentanyl.

00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:57.300
You have criminals destroying the city. Irrational

00:40:57.300 --> 00:41:00.679
behavior always equals. You've got to have rational

00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:03.420
thought to have moral behavior. Now, you can't

00:41:03.420 --> 00:41:07.059
have irrational thought and moral behavior. If

00:41:07.059 --> 00:41:10.800
you're not rational, you're going to be in the

00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:13.519
reptilian part of the brain. There's a lot of

00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:15.139
people that are rational, they're smart, but

00:41:15.139 --> 00:41:17.840
they're immoral. That doesn't work. You have

00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:22.980
to be rational and moral, and success will happen.

00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:27.679
But you made a good point. Okay, if you're John.

00:41:28.329 --> 00:41:30.030
and you see that get turned into that, you've

00:41:30.030 --> 00:41:32.829
got to be thinking, okay, something fishy is

00:41:32.829 --> 00:41:35.889
going on here. And I'm pretty intuitive. I'm

00:41:35.889 --> 00:41:39.949
not overly smart, but I'm feeling like I'm under

00:41:39.949 --> 00:41:42.610
the microscope, and they're looking for a technicality.

00:41:42.670 --> 00:41:45.030
You weren't excessively outspoken, it sounds

00:41:45.030 --> 00:41:47.489
like. Were you one of those people who just,

00:41:47.610 --> 00:41:50.090
wherever you go, you're talking about conservative

00:41:50.090 --> 00:41:53.010
this, conservative that? What were you like at

00:41:53.010 --> 00:41:56.710
the time? Well, I supported Charles Koch and

00:41:56.710 --> 00:41:59.929
some universities. And I took a position that

00:41:59.929 --> 00:42:02.630
entrepreneur spirit and freedom. I'm big on freedoms,

00:42:02.769 --> 00:42:04.510
you know, voluntary exchange. You know, people

00:42:04.510 --> 00:42:06.610
are saying, well, tariffs are, you know, not

00:42:06.610 --> 00:42:09.369
free trade. No, the tariffs are putting on us,

00:42:09.389 --> 00:42:11.309
not free trade. I mean, this is crazy. I mean,

00:42:11.349 --> 00:42:14.010
let's just be reciprocal here and get a fair

00:42:14.010 --> 00:42:16.570
playing field. I mean, so I'm big on free trade,

00:42:16.630 --> 00:42:21.329
and that's anti -liberal left ideology. And so,

00:42:21.329 --> 00:42:26.250
no, you know, to carry on in a way that is destructive

00:42:26.250 --> 00:42:29.289
and divides, I have no time for that. So, for

00:42:29.289 --> 00:42:32.519
example, when the left does. crazy things which

00:42:32.519 --> 00:42:35.739
they do instead of really pointing out what I

00:42:35.739 --> 00:42:38.239
do is it's simple physics it's cause and effect

00:42:38.239 --> 00:42:41.079
if you print money you're going to cause inflation

00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:43.320
that's going to hurt the middle class believe

00:42:43.320 --> 00:42:45.239
it or not you can say the latter and you don't

00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:47.099
get attacked so you've got to just say what you

00:42:47.099 --> 00:42:50.239
say with not in a way that's not offensive which

00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:52.679
is it just comes with the territory because you're

00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:55.780
dealing with the colleges the intellects They

00:42:55.780 --> 00:42:57.800
don't think rational. They've turned on the businessman.

00:42:57.980 --> 00:43:01.199
You've got the folks out there in the left, the

00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:04.039
ideology that wants to take from the people that

00:43:04.039 --> 00:43:06.920
produce and take care of the people that don't

00:43:06.920 --> 00:43:09.219
produce. You know, that's socialism. You know,

00:43:09.219 --> 00:43:12.079
that has never worked in any society. So this

00:43:12.079 --> 00:43:17.059
ideology, if you're Musk or if you're Trump or

00:43:17.059 --> 00:43:19.179
if you're anybody that disagrees with him and

00:43:19.179 --> 00:43:21.829
you're successful. then they demonize you, you

00:43:21.829 --> 00:43:24.929
know. But you've just got to stay strong and

00:43:24.929 --> 00:43:27.309
say, you know, I'm going to do the right thing.

00:43:27.690 --> 00:43:29.690
And when you see the middle class taking the

00:43:29.690 --> 00:43:32.710
beating, I mean, the middle class this last 16

00:43:32.710 --> 00:43:36.679
out of, or what is it, 12 out of 16 years. I

00:43:36.679 --> 00:43:39.000
mean, those people have gotten hurt. And when

00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:40.639
you have the people that wake up every day and

00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:43.000
make this country great, and they're in a system

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:45.199
where they're printing money, they're devaluating

00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:47.000
the dollar, they're regulating entrepreneurs,

00:43:47.460 --> 00:43:49.199
they're opening borders, people aren't safe.

00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:51.739
The middle class doesn't have a chance. Under

00:43:51.739 --> 00:43:54.360
Trump, the middle class is going to thrive. When

00:43:54.360 --> 00:43:56.400
they thrive, America is going to thrive. And

00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:58.840
this middle class is your franchisees, it's your

00:43:58.840 --> 00:44:03.230
employees, it's your customers. the NFL ratings

00:44:03.230 --> 00:44:06.349
dropping 20%, which is a direct impact on the

00:44:06.349 --> 00:44:09.360
store locations, and you just are... being outspoken

00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:11.300
on what you think needs to be done in order to

00:44:11.300 --> 00:44:14.039
improve the situation. The players and owners

00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:16.079
have to come to resolution here because you're

00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:17.500
hurting the Papa John brand, you're hurting the

00:44:17.500 --> 00:44:18.920
NFL, and you're hurting all the other sponsors.

00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:22.260
Papa John's, we were the number one brand at

00:44:22.260 --> 00:44:26.119
65%. The next was like Budweiser at 41%, and

00:44:26.119 --> 00:44:28.480
it drops down, I think, rising at 20%. So with

00:44:28.480 --> 00:44:30.840
Peyton, we're the number one brand in the NFL

00:44:30.840 --> 00:44:33.559
by far, and I'm calling Goodell out going, you

00:44:33.559 --> 00:44:36.239
know, hey, you're the leader. You know, this

00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:38.380
is a problem. Address the problem and solve for

00:44:38.380 --> 00:44:40.579
the problem. And that, you know, as powerful

00:44:40.579 --> 00:44:43.679
as NFL is, you know, and he, Cadell, was friends

00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:46.119
with K .C. Washman, who was with Laundry Service,

00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:49.179
who set me up. Laundry Service was the marketing

00:44:49.179 --> 00:44:52.099
firm? Yeah, the marketing firm. Yeah. Yeah, tell

00:44:52.099 --> 00:44:53.800
us a little bit more about that because that

00:44:53.800 --> 00:44:56.760
was crazy. Well, we had, I stepped down informally

00:44:56.760 --> 00:45:01.559
middle end of 16. Okay. And Papa John's was like

00:45:01.559 --> 00:45:04.000
the best place to work for five years. We're

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:06.579
making $200 million in EBITDA, $160 million in

00:45:06.579 --> 00:45:09.139
pre -tax profits. Quality, we're winning every

00:45:09.139 --> 00:45:11.739
award. We have a balance sheet with maybe one

00:45:11.739 --> 00:45:14.159
year's debt on it. I mean, it's as good as it

00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:16.300
gets. What was the stock price? Stock price was

00:45:16.300 --> 00:45:19.880
good day. I think it was $88. We were $85, but

00:45:19.880 --> 00:45:23.079
$80 a share. Wow. Yeah, this is end of 2016.

00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:25.619
So we had a succession plan with a gentleman

00:45:25.619 --> 00:45:28.059
named Steve Ritchie who'd been with me, hired

00:45:28.059 --> 00:45:30.619
him at six bucks an hour as a driver. So he'd

00:45:30.619 --> 00:45:32.780
been with the company for 22 years. He was my

00:45:32.780 --> 00:45:38.159
succession plan and really talented guy. Got

00:45:38.159 --> 00:45:40.719
a lot going for him. And so we tried to groom

00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:43.119
him for two, three years to take over the CEO

00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:45.679
spot because I'd become a prisoner of my own

00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:48.820
creation. I mean, when you're doing 162 commercials,

00:45:49.119 --> 00:45:51.300
interviews, speeches, et cetera, and you're trying

00:45:51.300 --> 00:45:54.900
to run a public company, you know, you're just

00:45:54.900 --> 00:45:59.019
overwhelmed. It's 16 hours a day full on. And

00:45:59.019 --> 00:46:01.960
furthermore, you're spread too thin. Like the

00:46:01.960 --> 00:46:04.760
franchisees, they just want TLC. They want John's

00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:08.139
attention. And when you've got 5 ,000 stores

00:46:08.139 --> 00:46:11.880
and 100 ,000 employees, you don't have time to

00:46:11.880 --> 00:46:14.739
fraternize and chum with everybody. And so when

00:46:14.739 --> 00:46:16.579
you don't spend time with people, they kind of

00:46:16.579 --> 00:46:18.820
start seeing the boogeyman. And the thing I'm

00:46:18.820 --> 00:46:21.000
most proud of with the franchisees who I love

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:24.079
dearly, who may help create my wealth, is we

00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:26.840
never lied or cheated in business. I protected

00:46:26.840 --> 00:46:29.519
that board and that management team and those

00:46:29.519 --> 00:46:31.639
employees and those franchisees with my life.

00:46:31.800 --> 00:46:33.840
Because if the franchisees aren't successful

00:46:33.840 --> 00:46:36.539
and the employees aren't happy, you know, it

00:46:36.539 --> 00:46:38.840
won't work. And so it's in my best interest to

00:46:38.840 --> 00:46:41.860
make sure, you know, the franchisees, the operators,

00:46:42.179 --> 00:46:44.420
the people in the building, my communities, Wall

00:46:44.420 --> 00:46:46.420
Street, to make sure it's a win -win -win all

00:46:46.420 --> 00:46:48.280
the way around. And so when I turned it over

00:46:48.280 --> 00:46:51.179
to Richie in 17, we had win -win everywhere.

00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:54.059
January, February, I'm like, okay, what am I

00:46:54.059 --> 00:46:55.940
going to do here? Because the thing, the quality

00:46:55.940 --> 00:46:58.500
is slipping and, you know, just, you know, leadership

00:46:58.500 --> 00:47:03.989
starts at the top. So by May, I get voted in

00:47:03.989 --> 00:47:07.389
as the chairman. 99 % on the shareholders vote

00:47:07.389 --> 00:47:10.170
me into the board. And then we did, after discovery,

00:47:10.489 --> 00:47:13.630
and Mark Shapiro got a $40 million package from

00:47:13.630 --> 00:47:15.889
Endeavor because when I left, they gave him the

00:47:15.889 --> 00:47:17.690
marketing business, which is a conflict of interest,

00:47:17.769 --> 00:47:19.230
which they know I wouldn't have gone along with.

00:47:19.690 --> 00:47:22.349
Laundry service did the setup. And if you ask

00:47:22.349 --> 00:47:25.230
100 % of the franchisees, is John a racist, they'll

00:47:25.230 --> 00:47:29.849
say John's the nicest guy. They'll say no. 100

00:47:29.849 --> 00:47:32.929
% of the franchisees was John set up. 100 % said,

00:47:33.030 --> 00:47:35.750
well, yeah, he was. Basically, you were in a

00:47:35.750 --> 00:47:39.670
call where you were explicit. We're not going

00:47:39.670 --> 00:47:43.269
to say or do racist things. Colonel Sanders said

00:47:43.269 --> 00:47:47.949
this and, you know, and drop the N -bomb. But

00:47:47.949 --> 00:47:50.469
we're not doing it that way. And they took it

00:47:50.469 --> 00:47:53.769
out of context. The whole beating they're antagonizing,

00:47:53.889 --> 00:47:56.050
it's so corrupt on every level. I mean, every

00:47:56.050 --> 00:47:58.130
stone you turn over, you find a new piece of

00:47:58.130 --> 00:48:00.530
evidence going, this is just dirty pool. Massively

00:48:00.530 --> 00:48:03.070
set up. Massively set up, yeah. And that's agreed

00:48:03.070 --> 00:48:06.030
with everybody. But is the lawsuit still going?

00:48:06.230 --> 00:48:09.510
Yeah, they appealed the ruling to go to a bench

00:48:09.510 --> 00:48:11.530
trial, and we're waiting for the appeal to come

00:48:11.530 --> 00:48:14.210
back. And you're suing laundry services, right?

00:48:14.210 --> 00:48:17.090
The marketing. Seven years later, you're still

00:48:17.090 --> 00:48:20.489
litigating. There's 10 million words a year put

00:48:20.489 --> 00:48:23.849
into law. They can find something on it. And

00:48:23.849 --> 00:48:25.849
that's what I say. Back to the conversation with

00:48:25.849 --> 00:48:28.449
Goodell. I knew they were looking for a technicality.

00:48:28.469 --> 00:48:31.289
I'm trying to make sure there's a technicality.

00:48:31.329 --> 00:48:34.929
I know something's going on. I just thought it

00:48:34.929 --> 00:48:37.210
was from the DNC or from the media or from the

00:48:37.210 --> 00:48:41.329
press. I had no idea that people I loved. I mean,

00:48:41.329 --> 00:48:44.469
that was a hard part because, you know, I love

00:48:44.469 --> 00:48:46.829
these people. We went on trips together. After

00:48:46.829 --> 00:48:49.340
this happened, I thought, okay. The board just

00:48:49.340 --> 00:48:51.539
doesn't understand. This is just a simple mistake.

00:48:51.980 --> 00:48:55.199
And so we kept doing discovery. And then it was

00:48:55.199 --> 00:48:57.599
like, okay, we got these guys. I thought once

00:48:57.599 --> 00:49:00.880
the board had the emails, the tape, and saw what

00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:02.699
going, I thought they would come clean. I thought

00:49:02.699 --> 00:49:05.900
they would say, oh, my God, this guy's a namesake.

00:49:06.420 --> 00:49:08.920
He's the founder. He's the face of the brand.

00:49:09.219 --> 00:49:12.260
He's the authenticity of the brand. He built

00:49:12.260 --> 00:49:15.960
5 ,000 stores from zero to your point. We've

00:49:15.960 --> 00:49:18.880
got to correct the record here because Papa John's

00:49:18.880 --> 00:49:21.059
has never done anything to help me. They should

00:49:21.059 --> 00:49:23.239
be the ones carrying on a lawsuit about an agency

00:49:23.239 --> 00:49:25.539
sets the brand up, the founder up, the face.

00:49:26.199 --> 00:49:28.679
which creates a huge problem because Papa John's

00:49:28.679 --> 00:49:31.179
has a curse over it. And then so until Papa John's

00:49:31.179 --> 00:49:33.400
gets the record straight, they got to live with

00:49:33.400 --> 00:49:35.659
the curse that they did this to the very guy

00:49:35.659 --> 00:49:39.110
that created the company. to the John and Papa

00:49:39.110 --> 00:49:41.510
John. I think they got a problem. I just don't,

00:49:41.590 --> 00:49:43.110
you know, there's a system out there. There is

00:49:43.110 --> 00:49:45.550
a system. And you can't beat the system, no matter

00:49:45.550 --> 00:49:48.150
how sharp you are, cunning, good looking. And

00:49:48.150 --> 00:49:50.409
they're, you know, and so. Well, they went from

00:49:50.409 --> 00:49:53.630
$88 down to what, $30, $35? Went to $142 down

00:49:53.630 --> 00:49:55.809
to $35. But, you know, and it's going to get

00:49:55.809 --> 00:49:58.349
worse. It's a $20, $25 stock. They're propping

00:49:58.349 --> 00:50:00.909
it up with EPS and, you know, borrowing money

00:50:00.909 --> 00:50:02.389
to pay dividends. I mean, this is not a good

00:50:02.389 --> 00:50:04.590
situation. This thing's, the next year, there's

00:50:04.590 --> 00:50:06.210
another bad news going to come out of that company.

00:50:06.610 --> 00:50:09.079
And, you know. The question is how long does

00:50:09.079 --> 00:50:11.900
Todd want to put up with it? So how bad, what

00:50:11.900 --> 00:50:15.159
did it feel like? Was it like a light switch?

00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:18.579
All of a sudden you're out, and what the hell

00:50:18.579 --> 00:50:20.579
just happened here? What was that experience

00:50:20.579 --> 00:50:22.679
like? Yeah, you have that, and then you have

00:50:22.679 --> 00:50:24.980
the emotional wallop. I want Papa John's to do

00:50:24.980 --> 00:50:28.860
great, and I don't think until you mend this

00:50:28.860 --> 00:50:32.219
and get this fixed. You just came back to help

00:50:32.219 --> 00:50:34.750
because it was falling. Right? So that's why

00:50:34.750 --> 00:50:39.050
you came back in in 2017, right? 2018. So this

00:50:39.050 --> 00:50:41.210
is not a good situation for a board of directors.

00:50:41.429 --> 00:50:43.090
Now, sooner or later, somebody's going to buy

00:50:43.090 --> 00:50:46.429
the company or get the board of directors that

00:50:46.429 --> 00:50:48.750
are on. You remember the whole Arthur Anderson

00:50:48.750 --> 00:50:51.170
debacle. I was an auditor there, and that was

00:50:51.170 --> 00:50:53.949
one lawyer who took down a multi -billion dollar

00:50:53.949 --> 00:50:57.170
firm by a big mistake she made. So there's history

00:50:57.170 --> 00:50:59.489
of that happening. Yeah, I wanted to tell your

00:50:59.489 --> 00:51:01.659
listeners, one thing is... If you have 10 people

00:51:01.659 --> 00:51:03.960
that are partners or board directors and you've

00:51:03.960 --> 00:51:07.539
got one bad apple, it is amazing how that one

00:51:07.539 --> 00:51:10.199
person can disrupt the whole enterprise. It's

00:51:10.199 --> 00:51:12.719
amazing. Okay, back to it. Okay, this goes down.

00:51:12.860 --> 00:51:15.199
I'm like in a state of shock. It's like racist.

00:51:15.380 --> 00:51:17.400
I mean, when I first heard on the radio I was

00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:19.139
driving, I'm going racist. Good luck with that.

00:51:19.280 --> 00:51:21.340
I mean, you know, and the beautiful thing about

00:51:21.340 --> 00:51:26.219
this is they couldn't find enough violations,

00:51:26.480 --> 00:51:30.219
Sorbanes -Oxley. Bad performance. They couldn't

00:51:30.219 --> 00:51:33.400
find enough dirt on John. They had to make something

00:51:33.400 --> 00:51:35.380
up. That's the ultimate compliment. You know,

00:51:35.380 --> 00:51:37.139
it's a false narrative. There's just no history

00:51:37.139 --> 00:51:38.980
of not treating everybody with kindness and love.

00:51:39.139 --> 00:51:41.360
It's just my nature because it's in my best interest.

00:51:41.360 --> 00:51:44.079
You seem like a loving guy. Yeah. Man, in my

00:51:44.079 --> 00:51:46.820
life, I've been beautiful. He's a loving guy.

00:51:47.039 --> 00:51:51.139
Yeah, why God's given me this life. I mean, how

00:51:51.139 --> 00:51:53.019
are you playing this out? I mean, I live the

00:51:53.019 --> 00:51:54.820
best life of anybody in the world. I mean, every

00:51:54.820 --> 00:51:57.900
day. These things strengthen your soul. Like,

00:51:57.900 --> 00:52:00.340
you should feel, like, stronger from it. Yeah.

00:52:00.800 --> 00:52:03.659
Well, of course. They can't hurt me. I mean,

00:52:03.739 --> 00:52:06.440
you know, I feel sorry for these people. They're

00:52:06.440 --> 00:52:08.579
in a situation where they're, you know, this

00:52:08.579 --> 00:52:10.280
is going to be a death of a thousand small cuts

00:52:10.280 --> 00:52:14.519
if they don't own this. Me, I mean, you know,

00:52:14.559 --> 00:52:18.339
I've got the best life in the world. Beautiful

00:52:18.339 --> 00:52:21.920
friends and a beautiful dog. I love my community.

00:52:22.199 --> 00:52:26.199
I mean, I love my family. My grandson, my daughter.

00:52:26.420 --> 00:52:28.360
I mean, it's just, I got the best. Why God's

00:52:28.360 --> 00:52:29.980
given me this life, I have no idea. But it's

00:52:29.980 --> 00:52:32.960
like magical every day. How low did you get,

00:52:33.079 --> 00:52:35.960
if you don't mind sharing? Did not get low. Did

00:52:35.960 --> 00:52:41.099
not get low. Okay, until. I didn't get low because

00:52:41.099 --> 00:52:42.739
I just wanted to set the record straight. And

00:52:42.739 --> 00:52:44.719
I thought once the board and everybody saw that

00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:49.300
this was a setup, the intent of my wording was

00:52:49.300 --> 00:52:52.239
anti -racist. I'm an anti -racist. And it's like,

00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:54.679
no, no, no, you guys got this wrong. I would

00:52:54.679 --> 00:52:56.980
never do what this guy has done. And so they

00:52:56.980 --> 00:53:00.519
turned it into a racist comment, mischaracterized

00:53:00.519 --> 00:53:04.840
it, took it out of context, and did a lot of

00:53:04.840 --> 00:53:10.320
damage to me. I've forgiven them. You know, I'm

00:53:10.320 --> 00:53:12.780
not carrying this around. They're not getting

00:53:12.780 --> 00:53:15.639
any of my power. But what they did to my franchisees,

00:53:15.679 --> 00:53:18.519
right now what they're doing, what they've done

00:53:18.519 --> 00:53:21.920
to my employees. I mean, 400 ,000 families, 400

00:53:21.920 --> 00:53:25.039
families in Louisville, and all these managers

00:53:25.039 --> 00:53:27.320
in the stores have gotten taken advantage of.

00:53:28.739 --> 00:53:30.820
That's the part I'm having trouble getting over.

00:53:30.980 --> 00:53:32.880
But remember, Christ had a right, Buddha said,

00:53:32.940 --> 00:53:35.500
you know, it's love. truth and forget if you're

00:53:35.500 --> 00:53:38.139
truthful and you really care about people moral

00:53:38.139 --> 00:53:42.559
behavior and forgiveness that's the piece that

00:53:42.559 --> 00:53:47.239
took me a time i think after like i like it was

00:53:47.239 --> 00:53:50.119
like an animal he was like okay you know You

00:53:50.119 --> 00:53:54.880
guys need me more than I need you. But to really,

00:53:54.920 --> 00:53:58.280
in your soul, forgive everybody that was in this,

00:53:58.360 --> 00:54:02.860
your friends, your executives, that took a lot

00:54:02.860 --> 00:54:05.539
of work on John to get to the point where, but

00:54:05.539 --> 00:54:07.199
I'm not going to carry that around. How long

00:54:07.199 --> 00:54:09.800
did it take you? I know it's a process. You were

00:54:09.800 --> 00:54:12.539
basically betrayed by people you've known for

00:54:12.539 --> 00:54:17.420
20 years, right? I got sucker punched, crucified

00:54:17.420 --> 00:54:23.880
in. July of 18. We had the truth out in December

00:54:23.880 --> 00:54:33.019
18, January, and that's where it happened. Like,

00:54:33.019 --> 00:54:38.900
wow. Wow. I didn't want to see it. People I love,

00:54:38.940 --> 00:54:52.690
actually. That was the art. Sorry. And then it

00:54:52.690 --> 00:55:01.769
was like, okay. It's done. You feel alone? Ashamed?

00:55:02.309 --> 00:55:10.909
No, not ashamed. Lonely. Lonely. I felt, okay.

00:55:13.469 --> 00:55:19.820
You got to go. You got to. You got to start over.

00:55:21.559 --> 00:55:25.139
So I went back to my high school, went back to

00:55:25.139 --> 00:55:29.639
the bar, went back to my mom, and Peyton taught

00:55:29.639 --> 00:55:40.400
me this. You have to level set. So June 19, it's

00:55:40.400 --> 00:55:50.980
done. It's time to level set and build. And so

00:55:50.980 --> 00:55:55.980
that year, I forgave him intellectually, but

00:55:55.980 --> 00:55:58.059
I still had this lawsuit, and he still kept coming

00:55:58.059 --> 00:56:01.840
on and hanging on to it. And then probably the

00:56:01.840 --> 00:56:05.119
last two or three years, it was like, I just

00:56:05.119 --> 00:56:08.659
do not want any negative energy going to Papa

00:56:08.659 --> 00:56:10.880
John's. So if you look at my correspondence and

00:56:10.880 --> 00:56:17.639
my letters, it was like, be constructive. This

00:56:17.639 --> 00:56:21.840
is what you don't want to do. And then I was

00:56:21.840 --> 00:56:24.039
free about 18 months ago, two years. I was like,

00:56:24.219 --> 00:56:26.639
you know, told you guys you're going to crash

00:56:26.639 --> 00:56:29.699
this. Told you not to do this. Told you you've

00:56:29.699 --> 00:56:31.260
got to come clean. You've got to fix the record.

00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:34.559
And they kept doing it. And it was like, you

00:56:34.559 --> 00:56:39.599
know, it's not going to affect me no matter what

00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:41.739
they do, no matter what anybody does, no matter

00:56:41.739 --> 00:56:44.599
what Wall Street does. How did you free your

00:56:44.599 --> 00:56:47.340
soul from that pain, from that betrayal, from

00:56:47.340 --> 00:56:50.780
knowing that, like? This is your baby. This is

00:56:50.780 --> 00:56:55.780
where your blood, sweat, and tears for how many

00:56:55.780 --> 00:57:02.179
years? 34. 34 years? What did you do? I know

00:57:02.179 --> 00:57:05.360
for us, when we were going through our drama,

00:57:05.619 --> 00:57:07.920
it was a lot of prayers. It was a lot of meditation.

00:57:08.400 --> 00:57:10.400
It was a lot of soul searching, and it was a

00:57:10.400 --> 00:57:13.750
lot of asking God, okay. I'm going this for a

00:57:13.750 --> 00:57:16.150
reason. I haven't figured out what it is yet.

00:57:16.289 --> 00:57:18.289
I know you're strengthening my soul, but just

00:57:18.289 --> 00:57:21.449
asking for that peace. What did you do? How did

00:57:21.449 --> 00:57:25.130
you get through it? My partner and I, who I love

00:57:25.130 --> 00:57:30.349
dearly, I went back through the notes. And we

00:57:30.349 --> 00:57:36.510
found the notes for July 2020. And we level set.

00:57:36.650 --> 00:57:38.769
We went through physical, emotional, spiritual,

00:57:39.050 --> 00:57:42.269
financial. Friends, we went through 12 attributes,

00:57:42.570 --> 00:57:46.949
and I rated myself on every single one. And then

00:57:46.949 --> 00:57:49.829
every year I kept rating. I'll go, am I more

00:57:49.829 --> 00:57:52.730
fit? Do I have a better caliber of friend around

00:57:52.730 --> 00:57:56.590
me? Am I waking up grateful? I mean, if you're

00:57:56.590 --> 00:58:00.269
truthful and you're grateful and humble and grateful,

00:58:00.809 --> 00:58:05.849
give thanks to whatever's going on here because,

00:58:05.929 --> 00:58:08.409
I mean, this is life itself, the fact we're sitting

00:58:08.409 --> 00:58:10.739
here. is mind I mean the fact we can breathe

00:58:10.739 --> 00:58:13.219
and talk I mean there's one sentence we activate

00:58:13.219 --> 00:58:15.619
four billion neurons in our brain four billion

00:58:15.619 --> 00:58:17.780
in one second I mean this is crazy you know what

00:58:17.780 --> 00:58:19.820
your heart does to keep you alive as long as

00:58:19.820 --> 00:58:22.800
you're thankful for that uh opportunity to live

00:58:22.800 --> 00:58:26.340
life um it's pretty hard to get yourself in trouble

00:58:26.340 --> 00:58:29.019
you know I mean you can you know and plus you

00:58:29.019 --> 00:58:31.760
sleep good you know and that's one thing I've

00:58:31.760 --> 00:58:34.269
always done is sleep good You know, because we

00:58:34.269 --> 00:58:36.469
always did right by the system. We always did

00:58:36.469 --> 00:58:38.269
right by our employees, our communities, our

00:58:38.269 --> 00:58:40.929
suppliers, and our franchisees. So you basically

00:58:40.929 --> 00:58:44.090
were focused on the gratitude and the blessings

00:58:44.090 --> 00:58:47.510
you have in life. Like, that's what healed your

00:58:47.510 --> 00:58:49.429
heart. That's what brought you out of feeling

00:58:49.429 --> 00:58:55.989
the, you know, the rejection, the, you know,

00:58:56.070 --> 00:58:59.590
your people turning your back on you. Like, you

00:58:59.590 --> 00:59:05.619
didn't tap into. you realize that at the end

00:59:05.619 --> 00:59:06.880
of the day you're going to be in that coffin

00:59:06.880 --> 00:59:11.380
by yourself. So all you've got is you. And my

00:59:11.380 --> 00:59:15.699
friends, I said, take care of you. Don't lose

00:59:15.699 --> 00:59:16.960
your independent, and that's what I would tell

00:59:16.960 --> 00:59:18.500
your audience, don't lose your independent critical

00:59:18.500 --> 00:59:20.559
judgment. That's where entrepreneur comes from.

00:59:20.599 --> 00:59:23.150
You think differently. Ford thought differently.

00:59:23.250 --> 00:59:25.250
Job thinks, must think, they think differently.

00:59:25.510 --> 00:59:27.969
And the left wants you to think the way that

00:59:27.969 --> 00:59:30.210
you think. That's completely antithetical to

00:59:30.210 --> 00:59:33.989
entrepreneurship, completely. So we're at 220.

00:59:34.469 --> 00:59:38.230
We now have the list. And so every day, every

00:59:38.230 --> 00:59:41.610
year, you keep. Where did you give yourself a

00:59:41.610 --> 00:59:45.650
low score in February of 20? The physical was

00:59:45.650 --> 00:59:47.909
always a 7 or 8. So even when I was getting a

00:59:47.909 --> 00:59:49.429
little, you know, so I was pretty good with the

00:59:49.429 --> 00:59:51.889
fitness. But I did take that to, you know, an

00:59:51.889 --> 00:59:53.929
8 or 9. You don't want to be a 10 on the fitness

00:59:53.929 --> 00:59:55.809
because that's all you do. But you don't want

00:59:55.809 --> 00:59:58.530
to slip down to a 7 or a half. Get some muscles.

00:59:58.829 --> 01:00:02.789
I'll show you my gym after. We love that. Let's

01:00:02.789 --> 01:00:05.190
do some long pull -ups. You know, the emotional

01:00:05.190 --> 01:00:08.809
scarring. You know, do you want to be paranoid?

01:00:08.849 --> 01:00:13.980
You know, love plus caring about somebody. Plus

01:00:13.980 --> 01:00:16.840
trust equals safety. You know, all we want to

01:00:16.840 --> 01:00:19.820
do with people is be safe. You know, that's why

01:00:19.820 --> 01:00:23.039
the ego wants predictability because it feels

01:00:23.039 --> 01:00:25.900
safety when you're in that. And so you have to

01:00:25.900 --> 01:00:28.619
have people around you that you can trust. And

01:00:28.619 --> 01:00:31.159
I get criticized because all of my coaches say

01:00:31.159 --> 01:00:34.260
I'm an over -giver. And, you know, I want to

01:00:34.260 --> 01:00:36.360
be an over -giver. I mean, I've got everything

01:00:36.360 --> 01:00:39.119
in the world. And they said, well, you attract

01:00:39.119 --> 01:00:41.360
overtakers. You two are very similar. I don't

01:00:41.360 --> 01:00:43.199
think so. You two are very similar. That's why

01:00:43.199 --> 01:00:45.320
you've got to be. I've got to be a giver over

01:00:45.320 --> 01:00:47.559
here. Dishwasher. That's why you've got more

01:00:47.559 --> 01:00:51.300
success than I have. That's in the fabric of

01:00:51.300 --> 01:00:54.480
everybody that's successful long -term. But love

01:00:54.480 --> 01:00:56.699
plus trust equals safety. We just want to be

01:00:56.699 --> 01:01:00.800
safe. And, you know, an over -giver, my one coach,

01:01:00.880 --> 01:01:03.440
who I think is kind of a spiritual bankrupt,

01:01:03.679 --> 01:01:06.820
but I don't know, says, yeah, but you attract

01:01:06.820 --> 01:01:09.940
overtakers. And my answer to that is maybe short

01:01:09.940 --> 01:01:15.960
-term. They may get me once or twice. But what

01:01:15.960 --> 01:01:18.809
it does, it... forces you to get rid of them,

01:01:18.949 --> 01:01:20.889
like the tribe I have around me today. And you

01:01:20.889 --> 01:01:23.769
learn. You learn from that. We've had some overtakers

01:01:23.769 --> 01:01:27.309
in our life, right? We learn a lot. Best lessons

01:01:27.309 --> 01:01:29.769
of our life. But two over givers together is

01:01:29.769 --> 01:01:34.110
beauty. That's godliness. So as an over giver,

01:01:34.130 --> 01:01:36.309
sooner or later you're going to attract over

01:01:36.309 --> 01:01:40.360
givers, and then the game's over. Then it's every

01:01:40.360 --> 01:01:43.480
day, whether it's my partner, whether it's my

01:01:43.480 --> 01:01:45.440
friends. By the way, the caliber, I tell you

01:01:45.440 --> 01:01:47.079
the greatest gift I got out of this, besides

01:01:47.079 --> 01:01:48.940
I'm no longer a prisoner of my own creation,

01:01:49.239 --> 01:01:52.920
the fact that when I had it, it was doing great,

01:01:52.980 --> 01:01:55.480
and now we've got all these really smart folks

01:01:55.480 --> 01:01:57.599
that are running the company, these corporate

01:01:57.599 --> 01:01:59.579
folks, and the thing's crashing. So you feel

01:01:59.579 --> 01:02:03.840
pretty good about your confidence. But the caliber

01:02:03.840 --> 01:02:06.679
of people I have around now is... Head and shoulders

01:02:06.679 --> 01:02:10.820
above what I had in 2018. The people around me

01:02:10.820 --> 01:02:13.199
now, this would never happen. They would never

01:02:13.199 --> 01:02:15.039
happen what happened. That's interesting you

01:02:15.039 --> 01:02:17.059
say that because we had the same experience.

01:02:17.780 --> 01:02:21.460
The community we had pre -COVID is totally different

01:02:21.460 --> 01:02:24.260
who we have now. And who we have now feels a

01:02:24.260 --> 01:02:27.760
lot more authentic. They're a lot more authentic

01:02:27.760 --> 01:02:30.659
to our souls, but it's also been a leveling up

01:02:30.659 --> 01:02:34.190
experience where... maybe certain people were

01:02:34.190 --> 01:02:37.309
hanging around us just because, you know, of

01:02:37.309 --> 01:02:39.849
our status or whatever. But now the people that

01:02:39.849 --> 01:02:42.389
are around us, it feels like they're with us

01:02:42.389 --> 01:02:45.150
because they're with us. So you're a pillar of

01:02:45.150 --> 01:02:48.909
the Kentucky, the world that you live in. Everybody

01:02:48.909 --> 01:02:52.079
knows who you are. To this day, are there people

01:02:52.079 --> 01:02:54.780
out there who don't know that the record has

01:02:54.780 --> 01:02:57.119
been set straight, that think poorly of you,

01:02:57.159 --> 01:02:59.599
that have bought into this, that Papa John is

01:02:59.599 --> 01:03:07.099
a racist? Yeah, the most powerful emotion there

01:03:07.099 --> 01:03:09.659
is is love. It's the positive. It's the best.

01:03:10.139 --> 01:03:14.719
The most negative emotion is jealousy, resentment.

01:03:15.300 --> 01:03:19.059
And so if you have success, it just takes a really

01:03:19.059 --> 01:03:24.179
high. caliber of person to not be jealous. And

01:03:24.179 --> 01:03:26.559
when you're Papa John and everybody's throwing

01:03:26.559 --> 01:03:28.719
themselves at you and the company's making $200

01:03:28.719 --> 01:03:30.960
million a year on your own TV every eight seconds,

01:03:31.199 --> 01:03:34.920
you're just asking for a bunch of insecure males

01:03:34.920 --> 01:03:39.440
around you, especially, to take a shot. What

01:03:39.440 --> 01:03:41.659
was the question on? When you're walking around,

01:03:41.880 --> 01:03:43.860
to this day, are there people out there in your

01:03:43.860 --> 01:03:46.280
community where you grew up and everybody knows

01:03:46.280 --> 01:03:50.230
who you are that think poorly of you? That didn't

01:03:50.230 --> 01:03:53.449
happen like that. Here's the three things. The

01:03:53.449 --> 01:03:55.170
sun's going to come up, the sun's going to go

01:03:55.170 --> 01:03:56.969
down, and the truth's going to come out. Papa

01:03:56.969 --> 01:03:58.630
John's can sit on this as long as they want.

01:03:59.110 --> 01:04:00.590
Sooner or later, somebody's going to go in there

01:04:00.590 --> 01:04:02.889
and say, unless we clean this up with the name

01:04:02.889 --> 01:04:06.489
of the brand, the namesake, the face of the brand.

01:04:06.710 --> 01:04:08.789
They need to do the right thing. They have to

01:04:08.789 --> 01:04:10.829
do the right thing or the brand's dead. Would

01:04:10.829 --> 01:04:15.199
you go back? That's a whole, I don't have any

01:04:15.199 --> 01:04:18.519
desire to be on TV. And we talked about energy.

01:04:18.519 --> 01:04:20.800
What if it was only on TV and you weren't involved

01:04:20.800 --> 01:04:22.980
in operations? I wouldn't do the TV. The product's

01:04:22.980 --> 01:04:24.619
not. I wouldn't put my name on the product right

01:04:24.619 --> 01:04:26.079
now. It's too substandard. Probably you would

01:04:26.079 --> 01:04:27.980
need to go in and help with the operations, clean

01:04:27.980 --> 01:04:30.900
that part up. 100 % I know exactly what to do.

01:04:30.980 --> 01:04:33.039
I know what lever to push, how to push it, how

01:04:33.039 --> 01:04:35.159
fast to push it, and how to get them to do with

01:04:35.159 --> 01:04:38.199
it. I mean that piece. 95 % sure I can get the

01:04:38.199 --> 01:04:40.739
right people on the bus in the right seats. It's

01:04:40.739 --> 01:04:42.519
a technology deal. You know, it's a procurement

01:04:42.519 --> 01:04:44.619
deal. It's a quality deal. It's a culture deal.

01:04:44.780 --> 01:04:46.920
So those people are lined up out the door to

01:04:46.920 --> 01:04:51.219
go back in. Okay, can I get 60 % chance I can

01:04:51.219 --> 01:04:53.639
get them to do what they have to do? You know,

01:04:53.699 --> 01:04:57.460
energy. The energy to do what I just told you,

01:04:57.539 --> 01:05:03.420
not a problem. To get 100 ,000 employees to change

01:05:03.420 --> 01:05:06.599
their habits takes 20 days to form a habit, 40

01:05:06.599 --> 01:05:09.510
days to solidify it. to get people to go from

01:05:09.510 --> 01:05:12.389
subpar, mediocre behavior to we're going to be

01:05:12.389 --> 01:05:15.409
the Chick -fil -A, the Texas Roadhouse, to wear

01:05:15.409 --> 01:05:18.670
and tear on me, on my energy to permeate. I mean,

01:05:18.710 --> 01:05:20.690
if I went back in, every store, every manager

01:05:20.690 --> 01:05:23.730
in every store in North America in one week would

01:05:23.730 --> 01:05:27.070
know I'm back in. We did the turn in three weeks

01:05:27.070 --> 01:05:29.909
of your dad's tavern. Yeah, we've done it three

01:05:29.909 --> 01:05:31.710
times. Really, two, it's documented, but we've

01:05:31.710 --> 01:05:33.349
done it. We've fixed it three times, so we know

01:05:33.349 --> 01:05:35.010
how to do it. You know how to do this. But I

01:05:35.010 --> 01:05:37.630
would do a lot of praying, a lot of meditating,

01:05:37.710 --> 01:05:39.550
and then talk to a lot of smart people like you

01:05:39.550 --> 01:05:42.769
before I try to take that on. What I would like

01:05:42.769 --> 01:05:44.989
to do is, you know, if I could give Todd some

01:05:44.989 --> 01:05:47.389
advice, I think he's probably doing 95 % of what

01:05:47.389 --> 01:05:50.010
I do. He knows what to do. He's just in a position

01:05:50.010 --> 01:05:51.889
where he doesn't have the resources to do it.

01:05:52.130 --> 01:05:54.889
And I think if we clean this up where I'm a cheerleader,

01:05:54.889 --> 01:05:56.969
leader of the company I think that that would

01:05:56.969 --> 01:05:58.829
be all I really care about if we I mean because

01:05:58.829 --> 01:06:00.389
I have kids and grandkids I don't want them reading

01:06:00.389 --> 01:06:03.449
this stuff and back to your question on I this

01:06:03.449 --> 01:06:07.309
happened I've been out in public now seven years

01:06:07.309 --> 01:06:10.110
nobody's ever said one negative thing to me now

01:06:10.110 --> 01:06:12.789
what so the public didn't buy it public said

01:06:12.789 --> 01:06:15.809
this doesn't make any sense this is fishy that

01:06:15.809 --> 01:06:18.070
was a gift from God because if the public thinks

01:06:18.070 --> 01:06:20.929
you know ill of me I mean I guess you could be

01:06:20.929 --> 01:06:22.849
a rapist or a murderous but they paint you as

01:06:22.849 --> 01:06:27.619
a pedophile I mean as a freaking racist, it's

01:06:27.619 --> 01:06:33.880
not good. It's not good. You know, when bad things

01:06:33.880 --> 01:06:36.760
happen to people, at least I do, I tend to look

01:06:36.760 --> 01:06:39.900
inward. What did I do? What could you have done

01:06:39.900 --> 01:06:42.159
differently? What could you have done better?

01:06:42.480 --> 01:06:44.800
What ownership can you take for getting in the

01:06:44.800 --> 01:06:46.380
jam that you got into in the first place? Every

01:06:46.380 --> 01:06:49.500
second of the day, believe it or not, the Creator

01:06:49.500 --> 01:06:55.119
is giving us tools, insight. on how we need to

01:06:55.119 --> 01:06:57.820
do better in life, how we need to be more enlightened.

01:06:58.000 --> 01:07:01.260
It doesn't feel like it, you know, and it may

01:07:01.260 --> 01:07:03.539
not. But if you really listen, you're getting

01:07:03.539 --> 01:07:06.900
counsel all day, every day on how to be the best

01:07:06.900 --> 01:07:13.000
version of John or wherever you are. So it's,

01:07:13.039 --> 01:07:15.739
I think, positive energy and being good. I don't

01:07:15.739 --> 01:07:17.840
know if I answered your question, but I think

01:07:17.840 --> 01:07:21.039
it's, I think every day is. a learning lesson

01:07:21.039 --> 01:07:23.360
to try to get better. Would you have rephrased

01:07:23.360 --> 01:07:27.699
comments that you made? Yeah, I definitely wouldn't

01:07:27.699 --> 01:07:30.380
have said the word regardless in closed meeting,

01:07:30.519 --> 01:07:34.840
for sure. There's a saying that the Buddhist,

01:07:35.099 --> 01:07:38.360
the master, somebody comes up behind and knocks

01:07:38.360 --> 01:07:41.420
him in the head with a ball bat. And what does

01:07:41.420 --> 01:07:43.139
a Buddhist get up and knock the guy? What does

01:07:43.139 --> 01:07:46.440
the Buddhist, what does the wisdom, the wise

01:07:46.440 --> 01:07:50.099
guy do? And the answer is, A wise guy, the right

01:07:50.099 --> 01:07:51.739
Buddhist, would have known the guy was coming

01:07:51.739 --> 01:07:54.880
before he hit him. Your consciousness. Raise

01:07:54.880 --> 01:07:57.579
your level of awareness. And I did not see this

01:07:57.579 --> 01:07:59.480
coming. Self -destructive. I did not see that.

01:07:59.500 --> 01:08:01.699
I knew something was going on. I knew I was getting

01:08:01.699 --> 01:08:03.579
attacked. I knew that I was going to get hung

01:08:03.579 --> 01:08:05.440
on technicality. I just didn't know it would

01:08:05.440 --> 01:08:09.639
be an inside job. sources taught me is I need

01:08:09.639 --> 01:08:12.579
to raise my level of awareness, you know, more

01:08:12.579 --> 01:08:14.579
self -awareness and more awareness around me.

01:08:14.619 --> 01:08:16.579
I think that's the lesson with that. Do you think

01:08:16.579 --> 01:08:20.220
your ego was potentially inflated at the time?

01:08:21.020 --> 01:08:22.840
Like all of us, I think my ego's a problem right

01:08:22.840 --> 01:08:25.340
now. I mean, you know, it's the ego's the double

01:08:25.340 --> 01:08:26.619
-edged sword. You've got to have the confidence

01:08:26.619 --> 01:08:30.939
and, I don't know, the self -awareness and reliance

01:08:30.939 --> 01:08:34.300
that you can do great things. But, again, you've

01:08:34.300 --> 01:08:37.449
got to be rational. open -minded, but you have

01:08:37.449 --> 01:08:40.630
to be moralistic with your approach. It's the

01:08:40.630 --> 01:08:43.170
default world, which is hyper -competitive, and

01:08:43.170 --> 01:08:45.470
people want to take out your legs from underneath

01:08:45.470 --> 01:08:48.470
you and be spiritual and loving and connected

01:08:48.470 --> 01:08:50.970
and gracious and all those things. If you can't

01:08:50.970 --> 01:08:52.909
do one or the other, it's just not going to work.

01:08:53.130 --> 01:08:56.010
Very difficult. The guys at Chick -fil -A pulled

01:08:56.010 --> 01:08:58.239
it off. You know, those guys are connected to

01:08:58.239 --> 01:09:00.720
source. I mean, the way they treat their employees,

01:09:01.039 --> 01:09:03.300
the Cathy family, you know, that comes from Truett.

01:09:03.319 --> 01:09:06.300
But those guys, you know, yeah, their chicken's

01:09:06.300 --> 01:09:08.239
good, and, yeah, their culture's great, and,

01:09:08.260 --> 01:09:11.520
yeah, it's great value. But those guys, I mean,

01:09:11.539 --> 01:09:13.420
the decisions they make, they're getting – you

01:09:13.420 --> 01:09:15.479
know, it's like the Framers. The Framers, you

01:09:15.479 --> 01:09:17.609
know, they were – They had, you know, actually

01:09:17.609 --> 01:09:20.930
churches outside of the rooms in Congress. You

01:09:20.930 --> 01:09:23.710
know, they had places to pray. They were constantly

01:09:23.710 --> 01:09:26.489
in touch with the divine on making sure they

01:09:26.489 --> 01:09:28.770
made the greatest document ever created by man,

01:09:28.930 --> 01:09:31.609
which is the Declaration of the U .S. Constitution.

01:09:32.130 --> 01:09:35.090
But they, you know, they're in, you know, Joe

01:09:35.090 --> 01:09:36.810
Dispenza, you know, Tony Robbins. Those guys

01:09:36.810 --> 01:09:40.170
are connected, you know. But it seems like to

01:09:40.170 --> 01:09:46.069
me that they ate their own. You know what I mean?

01:09:46.310 --> 01:09:49.470
Oh, ate their own. You know what I mean? You

01:09:49.470 --> 01:09:54.130
ate your own. You're their face. You're the soul

01:09:54.130 --> 01:09:57.710
of your company. You're not going to defend that

01:09:57.710 --> 01:09:59.970
person. Well, they were on their way out. Yeah,

01:10:00.029 --> 01:10:01.810
yeah. No, but even though they were on their

01:10:01.810 --> 01:10:03.829
way out, there were other board members that

01:10:03.829 --> 01:10:06.569
stayed there that could have jumped in to say,

01:10:06.649 --> 01:10:08.250
no, no, no, this was all a misunderstanding.

01:10:08.789 --> 01:10:10.930
It didn't happen that way. And they could have.

01:10:11.430 --> 01:10:14.130
Gone after the media and basically even, they

01:10:14.130 --> 01:10:16.170
could have even sued the media and said, like,

01:10:16.250 --> 01:10:20.449
you are destroying our brand by your lies. Like,

01:10:20.569 --> 01:10:23.649
listen to the footage carefully. He is the opposite

01:10:23.649 --> 01:10:25.529
of that. Like, if they would have done that,

01:10:25.670 --> 01:10:28.029
their stock price probably would be at over $100.

01:10:28.289 --> 01:10:30.670
If you had a Jordan Zimmerman or a Patrick Gentemo

01:10:30.670 --> 01:10:33.430
or one of you two on that board, no way this

01:10:33.430 --> 01:10:35.350
would ever happen. They took the easy way out.

01:10:35.430 --> 01:10:37.890
Said, okay, we got one guy. Let's take him out

01:10:37.890 --> 01:10:39.670
and it solves all our problems. Total cowards.

01:10:39.979 --> 01:10:42.579
No, we're fighters. Total cowards. We'd be like,

01:10:42.640 --> 01:10:45.460
time out. Time out. Let's give this four or five

01:10:45.460 --> 01:10:47.899
weeks to an investigation and see what's really

01:10:47.899 --> 01:10:52.199
going on. And they overreacted, and they've destroyed

01:10:52.199 --> 01:10:55.680
this company. It's an amazing story. I mean,

01:10:55.680 --> 01:10:57.319
one day I think this will be a Harvard case.

01:10:57.539 --> 01:11:00.840
It sounds like it. It's a movie. You know, it's

01:11:00.840 --> 01:11:05.479
interesting because I will share a little, you

01:11:05.479 --> 01:11:07.560
know, personal of what happened with us when

01:11:07.560 --> 01:11:11.479
in school, but... I had a leadership team, and

01:11:11.479 --> 01:11:14.180
half the leadership team pretty much stabbed

01:11:14.180 --> 01:11:16.680
me in the back and ran. They quit in the middle

01:11:16.680 --> 01:11:20.640
of the chaos. And then the ones that stayed by

01:11:20.640 --> 01:11:24.449
my side are still with me to this day. And, you

01:11:24.449 --> 01:11:26.289
know, I think about them, and sometimes I even

01:11:26.289 --> 01:11:29.789
get teary -eyed because I tell them sometimes,

01:11:29.869 --> 01:11:32.829
like, I felt like I was Caesar walking through

01:11:32.829 --> 01:11:35.729
my own town not knowing who was going to stab

01:11:35.729 --> 01:11:38.850
me in the back. But I knew you guys had my back,

01:11:38.930 --> 01:11:41.670
and I was comfortable and safe with you guys.

01:11:41.970 --> 01:11:45.090
I couldn't imagine if I was in your shoes feeling.

01:11:45.750 --> 01:11:48.149
Everybody just turned their back on me. No, no,

01:11:48.310 --> 01:11:50.550
it wasn't like that. I mean, Tim O 'Hearn. I

01:11:50.550 --> 01:11:52.689
mean, the board. Oh, the board. Yeah, talking

01:11:52.689 --> 01:11:55.310
about the board. Because those were your guys.

01:11:55.930 --> 01:11:58.729
No, I kept the board really independent. They

01:11:58.729 --> 01:12:00.989
have no clue on how to run a pizza company. I

01:12:00.989 --> 01:12:03.250
mean, no clue. I mean, there's no institutional

01:12:03.250 --> 01:12:05.050
knowledge on that board. No, but I mean, they

01:12:05.050 --> 01:12:07.510
could have stood up for you and said stop, like

01:12:07.510 --> 01:12:10.039
protected you. And that's the problem is when

01:12:10.039 --> 01:12:11.939
you're really good at something, you make it

01:12:11.939 --> 01:12:14.479
look easy. So you've got these jealous males

01:12:14.479 --> 01:12:17.159
that are seeing John get all the attention. I

01:12:17.159 --> 01:12:18.800
have 10 million shares, so the stock goes up

01:12:18.800 --> 01:12:20.760
two bucks in a day. I make $20 million. So they're

01:12:20.760 --> 01:12:22.680
so jealous, and they're telling the board, we

01:12:22.680 --> 01:12:25.220
can do this better than John. And the board just,

01:12:25.319 --> 01:12:27.220
they were suckers. They went along with it. Yeah.

01:12:27.979 --> 01:12:32.420
So have you always been spiritual or religious,

01:12:32.520 --> 01:12:38.439
or is this a more recent thing? My mom always

01:12:38.439 --> 01:12:44.220
was totally fanatical about integrity. That was

01:12:44.220 --> 01:12:46.720
just non -negotiable. And I remember I asked

01:12:46.720 --> 01:12:49.479
my grandfather when I was six, and I said, Papaw,

01:12:49.539 --> 01:12:52.000
because, you know, you see these different religions,

01:12:52.100 --> 01:12:55.300
religious dogmas. And at six, at seven, I knew,

01:12:55.380 --> 01:12:57.479
you know, Papaw was my mentor. I said, Papaw,

01:12:57.479 --> 01:13:00.039
is there a God? He goes, there's a God. Trust

01:13:00.039 --> 01:13:02.979
me, there's a God. And then you look at the various

01:13:02.979 --> 01:13:07.109
religions, and you kind of got to go, okay. They

01:13:07.109 --> 01:13:09.890
set boundaries for youth, you know, and they

01:13:09.890 --> 01:13:12.310
do have, you know, commandments, you know. And

01:13:12.310 --> 01:13:15.569
so I think it's where religious kind of falls

01:13:15.569 --> 01:13:18.130
apart is when it gets to the point where they're

01:13:18.130 --> 01:13:21.069
trying to control you and don't realize the locus

01:13:21.069 --> 01:13:26.590
of control is you controlling you. But the, you

01:13:26.590 --> 01:13:30.010
know, the system was, we were pretty high that

01:13:30.010 --> 01:13:32.010
there's a system out there that you can't be

01:13:32.010 --> 01:13:35.760
in 2020. It was like, you know. Every time I

01:13:35.760 --> 01:13:38.260
get myself slightly in the gray, I mean, I like

01:13:38.260 --> 01:13:40.039
get knocked upside the head. I'm like, you know,

01:13:40.039 --> 01:13:42.399
so you just learn don't get yourself in the gray.

01:13:42.739 --> 01:13:45.359
In the gray, you define it. It's something that,

01:13:45.399 --> 01:13:48.979
you know. Over here, this is just out and right

01:13:48.979 --> 01:13:52.119
wrong. This is right. You're over here right,

01:13:52.300 --> 01:13:54.479
and it slips a little bit in the middle. You

01:13:54.479 --> 01:13:57.239
can't even slip in the middle. You don't have

01:13:57.239 --> 01:14:01.000
to be perfect, but you know in your soul, your

01:14:01.000 --> 01:14:03.659
heart, when you're a little bit like, I really

01:14:03.659 --> 01:14:06.659
shouldn't be going along with this. I think in

01:14:06.659 --> 01:14:09.880
the 30s and 40s, you're like, okay, you'll tickle

01:14:09.880 --> 01:14:11.180
the tail of the dragon a little bit, but every

01:14:11.180 --> 01:14:13.439
time you get over here, you get your head knocked

01:14:13.439 --> 01:14:15.199
off, so you just learn to play it straight. We

01:14:15.199 --> 01:14:18.550
had that piece in. in 2000, you know, the turn

01:14:18.550 --> 01:14:22.409
of the century. The whole quantum work with Dispenza

01:14:22.409 --> 01:14:26.170
and Einstein's theory of relativity equals MC

01:14:26.170 --> 01:14:29.210
squares, the field controls the particles, we've

01:14:29.210 --> 01:14:31.310
been hitting on that for about five or six years.

01:14:31.729 --> 01:14:34.050
After the controversy started. After the controversy.

01:14:34.409 --> 01:14:36.289
That's another thing, is that I wouldn't have

01:14:36.289 --> 01:14:38.069
had the friends, but also I was a prisoner of

01:14:38.069 --> 01:14:39.710
my own creation. I wouldn't have had time to

01:14:39.710 --> 01:14:41.789
work on John. I mean, if I had kept that up,

01:14:41.810 --> 01:14:43.829
I'd have lost 10 years, 15 years of my life.

01:14:43.989 --> 01:14:47.590
I mean, it's an unbelievably difficult job. Yeah,

01:14:47.609 --> 01:14:49.869
I can imagine. God doesn't make any mistakes.

01:14:50.369 --> 01:14:55.569
We jumped into our spiritual search when we sold

01:14:55.569 --> 01:15:01.050
our company in 2017, 2018. Something like that.

01:15:01.270 --> 01:15:06.630
And it helped us also be able to just go deep

01:15:06.630 --> 01:15:11.340
and figure out, like, look, how can we? raise

01:15:11.340 --> 01:15:14.060
our consciousness. How can we be better people?

01:15:14.220 --> 01:15:17.140
How can we learn from everything that is coming

01:15:17.140 --> 01:15:19.340
our way? That's beautiful. What are we going

01:15:19.340 --> 01:15:22.319
to do in life? Make more money? Another business?

01:15:23.860 --> 01:15:26.159
Doing anything. Now we got very clear on our

01:15:26.159 --> 01:15:29.279
mission, our purpose, and our ambition is no

01:15:29.279 --> 01:15:31.279
less than before, except now we're doing things

01:15:31.279 --> 01:15:33.640
that ideally will uplift humanity and make a

01:15:33.640 --> 01:15:35.279
few bucks so that we can scale even more and

01:15:35.279 --> 01:15:37.319
do greater things for humanity. Yeah, you're

01:15:37.319 --> 01:15:39.319
two of the luckiest people on the planet because

01:15:39.319 --> 01:15:42.020
you have the wealth to do whatever you want.

01:15:42.100 --> 01:15:44.460
You have what I call Leonardo. You have freedom,

01:15:44.619 --> 01:15:47.180
curiosity, and creativity. If you've got freedom,

01:15:47.640 --> 01:15:50.279
that's a beautiful thing. And you have a partner.

01:15:50.840 --> 01:15:52.939
And then you have a purpose. Nothing like this

01:15:52.939 --> 01:15:55.359
guy in the world, that's for sure. I have a partner.

01:15:55.659 --> 01:15:58.399
I've got freedom. I've got curiosity. So the

01:15:58.399 --> 01:16:01.159
purpose, I'm like, okay, what's going to happen

01:16:01.159 --> 01:16:03.460
here? But, again, if you're doing the work on

01:16:03.460 --> 01:16:05.659
John and you're doing the right thing, the purpose

01:16:05.659 --> 01:16:08.100
will show up. And you'll know when it shows up.

01:16:08.399 --> 01:16:10.560
You'll feel it in your soul. When I pray, the

01:16:10.560 --> 01:16:12.720
thing that comes back to me is, because I'm an

01:16:12.720 --> 01:16:15.479
entrepreneur, I'm allergic to patience. I don't

01:16:15.479 --> 01:16:19.859
have any patience. But my work says, Be patient

01:16:19.859 --> 01:16:22.859
but opportunistic. So what that is, it hasn't

01:16:22.859 --> 01:16:25.420
come across my desk yet, but I'm having a beautiful

01:16:25.420 --> 01:16:27.579
day every day, you know, kind of waiting for

01:16:27.579 --> 01:16:30.979
that day. You know, before we sold our company,

01:16:31.140 --> 01:16:33.260
I would pray to God. I would say, okay, God,

01:16:33.399 --> 01:16:36.199
close to selling. I have no idea what we're going

01:16:36.199 --> 01:16:38.600
to do next, but you just show us the way you

01:16:38.600 --> 01:16:41.859
guide us and we will listen. And, you know, fast

01:16:41.859 --> 01:16:46.020
forward, we own schools, a farm, a ranch, a wellness

01:16:46.020 --> 01:16:48.840
center. And I'm like, okay, I'm starting to see

01:16:48.840 --> 01:16:50.859
what you're trying to, where you're trying to

01:16:50.859 --> 01:16:52.920
take us. And we're just, we're very heavily,

01:16:53.060 --> 01:16:55.760
we were good. We are good friends with Bobby

01:16:55.760 --> 01:16:58.079
Kennedy. Of course we supported president Trump.

01:16:58.180 --> 01:17:00.680
So we're, and then the fact that he got nominated

01:17:00.680 --> 01:17:03.500
into that position, we're like, you know, and

01:17:03.500 --> 01:17:05.680
I'm, You know, we're standing up against the

01:17:05.680 --> 01:17:07.760
COVID shot and we're doing all these things.

01:17:07.800 --> 01:17:09.720
So I'm realizing, all right, God, you're taking

01:17:09.720 --> 01:17:13.920
us down this path of health and the awareness.

01:17:14.079 --> 01:17:17.579
You know, we have a beautiful soul in our wellness

01:17:17.579 --> 01:17:20.640
center right now who, beginning of March, she

01:17:20.640 --> 01:17:23.659
was sent home by her medical team to basically

01:17:23.659 --> 01:17:26.039
told her, you know, you have two weeks to live.

01:17:26.159 --> 01:17:28.979
She had cancer and it's been four weeks and she's.

01:17:29.279 --> 01:17:31.060
fully alive, and every day she's getting better

01:17:31.060 --> 01:17:33.960
than the day before. So I'm just like, okay,

01:17:34.000 --> 01:17:36.199
God, every day you show me what you want me to

01:17:36.199 --> 01:17:38.439
see, and you guide me to where you want me to

01:17:38.439 --> 01:17:41.779
go because I'm your loyal servant. And I know

01:17:41.779 --> 01:17:44.560
you blessed us with the material things that's

01:17:44.560 --> 01:17:46.659
really yours, not ours, to do something good

01:17:46.659 --> 01:17:49.439
with it. And so it will fall on your lap. When

01:17:49.439 --> 01:17:51.460
it's time, when it's ready for you to make that

01:17:51.460 --> 01:17:53.300
next move, it's just going to happen, and you're

01:17:53.300 --> 01:17:55.079
going to feel it in your soul. Amen to that.

01:17:55.359 --> 01:17:58.529
Einstein said it best. He says, Every second

01:17:58.529 --> 01:18:01.890
of every day is a miracle or it's not. You either

01:18:01.890 --> 01:18:03.470
believe one way or the other. Papa John, thank

01:18:03.470 --> 01:18:05.550
you so much for coming. What a wonderful guest

01:18:05.550 --> 01:18:07.449
you are. Thank you for opening up and being so

01:18:07.449 --> 01:18:09.930
vulnerable. I appreciate you, too. I've enjoyed

01:18:09.930 --> 01:18:11.750
meeting you both. Congratulations on all your

01:18:11.750 --> 01:18:13.090
success. Thank you so much.
