The Dirt Dog Pod

David Slavny, CDO of The Learning Experience joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod to discuss the rapidily growing daycare market. Discover how TLE navigated the challenges of COVID-19, the role of franchisees in their growth strategy, and the unique approach they take to site selection and development. We also explore TLE's innovative use of characters, like Bubbles and Friends, to create engaging and edu...

In this episode of the Dirt Dog Pod, we sit down with Shawn Nelson, the visionary founder and CEO of Lovesac. From a spontaneous idea on his parents' couch to a publicly traded company, Sean shares the incredible journey of Lovesac's evolution. Discover how a giant beanbag concept turned into a billion-dollar brand, the challenges faced along the way, and the philosophy of "Design for...

This week we have our first double guest episode! Robert Campos and Garrett Snyder join us to talk about the growth of Mountain Mike's Pizza. Garrett Snyder is the Vice President of Restaurant Development for Mountain Mike’s Pizza, where he oversees all aspects of site selection, design and construction. Since joining the brand in July 2020, Garrett has played a pivotal role in Mountain Mike’s rap...

Dave Anderson, the Founder of Famous Dave's, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Dave is an perfect example of the American Dream. Born to Native American parents, Dave worked to open the first Famous Dave's in his small town in Wisconsin. The rollercoaster ride for the brand from there is really something to behold. Dave lives for Barbecue and loves the experience that it creates bringing people togeth...

Dok Kwon, the COO and President of Cupbop, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Dok moved to Utah to join the Cupbop brand leaving behind his high paying finance life in New York. Dok made this big change in his life because of the goal that Cupbop is trying to obtain. Dok shares that the brand is trying to become the first national QSR to teach the US about Korean Cuisine. He is so passionate about this...

Bob O'Connell, A recently retired Senior Real Estate Manager for McDonald's, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. We are thrilled to have Bob join us on the pod to give us a glimpse into what has for a long time been the gold standard for quick service brands, McDonald's. Bob has been a longtime Dirt Dog for McDonald's having been with the company for nearly 32 years. Bob was over a team of real estate m...

Shelly Holt, President of First Community Bank Utah, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. We are thrilled to have Shelly on the pod because she provides a banker's point of view on the real estate and retail market. Shelly has been in banking her entire career starting as a teller for Zions Bank in College. Shelly gives some amazing advice about building up those around you as well as her take on the fut...

David Roberts, COO of Hangry Joe's Chicken & Wings, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. David is an operations guru and a great guest that shows us another side of what is important to get right in the retail game. David comes and shares his expertise on how operators streamline their stores and keep them running as smoothly as possible. David also shares the amazing story of Hangry Joe's that has b...

Jeremy Carlson, Founder and CEO of Crispy Cones, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Jeremy created Crispy Cones after a dream he had of bringing a desert traditional in the Czech Republic back to his friends and family in the US. From there Jeremy perfected his take on the chimney cone and started selling them out of a pop up tent in college 7 years ago. From there it has been an absolute whirlwind of...

Matt Smith, The Founder & CEO of Snooze Sleep, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Matt has over 25 years of experience in the industry and is a relentless serial entrepreneur. He’s owned and scaled over 10 businesses and was featured on Discovery Channel’s "Undercover Billionaire", where he built a $5.5 million marketing agency in just 42 days during COVID. With experience as both a franchisee and...

Nate Minnis, Head of Real Estate for Smalls Sliders, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Nate has spent over 15 years working with different brands learning all the ins-and-outs of the franchise business model. Nate has spent time working and consulting for many brands like: Great Clips, Jimmy John's, and Orange Theory Fitness before joining Smalls Sliders in 2023. Nate shares his expertise and show...

Andrew Smith, Managing Director & Co-Founder of The Savory Fund, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Andrew spent the begining of his career in tech before being pulled in the resturaunt world by his wife in '08/'09. Since that change he dove in and never looked back starting the savory fund alongside his wife Shauna. The Savory Fund leverages their extensive experience in resturaunt operati...

Don Ikeler, Director of Development - West Region for Chick-Fil-A, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Don has spent the last 17 years working for Chick-Fil-A after spending the early years of his career with a couple other notable QSRs including McDonald's. Don has seen Chick-Fil-A grow from an unknown brand to the leader in the fast food world and has been a big part of their expansion in the western...

Garrett Reed, the CEO of Layne's Chicken Fingers, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Garrett spent years of his career developing real estate building over 500 different projects. After an extremely successful career in development, Garrett and his family made a drastic change when they purchased Layne's Chicken Fingers and started to grow the brand. Garrett has now been the owner-operator of Layne's f...

Daren Spicer, the Co-Founder of Clutch Coffee Bar, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Darren has spent a good chunk of his career in the coffee space, working at Dutch Bros for a number of years in his youth. At one point, Darren was working through the process of becoming a Dutch Bros franchisee but decided to take a different route and create his own coffee brand, Clutch. In this episode, we discuss:...

Dave Reiseman, the Chief Growth Officer for EOS Fitness, joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Dave has spent most of his career in the fitness space, working for nearly 15 years at Gold's Gym before moving over to EOS Fitness. Fitness is a huge part of Dave's life and that fact shines through throughout this whole episode. In this episode, we discuss: The subtle nuances that come with running a gym. The...

Dannon Shiff, Senior Vice President of Real Estate for Dave's Hot Chicken, joins us on The Dirt Dog Pod. Dannon has been with Dave's since the brand was in single-digit store count. They are now pushing up to 300 locations across the US, Canada, and the Middle East! Dannon has been a large part of their explosive growth over the last 3 years to become one of the largest names in the hot chicken wo...

Gerardo Flores, The Chief Development Officer for Marco's Pizza joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod. Gerardo has worked in multiple national franchise chains throughout his 20-year career including, Quiznos, Jersey Mike's, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and now Marco's Pizza. Gerardo has been working at Marco's for almost three years and has been a major part of opening over 200 locations in that time. Gerardo...

Russ Smith, Former Development Director at Wendy's, joins us on The Dirt Dog Pod. Russ worked for years as the Director of Real Estate for Mrs. Fields before moving on to Wendy's, where he stayed for 26 years. Russ has worked closely with Chris on a number of deals and has always been seen as a mentor in both business and life in general. Russ has a sort of contagious positivity that he brings to...

Rob Ertmann is the CEO of Mo Bettah's, a Hawaiian-style food concept based in Salt Lake City that has grown to have a cult following. Serving Katsu, teriyaki chicken, mac salad, and rice, this brand is taking over the space with 60 locations in the US. Rob tells us all about the amazing culture at the company and their plans for growth in the future. In this episode, we discuss:- The background of...

Dan Reese tells us all about the amazing story of a family making chocolate for over 100 years that decided to get into the milkshake game. Dan moved from a high-level corporate job at Kraft Heinz to bootstrap it with a 4th generation chocolatier and shares the lessons he learned on the way. This is one you won't want to miss. In this episode, we discuss: Dan's shift from a large corporation to a...

Brian Cannard joins us on the Dirt Dog Pod to chat about his wealth of experience working as a real estate manager for REI and Home Depot over 37 years. Brian shares his intense love of the outdoors and how he is currently spending his time following his passion in retirement as a volunteer park ranger at Mount Rainer. Brian is an amazing inspiration and has a load of stories to share with us. In...

After spending the early days of his career as a leasing broker in the pacific northwest Jim joined the expanding haircutting company Great Clips. Jim has worked as a real estate manager for Great Clips for nearly 25 years and been a big part of their massive expansion in that time period. Jim gives us an interesting look into the structure of the company as well as how they look at real estate an...

Dan recently brought his talent and experience to the Swig brand after being an important piece in the massive recent growth of Dutch Bros Coffee. Dan has worked in fast food development for several years for some big-name tenants including Carls Jr., Dutch Bros, and McDonald's. Dan's drive for helping to build the next great concept brought him over to Swig as he sees it as a brand that is comple...

For the first episode of The Dirt Dog Pod, we invited the king dirt dog himself, Aaron Harris. Aaron is the perfect example of a dirt dog, he is constantly moving and on the road looking for the perfect new site for Dutch Bros. Chris and Aaron talk about the fast expansion and growth of Dutch Bros, the importance of culture in a brand, and professional wrestling. Some pretty wild stories came out...