None of my Business S6:E8 -Andrew Randall

On this episode I have one of my favorite people, Andrew Randall. Andrew and his wife Shayna own 5 Dutch Bros. locations and I have had the honor of knowing them for a decade now. I asked Andrew to be on the show again because they have recently opened a delightful new restaurant in Nampa called Mesa.

They run a small coffee empire with these 5 locations and over 300 employees. As if that wasn’t enough, they decided to take on the challenge of opening a business in an industry that is very tough to be successful in. I asked him what those conversations we like when it came to opening a restaurant. Ultimately they wanted to fill a need that their community didn’t have. They also wanted to infuse some fresh life in a downtown that is in need of some new energy.

Andrew is a student of life and I have always enjoyed talking business with him. We talk about his management and leadership style. You will want to hear his approach to these subjects. His goal ultimately is to help people become better people.

I asked him what has allowed them the freedom to take on a business like this. He told me it’s the people have been installed in upper management in the Dutch Bros. world. They do such great work, that Shayna and Andrew can manage at a higher level. They can continue to grow and innovate.

He tells me how Mesa grew from idea to reality in about a year. Their approach is so smart. Over the course of the last ten years, they have connected and aligned with very smart people. You will hear Andrew talk about all of the different people who helped teach and mentor them through this process. The Randall’s have a LOT of knowledge about running a successful business but knew little about the ins and outs of running a restaurant. They use the “It takes a village to grow a business” model.

Andrew has always been on the front lines of technology advances and we chat about that. They are using a brand new form of payment system. He told me his goal was for the food to be “Instagram” ready. I asked him how he communicates with all of the people he needs to communicate with and his answer cracked me up.

“Andrew, how do you communicate with all of these people? Do you text them? Email them? Run meetings?”

“I don’t email bro”. I love hearing the things that they are doing that are ahead of the mainstream. He’s really a visionary.

We talk about how important customer experience is for a restaurant. This seems obvious, but listening to the little details that Andrew has deployed for Mesa are why there is a line out the door on a regular basis.

Andrew and Shayna have two children as well (currently ages 9 and 6). They both entered the picture in the middle of this crazy entrepreneurial journey they are on. We talked about they want his children to be learning on this path.

I could talk to Andrew about all day of this stuff and I really appreciate him carving out an hour in his crazy schedule to chat with me. Now go check out Mesa in Nampa!