 Hi there, good afternoon everybody and thanks for joining us with SBA America where we talk about small businesses in Hawaii. I'm glad to bring to you a very special guest today. We've got David Farmer from Aloha to Go to tell us a little bit about this exciting business he got started, how he got it started, and just how they've really kind of fast tracked this to being a pretty successful business and really growing rapidly. Aloha to Go is about six years old. David and his partner Kurt Milne, his business partner, founded and got this thing started. So tell us a little bit about the business and how you met and... Kurt and I were college football teammates at the University of Hawaii and sort of met there, became friends. He was the punter, I was a snapper and so you know, it was kind of like a match made in heaven. So we just stayed in touch and when I graduated, you know, we kind of knew we wanted to do something. We started, we were kind of traveling salesmen for a company out here and then we came across somebody that kind of did a very scaled down limited version of what we do now on the Big Island actually and so we kind of had a light bulb moment like well we should do that in Honolulu, you know, where there's a lot more people, you know. So what you got to go is now Oahu's largest online food delivery service? Pretty much, yeah. I mean, it's not really a delivery service. It's more, you know, we offer a lot more than delivery. We have takeout. We work with, very closely with a lot of our restaurants to help them with their marketing. So basically, you know, whatever our consumers want, they want food in a variety of ways, you know, and we want to help fulfill that for them. And we sort of make it possible so that they don't have to do it without worrying about it. And we have wonderful drivers that work with us as well. And so, you know, whether it's a corporate delivery or, you know, a birthday party at your house or just, you know, you're sick on the couch and need something to eat, you know, we can usually find what you're looking for. I mean, it seems like it's a kind of simple basic concept, but it's not as easy to make it work as one might think, particularly when you've got drivers, you've got restaurants and you have over a hundred restaurants or food menus that people can select from. Yeah, it does get pretty crazy. I mean, that's tens of thousands of menu items, you know, to keep track of, to keep track of the pricing. And then just the logistics, you know, a lot goes into it, you know. We want to make it as easy on the customers as possible, right? So we just want them to have one number to call or one website to go to and then their job's done. But on the back end, we're calling the restaurant. We have a relationship with them. We're placing the order. Our drivers have apps and a way to communicate with us and to update the order so that you as a customer, you know, can get those updates via text messages that tell you my driver's at the restaurant. My driver's left the restaurant, those types of things. So, you know, we try to get better and innovate and come up with new ways to do that to alert customers. So let me see. I'm sick at home and I'm sitting on the couch. I'm not going to, you know, get up and fix myself a meal and get healthy again. So I pull out my laptop and my tablet and I look up aloha2go on your, go to your website at www aloha2godelivery.com. Yes, there it is. Or we also have an iOS and an Android app. So you can just download that and whichever you prefer, you know. And then I can just scroll through all the menus and I pick something out and pay you by credit card. Cash credit card, it really doesn't matter. We pay the driver? If you're paying by cash, you'll pay the driver. If you're paying by credit card, you'll tell the person on the phone or you'll create an account online where that information will be stored. And it makes it kind of easy to order going forward in the future as well. So you must have a lot of repeat customers. That's not a repeat customer. Because your restaurants range from anything, anywhere from, you know, barbecue to, you know, what are some of the favorites? I mean, it's crazy. CPK is one of our best partners, you know, and that's what I mean. Our restaurants are partners, right? So, you know, we really, we're sort of outside sales for our restaurants. So, you know, we love, you know, the fact that, you know, we can have great partners like CPK, like Bukitabepo, like Big City Diner. I mean, just to name a few. So they really are just like so many. It's like it's hard to keep track of these days, you know. Like we just added a couple of really, really big restaurants that we can't wait to tell people about. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. So there's some exciting stuff coming in the way. I mean, this is a very, it's just a fun, fun story. And I kind of think of two football players hungry and just, you know, like, OK, we don't want to go out, you know. And we will just, you know, we could do this. We can start this. And I should mention that David and Kurt and Aloha to Go were the young entrepreneurs of the year for 2016 for the state of Hawaii. And that means that they're honored because they've had a business that's been successful for at least three years. And at the time they get this award, both of them are under 30 years old. So most guys at 30 years old, we hear the more stories about them staying home and sleeping on mom's couch than running a successful business that's for those 85, 100 restaurants you work with. Your record shows that you've increased their sales, their outside sales by ten million dollars. That's incredible. It makes us happy. I mean, that's why we exist, you know. And, you know, we we we met during doing traveling sales, selling a product that we didn't really believe in. And so it's just awesome to finally, you know, do something that, you know, you can see it's tangibly helping a business. It's helping, you know, I mean, in some cases, I mean, tremendously, I mean, you can probably cover, you know, two, three, four employees pay checks a month. You know, so yeah, I mean, I love the fact that, you know, when our checks go out on the first of the month, it makes all of us proud. You know, we snap photos of it to see all the checks going on. It's a cool site, you know, for sure. That's that's really very, very cool. And it's also just one of the things we were talking about before we started filming was that your work makes people really happy. You know, when you get a good meal or you're hankering for something good to eat and nothing's in the fridge, you know. Well, we just want it to be a win-win win, you know. So we want we, of course, you know, we know what's in it for us, but we want our customers to be extremely happy and we want our restaurants to potentially gain a new customer or, you know, take the extra step to keep a customer longer, you know. And our type of marketing online presence, you know, 24 hours a day, you know, we never stop working for them, you know. So and and we have a wonderful call center. So even people that don't like going online, you know, give us a call, please. You know, we have tons of people standing by to help you that are just as competent for some people. You know, that's really what they're looking for. It's more of the ease. You know, we sort of live in an on demand society now, you know. And I like to, you know, if I would use my service just because you would get an hour of time back, you know. Right. That you would spend doing something else and you can just stay at home with the family or, you know, watch your show a little longer, you know, or if you're a lawyer, you know, I mean, you know, what's more, nine dollars for delivery or, you know, building a client, right? So there is looking at what is what's valuable to people. Yeah, can be time. It can be the satisfaction of a good meal. It can be convenience and. Spills happen, you know, waiting in line, the traffic, you know, deciding where to go, the fights, the family fights, you know. So I've had them, you know, that's why that's why we started our company. I think both of us kind of and I think what helped us start, you know, both of us were from the mainland, so we don't want to go back home. I think it helped us. Oh, you kind of create something. Exactly, you know. I kind of did the same thing. It was like couldn't turn around and, you know, didn't want to turn around and go back home 33 years ago. So what can I do in Hawaii, you know? And I wish there was a delivery service back then because I was working with elderly and disabled people in their homes. And I'm not a cook, so it would have been great to call you up. We do that. So if you're looking for an option for elderly, disabled people and you need to get them food, you know, we are a super affordable option. And we do a ton of it, actually. So we love it. You know, we deliver to hospitals pretty regularly. Wow. Yeah. So and then so and you also work with the tourism industry extensively. Yeah. We we have sort of a sister company called Waikiki Room Service and we work with, you know, typically boutique hotels, hotels that don't have a food and beverage program. OK, we can sort of come in and offer them what we think is even better alternative than a single menu, a single kitchen. You know, we can take really the best of our existing partnerships in Waikiki. We can get delivery times down below, you know, 20, 30 minutes in some cases. So, you know, if you're a guest staying in those hotels, you know, it's a great option if you're a hotel manager. It's really not something we promote, which is great. You know, it sort of utilizes our existing infrastructure that we have with the low how to go. So, yeah, it's pretty cool. That's very interesting. So and people would find out about you through their their concierge at their hotel. Pretty much, yeah, directly through the hotel. Yeah, we'll market in some of the rooms and stuff. But it's a little more direct, you know, than a low how to go, where, you know, it's sort of set up for anybody in any circumstance, and even people in hotels use a low how to go. So they find out about you. Yeah, they're not mutually exclusive at all. Or they've gone out to some restaurant that they love and you will deliver their food so they don't go back to the same venue necessarily. Exactly, you know. We're lazy tonight, or I'm too sunburned to go anywhere. Yeah, you know, I like to think, you know, customers aren't lazy, you know, that's like something we actually learned, I would say the hard way early on. But, you know, it goes back to providing just great service and having a reason for them to call us, you know, is that because we're a lifesaver for them, you know, if the car broke down, whatever it is, you know, and restaurants, you know, if they wanted to give their food away for free, there's a whole market of people out there that simply just can't get to the restaurant, right? Whatever it is in life, you know, when it starts raining, right, you know, you don't want to go out. So, you know, it changes in a heartbeat, and then, you know, we want to be the website you go to when it changes. So you get a spike in activity when we get rainstorms and yeah, a small spike. We start freaking out a little bit. Yeah, we're going to be able to handle all of this. Yeah, it's sort of, you know, just like, you know, throwing more fire on it, you know, and already, especially, you know, if it's like right in the middle of our dinner rush, but you know, we get through it. We love it. We have a ton of drivers and sometimes, you know, maybe delivery times might have to be pushed back a little bit, you know, to accommodate everybody. But we always make sure that, you know, we're waiting on when we're placing the food so that, you know, customers are always getting hot and fresh food because we always say, even if it took, you know, an hour and 15 minutes, if the food's hot, you know, the customer is probably going to be understanding and appreciative, you know, and, you know, our drivers, you know, go through the ends of the world to get customers' food, you know, through, you know, no snow, but certainly, you know, rain and, you know, some of the worst traffic in the country. Yeah, that could be, you know, you handle so many different variables to make this all work, so I think you probably do need to be pretty passionate about that. I want to talk a little bit more after our break about, you know, how your operation really works and some of the innovations that you've produced as you've grown the company, too. So we'll be back. For a very healthy summer, watch Viva Hawaii. We're giving you the best tips and with our best health coach here. So Viva, health coach, Viva la comida saludable. Aloha, my name is Danelia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We are the co-host of Keys to Success, which is live on Think Tech Live Streaming Network series weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha. Hey, everybody, my name is David Chang, and I am the new host of the show, The Art of Thinking Smart. I'm really excited to be able to give you the smart edge in all aspects of your life. You can have awesome guests, some of my great mentors in the business, military, political, nonprofit, you name it. So we look forward to seeing you every other Thursday at 10 a.m. on Think Tech Hawaii and also on our blog, artofthinkysmart.com. Look forward to seeing you there. Okay, we're gonna continue our conversation with David Farmer from Aloha to Go. So the business grew very quickly. You knew you had a good idea. It's something that you find you really love to do. Has your vision changed since you started the business? Yeah, I mean, I don't take deliveries anymore. Like my partner and I took all the deliveries at one point in time. So those things naturally change. What's really changed is us wanting to always just provide more and more for our restaurants. So bringing them, customers that want deliveries is one goal of ours, but we wanna be able to help them. We sort of see it as kind of like an underserved market. And they have so much to do. And it's so crazy running a restaurant. It's not an easy business. And we just wanna step in there and try to make their lives a little easier. So as you know, we print a magazine for our business. It's 160 pages, has all of our restaurant menus in it. So we have naturally a lot of like a studio set, basically an equipment, right? And we can sort of put this to dual use, not just for our company, which is of course what we use it for. And we have designers and people in house that handle that type of creative work. But if we can apply that for a restaurant and we can make, whether we can achieve their vision, whether it's digital menu boards, whether it's commercials, whether it's websites, even just consulting on restaurants because we've been there and we have such great relationships with so many restaurants. And so if there's anything we can offer in addition to sort of what we do on delivery, that's sort of, I'd say, what's changed the most. So you track the trends and you help them with their marketing, their graphic design, menus, logos. Exactly. I mean, you'd be so surprised how many restaurants don't even have a logo and they wanna have a logo. They wanna have a website. They just really don't know where to begin. And they don't have the resources like some other companies do to just outsource and hire a marketing company, thousands of dollars on a retainer. Margins are pretty small, they can shift quickly. Exactly. So if I can come in and look, I'm gonna take pictures for my magazine, I'm gonna take pictures for my website. I might as well share those pictures with you as the owner so you can put them to good use. You can make a menu if you want. And if you want me to make that menu, then great too. But whatever it is that you wanna do, you just wanna be a solutions person for you. Is that sometimes a fee for service? Is it, or does it vary with clients? No, I mean, the wonderful thing, I mean, in my industry, we set our fee up based on percentage, right? It's like a commission. I'm like an outside sales rep. So the marketing speaks for itself. If the marketing grows the business and grows the sales, then it's in my best interest as well. And that's the only way we've ever tried to measure our business. And I think that's why it's a very, it's a great thing for restaurants to do because it's very low risk. I'm not asking for anything up front. That's how we operate with all of our 100 restaurants. It's on a sales commission basis. And the simple reason is, our statistics show, we perform and we get it out of the park for them. Yeah, it's a really great concept in that you do so much more than just pick up the food, deliver the food, you know? And I mean, your growth speaks for itself as well. So you kind of, and just really took off. And I think SBA has been a partner with you along the way, along with Bank of Hawaii. Well, we got an SBA loan to start the business. And then we've since taken out an SBA line of credit and we have great relationship with our banker and with SBA. And it's been awesome, you know, to help knowing now that we have those tools at our disposal, you know, the first time we were sort of just praying and hoping, you know, we got it. But this, but in the most recent times, it's been very, it was a strategic, you know, partnership. And it was to help us, you know, achieve a very specific vision. And it was pretty cool that, you know, we had that sort of security blanket there, you know? So our security net, I should say. Yeah, and so it's interesting. Got the financing early on, kept you going, helped you grow in some different directions. And then as the growth continued to go back again and get that line of credit. So was it a difficult process? I have to ask. Always the first time, difficult, but it gets easier every time. And I think that's the beauty of it. I think, you know, that's the best way to learn, you know, you're gonna learn more doing that than any class you're gonna take at a university or a college. Yeah, I mean, and it's great to know that, you know, once you know it, you know, it's in your tool belt, you know, for either for that business or another venture, you know? And another reason we look at, you know, small businesses growing is creating jobs. You have kind of a very interesting employment model or job creation model as well. I was very interested that you said by helping, working with these restaurants and expanding their sales, you're helping them keep their jobs and pay for their employees. And you have your core employees and then you always also have drivers. That's right. So our drivers are exactly like Uber drivers, right? Uh-huh. You know, and they, you know, they work for the customer who orders the food. And then we also have, so we have about 90 drivers that work with us in our two zones. And then in addition, we have about 13 full-time employees that are always answering phones and managing and playing air traffic controller as we like to call it because that's kind of what it's like, you know? It gets hectic, you know? And it's not uncommon, you know, that we'll have hundreds of orders at any given time. Wow. You know, they're just out, need to be placed and blinking and flashing and it gets crazy, so. So you have big screens like an air traffic controller that shows where people are and everything? It does, it gets pretty, I'm Apple, Apple loves me. Oh, okay. So. Did you guys design all that stuff yourself or could you, you found? Yeah, I mean, you know, we work very closely. Kurt and I are both, you know, heavily involved with the restaurant marketing and delivery association. And it's sort of like a network of companies like ours. And, you know, we come together on solutions and many of us, you know, will come together on softwares and things like that. So yeah, I mean, you know, we certainly have helped, you know, design and build it out. And there are other people that use it and benefit from it too. And so that's like sort of the wonderful thing about innovation. And you kind of share that innovation with your industry group. That's not necessarily a product you sell or anything, but you create it. I mean, we are in the, yeah. I mean, there's no, no software is gonna make it, you know, we're in the customer service business. You know, I like to say, you know, there's no piece of technology that's gonna make sure mayonnaise is ever on a sandwich, right? So, you know, and what we do, we view it as customer service, just like when you go to a restaurant, that's essentially a customer service job, you know, that's what it boils down to. And so the technology only helps, you know, but at the end of the day, if you don't know or have the processes in place to handle upset customers and mistakes and trust me, I mean, I eat at restaurants all the time and I have to send food back because I made a mistake on it. And it definitely happens when you order online, you know, they're not immune to it either. So, you know, it's really how do you handle those moments, right, and that's what we focus on. Do you have training for your drivers? I mean, and, you know, how you deal with it or? No, unfortunately, I mean, no, because they're independent. So our drivers, it's sort of a meritocracy. We know what our clients need in terms of the quality of driver that they're looking for. And so, you know, we just match them up with what works best. So if you're a corporate client, you know, we're definitely going to send you someone that's experienced and can handle, you know, delivering thousands of dollars of food for people. You know, that's not something you can just wake up and do tomorrow, you know. So you kind of rate your drivers and keep- Our customers rate our drivers? Absolutely. And let us know, and that's one of the mechanisms that we have. But it's not hard to tell, you know, most of the time, I mean, 99.9% of the time, everything goes beautifully, right? It's how you handle the 0.9, right? You know, that little extra one right there. That's always the one that'll ruin your night, you know. Of course, and do it loudly or, you know. Well, and we, yeah, I mean, we've learned. So we've been there, you know. So where are you thinking? Well, you mentioned zone one and zone two. So where are you, I mean, what does that mean? And where are you growing the company? Or, you know, can I call you from Kailua? Not yet? Yeah, not yet, unfortunately. But very soon. I mean, it's definitely in our immediate plans. We know we have customers clamoring for us to expand. And, you know, like, we just have such a high devotion to our customers right now. And so, you know, at the rate that we are growing and, you know, the level of product that we're able, the experience that we're able to deliver our customers now, you know, we want to keep that consistent and maintain it. And I don't want to enter a zone if we can't provide that same, you know, level or that same product. So once, you know, we are at a place where, you know, I can do that and I can go to Kailua and still offer 110% customer service, then we'll be there. And we're close, we're very close, you know. So it's just, you know, hang in there, guys. We'll be there soon. So right now you've got Honolulu, Waikiki, on up to IAEA is where you can- Pretty much the entire South Shore. Okay. So, like, pretty much from Pearl Highlands, you know, to Hawaii Kai. Yeah, so if you're in that zone, congratulations, you can call us for food right now. Download our app, check it out. I go home and have a sandwich. That's right. And, you know, I mean, we do make exceptions if you call us. And, you know, if it's a catering order, something like that, you know, we have, you know, there's always somebody that lives just on the other side of any line you ever draw, right? So we don't, like I said, we want people to be happy, you know, and we just want to make sure that they understand our challenges and maybe getting to them or handling that delivery. So like, for example, if you're going to order CPK to the North Shore, that's a long way to drive, you know, pizza. And so we just want to make sure that you're aware of that. We don't want, you know, customers to be upset. Ghee, pasta, cold pizza, you know. So if I'm having a dinner party and I ruin the also booth, I could call you guys and you could save me. Within 45 minutes. Within 45 minutes. So we have a delivery. And it doesn't matter, it could be for a hundred people. You know, okay, you know, I have to think about that. Yeah. You know, so allow myself enough time to put it in my own dishes and see what happens. You know. So you guys have made a conscious decision to move forward and you've also been kind of reinvesting in the company to keep it growing. Was that, where did you kind of get that insight or? Well, we knew we had to make a magazine early on. You know, we had to find a way to market it and that was going to be expensive. You know, so we sort of started, you know, budgeting and setting money aside and just got into the habit of, you know, look, we were able to achieve a great project by doing that and look where we are now. You know, so it was pretty, it was easy for us, you know, to keep growing and, you know, I don't really have a choice either, you know. It's like a beast that needs oxygen, right? And I have to feed it, you know. Now, I'm interested too in, you know, as co-owners, was your background more marketing or more, you know, as somebody, the business guy, or I mean, between you and Kirk? Yeah, I mean, you know, we're similar in a lot of ways and we're different in a lot of ways and that helps us out. Compliments, yeah. It's really been great. So, I mean, I wouldn't change anything with that. You know, it's just really nice, you know, when somebody wants to spend money, the other doesn't, you know. So, that's typically how it goes but it might lead to a fight every now and then. But oftentimes, honestly, leads to a much better idea or solution, you know, and that's what we're all about. You kind of push those limits of what you're really, what risk you can be comfortable with. Exactly, you never know when a great idea is gonna come around and, you know, to just have somebody to help evaluate that risk and to know what you're getting into, it's a big asset for us. So, I mean, I know a lot of people shy against it, you know, when they get into an entrepreneurial world, but, and, you know, for sure, and I understand all those reasons as well, but in our, my brother is also a partner and an owner, and he's a tremendous help in what we do as well. He sort of handles all of our operations, curts more our CEO in a traditional sense. So, it's just a great team, you know, and that's the best part now going forward. Like when you talk about investing, it's now just like how do we make that team better, you know? It's like we sort of have all the computers now in the office space, and, you know, so now it's like we wanna kind of look in the mirror and say how do we, you know, make this team better. That's great. And to have a team that you can trust, you know, makes it all kind of come together and work very, very well. So, okay, I'm looking at that big order coming up and WWW Aloha to go. Delivery. Yeah, go to delivery in there. Okay, gotta have the delivery, that's what it's all about. Or just search a lot of go on Google, you'll find us. We'll show up, trust me. That's great. Great entrepreneurship, great example. Thanks for having me. For so many other businesses out there on how to take risks, how to move forward, and also being able to work with SBA to help you accomplish your goals and your dreams of a successful business. Thanks for being here, David. Thank you so much.