 Rusty Kamori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My book Beyond the Lines is about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence, and finding greatness, which is what this show is all about. My special guest today is the highly respected CEO of the extremely popular L&L Hawaiian barbecue restaurants, which now has over 200 franchises. She is Alicia Flores, and today we are going Beyond Plate Lunches. Hey, Alicia, welcome to the show. Aloha, Rusty. Thanks for having me today. I love that Beyond Plate Lunches. Oh, we have to. You know, I love your chili mix plate over there. I mean, I have to have that, so that's a must-have. Yeah, yeah. I appreciate you having me today. Super excited for our conversation. Now, Alicia, I want to know, did you grow up in Hawaii? Yeah, I was born and raised here, went to graduate from Punahou, played on the tennis team there, wasn't good enough personally to win any champions, but I loved it. I loved my experience there. Eventually left for college, lived on the mainland for about 14 years, and then returned home in 2015. But gosh, you know, I was lucky to live in many places across the world, and nothing is like being home in Hawaii. So Alicia, tell me how it all began with L&L restaurants. Sure. So actually, L&L was started in 1952 by a father and son. So people ask, you know, where does L&L get its name? It's Robert Lee and Robert Lee, Jr., started as dairy, and then they eventually opened the drive-in on Liliha Street. In 1976, my dad purchased that restaurant for his mom, my grandmother. They were immigrants who moved to Hawaii from China, and of course, a dream of hers was always to own a restaurant, so he bought it for her. I think after working in a restaurant, you know, it's one of the most difficult jobs you can have. She realized after all that she wasn't interested in running a restaurant for the rest of her life, so he brought in a partner, Johnson Cam, who I call Uncle Johnson. He took over, and since then, 1976, they've been partners in L&L for over 40 years now. So why is your dad and Johnson Cam so successful? Oh my gosh. When I think about the two of them, and I try to define what an entrepreneur is, they're both, to me, the epitome of entrepreneurship. Their ability to just work really, really hard to find ways to get things done, whatever the obstacles would be, whatever the resources might be, whatever the situation is, they find a way to get it done. Both of them are like that. I think their partnership is something rare to have as well over 40 years, a business that started with one store, and now we're at 204 stores in 15 states. You know, that takes a lot of trust between two people. And the other thing, you know, the success of L&L, they both have complementary skills. My Uncle Johnson, he runs more of the operations. He's been the biggest franchisee opening stores across most of the states, versus my dad has been more of the business side. So here running the corporate office, and because of their two skill sets and their trust with each other, they've really been able to create success. So Alicia, what did you do? What job did you have before you joined L&L as the CFO? Yeah, so my first job ever. My dad wanted to make sure I would work. So I was a cashier at one of the L&Ls. And to be quite honest, trust me, I was really terrible. I was not very fast at taking the orders. We had the old cash register machine. So, you know, chicken katsu, you don't have to punch in $4.99. There's no chicken katsu put in. I was not that good, but I still really enjoyed the experience of working with customers, being around all the food. When I left for college, I thought that I would definitely be coming home to work for L&L. But with my dad and I, we discussed that I would work somewhere else first. You know, there's plenty of family businesses here in Hawaii. One of the, Warren Lute gave the advice to my dad about making sure I worked somewhere else first. Had a couple of promotions on my own. So I guess I wouldn't be too spoiled in coming home. So I got a job. I worked at GE. My background, or I studied in finance. So I worked in a finance job, finance leadership job. To be quite honest, trust me, once I started working at GE, I actually really loved it. For many years, I thought I would be staying in the, in GE. The corporate life was very interesting to me, being able to move around to different parts of the country, work in different business units. That was really exciting for me for. So for a while, I didn't think I'd be coming back home to L&L. Wow, interesting. So when you, when you started on as CFO, how was it working with your dad? Yeah, so actually, I wasn't, it was really great. There are, my dad and I have always, business conversations. I've always been a big part of, you know, what we discuss. Working with him has been really, really fun. I will tell you though, there are oftentimes, you know, like I said earlier, how he is truly an entrepreneur and how he does things. And I, you know, I went to undergraduate business degree. I went to work at GE, a very corporate organization. I eventually got my MBA. So I'm very, very, I have a corporate background. And so we had a lot of arguments, let's say, over how things are approached because he would come at it from an entrepreneur's angle and I would come at it from more of a corporate angle. And so we would, in the initial stages, we would have a lot of discussions and disagreements, but in the end, I think it worked itself out because because we were looking at things in different ways now instead of just one way, we could come at a better solution. Yeah, it's good to look at things in different ways. And Alicia, how would you describe your dad's leadership style? Yeah, he is, you know, the thing that I most admire about him is that he kind of, like I said, for an entrepreneur, he will find ways to get things done. Whatever the goal is, he will figure out how to make it happen. Things that you wouldn't think are possible. Again, L&L, 205 locations from this one store, at the time when they started, my dad and Uncle Johnson, both neither had restaurant experience, neither had franchising experience, neither ran an organization so big, but they figured it out in the early stages, my dad was helping draft all the legal documents to doing all the marketing, just that tenacity and that resourcefulness. You know, I think those are two real hallmarks of his leadership style. So you guys worked well together. He didn't drive you nuts at all or vice versa. And I'm sure I drove him nuts, but we figured out, you know, the great thing, family business can be very tricky, but for us, it has not been because we're family, even though he drives me nuts or I drive him nuts, we're able to talk about it. We're able to have discussions with each other. We're able to pull in mom when we have to, to referee our arguments, but you know, it's been good. But the discussion for us has always been healthy and it's always been with the best interests of the company and the family. So, you know, we both have the same goals. So in the end, we figure it out. Yeah, because you guys are on the same team, you want to see L&L succeed and have, you know, continued sustained success and that's what it's all about, right? Yeah, yeah. So it was really great. You know, when I came back at CFO, to be quite honest, I wasn't sure. I was very lucky to be in the role, but I wasn't sure if this is something that I wanted to do. So forever. So coming into it, we had a discussion of, you know, in five years, if it all goes well, I would become the CEO. Five years went by, so in 2019, I became the CEO. And you know, within those years, I was really able to find my own passion for the job. I think my dad's passion for L&L is a little bit different than mine, but they're very similar. You know, L&L has been the American dream for my family, even as I look to our franchisees, to our, you know, over 200 units, for a lot of them, this is their American dream coming true. And to be able to help facilitate that, you know, it's such an honor. So, you know, it's the success of our company, it's the success of our families, and that's just an amazing thing to be a part of every day. Alicia, where did your dad grow up at, and you know, what was his life like as a young boy? Yeah, so he grew up kind of different parts of the world, but he spent most of his time in Hong Kong before immigrating to the United States, I think when he was around 13. His parents, his mom was Chinese, his dad was Filipino. So I think, you know, when the kids were born, not unusual, but they weren't really accepted by either side of the family from being mixed race. So for a while it was just the family having to figure it out on their own, and he's one of seven kids. So his background, when I think about where he came from, you know, for a long time, it was the seven kids and my grandparents living in maybe a, you know, two-bedroom apartment in Hong Kong, the conditions were not great. They came to the United States because of family. Even at that point in time, they couldn't afford to send my dad to school. So he had to go live with some relatives in California. So he had, you know, it's so impressive to me, the whole family, all the kids, how they've been able to do considering where they came from. But you know, that's what I think is so amazing about immigrants, you know, they come here with this dream and they just work so hard and they have, you know, they know where they came from and they know what the potential is, and they just, they go for it. And so that's amazing. You know, every time I think about where he came from, I'm just so lucky of what they've been able to accomplish so that, you know, I can have the life that I have. Oh, that's very admirable. And Alicia, in my books, you know, I talk about creating a superior culture of excellence. I obviously talk about leadership and you, your dad and Johnson Cam, you guys all definitely go beyond the lines for sure. How would you describe your leadership style? Yeah, so mine is a little bit different from my dad. I think he is more of that take charge. I really like relationship building. Having worked in the corporate world to get things done, you have to, you can't just do things by yourself, not like an entrepreneur does. You have to work with different parts of the business. You have to get buy-in from different folks. You have to make your case, even though you know it's the right thing and you think everyone should think it's the right thing, you have to make your case for it. So I really like working with people. I really like spending time with folks and building relationships, building that trust so that when we can get things done, we can work together to make it happen. I like hearing that. And you know, obviously you have empathy for all of your people that work with you. And you know, we're going to make our viewers very hungry right now, Alicia. But I want to ask you, what's your favorite item on the menu? Oh, one item. I'll have to say, my favorite always since I was a kid was that chicken katsu, that oh my gosh, with the sauce, there's just nothing is better than that. I will say though, if you're going to the beach, you just need a snack or something, the spam musubi. Oh my gosh, nothing better than that. It's so easy to just take with you on the go. No, I could eat the whole menu at L&L, but if I had to choose it too, it would be the chicken katsu on the spam musubi. I like hearing that. You know, I mean, can't go wrong with the spam musubis. I mean, everybody needs a spam musubis. Yeah. And you will not believe us on the mainland. Actually, spam musubi is one of the top five seller for almost all the stores on the mainland. It's so popular. Many of our stores have a musubi Monday special, or we sell it for 99 cents, and they'll sell hundreds in a day. It's unbelievable. So Alicia, why would you say your 200 plus franchises are so successful? Yeah, I think that's a really great question. And, you know, you would think with so many locations to pinpoint one or two things that is a theme across all of them would be difficult. But for me, you know, when I think about it, they're all, I think it comes back to that entrepreneur. All of them came to L&L wanting to own their own products. They came to L&L wanting to own their own business and to, for whatever reason, to create wealth, to create a legacy, to give back to the community. Whatever the reason is, they came to L&L so that they can own something and have a business that they can be proud of. And so I think that drive behind it of ownership, of entrepreneurship are the two things that make them very successful. So during this time of coronavirus, what have you been doing to adapt and adjust in helping, you know, all of your businesses, your franchises, you know, during this challenging time? Yeah, it's been an unreal time. I think it's been three, three and a half months. Gosh, I can't keep track of time anymore this year. It's so weird. You know, I don't know what it was like for you, but you know, one day you have your business plan and your marketing plan and your, you know, your budget. And then with COVID the next day, gosh, you just throw all of that in the trash. It's all incorrect. The facts have changed. The, you know, the world has changed. And so what do you do? And so, you know, for us, the first month or so, it was really, really just communication, talking to the franchisees, where we're in different states and finding out what the different state rules are, processing that information and giving advice back out to them, but constantly communicating, understanding what restaurants, there were so many changes and all that was happening on a daily basis. So really trying to absorb all of that information and get it back out to our franchisees. You know, now three and a half months later, we've been, we're very lucky. As a takeout business, we've been able to stay open the whole time. The first two months, it was kind of free falling with their sales, but now it's leveled out and we have much better footing and understanding of how we can operate as a restaurant during COVID. But it was very difficult. We had to come up with a new set of plans. Our current focus is on safety and convenience for the customer. So of course that means making customers feel safe when they come in with a sneeze guard, sanitation, making sure people are wearing the correct PPE and convenience. So continuing to be able to provide takeout for our customers, as well as different delivery and online ordering options. Well, thank God for takeout. And Alicia, you know, one of my neighbors, John and Farriel Savio, they had told me that when they got married, they had their wedding catered by L&L and absolutely loved it. That's awesome. Hey, L&L is a great option for, you know, very value-priced catering and the food is really, really good. So, you know, we're always, anyone else wants us to cater their wedding, we know. For sure. I mean, I would be diving into all of that. Now, Alicia, when you guys were opening up internationally, what are some things that you learned about the challenges of opening up, you know, globally? Yeah. And, you know, that's an awesome question, Rusty, and I'm happy to share. And to be quite honest and transparent with you, we don't have a great track worker with opening internationally. You know, at one point in time, we were in seven different countries, including the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, even New Zealand. Countries that we really thought we would have success in, but in the end, we weren't able to execute. So I can share kind of some of those lessons learned. You know, one, for a business that's based here in Hawaii, to be quite frank, we didn't really have the support system that we could have had in place to support the international locations. You know, the opening in different states is one thing, but we all have the same rules we have to abide by. Different countries, the rules are, everything is different. And if we, if the franchisee there doesn't have a really, really good understanding of it, and neither do we because we're not there, it's difficult to execute. So we had a lot of lessons learned. We still have two locations in Japan that are doing quite well. We're not there, hopes to expand more, but international for us was very difficult. For example, even the Philippines, we, you know, our meals here are quite a value. And in the Philippines, even though we provided a value, things are just so much more inexpensive there. We were open next to a restaurant that had unlimited rice, a piece of chicken and unlimited rice, and we just can't compete against that. So, you know, it was difficult for us. Wow, that's interesting insights. And there are so many different factors, as you said, and, you know, in terms of the mainland locations, are you finding that it's a lot easier on the West Coast of the mainland? Yes. So most of the locations we've opened, so we actually have more locations in California than we do here in Hawaii. The West Coast has been great for us. I think the coast in general, they're more open to ethnic cuisine. You know, we were categorized as Asian on the mainland, and we have, of course, as you know, kind of Chinese, Japanese, different flavors on our menu. We're lucky when we open in places where there's Kama Aina on the mainland, or people who've traveled to Hawaii, we get lines out the door during the grand opening. Other areas where we do really well is if there's a military base, oftentimes because those military folks have been in Hawaii. But yeah, we've had most success on the coast. We're looking to open in other places, though. We have three stores in Texas right now, and a lot more interest from different franchisees to open in different parts of the United States. So really trying to figure out, as I was saying before, the international one was hard to crack. The middle of the country is one that we haven't really figured out yet, but we're continuing to try to study and understand that customer so we can open more stores there. Elisha Spam Jam is such a popular event here in Waikiki, and we didn't have it this year because of the coronavirus, but what do you like about participating in Spam Jam? Oh my gosh, it's such a fun event. To be honest, I've attended twice. The first time I went, my in-laws were in town. They're from Ohio. It was their second time coming to Hawaii, and to bring them to that event was so amazing. As a local person and as someone who had a tourist with them, just of course walking in Waikiki is always so beautiful. The three different stages with the different performances, different types of music, and the Hulahalas, it was just really amazing to see. And of course you can't go wrong with all the different Spam dishes. It was just so fun and such a beautiful place. Really sad it didn't happen this year, but looking forward to having it next year. Yeah, there's Spam everywhere at that event. Spam everywhere. Yeah, and last year we were lucky. We, L and L had a booth, and we were the official booth for Spam Musubi. You had all different kinds of Spam products, but we wanted to bring the original Spam Musubi. We sold over 7,000 Spam Musubi that day. It was unbelievable. That's crazy. And Alicia, you're there. You're there with your coworkers. I mean, the CEO is there in the booth, right? It was so much fun. You know, it was really for me a privilege to be there and it was more fun than work. So, you know, why wouldn't I want to be there? Alicia, I want to ask you, you know, personally, what's an adversity situation that you dealt with in your life that was, you know, a tough challenge that you overcame? Yeah. You know, I, gosh, you know, there were a lot of times, I'll kind of give a theme of what's been difficult for me. There are a lot of times in my life where I would have to make a decision kind of between for jobs of, you know, something that I think would accelerate my career versus something that I thought would make me happy. And, you know, it wasn't, I wouldn't say it was adversity, but, you know, I had a lot of, it caused me a lot of anxiety and stress thinking in those situations, what the right choice would be. To be honest, at different points in my life, you know, I would choose either, you know, career versus happiness. But I've learned as the years have passed, you know, if you're not happy, that acceleration in your career doesn't mean too much. It's not wrong to make that decision. Again, in different points of your life, it possibly is the right decision. But I think that's something for me that I've always struggled with and I always seek the advice of family and friends whenever facing a decision like that. What's the best advice you ever received? Okay, so this is a fun one. So from both of my parents, I don't know if it's an ethnic thing or just their own thing from their background, but they always told me, if you don't ask, you don't get. I think I live that one too much. Every store I go into, whatever store it is, I ask, you guys got any specials now? I need deals or... So, and most of the time they do. So I can't fault my parents for that advice, but I think it's great in your personal life. I think it's great for business. I think it's great for your personal career. If you want something, you have to ask for it. Very rarely is someone just handing something to you. Oh, I totally like that. And Alicia, what are you doing as CEO to consistently improve yourself as a leader? Yeah, I think, you know, so I became CEO last year. I'm in my mid 30s and I hope to have this job for the rest of my life. So, you know, 30 plus years in the same role, you know, when I had that realization at first it was like, oh my gosh, you know, will I love this for 30 plus more years? And you know, I will. So one thing that I continue to do is find ways to continue learning, whether it's in my industry. So attending restaurant conferences, reading restaurant trades, just continuing to learn about the industry so we can adapt and stay ahead. Something that's been very important during COVID time to really understand what's going on, but also to learn about other businesses, other macro impacts to the economy. You know, those things to me, the continual learning are things that can help keep me sane in this job, but also can make me the best person for continuing in this role and also contributing to Hawaii. Oh, yeah. That's, I mean, that's why great leaders like yourself keep getting greater because you're never complacent. You're always trying to look for ways to improve, you know, to find, you know, new possibilities and different solutions to try to really be better. And you know, like what you said earlier about, you know, when you came on as CEO, for me, when I became head coach at Punahou, you know, I didn't want to let our athletic director or our tennis director down, you know, they were putting their confidence in me. And for me, I'm like, I wanted to make sure that I was, you know, going to make them proud. And I'm sure you feel like that with your dad and Johnson as well. Yeah, you know, I'm very lucky. My parents don't put pressure on me. It's the pressure I put on myself. But my greatest fear is, you know, ruining the legacy of my parents and the Cam family. So, you know, from a family business perspective, I have so much skin in the game, just knowing what the families have created. And now that it's, you know, the legacy has been passed on to me and that's for me to take care of. I'm so honored and humbled to have that, but also very scared and then wanting to make sure I can do my best to keep the legacy going. Now you started something called L&L Hawaiian Mix Plate. Can you tell me about that? Sure, yeah, so we, you know, in studying the restaurant industry, again though, everything has changed with COVID. I can talk about how the industry is changing with COVID. But anyways, you know, last year, thinking about how the industry was changing and to touch on what we talked about later, how we can break into the middle of the country who's not as familiar with what a plate lunch is, who's not familiar with what chicken katsu is, we wanted to come up with a concept that would be more, you know, lower barrier to entry for someone coming into our store. Once someone tries L&L food, they always love it. But if they don't know what it is, having them come in, it is difficult. So with L&L Hawaiian Mix Plate, what we wanted to do, we created a different concept where the food is out front, more of a buffet style, different flavors from Hawaii, bigger, bolder flavors. So for example, one of the items that's very popular on the mainland we have now is the pork adobo or the Korean chicken. So really good flavors. But also you can see it, you can smell it, you can sample it. So if you're afraid of or you don't know what pork adobo is, you can try it. And again, once they try it, they normally love it. So, you know, we were really fortunate to open up a couple of Mix Plates at the end of last year. We actually opened three between November and December of last year. New concept for us, but really excited about the potential of expanding the brand. Alicia, I want to ask you one more question before we wrap up. What's a valuable lesson you learned in your young life so far? Oh my gosh. I've learned so many lessons. I think, you know, one that has been, you know, very important to me is the importance of family. You know, coming back home, I, again, I didn't really know what it would be like to be back in Hawaii. I didn't really know what to expect of being back here. But it really became so important to me of what family can give to you, what you can give back to your family. I think right now during coronavirus, where it's harder to be with your family, we just learn how much I have learned how much I missed that, even though I see my family almost every day. You know, I don't get to see my grandmother as much as I used to. I don't get to see my aunties and uncles as much as I used to. So really the value of your family and what that can do for your personal life and your professional life, I think is really important and something that I didn't value as much as I did this year. Alicia, I want to thank you for taking time to join me on the show today. I mean, I know you're making your family very proud and you're making all of us proud because, you know, you're a great leader and I know you're going to inspire many other women and men, you know, to be better with their leadership as well. Gosh, Russi, thank you so much for those kind words. You know, such an honor to be on the show. I've looked up to you ever since, you know, my tennis days at Punahou. What you've done is amazing and I love, you know, all the different things that you're doing now. So just thank you so much for having me here today. Truly an honor. Thank you, Alicia. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Alicia and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.