Chris Ives
CEO and President of Bubbakoo's Burritos, a fast-casual Mexican-fusion restaurant chain; previously held finance and operations roles at multiple restaurant brands.
2
APPEARANCES
2
PODCASTS
Jul 22, 2026
Sean WalchefHOST
And as somebody that's sitting on the front lines dealing with your teams and dealing with your franchisees, what are you seeing in 2026? Yeah.
Chris IvesGUEST
I mean, the hardest part is the franchise model, right? So there's always that joint employer law.
Chris IvesGUEST
But it's weeding through the people that get people versus people that don't get people.
Chris IvesGUEST
So you need to have that manager or that owner that understands the DNA of what makes the new generation tick.
Chris IvesGUEST
And that's not something that is easy to train, right? It's either you got it or you don't.
Chris IvesGUEST
And if you don't got it, it's working through how do you replace that person or backfill them to put them in a spot that works for you.
7 MINS LATER
Sean WalchefHOST
We want to simplify operations, as you said, for general managers, make it seem like they're not even using technology.
Chris IvesGUEST
Oh, this is, I don't want to say it's cheesy, but for us, it's still at the end of the day.
Chris IvesGUEST
It's just a basic, genuine hospitality of speaking to the guests and just not going through the transactional steps of our menu.
Chris IvesGUEST
But they're just doing the bare basics of asking them, you know, rice, beans, protein, guac, queso.
Zack OatesHOST
And so when you think about that, what are some tactics that you've been using to improve the guest experience?