0:00 How did you market that pop-up? >> Uh, so I have like a super marketing background. >> Mhm. >> Yeah, I know. God, I guess I I guess I can >> Do you also have a super cocaine background? >> It's just It's You know, it's there. It's there. >> Welcome back to another episode of Careful Boys. Today we have Drew Belcher with us. And, uh, for those of you who don't know, this is the guy responsible for uh, With Love Always, the best burger place out here. >> I'm going there tomorrow, baby. >> I still have the taste in my mouth. >> to be there every day, so don't worry. >> And also Sorry Not Sorry Creamery as well, which has five locations out here. And then, didn't you open one in Cerritos? >> Yeah, so we have one in Cerritos. >> know that? >> What? >> On South >> What? That's my, uh, the town I grew up in. >> really? >> Dude, okay. So, fun fact, fun fact.
0:51 That's actually our best performing store. >> Oh, of course it is. >> What street is it on? >> It's on South. It's on South. >> South and Gridley? >> South and Gridley. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> ████ Wow. >> That's amazing. >> We opened in Cerritos, and we just opened up Belmont Shore, Long Beach. Actually, today is the soft opening day. >> Belmont Shore. >> Yeah. Yeah. And then we just We have two more Southern California locations on the way that we signed, but we haven't announced yet. But those are on the way as well. >> Dude, that's so How did you pick South Street out of all places? That's like the I had my first job there. >> Yeah, so, uh, one of our other partners for Sorry Not Sorry, our their main partner, is based in Southern California, and he knows his the whole foodie scene by heart. And it's like the foodie Mecca. >> Asian? >> He is Asian. >> I ████ knew it. >> He's Vietnamese, dude. >> He's Asian. >> I knew it. >> You know, Little Vietnam in Westminster and Cerritos and everything. Uh, so that's how we came about opening up in Cerritos, and it's our best performing store. So, and we love it. >> Is he a Vegas local, too? >> No, no. He's actually born and raised in
1:41 in Southern California. >> And then he helped you open the the stores out here, too? The Sorry Not Sorry's out here? >> Yeah, yeah. So, he he's my partner with Sorry Not Sorry. Yeah. >> Wow. >> With Love Always, my favorite smash burger. >> Mhm. >> I mean, you don't have to say that. >> Mhm. >> I mean, I liked it before I even I liked it before I knew who you were. >> OKAY, COOL. >> IF anybody catches Drew, takes a picture of him in In-N-Out and sends it to me, I'll give you 100 bucks. >> So, also, guilty pleasure, I ████ love In-N-Out Burger. >> In-N-Out Burger? >> But you you you eat everywhere, right? >> I eat everywhere, so I grew up on In-N-Out Burger. My My dad would take me all the time. I mean, a double-double with a fry and a root beer, I mean, you're not topping especially with the price point and the quality. You're just It's It's untouchable, for sure. >> I did go to your burger joint with Joe, though. It's very very very bomb. Did you like it? >> Very bomb. >> Okay, cool. >> It's the best, man. Yeah. >> I mean, it's It's different. It's It's different, you know. We just We took something super simple and just take it very seriously, and that's how we kind of build all of our brands off the that
2:32 mantra. Um it's just It's super premium upper 2/3 sport, which is prime grade uh premium black Angus beef, Martin's potato roll, a cool little sauce that took us 2 years to make. >> Who clued you in on the on using beef tallow, though? How'd you know to >> We did. We did. Yeah. So So So I develop I develop all the flavors for Sine Qua Non, sorry. I still come up with all the names. I develop the menu with love always, and I'm not a chef. I didn't go to school to like learn how to cook or anything. I just got so infatuated with like learn how to make cool craft ice cream and burgers. Cuz who doesn't like ice cream and burgers? >> How come you guys don't do the peanut butter and jelly ice cream anymore? >> Oh my dude, my good friend is going to ████ love that you brought that up, by the way. >> That was my favorite flavor from you guys. >> It was no one's favorite, which is why we took it off and so >> DAMN IT, I'M ████ THEN. >> YOU DIDN'T BUY ENOUGH of it, then. The only reason I told you if you and my boy Corey If that was his favorite, too. If you guys just buy enough of it, we'll bring it back in rotation. >> Cuz you know how they make it? They make
3:22 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they chop it up, chop it up, and then throw it in the ice cream. It's real sandwiches in the ice cream. >> Yeah, but this guy likes stinky tofu. >> Oh, see. >> It's not exactly marketed >> I'm I'm I'm a foodie. I'm a foodie. >> Yeah, appropriate. >> My Vietnamese homies took me somewhere and tried stinky tofu. I can't do it, bro. >> That's what I'm saying. >> Yeah, it's it's >> His taste buds are ████ dude. >> I can't ████ do it. And then a balut. Have you guys ever tried balut? >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> It's okay. >> I mean, I wouldn't eat balut ice cream. >> Brother, that was like the >> I think the concept is lacking. >> It was the most horrid ████ I've ever experienced in my life. >> Dude, I gave my balloon to the trash can, brother. >> And I I was trying to eat it cuz I was on camera and then I want to be like super offensive to the culture and everything and I was like I was holding my breath just chomping in like little beaks and ████ and feathers. Nah. >> I might as well been double burden the culture, bro. It was not coming. It was not coming down. It was not going down. >> So, how often do flavors come and go from you guys' like setlist? >> Yeah, so so we release
4:13 every new flavors every season. So, every 3 months. >> And then for With Love Always, that's never really going to change, right? >> Uh we don't want it to. I mean, so With Love Always is a funny story how it started. I was making smash burgers during COVID on my rooftop deck on like a little ████ Blackstone and cuz I love cheeseburgers, you know, it's like everyone was cooking on TikTok and I was like, "Man, this can't be that hard." You know, so I smashed some beef on the little griddle and flipped it and tasted it and I was like, "Oh, this is pretty ████ good." And then I would I would invite my friends over and my brother who's my business partner and everything as well and then we were like, "Dude, let's like do a pop-up like ████ idiots and like hope people show up." And we did our first pop-up a couple months later at Truffles and Bacon during COVID and hundreds of people lined up. >> How did you market that pop-up? >> Uh so I have like a super marketing background. >> Mhm. Yeah, yeah. >> God, I guess I I guess I can >> Do you also have a super cocaine background?
5:06 >> It's just if you know, it's there. It's there. >> I vibe it. I vibe >> You know, it's just like you know, it's just there. It's just there and I'll leave it at that, you know. Uh I have a super like cool food and beverage marketing background and I just we posted it on like my foodie >> channel. I'm like >> a cool influencer and hundreds of people showed up to this pop-up and we had never cooked in like a real kitchen. So, we popped up at Truffles and Bacon which is a restaurant here and hundreds of people lined up and taking orders and I'm in the back smashing burgers and cooking. We got ████ destroyed. Good learning experience. >> Really? Like how so destroyed? >> Uh I mean, so >> Just exhausted? >> Yeah, so I didn't we don't really know like steps of service, sequence of service, how to build a burger properly. It was just It was a nightmare. But it was it was good. >> How different was the formula that you had in the burger then than it is now? >> So, it's changed a little bit for sure. The sauce has changed drastically. >> Oh, what sauce did you use at the pop-up? >> In-N-Out sauce.
5:56 >> It's In-N-Out sauce. >> Yeah. >> We called it We called it love sauce. >> Okay. >> But, it was it was definitely like an IN-N-OUT COPYCAT. >> OH. >> CUZ LIKE YOU pull up YouTube and like you can find everyone's recipe like Raising Cane's, In-N-Out, whatever. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> So, we were like And I love In-N-Out. I was like, "Dude, we're jacking ████ In-N-Out sauce, for sure." And ████ whipped it up. Shout out to In-N-Out. Don't send me a C&D. But, uh and yeah, we served that on the burgers. Uh but, at the pop-ups, we did like we did a Coast Classic, which was like our spin on like the double-double with lettuce, tomato, uh uh the patties and cheese. Then the SOB, which is the smash burger. >> the SOB. It's my favorite one. >> It's the best, for sure. Then the All-American, which is like our take on a McDonald's burger. >> That's what I like I like that. Very, very good. >> All different kind of taste profiles, but still similar. The only one that we don't serve in the restaurant is the uh Coast Classic. >> So, which one is that one? >> That's the one where we did like the uh with the the tomato and lettuce. So, we
6:46 don't have tomato and lettuce in the restaurant. >> ████ off. >> It's just a It's just I So, you know what? So do I. And people have asked for it, and we've thought about maybe bringing it back as like a cool LTO. But, we're so focused on just having like the super simple menu, not doing any like LTOs or like any hype stuff. >> I like all the ████ you guys don't have. I like I like lettuce, tomato, and like the peanut butter and jelly ice cream. Yeah, you could be your own mess. >> all the ████ ████ that you just don't like. >> Damn. He has I had to stand in the line, so he's doing something right. >> Oh, yeah. I I >> I ate there so many times now. Yes. >> There's always a line. It is definitely called with lines always. For sure. For sure. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Obviously good marketing, good branding. But, if you don't have good product, like good marketing is just going to speed up the process of letting everyone know that your food ████ sucks. >> Yeah. >> So, we're I'm huge huge component of uh >> Cocaine. >> Cocaine. You know what? If it's there,
7:36 it's just there. You know, it's just there. >> You would get along with our buddy Anthony. >> Yeah, yeah. >> He has the same mantra. If it's there, it's there. >> I'm sure this will get sent around to all of our potential franchisees and attorneys and you know, so it just there it there. You know, and then he'd say "Test me." >> Show three three locations as of right now, right? >> So, we have two that are currently open and then we have one that's opening in the Red Rock Casino next month. >> Oh, that's not even open yet? >> Not yet. Not yet. >> Oh, wow. Okay, yeah, cuz I've been >> Oh, yeah, I saw the sign. You guys took over for that other burger. It was Fatburger. >> Fatburger, yeah. >> Which I also loved, but it's just different. >> Fatburger's whatever. >> There was never a line there. >> Aren't they like having problems? I thought they were like >> They filed for like bankruptcy from what I heard. >> Yeah, I'm not I wasn't into it. >> Yeah. >> I liked it. It's just the >> Is it easier taking over a former burger spot cuz all the stuff's probably already there? Like all the equipment? >> So, no. So, yeah, so we ripped out that entire space and all new equipment,
8:26 everything, yeah. >> Oh, cuz they're just using s█████ equipment or something. >> No, no, no, not s█████ equipment, but just our our >> Hey, ████ Fatburger, you dusty ass equipment. >> No, they didn't, dude. They actually had really good equipment, it just wasn't for our use. >> Oh. >> Uh so, we we use like a very specific uh thermostatic griddle, uh specific fryers that are that work with the beef tallow. Uh and it just it it wouldn't work for us. >> It could have. >> How long did it take from um like pop-up to like getting your guys's own location? >> That's a ████ really good question. So, we started the pop-ups during COVID and I had a stupid idea for another concept, Sorry Not Sorry, which is an ice cream concept, and we started doing that during COVID as well. The first location that opened in 2022, so we got really busy with that. The burgers were kind of put on the back burner. Uh but then once we built out the whole team to oversee the day-to-day with Sorry Not Sorry, uh we were like, "Dude, we got to
9:16 do the burgers." Like, there's not a real smash burger in Vegas yet. They're all over Los Angeles, New York's crushing it, they're everywhere else. There's not a true smash burger in Vegas. >> Yeah. >> We have to be the first ones with an actual restaurant, cuz we were the first pop-up, but they were coming with the restaurants for sure. >> Yeah. >> And uh yeah, we we found a little ████ spot in Centennial Hills, tiny little 1,000 sq ft ████ signed a lease. >> It's kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's ████ horrible. That location ████ sucks. That location sucks, but now it's a it's >> But there's still a line though. That's the thing. >> Always. Always. >> How did we find that place? Was it Did I just find it on Yelp or something? It was a >> I'm pretty sure I found it. >> You found it? >> Yeah. >> I mean, I was there the first time you you went you you >> Yeah, yeah, that's where I saw you cuz I me and him were talking about social media already and then so I knew of him and then I remember when I went there I saw him cooking and I'm like, "What the hell were you doing here? Aren't you an influencer?" He goes, "I own this place." >> I'm cooking, bro. Cooking. So many people have said that,
10:07 too, during the early days of of With Love Always cuz not a ton I don't show myself a ton in like the content. Like the brand's not built on like Oh, come with me a day in the life as I ████ make smash burgers. Don't worry about >> Yeah, watch Lieutenant Dangle make burgers. >> Yeah, you know, it was never built upon that. None of the brands are. Um so I would be there smashing burgers and people like, like, "Oh my god, I follow you on YouTube or TikTok or Instagram." And I'm like, Oh, they're like, "What are you doing here, dude? Is that not Is that not working out?" I was like I was like, "Oh, ████ dude. Yeah, I own this place, you know, I'm one of the owners." They're like, "Oh my god, dude." Uh so it's crazy. So it kind of It's it's it's been a fun ride. It's been a fun ride, for sure. >> So before um you got into the food game like as a as a creating the food, you were doing food vlogging or like food reviews or like >> Yeah, yeah, so ████ man. This is a thir 14 years in the making. Uh so I had a dumb idea in 2012 for an
10:59 iPhone app uh before iPhone apps were like really cool and big uh to do like a cool like local experience from a local's perspective of like cool places to eat. Like no ratings, no reviews cuz I Google sucked, Yelp was a ████ nightmare. I just wanted like cool local spots loved and endorsed by true locals that live in those markets. >> Just in Vegas or nationwide? >> It was going to It was supposed to be nationwide, but we we launched just in Vegas as like the beta and it was actually pretty successful. We had like 10,000 downloads for just Vegas, which was the beta back then, which was pretty cool. It just wasn't social for users. Like you could just go on there very informative. you just couldn't do anything on the app as a user. >> Mhm. So Instagram launched, so we made an Instagram to kind of get people to download the app, like, "Oh, download our ████ app." And we started posting food on Instagram. And then food, as you guys know on Instagram and social media, it's like the most viral trendy thing. Everyone eats food, everyone loves food.
11:50 >> And food and titties. >> Food, you know what? I'll tell you right now, my explore page has changed drastically. Big booty Latinas and just >> And hamburgers. >> Allegedly, you know, allegedly. And barbecue. If it's there, if it's there, if it's there. We we we built the app, built the Instagram, people started downloaded the app, but the Instagram following just took off, just cuz we were posting nothing but food. And I think I gained like 10,000 followers. And at the time in 2013, that was like a lot on Instagram. And then so restaurants started reaching out and be like, "Dude, do you want to come like post our burger and like we'll we'll give it to you for free." And I was like, "Dude, ████ yeah." I was like, "What?" I was like, "Absolutely." I was like, "I'm never paying for ████ food again." Then the following continued to grow and the relationships grew even more, then those same restaurants would reach back out and be like, "Dude, do you want to come post about that burger and our happy hour and we'll give you like 200 bucks." And I was like, "What? I'm ████ rich, never paying
12:40 for food, I'm making money, this is great." Um and then the agency aspect started, which is where we got really good at marketing restaurants, cuz Instagram became like restaurants' main platform to kind of get the word out. And then so restaurants started reaching out and my very first client was a good friend of mine's little ice cream shop. I was doing it for like 400 bucks a month. He was like, "Hey, do you want to like run our restaurant Instagram and build it the same way you've kind of built the Unlocked Instagram." This is before reels, before video, just like dumb like tray photos, oversaturated. >> Were you the first of that kind that you've ever heard of? >> Vegas, for sure. In Vegas, for sure. >> It's a whole thing now. >> Yo, it's a Oh, Vegas is cluttered with them. Vegas is probably like the most deep as like food vloggers agency, but there's no money in food content creation. That's like a big misconception. >> Yeah. >> All the big foodies or influencers, they to build like little social media management agencies for restaurants.
13:31 That's where the big money's made. >> Uh I see. >> So like Unlocked as like an influencer, I don't make any money like as an influencer. I built all of my money and made all my money from the agency. We have, you know, >> Okay. >> 56 different restaurant clients in Las Vegas where we control all their content. >> 56? Is that what you said? >> I'm a hood rich, you know what I mean? Hood rich. >> Oh, yeah. That's sick. >> But again, these monthly retainers, they're not like >> Holy moly. >> They're thousands, but not like crazy crazy amounts cuz they're still mom and pop at the end of the day. >> Yeah. But the volume, Jesus. >> The volume, yeah. But social media's just like it's that number one determining factor to either increase your sales or your eyeballs or a well awareness or engagement more than anything. And it's free. Like these platforms are free. If you're not creating content on like the Instagrams and TikToks, like you just don't exist in today's market. Um so that's where everything started originally. I got so good at marketing restaurants. I was
14:21 like, "Dude, I'm making all these other restaurants so much money. They're opening second, third, fourth, fifth locations." Let's do our own. How hard can it be? Turns out, it's ████ pretty hard. Uh but that's where it started. >> Uh is there anything Are you not good at anything? >> Uh you know what? I'm not I'm honestly not the best cook, to be honest. I just never got super involved with it. Uh sex, pretty mid, to be honest. >> Are you not good at not doing cocaine? >> You know what? If it's there If it's there, it just kind of floats in the area if I'm around, you know? It's just there. It's just there, you know? >> Is it true that like because you started using the beef tallow and everything at at uh with L'Espace your supplier of beef tallow ended up having to market it to everyone else they gave stuff to and stuff? >> told you that story? >> I just heard it somewhere in the ether. >> Yeah, that's very true. That's ████ crazy. How did you know that? >> just from your stuff. >> He know he We call him Omnicron. He knows all kinds of ████ Okay, so we
15:12 were >> all the restaurants started copying you based on the supplier. That's a crazy way for that to happen. >> Yeah. Well, I don't blame the the distributor. It's like I guess they have to. It's smart business at at of the day. Kind of scummy, but I get it. Um, so yeah, we were the first ones in Vegas to like really fry everything in beef tallow. 100% beef tallow. It's not like any additives. It's like straight ████ beef tallow. Like it smells like smells like a ████ horse barn if you go back there on fry fries. But again, it makes every difference as far as like taste profile wise. It tastes good. It's like the the the way McDonald's has always should have been, but they stopped frying in beef tallow for whatever reason. >> And it's hell of a mega. >> That's right. Yeah. >> Hey, hell of a mega, dude, with the beef tallow, dude. You know what I mean? >> Who doesn't like ████ fresh beef tallow and a couple ████ American flags, dude? Like it's ████ nothing. Like it's nothing. >> Uh, I just like how we're away from seed oils cuz I can't be eating that ████ no
16:02 more. >> Okay, so you should sell only the right wing. >> So, it's not no no restaurant is completely seed oil free. I don't care what they say. There's there's seed oil remnants or traces in pretty in ████ ketchup, in mustard, in mayonnaise. Unless you're like making that ████ by scratch, which no one ████ is. It's very tough to be entirely seed oil free. We just don't add any seed oils to like anything, if that makes sense. Um, but yeah, we were we were one of the first ones to use beef tallow. We started purchasing so much ████ beef tallow from these suppliers. They flew out to Vegas. Saw what we were doing cuz they were like, "Dude, how are you guys buying so much beef tallow? Like what are you guys doing at this restaurant? What are you guys doing at there? Are you guys like brothering on your skin in the back and ████ you know? Jarring it up and selling it on ████ TikTok shop?" Uh, and then they they hit the streets, dude, and ████ picked picked at every burger restaurant in town and uh, quite a bit of them picked it up. >> Which I agree. It's it's definitely
16:52 better. >> It's way better. >> Way better. Now, it is a little more expensive, but I think as a consumer, you appreciate it. Uh, obviously as a restaurant, you can pass that price on to the consumer a little bit, not too much. Uh, but yeah, we were definitely one of >> That's how Mickey D's ruined their fries, man. Cuz they they switched to seed oils like in the in the late '90s after Morgan Spurlock did Super Size Me. >> Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, I still love a McDonald's fry. It's like that classic quintessential like case that you'll never replicate. But they do use a beef added flavor in their fries to make up for the absence of the beef tallow. Yeah. That's why McDonald's still has that that specific taste profile. They put beef flavoring in their oil. >> Simulated tallow. >> Yeah, if you look at the ingredients >> not the same as the '90s. I swear to god. >> No, no, it's not beef tallow. It's just it's it's beef flavor added. Which ████ we might do too depending on the cost. Who knows? You know. >> I do like your guys' fries though.
17:42 They're they're pretty fire. >> It's hit or miss, you know, what we've been seeing as the consumer. You're never going to please everyone. You know, like some people are like, "Oh, these fries are great. Best fries ever." Some people are like, "Oh, these fries ████ suck dick, dude." I'm like, "Oh my god, dude." >> How could they say it sucks dick? >> Believe it or not. I don't know if it's just maybe I'm such uh like a figure in Vegas and kind of somewhat kind of I also kind of play like a facade on social media on the unlocked account. Like that's not like me in real world, you know. I I kind of lean into somewhat of a I don't like using the word character, but like it's >> persona. >> Yeah, it's definitely elevated a little bit for for entertainment purposes. So, I could easily see how someone be like, "Oh, that guy's a ████ douchebag. His fries suck. His burgers suck. ████ that ice cream. ████ it all. This place is better. That place is better." At the end of the day, I just want to serve a good product, great hospitality, and just scale. That's it. That's it. >> Check out with love always. Or don't. ████ it. You know what I mean? >> But please, yes.
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