Daniel Londono is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Alfalfa, a tech-enabled bi-coastal eatery known for its premium salads and gluten free doughnuts. He previously spent 8 years as a management consultant.

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Guest Resource

Alfalfa’s Instagram – Follow Alfalfa on Instagram!

3 Value Bombs

1) Every single weekend, people are looking forward to eating your food or trying your product. That’s what success looks like and that’s when you really should think about going beyond that.

2) Leave it up to the team to make their best decisions day-to-day, using the AI forecast as a guide, but certainly not sticking to it. Ultimately they’re the ones in the kitchen every single day. They see what’s happening.

3) Listen to your people. It’s your team on the ground that has to do things.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Finding Balance Through Salads and Doughnuts

[1:14] – Daniel shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

You don’t have to take risks to become successful.

[2:45] – Starting a restaurant with little to no money.

You can start with little to no money, but the range of what you’re trying to do could limit you.
It involved a lot of manual labor and doing a lot of the physical work himself.

[6:57] – Scaling from proof of concept to actual brick and mortar.

Farmers markets are fantastic.
Conversations and that interaction with customers was actually much more important than having the food laid out in front of you.
Every single weekend, people are looking forward to eating your food or trying your product.
Do all sorts of things early on to get that excitement.

[10:49] – A timeout to thank our sponsors!

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[13:39] – Operating a bi-coastal restaurant and how tech plays a role

It’s critical to have the right tech infrastructure for a better product and to make it easier to work on your concept.
The faster and more painful the lessons, the better.
The use of tech is broken down into three big buckets. The first is consumer-facing brand and how consumers are interacting with Alfalfa through technology. The second is product. And the third is the people side of the business.

[17:06] – What is “ingredients forecasting” and the limits to AI-based ingredient forecasting?

AI will analyze sales data at every location and then use that – and other variables like weather and holidays and previous performance – to help forecast more precisely what we’re going to do that day.
Leave it up to the team to make their best decisions day-to-day, using the AI forecast as a guide, but certainly not sticking to it. Ultimately they’re the ones in the kitchen every single day. They see what’s happening.

[20:09] – Simplifying restaurant operations.

A restaurant is so complicated. Every single day thousands of things can go wrong.
Listen to your people. It’s your team on the ground that has to do things. That’s what it takes to get to a place where the product is consistent and the customer experiences are fantastic.

[22:28] – Daniel’s key takeaway and call to action.

Go start something and figure out how to do it in a low risk way.
Alfalfa’s Instagram – Follow Alfalfa on Instagram!

[24:35] – Thank you to our Sponsors!

HubSpot: The HubSpot Sales Hub supercharges your sales process so you can find, track, and close deals all in one powerful, easy-to-use platform. Make the switch to HubSpot Sales Hub at HubSpot.com/sales.
Thought-Leader: Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? Visit Thought-Leader.com/fire to join a free training and learn how to land a TEDx Talk and spread your message to millions!

Killer Resources!

1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!

2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!

3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!

Finding Balance Through Salads and Doughnuts with Daniel Londono

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