All Roads Lead to Chick-fil-A with Ben Prine

Show Notes

Join Kosta and his guest: Ben Prine, Franchise Owner of Cookeville Chick-fil-A.

Recently honored as Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce’s 2023 employer of the year, Cookeville Chick-fil-A is proud to serve the families of our community with the highest quality in food, customer service and of course - chicken.

Find out more about Cookeville Chick-fil-A:
https://www.cfacookeville.com

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.

This episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is made possible by our partners at Loxx Salon and Spa.

Find out more about Loxx Salon and Spa:
https://loxxsalon.net

What is Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev?

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a podcast about business, parenting and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you intentional conversations on making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better. Recorded in Cookeville, TN, Kosta joins guests from all walks of life to bring fresh perspective and start your week with purpose. We're better together.

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Ben Prine: it's just the culture
we have. The food is a big part

of it. But I think what really
makes us so special is the

people that we have. We don't
spend too much time thinking

about yesterday. Yes, we're
going to learn from those

mistakes that we might have made
in the past, but we're really

looking for the opportunities of
today and tomorrow and how we

can recognize those and really
take advantage of those.

Morgan Franklin: Welcome to
Better Together with Kosta

Yepifantsev, a podcast on
parenting business and living

life intentionally. We're here
every week to bring you

thoughtful conversation, making
your own path to success,

challenging the status quo, and
finding all the ways we're

better together. Here's your
host, Kosta Yepifantsev.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Hey, y'all,
it's Kosta. Today I'm here with

my guest, Ben Prine franchise
owner of Cookeville Chick fil A

recently honored as Cookeville
Putnam County Chamber of

Commerce, his 2023 Employer of
the Year Cookeville. Chick fil A

is proud to serve the families
of our community with the

highest quality and food,
customer service. And of course,

chicken, then you said something
that made me laugh. In the pre

interview for this episode, you
said there's only so many ways

to make a chicken sandwich. And
I think that's a great message

for everyone to hear. It isn't
what we do. It's how we do it.

So if it's not the food, even
though the food is amazing, what

makes Chick fil A so special.

Ben Prine: It's the people it's
who we do it with. It's our

leaders are outstanding team,
you know, working together every

day, common goals, it's our
engagement in the business. It's

a commitment to each other and
our guests to serve great food

in a clean and safe environment.

It's our commitment to the Chick
fil A corporate purpose. Chick

fil A was founded in 1967. In
the 80s, Truett, Cathy, the

founder of Chick fil A came out
with his corporate purpose as

something that we we've adopted
here locally, it's something

that's very important to me, to
us to our team. That's to

glorify God by being the
faithful steward of all this

entrusted to us and to have a
positive influence on all who

come into contact with Chick fil
A. It's just the culture we

have. The food is a big part of
it. But I think what really

makes us so special is the
people that we have, using that

corporate purpose, it drives me
to really want to steward the

people that we have really care
for them. The idea of positive

influence is so important to me.

And that's what really gets me
going every day. We as leaders

try to set an example. No one is
more important than anyone else.

It's the idea of servant
leadership, we try as leaders to

make ourselves available, we're
going to do the best I can to be

present and engaged available to
the team, even if that's just

getting in there, maybe taking
off the trash. Just just setting

the example of working alongside
the team. I've realized I can't

have influence in the business
if I'm not there. So it's a big

part. I just try to be try to be
present. But our team is what

makes it a special place. We
don't spend too much time

thinking about yesterday. Yes,
we're going to learn from those

mistakes that we might have made
or in the past. But we're really

looking for the opportunities of
today and tomorrow and how we

can recognize those and really
take advantage of those. I like

to think of John wooden's
definition of success, which he

said success is a peace of mind
in which is a direct result of

self satisfaction in knowing
that you did your best to become

the best or capable. So we just
try to do our best. We're gonna

make plenty of mistakes, and we
fall down. Getting up and

learning and trying again is
what matters. That's true in

life not just Chick fil A

Kosta Yepifantsev: Right? I
mean, I'll tell you this fast

food has got to be like the
hardest industry to manage. And

I mean we were talking about
this like earlier at Chick fil A

can't solve the problems of our
society and world. I mean who

else can right? What's what's
interesting about kind of like

what you do day to day is and
I'm very familiar with Chick fil

A grew up in Atlanta. So you
know, it's like on every single

corner and obviously there's a
lot of community outreach to

Chick fil A does, which we'll
talk about a little bit later

on. When you We're getting
started, you know, you were

obviously moved from Knoxville
came to cook. Phil, did you

always want to work in fast
food?

Ben Prine: I guess I'm gonna
have to go back a little in

time. Yeah, growing up great
family, my parents really

instilled in me an early age,
hard work is essential

ingredient that leads to
success, you know, putting the

effort and time in was required
to reach any any goal that we

want to accomplish personally or
professionally. Probably when I

was 12 or 13, I started doing
odd jobs in the neighborhood

washing cars, whatever my mom
was, was a teacher. And she

actually taught the kids of one
of the franchisees in Knoxville

Chick fil A nice and so kind of
had a connection there. And

probably through a conversation,
I found out that hey, I can get

a real job when I was 14.

Kosta Yepifantsev: How does that
work? Exactly? I don't mean to

cut you off. But how does a 14
year old get a job because I

can't wait to put my my kids
nine, five years, right? He's

gonna be working. So how does
that work?

Ben Prine: We can hire 14 Now
I'm very limited on the hours

that can work the jobs that can
do, you know, they can't really

be back there in the kitchen
around equipment, that kind of

stuff. Mostly, I mean, we have
quite a few 1415 year olds and

they'll work on Saturdays. Okay,
when school is not in session,

and summertime, they can work
more hours, but mostly it comes

down to they're just working on
the weekends. And so that's kind

of how I started, I wanted to
get a real job, you know,

started getting a paycheck and
you started understanding like

hard work, and I loved it. But I
had a great boss, I had a great

leadership team that I worked
for. And I saw the influence and

the impact they had on me and
the people I worked with. And so

I really enjoyed what I did.

Actually, I worked through high
school, or worked into college,

probably my first year or two of
college when people were kind of

starting to try to figure out
what Hey, we don't want to do,

right. There's something clicked
and I was like, Man, I love what

I do, obviously saw the
influence that my boss had. It's

like, I love to be able to do
that. I love the industry. I

love the service and the
hospitality. And so wound up I

think at the time, I probably
changed my major to like

Hospitality Management, mostly
Hotel, Restaurant and

administration. And I kind of
let from that point on every

decision I felt like I made was
geared towards Hey, is this

gonna get me to the point where
I can do Chick fil A do this for

a job.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So you were
still working at Chick fil A. So

I have literally been working at
Chick fil A since 14 years or 29

years. That's amazing. And I
mean, I feel like there's a

commonality for most franchise
for most Chick fil A franchises

that the leadership team is just
it's legit, like how they train

their managers or franchise
owners or middle management.

It's fascinating to me, I think,
is there a book like that was

written about the Chick fil A
model? There's been several

Okay, there, you know, through
the years, what do you find

unique about the training

Ben Prine: is one thing, right?

We have to find the people that
that know how that get it. They

know how to smile, they know how
to carry on a conversation, know

how to treat people with honor
dinero respect. And then we just

kind of train them on our Chick
fil A processes and systems and

nuances.

Kosta Yepifantsev: You have the
unique ability to be able to

read people and be able to
understand if this is somebody

that's going to fit into your
team. Sure. Yeah. And I'll tell

you that's a special gifts are
not a lot of people have that I

don't have that I make the wrong
hiring decisions. Often.

Ben Prine: It takes time and a
lot of times we have to get

multiple people involved, you
know, just to make sure like,

hey, like, are you on the same
page? Are you on the same page?

You know, if we're on the same
page, then we'll pull the

trigger.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Did the
scholarship program at Chick fil

A did that at all influence your
decision to work there?

Ben Prine: Not really. Okay. I
mean, we had you know, benefits

and so forth. But I just just
it's just like, hey, what I did,

like, I try something else.

Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So how did
you transition from working at

Chick fil A to becoming a
franchisee?

Ben Prine: So going through
college, I started to gain

responsibility. I had
opportunities as a byproduct of

working hard and understanding
what we're doing and kind of

buying into the culture, good
things started happening. And so

I worked through college, and at
the time Chick fil A was really

trying to expand their presence
on the west coast. So when I

graduated, I was able to kind of
join a small team moved out west

for a couple of years living in
a hotel, traveling around

Southern California, Arizona,
just kind of doing whatever

mostly opening up new
restaurant, kind of getting on

the ground and doing most of the
work besides the construction

piece, vendor accounts, ordering
equipment that kind of that kind

of stuff. So I did that for two
and a half years. Some time in

there. I was like hey, like
Okay, I know this is what I want

to do, I want to kind of get my
feet planted, get the process

going try to get back closer to
how. And so with the time, as I

was kind of looking the Chick
fil A here in Cookeville, which

opened in 2003, it was kind of
corporate run, the guys that

were here before had left the
company. And so corporate took

it over. So it was available.

And so I kind of went through
that process of trying to

acquire the Chick fil A here,
mostly just to figure out what I

was doing and to get closer to
home. And so I landed here in

2007.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Nice. Are the
regions of the US that Chick fil

A is located. Are they
different? Do all the same

principles applied to Southern
California Chick Fil A's as they

would in Cookeville? Tennessee
Chick fil A?

Ben Prine: I think they do.

Okay. I mean, that's the goal.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I mean, it's
a different environment is you

know what I'm saying

Ben Prine: business pressures
out west are so much tougher.

Yeah. Just the labor laws
requirements. It's tougher to do

this job out west. Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Can you hire
14 year olds out west? Yeah,

it's been a while since I've

Ben Prine: been out there. I'm
not sure I doubt it. But I'm not

really sure.

Kosta Yepifantsev: It's pretty
much impossible for me to get

through an episode without
bringing up workforce and

staffing in the upper
Cumberland. And I couldn't be

more excited to talk to you
specifically about this. Chick

fil A not only has a reputation
for hiring young workers,

they've created a culture of
customer service that's

unparalleled in the fast food
industry. It's virtually

impossible to go to Chick fil A
and not feel like the most

important customer that's ever
visited. How do you do it,

Ben Prine: we realize that
people are the number one asset,

most important thing in the
business. And we're not afraid

to take chances on a younger
team members, we put a lot of

work into the selection process,
finding the right ones, we just

want to find good people that
know how to smile, make a

connection carry on a
conversation, we try to try to

find the ones who already have
some sort of sense of

responsibility. On some level,
you know, we look for potential,

we share our vision or purpose.

You can't train somebody has
smile, but you can train them on

the Chick fil A systems, you
know, the Chick fil A stuff, how

to work, the registers, the
processes, etc. We try to set

the bar high and have
accountability, we treat them

and give them responsibility and
opportunity. And it just kind of

works out. Really it's just the
idea of care for the people on

our guest, we kind of set that
as a standard and try to hold

them accountable for that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: You know, I
find it fascinating that you

guys are able to accomplish this
and fast food because like I

come from industry that is also
somewhat stigmatized. And it's

really hard to break that
because you know, you're hiring

low wage employees. But whenever
I think about Chick fil A, I

always think about excellence.

You know what I mean? And you
guys you lead. So here's the

thing that I think brings
success. I'm not gonna put words

in your mouth, but I want some
validation, if I'm on the right

track. Whenever it comes to pay,
you typically lead the standard

and fast food when it comes to
the overall environment. So like

you don't close your lobby,
right? I think you may have just

like briefly during the
pandemic, but you always keep

your lobby open and you've got
you know, the play place and

people come in and they want to,
you know, hang out and a Chick

fil A, who hangs out and fast
food restaurants. You know them

say, like, we used to bring our
kids in there all the time. And

then they would play they loved
it. I feel like it is a it's a

destination. Or I'm curious,
like Were you ever nervous that

not just when you were getting
started as a franchise owner,

but specifically when you were
in the middle of chaos in the

pandemic? Like Were you ever
nervous that Chick fil A would

would falter?

Ben Prine: No. I knew things
would be different. I knew we

would have to it's just it's
like every day you have to you

have to adapt and adjust. And
we'll figure it out. Right. I

mean, it was it was tough. I
mean, it's every day trying to

something melts new on the news
or some kind of regulation or

whatever that might be. You just
have to figure it out. I mean,

that's what we do every day.

Yeah, right. Try to make the
best with what we've got in

front of us and turn it into
success. Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I don't want
you to throw shade. But just so

people understand. What's the
difference between Chick fil A

and McDonald's Burger King
Wendy's Arby's. Like, what

separates you guys?

Ben Prine: I think we just have
to go back to the people we have

the engagement that we have. I
mean, I'm, I'm in the restaurant

just about every day unless I'm
out of town.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Is that
different than than other

companies?

Ben Prine: I think so. You know,
I currently have one restaurant.

We have a location over there,
Tennessee Tech. I'm over there a

little bit here and there. I
just love being in the

restaurant. I love serving along
our team. I like to think that

that makes makes a difference
and a key to success.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So let's talk
about The majority of your teams

are Gen Z. I don't want to
disparage Gen Z in any way,

because it's completely unfair
to blanket an entire generation

with the same characteristics.

But it does feel like there's an
ongoing narrative that this

generation is, quote unquote,
built difference, or do you

think this generation of workers
is having a harder time on the

front lines of customer service
than previous generations?

Ben Prine: I think you're right,
in terms of maybe they're built

a little bit different. But I
don't think that's necessarily a

bad thing. I mean, I think we
have a good balance. You know,

my experience is they're quick
learners. They're driven,

they're resourceful. And they're
smart. I mean, they do have, you

know, unlimited wealth of info
on their smartphone, I mean,

this, maybe the smartest
generation, you know, maybe they

might be more likely to get
stressed out, maybe Phil, Phil

have anxiety. But maybe we just
need to adapt and have have more

conversations, you know,
checking in with them. They're

very, very well versed in
technology, we might have to

adapt to spend a little more
time on skills such as

communication, we're starting to
use more technology in our

training and onboarding
orientations. So I just think

it's the idea of just maybe
adapting to that, you know, what

necessarily, they're having a
harder time. Just maybe we have

to take a different approach and
our training, expectations, like

like said, adding more
technology just to kind of

figure out different ways to
keep them engaged, communicate

more online, that kind of stuff.

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said that you had 120 employees.

Right, right. Yeah, well, we use
you at times have 40 people

working in your store. Like
that's a huge operation, right?

I mean, most when I think of a
fast food restaurant, I think of

like 10 person team. So even
during the pandemic, you know,

people really weren't, you know,
they might go through the drive

thru or they might you know, go
stop in and eat somewhere. But

like Chick fil A didn't miss a
beat, right? You guys had not

just one lane for Drive Thru but
to her. So how has your

management style changed since
you started in 2007? So some

unique some specific ways that
you've had to adapt? But also,

how in the world do you run that
drive thru? Because that thing

looks like a thing of beauty is
a masterpiece,

Ben Prine: right? I think every
day, we just have to come in

with the idea of like, Hey,
we're gonna have to make

adjustments. Yeah, we continue
to grow with that growth. We

need more team members, we need
more leaders. Leadership Team is

great. Have things divvied up,
you know, they have ownership in

different, you know, different
parts of the business. And I

feel like we're constantly
having to add to that. So that's

probably kind of been the the
biggest adjustment when I got

here. 2007 I think I have like
30 employees, right at the time.

I wasn't, I wasn't married, no
kids. And so I was there pretty

much all day every day. I got to
know them. You know, I got to

have relationships with them. I
can't do that today. And so

that's that's why it's so
important that we continue to

grow our leadership team, just
to be able to kind of carry that

out.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah, I think
it lends to my theory that

obviously not all Chick Fil A's
are created equal. You know, I

mean, like you said, You came
when they had 30 employees, now

you have 120 employees. So
that's obviously a testament to

you. Not necessarily just I
mean, Chick fil A obviously

played a large part in it, but
it's what you've been able to

accomplish. Well, I

Ben Prine: mean, the team, I
mean, we, you know, we're doing

this together, you know, we're
doing the best we can to serve

great food, create a culture of
care, to attract team members to

serve our guests with honor,
dignity and respect. Yeah, do a

great job, and therefore
Hopefully, they're gonna come

back. And so we're just going to
continue to grow. And we just

have to continue to adapt to
that, you know, I don't know

what's next. Like we just have
to figure that out as we go.

Kosta Yepifantsev: How much of
the religious component lends to

the success of Chick fil A
because you're only open six

days a week. You're the most
profitable company and relative

to all your income

Ben Prine: matters, right? Well,
I think it goes back to just the

biblical principles that Mr.

Truett Cathy founded the company
on, they're still important

today, they're still relevant
relisted today. You know, we

tried to glorify God and the
things that we do. You know, the

whole idea of, of being closed
on Sunday is great. I think

that's a huge benefit in our
industry. He started a

restaurant really before Chick
fil A, the door of house, he was

24 hours a day. And he just
needed a day to rest, right? And

so that kind of stuck. When he
started Chick fil A, it's like,

Hey, we're going to take Sundays
off, you know, could be to go

worship, you know, go to church,
spend time with your family, or

just rest. Yeah, that's a weird
today, in our industry, there's

not a lot to do that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I think it's
because a lot of fast food

companies, they just looking to
maximize profits. And a lot of

them have been consolidated
under major corporate Pharma.

It's, you know, like, brands
owns like five different chains

entailed like Wendy's, Taco
Bell, and etc. Chick fil A is

not they're not consolidated
under a corporate umbrella.

They're a big corporation,
right. But the vision, the

singular vision is the same
across all of their stores. And

I think if we take it even a
step farther back, that's why

you go from 30 employees to 120.

Because you share in the
corporate vision, it is a hard

thing to do to work in the fast
food industry. I know that. Do

you guys ever track how many
people are coming from out of

town versus the people that are
like passing through versus the

people that are actually living
here and cooks? Sure.

Ben Prine: We've done studies in
the past, it's been a while

since we've done one. Obviously,
when schools are out, it can be

50%. I mean, it's like how every
once in a while when I'm walking

in or walking around the parking
lot. I kind of look at the

license plate and see it. It's
like I feel like a lot of days,

it might be 50%.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Nice.

Alright, so we talked a lot
about Chick fil A. So here's the

second question. It's gonna be a
personal question. And you can

spend as little or as much time
on it. You're married. You have

kids, I'm married. I have kids,
How'd you meet your wife? How

many kids you have? And like,
you know, what do you what do

you want for their future?

Ben Prine: I met my wife
actually at Chick fil A nice,

she was a customer. She was a
guest. She was finishing up

nursing school here at Tennessee
Tech. And, you know, one of the

early years I was here, and
somehow we just, you know, made

a connection. Maybe she started
coming in more regularly. Maybe

that was a result of getting a
discount or free food? I don't

know. Okay. All right. We made a
connection, we kind of had some

mutual friend and started
hanging out started dating, got

married in 2010. And we have
three kids a 10 year old, eight

year old and a five year old. So
it's like, this is home. I love

this community a great place to
raise family a great place to

raise family. And so yeah, so
there you go.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So in four
years, your oldest is going to

be working at Chick fil A right?

Ben Prine: If you come through
on Saturdays, you might see him

already behind the counter. He
loves to be there. When I'm in

town. I do enjoy showing up on
Saturdays, the weekends, it's

busy. And sometimes the kids
love to come with me and they'll

get out there in the dining room
and wipe tables all for Henry my

oldest, he actually takes orders
behind the cash register.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I love that.

All right, let's talk about the
culture and the values of Chick

fil A Chick fil A is well known
for putting customers and

customer service first,
especially for the small

business owners and managers
listening to this episode. What

advice do you have for creating
a strong company culture and

motivating employees to find
pride and fulfillment in their

roles?

Ben Prine: First gonna have to
find your why. You know, what's

your vision, your purpose? Why
are you doing what you're doing?

For us, it kind of goes back to
that corporate purpose. That's

what we use as a guide, keeping
it front and center. It helps me

to steward the business and our
work just to positively

influence others. We're focused
on creating a culture of care. A

strong caring culture is so
important to us. You know what

we do each and every day, that
applause to how we treat each

other. And our guests are
committed to a culture where

everyone is treated with honor,
dignity, respect, it's essential

to our success and it provides
meaningful employment to our

team. Our values reflect our
purpose, culture, and they help

to shape the experiences for our
team. We're here to serve. We

keep the needs of our team and
our guests at the heart of our

work, doing what's best for the
business and for them. We are

Better Together, you know
teamwork and collaboration. We

can leverage the strengths of
our team and maximize care.

We're purpose driven and we
support each other's efforts to

be good stewards and to create
positive impact on all who come

come in contact with Chick fil
A. And then I think we try to

pursue what's next. We try to
adapt right reinvent ourselves,

how we're doing things from the
way we work to how we care for

others.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I think it's
fair to say that as a society,

we typically don't prescribe to
the kind of values that Chick

fil A puts forth, as
significantly as we have in the

past. You guys are just blowing
the doors off. Like, I'm

surprised that there's not five
more restaurants across this

area across this county,
honestly, do you ever get

worried that it's going to get a
little bit more difficult

bringing people into the company
culture and being able to have

the correct messaging for them
to be successful?

Ben Prine: I don't know that,
that I'll worry about it, I

think about it. And that's one
of those things that, you know,

propels us to continue to stay
engaged, continue to dig in.

It's like, it's not just gonna
take care of itself, we got to

work towards that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: You got to
prove yourself to people. So

like all of your young
employees, you're showing them

kind of a different perspective
of life than what they would

they maybe would get on like,
tick tock, sure. Right. So when

when my kid turns 14, I'm
sending him to Chick fil A, like

you see, that's what I'm saying,
though. That's what you've been

able to create. It's a safe
place that I know somebody is

going to be able to become a
good person through hard work.

Ben Prine: That's important.

That's important to me, for a
ton of our team members is their

first job. Yeah, they won't be
with us forever, I get it. But I

look at it as my responsibility,
our responsibility as leadership

team to steward and equip them
for life, they might not be

getting that anywhere else,
they're gonna learn to work as a

team to deal with the public,
how to show honored in respect

to everyone, you know, they're
going to have the opportunity to

gain responsibility. They're
going to learn how to be at work

on time, you know, they're going
to value hard work, they're

going to learn how to serve
others, how to handle mistakes,

and make the make the best of
those, you know, they could have

the opportunity to help lead a
multimillion dollar business and

make key decisions in that
business. So yes, they're gonna

learn like Chick fil A specific
stuff. But at the end of the

day, my hope and goal is when
they're done working at Chick

fil A, they're gonna leave as
better people than when they

came in, they're gonna be
equipped for their future,

whatever that you know, whatever
that might be.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah. Do you
guys plan to expand that place?

Like, are you going to build up
like a second or third floor?

Because I mean, you know,
there's a parking lot on both

sides or parking spaces on both
sides. And there's a two lane

drive thru probably at some
point, it might be a three lane

drive thru, like, what are you
guys gonna do? You can open

another location? What's the
future down the

Ben Prine: road? Yes, that we've
got kind of got that in the plan

down the road, taking advantage
of what we have, right now.

Chick fil A Inc. makes all those
decisions. You know, they have I

mean, I hear questions every day
when you guys open to another

location, like, in time? Yes.

When the time is right, we'll do
it. They come in and do the

studies in terms of when and
where I provide input to that.

But right now, we're just
focusing on what we got. Yeah,

we are tentatively scheduled at
some point next year to do some

renovations around the
restaurant, we're going to try

to do a partial second lane or
modify, like some parking or

whatever. So we'll see how that
goes. But that's that's the

plan. So we're just gonna
focused on getting better with

what we have and growing.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Before we
wrap up, I want to talk about

all the ways that Chick fil A
invest back into their staff and

our communities are from
scholarships, food donations,

and volunteering in person.

Community involvement is
something Chick fil A takes

great pride in. Will you tell us
a bit more about what our

location is doing specifically?

Sure.

Ben Prine: I think the number
one thing what I just mentioned,

was just investing back into the
team, building life skills, that

kind of thing. Specifically,
like we mentioned, we're closed

on Sundays. That's a huge
benefit. We have flexibility of

scheduling, offer free food,
opportunities for advancement,

pay time off retirement
contributions, and so forth,

just like a lot of the
businesses do tuition

reimbursement scholarship
opportunities. You know, that's

some of the things we're
specifically doing. Community

was, hey, we are so blessed to
be in this community and be able

to call it call it home. It's
supported my family and I and

the families of so many of my
team members for so many years.

And I just feel like it's our
responsibility to be able to

give back as we're able to, you
know, that could look

differently. You know, it could
be volunteering, providing food,

you know, or providing other
resources. I do really get joy

in being able to do that. You
know, we just try to try to keep

a pulse on what's going on the
community. What needs are out

there, and is there anything we
can do to help try to meet those

needs?

Kosta Yepifantsev: You ever go
talk to students in like high

schools and stuff like that
sometimes? Yeah. I used to have

a homeroom like program where
you had someone come in In and

they talk to you about, you
know, values, work ethic and

stuff like that. And the guy
that did our homeroom class was

a franchise owner of a Chick fil
A and he'd always bring chicken

biscuits. And they were the most
popular Writing Room obviously.

Do you bring chicken biscuits
everywhere you go? Yeah.

Ben Prine: I tried to bring
something when I'm able to that

always. It gets the attention.

Exactly.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Especially
for the kid. That's right.

That's right. So we always like
to end the show on a high note,

who is someone that makes you
better when you're together?

Ben Prine: 100% my wife, you
know, my family, my kids, you

know, we're together. We're just
this clicking better together

and I think professionally, my
team and then also think about

think about our community. I
think that man like you got all

these different organizations,
ministries, businesses, you

know, we're working together for
a common vision a common goal,

man, and we're so much better.

It makes me excited to think
about

Kosta Yepifantsev: Thank you to
our partners at Loxx Salon and

Spa for presenting this episode.

Loxx is an Aveda Concept Salon
providing the highest quality in

hair, skin and nail services,
from extensions, coloring,

facials, and microblading, Loxx
is your beauty destination. To

find out more visit their
website at loxxsalon.net

Morgan Franklin: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of

Better Together with Kosta
Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed

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friend. Today's episode was
written and produced by Morgan

Franklin post production mixing
and editing by Mike Franklin.

Want to know more about Kosta
visit us at

kostayepifantsev.com. We're
better together. We'd like to

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