How Subbin' Subs is About to Take Over Miami | EJ Martinez

All right, all right. We're having a a creamathon

just said right now.

No.

No, say what you just said.

What did you say?

You said it's nice and good, bro.

This Vacatolo?

It's nice.

Nice. It's [ __ ] great, bro.

We're having a creamathon before we got on here.

Episode's presented by Vacatolo.

Yes, Vacatolo, all organic, grass-fed Wagyu tallow.

This is good, bro.

from from Shadow Wagyu.

People people have loved this.

I liked it.

People have loved it.

I just tried the eucalyptus now for the first time.

Yeah, so it's amazing.

are nice and smooth now.

Smooth. He said he just committed to buying a dozen.

Yes, a box I think he said, right?

12 of them.

said he's going to and he said he's going to put it for sale at the store.

Yes.

We got to go with the

Everybody silky smooth. Yes. We're local, baby. We're going to start putting it in every store.

We're going to talk food wars today. Before we start talking, guys, please remember to subscribe to our channel, comment, interact with us, let us know what we're doing right.

is this the fourth shirt that you they

Yeah.

Jesus Christ.

But it's okay. It's great. It's nice.

Yeah, yeah.

This dude goes to war every day.

I like my I like I like a he he looks good in them. I like a Miami shirt.

Anyways, I got to give a shout out to people.

Go for it.

Okay.

Businesses.

Yes. We have had the pleasure of getting a lot of businesses registered into our business network. Um the amount of love that's been shown is uh appreciated. Uh we want to continue to push that. We want people to enroll their businesses. Right now, we're doing a weekly shout out. So, if you enroll your business from now till Sunday, on Monday, we do a carousel post where we shout out everybody who enrolled into our network. We're going to be reaching for events, talking to them, so

I got DMs. Miami Dade Shades came.

Yeah. Yeah, so the idea is to the city's growing really fast. There's a lot of locals here that we've known for a long time that put in a lot of hard work in this city. So, not that we don't like the people who come from out of town, we do

Some of them. Some of them. Some of them. We like some of them.

Some of them we'll be talking about them in a little

Like some of them. Not all of them. Not not all of them.

But we want to, you know, get the local community that we've known for a long time. We want to put them out there. Uh they do a good job and they built this city and they continue to do so. So, without further ado, our guest

Our guest we have a special guest today.

a fun guest.

Miami.

We got my boy EJ. Introduce yourself to the camera.

What's up? EJ Martinez founder, creator Sub and Subs.

Sub and Subs.

I love the name, bro.

Yeah, so what is

I know you changed it from Subbies, bro. I always called it Subbies, though.

It's

For me it's always Subbies, but due to some branding stuff like that and people hate it. You know how it is.

What is for what? I had no idea.

It was a trademark.

Yeah, it was trademarked.

It was a trademark.

Someone else had the trademark?

Yeah, some place. So, we went to get our trademark for Subbies. We got denied. Um I reached out to the trademark holder, some guy in Ohio. And he wasn't cool.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Sucks, man.

So, we tried to work something out.

What did he want to figure out?

We negotiated for

How much did he want? Something ridiculous?

We got to 25.

Damn.

We got to 25 and he said it's not worth my time and I said I'll just change the name then.

Damn. And Sub and is good and I'll be good.

Subbing now. Sub though, I like Subbing though.

When you want to eat Subbing, let's go Subbing.

We're Subbing now. You know, it's a

Let's go Subbing. I

It's a way of life, you know, like

reason why I'm excited about this episode is because the sandwich, I'm a [ __ ] sandwich connoisseur, bro. I love sandwiches, all types of sandwiches. And it's just exploded in this city and I feel like it happened from one moment to another. You're one of the OGs here.

Yeah.

So, I'm curious to get your thoughts on what you see happening lately, where it's just I feel like there's a sub or sandwich shop on every corner now.

They're popping up a lot. Yeah, different.

And they're all doing good from what it looks like.

yeah.

You know?

You got You got a lot of sandwiches now, right? So we got Frankie Wally's, we got the other

Bocan?

the Bocan people

You got Sandweech, of course, they've been for a while. You have um the other sandwich spot that's on Miracle Mile, too. I forgot their name. I think they just changed their name, too.

Oh, now it's Andiamo's.

Andiamo's as well, too. Yeah, so yeah.

Yeah, so we got you guys,

we got us, we got that other guy, um

The one in the The one in the Design District area.

other guy there. Um but what you know, this is like Miami, right? So we grew up eating these subs, right? The honey mustard chicken, the teriyaki chicken, the cheese steak, and grew up eating there.

Yeah, is Hungry Bear still around? Is it around? Is it And how about Substantials?

Yeah.

They're still around, too?

No, Substantials, no.

Then Who else Who What's the old school sub places?

Uh Substantials, Subs etc. on 63rd and Bird.

Yeah.

Been there like almost 30 years.

Subrageous?

Subrageous?

Subrageous.

Subrageous.

Subrageous. You're making me hungry now.

Outrageous Subs.

Outrageous Subs, yeah.

But DJ, talk talk Tell the people You come We grew up together in the in the club scene and and in high school and stuff like that. But when did you decide to get into food because you always You also own Power Pizza. A lot of people don't know.

Yep.

And Power Pizza is a healthier alternative. Tell us how you got into that and how you went from pizza and into subs.

Yeah, um so I used to DJ. DJ EJ, yep. EJ the DJ with Kiko.

Yep.

And I DJ'd on the beach for when the beach was good, right? '99 to 2008.

Yeah, yeah, in the good times.

And somebody came up to me with a pizza concept and we opened a pizza shop next to Mansion.

Yep.

Um and I was DJing and didn't know anything about food, but went into pizza, uh somehow got stuck with it, and opened up stores. And we did the pizza Pizza's good.

It's still there on South Miami, no?

Still in South Miami. Um we franchised it, that didn't go well.

Right. I remember you had one in Palmetto Bay. Is it still there?

Yeah, nope. Just in South Miami. Uh so the OG one's still there. Uh did the pizza thing and grew it, but the franchise thing didn't work for us. We got caught up into the

I was going to say what what were the issues that cuz I hear horror stories of franchising.

You can't franchise unless you're big.

Yeah.

Um and we got caught up in the investment visa whatever you want to call it. Yeah, so it didn't work. Um went into some sort of midlife crisis cuz I didn't know what I was going to do with the after pizza the crossroad. I was going to open a bowling alley.

Damn, I like that idea.

I was going to reopen Splitsville and Sunset Place.

Oh, that's tough though.

Um

Thank god you didn't run cuz

No, it was going to work, man. It was going to work. We did. I brought in Mo. Mo checked it out. Mo's like you got to do this. We were going to do it was going to be It wasn't going to be so much bowling. It was going to be a place where you could go have good food, good [snorts] drinks. Danny Boza was going to do the menu.

Um is that from that Miami?

No, no, Danny Boza.

No, chef Danny Boza.

He does catering.

Yeah.

a little like EJ.

Yeah.

Yeah. Same size.

Yeah.

So wait, so you you you you had a plan to reopen Splitsville?

going to open Splitsville.

And how far did it get? How far did it get? How far did it get?

I raised the money. I put a business plan together. Um we were going to it was a quick run while they knocked it down. And I met with my wife one morning and I said, "Hey, this is a business plan. This is what we're going to do. It's going to be a quick run." And she looks at me she goes, "This is not a good idea. Um that why don't you just open a sub shop? Uh I've always wanted to do a sub shop. Why don't you just open a sub shop?" I was like, "Fuck

That is a better idea than my bowling alley. You know

It's a better idea. It was It was It was going to be quick. And that's what we did, right? That's from when we used like we can put on a party.

Oh, you were going to do like a pop-up style?

It was going to be a pop-up. It was going to be a quick one-year

going to take over the existing infrastructure, set it up, run it for a year, and then out.

Out.

Okay, that makes sense.

It was a quick thing and then if it was something good we'd put it in the new mall and whatever.

The only situation with that is as man it's just heavy cash flow, employees are standing around and they're not busy.

30,000 square feet.

30,000 big man, cleaning, you know, lighting, electricity, everything man. It's just a big problem. You know, so

So what what year did you open Subby's cuz it was South Miami?

It was South Miami. This was

It was right across from the dog meat.

2013. Yeah, she goes open a sub shop. I was [ __ ] it's a good idea. So I called the owner of that building and he goes yeah, I got this space. This guy owes me money. You take him out? I said take him out. I go home. I go hey Gato, I signed the lease. She goes for what? I was like a sub shop. She goes you're [ __ ] crazy. Like what?

Wow. But that's a great spot.

Subby's.

Yeah, great spot.

Did you know about making subs and stuff like that or no?

No, but it's like pizza. You just figure it out.

up eating them too cuz there was so many but it was good to have something finally that wasn't Subway of the quality that you guys that you guys had. How do you come up with your menu and obviously all the way we grew up had to do with all you needed the chicken and cheese.

Yeah, chicken and cheese, honey mustard chicken, like we just curated it, you know? We grew up eating those subs. And and

I know.

to be honest those those other places just got old and tired, right? So we just do it better, right? It's better quality meat, better quality chicken steak and and then it's it's Subby'n, right? It's a vibe.

Yeah.

It took everything that I did when I DJ'd, curate we curate parties, right? Who was at the door? Who was at the bar? Like we do the same thing with the sub shop. Like we hire people. We hire people. We hire people. We hire people. We hire people.

a bakery.

You buy from a bakery.

But we slice all the all the meats every morning. So steak, chicken.

It's my favorite spot, bro. It's my favorite spot.

Who was there on Sunday? So

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

I haven't been to the Kendall one but I went to the South Miami

How's business now and then I know you expanded into Kendall, right? Are those two different animals completely? Which one's better now? Which one's cranking out more? I know you've been successful in both but

Yeah, they're both good. Different markets, right? So Kendall, people eat in the store. I mean South Miami is small but people in Kendall they eat subs, right? Um

Friday night we're busy.

What part of Kendall was it in? This is on 88th Street?

Kendall 137th.

Kendall 137th. Yeah. But what where did you what what what spot exactly did you take over?

Jersey Mike's.

Jersey Mike's. A sub shop.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sub, or they have a Jamaican patty place in there, too.

And then a Panera next to the Panera, yeah.

Yeah.

Right next to the Panera.

Damn, man.

Yeah. So you So people in Kendall eat more inside the store?

Yep.

Because there's still only like two You got to

Well, it's not only that, too. I think in the spot that you have in South Miami, there's no parking. There's no parking in in Kendall, it's like known, you know, you go hang out.

Well, which one sells more, South Miami or Kendall?

I mean, Kendall we've been there for 6 months, so South Miami

But it's

cranks more, but it's busy.

Good, man.

Yeah, we're we're we're doing it. Little by little, one by one.

I got to check it out, man.

Yeah.

I I before I get into the cheesesteak dynamic, uh how come I don't have a sub named after me, bro? I'm boys with uh Mauricio.

Mhm.

But I feel a little offended that I don't have my own sub, though.

You should have your own sub.

I think we should We need to come up with something that that we can

Yeah, Kiko sub is is warranted. You know, we got Mauricio cuz

It's First of all, shout out to DJ Mauricio because he's the one that I always eat.

Oh, wow. Mauricio

Ask He knows. Go ahead tag him on him. But I always eat those. It's so good.

He taught I learned how to DJ watching Mauricio DJ. And every time we post something on Instagram, Mauricio's comment would be Cooper Sharp. Cooper Sharp. Like every time. Cooper Sharp. Cooper Sharp. And then, you know, Mo used to call Mauricio like Cheese or something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mo called Mauricio Cheese.

Called Mo Mauricio?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so he calls Mauricio Cheese. So I said, "Mauricio, I'm bringing in Cooper Sharp. We're going to name it after you. Is it cool?" What's the name? It's like Mr. Morchizio.

Damn, that's like that.

So it's a Mr. Morchizio sub.

It's amazing. It's the one I eat all the time.

it. I love it, Arnie. Listen, so I see I mean I see the rise of the Philly cheesesteak in in in Miami. Uh I actually went to Philly, and you suggested that I go to his spot. I ate a Philly cheesesteak in in Philly. It was really nice. Um I came back and then we did an event at Ryan's spot.

Right? At Peppi's.

At Peppi's Pizza.

Mhm.

Um and then I met Ryan, good guy. We're there. We had like little activation there. And then I saw you move out to Kendall and expanding and then all of a sudden I see this like IG

Cheesesteak war.

cheesesteak war happening on social media and I was like, man, that's awesome, you know? You know? Like so give us a little background on it, you know? Are you winning the war, I guess, is what I'm worried about, you know?

Yeah, man. I mean we always win, right?

[laughter]

I'm I'm not for nothing, man. I'm rooting for the local guy, bro. As much as I like Ryan, bro, I got to go with my local guy.

Look, I mean so we're from Miami, right? This Like this is my city, right? Like I am Miami. We DJ, you know, things like this you're in my territory, right? So you you come into Miami and you Instagram all of Florida's I lose count.

South Florida has the best only real cheesesteak.

He probably won. Like if he changes it every He's the best of like whatever, you know? So like you know

You're typical Philly guys.

Let me tell you, bro. I I I feel a little bit responsible for starting this little fun cheesesteak war. Ryan's my boy. Obviously I've known you longer, but when I did meet Ryan and being a Philly guy, he's aggressive. Uh competitive, but his food is very good. And you know, the Philly's always been the Philly cuz if you're from Philly, you know how to do it. We call it a steak sandwich. But it's a cheesesteak. Not really a Philly cheesesteak. It's like But I think it's funny. It was good competition. I know he's a good sport. You've already met.

Yeah.

I mean we the Instagram wars are funny because it brings business to both. But Um, I always get asked, you know, who's which one's better, which one do you like better? And I and I think like you said, it is different but the same. But but what's your take on that? You think having rivalries with other restaurants is good for business, bad for business? Do you think sometimes it gets too personal? Do you think like like what's your take on it?

Look, I mean

pretty good now I mean with you and and Ryan.

It's like like we live off of this, right? So like that's how we eat, right?

awareness.

Like so um he's not a bad guy. Like he he

Yeah.

is not. He's just from Philly.

Yeah. That's the only bad part about him, bro.

He's just [laughter] different. He's like, I could go to Philly tomorrow and be like, "Hey, I got Philly's only Cuban sandwich, right?"

Yeah.

[ __ ] Cuban from Miami, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What qualifies you, right?

[laughter]

You're from Philly, like, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So like it's all good and and fun

Can can we can we see like a merge maybe like one day like a collab between you and him?

We talked we talked at your event. He's not

Yeah, he was one of my both of them

one of my judges at the pig roast and we had that discussion in person and

So is there something a possibility coming along or something?

I mean look, mine's better but like

Yeah, yeah.

We should have we should have we should have a friendly competition. Look, he's opening up before a lot of them. You open up in Kendall. It's funny because it is a rivalry but they're both doing good and they're both successful, right? Because if if one of them was affecting another one pretty badly then you're like, "Oh, I don't want to be a dick, you know, he's he's struggling, you know?" But they're both successful so they can be a little bit more competitive and take a little more time out to do fun things. It's all fun and [ __ ] Um, but I would love to like you say have a one-on-one.

man.

Yeah, it would be cool.

And and and blind [clears throat] tasting, bro.

And and judge No, you wouldn't know you wouldn't know because of the bread.

Got you.

The bread.

But but

But just to give it to you straight, yeah, I like this better, like this I like this one better. I mean uh

They're both good as [ __ ]

Yeah, his bread's hard. Mine's soft.

Yeah.

I like soft bread.

Yeah, yeah, me too, me

Like

Yeah.

We're Cuban, right?

Yeah, right.

Yeah, though you go in the morning, you got your Cuban bread. You got the nice soft bread every morning. early in the morning from the little Sedano's a little spot there you get the Cuban right. I'll call Ryan and we'll have a we'll have a Philly or a cheesesteak. I'll call it whatever you want.

Have you heard of this new spot in the beach? I think Josh has something to do with it. Cheesesteak for sale which I love the name.

Yeah, it's a great name.

Yeah.

I haven't been there yet cuz it's at the beach and I told Josh that I wanted to go to because I'm glad you said that Josh has his own sandwich sub on on sub it chop cheese. That's all wagyu chop cheese and it's amazing. My only thing is since it's so like you know like it's I want to say greasy but fatty cuz it's like that it's a little smaller, right? So you would eat one and say oh my god I need another one. But you know I have to understand that it's very very unctuous, right? So you don't want to have for us it's like it's not big enough. I would eat two of them but it's amazing, bro.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's amazing chop cheese.

Yeah, I mean look we didn't invent the chop cheese,

Right, of course, of course, yeah.

but we came here and Josh said, "Hey, let's do something." and then I got these burgers I was like let's do a chop cheese. We do a chop cheese.

And now everybody in Miami doing chop cheese.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I saw that video that you guys did together.

It's fire, too. It's fire, too. But whatever we'll we'll have that conversation Ryan and we'll have a Yeah, we'll do something PJ. We'll do something fun.

and then you know.

Primo, I've known you a bunch of years you've supported me in events that I've done. I know you're a big community guy. How important is to you working among the community you know you do a lot of charity and stuff like that and I see you working with local baseball and you wear them and stuff like that. How important is that to you as you grow with your with your your sub empire?

I mean look we're from we're from here, right? And Miami's becoming what it is.

keep keep keep covering our [ __ ] logos and [ __ ]

Yeah, man. The Day Miami's everywhere, bro.

Mac and Talo.

Mac and Talo, bro.

We invested 8 months into this project, bro. You got to just cover me up.

and he keeps pushing it down in Miami.

Jay.

Yeah. No, community is important. Like and we're big on it, whether be with U M or the

Yeah, so you used to do U M stuff?

We do a lot with baseball, right? Um we do a lot with football, too, but football's got, you know, football's got the cheese now.

Yeah.

But baseball, they got money.

Got you.

But nobody

[laughter]

They They got They have money now, so like, you know, we try and get involved with baseball. We did the Yonder sub, um which was cool. We're going to bring it back. Yeah. Yeah. The Yonder sub was good. We got with Yonder Alonso and we did a a cheesesteak with maduros in it. Because Yonder, when he was growing up, his mom would make him everything like his maduros and that's why he's so big, you know? Um and maduros maduros. So we did the Yonder sub and then every time we sold the Yonder sub, we get 50% of that sub.

Oh, that's amazing.

50%?

50%? Yeah.

I had it. It's good.

What what what would you say is your top selling sandwich? You know, I'm sure you know that. Or is it that it change by area?

It It's actually changes by area. I'd say Miami's only cheesesteak is like a top uh a seller, but the chop cheese and honey mustard chicken.

The honey mustard chicken?

That's my son and his

All day that that sauce is like when we were picking out the sauces and like It's like it's a It's a taste, right? It's a taste that I grew up eating and it It's

Any future expansion that maybe outside of Kendall that you've been thinking about or

Yeah. Yeah. No, we're cracking, so lots of big news. Like we're actually going to announce something today that nobody

Right now? So right now let's not say anything.

All right, so breaking news. Let's go. What do we like?

Double roll, Jay.

You want the the the little one or the big one?

Both.

Yeah, let's go both.

So next store, Doral.

Oh, wow. What spot?

Doral, 36th and 107th Avenue. New Whole Foods uh shopping center.

it's amazing.

Wow.

Yeah, bro. You're expanding big time.

So it's us.

And it's so dense with people that have no idea about those subs cuz there's not one in Doral.

No. No, it's a good shopping center.

When is this going to be open?

Uh August.

Really? That's amazing, man.

We're sneaky, man. We just We let everybody chirp, right? And we just like kind of stay in our lane, like

You got the You got the blinders on, bro.

Yeah, we got to go out there. And then so is that the big news or little news?

No, big news. Big news is Sub and Subs, Miami International Airport, gate D22.

Let's go!

REALLY, DOG?

DAMN, THAT'S AMAZING, MAN.

You know though, we have good connections.

That's amazing, man.

Yeah.

Talk to us about that. What is that looking like?

So that is Yeah, it's signed and design and permitting right now. So

So you can grab a sub and jump on a plane.

You can get your sub and go wherever you're going, bro.

Yep, so

Wow, that's amazing.

There you got to put like made in Miami.

We We are

Like Miami, you know? And then we're going to put a little bit of Miami into the new Sub and like the Sub and going to be whatever you want it to be.

Can you Is there a possibility to to like I've always had this concept, this sandwich concept that I've always wanted to do. I don't know how hard it is, you're in the business. But imagine going into like a sandwich shop and being able to get like a sandwich from Colombia, a sandwich from like their top sandwich from Colombia, from Venezuela, from Croatia, from Rome, whatever. Like different formats. Is there anything that you can do along those lines? Like a typical sandwich in, you know, Puerto Rico is this style.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. You're a marketing guy.

Yeah, the marketing guy is always thinking.

Yeah.

Or maybe feature it for like a month.

Something like that.

You know, everybody's got their own flavors. I'm glad you brought that up. Is there any crazy concept subs you've tried at home or tried to think of it just was like, nah, it's not going to work.

Is there Everybody's got their own flavors.

I'm glad you brought that up. Is there any crazy concept subs you've tried at home or tried to think of it just was like, nah, it's not going to work.

Nah, I'm simple. I'm just like

Yeah, you are. You're You're consistent. You're very consistent.

You're going [snorts] to get a good sub with us, with good vibe, good experience.

How often do you eat your own subs during week.

All time.

That's why I look so good.

[laughter]

How about going for like a record or something like, you know, like the longest sub or can we do an eating competition or something like that?

We can do an eating competition. Yeah.

Yeah?

I can break them down and like

Do people do that? Like sub eating competitions? Nobody does it?

it first.

Hot dog eating How many chopped cheeses can you eat?

How come you never You've never implemented fries in your in your thing. I know that hobby is a whole different dynamic with grease traps and [ __ ] Is that your reason?

I would say chips cuz I think chips go with the subs. I don't think fries go with subs.

People ask for fries, but then it's just another It's another thing you got to do, right?

And you got to bring in the grease traps and

No, no, you can have We have the grease traps, but it's just a fryer.

How about like a a $100 sub? Like kind of like follow the Chevere style with the $100 hot dog, you know? I know he gets a lot of hate for that, but

No, hey, whatever works.

for events and then it bled off into shooting it and selling it at the store, bro. I don't hate on that [ __ ] That's fire.

No, like if it works, it works, you know? But is there any chance of you doing like a $100 sub? Something ridiculously crazy?

I don't want to say no, but probably not.

No?

Just uh gold flakes.

Gold flakes.

Opening opening these sub shops and expanding, what's been some of the your real like like trials and like like like things that like were were harder than you you thought or like tough spots in growing the business?

Uh yeah, it's just putting the team together. Like we learned a lot from the pizza. Like so pizza I was 23 when I started um Power Pizza and we learned a lot. Uh but it it it's putting together a good team. Like uh two scale, right? So like we're at two we'll be at four and then the plan is to just go, right? We're not going to franchise. We're just going to open open open. Yeah. As many as we can.

Yeah.

But it's just being consistent.

Yeah, do the people stay with you or you see a lot of like in and out like what's the core of your employee like?

People?

Young kids, students?

It's a combination. Like everybody every store has like it's base and then you have the young kids that will come and go, but people I mean we have people who've been with us for like 15 years.

Most stores have retail employees. You've been open for 15 years?

We have pizza for 20.

Yeah, pizza's been forever like years.

You never had power pizza?

I don't think I ever went to power pizza.

Healthy crust?

Yeah, we blend protein in the dough. It's good.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'd like to check it out. I love it.

Yeah.

What was the moment you had when you opened up the South Miami that you said I got something? Cuz I know you go into it thinking okay subs are going to sell, but is it really going to

hit

go where it's going to go and hit now where it is now like when did you have that moment?

It was

Was when I pulled up and started doing something.

It maybe when your sticker went on the wall. On the window.

That's it bro, done. What day was that?

It's been there from the

It wasn't at the beginning.

It wasn't at the beginning. I remember I've been there from the beginning so I know.

You were with Randy. I wanted something that whole midlife crisis. I don't want I wanted something that I could grow, right? Like I wanted something I could scale. A business that I could build and we opened Subbies at and all my friends came, right? Like so DJ EJ we know everybody so like the first month was like friends.

Everybody putting up the

And I was like okay this is fake, you know? Like this these people are fake.

it starts though man. You got to get the support from the people first.

fake, but it wasn't

Yeah.

I say

die down a little bit.

Yeah, you're like what happens when my friends stop coming?

They don't. They like the subs.

You just stop being friends with them.

And the subs weren't that good at the beginning.

I'm sure.

My subs weren't that good at the beginning.

Mhm.

They were Remember my bread sucked.

They were the bread was

It was it was too thick.

Yeah.

It was hard.

But whatever you know like

too dense

Yeah, but you took that, you know, and obviously like I've been there since the beginning so I was [clears throat] kind of like the tester, but but you took good advice and and constructive criticism and applied it and not just say oh my shit's not going to

No, we changed and we're still getting better. Like you we're still changing, we're still improving. Um but yeah, I think 6 months in I was like, "Oh [ __ ] like this is this is working."

Yeah.

And and people were coming and people were digging. The little the the little guy, so his name is still Subby.

He's still there. The little Subby still there, yeah.

Yeah, Subby will forever forever be Subby.

Who who who created that little logo? Cuz this [ __ ] is awesome, the character.

So that was one of my friends. Um I signed the lease

Retro style.

Yeah, like I literally signed the lease to open a sub shop and the owner of the building is like, "What are you going to call it?" I was like, "I don't know." Um he's like, "Well, you know, you've been here for 20 something years with the pizza, like I trust you." I'm like, "All right, cool." So I go to the gym uh Stunners and

Stunners Fit?

Yeah.

Yeah, bro, he's a good guy. I always see he comments on my stuff. He's a good guy.

community, like that guy is the best.

Yeah, I I haven't met him personally, but I have had heard very good things about him. He's the best.

Um and I'm sitting outside of the gym one morning and I tell my the three guys we work out with that, "Hey, I'm opening a sub shop." And I'm like, "What are you talking about? You're opening a sub shop?" I'm like, "I'm opening a sub shop. What are we calling it?" I said, "I don't know. I'm just opening a sub shop."

Yeah.

And then one of my friends that's there goes, "Hey, can I make a logo for you?" And I said, "Yeah, sure, go for it." You know, he's a creative guy.

Yeah.

And then his brother goes, "Why don't you call it Subby's?" I was like, "Oh man, like

It's a good name.

Damn, bro.

name and so Subby's.

Subby's and then the guy

He didn't ask you for royalties or anything, no?

No.

Okay, good.

Nothing.

And uh my uncle Laz, he actually did some work for you.

Laz Laz is the man.

He's an iron artisan and he uh he created that mesh

That mesh thing.

But the the logo was Did he cut the logo or you already had the the

No, he did that. Laz did the mesh.

it out.

Yeah.

You got to see it. I have a picture I'm going to send so bank can put it in the shop.

Bro, I was going to ask you um have you had any uh I guess influencers, foodies, anybody visit your your spot that goes, does content, etc. and it just [ __ ] crushes it or blows up after you have a line outside?

Yeah. Some of them have Some of them are very uh

Who would you say would be like people who you felt it at least, you know, like significantly.

Um, so Evie Evie did uh

Evie's great.

Evie's good good people. Um, Evie did a post and and it's like it's immediate.

Yeah.

Um

You know she came from here. Yeah, she used to work here at the agency.

Yeah.

Evie does a lot of our social media stuff.

Evie Evie's awesome bro, great person bro.

And she's a good person. Uh, you know, George, Mr. Eats.

Shoutout to him too, yeah.

He did the he did that um, little Kendall best of Kendall

Yes, I saw that.

and he threw us on there and even that like you see you see a little bit of a tick.

Yeah.

Um uh, Leslie you know, treat yourself everywhere.

She's good. She's great.

Yeah, she's good.

I I I don't think I've seen her in

I watch her all the time.

Yeah, she's good.

Doprema, yeah, she's a me

Yeah, she's amazing, yeah, good. There's just so many of them now.

Yeah.

Which is good. I think it's good.

I think when I put the sticker on the door it

That was definitely the But now that's when like you made it, right? Cuz nobody has the sticker But I I I have I have a follow-up question to it cuz I was talking to um Jeff right? And we were discussing like Evie, George, they're all great marketers, they're good, you know, um, but real real like foodies that are going to like really like taste your food and give you feedback you know, which I think it's Kiko's like along those lines. Um, would you see anybody else along those lines that could actually came back and you're like, you know I took this person's feedback to actually make a change in the business. Would you have any of those?

They you know, like they

Not those in particular, but are there any other people? Not Not that they have a social media channel or anything like that. Like people who giving you feedback, real feedback on the food.

Like friends, chefs, or close friends of yours that

Like that you can count on like, hey, that's somebody who I would make a change to my menu if they gave me feedback.

I look at people that um that go to the store. So, I I listen to him, right? So, at at the beginning at the beginning when my bread suck like I knew my bread suck. I knew it was too dense. Like we were actually scooping it out before giving it to the customer.

So, I was actively looking and then he comes and he eats it and he does like one of his little videos that way people bread sucks.

Like I know. Like it sucks. But I'm I'm a lot of times amazed at the the pallet this guy has and the the memory this guy has. He has a memory of an elephant, bro.

Yeah, stuff. What's crazy

He sits here yesterday we had or Monday we had Raheem and he was talking about Q and this guy was remembering every dish of Q, bro. Like a crazy. Bro, I can't I can't remember what I ate last week. But he remembers, he knows the taste, he like the texture, the way it came out and I'm like, what the [ __ ] bro? Like this is just what he does, lives, eats, and breathes, you know?

I think I think the best the biggest secret in what I always do is will you come back, you know what I'm saying? Like

That's a good question, right?

Hey, for subs like is that going to be your spot when you really need something, you know, on the go go we're we're always on the go you're always on the go that you can count on that it's always going to be like I can always count on your cheesesteak, I always count on your subs. You're going to you know, and I think that's the biggest question that any restaurant should ask, you know? Like can you get the client to come back? And and suddenly you get that urge, you know, like like bro I'm dying for it. It's been so long, you know, I had call you sometimes pretty much been like 5 days like I got to pull up. I think once you achieve that, bro, and you have your spots, too. Um

that's the goal, you know what I'm saying? So,

Yeah, it's consistency.

Yeah.

Like we I want to be your sub guy. I don't want I don't want I don't want to be I don't want to be Florida's best, the nation's best.

Right.

I want to be like your consistent place that you're going to get a good sub and it's going to be friendly and it's going to be fast and the people are going to be cool and I want people to remember the experiences, right? So, like our culture is different, right? When we hire personalities, we ask random questions in an interview and and we hire personality cuz I want you to remember us. Like I want you to say, man, the girl that took care of me like well, kind of quirky, but like

Yeah.

she was cool. Like she made me feel nice." And like we draw stupid things on your bag. I mean, just random stuff. Some people don't notice, some people notice. Um so, it's consistency.

Yeah.

Um just keep doing it, you know.

next 5 years, what's it looking like for 7?

We're just going to keep going. I mean

Besides having a Kiko sandwich.

Kiko sandwich, like, you know, again, we we we still interview people and I tell people like, "Listen, I'm going to open a thousand stores." And they look at me like, "You can't do that."

I was like, "I'm down to be a part of it."

I'm going to open a thousand I'm going to open a thousand stores.

franchise, though. He's not franchising out, so you're good.

No, cuz it's easier

I'm sure he'll share one with us out of the hundred he's going to open.

It's easier to build a team that believes in what you're doing than to go out and franchise.

Yeah, 100%.

Like I I I Yeah, look, it works for some people, but I mean, look at Raising Cane's, right? That guy like you know, I studied him a lot. I worked with some people that helped him develop the brand and

off, bro.

It's it's a culture. And they're like

There's only five items on the on the menu.

That's true. I feel like the simpler it is, the easier obviously it is to franchise. Similar to Skinny Louie's, man. This guy's done a phenomenal job.

a great job. Like and they're consistent They're consistent.

He's like, "Listen, I don't have the best I don't Same thing you have." He was like, "Bro, but my thing is consistency. It's always going to be the same, same taste, same feel." Yeah. It's amazing, bro. And he's a good business guy.

No, no, no. He's I've I've never met him, but like I like everything that they've done with the brand and he seems

like a cool guy.

Super cool guy. He reminds me of I just keep going, you know?

Have you signed up for our local business on our website?

No, you know, but we have to do it cuz we are local We are local business.

This is a local business we can invest in it.

Yeah.

I'll run the spot. You put the money down, I'll run the shop now.

No, he doesn't need anything, bro. He's not going to allow us to.

He's going to give us 50% of the

All we got to do is put the competition and then he'll be like, "Hey, let me buy you out, bro."

Bro, the route So, the route opens in August?

The route opens August. Airport like December, January. D,

American Airlines. Yeah, like right in the middle.

Are you ready for the sports question?

world wide

All right, for the best question of the day brought to you by One Park Financial for all your financial services located here in in the Grove. We visited their offices the other day. Beautiful

Great people, man. Great people. If you need business funding

They're amazing.

small business anything like that. They're quick, immediately

the question. E.J. Martinez, please give us your top three restaurants that you like to dine at. Starting with number three and why.

And it cannot be any of yours, obviously.

No subs.

No, no. The I eat subs all time.

Starting with number three.

Look, I'm I'm I'm simple. I'm easy. Like

Easy E.

I like Palm.

Okay.

like the scene. You did We were the

You got an old on me, bro. You got an old on me. You're old, bro.

You're old, bro. It's not about being viejo. It's about like We did that, right?

about viejo. Go ahead.

I understand y'all [ __ ] with me.

So, three

Number three.

Hillstones

Hillstones are great, of course.

you like to order at Hillstones?

It's consistent, man. Spinach dip

Spinach dip is

that. Coconut

Coconut shrimp rolls I eat I eat two of them when I go cuz you know, they don't give you like eight pieces, you know? They're light, you know? I eat two of them. I was there with my daughter and Manny a couple weeks ago. Anything else you like there?

Yeah, well, go between the ribs and then depends on I just wing it. Whatever comes out of my mouth. Whatever comes out of my mouth.

Chicken sandwich is

I mean, listen, consistency is key there and it's always packed.

It is.

Always

It's a staple. It's a staple.

All right.

but I got a trick for the little line.

I know. You you you you put the reservations in a couple days earlier. I know Kobe will do that.

No.

have reservations there pending in case they want to go.

No, I go. I give my cuz now you give your phone number and then they text you, right? So, then I go and then I go to Saban's and I have a drink at Saban's.

Georgie and then wait.

And then when they me, I walk over and my

Oh, beautiful. Which Sabada just tagged us in something. They're doing like a big event for FIFA or something. I saw it this morning.

They're bringing Barley burgers back.

Yeah. Yeah, what is that about? I never heard of that.

Barley's is his first restaurant and he's going to do some burger menus and stuff for the 47 days of FIFA.

Go on, yeah, that's amazing, man. Yeah. Georgie's a good guy.

to go by there.

Do you know Georgie personally?

Man, it kind of messed up I knew you were going to ask me that question and it kind of messed up with my list cuz I gave my Houston my Hillstones I still call Houston's.

Yeah. I gave my Hillstones

World's is balling.

That's fine. Let's go. Hillstone number three. Number two.

number two, EJ.

Two, Grape Ape.

Grape Ape, man. That's in South Miami, brand new. I haven't been there, but I've heard very good things. Good wine selection. Good.

It It's just It's easy. Like it's house. I go All their food's good. They have chicken. They have a little steak frites. That's good. Got this little

And obviously good wine selection.

And then what?

Who owns that? Is it local or

Yeah, it's Jason Gaetan and Oscar G.

Really?

Oscar G?

Mhm.

The

The DJ.

Yeah. Damn, dope, bro.

DJ's are getting in the restaurant scene.

Go on, yeah, bro. That's amazing, man, to see that that that evolved.

That's first time on the list.

Yeah, that's the first time on the

EJ Martinez. EJ Martinez, your number one spot that you like to go in Miami is?

Man, I kind of messed it with my Hillstones crap, but I'm going to put Sabada.

Boom.

Damn, bro.

Did Georgie send you a check?

No, but he has he has this that bikini grilled cheese that

Yes, he does.

I can eat

That's your thing?

I can eat like

[ __ ] amazing, bro. I went there the other day with actually our producer Jay behind the scenes and he has these like uh oysters. I think it was like East Coast West Coast something like that oysters. Right, like plenty of them, bro. Phenomenal selection of oysters.

I think EJ picked him because we went the other day to Sabby's and we sent them pictures we were there.

No, I'm just kidding. He's consistent, man.

Georgie's my favorite chef. I see

He's an angry chef, you know, but like

Listen, Georgie's a

His food's good.

I don't know him as much as you guys do but I don't know him for maybe like two years now but I just know that guy is a dog He does not [ __ ] stop bro like he will break through barriers break through walls continue going He's family

He sent me a text one time by mistake that was meant to go to one of his managers you know how he got it confused

Was it was it a good [laughter] thing I don't know how he got it confused

Brutal or what

This guy is not coming

It was like you know those long that are like [laughter] you know like broken up

Did he get fired

And then I go Georgie

[laughter]

What happened

No the guy got it he gave it to his manager

You got to be a passionate you got to have passion in life dog if you don't have no passion you can't do nothing

He's like that he's like that

You know

It was like that bro shoutout to Georgie bro

All right that's a great list

I'm really sad that they that that spot in South Miami closed down and I had the vice vice city and the mix with them

Yeah it was it was a good spot

Now now now now now they they brought in some breakfast brunch from I think Sweden or something

There's going to be a big breakfast war in South Miami

Yeah

South Miami you got to do something

What

There's going to be a lot of breakfast spots there

we're we're we're we're war ready already bro

Bring it bring it

Anything good to South Miami is awesome oh yeah brother thank you for having us guys

Where can they find you where can they find you real quick your two locations

Uh South Miami OG uh Kendall 137th and soon to route the airport

And I'll be there after lunch

Kendall's the closest thank you EJ