Vast menu for delivery. Like no other concept. Can we truly have something special? It's
a current investment. That
future you is gonna be happy about.
Oh yeah,
a sidetrack there, but that's really cool. Delivering the customer a good hot meal at a, at a reasonable cost with
no delivery. Culture is big with this company.
It just needs some comfort food. What's the order from ClusterTruck when you're having
one of those days from South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between? This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.
Get indiana.com is your one stop shop for everything Indiana. From festival and event guides, to blog posts covering hidden gems, local businesses, small towns, and more. Check it out and learn something new about the Hoosier state@getindiana.com. And don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter right there at the top.
My first guest today is Joe Curtis and he's the franchisee opening ClusterTruck Carmel, the first franchisee-owned and operated ClusterTruck kitchen in the company's history. It's launching in February of 2026. This restaurant will serve Carmel Westfield and the surrounding areas. Now, cluster Truck is an Indianapolis born delivery and pickup kitchen, known for made to order meals and proprietary technology that ensures that food arrives hot, fresh, and on time.
Driven by years of being a loyal customer and a belief in the brand's quality, Joe is helping lead ClusterTruck's next chapter up on the north side of Indianapolis. Joining Joe is Janet Monroe. She's the CEO of ClusterTruck who has been with the company since 2015. You may remember her from our deep dive into ClusterTruck last year, but today we're talking about Joe's journey from Tennessee to Indiana and what drove him to get involved with ClusterTruck and this new Carmel expansion.
Welcome to the show y'all.
Thank you.
Do you like that Tennessee? Y'all right there, y'all. Come on. That's it. Um, I am really excited to dive into this one. Obviously anyone who is a long time listener knows we are huge fans of ClusterTruck around here. You can go check out the video when Robert tries Pad Thai for the first time.
It's spectacular. Um, what I'm really curious to start with franchising is something that's new to y'all and Janet, I'm excited to dive into. First off, what drove you all to, I keep saying you all, what drove you to take this route to move forward in 2026 and beyond?
Well, with ClusterTruck, it's been a long road.
Uh, it's been nearly 10 years for us, we've. You know, been through all the hills and valleys of a startup company. Uh, it took, you know, a year just to build the software to be able to do what we do. We opened our first kitchen in 2016, and over that time we've really refined, uh, the software and then also our operations as a kitchen.
What we've been able to do is create a business model that an entrepreneur can get behind, uh, that is profitable in the food delivery space, which is something that it's very difficult to do.
Yeah. I feel like everyone talks about, I mean, it's like when you're checking out of any of the food delivery places and all of a sudden, you know, you get to the checkout and it's like, you know, DoorDash or whatever, it's like $55 for a cheeseburger from McDonald's, and then you, then they ask you, what about the tip?
And you're like, what the heck? Yeah. Um, so it's crazy. Okay. So you guys decided that going the franchisee route is how? Looking at growth between 2026 and beyond is the route you wanna go. How did you identify Carmel as the first place you wanted to dive into?
Well, we've been in Carmel before, um, it's been a few years now, but, you know, the, the neighborhoods there really, you know, loved ClusterTruck and the service, you know, it just didn't work out at the time with the partnership we had with Kroger.
So we ended up closing that location,
Cincinnati people, Ohio Classic.
So we have been serving the Carmel area as best we can with our Castleton kitchen. Um, but we are driving a little bit too far. You know, the customers don't mind it at all. They're still, their, their food is still arriving hot and fresh right outta the kitchen.
But it's a little bit difficult for our drivers, you know, if they're driving 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back, they're only able to get, you know, two deliveries per hour and that just doesn't work out well economically
from time. Yeah. Okay. Joe. So this new opportunity being ClusterTruck's first franchisee must mean you're a lifelong entrepreneur and this just seemed like a great opportunity that you were your next venture to get into, right?
Absolutely not. Yeah. I was, uh, actually looking for an investment and I can't tell you how many times I told Jon Canter, I'm not trying to buy myself a job. I'm trying to, this is an investment to. You know, be a source of revenue. Right. With uh, and I'm not, I'm not planning on flipping burgers, although I have learned everything in the kitchen to make sure I know how to do it and to make sure that, uh, yeah.
But at, at first the gym does it right.
At first you're like, you're, you're, you had been in, uh, electrical engineering.
Electrical engineering and real estate. Yep.
Yeah. And so electrical engineering, that was career one. We were career one, which like we could do a whole nother episode about, he has some stuff like said, oh, I can't really go too far in depth about the defense work that he was doing, but I'm sure it's like a crazy cool episode.
Then you ended up coming up to Indianapolis, working for RCA
technical, or Actually at the time it was Thomson and then Technicolor, and now I think it's an Vantiva. I can't even remember the name now. Yeah.
So working in electrical engineering. So at this point, I mean that's, how long of your career did you spend in electrical engineering?
Oh, over 30 years.
Over 30 years. How much food knowledge did you have from that time?
Uh, that would be a big fat zero. My, my wife will attest. I don't spend much time in the kitchen.
Yeah. Okay. That's fair. And then from there you get into residential real estate,
residential real estate. Right. Okay. Start flipping houses.
And then I actually got my license in, uh, 2018.
Okay. And so from the real estate side of things, how much food experience did you have?
A big fat zero as well.
So where,
actually, hold on a minute. Just a, the, the, the food part did come in during the real estate side because when I was, for instance, flipping or renovating my daughter's condo, that was my payment.
See, if you want dad to work longer, you gotta feed him. Oh. And when when he's got your kitchen torn up. Where do you go but ClusterTruck
Yeah. Okay. So deliver
right there.
So you were renovating your daughter's condo?
Yeah.
Right. And she orders ClusterTruck.
That's right. That, that was my second introduction to ClusterTruck.
First was my son's, but the second was, um, oh,
okay. So wait, when, when you were flipping the house and, and you hear about ClusterTruck, what was the first, what was your second order I guess from ClusterTruck?
I think I still did the same thing 'cause I'd already found something I liked. And that was the, uh, barbecue,
uh, Mac.
The Mac
cheeses.
Oh,
oh, good stuff, isn't it?
Dude, I wish if I didn't have to work in the afternoon, I would have that, that or the buffalo chicken for lunch every day. But I just like eat too much of it and I get a little bit of this, a little bit of that and all this
sudden get the snoozes
coming in. Yeah.
Right. Oh, it's so good. Okay, so you, your daughter orders ClusterTruck and you end up getting it. You're working, obviously you're in there. Where does the opportunity. Where do you start to have conversations around getting more involved?
I was looking for an investment opportunity. I checked up, uh, I don't know, four or five different franchise options, and I wanted to go franchise.
I've, I've had business ideas, multiple that I've just never been able to carry through on either because it takes way too much capital or just didn't have a good way to, to get it going. Yeah. And so that's why I kind of backed up and said, well, let's go with a proven model, like a franchise. And then I picked something that's, I'm the first one, so that didn't make sense, but hey, I love the food.
Um, and I like, I like the model. Uh, I can tell you that it seems like both my kids are millennials and that generation loves the takeout and being able to have something delivered as opposed to, you know. Yeah. Somebody in the kitchen doing it every day, every night. Right. So, uh, I just saw how much my kids were using it and thought, this is, this is the future.
I need to get part of this.
As someone with no food experience, like you never, have you ever worked in a restaurant at all up until now?
McDonald's, when I was 16 to 18,
yes. Let's go. I love that. So many gr That was my first job. Yeah. My first official job was Me too. Hey, let's go. I just actually finished the book.
It's Ray Kroc's, you know, uh, the biography that, that he wrote. And it's wild. Just like how many people started their career.
Yeah.
Like working at the register then, like in the drive through or all that stuff. So it, it's fun. Okay. So the only experience you had in food was when you were 16 working at McDonald's.
Now over 30 years later you decide, hey, you know what, this is the right time. What were, what were the reasons, like when you thought about the pros and cons sheet of getting involved in becoming a franchisee of ClusterTruck, what, what'd you put in the pro side of that?
The pro side was more of the, the model, the fact that I think more and more families go to the delivery model.
They don't have to, you know, get the kids dressed up. They don't have to worry about 'em yelling in the restaurant or whatever. Mm-hmm. They have the food brought to them. Right. And, and it's just convenient. It's quick, it's good quality food. Um, so that was, that was the big plus side. Yeah. For me.
But you also said you didn't want to invest yourself into a job.
That's
right. But
like at some point it clearly, like the scales flipped and you're like, this is too good to pass up.
Well, when I say I didn't want to get myself a job, I'm saying I'm not gonna be the manager of the restaurant. I'm gonna hire someone to, to manage the restaurant, someone that does have food experience.
And I found a young lady that's doing a great, great job. Yeah. I'm the guy that's writing the checks and making sure that we're going the right path. But you did have to Absolutely. Getting the checks,
you did have to like do your kitchen time.
Oh yeah.
So like you show you, so you officially decide you're gonna be a franchisee, you're gonna open a ClusterTruck up in Carmel.
Take me through the first day that we tossed Joe in the, in the kitchen and how that went.
Well, my, my first experience was on ex what they call expo, which I've found out as an industry term that I'd never heard before. But Expo is like for, um, expedient, right? You, you want. Get together the order, make sure it's correct, bag it, and then in this case we're taking it out to the delivery vehicle for the driver to scan the code and get the address to take it to, et cetera.
Um, but they're the, the last line of defense of making sure that order is right and, uh, ready to go. Yeah. Is Desiree started that, that that was
the
first
position I worked. Yeah. Like how quickly did you realize, uh, or get like a newfound appreciation for all the different levels of detail that go into it, because that is one thing.
When you order, whenever I order it, it does feel like there's more accuracy. Like sometimes, I mean like every third order, if you go through a drive through somewhere, it's like you're going back inside like, Hey, I said no pickles or whatever. Yeah. Like how, how quickly did you start to get the appreciation of the well oiled machine and the software that ties out all together?
Oh, it, it didn't take long at all because they basically, at their, in their expo stations, they print out a ticket for every item that's gonna go in that bag. Right. And so you basically, you don't pull the ticket until you've got the item in front of you and that kind of signifies when you're ready. 'cause you've, uh, pull all your tickets off and each, if it's got a, an exception or a modifier like your no pickles, then that'll be right there. And that was hard to tell if they left the pickles off, but you can always ask the guy that handed it
to you with With my new adult palate that I've been growing, I do like pickles now.
So just let that be known. I'm a pickle fan. Janet, I want to talk about what goes into building out a playbook that's repeatable. Others like franchisees to run. I think this is a big piece where a lot of people, especially in the startup stage, they become so ingrained in the company. You know, like you're just like, oh, I'm doing everything.
Um, and so like taking your hands off of it and building repeatable playbooks can be hard. How did you guys end up putting that all together to make this, uh, as seamless as possible for someone like Joe to open this franchise?
It took years. Uh, we have a database of all of this information, all of the files.
It's, we call it kitchen back office, where it's all stored and it's all accessible for Joe and his GM to be able to get in there and understand, you know, every single part of how we operate a kitchen.
So you talked about you first got introduced to ClusterTruck through your daughter, right? Right. Uh, down at Zoa and then when you were flipping the house, but how did you learn that they even had a franchising available?
Well, like I said earlier, we were, uh, looking at different franchise opportunities and honestly, my, my wife wasn't thrilled with any of them. She kinda was shooting 'em all down. And, uh, Janet was sending out, uh, any mail basically saying that opportunities were available for franchisees. That they were, they were looking for it.
And my wife being a previous client or, you know, having ordered stuff as well, um, ordered it to me. She couldn't poo it if she started
it. Yeah, there you go.
So that's how I started looking into it. Um, yeah, was from that, from that email.
And then you, we talked about going to ownaclustertruck.com. You know, franchisees can start to explore there, but if you go to slash franchisees, there's like a whole deep dive into you and what, you know, how your experience is going and, you know, the delivery zone, all that stuff
you could sign up for, uh, to get updates us.
Are
you gonna give out updates or are you gonna,
will there be updates and, and you know, if you're signed up in there, you don't ever know. We might, uh, have you as part of the friends and family portion to uh, get some free food during the soft launch.
Oh, there we go. And I think just learning. I think, uh, this time, you know, the content is everywhere and, and people are.
Whether it's on Instagram or different places, people are talking about opening their own business or buying a business or franchising a thing. And I think that getting a front row seat to what it's like to start a franchise and own it was, is super cool. So that's cluster, uh, that's own alure.com/franchisees.
That's awesome. I think it's super cool. What's the hardest part to communicate? Like to get instilled into a new kitchen that is under your branding but owned by someone different. And I feel like a lot of times when you see. A corporate owned store for, you know, X, Y, Z thing. Um, sometimes, you know, the franchisee there, there can have different levels of quality.
They can have different thoughts for marketing and this, that, and the other thing. Um, I feel like that that consistency is really important and over communicating almost and really getting the vibe right is important
for us. It, we have this huge, vast menu, um, all sorts of different cuisine types, um, and just being able to learn every station and exactly, you know, which ingredients to use and how to, um, add the, add the, uh, garnish on top of each dish and make it, you know, appetizing, uh, and getting that out the door.
I think that's the hardest part is our, is our giant menu. But
yeah,
we do deliver every two to three days to our smaller format kitchens. Our smart kitchen model.
You said it took a long time, but like if there are entrepreneurs out there that are like so ingrained in their business. You know, that like, oh, I really wish I could franchise.
I like, for me, for instance, I wish I could franchise a podcast in South Bend, but I don't know the first place to start when it comes to like, you know, like, is it the people listening to the podcast because Nate's so special and Nate's so cool? Or is it because I'm bad at explaining how to host a good podcast?
So talk to me about the, the different steps that you and your leadership team went through when, you know, distilling that down to make like an SOP, like, like what would you say if you were my outside counsel or my outside business consultant helping me franchise get Indiana to Ohio 'cause they need it.
How would, how would you have me start and build out this plan to, you know, build a franchise?
Yeah. Well, big deep breath, right? Yeah. It's gonna take some time. Yeah. Document everything. You know. When you walk in here in the morning, what do you do? Like write it all out. Exactly. Every step that you take, you need to check the boxes and make sure that everything is standardized.Speaker 3: Did you start to realize that there were so many small little things that people were doing to make things work and you're like, well, we gotta have to, because it almost could also help you simplify your business, you know, like if you have someone doing this and someone doing that, and like all of a sudden you're like, Hey, why don't we just bring that all under one?
Did you become more efficient as a company by documenting that?
Absolutely. Um, so. You know, everyone, you know, considers it the software. The software makes it special, and it does. But on top of that, we have also streamlined all of our operations to, to work with that system that we have. So we truly have something special, and we've made being able to offer this vast menu, um, for delivery, uh, like no other concept can,
like I really wanna, uh, like learn a little bit more about getting your, you know, core values or your brand or your marketing or your, again, like the vibe piece.
Like there is one piece about ClusterTruck is that it just has a vibe. And so like, whether it's when you're ordering online or you show up and pick up something in the store there, it doesn't feel like, uh, it's something that's just like slapped together and thrown out the door. Right. Um, and so I, I'm curious of how, like, was there like training that you had to do with Joe from like a, uh.
From like a culture and brand development piece.
You finally hit the word culture. Yeah. And they're, they are big on, on the culture. Um, both. I mean, one of the books John gave me was basically about running your own show. And if, if, you know, if, if you're not doing things for your employees, maybe you need to look at the mirror and, and figure out where the problem is, right?
Mm. So, um, yeah, cul culture is big with this company and they want to give back to the community as well. It's, it's all about, you know, delivering the customer a good hot, hot meal at a, at a reasonable cost with no delivery fee.
Hey, there we go. So, when going through this process, how long does it take to go from I want to be a franchisee to, I now own and operate.
Operate and like, and we serve food out the door.
I started looking at it maybe in March and finally signed the, um, franchise agreement in I think July-ish timeframe.
Okay.
And we'll be getting, getting there in February. So from. The actual decision and agreeing that I'm gonna do it to getting the restaurant going or getting the kitchen open, um, is on the order of seven, seven months.
Seven, eight months, something
like that. That's actually not that bad. Like so what, take me through the process of opening a new, like where does it start? Does it start with the real estate? Does it start with the staff?
Definitely not staff. Okay. Because you don't wanna be paying somebody while you're searching for the real estate.
Yeah, and the real estate did take a while, especially with big companies. As far as the, the landlords, they're, yeah. Not as, or let's just say they can, don't always move.
Well, and you're in like, probably the, one of the most desirable zip codes in the state of Indiana and potentially like a top a hundred in the nation with Carmel, you know?
Yeah. Like, so figuring out where to go within there, where, where's the location at?
The location is right across is, it's on us 31 in the main corridor.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, 13756 N. Meridian Street. Oh. Uh, and it's in the Meridian Plaza. Uh, it's in the same little plaza that's, it's across from St. Vincent's on 31 as you go up Central St.
V. Oh yeah. So it's just to the west of that across.
So that is actually a key, like a really nice part about your guys' model is like, so we had the, uh. The owner of BuffaLouie's Carmel and he talked about just how expensive it got to, you know, get main drag real estate and Midtown Carmel to like, 'cause you want the foot traffic.
Yeah. And the nice part is like, okay well it's pick up where it's delivered. You don't need the foot traffic. Uh, and you can still serve all those areas. I mean, what is that like, what's the drive? If you were wanting to order ClusterTruck at Sun King Carmel, what's the drive for you guys to get it from your location to, to Midtown Carmel?
Oh, I would guess it's probably six or seven minutes would be my guess.
That's sweet. Yeah. Like that's easy money and uh, and like a places I can just imagine. Uh, you guys zipping delivery cars into, you know, like where their, the big screen is and the people are playing ping pong and everything, uh, at that, that outdoor space in Carmel, that's easy.
Like, that's so cool. Um, yeah. Especially 'cause the lines around there get pretty long.
And then the nice part about a smart kitchen is that you only need about 1200 square feet. You don't need a big space. You don't need to pay that much in rent to operate one of our kitchens.
And with like the expansion further north, like how, how big is the delivery area?
Like where does it all cover from?
Yeah, we have a 10 minute, it's not really a radius. It's more of a diamond because you can get faster on the, the center quarters. Yeah. Um, but we go basically up to like 190 first just around Grand Park. And that was one of my keys is that I wanted to be able to include Grand Park when in the location.
Dude, it's a long day. You've been watching your little leaguer. Strike out at the plate. You're a little upset. Nothing. Some buffalo chicken mac and cheese can't help. Come on. Um, wow. That, that's super interesting. I do think there's a ton of opportunity, especially as the suburbs on the north side just keep getting further and further and further north.
It's crazy. When you think about, uh, this is like your third career really, right? Like electrical engineering, you talk about
real
estate, your time in real estate, and now this next venture, what gets you excited about diving into this version of entrepreneurship?
I like learning, um, and doing something new.
Um, you know, I'm, I'm still doing real estate. I've, uh, got a sign in the truck to, to put out after, after the show. There we go for a new listing. Got things going, but it, it's fun to, to learn new things and, um, I'm excited about getting a business going that, that will last longer. Like I, I told the guys when I was starting this, it's, I was 62 when I started looking into it and it was like, you know, I, I only have a few more years.
I can take this startup energy. Right? Yeah. Uh, I don't plan on putting this much passion in. Once we, uh, get things running, it'll be hopefully left to, to Bailey to, to keep it going.
That's awesome. When identifying a good. Franchisor and franchisee, like, I'd love to talk about the character, you know, because maybe there are people that have always wanted to get an entrepreneurship and they're listening to the show and they're like, I've had all these ideas, but I don't know how to raise money.
And I don't know how to start a, like a company, but I, you know, they, they probably see like, start a chimney. John's like, you see the billboard that says $10,000 and you too could own a steak and shake. Like what, what goes into evaluating the process of becoming a franchisee? Like when you're looking through all the different options and what goes into the process of picking a franchisee that makes sense.
Like, I'd love to talk about what you saw in Joe that was like, eh, this could be the right guy. And what you saw in ClusterTruck that was like, this is the right opportunity for me.
It's like going into a marriage, right? We're gonna be, uh, in this relationship. For a while.
Yeah.
Um, you know what impressed me about Joe, you know, we work, um, the Rock the Ruins concert series in the park and him and his daughter, uh, just volunteered to help us out at the booth there, uh, one day.
And they
Wait. You guys, do you guys do a pop-up at Rock the Ruins?
Yeah, so our delivery drivers will deliver to the tent that we have at the concert. You know, there's other food trucks there as well as options, but you can get whatever you want from ClusterTruck
But as you noted, they have long lines.
So wait, like if you order, if I go up at a concert and I order something at Rock The Ruins.
Is it already there or does it get delivered?
It's cooked in our kitchen just like normal and it's delivered to the Rock The Ruins concert. Yeah.
No way.
It gets a little problematic right in the beginning of the concert with all the concert traffic.
Oh yeah, I'm sure. But like, you have a ton of people, but that's pretty, but
the entire
concert, like, I could put in an order too and like go. Have a beverage or two and then like, you know, however long, and it's like, oh,
perfect. And you're not waiting in line. You're enjoying the music at the festival and yeah,
it's like putting in like a future.
We'll let you
know when it's there.
Like it's a, it's a current investment that future you is gonna be happy about.
Oh yeah,
totally. Okay, so that sidetrack there, but that's really cool. So you volunteered, you guys go in over there and was this pre franchise agreement. Or post franchise agreement.
What I remember was him and his daughter were just on it.
I mean, customers would come up to our table and have questions and um, like one was like, what's the difference between your loaded tots and your tachos? And his daughter was like, oh, I'll tell you. And so she had it all down and just like, super personable. And then when we're working that tent, we actually have to walk out to meet the, the driver at the curb.
You know, the, the customers aren't allowed to leave the festival, you know, beyond the gate. So we do that for them. And Joe and his daughter, were chasing down the delivery guys just saying as we were. I mean, so they just jump in. You can just tell that, you know, there's the work ethic.
What got you excited about ClusterTruck?
I really like the model. I, I like the delivery model from a franchisee perspective being the first, there's dangers of being the first, because you, it's not necessarily as tried and true, but there's also. A teamwork aspect of we're doing this together, we both wanna succeed. I'll put it that way. Yeah.
Which I'm sure is true with any franchise orran franchisee agreement, but more so with the first Yeah. Just because it is the first.
Right. Well, and, and you can get a, a little bit more of the white glove attention, right. Versus Yeah, exactly. Like, I don't know what it's like to open, I think like Subway is the most franchised restaurant in the world.
Like I think they have the most locations and it's like, I'm sure they just like mail you a kit, you know? And it's like, congrats. You now own a Subway. Like, woo hoo. Um, so yeah, I do believe like, like figuring it out. And it's good to have a partner in that sense that's like, Hey, this is what we're rolling out.
But maybe giving feedback and talking about, Hey, for the future maybe you could teach this lesson, lesson on expo a little differently, or whatever it might be.
Yeah. And I've, I've tried to let John know if, you know, when they've got their recipes. You know, if I see something that's an error, let's get this fixed both for us and for the next guy.
Yeah, right. That's really interesting. They've been updating them as we go.
Yeah, I think that's, uh, that's a cool opportunity. If you were talking to, you know, a room full of 10,062 year olds that are like, you know, a couple years from setting sale into retirement, but have always maybe had a passion for entrepreneurship or doing their own thing, but, you know, they're three years away from retirement, right.
Is it 65, 66? That, something like that.
Six, seven now.
Yeah.
Right. 67. Yeah. Okay. You're just a, you're just a few years, I'll say you're a few years away from retirement. What would you say to people that are in a similar position if they're, they maybe have a, a lingering feeling of wanting to do something at that like capstone their career, but they're like, ah, don't sure
do it while you got a chance.
Right. I mean, uh, a lot of people put off. A lot of things. And if it's on your bucket list and it's something that's important to you, then, then go for it. You know? Yeah. As long as you, you're in a financial situation where you can do it and not risk your retirement.
That's fair. Yeah. A lot of times 29 year olds are not thinking about risking their retirement.
Yeah. Um, but that is true. And it's like, like you're 62, you can just hang out, you can flip a few houses, but I love like the passion and the energy. Like I want to, you know, build this thing and, and help it grow. And we're gonna get a little bit into your journey 'cause I think it's fascinating from Tennessee.
Talk about like the differences and, and were you surprised showing up in Indiana? How long ago? How many years?
Oh, I got here in 93.
Okay.
So, so I did. Basically went to high school and everything. Grew up in Memphis, Tennessee.
Yeah.
Did five years at Georgia Tech with their co-op program. Started working at General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas for the next seven and a half years doing the defense work.
Yeah. Then I moved up to Indy in 93 to work at, uh, technic. Well back then, like I said, it was called Thomson. And uh, I had some friends that I'd worked with at General Dynamics who were up here. So I came up and they had encouraged me to interview. Um, got up here and I remember when we, when we did move, well the first thing was during the interview there was a season called Fall that we really don't have in Texas at the time.
You know? Um, that was cool. But then. Drove up on like January 3rd in, in like a foot of snow, and I was not as thrilled. And then my, my, my 3-year-old son gets up here and he's playing on the snow mound in, in his cowboy boots, not snow boots. Right. So there were some, some learning to do with, uh, getting acclimated to, uh, to the Indiana weather.
That's
awesome. But, uh,
yeah,
we've loved it since then. What?
So, Tennessee, Georgia. Texas, Indiana.
Yep. That's it.
Uh, and I mean, clearly you've, you've planted the roots in Indiana
and, and been been here the longest. Yeah. Yeah. So we've been here for over 30.
What, what was it about Indiana that kept you around?
The Midwest is very accommodating. I mean, the south, I love the south as well, but, um. People are just friendly. Right. Um, just easy to, easy to live here. And, uh,
had you ever had a pork tenderloin before you came here?
No. And uh, it is funny that you say that. 'cause to me, Memphis, I think of Memphis, I think of the barbecue.
Yeah.
And so thus the, the pork barbecue was, uh, a big hit. And Texas, they, they think beef is barbecue.
That's funny. Uh, well, they say everything is bigger in Texas. I would disagree. They've never been to the Edinburgh Diner to get that tenderloin that they, they, they serve it on a literal school like cafeteria tray.
Really?
It is. I mean, at least. 18 plus inches in diameter. It's hu like, it, it is just like the, it's almost like a novelty. It's a comical, like they bring this thing out and you're like, what am I supposed to do with this? Um, it's, it's definitely worth the, uh, like the, the travel trip.
Should we do that and deliver in a pizza box or
literally
l
That would for like a week.
You could do like tenderloin week or something and just like deliver pizza box size. Tenderloins.
That's crazy.
Oh, it's, that would be money.
Our fried chicken sandwich and the, uh, tenderloins, they, I would say they get a good what, three interest. They're
respectable.
Yeah. They,
yeah. I mean that's like what you want.
Like, you don't want every day for lunch eating Edinburgh diner tenderloin. Like, this thing is, but
now I wanna go
to Edinburgh. You, you do. I would say 100%. Like if someone asked what's the bucket list of places to visit in Indiana, Edinburgh Diner is 100% on it. 'cause it's so crazy. There's like, I don't know.
Um. There's a lady that, I think she's the owner's mom is in the back and she hand rolls these things out every day and you know, gets them to be like comically big. And it's like, I would say if there were the Mount Rushmore of places to visit in Indiana, it's like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a tender one at the Edinburgh Diner.
And it, and I would say some people are like, well, who has the best tender? I'm not saying that Edinburgh Diner is the best, but it is the most like, awe inspiring one. Like we had, um, you guys know Pat Sullivan from Sullivan's Hardware? Like right over here. It's like, so like they do
podcast, right?
Yeah. Uh, so Pat does, you know, they do the
train rides,
the train ride, the Sullivan Express, the whole nine yards there.
And he talked about like when they first went all in on showmanship and he talks about, you know, when we, we wanted to get into artificial trees, so we were gonna be the market leader in artificial trees in, in Indianapolis. So they got 70 artificial trees. And so when people walked in, they were just wowed.
Like Edinburgh Diner has the wow factor of just like, we're not just gonna survey tenderloin, we're gonna serve the biggest tenderloin. Um, so I always say that's on my Mount Rushmore places to visit, but like. Again, if I was just like ordering lunch, I don't know if I would want that every day. Uh, crazy.
So you end up sticking around Indiana and you're up, um, like what drew you to Hamilton County and planting a roots there and and how cool is it to be a full circle moment of now being a business owner and operator in Hamilton County?
When we first got here, we rented a place over in Castleton. My wife was looking mostly just, you know, within a couple of mile radius of that and I was finally like, let, let's ex let's expand our, our search.
And uh, we ended up near, up near Morse Reservoir on, um, in North Harbour. And uh, we've been there. Like I said, for, for over 30 years now, same house, even though I've flipped other houses, we, you know, no
way.
Still, still in the same house before.
How has, how has Hamilton, how has Hamilton County changed over the last 30 years?
Oh wow. I mean, talk about driving down 31 and noticing the difference or 37, right? Yeah. I mean, it's just completely, oh, you, you still have to pass corn fields here and there. That's, that's always the, one of the things that's different about
rarely
Indiana is that they don't necessarily force the develop, you know, the sale of those corn fields.
Right. You, uh, it's whenever that farmer decides he's ready to give it up. But, uh, yeah,
uh, I've been to every. Incorporated and unincorporated town in Hamilton County. I've driven e I've driven every square mile basically. Uh, and it's crazy, like how far I would love to see like side by side images of like, back when Westfield was still west of a field.
Right. And, and back in the day, like all that stuff was, it was nuts. And, um, just seeing how many people and, and how much national attention Hamilton County gets is awesome. Yeah. Like, uh, like some people, you know, it's, it's really easy to hate on Carmel 'cause it's like, you know, the picture perfect, blah blah, but like.
I'm like, I have been, it's
jealousy.
I have been at times an outward like, oh Carmel, you're so cool. And then I like started hanging out in Midtown Carmel and I'm like, shoot, this is pretty cool. Like the bing pong tables outside and the, you can watch the games and the screen and like that place, like they've kind of figured it out a little bit and the, that development keeps going further south and it's like connecting across, I don't know what street that is, but I just feel like at every stage they just figure out like something cool to do.
And then like the Westfield and the Noblesville and the Fishers are all like. The rising tide lifts all ships in Hamilton County.
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons when I was looking for an opportunity, Hamilton County was where I wanted to be. Um, since I'm in Noblesville, my son's in Westfield, I originally looked along 32, but given the shape of delivery areas, that would've covered a lot of corn fields and they don't buy as much food so.
Thus the, the transition over to, uh, yeah. U.S. 31. 'cause that basically gives you both a good residential area for, for dinners and then it gives you a lot of, uh, office space. Yeah. Around that quarter for your good lunch, lunch crowd
is ClusterTruck lunch or ClusterTruck dinner more popular?
So lunch is like compacted into like noon, like tons of orders right at that time.
And then dinner is sort of spread out starting at like five 30 and it'll go to like eight 30.
Yeah. Well if, if they're eating at five 30, they call it supper.
Yeah.
Yeah. That's what my grandma was when come over from for supper or, and like dinner her for her dinner was lunch and supper was dinner. So it was like, I was like, wait, come over for dinner.
And I was like, okay, I'll be there at six. And she's like, oh, I eat at noon or at 11 or whatever. And I was like, oh, you mean lunch? Like that didn't exist in her, uh, in her dialogue. Um. Okay. When thinking about expanding a business and you know, growing this franchisee program, are there other places, whether it's around Indianapolis, whether it's around the country, have, are there other places you've thought of expanding to, if you could just wave the magic wand and find another Joe and plan 'em somewhere else, where would it be?
Fishers.
Oh,
Greenwood.
Yeah.
Like all around Indianapolis area. Yeah, so we're purposefully building out here around this city so that we can help and make sure that everyone's successful.
I'm thinking through how cool would it be if you could cover. Like if every square inch Oh yeah. Of the indie metro and like Exactly.
You know, had delivery coverage. That'd be pretty, like McCordsville, like that would be cool. Like that area's growing like crazy. Talk about even out to Greenfield. 'cause Chris, uh, Bagot is like one of the founders or the founder of Cluster
Trip. It was his original idea. Yeah. So he is the founder.
What, what has it, he had an idea about, like, I know I got coffee with him maybe a few months ago and just like now he's like an ultra marathoner, like Trekker, what's it called?
Rucking. He's like really into rucking and modern agriculture farming or something like regenerative farming. Very interesting. Like if someone wants to just like, like go. Have an experience with Chris and you'll have stories for a week or two.
That is your hidden gem for Indiana's Tyner Pond Farm Farm.
Yeah.
I mean, I somehow, I sit down with him, you know, chit-chatting about all the cool stuff and I end up walking out of there with like $97 in like grass fed beef. He's, 'cause I'm like so sold, I'm like, oh yeah, I could probably do the carnivore diet. Like that would make sense. You know,
it's more nutrient dense.
It's better for you.
There was a difference, I'm not even joking, I'm not saying it's true. They are not a sponsor. Like I get $0 from Tyner Pond Farm Farm. I cooked maybe the New York strip or the ribeye or like I cook two different steaks versus my Kroger steak. There's a difference.
Mm-hmm It's a healthier animal.
It is crazy. And he talked about, um, I ended up having, after my. I talked with Chris for 90 minutes about regenerative farming and all the stuff that they're doing. Again, delivery farmer's market, like that's, it seems like there's a common theme here with what he has ideas about. But I was calling my best friend from back home who was a farmer and I was trying to convince him to start buying chickens.
'cause Chris had convinced me that if you wanted to get into regenerative farming, you just start, you start with 10 chickens and get to 20 and then you're at 40. And I'm like, dude, it's an investment. Let's buy some chickens for this thing. Uh, he did not agree, but he also didn't get to sit in the conversation with Chris.
I was sold. Sorry, that's a little bit of a sidetrack there. But, uh, I do think there's lots of years of innovation and, you know, coming in and it's really cool to see a staple local business like ClusterTruck, taking this. Next step in the chapter and still focusing around, um, Indianapolis and growing out there.
I think that that's, that's super cool. When you're looking at potential franchisees, there could be one listening right now, what are the indicators that, uh, you know, that they should start a conversation with you all? Like what kind of people, entrepreneurs are you looking for to get involved with the franchisee program?
I mean, they should go to ownaclustertruck.com and then read all the details about what this takes to become a franchisee. Um, and then, you know, fill out that form and start the conversation there.
So if you were to paint a picture of what the perfect franchisee, you know, looks like, things like, like are they in, are, do they have restaurant experience?
Do they have finance experience? Do they have to be entrepreneurs?
You don't need any of that experience.
Yeah. What kind of people are you looking for?
An entrepreneur who, who wants to run their own business?
Okay.
I feel like we have built the playbook in an industry that is growing. More and more people want their food delivered.
Um, but I don't know of any company that's really figured out how to provide that profitably. Yeah. As the kitchen. Uh, and we, we've done that since we are vertically integrated with the software and our operations and our playbook, um, it just takes, you know. I think on the low end, $350,000 as your upfront cost.
I think you're somewhere in line with that.
Okay. That's scary to some people. Yeah. 'cause they're like, I don't just have $350,000 in cash sitting around.
Yeah. Unless you can talk your, uh, landlord into all your tenant improvements and make sure you go into a repurposed like restaurant or kitchen, you don't have those expenses.
Yeah. Well, from like the, uh, owner side, like, is that something that you could work through, like SBA type funding or business bank loan? Like, like I think that a lot of times that is, um, alarming to people.
Yeah.
Where it's like, okay, am I, am I gonna cash out my $350,000 retirement and like, go all in on this thing?
Or are there ways that. You know, business owners can figure out how to put financing together.
Yeah. There's SBA loans that Yeah. A franchisee can go after.
And, and with this, if you think about, I had to imagine, again, I have no idea, but I'm just gonna pontificate a little bit. Uh, when you have a, you know, business plan and a proven model, and it's not the same thing as going to a business or going to a bank and saying, I have this great idea, please give me $350,000 to make x, y, z even of us.
Like, you know, we have a little bit of traction, but I don't know if I could go to a bank and all of a sudden you have like a line of credit for 350 K. But if you come down, you know, if you team up with a franchise like ClusterTruck and you go there and say, Hey, when, you know, you start to have numbers and forecasts and you can paint this picture, it de-risks that bank's investment a little bit, right?
Yeah. I mean, they're able to go. To a bank with this business idea.
Look, the business like, like your guys', like SOP type, you know, like the whole plan of how to open a franchise,
right? And the, and they can get a SBA loan that's federally guaranteed or federally backed.
Yeah, that's really interesting because I do think when you start to say like, even the, like, you know, the billboards for, uh, steak and Shake, it's like,
yeah,
well a lot of people that want to own a business, like don't just have $10,000 in liquid cash that they can just pour into this to, and again, I have no idea what the terms or anything of like for that, but I'm guessing for $10,000 you're not getting a lot of business.
You know,
opening up a kitchen can cost over a million dollars just to get started in a restaurant That's, yeah. Um, so, uh, start starting at 350,000 or less is really inexpensive.
Again, you talk about distilling the, the ClusterTruck process out. Like how do you guys. You know, deliver that to new franchisees in, in, in their kitchens and training.
Like, especially if, if you're the leader of this team and you've never peeled a potato or whatever, the ClusterTruck way, I think that those little things start to add up and matter.
We, we document everything. We have training videos for every step.
You made videos?
Yeah, we have videos.
Who's the, who's the onscreen talent?
The chef's hands.
Who is there? Like a voiceover. Like this is how you slice an avocado. The ClusterTruck way.
Chef Epsie
That's awesome. That would be a really fun project. And like talk about meticulous detail.
Oh yeah.
Where it's like, and I know that like sometimes people would be like, oh, like why do you need to, but every little thing matters because it's uniform.
It is the standard. Is the standard, right?
Yeah. We don't just dump food into a container. There's a, there's a certain way that it's presented every time.
And you know, when you aren't getting that, you know, when you show up someplace and like something that's like always been made one way is now made a little differently and you're kind of like.
What's going on there?
Yeah. And our customers will let us know. And we have a customer service team that is amazing. And they will make it right every single time. So if you don't have that trust factor with your customers, yeah, don't expect them to come back, especially with food delivery.
And when you talk about opening up a franchise and the investment that that takes, is that just like.
Kitchen equipment or like what all goes into that?
The opening costs is everything. Uh, your kitchen equipment that you need, which we have reduced that, um, considerably since we're not commissary to the franchisee locations or smart kitchens. They don't, they don't have to have the giant tilt kettles.
There's a lot of giant commercial equipment that's unnecessary in these smaller format kitchens, which helps, uh, reduce that overhead.
Yeah.
Um, so equipment, uh, there's a $50,000, uh, sign on for franchising. That's fee, uh, to cover our expense for all the training and that's thing that goes into it. Um, the marketing to get it up and going.
Yeah. Um, there's a certain amount that we expect franchisees to spend just to get the word out that they have a location in the kitchen.
Yeah. Joe, you're thinking more of like the hands off, have a GM approach. Like I don't have a ton of kitchen experience. What if there was someone that maybe did have kitchen experience and has always dreamed of owning their own restaurant Yeah.
And being their own boss. Is that something that, that you guys would also be, you know, willing to entertain of someone that has kitchen experience as a franchisee?
Yeah, I think it makes training a little bit easier, so they have that background to get started right away. Um, part of, you know, owning a ClusterTruck is also just becoming part of the community and giving back in your community.
So it's, it's more than just being in the kitchen all day. It's also getting out there and getting to know your customers
well. Talk to me about community involvement. There's a really cool tie in here, right? So. Cluster truck is partnered with the Riley Children's Foundation. Like if you order off the kids' menu, a portion of that goes to, uh, as a donation to Riley Children's Foundation.
Yes. They have a specific fund that is geared towards the study, the research of, um, food and how it impacts, uh, a young person's, uh, health and as they grow into adulthood.
No way. That's a cool, okay, that's a cool tie in. Have you heard of like what Martha Hoover is up to these days with a longer table? I believe crazy like her.
It started as a chu foundation and just like the way that she and her team have thought about, you know, young people eating nutritious food. Mm-hmm. You know, like if you think about, uh, a lot of times, you know, in. Impoverished areas. Like a kid, their lunch at school might be the only food that they eat, and if they like skip the broccoli, they're not getting their veggies.
Mm-hmm. So just like the nutritious food, like, I think that that's an awesome cause and like what a great tie in for you all to be a part of there. And then Joe, this was like the icing on the cake for you, right? Because your daughter, those same one that got you introduced to ClusterTruck,
right?
Happens to work at IU Health and was a part of Purdue Dance Marathon.
Shout out Riley.
Yeah, she, uh, in co when she was finishing her, uh, pharmacy degree at Purdue, uh, she had got, she'd been involved for all, it's a six year program and she was pretty much involved all six years with, uh, Purdue Dance Marathon. Uh, she got up to be on the exec board, which obviously they're, they're big, uh, you know, they're, they're raising money for.
Riley Children's Hospital. That's awesome. So that was, uh, a big, big part of her, her college career.
Yeah. That is the one thing you talk about being invested in the community, whether it's the Riley Children's Foundation or just like your guys', I know we did a fun video last year with the Indians and all the, and, and the Horizon League.
Like just being active members of the Indianapolis community is a huge piece. You talk about being a franchisee where it's, you know, it's not just be, you know, the best chef or the best driver or the best operator, but you also have to be a steward of the community and, and be involved there. And I think that's really, really cool.
Yeah. And it doesn't have to be a giant organization like the Indians or Horizon League. We do a Dine to donate program where we'll donate 20% of the revenue towards whatever organization that is putting this on for, you know, a week or so.
There you go. You know what, when we would rock Carmel Swim. I feel like everyone in, in Carmel, like they, they find a partnership there.
Like, you know, with the launch it's like everyone in, I think they had signs that said Swim City, USA, you get a little, maybe an NIL deal with uh, Alex Shackell gold medal. You deliver like the gold medal, onion ring burger. I don't know. I'm just throwing out crazy ideas here.
Or maybe the David Boudia Berger.
Yeah, there's a Noblesville fan too.
Oh,
they, David Bo, he went to Noblesville High School.
Above my, above my pay grade. Alright, we've come to the final part of the show. We're gonna talk all things Indiana. This question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond.
Check them out at homeisjchart.com and I bet if you live in a JC Hart apartment complex, there is probably. A ClusterTruck in that delivery area. So like skip the, skip the other takeout tonight and get yourself some cluster T truck. My question for each of you, we'll start with you Joe. Why do you call Indiana
home?
Because I've been here for 34 years.
Yeah,
kind. I, that makes it home. I've been
here
longer than anywhere else.
You talk about, you know, being an electrical engineer and living in Texas and you could go any of these other places, there's no shortage. There was no shortage of job opportunities for electrical engineer.
Why did you choose to continue to call Indiana home?
It's just a great place to grow up or for, to, to raise kids, I should say. Yeah, right. Yeah. And uh, it's funny 'cause a lot of the millennial generation, you know, they like my son. He, he, he wanted to get away from Noblesville. Tiny little Noblesville, right?
And yet here after, after two grandchildren, he's realized. He brought him back. Now he lives in Westfield.
Yeah.
Thank you, Thomas. There you go. Um, so yeah, it it's a great place to raise kids. Good, good wholesome values and, uh,
yeah.
You know, weather,
eh,
but you know, it,
it's all about perspective. You know, if it was just 75 and sunny, you would take it for granted.
Well, considering he's coming back from Madison, Wisconsin, this is looking real good.
Amen. Janet, why do you call Indiana home? Well, I was adding it up and I've been here 25 years, so, uh, ended up going to the IU McKinney School of Law here downtown and made many great friends, uh, over those years, and now I'm raising a child and it really is a good place to raise a child.
Yeah,
I was gonna say, you, there's no shortage of lawyers, you know, like you could get law a job anywhere, but I just love it when, you know, whether it's schooling or whether it's a job that brings you here, like after leaving, you know, uh, RCA or whatever, you know?
Yeah,
yeah. Mm-hmm. After leaving that it's like you could have gone back to Tennessee or back to Texas or anywhere like that.
And, and it does just seem, even like with NFL players, when their time is up in Indianapolis, they're like, oh, I still wanna live here and raise my family. And I think that's just so cool.
You get your roots planted, right? I mean, for me, we're, we're part of our church family is, is a critical part of our life, right?
And, uh. You get where you just can't imagine life without the people around you. Right.
One, I, we, we can't talk about this whole endeavor without talking about the man, the myth, the legend. That is Jon Canter. So he is the VP of franchising, right?
Yes.
But he's been in a few different roles. 'cause he's been with ClusterTruck for forever as well.
He has been here for, and he has, you know, worked through every single different department in our company, I feel, and he's actually worked in a smart kitchen and learned all of the stations, just like you have Joe. Um, so, and he's put together all of the kitchen, back office, all of the information, all the training videos, like he.
He knows it all.
Yeah. And it's like, I'm sure if you reach out and if let's say you're, even, if you're even 1% interested, okay, maybe we gotta go more than one. If you're even 30% interested in the thought of franchising a ClusterTruck, I am sure if you reach out to John on LinkedIn, he'll either one have a phone call or a Zoom call or get coffee or a beer or something with you and talk about it.
He is just honestly one of the most friendly guy. For people that remember it was a short-lived video, but John actually delivered, I think it was 50 of the Southwest raps to our tailgate intern three at the Indianapolis 500. And we, he was like a young Peyton Manning out there just slinging Southwest raps to everyone.
And this was probably about like 10 or 11:00 AM right at the time where the average Indy 500 patron needs a Southwest rap. And I have never seen. In all of my years, a more beloved figure than that man slinging out raps. In turn three at the Indianapolis 500. It was iconic. So shout out to you, John.
He is one of the most.
Generous people I've ever met in my entire life. So sometimes I gotta hold 'em back, like, Hey, we can't give all this away for free. Come on, we gotta draw a line somewhere.
Now we got some rapid fire questions for you. We'll go back and forth. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Let's say it's been a hard day, long day. You know, one of those ones where you get to the end of it and you just need some comfort food.
What's the order from ClusterTruck when you're having one of those days? The Creole white chicken chili. The white
chicken chili with rice. Just yeah. Warms your, warm you. Especially on a good winter day.
Amen.
Yeah. For me, uh, the Thai red curry, this is new, right? We brought it back. So we had it before, uh, and we brought, we just brought it back on our menu.
My comfort food menu from, from ClusterTruck is slower, slightly embarrassing. 'cause it's like I'm saying you, you take the budget out of things. So if I'm like really beat up and I'm just like, you know what? I just want to experience a lot of different things. I'm talking. Probably in order of the pad Thai or the mac and cheese.
You gotta make a, you gotta make a choice there. You can't do both. So it's pad thai, add chicken, or the buffalo chicken, mac and cheese. But then I'm also throwing a pizza in there just for like a slice. And then the rest of it's for lunch. I don't need the whole pizza. I just need a slice. And then, and then I'm talking about one of those cheesecake brownies.
That's the icing on top, dude. Like after that one. Again, one slice, maybe two of the pizza. You eat the Pad Thai and then when you're feeling like, you know, like you're already kinda like, okay, I'm starting to feel a little better. The final thing to get you back on track is the cheesecake brownie. That is an embarrassingly large order for one human being, but then I just like eat the leftover pizza throughout the rest of the week and I'm good to go.
There you go.
When it comes to the grand opening that's coming up with ClusterTruck, what are you the most excited for?
Well, it's been a long journey trying to get this thing on the road, so I'm just excited to, to hit the Go button and, and finally have it open and, uh, be able to, instead of just say it's coming, say now go to ClusterTruck.com and, and order, we, we can make, we can get you some hot food now.
Janet, what are you excited for?
I'm excited to have trained a franchisee to, to do what we do in, in their own kitchen and, and prove to the world that we have a business model that really works and, and see where this takes us.
So one piece about ClusterTruck that makes a ton of sense is, you know. The process, the kitchen, like everything is streamlined.
Technology, it's efficient. You can make all this stuff work so it happens quickly.
Mm-hmm.
But if efficiencies didn't matter, if you could just hand make and deliver anything, anything no holds barred, what would you put on the menu if you could do it?
Uh, for me, I like sushi and Korean food. It'd be so nice if I didn't have to make it myself.
Okay. Imagine this Korean barbecue delivery is like you got a little hot plate that shows up there in the center and you're putting it, that would be an experience. Could be pretty cool. Like sushi would be hard. That would be really hard to like,
it's gotta be the right temperature
because then you have hot and you're cold and you're just kind of like, yeah.
Okay. Joe
Pasta, uh, dish. There was a pesto pasta dish and um, my son had made it and I was just like, we could, we could incorporate this, this, this would be cool. We
have a couple of pasta dishes
and, yeah. Yeah. You know what I think would be really hard to do that I wish someone could do. It's just like a big juicy steak.
Yeah.
Like sometimes I'm really in the mood to, but like if, to make a really good one, it's like you gotta let it like tenderize and seize it and all of a sudden it's like, you know, a three hour endeavor to make a great, or like a brisket, like if someone could do delivery meat really well, like that would be, but it shows up and you're just kinda like, I feel like I got carry out steak one time and I only got it one time.
It's not the
same.
It's not the same as when you pull it off your own grill and you know, it's like the whole thing.
One thing we haven't talked about, yeah. As much we've talked about the expedient of the model and all that, but um, we probably ought to try and hit on, uh, group ordering the fact that it's good for, uh, like it.
You've got a wide variety menu, but we don't have to decide the family is going for pizza. Johnny can have his hamburger, mama can have her Pad Thai, and dad can have, you know, his buffalo chicken mac and cheese. Right. I mean, that is a good point. And the same point goes for, uh, if you're at an office, right? The secretary or whoever organizes lunches for the, for the group can send out a link.
Everybody can get what they want. Pay individually or pay pay as a group. Either way,
it does make it really nice. Like when we think about ordering lunch here in the office, we're like, okay, like you send out the link and all of a sudden Robert's got his like double chicken Pad Thai that he just, he had never had Pad Thai before.
Oh wow. He loved it so much that he made it Pad Thai Tuesday. So we have Tenderloin Thursday and Pad Thai Tuesday. Uh, which is insane. Like, he's like had it one time, he's like, I don't know, I'm not, I'm unsure about this. And then he, I was like, dude, just have one bite. It was iconic electric. Um, that is nice though.
'cause some days it's. Hey, I'm not, I'm feeling feeling light today. I gotta keep it with the Caesar salad. Um, yeah, that's a good point. Have you guys like traveled throughout the state of Indiana? Have you been other through the world, cities, towns world? Yeah. Well, I don't care about outside of the state of Indiana.
This is Indiana.
Yeah. Come on. Okay. So while traveling the state of Indiana, what has been a restaurant experience that has just blown your mind? Something that you were just like so impressed by?
I'm a tight wad. I can't say we do a lot of fancy restaurants.
Okay. Hey, it doesn't have
to.
It could, it could something, something low key could blow you away too.
Yeah, this is true. Um, I, I'll tell you, one of our favorites is, uh, up in Westfield. Um, it's a bar, it's another barbecue place and it's good pork barbecue. Yeah. With the pirate logo, and I can't even think of the name of it right now.
Big Hoffa's.
Big Hoffa's. Yes, exactly. That's some good stuff.
That's,
that's the hains.
That's good meat. Good meat.
Yeah.
And. If it passes the Tennessee Texas barbecue standard. That's how you know. There's also another spot up there where the guy sells out every day at like noon. I think it's Ben's BBQ Shack. Have you heard of that?
I
heard one. I think that's what his name is. I saw a video about, again, I like big, big dogs.
You could like take two swipes through my Instagram and like every third one is like someone trying some crazy food experience. Janet, what about you?
There is a Thai restaurant, and I don't remember its name, but it's in Greenwood and I think it's uh, family owned
Thai Spice, house of Thai and Ramen. Oh, that one says coming soon.
I think it might be Thai Spice.
Thai Spice.
Has it been there a long time?
Oh yeah. 1500 reviews.
Yeah.
Thai Spice has 1500 reviews and a 4.5 star. That's pretty impressive. Wow. It looks like a, I don't even really know. I'm not like a diehard Thai food guy, but. I'm gonna have to go check this place out.
Yeah.
Talk about South side like that. Uh, like interesting cuisine. I went to a Burmese restaurant.
Yeah.
Called Chin Brothers
in Bloomington. They have some interesting food.
The most interesting day of my life, probably one of them, was when I went to Chin Brothers. 'cause it's like they give you like the Burmese tea leaf salad and like, and unfortunately it just did not fit my palate.
Oh.
So like, I just did not like, it was like a,
where was this?
This is on the south side down by like, kind of the Perry Meridian area and, you know, chin Brothers, it and Eater ranked this as one of the top 40 restaurant, like, must visit restaurants in Indiana. And I'm like, okay. So me and uh, Tommy Barrett go down there and I say like, whatever the experience is, give me the Burmese food experience.
Like I'm in. And there was like a, like some sort of egg, like a, like a hard boiled egg, but not all the way hard boiled, but not a chicken egg, like a. A more, you know, duck? Uh, no, it was like crazier, like, I wanna say it was like an, an emu, but like, not an emu, like something like that. And so it was like, like quail egg.
There was like a, there was like quail, a little small one. There was a quail egg on top and I was just like eating this food and I was not enjoying it at all. All no. Oh no. And I was just like, I don't know if I can make, but then. The owner comes up and like, is being so hospitable. He's like taking us through the whole thing.
He had no idea who we were, by the way. Like this wasn't like, oh, I know you guys are, you know, Instagrammers. Like, he just like, was like, oh, you guys are not, you know, drinking this the right way. And took us through the whole experience. I still didn't like it. But then he was just being so kind that I was like, man, and he like took us on a tour of his shop, like they have a grocery store connected to it and he's like talking about all the different foods and he just loved it so much.
And I was like, well, I love how much passion this guy has. And then I look outside and, and we somehow got on the subject that he has a cyber truck. And this was like right when cyber trucks came out. I'm like, oh, you have a cyber truck that's so cool. He goes, yeah, you wanna drive it. So now all of a sudden we're driving this guy's cyber truck in the parking lot and I'm like, I really hate that.
I didn't like the food, but this guy's awesome. Like what a good dude. And it's like, that's just my experience with Burmese food on the south side of Indianapolis. So
that's hilarious.
You know, that's, I don't know how I got on that tangent, but it was a wild day
that, that just reminds me of in Bloomington, they have all of those international.
Restaurants down there. You, I am sure you're familiar, right? Yeah. Like the Dalai Lama has some sort of connection to Bloomington.
Is it like the Dalai Lama's brother or something? Was like a, there was a connection. Yeah. I don't wanna butcher it, but there's a connection between the Dalai Lama's brother in Bloomington, Indiana.
We came to like a Nepali restaurant down there. I don't know. That's pretty, it's kind of fun. Yeah.
We're Purdue folks. I don't know anything
about that. Oh, sorry. We just won.
Yeah, that's,
this is true.
This is true.
And it was a great game.
Wow. Okay. Wait, this is what it is. The Dalai Lama has visited Bloomington Indiana many times since 1987, primarily due to his late brother, whose name I cannot pronounce, unfortunately.
Um, an Indiana University professor and founder of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. Yeah. T-M-B-C-C, which serves as a hub for Tibetan culture and interfaith dialogue. Wow.
Yeah. Go down there for Tibetan food.
That's pretty, that's crazy. The more you know people. Um, all right, we've come to the final part of the show where we ask the same three questions to every guest who comes on.
First question, Joe, we'll start with you. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
We're hospitable, uh, crossroads of, of America. We've already talked about great, great place to raise a family. Good, good values. A lot of beautiful areas, especially. Um, our shape parks I think are great.
Yeah.
Janet, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana,
this state, everyone is so kind to one another. Uh, you know, we hosted the Super Bowl one year and there was just a different vibe in this town about how friendly we were and how. Um, consider where we were with the, the visitors that we had in our state.
Yeah. To the point where people think it's fake. They're like, oh, these are these people from Indiana. Really? That nice? And they move here and they're like, wait. They really are that nice. That's
a, who's your hospitality?
That's a good one. Okay. Now this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to know about something.
It could be a park, a restaurant, uh, a thing, a place, wherever. Could be anything, but what is a hidden gem in Indiana
Potter's Bridge Park, and it's, uh, just off Allisonville and, uh, Cumberland. And, uh, it's got the, the, an original covered bridge that they've restored. Uh, and it's got great trails. You just walk under this canopy of, of trees for miles and it actually connects into the, uh, some of the trail systems.
So it's great.
Like the whole park area, the trail that runs through there.
Mm-hmm.
It's awesome.
Yeah. It's gorgeous.
All right.
Janet paved
your turn.
What
is a hidden gem in Indiana?
Well, we kind of touched on it earlier, Tyner Pond Farm Farm. Right? And if you're looking for high quality food that's local, um, done the right way better for the planet,
I don't know how I was, I, I didn't go in there expecting to spend $97 on meat, but I walked out of there.
And I believer do not regret my purchase, I will stand by it wholeheartedly. Okay. Last question we have today. This is where we source new guests for the show and we learn about interesting people doing interesting things and inspiring Hoosiers, who's a Hoosier. We need to keep on our radar, someone who's doing big things.
As I've been doing the ClusterTruck remodel of our place, uh, we've got a wall that we're gonna put a mural on, and the other day we brought in a muralist to, to do, and it was, uh, Zach Lowe. And this guy came up with, with just a very little input, he comes up with this concept for, for it, and it just blew us all away.
And, uh, he pretty much had immediate buy-in. I was, anyway, talented guy. He, uh, he teaches the, uh, Carmel Center for the Performing Arts. He did the, uh, murals at, uh. Two of your locations? Castleton? No, I'm sorry. Um, broad Ripple. Broad Ripple and downtown. And then, uh,
this guy's got great art. Oh my golly.
He's done a lot of the artwork at ZOA as well.
What a guy. Zach Lowe. Shout out to you brother. That's awesome.
I think I'm just gonna go with that one. I mean, he really is amazing.
We're all in on Zach.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, his work, I will say the mural on the side of Broad Ripple is so sick. That's like very, that was 2025, right?
Yeah, he did it.
That's awesome.
And
that's on stucco. Can you imagine trying to paint on,
I can't imagine on
non flat surface.
Like I can't imagine just painting in general. You know, like, I think that is one of the craziest abilities, like when you think about people who are like talented musicians, like talented, like ceramics, like creating this stuff, like painting is crazy.
Like, I just like can't even, I can't even fathom being good at that. So congrats to Zach and everyone who's, you know, made that their trade. 'cause it's awesome.
Yeah, we met him last week. We showed him the wall and he's like, I got an idea. Let me go get my drawing pad.
No.
What? It was instantaneous
and it's just
like, yeah.
That's so cool. Well, hey, it's been a pleasure to get to hang out and learn more about after 10 years cluster trucks now expansion into the franchisee program. I think that it's awesome. I'm really excited. I just see summers in Hamilton County in Carmel. You're hanging downtown in Midtown and, and you can, instead of waiting in line somewhere there, you order ClusterTruck, it shows up.
You're just vibing outside, maybe a six pack of Sun King and you know, you're having a good time. Um, I'm excited to follow along. I'm excited for the launch, uh, February, 2026. So, so, so cool. Before we head outta here, I do have to say if people are interested in ordering ClusterTruck, if they're interested in franchising a ClusterTruck or they have questions to ask, tell me where they need to go.
ordering clustertruck.com.
Yeah. Heck yeah.
Franchising ownaclustertruck.com. Easy. If you're interested in Joe specifically, ownaclustertruck.com/franchisees.
Boom. There you go. Easy peasy. Appreciate y'all. I am hungry. I think it's time for lunch. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater.
Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle.
Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.
