Episode #584: From Corporate Success to Franchise Operator-Chris Rotondi's Journey with Serotonin Centers

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This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the

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pleasure of bringing a friend of mine from Greenwich,

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Connecticut, franchisee of Serotonin Centers

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by way of New Jersey, right? Chris Rotondi.

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Welcome to the first Halo Talks. Yeah, thanks Pete,

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Appreciate the, appreciate the invite. So we met first time when you

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were in pre sale or right about to open your location

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last year for the anti aging longevity

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and the place looked pristine and you were ready to,

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to kind of hit the playing field. So talk about what you were

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doing before this and why you decided to get into the industry.

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Oh yeah, absolutely. So yeah, as far as what I was doing prior to this,

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I actually held a career with a company called Shift4 as the

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13th employee hired. So I was like 25 at the time, fax my

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resume in. The CEO actually was, he was 18,

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started the business when he was, when he was 16.

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Since then, you know, company, you know, went public. They did

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that probably about, I think it was like, like 20, 21. So all along the

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way I walked in there, got my little interview. Started off just

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supporting credit card terminals, then grew with the company all the way through,

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ended up in the, in the business development aspects. And then all along the

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way you see that entrepreneurial spirit from, from your CEO. But

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then also kind of my line of work, I was dealing with, you

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know, you know, small businesses the entire way, both as far as like, you know,

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your merchants, but then all the independent agents as

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well. They were all entrepreneurs building their own businesses, starting from

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scratch. And a lot of times they were very close to my age at the

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time. So as time went on, company got bigger and bigger and

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bigger. You know, you start dealing with more sophisticated organizations.

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Sort of towards the end of my career there's, you know, I was dealing with

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the same like, sort of entrepreneurs, but they had now matured into these large like

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software companies, like ISVs. Right? So, you know, seeing all

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of that growth and then being around it the whole time, you know, it inspired

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me to like, as we got towards, you know, towards that IPO and then as

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the 13th employee hired, kind of had my reward for that

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at that time, you know, I saw that as inspiration to, you

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know, kind of, you know, move on to, you know, say that next phase of

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my life. And you know, I've always been into, into health and

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wellness. Fortunately for myself, like, I kind of learned about like, you know, say like

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biohacking for lack of a better term, and was able to

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have a lot of success with that. As far as like, you know, if I

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do say so, Myself, but, you know, from like, you know, age 35

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on, became really passionate about it, saw this opportunity

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and seized it. Right. I think Eric and, you know, you know, Matt Mariello over

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there as well. Sure. You know, they were both really, you know, really

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helpful in, like, in taking that leap. And, you know, ever since then, I'm very

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fortunate be in the position to where, you know, I have now my own

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business. I have six licenses total. So, you know, over the next few years, we're

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going to look to build at least six of these. But it's a business. Right.

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And then I'm the owner, so it's kind of your responsibility to go as far

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as you can. So if that turns into 60, it turns into 60. If it

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turns into 10, it turns into 10. But, you know, my job is to push

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it and, you know, be a good, A good owner operator along the way. So,

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you know, that's pretty much my story. So when you were, you know,

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debating on what your next chapter would be after, you know, having a

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great run at shift four and being in an entrepreneurial organization, know

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what the risks and returns of that, you know, were and actually, you know, getting.

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Getting that, you know, slice of. Of reward. What.

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What other types of concepts did you consider

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before landing on the serotonin concept? Yeah, this is

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probably the answer you don't want to hear or like most people don't want to

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hear, but really it was like, the truth. The truth? Yeah. Halo is all. Halo

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talks all about the truth. So tell us, because everybody's journey.

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Oh, you know, okay. Yeah, perfect. No, yeah. The minute I came across this. The

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minute I came across this, it was. I knew it was what I wanted to

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do. I knew I did want to move into something. Didn't really give it, like,

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too much thought to where, like, you know, I didn't. I didn't, you know,

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I didn't let, you know, the details get in the way of a decision on

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this one. And then I just went with it from there. So, you know, I

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dabbled in real estate a little bit, you know, but I. I think like, that.

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That it was, I guess it's a good idea until, like, you kind of practice

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it and it doesn't really, you know, for me, it didn't necessarily have like, the.

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The reward of actually, like, making that contribution back. Right. You get to see a

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lot of, like, really, you know, have. You get to change lives in this. Right.

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Whereas, like, you know, real estate, you don't quite get that. And, you know, so

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as soon as I saw It. I kind of latched on to it and I

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decided that was, that was the next step. So I think I'd say fate more

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than anything else. Yeah. So you weren't looking at, like, I'm thinking about doing this

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express car wash or, you know, serotonin,

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and you kind of sat down at the table and like, ran some numbers. This

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is more of a passion play in the right place for you to be

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your personality and your desires.

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So what have been some of the early takeaways or some

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of the early wins, if you will, Whether

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that's like a client that came in and changed

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their life or you had an aha moment

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running your own business? Positive and negative. Yeah, I

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mean, I would say as far as, like, as far as, you know, the clients

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go and the wins it is. We opened in. We

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opened in April, so now we're looking at, you know, probably what.

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We're 10 months in. So you have some of those early clients, right? They

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came in, you know, they had their weight loss goals or even, you know, their

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body composition goals. And, you know, now you're starting to really see those results,

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right? You're coming across people that now, you know, they've lost like 35,

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40 pounds. And, you know, they're, know they, they attribute that all to, you know,

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kind of what they've gotten here as far as the coaching and, you know, the

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way, the way we approach that, which is really rewarding. So I, I'd

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say those are, those are the definite, the definite wins, right? Like, the more you

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could repeat, repeat that. That's infectious, right? And then, you know, everybody kind of

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sees that and then the aha moments, right? Or it's. Anytime you kind of

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realize this is all. It's a lot harder than, than,

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than. Than you think it's going to be. First go in and then after that,

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it's just, you know, the idea of like, you know, you do. You have to.

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You have to trust yourself to figure things out, and everything can be figured out,

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right? So I think that's. That's the aha moment, you know, when you're looking at

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it like, so you're pro forma and everything else, you kind of think, okay,

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this is, this is easy. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this,

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I'm going to do this, and everything's going to work out. And it's like, you

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know, I guess like everyone's got a plan until. Right. Yeah. Well,

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look, I mean, this business is not, you know, it's not like you put

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up a Dunkin Donuts sign and you know, you, you get, take advantage

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of people that are just, you know, looking for a closer Dunkin Donuts

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or you know, want to, want to switch coffees. How, how have

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you felt about, you know, when you started biohacking

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back in, you know, when you were 35, whenever that was

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to where we are today. You know, I think the average person actually,

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you know, knows, you know, the words peptides and nad

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and testosterone shots and pellets. Whereas before I think it was almost

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like this black box of biohackers

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and it was almost like maybe that's what like the freaks were

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doing. And, and you know, now it's kind of gotten mainstream. But it's probably

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still, I'd say like in the first or second inning where

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it's like, you know, that the momentum is there. It just might take a

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while to educate or get to like, you know, for the, for the wave to

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kind of crash. So how, where, where do you psychologically feel you

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are and what kind of conversations when

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you have them with people to say like, oh, I understand what you, what you're

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doing versus before they might have been like, dude, like you're out, you're off the

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reservation. Yeah, it's kind of surprising because

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you know, I guess a lot of things that you're. That say if you were

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like kind of in the know, we'll say like even eight years ago, like if

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you look at Ned for instance, right. You know, you hear kind

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of people now kind of talking, latching onto that as if it's like the

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newest and, and you know, the greatest thing, which it's still,

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it's a great thing, right? But I think like the fact that attest to the

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idea that is so mainstream now to where like people who like wouldn't even

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say consider the idea or be interested in it are now just,

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you know, it's almost a top of mind conversation for them as well.

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And then from there you can just really tell like, you know, with the

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conversations you have with people, you can tell where they are on like

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say in their journey. Right. Like some people are like, you know, the people

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that like say a few years ago who would have, you know, maybe just be

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getting started their journey, they're now talking about these same things at the

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beginning. Whereas you know, in, in the past that that probably

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wasn't the case. And then the other idea, the other, you know, side of that

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is, you know, someone who's like, you know, you can tell when someone's like really

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advanced in, in kind of, you know, where they are in their journey and their

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pursuits as well. Because, you know, there's so many different, you know, say even

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peptides that you know, aren't even offered, say on

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at like a serotonin for instance, yet, but that are out there and then people

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know about those now as well. So it's pretty, it's

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pretty amazing how quickly everything is caught up.

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This is Pete Moore. I want to let you in on a little secret. There's

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this company called Promotion Vault. And what they do is they give out rewards

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from retailers that allow you to incentivize your members

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without having to do zero down and one month free or

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giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you want to do is

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build a rewards program that lasts, that people value

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and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the

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deal. There's something called Rewards Vault. The Rewards Vault is going

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to allow a member to set up their own profile. They are going

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to answer questions, you are going to get those answers, you're going to be able

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to target those members and you're going to reward them inside your club,

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inside your spa and outside of the club and outside of the

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spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay their

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monthly dues and to be rewarded properly for

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the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be.

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Promotion Vault, your answer, trust me, this is real.

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When you, when you think about marketing in this

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industry and knowing that, you know, it's going to take time and it's going

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to be relatively like slow ramp to just get to the point where

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everyone's going to the serotonin center where you're at.

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And a lot of people might not know what that is at first. Right. And

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there are different, you know, parts of their, their journey or like,

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you know, awareness. My question is

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when, if you know that word of mouth and referrals is probably

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going to be where you get most of your

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revenue and where you get most of your members, where you get most of your

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buy in, how do you think about marketing,

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you know, locally? And what do you say to, what do you say

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to the market? Because I could go in there and I want to lose weight,

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I want to get stronger, I want to have more,

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you know, I want to, you know, get testosterone. You know, at

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the end of the day you kind of want to get their blood work and

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say, okay, let me tell you what to do. But putting up a sign that

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says get your Blood work done here might not be really like what you want

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to have on the front door. So how do you think about that? Obviously,

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you know, serotonin corporate is giving you, you know, the

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content and the collateral materials, but every kind of

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micro market is different. So what, what kind of resonates in, in

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Greenwich and where do you find the most benefit? Or like,

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this is what people, this is what resonates. Because I think it's different everywhere you

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go. Yeah, no, I, I think it. Word of mouth is

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definitely still, still king as far as building a business goes.

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I mean, you have to have digital. You have to play in that, in that,

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in that part of your, your marketing, right. Like, there's no way around it. You

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have to be there. But you know, that's kind of like more

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just like your, your cover, right? And then from there you have to be able

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to go in and actually say, go to pop ups, meet, you know, you

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know, meet clients, you know, face to face, shake hands and then bring

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people in. Right. It's all about networking from there. And especially like,

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you know, I, I can't. I, I think here for sure, the, the

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area I'm in, it feels like everyone knows each other one way or

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another or there's some sort of connection. Right. So like, you know, that whole

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idea of, you know, face to face, bringing people in

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and then, you know, managing your reputation well and, you know, being what you say

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you're, you want to be or you are is, Is really important. So the

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authenticity is everything in this, in this area, but in this space as well.

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Yeah, I was at a, I was at a cycling class

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yesterday. I moved out to Arizona and I was in a Starbucks,

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literally like three doors down. And the woman behind the

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counter was saying, oh, what are you, what are you up to? I said, I'm

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going to Cycling Studio. And she's like, oh, where's that? I'm like thinking

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to myself, how is the, the owner operator of the

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cycling studio? How have they not canvassed, you know, every

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co tenant in this shopping plaza to either give them a free

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class or, you know, put them on some kind of like employee, you know,

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you know, neighbor discount or something? So how

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aggressive are you in knowing the

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other operators in your strip center? You know, trying to do,

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you know, whether it's co marketing or at least, you know, having, you

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know, some awareness inside of each one of the co tenants or like a, you

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know, a nail salon or a, you know,

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hairstylist or, you know, waxing center. What,

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where do you, where do you find the most

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interest in kind of, you know, say, like, hey, you know, our clients should be

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your clients and vice versa. Yeah. I think, like, with us,

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I. I think you definitely have to be aggressive, especially like

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in our, you know, in your, like, first, like, say 500ft. Right.

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You have to be able to, like, own those relationships. Yeah. You know, within

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your. Your shopping center. You know, sometimes it's difficult, though, I think, like,

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you know, a small business, it, you know, it is what it is. Right. There's

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only so many, you know, there's only so many things someone could do in a

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day. And a lot of times when you're going to those other small businesses, right.

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Like, maybe they're not. They could be somewhere in their business cycle to where, like,

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maybe they're not interested or they don't know how to necessarily cultivate those

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relationships. So, you know, it's. Sometimes it's a work in progress, but

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you have to keep going. Right. Because, you know, it's a necessity. But

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as far as, like, say, say collabs go and like, what we look for,

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it's pretty much like with us, we're fortunate. I mean, there's so many, you know,

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everybody wants to be happier and healthier. Right. So, like, we can pretty much tie

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on to pretty much any. Any sort of business that. That

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plays in that space as well or like, caters to it. Right. So, like,

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you know, right now we're working on one of our neighbors. It's a vitality

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bowls, actually. So we're. We're actually going to have a serotonin,

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a serotonin bowl and probably a juice

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that. That we make as well that's going to be on their menu and then,

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you know, same idea, we'll be able to kind of refer some of our clients

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there. Most likely what we'll do is kind of a good play, you know, going

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back to like, the syrup, vitals and the actual say, you know, wanting

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to like, actually say, you know, take a look at blood panels is you have

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to come in fasted for that. So, you know, we're probably going to. As they

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come in and after their. After we do their comprehensive health

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assessment, we're actually going to send them over there as well so they can get

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their first meal, probably get a little, you know, get their carbs up again because

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they're probably a little depleted and they can go on with their day. But, you

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know, I think like, any. Anyone in that, you know, particular, like,

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kind of health space is where we want to be or wellness as well.

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Yeah. So as you got into the model and,

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you know, this is much more complicated than an average,

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you know, retail store or, you know, doing

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a qsr, you know, food concept.

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So what, one, what's the level of staffing and the people

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that you need to bring inside of your company?

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And two, how, how difficult is it to run

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it? And if you were running it on your own, instead of having a

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franchisor that's basically like, tell you, like, here's the guidelines, here's how

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the procedures are, you know, in this industry, I feel like

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the, the franchisor franchisees are probably going to

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outperform an independent operator because an independent operator

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really needs to know what's going on in so many different facets

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of medicine, in, you know, new

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innovations on technology as well as, like, governmental,

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you know, restrictions and things you can and can't do.

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Yeah, I think you're 100% right. I think it's like whoever can figure out

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the way to scale and grow the most efficiently kind of wins

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the game in, in this space for sure. And with the franchisor,

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you know, that it kind of solves a lot of those problems. Like, like you

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said, I think if being, like, if I were going to start this

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myself every time, you know, it's just hard. It's just very easy, right? When every

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time there's an issue or some indecision, it'd be very easy to just like,

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kind of think it's a bad idea and move on or never get started. Whereas

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with the, in a franchise scenario, right, like, you can basically, you always

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have an answer and there's always, like, a way to push forward. And then you

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also have like, all of that experience and all that, you know, kind of acquired,

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say, wisdom, right, from the actual franchisor that they can share with

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you and then help you along the way. So you can make your mistakes that

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you're going to make them the same, but you can make them faster and then

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improve faster as a result. Right? And then you have all your other, like, you

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know, franchisees as well that can contribute to that, to that, you know, constant

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improvement. So, I mean, I think it's a real big advantage. And then, you know,

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after your first store, it does. It gets a lot easier to just take, you

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know, where you are in that first, in that first location and you can start

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that second location almost from that same, from that same,

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you know, level, rather than going back having, like, say, all those, like,

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say, rookie mistakes that maybe you made when you first opened. And as far as

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the staff. Right. I mean, a lot of times you're gonna have a nurse practitioner,

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you're gonna have RNs. These are, you know, highly skilled, educated people. And the

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same with like your general manager, health coaches. Everyone's, you know,

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really skilled. So putting them in place, it does,

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it gives you the ability to, to succeed. And then the fact that you can

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give them manuals and you can give them, you know, kind of, you

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know, other like educational materials. Right. To like, get them on their

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way. It does, it really helps a lot. You know, I wouldn't be able to

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do it without that for sure. At least me personally. Yeah. No, it's funny,

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I've been working in a franchise or franchisee space

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mostly on the fitness side and in the med spas, you know,

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for the last several years. And one of the franchisees in

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a network, not Serotonin, said to me, I can't believe

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I'm paying this much in franchise fees. And I knew the franchisor.

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I knew how many people that they had. It's actually an orange theory.

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Sure. And they had a couple hundred people down in this corporate

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office down in Boca Raton. And I said, do you know

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for your 8% fee that you're basically

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renting like 300 people that are actually

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waking up every day and trying to help you with your business? Think about what

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it would cost you to, to have a, a corporate overhead of that many

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people that were all trying to think about like, how do I help optimize

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the unit economics and, and, and run a better business. So I

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always kind of go hearken back to if you're part of a good franchisor

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network, then you will get the benefits over time. And that you're

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basically like renting a, a huge professional corporate overhead is how I

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kind of like think about it now versus, you know, what does that cost

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me dollar wise? You know, in and of itself,

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yeah. 100% agree. I think, you know, when, when that

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those are at least your problems. The franchisor, the, the fees from the franchisor. Right.

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Like, I think like they exist, but yeah, they're, they're worth every penny for the

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most part. Yeah. So. So as you think about

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being an entrepreneur, you got one location. You basically

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live in that location, which I love because, you know, some people,

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you know, say, oh, I'm going to build my second location, third location, without kind

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of nailing the model before you scale the model.

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So, so what is. Where, where are you kind of in your own,

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you know, mental life cycle

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for better lack of A better term to say, like, I know when I'm

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ready to grow, and I know I'm not, maybe not ready to grow yet, but

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I feel like I got my arms around the business model. Then you got to

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give yourself confidence to grow. Maybe just for the entrepreneurs that are

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listening to this call to say, like, speed and growth, you

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know, it could be a friend or it also could be your worst enemy.

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Yeah, I think you have to manage it, right? Like, I think, like, you

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kind of see this space now and, you know, there's a

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lot of pressure to grow if you want to, you know, if you want to

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get to, you know, that point to where, like, you have, you know, a large

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organization probably, you know, I'm sure, like the idea of being backed by

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private equity or some sort of, you know, additional, you know,

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money behind you, Right. Like, you do have to show an ability to scale,

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ability to grow quickly. And, you know, I mean, that window exists,

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but at the same time, right? Like, a lot of, you know, not your

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competitors, but others that have similar models, they're

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looking to do it also. So. But I think you have to manage it, right?

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You got to. You have to, you know, kind of look at everything, force

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yourself to, you know, learn more than you probably think you're capable of per day

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and, you know, and then figure it out from there. But, you know, yeah, you

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want to prioritize it, but not at, you know, say not. Not at your

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expense, right? Like, you can't. You can't just, you know, not think

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about the fundamentals or forget about them in growing the business.

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This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.

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We are partnered up with a company called higher dose

360
00:21:47,220 --> 00:21:50,340
higherdose.com they are the leader in

361
00:21:50,580 --> 00:21:53,540
workout recovery products, infrared technology,

362
00:21:54,260 --> 00:21:57,780
LED light masks, neck enhancers, and

363
00:21:58,020 --> 00:22:01,660
other products such as PEMF mats and sauna

364
00:22:01,660 --> 00:22:04,900
blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout

365
00:22:04,900 --> 00:22:08,340
recovery train yet, your time and your stop

366
00:22:08,500 --> 00:22:12,060
is now. You got to get these products in there before these workout

367
00:22:12,060 --> 00:22:15,300
recovery and spas end up saturating your market.

368
00:22:15,620 --> 00:22:19,260
Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations

369
00:22:19,260 --> 00:22:22,860
for 200 bucks per month, where they're paying 39 to

370
00:22:22,860 --> 00:22:26,700
you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery. If we

371
00:22:26,700 --> 00:22:30,100
are already an authority in. Workouts, Higher dose,

372
00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:34,100
check it out. There's a wholesale code and we look

373
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forward to helping you augment your products and services

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to meet the demands of your members. And hey, let's get people

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happy, healthy and sweating. And the Recovery should be

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just as good as the workout.

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You know, in closing here, you mentioned that you've had some clients,

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you know, from the beginning. But just to give people a little bit

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of understanding about what goes on inside of your center,

380
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you know, can you give us a couple of either quick stories or, you

381
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,960
know, some of the treatments and, and some of the results that you've seen?

382
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,520
Yeah, I mean it really, to put things like, you know, to be blunt,

383
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,120
right. I mean we sell transformations, right. We give people the opportunity to come

384
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in and you know, either through medical, weight loss, hormone

385
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replacement therapy. We also offer aesthetics. So you're looking at Botox,

386
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,200
microneedling fillers. We have a full suite of, you

387
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know, BTL products. So body composition, I'm sorry, body, body

388
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contouring. We also do some things with Exomine, so

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cognitive health, pelvic floor stability as well, red light

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therapy. So we offer people the ability, they can come in through whatever

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avenue and then from there we can walk them through all of our modalities,

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show them exactly how they contribute to, you know, to

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longevity and, you know, long term health. And then

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from there really just, you know, have all of those touch points with the health

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coaching and the access to our nurse practitioner to really see people,

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you know, make these changes all along the way. And, you know, I think

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that's something that not a lot of, you know, not a lot of companies have

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to offer. A lot of businesses do. So, you know, awesome. That, that pretty

399
00:24:11,910 --> 00:24:15,709
much hopefully answers your question. Yeah. Well, look, we're

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00:24:15,709 --> 00:24:19,430
excited that you've, you've made the leap into the Halo sector. We

401
00:24:19,430 --> 00:24:22,550
like to say once you get into the sector, you'll never get out. So

402
00:24:23,590 --> 00:24:27,250
for your lifelong employment until you decide to, to hang it

403
00:24:27,250 --> 00:24:31,050
up, you know, you're, you're now a, a Halo executive. And

404
00:24:31,290 --> 00:24:34,650
you know, we're excited to follow your progress and

405
00:24:34,970 --> 00:24:38,770
you know, be, be a part of that success. So congrats on

406
00:24:38,770 --> 00:24:42,610
what you built. I know it's not easy and you know, there's a road

407
00:24:42,610 --> 00:24:46,370
that other people don't want to travel or just can't because

408
00:24:46,370 --> 00:24:50,130
they don't have the, the grit and the desire. So glad,

409
00:24:50,130 --> 00:24:53,850
glad you got in and good to see you. I appreciate it, Pete. Thanks a

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00:24:53,850 --> 00:24:54,570
lot. Awesome.

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00:24:59,050 --> 00:25:02,770
This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks, your captain speaking. I am

412
00:25:02,770 --> 00:25:06,370
the founder and managing partner at Integrity Square. We've been around

413
00:25:06,370 --> 00:25:10,210
now for 15 and 1/2 years. We have been helping

414
00:25:10,210 --> 00:25:13,650
people like yourselves get capital, do mergers and

415
00:25:13,650 --> 00:25:17,290
acquisitions consulting, strategic advice in the health,

416
00:25:17,290 --> 00:25:21,000
active lifestyle and outdoor helo sector trying to

417
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,280
help as many entrepreneurs as possible get to the next level.

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00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,360
Take that inflection point to be the force behind your growth.

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00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,480
We are helping companies that have at least $3 million of

420
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,800
EBITDA, around $10 million of revenue, and

421
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,400
we are positioned to help you get institutional growth capital

422
00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:43,920
or to negotiate deals with strategic partners. If

423
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,720
you go to integritysq.com isq

424
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,310
you can see our capabilities. Deck Happy to set up a consultation at any

425
00:25:51,310 --> 00:25:54,870
time that is free of charge and we look forward to you

426
00:25:54,870 --> 00:25:58,590
helping solve obesity, loneliness and diabetes.

427
00:25:58,670 --> 00:25:59,630
Go Halo.

428
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:23,640
Sam.