Andrew Pudalov is not the typical restaurant founder. Before launching Rush Bowls, he spends years in New York City as the global head of fixed income derivative trading, placing huge institutional bets for major banks. Today he leads a franchise built on real ingredients, customization, and a very human approach to guest experience.

From Trading Floors to Smoothie Bowls (01:13)

Andrew describes his first career as being a “professional gambler taking positions on behalf of the bank,” working with currencies, interest rates, and massive trades. Over time, the thrill fades and he starts craving something more meaningful and people focused. He shares that he wants to “do something totally different” and build a business from scratch that fits the kind of life he wants for his family.

Building a Bowl Company Before Bowls Were Cool (06:03)

Looking at what his kids and other families are eating, Andrew sees a gap for healthier options that are still satisfying. He moves to Boulder, leans into its health minded culture, and creates a bowl concept long before that category is everywhere. Guests get food that helps them “eat good and feel good and feel full,” with a menu centered on real fruit and vegetables instead of sorbets or premade sugary bases.

Guests Are Always Right, Even When They Are Not (09:51)

Andrew is very clear about his philosophy on service. “Listen, the consumer is always right,” he says. In a franchise system that can be tricky, but he reminds operators that arguing over a bowl is never worth it. “Our job is to make them happy,” even if that means remaking an order or comping something small to protect long term loyalty.

Training a New Generation of Team Members (11:20)

Rush Bowls relies heavily on college age employees, which means guest interaction cannot be left to chance. Andrew talks about the “Gen Z stare” that can feel distant, so the brand invests heavily in scripting, training, and coaching. The goal is to help team members be real, genuine, and conversational so guests feel like they are visiting a friendly neighborhood bar, just one that serves healthy food.

Data, Simplicity, and Constant Improvement (17:21)

Even with a warm, human brand, Andrew leans hard on numbers. About “80 percent of our sales are bowls,” so he focuses the menu there, trims the bottom performers, and tests new ingredients like mushrooms and different add ons. For him, staying real means both authentic hospitality and the discipline to keep moving the concept forward.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pudalov-07697010/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/rush-bowls/

https://rushbowls.com/franchise/research-us/our-story

https://www.instagram.com/rushbowls/?hl=en

Transcript

00:00:00:07 – 00:00:25:22

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast. I’m your host, Zack Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five star guest experience. This podcast is powered by ovation, the feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what’s actually happening in your restaurants and exactly how to improve while driving revenue.

00:00:25:24 – 00:00:43:12

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation up.com. And today we have what seems to be, on the surface, a very quintessential guest that we would have. He’s the founder and CEO of Rush Bulls and Rush Bulls franchisee. And he’s been doing some amazing stuff. Andrew Padilla what’s up Andrew.

00:00:43:14 – 00:00:47:01

Andrew Pudalov

Having a great day. Great to see you. Happy to be on your show.

00:00:47:05 – 00:01:08:01

Zack Oates

And the reason Andrew, I’ll give you a bit of a hard time is because while on the surface you seem just like the quintessential guest. You had a stint outside of the restaurant industry. Now we’re going back 21 years because you’ve been at Rush Bulls for a long time. But when I sat down with you for dinner, your journey into the food business was just like, so interesting.

00:01:08:03 – 00:01:13:04

Zack Oates

I would love for you to share. How did you get from where you’re at to where you are?

00:01:13:06 – 00:01:27:21

Andrew Pudalov

Sure, yeah, I have a couple of lives, basically. So earlier in my career and to midpoint of my career, I would say depending on how you define your career, I was global head of fixed income derivative trading in New York City.

00:01:27:21 – 00:01:29:24

Zack Oates

Which side were asleep? You were fixed.

00:01:30:03 – 00:01:33:24

Andrew Pudalov

I, I was a gambler for the bets.

00:01:34:02 – 00:01:35:05

Zack Oates

Okay.

00:01:35:07 – 00:02:03:24

Andrew Pudalov

I was a professional gambler taking positions on behalf of the bank. Now brokering, actually taking the positions for the banks in very interesting structured derivative structures, they call it. So placing bets for a lot of different banks and generating returns on them, and providing services for institutional customers that needed to handle their balance sheets in certain ways or handle income in certain ways.

00:02:04:01 – 00:02:19:11

Andrew Pudalov

So it was a specialty that would involve currency, interest rates, futures. So it was pretty involved and it involved very large shocks, large scale trades. Small trade I ever did was 20 million. So up to a billion.

00:02:19:15 – 00:02:43:02

Zack Oates

When you were like, hey fam, I got an idea, why don’t we leave all of this money stuff behind and sell food? I’m sure they were like, Andrew, do it. That’s amazing. What a good idea. How did that conversation go? Going from like, fine nuance, which is just, like, so stable to something. That is just, what a crazy asset to have a restaurant brand.

00:02:43:04 – 00:03:02:19

Andrew Pudalov

Well, a couple things. It’s not stable if you’re generating more revenue. And I was it’s stable, but very few people can do that for an extended period of time. So my shelf life at that type of position was nearing an end. But the trigger really was nine over 11. So I was working in New York City. My wife was working.

00:03:02:19 – 00:03:19:09

Andrew Pudalov

She was in a tower in 93, the first time they bombed it, and that was pretty harrowing for her. She was really high up, was my wife at the time, but 911 was her first day back from maternity. She was in the 20s. I was in Midtown. She actually saw the plane crash in and one of my good friends worked at Kenner.

00:03:19:09 – 00:03:41:16

Andrew Pudalov

He jumped. Oh, it was pretty catastrophic for us really emotionally. Living in New York City, too. There was anthrax warnings. You couldn’t take the subway. You had to duct tape your windows. It was pretty harrowing on all levels. I wanted to interact with people more. So when you were in that position that I was in, you’re taking big bets.

00:03:41:22 – 00:04:08:09

Andrew Pudalov

Your. Yes, mine, yours. There’s not a lot of interaction with customers and it’s very curt. And I really wanted to move out in New York, do something totally different that I had no knowledge about, and build it from scratch based on my abilities. And I wanted nothing. The industry that’s very different. I wanted to really challenge myself and really create a different environment for my kids to grow up in.

00:04:08:13 – 00:04:22:16

Andrew Pudalov

So unfortunately for me, I picked food, which is one of the toughest industries you can pick. I think certainly banking is a lot easier, I would say, but food is definitely more interactive, more interesting in many ways and more fun.

00:04:22:18 – 00:04:41:21

Zack Oates

What an incredible story and the journey to get in here and realizing that this is all about people. I mean, I often talk about when I do my keynotes, I talk about the famous quote that many people climb the ladder of life only to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall. And what good does it do to climb this ladder?

00:04:41:21 – 00:04:59:24

Zack Oates

If you get to the top and you’re like, wait a second, everything that’s important is on that wall. And it often takes something pretty dramatic happening in our lives to push us to make that change. I mean, you look at people that are unhealthy and they go to the doctor and they’re like, hey, you’ve got two years to live.

00:05:00:01 – 00:05:18:04

Zack Oates

And they turn their life around and things like that. They take it, but it’s like, how do we have that mentality every day? On keeping what’s important important over the last 21 plus years, how have you kept that mentality of putting first things first?

00:05:18:06 – 00:05:46:21

Andrew Pudalov

What you said was really important in my life, right? So and it’s very telling. The highs were lower and the lows were lower. I was running a big trading group. I had a really super high position at the bank in banks. And it wasn’t about money really. They paid me well for what I did. That afforded me to change, but I wasn’t happy and a lot of fronts and 9/11 just brought that together.

00:05:46:21 – 00:06:03:10

Andrew Pudalov

So when you say the ladders lean against the wrong wall, well, early in my career, it’s the greatest life in the world. You’re treated like a rock star, but after a while it’s not as meaningful. And I wanted to do something that was meaningful. And I had little kids, and I saw what they were eating in New York City.

00:06:03:10 – 00:06:07:08

Andrew Pudalov

And it was a hot dog, grilled cheese pizza, chicken sandwich.

00:06:07:10 – 00:06:12:16

Zack Oates

That literally is what I’m ordering for lunch today. It’s on its way right now. So yeah.

00:06:12:18 – 00:06:27:07

Andrew Pudalov

I wanted to go into a college town. Boulder is known to be a little more health oriented and really change how people were eating. And that’s how I stepped into this role and created the bowl concept 21 years ago. No one was doing bowls.

00:06:27:09 – 00:06:48:00

Zack Oates

Yeah, and it’s amazing to see how this has boomed in this concept is just from this little seedling. Because at the end of the day, when you’re looking at health and you’re looking at what you’re doing and what you’re building like, people want to eat good and feel good and feel full and looking at your menu, that’s what you’re all about.

00:06:48:00 – 00:07:14:05

Zack Oates

And so when you think about this in the perspective of the guest experience, and it’s kind of interesting because you’ve lived in the restaurant industry long enough that you’re no longer a finance guy, but you’re a restaurant guy. And when you think about the guest experience, what do you think the most important aspects are, and are there any lessons that you’ve learned from finance that have carried over, or have you had to, like, start fresh when it comes to the guest experience?

00:07:14:07 – 00:07:41:07

Andrew Pudalov

Well, two things. Finance was incredibly important for me running my business. I think you can’t underestimate the importance of understanding cards, understanding running a business, how to make it profitable. I came into this with a very different approach, and I think it was very, very helpful for our success. In terms of customer experience, I’ve learned a lot, but I will tell you, it’s changed a lot too.

00:07:41:07 – 00:08:08:15

Andrew Pudalov

And people always want that interaction. They want to feel like that’s their friend when they come into the store, right? They want to have that personal connection. And at today’s day and age, that’s really hard because the consumer is still, I think, even striving for it more and more. But the employees are. So it’s a more of a challenge for employees because they’re so used to being on their phone or isolated.

00:08:08:17 – 00:08:39:04

Andrew Pudalov

And I see a very divided society in many ways because everyone’s insulated into their own worlds, whether it’s phones, social media or whatever else. And how do you convert that and make the employee interact more with the consumer and make the consumer happier? Because on a consumer side, they’re looking for that interaction. I see it every day. And the consumer, to me, they’re telling you everything they’re telling you, which is great for your software too, but they’re telling you, hey, I like this product.

00:08:39:04 – 00:08:54:08

Andrew Pudalov

I don’t like this product. You didn’t say hi to me. I’m not happy about it. Like, this is the greatest employee ever. And for us as a company, it’s for us to make that consumer as happy as possible.

00:08:54:10 – 00:09:17:22

Zack Oates

Yeah, I mean, I love that. And if you think about that from the perspective of everyone is striving to make the guest happy, what does that look like? What does that look like when someone comes in and hey, you made my bowl wrong. Do you argue with them because or do you just say, great, let’s do that again for you or someone messages in and it’s like, hey, you forgot my toppings.

00:09:18:01 – 00:09:43:02

Zack Oates

It’s like, how do you make that right? How do you make them happy? And I was actually just at a Dave’s Hot Chicken conference, and it was really interesting to see them. While not the most healthy food, they also are trying to be like a genuine, authentic company. But one of the big things is like they just say yes, because is it worth fighting against over a $5 thing, offer the principle of it, or just like, just make them happy, right?

00:09:43:02 – 00:09:51:01

Zack Oates

Because the power that a negative review has is just dangerous. I mean, it’s going to hurt your business. Genuinely.

00:09:51:03 – 00:10:15:17

Andrew Pudalov

Listen, the consumer is always right. It’s an old adage, but it has to be treated that way. And in a franchise system, too, it’s a little it has its own complications because you have a franchisee who may take it personally, may be like, well, I serve that person perfectly. I don’t know, it’s not worth it. And it’s really still a customer service business, right?

00:10:15:18 – 00:10:37:04

Andrew Pudalov

So they have to and we have to always have that mentality for a successful business that the customer’s right, even if they’re wrong, they’re right. Our job is to make them happy. And if they want to, they don’t like the bowl. Who cares? Honestly, for us it’s 2,530% cost of goods, labor, whatever it is. What are you giving up?

00:10:37:06 – 00:10:49:18

Andrew Pudalov

But if you give them an argument, you’re not changing their minds, right? It’s almost like a political argument with whoever you’re supporting. You’re not going to just convert them because of your beliefs or you feeling your right.

00:10:49:22 – 00:11:03:13

Zack Oates

Right. When’s the last time someone said, you are so dumb for voting for that person? And they were like, I never thought of it that way. You are right, I’m going to switch my political views like this is not how it happens.

00:11:03:15 – 00:11:13:11

Andrew Pudalov

Right? And I think same thing with food, right? And as people are more and more isolated in their environments, their opinions are not going to get softer. Let’s put that.

00:11:13:11 – 00:11:20:10

Zack Oates

Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. So what are some tactics that you’ve used to improve the guest experience?

00:11:20:12 – 00:11:47:22

Andrew Pudalov

Well, first of all, real and genuine I mean number one, be real. Be genuine interactive web and script people. Because I know that doesn’t sound real and genuine, but it at least initiates that conversation going right. I view our restaurants as healthy bars, basically serving healthy food without alcohol or anything negative. You know, we’re unique in this position because everything is customizable.

00:11:47:22 – 00:12:08:23

Andrew Pudalov

There’s no sorbets, no added sugars. You can make it whether you have a dietary need, an allergy, any which way. With that type of product, it’s really empowering to the consumer. The consumer has to also understand you want strawberries on top, you want blueberries, you want coconut. We’re here to please you have it your way. I think Burger King was really smart early on with that.

00:12:09:00 – 00:12:34:20

Andrew Pudalov

That’s our same philosophy. Most of our competitors in the space have a premade sugar, sugar, ice cream, basically base or sorbet that they put food on. That’s not us. So having the consumer really understand they’re empowered. We only do real fruit, real vegetables. We don’t have pre-made bases or added sugar. So it’s really empowering the consumer and getting feedback from the consumer about what they want.

00:12:34:23 – 00:13:03:18

Andrew Pudalov

So then you kind of force the interaction a little bit on that regard, but also training the employees. We’ve spent tons and tons of time training employees because it is difficult. A lot of employees. We hire are college age, and they’re looking at their phones all the time. The Gen Z stare, they call it. So there’s just a blank stare and it’s not meant, but it can be perceived as impersonal or rude and it’s not really meant that way.

00:13:03:18 – 00:13:24:13

Andrew Pudalov

So really redefining how we handle customer service, and we’re working on that every day. We put a lot, a lot. And same thing with digital making that as involved making the consumer feel connected, what they want, what they like really spending a lot of time in that arena to make sure the message gets across in every which way.

00:13:24:15 – 00:13:43:12

Zack Oates

Well, and when you look at your online ratings, you know, 4.5, 4.8 like it’s coming through, people are seeing it and they’re doing it because at the end of the day, this is why, as you know, from a finance perspective, when p groups tend to buy restaurants, you look at all these restaurants that have gone bankrupt. Almost every single one of them is owned by a P group.

00:13:43:14 – 00:14:05:01

Zack Oates

And the reason is because they try to extract everything out by canceling programs that the guests care about, by reducing the quality food to increase the margins. And they take a one year, two year bump. And then what happens? Guest satisfaction falls off. People stop coming in. And so when you do, I love that. Behind you says rush, is real.

00:14:05:07 – 00:14:27:18

Zack Oates

When you’re using those real things and you’re trying to be authentic and you’re giving the guidelines, the, you know, putting the bumpers in the alley. But the, I don’t bowl very much, obviously. But one of those things is that we got our gutters on a barbecue, but like, those are things that are really going to make a difference for you in the long run.

00:14:27:18 – 00:14:51:21

Zack Oates

And hey, look, if you’re looking to build a long term asset, which obviously you’ve done 20 plus years, it’s because you do it with authenticity and with real quality. So kudos to you, Andrew. It’s amazing to see what you build. I’ve followed you for a long time, and it’s amazing to see just how consistently you beat that drum of real and you don’t compromise there, which says a lot about who you are.

00:14:51:21 – 00:15:05:06

Zack Oates

So kudos to you, man. Now, being in this industry for so long, you know a lot of people who is someone that deserves an ovation, who’s someone that we should be following beside you? Oh come on.

00:15:05:08 – 00:15:37:04

Andrew Pudalov

I don’t know the person at all, but I will tell you, Kevin Hochman from Chili’s, what he’s doing for a brand that was not known but was known, but not in a positive way, is really remarkable. I think what he’s doing is something to really he’s ahead of the curve. He’s basically taking business, I think, from QSR, because people are now sitting down in restaurants, so it’s going against the trend and has done.

00:15:37:07 – 00:15:59:05

Andrew Pudalov

He he’s the CEO of, Chili’s, Brinker International. I think he’s doing an incredible job. I’ve never met him. I have no affiliation with him whatsoever. But when I look at companies that have rethought the business model and how to be successful, he’s number one for me right now.

00:15:59:07 – 00:16:14:13

Zack Oates

I mean, I will tell you, it was years. I mean, probably a decade since I had gone to Chili’s and I was there with one of my buddies and I’m like, hey, where should we go to lunch? I kind of like, jokingly was like, oh, you want to go to Chili’s? And he was like, dude, it’s actually good.

00:16:14:13 – 00:16:35:24

Zack Oates

I was like, come on. He’s like, no, let’s go. We went there and I got the big Kewpie burger. I walked out of there spending as much money as I would have at McDonald’s, and I was like, I had leftovers and it was good. So love that. Shout out some of that we should definitely be following because yeah, talk about someone who’s got something peeking around corners.

00:16:35:24 – 00:16:40:18

Zack Oates

If you are a fast follow of him, you’ll probably be on pace with what’s going on.

00:16:40:21 – 00:17:07:12

Andrew Pudalov

So yeah, I mean, it’s really interesting because they are exactly your situation. Similar menu. And we’re working on actually to simplify our menu to less items actually, but really continue with that super high quality. And he’s taking business from Five Guys, McDonald’s, all those businesses because people are now like oh I’ll sit down, eat at a restaurant for the same price.

00:17:07:14 – 00:17:11:14

Andrew Pudalov

It’s really interesting because it really stem the tide. That was 100% going the other way.

00:17:11:20 – 00:17:17:02

Zack Oates

By the way, with that, what’s your mix cut off of? Like, hey, this is on the chopping block.

00:17:17:04 – 00:17:18:18

Andrew Pudalov

Bowl and smoothie wise.

00:17:18:20 – 00:17:21:05

Zack Oates

Yeah. What do you look for with p mix percentage?

00:17:21:07 – 00:17:50:09

Andrew Pudalov

Well, it’s all about data, right? So we look at where 80% of our sales are bowls. So our business is a bowl business. So we’re still going through you know the bottom 15% to cut and just really stay with what sells and adjust. We’re doing more AES. We’re doing more interesting ingredients like mushrooms and stuff like that. And really kind of upping our game because you always have to be moving forward.

00:17:50:09 – 00:17:50:23

Andrew Pudalov

Right.

00:17:51:00 – 00:17:55:08

Zack Oates

Love that. Andrew. And how do people find and follow you.

00:17:55:10 – 00:18:25:10

Andrew Pudalov

Rush bulls.com or us HBO wls.com rush bulls.com. All the information about the companies on their free up 20 stores open between the really mostly next year. Now is through the end of this year and next year. We actually have a store opening in a nontraditional store opening in Greenville. September. Yeah. It’s exciting, I think this weekend and we opened two stores last weekend, I believe with the international market.

00:18:25:12 – 00:18:27:14

Andrew Pudalov

Not yet, actually, but.

00:18:27:18 – 00:18:28:18

Zack Oates

What’s the nontraditional.

00:18:28:18 – 00:18:47:09

Andrew Pudalov

Store that I don’t even I know the woman stay on on the international market, but she’s a really interesting woman also. But certainly there’s be information out on that. And then we’re opening in Powell, Ohio the next few weeks, and in Scottsdale.

00:18:47:11 – 00:19:07:00

Zack Oates

Oh, nice. Okay. Well, hey, Scottsdale, I may have to take a flight down there to check it out. Give me give me a excuse to go to Scottsdale. I’m there, especially in the Utah winter. But, Andrew, for leaving the boring life of finance behind to give us real, authentic food. Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Giving Ovation.

00:19:07:02 – 00:19:10:04

Andrew Pudalov

Well, thank you for having me. Always. Great to see you.

00:19:10:06 – 00:19:32:19

Zack Oates

Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We’re all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by ovation, a two question, SMS based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you’d like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovation up.com.