A new way forward starts with a better question.

Co-Founder & President

Joe Drust

Joe Drust has spent 25 years leading restaurants, developing and running distribution businesses, and leading foodservice sales, not just advising from the sidelines. A two-time CEO, he has carried direct responsibility for the P&L, the people, and the results owners depend on. At Ted's Hot Dogs, he grew revenue from $12 million to $16 million and EBITDA from approximately $200,000 to $1.7 million. At The Red Oak Group, he led a $50 million operating portfolio and created $7 million in new annual revenue. Those results came from doing the work: developing leaders, controlling costs, improving execution, and building systems that made businesses stronger. His experience stretches from family-owned operations to regional responsibility for 265 restaurants representing more than half a billion dollars in annual revenue. He understands both the personal stakes of a small business owner and the complexity of operating at scale.

Joe does not accept the status quo. He continually pushes the boundaries of what existing tools and processes can deliver, and looks beyond them when they fall short. For him, innovation must serve a purpose: stronger financial results, more engaged employees, a better day at work, and a better experience for every guest. The goal is not simply to do more with less. It is to build a business that performs better because it works better for the people inside it and the customers it serves.

That is the edge behind Janua Labs.

Joe and co-founder Rich Call worked together throughout Joe's tenure at Ted's. Their partnership was built inside an operating business, where decisions had consequences and improvements had to show up in the numbers. They know the pressure of protecting margins, supporting teams, serving customers, and making technology work in the middle of a demanding day, not just in a demonstration.

Co-Founder & Vice President

Rich Call

Rich spent 39 years leading restaurant teams, from running one store to overseeing many. He started with Domino's Pizza as a General Manager in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and rose to Corporate Area Supervisor in Columbia, South Carolina, responsible for 9 locations. He then spent 30 years with Ted's Hot Dogs in Western New York, half of them as Director of Operations and Business Systems over 10 locations. He knows what it costs when the POS goes down in the middle of a Friday dinner rush, what happens when the delivery apps keep selling an item the kitchen ran out of an hour ago, and the difference between what saves a busy operator time and what gets quietly abandoned by the second week.

The business systems half of that title was hands-on work. He set up and ran point of sale platforms including Toast, Revel, Square, and Micros, and moved off one that couldn't keep up with how the stores actually ran. He also built his own labor forecasting tool that used live sales to tell managers, mid-shift, when to cut labor or bring in more help. That is the thread through all of his work: he isn't interested in tools that only report the numbers. He builds tools that move them.

Most people who build AI for small businesses have never had to run one. Rich has.

He knows exactly which tools he wished he'd had during those years, and Janua Labs is where they finally get built. He brings both sides of the counter to the work, making sure every tool works the way a busy operator actually needs it to.

If something is slowing your business down, Rich will give you a straight answer on how Janua can help.