Chapter 1: Who is Omar Mawas Jr. and what is his connection to Farmer Boys?
Hey, it's Neil Saavedra. You're listening to KFI AM640, The Fork Report, on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Let me teach you how to eat. Let me teach you how to eat. How to marinate the meat. Let me teach you how to eat. Teach you how to eat. It's a culinary treat. Culinary treat. Let me teach you how to eat.
KFI AM 640 live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Hey everybody, it's the Fork Report, all things food, beverage and beyond. I am your well-fed host, Neil Saavedra. How do you do? Happy to be here with you on a Saturday afternoon as we do every single Saturday. We just... We just celebrate food. It's what we do. Every single Saturday from 2 to 5, we shake off the heaviness of the news.
That's what Eileen Gonzalez is here for. She's covering all of that. But we just celebrate food, the people that make it, the culture behind it, everything from fast casual, fast food to ā cooking at home, baking and everything in between. And today is no different as we look, we've been trying to set this up for weeks and weeks. The good folks from Farmer Boys are in studio today.
Omar is here. Is it Malas? Yeah, Omar Malas. Thank you for having me. Your junior. Look at that. Yeah. Do you write checks on your dad's and just go, hey, look at my ID. I could forge a signature. All right. See, it's good to know. Yeah.
Thank you for having us.
No, my pleasure. Thanks for coming in.
You brought food and all kinds of stuff. Of course. Yeah, I've been a part of, you know, the Farmer Boys family my whole life. My father, Omar Malwas, he became a franchisee in 2007. I officially started working at Farmer Boys at the age of 16 as a cashier, cook, started from the bottom. Now today I oversee like 11 locations, all of his locations, kind of like an area manager, operations manager.
Wow. And you're, you're a young guy. Can I ask how old you are? Uh, I'm 22. Good for you, man. I'm still in college. This is my last semester. Um, good for you.
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Chapter 2: What unique qualities set Farmer Boys apart from other fast food restaurants?
So our, our lettuce comes in whole, our onions come in whole, our zucchinis come in whole, even our sauces. I know you see the ranch right over here is prepped in, in the house daily. So that's what sets us apart. I think is everything is just freshly chopped in the house. Everything's cooked.
So the same with your, your salads as well. everything's chopped inside the house yeah i know they look pretty presentable but no they look great but they look i mean it's a great portions and exactly um you know it's freshly chopped but consistency is outstanding to the size of the chicken and the eggs and everything else in there exactly
Yeah, that's great. That's something else that sets us apart. I feel like our portion size is really a dramatic difference from, you know, your typical fast food. Yeah, I think that's right.
And I love the pride on your face as you're talking about the food here. Let's get some news. When we come back, we'll talk more with Omar. He is talking about Farmer Boys. Family is involved in it and he's going to be involved with it. 22 years old. He'll be graduating soon from college and he'll also go into this as well. We'll taste some of the food when we come back.
Talk about other unique aspects to Farmer Boys and that sets them apart. I don't know. I mean, I didn't know, but I would bet a lot of people listening for the first time heard that Farmer Boys gets whole vegetables and cuts them up, makes the onion rings, makes the salads, makes the toppings for the burgers, all of that. That is outstanding, Omar. We'll talk more when we return, so go nowhere.
You're listening to The Fork Report with Neil Saavedra, on demand from KFI AM640.
I am your well-fed host, Neil Saavedra. How do you do? We are talking with Omar Malas. He is a junior. His family owns, how many, five? 11. 11? Yeah. Holy smokes. 11. Are they all here in Southern California or do you have some out of state?
We recently just, Farmer Boys in general, recently moved to Nevada. We opened the first one in Arizona in the Phoenix area, Gilbert, Arizona.
Oh, sure.
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Chapter 3: How does Farmer Boys ensure the freshness of their ingredients?
They saw the searches for cheap eats and meal deals have surged a lot over the past year, couple months or so. Sure. So we saw that and we took that into consideration and we started featuring our farm stand fresh and affordable menu last year, which features rotating seasonal offerings and limited time items starting at just $9.99.
It's great to go for busy days, especially when you want something made fresh, filling and still easy on the wallet.
our farm stand fresh and affordable menu comes with complete meals each served with fries and a small drink starting at just 9.99 our options include with the lent season going up i mean going on we have our two piece or three piece fish box which is a very popular one uh at this time of year we have our grilled chicken sandwich box we have our big cheese box which is our single patty cheeseburger and then uh the double big cheese box as well and then we have our three piece or four piece chicken strip boxes which comes with fries a texas toast and a small drink as well
Wow. And it is hard to get out of anywhere for a meal in under 15 bucks. Exactly. And it's nice because you get these very affordable prices and you don't have to sacrifice the quality or smaller portions. It's a very filling meal with...
very high quality food well it's been great and it's a nice refresher although it hasn't been that long since i had farmer boys but it was nice to have you in talk about i think it's good for people to hear the You know, everyone always thinks everything's so corporate.
And even when there's corporate elements, these are the same as mom and pop places to us locally because they're locally owned, controlled. And, you know, you're in our neighborhood. You're in, you know, all these things. You're living near these places as well. Exactly, yeah. And they're family owned. Mm-hmm. That's great. Well, it was nice to meet you, Omar. I appreciate coming in.
I hope you'll visit us again and come in and talk about what Farmer Boys is doing. But the food you brought is outstanding. Maybe one time we'll have you in and we'll talk more about the offerings for breakfast because they do have some outstanding breakfasts there at Farmer Boys. Of course, farmerboys.com, farmerboys.com. We'll give you all the locations and all. Thank you. You're very welcome.
Thanks so much for coming on. Omar Moas Jr. Of course, his dad is senior and better watch his credit cards and his checks because now he can sign for him. But what a pleasure. All right. It's the Fork Report. Stick around. More to come.
You're listening to the Fork Report with Neil Saavedra on demand from KFI AM 640.
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Chapter 4: What are the popular menu items at Farmer Boys?
Yeah.
He got so aggressive with it.
Yeah.
And who's your daddy? Why would you say that to a burger? Seems odd, but I get it. You know, it's delicious. Delicious indeed. So that was cool. And just nice to meet a nice young man. My wife went to Cal Poly Pomona and then went on to USC. And they have a hospitality program at Cal Poly run by our very own Dr. P. We love her. Laura Pahopian. She's a professor over there. At least she was.
I think she still is. Who is she? Tell me about her. Oh, she's been on the show before. She's great. She has.
The prime ingredient.
Yes. The prime ingredient. Look at. Where are you, by the way? You keep popping in my ear, Kayla, and I have no idea where you are.
Sometimes I hang out in the other studio. I see. And eat your leftovers. And that's what I'm doing. So you don't have to stare at me.
You don't want to eat in front of me. Yeah. So she is with The Prime Ingredient. And you can find her at theprimeingredient.com. And check out all her stuff. She's great. We've had her on many, many, many times. Okay. Peeps. This is the time of the year where people scramble for peeps. Love them or hate them.
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Chapter 5: How has Farmer Boys adapted their menu to cater to budget-conscious customers?
I wonder if that says something about your personality. If you rip the head off or if you go for the butt first.
If you go for the tail, then you might be a good person.
We might know a little something about them. I'd be curious, the way I eat them, is I bite out the eyes and scream, stop staring at me. Does that tell you anything about me? That's why I can't eat shrimp.
Like with the face on it? Yeah. Or anything with a face on it?
Ew.
Well, no, you cut the face off. The flavor's in the cheeks.
I don't know about that.
No, it actually is.
I'm not lying.
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Chapter 6: What challenges did Farmer Boys face during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Yeah, they cost less per pound when you buy meat in a chub. Yeah. But then again, you can't see it. No, because they're usually in an opaque white container. Right. So that plastic means that you kind of have to feel your way around the chub to know if it's going to be a good one. Let me ask you a question. When when you have meat at a grocery store and it's not pink anymore, it's turning brown.
Is that turning on you? Is that getting sour? No, not necessarily, because a lot of that a lot of that color is kind of added. Gray is meat. Meat is gray. No way. Is that right? It's not red like that? No, not normally. Really? Wow. So it's like that's not blood that you're seeing in the package most of the time either. So what color is on the inside of a chub? Is it great?
Are you going to dive in there? I don't know. I'm thinking about him. What's the biggest chub you've ever seen? Oh, my God. You know, I host the Fork Report. Oh, that's right. You know, you don't get into radio without knowing your way around a chub. Without a big chub, yeah. That's wild. I've seen some huge because I come from a large family. Oh, I see. Okay. All right. But, man, I love chubs.
Who doesn't? Yeah. I love a good chub. Fun for the pound. Can't beat it. That's right. That's exactly right. But you got to open it up to smell it to see if your chub's gone sour. You got to get in there. That's right. Brian Long wants to talk to us. You got to get in there if you want to know if it's fresh. That's right. All right. Well, we learned something today. Your mom's into chubs. Yeah.
Yeah. And I think that was just a choice when you have a big family. That's right. I think I might have created the big family. Yeah. And, you know, in 2026, not everyone's into chubs. Not everyone eats meat. No. Vegetarians do not. I don't wonder if there's a veg chub. Ooh. I bet there is. I bet Mark Thompson would know about that. He looks like he knows his way around a chub. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. This is it. This just in. That's right. Yeah. Then Saturday. Yeah. Not an all new chub. Saturday is going to be having some lows. Chubs and Charlie. Bonnie, always nice of you to have me on. I appreciate that. All right. Well, I'm going to give you a topic coming up. I hope to hear a little bit about silver.
Oh, and gold.
And a little bit about gold. Boom. We'll do both. Thanks.
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Chapter 7: How does Omar Mawas Jr. balance work and college life?
All right.
I appreciate you.
Coming up next on the Crest Report with Tim Conway Jr. Go nowhere. This is KFI Heard Everywhere on the iHeartRadio. You've been listening to The Fork Report. You can always hear us live on KFI AM 640, 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.