Latest / Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360 / #552: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | Why Hot Head Burritos Believes Loyalty Starts Inside the Restaurant

Transcript

#552: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | Why Hot Head Burritos Believes Loyalty Starts Inside the Restaurant · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

0:02
SPEAKER_01: Good afternoon, good morning.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: Mark Johnson from Loyalty360.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: Hope everyone's doing well.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: It is a Thursday, so another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty podcast, The Brand Stories, is upon us.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: It's great having you with us every Thursday.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: Today we are joined by Peter Wiley.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: He is the corporate vice president, chief marketing, and chief technology officer at Hothead Burritos.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: Hothead Burritos was founded in Dayton, Ohio in 2007 and has built a brand around bold flavors, customization, and memorable guest experiences, like a field goal kick at halftime to win burritos for a year, and they're getting ready to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Peter has been with the brand since its inception, bringing experiences across restaurant operations, marketing, and technology.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: He actually got his start in restaurants when he was 12 years old.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: He is the owner-operator of 12 Hot Head Burritos as well.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: And he has a very unique perspective on customer loyalty, both from the corporate and franchisee side.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Today we're going to discuss how Hothead is leveraging technology, engaging younger generations, supporting local communities, and strengthening guest relationships while maintaining operational consistency.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Peter, thank you very much for taking the time to join us today.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Congrats on the promotion.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Sure, doing good.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having us.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate it.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: Look forward to the conversation.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: For those who may not be familiar with Hothead Burritos, can you give us an introduction to the brand?
1:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, how it was started in Dayton, I think in 20 uh7.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, and and how have you grown the brand and and and uh what do you guys do?
1:43
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Yep, we started in 2007.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: My brother Ray started it.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh he was a longtime subway guy and was looking to start a brand.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Chipotle wasn't franchising, and so he created his own.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, I started working with uh doing logos and websites for him way back then and then migrated out to Ohio about 15 years ago.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Um so we're coming up on our 20th anniversary, which is kind of crazy.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, Hothead is a fast casual, you know, Mexican place, again, similar to a Chipotle or Mo's or Qudoba, those are all our competitors.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we offer quite a different spin on stuff.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh we have a number of craft recipes that allow you to really just order things that we've crafted and put together.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh we think are great flavor profiles.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, that are real differentiating factor is uh I think we're up to around 12 or 13 different sauces right now.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: So you can really come in and make it as mild or wild or sweet or crazy or hot as you would like, uh, versus lots of places you just kind of get what they got.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Is that kind of the secret sauce then?
2:43
SPEAKER_01: The secret sauce?
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, literally.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: We do have a uh signature hothead sauce, which is a zesty garlic uh creation of our own.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh we also have a very, very popular sweet habanero, which is sweet and no heat at all.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but those are a number of one and two sauces.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: And then we go, you know, crazy into teriyaki or barbecue or jalapeno ranch and cilantro lime, uh, just a lot of different flavor profiles that give you tons of different options.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: Is there a kind of a favorite uh most popular uh sauce?
3:14
SPEAKER_00: Probably it's gonna be neck and neck between hothead sauce and sweet habanero.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh and two extremely different flavor profiles, and then quite a few people actually mix them.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: So they will get a little bit of both.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's I thought that was pretty odd when I heard somebody do that because to me that doesn't work.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: I tried it.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: I was like, good gosh, this actually does work.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Um you've been at Hot Hat, it's mentioned this uh 20 uh seven, correct?
3:42
SPEAKER_01: 2007?
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Have you been?
3:43
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: And you worked your operations, you talked about, you started off doing some logos, marketing, technology.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you look at these experiences, how have they shaped your approach to kind of your role and now uh being even more uh kind of impactful being having the technology and the marketing?
4:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, how have they shaped your experiences and approaches to uh you know the customer?
4:06
SPEAKER_00: I I think it's really helpful.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I think historically you've seen like a CMO and a CTO uh and an ops guy be very separated and they're different silos.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: And being a technically a franchisee and the marketing guy and the IT guy just allows you to pull it all together and see people see things from different people's perspective.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: What may be a really cool idea from a marketing concept, sitting in an office and coming up with a campaign might not execute really well in the store or might not translate really well from an operation standpoint, and then it may be really difficult to pull off from an IT standpoint.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: So having a good grasp of understanding of what I'm gonna market, how am I gonna bring it into my point of sale?
4:51
SPEAKER_00: How can they order it online?
4:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, is it gonna translate to DoorDash?
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna translate to TV commercials, radio?
4:57
SPEAKER_00: And what happens when all those are out there?
4:59
SPEAKER_00: When you click on something, where does it take you?
5:01
SPEAKER_00: Where does it go?
5:02
SPEAKER_00: And then ultimately, how does it show up?
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we just use a kitchen chip, you know, we don't necessarily have a KDS, but how does it show up in the store if you order online?
5:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh is it hard?
5:10
SPEAKER_00: Is it hard to make it?
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Is it not hard to make it?
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we put all those things together to really try to come up with campaigns that work well across all the platforms, marketing, operations, and technology.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so I think that's the the big advantage.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: And so I ask that question all the time.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Is this going to work here?
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Where's the roadblock going to be there?
5:32
SPEAKER_00: And then how do we resolve it or fix it or come to a you know uh a good medium solution?
5:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: So when you look at that combined uh CMO, CTO role, you know, what's the biggest challenge that you face?
5:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, what what keeps you up at night?
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Bandwidth, just having uh enough time to do everything.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh I have a great team around me, and we just kind of did some promotions and elevated them to a little bit more uh responsibility, which is great as we get a little bit bigger and take on more things.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: And let's face it, advertising gets and marketing gets more and more complex.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: We're not on you know two TV stations and a radio station and a cable network.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: We're on 20 different platforms.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Um the ads got to be different, the the social media message has got to be different.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: You're working with influencers.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're doing, we have a mascot, so we're doing fundraising, we're doing events like show up at a football game and our mascot.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's got to coordinate all that.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so all those moving pieces, all you know, from the tech standpoint, all the way to the marketing execution, or uh get my head spinning a little bit.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: So being able to delegate, that's been a little been more helpful, and I'm trying to delegate more.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: So that's a skill I'm learning.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's very interesting, actually, because oftentimes marketers don't necessarily have a technology background, nor do they like technology.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: You know, I consider myself a pretty uh solid marketer, love technology, uh, like seeing the impact the new technology can have and figuring out how to use it and leverage it, integrate it.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: But again, it's all that right brain, left brain piece.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: Marketers are traditionally more right-brained, more uh, you know, creative, and the left side, the analytic side, uh, for the technologists.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: So bringing that together could be very compelling uh for you and for the organization, correct?
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Because you have both those attributes.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: I think it helps a lot because we're not uh we're not uh headbutting as much, right?
7:23
SPEAKER_00: We're working together, we're thinking as a team, uh as a co-op, if you will, instead of here's my idea, here's your idea, try to make them mash together.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: It's like we're sitting down, like when we do our marketing meetings, we sit down, we have our ops guy there.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, and again, our IT guy is part of our marketing team.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: So we're literally sitting there figuring all these out at the same time.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: So it really streamlines the process and we can figure out how to move forward uh and then maybe where we need to pivot.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: So when you look at customer loyalty, you know, we love talking to brands, getting an understanding of what customer loyalty means to them from a qualitative perspective.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, what does guest loyalty, customer loyalty mean to you?
7:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and what does it mean to Hothead Burritos?
8:02
SPEAKER_00: I think there's two ways to look at it.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: There's the technological way to look at it.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, are they checking in?
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Are they ordering online or they're ordering on the app?
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, what's their analytics in the app?
8:13
SPEAKER_00: How often do they come?
8:14
SPEAKER_00: What do they order?
8:15
SPEAKER_00: All those type of things.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: And that's one form of loyalty.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: We're starting to pivot a little bit to put more emphasis on the brand loyalty and creating that uh brand culture, brand environment, and really trying to tie it across all of our platforms.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Granted, that's kind of the key to marketing, right?
8:32
SPEAKER_00: You want to create that relationship so that it's not just a food decision, it's more of a relationship decision.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: I relate to Hothead Burritos, I like it, they're a great place to walk into.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: So we're trying to take that.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: I can I can send you a message on a loyalty platform, but if you're not connected with me emotionally, um you're probably not gonna walk into my restaurant.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: You may walk into some other restaurant.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, so trying to make sure that when you come into our restaurants, you feel that connection, you feel that loyalty and that brand connection that we can then leverage, for lack of a better word, through our communications.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: So when I send you a message and it clicks, you're like, man, I like this place.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: I want to come into this place.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: So trying to create that vision or that culture across uh the in-store restaurants, so operations to maximize our digital platform loyalty.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: That makes perfect sense.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the uh things that we often talk uh with those in the in the restaurant uh QSR space is kind of uh when is the first guest experience and is it when they come in the parking lot, when they come into the store, you running 10 stores obviously gives you great firsthand uh knowledge of that, right?
9:41
SPEAKER_01: So turning experience into engagement, turn into loyalty.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you know what's the first experience uh you know that that that you think is important to customers, and then how how can you use that?
9:51
SPEAKER_01: You talked about if you're not emotionally loyal to me, I'm not gonna engage with you.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: How do you turn that into conversion?
9:56
SPEAKER_01: How do you convert that, right?
9:57
SPEAKER_01: Because there are tons of options.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, it's uh the challenge today is it's infinite, right?
10:03
SPEAKER_00: There's just a myriad of ways to reach people.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: Um we're again kind of stepping back, really looking at our operations, looking at our in-store design, looking at our our signage, right?
10:12
SPEAKER_00: If you want to see the first impression, what's that sign look like before you ever walk in the door just that you drive by it?
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Is it up to date?
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Is it currently are the lights on, right?
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many times I've gotten a uh picture and I got a sign halfway out.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: You're like, dude, you know, I gotta fix that now.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: Um so we're tackling that part of it.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: And then when they get in the door, we're really trying to make that connection of we really want people to be enthusiastic to be there.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: So we're um focusing on, you know, what can we do to make life better for our team members?
10:40
SPEAKER_00: What can we do to make it so I want to come to work, not that I have to come to work.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and this is this is a challenge.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Staffing's a challenge everywhere.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: So we feel like if we if we really can do that and create that culture has been a buzzword forever, I get it.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: But how can we really create that environment through pay, through benefits, um, through operational things that are easy and actually work, right?
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Nothing's broken in the store, all those type of things.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, a great environment for our team.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: So when the customer comes in, they're happy to see them rather than like, you know, frustrated with something that's not working.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, you mentioned guest uh experience tied to the engaged uh you know, uh frontline employees, very important.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Getting that feedback from the guests, uh, you know, frontline observations as well, uh what's working, what's not working, being able to take that feedback can be a challenge for many brands.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, what's one change that you have made based on maybe some of the employee feedback or guest feedback that that you've received?
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we started using a platform to gather all those surveys from you know anything from digital third-party to in-store experience.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: So you get a message right after you've been in our store.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: Hey, how was your visit?
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we've taken back, you know, hey, what our number one problem with online ordering, well, how do we fix it?
11:56
SPEAKER_00: What is the thing we gotta get right?
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, as missing items.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: So we've really pushed that with our team to say, hey, let's really focus.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, if all we do is focus on making sure we get everything in the bag, we're gonna have a much higher C stat score, a much higher satisfaction with our customers.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then when you're in the store from an operational standpoint, again, we'll test stuff at our local stores, and then we'll take that feedback from the team.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, here's how we think the operation is gonna work.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we got a new product coming out called Dippers, um, where you get um to me, I liken them to ketos, which my kids loved when I was growing up.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: So they're a little you know smaller version, you dip them in some case.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's a really good product, but we rolled it out one way in our first test store and then immediately got feedback.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: It'd be a lot better product if we did this, and it'd be simpler if we did that.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: So we implemented those.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, we made a change in our ops based on um the employees' feedback or the team's feedback.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: So when you look at some of the promotions, you talked about some of the new products uh that you uh have rolled out.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: What about limited time campaigns such as you know, the case of gone wild and barbecue, pork, carnitas?
13:00
SPEAKER_01: How do you turn that interest into a potentially a new menu item uh into a reason that gives people a chance to return?
13:09
SPEAKER_01: So those LTOs that you that you put out there, how do you take that engagement and kind of turn that into uh a long-term customer after the promotion ends?
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, our goal with the LTOs is it create a little buzz, right?
13:23
SPEAKER_00: It like the barbecue pork carnitas is a great one.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: We brought in a new Carnitas product, so it improved our product, simplified operations, gave us a better flavor.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: We brought in a new barbecue sauce, a citrus citrus lime chipotle barbecue sauce, even though we don't like using Chipotle in anything to the name, but uh brought that in and it created just uh a reason to come in and try something new.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've been into hot head once, or maybe you hadn't been into it for a while.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Um so we try to stack things in the right time frame, right?
13:50
SPEAKER_00: That's a nice summer promotion.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: And once we get them in, we're now tracking, you know, did they come in, did they buy it?
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Who and if they bought it, did they buy it again, right?
13:58
SPEAKER_00: So if they don't buy it again, maybe we didn't hit, maybe we didn't hit it on the nail on the head, but we didn't get it quite right.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: And but if they do buy it again, cool.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: What can we now lead them on to try again?
14:07
SPEAKER_00: You like this one?
14:08
SPEAKER_00: So we'd like maybe a sweeter profile with barbecue pork.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at the analytics, look and punch.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: We also use Bicky, which gives us a lot of menu data that we can look at so that we can retarget those customers or try to walk them through the menu, try to get them to that key fourth visit to really get them hooked on the platform or you know on brand.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: And I know recently the Beaver Creek store, uh, Beaver Creek, Ohio, just outside of Dayton, you had uh kind of a one-day sales uh event where you donated uh kind of the the proceeds to supporting uh one of the neighbors, uh Beaver's Minimart, I think, uh based on a social media uh moment engagement.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, what prompted that response and what did you learn about the role of the local community, the relationships uh in in building customer loyalty, but more importantly, building trust?
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that was absolutely crazy.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you got uh, for those that don't know, Bucky's came into uh Huber Heights, which is a little bit north of Dayton, and uh Beaver Creek, Ohio.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: Everything's got a beaver logo on it.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the high school, the city, you know, it it's it's beaver creek, right?
15:15
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have a beaver logo somewhere, somehow in the name.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: So this little town mini market that doesn't even have gas.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's corner, it's not prime real estate, it's partially in a neighborhood.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they decided to sue these guys for logo infringement because they had a beaver on their sign, and they whatever reason they came up with.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: And we were just like, that's ridiculous.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: Our community came together, probably 20 different brands uh changed their logo.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we said, Hey, how can we help?
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Because when you get sued, you got to defend yourself.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: That costs money.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know how much money it costs them, but it was a great opportunity for the community to come together and say, we're not gonna put up with this.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna help these people.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: So we took one day of sales, not profit, not margin, just 100% of gross sales or net sales, um, and wrote them a check and said, Here you go, hope this helps you out.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it, you know, got picked up all over the news, got picked up internationally.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: So uh did it work out to be a great PR thing?
16:16
SPEAKER_00: It did.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately we wanted to help a local business, help somebody in our neighborhood um kind of you know, I don't know, stick it to the man's probably not the right word, but defend themselves and and say it's not okay.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: You can't come into our neighborhood and try to hurt somebody.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: You know, as you continue to grow, uh having firsthand experience running your 10 restaurants, being involved in the restaurant industry since you were 12, uh, you know, oftentimes the goal of a customer loyalty program is to simplify some of the things that the restaurateur uh may not want to do, payroll training, uh, the point of sale, whatever it may be.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: So you simplify it, and you as an owner operator understand some of the challenges andor opportunities that exist, correct?
17:00
SPEAKER_01: So you can bring a kind of a different perspective to that discussion.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've worked, um that's actually been a pretty good initiative of ours over the last year.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: I am a heavy tech guy, I love tech.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would have everything be done on an iPad, digital, whatever you could do, any way you can do it technologically, I want to do that.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: What I have found is not everybody's at that point in their life, right?
17:23
SPEAKER_00: And as an operator in the restaurant, yeah, iPad School does a lot of things great.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, we do our food temps and checklists and stuff like that.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: But if you're running a restaurant, I'm making food, I'm cooking food, I'm taking care of customers.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't always have time to go check my email and look at these 45 reports.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: It's like, what can we do to really uh simplify to your point, make it easy for them?
17:44
SPEAKER_00: So while I've implemented some things and then we maybe rolled it back, or to some degree, we've just said, okay, here's the data, and we have the data between our vendors, and we send out an email because we found out the phone and the iPad don't want them living on it in the restaurant necessarily all the time, but they can check their email once a day, get the report that they're looking for.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it sends it right where they're at.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: So we guess my motto has been let's meet people where they're at.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: For some people, that means an email, some people that means an app.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, and most of our vendors have some sort of app that can also give you the same email.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: And some people it's print out a piece of paper and here you go.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we don't we don't care where you're at.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: We just to your point, we're gonna make it simple.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: And if that means you want to print a PDF and do it that way and then submit the data, cool.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do that for you and provide that for you.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: We went all digital ops pages.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: Um again, I don't like printing things.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: As soon as you print it, it's out of date.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of our team came back and said, we really like having some of those core things on a printed ops page.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: So we're redesigning, we went all digital ops to come back and say we need to make these pages printer-friendly so they can print the ones they want.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: And so I think there's a good example of uh tech doesn't always rule the day.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes meeting people where they're at is what you got to do.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: So well, you kind of answered the question I was gonna ask next, right?
19:09
SPEAKER_01: You talked about some success of IT that you had, and I was gonna ask you, you know, what's one marking or technology or innovation that didn't quite go as expected?
19:16
SPEAKER_01: You've got the not being able to print.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Or is there another thing you talked about earlier, kind of rolling back some things that may not have gone as uh well as you anticipated?
19:26
SPEAKER_01: What are some of those?
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I the biggest one that comes to mind is inventory.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: I've tried three different inventory systems over the last several years, and lots of times they're just more complex and more difficult, and more you need more tech skill than needed.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: So we're kind of we're re-evaluating that again right now.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we work with GFS, they have some online platforms that we're working with to see if we can just make it simple.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: What do you need?
19:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't have ideal food costs because I don't know what you order most of the time when you come into the restaurant.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: You're getting a burrito with chicken on it, and I'm not ringing in whether you got Pico hothead sauce or you know, onions.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, we have that data for National Online Ordering, but then that changes your inventory.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: What do I really need to inventory?
20:09
SPEAKER_00: What's the goal of inventory?
20:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, you got a couple goals.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm managing my store, I'm checking my food cost, my accountant wants a number at the end of the month.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we get those three things without being so detail-oriented or so cumbersome that it's just nobody wants to do it?
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I don't have a solid answer.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: We're still working on that, but that's again, I've done that a couple times, try different platforms, and cost is also a real concern, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_00: We operate 21 stores as a team.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: Whatever I do or impose onto the franchisees, we're paying 21 times.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're we're cost sensitive as well.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: So we don't want you to pay 250 bucks for a platform that does all the bells and whistles and you don't ever open.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: So excellent.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: So you talked about influencers, you talked about uh kind of different types of marketing, 20 different channels.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh many brands today struggle with uh engaging uh kind of a younger audience.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh it can be more challenging to get them involved, at least initially, but they do find that over time, if you can create uh kind of a kind of communication paradigm, if you can create kind of an engagement process, they end up being kind of the biggest advocates for the brand and can do some very unique things for the brand.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: So when you look at kind of engagement strategies, how how are you engaging with maybe the younger demographic to get them involved initially in the program or in the brand and going forward?
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, there's a digital way, right?
21:34
SPEAKER_00: What where am I spending my money on digital ads?
21:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh Facebook SKUs older, so I'm going more towards Instagram.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Instagram now is TikTok and combination of um Snapchat or something like that.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: So we we look at all those demographics.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: We have an agency we work with to help us with that.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then we're again pushing hard to get back more into the community.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, um, our agency worked with Beaver Creek High School uh and said, Hey, can we partner with You in some way.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: We don't just want to buy a banner.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: That just doesn't do anything.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: There's no ROI.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: I've done that.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, what can we do that gets us?
22:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, we got a mascot, so we did it um negotiated.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna feed the team, so we're reaching a younger generation, right?
22:14
SPEAKER_00: High school team, uh, fed the whole team, and then worked with them to do a halftime.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: If you ever watch uh like college game day and they kick the fuel goal, right?
22:23
SPEAKER_00: So halftime, it's hot ed sponsored, kick the fuel goal, see if the kid can make it, right?
22:27
SPEAKER_00: And if they win, they get three burritos for a year.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: I got our mascot out there, the crowds chanting, you know, one more kick.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: This last one they missed it the first time, so we gave them another chance.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but those are ways we feel like the younger generation really wants to connect with community and again, create their relationship with the brand and not just get a digital ad.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: So we're trying to move more that way, look at how we can engage uh with different local events.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and some brands are stellar at that, and uh I look at them and I take inspiration from them, and we're trying to do that because we see it as a great way to connect uh with all generations.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh a great uh great idea.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: So um uh next question you keep answering before.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna ask, we asked kind of some things that didn't work, but uh you know, I was gonna ask about kind of marketing or technology initiatives that created lasting uh experience, and I think that's actually it, right?
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Is is partnering, you're looking at it differently, right?
23:21
SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to buy a banner that's static.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: There's no way to look at it or measure engagement or attribution, but creating some buzz, doing something different, and maybe even more costly potentially, but it has the opportunity to create uh an impact, right?
23:36
SPEAKER_01: That this first time I it was uh came across a hybrid as kind of cool, kind of quirky, kind of a little irreverent.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh so that would that be one of the things that you saw that that that that did very well from a marketing or technology initiative?
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, from a pure marketing, there's really no tech involved.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Um just pure marketing was great.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: It went really well.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: We've done stuff with high schools, uh, and some of our franchisees have done a great job of doing that, but we had never done um be at the game and put the mascot on the field and kick field goal type thing.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, so that really uh created a connection, I think.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh on more of a, if you want to look at more of a digital platform, you know, really focusing on we're pushing more and more towards video.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of brands do that rather than having a static ad, we're you know, really every ad will be a video of some sort.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: We just see such higher engagement on those views, shares, all those type of things.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Um I think that's been a really good move for us.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: And we're trying to figure out the influencer game.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not national, so how do we connect with local influencers um to get some fun content out of them and partner with them as well?
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, when you look at uh AI, you know, uh you've talked about some of the kind of technologies you had.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: How do you think AI can help you either from a training perspective, a technology perspective, an engagement perspective, uh with some of your marketing and technology efforts?
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we uh love it.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: Um we uh shameless plug.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: We do we work with Picky and they implemented an AI platform that uh is stellar for figuring out uh pretty much any question you want to ask, right?
25:16
SPEAKER_00: So it's very user-friendly, aggregates all of our customer data.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: We can ask who's buying, who's not buying, did they buy it again, that type of data.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: And then even using outside, say ChatGBT or Claude or something like that, to do market research, right?
25:30
SPEAKER_00: What's happening uh in this market?
25:33
SPEAKER_00: We got a new store going into Louisville.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: What's that market like?
25:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not in Louisville, so I don't know that market very well.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: So I can go do homework, I can do study, I can see who's in the market, what's going on, what teams are there.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you can also see what your competitors are doing, right?
25:47
SPEAKER_00: What's going on with uh you know Kudoba or Moes or Chipotle for our world?
25:52
SPEAKER_00: And what are they doing?
25:53
SPEAKER_00: Um so we know what's what they're working on, how the results are.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's kind of a cheat code, is how we see it, uh, to make decisions.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: You know, as mentioned, uh you have done a great uh deal of unique things uh within your organization, a technology, marketing, the approach on the customer.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh everyone likes to know kind of uh what others may be doing.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: So if you could think about a question that you would ask one of your competitors, a Chipotle, a Moe's, a Chick-fil-A, or another brand, you know, a question about technology or customer loyalty, what what would that be?
26:28
SPEAKER_00: I'd say I'd probably ask, what was the the number one technology you implemented that positively impact your team meaning and your operations?
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Because I I see that as there's so much room to grow in that area for us.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Um not that we don't have a good ops team, we have a great ops team, but again, really creating that in-store experience.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, so when we drive them in with great marketing, they have an awesome experience in the store as well.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: That makes perfect sense.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: And I think that gets back to that uh, you know, what the guests' experience and conversion, right?
27:01
SPEAKER_01: So there's so many opportunities out there, and and the goal is to get them to try, right?
27:06
SPEAKER_01: Trial and to convert, right?
27:07
SPEAKER_01: So uh if you have great technology, but it's uh create some dissonance, uh, it doesn't uh create personal engagement.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: That can create dissonance, right?
27:16
SPEAKER_01: If your parking lot's dirty or if you don't have really cool hot spices that that you're known for.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh it it you you you want to get people to do to try, and the marketing things you're doing are great, but you you want to convert them at some point too.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And I think it sounds like you're making sure the technology is resonant in a manner that that that lives with the marketing, which I think is is great to hear.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: We're certainly doing our best to make that happen.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: So we talked about some of the things that you've done.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, what's next?
27:43
SPEAKER_01: What are you guys looking to do?
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Where do you want to go?
27:46
SPEAKER_00: Man, again, we're focused heavily on operations, focused heavily on making uh life good for our team members, um, so that people want to be here, want to work with us.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Um and then we're on from a product standpoint, again, we're already looking into 2027, exploring different LTOs that we can bring in there.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what can we do?
28:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, try not to just bring in tech to bring it in, uh, but what can we leverage?
28:09
SPEAKER_00: AI is certainly something we're leveraging more and more for trends, uh, for flavor profiles, for different um ways to access, you know, access different generations or different uh people at different levels.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Um so got LTO rolling out, got gift cards coming out, got new, you know, new product coming out, or a couple new products coming out in 2027.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: And 2027 is our anniversary year.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be 20 years, so that's kind of cool.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a big uh spin on that as well.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and one of the things too, in recently in our community, uh kind of the reward options, how to use different reward options, incentive options.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Many brands are going back small ball, right?
28:48
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the theaters, we had a discussion recently, they talked about some of the things that they've been doing, like even handing out gift cards, right?
28:54
SPEAKER_01: Gift cards or even paper scratch-offs, right?
28:57
SPEAKER_01: Something that that is more memorable.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: So getting away from the digital right, because the nostalgia impact of that, but also kind of the the retro or uh the vintage perspective, right?
29:08
SPEAKER_01: So and it and it's gamification in an old school way, right?
29:12
SPEAKER_01: So I think that many brands are looking to do that for sure.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh last question.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, what can loyalty 360 do to help uh support you and your team and your customer experience, customer loyalty journey?
29:23
SPEAKER_00: We like to see what other people are doing.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: We're always learning.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't know it all.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Um just because I've been doing it for a while doesn't mean you know it all.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: So somebody's always coming up with something new, something cool.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Um so we just try to keep pulse on what's going on in the world and you know what's coming down the pipe.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: So perfect.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think we have a couple of quick fire questions as well.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's short questions like a one sentence, one word.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, is there a book or a resource that has influenced uh you know how you lead?
29:51
SPEAKER_00: The power of mattering.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: And and what motivates you when you get up in the morning, what motivates you to go out kick some tail in in your work day?
30:00
SPEAKER_00: I want to positively impact the world around me.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And looking back uh since you were 12, right?
30:04
SPEAKER_01: Started working in the restaurant industry, you know, what what is one lesson from working in the restaurant since you've been 12 that still stays with you?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: You can really impact people's lives.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think people forget that.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like you come in, you can make them smile, you can encourage them, uh maybe lift up when they're down or uh you know celebrate when they're celebrating something.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: So can't do that in a lot of industries.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: Peter, thanks again for taking the time to speak with us today.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: Congrats once again on your promotion.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was great uh hearing your perspective on customer loyalty.
30:34
SPEAKER_01: As I mentioned, you bring a unique perspective from both an operator and an owner perspective, which is great to see.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh the melding of technology and marketing is even better.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh interesting, just everything that you're doing, how you're putting the customer first, how you're looking at technology in a unique way.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: It's not working, try something else.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: So thank you very much.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, very compelling interview.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to talking to you again soon.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, thank you very much for having me.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: And uh forward to chat again.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And also want to thank everyone else for taking the time to tune in.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Please join us back every Thursday for a new episode of our Leaders and Customer Loyalty Podcast, the Brand Stories Edition.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh, subscribe and follow Loyalty360 on YouTube and our other uh social media channels, uh, linked in the comments below.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And until next Thursday, have a wonderful day.