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Melting Pot: Inspiring and Cultivating Emotional Loyalty with Customers · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, good morning.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is Mark Johnson from Loyalty 360.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I want to welcome you to another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: In this series we suit with leaving brands about what they are seeing and hearing on the front lines of customer channel and brand loyalty.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Today we have the pleasure of having Anna Momquist, who is the chief marketing officer for the melting pot.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today, anna.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I'm good, thank you.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Excellent.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: First off, we'd like to start these on a more personal level, to know the individual we're speaking with.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So we'd love to know a little bit more about yourself, your role at the melting pot and maybe a fun fact, a passion you may have outside of work.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Sure, yeah.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: So my name is Anna Momquist.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I'm the CMO for Front Burner Brands, which is a franchisor for melting pot.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: We have about 90 plus locations throughout the US and one in Canada, and my main role here is to drive traffic to our brand and generate awareness to our brand.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Overall, I'm responsible for all the marketing functions within Front Burner Brands, including Creative, including digital media, pr, local marketing, things like that, as well as retail, and a fun fact about me is that I am either fluent or speak six languages.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Well, that's awesome.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: What are the six languages?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: So my first language is Spanish.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: So my first name doesn't my first name can give it away.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: My last name definitely doesn't, but I'm Cuban.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: So my first language was Spanish.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Obviously spoke English, you know, pretty early on, since I was born and raised in the US, then studied French and was a French major, also lived in Italy for a while, lived in Greece for a while, and my husband is Swedish and therefore dangerous enough in Swedish to understand and get by.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, great, that's a plethora of languages for sure, when you look at your Club Fondue program, can you just overview the program, how the program works, how the members can engage with it and what the benefits of the program are?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have over 2 million Club Fondue members to date and the program is really used for, you know, just providing information in terms of what are the happenings for melting pot and every location.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Also, basically, you can send out their own emails.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: So we send out national emails overall to promote any national programs or promotions that we are communicating at the moment, and then every location then also has access to their own locations, members and so, which are part of the overall database, and then they can send their own local emails according to what specifics they might have going on in addition to national programs that we're running.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: And also, you know, we gather all the information that we can.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: You know name, email address, any personal data and also birth dates, because then we also, you know, depending on your, on your birthday, we also email you and you can come in and get free chocolate dip strawberries during your birthday month.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, excellent.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I know you recently announced a Ultimate Five Course Experience.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Can?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: You share more about the five course meal.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: We'd love to know a little bit more about that.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: And also, you know, how did a customer feedback play in the decision to create such unique experience?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question and that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: So we have been undergoing a process and a project for the past year or so to get to know our guests that much better.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: And we have really robust data when we marry because we're able to marry our email database, our Club Fondue database, we're able to marry also our Open Table Reservation System as well as our Toast POS data.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: And so when you, when you bring all these three and connect the dots to all of them, we actually got really good understanding of our guest behavior.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: And then we further actually worked with Spatial AI and Sight Zeus, which are partners of ours, and we actually dove in with them to do a deeper understanding of our segmentation.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: And so, based on that, we were able to talk to, you know, current guests which you know had that, where those three databases really came together.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: We reached out to those guests which are current guests to understand how they use this and how they can use this potentially more.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And then we also went out and looked for guests that fit that profile of those, those high potential guests that we have.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: We went out and find people that fit that profile but actually have a melting pot in their town but they don't use us today.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: So we now have a better understanding and talk to those people and have a better understanding of what it would take for those people to come and try us for the first time and so, based on that, we ideated and developed programs and promotions to better serve and be relevant and motivating to both current guests to use us more and for potential guests to try us for the first time.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: So things that we heard were, for example, more innovation and different occasions.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: So, like I said, we are known for these special occasions and those are areas that we have to constantly protect.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: We own those and we want to make sure that we always own those.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: We also heard from guests that they wanted to use us for romantic occasions beyond just the one time of Valentine's Day and also for more casual occasions that are maybe like weekdays or maybe faster, don't have to be these big, huge occasions that you have on the calendar for a long time out.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: So for the past let's say four years, basically since coming out of COVID we've been working very hard to develop these more casual occasions and grow these more romantic occasions, and we've put programs in place like Thursday, which was a program specifically to address this kind of more recurring date night, but also very much for loyal guests.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Right, it's definitely a frequency, it's a program that's all about loyalty and to get more frequency out of our loyal users.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And then we also created programs like BFFF, which is Best Funded, friends Forever, which is again about loyalty, but more of like a friends night out, girls night out, kind of thing.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: And then we also developed some limited time offers that were more longer term, let's say four to six week programs, specifically to address the time on the calendar.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: So with the past three, four years developing and growing these kind of newer programs with the ultimate five course to your question, we came back and said we needed to provide some innovation for those more special occasions because we had let the regular menu and the core menu really drive those and you're coming in for those occasions.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: But how can we make those occasions that much more special?
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: And so, in understanding from our guests that they were looking for innovation on our menu and knowing that they love coming to us for those special occasions and would like to use us more, we gave them a reason to really come back in for some of those occasions.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: So the ultimate five course is just that Our typical experience is a four course with cheese fondue, salad, entree fondue and dessert fondue, chocolate fondue, and with the ultimate five course, we added a course which is really an amuse bouche, or first bite, so to speak.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: But then we also added things to enhance the overall experience.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: So, when you think about the cheese fondue, we added this idea of double dippers.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: So instead of just dunking your, dipping your bread into your cheese and eating it, now you could actually dip it into the cheese and then dip it into something else, like bacon bits or everything, seasoning or little pickles, so you can dip it in for that much more of an explosion of flavor.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: And then, talking about explosion, we added a new dessert, which we call the chocolate explosion, and this the brief here to R&D was about we need like something really wow, something really Instagram worthy, something that people are going to be proud, to take a picture of and share with their friends and that really, really just explodes on this idea of the ultimate celebration.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: And so what that is?
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: It's a chocolate fondue, but it's basically coming out of the pot in that it's a mini bun cake and then that bun cake is filled with cotton candy and then that cotton candy has one of those huge flair candles that when that goes off, everybody in the restaurant is looking at it, and then you're there recording and taking pictures and posting it and sharing it, and so really that's what the ultimate five course was meant to do.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: It was supposed to be innovation for our loyal guests, to make them come back and offer them just something new and exciting from the melting pot and also attract new guests that might not have used us or come to us and asked but now we're like, wow, this is a really cool new thing from melting pot.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: So it's just a new, modern way of considering us.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, interesting.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: So when you look at personalization, it sounds that it's very important to the melting pot.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: It's definitely very germane to our audience.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: We have about 140 brands of members of the Bulletin360.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Personalization is a topic that we have a discussion around quite often.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: We get together with brands to talk about it, so it's definitely front of mind.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Being able to leverage customer data is very important as well.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: So when you look at the customer insights and data insights that you have, how do you leverage those to strengthen your personalization efforts?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I mean we look at personalization a few ways and one of the ways of doing this so the segmentation that I referenced before.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: It's actually pretty dynamic in that it not only helps us identify, you know, these groups of people within Club Von Dube, but also within our media targets, and we have been using the segmentation and then using more relevant messages based on those segments and then based on location and pricing, to customize it.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: So our media is basically customized to the location, not to the individual, but definitely at the location level, and as well as pricing, tiers are at the location level as well.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: So what we're trying to do is better understand the different segments, the motivations behind those segments, and then target the communication to those segments within their geography.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: And you know, some of the things that we're really looking at and that we're testing.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Testing is trying to find those high value and high frequency guests and feed them into our media platform to, you know, kind of continue creating better audiences for targeting.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: So those are some of the things we're doing.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: We're also sometimes people come to us and try to make a reservation and they're basically bounced off the site because you know, if you wanted to come in on a Saturday at 7 o'clock and there's no reservation available, it used to say, hey, no reservation available.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: But now we've also tried to recapture some of that demand by, if you say you want to make a reservation at 7 o'clock on a Saturday and that's not available, now we've expanded the dates and times available, so let's say, the day before and the day after you were trying to come in.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Now that's a.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Now we show you what's available on those times, as well as Saturday, the next week, kind of like the airline model, right?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: So we're using some of the systems that we have in place just to better provide those options based on what you originally wanted, right?
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: So, again, that is very personalized because it's based on the exact reservation that you were trying to get, but we're not able to.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: We're also using experiences more on our reservation platform.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: So, working with OpenTable, to you know, instead of just making a standard reservation, it's now offering you pretty much a menu of different things that you can do and add on to enhance your experience at Melting Pot.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, when you look at data and privacy regulations, it's a growing concern of brands as well.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: A number of different regulations in California, Virginia, Colorado and others.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: How does the Melting Pot you know communicate transparency and become a steward of the data to foster trust with your customers?
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean again everybody you have to opt in for everything that you do.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Obviously and our team is just very focused on that we make sure that we always maintain things up to date and that we are not using the data.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: So, for example, right now we're doing a contest for Leap Day it's called Leap Puzzle which is if you can basically win a dinner and evening experience at the Melting Pot on February 29 for you to propose to your significant other on Leap Day, and if you win, you also get free monthly date nights for a year.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: In order to enter this contest, you have to submit your love story Now, to submit the love story number one you don't want to like.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: If you're going to propose to somebody and it's a secret, you don't want them to know you're proposing, right.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: So it's kind of like obvious.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: But then it's also how do we maintain that?
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: We're very much, you know we work with our legal counsel and then we just work with the systems that we have to make sure that it's very much you know, kept versus.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: You know we're not letting our PR agency, for instance, it's helping that we're not.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: We're not letting them help us with the love stories.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: We're keeping that very much internal, because we very much respect the data and privacy of our guests at all, at all opportunities.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, when you look at Emotional loyalty, you know how does the melting pot imbue and cultivate emotional loyalty with your guests.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's, that's our heart and soul, right?
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: I mean we are there truly for our and guests entire life journey, and that's something that we're trying to understand and get more and more of, because what we've understood from our guests is that, you know, they might have, they might have come to us for the first time as a child with their Parents and our families for some kind of family occasion, and then we've been part of their bigger moments, right, be it their, like a kid's, you know, on birthday.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Then eventually, when they're out with friends or on a date, we might be their homecoming destination or their prom destination or their, you know, first date.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Or, and then, when you keep moving along the spectrum, we might be there for their Proposal when they got engaged, and then their birthdays, and then their Valentine's Day is, and then their marriage, and then it becomes their Anniversary's, and so that person eventually, you know, starts bringing, you know, their kids, right, and then it's so on and so forth, and so it continues.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: So we're very much there along that, that life journey and that emotional journey for them, and that's what they tell us, right?
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: So Sometimes you hear them maybe lapse like, oh, I haven't been there since high school, or I haven't been there since, you know, ten years ago, and we're trying to understand why.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: And then we're trying to better understand how we can further connect them, either during those more laps times, but also like not to get them to lapse at all and so to to maintain that emotional connection all throughout.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: But, but it is a very emotional brand and you know, when people think about us, when people talk about us, they it is these big stages of their life, and so we make sure that we always stay top of mind for those times in their life, so that they're not choosing others when it comes to them.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: So so there, we're actually very strong.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, excellent.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: So when you look at the Next big thing for customer loyalty, what, what do you think that is for the melting pot?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: You know, one thing that we are trying to get better at and we're trying to put plans in places, is more recognition.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: And I again, I don't necessarily mean an app, Um I, or a loyalty program.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Our frequency is not.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: And we ask, we ask, ask.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: So when I talked to you about the segmentation work we did and the research that we did, we asked them what does that look like to you?
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: And they tell us look, I don't, because of the type of restaurant that you are and because of how we use you, we're not looking for we're never gonna get enough visits, or we're never gonna get enough visits in a certain amount of time to get something.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: That's how I use Starbucks, that's how I use Chick-fil-A, that's how I use a punch guard at my local pizza place.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: That's not how I think of melting pot, right, Because it's considered more upscale dining, more polished, casual, and so they're not looking like that for that from us, because it's just it's too much effort, right.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: And they say, oh, by the time I'm ready to use you again.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Then I need to download the app or I need to update the app, and then it's just not worth that.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: But what they do want is like I would like to be recognized, right so.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: And so we're working through identifying who are those high value, high frequency guests and how can we find them and reach out to them with be it advanced notice of some kind of promotion that we're doing, or maybe give them advanced access to the best tables or something like that.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: But they're not looking for big things from us, but just some kind of recognition from us that they feel seen and they feel appreciated and rewarded in a commensurate way.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's excellent.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: When you look at other programs from a customable perspective, are there offerings that you like, are there brands that you find yourself loyal to, and also, are there elements of that program or that process that you would like to include in the melting pot offering?
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: You know it's interesting because we've looked competitively within our space and there aren't that many programs.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: They're, you know, when you look at, you know, some of the more upscale restaurants or even, like the steak houses.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: They don't really have anything, but again it is.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I think maybe the closest one would have been and I don't think it's in existence anymore, but, like Flemmings, they had the Magnum program, which was, you know, really their you know highest value, highest frequency I think it was actually more value guessed and rewarding them accordingly.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: I think that's the one that we probably hold in the highest regard.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: But when we've taken a look at other competitors, they don't really necessarily have anything.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: So it feels like we'd actually be I'm not gonna say pioneering, you know something like that, but it is, you know, in terms of our category.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: I don't think anybody is necessarily doing a great job.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: The ones that are doing, you know, the ones that are recognized like a Starbucks or like a Chick-fil-A, or even if I look at the ones that I use the most, like Starbucks, you know that's not really, that doesn't really fit our brand, and so we need to make sure that, above all, we're brand appropriate and on equity and are really not doing it for the sake of, you know, being in vogue or anything.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: It's just what are our guests?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: What are our guests looking for from us?
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: And if it's just that they wanna have an amazing night out with, hey, you know, thank you for coming in, and here's a bottle of wine on us and it's a surprise and delight, I think that would actually go farther.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Excellent.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: When you look at customer loyalty in general, you know how can loyalty 360 help you and your team and your customer loyalty journey, and what resources do you feel you may need?
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I think it's just always understanding what best in class looks like and understanding, you know what could be applied to what we have.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, when you're a legacy brand like we are, you know we have some things that we wanna make sure that we keep staying up to date on everything and so, and more and more, connect everything.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: So the fact that we are able to connect, like I said, you know, email and check data and reservations is huge, right.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: And so then what else is out there and how else can we do it?
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Because we're not, you know, we're not a huge brand like some of the other ones that have all the resources, both dollars and people, to apply to this.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: So I think it's you know how can what's out there, but then how can it be applied, you know, to potentially smaller brands that had extremely loyal and, to use your words, you know, very emotional connection to its guests.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Absolutely I think those ideas?
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: What are the other ideas that then we can, you know, maybe translate into our world?
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, that's great, that's great.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great perspective, great feedback.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: We try to do our best to cover what brands are doing, what's working, what's not working, so people have that insight.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: So hopefully that aligns with some things that you're looking to do.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: So now we have our quick fire questions, which we'd like to limit to one word or short phrase answers.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: So the first one is what is your favorite word?
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Energy.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Perfect.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: What's your least favorite?
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: word Leverage.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, what excites you?
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Growth.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: And what do you find tiresome?
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Process.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: What is your favorite fondue?
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Alpine.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: What profession, other than the one that you're currently in now, would you like to attempt?
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Diplomat.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Who inspired you to become the person that you are today?
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: My mother.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Excellent.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: What is the favorite book?
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: You have a favorite book recommendation, business book, any book that you recommend to colleagues.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: I guess one of my favorite books is the Da Vinci Code.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, first of all, the author went to my alma mater.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: I didn't know him, he was a little bit older than me, but I just think it's just brilliant.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay, good, Excellent.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: And the last question is how do you want to be remembered by your friends and family?
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: That's a really hard one, that's a big one.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: That's not a rapid fire question, I don't know.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I mean I would just say, like just present.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, awesome, and thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: It was great getting to know you a little bit more and also getting to know, at least be more familiar with, some of the things that the Melting Pod is looking at from a customer channel brand loyalty perspective, and it was great hearing more about your five course experience.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to check that out.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Please do.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: I think you'll have fun.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, great.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Bring your phone, bring your camera, all right, perfect.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: We'll do that, and thank you everyone.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I also have taken the time to listen today.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I look forward to having back on another leaders and customer loyalty series then, and until then, have a wonderful day.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Thank you, I appreciate being here.