A panel at the Fast Casual Executive Summit examined how restaurants can use coaching, technology and other tools to maximize coaching, location collaboration, compliance and more.
There are many factors that determine a restaurant’s success, especially financial management and location performance. However, measuring these data points and improving upon them can be a major challenge. A panel at the Fast Casual Executive Summit held from Oct. 13 to 15 in Denver, Colorado examined how restaurants can use coaching, technology and other tools to maximize coaching, location collaboration, compliance and more.
Brad Adams, president, CEO and chairman of Qvinci Software, moderated the discussion with panelists John Geyerman, chief strategy officer, WOWorks, Johnny Tellez, COO, Blaze Pizza and Kathleen Wood, founder and CEO of Kathleen Wood Partners LLC.
One primary issue that makes gathering data difficult is manual processes that are slow to implement and take up much of a manager’s time.
“Excel and Google Sheets are only going to hold you for so long,” Wood said. Instead, she recommended finding a technology program that “will grow with you,” so you can reallocate manager’s time elsewhere.
However, in order to utilize this data effectively, restaurants need to have it centralized in one place.
Tellerz said once you have that data in one centralized location, you can start drawing lines, and “tell a story from that data.”
This can be a challenge for franchisees, since Geyerman said they all have disparate ways of collecting data and some are leery to share financial data due to concerns of the franchisors out to get them.
Instead, franchisors have to find a way to break old patterns and get everyone on board with the same system, even when they are different brands involved.
“Every franchise system we have acquired has had a legacy system way of doing things and we have to break that pattern,” Geyerman said.
Scalability is also an issue here, as it can be difficult to find a solution that scales with a restaurant as it grows.
Tellerz reiterated that a truly scalable location is centralized so “one person is handling it,” and not 20.
Wood said that many restaurants build systems separately and when they try to bring them together, they realize they don’t work together. Instead, restaurants should develop a wider strategic map.
“What is your strategic map for scaling and how does that map with financial and people plans?” Wood said.
When looking at coaching franchisees to meet key performance indicators, the panelists said its very important to ensure you’re measuring the right things and giving the right data to franchisees.
For example, Wood said that many managers have to perform 250 tasks during a shift so adding too much data on all those tasks and you have just added more complexity.
Tellerz said the key is to deliver “the right sets of data at the right time together.”
As an example, Wood said rather than giving franchisees a list of every KPI, instead focus on the ones that do move the lever financially.
Tellerz agreed, stating that, “You have to tie it down financially. My way to convince franchisee is show them how it helps or hurts their bank account.”
Another problem with performance is that many franchisees don’t trust franchisors, or they view performance reviews negatively.
Geyerman pointed out franchisees usually always discount what franchisors have to say. He said a better way to approach getting franchisees on board with standards to boost key performance indicators is to show them data comparing them to their peers.
“That tends to give credibility because they can see where they sit in relation to their peers.”
Tellerz said Blaze Pizza has ditched the traditional performance review in favor of a virtual coach who can help them implement best practices. This creates a more collaborative feel to the relationship.
“It feels like you are talking to a peer and mentor instead of the police,” he said.
This plays directly into an issue of making sure franchisees stay in compliance with goals and standards.
Geyerman said it’s going to come down to whether your franchisees trust you or not. If they trust you, they’re going to go along with your standards because they believe it’s in their best interests.
“You have to circle it back to what it does for me,” Tellerz said. He added you shouldn’t just measure for measuring’s sake.
Wood also argued to the importance of developing good leadership so that brands can “coach people into how to pull those (KPI) levers.”
In conclusion, all panelists agreed that the three most important elements to financial success with data is to:
- Centralize data in one place.
- Tell a story.
- Tie it back to how it directly benefits the franchisee.
