Posts Tagged ‘franchisees’

Young Guns Dine America Session Discusses Second Generation Franchisees

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By: Glenn Haertel
October 12, 2011 | No Comments

Dain Pool, Pool's Restaurant Group

Dain Pool, Pool's Restaurant Group

One of the breakout sessions I attended was titled “Young Guns”, and it focused on the fact that many baby boomers’ children are coming of age and looking for their own business opportunities. The panel consisted of QSR’s Sam Oches (moderator), Dain Pool of Pool’s Restaurant Group, Jonathan Wagner of Two Trucks, LLC, and Donald Boroian of Francorp, Inc.

All three panelists agreed that while millenials form a complex group of people, they are generally divided into two groups: those who are comfortable operating under franchisee guidelines, and those who are not. Donald Boroian stated that the young guns are not as interested in brands as they are in the latest concepts. They buy from a personal preference point of view—contemporary identity is important to them. It’s as though they’re the “anti-brand” generation, and contemporary movements appeal to them. Franchisors should bear this in mind throughout their efforts to attract this demographic.

The food truck trend emerged several times throughout the panel’s discussion. Jonathan Wagner of Two Trucks, Inc. took his

Jonathan Wagner, Two Trucks, LLC

Jonathan Wagner, Two Trucks, LLC

father’s brand—Johnsonville Sausage—and featured it in his food truck concept. Wagner’s business model is a perfect representation of how the young guns are developing ideas from what they’ve learned growing up and evolving them. Food trucks appeal to the anti-corporate mindset that so many of the second-generation franchisees embrace.

Other hot concepts discussed included second-generation Mexican food (Chipotle, for instance), healthy, chopped foods and salad venues, and breakfastfoods and sandwiches.

Dain Pool and Donald Bororian both agreed that when seeking quality young gun franchisees, franchisors should examine the candidate’s past level of responsibility, look for strong leadership qualities, and marked passion for the food industry. They cautioned everyone to beware of the disgruntled young gun who is simply trying to get out of his parent’s shadow. Bororian advised,

“Look for kids who live, eat and breathe the business.”

Not surprisingly, the panelists mentioned the importance of targeting second-generation franchisees through social media and search engine optimization.

Donald Boroian, Francorp, Inc.

Donald Boroian, Francorp, Inc.

I found it interesting that Donald Boroian, who has over 40 year of experience in the food service industry, and the two young gun panelists: Jonathan Wagner and Dain Pool, all agreed on virtually every point discussed during the panel—despite the generational gap. Further, they allmentioned the importance of listening to franchisees, customers, and employees, and adapting your offerings and services based on their input. Adapting quickly to change and adjusting your marketing message to your local customers and their specific preferences is key to succeeding in today’s environment.

Did you attend the Young Guns panel at Dine America? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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An Introduction to Intelligent Profiling

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By: Doug Fergusson
November 18, 2010 | No Comments

iStock_000011435957SmallFor many organizations, location profiling is simply the process of collecting store attribute data and loading information into a spreadsheet. While this is a step in the right direction, I’ve found that this approach is severely limiting in practice. We’ve developed a methodology combined with supporting technology that we refer to as “Intelligent Profiling”, and it overcomes the limitations of most location profiling approaches.

After eleven years of perfecting the profiling process, and working with both small and large companies, we’ve found one thing to be true: flexibility is critical. Location profiles and the information that they store are dynamic—the data is often incomplete and continually changing. Our approach enables clients to move forward despite these imperfections, while developing a process that facilitates future expansion and continual improvement of processes.

There is a wide range of attributes that can be collected that will ultimately be used to impact which marketing materials are delivered to a location. Some examples include:

  • Region or Market
  • Store Type
  • Marketing Element Type and Size for every element
  • Quantity of each element
  • Product Offered at a location
  • Beverage Brands
  • Price Points
  • Demographic data regarding customers
  • Zoning ordinances (e.g. caloric menus, exterior signage regulations)

Typically, this data is scattered throughout organizations, or non-existent. Collecting the data and providing for an evolving data environment is an integral component of Intelligent Profiling. Initially, some of our clients started with only 4-5 attributes in their database, but in time their systems evolved to included hundreds of profile elements.

With so many categories and subcategories of information to consider, you can imagine why distilling this information can be an extraordinary challenge. The process isn’t as simple as creating a database in which you collect arbitrary information. You must have a plan to collect relevant data, and have a flexible database that changes as you evolve.

The productive use of profiling data is another key concept of Intelligent Profiling. Traditional spreadsheets and stand-alone databases are difficult and time-consuming to access, and significantly impact organizational agility. A critical improvement is the integration of the profiling database engine into the operational workflows. The result: a database that drives marketing processes to deliver exactly what is needed by any location in real time.

In this Intelligent Profiling blog series, we’ll examine ways to overcome the challenges associated with store profiling, data collection, and accuracy rates. We’ll also show you how powerful Intelligent Profiling can be—when it’s executed effectively.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you.

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The Franchisee’s Frustration Article in QSRmagazine.com

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By: Glenn Haertel
November 9, 2010 | No Comments

qsrimageI’d like to commend Doug for his excellent “Outside Insights” article, The Franchisee’s Frustration, published last week on QSRmagazine.com. He gives a thorough overview of the local marketing obstacles many franchisees face, as well as the key elements to overcoming these pain points. Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

One of the greatest franchisee frustrations centers on local marketing and the struggle to obtain marketing materials targeted to their particular location and demographics. Too often, operators are provided with little or no local marketing support—when they are, the options they receive are ineffective. The issue is driven by the lack of attention that local marketing receives as a part of the overall marketing plan of the brand. > Click here to read the full article.

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Local Marketing Webinar Series, Part 5

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By: Glenn Haertel
July 16, 2010 | No Comments

As we continue our dialog and recap of key topics covered during our June 24 webinar, “How to Execute a Successful Local Marketing Campaign,” we will be highlighting several viewer questions specific to marketing operations. In this first audio clip, CKE’s Brad Haley answers questions about how to motivate franchisees to do local restaurant marketing and how best to communicate to franchisees.

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In this second audio clip, Brad addresses dealing with the differences of market size and localization. Will an LRM campaign that worked in a large city also work in a small community? And in smaller communities, how do you set yourself apart from the competition?

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Tell us what you think. We’d like to hear from you on these issues.

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Why Local Marketing?

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By: Doug Fergusson
February 23, 2010 | No Comments

It occurred to me that my previous posts on the subject of Local Marketing have been directed at the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of local marketing, but really didn’t address the ‘why.’ It is easy to assume that most people appreciate the value of local marketing; however, I think in reality many are far less certain.

Most local marketing activities are initiated by individual store managers or franchisees on trial and error basis to increase revenue during slow periods or increase loyalty with the local consumer. Their methods are often not ideal, and their means to measure results are limited; however, when they find something that works for them, they stick with it.

I see the rationale for local marketing falling into several distinct categories:

  • Coverage: Some local marketing approaches provide an added medium for communicating with customers that aren’t covered by national campaigns (i.e. flyers handed out to local businesses or schools)
  • Conditions: Local marketing provides a means to speak to specific market conditions (i.e. competitor is offering a special across the street, local high school makes the playoffs, etc.)
  • Community: Local marketing enables store managers to customize the store experience to match the interest and tastes of local customers. (i.e. Spanish signage in heavily Hispanic areas, etc.)

While the first two reasons tend to be the primary drivers for campaigns, I am beginning to believe that the third may be the most important. Changing consumer interests, fed by social media trends, are leading buyers to expect a more personalized experience at the retail locations they frequent. These ‘New Consumers’ are favoring locations that have a buzz; how you create and maintain the buzz is the challenge.

In my next post, I will share ideas that I have collected about New Consumers. While much of this information offered by ‘experts’ is speculative, it does raise some interesting possibilities. And now, I’d love to hear from you—what are your thoughts on the ‘whys’ of local marketing?

If you liked this post, you may want to take a look at my commentary on Local Marketing – Setting Goals.

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