Restaurants Reinvented: Putting Growth Back on the Menu

Hear how Dunkin’ is brewing its digital and delivery strategy during a global pandemic (hint: It's not a light roast) with the original off-prem diva, Brandy Blackwell.
Jen Kern talks with Brandy about her restaurant marketing journey—how she went from an early off-prem pioneer at a local tex-mex chain to driving delivery and key digital strategies at global coffee/breakfast icon.
Brandy explains how Dunkin’ is adapting its business model to fit the changing needs of customers during a global pandemic (more delivery and curbside options, better functionality on its app and a renewed focused on maintaining relationships with loyal customers) and dissects the numbers from its recent earnings call and Q2 performance.
After nearly tripling the number of delivery locations, adding curbside options, and improving app functionality—Dunkin' is not slowing down anytime soon with Brandy on board. From prioritizing team, culture, and franchise relationships to keen financial acumen and business grit, Brandy & Dunkin' are running full speed ahead.
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Resources:
Brandy on Twitter & LinkedIn
Dunkin' JOY Run
Dunkin' JOY on IG + Dog ToysTijuana Flats
McAlister’s Deli

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

Do your employees feel safe speaking up?
It’s time to stop avoiding the topic of workplace harassment and misconduct in restaurants. Abusive environments will not prosper or attract employees. If you really want to improve your culture and employee retention you need to do two critical things:

1. Listen to your employees
2. Encourage them to speak up when harassment occurs

LeBaron Meyers, President of NotMe Solutions, is on a mission to improve work cultures and environments for employees. Their anonymous reporting app makes employees feel supported and heard.

Show Highlights:

• Businesses who put employees first will thrive
• Most workplace harassment issues take 90 days to escalate
• Reporting & addressing issues early de-escalates the problem
• Many people wait too long to speak up or address an issue
• Employee reports give management an opportunity to step-up
• Acknowledge and respect employees who speak up
• Happy employees create happy customers
• NotMe is a platform that provides employees with a safe place to report and interact with management anonymously

Connect with LeBaron on LinkedIn here
Learn more about NotMeSolutions
Related Episodes:

• Rachael Nemeth on The New Way to Do Employee Training
• Newton Hoang (7 Leaves Cafe) on The Straight Talk Employees Want
• Lauren Fernandez on Who Comes First: Employees or Guests?
• Donald Burns on Self-Care

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

If you’re wondering how to make sense of that ocean of data your restaurant is trying to wrangle, Darien has answers!

Formerly the CTO at &Pizza, Darien’s new company, Fourtop Solutions, is all about helping restaurants organize and activate their data -- while encouraging humans to do the discovery of data and using technology to automate that discovery.

Top Moments to Listen For:

• Technology is not a pre-packaged meal, it’s a set of ingredients with overlapping capabilities and core components
• Start by centralizing your data, or you’ll constantly be back-tracking
• Dashboards are where data goes to die - they don’t make good use of data - humans do
• “There are no bad systems, only bad architectures”
• Data is like water and you have an ocean that needs structures and flows
• Let robots be robots (automation) and humans be human (discoverers)
• The value of POS has been largely overlooked; it needs to be a hub to pull in centralized data
• Hart House is using Fourtop Solutions to deploy its employee-first operations
• Technology is not a purpose -- it’s a tool to accomplish something; start with your business objectives and then find the right-fit systems to support that.
• The future of automation and ChatGPT

Related Episodes:

• Burn it Down & Fail Forward Fast – Justin Keenen of Hart House
• Mastering the Digital Dance – Michael Chachula, CIO, Fat Brands
• Here’s What Innovation Looks Like – Amir Hudda, CEO of Qu
• Trailblazin’ CTO Completes Full Tech Refresh in Under 1 Year – Dawn Gillis Freebirds World Burrito

Resources:

• “Dashboards is where data goes to die” by Darien Bates

Connect with Darien on LinkedIn

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands