In our recent episode of The QSR Experience Show, Justin Bartek shares his journey from the fry station at Burger King to his current role as Vice President of Marketing at Dog Haus.
Justin explores the challenges and strategies of scaling a restaurant brand, emphasizing the importance of aligning marketing initiatives with operational goals. Justin also shares his insights on leveraging technology for growth and enhancing the guest experience.
Topics discussed:
- Strategies for maintaining a consistent guest experience across different locations within an expanding restaurant chain.
- Dog Haus’ unique positioning in the industry, focusing on menu diversity and culinary innovation.
- Insights into the future of the restaurant industry, including the impact of technology on changing customer preferences.
- Lessons learned about the importance of aligning marketing and operations within a restaurant brand for success.
- Leveraging technology, such as loyalty programs and digital advertising, to drive growth and enhance customer engagement.
- The role of regional differences and operator input in tailoring marketing strategies and guest experiences.
- Justin’s perspective on scaling restaurant chains effectively, considering goals, market niches, and operational strategies for growth.
Guest Quotes:
“There was a divide between operations and marketing, and I saw it for myself, and I just took that experience, not really knowing if it was like that everywhere or not. But I just knew it shouldn’t be that way. And you’ve got to make that bridge into operations as a marketer.”
“The training piece is huge. We really try to educate basically our owners first. When a franchisee signs on, they go through a pretty exhaustive process.”
“You know, we’ve just really tried to push the culinary angle and then on the ops end, really execute. You know, nowadays it’s really about delivery. So it’s like with delivery taking up so much, we’re trying to now push forward in delivery.”
“If you have a guest that’s engaged and wants to be your fan, making it as easy as possible, making it frictionless, and making them not have to do anything to get something I think is becoming more of a reality.”
“What I found is it really depends on the person. Like, is their goal to be one of the bigger restaurant chains out there? Is their goal to own a certain space?”
Get in touch with Justin Bartek:
LinkedIn
Website
Get in touch with your host, Bobby Marhamat:
LinkedIn
Twitter
