In this episode of The QSR Experience Show, Ken Rice, COO of Pickleman’s Franchising, shares his insights into effective growth strategies, including replicable systems and thorough market research for expansion. Ken emphasizes the importance of building a strong culture through effective communication between franchisees and franchisors, for example “Pickle Time,” which is a monthly hour-long session for franchisees to meet with the franchisors and other corporate leaders to discuss their concerns.
He also discusses how Pickleman’s leverages AI and technology to enhance guest experiences while maintaining the human touch, as well as looking at customer trends such as wanting healthy options to better meet their needs.
Topics discussed:
- The importance of fostering a strong culture through effective communication between franchisees and franchisors.
- Using AI and other technologies to enhance guest experiences without losing the human touch.
- Developing replicable systems and conducting thorough market research for successful expansion into new markets.
- Conducting monthly calls between corporate and franchisees to discuss marketing, operations, and development.
- Revamping training programs to better equip multi-unit district managers and their teams for efficient operations.
- The importance of recognizing the difference between a customer and a guest to improve service quality.
- The rise in demand for healthy and sustainable food options in the QSR industry.
- Utilizing AI for responding to guest feedback and considering AI for phone answering systems.
- The need for developing and training leaders to manage multiple locations effectively.
- The importance of scouting competitors and understanding market dynamics for choosing new locations.
Guest Quotes:
“I’ve started in the restaurant industry when I was 13, and that was a little bit of time ago, but did restaurants. Most of my life, I was everything from a busboy to the dishwasher. And I’m sure you see a lot of executives that sort of got their first kicks in the restaurant industry by the, you know, the working your way up. And that was me. I mean, I was a bartender. I was a server. I love doing. I love doing restaurants. And mainly I love people and love the interaction and just developing and learning and learning about the business.”
“And we’re busy doing things that are, you know, that are helpful. So, you know, we’re making the brand better. And my goal every day is what can we do and make the brand a little bit better, make somebody else a little bit better each and every day that we are here.”
“When you have one, you can go work 100 hours and make it happen. When you’ve got three, there’s only one of you. So you’ve got to understand how to develop people, how to train people, how to multiply leadership.”
“So if someone wants to be in a franchise model, the biggest thing that you have to have is replicable systems that are easy to understand. You’ve got to have something that’s easy to teach and easy to execute.”
“So if you’re new and you’re not really sure, one, make sure you get people on the ground, real estate agents and people that already understand the areas. And number two, you know, do your homework yourself. Look and understand who’s out there already, who’s already being successful. Are there long-term players that are out there? That’s probably a good area that you want to be in.” 18:25-18:48
Get in touch with Ken Rice:
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Get in touch with your host, Bobby Marhamat:
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