RODUCTION, COMPLETE
company’s various brands. “I’ve learned a bunch,” he said in an inter- view. “It’s been a great experience to learn the business, but also to understand what’s work- ing, what’s not working, and the opportunity ahead of us to delight our customers and cre- ate meaningful value for our franchisees.” He called that opportunity “abundantly clear.” In his presentation to franchisees, Gajial vowed to “delight our customers, grow traf- fic and improve unit level economics and also win in the marketplace.” Gajial called unit economics GoTo Foods’ top priority, which is crucial for a compa- ny that relies on franchisees to run its res- taurants. He cited a new prototype from Schlotzsky’s Deli, which lowers the cost to build and operate by 15% to 20%. He also cit- ed a Jamba prototype that cuts the build-out costs by 20% to 25%. Unit economics is important for any fran- chise because if stores don’t generate a return on investment then existing or prospective franchisees don’t open new locations. “We take your investment in this business very seriously,” Gajial told franchisees. But unit economics are made up of both cost and revenues, and GoTo Foods needs to generate more revenue. Each of the brands is focused on building more sales through a va- riety of channels, notably catering. Inside the conference’s exhibit hall, each of the chains had their own booths, where they demonstrated upcoming menu items and other new ideas. And all of them showed off some kind of catering operation—or ca- tering-adjacent operation, in the case of the cakes at Carvel. There were acai bowls and large boxes to transport juices at Jamba and a build-your-own baked potato bar at McAl-
ister’s Deli. Gajial said that the brands need to do a better job of marketing the benefits of some of its products. For instance, a product may have a good amount of protein but the com- pany doesn’t call it out. “I think we at times have the right product, but the way we frame it and we present it to the customer, we leave a little bit for the customer to translate the benefits of that product,” he said. “While the benefits are there, we don’t call them out.” Technology can also help build unit eco- nomics, both by making the operations of the restaurant more efficient while providing op - portunities through loyalty programs to build sales. Gajial told franchisees that the company has a “solid foundation” on technology but ac- knowledged there is “more work to do” to get where GoTo Foods wants to be. “We’ve invested a lot in building technol- ogy, but putting the pieces together in service of the customer and putting the pieces togeth- er in service of the franchisee is the last leg where technology can truly be a multiplier,”
Gajial said in an interview. And then there is the customer experi- ence. GoTo Foods is working on prototypes at its brands designed to improve that expe- rience, such as at Auntie Anne’s, where the company is more eagerly displaying its pret- zel-making. Its loyalty programs added more than 4 million members last year. Yet translating that customer experience to the stores is a challenge in a franchise be- cause it’s up to franchisees to get the job done. When asked about that, Gajial said the com- pany relies on its franchisee advisory councils (FACs) to help with those efforts. And during the conference he acknowledged the mem- bers of those councils from the stage. “We have a very engaged, deeply con- nected, deeply invested franchisee councils for each brand,” Gajial said, noting that there are large and small franchisees who sit on the councils. “We have huge diversity in terms of who represents the FAC, and we leverage the FACs to design new solutions, new products or a new approach toward brand engagement with our customers.”
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