¶ Meet Josh Beauchard, COO of Savory Fund
Welcome to Give an Ovation , the restaurant guest experience podcast . I'm your host , zach Oates , and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five-star guest experience . This podcast is sponsored by Ovation , the operations and guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants .
It gives you all the insights you need without annoying your guests with all the questions . Learn more at OvationUpcom . And today we have someone who is not just an expert in the industry but a hero of hair the COO of the Savory Fund , josh Beauchard . Welcome to the podcast , man .
Zach so nice to be on .
And this is so funny because , for those who listen to this podcast , they might be thinking wait , hasn't Josh been on ? It's like , yeah , I've talked about Josh on the podcast , and Josh and I have talked so much that we were at RLC recently and I was like , hey , you get a t-shirt because you were on the podcast .
And he's like I haven't been on the podcast . I was like there's no possible way that you haven't been on the podcast already , because I just get the privilege to talk to you quite a bit , and so I feel like I'm always infused with your wisdom , which is one of the benefits of this podcast . But I'm grateful that you're finally here , josh .
I am the most patient person . I've just been waiting and I finally got this invite . I'm so excited , so this is like the pinnacle of my career being on Ovation's podcast .
Yeah , the pinnacle of a quite illustrious career . I mean , you've done some incredible things and you don't have the traditional restaurant operations background . You actually come from a tech background well , and exotic cars , but you also have this insurance background , tech background .
I would love to get your thoughts on what , from your tech background , do you think has helped you be successful as the COO
¶ Tech Background's Impact on Restaurant Operations
of Savory Fund .
You know , what's interesting is , we're always trying to create that experience , whether it's for the customer or for the guest or for our employees . It's all about that experience , and the only way that I know how to do that with scale and number of stores is with tech .
And so you take really good products and you build the infrastructure that allows for your employees to succeed , from sourcing , onboarding to compliance , but then enabling them to just be next level with our guests .
And when you look at next level , how do you constantly push your team to get to that next level ? Because a lot of times you're creating great experiences . The brands you have are incredible . You buy brands and you invest in brands that have this seedling and have something that's already going and then you take that to the next level .
But how do you constantly push to that next and next and next . And is that exhausting or is that exciting ?
No for me . I'm a developer , I'm a maximizer , and in those two things there's always opportunity for improvement . So , as we started our career here in restaurant for improvement , so as we started our career here in restaurant , we were franchisees and a lot of people started that way .
And so , as franchisees are saying , oh , I wish the franchisor would do this , and if they only did this , we could be that much better Well , we made that shift to the Savory Fund and we started partnering with founders and then we started hearing from them their expectations , and now we've added this franchisor vertical to Savory , where we actually have to make
it happen on our side . And that's an interesting place to be , because now we're saying we should be doing this because our franchisees expect that . So there's never a stopping part at Savory . It's always progression .
And when you look at that progression , what are some things that you do in terms of and the reason I want to really dig into this is because you guys really do push the envelope and constantly look for new ways to make things better . Is there like a meeting that you have like an innovation meeting ?
Is there a philosophy , a question that you ask to help spark and push that things to progress forward ? How would someone
¶ The Power of Momentum in Guest Experience
take that piece of your culture and say , like I want to do that in my restaurant . What would you recommend to them ?
I think for us , partnering with founders who created these brands is a huge piece to what we do , and so if you listen to those partners who say we have to have a surfboard that's touched Hawaiian waters , that we buy from a shop in Hawaii because that's a part of the experience , that's something that I could never .
Never put in a Moe Betos right , for instance . That's something that I could never say . I've never even been to Hawaii , so someone who's from Hawaii no , isn't that crazy ? Seriously , yeah , seriously . Never been to Hawaii . We go to Mexico . My wife's from Florida , and so we go to 38 all the time . That's where we go , but never Hawaii .
I'm patiently waiting here we go . It is about those founders who care about their brand more than anyone else , and that is a secret sauce at Savory .
And when we partner with those founders , they tell us what needs to happen , they tell us the experience that needs to be there , and then we just go find great tech , we find partners in the industry to go make that happen .
They tell us the experience that needs to be there , and then we just go find great tech , we find partners in the industry to go make that happen .
And that's something where you've always done a good job of making sure that the technology does not get in the way of the employees and the guests , but making sure that it enhances the employee and the guest experience .
And so I'd love to understand , as you're thinking about the moves that you make and the guest experience what do you think is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays ?
The most important part of guest experience is momentum , and I'll tell you why . When I went skydiving for the first time , I realized something unexpected the most terrifying part of skydiving isn't the free fall . No , yeah , that's true , it's . Yeah , you wear helmets , you're good . No , but it wasn't the free fall .
It was actually standing at the edge of the door hesitating right . So once you jump , momentum takes over . Every second after that feels natural , it feels exhilarating , right and free . It's the same in our guest experience today .
So the hardest part isn't serving the food or delivering the service , it's getting the experience started with energy , and you do this really well , zach . But you have to have clarity , you have to have connection . It's the greeting at the door . If that's awkward or slow , you've lost all the momentum . You're not going to have connection .
It's the greeting at the door . If that's awkward or slow , you've lost all the momentum . You're not going to have that customer experience . But if you start strong , it starts with a smile , it starts with a first welcome . You create that momentum that carries that experience forward in a positive way .
That's awesome , because it's totally right that when you are looking at what we need to do to get things started , when you walk in the door and you're greeted by someone , it will affect how you are .
We had a group of friends and every time that somebody would walk into our apartment , we would all applaud and we just like we literally gave them an ovation . It was just so fun because they would come in and it was just like we literally gave them an ovation .
It was just so fun because they would come in and it was just like it would change the day during COVID . For like the first six months of COVID , whenever I got on a meeting with someone , I would start the meeting off by like chanting their name , like Josh , josh , josh , josh , just because I knew that everyone was having a tough time everyone .
And to just have like even though it was a little tacky , to have that little bump of energy , like feels good . And if you walk into a place and they're like welcome to Moe's and it feels inauthentic , it's almost worse than not saying anything , right .
So you got to go for it . Yeah , If you ever walk into a restaurant and there's no music , you're like what is off ?
Isn't that so weird ?
I'm not doing something and that makes the big difference . So in that , if you're creating that with the energy and the positivity and the momentum on that side of things , with your employees , you're winning .
So that is such a unique answer and it makes so much sense . I think a lot of that starts with your pre-shift meeting . Doing that is a great way to get people excited and get them pumped up . I remember when I did summer sales before we went out Did you ever do summer sales ? The door to door knocking .
I didn't .
Oh , good for you . That's because you probably love it . I did insurance , that was not the way to go going Well . Well , it led you to Andrew , which is great , right , but before you go out there and get door slammed in your face and get yelled at all day , we had a meeting and we would like chant
¶ Leveraging Feedback Data for Operational Improvements
and pump each other up and again , it was a little bit tacky , but it was so good to have that start to the day and then use that as it got depleted throughout the rest of the day from getting yelled at . So what an interesting concept of momentum .
And think about that guest walking in for the first time and what do they feel before they get the food , before they really experience the service , right , and that's really interesting momentum . I love that . Now you've done a lot of things because the savory fund you guys have what a dozen brands . Now you're building a restaurant empire .
I mean , like it's crazy . And so you've obviously implemented a lot of tactics with a lot of different brands . What are some tactics that you would use to improve the guest experience nowadays ?
It's interesting , Zach , in our acquisition model we're acquiring brands , we're meeting with tons of restaurants who are trying to figure out the next steps , and when they come onto the Savory platform , we partner with them . No-transcript me look good just because we're trying and testing and seeing .
So I do have to say if I'm looking at something that's going to improve the guest experience , it's Ovation , and I don't mean that to be a plug , but I have to say I think I'm a power user in the system and I see things very differently than a lot of people .
We have eight brands that are on Ovation and I compare and contrast every single one of those brands in the platform and I'm looking at things that are making a difference in our brands . It's pretty interesting for me to see how Ovations changed our business .
When you look at someone like Via 303 that implemented Ovation and they went from a 4.1 to a 4.7 in Google rating . That's what everyone wants in the restaurant industry . And then the biggest part there is the number of guests saved . Biggest part there is the number of guests saved .
That's huge for us , and so if you look at even via stats , they're saving 11 guests per location every month . Wow , I mean that's mind blowing .
And so for me , as I dive into the systems that we use , I start pulling out and seeing patterns , and so like a pattern for me is number of guest feedback that comes in at those day parts and I'm saying , are we executing in the morning versus afternoon , versus evening , and what do we need to do to shift so that we can have consistent feedback in positive
ways ? Or let's go fix the feedback that's coming in where we see it right . So it's just an interesting place for me .
Wow , I mean well , first of all , thank you . I'm like you've encapsulated what the dream is of someone to like , take this data and then take action on it . And yeah , there's going to be some great benefits to what happens with things like your Google score .
But I always say , we're not here to make bad restaurants good , we're here to make great restaurants better , and I think that what a great restaurant takes is it takes people that care .
It takes people that are willing to swing the hammer and it takes people that are willing to look at the nail right , because if you're not going to look , because there are people you know , one of the things that we find is like at the pizza expo , whenever we go there , that is the place , more than any other place , that I hear I don't even care what
they're saying . I'm not , I don't want to look . I don't want to look . I don't care what they're saying . Like , if they don't like my pizza , go someplace else . Screw all the reviews . And there are people like that that don't even want to look at what needs to get fixed . But you're not building a one-off .
You're building numerous brands across the country now with franchising , and you have to understand what's actually going on in your individual locations and how to fix that , and then do the work to fix it .
If you're not looking at how fast your team is responding to customer feedback and the specifics to go orders , if you're missing it every time on I don't know paperware or whatever it is , or making sure that they get every single item and you're not going back and fixing those things , you're just letting sales walk out the door .
Going back and fixing those things , you're just letting sales walk out the door . So for us , that's the piece where we have to get so detailed and dialed in on all the data and then execute on that . When you see something , say something . When you see something do something right .
Are there any specific changes that you could point to and say like , oh , we didn't know about that and then , once we heard about it , we made this change when ?
you look at what's most important in negative reviews .
Most of your reviews are food and service right , and so if you're focusing on those , the service to me is the most important in the review process as customers come back to you process , as customers come back to you , and just a piece that came up this week when we have managers who are leaving early and leaving the stores kind of leaderless , that's a problem
, obviously , and you see sales dip when you have a system like Ovation that can tell you that and then you can take action on that .
To go back to your GMs , because a lot of times you don't hear what's happening in the store level and so when you start seeing those metrics , then you can actually take action and go Ooh , okay , now we need to be looking at clock in and clock outs and let's see how much time they're actually spending there .
So that was just one example of how we used it .
That's really interesting because when you have 120% employee turnover and 80% manager turnover , it's really hard to run a business when you don't have all of that information in real time . And you got to make sure that the tools aren't there to get people in trouble .
The tools are there to help them improve and help you have the visibility so that , at the end of the day , we're all working towards the same thing , which is a better guest experience .
If you're doing it that way , you're in a winning position .
And when you take that approach , you've all of a sudden created this partnership with your employees where they're saying , okay , you're giving me things to help my business run better , sales increase , which makes labor easier , that you're actually helping improve their life when you spot those trends , those pieces that you need to be fixing in your restaurants .
I love that because it's so much more
¶ Ovation to Chef Joey Maggiore
than just a single point of data , and I think this is one of the benefits about hearing from a lot of your guests is that you can differentiate between a one-off that just needs an apology , needs to handle something , but it was just like a totally random thing that is not a systemic issue , is not a systemic issue and what are the consistent problems that are
bubbling up ? And you need to treat those two things differently . But to start , you need to treat them the same , which is like understand that that individual guest needs to feel heard and seen , but then understand that don't fixate on the one loud person .
Understand what are the things that need to be improved generally , at each location , down to the employee and the manager , and I think it's awesome that you're taking that data and really doing things with it to improve and it shows I mean , your scores are phenomenal innovation , your response rates are amazing people .
As I said , it's obvious that you've created a culture where it's cool to care , as Will Gadara would say .
I'm going to steal that one . Cool to care . That's what we want to be .
Yeah , now , knowing all the people that you know , I want you to think about who is someone that deserves an ovation , who is someone that we should be following Hands down .
Ovation goes to Chef Joey Maggiore , and the reason I say that is yes , he's our partner in Sicilian Butcher and that brand is phenomenal , it's blowing up , it's doing great things . But Joey is a creator and it's so hard to build brands , it's so hard to build something around that brand and he's done a really good job with the Mexicano Hash Kitchen .
Everything that he builds is actually it's like larger than life , but it's still incredibly personal . It's personal to him . He talks about his family . His families are in the restaurant . They're eating there weekly . He knows how to invest in people , into the culture , into the community .
He's building restaurants right and it's fun being a partner with someone like that because we can add some of our secret sauce on scale and growth and out of heritage markets and what we're doing . But we hold on to him being that like foundation .
So in that sense of hospitality , the way that he thinks about it , guests not only show up but they remember the experience .
I love that because the remembering of it , right , that's the impression . Flavor profiles fade , but , man , how you feel that sticks with you . I love that . And Josh , how do people find and follow you ? And the Savory Fund Okay .
so we have a couple of different ways . Restaurantology we do a conference every single year . It's our way to give back to aspiring entrepreneurs , those who are building their restaurants . So it's for restaurants who are two to 20 units , and it's a day of action-packed , just feedback how to hire , how to fire someone . I mean , it's just tactical .
So come see us at restaurantology .
And , by the way , I do have to say
¶ Restaurantology and Savory Fund Opportunities
I have consistently heard from restaurants that is the best conference of the entire year . So what ?
Zach , that's Coming from the person who's been to every conference . That's like the nicest thing I've ever heard .
Yes , but vendors if any vendors are listening it is a non-sponsored , vendor not allowed conference . This is straight restaurants and just learning and you with your peers . It's unlike any conference there is because every other conference is trying to make a ton of money . Restaurantology is there to teach you to network , to learn .
It really is , I mean , like huge plug just for the fact that I have so many people that speak so incredibly highly of restaurantology and so , from the industry , thank you for doing it .
No , that's really nice . Then you can find me on LinkedIn and then go to our website , savoryfundcom , see what we're all about .
And if someone is interested in learning , if they're kind of in the savory fund sweet sweet spot . What does Savory Fund tend to invest in and acquire ?
We want an established brand . Five years , five units is our sweet spot , but we've been outside of that and we want someone who's passionate about their brand and wants to grow it , but needs capital , needs structure , needs contracts , needs the expertise to help them get to the next level .
Awesome , Well , josh , for helping us push to the next level and for reminding us that skydiving is really just one scary step . Today's ovation goes to you . Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation . Thanks , zach . Thanks for joining us today . If you liked this episode , leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen .
We're all about feedback here . Again , this episode was sponsored by Ovation , a two-question , sms-based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants . If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience , visit us at OvationUpcom .