Episode 15 - Andy Rebhun
Jenifer Kern: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. And welcome to restaurants reinvented. I'm Jen Kern, your hostess. And today I'm here with the crazy chicken people. I've got Andy Rebhun from El Pollo Loco. Andy is the VP and head of digital at El Pollo Loco. So welcome the show, Andy.
[00:00:41] Andy Rebhun: [00:00:41] Thanks Jennifer. It's great to be here this morning. I'm excited.
[00:00:45] Jenifer Kern: [00:00:45] Thanks so much for joining from California.
[00:00:48] Andy Rebhun: [00:00:48] Yeah, it's a little early. You had the pleasure of enjoying, oatmeal with me this morning and a little bit of caffeine. So I'm glad that we got off to a good start.
[00:00:56] Jenifer Kern: [00:00:56] We have our oatmeal and our coffee, but we are going to talk about delicious chicken, which I cannot wait to talk to you about. And I'm excited to be out on the West coast again, because I did the last three episodes I did. We're all like East coast brands and pizza, BB bop. And we did star did Duncan as well.
[00:01:14] So I'm jumping back to the West coast now with you. And a few others. So I keep doing this coastal day which is funny. so yeah, let's go ahead and get started. And, tell me a little bit about yourself. Our listeners love to know about, the marketing folks and how they got to where they are today.
[00:01:28] So a little bit of your experience and what brought you to El Pollo Loco.
[00:01:32] Andy Rebhun: [00:01:32] For sure. so born and raised in Los Angeles, California. So it's cool that I'm back here because I'll tell you a little bit about the journey that I went through, but I went to the university of Wisconsin, Madison, majored in PolSci. But I had a very big and keen interest in business and marketing.
[00:01:46] And I got my first exposure actually to the QSR industry with Chipotle, in college, I technically had my MBA. I was a master burrito ambassador. It was a really cool program where I had the opportunity to learn all about the Chipotle business. and it set the stage for wanting to just grow and be in marketing.
[00:02:03] And so as I finished my schooling at Wisconsin it was in 2008 and that was a time where essentially the job market was horrendous and I went to a job fair walked around and honestly I stumbled upon Ford motor company And Ford was one of those brands at the time that had a new CEO that was really trying to reinvent itself the title of your podcast But we were trying to reinvent ourselves as a company and I had an opportunity to move to Detroit And I start my career with Ford motor company I was at Ford for about five years had a couple of different positions I started in consumer marketing where I work with our technology partners at Sirius XM and Sony and best buy then I moved to Kansas city worked with the dealers out in Omaha Des Moines in st Louis and then moved back to Detroit where I was in our advanced product marketing group where I worked on a lot of our future vehicle features and naming our global vehicles etc So It was a really fascinating five years at Ford at the time I had a mentor who worked for McDonald's corporation super cool guy and we kinda got to talking quite a bit and he said Hey would you ever come consider working for McDonald's So I decided to make the transition from Mustangs to McNuggets and started my career in Boston with McDonald's And so I was in Boston for about a year and a half I was responsible for the Northeast and marketing I was a marketing manager so had about 500 restaurants primarily in Albany New York and Maine and Boston and Connecticut essentially doing TV radio digital out of home And then about a year and a half into that journey McDonald's had sent out an email that said Hey anybody who's very interested in tech or digital would you ever be interested in joining McDonald's digital team And so I was like wow this sounds super cool Seemed super interesting I raised my hand and sure enough I was employed number four on the U S digital team at McDonald's So really responsible for rolling out our global mobile app and testing delivery and rolling out digital menu boards So it was a really awesome opportunity to be That kind of like the heart and center of what the company was focused on from a tech perspective And I was responsible for about 4,000 restaurants in the East from Maine to Miami as far West as Birmingham And then most recently with McDonald's I was the marketing officer for the Southeast where I had 1700 restaurants responsible for the TV radio digital out of home local promotions etc about I'd say in I don't know April or may of 2019 I was contacted by Korn ferry which is an executive recruiting firm and they had said to me Hey Andy is there any chance you'd be willing to move to relocate I decided after meeting with the CEO who is a phenomenal guy phenomenal boss that I really believed in his vision his strategy It gave me the opportunity to come back home to Los Angeles where I started my journey and not move every year and a half and so I've been at El Pollo Loco almost a year now and it's a phenomenal company a phenomenal brand and I'm very humbled to have the opportunity to lead the digital transformation at the company
[00:04:51] Jenifer Kern: [00:04:51] Nice Nice Wow What a prodigious start you got in the industry I mean working with some really marquee brands from Ford Chipotle of course
[00:05:00] Andy Rebhun: [00:05:00] Yes
[00:05:01] Jenifer Kern: [00:05:01] I'm curious Did you come up with the MBA acronym or was
[00:05:03] Andy Rebhun: [00:05:03] no that was them But honestly I have a Chipotle MBA t-shirt I have a certificate so they really got into the thick of things with how they wanted that program to resonate It was super cool I love that Yeah
[00:05:15] Jenifer Kern: [00:05:15] That's brilliant and you were an MBA student too So that's pretty cool and then getting a start like in the ground floor like a company like Ford what was that like you must've been exposed you rattled off all this stuff Consumer marketing working with dealers product marketing naming What was that like working there with I assume some really talented people
[00:05:34] Andy Rebhun: [00:05:34] Yeah I would just say the people at Ford were incredible you learn so much and to be able to be a sponge at such an early age and soak up all that expertise was just something that pretty much transformed my ability to grow really quickly they had gone through three or four reorgs during my five years there because obviously as the automotive industry was going through transformation and sales were suffering a little bit especially in 2008 when gas prices were through the roof it just gave me a lot of opportunity And I would just say I was grateful to have a lot of managers who took me under their wing and gave me the opportunity to learn to fail quickly And it was just an amazing experience And I really look back at my career and think of those early days at Ford as some of my most growth from just a growth perspective I just was able to grow very quickly very fast there
[00:06:18] Jenifer Kern: [00:06:18] right Such a great place to spend your formative years early in your career
[00:06:22] Andy Rebhun: [00:06:22] Yes very lucky
[00:06:23] Jenifer Kern: [00:06:23] So if nothing else I think this might encourage some listeners who are on the fence about getting their MBA to go ahead and get their MBA because that's a great place to start And then on to McDonald's
[00:06:32] Andy Rebhun: [00:06:32] Yes on to McDonald's
[00:06:34] Jenifer Kern: [00:06:34] one of the best QSR brands out there What did you learn at McDonald's in terms of their culture and their ethics What did you take away from there
[00:06:41] Andy Rebhun: [00:06:41] I would say the marketing powerhouse right it's so cool to be at a company that has the ability to just transform an industry transform the world And that's one of the beauties of McDonald's is they're just such an incredible company from the standpoint of if they make a decision it can change lives it can change the world And so it was so fascinating as we went Through things such as food quality and packaging changes that would just completely shifted the industry I mean it was something that you could be so passionate and humbling about something you'd want to share with your family or friends it was really neat And the other big thing I'd say with McDonald's yeah It's just the world-class franchisees that they have they are just such intelligent incredible business people if you're working a 12 or 13 hour day you want to get to putting in 16 hours a day just because you see the fire from them And they are just some of the most incredible people I've ever met in my life And I still keep in touch with a ton of my franchisees So I had the opportunity to work with over the course of my career at McDonald's and just amazing people So I mean you learn the business you learn about small business You learn how everybody in the restaurant matters that was just so much opportunity to learn about the business and the ability to transform and just an incredible organization
[00:07:50] Jenifer Kern: [00:07:50] well and I am assuming you were there at a time when they were doing a lot of digital transformation Cause they've been pretty much leading the way for the last five 10 years What were some of the digital projects you worked on there
[00:08:00] Andy Rebhun: [00:08:00] Yeah So I think that the biggest one was launching the global mobile app which is essentially the McDonald's app that today that launched in 2015 it was a very exciting journey and from the standpoint of we were really trying to recreate the experience that the customer was going to have in the restaurant It started just as a formal app that you're able to do offers So digital coupons for lack of a better term And then you saw it grow and it was mobile order pay and then it became delivery And it then you had add segmentation And so that was really neat You also had the ability to see the transformation of just the digital infrastructure of the restaurants themselves So going from static menu boards to digital menu boards from outdoor menu boards to digital outdoor menu boards So being able to just see that type of transformation and see the culture accelerated and just how much money McDonald's put into beautifying the restaurant locations which was all about the experience That was just it was so neat to be a part of that process and see just how quickly the company was able to grow and transform it was beautiful
[00:08:57] Jenifer Kern: [00:08:57] Yeah And now you're bringing this amazing experience to El Pollo Loco
[00:09:01] Andy Rebhun: [00:09:01] Yes
[00:09:02] Jenifer Kern: [00:09:02] lucky for them
[00:09:03] Andy Rebhun: [00:09:03] it's really neat to be able to go from a company the size of McDonald's to a company that's really trying to reinvent themselves And I would just say that I work for a great boss who is has just done an incredible job leading through the pandemic Bernarda Coca and really what sold me on El Pollo Loco was Bernard it was clear that he had a vision He had passion he was a just a humble leader and I really felt like he was gonna put a lot of resources behind what we felt was a very opportunity for the brand it was a little bit stuck in the dark ages from a just the digital capabilities of the company but it accelerated very quickly And it takes leadership it takes vision it takes someone who's passionate and Bernard has been great as we've evolved our strategy and been able to transform very quickly and it hasn't even been a year yet
[00:09:47] Jenifer Kern: [00:09:47] Awesome Awesome and you've been in the news a lot for your digital so I can't wait to dig in I do like to reflect and say one of the best pieces of advice I got was when I heard someone on podcast many years ago say I pick my future bosses very carefully I was like I need to do that
[00:10:03] Andy Rebhun: [00:10:03] Yes I think that's very sound advice lots of times people get excited about working for brands obviously with the notoriety of afford to McDonald's it definitely opens doors and opens up conversations but I think at the end of the day and one of the biggest ways I would say I transformed personally as a brand doesn't define you while a brand is an eight hour 10 hour 12 hour a day job It can be a part of your being but a brand doesn't define you Bosses define you Bosses change your leadership style bosses change how you can elevate talent within an organization Bosses challenge you to bring your best self to work every day Bosses bring the weather So for me I really am very careful when I figure out who I want to work for at this stage in my career because ultimately I think bosses can really elevate your thinking to the next level and really get you excited to wake up everyday and go to work and bring your best self
[00:10:53] Jenifer Kern: [00:10:53] Yeah And Bernard was quoted in an article There was an article out I think it was last year in restaurant dive when I was doing some research for this and the entire article was about marketing and digital And this was probably right about the time I think it might've been before you were there because I think he would have mentioned to you otherwise but he just went on and on about the digital flywheel and marketing and loyalty and I was like yeah there's an informed CEO I like it I like it
[00:11:21] Andy Rebhun: [00:11:21] Yeah Bernard has a pretty vast experience being both at Starbucks and young brands So he knows the space very well He was part of the pioneering team at both of those corporations it's so great to have somebody who's got such great institutional knowledge and really is able to help build the skeleton of what you referred to as the digital flywheel And that's Bernard's typical terminology He uses That and most of the meetings that we have when we talk about loyalty we talk about delivery We talk about just the digital infrastructure of our business It's the whole digital flywheel because at the end of the day it's the customer that experiences the brand and how all of that kind of comes together Most like a bike flywheel but digitized So it's fun
[00:11:58] Jenifer Kern: [00:11:58] Stealing a page from the Jim Collins
[00:12:01] Andy Rebhun: [00:12:01] sure Yes
[00:12:03] Jenifer Kern: [00:12:03] okay So here you're at El Pollo Loco for our listeners that may not be familiar obviously all those on the West coast or the Midwest are probably familiar I always have to be honest I haven't been I've salivated looking at your website I'm an East coast girl through and through but I Your bowls Look at me I'm a bowl person They're bowls got the Keto bowls with you can't ever go wrong with chicken and avocado together You
[00:12:25] Andy Rebhun: [00:12:25] I agree
[00:12:27] Jenifer Kern: [00:12:27] but you are a very infamous and not a new brand You've been around a while I hear there's some ties with breaking bad I think
[00:12:36] Andy Rebhun: [00:12:36] Yeah I don't know
[00:12:38] Jenifer Kern: [00:12:38] I couldn't figure that out I heard a little scuttlebutt about that I
[00:12:40] Andy Rebhun: [00:12:40] don't know if I'd go that so far there's definitely some association just because of the pollo in the name polios monos from breaking bad but now it's funny Cause actually when I shared with my friends and family that I was going to be working for El Pollo Loco that was the first question I got Actually they're like you're going to work for that chicken chain that was in breaking bad it's pretty funny how people just resonate with pop culture like that honestly at the end of the day it's Great company I think your question was going to lead into tell us a little bit about El Pollo Loco so we have about 480 restaurants We're in California Nevada Utah Arizona Texas and Louisiana we play in the fast casual category we're not fast food by any means we are a quick service restaurant we have a combination of LA Mexican type of food style where you have rotisserie chicken it cooks for 55 minutes on the grill it's such a beautiful type of piece of chicken slow cooked It's very tasty and as you said we have tons of traditional ingredients like salsa avocado Pretty much anything you can imagine that would be part of a burrito a taco etc but the food is phenomenal I think we've dabbled quite a bit in just some popular food trends So you mentioned the keto bowl that was something that we had in the first part of this year right now we have LA Mex burritos which are just this phenomenal burrito line where essentially we have the world's first keto burrito We have a chicken list polio burrito which is essentially a meat alternative We have a vegan version of that as well we have a California keso burrito which essentially combines chicken keso sauce French fries everything you can imagine That's super tasty rolled into a burrito and then a chicken Tinga burrito So I mean we have a lot of different options we're known as being a family destination Family brand family food very tasty my family loves to eat it It's something that we rally around when we were trying to figure out what we want for dinner So it's a great company great brand to work for
[00:14:28] Jenifer Kern: [00:14:28] That's great and founded when
[00:14:30] Andy Rebhun: [00:14:30] it's 40 years old So it's 40 years old in the United States in Los Angeles on Alvarado street That's where we had our first location in the U S but originally in Mexico but came to the United States 40 years ago
[00:14:42] Jenifer Kern: [00:14:42] Okay And who is your target demographic or do you have one particular demographic of guests that is like your most frequent loyal guests and then you're trying to spread out or where are you
[00:14:53] Andy Rebhun: [00:14:53] We have yeah we have a couple of different target guests I'd say honestly we have segments at least in the loyalty program which I'm sure we're going to talk about later there's different segments of consumers that we target There's people who want healthy there's people who want Hardy I think our menu lends itself to really allow people to Eat how they want to eat you can eat healthy you can have Mac and cheese or mashed potatoes if you want so it really just depends on the individual We have $5 fire grilled combos which has become a big part of our menu that's our value offering that gives people a lot of food for that $5 price point And then like I said we have a family meal offerings where you can get our familial dinner special which is $20 and it'll feed it up to a family of six it's a really good price really good value you get a ton of food and so there's a lot of different consumer segments I'd say I don't think there's one specifically sure In a creative brief we'll focus on a target consumer the beauty of our brand is we lend ourselves to almost everyone It's great
[00:15:48] Jenifer Kern: [00:15:48] Yeah Yeah So you arrive at El Pollo Loco a year ago which is pre pandemic What were you focused on implementing them from a digital perspective versus what you're focused on implementing now
[00:16:00] Andy Rebhun: [00:16:00] So I think when I had my initial first 90 day conversation with Bernard it was really about reestablishing and fixing the foundation it was clear to me that there was an opportunity when it came to our email communications our offer strategy the way we're communicating with our customers via text message we really needed to fix the foundation of the business I think for quite some time It was really seen as a discounting program the loyalty program for the brand And I think that was it was where we needed to help the narrative and build the bridge to be just like a stronger type of narrative that we wanted to build And so I would say that the biggest focus the first 90 days was How do we fix the loyalty program relative to it being just a discounting tool How do we take it and help it build incremental visits not discounting to everybody really getting it's customers excited about engaging with the brand I would say that was job one job Two is probably delivery our off premise model How do we be better partners with our delivery partners like Postmates GrubHub UberEATS and DoorDash that was another big thing And then the other big thing which we did for the first time last year was launched electronic gift cards we didn't have the gift cards before And so within about four weeks we were able to get something together very quickly and have a pretty nice run at a holiday gift card sales And so that was super cool And I would say there was a lot to consume with the first 90 days but we didn't skip a beat we don't waste a day So it was a very exciting fast transformation in terms of reestablishing the foundation of the digital business
[00:17:27] Jenifer Kern: [00:17:27] Yeah that's a lot in the first 90 days Rattled off a lot there
[00:17:31] Andy Rebhun: [00:17:31] Yeah And
[00:17:32] Jenifer Kern: [00:17:32] so how did you go about the loyalty turning it from just a discounting or a promo engine into really catering to your more loyal guests
[00:17:39] Andy Rebhun: [00:17:39] This is going to seem so cueshe but I'm just going to say it you have to follow the data leads to all roads right At the end of the day the beauty of a loyalty program the beauty of it being able to see customer transactions is you can see trends you can see where the business is going You can see what people are spending what people are spending it on how often they're visiting where they're visiting What time of the day they're visiting And so while we have had all that data available I don't think we were able to utilize to its utmost effect And so for me it was working I have a contractor who works with me who previously ran the loyalty program at TGI Friday's full go she's phenomenal So anybody who's listening definitely worth hiring her She's amazing and so she really helped me build out the digital infrastructure on just an offer strategy a email communication strategy how do we lower the discount How do we build more engagement with the brand And so that was really a cornerstone of that first 90 days And then once we started getting some small wins I like to call it little bets It's a great book highly recommend that as well you can fail and fail quickly and fail without having a massive hit on the brand P and L And so we were doing that there were some things that when I had conversations with my leadership and had conversations with the franchisees you have to get a little bit yeah Comfortable if you want to progress as a brand And if you want to move the business and move the needle And so we had to have some of those uncomfortable conversations but I think ultimately as we started to deliver on some of the metrics that we established as key metrics for success you start getting some wins you start getting some credibility and You can start running which we were able to do which was great
[00:19:10] Jenifer Kern: [00:19:10] great And you didn't need to switch out your loyalty platform
[00:19:13] Andy Rebhun: [00:19:13] No we stayed Yeah We stayed with punch has been a good partner for us and we actually just extended our contract with them with some new additions I'm going to be coy about teasing it out but we have some new things that are going to be coming to the app probably within the next three to six months that I'm really excited about but yeah so it'll be a fun addition
[00:19:30] Jenifer Kern: [00:19:30] Awesome Okay And then pandemic hits
[00:19:33] Andy Rebhun: [00:19:33] Yeah pandemic Yeah I think everybody who's in the restaurant industry it's one of those transformational times just from a digital perspective from just being a human perspective everybody under the sun and it impacted everybody And for us the pandemic hit And it was really taking a pause taking a step back and saying okay what areas of the business are performing What is not performing How do we make sure our customers know about the fact that we are safely operating that we want them to feel safe when they come into our restaurants How do we let our customers know about our offerings via delivery Because as you probably can imagine off premise exploded during the pandemic So yeah what you saw a lot of brands do actually very quickly in marches people had these onesy twosy three-day free delivery this weekend only one week free delivery only this week And so for us Bernard and I took a step back and said how can we create something that would be of ultimate value to our consumers and really be a key differentiator in the space And so we work with Very closely with our agency and with our friends at Postmates and they're phenomenal partners to work with and we established a platform called free delivery for however long is necessary We wanted our consumers to know that we cared about them We wanted the consumers to know that they could still experience our food safely And so we came out with this campaign and quite often honestly our numbers with Postmates were five X As this campaign came out which is phenomenal And we were thrilled with the growth We were thrilled with the ability to offer our consumers free delivery And that was a key pillar to our strategy in the April starting April 1st That's when we launched that campaign and it's still going today pandemic is still around It's still very popular and we plan to continue it for the foreseeable future the other big thing I'd say is we shifted a little bit of the offer strategy to We looked at a couple different family offerings that we took typically offer our consumers on the platform And there was one specific offer that resonated very well and over performed actually if you called it like a stilt like a house is on a stilted was one of those stilts for our business because the redemption was so high as we were going through those early stages of the pandemic and it was a $20 12 piece meal which is a great value to the consumers So you get 12 pieces of chicken you get three sides tortillas salsas etc And it performed extremely well And so that was one of the foundations and our key pillars during the pandemic relative to making sure that the consumers knew that we were offering them value at a really great price and they could continue to come and see us for a very affordable price point
[00:21:54] Jenifer Kern: [00:21:54] Wow Wow Both of those things the free delivery and talking about that family meal they both come back to value price and value And if there's one thing that no one can dispute during this pandemic is everybody wants value In their purchases more often the food but also at a better price point Now there are times when I do splurge for my $20 bowl and pay the $5 delivery fee And you know sometimes I'm a little disappointed when I see the amount of food in it but for the most part we want more value right now we've talked about this on almost all the podcasts you know and you seem very well positioned to reap the rewards of the value play
[00:22:40] Andy Rebhun: [00:22:40] Yeah I'd say you obviously have to be careful too because at the end of the day you run a business and you run you're responsible for margins and profit And for us we have a multi-tiered value strategy Like I said earlier we have that $5 fire grilled combo which is like your complete individual meal We have that as a price point and then we have this $20 familiar dinner which is another elevated to your value So we have a couple of different price points you look at some of the traditional players in the industry A lot of their values being driven in by the dollar or the $2 to us we more play in like the premium value type of space where we have the $5 offering We have the $20 offering our food cost is slightly different than some of our competitors Chicken's a little bit more expensive and obviously the ingredients like avocado A fresh salsa we need to be mindful of our food cost but at the end of the day our consumers know we provide them a lot of food at a very affordable price point And so that's been our Mo for quite some time
[00:23:33] Jenifer Kern: [00:23:33] Yeah And I don't think anyone else has done free value for free delivery for unset amount of time which you're saying like essentially through the end of the year or however long it needs to stay free
[00:23:44] Andy Rebhun: [00:23:44] Yes we were very lucky Postmates like I said just a phenomenal partner Everybody in that organization has been great to work with And we're very fortunate to have them And they rolled the dice and took a chance on us And it's something that we as a brand are very grateful for And we don't count our chickens pun intended
[00:24:01] Jenifer Kern: [00:24:01] that's lovely Okay So I know that you also rolled out curbside We talked about that a little bit in the pre show call and you've been written up about that Can you tell our listeners about your curbside program
[00:24:14] Andy Rebhun: [00:24:14] Yeah first off I need to make sure I make mention I work with a phenomenal team of people it really is I was obviously fortunate to get a headline in a couple different magazines but at the end of the day the results and the work is not defined by one person It's defined by a ton of people who put in the work So I would be remiss if I didn't mention my VP of it Clark Matthews operations Cura Versero Layola Dentino who's our VP of training this team we met regularly for pretty much every single day for at least an hour And it was a mad dash to try to make this happen as quickly as possible we didn't have this on the roadmap until 2021 but we were literally able to get it launched six weeks which is just Mind boggling to me still but we have launch we're in 21 restaurants today And our plan is to have that completely rolled out September 28th to all of our locations And again it required a lot of being able to be flexible a lot of long hours but ultimately we felt like this was a necessity And as we continue to look to grow our digital channels and our digital business curbside Was a green fee you look at the space right now and you see how restaurants have been able to adapt their business Curbside was a cornerstone of being able to go to market and continue to feel safer or allow that safety that the consumers wanted to feel experiencing your brand So we're thrilled that we are able to get curbside launched so quickly
[00:25:33] Jenifer Kern: [00:25:33] Yeah And you have that integrated through your app
[00:25:35] Andy Rebhun: [00:25:35] Correct Correct So you get real time updates and pretty much you just open the app when you're at the restaurant you click on here And I'm not gonna lie it's I don't think I've spent more than two minutes waiting for my food the restaurant teams have been on it I'm not going to say that it's going to be two minutes every single time Cause there's definitely peaks and valleys in terms of how busy the restaurants are But I've been very lucky to get really good service really good experience in our trial process So it's been great
[00:26:00] Jenifer Kern: [00:26:00] Yeah So you're only in 21 restaurants with it right now But do you have an idea I mean you talked about the data Have you seen any of the data yet How many people are doing curbside versus coming in versus delivery what is your breakdown right
[00:26:14] Andy Rebhun: [00:26:14] Yeah So I think it's a little premature to actually throw out numbers for curbside specifically because at this point it's general awareness of someone opens up the app We're not advertising it at this point obviously at those 21 locations if people experience it they go to the restaurant they'll see the curbside signage So that's the extent of their knowledge And then we sent out an email to those individuals or within those given trade territories of the restaurant But I would say that it's definitely going to grow And like I said September 28th is our milestone dates So that's when you're going to see some of the advertising kick in for curbside curbside is probably the smallest of the numbers at this point then I would say a third party marketplace delivery and then pick up takeaway probably the biggest thing that's changed during the pandemic is just the growth of drive-thru It's exploded We're a little bit different I know a lot of the QSRs and some of the fast or in the fast food places have two or three drive through lanes We operate with one and our operations team have just done a phenomenal job Being able to make sure that we Continue to move restaurants through that line quickly and safely And just done a phenomenal job absorbing the additional volume during the pandemic So again I think you're going to see growth in curbside You'll see growth and pickup that's really the model for the future
[00:27:21] Jenifer Kern: [00:27:21] Yeah And for your drive thru how many locations have drive thru
[00:27:25] Andy Rebhun: [00:27:25] I'd say we have about 90 to 95% have drive thru
[00:27:28] Jenifer Kern: [00:27:28] Oh wow and you think you'll stay with one lane or are you planning on changing that
[00:27:32] Andy Rebhun: [00:27:32] It's a great question I mean we're continuing to evaluate the way we do business We continually look at the numbers the times the landlords have a big say over how you can build on the property And so we continue to evaluate the situation and we have a great COO Miguel Lazano and he comes from a lot of experience from Starbucks and he's going to be the brains and make the recommendations and we'll go from there But I think certainly it's a possibility and we're exploring all options at this time I don't think anything's off the table
[00:27:57] Jenifer Kern: [00:27:57] Okay So our listeners love to hear about the creativity during the pandemic but also pre pandemic can you give us a couple of your favorite campaigns that maybe were just your favorite because they performed the best had the strongest ROI or maybe they were your guests favorite what would you say are some of the top campaigns That you guys have run in addition to the ones you've already mentioned
[00:28:17] Andy Rebhun: [00:28:17] Yeah I have to be a little biased I think I really liked the digital campaigns Digital first to me is where my lane is So I certainly love the free delivery for however long is necessary That was something that we got a lot of praise on online and our customers really resonated with that offering that would probably still stay my favorite but every single campaign is really neat at our brand because typically we go through a eight week cycles where it's essentially an LTO and we advertise our sustainable value platforms that I talked about earlier To me I love the polio fit bowl campaign I personally a very healthy eater So for me being able to advertise a Keto bowl or paella bowl and do it in a way that's fun and very LA I love that campaign you saw a lot of the social creative online combined Like half a volleyball and then half a bowl And so everything was in this like circular shape So I love the social creative on that front and then we try to find ways to engage with our customers in different fashion I'd say the other big area where I'm really excited about where we're going is just social in general I have a great social media senior manager Patrick Benson who comes from the entertainment industry He's been with the brand since January And so he's starting to drop the plans for 2021 and I'm super excited You're going to see a lot of progress in that arena we have phenomenal talent at the organization and we haven't even in my opinion gotten started this is always a work in progress and we really are just still at the point where we're laying the foundation So we're about to accelerate So get ready
[00:29:41] Jenifer Kern: [00:29:41] Oh so exciting social is always a big channel for marketers But Talk about accelerating during the pandemic I think the data is three times Adults are spending three times more time I saying that right Three times the amount of time on social as pre pandemic So that's a lot more time I know for myself I'm doing it You need to be creative Like you're saying on social the creativity I mean people are scrolling and scrolling and you want to get them to stop Even if it's just for two seconds How do you guys do that
[00:30:11] Andy Rebhun: [00:30:11] Yeah honestly it's about listening to your audience making sure you're engaging with them making sure you're responding to the comments making sure you look at campaigns you look at the data you look at the click through rates you look at the engagement you look at video completion rates So there's lots of different mechanisms You can see if to see if the creative is resonating with a particular audience to me at the end of the day we want Consumers to engage with our brand We want consumers to comments on our contents that's really important to us We want our most active consumers to know that we care And so I would just say that we definitely want it to be a two way dialogue in social we want our social to breakthrough whether it be a new food platform a new technology idea That engagement is really important to us making sure that we have that two way dialogue two way conversation And we get a lot of great ideas from our consumers probably one of the most fascinating stories And my CEO loves to tell the story about during the pandemic is we came out with this chicken list polio taco in February end of February beginning March and believe it or not we got some comments on it that said Hey love the chicken list polio taco But it's not vegan And so we reformulated that ingredient and we're able to relaunch it at the beginning of July as a vegan taco And so that's a perfect example of you do some social listening you get your consumers excited and you're able to transform quickly So it's great That's I would say one of the success stories of social listening during the pandemic
[00:31:34] Jenifer Kern: [00:31:34] Fantastic Fantastic I used to work for a social listening company and yeah you can just spend all day on that
[00:31:39] Andy Rebhun: [00:31:39] Oh a hundred percent
[00:31:41] Jenifer Kern: [00:31:41] Crunch getting in and because of the data is always all over the place but the sentiment
[00:31:45] Andy Rebhun: [00:31:45] yeah the sentiment is huge And I think being able to take action on that and that's one of the great things that Patrick identified was it was kind of a common theme and trend that was coming up and it was something that we were able to make an impactful difference about So it was super neat Super cool
[00:31:59] Jenifer Kern: [00:31:59] Yeah One of the shifts that I saw as I was looking at your company over the past year and some of these articles is your CEO did talk a lot about the digital media and traditional media And that prior to you coming on board significant investment was in more traditional media And now you've clearly Flip flop that And you're more on the digital media side Can you tell our listeners a little bit about that transition and what are some of the things that you're focused on today and going forward for digital
[00:32:30] Andy Rebhun: [00:32:30] I think it's fascinating because you updated a little earlier with your three times digital media consumption habits during the pandemic but people like personalized marketing and TV is great for mass awareness but with all the data that we have in our fingertips today you're able to get a much more personalized advertisement to consumers through digital media this journey started when Bernard started about two to and a half years ago he knew that there was a problem there's a lot of different things that you try to tackle as a leader in the organization And it took a little bit of time for him to get his feet wet and he had his priorities but this was something that was from the onset of him taking over the company he really wanted to change really wanted to transform He knew it was important for us to make it just move And so we did make the move what's really exciting is you go back about 1416 months ago we were at about 5% digital media spend which I got to the company and I was like wow that's crazy I haven't heard that number for a minute but now this most recent quarter we're upwards of 35% which is crazy but it's so indicative of the way the audience is wanting to experience and consume media consumed the brand And so we were able to adapt quickly and very excited about just the different levels of engagement and results we've seen through those channels
[00:33:38] Jenifer Kern: [00:33:38] the name of the podcast is restaurants reinvented I love to ask my guests what does that mean for you What does that mean for you yourself as a marketing leader And what does that mean for restaurants Whether it's your brand or restaurants at large how does restaurants reinvented hit you today and land on you What does it mean for you
[00:33:58] Andy Rebhun: [00:33:58] first off I love the name of the podcast So a plus for marketing Yes I really liked that name So you definitely got the naming title for that one but to me restaurants reinvented means staying True to your core roots but also being able to propel future growth I think El Pollo Loco as a brand as you mentioned it has a lot of fanatics People love the brand We still need to build awareness and we still need to get more customers to come visit us in our restaurants But it's how are you going to define your future as a company and as a brand and the ones that are not reinventing themselves are going to be stuck in the past They're going to go bankrupt or they're not going to be able to grow And for me reinventing is being able to stay true to your core brand values but being able to open up And cast a wider net as you decide to venture into the future And I think that to me is a restaurant reinvention
[00:34:44] Jenifer Kern: [00:34:44] that's awesome That's fantastic And you've alluded to your team you've given a lot of shout outs to some team members and other executives in the company And here we are Most of us working in a virtual world How do you all stay aligned and stay connected And stay focused on that core reinvention strategy
[00:35:02] Andy Rebhun: [00:35:02] I think it's really being efficient with your time I think one of the beautiful things and it's going to be the first thing I do when I finished talking to you today is the marketing team has 30 minutes Every single day No questions asked whether we have topics or conversation or updates that each of the individual team members needs to provide We have that conversation If we decide that we just want to talk about something about life or in the world it's so important to maintain that connection because I think one of the things that is challenging in the pandemic is it's very easy to get lost It's very easy to feel disconnected It's very easy to be quote unquote zoomed out Which is why we talked about the exercise at the beginning of the day or listening to a book on tape some of those things you just have to adjust a little bit to the environment staying connected is key Being able to communicate often and frequently is key And I think one of the beautiful things that I love about my leadership and my coworkers is we're always available for each other And that's really important for a brand and really important for an organization to know that you have each other's backs and whenever you need to spend more time on something you spend more time and you get it done And so that to me is very important Then we've done a phenomenal job at our company
[00:36:08] Jenifer Kern: [00:36:08] that's fantastic Committing every day 30 minutes every day
[00:36:11] Andy Rebhun: [00:36:11] Every day
[00:36:11] Jenifer Kern: [00:36:11] it's good That's good and you talked about some people in this time Starting to lose hope almost feeling disconnected honestly it's one of the reasons I started the podcast It's a little selfish in some ways but I get to connect with marketers every week and it's fantastic and there's a connection that we all need and crave but we have to work for it So I just feel like putting that discipline on every single day you have to practice something for it to become a habit 50 days you got to do it every day for 50 days in order for it to be a habit what's some advice that you would have for marketers today
[00:36:44] Andy Rebhun: [00:36:44] Yeah I'm gonna say steal shamelessly from one of my Kellogg professors one of one of his biggest things is there's a 168 hours in a week Okay And so you have the ability to control those 168 hours However you want to sure There's those responsibilities like family faith job etc But you can't say that you don't have enough time to work out You can't say you don't have enough time to eat there are some core fundamentals in your day to day that you just have to make time for And whether that be you take 15 to 20 minutes of less sleep at night or you take 15 to 20 minutes out of watching TV There's always time You just have to be purposeful with how you in that time The other thing I'd say and for people who are either frustrated with their jobs or unhappy or feel like they're in a Valley reach out to people on LinkedIn I've never seen so many people so giving up their time and I really think that Good people are going to remain good people I'm not gonna lie this is crazy I probably have the most LinkedIn requests I've ever had in my life at this point because of various things I've been afforded the opportunity and I'm humbled for that but I would just say if you personalize a message you personalize a note There's someone who you really admire or you want to connect with as a leader Most good people will respond to you And honestly at the end of the day if they say no or they don't respond it's three to five minutes of your time But think about it that way it's a three to five minute time investment for a personalized message and it could lead to incredible opportunity
[00:38:08] Jenifer Kern: [00:38:08] Yeah build that network Get out there I agree There's so much going on LinkedIn today And if I get one more message that says we have some similar people that we're connected to not it would be good to add you to my network
[00:38:21] Andy Rebhun: [00:38:21] They have to grow somehow So it's I get it It's all part of the fun of LinkedIn game
[00:38:26] Jenifer Kern: [00:38:26] Yeah you said yes to my invite so thank
[00:38:29] Andy Rebhun: [00:38:29] You're welcome It was a pleasure and I'm glad that we're gonna remain friends beyond this So
[00:38:33] Jenifer Kern: [00:38:33] yeah I think that's not originally reached out biggest challenge that marketers have today
[00:38:38] Andy Rebhun: [00:38:38] I would say resources I think you saw a lot of companies cut back pretty substantially during the pandemic I'm not sure what growth trajectory was going to look like but I would say finite resources whether that be because advertising budgets got cut Whether GNA got cut for hiring people you need to be very purposeful with the way you spend your time and you spend your money and resources to me while it's a very broad category There's a lot of things under it that really can be put under a microscope do you really need to spend on that campaign Do you really think it's going to deliver for the brand Do you really need five or six people in a meeting can one person handle it and can there be a summary provided to me that's probably my biggest thing that I've really tried to reinforce with our team is how do we use our resources more wisely And how do we figure out a way to just cast a wider net with smaller budgets and smaller people resources So I would say that's the biggest challenge
[00:39:29] Jenifer Kern: [00:39:29] Yeah absolutely biggest opportunity
[00:39:32] Andy Rebhun: [00:39:32] Oh biggest opportunity that's a fun one for me I think it's how do we do a better job of banding together and working together Because to me one of the things that really saddens me about what's happened in the pandemic is I'm a foodie you've seen a lot of really good small restaurants close and you never want to wish that upon any of your competitors obviously you always want there to be some healthy competition with the brand and with the industry But for me opportunity is how do we give these people another opportunity to reopen their restaurant or get an opportunity within big corporation Because I just think we as a member of humanity like we owe that to people who put their blood sweat and tears into building a brand and building an experience for customers to me that I he has an opportunity So if for some reason you've been laid off or your restaurant had to close I'll just throw it out there Call me Contact me on LinkedIn seriously Like I'd definitely be willing to help you figure out how we can get you back on track it just it really saddens me and some people will say I don't want people to feel bad for me I want to feel bad because it's your life dream It's your blood sweat and tears So figure out a way and we'll figure out a way we'll get it done us in the restaurant community know a lot of people and we'll figure out a way to make things right
[00:40:46] Jenifer Kern: [00:40:46] That's so generous of you I love that that's really kind and it is sad It is so sad to see there's some people that like you said they've spent their whole life savings opening a restaurant And the one thing I will say about this industry though I mean the people through and through just do the right thing and take care of each other I've never been in it an industry that is as close knit as this industry restaurants particular And I kinda came in here with some wanderlust and I'm like oh no I love this it's just a great relationship people place and people that want to help each other and do the right thing So thank you for that that's phenomenal the future what's next
[00:41:25] Andy Rebhun: [00:41:25] it's funny I think digital's gonna continue to lead the industry You see a lot of brands coming out with either digital playbooks or digital reinventions or rebuilds of the future I think you're going to see a lot more hyper-personalized environment I think you're going to see a lot more contact lists I think the pandemic has permanently shifted the way that restaurants do business it's funny there's a local LA brand called Mel's drive in and their business has exploded And it's you think about the model It's going back to like the forties fifties sixties with carhops And it's super cool It's kinda Sonic does that too but it's just so fascinating how brands are getting revived things like drive in movie theaters are cool again because you're away from people you're in your own car And so it's funny sometimes to understand the future you have to go back in time so it's a really cool trend that we see emerging And I would just say the digitization of the business is going to continue to drive the future of the restaurant industry
[00:42:19] Jenifer Kern: [00:42:19] Yeah And what are your thoughts about speaking of digitization of ghost kitchens and virtual brands
[00:42:23] Andy Rebhun: [00:42:23] Yeah it's funny I was asked that question last weekend I love it I think it's amazing I think that there's explosive growth about to happen because you think about real estate and the cost to enter a market and it's just astronomical And so if you're able to go in and share a kitchen with a couple of different brands and see if it resonates amongst the consumer base and either a new market or an existing market and you can get additional share opportunity I think it's phenomenal And then I think from a virtual restaurant perspective you can also extend your brand amongst a lot of different things And I'll just leave it at that because I don't want to really tease with some of the things we're thinking about but just think about your brand And being extended And if there's a certain product category that's performing very well you can essentially open up a virtual restaurant with whatever So if you sold chicken fingers and you sold a grilled chicken you might come up with Jennifer's chicken shack and you can just create a virtual restaurant that way where you just pretty much hone in on something that's selling very well and sell it on under a different label
[00:43:22] Jenifer Kern: [00:43:22] yeah In a way there are a lot of opportunities now right There's more opportunities in some
[00:43:28] Andy Rebhun: [00:43:28] Tremendous
[00:43:29] Jenifer Kern: [00:43:29] but the creativity is so key there so as we wrap there are a couple of things I like to ask the guests and afford for your time One is if you have any shout outs in terms of infomercials about your brand about giving back in the community about Things that you're doing you've already mentioned many and then the other is just closing words of wisdom what do you want to start with
[00:43:50] Andy Rebhun: [00:43:50] I'll start with we have a couple initiatives I can't really talk about Hispanic heritage month yet but by the time I think this podcast comes out you'll see about it but we have a really big initiative around Hispanic heritage month that I think you'll really enjoy I don't know exactly when this is going to be released but I promise you if you check it out and maybe two or three weeks from when Jennifer and I are talking highly recommend you look at that because there's going to be some phenomenal opportunities for people with Hispanic heritage month we also have a program called polio with purpose where we essentially take some of our food that is leftover We donate it to homeless shelters across the Los Angeles and other areas that we do business it's a very cool program It's something that some other brands choose to donate some of their food and something that is just Super cool that we do that we're a great brand We're really big in our company we love to help communities grow and know that El Pollo Loco is a safe place that consumers can continue to spend and take out from what their family And yeah that's pretty much that's that And at the end of the day I'm humbled to have the opportunity to share my story and share a little bit about, the company's purpose and vision. And, we're really excited about the future. It's going to be very exciting. next couple of months, the next couple of years at El Pollo Loco.
[00:44:58] Jenifer Kern: [00:44:58] Yeah. And advice for up and coming marketers. you've worked at these stellar brands. you've got your MBA. you're crushing the digital game over there. What advice do you have to up and coming marketers?
[00:45:10] Andy Rebhun: [00:45:10] I would say continue to stay hungry. Don't be complacent. If you don't like your job, quit don't be scared of it. Rolling the dice because at the end of the day, your biggest brand ambassadors, probably going to be yourself. And, you want to be a situation where you're truly love what you're doing, because that's going to show and reflect in your work.
[00:45:28] It's going to show and reflect in your attitude. And, again, I would just recommend that if you're not happy doing what you're doing, figure out a way to. Do better or figure out a way where you can talk to people network and, networking is a huge part of the job market. And just making sure that you utilize the network, utilize your family, your friends, your coworkers, just stay in touch with people because you never know if one door closes another one's going to open.
[00:45:52] So just, definitely be happy and be passionate.
[00:45:57] Jenifer Kern: [00:45:57] Amen
[00:45:57] Andy Rebhun: [00:45:57] brother.
[00:45:58] Yes. Thank you.
[00:45:59] Jenifer Kern: [00:45:59] I told me we'd get one of those.
[00:46:00] Andy Rebhun: [00:46:00] Okay. That's fair. That's fair.
[00:46:02] Jenifer Kern: [00:46:02] You are your biggest brand ambassador. Yes. Make decisions that feel right in your gut
[00:46:07] Andy Rebhun: [00:46:07] but be humble. But let me add one thing to that quote, but be humble about it. you don't want to be seen as someone who's just promoting yourself, but internally, and as you're going through the exercise of trying to figure out what you want in life and career, you are your biggest brand ambassador.
[00:46:20] Jenifer Kern: [00:46:20] yeah. There is a balance. There's a balance always with everything. Well, Andy, such a pleasure to chat with you today, to get to know your El Pollo Loco better and get to know you better and all the wonderful things you're doing, in the community. and for digital, really helping to lead the way and show restaurants.
[00:46:38] This is possible. here's how you get to reinvent yourself and no limits. There's no limits on it.
[00:46:43] Andy Rebhun: [00:46:43] for sure.
[00:46:45] Jenifer Kern: [00:46:45] Thanks so much for your time and have a great day. And as soon as I can get on an airplane, I'm coming out to get, El Pollo Loco, you know it,
[00:46:53] Andy Rebhun: [00:46:53] Thank you so much, Jennifer, for your time.
[00:46:55] Jenifer Kern: [00:46:55] Yeah. All my best to you.