Episode 3 - Mark Mears
Jen Kern: [00:00:24] Hello everyone. I'm Jen Kern, and this is Restaurants Reinvented. Today I'm excited to be joined with Mark Mears, the interim CMO at Saladworks, who is a 30 year veteran of the industry. And I'm so excited and delighted to welcome Mark today. Hi, Mark.
[00:00:41]Matt Mears: [00:00:41] Hey, Jen, you're making me feel old. You used the word veteran? I don't know. I don't deserve that title, but I am. I'm really excited to speak with you today and I'm looking forward to it.
[00:00:53]Jen Kern: [00:00:53] Well, good. Well, just to make you feel more comfortable, I'm a veteran too. So in all seriousness, we share this long term love and passion of marketing. And I know that your experience is quite interesting and incredible. You've been at so many top brands just to mention a few - Cheesecake Factory, Pizza Hut, Noodles and Company, the list goes on and you've been with, I think you started your career with Leo Burnett.
[00:01:23] So you've had quite the storied career and I'd love to know what is the top skill that you think got you to where you are today?
[00:01:33]Matt Mears: [00:01:33] Well, first of all, thank you. And it has been a long and winding road, but, you know, I, I really call it a journey and the word I'm going to use, it's been a growth journey and the word growth is so important and, and really intrinsic into, kind of my mindset. And you know, thinking back to the lessons that I've learned along the way, and several mistakes I've made along the way, and the several embarrassing moments I've had along the way, they were all growth opportunities.
[00:02:02] I look at them as such and at each one, you know, it, it, it gave me, a sense of competence, that I could take the next step. Because, you know, I had seen and heard the good, the bad and the ugly, and I was resilient and able to overcome it. And, you know, to kind of paraphrase the, the, the old line, you know, growth happens.
[00:02:23] What you do with it is what is most important. And how you apply the learning from whatever happens, to enrich yourself to get better and strive for even higher, levels, and, and, and be not afraid to take risks and take on challenges that maybe others would, think are too risky for them. And that's one of the other things that I would say is I really, you know, I didn't have kind of a, a standard plan going into my career. I just wanted to be able to grow and learn and, and I think being a lifelong learner, I, you can see the books behind me. I, and there's many more where that came from. I just, I'm just, I guess I have a voracious appetite for learning and growth.
[00:03:05]You might call me a growth junkie... if that's appropriate.
[00:03:08] Jen Kern: [00:03:08] Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Well, growth is so important in marketing, right? I mean, that's, that's pivotal. We find ourselves today at the intersection of... not just driving the brand and the guest experience, but also sales and revenue and technology and content and social media, and the list goes on and on. So how do you really stay focused on that growth when there's so much else going on in the world of marketing?
[00:03:35] Matt Mears: [00:03:35] Well, that's a big question there, Jen, you hit me with one right out of the gate. But I think it comes down to focus. You know, I'm a big believer in alignment. And when, and I know we're going to talk a little bit about this, but when you're aligned, behind a very, powerful and motivating, purposeful vision, mission... and you have shared values among the team as to how to accomplish, your, your mission and ultimately your vision. It's very much like, you know, 1996, we, we had a chance to have a friends of mine and, and, and our, spouses or girlfriends went to the Olympics in Atlanta and we stayed on a houseboat on Lake Lenier because all the hotel rooms were booked, but it turned out to be great because if we had tickets for an event, we could get in our cars and go into wherever the venues were. But the rest of the day, we're hanging out on Lake Lanier and we're cooking out on the deck and we had a TV we're watching the Olympics, but we got tickets to a rowing event.
[00:04:35] And it was on Lake Lanier. So we didn't have far to go. And I just remember these, you know, these hulking people getting into those tiny shelves that looks like they could just wobble and fall, but, but they were able to, despite the, the, the, maybe the strength or size advantages or disadvantages, they were able to put every oar in the water and rode together and keep that skull heading straight down, the, their lane. And, it wasn't the biggest and strongest and fastest. It was those who worked best together. And that idea of alignment of having all oars in the water and rowing together sticks with me to this day. And I think once you're aligned, to what you're trying to accomplish, and you've, got your team engaged with their heart head, hands and habits into fulfilling their daily mission, that ladders out to their more aspirational, longer term vision. So when things happen, like whether it's COVID-19 or, any other major event that not one of us sat in our boardrooms last year, as we were planning 2020, could ever have imagined. You know, well, you know, this could work, but what if, what happens if we have a global pandemic?
[00:05:51] I mean, someone would have said that it would have been in gest. We just couldn't fathom that. But here we are. So how do we stay a growth minded in a slow growth, no growth. In some cases, environment, you still stay focused and still stay true to your brand. And some examples I can give you are, we put together, different plans for franchisees to opt into that were like a little marketing module. So we had, a family meals, you know, pre-packaged meal program. We work with our produce supplier and had meal kits. We did kind of sandwiches in a catering box. Just different ways to serve our guests and give our franchisees more revenue generating opportunities.
[00:06:38] And that's all great for the franchisee and being relevant to our guests and what they are also going through, obviously during this, this pandemic, but really importantly, and in keeping with our values is our sense of community. And, you know, we started this whole idea of fives for lives. And it was designed to leverage what we do better than anybody in that serve people.
[00:07:03] But we were using this as an opportunity to serve those local heroes, working in hospitals or healthcare facilities that are on the front lines of this pandemic who are working, you know, a dawn to midnight and not able to really take time away for a healthy, nutritious flavor for a flavorful meal. And so we had guests saying, you know, we were already doing it kind of pro bono.
[00:07:26] Many of our franchisees were already doing it, but we had guests that had had, how do we help? How could we chip in? And so he said, sure, that's a great idea. We will take $5 and we'll make that into a meal. So we've called it five for lives. And so far we've, delivered over 2,000 meals and this is not stopping anytime soon.
[00:07:50]I know your organization is doing something similar and I think that speaks to the heart of not only the industry, but I think, you know, specific brands and their values. And so, you know, we want to zig while others are zagging, we tried to keep as many of our restaurants open. We hesitated to let people go.
[00:08:10] We, we got all the loans we could get. But we've been leveraging our earned and owned assets to grow during this time because we don't have the paid media because we allowed our franchisees a break on the royalties. So they're not, there's no money coming into our brand fund. So what we're doing is kind of through a lot of creativity, a lot of shared, you know, work across our agencies, and big ideas that maybe we wouldn't have come up with.
[00:08:38] You know, they say that a necessity is the mother of invention. Well, we've all had to pivot, in this new environment and do things we maybe never would've thought of. But some really good stuff has come out of this. Not only, our, our franchisees back open, we're starting to see our sales go back up, but we're giving back in our communities and we're inviting our guests to be part of that.
[00:09:00]So that's something that, is really important to understand that again, it's easy to, to crawl under your desk and, and, and, and close your eyes and wish it away. True leadership is hitting it head on and coming up with a plan, engaging everyone in that plan and continuing to learn and grow based on the results.
[00:09:18]Jen Kern: [00:09:18] right. Right. Well, I love that. I really am so honored to have understood and walked with you through the fives for lives program and, really thank you for giving back and in that way that that Saladworks. And I know yourself, your philanthropy, philanthropists as well, and you're very passionate about, you know, no kid hungry and some other programs.
[00:09:38] So I think, you know, that's a really important aspect of the whole community aspect right now. We just can't undervalue community enough right now. And I love your metaphor, the rowing, right. And thinking about the team. So as marketers. We have to row with our teams and mentor them and energize them. But then we also have to make sure within our executive leadership team, we're all aligned and growing.
[00:10:04] So can you give us some examples of how you do that at both levels within your team and then on your executive leadership teams, how do you ensure that alignment, keep everybody motivated, especially at a time like now where things are pretty difficult, right? What are some of the things you do there?
[00:10:23] Matt Mears: [00:10:23] Well, you know, Jen, I want to start with, our brand position is all about being original and, you know, we really believe there's a lot of power in this notion of originality and today more so than ever. You know, We really believe, you know, we're all different, we all have different gifts, to bring to the world.
[00:10:41] And so instead of the Saladworks, just being another restaurant that, you know, exists to, say an appetite... our goal is to fuel the originality of our guests and really all of our stakeholders. So our vision is that we believe in fueling the originality of our team members, guests, business partners, and communities, giving everyone the opportunity to live their best life.
[00:11:08] And there's a lot packed into that. You know, our stakeholders, I say team members first because they really are the lifeblood of our organization. Without them we couldn't then serve our guests and our guests then come second. And then of course our business partners are not only, the investment firm that, that own Saladworks, but our franchise partners, our supplier partners, such as Qu, our agency partners, and then finally, last but not least the communities in which we do business. We believe that there is a. and a responsibility to give back in our communities versus just, you know, create a storefront, as a piece of real estate. And so we talked about fives for lives is a good example of giving back in our communities.
[00:11:52] And you just mentioned No Kid Hungry... we just signed a three year agreement with them, and are going to embark on a very creative, very aggressive, program starting in September that I'm really proud of and it, and it will galvanize the team and as it already has, as we've announced it internally.
[00:12:12] So, you know, our, our job as, leaders, in the C-suite is, is to bring our respective talents, whether you're in marketing or IT, or HR or Operations or Finance or whatever. and, And in Marketing, what I love about it so much is, you know, there's something, I used to refer to as little M marketing and it's like managing the calendar and the media budget and, you know, judging creative, but big M marketing is looking after the whole brand.
[00:12:40] And I've been fortunate to have worked with some of the world's largest and most respected brands. And I've had a chance to learn at the feet of some masters, which we certainly can talk about. And so I've seen how it works at the highest level. And I happen to be blessed to be in a position that, you know, our, our team works really, really well together and is very respectful.
[00:13:05]But we challenge each other and I, I, I get to, work with some really talented individuals that really have the same heart and that's really, you know, that alignment piece. And so then when you look at our daily mission, so all that sounds good at a high level. And we say, you know, there's power in wow. And, and we all know it like cool. You can't describe it. You can't define it. You just know it, the same thing with, wow. I mean, it's something you hear or see or experience it. Just your mouth drops open and you go, wow. There's power in that. If you think about the, the double carat w in our logo, we put two of them in the middle of that is an O.
[00:13:45] So it creates a nice little, icon, a reminder for all of us that there's power in. Wow. And so we believe in wow moments and those wow moments are when everything seemed to click. And we've all had those brand experiences where you know, there were, there were bumps in the road. and, and, And we've had some that were just, wow.
[00:14:06] And so our mission is we strive to be original in everything we do so we can deliver wow moments everywhere Saladworks is enjoyed. And that's powerful, because we're leveraging the originality of our team members, our guests, our partners, and our communities...but we're, we're all aligned on what it is we're trying to do - is creating a wow moment.
[00:14:29] If we can create a wow moment for our guests, they're going to want to come back more often. They're going to want to tell their friends. And that's how you can create a, And so kind of looking at our strategic framework. Again, our team members, we want to be a wow place to work so that we can increase engagement, right? Our guests, we want to be a wow place to dine. So we can deliver that wow experience that gets them to want to come back again and tell their friends and family and coworkers. Our partners, we want to be a wow place to invest. So that there's a sense of prosperity as you would have in any investment. What am I getting versus what am I putting in? And then our communities, we want to be a wow place to live. So that there's a sense of fulfillment among not only our team members and our franchisees, but the actual community itself.
[00:15:17] And so that's how we stay focused on, aligning the executive team, but really, that's why I'm such a big believer in engagement. And again, I say engaging of your heart, your head, your hands and your habits, because, there's a lot to unpack there, but we know if you just have a great plan in a boardroom that may sound great for investors, but it's it's who executes it, and who is engaged to go over and above what they're being asked to do so that we can make step function change growth, not just creeping incremental change growth.
[00:15:53] We're in such a volatile fluid environment right now, globally. Creeping incremental growth is just not going to cut it. And so we're all forced with doing more, with less being more creative, more resourceful, innovating, sharing best practices, but all designed to create that step function change growth that really will get us on a new trajectory and use this time wisely so that when we come out of this pandemic, we're going to be a better, stronger brand and a better, stronger team of motivated, aligned individuals that all come together as one.
[00:16:31] Jen Kern: [00:16:31] Yeah, that's, that's great. I mean that originality, that you're, you're encouraging in your team members and in your guests, I love that, you know, letting people be themselves. Right. And, when it comes to driving growth, though, talk to me and give me some specific examples about how you're doing that right now.
[00:16:50] I mean, it is such a volatile time. It's, it's, There's so much going on. And driving that growth. I mean, you mentioned the meal kits. Community obviously is key. For our listeners, some specific examples that you're working on right now, implementing to help really keep that growth. Moving ahead.
[00:17:08]Matt Mears: [00:17:08] Yeah, there's a, there's a, a lot in that question and I'll try to hit on some of the high notes without giving away too many of our secrets. but you know, I'm a big believer.
[00:17:08] Jen Kern: [00:17:08] If you can actually, are you all open now by the way, are all your stores open?
[00:17:08] Matt Mears: [00:17:08] there are some, locations that are in malls or areas where they're not permitted to be open yet, but, and then certainly, some municipalities, you know, they may be 25% open or they may be 50% of the dining room open, but no, we've, we've been, Almost, well, the majority of our restaurants have been open at least for a curbside, online ordering or deliberate or third party delivery.
[00:17:08] And so those are all growth engines that we were already working on. Right. And, and they were already starting to grow, but I think what's happened with this pandemic is, you know, trends in the marketplace that were already happening are now accelerating at a rapid pace. So what can we do to widen the funnel, to get more people to understand we have online ordering?
[00:17:25]What can we do to work with our partners? Third party delivery partners, such as Grubhub, Uber Eats and Doordash... within their own ecosystem, you know? And, and those are two of our key growth things. When the dining room is closed, that's what you got. And we would certainly take phone calls from people the old fashioned way as well.
[00:17:44]But our rewards program Salardworks Rewards has been a godsend because, those are our most loyal guests and we're able to communicate with them as that's part of our owned media, we have a separate email database of those who are not yet in the program. We've been leveraging PR with Fives for Lives and some of the other, elements of, of the program and what we've been doing this spring.
[00:18:11]And the meal kits that I mentioned, the catering box lunches, the produce boxes. Et cetera. But social media as well. we, we had, I don't know if you remember this, but May was national salad month. And, we created a month long, 30 day challenge that was around five kind of key categories while everybody's cooped up in isolation.
[00:18:33]We thought, well, these are five key things that are going to enrich you, whether they're relational, whether it's nutritional, whether it's recreational, whether it's, you know, your mindset or just, you know, doing things with your kids. And, you know, we had Saladworks Out. We actually had some local trainers do specific workouts on our Facebook page. As an example, each day we had different challenges that our, our guests could, you know, do to kind of, again, enrich themselves during this time. And we called it "You are aMAYzing So may you get it? Yeah, really, trying to be uplifting, trying to be relevant to what our guests were going through.
[00:19:17] And that's what I believe social media should, should be about. While again, creating a movement of people that are fans of Saladworks so we can help them along this, unprecedented journey. So those are just a few of the things that we've done and then specific to our Saladworks rewards program.
[00:19:36]In this month of June, this is our super summer celebration. And we had in the month of June various challenges so much, like if you remember when arcades were big, long before video games, you would sit behind a game and you would see a list of people's scores. Right. And you'd always want to beat those people's scores.
[00:20:01] So we're doing the same thing with our rewards program, with number of visits and a number of salads purchased. And then the winner of both those categories at, at the end of June, will receive free Saladworks for a year. And in our communications, we're showing that little tote board and people are seeing names and which restaurants they frequent, so they can see where they are.
[00:20:23] And we're in the last weekend. And we're making a big push as the end of June is rapidly coming upon us. And then we will reach out to those people and start to repurpose some of this information in social media and publicity. So Jen Kern, you won, and you came already two times in the month of June.
[00:20:46] What, how does Saladworks, fuel your originality? Right. And so we, we are, we're really looking at integrating I'm a big fan of integrated marketing communications. That's my background. And I just, you know, I think you can do a lot with a little when you start getting creative. And then you start looking at how you can repurpose content and programming in different channels to help you grow at a time when you don't have the budgets, you know, that you did before.
[00:21:15]And that's really important for a marketer because at the end of the day, You know, it's what, what have you done for me lately? How have you grown the brand and how are you growing sales in a profitable manner? and, and, And those are questions, my team, and I get asked all the time and I'm proud to say we have some very good answers for those questions.
[00:21:34] Jen Kern: [00:21:34] Right, right. So that, I love that challenge. Are you sharing that list externally as well? Or is it, are you looking at this internally?
[00:21:41]Matt Mears: [00:21:41] it's it's through the, sorry about that. It's through the Saladworks Rewards program and our communications internally, but we are going to be putting out a press release at the end of June, announcing the winners and where we are with our Fives for Lives program, but I'm going to give you and your, your listeners, a peak under the tent that we're actually going to extend.
[00:22:01] The Saladworks super summer celebration into July. With the whole group contest because they're so successful. And it's just a great way to again, be relevant to our guests at a time when everybody wants to get out of their house, they're tired of being cooped up, whether it's with their kids, their spouse, their significant others, they just want to be around people again.
[00:22:26] And. And we want to, we want to help them celebrate, you know, summer is traditionally a time of celebration and, whatever we can do to help them celebrate, we want to do.
[00:22:36]Jen Kern: [00:22:36] Yeah. Yeah. Great. So you talked about the online ordering the third party delivery partners. I know you do catering as well. And how do you manage all those different channels at a time when there's so much fragmentation right in our industry. And you know, my, my latest pet peeve story is I waited for two and a half hours for my pizza on Friday night and it never came.
[00:23:00] So I would think you have a couple different challenges and things, you know, balls to juggle when it comes to not only delivering and ensuring that the experience with the guest is good, but also... keeping that salad fresh when it's, when it's traveling. Right. So how do you tackle some of those things?
[00:23:21] Matt Mears: [00:23:21] Well, we're, we're fortunate, to have great partners, as I mentioned, for third party delivery, we have master service agreements with grub hub door dash and Uber eats, and you know, the, the list of complaints that we've gotten, has has been almost negligible. We're, we're very happy with that in, in my past, when I was a Chief Marketing Officer at the Cheesecake Factory, for example, we, we started in delivery and that's been about six, seven years ago.
[00:23:50] Right. And we got out of it because we. We didn't feel like back then, the industry was much more fragmented with a lot of local, restaurant delivery companies, and not the same level of consolidation and, you know, structure around it. But we didn't like having, our good name, in the hands of someone else.
[00:24:13] That we couldn't control.
[00:24:15] Jen Kern: [00:24:15] Yeah,
[00:24:15] Matt Mears: [00:24:15] So we, we, we ultimately abandoned the test at that time for that very reason, because you know, the cheesecake factory, you know, you might wait an hour, hour and a half, two hours to get in, and it's an it's, it's a totally immersive dining experience. Right. That's what you're paying for.
[00:24:32] It's not, it's not inexpensive. Right. so when you're ordering from them and you have a certain craving for that, whatever it is, you, you conjure up that memory in your mind as to what that tasted like last time you were in that restaurant. So now if it comes to you and it's not like that, it costs the same plus the delivery fee.
[00:24:52]That's a problem, right? But they have over 300 items on their menu. Right. We're very fortunate that our salad, with the, with the dressing on the side travels very well. And so, and our delivery footprint, is, is, is not so large that we might have that issue. So while many of our restaurants delivere directly, all of them are on third party delivery with those three partners I had mentioned. And so that way we cast the widest net because as you know, there are people that are. Uber eats people or grub hub or door dash people. That's the ecosystem they order from. It's like, I'm going to get delivery today or tonight. And the question is, what am I in the mood for? Versus if you order directly from Saladworks, you already know what you're in the mood for.
[00:25:38] And you just know, you just want to have that craving that you can't satisfy anywhere else. So third party and, and delivery have been, you know, relatively nascent for our brand and very, very successful as we've already surpassed what we were hoping to be at the end of the year already, because this whole thing is accelerated. Remember my, my first restaurant, brand was Pizza Hut. We launched delivery, believe it or not. So, yeah, I'm a little more to remember when we launched delivery and and now to see that it's ubiquitous, at a time when it was really only the pizza players and maybe some Chinese restaurants doing it, and now it's everywhere.
[00:26:20]You know, guests want what they want when they want it and how they want it. Right. And we're fortunate because with over 60 different, fresh flavorful ingredients, you can create a salad as original as you. And so you can get it how you want it, whether you are on a particular diet plan, like a paleo or keto or a whole 30 or Mediterranean, or whether it may be you, you have a certain lifestyle you're practicing, whether you're plant-based or you're vegan, or maybe flexitarian or vegetarian.
[00:26:53] Right. And then there are those that have health issues, whether they're allergic to soy or milk or nuts or whatnot or glutens, right. So we can create a custom meal for any lifestyle, any health, dietary, medical issue, but the really important thing is for any craving. So imagine, you know, 60 plus ingredients, for a create your own.
[00:27:22] If you want to do that, or one of our 12 recipes salads that you can make into a bowl, a grain bowl, if you'd like. So whether you want greens as a base, grains as a base or both, we can accommodate that. And if you want that, in a wrap, we can accommodate that as well. And it, and it travels very well. So we have that going for us. And of course, catering is a huge opportunity that, you know, we're really, You know, doing well at, but want to do better and we'll have a new and improved catering program ready for this fall, which really begins to start a catering season. So it used to be dine in and take away.
[00:28:00] Right? Well, now it's dine in, take away, online ordering to pick up, online ordering to get delivered...and online ordering for a third party to deliver and of course catering. And so we, we play in every one of those platforms. So we're able to fuel the originality of our guests again, how they want it when they want it and where they want it.
[00:28:22] Jen Kern: [00:28:22] Yeah, well, I, I don't feel like this is very fair because it's lunchtime here and now I'm starving for a salad. And the way I like mine is like tons and tons of protein on top. So pile on the chicken. I'm that annoying person that's like. Double extra two X, three X.
[00:28:42] Matt Mears: [00:28:42] Wait, we can accommodate you, Jen. And, we're actually working on, a really cool menu upgrade, where we're taking the 12 signatures and revamping some, taking a few away and bringing some new flavor profiles in such as this Asian crispy chicken, which is just amazing or a honey barbecue, crispy chicken.
[00:29:04]We've got a grilled chicken Mediterranean. You can tell chickens in the middle of a lot of this stuff, because it's the number one ordered protein, but we also have ham and roasted Turkey and you know, some other proteins as well. But it's really exciting and we're testing it right now as we speak with the idea of rolling it out this summer, and really, again, many of the restaurants out there were all impacted by COVID-19, but we want to zig while others are zagging. Others or slipping down their menu and we're not. but we're doing it more thoughtfully and planfully, we're using skew rationalization to really dig deep into our ingredients.
[00:29:45] Do we have the right ones? Do we have the, the right flavor profiles? And then also looking at a menu optimization, understanding that our menu is like real estate and every acre needs to, you know, provide the, the, the most, you know, benefit for our bottom line. Right. And so we're looking at everything.
[00:30:03] We're finding ways that we can grow sales, so increase our relevancy to more guests, but do it in a way that's more profitable for our franchisees. And that's a great combination where you can grow the top line and take more money to the bottom line. That's really what it's all about. And that's, that's, that's the part of marketing that I really, really enjoy about being in this industry.
[00:30:27] And you'll know, I don't call it the restaurant industry. I don't even call it the hospitality industry. It's the people business that we're in. If you connect those dots that I mentioned earlier, our team members, our guests, our partners, and our communities, it all revolves around people. And that's what we want to do.
[00:30:48]as, At Saladworks, but even all of us as marketers, if we understand that. A very fundamental principle. I think we'll be better marketers. And it's not just about, well, marketing is the voice of the consumer. Well, yes, but we, we, we need to be more empathetic and I like to live by the golden rule personally, but I think in our industry, the corollary is, you know, treat a guest and I call them guests.
[00:31:15] They're not consumers or customers because words matter, right? Jen, you read the article and you know, the corollary for the golden rule is treating a guest is the way you would want to be treated as a guest in their home. And they, as a guest in yours. The platinum rule is, no, treat the guests the way they want to be treated, and it's not about you.
[00:31:39] And that really requires a deeper sense of empathy and understanding to be able to really fare it out. How can we create that wow moment for our guests? And really make it unique and special because they've got a sea of opportunities more so now than ever before, you know, a while the third party delivery partners are our assets, but they're also competitors, right?
[00:32:05] And grocery stores are doing a much better job of food service. And then you've got the blue aprons and the meal, you know, box, folks, and now ghost kitchens and food trucks.
[00:32:19] Jen Kern: [00:32:19] Yeah, so competitive.
[00:32:21] Matt Mears: [00:32:21] A healthy, nutritious flavorful meal almost anywhere. So we have to fight harder to treat our guests better. It's at the end of the day, it's like the old cheers theme song.
[00:32:34] You want to go where everyone knows your name. Right? And so one of the major things we're doing internally, is, a great program that our operations and training team have been putting together and it's called vow to wow. And, and so, you know, going back to this idea of shared wow moments, we're we're, you know, again, all origin of water Rowan together, we need our franchisees, our company, operations teams, their team members, all getting behind this idea.
[00:33:06] And then we're creating not only a new set of standards and programming and protocols, but also a very cool recognition and reward program and in doing so, again, we're all aligned behind the idea of creating wow moments for our guests. And so that program is rolling out this summer as well. But that's, you know, again, us zigging while others are zagging many people are, are, you know, trying to reopen and doing everything.
[00:33:34] You know, in a safe and sanitary manner, of course, that's, that's the, that's the entry fee to just play in the game. What we want to do is have our guests remember how they were treated during this time. And then also remember how we treated others during this time. So that that Fives for Lives program is, is, is not just some sort of short term fundraising program.
[00:34:00]It's something that's intrinsic into the heart of the Saladworks brand that I believe also sets us apart from all those other competitors or competitive food platforms that are available for guests today.
[00:34:13] Jen Kern: [00:34:13] Yeah. I mean, it's very clear that you've got people at the heart of your brand and that does make a difference. It shows on the outside. And, and speaking of your guests, I know one of the things we talked about in our pre-show call was the stat you threw out that 60% of the American population right now is millennial and gen Z.
[00:34:32] Right. What changes or shifts have you seen in your guests' profile since COVID hit? Are you seeing a different p mix sort of shift? Are you seeing the same guests coming back again? And again again, are you seeing new guests? What w How has that profile changed? I mean, obviously it's probably slowed down a little bit, but, what, what changes are you seeing there?
[00:34:54] Matt Mears: [00:34:54] Yeah, I think that's a great question and not an easy one to answer because, you know, with everything done, you know, pretty much digitally, we certainly have through our Saladworks rewards program, the ability, because everybody creates a profile. So, you know, and, and often, you know, people are gonna put their birthday and they're going to get something free on the birthday.
[00:35:14] Right. So we, we, we know age group, we know what restaurant they, they go to. We actually guest check level detail. So we're actually looking into that right now, but I want to kind of, copter up to a higher level and just talk about those two major generational definitions. You know, millennial has been thrown around and people say, well, our targets millennials.
[00:35:37] Well, there's a lot of stratification between those who are at the younger end of that spectrum and the older end of that spectrum. Or, you know, just fresh out of college and started in their career somewhere, or maybe married. Some are married with kids, some are married with, you know, and so you look at also gen Z and I have a 22 and a half year old daughters, that are right there on that cusp.
[00:36:03] And so you'd say, well, that's oil and water, but I don't think so. And, and, and here's what I believe is that we're in this kind of a, what I call a for me generation. So, you know, four different, kind of interwoven, characteristics or, or dynamics, cause they're all changing. Right. but I believe that both share and while there's. certainly many differences. I think these four things is really important. And when I say for me, this isn't the me generation that maybe you and I are old enough to remember the eighties where it was Gordon Gecko, the villainous character in Wall Street that Michael Douglas played, who said, greed is good.
[00:36:44] The eighties were kind of defined by money and power and greed and narcissism. Right? That's not what I'm talking about. For me, it means kids today and millennials, most of them grew up in a digital environment, where there's a sense of control, right through my handy dandy smartphone here, I can, control what news I want to get, what information I want to find out, relationships through social media.
[00:37:13]Oh. And I can also call someone on it, but that never happens. Right. Let me start there. It's a sense of control. Right. But at the end of it, even though that's the case, the, the, for me characteristics that I think are woven between kind of millennials and gen Z are first one is, personalization. Get to know me. I'm not just a random, you know, collection of ones and zeros. I'm a real live human being with wants, needs, desires, and real feelings. So get to know me. And the second one is customization. Make it for me. As I mentioned, a few minutes ago, I may have a specific dietary or health or certain, craving or convenience needs.
[00:38:00] And I wanted how I want it, what I want it, where I want it. And if you don't fulfill that, somebody else will. You're just used to being able to customize whatever they do and not just in the restaurant industry, other industries as well from, you know, if you want to buy a car, you can go online and build the car and customize it with anything you want.
[00:38:20] And they'll give you a price for that. Or you go on Nike's website and you can customize shoes and on and on and on. They're just used to having that capability. So personalization, customization. The third one's self expression. And it's let me be me. So back to this idea of originality, right? I want to be me.
[00:38:39]And I want to express myself and while that's been going on from the dawn of man, from, you know, cliff drawings to, or cave drawings to, the, the pyramids of Egypt and the various hieroglyphics and, or telling stories around campfires or, or whatnot. So self expression has been around forever, but with the advent of social media now instead of a one to one or one to a few, or is now one to many.
[00:39:08] And we know that food is very engaging and dining experiences are very engaging. People like to share them with their friends and family in social media. So personalization, get to know me customization, make it for me, self-expression, let me be me. And the fourth is probably the most important and that's connection. Connect with me, but be relevant to my life stage in my lifestyle and connect me to something bigger than myself. There's nothing worse than just getting, some kind of random, email or snail mail or text or something that that is not relevant. Right. So being relevant, makes us as marketers work harder to really ensure that we have our finger on the pulse of our target and really anticipate their needs, wants and desires in a way that's relevant for their life stage or their lifestyle.
[00:40:13] And so those are the, for me, kind of mindset, you know, characteristics that I think bind those two groups together. And so our job at Saladworks is to connect those dots. You know, how do we personalize something? Well the first one is there's so much power in the use of the name. So in our training, we're training, our team members.
[00:40:36] And by the way, they're going to have a new name badges that not just say my name is Mark or Jen, it's going to have their name written in the way they want to write it. It's going to have what makes them original. And underneath that, it's going to have their favorite Saladworks,menu item.
[00:40:51] Jen Kern: [00:40:51] Nice.
[00:40:52] Matt Mears: [00:40:52] And then, we're going to have them ask the guests, you know, Hey, my name's Mark, what's yours.
[00:40:57] And then throughout that order process, be able to use the name. So it's not a faceless nameless transaction. It's very much a personal relationship that we're building with the guest - back to the whole Cheers song. Everybody wants to go, or you want to go where everybody knows your name. Right. And that's something that you can make more personal.
[00:41:17]And then ways even digitally, we can use personalization techniques. So it doesn't just come across as some kind of mass message. You know, customization, as I mentioned, we're, we're all about customization. Saladworks is, you know, with our create your own, you can, you know, customize your meal any way you want, you want that in a bowl or a wrap.
[00:41:36] Do you want the base of it greens, which ones? Grains or both. And then you want to create your own, with all of the 60 plus fresh flavorful ingredients, or would you like to try one of our 12 recipe salads? Or soup or sandwiches or paninis, depending on which restaurant you may be in. So customization is great.
[00:41:56] And then the convenience or all the channels, I just mentioned from dine in to take away to online, ordering, to delivery to third party delivery and catering, and then, self-expression through social media and everything we're doing there. And then finally, connection being relevant, you know, connecting with our guests in a way that they, they, they know, I mentioned the you are amazing 30 day challenge.
[00:42:18] You know, we were being relevant to our guests during that time when they were all sequestered at home, with their, whoever they were. Right. And then also Fives for Lives. And then also the no kid hungry programs to where, you know, it's not just millennials and gen Z, that our guests, those are our team members in our restaurants.
[00:42:40] So those same traits that I just mentioned, are, you know, intrinsic in our team members, who are in the majority of our positions within our restaurants. So coaching them, to just be themselves, be original. Not, you know, read from a script and look down and, and, you know, just do your job, you know. No, it's to be personal, be interactive, help that guest have that wow moment, where they are gonna want to come back again and again, and tell their friends, wow, look, what's going on at Saladworks.
[00:43:12] These guys really get it. They get me. And I'm really, you know, proud of the, the training and operations team for the work they're doing with the vow to wow program. And I think it's going to be a gold standard, for our industry.
[00:43:25] Jen Kern: [00:43:25] That's fantastic. I love that. Just really bringing it down to the personal level, right. To each person and why they matter. It reminds me of some of the Ritz Carlton training that I've heard about, right. Where it's, which I think is what Chick-fil-A adopted, you know, as part of their training.
[00:43:41] Matt Mears: [00:43:41] As well as ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen is the core of it, but it's really at that personal approach. And, yeah, I will say that the, the training at the Cheesecake Factory, is just unmatched. It is so important and it's so much a part of their overall experience. ..they didn't look around the restaurants for best practices, they went to Ritz. Carlton is that example because you may not get all the way there, but you're going to still have enough of it rub off on your culture, to where it's going to take you a light years ahead of your competition. And we want to do that in fast casual.
[00:44:19]Jen Kern: [00:44:19] that's great. That's great. And so how do you, I know Saladworks has over a hundred stores now across many locations. And how do you keep that consistency in the training and the messaging and the team members that you're talking about?
[00:44:36] Matt Mears: [00:44:36] Well, that's a great question. And I think every concept faces that whether you're company owned or whether you're a franchise owned or whether you're a mixture of both, like we are, you have to have standards, you have to have a North Star that you're all pointing to and, getting people to, to, understand that, appreciate that, embrace that, and then go do that...and be held accountable for that is what it's all about. And that's what leadership's all about. And that's why, if you're aligned at the top, then you're aligned within your, your company. Then you get the franchisees and your company operators involved. we have something called SFAC is a franchise advisory council.
[00:45:18] So they're involved every step of the way. There's an operations committee. That's working on the vow to wow program, as we speak. There's a menu committee. That's been working on the new menu that I mentioned. There's a marketing committee that works on all of our marketing programs and gives us good feedback so that we can get them engaged in the process to now when we're expecting them to execute, they're going to do so at the highest level because they understand the why behind it.
[00:45:44] They were involved in creating it, and then they, help us evangelize that, across the whole system. And that's when you know, you've got a culture.
[00:45:53] Jen Kern: [00:45:53] Yeah. That's fantastic. And let's talk a little bit about the impact of technology on, on our field and on the industry in general. I mean, we've touched on it a lot. How would you say technology impacts your ability to innovate and your ability to really achieve your marketing vision?
[00:46:13] Matt Mears: [00:46:13] Well, it's critical. If you, if you don't have the right tech stack, who cares, what ideas you may have if you can't execute them. Right. And I think it's, it's, it's kind of this dynamic tension, between innovation and best practices that are all trying to make us go forward and sometimes legacy systems that we've invested in for all the right reasons. Whenever that decision was made, that may not be able to keep up with how fast the world is starting to spin. And I think that's probably, a conundrum for every brand, because you know, when you have legacy systems that you've invested in and all of a sudden, now you say, well, that's not good enough anymore.
[00:46:56] We need to reinvest in technology. What technology? When? Will there be something new around the next corner? And I think a lot of people are really faced with that conundrum. As we know, we need to invest in technology. We know technology will help us achieve our growth objectives, but what's the right stack?
[00:47:17] What what's the right time to, you know, change something out and then how do we pay for it? There's only so much money to go around and, you know, our franchisees are, you know, they have a lot of monthly fees and it all adds up and you say, well, that's not that bad if we just do this, like, but you can't just look at it in a vacuum.
[00:47:36] You've got to look at it in totality. And you gotta think like a franchisee, I've invested in this brand and many times it's their life savings ..and... obviously, like I mentioned for our business partners, the end goal is prosperity, right? So we're trying to help them achieve their goals and, you know, balance the need for innovation and technology change out with the hard core, reality of dollars and cents.
[00:48:02] And that's where that dynamic tension comes in. And we have to, do our best to keep the lines of communication open. We have to make sure that we're picking the right partners. And then once we do select the right partner so often, you know, I use this analogy. If you've ever been on a cruise, right?
[00:48:20] You, you, you pay for the whole cruise and everything on board, right? The food, the drink and whatnot. But imagine if you've saved up and you pay for the cruise, but, but all the money is gone and you, and you end up sitting in your state room, eating crackers, right. Because you can't afford what you think is the buffet. And oftentimes we invest in, either a full tech stack or some element of it with all the best intentions to use it all. We only end up using a little bit of it and then we get tired of it. Before we've ever really fully maximized it. And I know we're guilty of doing that and I've, I've seen it in other companies I've been in, because it's, it's, you know, we're all in the day to day swirl, it's difficult sometimes to really focus on making sure that you're getting every ounce out of whatever you've invested in before you get tired of it, or you move on to something else and you leave a lot of...you know, kind of potential, over here on the table. And I I've seen that as well.
[00:49:23] Jen Kern: [00:49:23] Yeah. Yeah. So what would you say is your biggest challenge today?
[00:49:30] Matt Mears: [00:49:30] Oh gosh. There's so many of them, Jen. The biggest one I would say is, is just, keeping everybody together during this, this pandemic...it's not over. and, and, and, you know, I believe that Kelly Roddy, our CEO has done a masterful job of keeping everybody together. We have, weekly zoom company update calls.
[00:49:53] We have weekly zoom, virtual happy hours. We have, videos that we've been doing for our franchise partners and all the key areas that instead of it being, you know, a webinar that they have to go, you know, maybe get away from their restaurants to participate in. Now they can watch it through technology, that is FranConnect and it's we call it, my Saladworks.
[00:50:18] And so, people can watch the video at their leisure. We we've been doing daily updates to our franchisees on anything and everything we can do to help them, whether it's, templated letters, they can send their banks, their landlords, whether it's letters they can send to their Congress, people, whether it's, you know, other ways they can maybe get funding through this, you know, this pandemic.
[00:50:42]All the health and safety and sanitization equipment we can help them with. And then just, you know, really positive comments. Jean Boland is our head of HR and that woman has the heart of an angel and she sends out inspirational messages every single day. And so keeping everybody together, as you can imagine, in a short amount of time, isn't all that hard.
[00:51:07] It's doing it over a longer period of time to where people don't get fatigued and we have all these major initiatives that we're working on. So people are energized and I think we're just, it's like this, latent energy. It's all pent up and we just can't wait to unleash it, when we're able to. So the, the challenge is just keeping everyone together.
[00:51:30]Staying true to your focus. Continue to work on what matters most and prioritize, and then keep a positive, resilient, mental attitude. That's just upbeat and optimistic. And that's what we as leaders have to do. And that's really what our whole team has to do. And our franchise partners as well, because we're all going to get through this and we're going to be stronger at Saladworks then we were, when we came into it and by the way, we were having a fantastic year before this, the pandemic hit. So like everybody else we've been struggling, but in the last several weeks, we've seen our sales grow. Some of our restaurants are back to where they were before. Believe it or not. And, and rapping year over year and even other dining rooms, aren't open it's because we pivoted and got these other programs up and running, whether it's online, ordering delivery, third party delivery, and some of these other revenue generating, programs that I mentioned.
[00:52:26] But yeah, keeping everybody together and understanding this too, shall pass.
[00:52:31] Jen Kern: [00:52:31] Yeah. Yeah, well, that's a great way to, to sort of wrap, I think before we close, it would be wonderful, to hear what your parting advice to marketers is.
[00:52:44] Matt Mears: [00:52:44] Well, I think the parting advice is this is your time to shine. You know, again, you want to be a little M marketer or a big M marketer, and you want to earn your place at, at the C suite, if you're at the C level, or even if you're at a director level, this is your chance to step up and, demonstrate the power of marketing across all levels and in doing so, you're not only gonna make yourself look better and, and, and, and have advancement opportunities, you're gonna help the profession be better. and, and I am, you know, I've been a president and the CEO, and I've enjoyed those general management experiences. But to me, there is just nothing better than being a marketer.
[00:53:24] I love building teams and I love building brands...in that order. And for me, that gets me up in the morning. And I would just say that my purpose is, as part of a personal brand mission statement that I wrote a few years ago. I don't want to just make money and retire. I want to make a difference and inspire.
[00:53:44] And while that may be my personal brand, I'm sure many of you share that. So think about how you can make a difference in someone else's life. Maybe they're on your team. Maybe they're a coworker at a, another brand, but how can you be a mentor to those people and help bring them along their growth journey and in doing so inspire them to do likewise so that you create this virtuous cycle of reciprocity.
[00:54:07] That helps not only enrich you, your teams, your company, but really helps make, others around you and indeed the world, a better place.
[00:54:15] Jen Kern: [00:54:15] Well, I feel inspired and I'm sure we could talk all day. So, you know, we're going to go ahead since it's top of the hour, but, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your experiences with us. It's been really fun to, to get to know you and, and learn from you. And there are so many golden nuggets in here, so thank you again for your time today.
[00:54:37] Matt Mears: [00:54:37] Thanks. I appreciate it.
[00:54:38] Great my pleasure. Have a great day.
[00:54:40] Jen Kern: [00:54:40] You too.