Kevin
Fritton is the executive vice president of 256 Associates, a New
England-based Wendy’s franchisee group. Like most Wendy’s
operators, 256 does 65 percent of its business out the drive-thru
window. It’s an area Fritton pays close attention to, and
in early 2006, decided to improve upon with the help of order solutions
provider Exit41. Six of 256’s stores now operate with two
or three drive-thru lanes and process drive-thru orders through
a common call center run by Fritton in Amherst, New Hampshire.
Fritton considers the initiative a success and has the numbers
to back the claim: Volume at updated stores increased by 12 percent;
sales grew by 7 percent; food costs dropped by 5 percent. One store
managed 40 cars in 15 minutes. The industry average in 2006 was
1.37 cars in 3.3 minutes. The remaining eight stores in the 256
system will be integrated in the spring. By then Fritton will have
traveled to Georgia, Florida, D.C., Rhode Island, and California,
helping fellow franchisees implement the system. Each will pay
a fee to plug into his call center. Wendy’s was not the first national quick-service brand to reduce trans fatty acids (tfas) in its food. That honor belongs to Jason’s Deli, which rolled out a completely trans fats–free menu in April 2005. However, it was Wendy’s June 2006 announcement that put the rest of the industry on notice. When the chain switched all of its U.S. and Canadian stores to non-hydrogenated cooking oil in August, the pressure was on—and felt—by its rivals in Oak Brook and Miami. Unlike Jason’s Deli, Wendy’s is not yet 100-percent TFA-free. The chain is working with fry suppliers to remove the last .05 grams found in its large fries. Still the company deserves credit as the first of the big chains to make the switch menu wide. Kudos to its supplier, Cargill, too. Frying in the new soy and corn oil blend has reduced Wendy’s total saturated fats by 20 percent—an added bonus that the company is leveraging through its packaging.
Introducing handspun milkshakes at Chick-fil-A in May 2006 was as much about refining the chain’s procedures and processes as it was about choosing the right four flavors. The challenge lay in delivering the handmade product Chick-fil-A wanted without compromising the brand’s commitment to its core competencies—speed, quality, and service. Speed did suffer a bit; wait times at the drive-thru window increased by about 23 seconds from 2005 to 2006, according to Insula Research. Order accuracy at the window, however, improved from 93.4 percent in 2005 to 98.1 in 2006. Seems the careful engineering analysis Chick-fil-A conducted while prepping the shakes’ rollout had positive ancillary effects on the rest of operations. Everything from the flow of cars through the drive-thru to the placement of cups was considered. The payoff was found at the register. At the peak of the 2006 summer, shakes accounted for almost 6 percent of Chick-fil-A’s sales.
Jody’s Maroni’s beachside culture meant going through lots of menus. Sun damage had the chain replacing faded menuboards twice a year. Fade-resistant boat paint was originally used, but as Jody’s Maroni’s began to grow and evolve that option no longer made sense, economically or operationally. Plexiglas helped, but the sun eventually won out. In 2006, Jody Maroni’s found a solution—matte lamination. The photo-quality menus hanging inside the sausage chain’s 2x3 menu boxes are coated with it. Now the only time Jody Maroni’s replaces a menuboard is when a new item is added.
Nothing in life is free except WI-FI service at independent coffee houses across the country. So when you’re a national brand trying to position yourself as just as intimate and invested as those local shops, you can’t go charging customers for internet access without coming across as “corporate,” with all the negative connotations that come along with it. Caribou Coffee found a way around that quagmire. Since August, WI-FI service is free at Caribou Coffee—for one hour. After those 60 minutes are up, customers must enter a code good for another hour of service. Once that second hour passes, another code is needed. And so on and so on. But here’s the good part: to get a code you must purchase at least $1.50 worth of merchandise. Caribou builds sales; customers feel valued. Aah, the power of the internet.