When longtime-franchisee Matt Forbush created an app to help manage the stores he owned across multiple brands, it didn’t take long before he realized he’d created something that would help a lot of other franchisees, too. After seeing dramatic success with its beta customers, the zignyl app is rolling out at a time when scrutiny over labor management is at an all-time high, and the COVID-19 pandemic is sending franchisees scrambling to balance profit and loss sheets. With heightened regulations imposed on franchisees by the government and franchisors, zignyl stands out as a solution equipped to simplify procedures.
Forbush feels the pain of what many franchisees are going through right now, trying to play Whac-A-Mole with the myriad problems arising from the pandemic, and he views zignyl as something that will save those franchisees massive amounts of time by providing a solution that replaces spreadsheets, paper checklists and task lists with an easy to use system that increases accuracy and transparency across the board. He knows because he’s been there.
“Being a franchise owner, I realized you could get as many marketing materials and trade secrets as you want from your franchisor, but they can’t give you anything to ensure accountability,” Forbush says. “And your team is 90 percent of what makes it work. Zignyl gets to know your brand and helps flag any unusual sales, labor figures, or incomplete tasks/CCP, and helps nip any issues in the bud before they begin to snowball.”
Here’s how zignyl works: it seamlessly aggregates all of the information generated by POS systems at multiple stores across different brands into a single dashboard—labor, sales, tasks, and incentives. The multi-unit franchisee and their team can manage every store from every brand at once, as they are given easy-to-read visual charts and graphs for quick reference. Dustin King, a franchisee with over 40 units spread across several different brands, has leveraged zignyl to help him grow with multiple brands in a short amount of time.
“Having one platform that keeps my Haagen Dazs, Nestle, Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon, Jamba, and Carvel stores all under one roof despite various POS systems, task management lists, and franchisors is gold because it empowers me to quickly make decisions that benefit my bottom line,” King says. “So let’s say I have a manager at Haagen Dazs, where there just isn’t that much prep that needs to happen in the morning, and they’re clocking in an hour and a half before opening every day—that’s something zignyl is going to flag and let me know I need to look into it.”
This is the type of story that makes Forbush tick—he is obsessed with the nitty gritty details of what breeds success. He developed the app because he knew it would help franchisees like himself, and King, and so many others looking for sustained success in an increasingly unforgiving industry. He also knew that it wasn’t enough to just equip franchisees with the software and let them figure it out, so he developed a comprehensive training and support team.
“It’s one thing to have a new software program, but how do you get 30 managers to execute on it and actually use it?” King says. “That’s what separates zignyl in my opinion—its training program and customer service are top notch. They take the time to have individual meetings with each manager, and that’s what makes it work. It’s simple to use at all levels and it’s built for you: the multi-brand, multiple location owner who wants to quickly analyze KPIs for sales, labor, and tasks all in one report.”
To find out more information about how zignyl can help you manage labor and drive growth, visit its website.
