Recently I took a road trip from Nashville, TN to Little Rock, Arkansas twice within a two week period! Is there some sort of an award for that? (LOL)

Of course one of the activities that go hand-in-hand with a road trip is making food stops. Even though I knew this would be a fairly long drive, I really had no plans on where to eat on this double trek trip except I did plan on getting some killer BBQ in Memphis which turned out to be a HUGE disappointment! But that’s another story.

I really ended up relying on roadside billboards and state highway signs to help me choose my eating stops.

[Sidenote] Speaking of these important influencers, as a marketer, I believe so many of the eating and dining places that rely on highway traffic are missing out on an incredible opportunity to capture hungry travelers by not using exciting creativity and strategy to ensure those signs really reach out and grab travelers emotions and imaginations to make them WANT to slam on the brakes and come on in. Those billboards are like their own personal roadside theaters! If they would only spend the time and money on them this could bring them a great big fat return on their investment.

Back to my story…
Working with the guides (highway signs) I had to help me make my decision on where and what to eat I found I had to decide on either fast food; and you know that is not going to be very exciting and in most cases very unhealthy for you or I had the option of a ‘toss of the coin type of experience’ pulling into a roadside dive…or lastly a chain restaurant; which is a bit safer of all the choices but takes more time and can certainly be more expensive than my other choices.

I chose fast food most of time out of necessity and what I got was just that…it was the usual experience…nothing special…just some grub. However, I did opt to have a good hot breakfast every time I had the chance on those two trips. To me a good breakfast just adds that bit of excitement one needs to endure those long tedious hours you spend in the car trying to get from point A to point B ya know?

My choice for all four times I stopped to eat breakfast was the Cracker Barrel chain restaurants. I ate twice in Tennessee and twice in Arkansas. Oh, I also made one stop for dinner too to get a hot bowl of soup on a cold night!

I love their breakfasts and I feel no one on the road does it better than Cracker Barrel. Truth be told I really love the Cracker Barrel concept, good ole home style cooking, yum yum!

With all that said though, I was somewhat disappointed with all 5 of my visit experiences for several reasons which led me down the path to ponder while I continued driving down the road…what I would do if I were the one in charge of marketing for Cracker Barrel restaurants.

Let me state my disappointments came not from the food, although I did have two separate incidences with my food preparation. No, it came from what I call the ‘Ditto Effect’ and from the lack of vision to reach the ‘21^st century connected economy’.

So the first thing I would address would be the ‘Ditto Effect’.

Consistency and uniformity are important factors for chains of any size to ensure the customer gets that same ‘chain experience’ no matter what location they patronize.

The best darn example I have seen of this is the chain In-N-Out Burger (please come to Tennessee!) in California. They are the best chain experience hands down in that no matter what location you go to, you get everything exactly the same as the last place and it is always over the top in quality and service.

However, in some cases the Ditto Effect’ is not a good strategy. It really depends on your customer and your type of business model. When it comes to Cracker Barrel Restaurants …yes I like the fact I can get the same wild blueberry pancakes in Arkansas I got while in Tennessee and that goes for the rest of their menu.

What I am disappointed in is the fact is there is so much ‘SAMENESS’ it really does not intrigue me to stop in as often as they should want me to or think about my local Barrel as an eating out option when I’m not traveling.

Their country store is in the same boat. I see almost ditto what I see in one store and the next. This makes for boring shopping in my books.

If I were in charge of the marketing for Cracker Barrel Restaurants one of the first things I would change is eliminate the ‘Ditto Effect’ by changing every store into a Cracker Barrel Presents production where each store is master story teller of their area, region and state it is located in. These could be stories of the history of early settlers and folks of the area, local legends, points of interests, the local famous from the area, local progress, challenges, and contributions, geography, the children and much more would be incorporated in creative entertaining ways as well as a special insert menu featuring local culinary delights. Special events would be scheduled throughout the year such as store tastings of products carried, live entertainment events in the back parking lot (which I have never seen full) guest appearances of entertainers, chefs, and so on.

Bottom-line I would seek to transform this chain into an organization that understood the value of creating customer experiences and emotional moments through story telling theater experiences and delivering dining entertainment and shopping. No longer just a chain where you can expect a good meal and a quaint country store to shop at.

Another major positioning move I would make if I were in charge of the marketing for Cracker Barrel restaurants would be to ensure Cracker Barrel will thrive within all generational cohorts instead of possibly being a long lost memory with the upcoming generations. If you visit any Cracker Barrel you will find the ‘mature’ crowd (baby boomer generations) are the main customer demographics… not many young people or young families are there. Nothing wrong with that except you need to insure you are getting your entire possible market share in this 21^st century economy and to me the younger crowd needs to be wooed into the Cracker Barrel experience so they will take their rightful place in enjoying a unique rural dining and shopping experience.

In order for this to happen I would…

• Start with creating marketing campaigns that would be geared directly to the younger crowd
• Update the Cracker Barrel logo to be more relevant and brand dominate in the minds of their customers
• Create mouth dropping, clever roadside signage that shows “FUN” at Cracker Barrel and delicious food photos and exciting shopping (not ads like ‘Fireside Dining’ BORING!)
• Add family portion meal options (enough for a family of four) and expand kids menu (you know, putting the FAMILY back in your tagline of being a Family Restaurant)
• Create a Cracker Barrel  kids character and entertain and market to the young patron
• Transform the restrooms for the ladies and make them more lounge and pampering friendly and ensure they are super clean at all times (and put the hand lotions BACK please)
• Add a ‘this week’s sale’ insert on all tables featuring a few specials and some clearance (don’t forget the kids) from the store so customers interest can be peaked while dining.
• Setup digital kiosk with hotspots so folks can recharge their cell or use their laptops. This just encourages them to linger and spend more money.
• Create a fenced pet friendly station area outside to let pets stretch their legs and get refreshed. Also sell some unique pet goodies and supplies because lots of folks take their pets with them.
• Take Cracker Barrel to the digital masses by incorporating social marketing and networking into their strategies, creating mobile and GPS widgets, develop a killer website where you can continue on with the Cracker Barrel experience and also shop online year round (their current website is just horrible), email marketing campaigns, and much more digital.
• Believe me…I could go on and on but I won’t

As I said before…I love Cracker Barrel Restaurants and want to see it flourish in the new digital business era we now live in. But they are like many of the ‘old model’ companies out there today that are responding to an entirely new marketplace and an entirely new type of consumer the way they have always done and/or the way their industry does it. That is just not going to get it anymore. Most of today’s upper management, leaders and shareholders don’t understand the new era we are in so they resist it or they feel threatened by it and threatened by those who do know how to transform old model to new models. What they need is to embrace fresh, creative, strategic entrepreneurial experienced (A degree in trench marketing which you can’t get in any of today’s schools, should be the prerequisite you look for) marketing professionals that know how to serve, lead, and appeal to today’s ‘connected society’ and yet still keep true to Dan Evins vision that started the Cracker Barrel Restaurants back in the 60′s.

Their mission is pleasing people and today’s customer really wants to experience that.  If I were in charge of the marketing for Cracker Barrel…

I, like most Americans have grown so weary of the unbelievably bad customer service in the everyday marketplace both online and off in this country.

Until recently, we as consumers did not have a very easy and effective way to share with the masses our experiences nor were we very successful in getting attention to our plight regarding bad service and products from the very companies we had the conflict with. The old “on hold forever 800 number” was many times the only recourse we could take against these offending businesses.

That was until technology put the tools in the consumer’s hands that gave us access to the masses and the ability to put wings on our voices so we can finally have our say and it matter.

Business must wake up to the fact their reputation belongs to the people just as their brand does. This is why I say gone are the days of treating your customer anyway you please. We will not stand for that anymore. You will find yourself out of business!

If bad customer experiences being broadcast to the masses via social networks can seal your fate as a business, just imagine what great customer experiences shared through this medium can do for your business!

I have just such an experience I just gotta tell you about.

This past 4^th of July 7, 2009 I spent a better part of my holiday celebrating one of my grandson’s 2^nd birthday. Yep, he was born on the 4^th of July!

The event would be held at our local Chuck E. Cheese here in Franklin, TN. Spending the 4^th of July at Chuck E. Cheese didn’t really excite me even if it was my grandson’s birthday but none the less, I was going to make the best of it.

My daughter and son-in-law had made the reservations for the party online. I really did not know what to expect because it had been years since I had set foot in a Chuck E. Cheese anywhere. We arrived promptly at twelve noon and were ushered to our table which was all setup beautifully with balloons, décor, plates and cups. I thought to myself, well looks like they were expecting us alright, this is a good start.

It was just a few moments as we begin deciding where we were all going to sit when a very friendly employee showed up and she informed us she was our personal hostess for the party. From the moment we entered to the moment we left (2 ½ hours later!) we experienced some of the best customer service I have seen since I last was in California year eating at my favorite burger joint In-n-Out Burger.

Every single employee including Chuck E. Cheese himself (he made a live appearance for the kids) was super caring, super nice and extremely attentive to us all. The manager, the hostess, the servers, folks behind the counter, the door greeter…everyone had the best attitude and gave us such exceptional customer service!

If that were not enough, we also had a great pizza meal, (served piping hot), we were entertained with a special birthday show, we had a fantastic arcade of fun games and fun activities for all ages to enjoy ourselves at, the kids got all kinds of extra bonuses from goodies they could get from the tickets they won at the arcade to birthday goodies from Chuck E. Cheese.  It was a safe, and clean, family fun experience our family will never forget.

I can’t tell you how so very pleased I was to finally receive the kind of customer service and value I believe all customers deserve when transacting with a business.

What kind of impact do you think this level of service and experience has had on me? Well, for starters, I’m sharing it with you! I also intend to recommend Chuck E. Cheese to everyone I know, all my family and friends and I am going to personally be a Chuck E. Cheese fan for the first time in my life!

Now that is the kind of impact you want to leave on your customers so they will in turn be so excited and pleased with the experience of doing business with you they become your sales force, your evangelists.  I hope corporate Chuck E. Cheese (CEC Entertainment, Inc. is headquartered in Irving, Texas) are members of the social networking sphere and join in the conversations about them. If you are, and it would do you well if you are listening to the customer…it’s a no brainer great customer experiences starts with great leadership and culture. The folks at Chuck E. Cheese in Franklin, Tennessee (General Manger Telisha Biles, managers Michelle and John and our wonderful host Emma and all the others there) get that.

As a result, we got the fruit of their commitment to the customer. I hope corporate  Chuck E. Cheese is smart to honor them for the job well done. Give them a raise too will ya?

P.S. Could not find Chuck E. Cheese on Twitter even though there is plenty of conversation going on about them. Not surprising though. Many companies are just missing the boat when it comes to embracing social media. Too bad.

]]> http://www.strategicbusinessdesigner.com/2009/07/what-chuck-e-cheese-can-teach-us-about-customer-experiences/feed/ 4 http://www.strategicbusinessdesigner.com/2009/04/your-employees-may-be-your-next-business-innovation/ http://www.strategicbusinessdesigner.com/2009/04/your-employees-may-be-your-next-business-innovation/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:11:04 +0000 Hazel http://www.strategicbusinessdesigner.com/?p=85 I read at businessweek.com yesterday about the new book In-N-Out Burger: Professionalizing Fast-Food by Stacy Perman. She tells the story of the enormous success this business has had and points out it has been due primarily to the vision of the deceased founders Harry and Esther Snyder, the management qualities and the great treatment of its employees.

Living in California for many years and having two family members that work there for 6-8 years I can attest firsthand they are amazing from the customer perspective. They beat any fast-food chain out there hands down…

I read at businessweek.com yesterday about the new book In-N-Out Burger: Professionalizing Fast-Food by Stacy Perman. She tells the story of the enormous success this business has had and points out it has been due primarily to the vision of the deceased founders Harry and Esther Snyder, the management qualities and the great treatment of its employees.

Living in California for many years and having two family members that work there for 6-8 years I can attest firsthand they are amazing from the customer perspective. They beat any fast-food chain out there hands down when it comes to the service, the quality and those yummy burgers!! (I’m thinking right now how great it would be to have a #2 animal style with a lemon-up…wow!).

However, even though they still are THE best in fast-food anywhere in the U.S. (even though they are only on the west coast currently…please come to Tennessee!) they have begun to lose their edge in my opinion because the vision and passion built by the Snyder family has begun to slip away since they are no longer around to run the company.

The first place this is showing up is in the stores with the treatment of the employees. I’m not saying they are mistreating all the employees…what I am saying is they have become more focused on the bottom-line than the employee and if anyone went underground (people are concerned about being black listed there just like in any company) and interviewed employees who were there in the Snyder years, they would see the huge changes that have occurred inside the In-N-Out Burger culture. The emphasis on the training requirements and the value of the important role the employee plays is waning. Many simply stay because they are one of the better paying jobs around.

Sadly this is nothing new. It has happened in most companies and continues to be the case. What’s my point? Well first off, I’m not picking on In-N-Out Burger (I love their food!) I am just making the point employers looking to be a leader in this new 21st century marketplace must embrace and utilize the asset of having great employees if they want to deliver great customer service.

In-N-Out Burger did this so well! When I taught classes on marketing I would use them as an example of the importance of excellent leadership and training to set your business apart from competitors. Think about it. Every where they had a store there was a McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Burger King right around the corner. These places would all pull from the same local labor pool (mostly high school age kids) yet…In-N-Out Burger’s customer service was so superior they were not even in the same universe as their competitors. The “associates” were always, super courteous, clean, attentive, team players, and excellent in every way. In all my years I never ever got a moody, unfriendly, uncaring associate wait on me. It was always the best service!

How can that be? What is the difference? What is the In-N-Out Burger’s secret?

I believe the factors that attributes to this amazing difference is really very, very simple.

In-N-Out Burger’s philosophy was founded on the principles of excellent, accountable leadership (not a lot of lip service leadership), the customer is the reason we are here and treating our employees as esteemed partners (i.e. associates) will accomplish our daily goal to deliver the very best in what we do. Not rocket science! Just be good to people and it will pay off.

Exceptional customer relationships is the only platform a business has left to make their mark and succeed in my opinion. You can have all the bells and whistles going for you but in the end after the parade has passed it all boils down to…

do people really enjoy the connection with you?

If you have employees…they are your personal representation of your connecting…or not.

]]>