Pitfalls Transitioning from a Full-Time CEO to a Partly Present CEO

 

In the ever-evolving landscape of corporate leadership, one thing remains constant: the CEO’s presence is crucial to a company’s success. Now according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® there are serious fundamental flaws in Starbucks new leadership lineup.

Yet, with Brian Niccol’s transition from Chipotle to Starbucks, we’re witnessing a concerning trend where top executives are seemingly abandoning the tried-and-true model of full-time commitment in favor of what can only be described as a “Partly Present CEO.” Niccol’s supercommuting setup, with one foot in Newport Beach and the other in Seattle, is a recipe for disaster—and here’s why.

1. Fragmented Leadership Equals Fragmented Vision

Leadership isn’t just about making the right decisions; it’s about being there to implement them, to lead by example, and to inspire a workforce. Niccol’s plan to split his time between Seattle and Newport Beach, commuting over 1,000 miles on a corporate jet, creates a fragmented leadership approach. Starbucks, a brand already struggling with declining same-store sales and customer dissatisfaction, needs a leader who is fully embedded in its culture and operations. A partly present CEO risks missing the nuances of day-to-day operations, leading to a fragmented vision and strategy that could further destabilize the brand.

2. The Cost of Corporate Jet Setting

Let’s talk dollars and sense—or in this case, the lack thereof. Starbucks’ decision to accommodate Niccol’s bi-coastal lifestyle by providing a corporate jet for his commute isn’t just an extravagant expense—it’s a slap in the face to the company’s stakeholders. While employees are asked to adhere to hybrid work policies and show up to the office three days a week, Niccol’s arrangement reeks of double standards. At a time when Starbucks’ stock has plummeted by over 21 percent and the brand is hemorrhaging customers, how can this kind of financial irresponsibility be justified?

3. Erosion of Corporate Culture

The Starbucks culture, once a beacon of community and connection, is already in peril. With Niccol choosing to remain largely in Newport Beach, the potential erosion of the company’s culture is inevitable. Corporate culture is not something that can be maintained remotely or during brief fly-in visits. It requires a constant, on-the-ground presence. The shift to a partly present CEO could lead to a disconnection between leadership and employees, further eroding the “third place” ethos that Starbucks was once known for.

4. The Illusion of Flexibility

Niccol’s arrangement is being framed as a modern approach to leadership flexibility in a tight labor market, but let’s call it what it is: an illusion. Flexibility in leadership should be about adapting to the needs of the company, not bending the company’s operations around the personal preferences of the CEO. While the rest of the workforce grapples with the realities of hybrid work, Niccol’s flexibility is a stark contrast that could breed resentment and diminish morale within the ranks.

5. The Danger of Outsourcing Accountability

A partly present CEO inherently outsources accountability. By not being physically present, Niccol risks losing touch with the day-to-day challenges and opportunities that arise within Starbucks. Decision-making from afar, no matter how connected one might feel through digital tools, is no substitute for the boots-on-the-ground leadership that Starbucks desperately needs right now. With declining domestic traffic and shrinking transactions, Starbucks needs a leader who is not just visible, but actively engaged in turning the tide.

6. The Risk of Losing Stakeholder Trust

Trust is the currency of leadership, and Starbucks is running low. Stakeholders—be they employees, customers, or shareholders—are already wary after the turbulent tenure of Laxman Narasimhan. Niccol’s decision to prioritize personal convenience over corporate commitment could further erode trust at a time when Starbucks can least afford it. The message being sent is clear: the CEO’s personal life takes precedence over the company’s future, and that’s a perilous precedent to set.

7. The Supercommuting CEO: A Short-Term Fix, Long-Term Liability

Niccol’s impressive track record at Chipotle cannot be denied, but his success there was built on a foundation of full-time leadership and immersion in the company’s operations. His new supercommuting role at Starbucks may offer a short-term fix to the company’s leadership void, but it’s a long-term liability. The demands of a global brand like Starbucks require more than a part-time presence—they require a leader who is fully invested, both physically and mentally, in the company’s success.

Think about this, the pitfalls of transitioning from a full-time CEO to a partly present CEO are glaringly evident in Niccol’s move to Starbucks. As the Grocerant Guru®, I can tell you that in the competitive world of food and beverage, leadership isn’t just about making decisions—it’s about being there to ensure those decisions are carried out effectively. Starbucks is gambling with its future by accommodating Niccol’s bi-coastal lifestyle, and it’s a bet that could cost them dearly. The success of any company hinges on the strength and presence of its leadership, and right now, Starbucks is being led by a CEO who is only partly there.

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert, and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869

Smart Marketing is Nothing New at TGI Fridays

 

Success does leave clues and Ana Pia Guzman-Briley, MBA is the Director of CRM and Customer Engagement at TGI Fridays and she is one smart marketer according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

A brand is an invitation. If you want to invite consumers to your brand you must do it proactively, in an interactive participatory way, that focused approach is exactly what Guzman-Briley did last September when she launched a texting campaign.

The conundrum was on one hand, she had a hunch that there were certain customers who wanted more direct communication with TGI Fridays. Yet, on the other, there was the chance that texts from a restaurant chain could be disruptive or too intrusive.

Guzman-Briley stated, “SMS seems like a very direct channel that not a lot of people, in my opinion, would want to be connected to,” Success for the initiative, which pings users with product news and promotions, would be measured against the chain’s traditional loyalty program, Fridays Rewards. That channel was averaging 20,000 signups each month during the pandemic, down from 40,000 previously. 

Guzman-Briley continued, “We figured, OK, if we are able to get the same as the loyalty program, this is worth the effort,”. 

Four and a half months after it launched SMS marketing with software provider Attentive, the program has far exceeded that benchmark. The initiative is now averaging 62,000 signups a month, Guzman said, and generating better conversion rates than some of the chain’s other marketing channels. After four months, it had 300,000 users.

TGI Fridays sends about two or three texts a month with “very strategic news” about new products, special offers or bundles. (“Our users love learning about new products,” Guzman said.) Signups are driven via a popup on TGI Fridays’ website that offers 10% off the customer’s first purchase if they join. 

Messages are accompanied by a link leading to an ordering page. About 15% of users click through those links, and 84% of that group order the item, Guzman said, a rate that is “absolutely” better than its email marketing conversion.

Because SMS is such a direct channel, “you’re very prone as a user to go and read it” as opposed to email, she said.

Overall, the SMS program has a 4.5% conversion rate, while email is between 0.5% and 0.9%, Guzman said. 

Dallas-based TGI Fridays, which has about 380 U.S. locations, had been planning to do a text program since 2019. But for many restaurants, the pandemic has been a catalyst for adopting the new form of communication, said Amir Zamanian, general manager of Attentive’s food and beverage division.

“If you’re relying on your foot traffic and nothing else to get in front of your consumers, that’s not possible anymore” with dining rooms closed or limited for significant chunks of the past year, he said.

Many restaurants had previously used SMS for transactional purposes, like letting someone know their table was ready. Now, they are using it in particular to drive signups for other platforms such as an app or loyalty program, Zamanian said.

New York-based Attentive works with “a couple hundred” clients across the restaurant, grocery and food delivery industries.

For TGI Fridays, the next step is to integrate the texting pool with Fridays Rewards so it can analyze the data and see how users behave and where they overlap. One initial takeaway has been that SMS users are more likely to be in-store customers. They use the texts to “understand what is new at TGI Fridays and then go to Fridays,” Guzman said. 

She considers the channel another form of loyalty, one focused more on engagement than earning points or rewards.

“For me, the definition of loyalty is understanding your known users,” she said. “End of the day, if somebody doesn’t want to be part of loyalty and wants to be an SMS user, that’s fine. ... We still have a communication channel with them, we’re still encouraging that frequency.”

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Wendy’s Breakfast Three Strikes You’re Out

In 1985 Wendy’s introduced breakfast, then retreated and plug one breakfast after franchisee discord.  In 2007, Wendy’s again launched breakfast then retreated pulling the plug but allowing a few to continue on with breakfast.  Well, here they go again with a national roll-out of breakfast.  Why?  Is it different from their competitors or simply a ‘look-alike’ day-part meal someone with was tasked to do rather than a true strategy point of differentiation?

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® thinks Wendy’s is making a mistake entering the breakfast niche half-heartedly.  Johnson believes that differentiation does not mean different but familiar with a twist.  In the case of Wendy’s new breakfast offerings that does not seem to be the case. Given that lack of differentiation it is questionable if Wendy’s franchisees will be willing to stick with the new format. After all this is exactly what they have done twice before.

Garnering franchisee ‘buy-in’ is critical to the long-term success of any franchise restaurant group.  One question that has to be asked is how long can a franchisor allow discontent within its franchisee group before the entire organization’s leadership is in jeopardy?

Do chain marketer’s get three months, six months, or a year to drive incremental sales or is one promotion and done?  It takes in many cases two years to roll out a new product from R&D, Supply Chain, and Operational training.  Is six months enough?\

For the third time Wendy’s will be trying to roll out a breakfast platform nationwide in the first quarter of 2020.  Now we hear from Ron Ruggles at NRN that Wendy’s “will consider offering franchise operators the option of opting out later on”.  Let’s not forget that is what they did before and look where that got them back to square one starting from scratch. 

NRN reported that the “new breakfast platform, which has been tested in 300 stores from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., is expected to contribute 6% to 8% of sales in the partial 2020 fiscal year and has been tailored, with help from franchisees, to simplify operations.”

Wendy’s CFO Gunter Plosch, recently stated “franchisees will “have an opportunity to potentially raise concerns if the breakfast business is not creating enough financial returns for them.” … Wendy’s would be willing to discuss with those operators the potential of opting out.”

That sounds a lot like leadership by default. Marketing capitulation even before the roll-out.  That’s not leadership, that is a sign of discontent. Success does leave clues and lacking the support from your franchise partners is not a good way to start a new marketing campaign.  With $20 million in the breakfast launch already invested we ask will it work?  Will McDonald’s and Burger King under cut this copycat lack luster offering and sink the program?  Odds are they won’t sit back and cheer for Wendy’s long-range breakfast after hearing franchisee can opt-out.

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant

Can a Grocery Store Beat a Restaurant at Entertainment

Success does leave clues and regular reader of this blog know that restaurants that are consumer interactive and participatory continue to garner incremental customers. From TGI Friday’s wait staff, Texas de Brazil’s protein presentation, Inn & Out Burger, and Benihana we could go on for hours but interactive participatory entertainment drives sales according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®

Most of you have visited Eatzi’s and understand how a one-time restaurateur turned groceranteur found success.  Well, at Stew Leonard’s, combining interactive participatory customer engagement since 1969.  and entertainment.

If you run a restaurant and have not been to Stew Leonard’s you should. “There are aisles filled with animatronic singing poultry and vegetables, stuffed creatures that flip and, in a modern twist for today's consumer, there’s a selfie station where customers can pose with Clover the cow in a replica of Stew’s milk truck.

The simple fact is the zaniness of the stores can overshadow how vital customer service and product scouting is to the growing company. There are six Stew Leonard’s locations now in New York and Connecticut, with a seventh planned for New Jersey in the fall.

The store has a traditional motto: The customer is always right. But here this basic principle of retail gets the Stew Leonard treatment: outside of each store sits a three-ton granite rock etched with the saying: “Rule #1—The Customer is Always Right" and “Rule #2—If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Re-Read Rule #1.” 

Today, many of you may take believe that but there is a reason that particular old adage is still around. Stew Leonard, Jr., the president and CEO who took the business over from his dad in the 1990s. “You’ve got to listen to the customers really and hear what they have to say,”.

Customers’ opinions are a big part of “Stew’s Tank,” a new program the grocery is rolling out. It’s Stew Leonard’s take on “Shark Tank,” the reality TV show where entrepreneurs compete for funding. For Stew’s Tank, New York-based food entrepreneurs will compete to have their products sold at the newly opened East Meadow, Long Island, location of Stew Leonard’s. The company plans to choose about 24 products to demo and sell for the month of June. Based mostly on sales and customer feedback, the grocery will pick about six new products to sell at all their locations.

Stew Leonard’s has no slotting fees, which makes it easier for companies to get their food in the door by selling only what customer want.  Not what food manufactures are paying you to place on the shelf.

Leonard said. “We deal with a lot of local, small vendors, and a lot of them can’t afford to have a slotting fee. Maybe that's one reason we get so many [new products]. There's really not any barriers to entry, I would say.”  Is your restaurant brand creating a platform of fresh food discovery?  How are you extending your brand invitation?  Grocery stores can be better entertainment retailers if you take your eye of the consumer.  Are you Looking A Customer Ahead?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant

Are you Winning the Battle for Share of Stomach

Is Burger King Back-In the Game or Just Teasing Originality

So, it’s been 13 years since Burger King has had a commercial at the Super Bowl.  Does that mean they are simply continuing to follow the industry leaders or do you think they continue to simply paly follow the leader as Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The new Mystery Box Super Bowl Deal touted as Burger King partners with DoorDash looks to most industry insider that have contacted the team at Foodservice Solutions® as simply more of the same, follow the leader.  Partnerships matter but within branded food marketing originality goes a long way to drive incremental customer trial and adoption according to Johnson.

Johnson continued the undercurrents driving incremental brand adoption putting a new electricity in brand relevance for many younger consumers in require consumer have a branded invitation for interaction and participation and this promotion appears to have that according to Johnson. 

Today, new partnerships can drive sales in foodservice today as your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. So, just what is your brands new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, beer, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  In the teaser film features the Burger King King as he prepares a set with direction from a director behind the camera. It ends with the King adjusting the mic, ready to announce what is yet to come during the Super Bowl.

To get your own Mystery Box head to DoorDash.com or download the DoorDash app, enter promo code MYSTERYBOX on all orders of $10 or more from participating Burger King restaurants*. Then wait for your Mystery Box to arrive at the comfort of your home with instructions to follow—keep the content of the Mystery Box till game day. And DoorDash will also offer $0 Delivery Fees** when you order Burger King today through the day after the Big Game. I guess on February 3, 2019 we will find out if Burger King is breaking out or simply continuing to play follow the leader.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call 1-253-759-7869

Pizza Price Promo’s Demonstrates Domino’s Dominance

Foodservice Solutions® FIVE P’s of Food Marketing have proven a platform to drive top line sales and bottom line profits for chain restaurants, chain convenience stores, grocery stores offering grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food since 1991 according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Domino's  has found incremental success with technology, a reformulated pizza, delivery cars that separate it from competitors.  Now Domino’s is positioned leverage technologies operational efficiency, flavor, and price too drive incremental sales through the end of the year. 

Will Domino’s by expanding its digital orders by offering 50% off online pizza orders for a limited time for the next 10 days  disrupt the sales momentum other pizza chains have found or will it just spark a price war within the pizza sector in 2018?

Jenny Fouracre, Domino's stated  "About half of the people at our headquarters work in developing and supporting the digital side of the business, which allows the stores to focus on creating amazing food and delivering the best customer experience, with less time spent on the phone taking orders,"  "With 50% off online pizza orders, hungry customers who haven't tried out digital ordering might just succumb to the tempting price and maybe discover online ordering is easier than they thought.”

The Domino’s deal includes any menu-priced pizza that’s ordered through the chain’s online channels, which include its website and app.  While operational efficiencies are important and technology is a great platform to achieve those efficiencies remember Domino’s fixed the food first.  Is your brand ready to grow?

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Popeyes Stumbles with LTO’s Sales Increases Slip

Updated 10/14/2017 

Popeyes Continues to Disappoint

 Updated 10/14/2017 Once again request from Mom too go to Popeyes and get $4.00 Popcorn Chicken she saw on TV.  Once Again No Popcorn Chicken two different employees said sorry we are OUT at 11:31 AM on 10/14/2017. 

Wasted advertising dollars! Yes, however LOST my mom as a Customer for LIFE cost more than more than $4,000.  I can hear her telling her friends at church, at cards, at quilting, O’ and I might add she will be telling me every time she sees a TV ad for Popeyes that she won’t be back.   

Success does leave clues and when companies Dare to take their eyes off of the customer, no one is ever surprised when sales increases regress.  That just might be the case at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.  Within the past 6 months several of the Limited Time Offers (LTO’s) Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rollout with national advertising missed the standard of operational execution.

During three separate LTO’s this year, the staff at Foodservice Solutions® when conducting channel checks  on Advertised LTO’s by Popeyes our team was informed that the product offered was ‘Sold Out’.  Our team was persistent knowing that is was the first week of the promotion; we went back twice each week to three different locations in one ADI and all were sold out?  

The POP was up in the stores and the Ad’s kept running on TV but no product?  We wondered were franchisees upset with forced LTO offering pricing.  Dare we ask if corporate simply miss fired?  When we submitted questions to the CEO about availability, supply, TV advertising, and franchise relationships we heard nothing back.  Dare we ask if anyone has taken the eye of the customer? 

We know that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen LTO promotions helped first-quarter same-store sales increase 1.6 percent globally, but the pace of growth slowed somewhat compared with last year.  We think it might have something with product availability, marketing, messaging and respect for customers.  

The team at Foodservice Solutions® understands that with success comes growing pains. While Popeyes executives said the chain increased its domestic market share of the quick-service chicken segment to 26.3 percent, rising from 24.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015. We think that had they executed in the US consistently they could have done much better.  

The battle for share of stomach continues to expand and all retailers must be mindful that marketing, messaging, and respect for customers all must occur simultaneously. Organizational execution or lack of it cannot be justified.  Organizational execution is a brand promise that must be upheld.  

Success clue take care of your customer today. Then you can begin  Looking a Customer Ahead? Are you interested in having a Grocerant ScoreCard conducted for your retail outlets?  Contact:  Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  or Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  for more information on the booming Grocerant niche.