CLIENT PROFILE
Our hospitality client is a leading developer of global, multi-channel foodservice brands, delivering 100+ products and $1B+ in annual retail sales. Founded in 2004, the private equity-backed corporation franchises and operates 6,400+ restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops, and bakeries in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and 55+ foreign countries.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Leading foodservice corporations like our client maintain thousands of stores across the U.S. and a wealth of global locations. With franchises representing a significant percentage of its operating model, ensuring adherence to brand standards that drive consistent positive experiences and product quality for customers wherever they go is a top priority.
Before the pandemic, the client achieved brand excellence through a team of field operators, or “brand coaches,” tasked with physically visiting every store – auditing operations and guiding franchisees through improvements to ensure they meet quality standards. A single brand coach oversaw about 400 stores.
However, the client’s rapid-fire growth made it difficult and costly for brand coaches to physically set foot at every location. Pandemic restrictions also created unprecedented challenges, cutting coaches off from stores in other countries as international borders closed.
The client hired Auxis to introduce digital innovation to its audit and coaching program – taking advantage of Auxis’ proven track record of helping companies leverage technology to solve problems in ways they hadn’t considered before.
SOLUTION & APPROACH
Together, Auxis and the client built a Virtual Audit and Coaching Program that broke new ground in the foodservice industry. The program can be applied easily to many industries and functions.
Auxis utilized leading industry virtual tools to ensure franchisees operate at the excellence the client expects for its locations while enabling brand coaches to visit more often and cost-effectively.
Partnering with Auxis further enabled the client to merge digital innovation with the advantages of nearshore outsourcing. Auxis operates the program from a best-in-class Customer Experience Center of Excellence (CoE) that leverages the deep talent pool, lower costs, and shared time zones with the U.S. provided by the Auxis Global Delivery Center in Costa Rica.
Key solution steps included:
Auxis worked with the client to create a virtual digital auditing solution that integrates audit and compliance management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), video conferencing, and advanced analytics.
Auxis customized the solution for each of our hospitality client’s foodservice brands.
Coaches conduct virtual walk-throughs of store operations, visually reviewing business functions and activities to evaluate the store’s performance against a set of established standards.
After each completed walk-through, the coach issues a report suggesting specific actions and operational improvements that help store operators better align with brand standards and performance.
Coaches discuss the report with the store operator, agreeing upon actions and timing for resolution.
Follow-up reviews ensure quality standards are met.
Auxis developed an advanced analytics program to analyze and measure the results of CoE quality audits; for instance, helping leadership gauge correlations between improved audit scores and sales at a single store. Read our Business Analytics Case Study to learn how Auxis helped the client boost brand quality and sales through real-time, consolidated data views.
Audit and coaching services are available in multiple languages, including Spanish, Russian, Korean, Arabic, Thai, Japanese, and more. Language services continue to expand rapidly as the program incorporates more store locations, brands, and countries.
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RESULTS
By merging the benefits of digital innovation and nearshore outsourcing, Auxis delivered a cost-effective, world-class, virtual audit and coaching service that has never been done before in the foodservice industry.
Key benefits include:
The Auxis audit and coaching program significantly increased the frequency of store visits for the client. While most foodservice brands touch their stores 1-2x per year, the client can conduct store contact and reviews every quarter.
Eliminating the headache and expense of physical site visits delivered significant cost savings.
Regular coaching helps store operators grow revenue, optimize customer experiences, and operate their businesses more effectively. To date, the Auxis CoE has conducted 2,700+ store audits across 1,000 locations. That includes multiple international markets in the UK, Canada, Middle East, South Korea, Japan, Peru, Thailand, Australia, and more.
Live information about brand quality, foot traffic, and sales delivered by the Auxis analytics program enables informed and agile business decisions. For instance, leadership can easily identify growing and declining markets and correlate store audits and sales to optimize improvement opportunities.
Nearshoring the audit and coaching program to the Auxis Global Delivery Center in Costa Rica delivers multiple advantages:
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Significant labor cost savings.
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Access to a deep bench of skilled, highly educated talent with extensive experience working with U.S. corporations.
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Agile, real-time communication enabled by shared or similar time zones, strong English fluency, and a westernized culture – avoiding pain points that plague Asian-based outsourcing solutions like the difficulty of doing business across faraway time zones, language and cultural barriers, and “black box” operating models that offer clients little visibility or control.
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Best practices and technology such as automation are already in place that can help clients replace inefficient, manual processes with streamlined, modernized operations.
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The ability to react quickly to today’s fast-changing business environment by scaling teams up and down as needed.
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The ability to build a modernized operating model that leverages existing operations staff into an elevated role.
