May 14, 2025 • 18 mins
Jane Abell, Executive Chairwoman and Chief Purpose Officer of Donatos Pizza, joins Zack Oates live to discuss how leading with love and purpose has fueled Donatos' growth and guest loyalty. Jane shares how a people-first mindset, innovation, and agape capitalism shape every decision, from store operations to franchise relationships. She also explains how Donatos blends automation with hospitality to preserve their soul while scaling. Her insights offer a roadmap for brands that want to grow without losing their heart.
Zack and Jane discuss:
- How Donatos stays true to its family business roots while innovating
- Why Jane believes in building companies on the power of love
- The role of automation in enhancing—not replacing—hospitality
- How they balance modern convenience with memorable guest experiences
- Lessons from leading through ownership changes and rapid growth
- Why investing in people leads to lasting guest loyalty
Thanks, Jane!
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeabell/
https://donatos.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DonatosPizza/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation the
restaurant guest experiencepodcast.
I'm your host, zach Oates, andeach week I chat with industry
experts to uncover realstrategies and actionable
tactics to help you create afive-star guest experience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
It gives you the insights youneed without annoying your
(00:22):
guests with endless questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
Today we have Jane Abel with us, who is the owner, executive,
chairwoman, chief purposeofficer at Donato's, a brand
that her father actually started.
She's also the author of theMissing Piece Doing Business the
Donato's Way.
She's been on the showUndercover Boss and has
(00:44):
pioneered some really innovativecollabs, such as selling
Donato's Pizza at Red Robin,which is really amazing.
But, jane, welcome to thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Thank you, I appreciate being on.
It's an honor to be a guest ofyours.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, and it was so fun to go because I've known you
from afar, but it's been fun todive into the history and the
things that you've been doingand the history and just the
everything that Donato's isabout.
It's so much beyond pizza.
It's a lot about family.
I mean, most of the time beforethis recording, we were just
talking about our families, andso I'd love to understand your
(01:18):
philosophy on how do youmaintain the core of what
Donato's is while bringing ininnovation.
How do you stay true but alsostay fresh?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's a really great question, and actually a
question that I think we askedourselves way early on when we
decided we were going to grow,is how do you keep the soul of
your business and be able togrow and keep really make it
still feel like a familybusiness but be able to provide
opportunities as you continue itstill feel like a family
business but be able to provideopportunities as you continue to
grow?
And if you know our business,my dad's also an inventor, so
(01:51):
he's all about innovation.
He's all about automation, andpart of that is to make sure
that everything we do, everypiece of automation, is about
making sure the customer has theexact same pizza every single
time, no matter where you buy it, and so he's got a couple of
patents on some equipment.
That's really allowed us to dothat, which then led us into the
(02:12):
Red Robin expansion.
But I would say, for us, it'smaking sure, as a franchise
company, that we're bringing onthe franchise partners that
truly create a family and theirown restaurants.
So it's not just me and dad ormy dad, or my son and myself, or
even our CEO.
It's not about that.
It's about having family.
That's in business.
We have franchise partners thatare now on their third
(02:34):
generation.
Family businesses allows you tobe part of the community and
your community to know who youare, rather than this big
corporate chain where thereality is they'll never know me
the same way they're going toknow their franchise owner in
their local neighborhood and Ithink this question really
dovetails in, and I stumbledover a little bit your title
(02:58):
because I wanted to say chiefpeople officer, which you were
for a number of years, but it'sthe chief purpose officer.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I'd love for you to tell us what does a chief
purpose officer do, and it seemslike you play a huge role in
making sure that you keep thesoul of Donato's as things may
change on the exterior.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, I think what do I do?
I annoy a lot of people.
So I think you know, just likeanything, and if you know the
story, we were family business.
We grew it.
Mcdonald's approached us.
We sold our family business toMcDonald's in 99.
That was never our intention.
We didn't grow up thinking thatwas going to happen, but we
thought we'd have a greatopportunity to build out really
(03:41):
our family business and webelieve in building a business
based on the power of love andso we thought what a great
opportunity to be able to dothat.
Anyway didn't work out, and so Ithink it was a great valuable
lesson for me and I talk aboutit in my book, because I lost my
soul during that time and Iwent from working in a family
business where you could makelong-term decisions and you
(04:03):
could impact your own businessby making sure you're making the
right decisions versus nothingagainst public companies.
During McDonald's, it was allabout that quarter, all about
EPS, all about what theshareholder thinks, and I don't
think that's a bad thing, but itwas just different for us, and
so I think for us is.
And then when my dad and Iended up buying the company back
(04:23):
is how do you build your brandand, I said earlier, keep your
soul, and one of the things webelieve in doing is what we
refer to as agape capitalism.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
And agape being the truest highest form of love.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And so if you can build your business based on the
power of love, you can doreally good things with that
money and give back to thecommunity which we have a
nonprofit we started.
But our three tenants and justto hopefully answer your
question to keep true to who weare, our lead with love, the
golden rule.
So always treat others the wayyou want to be treated.
(04:56):
And if you do those two things,you end up doing the right
thing.
And so we have these coins.
I don't have our logo on them,they're just our ethos, our
values, who we are, what werepresent and what we want to
build in business, and we hopeit.
I'll send you one.
We hope it's like a littleripple effect my dad will call
it cryptocurrency and that yougive energy to it every time you
make a decision with it.
But we use it in our boardroommeetings, we use it in our
(05:18):
personal lives and it's justhaving the power and the pause
just to stop and say this isdifficult.
Am I leading with love?
Am I fulfilling the golden rule?
And if, am I doing the rightthing?
And so simple basic practices,whether it's a customer service
experience, whether it's anassociate experience, whether
it's a spouse experience, it'sjust a way for us and what we
believe and my dad has anothersister company.
(05:39):
It's a manufacturing company.
That's just how we believe indoing business, of manufacturing
company.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
That's just how we believe in doing business.
I love that.
I mean my hat.
It says do good, eat well andI'll send you a hat.
I know, but your hair looks toogood for hats.
But this is something thatliterally keep top of mind of.
We're here to do good and eatwell, and that's my whole
philosophy with Ovation.
And I love that what you'retalking about here, because it's
(06:04):
about building value first,it's about giving first and it's
about what value you bring intothe world and the world will
pay you for your worth and whatyou're doing.
But if you lead with that love,you can rarely make a wrong
choice, because love doesn'talways mean easy.
Love doesn't always mean nice.
Love doesn't always mean I'mgoing to give you your fifth
(06:27):
pizza for free because you'vecome in and complained five
times.
Love means doing the rightthing and inviting people to
another place and upgradingemployees to guests if need be,
and I think that there's some ofthese things where we often get
confused between love versusnice and kind, and I think it's
important that you make the harddecisions both for the guests
(06:49):
and for the employees.
But I think that's a beautifulconcept of leading with love.
Agape capitalism.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
That is amazing, I love that, jane, you know my dad
will say no one ever said lovein business ever.
And why not?
Because we are here to do goodand we are in business to be
able to give back to ourcommunities, and so why not use
the word love?
(07:17):
It really captures anunconditional love, which is
agape right.
Why would you not want to bethat kind of a person in
business?
Otherwise and my dad would saythat too we don't really want to
be a business.
If you can't do it and reallytruly bring the biggest
expression of love to businesswith you, then why ban it?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Amen, wow, here we go .
Preach it, jane, here we go.
I think that is just beautiful.
When I hear you talk about thatand now seeing your title of
chief purpose officer, it makesso much more sense because
that's not something that anoutside hire is going to come in
and get that they're going tocome in and let's optimize.
And yes, you got to do allthose things, but the question
(07:59):
through the filter of the agapelove, I love that.
So now let's boil this down tothe guests, because obviously
everything that we're doing nowis to affect the guests and make
a great guest experience.
What do you think are some ofthe most important aspects of
guest experience nowadays?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Wow, I think the most important experience and this
is a hard question, right,because we've got a whole new
generation of people.
I didn't grow up just ontechnology and the phone, but
our next generation, that's whatthey grew up with.
And so the old days of pizza,right, you call the pizza shop
and someone answers the phoneand then they write down the
(08:35):
order, which is when I grew upto today.
So I think the guest is lookingfor a convenient experience,
but a memorable one.
And how do you make itmemorable?
And can you make it memorablewith technology?
And can you make it memorablewith automation.
And so right now we do findourselves in that balance.
Right, we want to automate.
So one for us is we reallyexploring and have rolled out
(08:58):
last year, ai on the phones.
And one it's great because themachine learning learns about
the guests and knows better,right, no-transcript, the more
(09:31):
consistent and convenient youcan make it for the guests.
But make it memorable.
And I say that with some of theautomation we're putting into
the stores.
We have now a smart saucer youpush a button and it
automatically sauces the pizza,and that invention my dad had 50
years ago, but now we're doingit in the stores as a pepperoni
machine that automaticallyslices fresh pepperoni, sticks
(09:53):
right onto the pizza, and we putover a hundred pieces of
pepperoni on every largepepperoni pizza.
So, wow, that's a lot of hand.
It's a lot but what we'refinding is, especially, this
next generation appreciates thetechnology, appreciates the
automation.
It's a lot more fun thansitting there putting it on by
hand.
They love the technology, butalso taking the phones out of
(10:16):
the stores and putting it in AI.
It's a better experience forour associates so they can focus
on the guest, and that's what Ithink has been really valuable.
For how do you balance theautomation and innovation with
being a people-first company?
And it's allowing.
It takes the noise of thephones out.
It takes the hard work out,just the repetitive tasks out,
(10:38):
so they can have more freedom tospend more time with the guests
and have more interaction withthe guests.
100%, yeah, I think that'swhat's important, because we
know the world's going toautomation and innovation, but
we have to be cognizant of thefact that one it's got to be
good for the customer.
You can't do it.
It also has to be good for yourpeople, because we know the old
(10:58):
saying right your people areonly going to treat their
customers as well as you treatthem.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
So it has to be good for both.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
By the way, is it public who you use for?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
We're in the middle of transitioning.
Actually, press release justwent out about it today, so
we're switching, but we've beenhappy with the process.
It's been really good.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay, awesome.
Well, congrats to the newpartner there for the phones.
I'll send it to you.
I remember one time I was at adifferent pizzeria and I walk in
and I wait in line forliterally 20 minutes to place my
order.
I get up to the front and I'mgreeted with a finger in the
face and someone saying blah,blah, blah, how can I take your
order?
And it's like yo, I'm likeright here.
(11:49):
That's why I tell people all thetime the bad news is 30% of
your phone calls aren't gettinganswered.
The worst news is that 70% ofyour phone calls are getting
answered and every time theyanswer that phone, they're
creating a negative experiencefor someone that they could be
helping, or you have tooverstaff to manage the phones.
And so, yeah, I think thatthere's so many powerful things
(12:10):
in phones, ranging from fullvoice AI to very basic solutions
of just intercepting it throughtext messaging and whatever the
case is.
Yeah, I think if someone callsthe store and it just goes to
the phones and it just rings inthe restaurant, you're missing
revenue right now and, quitefrankly, creating a worse
experience because, to the flipside, when I call a restaurant
(12:32):
and they don't answer, it's sofrustrating.
So frustrating Because I'mcalling to give you money.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Let me pay you.
Well, and you know, anotherinteresting thing is our digital
presence.
So anything online so whetherit's through a third party
marketplace or through our ownwebsite is 80% right now, so
very few are actually going intothe store, so when that happens
, then no one really.
(12:58):
You're not used to evenanswering the phone, right?
And so, yeah, there's been abig, obviously, movement to
digital, which is wonderful, andI think that's great, as long
as your website works Right.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Cause.
It's interesting 97% ofconsumers have said they
recently backed out of apurchase decision because it was
inconvenient.
97% of consumers have said theyrecently backed out of a
purchase decision because it wasinconvenient.
And when you add that frictionto the online ordering, it gets
really challenging and atsometimes it's like too
convenient.
I mean like honestly.
One time I ordered pizza bypushing a button on my Apple
watch and I was like no, thatwas a little bit too weird, so I
(13:32):
don't do that.
But I do.
If there's a place where it'scomplicated to order online or
they make it challenging for me,I don't order from them again,
because if it's too hard to do,I don't do it, and that's a
beautiful thing.
Now, about your phone is everyonline order when placed mobile.
You should be able to dosomething like Apple Pay,
(13:52):
because it makes it so easy, andso just do it, so that way I
don't have to look for my creditcard right, a hundred percent.
So phones are a great one.
Any other tactics that you'drecommend to growing brands?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I think, always making sure that you're talking
about who you are.
And oftentimes it can be hungon the wall and stay on the wall
unless you bring it to life inyour restaurants.
And the best way to bring it tolife is to celebrate examples
of it, which we do thatthroughout.
What we call promise in action.
Our promise is to serve thebest pizza and make someone's
(14:26):
day a little better.
It's that simple, just do thatand making sure that we
celebrate that.
So we go out to this.
I go out to the stores andcelebrate our teams.
Anytime there's a promise inaction with a promise pen or
there are milestones.
And I'm focusing a lot on theteams because I do believe if
you don't treat your peopleright, they're just not gonna
care about your customers.
(14:47):
And I had real life examples ofthat of during McDonald's days
and McDonald's is a greatcompany, but the way we were
operating in our company at thetime, I think our people stopped
caring and the day we bought itback and we were losing money,
when my dad and I bought it back, we were losing seven and a
half million dollars.
So the day we bought it back inthat first year, we had a 10
(15:08):
and a half million dollarturnaround and, honestly, is
because our people startedcaring again.
Wow, we didn't change anythingelse, they just started caring
about what they did.
And I think when you seesomething that real, that
evident, but they and it's notbecause it was dad, my dad and I
it was because they knew theywere in an environment that
(15:30):
cared about them and so theycared about their customers, and
I could say it over and overagain, but it really truly was
the biggest expression of that Ithink I've ever seen.
And so that's why the better wetake care of our people, the
better they're going to takecare of our customers.
And you can feel it Everyrestaurant and you know you walk
in a restaurant and you cantell if people are being taken
(15:51):
care of and you can tell theenergy in the restaurant and how
that manager is leading andthat customer feels it.
And when a customer can feeland they know it's not right,
then your experience is notgoing to be right, because we
believe my dad's quote is foodserved with love nourishes the
soul and if our associates aremaking that pizza with love, the
customer is going to end upfeeling that.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Beautiful.
Thank you, Jane.
Love the customer is going toend up feeling that Beautiful.
Thank you, Jane.
Who's someone that we should befollowing?
Anyone in the restaurantindustry that you think is worth
a follow, Someone that deservesan ovation.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
So just last week and a half ago I reached out to the
Chick-fil-A team and we wentout.
Our leadership team went andspent two days, opened their
doors and their hearts andthey're very gracious and they
spent two days with us.
I got to spend time with Dan,cathy, the second generation,
and the I would say you feel itin their stores and their drive
(16:42):
through right Like theirhospitality, their every sense
of that throughout their entirecompany.
So from the leadershipthroughout to the receptionist,
everybody was my pleasure andit's not fake, it's not
something hanging on the wall intheir organization.
So that's my first shout out.
My second one, and thankfulthat they opened their doors and
allowed us to come spend sometime with them, because I'm
(17:04):
always curious to learn.
My second one is last year I wasappointed to the board of Texas
Roadhouse and when you start tothink, can a public company be
true to who they are and keeptheir values and be
people-centered andpeople-focused?
Never been more impressed withan organization that has really
truly been able to do that.
So a large family business hasbeen able to grow and then also
(17:24):
a public company that's beenable to stay true to their
people and their values.
They say that they're in thepeople business.
They just happen to be servingsteak, and they're true to that.
So those are my two.
I think they do.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Love that.
Both of them do an exceptionalcustomer service ovation example
in different ways, but inreally great ways and those
roles I mean, to me it's likethey're in the role business and
they just happen to servesteaks.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I mean, that's just, I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, so where can people go to find and follow you
and your brand?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
At Donatuscom, you can find us.
You can find franchisinginformation on there.
You can find all kinds ofinformation.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
You can find me on Facebook.
You can find I have a microsite, jangrodyablecom.
Anywhere any, just hopefullyjust Donatuscom.
You should be able to get toanywhere else.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Awesome.
Well, jane, for giving us aslice of your wisdom and helping
us calculate the ROI of love,which apparently is $17 million.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGiven Ovation.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate being here.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts
or your favorite place to listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
two-question, sms-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation the
restaurant guest experiencepodcast.
I'm your host, zach Oates, andeach week I chat with industry
experts to uncover realstrategies and actionable
tactics to help you create afive-star guest experience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
It gives you the insights youneed without annoying your
(00:22):
guests with endless questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
Today we have Jane Abel with us, who is the owner, executive,
chairwoman, chief purposeofficer at Donato's, a brand
that her father actually started.
She's also the author of theMissing Piece Doing Business the
Donato's Way.
She's been on the showUndercover Boss and has
(00:44):
pioneered some really innovativecollabs, such as selling
Donato's Pizza at Red Robin,which is really amazing.
But, jane, welcome to thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Thank you, I appreciate being on.
It's an honor to be a guest ofyours.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, and it was so fun to go because I've known you
from afar, but it's been fun todive into the history and the
things that you've been doingand the history and just the
everything that Donato's isabout.
It's so much beyond pizza.
It's a lot about family.
I mean, most of the time beforethis recording, we were just
talking about our families, andso I'd love to understand your
(01:18):
philosophy on how do youmaintain the core of what
Donato's is while bringing ininnovation.
How do you stay true but alsostay fresh?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's a really great question, and actually a
question that I think we askedourselves way early on when we
decided we were going to grow,is how do you keep the soul of
your business and be able togrow and keep really make it
still feel like a familybusiness but be able to provide
opportunities as you continue itstill feel like a family
business but be able to provideopportunities as you continue to
grow?
And if you know our business,my dad's also an inventor, so
(01:51):
he's all about innovation.
He's all about automation, andpart of that is to make sure
that everything we do, everypiece of automation, is about
making sure the customer has theexact same pizza every single
time, no matter where you buy it, and so he's got a couple of
patents on some equipment.
That's really allowed us to dothat, which then led us into the
(02:12):
Red Robin expansion.
But I would say, for us, it'smaking sure, as a franchise
company, that we're bringing onthe franchise partners that
truly create a family and theirown restaurants.
So it's not just me and dad ormy dad, or my son and myself, or
even our CEO.
It's not about that.
It's about having family.
That's in business.
We have franchise partners thatare now on their third
(02:34):
generation.
Family businesses allows you tobe part of the community and
your community to know who youare, rather than this big
corporate chain where thereality is they'll never know me
the same way they're going toknow their franchise owner in
their local neighborhood and Ithink this question really
dovetails in, and I stumbledover a little bit your title
(02:58):
because I wanted to say chiefpeople officer, which you were
for a number of years, but it'sthe chief purpose officer.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I'd love for you to tell us what does a chief
purpose officer do, and it seemslike you play a huge role in
making sure that you keep thesoul of Donato's as things may
change on the exterior.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, I think what do I do?
I annoy a lot of people.
So I think you know, just likeanything, and if you know the
story, we were family business.
We grew it.
Mcdonald's approached us.
We sold our family business toMcDonald's in 99.
That was never our intention.
We didn't grow up thinking thatwas going to happen, but we
thought we'd have a greatopportunity to build out really
(03:41):
our family business and webelieve in building a business
based on the power of love andso we thought what a great
opportunity to be able to dothat.
Anyway didn't work out, and so Ithink it was a great valuable
lesson for me and I talk aboutit in my book, because I lost my
soul during that time and Iwent from working in a family
business where you could makelong-term decisions and you
(04:03):
could impact your own businessby making sure you're making the
right decisions versus nothingagainst public companies.
During McDonald's, it was allabout that quarter, all about
EPS, all about what theshareholder thinks, and I don't
think that's a bad thing, but itwas just different for us, and
so I think for us is.
And then when my dad and Iended up buying the company back
(04:23):
is how do you build your brandand, I said earlier, keep your
soul, and one of the things webelieve in doing is what we
refer to as agape capitalism.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
And agape being the truest highest form of love.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And so if you can build your business based on the
power of love, you can doreally good things with that
money and give back to thecommunity which we have a
nonprofit we started.
But our three tenants and justto hopefully answer your
question to keep true to who weare, our lead with love, the
golden rule.
So always treat others the wayyou want to be treated.
(04:56):
And if you do those two things,you end up doing the right
thing.
And so we have these coins.
I don't have our logo on them,they're just our ethos, our
values, who we are, what werepresent and what we want to
build in business, and we hopeit.
I'll send you one.
We hope it's like a littleripple effect my dad will call
it cryptocurrency and that yougive energy to it every time you
make a decision with it.
But we use it in our boardroommeetings, we use it in our
(05:18):
personal lives and it's justhaving the power and the pause
just to stop and say this isdifficult.
Am I leading with love?
Am I fulfilling the golden rule?
And if, am I doing the rightthing?
And so simple basic practices,whether it's a customer service
experience, whether it's anassociate experience, whether
it's a spouse experience, it'sjust a way for us and what we
believe and my dad has anothersister company.
(05:39):
It's a manufacturing company.
That's just how we believe indoing business, of manufacturing
company.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
That's just how we believe in doing business.
I love that.
I mean my hat.
It says do good, eat well andI'll send you a hat.
I know, but your hair looks toogood for hats.
But this is something thatliterally keep top of mind of.
We're here to do good and eatwell, and that's my whole
philosophy with Ovation.
And I love that what you'retalking about here, because it's
(06:04):
about building value first,it's about giving first and it's
about what value you bring intothe world and the world will
pay you for your worth and whatyou're doing.
But if you lead with that love,you can rarely make a wrong
choice, because love doesn'talways mean easy.
Love doesn't always mean nice.
Love doesn't always mean I'mgoing to give you your fifth
(06:27):
pizza for free because you'vecome in and complained five
times.
Love means doing the rightthing and inviting people to
another place and upgradingemployees to guests if need be,
and I think that there's some ofthese things where we often get
confused between love versusnice and kind, and I think it's
important that you make the harddecisions both for the guests
(06:49):
and for the employees.
But I think that's a beautifulconcept of leading with love.
Agape capitalism.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
That is amazing, I love that, jane, you know my dad
will say no one ever said lovein business ever.
And why not?
Because we are here to do goodand we are in business to be
able to give back to ourcommunities, and so why not use
the word love?
(07:17):
It really captures anunconditional love, which is
agape right.
Why would you not want to bethat kind of a person in
business?
Otherwise and my dad would saythat too we don't really want to
be a business.
If you can't do it and reallytruly bring the biggest
expression of love to businesswith you, then why ban it?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Amen, wow, here we go .
Preach it, jane, here we go.
I think that is just beautiful.
When I hear you talk about thatand now seeing your title of
chief purpose officer, it makesso much more sense because
that's not something that anoutside hire is going to come in
and get that they're going tocome in and let's optimize.
And yes, you got to do allthose things, but the question
(07:59):
through the filter of the agapelove, I love that.
So now let's boil this down tothe guests, because obviously
everything that we're doing nowis to affect the guests and make
a great guest experience.
What do you think are some ofthe most important aspects of
guest experience nowadays?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Wow, I think the most important experience and this
is a hard question, right,because we've got a whole new
generation of people.
I didn't grow up just ontechnology and the phone, but
our next generation, that's whatthey grew up with.
And so the old days of pizza,right, you call the pizza shop
and someone answers the phoneand then they write down the
(08:35):
order, which is when I grew upto today.
So I think the guest is lookingfor a convenient experience,
but a memorable one.
And how do you make itmemorable?
And can you make it memorablewith technology?
And can you make it memorablewith automation.
And so right now we do findourselves in that balance.
Right, we want to automate.
So one for us is we reallyexploring and have rolled out
(08:58):
last year, ai on the phones.
And one it's great because themachine learning learns about
the guests and knows better,right, no-transcript, the more
(09:31):
consistent and convenient youcan make it for the guests.
But make it memorable.
And I say that with some of theautomation we're putting into
the stores.
We have now a smart saucer youpush a button and it
automatically sauces the pizza,and that invention my dad had 50
years ago, but now we're doingit in the stores as a pepperoni
machine that automaticallyslices fresh pepperoni, sticks
(09:53):
right onto the pizza, and we putover a hundred pieces of
pepperoni on every largepepperoni pizza.
So, wow, that's a lot of hand.
It's a lot but what we'refinding is, especially, this
next generation appreciates thetechnology, appreciates the
automation.
It's a lot more fun thansitting there putting it on by
hand.
They love the technology, butalso taking the phones out of
(10:16):
the stores and putting it in AI.
It's a better experience forour associates so they can focus
on the guest, and that's what Ithink has been really valuable.
For how do you balance theautomation and innovation with
being a people-first company?
And it's allowing.
It takes the noise of thephones out.
It takes the hard work out,just the repetitive tasks out,
(10:38):
so they can have more freedom tospend more time with the guests
and have more interaction withthe guests.
100%, yeah, I think that'swhat's important, because we
know the world's going toautomation and innovation, but
we have to be cognizant of thefact that one it's got to be
good for the customer.
You can't do it.
It also has to be good for yourpeople, because we know the old
(10:58):
saying right your people areonly going to treat their
customers as well as you treatthem.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
So it has to be good for both.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
By the way, is it public who you use for?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
We're in the middle of transitioning.
Actually, press release justwent out about it today, so
we're switching, but we've beenhappy with the process.
It's been really good.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay, awesome.
Well, congrats to the newpartner there for the phones.
I'll send it to you.
I remember one time I was at adifferent pizzeria and I walk in
and I wait in line forliterally 20 minutes to place my
order.
I get up to the front and I'mgreeted with a finger in the
face and someone saying blah,blah, blah, how can I take your
order?
And it's like yo, I'm likeright here.
(11:49):
That's why I tell people all thetime the bad news is 30% of
your phone calls aren't gettinganswered.
The worst news is that 70% ofyour phone calls are getting
answered and every time theyanswer that phone, they're
creating a negative experiencefor someone that they could be
helping, or you have tooverstaff to manage the phones.
And so, yeah, I think thatthere's so many powerful things
(12:10):
in phones, ranging from fullvoice AI to very basic solutions
of just intercepting it throughtext messaging and whatever the
case is.
Yeah, I think if someone callsthe store and it just goes to
the phones and it just rings inthe restaurant, you're missing
revenue right now and, quitefrankly, creating a worse
experience because, to the flipside, when I call a restaurant
(12:32):
and they don't answer, it's sofrustrating.
So frustrating Because I'mcalling to give you money.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Let me pay you.
Well, and you know, anotherinteresting thing is our digital
presence.
So anything online so whetherit's through a third party
marketplace or through our ownwebsite is 80% right now, so
very few are actually going intothe store, so when that happens
, then no one really.
(12:58):
You're not used to evenanswering the phone, right?
And so, yeah, there's been abig, obviously, movement to
digital, which is wonderful, andI think that's great, as long
as your website works Right.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Cause.
It's interesting 97% ofconsumers have said they
recently backed out of apurchase decision because it was
inconvenient.
97% of consumers have said theyrecently backed out of a
purchase decision because it wasinconvenient.
And when you add that frictionto the online ordering, it gets
really challenging and atsometimes it's like too
convenient.
I mean like honestly.
One time I ordered pizza bypushing a button on my Apple
watch and I was like no, thatwas a little bit too weird, so I
(13:32):
don't do that.
But I do.
If there's a place where it'scomplicated to order online or
they make it challenging for me,I don't order from them again,
because if it's too hard to do,I don't do it, and that's a
beautiful thing.
Now, about your phone is everyonline order when placed mobile.
You should be able to dosomething like Apple Pay,
(13:52):
because it makes it so easy, andso just do it, so that way I
don't have to look for my creditcard right, a hundred percent.
So phones are a great one.
Any other tactics that you'drecommend to growing brands?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I think, always making sure that you're talking
about who you are.
And oftentimes it can be hungon the wall and stay on the wall
unless you bring it to life inyour restaurants.
And the best way to bring it tolife is to celebrate examples
of it, which we do thatthroughout.
What we call promise in action.
Our promise is to serve thebest pizza and make someone's
(14:26):
day a little better.
It's that simple, just do thatand making sure that we
celebrate that.
So we go out to this.
I go out to the stores andcelebrate our teams.
Anytime there's a promise inaction with a promise pen or
there are milestones.
And I'm focusing a lot on theteams because I do believe if
you don't treat your peopleright, they're just not gonna
care about your customers.
(14:47):
And I had real life examples ofthat of during McDonald's days
and McDonald's is a greatcompany, but the way we were
operating in our company at thetime, I think our people stopped
caring and the day we bought itback and we were losing money,
when my dad and I bought it back, we were losing seven and a
half million dollars.
So the day we bought it back inthat first year, we had a 10
(15:08):
and a half million dollarturnaround and, honestly, is
because our people startedcaring again.
Wow, we didn't change anythingelse, they just started caring
about what they did.
And I think when you seesomething that real, that
evident, but they and it's notbecause it was dad, my dad and I
it was because they knew theywere in an environment that
(15:30):
cared about them and so theycared about their customers, and
I could say it over and overagain, but it really truly was
the biggest expression of that Ithink I've ever seen.
And so that's why the better wetake care of our people, the
better they're going to takecare of our customers.
And you can feel it Everyrestaurant and you know you walk
in a restaurant and you cantell if people are being taken
(15:51):
care of and you can tell theenergy in the restaurant and how
that manager is leading andthat customer feels it.
And when a customer can feeland they know it's not right,
then your experience is notgoing to be right, because we
believe my dad's quote is foodserved with love nourishes the
soul and if our associates aremaking that pizza with love, the
customer is going to end upfeeling that.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Beautiful.
Thank you, Jane.
Love the customer is going toend up feeling that Beautiful.
Thank you, Jane.
Who's someone that we should befollowing?
Anyone in the restaurantindustry that you think is worth
a follow, Someone that deservesan ovation.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
So just last week and a half ago I reached out to the
Chick-fil-A team and we wentout.
Our leadership team went andspent two days, opened their
doors and their hearts andthey're very gracious and they
spent two days with us.
I got to spend time with Dan,cathy, the second generation,
and the I would say you feel itin their stores and their drive
(16:42):
through right Like theirhospitality, their every sense
of that throughout their entirecompany.
So from the leadershipthroughout to the receptionist,
everybody was my pleasure andit's not fake, it's not
something hanging on the wall intheir organization.
So that's my first shout out.
My second one, and thankfulthat they opened their doors and
allowed us to come spend sometime with them, because I'm
(17:04):
always curious to learn.
My second one is last year I wasappointed to the board of Texas
Roadhouse and when you start tothink, can a public company be
true to who they are and keeptheir values and be
people-centered andpeople-focused?
Never been more impressed withan organization that has really
truly been able to do that.
So a large family business hasbeen able to grow and then also
(17:24):
a public company that's beenable to stay true to their
people and their values.
They say that they're in thepeople business.
They just happen to be servingsteak, and they're true to that.
So those are my two.
I think they do.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Love that.
Both of them do an exceptionalcustomer service ovation example
in different ways, but inreally great ways and those
roles I mean, to me it's likethey're in the role business and
they just happen to servesteaks.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I mean, that's just, I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, so where can people go to find and follow you
and your brand?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
At Donatuscom, you can find us.
You can find franchisinginformation on there.
You can find all kinds ofinformation.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
You can find me on Facebook.
You can find I have a microsite, jangrodyablecom.
Anywhere any, just hopefullyjust Donatuscom.
You should be able to get toanywhere else.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Awesome.
Well, jane, for giving us aslice of your wisdom and helping
us calculate the ROI of love,which apparently is $17 million.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGiven Ovation.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate being here.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts
or your favorite place to listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
two-question, sms-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at OvationUpcom.
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