February 10, 2025 • 17 mins
In this episode of Give an Ovation, we welcome Jennifer Dodd, a 30-year restaurant industry veteran and the CEO of Main Squeeze Juice Co. Jennifer has led in QSR, casual dining, and franchising, making her a powerhouse in restaurant operations and leadership.
Zack and Jennifer discuss:
- Why hospitality is—and always will be—a people-first business
- The power of customization and how it impacts guest experience
- How technology can enhance service without replacing the human element
- The tragedy of disengagement in the workforce and how to fix it
- The importance of employee trust, autonomy, and culture in driving success
- Innovative solutions Main Squeeze Juice Co. is rolling out to improve guest engagement
Tune in to hear how Jennifer’s insights on culture, leadership, and guest experience can help your restaurant thrive!
Thanks, Jennifer!
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, where I talk to
industry experts to get theirstrategies and tactics you can
use to create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is sponsored byOvation, an operations and guest
recovery platform formulti-unit restaurants that
gives all the answers withoutannoying guests with all the
(00:21):
questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
And today we have a 30-yearrestaurant executive, QSR.
She's done casual, casualdining, polished casual.
She's franchising.
She's currently the CEO of MainSqueeze Juice Co.
Please welcome to the show,Jennifer Dodd.
Welcome.
(00:41):
How are you, Jennifer?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thanks, zach, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And I had such a fun time meeting you in Vegas and
was just so impressed with allof the things that you've done
in your career and you've gotsuch a great career, and I'd
love to just hear someone who'sgetting into restaurant
leadership at this point whatadvice would you have for them?
What advice do you wish youwould have given yourself 30
years ago when you were startingout?
You have for them.
What advice do you?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
wish you would have given yourself 30 years ago when
you were starting out.
I'd say a couple of things.
First of all, it is always apeople business.
It always will be.
At the end of the day, we areserving a need to people who are
coming in to dine, have a meal,have an experience, and you
can't lose track of that,whether we deliver that with the
support of technology, whichI'm grateful for, whatever the
(01:25):
environment, if it's QSR, fast,casual, polished or even
contract food service, at theend of the day, it's a human
element that we're serving.
And I actually go a littlefurther than that to remember
that we're feeding not only thebody, but we're also nursing the
soul.
I learned that at an early ageis what drew me into this
business, because I noticed thatwhen people order their food
(01:49):
they're very precise, and that'sgotten more precise over the
years, right, because we now cancustomize literally everything
Guilty.
And I think that started withthe have it your way movement.
But at the end of the day, thepeople are very precise and so
when you get that order rightand you watch the customers sit
down or you walk by the tableand you see them take that first
(02:11):
drink or that first bite, theygo through what I call
metamorphosis and I don't thinkmost people realize it.
They take a deep breath, theirshoulders drop and their
forehead softens if we got itright.
So that's really important thatit meet their expectations and
it is a people business and Ijust think that that's the best
(02:32):
part of the job, because I lovepeople.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
That is so interesting.
I mean like these little things, these little clues that you
pick up along the way, and theproblem is, isn't that so hard
to train teams to get that liketo pick up on those little
subtleties that you understand?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes, it can be, particularly in today's
environment when staffing is inan all-time war.
I think there are greattechnology services that are
helping with that.
I'll give a little shout out toLanded.
We really believe in Landed.
We love it.
We've supported that system forour franchise owners to use
because it does use AI to helpyou work with the talent pool to
(03:14):
try to narrow that down to afit for your organizational
culture, and I think that'simportant and we've seen real
success with that model.
But again, it's a peoplebusiness.
So the owner, the franchiseowner, the ops leader, the
manager, has to spend timereally walking through that
hiring and that decision-makingprocess, as well as the
(03:35):
onboarding, to ensure that youhelp people line up with your
mission and with your values foryour organization, because
they're going to be front front,facing face of your customer
every day.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And that's something that I feel we often forget
about, is if someone goes into arestaurant and the server is
not polite to them, they don'tthink, wow, jennifer is rude.
They think, wow, main squeezejuice is a bad brand.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Right, it's just they , truly are Not main squeeze
juice, truly no.
No, we're good.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, right, if, if you know, in some alternate
universe, right, you know, I wasjust talking with someone who
has Bobby Flay's burgers andthey have someone that comes out
into the lobby and they callthem brand ambassadors.
And really isn't that whateveryone is, from the person
making the juice to the persontaking the order, to the person
(04:27):
giving the order.
They're all brand ambassadorsmaking an impression of how that
brand is, and so rememberingabout who you're hiring and how
you're training them is socritical to the branding of your
restaurant.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, but it's also how you're treating them.
Are you as the owner or is theleader being a brand ambassador
for your team?
Because I believe we haveinternal and external customers.
You can only put out what youare giving back.
So, at the end of the day, ifwe are creating an environment
where all people win, thencertainly we're talking about
(05:02):
our mission and values, butwe're also living it.
It's not just a placard on thewall.
We are embracing the culturethat we're trying to invite.
So when you cross thatthreshold of our door, whether
you're the employee coming towork that day, the manager or
whether you're that customer, itshould feel like the same
experience and that's important.
I think a lot of people reallymiss that.
(05:22):
I do a lot of public speakingand one of my favorite things to
talk about is this tragedy ofemployee engagement that's at an
all-time low, and Gallup saysit's in the low 20% number, and
I think that the reason why thathappens is because we cannot
have a transactionalrelationship with our staff.
In many cases we do.
We're busy, we're entrepreneurs, we feel like we have so much
(05:45):
to do every day, but the mostimportant thing we have to do
during that day is look for howwe're treating the people that
serve the needs of the brand,whether they're running the
equipment or they're thefront-facing staff.
Poof, I need this wish.
Poof, I need this wish.
That gets really exhausting.
It's like, okay, I'm going togo back in this bottle and wait
(06:11):
for my next command.
No, it's releasing theemployees, the staff, the
partners is what they are in theculture that we're delivering
to our guests.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
That is so powerful.
I love that and I love thefocus on people, because you're
obviously a people person and tocare about people, I think, is
one of the most important humanattributes, not just for success
in business but in life andsocial, with friends, with
meeting people.
If you can care about peopleand realize one of the things I
(06:39):
like to do and this is kind oftaking a weird turn, but I like
to imagine that at some pointthat person was a toddler and
was getting cuddled by their momor their dad and it's like, no
matter what the situation is, ifyou could imagine that person
just being that little, innocent, perfect little two-year-old
not throwing a tantrum.
Those are just the most cuddly,loving beings on the earth and
(07:04):
it's always fun especially ifyou're frustrated at someone
just to imagine that.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love that I want to high five you right now.
This is exactly the way weshould look at it.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So okay, Now let's talk a little bit more.
We're talking upstream aboutthe guest experience, the
employee experience.
Let's bring that downstream alittle bit.
What do you think are some ofthe most important aspects of
guest experience nowadays?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I certainly think meeting expectations again, but
also technology is superimportant, having the right tech
stack so that the customer canengage with you in a way that
meets their needs.
I have some fans, or I'm a fanof some brands who were early
adopters of that.
An example would be Starbucks.
I mean, I am, and I have been,an avid Starbucks fan since 95.
(07:46):
And so I am certainly thatperson that only uses the app.
At the end of the day, I prettymuch order the same thing Love
that.
I don't have any friction, it'sfrictionless, it's you know.
I don't have to worry about anypayments, it's all loaded.
Have my reward system in there.
They know me, they get me, andmy husband is quite the opposite
.
He also enjoys Starbucks, buthe wants to get in the line,
(08:10):
have the conversation, maybechoose a different approach each
time for his order.
So a technology that supportsthe span of what the customer
needs is important, and wecertainly have a great tech
stack at Main Squeeze Juice Co,from our app to our reward
system.
It's awesome and that'simportant that we're constantly
evolving as a brand and as anorganization to meet the needs
(08:32):
of the consumer today.
I think that also helps yourstaff, because then they start
out in a positive place with theguest.
You kind of already know whatthe guest needs are, at least at
that first level from anordering standpoint, and then
you can navigate from therealong the way.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Amen, I love that and I think that, especially when
you start with people first,technology then becomes
something that enhances theexperience, because you can't
take the humans out ofhospitality, but you can enhance
, you can give them superpowerswith technology so they could do
their job better and focus onthe people first.
(09:11):
Now, what are some tactics thatyou've used to improve the
guest experience?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
We have some that are fresh coming out of the box
that I won't give too muchdetail on, but one of the things
we're very proud of at MainSqueeze Juice Co.
Seriously, it's a good answerto your question.
It's not just a brand billboardhere I'm giving, but our juice
is cold-pressed, fresh-squeezed.
It has no HPP, no high pressure, no pasteurization.
So the products that goes intothat juice are really giving you
(09:39):
that nutritional punch, thatgreat benefit that you need.
Well, that's quite a bigdifference compared to HPP
juices on most grocery shelvesor even in some of our
competitor restaurants.
It's not that you don't getsomething from those juices, but
it's quite a different spectrum.
So it's imperative that weexplain that to the guests in
our environment.
We must walk them through thatjourney and we have many levels
(10:02):
of customers that are advocatesof mains grease.
Some of them are on a specificjourney, like reclaiming health,
targeting a specific thing.
Again, all the more reason weneed someone to explain what's
in this bottle, why you chooseit and how it benefits you.
So we're leveraging a newtechnology that we're about to
roll in the next six monthswe're testing it here.
(10:25):
Soon it's actually going tostand in the place of supporting
our great employees who aredoing that, because sometimes
the employee needs more timeexplaining that when they're
also called to go make ourhandcrafted smoothies that are
no sugar, no artificialsweeteners, no water, they need
to do that too, and they workthe drive-through.
So we have to have a technologypiece that helps us bridge that
(10:46):
gap, and we're going to testthat very soon and, like I said,
expect to scale that in thenext six months, after we work
out some tweaks, and that'll bea new solution.
So I think companies and brandsjust always need to be thinking
about what problem am I needingto solve?
Today, I can't remove the humanelement on either the customer
side or the employee side.
(11:06):
So what can I do to build thebridge with proper tech that's
efficient and affordable andreally is a solution?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I think that's so powerful.
And when you're evaluatingtechnology, what are some of the
questions that you're asking toknow?
Should we do this, should wenot Like, as you're piloting
this new technology, what'sgoing to be the deciding factor
for you?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Pre and post survey of both customers your internal
customer employees and yourexternal customer right.
That's important.
So what was your experiencelike?
At MainSqueezed?
You used COBRA, 4-year-old, astech.
Now we're testing it.
Now what's your experienceafter?
I think some people get tooexcited about the solution
(11:47):
itself and forget that againhuman element, because there are
going to be talking points.
What are they?
And obviously it's hard to hit100% most of the time, but we
can get close if we just makeminor tweaks.
So that's important.
Affordability, of course, andthe return on the investment
always has to be consideredshort and long-term, because our
(12:08):
franchise owners are certainlythe heroes of capitalism and we
want them to feel good about thesolution.
And then, what is the problemit's trying to solve when you
integrate tech and is it doingthat?
So in our case, we're trying tosolve multiple things through
this piece that I'm talkingabout, that we're going to roll
the customer journey, thecustomer experience, and so
(12:30):
that'll be very much aqualitative and quantitative
ability to track that.
But also speed of service isimportant, because if I'm bogged
down with me who might needmore time, want more time to
walk through the juices whetherI might impact speed of service
negatively.
And then the employeeexperience.
Are we relieving their load byhaving a technology piece that
(12:51):
can support them deliveringtheir task and feel good about
it?
Having a technology piece thatcan support them delivering
their task and feel good aboutit?
It's important that the toolssupport the employee's job, to
get a big green check mark atthe end of the day that says,
hey, I did a good job today andI met my goals and I think
oftentimes we forget about that.
Matters to the employee too.
They don't want to go homefrustrated and come in the next
(13:11):
day to do it again.
They want to leave feeling goodabout themselves and hopefully
our solutions support all ofthat.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
That's such a great way to put it, and just this
common thread of everythingwe're talking about boiling back
to people.
I would just encourage anyonelistening whether you've got a
restaurant or a technology orwhatever it's like, think about
how can we help people feel moreimportant that work with us,
because the more important theyfeel, the more empowered they
(13:40):
feel, and the better we do ofgiving them direction on the
principles of what they'resupposed to do to be good brand
ambassadors, the better theguest experience, the better the
business.
I think that you're just such agreat living reminder of the
fact that, yes, it's aboutpeople first, and you just exude
that, and I love that.
(14:00):
Now, jennifer, you have hadsuch a great career and I would
encourage everyone to go checkout her LinkedIn because it's
just so fun to read through allthe things that you've done.
Who's someone that deserves anovation, who's someone that you
feel like has been doing coolthings that we should be
following.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
At the top of my list , particularly the state of the
world today, in such challengingtimes, is , who is this founder
and CEO of well, I think she'sfounder and chairman.
Now for Giving Kitchen.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Giving Kitchen.
Oh my gosh, I mean there'snobody better.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And we think about just in the last few months,
what we've experienced with,obviously, the tragedy in New
Orleans, with the attack thathappened on New Year's Eve, and
then the fires in California andhow much that's affecting so
many lives.
Asheville and the floods thosewere all beautiful hospitality
cities where food service andhospitality workers are severely
(14:52):
affected just in thosetragedies alone.
And so Giving Kitchen alwayssteps up to the plate and not
only helps with I don't know ifI'm saying it right but micro
giving.
They give funds to people inneed who prove their business
case and that they support, andthey offer that in all 50 states
.
But they also have I actuallytoured the facility to get to
(15:12):
know them better and understandwhat they do and they have
people there to give servicesthat speak over 100 languages.
If someone needs help findinghousing or help with a child
that has special needs, they candirect them to resources.
So I just think the breadth anddepth of what they do at Given
Kitchen is such a heartfeltthing and it meets the needs of
the type of environment that wecreate in hospitality.
(15:34):
So Jen is a heroine in my mindfor sure.
That's a great example, I think.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I love that and she came on the podcast and she is
just such a vibrant soul, lovewhat she's doing at Giving
Kitchen and she's a power houseand love her mission and so,
yeah, great, great, shout out,definitely people need to follow
her.
Well, jennifer, how can peoplefollow you?
And Main Squeeze Juice Co.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think several ways.
First of all, come visit one ofour amazing, beautiful stores.
You'll love the vibe, supercool, and you can find our store
list online on our website,which is mainsqueezedjuicecocom.
If you're interested infranchising, of course, it's
Main Squeeze Juice CoFranchising.
We are franchising with purpose, so we have beautiful
opportunities for growth anddevelopment to come in as an
(16:20):
entrepreneur.
And then, of course, instagram,twitter, facebook, linkedin,
and now it sounds like you knowwe may be moving into the TikTok
era.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I know a lot of Gen Zers who got their fingers
crossed on that one.
Yeah, that's our hope.
Well, Jennifer, for remindingus that we should put pressure
on fruits, not people.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGive an Ovation.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
All right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
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, where I talk to
industry experts to get theirstrategies and tactics you can
use to create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is sponsored byOvation, an operations and guest
recovery platform formulti-unit restaurants that
gives all the answers withoutannoying guests with all the
(00:21):
questions.
Learn more at OvationUpcom.
And today we have a 30-yearrestaurant executive, QSR.
She's done casual, casualdining, polished casual.
She's franchising.
She's currently the CEO of MainSqueeze Juice Co.
Please welcome to the show,Jennifer Dodd.
Welcome.
(00:41):
How are you, Jennifer?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thanks, zach, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And I had such a fun time meeting you in Vegas and
was just so impressed with allof the things that you've done
in your career and you've gotsuch a great career, and I'd
love to just hear someone who'sgetting into restaurant
leadership at this point whatadvice would you have for them?
What advice do you wish youwould have given yourself 30
years ago when you were startingout?
You have for them.
What advice do you?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
wish you would have given yourself 30 years ago when
you were starting out.
I'd say a couple of things.
First of all, it is always apeople business.
It always will be.
At the end of the day, we areserving a need to people who are
coming in to dine, have a meal,have an experience, and you
can't lose track of that,whether we deliver that with the
support of technology, whichI'm grateful for, whatever the
(01:25):
environment, if it's QSR, fast,casual, polished or even
contract food service, at theend of the day, it's a human
element that we're serving.
And I actually go a littlefurther than that to remember
that we're feeding not only thebody, but we're also nursing the
soul.
I learned that at an early ageis what drew me into this
business, because I noticed thatwhen people order their food
(01:49):
they're very precise, and that'sgotten more precise over the
years, right, because we now cancustomize literally everything
Guilty.
And I think that started withthe have it your way movement.
But at the end of the day, thepeople are very precise and so
when you get that order rightand you watch the customers sit
down or you walk by the tableand you see them take that first
(02:11):
drink or that first bite, theygo through what I call
metamorphosis and I don't thinkmost people realize it.
They take a deep breath, theirshoulders drop and their
forehead softens if we got itright.
So that's really important thatit meet their expectations and
it is a people business and Ijust think that that's the best
(02:32):
part of the job, because I lovepeople.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
That is so interesting.
I mean like these little things, these little clues that you
pick up along the way, and theproblem is, isn't that so hard
to train teams to get that liketo pick up on those little
subtleties that you understand?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes, it can be, particularly in today's
environment when staffing is inan all-time war.
I think there are greattechnology services that are
helping with that.
I'll give a little shout out toLanded.
We really believe in Landed.
We love it.
We've supported that system forour franchise owners to use
because it does use AI to helpyou work with the talent pool to
(03:14):
try to narrow that down to afit for your organizational
culture, and I think that'simportant and we've seen real
success with that model.
But again, it's a peoplebusiness.
So the owner, the franchiseowner, the ops leader, the
manager, has to spend timereally walking through that
hiring and that decision-makingprocess, as well as the
(03:35):
onboarding, to ensure that youhelp people line up with your
mission and with your values foryour organization, because
they're going to be front front,facing face of your customer
every day.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And that's something that I feel we often forget
about, is if someone goes into arestaurant and the server is
not polite to them, they don'tthink, wow, jennifer is rude.
They think, wow, main squeezejuice is a bad brand.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Right, it's just they , truly are Not main squeeze
juice, truly no.
No, we're good.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, right, if, if you know, in some alternate
universe, right, you know, I wasjust talking with someone who
has Bobby Flay's burgers andthey have someone that comes out
into the lobby and they callthem brand ambassadors.
And really isn't that whateveryone is, from the person
making the juice to the persontaking the order, to the person
(04:27):
giving the order.
They're all brand ambassadorsmaking an impression of how that
brand is, and so rememberingabout who you're hiring and how
you're training them is socritical to the branding of your
restaurant.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, but it's also how you're treating them.
Are you as the owner or is theleader being a brand ambassador
for your team?
Because I believe we haveinternal and external customers.
You can only put out what youare giving back.
So, at the end of the day, ifwe are creating an environment
where all people win, thencertainly we're talking about
(05:02):
our mission and values, butwe're also living it.
It's not just a placard on thewall.
We are embracing the culturethat we're trying to invite.
So when you cross thatthreshold of our door, whether
you're the employee coming towork that day, the manager or
whether you're that customer, itshould feel like the same
experience and that's important.
I think a lot of people reallymiss that.
(05:22):
I do a lot of public speakingand one of my favorite things to
talk about is this tragedy ofemployee engagement that's at an
all-time low, and Gallup saysit's in the low 20% number, and
I think that the reason why thathappens is because we cannot
have a transactionalrelationship with our staff.
In many cases we do.
We're busy, we're entrepreneurs, we feel like we have so much
(05:45):
to do every day, but the mostimportant thing we have to do
during that day is look for howwe're treating the people that
serve the needs of the brand,whether they're running the
equipment or they're thefront-facing staff.
Poof, I need this wish.
Poof, I need this wish.
That gets really exhausting.
It's like, okay, I'm going togo back in this bottle and wait
(06:11):
for my next command.
No, it's releasing theemployees, the staff, the
partners is what they are in theculture that we're delivering
to our guests.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
That is so powerful.
I love that and I love thefocus on people, because you're
obviously a people person and tocare about people, I think, is
one of the most important humanattributes, not just for success
in business but in life andsocial, with friends, with
meeting people.
If you can care about peopleand realize one of the things I
(06:39):
like to do and this is kind oftaking a weird turn, but I like
to imagine that at some pointthat person was a toddler and
was getting cuddled by their momor their dad and it's like, no
matter what the situation is, ifyou could imagine that person
just being that little, innocent, perfect little two-year-old
not throwing a tantrum.
Those are just the most cuddly,loving beings on the earth and
(07:04):
it's always fun especially ifyou're frustrated at someone
just to imagine that.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love that I want to high five you right now.
This is exactly the way weshould look at it.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So okay, Now let's talk a little bit more.
We're talking upstream aboutthe guest experience, the
employee experience.
Let's bring that downstream alittle bit.
What do you think are some ofthe most important aspects of
guest experience nowadays?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I certainly think meeting expectations again, but
also technology is superimportant, having the right tech
stack so that the customer canengage with you in a way that
meets their needs.
I have some fans, or I'm a fanof some brands who were early
adopters of that.
An example would be Starbucks.
I mean, I am, and I have been,an avid Starbucks fan since 95.
(07:46):
And so I am certainly thatperson that only uses the app.
At the end of the day, I prettymuch order the same thing Love
that.
I don't have any friction, it'sfrictionless, it's you know.
I don't have to worry about anypayments, it's all loaded.
Have my reward system in there.
They know me, they get me, andmy husband is quite the opposite
.
He also enjoys Starbucks, buthe wants to get in the line,
(08:10):
have the conversation, maybechoose a different approach each
time for his order.
So a technology that supportsthe span of what the customer
needs is important, and wecertainly have a great tech
stack at Main Squeeze Juice Co,from our app to our reward
system.
It's awesome and that'simportant that we're constantly
evolving as a brand and as anorganization to meet the needs
(08:32):
of the consumer today.
I think that also helps yourstaff, because then they start
out in a positive place with theguest.
You kind of already know whatthe guest needs are, at least at
that first level from anordering standpoint, and then
you can navigate from therealong the way.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Amen, I love that and I think that, especially when
you start with people first,technology then becomes
something that enhances theexperience, because you can't
take the humans out ofhospitality, but you can enhance
, you can give them superpowerswith technology so they could do
their job better and focus onthe people first.
(09:11):
Now, what are some tactics thatyou've used to improve the
guest experience?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
We have some that are fresh coming out of the box
that I won't give too muchdetail on, but one of the things
we're very proud of at MainSqueeze Juice Co.
Seriously, it's a good answerto your question.
It's not just a brand billboardhere I'm giving, but our juice
is cold-pressed, fresh-squeezed.
It has no HPP, no high pressure, no pasteurization.
So the products that goes intothat juice are really giving you
(09:39):
that nutritional punch, thatgreat benefit that you need.
Well, that's quite a bigdifference compared to HPP
juices on most grocery shelvesor even in some of our
competitor restaurants.
It's not that you don't getsomething from those juices, but
it's quite a different spectrum.
So it's imperative that weexplain that to the guests in
our environment.
We must walk them through thatjourney and we have many levels
(10:02):
of customers that are advocatesof mains grease.
Some of them are on a specificjourney, like reclaiming health,
targeting a specific thing.
Again, all the more reason weneed someone to explain what's
in this bottle, why you chooseit and how it benefits you.
So we're leveraging a newtechnology that we're about to
roll in the next six monthswe're testing it here.
(10:25):
Soon it's actually going tostand in the place of supporting
our great employees who aredoing that, because sometimes
the employee needs more timeexplaining that when they're
also called to go make ourhandcrafted smoothies that are
no sugar, no artificialsweeteners, no water, they need
to do that too, and they workthe drive-through.
So we have to have a technologypiece that helps us bridge that
(10:46):
gap, and we're going to testthat very soon and, like I said,
expect to scale that in thenext six months, after we work
out some tweaks, and that'll bea new solution.
So I think companies and brandsjust always need to be thinking
about what problem am I needingto solve?
Today, I can't remove the humanelement on either the customer
side or the employee side.
(11:06):
So what can I do to build thebridge with proper tech that's
efficient and affordable andreally is a solution?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I think that's so powerful.
And when you're evaluatingtechnology, what are some of the
questions that you're asking toknow?
Should we do this, should wenot Like, as you're piloting
this new technology, what'sgoing to be the deciding factor
for you?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Pre and post survey of both customers your internal
customer employees and yourexternal customer right.
That's important.
So what was your experiencelike?
At MainSqueezed?
You used COBRA, 4-year-old, astech.
Now we're testing it.
Now what's your experienceafter?
I think some people get tooexcited about the solution
(11:47):
itself and forget that againhuman element, because there are
going to be talking points.
What are they?
And obviously it's hard to hit100% most of the time, but we
can get close if we just makeminor tweaks.
So that's important.
Affordability, of course, andthe return on the investment
always has to be consideredshort and long-term, because our
(12:08):
franchise owners are certainlythe heroes of capitalism and we
want them to feel good about thesolution.
And then, what is the problemit's trying to solve when you
integrate tech and is it doingthat?
So in our case, we're trying tosolve multiple things through
this piece that I'm talkingabout, that we're going to roll
the customer journey, thecustomer experience, and so
(12:30):
that'll be very much aqualitative and quantitative
ability to track that.
But also speed of service isimportant, because if I'm bogged
down with me who might needmore time, want more time to
walk through the juices whetherI might impact speed of service
negatively.
And then the employeeexperience.
Are we relieving their load byhaving a technology piece that
(12:51):
can support them deliveringtheir task and feel good about
it?
Having a technology piece thatcan support them delivering
their task and feel good aboutit?
It's important that the toolssupport the employee's job, to
get a big green check mark atthe end of the day that says,
hey, I did a good job today andI met my goals and I think
oftentimes we forget about that.
Matters to the employee too.
They don't want to go homefrustrated and come in the next
(13:11):
day to do it again.
They want to leave feeling goodabout themselves and hopefully
our solutions support all ofthat.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
That's such a great way to put it, and just this
common thread of everythingwe're talking about boiling back
to people.
I would just encourage anyonelistening whether you've got a
restaurant or a technology orwhatever it's like, think about
how can we help people feel moreimportant that work with us,
because the more important theyfeel, the more empowered they
(13:40):
feel, and the better we do ofgiving them direction on the
principles of what they'resupposed to do to be good brand
ambassadors, the better theguest experience, the better the
business.
I think that you're just such agreat living reminder of the
fact that, yes, it's aboutpeople first, and you just exude
that, and I love that.
(14:00):
Now, jennifer, you have hadsuch a great career and I would
encourage everyone to go checkout her LinkedIn because it's
just so fun to read through allthe things that you've done.
Who's someone that deserves anovation, who's someone that you
feel like has been doing coolthings that we should be
following.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
At the top of my list , particularly the state of the
world today, in such challengingtimes, is , who is this founder
and CEO of well, I think she'sfounder and chairman.
Now for Giving Kitchen.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Giving Kitchen.
Oh my gosh, I mean there'snobody better.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And we think about just in the last few months,
what we've experienced with,obviously, the tragedy in New
Orleans, with the attack thathappened on New Year's Eve, and
then the fires in California andhow much that's affecting so
many lives.
Asheville and the floods thosewere all beautiful hospitality
cities where food service andhospitality workers are severely
(14:52):
affected just in thosetragedies alone.
And so Giving Kitchen alwayssteps up to the plate and not
only helps with I don't know ifI'm saying it right but micro
giving.
They give funds to people inneed who prove their business
case and that they support, andthey offer that in all 50 states
.
But they also have I actuallytoured the facility to get to
(15:12):
know them better and understandwhat they do and they have
people there to give servicesthat speak over 100 languages.
If someone needs help findinghousing or help with a child
that has special needs, they candirect them to resources.
So I just think the breadth anddepth of what they do at Given
Kitchen is such a heartfeltthing and it meets the needs of
the type of environment that wecreate in hospitality.
(15:34):
So Jen is a heroine in my mindfor sure.
That's a great example, I think.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I love that and she came on the podcast and she is
just such a vibrant soul, lovewhat she's doing at Giving
Kitchen and she's a power houseand love her mission and so,
yeah, great, great, shout out,definitely people need to follow
her.
Well, jennifer, how can peoplefollow you?
And Main Squeeze Juice Co.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think several ways.
First of all, come visit one ofour amazing, beautiful stores.
You'll love the vibe, supercool, and you can find our store
list online on our website,which is mainsqueezedjuicecocom.
If you're interested infranchising, of course, it's
Main Squeeze Juice CoFranchising.
We are franchising with purpose, so we have beautiful
opportunities for growth anddevelopment to come in as an
(16:20):
entrepreneur.
And then, of course, instagram,twitter, facebook, linkedin,
and now it sounds like you knowwe may be moving into the TikTok
era.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I know a lot of Gen Zers who got their fingers
crossed on that one.
Yeah, that's our hope.
Well, Jennifer, for remindingus that we should put pressure
on fruits, not people.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGive an Ovation.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
All right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
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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