April 24, 2025 • 25 mins
In today's highly competitive restaurant landscape, standing out requires more than just great food. It demands seamless digital experiences, deep emotional connections, and a loyalty strategy that touches every part of the brand. Tropical Smoothie Cafe is meeting that challenge head-on, leveraging loyalty principles to create what it calls “everyday getaways” for its guests.
At the heart of this effort is Melissa Cummings, Vice President of Digital Marketing. With over three years leading the Tropic Rewards® loyalty program and broader digital initiatives, Cummings has been instrumental in driving nearly 50% year-over-year loyalty growth — an achievement all the more remarkable given today’s fragmented foodservice market.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to our Leaders in Customer Loyalty
podcast series, our BrandStories edition.
It's great to have you hereevery Thursday.
The Fast Casual Restaurant isin the midst of rapid
transformation.
Over the past year, we've hadthe privilege of speaking with
many individuals and brandswithin the industry.
We've seen significantdisruption reshape the landscape
(00:25):
, driven by evolving customerexpectations, digital
acceleration and heightenedcompetition.
Throughout our conversationswith these industry leaders, one
theme has remained consistentBrands that lead with customer
centricity through loyalty,innovation, exceptional customer
experience and purpose-driveninitiatives are the ones that
(00:47):
are redefining industrystandards.
Despite these challenges,certain brands continue to break
through.
Tropical smoothie cafe is onesuch standout, with impressive
growth across both the storefootprint as well as the store
traffic within and digitalengagement.
The brand has demonstrated howa clear strategic focus on the
(01:10):
customer fuels both loyalty andbusiness results.
Their success is rooted in aunified approach to digital
transformation, brandstorytelling and community
impact.
Today, we're thrilled towelcome Melissa Cummings.
She is the Vice President ofDigital Marketing at Tropical
Smoothie Cafe.
She's going to share how thebrand is leveraging loyalty data
(01:32):
and digital strategy to buildmeaningful connections with
customers and drive scalablegrowth in a highly competitive
marketplace.
Melissa, welcome to the Leadersin Customer Loyalty Podcast.
The Brand Stories Edition.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'm good, I'm so excited to be here.
Talk all things loyalty withyou, putting the guests at the
center of everything we do hereat Tropical.
Smoothie Cafe.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Looking forward to the discussion.
My kids are a big fan ofTropical Smoothie Cafe, so it
should be a very interestingdiscussion.
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Same.
I think I'm one of the onlyparents out there whose kids ask
for a smoothie party instead ofa pizza party for their
birthday.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
There you go.
And wasn't Sunday National AcaiDay?
And then there was somethingyesterday.
I know that I had some otheracai specials as well.
Sunday was Acai Day.
I'm 100% sure of that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It was.
It's a big holiday.
We celebrate National Acai BowlDay.
That is the newest addition toour menu lineup.
We debuted them last year and,if you can see behind me in the
recording, we have this yeardebuted Nutella drizzle as a
topping for those bowls andthere is literally no better
thing on our menu than this bowlbehind me.
(02:48):
It's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
First off, for those who may not be familiar, could
you give us a short introductionto Tropical Smoothie Cafe?
How was the company started?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I am very glad that you started there because for
our brand, where we started andour roots are so critically
important, it shaped thatexperience that we and our
franchisees try to deliver everysingle day, because we believe
it offers something that we candeliver so uniquely to our
(03:18):
guests and our members that theyliterally can't get anywhere
else.
So we were born on a beach,literally on a beach in Destin,
florida, and on that beach welearned that there's a better
way to live and we want to sharethat with as many people as
possible.
From those roots in the beachcame a simple but very
(03:40):
compelling offering Freshly made, better for you bowls, like we
were talking about, smoothies,and food that's served up with
vacay vibes.
It's who we are and we want andwe strive to be that everyday
getaway in our guests' lives, akind of a tiny tropical vacation
in the middle of your day.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Excellent.
We'd love to know a little bitmore about you.
Many brands are focused onbuilding out their customer
loyalty teams, and how peopleget into such amazing positions
as yourself is of great interest.
So could you tell us a littlebit more about your current role
at Tropical Smoothie Cafe andwhere you are today, and then
maybe a position or two that ledup to this role?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Sure.
So I am the Vice president ofdigital marketing at Tropical
Smoothie Cafe and I literallyjust celebrated last week my
three year anniversary with thebrand and in that role I oversee
what we call our Tropic Rewardsloyalty program and I have
helped in the three years tolead that program to explosive
growth, growing the program byalmost 50% multiple years in a
(04:46):
row.
And then I also oversee CRM,which we call internally our
owned digital marketing, andthat also includes promotion
strategy.
Like you talked about Acai BowlDay, and some of those
promotions have driven thehighest sales days in our
brand's entire history, andpromotions that have driven our
(05:15):
brand to become number one inthe food and beverage category
of the app store at certaintimes throughout the year, which
, for a brand of our size, isfantastic and very difficult to
achieve against the big QSR gunsout there the big QSR guns out
there.
And then anything kind of thatencompasses that miscellaneous
digital marketing side of theworld, like digital listings,
overseeing our MarTech strategywith my counterpart in
e-commerce, anything that's apart of that drive to digital,
(05:38):
trying to educate and convert asmany of our guests as possible
to that digital orderingexperience, since it is such a
better experience to order ahead.
It's a win-win both for ourguests and for our crew inside
our cafes.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Excellent.
What keeps you up at night?
What are the biggest challengesor potential opportunities that
you face with your position?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure.
So I think I have an answerthat kind of hits both.
It's both a challenge and it'san opportunity and that's a
learning that we just recentlygot in our latest round of
loyalty research when we talkedto our current members people
that are our guests but not yetmembers of our program and just
prospective guests for our brandoverall and we asked them an
(06:23):
interesting question.
It got a very interestinganswer and it was how do brands
earn your loyalty?
And their answer which iscritically important for
everybody listening to this thatruns or has a part of a loyalty
program is their answer was notjust restricted to the loyalty
program is how a brand builds myloyalty.
(06:44):
Over time it was a small part ofit, but there was so much more
to earning and keeping a guestloyalty.
It was number one get my orderright was the most important
thing to gaining the loyalty.
Then offering a worthwhilerewards program so our Tropic
Rewards program, or thedifferent programs out there in
the industry.
(07:05):
Rewards program so our TropicRewards program are the
different programs out there inthe industry.
Third was providing aconsistent experience and last
was exclusive products.
So it was just such a keyreminder seeing those words on
the page that every single touchpoint for the guest matters.
It's not loyalty, is not just amarketing team's responsibility
(07:25):
, the branding you do or thenumber of points that you
provide in your program.
Every single person in thebrand is responsible for gaining
and maintaining a guest loyalty.
So for us that means everysingle aspect must feel like a
tropical escape and has todeliver flawlessly for our
guests to get them to get valuefor our brand and become loyal.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Okay, excellent.
It's kind of a unique time tobe in marketing all the way
around a lot of kind of macroand micro economic changes that
are we're seeing.
Hopefully it's temporary, butyou look at it holistically.
How is your industry therestaurant, fast, casual, that
(08:09):
industry kind of changing?
What are you seeing from theindustry changing, maybe how the
customers are changing and howis Choco Smoothie Cafe kind of
responding to those changes?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Sure, I mean, like you said, in this environment
where you can get any singletype of food or beverage ordered
in any channel, you prefer theservice method, you prefer
pickup delivery.
The need to stand out and bethe brand of choice when people
are hungry or thirsty has neverbeen greater, and everything my
(08:49):
team does and creates for theguests evolving needs also then
has to be a digital program thatnot only works for the guests
but it has to work for the brandfinancially and it has to
benefit our franchisees and besomething that can work
operationally in the cafes.
So we take, in this environment, extreme discipline, trying to
thread that perfect needle, andinvest the time and energy,
collaborating internally withanalytics with it, with strategy
(09:11):
and operations, to craft theseprograms that can be a
win-win-win for the guest, forthe brand and for our
franchisees.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Okay, customer loyalty is very important, as we
discussed with many brands.
One of the things we like to dois get an understanding of how
brands are defining differentterms within customer loyalty.
We do a lot of research, but Ithink having a firm qualitative
understanding of what it meansto you and to others is very
important.
So what does customer loyaltymean to you and to Tropical
(09:44):
Smoothie Cafe?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Sure.
So to kind of build off thatsentiment of how much time we
spend collaborating internallyto design these win-win-win
experiences.
A good example of that is weall collectively all of those
teams that I mentioned ITstrategy, infosec, brand
(10:06):
analytics, all of those teamsthat I mentioned IT strategy,
infosec, brand analytics sat ina room for a half day and we
built collectively a North Starvision for what we want our
loyalty, our digital marketingand our digital experience to
deliver on is to leverage guestinsights to create easy, breezy
(10:31):
guest experiences that buildbrand love and maintain
long-term financial growth andprofitability.
Everything we do inspiresguests to live better and
experience the fun and freedomof a tropical getaway in their
everyday lives.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Excellent.
When you look at the TropicalSmoothie Reward Program, you
know how does that fit into yourvision for customer loyalty,
how you view customer loyalty asan organization.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah, well, with that , north Star filter has really
helped us determine how loyaltyfits within our brand and how it
can best deliver for our guests.
So easy breezy out of thatNorth Star vision has really
become the key factor in makingany single loyalty decision that
we make.
So when we wonder, ah, thisloyalty experience, redeeming a
(11:19):
reward, the way we're doing ittoday, is it okay or should we
try and make it better?
Literally, if anyone asks thatquestion about something,
someone in the room notnecessarily just in marketing,
it could be IT or analytics willsay is it easy breezy for the
guests?
If not, we need to make itbetter.
So that really has permeatedcross-functionally every
(11:40):
decision we make about theprogram and improvements that
need to be made.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Excellent and customer loyalty, as we
mentioned, is very germane, veryrelevant.
Right now we have brandmeetings where we talk about
different facets of customerloyalty.
One of the things that we seeis that some brands prioritize
customer loyalty holisticallyright, so they have a
customer-centric culture and Iknow that can be a bit banal at
times, but it's very impactful.
But you see this bifurcationbetween brands who have that
(12:07):
focus and those who do not.
When you look at customerloyalty, how is it prioritized
within your organization?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Sure.
So my favorite part is how muchthat North Star that we built
last year has really permeatedthe entire organization, where
loyalty is not just a marketingthing to drive and build.
So, for example, unsolicited,my counterpart, the VP of
e-commerce, came to me last weekand said I was placing an order
(12:39):
today and I realized there'ssomething in redeeming rewards
that's not as easy breezy as itshould be.
Do you want to brainstorm theoptions to improvement?
And that someone in IT sayingin a marketing experience your
loyalty program is not as easybreezy as it should be.
It falls under my team to fixit.
I would like to partner withyou and fix it is literally a
(12:59):
marketer's dream and I thinkthat North Star collectively has
guided us that it is everysingle department's
responsibility to constantlyevaluate their areas, answer if
it's as easy breezy as possibleand then work collectively
together to optimize things thataren't.
So it has been literally a gamechanger for our
(13:21):
cross-functional work to sharethat vision together.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Excellent, Great to hear, and I know you are doing
some very unique things in thecorporate social responsibility
kind of sustainability kind ofbig picture efforts within the
organization.
I think you're currentlysponsoring the Sunshine for
Teachers campaign to recognizeand reward educators.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about the details of this
campaign, how it came into being?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I am so excited you're talking about this.
We are very, very excited aboutthis campaign.
This is the first time we'redoing this campaign, and this is
because Tropical Smoothie Cafeknows that schools and the
teachers within them are trulythe heart of every single
community.
We're committed to findingmeaningful ways to connect with
and support the communitieswhere our franchisees live and
(14:07):
they operate their cafes, andrecognizing and celebrating
educators is a natural extensionof that mission.
So we designed a nationalteacher recognition program in
that kind of everyday getawaystyle that we talked about, and
we are giving away over $100,000in prizes to be awarded to
(14:29):
deserving teachers in theirlocal communities.
So one deserving teacher willwin a $10,000 tropical getaway
plus free smoothies for a year,and that $10,000 tropical
getaway is not that little likeeveryday getaway in your day.
This is a real tropicalvacation that $10,000 could
(14:49):
provide.
And then 19 runners up each get$1,000 and free smoothies for a
year, and then all 20 of thewinning teacher schools will
receive a $1,000 donation and aschool-wide smoothie party, and
then a fun benefit to those thattook the time to nominate the
(15:09):
teachers for this award.
Those nominators of the 20winning teachers also win free
smoothies for a year.
And then at the end we'resurprising all 11,300 plus
teachers that were nominatedwith a free smoothie, with food
purchase during TeacherAppreciation Week.
(15:30):
So we are just so, so excitedto be all in on this and play a
big role in spreading sunshinethroughout our communities.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Excellent.
Emotional loyalty is anothertopic that's quite relevant
within customer loyalty rightnow.
There's some challenges withregard to emotional loyalty how
it's defined, how it'sunderstood, how it's socialized
but health and wellness isobviously very emotive.
Convenience has an emotivefactor as well, and when you
look at emotional loyalty fromTropical Smoothies Cafe's
(15:58):
perspective, you know how do youlook at it, how do you measure
it and how do you differentiatearound potential emotive appeal.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Sure.
So for that example, I'll stickwith the sunshine for teachers
example we were just talkingabout.
So teachers inspire betterevery single day and that's the
core of who we are at TropicalSmoothie Cafe and why we chose
to celebrate them.
Inspire better isn't just oneof our core brand values, it's
(16:27):
how we approach everything thatwe do.
So teachers that live thatvalue in their classrooms.
They uplift their students,contribute to their local
communities.
So through this initiative, wewant to show our gratitude, we
want to spread a little sunshineand remind teachers everywhere
that their hard work does not gounnoticed.
So by celebrating them, we'renot just saying thank you, we're
(16:48):
reinforcing our brand's missionto make our communities
brighter.
One classroom and then, throughthis program, one smoothie at a
time.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Excellent.
When you look at the programholistically, what are two or
three things that you're mostproud of regarding the customer
loyalty program at TropicalSmoothie Cafe?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Sure.
So we have lots of littlevictories every day.
Like, you and I were talking atthe beginning about launching a
new promotion for us this yearto support National Acai Bowl
Day this past Sunday.
So there's lots ofcross-functional victories like
that standing up, importantcapstone promotions for our
brand.
But I think what I'm the mostproud of is the combination of
(17:32):
every single one of thosecampaigns and new ideas that we
launch, the readable, massiveimpact that those have to our
brand, that we can see and ourfranchisees can see.
So, for example, the loyaltyprogram, what we're doing inside
our digital experience, digitalmarketing, helped the brand
once again last year to postpositive same store sales.
(17:56):
And that's on top of 13consecutive years of same store
sales growth for our brand,which, as you and I talked about
the very difficult environmentthat we're in, is very difficult
to achieve that kind.
The very difficult environmentthat we're in is very difficult
to achieve that kind of successin the economy that we've been
in and with all of thecompetition out there.
And then we also saw ourloyalty membership last year
(18:16):
grow 50% again, on top of over50% growth the year before.
And last year was our highestamount of people signing up for
our Tropic Awards program ever,and then last year, our highest
amount of people signing up forour Tropic Awards program ever.
And then last year our digitalsales increased throughout the
year and we had some all-timehigh digital sales mix weeks as
a result of some of our greatpromotions.
(18:37):
And then you can tell, thefranchisees also feel all of
that success and growth as welland that they want to keep being
a part of it, as they helped usto open 161 new cafes last year
and get us to our 1500th cafemilestone.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Excellent.
Last question somewhatself-serving what can Loyalty360
do to help you and your teamwith your customer loyalty
efforts?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I would say continue to do what you guys do in terms
of continuing to share bestunicorn in the industry, where
they're one of the only groupswhere members are very willing
and open up to share their truechallenges, opportunities, their
results that they're getting,because we're all trying to work
together to understand and growloyalty in our industry.
(19:37):
So it's really unique in howforthcoming and helpful and best
practice sharing this group ofmembers is.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Absolutely.
Well.
Now we have our wonderfulquickfire question round, where
we like to keep the responses toa word or short phrases.
So the first one, firstquestion we have is what word or
short phrase do you use toinspire others?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Work hard and play hard is the motto for every team
that I've led and is theculture of my teams.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Excellent.
What is your least favoriteword that others use?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I would say it's can't, because there's literally
almost nothing that you can'tdo.
It might just be a matter ofreprioritization budget
resources that you need.
So I encourage our teams and,cross-functionally, kind of
shift your mindset a little bit,instead of saying can't answer
(20:33):
what would have to be true forit to happen.
Excellent what excites you atwork, I would say hands down the
people and culture we liveevery day to spread sunshine and
inspire better.
So that just makes work fun andfulfilling and it can't be beat
at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
And if I can say two, I wouldalso say that explosive growth
we're seeing year over year atthe brand just makes it such a
(20:54):
fun ride to be a part of thatsuccess.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Okay, and what do you find tiresome at work or at
home?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
home michigan winters .
It literally was a blizzardyesterday and it's snowing.
It was 10 degrees this morning.
It is never ending and I'm sotired of it there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
My daughter plays soccer for eastern michigan, so
I'm not, and michigan quiteoften was there she probably
drinks smoothies then, becauseit is our number one smoothie
market, us Eskimos up here,apparently love our cold drinks.
That's good.
Is there a book that you findyou recommend to colleagues?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Lean In out of any business book I have read has
probably made the most impactand is a book I think about
almost weekly.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Okay, probably made the most impact and is a book I
think about almost weekly.
Okay, well, you're definitelynot going to want to read the
book that's out now.
That kind of counters that.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Okay, and.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
I'm forgetting Sarah.
She was the PR secretary forI'm looking it up right now
Facebook for the 400 years from,I think, 6 to 15.
And it's called careless people.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Interesting.
I'll have to check that one out.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, I'm on my second time listening Ken
driving back from Eastern, butjust kind of she takes the whole
Facebook team to task prettyhard.
Okay so, but anyway.
So, yeah, lean in is a goodbook.
I've read that as well, butit's.
It's interesting and you neverknow what is actually the truth.
But Careless People.
I think it's the number onebusiness book out right now.
So next, what is your favoritesmoothie flavor?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
We talked about how much I love the acai bowl.
Behind me, smoothie flavor is,hands down, the detox island
green.
It's made with no addedsweetener but somehow still has
so much flavor packed in there.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Excellent, and what profession, other than the one
you're currently doing, wouldyou maybe like to attend?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I am lucky because you know we didn't talk about
how I got to this position, butI spent 17 years at Domino's
Pizza, so learning literally ata what I consider more of a tech
company than a pizza company,how to do digital marketing and
digital experience.
And I had a chance there as Istarted out to do almost every
role.
I did legislative affairs,investor relations, I worked in
(23:11):
the supply chain placing doughballs on a tray like Lucille
Ball, trying to keep up with it,so I had a chance to do a whole
bunch of roles and once Itouched digital marketing there,
it was the first time that Isaid don't move me anymore.
This is my home.
I've declared my major and Iwould never do anything else now
.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Excellent.
What do you enjoy doing thatyou often don't get the time to
do?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It's eight months of winter in Michigan, so I would
say, wake surfing anything on alake.
We live on a lake in Michiganand I haven't seen the sun in
seven months and I don't know ifit's ever coming back.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, hopefully it does come back.
They have bubbles in the air.
I think, though, who inspiredyou to become the person that
you are today.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
If it's work related, I would say at Domino'ses, it
was our chief digital officer,dennis maloney.
He created the entire visionand brought dominoes to the
level of digital mix and successthat they are today.
He's the reason that it's atech company as much as a pizza
company and it was so fun to bepart of that ride.
(24:18):
Side by side with him, Iliterally watched the first
digital order be placed for thebrand and seeing it grow to what
it is today, and all under hisleadership and vision and
innovations and pushing us.
It was amazing to be a part ofthat ride and that success story
.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Excellent.
And the last question you knowhow would you like to be
remembered by friends and family?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I would say present, I try, and when my kids are home
, it is all about themGod-centered and kind and a good
marketer.
Hopefully they think about thattoo.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Excellent, well, great Well.
Melissa, thank you very muchfor taking the time to speak
with us today.
It's always a pleasure speakingwith you and getting an update
on Tropical Smoothie, and welook forward to learning more
from you and your teamthroughout the year.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Sounds good, Thanks everybody.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Absolutely, and thank you everyone for taking the
time to listen today.
Make sure you join us everyThursday for another edition of
our Leaders in Customer Loyaltyseries.
Until then, have a wonderfulday.
Welcome back to our Leaders in Customer Loyalty
podcast series, our BrandStories edition.
It's great to have you hereevery Thursday.
The Fast Casual Restaurant isin the midst of rapid
transformation.
Over the past year, we've hadthe privilege of speaking with
many individuals and brandswithin the industry.
We've seen significantdisruption reshape the landscape
(00:25):
, driven by evolving customerexpectations, digital
acceleration and heightenedcompetition.
Throughout our conversationswith these industry leaders, one
theme has remained consistentBrands that lead with customer
centricity through loyalty,innovation, exceptional customer
experience and purpose-driveninitiatives are the ones that
(00:47):
are redefining industrystandards.
Despite these challenges,certain brands continue to break
through.
Tropical smoothie cafe is onesuch standout, with impressive
growth across both the storefootprint as well as the store
traffic within and digitalengagement.
The brand has demonstrated howa clear strategic focus on the
(01:10):
customer fuels both loyalty andbusiness results.
Their success is rooted in aunified approach to digital
transformation, brandstorytelling and community
impact.
Today, we're thrilled towelcome Melissa Cummings.
She is the Vice President ofDigital Marketing at Tropical
Smoothie Cafe.
She's going to share how thebrand is leveraging loyalty data
(01:32):
and digital strategy to buildmeaningful connections with
customers and drive scalablegrowth in a highly competitive
marketplace.
Melissa, welcome to the Leadersin Customer Loyalty Podcast.
The Brand Stories Edition.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'm good, I'm so excited to be here.
Talk all things loyalty withyou, putting the guests at the
center of everything we do hereat Tropical.
Smoothie Cafe.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Looking forward to the discussion.
My kids are a big fan ofTropical Smoothie Cafe, so it
should be a very interestingdiscussion.
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Same.
I think I'm one of the onlyparents out there whose kids ask
for a smoothie party instead ofa pizza party for their
birthday.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
There you go.
And wasn't Sunday National AcaiDay?
And then there was somethingyesterday.
I know that I had some otheracai specials as well.
Sunday was Acai Day.
I'm 100% sure of that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It was.
It's a big holiday.
We celebrate National Acai BowlDay.
That is the newest addition toour menu lineup.
We debuted them last year and,if you can see behind me in the
recording, we have this yeardebuted Nutella drizzle as a
topping for those bowls andthere is literally no better
thing on our menu than this bowlbehind me.
(02:48):
It's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
First off, for those who may not be familiar, could
you give us a short introductionto Tropical Smoothie Cafe?
How was the company started?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I am very glad that you started there because for
our brand, where we started andour roots are so critically
important, it shaped thatexperience that we and our
franchisees try to deliver everysingle day, because we believe
it offers something that we candeliver so uniquely to our
(03:18):
guests and our members that theyliterally can't get anywhere
else.
So we were born on a beach,literally on a beach in Destin,
florida, and on that beach welearned that there's a better
way to live and we want to sharethat with as many people as
possible.
From those roots in the beachcame a simple but very
(03:40):
compelling offering Freshly made, better for you bowls, like we
were talking about, smoothies,and food that's served up with
vacay vibes.
It's who we are and we want andwe strive to be that everyday
getaway in our guests' lives, akind of a tiny tropical vacation
in the middle of your day.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Excellent.
We'd love to know a little bitmore about you.
Many brands are focused onbuilding out their customer
loyalty teams, and how peopleget into such amazing positions
as yourself is of great interest.
So could you tell us a littlebit more about your current role
at Tropical Smoothie Cafe andwhere you are today, and then
maybe a position or two that ledup to this role?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Sure.
So I am the Vice president ofdigital marketing at Tropical
Smoothie Cafe and I literallyjust celebrated last week my
three year anniversary with thebrand and in that role I oversee
what we call our Tropic Rewardsloyalty program and I have
helped in the three years tolead that program to explosive
growth, growing the program byalmost 50% multiple years in a
(04:46):
row.
And then I also oversee CRM,which we call internally our
owned digital marketing, andthat also includes promotion
strategy.
Like you talked about Acai BowlDay, and some of those
promotions have driven thehighest sales days in our
brand's entire history, andpromotions that have driven our
(05:15):
brand to become number one inthe food and beverage category
of the app store at certaintimes throughout the year, which
, for a brand of our size, isfantastic and very difficult to
achieve against the big QSR gunsout there the big QSR guns out
there.
And then anything kind of thatencompasses that miscellaneous
digital marketing side of theworld, like digital listings,
overseeing our MarTech strategywith my counterpart in
e-commerce, anything that's apart of that drive to digital,
(05:38):
trying to educate and convert asmany of our guests as possible
to that digital orderingexperience, since it is such a
better experience to order ahead.
It's a win-win both for ourguests and for our crew inside
our cafes.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Excellent.
What keeps you up at night?
What are the biggest challengesor potential opportunities that
you face with your position?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure.
So I think I have an answerthat kind of hits both.
It's both a challenge and it'san opportunity and that's a
learning that we just recentlygot in our latest round of
loyalty research when we talkedto our current members people
that are our guests but not yetmembers of our program and just
prospective guests for our brandoverall and we asked them an
(06:23):
interesting question.
It got a very interestinganswer and it was how do brands
earn your loyalty?
And their answer which iscritically important for
everybody listening to this thatruns or has a part of a loyalty
program is their answer was notjust restricted to the loyalty
program is how a brand builds myloyalty.
(06:44):
Over time it was a small part ofit, but there was so much more
to earning and keeping a guestloyalty.
It was number one get my orderright was the most important
thing to gaining the loyalty.
Then offering a worthwhilerewards program so our Tropic
Rewards program, or thedifferent programs out there in
the industry.
(07:05):
Rewards program so our TropicRewards program are the
different programs out there inthe industry.
Third was providing aconsistent experience and last
was exclusive products.
So it was just such a keyreminder seeing those words on
the page that every single touchpoint for the guest matters.
It's not loyalty, is not just amarketing team's responsibility
(07:25):
, the branding you do or thenumber of points that you
provide in your program.
Every single person in thebrand is responsible for gaining
and maintaining a guest loyalty.
So for us that means everysingle aspect must feel like a
tropical escape and has todeliver flawlessly for our
guests to get them to get valuefor our brand and become loyal.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Okay, excellent.
It's kind of a unique time tobe in marketing all the way
around a lot of kind of macroand micro economic changes that
are we're seeing.
Hopefully it's temporary, butyou look at it holistically.
How is your industry therestaurant, fast, casual, that
(08:09):
industry kind of changing?
What are you seeing from theindustry changing, maybe how the
customers are changing and howis Choco Smoothie Cafe kind of
responding to those changes?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Sure, I mean, like you said, in this environment
where you can get any singletype of food or beverage ordered
in any channel, you prefer theservice method, you prefer
pickup delivery.
The need to stand out and bethe brand of choice when people
are hungry or thirsty has neverbeen greater, and everything my
(08:49):
team does and creates for theguests evolving needs also then
has to be a digital program thatnot only works for the guests
but it has to work for the brandfinancially and it has to
benefit our franchisees and besomething that can work
operationally in the cafes.
So we take, in this environment, extreme discipline, trying to
thread that perfect needle, andinvest the time and energy,
collaborating internally withanalytics with it, with strategy
(09:11):
and operations, to craft theseprograms that can be a
win-win-win for the guest, forthe brand and for our
franchisees.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Okay, customer loyalty is very important, as we
discussed with many brands.
One of the things we like to dois get an understanding of how
brands are defining differentterms within customer loyalty.
We do a lot of research, but Ithink having a firm qualitative
understanding of what it meansto you and to others is very
important.
So what does customer loyaltymean to you and to Tropical
(09:44):
Smoothie Cafe?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Sure.
So to kind of build off thatsentiment of how much time we
spend collaborating internallyto design these win-win-win
experiences.
A good example of that is weall collectively all of those
teams that I mentioned ITstrategy, infosec, brand
(10:06):
analytics, all of those teamsthat I mentioned IT strategy,
infosec, brand analytics sat ina room for a half day and we
built collectively a North Starvision for what we want our
loyalty, our digital marketingand our digital experience to
deliver on is to leverage guestinsights to create easy, breezy
(10:31):
guest experiences that buildbrand love and maintain
long-term financial growth andprofitability.
Everything we do inspiresguests to live better and
experience the fun and freedomof a tropical getaway in their
everyday lives.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Excellent.
When you look at the TropicalSmoothie Reward Program, you
know how does that fit into yourvision for customer loyalty,
how you view customer loyalty asan organization.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah, well, with that , north Star filter has really
helped us determine how loyaltyfits within our brand and how it
can best deliver for our guests.
So easy breezy out of thatNorth Star vision has really
become the key factor in makingany single loyalty decision that
we make.
So when we wonder, ah, thisloyalty experience, redeeming a
(11:19):
reward, the way we're doing ittoday, is it okay or should we
try and make it better?
Literally, if anyone asks thatquestion about something,
someone in the room notnecessarily just in marketing,
it could be IT or analytics willsay is it easy breezy for the
guests?
If not, we need to make itbetter.
So that really has permeatedcross-functionally every
(11:40):
decision we make about theprogram and improvements that
need to be made.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Excellent and customer loyalty, as we
mentioned, is very germane, veryrelevant.
Right now we have brandmeetings where we talk about
different facets of customerloyalty.
One of the things that we seeis that some brands prioritize
customer loyalty holisticallyright, so they have a
customer-centric culture and Iknow that can be a bit banal at
times, but it's very impactful.
But you see this bifurcationbetween brands who have that
(12:07):
focus and those who do not.
When you look at customerloyalty, how is it prioritized
within your organization?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Sure.
So my favorite part is how muchthat North Star that we built
last year has really permeatedthe entire organization, where
loyalty is not just a marketingthing to drive and build.
So, for example, unsolicited,my counterpart, the VP of
e-commerce, came to me last weekand said I was placing an order
(12:39):
today and I realized there'ssomething in redeeming rewards
that's not as easy breezy as itshould be.
Do you want to brainstorm theoptions to improvement?
And that someone in IT sayingin a marketing experience your
loyalty program is not as easybreezy as it should be.
It falls under my team to fixit.
I would like to partner withyou and fix it is literally a
(12:59):
marketer's dream and I thinkthat North Star collectively has
guided us that it is everysingle department's
responsibility to constantlyevaluate their areas, answer if
it's as easy breezy as possibleand then work collectively
together to optimize things thataren't.
So it has been literally a gamechanger for our
(13:21):
cross-functional work to sharethat vision together.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Excellent, Great to hear, and I know you are doing
some very unique things in thecorporate social responsibility
kind of sustainability kind ofbig picture efforts within the
organization.
I think you're currentlysponsoring the Sunshine for
Teachers campaign to recognizeand reward educators.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about the details of this
campaign, how it came into being?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I am so excited you're talking about this.
We are very, very excited aboutthis campaign.
This is the first time we'redoing this campaign, and this is
because Tropical Smoothie Cafeknows that schools and the
teachers within them are trulythe heart of every single
community.
We're committed to findingmeaningful ways to connect with
and support the communitieswhere our franchisees live and
(14:07):
they operate their cafes, andrecognizing and celebrating
educators is a natural extensionof that mission.
So we designed a nationalteacher recognition program in
that kind of everyday getawaystyle that we talked about, and
we are giving away over $100,000in prizes to be awarded to
(14:29):
deserving teachers in theirlocal communities.
So one deserving teacher willwin a $10,000 tropical getaway
plus free smoothies for a year,and that $10,000 tropical
getaway is not that little likeeveryday getaway in your day.
This is a real tropicalvacation that $10,000 could
(14:49):
provide.
And then 19 runners up each get$1,000 and free smoothies for a
year, and then all 20 of thewinning teacher schools will
receive a $1,000 donation and aschool-wide smoothie party, and
then a fun benefit to those thattook the time to nominate the
(15:09):
teachers for this award.
Those nominators of the 20winning teachers also win free
smoothies for a year.
And then at the end we'resurprising all 11,300 plus
teachers that were nominatedwith a free smoothie, with food
purchase during TeacherAppreciation Week.
(15:30):
So we are just so, so excitedto be all in on this and play a
big role in spreading sunshinethroughout our communities.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Excellent.
Emotional loyalty is anothertopic that's quite relevant
within customer loyalty rightnow.
There's some challenges withregard to emotional loyalty how
it's defined, how it'sunderstood, how it's socialized
but health and wellness isobviously very emotive.
Convenience has an emotivefactor as well, and when you
look at emotional loyalty fromTropical Smoothies Cafe's
(15:58):
perspective, you know how do youlook at it, how do you measure
it and how do you differentiatearound potential emotive appeal.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Sure.
So for that example, I'll stickwith the sunshine for teachers
example we were just talkingabout.
So teachers inspire betterevery single day and that's the
core of who we are at TropicalSmoothie Cafe and why we chose
to celebrate them.
Inspire better isn't just oneof our core brand values, it's
(16:27):
how we approach everything thatwe do.
So teachers that live thatvalue in their classrooms.
They uplift their students,contribute to their local
communities.
So through this initiative, wewant to show our gratitude, we
want to spread a little sunshineand remind teachers everywhere
that their hard work does not gounnoticed.
So by celebrating them, we'renot just saying thank you, we're
(16:48):
reinforcing our brand's missionto make our communities
brighter.
One classroom and then, throughthis program, one smoothie at a
time.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Excellent.
When you look at the programholistically, what are two or
three things that you're mostproud of regarding the customer
loyalty program at TropicalSmoothie Cafe?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Sure.
So we have lots of littlevictories every day.
Like, you and I were talking atthe beginning about launching a
new promotion for us this yearto support National Acai Bowl
Day this past Sunday.
So there's lots ofcross-functional victories like
that standing up, importantcapstone promotions for our
brand.
But I think what I'm the mostproud of is the combination of
(17:32):
every single one of thosecampaigns and new ideas that we
launch, the readable, massiveimpact that those have to our
brand, that we can see and ourfranchisees can see.
So, for example, the loyaltyprogram, what we're doing inside
our digital experience, digitalmarketing, helped the brand
once again last year to postpositive same store sales.
(17:56):
And that's on top of 13consecutive years of same store
sales growth for our brand,which, as you and I talked about
the very difficult environmentthat we're in, is very difficult
to achieve that kind.
The very difficult environmentthat we're in is very difficult
to achieve that kind of successin the economy that we've been
in and with all of thecompetition out there.
And then we also saw ourloyalty membership last year
(18:16):
grow 50% again, on top of over50% growth the year before.
And last year was our highestamount of people signing up for
our Tropic Awards program ever,and then last year, our highest
amount of people signing up forour Tropic Awards program ever.
And then last year our digitalsales increased throughout the
year and we had some all-timehigh digital sales mix weeks as
a result of some of our greatpromotions.
(18:37):
And then you can tell, thefranchisees also feel all of
that success and growth as welland that they want to keep being
a part of it, as they helped usto open 161 new cafes last year
and get us to our 1500th cafemilestone.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Excellent.
Last question somewhatself-serving what can Loyalty360
do to help you and your teamwith your customer loyalty
efforts?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I would say continue to do what you guys do in terms
of continuing to share bestunicorn in the industry, where
they're one of the only groupswhere members are very willing
and open up to share their truechallenges, opportunities, their
results that they're getting,because we're all trying to work
together to understand and growloyalty in our industry.
(19:37):
So it's really unique in howforthcoming and helpful and best
practice sharing this group ofmembers is.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Absolutely.
Well.
Now we have our wonderfulquickfire question round, where
we like to keep the responses toa word or short phrases.
So the first one, firstquestion we have is what word or
short phrase do you use toinspire others?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Work hard and play hard is the motto for every team
that I've led and is theculture of my teams.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Excellent.
What is your least favoriteword that others use?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I would say it's can't, because there's literally
almost nothing that you can'tdo.
It might just be a matter ofreprioritization budget
resources that you need.
So I encourage our teams and,cross-functionally, kind of
shift your mindset a little bit,instead of saying can't answer
(20:33):
what would have to be true forit to happen.
Excellent what excites you atwork, I would say hands down the
people and culture we liveevery day to spread sunshine and
inspire better.
So that just makes work fun andfulfilling and it can't be beat
at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
And if I can say two, I wouldalso say that explosive growth
we're seeing year over year atthe brand just makes it such a
(20:54):
fun ride to be a part of thatsuccess.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Okay, and what do you find tiresome at work or at
home?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
home michigan winters .
It literally was a blizzardyesterday and it's snowing.
It was 10 degrees this morning.
It is never ending and I'm sotired of it there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
My daughter plays soccer for eastern michigan, so
I'm not, and michigan quiteoften was there she probably
drinks smoothies then, becauseit is our number one smoothie
market, us Eskimos up here,apparently love our cold drinks.
That's good.
Is there a book that you findyou recommend to colleagues?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Lean In out of any business book I have read has
probably made the most impactand is a book I think about
almost weekly.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Okay, probably made the most impact and is a book I
think about almost weekly.
Okay, well, you're definitelynot going to want to read the
book that's out now.
That kind of counters that.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Okay, and.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
I'm forgetting Sarah.
She was the PR secretary forI'm looking it up right now
Facebook for the 400 years from,I think, 6 to 15.
And it's called careless people.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Interesting.
I'll have to check that one out.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, I'm on my second time listening Ken
driving back from Eastern, butjust kind of she takes the whole
Facebook team to task prettyhard.
Okay so, but anyway.
So, yeah, lean in is a goodbook.
I've read that as well, butit's.
It's interesting and you neverknow what is actually the truth.
But Careless People.
I think it's the number onebusiness book out right now.
So next, what is your favoritesmoothie flavor?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
We talked about how much I love the acai bowl.
Behind me, smoothie flavor is,hands down, the detox island
green.
It's made with no addedsweetener but somehow still has
so much flavor packed in there.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Excellent, and what profession, other than the one
you're currently doing, wouldyou maybe like to attend?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I am lucky because you know we didn't talk about
how I got to this position, butI spent 17 years at Domino's
Pizza, so learning literally ata what I consider more of a tech
company than a pizza company,how to do digital marketing and
digital experience.
And I had a chance there as Istarted out to do almost every
role.
I did legislative affairs,investor relations, I worked in
(23:11):
the supply chain placing doughballs on a tray like Lucille
Ball, trying to keep up with it,so I had a chance to do a whole
bunch of roles and once Itouched digital marketing there,
it was the first time that Isaid don't move me anymore.
This is my home.
I've declared my major and Iwould never do anything else now
.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Excellent.
What do you enjoy doing thatyou often don't get the time to
do?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It's eight months of winter in Michigan, so I would
say, wake surfing anything on alake.
We live on a lake in Michiganand I haven't seen the sun in
seven months and I don't know ifit's ever coming back.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, hopefully it does come back.
They have bubbles in the air.
I think, though, who inspiredyou to become the person that
you are today.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
If it's work related, I would say at Domino'ses, it
was our chief digital officer,dennis maloney.
He created the entire visionand brought dominoes to the
level of digital mix and successthat they are today.
He's the reason that it's atech company as much as a pizza
company and it was so fun to bepart of that ride.
(24:18):
Side by side with him, Iliterally watched the first
digital order be placed for thebrand and seeing it grow to what
it is today, and all under hisleadership and vision and
innovations and pushing us.
It was amazing to be a part ofthat ride and that success story
.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Excellent.
And the last question you knowhow would you like to be
remembered by friends and family?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I would say present, I try, and when my kids are home
, it is all about themGod-centered and kind and a good
marketer.
Hopefully they think about thattoo.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Excellent, well, great Well.
Melissa, thank you very muchfor taking the time to speak
with us today.
It's always a pleasure speakingwith you and getting an update
on Tropical Smoothie, and welook forward to learning more
from you and your teamthroughout the year.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Sounds good, Thanks everybody.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Absolutely, and thank you everyone for taking the
time to listen today.
Make sure you join us everyThursday for another edition of
our Leaders in Customer Loyaltyseries.
Until then, have a wonderfulday.
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