October 20, 2025 • 23 mins
Join hosts Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler at the Fast Casual Executive Summit 2025 as they interview marketing experts Kayla Dillon (Fractional CMO, Common Table Services) and Shoshannah DiDomenico (Senior Marketing Manager, Scooter's Coffee) about winning Gen Z and millennials during economic uncertainty. Discover why retention beats acquisition, how community partnerships can deliver 34% sales lifts at zero cost, and why authenticity matters more than ever. Learn which social platforms actually work, how Scooter's loyalty program drives 60% of transactions, and strategic planning tips for surviving slow seasons in the restaurant industry.
#FastCasualNation #RestaurantMarketing #GenZMarketing
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
#FastCasualNation #RestaurantMarketing #GenZMarketing
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome back into another episode of Fast Casual Nation, the
podcast that started it all. We are here, of course,
live at the Fast Casual Executive Summit twenty twenty five,
Share an anniversary.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Feeling good.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
We got a good topic today.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's winning gen z and millennials marketing to them through
economic uncertainty. So a couple of experts with us, and
that would be Kayla Dillon, who is a fractional CMO
and brand advisor Common Table Services, and show Di Domenico,
Senior marketing manager Scooter's Coffee. So, thank you ladies for
coming in.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Thanks, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
We don't normally get people normally. We're looking through our
computer screensaver.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Live podcast together. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah these Yeah, We're gonna do more of these and
kind of get into it show. Let's start with you
a little bit on Scooter's Coffee.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
What do you do up there?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, So I oversee our field marketing team for Scooters Coffee.
So we have just shy of nine hundred locations in
thirty one states, and so myself along with three other
field marketing team members kind of divide and conquer the
country and are really that liaison for a franchisee in
between our support center as well as like field activations
and local store marketing.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Okay, so not a lot.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Franchise absolutely, Yeah, that's that's a love Kyla.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
What is a fractional CMO.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
So, a fractional CMO the way that I look at
it is, at least from my perspective, is someone who
goes in and performs surgery on a role. Okay, right,
So instead of trying to find someone getting in there
full time, which a lot of the brands that I
support can of forward, it's going in and taking all
that experience as a CMO and helping multiple brands. So
(02:06):
see where your brands are, Eric's, Eric's, Eric's Deli, I've
got a couple others that I can't announce just yet.
And then I'm also supporting startup tech companies as well
that also need some support when it comes to hey,
I've got a great solution.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
They're founder led, but they don't know what they don't know.
Speaker 6 (02:25):
So you kind of developed the overall marketing. You're like, okay,
now this is your plan. Now you follow it.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Yeah, for for brands and even for these startup tech companies,
you know, it's it's more about I was a buyer,
I am a buyer, and so what is that value
add what is that buyer looking for and helping them
kind of find that differentiation in.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
The market to hopefully get their brand up in more
places like.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Suitters so market, let me kind of go with you show.
And this is in reference to kind of the reality
check right now that we're seeing in the industry. So
there's a little bit of challenge right now in flood traffic.
We are starting to see some pressure right now also
on gen Z and Millennial in terms of their spend.
(03:11):
So coffee very unique and tied into that demographic. What
are you guys doing right now to kind of circumvent
that issue?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, it's really interesting because while there is economic
uncertainty for sure for Scooter's Coffee, like, we are faring
really well in a time where people are cutting back,
which is wonderful. I think one of the things that
differentiates us is that when you think about coffee, right
you're fitting into somebody's day to day, whether they get
(03:44):
you on their way to work, or whether they get
you when they're out shopping on the weekends or in
between practices with their kids. And because of the experience
that our franchises in our bristas provide customers. While they
might be making cuts in other areas we've seen them,
they continue to.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Be loyal for us.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
And I think a lot of that stems from just
the experience that they get with us. But also I
feel like now more than ever, people want those little
like rewards and little treats.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
And kind of that sense of normalcy, and and we
are that for them.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Right, whether it's again they're driving to work and they
get Scooter's coffee, they want that sense of normalcy.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah. Well, and when you have something like coffee, which
is an everyday event, it's a little different than trying
to get that occasion you know, where you're winning Thursday
night or you know whatever, you know it might be.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Fair's so interesting too for like the younger because for
me as a coffee drinker, like I have two young children,
so I'm an early morning person.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
If I drink coffee too late, I can't go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Right.
Speaker 7 (04:44):
But when we think about you.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Know, millennials and gen z as a whole, our afternoon
day part is just as successful as our morning day part. Right,
So people are consuming coffee espresso based drinks and also
energy at different parts of the day based on their
lifestyle as well.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I want to get back to the that mix that
you're dealing with, because we've looked at a lot of
different brands at Saber Capital were kind of picking and
choosing the cough because it's a category we're looking at
investing into, and I'm kind of curious how you bridge
that gap. So I want to come back to that.
But before I do, Kayla, this is more around the
(05:19):
idea of budget constraints.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
When we start to see some of.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Them in salest how do you especially when brands panic, Yeah,
how do you deal with that?
Speaker 5 (05:33):
You know, I think it's about making sure that the
money that you have is being utilized precisely right, making
sure that you're cutting you're cutting the waste of the
marketing spend because a lot of times people will spend
money on you know, let's say acquisition, right, Like, if
you're going to be cutting budget, cut budget on acquisition,
(05:55):
cut budget on some of these nice to have and
really focus the must have. So looking at things like
retention right, putting that money into SMS and email and
CRM to bring the people who already know your brand
back in because that's where you're going.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
To continue to get the biggest impact.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
I like to always ask when I'm talking to founders
or CEOs, do you view marketing as an investment or
an expense? And I think that's a really important to
level set because when the budget cut conversation happens, you
have something to bring that back to and say, we
understand that cuts may have to happen, but let's make
(06:38):
sure that we're keeping money to invest in the things
that we know we're going to move the needle.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So if I'm a brand, I've got a TikTok budget,
I've got an email budget to market my new loyalty app,
and I've got to spend in my loyalty app to
get it up to snuff. All right, where would I
where I pull the trigger because I have to cut
one of those? What would I do?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I've cut TikTok TikTok.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Wow, yep, man, you guys heard a guess.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
But at the end of the day, if you have
to cut, it's it's a short term, right, So.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
What other like people?
Speaker 6 (07:09):
I would be thinking, Okay, if I want gen z
and if I want millennials and gen Z, I got
to be on TikTok. So what I mean that's a
misconception you think, or.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
I mean, I think that they're there, but I think honestly,
Instagram is where a majority of them live. And a
social media strategy is very unique because you have to
be able to create that storytelling, get that UGC. If
(07:41):
you are going to do things with influencers, finding the
right ones, it takes a lot of time and energy, consistency,
and I think most people go onto social media to
escape or discover. And so what you're looking to do
is in times of economic crisis, Yes, you want people
(08:03):
to be able to learn about your brand, but I
would rather put less time there in like the amount
of activity, right, the amount of content, the amount of time,
and instead put that time and energy into what we
know is going to impact, which is going to teach retention,
it's going to be that loyalty club, It's going to
(08:24):
be digging into the data you already have and talking
to those people.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So show that brings us to the question because that bridges,
I think, well into how do you increase the loyalty component?
If you are going that route for the spend and
you guys have these daypart chunks that mostly coffee lives in.
How do you bridge the gap to better day parts
like the energy you mentioned there. What's that look like
(08:49):
for scooters?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I think a lot of it is our menu innovation, right,
So if I am an energy consumer, we have our
espresso based consumers, but then we also have those we
have a partnership with Red Bull who prefer that form
of energy. But I also think how we message to
them and the things that we focus on are different
(09:11):
as it relates to the story that we're telling.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So maybe for our early morning consumer, we're talking about
our speed of service, right, so you can get in
and get out and then go on about your day
with whatever that might be. But in the afternoon time, right,
maybe we're focused more on We have customization, which we
know is really important for gen Z. You can mix
and match our drinks and you can really get what
you want. So I think it's also like how you
(09:34):
message to them, and in addition to like that menu innovation,
making sure we have something for both death groups.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
What's the loyalty app look like?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So we have an incredible loyalty program and similar to
what Kayla said, what we know.
Speaker 7 (09:47):
I mean, coffee as a whole is a loyalty business.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Right.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
People are very partial to whichever coffee place they go to.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
We have an incredible program that our franchises really buy into,
which is really important. So they're constantly pushed because what
we know about customers who use our loyalty program, they
visit us more often and they spend more money. And
so that's really kind of where we start to tell
that message. If you're going to be coming to us daily,
get in the app, you're missing rewards, you're missing you know.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
It reallyts us to things.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
What's the model?
Speaker 3 (10:17):
What's our model?
Speaker 7 (10:20):
So we use smiles, which is really important.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So a lot of it too from.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
A marketing perspective is educating customers about what what does
smiles me?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
What does that get me? Right?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Starbucks, I feel like was kind of like the first
like the og to exam the stars, right, and I
think about the visual when they first launched that program.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
There was like the cup and it filled up with stars, right.
So it's educating people about.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Like why loyalty is important and also like how does
it benefit them? It's not just another app we're asking
them to download.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
What's your next Your percentage of sales that come from
the app?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I don't know, and I feel like for me the
reason why I say that in our core markets we
have really high app penetration and we're around probably like
sixty percent of our transactions go through the app. In
our frontier markets where people are still learning about scooters coffee,
maybe they're trying us for the first time, our really
successful stores will come out of the gate strong with
like thirty to forty percent. But there's some where it
(11:14):
takes customers a little bit of time to understand again
why the app is important or why they.
Speaker 7 (11:17):
Should download it.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You said frontier mark, what is that?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That's just a market where we lack brand awareness for us,
So we categorize.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Way to say, I like in tier, we'll qualify as
a frontier market a little.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Brand awareness, like a city anything in the East Coast
where I used to So you know, Florida is a
market that we consider frontier. Tennessee is a market that
we consider frontier. Really our core markets are Omaha, where
we were founded in Base Lincoln is another really good
market for us, kind of like that part of the
country is where we people know Scooters Coffee. You know,
(11:52):
we've been around for twenty five years. They know who
we are.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Kayla pitch me as a a fractional you know, CMO here,
I got I got to run something for a brand.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Here.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
There's brands out here watching this right now thinking I'm
running into exactly the problem that Kaylen's talking about, which
is I got a distress budget. How would you go
about I know this is a tough one, but let's
let's give you a number, A ten brand, ten unit brand. Okay,
they come to you and they say, give me a campaign,
maybe something you've done already. How has it worked, What
(12:26):
have you done and how did it perform?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And what's the cost. I'm always kind of like the range.
It doesn't have to be exactly, but just the range
is like, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Yeah, I've got a couple actually that just pops into
my head. So one that that Erics does is a
dime for a day event where they partner with the community.
Twenty percent of net sales go to an organization. And
Erics is very very community based.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I mean it's a.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Legacy brand, about thirty units, been around for fifty plus years,
so started as a community brand and has grown into
that community brand, so with They're Dying for a Day.
And so anytime you can do something, in my opinion
that is that is focused on local and focused on
that community, you're going to have a much better return
(13:16):
and a much better guest experience because it's going to
be those people that are coming in they're telling their
friends about it. So when we did this Dying for
a Day, we actually saw a thirty four percent lift
in orders. Well, we're saying, and it costs us zero dollars,
Oh wow, zero dollars for.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Us to market it. We didn't really do anything on.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Social It was truly just that organization spreading the word
to the community. And what was really great about that
specific one is there's a lot of different ways that
you can utilize this tactic. But based on what you're
asking me, that location was trending pretty significantly down week over.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
A week for about eight weeks.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
What we noticed is that at thirty four percent with
in traffic, it basically stopped.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
The bleeding right And so.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
This was two weeks ago, so we're still monitoring, but
it is definitely something that we saw as an opportunity
to not only just be a part of the community,
but can also be used to help re engage the
community and keep your franchisey happy by showing that right
type of activity that impacts the business.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
The other one was at a different.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
Brand that I was at, and when I went in,
we were looking at all the different locations that were
also struggling. I noticed something in some of the data
that thought was super interesting is that people were going
to our site looking for the keyword vegan.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
I was like, that's really interesting. Why don't we.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
Test on these lower performing locations. We had one thousand
dollars for ad spend. It was pmax on Google, like
not anything you know out of this world, and we
targeted vegans. And what was super interesting is about a
week and a half into that campaign the locations that
(15:18):
we were doing that targeted marketing had a massive I'm
talking ten thousand dollars a week over a week increase
massive And at first I'm thinking that can't be right,
but then it just kept it just kept increasing. So
we expanded the test, same results, and what we realized
we did a deeper dig into the data after the
(15:40):
campaign is that the vegetarian and vegan options didn't really grow,
but every other category exploded. And it's because we got
rid of the veto vote. Because if you're with a
group of people.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Hey, we want to have lunch.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Like my mom's gluten free, So anytime I'm around her
and I think, okay.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
What's looten free?
Speaker 5 (16:03):
You know, I've got two kids too, So do they
have grilled cheese and mac and cheese if they don't?
So those are two campaigns that you know, really I
saw great, great results with didn't cost a ton of
money or none at all. But it's understanding your guess,
using the data that you have, and using that scalpel,
(16:23):
being very precise and intentional when you're.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Looking at your guests too.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Both that younger audience, especially that it's known millennials in
gen Z are known for being sustainable, and do they
I mean, is that still a thing?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Are they still caring about that a lot?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah? I think so, And I think that more than
being sustainable, I think they when we think about especially
gen Z, right, they're the first generation that has grown
up solely on phones.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Everything that they know is on phones.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And so we actually just did our strategy summit like
a month and a half ago and One of the
studies that we read about in that summit is that
it's really a generation that they're seeking in real life
experiences because so much of their life has been on
the phone. And so something you said that I just
want to touch on is when you're thinking about local
store marketing and you're thinking about partnerships and like, partnering
(17:13):
with an organization that aligns with what your customers care
about is so important. And when you partner with those
types of organizations, they're doing the work for you, right,
You're not having to invest these huge marketing dollars like,
they're pushing it for you.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
So, what kind of organizations like a Scooters that you
would partner Like, what do your customers care about?
Speaker 7 (17:30):
Yeah, our customers care about animals a lot.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Animals.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
We're currently partnered with Make a Wish, And so I
think what our franchises do a really good job of.
We have these national partnerships that we do right, but
with animal shelters, with food banks and homeless shelters like
those are things that people realize impact People that go
to the same school as their kids, go to the
same church, right, go to the same places, and so
(17:54):
any like hyper local focus, but animals is a big one.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Same animals.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, your heartstrings.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yes, Okay, So I'm gonna do kind of a rapidfy
here in terms of the social platform that you guys
would use in these kinds of environments right now. Brand
stressed a little bit, kind of cutting back a little
bit on marketing show. We'll start with you give me
you one, two, three, all right, most important, So TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,
(18:30):
Facebook too.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Because that counts as one Instagram and when we think
about the amount of customers that are on Facebook or Instagram,
it covers a lot of different generations. Right for me
with TikTok, it's a really important platform. But the way
that you need to market on TikTok is very different
than how you do it on Facebook or Instagram. People
don't want these like highly curated ads. It's just different.
(18:56):
And even when I'm a TikTok user, even when the
band was happening, I was one of the unfortunate ones
that deleted the app and couldn't get it back for
a little bit. I got back on Instagram and I
was like, oh my gosh, this is like not fun,
Like I need to to TikTok, but YouTube also does
really well for us when you think about short shorts. Yeah,
when you think about viewership, YouTube is also one of
(19:18):
those where people will go there to learn how to
fix something, to learn how to do something, and so
the viewership generationally.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
Is really great there too.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
So you as med answer, I'm.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
Like, here, I'll just give you all the reasons.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I'm gonna say Meadow would be number.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
One, YouTube would be number two, TikTok would be.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Number How about you?
Speaker 5 (19:37):
It was actually going to be the same, So I
would add a bonus one, which is Reddit.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
I'm seeing a lot of movement and.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
Reddit as being a pretty strong place to do to
do advertising.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yes, we engage on threads, I wouldn't say we're actively
advertising on right do responses and things like that.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
All right, so we.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Got a marketing campaign. We've got kind of the bridge here.
Let's go into our last area, and that is when
you look at the end of this year and early
next year, especially around marketing, what would be two things
both of you, from a brand side and from a
CMO side, that you would recommend brands to do. Ye're
(20:23):
in besides spending the rest of your budget. I got
to hear these stories first.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Kidding me too, I'm can go first. So we are
two things that I would say that a brand needs
to do well. Number one, I would look at continuing
to focus on what you know is going to resonate
with your guests, because right now, more than ever, especially
for talking millennial and gen Z, they're looking for value,
They're looking for experience. And as a marketer's part of
(20:56):
the reason I said earlier about retention, right because these
demographics are online.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
That's all they've known is online.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
If you're inauthentic, authentic, making sure, it's tough, that's a
new way, you know, But it's about understanding what is
your value, right and making sure that whatever that value is.
(21:30):
And that's not just the marketing side, but the experience inside.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Of the four walls they have to work together.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
And so just putting all of your focus on the
thing that you know is not just activity, but what's
going to actually impact.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I think that's going to be huge if you're going
to survive.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
How about for us, the back half of the year
is usually our busiest time of the year, So fall always,
you know, with pumpkin and all the things that.
Speaker 7 (21:57):
And holiday both are really strong sales times for us.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So what I always encourage my franchises to do is
after the holidays, people tend to cut back on budgets
because they just got done celebrating, right, traveling, spending time
with family, buying gifts. But they also start the new
year knw me mentality right, and so January and February
historically are really slow times for us. So what I
encourage my franchises to do is, Yep, we're doing really
(22:21):
well operationally during this time, right, keep doing what you're doing,
but plan for January and February.
Speaker 7 (22:26):
What what are you doing to get.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
In front of customers, either to remind them that we're there,
give them healthy options, right. It's also for a lot
of our stores dark at four pm and colds right,
So it's like people need that excitement where you How
are you meeting them where they are? So mine is
all about operational excellence during this time, capitalized while sales
are there, but start planning.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I like that. I like it.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Scooters in good hands here. I think, thank you, you
guys are doing great. Thank you ladies for coming in today.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Well, thank you thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
You guys, make sure and stay tuned here on Fast
Casual Nation the podcas Yes, if you're not subscribed already,
do that now. And of course, if you're out there
on iTunes or maybe over on Spotify, make sure and
give us five stars. We love that and we'll catch
you next time right here on Fast Casual Nation.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Take care,
Welcome back into another episode of Fast Casual Nation, the
podcast that started it all. We are here, of course,
live at the Fast Casual Executive Summit twenty twenty five,
Share an anniversary.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Feeling good.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
We got a good topic today.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's winning gen z and millennials marketing to them through
economic uncertainty. So a couple of experts with us, and
that would be Kayla Dillon, who is a fractional CMO
and brand advisor Common Table Services, and show Di Domenico,
Senior marketing manager Scooter's Coffee. So, thank you ladies for
coming in.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Thanks, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
We don't normally get people normally. We're looking through our
computer screensaver.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Live podcast together. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah these Yeah, We're gonna do more of these and
kind of get into it show. Let's start with you
a little bit on Scooter's Coffee.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
What do you do up there?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, So I oversee our field marketing team for Scooters Coffee.
So we have just shy of nine hundred locations in
thirty one states, and so myself along with three other
field marketing team members kind of divide and conquer the
country and are really that liaison for a franchisee in
between our support center as well as like field activations
and local store marketing.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Okay, so not a lot.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Franchise absolutely, Yeah, that's that's a love Kyla.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
What is a fractional CMO.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
So, a fractional CMO the way that I look at
it is, at least from my perspective, is someone who
goes in and performs surgery on a role. Okay, right,
So instead of trying to find someone getting in there
full time, which a lot of the brands that I
support can of forward, it's going in and taking all
that experience as a CMO and helping multiple brands. So
(02:06):
see where your brands are, Eric's, Eric's, Eric's Deli, I've
got a couple others that I can't announce just yet.
And then I'm also supporting startup tech companies as well
that also need some support when it comes to hey,
I've got a great solution.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
They're founder led, but they don't know what they don't know.
Speaker 6 (02:25):
So you kind of developed the overall marketing. You're like, okay,
now this is your plan. Now you follow it.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Yeah, for for brands and even for these startup tech companies,
you know, it's it's more about I was a buyer,
I am a buyer, and so what is that value
add what is that buyer looking for and helping them
kind of find that differentiation in.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
The market to hopefully get their brand up in more
places like.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Suitters so market, let me kind of go with you show.
And this is in reference to kind of the reality
check right now that we're seeing in the industry. So
there's a little bit of challenge right now in flood traffic.
We are starting to see some pressure right now also
on gen Z and Millennial in terms of their spend.
(03:11):
So coffee very unique and tied into that demographic. What
are you guys doing right now to kind of circumvent
that issue?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, it's really interesting because while there is economic
uncertainty for sure for Scooter's Coffee, like, we are faring
really well in a time where people are cutting back,
which is wonderful. I think one of the things that
differentiates us is that when you think about coffee, right
you're fitting into somebody's day to day, whether they get
(03:44):
you on their way to work, or whether they get
you when they're out shopping on the weekends or in
between practices with their kids. And because of the experience
that our franchises in our bristas provide customers. While they
might be making cuts in other areas we've seen them,
they continue to.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Be loyal for us.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
And I think a lot of that stems from just
the experience that they get with us. But also I
feel like now more than ever, people want those little
like rewards and little treats.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
And kind of that sense of normalcy, and and we
are that for them.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Right, whether it's again they're driving to work and they
get Scooter's coffee, they want that sense of normalcy.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah. Well, and when you have something like coffee, which
is an everyday event, it's a little different than trying
to get that occasion you know, where you're winning Thursday
night or you know whatever, you know it might be.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Fair's so interesting too for like the younger because for
me as a coffee drinker, like I have two young children,
so I'm an early morning person.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
If I drink coffee too late, I can't go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Right.
Speaker 7 (04:44):
But when we think about you.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Know, millennials and gen z as a whole, our afternoon
day part is just as successful as our morning day part. Right,
So people are consuming coffee espresso based drinks and also
energy at different parts of the day based on their
lifestyle as well.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I want to get back to the that mix that
you're dealing with, because we've looked at a lot of
different brands at Saber Capital were kind of picking and
choosing the cough because it's a category we're looking at
investing into, and I'm kind of curious how you bridge
that gap. So I want to come back to that.
But before I do, Kayla, this is more around the
(05:19):
idea of budget constraints.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
When we start to see some of.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Them in salest how do you especially when brands panic, Yeah,
how do you deal with that?
Speaker 5 (05:33):
You know, I think it's about making sure that the
money that you have is being utilized precisely right, making
sure that you're cutting you're cutting the waste of the
marketing spend because a lot of times people will spend
money on you know, let's say acquisition, right, Like, if
you're going to be cutting budget, cut budget on acquisition,
(05:55):
cut budget on some of these nice to have and
really focus the must have. So looking at things like
retention right, putting that money into SMS and email and
CRM to bring the people who already know your brand
back in because that's where you're going.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
To continue to get the biggest impact.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
I like to always ask when I'm talking to founders
or CEOs, do you view marketing as an investment or
an expense? And I think that's a really important to
level set because when the budget cut conversation happens, you
have something to bring that back to and say, we
understand that cuts may have to happen, but let's make
(06:38):
sure that we're keeping money to invest in the things
that we know we're going to move the needle.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So if I'm a brand, I've got a TikTok budget,
I've got an email budget to market my new loyalty app,
and I've got to spend in my loyalty app to
get it up to snuff. All right, where would I
where I pull the trigger because I have to cut
one of those? What would I do?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I've cut TikTok TikTok.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Wow, yep, man, you guys heard a guess.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
But at the end of the day, if you have
to cut, it's it's a short term, right, So.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
What other like people?
Speaker 6 (07:09):
I would be thinking, Okay, if I want gen z
and if I want millennials and gen Z, I got
to be on TikTok. So what I mean that's a
misconception you think, or.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
I mean, I think that they're there, but I think honestly,
Instagram is where a majority of them live. And a
social media strategy is very unique because you have to
be able to create that storytelling, get that UGC. If
(07:41):
you are going to do things with influencers, finding the
right ones, it takes a lot of time and energy, consistency,
and I think most people go onto social media to
escape or discover. And so what you're looking to do
is in times of economic crisis, Yes, you want people
(08:03):
to be able to learn about your brand, but I
would rather put less time there in like the amount
of activity, right, the amount of content, the amount of time,
and instead put that time and energy into what we
know is going to impact, which is going to teach retention,
it's going to be that loyalty club, It's going to
(08:24):
be digging into the data you already have and talking
to those people.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So show that brings us to the question because that bridges,
I think, well into how do you increase the loyalty component?
If you are going that route for the spend and
you guys have these daypart chunks that mostly coffee lives in.
How do you bridge the gap to better day parts
like the energy you mentioned there. What's that look like
(08:49):
for scooters?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I think a lot of it is our menu innovation, right,
So if I am an energy consumer, we have our
espresso based consumers, but then we also have those we
have a partnership with Red Bull who prefer that form
of energy. But I also think how we message to
them and the things that we focus on are different
(09:11):
as it relates to the story that we're telling.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So maybe for our early morning consumer, we're talking about
our speed of service, right, so you can get in
and get out and then go on about your day
with whatever that might be. But in the afternoon time, right,
maybe we're focused more on We have customization, which we
know is really important for gen Z. You can mix
and match our drinks and you can really get what
you want. So I think it's also like how you
(09:34):
message to them, and in addition to like that menu innovation,
making sure we have something for both death groups.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
What's the loyalty app look like?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So we have an incredible loyalty program and similar to
what Kayla said, what we know.
Speaker 7 (09:47):
I mean, coffee as a whole is a loyalty business.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Right.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
People are very partial to whichever coffee place they go to.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
We have an incredible program that our franchises really buy into,
which is really important. So they're constantly pushed because what
we know about customers who use our loyalty program, they
visit us more often and they spend more money. And
so that's really kind of where we start to tell
that message. If you're going to be coming to us daily,
get in the app, you're missing rewards, you're missing you know.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
It reallyts us to things.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
What's the model?
Speaker 3 (10:17):
What's our model?
Speaker 7 (10:20):
So we use smiles, which is really important.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So a lot of it too from.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
A marketing perspective is educating customers about what what does
smiles me?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
What does that get me? Right?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Starbucks, I feel like was kind of like the first
like the og to exam the stars, right, and I
think about the visual when they first launched that program.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
There was like the cup and it filled up with stars, right.
So it's educating people about.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Like why loyalty is important and also like how does
it benefit them? It's not just another app we're asking
them to download.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
What's your next Your percentage of sales that come from
the app?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I don't know, and I feel like for me the
reason why I say that in our core markets we
have really high app penetration and we're around probably like
sixty percent of our transactions go through the app. In
our frontier markets where people are still learning about scooters coffee,
maybe they're trying us for the first time, our really
successful stores will come out of the gate strong with
like thirty to forty percent. But there's some where it
(11:14):
takes customers a little bit of time to understand again
why the app is important or why they.
Speaker 7 (11:17):
Should download it.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You said frontier mark, what is that?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That's just a market where we lack brand awareness for us,
So we categorize.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Way to say, I like in tier, we'll qualify as
a frontier market a little.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Brand awareness, like a city anything in the East Coast
where I used to So you know, Florida is a
market that we consider frontier. Tennessee is a market that
we consider frontier. Really our core markets are Omaha, where
we were founded in Base Lincoln is another really good
market for us, kind of like that part of the
country is where we people know Scooters Coffee. You know,
(11:52):
we've been around for twenty five years. They know who
we are.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Kayla pitch me as a a fractional you know, CMO here,
I got I got to run something for a brand.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Here.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
There's brands out here watching this right now thinking I'm
running into exactly the problem that Kaylen's talking about, which
is I got a distress budget. How would you go
about I know this is a tough one, but let's
let's give you a number, A ten brand, ten unit brand. Okay,
they come to you and they say, give me a campaign,
maybe something you've done already. How has it worked, What
(12:26):
have you done and how did it perform?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And what's the cost. I'm always kind of like the range.
It doesn't have to be exactly, but just the range
is like, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Yeah, I've got a couple actually that just pops into
my head. So one that that Erics does is a
dime for a day event where they partner with the community.
Twenty percent of net sales go to an organization. And
Erics is very very community based.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I mean it's a.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Legacy brand, about thirty units, been around for fifty plus years,
so started as a community brand and has grown into
that community brand, so with They're Dying for a Day.
And so anytime you can do something, in my opinion
that is that is focused on local and focused on
that community, you're going to have a much better return
(13:16):
and a much better guest experience because it's going to
be those people that are coming in they're telling their
friends about it. So when we did this Dying for
a Day, we actually saw a thirty four percent lift
in orders. Well, we're saying, and it costs us zero dollars,
Oh wow, zero dollars for.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Us to market it. We didn't really do anything on.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Social It was truly just that organization spreading the word
to the community. And what was really great about that
specific one is there's a lot of different ways that
you can utilize this tactic. But based on what you're
asking me, that location was trending pretty significantly down week over.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
A week for about eight weeks.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
What we noticed is that at thirty four percent with
in traffic, it basically stopped.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
The bleeding right And so.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
This was two weeks ago, so we're still monitoring, but
it is definitely something that we saw as an opportunity
to not only just be a part of the community,
but can also be used to help re engage the
community and keep your franchisey happy by showing that right
type of activity that impacts the business.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
The other one was at a different.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
Brand that I was at, and when I went in,
we were looking at all the different locations that were
also struggling. I noticed something in some of the data
that thought was super interesting is that people were going
to our site looking for the keyword vegan.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
I was like, that's really interesting. Why don't we.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
Test on these lower performing locations. We had one thousand
dollars for ad spend. It was pmax on Google, like
not anything you know out of this world, and we
targeted vegans. And what was super interesting is about a
week and a half into that campaign the locations that
(15:18):
we were doing that targeted marketing had a massive I'm
talking ten thousand dollars a week over a week increase
massive And at first I'm thinking that can't be right,
but then it just kept it just kept increasing. So
we expanded the test, same results, and what we realized
we did a deeper dig into the data after the
(15:40):
campaign is that the vegetarian and vegan options didn't really grow,
but every other category exploded. And it's because we got
rid of the veto vote. Because if you're with a
group of people.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Hey, we want to have lunch.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Like my mom's gluten free, So anytime I'm around her
and I think, okay.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
What's looten free?
Speaker 5 (16:03):
You know, I've got two kids too, So do they
have grilled cheese and mac and cheese if they don't?
So those are two campaigns that you know, really I
saw great, great results with didn't cost a ton of
money or none at all. But it's understanding your guess,
using the data that you have, and using that scalpel,
(16:23):
being very precise and intentional when you're.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Looking at your guests too.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Both that younger audience, especially that it's known millennials in
gen Z are known for being sustainable, and do they
I mean, is that still a thing?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Are they still caring about that a lot?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah? I think so, And I think that more than
being sustainable, I think they when we think about especially
gen Z, right, they're the first generation that has grown
up solely on phones.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Everything that they know is on phones.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And so we actually just did our strategy summit like
a month and a half ago and One of the
studies that we read about in that summit is that
it's really a generation that they're seeking in real life
experiences because so much of their life has been on
the phone. And so something you said that I just
want to touch on is when you're thinking about local
store marketing and you're thinking about partnerships and like, partnering
(17:13):
with an organization that aligns with what your customers care
about is so important. And when you partner with those
types of organizations, they're doing the work for you, right,
You're not having to invest these huge marketing dollars like,
they're pushing it for you.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
So, what kind of organizations like a Scooters that you
would partner Like, what do your customers care about?
Speaker 7 (17:30):
Yeah, our customers care about animals a lot.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Animals.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
We're currently partnered with Make a Wish, And so I
think what our franchises do a really good job of.
We have these national partnerships that we do right, but
with animal shelters, with food banks and homeless shelters like
those are things that people realize impact People that go
to the same school as their kids, go to the
same church, right, go to the same places, and so
(17:54):
any like hyper local focus, but animals is a big one.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Same animals.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, your heartstrings.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yes, Okay, So I'm gonna do kind of a rapidfy
here in terms of the social platform that you guys
would use in these kinds of environments right now. Brand
stressed a little bit, kind of cutting back a little
bit on marketing show. We'll start with you give me
you one, two, three, all right, most important, So TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,
(18:30):
Facebook too.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Because that counts as one Instagram and when we think
about the amount of customers that are on Facebook or Instagram,
it covers a lot of different generations. Right for me
with TikTok, it's a really important platform. But the way
that you need to market on TikTok is very different
than how you do it on Facebook or Instagram. People
don't want these like highly curated ads. It's just different.
(18:56):
And even when I'm a TikTok user, even when the
band was happening, I was one of the unfortunate ones
that deleted the app and couldn't get it back for
a little bit. I got back on Instagram and I
was like, oh my gosh, this is like not fun,
Like I need to to TikTok, but YouTube also does
really well for us when you think about short shorts. Yeah,
when you think about viewership, YouTube is also one of
(19:18):
those where people will go there to learn how to
fix something, to learn how to do something, and so
the viewership generationally.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
Is really great there too.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
So you as med answer, I'm.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
Like, here, I'll just give you all the reasons.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I'm gonna say Meadow would be number.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
One, YouTube would be number two, TikTok would be.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Number How about you?
Speaker 5 (19:37):
It was actually going to be the same, So I
would add a bonus one, which is Reddit.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
I'm seeing a lot of movement and.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
Reddit as being a pretty strong place to do to
do advertising.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yes, we engage on threads, I wouldn't say we're actively
advertising on right do responses and things like that.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
All right, so we.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Got a marketing campaign. We've got kind of the bridge here.
Let's go into our last area, and that is when
you look at the end of this year and early
next year, especially around marketing, what would be two things
both of you, from a brand side and from a
CMO side, that you would recommend brands to do. Ye're
(20:23):
in besides spending the rest of your budget. I got
to hear these stories first.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Kidding me too, I'm can go first. So we are
two things that I would say that a brand needs
to do well. Number one, I would look at continuing
to focus on what you know is going to resonate
with your guests, because right now, more than ever, especially
for talking millennial and gen Z, they're looking for value,
They're looking for experience. And as a marketer's part of
(20:56):
the reason I said earlier about retention, right because these
demographics are online.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
That's all they've known is online.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
If you're inauthentic, authentic, making sure, it's tough, that's a
new way, you know, But it's about understanding what is
your value, right and making sure that whatever that value is.
(21:30):
And that's not just the marketing side, but the experience inside.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Of the four walls they have to work together.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
And so just putting all of your focus on the
thing that you know is not just activity, but what's
going to actually impact.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I think that's going to be huge if you're going
to survive.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
How about for us, the back half of the year
is usually our busiest time of the year, So fall always,
you know, with pumpkin and all the things that.
Speaker 7 (21:57):
And holiday both are really strong sales times for us.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So what I always encourage my franchises to do is
after the holidays, people tend to cut back on budgets
because they just got done celebrating, right, traveling, spending time
with family, buying gifts. But they also start the new
year knw me mentality right, and so January and February
historically are really slow times for us. So what I
encourage my franchises to do is, Yep, we're doing really
(22:21):
well operationally during this time, right, keep doing what you're doing,
but plan for January and February.
Speaker 7 (22:26):
What what are you doing to get.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
In front of customers, either to remind them that we're there,
give them healthy options, right. It's also for a lot
of our stores dark at four pm and colds right,
So it's like people need that excitement where you How
are you meeting them where they are? So mine is
all about operational excellence during this time, capitalized while sales
are there, but start planning.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I like that. I like it.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Scooters in good hands here. I think, thank you, you
guys are doing great. Thank you ladies for coming in today.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Well, thank you thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
You guys, make sure and stay tuned here on Fast
Casual Nation the podcas Yes, if you're not subscribed already,
do that now. And of course, if you're out there
on iTunes or maybe over on Spotify, make sure and
give us five stars. We love that and we'll catch
you next time right here on Fast Casual Nation.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Take care,
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