Make Your Brand Matter by Steven G. Soechtig

Author:Steven G. Soechtig [Soechtig, Steven G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119860372
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2022-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

MAKING QUICK SERVICE QUICKER

Now let's pivot to a slightly less scaled but equally innovative experience‐centric brand in Panera Bread. Panera Bread has always recognized the importance of experience in defining the brand proposition. As articulated by an eTail blog post (the author is not named), Panera adopted a strategy in 2010 they called Panera Warmth. This strategy was based on CEO Ron Shaich's recognition that the Panera Bread brand was being tarnished by the lunchtime line, which forced customers to wait during peak periods.7 Nothing is more frustrating than having to wait in line for a quick‐service experience, and it quickly creates a negative reflection on the brand.

For those readers who do not know the history of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) operational models, the idea of speed – of collapsing time – certainly predates digital. With 75% of QSR orders consumed outside of the restaurant, there has long been a focus on how to improve the takeaway experience. This led McDonald's to introduce the first drive‐through window in 1975, near a military base in Arizona,8 and a long list of other innovations ever since. Even today, 70% of QSR orders are picked up and taken away, often but not exclusively through the drive‐through window. Given this, digital technology was an ideal solution for QSR efficiency, but, interestingly, many QSR brands were relatively slow to adopt digital. Panera Bread saw an opportunity to distinguish their brand.

In 2010, when CEO Ron Shaich first realized that Panera Bread had a challenge with the length of the lunch line and the associated wait time, Panera began investing in their digital experience and opportunities to reduce the amount of time required to patronize their restaurant and, ultimately, enjoy their meal. He used his personal experience to help define their strategy. According to Fortune magazine, Ron Shaich frequented Panera for both breakfast and lunch while shuttling his son to and from school. Given he was a busy CEO, he was often running behind schedule, so he would call the restaurant and pre‐order his meal. Schaich would drive up and have his son run in with the credit card, skipping the line, and getting them out in a couple minutes. “That was a lovely system except it only worked for the CEO,” Shaich said.”9

Recognizing this problem, Panera Bread implemented a new system that was innovative for the time. It was not exclusively digital, but actually a combined digital‐physical experience. Customers could order online, via the web or their mobile device, with full configuration capability available as if the order were placed at the counter. Customers could use the emergent GPS capabilities on the mobile device not just to order lunch but order lunch from the location most convenient to where they are at that moment in time. The order could be prescheduled, allowing the customer to define what time they want to pick it up. This meets the critical need of allowing the customer to control the experience and the timing. These digital advancements, which are relatively commonplace today, were bold steps forward at the time.

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