When Keith Sirois became president and CEO of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc., he faced a daunting challenge: He had to find a way to make the company’s restaurants an attractive venture for franchisees in light of the company’s recent financial struggles.
Sirois knew he had to focus his attention on the company’s operating systems if he was going to present Checkers as the opportunity that he knew it was — and improving the operating systems would improve the bottom line.
“While the company was struggling, it was obvious there were many positive attributes to build upon,” says Sirois, who served as vice president of franchise operations before becoming CEO. “The most important thing we’ve had to do to get it done was to develop a culture where everyone was working toward the same thing — both franchisees and employees.”
Sirois and his team of executives had to get the company back on the path of great operational execution if they were going to continue to increase revenue and thus attract franchisees. With franchises comprising 604 of the company’s 804 locations (under both the Checkers and Rally’s Hamburgers brands), they are a key component to continuing growth.
So they developed a plan to improve training, communication and technology to both bolster Checkers/Rally’s revenue and its reputation.
