On the go
The company’s unique double drive-thru format and 99-cent burgers were no longer enough to keep pace with the competition.
“We’ve performed very strongly, but the whole industry has gotten quicker at the drive-thru over the last several years, and as we’ve gotten quicker, we’ve gotten weaker in the accuracy department,” says Sirois. “Our customers continued to tell us that they loved our food and they loved our delivery system — the double drive-thru — but what they didn’t like about us was our inconsistency and their inability to rely on us to do it right more often than not. It was simply, in my mind, getting back in and addressing the basics and providing the consumer with what they relied on us for.”
The proposed solution was a Guest Obsessed training program. The GO program is driven toward achieving excellent speed while maintaining a high level of order accuracy and providing guests with the best possible experience at all of Checkers/Rally’s restaurants in 26 states and the District of Columbia.
A cornerstone of the GO program is to reinforce basic operating standards, such as service with a smile, that are absent in so many quick-service restaurants today.
“We talk a lot about making eye contact with the customer when they’re at the window, that there’s a very limited period of time where we interact with the guest, and we need to make sure we take full advantage by making eye contact, smiling, thanking people,” says Sirois.
It’s the little things that often make a difference and keep customers coming back — which is why part of the training involves standing outside by the ordering speaker to hear the difference between short, curt replies and what Sirois calls “smiling through the speaker.”
The second part of the program gives employees a reason to strive for excellence. Sirois believes strongly in incentives and acknowledgment to reward good work.
Checkers/Rally’s makes use of a third-party national shopper program at every restaurant six to eight times a year. He also has internal employees doing secret shopping more often.
“The third party goes to the restaurant, and they order their food according to guidelines and have their drive-thru experience,” says Sirois. “And if that restaurant meets … specific criteria, that shopper immediately pulls over, parks the car, goes to the restaurant and awards that crew some type of an award depending on what part of the program we’re in at that point.
“It may be ‘Guest Obsessed’ pins. It may be gift cards. It may be any number of things. It may be shirts — but some type of immediate recognition that they demonstrated their Guest Obsessed abilities.”
Incentives for general managers are even better. Twice a month, Checkers/Rally’s gives away automobiles in a drawing of general managers who have placed in the top 25 percent of sales growth. And every year, the top 100 general managers and their spouses are taken on a five-night Caribbean cruise.
“We focus on our general manager level because we think that’s the critical position in our company,” says Sirois. “That’s where the rubber meets the road in our business. The general manager hires and oversees the training of the staff. They have ultimate control over costs, promotional execution, guest relations, etc. They are the company to our guests and employees.”
It’s no surprise, then, that Checkers/Rally’s has retention rates well above industry averages, and 75 percent of promotions come from within the organization. And while industry turnover rates for general managers averages about 33 percent, turnover rates for managers who have gone through the Checkers/Rally’s GO program is 13 percent.
“We could save a lot of money this year if we cut out our incentive programs — cruises and cars and things like that — but we think that’s money we get a great return on,” says Sirois.
The incentives and praise also play into improving Checkers/Rally’s corporate culture which, in turn, encourages people to work harder and drive sales.
“We’re all the time acknowledging excellence and acknowledging achievement, and that’s important because all around them, they’re being viewed as something less than excellent because they’re burger flippers,” says Sirois. “We’ve changed how a burger flipper is viewed in our culture.”
