Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2017 | Page 50

GROWING YOUR SYSTEM
Challenge the pros
“HOW ARE YOU USING BIG DATA AND OTHER
TECHNOLOGIES IN YOUR FRANCHISEE RECRUITMENT?”
David Bloom
Chief Development Officer
Capriotti’s
The data available through today’s manifold
third-party resources and related technolo-
gies is now required to inform and guide
our decisions at every step of
the lifecycle of our franchise
owners. These decisions in-
clude franchise development,
real estate and site selection,
competitive and consumer
trends, marketing messag-
ing, media channel selection,
marketing ROI analysis, and
everything from menu and
pricing management to em-
ployee productivity.
As a brand, Capriotti’s
has invested and continues
to invest heavily to ensure that we have
access to all of the best internal and exter-
nal data resources, technology platforms,
and tools, along with third-party consul-
tants and analysts. The day when a brand
could manage and ensure its competitive
advantage simply by leveraging internal
resources, tools, and analytics are long
gone. To lead and ensure the future suc-
cess of the business model and brand, we
now need to align ourselves with the best
thinkers, platforms, and analysts in each
discipline that aligns with our business.
Our commitment to providing the required
financial resources, best-in-class personnel,
and thought leadership within this area is
foundational to the long-term success of
our brand and our owners.
To be able to meet and exceed the stan-
dards mentioned above, Capriotti’s uses
many platforms. For the real estate and
development teams, we leverage Restau-
rant Trends competitive intelligence data,
Piinpoint mapping to visualize trends for
expansion and provide actionable insights,
along with Birchwood demographics and
site selection predictive indexing, and
Mastercard consumer purchase data. In-
ternally, we employ Service Management
Group’s consumer surveys of our customer
base to benchmark ourselves against the
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competition and our own brand standards.
We also use the full suite of NCR res-
taurant and data management tools and
the full suite of FranConnect Sky fran-
chise lifecycle management software. On
the marketing and media analytics and
consulting support side of
the business, we employ a
variety of PR firms to man-
age our social platforms and
provide digital content and
brand awareness. Capriot-
ti’s also has three different
digital marketing and media
firms and platforms targeted
toward specific audiences
and media channels, SEO
tools, and PPC ROI ana-
lytics. Last, we use creative
and media buying agencies,
brand-building experts, and restaurant-
specific consulting groups in the areas of
design, menu management, operational
efficiency, and benchmarking our finan-
cial performance.
Dave Schaefers
Chief Development Officer
Driven Brands
Today, growing a franchise network is
a much more complex challenge than
just running ads, attending
franchise business shows,
cold calling, and ultimately
hoping for the best. With
the wide range of franchis-
ing opportunities available
today, there no longer is a
one-size-fits-all approach.
Aligning potential business
investors and franchise op-
erators with the right brand
is critical to the initial sale
of the franchise—and the
overall long-term success
of the organization.
So how can a franchisor accomplish that?
It begins with research. A wealth of data is
available that can be analyzed collectively
to unveil market opportunities we might
not have seen previously. Understanding
how to evaluate all of that data requires
analytical modeling and forecasting, and
we’ve expanded our capabilities in that area
to be able to fully leverage this information,
with in-depth data analytics now a funda-
mental part of our business strategy. We
look at driving trends across U.S. markets,
accident and vehicle maintenance data,
population forecasts and market growth
patterns, fuel prices, age of vehicles on the
road, new vehicle sales reports, consumer
confidence reports, and more.
We also apply that technology-based
approach to better understanding potential
investors and business partners. Once we
understand a market’s opportunities, we
perform a thorough data analysis on how
that market is currently served and what
the future might hold. Is a new neighbor-
hood developing? How can we develop
local partnerships to become part of the
fabric of that neighborhood? We are now
able, through our data, to determine who
might be the best partner for that market
and create a unique opportunity aligned
for their growth and investment goals.
Or, if a region is experiencing substantial
growth, we can develop distinctive terri-
tories based on analysis of market dat