Operations

Taco Bell, A&W CEOs among those sharing 2020 lessons learned

Granted, there's not much to love, let alone like about 2020 in the restaurant universe or elsewhere. But under the heading of pain so often bringing gain, we checked in with QSR chiefs about what they've learned this year and how it is changing their moves going forward.

Photo: iStock.

December 21, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Among restaurant service categories, quick-service has fared better than most this year of the pandemic, thanks to this service category's "light-on-its-feet" approach that emphasizes speed and convenience over the many factors involved in dining in a restaurant, per se.

But it would be giving short-shrift to simply say that quick-service restaurant leaders have not been severely tested and maybe even a little traumatized by the dramatic dips, dives and disappointments the virus has brought on the industry in the last 10 months or so.

Still if you ask QSR leaders about the last year they will invariably tell you that as much as they "could've done without it all," they've also learned a heck of a lot about their organizations, themselves and their paths into the future. Yes, growth — as we all know — almost always involves some level of pain. But the pain yields some hard-won wisdom.

At QSRweb, we wanted to capture some of that collective insight accrued over 2020, so we polled a number of QSR brand leaders for their answers to four basic questions about just that. And boy did we get an earful! And while it's tough to generalize too much on these thoughts, we can say that the key things restaurant leaders we spoke with mentioned tended to fall in an equal number of buckets, each labeled with its own "2020 lesson learned." They include:

The action imperative: Leaders repeatedly mentioned the new imperative they feel to not only act – often daringly and rapidly —but to persevere in those actions toward a desired result.
Openness at every organizational level: Transparency got redefined in 2020 when every organization's employees and customers needed to see behind that proverbial "curtain" at where a business is headed and how it affects them. In short, leaders said it is critical -- as never before — for them and their brands to open in both heart and mind to all possibilities, solutions and just plain old great ideas from anyone at any level.
The demand for system that promote innovation: To put it bluntly, effective QSR organizations and their leaders learned this year as never before that they must innovate like hell, without stop. And that means leaders must push for ,and build systems to innovate at every level of their organizations, like they've never done before.

Driving all the above for the QSR leaders we spoke with was a newfound and increased appreciation for the power, potential and performance of each brands' people — you know those people from frontline to C-suite who jointly pulled their brands through some of the toughest times ever encountered.

But, don't take our word for it. What follows are some of the many comments and thoughts that QSR leaders sent our way over the last month to relay what they learned, how it changed them and how it will change their brand's paths in 2021, beginning with those all-important leadership lessons learned.

In their words: 2020's top leadership lessons

Taco Bell CEO Mark King:

Mark King.(provided)

"Amidst this crisis, our leadership team learned … that we could use this moment to accelerate our plans for innovation in the digital space and grow offerings across drive-thru, mobile and delivery."

Golden Chick President Jim Stevens:

"How you treat people matters! Relationships were tested in 2020 and strong relationships lead to collaborative recovery with vendors and employees. … Be nimble. The brands that were able to move and react quickly have excelled."

A&W CEO Kevin Bazner:
"Heading into the pandemic, our strong 'One Team' culture was even more important than I realized. I was so impressed – and grateful – with how all of our stakeholders … rallied together to support our franchise partners and get them to the other side of the crisis. Maintaining this culture will certainly continue to be a priority."

Cheikh Mboup.(provided)

Edible President and COO Cheikh Mboup:
"To have empathy. To be aggressive when it comes to innovation. And to have the ability to move quickly and effectively in order to help meet consumer needs. Applying all three of these lessons has played a major role in the success we've seen this past year."

Krystal President Thomas Stager:
"COVID-19 has challenged all of us at Krystal. Not only did we have to prosper out of bankruptcy, we had to create a new identity. We did that by introducing our guiding principles –

Value the truth.
Enjoy your work.
Make informed decisions.
Be accountable to our guest.
Grow and evolve.
Find a way.

We also changed our leadership team, now 6 out of 9 are female. … We also learned that to be a strong brand, we have to grow in several areas – through our people, sales, profits and operation."

What was the hardest lesson and why?

This question was a tough one — particularly to answer in a public forum like this publication. Still, if there's anything leaders have definitely walked away with this year, it's the idea that they are able to stand with their feet to the fire, be transparent and ultimately end up better off for their sharing.

Kevin Bazner.(provided)

At A&W, CEO Kevin Bazner, said:

"The hardest lesson — and perhaps the most important — is how our people responded to the pandemic. Many 'ran to the fire' to tackle the myriad of challenges we faced. A few, unfortunately, did not. This provided a significant amount of insight into the future leadership of our brand and perhaps where we have leadership gaps."

At 180-plus-unit Golden Chick, Jim Stevens said:

"Adjust to the rapid increase of third-party delivery — if you were not ready for it, you lost an opportunity!"

At Dunwoody, Georgia-based burger chain, Krystal, Thomas Stager said:

"We had to be creative to find ways to drive sales and be profitable for ourselves, our franchisees and our shareholders. We did this through new marketing tactics, and third-party delivery service to add convenience, remain relevant and attract and retain a new customer base."

At McDonald's CFO Kevin Ozan said in the brand's 2020 Investor Update that Q2 was a rough teacher:

"We entered 2020 from a position of strength. The second quarter was the most challenging in our company's history. That said, we're on a good trajectory for recovery in each of our segments from a comp sales perspective. … We've all seen several "starts and stops" with the virus – both in the states throughout the U.S. and around the world. And while we expect this to be the norm until a vaccine is widely adopted, we believe our Accelerating the Arches strategic plan will deliver strong results the next couple years."

James Walker.(provided)

And at Nathan's Famous Senior Vice President James Walker said the hardest lesson of the year at the hot dog-centered QSR is:

"That some things are simply beyond your control, and the sooner you accept those things and work to address them in the best way possible, the better off you are."

Editor's Note: Next week, QSRweb will review what leaders said in this service category about how 2020 has changed their leadership styles and how they've modified their future brand plans as a result of this past year's school of exceptionally hard restaurant knocks.

About S.A. Whitehead

Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.