Operations

Taco Bell COO on navigating change: 'It's actually getting … more fun'

Change is something every restaurateur has gotten a dose of this year, and Taco Bell Global COO Mike Grams said the brand is winning the adaptability game.

Photo: Provided

September 1, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

It's no big secret that the pandemic has ushered in a deluge in diner drive-thru demand, but perhaps what is surprising is just how much consumers are now saying they prefer drive-thru over other methods of restaurant purchases.

Just take a look at these results, for instance, produced by a mobile chat-based survey of U.S. consumers in July. In the poll by research consultancy, Reach3 Insights, surveyors asked, "Have you done any of the following during the pandemic?"

As is clear from the results, drive-thru outranks every other form — even delivery.
• 61% ordered from a drive-thru.
• 56% ordered for pickup online or by phone.
• 43% ordered delivery online or by phone.
• 32% ordered in a restaurant to-go.
• 30% dined inside a restaurant.
• 19% dine on a restaurant patio.
• 3% order takeout on a restaurant kiosk.
• 9% said they did not order any of these ways.

That preference for drive-thru was also evident in the results from Bluedot's "State of What Feeds Us Report," which reported a 43% jump in such sales at QSRs between April and July.

Although customers told surveyors that they felt safer using the drive-thru, 81% said a wait time of 10 minutes was too long

"When a customer is driving down the street and they want to go to Taco Bell or any restaurant for that matter, the first things they do is look at the line"
-Taco Bell COO Mike Grams

Taco Bell Global COO Mike Grams. (Photo provided)

That conundrum is one reason Taco Bell is investing so much time and money into redesigning the customer experience, according to Global COO Mike Grams, who told QSRweb in an interview that although the drive-thru may be pulling customers in, waiting too long will drive them away.

"When a customer is driving down the street and they want to go to Taco Bell or any restaurant for that matter, the first things they do is look at the line," he said. "If that line is wrapped around the building … it may be too much time for people to take."

Reducing the line is at the core of the Taco Bell's downsized store model, Go Mobile, which we told you about in part 1 of this story. Not only does the remodel include an additional drive-thru, but it also labels one lane as "priority," where mobile app order-ahead customers are rewarded with speedier pickup.

And then there are those Taco 'bellhops'

"We have, as part of a kind of bridge strategy, put bellhops into the parking lot, taking tablet orders, so you can take one line and actually have two order points with bellhops in the parking lot. … " he said.

"So again, that's not for the mobile users, but for the traditional (drive-thru) customer, so we can shorten those lines and make it a more personal experience with the bellhop. … It lends itself to that convenience piece that's so important."

The goal fo the Go Mobile design is to keep service moving while acknowledging that some customers may still prefer to order through a squawk box or person, rather than online, for drive-thru pickup.

Delight in the drive-thru

While Go Mobile is set to take physical form in the first quarter of next year, restaurateurs reading this know that even with the bellhops, extra lanes, online-ordering tech and any other bells and whistles, it's down to the store's team to deliver. That, said Grams, takes effort from every level, beginning with the brand's smart kitchen tech that helps funnel orders.

"It's actually getting to be a little bit more fun to kind of anticipate and position the brand to a spot where we can do good."

This "is a really important piece of this journey and making work is what I think is a differentiated piece for Taco Bell in the smart kitchen," Grams said. "It not only helps the customer navigate the parking lot experience and their choices, but also helps on the inside of the restaurant for our team members.

"So as we build capacity and we put our speed-lines in to help with delivery business and mobile business, we also have dynamic routing in the kitchen that will actually help direct to the fastest and best way to prepare a really good quality order."

But even Grams admitted that it could take a while before all team members were firing on all cylinders. Working in the brand's favor, however, is a long-held discipline about keeping equipment and operating systems the same across the system.

Taco Bell's Go Mobile design calls for an abundance of drive-thru lanes. (Photo provided)

Additionally, Taco Bell has created a leadership role to help with execution.

"We've invested in training in what we call a 'quarterback' role," he said. "This quarterback is a good leader. If you think of football … the best quarterbacks can execute the two-minute drill: They know where people need to be. They're able to direct and communicate to their teams.

"So, we have a quarterback now who manages those peaks to really help us handle the surge and demand that we've seen in the drive-thru."

All these factors will help Taco Bell evolve into a brand that creates the best experience for customers, whether they're online, physically in-line or standing behind the line as employees.

"If you think about where the evolution is … when all that is synchronized and working together, it just … allows people to focus on the experience. … So I think we're in a really a good place right now at Taco Bell," Grams said. "The first couple of months (of the pandemic in the U.S.) were quite dramatic.

"But now something's changing all the time and I think everyone in the organization is just getting better at handling it and trying to anticipate and stay calm and poised and think things through so we get to a good decision. It's actually getting to be a little bit more fun to kind of anticipate and position the brand to a spot where we can do good."

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.