HMS Host COO Joe Thornton relayed a case study around his experience transforming Jamba as a prime example of how restaurant leaders can be more effective by doing what's smart instead of doing everything on their to-do lists.
Too many restaurant leaders try to "do it all" in leading their brands, said one presenter at the Fast Casual Executive Summit Tuesday. (Photo: iStock)
Editor's Note: On Oct. 20, four restaurant industry executives took to the virtual stage at the Fast Casual Executive Summit to discuss subjects of import. They included Everbowl CEO Jeff Fenster, Crave Franchising CEO and COO Samantha Rincione, VIPinsiders' Philipp Sitter and Christopher Chomenko and HMS Host COO and Executive Vice President Joe Thornton, whose discussion we're profiling today.
One reason many restaurant leaders have made it to the top of the industry heap is their astute judgment when it comes to all things business-related. But HMS Host COO and Executive Vice President Joe Thornton, one of the presenters during the Executive Perspectives session at the Oct. 20 virtual Fast Casual Executive Summit, said too many leaders fail to simplify and prioritize on the job.
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| Thornton.(Photo via LinkedIn) |
Thornton was among four executives presenting their leadership advice in rapid-fire 15-minute sessions at the annual summit Tuesday morning. His presentation, "The Power of Or: Choosing and Doing What Matters Most," is also the name of a book he recently penned.
Thornton said many executives were buying into the "you-can-do-everything" mentality, which was once referred to in leadership jargon as "the power of And." But as Thornton relayed and many who've tried to do it all already know, it's simply not a notion that holds up in the real world of the restaurant leader's day-to-day life.
In fact, he said in their personal lives, most executives already know this and do the alternative, by prioritizing and simplifying their "to-do" lists — what he labeled "the power of or."
"At the end of the day, we're making trade-offs in our personal lives all the time," he told the gathering. "Maybe we have two kids who have events at the same time and you have to decide which one you go to. … That kind of decision drives our personal lives. But then we get to work and set unrealistic plans and try to do everything."
Thornton — who before his current stint at HMS Host, was COO at Jamba, formerly Jamba Juice — said that "do-it-all" mentality nearly drained all the juice out of Jamba. To show how that manifested in-market, Thornton showed participants this montage, which he said captures the three separate logo executions for the brand in a three-year period. He said it serves as a visual representation of the state of the brand when leadership began to implement the "power of or" by prioritizing and simplifying brand objectives.
Over a year of meetings, discussions and analysis, Thornton said, the long list of things that absolutely had to be done was populated, including — just for starters — moving the brand's headquarters, replacing most of the staff as a result of that move, changing the franchising model even as franchisees were losing money, undergoing an audit and, oh yeah, figuring out what to do about the name, Jamba Juice, when only 10% of sales were juice and most of the rest smoothies.
"So at Jamba Juice … the CEO kept talking about, 'This is a turnaround' … and I thought I could handle it, " he said. "But then in the middle of it when everything at once had to be fixed … we still have a responsibility to our people to prioritize, and in many cases, simplify, what needs to be done."
That's when Thornton really took to heart the lesson that led him to write the aforementioned leadership book, and changed his "do-it-all' approach to one of true prioritizing and simplifying to get to the core of what the brand most needed to achieve to hit its goals: The power of 'or.'
"Really, the most difficult thing then, is choosing what you're notgoing to do," he said.
That winnowing down to the absolute priorities forces restaurateurs to get a laser-focus on what matters most. In the case of Jamba, that broke down into three priority buckets that in Jamba's case included:
- Execute the concept.
- Revolutionize the brand.
- Fix the plumbing.
The first priority was a leadership prioritization on essentially refurbishing systemwide operations. This included key actions like taking a good hard look at current vendors and finding those which would be better "fits," if need be, as well as other key operational aspects.
Then, in order to revolutionize the brand, leadership set its site on totally revamping its marketing. Thornton said that was tied to doing the work and thought needed to figure out who the customer was that best fit the brand. Only by making that priority could they then innovate ways to go after that individual. In Jamba's case, that was one of the things that led the brand to invest in more drive-thrus to meet that targeted customer's demands and needs.
And on the final item, the "plumbing," Thornton said he was referring to the brand's IT, and specifically in Jamba's case, its POS. He said something had to happen with this critical restaurant technology at Jamba to address an acutely problematic payments issue.
"We had to replace the POS because (stores) were having trouble taking currency from customers," he explained. "So we spent time and money there."
Thornton explained that the experience taught him invaluable lessons about leading foodservice brands smartly, particularly as many leaders are tackling damage-repair and the path forward, post-pandemic. For Jamba, the proof was in the numbers. Thornton said when that previously mentioned audit was complete they actually got the news that not only had the brands sales increased, but the interest in acquiring the brand in the market, also gained momentum, resulting in the ultimate purchase of the company by Focus Brands.
It was all enough to cause Thornton to close his talk with these words for fellow restaurant leaders: "At the end of the day, don't attempt to do everything. Do the things that matter the most."
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