A Company with a Mission
When Scott and Ally Svenson, founders of Seattle Coffee Company, launched MOD Pizza in 2008y, they were determined to that their new business would serve more than a great slice. From the beginning, they were determined that MOD Pizza would also serve the communities in which it operated.
The Svensons resolved to take care of their employees, trusting that, in turn, those workers would take care of the community and that the company would then take care of itself. MOD pizza meets those goals in many ways. The company employs formerly homeless or incarcerated individuals, as well as those recovering from addiction, and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In order to leverage purchasing power as a positive force in the food industry, ingredients are sources from partners committed to practices that emphasize quality and sustainability. Regular charitable donations are made through the company’s “Spreading MODness” campaign. To date, more than 6 million meals have been donated to local food banks.
Today, MOD Pizza works to be a force for good both locally and nationally and serves as a global example of corporate responsibility. It’s also a thriving business. The company has averaged 100 store openings per year for, a total of 468 as of the start of 2020, and now operates over 500 locations in 29 states. Scott Svenson says, “The goal of MOD is to serve people,” says Svenson. “The vessel for this service always has been, and needs to remain, our individual stores.” To meet their service goals, MOD Pizza needed a way to provide consistently delicious, artisanal pizza and exceptional customer experience in restaurants from coast to coast.
Enforcing Brand Standards Cultivates Customer Loyalty
The MOD Pizza team knows that existing patrons are any business’s most valuable asset. At most restaurants and other retail establishments, only one-third of revenue can be attributed to new visitors. Returning customers, who are more than three times as likely to make a purchase during a visit than new customers are, generate the remaining two-thirds of revenue. Equally noteworthy, studies have concluded that new business is expensive. Attracting a new customer can cost between 5X and 10X more than it does to retain one. Increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by up to 95%. Consistency is key to investing in the relationships needed to build brand loyalty, improve return business rates, and increase customer lifetime value (CLV).
Operating a large number of restaurants in disparate locations, many of which are franchises, MOD Pizza had established the well-defined brand standards necessary to provide consumers with a dependable, high-quality experience at each and every visit. The company needed a digital solution that would streamline processes, support employees, and reveal weaknesses requiring attention. That was when MOD Pizza’s leadership team turned to MeazureUp for help.
MOD Pizza Partners with MeazureUp
“Ensuring consistency is one of the hardest things for restaurant businesses, but especially for chains in growth mode, like MOD Pizza,” says Ray Abramson, chief operating officer of MeazureUp. “One way to improve consistency is to instead use a digital tool that helps track what a store is doing in real time and helps you respond quickly to anything that needs attention.” Initially, building consistency at MOD Pizza’s many locations would require three critical steps:
- Replacing paper site-visit checklists with digital solutions.
- Ensuring that menu items – including new offerings and “Flash MOD” specials – were made to specifications every time.
- Implementing systems to monitor adherence to safety protocols and flag ongoing issues.
Once these new protocols were put in place, management could follow up with locations that were failing, pointing out issues and establishing routines to improve compliance. MOD Pizza found the solutions they needed in DailyChex and AuditApp, MeazureUp’s two digital tools. Paper checklists were replaced with digital checklists that help managers note and address repeat or system-wide issues. Other checklists have been put in place to relay information around the limited time specials known as “Flash MODS.” Vice President of Operations Excellence Kristin Driscoll says, “DailyChex is helpful any time we make a big change and need a checklist to help support that implementation.”
This value of this support was never more clear than during lockdown, when MOD Pizza needed to put solutions in place to ensure that safety protocols were defined, logged, and monitored. MeazureUp worked with company management to create custom solutions including a made-to-order digital checklist. The new process was up and running in all locations in less than a month. “This was something that was urgent for us,” Driscoll says. “And MeazureUp really understood that. They took our calls day and night until it got done, and then they made sure it was working. They are great about supporting our business, and very responsive. Whatever they say they are going to do, they do it.”
Today, as the nation happily enjoys post-Covid restaurant dining, MOD Pizza continues to use their custom MeazureUp tools to guarantee quality. These effective, portable digital solutions ensure that every customer visit is safe and fun and that every made-to-order meal is hot and delicious. MeazureUp is proud to have been an important part of MOD Pizza’s rapidly expanding footprint.
Let’s talk about how our powerful, easy-to-use automated checklist and field assessment tools can do the same for your business. Schedule a convenient demo today.
