How Krystal, Pizza Ranch and Golden Corral Maintain Operational Consistency to Fuel Growth

By Zach Matlow November 13, 2024 Blog, Restaurant

This article was originally posted on QSR.

Maintaining consistency across numerous locations can be challenging for brands with a national footprint.
Ensuring quality standards & conducting quality assessments are essential for maintaining brand consistency. But that can be complex at scale – with many different markets, franchisees, store types, menu variations (and more), standard processes no longer lead to standard outcomes.
Krystal Restaurants, Pizza Ranch & Golden Corral understand this and have tweaked their site visit processes accordingly. This slideshow will explore what operational changes were made and the outcomes associated with those changes.


Krystal Restaurants

Unit Count: 300+

Krystal Restaurants recognized the need for real-time quality assessments to ensure consistent guest experiences. “We needed an audit platform that would provide us real-time assessments and the ability to instantly create action plans with action items and timelines,” says Thomas Stager, president of Krystal Restaurants.

By leveraging MeazureUp’s AuditApp, a digital site visit tool with a mobile-first approach, Krystal empowered its Above Store Leaders to drive improvement across the brand, facilitating seamless communication between locations and management, leading to faster incident resolution and enhanced operational standards.

In addition, franchisees and managers use these assessment results to substantiate both micro and macro-level adjustments to their operations with MeazureUp’s reviews that look across the brand from both a company and a franchise operation standpoint: “MeazureUp has been a solid upgrade to aid us in executing at a high level,” Stager says.


Pizza Ranch

Unit Count: 220+

With locations spanning 15 states, Pizza Ranch sought a solution to streamline its auditing process after feeling that results from these assessments weren’t actionable: “We were doing a 500-point audit with Excel, which frankly was ineffective,” says Darin Olson, director of franchise operations at Pizza Ranch.

MeazureUp provided a simple yet effective solution that allowed operators to conduct audits with just a few taps on a mobile application.

The transition to MeazureUp enabled Pizza Ranch to shift its auditing approach to coaching and positive reinforcement. This new strategy has paid off, seen through improved audit scores brand-wide: “We’re up seven percentage points, so we’re doing really well [there],” Olson says.


Golden Corral

Unit Count: 370+

Golden Corral, the iconic buffet brand that weathered the storm of the pandemic, turned to MeazureUp to navigate its comeback and ensure sustained growth. The brand’s manual site visit processes lacked real-time visibility, and MeazureUp’s AuditApp revolutionized its approach.

“It’s been [a couple years] since we implemented AuditApp, so now the data is starting to pile up,” says Manny Gomez, the brand’s senior training instructor, “We can track trends and repeat issues. It’s been really helpful.” By digitizing its site visit process, Golden Corral empowered its team to deploy corrective strategies in real time, fostering a culture of accountability.

MeazureUp’s photo-taking capabilities also enabled Golden Corral to highlight areas for improvement and celebrate successes across its locations. “A picture is worth 1,000 words,” Gomez says. “And the pictures are not just a way to show something that needs to be fixed. It’s just as effective to show evidence that something good has happened.”

By enhancing site visits for multi-unit enterprises, MeazureUp continues to revolutionize how restaurant operators drive operational excellence and deliver exceptional guest experiences. Brands like Pizza Ranch, Krystal, and Golden Corral are taking advantage and evidently reaping the operational benefits for both corporate and franchised stores across the country.

For more information, visit the MeazureUp website.

By Drew Filipski