Paul Rumsey, Vice President, Global Learning & Development, Carlson Restaurants (TGI Friday's)

SuperNova Award Category

Future of Work

Your Company

TGI Fridays is an international fun, casual restaurant with 70,000 employees. TGI Fridays restaurants offer authentic American food and exciting drinks in an atmosphere that provides an energizing Friday feeling – any day of the week. TGI Fridays, which operates more than 900 restaurants in more than 60 countries, is also famous for its knowledgeable and charismatic bartenders, approximately 8,000 of whom compete annually for the title of the "Greatest TGI Fridays Bartender in the World." 

The Problem

It’s very important for TGI Friday’s to provide a consistent experience for our guests each time they visit. Our problem was in ensuring this guest experience—from making specialized drinks to serving guests with a consistent focus—and we wanted to a way to track and improve the likelihood our guests would be back to recommend their friends and family.

The Solution

We knew we needed to do a mix of online and in-person training in order to fix our issues. So with the help of StripesU/Cornerstone, we did an eight-week emphasis on an elevated service model, now called Fridays Service Style. The training was a blended approach with online courses and videos through StripesU that showed “Just OK” service vs. Fridays Service Style service to Guests. During the eight-week focus, team members and managers did face-to-face training, online courses (with videos) and online observation checklists through to document that a team member validated on the observable performances for each of the 4 stages of Fridays Service Style.

The Results

We saw immediate improvement in dish consistency/quality and guest satisfaction. We tracked the impact of full-restaurant completion of our blended training and assessments through Stripes U (CSOD) to that restaurant’s Net Promoter Score (Guest satisfaction and tendency to recommend our restaurant to a friend). Those restaurants who had 100% of their team members complete the training and assessments by the due date rated a 7.1 higher NPS score than the restaurants who did not complete it on time. 

Having the checklists in Stripes U enables our managers to track each team member’s and each restaurant’s validation of the service model and compare those validation rates with other business metrics (e.g., sales, Guest count, per person average sales, Net Promoter Score, etc.).

The Technology

Cornerstone OnDemand Learning Cloud, Cornerstone OnDemand

Metrics

Those restaurants who had 100% of their team members complete the past three Menu Implementation trainings and assessments by the due date rated a 7.1 higher NPS score than the restaurants who did not complete it on time.  (April 2012, September 2012 and April 2013)

For the eight weeks of Fridays Service Style focus, the entire US Company system showed a +2 Net Promoter Score lift after the eight-week focus on service. 

Through the increased use of video, observation checklists, online assessments using Test Engine, reports and dashboards, we have noticed from Q1 to Q2 2013 an average of +4% pts. training completion in our front of house  team members, +18% pts. in our back of house team members and +8% pts. in our restaurant Shift Supervisors.

Disruptive Factor

STRIPES U allows Fridays to reach tens of thousands of employees globally with customized, branded, multichannel—and multi-language—training, which ultimately is leading to better brand consistency, more engaged employees, increased compliance and increased guest satisfaction.

Shining Moment

Our restaurant managers are more equipped to assess and coach their teams because of the observation checklists and the training compliance (completion) reports and dashboards.  Historically, they didn’t track completion because they didn’t have a good LMS to provide reports. Our Stripes U reports are accessible by all managers, HR leaders and Field Training Managers for their restaurants and regions.  Before a field leader visits a restaurant, the leader can now see the training compliance and prepare for the restaurant visit observation accordingly.  Our US SVP of Operations also included these metrics during his bi-weekly field leadership meetings to emphasize the importance of training completion and coaching.  As a result, we have seen more focus on training completion and leadership development. We have also seen increased training participation by our Franchise groups because they are seeing the metrics of training impact and are seeing the improved quality through the use of videos and audio in our blended training approach.

About TGI Friday's®

TGI Fridays restaurants offer authentic American food and exciting drinks in an atmosphere that provides an energizing Friday feeling – any day of the week. Fridays® guest recognition program, Give Me More Stripes®, rewards loyal guests with great deals and fun events year-round, creating an engaging customer experience. As the original casual dining restaurant, TGI Fridays differentiates itself with a unique point of view which promises to exhilarate its guests with the feeling of Friday. TGI Fridays, which operates more than 900 restaurants in more than 60 countries, is also famous for its knowledgeable and charismatic bartenders, approximately 8,000 of whom compete annually for the title of the "Greatest TGI Fridays Bartender in the World.” TGI Friday’s believes in the importance of acting responsibly and as a result its Responsible Business Program is focused on positively impacting the economic and environmental well-being of the communities and neighborhoods in which it operates. For more information, visit www.fridays.com.