Restaurant Franchisors Explain How To Keep Franchisees Abreast Of And Enthused About New Menu Items.

At Rise & Dine Restaurants' franchise convention this year, silver platters of wieners were ceremoniously brought out to franchisees, who, in turn, stuffed themselves.

"Everyone was trying every hot dog until they couldn't eat anymore. And that's just the way we wanted it," recalls Joe Deavenport, chief executive of the Columbus, Ohio-based breakfast and lunch concept.

The humble product represented the 15-unit chain's latest culinary gambit: a $4.99 value menu comprised of six hot dogs rolled out in March. The star of the show is the Chicago Dog. Declares Deavenport: "We wanted to be known for having something different at lunch, and that would differentiate us in the segment." Rise & Dine franchisee Carolyn Leverett, who operates a restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, says she was excited. "They had pictures of the hot dogs and how much relish and things like that to put on them," she says. "I had no problem with the way they communicated the process." To be sure, few franchisors introduce new products on silver platters. Many nonetheless take pains to ensure franchisee buy-in with plenty of attention and hand-holding.

Smooth Communication "I'm always looking for ways to create new tools and communicate ahead of time." says Tropical Smoothie Caf� President and COO Jim Valentino. The 275-unit, Destin, Fla.-based chain recently dispatched training materials and a freestanding, point-of-purchase banner to franchisees ahead of the rollout of Supercharged smoothies, which feature fruits said to have anti-oxidant properties. "We also pre-ordered the product for them," he adds. "All of it auto-shipped." That pleases franchisee Harold Bowen, who has operated a unit for three years in Flint, Mich. "My experience has been that communications have exceeded my expectations," he says. "We have so many tools in place: a Web site where we can pose any question we want, an Internet newsletter we get on a regular basis and an Excel spreadsheet that shows the impact of costs on sales. That's an awesome tool." Valentino alerted franchisees a year prior to the Supercharged launch that the company would be rolling out innovative, high-quality and on-trend products as part of a menu revamp. After testing the "super-fruit" smoothies last fall, franchisees began selling them in February.

For most of his persuasive efforts, Valentino counts on Tropical Smoothie's area developers, whom he describes as "our voice in the marketplace." Area developers receive the chain's weekly newsletter a few days ahead of franchisees. "That way, they know far enough in advance what we will be communicating so they don't get caught by surprise," Valentino explains.

Old School Having a trendy product with a healthful slant can be an advantage. Yet what do you do when you're adding a product to a 37-year-old concept with a menu that doesn't get much sexier than a giblet meal? You do extra homework. "When you take a product to market in a franchise system like Grandy's, you better be prepared," acknowledges Chief Brand Officer Danny Meisenheimer, a member of the management team that acquired the Dallas-based legacy concept late last year. "Franchisees can smell a dud." Grandy's restaurant dining room Grandy's takes time to listen to franchisees and then repeats the company's strategy and vision often.

At a November franchise meeting, executives listened first. Meisenheimer describes it as "a listening conference, not a presentation conference." When management had a chance to speak, they talked about "growing the brand" with limited-time offers.

A month later, the company communicated its first LTO: Spicy Popcorn Shrimp, to be rolled to the 67 stores in time for Lent. "We did it through e-mail, phone calls and face to face. Sometimes it wasn't one communication, it was two. We let them know what was coming 12 weeks in advance," Meisenheimer recalls.

The franchisor then dispatched operations manuals to franchisees, and it sent the frozen, preseasoned product to several of them in key markets. "Your opinion leaders, the higher-volume restaurants. We told them, 'Cook this product, work with it, but don't give it to customers,'" Meisenheimer explains. The feedback was mostly positive and included several suggestions to improve the promotion.

Meisenheimer, who previously worked for Pizza Inn and Furr's, notes that what franchisees want from management is vision tempered by discipline. "Here's the position of the brand, here are the strategic pillars behind the vision, and here is how we are operating for the next six to 18 months," he says, as if reciting a mantra.

Test Market Bruegger's communicates early and often as well. The franchisor wanted to add a new sandwich made with slices of bread to boost lunch traffic. "We wanted to grow beyond just offering bagel sandwiches at lunch. We felt bringing in bread and a more traditional sandwich vehicle would be a way to do that," says Paula Doyle, vice president of marketing for the 280-unit, Burlington, Vt.-based chain.

The company formulated the sandwich early last year, tested it in Minnesota in mid-year, and announced its rollout in January at a system conference in Orlando, Fla.. But franchisees throughout the system had already learned about the test though Bruegger's franchise operations teams. "They communicate on a very frequent basis with franchisees in their consulting roles," Doyle says.

Franchisees had to purchase a panini press and stock a few new ingredients to make the sandwiches. Presses, which can heat four sandwiches at a time, cost about $600, according to restaurantequipment.net.

Bruegger's did not provide franchisees financing for the press. "Sometimes we do supply financial support and sometimes we do not," explains CEO Jim Greco. "That usually depends how large the expense is. In this case, it was not that large." The company expects all franchisees will have implemented the new sandwich program by mid-May. Doyle says the franchise operations people will remain in close touch with franchisees. "That's the benefit of having a fairly small system," she says.

Small is Good Talk about small. The reason Rise & Dine could present franchisees with hot dogs on silver platters was because there are only nine of them (10 if you include Deavenport, who franchises three units).

Deavenport had yet to print permanent menu cards, so he brought along prototypes, which included hot dog descriptions. He also talked about the collateral to support the rollout, such as outdoor banners and in-store danglers, and announced franchisees needed to buy bun warmers, which he says cost just over $500. The dogs themselves would be grilled on the flattops.

Nonetheless, franchisees had reservations about the value menu. According to Deavenport, they wanted to know if customers would simply be trading one item for another and just how confident he was that the new items would attract new customers. "Those are all very good points," he says. His rebuttal? "[The rollout] was a low-risk opportunity." For her part, Leverett only sees opportunity. "My customers have received the value menu very well," she says. "We're in an area with transplants from up north and the Chicago Dog been a big hit."

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