As the pandemic has greatly limited travel for many professionals, Church's Chicken has taken the necessary steps to update its brand standards measurement program, which previously required its representatives to travel to a location to review it over a five-hour period.
The in-person reviews have now been replaced with virtual checks, which are conducted over a 90-minute time frame, and are done through a proprietary app developed in partnership with Nextx, called 'The Restaurant Visitation Tool.' Through this technology, Church's Chicken can connect its team members to each restaurant's manager so that the quality checks can be done safely and efficiently.
Director of Ops Excellence Luis de la Torre spoke to the update, stating "We've had travel restrictions in place since March, and it will probably be another six months before the team can travel again. That's too long not to have visibility into the daily operations of our restaurants. The Remote OER allows us to see how we're delivering the total guest experience today and quickly make improvements today to positively impact the business tomorrow."
Virtual QSR Quality Checks
Church's Chicken Updated Its Restaurant Reviews for COVID-19
Trend Themes
1. Virtual Quality Checks - Virtual quality checks are replacing in-person visits in the restaurant industry to ensure safety and efficiency.
2. Remote Operations Evaluation - Remote operations evaluation technology is being developed to provide businesses with visibility into their operations without requiring physical visits.
3. Proprietary Apps for Quality Checks - The development of proprietary apps is becoming a trend in the restaurant industry to conduct quality checks remotely.
Industry Implications
1. Restaurant Industry - The restaurant industry is adopting technology to conduct remote quality checks safely and efficiently during the pandemic.
2. Ops Excellence Consulting Services - Consulting services that offer remote operations evaluation tools can benefit from the trend towards virtual quality checks.
3. Software Development Industry - The software development industry can capitalize on the trend towards developing proprietary apps for remote quality checks in the restaurant industry.