This episode features an interview with Nick Ammaturo, Head of Indirect Procurement at Subway. Subway is a $17B+ privately-held business with over 40,000+ restaurants located in more than 100 countries. Nick joins us to talk about why he feels facilities deserves more attention, how the pandemic changed the way consumers interact with physical spaces, and why data will lead the industry into its future.
This episode features an interview with Nick Ammaturo, Head of Indirect Procurement at Subway. Subway is a $17B+ privately-held business with over 40,000+ restaurants located in more than 100 countries. Nick joins us to talk about why he feels facilities deserves more attention, how the pandemic changed the way consumers interact with physical spaces, and why data will lead the industry into its future.
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Guest Quote
I never felt that facilities has the attention it deserves, having the impact it could have on a location. It's always more reactive.…it then impacts the stores, it impacts morale, that it’s not [seen as] important enough for the facilities team to have a seat at the table on decision making." - Nick Ammaturo
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Time Stamps
*(0:20) About Nick
*(1:26) How Nick’s career has evolved
*(3:48) A deepdive on Subway
*(5:50) Segment 2: Across the Goal Line
*(8:17) Preserving and improving the experience
*(11:05) Nick’s view of how procurement fits into organizations
*(14:32) Facilities isn’t taken as serious as it should be
*(18:20) So what’s changed at Subway over the past few years?
*(25:59) Segment 3: How We Do It
*(32:03) Nick discusses the relationship between procurement and facilities
*(32:11) Technology Nick can’t live without
*(35:12) Segment 3: Future Forward
*(38:00) Final advice from Nick
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Sponsor:
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Links
Sid: Hey everyone. Thanks for joining. Really appreciate it. We have an exciting episode for you today.
We have with us, Nick Nick. Welcome. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it. So let's dive right in, you know, with our first segment, we love to ask questions about, uh, about our guests. So I will jump in with Nick. What's your role? Uh, what do you do? What are you responsible for at.
Nick: I'm the head of indirect corporate services procurement.
So I support the organization on multiple categories, everything from legal finance, to operations and store development and traditional procurement role, I suppose. You know, contracts, RFPs, negotiations, product evaluations, efficiency, pro productivity projects. And I've just started to get into some of the ops, uh, as far as ovens, uh, which is a fun topic we could talk about, but you can imagine it's a broad scope and, and, you know, the.
Indirect procurement space is pretty broad and some companies define it differently, but it's really everything that goes into running the organization itself is what I support. Got it. And
Sid: I have a follow-up question on that, but before I do that, we'd love to understand how did you end up in procurement?
Nick: Yeah. So that's, I asked myself that every day and it's been over a decade of supporting or being in procurement. And it was by chance. I was actually kind of really looking at finance roles within, you know, sort of traditional sectors when I came out of college and I was interviewing with financial services companies and a hedge fund, even that, you know, The really wealthy right now, but not having too much fun.
And I was living in China, I'm on a contract working for a market research company. And a recruiter had called me from PepsiCo and, you know, sort of out of the blue said, you know, family, friend of mine, and he had just placed a VP in, in, you know, PepsiCo's global procurement team. And they had asked him for someone junior and not really his, his kind of skillset to source people for, but he's like, You know what, I'll take a, take a stab at it.
And he called me and said, you know, I know you're looking for something global you're in China. Hep-C is looking for somebody, you know, to kind of come into their global procurement team in a finance role. So it was really, I came into the organization as a finance sort of, uh, resource to, uh, the category.
And then over time, I transitioned to getting on the commercial side of the category, uh, supporting packaging for PepsiCo and haven't left it since. Love it.
Sid:
Wow, thats quite a journey. OK, so tell us a little bit more about Subway.. a phenomenal brand. What makes Subway so special?
Nick: Yeah, no, it's, it's, there's nothing like it. I've worked for a multitude of companies. If you look at my background, I've sort of collected, you know, logos and multiple industries, food and beverage, CPG cosmetics, and the franchise world is, is there's nothing like it.
It's wild. It's exciting. It's dynamic. It's challenging. And subway is a privately held company that the two, um, founding families still control it. But it is a hundred percent franchisee owned business. So, so we have around, you know, depending on the day 40,000 locations globally. So we have one of the, if not largest footprint of any franchise or in the world.
And so we are a support system to support, you know, the, the franchises. And so. We own the intellectual property. We own the brand and all the marks that come with it. Um, but we are a development sort of company. That's, that's there to provide resources to make the franchises as successful as possible.
And then delivering. Ultimate value to our owners and, you know, kind of quote shareholders of the company. So it's crazy, you know, as big as we are, we are very small and the corporate level. So we only have about 1500 to 2000 corporate employees. And so it's a very small lean organization and you look at our franchise organization.
You know, 400 plus thousand franchisee employees that are, you know, independently running their own businesses, running, running their subways, some multiple, some have multiple subways throughout the world. And so it's a lot of stakeholders and it's an iconic brand. That's going through a transformation.
So it's a real exciting time to be there. All right.
Add: Before we jump into the next section… let me reiterate that amazing stat.. Subway has 40,000 locations worldwide.. WOW
Sid: So let's talk about some of your big picture objectives. And the way you and your team moved them across the goal line.
Sid: What are Subway’s goals when it comes to the kind of customer experience you wanna have? And how do you do this consistently across 40,000 locations?
Nick: Yeah, it it's, it's a struggle.
It's, it's very difficult because we don't have boots on the ground. The organization was, was really multi, there was multiple layers set up since the beginning because our founders really just wanted to open locations. That was the goal. Since our founding was to have the market share, have a location in as many countries as we could.
And so there's many layers that were built into this to, to build that. And so we have made active efforts over the last several years. To take back a lot of that ownership and control within regions. And it is really to improve the guest experience and to improve the profitability for the franchises.
So it's, it's, we've, we've started to in, in certain countries, the U S being our biggest market. Remove layers and install sort of subway corporate employees that have oversight over a geography of locations. Whereas in the past, that was a role that was managed by another independent that was incentivized by, you know, making sure that the franchises were successful, but also, you know, sort of independent of the franchise and independent of subway corporate.
So it was just another. Layer removing us from the franchise at the end of the day. So we have made the active efforts to change that and to really increase our visibility and ownership of each region. And ultimately our customer, you know, is the franchise, you know, they're, they're, we're trying to make it the best opportunity for them, but we are concerned to make sure that.
So as well are experiencing that consistency and quality across every subway they go into across the world. And so it's, it's very challenging, but the there's a lot of new, new kind of team members that have been put in place and new roles specifically geared at improving those specific experiences, which is exciting.
Sid: Right. So I just want to double click a little bit on that. Right? Whenever someone enters into a subway location, they know what to expect, right. They there's a certain experience that I think you've been able to offer consistently from the inside. Like when, when subway looks at what you mentioned, guests experience, what does that comprise of?
Like, I'm sure it's the food and other things. How do you look at it?
Nick:. Yeah, it's F it's everything. It's the whole experience. It's from the food, the service, the aesthetic. So we're constantly, re-looking at our aesthetic of, of each restaurant and making sure that we're keeping up with the times. And so we are.
Always looking at the design aspect of each restaurant and the usability and, you know, things changed drastically with COVID. You know, we, we realized that we don't have a lot of standalone restaurants. We don't have a lot of through restaurants. And the third party delivery apps have greatly increased pickup has greatly increased.
So we are relooking actively at our store, our just footprint. And, you know, when you do enter right now, you really have to walk through the dining area. And get to the sort of, you know, the showcase of the food and your bread options. And that model has changed where we're looking at how to change it and not disrupt our network too much, because there is a lot of investment in our footprint, you know, are franchises, uh, are, are, you know, paying for the tables, you know, we're, we do have some incentive.
And negotiated contracts with, you know, millwork providers and supply manufacturers, equipment companies. But at the end of the day, it is that they are paying a significant amount to, you know, kind of that capital investment into the restaurant. So we don't want to change it too often because it's, you know, there's an investment and now we're asking them to reinvest in the location.
So it's the entire experience from the storefront exterior to getting inside. You know, checking out, making sure that there's a bag that is branded and there's napkins. And you know, the fountain soda is, is working. The chip selection is there, the cookies are being baked. So it's, we there's someone focused on every aspect of the experience, uh, that the corporate.
Sid: Yeah, that's a hundred percent. Right. And I think, you know, a big focus on this show and in our space, of course, is the actual physical space. Right? And as you mentioned, the physical space is a huge hand to play in how customers feel. Welcome and the experience they walk away with. I've known him for some time now, and you've in some way or form have been involved with facilities and operations through your career, through your journey, uh, would love to understand your view on.
The role of facilities and operations as it relates to the overall organization, any kind of organization, right. You've you've done a few different industries at this point. And how do you think procurement fits into that mix?
Nick: Yeah. No, it's, it's a great question. I think for most organizations there's not enough involvement of program.
And that's just the nature of the beast. There's only so many resources and any, or any organization and, and budgets. So, you know, I've seen, I've seen the gamut of it and it, it really comes down to, it's not a one size fits all. It's really how to elevate it to a point where it is important. To some extent, I'd say, you know, there's, there's certain brands that, that I've worked with in particular.
It is the forefront. It is, you know, people, especially, you know, I, I worked in high-end luxury and cleanliness is extremely important. And, you know, we would look at different scopes of work and clean our stores more than, than anyone else, because someone is, has a high price point of product. You know, I've seen that and I've seen department stores that are a little, you know, outdated and tired and have.
A demographic that isn't concerned with the aesthetics. And so we're not investing in the facilities as much in those particular sort of, we call them banners. So, you know, we're not cleaning the stores as much. We're not changing the lights. You know, some of them are still fluorescent. Now, now at this point, they're, they're most a hundred percent led, but it was, it was really based on, you know, each brand and their approach.
What the customer is willing to pay for something is important. So, you know, when I was at Saks fifth avenue, you know, Saks obviously is, is a flagship, you know, especially the fifth avenue store that is a flagship store. There's nothing like it in the world. And so the building itself is worth it at this 0.4 to $5 billion itself, just the building.
And so, you know, when you walk in. It's a show and you you're, you have to delight your customer the minute they enter that cosmetics floor off of fifth avenue. And so, yeah, it was, there was a high, you know, that that place is being, the lights are always important. The cleanliness is important. Um, but as you walk into Lord and Taylor, same company owned it, you know, down, down the street, down on 38th street, older demographic, older building, less important of, of, uh, uh, cleaning scopes.
You know, on the retail side, I've seen those variations in the food service. It's, it's different, you know, cleanliness is important because there's food. So I will say that cleanliness and, you know, just keeping up with standards, testing things, temperature controlling. It is paramount in the food service business, just because of we are handling food and food.
Safety is very important than so everything down to the chlorine in the water is being tested on a constant basis at our restaurants. So we, we take it very seriously on the food safety side. Um, you know, are some of the floors. You know, or some is some of the lighting old. Absolutely. Some people still don't have our new logo and that's, that's important, but less of an importance than the food safety aspect and the cleanliness of the restroom.
Sid:
So Nick, Different brands cater to different demographics and so there are different expectations in play. But, do you think most brands understand the importance of facilities as it relates to the overall customer experience?
Nick: Yeah, I think it's, there's never, there's never enough focus. I will say that in any organization I've worked, uh, I don't think that it's taken as serious as it could be. And, and because I've touched so many different categories of procurement from the services side of the business to direct materials, to packaging you name it, I've, I've touched it in procurement and supporting multiple organizations.
I always, I never felt that facilities has the attention. It deserves. As having the impact it could have on a location. It's always more reactive. I've seen it very reactive. I've seen high turnover. I've seen underpaid staff with not getting the recognition under qualified staff in roles that they're just not suited to support.
And it is a constant challenge, especially coming in. As a procurement professional, looking to support these departments and roles that there's, there's a lack of education. It's not, it's not the individual's fault. They've maybe fell into the role because they were in a position that it just made sense to.
Oh, you know, you're in operations, you know, facilities make sense for you to take over. Um, but unfortunately I've just never seen. The attention, it really deserves. And it then, you know, impacts the stores. You know, it impacts the stores, um, the morale, you know, that it's not important that, you know, the, the facilities team doesn't have a seat at the table on decision-making, you know, construction typically.
And especially in. You know, actually most organizations it's construction led, you know, sort of projects where construction will determine specs. They'll determine, you know, they'll work with a creative or an interior designer, architect and facilities is left, sort of cleaning up. I'd say the mass because, and I wish it wasn't a mess, unfortunately in most remodels or store redesigns and renovations, there's typically.
An issue like it's, it's whether, you know, this elevator is hard to clean and it cause it's total, it's all glass. Of course it's hard to clean. It's all glass, you know? And so it's, it looks really pretty, but, you know, to actually maintain the cleanliness is really difficult. And, and then, so not only from the cleanliness perspective, but elevator example, like someone thought it was a great idea.
And there's only so many service providers that can maintain that elevator. So now you've limited your pool of vendors in a, in a very challenging market, if not the most challenging, this is a specific retailer in Manhattan in Manhattan and San Francisco are the two most difficult markets to really find affordable talent and vendors.
And so you've limited. Now that design does, it was a design driven decision. At that, that led that store design. And I see that constantly, and it's from rugs to material of floors, you know, types of wood, you know, people are choosing softwood for their floors and next thing you know, they're gouged up and dented.
And so I've seen it so many times that unfortunately there's a lack of communication. And importance on the role of facilities that that is it could have, they could have on a store. Um, and even just being included in the conversation, it's, uh, I've never seen it really done well, and I've, I've been fortunate to work with some very talented facilities, support roles that people that really shine because they know what they're doing.
And I'm like, okay. So I know what success looks like, but I don't see it often at our organization. So Nick,
Sid: you know, it's been an interesting couple of years, right? When you look at either procurement or facilities or how you support facilities the past two and a half, three years, what has changed?
Nick: Well, there's definitely the pandemic has drastically changed everything, I think in so many different industries, but it's highlighted the importance of cleanliness and obviously responsiveness, it's created a whole nother category of this sort of standardization that just didn't exist, you know, these deep cleans.
So that is just, you know, made it more important than. To have a program in place where, you know, cleaning is important, air quality is also more important than ever now. So, so the, the, the pandemic has changed a lot of the physical aspect of, of a location. And kind of made it important, you know, standardization, you know, you think about every hand sanitizer and cleaning service out there.
That's sort of just had to get exasperated because of the pandemic. Um, but then just people's patterns have changed. So. Like I said about the subway example is, you know, people drive through is more important than ever pick up curbside pickup delivery, you know? So it's drastically changed things and accelerated the, that change.
I'd say prior to that, the trend was really on the data side. Um, that was really the biggest thing I had seen is that the data side was getting more, just more than ever. There was data to support the, the facilities. And that was the trend. It was data on the service network data on quality of work data on any sort of my new HSA of data was available.
If you had the right strategy and facilities. And then outside of that, it was capturing the guest experience. That was a whole new. Sort of category that was new new ish, I'd say in the last five years, is that guest satisfaction, you know, and how to capture it in these platforms that capture these sort of surveys post visit have, have really done well for themselves.
And they are really robust. There are some very large enterprise wide platforms out there that now can capture the voice of the customer. Immediately, you know, and it's not just like, even at the airport the last time, I don't know if we went into an airport, but even just in the bathroom, the little sign, smiley face, and sad face, you know, that didn't exist.
And so if people are starting to look at that experience more than ever, because they need to have some insight into the service providers or the staff that are there because they're not there. So. Before the pandemic and everything really changed. That was the trend I was seeing is that data and capturing data was, was expanding across every vertical and industry.
Sid:
sentiment - Yeah. We we've been seeing a lot of companies that are specializing in surveys and feedback from the consumer.. and converting those into insights that can help drive the business.. Tattle, yumpingo are a few i came across recenrly.. pretty high conversion rates.. capture customer sentiment.. what a customer is feeling is more than just the food.. ambience, lighting, space, the food, plating.. you really wanna cpatuere that.. it help you understand your customer and how to serve them better..
Another interesting phenomenon is how restaurants are interacting with their customers.. whether it is new digital experiences or even changing their physical spaces to keep up with new trends.. examples being more drive thrus, different formats, different dining room layout…bigger kitchens to deal with new online ordering platforms etc.. But all these changes are being driven by consumer data right and changing consumer demands? Any thoughts on that?
Nick: Yeah, no, I think to that point, the, the physical folk, especially in restaurants and because of COVID, you know, it has changed a lot of restaurants have adopted ghost kitchens, offsite that just produce just for delivery. And so that, that seems to be a growing trend. Uh, that goes kitchen mentality. And then, yeah, I would, I'm just thinking every restaurant I've gone to recently.
QR codes have all of a sudden become like everybody knows a QR code. And it was this thing that I think was sort of on the edge of, of getting adopted and COVID has made everybody aware of what a QR code is. And that sort of, that to me has been one of the biggest sort of phenomenon that has come out of COVID is now QR codes are here to stay and it's just like, okay, so now like someone should run with that and realized like there's a couple companies out there.
Like flow code they're out there. They're monetizing it significantly and getting really creative with uses of QR codes. But yeah, that dining experience has changed. You know, people are maybe not seeing a menu and now they have a little placard that they have to scan the menu. And now you're okay.
Driven to mobile, even at the physical location, I'm driven to mobile, which is not anything that was going on before. And so that has changed. And then POS you know, just at the restaurants change, you know, companies like toast have come in and allowed restaurants to. Really be become more efficient. So when I see restaurants that have adopted this mobile sort of friendly, especially toasts there's other there's other platforms out there that do it, I'm a huge fan because I know that my dining experience is going to be better than it's been, and I don't have to wait.
So yeah, I think we're, we're, we're a little spoiled right now and I think it's going to be really difficult for some companies to keep up because it's the same thing that Amazon did with delivery. Years ago, two-day delivery sounded crazy, crazy. It was the craziest thing, like two day delivery. Now it's same day.
And if you can't keep up, you're, you're really losing out on a whole market. So it's harder than ever right now to stay attune of things. But I think education's important. Companies need to see what data sources they have and start to really take some risks. And that's what I'm hoping. A lot of these companies start to take more risks and try some things out and not everything will work, but there's a lot of proven success out there, but yet data will help any of these sort of points you need.
You need some sort of data
Sid:
Youre a 100% right. Brands are trying new things to interact with and attract their customers. Not everything will stick and thats ok, but whatever does stick will be transformational… Some really interesting things we are hearing about are robots in the dining room to deliver drinks, or bus tables to new ways to delivery food.. like drones or rover.. but ultimately the point here is that brands understand they have to compete and delight… and offer new experiences that keeps them competitive.
So let's jump to our next segment, right? Where we talk about “How we do this and some of the strategies that we can collectively adopt to achieve our goals.
I want to understand from your perspective, what the relationship is between procurement and facilities and what do you think we should do to work together so that we can collectively move towards the same goal?
Nick: I think it's partnership, you know, it's, I think there's a lot of, you know, hesitation for procurement in certain groups that I've dealt with.
There's always, you know, Hey, I'm sort of coming in. You know, it's not my day-to-day. So I have to really approach each category. I, you know, sort of enter into at a new company with some hesitation, knowing that this is the person's day job. This is what they do. They might be doing. They've done this for 30 plus years and are a subject matter experts.
So I always come in. You know, just the understanding that I'm not an expert in these industries and yes, some I know stronger than others just because of my experience, but I sort of, I come in and I look to partner and help them achieve their goals. And I think that's the way, what I've found success in is approaching each category that way.
And it it's the same thing for facilities. And I look at how can. And is it, are you getting the service quality you need? Are you getting responsive vendors? Do you feel that you're paying the right price? And so I look at myself as a resource to make them, um, sort of more efficient in their role and one it's great for me because I'm sort of unbiased and I, I come in and I don't need to, I could be the bad guy.
And the facilities team and or operations whoever's managing it is able to manage the relationship and, you know, on there to just ensure that it's, you know, it's appropriate, the pricing's competitive, is there even a contract, you know? And so I look at my role every time to come in as a partner, not disrupt their world too much.
Um, but I want to help them and make sure that they're.
Sid:
I have seen procurement and facilities have different types of relationships in different organizations… in some cases, they understand how to work together and complement each others strengths and in some cases its adversarial.. where procurement comes in just looking to cut costs without the understanding business objectives and facilities is guarded and doesn't want them involved.
cos lets face it, facilities is a small slice of the pie for procurement, but i think if both teams know how to identify opportunities, and then address.. the results can be meaningful ..
Any thoughts on what you see and advice on how these teams can work together better?
Nick: Yeah. I think procurement has a reputation where. It's, you know, we're coming in to save money. And that is sometimes a strategy it's obviously pressured and I've been in roles where my, my main priority was savings. And it's a shame that that's sometimes is the main priority, but every time I approached facilities, it's never to save.
And I think that is helpful. And I sort of will challenge my leadership every time to say, we're not, we're not going in to save money. And that shouldn't be our goal. It's ensuring that we have the right vendors and we have the right strategies and plans in place. And if there's an opportunity to save money, fantastic, but it is not the, it should not be the goal in facilities to save money.
It should be to ensure that a thing, you know, scopes are appropriate. And that's always something that, you know, allows itself for cost savings is to re-look at your scopes and optimize scopes and say, you know, do you need this, you know, cleaning this many times and this type of product and that, and, you know, and then the rates, obviously making sure that the rates are competitive is, is important, but I never, I never got.
Saying leading with, I have to save money or cut costs or budgets are getting cut because I think that's shortsighted and facilities. And a lot of times, you know, the break fix world, you know, reactive world emergency services world will always be more expensive. And so I always like again, and that's me challenging my leadership I'll defend facilities first versus driving my procurement agenda because I know.
To manage facilities from a role that is somewhat disconnected. They're not in the stores or restaurants every day. And so they don't have a lot of resources. So I always look for ways to eventually find savings, but not lead with it. Um, and that's been successful for me.
Sid: That’s fantastic.. I think procurement can do a lot of good and should be an indispensable partner to the business.. and the good ones know its about outcomes.. which means value… better service, faster delivery which ultimately has a positive impact on the business.. but there are those teams that are just looking for cheap.. cheap is not good.. and cheap has consequences.. and we've found… what might seem like a low price on the surface..ends up costing you more. I would say to any team out there, if you need to make the right difference, spend time understanding the business.
For the folks that are in our audience that are either from procurement or are dealing with procurement right now. Are there any tools and strategies that you have found to be indispensable over your journey in this role and how you worked with facilities? Anything that you'd say you can't live without?
Nick: Yeah. At this point, technology, especially on the work order management side is not as necessary. You can't manage effectively if you aren't tracking the work orders. And, and could it be super simple, basic, but I've seen a lot of platforms out there that have made it very approachable, economical, and they.
Justifying pay for themselves in a very short amount of time. And so I do think that that's probably most important to have that visibility where someone can you're, you're ensuring that your locations are using the vendors that you have determined and you have negotiated. And so that to me is something that is, if I, if I go somewhere and they don't have a tool in place to manage work orders, that will be the first thing I'll do, because otherwise you're sort of working uphill and you could have a great vendor network, but you know, there's no way.
To be strategic. If you don't have some sort of tool in place to get you that granular detail. Right.
Sid: And, and Nick, I've known you to be a very data driven person, right? I mean, do you feel organizations leverage that data enough?
Nick: Data's key, especially in facilities, because there are platforms that exist that allow you to get to itemization of invoices.
I'd say of all categories, I've touched, it's the most data heavy. And I don't think anyone's really, at least in my experience taking advantage of it to the best of their ability. Um, and it, and it's, it's unfortunate because there's so many different categories that go into running a store or a facility or anything that don't have the ability to have granular data.
Some of it's just assumption based, you know, shopper track, you know, where you're checking the analytics of people coming in and out of your store. You know, it's, it's useful, it's a tool, but this is a category that you could actually get down into the weeds and see exactly. You know, who did, what, how long did it take them and, you know, did they have to come back?
And so, and then you could actually get down to the asset level where you're starting to track an asset's longevity in life. So now you've got all this data. You're like, okay, well, Fixing this AC unit I've now, and this kind of transcends into your own personal life too at the home. Like why, why is it cheaper just to replace this item and why am I spending so much money to fix it and why, you know, why am I going to keep putting band-aids on a tool that would, would have been cheaper to replace it?
I wouldn't have had downtime. And so I feel facilities has the opportunity to have the most granular strategic, actionable data. And I don't. Anyone or enough, enough people aren't taking advantage of that to their own detriment. And it's costing them more money than they could even imagine, because they have no idea because they're not tracking it 100%.
Sid: Um, so, so Nick, I'd like to wrap up our interview with a few questions about the future.
Sid: What does the future look like in a, in our space, any rising trends in consumer behavior and technology, things that we realized during COVID that are here to stay. We'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
Nick: Yeah, no, I think there's, there's a lot of trends. You know, I think automation, AI, you know, I think are, are, are trends that are here to stay, especially in facilities.
There's a lot of solutions out there that are getting smart and getting smarter and it all, it all leads to data. So I think data. The accessibility to data and the type of data is, is constantly increasing, which is exciting. And so I think there's so much change their importance. Is there people, you know, coming out of this pandemic, I think people want to still go out.
And so it's not going away. I think you'll see a lot of brands and companies will dilute their footprint a bit. I think a lot realized that they were oversaturated. And so I think it's now, now that you have someone physically in your store or restaurant, what can you do? And so that is going to be a shift of more than ever because the, you know, before it wasn't as important now, people are coming back after COVID they want to shop.
So I hope that trend continues technology is, is more important than ever, you know, the experience obviously on apps is, is important. You know, at base, you know, ordering is, is more than ever. And then even now kiosks, you know, you go into even just, McDonald's like, I went into a McDonald's in Mexico city and I don't speak Spanish.
And in Mexico city, it's, it's mostly Spanish speaking, you know, it's kind of establishments. And so I was worried of how to modify my order and get what I wanted. Able to, because the kiosk and everything, you know, sort of was perfect and mine. So here I am in a different country, in a language, I don't know how to speak, I'm able to have an elevated experience.
Um, so I, I do see that trend will continue in the future more than.
Sid: I love that. you're a hundred percent, right. I think we're in a extremely fast moving and also unpredictable time in our life. But i think if you keep your shining star or mantra as doing whatever it takes to delight your customer.. u will find a way to, to adapt. Whether it's your physical space, leveraging technology, or finding new ways in which you can interact with your consumer, you will not only stay competitive, but you will develop amazing brand loyalty.
Last question. What advice would you give to folks in either your role or in facilities and operations? What can they do to ensure that they continue to have the biggest impact on their brand and their brands performance?
Nick: I think education is important. So there's a lot of resources out there.
Literature, obviously, podcasts, blogs, resources that exist in facilities. I do feel it's important to continue education network. I think networking for me has been a huge value in facilities because I didn't know everything. I sort of fell into facilities by chance. And I was fortunate that I just hit the road and I think I visited.
Like a hundred and to 200 different facilities and educated myself with someone in operations to really get into the weeds, understand, you know, what was going on, meeting with the vendors, you know, at the end of the day, a vendor will know more than you'll ever know in a category. Because it is what it is, their livelihood.
They are putting dinner on the table and they know more, they've forgotten more about plumbing than you will ever know in your role. And so I think it's important to really talk to as many people as you can hear what your peers are doing, how they're addressing challenges. And then, you know, stay connected with your vendors, the good, the, the partners that you've built, because they they'll they're ahead of the trends there.
They know what's what's happening before you ever will. And they're gonna educate you to, you know, the hopes that hopefully they have less service calls, which is like the best vendor to find is someone that understands that, Hey. They might be, you know, reducing their revenue, but you're happier and that's, that's important.
So it's education. And then just reaching out to people that are in the industry to, you know, sort of check with your peers and see what trends that they're seeing. So I do that every, every day I ask someone what's going on in some industry. Cause I want to know what my peers are doing. I can't assume I know the right strategy on every.
Sid: That's great, Nick, thank you so much for your time. You and I have had some very interesting conversations over the years and this conversation was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really appreciate it. And to everyone in our audience. Thank you for being here. And um, if you want to connect with Nick, I think you should find him on LinkedIn and reach out, right nick?.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Google may LinkedIn. I mean, LinkedIn is, I love, I love it. It's a great resource for networking and connecting with peers at multiple companies. So feel free. Shoot me a message. And thanks for listening. And thanks said it's been a pleasure, always, always a fun topic. I can talk about this whole.
Sid: Love it. Thanks again, Nick. And we hope to have you back soon. Really appreciate it. Thank you all for listening.
Narrator: Thank you for listening to this episode of elevating brick and mortar, a podcast brought to you by service channel partner with service channel for peak facility's performance. Go to service, channel.com to learn more.
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