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Melissa Hodge with Krystal, LLC
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Melissa Hodge is Senior Director of Franchise for Krystal Restaurants, LLC, the original quick service restaurant chain in the South. Hodge joined Krystal in 2020 and is focused on maintaining relationships with existing franchisees and procuring prospective ones, while also overseeing the entire franchise sale process.
Since her start, Krystal has seen its first new franchise in over 20 years added into the system to open up a new store. Hodge plays a key role in building the Krystal portfolio as the company purses aggressive growth plans.
Prior to joining Krystal, Hodge spent 10 years with Tom James Company, a fine clothing company. She launched her career with Tom James, where she quickly moved up the ranks and was top rookie in sales. During her tenure, she not only sold millions of dollars in custom clothing, she was also in charge and led sales training, as well as recruiting top notch talent.
Hodge holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing and Professional Sales, from Florida State University.
Follow Krystal on LinkedIn.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- What makes the Krystal menu so craveable
- What consumers can expect to see from the brand in the future
- The brand’s growth goals
- About their new leadership
- How the brand did through COVID, and how the locations are doing post COVID
- What makes an ideal franchise owner for Krystal
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Welcome to Franchise Marketing Radio, brought to you by SEOSamba. Comprehensive, high performing marketing solutions for mature and emerging franchise brands. To supercharge your franchise marketing, go to seosamba.com. That’s seosamba.com.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Melissa Hodge with Krystal. Welcome, Melissa.
Melissa Hodge: [00:00:41] Thank you for having me.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, I’m excited to catch up with the folks at Krystal. Tell us about Krystal for those of us in the around the country that aren’t familiar.
Melissa Hodge: [00:00:52] Yes. So Krystal restaurant brand were an iconic symbol of American deliciousness. Our guest associate us with fun and with joy and well, we’re not seen as a southern brand. We are influenced by the flavors and tradition traditions of the South. Krystal were best known for our savory square slider that has delighted many generations.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] And then how does the growth plan look? Or are people kind of clamoring over Krystal in the markets that you serve now? And is that expanding?
Melissa Hodge: [00:01:34] Well, we are very, very excited to announce that as of this past Monday of our first restaurant by a new franchisee in over 15 years has opened in Dublin, Georgia. So this marks an incredibly exciting time for our organization, and it adds to the momentum that we’ve been building as a part of our aggressive growth plans. We’re really excited about our momentum that’s happening and we’re focused on staying on that upward trajectory.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:09] So now, as part of the growth, have you been developing new prototype stores?
Melissa Hodge: [00:02:15] Yes. So we actually released our new prototype that we’re very excited to begin building this new design. It combines a sleek, contemporary interior and exterior with interactive lighting that caters to consumers for on the go dining desire. We’re looking for a smaller footprint concepts that can deliver on all of our day parts breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:45] So now are you are you finding that kind of drive through and that kind of grab and go is a growth area like that’s that’s kind of a must have in today’s QSR, right?
Melissa Hodge: [00:02:57] Yes. In today’s space, we’ve relied heavily on our drive thru and we are being rewarded for it.
Lee Kantor: [00:03:06] Now, Crystal has done a great job in terms of marketing and kind of partnering, I guess, with these delivery services. Is that kind of part of the growth plan as well?
Melissa Hodge: [00:03:18] We definitely want to continue that on all fronts, on every restaurant that we do open up, we will remain heavily focused on Drive Drive-Thru, walk up windows and also online ordering and third party delivery.
Lee Kantor: [00:03:33] Now how did the brand manage through COVID? That was a tricky situation. It still is for a lot of folks, but I would imagine, you know, being so good at drive thru really helped.
Melissa Hodge: [00:03:46] It helped immensely. And like everyone in the restaurant space who was lucky enough to have a drive thru and be able to rely on that, as well as the off premise dining and online ordering. And again, our efforts are really being rewarded through that as most of our business is drive through. It will remain that way.
Lee Kantor: [00:04:06] Now, as you’re looking to grow, kind of how are you identifying that ideal franchise owner?
Melissa Hodge: [00:04:13] Our ideal franchise owner, we want them to be entrepreneurial. We want them to be growth minded, successful and business restaurant experience is preferred. We it would be great if they know the product. They love the product. Someone who wants to be their own boss and invest in their future. Maybe build this pass this on for generations into their family. Want to expand their portfolio? Maybe they have a territory near them that they’re interested in growing the market, maybe also a business they want to begin. That makes a difference in their community.
Lee Kantor: [00:04:51] Now, are you finding are you also looking for folks that may be are or have other franchises that they’re adding to wanting to add, you know, Cristal to their portfolio? Is that appropriate franchisee as well?
Melissa Hodge: [00:05:04] That would be very appropriate. We love potential franchisees that are already in the operating of restaurants. They understand the space, they want to diversify their portfolio. That gets us so excited.
Lee Kantor: [00:05:19] Now you mentioned Cristal being a southern brand. Is there? Are you primarily focusing on the south or is kind of the nation open right now?
Melissa Hodge: [00:05:28] Nation is open right now. We have a very aggressive growth plan that we’re excited about, primarily right now we are in the southeast and we are going to expand in a way that makes sense. But we’re excited for we will have some announcements coming up that we are really excited to share.
Lee Kantor: [00:05:49] Now, right now, there’s new leadership at Crystal. Can you share a little bit about, you know, who’s in charge now and what kind of background that they’re bringing to the table?
Melissa Hodge: [00:06:02] Of course. And I think this sums it up so great. Every year, the nation’s restaurant news editors select industry executives for their power list. So this year was focused on leadership, and our president, Tom Sager, was named one of the most influential restaurant executives in the country. So this. To me, says it all, this is our leader, and Tom is leading, he is the right people in place. He’s the right team and more importantly, the right vision and we all are. Supporting him and behind him and were such a team, we’re ready to do this together. Our leadership team at Crystal Combined has over one hundred years of leadership experience in the restaurant industry alone. So that’s huge. Aside from additional leadership experience, we really have the right people in the right place to execute our vision at this time, and it couldn’t be more exciting.
Lee Kantor: [00:07:07] So now what does Crystal need more of? Do the more talent right now? Are you looking for just more franchisees? What can we do to help you?
Melissa Hodge: [00:07:18] Well, we are looking for new franchisees. We’re looking to grow. We’re looking to expand both on company stores and on franchised stores, and we really have an aggressive growth plan that we’re excited about.
Lee Kantor: [00:07:34] So can you share some of those growth goals?
Melissa Hodge: [00:07:38] We will have some exciting announcements that we can release soon.
Lee Kantor: [00:07:42] Right now, if somebody wants to learn more about the opportunity to learn more about a crystal near them, what’s the best website
Melissa Hodge: [00:07:49] We can go to our website at? Crystal franchising.
Lee Kantor: [00:07:56] And that’s karwai a.
Melissa Hodge: [00:07:59] Yes. Crystal with a K..
Lee Kantor: [00:08:01] Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today.
Melissa Hodge: [00:08:06] Thank you so much for having me.
Lee Kantor: [00:08:08] All right, this is Lee Kantor will sail next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.
BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Work for Free
BRX Pro Tip: Getting the Most from BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Getting the Most from BRX Pro Tips
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you this morning. Lee, we’re doing a pro tip on Pro Tips, let’s talk about getting the strategies/approaches for getting the most out of the Business RadioX Pro Tips.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:19] Well, we do this Business RadioX Pro Tips in order to share some of the thought leadership that we stumble upon through our kind of journey in business and in life. And share some of the folks that we find informative and useful. And this is something that you can do with our pro tips or anybody’s kind of tips that you find while you’re learning throughout your day. But if you take some of these pro tips or any pro tip and share them with your clients or your prospects, you can create another elegant, non-salesy relationship building moment.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:54] You know, you can say, “Hey, you know, I know that a few weeks ago or months ago you said you were struggling with this. Here’s a tip that might help you kind of get through that challenge.” It’s using information from other people in order to help you kind of build relationships with the people most important to you.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:13] Another thing you could do is, if you find a good one, you can serve it up to your community. You know, you can put it on your website, or on your blog, or on social media and go, “Hey, this was a great tip about sales.” Or, “This was a great tip about prospecting that I found useful and I thought you might find it useful.” You don’t have to create all your own thought leadership. Sharing and curating other people’s good thought leadership is very useful because people are bombarded with information.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:42] So, if you stumble upon something that you find useful, you know, be a good kind of corporate citizen and share that because we all want to learn and we all want to better ourselves. So, if you find something useful, share it with other people.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:56] And then, if you want to take it to the next, next level is do what we’re doing with these Pro Tips, start your own pro tips and share what you’re learning on a regular rhythm with the people who matter most to you. And then, you kind of develop your own thought leadership in this regard. So, there’s lots of ways that you can kind of use our pro tips or anybody else’s kind of tips in order to help you build relationships with other people, to help you stay connected to other people, to help you open doors with new people.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:27] And if you want to take that final step and start your own kind of pro tips or your own blog or what we do, then kind of go for it. But I am a big fan of pro tips. I think everybody should be doing a version of this, whether it’s written, audio, like we do, video. However you do it, I think it’s useful. It helps you with your brand. It helps you kind of serve your community. And it helps you establish yourself as an authority in whatever specialty that you have.
BRX Pro Tip: Ineffective Marketing
BRX Pro Tip: Pay Yourself First
BRX Pro Tip: Pay Yourself First
Stone Payton : Welcome back to BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here. Lee, one of the disciplines that, fortunately, we adopted pretty early on as we built this thing of ours out and I think it served us well, and our recommendation would be that other entrepreneurs, other people who aspire to build something, that they follow this advice as well. Simply put, three words. Pay yourself first.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. Early on we found the Profit First methodology of Mike Michalowicz, and that book was really instrumental, I think, in reframing how we thought about, you know, how we go and do business as Business RadioX.
Lee Kantor: So, that old formula of sales minus expenses equals profit, that just wasn’t working for us. You know, when you do it that way, then whatever’s left is what the profit is. And we found that it’s more useful to do it kind of the Profit First way where it’s sales minus profit equals expenses. So, when you have your sales and then you then take your profits, then whatever is left is your expenses. And that’s where you’ve got to kind of live within your means of your expenses based upon that formula. So, that allows us to pay ourselves first and then still live below our means.
Lee Kantor: So, our first move is to adjust expenses, not profits, and then we see if we can efficiently and effectively deliver our brand promise to our folks within those expenses. That’s our first choice. And so, that’s really been instrumental in terms of keeping us going and keeping us through hard times and good times. So, I think it’s worth exploring for folks who haven’t heard about it. That book is called Profit First, and I think it’s something that you should consider, especially a new company consultant, the coach, I think that this is a really good methodology when it comes to running a business.
Stone Payton : Well, so do I. And I mean, look, let’s be candid, we are actually taping this particular pro tip on the very last day of the month. So, tomorrow I’m going to look at sales volume for this previous month. And I can tell you right now, unless a check comes in today, it’s not as much as we thought it was going to be. And I don’t have to clutter my mind with a lot of decisions. I’m going to take that number times it by the percentage that we’ve agreed to pay ourselves first, and those are the checks that we’re going to cut. I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have to put a lot of energy and effort into it.
Stone Payton : And then, next month, you know, maybe it’s going to be a little bit bigger, but it just removes a lot of the clutter. It takes the emotion out of it. And, yeah, I think it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made, man.
BRX Pro Tip: Prioritizing
BRX Pro Tip: Prioritizing
Stone Payton: Welcome back to BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you this afternoon. Lee, let’s talk about strategies, tactics, disciplines for prioritizing.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. This is one of those things when everything is important, then really nothing is important. So, your ability to discern and prioritize what is important is critical in order for you to lead. And this kind of ruthless prioritization is a non-negotiable critical skill that you have to master if you want to be successful.
Lee Kantor: If you can’t tell what is the most important thing to work on, then how can you kind of communicate that to your team? How do they know what to work on? So, you really have to identify the main levers in your business, and you have to relentlessly kind of move those levers.
Lee Kantor: So, prioritization is really important. You better be kind of on point when it comes to saying, “Okay. These are my top three priorities this quarter, this month, this week.” That way you know what to do every day. That way your team knows what is the most important thing to work on every day.
BRX Pro Tip: Delivering ROI
BRX Pro Tip: Delivering ROI
Stone Payton: [00:00:01] Welcome back to BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about delivering ROI.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:10] Yeah. Having the conversation about ROI is really what differentiates our platform from traditional media. Traditional media wants to duck the ROI conversation and they want to focus in on audience and listeners and things like that that aren’t real and that they can’t really control. We want to focus on green dollar ROI and have a conversation and understand the value that putting our clients in contact with and the communication with their most important, most coveted prospects that that’s what’s going to bring them.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] So, you always have to tie back our activity in here with the ROI, which means more money that the client can make, because they’re getting in front of these hard-to-reach people that’s going to eventually buy their things. But another area of ROI that I don’t want to ignore that’s just as important in a lot of cases are these more intangible, these softer kinds of ROIs. That might be this sense of belonging they get when they are the hub of a community. The relationships that they’ve nurtured with existing clients and with new people.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:16] The status that they get by being the host of a radio show. This credential that they now have and being seen as somebody important to the ecosystem that they serve. The feeling that they’re contributing to something that’s bigger than themselves. The impact that they’re making. These are all kinds of ROI that it’s important for you to remind your clients that they’re getting and it’s important for them to realize that they wouldn’t be having this if they weren’t affiliated with Business RadioX and they weren’t hosting a show that serves the ecosystem that serves them.
Stone Payton: [00:01:47] Well, you bring up an excellent point. I think it is an important discipline as a studio partner or studio operator to have your client articulate and I mean consistently, regularly articulate specifically the ROI that they are getting, because they are getting it, they do know it, but have them say it out loud.
BRX Pro Tip: The 30 Percent Rule
BRX Pro Tip: The 30 Percent Rule
Stone Payton: [00:00:01] Welcome back to BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about the 30 percent rule.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:09] The 30 percent rule comes from Steve Jobs when he was in Apple. A lot of people don’t remember that Steve Jobs, he started Apple, but he was also fired from Apple. And when he left, they struggled a little bit and then, they brought him back. And the first thing that he did when he came back was he looked at all of the activities that were happening in the Apple business and he decided that he’s going to focus only on the most important 30 percent of the business.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:35] The things that were really true to the core of what he was trying to do. And then, he was going to prune the 70 percent of the business activities that were just okay, that they just didn’t need to be doing anymore. So, he just honed in and focused on the activities that mattered, the stuff that really was going to drive the business going forward, and he got rid of all the other distractions. And in today’s world, there are so many activities that really don’t move the needle.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:04] They are nice to have, it’s great that they are happening, but they’re not the things that are really driving sales and really driving results for you and your clients. So, it’s better to prune those activities that, you know, maybe, at one time, they were great idea to do and you should have been doing them a while ago, but they’ve just kind of aren’t as productive as they used to be and focus in on the 30 percent of activities that really moves the needle in your business. Focus more and let these distractions go away. Prune what you don’t need, do more of what you do need.
Stone Payton: [00:01:36] All right. I want to put you on the spot for a minute. What do you feel like is the 30 percent that is most important for the studio partner?
Lee Kantor: [00:01:45] The 30 percent that is most important is selecting the right guest to come on a show, having good shows, and having follow-up meetings. If that’s all you did, is pick the right people to be in the room, have good experiences with them, and follow up with the ones that are prospects, you will grow your business. That’s the only activity that needs to be done. Anything else are nice to have, in my book.
