When you’re a brand with multiple locations, one of the keys to capturing and retaining consumer loyalty is delivering a consistent, quality experience. Consumers want to know that when they see your name on a storefront, they can go inside and get the same great product quality, service and overall experience they’ve come to expect no matter where they are. That’s where auditing comes in—a service Interactions specializes in.
This month, Interactions is launching one of its largest auditing programs to date for a global quick-service restaurant with nearly 1,000 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Interactions’ new partner has long understood the importance of delivering a consistent, quality product. But with a combination of corporate and franchise locations—and regional managers stretched thin with other duties—their internal auditing efforts to ensure this consistency had been difficult to streamline.
“After testing out Interactions’ services at 18 locations in the fall of 2014, the company quickly realized having dedicated, third-party auditors was a much more efficient and dependable solution,” says Chris Smith, Interactions Account Executive.
Using its network of over 40,000 associates, Interactions has established a team of qualified auditors, many of whom are certified in food handling and safety, to dispatch to all of the partner company’s locations on a trimester basis. At each visit, the auditors will assess signage, training, food safety and consistent product preparation by talking with store managers and employees, observing the work that they do and testing their skills in predefined areas. The results will be sent to the partner company’s corporate office as well as to the individual stores to help with process improvement.
“One of the biggest strengths of this program is impartiality,” says Smith. “We’ll be rotating the auditors we send to the stores every time to ensure there’s no bias in the evaluation. This is something clients can’t do when they use their own employees to assess quality standards.”
Smith notes that this latest quality assurance program is just one example of how Interactions’ audits can benefit retailers and brands. “We can also use audits to ensure product displays and promotions are being set up properly and consistently across all locations and to do competitor price checks,” he says. “And we can do them no matter where a retailer is located. As a global company, we have boots on the ground all across the U.S. and in many countries around the world.”
To learn more about Interactions’ auditing capabilities, contact Chris Smith at ChrisSmith@interactionsmarketing.com or Sarah Akioka at sakioka@interactionsmarketing.com.