Start With A Win - Smashing Burgers and Treating People Right with Carl Bachmann

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

On this episode of the Start With A Win podcast, Adam talks with Carl Bachmann, CEO of Smashburger. Carl has been in the restaurant business since he was 12 years old, so he knows a thing or two about listening to customer feedback and delivering a high-quality product. As a leader, Carl is a strong proponent for treating people right and empowering them to make informed decisions, and then supporting what they create. This ideology starts, he says, with having clearly defined and articulated goals as an organization and then getting your employees to buy into that vision and innovate within it. Carl embraces the fact that he is not the smartest guy in the room, and he wants to provide a space for employees to collaborate and harness their passion into something that will improve the customer experience.When it comes to the customer experience, Carl believes that his job is to listen and learn rather than make decisions in a vacuum. He reviews every social media comment and other forms of feedback every day, so he is in touch with what people are saying and feeling about the business as a whole as well as specific products. Carl and the other Smashburger leaders spend time in individual restaurants listening to their employees because they often come up with the best new ideas. He feels that transparency and honesty are critical components of his business philosophy, so employees and customers alike understand what the company is doing and why. Smashburger has recently started a loyalty program to connect more directly with customers and reward them for their purchases. Connect with Carl:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-bachmann-80704110https://twitter.com/carljbachmann?lang=en https://smashburger.com/ Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/ Leave us a voicemail:888-581-4430

Every day is filled with choices. You're here because you're choosing to start with a win. Get ready to be inspired, learn something new, and connect with the win nation. Coming to you from Denver, Colorado, Adam Canto, CEO of Remax, here with Start With a Win. Producer Mark, how you doing, buddy? I'm fantabulous. Fantabulous. You like a good burger, don't you? You know what? I love a good burger. I don't just like one. I love a good burger.

There's a difference between one of those where you're like, oh my gosh, that's making my mouth water. And you're just like, that was necessary. And the guest we have on today is from one of those companies where you're like, oh my gosh, that makes my mouth water. So help me welcome to Start With A Win, Carl Bachman, president of Smashburger, where he manages the company's leadership team, oversees the entire brand, which includes more than, or almost 300 offices, corporate and franchise, operating in 35 states, eight countries. Holy smokes. These guys are global. And really, it's interesting when you look at things from Carl's leadership perspective, which I want to dive into, you know, you're, you're developing employees into leaders, but you also build a world-class team to distribute a world-class amazing product. So Carl, welcome to start with a win. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Awesome. Hey, uh, by the way,

Smashburger yum. I've got one literally like two miles from my house. Oh, that's excellent. Love that place. So you're like one of my staples. You're one of the first places I can get to here and probably one of the best I could get to around. So this is really cool to have you on. We're excited to have you.

Why don't you give us a little bit about yourself? Tell us where you come from. What do you do for Smashburger? Well, I run the company now. I was a COO for a while, and then we were bought out in late 2018 by a global giant. But we're Denver proud, Denver based. I live part-time in Denver. I'm from New York, so I commute back and forth. I've been in the restaurant business since I was about 12 years old, washing dishes and working my way up. And here I am now running Smash Burger.

And like you guys, I love a great burger. So that was an easy fix for me to join Smash. It's a decadent burger and we love it. So that's me. So here I am. Awesome. And I mean, for all the listeners here, they know I'm in Denver too. It's the Casarock outlet store right down the street from my house. So this is cool. I mean,

how do you balance? I mean, you've got a lot of, you know, I was reading your bio, you're juggling a lot of balls here. I mean, you guys have to maintain great product, your supply chain, you have some company-owned and some franchised locations. And you're trying to, as a leader of a company, you've got to develop your leadership team every day. But you also have all these stores out there you've got to develop and employees to care about. How do you balance that from your perspective? Give me a little bit of insight into what does Carl's day look like? Well, I think as far as leadership and how you balance all that is it starts with treating people the way you want to be treated.

It's kind of the golden rule. It's not rocket science. I always say we make burgers and fries. It's got to be nice to people. It's kind of fifth grade math and flipping burgers. But it's about doing it right and doing it with passion. So, for me, leadership is just taking care of my team and letting them make good decisions. And I think great leaders really focus in on letting people support and truly support what they help create. So, I don't dictate how we move as an organization.

I build a great team around me and I value their opinions. And it's kind of a democratic approach as opposed to a dictatorial approach. And I think it makes a big difference. And I think that's why we move quickly and pivot with all the challenges that we have in front of us. So I think that's how we balance my leadership and really balance my team. That's awesome. So, I mean, you talk about your leadership, your team, how do you get them to build their goals into your goals as a company? I mean, that's kind of a challenging thing. Sometimes people are like, eh, I want a paycheck and I want to go home, but those are not the types of leaders we want. We want the types of leaders who are personally

invested in the organization. So, and this is, I guess, the squishy space in leadership, the kind of hard part where we talk about how do we get people emotionally connected with our organizations? What things come to mind when I ask you, how do you accomplish that? Well, I think I lead with passion and excitement. I love what I do. And I think it starts there. And I think it's the other thing that I mentioned is people support what they help create. So you can dictate how you want things done, or you can ask the team to collaborate and tell me how things should be done. You know, I think when a leader thinks they're the smartest guy in the room, they're clearly in the wrong room. And I think you got

to understand that and just take care of really the passion that people have for what their job is. And my job is really to relate to all those different departments in our organization. And I like to make it sound simple, but there are a lot of moving parts to running a big organization and a growing organization. But it starts with empowering your people and giving them decision-making privileges and experiences. And I think then they really get passionate for what they do. And I get excited when I see that. And I think that's contagious. So I think that's how we deliver as an organization. Amazing. I mean, another example of leading versus managing and really harnessing that compassion that people have to, you know,

for self-fulfillment, for doing something better and contributing to a cause. And that cause is creating great food for people and helping the customer. That's pretty cool because it's fascinating. You look at Carl's situation here and Carl is not leading the employees, but he's leading the employees, the person making the fries, flipping the burger, things like that, that deal with the customer. But Carl has a lot of people that he has to influence moving in that direction before it trickles down to the customer. So how do you listen to the customer, Carl? How do you, how do you, how can you fit that into your leadership? Because you have to understand the customer needs and the changes in that, which obviously

we've changed quite a bit lately. But how can you do both? I think it starts with kind of one of our values in our company. And our parent company, JFC, has a real strong set of values. And one of the best ones that I think has really set the tone for our organization is to have the humility to listen and learn. So it starts with that. Don't dictate to what the consumer wants. Don't dictate to what they're saying or thinking they're saying or we think they're saying. Listen to them and

find out what they really, truly want. And I think there's a big disconnect there. So we really focus in on that. We use different platforms to listen to our consumers. We collect all social media comments and feedback and ideas and thoughts and inquiries. And I look at that every day. And that's important to look at it every day and stay connected. Stay connected to what the consumer is telling you. And then I also think when it comes down to how do you connect with the consumer directly as a president of a company, it starts with connecting with your employees. I think that's important. I spend a lot of time in restaurants. All my leadership team does. And we just ask the questions and we communicate and listen to our teams. And that

really directs us and gives us direction into what we want to do as an organization. It's been pivotal to react to the changing times during a pandemic, during digital transformation that our industry is in. It's so important to really listen. I think it starts with that. If you treat your employees right and you set them on a pedestal, and it's kind of like an inverted pyramid. Most organizations, you take a pyramid and the president's at the top of the pyramid. I like to think we flip the pyramid upside down and listen to what the employees tell us because if we listen to the employees, we're going to take care of the consumer. Then our guests are happy. That's the key,

I think, to the organizational structure that we have. So we listen to feedback every single day. I do it every single day, every complaint, every comment, every opportunity, every really compliment that we get, I respond to every single day and listen to every day. And that's how you really stay connected. That's, I mean, some great key points there. It's, you know, people before process and the payoff happens when you're good to the people and you have a good process. And we know Smashburger has a good process. I want to ask you about something. You guys, you guys have a loyalty program now, right? Yeah, we do. We, we, we really understand that we want to reward our guests for being, being regular and enjoying and passionate about our brand.

So we have a great loyalty program. We've just relaunched a new app and website. So when you're using the app, you can earn and burn points in the reward program right through the app. So it makes it easier to really get credit for great customers and coming back time and time again. So it's a great program. And, you know, we recognize birthdays, we recognize regular consumers, we're generating a lot of technology or using a lot of technology to generate trends and things that you like. So, you know, if you're a loyalty customer, we'll eventually figure out what you like, and we'll offer you different

programs to make sure you get that burger that you love at a good price or at a discount or maybe buy one for you every once in a while on your birthday. So, loyalty can be fun. It can be engaging. So, we're really starting to use this AI technology to understand kind of the trends of our consumers and make sure we're answering and rewarding them for things that they may like. It's also interesting, too, through loyalty, we can learn what trends are happening and where people are transitioning. And we can also suggest new items to entice them to come back as well. So it's actually kind of a fun program. It's exciting. That's really cool. I heard somebody, I don't remember who it was, the other day they were talking about, you know, the ROI of investing in current customers versus those that are not current customers.

Everybody's out trying to market to the next customer they haven't had. And really, the gold mine is in your backyard. It's in the loyalty of those that are great customers already. What's your perspective on that? Do you see a lot of companies that are starting to figure that out or they're missing the point? I mean, you guys really are hyper-focused on your existing customers, obviously. Yeah, I think it's a blend. I mean, I think it's always important to create trial and new customers, get new fans of the brand. But most importantly is to keep people happy with our brand and keep innovating so that they're interested and excited and keep the staples that they love.

So the trending that we can track in our loyalty program really answers that question. What do our consumers love? I do think that that's probably the most important thing is we want people to spread the word about Smashburger for us by creating an experience that's memorable. So it starts with great product. During these last years, people transformed through the pandemic. We decided that our loyal guests deserve something better. I always say, comfort in uncomfortable times. We really focus in on that piece of it. How do we make sure our

guests really have an awesome experience and get to try something elevated and different and unique. So innovation, constantly elevating the quality of our products, certified Angus beef, high quality, always starting with quality first. We really think those are the things that really make the loyalty program exciting and make people want to come back. And that's the real return on investment strategy. How do you not lose a guest because you make sure you answer their needs? And needs change. And we have to be always innovating to change with those needs. Great answer. I mean, I love what I'm hearing here. And you're saying a lot of things that, you know, as somebody who also runs franchising companies, I try to, I mean, you and I are in the same sheet of music here.

We try to repeat these words over and over again to our leaders in our organization as they trickle down and they're reflected in the values and how you just create that greater experience for the consumer out there. What advice, we all know somebody who owns a restaurant. We all know somebody who owns a business of some sort. What advice do you have that's very time specific? Something that's right now to deal with the issues we as business leaders have had. Give us a few key aspects where Carl's like, hey, think about this. What are the first things you tell a leader right now to get through some of these interesting times?

I think the things that I always fall on are kind of my tenets of how I live my life. And transparency and honesty start there. And transparency and honesty, those sounds generic. But what it means is people know exactly what we're doing and why we're doing it. And being honest about your products and your services and what's good and what's not good. I think for leaders, you have to be introspective and you really have to look hardest at yourself and your organization and say, what do we do that? It's OK, but it could be better. And where are we always improving? I think restaurateurs and I've been in the restaurant business for close to 40 years, and I think

restaurateurs make a lot of mistakes based on margin as opposed to based on the consumer. So, they tighten up margins. And I think that's a big mistake in the industry today. If you look through the pandemic, a lot of our competitors shrunk their menus down, had less innovative products, and they felt like the pandemic was a good excuse to do that. I think that was a colossal mistake. We innovated during the pandemic. We made sure we raised the quality of our products because, again, comfort for people in uncomfortable times. That's when you're going to win the war. And when you really do special things for your consumers and for your employees during these hard times, that would be my advice to any restaurateur today is elevate your game because people have high expectations. And constantly be elevating your game. Never sit back and be complacent. Restaurateurs need to

constantly elevate from quality to service to standards every day. And regardless of margin, because if you don't have a top line, you can't manage the middle of the P&L anyway. So you better focus on how do you drive new consumers and how do you keep your consumers happy? So it kind of ties in with your first couple of questions is elevate your game. We've launched our bacon brisket burger in the middle of the height of the pandemic, and everybody thought we were crazy. All our competitors were reducing menu size and contracting, and we came out with a new item. And right now, it's our number two, number three selling burger in our brand. And the feedback was incredible, and it drove incredible

sales for us. So that's how you win the war. I think when the times get tough, step up your game. I love it. Step up your game. You talk about menu innovation. What's your favorite item on the menu? I mean, you walk into one. I mean, you probably try a lot of Smashburger products. But what if-

Well, clearly I love them all. Right. I'm a big guy. So I always say, don't hire a skinny chef. You know, hire guys that really love what they do and they're passionate about their food. But that's fine. I like our classic. The bacon classic is probably my favorite. But that brisket burger really rivals it lately. I'm a truest kind of cheeseburger guy. And I love that. You know, it's funny when people ask what's in our burgers, it's really easy to say. Certified Angus beef and our proprietary seasoning, and that's it. You know, and we smash it. And, you know, smashing a burger is an awesome part of the experience.

So I always get a beef burger. I try our other products, and I love them as well. But what I really love is a classic bacon cheeseburger smashed just right. You know, we sear in the flavor and the juices and we get those, what we call meat candy. And that's that crispness on the outside of the burger. That's our meat candy. And if you taste that burger juicy inside, a little crispness on the outside, fresh applewood smoked bacon, I'm good. That's all I need. Little smash fries or smash tots and, you know, I'm pretty good. So, uh, that, that would probably be my, my passion right there is the perfect bacon cheeseburger. Meat candy. I hope you guys trademark that meat candy. That's awesome. And I, I see you guys have

backyard burger seasoning also. So you can make some of that at home if you don't want to get out to the Smashburger locally. But that's awesome. Carl, I ask a question of all of the people that join us on Start With a Win. And I love this question because, I mean, as a business leader yourself, you're always looking for those gold nuggets to share with your leaders. And this is your chance to share a gold nugget with our leaders here. So Carl, president of Smashburger, how do you start your day with a win? Well, I always start my day with a good breakfast, solid breakfast, because I need energy.

And some people read the news or have light reading. I read guest feedback. So I want to know what my consumers are telling me. I want to know how guest experiences were last night or this morning. You know, we serve breakfast now in a lot of restaurants. So I want to know. So for me, it's really simple. A great breakfast. I sit down, have a nice breakfast, and I make sure that I understand the feedback from the last 24 hours from our consumers. Then I, of course, look at sales because who wouldn't? And those are the two most important things for me is that. And then during the pandemic, we knew we had to pivot the business fast. So how do we start with a win was simple. We put together

what we call the BCP call. And that's my leadership team. And it's a business continuity plan call. And during the height of the pandemic, that was seven days a week. So every morning we started and we all as a leadership team discussed how yesterday went and how tomorrow was going to go and how today was going to go. And things that took six months before we could do in six days. Pivoting our business, digital transformation, those kind of things became really important. So that's how we've been winning. So a lot of energy in the morning, understand your feedback, know the results from the day before and then focus on today. And that's what we've been doing. And it's been very successful over the last year and a half or so. Great answer. Carl Bachman, president of Smashburger. Some great leadership tips there. Carl, you and I are going to have to meet up at one of your places locally here in Denver and grab a burger. Absolutely. I love it. Let me know. Thanks for being on Start With A Win. We

really appreciate all that you do, your values, and being just a great business leader in our community. So thank you. Thank you. Hey, and thank you so much for listening to Start With A Win. If you'd like to ask Adam a question or tell us your start with a win story, head over to 888-581-4430. Don't forget to go on to iTunes and subscribe, write a review and rate the show. And for more great content, head over to startwithawin.com. And until next time, start with a win. Bye.