Check out how The Cheesecake Shop is looking to boost profitability
Managing director, Ken Rosebery, revealed that they are currently trying out wholesaling and delivery.
The Cheesecake Shop has been seeing improvements in franchisee satisfaction, quality and compliance generally, all thanks to its efforts in adopting cloud-based applications. At the same time, the bakery chain is also monitoring a number of areas of growth such as delivery and wholesaling.
To talk about how they are doing all of these at once, QSR Media reached out to its managing director Ken Rosebery.
QSR Media: What were the tangible results that came from implementing cloudforce management software across the network?
Everything is cloud-based now and we have embraced multiple applications which assist us in all sorts of areas, including financial management and reporting, Fair Work compliance, quality assurance auditing, service performance management, project management, training and communication. We’re seeing improvements in franchisee satisfaction, quality and compliance generally.
QSR Media: What are some issues, labour-wise, that you think the industry needs to take a closer look at?
Compliance with labour awards and Fair Work is an onerous task and responsibility for franchisees and our solution is to help our franchisees comply with time and attendance systems (TANDA), payroll with (Xero) which automates a lot of the work and interprets the award for them. These are practical solutions at a store level. From an industry perspective, I think relevant associations need to continue to lobby government on reducing penalty rates – even if that means higher ordinary time rates and reducing the complexity of awards.
QSR Media: At the moment, TCS has five company stores out of the 220+ network. From a franchisor's perspective, what are the practical things you look at to ensure a sustainable and healthy business for franchisees?
We monitor store profitability every month and set ourselves a target to achieve an average profit (EBITDA + Owner’s benefits) of 20% of sales. We make this an important obligation in front of our franchisees and staff. We have a remedial program for the bottom 10% of franchisee performers.
QSR Media: What trends is TCS pushing to capitalise on and/or monitoring?
We are experimenting with delivery but it hasn’t been as big a thing in our category as it appears to be for QSRs. Nevertheless, we’ll keep trying. Wholesaling by our franchisees has also been identified as an opportunity and we have seen some strong growth in this area, particularly with some of the lower turnover stores that have spare production capacity and a need to grow sales. Vegan, eggless and other special dietary trends are presenting small but growing opportunities and we have launched a number of these products recently.
QSR Media: Any collaborations TCS is looking to explore (i.e. between other restaurant chains, partnerships with non-F&B companies)?
We do have some small dessert products that we have developed that are suitable for distribution to QSRs and we are exploring that this year.
QSR Media: What's the latest at The Cheesecake Shop? What can we expect from the chain before the year ends?
More spectacular and delicious products. More products that meet the needs of dietary requirements. Products that sustain and grow the sales and profitability of our franchisees. By that I mean – balancing the marketing and product opportunities with the legitimate needs of our franchisees to earn a return on their investment and have a sustainable and ethical business for the future.
