James Burns, national operations field trainer of Zambrero
On Zambrero's number one priority, gearing for growth and embracing learnings.
QSR Media: What makes you excited about your position?
James Burns: Being in a key role within the Support Office Operations Team, I have the opportunity to work across the business on a range of projects which comes with learning new skills and increasing my knowledge. As a humanitarian organisation, Zambrero is helping millions of underprivileged people around the world and knowing that the more we grow, the more we can give, is a pretty amazing thing.
QSR Media: What 3 goals are you focussed on?
Burns: Customer service is our number 1 priority: whether it’s directly serving a customer at a new restaurant opening or supporting and training staff that service our customers. From working with the design team on restaurant layouts before they go out to tender to ensure it is operationally efficient or holding a support training session on-site with a Franchise Partner to coach them on how to manage their lunch rush better, it's all to the same point of ensuring that the end result of what I do is supporting the person serving that customer.
Growing, growing, growing: we have doubled in size every year for the last few years and have many restaurants in various stages of development at any one time. It is a key priority to make sure we are geared for growth across our operations.
Continuous improvement on processes and systems: constantly adapting and evolving is what moves us forward on a straight path to success.
QSR Media: What long-term changes are you planning on?
Burns: Technology is an extremely important aspect of business and that's one long-term change I am overseeing right now, and further into the future. This involves a wide range of different items across the business from Drive-thru platform development to Point of Sale functionality, loyalty engagement to project management systems. Keeping on the forefront of technology within the business is crucial to being able to understand your customers and business.
QSR Media: What are your key business philosophies?
Burns: Communication is the glue that binds teamwork together and without it teams are not effective in the functions they perform.
Commitment is the drive that propels us forward and gets the job done. It also is the unconditional wisdom that doesn't accept a job not done to 100%.
Embrace the learnings we take from our successes and from our failures. Without embracing both learnings we cannot continuously improve and run the risk of becoming complacent.
Growing your brain through self-development allows you to make better decisions and take improved actions to ensure the success of your business and the people that surround you.
QSR Media: What previous positions prepared you for this one and how?
Burns: I've spent most of my career behind a counter serving customers face to face and the management of customer service personnel and system. Being able to put myself in their shoes provides insights to make recommendations for efficiency.
