Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group's David Ovens returns to the QSR Media Sandhurst Conference & Awards

He stresses that food innovation is a “daily and weekly” issue brands need to address.

Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group’s David Ovens is returning to the QSR Media Sandhurst Conference & Awards, joining the virtual event’s CMO panel.

Joining him are Oporto head of marketing Samantha Bragg, Menulog marketing director Simon Cheng and Motto Motto chief commercial officer Matt Fickling.

Get to know Ovens more in this brief Q&A:

QSR Media: What has drawn you to get involved in the multi-site restaurant industry?
Ovens: There's a few reasons why I love the multi unit restaurant business.

Firstly, the fact that the person/people you're marketing to actually come into your venues, so you have direct contact is appealing and highly accountable. Basically, if traffic goes up over time, then well done. And if it doesn't, then change strategies or figure out why not. After all, they are right there so find a way to talk to them or get their opinions.

The second reason is that I get to work across so many touch points, so it's not just an advertising comms exercise. I get to work with the chefs on menu items and food promos, then with the architects on restaurant design/ fitout/ambience in so far as the guest experience is concerned, plus the graphic designers/artists/food photographers and increasingly the data scientists and tech specialists.

Third reason is that the ability to replicate a concept from a single location to multiple locations is harder than you might think. Many single store operators have a deep relationship with their core customers at a single venue. When you scale up to 10, 20, a few hundred or 7,000 (Taco Bell US), you have to think very differently so that the core essence of the brand concept is understood by the teams in each store and felt by the customers, especially if the customer uses several locations of the same brand. You just can't overthink this piece. The need to simplify the messaging (not dumb it down), be clear and consistent while also generating positive energy is a great challenge.

What are some of the industry issues you're thinking about at the moment? What are some developments you're seeing that the industry should take a closer look at?
Okay, that can be quite a long list but there are a few stand out issues.

Food innovation/quality/ taste is a daily and weekly issue. Today's customers understand food/ menus and have eaten out of home multiple times a week for years and have very significant expectations. I'm not talking about “Insta-worthy” food - I'm talking about food that people really enjoy, want to talk about and also trust that it's been made with care and thought.

Next would be the digitization of everything and knowing what to do with the information. Knowing what a person or people collectively do and then creating the digital pathways to facilitate behaviour to improve purchase frequency/repeat is almost a cost of entry requirement. Then, serving up the right content to the right people at the relevant time becomes the goal. Of course right now and for the next few months we are all preoccupied with all things COVID-19 and how to operate in a commercially viable way. This is in two parts with the first being all things cleanliness/hygiene/sanitizing and the second being the challenges around the overlapping social distancing requirements that control the covers any venue can manage for any given period. This will evolve and pass over time but right now it's all consuming.

Lastly, I'd suggest that in many cases there is too much emphasis on stripping cost out of the P&L and the first target is usually food cost and I believe that's potentially fatal. As per my first comment now is the time to invest in the food, source a better ingredient, perfect a recipe, improve a process because it will make your business stronger.

What can we expect from your participation at the QSR Media Sandhurst Conference & Awards? What are some things you're excited to do there?
I suppose there are a few things to say. I've been doing this for many years across many concepts, in different industry sectors both here and the US and have seen all the ups and downs, good and bad so I can talk from experience not just opinion. I also know that there is always more to learn, always something new and I'm a keen learner so I plan to pick up a few ideas and call them my own.

I'm curious as to what everyone thinks will or might be the new norm post-COVID. Obviously, we're all guessing but it's a good conversation and makes me think about my own actions. The last piece is the technology and digitization of the industry. It's moving fast and we all need to listen and look at other industries to see what's coming for hospitality.

Watch the video below where Ovens also explains the value of brand centricity.