Q&A with Chick-fil-A Operator Jaret Mitchell

On March 4, we found out the received the highest honor from the company at an annual awards banquet in Florida. So, we caught up with local franchise operator , who received the award for the store to find out what it took to achieve the big goal.

Mitchell took some time to chat with Editor Kevin Haslam in a special Q&A.

LRSC Patch: How does one go about receiving this honor? What did you do? What steps did you take?

Jaret Mitchell: Well, what it is, the Symbol of Success is Chick-fil-A's highest award. It's changing, it's not going to be next year. But, what it is, is any store that does a 17-percent sales increase gets the award. That's how that works.

We actually decided at the end of last year. We had a planning meeting at the end of October 2010. It was at that meeting with my leadership team that we decided to go for it in 2011.

Patch: This was the only one that achieved that, right? Or were there others?

Mitchell: We were the only free-standing unit in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware area. There was a mall unit in York, Penn. that won.

Patch: Are you a local guy?

Mitchell: I live five minutes from here. My kids go to Upper Providence Elementary. I grew up in the Williamsport area.

Patch: What did you feel when you won the award?

Mitchell: Well, we knew. Were were tacking our sales. So, we hit it at 12:36 on New Year's Eve. It was down to the wire. It was really touching, though. We had a really big December to hit it. We knew about two weeks before the end of the month that we felt confident we were going to hit it.

It was pretty exciting. The whole team was involved. Everybody knew what we were trying to accomplish. It wasn't just me. Even managers that weren't working came in at the time because they knew that was about when we were going to hit it - just to celebrate.

Patch: What was the overall strategy to achieve it?

Mitchell: Wow. I guess kind of two things. One - to focus on continually getting better. It wasn't just a marketing strategy. It was a lot of in-house, working on the customer experience, the speed, the taste of our food, and making sure we're doing things right. And also, our marketing strategy - we did some of the direct mail, but really tried to do more emotional connection marketing, where we're adding value to the experience.

We have a Daddy-Daughter Date Night, where people can make a reservation for and it's just daddies and their daughters having a cool night. We had a Father-Son Campout this summer. About 105 dads and their sons came out to that. It was a really cool event. We did a Mother-Son Date Night with a chivalry theme. We just try to do more of those kinds of things. We're adding value back to our guests.

Patch: Are these things you came up with on your own with your team, or is this something that came from corporate as a suggestion?

Mitchell: I'd love to say we came up with them, but no. A lot of my good ideas are borrowed from other people. I've learned it's not always the idea, but the execution of the idea that makes it great.

We're a part of the Philadelphia Operator Group, which includes Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware stores. Everyone in that whole market did the Daddy-Daughter Date Night and the Mother-Son Date Night. We heard of another store that did the campout, so we called them, got some ideas, and then our marketing director, Damien, just kind of ran with it and made it a successful event.

Patch: What's the future entail? Are you guys going to try to achieve an even higher prestige this year? What are you looking at in 2012?

Mitchell: It's funny. We had a huge last quarter last year. I think with the growth, I don't think we executed as well as we did the rest of the year. Now that we're a little bit busier, we're just focusing on operational excellence - the taste, cleanliness, speed and accuracy. We're going to really focus on accuracy the next month.

We are in the process of applying for and opening a second location in front of in Limerick next year. Our focus this year is to continue on getting better and developing leaders. I believe everything rises and falls on leadership and it is at the core of how we think and run the store.

Patch: Now this is an area, the Spring-Ford area, that really likes to keep its dollars here and with the local businesses. But, you guys put that community feel into what you do here. Can you pay a tribute to that and the things you're doing with the community, ie. the career placement thing at Spring-Ford?

Mitchell: Yeah, certainly. We do a lot of fundraiser nights at the local schools and with organizations. We help them raise money. We're also a part of the Step Program at Spring-Ford High School. We just started that this school year. That's been pretty cool. It's been really good for everyone. I think the kids that have been coming are really enjoying it. We provide a great atmosphere for them. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from our guests, too. It's just kind of another way we can be involved in the community.

As part of the community, we feed the teachers and staff at a couple of lucky schools each year during teacher appreciation week, have the cows at many different school events including several proms, many schools use us as a source of fundraising by selling our sandwiches at their sporting events and mom’s groups meet here.

Patch: As a customer, when I come in here, I notice more and more times, you guys have people walking around asking if everything's okay - kind of like a restaurant feel, as opposed to just a fast food shack. Is that unique here, or is that also across the greater area?

Mitchell: Chick-fil-A rolled that out a little while ago. It's called recipe for service. So, it's really part of us upgrading the whole Chick-fil-A experience. It is an expectation that we have. Finding the right people to do it has really made it effective for us. I've got people in the dining room that have been with me for years that our customers know, form relationships with them. They'll come to talk to them, I'm not even sure they're here for a chicken sandwich. I think they're here to chat.

In our store, we talk about how every guest that visits us has a story and when they choose to eat with us it is our chance to make their story or day even better. We want to give our guests the kind of remarkable experience they want to repeat and share with others. When a member of my team does that well, then we have lived out our purpose of positively influencing everyone.

A big reason for us achieving Symbol of Success was that my team executed this well. We regularly receive stories from guests who say their visit to our store was the best part of their day, or this was their first stop once home from military leave, or they are on their way home from the hospital and this was where they wanted to come. I have guests tell me they are willing to drive 20 minutes every week to eat with us. I think that, yes our food is great, but how the guest is treated makes the food taste even better.

Truett Cathy (The Founder) always says “if we get better, we will get bigger.” I would rather serve 500 guests with excellence than 1,000 knowing it was not our best.

Patch: How long have you been open?

Mitchell: Seven and a half years. This July will be eight years for us. I opened the store.

Patch: Going back to the award. What was it like? You guys met in Florida for the convention and you were awarded. Tell us about that experience.

Mitchell: It was pretty cool. They changed it up a little bit this year. They rolled out the red carpet for us. We showed up a day early and they had a limo pick us up at the airport, which was pretty cool. We showed up at the hotel and we had an event that night. We had a dinner with the president, Dan.

It's funny. You ever watch the show Undercover Boss? Our president, Dan, could never do that. Everyone knows him. That's pretty cool.

They had an initial thing that night with the pictures and everything. The next night was our operators seminar. There were a little more than 4,000 people there. They had a big awards ceremony. Joel McHale, the guy that does the E! News, was the MC for the event.

Then they had a couple of people from American Idol and some dance teams and stuff. It had a real celebrity feel to it. The big surprise at the end was Martina McBride. It was neat, they really honored us.

Patch: So, you knew you were getting the award, but how did that go down?

Mitchell: 12:36 we knew we won. I had it down to the dollar. It was a celebration in the store.

Patch: Was that something everyone was anticipating?

Mitchell: Yeah, absolutely. We kind of paused for a second and were giving high-fives and taking pictures. It was a cool thing on the last day of the year.

Patch: What was the prize?

Mitchell: The way it works is we get a choice of a Ford. They give us an allowance and we can build anything we want within that. If we go over, we just have to pay the difference. I decided to get a Mustang this year. We won in 2007, too. Last time, I got a truck. This time, I decided to get the Mustang.

We have senior team members here. There are some qualifications you need to hit, some books you need to read, and you become a senior team member. I told everyone on my leadership team that they could drive the car when we won it. That's part of the deal.

Patch: Anything else you want to impart upon the community in light of the extra attention and moving forward?

Mitchell: It's just important that whenever you're in a leadership position, just remember, it's not about you. Although yes, I am the one who gets the one year lease on the Mustang and most recognition, I want to make sure it comes across that it was my team that was key in achieving this goal.

For example: There were some exhausting days last year as we went for this goal especially in December. We did a promotion called  “Receipt Day” the premise is everything you purchase on a specific day in December, you will receive for free on your next visit in January. This was by far our busiest day in the history of our store with the drive thru stretching out of our parking lot and through the shopping center. There was actually a line just to get into the store. My team did an amazing job working together on this day. If not for this day and their dedication we would not have hit Symbol.

Along the same lines, one of the most fulfilling things that can happen is when I have a parent of one of my team members tell me that their son or daughter loves working here. Our retention rate was in the top 20 percent of the chain last year. The right people working in their strengths makes all the difference.

I want to say thank you to the Royersford area community for being good to us. Without my team who lives and works here and our loyal guests, Symbol of Success would never have been achieved.