Fast Forward: Women of Fast Casual

3 things CMO learned by joining Noodles & Co amid COVID-19

Stacey Pool, CMO of Noodles & Co, reveals how the 450-unit brand is surviving the pandemic.

Provided

December 1, 2020

When Stacey Pool joined Noodles & Company as CMO two months before the pandemic took hold, she could never imagine how important those first 60 days of bonding with her team would be to the brand's ability to pivot its operating model.

"It was a wild way to jump in, but I ended up learning a lot very quickly and getting really close to the team as a result," said Pool, who actually got her start in IT as a business analyst and later worked for Nike and Vail Resorts before joining the Noodles team in January 2020.

"Every day, our food gets even better, the overall experience is more personalized, and the way guests interact with the brand is on their terms through our app, delivery, pick-up and dining options," she said during an interview with FastCasual. "On top of this, what makes us stand out is that we're constantly adapting to make our guests and team members feel appreciated and cared for."

The pivot

The pandemic forced Pool's team to accelerate its 2020 strategic plan, which meant an early launch of curbside and delivery through the company's channels. That took place within just a few weeks of the country going on lockdown.

"Additionally, we stabilized our MarTech stack and used data we had on our guests to personalize the communications and offers that our guests were receiving," Pool said. "The focus we put on building the brand and using data to inform our go-to-market plans has played a huge role in our recovery."

One of smartest things Noodles did, according to Pool, was automating some of the more important emails that guests receive each week.

"Whether it is the email that welcomes you to our rewards program, or the reminder that you have points that are about to expire, we identified critical touchpoints in the guest's journey and eliminated the executional burden on our team and agency partners," she said. "Not only have we seen very strong open and click-through rates, we were able to identify some marketing spend efficiencies and migrate the spend to other revenue driving initiatives."

Although starting a new gig within weeks of a global pandemic wasn't easy, Pool has learned three things, which she shared below:

Balanced Leadership
You can care and love your employees AND push them to be more and achieve more," she said. "You can care about driving and growing business results at the same time you are investing in the growth of your people."

To Pool, it isn't an "either/or." It is always "and."
Embrace Change
"Change is uncomfortable and sometimes jarring, however, those uncomfortable moments are when you grow and when the business grows, Pool said. "Get uncomfortable."

She believes that discomfort leads to immense growth so after seeing the leaps and bounds her team made during an uncomfortable year, she has her sights set on growth opportunities for the brand's teams that take them into areas they aren't as familiar with.
Be curious.
Pool's career has been about the desire to learn and try new things. Having started off the first eight years of her career in IT, she learned the importance of using technology to enhance efficiencies in a company's processes and as a result, she is now deadly enough with tech experience to progress the marketing agenda at Noodles. And after expanding her career to the telecom, retail and hospitality sectors, she has found a common theme: quality service for guests.

"I'm really proud of the whole Noodles & Company team," Pool said. "They have undergone a tremendous amount of change in 2020, yet have stayed on track while also giving back to the community and continuing to come up with creative, engaging ideas.

"If you hire smart, ambitious and emotionally intelligent employees, you will be able to accomplish absolutely anything — that sentiment is truer than ever after this year."

Editor's note: This is part of a reoccurring feature called Fast Forward: "Women of Fast Casual." If you would like to be considered for this feature, please send email to Editor@FastCasual.com

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