A View From The Top

D’Angelo CXO reveals 3 ways to refresh legacy brands

Deena McKinley, chief experience officer of D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, shares how the 56-year-old brand has innovated for the future while staying true to its community-centered roots.

Provided

April 4, 2023 | By Deena McKinley, chief experience officer, D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches

At 86 restaurants across New England, D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches is small but mighty, keeping up with national competition and seeing success through sales growth, tech advancements, franchise development and geographic expansion.

Founded over half a century ago in 1967, D'Angelo has adapted to the dynamic needs, trends and challenges of the restaurant industry and remained a staple in neighborhoods throughout the region. Here's what I've learned about remaining fresh and tech-forward while navigating a 56-year-old brand through an ever-changing industry.

1. Innovate for the future

The restaurant industry is in a period of immense digital innovation, with new tech developments rolling out on what feels like a monthly basis. The innovation cycle in the industry is shortening with rapid tech advancements, but alongside the challenges of the pandemic came the opportunity for owners and operators to learn and adapt in real-time instead of planning years in advance.

Going into 2023, it is increasingly important to stay on top of the newest and fastest restaurant technology available, not only to streamline internal processes but to optimize the guest experience to meet the demands of today's tech-savvy guests. Investing in quick and seamless transactions is now critical as consumers prioritize convenience. Later this year, D'Angelo will be launching a new, cutting-edge website and mobile app, following in the footsteps of sister brand Papa Gino's Pizzeria. Providing effortless digital experiences sets your brand up for repeat sales, efficient transactions, and happy guests.

We are looking to test other innovations like self-service ordering kiosks to provide a novel solution to some of our restaurants in terms of labor reallocation and options in non-traditional locations. Looking at what could come next, automated drive-through, gamification and other in-store service enhancements could soon become the norm. Trends like robotics, artificial intelligence and other automated options are innovations we watch as this tech develops and integrates into the industry, but we are focused on innovating to stay ahead of the curve to win, not just innovating to keep up with every trend.

2. Look at the data; listen to your guests

Data analytics is one of the most valuable resources a restaurant can have. Alongside the restaurant tech of today comes a trove of data about guest behavior, the success of your digital presence, popularity of menu items, effectiveness of promotions and other information to help you make truly informed decisions.

Don't just push things out; take them in, too. That means finding, hearing, and adapting to guest feedback. Listening to and meeting the needs and expectations of your guests is more important than ever, but it's also easier than ever to do so. In this spirit, we've tested a guest feedback platform called Ovation, so guests can evaluate their experiences in our restaurants, send us immediate feedback via text, and we can have restaurant team members respond in real time, giving us the chance to understand and respond to any roadblocks in their journey. This has helped us recover more guests per restaurant per month, and it's also boosted our online ratings. Survey your best guests and your loyalty members and make social listening a regular priority for your company to collect positive sentiments and help you troubleshoot the negative ones, to give your guests the above-and-beyond experience they deserve. This data and what you do with it is crucial to providing five-star guest experiences that keep your guests coming back.

3. Lean into your community

At its core, D'Angelo is a classic New England brand, a neighborhood sandwich shop. Alongside innovating for the future, we make a concerted effort to stay true to our origins – deep-rooted community connections and great food. We're immensely proud of the close bonds our team members form with guests and organizations in the neighborhoods they serve, and apart from the obvious motive to make a real impact, we find that it drives sales and keeps our brand top of mind.

Technology has allowed D'Angelo to advance its connection to the community. Our community engagement includes donations to community organizations through first-day sales of newly co-branded restaurants, in-restaurant fundraisers on behalf of PTOs or other nonprofits, lunch donations to local heroes and a slew of charitable giving efforts and giveaways. Later this year when D'Angelo launches its new website, guests will have the added convenience of booking a fundraiser or nominating a community hero directly on our website. This new technology will help us connect with the community, making it even easier for our guests to engage with our restaurants and take advantage of everything we have to offer.

To celebrate our 55th year in business, we launched our D'Angelo $55K Neighborhood Giveaway, which was a completely online-driven program, with online voting and sharing capabilities to help spread the word. This program handed out $50,000 to community partner organizations that are making notable, positive impacts in our neighborhoods as well as $5,000 to guests who participated.

Your community is your greatest asset. Don't discount community engagement as a key development tool, nor the ways in which the right technology can enhance your engagement. Impactful involvement like this reminds guests that your restaurants aren't just somewhere to grab a meal, but active members of your communities – no matter the size of your brand.

Community involvement is also an indispensable franchise development tool. Local franchisees want to know they're investing in a brand that's not only profitable and dedicated to quality, but one that's going to generate excitement in the neighborhood and create buzz in the community.

In the modern restaurant industry, brands have a choice to make: innovate, grow and adapt to today's consumer needs and tech advancements, or get eclipsed by the brands that are doing this. There's no need to get left behind when the tools to move with the times are right in front of you.