Dive Brief:
- Burger and Frosty chain Wendy's uses a technology council to help franchises "bring technology to life in restaurants," said president and CEO Todd A. Penegor during the company's Q4 2018 earnings call.
- The council acts in a similar capacity to Wendy's franchise advisory council, which regularly checks in on restaurants to confirm new initiatives actually work to make them "feel comfortable about [changes] operationally," said Penegor.
- However, data pertaining to the economic impact of changes has yet to be assessed.
Dive Insight:
Through its councils, Wendy's is creating open lines of communication, ensuring its products remain "fresh, never frozen."
Consumer-facing technology is a priority, so technology will be responsible for streamlining a consistent customer experience. The company underwent a C-suite reorganization in August after then-CIO David Trimm announced his retirement for early 2019, according to the company's Q2 2018 earnings call.
CFO Gunther Plosch inherited overseeing enterprise technology upon Trimm's exit. The responsibility for customer-facing and in-store technology was passed to chief operations officer Bob Wright after transitioning his international duties to chief global development officer Abigail Pringle.
The change in leadership occurred in tandem with new digital initiatives in its Digital Experience organization. Kiosk ordering and the Wendy's app are are all part of the changes supported by in-house leadership and a third-party consulting firm.
The company plans on supporting change in franchises with more technology investments as it continues its remodeling process, Image Activation, that began in 2011.
Correction: In a previous version of this article, Abigail Pringle was misidentified. Bob Wright assumed the responsibility of in-store technologies as Pringle took on his international duties.
