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Mariangel Babbel (00:01): Thanks for joining us today for our conversation with Alex Rinna of Rinna Restaurant Group. We'll be diving into Alex's blueprint for integrating franchises into local communities in a way that both builds up the community and grows the business. Get settled in. We'll be starting in just a few moments. Hi everyone. Welcome. It's an absolute honor to introduce you to today's guest, Alex Rena, with RRG a franchisee of 16 Popeyes in the southeast. Alex joined the business in 2015 as a general manager and has worked her way up through several roles within the company. She's helped the company open four new locations and she's on track to open several more through the next couple years. Alex is also part of Popeye's International Franchise Association Marketing Committee where she helps build successful marketing calendars to create new competitive assets and create new news throughout the year. So, Alex, thanks for joining us today. Alex Rinna (00:58): Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to chat. Mariangel Babbel (01:01): Wonderful. Well, I know I just shared a little bit about your background, but I'd love for you to expand on that a bit more and tell us how you kind of got into the space and worked your way up to becoming a franchisee. Alex Rinna (01:12): Yeah, so my path has been very interesting, <laugh>. I always say I was born into Popeye's. My dad was on the corporate side and moved over into the franchisee side in 2000. I have just always grown up knowing fast food. That's what I was always surrounded by, but I went to Ole Miss or the University of Mississippi and I graduated with a geological engineering degree. So something completely <laugh> different, and I think it was one of those things if your parents are both like lawyers or teachers or doctors, you kind of wanna just go out of the box and do something completely different. Right. Well, I realized right when I graduated that my passion has changed and I wanted to help my dad with his passion on growing the business. So I took them to dinner, told them my plan, and the next week I was all moved in next to one of our training stores and my dad made me start from the ground up. (02:17): I became, I had to go through the whole management training, became a general manager. I then moved into a director of marketing role and then into a director of operations role <laugh>. So I kind of knew all the basics of fast food, but I needed to know like the high level p and ls financials. And I had not taken one business class in my whole life in engineering <laugh>. So I went to the College of Charleston and got my MBA. And I think once I received my MBA kind of gave me that like, boost of confidence to really run this business and I felt more comfortable leading my team. So that's just kind of an overview, and now I basically look over all those positions. I love marketing operations. I'm in the store daily checking in on all of those. Mariangel Babbel (03:09): Yeah, that's wonderful. I love that you've had the experience that's maybe the more formal education with the blend of like coming up through the roots of the system, right? So you've seen both sides and the intricacies of running the business. Alex Rinna (03:23): Oh, yeah. And I think it's very important that franchisees especially get in their stores so they can know the ins and outs of the operations and that they're dealing with on a daily basis, and also helps with marketing and what you need to kind of pull into your store to make it succeed. Mariangel Babbel (03:44): Absolutely. Well, one of the things that I feel like you've been successful on, which is why I've invited you today, is building some unique strategies within your franchise system. So I think one of the great benefits of, and you can, you know, share differently if you if you disagree, but one of the best or powerful benefits of being part of a franchise system is that you get to leverage that big brand recognition that is being built across the, the nation or even world in some ti in some capacities. But I think one of the stigmas that you're also pigeonholed against is that you're not maybe seen as a local business when you are a business that's founded has leadership that is local. Yeah. So you've done a fantastic job of breaking through that and really integrating to the community level. So I'd love for you to, to share your insights there. Help educate all of us on how we can do that Alex Rinna (04:41): Better. Yeah. And take things off. Oh, go ahead. And exactly like what you said, we, when I first joined the company, my goal was for people to look at us as a local restaurant and not a big brand restaurant. I think it's very hard to distinguish between the two, and I noticed a lot of people don't even realize that the big name brands are actually owned by your local community, individuals, families, your neighbors. They just automatically assume there's a big corporation behind it. So it was very important for me to get out and show, Hey, it's my family's business. We want to help you. We want to show our appreciation and kind of work together to be successful. And so, yeah, just a few examples. I think I kind of put it into like different pillars. My first one's giving back. (05:39): My parents have always taught me to give back and just show, I mean, we're so blessed to get to provide food, even have the option to provide food for organizations and charities and businesses if they're in need. But also there was, I noticed there was a big opportunity to show appreciation, which a lot of businesses miss out on. So this was from feeding local law enforcement to say Thank you feeding the teachers on teacher appreciation week. So just little bits here and there that will put a smile on their face and show them that Popeye's truly cares about them. And then obviously it's, at the end of the day, it is a business. So I would be lying if I, there was one pillar that said we wanted to build customers. That's a huge part of local store marketing and like you said, Popeye's is a big brand name, but the amount of people that have still never tried Popeye's is insane. (06:41): And we can really grab onto that market and it's, it's kind of just like when you add in third party delivery apps, you reach this whole new set of audience. When we added in the famous chicken sandwich, we reached this whole like group of millennials that have never tried bone and chicken, which is what we're normally known for, but now they can have a chicken sandwich and then local store marketing. It's, you're reaching out to this whole other local audience that even though Popeye's might be right down the street, they've never walked into it. So by me providing a football team of 200 players a free pre-game meal, the odds of ev all 200 players having Popeye's before is very unlikely. So yes, I got to provide them a pre-game meal, show them that Popeye's is rooting for them, and also hopefully gaining some loyal customers in the end. Mariangel Babbel (07:38): I love that you've thought about it through like very distinct pillars that help you understand like when it's appropriate for you to invest in those areas and when it's maybe not, maybe there's another opportunity you can explore there to support them, but very clear and aligned objectives with what you're solving for. Alex Rinna (07:55): Yeah. And yeah, I think it kind of goes into like the budgeting. You kind of have to pick and choose from those pillars what is gonna be most beneficial for your business. So personally I have a very hard time saying no if someone calls me and needs a donation of food, but I get emails constantly saying, Hey, will you pay $800 for this ad next week? Will you pay a thousand dollars for this ad? And yes, sometimes they're very beneficial, but I always feel like with ads, they're not guaranteed that someone will even see it. And how I know when they see the ad, if they do that, it's gonna bring them into my Popeye's. So I would rather just create this whole experience, give someone a warm, fresh meal and maybe it's their first time trying Popeye's and now they're a new fan. Mariangel Babbel (08:51): Yeah, absolutely. I think you're getting closer to the direct quantifiable impact that you can make, right, by creating that. Oh, yeah, yeah. I love that. So I think, Alex Rinna (09:02): Yeah, it can, it can make a, a huge impact on your community. And the big thing is they'll always come back to you. I've had the same contacts for four years now, and they'll call me with all like, local charities, organizations, they'll always just call me up and say, Hey, Alex, can Popeye's help out with this? And it's not like they're ever taking advantage of us. I see these people in our stores constantly. So it's those very strong relationships that you can build. And then year after year, it's not a lot of work you have to put in because you know, oh, this month I'm gonna be working with this school. This month I'm helping out this church with their church camp every summer. And so you can kind of really space it out and it's, it gets pretty easy once you get the ball rolling Mariangel Babbel (09:57): <Laugh>. Yeah, I think, I think that that approach is also really smart because you can see the trend over years, right? Yeah. The investment today that's, that long-term relationship like that is nurturing a really precious space within your community that has that long impact that we're all after. So I really love that insight. I think that one of the challenges that sometimes people have with stuff like this is like, how do you fund it? Right? The restaurant industry is already facing a lot of challenges with rising costs and a lot of, you know, various challenges brought on by like our current economic standing as a country. How do you think about budgeting? How do you think about whether or not this is an investment worth making? Clearly you've decided it is. Yeah. <laugh>, how did you, how did you reach that decision? Alex Rinna (10:42): No. Yeah, and like I said before, it's a lot of the same routine so I can kind of budget it out. I know, oh, again, I'm feeding a whole football team of 200, 250 players this upcoming Friday for their big football game. Yeah, I'm probably not gonna book anything with that store for a while. I would hope that would make a big impact. And you just always have to work. What's the saying? Work smarter, not harder, <laugh>. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. And I think that's a big thing in marketing. You have to get your marketing gears spinning on ways that you can kind of save money in these situations. So I can give a few examples. So if you want to not just like hand out a thousand dollars for a sponsorship for, say again, the pre-game meals for football teams, baseball teams, basketball teams, they'll send me over, Hey, will you be a gold sponsor and pay a thousand dollars and you get this shiny banner in our auditorium or on the field again, how do we know someone will even see it? So my head, I'm like, well, how about we feed your team a pre-game meal free? It'll get them all excited to win their, win their game, and then in return they'll shout us out all season saying that Popeye's is a sponsor. I've gotten free ads in the football programs, school programs I've gotten free banners before our name's on t-shirts. So it's kind of, you have to negotiate and realize, hey, just giving them a thousand dollars versus giving them a whole meal you get more in your return. Mariangel Babbel (12:33): Yeah. I love that you've thought about it through the lens of like, these are my marketing dollars at work, right? Yes. <crosstalk> with how you're solutioning that. Alex Rinna (12:41): Yeah. And when I first started that was I was the director of marketing. So my father, he gave me a clear marketing budget. I could not go over that. And now it's gotten easier and we kinda have more leverage with more stores. But either way, I kind of have it down to like a science on what month I'm gonna spend and, and the coupons at schools, you can give them a every single year. We partner with so many elementary schools and we give them free kids meals. If they get on the honor roll list. Hmm. The odds of them coming, the kid themselves coming to redeem that coupon and not having their entire family with them is very slim. They're most likely gonna have a entire family. So yeah, you're giving away one free kids' meal, but you also just gain probably a bunch of transactions and orders and hopefully more loyal customers. So again, just you have to be kind of smart in where you're spending the money in ways that you can create it so that you're getting benefits but not wasting all your marketing dollars. Mariangel Babbel (13:48): Absolutely. Now, we've talked a little bit about the funding, how you pick out which ones opportunities that you go after. How do you get your team involved with this? Or do you to help, you know, bridge the gap between employees and the community as well? Alex Rinna (14:03): Yeah, so we're actually very blessed. All of our general managers are usually from the area that our locations are in. So, and a lot of them were born and raised there, so they have just as many contacts as I do and they're pretty passionate about it. They'll send me contacts to different companies. If companies reach out to Popeye's, they have no hesitation in forwarding it to me and asking if we could donate food. And a lot of times it's like some of our managers have relatives that work at say the fire station or a lot of our managers have nieces and nephews or kids that are on little league teams and we're kind of there to step in and help them out. And it means a lot to them and our business and the community. Mariangel Babbel (14:56): I love that. I love getting them integrated so tightly. Alex Rinna (15:00): Oh yeah. Yeah. And I give my thanks to them 'cause they're the ones who usually package the meals depending on where I am that week. So they really are a huge help to me. And they never complain. They're awesome. And we usually get a picture of them with the food and then the organization with the food and we kind of all share and celebrate the Mariangel Babbel (15:20): Team. I love that so much. The the execution part I feel like is really interesting because it, it could be very easy for you to just say, these are the few different places that I'm gonna be picking. We're just gonna do it and check the box. But I feel like there's a lot of heart and soul behind what you're doing, right? The idea of making sure that your teams are involved, that you're getting into these community events that even bring the community together into the store, right? Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. You're talking about the coupons for the kids and it's becoming a family night. So you're creating experiences for your customers, but you're also creating experiences that are s supporting the entire community and, and building unity there, which I really like that aspect of it. Alex Rinna (16:04): Yeah. And ever since I started, that was my number one goal is bridging that gap between the restaurants and the community. And prior to my position, we didn't have a lot of that in place, so it was kind of starting from ground zero and trying to, at that time we had, I guess 12 restaurants, so all of a sudden having to get 12 restaurants gain their local community's trust and respect and showing them that we care. So it was a lot of work, but it just proves if you got, if someone is out there and they have never really dipped their toe in the local store marketing pool, they can definitely, it's still very doable and it's never too late to start getting out there. Mariangel Babbel (16:54): Yeah. I love that. I think that's so important, right? It's never too late. You started with 12 stores, but I also like, maybe let's dive into that a little bit. 'cause I think sometimes people think, oh, well it's an easy initiative to start if you have one or two stores. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. You started with 12 and you're scaling it. Like what are some of the challenges you faced through that? And like, tell us what you learned along the way. Alex Rinna (17:16): Yeah. I think with the 12 stores it was, you still had to go back on your budget and kind of say what markets and what locations need more local engagement. 'cause Some stores in very high volume areas, you might not need it as much there than a store that it's one of the only fast food restaurants in this whole location. It's like that's a perfect opportunity to kind of reach in all that small knit and it becomes like a family dynamic. So that's really a nice thing to do for like the stores that I already had that were in smaller towns. And then now growing, honestly, it's kind of easier because when we open up a store, I go full force on grand opening prior, probably the one to two months prior, I do research on that area, find local newspapers, radios local law enforcement, the Chamber of commerce really anyone <laugh> principals of elementary, middle high schools. (18:28): I find everyone and go ahead and reach out to them. I invite them in for our friends and family night, which is usually a few nights before grand opening so that the team members can practice. And then ever since then, it's like the relationships just grow and grow and grow and you start from that first grand opening day and you never really have to it. It's very beneficial. 'cause It's not like you'll be open for a year and then have to backpedal and say, yeah, we've been open for a year now we wanna reach out to you. We kind of did it right off the bat to show like, we're so excited to be in this area and join this community. Mariangel Babbel (19:08): Yeah. And I, what I love about that is you've created a space for them to feel welcomed to approach you with new opportunities, right? Oh yeah. And Alex Rinna (19:18): So many places, sorry. So many places now have a ton of competition. Down one road you'll probably see five quick service restaurants and you have to say to yourself, why would they come to Popeye's when they could go to X, Y, and Z? So you have to really stand out, especially nowadays, it's with staffing and customers, you just want to bring them all in. Mariangel Babbel (19:43): Absolutely. Yeah. And creating that environment where they feel like they could come in and it's inviting, inclusive, and it's local, right? They're feeling that local vibe. Yes. and I love that like the underlying tone here that I'm hearing from you. And, and again, say it in your own words if you feel differently about it, but you are rocking that, that national, global brand, but the, the interaction that you're having with people is very much cutting through that to show that you're local. Alex Rinna (20:14): Yeah, definitely. And again, I just wanna be looked at as local business. And I think, again, like I said, people just assume we have this big corporation behind us that tells us everything, what to do. But there is nowhere written that you have to get involved into your community. They don't come and check to make sure you are, and this is a lot of organizations not just speaking on ours. It's not a mandatory thing. It's the franchisees own personal decision and choice. And to me it's a very, very smart business choice if you have the option, but it's the franchisee doing it themselves. So it's very authentic. It's not fake or because we have to, we have a checklist or anything like that. It's, we truly just want to get out, meet people, gain new customers, show our appreciation, and just be a really great community. Mariangel Babbel (21:09): I love that. For someone who is thinking about starting something like this, right, getting more community involvement in their programs what do you think is their starting point, regardless of whether they're opening their very first door or they're opening up their 100 and once store? Alex Rinna (21:28): Yeah. Well, I personally me, I always start with like the local chamber of commerce. If they have one and they can kind of lead you. If you're completely lost and you have nowhere to start, that would be a good starting point. But also going back to those pillars I was talking about, if they're listening to this and saying, I have nowhere near the budget to do all those pillars, but yeah, you could pick one from, if you wanna give back one from showing your appreciation. One, you just want to get more customers, maybe feed a big group that you know, a lot of them have never tried your restaurant. And maybe just pick and choose those. And once that starts rolling it, it's it's pretty easy. And it's not like <laugh> a sales job when you call and you're just, you're just scared they're gonna say no. But I promise you people just, they're so appreciative of any donation, small or large. We have given just biscuits before and they, it's like the best thing ever. So I never get told no <laugh> if I reach out to a business and say, is there any way we can help you out? We want to donate food or we do do money donation sometimes, but it's, they'll never turn around and be like, no, we don't want your help. So it's a pretty easy path to gain those relationships and keep building them. Mariangel Babbel (22:59): I love that. I love that there's a proactive nature rather than waiting for people to ask you, you can identify as the starting point. Yeah. A focus for maybe each of these pillars or whatever pillars they decide mm-hmm <affirmative>. And then a proactive element for them to go out and figure out how they plug into the community. Alex Rinna (23:16): Yes, definitely. Mariangel Babbel (23:18): So, great. Well, Alex, thank you so much for joining us today. Before we go though, I would love for you to give like one piece of advice to anyone out there who is facing some of the challenges that you might, you might have faced within building this community structure. And you've shared with us like the starting point, but what would you say is like the, the rallying call, like when it gets tough, right? Maybe you're getting turned down, you just said you haven't gotten turned down yet, but what is, like how you keep yourself motivated towards building community when it feels like maybe the return isn't great enough or it's taking up too much of your time? Yeah. What Alex Rinna (23:55): Advice would you I would say just don't slow down. I think a lot of people put things to the side on like, especially this past, these past few years, but, and really most businesses that are right next door to you were struggling maybe even more than you were or you might've been struggling more. But everyone as a community, it was such a, an important time to come together. So it was definitely not a time to kind of sit back and be like, I hope everyone gets through this. We kind of wanted to say, we're blessed enough that we did get through this and let's not slow down and just keep reaching out to these businesses and showing our appreciation in how, and hopefully we could help out a lot of local businesses. Mariangel Babbel (24:45): Thanks Alex. Alex Rinna (24:46): Yeah. Thank you for having me. Mariangel Babbel (24:47): Absolutely. We'll invite you back sometime again, I'm sure. Yeah. But I appreciate making time for us today, <laugh>. Alex Rinna (24:53): Yeah, thank you. I'll come back anytime, <laugh>. Mariangel Babbel (24:56): Alright, talk soon. Thanks again for joining us. If you enjoyed today's session, please consider sharing it with a colleague or on social. And if you'd like to keep up on the latest QSR trends and best practices, check us out on workstream us slash blog. |
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