Go BIG (by going small) or Go Home!
By: Michael Kanazawa
Sometimes the Biggest Ideas are the smallest things. Quiznos is in the midst of a major turnaround under the leadership of veteran turnaround CEO Greg Brenneman. Reviving the growth and profits of a 5,200 chain restaurant certainly qualifies for a BIG Idea to BIG Results transformation.
What is Brenneman’s answer to this challenge? Go smaller.
Quiznos has been steadily slimming the menu that had grown overly complex with too many choices of sandwiches, specials, sizes, and coupon deals. That complexity was driving up food costs and slowing down operations. There can be real costs to going too big.
They also just launched an innovative new product called the Sammie. The new sandwich is a flatbread snack that looks like a taco, but is filled with meats and vegetables. For some who are familiar, it is really like a Gyro (Greek sandwich), but with deli fillings. The new sandwich is small and comes at a smaller price than their other menu options at just $2.00. This will give them a BIG boost with an innovative product into the value-conscious snack buyers. And rather than just creating a low-end, cheap knock-off version of their famous toasted sandwich priced at $3.99 rather than $4.57, they truly created a new product to meet customer needs for a convenient and well priced snack.
This is great to see a fast food chain with a BIG Idea for growth based on going small. Sometimes you just need a snack and don’t want to spend too much. In the segment it had been the trend that value was defined as a 840 oz soda with a bucket of fries and monster sized burger that would feed an entire pack of wild cub scouts, all for just $7.95.
Quiznos has other growth plans that are also targeted squarely at customer needs and specifically convenience that should prove to add to the BIG Results over time as well. Remember, you don’t always have to literally Go BIG or Go Home. Often going BIG means slimming down, simplifying, and streamlining, especially when following an economic boom cycle that is slowing (notice my avoidance of the “R” word).
Michael Kanazawa is co-author of BIG Ideas to BIG Results (FT Press / Pearson Hall). Invite Michael to speak at your event by contacting the BrightSight Group at www.brigthsightgroup.com
Picture source: www.danpatchdays.org
