Why The Melt CEO contributes 1 'simple factor' to company's growth

In my 30-plus years in the restaurant industry, I have never faced a business issue that couldn't be solved by listening to feedback from my team, franchisees and guests. When I first joined The Melt as CEO in 2016, I made it my mission to dig in and analyze every aspect of the business and made it a priority to listen carefully to our customers and team members. I sent a letter to every customer in our data base and had several meetings with small groups of team members where I asked the same two simple questions:

1. What do you hope I change?
2. What do you hope I don't change?

I was floored by the volume of passionate replies. Over 1,100 responses. Great ideas came in from both customers and team members alike on ways we could reinvent our menu, enhance our levels of service and strengthen The Melt brand.

The rest, as they say, is history. Since 2017, our average unit volumes have increased more than five-fold from less than $700,000 to almost $3.5 million. All by just asking our guests and team members what we needed to do better and then doing it.

One customer's comments led to the creation of our simple, but powerful mission statement. Their response to my questions was simply, "I Love It Here." The moment I read that; it struck me; "What would happen if every guest had an experience so amazing that they could say "I Love it Here?" We ripped up our corporate mission statement and replaced it with one simple statement: "Deliver an I Love it Here experience to every guest."

We then began shoring up that commitment by rallying team members at every restaurant together twice a day to focus on the "I Love it Here Experience" – a practice we continue to observe today. Ensuring every customer feels like they can say "I Love It Here" requires every team member maintaining that focus every day and on every shift.

Two examples of the power of listening and acting on feedback that have proven very beneficial for The Melt:

1. Reimagine the Menu
Originally, The Melt was known only for grilled cheese and soup. We heard from our customers that our food was good, but maybe not so amazing that you would say "I Love It Here." By overhauling our menu and being inspired from our favorite foods around the country, we created our signature item — the MeltBurger — a chopped burger with an angus-wagyu blend that is juicier and cheesier than any other burger out there. We introduced creative mac and cheese entrees; we added Impossible Burgers and extended our French fry category.

Our guests told us that if we were going to be "The Melt" our food better be very, very cheesy. That seems simple, but we doubled the amount of cheese on almost every entrée. Every single menu item was improved in some way. Our guests and team members helped us take our menu from good to "I Love It Here."

2. Serve guests lunch to late night
The pandemic challenged us to explore new ways to bring in revenue. When many restaurants and bars reduced their hours, our guests told us there was an opportunity to stay open later to fill the void. We first moved our closing times from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m., and today many of our restaurants don't close until 2 a.m.

For first responders working around the clock as well as those becoming familiar with "new normal" of working from home, we became a leading destination for late night customers to receive an "I Love It Here" experience. This pivot has strengthened our community connection and helped to fuel record sales growth for our company. Today our sales are more than double what they were pre-pandemic.

As an organization, one of the ways we maintain that "I Love It Here" commitment is by constantly learning and improving through feedback. Myself and my leadership team read every review or comment that comes to us — whether it's submitted through our website or via social media. We've responded to nearly every comment in the last six years.

My biggest advice to leaders that are looking to create strong, long-lasting brands: learn and react to feedback from both your customers and team members. Take every opportunity to encourage and solicit advice. Be open to both the praise for the things you do well as well as advice on how you can be more effective. Your teams and your guests will always have the answers.