Podcast Grill #31 | DQ Brand Rising – The inside marketing of Dairy Queen

Our chance to go face to face with a major brand executive from American Dairy Queen and two and half billion dollar brand. Nostalgic, and time proven Diary Queen continues to defy the odds against faster more nimble QSR brands like Sonic and Carl’s Jr. and Coldstone. DQ holds their place in American hearts with treats like the blizzard and dilly bar, Dairy Queen, also known as DQ.

With 5,700 restaurants in 22 countries as of 2005, it is one of the largest in the world. Much of its early growth occurred in rural areas of the United States, and references to the small-town “DQ” occur repeatedly in both the popular and literary culture of the USA. For many years the franchise’s slogan was “We treat you right!” In recent years, it has been changed to “DQ something different.” The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, and its headquarters is located in Edina, Minnesota.

Podcast Grill talks with brand champion Michael Keller at the Louisville Adfed luncheon in Louisville, KY.

Podcast Grill #30 | Restaurant Customer Service, challenge or opportunity

When it comes to eating out in the United States, Texans do it the most, New Yorkers pay the most, and Italian is the country’s favorite cuisine. Zagat Survey released its “America’s Top Restaurants,” a guide covering 1,389 eateries in 42 cities, which is based on 21 million meals worth of experience by more than 123,000 people.

“Sadly its the same old story across the country when it comes to service,” the Zagat Survey found. “72 percent of diners say service is the greatest irritant when it comes to eating out.” In this episode we get a rare chance to talk with Paige Hall of AboutFace Corporation about how restaurants can improve their front-line performance or customer service.

Podcast Grill #29 | FSTec 2006 – Restaurant technology rules the land

Restaurant technology continues its upward trek in the restaurant business with a variety of new and improved products revealed at this years FSTec show in Long Beach, California. Technology is still ranked as the highest area of importance to restaurant operators but also ranks among the most difficult to implement and understand from the very same group.

In this episode we venture to the FSTec show to reveal the latest tech in the restaurant biz. Interviews with Fujitsu, on self-service technology, NCR on a variety of product introductions, Verifone on the latest technology for the drive-thru and the pizza delivery business and Peppercoin told us about micro-payments. We also had a chance to visit with Xformity on backoffice and web based solutions and Merchant Link on credit card security.

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Podcast Grill #28 | Credit Crash – How credit card security affects the restaurant business

We are on a crash course with our best growth asset in the restaurant industry, the credit and debit card. Industry analysts expect the credit side of our business to surpass cash spending by 2008 or 2009. Fraud, tip skimming and even credit card black market rings are beginning to attack the restaurant industry and expose our customers to security risks.

The restaurant industry makes up for 70% of the overall card skimming in retail as reported by the Mercator Advisory Group. Unless we do something fast on presenting new ways to help the consumers pay in more secure methods we are set for a crash course in the restaurant industry. In this episode we talk with CTS Consulting about what types of credit card use security can be implemented in the restaurant industry.