This story appears in the
April 2001 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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More sales with less work? That's what Arby's
"Kitchen of the Future" is attempting to accomplish with
the franchise's first major redesign in a quarter century. The
prototype optimizes employee efficiency with new equipment that
makes for easier cleanup and maintenance, longer product life and
better product quality. But beyond modernizing the kitchen, the
company hopes the proj-ect will bring some much-needed relief for
labor headaches.
"There's a lot of pressure on franchisees to hire and
retain employees. They face difficulties every day with that
problem," says Steven A. Jones, Arby's director of
franchise development. "After doing volume simulations through
a mock-up [of the kitchen], we were surprised and excited to find
we could do significantly higher sales volumes with anywhere from
two to three fewer people."
Arby's also hopes the project will encourage employee
retention by creating a safer, more fun environment, according to
Jones.
While the prototype still needs to undergo real-world testing
before being implemented, franchisees can expect the flexibility of
"a component type of retrofit or doing the whole
package," says Jones.
With benefits in sales and operations, Arby's franchisees
should be itching to make the Kitchen of the Future the kitchen of
today.
Contact source
- Arby's, 1000 Corporate Dr., Fort Lauderdale, FL
33334