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Unifying and Protecting a Brand During High Growth at Blaze Pizza with FranConnect’s RizePoint

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Blaze Pizza Success

How do you maintain a brand, protect customers, and provide useful tools to franchisees while driving strong growth? Blaze Pizza knew it was time to rethink its processes if it were to continue the growth that has made it a fast-casual rising star.

Alex Kuzmanoff, Senior Manager of Restaurant Excellence at Blaze Pizza, knows it’s all too easy for growing brands to lose what attracts their customers if they aren’t diligent about providing a consistently excellent experience. Without stronger brand and operational assessments, Blaze Pizza was at risk of diluting what makes it special.

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Blaze Pizza Employee Making a pizza

“We were going through the process of reimagining our operational assessment that holds franchisees accountable to maintaining brand standards, which goes through ‘What makes Blaze Pizza Blaze Pizza?” Kuzmanoff said. “What are the brand standards that we hold? What are our values? And what is the process for keeping people accountable to maintaining that in our franchisee and company restaurants?”

After evaluating three solutions, Kuzmanoff said they chose RizePoint for its broad capabilities, allowing Blaze Pizza to do assessments, line checks, easy reporting, and franchisee communication in one platform, all available electronically.

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Blaze Pizza Employee serving pizza to a customer

The Platform

Kuzmanoff said the in-store teams picked up the system very quickly and almost immediately began making suggestions of other ways they wanted to use RizePoint. Blaze Pizza had wanted a system that was easy to execute and be sustainable and adaptable, and RizePoint has turned out to be the perfect fit.

“The implementation in restaurants continued to grow and the requests for more information grew. It seems like every time we had some type of hurdle or escalation, it ended up being that RizePoint could be a potential solution for it. All of those different pieces helped grow that business case as to why it’s important,” Kuzmanoff said.

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Blaze Pizza Employee serving pizza to a customer
Blaze Pizza App

Using RizePoint, Blaze Pizza has added:

1. Digital operational assessments RizePoint’s digital assessment tools have made it possible for store employees to complete regular self-assessments, rather than waiting for an external assessor. This has created buy-in from employees as they better understand the brand standards they’re being asked to meet, and saved money on travel expenses.

This is also an educational tool for employees as they walk through whatever signage, messaging, or other information is needed for LTO launches and promotions.

2. Electronic line checks Each store is doing line checks three times a day in RizePoint. With pre-set direction and edit tracking, the Above Restaurant Leaders know whether line checks are being done correctly, by whom, and whether any changes were made.

3. Automated reporting Each time an assessment or line check is completed, a copy is sent to the Above Restaurant Leader. This not only acts as proof of completion but gives those leaders visibility into operations they didn’t previously have.

4. Closer communication with franchisees In addition to better visibility into the day-to-day, as employees began using RizePoint, they found new ways to take advantage of the tools. This included temporary menu changes. Now, if stores run out of an ingredient, they can notify their leaders through RizePoint and remove online menu items until it’s available again. This is faster for employees and creates a better experience for customers.

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The Results

Now Kuzmanoff said he sees myriad ways RizePoint can help Blaze Pizza build on these brand successes. They are already looking forward to implementing action planning, to take action and record corrections about any findings that aren’t in line with brand standards.

However, he said judging by the initial response from company stores, Blaze anticipates that franchisees will have suggestions and come up with other innovative ways that RizePoint will streamline operations.

“I think it’s going to be a game changer for us. It’s more than just data collection. It’s going to drive our business forward. It feels like if we can dream it, we can build it at some point. It’s been exciting to work with people who don’t say, ‘Well the system doesn’t do that.’ What we hear is, ‘Well the system could do that,’ and then we work our way to that point.”

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This integrated solution, powered by FranConnect, has transformed our ability to develop and maintain a well-trained, compliant workforce across our expanding network,” I often say. “It’s not just about teaching skills – it’s about building a culture of excellence and consistency across every Teriyaki Madness location, no matter where it’s located.

Alex Kuzmanoff
Senior Manager of Restaurant Excellence

Learn why FranConnect customers grow 44% faster and outperform their competitors


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