Humans have needs, and cravings, and desires. Sometimes, they all align — like when my need for food matches my desire and craving for a spicy burrito. In business, you have to be in tune to your customers’ needs, cravings, and desires, and meet them as much as possible. These days, across the board but especially in the QSR space, the consumers are craving better loyalty programs and more personalized experiences in every interaction with a brand. Zip Allen recognizes that, and as the Chief Digital Officer for Taco Bell, she’s satisfying those cravings. Yes, there are spicy burritos involved, but there are also unique spins on customer loyalty programs, a new subscription service for tacos, and an app experience that makes getting those spicy burritos — or whatever you’re in the mood for — a friction-free experience. We got into all of that on this episode of Up Next in Commerce and it was a delicious discussion. Enjoy!
Main Takeaways:
- Customizing the Experience: It all comes down to digital when it comes to customizing the customer experience. On digital platforms, you can more easily engage with and learn about your customers, and deliver to them a seamless experience so you can get them what they need when and where they want it. Lean into all the digital tools in your toolbox and don’t be afraid to experiment with some new ideas to engage with customers through apps, subscriptions, or loyalty program challenges.
- What do the Customers Really Want: To find out what customers want, go where they actually are, and then listen. Hang out on Twitter, find the Reddit threads where the fans of your brand congregate, and ingratiate yourself in that community. Not only will you get a better understanding of who your customers are, but you will be able to spot areas of friction as they come up and source new ideas for your brand from the consumers themselves.
- Scoring More Than Points: With loyalty programs, you have to think beyond just giving points to redeem for free products Build out exclusive offerings, unique experiences, and ways to add value and delight to your customers’ day that proves that you actually know and value them.
For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.
Key Quotes:
“It turns out the way that you customize a restaurant experience is digital.”
“In my first 60 days, I was just learning the Taco Bell brand, and what drives the fandom of the brand, and really getting to know the consumer. Then from that point, really understanding, ‘Okay, well, how do you take the magic, and the fandom, and the passion that our fans have for the brand, and how do you manifest that through all of the different touch points and really give our fans a uniquely Taco Bell experience, no matter how and where they want to interact with the brand?’”
“The Taco Bell cult — we call it our cult fandom — they live on Reddit. They live on Twitter.”
“In our lives, subscriptions have become just part of the way that we shop, in almost every other category. So we started with asking ourselves, why couldn’t you do a subscription for tacos? I mean, you have a subscription for Spotify, you have a subscription for Netflix, Hulu, whatever. Why not?”
“At the end of the day, it is about, what are the technologies? What are the connection points that we need to have in place to really, going back to that customer journey, connect all the dots for the customer, so that they feel understood, appreciated, and in charge of their experience in every step of the journey?”
“I always think about working in digital in the restaurant category. Your bias is to say, well, what’s the next competitor doing? How are we tracking against them? But from a consumer perspective, they are comparing our experience to every other digital interaction that they have. So the expectation is not just what’s going on in the restaurant category. The expectation is are you as easy to shop as Target, or Amazon? Is your personalization as slick as what Spotify gives me in my daily mix every day. So that’s what’s really cool about working in the digital space is the consumer expectation is so different because their digital lives are so much more interconnected than what their offline lives and offline expectations look like.”
“To me, the perfect customer experience is a customer experience that is unique and tailored to every individual user, and to every individual customer in the relationship that they have with the brand. Being able to meet them where they are, however and wherever they want to interact with you. So I think that loyalty is like the thread that goes through that. It’s not just about a program. It’s about making sure that the customer feels appreciated, understood, and known by the brand, no matter where they interact.”
“If you think about a customer experience, the customer experience is only as good as the experience that you’re giving for the team members, the frontline worker that has to actually make that experience come to life. So this idea of connecting those two things with the customer data, and the investments in technology that we’re making into our restaurants, that gets me incredibly excited.Because not only can digital platforms and this new way of interacting with the brand impact customers, it can also impact our team members and our frontline workers in ways that are going to improve their lives, improve their jobs, and improve their ability to give great customer service to our guests. To me, that is super magical.”
Bio
Zipporah Allen is the Chief Digital Officer for Taco Bell. With Taco Bell, Allen has led the digital transformation of Taco Bell to be the easiest restaurant in the category. She previously served as the Chief Marketing Officer to Pizza Hut, and spent more than seven year in various roles for McDonalds.
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Transcript:
Stephanie:
Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of Up Next in Commerce. I’m your host, Stephanie Postals, CEO at Mission. Today, I’m so excited, we have the one and only Zip Allen, the chief digital officer for Taco Bell joining us. Zip, welcome to the show.
Zip:
Thanks for having me.
Stephanie:
Yes. I have a very special love of Taco Bell. I remember all the way back in high school, before every soccer game I would go there, get Taco Bell, which I don’t know. Now, I think it was a little obvy that before a game, however, almost every single week I was going there. So I was super excited when I saw that you were coming on the show today.
Zip:
That’s awesome. A super fan, I love it.
Stephanie:
Always, yes. So I want to hear a bit about your background. Of course, I always like to ask the guests how did they … Where did they start out? I see you’ve worked at places like McDonald’s, you were the CMO of Pizza Hut. So I see you have a lot for those kind of industries. I just want to hear how did you actually get into that world?
Zip:
Sure. Well, I started in the restaurant industry almost 15 years ago. I came straight out of business school. Really was looking for an experience that would give me access to a brand that was emotional, to a category that is very needed in the world, and would give me the opportunity to work globally and locally in the US. So I started out at McDonald’s, working on happy meals. It was such a fun product. I know a lot about happy meal toys, and partnerships with movies, and toy properties. So that was kind of how I learned how to market.
Zip:
Three years into my role at McDonald’s, I took an opportunity to move overseas. I moved to Australia for three years, and really fell in love with more of the data side of marketing, and more of the consumer side of marketing. I became a much more analytical marketer, I’ll say, in that three years, because I was working on a brand in a completely different context. Then I moved back to the states about eight years ago and worked on a project around customizing the McDonald’s experience. It turns out the way that you customize a restaurant experience is digital. I worked on the kiosk project there, and it really got me excited about what digital could do way back in 2015.
Zip:
That’s when I took the opportunity to move over to Yum. Pizza as a category has been much further ahead than the rest of the restaurant industry on the digital transformation. So I learned how to be a digital marketer at Pizza Hut. Almost three years ago, I moved over to Taco Bell. It’s been a thrill to lead the digital transformation of a brand as beloved, and as distinct, and as disruptive as the Taco Bell brand. So that’s a little bit of my story.
Stephanie:
Cool. So then when you were joining Taco Bell, what was the draw? What did you want, maybe, your first 60 days to look like there? What were your big plans?
Zip:
I mean, Taco Bell is a brand that is beyond the restaurant category. It shows up in culture in so many different ways. So really, in my first 60 days, I was just learning the Taco Bell brand, and what drives the fandom of the brand, and really getting to know the consumer. Then from that point, really understanding, “Okay, well, how do you take the magic, and the fandom, and the passion that our fans have for the brand, and how do you manifest that through all of the different touch points and really give our fans a uniquely Taco Bell experience, no matter how and where they want to interact with the brand?”
Stephanie:
Got it. So I want to dig a bit more into how do you get to know your consumers? Or how did you go about exploring that? Because I saw a couple of interesting methods. One was looking at a Reddit thread, potentially, where there was a bunch of online, fast food people there who were super excited about maybe a rewards program or something. Then I heard you guys potentially built one off of that. You can tell me if I got that completely wrong. But I was like, “That’s so smart, going to Reddit, where everyone is.” That’s where your most avid fans probably could be. So I wanted to hear, how did you actually go about figuring out who your customer was and what they were really passionate about?
Zip:
Yeah. We do it in a few different ways. We have an amazing consumer insights team that really is with our consumers qualitatively, understanding their relationship with food, their relationship with the brand, their relationship with our digital channels. But then you’re right, the Taco Bell cult, we call it, and our cult fandom, they live on Reddit. They live on Twitter. We have this amazing tweet from this customer. I think it was in 2019, and he was like, “I visited Taco Bell 100 something times in a year.”
Stephanie:
Wow.
Zip:
He had lined up all of his receipts and taken a picture. He was like, “Can your boy get a loyalty program?” It was great.
Stephanie:
You’re like, yes. You can.
Zip:
We were like, yeah, we can do that. So a year and a half ago, we launched Taco Bell rewards. Really, in response to what our fans were looking for was a way to feel appreciated, and understood by the brand for their loyalty. Taco Bell rewards is much more than a program that gives you points, and you earn free food. That’s an awesome part of the program. But really, Taco Bell rewards is now a lifestyle. So a year and a half into the program, we’ve started to do some really fun things with it. For example, if you’re a Taco Bell rewards member, you get early access to all of the fun and delicious limited time only products that our food innovation team comes up with. So grilled cheese burrito, when it came out, Casa Lupa, when it came back, who knows. Next year, there might be some really big fan favorites coming back.
Stephanie:
Oh.
Zip:
We give our loyalty members early access to those products, because we know that’s what they crave. For friendsgiving this yer, that’s a big social event for Taco Bell, we gave our top tier loyalty members the opportunity to get a curated, chef prepared friendsgiving box to be able to share with their friends. So it’s both about giving our fans what they want, but then also giving them access to the brand in new and different ways.
Stephanie:
That’s awesome. Were there any surprises when you were digging into the data, and trying to figure out who they were, and what they wanted, any surprises around the types of desires, or the types of customers that were there, that maybe Taco Bell didn’t really know about before you joined?
Zip:
I think a little bit surprising to me was just how loyal some of our fans are. What I love about digital in general and with something like a loyalty program is we get to understand the nuance of the relationship that each of our customers have individually with the brand. So everything from, okay, we have one customer, she has visited us, we call her Veggie Vicky. She’s visited us 639 times in a year. That’s 12 times a week, which is awesome. She’s super loyal.
Stephanie:
She’s your girl.
Zip:
But, she orders vegetarian every single time. So Taco Bell has a lot of variety on our menu, and vegetarians do use Taco Bell to fit their lifestyle. So it’s super interesting to be able to understand that about her. Then customize and personalize her experience based on that information.
Stephanie:
So how did you goa bout doing that? Was it within an app? Or how did you think about giving her the perfect experience?
Zip:
Yeah. So it’s everything from how do we message to her? So when we have new vegetarian items coming out, like our cantina crispy melt taco that was in market a couple of months ago, we offered that in a black [inaudible] flavor. So it’s everything from just showing her the black bean version of that product, and not showing her the beef version of the product, to really curating a menu experience for her, where we’ve got this veggie cravings section of the menu that shows up both online and offline, based on the vegetarian cult at Taco Bell is actually quite large, which is awesome.
Stephanie:
Cool. The other thing I thought was interesting, when looking at the changes Taco Bell has made over the past year or so with these digital first stores, and different loyalty programs, it seems like you had already been planning for this over the past couple of years. It wasn’t like a quick pivot, like I see a lot of other fast food brands who had to, where they’re like, “Okay, now diners can’t come in, we have to quickly try and figure something out.”
Stephanie:
It seems like you all did it with ease, and that you already had a lot of the digital initiatives already in the works. So I wanted to hear, how did you stay ahead of this? Because I saw you opening a digital first store in London, and New York, and that was already part of the product roadmap. It definitely didn’t seem like a quick pivot. So how have you all been planning this? For how long? You guys seem pretty ahead.
Zip:
Well, I think what’s so exciting about Taco Bell is we do like to be ahead. We do like to understand what’s going on in culture, or where the customer is going, where our fans are going. But also, we like to be innovative, and we also, we can come together and pivot really quickly. So if you think about the last year and a half, our category got completely disrupted in the way that consumers can access brands, and the ways that consumers wanted to shop brands. So we had a lot of the foundational pieces in place. We already had an app, we already had relationship with some of the delivery providers. We were able to partner with even more delivery providers. We had designs in place for contact lists, and digital first experiences. So you see new assets, like our Time Square restaurant is completely digital.
Stephanie:
I want to go see that. That looked awesome.
Zip:
It is super cool.
Stephanie:
Doesn’t the taco go in a lit up window when it’s done? You can see it being-
Zip:
Yeah, it has these awesome cubbies, and then you put in a code, and your food gets … It’s a completely contactless experience for those that want it. We have the Defy restaurant, which one of our franchisees is building up in Minneapolis. It’s an elevated kitchen, and then the drive through is underneath.
Stephanie:
Oh, cool.
Zip:
So the technology behind that is really cool. There is multiple drive through lanes. I think it’s got four drive through lanes. So I think what’s really fun about the Taco Bell brand is we are always creating. We are always ideating. That is one of our values as an organization, is we always want to innovate, and we always want to create. So I think that was part of what helped us really navigate really well in the last year and a half.
Stephanie:
Yeah. That’s great. So what are you all working on now then? I want to hear what you’re looking into your crystal ball, and you’re like, “I’m planning this for the next five years.” What are you guys trying to get ahead on?
Zip:
I mean, I can answer that in a couple of different ways. One, really understanding what’s going on with the customer journey, end-to-end, and really getting deep on insights and friction points within the customer journey. So that pickup experience, which I call the all important moment of truth. A lot of our asset development, the Defy asset, our go mobile assets that are mobile first, and have the mobile speed lane for you to pick up if you’ve ordered ahead.
Zip:
That is all trying to take out friction in that moment of truth, when the customer, the team member, and the food all have to be in the same place, at the same time, in this super quick exchange. But then there is also fun parts of the journey, where we can apply a ton of marketing creativity. Triggering a craving for Taco Bell. By the time this podcast airs, we will be launching this amazing product. It’s probably the product that I’m potentially most excited about in my whole entire career.
Stephanie:
Wow.
Zip:
It’s called Taco Lovers Pass. It’s a complete new ways to buy tacos. It’s a subscription product. We tested it in Tuscon, Arizona this year, for the past few months, we’ve been testing it. We’ve been really excited by what we’ve seen. So what it is, is you pay $10 a month upfront, and once you pay that $10, you get access to this secret menu in the app. When you get into that secret menu, you can redeem a free taco a day for 30 days. It’s all of our iconic tacos.
Stephanie:
For $10?
Zip:
For $10. It’s awesome. It’s the Doritos Locos tacos, it’s the spicy potato soft taco, my favorite. It’s our classic crunchy taco, it’s a soft taco. So it’s this menu of our seven core tacos that really highlight the variety and give our customers a way to keep coming back to Taco Bell and to choose us more often.
Stephanie:
So what was the driving force, when thinking about a subscription program, I haven’t really heard of many other QSRs doing this. When thinking about, we want a subscription program for tacos, and we’re going to give them way more tacos than at the probably cost of what they would pay otherwise, what were some of the motivations behind that program? What are you looking to do? Other than, of course, have a fun customer journey, and more experiences, and more ways to get in front of them. I want to hear the conversations of behind the scenes of how you all were discussing this program.
Zip:
Yeah. I think a couple of really inspiration points for this product, one, the consumer. Just if you think about the beginning of the customer journey, it’s like, “Oh my gosh, there is so many restaurant choices out there. How am I actually going to choose?” So having something really distinct and disruptive, and making it easy to just push the button for a free taco was part of it. The other thing is in, I guess, in our lives, subscriptions have become just part of the way that we shop, in almost every other category.
Zip:
So we kind of started with asking ourselves, why couldn’t you do a subscription for tacos? I mean, you have a subscription for Spotify, you have a subscription for Netflix, Hulu, whatever. Why not? So the combination of those two things were where the idea was born. We had played with a lot of different iterations of it. We’re really pleased with where we netted out and how it tested. It’s really exciting.
Stephanie:
That’s fun. So then thinking back to the app, you have the subscription program. What else is inside the app to keep customers engaged and coming back for more? How else are you building out that experience?
Zip:
Yeah. So our app is really about ease and convenience of the ordering experience. So we want to make sure that we’re being really respectful of when a customer comes to you, the app, they are in a shopping occasion. So we don’t really want to get in the way of that. But with our loyalty program, our loyalty program, the center of our loyalty program is in the app. Yes, you can earn points offline, and through the drive through, etc.
Zip:
But the loyalty program is in the app. So the challenges have been really fun for us. The other thing that we’re starting to play with is just other engagement mechanisms in the app. So there will be some fun stuff coming in 2022 with that.
Stephanie:
That’s cool. What kind of challenges would I expect within the app? What are you having me do?
Zip:
Well, maybe we’ll ask you to visit us for breakfast, and you can get bonus points. Or, maybe we’ll ask you to come a few days in a row. It’s really trying to disrupt your purchase cycle. But then also, help round out your experience with Taco Bell. If you’re a bean burrito fan, we have awesome burritos in the morning. So why not come in the morning to Taco Bell? Or if you’re a late night user, how do we make that a little bit more fun for you with some specific offers and challenges?
Stephanie:
I’m imagining the data, it goes into all of that, is intense. What did that effort look like to consolidate it all, and have everything talking to each other? I mean, thinking about, okay, this person always buys, when they do buy it’s at noon, and now we’re going to have something to try to get them to buy at nine AM instead. That sounds like a big, hefty project that I’m sure was not fully in place a couple of years ago. What does it look like getting all that organized and all the systems talking to each other?
Zip:
Yeah. I mean, we have an amazing technology team, and I think the marketing technology stack, and what I would call everything underneath the waterline of the experience is very technical. It has been a journey that we’re good, we still have more to go to get to the level of personalization that we aim to achieve. So that is a space that I feel like is rapidly evolving. But I think at the end of the day, it is about, what are the technologies? What are the connection points that we need to have in place to really, again, going back to that customer journey, connect all the dots for the customer, so that they feel understood, appreciated, and in charge of their experience in every step of the journey?
Stephanie:
Yeah. Are there any technologies that y’all are experimenting with right now? I know we were talking to a couple of companies throughout the past couple of episodes, and they’re like, “We’re experimenting with blockchain, or we’re giving away free crypto in exchange for a burger.” Those are interesting, hearing about these different efforts they’re working on. NFTs, and is there anything, big ideas, or moonshots that you think, “We’re going to try this out, and it could be a big failure or it could be the biggest thing ever?”
Zip:
I mean, I think for us, subscription. Yes, we’ve done a test in 17 restaurants in Tuscan. We’re really pleased with the results. But taking that to a national audience in the US, and seeing what happens, and the nuance of how customers behave, that is something that could go really well for the brand, and the consumer, or it could be something that’s like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe we’ve moved a little bit too aggressively against it. I think what I’m most excited about for it is not just for our fans, but also if it works, it could be a platform that really has more tentacles beyond just a taco subscription for us.
Stephanie:
Yeah. That’s what feels fun about this year and the upcoming years, it feels like a lot of companies are willing to experiment maybe in ways that they wouldn’t have before, because it’s like it’s a whole different playing field now. The customers are different, expectations are different, what they’re looking for, where they want to buy from is different. It feels like the next couple of years are going to be full of a lot of new experiments that could change the game when it comes to buying patterns, and consumer habits, and whatnot.
Zip:
Yeah. I mean, I always think about working in digital in the restaurant category. Your bias is to say, well, what’s the next competitor doing? How are we tracking against them? But from a consumer perspective, they are comparing our experience to every other digital interaction that they have. So the expectation is not just what’s going on in the restaurant category. The expectation is are you as easy to shop as Target, or Amazon? Is your personalization as slick as what Spotify gives me in my daily mix every day. So that’s what’s really cool about working in the digital space is the consumer expectation is so different because their digital lives are so much more interconnected than what their offline lives and offline expectations look like.
Stephanie:
Yeah. Well, that brings me to thinking about are there other industries that you’re looking to sometimes for maybe some learnings? I mean, we’ve had quite a few CEOs in one of our other podcasts called Business X Factors, many of them mention that. They’re maybe like, “I’m in, I don’t know, we’ll say the drone business, but I love looking at farming, and airlines.” Then I mean, they picked out also some random industries. They’re like, “We find some key learning.” It might not be about how to build a drone. But maybe it’s around how to set a good culture, how to think about budgeting in this area. It’s interesting hearing how they look completely outside of their industry for ideas and innovation. Do you feel like you all are constantly doing that, to keep up with those consumer expectations?
Zip:
Oh, completely. We have this internal Slack channel, and it’s called the Jetsons.
Stephanie:
I like it already.
Zip:
It’s literally, it’s where we put inspiration on cool experiences that we’ve had that we might have some learning that we can apply to Taco Bell and our experience. So everything from, like I look at the retail industry quite a bit. I have a little bit of a customer experience crush on Target. Their experience is incredibly integrated, the way that they use digital across the journey, it’s so impressive. But even just like TikTok is really interesting to me as an inspiration space, and this idea of being a platform for creators. Our fans love to create with our brand. They create art, they create songs, they get tattoos. So that, to me, is a really inserting territory. But we are constantly looking across category for inspiration across the journey.
Stephanie:
Yeah. Every time I think I listen to a podcast about something completely outside of my range of thinking, that’s when I’m like, “Oh, how can I apply that?” Just the other day, I was learning about basically doing manufacturing in space, and how-
Zip:
Oh, cool.
Stephanie:
This company is making a whole point of, why do you need a manufacturer? Maybe a little bit risky things on earth, and use our resources here. If you go ins pace, and you don’t have gravity, apparently it works way better. I’m like, well, that’s a different way of thinking. But then once you start thinking that way, you start seeing different opportunities everywhere, of wait, why don’t you put that in space? Why don’t you do this differently? So it’s interesting how things like that can open your mind if you just get way outside your comfort zone, and start learning about things that are not even for your current company.
Zip:
Yeah. That’s awesome.
Stephanie:
Yeah. It was very interesting. So I want to hear, too, how do you … Are you able to look within other brands within Yum brands? Because there is a lot of companies within Yum brands, and I was listening to a couple of interviews with Yum CEO. He was super bullish on Taco Bell. He was just talking about Taco Bell the whole time. Then I started looking at all the other brands within Yum brands. I was like, “Oh, there is a lot there.” How often are you all able to maybe share best practices? Or check in with, I don’t know, Pizza Hut, or KFC, be like, what are you all doing? What’s engaging your customers? Or is it kind of like strict lines, like you do your thing, we do ours?
Zip:
Well, I mean, I came from Pizza Hut. I started at-
Stephanie:
Yeah. So you’re like, “I already know.”
Zip:
So I think what is really helpful about being a part of the Yum family, and being part of an organization that has burgers through Habit, tacos through Taco Bell, chicken through KFC, and pizza through Pizza Hut, is we do get to share, okay, what’s driving relevance? What are we seeing on ease perception change from the consumer? But I think what is also great is that the distinctiveness of the brands is unique to each brand. So we will definitely collaborate and share, and there is a lot on the technology space that we think are opportunities for us to get closer as brands, and leverage the power of all four brands. But it is definitely an awesome kind of internal sparring team that you can call up an expert, or call up a friend to really think through a common problem or a common opportunity that we’re all seeing.
Stephanie:
Yeah. That’s cool. Are there any things that you tried and maybe brought over to Taco Bell that worked really well, where you’re like, “We would have never tried that with our customers. This was a great tester, a great marketing campaign.”
Zip:
I think with Pizza Hut, pizza, in the restaurant category, has been much further ahead on digital. Customers made that jump in pizza 20 years before what I would call traditional drive through QSR. So a lot of the initiatives, like loyalty, for example, we launched that while I was head of marketing at Pizza Hut. So that was, there were a lot of learnings from that program that we could apply to the Taco Bell model. Also, tweaks, depending, based on how distinct the Taco Bell brand is. But that’s just one example of, hey, we’ve done it before. We have a formula. How do we apply it over here?
Stephanie:
Yeah. It seems like now is the perfect time for epic loyalty programs. I think about 10 years ago, we didn’t have the technologies and the way to really access our customer like we do now. I’m like, “Man, how did they even work back then?” I don’t even know. When I think about some of them, the fact that they even got ahold of me is impressive.
Zip:
Probably through the mail.
Stephanie:
Yeah. It was. That’s hwy I’m like, “Wait, you know my address? Wow. What do I do with this paper? Oh, I lost it.” It just seems like now is the perfect time to get involved and really build an epic program, and take all those learnings, and then add technology, and adjust. Yeah. It’s super exciting.
Zip:
Yeah. I think beyond the program, though. It is about a lifestyle with the brand. I get really passionate about, to me, the perfect customer experience is a customer experience that is unique and tailored to every individual user, and to every individual customer in the relationship that they have with the brand. Being able to meet them where they are, however and wherever they want to interact with you. So I think that loyalty is like the thread that goes through that. It’s not just about a program. It’s about making sure that the customer feels appreciated, understood, and known by the brand, no matter where they interact.
Stephanie:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So when thinking about local now, because I’m like, there is Taco Bells everywhere. If I’m in Seattle, I probably want a different experience than if I’m in, I don’t know, Maryland, where I’m from. So how do you think about building custom experiences based off where someone is? Do they want different things, or are you right now just testing out same programs for it doesn’t matter where you are in the US, and then experimenting after that?
Zip:
Yeah. I mean, I think the idea of local in audiences is super interesting. So we’re much more experimenting with what I would call audiences in segments. So much more behavioral on the consumer. But I think that’s where our really strong partnership with our franchisees comes into play, where in the future, we want to make sure that we are enabling what they want to do locally to drive their businesses, and to meet the needs of their customers.
Zip:
I think the other thing where local plays into the experience is in thinking through what we can do with the restaurant merchandising. It’s like a less sexy part of my job. But that drive through experience, and when the customer does want to pull up, and order the more traditional way, how are we leveraging technology? How are we leveraging personalization and localization to help make that more relevant experience? So what’s popular in the restaurant, what’s trending in the restaurant are really fun things that we’re starting to experiment with our digital menu board platforms.
Stephanie:
That’s cool. I can see salads showing up in a very health conscious area, and being like, “Wait, no one else wants salads except for this one.” So you just show them salads all day. I mean, it’s cool thinking about how to create that, like you still stick with the brand, the franchise, have it stick with the company wide brand, within the rules that I guess were given to them. But then also how to create a decentralized model where they can have experiments within constraints, but giving them the freedom to experiment a bit, because they probably know the customers and the local level activities best, and how you let them run with that is a cool thought process.
Zip:
Yeah.
Stephanie:
All right, so my last question I want to hear from you is what are you most excited about over maybe the next one to two years? What are you working on now that you’re most passionate about outside of the subscription program, which I already know your passion for that one. So what else?
Zip:
I think it’s this idea that if you think about a customer experience, the customer experience is only as good as the experience that you’re giving for the team members, the frontline worker that has to actually make that experience come to life. So this idea of connecting those two things with the customer data, and the investments in technology that we’re making into our restaurants, that gets me incredibly excited.
Zip:
Because not only can digital platforms and this new way of interacting with the brand impact customers, it can also impact our team members and our frontline workers in ways that are going to improve their lives, improve their jobs, and improve their ability to give great customer service to our guests. To me, that is super magical. We are going to be a 20 billion dollar brand with 10,000 restaurants. So the growth trajectory and having the customer and team member experience as the backbone that is digitally enabled across both sides of the experience, that gets me really excited.
Stephanie:
Yeah. I love that. It’s awesome. Okay, let’s shift over to the lightening round. The lightning round is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This is where I ask you a question, and you have a minute or less to answer. Are you ready, Zip?
Zip:
I am ready.
Stephanie:
All right. What you’re go-to order at Taco Bell?
Zip:
Oh. Cheesy Gordita Crunch with a Doritos Loco taco shell instead of a regular shell. Try it, I promise you’ll love it.
Stephanie:
Oh. Okay. I’ll have to try that next. What’s up next on your reading list?
Zip:
Oh. I am reading a book on Ruth Bader Ginsberg right now. I just started it, actually, last night. I think she’s fascinating.
Stephanie:
Yes.
Zip:
Very inspiring.
Stephanie:
Cool, cool. What’s a piece of advice you were given that you always think about from day-to-day?
Zip:
A saying that my dad had is there is no such thing as I can’t. I think that when you are faced with challenges, or you’re faced with the impossible, just that belief that when you have a will, there is a way to figure out how to get around any obstacle. That has helped me so many times in my life and in my career.
Stephanie:
Yep. That’s a good one. Thanks, dad. That’s a great one. All right. The last one, what’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you? It can be work or personal, whatever comes to mind.
Zip:
Gosh. The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I’m going to brag on Yum as a company for a second.
Stephanie:
Yeah.
Zip:
My move to Taco Bell had definitely business need, and it’s been a super fun ride for the last few years, leading the digital transformation of the brand. But I actually am from California. I needed to move back for personal reasons. My mom was sick, and she’s not anymore. She’s better.
Stephanie:
Yay.
Zip:
But I needed to be closer to her. Yum made that happen for me. That is one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me.
Stephanie:
Wow. That’s great. Go, Yum. On that note, Zip, thank you so much for taking the time today, and joining us, and telling us all the cool things happening at Taco Bell. Where can people find this subscription program and learn more about you?
Zip:
So you can find the subscription, you can find the Taco Lovers Pass subscription on the Taco Bell app, starting January 6th. It’ll be live by the time this airs. You can find me on @itszipallen on Instagram.
Stephanie:
Amazing. Thank you.
Zip:
Thanks.
