The Milwaukee Post

July 7, 2017 • Milwaukee County Post • 15 Q & A By KATHERINE MICHALETS Conley News Service WAUKESHA —The fast casual restaurant industry is highly competitive, but at 45 years of age, Cousins Subs has a handle on the Wisconsin market and is starting to expand into Chicagoland. Christine Specht, president and chief executive officer of Cousins Subs and daughter of Cousins Subs co-founder Bill Specht, is passionate about quali- ty sub sandwiches, especially her favorite, a half tuna with hot pep- per relish. Cousins Subs, headquartered in Menomonee Falls, was founded by Bill Specht and his cousin Jim Sheppard in 1972. Throughout its 45 years, Cousins Subs has com- mitted to using fresh and quality ingredients. It's now also courting millennial consumers with more technology and Project Henry, an assembly-style ordering system at some of its new and remodeled locations. Recently, Christine Specht took a few minutes to share her vision for the company with Conley News Service. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: What has helped Cousins Subs survive and excel during its 45 years of operation? CHRISTINE SPECHT: One of the things that we really pride ourselves on is the consistency of our product offerings. So very lit- tle has changed in 45 years in terms of our approach to quality, the type of meats, and as any- thing, it's been enhanced through the years. Our focus on working with local companies, making sure the bread is baked twice a day in our restaurants, the kind of the recipes really have been con- sistent over the years. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: What are the plans for the compa- ny's future? How will you keep it competitive? SPECHT: One of the things we have been doing over the last few years is really embarking on a branding campaign and that we believe is going to help secure our footing for the future. And what I mean by that is we have had everything from a logo change to an ambitious remodeling pro- gram for our franchise-owned stores and our corporately-owned stores that really help to tell the story of Cousins, what we stand for, what's important to us. And at the same time, fashioning in a way that is appealing to not only our existing consumers but our consumers that we hope to gain in the future. Some of the things we talked about with our brand remodeling and our refresh, we talk a lot more about our history, the fact that we were founded here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We talk about that it's a real family business. We talk about the product offerings and the quality and our commitment to the community and what we have done on a philanthropic basis. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: What are you doing to retain cus- tomers other than through the quality control you mentioned? And to attract new customers? SPECHT: One way is we always look at our menu items to make sure that we are on trend with different flavors that we have. For example, the limited time only offerings right now with our Wisconsin pulled pork and our Cubano. Those are flavors that have been very popular amongst our guests and that we think are really appealing to new consumers. Again, it just gets to the environment. One of the things we have also done is some of our restaurants have launched a new prototype. It's called Project Henry and it's an assembly-style method of ordering so it's fashioned off Henry Ford and the assembly line he created. And really with that it is meant to appeal to all con- sumers, but particularly the young consumers, the millenni- als, who order with their eyes. We want them to see the choices in front of them. They walk down the line, they know the options, they can create their own sub in their own unique way. They don't have to order as it is specifically on the menu. You don't have to at any of our restaurants, but hav- ing the design of the restaurant with the guest flow the way it is, really emphasizes the fact that you have choices. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: Are more stores having the Project Henry assembly lines? SPECHT: Yes, all new stores and new developments will have that assembly-line style of order- ing and then stores as they are remodeled in the Milwaukee area, some will and some won't, there is just a number of factors that will determine whether we want to pursue that and it just depends a lot of times on the market. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: Are you offering ordering ahead and delivery services? How are you incorporating technology into the business model? SPECHT: What we believe now is companies, particularly that are B (business) to C (con- sumer), they are really shaping themselves to be technology com- panies that just happen to sell, for us, sub sandwiches. How are we going to get there? Technology is playing such a huge role in how people perceive the brand and how they actually receive their good or service. For us, we have had online ordering for many years. We continue to encourage our guests to, it's no longer the fax machine, you can call in and order, but really online ordering is the way to go because it's easy, it's clear, there's no mistaking what you are ordering. And that is sent to our kitchens in our restau- rants. It's a very efficient process and we have seen good results with that. People really like online ordering because it's con- venient. They want convenience. Technology in other ways, we are in the middle of rolling out a point of sales system throughout our entire system that will have guest-facing terminals so they can see what they are ordering so again you are ensuring that it's accurate and what the guest wants. There are conveniences that will come along with that in terms of how gift cards will work and what our future loyalty pro- gram will look like. Those things are all really on trend with where companies need to go to stay relevant, particularly to the generations that are com- pletely tied to their smartphones. For us, it's how do we draw the connectivity. In the future, as we have seen, could you have kiosk ordering? Certainly. I think kiosks are certainly something that we will take a look at and explore because it's what the guests are asking for. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: How important is growth to Cousins Subs and what is your growth strategy? SPECHT: Growth is very important. Businesses in general should be wary of remaining the same or being stagnant. For us, our approach has always been, at least since I have been president, let's have intelligent growth, not growth at all costs. I think when companies do that it can be prob- lematic and operators are inviting issues into your systems that you didn't have to so our growth has been very calculated and it is important. We have signed three multi- unit operators More recently, we signed one in the Chicagoland area and we are very excited about that because they have com- mitted to building out 10 restau- rants in the Chicagoland area and they are confident that is really just the beginning. Growth through franchising is very important to us. Corporate growth could be a potential oppor- tunity, as well. We take the oppor- tunities as they come across our desks. CONLEY NEWS SERVICE: What is getting you excited these days about Cousins Subs and being in business as a whole? SPECHT: Some of the things that are really exciting for me, I think as a brand we do so much for being the local person, being smaller than the rest. I mentioned before that we are very nimble and I am excited about rolling out our new technology platform. I think it is really going to increase customer satisfaction, and that it will increase the data that we are collecting so we have a better understanding of what our guests want. And our ability then to be able to adapt and adjust to that. I think it's exciting that we are on the forefront of growth in a new market and we have multi- unit operators that want to grow with us, that want to be part of this. I think it's exciting that we have our existing franchisees who are willing to make the reinvest- ment in their business in support of making their brand consistent as a whole in terms of the envi- ronment. The economy is plugging away, I am optimistic. I think people are feeling pretty optimistic these days. I think that all is good. We are excited about being 45; not every restaurant company can say that. It has not been an easy road, but it's one that we can be proud of. Email: kmichalets@conleynet.com Submitted photo Christine Specht is the CEO and president of Cousins Subs, which is celebrating 45 years in business. Company to expand into Chicagoland, add more assembly line format stores At 45, Cousins Subs focuses on staying fresh

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