Fighting the feeling of the same old, same old, Paula McCollum, foodservice director for Flik International at Mastercard Worldwide in O’Fallon, Mo., thinks it's important to keep things fresh. O'Fallon speaks about different ways she tries to encourage repeat business.
In B&I operations, attracting customers, who could just as easily head to the McDonald’s down the road, is one of the director’s biggest challenges. Paula McCollum, foodservice director for Flik International, a division of Compass Group North America, at Mastercard Worldwide in O’Fallon, Mo., talks about ways she keeps customers coming back.
“Our quality and customer service standards are very high, so we try to focus on them at all times, which helps to keep customers coming. But, what really keeps things interesting are our promotions and specials. For instance, we have a monthly “Consuela’s Café” where we choose a customer to profile. The profile includes helping prepare and advertising their favorite meal. Our last one was a Hurricane Katrina survivor, so she put out a Cajun spread that brought customers in from all parts of the building. We also promote all the major holidays by dressing up and having a special meal. On Halloween, all the cashiers dressed up like witches. We had cauldron stew and deviled eyeballs, and we played ‘Monster Mash’ and made popcorn balls as an added sale. The best advice is to keep it fun and interesting; nothing positive ever comes out of being repetitive, doldrums or boring.”