Famous Toastery Launches ‘Superheroes in Scrubs’ Promotion To Pay It Forward to First Responders
The 26-unit better breakfast franchise has found a way to give back to local communities with a newly mastered online ordering platform.
CHARLOTTE — Famous Toastery, a breakfast and lunch franchise brand with nearly 30 locations throughout the Southeast, has constantly been looking for ways to both thrive and give back to their location’s communities amid the challenges the pandemic has thrown its way. Over the course of the last several months, the brand ambitiously focused on growth, revamped curbside pickup and has given back to the local community, most recently with its new Superheroes in Scrubs initiative.
Instead of a traditional discount or buy-one-get-one-free offerings, Famous Toastery’s Superheroes in Scrubs initiative allows guests to provide health care workers and first responders a complimentary meal by using the code “THANKFUL” upon checkout through the brand’s new online ordering platform.
“Essentially, this is a ‘pay it forward’ initiative where we offer guests a chance to give back to first responders when the customer purchases a meal on our new ordering platform. Every time this code is used we pledge to donate a boxed lunch to a first responder or frontline healthcare employee in need,” Dennis Jackson, Famous Toastery’s marketing manager said.
According to Jackson, the move reflects one of the company’s core values: Putting the community first and serving members like first responders with gratitude and enthusiasm in the best way they know how — a delicious meal.
“These are the folks in the community, who, when the pandemic hit, had no opportunity to work from home, so it’s nice to be in a position to partner with them and show them how thankful we are in any way we can,” said Jackson. “We would like to donate at least 500 boxed lunches to local hospitals and first responders. That’s the goal!”
Going into the pandemic, Famous Toastery enjoyed steady growth and media coverage, but when dining rooms shuttered, the full service restaurant franchise had to pivot to curbside pickup.
“It was about being able to adapt,” Jackson said about the rollout of a new Point of Sale system for curbside orders amid the pandemic. “Being able to provide a platform system wide to help sustain and grow sales required a lot of communication both within the company and with our customers.”
“Our team predicted that online ordering would play a big role in the subsequent months,” Famous Toastery CEO Robert Maynard said. “Our POS system turned out really well and I can’t tell you how happy we’ve been with the results. The team worked day and night to make this happen — it was a real team effort.”
“Frankly, in a time like this, you can’t afford to have somebody on the phone taking orders from customers,” said Maynard. “It’s an ‘all hands on deck’ kind of scenario — you need to have your employees doing what they do best, whether it’s making the food for orders or putting our best foot forward with customer service. The online system made everything so easy for our customers and for our franchisees; it makes a difference in these times and we’re willing to do what we can to make the customer feel satisfied.”
But in the middle of the nationwide lockdown, there was little room to celebrate the success of the new platform. Instead, the corporate team found “a way to get hyper local” by treating local first responders to free meals.
“We get to highlight our online ordering profile and get food to the parts of the community that need it most,” he said.
“It’s actually win-win,” Jackson said of the promotion. “We recognized the need to help out with some of the first responders and workers that may be working double and triple shifts. It's our wheelhouse to provide great products to the community, so we wanted to go right along with that to donate our product, but also shine light on our online ordering platform.”
According to Jackson, this reflects Famous Toastery’s leadership and ethos.
“It drives home our mantra: ‘Community first. Customers first,’” said Jackson. “The people that bring their families into our locations are the same health care workers and first responders that take care of our community and customers. We want to be able to show our appreciation for everything they have done this year as true heroes in our community.”
ABOUT FAMOUS TOASTERY
Charlotte, N.C. based Famous Toastery began in 2005 in a small house-turned-restaurant where best friends Brian Burchill and Robert Maynard opened their first breakfast spot. Never compromising fresh ingredients or friendly service, Famous Toastery evolved into a franchise system in 2013 and now has over 25 locations. In 2020 and 2019, Famous Toastery placed on Restaurant Business' The Future 50, featuring the fastest-growing small chains. Famous Toastery was ranked No. 9 in the Full-Service Restaurants category of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Food Franchises of 2019 and on Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 Rankings in 2019. In 2018, Famous Toastery received recognition by CNBC as a top franchise to buy, FSR Magazine as one of the Top 14 restaurant chains ready for lift-off, Inc. 5000’s list of the fastest growing companies and Franchise Times' Top 200+ franchise opportunities. For more information about Famous Toastery, visit www.famoustoastery.com. To learn about franchising opportunities, please visit www.ownatoastery.com.
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