FranConnect Proves Tech Beats Precious Stones in Franchising

If you replace “diamonds” and “girl’s” with “technology” and “franchisee’s,” Marilyn Monroe has a lot to teach us about successfully running a business.

In “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the lovely Ms. Monroe taught us that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. However, in the world of franchising, it’s modern tech that makes all the difference.

Take Aurelio’s Pizza as an example. The Illinois-based franchise was facing a number of issues, including customer complaints due to inconsistency among different locations.

“We were getting a lot of complaints from our customers about how things tasted different between the stores,” said Kirk Mauriello , head of franchise development for the brand. “It was boggling me because all the products are the same – we have a quality control person and other systems in place.”

However, after teaming up with FranConnect and putting some modern tools to use, Aurelio’s was able to flip the script.

“It had to do with the presentation of the food - it didn’t look the same at every store,” Mauriello said. “There were lots of little things that were different.”

In order to fix this, Aurelio’s Pizza adopted software that made it easier for all stores to follow the brand’s operational ideal, as well as measure their progress.

After putting FranConnect’s technology to work, the brand saw customer complaints fall by a staggering 99 percent. Meanwhile, sales have been through the roof.

“Our same-store sales over the last three quarters have been up more than 7 percent each quarter,” Mauriello said. “We’ve had 17 consecutive quarters of growth, but we’ve never seen sales in the 7-plus percent range.”