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As the President of Schlotzsky&rsquo;s, Kelly Roddy is a believer in the&nbsp;comeback story.&nbsp;

You know the type--those movies that are centered around a situation where the tall rigid walls of what&#39;s impossible are shattered by the&nbsp;tenacious will&nbsp;and&nbsp;heart&nbsp;of the underdog who stands before it. But not all comeback stories revolve around down-on-their-luck football teams and washed-up boxers. Dozens of franchise brands have similar tales of their own. After all, what&rsquo;s more inspiring than a brand reclaiming a top spot in the industry?

That story belongs to Schlotzsky&rsquo;s President Kelly Roddy, who took over in 2007 and helped usher in a fresh start for the then-struggling chain. Since then, Schlotzsky&rsquo;s has experienced nine years of growth after implementing a system-wide company rebrand. And they&rsquo;re just getting started.

According to Roddy, research suggested that Schlotzsky&rsquo;s was longer relevant to its customers, and the branded was in need of a new look. Schlotzsky&rsquo;s is an established, well-known brand in each of the markets it serves, but Roddy quickly recognized that it was time for a change. And as a leader, it was his job to guide the brand through a make-over. But that also presented a new set of challenges. He couldn&rsquo;t just lay out a new vision&mdash;he had to get buy-in from the entire franchise system, too.

&ldquo;When I got into franchising, there seemed to be this disconnect between corporate and franchisee initiatives&mdash;they weren&rsquo;t always aligned. And that boggled my mind&mdash;you have to all be on the same page otherwise it&rsquo;ll be nearly impossible to get anything done,&rdquo; Schlotzsky&rsquo;s said. &ldquo;My priority was creating a vision that everyone could get behind. The goal was to make the entire Schlotzsky&rsquo;s brand experience better&mdash;for both consumers and franchisees. For me, that started with fostering a culture fueled by constant improvement. It meant building a culture of respect and a culture of fun. And it meant letting the entire system know that we&rsquo;re a team who will actually do what we say we&rsquo;re going to do. That really changed the game for the brand.&rdquo; &nbsp;

Prior to joining Scholotzsky&rsquo;s, he had experienced the strength in the brand&rsquo;s product firsthand&mdash;he was a loyal guest long before he took over the president role. He even has the photo evidence to prove it. Seven years before he joined the brand&rsquo;s executive team, he visited a local Schlotzsky&rsquo;s with his family during a fundraising event. The franchisee had captured a photo of Roddy at the restaurant. And after he had been named the new president of the brand, that same franchisee mailed the photo directly to him.

&ldquo;I knew the brand and I had always loved the brand. There&rsquo;s this immense sense of loyalty amongst Schlotzsky&rsquo;s guests. And I think a lot of that has to do with its unique product&mdash;the fresh, made-from-scratch sandwiches is the kind of thing that you can&rsquo;t help but fall in love with. And it&rsquo;s helped to set us apart from our competitors,&rdquo; Roddy added. &ldquo;It was important that we didn&rsquo;t stray far from our roots. We had to stay true to the product that brought us success.&rdquo;

It made sense, then, when Roddy announced that his priority was to revamp the look and feel of the Schlotzsky&rsquo;s experience&mdash;not the food. This started with incorporating a design in each store that&rsquo;s fresh and modern. Roddy also changed up the brand&rsquo;s service model. After realizing that more and more customers were gravitating toward the fast casual experience, he decided to shift from a restaurant where guests picked up their meals, to one where servers brought orders straight to the tables.

It was a simple change that yielded huge results. Each restaurant&rsquo;s culture got better. Service scores went up. Satisfaction numbers skyrocketed. And sales started to climb. Today, those efforts continue to have a noticeable impact, and Roddy has been able to take a once-struggling brand and nearly double its average unit volume.

That turnaround is one of Roddy&rsquo;s proudest moments. And it was made possible by keeping his vision simple and realistic.

&ldquo;For me, it was crucial to simply outline five key priorities and create a step-by-step guide for how we could accomplish these goals,&rdquo; Roddy. &ldquo;I told our franchisees that, realistically, this would take five years to completely roll out. So each year, we&rsquo;d set a milestone. We&rsquo;d communicate with each other to deliver on that promise. And when you do exactly what you say you&rsquo;re going to do, you gain trust. And that gets everyone else on your team on your side, fighting for and backing your vision.&rdquo;

The Schlotzsky&rsquo;s that Roddy has helped to build over the years is one that&rsquo;s now in full growth mode. With more than 350 franchised locations in the U.S. and counting, the company has attracted a record number of franchise inquiries in recent years due to its quality leadership, healthy sales to investment ratio and exceptional company performance.

Now that&rsquo;s a comeback story.

&ldquo;You only need about five seconds of courage to say what you think. Having that courage to try things that nobody else has tried is so vitally important,&rdquo; Roddy said. &ldquo;We all know that change isn&rsquo;t easy. But when you have that audacity and integrity driving what you believe in, change becomes easier. This is an exciting time for Schlotzsky&rsquo;s, and we wouldn&rsquo;t be where we are today if it wasn&rsquo;t for a shared vision that everyone believed was worth fighting for.&rdquo;&nbsp;

How Kelly Roddy Inspired Schlotzsky’s Comeback Story

1851 Franchise

Since becoming president of Schlotzsky’s, Kelly Roddy has successfully led the brand into a nationwide growth spurt.  


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