How Operations and Facilities Drive Brand Performance
If you run a multi-location brand in the retail, restaurant, grocery, convenience, banking, or wellness industries, you know that great customer experiences are a competitive advantage. This show is for leaders in operations, facilities, sourcing, procurement, construction, and finance – to find out how to accelerate that advantage and drive revenue.
ServiceChannel
Hear from the world’s top professionals across industries about how they’re rising to the challenges of the emerging customer experience era. You’ll get key takeaways about the technology, cultural principles, and operational best practices that drive brand loyalty and grow revenue.
As Chief Business Development Officer, Sid Shetty drives growth and brand awareness, and works to strengthen overall market position. Throughout his 14-years with ServiceChannel, Shetty has held leadership positions in operations, business intelligence, global services, and marketplace strategy.
Known as an industry thought leader with deep relationships across brands, Shetty serves on ConnexFM’s board of directors and has spoken at events such as RFMA, NFMT, IFMA, SPECS, and MURTEC. Prior to joining ServiceChannel, Shetty was the director of engineering and facilities at Steve and Barry’s.
With Sanjay Jain, Chairman of the National DCP Board of Directors
Sanjay discusses the value of enterprise risk management, compliance, and consistency. He also shares how to run a successful franchise by following brand processes and adjusting to the shift towards digital, loyalty-driven operations.
With Richard Leurig, President of Accruent
Richard and Sid discuss the balance between advancing technology and addressing current business needs, including the importance of AI in adding to human capital. Richard describes his vision for the future: one that’s approaching faster than we think.
With Mike Gray, President of Rumble Boxing and Former President of Club Pilates
It can be hard to establish reliable culture and community in a standardized physical environment. Mike Gray describes how he does so across his franchises, and what makes for good franchise management.
With Dave Tarantelli, VP of Systems at Citizens
Dave discusses how to get company leadership to invest in facilities, and how to leverage data to ensure excellence across locations.
With Brian Nay, Director of Field Services at RaceTrac
Brian describes how Racetrac has evolved to fill the needs of the modern consumer. He and Sid discuss the importance of technology in maintaining operational efficiency, and how to deliver a consistent customer experience.
With Bill Yanek, CEO of ConnexFM
Bill discusses the rise of smart facilities, the importance of expanding your network, and why the retail apocalypse isn’t as close as everyone says it is.
With Wing Lam, Co-Founder and Owner of Wahoo’s Fish Taco
Wing describes his own genuine, unique, and effective way of standing out while building his brand.
With Myriah Kingen, Director of Facilities Management at Tractor Supply Co.
Myriah explains the critical role of collaboration, innovation, and adaptation in overcoming industry challenges. She emphasizes the value of integration and partnership, as well as understanding the well-educated consumer of the future.
With Tom McGee, President and CEO of ICSC
Tom discusses the retail industry’s adaptability to changes like the rise of e-commerce, but notes that a major challenge is the lack of supply to meet the demand for retail space.
With Anjee Solanki, Head of US Retail at Colliers
Anjee shares insights from Colliers’ consumer studies, and highlights the importance of integrating online and offline shopping experiences in order to cater to modern consumer preferences.
With Wade Allen, EVP of Strategic Growth at Costa Vida
Wade discusses the importance of seamless integration between physical and digital experiences. He describes a future where tech enhances operational efficiency, while preserving the people-first nature of hospitality.
This year, ServiceChannel commemorates its 25th anniversary. To celebrate, we’ve put together 25 of the most interesting tips for facilities transformation from some of our guests over the past three seasons.
With Frankie Costa, CEO of Helios Service Partners
Frankie dives into the shifting landscape of the trades; from business transformation to talent management to new technology. He also shares how promoting trades as an important employment opportunity can have a massive impact.
With Jackie Aubel, host of “Toolbox for the Trades” podcast
Jackie discusses the often-overlooked value of contractors, as well as the PR challenges facing the facilities industry. It’s critical to emphasize the importance of trades, and to attract talent with not only wages, but top-notch company culture.
With Caitlin Wischermann Ornitz, VP Strategy at Champagne Hospitality
Caitlin describes how the hospitality industry can innovate for the guest of the future. Her insight on building true connections between locations, guests, and locals contains wisdom for leaders in all consumer-facing industries.
With Doug Donovan, CEO and Founder of Interplay Learning
Brands everywhere are struggling to compete due to a shortage of skilled workers. Doug discusses how to make skills and trade training more accessible to address this monumental, cross-industry challenge.
With Allison Turner, SVP of Real Estate and Development at Bond Vet
Allison talks about why loyalty looks like hospitality, the importance of beautiful spaces in retail healthcare, and how to achieve brand consistency across your locations.
With Joshua Witte, Director of Energy, Sustainability, and ESG at Dollar Tree Stores
Josh discusses how brands are now expected to adopt the principles of their customers, and why that is driving leading companies to invest in technology to drive sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Elevating Brick and Mortar Season 2 Recap
Let’s look back on Season 2 of Elevating Brick and Mortar, where guests had plenty to say about upcoming tech advancements that elevate the customer experience.
With Leigh Pearson, Sr. Director of Facilities, Sustainability, Sourcing, & Procurement at Staples Canada
In this episode, Leigh explains how to make a meaningful impact through sustainability and energy efficiency. She also describes how authenticity and empathy align with professional success.
With Mark Warren, Vice President of Facilities, Real Estate & Development at KinderCare Education
Mark describes the importance of a well-maintained brick and mortar to establish trust with his clients–parents of young children.
With Mike Guinan, Vice President Operations Services at White Castle
Mike discusses how White Castle is bringing robots, AI and tech into the kitchen to revolutionize the restaurant industry. He describes how the business makes quality food that meets or exceeds expectations, with greater efficiency.
With Marco Zanardi, President of Retail Institute Italy
In this episode, Marco Zanardi, President of Retail Institute Italy, explains how to keep your audience’s attention, how to match your company’s values to those of your customers, and what trends are emerging in the retail space.
With John Ludlow, VP of Omni Operations at Designer Brands
In this episode John discusses investing in your physical footprint, the importance of aligning your physical and digital experiences, and how Designer Brands is driving customer loyalty.
With Deena McKinley, Chief Experience Officer at Papa Gino’s Pizza and D’Angelo’s Grilled Sandwiches
Deena discusses the rise of the role of Chief Experience Officer, leveraging automation to empower employees, and how the brand experience should begin internally.
With Kirk Beaudoin, Award-Winning Facilities Leader
Kirk discusses the importance of following the golden rule within the industry, why it’s important to offer the best service for the best price, and why those working in facilities are heroes without capes.
With Morgan Seghin, Facilities Manager for Swarovski
Swarovski creates beautiful crystal-based products of impeccable quality and craftsmanship that bring joy and celebrate individuality. Today this legacy is rooted in sustainability measures across the value chain, with an emphasis on circular innovation, championing diversity, inclusion and self-expression, and in the philanthropic work of the Swarovski Foundation, which supports charitable organizations bringing positive environmental and social impact.
With Jamie Goldberg, Vice President of Real Estate and Development at One Medical
One Medical relies on people-centered design, smart application of technology, and a team of talented primary care providers to offer a seamless experience that not only saves patients time and money but also leads to better health and happier lives.
With Chris Walton, Co-CEO of Omni Talk
Chris Walton co-founded retail blog, Omni Talk in 2017 and has quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. Omni Talk has been read by nearly 4 million on Forbes, with podcasts and videos that consistently rank as some of the most listened to within the industry.
With David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer of Capriotti’s and Wing Zone
Since 1976, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop has built a name for itself by offering fanatically delicious sandwiches made with high-quality ingredients that have inspired customers and franchisees alike. And Wing Zone is one of the nation’s fastest-growing takeout/delivery chains — known for its award-winning flavors of fresh, cooked-to-order chicken wings, tenders, and fries.
With Jim Donnelly, Founder and CEO at Restore Hyper Wellness
Making wellness affordable and accessible to everyone has become Jim Donnelly’s life mission and is the driving mindset behind everything his team does at Restore Hyper Wellness. In just five years, Restore has been able to grow from one Austin location to more than 100 locations spanning 28 states, and there are many more on the way.
With Kenneth Jones, Director of Facilities at Heartland Dental
In this episode, Kenneth Jones, Director of Facilities at Heartland Dental, discusses tackling supply chain shortages, prioritizing the patient experience, and how he and his team are optimizing medtail.
With Kara Cutino, Vice President of Store Development, Store Corporate Facilities, Strategic Procurement and Asset Protection at Ascena
From the outside, facilities can often seem shrouded in mystery. Our guest today knows how important it is illuminate, collaborate, and celebrate the work that’s being done in the brick and mortar space.
This episode features an interview with Kara Cutino, Vice President, Store Development, Facilities Services, Asset Protection & Store Purchasing at ascena. ascena is a leading national specialty retailer offering apparel, shoes, and accessories for women through brands like brands Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lou & Grey, and Lane Bryant.
In this episode, Kara discusses the behind-the-scenes strategies in facilities, the importance of trusting your team to fail, and how to provide a beautiful client experience.
With Jim Owens, Chief Growth Officer at SDI
Three years ago the average person might’ve had to Google what supply chain means. Today, most people are familiar with the term and we’re dealing with mainstream supply chain challenges that affect us all. Today’s guest is sharing how to overcome them.
This episode features an interview with Jim Owens, Chief Growth Officer at SDI. SDI is the supply chain solutions and services company that specializes in helping large, multi-site facilities and plant maintenance leaders to reduce costs and risk while driving overall performance results and outcomes.
On today’s episode Jim joins us to discuss leveraging competitive advantage, why technology is no longer a nice-to-have in supply chain solutions, and the importance of levelsetting what you can and cannot control in an unpredictable supply chain landscape.
With Mark Landini, Creative Director at Landini Associates
There once was a time when the brick and mortar retail space served as more than just a place to buy goods, but as an opportunity for community to flourish. Our guest today designs with that in mind.
This episode features an interview with Mark Landini, Creative Director at Landini Associates. Landini Associates designs places for people. Based in Sydney, working globally, they are a design and brand consultancy specializing in the creation of profitable retail and hospitality formats for their global clients all over the world.
On today’s episode Mark joins us to discuss how design in the retail space is ideally invisible, the impact of design on human behavior, and the importance of “the barbecue test”.
On this season of the podcast we’ve talked to some of the brightest minds and key voices in facilities management. One theme that ran through almost every episode was the supply chain disruption and labor shortages we’re facing in a post-pandemic world. On this episode, we wanted to revisit this topic and recap some insights on how our guests are handling these challenges.
With David Schalenbourg, Technical Director, Delhaize Technics
What if the customer experience went beyond just the grocery store, and actually led to a better planet for us all? Our guest today is on a global mission to do just that.
This episode features an interview with David Schalenbourg, Technical Director with Delhaize Technics .Standing at the forefront of sustainable retailing, Delhaize is one of the world’s largest food retail groups and a leader in supermarkets and e-commerce.
On today’s episode David Schalenbourg joins us to talk about how facilities can play a crucial role in helping the environment, the cross-section between the customer experience and building responsibly, and how he plans to reduce carbon emissions completely within his organization by 2030.
With Bashir Abdallah, VP of Product at ServiceChannel
Fostering cross functional relationships is crucial for successful facilities management. Our guest today understands that more than anyone.
This episode features an interview with Bashir Abdallah, VP of Product at ServiceChannel. ServiceChannel helps multi-site commercial and enterprise brands deliver the best possible guest and employee experiences.
Bashir Abdallah joins us to talk about how he ended up in facilities management, why facilities deserves more credit and resources, and how the industry has evolved and where it’s going.
With Jaclyn Frenzel, President at OnSite
This episode features an interview with Jaclyn Frenzel, President at OnSite, a facility maintenance company that utilizes a cloud-based approach to achieve cost-reducing, effective solutions for multi-site facility service needs. With over 13 years at the company, two years as President, Jaclyn’s priority lies in building an efficient organization staffed with business development, sales, marketing, and support professionals. Her notable achievements include directing strategic marketing campaigns, mobilizing operations teams and facilities program deployment. On this episode, Jaclyn delves deep into what brands find most important when it comes to facilities management, the importance of bringing diversity to the table in any business scenario, and how to best attract and retain talent in a post-pandemic world.
With Tom Sansoucy VP, Facilities, EG America
What’s one of the most effective ways to take care of your customer? Taking care of your facilities team. Our guest today is an authority on how to do just that.
This episode features an interview with Tom Sansoucy, VP of Facilities at EG Group America. EG Group is the fifth largest C-store network in the country. Brands in the EG Group Family consist of Cumberland Farms, Certified, Fastrac, Kwikshop, and Loaf ‘n Jug. Prior to the acquisition by EG Group, Tom was the Director of Facilities Support at Cumberland Farms. Before that, Tom served as the Director of Client Services at ServiceChannel. He began his career as a petroleum service technician.
On this episode, Tom discusses the importance of taking care of your technicians, creating both convenience and value for travelers. Plus, how he balances working hard with working smart.
With RJ Zanes, Senior Director, Facilities Maintenance at Sam’s Club
Taking great care of an asset fleet is a direct way to drive customer loyalty. This episode features an interview with RJ Zanes, Senior Director of Facilities Maintenance at Sam’s Club. Prior to Sam’s Club, RJ held operations roles at JLL, Daifuku, JBT Aerotech. On this episode, RJ discusses maintaining a billion dollar asset fleet, how he drives accountability through quality assurance, and why his number one goal is providing member delight.
With Chris Lampien, Operations Manager at Lampien Mechanical Services
This episode features an interview with Chris Lampien, Operations Manager at Lampien Mechanical Services in Atlanta, Georgia. 6 years ago, Chris took over the reins of the family business from his father. On this episode, Chris discusses the talent shortages he and other service provider businesses face, how to offer your clients the best customer experience, and the technical advances service providers must keep up with.
With Garrick Brown, Director of Advisory Services and Business Development at Lockehouse Retail Group
This episode features an interview with Garrick Brown, Director of Advisory Services and Business Development at Lockehouse Retail Group. Garrick is one of the United States’ leading retail real estate analysts. On this episode, Garrick discusses why he thinks the retail apocalypse is over, how retail has grown into a hospitality business, and why consumer expectations are higher than ever.
With Nick Ammaturo, Head of Indirect Procurement at Subway
This episode features an interview with Nick Ammaturo, Head of Indirect Procurement at Subway. Subway is a $17B+ privately-held business with over 40,000+ restaurants located in more than 100 countries. Nick joins us to talk about why he feels facilities deserves more attention, how the pandemic changed the way consumers interact with physical spaces, and why data will lead the industry into its future.
Roger Goldstein, Executive Director of Facilities and Energy at Panda Restaurant Group
This episode features an interview with Roger Goldstein, Executive Director of Facilities and Energy at Panda Restaurant Group. Roger directs facilities for more than 2,200 stores across the US.
On this episode, Roger joins us to talk about how he invests in experiences, accomplishes what Panda calls “ambience with pride,” and how facilities innovates together with operations.
