FAST FORWARD WINTER 2020
A newsletter from the Association of Taco John’s Franchisees
A New Office Location Means New Faces
By Jim Creel, President/CEO of Taco Johns
Welcome to 2020! I am very excited about where we are as a chain and even more so about where we are going. With the beginning of the new year, I want to provide everyone with some information on our new office in Minnesota. I visited Minneapolis just before Christmas to research office space. With Tami Peterman, our director of field marketing and long-time Minneapolis resident, I toured several potential locations and we have settled on an office building in St. Louis Park. The address is: 1650 West End Boulevard Building 23 South, Suite 100 St. Louis Park, MN 55416 We will officially open the office on March 1, 2020. We know that not all employees who are offered a position in Minneapolis will be able to accept the transfer. However, we are confident that we will fill any open positions quickly in the new location. The departments to be located in the satellite office are: Operations, Training, Restaurant Technology, Marketing,
Menu Innovation, Quality Assurance and Supply Chain. As part of the opening of this satellite office, we are currently recruiting a chief operating officer (COO). This person will oversee this office as well as having primary responsibility for leading the Operations, Training, Franchise Development and Restaurant Technology Departments. We are also currently recruiting a chief marketing officer (CMO) who will be in the satellite office. The CMO will lead the Marketing and Menu Innovation Teams, including Quality Assurance. Bob Karisny and I will be visiting the area again in early February as we look at commercial kitchen space for our test kitchen. I will keep you informed on developments with the opening of this satellite office in 2020. I appreciate the support of the TJI board, the ATJF board and all the franchisees as we work to move our chain forward.
OUR MISSION “To provide our membership an environment for increasing long-term profitability in support of improved business value and brand equity.”
2020 Association Board Elections Confirmed By Jody Schindler, Executive Director
Ending a long run
During the December 2019 ATJF board meeting, the election results for ATJF president and two directors were confirmed. Jeff Brands (IA) was re-elected for a second 3-year term beginning January 2020. Ted Miller (SD and NE) was elected to his initial 3-year term.
Having completed his second 3-year term, Walt Cressman (MN and WI) has retired from the board. Walt started with Taco John’s in 1971, when he was hired as a 15-year-old worker shredding cheese and cutting lettuce for $1.10 per hour. He became a franchisee in 1977, started serving on the Ad Committee in 1978 and served 21 years on that committee. Walt has been elected four times to the board of directors for ATJF, serving three terms as president.
Ted and Jeff will join Mike Sartwell, Jim Atkinson, Aaron Holthaus and Brian Fuder on the ATJF board. To enhance communications between TJI and the franchise community, each director has been assigned a special liaison responsibility as follows:
Walt now leads a partnership group that owns 10 stores. He feels very blessed to have worked with some remarkable people, and his proudest achievement is all the people he has brought into the system who have become franchisees and dear friends.
Jeff Brands
ATJF BOARD OF DIRECTORS Board Member
Title
Support and encouragement from Walt’s wife Gwen and his family have gotten him where he is, giving him the strength and perseverance to fail and get back up again. His faith is a key driving aspect of his core values and he bases his taco motto of “Recruit, train and develop” on the Campus Crusade motto of “Win, build and send” . . .and he has done that well!
Liaison
Jeff Brands
President
Insurance
Brian Fuder
1st VP
Supply Chain
Aaron Holthaus
VP/Secretary
Ops, Construction & Development
Jim Atkinson
VP/Treasurer
Legal, Finance & People/Training
Mike Sartwell
VP
Menu & Technology
Ted Miller
VP
Marketing
We owe Walt much appreciation for his years of service to his fellow franchise owners. Many thanks, Walt!
Tim Gard to Keynote 2020 National Convention You’ll be energized and inspired with this Hall of Fame tears-in-your-eyes, laugh-out-loud keynote speaker who teaches how to be more resilient and inspires employee enthusiasm and creativity.
Tim is an internationally recognized authority on stress reduction and conflict resolution, and his easy-toimplement techniques provide ways to diffuse, deal with, and even avoid intensely stressful encounters. Tim “walks his talk” as a successful business owner himself for more than 20 years. Before starting his business, he worked in the sales industry, as well as state and federal government in human services, as a fraud investigator and is a navy veteran. Recognized as a pioneer in humor-based training, Tim’s downto-earth style and real-life humor leaves a lasting impression that you will benefit from for years to come. His skillful use of ordinary items in extraordinary ways and extraordinary items in everyday ways make him one of the most popular main-stage speakers on the platform today.
Talented, Innovative and Memorable, TIM provides amazing take-home value delivered with his one-of-akind presentation style. Becoming more resilient is not about telling jokes or laughing at everything. Instead of making light of serious issues, Tim shines a light on unseen possibilities for solutions to difficult situations. He demonstrates how to be professional, yet lighthearted throughout all his programs. 2
New Decade Offers New Challenges, Opportunities By Jeff Brands, ATJF President Spa in Palm Springs, California. We invite and encourage each of you to attend. Taco John’s will be discussing their initiatives, including the exciting news of the Minneapolis satellite office. We would also like you to be at our annual ATJF Member Meeting. As a board, we want to be sure we are properly representing your interests. For this year’s meeting, we are working on a format to ensure we are hearing from you and taking note of your concerns. Prior to convention, we will be seeking input from you that we will use as a basis for our discussion at the member meeting. We want to hear from you.
Initiatives put into motion in 2019 are bearing fruit as we begin a new decade. We are a few months into our relationship with our new marketing firm, Barkley US, and have been patiently waiting for the new menu items contained in the Full Up Menu. We are hopeful that the menu roll-out on Jan. 27 is the beginning of an abovenormal trend for sales and transactions growth. 2020 is here… Let’s Go Boldly into it! The Association continues to emphasize with Taco John’s International (TJI) senior management and the TJI board the need for menu innovation, marketing and operations to drive true growth for the chain. Our PSA has increased by only 3.1% in total over the last four years. If menu price increases are removed, we are going backwards. We need true organic growth.
I want to take a moment to welcome Ted Miller as the newest ATJF board member. Ted is a very seasoned veteran of Taco John’s and I know he will represent you well on the board. As we welcome Ted, we also want to say “thank you” to Walt Cressman, who just completed six years on the ATJF board of directors. Walt wore many hats during his term, including ATJF president, and was a vital representative of the ATJF insurance program. If you see Walt, at convention or elsewhere, please take a moment to thank him for his service.
In our last newsletter, I talked about our initiative to work with TJI to establish a “Menu Think Tank” to focus on future menu innovation. The purpose of the Menu Think Tank (MTT) is to generate a constant stream of menu innovation ideas for possible development and testing. I am pleased to report the first meeting of the MTT was held. We are encouraged by the content and discussion generated at the meeting. We will continue to push for menu innovation and progress through the MTT.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the 2020 convention.
The 2019 Q4 Scorecard report was just released by Taco John’s International. The System Average Scores were disappointing. For 2019 Q3, the System Average Score was 2.94 on a 5-point scale. For 2019 Q4, the System Average Score was also a 2.94—no improvement over Q3. In our ATJF Strategic Plan, we stated, “The ATJF board recognizes that to reach the targeted goals stated above will require a focus on operational excellence within our own restaurants and will challenge our peers to seriously evaluate and implement all possible options to achieve operational excellence within all Taco John’s restaurants that we, as franchisees, operate.” So, I am restating that challenge to myself, and to you, to raise our operational bar in 2020. We now have the Scorecard. We have a baseline. Let’s move that score up. Let’s hold each other accountable to uphold our part of the franchise deal. We know great operations will drive sales.
Year End 2019 Operating Profit Study In keeping with our objective to provide this valuable information each year, information about the year-ending 2019 study will be distributed during February. Data will be compiled and a custom report will be provided to each participating restaurant. If you have not yet participated in the Profit Study, we don’t want you to miss out . . .this is really good stuff! Please contact Jody Schindler at jody.a.schindler@gmail.com with any questions.
We are a couple of months away from the 2020 Convention at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort &
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APC/Marketing Update By Brian Fuder, APC Chairman Hello ATJF members…I hope you had a fantastic holiday season and a great start to 2020! Here is a quick update on sales results including what’s ahead from the Ad Production Committee (APC) and Taco John’s marketing.
partner and the transition to Barkley as our marketing agency. Please join me in thanking Alan for his efforts and wishing him the absolute best on his road ahead.
Past promotion results
In September we promoted Street Tacos at a three for $5 price point. This promo included an “upgrade to steak for $1” message to help promote this great product. Street Taco sales averaged 4.4% of sales for the promo. Steak Street Tacos accounted for roughly 2.1% of those sales. Overall transactions and sales for the window finished at -0.9% and 2.1%, respectively.
You’ve likely heard TJI will be opening a satellite office in the Minneapolis area in early 2020. Jim Creel has committed to hiring a Chief Marketing Officer to be based in the new office. Ideally, the CMO will be in place and at the convention in April. Another piece of exciting marketing news, Barkley has been working to identify what products the modern consumer desires from Taco John’s. They’ve done similar studies with other impressive brands such as Cargill and Dairy Queen. TJI has stepped up with a major investment to help identify who our target consumer is and what they want from us.
After the fall Street Taco promotion, we moved into the winter months promoting Stuffed Grilled Tacos. This marked the first year we didn’t feature Nachos as our topline promotion. Nachos Navidad, and the voice of Jose Feliciano, made their traditional appearance in marketing materials as a secondary message. The Stuffed Grilled Taco lineup accounted for 4.8% of sales. Nachos Navidad accounted for 2.6% of sales. The Apple Grande also returned and accounted for 0.7% of sales for the window. Overall, comp transaction and sales for the final window of 2019 were -1.3% and 1.3%, respectively.
Finally, the APC elections were finalized in November. Jeff Bremer from Omaha, Nebraska, and Brett Itterman from Fargo, North Dakota, were elected. The ATJF board also appointed Matthew Keiser from Nashville, Tennessee. The APC held the December meeting in Phoenix, Arizona and elected Jeff Bremer as the 2020 Chairman. Lance Peterson was elected Vice-Chair. Congratulations and thank you for your willingness to serve the franchisee community in these important roles!
Change is in the air
With the new calendar year comes the introduction of several new products. We’re on the doorstep of rolling out the first items in the “future menu” lineup. On Jan. 27, Taco Perfecto makes its restaurant debut. At the same time, Quesadilla Tacos return as a core menu item. By the time we reach Cinco De Mayo, Boss Burritos and Bowls, as well as a new enchilada lineup, will highlight several menu changes designed to appeal to current and future Taco John’s guests. Along with changes to the core menu comes a change in marketing leadership at TJI. VP of Marketing Alan Wright has decided to move home to Tennessee at the end of January. With my role on APC, I’ve worked closely with Alan over the past couple of years. He worked very hard to bring significant change to the brand. Some of these changes include the new persona work, a change to C2 as fulfillment
Next APC meeting
APC will hold its next meeting on March 31 in conjunction with the National Convention in Palm Springs. Please reach out with any questions or comments. The APC directory is included in this newsletter and members want to hear from you!
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COMMITTEE Board Member
Location
Phone
Jeff Bremer, Chair
Omaha, NE
jbremer@quikserve.com
402-850-3138
Lance Peterson
Mankato, MN
lancep@midco.net
507-236-4061
Matthew Keiser
Franklin, TN
keiser.matthew@gmail.com
615-663-7288
Ted Miller
Sioux Falls, SD
tedkmiller@gmail.com
605-728-6616
Brett Itterman
Fargo, ND
bitterman@pentexrg.com
605-228-8468
Aaron Schommer
Bismark, ND
aaron.tjohns@gmail.com
701-426-0948
Jim Atkinson
Owatonna, MN
jimatkinson58@gmail.com
507-390-0466
Dave Rosno
Beatrice, NE
tacodave2007@gmail.com
308-830-8003
Robin Dallman
Cody, WY
rtj_tacojohns@msn.com
307-587-4155
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2020 Taco John’s National Convention April 1-4 Register and make hotel reservations before the Feb. 24th cutoff by visiting www.atjf.net. We look forward to seeing you in Palm Springs! • Major Updates & Information • Current & Future Initiatives Announced • Franchisee Interaction – Best Practices • Big Vendor Show • Awards & Franchisee Recognition • Entertainment, Great Food & Fun
Association Directory These franchisees serve on various boards and strive to represent your interests. Call them with your questions, comments and concerns.
They want to hear from you!
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COMMITTEE (APC) Board Member
Location
Phone
Jeff Bremer, Chair
Omaha, NE
jbremer@quikserve.com
402-850-3138
Lance Peterson
Mankato, MN
lancep@midco.net
507-236-4061
Matthew Keiser
Franklin, TN
keiser.matthew@gmail.com
615-663-7288
Ted Miller
Sioux Falls, SD
tedkmiller@gmail.com
605-728-6616
Brett Itterman
Fargo, ND
bitterman@pentexrg.com
605-228-8468
Aaron Schommer
Bismark, ND
aaron.tjohns@gmail.com
701-426-0948
Jim Atkinson
Owatonna, MN
jimatkinson58@gmail.com
507-390-0466
Dave Rosno
Beatrice, NE
tacodave2007@gmail.com
308-830-8003
Robin Dallman
Cody, WY
rtj_tacojohns@msn.com
307-587-4155
ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Board Member
Titles
Liaison
Phone
Jeff Brands
President
Insurance
jbrands@tjiowa.com
605-351-3500
Brian Fuder
1st VP
Supply Chain
brian@echosinc.com
218-770-1659
Aaron Holthaus
VP/Secretary
Operations, Construction & Development
ahaus26@gmail.com
763-482-0340
Jim Atkinson
VP/Treasurer
Legal, Finance & People/Training
jimatkinson58@gmail.com
507-390-0466
Mike Sartwell
VP
Menu & Technology
mikesartwell@gmail.com
701-340-2312
Ted Miller
VP
Marketing
tedkmiller@gmail.com
605-728-6616
Jody Schindler
Executive Director
jody.a.schindler@gmail.com
952-250-3121
To learn more about Association membership or committee or Board participation, contact any member of the Board of Directors or the Association office by phone at 952-250-3121 or by email to jody.a.schindler@gmail.com. 5