The sweet taste of consistency

At Heavenly Desserts, Proinsight’s mystery shops have led to innovations that have increased average NPS from xx to xx and are set to boost revenue by £2.3m a year – good news for a franchise looking to ramp up its global expansion.

In 2019, when dessert restaurant franchise Heavenly Desserts had reached 14 locations and was looking to scale, it knew a keen focus on brand values and consistency of the dining experience would be key.

“Customer service is our USP,” explains global operations manager Wesley Williams. “We pride ourselves on our great environments and our great products, but what really sets us apart against a backdrop of quick-service restaurants is that ours are full-service experiences: at-table dining where you’re greeted, hosted and brilliantly looked after.

“We’re relentlessly focused on making memories. Going out for a dessert is a treat – people tend to come to our restaurants to celebrate special occasions – and we want to make it memorable in the best way possible, to encourage return visits.

“We therefore encourage all our franchisees to hire on personality over hospitality experience. If someone is a great human, if you liked them in the interview, if they’re memorable in a positive way, it’s probably a good sign they should be in your business.

“We then allow them to be themselves. We do have a very structured guest journey, from being greeted at the door in a timely manner and with a warm smile to being asked about allergies when first seated at the table, but our team members are empowered to bring their own creativity to the role while meeting those markers.”

‍

Creativity & consistency

It is clear, speaking to Williams, that this creativity is key to the positive memories Heavenly Desserts sets out to inspire – but also that it is the icing on a cake that first requires structure and consistency of recipe.

“When Heavenly Desserts launched in 2008, it was a very entrepreneurial business. However, as our locations reached double digits, we had to think about the image we were projecting as a brand,” says Williams. “If we wanted to be serious about growth, a waffle served in Basildon had to be the same as a waffle served in Birmingham.

“This is why we onboarded mystery visit company Proinsight: to monitor and measure how effective we are at delivering consistency across our brand.”

Consistency in the guest journey is key, but it’s also about the consistent visibility of brand values – respect, collaboration, pride and ambition – through a guest lens, explains Williams: “In addition to scores and detailed feedback, Proinsight provides us with photos from its visits. We can then see for ourselves if pride is being taken in how food is presented, for example, or respect shown in the cleanliness of the toilets.”

‍

Early warning system

Currently spanning 61 locations in the UK, plus one in Germany, one in Pakistan and five in Canada, every Heavenly Desserts restaurant is mystery shopped every month. The focus alternates between dessert one month and the newer brunch offering the next.

During these visits, Proinsight assesses 40 different markers within the customer journey. A ‘yes/no’ on the delivery of each is accompanied with detailed commentary to justify the answers.

“This enables us to identify what’s working well and reinforce those habits, but also to be open about what isn’t working – where there are skill, knowledge or capability gaps,” says Williams. “Our job as a franchisor is to jump on those early warning signals, looking at the tools and resources we have – or need to have – to help fill the gaps for our partners and our teams.”

“Of the 40 points we assess in our mystery shops, some are weighted higher than others,” explains Josie Osborne, client success manager at Proinsight. “The allergen check makes a greater contribution to a restaurant’s overall score than a tick in the xxxxxxxxx box, for example. Table set-up and how quickly drinks arrive are among the other upweighted points.”

She adds: “Over time, weightings may shift to reflect the evolving importance of a particular marker to the business, but any changes to the 40 points themselves are managed sensibly. Franchise partners want to know where they stand. It isn’t fair to keep changing the goalposts.”

The bottom line of each Proinsight report: a total score out of xxx for the restaurant based on the 40-point list, as well as an NPS (Net Promoter Score).

Since the partnership with Proinsight began, average 40-point assessment scores have risen from xxx to xxx and NPS from xx to xx.

‍

Actionable insights

Beyond the headlines, Williams is quick to also highlight a number of specific discoveries that have been of particular value to the business.

“We had a spike in the number of guests complaining about our toilets,” he notes. “Our mystery shops found them to be clean, but crucially identified that teams weren’t doing the sign-offs – the signatures to show when toilets were last checked. It was a confidence issue. We introduced a new standard into the business and lo and behold, complaints reduced.

“Another great learning related to our deliveries. Around two years ago, there were high levels of inaccuracy in deliveries going out through the likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats. We asked Proinsight to mystery shop and map out the whole journey and realised the issues were two-fold: first, the restaurants weren’t paying enough attention to the tablets, deprioritising online orders in favour of in-person guests; and second, the online menu was too large.

“We streamlined our delivery platform menu, reducing it by 30 per cent, and focused on partner education, helping them understand that even though customers weren’t there in-person, we still wanted to create memorable experiences – in a good way!

“In the space of one year, we reduced the frequency of delivery problems from 4.5 per cent of orders to 1.9 per cent, improving not only the guest experience but also our profitability.”

He adds: “A further excellent insight related to our allergen check. We’re so focused on this that we used to ask guests about it at the front door. We were scoring highly on execution, but mystery shopper feedback indicated it felt a bit invasive. We changed our approach and now ask guests when they’re seated at the table, which also enables us to bring the allergens guide straight over. This shows full allergen information for every item on the menu, allowing guests to make an informed decision.

“Getting this right is vital. If someone goes to the local authority with an allergen complaint, we don’t just have a robust process to share. We have a measurable data point embedded in that process and mystery shopper reports to evidence the restaurant’s track record in checking about allergens.”

‍

Revenue response

He continues: “In revenue terms, the most valuable learning so far related to what we call suggestive selling: asking if guests would like to order anything more. Team members felt uncomfortable doing this, with mystery shops indicating it was only happening 27 per cent of the time.

“Rather than pushing a behaviour our teams didn’t enjoy, we decided to think outside of the box, introducing small on-table kiosks that guests can order through at any point. They can even place their initial orders through them if they choose, paying at point of purchase, but we always offer to take orders in-person if guests prefer.

“Suggestive selling is now executed 100 per cent of the time; the team member experience is improved because they don’t have to do it; and by closing the 73 per cent execution gap, we’re on-track to increase revenue by £2.3m a year.

“With between 70 and 90 per cent of all ordering now done through the kiosks, teams are also freed up to spend more time connecting with and looking after our guests.

“The result: in the five months since we began rolling out the kiosks, the average NPS from our mystery shops has risen from 8.5 to 9.5. [Do we have the figures out of 100 as well, as this is how NPS is usually presented?

“Our in-house scoring system, where the scale is -100 to +100, has seen average scores rise from +74 to +82.

“And our average 40-marker assessment score from Proinsight – which covers the general experience, greeting and farewell as well as more practical points such as ordering, delivery, payment and bathrooms – is up 7.4 per cent.

“All since September’s launch of the kiosks.”

‍

Seeing the full story

With the Heavenly Desserts-Proinsight relationship now seven years old, do the mystery shops still bring the same level of value and insight as in the early days?

“Absolutely,” says Williams. “We regularly open new locations and want to do it well, so we mystery shop from day one to identify and quickly address any gaps.

“Mystery shops have also been an important contributor to our successful brunch launch, enabling us to correct course early where new standards weren’t embedding as quickly as we’d hoped: salt and pepper always being on the table, for example.

“When you introduce new ways of working into the business, it’s important to be able to measure them, otherwise you won’t know if they’ve landed.”

He continues: “Working with Proinsight also helps us maintain standards within our existing estate. It’s always a game of push and pull: solving the upsell issue also positively impacted the overall guest experience in a way we weren’t anticipating; other times an action might trigger a further issue we need to address.

“What we are guaranteed of are reliable, qualitative markers and feedback to identify what’s changed, how we can improve further or if we need to reverse a decision.

“Proinsight’s mystery shops are therefore pivotal to our growth. Google reviews only give you a very brief snapshot of what a guest either really loved or really disliked. A mystery visit tells you everything in between.”

‍

Growing with confidence

He enthuses: “Working with Proinsight is so easy. Whatever we ask of them, whichever markets we enter, the response is always: ‘Just tell us where and we’ll sort it.’ They nail it every time.

“As we continue our international expansion, we will likely nuance the visit experience in response to cultural expectations around service. This is something we’ll do slowly but meaningfully in partnership with Proinsight, learning and growing into each market – all the while ensuring core standards are maintained.”

“In the process, we may review the weighting of some of the markers, drawing on learnings from other local Proinsight customers to reflect the priorities of each market,” adds Osborne.

Williams concludes: “Ultimately, the globe doesn’t have a McDonald’s of desserts. Heavenly Desserts will be that brand. Working with Proinsight allows us to drive forward with consistency and confidence.”