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Success is no mystery for this customer-driven company
Every day this sign stares down at Bill Backstrom:
"This is a model restaurant, Golden Corral. Any comments or questions, call Eric Holm, 407-539-1998."
Backstrom is associate manager at Golden Corral on International Drive in Orlando, Fla. Holm is his boss. Is it intimidating to have customers or employees calling your boss directly with comments or complaints?
Not to Backstrom. To him that wooden plaque is proof of his company's commitment to customer satisfaction. The sign is prominent in all Golden Corral restaurants in Orlando, owned by Metro Corral Partners, a franchisee of the Golden Corral Corp.
"That's Eric's home number," Backstrom says.
"He's put his name on every store."
Maybe it's the sign. Maybe it's the bus tours. More likely it's Eric Holm's focus on innovation and customer service and Doug Dannen's great locations.
Whatever the formula, it's working. Metro Corral Partners was named 1997 Franchisee of the Year by the Golden Corral Corp., one of the country's fastestgrowing family restaurant chains.
At Golden Corral's corporate headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., Larry Tate, vice president of franchising, shakes his head in amazement: "Can you believe it? Their store on International Drive increased by $ 1 million in sales in one year. That's incredible."
It was that kind of performance that earned Holm and Dannen the corporation's top award based on annual sales increase, percent of dollar increase and feedback from mystery shopper programs.
But to Shelly McCormick, Metro Corral's director of operations, there's no mystery attached to the company's success. "We're customer-driven," she says. "If we're not 100-percent perfect all the time, we want to know. That's why that sign is there."
For the 440-unit buffet-style Golden Corral chain, Metro Corral Partners is everything a parent could want. The franchise operates six Golden Corral restaurants in the Orlando area. A seventh is scheduled to open in Altamonte Springs, Fla., in February.
"Eric and Doug are a really great team," says Ted M. Fowler Jr., president and chief executive of Golden Corral. "Doug is very accomplished in real estate. Eric is an excellent promoter and marketer. He's very enthusiastic and wants things done right."
They're certainly doing something right at the Golden Corral restaurant on International Drive....