In this episode of Give an Ovation, we welcome Jennifer Dodd, CEO of Main Squeeze Juice Co., a seasoned restaurant executive with 30 years of experience spanning QSR, casual dining, polished casual, and franchising. Jennifer shares her insights on people-first leadership, employee engagement, and how technology can enhance, not replace, hospitality.

Zack and Jennifer discuss:

Hospitality is Always a People Business (00:01:04)

“At the end of the day, we are serving a need to people who are coming in to dine, have a meal, have an experience, and you can’t lose track of that.” – Jennifer Dodd

Jennifer emphasizes that hospitality goes beyond food—it’s about nourishing both the body and soul. Restaurants must focus on creating meaningful experiences that resonate with guests.

The Importance of Employee Engagement (00:05:23)

“We cannot have a transactional relationship with our staff. The most important thing we have to do every day is look at how we’re treating the people that serve the needs of the brand.” – Jennifer Dodd

Jennifer believes that happy employees create happy guests. By empowering and valuing staff, restaurant leaders can foster trust, autonomy, and a positive work environment that directly impacts the guest experience.

Technology as a Guest Experience Enhancer (00:08:50)

“We can’t remove the human element from hospitality, but we can enhance it with technology.” – Jennifer Dodd

Jennifer shares how Main Squeeze Juice Co. is leveraging technology to streamline operations while keeping the guest experience personal. From frictionless mobile ordering to a new digital engagement initiative, technology plays a vital role in supporting both employees and guests.

Hiring the Right People (00:03:18)

“We love Landed. It helps us find team members that truly align with our brand’s mission and culture.” – Jennifer Dodd

Jennifer highlights how AI-driven hiring platforms like Landed help identify the right employees, ensuring cultural alignment and long-term success.

Franchise Success Through Purpose-Driven Growth (00:12:34)

“We are franchising with purpose, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow while staying true to our brand’s mission.” – Jennifer Dodd

Jennifer discusses Main Squeeze Juice Co.’s expansion strategy, focusing on empowering franchise owners with strong operational systems and a supportive brand culture.

Who Deserves an Ovation? (00:14:15)

Jennifer gives a special shoutout to Giving Kitchen, founded by Jen Hidinger-Kendrick, for its incredible work in supporting hospitality professionals in need.

Follow Jennifer Dodd:

🔗 LinkedIn: Jennifer Dodd

🔗 Company: Main Squeeze Juice Co.

🔗 Franchising Info: Main Squeeze Juice Co. Franchising

Tune in to learn how Jennifer’s people-first approach, leadership philosophy, and focus on innovation are shaping the future of hospitality.

Thanks, Jennifer!

Transcript

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:21:24

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give Innovation, the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast, where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five star guest experience. This podcast is sponsored by ovation, an operations and guest recovery platform for multi-unit restaurants that gives all the answers without annoying guests with all the questions.

00:00:21:25 – 00:00:42:19

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation. Up.com. And today we have a 30 year restaurant executive QSR. She’s done casual. Casual. Dining. Polished. Casual. She’s franchising. She’s currently the CEO of Main Squeeze Juice Co. Please welcome to the show Jennifer Dodd. Welcome. How are you Jennifer?

00:00:42:20 – 00:00:44:27

Jennifer Dodd

Thanks, Zach. I’m excited to be here.

00:00:44:27 – 00:01:04:13

Zack Oates

And we had such a fun time meeting you in Vegas and was just so impressed with all of the things that you’ve done in your career, and you’ve got such a great career, and I’d love to just hear someone who’s getting into restaurant leadership at this point. What advice would you have for them? What advice do you wish you would have given yourself 30 years ago when you were starting out?

00:01:04:15 – 00:01:34:10

Jennifer Dodd

I’d say a couple of things. First of all, it is always a people business. It always will be. You know, at the end of the day, we are serving a need to people who are coming in to dine, have a meal, have an experience and you can’t lose track of that. Whether we deliver that with the support of technology, which I’m grateful for, whatever the environment, if it’s QSR, fast casual, polished or even contract food service, at the end of the day, it’s a human element that we’re serving.

00:01:34:13 – 00:01:55:19

Jennifer Dodd

And I actually go a little further than that to remember that we’re feeding not only the body, but we’re also nursing the soul. I learned that at an early age is what drew me into this business, because I noticed that when people order their food, they’re very precise. And that’s gotten more precise over the years. Right? Because we now can customize literally everything.

00:01:55:19 – 00:01:58:07

Zack Oates

Guilty.

00:01:58:09 – 00:02:15:20

Jennifer Dodd

And I think that started with the have it your way movement. But at the end of the day, the people are very precise. And so when you keep that order right, and you watch the customer sit down, or you walk by the table and you see them take that first drink or that first bite, they go through what I call metamorphosis.

00:02:15:20 – 00:02:34:18

Jennifer Dodd

And I don’t think most people realize it. They take a deep breath, their shoulders drop and their forehead softens if we got it right. So that’s really important that it meet their expectations. And it is a people business. And I just think that that’s the best part of the job because I love people.

00:02:34:21 – 00:02:51:03

Zack Oates

That is so interesting. I mean, like these little things are these little clues that you pick up along the way. And the problem is, isn’t that so hard to train teams to get that leg, to pick up on those little subtleties that you understand?

00:02:51:06 – 00:03:18:24

Jennifer Dodd

Yes, it can be, particularly in today’s environment when staffing is at an all time war. I think there are great technology services that are helping with that. I’ll give a little shout out to landed. We really believe in landed. We love it. We’ve supported that system for our franchise owners to use, because it does use AI to help you work with the talent pool, to try to narrow that down to a fit for your organizational culture.

00:03:18:27 – 00:03:46:03

Jennifer Dodd

And I think that’s important. And we’ve seen real success with that model. But again, it’s a people business. So the owner or the franchise owner, the ops leader, the manager has to spend time really walking through that hiring and that decision making process, as well as the onboarding to ensure that you help people line up with your mission and with your values for your organization, because they’re going to be front facing, facing your customer every day.

00:03:46:06 – 00:04:03:00

Zack Oates

And that’s something that I feel we often forget about is if someone goes into a restaurant and the server is not polite to them, they don’t think, wow, Jennifer is rude. They think, wow, main squeeze juice is a bad brand, right? It is the true nature you surely know.

00:04:03:00 – 00:04:03:24

Jennifer Dodd

No, we’re good.

00:04:03:24 – 00:04:28:05

Zack Oates

We’re well hybrid, right? If if you know in some alternate universe. Right. You know, I was just talking with someone who has Bobby Flay’s burgers, and they have someone that comes out into the lobby and they call them brand ambassadors. And really, isn’t that what everyone is from the person making the juice to the person taking the order, to the person giving the order?

00:04:28:11 – 00:04:41:12

Zack Oates

They’re all brand ambassadors, making an impression of how that brand is. And so remembering about who you’re hiring and how you’re training them is so critical to the branding of your restaurant.

00:04:41:12 – 00:05:04:08

Jennifer Dodd

Yes, but it’s also how you’re treating them. Are you as the owner or is the leader being a brand ambassador for your team? Yeah. So it’s I believe we have internal and external customers. You can only put out what you are giving back. So at the end of the day, if we are creating an environment where all people win, then certainly we’re talking about our mission and values, but we’re also living it.

00:05:04:08 – 00:05:23:13

Jennifer Dodd

It’s not just a placard on the wall. We are embracing the culture that we’re trying to invite. So when you cross that threshold of our door, whether you’re the employee coming to work that day, the manager, or whether you’re that customer, it should feel like the same experience. And that’s important. I think a lot of people really miss that.

00:05:23:15 – 00:05:42:18

Jennifer Dodd

I do a lot of public speaking, and one of my favorite things to talk about is this tragedy of employee engagement, that set of all time low. And Gallup says in the low 20% number. And I think that the reason why that happens is because we cannot have a transactional relationship with our staff. In many cases, we do.

00:05:42:18 – 00:06:05:14

Jennifer Dodd

We’re busy, we’re entrepreneurs. We feel like we have so much to do every day. But the most important thing we have to do during that day is look for how we’re treating the people that serve the needs of the brand, whether they’re running the equipment or they’re the front facing staff. Because if we treat them like the genie in the bottle where we’re saying, okay, poof, I need this wish, poof, I need this wish, that gets really exhausting.

00:06:05:14 – 00:06:17:10

Jennifer Dodd

It’s like, okay, I’m going to go back in this bottle and wait for my next command. No, it’s releasing the employees, the staff, the partners is what they are in the culture that we’re delivering to our guests.

00:06:17:12 – 00:06:54:17

Zack Oates

That is so powerful. I love that and I love the focus on people because you’re obviously a people person, and to care about people, I think is one of the most important human attributes, not just for success in business, but in life, in social, with friends, with meeting people. Like if you can care about people and realize one of the things I like to do, and this is kind of taking a weird turn, but I like to imagine that at some point that person was a toddler and was getting cuddled by their mom or their dad, and it’s like, no matter what the situation is, if you could imagine that person just being that little,

00:06:54:19 – 00:07:10:02

Zack Oates

innocent, perfect little two year old not throwing a tantrum, those are just the most cuddly, loving beings on the earth. And it’s always fun, especially if you’re frustrated at someone just to imagine that and imagine that.

00:07:10:02 – 00:07:14:01

Jennifer Dodd

I want a high five of you right now. Exactly where you look at it.

00:07:14:03 – 00:07:25:13

Zack Oates

So okay, now let’s talk a little bit more. We’re talking upstream about the guest experience or the employee experience. Let’s bring that downstream a little bit. What do you think are some of the most important aspects of guest experience nowadays?

00:07:25:15 – 00:07:51:03

Jennifer Dodd

I certainly think meeting expectations again, but also technology is super important. Having the right tech stack so that the customer can engage with you in a way that meets their needs. I have some fans, or I’m a fan of some brands who were early adopters of that. An example would be Starbucks. I mean, I am and I have been an avid Starbucks fans is 95, and so I am certainly that person that only uses the app.

00:07:51:04 – 00:08:19:27

Jennifer Dodd

At the end of the day, I pretty much or the same thing love that. I don’t have any friction. It’s frictionless is, you know, I don’t have to worry about any payments. It’s all loaded. I have my reward system in there. They know me, they get me and my husband is quite the opposite. He also enjoys Starbucks, but he wants to get in the line, have the conversation, maybe choose a different approach each time for his or so technology that supports the span of what the customer needs is important.

00:08:19:27 – 00:08:40:10

Jennifer Dodd

And we certainly have a great tech stack at Main Squeeze Juice go from our app to our our reward system. It’s awesome. And that’s important that we’re constantly evolving as a brand and as an organization to meet the needs of the consumer. Today, I think that also helps your staff because then they start out in a positive place with the guest.

00:08:40:13 – 00:08:50:03

Jennifer Dodd

You kind of already know what the guest needs are, at least at that first level from an ordering standpoint. And then you can navigate it from there along the way.

00:08:50:05 – 00:09:15:21

Zack Oates

Amen. I love that, and I think that especially when you start with people first, technology then becomes something that enhances the experience because you can’t take the humans out of hospitality, but you can enhance you can give them superpowers with technology. So they could do their job better and focus on the people first. Now, what are some tactics that you’ve used to improve the guest experience?

00:09:15:24 – 00:09:31:29

Jennifer Dodd

We have some that are fresh coming out of the box that I won’t give too much detail on, but you know, one of the things we’re very proud of it main Squeeze Juice Co seriously, it’s a good answer to your question. It’s not just a brand. You know billboard here I’m giving but our juice is cold pressed fresh squeezed.

00:09:32:02 – 00:09:54:24

Jennifer Dodd

It has no HP, no high pressure, no pasteurization. So the product that goes into that juice are really giving you that nutritional punch, that great benefit that you need. Well, that’s quite a big difference compared to HP juices on most grocery shelves or even in some of our competitor restaurants. It’s not that you don’t get something from those juices, but it’s quite a different spectrum.

00:09:54:27 – 00:10:19:09

Jennifer Dodd

So it’s imperative that we explain that to the guests in our environment. We must walk them through that journey. And we have many levels of customers that are advocates of range greens. Some of them are on a specific journey, like reclaiming health, targeting a specific thing. Again, all the more reason we need someone to explain what’s in this bottle, why you choose it, and how it benefits you.

00:10:19:11 – 00:10:41:28

Jennifer Dodd

So we’re leveraging a new technology that we’re about to roll in the next six months. We’re testing it here soon. It’s actually going to stand in the place of supporting our great employees who are doing that, because sometimes the employee needs more time explaining that when they’re also called to go make our handcrafted smoothies that are no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no water, they need to do that too.

00:10:41:28 – 00:11:01:15

Jennifer Dodd

And they work the drive through. So we have to have a technology piece that helps us bridge that gap. And we’re going to test that very soon. And like I said, expect to scale that in the next six months after we work out some tweaks and that’ll be a new solution. So I think for companies and brands just always need to be thinking about what problem and mind needing to solve.

00:11:01:15 – 00:11:14:00

Jennifer Dodd

Today. I can’t remove the human element on either the customer side or the employee side. So what can I do to build the bridge with proper tech as efficient and affordable and really as a solution?

00:11:14:03 – 00:11:26:08

Zack Oates

I think that’s so powerful. And when you’re evaluating technology, what are some of the questions that you’re asking to know? Should we do this? Should we not like as you’re piloting this new technology, what’s going to be the deciding factor for you.

00:11:26:11 – 00:11:52:25

Jennifer Dodd

Pre and post survey of those customer your internal customer employees and your external customer. Right. That’s important. So what was your experience like at Main Squeeze use a four year old is tech now we’re testing it now. What’s your experience after I think some people get too excited about the solution itself and forget that again, human element because they’re going to be talking points.

00:11:52:25 – 00:12:14:20

Jennifer Dodd

What are they? And obviously it’s hard to hit 100% most of the time. But we can get close if we just make minor tweaks. So that’s important. Affordability, of course, and the return on the investment always has to be considered short and long term, because our franchise owners are certainly the heroes of capitalism, and we want them to feel good about the solution.

00:12:14:26 – 00:12:34:28

Jennifer Dodd

And then what is the problem it’s trying to solve? When you integrate tech and is it doing that? So in our case, we’re trying to solve multiple things through this piece that I’m talking about that we’re going to role the customer journey, the customer experience. And so that’ll be very much a qualitative and quantitative ability to track that.

00:12:34:28 – 00:12:54:27

Jennifer Dodd

But also speed of service is important because if I’m bogged down with me, who might need more time, want more time to walk through the juices, whether I might impact speed of service negatively, and then the employee experience. So we relieving their load by having a technology piece that can support them delivering their task and feel good about it.

00:12:55:03 – 00:13:12:18

Jennifer Dodd

It’s important that the tools support the employees job to get a big green checkmark at the end of the day that says, hey, I did a good job today and I’m that. My goals and I think oftentimes we forget about that matters to the employee, too. They don’t want to go home frustrated and come in the next day to do it again.

00:13:12:18 – 00:13:17:26

Jennifer Dodd

They want to leave feeling good about themselves and hopefully our solutions support all of that.

00:13:17:29 – 00:13:49:20

Zack Oates

That’s such a great way to put it. And just this common thread of everything we’re talking about boiling back to people. I would just encourage anyone listening, whether you’ve got a restaurant or a technology or whatever, it’s like, think about how can we help people feel more important that work with us, because the more important they feel, the more empowered they feel and the better we do of giving them direction on the principles of what they’re supposed to do to be good brand ambassadors.

00:13:49:23 – 00:14:09:03

Zack Oates

The better the guest experience, the better the business. And I think that you’re just such a great living reminder of the fact that, yes, it’s about people first and you just exude that. And I love that. Now, Jennifer, you have had such a great career and I would encourage everyone to go check out her LinkedIn, because it’s just so fun to read through all the things that you’ve done well.

00:14:09:04 – 00:14:15:09

Zack Oates

Who’s someone that deserves an ovation? Who’s someone that you feel like has been doing cool things that we should be following.

00:14:15:16 – 00:14:29:14

Jennifer Dodd

At the top of my list, particularly the state of the world today in such challenging times, is Jen Hidinger-Kendrick, who is the founder and spokesperson  for Giving Kitchen.

00:14:29:14 – 00:14:30:06

Zack Oates

Oh my gosh.

00:14:30:07 – 00:14:55:13

Jennifer Dodd

I mean, there’s nobody better. And when you think about just in the last few months, what we’ve experienced with obviously the tragedy in New Orleans, with the attacks that happened on New Year’s Eve and then the fires in California, and how much that’s affecting so many lives. Asheville and the floods, those are all beautiful hospitality cities where food service and hospitality workers are severely affected just in those tragedies alone.

00:14:55:15 – 00:15:18:11

Jennifer Dodd

And so giving kitchen always steps up to the plate and not only helps with I don’t know if I’m saying it right, but my micro giving they give funds to people in need who prove their business case and that they support and they offer that in all 50 states, but they also have I actually toured the facility to get to know them better and understand what they do, and they have people there to give services that speak over 100 languages.

00:15:18:11 – 00:15:38:20

Jennifer Dodd

If someone needs help finding housing or help with a child that has special needs, they can direct them to resources. So I just think the breadth and depth of what they do at Giving Kitchen is such a heartfelt thing, and it meets the needs of the type of environment that we create in hospitality. So Jen is a heroine in my mind, for sure.

00:15:38:22 – 00:15:40:06

Jennifer Dodd

That’s a great example, I think.

00:15:40:06 – 00:15:58:17

Zack Oates

I love that, and she came on the podcast and she’s just such a vibrant soul, love what she’s doing, a giving kitchen, and she’s a powerhouse and I love her mission. And so yeah, great, great shout out. Definitely people need to follow her. Well Jennifer, how can people follow you and Main Squeeze Juice Co?

00:15:58:19 – 00:16:20:01

Jennifer Dodd

I think several ways. First of all, come visit one of our amazing beautiful stores. You’ll love the vibe. Super cool. And you can find our store list online on our website which is main squeeze. Use code.com if you’re interested in franchising. Of course is main Squeeze Juice Co franchising. We are franchising with purpose so we have beautiful opportunities for growth and development.

00:16:20:03 – 00:16:32:06

Jennifer Dodd

To come in as an entrepreneur and then of course Instagram, Twitter Facebook, LinkedIn and then how it sounds like, you know, we may be moving into the TikTok era. We help.

00:16:32:09 – 00:16:35:23

Zack Oates

I know a lot of Gen Zers who got their fingers crossed on that one.

00:16:35:28 – 00:16:36:16

Jennifer Dodd

Now that’s our.

00:16:36:16 – 00:17:03:19

Zack Oates

Hope. Well, Jennifer, for reminding us that we should put pressure on fruits, not people. Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Giving Ovation. And thank you. Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We’re all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by ovation, a two question, SMS based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants.

00:17:03:21 – 00:17:09:27

Zack Oates

If you’d like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovation up.com.