Julie Wade is the Senior Director of Marketing at Taziki’s, a cafe with a fresh take on the Mediterranean diet. On this week’s episode of Give an Ovation, Julie brings her extensive marketing expertise (strategy, product development, brand, etc.) to the table. Tune in to hear how her marketing utility belt has helped her master the food and beverage industry.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

What is the most important aspect of the guest experience nowadays?

“Getting that feedback loop closed. It’s important to ask yourself, what is happening with the guest experience and the feedback that we’re getting? What are we doing with it? Are we just sitting on that information and saying, ‘sorry you had a poor experience’ or are we taking that back to the operators in the store and saying here’s what we’re hearing from the guest and why is this happening?“

What successful strategies and tactics have you seen/tried?

“We try to call our guests by name as much as possible. It’s not always possible, but through our loyalty program, if we do have their name then it comes up. We’ve spent this whole year really focusing on the ‘wow!’ factor of the guest experience. It’s asking what can we do to really give those customers that extra punch?“

Who deserves an Ovation?

Ken Bott, PDQ Restaurants

“He’s located down in Florida and has done really great work with the whole guest journey. Ken is taking their loyalty program and doing some really cool things with it. He and I have talked several times at different conferences, and I would call him to pick his brain a time or two. That who I’ve leaned on a couple of times over the past year.”