It’s Bo time! Today’s episode is with Sergio Pérez, Senior Director of Omnichannel at Bojangles, who takes us through his journey from an intern to a strategic executive in the world of restaurant marketing.

We also talk through the 3 C’s: Convenience, Consistency, and Connection, and how you can use them to acquire new guests and keep them coming back for a lifetime.

This one’s a marketing must-listen.

Here are some highlights:

Start with field marketing (3:58)

“If any young marketers or aspiring restaurant marketers are listening, I would recommend you always start in field marketing because it gives you really good perspective to be on the ground and to understand how restaurants work, how marketing programs impact operations, and you also get to wear lots of different hats.

Someday you’re doing a food drop at the radio station. The next day you’re looking at a media plan…and so it gives you broad perspective in terms of all the marketing things that touch the restaurant.“

The importance of consistency (12:32)

“I think the customers have become less forgiving over the last few years because you know, you’re watching your budget more than ever, and you can’t afford to have a bad experience or, you know, to just kind of throw your money away in one of those restaurant visits.

So getting back to consistency is important primarily from a QSR perspective. Right, like QSR is sort of fast moving, you know accurately, just sort of you’re moving the line, as we say, from a drive-through perspective, and so predictability and consistency is something that I think customers are really looking for right now.“

Who’s someone who deserves an Ovation in the restaurant industry? (18:44)

“I think it stops and starts with restaurant employees. I don’t think they get enough credit and enough love for the work they do. They’re the lifeblood of our business.“