Podcast

Podcast episode 3: Breaking down McDonald's fecal bacteria kiosk screen story

Host and QSRweb Editor Shelly Whitehead talks with Kiosk Marketplace Editor Elliot Maras about the industry fallout after the McDonald's contaminated kiosk screen story, while this episode's spotlight interview focuses on Auntie Anne's President Heather Neary who shares the brand's initiatives to stay on top the trends in the QSR snack world.

December 14, 2018

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Transcript

Q&A - Elliot Maras, Kiosk Marketplace Editor

Shelly: After the British newspaper, Metro, hired a scientist to do lab tests of samples taken from London area, McDonald's kiosk screens to see what they found is most in the restaurant industry are well aware. The newspaper reported finding a lot of potentially illness inducing micro-organisms on those kiosks screens, including some found in human feces. Elliot has been taking the pulse of kiosk suppliers and finding out what oversight, if any, exist for the ongoing safety and cleanliness of restaurant kiosk screens.Your articles kind of left me with the impression that kiosk screen sanitation is kind of a no man's land as far as regulatory oversight to ensure they're clean and safe for customers to use. Can you tell us what you found? 

Elliot: There really hasn't been a problem to address. This study that was recently done, in nature where they actually tested some screens and got some bacteria. However, that doesn't mean that a problem exists the next way. There haven't been any specific protocols to address a problem that really hasn't existed. A problem does exist with any hard surface. It's coming to light now because self-ordering kiosks are starting to be introduced to restaurants. It's a relatively new development. McDonald's have certainly taken the lead on that, therefore it's natural, but it's, it's a new sort of development. It's fortunate that someone actually took the trouble to take a look at what's on those touchscreen. What that study found was that there is a risk. That doesn't mean that there's been a problem. The risk itself is something that can very easily be managed. 

Shelly: Well, that's good to hear. Beyond that, it also kind of sounds like many in and around the food service industry are viewing any of the concerns being expressed about kiosk cleanliness that have developed after that Metro report as being really nothing more than kind of alarmist.

Elliot: The way the headline was written in that report was a bit sensational, but it's true and that's unfortunate. And so when those of us in the trade press look into it further and started calling the people we know in the food service industry and then the kiosk industry, we call them and ask them, what do they think? They don't want it in any way saying like they're not concerned about public safety because they absolutely are. So it was kind of a hard issue for them to talk about, in that way. I talked to one long term food safety attorney who talked about it with me but didn't even want her name to be used because she didn't want to come across like she wasn't concerned about food safety. That's the issue with a report, restaurants can minimize the risk very simply by cleaning the surfaces of the touchscreen with disinfectant. There are some restaurants that are already doing that. I think after this report we're going to see more of it. 

Shelly: That's a good point. The more we talk about it, the more people are apt to do something about it. It all really kind of leaves a customer in the dark about what to do if they use the screens. Do you come equippred with anti-bacterial wipes or what?

Elliot: I'm seeing the perspective of the customer now. I have been in many quick serve restaurants in recent years where I've been standing in line and I've seen everybody else in the restaurant standing in line on their cell phones. There have been numerous studies that show that the typical cell phone does contain bacteria and and those people are touching it before eating. They eat before washing their hands. They should wash their hands. It's really as simple as that. This is no different. Yes, the risk is there, but from the consumer's perspective, it's just a matter of common sense on that is you wash your hands before you eat. 

Shelly: I'm just wondering whether, since you talked to a lot of people, whether any of them had any advice for both consumers and restaurant managers who are actually wanting to nip this one in the bud, so to speak. And get a handle on the problem as best they can. Any suggestions? 

Elliot: For the consumer, the suggestion is to simply wash your hands. For the restaurant, it's simply a matter of making sure that there is a regular cleaning process taking place and there are many restaurants hiring cleaning specialists to clean their facilities on a regular basis. There are some guidelines out there, some companies are following when it comes to cleaning hard surfaces in restaurants that can contain bacteria. It's just a matter of making sure that the kiosk is going to be cleaned in the surface of the kiosk with a sanitizer of some sort and as I said, some companies are doing this. There's a company that I interviewed, a company called Generation Next. While they're not a restaurant operator, they do market kiosks that dispense ice cream and frozen yogurt. They have contracted a cleaning service to wipe the surfaces clean, with citric acid every time. That's just one example of something somebody's already doing who's taking a look at this particular risk.

Q&A - Auntie Anne's President, Heather Neary

Shelly: Let's get a little twisted and by that I mean let's turn to all things twisted, dough related, as Auntie Anne's President, Heather Neary is with us today. You lead a really innovative and very on-trend brand even though it's been around for many years now. I would think that Annie Anne's is kind of having a moment right now, particularly because the fast food scene has started to revolve so much more heavily around snacks and that kind of fits into your niche. Can you tell us how Auntie Anne's getting a bite of that action through its brand positioning and even through options like your food trucks?

Heather: Thanks for having me. It's great to be joining you today. I think Auntie Anne's is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the snacking trend happening in our country because we do have a phenomenal product and we're able to deliver it where the people are. Back in the 1990's, there were only a handful of snack options that were really available and our stores were located in malls, which also only had a few locations for snacks. So today in the venues where we operate: shopping malls, outlet centers, airports, customers have dozens of food brands to choose and we're always fighting for their share of stomach. But at the end of the day, for us, we focus on thriving in the environments in which we operate by focusing on our threefold philosophy and that is serving a fresh hot golden brown pretzel and a sparkling clean store with friendly, courteous customer service. We also focus on making sure that we have products that resonate with today's consumers. You know, our guests are on the go, they're busy traveling, they're busy running from meeting to meeting, and they're often with family and friends when they're in the venues where we are. So we like to offer products like pretzel nuggets that are portable, convenient, and shareable. 

We also know that customers love freshness. The idea of fresh, wholesome product is really important to our guests and all of our pretzels are made with simple, easy to pronounce ingredients and rolled, twisted and baked right in front of our guests all day every day. You really can't get fresher than right out of the oven. 

Our original pretzel, it's the one that we started it all back in 1988. While that remains one of our really popular pretzel products, we also know our guests love things that are innovative, fun, and most importantly Instagram-able. We accomplish that by deploying a steady stream of LTO's is like our recent candy lemonade mixers featuring Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids and also we just rolled out our thirtieth Birthday cake pretzel nuggets and items like this really help us to stay relevant and differentiated. After 30 years it's really important that we continue to innovate and remain top of mind for all of our guests and we just want to make sure that we are where the people are. 

Shelly: I'm just salivating right now because I want one so bad. You have a big international presence and I'm wondering if you can tell us how the brand or its menu changes to fit the needs of different cultures, food preferences around the globe? 

Heather: We have actually been international since 1995. At the end of the day, a dough product is very popular no matter where you're from and what your culture is like. So we really continued to sell our basic pretzels and our standard menu internationally and then we also customize it based on the needs of the flavor profiles of the individuals that we're serving in various countries. We have our biggest presence in South Korea. We have some unique flavors there that are unique to South Korea. We also have a significant presence in Thailand. We opened in China this year. We do a lot of work internationally and quite frankly the international marketing team and the domestic marketing team often work hand in hand and share trends and consumer insights that are relevant to both international audiences as well as our domestic audiences. 

Shelly: I was wondering about that because you know, cultural cuisines are so hot now, particularly in the U.S. Do they kind of share and trade off ideas?

Heather: We obviously want to make sure that we're being appropriate to the different cultures where we operate, but we don't necessarily duplicate every single thing domestically that we do internationally. There's a lot of mirrored profiles, like  stuffed pretzels. We do a cream cheese pretzel internationally. We're playing with that domestically. Nutella is a really popular flavor whether you're in the U.S. or abroad. So there's a lot of sharing of ideas that go back and forth and at the end of the day consumers just really want a great tasting product and that's what we're delivering to our pretzels no matter where you are in the globe. 

Shelly: You are also in the grocery case, I wonder if you can share how Auntie Anne's off-premise channels are helping build the brand's name with an ever wider array of audiences. 

Heather: Sure. So for us, a lot of it's about points of access. We really have grown up in the mall space and back in 1989 when Anne opened her first location she never intended for malls to be our primary point of distribution. We've been very fortunate in that space, but now it's time for us to move on and much like the rest of the restaurant industry off-premise is definitely a buzzword for us. So while we rely on foot traffic to drive sales at our stores, we also recognize that our locations are sometimes limiting in terms of how people can get to us. We addressed that by bringing pretzels to the people. Last year we launched a national catering program run through our stores that allow our guests to enjoy our pretzels at any occasion they want from office meetings to weddings, to baby showers, birthday parties, to just simply a snack in the middle of the afternoon that you and your colleagues share because you're hungry. 

We have a lot of stores doing third-party delivery with GrubHub, DoorDash, and UberEats and we've also embraced the food truck craze by rolling out pretzel trucks. They give our guests an opportunity to join our fresh hot, golden brown pretzels outside of the traditional environment so guests can find Auntie Anne's food trucks at parks, at fairs, college campuses, stadiums really anywhere where there's a lot of traffic, a lot of people. We have about two dozen of those right now out in the country and our goal is to double that figure by the end of next year. Our pretzel trucks are right now located in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Nashville, Houston, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Seattle, Los Angeles, among many other locations around the country. 

Shelly: I guess that's also a good social media marketing subject for you to kind of keep people abreast of in different cities, like where you are exactly on that specific day. 

Heather: Absolutely. So our Hashtag, #Ifoundthepretzeltruck is a great way for guests to keep track of us around the country and it's also a great way for us to interact with our guests. In a way that's unique to the brand and that's been a really meaningful initiative for us. 

Shelly: Well, thank you so much.