Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack Oates
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast is your backstage pass to the minds of hospitality leaders, innovators, and operators who are redefining what it means to serve. Hosted by Zack Oates, founder of Ovation, each episode dives into real-world tactics and inspiring stories from restaurant pros who know how to create five-star guest experiences—both in-store and off-premise.
From fast casual to fine dining, catering to curbside, learn how to drive loyalty, empower your staff, and deliver hospitality that hits home. Whether you're a restaurant owner, operator, marketer, or tech partner, this podcast will leave you with practical insights and plenty of reasons to celebrate and Give an Ovation.
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack Oates
Juicing Up Operations: Natalie Green’s Strategies for Success
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of "Give an Ovation," Zack Oates sits down with Natalie Green, the dynamic COO of Nekter Juice Bar. With over 200 locations, Natalie shares insights from her 12-year journey at Nekter, focusing on the importance of supply chain management, consistency in guest experience, and leveraging technology to enhance customer loyalty. Discover how Natalie's strategic approach to operations and her dedication to a transparent and guest-centric philosophy have propelled Nekter Juice Bar to success.
Thanks, Natalie!
Operations and Guest Experience Strategies
Speaker 1Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation , 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 . Learn more at OvationUpcom . And today I am so excited to have Natalie Green on with us . She is a former accounting whiz , turned controller , turned COO of Nectar Juice Bar . She's been there for over a dozen years . Nectar Juice Bar , if you're not familiar , has over 216 locations , a lot in California . There's one by me here in Utah . That is phenomenal . But welcome to the podcast , natalie .
Speaker 2Thank you . I'm so excited to be here . Thank you for having me .
Speaker 1Yeah , and we met at a trade show in I don't even know where was that trade show Kansas .
Speaker 2City .
Speaker 1Kansas City . There we go , the city of love or something I don't know , kansas City and you did such a great job on the panel . I went up ahead to chat with you afterwards . I'm grateful that you came on to the podcast to talk operations , because running operations for 216 locations all over this country what are some things that you wish you knew 12 years ago when you first started with Nectar ? If you could go back and coach yourself in terms of here are some things that you're going to need to know as you go up in your career , what advice would you give yourself ?
Speaker 2I would definitely say supply chain . That was one thing when we started expanding rapidly across the United States . That supply chain is so big in this industry , especially for Nectar . We have so many different drop shipments and making sure that our franchisees get the same costing , that they get their orders on time and that really like to the guest experience , to the franchisees being happy to sales , that is so important and kind of when we started you don't think about that .
Speaker 2We grew very , very quickly and the one great thing that I will say the owners did here Steve and Alexis is when they started Nectar we started with all corporate locations and then they opened up six franchise locations and then they took a step back and said , ok , are we really ready to franchise ? If we don't know what we're doing , how can we take other people's money doing ? How can we take other people's money ? We have still to this day , over 31 corporate locations that we run and they're very big , like if they want to stay the largest franchisee in our system , because we know what we know and we can help the franchise community . If we only have one location and 215 franchising , how can we help them ? We're learning from the mistakes . So we kind of definitely grew that way and to me that was the biggest thing that we did was kind of take a pause and be like okay , supply chain , that's such a big issue for us . We need to make sure we have those buckets here and really growing that way and really strategically , when you open up stores in other states , cluster them . Don't just put okay , we got one in Idaho , here's one in Washington . We want at least three stores to really cluster them so they all benefit from the same supply chain but also from the same marketing branding . And that was something we learned ourselves and we were able to take to the franchise community as well .
Speaker 1That is something that you get really tempted when you have Joe Smith and Sheboygan who's like , hey , I just retired as a firefighter and I want to open up a location , and I want to open up a nectar juice bar , and it's like , okay , but Exactly .
Speaker 1It's tough to make sure Now you guys do a great job bar . It feels like you're walking into a super . I mean like 216 is nothing to shake a stick at , but it feels like you guys have like 2000 locations because it seems so big and professional and well done . And I'm assuming that a lot of that has to do with the importance that you place on that consistency with operations , right .
Speaker 2Exactly . It's so important for everyone to be consistent . Every location , we want you to walk in and kind of smell the freshness . You can walk in , you know , like we have that transparency that this is what you're getting . There's no fillers , there's no additives . This is who Nectar is . And when you walk into a Nectar , we want you to feel that even to this day , even you to feel that , even to this day , even for new franchisees , how they always come to us . They're like , oh , I was on vacation , I walked into a Nectar and the smell , just like it smelled so fresh , and just the overall look and feel . To us that is so important and just to keep that consistency , especially with operations and with the franchise community . So when you walk into a Nectar , you don't know if it's a corporate store or a franchise store . You're just walking in there and you're getting that same .
Speaker 1That is so critical . You have to have that consistency we talk about that all the time where that ladder of loyalty , where it starts with convenience , where my expectations have to exceed my effort , Then it goes to consistency , where I got to have the same experience every time , but then it goes to connection and making that guest feel important . Talking about the guest as the COO , what do you think is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays ?
Speaker 2Right now we definitely , especially post-COVID we see a lot of convenience and for us we were so fortunate John , our CMO here . He actually built our app years ago from the ground up .
Speaker 2He's the one who built our app , and our app is amazing and we understand how important convenience is and how our customers love it and they can go on the app . They can order , but also with the consistency . But also what we can do with the app , with the loyalty , is we can drive them offers . So you always come into Nectar and you get a juice every time . We're not going to send you a bowl offer , we're going to send you a juice offer .
Speaker 2And really listening to our guests and hearing them because they still want that connection , even though maybe they don't want to go and talk face-to-face with the cashier or they want to go to one of our little kiosks and order that way .
Speaker 2But they still want to feel like they're heard , they have that connection and that they're like okay , I'm still a part of this and I know they know my order , they know what I'm going to get and have it be like frictionless . So there's no obstacles , they have to go through they . Okay , I'm coming in , getting it , it's ready to go , this is great and I know it's going to be my exact order . To me that is so important , and then come out and feel good about it and be like that was a great experience , Because if you have one bad experience , how many times is that going to get them ? Well , last time I was there it wasn't that great how many times that gets to get them back in that door . So you've got to be really on it with your customer service and really listen to the customers , and transparency with them is just key .
Speaker 1I love that because you are only as good as your last experience . Exactly , I went to a pizza restaurant . It was one of my favorite pizza restaurants . That was by me and I went in there probably once a month , and for me once a month is a lot . I eat out like a ton and I don't like to repeat restaurants , I like to try new things , but this was like at least once a month I was going there and I'd done it for years like seven years , natalie and then one time I went in and they had this creamy Italian dressing that I really like and it was so runny , something had happened to it .
Speaker 1They mixed it wrong , it was like really watery . It was so runny , something had happened to it , they mixed it wrong , it was like really watery , and it was so disappointing that I didn't go back for two years . And it wasn't because I was like , oh , I hate that place , their dressing's too runny . But it was like every time I thought of that place , I thought of that runny dressing and I was like , oh , let me try another place , let me try this spot , I haven't been here , and once you get out of that lineup because of a mistake , it is so hard to get back in .
Speaker 2It is and it's like , especially with nectar , it's kind of part of a routine . A lot of people go in the mornings . Where that's what happened , I'll say you go at lunch and if you lose that routine , to get them back into going to nectar it's going to take them at least . They're going to have to see probably you again seven times before . Maybe they're like okay , let me go try it again , because last time it wasn't good , but they could have went there , like you said , for years and never had an issue . But that one time or that one bad experience can leave just such a bad taste in your mouth that that's really important that we streamline everything , make sure consistency is key and the guests are always happy .
Speaker 2And if there is an issue , fix it right away If a drink's wrong , or how can we make it better ? Just always be on top of that customer service .
Speaker 1I look at make it better . A lot of people talk about that and it really has two parts , which is one fix it right now , and two is solve the problem . I remember one time I was volunteering at this place and something was wrong with like this step . They had made the step wrong and literally for eight hours I stood there and I said watch your step , watch your step , watch your step , watch your step , watch your step for eight hours . And I'm just like you could do that , or you could just fix the step .
Speaker 1Yeah , exactly , so talking about fixing the step metaphoricallyically . What's a tactic that you've used to improve the guest experience ?
Speaker 2I would definitely say our loyalty app , especially our loyal guests . That's really important to us and also like they can customize their drinks , they're allowed to modify it and a lot of places , especially with our acai bowls or organic unsweetened acai . But if you come in and you're like , okay , I need the base a little bit different at our locations , you can do that . Okay , I can't have this , I have an allergy of this . A lot of places with acai bowls it's all scoopable , so you can't modify or make changes . And for us , we want to be there for the guests , have the guests be able to have those choices and have that transparency . Okay , and this is what I want , this is what I need and to us , that's been so important and really using that loyalty app to really , with our loyal members , give them the satisfaction and say thank you so much for being such a loyal Nectar customer here's some more points or pushing out other offers to them , and that's been one big thing .
Building Customer Loyalty in Restaurants
Speaker 1Doesn't that get a bit tricky though , natalie , as you're looking at your loyal customers , because we work with a lot of different drink places and coffee places , and what we find is that when you get into the smoothie segment , the drink segment , when it becomes part of the routine , you have a group of customers that most restaurants don't ever have the privilege of having , which is like a three-week type thing , a four-week type thing . How do you still make your relatively loyal customers feel special when you have this group ? This is like the Delta 360 invite-only club , but you have quite a few of those . How do you still make your regular platinum and diamond medallion , so to speak , customers feel special ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so we track our loyal list and I guess you can call it the middle of the pack , the people that are coming maybe once or twice a week . But we're always thinking , okay , we have these other lead members that are coming four times a week . How do we get to translate the ones that are coming once a week to maybe three times a week ? So kind of pushing them a little bit more offers or sending them maybe a BOGO or sign a friend up , kind of get double the points , try to bring them in just a little bit more and giving them those extra points , of that extra incentive to come in that extra one day a week , but also making them feel special that we still see you just because you're not coming in three to four days . You're still so important to us and we still see you and that's a big part of it as well .
Speaker 1I think that's so important because you know , I know what it's like having a favorite . I've got four kids and one daughter . I don't know who my favorite is , but I'm just saying I do only have one daughter . But it's important that my three boys also feel like they're loved and understood . And nectar doesn't survive if you're only focusing on those three , four a week . No , you know .
Speaker 2And also , like , even the person just coming in once a month , what can we do for them ? Or what can we send them to say , hey , we can send , we'll send out like a text or a push notification or email like , hey , we missed you , we noticed you haven't got your bowl in the last four weeks . Come and get a dollar off your next bowl . On us those kinds of things to say to remind them like we notice you , we know you're still here , come back , visit us . You're still important to us . Here's $2 off your next juice . And really tailoring it to what they order . Because , like I said , if you always come in and get a smoothie but I'm sending you a juice offer , are you going to really use that offer ? Probably not . But if you haven't got your smoothie in a month and I'm like here's $2 off your smoothie , you're like , oh yeah , let me go back and get my smoothie .
Speaker 1So what is your percentage of loyalty participation among your guests ?
Speaker 2I think it's 52% .
Speaker 1Oh wow , it was a really high . You're getting it . That's phenomenal , super cool .
Speaker 2We have over 2 million on our app .
Speaker 1Oh my gosh . 2 million with 216 locations . I think you're doing something right .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Obviously , you've been in this industry for a while , even before Nectar , and so you've seen a lot . You've heard a lot . Who's someone that we should be following in this industry ? Who's someone that deserves an ovation .
Speaker 2Well , I knew you were going to ask me this and I thought long and hard it's not just one person , but I'm really out there and when I research and I look at other brands , I love the brands that are just transparent . They put it all out there . They're very clear on what they're doing , Whoever's in charge of the marketing , whatever it is . But I don't like when you go , you think somewhere is healthy and you come to find out later on well , it's not , so they sold you on something that is different .
Speaker 2So really I tend to not just on one person , but those brands that are just transparent and trying to make healthy , a better lifestyle and a little bit more affordable , and so people can kind of get out there and afford it , make it accessible and just be transparent about it . And not everything's going to be healthy . Of course , sometimes you're going to go get your burger , your pizza , but you know what you're getting To me . That's kind of what I look when I try to follow people . I love those brands , healthy or not , that are just so transparent in what they do and all their ingredients .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's like be you , be authentic . I love that . I know that you don't post a ton on social media . Where can people go to learn about Nectar Juice Bar ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so you can go at wwwnectarjuicebarcom . They'll have all our locations , all about our franchising , the story of Nectar . You can kind of read about our co-founder , steven Alexis , who are still a very big part of the business , and then also our Instagram just Nectar Juice Bar , still a very big part of the business . And then also our Instagram just Nectar Juice Bar .
Speaker 1And also on LinkedIn . We post everything on LinkedIn at Nectar Juice Bar . Awesome Well , natalie , for being consistent and helping people drink deeply from the nectar of life
Guest Feedback With Ovation Platform
Speaker 1. Today's ovation goes to you . Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation .
Speaker 2Thank you so much . This is great . Thank you for having me .
Speaker 1Awesome . Thanks for joining us today . If you liked 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 . If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience , visit us at OvationUpcom .