How Embracing Technology Can Improve Training Development and Communication

Dog Haus x 1Huddle

By Christopher J. Ramirez, EVP of Marketing at Dog Haus | Posted on MarTech on October 16.

With the ongoing labor shortage across the country, employee retention is of the utmost importance – especially in the service industry. Today, prospective team members are more selective and meticulous about their career choice. Employees are looking for positions that offer comprehensive training, continued development, and transparent, streamlined communication between employer and employee.

In the restaurant industry, team members are on the front line of the guest experience. Franchisors, Franchisees, and operators must accurately educate their employees about the brand’s culture, values, menu staples, LTOs, and ongoing supply chain issues. And doing this correctly and effectively goes back to prioritizing training. At Dog Haus, our corporate team and operators have gone all-in on technology, from innovative tactics to audience listening and communication partners.

An essential addition to our tech stack is 1Huddle. We use their game builder to make team member onboarding engaging, simple, measurable, and highly effective. Team members enjoy playing games on their mobile devices while embracing their competitive side. We’ve had team members at locations across the country tell us how the location-specific and companywide leaderboard motivates them to play frequently, which leads to better on-the-job performance through faster and more effective learning. It’s a win-win-WIN for the team member, operator, and corporate office.

Our 1Huddle games focus on everything from back and front of haus procedures to franchisee and general manager leadership development, plus heavy doses of Dog Haus attitude. In addition to our training tech, we provide hands-on training for soon-to-open locations. And, upon request, corporate trainers provide ongoing training for open locations. In our opinion, a combination of traditional shoulder-to-shoulder training and technology-based coaching is the perfect mix to yield chemistry-focused, effective results.

Dog Haus has long embraced technology for reputation management, audience listening, and guest feedback. Technology is the new secret shopper. We leverage our tech partners’ expertise to stay up to date on discoverability and our customer’s journey to gain insight into what our guests remember and prefer. Using these insights, Dog Haus reports unprecedented e-mail and SMS opening rates. In a recent campaign, we saw a 66% redemption rate, and we credit a big part of our success to our technology partner’s ability to collaborate and develop their products to meet our needs.

Training technology is mission-critical, just as order management, POS, CRM, CDP are to your business. For your restaurant brands that may not have the budget to build a comprehensive tech stack, we believe you must at least begin building up your team. 1Huddle is a great place to start. Thoroughly transferring your brand’s culture and values is critical to deepening your brand’s relationship with customers and retaining employees. You must be sure that every employee represents your brand. You can’t view training tech as a supplemental purchase that comes later as your brand grows. You must view training tech as a step one of any strategic plan.

About 1Huddle

1Huddle is a coaching and development platform that uses quick-burst mobile games to more quickly and effectively educate, elevate, and energize your workforce — from frontline to full-time.

With a mobile-first approach to preparing the modern worker, a mobile library of 3,000+ quick-burst employee skill games, an on-demand game marketplace that covers 16 unique workforce skill areas, and the option for personalized content, 1Huddle is changing the way organizations think about their training – from a one-time boring onboarding experience to a continuous motivational tool. 

Key clients include Loews Hotels, Novartis, Madison Square Garden, PIMCO, TAO Group, and the United States Air Force. To learn more about 1Huddle and its platform, please visit 1huddle.co.