Jen was tired of the lack of organization at her Tropical Smoothie Cafe. She was constantly dealing with a mess from trying to manage her store on paper.  “There were paper messages all over the store. Day dots were making a mess. Training materials were in a separate place. My staff had to look 10 different places to find the information they needed.”  She knew this wasn’t sustainable.  “The problem with paper checklists is they don’t get done, or the items are checked off carelessly.”  Jen was ecstatic when Tropical Smoothie Corporate reached out to her with a solution.

Winning Through Merit

“When the corporate office found Jolt, they and came to me and said, ‘Will you be a test store? You keep talking about how you want something like this.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely!’”  Jen saw immediate results using Jolt to improve employee communication and accountability. Her store was cleaner and more consistent. Her employees were friendlier and more accurate executing customer orders.  “Jolt cleans up and organizes my business. The kitchen is visibly cleaner. I don’t have pieces of paper all over the place telling people to do things. Everything is in one place. It’s personally saved me probably 3 hours every week.”

Improved Team Accountability

Jen says Jolt has made her team significantly more accountable. It’s given them a central hub for all their tasks and training, and gives her the ability to adjust in real time.  “When I notice something isn’t getting done properly, I change the list and require them to add a picture and track who’s done it.”  It also helps her improve employee performance at the individual level.  “Now when people say ‘it wasn’t me,’ I can say, ‘Actually you checked this off at 8:27.’”  She’s found Jolt especially helpful when it comes to onboarding and training new employees.  “For new people, it’s great, because I can literally say, ‘Here, do what the iPad says.’ If they need to clean this station, they just follow what it says on the iPad, and they understand the process better.”  Her team members liked Jolt so much they were sharing it with their friends at school.

Sharing Success with Other Stores

“Whenever you implement a large change, people usually push back. But my crew really liked the switch to Jolt. They adapted fast.”  Like many owners, Jen’s employees are younger and immediately felt familiar using executions software in the workplace.  “It was interesting: another Tropical Smoothie down the road from me didn’t have Jolt. Some of my crew members went to school with some of her crew members. They started asking her, ‘Why don’t we have Jolt? We want this iPad thing they are talking about at the other store.’ Now they have it too.”  Jen appreciates the relief Jolt has brought to her personal life as an owner-operator.  “It’s so great that I don’t have to be in the store and I am not relying on crew members to pay attention to all of the details—like temperatures—and give me a call when something is wrong. Now when something is out of range or incomplete, I get a text to my phone about it automatically.”  Ultimately, Jen is happier to have more accountable employees that perform at a higher level.  “Jolt makes crew members more knowledgeable, which in turn makes them happier. They know exactly what they are supposed to do.”