Product, Service, and Image: The 10 Basics of Store Management

In his book, Hire The American Dream, Dave Melton writes about his first boss, Frank Meeks. Melton writes of how Meeks was not only a personal inspiration but an icon within the community of Domino's Pizza. Meeks was the first franchisee inducted into the Domino's Chairman's Circle Hall of Fame.

Meeks knew how to operate stores and was known for his relentless focus on the basics of product, service, and image. In the 1980's he drafted what he called the "Ten Things" that comprise the foundation of store management. These can, and should, be adapted to other franchise brands and concepts.

Service - The customer is the boss. The job of every team member is to go way out our way to impress every customer. This means we must meet our goal of 30-minute or less delivery and do it in such a friendly and ethical manner that customers will feel good about doing business with us. When we do not come through, we must always happily honor our guarantees.

Product - Our goal is to deliver a hot, tasty, high-quality pizza every time. To do this we must manage our dough every minute to ensure proper proofing, slap the dough correctly, put on the correct amount of sauce, cheese, and toppings and properly maintain our ovens. When we do not come through for the customer, we must happily honor our product guarantee.

Cost Management - We do want to make big profits but we must do so by raising sales and controlling waste - not by cheating the customers or our team members.

Training - We must provide our team at all levels with the best training classes available on a regular basis. The best training, however, is day by day, on the job doing the best we can to better ourselves and our fellow team members.

Image - The feeling that Domino's Pizza generates to customers and potential customers concerning our company is very important. Image can be enhanced or defaced by store cleanliness, appearance, and attitude of team members, service, product, advertising, price, and press articles. We must strive to go beyond just the expected in all of these areas.

Cleanliness/Maintenance - A clean, well-maintained store is the best reflection of pride we have in our operation. We must take no short-cuts - neither time or financial - to ensure a clean, well-maintained company.

Security and Safety - The safety of our work environment and our employees is the manager's most important responsibility.

Paperwork - Daily, weekly, period paperwork must be completed in a timely manner and be legible, accurate and stored for easy access.

Fun - Do not get in a routine! Come to work every day to serve the customer and have fun. We set the tone for our customers and our fellow team members.

Sales-Building - If you consistently do all of the preceding, sales will go up. If not, you must advertise to replace lost customers. Advertising, hanging sales fliers on doors, and so on can help a great store become greater.