People considering buying into the Del’s Popcorn Shop franchise often ask “what would my day look like if I owned my own Del’s Popcorn Shop? What would I be doing every day?” My response is that no two days are the same and no day goes exactly as I plan, but I can always expect to have some fun!
Today I arrived early because the quiet time in the morning, before we open, is the best time for me to catch up on bookwork, like paying bills and transmitting payroll for processing. I read and answered emails and reviewed the Easter Checklist again to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything that I needed to do to be ready for Easter.
As opening time approached, I did what I call my “lobby walk”. I walked through the store with my eye towards what my customers see when they walk through my front door. Are the displays well-stocked, neat, and free of dust or crumbs? Is the glass in the display cases clean and shiny, are the surfaces clean? I fluffed and rearranged some of the product displays to keep them fresh and interesting. I reviewed orders for pick-up, shipping, or delivery, planned product production for the day and made a list of everything else like cleaning, bagging, and ordering that needed to be done. Then I executed the Opening Checklist.
At opening time, I asked my staff my customary question: “Are you ready to go live?” and we opened the door for business. We spent the day seasoning and bagging popcorn, making gift baskets, and generally delighting our customers. Some days I focus my time on production, but today I focused my efforts on merchandising. I dismantled Valentine’s Days displays and packed away the decorations for another year. I pulled out St. Patrick’s Day and Easter décor and merchandise and made plans for those displays.
I led by example in providing the” Del’s Customer Experience” and set the pace to keep productivity high. I monitored product quality through every step of the processes and coached and encouraged best practices in customer service and food service sanitation. I answered a few customer and staff questions and solved a problem or two that arose.
In between customers, I worked on daily reports, the staff schedule, an ingredient order, ran to the bank, attended to some routine equipment maintenance, and made a delivery. As the owner, there is not a job that I don’t know how to do or am unwilling to do.
On the drive home, I had time to reflect on the day and think about what the “highlight” was of my day. Today it was a first-time customer who thanked me for the experience she had and remarked “There’s just not much happiness like this left in the world. Thank you.” It’s comments like that that make what I do every day rewarding and enjoyable. I always dreamed about owning my own business that just made people happy and I am so thankful that I found this opportunity with a Del’s Popcorn Shop franchise! Today was a fun day!
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