Krispy Kreme Distance Learning
Mixed-media Methods Support Commitment to Employee Education
Krispy Kreme ensures consistent delivery of its unique product with video training delivered to all sites
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By Jennifer Korolishin
Jennifer Korolishin is a Philadelphia-based writer with extensive retail
industry experience.
Several times every day, in hundreds of locations, hot, fresh Krispy Kreme
doughnuts are snatched straight off the line and served to mobs of waiting
customers. One key to the brand�s popularity and success is consistency;
it�s the same sugary goodness whether you�re devouring a Krispy Kreme
doughnut in Australia or Alabama. To enable that consistency, Krispy Kreme
has made a strong commitment to employee training.
�We think that our growth and success is a natural result of the positive
customer experience we provide, which is due, in part, to the development of
our people,� says Rob Bateman, vice president of training and organization
development at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.
�Within our culture, we have very strong values around learning and
sharing,� he says. �We want everyone in our company to have the opportunity
to be successful, so we have a strong commitment to providing learning
opportunities that enable people to understand their roles and perform
well.�
The foodservice retailer also views its commitment to employee training as
the right thing to do for customers. �We cannot provide the optimal customer
experience, unless we have people who believe in the brand and are
thoroughly trained and given the opportunity to deliver our brand promise,�
he says. �We feel people are fundamental to our success.�
Founded 67 years ago, the Krispy Kreme phenomenon was for many years largely
confined to the Southeastern United States. During the last decade, the
retailer has evolved into an international brand by choosing franchisees
with proven foodservice experience to develop territories.
The rapid expansion and explosion in popularity has extended to stores in
Canada, Australia and England, all of which met with the type of
record-breaking crowds that tend to accompany U.S. store openings.
As Krispy Kreme grew, however, so did its need for training and for new
methods to efficiently deliver that training to far-flung locations. �When
you grow so quickly, it stretches your infrastructure,� explains Bateman.
�Krispy Kreme has always invested in training and in people, but it was
mostly instructor-led and technical in nature. As we grew, we knew we needed
options to provide a blended learning solution.�
CUSTOM LEARNING
Krispy Kreme found its answer in a product from Productivity
Point, a learning solutions company based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
�We focus on custom learning solutions, including e-learning and classroom
training, where companies turn to us for full support and management of
their corporate education programs,� explains Krista Fuller, director of
marketing at Productivity Point.
Krispy Kreme uses Productivity Point�s Knowledge Publisher solution, a media
authoring system that enables clients to create audio- and video-based
material for training, marketing and corporate communications. With
Knowledge Publisher, users can synchronize audio and video with web-based
presentations, including Power Point slides, animations and simulations,
polling and assessment questions, and e-mail and chat.
Presentations and videos can be published on a web portal, which is how
Krispy Kreme uses the application. By integrating the Productivity Point
solution with the Krispy Kreme portal, employees can access training
materials through a single sign-on log-in.
�We noticed over the years that a lot of the on-line communication tools
that were available were primarily text-based,� says Jerry Gschwind,
director of U.S. professional services for Productivity Point. �For certain
business applications, text just doesn�t seem to cut it. For those business
applications where you really need to exert a high amount of influence or
impact, audio or video provides a much better message.�
Krispy Kreme already had a tradition of employing e-learning applications,
but Productivity Point added a new tool to use with its existing model. �The
challenge they faced with developing and maintaining some of their
e-learning was that in the past, they found that the process of ongoing
production and maintenance required them to continually go back to vendors
at additional expense that was difficult to always justify,� says Gschwind.
�What we gave to them to help address this was Knowledge Publisher, which
was a way to help them create and maintain high-quality, video-based
e-learning on their own, without the typical time and expense associated
with this type of production,� he adds.
Knowledge Publisher is designed for non-programmers so companies can save
the time and expense of sending technical staff to each location. �Tools
like this traditionally have required a great deal of time to learn or the
necessity for an organization to have a skilled technical professional to
operate the tool,� notes Gschwind. �With Knowledge Publisher, we�ve designed
a system that requires none of that. You can be up and running in a matter
of hours with just a little bit of training.�
GOLD STANDARD
For Krispy Kreme, being able to provide the same visual
demonstration of certain in-store procedures to all of its outlets has
helped to ensure the consistency needed to deliver its unique taste to
customers.
�We want to ensure that a customer who knows the brand in Winston-Salem,
N.C., has exactly the same experience in Los Angeles or San Francisco,� says
Bateman. �Our people have to be able to perform consistently, to the same
gold standard of quality.
�The company has invested greatly in equipment innovation, so we have
tremendous tools for our people to be able to perform and provide a quality
product, be it a doughnut or a great cup of coffee,� he says. �Now we want
to help people learn how to do that on a consistent basis.�
While merchants will always need to publish policies and procedures manuals,
the advent of rich media tools, such as Knowledge Publisher, gives retailers
additional ways to appeal to employees� various learning styles.
�If you want to teach somebody something that is a physical procedure,
showing them is a lot easier than describing it or drawing a diagram that
illustrates it,� notes Gschwind. �Many of our clients use Knowledge
Publisher because they want to influence the behavior of their employees by
presenting corporate executives or people who need to convey an emotional
message, not one that�s stripped of emotion, which is what you tend to get
with text. When you really want to make an impact, nothing really beats a
video of your CEO delivering that message first-hand.�
According to Fuller, one of the reasons the application works is because
it provides a multi-dimensional experience. �When you have an instructor in
front of you, you learn by seeing, by hearing, by doing. Knowledge Publisher
lets you see a face,� she says. �You can see demonstrations of technologies
and tools. It stimulates the senses.�
Krispy Kreme selected the Productivity Point solution for several reasons,
including the ability to update its training videos quickly and provide a
resource to store managers. �What we were looking for is a mechanism in our
blended learning solution that would enable us to accomplish three things,�
explains Bateman.
�We wanted to provide consistent, just-in-time learning. We wanted it to go
across the web so we�d have scalability. And we wanted to provide a tool
that managers could access easily instead of sorting through a library of
tapes or manuals.
�What Productivity Point provided for us was an ability to provide short,
specific training tools we call hot topics videos,� continues Bateman.
�We�re building a library of training and troubleshooting videos. We also
have search engine capability for problem-solving and coaching.
�If a manager sees a particular performance issue, he can type in keywords
and the search returns a list of hot topic videos. The videos are five to
seven minutes in length, so a manager can access the video, show it and
discuss it and have a tremendous coaching session in 15 minutes,� Bateman
says.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Krispy Kreme also uses Knowledge Publisher to regularly
communicate its financial position to employees. The foodservice retailer
conducts a quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts.
Afterward, the company tapes an informal discussion of the quarter�s results
and expectations for the next quarter with the CEO and COO, which are made
available to all employees via the portal.
In the first six months of using the Productivity Point solution, Krispy
Kreme has built a library of five training videos on topics such as
calibrating the coffee grinder and unjamming the fryer, all of which have
been enthusiastically received by employees.
�The initial reaction has been tremendous,� says Bateman. �Our store
managers, who are always looking for new training tools, have been really
excited. They have been delighted with the concept and say they want a great
deal more. Our training team has asked for suggested topics, and the demand
is much greater than our ability to supply right now.�
Last year, for example, Krispy Kreme rolled out a drip brew coffee program
with four coffee blends. The company also produced hot topic videos to
demonstrate coffee product knowledge and teach associates how to communicate
the product characteristics to customers.
�From a learning standpoint, it�s been tremendous,� says Bateman. �The
feedback we�ve gotten is that it�s been very helpful in the technical arena,
as well as in some of the soft skills, like customer interaction.�
At Productivity Point, Gschwind notes that when developing comparable
on-line learning and communication experiences, it�s about 50 percent less
expensive, in terms of time and dollars, to use Knowledge Publisher,
compared to other available tools and services.
�The business benefits vary because it depends on what business process
you�re trying to improve, but we�ve had tremendous results from our
clients,� he says.
Posted by Craig at December 9, 2003 02:54 PM