Can the Lacey Pizza Time be Saved from Itself? What do you Think?
January 4, 2009 by Sean Kelly
Filed under :-) Humor, PIZZA TIME, x Franchisees From Hell
Can the Lacey, WA Pizza Time survive its self-induced crisis? Will the owners realize hypothermia is not an accepted management tool? Could YOUR advice help these owners get off the road to entrepreneurial self-destruction? Let’s find out… leave a comment below.
Yesterday I awarded the owners of the Lacey, WA Pizza Time the Franchisee From Hell! Award. Today I am feeling sorry for them. After initially shooting themselves in the foot by using threat of frostbite to motivate employees, they immediately reloaded and fired again with remarkable precision. It’s clear that they simply don’t get it. Perhaps you can help.
I am also going to ask some of my PR, Marketing, Branding, Accounting & Restaurant Guru colleagues here at Bizzia, the b5 Business Channel, to offer some professional advice to help these poor business owners survive this crisis. Readers are also invited to post their advice in the comment section below; the best will be featured in future posts.
Here’s the story:
How not to motivate employees: My initial Pizza Time post recounted how Pizza Time franchise owner Luke Benjamin was so upset that an employee forgot to shut off the furnace one night, he punished the crew by making them work without heat. He posted a handwritten, motivational note: “If you don’t want to work here quit, otherwise shut up and do your job. The next person I hear complaining is off for two weeks. We don’t have heat!! You guys screwed up, not us. You want to blame someone, look in the mirror.”
How not to speak to the media: King 5 news caught wind of the story and showed up with a video crew. Benjamin unashamedly defended his human resource policies on camera and allowed them unlimited access to video the store, including the thermostat showing the 55 degree temperature, the motivational note, and the office space heater to keep his accountant wife (who clearly wears the snow pants in the family) toasty while his nearby employees lose feeling in their extremities.
How not to respond to criticism: The King 5 story snowballed, so to say. As of this morning, nearly 300 angry comments had been posted against the owners. Local residents said they’d stop patronizing Pizza Time. Others called for a boycott not only of the pizza joint, but of the wife’s separate accounting business, Accurate Accounting. Riots ensued, cars were overturned and lit on fire, and Lacey City Hall was defaced with tomato sauce and molten mozzarella*.
Instead of defusing the situation, the Benjamins responded by suspending the whistleblower employees Daniel Baxter & John Francis, and posting personal attacks against them at King 5. Here’s an excerpt:
We hired Dan when we bought the store in 2006 and John a year or so ago….
Dan…who drove for you and gave you all the tips and commission when you got your DUI and lost your license?…Everyone is singing Dan & John praises but they know nothing about Dan or John. Trust me…NO ONE ELSE WILL HIRE THEM WHEN THEY LOOK INTO THEIR BACKGROUNDS….
We are great boses!!! …We are not making anyone work here… Sure its cold in the store, It has always has been cold… being cold is nothing new to Dan or John… the HVAC system ineffective and very costly to run. In these tough economic times, we have to do everything we can to save money…
Hello Dan and John…you wouldn’t believe how many people have stopped by to pick up applications and want your jobs.
Can a small business survive this ill will? Just two years into their ownership of the Lacey Pizza Time, the Benjamins have managed to raise the ire of an entire community. Personally, I wouldn’t want to have a Pizza Time box sticking out of my trash can with the torch-carrying crowds roaming the streets.
With the competitive nature of the pizza industry, can they undo the fiercely negative image they’ve created?
What lessons should they learn, and what steps should they take to survive this crisis?
* OK, I may have imagined this part
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
__________________________
Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.
.
Funny take on the situation from Mark at Bizlevity. Check it out:
http://www.bizlevity.com/they-had-the-pizza-time-of-their-lives/
I think his idea for a Pizza Time sled dog sponsorship just might work!
Don’t miss his musical:
http://www.bizlevity.com/dirty-franchising-the-sequel/
First, let me take my marketing hat off and put my management hat on.
As a former hotel manager, this story disgusts me. If this is the way they behave toward their staff and the general public, then they don’t deserve to survive this crisis.
Okay, marketing hat back on: The easiest way to fix this (perhaps the only way) the “under new management” angle.
The Benjamins need to step back into a management/oversight role and lay low for a while. Bring in a charismatic new manager to run the place…or at least be the public face…for a while.
If they can’t afford that, then they need to run a massive PR campaign. “We were wrong…we’re sorry…look at the things we’re willing to do to prove it.” They need to do everything they can to celebrate their employees…starting with fixing or replacing the HVAC system.
Of course, I don’t see that happening.
Great points, Danny.
Since it’s a franchise, both of your approaches could be combined if the franchisor would take over for a period of time, send in a corporate trainer to run the show and have a highly publicized “reprogramming” period and not leave until the franchise standards are met. The trainer could do interviews on arrival and when the franchisees take over.
Chances of that happening…?
Check out Danny’s Business & Blogging blog
Sean, Pizza Time Corporate, being a regional franchise needs to quickly douse this wildfire with a crisis-management PR firm. Forget the Lacey store for now, the entire chain will take a hit from the negative impact of this story- and the franchisor should have moved immediately after the story aired on KING5. This story is moving virally all over the web, and damage control needs to be initiated quickly.
On the one hand, the owners were heavy-handed in their treatment of the employees, first by shutting off the heat, and second by firing them.
On the other hand, we may not know the whole story. Maybe this had happened frequently (employees leaving the heat on when they were told to shut it off), and the owner was trying to save money and teach the employees a lesson. Did he go about it the right way? Heck, no. But he may have been pushed to his limit.
One more thing: People have short memories. This hullabaloo will die down quickly. A month fro now, few people in Lacy will be picketing or making mozzarella Molotov cocktails. This too shall pass - back to business as usual.
Jean wrote: People have short memories. This hullabaloo will die down quickly.
I bet they’re hoping for short memories… and oping for Spring and warmer temperatures.
Thanks for your comment, Jean.
Check out Jean’s post at her Small Business Boomers blog:
Boss From Hell? Or Frustrated, Cost-Conscious Employer?
Check the video again. The thermostat is programmable! I have one just like it and it is easy to set up, and you can even lock it so it can’t be tampered with. Why doesn’t the owner just program it and call it good? What is interesting (so far) about this mess is the utter silence of the corporate offices of Pizza Time. They need to get busy and set this to rights or it will hurt some good people that have PT franchises!
I agree with Jean. This will pass and what is the point of belaboring this issue that may work to put these people out of business, and all of the jobs will be lost.
Did Kings act irresponsibly just to get some “product” that they could use to stir up the public?
Ummmm….
I understand that the franchisor chose to yield the accrue the benefits of a franchised distribution system and thereby incur the reputational risks inherent in a non-direct supervisory business model.
They also owe a duty to put in systems that would prevent wholesale depreciation of the trademark value for all investors (franchisees minus one). The officers of a corporation have a fiduciary duty to protect the assets of the corp.
Anyone want to buy the Pizza Time franchise system now? I suppose the franchisor also fails to lock up their offices at night…
Sean, the franchisor knew or should have reasonably known that they could [and would] attract, train and keep as operators neanderthals.
BTW: Did they test these franchisees before checking that they could fog a mirror and making sure the cheque cleared? As you very well know, responsible franchising is a partnership and that requires getting to know who you’re getting into bed with.
As a prudent businessperson, what systems had the franchisor put in place to avoid this free riding situation?
To me you’re getting a lot of joy out of a situation that is akin to the franchisor leaving his keys in his unlocked, running car while running in for a pack of smokes.
It’s the franchisor that has the trademark to protect, isn’t it?
Unless of course that the franchisor is apparently so incompetent that this franchisee is actually sets the high-water mark.
These comments in no way defend what appears to be clearly bozo comments. But as in most things in life, God is in the details.
Jean Murray evidently doesn’t know Oly/Lacey/Tumwater very well. My husband and I are mid 50’s, born and lived there for 55+ years. This is a very small city and once you are on the radar for your business practices, it’s lights out. I remember when the Oly brewery had some controversial incident involving the president. A brewery that had thrived for over 100 years, shortly went into a spiral……then was bought out and shut down by a bigger conglomerate brewery.There have been many other such incidents in my short lifetime in Oly.By the way, Oly also has one of the most liberal colleges in the US. They love to fight for the little guy. I think Sean or Danny may have the only answer to the survival of this business. Then again, I hate to see businesses like this thrive in my wonderful home town.
Brillo makes a good point about the thermostat: Why not program it? Plus, electricity for space heaters isn’t cheap. Perhaps they didn’t have the dough to get fuel delivery. They’d be better off just saying that.
Les Stewart, who blogs at Franchise Fool, makes a good point about the franchisors responsibility to protect the brand. Unfortunately, the track record is not good for crisis control judging by the 2005 Olympia Pizza Time protests. As for selectivity, this was a resale are even more lax on the whole. The previous owners may have been worse, as there was a claim on King 5 that a drunken Lacey PT driver caused a fatal crash - WHILE WORKING. I don’t think owner selectivity is a strong suit at Pizza Time.
While Jean & Carol are optomists regarding short memories, my experience in small towns is consistent with Julie’s observation… If you don’t come clean and do some grovelling, they’ll never forgive and never forget.
Thanks for great comments.
The store owner claims that employees can work without heat. That might be possible. But how can their store work without customers? I hope the Pizza Time corporation revokes this guy’s franchise, or at least “puts some heat on him”.
Richard Chemel writes: Sean, Pizza Time Corporate, being a regional franchise needs to quickly douse this wildfire with a crisis-management PR firm…This story is moving virally all over the web, and damage control needs to be initiated quickly.
Richard makes a good point. I agree. He should know… he first tipped me off to the story which he posted on his quirky & fun No-Name247 site at http://eplay.typepad.com
Mike Reeder: good line! This is one owner who could stand a little heat.
Hell, I’ve been boycotting Pizza Time for years on account of their pizza sucking and all.
But this is amazing. The owners of the Lacey Pizza Time are downright proud of their cruelty. A boycott ain’t enough; we should be circulating the names of Gretchen and Luke Benjamin as avidly as possible. Not only are they proud of their cruelty, they’re awfully stupid as well.
So many issues….
This case is destined to become - literally - a textbook example of what NOT to do.
1. The fact that the Pizza Time franchise is not all over this is evidence that there’s a larger organization problem beyond this individual franchise.
2. Yes, Brillo is correct. Program the thermostat. It’s not rocket science. Also, the fact that the Pacific Northwest is having the coldest winter in decades creates an unfortunate cost of doing business. It’s cold, deal with it.
3. This shows and extreme lack of emotional intelligence. http://www.businesspundit.com/emotional-intelligence-not-total-bs/
4. Bottom line: Employees are assets. How much revenue has been lost, and how much costs incurred because of this ridiculous behavior.
Good luck, pizza people!
Lela, who blogs at Accounting Solver, makes some great points.
The first mistake was not paying for heat, the second for not getting hiring some PR help. I’m almost willing to offer my services pro bono
Almost.
OK i may be the only one that has this opinion but Luke owes some major gratitude to Dan for this whole publicity fiasco!
If i recall the old mantra of free advertising!!! I mean i live in missouri and i am hearing about a little hole in the wall pizza place in Lacey, Wa.
I am pretty sure people need to grasp the whole idea of Bad press is still free Advertising, he needs to take part in this whole fiasco and ride the cash train on in to the furnace maker and cash Dan’s little money maker of a bad idea!!
GO LUKE GO!!!! keep it cold in the pizza joint!!!
Really, this is just ridiculous. Have these 2 even owned a business before? You don’t treat your employees like that, even if you think they should be taught a lesson. And smearing the whistleblowers? Unacceptable. I would definitely not patronize that business if I lived there. Additionally, the fact that the franchise headquarters is silent is a bit troubling as well. Glad we don’t have them in my area, I must say.
FYI - I happen to be in the Seattle area tonight and they are I’m the news again. Theybinvitrd one of the fired guys back only to tell him again that he was fired when he showed up.
More excellent press! I can see the case study write up now!
This sort of bad press could harm every branch of the franchise. The other franchisees should consider some kind of action to distance themselves from this mess.
As for the heat - why dont they just get a more efficient heater?
Nate wrote: OK i may be the only one that has this opinion but Luke owes some major gratitude to Dan for this whole publicity fiasco!
I think you’re right, Nate. About being the only one with that opinion, that is. I doubt the phone at Cold Stone Pizza is ringing off the hook.
Becky, who blogs at My Organized Biz, wrote: …the fact that the franchise headquarters is silent is a bit troubling as well.
I agree… very troubling. That’s why people buy franchises - to have professional support. Even at only 25 units they should have a marketing or PR resource that could have been on this immediately. This could have been defused with quick action, statement, press release, etc.
lela wrote: They invited one of the fired guys back only to tell him again that he was fired when he showed up… More excellent press!
Thanks for the tip, lela. I’m going to post on that shortly. Though the story said that he assumed he was being invited back to work, not that they actually said it. I think King 5 put the emphasis on this supposed injustice… probably to fuel the outrage and keep the story burning. I think these franchisees are making a mistake in letting King 5 control this story. The franchisees should issue a statement and try to get their story told through another media outlet.
Thanks for commenting.