Scott Simon joined drive-thru chain Swiss Farms in 2016 from the resort and casino industry to begin a complete retooling of the stores and to implement an enhanced customer experience through technology. He leads a cross-functional team tasked with modernizing the business as a quick-service retail destination.
The company is now in the final stages of implementing a loyalty program with an e-commerce platform adopting pay-ahead, order-ahead and predictive-order modeling.
“It is all about building an experience as we look to maintain an active social media and web presence and correlate that to our guests in our [drive-thru] lanes,” says Simon, who is the company’s president and CEO. “That doesn’t even scratch the surface when you factor in all of the digital marketing efforts on social-media platforms, geofencing and focused digital ads.”
Simon developed and implemented new logistic models and renegotiated administrative policies including banking, leasing, vendors and maintenance. “We are at a point where we have tightened our processes and procedures so that is all muscle memory,” he says. “It is block and tackle.”
And Simon is staging Swiss Farms for growth. He has developed a road show for courting corporate or private-equity partners on expansion.
“What Jeff Bezos and Amazon have done is nothing short of downright terrifying,” he says of the retailer’s disruption. “We would actually love to partner with them.”
“We have tightened our processes and procedures so that is all muscle memory.”