Make It Right: Customer Experience is the Competitive Advantage

Customer experience matters

During a busy weekday lunch rush in downtown Orlando, a Firehouse Subs guest made an honest mistake. They grabbed the wrong online order from the pickup shelf and didn’t realize it until they were back at the office. They called the restaurant to explain what happened.

Without hesitation, the general manager remade the order and personally delivered it to the customer’s office. “The customer was so excited to get their lunch,” says franchise owner Scott Anthony, a multi-unit franchisee with 23 Firehouse Subs in Central Florida and Wisconsin. “But for my general manager and her team, there was never any other option than to make it right.”

For Anthony, moments like this aren’t unusual. They’re the standard he sets and expects at each of his locations. “I live by the customer service motto, ‘Do whatever it takes to make it right,’ and I instill this into our customer service culture within my business,” Anthony says.

Once considered a marketing tactic or frontline training topic, customer experience (CX) has moved to the center of operations. Top multi-unit franchisees like Anthony are treating CX as an operating discipline, building systems that remove friction, empowering teams to act in the moment, and using local insight to turn routine transactions into reasons to return. Consistency to connection Across franchise categories where consumers have endless options and little patience, franchisees can no longer rely on price, convenience, or brand recognition.

Guests expect the same product, service, speed, and brand promise at every touchpoint and location. But consistency alone no longer sets operators apart. “You don’t want to just make people feel accepted.

That’s now just part of the necessary elements in order to even be part of the conversation,” says Hannibal Myers, a multi-unit franchisee of 31 Church’s Texas Chicken in Southern California and Western Arizona. “You want them to feel invited.” At Myers’ restaurants, creating an inviting feel starts with small, intentional actions such as acknowledging guests as soon as they walk in, offering reassurance during a wait, and creating welcoming spaces.

“It makes you feel like you’re seen,” Myers explains. “It just kind of allows them to relax a little bit and anticipate what’s coming next.” A veteran franchise executive with decades of development experience and senior franchisor leadership roles spanning Wendy’s, Shoney’s, and other major brands, Myers says the modern approach to CX is more nuanced than ever before.

“It’s how do you allow the customer to customize their experience in a way that resonates with them rather than just in a way that you choose to deliver it?” he says. That shift extends far beyond the front counter, shaping how franchisees lead, hire, and engage with their employees and communities.

For multi-unit operators, creating a personal touch at every location takes more than just following checklists. “Today’s customer experience champions are going to understand the need to be culture specific, not just behavior specific,” Myers says. Giving employees the right tools, training, and incentives helps teams consistently anticipate and deliver great experiences.

Myers advises franchise owners to reinforce this mindset by being present and involved. “In the restaurant or franchise of whatever stripe, there should be some pride of ownership that we’re going to make our guests feel like they are welcome in our environment, and we are so happy to see them, and we can’t wait to serve them. The person who does that is going to get that repeat visit as opposed to just one,” Myers says.

“That’s what everybody’s fighting for these days. There are no more magic bullets or silver bullets to wow the customer. The wow now is consistent, authentic desire to serve someone and have them leave knowing that they are appreciated.”

Technology and data

Providing a great customer experience matters more than ever. PwC’s research shows that as expectations grow, customers prefer businesses that respect their time, treat them as individuals, and offer smooth service. According to PwC’s 2025 Customer Experience Survey, more than half of consumers (52%) stopped buying from a brand after a bad experience.

Almost a third (29%) left because of poor customer service, whether online or in person. From tech to trust As multi-unit operations grow more complex, technology increasingly shapes the customer experience. Best-in-class operators, however, use their tech-driven systems and tools like automation to support human connection, not replace it.

That philosophy is central to Glo30, a fast-growing skincare franchise that emphasizes accessibility, personalization, and recurring relationships. Kasey Redus opened Glo30’s first franchise location in Austin in the fall of 2024 and now has six studios open or under development. She plans to ultimately own 14 locations.

A former Primrose School franchisee for 13 years, Redus was drawn to Glo30’s monthly membership model that was designed to make skincare approachable and part of a regular routine. Clients start with an AI-powered skin analysis that helps the nurses and estheticians guide a personalized treatment plan that takes into account age, environment, and specific skin concerns. Treatments and products are adjusted monthly to reflect seasonal changes, giving members something new to experience while keeping the overall approach familiar.

“We provide whatever the customer is looking for at that moment,” Redus says. “The relationship is definitely there, and the journey is fun.” While the doctor-founded brand supplies the systems and structure, the most impactful moments happen when employees have room to connect locally, she says.

At a West Lake Hills studio in Austin, Texas, an esthetician suggested hosting a client appreciation event where members would pot Japanese plants together. “Pick a date,” Redus recalls saying. The event had little to do with skincare and everything to do with creating community.

“All the time, someone’s coming up with something cute, and it’s really just to give back to the members,” says Redus, pointing to Friendsgiving gatherings, happy hours for members and their friends, and other events that are hosted by her teams. Scaling that kind of culture across multiple locations requires discipline. Redus relies on franchisor-provided digital tools for support and a daily training app used across the system.

“It doesn’t take long,” she says. “Sometimes, it’s a video. Sometimes, it’s something to read.

Then there’s a quick test. But it’s constant.” At Firehouse Subs, Anthony focuses on hiring and training people he trusts to make decisions.

New hires receive hands-on instruction and go through the Firehouse Subs Training Academy. They learn both the operating procedures and the brand’s roots in firefighting, public service, and community impact. “The hiring process for me is still based on positive attitude and positive culture,” Anthony says.

“We can train anyone on our process and procedures. We can’t train a positive attitude.” From that foundation, Anthony’s employees have the confidence to act when something goes wrong.

“Every team member has the authority to correct issues immediately, always striving to deliver the best food and service in the business,” he says. Getting personal Few businesses are as personal and complex as nonmedical home care, where services are delivered in clients’ homes. Thomas Mangas, a multi-unit HomeWell Care Services franchisee in Colorado, sees customer experience as more than a differentiator.

It’s the business. “It’s the most personal, intimate service you can imagine,” Mangas says. “We’re going into people’s homes one-on-one with caregivers who start off as strangers and doing everything from companionship, playing games, and talking to them all the way through end-of-life, bed-bound care.”

A former C-suite executive, Mangas entered the space in 2020 and saw a fragmented industry with enormous opportunity. “The only way you can differentiate is the quality of your execution,” Mangas says. Mangas got busy applying a corporate operating model to his people-driven processes.

He says that when he arrived, “everyone kind of did all the jobs.” He restructured the business and defined functional roles across HR, care management, recruiting, and sales. He also invested heavily in the training and systems needed to support a growing operation, covering certification costs for his care management team and liaisons to become Certified Dementia Practitioners.

To manage the day-to-day challenge of pairing caregivers with clients, Mangas put scheduling, communication, and performance platforms in place, including WellSky, to help track arrival times, completed tasks, and follow-through in the field. Each move brought more consistency and accountability, making it easier for Mangas to share best practices across his organization. Today, he operates five offices and employs roughly 270 caregivers across eight territories, quadrupling sales since his first acquisition.

Future of customer experience

In 2025, Franchise Business Review named him a Franchisee Rock Star, recognizing his leadership and impact among a field of hundreds of nominees across North America. His advice for fellow franchisees is straightforward: “You’ve got to invest well ahead of the growth and continue to invest ahead of growth,” Mangas says. “You can’t escape velocity without significant investment.”

Where it matters Data provides franchisees another way to sharpen their performance at the local level, but more information doesn’t automatically lead to better decisions, Myers cautions. “Just having the data is like having a sheet of paper with a bunch of numbers on it,” Myers says. “It’s what you do with it that makes all the difference.”

The real skill, Myers says, is knowing what deserves attention and what doesn’t. Owners who spend time in their stores and stay closely connected to their communities can pick up things that make metrics matter: casual customer comments, familiar ordering habits, or minor shifts in traffic tied to local routines. “If you know your customers and if you’re part of the community, you have a much better feel for what’s important,” Myers says.

Those observations give the numbers context and often explain what dashboards can’t. Patterns begin to emerge when customers repeatedly mention what they like or what they wish were different. Franchisees can act on that feedback and/or pass it along to their franchisor, he says.

When teams recognize regulars, prepare for predictable rushes, and adjust staffing or prep accordingly, they tend to move more smoothly and make customers feel noticed. When those practices are supported by data and shared across locations, they are easier to repeat to drive growth. Still, Myers cautions against letting metrics become the goal instead of the guide.

“Not all profit is good profit,” he says. The power of feedback Tracking customer reviews and surveys is a critical part of Anthony’s quest to provide a best-in-class customer experience. “When someone takes the time to tell us how we did, good or bad, they’re doing us a huge favor,” Anthony says.

He encourages his leadership teams to personally reach out and thank every customer who leaves feedback. Positive reviews are used to recognize employees and celebrate success. Complaints are handled differently and directly, often with an offer to provide the customer with their next order on the house.

Anthony also keeps a close eye on OSAT scores for both in-house and digital orders. Rather than relying solely on the numbers as online ordering increased, his team invested more time in the field, watching customers move through the to-go pickup space. They noticed where people slowed down or got confused when looking for drink cups, backtracking for sides, or hesitating around pickup shelves.

In Anthony’s newest restaurant, drinks and sides can now be found within arm’s reach of the pickup counter. “Our customers told us that when they order digital, they not only want their food ready when they arrive, but they want to get in and out as quickly and easily as possible,” Anthony says. “Our new restaurant design allows that to happen.”

At HomeWell Care Services, Mangas looks to data and structured feedback systems to spot problems, recognize strong performance, and make operational adjustments over time. On the client side, customer experience shows up in ratings and referrals. Internally, he studies monthly client and caregiver reviews, which measure satisfaction using Net Promoter Scores and open-ended feedback in clients and caregivers’ own words.

“We get a monthly report that breaks down communication, caregiver match, responsiveness, the whole shooting match,” Mangas says. “We get to read and see that very specific customer feedback with verbatim caregiver feedback. It allows our leadership team to home in on soft spots and recognize team members when it’s great feedback.”

Sometimes, frontline insight doesn’t just improve a store; it benefits the entire brand but only if a franchisor listens. Two years ago, Anthony approached Firehouse Subs leadership with a locally inspired idea: adding french fries to the menu at his high-traffic mall location. “Hot subs and hot fries—what a great combo,” Anthony says.

Customers agreed. What started as a market-specific experiment is now rolling out system wide with fries already in hundreds of locations and full adoption planned by the end of 2026. The future Looking ahead, Myers says the next phase of CX innovation will come from franchisors that balance brand discipline with local expression.

The strongest franchises, he says, will preserve what makes a brand recognizable while giving franchisees the flexibility to customize and reflect the communities they serve, whether that means celebrating a nearby school, recognizing graduation season, or finding small ways to show up beyond the transaction. In a marketplace where consumers are stretched for time, money, and attention, Myers still sees opportunity. “If we can aspire to have interactions with our guests during the time that they are there, it just feels like a sea of positiveness,” Myers says.

“And I think it will bode well for the brands and for franchising in general since what we should be about is serving our guests and representing our individual brands in a way that makes those brands something that the customer wants to interact with increasing frequency.” In today’s franchise landscape, that kind of consistency—quiet, personal, and intentional—may be the most durable competitive advantage there is.