Restaurant franchisees don’t often have the chance to moonlight as tech entrepreneurs, but for John Carlew, a Houston-based operator of three Bullritos fast-casual restaurants, his second job as co-founder of mobile survey platform Live Feedback Now has him working overtime to improve his restaurants’ operations.
Dissatisfied with the comment cards, mystery shopper services and online-feedback functions he had used during his 33 years franchising Chick-fil-A, Quiznos Sub and Cici’s Pizza units, Carlew was motivated to develop his own method to solicit customer feedback in a way that was easier and more immediate. He worked with mobile technology executives to develop a system that allows customers use simple text-message functionality on their mobile phones to answer a short survey specific to the restaurant in which they’re dining. Read more.