Success Story

How Yoshinoya Aligns Company Priorities Based on Customer Feedback

How the 77 franchise brand in the US now puts data behind every decision and isolates top opportunities for improvement.

yoshinoya beef don

“If you honestly want to improve, you need data from our guests and be willing to make adjustments.”

Damon Thomas
VP of Operations
Yoshinoya

damon thomas yoshinoya
yoshinoya beef don

ABOUT YOSHINOYA

Japanese-Inspired. World-Renowned.

Established in 1899, Yoshinoya (𠮷野家) is a Japanese multinational fast food chain, and the second-largest chain of gyūdon (beef bowl) restaurants. The chain now spans across 10+ countries around the world.

Brand Overview

Integrations: Olo, Punchh
Locations: 77
Tattle partner since: 2022

THE CHALLENGE

Anecdotal Feedback Wasn’t Sufficient for Operational Needs

Prior to Tattle, Yoshinoya mainly relied on anecdotal feedback through emails or phone calls, and those were typically negative rather than constructive.

“We were looking for a way of using customer feedback to quantify [the impact of] the changes we were making, such as upgrades to our menu items, and level set where our guests think we do well,” said Damon Thomas, VP of Operations at Yoshinoya.

In addition, the feedback through emails and phone calls was typically delayed, making it difficult to investigate issues or recover customers promptly.

“Now with real-time feedback using Tattle, we can have the data at your fingertips and know exactly what’s going on, adjust quickly, and make decisions quickly based on it,” said Damon.

yoshinoya tattle case study
tattle dashboard metrics

THE TATTLE SOLUTION

Evaluating Priorities Based on Customer Feedback

With Tattle, Yoshinoya is now receiving 600+ survey submissions per day. In turn, the platform digests all the data and recommends top improvement opportunities for each location, as well as the entire brand.

“One of the big surprises is that a couple of the things that we thought would be much higher priorities for us, were actually not as highly valued by our customers,” said Damon.

One example is speed of service, which the leadership team thought was a key opportunity for improvement. However, feedback showed that guests were already satisfied in that area.

“The fact that Tattle could break down each improvement opportunity by day parts, days of the week, channels and more helps us pinpoint exactly what to focus on first,” said Damon.

With the 30-day moving average trends, Damon bookmarks new changes and observes it’s impact on guest satisfaction.

“It’s reassuring that we’ve been able to make decisions based on real guest feedback, and it has improved our satisfaction scores,” said Damon.

THE TATTLE SOLUTION

Easily Getting Team Buy-In With Data Evidence

“When you’re able to put data behind decisions, it’s much easier to get buy-in from the team,” said Damon.

As data collected through Tattle filters down to the individual restaurant level, leadership can now leverage location-specific satisfaction data to align team members on priorities.

For example, data on Tattle shows that “attentiveness”, rather than “friendliness”, is the key area for improvement under Hospitality. This helps the cashiers and team members understand the difference between the two: the former entails being able to focus on the guest and not distracted — which is greatly valued by the customers.

“We have a customer service team member whose focus is taking care of guest concerns and feedback,” said Damon. “She loves the platform, and our goal is to move all guest communications into Tattle, and respond to them from there.”

Guest Recovery
Tattle Customer Survey

THE TATTLE SOLUTION

A Partnership Characterized by Trust and Expertise

Damon chose Tattle not just for the robust platform, but also for the partnership with the Tattle team.

“It truly feels like a partnership with Tattle,” said Damon. “We get a lot of value out of that — not just the data, but also insights from your team about exactly what to do with the data.”

The Tattle customer success team adopts a hands-on, consultative approach, offering concierge services from survey configuration and integration, to touchpoint strategies and staff training.

“My advice to those restaurant brands who are still hesitant to bring on a guest feedback platform like Tattle — just do it,” Damon said. “If you honestly want to improve, you need data from the source and a willingness to make adjustments.”

The Results

%

Survey Completion Rate

%

Guests Satisfied With Replies

%

Incident Reply Rate

yoshinoya Chicken Teriyaki

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