Irving Forestier was the first to open a Jeremiah’s Italian Ice franchise in 2019 — and in January of this year, he also opened the company's 100th store.
But his tenure with the company goes back to when he started as a server in 1999 at the company's original Winter Park store at 6864 Aloma Ave., which still stands. The business was only three years old then.
Having been along for the ride for 24 years, he wasn’t surprised Jeremiah’s was just named among Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 150 New and Emerging Franchise Brands of 2023, Forestier said. More than 1,000 brands applied to be on the magazine's annual Franchise 500 list, and of them, 360 were 5 years old or younger. Among them, Entrepreneur chose 150 fast-growing franchises — including Jeremiah's — with fresh, innovative concepts.
Irving said much of the company's innovation is shared with franchisees, which helps them become successful.
“Jeremiah's offers a lot of support and if you have a question, there are people to reach to that are willing to help guide you through those processes," he said.
Some of that support comes in human form, but digital platforms also play an important role.
When Jeremiah's began franchising nationwide four years ago, the corporate team needed to choose digital support systems that would grow with the company, said IT Manager Andrew McCallister. Four digital platforms are partly responsible for Jeremiah’s success, and each one was chosen for its best-in-class capabilities and user-friendliness, McCallister said.
Jeremiah's Italian Ice
Company leaders needed a "tech stack," technology applications that businesses employ that work well together and adapt to the company's evolving needs. A tech stack is an infrastructure of digital building blocks that meet a company's communications, marketing, accounting, inventory management and other needs. The choices a company makes for its tech stack have near-term and long-term implications for operations, digital integrations and hiring.
"When you are selecting any kind of software, you have to read the fine print," said Nate West, president and CEO of Orlando-based web development firm BizzyNate Creative Inc. "In addition to hearing the sales pitch, you need to ask the right questions about a platform. You could put two or three platforms together next to each other and see that they have similar capabilities at the surface, but what's underneath them and how they intercommunicate with other systems is going to make all the difference in business efficiency."
West — whose clients are businesses, nonprofits and political candidates — has seen software developers chose applications that work for customers and clients, but not for the companies themselves. "They mistakenly looked past how applications were going to help their businesses perform all operations.
"For example, things break apart when you have a system that has a great way of collecting data, but doesn't share that data with other systems. Then you can't create proper flows that either make the customer experience better or make the business more efficient because it's going to require more manual operation by a staff member to achieve what should have been there in the software in the first place."
That said, there are so many applications in the marketplace, it can be daunting selecting the right ones for your business.
Andrew Floyd, COO of the Orlando-based influencer marketing firm UTG Agency, navigated the muddy waters of tech stack decision-making last year and learned something about himself, he told Orlando Inno.
"I have been the shiny object guy who sees a platform, I like some of the functionality and it just looks so great that I jump into it before I look at all the functionalities it offers versus the functionalities we need. I committed to some and even signed contracts; upon going through them, I realized, 'This has some functionality that's lacking.' I realized I need to be okay with slowing down, looking at all the options each asset offers and doing multiple calls and checking out multiple different applications that are in the same category so I can compare and contrast."
The team at Jeremiah's did exactly that: it compared, contrasted and chose the following four tools:
Graphic design tool for creating brand-approved marketing content
- Features sought: Built-in brand assets, templates, user-friendly for design novices
- Platform chosen: Marvia, a digital asset management and virtual templating tool for marketing and brand materials
- Application success story: McCallister said the franchisees can create graphics with Marvia that can apply to social media, ads and even more — like the dessert shops' menu board systems. “Each store has at least three menu boards, and one of them is running promotional graphics constantly that we can update from the national level, so everyone has the same ones and they are tailored to a store as well. If you're having a special event at your store, you can use Marvia to create a graphic for that and then submit it. We can have that running at your store ahead of time so guests will know about it.”
Jeremiah’s popular loyalty platform racks up points for customers
- Features sought: Robust range of features and add-ons for Jeremiah’s J-List Rewards customization, integration with point of sale system
- Platform chosen: Punchh, a white label provider
- Application success story: Director of Brand Development Devin Schneider told Orlando Inno he's pleased with how the platform functions — and even happier with customer adoption rates. “Twenty-five percent of all orders use the app, which is really strong. The benchmark in our sector of quick-service snack concepts is somewhere between 6% and 8%." The chain expects to roll out an updated version of J-List in 12 to 18 months — a tiered reward system that will give guests more flexibility in how to spend loyalty points, Schneider said.
A cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system accessible from anywhere
- Features sought: Customizable, integrates well with the company's other chosen applications, cloud-based
- Platform chosen: Revel, which accepts payments and tracks sales data
- Application success story: Forestier said he can open the app on his computer or phone to check a store's sales for the day, as well as compare it to the previous day or to his other shops. "I can also track labor, and I use that data for scheduling. Are we overstaffed at certain times? Are we understaffed? When I see a trend, I shift the schedule. Instead of having someone come in at 5 p.m., maybe they need to come in at 6 p.m. or maybe they need to come in at 4 p.m. It just depends where sales are trending.”
Fine-tuned reputation management app to gather customer data
- Features sought: Quick analysis and insights, smooth integrations, customer interface
- Platform chosen: Yext, which integrates with more than 150 platforms, including Google Business Profile, Facebook and TripAdvisor
- Application success story: Schneider said there's no need to manage different logins and access for all these platforms. "You can get analysis of your overall review score across the internet and interface with all those reviews in that platform so you can actually respond to these guests."
If it sounds like four platforms is a lot to juggle, Forestier says not so. In the current sales and marketing landscape, a business may engage with dozens of digital platforms day to day. The company's selections are designed to streamline that and simplify it for franchisees, he told Orlando Inno.
"They're constantly trying to simplify things. So if there's an issue here or there, they're always on it, aware of it and trying to figure out how to make it easier."
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