Employee experience platform Akumina and iconic quick-service restaurant chain Church’s Chicken joined forces last month – not for a tutorial on creating that famous, handcrafted flavor, but for a webinar focused on Reinforcing Your People Brand with Technology – a project four years in the making for the international chicken giant.
Church’s Chicken began working to develop and execute a fresh, contemporary people brand back in 2018. The process commenced with the surveying of franchise and corporate team members. Once collected and analyzed, the results painted a picture of a company culture not so synonymous with the brand’s bold flavor and proud Texas roots.
“What we were seeing was an absence of pride,” described Karen Viera, Senior Vice President and Global Chief People Officer at Church’s Chicken. “We realized that we were lacking teachable content that would give our team members the guidelines necessary to illustrate behaviors and alignment to the brand – which would ultimately assist them in understanding and truly embracing it’s rich heritage and legacy: thus the emergence of Our Texas Way.”
“Our Texas Way serves as a cultural framework to consistently guide us,” explained Allyson Konrad, Manager of Internal Communications at Church’s Chicken. It’s a set of behaviors that help define our own people brand and empower our team members to authentically live our brand across all interactions – from how they greet customers to how they speak with their colleagues.”
To execute and reinforce this newly developed people brand, Church’s Chicken tapped into technology with their highly resourceful Team Church’s digital workplace platform. In addition to Team Church’s being a one-stop-shop for all company resources, brand news, and employee recognition stories, the hub serves as a space for ongoing communication and engagement with team members, and offers a sense of community by connecting Church’s employees from all across the country.
“This is a platform that allows employee’s voices to be heard,” continued Konrad. “As a unified team, we are bringing the people brand – Our Texas Way – to life with our Team Church’s intranet site, and living up to its company motto – “Whatever you need, you can find it on Team Church’s!”
Founded in San Antonio, Texas, in 1952 by George W. Church, Church’s Chicken is one of the largest quick-service restaurant chicken chains in the world. Church’s specializes in Original and Spicy Chicken freshly prepared throughout the day in small batches that are hand-battered and double-breaded, Chicken Sandwich, Texas Tenders, Honey-Butter Biscuits made from scratch and freshly baked, and classic, homestyle sides all for a great value. Church’s (along with its sister brands Church’s Texas Chicken in the Americas and Texas Chicken outside the Americas) has more than 1,500 locations in 26 countries and international territories. During two national media windows the brand drove sales performance that outpaced the broader QSR category. For more information, visit www.churchs.com. Follow Church’s on Facebook at www.facebook.com/churchschicken and Twitter at www.twitter.com/churchschicken.
