An Appetite for Life

With Burger King opening its 80th restaurant in South Africa and expanding into Sub-Saharan Africa, it was time I sat down with Burger King South Africa's COO, Juan Klopper, to chat about innovation, how the company is faring in South Africa, sustainable practices and productivity.

BY SAARAH SURVÉ

IN YOUR ALMOST SIX YEARS AT BURGER KING, HOW HAVE YOU SEEN THE COMPANY INNOVATE?

As a quick-service restaurant, we need to innovate every day. One of our main priorities is serving our guests with good quality food in a timely manner. To achieve this, we have introduced tech-based systems (some concepts of which we were first to market from a BK® Worldwide perspective) to track speed of service, manage kitchen production, and forecast management. In addition to this, developing self-serving kiosks and implementing mobile payment solutions and loyalty apps has also been a strong focus. On an internal front, we have recently launched a new communications app which will help improve our communication to, and between, restaurants. I am excited to see how this impacts business performance and morale.

BURGER KING OPENED ITS 80TH RESTAU- RANT IN SOUTH AFRICA IN JUNE. HOW IS THE FAST FOOD CHAIN FARING IN SOUTH AFRICA?

There is careful consideration given to where we open restaurants in South Africa. We have a group of experts who analyse, forecast and develop our new sites. Whenever we open a new restaurant it is always well received by the community it serves. We are aware of the demand for more restaurants, and we consider all the requests we receive via social media and other platforms. Slowing down now is the last thing on our minds – we want to double our network as quickly as possible.

OTHER FAST FOOD CHAINS HAVE AN- NOUNCED THAT BY 2025 ALL OF THEIR RESTAURANTS WILL HAVE PACKAGING, IN- CLUDING STRAWS, THAT ARE MADE FROM RENEWABLE, RECYCLED OR CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE SOURCES. WHAT IS BURGER KING SA DOING TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND A LESSER IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT?

Another priority of ours is to consider the environment – it is part of our ongoing strategy. Before entering the country in 2013, we spent a lot of time ensuring we sourced our food and packaging from sustainable suppliers. The exciting thing is that producers are investing in new technologies that will make these packaging types more competitively priced and, in the long term, this will allow companies to make the transition quite easily.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT AS COO?

I’m a numbers guy, so turning negative sales growth into positive sales growth has been a big milestone for me and my team. Personally, opening our 80th restaurant has been one of my most memorable moments. It signified a more stable and profitable business with massive growth potential, which ensures we are unlocking the value of our shareholder investments, and it instils the trust bestowed on me to manage the business.

Other moments include being awarded second place at the Ask Afrika Awards for Service Excellence in South Africa. We were also the overall winners in the quick-service restaurant industry, which is a big achievement for us.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE?

I believe in creating an inclusive environment that is benevolent. I rely on the experts in my team for feedback and deliberation. I believe in communication, being open to feedback, and avoiding the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO) syndrome. It all comes down to trust – I trust in my team and in turn my team trusts me.

WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY?

I believe in focusing on the success and profitability of the brand by developing an effective organisation with discipline and functioning systems and technologies. Leading a tight knit team that focuses on accountability and performance, based on SMART strategic and operational objectives.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED AND WHO WAS IT FROM?

Never stop doing your job or supporting what the business needs, no matter the pressure, stress or circumstance. I learned this lesson through experience.

DO YOU HAVE ANY RITUALS FOR REMAIN- ING FOCUSED AND ENSURING PRODUCTIV- ITY THROUGHOUT THE DAY?

I believe in constantly improving your effectiveness, and never doing the same thing twice. If there is automation or a business rule you can develop to execute your work next time, then adopt it. Productivity and effectiveness are what create change in a business, not working harder or longer hours.

HOW DO YOU BEAT PROCRASTINATION?

Just start. Try to finish the entire concept in a maximum of 15 minutes. Try to conceptualise the beginning and end in terms of the absolute minimal critical path and leave perfections at the door to ensure you dumb it down to a 15-minute exercise. This will quickly show you which elements are the most critical and where your focus should be spent to finish the project off to the level of sophistication it demands at a later stage. Once you have the end in sight, the rest can be filled in through revision and delegation.