Bob Fish, CEO of Biggby Coffee (Carol Mugo & Kevin Beard)

Bob Fish, also know as “Biggby Bob”, is the CEO of Biggby Coffee. We looked at the Biggby operation, its evolution over the past 16 years, and Bob’s role in the company during that time period. Bob was kind enough to grant us an interview thus providing us with insight of how Biggby came to be and why it has become so successful. Bob sold his Flap Jack Shack restaurant in 1993 and developed the Biggby concept (it was known as Beaners when it first opened). He opened his first shop in 1995 and a second in 1997. The first franchise store was opened in 1999. Bob’s role has evolved from “chief cook and bottle washer” requiring very long days to one of coach, trainer, marketer, and promoter as new shops open under the franchise.


1. How is the Green (Create) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Left Flap Jack (a limited concept) and started his own store.
- Demonstrated perseverance and commitment to his vision– applied for financing 8 times.
-Took an existing product and created a naming and marketing scheme based around quality and customer relations for all socio-economic levels.
- Created unique and amusing flavor names, e.g. Sugar Bear and Caramel Marvel.
- Developed a unique marshmallow sauce over a four-month period of trial and error with the help of Ohio-based Phillips Syrup, a leading manufacturer of specialty syrups and flavorings. Biggby was the first retailer to introduce the marshmallow to the gourmet coffee segment.
- Expanded vision when he realized franchising was realistic after seeking local expertise from Mary Ellen Sheets (Two Men and a Truck).

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Energy, excitement, and enthusiasm; all three are equally important.
- Franchise owners had successful but boring careers, wanted to personally own something that was visionary and exiting and not just be part of a “suit and tie” culture.
- Emphasis placed on the customer’s experience and satisfaction.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Obvious in the early days of Bearers when idea was just getting started – survive another day.
- Thrive and open additional stores. 25 of the 35 area coffee shops are Biggby stores.


2. How is the Blue (Compete) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Bob is focused on bottom line results and competing. He is up at 5 am every morning to look at store performance sheets in order to ensure that the stores are performing and bringing in enough revenue.
- Changing company name from “Beaners” to “Biggby” – Market based decision; very Blue in terms of attracting a customer population that had been left out.
- Emphasis is on operation not location. “Location is important, but we have a store in Kalamazoo that is not on the best piece of real estate," Fish said. "However, word of mouth marketing, great operators, and a great product can make a B or a C property perform like an A site."
- Measure competitiveness through customer counts (sales in market and repeat business) and beverage checks (volume in a store).

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Top-line driven. The goal is to make more today than was made yesterday.
- Revenue solves all problems. But that is done by focusing on the customer. "The way to do this is to convince people to come in more often and tell others to come in," Fish said.
- Measuring store performance to identify which stores need help.
- Fast communication between stores and corporate office. No problem can be hidden for long.
- Biggby continues to double in size every two years.
- 100 stores in nine states generate $40 million in revenue; 66 more are in some stage of completion.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Maximize profit; continue to grow on a day to day basis and in terms of opening more stores; (Benedetti, Crain’s Detroit).
- “Without profit there is no value” (Slowik, G.R Business Journal).
- Growth rate was almost 10% in 2010
- Continue to experience increased sales per store
- Open more stores
- Happy customers mean repeat business and “word of mouth” sales.


3. How is the Red (Control) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Willingness to work extremely hard to see the company be successful and expect the same from employees and franchisees.
- Writing down all things. Documentation of policies to ensure nothing is forgotten.
- Simplicity through systems. Having a system allows a small business to grow while enabling corporate to keep an eye on store performance.
- Create the backbone of the organization; established policies and operations manual.
- Very black or white way to set up, organize and execute everything.
- Dedication, dependability and desire. There needs to be an insatiable desire to improve; "The finish line is never there” Fish said.

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Consistency of how things get done in the store will get repeat business…more important than store location.
- Consistent training across stores and franchises. Everyone is continuously working to improve performance.
- Corporate pays for all training.
- Training standard: whether or not training is transferred - measured by a score card (1 or 0, doing or not doing)
- End of day performance from each store immediately sent to head office for review – consistency and control
- PERC (an acronym to highlight some of Fish's business mantras, which are Perception by the customer, Every customer leaves the store in a better mood, Recognize each customer as an individual, and Consistently provide a high-quality beverage) and Core values; emphasis of PERC and core values is on the importance of the customer.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Excellent standard of quality across all stores and a level of customer service consistent in all locations.
- Ties back to company’s cultural and core values.


4. How is the Yellow (Collaborate) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Changed company name from “Beaners” to “Biggby” to avoid racist connotations and educate his company's current customer base. Managed change in a very Yellow way to achieve a very Blue outcome.
- Mr. Fish loves interacting with customers and occasionally pops into the stores where he buys customers coffee once a week; came up with the 21st-century version of a folksy attitude for marketing a coffee place that's designed for people who have never been to Seattle.
- Personally engages and gives back to the community, e.g. supporting the Coppell Cowboys Little League baseball teams, a division of the Coppell Baseball Association (CBA) in Texas, taking part in the Madison Heights, MI concert to benefit Animal Welfare Society "Santa Paws Java Jam", and partnering with Mel Trotter Ministries for their Easter Outreach Operation called “Hope Tote!” to collect basic personal hygiene items and distribute them to the homeless and needy in Grand Rapids, MI.
- Uses social media to keep it touch with customers (Facebook and Twitter). Uses criticism as a teachable moment; posts criticism from customers on Twitter (Asmus blog).
- Faith, confidence and courage. Fish called these the most important personal aspects to succeed in the business.
- uses intuition as much as track record to assess franchise applicants when determining if they have what it takes to successfully run a store

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Engaging the community - giving is getting. "For us, ROI is return on involvement," Fish said. "We're in a constant state of give”.
- Fish is very collaborative with his franchisees - maintains significant contact with them through store visits, phone, and email. Also maintains considerable interaction with customers by visiting and buying coffee for customers. When it comes to big changes in the organization, Bob seeks advice from his team but maintains final decision making.
- The franchisees themselves exhibit a lot of yellow (Youssef, Detroit News). They exhibit a lot of the same characteristics as Bob thus work well together to ensure the success of the business.
- Corporate office feels like a coffee shop and contains a lounge to help reduce employee tension and stress during work hours.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Happy customers who feel they can influence the company with their critiques and suggestions will become return customers since the company actually pays attention to them.
- Expect to have happy franchisees that find corporate helpful, and in turn will put their best foot forward for the success of the company.


5. To the extent that your chosen organization is deficient in one or more of the Four
Quadrants, please discuss how the organization could improve upon them.

Green Quadrant
- Hard to determine what the next big vision for the company is other than adding to the number of franchises.
- There is a natural limit to the food and beverage market without constant reinvention and repackaging. Bob admits he entered the market as coffee was ascending in popularity.
- The very nature of franchising does not encourage creativity in the front line where a corporate template is expected to be followed.
- Difficult to determine how much innovation is being generated by the franchisees and how much by corporate.