Using only the best ingredients for 30 years, Papa John's is embracing high-profile branding opportunities with the National Football League and leveraging the newest technology for maximum success as it expands internationally.

For Papa John's, it's all about the quality. Offering fresh and tasty ingredients distinguishes it from others in a crowded pizza market, the company says. "We have better ingredients, better pizza. That really is what we are all about," says Tony Thompson, president and chief operating officer.

Papa John's slogan, "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. " describes its "all-natural sauce, freshly cut vegetables and premium meats and cheeses," the company says.

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Hilton Worldwide’s supply management philosophy is to provide anything to its customers at its locations everywhere.

Customer requests in the hospitality industry can be many and varied, and it is the job of Hilton Supply Management to make sure that whether a customer requires a toothpick in Syracuse or a new pillow in Singapore that it is there. Such attention to detail and unfailing service has made the Hilton name synonymous with a high level of hospitality among a variety of the world’s cultures. It also requires constant attention and evaluation of systems to deliver such service reliably.

The supply chain that serves Hilton’s properties is not exempt from this examination. “So fundamentally – what we need to do as Hilton, as an organization – we want to be able to serve any customer anywhere in the world for any of their lodging needs,” Senior Vice President of Supply Management Bill Kornegay says. “As a procurement company, we have to make sure their goods are at the right location in the right quantity at the cost that we agreed upon.”

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McDonald’s sells millions of sandwiches each day. Consumers are handed their food in a paper bag – the food goes down the hatch, the paper in the trash. The customers might have a general end-user idea about how the sandwich came to be – especially if it’s "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – all on a sesame seed bun” – but they think nothing of the packaging it came in. Even though the average McDonald’s patron may not know it, the process that brought that bag to fruition is just as intricate as the layers of a Big Mac.

It involves the corporate office, owner-operators and suppliers working in a collaborative effort to produce the best product for the lowest cost, and that process delves deeper than just the food itself. The customer might not eat it, but that bag factors into the price of the sandwich, too. To keep the price tag low for the consumer, McDonald’s, and subsequently its suppliers, has to keep its overhead low. Businesses around the globe know this simple concept, but it can take different forms. For some, automation or employee cross-training have been the solutions because they allow em­ployers to get more done with less manpower.

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Franchisees must be prepared to navigate a vastly different real estate market

than they did 12 or 18 months ago.

By Brian Bern and Samantha Berk

Lack of space, ever-increasing rental rates and increased competition from corporate tenants and new concepts are squeezing franchisees out of prime locations. But franchisees can navigate these critical stages of the real estate cycle by acting fast, demonstrating value and negotiating smart terms.

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