Leading By Listening To Your Customers

According to market data, 90% of American consumers use customer service experiences to decide whether it’s worth continuing to do business with an establishment.

That same data also illustrates that it can be nearly twenty times as expensive to invest in new customers as it is to retain existing ones.

And, in the fast food industry, retaining your customers is directly tied to their experiences in more ways than in other industries. This is due to the intangible nature of the service: Customers don’t get to peek into the kitchen to see if their food is being made correctly. All they have to work with is the finished product and the dining experience.

One restaurateur Artavazd Galstyan, who launched the Armenian-American fast-food style restaurant Artie’s Express in Glendale, California in 2021 with resounding success, says that he owes his profitable venture to his company’s ability to not only listen to but accept the feedback of his customers.

To Galstyan, listening more than you speak and dedication to “customer and quality” builds the leadership habits that every successful food business requires.

Not surprisingly, he’s not alone.

Armenian Business Practice in the United States

Some of the most popular organizations in operation today were founded by Armenians.

Some of the most notable include the social media platform Reddit, the home-servicing app ServiceTitan, and the video game development studio Bungie (which Microsoft bought in 2000 for north of $20 million), most notably known for its Halo series.

All three of these Armenian-founded businesses garnered notable market share in the United States.

What’s more, all three of these organizations claim a focus on community-building in their company values: Reddit’s goals are to “bring community and belonging to everyone in the world”; ServiceTitan judges their success “by one metric: the success of [its] customers”; and Bungie embraces “discussion and constructive feedback.”

Leading With Authenticity

Perhaps Armenian culture places a focus on listening to others. Regardless, it’s in the application of customer feedback that retains 90% of their customer base.

Galstyan’s focus in opening Artie’s Express was keeping the taste of his unique cuisine as authentic as possible, bringing healthy choices to the quick-serve industry. “We have our own recipes, and the challenge we faced opening our business was the taste. There are a lot of Mediterranean restaurants here [in the US], and not all of [their cuisines] taste like they do in Mediterranean countries,” he told Ivoox in an interview.

Galstyan wanted to bring clean, freshly prepared, healthy, ready-to-go Mediterranean food to an industry that, he believes, tends to lack authenticity. “I can probably say that ours is the real taste, so I can promise our customers that when they try it, they can taste the difference between the fake and the real.”

The food you can buy at Artie’s Express is cook-to-order and backed by daily produce deliveries. “Anyone who wants to eat gourmet and healthy can find just that at Artie’s,” he says.

Staying Unique Among Diversity

“The diversity here [in the US] was a challenge, he explains. “People love different food here, but not everyone knows what real Mediterranean food tastes like.”

“I was asking [customers who had never tried Mediterranean food before], ‘How does it taste?’ and they responded, ‘It tastes good! I’ve never tasted anything like this before.’”

Throughout this one-on-one market research, Galstyan’s focus always stayed on his customers. “We were constantly thinking how they were going to react and how they were going to like it.” According to Galstyan, another crucial aspect in both the success and quality of Artie’s meals are the spices they use, which are sourced from various Middle Eastern countries and give their dishes a consistent and signature flavor.

Responsibility for Family and Customers

Galstyan feels a deep sense of responsibility towards his customers and his family-owned business.

“The family business is a big struggle,” he says. “We’ve put our lives into it, and I feel a big responsibility to keep it growing.” He feels an even stronger sense of duty to his future children, saying “I want to pass this growth down to them.”

But ultimately, he understands that this can only happen with a continued focus on product quality and excellent customer service.

“We only use organic food, and I think the taste is the number one thing that makes us unique. Customers come back to us and say things like, ‘This was really good, what is this?’ We communicate with our customers, it’s not only just about the business.”

This vast sense of responsibility to the customer has put Artie’s Express on track to launch two more locations in the United States in 2023 but plans to hold back on franchising.

“We don’t plan to offer any franchise opportunities any time soon, but we are planning to open our first stand-alone restaurant by June 2023 in Glendale, California,” he says, “where people can visit with their families and enjoy our updated and expanded menu in a warm and lovely environment.”

Why It’s Impossible to Lead Without Listening

No matter your industry, leading without listening is a recipe for disaster. Your customers form the foundation of your business’s success, and it’s ultimately their feedback, as Bungie, Reddit, ServiceTitan, and Artie’s Express have proven, that guides the fate of your organization.

Stay authentic, stay unique, and stay responsible, even if that requires standing face-to-face with your customers and asking the oft-dreaded question: “So, what did you think?”