Ep 54: Sanjiv Razdan is the President of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for the Americas and India
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is a well-established Los Angeles-based coffee brand that lost its way but is in the process of turning itself around, currently seeing considerable growth. Today’s guest, Sanjiv Razdan, has a lot to do with its recent success. Sanjiv is the president of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for the Americas and India. He also gained experience working for Pizza Hut, Yum Brands, and Applebee’s before he became the COO for the restaurant juggernaut that is Sweetgreen. In this episode, he sheds light on how he came to his current role at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, how the company lost its way and was impacted by the pandemic, and how they are turning things around. He also discusses the integral role of technology in the restaurant business, what he learned from his time at Sweetgreen, and how he’s applying this insight in his current role. Finally, Sanjiv introduces us to the GLEAM Network, which is a nonprofit organization he founded that is dedicated to mentorship in the restaurant and foodservice industry. To hear Sanjiv break down his six pillars for transforming the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf business, as well as many other fascinating insights, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
Sanjiv Razdan’s career history with the brand and how he came to be president.
Insight into the global footprint of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
How the company lost its way and the impacts of the pandemic.
How the parent company geared up for growth and what the first 90 days were like for Sanjiv.
The joy Sanjiv experienced learning the nuances of the brand.
The six-prong strategy that Sanjiv and his team came up with to get the brand back on track.
The concept of the third space and how they had to adapt to survive the pandemic.
The role of technology and why the company is looking to buy not build.
Sanjiv’s experience with Sweetgreen and his views on the idea of it being a tech company that sells food.
Insight into the organizational setup of Sweetgreen.
What Sanjiv learned from the technology vision of Sweetgreen and how he is going to apply this to Coffee Bean.
How Coffee Bean is trying to foster the connection between the consumer and their local store through marketing.
Insight into Coffee Bean’s current mix of corporate versus franchisee.
Information about the nonprofit that Sanjiv created to make mentorship accessible to people in the restaurant industry.
Tweetables:
“I think we're deeply passionate about positioning our brand as the coffee and tea expert in the specialty coffee category. We think that we can be number one or number two in every market that we operate in.” — Sanjiv Razdan [0:17:26]
“We're living in a world that has moved towards convenience, frictionless experiences, ‘give me what I want, where I want, when I want’ kind of a universe. Clearly, we have to double down on our game to unlock omnichannel sales.” — Sanjiv Razdan [0:18:55]
“Just knowing the power of when you have the right mentor and when you have the absence of mentoring, the impact that it has, really made me want to pay it forward and mentor a lot of people.” — Sanjiv Razdan [0:40:59]
“Our mentors get as much out of it as our mentees, which is the joy of mentorship.” — Sanjiv Razdan [0:42:53]