3DE 9^th grade students participated in their third challenge on December 10, 2019 with Arby’s.

Arby’s restaurants have been in business for over 50 years, growing to over 3,400 locations in 18 countries since first opening in Boardman, OH in 1964. Arby’s prides itself on its original brand purpose: Inspiring Smiles Through Delicious Experiences® by offering a wide variety of sandwiches, salads, and sides, including its signature classic roast beef, curly fries, and Jamocha shakes. Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc. in Atlanta, GA is the franchisor for Arby’s brand, and a company within the Inspire Brands family.

Arby’s competes with both Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) and fast-casual restaurants for customers. QSRs focus on selling food quickly and affordably, often offering both table-dining and drive-through service. Fast-casual restaurants are often higher priced but typically do not offer drive-through options. In 2013, Arby’s reimaged its brand as Fast Crafted®, offering customers a fresh new experience with a wide selection of market fresh sandwiches and salads featuring a full selection of meats including corned beef, smoked turkey, chicken, and Greek gyro. The restaurant design has also been updated and the menu expanded to invite customers away from both QSRs and fast-casual restaurants with affordable high-quality meals and a pleasing modern design.

Arby's is grappling with how to create a great customer experience that can get young adults to buy more of their products. All parts of the fast food restaurant experience were considered, including how teens decide where to eat, their experience during ordering food (dining in and drive-through), what they want to eat (menu items), payment options, and what they do while they eat.

The Challenge

Our 3DE students were asked what changes or updates should Arby’s make to their customer experience to get young adults (ages 13-17) to buy more of their products and become loyal customers?

The Solution

Students developed a 10-15 question survey for youth ages 13-17 to determine their interest in Arby’s. Based on the results, the group determined that this targeted population viewed customer service as a huge factor, so training employees on being friendly, patient, and enthusiastic was a great need. They also suggested adding vegetarian and vegan menu options. One member of the group, who is vegetarian, offered deli style options that cater to this demographic. She stated that those who have ascribe to this diet would be more inclined to visit Arby’s, thus attracting a new customer base. They determined that social media would assist Arby’s in gaining new customers. They have seen commercials on television; however, this age is always on their phone, so advertising on apps such as Instagram and YouTube would provide exposure to those they are targeting. Finally, they suggested making their commercials more appealing by adding a song from a famous artist, potentially from home base, “to bring more hype” to Arby’s.

10th Grade

Competency: Creativity & Innovation

This is the ability to distinguish opportunities to progress, create or disrupt assumptions and takes action to do so through original thought and approach. Individuals are constantly looking to improve, advance, the status quo, and are comfortable taking calculated risk.

Challenge Theme: Developing Innovative Ideas

Students observed the effect of innovation on the business life cycle. Then, in teams, they took on the role of entrepreneurs inside a mature business—assigned to develop an innovation, using Design Thinking and structured brainstorming.

3DE 10^th grade students participated in their third challenge on December 13, 2019 with The Home Depot.

The Home Depot has been in business for over 40 years and has been America’s largest home improvement retailer since 1990. Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus opened the first two stores in Atlanta in 1979. Since then The Home Depot has grown to more than 2,200 stores in three countries. In every store their goal is the same: to earn our customers’ respect by offering the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices. As Marcus says in his and Blank’s book, “Built From Scratch,” “At the end of the day, we’re in the people business.”

The Home Depot recognizes that there are many people who do not know how to use tools or fix things for themselves. There are not many “shop” classes in high schools any longer – where can people learn these skills, and many parents are not passing these skills on to their children. This education needed to happen in the Home Depot stores, but how can this be done?

The Home Depot aims to maintain its position as an industry leader by bringing innovation into the in-store experience to position it as a destination for the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) customer. To differentiate itself, The Home Depot looked to students to develop solutions to improve the customer experience in ways that would entice more consumers into their store to learn, do and shop. They wanted to provide customers the know-how they need to tackle all their home improvement projects with confidence.

As part of the Home Depot Innovation Team, our 3DE students were challenged to create a prototype rendering, concept brief and accompanying presentation with innovations for the in-store experience that will help Do-It-Yourselfers confidently tackle home improvement projects.

The Challenge

What innovative ideas can The Home Depot bring to the in-store experience for the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) customer?

The Solution

The winning team decided to focus on women DIYers who want to organize and remodel their closets. For their prototype, they used a tablet so customers could find ideas on Pinterest, view an interactive visual for creating their closet through a Snap & Drag App, and learn step by step processes on building their closet through YouTube. Customers would scroll through Pinterest to find ideas, then utilize the Snap & Drag App to add a picture of their closet or an empty closet picture would be provided, then search for lights, shelves, hangers, etc. and drag these items into the picture design elements. To make the prototype visible and grab the attention of their targeted audience, a television would be provided in the front of the aisle with a short muted clip of a video of what they would be observing.

Because everyone is not a visual learner, with some being kinesthetic and learn best by touching and moving, they created a station located in the back of the closet organization aisle. The Home Depot would provide a closet frame and would add minimal suggestions, a variety of colors, shelves and tools to have a physical representation of how their closet would look. This would give The Home Depot a higher ROI, especially using social media, to promote and attract more women into the store bringing in more revenue. Customers would be able to take pictures of their creation and post on social media with their slogan “Decorate To Inspire You” along with various hashtags like #thehomedepotDIY. Their prototype, which includes tablets in the front of the end aisle, would be in the organization aisle, which is a high traffic area for women.