Throughout 2020, HoneyBaked has had a significant focus on adapting our business to fit the needs of our customers, especially as we encountered the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that we were very successful in adjusting our business model, keeping our customers safe and providing tools for our franchisees during this time. We rapidly set up new standards and social distancing cues, deployed curbside service in the majority of our franchise locations, integrated our website to allow customers to buy online and pick-up in store and updated our product offerings to best meet our customers’ needs.
Our franchisees were so enthusiastic to offer curbside service and pre-paid pickup in store to their customers. We worked together with our Franchise Advisory Council and individual franchisees to understand learnings and make adjustments along the way.
We also opened four new stores in 2020, as we found that our business model remained strong even during a global pandemic. I am very proud to see that our customers returned to our stores to purchase their traditional Honey Baked Ham holiday meals during this time and were able to purchase and receive their products in a safe and efficient manner.
As we look ahead to 2021, we have three main areas of focus: improving our technology, enhancing our online presence and opening more markets to prospective franchisees.
We are making significant investments in our technology in the areas of our website, point-of-sale systems and other tools for our franchisees to make operating a store and attracting customers as easy as possible. One of the reasons to choose a franchise is for its effective operating systems, marketing programs and IT solutions, and we’re constantly looking at how we can improve these. HoneyBaked will continue to advance our social media platforms so that we can connect with current customers and introduce ourselves to new customers. We are also opening new markets as future franchise locations as we have identified many opportunities across the country.
I spoke to the focus on operational improvements for our franchisees, but I want to spend some time talking about new franchisees we are looking to attract in the coming year as well. We understand there has been a lot of change this year, and there are many individuals who are looking to make career changes. Transitioning to self-employment is made easier with a successful franchisor like HoneyBaked.
We have been bringing the World’s Best Ham® to customers for their special family memories for more than 60 years, and we’ve been in franchising for more than 20 years. Our HoneyBaked products are highly regarded for quality and consumer satisfaction. We are opening new markets for franchise growth. It’s a great time to join HoneyBaked as a franchisee.
We love this time of year at HoneyBaked. We get to see so many returning customers shopping at HoneyBaked for their holiday celebrations with family and friends. I wish that all of our customers enjoy their time with their loved ones during this holiday season. I also want to welcome anyone interested in franchising with HoneyBaked to spend time on our development site. And finally, I wish for all of our HoneyBaked customers, franchisees and team members to stay safe and well during this holiday season.
Happy Holidays,
Horace Williams
Vice President of Franchise
The Honey Baked Ham Co.
