SBJ: What has the company’s growth enabled you to do? Diana Hicks: We’ve been able to add stores and employ more people in southwest Missouri, but the main thing is that we have been able to increase our buying power in order to get products at better prices and pass those savings on to our customers. We’ve had grab-and-go food items, but I’ve noticed they are a little different at each location. I’m hoping with adding our new MJ’s concept we can make it more consistent now. Our food at every location is good, but I want it to be consistent. If you go to Hong Kong and get a Big Mac, it tastes the same as if you go to Nixa, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.
SBJ: What are your top issues when it comes to managing growth? Hicks: Knowing the names of all of our “Jeaners.” That’s what we call our employees. That’s one of the major challenges is knowing all of their names. There sure are a lot of them. That and making sure every location operates as one.
SBJ: Is your fast growth sustainable? Hicks: We like to think so. Doing this location on Battlefield (Road) is going to help us be more sustainable because it will help us cut down on our waste. And we don’t have to add too many employees for that location – and that business model might be the one we use to grow in nearby towns instead of big MaMa Jean’s.
SBJ: Is there such a thing as growing too fast? Hicks: We experienced some of that in the last five years with some of our practices – like ordering. All of our procedures, we have been working on those because I think we didn’t probably have those in place like we should have when we grew to the second store. So, if there was a little hiccup, with a second store, it’s a little bigger hiccup. We’ve been working in the past five or six years on making sure our practices and procedures in each store are the same. We’ve worked on our communication and our internal systems. If you don’t have those in place when you grow, if you’ve got a problem, it’s just going to mushroom.
SBJ: How has your culture changed over the past three years? Hicks: Just getting to know everybody is a challenge, but we’ve always wanted to treat our employees like family and offer a great place to work. Except now, I think we’re being a little more transparent with our employees and about our business operations. They’ve got to know it takes a lot of money to run this kind of business. We’ve put people on a bonus-incentive plan if they reach certain goals.
SBJ: Where do you see the company headed in the next five years? Hicks: We’ll be running like a well-oiled machine by then. And maybe we’ll have some MJ’s Market & Delis in some nearby towns.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
