Known for a menu of classic sandwiches, natural ingredients, and free ice cream for all customers, Jason’s Deli is a beloved national deli chain. With approximately 240 locations across the United States, the Jason’s Deli marketing organization works to build a national brand and support regional locations simultaneously. The Jason’s Deli marketing team delivers physical collateral, signage, digital assets, website real estate – and all of the marketing material for Limited Time Offers that move the needle!
Industry: Quick Service Retail
By the Numbers:
Challenge: Rapid fire marketing, disconnected processes
In QSR, marketing never slows down. Limited Time Offers (LTOs), always-on campaigns, regional tests, in-store signage, digital assets, website updates, and app promotions are constantly in motion.
“At Jason’s Deli, we’re supporting a national brand while also enabling individual locations,” Erin Carlton, Brand Manager for Execution & Activation, explains. “That means a lot of moving pieces: print, signage, web, app, digital, and physical collateral – all at once.”
Before Opal, that work lived everywhere:
- Spreadsheets for planning
- Google Docs for collaboration
- Email threads for requests and updates
- Separate systems for assets and approvals
Compounding the exhaustive list of tasks and initiatives, there was no single place to see what was planned, what was in progress, or what had already shipped.
“We didn’t have a true source of truth,” Erin says. “For example, if you wanted to look back at what we did before, it was a tough series of tasks.”
Whether for campaign retros or what was going on now, the lack of visibility created time wasting challenge for the busy marketing org:
- Repetitive status meetings
- Disconnected teams
- Assets that were hard to find
- Uncertainty about whether something had actually been completed
Enter Opal
Jason’s Deli turned to Opal to bring planning, execution, and collaboration into one connected system. Here are the three major solutions the Opal platform delivered:
1. One Source of Truth for their Plans
Opal gave the Jason’s Deli team a centralized marketing plan. Once complete and shared, this central plan became the place to see what’s coming, what’s live, and what’s done.
“Plans help us look at the future,” Erin explains. “This is what’s coming and what we need to do.”
The team now manages:
- Annual “always-on” marketing themes (roughly 50 overarching initiatives)
- LTO calendars and launch timelines
- Website and app promotions
- National and regional campaigns
Each plan becomes a checklist for execution.
“Our marketing plan is our check-off list,” Erin says. “Menu, TV slide—if it’s not in Opal, it didn’t get done.”
2. Boards That Connect Ideas to Execution
Coordinating how the work gets done is also a critical component of Opal.
The free-form boards hold all the relevant assets, tasks, and conversations along with crucial status and assignee fields.
“You have the ability to tie a board and a moment back to a plan,” Erin explains. “You can loop the work directly into the strategy.”
For a business with nearly 240 locations (each with different layouts and collateral needs) that visibility is critical.
With work clearly documented and visible in Opal, the team also cut down on unnecessary and time-consuming status meetings.
“We reduced repetitive meetings by about 40%,” Erin notes.
3. Streamlined Requests from Individual Restaurants
Requests from individual restaurants are a constant reality at Jason’s Deli. Not only does the organization build a brand nationally, but they also work to support local stores.
Instead of flooding inboxes, the team uses structured Formstack requests that flow into Opal. Those requests quickly turn into assignments to ensure everyone knows what’s going on.
“Requests are huge for us,” Erin says. “This is way better than email.”
The Results
With Opal, Jason’s Deli now operates with:
- A single source of truth for marketing plans and execution
- Clear visibility and alignment between print, digital, web, and in-store collateral
- Dramatically fewer meetings and less back-and-forth
- The ability to effortlessly surface historical plans and assets
Most importantly, the entire marketing team now has access to the same information and the same system of accountability.
“Having a digital check-off instead of a paper one keeps us accountable,” Erin says. Before, no one knew where assets were. Now, everything lives in one place.”
In QSR, speed is everything – but speed without alignment creates chaos. By consolidating planning and execution in Opal, Jason’s Deli gained the clarity and confidence to move fast and stay aligned.