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Operators should be losing sleep over the ‘Clockless’ movement

For the past few years I have been touting the moving trend of people operating off the clock. In other words, keeping later nights, earlier mornings, and constantly looking for opportunities with companies that are keeping those same hours.

This buzz mentality has persisted to the point that if your business plan doesn’t include a service model that takes extended hours into account, you have made a conscious decision not to take advantage of the opportunity.

During the past three years, the marketplace has been flooded with late-night options, 24-hour drive-thrus, more late-night hotel menus and vending, and ordering through RFID and text messaging. McDonald’s has seen same-store sales grow with breakfast, hospitals are moving toward kiosks as service centers, and everyone it seems is exploring the online marketplace of communicating with their targets in a 24-hour environment.

CultureWaves was right there at the beginning of this trend. We called this movement “Clockless,” and we used a consumer voice to describe it this way: “I want what I want when I want it.” We used it with partners to develop new products, initiate marketing plans and craft strategic visions that took advantage of the desires of a 24/7 lifestyle. We got more business, our clients made more money, and the wheels on the economic bus went round and round. Can you feel me building up for the big boom? Well, like the children’s song goes, the wheels on the Clockless bus go round and round—but now they are taking us to the wrong side of town.

First and foremost, we are permanently messing with our circadian rhythm. Recently, a National Sleep Foundation survey found that three in 10 U.S. employees are sleep-deprived. We need to give our employees, our customers and ourselves time to rest. Maybe, more appropriately, we must force them to unplug. Rest allows reflection, reason and ultimately a better sense of self to emerge. We want sharp members of our teams, and we need assurances that we will be able to give all that we have to our jobs, which requires a well-rested, engaged mind. Reason No. 1 to drop the extraneous Clockless activity: sanity. Maybe that’s why several BK franchisees have sued Burger King Corp. over the right to choose whether they must keep their restaurants open until 2 a.m.

The second most important reason to consider how much of a foray into the 24-hour world you want to make is the patron’s physical health. We all know that if you kill a double sausage, deep-fried apple pie prior to a good night’s sleep, the last thing your sleep will be is good. As an industry, we certainly don’t want to be accused of destroying the diets of our late-night fans. The best way to prevent this is to develop good-night’s-sleep promotional materials or products that encourage moderation as we move closer to a slower body clock.

The final reason to ditch Clockless is the degradation of our brands. We won’t win long-term by selling out who we are in the short term. If our customers can get anything we make anytime, anywhere, then we might as well be a soulless vending machine. We are in danger of becoming completely commoditized, and when this economy rolls back around, no one will believe that we have a quality product worth more than it is right now if we don’t establish that foothold.

Consider what Einstein Bros. Bagels is doing to reduce costs: The company began closing stores an hour early. Stores that had been closing at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. now close at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m., allowing them to save money operationally while they differentiate themselves from the other players.

Whether you like the term Clockless or not, you probably won’t argue that most of us live in a hypertense, multitasking society that constantly is looking for better ways to speed things up and get faster output for our effort. Sure, everyone knows at least one hippie who walks to work, still doesn’t own a cell phone or even know what a blog is. But even that dude is impacted by the stretching of the day. We have to make decisions based not only on monetary drivers, but also on “rightness drivers.” Of the three reasons I gave for you to consider not joining the Clockless revolution, which one makes the least sense? Hit me up for some more discussion, but for crying out loud, don’t do it at midnight. You need some rest.

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