While our restaurants have been focusing on being brilliant with the basics, the teams at company headquarters in Orlando, FL, have been focusing on their own "basics"- doing whatever it takes to help the restaurants "wow" their guests.

In a major effort to improve the support and services the home-office team provides the restaurants, we asked our managers to tell us, through surveys and focus groups, what was working and what wasn't. They gave us a banquet of information, and we are using their feedback to become more "restaurant- centered," starting with a new name for company headquarters, the Restaurant Support Center.

Reflecting renewed dedication to better serving our restaurant teams and directly addressing some of the concerns managers raised, support team employees developed and individually agreed to some fundamental commitments, starting with this statement: "Our restaurants are the heart of our business. My job is to give them the services they need and expect, delivered in the same spirit their guests expect services to be delivered in our restaurants."

Restaurant managers around the country have reported faster response times, more accurate and timely information and an overall "restaurant-centered" attitude that is making it easier for them to deliver terrific dining experiences to our guests.

Support Center teams are now developing additional action plans to further improve the way they support our restaurant managers and employees, and coming up with ways to "live" the commitments on a daily basis.