The $6 billion logistics CEO praises the flavor of ice cream that helps customers understand why they need fresh innovation
Rider system, $12.6 billion In revenue, it is a leading logistics and transportation services provider with over 250,000 trucks in North America with over 50,000 employees. It has come a long way since it was founded by James Ryder in 1933. There is a single Model A Ford truck and a down payment of $35.
But Ryder Board wanted to focus on innovation and how CEO Robert Sanchez would lead the company beyond the core strategies and services he has maintained for decades. The answer for Sanchez had its roots in the job he worked as a teenager every weekend: scooping ice cream at Carbell.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sanchez was at Carbell Ice Cream Shop in Miami, where the city saw an influx of Cuban immigrants. A Cuban customer stopped by the store and asked if Carbel had a flavor called Mummy (Mermay) Ice Cream. The creamy Caribbean fruit has a delicate, firm texture like papaya, but tastes like a delicious pumpkin pie. Children grow up eating it fresh or with dessert, which often blends into ice cream.
“People come to Carbel and ask if we have a mummy. Obviously we had Carbel and they didn’t have a mummy because we had no Mamay,” Sanchez said. luck. “So the owner of the ice cream store continued to try and lobby Carbell to make Mamai ice cream, but that wasn’t the case.”
Disappointed customers left Carvel and crossed the street to a Cuban restaurant to get a Mamai ice cream fix. Finally, the shopkeeper had enough.
“One day, the owner of an ice cream shop got upset and said, ‘What do you know? I’m going to make my own ice cream,'” Sanchez recalled. “So he went, he bought Mamay from the store and mixed it with Carbell Ice Cream Mix to create Carbell Mummy Ice Cream.”
Within two weeks it was the third best selling ice cream in the shop.
“It’s something people wanted. They wanted a mommy,” Sanchez said. “Carbell actually has some great ice cream and mixed it with the right flavor and it sold great.”
Fast forward to about 10 years ago, the Riders Committee was eager to Sanchez about innovation. The company points out that it essentially sells the same services Jim Rider launched decades ago. With Mommy in mind, Sanchez innovated by guiding riders and combining existing features in new ways to solve customer problems.
“This guy, that’s not what he split the atoms, but he invented Carbel Mummy Ice Cream by bringing these two things together and giving the customers what they want,” Sanchez said. “We continue to sell vanilla and chocolate at Rider, but there may be customers who want something different.”
The company has launched an e-commerce fulfillment business. This was a whole new area for riders. Mobile maintenance business. Technology that tracks customer cargo that you didn’t have before. Sanchez said the company also launched what he described as “first”. Airbnb In the end, things didn’t go as expected, but the company pivoted.
“We now have the muscles to develop and innovate new products and services,” he said. This is similar to what Carbell’s former boss did with Mummy Ice Cream.
“You’re not inventing the next iPhone, but you’re putting together services in a different way to meet the needs of your customers.”
And if you think that the CEO, whose first job was an ice cream store, will postpone the ice cream, then that’s not the case for Sanchez. He admits that ice cream has nothing to do with being fit or healthy, but that keeps him happy. Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia flavour and a swirl of chocolate and vanilla soft serve (as the kind Carbell offers) are his two favorites.