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Up & Comers: When Opportunity Knocks ... Eat A Burrito
As a child growing up in The Woodlands, Texas, Sara Rigsby wanted to become a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader or a truck mechanic when she grew up. Although she's never danced her way through an NFL game or rebuilt a transmission, Rigsby does a little cheerleading and tends to how the "engine" sounds in her current role as director of marketing for Moe's Southwest Grill.
by Allison Shirreffs
March 1, 2007
As a child
growing up in The Woodlands, TX, Sara Riggsby wanted to become a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader or a
truck mechanic when she grew up. Although she's never danced her way through an NFL game or rebuilt
a transmission, Riggsby does a little cheerleading and tends to how the “engine” sounds in her
current role as director of marketing for Moe's Southwest Grill.
At 30 years of age, Riggsby doesn't have decades of marketing experience under her belt. What she did have was a few years of marketing experience, a BBA degree from Emory University's Goizueta School of Business and an MBA from Georgia State University. She also had the wherewithal to take advantage of an amazing opportunity when it presented itself.
In June 2006, Riggsby was hired as an assistant to the vice president of marketing at Raving Brands, Moe's parent company. Two weeks later, “he was gone,” says Riggsby, and she was named interim director of marketing for Moe's, in charge of running the entire marketing program for the fast-casual dining restaurant chain that opened its doors in 2001. Currently, there are over 350 locations in operation in 35 states with 800 more franchise deals signed and awaiting construction. Instead of running for the hills, Riggsby thought, “What a great opportunity for me,” and never looked back.
As the weeks passed and the company continued its search for her former boss's replacement, it became clear to those around her that Riggsby was capable of handing the job. She was bright, well respected, and her corporate counterparts and franchisees liked working with her. They went to bat for her. “She's beyond her years in terms of maturity and ability,” says Eddie Webster, chairman of Moe's Marketing Committee and a member of Moe's Franchisee Advisory Board. “Age made no difference. She stepped right in there and did the best job of anyone who's ever been in the role.”
Riggsby cut her teeth as a member of BellSouth's 250-person marketing department. There, her duties were specific and narrowly focused. At Moe's, the demands on Riggsby are much wider in scope.
Her job consists of managing the eight-person department, analyzing data and implementing new marketing and advertising programs. It's her responsibility to manage Moe's multi-million dollar marketing budget and communicate Moe's marketing needs to outside advertising companies.
Riggsby was instrumental in revitalizing and redefining the Moe's concept, and she spends a great deal of time visiting various Moe's restaurants, chatting with franchisees and gauging their wants and needs. The franchisees have noticed a difference.
Before Riggsby came on board, Moe's franchisees were looking to make some structural changes within the restaurant and to update the menu board. “I felt that's needed to happen over the last few years,” says Matthews. “But it was moving sluggishly. I talked to her about it. She put a timeline together and she stuck to it.” They're doing testing in stores now and plan to roll out the new menu board in the next few months.
“I feel like I'm making a difference,” Riggsby says.
In her transition from the corporate world to Raving Brands, the parent company that operates Moe's, Riggsby went through a bit of culture shock. Raving Brand's founder, Martin Sprock, when asked what it was like to work for his company, explained: “If you're not overwhelmed, then you're probably not working as hard as you could. We've actually gotten good at being overwhelmed.” [ Entrepreneur, May 2006]
Operating under this type of pressure has been challenging for Riggsby. “I like to do things well,” she says adding that it's demanding to do things as quickly as she needs to and keep up her own rigid standards. She puts in about 65 hours a week in order to get the job done and maintain the quality level of the work.
At home, the pace is less frenetic. Riggsby enjoys running and likes to settle into a chair on her screened in porch with all types of literature—a book of poetry, a recent bestseller, perhaps a business book. She and her husband, an engineer, like to travel, and the pair is headed to Italy and Greece this September.
If she's made any mistakes over her career (before BellSouth, Riggsby spent time at Arby's and with Newell Rubbermaid), she claims it was that “I doubted myself,” she says. “I didn't have enough confidence to push the things I believed in. Now I'm not afraid to say what I think.”
Moe's is a better organization because of it, believes Webster, who owns four Moe's franchisees. “She'll hold her ground, but she listens to everyone and integrates that information into the mix,” he says. “She does her job in a very humble way. She treats everyone with respect regardless of his or her position in the organization and she gets the job done.”
The best news of all is that Riggsby is passionate about food and does what she can to support the hand that feeds her. “I eat at Moe's almost every day,” says Riggsby, “and I don't get sick of it.”
