What can a bank learn from the fast-food industry? Plenty.
Small business owners, particularly those in hospitality, face tough challenges hiring and retaining workers. What if their bank provided a suite of employee services that could reduce churn? Tennessee's Sonata Bank thought it was possible – and found a new competitive edge.
While many banks try to appeal to everyone with generic value propositions, Tennessee-based Sonata Bank has adopted a niche approach. The bank is filling a need in the quick-service and fast-casual restaurant industry where employee turnover rates are sky-high. It works with its customers to lower staffing costs by avoiding recruitment, training, and hiring – delivering a bottom-line impact that can be life-changing for these businesses.
It’s betting on simple, frictionless experiences.
Sonata’s own board is comprised of quick-service restaurant franchise owners, including the Chairman, who has run a Taco Bell franchise for around 40 years. So they understand the employee turnover challenge. And while there are many reasons behind it, there was one issue the bank could address: Most employees lack solid financial management skills and struggle to make ends meet.
Sonata had adopted Jack Henry’s Open Anywhere solution for speedy account opening but needed an account activation (onboarding) solution to ensure the relationships become profitable. The Sonata team recognized a follow-on problem standing in their way: Employees weren’t using the accounts they opened, especially the financially underserved and those unfamiliar with navigating the U.S. banking system, including like first- and second-generation immigrants.
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