Case Study | Enhancing Learning & Development at Bagel Brands
Bagel Brands' small L&D team, led by Sr. Manager Nick Kyle, overcame challenges in updating Shift Leaders training materials—such as costly video production and reliance on SMEs—by leveraging AI within their Coffee & Bagel You LMS to efficiently create clear, engaging content and address training gaps across their four bagel companies and 16,000 team members.
Enhancing Learning and Development at Bagel Brands Using AI
The Bagel Brands organization is made up of four bagel companies: Einstein Bros Bagels, Bruegger’s Bagels, Noah’s Bagels, and Manhattan Bagel. Sr. Manager, Training at Bagel Brands Nick Kyle and his team member, Dani Darisse, support over 1,000 locations and 16,000 team members. Their team is small yet mighty when it comes to accomplishing organizational goals. To deliver to the masses, Nick Kyle utilizes Coffee & Bagel You – an LMS that holds new-hire training programs, menu updates, gamification learning tactics, retention strategies, and additional reporting that helps address L&D pain points and fix training gaps across all four companies.
The Challenge
Updating Training Materials with a Small Team
Recently, the two-person Bagel Brands L&D team needed to produce new training content for their Shift Leaders training program. This included clear and precise messaging as well as updated video-visual content. Nick Kyle and his team faced the difficulty and pricey costs associated with video production and voice-over work, along with the obstacle of delivering high-quality videos if they were to attempt to do it in-house.
“In the L&D world, Instructional Designers, Video Producers and Trainers heavily rely on Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from various departments to gather information about processes and roles. However, a common challenge arises as most SMEs possess deep knowledge of “how” things are done but may not be well-versed in explaining the “whys” and “whats.” As a result, obtaining detailed content that can be used to construct a coherent narrative often proves to be a difficult task,” Nick Kyle explained.
The Solution
Using AI as an Additional Employee
The Bagel Brands L&D team turned to AI for extra support in creating training content and updating the new Shift Leaders program. Utilizing AI allowed Nick Kyle and his team to work more efficiently and effectively. “AI allowed us to make changes to dynamic materials extremely quickly,” Kyle said.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Assistance With the Script
To overcome the hurdle of messaging, the Bagel Brands team turned to OpenAI’s ChatGPT to help improve an existing script. They input their needs quite loosely, and a rephrase from ChatGPT resulted in a much cleaner, more articulate response that resonated within the subject much better.
AI-Generated Voice-Overs and Subtitles for Improved Presentations
The Bagel Brand team then turned to an AI voice-over producer to create voice-overs for the script. The messaging ChatGPT tidied up was used for the voice-over work. In the past, previous project owners used simple recording devices (in some cases an iPhone) and injected the recordings in PowerPoint to create very simple videos for role-based training content.
This AI-produced product was a user-friendly voice with text-to-speech in a realistic manner that captivated listeners. The AI tool also provided subtitles for improved accessibility (that can be toggled on/off in the course rather than hard coded) – all designed with e-learning experiences in mind. “It provides incredible flexibility with pronunciations and voice options,” Nick Kyle explained.
AI Video Production
To pull their training together, the Bagel Brands L&D team used a combination of AI producers (including Adobe Premier) to produce the overall video. Using the assistance and diversity of multiple different AI platforms, they input the script, broke it down by section, and identified avatars that best suited each section of the Leadership Training. They were able to choose from multiple AI virtual presenters to keep the training content lively and interesting. Then, they uploaded custom backgrounds and graphics to stay true to company branding, inserted the voice-over file, used the auto transcription to create the script (so Nick and Dani didn’t have to manually type out the entire script once more), exported the video, and embedded it into Coffee & Bagel You.
The Benefits
A More Impactful Learning Experience
AI-enabled content production allowed Bagel Brands’ small L&D team to work more efficiently, quickly adapting dynamic materials to meet evolving needs. The result was an impressive script and video produced in less than 2 days, at a fraction of the cost compared to using real individuals. It has revolutionized their content creation process, simplified operations, and improved learning experiences.
“For other departments that lack experience in video production, there is a desire to have such content, but they often struggle to produce it effectively,” Nick Kyle said. “Thankfully, AI is stepping in to bridge the gap, enabling us to go beyond mere desire and actually accomplish more in terms of content creation.”
Working through successful video production and easier content creation challenges, this technological support has bridged the gap between subject matter experts and instructional designers by making the learning experience more impactful—and that’s shown in the numbers.
The Shift Leader module received over 30,000 views and 1,850 completions in less than 4 months. Using the enrollments feature within Coffee & Bagel You, they have 70% of the Shift Leaders complete the course. Post course evaluation has had 1,438 responses and still maintains a 4.8/5 overall rating – with a higher rating in Food Safety and improved Manager Skills ratings (they have identified that this course has elevated their confidence and experience level has increased due to this course). The use of AI went unnoticed by learners, demonstrating its seamless integration and non-intrusive nature, humanizing technology in a significant way.
- 1,850 Module Completions in Less than 4 Months
- 4.8/5 Post-Course Evaluation Rating
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