Sheetal Ohri is the Director of Facilities and Remodel for Yadav Enterprises, Inc., America’s largest franchisee company for Jack in the Box, Denny’s, Sizzlers, Corner Bakery Cafe, and El Pollo Loco. Sheetal has her own radio show called Making a Difference with Sheetal Ohri. She has also started Silicon Valley Awards, which honor and recognize people and organizations in the following categories: Entrepreneurship, Science and Technology, Non-Profit Organizations, Media and Films (Short Films) & Entertainment, and Writers/Book Authors.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn:
- Sheetal discusses her role as Director of Facilities and Remodel at Yadav Enterprises, Inc.
- How has technology helped mediate communication concerns in getting facilities back up and running?
- Staying ahead of the curve as a facility manager
- Sheetal shares what she does to relax with such a stressful job
- Sheetal on her transition from real estate to facility management
- What are the first steps to becoming a facility manager?
- Opportunities for facility management in the midst of COVID-19
- Where you can learn more about Sheetal Ohri
In this Episode:
The difference between becoming a facility manager and considering becoming a facility manager is accepting the challenge and passion for new knowledge. Facility management offers a wide variety of opportunities to quench your thirst for knowledge and innovation. Each day brings new prospects of change in the workplace and moments to improve employee and customer satisfaction.
Sheetal Ohri, Director of Facilities and Remodel at Yadav Enterprises, Inc., has spent the last seven years exploring the workspace of a facility manager. She is challenged daily, whether she’s talking with building owners, managing remodeling efforts, or ensuring that her staff complies with new COVID-19 policies.
Sheetal Ohri, Director of Facilities and Remodel at Yadav Enterprises, Inc., shares these details and more in today’s episode of Watching Paint Dry with Greg Owens. They discuss how COVID concerns have affected the restaurant industry, new technologies that are helping their teams stay connected and up to date, and the refreshing challenge of facility management. Sheetal also recalls her journey from working as a real estate agent to a career in facility and building management—and how you can do it, too.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Greg Owens on LinkedIn
- McCarthy Painting
- McCarthy Painting Contact No.: 415-383-2640
- McCarthy Painting Email Address: info@mccarthypainting.com
- Sheetal Ohri on LinkedIn
- Yadav Enterprises, Inc.
- OSHA
- Sheetal Ohri
- Making a Difference with Sheetal Ohri
Sponsor for this Episode:
This episode is brought to you by McCarthy Painting, where we serve commercial and residential clients all around the San Francisco Bay area.
We’ve been in business since 1969 and served companies such as Google, Autodesk, Abercrombie & Fitch, FICO, First Bank, SPIN, and many more.
If you have commercial facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area and need dependable painters, visit us on the web at www.mccarthypainting.com or email info@mccarthypainting.com, and you can check out our line of services and schedule a free estimate by clicking here.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Watching Paint Dry podcast where we feature today’s top facility managers, property managers and property owners talking about the challenges and opportunities of managing hundreds of thousands of square feet of real estate and how to beautify and improve their properties. Now, let’s get started with the show.
Greg Owens 0:32
Hello, Greg Owens here I am the owner of McCarthy Painting, and the host of this podcast Watching Paint Dry. And it is Monday, September 28 2020. And we are continuing our conversations with facilities managers, building owners and owners, and all the people that support this entire industry and this complex ever changing times that we’re in right now. This episode is sponsored by my company McCarthy Painting. We are the premier painting company in the San Francisco Bay Area. We have worked for many different types of companies such as SPIN, Google, Autodesk, Abercrombie and Fitch, H&M, and many, many more. And we do both residential and commercial painting throughout the San Francisco Bay areas, and if you’d like to know more about McCarthy painting, you can go to info@McCarthypainting.com is our email or go to McCarthypainting.com on the web. And today, I’m super excited to have Sheetal Ohri, the director of facilities remodel, and remodeling for Yadav Enterprises. She has extensive experience in global facilities management, remodeling, marketing, branding, and is the founder of the Silicon Valley awards. And we’ll find out more about that, and also has her own talk show, making a difference with Sheetal Ohri. And so excited to have you on our program.
Sheetal Ohri 2:23
Thank you so much, Greg. I really appreciate it. Thank you to both you and Katrina. And thank you for such an amazing introduction. Thank you.
Greg Owens 2:32
Yeah,
Katrina Hayes 2:33
so welcome.
Greg Owens 2:34
Yeah. And we have Katrina, Katrina Hayes is also on our podcast here. And she might chime in with some questions and and learnings along the way. And so how are you doing? How is how’s things for you? And where are you located right now.
Sheetal Ohri 2:51
So things are just absolutely crazy right now with the pandemic and what’s going on around in the nation and the world with COVID-19 and many other factors such as fires right now, which you know, is happening. Just yesterday, there were there was news of Napa Valley and Santa Rosa area, they getting hit with fire. So yes, the world’s kind of topsy turvy going crazy. And we in facilities are actually working harder than ever to maintain our stores or to keep involved in trying to make, you know, life easy for our operations team. And we at Yadav Enterprises are basically our corporate offices are located in in Fremont, California. But our our restaurants are all over, you know, the San Francisco area and also in many parts of, of us, which is, you know, in Florida and Ohio, and Texas, many, many states we have our restaurants in
Greg Owens 4:00
Yeah. And one of the restaurants that is part of the brands that you work on is Jack in the Box, is that correct?
Sheetal Ohri 4:07
Correct. Yes.
Greg Owens 4:08
And so that must be in this times of COVID because I believe they’ve stayed open the whole time. And what has been some of the challenges for for such a iconic brand is Jack in the Box?
Sheetal Ohri 4:24
Well, you know, thank you for asking that question, Greg. Yes, it has been challenging. Yes. It’s it’s really been very, you know, grueling is the word for our restaurant industry, you know, with with our restaurants being shut down, and just the drive throughs which have remained open because Jack in the Box also has taken this hit. But I would say thank you to our customers and our state governments and our local governments who have been very supportive and trying to maintain the restaurants to remain open so that, you know, we can fund the living of many employees and many people around those cities and the areas and the states. So yes, we have remained open, at least for the drive thru point of view, Greg, but Jack in the Box, overall, the dining rooms have remained shot.
Greg Owens 5:24
Right, right, I just for the first time, I’m actually up in Truckee, California right now. And for the first time, it was that down in Reno, and I was able to eat inside a, a restaurant who’s actually Indian food, vegetarian and eating Indian food was great. And but it was, it was a weird experience to be actually sitting down inside a restaurant and eating.
Sheetal Ohri 5:52
I know, after seven, eight months, it’s it’s kind of scary as well, I guess I hear that all the time. I personally, myself, I’m very apprehensive at times to go to the restaurant and eat inside. But again, as I said, we are trying from our end to be very, very safe, and make sure our customers remain safe. So trying to follow all the protocols which the cities and the states have, have advised us and shown us and what we need to do, including our corporates, you know that they have been advising for all the health and safety measures which need to be in place in order for our customers to feel that ease, you know, into coming to the restaurants and, and buying the food or sitting down and having the food. So yes, that’s what’s going on right now. Right.
Greg Owens 6:44
And so tell me a little bit about your role, because I’m sure it must have gotten just turned upside down with this pandemic, and all the different because I can only imagine with so many different brands and branches of brands out there and states and that kind of thing, that you have to navigate all of the different rules and and the laws of each state in each area. How is so how is this impacted you personally in your role at the company?
Sheetal Ohri 7:17
I would say it’s it’s been very stressful, very, very, you know, kind of where you are just running around to make sure that you can keep up with the the structures and all the you know, government and nations and cities, laws and regulations and whatever mandates have been put on us you know why? Whether it is to kind of shut down or whether it is to reopen slowly but gradually, I manage Jack in the Box, Denny’s, Sizzlers Corner Bakery Cafes, we have a couple of golf courses in our portfolio. So I manage all of that for the Northern California. So it’s it’s kind of very challenging for me honestly, been been always a person who loves challenges. I have always been on the toes working towards making sure our operations are running fine. But when this pandemic hit, and when the shutdown said it was facilities who was asked to do all the jobs, as I’m sure you’re aware of that, which means from closing down the of the restaurants, to making sure we put the sneeze guards in place for reopening to making sure we are putting these guards not only for our drive throughs but also in case there are pickups happening so the OSHA the compliance says there’s city and state compliances all of that has to be taken care of by facilities. And me being the director leading the team helping the operations run smoothly. It was kind of 24 seven kind of work which had to be taken care of in order to manage and reopen our restaurants are managed and keep the restaurants running and running smooth so that we can have you know, operations not getting the hit of it but just concentrate of managing sales. Denny’s recently as you’re aware has been advised that they can have outside seating. So when you have outside seating, you have to be creative, you have to have be to you know dining so you have to create that nice, small ambience very you have to put the fencing we’re very happy to be in compliance from the OSHA point of view or from the labor point of view where your employees feel safe where your customers also feel safe. So you have to do more of that stuff. In order to ensure that yes, you as a facility director is managing the entire portfolio of your company with ease directing your teams, with limited staff managing with limited technicians or vendors, because as you’re aware, many of the people are refusing to come back to work or they don’t want to work. All the vendors are also struggling, because they are short staffed. So keeping all of those stressful situations in mind all of those issues in mind, as a facility director, my role has been very challenging in these pandemic states in order to make sure that I can provide the best facility needs to my team, for my operations, for my office, for my vendors, for my staff, for technicians, everybody. So yeah, their role their job responsibility has increased tremendously.
Greg Owens 11:04
Yeah, it is mind boggling to hear. Because we’re having, we’re having to go through all this content around this pandemic, and COVID-19 and trying to figure out what is what is the truth and what what you can tell the public and what you can tell your employees and constantly, I can only imagine how unbelievably challenging is for a role like yourself, and because you’re having to manage so many new aspects that you never had to wear these kinds of hats before, what what has been a great resource for you, in finding out information, and getting sort of that knowledge? What have you been relying on mostly.
Sheetal Ohri 11:46
So I have been very much in touch with the, the, you know, health and safety protocol. So whether it’s with either with OSHA, or the cities, or our teams, you know, we have got weekly meetings happening between the operations and facilities team, at least once a week, if not twice, being in touch with my area managers, district managers, operations directors, to make sure that we are all in touch. Because each and every city is different. You know, you go to San Joaquin, there are different norms, you’re going, you’re going to Alameda, they’re different norms, you’re going to San Francisco, they’re different norms. So I have been in touch with all and everyone, I believe, in order to make sure that we are all on the same page. And that’s been a great resource, I would say, either with the city and state compliances, sending us emails or sending us their compliance list or, you know, being in touch with your teams, in order to make sure that we are all on the same page in order to make sure that every one of us is doing their part in order to provide facility, whatever information is required to, you know, get the resources for their stores. So that’s that’s definitely been a plus point at this point. You know, we’ve all been kind of very supportive towards each other.
Greg Owens 13:15
Yeah, wow. And I can only imagine that you’re having to rely on technology. And in doing these things, what, what types of new technology or or things have you been using or utilizing in these times?
Sheetal Ohri 13:31
So Greg, you know, as you’re aware, technology is something which actually is, is keeping us all today, really intact. You know, I wouldn’t even think of anything else in you know, 10 years ago, how we were kind of trying to manage things. Because today, if we didn’t have what we have through technology, I really don’t think we could have survived this pandemic. And that that is the true today, you and me are talking and doing a Zoom call is something which you know, is is technology. That’s what’s really helping us that you can stay at home, I can stay at home. And we can try and work around things through this technology. So for us, we’ve had been working with Kriegel, which is a dispatching app which is a accounting app, which is an operations app which kind of takes care of our work orders for facilities, but bi n for facility management, which is the building information modeling. That’s a tool used by contractors and architects to develop and scale virtual models of building projects. So smart CSM resources and you know new technology in depth elements to existing tags to create significant opportunities for financial savings and business benefits for companies who require facilities management, these are these are some of the key things which we are all working Towards and technology definitely has, you know, played a role in today trying to make life easy and running off our stores easy. You know, whether it’s cloud technology or using, you know, the the energy savings or smart buildings by integrating cloud technology and building infrastructure records, with smart platforms like smart CSM. So facility managers, facility directors in all kinds of benefitted to it. And also, technology played a very big role in today’s life and age, especially with this pandemic.