Workstream

Workstreams On the clock 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia is live! Let’s go!

Shane Lovato grew up thinking the Colonel on the KFC bucket was his grandpa. It was not entirely wrong. His grandfather, who never graduated high school, built seven KFC locations. His parents carried it forward, and now Shane owns two of his own, with hopes to open a third in the future. Shane had originally planned to go a different direction. He went to culinary school, got degrees in social science and business, and had sights set on his own concept. When that fell through, he looked at the family business with fresh eyes and decided to stay. What has changed most across three generations is not the chicken. It is the complexity. His grandparents opened in the 1970s with a short menu and few regulations. His parents navigated food safety codes and paper trails. By the time Shane took over, his job became making it easier for the people running the shifts. "My job is not as their manager," Shane says. "It's to make sure they have all the tools they need to run successful shifts." That shift from directing to supporting is what he considers his proudest accomplishment. Shane brought on Workstream for payroll and hiring, and says the simplicity made the decision easy. Shane sits on the Southwest KFC Board as second vice president, usually the youngest in the room, but unbothered by it. His best advice, borrowed from his best friend: it is not awkward unless you make it awkward. He uses it every day, whether he is walking into a board meeting full of operators or talking to a customer at the counter. Shane, thank you for continuing what your grandfather built. 

Before they ever unlocked the front door, they gave away every dollar they made. The friends and family event Liz Sevcik hosted before her Chicken Salad Chick opening in Midland was never meant to be a soft launch. Every penny went to Gifts of Hope, an organization that supports families fighting cancer across several counties in the area. Before she'd sold a single sandwich, she'd already made clear what kind of operator she was going to be. Liz has lived in Midland for over 40 years. Her kids grew up there. While visiting her daughter at Ole Miss, she found herself craving Chicken Salad Chick on the drive home. Unable to find anything like it back in West Texas, she filled out the application. No restaurant experience. A registered nurse and a certified school teacher, approved by corporate and handed the keys. Her son, Luke Sevcik, came on as General Manager straight out of college. He'd never hired anyone before, but with Workstream, he screened close to 400 applicants and brought on 30. Her daughter, Alexis Thompson, is co-owner and handles social media and community outreach. Together, they've built something that feels less like a franchise and more like a neighborhood institution, one that shows up for the Junior League, reads to kids at schools, and treats its staff like family. Now they're expanding. Two new locations in the works: one in San Angelo, and one in Odessa, where Liz grew up. The business might have been new, but the roots were forty years deep. Thank you, Liz, Luke, and Alexis, for growing with us.

"How do you convince someone who's lived one way for 60 years that way is not correct." Daniyal Ranmal says it carefully. He's not dismissing his dad, he's describing the gap he had to close. When Daniyal left Dr. Pepper to take over his father's two Church's Chicken locations in East Texas, he inherited 20 years of operational muscle memory. His dad knew his cogs, trained his teams hard, and ran clean restaurants. He just did it without systems. Reports arrived in thick golden envelopes: 14 pieces of paper, handwritten, meant to be transcribed manually. Applicant tracking meant refreshing an Indeed page and hoping. "The training I got operationally was some of the best I've ever seen in the class. But very outdated training is what I will also add on the back end." But Daniyal didn't tear it down, he layered on top. Excel sheets replaced the envelopes. Direct deposit replaced weekly drives to the accountant's office. Workstream replaced the fragmented job postings. One platform, every job board, candidates flowing into Church's and then Jimmy John's and then all seven of his Blaze Pizza locations in DFW. The Church's Chicken locations run themselves now, and so do the Jimmy John's. The Blaze Pizza locations are on their way. Same playbook, new brand, every time. Daniyal didn't replace what his dad built, he made it possible to keep building. That's the harder thing to do.

During COVID, Viking Restaurants had to freeze bonuses. Not a single General Manager walked out. That's not luck, it's the result of how Viking had been running things for years. Steve Prow spent 28 years as a District Manager inside Viking's 26 Burger King locations. Twice a year, General Managers sit down to review the company's full financial results together. When the pandemic hit and the numbers made the case, employees had the context. They understood, and they stayed. "When you're open and honest, you can weather the storm," Steve said. That's been Viking's operating principle for decades. In March, Steve stepped into a new role: Operations Support Manager, taking over for a colleague who retired after years of service. He's going store by store now, spending time with General Managers, figuring out what each location needs to run its best operation. That includes getting Viking's team using Workstream closer to its full potential. District Managers at Viking average more than 20 years of tenure. Restaurant GMs, too. He started at Burger King as a high school kid in 1984. He's still there, with a new title and a blank piece of paper, figuring out where this next chapter goes. After 28 years, the habits are hard to break. So is the culture.

Operators can't run restaurants the way they did five years ago. Lisa Méndez is revealing the playbook she uses to staff, stay compliant, and roll out change across 48 IHOP locations in 2026. Lisa's spent 27 years in the IHOP system, now leading operations for 48 locations with Sunshine Restaurant Partners. We're sitting down with her to cover the labor pillars IHOP is focused on: staffing for success, getting new hires compliant before Day 1, and executing on the floor. Whether you run 2 restaurants or 20, you'll walk away with how one of the most experienced operators in the system does it. Live Q&A to follow. Bring your questions. July 20th @ 3PM ET— Registration link in the comments 👇

"When times get tough, do not give up. Because that always stands out to the people who are watching. And people are watching." Aaron Piper has lived that advice, not just given it. Nine years ago, he joined OM Group as a restaurant manager, deliberately choosing a small group he believed was about to grow. Today he is Vice President of Operations and Franchise Partner, overseeing more than 40 restaurants across multiple brands. The company grew. And Aaron grew right alongside it. He gives a lot of the credit to Mandy Ristic, who pushed him into people decisions he had never had to make before. Hard conversations. Tough calls. The kind that either break you or show everyone what you are made of. He learned that managing multi-unit restaurants is not really about the restaurants. It is about the people inside them, each one leading differently, needing different things. "When you show dedication, hard work, and really learn the ins and outs of not only restaurant operations, but how to lead a business, there is certainly a career for anybody." He has watched that play out across his own team. Andrea Armendariz joined OM Group at 16 as a crew member. She is now the executive administrative assistant and plays a vital role in the company. Workstream handles nearly all hiring across OM Group's 88-plus restaurants, part of how a team this size keeps moving. Aaron, you said it yourself: people are watching. Thank you for giving them something worth watching. We are proud to be growing alongside you and your team.

New minimum wage increases and workplace law changes just took effect on July 1. If you run multiple locations (restaurants, retail, franchises), this one is worth 5 minutes. New rates in California, Illinois, Oregon, DC, and more. New laws on pay transparency, background checks, family leave, and tipped wage disclosures across half a dozen states. Compliance exposure adds up fast when you're not tracking every state and city individually.

Incredible lessons from the first venture investor in OpenAI (ChatGPT) on building teams together with our founder Desmond Lim! The team you build is the company you build. 100% agreed - from building teams in restaurants, to startups and hospitality businesses, the team you build is the most important!

"We had the foundation in place. And we never compromised on that." Camila Panella has spent the last four years building the people infrastructure behind Rackson Restaurants' growth. She came in as a talent management manager when the company ran about 40 locations. Today, as Director of People and Culture, she leads the company's entire HR function across 110 locations and two brands, Burger King and Dave's Hot Chicken, across four states. Before any of the expansion came, Rackson had already built its operating philosophy: people, process, and profit. When they entered new markets and launched a second brand, they weren't building culture from scratch. They were extending what was already working. "Our job is not just behind the computers. We're only going to truly understand where we can make an impact if we are in the field with them." Camila shared that from a two-hour drive to one of their Pennsylvania stores to respond to a field emergency. When Workstream rolled out job templates and an HR onboarding integration, it gave Rackson's teams a faster, simpler path to hire and onboard across all 110 locations. The time reclaimed from manual data entry gave Camila's team the capacity to keep up with the company's growth without compromising the foundation beneath it. Camila, thank you for taking this call from the road. That detail says more about your leadership than any title could.