How Vibe Restaurants hired the unhirable
Client Overview
Dallas based Vibe Restaurants operates 60+ Lil Caesar’s franchise units across 8 states. Three impressive owners grew the company through new store openings and acquisitions without prior restaurant operation experience. The CEO was ready for a seasoned restaurant executive to take over all operations so he could focus on growth strategy.
Search
Chief Operating Officer
Unique Attributes
Vibe Restaurants was looking to hire a candidate who thinks like an owner but has the discipline & process that comes from running 100+ units under an established brand. Most owners of 100+ units are not looking for a job.
Goals
- Increase Same Store Sales
- Replace poor performers and put a hiring infrastructure in place
- Upgrade the training program with a strong leadership presence
- Help the company source and grow through acquisitions and new stores
HHC Candidate Profile
We suggested that Vibe Restaurants find a candidate who had been successful running 100+ corporate stores and tried their hand in franchising. With experience as an owner, the candidate would know how to run lean and not demand the resources of a corporate operation - this was not a desk job. Corporate operations at scale means the candidate would have been a proven leader of large teams.
Process
Hospitality Human Capital knew that the right candidate did not live on LinkedIn. Our research team identified every franchise owner of 3+ stores in our target states by leveraging proprietary reports and verified insiders.
Most of the target candidates were not looking for a new position, however with persistence from our team and the right marketing, we were able to uncover a slate of top candidates with franchising & corporate experience. Owners are busy, so it took patience, in fact our finalist took over 10 points of contact before he agreed to the meeting.
We presented our shortlist, and our CEO, Mandeep Singh flew to Houston and assisted the team in the final round of interviewing. Our finalist candidate was identified and signed the offer letter 6 weeks from the commencement of the search.
Finalist
Michael Trifari left his own business to his son and moved to Dallas to be Vibe Restaurants' new COO and equity partner. He had no intention of looking for a job until we contacted him and sold the opportunity. Michael is enjoying his new adventure in Dallas and is excited to be part of growing a massive company.
Results
In 2017, Michael has swapped out all of the low performing managers with past team-members, implemented an in-store training infrastructure, added delivery partners and is seeing store sales increase through service consistency. Irfaan, the company’s CEO has been able to focus on strategy and growing the brand with the confidence in Michael to run the store operations. He will be instrumental in the integration of store acquisitions slated for 2018.
We look forward to watching Vibe Restaurant’s impending exponential growth and continue to stay close to the leadership team. Ownership is pleased with the substantial increase in the caliber of talent throughout the entire organization.
Interested in brainstorming innovative approaches to finding unique talent? Leave your info below and we will get in touch within 24 hours.