How top franchise brands turn culture into direct profitability

Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit

Industry leaders will gather at the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit to share actionable strategies for transforming workplace culture and technology into a powerful engine for talent retention and long-term profitability.

January 29, 2026 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

In the competitive world of franchising, your team isn’t just a line item — they are the engine driving your profitability. A session at the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit on Tuesday, March 17, called “Profits Through People: Building an Unstoppable Franchise Team” peels back the curtain on how a resilient, high-performing workforce directly fuels your bottom line, moving beyond theory to provide the concrete tools you need to succeed in today’s volatile market.

The session will tackle the industry’s most pressing labor shortages head-on, sharing proven blueprints for attracting top-tier talent and crafting compensation packages that actually stick. From building an authentic culture that employees never want to leave to leveraging the latest tech for seamless scheduling and compliance, you’ll walk away with a roadmap to transform your operations and maximize employee satisfaction.

Key takeaways:

• Combat labor dhocks: Identify and deploy proactive strategies to secure qualified staff, even in a tight hiring market.
• Retention by fesign: Master the art of optimizing benefits and cultural initiatives to slash turnover rates.
• Tech-friven rfficiency: Harness modern tools to streamline training, automate scheduling, and ensure your compliance is ironclad.

Session speakers include Stacey Gelber, vice president of human resources for Blaze Pizza; John Lucas, vice president of brand and franchise development at Farmer Boys and Matthew Walls, president and chief stores officer for Edible Brands. Brittney Wilganowski Harrison, head of revenue for HigherMe, will moderate the event.

“At Blaze Pizza, we made culture tangible by shifting to a mindset of accountability and ownership at the restaurant level. By clearly defining expectations around staffing, training, and engagement — and measuring them consistently — we reduced turnover, improved speed of service, and increased guest satisfaction. That cultural shift showed up directly in labor efficiency and restaurant profitability,” Gelber said in an email interview.

At Farmer Boys, a family-owned and -operated business, Lucas said employees can expect an open‑door environment and direct access to both the brand’s founders and senior leadership team.

“Our franchisees truly have a seat at the table and play an active role in shaping both brand strategy and day‑to‑day tactics,” Lucas said in an email interview. “In an era of consolidation and large restaurant conglomerates, this level of connection and partnership is increasingly rare. It’s a core part of our culture and one of the key reasons Farmer Boys is such a strong and rewarding brand to franchise with. This is our ‘secret weapon’ for attracting quality applicants.”

The Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit will be held at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, California, March 16-18. Click here for more information and to register for the summit.

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

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Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
 
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living. 

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