The Shift Change - Transforming QSR Operations Through Better HR

Why do the same three employees keep getting written up for the same mistake? Why does your training program work great for three weeks and then quietly disappear? In this episode of The Shift Change, organizational development expert Tate Linden makes the case that most "people problems" in restaurants are actually system problems wearing a different name tag. Tate shares the story of a three-day...

What if your employees didn't have to wait two weeks to access money they've already earned? In this episode of The Shift Change, host Bryan Gorman sits down with Aaron Martin, Director of Sales at Rain, to break down the growing world of Earned Wage Access (EWA) and what it means for QSR operators navigating today's tight labor market. Aaron shares how financial stress is quietly driving turnover...

You signed the contract. You sat through the demo. You went live. And now, months later, your team is doing exactly what they did before — running payroll and punching timecards — while a dozen other modules collect dust. Sound familiar? In this solo episode, I breakdown one of the most expensive and overlooked problems in franchise operations: the gap between what you buy from your HR and payroll...

Most multi-unit restaurant operators assume their tech stack is working. They've got a POS, a payroll system, a scheduling tool, maybe a benefits platform. But under the hood? It's often held together with spreadsheets, manual re-entry, and one manager who knows which buttons to push — and when that manager leaves, things get expensive fast. In this solo episode, I break down why disconnected work...

Every summer, quick service restaurants scramble to fill shifts. The pitch is transactional — "Can you start today?" — and the result is predictable: high turnover, fast burnout, and a revolving door that never stops spinning. In this episode, Bryan sits down with organizational psychologist and restaurant veteran Dr. David Shar to talk about what a smarter, more human hiring process actually look...

My conversation with Kirk Grogan, Co-Founder and COO at TipHaus covers the impact of the OBBBA on the hospitality industry, compliance challenges, misconceptions, and future-proofing tip strategies. It also delves into the experiential trends in hospitality and discusses a unique restaurant concept. Takeaways OB-BBA Impact Compliance Challenges Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Tip House Overview 05...

My interview with Steve Felson covers a wide range of topics related to the restaurant industry, including career experiences, industry trends, operational shifts, and the impact of AI. Steve shares insights on the challenges of starting a franchise division, the importance of onboarding and training, and the role of general managers in restaurants. He also discusses the impact of AI on the indust...

Ever wonder why your training isn't sticking? At the QSR Workforce Management Summit in Dallas, industry leaders from across the restaurant space gathered to tackle the workforce challenges keeping operators up at night—and the answers were more human than most of us expected. In this episode, I'm sharing the most important insights from the Training and Development stream, where seven sessions re...

The first 2026 episode of the Shift Change podcast discusses the top five HR and payroll issues that will define success in the quick service restaurant industry. These issues include the evolution of payroll, compliance challenges, AI augmented management, total well-being, and data privacy. This episode emphasizes the need for fast, flexible pay options, bulletproof predictive scheduling, balanc...

Episode Description: Running payroll across multiple locations should be straightforward, but most franchise owners are bleeding money through avoidable mistakes. In this episode of The Shift Change, we break down the five most common—and costly—payroll errors that multi-location operators make, from misconfigured tax settings to inefficient approval workflows. Whether you're managing 5 locations...