Fast Casual Executive Summit

Restaurant turnover isn't a hiring issue — It's a culture problem, say Fast Casual Executive Summit panelists

Tiki Taco's Eric Knott and Training Simplified's Sam Worobec preview their session at the 2026 Fast Casual Executive Summit, Oct. 4–6 in Arlington, Texas.

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August 12, 2026 by Richard Slawsky — Editor, Connect Media

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For years, restaurant operators treated persistent labor shortages primarily as recruiting problems. When an employee left, the standard response was to post another opening, accelerate interviews or offer a signing incentive.

With recruiting, onboarding and lost productivity making every departure expensive, one of the most cost-effective moves operators can make is retaining the talent they already have.

The topic will be the focus of a breakout session, The 2026 Labor Strategy, scheduled for this year's Fast Casual Executive Summit, Oct. 4–6 in Arlington, Texas, bringing together top restaurant leaders for networking, strategy, and industry insights.

Retention is not simply a human resources initiative. It affects speed of service, order accuracy, guest satisfaction and profitability. Every departure brings recruiting and onboarding expenses, but the less visible costs can be just as damaging. Restaurants lose knowledge, consistency and relationships, while remaining employees absorb additional work as replacements learn the job.

Eric Knott, CEO of Tiki Taco and one of the session panelists, sees culture as the central factor behind restaurant turnover.

"I think it's 100% culture, and how the leadership at the store level embraces the company culture and then extends it down to their organization," he said in a telephone interview.

Make managers part of the operation

That culture is shaped less by mission statements than by what employees experience during a busy shift. Knott said managers who remain present and work beside their teams are better positioned to build loyalty than those who manage primarily through checklists and administrative tasks.

"The ones that benefit from the lowest turnover are those that immerse themselves in their day-to-day and actually work alongside their team," Knott said. He described the approach as servant leadership: Managers should not ask employees to perform work they would be unwilling to do themselves.

Presence also means providing help when order volume surges, answering questions and correcting behavior at the moment it occurs. Allowing conduct that conflicts with the company's stated values can undermine culture quickly, Knott said. Employees need to know that standards apply consistently and that managers will step in when the team needs support.

Build schedules around the people

Scheduling is another important test of whether a restaurant's stated commitment to employees is reflected in its operations. A retention-first strategy gives workers as much predictability and control as business conditions permit.

Sam Worobec, co-founder of Training Simplified and the moderator of the Fast Casual Executive Summit panel, said schedules should be published early enough for employees to manage obligations and arrange shift changes.

"The later you are posting the schedule, the harder it is for them to shift, and the more likely it is they're going to call out when they could have just changed the shift with somebody," he said in an email interview.

Worobec also recommends stacking shifts intentionally. New hires should work with experienced employees who can teach them, while strong workers should be distributed across shifts rather than concentrated together. Without that support, new employees can feel as though they have been dropped into live service before they are ready.

Knott said operators also must stop trying to force employee availability into a predetermined schedule. Restaurants should hire and build staffing plans around the hours employees can realistically work.

"That's the organization's burden," he said. "It's not the team member's burden."

For that reason, Tiki Taco pays for employees to have an app to request time off and update their availability, subject to management approval. Requests generally must be submitted at least two weeks ahead, giving employees flexibility without leaving managers surprised by last-minute coverage gaps.

Turnong employees into teachers

Training and recognition can reinforce each other when operators feature their own employees in instructional content. Worobec said Training Simplified captures the practices of high-performing employees through interviews and turns those insights into videos and courses for the rest of the organization.

"It highlights your best employees and has them teaching each other in a way they couldn't otherwise," Worobec said. The approach is particularly useful for multiunit organizations whose managers may rarely meet in person. It recognizes the featured employee while distributing practical knowledge across the company.

Tiki Taco takes a similar approach with short, TikTok-style training videos featuring its chef and team members. Lessons generally run from 30 seconds to one minute and use a casual presentation rather than a traditional corporate demonstration. The restaurant adds competition through rewards, such as recognizing the first location to reach full completion of a new training module.

Worobec said employee-led content can produce a reinforcing cycle: Workers receive recognition, colleagues learn from credible peers and other employees become motivated to earn similar opportunities. The resulting training also feels specific to the brand instead of like generic, off-the-shelf material.

Measure whether retention efforts work

Operators can introduce scheduling platforms, recognition programs and new training systems, but they still need to determine whether those investments produce results. Knott said the essential measurement remains turnover, accompanied by a realistic estimate of what each replacement costs.

Those costs include recruiting, uniforms and training as well as the time required for a new employee to become fully proficient. During that period, restaurants may experience higher food costs, slower service and more order mistakes. Knott said Tiki Taco recorded employee turnover below 25% in 2025 and was tracking below 20% in 2026.

The larger lesson is that retention depends on a connected set of daily practices rather than a single program. Competitive compensation matters, but employees also evaluate whether schedules respect their lives, managers support them during difficult shifts and training helps them succeed.

For fast-casual operators, recruiting will remain necessary. The stronger labor strategy, however, may begin with a simpler question: Why would a capable employee choose to stay? Restaurants that answer that question through their everyday operations can reduce hiring pressure while building more experienced and consistent teams.

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About Richard Slawsky

In addition to writing, Slawsky serves as an adjunct professor of Communication at the University of Louisville and other local colleges. He holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Communication from the University of Louisville and is a member of Mensa and the National Communication Association.

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