Capability brief · Restaurants
A recruiting practice for restaurant + multi-unit operators.
Twenty-five years at Jack in the Box, Del Taco, QDOBA, El Pollo Loco, and Petco. Concept fit and multi-unit P&L verified at intake.
Track record
Measured results across 25 years of placements
Not a network claim — operating metrics from active and past client engagements. Every number ties back to a specific engagement.
Because we screen before we submit — Jack in the Box / Del Taco, 2018–present
Corporate placements across 5+ years at Jack in the Box / Del Taco
ATS optimization + weekly executive reporting at Jack in the Box / Del Taco
Measured across retention-analytics engagements with retail, technology, and industrial clients
Restaurant Corporate
Jack in the Box / Del Taco
VP Applications, VP Strategy, Chief Accounting Officer, Director of Digital Marketing, Director of Kitchen Innovation, Senior Manager of Construction
Ongoing contract talent-acquisition engagement since 2018 — 95% corporate-placement retention across five years.
Retail & E-Commerce
Petco
Chief Information Officer + multiple senior corporate roles
C-suite technology leadership plus adjacent corporate placements at a national multi-unit retailer.
Multi-unit openings
Del Taco Orlando + Jack in the Box Louisville: screened 200+ applicants per site to deliver 80 hires each — on the opening deadline. Four restaurant openings across two new markets.
Role types we place
When to engage us
Call us when…
New brand launch or a new-market expansion — 80+ hires per site on an opening deadline
Multi-unit corporate rebuild — VP Ops, Regional Directors, and Director of Off-Premise seats to fill in parallel
A concept transition (QSR to fast-casual, corporate-owned to franchise mix) that needs a leader who has already run the model
5–20 restaurant leadership hires per quarter, ongoing — more than one in-house recruiter can carry
How we work
How the week runs
Six operating rhythms every engagement inherits — the cadence a prospect can plan around from week one.
Weekly candidate submissions + market pulse — named submissions on a weekly clock, not radio silence between placements.
Concept fit and multi-unit P&L, verified at intake — every submission has already run the model at the unit count you are hiring for.
Back-channel referencing — references pulled from operators who reported to or alongside each candidate, not from LinkedIn connection lists.
ATS + HRIS optimization — pipeline stages, requisition templates, integrations audited. 25% recruiting-fee reduction on the JITB / Del Taco engagement through this work alone.
Executive weekly reporting — board-grade metrics on time to fill, source of hire, funnel conversion, and cost per hire, reported the way your CEO or CHRO wants to see them.
Standard 90-day replacement guarantee on every placement.
Three engagement models
How we engage
Three ways to work together. Pick the one that fits the seat — priced the way operators budget for the work.
Executive search
Senior, confidential, exclusive placements
For VP Operations, Regional VPs, VP HR, CHRO, CIO, and other senior operator or executive seats — including confidential replacements. I run the search personally, back-channel-reference every finalist, and stand behind a 90-day replacement guarantee.
- VP / C-suite operator or corporate roles
- Confidential or exclusive engagements
- Back-channel referencing on every finalist
RaaS
Recruiting as a Service — embedded on a monthly fee
For growth-stage operators hiring across the org without a full-time TA lead. I run recruiting inside your company on a predictable monthly retainer — weekly submissions, ATS and process optimization, executive-level reporting, no per-placement invoices. Averaging 67% annual savings vs per-hire fees across current RaaS engagements.
- Ongoing hiring across a role family
- Predictable monthly cost, unlimited scope
- Shift from agency-only spend to in-house ownership
*Pilot option available — monthly rate scales with the number of open seats we're running for you at any given time.
Consulting
Advisory + org-design help by the hour
For orgs that need my brain but not a full search — comp benchmarking, JD calibration, ATS + interview-loop redesign, TA-function audits, and hiring-strategy sessions. Booked in blocks, invoiced hourly, no long-term commitment.
- Comp + JD calibration for a specific seat
- ATS + interview-loop audits
- One-off advisory or strategy sessions
Next steps · Restaurants
Tell us about the restaurant seat you’re trying to fill
The first conversation is a call. We’ll walk through the role, concept fit, unit count, and the engagement model that fits.
Peter Platt · Founder
Nashville office