In this episode of The Financial Advantage with GSS, host Nick Stauff sits down with Melissa Duque, Associate General Counsel and HR Manager at Accurate Employer Solutions.

What does it take to build a restaurant team that performs every shift, even when turnover spikes and margins shrink? Operators know the challenge: one day you have a full roster, the next you’re scrambling to fill gaps and keep guests happy. Every decision about your people ripples out to the guest experience and bottom line. David Drinan , Managing Partner at BlackThorn Strategic Advisors, has guided both struggling units and fast-growing brands. His conclusion: without the right people, no system or strategy can succeed. Why Team Performance Drives Restaurant Success Operational excellence begins with people. Technology helps, but service breaks down fast if your team doesn’t care. Team culture directly shapes guest experience. Staff who trust each other and feel valued show up with pride, while a weak culture creates inconsistency. Chick-fil-A proves the point: by investing in people and setting clear expectations, they generate industry-leading revenue and unmatched guest satisfaction. But building and sustaining that kind of team also requires operational breathing room—and that’s where the right back-office support becomes critical. That’s exactly what Global Shared Services (GSS) provides: financial clarity, smart tools, and time-saving services that allow restaurant leaders to focus on their people instead of their paperwork. Step 1: Hire for Attitude, Train for Excellence Hire people who show up curious, honest, and ready to work—even if they’ve never bussed a table. Build interview questions around real-life scenarios to gauge cultural fit. Involve current team members in hiring to reinforce culture. Create structured onboarding: clear expectations, hands-on training, and mentorship. When people feel invested in from day one, they gain confidence and deliver consistent guest experiences. We’ve seen this play out in real restaurants. One GSS client—a Tropical Smoothie Café franchisee —built a top-performing team by pairing structured onboarding with GSS payroll support, which eliminated admin headaches and let managers spend more time coaching new hires during their most formative weeks. 

Learn restaurant financial planning with a 4-week forecast process to manage cash flow, labor costs, and prime cost effectively.