Climbing the Mountain of Profitability: Taziki’s Operations Summit 2026

Taziki’s Inaugural Operations Summit concluded last month at GEODIS Park in Nashville, TN.

Operations expertise was rampant in the room, with General Managers, Area Supervisors, and Market Leaders, as well as members of the Restaurant Support Center’s Operations team* and Franchise Owner/Operators**.

The Operations Summit brought operators together to instruct them on best practices and lead them into action to improve the processes essential to running Taziki’s.

(L to R: Franchise Success Manager Sarina Mason, Market Leader Rodrigo Torres, and Market Leader Armando Perez discuss operational best practices.)

The main goal of this Operations Summit is profitability. In the last two years, Taziki’s invested in a new COO and CMO, new softwares like R365 and CaterZen, and an updated Operations Manual in order to re-emphasize profitability. The Ops Summit helps operators tighten the screws to bring more money from the top line to the bottom line.

Williams shares his experience with the Ops Summit attendees.

The Operations Summit included panels from GMs and Market Leaders, Instructional Seminars from RSC members, and social time to compare strategies and pain points.

In one panel, GM Johnathan Williams from Tuscaloosa, AL was able to share best practices on service recovery.

“How do you turn a guest that complained into a raving fan?…Show them you care.”

Sarina Mason, who led the panel, remarked how Johnathan truly embodied Taziki’s brand value of connection. Being able to turn a negative experience into a positive one is a huge part of an operator’s job, and is an essential piece of helping Taziki’s stay profitable.

Sr. Director of Ops Excellence Drew Moore shares his group’s findings from a breakout exercise.

In the restaurant business, every point matters.

Technological advances like software are a huge way Taziki’s can stay with the curve and help increase profitability. However, our restaurant operators are often so busy running the restaurant they don’t have time to sit down with and immerse themselves in a new software.

The Ops summit is a great time the RSC can instruct operators on how best to implement software to bring more money to the bottom line. R365 helps to reduce waste, CaterZen helps to increase catering sales, and Square for Restaurants works as our POS to help with ordering and scheduling.

The Ops summit gave operators time to learn and ask questions about how best to use these new softwares, helping them operate more efficiently long-term.

Operators being able to share a room and compare strategies is hugely beneficial to helping our restaurants run efficiently and effectively. It builds connection between operators who can turn to each other with struggles they face, and it helps to spread helpful information like software instruction and strategic updates.

Vendors also got to play a part in the Operations Summit as well! We heard from ECOLAB, who presented on new products they were releasing in the realm of restaurant cleanliness.

This year’s Operations Summit helped increase profitability by sharing best practices, educating on new software, and encouraging collaboration between operators at various levels of the business. It was so great to have everyone in Nashville, and we look forward to when we can do it again!

*Members of the RSC Operations team include newly hired COO John Ishmael, Directors Gaston Laneaux, Drew Moore and Jesse Deshield, and Restaurant Support Managers Curt Ullery, Sarina Mason, and Joe Edidin.

**Franchisees operate around half of all Taziki’s today.