Vanessa Varano

Vanessa Varano has spent her career translating restaurant realities into workforce systems that can withstand scale. As vice president of learning and development for Mac Haik Restaurant Group, she shapes leadership pipelines, operational training systems and engagement strategies for one of the fastest-growing First Watch operators in the country. Her role also manages the launch of new hospitality concepts.

Operational Roots, Scalable Learning

Hospitality shaped my worldview long before it became my profession. Raised by restaurateur parents, I lived in restaurants. Standards, a guest-first mentality and how to handle a rush was foundational for me. That early exposure led me to the Culinary Institute of America, where I deepened my knowledge of culinary arts, wine and restaurant operations.

My career began at TGI Fridays in a temporary customer relations role, handling guest complaints. The assignment evolved into a 12-year progression across communications, operations support, franchise relations, food safety and learning and development leadership.

Each role reinforced the same principle. Restaurant systems earn relevance when they hold up in the field. Although I learned the formal language of instructional design later, I already understood the discipline’s practical test. Training has value only when restaurant teams trust it, use it and carry it into service.

The field-first perspective continued shaping my work at Dickey’s Barbecue and later SPB Hospitality, where I rebuilt or led the rebuilding of onboarding systems and training frameworks that had become outdated or underused. Those experiences refined the approach I now bring to Mac Haik Restaurant Group, where expansion depends as much on preparing people to lead well as it does on opening new restaurants.

Internal Talent as Growth Infrastructure

We operate 27 First Watch Daytime Café locations as the brand’s largest area developer. Since joining the group, I have helped drive that expansion while helping launch original concepts, including a coffee shop designed as an office-building amenity, Maggie’s Coffee and Kirkwood, our first upscale restaurant concept.

Leadership readiness has to be built into staffing decisions, opening support and day-to-day operator partnership. My role, therefore, sits close to workforce planning and restaurant operations, preparing people for greater responsibility before expansion turns readiness into urgency.

“When people feel ownership in the process, adoption strengthens because the material feels practical rather than imposed.”

Field-Tested Training Systems

A leadership pipeline cannot succeed without training systems operators trust under real restaurant pressure. One of the most persistent misconceptions in learning and development is that a great tool automatically produces impact.

Hospitality organizations constantly encounter new platforms, tools and training systems promising transformation.

Technology can improve speed and consistency, but adoption still depends on field credibility. Restaurant teams must see their own operational reality reflected in the material, or the system remains unused regardless of how polished it appears.

Throughout my career, I have built learning systems in close partnership with operators. When people feel ownership in the process, adoption strengthens because the material feels practical rather than imposed.

I once inherited a learning and development budget that included a third-party audit meant to validate whether training materials were technically strong. When I asked why operators were not being asked whether the systems actually worked inside restaurants, the purpose became clear. The audit existed to defend the department when the field questioned adoption.

I removed the line item immediately.

Restaurants are not judged by theoretical operational excellence. Guests decide every day whether a restaurant succeeds. Training systems deserve the same standard. I often say the crumpled piece of paper carried in someone’s pocket is more valuable than the polished guide left on the shelf.

Transforming Engagement into Leadership Mobility

Once training earns field adoption, the next question is whether people feel supported enough to stay, grow and pursue leadership. For years, the restaurant industry treated turnover as the primary engagement measure. Turnover matters, but it arrives too late to explain what employees needed earlier.

“Learning and development becomes influential when operational teams view it as a trusted partner rather than a disconnected corporate function.”

To gain earlier visibility, we partnered with GoHappy to implement quarterly pulse surveys alongside annual engagement assessments. The effort led to our team earning GoHappy’s Happiest Frontline Workforce recognition for two consecutive years. Recognition, however, is secondary to response. Feedback only matters when people see action following it.

We now monitor onboarding at 15, 45 and 90 days, gather detailed exit feedback across every level of the organization and share engagement findings with restaurant teams alongside the actions being taken.

The feedback loop helped identify one of our most meaningful retention opportunities. After COVID, hourly turnover remained too high, and many employees were leaving shortly after joining. The earliest employee experience pointed directly to trainers because they shaped a new hire’s first relationship with the organization.

“AI can streamline production, but it cannot build trust with operators, coach behaviour change or determine whether a system will hold up inside a restaurant.”

We recertified every trainer across the system and reframed the role. Trainers became cultural guides responsible not only for teaching operational standards, but also for helping employees feel connected from the beginning. Within a single year, hourly turnover decreased by 50 percentage points through stronger onboarding and deeper cultural integration.

That work also strengthened leadership mobility. We expanded developmental stages between trainer and manager roles, allowing employees to move from one-on-one coaching into broader facilitation responsibilities, restaurant openings and operational leadership. With more than 70 percent of leadership positions historically filled internally, the pathway has become a dependable advancement engine.

Preserving Human-Centered Leadership in an AI-Enabled Era

Earlier in my career, well-developed training initiatives often required weeks of coordination with instructional designers and production teams. Today, AI can compress parts of that process, helping lean teams create more refined materials without adding layers of infrastructure.

For our organization, AI-enabled efficiency matters because we are able to preserve agility while supporting restaurant teams with greater sophistication. The real opportunity is not simply faster content creation. It is giving small teams more capacity to solve operational problems without losing proximity to the people they serve.

Still, technology cannot replace the relational discipline behind learning and development. AI can streamline production, but it cannot build trust with operators, coach behaviour change or determine whether a system will hold up inside a restaurant.

That balance will define the next stage of the field. Technology should simplify execution, while learning leaders stay close to the business, the operators and the employees.

My advice to leaders entering this field is simple. Become indispensable to the business before trying to transform it. Learning and development becomes influential when operational teams view it as a trusted partner rather than a disconnected corporate function.

Mac Haik Restaurant Group reflects that standard through disciplined growth and a People-first operating philosophy. We believe that if you start with great people that you train and engage, following a brand recipe, that the financial results take care of themselves. I’m honored to be a part of a team with a clear strategy and even more impressive results.