Area Coach Jennifer Bluthardt is readying for an exciting opportunity that is both new to her and new to us! On April 2, she will step into a brand new role as our Director of Training.
Jennifer has been a loyal part of the MRCO family for 30 years. She started in a Taco Bell restaurant at age 16 and steadily moved up the ladder to management. Today, she’s finishing up as Area Coach (AC) of our southern middle Tennessee market, home to two of our top sales volume restaurants. It’s a role she’s held for more than a decade.
“[MRCO] is my home. – Jennifer Bluthardt, Dir. of Training
Naturally, Jennifer is both excited and nervous about her upcoming personnel change. As a company, the creation of this invaluable training role has been in the works for a while. Other franchisees have reported great results from having someone out in the field, Jennifer shares.
“The role is important as the company grows, to make sure that that we are training our folks — to set them up for success,” says Shab Aminmadani, Chief People Officer. “We strive to promote from within and the Director of Training will continue to drive that culture.”
Candidates for this position were, in fact, all internal. Though these decisions are difficult to make, Jennifer was flattered to be our top contender. “For me to be recognized, that obviously means a lot,” she says. She’ll report to MRCO’s Director of Operations, Rick Luzader, with whom she’s worked for many years.
Passionate about Training
For Jennifer, getting directly involved in training was eye opening. When she first started training while in restaurant management, she says, that’s when she really noticed the impact well trained team members can have on the team as a whole: more confidence, improved abilities, just to name a few. It was transformative for her.
She started heading into work every day thinking, I’ve got to train on something today … or I can’t go home. “At some point … you know, it’s very beneficial if I make everyone better than me,” Jennifer explains.
Seeing more advancement and passion in others is truly Jennifer’s passion. As an RGM, she says she always made a point to “recognize, show, tell, teach.”
“I absolutely love the training aspect of it,” she says of this next professional role. And that’s great because according to the job description, Jennifer is to become the resident expert on all aspects of training while leading by example!
Jennifer, we know you’ll be great in this role. Congratulations and thank you for taking on this charge!