How one Chick-fil-A franchise onboarded 100+ people without the paperwork chaos

About the business

Julia Calandra’s journey with Chick-fil-A began at age 16 as a part-time team member. Today, she’s an Owner-Operator and pioneers the brand’s international growth in Newmarket, Ontario. Chick-fil-A is globally recognised for its exceptional hospitality, a standard Julia upholds at the Newmarket East location through a deep investment in daily operations and leadership development. With a team of over 60, the restaurant focuses on creating a culture of care for both guests and team members alike.

The challenge

Launching a new franchise involves a massive recruitment effort, often requiring the hiring of over 100 people simultaneously. Throughout her 12-year tenure with Chick-fil-A, Julia worked alongside various franchise owners and observed firsthand how different operators managed HR and recruitment. She saw the significant challenges brought by outdated recruiting methods and knew these traditional practices would not scale for her own grand opening.

“I didn’t want to just do the old school method of pen and paper and employee files and just things being all over the place and disorganised. I needed something that was going to help with that structure… Otherwise, it just becomes very confusing and chaotic.” — Julia Calandra, Owner-Operator

Julia needed a more secure, structured and scalable way to manage recruitment and employee records during periods of rapid hiring growth. Without the right systems in place, operators often faced challenges such as:

• Security and confidentiality risks: Traditional filing cabinets posed risks of fire damage or unauthorised access, while Google Drives lacked a professional structure.
• Fragmented workflows: Without a centralised system, resumes, interview notes and onboarding documents lived in multiple disconnected spots.
• Administrative “chaos”: Paper-based filing was confusing and chaotic, with no clear timeline or easy way to search for historical records.

The solution

Having witnessed the administrative friction of manual HR at other locations, Julia chose a different path for Chick-fil-A Newmarket East. She put Employment Hero’s HR platform and ATS in place from the very beginning, ensuring the entire employee lifecycle was unified in a single digital ecosystem before the restaurant even opened its doors.

Key features driving the restaurant’s efficiency include:

• Digital onboarding: Julia streamlined her setup by creating a standard onboarding package that is sent, signed and filed automatically.
• Consolidated ATS: Resumes, interview notes and applications are housed in one spot, allowing for easy searching of historical candidates.
• Integrated performance tab: Templates for leadership development and annual reviews ensure that feedback is formatted consistently across the leadership bench.
• Cloud-based security: Complete with a secure digital employee file that includes everything from incident reports to promotion letters.

“What Employment Hero is able to provide is a lot more streamlined. It allows for everything to be more ‘click of a button’ rather than printing, downloading and filing. That whole process is just time-consuming.”

The ROI

The primary return for Chick-fil-A Newmarket East is measured in reclaimed time and peace of mind.

• Seamless grand opening: The platform allowed Julia to onboard 100+ team members during the high-pressure grand opening phase without losing track of compliance.
• Hours reclaimed: Julia estimates a saving of “at least a couple of hours” per hiring sprint by cutting out manual document handling.
• Leadership growth: The performance module has become a strategic tool for developing the “leadership bench,” a core goal for the business.
• Reliable compliance: Automated tracking ensures that performance reviews and training are completed on time, reducing the risk of missing critical intervals.

“I would say the time it has saved me just having everything so streamlined and in one spot has been so much easier… It’s hard to put it into a number, but I would say hours.”

Why it matters

In the fast-paced restaurant industry, operators often wear multiple hats, including HR. For Julia, having a system that runs in the background lets her focus on running her restaurant without worrying about administrative gaps.

“The restaurant business is very on the go and very fast-paced. Knowing you have the security of an HR system that is going to support you from a compliance and organisation standpoint… it just is another thing that you could utilise to put your mind a little bit more at ease in the midst of running your business.“ 

Ready to serve up HR efficiency?

Don’t let manual paperwork slow you down. Join the hospitality businesses across the UK using Employment Hero to simplify onboarding and focus on your guests.