During the 2017 DiscoverLink Client Conference, DiscoverLink founders Jeff Tenut and John Poulos recognized eight of their longstanding customers with Client Appreciation Awards.  Crystal awards were presented at a celebration party held at Rainforest Café in Schaumburg, Illinois. Six clients were recognized with 5-year loyalty awards, and two clients were honored with 10-year loyalty awards.

10-Year Loyalty Award Recipients

Recipients of the 10-year awards include:

TGI Friday’s: This 900+ unit casual dining chain, based in Carrollton, Texas, has been a DiscoverLink client since February 2007.  TGI Friday’s was one of the original contributors to DiscoverLink’s acclaimed AGM to GM program, which improved the success rates of newly promoted general managers from 65% to 95%.  Today, 10 years later, TGI Friday’s continues to use the AGM to GM program, Multi U, and compliance content from the DiscoverLink Content Library. 

Culver’s: A client since February 2007, Culver’s is a 620-unit national fast casual chain, based in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. When DiscoverLink started working with Culver’s 10 years ago, they were less than half the size, concentrated in the Midwest. With the help of some Custom Courses, Culver’s was able to cut training time in half for kitchen and counter crew members. During the first year of Culver’s launch of ButterBurger University, sales increased an average of $110,000 per store. Currently, DiscoverLink and Culver’s are working to rebuild all of Culver’s content to take advantage of advances in instructional design, shorten seat time, and ensure courses are mobile-ready. Culver’s is also in the final stages of migrating from DiscoverLink’s legacy LMS to DiscoverLink Talent.

5-Year Loyalty Award Recipients

Recipients of the 5-year awards include:

CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries: This multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee has been a DiscoverLink client since January 2012.  Brands include Old Chicago, Rock Bottom Brewery, Gordon Biersch, and 9 other specialty concepts. Craftworks recently migrated from DiscoverLink’s legacy system to DiscoverLink Talent and now has more than 11,000 learners on the system. Craftworks is an avid user of the Question Bank functionality and also uses a selection of Compliance courses from the DiscoverLink Content Library.

 Donatos Pizza: A family-owned pizza operation based in Columbus, Ohio with more than 150 locations in 6 states, Donatos has been a client since May 2012.  Donatos has almost 3,500 learners on DiscoverLink Talent. From the DiscoverLink Content Library, Donatos uses the AGM to GM program and select Compliance courses. Donatos leveraged e-learning for new hires with a goal to reduce early turnover. As a result, they lowered turnover within the first 10 shifts by 42% for a savings of $367,000.

Moe’s Southwest Grill: This fast casual restaurant chain, based in Atlanta, Georgia, has been a DiscoverLink client since June 2012. Moe’s was one of the first clients on DiscoverLink Talent, using a selection of DiscoverLink Content Library courses for 695 units and more than 10,000 learners. Moe’s has established a complex and fluid Store Hierarchy, uses Resources significantly with organized content, created Conditional Learning Programs by store types, and customized store statistics on every Manager’s Dashboard.

Perkins & Marie Callender’s: With corporate headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee and support center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, these family dining restaurant brands have nearly 400 units in the U.S. and Canada. During Perkins’ initial pilot of DiscoverLink’s legacy LMS in August 2012, connectivity issues at the store level prevented a full commitment to e-learning. Meanwhile, in 2014 Marie Callender’s licensed Compliance content for 90 units from the DiscoverLink Content Library. Now, Perkins is beginning a full rollout of DiscoverLink Talent and a selection of DiscoverLink Content Library courses. The plan is to have all 130 corporate stores on the system by August, and possibly add 260 franchised stores after that.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill: This casual dining restaurant chain based in Denver, Colorado has been a content client since June 2012. When acquired by Ignite Restaurant Group, DiscoverLink expanded the account to include Ignite’s other concepts, Brick House Tavern and Joe’s Crab Shack. Now back on their own, Macaroni Grill is utilizing DiscoverLink Talent to offer Employee and Leadership Development courses, AGM to GM program, and Compliance courses from the DiscoverLink Content Library to over 150 units.

Texas Roadhouse: Based in Louisville, Kentucky, this casual dining steakhouse has been a client since February 2012. With 599 units and more than 72,000 learners on DiscoverLink Talent, Texas Roadhouse has more employees on the system than any other client. Texas Roadhouse leverages the Exams and Checklists functionality by establishing checklists to manage and track in-store trainer progress, and is currently working with DiscoverLink to develop remote checklist sign-off capability. Texas Roadhouse has also worked with DiscoverLink on Custom Course development as well as Custom Reports.

We are proud to count all of these fantastic brands among our loyal customers.