Thrive Restaurant Group (Thrive) is a multigenerational, family-owned restaurant management group operating more than 200 restaurants across five distinct brands and 19 states. Every day, over 20,000 guests walk through their doors, each interaction with Thrive’s people guided by a simple but powerful invitation: make a positive difference.
As Thrive Restaurant Group grew from 2,000 to 8,000 team members, leadership was challenged to find ways to maintain a deeply human, people-first culture across hundreds of locations while navigating high turnover, operational complexity and intense competition for talent. By partnering with ADP and expanding beyond basic payroll into a fully integrated human capital management (HCM) ecosystem, Thrive Restaurant Group transformed HR from an administrative function into a strategic engine — one that reinforces trust, improves retention, empowers managers and delivers measurable business impact.
Through ADP’s data analytics dashboard, we noticed our turnover had decreased 57%; that’s a huge number! We spend about $2,500 training a new team member, so when you calculate what we save in reduced turnover, that comes to about $3.5 million per year. We could build a new restaurant with that amount of money — and actually, we did!
Renee Chaloupka,
Sr. Director of People Experience
Thrive Restaurant Group
| Challenge | ADP Capability | What We Did | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maintaining a people-first culture while scaling rapidly across locations. | ADP Workforce Now | Consolidated payroll, benefits, ACA compliance and 401(k) into a single integrated HCM system. | HR transformed from administrative function into strategic engine reinforcing employee trust and retention. |
| Manual, fragmented HR systems causing operational inefficiency and administrative errors. | ADP Workforce Now | Eliminated nine separate HCM systems with ADP Workforce Now. | Improved HCM accuracy and speed; eliminated errors and saved HR time. |
| Limited employee access to HR tools slowing onboarding and engagement. | ADP Workforce Now | Enabled mobile self-service for onboarding, pay, time, and benefits. | Employee self-service adoption reached 90% saving over $350,000. |
| High employee turnover in a competitive restaurant labor market. | ADP Workforce Now | Used ADP analytics and Voice of the Employee to analyze turnover and gather feedback. | Turnover decreased 57%, saving approximately $3.5M annually in training costs. |
How can restaurant groups reduce employee turnover?
Restaurant groups can reduce employee turnover by implementing integrated workforce management systems that provide data visibility and employee feedback. Thrive Restaurant Group reduced turnover by 57% after using ADP analytics and Voice of the Employee to identify trends and address concerns early. This allowed leaders to invest consistently in people while scaling operations across hundreds of locations. Such an approach works for large multi-location hospitality businesses facing high churn.
How does an integrated HCM platform help multi-location restaurants?
An integrated HCM platform centralizes payroll, benefits, compliance, and analytics into one system, reducing errors and administrative burden. Thrive Restaurant Group replaced nine separate systems with ADP Workforce Now, improving accuracy and freeing managers to focus on people leadership. This model supports scalability without diluting culture for growing restaurant groups.
What business results can restaurants achieve with better workforce management?
Restaurants that modernize workforce management can see measurable retention and cost improvements. Thrive Restaurant Group achieved a 57% reduction in turnover and saved approximately $3.5 million annually in training costs after adopting ADP’s analytics-driven HR tools. These outcomes demonstrate how workforce investments directly impact profitability and growth.
What HR technology works best for large restaurant chains?
Large restaurant chains benefit from HR platforms that combine payroll, compliance, analytics, and engagement in one system. Thrive Restaurant Group used ADP Workforce Now to scale a people-first culture while managing over 200 restaurant locations. This approach helps hospitality employers balance operational efficiency with employee experience.
