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Choose The Right Franchise Speaker

Tim Kirkland

CEO, Renegade Hospitality Group | Best-Selling Author, Speaker & Consultant

How do leaders grow their brands and shape the future of their organizations even when economic conditions aren’t optimal? Tim Kirkland shows you how with The Renegade Philosophy™. Franchise companies grow and thrive when they hire right, train right, and treat right. In his engaging and entertaining presentations, Kirkland outlines the proven methods he’s learned in his 30+ years in the hospitality industry.

Kirkland delivers highly customized keynotes and master classes on leadership, team engagement & retention, customer service, and local restaurant marketing. Over 20,000 people attend his live seminars and workshops every year.

Tim Kirkland Demo Reel

Travels From:

Denver, CO

Fee Range:

Keynote: $10,000 – $17,500

Virtual: $6,000

Tim Kirkland Bio

Tim Kirkland is a proven operator, executive, and best-selling author; and during his career, he has led training, operations, and marketing departments for numerous respected restaurant brands. He’s been an award-winning operator and successful entrepreneur with a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by the hospitality industry. He walks the talk and shares tools for success.

Kirkland’s best-selling books, The Renegade Server and COACH are used in over 15,000 restaurants, hotels, retail locations, customer service companies, and universities worldwide to improve the engagement and performance of both front-line teams and all levels of leadership. His content and technology can be found woven into the culture and training of some of the top brands in the world. Leading companies that use Kirkland’s materials include Applebee’s, Subway, Buffalo Wild Wings, Marriott, Kimpton, Coca-Cola, Beam Suntory, Sodexo, Reinhart Food Service, and many, many more

Kirkland is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School, where his focus was the Art and Practice of Leadership Development. He is CEO of Renegade Hospitality Group, which serves as a professional advisory resource to the restaurant, hotel, retail and customer service industries.

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Partial Client List:

  • A&W
  • Applebee’s
  • Auntie Anne’s
  • Buffalo Wild Wings
  • Burger King
  • Capriotti’s
  • Captain D’s
  • Chili’s
  • Coca Cola
  • Culver’s
  • Del Taco
  • East Side Mario’s
  • El Pollo Loco
  • Golden Corral
  • Global Franchise Group
  • Hot Dog On A Stick
  • Huddle House
  • IHOP
  • KFC / KBP Foods
  • Little Caesar’s
  • Marriott
  • Maggiano’s
  • Mellow Mushroom
  • Montana’s BBQ
  • Newk’s
  • Pizza Hut
  • PF Chang’s
  • Ponderosa / Bonanza
  • Sonic Drive In
  • Starwood Hotels
  • Steak n’ Shake
  • Subway
  • Tilted Kilt
  • US Army
  • Little Caesar’s
  • Which Wich
  • It was fantastic and totally applicable to everyone in attendance, including us at the franchisor level! I would have Tim come back 5 times over!

    Karley Hofer Director of Brand Development, Orange Leaf Yogurt
  • Tim Kirkland allowed us the opportunity to wrap up our 2 ½ day franchisee convention in a powerful way. Tim understood our unique audience of corporate employees, franchisees and managers and was able to connect with them on a real level. We solicit feedback from our attendees through an online survey after the event and Tim Kirkland’s ratings were the highest we’ve ever seen from a guest speaker. I highly recommend Tim to your organization if you’re looking for a high energy, motivated speaker who can really connect with the audience and share a powerful service message.

    Heather Neary Chief Marketing Officer, Auntie Anne’s
  • I would definitely recommend Tim Kirkland to speak for other companies in the service industry! I heard a tremendous amount of positive comments from our attendees on the insight Tim shared. Tim had a great way to keep the audience focused on his message, which was chock-full of very valuable and relatable content. His message made sense, simple as that. He had great timing with his message, knowing when to add in the right sparks of humor throughout the presentation, which had our audience roaring with laughter and kept them entertained. We look forward to more opportunities to work with Tim again in the future.

    Jackie Vienneau Franchise World Headquarters, Subway
  • Tim was the highlight of our conference. Our GMs were amazed by his paradigm on selling and how he describes aligning the business, the server and the guest to improve sales.

    Wayne Vandewater Executive Director of Field Training, Applebee’s
  • Tim captured the audience with his industry insight, his personal real-life stories, as well as his good-natured humor. Tim was highly energizing and provided our restaurant operators endless service ideas to implement in our restaurants. I will certainly call on Tim's services again.

    Philip M. Greifeld Chief Executive Officer, Huddle House, Inc.
  • Tim presented a keynote address and two breakout sessions at our National Training Camp. His message was clear, concise, and completely in line with the message of our convention. Tim gave our audience members simple tactics that they could use right away to build their businesses. By far, Tim was the best convention speaker I have seen at any Buffalo Wild Wings convention.

    Nikki Fuchs de Calderon Director of Management Development, Buffalo Wild Wings
  • Every, and I mean EVERY attendee I talked to loved your program! I have already sharing my notes with our internal team and we are incorporating your pearls into our training.  I have attended many presentations over the past thirty years and your information zoomed you into the top five! The information you presented was relevant to the environment we currently operate in. The tips were user friendly with the “how to” for implementation. Combine all of this with your energetic, straight talk style and our franchisees and managers saw a winning program. Thanks for making it actionable as well as memorable!

    Dennis Laventure CEO Country Kitchen International
  • Tim is remarkably easy to work with and has delivered an unbelievable experience for our audience at every event. Tim Kirkland has risen to the top of the list for people we turn to. He engages the audience with riveting on trend material delivered with a mix of humor and attention grabbing dialogue that is both captivating and useful to anyone in the industry.

    Gerald “Chip” McFall Vice President of Sales Reinhart Foodservice
  • Excellent! Tim’s presentation was well put together and delivered with wonderful humor. Feedback from our customers was great!

    Ruth Wik US Foodservice
  • Our attendees most certainly took away real, usable tactics and tools. I believe that the information you presented contained a ton of great factual information that our attendees can take back to their restaurant and think about how they are currently running their restaurants in terms of their recruitment strategies, talent management and employee engagement strategies. I would rate it a 10 out of 10!

    Sara Duhart Subway
  • I’ve been a part of several seminars in my career with 2 other restaurant concepts. I can’t speak for all attendees, but I know for a fact, this was the first time in my life I was eager to get back to my teams to share information I learned from Tim. I’ve began to use the interviewing and hiring practices in our company, and we’ve seen instant results.

    Charles D. Newk’s Franchise Company

Tim Kirkland Programs

Come Back Smarter! Reopening, Resetting, Rethinking & Recharging Our Businesses

How did we get here?

What are the factors that made the restaurant industry one of – if not THE most – vulnerable in the country? One so fragile that many restaurants were forced to shutter just a few weeks into the pandemic? How can we use this disruption to hit the reset button and address the mistakes we as an industry have allowed to erode profits and change consumer behaviors over the past two decades?

The Advantage of Adaptability

Disruption is hard. It’s also a unique and valuable opportunity for innovation and positive change. The most successful brands moving forward will be the ones most adaptive to change and disruption. Rather than struggling to get back to “normal,” we should be focusing on productive adjustments that will save us now and serve us in the future. This seminar explores the values of Technical versus Adaptive Leadership. Tim will help you identify ways to innovate in the areas of Product, Packaging, Profit Centers, and Pivoting to Delivery & Takeout.

Managing Guest Experience & Expectations

Traditional hospitality has been fundamentally changed during this crisis. Where face-to-face service was once our primary chance to engage our Guests, make memorable impressions, and drive loyalty…more frequently, we are engaging them online, over the phone, and smiling through masks. What are some new ways to ‘wow’ Guests and earn their return?

Team & Training Transformation

How can you take advantage of this time to improve culture & commitment and teach your team how to sell more, serve better, and inspire loyalty in a new service landscape?

  • How has your training changed based on the evolving realties of your business?
  • How can you practice Adaptive Leadership at the shift level?
  • What do your team members need from you during this time?
Adaptive Leadership: The Art & Practice of Managing, Leading & Creating Change in Your Business & Teams

This program focuses not just on the technical, operational proficiencies that make good managers, but on the connective, developmental, and adaptive skills that build great Coaches.  It focuses not just on the systems that deliver predictable service outcomes, but on Adaptive Leadership approaches that allow teams to evolve, improve, and craft unique, intricately customized Customer Experiences.

Tim will discuss how to turn good ‘technical’ Managers into highly effective Adaptive Leaders and Coaches. He delivers immediately useable ‘next steps’ for attendees regarding:

  • How to use disruption as a tool for positive change
  • How to hold teams in the area between chaos and complacency where improvement happens
  • How to use a “Now, Next, & Beyond” mindset to not only handle difficulties, but to learn every lesson possible from them and sustainably incorporate those lessons into your culture.
Cultivate: Recruiting, Growing & Retaining Top Talent

When asked, over 90% of managers and owners say that “finding and keeping good people” is their #1 day-to-day business challenge. In today’s world, no matter what business you’re in, you’re primarily in the people business. We know that you want to be known for outstanding service resulting in more customers and higher profitability. In order to do that you need a dedicated and highly engaged team.

The problem is, hiring and retention is getting harder and harder in this highly crowded and competitive labor market. As a result, many candidates and team members see service jobs as “a dime-a-dozen,” attributing no real, intrinsic value to the positions you offer. This lack of perceived job value contributes to lack of engagement, low commitment and high turnover. It can cause you to get mired in a constant cycle of recruiting, hiring, training and loss…all while remaining understaffed and overworked. It can even make you feel as though you’re being held hostage by bad or mediocre performers on your team.

Acquiring and maintaining talent is the most important function of any leader, as the quality of your team affects every part of your business and results. Which is why you should treat hiring and retention as a predictable, strategic, manageable function of your business, not just something that “happens to you.”  Staffing is a skill, not a circumstance. Tim Kirkland can help your team master that skill.

In this idea-packed session, best-selling author Tim Kirkland will share dozens of impactful suggestions on how to actively and strategically attract and acquire the best talent, develop them daily, and keep star players in place.

Attendees will learn how to:

  • Understand generational and cultural differences between candidates and how they view the value of work, learning and loyalty.
  • Identify the indicators and traits that predict success (or failure) on your team, then use those qualities to hunt for talent (rather than waiting for talent to come to you).
  • Make hiring the most important work for any manager (not an interruption of their work) and how it drives profits.
  • Incorporate recruiting and interviewing into your regular workweek and stop hiring from a place of surprise, panic, and need.
  • Deploy interview questions and techniques that will identify potential high-performers and help weed out bad hires before they become costly mistakes.
  • Learn to hire for your customers, not just yourself.
  • Train and engage your team members so that they are fully bought-into and aligned with the core mission and long-term goals of your brand. Giving them purpose, not just tasks.
  • Continually engage, reward and recognize high-performers so that they are happier, work harder and stay longer.
  • Reduce costly turnover by taking time to ‘inventory’ your talent and team engagement… not just your products.
Execute: Eliminating Distraction & Moving Your Business & Your Team Forward Daily

This Master Class, based on Tim’s best-selling book, “COACH: Being a Better Team Leader by Bettering the Team You Lead,” examines the core competencies of successful Leaders with an emphasis on improving results by focusing on the quality of their day-to-day performance and that of their teams.

The EXECUTE program focuses not just on the technical, operational proficiencies that make good managers, but on the connective, developmental, and adaptive skills that build great Coaches.  It focuses not just on the systems that deliver predictable service outcomes, but on adaptive leadership approaches that allow teams to evolve, improve, and craft unique, intricately customized Customer Experiences.

Tim will discuss how to turn good ‘technical’ Managers into highly effective Leaders and Coaches. He details the philosophies the book and delivers immediately useable ‘next steps’ for attendees.

The Renegade Server: Uncommon Strategies for Making More Money in 21st Century Food Service

The Renegade Server presentation will focus on ways to engage your front-line teams and enlist them in the crucial tasks of growing sales, developing loyal regulars and creating genuine, personal, and repeatable connections and dining experiences for your Guests…experiences they’ll pay full price and go out of their way for.

Attendees will learn and be ready to teach their teams why, in today’s marketplace, TIPS no longer stands for “To Insure Prompt Service,” instead, it means:

T – Treat Me Like a Regular

  • How to teach your crew to treat their section as their own start-up business and the value of finding and hanging on to their own loyal regular customers
  • The 10 skills every Manager and Front-of-House team need to master in order to develop a fiercely loyal clientele

I – Increase My Check

  • Find out why front-line employees dislike using conventional salesmanship training and how to overcome their resistance
  • Release your teams from outdated, “pushy” sales tactics and equip them with genuine sales-driving behaviors that work
  • Discover fresh, easy techniques that will allow your teams to double the number of premium drinks, appetizers, soups, salads and desserts sold in your restaurant

P – Personalize My Service

  • Find out how connect with your Guests by becoming a restaurant that sells experiences, not just food
  • Teach your teams innovative techniques for discovering, recognizing and responding to each Guest’s individual and unique expectations

S – Stand Out!

Discover the 10 scientifically proven ways to make genuine connections with your Guests and leave a lasting impression, making people your signature dish!

Mousetrap Marketing: Effective, Customer-Centric Local Store Marketing Tools for the 21st Century

In this highly engaging session, best-selling author and consultant Tim Kirkland delivers real, immediately usable tactics that will help franchisees, managers and independent operators move local marketing efforts into the new millennium.

Rather than the same old list of promotional gimmicks and discounts, Tim will share how operators can impact the very foundations of what customers value in a way that will support and defend an established national brand or build and define an emerging one.

Tim focuses not just on the traditional tools of advertising and promotions, but on how to effectively convert the awareness generated by those tactics into higher sales, loyalty, and evangelism by focusing on Social Networking and the Customer Experience.

In this idea-packed presentation, Tim will give attendees effective, customer-centric Local Store Marketing tactics and teach them how to:

  • Market like a hunter, not like a “trapper” by knowing who your ideal loyal customer is in microscopic detail, finding them and engaging them where they are rather than hoping they come to you.
  • Engage prospective customers not just through your branding and ads, but through their own networks and communities.
  • Find out what is important to each of your customers and customize their experience in a way that will take your competitors out of the game. For good.
  • Establish long-term relationships with your customers while attracting new ones.

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