Keith Richards explores the importance of a strong company culture and purpose in building a strong restaurant and franchise business with unusually high team member retention. He and his wife Amy founded fresh-casual restaurant Taziki's in 1998, which now has 90 locations in 15 US states. More recently, they have started a second restaurant business, Greek Street. Keith served as President from May 1998 until December 2012, and then served as the Chief Franchise Officer from June 2012 till 2017. Keith has returned to manage the flagship market in Birmingham, AL, and continues to lead their culinary R+D and the HOPE project, Taziki's signature charity. Before creating Taziki’s, Keith Richards worked under the direction of Frank Stitt at Highlands Bar and Grill- which won the elusive 2018 James Beard Foundation Award for the most outstanding restaurant in America. Today, Keith and Amy and their two sets of twins live in Birmingham, AL, where Keith serves on the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Board and advances the cause of employing special needs students in metro Birmingham and across the country.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
- Taziki's website
- Greek Street website
- Taziki's HOPE Project
- Keith's bio
- Connect with Keith on LinkedIn
- Taziki's Franchising
Brain Chatter, a podcast where we listen past the daily noise and explore topics at the intersection of leadership, workplace culture, profit, and sustainability.
