^{About Newk's Eatery}

Newk's Eatery has served scratch-made soups, salads, sandwiches and pizzas with a hospitality-first reputation since 2004. The family-founded brand has grown to 96 locations, roughly 70% of them operated by franchisees.

At that scale, Newk's four-person learning and development team had reached the limit of what they could run by hand. They needed systems, not more hours. Over two and a half years, Newk's used Opus to build training infrastructure that runs across the whole network. It gives franchisee owners and company Area Directors the tools and incentive to develop talent, uphold standards, and improve store performance.

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^{The Challenge}

‍Three administrative bottlenecks were consuming a four-person L&D team

Newk's has always developed its own leaders. Team members rise from hourly roles to shift lead, certified trainer, and general manager, and the brand's best operators train the next wave through its Corporate Locations and Regional Training Stores. Newk's had built the programs other brands aspire to. What they lacked was an efficient way to run, refine, and improve them across a growing, majority-franchised network.

On their previous LMS, updating a course meant authoring it from scratch. Manager-in-training certification still ran through a three-inch paper binder, with tests scanned, emailed, and graded by hand. And the L&D team had no real-time view of completion, which made accountability across the network very difficult. "We had this huge three-inch binder, and all the testing was manual — you'd scan the test in, email it to be graded, then certify the manager. I kept thinking, there has got to be a better way to do this," said Jessica Drahem, Director of Performance, Development & Culture at Newk's Eatery.

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^{Why Opus}

A platform built for the whole network, not just L&D

Newk's chose Opus because it was easy enough that people across the network would actually use it.

Training is mobile-first and media-rich, so a new hire scans a QR code and starts in minutes, and onboarding that once took around 24 hours through the POS now takes about 30 minutes. Just as important, Newk's prescribes what each person sees and when. By time-gating content, they make sure a team member opens their phone to the trainings that apply to them right then. This clarity and focus is a large part of why engagement holds across the network according to Jessica. “We received the buy-in from the Operators. Promised the ease of operation of the platform.  And Opus delivered on that promise.”

Updates ship without rebuilding from scratch

Opus also took the friction out of the work that used to consume the team. Building a course no longer means starting from a blank slate, since Opus' AI content builder turns Newk's existing materials into fully formatted courses, and when a standard changes they update and republish rather than rebuilding from scratch. The slow administrative cycle that once ate their time became fast enough that a three-person team could keep programs current across the whole network.

Shared visibility made franchisees real partners

Opus gave Newk's real-time visibility into training everywhere at once, and it put that same visibility in franchisees' hands. Completion, scores, and progress that once had to be pieced together from paper and email are now visible to everyone in one place. That shared view is what let Newk's distribute ownership: franchisees became real partners in developing their teams and holding them accountable, rather than leaving training accountability only in the hands of Newk’s corporate L&D team. "What Opus did for us was simplify everything: downloading documents, videos, course management. It's given me back time."

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^{THE SOLUTION}

How Newk's built the connection between training and outcomes

A digital MIT path replaced the three-inch binder

Newk's started by centralizing its core programs in Opus, with manager-in-training first. The team brought the certification out of the paper binder and rebuilt it as a digital training path, so every manager-in-training develops along the same standard and the L&D team has real-time visibility into where every MIT stands across the network.

Regional Training Stores tied franchisee economics to engagement

Newk's used Opus to build real incentives for franchisees and team members to engage with their own development. One standout example is Newk’s Regional Training Store program. Franchises can qualify for Regional Training Store status by being recommended by their Franchise Business Consultant and achieving full Opus completion, then maintain that status through a yearly evaluation. The RTS designation lets the franchisee certify managers locally instead of sending them to corporate for a six-week program, saving $12,000 – $15,000 per certification.

A team member who completes their Opus training qualifies for specialized programs like certified trainer or shift lead, each with a pay increase on completion. The pull is cultural as much as financial: The certified trainer program, internally known as the red shirt program, makes top performers visible across the network with a distinct red uniform, better pay, and travel to lead new store openings. Developing talent is no longer the L&D team's job alone, but a shared investment across the network.

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‍Guest feedback reviews became targeted training in days, not quarters

Newk's connected training directly to what guests were experiencing in stores. Through Opus' Recommendations guest feedback integration with Ovation, the L&D team analyzes guest reviews across locations, spots recurring patterns, and sends targeted training to the affected stores, then tracks whether complaints actually drop. Most training cycles run on a quarterly cadence, disconnected from what customers are seeing in store. Newk's collapsed that to days, so a real signal from guests becomes a focused training response and the team can see whether it worked.

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^Results

A 10% drop in missing-item incidents

A 10% net drop in missing-item incidents after Ovation feedback surfaced a recurring order-accuracy issue (items like chips left out of bags in third-party delivery orders). Newk's built a course called Perfecting Order Accuracy, assigned it to managers and hourly partners, refined it as new feedback came in, and added a physical job aid for delivery orders.

88% engagement, sustained for two years

Newk's reached 88% engagement across more than 2,600 team members, sustained over two years rather than spiking at launch. Team members engaged because finishing Opus training before their shift made on-the-job training smoother and cut mistakes, and franchisees bought in because the same platform helped them develop talent and run better-performing stores.

22 managers promoted from within, saving an estimated $100K+

Newk’s promoted 22 corporate managers from within over the past year rather than recruiting externally, an estimated $103,000 in avoided recruiting costs based on SHRM's average cost-per-hire.Through their Regional Training Stores, franchisees certified 211 managers locally, saving an estimated $1.2M in travel and program costs.

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^{Looking Ahead}

With the training infrastructure now in place, Newk's has room to grow, whether that means bringing on new franchisees or building new programs for the network it already has. They have plans to extend Opus into training for the manufacturing and distribution side of their bakery operations. For a team that spent years keeping training running by hand, the focus has shifted to what comes next.

"Opus has given me back time. Before, we've been focused on maintaining what we have. Now we're able to think about what comes next."
_{— Jessica Drahem, Director of Performance, Development & Culture, Newk's Eatery}

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About Newk's Eatery

Newk's Eatery is an express casual dining brand built on made-from-scratch recipes and premium seasonal ingredients, with every meal prepared to order in an open kitchen. Since opening its first location in Jackson, Mississippi in 2004, Newk's has grown to more than 125 restaurants across 15 states, known for its scratch-made soups, salads, sandwiches, hand-rolled pizzas, and signature Dozen-Layer Cakes. Learn more at newks.com.

About Opus

Opus Training is the training operations platform for franchise businesses, combining training, tasks, and communications in one mobile-first toolkit. Opus serves hundreds of leading restaurant brands including Craveworthy Brands, Blaze Pizza, Smashburger, and Bonchon. Learn more at opus.so.

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