Thinking of a Career... Think Taco Bell!
WHAT DO YOU THINK of when you hear the words Taco Bell? Great Tacos, terrific salads or maybe your favorite Mexican pizza?
If you’re Betsy Guynn, you think employees, benefits, training and career planning. Betsy is the human resources director for the local Taco Bell franchisee, Progressive Restaurants, Inc. Founded in 1997 by President Nick Davis, Progressive Restaurants owns and operates 26 Taco Bell restaurants in the Gainesville, Ocala, Belleview, Inverness, Crystal River, St. Augustine, Palm Coast and Tallahassee markets.
Betsy grew up in High Springs and attended high school and college in Alachua County. She is pleased to now call the Plantation Oaks area of Alachua her home. Her 17- year-old son Charlie and silky terrier Captain Rhett Butler keep the household busy.
Civic involvement and continuing education are important to Betsy. She is an alumnus of Leadership Gainesville and past treasurer and board member of the Junior League of Gainesville. Additional past board positions include Keep Alachua County Beautiful and the Volunteer Center.
Betsy is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and is certified as a professional in human resources (PHR). She recently graduated from the Human Resources College and Operations College programs offered by YUM! University, the education arm of Taco Bell’s parent company, YUM!
Betsy began her professional career in banking over 25 years ago. Her first position was as a part-time teller during college. She loved the customer contact and professional atmosphere, saw a career path and made banking her home. Over the years, Betsy continued to assume more responsibility in the areas of personal banking, business development and human resources. Her last position was as assistant vice president/ branch manager with M&S Bank.
Timing is everything! Betsy made the decision in 2005 to get back into the human resources arena. Progressive Restaurants had been experiencing record sales and was ready to make a commitment to training and development for its employees. Betsy joined the Progressive team in August 2005.
As human resources director for Progressive’s Taco Bell restaurants, Betsy is charged with employee retention and training along with the delivery of benefits and payroll for more than 600 employees.
Employee development and career planning set Progressive apart from its competitors. Progressive takes pride in offering its management generous salary and bonus programs. Benefits provided managers include paid vacation, sick and holiday time along with health, dental, life insurance and 401k plans.
“The wonderful thing about our company is that we have a wide range of positions available in each of our markets,” Betsy says. “Whether you are seeking part or full-time employment, have a highschool diploma or are college educated or simply are seeking to change professions, Taco Bell and Progressive Restaurants has a place for you!”
Progressive’s goal is to become The Best Restaurant Operating Company in the World! In order to achieve this goal, Nick Davis and his team realize their most prized assets are their employees!
To develop and grow leaders, Pro- gressive added two new development training programs to its existing training schedule in 2005. Building People Capability, a sevenweek intensive program offered to new managers and supervisors, is taught by the Progressive Senior Management Team. This program enhances the staff’s knowledge of basic daily tasks while also providing best practice experiences of seasoned leaders within the company.
Another new program, Progressive Life Skills was created from Davis’ vision of providing added value to the restaurant employees by offering training and services to assist in their personal lives. The curriculum includes personal safety/self defense and basic finance classes. The personal safety class is taught by a deputy sheriff and provides education on how to protect yourself if you are suddenly attacked. The basic finance class teaches the employees how to balance their checkbooks and maintain a good credit score along with information for applying for personal loans. Future offerings will deal with workplace Spanish, tips for new home financing and planning for retirement.
Progressive employees need look no further than the Gainesville Restaurant Support Center to find an inspiration for success! Davis began his career working in restaurants at the age of 16. Later, he accepted a position working for McDonald’s and was promoted to shift manager while still in high school.
After he graduated from Auburn University, Nick began working as an assistant manager for Taco Bell Corp., which at that time was part of the PepsiCo family. He was quickly promoted to positions of increasing responsibility, including restaurant general manager, district manager, project manager and finally market manager.
Nick left Taco Bell in 1991 to join a Wendy’s franchise organization as regional director and was a small part of a management buyout of the company in 1996. This experience gave Nick the entrepreneurial bug, and he seized the opportunity to become a franchisee of 14 Taco Bells and Progressive Restaurants was formed in October 1997. The company grew through building new restaurants and acquisitions to a high of 31 restaurants.
Progressive Restaurants Inc. and the Taco Bell brand have many other success stories in each of our markets. Employees who are making the bold choice each day to think outside the bun and become empowered in their career choice. Betsy’s closing remarks sum it up nicely: “I am pleased to be a part of such an energized and dynamic young company. We are well on our way to reaching Nick’s vision of becoming The Best Restaurant Operating Company in the World.” G
To explore management opportunities with Progressive Restaurants, Inc., contact Betsy Guynn at (352) 379- 7606 or fax resumes directly to (352) 379-7607. Betsy’s e-mail is bguynn@pri-tb.com.