Executive Team Member Spotlight: Nicole Valentin
If you’re an entrepreneur hoping to get into a successful breakfast franchise business, you should be willing to work hard and learn from the successes and failures of others. But there’s another truth about entrepreneurship that few people talk about. No one makes it alone.
You need the help and guidance of someone who cares about you, who’s knowledgeable about the industry, and who can help you avoid the mistakes most people make. In other words, an individual who’s invested in your success. Without a guide and mentor like this, you’ll waste your time and effort.
Nurturing culture at Toastique
At Toastique, we’re not just about giving our customers healthy and sumptuous toasts and cold-pressed juices in an aspirational ambiance. We’re also about supporting our Franchise Owners and their staff every step of the way. One of the key individuals who’s responsible for guiding and nurturing our Franchise Owners is Nicole Valentin.
In charge of the employee hiring and development program, Nicole’s focus is on nurturing, shaping, and sustaining the overall cultural strategy. Brianna Keefe, the Founder of Toastique has always believed that, other than our products, employees are how and why we will differentiate ourselves in the market.
As our loyal customers have found out, employees are a key part of the Toastique experience across markets. Nicole’s mandate is to train and nurture those key assets and deliver demonstrable benefits to Franchise Owners. In her current position, she directly supports the CEO, CFO, and COO at Toastique.
Nurturing culture at Toastique
At Toastique, we’re not just about giving our customers healthy and sumptuous toasts and cold-pressed juices in an aspirational ambiance. We’re also about supporting our Franchise Owners and their staff every step of the way. One of the key individuals who’s responsible for guiding and nurturing our Franchise Owners is Nicole Valentin.
In charge of the employee hiring and development program, Nicole’s focus is on nurturing, shaping, and sustaining the overall cultural strategy. Brianna Keefe, the Founder of Toastique has always believed that, other than our products, employees are how and why we will differentiate ourselves in the market.
As our loyal customers have found out, employees are a key part of the Toastique experience across markets. Nicole’s mandate is to train and nurture those key assets and deliver demonstrable benefits to Franchise Owners. In her current position, she directly supports the CEO, CFO, and COO at Toastique.
The relationship builder
Building businesses and relationships come easy to Nicole who has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech. She comes with an extensive background in the construction industry. She was associated with various firms and projects in the DC area for more than five years.
She met Kyle Izett, Toastique’s CFO and Director of Construction when they were colleagues at a construction firm. She kept in touch with him and when an opportunity opened up, Kyle reached out to her, and Nicole was delighted to come on board. What she liked about Toastique when joining was the fact that we’re building a healthy lifestyle and encouraging people to make wholesome choices.
One of the biggest advantages of being a Franchise Owner with Toastique is that you’ll be able to get into the market faster than most restaurant franchises in the country. That’s because of the highly efficient, economical, and optimized build-out process that the brand specializes in.
Kyle spearheads Toastique’s build-out systems and Nicole is instrumental in partnering with Franchise Owners and enabling them to construct viable, economical, efficient, and aspirational outlets for their business to flourish. Her background in construction also comes in handy when she has to assist construction managers with construction and inspection processes as and when needed.
As Toastique’s Director of Strategy and Development and a member of the Executive Team, Nicole’s primary responsibility is to make it easy for Franchise Owners to help build the outlet and hire and train the right employees. She helps Franchise Owners with established workflows and standardized procedures for faster build-outs and easier employee onboarding.
Similar character, regional nuances
Toastique has made a distinct mark in the breakfast franchise space due to its unique healthy toasts, cold-pressed juices, and ambiance that’s markedly different from that of other fast-food brands. All the outlets have a similar style and structure and it’s Nicole’s responsibility to ensure that the brand experience stays the same irrespective of the location.
She regularly engages with architects and others responsible for the build-out to ensure that a Toastique customer will feel at home no matter what city they experience the brand in. This calls for strict adherence to brand identity protocols. Nicole ensures that Franchise Owners know what those are and helps them build spaces that will attract the consumer base that the brand has set its eyes on.
But that doesn’t mean Toastique doesn’t assimilate influences from its markets. While each outlet will have common elements, they will also have motifs inspired by their location. For Nicole, those are the “little touches that are specific to each.” An excellent example is a mural in the DC outlet which is inspired by the location.
The management has also empowered Franchise Owners to choose artworks that appeal to them and have distinct relations with the location. They can also opt for something they may have a preference for. These ensure that each outlet, while common in appearance and experience, offers admirable decorative and artistic nuances that the local consumers would appreciate.
On the ground floor of something great
That’s how Nicole feels about her job at Toastique. The architecture graduate is aware that the Founders are not building just another fast-food brand. She knows that she’s part of a larger movement that’s changing the way people view brunch. Something that inspires people to pursue healthy and active lifestyles, which is the need of the hour.
As she’s assisting with the build-out on the first Toastique outlet in Denver, she can’t wait for the grand opening when customers in the region would experience a healthy, nutritious, and wholesome brand that she had a part in building.
While that might be the reward for most people, for Nicole, being around such gourmet food is in itself satisfying. “I can’t resist being around such delicious food,” she says. “But at least, it’s healthy.”
Learn how Nicole can help you build your franchise
If you’ve ever wondered about taking on the restaurant industry by opening a breakfast franchise like Toastique, this is the right time. As the economy opens up, Americans are returning to restaurants. But now they want healthier and nutritious choices as there is widespread awareness about the dangers of traditional fast food.
By being a Franchise Owner with Toastique, you can build a profitable business with an established business model that has multiple revenue streams. Visit our franchise website for more information on how you can build and launch a successful business in a few months.
