The Operator’s Evolution: From Running Stores to Scaling a Brand

Every multi-unit operator hits the same wall. The hands-on instincts that built the brand get you to ten or fifteen locations. Then they start working against you.

Kiplan Welsch, President of Via 313 Pizzeria, has lived this transition. Via 313 started as a single food trailer in downtown Austin in 2010. Today it’s a 26-location Detroit-style pizza brand. Kiplan came in to lead the brand through that scaling chapter. Since then, he’s rebuilt training, restaurant design, leadership development, communication, and the brand’s non-negotiables.

Join Kiplan and Jay Altizer, Fourth’s Chief Operating Officer, for a candid conversation between two restaurant leaders. The topic: what really has to change when you stop running stores and start building a brand that runs without you in the room.

Tune in to hear:

• Why the “Super GM” reflex is the hardest leadership habit to break as you scale
• How Via 313 redesigned its restaurant prototype mid-growth and cut $200K per build
• The case for “we will nevers” — and how to set them before someone chips away at them
• What broke when Via 313 opened six restaurants in a year, and how they fixed it
• Why predictable communication beats more communication

Webinar Speakers

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  Kiplan WelschPresident, Via 313 Pizzeria

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  Jay AltizerChief Operations Officer, Fourth