Thrive put a Goodwill coach in nine restaurants

Thrive Restaurant Group put a Goodwill community success coach inside nine Wichita restaurants. After one year, more than 80 of about 300 local employees had asked for help, KLC Journal reported September 18.

Executives expected about 10% participation. Year one reached nearly 25%. Nearly three-quarters of participants stayed, short of an 80% hope. Thrive supplied that retention count. No company-wide turnover rate or comparison group was published.

The 2025 pilot sat unused for four months, people-experience vice president Renee Chaloupka told KLC Journal. Managers later involved the coach, who built a card deck of local services. Named employees worked at Wichita Applebee's. Uses included a driver's license, college enrollment after homelessness and a first Save, Match, Grow graduate.

Café Momentum's April 27, 2026 account carries the same participation result. The Dallas nonprofit restaurant, which names Thrive as a supporting partner, said a spring 2024 visit by Matt Burchett, Thrive's senior vice president for strategy and social impact, showed that resource lists were often not enough. Café Momentum also said Thrive began recruiting through nonprofits that serve people experiencing homelessness, justice involvement, intellectual and developmental disabilities, or foster care. Burchett said general managers already care for their teams but cannot do that work outside the restaurant. The piece is partner communications. It does not state a retention rate.

Thrive's company homepage, observed September 21, says more than 8,000 people run 200-plus restaurants in 18 states. That is the company's current self-reported scale.

Thrive has approved a national rollout to its franchises, with no date, KLC Journal reported. Other markets are told to call local Goodwill and United Way offices. No source disclosed the coach's cost.