When Friendly’s franchisee Amol Kohli started staffing the Orlando store that’s serving as a new prototype for the 89-year-old brand, job applications didn’t exactly pour in. He sensed the problem was awareness; candidates didn’t know the restaurant was hiring. Plus, competition is steep in a city with such a robust hospitality industry. Ease of submission would clearly be an advantage. So he posted a two-foot-wide QR code in a place at the site where it couldn’t be missed. Indeed, would-be applicants could snap the tag from their cars and get an application that way.
“Within two months, we had over 150 applications,” Kohli told Restaurant Business. “We hired 80 people. Seventy-four showed up, and 70 are still with us.”