Ep 13 Part 1: Restaurant Industry Trends with Industry Leader Melissa Doolin-Koehne

Ep 13 Part 1: Restaurant Industry Trends with Industry Leader Melissa Doolin-Koehne

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, welcomes Melissa Doolin-Koehne, founder of Elevate 4 and chair of the Texas Restaurant Foundation, to discuss her restaurant-industry background and current work advising brands on purpose-driven growth. Melissa recounts being raised in the industry and launching Elevate 4. She highlights the Texas Restaurant Foundation’s ProStart Invitational, drawing 1,000+ high school competitors and offering scholarships. They discuss a “tepid” 2026 outlook amid inflation, tariffs, oil prices, and consumer trade-downs, emphasizing brand promise, value via experience, simplified operations, and employee-focused innovation starting with designing a great shift. 00:00 Welcome to the Podcast 00:40 Meet Melissa Doolin-Koehne 01:43 Melissa’s Restaurant Journey 03:12 Inside Black Box Intelligence 05:06 Texas ProStart Spotlight 07:47 Restaurant Industry Outlook 10:45 Why Some Brands Win 12:47 Employee Experience Innovation 15:02 Why Texas Leads Restaurants 17:35 Part Two Teaser and Wrap Instant Financial: instant.co [http://instant.co] Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/] Connect with Melissa Doolin-Koehne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-doolin-koehne/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-doolin-koehne/] References: * Texas Restaurant Association: https://txrestaurant.org/ [https://txrestaurant.org/] * Texas Restaurant Foundation: https://www.txrestaurant.org/TRF/ [https://www.txrestaurant.org/TRF/] * Black Box Intelligence: https://blackboxintelligence.com/ [https://blackboxintelligence.com/] * Raising Cane's: https://www.raisingcanes.com/home/ [https://www.raisingcanes.com/home/]

Ep 12: Research expert Jason Dorsey shares findings from restaurant workers study

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, interviews generational researcher and Center for Generational Kinetics president Jason Dorsey about CGK’s custom national study with Instant, “Underserved: The Financial Reality of America’s Hourly Restaurant Workers.” Jason explains the study’s Census-weighted methodology and discusses the perception gap between executives and frontline realities, noting leaders often view earned wage access (EWA) negatively while frontline managers want it. Key findings include 75% of restaurant workers living paycheck to paycheck and 61% skipping a meal in the last month due to lack of funds. They describe poor alternatives due to lack of choices such as overdraft and late fees, credit card cash advances, and payday lending, and urge leaders to read the research to understand how hourly restaurant workers are trying to navigate the economy. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:34 Jason’s Background and Intro to CGK 04:11 Study Setup and Method 07:27 Leadership Perception Gap 10:28 Most Shocking Findings 12:55 Generational Differences 16:12 Why EWA Matters 19:12 Costly Workarounds 21:28 Message to Leaders 23:49 Rapid Fire Questions 27:09 Closing and Resources Instant Financial: instant.co [http://instant.co] Center for Generational Kinetics: https://genhq.com/ [https://genhq.com/] Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/] Connect with Jason Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondorsey/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondorsey/] References * Free download of Underserved: The Financial Reality of America’s Hourly Restaurant Workers: https://www.instant.co/2026-restaurant-study/ [https://www.instant.co/2026-restaurant-study/]

Ep 11 Part 2: Randstad CFO Ben Elliott discusses workforce trends around earned wages, digitization, and AI

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, continues the conversation with Ben Elliott, CFO of Randstad USA, on staffing trends and earned wage access. Ben says daily access to earned wages helps recruiting and retention, citing improved shift adherence and reduced call-outs/turnover, and notes the appeal extends beyond hourly workers to professionals. He also highlights workforce trends from the Randstad Work Monitor 2026 and Randstad’s digitization strategy, including the Randstad app for enrollment and job selection. Other themes include the importance of direct managers and work-life balance for retention, flatter career paths emphasizing horizontal experiences, increased client demand for identity verification to combat fraud, and careful AI use for efficiency and upskilling without bias in hiring decisions. Ben also shares career advice on volunteering, continuous learning, and mentoring. 00:00 Welcome Back and Setup 00:36 Talent Response to Daily Pay 02:31 Pitching Earned Wage Access 04:26 Instant Gratification and Not a Loan 05:20 Big Workforce Trends Now 09:46 Client Tech Demands and Verification 11:24 AI in Staffing and Compliance 14:41 Career Advice and Mentorship 16:57 Rapid Fire Round 19:16 Wrap Up and Where to Follow Instant Financial: instant.co [http://instant.co] Randstad: https://www.randstadusa.com/ [https://www.randstadusa.com/] Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/] Connect with Ben Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-elliott-0586202 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-elliott-0586202] References * Stephen Covey: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Stephen-R.-Covey/author/B000AQ2VAQ [https://www.amazon.com/stores/Stephen-R.-Covey/author/B000AQ2VAQ] * Born Fighting, by James Webb: https://a.co/d/04IvJJCa [https://a.co/d/04IvJJCa]

Ep 11 Part 1: Randstad CFO Ben Elliott on the Importance of Paying 70,000 Employees on Time

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, opens season two of the Instant Payments Podcast with guest Ben Elliott, U.S. CFO of Randstad, who leads the North America Financial Shared Services organization supporting $6B in operations. Ben explains how Randstad serves employers with flexible access to workers across industries and helps talent access jobs, skills, and reliable pay, noting Randstad puts 300,000+ people to work daily globally and 70,000+ in North America, split roughly 50/50 between commercial and professional staffing. He describes Randstad’s complex payroll operations across 40+ states, tracking timecards in near real time, running three weekly payroll cycles, and targeting accuracy. Ben discusses why Randstad implemented earned wage access with Instant in 2021, citing technology maturity, competitive demand, operational controls, and ease of enrollment. 00:00 Welcome to Season Two 00:45 Meet Ben Elliott 02:22 What Randstad Does 04:14 Randstad Scale and Staffing Mix 05:27 Ben’s Career Journey 07:49 Payroll Complexity and Systems 10:18 Payroll Cycles and Tracking 11:46 Defining Payroll Success 14:04 Why Earned Wage Access 16:47 Wrap Up and Where to Follow Instant Financial: instant.co [http://instant.co] Randstad: https://www.randstadusa.com/ [https://www.randstadusa.com/] Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/] Connect with Ben Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-elliott-0586202 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-elliott-0586202]

Ep 10 Part 2: How Instant Tipping and Wage Access Helps with Retention at Sun Holdings

Tal Clark hosts part two of the Instant Payments Podcast with Laura McLand, VP of HR at Sun Holdings, a major U.S. restaurant group with 30,000+ employees, discussing HR trends including earned wage access and digital tipping. Laura says fast, fee-free access to tips improves satisfaction, and notes the shift from physical pay cards to mobile payments. She describes Sun Holdings’ efforts to position restaurant work as a career path, reporting retention improved by 20% over the last two years due to instant payments and greater employee engagement. She explains piloting new programs with one brand before scaling, outlines ROI-driven internal buy-in, and shares how AI is being used in recruiting and new payroll software for faster information retrieval. 00:00 Welcome Back to Laura 00:35 Instant Tips Impact 01:45 Beyond Plastic Cards 03:25 Turnover and Retention 05:39 Employee Engagement Focus in 2026 07:05 Rolling Out Instant Pay 08:45 Selling Value of Instant Payments To Execs 11:09 AI In HR Operations 13:19 Rapid Fire Q&A 15:51 Closing And Thanks Instant Financial: instant.co [http://instant.co] Sun Holdings: sunholdings.net [http://sunholdings.net] Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/] Connect with Laura McLand: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-mcland/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-mcland/]