Great Wolf Lodge
Training + Operations
2018 - 2022

I was tasked with updating the design of the materials, making them more modern, simple, and beautiful. They were opening the LaGrange, GA, location, with 450 guest rooms and a 100,000 sq. ft. waterpark, and wanted to launch a new era of dining by expanding a new full-service concept called Barnwood. The program content needed to be updated to reflect a more elevated, refined service style while still recognizing the casual experience guests required of the brand.

In the Spring, I was boots on the ground for the opening. I trained about 100 employees across their full-service and fast-casual outlets. Collaborating with the opening management team, I supported operations, including POS configurations, menu execution, floor layouts, and optimizing workflows. In the Fall, I led training and supported operations for the opening of the Gurnee, IL, location, a unique property that was acquired, not built. Both openings led to significant updates and refinement of the training programs to accurately reflect the new F&B operating model.

The band came back together to open the 350-room Scottsdale, AZ location. Learning from the 2018 openings, we further refined the training program and service style. As well, I collaborated with the brilliant Rebecca Dowda to roll out a brand-new cocktail program. While openings always have challenges, everything in Scottsdale essentially went to plan and was a major success.

At the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, this opening was unique. We were operating in a shifting landscape, and regulations were changing even as we opened. This lodge is much larger than the others I opened, with over 500 rooms and significantly larger dining spaces. It was a very challenging opening as the post-pandemic culture had created major shifts in the landscape for us, significantly changing guest and employee behavior.

Shortly after their opening, the manager of the full-service restaurant and their Food & Beverage Director had left. I was asked to return to the property and serve as the restaurant manager. Unlike a stand-alone location, the fast-casual and full-service operations are intimately entangled. During my three weeks on site, I worked very closely with the manager of the fast-casual businesses to uplift employee morale and improve NPS scores.

Concord, NC, is home to a second-generation lodge that opened in 2009. In 2022, a series of events occurred, resulting in seven key positions vacant, including the F&B Director, Executive Chef, Purchaser, Restaurant Manager, Outlet Manager, and two Supervisors. The interim F&B Director was simultaneously the Director of Housekeeping with no background in F&B (she was amazing, though!). I don’t know of any human who could run two departments simultaneously, especially when both were in a state of crisis.

I was asked to support the restaurant operations, but the requirements changed when I arrived. The F&B leadership team was exhausted, and employee morale was brutally low throughout the department, resulting in the company's lowest NPS scores in F&B.

I spent nine weeks on-site running the department during the summer of 2022. My time was spent reestablishing brand standards and applying best practices, from HR to health code to service to business management, and doing my best to support and uplift a weathered team. We stopped the exodus of staff, skilled up existing team members, brought on some new staff, and ultimately significantly improved NPS scores and revenue.