Carrie Luxem

carrie@restaurantHRgroup.com | 312.515.1341

Carrie's career spans 15 years in human resources with a focus on early-stage restaurant companies. As the former Director of Human Resources for Potbelly Sandwich Works, Carrie started and led the HR department from three restaurants in one market to more than 200 restaurants in ten markets over ten years' time. During her tenure, she was instrumental in the development of the company's recruiting and human resources functions and implemented the tools and structure necessary to accomplish the company's growth.

As founder and President of Restaurant HR Group, Carrie's vision is to infuse her belief that the only way a business can succeed is through the strength of its people and people systems. Carrie passionately believes that this strong focus on people and being organized are the key differentiators in a restaurants' success. Restaurant HR Groups' purpose is to partner with small to mid-sized restaurant concepts and assist in finding top talent, work with operators to help alleviate some of the day-to-day administrative burden and help put systems and processes in place that will allow them to focus on growing their concept.

Meghan Griffiths

meghan@restaurantHRgroup.com | 312.771.2036

Meghan brings a true passion for the restaurant industry and over six years of Human Resources experience to the Restaurant HR Group table. Her expertise includes employee relations management, recruiting, hiring, development of HR policies, compensation and benefits.

As a former Human Resources Generalist for Potbelly Sandwich Works, Meghan spent six years in various Human Resources roles beginning her career with a focus on recruiting. With a reputation for having very high standards, Meghan was influential in staffing Potbelly stores with exceptional talent. After helping Potbelly grow from 35 stores to over 200, Meghan expanded her knowledge and experience by moving into the compensation and benefits department focusing on the development of benefit and compensation programs that were competitive and attractive to the Potbelly organization.

Meghan is extremely passionate about helping restaurants find and keep great people and putting systems into place that will keep them very organized so they can empower, reward and retain their people.

Nicole Whittington

Nicole@restaurantHRgroup.com | 312.515.4228

Nicole joins Restaurant HR Group with a unique and diverse background. After graduating from Purdue University with a degree in Business, she started her career in Human Resources with Neiman Marcus where she held the position of HR Generalist. After moving to Chicago, she joined the Potbelly Sandwich Works team where she helped grow the Company and HR department from 3 to over 50 restaurants. In her tenure with Potbelly, she held positions as recruiter, HR Generalist and eventually oversaw the payroll department.

After many successful years with Potbelly, Nicole had the opportunity to get her Master's Degree and to become a teacher in the Chicago Public School system. As a teacher, Nicole played an active role in creating and developing processes, systems and curriculum to help set her students up for success in the classroom. Nicole is an extremely creative professional that is a strategic, solutions-driven leader with a true passion for training and developing people and implementing and executing systems.

Nicole is an inquisitive and curious person. She loves to learn through experience and is an avid traveler. Nicole has lived in Spain and has traveled the world. She is fluent in Spanish and simply enjoys life to the fullest. When Nicole is not working, you may find her on the golf course, or spending time with her dog at the beach.

Deana Oslund

Deana@restaurantHRgroup.com | 312.859.8797

Deana comes to Restaurant HR Group with nearly 20 years’ experience in the restaurant industry. She’s spent the last 17 years with Bob Chinn’s Crab House in a variety of operational based roles.

Deana’s passion for customers, attention to detail, and her focus on the “little things” allows her to be a difference-maker in every aspect of the restaurant industry. With a firm understanding that great people and successful teams are the key to a restaurants overall success, she’s adept at identifying the traits and characteristics that successful restaurant operators possess.

In addition to Deana’s focus on customers and impressive “people skills”, she is an avid researcher that is determined to get answers, make improvements and add value to whatever it is she’s working on.

Susan Kim

Susan@restaurantHRgroup.com | 224.523.7753

A passionate and continuous learner, Susan graduated from DePaul University with a BA in Industrial Organizational Psychology. In her studies and internships, she had extensive involvement in organizational development, company productivity, and creating and organizing people systems and processes.

Susan had the privilege of working for Lettuce Entertain You at Wildfire in Glenview, IL where she developed a true passion for the restaurant industry. From this experience, she was intrigued with how operators managed and structured their people and was inspired to add value to these HR areas.

With Susan’s focus at Restaurant HR Group on implementing and organizing people systems and processes and ensuring restaurants are organized and compliant, Susan will have the regular opportunity to utilize her above average creative, problem solving, and organizational skills.