Organizational Learning & Talent Development
Case Study: The Award-Winning "It's Dinner Time" Campaign
Executive Summary
I led the development and strategic direction of 'It's Dinner Time' - a gamified, blended learning campaign designed to enable Cracker Barrel's largest menu rollout in years. The campaign delivered exceptional engagement, leadership adoption, and was honored with the CHART Training High 5 Award for innovation.
The Challenge
Cracker Barrel faced significant challenges with its dinner daypart, which accounted for 36% of traffic but showed the steepest rate of decline. Guest data revealed high dissatisfaction with dinner, driven by poor price/value perception. The business needed a major menu transformation to reverse these trends, but launching it during the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented hurdles for training and employee morale.
The Strategic Response
The "It's Dinner Time" campaign was conceived as a creative, high-energy solution to a critical business problem. The goal was to move beyond traditional training methods to capture attention, build excitement, and ensure a flawless execution of the new menu. This required a major cross-functional effort and a learning strategy that was as innovative as the menu itself.
Instructional Design Approach
Blended Learning
Combined remote, self-paced modules with hands-on, in-store activities to create a flexible and comprehensive learning journey.
Gamification
Used team-based challenges, leaderboards, and creative games like "Order Up" to make learning fun, competitive, and highly engaging.
Audience Segmentation
Tailored communication and training materials for different audiences—from hourly employees to RVPs—to ensure relevance and impact.
Engagement Strategy
Focused on building a movement, not just a training program, through creative storytelling, peer-to-peer recognition, and leadership involvement.
Igniting the Campaign
Educate & Excite
Built baseline knowledge and generated buzz through the "Second Shift" late-night style show and gamified remote eLearning modules with "Easter egg" team challenges.
Engage & Interact
Made learning stick with a blended, hands-on in-store approach featuring role-playing, hands-on practice, and competitive games like "Order Up" to reinforce knowledge.
Sustain & Integrate
Ensured long-term adoption with "The Dinner Games," a company-wide engagement campaign where stores earned points and recognition for executing the new menu.
Overwhelmingly Positive Results
"The feedback on the training has been overwhelmingly positive at all levels, from employees to RVPs, with an emphasis on the simplified, interactive, and engaging approach."
Pre-Work Training Completion
Employee Recognition Moments
CHART Training High 5 Award Winner
In recognition of its creative and effective approach, the "It's Dinner Time" campaign won a prestigious industry award from the Council of Hospitality and Restaurant Trainers (CHART).
Key Learnings & Strategic Insights
Blended learning drives performance at scale.
Combining multimedia pre-work, in-store hands-on application, and targeted role-based modules created a flexible and scalable solution—especially effective in fast-paced operational environments.
Gamification boosts engagement and knowledge retention.
Designing the campaign as an interactive, game-based experience turned required training into an energizing team effort, increasing morale and reinforcing lasting behavior change.
Remote-first flexibility increases participation.
Offering self-paced, mobile-accessible learning options before on-site training empowered employees to learn when and where it worked best, leading to higher completion rates.
Cross-functional alignment is a force multiplier.
Treating the campaign like a brand launch—with pre-launch messaging, leadership communication plans, and experiential components—created excitement and ensured organizational buy-in.
Sustainment planning is critical.
A post-launch strategy including recognition, sampling events, and manager-led reinforcement kept momentum going and helped embed learning into daily operations.
Creative learning experiences strengthen company culture.
Investing in thoughtful, engaging training doesn’t just improve business results—it cultivates pride, team connection, and a stronger workplace culture.