Building Community and Connection in Business with Heather Neary
Heather Neary, President and CEO of Taco John's, joins The Bliss Business Podcast to explore guest experience and community: the authenticity, recognition systems, and standing Thursday gratitude ritual that turn a 56-year-old QSR brand into a small-town institution.
Guest experience and community sound like two jobs until you watch what happens in the twelve seconds of a drive-thru window. In this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we sit down with Heather Neary, President and CEO of Taco John’s, a 56-year-old quick-service brand rooted in small towns across the Upper Midwest, to explore how authenticity and a standing gratitude ritual turn small interactions into real community.
In this episode we explore:
• How to turn everyday customer interactions into moments of genuine connection
• The systems and rituals that help restaurant teams feel like a true community
• Why Heather blocks a standing appointment every week just for gratitude
• How the “Five C’s” guide recognition, scheduling, and accountability
• How Taco John’s mobilized a 20,000-meal giveaway in a matter of days
• Practical ways leaders can show care, empathy, and love in day-to-day decisions
Heather leads with radical transparency. “I do what I say I’m going to do… and I try to be real to people,” she says, describing how she listens “for comprehension,” not just to respond. When a survey told her people didn’t feel they knew her, she started one-on-ones with every employee.
That same attention extends to guests. “That drive-through experience might be the only positive one they have all day,” she says. Crew members who earn great guest comments get shouted out system-wide once a month.
Gratitude gets the same discipline: a standing Thursday 9 a.m. block titled simply “Gratitude,” fifteen years running, reserved for handwritten notes and calls to anyone not yet thanked that week.
Her “Five C’s,” consistency, communication, collaboration, culture, kindness, showed up fastest during a real test. When the 2025 government shutdown hit families across Taco John’s footprint, franchisees mobilized in two days to give away more than 20,000 free bean burritos and potato olés, no questions asked.
That same instinct, treating a single interaction as a chance to build trust rather than just complete a transaction, is the discipline Zero Company helps brands build into their own customer-facing marketing.
Key Takeaways
• (5:57) On authenticity: “I do what I say I’m going to do, and I say what I’m going to do, and I try to be real to people… I’m constantly listening, and not listening to respond.”
• (9:35) On what a drive-thru interaction can mean: “That drive-through experience might be the only positive one they have all day. It also might be the only time they’ve talked to somebody all day long.”
• (14:38) On her weekly ritual: “Literally every Thursday at 9 a.m., it’s been on my calendar for probably 15 years now… that just says gratitude and that’s my reminder.”
• (22:43) On her leadership framework: “The five C’s for me are consistency, communication, collaboration, culture, kindness.”
• (27:57) On mobilizing a giveaway during the government shutdown: “We just did a community feeding giveaway… We gave away more than 20,000 meals… no questions asked.”
• (35:40) On love in business: “You got to love what you do, right? We spend more time at work than we do at home and you have to love what you do.”
FAQ
What does “guest experience and community” mean in practice at Taco John’s?
For Heather Neary, President and CEO of Taco John’s, it means treating every drive-thru interaction as though it might be the only positive one a guest has that day, and recognizing the crew members who deliver on that consistently.
What are Heather Neary’s “Five C’s” of leadership?
Consistency, communication, collaboration, culture, and kindness. Heather Neary uses them to guide how she runs meetings, sets expectations, and holds franchise partners and crew members accountable across Taco John’s system.
How did Taco John’s give away 20,000 free meals during the 2025 government shutdown?
The idea surfaced on a Wednesday night call, and by Friday franchisees across the system were serving free bean burritos and potato olés, no questions asked, with corporate matching the effort through local food bank donations.
Community, at Taco John’s, is built one drive-thru window and one handwritten note at a time. Learn more about Heather Neary and Taco John’s at tacojohns.com. See her guest profile, and explore more Featured Guest Series conversations.
President and CEO of Taco John's
Joining Taco John’s in February 2024, Heather Neary brings over two decades of relevant experience in restaurant, brand, and franchise leadership to her role as President and CEO. Prior to Taco John’s, she served as the Brand President at KBP Brands, a large QSR Franchisee. She began her restaurant career with the international pretzel franchise, Auntie Anne’s, culminating in the role of Brand President. Neary is an active member of the International Franchise Association and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Restaurant Association. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Essential Property Realty Trust (NYSE: EPRT) and on the Board of Advisors for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
