It’s no secret, recognition is a big part of who we are at Border Foods, and we‘ve retained some pretty exceptional people at this company! Territory Training Leader (TTL) Becky Wenger is a supreme example.
Celebrating more than 30 years with us, Becky has enjoyed diversity in her Border Foods career — first rising up the ranks in the Taco Bell restaurant setting, spending two years in administrative office support, and eventually, becoming an integral member of our Training Department as it was being built from the ground up.
“[I] feel super fortunate to have been asked,” she says of being tapped by our own Sharla Hennek to join the training team in its infancy. A self-proclaimed people person, Becky has a passion for teaching and making a difference — even when it’s as simple as showing someone how to properly wrap a burrito!
“It was like a dream,” she says emphatically (you can hear the smile in her voice). “It was the best of both worlds. I got to still go back and teach Shift Leaders and Assistant Managers and GMs everything I know for the day, but yet I still had some of that admin side where I could fine-tune some of my skills on that side.”
“When you see the spark go off in somebody … when they finally get it for the first time or they have that confidence to run the shift, that’s what I love.” – Becky Wenger, Territory Training Leader
Becky likens being a training leader to being a grandparent. “You get to love up on ‘em and take care of people all day long, and then you send them home to their stores at the end of the day.”
But to excel as a trainer, it seems Becky had to first discover her passion for people and team development … and tacos (did you know her first job was at a McDonald’s with her best friend?)
This is exactly what 15 years as a Restaurant General Manager (RGM) uncovered!
The Journey to Leadership
Becky joined the Border Foods family in 1994 after working in a Taco Bell owned by Taco Bell Corporate. It didn’t take long to get promoted: she was a Shift Lead by 18 and Assistant General Manager (AGM) the following year. But it’s her promotion to RGM in 1999 that really made a splash. She was only 20 years old.
“That’s when things got real because I was one of the youngest GMs, if not the youngest GM at the time,” she recalls with incredulousness.
Not only was Becky one of our youngest restaurant leaders, but she was given a brand new Taco Bell! The location at Larpenteur and Lexington Avenues in Roseville had only been open two months, and boasted the latest and greatest bells and whistles for the time.
“I was on top of the world!” she says. “I never thought about working anywhere else because they just kept me so busy.”
Becky says she loved her time in the restaurant; she gushes about the satisfaction that comes from creating a team and watching them grow.
Now, she helps others find that same satisfaction at work. Colleagues admire her ability to connect and genuinely care about people (she was a 2022 Heart of Border Foods award recipient).
Passion & Tacos
According to Becky, the key to being a great manager is to “work through your people, slow down, take the time to teach ‘em right … and know your customers. Be out there — be the presence in your store,” she advises.
“Our ability to hire great leaders … we hire the passion first,” she explains. This couldn’t be more obvious than in Becky’s own career path! “We take the people that do great in the restaurants, and they have a passion for what we do, and then, we can teach the trade.”
Clearly, Becky has the recipe for success down pat. We couldn’t be happier to have her here!
