Meet Martika Cox, our Madison General Manager with big goals for 2022. Martika got her start with Taco Bell 10 years ago as an Assistant Manager for a restaurant in Rockford, IL. When Border Foods acquired the location in 2015, everything changed.
“Before Border, we were just a number,” Martika says.“Today, I feel like we matter.”
When Martika made the transition to Border Foods, she also began supporting other locations. In 2016, on a visit to the Madison area, Martika made a passing comment to Human Resources Business Partner Corrine Kindred about wanting to manage a restaurant of her own. Two weeks later, Martika was promoted to General Manager. At her Whitney Way restaurant, Martika says she’s constantly on the go. Madison, WI is a traditional“college town,” full of new daily customers.“There’s never a dull moment,” Martika says about her job.“I have an incredible team and I try to support them in every way possible.”It’s Martika’s love for her team that drives her location’s results. Last year, she only lost two employees and kept her retention numbers in the“green.” She attributes strong retention to the way she manages. In her down time, Martika serves as a board member for Free Sales for Families, a local nonprofit focused on hosting entirely free garage sales for community members in need. When one of Martika’s employees found herself unexpectedly pregnant, Martika made sure the employee was supported through this nonprofit.
“We got her what she needed,” Martika says.“That’s just what we do for each other.”
Looking into 2022, Martika hopes the Whitney Way Taco Bell will become a certified training restaurant — a goal that would feed into her love of empowering people. And of course, she’s striving to make the cut for the annualBest of the Best trip to Mexico.“I’m close,” Martika says, reflecting on her goals.“I think I can get there this year.”
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Nate Bowie never would have guessed that he’d find his dream job at Taco Bell. But as fate would have it, he’s now worked his way into a position as the General Manager at our Lincoln Way location in Wyoming, and he’s not looking back.
It all started about seven years ago when Nate was working at Walmart. One of his co-workers was Zack Schumaker’s mother(Zack is our rockstarArea Coach in Wyoming).
“She told me that I really should apply for a job with Border Foods,” Nate recalls.“I went over for an interview with Zack and Todd[Austin], and the rest is history.”
Nate says that Border Foods took a chance on him, noting that he didn’t have any quick service restaurant experience and everything about the industry was new. But with the right training, Nate quickly caught on. Within the first eight months on the job, Nate was promoted from Assistant General Manager to General Manager of the Casper, Wyoming location. In October 2020, Nate moved to Cheyenne where he managed the Dell Range location, and then he eventually moved to Lincoln Way — Border’s third busiest location.
Today, as the GM of a high-volume restaurant, Nate says he gets the privilege of managing his own“mini business.”
“Sometimes we run $16,000 days back to back to back,” Nate says.“So as the manager of a restaurant at that level, I really can’t be just on the floor, or just with the customers. I need to be part of every aspect. And I love that.”
Nate says that over the last three years, he’s seen Border Foods elevate locations and focus on overall restaurant excellence, a new core value that the company wants to embrace at every turn.
From our customer service to our buildings, to the way we treat our teams, we’re top tier,” Nate says.“I hope to keep moving up the chain and continue to train and develop people.”
One thing Nate loves about the company:“It doesn’t matter what your background is, if you’re a hard worker, you can do anything here at Border.”
Meet Martika Cox, our Madison General Manager with big goals for 2022. Martika got her start with Taco Bell 10 years ago as an Assistant Manager for a restaurant in Rockford, IL. When Border Foods acquired the location in 2015, everything changed.
