Meet Heather Aos, Area Coach (AC) of Border Foods’ Area 31, which comprises all of our Taco Bell restaurants in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP). This gal knows a little something about elevating a career with us — her words, not ours!
Heather joined Border Foods eight years ago with our large acquisition of UP and central Michigan Taco Bells. Today, she’s a recent Golden Bell winner, an eight-time recipient of a spot on our annual Best of the Best (BOTB) reward trip to Mexico, and an oh-so-worthy subject of a Core Value spotlight for embodying daily excellence in her work.
“[Border Foods] does unbelievable things for you.” – Heather Aos, Area Coach
We caught up with Heather in Cabo to hear more about how she got here and her most meaningful advice for others seeking to follow a similar path.
The History of Heather
“I started back in high school, so I was 15 and basically, I needed a job,” Heather shares. Her main motivation at the time was earning enough money to buy the car she wanted. Her first Taco Bell job was working for her best friend’s mom, a person she revered but lost unexpectedly to illness. By the time Heather graduated from high school, she was already a Shift Manager.
Heather continued to climb the career ladder with natural inclination and drive. She was promoted to Assistant General Manager (AGM) about four years before we acquired her location. She’s only been away from the Taco Bell brand for six months during her entire career!
“Within that first year, they developed me to be an Area Coach … I got the whole UP and that was kind of my dream career!” – Heather Aos, Area Coach
Heather takes us back to the time of the Michigan acquisition. She says she remembers thinking the things she was hearing from our leadership about competitive pay and other perks were too good to be true. But she soon realized what she was hearing was real — higher pay, bonus potential and recognition in the form of an all-expenses paid trip to Mexico, these are all a part of making lives better.
“It seems unreal sometimes,” she admits. “These trips are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Heather Knows Best
So how can you, achieve career growth like Heather and earn a reward trip? Well first, you can’t win if you don’t join! Check out our current job openings.
“We work really really hard all year round,” Heather says. “You have to be ‘on it’ from the start of the year to the end of the year.”
Heather emphasizes consistency and remaining high performing all year. “You can’t let something slip to get to this trip,” she adds.
Heather touches on the importance of developing the bench: “Try to keep everyone who you have in the store. Make great hires. And then have the ‘pedal to the metal’ everyday.”
Heather appears to be living her best work life right now. She oozes of praise for Border Foods and reflects on having the good fortune of working with eight different teams in the course of her career. She doesn’t show any signs of slowing down!
And, this could be YOU! The time to elevate your career to the next level is now. Buckle up!
