Rising Every Morning: Legacy, Leadership, and Culture with Renee Sjulin of Runza

In this episode of The Leadership Table, Jason sits down with Renee Sjulin, Vice President of Runza® National—a 76-year-old brand rooted in people-first leadership, legacy, and a commitment to excellence.

Renee opens up about what it means to carry a family legacy forward while innovating for the future, how Runza builds culture that sticks, and why grace and honesty are essential traits for modern leadership.

This is a must-listen for operators, executives, and team leaders looking to lead with more clarity, consistency, and care.

🔍 Topics Covered:

• Leading with purpose across generations
• How “We rise each morning…” shapes team culture
• Developing leaders from within a legacy brand
• Navigating change while staying values-driven
• Honest performance management and follow-through
• The power of external partnerships to support growth
• Mentorship moments that shaped Renee’s leadership

🎧 Listen & Subscribe:

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube
 🌐 More: www.jasonebrooks.com/podcast

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the Leadership Table
• 1:49 Carrying Forward a Family Legacy
• 6:42 Rising Each Morning with Purpose
• 12:45 Building a People-First Culture
• 17:39 Navigating Change While Staying True
• 23:07 Leadership Mentors and Life Lessons
• 26:10 Leadership Table Dream Guests

Transcript

Jason E. Brooks: 0:05

Hey everyone, jason E Brooks here and welcome to the Leadership Table, where conversations inspire, lead and elevate. Today's episode is one I'm really excited to share. I'm joined by Renee Shalin, vice President of Runza National. Runza is a beloved brand across the Midwest, known not just for great food but for its deep roots in family values and people-first leadership. Renee and I talk about what it means to carry forward a legacy, how to build a culture that actually lasts and how leaders can rise each morning with purpose and clarity. If you're passionate about intentional leadership, this one's for you.

Jason E. Brooks: 0:52

Let's jump in Now. I have to be honest. I've been out to Lincoln twice now and Runza is synonymous with Lincoln, with Nebraska, with the Midwest. An amazing set of operators, a truly family-run organization, not just the family from the beginning, but family with how you bring in your teams. People come in at the age of 15, 14, and they stick around until they're 30, 40, 50. Truly, it is in the blood, in the veins and it is deeply rooted. Now how do you see your role in carrying forward the legacy of family while continuing to lead into the future of the restaurant business? Because you do an amazing job at it.

Renee Sjulin: 1:52

Okay, well, thank you. Yeah, so Runza is in its 76th year of existence and so I will have to say I think there's a lot of goodwill that's been built up over those years, even before I was involved. So I've got to give props to everybody that came before me, not just my family, but all of the countless operators that we've had. But I guess, at this point, this stage in my life, definitely getting to where I need, we are working on a next gen of Everett family members. That's my maiden name, sally Everett started runs us 76 years ago, who happens to be my grandmother. So I'm generation three, so generation four, we are starting to get them involved, but it's much more than a couple of the members of generation four. We are, you know, promoting even more, bringing on more, you know, internal departments directors leading by example is number one. I know that sometimes seems cliche, but I believe that promoting what we need to do for the next 25 years, the human resources aspect, the human portion, I guess I know is the most important. My background I'm an accountant, you know, actually, so the numbers and all those things have to make sense for sure. But I think that human portion is the base of the pyramid and teaching the next gen of leaders just the human aspect, respecting everybody, valuing every person and I think that that's a lot of why Renza is still here. I think we stand for that. I think people in the community understand that we're more than just a unique product that's a big part of it but quality that quality of product is number one. But you can't have quality of product if you don't have quality of individuals and how you treat people. I think that's the most important.

Renee Sjulin: 4:07

As a leader, I have to always try to strive. I'm not perfect. However, I have to understand. You know, when you're in the position of power whether you're the manager of your restaurant or you know, at the corporate office we have to be the ones to offer more grace. I mean we have to recognize that we are in that position. Don't brag about that, but know that if we get feedback, that maybe is not what we wanted to hear, whether it's about ourself or leadership style I mean we all have a nature about us that might be oh want to be defensive, but one thing is you got to grab yourself and say I'm the one who has to give more grace. I have to see their point more than they see mine, and I think that that's what we have to prepare our leaders for to go forward. I think that's the most important thing.

Jason E. Brooks: 5:04

It is very refreshing and energizing to hear about how an accountant puts people first Not to say that that's impossible, but whenever you think about that role and that mindset because that's something that you get into, because you analyze not overly, but you like to get into those, to those details with the numbers and to hear you speak to the human element in what's done in leadership.

Jason E. Brooks: 5:38

That it's not just about those numbers. That's amazing and that's what helps to build that legacy and that leadership. That it's not just about ones and zeros, it's about how do we put ourself first in what we're expecting, meaning how do we put ourself in those shoes and actually show it and live it, versus just have that expectation and look at the bottom line. That's what's made what I believe runs us so amazing as a brand and a movement. Now your email signature. It says and you've gotten a lot of my emails, I'm sure right now it's probably spam mail, spam mail but your email signature says we rise each morning to provide exceptional food and service. Can you share how that philosophy translates into how you lead and develop your team?

Renee Sjulin: 6:42

Right. So for your viewers, that are people that are listening, that don't understand what runs a restaurant is. So we are hopefully a cut above a quality, a fast food, quick service restaurant and our product, our signature product, the runs a sandwich.

Jason E. Brooks: 7:02

Oh, I'll pull that up right now so that people can, so that people can see it. Yes, absolutely.

Renee Sjulin: 7:08

There on the screen that product is made. It's ground beef, cabbage onions and spices baked inside homemade bread that is made seven days a week at each of our 90 plus locations, so that day.

Jason E. Brooks: 7:24

You have some gorgeous locations too. You have some amazingly gorgeous restaurants, Right?

Renee Sjulin: 7:31

So every day when our people go in, we aren't open at breakfast because we have a lot of production and prep that we need to do, and so a typical person might roll in around 7.30 or 8. They are making the dough and they are are making that Runs a Sandwich from scratch, you know, seven days a week, and that onion rings are made from scratch seven days a week. We don't take Sunday off, we do that every day of the week. And so, getting back to you, asked about what does that? What? We rise each morning?

Renee Sjulin: 8:07

Well, we think that's a great way to we rise, our dough's rising. We get up every morning, we rise to provide exceptional food and service. And so we, I'd like to think in Nebraska we are one of them, we own the quality niche of the market in Nebraska and our states that we're in in the Midwest and we'd like to think that we are living that mission statement or purpose statement, whatever you want to call that. We are living that and it just explains what we do and what our passion is rising every morning. That again, that's why we're not open for breakfast, because we are doing that and then we are. We're open about 1030 to 1030, seven days a week. But does that kind of explain a little bit, I guess, to your your question about it and what's behind it.

Jason E. Brooks: 9:04

Absolutely, and I, I I gotta say even from charlotte, a lot of your locations, with jason teely in amazing figure, that's in your brand and I've seen the footballs being made within your restaurants, the the dough being cut inside of your restaurants, them making that cabbage and ground beef from scratch, and the onion rings in its own machine being made every single day. It is amazing and that comes from great culture, which is where I want to go to next. You know, because everyone wants that stickiness, wants something that sticks, and your culture does stick. What are some of the intentional choices Runza has made? To build and maintain a strong people first culture, especially across generations, for 76 years and growth to over 90 locations.

Renee Sjulin: 10:08

Okay. So number one, we kind of already touched on it quality. Now, not everybody wants a restaurant career. We respect that. However, I think, as far as whether the team member has been with us six months, a year or many years, I think they want to be a part of something that speaks to quality. So I think that's very important of our company stores and a lot of our managers that have gone on to be franchisees and our corporate office staff. They have the opportunity to invest in their location real dollars, and that has been. I think I believe 70% of our company on locations are what we call store partners, which means they own a really sizable chunk of the location, building real equity. I believe that is one of the hallmarks and it's been this way for years. We've done this. My dad brought that aspect of ownership 50, 60 years ago. I believe that's another reason why people stick around, because we value them enough to. You're going to own stock in the identical way that I might you know. So that, I think, is very, very important.

Renee Sjulin: 11:36

A culture of we talk kind of about just here's one aspect Everybody in our organization deserves our attention and follow-up.

Renee Sjulin: 11:48

So one of the things I'd like to think, and I'm sure I'm not 100% on this always, but we tell our people building culture people want to trust. They trust people they work for if they follow through on things. You know, if a team member asks you for something, maybe it's not something that the general manager is excited about, even if the answer is going to be no, don't say to them well, I'll get back to you and not get back to it. If somebody in a general manager of one of our locations emails the office staff, we tell them you have to get back to them. Assuming you're not on vacation, you got to get back to them. Assuming you're not on vacation, you got to get back to them within a day. Even if you don't like you know they're not going to like the answer you got to get back to them. So I think just that accountability of respect each other enough to follow through with great communication I think that that's another thing.

Jason E. Brooks: 12:43

So, hey, there it's, jason, jumping in for a quick moment. If you're enjoying this conversation with Renee Shalin about leadership culture and intentional growth, I want to let you know that my second book, every Team Needs Coaching, is officially launching soon. It's the follow-up to Every Leader Needs Followers, and it dives even deeper into the systems, mindsets and practical tools that help leaders coach, not just manage. A lot of what Renee and I talk about, like building bench strength, shaping culture and growing people on purpose, are exactly the themes this new book explores. If you haven't picked up Every Leader Needs Followers yet, you can grab your copy now at jasonebrookscom or on Amazon, and if you already have it, be sure to pre-order Every team needs coaching today, so you're ready to keep building that momentum with your team.

Jason E. Brooks: 13:35

All right, back to the episode. It's that relationship growth that pays dividends further on down the line, at times when it's really needed, or even just because. Now I do want to switch gears because, of course, there's lots of great, rosy, wonderful things that are going on, but we know that in multiple times within our business not just right now, but throughout many years we've seen many changes, many challenges. So the restaurant world is just basically always changing fast, no matter what, whether it's tech, whether it's something that's outside of our control, whether it's a new kind of flu, but labor challenges and tech both tend to be something that everyone is going through. So how do you navigate change at scale while keeping true to Runza's core, because it is a lot of changes from many different areas? So how do you navigate that while still sticking true to what Runza's core is?

Renee Sjulin: 14:55

Right, well, real quick. I do have a couple of answers for that, but I will say, you know we make scalability for Runza hard. We don't open more than you know. One to two or three locations a year. That's not exactly over 76 years, just what a lot of chains would aspire to. But again, we make it hard on ourselves because the product is homemade every day, seven days a week. This is not a product that we're sending in, you know, frozen, that kind of thing and so.

Renee Sjulin: 15:29

But to answer your question, through all the different challenges, because training people to make a great runs, a sandwich, for it to be pretty, and all these different standards, high standards that we put on ourself. So when COVID hit, I mean that obviously was the last kind of big disruption. Now the economy is also a disruption. Obviously we're entering some uncertain times, but it was uncertain when COVID hit and everybody in the restaurant world will know and remember that all of a sudden we all struggled with labor shortages. Right, people weren't wanting to work in person, those things, those real fears, and we were all fighting for team members. Nebraska is almost always every year in the top five lowest unemployment in the entire country. We have less than 2 million people in our state, so that is not new to us.

Renee Sjulin: 16:28

However, some of the things that we did to react to this, so to speak, is one new department that we developed was called we call it T-Force training force, and so there's three of them in that.

Renee Sjulin: 16:43

We took and hired from within three people at our corporate office and they go out and they intentionally help all of our locations. Many of them are companies to own, but you know we would answer the call with the franchise if we can, but our company owned. They go out and they help do orientations and training. Literally, that was a big pressure that our managers have. Now they don't spoil them and do all of it forever. They go in and say we're going to help train this up, but we're going to help you do it better as well. T-force was really a great thing for us. I guess it's all you call it another middle management level but we needed that to make sure our standards did not fall and to give our management teams in our stores the breathing room that they needed. And we started that about three years ago and it's been transformational for us.

Jason E. Brooks: 17:43

Now, there's a lot of great learnings that can come from internal teams. There's a lot of great learnings that can come from within the region, but I don't want these listeners to think that everything can Runza as a brand. How do you think that external partnerships can enhance internal leadership and operations?

Renee Sjulin: 18:21

Well, absolutely. I think if you're a great leader, you aspire to be a great leader. You have to go to conferences, trade shows. You have to go eat at your competitors. You have to travel to another city. You have to look at what other people are doing. You have to learn from that. That learning can never stop, and I admire a lot of our competitors, you know. I mean, okay, we'll use McDonald's, for example. They are not in the same homemade from scratch space that we are, but what they do, they do very well. They recognize what their niche is, and so, but one of the things that we have we encourage our people to We've taken sets of franchisees and managers and office team to conferences and one of them that I've even during the pandemic, there was restaurant shows.

Renee Sjulin: 19:26

There weren't a lot of them, but there was a Florida restaurant show and I tried to go to that because that's one of the largest, obviously, restaurant markets in the country is Florida, and so, for myself, I try to go to that most years because they have great speakers at that, and when I see a speaker or consultant that I think is speaking our language, I like to bring them, if I can, into our office or with our general managers, because, well, I can give them ideas.

Renee Sjulin: 20:00

They want to hear from somebody else who's walked the talk, so to speak. And, jason, I have to brag on you. I saw you at the Florida Restaurant Show two years in a row and the second time I'm like. His message is genuine. He's not from necessarily the Midwest, but the genuine real nature in the communication skills he has completely aligns with our values and our style. And I don't do it all the time, but I know I approached you and said hey, you know you speak a lot about multi-unit operations, helping district supervisor, business consultant teams. We have a really good team. However, I think it would be great I don't think we've had a consultant come in and just speak to that group and let's do this. And so we have really enjoyed working with you, jason.

Jason E. Brooks: 21:05

You know that middle management ground, that multi-unit manager group, is always a challenge for any brand because we see our leaders doing extremely well within their four walls. They may even have stretch assignments to another location or two additional while balancing. But trying to find the right process, the right training, the right post-role training not just the first four weeks, but three years after, 10 years, after 20 years after, to keep that knowledge growing is a challenge within that multi-unit manager level. You are right, that's one of the things that I really focus in on, but one of the other things that you said that it's not just about being on stage and speaking well to it. You have to be able to understand what is something that can embed into what's already going on with a brand, not creating something new. That's a flavor of the month. What is it that is truly needed that can be a component to what's already going on, and then making that match within the culture.

Jason E. Brooks: 22:30

That is the biggest challenge. I love that you gave me the opportunity to be able to do that with Runza, your team, an amazing team, an absolutely five star team. It doesn't mean that we still can't, like you said, hear things from a different level and look at how can we look to increase how we do things while making it easier for us to focus on the big levers, because those fires, those day-to-day fires, happen all the time within our business, whether at the office, at an associate location or at a franchised one. How can we still maintain and focus on what the true big levers, big goals are within our business so that we don't miss steps while fighting those fires? Now, you know it's this. This podcast isn't just about Runza or Jason. It's about leadership. It's about times within our past that we've had someone help us see leadership different. Have there been any standout moments or mentors that helped shape the way you lead today?

Renee Sjulin: 23:47

Well for sure. Well, I'll talk about my father, my grandmother, yes, I had. It was wonderful. I knew her for quite a while so I saw her quality standards and I saw how much quality product meant to her. Pass that on to my father.

Renee Sjulin: 24:06

My dad, I'm not sure he wasn't the type that would be that would. That would ever be preachy. I don't even know if he always knew what. I had a young dad and I don't know if he always understood, but he was a great entrepreneur and a leader and he and and some of the things he said to me that I just think universal and I think even nowadays everybody needs.

Renee Sjulin: 24:31

But he would just say you know, put your best effort forward, worry about what you do, don't worry about what others have, don't worry about what others are doing. I mean, yes, on some level. Right, I talked about wanting to know what our competitors and learning from them, but don't look to drag those people down. You do you the best you can. Jealousy, those kinds of things can never come into anything. He talked about that quite a bit. He talked about that when he was first in.

Renee Sjulin: 25:03

It wasn't like Runza was this big thing. He just said you do the best, you mind your business and do what you do best and not have animosity about what others have, you will be happy your whole life and, boy, I think that that has been. I just think that that's a great lesson in your personal life and at work is just sticking to that core thing. Again, I don't that was something that he definitely he didn't preach necessarily, but it was clear in there and he meant it in a good way. Yeah, I mean, I guess I want to say those two definitely in my family were great mentors that way.

Jason E. Brooks: 25:50

Wise words from an amazing leader and entrepreneur. Now I ask signature questions to all of my guests at the leadership table, and these two are some of the things that just help us just say hmm, that's a good way to think about things. But if you could sit at a leadership table with three other leaders, whether alive or from history, who would you choose and why?

Renee Sjulin: 26:23

So number one would be George Washington, because when I think about what he did tromping through the snow and the cold and to try to rally I mean obviously that was the ultimate in leadership skills. People were starving troops, they didn't have much to offer him, but he always gave them hope. And then of course we know he was also once he became president, he was kind of reelected president. He did two terms and, even though it wasn't in the constitution, he said you know, nobody should be president more than eight years and he kind of set that important precedence. And I just think you know his values were amazing. So I think George would be somebody. The second one I thought about who would somebody that I thought was just extra brave as well? Somebody in the last century Martin Luther King, somebody in the last century Martin Luther King, you know, think about what he was for himself, for his family. But the powerful message is that he gave people hope, gave all kinds of people hope, and he put his life on the line. Basically, I mean, obviously he was very brave to do what he did, and so I think for sure he would be another one that I would love to speak with. And the third one I tried to think about. You know, if I go, okay, I'm in Nebraska.

Renee Sjulin: 27:46

So you know, years ago, pioneer families, but pioneer women, what women had to go through trying to go to a new territory. They had nobody to help them with childbirth, things like that Pioneer women were. They did a lot, not to say the men didn't, but the women had to put up with and do a lot. And so Willa Cather, she's a famous author from Nebraska. Her family moved when she was a little girl. She's a Pulitzer Prize winner. She wrote things like oh, pioneer, my Antonia. But she came to Nebraska when it you know the early days in Nebraska, the 1870s, 1880s, and I think so I think Willa Cather and her highlighting pioneer women and just people that went across the United States, I can't imagine the kind of sacrifices they did to settle territory. So those, I guess, are kind of my three.

Jason E. Brooks: 28:42

I would love to have a seat at your leadership table with those three. One final question what's one conversation in your career that profoundly shaped your leadership journey? I know that there's been many great conversations, but what's one that comes to mind that profoundly shaped your leadership journey?

Renee Sjulin: 29:02

Boy. This was a tough one that shaped my leadership journey. Well, I will say one other mentor, not a family one, but she was an early franchisee. Her name was Kathy Krause. She sadly passed away from cancer in her 40s and she just was a person of extreme grace. Her leadership style was grace all the way through.

Renee Sjulin: 29:28

I've never known somebody to always make the right decision and she was selfless and that leading by example. I don't know, but there were conversational things I remember as I started my career and obviously I was going to be this is when I was pretty young in my career but just things like you know, hey, everybody deserves a raise every year. If they're not doing their job, then you need to. Every team member should know where they stand. Okay, every team member should know where they stand and you can't just not communicate with people. I know that seems really basic, but I just remember her grace and explaining just the common decency things that sometimes we forget. You know, we just think, oh, I'll just kind of ignore somebody and they'll go away. Well, no, you know, that person deserves to know where they stand and if it's something they can't fix, they'll move on themselves and then maybe they'll be a runs addict a runs addict for life. They appreciated the honesty, but everybody needs to kind of know where they stand. Every teamwork.

Jason E. Brooks: 30:40

I do agree. That's why one-on-ones are so important. It shouldn't be an end of the year, gotcha. By the way, you didn't do well. Everyone should know where they stand. Renee, thank you for your heart, your leadership and the intentionality you bring to growing people inside of a legacy brand like Runza To our listeners. If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, share it with someone who leads a people first brand. You can also visit wwwjasonabrookscom for more leadership insights and resources and, of course, go to wwwrunzacom R-U-N-Z-A to find out more about this amazing brand. Ms Renee, thank you so much. I know you are very busy for taking time out your day to jump on the leadership table.

Renee Sjulin: 31:33

It was a delight. Thank you for having me Quite the honor. Thank you, ma'am.