Jennifer Durham Is the Architect Behind Potbelly's Growth

Great growth doesn't happen by accident. It's architected. Designed and built with strategy, discipline, and a deep understanding of what actually works.Jennifer Durham, Senior Vice President of Franchising and Development at Potbelly, is the architect behind the brand's expansion as they head toward 500 locations.Jennifer's path to this role is unconventional. She started as a CPA at KPMG, then pivoted into the restaurant industry. She's held senior leadership roles across multiple concepts—Checkers & Rally's (where she was Chief Development Officer), Cooper's Hawk, and Hand & Stone—each time bringing her unique combination of financial discipline, process improvement, and franchise development expertise.What makes Jennifer different is that she doesn't just execute growth. She designs it. She brings financial rigor to franchise strategy. She builds high-performing development teams. She understands how strong leadership directly influences long-term brand success.In this episode, Jennifer talks about her unconventional career journey, what she's learned leading development across different brands and formats, how she thinks about smart, sustainable growth at Potbelly, and what it takes to build a franchise strategy that actually works.You'll hear about evolving guest expectations, team development strategies, franchise partnership models, and how financial discipline and process improvement become competitive advantages in franchise development.But mostly, this is a conversation about what it means to architect growth—not just chase it.