Kevin King didn't arrive at the CEO seat at Donatos Pizza with all the answers. He arrived with a clear point of view on what the job actually requires: set the mission and vision, hire smart people, and then trust them enough to lead without you in the room.

In this conversation recorded live at the IFA Annual Convention, Katherine LeBlanc and Kevin dig into what it takes to build a franchise brand that scales and sustains. They talk about how Donatos is using automation and AI not to reduce headcount but to free their people up for the moments that actually matter to guests. Why understanding how the business makes money is the most underrated career skill in franchising. What a visit to Chick-fil-A taught Kevin about the difference between managing people and leading them, and why he is on a mission to get rid of the word manager entirely.

They also get into what franchising is getting wrong, what the American Franchising Act means for the industry, and what Kevin sees for Donatos over the next ten years, including a fully automated pizza restaurant already running in the Columbus Airport.

This is a conversation about leadership, systems, and what it looks like when a CEO decides that building a team of leaders is the whole job.