Power of 1%: highlights from Maria McCann at Blacklock
- S1E15
- 09:53
- December 16th 2025
Culture isn’t top-down - it’s built from the ground up.
In this episode’s highlights, Blacklock’s Ops Director Maria McCann shares how a people-first approach to training, onboarding and culture has driven real results across their growth.
You’ll hear:
>> Why off-the-shelf training can’t build brand culture
>> How investing in people slashes turnover and boosts profitability
>> The power of bottom-up values creation
>> Why onboarding is about time, not checklists
>> What the “Power of 1%” really means in hospitality
Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory.
Connect with Maria McCann on LinkedIn.
Listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify & YouTube.
What's Cooking? | A Podcast from Nory
What's Cooking? is the podcast for hospitality operators scaling smart. Hosted by Conor Sheridan – CEO and co-founder of Nory, and a former operator who built and ran multi-site restaurant brands himself – each episode goes behind the scenes of fast-growing restaurant groups to explore the operational challenges that actually matter - like disconnected systems, staffing chaos, and margin pressure.
Through honest conversations with industry leaders you’ll get practical insight into what’s working on the ground right now - from automation and AI to culture, data, and waste reduction. No fluff. No forecasts. Just the blueprint for better hospitality operations at scale.
New episodes every two weeks.