Ongoing hiring challenges, especially in the restaurant industry, have led companies to seek new ways to reach and attract potential hires. Atlanta-based pizza chain Mellow Mushroom has teamed up with social media expert Drew Talbert and in late June launched a new campaign to fill several key operations positions around the country.

Talbert created a video that takes a fun look at a Mellow Mushroom manager who’s being promoted, focusing on how the brand will be replacing him with a current employee rather than going outside the company. The chain will use the video to find talented candidates for its “operations coach” positions, a role that focuses on building operational excellence among its 170 restaurants.

“We’ve learned the best talent for the operations coach positions comes from our existing family of franchise and company locations,” said Mike Foster, chief operating officer for Mellow Mushroom. “By recruiting from within, we expect to attract candidates who already know and love our Mellow culture and want to advance their careers in the industry.”

Mellow Mushroom expects that hiring from within for the operations coaches will result in a stronger resource for its franchisees. Attracting team members who already know the brand’s operations will speed the hiring process and reduce onboarding and training time, as well as decrease the overall cost to find candidates.

Drew Talbert, who has nearly 2 million followers on TikTok, almost 400,000 on YouTube, and more than 300,000 followers on Instagram, created a full cast of Mellow characters for social media, playing all the roles himself. Mellow Mushroom will launch a second phase of the recruiting campaign later this summer that will focus on attracting new hourly employees to its restaurants.