""I didn't want to just stay on top of the details. I really wanted to be proactive in leading the team [and] creating the culture that we wanted, and then in order to do that, I couldn't be bogged down in the details. I would say I was spending a ridiculous amount of time in email and not enough time serving my customers, understanding their needs and leading and building my team.""
— Tim Sweetman, Owner/Operator
The Challenge
Tim Sweetman is the Owner/Operator of a family-owned Chick-fil-A franchise in Delaware, overseeing a staff of around 80 people — including a general manager, directors, managers, and front-line team members. Though Tim came to the role with a background in marketing and communications, he found himself increasingly buried in the day-to-day administrative demands that came with running a business of this scale.
After studying the habits of the most successful Chick-fil-A operators, Tim noticed a consistent pattern: they all had assistants.
"I started seeing that they were simply taking their 40 hours a week and able to double that without putting additional effort in,"he explains. The lesson was clear — without support, growth had a ceiling.
For Tim, the most immediate pain point was email. Hundreds of messages poured in daily, consuming hours that should have been spent on leadership, culture-building, and connecting with customers and team members.
"I personally have struggled with staying on top of every small detail while also trying to focus on creating a culture, building an organization."Without an assistant, important things inevitably slipped through the cracks — and as Tim admits, some of those things were really important.
The Solution
Tim partnered with BELAY and was matched with Virtual Assistant Tammi Kyle, who set out to lift the administrative burden that had been consuming his days. The first priority was clear: tackle the inbox. The "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of emails" that had been draining Tim's energy were now Tammi's responsibility.
But the scope of Tammi's support quickly expanded well beyond email management.
"I assist with email, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, HR, team communication, his personal communication, trip-planning, and appointment-scheduling," Tammi shares. "I assist with scheduling interviews, contacting those that are interested in having an interview – the whole process. Whether it's the first interview, second interview, final interview, onboarding, getting them in the system, getting their direct deposit set up, getting their uniforms, I keep in touch with them throughout."
With Tammi managing the full administrative lifecycle of the business — from HR and hiring to vendor communications and scheduling — Tim was finally free to operate as the leader and culture-builder he had always envisioned himself to be. He could now be present with his team and customers instead of anchored to his desk.
""I just can't imagine going through some of the challenges of opening a new restaurant without support. I just don't know how it would've made it. I don't know how I would've been able to accomplish it without [her] help.""
— Tim Sweetman, Owner/OperatorThe Impact
The change was immediate and transformative.
"She was processing all my emails and my life changed," Tim says. "And I would argue that that's probably one of the most powerful things that can happen for any leader is to no longer be spending unnecessary time."For the first time, Tim had the bandwidth to lead the way he had always intended.
With Tammi handling operations behind the scenes, Tim was able to invest in meaningful gestures that strengthened his team's culture — like writing and sending handwritten notes of encouragement so that no team member went unrecognized. During COVID, he asked Tammi to find and organize team member appreciation events, which she managed entirely from start to finish.
The impact extended beyond the workplace as well.
"I truly believe my wife would never allow me to not have [Tammi's] support," Tim gushes. "And my team has just such an appreciation when they're able to interact with me and see me as the leader – and not the admin guy. That's made a big difference."
For Tim, working with BELAY ultimately meant getting back to his core mission.
"What we do is sell chicken. I didn't get into the business to do administrative work or sit in the office. I got into the business because I wanted to serve people."