Qwick is a Phoenix-based on-demand staffing company that connects service industry professionals with food and beverage shifts in real-time. Its platform enables food and beverage professionals to connect directly with hotels, catering companies, event venues and restaurants, while allowing them the freedom and flexibility to work on their own schedules. To hospitality businesses, it provides a 98-percent average fill rate and immediate access to a pre-vetted and certified gig-economy workforce.
Jamie Baxter, Blaine Light and Chris Loeffler founded Qwick in 2018. The inspiration, recalls CEO Baxter, came during a visit from Loeffler, who is CEO of a commercial real estate and private equity company with a focus on the hotel sector. “He was lamenting about the staffing issues in the hotels he owns. Having unreliable staff with high turnover and lots of no-call/no-shows was hurting his business, as well as were the ever-changing labor laws. Chris wanted to be able to order staff just like he orders an Uber. I thought this was a great idea and it fit in really well with my HR technology background. We thought the timing was right and connected with Blaine Light, who started Uber here in Phoenix and has a strong business management background and gig-economy experience. Together, we believed we created a unique combination of expertise that was perfect for this market.”
One of the biggest challenge in building any company, Baxter has found, is finding the right people to be part of the team. “We have built an amazing team here at Qwick,” Baxter says, “and we
fully believe that if you surround yourself with the best and brightest people, empower them, and give them the resources they need you can achieve anything.”
Qwick is built on the philosophy of “think big, start small, and then scale up.” Says Baxter, “You have to be very lean when you start a new company and not build too much before you ensure that there is a market for what you are building. We all subscribe to the belief that you have to move fast and break things. We aren’t going to get everything right and that is expected, but we would rather experiment and learn as fast as we can.”
