Kathie Niven ’89, president and CEO of Biscuitville, joined the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business for a Lessons from Leaders conversation on leadership, growth and staying true to company values.
Lessons from Leaders welcomed Kathie Niven ’89, president and CEO of Biscuitville, on March 3 in LaRose Digital Theatre for a conversation about taking chances, building a business and staying true to company values.
The conversation was moderated by Jose Cerecedo Lopez, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
Niven, who majored in English while at Elon University, now leads the Greensboro-based, family-owned restaurant company founded in 1966 that operates locations across North Carolina and Virginia.
Niven said her path to the restaurant industry was not a straight one. She originally planned to attend law school, but an unexpected opportunity to help rebuild a struggling restaurant changed her perspective.
“A family friend bought a defunct restaurant and asked me to help get it running again,” Niven said. “I quickly realized it was like a mini-MBA. There was nothing she didn’t trust me with. I was running operations, figuring out inventory and even helping with advertising.”
The experience gave Niven an inside look at nearly every part of the business. Within several years, the restaurant had become one of the top-performing locations in the brand.
That early opportunity helped launch her career in the restaurant industry. She later held leadership positions with brands including Krispy Kreme, Burger King and Quiznos before joining Biscuitville in 2011.
Niven said she quickly saw something different in the company’s values and culture.
“What stood out to me was the integrity of the leadership at Biscuitville,” she said. “They source their products locally, make everything from scratch and are committed to doing things the right way.”
That commitment to authenticity and long-term thinking continues to shape how Niven approaches leadership today.
“Culture comes first,” Niven said. “If you want to grow without losing what makes your company special, you have to start there.”
One of Niven’s proudest accomplishments has been helping define Biscuitville’s culture through a set of shared norms developed with employees across the company.
“Until you put your money where your mouth is on culture, you don’t really have a culture,” Niven said. “It only works when leaders are willing to uphold those values consistently.”
Niven also shared advice for students preparing to launch their careers.
“You don’t walk in the door and say, ‘trust me,’” she said. “Trust builds slowly through consistent decisions and actions over time.”
She also reflected on leading through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that brought significant challenges across the restaurant industry.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” Niven said. “But we decided that if we went down, we were going to go down taking care of our team. That meant showing up for our employees and supporting them the best we could, even in the middle of so much uncertainty.”
As the event concluded, Niven encouraged students to think carefully about the organizations they choose to join.
“Interview companies more than they interview you,” she said. “Make sure their values align with yours.”
About Lessons from Leaders
Launched in 2017 by Dean Emeritus Raghu Tadepalli, Lessons from Leaders brings senior executives to campus for open talks, small group discussions, and purposeful one-on-one networking that connects students with mentors. The program helps bridge classroom learning to real-world decision-making and strategy, and aims for every student to leave with a new contact and meaningful career insights.