In California’s bustling restaurant scene, a new workers’ compensation stew is simmering, increasingly hitting the spot for the Golden State’s restaurateurs.
Kaya Stanley and the California Restaurant Mutual Benefit Corp. (CRMBC)’s alternative approach to traditional workers’ compensation insurance mixes financial stability with a sense of community and a dash of innovation.
With a large surplus as its foundation, CRMBC, under Stanley’s leadership, offers a practical and supportive self-insurance model. Focused on mutual benefits and pooling resources, the organization subtly transforms the landscape for the better, ensuring every restaurateur can thrive.
But how did this Reno-based attorney, social impact investor, author, and local business owner revolutionize workers’ compensation for California’s vibrant restaurant industry? Stanley’s journey, marked by legal expertise, public policy insight, and hands-on restaurant management, laid the groundwork for her new approach. Leveraging her diverse background, she helped steer CRMBC through a significant transformation and set the stage for a new era of growth.
“I’ve been an attorney for 23 years,” says Stanley . “I had my master’s degree in social work and did public policy and research, which is why I originally went to law school. I wasn’t planning to practice law at first, but upon graduation, I accepted an offer from a large firm in Michigan, where I started in commercial real estate.”
After commercial real estate, she became general counsel for Marco’s Pizza in a high-growth phase, expanding from 30 to 1,000 stores. During this time, she learned a great deal about the dynamics of the restaurant industry.
An offer to be executive director for the Jack-in-the-Box Franchisee Association took her from Michigan to California when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed. ACA caused great uncertainty and alarm in the industry, primarily due to a lack of understanding. In response, Stanley honed her expertise and knowledge of the new law, published a book, and began to help restaurateurs and franchisees become compliant and find ways to leverage parts of the ACA to save money over their current structure.
California Restaurant Mutual Benefit Corp. (CRMBC)’s alternative approach to traditional workers’ compensation insurance Changing CRMBC’s Recipe
In 2012, she became a board member of CRMBC, a self-insured group (SIG) that specializes in workers’ compensation for the restaurant industry. Self-insurance , according to Stanley, is when a company sets aside its assets to pay for possible losses instead of paying premiums to an insurance company for claims that may never be made. It can be done for various types of insurance, including health and workers’ compensation.
Her role was to help CRMBC reorganize and confront some budgetary issues. This involved some deep introspection and analysis of where the organization was losing money. Finding solutions to these issues took several years, and Stanley credits the previous board chair for much of the initiative’s success. “He was a CPA and phenomenal for the group. We were exclusively focused on fixing what was broken for over a decade. Now, we’re on a growth trajectory.“
Finding CRMBC’s Secret Sauce
Stanley became CRMBC’s CEO/board chair in December 2021 and oversaw a new growth phase. CRMBC’s deficit issue was reversed; in 2022, the group had developed a large surplus and more than $6 million was returned to members. The organization is building on that foundation and expanding its innovative offerings, realizing the benefits of pooling support, knowledge, and resources.
“Every member of CRMBC is a restaurant owner, and the board is made up of restaurant owners and operators,” she says. “We’re committed to responsible risk management and work together to share costs and best practices, fight claims and increase safety efforts to prevent injuries in the first place. If we take in too much in premiums, we can pay it back as a dividend. If a traditional insurance company takes too much, they never pay it back, and if your losses are higher than what they collected, they will raise your rates.”
During this new phase of leadership, CRMBC is committed to helping its members achieve financial stability, working together to set standards, and advocating for strategic policies. Its board of trustees is made up of key figures in the California restaurant industry, including Russell Bendell, retired CEO of The Habit Burger Grill, past Chairman of the Board, California Restaurant Association, Rodney Couch, owner of Market Broiler, MB Grill, Blue Water Grill, and Contract Food Service and Selwyn Yosslowitz, Founder of Marmalade Cafe and Board Member Emeritus, California Restaurant Association.
Stanley stresses CRMBC’s secret sauce: The group goes out of its way to take care of injured workers, prioritizing getting them cared for and back to work and life.
“We’re communicating with them continuously, and in the event we find fraud – whether it’s a doctor, lawyer or injured worker – we protect our members,” she says. “CRMBC is always looking for new members but is very discerning about who is accepted. They must share the organization’s values.”
This is unlike traditional insurance companies, which she compares to casinos. “With traditional insurance, the “house” always wins. Self-insured groups are essentially co-ops that help make self-insurance accessible to smaller employers. We allow restaurant owners to keep more money rather than give so much to traditional insurance.”
Setting the Family Table
Stanley’s – and CRMBC’s – success draws upon her deep commitment to community building. Her approach is rooted in a belief in mutual support and shared success, based on pooling resources, knowledge, and efforts to achieve shared success.
For example, she and her husband, who co-founded Stanley Restaurant Group, created a nonprofit during the COVID lockdown. Their Feed, Our Heroes organization shared restaurant resources to support employees and other essential workers and provided meals to local hospitals. During the eight-week shutdown, they raised $250K, which was shared with 20 other restaurants. Feed Our Heroes served more than 36,000 meals to local ICUs, testing centers, emergency rooms, and first responders.
Another favored venture of Stanley’s is TEDx Reno , where she serves as president and organizer. After presenting her own highly successful TED talk , she took over the Reno license and assembled a dedicated all-volunteer team. In 2022, there were 16,000 TEDx talks worldwide on its YouTube channel, with about 40 million followers. Reno had five of the top 100 and three of the top 30, and TED picked up two talks from that year.
As CRMBC steps into a bold new phase under Kaya Stanley’s leadership, it blends growth with innovation, leveraging a surplus to expand its self-insurance offerings in the restaurant industry. With her rich background in law, public policy, and the restaurant and insurance sectors, Stanley steers CRMBC toward a future where shared knowledge, resources, and a strong sense of community are essential. Her strategic vision aims to transform restaurant workers’ compensation and includes the ingredients for a unified, resilient California industry ready to face tomorrow’s challenges.
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