Every summer, Inspire Brands opens its doors to a new group of interns eager to learn, grow, and make an impact. This year, the Class of 2026 is the largest intern class to date, bringing together 90 interns from 42 schools who were selected from thousands of applicants to support teams across the company. Over the course of 10 weeks, interns gained hands-on experience while making the most of a summer filled with unique opportunities, from culinary tastings and executive speaker sessions to World Cup celebrations. With support from the Early Careers team, the program blended leadership development, career skill-building, networking, and personal growth into an unforgettable internship experience.
In a moment she’ll never forget, Ella Fernald, a QSR Training Development Intern at the Boston Support Center, was briefly promoted from intern to actress for a Baskin-Robbins training video shoot.
“I had the opportunity to step into the role of a team member handing out samples to a guest (another intern), which gave me a fun, hands-on perspective. It was such a unique experience to see everything that goes into creating training content.”
Over at the Atlanta Global Support Center, interns celebrated the World Cup as it traveled to the cities across the continent and Buffalo Wild Wings sports bars nationwide. Ilyas Boateng, originally from England, represented his home team throughout his time as a Treasury Intern, building connections with fellow interns and full-time team members alike in the Support Center’s social hub, Flyin’ Bison. “As an England fan, it was fun to watch the games live in Flyin’ Bison when they were on during the workday. I remember a lot of friendly banter before the Mexico v. England game.”
In addition to building connections with one another, interns explored many of the people, places, and teams that make Inspire Brands unique. Interns got a behind-the-scenes look at the Inspire Brands Innovation Center, toured Roark Capital Group, visited in-house creative agency Maverick Studios, and made more than a few stops at the Baskin-Robbins dipping cabinets.
Additionally, Inspire’s “Meet the Leaders” program gave interns the chance to hear directly from Inspire’s leaders, offering career guidance, resume tips, and an inside look at their daily work and career journeys. Meeting Inspire CEO Paul Brown for a fireside chat, Jean-Ann Jones, a Food Safety Intern, reflects on the conversation, “One piece of advice from Paul that really resonated with me was his encouragement to focus on solving problems rather than just collecting data.”
One highlight of Lily Duval’s internship was going behind the counter at a multi-brand Jimmy John’s and Dunkin’ restaurant and learning directly from a franchisee. “The whole experience was just awesome,” says the QSR Training Development Intern.
“We also took a field trip to the first-ever Dunkin’ restaurant in Quincy, Massachusetts, where I got to see a piece of the brand’s history firsthand.”
The internship program offers each intern direct guidance and support from managers and teams. John Bae, Accounting Intern, shares, “My manager consistently met with me one-on-one throughout the internship, providing valuable insights and showing a genuine investment in my future career growth.”
As the 2026 program comes to a close, this year’s Inspire interns carry forward the lessons, relationships, and leadership principles that will shape their future careers, heading into their next chapters with a greater understanding of what it means to lead with purpose.
Inspire’s internship program invites young professionals to experience the restaurant industry through roles across multiple departments and brands.
To learn more about our interns and their experiences at Inspire this summer, watch Inspire’s Instagram and follow us on LinkedIn.
Interested in a career with Inspire and our brands? Visit our Careers website.
