Success Story

Adding Key Executive Positions Leads to Successful Growth

Shanny Covey took the major step in 2016 of hiring a human resources director for her group of restaurants. Doing so, she reflects, has allowed her to "focus more on building the business then trying to keep up with HR compliances."

Covey realized that human resources was a part of the business that required more attention. "We were growing our staff, and more staff means more HR issues. It got to where I needed help handling HR issues with the manner of attention these issues needed."

The move did what it was intended to do, although Covey admits that she now collaborates with her new HR director "perhaps a little too much because he is not as well versed in HR issues as I ideally would have liked him to be. I hired him for his passion and gusto to learn, and he has proven valuable in handling HR issues for me."

Specifically, she explains, the addition has improved the culture of her business "because more dedicated time can be spent on individual HR issues, thus making the staff feel valued. Also, now there is a dedicated, person responsible to keep us compliant with labor laws, and that in itself is a huge task in California. It minimizes the liability risk of having to fight a labor lawsuit."

Covey's company grew in 2016 with the opening of a pair of restaurant concepts: Luna Red and Novo Restaurant Lounge, both in San Luis Obispo, CA "We wouldn't have been able to successfully accomplish this without a dedicated HR director. We opened a management company, where we have an executive team supporting the operations of the individual locations." She has also hired a culture director to, as she puts it, "put our money where our mouth is in our desire to improve the culture of our teams, and be a desired company to work for in our area."

Covey says she was delighted to find that RestaurantOwner.com had what she judges to be "very valuable articles on building my business. These articles help to keep me focused on what's important. I needed time to keep up with important tasks, like running weekly P&Ls and building a positive culture."

In plotting her course for the remainder of 2017, Covey says she is "looking to settle down from all the growth that we've been doing this past year. 2017 will continue to be a year of learning how to best manage multiple concepts, and more importantly to learn how to lead and grow our executive management team so they can successfully lead the teams in their own locations."

RestaurantOwner.com, Covey continues, has provided her with what she calls "very valuable insights in operating a successful restaurant over the past 30-plus years. It's difficult to know the best practices in running a successful restaurant, and the resources in RestaurantOwner.com are the best because they are not only realistic and practical, but I can get every resource I need in one place. The discussion Forum is also very helpful in getting feedback from other restaurateurs."