Article

How to Turn Business Culture from an Empty Phrase into a Best Practice

Emerging from the pandemic, we found ourselves competing for employees, not only with other restaurants, but with Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Sure, we might not be able to offer the salary and benefits of large corporations, but we could make our concepts places where people enjoyed the work and could imagine a future in the industry. And many of us embraced the often-vague notion of a business "culture".

To paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone talks about business "culture", but what are they doing about it? In this article, we define it and discuss how to cultivate it in your operation to build a stronger team and guest loyalty.

And here we are at the beginning of a new year with new challenges. You do not have to be in business very long to watch business fads come and go. The business and trade press loves them. "Culture" as a strategy for fostering employee retention and teamwork is sticking. Human resource experts and restaurant consultants are telling us that "culture" has evolved from a buzzword to a bona fide competitive advantage.

So, what the heck is it? And why does it even matter? The answer is as close as the people working for you.

"Today's employee is looking for purpose more than a job," says David Tripoli, who founded the Restaurant Doctors, a group of former restaurant executives who coach independent owners and operators. As an executive at Truluck's Ocean's Finest Seafood & Crab, headquartered in Houston, and where he worked for 33 years, Tripoli helped grow the seafood concept to 13 units. Now, he helps independent operators build better concepts through restaurant coaching.

"Restaurant employees want to be a part of something and be engaged and empowered. You have to give them a culture that is going to encourage that. The old school way of thinking 'we are here to tell you how to do your job' does not work."

If you haven't already, consider this the year to double down on business culture. First is defining what culture means within your concept. Next is instilling culture in staff, which creates that cohesion people want to be part of. Last comes telling the story of your culture, or showing guests what you do differently.

How Culture Keeps Employees Engaged

With experts predicting culture as the make-or-break factor for independent restaurants, let's consider the relationship between business culture and employee engagement. A clearly defined culture not only attracts the people who are right for your business, but also those who share your organization's values.

When it is well-defined, employees who are not aligned with the values of the business will recognize it quickly, and either change their perspective or leave. If lackluster performance from unmotivated employees is a sore point for you, changing and defining the company culture can spare you significant headaches in retaining good employees and terminating poor employees.

Data from Gallup, self-described as a global analytics and advice firm that helps leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems, found a high correlation be- tween employee engagement, well-being, productivity and turnover. Employees who derive satisfaction from their job have better overall wellbeing.

When workers are fulfilled by their jobs, they have better finances, social lives, physical energy and mood. In turn, they are able to give more at work. Positively engaged employees do their jobs and help others. Their positive attitudes are infectious. Guests are treated warmly by an employee who feels valued. Over time, this can turn guests into regulars who, in turn, bring new people to your restaurant.

Disconnected, disengaged employees are far more likely to report stress, worry, anger and burnout. These strong emotions affect how individuals treat their coworkers and guests. Disengaged employees make it harder for the others on your team. They might call in sick or take their stress out on coworkers or, even worse, on a guest. Eventually, as many as one in five will quit their job. While your concept is ultimately better off without disengaged employees, the data shows just how beneficial it can be to create a culture that nourishes employees.

Defining Business Culture

"Culture gets to who we are as humans and a vibe, an essence. It's a feeling when you walk into a place," says Shawn Walchef owner of Cali Comfort BBQ and host of the Digital Hospitality and Restaurant Influencers podcasts.

Since culture is something that is experienced primarily as a feeling, it can be difficult to define. Culture isn't just one thing. It's a collection of things: your values, your vision and mission for being in the restaurant business, your core beliefs, elements of your branding, the language used on your menu and website, the style of service you offer, and even your internal systems and processes. Taken together, these aspects contribute to a culture that makes your restaurant different from the one down the block.

When you have a strong business culture, all of these elements are working together. Each reinforces the other to create a consistent culture.

When the business culture is weak, there are inconsistencies. Perhaps you say one thing but do another, or let certain things slide. Perhaps roles aren't clear and employees have to guess at who should do which task. Or it never gets done at all. Or the rules are clear, but the rationale is not. Employees do what's asked without an understanding of why it matters. Without that connection to a larger purpose or vision, these employees may feel demoralized. Soon they've got one foot out the door, and your hiring and training cycle begins again.

Tripoli recalls one such client. This operator had a lot of great ideas, but there was no follow-through. "Staff felt like every month there was a wonderful new direction and it always fell flat. Things never got done. Over a year's time, sales and performance dropped, turnover increased because it was a very uninspiring environment," he says. Leadership wanted to make changes. The great ideas were all there. However, the lack of follow-through created an uninspiring environment, confused employees, and accelerated turnover.

As this anecdote illustrates, business culture starts from the top. The leader creates the culture by their actions. When leadership is intentional about culture, a positive business culture is reinforced. When culture is an afterthought or takes the "that's the way it's always been done" stance, business culture suffers. As Walchef puts it, "If you don't have a leader who is willing to be open and transparent with every level of the organization, there is no culture of engagement. That is the culture they create."

The Man in the Mirror

Walchef describes his personal journey with business culture. As a young restaurant operator, he thought that culture was "all the things we do in our restaurant, with our servers and bartenders, how we set up the restaurant. Then I started to realize so much of the culture has to do with me."

This mindset shift led Walchef to think about the beliefs, skills, and culture he brought to the restaurant. He realized that a big part of culture was the people he bought into the restaurant and the opportunities he created. Who was he choosing to manage? How was he giving them opportunities to lead rather than manage? His focus shifted from his own leadership potential to that of others.

Walchef was inspired by major companies like Disney and Apple, known for their outstanding corporate cultures. He studied their business practices and thought about ways to adopt their practices "on a micro scale" for the independent restaurant. Walchef also credits fatherhood with shifting his perspectives. Now, Walchef works to create a culture that draws the right sort of people into his company. Once they're there, he finds ways to keep them learning and growing, even when it means shifting focus to personal passions.

Tripoli agrees that defining business culture starts at the top. Leadership needs to decide what the business culture should be, put it down in writing, and be accountable on a daily basis to the culture they defined. Tripoli believes that business culture doesn't need to be expensive or elaborate. "Culture doesn't have to be a lot," he says. "It can be built around two words like 'be nice.' Then hold yourself accountable to being nice every day. In our world today, with the lack of connective service, being nice is a point of difference."

If a lack of time is holding you back from building business culture, start simple. Think about how your business operates and the values you care about. Then distill it to a simple message, and center this message in your operation moving forward.

Communicating Your Business Culture

Operators might feel as if they know what business culture is, including the sort of business culture they would like to create. They may have gone so far as to select words or phrases that define their business culture. But when it comes to instilling a culture in employees or communicating it to guests, it can be difficult to get across the feelings behind the words or phrases. Sure, you want to be nice, but how do you do everything nicely?

Rather than words, think about actions. You'll have to tell employees what your business culture is at the outset. However, actions will reinforce the lesson. Actions will make your culture second nature for employees, who will then represent your culture in interactions with one another and with guests.

Tripoli recalls how the Truluck's team showed their company culture in several ways. They printed up a pocket-sized Company Constitution. All new employees were given this when they were hired. Employees were expected to carry it on them at all times. The seafood concept also had wristbands printed that read "unshakably polite," a core part of their culture. These two items provided employees with physical reminders of the business culture, keeping it front and center during service. These were easy things to do that reinforce that sense of belonging, particularly among new hires.

Truluck's management took an opportunity every day to center the business culture during pre-shift meetings. Pre-shifts were attended by all employees and designed to "inform, instruct and inspire," Tripoli recalls. Along with the usual pre-service information, management would pass along positive comments from guests. Then, a manager would ask the employees to recall something that happened recently that expressed their values, or what they called a "constitutional moment."

Staff would respond with an example of a time someone was unshakably polite or made something good happen for another person. "It kept everybody together," Tripoli says. The daily ritual also provided teachable moments for new hires, who learned by example what it meant to be unshakably polite during a difficult situation, for example. By touching on business culture in a daily ritual, Truluck's management helped keep it top of mind. This increased the odds that a server would act in accordance with their culture's values during the shift.

Communicating Your Culture to Guests

A well-trained staff is your best bet for communicating your restaurant's culture to guests. "Someone can tell you what their mission statement is, but when they show you through their acts, that is the best way," Walchef says.

Consider Truluck's culture of being unshakably polite. When servers handled unhappy guests using their unshakably polite motto, the guests received impeccable service. They got the impression of a polite, congenial staff. Truluck's could have printed those values on the menu or woven them into a story about the owner for the business website, but neither of those would have made the same strong impression on the guest.

Walchef is a big believer in digital storytelling, so it is no surprise that social media factors into his demonstration of company culture. Every piece of content he or his team creates represents a chance to model their culture.

Chances are that your restaurant uses at least one social media channel. Ask yourself how you can find ways to share your company culture through the content you post. Perhaps you are posting a photo of a new menu item. Tell the story of how you created the dish in a way that reflects your culture. If you are promoting an upcoming event, connect the event to your culture and your values. The more often you weave elements of your business culture into your posts, the more natural it will feel to do so.

When you start to tell your story on social media from a place of authenticity and align it with your values, you might notice higher rates of engagement. This is a sign you are on the right track in creating a culture that people want to be a part of.

Walchef defines the company culture of his restaurant and media company as "stay curious, get involved, ask for help." This phrase comes at the end of his podcast episodes. It also informs the way he works with employees. Recently, one of his managers started a "side hustle" making his own beef jerky. Walchef fully embraced the part-time business by letting the manager use the restaurant's smokers for his jerky.

He started educating the manager about the importance of telling his story on TikTok and Instagram. He offered help and resources and indulged the manager's curiosity by teaching him new things. He models his culture, moving it from words at the end of a podcast episode to action.

Support Can Go Both Ways

In the long run, Walchef knows that supporting his manager's interests ultimately supports his restaurant. The manager learned a new appreciation for social media as a discovery tool to drive awareness of his new business. That gave him new insight into how customers found Cali BBQ on social media and ultimately helped him be a better manager.

"This is a culture of inclusion," Walchef says. "It would be easy for me to say 'I don't want you working on your side hustle while you're supposed to be managing the restaurant.' I want to find as many opportunities as possible to support him through the stuff we have learned how to do. The more he explores, the better he will be at managing our business."

Four Steps to a Better Restaurant Culture

David Tripoli, creator of the Restaurant Doctors, a small group of former restaurant executives coaching independent owner-operators, offers four simple steps for restaurant operators who know they need to improve culture, but may not know where to start.

Help build employees' self-esteem as restaurant professionals. Employment in the industry has often had unfair and untutored negative connotations. Consider that employees might feel demoralized and uncertain about their career choice. Building professional self-esteem goes a long way to erase negative sentiments that have built up over time. "Give them clear direct communication and let them know how important they are to the organization," Tripoli says. As industry experts emphasize, actions matter more than words when it comes to culture. Find ways to show employees how much you value them.

Earn trust. "Trust is really simple. It goes back to do what you say you are going to do and hold yourself accountable, and don't be afraid to admit you made a mistake," Tripoli says. If you've made mistakes in the past, or failed to hold yourself accountable, apologize. Then tell employees how things are going to be different and demonstrate your new commitment to culture every day. The first two steps are the easiest, even though admitting to a mistake can be tough for some.

Educate people on what you'd like them to do. This can be as simple as taking the time to write up a formal job description for a role, so a new hire knows exactly what is expected of them.

Once expectations are set, motivate employees to achieve desired results. Motivation can take the form of Truluck's pre-shift, where a daily example reminds everyone of how to model their culture to others. Or it can take the shape of skills building and training so employees have the tools to deliver the result.

This can seem like a lot. However, Tripoli thinks that can actually take the pressure off. Rather than one thing you have to ace to do culture "right," it's a lot of little things that add up to one big impact.

Steps three and four are more difficult, but fortunately, you don't have to tackle them on your own. As Tripoli sees it, the more you can involve trusted employees in the process of transforming culture, the better it goes for everyone. "If they're part of putting the processes and systems together, they're going to have ownership," he says.

KEEP LEARNING…

How to Improve Your Workplace with Core Values and Rules of the Game

This course, available to all RestaurantOwner.com members, will help you and your team effectively improve your restaurant's results is by building a better, stronger culture. Over the last several years, we've sought out opportunities to learn the foundational principles and practices of some of the most successful restaurant organizations in the U.S. What we discovered is that one common thread in all of these companies is the belief that their employees, not customers, are their most important asset and the most effective way to ensure a superior guest experience is to provide a positive, supportive culture in their restaurants.

Why is culture so important in a restaurant? Because it takes a team of happy, engaged people to make exceptional guest experiences happen again and again. And genuine employee engagement will only happen in a positive, supportive culture.

Culture drives the employee experience; employees drive the guest experience and the guest experience drives sales and profit.

Improving your financial results begins with improving your culture and that takes leadership. In this course you'll learn how any owner and manager can dramatically enhance their leadership abilities to create a better, more positive and productive culture within their restaurant.

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• How to set clear expectations and hold your people accountable
• How to create a workplace where your people are friendly, supportive and willingly work together as a team
• How to build a team of highly engaged employees through trust, respect and a positive work experience