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Team Spirit...How Independent Operators are Finding and Keeping Employees with Winning Attitudes

It is no news the current labor shortage is preventing operators from ramping up to meet the flood of business driven by pent-up consumer demand post- COVID. And it hasn't escaped the attention of guests.

A recent Datassentials survey asked customers whether they observed businesses struggling to serve their customers as a result of labor shortages. Restaurants topped the list, with 54-percent of customers noticing a shortage of helping hands (the next highest shortage was grocery stores at 45 percent).

Fewer staff can mean longer wait times for food, unhappy customers, menu inconsistency, and poor quality. Post-pandemic pent-up demand for dining out is creating a surge in guest traffic across markets. The last thing you need is to provide a tepid experience they will quickly telegraph to followers and friends. Here's how several independent restaurant operators are luring top talent and building the loyalty of existing staff.

"A lot of back of house employees [who we had] prior to COVID have gotten out of the business and learned a new trade or found work in other places," says Brian Stokes, director of human resources & operations at Peas & Carrots Hospitality, a chef-owned independent restaurant group, with two concepts in Chicago and eight in Detroit. Previous employees who were offered a return to their jobs would tell him they had left the industry. Others had moved out of the area. "It's slim pickings out there for people with experience," Stokes adds, putting into words the experience of many independent operators in the current environment.

Start with Smarter Hiring

Peas & Carrots Hospitality advertises open positions on Indeed, Craigslist, Monster, and Facebook via posts rather than paid ads. They reach out locally to high schools, colleges and culinary schools. They also lean on employee referrals, which tend to work because people want to work with their pals. In fact, "those seem to be some of our best catches of employees," says Stokes.

While Stokes prefers prior hospitality experience, his team values attitude over skills that can be taught. "If you have a great attitude and a good work ethic, we'll teach you how to cook," he explains. And it's paying off in the current labor climate. "We're finding some great diamonds in the rough," Stokes says, citing a recent new hire who previously had worked in landscaping and golf course maintenance. "He always loved [cooking], he loved watching Food Network, he had a great attitude, [and] he's a quick learner. I can see him learning more and more as time goes on," Stokes says.

"Don't try to fit the 2019 model," cautions Stokes when asked if he has recommendations for other operators who need to staff up and can't find qualified people. This means looking outside the box when it comes to bringing in people who lack industry experience. It also means raising hourly rates for back of house employees, something Stokes says was necessary because his concept had to "compete with the stimulus checks and unemployment."

In 2019, his business would have offered a starting cook with little experience $15 an hour in both the Detroit and Chicago markets. Now, that same new cook can expect something in the $18 to $20 range.

He is not alone, as you might well imagine. Erin Wade, owner/founder of the salad bistro Vinaigrette, with locations in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Austin, has also had to bump pay to incentivize new hires. Now, back of house starts at $14 to $16 per hour, depending on experience. After 90 days, employees get raises "if they're still around and a solid employee," Wade says. There are annual raises to award jobs well done.

Stokes believes independent operators hiring in 2021 need to offer flexibility that would have been unimaginable in the restaurant industry pre-COVID. "Typically, we would never hire somebody who needed Sundays off because it's busy for us, but we're more open to those things now," Stokes explains. Where possible, they'll try to work around people's school or family schedules. Allowing employees to have a better work/life balance not only brings in people to fill open spots but sets those new hires up for long-term success. In the current environment, mandating that all employees work Sundays or not accommodating a school schedule is a fast path to high turnover.

ProStart Talent

"Our people are our most valuable resource, so we have to get past the financial side of everything and know that if we take care of our people, they're going to take care of us," says Carl Sobocinski of Table 301 an independent in Greenville, South Carolina. Like Stokes and many other operators, Sobocinski is having a hard time locating qualified individuals.

While some kitchen staff are happy to do the same job day in, day out, others crave new challenges. Sobocinski supports curious cooks in several ways. There's a financial incentive for cooks to learn multiple stations in terms of a higher hourly rate.
"We also offer continuing education to folks that have proven loyal" in the form of culinary continuing education or culinary school. Sobocinski also allows employees to perform internships with other restaurants.

Sobocinski took an unusual step to build out a talent pipeline by partnering with a local culinary school on an apprenticeship program. There are six high school students currently apprenticing through the summer. Come fall, the students will work on a part-time basis while they finish up their senior year of high school. To build the program, Sobocinski partnered with their local ProStart program and local culinary school through Greenville Technical College.

"It took a few months to put it together and write the program and curriculum," Sobocinski says. "It takes time [on the part of] our managers and chefs to mentor, train and coach. [We're] hoping to turn these young men and women into restaurant people," Sobocinski adds. The gamble will pay off if these young people develop a passion for the industry and want to continue in their positions after graduation.

Wade uses a referral bonus to fill open positions. If a recommended hire keeps the job for at least six months, the employee who referred them is paid a bonus. While this helps attract reliable people, there are still difficulties. More than once, someone who was interviewed and hired is "no-call, no-show after being trained," she says.

While employees enjoy the higher wages, Wade isn't sure they're sustainable. Higher hourly rates create "a new setpoint that will, for some, require drastic increases in menu prices when these wages aren't supported by loans and grants meant to get the industry back on its feet." When restaurants compete on a cash basis only, loyalty suffers as workers follow the money rather than choose a job based on atmosphere or career opportunities.

When it comes to interviewing, Sobocinski cautions operators against hiring too quickly. "It's a psychological evaluation when you interview somebody and figure out if they're going to be a fit in your environment," he says. This means paying attention to the person on the other side of the table, "evaluating their body language, their eye contact [and] their communication skills. Did they prove they can multitask and handle the curriculum?" he asks.

Relying on instinct and feeling during interviews helps him gauge when the fit is right. As a precaution, Sobocinski says he asks HR and marketing staff to vet people through their social media presence. By not rushing the hiring process and looking for that gut check of rightness, Sobocinski is able to avoid hiring people that are poor fits. The people who are brought on are more likely to stay.

Inspiring Extra Effort from Existing Staff

It can pay off to offer perks, incentives, and benefits when your goal is attracting and retaining top-quality existing talent on your payroll. Sobocinski's flagship restaurant, Sobe's, turns 24 years' old this November. Some of his line cooks have been with him for 14 to 15 years.

"I would attribute [this] to multiple factors: we're the top of our market compensation wise, we offer room for advancement and we have a wonderful benefits package," he explains. There's health care, a matching 401k, employee parking for tenured associates, a competitive paid-time-off program, and a mandatory sabbatical for management roles every five years. While a lot of these benefits seem weighted toward senior and managerial roles, full-time hourly associates have access to several benefits, too.

Some operators have newly embraced benefits as a way to stay competitive with other industries, but Sobocinski has baked these into his business from day one. Health care and retirement have been offered from day one on, while the sabbatical program is comparatively young, at eight years old.

Sobocinski has also gotten creative with incentives in the current environment. Last year, his COO developed an annual bonus based on the number of hours worked and the employee's tenure. On the low end, employees with less than three years of tenure received a bonus of 50 cents an hour; on the high end, the bonus was $2/hour. For 20 hours a week, this worked out to a $500 or $2,000 bonus, depending on the employee's tenure. For a full-time employee, the bonus would double.

While some kitchen staff are happy to do the same job day in, day out, others crave new challenges. Sobocinski supports curious cooks in several ways. There's a financial incentive for cooks to learn multiple stations in terms of a higher hourly rate. "We also offer continuing education to folks that have proven loyal" in the form of culinary continuing education or culinary school. Sobocinski also allows employees to perform internships with other restaurants.

Sobocinski took an unusual step to build out a talent pipeline by partnering with a local culinary school on an apprenticeship program. There are six high school students currently apprenticing through the summer.
Come fall, the students will work on a part-time basis while they finish up their senior year of high school. To build the program, Sobocinski partnered with their local ProStart program and local culinary school through Greenville Tech.

He recalls a cook who arranged an internship at The French Laundry, the iconic fine-dining concept in the heart of California's Napa region wine country. He accepted the internship during January, a month when he wouldn't be missed. The cook was offered a job at the end of the month and stayed in Napa for four years before returning to South Carolina, where he took an executive chef role at one of Sobocinski's restaurants. In this case, treating his employee well by allowing the cook to grow paid off by securing long-term loyalty.

Perks like these lead to happier workers who like the work environment and believe they are treated well. While it may be easier for a fine dining concept to give workers annual bonuses, retirement, and health care, there is a way to show generosity at any scale.

During the pandemic, Wade implemented a no-tipping policy because the decline in sales meant wages weren't livable. Wade averaged sales from the previous year and came up with a new hourly wage for back of house ($14 to $16/hour) and front of house ($19 to $23/hour). "Sometimes customers still leave additional gratuity even with the no-tipping policy. When that happens, back of the house staff share in a percentage of these tips, which can bump up their hourly wage by about $2/hour," she adds.

"The [no-tipping] policy has helped our entire staff realize and remember that there is an economic value to working for a restaurant that cares about you, works with your schedule, and invests in your growth for the long haul. People see there is an opportunity for real advancement which reinforces their sense of stability and being valued," she explains.

In addition to the higher wages, Wade invested more in benefits. Currently, Vinaigrette's pays for more than half of health insurance benefits for its eligible employees.

Like many operators, Sobocinski has taken a hard look at his operating hours with the goal of shaving time and conserving labor. His team recently realized that business was slower between 5 to 6 p.m. and 9 to 10 p.m., so decided to shave half an hour off their dinner service. Now, the restaurant is open from 5:30 to 9:30. "We haven't lost any business, we're trimming labor, and we're giving folks that bit of extra time," he says. This extra time off can help back of house employees who are doing double duty in a short-staffed environment recuperate from long days on the job.

The Personal Touch

Sobocinski makes it a point to check in with his employees, something he believes helps them feel supported and motivated on the job. He likes to have what he calls "five-minute standup conversations," where he will "walk through the kitchen and pull a couple associates aside and pick their brain." During a typical conversation, he'll ask about life outside of work, thank the person for being part of the team and putting in extra effort right now and "[reassure] them times are gonna get better and we'll have more people in there," taking the strain off overworked talent.

Taking the time to make small talk is one example of how you can motivate your employees and demonstrate your support during a difficult time without investing a lot of money. It doesn't take much time and effort to talk to your people about how they're doing and what they could use right now. Stokes takes a similar tack by scheduling employees with sensitivity to their needs.

There are employees who love having overtime; "there's plenty of it now," he says. "We have staff that don't want overtime and we make sure they don't get it." Taking employee needs into consideration is one way to make sure that people are happier with their work schedule and thus more likely to stick with their job. Workers that are unhappy with their schedules are far likelier to quit.

Stokes spends time thinking about little things that could motivate overworked kitchen employees during a long, hot summer. "We made sure our AC worked in all our kitchens because there's nothing worse than a hot kitchen in 90-degree weather," he says. They keep a case of Red Bull® in the cooler so staff can help themselves to a refreshing energy drink if they're tired. There are also popsicles in the freezer when someone needs a quick cool down. "It's all very little but shows we care," he says.

To boost morale, Wade initiated a contest between her three locations. "Whichever restaurant got the most compliments, five-star reviews, emailed praise, et cetera over a three-month period of time got a cash bonus that was split between the employees," she says.

We're finding some great diamonds in the rough, Stokes says. An example is a recent new hire who had worked in landscaping and golf course maintenance. He always loved [cooking], he loved watching Food Network, he had a great attitude, [and] he's a quick learner. I can see him learning more and more as time goes on, Stokes says.

When it comes to motivation, Wade says she's "focused on keeping my managers inspired and happy right now" given the challenges of understaffing, training people who no-showed after hire, and not having adequate time off. Her "amazing managers" have been the ones picking up the slack by working longer hours or covering shortages. To keep morale high, they've been holding weekly meetings. Each manager gets a chance to present a theme that draws on their strengths.

This becomes a teachable experience for the others by "[allowing] us all to become better managers." Wade is helping the managers lean into the company's values as an antidote to the "survival/disaster mode" of the present. When restaurants are "scrambling to stay viable, I think it's really important that we get back to our ethics, to the why, not just the what and the how," she says.

A Crisis with Opportunity

"The industry is in crisis, but there is a lot of opportunity," Wade says. Operators are going to need their employees to capitalize on opportunities like the pent-up demand for dining out that is filling many restaurants at present. It is not enough to say you value employees. You must find ways to prove it. If you can, you'll retain the loyalty of your crew and work together to emerge from the present challenges stronger.