FSR April 2023

First Course

work, the food will taste better—so now it’s his goal to inspire, encour age, motivate, and teach his team rather than intimidate and belittle, Ward said in a release. The first-time small business owner also keeps a light-hearted demeanor at work, tries to turn mistakes into teaching moments, and shows his appreciation for all employees. In addition to offer ing two weeks of paid vacation for all employees, Southern Belle also hosts the Atlanta chapter of Ben's Friends, a non-profit support group that meets once a week to provide addiction help for struggling food service workers. “I believe that everyone employed at our restaurant should [actually] like being here,"Ward said in a state ment. “This may seem like a simple concept, but it is often overlooked in the business.” “One thing is for sure, what we were doing pre-pandemic was not working,” added Ward. “I hope that in at least some small way, my story inspires others to make a difference in their own businesses and ulti mately, the entire industry.”

ner at Workplace Intelligence. Providing mental health bene fits like covering counseling fees has become a growing benefit among restaurants in the past few years, particularly at larger chains or groups with more employees and bigger budgets. For example, Alex Smith, CEO of Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group with nearly 30 concepts and 2,000 employees, added a mental health benefit for all employees and household mem bers, which is 100 percent covered. A holistic mental health approach should also consider the initial driv ers of stress in the first place, and seek to mitigate those as much as possible. Atlanta's Southern Belle restaurant revamped hours, com pensation, and service-inclusive pricing on menus to better align with employee needs. When chef/ owner Joey Ward shifted the hours and days his restaurants were open, the abbreviated schedule resulted in a more well-rested team who could perform at their highest potential. A previous employer and mentor of Ward’s once told him that if the cooks are comfortable and happy at

found that 40 percent of employ ees are "often" or "always" stressed about work—but 38 percent say they rarely or never talk to their man ager about their workload. Some other key findings: • More than 80 percent of employ ees would rather have good men tal health than a high-paying job. • Two-thirds of employees would take a pay cut for a job that bet ter supports their mental well ness—and 70 percent of manag ers would, too. • Work stress negatively impacts employees’ home life (71 per cent), wellbeing (64 percent), and relationships (62 percent). The C-suite is not immune to challenges, either; 33 percent of C-level leaders revealed they don’t want to work anymore, and the younger the leader, the more they agree with that statement. A whop ping 40 percent of the C-suite sur veyed says they will likely quit in the next 12 months due to work-related stress. “My top advice for compa nies when it comes to mental health: Don’t leave your leaders behind,” said Dan Schawbel, managing part

DIGITAL TOOLS are helping restaurants engage custom ers o -site, but when it comes to commu nications like push noti cations, how much is too much? To nd out, cloud based software company Braze analyzed 115,000 push noti cations and surveyed 2,000 customers across Europe. Based on these insights, Braze o ers the following best practices: ☛ STAY RELEVANT: 58 percent of respondents had deleted an app in the past year after receiving too many irrelevant noti cations ☛ BE HELPFUL: 26 percent of consumers said they appreciated updates on an existing booking, such as restaurant availability ☛ MIND YOUR EMOJIS: Certain emojis, including heart eyes, party pop per, money bag, and re were not e ective in promotional messages Push to stop?

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APRIL 2023