FSR June 2023

LABOR

as possible to limit applicant drop-off.” Meanwhile, American Social took a step back to evaluate team members’ first impressions of the restaurant and made it a priority to simplify the applica tion and hiring process, Herchuck notes. “We cleaned that up and made it sim ple by removing things that were time consuming without any real relevant purpose; for example, pre-testing for roles that do not require previous expe rience,” Herchuck says. “Some of these [steps] were intimidating and would turn away applicants who do not have a lot of experience in this process.” American Social also looked at how quickly the team was able to review applications and set up interviews with potential employees. “The days of saying we only do interviews on Tuesday and Thursday from 2-4 p.m. are outdated, and I’m sure those places continue to strug gle with staffing,” Herchuck says. “We have found that being flexible and letting the team member tell us when they would like to come in, of course with parameters, goes a long way for showing care for their time,” he con tinues. “Empowering them to be a part of the process from the beginning sets the tone for their overall work experience.” Additionally, American Social lead ers are trained to conduct interviews by splitting their time between asking tac tical questions and getting to know the candidates, but also spending time let ting prospective employees get to know them and the company. “We encourage them to ask us ques tions and tell them that this interview goes both ways, selling AmSo to them as much as it goes the other way,” Herchuck says. “This catches some people off guard, which is OK, and tends to be more of a conversation than a formal interview.” INCREASING ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION Blasting Rihanna’s “I Want You to Stay” on repeat throughout your restaurant isn’t enough to stop employees from leaving anymore. The modern work force is looking for flexibility, work-life balance, boosted pay and benefits, a pos

itive company culture, interesting train ing, and career development opportuni ties. And while a long list like this can be daunting for operators, taking steps to improve each area of the business will pay off in the long run. To increase team member engage ment and enhance talent development, Black Bear Diner recently rolled out a learning management system called “Bears in the Know,” which team mem bers can use to find helpful training resources including everything from harassment and discrimination train ing to culinary training, COVID-proto col training, and more. The system also offers diversity and inclusion training, which features resources and information on different topics each month. For example, dur ing the month of June, Black Bear Diner included resources on the LGBTQ+ com munity and Pride month, and shared information on Black History Month in February. “Through this system, we strive to cre ate an inclusive environment where all team members can truly be themselves, engage with others, and feel supported by the Black Bear Diner family,” says Johns. Despite facing widespread industry challenges with staffing in 2021, Black Bear Diner was able to hire approxi mately 100 team members in 2022, in addition to increasing competitive pay and benefits, like a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan, health insurance, on-demand virtual healthcare with HealthiestYou, and even pet insurance. The diner chain ended last year with 10 percent less man ager turnover than in 2021, and is now experiencing a better turnover rate “than most others in the family dining segment,” Johns notes. “We encourage our managers to con duct ‘stay’ interviews with their team members by continually checking in indi vidually with them,” she says. “We want them to have open and honest conver sations about how they can strengthen their team members’ engagement and create more positive experiences, both of which typically result in increased reten tion and promotions from within.”

Black Bear Diner is proud to consis tently be at or above the 50th percentile for pay within the industry, Johns high lights, which has also helped the brand increase team member retention. “Each year we do a review of wages within the industry, taking note of indus try averages, how things are shifting, and what other companies are doing,” she continues. “We use this information to evaluate our own company’s wages and update our pay to keep up and above industry standards.” At nine-unit Grove Bay Hospital ity, rolling out retention bonuses and extending health insurance benefits to part-time workers has helped mitigate turnover. The Miami-based restaurant group behind the Michelin-starred Stub born Seed has a vast network of celeb rity chefs like Marcus Samuelsson, Top Chef champion Jeremy Ford, Richard Blais, and Janine Booth and Jeff McIn nis, to name a few. “Being a homegrown hospitality group, we understand the importance of being connected to our community, and that concept of community is rein forced throughout all of our restaurants,” says Francesco Balli, Grove Bay’s CEO and co-founder. Grove Bay recently brought on a director of training and development, plus a corporate training manager, to have a full team dedicated to increas ing employee learning and engagement. The hospitality group is also evaluating a potential internal social network to extend team member recognition in a public manner, in addition to recently awarding the first round of scholarships to students at Florida International Uni versity from the Grove Bay Foundation, which was created to provide funding to students who want a future in the hos pitality industry. Ultimately, 1Huddle’s Caucci believes the future of the restaurant workforce “isn’t robots delivering food to my table; the future of work is a place where peo ple that come to work are not just coming with the right skills and information, but they’re bringing their best selves to work with them each day,” he adds.

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

JUNE 2023