FSR March 2023

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B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S

after you see what we’ve done with your material, you’ll understand how to cre ate more games.’ Then we can create the additional components that aren’t in a printed piece, which would be motion and audio, as well as feedback. It really is amazing how you can do that. We had a meeting with 1Huddle, and that really encouraged us to go after it. They immediately f lip your training materi als into games for you to reference and understand, and then they input it into Logistically, on the user side, all they need is a mobile device and a login, so it’s super easy. I think one more layer is that we have found a way to incen tivize the user to play the games. Early on, there was a question regarding, ‘Am I allowed to play at work?’ We had to re-engineer the expectation, so we incorporated playtime in the work shift. We work with our franchisees to imple ment that type of approach and then we move to monitoring who’s playing and recognizing those that accumulate the most points or play for the lon gest period of time or the ultimate top player in their location, in their state, or in the company. WHAT DIFFERENTIATES YOUR ONBOARDING PROCESS FROM OTHER TECH-FORWARD ONES? 1Huddle gives us that ability to reach everybody in their learning style, so that’s really where we’re taking it to the next level. When we initially started years ago, we thought one game was enough for everybody, but we’ve learned it isn’t when you account for learning styles. We try to make the games as dynamic as possible. The feedback we’re receiving from our users is, ‘This is really fun. It works for me.’ Employees are surprised that they begin to enjoy learning. So for us, that’s really positive feedback. Now the negative feedback is, ‘Why do I need to play it again? It’s the same game from last month.’ And we say yes, but it’s part their system, their dashboard. HOW HAVE STAFF REACTED TO THE ‘GAMIFICATION’?

Gaming the System

EMPLOYEES WANT TO TRAIN WHERE THEIR LIVES TAKE PLACE—ON THEIR MOBILE PHONES.

Dog Haus is making the onboarding experience more tech-forward and interactive. BY ISABELLA SHERK

dent of marketing at Dog Haus, says the program enhances how employees engage with the material; the interac tive format also fits the varied learning styles dif ferent people have. These games, he adds, are especially helpful for servers at Dog Haus Biergarten, a full-service version of the original fast casual. Dog Haus is committed to being a technology-forward company, Ramirez says, so instilling that mindset from the very beginning ensures employees understand and champion this ethos. Here, he offers a behind-the-scenes look into the new onboarding process. HOW DID YOU TURN ONBOARDING INTO A LITERAL GAME? 1Huddle made it super turnkey. They said, ‘Give us all your training manu als, and we’ll turn them into games; if you don’t like what we’ve done, go ahead and edit them, but we think that

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Astechnologybecomes increasingly essential to all facets of a restaurant operation, brands and third-party par tners are explor ing how new advancements can enhance onboarding and training. For hot dog and burger concept Dog Haus, that meant team ing up with 1Huddle to put a fresh spin on the process. The training platform uses gamif ication to turn employee handbooks into interactive games that team members play in lieu of tradi tional training seminars and reading. CJ Ramirez, executive vice presi

DOG HAUS

INDUSTRY-WIDE ISSUE 107

MARCH 2023