By Anna Streetman, contributing author
Your employees are the backbone of your company. Whenever a customer enters your restaurant, chances are the front line team members will be the first people a customer encounters. Employees determine what type of experience that customer will have, and customer service can make or break a restaurant’s reputation. To maintain a successful operation, one must have exceptional employees.
And to make sure its employees stay exceptional, it must have excellent supervisors. An excellent supervisor is a skilled, dedicated and experienced person that motivates, inspires and grows their employees. The right supervisor can turn a store around.
Goal-Focused, People-Oriented, Service-Minded
GPS Hospitality is a large, fast-growing company with more than 380 restaurants. As a large company, it has implemented efficient and unique methods to create the best supervisors possible.
Instead of the term “supervisors,” GPS Hospitality uses “District Leaders (DLs)” to draw a distinction between supervising/managing and leading. Its DL training program, called DL Track, is a 12-week training program administered by the director of operations that focuses on ingraining leadership skills.
“To us, a good district leader possesses our three core values,” said Gary Thomas, vice president of operations support for GPS Hospitality. “Our first value is Goal-Focused: They are driven, focused and striving to achieve results. The second is People-Oriented: They are outgoing, friendly and attract and develop great people. Finally, Service-Obsessed: They have a passion for our business and are hands-on with strong technical skills.”
The company aims to equip employees with the tools for success, including a GPS-taught class called Top Right Leadership. GPS also brings its district leaders to Atlanta for an annual development conference to allow them to learn new skills, network with their peers and participate in team-building activities. The DLs also have DL Development Days, where they focus on performance improvement, goal-setting and alignment in each restaurant.
GPS Hospitality also has incentives for its district leaders. The company has an unlimited bonus program where restaurants and DLs earn a percent of sales increases over the prior year, provided they meet a minimum standard on their monthly financial scorecard. There is no cap on the amount of bonus managers can earn.
“Development is key here,” said Thomas. “We try to create a win-win environment, where our district leaders’ skills are constantly being developed and improved, while, at the same time, they make meaningful contributions to the overall success of the company.”
‘Grow Your Own’
For franchisee Shennen Saltzman with SEP, LLC, a good supervisor is “firm, fair, consistent and can ‘live BKC all the way’ and bring back some fun into the workplace.”
According to Donna Willems with the company’s HR department, the company has a “Grow Your Own” program where they develop leadership from within. The company also meets twice a month to work on leadership and managerial skillsets. In addition, the company offers one-on-one training sessions to assist in developing “soft” skills such as using the computer, reading basic reports and dressing for success.
Saltzman also offers his employees a unique benefit: Willems often cooks for the company’s employees. Willems said she originally was looking for a unique way to incentivize their employees and offhandedly mentioned that she made a great peach cobbler.
“They responded with a loud, ‘Yum, make us some!’ So, I created a challenge for them to meet with the prize of homemade peach cobbler,” said Willems. “They upped the ante and asked if they met my challenge and maintained it, would I make lasagna, too. I happily agreed.”
Willems said her employees were thrilled that their HR person took the time to cook for them, and they continued to work harder for that return appreciation.
“Some of the comments that come out of this hit the heart as I discovered many of our team members don’t get homemade meals at home on a regular basis. In fact, some never eat three meals a day or experience anything but frozen or boxed food,” said Willems.
Willems said cooking for the team members has extended beyond challenges and into some holidays or congratulatory occasions. For instance, one store went above and beyond, so she cooked a homemade taco bar for the employees. She also cooked homemade chili and cinnamon rolls for “Happy Free Food Day.”
“The results are happy employees with full bellies who want to succeed, and we believe it has assisted in stabilizing our turnover,” said Willems. “Lastly, we are using this in some of our recruitment scripting. For instance, when we talk about our stores and some of the fun stuff we do, the managers tell the applicant that we cook for them as a reward during different times of the year.”
Consistency is Key
When it comes to creating exceptional supervisors, BMT of Kentucky Inc. keeps it simple and old school – but still effective.
“To train new supervisors, one of our restaurant general managers trains each management trainee at their location for a four- to six-week period,” said franchisee Tom Keller. “We follow up with each manager weekly to check on their training and progress to see how they are doing. Our district managers also work a partial shift with them to give them positive feedback to build up their trust.”
To Keller, a good supervisor is somebody who is “outgoing, positive, customer-focused and takes the time to do things right the first time.” Keller said the company promotes from within with employees who show initiative and drive, and they also hire from the outside.
“Our owner has always emphasized customer service and the proper way to treat others so that we have a cohesive work environment,” said William Reno, director of operations for BMT of Kentucky Inc. “We push the restaurants to display this every day.”
The Golden Rule
Franchisee Drew Paterno with Harvey Management said creating good supervisors comes down to one simple rule we all know: The Golden Rule.
“All you have to do is treat people how you would want to be treated,” said Paterno. “And when you find somebody who has talent, you nurture them. You bring them along. And as they continue to develop, you build on that, and hopefully, you are able to get them to model the values and behaviors that you think are most important for your business.”
Paterno’s people-friendly approach has paid off; most of Harvey Management Groups’ managers have been with the company for at least 10 years, creating seasoned and experienced leaders within the industry.
“We have a good track record for holding on to folks,” he said.
Paterno said he also looks for another key component in his supervisors: passion. “This is a people business. You have to be able to get people to care about spreading four pickles across a WHOPPER® patty. The biggest quality we look for in supervisors is their ability to engage, interact with and motivate team members on a one-on-one human level.”
Anna Streetman is an NFA contributing author.
Jessica Loeding
Jessica Loeding is the NFA Associate Vice President of Communications. You may reach Loeding at 678-797-5169 or jessical@nfabk.org.