Last year, Dine Brands added a new “Parent Transition Program” to its benefits package, allowing more remote work flexibility for corporate employees who want to balance family-building with career growth. The program joined a growing list of benefits from the Pasadena, Calif.-based parent company of Applebee’s, IHOP, and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop. That list also includes offerings such as adoption assistance, six weeks of paid time for non-birthing parents, fertility assistance, tuition reimbursement, pet insurance, and more.
The continuous evolution of benefits is part of the company’s broader strategy to change the narrative that restaurant jobs are only meant to be part-time or starter work – that the space can very much be a career option. Christie Cook knows this possibility more than most. Dine’s vice president of human resources got her start as a server at a Michigan Applebee’s while she was in college before working her way up to general manager, regional training manager, and field training consultant, before taking on a role at the company’s support center. In 2023, she was named vice president of human resources, about 25 years after her first day on the job.
Cook’s career path motivates her to make sure the company has the best programs and benefits in place to enable others to stay with the company or the industry. Dine Brands relies on regular engagement surveys and team member resource groups to make sure it has the best pieces in place to entice people to apply and stay. The Parent Transition Program was created by the Women@Dine Team, for instance, while the Young Professional Group provided feedback to update a “dated” tuition reimbursement program. Based on that group’s feedback, Dine Brands doubled the reimbursement amount and extended the benefit to employees from day one.
Team member resource groups were launched four years ago in response to those engagement surveys, and there are now six total groups with a company-wide participation rate of about 30%. Most employee resource groups have an 8-to-10% engagement rate, Cook said.
“Through the surveys and groups, we’re doing a lot of listening and constantly looking at our policies. Our high participation rate creates a great way to feel a sense of belonging,” she added.
Cook said the pandemic created a bigger sense of urgency about cultivating such an environment.
“We were already moving in a way that was focused more on career pathways and embracing team members’ input. The pandemic shot it forward,” she said. “We’ve also seen an evolution as younger generations come into the workforce. They’re very vocal in a way we weren’t. They’re very open to sharing, which helps us learn a lot,” she said.
Cook points out that Dine Brands has been "Great Place to Work"-certified for the past several years. In the annual survey measuring sentiment across several attributes, 81% of the company’s employees said it is a great place to work, compared to a 57% average for other companies.
Still, the work is far from done. This year, Dine Brands launched individual development plans focused on career pathing, including 60- and 90-day check-ins with new hires. A new leadership institute is focused on growing careers from the middle-management level. In the coming year, the company will prioritize more ways to promote wellness and belonging, Cook said, as well as financial literacy and support for its team members. And, Dine Brands is looking at new ways to bring its three brands and their franchisees together to “evolve from a people standing.”
“I have worked with the greatest people who have provided the best opportunities for me to grow and have challenged me in a way that keeps me engaged,” Cook said. “People have put opportunities in front of me even when I didn’t think of it. I now want that for everyone here.”
Cook’s personal journey
Cook said her job as a server planted a seed that has kept her in the industry for so long, that she simply loved being a part of people’s lives. When she became a general manager, however, is when she understood the true potential in front of her.
“GMs are well-rounded business leaders. They are training, marketing, operating, focused on guest experience and HR. It really set me up well to be able to grow into a career in HR,” she said.
She loves that the conversation is changing – that more employees are working toward lifelong careers in the industry, especially as foodservice employs 10% of the total U.S. workforce, or about 15.5 million jobs.
“Almost everyone I know in the industry started here as a part-time job. It gets in your blood, and makes you want to stay. It’s exciting, every day is a little different, there are challenges to work through,” Cook said. “Through my career, the number one thing I’ve learned is if you take care of your people, you can achieve so much. We are in the people business.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
