Generation Y and Millennial customers have clamored for sustainable business practices and local food sourcing in the industry these past few years, but Burgerville has valued these approaches from the beginning. Jeff Harvey, the 39-unit chain’s chief executive, said the Vancouver, Wash.-based company began in 1961 as a creamery that relied on close ties with local dairy farmers.
The chain recycles its frying grease into biodiesel, buys wind power credits and offers full health-care coverage to staff, attracting 20- to 30-year olds as customers and employees.
Younger guests and workers drive this sustainable-business movement, but Burgerville has been at this for a while, right?
The fact that we’re values-based is the fundamental attraction to this age group. They come to us first because we stand for what they stand for.
Our approaches to many of those things were developed by our employees. Our composting program—corporate didn’t do that, the employees did. We say to them, “ We want you to come to work and apply your skills in something you believe in,” and it gives them a compelling reason why they want to be here.
Your sustainable focus also attracts young guests.
We’ve created ways to genuinely relay to our guests what’s behind these programs. Our ads don’t do a lot to promote our wind power or recycling, but inside our restaurants…we teach our employees to engage guests around these programs.
Last year, we saw that roughly 18 percent of our customer population was the age group we’re talking about. It’s now shifted to 43 percent.
What’s the business case for providing health care to hourly employees?
It directly impacts your retention. It attracts the best talent. It actually produces higher levels of productivity; that’s because it comes with some boundaries. You have to work 20 hours a week, and that has employees thinking about it closely. The people who get the hours are the ones who perform the best.
This program is paying for itself and is generating about a 3-percent return on investment.
BONUS POINT “If you want [Generation Y] to care, you must care about them.”—Eric Chester president and founder, Generation Why Inc., Lakewood, Colo.
Where’s the first place a restaurant should start to begin a more sustainable business model?
The first place for us was asking, “What do we believe in?” We started with our core beliefs, then we took that to our network of suppliers and had that conversation. The best way to leverage those things is through those partnerships. Our biodiesel program came through that dialogue, and the health care program came through a conversation with Kaiser Permanente. Once you’ve got a frame around that, turn to your employees and GMs. Say, “This is what we’re doing. Who’s interested?” And then they start signing up. — [email protected]
