Winning workplace culture built on communication, consistencyWinning workplace culture built on communication, consistency

Chili’s Grill & Bar, Cousins Subs and MOD Pizza.

These three restaurant operators have disparate philosophies but share a common approach to developing a strong internal culture: communication.

“Communication is the key,” said Scott Svenson, co-founder and CEO of MOD Pizza, speaking on a panel at MUFSO. “Culture travels through stories.”

MOD Pizza, which launched in 2008, and is quickly nearing 200 units, is challenged to extend its culture across a rapidly expanding system.

“We believe in getting out and spending time with people and making sure we have ‘culture carriers’ out there when new stores open,” Svenson said.

At Chili’s, the goal is to retain the original, playful philosophy that’s been part of the brand’s DNA since it launched in the 1970s, but updating that with a contemporary mission, vision and passion, said Kelli Valade, president of the brand.

“We make them relevant for today, we revisit them often and we are pretty focused on making sure our workforce understands them,” she said.

Chili’s also engages its employees through active listening and responding to them in a variety of ways.

Valade said she regularly solicits input from a Millennial council consisting of about 75 Chili’s staffers from across the country. The council has input on new dishes and workplace issues.

Valade also said she is passionate about mentoring and developing women as leaders. And the brand encourages employees to improve their community, social, financial and personal wellbeing through at-work programs.

Those efforts and a sense of fun have earned Chili’s kudos in three areas last year: It had spots on lists of best places to work for Millennials and women, and won honors for workplace camaraderie.

At Cousins Subs, the mission is “We believe in better,” said Justin McCoy, executive vice president of marketing.

While that mission has not changed since the chain was founded, over the last few years the company has been completing a brand overhaul, updating exteriors and interiors, uniforms and other aspects of the business. Part of that process involved a commitment to making sure every employee at the largely franchised company understands “what we’re about,” McCoy said.

Based on workshops involving corporate staff and long-time franchisees, Cousins created a culture playbook and video, a people development plan, quarterly field training to reinforce the message, life classes and workshops and e-learning materials. The goal, McCoy said, was to reduce turnover in part by making it clear to employees that the company offered career paths.

“Being an older brand, we’re trying to change the story about us now,” he said. “We’re looking at uniforms and other things that need to change about the culture that people expect.”

For instance, McCoy said Cousins plans to offer scholarships to team members for the first time.

Svenson said MOD Pizza has a simple definition for culture: “Our business is built around and for our people. We have chosen to be people-centric,” he said.

MOD follows the popular “take care of your staff, they’ll take care of the customer and profits will follow” path, offering higher-than-average wages and above-average benefits.

The company has also made a well-publicized effort to hire at-risk applicants, including ex-convicts.

The combined approach won over Fortune Magazine, which ranked MOD the seventh-best place to work in the U.S. last year.

All three panelists agreed that employee engagement translates into lower turnover and higher customer satisfaction.

“We benchmark and get data from TDn2K, and we are definitely holding our own,” Valade said. “We also do engagement surveys, and we track sales and profits…it is working. Even in tough times, we can see that engagement does matter.”

McCoy said another tool for attracting top talent isn’t something he can influence, however.

“The best recruiting tool for a solid employee is another solid employee,” he said.

Contact Megan Rowe at [email protected]
Follow her on Twitter: @restaurantrowe 

The MUFSO Premier sponsor is The Coca Cola Company

Presenting sponsors are: LoyaltyPlant, S&D Coffee, Thanx, The Coca-Cola Company

Keynotes/general sessions are presented by: Avocados from Mexico and Potatoes USA, La Tartine FoodService, Steritech

Pillar sponsors include: Boylan Bottling, GrubHub, JAVI A/V; McCain Foodservice; Smithfield-Farmland; Sweet Street Desserts; Texas Capital Bank; Tyson Foodservice; Univision; Ventura Foods; Whirley-DrinkWorks!

The Monday night awards reception and awards presentation are sponsored by: Avocados from Mexico

Coca Cola presents the Shake, Sparkle & Stir event, and Texas Pete® are sponsoring the MUFSO Kitchen Hero Cook Off, benefiting Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign

Hot Concepts Celebration is sponsored by Nestle Foodservice; TABASCO®; Young Guns Produce

MUFSO Breakfast sponsors are Community Coffee and Cholula

MUFSO Lunch sponsors are Cholula and Moore's Food Resources

MUFSO Room Key is sponsored by Arby’s

Refreshment breaks are sponsored by Cholula, Royal Cup Coffee and Wrigley

VIP Dinner sponsored by GrubHub for Restaurants, HAVI, Slade Gorton and Whirley-DrinkWorks!