Company culture is the mix of values, beliefs, behaviours, and practices that shape the identity of your restaurant. It includes how your employees interact, how customers are treated, and how your business operates.
But why is culture important in a restaurant?
There are a few reasons. To increase employee satisfaction, to streamline restaurant operations, and to improve the guest experience. Ultimately, all of these benefits feed into each other (sorry, we love dropping the food-related puns).
With a positive company culture, employees have a better working experience. And when employees are happy, they actually want to do a good job. As a result, you can improve your restaurant operations to create a better dining experience for your customers.
Now, how exactly do you create a strong culture?
The truth is, there’s no ‘right way’ to foster a healthy culture in your restaurant. But there are some steps you can take to move in the right direction — which is what we’ll cover in this article.
We’ve outlined three ways to create an effective restaurant culture that’ll keep your employees happy and your guests smiling!
1. Make sure everyone understands the company values
A good place to start is to make sure all of your staff understand your company values.
Why?
Because it creates a shared purpose. It builds deeper connections with your employees, helping them feel more invested in your restaurant. As a result, you create a culture where people care about their work and the success of the restaurant.
Here are a couple of ways to share your values with your team:
- Share values during the onboarding process. Have a clear document that outlines the values of your restaurant. When new people join the team, you can share these values as part of the onboarding process. That way, everyone is aware of what they are from the second they start working.
- Show values through your actions. Did you know that managers can improve employee cultural connectedness by up to 23% when they demonstrate culture through their own behaviours? In other words, it’s not enough to share a document with your staff and leave it at that. If you have company values, your actions need to reflect them — so make sure you lead by example.
2. Give staff the skills to do their job well
This 2024 Global Culture Report found that offering skill-building opportunities can increase a sense of belonging, inclusion, and community in the workplace. So, if you want to build a culture of community and dedication in your restaurant, you need to invest in training.
Here’s how to tackle it:
- Identify areas of growth. Everybody has different skills and different goals. Take some time to figure out where there are gaps in those skills, and how training can help your employees reach their professional goals.
- Ask employees what they want to learn. Talk to your team directly to find areas of training and development. This gives them the opportunity to share their thoughts, and to undertake training they actually care about. Plus, they’re being listened to, which is another great way to build a strong company culture.
3. React to workplace challenges
Toxic resilience is a trend that’s cropping up across the workplace. It refers to employees putting up with challenges in the workplace instead of addressing the issue or talking to a manager.
An example might be waiting staff handling the floor on a busy night and being overwhelmed because they’re understaffed. Instead of letting management know, they try to handle the situation and do their best.
But this can lead to burnout, high employee turnover, and a generally bad vibe in the restaurant (which customers will likely pick up on).
So what’s the solution?
Understanding nimble resilience is a good place to start. It’s the idea of management being proactive towards challenges, viewing them as opportunities to innovate and improve. And the results of implementing nimble resilience? Well, they speak for themselves.
Here’s you can incorporate nimble resilience into your restaurant:
- Be adaptable. Be willing to adapt and change your operations to solve problems in the workforce. Put policies and practices in place that help employees overcome hurdles, and switch things up to make your restaurant a better workplace for your staff.
- Be proactive. Look for ways to support employees and improve their working environment instead of acting in response to a crisis. Talk to staff regularly, review your processes, and analyse your performance data to see if there are any improvements to be made.
- Be persevering. Try seeing setbacks as opportunities, and always strive to focus on the outcome instead of getting weighed down by the challenges. Resilience is an ongoing skill that you need to nurture.
Adopting these practices creates a culture where the employee experience matters — something that’s not always present in the restaurant industry.
Want to create a positive culture in your restaurant? Use Nory
If you’re thinking about how to improve your company culture and create a better restaurant employee experience, take a look at Nory.
Our restaurant management software helps teams manage employee relationships in a central location. Use our workforce management features to manage HR tasks, automatically create schedules, and collaborate with employees to deliver the best possible working experience.
Book a call to get things moving!
