ATTRACT THE BEST
By Heather Kennedy
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Marketing 101: Define your product, determine your audience and motivate them to buy through a targeted brand.
If you deliver a quality product, positive reviews will spread, satisfied customers will become repeat buyers and success will be yours. Advertise a piping hot pizza, crisp salad or mouth-watering dessert and hungry customers will be lined up out the door. Seems simple enough but in the food service realm there is more to consider.
In today’s competitive market, top restaurant operators understand the whole dining experience – not just the food – is their brand. If that mouth-watering dessert is presented by a snarky server, customers will seek their sugar fix elsewhere. As a result, successful operators are applying the above marketing principles to attract and retain first-rate talent to ensure their businesses thrive. Specifically, they are marketing their company culture.
DEFINING COMPANY CULTURE
Company culture is the heart of an organization, encompassing the beliefs and values that drive it. Your company culture incorporates the principles your organization represents, such as creativity, teamwork and attention to detail. It plays a paramount role in determining the types of employees that will thrive in your establishment. Individuals look for a workplace whose culture is compatible with their values – a place where they will feel comfortable and appreciated. When an employee’s values match an employer’s, the working relationship is more positive, productive and committed.
For seven years in a row,
Report on Business has named the
Keg Steakhouse & Bar one of the “50 Best Employers in Canada.”
Dean Sockett, senior vice-president of human resources for The Keg, emphasizes the importance of exceptional, committed staff in achieving success.
“In hospitality, customers come to you because you have marketed a great experience,” he explains. “Your frontline staff are that experience. To attract the right staff, you have to give them a reason to want to work for you. By marketing your company culture – your employment brand – you capture the attention of individuals who want to be a part of that experience.”
To determine your company culture, look through your mission and vision statements and use brief surveys and interviews to gather employees’ opinions. Ask what inspired them to join, what motivates them to stay and what could be changed to make them happier. Read the feedback and form a cohesive image of your establishment as an employer. Pick aspects of your company culture that set you apart as an employer of choice. This may include training opportunities, local community involvement or a team-focused workplace. If there are areas that require improvement, act on them so that you are marketing a culture that exists, not one you hope to build.
CONTINUALLY MARKET, CONTINUALL IMPROVE
Once you’ve defined your company culture, market it. Use wording and imagery that reflect your culture. Make your message heard through many sources. Do not limit advertising efforts to when you need new employees. By regularly conveying the message that you are an employer of choice, you will attract applicants who feel they fit your establishment and pre-empt those looking for a different experience. If you send the message that you have something unique to offer great employees, they will come to you.
It is vital you actually offer the culture you market. Employees led to believe they will be working in a casual, fun environment will not stay if they discover a strict manager and no team environment.
Continually seek feedback from staff. Make sure you are delivering on promises made when you recruited them. If you don’t, they will leave, leading to another round of recruitment and training and the possibility of negative word of mouth, which will deter potential employees from applying.
Warren Erhart, president of
White Spot restaurants – Canada’s oldest restaurant chain – consults employees to get a complete picture of how White Spot is viewed as an employer and ensure the company is doing its utmost to remain first-rate. Employing more than 4,000 people across Western Canada, he credits legendary service to the restaurant’s 80-year success.
“We involve all staff in continually improving our restaurant,” he says. “By measuring our results and taking action, we ensure we are staying true to our values. We emphasize that we all share a responsibility to continually build White Spot. We hire the best, train the best, expect the best and create an environment where individuals can make a difference.”
“You can have the best policies in the world but it’s the implementation process that makes or breaks them,” agrees Sockett of The Keg. “Make sure you are acting on the feedback you receive. If you don’t follow through on the culture you’ve promised, your employee brand shrinks.”
Being aware of your company’s culture, marketing it to attract individuals who best suit it and continually seeking feedback to make sure you are following through on promises made to staff will provide a competitive recruitment and retention edge. Additionally, it will ensure your guests have an enjoyable dining experience – one they’ll keep coming back for.
Heather Kennedy is a manager of marketing and communications for the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC), a national organization that facilitates and coordinates human resources development activities that support a globally competitive and sustainable Canadian tourism sector. For more information contact info@cthrc.ca.
