Move people up
Today’s dishwasher is tomorrow’s executive chef at Bon Appétit.
Instead of siloing people to their job description, Bauccio wants his people to learn, so if you’re a dishwasher, instead of shooting the breeze during downtime, the chef may show you how to properly cut vegetables or ask you to assist in the bakery.
“Their eyes light up, and they start to learn different skills,” Bauccio says. “You can see it in their eyes that they want to do more.”
Another element to achieving his mission and having the best people is giving them opportunities. Many of his chefs started as the low man on the totem pole, washing dishes, but learning and looking for opportunities.
“Cross-train and move people and allow them to do other tasks other than just hire them for one thing,” he says.
When you do this, it’s important to show employees how to do things and work with them instead of just telling them what to do or who to talk to.
“It’s important that managers need to connect with the people they supervise,” Bauccio says. “By connect, I mean they have to be close to them in terms of they can’t be aloof. Sometimes people put a manager’s title on people, and they think they’re better than everybody else. Managers should be able to work side by side with their people, and if they do that, they’ll start to see who can be developed and who can’t be developed. But if they sit in an office and they’re not engaged with their employees or the people they supervise, they’re making a huge mistake.”
The more you work with your employees, the more approachable you are, and they’ll be able to voice their goals so you can better meet them.
“It all goes back to communications, does it not?” Bauccio says. “To be able to tell your people, ‘I’m here to develop you, and I’m here for you, so that you can have a better quality of life. We want you to stay with the company. What else can I do as a supervisor or manager to help you grow?’ If we spend time with our people, we’ll know those answers, and if we ask the right questions, we’ll get the answers.”
As a result, people who started as dishwashers are now executive chefs.
“Now they feel, ‘Gee, I can grow within this company. I don’t have to go to another company to grow,’” he says.
When people stay with your organization, it’s because they’ve made those emotional attachments and seen something different. Over the years, all of Bauccio’s efforts have paid off.
“People actually seek us,” he says. “We have more resumes coming in than we can use. People want to work for us because they hear it from other people, because they hear that this isn’t only a place where you can be innovative and have fun, but it’s a place where you can grow. All of the things I’ve talked about have helped us recruit and not really dig to find the right people.”
He also doesn’t have the turnover issues so often associated with the restaurant industry.
“Because the brand is so strong and the culture is so strong, our employees attract other employees that really want to be here, so our hit rate of success, in terms of hires, is stronger today,” he says.
He’s now got more than 10,000 passionate people and a clearly differentiated business, which earned more than $500 million in 2008 revenue — mission accomplished.
“It took [on] a life of its own,” Bauccio says. “Even though I worry about the brand more than I worry about anything, it has taken [on] a life. I couldn’t stop the dream if I wanted to now. They get it, they understand it, they’ve bought in to it.”
How to reach: Bon Appétit Management Co., (650) 798-8000 or www.bamco.com
