When a team member at Grill
Concepts Inc. was diagnosed with
cancer, Philip Gay took a gamble.
“We had a poker night,” says the president and CEO. “All the proceeds were
donated, and then we matched it dollar for
dollar with the company.”
Though the employee eventually lost his
fight with the illness, Gay’s commitment to
his 2,300 employees hasn’t waned. He continues to stress the importance of the
person, and uses the acronym PEOPLE
— Pride, Excellence, Opportunity,
Profit, Leadership and Enjoyment —
to outline the key tenets of the company’s culture.
By putting people before profit, Gay
led Grill Concepts Inc. to 2006 revenue of $80.7 million — up 14 percent
from the previous year.
Smart Business spoke with Gay
about how making your business feel
more like home can keep your
employees from going elsewhere.
Q: How do you foster a family culture?
It’s not just about making a profit.
Take care of the team members, and
the profit will follow.
We go out of our way to attend life
cycle events: births, weddings, bar
mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. At
restaurants, we hold annual
Thanksgiving dinners where we
invite the community to participate.
When someone has a problem,
we take care of them. We had one
team member, who recently had
just joined us, and her house burned down.
We gave her some money to put her back
on her feet.
The company has benefited directly
through a lower turnover. Our turnover
ratio is about half of what the industry
has. On management, the average
turnover’s around 30 percent, and we’re
around 17 percent.
Q: How do you encourage feedback from
staff?
A lot of the people that work in the company have the answers. Sometimes they’ve
been put into a culture where they don’t come forward with suggestions, or they’re
not encouraged to brainstorm.
In Japan, they have thinking sessions.
They sit in their office, blank desk, and
they close their eyes and they’re thinking.
Not that that’s going to come into
American culture, but it raises the question: Are we always being reactive, or do
we stop to make sure that we’re plotting
the root for our growth going forward?
Have lots of meetings. Have lots of
encouragements. Whether it’s lunch or dinner, make time. Talk to them. Sometimes I
say, ‘Just came by to say hi and tell me
what’s going on.’ No agenda. No nothing.
I give people my cell number. I give out
my e-mail. We have a private Philip-and-Bob line — Bob’s one of the founders. You
can call that line and leave either an anonymous note or a message that you want
someone to call you back on.
It’s maintaining that open-door policy of
being really sincere. When someone comes
in, you’ve got to give them the time of day.
You don’t answer the phone. You don’t start doing your e-mails while they walk in. Give
them eye contact. Make them know you
care that they came down.
Some people might have nine lousy ideas
but one great idea. Don’t you want to hear
that one great idea?
Q: How do you motivate employees?
Eventually, it’s the WIIFM factor —
What’s in it for me? People are always
thinking about it, so why don’t you
be upfront? It’s like, ‘Here’s what’s
in it for you.’
We have what we call our PEOPLE awards every month. We
reward team members that have
exhibited the kind of behavior that
we want. We give them cash rewards
every quarter. Each and every restaurant gives a $200 award to a member
that has been given the awards on a
monthly basis. We have an annual
award, where we bring one member
to our leadership conference and give
him $1,000 cash.
It’s not just about the money. It’s all
about bringing everyone together, getting the spirit of teamwork and
accountability, and enjoying each
other’s company.
They have those conversations, ‘Hey,
I have this problem. How do you handle it? I want to talk to you about how
you handle X, Y and Z.’ It’s about who’s
the best of the best and how do we
learn from what they’re doing.
Q: What do you look for when hiring?
Surround yourself with people that
you enjoy working with. It’s just as important to surround yourself with people you
have good chemistry with — almost more
important than their skill set.
We have a lot of people interview them.
Any general manager that we hire, I will
interview as well as our VP, area director
and a few other people. They go through
significant steps before we hire them.
If you have someone that’s the brightest
of the bright, but they just don’t fit in, then
they’re not going to be part of your company going forward.
HOW TO REACH: Grill Concepts Inc., (310) 820-5559 or
www.dailygrill.com