Progressive Approach

Chains reach higher levels of success with stair-step training

By Patricia Dailey, Editor-in-Chief -- Restaurants & Institutions, 7/15/2003

Bertucci’s Brick Oven Pizzeria recently instituted a sweeping new policy aimed at improving the overall guest experience: Managers are now required to have an M.B.A. They don’t need college for these credentials, though. The Master in Bertucci’s Abilities is earned through a structured, on-the-job training program introduced earlier this year.

The lesson plan, part of Bertucci’s University, becomes a road map, clearly illuminating the steps to advancement within the company, according to Irene Cook, vice president of training and recruiting for the 82-unit, Northborough, Mass.-based chain. “In the exit interviews we conducted, it became clear that we were losing people because they did not see a clear path to general manager positions,” she explains. “With the M.B.A., they better understand their career.”

By providing behavioral anchors and direct, specific feedback, employees know exactly where they stand. It is expected that with the M.B.A. program, turnover will be further reduced. Currently, Bertucci’s charts 19% turnover at the management level and the high 80s for its 6,600 hourly workers. “At the 18-month mark, we see the greatest loss of assistant managers, especially if they are not close to being promoted. With black-and-white measures, we expect to improve our ability to promote from within,” Cook says. Bertucci’s success with its training programs led it to be named a 2003 Employer of Choice by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

Turnover is a great scourge in the chain-restaurant world, and although no one is willing or able to put an accurate price tag to it, such a number would likely be staggeringly large. Besides the high costs, such churn chips away at a chain’s ability to provide consistent levels of customer service and deliver on its mission and brand promise. Training and professional development are deemed important mechanisms in creating a culture in which workers feel valued, respected and career-bound.

A COSI FEELING
At Cosi, a New York City-based chain of 94 sandwich shops, a massive management shift and the challenges of a soft economy have not diminished the company’s commitment to training, says Gilbert Melott, its vice president of people. “During times of turmoil, it’s more important than ever to commit to your team, to recognize and reward them,” he says. A big part of Cosi’s commitment comes in the form of professional development.

Training and development programs are available for all 3,600 Cosi employees, including 3,300 hourlies. To ensure that the initiatives fit the chain’s overall brand positioning, they are vetted against two core philosophies: “If it doesn’t drive business, we don’t do it. If it doesn’t enhance the employee experience, we don’t do it,” explains Melott.

“We want to give employees something to look forward to every day. Part of that is ongoing development, an opportunity for growth and stair-
stepping—the teaching of progressive lessons,” he adds.

Many chains demand that assistant managers and managers prove themselves through six- and seven-day weeks and 15- to 16-hour days, says Melott. “We have broken the cycle of managers who are paying their dues.”

Besides creating more-manageable schedules, training at Cosi is a stair-step program of clearly defined tasks and systems orientation.

“We ask, ‘How does this lesson relate to a worker from a manager’s point of view?’ What they [manager trainees] learn about baking our bread differs from what a baker learns. For a manager, it is important that they learn how to audit quality, set pars and rate the accuracy of the baker,” Melott explains.

“A clear leadership succession plan has allowed us to dispel myths about who advances and how,” he says. “It’s not just the chosen who get ahead at Cosi.”
With the initiatives in place, manager turnover has dropped to 40% from 70% a year ago. “There’s still room for improvement,” Melott admits, “but we’re on track.”

LOCO-MOTION
Although newly installed as director of training and development for Irvine, Calif.-based El Pollo Loco, Jim Hicks has a firm grasp on his role in helping the chain carry out its mission of “Perfect pollo every time.”

“As a company, we are focused on the lessons of ‘Good to Great,’” he explains, referring to the influential business book by Jim Collins. “A big part of achieving that level of excellence is accomplished through training,” notes Hicks, a 25-year foodservice veteran.

Delivering “the right skills to the right people at the right time” is key to Hicks’ training plan. “We will have an integrated structure in which there is a clear path for training and advancement at all levels,” he says.

For shift leaders, lessons in food cost are fairly basic. “By the time we teach food cost to a manager trainee, it is delivered as an expanded lesson with emphasis on specific things they can do to better manage and control it,” Hicks says.

“We provide the best sequence for each position. They can clearly see progress in their training,” he adds.

Integrating training issues into the corporate mission keeps the focus tight and narrow, says Hicks. “The training really is about improving operational excellence.”