An ode to the shy but excellent partner

We want to majorly fan girl one of our partners, to show you all why we think they are one of the best...

We have a partner that we admire greatly (we have many as it goes), but this one is a particularly excellent one. We have asked the owner numerous times if they would like to feature on our pages and share their secrets to their insane length of service and how they keep their teams so content and happy, but they are not into it. So instead I will share some of the things I think makes them so super special and industry leaders imo:

· Training & Dev
They focus hugely on ‘over and above’ training and development. So not just H&S, wine training, fire training etc. This is the sort of training that helps people grow, both professionally and outside of work. They use the best in the business for all levels of training and help to empower and grow their teams, across all levels and depts.

· Paid overtime - by shift
They always commit to paying you if you do an extra shift per week. Their standard is 7, but if you do more, you get paid the standard shift rate.

· They let you do less shifts, whatever suits you
If you want to join them, you can do the 7 shifts they offer, but if you would prefer to do less, then you can, you will just get paid accordingly. Their pay rate is really good anyway, so this is often fine for people who prefer less pay and less hours. Also, they allow their existing team to move down (or up) in number of shifts throughout the year, if they want to, providing they have given enough notice. This is great if you are just feeling it a lot and need to slow down, or if you have a side hustle you want to focus on etc. Also great if you want to do more at times and they need the extra support. Our industry should be the most flexible there is, but we don’t utilise this enough.

· Supplier trips
Some of the best and most interesting supplier trips we have seen. And it isn’t just FOH going to wine-making regions and chefs going to seafood suppliers, it’s a lovely crossover. They are constant and they are plentiful and they all look like such great fun. How do they do so many? They also ask the supplier if they will subsidise some of the teams hours as well as fund and host the trip itself.

· Welcome everyone back with open arms - all the time
People leave them, sometimes. From what we can make out, a very large number come back, and they are absolutely encouraged to flee the nest and equally as encouraged to return, if they would like to. No bitterness here.

· Regular appraisals that are not compromised
They never miss one. Even if it they are sometimes short and sweet whilst sitting on the bins, they happen.

· Despite being open Weds-Sun every week, they still give their team a weekend day off each week
This one we always find amazing, and beyond the odd exception, they seem to be able to stick to it. It is a huge logistical commitment, but one that makes recruiting for them a great deal easier.

· They don’t run out of ingredients
It’s a commitment they try to stick to and something they have found has hugely impacted their spend per head and team morale. It is not something that would work for everyone with such seasonal, expensive produce but it is something that people have mentioned is such a big thing for them when they went elsewhere after leaving this business, the lack of organisation and availability of produce and tools to do their job.

· They prioritise maintenance

They understand the importance of giving the people the tools they need to do their job, and how detrimental broken equipment can be to the teams morale. They have a 7 day rule on broken equipment and for anything longer than this, they log daily updates for the team using their team communication app.

Maybe these seem basic to you, or potentially you may be looking at this thinking ‘wow’, this sounds like a great business, but the one important thing to add is that they are not backed by a big investor, nor are their owners from a hugely wealthy background. I think it is important to highlight this, because it is just a great product from an established business in a neighbourhood area, doing things consistently well for a number of years. And we are very lucky we get to help them build their teams, when they need it.