How can you create a sense of family in your independent restaurant?

There is no secret sauce. It is, and always will be, about being honest. If your goal is to create a home for your community in which you can share your culture through your food, tell people that. If your goal is to build the most profitable business you can, that's fine. But do not pretend to be one when you are really the other. There is nothing wrong with either approach to business, but make sure your team knows your vision & that you understand theirs. There is a place for all of these personalities in a single organization. Be upfront about your needs and engaged with your employees needs. That is how you inspire success.

Share your vision and values. Involve your staff in decision-making. Recognize and reward your staff. Celebrate and socialize with your staff. Support and empower your staff. Communicate and collaborate with your staff. Here's what else to consider.

At every training of a new hire, regardless of their role in my restaurant Blue Smoke or at our brewery, The 1925 Brewing Co., there is only one thing that we share that defines how we would want to conduct our service, that is "to treat every customer as though they are a loved one, like how you would serve your father, or mother, your wife or husband, your son or daughter." As a working Chef in my own restaurant, or at any other restaurants in my consultancy work, criticism, even if constructive, never fails to trigger a few sensitive folks. "Would you serve this to your father if he was seated in the restaurant," always does the trick.

Be very careful how you handle decision making. Ultimately, you need to be very mindful of the limitations in group decision trees. If you're going to empower your employees to make decisions, make sure they have the agency to implement their decisions. It is a grave mistake to seek input if you aren't willing to act on that input. But regardless, if you're a leader without empathy then you need to defer some of the diplomacy to a person who does. Surround yourself with people that have skills you don't have. That will help create a group dynamic where everyone feels valued.

I think a lot of companies actually do "involve" their staff in the decision making process, but they always fail to provide them with the same information needed to make a business sensible decision. At our company, we practise a high degree of transparency, revenue numbers, profit margins, work hours etc., which enables them to form ideas and solutions that are feasible. Instead of setting up to fail, set them up to win! We also openly challenge ideas, sometimes even to the point of executing on an idea that we already know would not work just to have them understand and learn skills beyond the data set.

It all comes as a package when we say we want to build a familial culture in the company; you have to act what you preach. In the same way a father would never claim credit for a child's toil, we as leaders of the company should never be too quick to claim the credit of our team's work. Whenever a customer compliments the service or the food, we would thank them, call out the team and bring them out to receive these compliments directly. For complaints however, we don't. The seniors or the upper management, will be in the firing squad of the customer and take the bullets, before breaking it up and debrief the junior team.

If you’re calling your business a family your going to start to sound like a cult. Cults are bad. Also family’s have toxic dynamics. Just be a fun place to work and creatively collaborate on the ideas you want to bring to the table.

Remember that you have to give respect to get respect. Don't talk down to people, be open and honest. When people are warm and caring with their employees it carries out to the customers as well which will bring in more business.

A lot of companies try to create a "family" culture but fail to understand and deliver on the intent. In order to build a successful family, you need to understand very clearly if the role you would want to play in this family. Not all founders can be fathers or mothers, they may be more well suited as a sibling or a child. Also, it must also be clear that every family have problems, and even with the close knitted of families have all sorts of problems, and that is a reality I find most people fail to grasp. Our company managed to survive through the pandemic with no loss of members was a testament to the closed bond we have forged with our team.