I was sitting at a friends coffee shop the other day and noticed a magazine and started to thumb through it. It dawned on me as to why the simplest things make coffee franchises so successful. These are 10 steps written by Jack Grout who owns JP’s Coffee in Holland, Michigan.
1. Hire the right people: Make sure your needs and their desires are a fit, make sure they are coffee lovers and most importantly they have a great attitude.
2. Make your expectations clear: Communicate all workplace policies, do not tolerate anything less, make sure to have a employee handbook.
3. Document and systematize your entire business: Policies must be followed at all times, implement well-run systems; processes must be routinely updated.
4. Think of your business as a training school” Well-trained employees are confident in their jobs and customer service. Document all jobs, train staff and test for competence, consistency is critical in everything you do.
5. Empowerment: Encourage employees input; assign responsibilities and follow-up, communicate with staff on a constant basis.
6. Leadership: People are looking for examples to follow. Be that person, have a great attitude everyday, smile and engage employees/customers, compliment employees regularly, have high expectations; have fair and immediate consequences for policy infractions, set an example of integrity.
7. Get your staff to love you; if your staff likes you they will stay longer, work harder and not steal from you. Have high standards; set an example of thrilling customers and empower your staff to do likewise.
8. Serve, serve, serve: The power in relationships is to serve others. Be a servant and your staff will follow your lead.
9. Scheduling: Surveys have shown that job flexibility tops the list of why people work in foodservice. If your employees need time off be flexible and you will reap their loyalty.
10. Patience: Building a great team takes years. You’ll make mistakes, hire someone you thought would be great and find that they are not, and learn along with way. Also, it takes years to create, tweak and oversee all your polices, procedures and training practices. Allow good practices time to work.
That is some of the best and most transferable advice I have ever read. Simple but true in every respect and can be translated to numerous if not all industries.
Business Performance Highlights 