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PENNSYLVANIA
RESTAURANT & LODGING
matters
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Spring 2017
INDUSTRY
OUTLOOK
IN THIS EDITION
of
Restaurant &
Lodging Matters,
we focus on staffing
and training. The difficulty in finding team
members for restaurants and hotels
is something that our members are
continuously highlighting, so this is a
topic near and dear to their hearts. One
chain restaurant executive even told
me that they had been forced to “dumb
down” their menu to adapt to the skill
level of available line cooks.
Of course, directly related to staffing
and training is retention. With a robust
recruiting process, followed by effective
interviewing (may I suggest behavioral
interviews—proven to make a difference)
and good orientation and training,
retention will improve. That said, I have
long subscribed to the quote, attributed
to the late business management guru
Peter Drucker, “Culture eats strategy for
breakfast.” There has been a fair amount
of speculation that Drucker never
actually said this, but it doesn’t change
the fact that time and time again, it is
proven true.
In his December 5, 2015, column in
Forbes Magazine, customer service
expert Shep Hyken cites the Enterprise
Rent-A-Car acquisition of National
Car Rental and Alamo. Enterprise has
always had a cult-like following and, in
2014 and 2015, was the highest rated
by JD Power in their North America
Rental Car Satisfaction survey. However,
both National and Alamo rated in the
bottom half of the survey until they
were acquired by Enterprise and then all
three companies earned their way to the
top half for satisfaction. Enterprise has
always placed a huge focus on culture
and that’s paid off for them and now for
National and Alamo.
In 1981, Harvey Hotels was founded
and I was privileged to be one of the
first managers on board. We had a
brand with no name, no 800 number, no
reservations network, and for the most
part no training programs. We had only
our four-core philosophy:
1. Incredibly friendly employees.
2. Exceeding guest and employee
expectations at every opportunity.
3. Spotlessly clean and well-maintained
hotels.
4. Doing the right thing.
Incredibly, we successfully competed
against the big guys, ultimately becoming
a billion dollar publicly traded company
and the largest independent hotel
company in North America. Of course,
eventually we developed first rate
training, but initially we were driven
only by culture—and it worked. As our
competitors developed new systems,
programs, and strategies to try to take
market share, we doubled down on
culture and won every time.
So, is training important? You bet it is. But
I would contend that the best training in
the world will not cause success unless it
is preceded by a strong culture.
Warm regards,
John Longstreet
President & CEO
“As our competitors
developed new
systems, programs,
and strategies to try
to take market share,
we doubled down
on culture and won
every time.”
John Longstreet
Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast