Famous Dave’s in Burnsville MN
Tonight we had a delicious dinner at Famous Dave’s in Burnsville. I’ll be honest, what brought us there was the offer of a free dinner. (It was in honor of Debbie’s birthday.) What surprised us was the amazing customer service we experienced.
As we walked in we were greeted by Jacob. He made instant eye contact with us and delivered a big smile as he welcomed us into Famous Dave’s.
The rest of the evening was a pleasant mix of BBQ pulled pork, mashed potatoes and fun conversation with Jacob. We learned a little of the history of Famous Dave’s. And we learned about this local franchise of the famous BBQ and blues restaurant. It’s owned by one of the founders of Famous Dave’s (the other not-so-famous Dave, we learned). He actually spends more time wearing an apron than a suit as his favorite job was cooking BBQ and burgers for his customers.
Our new friend Jacob clearly enjoyed people and his job at Famous Dave’s. And he made an impact. If every employee in was as warm and genuinely helpful as he was, they’d never have to advertise. In fact, they’d have to get a bigger parking lot.
People like Jacob are golden for any business. They make being a customer easy. They also make it easy on managers and owners because they simply enjoy their work. They show up and give 100%.
As customers we’re always thrilled to have a server like Jacob, It makes the entire experience better and sets this restaurant head and shoulders above others.
But there is one problem.
There aren’t enough Jacobs to go around. And they’re hard to clone. In other words, while we all love to have employees like this, their presence alone does not make a sustainable or scalable business. Too often businesses get lucky or good at hiring people like Jacob. But they never develop beyond that capability. So, the experience they deliver to their customers is entirely dependent on finding and keeping these rare people.
It’s hard to grow a business that way. A better way is to develop an organizational ability to deliver the right experience to every customer, every time. In doing this, people like Jacob are useful, but not critical. Because the organization plans the experience it wants to deliver and develops the people, policies, products and processes to make it happen.
This is never easy. It’s a longer term project than hiring friendly people. It costs more too. It’s more complicated. It requires strategic thinking and a willingness to experience failures along the road to success. But in the end it’s much more likely to deliver a consistently amazing experience to more customers more times than relying on finding and keeping people-focused people.
We often get lucky enough to experience the amazing service delivered by people like Jacob. It’s always fun when this happens. But I’d prefer doing business with companies that understand how to give me the experience I want every time because it’s part of their DNA, because it’s weaved into their culture. That gives me more confidence in their ability to deliver what I want. That keeps me coming back.
How about your business? Do you have amazing service built into your culture?
It’s not that there aren’t enough Jacobs to go around, Its that there aren’t enough Jacobs being promoted to managerial positions! I would consider myself a “Jacob”. I have worked in the restaurant industry for most of my working life and love every minute of it. I love people, I love serving, and I love food! But guess what? If the manager at the restaurant sucks at his job, or isn’t friendly, or doesn’t share a passion for food, people, or the restaurant then that rubs off on ALL of the employees, which in turn smacks the face of every customer that walks through the door. Passionate, friendly, and intelligent management is the keystone.
Me and my fiancee eat at famous daves in Greece NY every Saturday and sometimes a couple days during the week they have excellent service there mark and Sam the bartenders are great. They also have a lot of great waitresses we always feel welcome when we go there . Vince is a great general manager he always made time to come and talk to us it is a excellent restaurant to eat at and great workers there
I agree that there aren’t enough Jacobs for every business, thus the need for good hiring practices and employing systems that sustain regular good service. However, when you’re good at employing the right people it sure makes it easier to develop sustainable systems for delivering the type of quality that isn’t even expected at your store. I find that people burn out, and I wonder what you think helps people keep employees without giving away the farm?
Hi Jim – You ask the million-dollar question! My opinion is there are many things that keep employees loyal and engaged without the business having to over pay them. Some things I have heard employees say: pay, hours, workload, flexible scheduling, training and having a say in how they do their work. The best answer for any organization lies in getting to know your employees enough so they can tell you what’s most important to them.
I have made my career by making discerning hiring decisions and then keeping quality employees. It is not difficult or expensive to retain key employees. When I go into a new environment or company, I take some time to assess the employees. You need to approach this with the attitude that nobody comes to work strictly for the paycheck. They can get that at Mickey Dee’s. Once you have discovered why a key employee comes to work, you try to give them a huge dose of it every time you have the opportunity. If, for example, an employee comes to work for social reasons (to get out of the house away from their child or husband) try to give them a job that involves a lot of interaction with others. If a key employee comes to work for job satisfaction or peer recognition (the two go hand in hand, by the way) try to give them responsibility over an area where they can take ownership and excel. You would be amazed at how easy it is to retain quality employees once you figure out why they come to work. I have been successful at this for over 25 years and continue to be so.
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