The Harvard Business Review published a fascinating article on a restaurant chain many know around the country: Outback Steakhouse.
There are lessons from Outback Steakhouse for every business, beginning with the phrase used most often in television advertising: No Rules, Just Right.
Outback has developed a set of core values early on called “principles and beliefs” that establish a firm foundation for the company to build upon. At first, the founders let individual stores adopt the principles as they saw the need, but when the business began to “wobble” through growth it became mandatory for every store to embrace what was found to be working at the successful stores. The lesson learned is that successful organizations have core values, and they must be embraced and enforced at every level.
One of the more interesting tidbits about the company is that each of the four founders worked at menial jobs for previous employers before starting Outback. They washed dishes, bussed tables, cooked, waited tables, tended bar and swept the floor. Based on this experience, they wanted to create a business where the people at every level were heard, respected and had room for advancement.
Unlike most service businesses with multiple locations, managers at Outback are part owners. Ignoring the fad to grant stock to employees so they would act more like owners, Outback takes a different slant.
Managers become part owners by investing $25,000 of their own money to demonstrate they are serious about ownership. Signing a five-year contract is mandatory, because the founders want people as partners who are in it for the long term. Managers are granted 1,000 shares of stock, which, at the end of five years, will be worth an estimated $100,000. In terms of salary and short term bonuses, a typical manager will earn more than $10,000 a month in compensation. This figure includes l0 percent of cash flow for the restaurant they manage.
Rather than using a traditional “command and control” system so often found at multi-unit businesses, Outback wants decisions, particularly those related to human resources, addressed at the local level.
With rare exception, Outback doesn’t do lunch. This was not an easy decision to come to, because most restaurant chains see empty tables, a vacant bar and an idle kitchen as wasted resources … resources that could generate money.
Outback took a second look to uncover hidden costs of doing lunch, particularly as it related to human capital.
The single largest cost in operating a restaurant is the cost of labor. The cost benefit of having servers work two shifts, hiring, supervising and administering the cost of additional personnel to serve lunch did not make economic sense.
Rather, Outback realized that dinner was the equivalent of “show time” in the restaurant business, when customers would come in and want to be served by energetic, enthusiastic people who were eager to serve.
The lesson for every organization is that in the end, it is all about people. The company trusts people to do the right thing, every day, regardless of the fact that they are dealing with suppliers, partners, customers, employees or the community. It is truly an American success story.
Super Jobs Information gives information on how to get a job and how to hire good people. If you are looking for Aluminum Castings Jobs look at this website. This SEO Information will give you more information you can use for Search Engine Optimization.
