For those of you who missed part one of ‘What attracts you to Chick-fil-A, here is the link. For this week’s post I want us to continue that thought and add on to it just a little bit. For those of you who don’t know, for the past few months we’ve been doing a lot of recruiting. And if you don’t know this that probably means you haven’t been working very much. Have you seen all the new wonderful team members who have started working alongside of us? I love it. And I’m so thankful for people like Blair and others who are continuing to make the effort to bring good talent into the doors of Renaissance Village. Many of you have even done some active recruiting yourselves. And we are truly thankful for your efforts.

Did you know that over the past couple of months we’ve brought in almost 30 new team members to the roster. That’s incredible! That means that we’ve increased our entire team by almost 30% in just about two months time. Tons of people are truly attracted to the business that is Chick-fil-A.

But here is a question for all of you. How do we keep people attracted to Chick-fil-A once they get on our team? Now I’ve only been married for a little over 6 years but I’ve learned a thing or two about the whole marriage relationship thing. One thing that is incredibly important is that as a husband you need to keep ‘dating’ your wife even after you tie the knot! Just because I put a ring on it doesn’t mean that I can just sit back, watch ESPN or play golf and assume that my wife will feel perpetually fulfilled doing the dishes and raising our child. It doesn’t work like that. Her fulfillment in our marriage doesn’t come unless I’m intentional about pursuing her and making her feel special long after the marriage ceremony. And the same goes for our new CFA team members. Yes, we did a good job catching them. But now the key to success is our continued intentional pursuit of their growth in our family!

So am I asking you to try and get a date with the newest team members? Absolutely not! Men (and ladies), you better behave! But what I am asking is that you pour into them as you would like to be poured into. Yes, we have ‘certified trainers’ on our team and they do a great job leading in our training efforts. But what is stopping you and everyone else from passing the valuable CFA knowledge and life skills that you have learned here to those with less experience? That is my challenge for you for our third quarter. With all of these new team members I charge each and every one of us to take personal responsibility for raising up the next Renaissance Village leaders. You’ve heard the saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child‘. Well, that is definitely true in our little restaurant community. So what are you going to do about it? I’m excited to see how each and every one of you rise to the occasion. And I’m excited myself to help us get there.

Hey team,

We have some celebrating to do! For those of you who don’t already know I wanted to introduce you to two of our newest team leaders at Renaissance Village.

Ms. Amanda Latorre has been working for us for a number of years and we thought it best to reward her for her hard work and dedication with a promotion.

And Lindy has also served as a team member now for a couple of years. It’s been an amazing experience to see both of these ladies grow and mature over the years. Please take some time to congratulate them next time you see them. I hope these videos serve to show just a little bit of our gratitude to both of them (as well as embarrass them just a little!)

For those of you who don’t know, becoming a team leader or a leader in general at our restaurant is a pretty big deal. We have a very successful business and most of that success is attributed to who we chose to lead. Some of you might be wondering what it takes to become a leader in this organization. I and the rest of the leadership team definitely welcome any questions you might have if you are interested in pursuing more responsibility. Please don’t hesitate to ask. For now, please give Lindy and Amanda a pat on the back for the accomplishment. I’m excited to see how these two ladies can help us be our best!

(Quick Drive thru update: As of tonight we are ranked 132 in the chain with our drive thru goal! Are you kidding me!!? This is so exciting! When I used to play soccer 50 years ago my coach used to encourage us after we scored a goal by yelling, ‘Give me 5 hard minutes!’ He would say this because the tendency would be to slack off a little after pulling ahead in the game rather than keeping up the intensity. So I’m asking you now, ‘Give me 5 hard minutes!!! Keep it up guys. Just 32 more spots to reach top 100. We can do it!)

And now the blog:

For those of you who have interviewed fairly recently with us you are familiar with this question. We always ask our perspective team members this question during the second interview. And this is the question I’ve been asking myself over the past number of months. What attracts you personally to Chick-fil-A?

We get a number of responses from this, but I just got finished telling my wife that I bet about 99.99% of the responses revolve around our great treatment of our employees or our incredible customer service. And while I think this is absolutely accurate from an outsiders perspective I’m a little skeptical at how we actually follow through with this assumption. Don’t get me wrong. I think Renaissance Village is absolutely one of the best places to work in the Triangle. We put an incredible amount of energy in hiring and training the best people, and we strive with blood, sweat, and tears to make this a great place to eat and relax for our customers.  But I’ve become increasingly convicted about what we are intentionally doing to continue making our restaurant an attractive place to work and eat now and in the future. I mean, is this sort of reputation something that just happens arbitrarily? Or are there systems in place to actually continue making our restaurant a comfortable home to some of the most talented team members and loyal guests in the area?

These are the thoughts that I’m having about the business right now. I personally desire each one of you to feel comfortable and challenged at work. I want you to have fun. And I think the result of that morale will translate into great customer satisfaction. But I’ll be honest. I think I’ve missed the mark on a number of occasions to build this culture such that everyone is excited to come to work and truly happy to dine with us.

So here is what I want to do. I know it is the middle of June but in the business world we’re already thinking about the third and fourth quarters of the year. The 3rd quarter begins in July and ends on September 30th. My goal for us all is to sit back after that last Saturday in September with confidence that we’ve done our very best in intentionally creating a working environment that truly makes Chick-fil-A Renaissance Village a great place to work. One of the results I’m looking for is for your friends to look at our business and ask, ‘Wow, how can I be a part of that business? It seems like you guys work really hard and have an amazing time doing it.’

Is that something you all would like to be a part of? I sure hope so! We as a leadership team have some more specific plans to aid in ensuring our restaurant continues to be the best place to work in the triangle. And we’ll definitely need all hands on deck to get us there. So stay tuned in the coming months. We’re excited to continue our success together as a team and I’m just flat honored to be a part of this story with you all.

Hey folks! Thanks for taking care of the ship in my absence this past week. It sounds like we had an eventful week. That’s awesome! Today I just want to highlight two of our team members who went above and beyond the call of duty. It was raining really hard and Will Eaker and Aaron Barrow decided to put themselves on Umbrella Patrol. You guys are awesome. And that wasn’t just a sprinkle out there. That was a monsoon! You guys illustrated Chick-fil-A today. I really appreciate it!