It is not about having classical music on your playlist — it’s about shared values, positive attitudes, good collaboration, and high standards. Add in teamwork, companionship, and good communication between management, fellow workers, and those you supervise. It’s why people stick around in a job, and usually missing from businesses that endlessly complain about staff shortages.
Let’s break ‘culture’ into parts, starting with the most important — who leads from the top? The old saying, “The fish stinks from the head down“ still applies, and if there’s high absenteeism, laziness, or difficulty in holding onto people … boss, please look in the mirror.
Your job is to set a positive example in your behaviour, work ethic, and attitude. Every good business will have open, honest, and frequent communication. It could be a 10 minute daily huddle, a noticeboard, or WhatsApp group where people say hello each morning and hear about new menu items, service changes, or shift requests. If you don’t communicate constantly and people need explanations, they will ask a buddy or make it up … and both could be wrong.
Hospitality loves to use the word ‘team’, and a sporting comparison is useful — a successful netball team has regular training, keeps track of numbers (the score), and works towards a goal (winning). If people aren’t doing their best, they are given extra coaching or they’re let go — the rules are written down for everyone to follow.
Good teams don’t just happen by chance; leaders choose the players carefully and work to keep them productive and happy. Extra events such as occasional outings, a Christmas party, or visiting a trade fair will lift morale.
A strong culture includes recognition and rewards for those who work hard and achieve. Good pay goes without saying along with a public acknowledgement of the team or the person who did an amazing job on the weekend.
Most hospitality workplaces are made up of workers who come from across the world. If racism or harassment occurs, it needs to be handled immediately — everyone is watching, and these issues don’t sort themselves out. It’s not too much to put up a sign declaring your positive support for diversity, inclusion, and equality.
Hospitality strategist Shaun de Vries deals with culture issues in every company he works with. “There needs to be a good human in charge who actively listens and cares about staff,” he says. “Care about your people first, and they’ll look after the customers. Share the founder’s message and have clearly written values, a mission statement, and a code of conduct. There’s no point having values if you don’t talk about them and use them all the time.”
When conflict happens, it should be handled and requires extra skills from managers and head chefs. Stronger systems (and good recruitment) can often heed off disagreements before they arise. Investing in training also increases loyalty and job satisfaction from menu briefings and quizzes to suppliers demonstrating new products, sharing relevant YouTube videos, and sponsoring formal qualifications.
Finally, the physical environment should be welcoming, clean, and easy to work in. It means functional equipment, lockers for bags, a space for breaks, and a high standard of cleanliness. If it’s chaotic and disorganised, you’ll attract people with the same mindset. It’s over to you, boss. The elements of good culture are simple, and they start at the top.
Ken Burgin
