What Is Restaurant Culture, and Why is it Important?

We all go out. We all eat. At this time in our nations history, people go out to eat more than they ever have. We have different levels of service. Different types of cuisine. Different concepts, options, flavors. We see commercials for fast food, casual dining. Every one of these restaurants has a culture, an internal working environment that as guests you can see and most importantly, feel.

As a guest, we only see what is placed in front of us to see. Behind the scenes the environment is stressful. The Culture of the restaurant is how everyone interacts with each other, and also how they interact with the guest. We all have experience both good and bad cultures, even if we didn’t realize it at the time – and I am going to explain how it affects you, why you should reward restaurants with positive cultures, and why culture is so important to OUR experience as guests.

When you walk into a certain popular concept, you expect the team to respond with “My Pleasure” and they always seem eager to help. They work quickly, they are polite. They are ALWAYS busy, and they are closed on Sundays. You know exactly the place I am writing about, and love them or hate them, no one can deny the service is great – all the time, consistently. This is a result of fantastic culture, and is not easy to do. Hiring is extremely important and so is staffing. When you experience this, it makes you want to go back. You are willing to wait longer for their food because you trust its going to be correct, delicious, and the team typically makes the experience just that much better. Hiring the right crew, training everyone well, and having everyone bought into what the company is focused on takes strong leadership, and fantastic team members. This is why the line is always wrapped around the building, while other restaurants are empty. The food is great, but its the service that makes it fantastic. When you walk into a restaurant and the morale is low, the counter server is rude, the manager is missing and the cooks look stressed, you can expect the food quality to suffer as well. The culture in the restaurant impacts everything.

Every time we spend our dollars in a restaurant that has poor culture, we are encouraging that negativity. The root of this is leadership in some capacity. Sometimes its the General Manager, sometimes its the shift managers. As long as the restaurant see positive sales growth and the financials are in line, you will rarely see company interference. Now, don’t get me wrong here, there are times when you find yourself face to face with a toxic employee – this does not mean the culture is bad. Usually all this takes is a conversation with management. If the manager is concerned, good. If they blow you off? Bad…. This does happen, and if you have experienced it you were probably livid. Just walk away and do not give them your money for a few months. Losing sales is the first step to triggering the company to step in. Sending angry complaints to the corporate office, or leaving scathing reviews does not help – it hurts. Those online reviews do not go away, and eventually even a fantastic culture cannot succeed when there is that much negativity.

When we support those restaurants with great cultures, we are helping other restaurants as well. Most hospitality employees remain hospitality employees. They will change jobs within the industry, hopping from one place to the next. If they experience positive culture, that becomes their standard, and they won’t work for less than that – and that forces others to take on those characteristics. Encouraging positive cultures is as easy as going to the place that treats you right, and choosing not to visit the one that doesn’t. We do this naturally. I also encourage you to go back to the negative culture from time to time to see if things improve. If they do, see them more often. Sometimes a change in leadership and staff is what was needed, and visiting again will help encourage the new team to do even better. This is how we can make the difference – by voting with our dollars.

I want to hear from you! Let me know what you expect when you go into a fast food restaurant. Have you experienced a fantastic culture? A negative one?