At Chez Panisse, employees gather for the weekly wine tasting conducted by wine
director Jonathan Waters.
for the 60-90 minute classes is scheduled
during the workday, and his department
pays for all materials. Four or five classes per
week are held in various campus locations
within the buildings where employees work.
“The program is designed to teach life skills
English, not solely kitchen English,” he says.
employees at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. Also operating in a nonunion
venue, as do Bowers and Cooney in their
university accounts, albeit, a self-operated
one, she closely monitors industry surveys
of what employees want and will make them
move on if they don’t have.
POWER SHARING
The average associate in Cooney’s
department has been on the job 11 years,
with 10% having been there more than
25 years. The average manager has two
decades on the job. “It becomes family. It’s
very important to understand what affects
them personally. We know who can or can’t
get here on snow days. We’ve empowered
the associates to do what they need to do
to provide outstanding customer service—
and they need to know that the manager
won’t hold it against them,” Cooney says.
“The culture of the place has been built over
the years, and people keep adding to it. If the
staff keeps changing, you lose something.”
In a healthcare environment, taking pulses is
part of the job of the medical staff. McLymont
similarly aims to keep her finger on the pulse
of each of her approximately 214 foodservice
“We’re not surprised that work/life balance
and work environment top the list,” McLymont
says. “We start out by making sure the staff
has the right tools they indicate they need,
from trade magazines and software to
properly functioning equipment.”
APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE
Aware that people appreciate public
recognition, several years ago, McLymont
and her management team created
“Making a Difference,” a program that
includes a monthly staff meeting during
which commendation notes received by
the department are read out loud.
To highlight the culinary skills of the
talented chefs, front-of-the-house demos
are frequently presented and several chefs
compete in an annual Big Apple Culinary
Competition held jointly with several other
area hospitals.
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