Feed Your Team for Success

Strategies for attracting and maintaining the best workers for your franchise.

By Saunda Kitchen

One of the highest honors my company, Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Sonoma County, Calif., has had the privilege of receiving 11 years in a row is being named among the Best Places to Work in the North Bay. This is special because it’s a private employee vote, which allows all team members to express their opinion about how we attract and retain them in complete confidentiality. One of the most repeated pieces of survey feedback is that the employees feel cared for. The cliche “take care of your people and they will take care of you” is true. But how do you take care? Feed them!

Feed Their Bellies

Everyone operates at a friendlier state when their blood sugars are right! Plus, when people break bread together, they become invested in each other. We make a point to always have breakfast at our all-team meetings. In addition, we wrap performance payoffs around food. We have a half kitchen, full fridge and pantry that gets restocked every time we hit our weekly sales target. We pass out a budgeted shopping list where employees get to pick their favorite things to have during breaks and lunches at our office. We often host team member BBQs where we as the owners cook. These are all things you can do with a little effort and planning. Nothing speaks servant leadership more than cooking for and feeding your team member’s belly. 

“The happiest hearts are those fed with purpose.”

Feed Their Hearts

One of the best parts about being a franchisee is the network of other franchisees we can access. If you are part of IFA, you have likely heard of the IFA Foundation’s Franchising Gives Back program. This program hosts an annual event where hundreds of IFA members converge at the location of the IFA Annual Convention to give back to a portion of the community in need. Giving back doesn’t have to be just once a year. My Mr. Rooter franchise had a chance to make an impact after learning that 10 of our fellow Florida-based Mr. Rooter team members lost their homes during Hurricane Michael. Our own internal Franchising Gives Back program became our team, taking part in building care packages for each of the 10 children in the Mr. Rooter family affected by this loss. We took turns painting boxes, filling them with toys, backpacks and journals, as well as writing hand-written notes to all 10 children. Find an opportunity for your team members to be connected to something bigger than themselves, and step up when the opportunity presents itself. The happiest hearts are those fed with purpose.

Feed Their Minds

My favorite day of the work week is Tuesday. It’s our all-team meeting day. Here we discuss the musts: Code of Values, Performance, Division Report Outs, etc. Then, we go to work on the minds. 

I teach what I learn. One rule of thumb: it can’t just be part of your system of business. Training how you conduct business is absolutely essential. What I’m speaking to are the things that have nothing to do with how long you cook a hamburger or explain why to answer the phone, “It’s a great day at Mr. Rooter Plumbing.” I’m talking about the meat in the meaningful. 

Whether it’s debt reduction strategies, keys to communication with family and friends, or how to save for kids’ college education, find something motivational or inspirational to share. Many of us have the privilege of access to educational content, mostly for free! It can be something you pick up from a conference, an excerpt from a book, or a YouTube video. What are the things that make you have “aha” moments? You can creatively find ways to feed those learnings to your team too. 

Feeding my team for more than 20 years has built a culture that attracts and retains quality talent. How will you feed your team? 

Saunda Kitchen, CFE, is the owner of Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Sonoma County, Calif., and serves on the IFA Board of Directors. Learn more about the Mr. Rooter by clicking here.