Episode : #1,218: Chick-fil-A’s Secret Sauce in YOUR Practice

Podcast Description

Re-releasing a favorite of Dental A-Team listeners!

Kiera chats with Chick-fil-A owner and operator George Demetriades — and it’s all about applying the chain fast-food restaurant’s success into your dental practice. There’s a lot of gold packed into this episode, but some of the highlights include:

• Abiding by character, competence, community

• Creating realistic and attainable systems

• Hiring ideal employees

• Identifying high performers

• Acquiring a loyal fanbase

• Cultivating a consistent culture

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you’re hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it’s jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening and I’ll catch you next time.

on the Dental A Team podcast.

speaker-0 (00:31)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And my gosh, I am like fangirling so hard right now. if you guys have heard, Dr. Nate Tillman, he was at Dental A Team Summit, and this year we had a really strong theme where we talked about Chick-fil-A and how much their customer service and their experience is just unmatched. So after Summit, Nate texted me and said, Kiera, I have a friend. He owns some Chick-fil-A franchises.

Would you be interested if I could get to him on your podcast? And my gosh, heart eyes, like gold stars galore. I have the one and only George Demetriades on today, owner of Chick-fil-A. He owns these. I am so giddy. George, welcome to the podcast. I have been so ecstatic to podcast with you.

speaker-1 (01:15)

Thank you so much, Kiera. I really am grateful that for the opportunity to to chat with you guys. And yes, Nate is a very, very close friend of many, many years. If I mess this up, then it then I don’t know Nate. It’s not Nate’s fault. And we’ll we’ll make up a name of Sam Schmuckatelli, the dentist in Hobble or something like that that that that referred me to you. So

speaker-0 (01:38)

my gosh. No. Honestly, George, you’re seriously so nice. And Nate is incredible. And for those of you who like can if you’re just listening, be sure to snag our little snippets of this one. You literally can see George’s name tag on. He is sitting in Chick-fil-A corner office right now, hanging out. He’s in boots on the ground. So George, let’s just kind of take it through. You and I have chatted a little bit. I have so many questions. Sure. I just I l I mean I wasn’t a huge Chick-fil-A fan until I learned about their spicy deluxe sandwich. Mix it with the Chick-fil-A sauce.

my gosh, every Saturday Jason and I wake up and Jay says, Kiera, what’s today? And I say Chick-fil-A day. Like it’s every day. and so George, kind of just tell us a little bit about your background. I know you’re an owner operator for eight years of Chick-fil-A, but kind of prior to that, you and I had chatted before. I just want the listeners to know who is George, and then we’re diving all into Chick-fil-A today.

speaker-1 (02:28)

Awesome. Yeah, thank you so much again for allowing me to join the podcast. so I was born and raised in Atlanta, which is the home of Chick-fil-A, been eating it my whole life. graduated from high school, went off to Wake Forest University, which is where I know Nate from, and was commissioned into the Army as an intelligence officer. Served in the Army for a number of years, and then when I left, left active duty, some time on Capitol Hill, some time in the consulting business, and and after about 10 years of that.

I found my way to Chick-fil-A. I had just become kind of it was a mid midlife, I guess, or pre-midlife crisis, professional crisis, and didn’t didn’t find a lot of fulfillment in the consulting world anymore. Talked to a friend of mine down at our corporate headquarters about a few ideas I had and he said, Hey, if you haven’t thought about a about a franchise, you should go to this website, check it up, check it out, and and holler back with questions. So did that.

Called him back and at some point over the next eighteen months of interviews, probably at many points during those eighteen months, my buddy down at corporate snuck into people’s offices in the dark of night and took my file from trash cans back into their inboxes and I made it through the process and so took over the the Chick-fil-A in Crystal City, Virginia, just outside of DC in January of twenty fifteen. Nate and Carrie were there that day, that morning, which means a great deal to me. And

And then two years ago, a little bit more than two years ago, opened up my second location in Pentagon City, which is yeah, just a less than a mile from the original location that I had. And so I operate those two franchises with with a team of of well over a hundred folks that are just incredible people who inspire me every day. they really they they make my my job and my life not only easy, but it’s really fulfilled.

so and that’s me. It’s it’s me and a dog, a couple of nieces and a nephew and nine godchildren running around.

speaker-0 (04:36)

How fun. George, okay, I’m really curious. Number one, you talked about being an intelligence. So I mean I’m gonna derail from Chick-fil-A a little bit. Tell me the craziest experience in intelligence. Like you have this like very undercover life. Intelligence, Chick-fil-A, anything crazy in intelligence?

speaker-1 (04:52)

I

so I tell people I was an intelligence officer but not a very intelligent officer. And and the guys that I served with are all like, Well, he finally got one right. so I was a tactical intelligence officer, so I wasn’t like James Bond. I was I was out helping commanders on the battlefield understand what the enemy was was likely to do, what capabilities they had and and how we would counter that. and you know, the army was was really, really good to me. I my my some of my closest friends in the world are

are from that that period in my life still today. And a lot of them are still in. A couple of them are generals now, which makes me feel very old. and but it’s the army was really, really good to me. So nothing nothing crazy. It was it was it it was I was very fortunate throughout my survey.

speaker-0 (05:41)

Interesting. Well, I do feel like there’s probably strategy trying to figure out what they’re going to do, which probably helps you potentially in your Chick-fil-A franchise as well. So I need to know now how do you become a Chick-fil-A franchise owner? Like is I feel like this is a hard process because Chick-fil-A is so well known. They’re so like they’re across the board. Like, how long does this process to become a franchise owner? And how do even do it?

speaker-1 (06:02)

Yeah,

it’s a it’s a very long process. It starts with an expression of interest, which is kind of like a mini application. And and we have I think the most the number I heard most recently was last year we had around a hundred and eight thousand people express interest in becoming a Chick-fil-A operator.

speaker-0 (06:17)

my gosh. Okay.

speaker-1 (06:18)

The the opportunity is this is this is my my only job. so we are we are not looking for folks who have a collection of franchises and just want to add a Chick-fil-A to their portfolio.

and we are we are looking for folks who have a lot of leadership background who can use that to to really move the objectives and goals of the restaurant forward. we we kind of rely on three things when we’re looking at at operator candidates and even our corporate staff candidates, which is character confidence and community. character speaks for itself. We wanna we wanna know that you’re a person of character and that you’ve had that consistent character throughout your life.

We want to know that you’re part of your community and that wherever you’ve been, that you find ways to contribute. you know, not just not just a job and and family and all those things, but ways beyond beyond what others might do in the community. And and the competence piece really is all about leadership. Chick-fil-A and and coming in from the military, a lot of the systems they use have a very they they our training systems especially

you can tell there was where there were folks involved in that development that had military experience, but but Chick-fil-A is exceptionally good at putting a system around as much as possible. they’re even better at personalizing those systems and making sure they don’t seem stale or or systemic, so to speak.

speaker-0 (07:51)

Like I need to know this, George. This is what I’m dying to know. Because Chick-fil-A, every experience, no matter where I’m at, and this is what we talked about. This is why I’m so giddy to talk to you. It’s like I think Starbucks, I don’t know how they do for their on-boarding and Chick-fil-A. Like, but Chick-fil-A has good food. I don’t drink coffee, but man, Starbucks could definitely take a look no on how to make delicious hot chocolate. Like it’s disgusting. Probably the worst hot chocolate I’ve ever had. But they have an incredible experience there. And I love to go work there. But Chick-fil-A, like you cook great food.

Great service. People are so happy there. And I have been so giddy to know about their system. So George, explain this more to me. And of course, I told George and I will tell all the listeners, Chick-fil-A is a special business, just like your businesses are special. So if I ask any questions that are off radar, not allowed to talk about George has every right to tell me, Kiera, that’s secret sauce. that’s the Chick-fil-A secret sauce, and I will definitely respect that. So, George, you have my promise.

but anything you can tell me about their systems. I love that you said they personalize the systems, but explain this to me ’cause I don’t I didn’t go to the military. But the military I think is brilliant with their systems. How tell me more about these systems in Chick-fil-A. I need

speaker-1 (09:00)

Yeah,

so I think you know, I think that that i i when we talk about competence in that in that suite of things we look for in our operators, competence is about leadership. It’s not about having an MBA or being able to take a a P N L statement and squeeze every last penny out of the out of the out of the P and L statement. Make no mistake about it, we are a for profit enterprise. and and that that profit allows us to continue to grow and and all of you know, continue to to

compensate our people and all of those things. But I think what personalizes our systems is that we push it down to the lowest possible level, which is the restaurant, right? And so my title is owner operator. And that’s because I’m expected to operate the business. This is the only active investment I have. You know, stocks are one thing. You know, all of those types of passive investments, sure. But in terms of what I do day to day, this is it.

So I am in my restaurants every day. and I, you know, I get to make the decisions. The all of the folks in my restaurants work for me. That’s the that’s true. They don’t work for Chick-fil-A Corporate. Chick-fil-A Corporate has some great systems that we can employ. We have, you know, the typical ones that any small business owner like a like a dentist would would think about when it comes to employer liability insurance or health insurance, all of those types of things, payroll. you know, we have a we have a centralized systems for that.

but but quite frankly, you know, if my dog could speak and had opposable thumbs, he could he could do the administrative side of the business. I mean it is it it’s really kinda hard to mess up. but the fact that I’m in this business every day making decisions with my leaders, if we if we make a mistake, if we make a bad decision, we just stop and pivot. And and I think in a lot of other businesses,

you know, a lot of other kind of chain type type restaurants and businesses. if you where that where that owner operator influence is missing, or is not in the restaurant every day, you you don’t get to do that. You have managers who may be afraid to make decisions. Perhaps they’re not empowered to make decisions. I took vacation earlier this year and went to Greece for two weeks for the first time and I sent Chick-fil-A an email and I said, Hey everybody, Helen is empowered to make any and all decisions on my behalf.

My phone will work in Greece. If you need me, call me. If I’m out in the hinterlands picking olives and you can’t reach me, then Helen is empowered to make any and all decisions. I I trust her implicitly. And and I think a lot of of operators in our chain have have a Helen on their team or several Helens that are empowered to make decisions and that we rely on in in a lot of ways to ensure that our businesses operate smoothly. And and so

That’s I think what lends the personal to the systems, right? You can put the systems in place, but if if folks aren’t bought into if the systems aren’t aren’t realistic and attainable, the the goals that you’ve set, if they’re not measurable, then folks are just gonna get frustrated. And and so that’s that’s kind of the approach that we take. and it’s it’s worked out well. It makes

really allows me to focus on the strategy of the business and where we want to be in 2030 as as a couple of restaurants that are in a very dynamic and growing area. How we want to influence the area and and take care of people. Because I’ve got folks like Helen and Alvin who who operate my two restaurants for me. They do the day-to-day and and they’re empowered to do that. They empower their teams to do that. So systems allow us to focus on the things that only we can focus on.

And I think that’s critically important.

speaker-0 (12:59)

yes. Yeah, I love that. That definitely helped. So and I definitely derailed us on this systems. So let’s just quickly wrap up the last thought because I’m sure people are like, wait, wait, wait. She was on a path of how do you even become a franchise owner and then pushed into systems because I want to know. but I really do love that you one took a vacation to Greece because I think for listeners.

How many of you can leave your businesses for two weeks and empower an employee to make decisions all on your behalf and to be able to have it run? And for dentist, that means having another dentist in there. George, yes, he needs to be able to take care of these, but he has people in place to do that. And I love that they’re personalized. I love that you empower them. But I I also hope people listened to the fact that you are thinking of 2030. Just to date, we’re in 2023. So he’s seven years forward thinking.

And you said what’s the impact? Like obviously, where do we want to be financially? But you said how what’s the impact we want to make within our community? And I think when people think of their communities impacting how do we want to look as a as a business and a restaurant, that was really beautiful. So back to you send in 108,000 people are interested in Chick-fil-A every year. Then you’ve got to look for your character, if I remember right, character, competency and community. Okay. Perfect. So we look for that. Make sure this has been a lifelong thing, not just you’re a changed person.

It won’t probably character that way. Okay. What else? How how do you become this

speaker-1 (14:24)

Yeah,

so so the it starts with that expression of interest. I I I would suspect that a a number of people are not invited to do the full application at that point simply because they may have stuff in their background or perhaps they’ve they’ve got that portfolio of franchises that I mentioned that they just want to add to and that’s that’s not really what we’re looking for. but then you have this like forty six page application or whatever. I don’t know what it is today when I went through it. Like

speaker-0 (14:49)

It’s like buying a map.

speaker-1 (14:50)

it was forty eight pages long.

And and you go through a series of of both both virtual and in-person interviews. And in those interviews, it it I kind of employ a similar model, not as many interviews of course, but employ a similar model in my in my restaurant, which is a just a lot of experiential questions. The the interviews that you go through for Chick-fil-A, whether it’s for corporate or in my restaurants, are are a lot about tell me about a time when, not

Well what kind of person are you? Right. So so you’re really I look at it as kind of almost like we’re investigating into whether this person is really gonna be a good cultural fit for our restaurant.

speaker-0 (15:35)

Okay, I’m gonna derail us again, George. I like on such a good path. No, it’s perfect because now I want to know because that was actually one of the questions I wanted to ask is how do you guys hire an onboard? So for you specifically, George, can you tell me some very specific questions for character? Because I do believe that Chick-fil-A employs really great character people. So, what are some of the things you look for when you’re interviewing people? Some of the questions you specifically ask. because I’m super intrigued by how you get such good cultures and

speaker-1 (16:04)

Yeah, I mean we are w so if we’re looking at somebody for a supervisory type role, we’re gonna ask them questions like, you know, tell me about a time you had to let someone go, or tell me about a time you had to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone. What was it about? We’re not asking for names or anything like that, but what was it about? And and how did the conversation go? Were there anything that in anything that surprised you about their responses? what in their responses led you to think that that perhaps

this person wasn’t a fit or maybe they deserved a second chance. so we’re looking for everything from that that character and and consistency piece in those answers to also just kind of trying to figure out how they think and approach problems. you know so much of our business is people driven. You know, we’re in the chicken business, but really we’re in the people business, right? And and you can say that about a dental practice, you can say that about any enterprise out there. It

It rises or falls on people. That’s the bottom line. When I walk into my dentist’s office, he also has dogs in the lobby, which I think is pretty awesome. that is But

speaker-0 (17:12)

Awesome.

speaker-1 (17:12)

when I walk in for a dental appointment, I I fall asleep in the chair. So I’m not one of these people that’s afraid of the dentist. and and and the hygienists always giggle. but think about that patient who walks in who’s who’s petrified, right? Well, at that moment in time when they walk into that lobby.

The receptionist is the most important person in the world. Because how they’re greeted is gonna set the tone for that entire entire visit. It’s kinda like when someone walks into my restaurant. How they see that restaurant in the instant they walk in, is there trash on the tables? are people moving quickly behind a front counter with purpose to get things done? Or are they lollygagging and and you you know, they don’t seem like they’re moving efficiently or

Or care too much about moving you through the line quickly. those folks that initially greet our guests or patients are the most important people in the world. And and they set the tone for the entire visit. And so we’re looking for people who have a history of s of of kind of hum humbly serving other people. we’re looking for folks who have higher emotional intelligence.

Because they’re dealing with people. This isn’t a it’s not a it’s not a we’re not a software company. You know, we’re not we’re not gonna sit in cubicles. We have to interrupt interact with the public. And and in one moment we could have fifty six teenagers from Boston walk in who were here for a school tour, which happened yesterday morning all at once. In the next minute it could be Miss Sandy, who’s our like our favorite guest, and she comes in every afternoon at four o’clock for unsweet tea to dri to drink on the way home.

And in the next minute, it could be someone who just lost their job and they don’t know what’s next. And they’re just looking for somebody to smile and be nice. And so you have to you have to look for people who who have the experience and the ability to pivot in those types of types of conversations and types of interactions. And and so the questions that we ask are all focused on those types of things.

everybody interviews well, Kiera. Our schools have taught everyone to interview well.

speaker-0 (19:38)

George, like tell me. I

I would agree on that. I definitely agree on that. So that’s what I’m curious. Like, how do you specifically I mean you have a hundred employees? You’ve got a lot. I’m sure you hire quite often. I’m sure you’ve become pretty good at this. Any like one, two or three key things that you’re like consistently, if I find this or I I hear this, I either will hire or won’t hire. Are there any things that you found in the patterns just over time hiring?

speaker-1 (20:03)

I

think the first thing that bumps everybody else or everybody up in our hiring process to to kind of a higher notch is if they are referred from someone else on the team. Your existing employees are are 99 times out of a hundred not going to refer someone that they one don’t want to work with themselves, but two, someone that’s gonna embarrass them, right? So so we love word of mouth referrals and we get a lot of those from our employees. We get a lot.

And we’ve we’ve reached this really sweet spot in the business where we have a lot of word of mouth and referrals. I think the other thing we look for are the people who just don’t do anything outside of work or school. we get a lot of hey, so what what do you do in your free time? hang out with my friends. Okay, that’s that’s nice. I’m glad you have friends. But are you are you in the band? You know, or

Are if you’re if you’re older and you have kids, are you you know are you doing anything with your kids after school? Are you are you the t ball coach or are you helping out with the with the Girl Scouts or whatever the case may be? We’re looking for those types of things that that show that they are part of a a community outside of just going to work and going home. again it it feeds into the idea that that you are

Y you have the ability to interact with people from all different types of backgrounds at different stages in their in their day or in their week or in their life. Mhm. And that’s really important to us.

speaker-0 (21:37)

Interesting. That it’s so fascinating. And I appreciate you sharing because that was my next question of

How can you guys like, okay, lovingly and bluntly, the fast food industry doesn’t usually have as strong of a reputation. I did work at KFC and AW in my days, and I literally cried the day I quit because I enjoyed it so much. it was my first job out of high school, and I was the float queen, and I surely loved every minute of it. but I also know working in fast food, like it was kind of gross and there were things that I did not enjoy, and I worked late hours and

we had a fun time. I mean, I was young, but what do you guys do? And I wanna know from today, but also prior, what has Chick fil A done to have such happy teams? Like there is a rumor going around that it’s it’s faith based. But like is it more PTO? Is it that like what do you guys do to make such happy teams?

speaker-1 (22:33)

Yeah, so I well I think that the the first thing we do is i is we set clear expectations. We set clear expectations that are attainable. And I think we’ve reached this kind of strange point in society, I think, where on some level we have a group of employers out there that seem afraid to ask, or maybe society writ large feels afraid to ask people to work hard.

speaker-0 (22:59)

They are. So tell me how you do it. Right. And it’s this illusion.

speaker-1 (23:02)

It’s hard work. We are our our restaurants do volumes that haven’t been seen anywhere else in the restaurant business per square foot, but also just in general. there’s there’s always a line. The lines are often, you know, the the size of the lines are often unpredictable. It’s a it’s a hard it’s a hard business and it’s a hard job.

speaker-0 (23:20)

They stand outside for hours. They sit there. They bring you your food. They clean up. I’m like, how do you do it? Because it’s not one, how do you get your team to work hard? because so you’re right. I do think that it’s becoming, I feel like a millennial 2023 trend of let’s work as lazy as we can and make the most that we can. And I don’t believe that all of society actually enjoys that. So I’m curious, you guys do it differently.

speaker-1 (23:45)

And

I’m not convinced that much of society really enjoys that. To be very honest with you, I think it’s something we’ve almost kind of convinced ourselves of that’s just simply not true. I think people want clear expectations. I think they want goals that are attainable. And I think the leader’s job is to do that, but also to make sure they’re resourced appropriately to so that they can achieve those goals. And that’s and that’s everything from training to stuff that works. Right? When when I walk in my restaurant and one of our six friars is down.

It’s not just that a friar’s down and we’ll just use the other five. It messes with the whole rhythm of of you know that the busiest day part of the of the or the busiest hour of the day. And and so I think when you when you can set those clear expectations, you set goals that are attainable and people are resourced correctly, the the last not the last, but but the other critical component is people have to feel genuinely valued and appreciated.

And so I think day to day it’s little things like just genuinely saying thank you. I think it is ensuring that you have ways to I mean we talk about resourcing ways to to resource them and to grow them professionally, but but things that they can also take with them outside of the business. You know, we have a relationship with Point University, which is an accredited university in Georgia. It’s an online university. but

My employees can go to college for free. you know, they have to they have to have a certain GPA and and a couple of other things, but provided they meet all of those all of that criteria, they can they can earn an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, or a list of several certificates, professional certificates that they can carry they can they can keep in my business or they can carry other places. This helps me in my business because I have people who who who have elevated thinking, who have

better time management, who have more critical thinking skills. but it also helps them. They know and now look it’s not Harvard, right? It’s not like they’re gonna go down the street

speaker-0 (25:53)

I still think any education is good, right? Like it teaches them discipline.

speaker-1 (25:57)

get out of it what you put into it. And and so I think, you know, there’s the traditional ways to to to motivate, reward and invest in people like like good pay, competitive pay and benefits. And we do all of those things. For us, one of our one of our things, especially with our high school kids, hey, why do you want to work at Chick-fil-A? I just love the food. Hey man, I’m with you. You know, that is yes. but I think the other the other piece of it is that that

culture piece. People need to feel valued not just for what they do, but for who they are. And we work really, really hard at that. We we know our team members, we know, you know, we know their kids, we, you know, little things, they seem to be little things, but they’re not. We we took our leaders last year we had a we closed my my Crystal City location for renovation and we ended up

Collapsed in two teams into one team. A lot of people got a lot of paid time off because we couldn’t have we did just didn’t have the room to have all these people in one restaurant. but it was all we were very deliberate about it, it was all very even. Everybody got the same amount, everybody got a lot. But we were bringing two teams together and and we realized very quickly that they need to know each other as human beings outside of the restaurant and outside of the business and outside of just trying to push them together. So we took all of our leaders, twenty two of them, out to

Linden, Virginia, which is about an hour, hour and ten minutes west of DC, near the Shenandoah Valley. And we took them horseback riding. Now look, this was seventy dollars a person. This is not an expensive entry. And then with with dinner it was a little bit more. but we s we s we I still have people asking when are we doing it again? We’re probably gonna do it again in the fall. but it’s one of those things. It’s like I’ve I had a number of people come to me and say, Hey that was on my bucket list. And it’s

You know, it’s it’s a very easy and simple thing to do, but we have we’ve exposed people to to something that they otherwise never would have had the opportunity, probably never had the opportunity to do. And it was really easy. I mean it’s like this isn’t this isn’t that hard. and so I think I think all of those types of things are really, really important to to demonstrate to your team that I care about you as an individual, not just as

the person who rings up the next customer or who you know who who preps the next patient so I can come in and do and do my dental thing. Right. and so I I think all of that kind of stuff lends to a culture. You know, culture is the culture starts with the with the with the top leader. It’s gonna start with the dentist in a dental office. It starts with me in my restaurant. and for me I am I’ve I have been around and been on this earth far too long.

to not have fun at work and to not you know it’s I mean like and and I think that hopefully that’s contagious and and yeah there are gonna be days that aren’t fun. We all know that. There are gonna be days where everything just seems off. but if I can come in here every morning with with positivity, with genuine care for my for my team and my customers alike, then that that’s gonna it’s gonna snowball, right? That old you know what rolls downhill? Well culture roll rolls downhill too.

Right. And so I think that it does that piece is is really, really important.

speaker-0 (29:30)

It’s awesome. On that same note, George, I appreciate just all the information because I think what I pulled the most from that section was to to love people and to care about them as people and as little things and giving them opportunities, experiences, really caring about them as a person. And that is that takes to me intentionality. It’s very easy to give someone benefits and pay.

it’s not easy to get to know them. Like I I would ask all of our listeners right now, like, do you know George has a hundred employees and he probably doesn’t know every single one of them, but at least knows something. Do you know their families of your team? Do you know what they like and what they don’t like? Do you know the things that they’re striving for in their personal and professional lives? Because I do feel when you know people, they’re more invested in you because you’re invested in them. So that was beautiful. And I am curious, George, with all your hiring, with all these people, you’ve got lots of people coming and going.

How do you identify like those that you want to have as managers and acknowledge and reward your high performers? Like, how do you sift through hundreds of people and give them opportunities? What’s some, what are some of the tips that you guys do through the Chick-fil-A experience to reward high performers and identify?

speaker-1 (30:41)

Yeah, so I think that it when it comes to the to the high performers, obviously we have our evaluation processes that we go through that are that that are that system, right? It’s kinda like payroll and and or pay and and good pay and benefits and all those things.

speaker-0 (30:57)

How often do you have that, George? Just out of curiosity. Yeah.

speaker-1 (30:59)

And

and that’s okay. That’s one where you know, if you’re if you’re newer on the team at a at at a more entry level position, it’s gonna be a much a much more simple process, much simpler process for for your leader above you to to to fill out. I think it’s it it’s a c it all becomes to about sphere of influence, right? Like yes, I have I have more than a hundred employees. I I I can’t know them all as well as I would love to.

I think the average person, probably four to six people that, you know, having that kind of sphere of influence is is really, really important. So so I focus my efforts very intentionally on my two managing directors who who lead each restaurant, my financial return director who works across both restaurants. We have a marketing person as well, works across both restaurants. and then I’ve got a couple of operational managers in each restaurant that I focus very intently on.

And then the expectation of them is that that next level down, that next four to six people, that they’re focusing just as intently. And so I’m relying and so on and so forth. And so I’m relying very much on my subordinates to identify that talent. And it’s gonna start with one servant leadership. Are you willing to do what you’re asking everybody else to do? And Kiera, I’m I’ll I’m gonna I’m gonna test you. Here we go. I’m gonna ask I’m gonna ask the question here, young lady. All right.

What is the one thing in my restaurant I have never done?

Well no, there’s one thing I’ve never done. I’ve never worn the cow suit. Now maybe everything else I’ve done. I have I have read a chicken, I have fried chicken, I have sold chicken, I have ordered chicken, I have put away the chicken, I have I have fixed toilets, I have cleaned toilets, I have done everything else.

speaker-0 (32:51)

Just not the cat.

speaker-1 (32:53)

Maybe maybe this will change. Well when I buy a new cow costume, maybe the first guy in the cow costume will be this guy. But

speaker-0 (33:01)

That’s fair. I mean that would get a little over.

speaker-1 (33:04)

No,

no, I’m not doing that. I’m not doing that. I got a I got a whole host of high school kids who are more than willing to hop in the cow costume. And I’ve I’ve watched the cow costume by the way. I’ve taken it home and and w and literally watched it myself by hand. but cow costumes are not for me. So but I think that’s really important. That servant servant leadership where you’re showing folks that you’re willing to do what you’re asking them to do is critical. And it’s and it’s and it’s not just that you’re showing them what you’re

That you’re willing to do what they’re doing. But you also do gain a true understanding of okay, what am I asking this person to do for eight hours a day? I’m asking them to stand on their feet and bread chicken. This is not an easy standing on your feet for eight hours eight hours a day alone is not is not a an easier or wonderful thing to do. but these are these are hard physical tasks in a lot of cases. and and so you need to understand how that impacts the operations, how that fatigue impacts them, impacts their safety.

impacts their morale, all of those types of things. And so I think we’re looking for folks who are who are willing to do everything that they’re asking other people to do and and do it well and have an understanding of the the challenges that other people have in those roles. The challenges they they may come into the restaurant with on a day to day basis based on what’s going on at home. And and then how can they

How can they help them through that? How can they help them be successful at work? Right? And so that’s what we’re looking for in our in our leaders. We’re we are we are most likely, unless you’re coming from another Chick-fil-A, we’re probably not gonna hire you immediately as a supervisor or at least at the same level that you were at at another business. We may hire you one level down, and and we’ll be very we’ll be very open about this, but hey, look, you know.

We we promise you you may be you may have been the best pick a franchise manager in in this last role that you had. But our restaurant is probably doing multiples of the revenue that that restaurant did. So the challenges you face here and the people you’re gonna be supervising here, the numbers of people you’re gonna be supervising are that much greater. So it doesn’t translate exactly. So we’re gonna bring you in at a lower level and and we’re gonna make sure you can handle it and you can grow in the business. And then we’ve got

Throughout through through Chick-fil-A, we have really great training system called Pathways. And it’s the fundamental kind of it it’s online, it sets the sets the tone and the stage for all the fundamental things you need to need to know to to work in the business. got different

speaker-0 (35:54)

Like how does that process work? Like, do you so I’m a new hire. Is it like a month process? Do I learn the breading? Do I learn the culture first? Like w how do you guys walk through this? I’ve been super intrigued by this because it’s consistent experience across the board. So I’m guessing there’s a consistent

speaker-1 (36:10)

Well

the process is yes, I mean by and large it’s it’s all fundamentally the same. How operators may do it in the restaurants may vary a little bit in terms of timing and all those types of things. But for us, we bring folks in first first couple of days is orientation where we’re walking through our expectations, walking through our culture and getting to know I mean that piece is really, really important. we’re gonna make sure that they have people to to to be with during the that first two or three weeks of work. not just

Not just somebody shadowing them or them shadowing someone to make sure they know what they’re doing, but also, hey, who are you gonna eat lunch with today? Right? Like we don’t want you to to be lonely your first few weeks of work, right? We want you to we want you to get to know people and and and and really establish relationships with folks so that if you have a question that you might perceive as a dumb question, there are no dumb questions, but if but if you’re sitting there as a new guy and you you may be afraid to ask and we want you to have someone trusted.

up here that you can go, hey, how many s how many squirts of strawberry is it into a strawberry milkshake? You know, we want you to to have someone to ask those questions of. And and and you may be afraid to ask a manager. So so we work very intentionally on that and we put through through part of the pathways. Now pathways is great. It’s online. You’re not gonna go online and learn how to make a milkshake. You’ve got to get your you’ve got to you’ve got to grab a cup and the spinner and and go to making a milkshake. by the way I’ve done that in the restaurant. They don’t like it when I do that in the restaurant.

comparable at it and I end up making a mess. So so we’re gonna we’re gonna walk you through that process first on pathways and then we’re gonna walk you through actually doing it in the restaurant with one of our trainers. And we’ve got several trainers in each restaurant. they’ve been in the business for a long time. It’s not all that they do, but when they’re doing it, that’s what they’re focused on. And they’re gonna walk you through and make sure that you are you are trained to

not just our standard but to your comfort level on on how to do these tasks. and so it really the first month is an awful lot of training and and an awful lot of of familiarity and getting comfortable with with with our systems, our processes and and and our team. You know, that that part is also really, really important.

speaker-0 (38:36)

That’s super fascinating to me, George, because I feel in dental offices, which is very ironic to me, that we might understaff in a way because I know whenever we hire somebody, it’s like we needed them five days ago. So hi, welcome, super happy to have you. Good luck. And I’m like, okay, not to discredit ch fast food, but I’m like, you spend a month training these team members. And I think that that could be a different piece. Cause we talked before, there’s

Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s. You and I chatted about this before, and it was very much a you both sell chicken, you both sell chicken nuggets, you both sell strawberry milkshakes, you both sell fries, different kinds, but there’s a lot of similarities between the two. Why is there a literal cult following of Chick-fil-A? I’m sure there’s a McDonald’s, but it’s not as public, it’s not as well known. and it’s a very different experience. Chick-fil-A, I would never, I would, I would literally be appalled if I walked in.

And I had to go enter on a kiosk. Like I can go to a table and order if I want, but that’s my choosing. It’s not, and there’s someone who’s super happy and cheery, but the fact that you train for a month and you give them a buddy and you teach them culture, plus before that, because I’ve thought like, what do you guys do to create and cultivate a consistent culture of just happy people? And I think it’s one you hire really well at the beginning. You ask for the things, you’re looking for the red flags, you want people dedicated to their community. Then you spend

A month training these people. And I would feel if someone invests in me that much, I’m going to be comfortable, I’m going to be confident, I’ve made friends, I’m more bought into it before I actually have to go be like the main shebang up there. And then after that, you guys are working hard to cultivate. And you have you’ve got basically supervisors or leaders over four to five people. So it’s a smaller group that they’re over, that they’re intimately knowing, that they’re invested in their lives.

And that’s how you’re able to grow to scale to cultivate. So I am curious what happens when you have someone who’s say an underperformer? They’re not fitting the culture. They’re not smiling when the guests come in. What do you think?

speaker-1 (40:37)

It’s yeah, I’m glad you I’m glad you asked that because I think it’s really, really that thirty days, there’s there’s obviously a method to all of this, right? And I I would imagine it’s it’s we’re all under the gun, right? We we’re all we all get overcome by the current crisis, by the current set of patients that are coming in the door, by the current set of customers that are coming in the door. The easiest thing to say, we’ll get to it later is training, right? That thirty days and

And that time that we are spending with those new employees, and it’s not just one trainer assigned to one employee for those thirty days, right? It’s a number of different people that are working with that employee. That’s when you identify if somebody’s gonna fit. I mean, it is we know within the first two or three weeks if this person’s gonna be a fit or not. And if they’re not, we’ll just say, Hey, they we think this isn’t for you. and we know that because we’re observing them very intently during that training process.

And so and I think it would be even probably it’s probably even more difficult in the dental office where folks who are coming into the into the door to work, all of them have credentials already, right? I mean you have to be for

speaker-0 (41:47)

Most of the

speaker-1 (41:48)

the front office. You’re licensed as a as a whatever. You’re either the dentist or you’re or you’re a hygienist or or whatever the case may be, but you have presumably because you have the certification, you should know what you’re doing. And so it’s much easier to just go, look, they’re certified, they’re good. Let’s But

I think that it really gives you the opportunity, taking that intentional time with them to show them where things are and to show them how how you want patients greeted in your in your in your chair, so to speak. I think it’s really it it also gives you the opportunity to see, okay, is this is this person gonna do that? Are they gonna fit in? ‘Cause it look, they’re you’re either gonna know that in thirty days or you’re not. And so for us if it’s beyond the thirty days

and and we’ve still got someone on our team and and you know, let’s say they’re three or four months in and they start to slip, at this point we know them well enough to sit down and go, Okay, what’s going on? Is this a problem that we have with one of our systems? Is it something that can be retrained? Is it something that’s going on outside that they’re bringing into the business? Or is it something that we can’t correct? Is it something that we’re just you know, for whatever reason we’re not gonna be able to to to ensure this person

conducts themselves to our to our standard. And and at that point we’ll we’ll help them help promote them to customer, so to speak. and and you know we we always want to do that in a way that honors them. I mean you know this is an individual who has spent time with us and and and and we don’t we we want them to leave feeling good about their experience with us. and so we work we work hard to make sure it’s also an investment, right? Any any person you bring on

You are investing a significant amount of time, energy and money bringing them into your business. And so you lose them and and and that money is is that’s gone, right? So

speaker-0 (43:44)

I I heard someone tell me the biggest cost in a business is the cost of turnover. And it’s

speaker-1 (43:48)

And that’s not just financial, it’s emotional.

This is why it takes people so long to fire someone, right? Because you are also admitting that on some level you failed too. And that is really hard for us as as leaders and as human beings to do sometimes to say, yeah, I’ve I’ve I failed, right? Now now we have people that you know that yes, on occasion someone sneaks in and you’re like, no, that wasn’t me, that was all them. But by and large

It’s it’s tough to let people go for a lot of reasons, but one is that you really you’re you’re also recognizing your own vulnerability. and so I I think that thirty min that thirty days though, I I think that initial orientation and onboarding is really, really critical to understanding if someone’s gonna fit in the culture or not. And I would think it’s much harder I think it’s much harder in a smaller organization like a dental office where you have

fewer personalities, right? Fewer people, right? And fewer personalities. And so it’s even more critical that that that person fit fit the culture. I can I can move people around to different shifts. I can even move people around to different restaurants if I need to, if I think, well, we got in the wrong one, let’s get over there ’cause it’s a different culture and and they’ll and they’ll thrive there. but in a in a dental office of of five or six people or, you know, eight or ten people

speaker-0 (45:12)

No.

speaker-1 (45:13)

You you

really you really gotta make sure that that that that person is gonna fit that that microculture sort of

speaker-0 (45:21)

Completely agree. I think I think the things I really took away from this were like really be intentional on my hiring. Be intentional and ask harder questions, not just tell me about your experience, tell me when. and then I also think something else I really loved was to be intentional with my onboarding. And I started thinking of like what’s harder. Is it harder to throw them in and put a bandage where I think that they’re going to thrive versus training them and getting them to be super excellent or letting them go if they’re not going to be excellent?

At the beginning. as you said scheduling though, George, this is like a totally off tangent. Now I’m just gonna get like geeky on tech flip. How do you schedule all these people? Do you guys have a software? Do you have an Excel spreadsheet? Like I would imagine

speaker-1 (46:03)

we

speaker-0 (46:03)

a software of like

speaker-1 (46:05)

hot schedules and it and hot schedules sinks into our payroll system and all this other stuff and it sinks into our forecasting system as well which is really this is part of that you know part of that my dog if he had opposable thumbs and and and could speak could probably do a lot I say that and and scheduling’s one of the hardest things in the in the business because you are putting you are putting people and what you know about our people and teams together and and it I say it and it’s not as easy as I make it sound.

But

speaker-0 (46:34)

Scheduling is was a beast. That’s when like I have thirty five employees and I’m like, my gosh. I’m like, I can’t imagine a hundred different schedules, shifts all across the board, people coming and going, vacations.

speaker-1 (46:44)

The nice thing about the nice thing about hot schedules is is the schedule goes out and the employees can trade amongst themselves at certain levels. And that makes things a lot easier than having to come say, you know, may I have this day off or may I have that day off and then trying to figure out how we’re gonna backfill. We basically set the schedule and tell them, Hey, cool, if you if you want if you want time off you gotta find your you gotta find your replacement for that for that shift. but it is you know, you are you are putting

A lot of different considerations with 60 to 70 variables in each restaurant, right? 60 to 70 people in each restaurant, and all of their considerations all in at the same time. And a lot of that is just really critical with your leadership knowing your team. You know, I’m I know this person. We have we have this huge event happening this day, and I know this person is really good at making sure those huge events happen and happen well, and this person is much better at one-on-one with.

customers. So let’s make sure we have person A instead of person B. You know, so you’ve you’ve got to put all that stuff together. and my team my my leaders do a really exceptional job of it. And they make it they make it very personal and and it’s it’s they do a really nice job.

speaker-0 (48:00)

George, I can tell you just love the people you work with. I can tell you love your business. Like you have so much fun and that’s what I think like if you’re not having

speaker-1 (48:07)

There

there are days where you know, in every business there are days where you’re just like, Whoa, what just happened? you know, and we get we get every once in a while get crazy folks and coming in and and into the restaurant and all that kind of stuff and and and things break and whatnot. But you know, middle of COVID I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a corporate guy and and he was working from home and zooming everything and isolated and super just he was just frustrated and down.

And he was like, Yeah, how do you do it? And I was like, What do you mean how do I do it? And he’s like, Well, how do you how do you I mean he’s like, I’m really struggling and I’m like, Brother, I’m not because I I just I mean, we stayed open. I just go into my restaurant and I see my team every day and these people, they inspire me so much. I mean like they just they just have this I this just love of love of the business that it’s you know, we share it and and and they they do a

Just they they work, they have this love of hard work and they really have this love of each other. And I think that that piece, we we really really it’s just a privilege. I mean it’s a privilege to lead these folks and it’s a privilege to spend time with them every day. And and we we do, we have a whole lot of fun. life’s too short not to. You ain’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong, even if even if you’re in a dental office. I mean

speaker-0 (49:35)

The exact same way. There’s so many things you have said that I’m hopeful that people while listening about Chick-fil-A, we all have this like obsession with Chick-fil-A. So many people love it. One of the girls, I asked her, I said, I told my team, I said, you know, we’re I’m I’m podcasting with the Chick-fil-A owner. I’m so excited. And she wrote, she said, I’m sure it’s their pleasure to podcast with you. And I laughed so hard. but I feel like so many things you said are so applicable to dental practices. So, George, as we wrap up, I just want to do a little rapid fire.

random questions that are not even business related, but I just think they’ll be fun. So and they’re just Chick-fil-A like let’s just get let’s just like geek on Chick-fil-A. First question as a Chick-fil-A owner operator, eating Chick-fil-A for your whole life, what is your favorite thing on the menu currently today as Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A?

speaker-1 (50:20)

It is and always has

Yes. I just I mean I grew up with it. It’s it I I I go I go back with our number one I’m forty eight. I go back with our number one meal. Oops, just dropped my phone. Sorry about that. I go back with my number with our number one meal for a a good forty six years or whenever I had enough enough teeth to chew sandwiches. and it’s a number one meal preliminary.

speaker-0 (50:45)

Do you have like a special sauce you put on it? Like I do you love a certain sauce or you just want it like plain Jane original?

speaker-1 (50:51)

But I also have gotten into a one for one ratio of Polynesian and Buffalo. Yeah, it’ll change the world.

speaker-0 (51:02)

Okay, I’m excited. I mean Saturday is Chick fil A Day. I’m not far away from this, so

speaker-1 (51:07)

And I’ll tell you what I’ll tell you the other thing that I I was

speaker-0 (51:09)

Understand.

speaker-1 (51:10)

session yesterday with a bunch of other operators and their and some of their staff and and one of our corporate corporate folks and we were talking about I think the question was if you could if you could wave a magic wand and have one thing in the restaurant, what would it be? And my thing was robots to deliver. but the other thing was and I’ve I’ve thought about doing this, I never have. I think a Polynesian milkshake

Could be pretty impressive. Polynesian sauce and vanilla milkshake. Now, this is don’t you guys listening to the out there in the Ethernet, this is not a Chick-fil-A item. I might have received a text message last night from one of my managers who was at this training session who might have said that she tried it, who might have said it tasted a little bit like an orange green sickle. Maybe. But you didn’t hear it from me.

speaker-0 (52:04)

No. Okay. I did not hear it from you. It’s not a Chick-fil-A thing. Okay, interesting. And also on that, this is like another rapid fire. How often do Chick-fil-A owners, operators do training? Are you guys once a quarter, once a year? How often do you guys do?

speaker-1 (52:17)

That’s hard to answer because there’s a bunch of development stuff that we get to do that we can do that we can opt in and out of. we as a as a market meet once a quarter. And so there’s 80 of us in the 80s or so of us in the DC market. We meet once a quarter. we meet with corporate at an annual conference where there’s a lot of development that goes on. We talk very little about business. It’s called Next. We talk we hear from our senior leaders in Chick-fil-A, we hear from a lot of

really great speakers. Everything from personal care and self care to sorry about that. To how to care for our team.

speaker-0 (52:56)

Okay.

speaker-1 (52:57)

and our teams and and then we meet our business meeting is called RPMs or regional planning meetings. And we meet once a year for those and that is that is what’s the strategy for the next year and how do you build your business plan around it. but I’m glad you asked that because the other thing I would say is I

make it very I’m very deliberate about visiting other owner operators in the area a lot. And we’re all friends is a are really but I would I would encourage and I take my leaders too. And sometimes I just send them over to see other folks. Hey so and so does this really well go over and see how they’re doing it. if if I would encourage anyone on this call, you know, if you’ve got friends in the area who are in the same profession, go see how they do things.

Talk to about it, go visit their offices. Agreed. Send your folks over there. You know, they will feel when I anytime I send my team members over there to to other restaurants to see how things are getting done, they always come back. One, they come back with great ideas. Hey, they do this a little differently, let’s try that. But two, they feel invested in. my gosh, George trusts me to leave the restaurant, right? You can’t sell chicken outside of my restaurant. It happens inside the restaurant, right?

You can deliver it, but you can’t sell it inside the outside the restaurant. So so George trusted me to leave the restaurant and go get good ideas from these other other businesses. Like they feel invested and they come back, they come back refreshed, they come back, they have fun doing it, and they come back, they always come back with good ideas. And so empower folks to do that. Establish those relationships and and go do it. You’ll you’ll be surprised what they come back with. You’ll you’re you just you will be, trust me.

speaker-0 (54:40)

Well, and I love that you don’t see them as competition. You see them as like, let me go learn from them. So, okay, George, my last rapid fire question. This has been I mean, I’m just I love everything I’ve learned. So what are the most popular things that are not on the menu like a diet Dr. Pepper slushy? I just need to know I didn’t realize that there was even a secret menu. So what are the most popular on menu?

speaker-1 (55:00)

Become the Polynesian.

And I will get calls from 5600 Buffington Road in Atlanta. But so we so you know a lot of it lately go revolves around TikTok. So the one that we’re getting a lot lately is folks order mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and fries. And then their and then their sauce du jour. And they ask for a salad bowl. And they mix it all together, they close the salad bowl, they shake it.

speaker-0 (55:27)

Wow.

speaker-1 (55:29)

And they create their own like mega entre. I have not done that yet, but I probably should. Just to see. So there’s you know, we used to get a lot of requests for like spicy like a spicy biscuit and now we’re we’re kind of rolling all that out and a lot of stores already have it. We’ll have it pretty soon. but the people would ask for a a spicy fillet on a just on a regular biscuit. So we used to get a lot of requests for that. So that that stuff is is coming out.

Yeah, I I’m a big fan of the crazy. I’ll do a diet frosted lemonade, but I’ll put two squirts of strawberry in it. And it it really is when it really turns into a a really nice almost like a like a locale strawberry shake. It’s it’s kinda surprising how the strawberry kind of it’s a little tangy, but it’s not it’s not like super tangy. It kind of eclipses the the tang of a lemonade. It’s

Yeah, you sh you may want to try that on Saturday. I know. I’m definitely You don’t

speaker-0 (56:33)

For Saturday’s Chick-fil-A day for Know.

speaker-1 (56:35)

have to do diet. I have to do diet ’cause I’m you know, my metabolism is shut down.

speaker-0 (56:39)

No, well, I mean, the lemonade’s a little sweeter. So I do, I do tone it down a little bit. But George, this was such a a fulfilling podcast for me. I love Chick-fil-A, but more than that, I love you as a person and the passion that you have for business and for teams and for growing people. I am obsessed with finding business owners who love their teams, love what they’re doing. And I want to just highlight one thing as we wrap this up. You and I chatted at the and you said,

The Marriott family and the Kathy family. So Marriott owns the Marriott hotels and the Kathy families who started Chick-fil-A. They’re not just family owned, but family operated. And I think that that was one of the most cool takeaways of all of this, of the passion, the love, the investment that you have in these restaurants and your team. And I just want to say thank you for sharing all of your Chick-fil-A knowledge, for making all these dreams come true for all of us. it was truly a pleasure. It was my pleasure, actually.

truly. Truly. I just appreciate

you better believe when I come to Atlanta, I am hitting up your Chick-fil-A and we’re gonna give you a huge hug. So So guys, I just appreciate George and I appreciate all of you listening.

Kiera Dent (58:03)

Dental A Team listeners, I hope you loved revisiting this episode as much as I did. I hope that you found the nuggets, the pearls. You can see why we re-released this one because I truly want you to take away the best of the best of the best of the best. This episode truly hopefully sparked some new excitement, gave you some new ideas. I know sometimes when I go back and I look back on things that I’ve learned in the past, I’m able to re-implement because like that famous quote says, no man steps into the same river twice because neither he is the same man.

nor is the river the same. You are not the same as you were before, nor is your practice the same as it was before. Different things, different ideas, same principles. And I really want to highlight and hopefully you took today that sometimes all we need to do is simplify and put into place or to refine things that we’ve already been doing really, really well. If you love this episode, don’t keep it to yourself, share it with a colleague or leave us a review and help more practices find the Dental A Team podcast. As always, thanks for listening and I’ll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.