Pros
Three weeks of paid vacation per year allowed me to ample time to travel and create lifelong memories. A month-long paid sabbatical (every three years) is rare in the food service industry, and it felt great to be recognized for my long-term commitment and tenure. There's been an incredible amount of growth with systems and structure since Brassica first opened in 2015. Best known methods are constantly evolving, and we continue to improve upon standards with speed & efficiency, food quality, service/hospitality, training, and financial performance. Due to the all-encompassing nature of the job, I not only learned how to run a tight ship in the kitchen, but also how to provide/teach genuine hospitality, effectively hire and train the friendliest teams, and how to implement high-level strategy in order to achieve long-term financial goals. This has given me a solid foundation for my future entrepreneurial goals.
Cons
We are growing too quickly, opening more locations in new cities without sufficient support to guarantee success in new and existing locations. We've struggled to effectively recruit, hire, train and retain fantastic partners. Overall, resources are spread thin and we must prioritize cultivating competent leadership in order to maintain operational excellence across all of our restaurants.
