Spreading a Positive Culture

About 6 months ago we invited one of our chain customers, Good2Go, into our corporate office for what we called Discovery Days.  By the way, thanks David Adams for taking the time and effort to come all the way to Missouri from Idaho.

This was an effort to bring a well-respected customer into our corporate office and distribution center so we could show them all of the resources they have at their disposal.  Not only that, we wanted to share our culture with them and spend just a little bit of time talking about open-book management.

PFSbrands Discovery Days

Our Discovery Days consisted of two days jam packed with an entire group of employee-owners talking about how we can support our customers.  We wanted to illustrate how dedicated we are to the success of our employee-owners, and in turn how dedicated they are to the success of our customers.  Plus, we wanted to show them that we are truly dedicated to helping others become more successful in life and in business.

We confirmed what we thought to be the case.  Our company truly believes that we have created something special.  We believe that we exist for a bigger purpose than just selling equipment, products, or even just selling branded chicken programs.  In fact, we know that we exist to help others become more successful and our entire group of employee-owners is laser focused on the greater cause.

You can’t fake culture!  You can’t fake financial literacy.  You can’t fake systems and processes.  You can’t fake data visibility.  You can’t fake a vision of technology that is outpacing even some of the best in the food industry.  All of this only comes together by way of an entire team focused on a common mission and vision, while living by guiding principles and core values.

Listening to Our Customers

This week I will be attending our semi-annual Franchise Advisory Committee (FAC) meetings.  We have some new members so I look forward to introducing them to our culture of support and success.  As we bring new members onto our FAC, we always ask for their input on what they would like to cover and learn.  One of the questions was, “What is your biggest challenge?”  In response, someone anonymously replied, “Hiring and keeping good help, but I don’t think you can help with that!

Well, let me say with confidence that we CAN help with that.  In fact, we can be a huge help in assisting retailers with developing a culture that people want to work within.  We can help you focus on first hiring the right people and then providing an environment for them to thrive within.

Do you know it is a fact that most people working within companies today have absolutely no clue how their job impacts the financial statement?  How could they?  They have never even been shown a financial statement, much less been educated on what it means.

I was lucky enough to grow up around business-minded parents so business has always come easy to me.  However, early in my career I was naïve and mistakenly assumed that everyone else should understand what we were all working toward.  The reality is that you MUST consistently and repeatedly teach and educate about the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flows of a business.

It is such a great feeling to work with an entire company of individuals that understand the financial statements and how their roles impact our profitability.

Becoming Employee Owned

On January 3rd of this year we become a 100% Employee Owned Company.  I’m beginning to get used to minority ownership.  However, in reality, things are not much different because we already had a great culture, a great group of co-owners, and a team dedicated to the success of others, co-workers, wholesalers, and retailers.

A couple weeks ago all of the co-owners did a video “thank you” to both Julie and me.  There is not a better gift that they could have offered to us.  It really helped to solidify why we decided to create an ESOP and why I get up every day to work with, and for this group of top notch individuals.  Here is a 6 minute short version of the video.

Want to Visit Us at Discovery Days?

Our Discovery Days have continued month after month.  Each time the participants leave with nothing but positive comments and a wealth of ideas on how they can improve their businesses.  In fact, many have commented that it was the most productive and informative two days they have every experienced.

For our team, that is truly rewarding.  We want to surround ourselves with customers that are determined to continuously improve.  Success breeds more success!

If you are truly interested in improving your foodservice and retail business, come check out our Discovery Days. Contact Customer.Success@PFSbrands.com.  We’d love to have you!