We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Hermosillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.
Natalie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
One of the things that our brand focuses on is how we serve our guests and setting ourselves apart from other restaurant corporations. In an industry where cost is consistently increasing for the consumer we strive to deliver an experience that ensures our guests have premium quality food with premium service at moderate pricing. I believe that you can go anywhere and get good food but to get good food and great service is rare these days.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started working in the restaurant industry in high school as a host and worked for several different restaurant companies while going to school and working other jobs in retail, warehouses, and offices. I knew that the restaurant industry was what I loved and had continued growth over the years; starting out as a Host but quickly being promoted to Foodrunner, Server and Bartender. I was involved as a floor trainer and shift lead and ultimately decided that I was going to continue my career path in the restaurant industry. I became an Assistant Manager, then promoted to Bar Manager, Unit Training Manager, Assistant GM, General Manager and made Managing Partner. My next goal is to be a multi unit Regional Director. I believe that I have had success in managing teams because I believe in creating an environment for team members to not only be successful in the restaurant, but successful in their career path choices, as most restaurant workers are working part time to pursue other career goals. I also attribute my success to my passion to ensure and promote the brand to the highest standard.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I am constantly focused on personal growth and believe that in a management position its imperative to continue to develop new ways of thinking or even remind yourself of thinhs you already know but can get lost in the day to day. Ive read and re read Lessons in Service by Charlie trotter, Setting The Table by Danny Meyer, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. In addition to reading, podcasts are a go to as well, especially if Im looking for direction on how to deal with a specific situation, its easy to put in some key words and search. One of my current favorite podcasts is Women At Work. Being a female in a management role has its own separate set of challenges and then add being a Mom to that, its great to hear stories from women who have the same challenges and hear about how they succeed.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Managing a team and maintaining high morale is probably one of the biggest challenges a leader can face. I believe that communication with the team plays an important role. There are often times where changes are being made and it is always with the best intention for our guests, but change is hard for anyone so if you are not communicative with the team and explaining the why behind the what you can lose buy in from your team. Ive had leaders that have been the “do it cause I said so” and I have never wanted to be that type of leader so I always lead with the why with my team and hope that they buy into the goal. In addition, get to know your team. Often times you spend more time with the people you work with then you do your own family and friends so buy into them and who they are outside of work. I believe that when you know what a team member is dealing with outside of work it can help you manage your people with empathy,
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