Earlier this year, the Seattle restaurant Canlis announced a bold experiment just for the summer: Giving the entire team weekends off.
Real weekends: Saturday and Sunday. These are the weekend days civilians traditionally enjoy, when the weddings and camping trips are often scheduled—those events people in the restaurant industry often miss because they are working on Saturday nights.
So between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Canlis announced it would only be open Monday through Friday, to allow team members to be really off on Saturdays and Sundays.
So how did it go?
“It was so fun. Our staff loved it. We loved it,” said co-owner Brian Canlis. “So many guests commented on it. It was neat to see the enthusiasm and energy from the city, how supportive they were of an old business trying new things.”
It did impact sales, but not so much in the dining room, Canlis said.
“Our dining room was very busy and stayed very busy, especially because Monday nights are a night when so many restaurants are closed in Seattle. There were a lot of people walking in and saying, ‘Hurray! There’s a restaurant open on Monday,’” Canlis said. “So Mondays were busy and fun.”
The real hit was in private events. Canlis is a popular spot for weddings. “Normally in the summer, every single Saturday night I’m throwing a wedding upstairs in our private room,” he said. “There are fewer people who want to get married on a Monday.”
But Canlis said it was a small price to pay. It was only a couple of months, he said, and the goodwill felt among the staff and community was worth it.
“It also sends a message to the team that no idea is too crazy. I think that’s the most powerful thing,” he added. “We were willing to take risks, if it’s for a good cause, if it’s for the health and culture of our team.”
And that culture is very important to Canlis.
Earlier this week, the restaurant agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by some workers alleging violations of the state’s wage theft ordinance. The complaint included charges that the restaurant failed to pay for first-day trial, or “stage” work, as well as failure to pay for rest breaks and improper distribution of an automatic service charge.
Canlis disagreed with the accusations. He said he found the whole thing “deeply unjust” because the restaurant does treat workers well, and has for 75 years, he said. Canlis was founded by his grandfather and some staff members have been with the restaurant for more than 30 years.
“If I were stealing from our employees, I don’t think I would have a healthy and thriving team with incredible tenure,” Canlis said.
The weekends off experiment is an example of how the restaurant takes risks for its staff, he said, but there are others.
Last month, for example, Canlis invited the entire team to go skydiving together, followed by a barbecue/hoedown/square dance, he said. (About 60 of the 100 or so employees actually did the jump.)
Canlis recently took the team skydiving as a team-building adventure. | Photo courtesy of Canlis.
Canlis isn’t sure yet whether the weekends-off plan will go into effect next summer, but that’s only because he has some other “giant ideas” brewing for staff health.
But, to other restaurant operators who are thinking about attempting the experiment, Canlis says: Go for it.
“We created a magical summer that people will never forget,” he said. “When morale and culture are up, the guest dining experience is better. In that case, it sure feels like a win.”