Consumers’ perception of a restaurant chain can make or break the brand. With labor in such short supply, the same can be said of prospective hires’ view of a potential place to work.
How does the industry’s workforce rate your brand as an employer? Answers were provided this week by William Blair’s annual listing of the best places to work in the chain portion of the business.
William Blair provides all sorts of financial services and research to equity investors. Since 2015, the company has applied its analytical abilities to what restaurant workers post about their employers on Glassdoor, the popular job-hunting site.
The data is crunched into a ranking of restaurant chains by how likely their employees are to recommend their place of work to a friend who’s looking for a job.
Rather than simply running the list of favored restaurant employers, we decided to commemorate the start of the school year with a pop quiz on the workplaces of choice. See how well you know where industry workers are the most content.
What restaurant chain is most appreciated (if not loved) by its employees?
A. Chipotle Mexican Grill
B. Starbucks
C. Shake Shack
D. In-N-Out
The correct answer: D
The regional burger chain has topped Blair’s employer of choice list for eight consecutive years, a fete the research company attributes to combining a winning culture and appealing values to the core plusses of abounding in good managers, opportunities for growth and scheduling flexibility. A whopping 87% of In-N-Out employees would recommend the company to a friend, according to the study.
The other three sources generated what William Blair termed mixed results. For example, the employee ratings of Starbucks’ senior-management quality (and the CEO in particular) slid from last year, though the coffee giant remained No. 1 in Blair’s diversity ratings and No. 2 in benefits.
Chipotle was more of an across-the-board decliner, according to the study, with what William Blair described as “surprisingly weak” employee ratings of senior management, CEO Brian Niccol and the workforce’s business outlook.
Which of these chains did not see a significant upswing in evaluations from their employees?
A. Black Rifle Coffee
B. Dutch Bros
C. Sweetgreen
D. Portillo’s
Correct answer: C
“After peaking in 2019, Sweetgreen has experienced a broad downward trend in most areas, save career opportunities,” the William Blair report noted.
Other remarkable declines were generated for Shake Shack, BJ’s Restaurants and Kira Sushi.
Which of these chains had the most remarkable improvements in their ratings by employees?
A. Dave & Buster’s
B. Black Rifle Coffee
C. Outback Steakhouse
D. Portillo’s
Correct answer: D (though with partial credit for A)
“Portillo’s jumped 47 positions to Number 40” in the propensity of employees to recommend the chain as a place to work, “the largest gain of any company in our coverage,” William Blair noted.
But it also observed that Dave & Buster’s “had the most material improvement in our coverage in positive business outlook alongside steady to improving trends across most areas.”
The report noted that Black Rifle Coffee was no slouch, either, with 76% of employees saying they’d recommend the company as an employer.
Which of the six employer attributes gauged by the study was least likely to win a company a recommendation from employees as a good place to work?
A. Culture/values
B. Career opportunities
C. Work/life balance
D. Pay scale
E. Proficiency of senior management
F. Diversity/inclusion
Correct answer: D
Prior to the onset of the pandemic, employers were learning that pay had increased in importance to prospective hires. But the William Blair study found that the connection between wages and workers’ likelihood of recommending their employer was relatively weak, signaling that soft attributes like culture and opportunity have gained importance.
A complete copy of the William Blair study can be viewed here.
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