Several team members at Edoc recently took at a tour with our friends at Tasty Catering—an award-winning, catering company that’s been recognized as one of America’s Best Small companies.

Tom Walter, Chief Culture Officer at Tasty Catering, gave us the tour (a 23,000 square foot building in Elk Grove Village, Illinois) and shared so many experiences and stories with us.

Here are three things I was able to witness first-hand on the tour:

Hire for attitude and culture fit.

Part of why Tasty Catering has such enviable culture is that they screen for skill, but hire for attitude. This is part of why they aren’t just good—but they are great. Part of the hiring process includes agreeing to follow the core values of Tasty Catering.

This is clearly one of the most impactful ways Tasty Catering is releasing and harnessing employees’ discretionary effort and energy. It might be something business owners nod their head in agreement with, but it’s worth remembering how critical this step is to protecting your culture.

Tasty Catering has a multitude of awards celebrating their culture.

Culture is your most valuable asset, so protect it.

For all the organizations we visited, including Tasty Catering, one theme continued to shine through: culture is a powerful competitive advantage, and it’s a sustainable competitive advantage.

Tom shared culture is so powerful because it can’t easily be replicated (unlike products/services); it’s what the marketplace encounters (your customers can tell when your employees are happy engaged!); it leads to higher financial performance; and it inspires loyalty and increases discretionary effort. When you think of it this way, it’s easy to see why healthy, engaged cultures are so rare and difficult to copy.

Put employees first.

One thing is clear as you walk through Tasty Catering: the employees are put first. It’s also clear that employees can feel this focus, and as a result, they are more engaged and more connected with their work. This isn’t at all to say the company is run like a democracy (which it isn’t); rather, this is to say that people are treated with respect and their viewed for their long-term potential within the organization.

Come back for more insights I learned on the trip to Chicago.