Tasty Catering is an organization that’s won dozens and dozens of awards for its culture that puts people first. So what makes it so unique?

We recently took a tour of Tasty Catering, and here’s some of the “special sauce” behind the business:

Employees know when leaders genuinely care...and leaders at Tasty Catering deeply care.

Many times throughout our time with Tom Walter, Chief Culture Officer, he stopped an employee for a moment and told us their name, about their family, and then shared a story or two about the employee. Tom was so proud of all his employees and so eager for us to meet them—even if just for a minute.

You could tell he genuinely cares so deeply about each person in the company. It’s incredible to see, and worth repeating: He clearly cares about his team as individuals. This is one of the biggest lessons of the trip, and worth reflecting on: how much do you know about your employees as people, outside of work? How much do you care to know about all your people? Caring about them as people is a key component in unleashing their potential.

You can have freedom, responsibility, discipline, and constructive accountability in your organization—just like at Tasty Catering.

Tasty Catering has been able to do this because they do put employees first, and as a result, employees do go above and beyond to serve the customer.

It may seem like a balancing act, but Tasty Catering has mastered the ability to give employees enough freedom to do what’s right—but also have the values to act as a scorecard/guidance for employees as needed. Empowering employees to use their judgment + giving them guidance and coaching + accountability along the way = a powerful combination when it comes to creating a culture that requires operational excellence every day.

Look closely: the costs of these items are shown so that employees can be more mindful and aware!

Team members make important lessons (or the process) visible.

Tasty Catering practices open book management, so they do put the financials on display and go over them as a team. That’s part of the process they follow to make the numbers more visible, and more meaningful to employees.

One of the things Tasty Catering also does is put the prices of various food and other items on display, showing just how much they cost. In the catering business, so much money can be lost on food that goes to waste OR items that are simply left behind or discarded or treated wastefully.

By showing employees just how much some of these items cost (think: forks, spoons, knives, ladles, etc.) the company, people are that much more aware of what they can do to positively impact the bottom line.