Dave Rife hadn’t worked behind a White Castle counter in more than 10 years when he participated in the reality TV show “Undercover Boss.” He felt comfortable with some aspects of the work, but struggled with others.
“It gave me an opportunity to see the challenges our people face on a daily basis,” says Rife, great grandson of the Columbus, Ohio, company’s founder. “And it reaffirmed what I already knew: that we have fantastic team members.”
Rife, assistant vice president, said the experience taught him how to create a better company, retain the best employees and help those team members pursue their aspirations. White Castle is an original member of the National Restaurant Association.
Rife was particularly impressed with Jose Gonzales, an 18-year-old who works in a Chicago-area store. Gonzales, who joined the team soon after he turned 16, shared his home-made salsa verde with Rife. He also shared his dream of going to culinary school and opening his own restaurant.
“I was really impressed with him,” Rife says. “You don’t see many kids that age as focused and driven.
After spending time with Gonzales during filming, White Castle gave him a $20,000 scholarship ($5,000 a year) to attend Kendall College in Chicago. When Rife brought Gonzalez and another team member, Joe Brown, to the NRA Show in May, the National Restaurant Association Educational Association gave Gonzales a $10,000 scholarship.
“I wanted them to see how big the restaurant industry is, how big the Association is and what the Association does,” Rife says. “They were kind of blown away.”
The NRA Show attracts about 60,000 attendees from more than 120 companies over four days, as well as 1,700 exhibitors.
Last week, Rife and the White Castle culinary team returned to Chicago to visit Gonzalez. They went to Kendall College to cook a preliminary batch of “Jose’s Salsa,” which company plans to test as a hamburger topping in limited markets this fall.
“Jose is a very valuable member of our team, and he has a lot of potential,” Rife says. “I don’t want to lose him, but I don’t want to do anything to squash his dream. Ninety years ago, my great grandfather had a dream, and look at where it got us.”
Read on for Rife’s lessons-learned through “Undercover Boss:”
• Do a better job of communicating and listening. With multiple levels of management between company leaders and front-line employees, “the listening piece is very important,” Rife says. The front-line employees have great ideas to make their jobs more effective and simpler, he says. The company created a suggestion program so team members can submit ideas about what the company can do to make things better for them. “My grandfather used to say, ‘Happy team members mean happy customers,’” Rife says. “The most valuable asset we have is those team members.”
• Show team members that you care about them. After Rife discussed health issues with team member Donna Davis during filming, White Castle has started offering regional health fairs to ensure team members get wellness checks. It also started covering co-payments for employees’ annual physicals. “We want healthy, well cared-for employees,” Rife says.
• Celebrate achievements and longevity. The average tenure for White Castle general managers and executives is 19 years, and turnover is relatively low for front-line workers, he says. Recently, the company set June 8 as “Elaine Miseta Day,” to recognize a woman who retired after 67 years. She was the administrative assistant to Rife’s great-grandfather, grandfather and uncle. Employees who make it to 15 years receive a pin that says, “15 years – 52 to go,” in honor of her tenure. The company also wines and dines members of its “25-Year Club,” at a three-day expense-paid gala each year.
• Promote scholarships throughout the organization. Although White Castle has given employees and employees’ children $1 million scholarships in the past 20 years, Gonzales apparently didn’t know about it.
