The Ripple Effect: How Internal Hospitality Transforms Culture - Jennifer Krapp, The Indigo Road Hospitality Group

Jennifer: It wasn't until I got to The Indigo Road and really spent a lot of time with Steve that I truly understood how important it is to be hospitable to your team and to your people and to the employees that you work with, right? I kind of already knew, you know, always knew that there was this time in, you know, I'll reference Canoe again, because it really was, you know, a monumental time in my life of how I grew up in the hospitality industry. But I remember there was this time when we were super short-staffed. I think there were about 35 or 40 people, and I think we only had about 20 or 25. We were just so short-staffed, so everybody was working doubles every single day. We were 13 out of 14 shifts a week. And we were coming up on Easter, which is one of the busiest holidays. And I remembered, you know, I started thinking about like, man, what can I do for this team? Because I feel horrible that we're, you know, it doesn't mean anything for me to work doubles, right? That's just what I do. But for these other, you know, for people that are not used to doing that, and they're not good with it, you know, it was really wearing on them. So I came up with this idea that I was going to get a group of my friends to come in that were in the hospitality industry, but didn't work at Canoe. They were going to come in and do all of the side work for everybody. So they did all the side work at like seven in the morning, got everything done, got it all set up. We couldn't do it with the kitchen, but we were doing it with the front of the house. And then I also had some of the guys that do our catering times come in and prep a whole big Easter brunch. And then we laid eggs all over the lawn. So when everyone came in, they went straight to have Easter brunch together, and then they did an Easter egg hunt, and then they were to start their shift. And those types of moments, doing things like that, where you're like, you matter to me, and it's not just, here's the job, do the job. It's you who matters to us; you matter to me, and I want to make sure you feel good. And I think that I always knew that, but it wasn't until we got to the Indigo Road that we spoke on it on a daily basis. And I am always talking about how much that matters. Did you really see a shift in how people feel when they come to, I mean, that's what we're now known for, that people will come to the Indigo Road because they hear about how we are with our people and how we take care of each other. And I think that that's pretty spectacular. And I'm honored and grateful.

Josiah: Yeah, well, it's amazing. And I think, talking to Steve, and then I spoke with Catherine Ames a little while back, and I feel like both from some of the people you work with and outside the industry, this comes up again and again, it's really different. I'm curious, from your perspective, what are the specific kind of tactical things that you do internally with your teams to be hospitable to your teams? This seems like such a difference for what you're doing.

Jennifer: Absolutely. I think that it depends. Every moment is curated and done differently. If we're always thinking about what are we going to do for this person because it's their birthday, or their anniversary to the company, or they're going through a hard time, or they're having a kid, we make little chef coats for the newborn. You know, we do a lot of fun things like that, right? But then we have other things where probably my favorite thing that we have done is Steve and I came up with something called Hospitality U, where we take, in fact, we're doing our second annual one this year, where we take 10 to 12 people through a series of people nominating, I nominate this person, someone that wants to grow in the company, someone that loves our company and wants to grow in the industry, wants to be a better leader, maybe they're a server, they want to become a manager, they're a line cook that wants to become a chef or a sous chef that wants to become an executive chef, or even a marketing person that wants to increase their time and become more in the marketing department, anything like that. We've taken those 10 to 12 people last year, and now we're, I think, we did nine last year. We're doing 12 this year and curating an entire three-day experience with them. And it's based on a questionnaire that we send them where they're, what they want to achieve, you know, what they want to learn, what their growth thought is, and Like what, where do they see themselves going? What do they need? to get there? What is your favorite Starbucks drink? What's your favorite food? What is the thing that matters most to you? And so we curated an entire experience for three days where they came to Charleston. They set down their bags. They went on an excursion in Charleston. Their bags went to this house. We had a backpack, a sweatshirt, a hat, all these things that were sitting on their bed. They get to this big, huge house that they're all staying in.  Steve, the culinary directors, and I all cook and serve their dinner to them in this house. So they're being served by us and experiencing what hospitality feels like to them in that moment. And then the next day they go to the gym, where they work out because I'm telling them it's going to be uncomfortable and you've got to get through it. So they all go in because who what chefs were really workout. I mean, some are some workout, but most of the time they're like, I'm sorry, you want me to do what? So we got them all to the gym, they did a little workout, and then they did a cold plunge and sauna. And they went through that together. The whole experience. Yes, the whole experience. They did meditation as well in that timeframe. And then they went into these specific classes, there was like somebody, their mentor for the weekend, went and picked them up individually, and they took them to whatever they were wanting to learn about, right? So if it was The chef, I think they went to a farm and had quality time one-on-one with talking about farms and what that means and why it's so important, et cetera, et cetera. So we had all these different people going to different places, and then they'd come back, get on a boat ride, and go with Steve to King's Tide, our restaurant on the water. So they all rode up on a boat with Steve, got some quality time with him. Just kind of basically loved on them, right? Like we, we just, we're like, we, we care about you. What do you need? What are the things that you want to be successful? How can we help you get there? And the impact that that made on those nine specific individuals and to listen to them, I mean, every single one of them at the very end were in tears about how much we went out of our way to, to show them and tell them how much we care about them. I think that those types of moments will forever be, you know, in their brain and how can they pass that thing. They're super excited and want to be a part of the next group of people, right? So this one that's coming up, they're like, can we please do something with that? We want to help make that memory happen. And it gets contagious. And I think that those types of things you know, really, really make just such a massive impact. I also have something that we started called Lasting Impressions. It is an Instagram that is a private Instagram for anybody that works in our company. They follow, basically it's a series of any surprise and delight, something specifically curated for a guest or for an employee that gets captured sent to us and then we put it up on Instagram. It's just a page of tons of feel-good stuff about how to make somebody's day. What are some things that you can do that just give somebody a smile and give somebody a meaning?