il JEFí HñRVEY'S

How the former electrical engineer bred a culture of creativity at Burgerville

BY SAM SMITH

EFF HARVEY'S FORMUIA FOR INNOVATION GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS: Enthusiasm plus ownership equals creativity and a willingness J to take on challenges. Since he's heen at the helm of Burgerville, the 39-unit chain hased in Vancouver, , he's proven the formula time and again, most notahly with a seasonal, gourmet LTO program that hit its stride this year and saw the company improve its new product introduction time from 12 months to 6 weeks—and helped keep sales from declining in the down economy.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KRISTINA WRIGHT

www.monkeydish.com December 2010 Restaurant Business 29 Í "We entered this model when I came in here, and it literally every step of the way," he says. DISCUSSIONS, THE SALMON started with a conversation ....We said we really need to be "I wasn't trained in this business." CREEK ONITINTROOOCEO creating self-directed, self-managed teams. So that means we In fact, when Harvey was offered the BEER ANO WINE-AT A FAST give a lot of autonomy and freedom to each management COO job at Burgerville five years ago— team in each restaurant. he was promoted to CEO in 2008—he "When you create that kind of environment with the people turned it down. Of Tom Mears, Burgerville's chairman and on the front lines you're going to get creative ideas back out." Harvey's friend of 20 years and the man who offered the job, The results of the innovative environment Harvey has fos- Harvey says, "I thought he was crazy." tered are impressive. Some of the initiatives over the past five In Harvey's defense, it wasn't an obvious fit. He spent his career years include: 100 percent wind power for all it's locations; up to that point as an electrical engineer. Zero foodservice. health insurance for all employees, including part-timers; a Harvey and Mears met during a series of management and company-wide composting and recycling program; beer and leadership courses. The training revealed a lot about the par- wine service; Nomad, the Burgerville food truck (pictured on ticipants, Mears says, and his and Harvey's continued friend- the cover); calorie counts on receipts (see page 18); drive-thru ship taught him about Harvey's ideals—mainly his deep car- lanes opened to bicyclists; new compostable cups and lids; a ing for people and interest in contributing to the community. partnership with biodiesel producers to reuse spent cooking "I knew he was a really creative guy," Mears adds. I oil; the Community Champions program to recognize people "I had an opening in the company and didn't have anybody making a difference and to support local charities; and the internally who could step in to fill it," he continues. "I was LTOs—which have included things like Balsamic Strawberry showering one morning and thought, I wonder about Jeff." Goat Cheese Panino and Ale Battered Albacore with Summer It's a decision that has paid off in more than an innovative Slaw—made with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. culture. Annual sales at Burgerville, according to Technomic, The majority of those initiatives didn't originate with Harvey rose from $55 million in 2005 to $68.8 million in 2008. or the executive team, but bubbled up from employees at all Sales maintained that peak through 2009, the worst of the levels, including front line crews at the restaurants. Harvey's recession. And this is at a premium-priced concept. role, as he puts it, is to encourage and support, and, well, Harvey says he changed his mind as Mears discussed the other things he hasn't figured out yet. "I'm learning my role positive impact the job could allow and the meaning it could

Ale Battered Albacore Spiced Cranberry 30 Restaurant Business 08CBmber2010 www.monkeydish.com the ' ° & Summer Slaw Chicken that could feel saccharine somewhere else, but feels sincere The Pumpkin coming from Harvey—that basically encompasses the chain's priority on doing the right thing. "That's when creative ideas came forward," Harvey says. The anatomy of a "Our recycling and composting program was completely hyper-local LTO generated by people in a restaurant. The only thing I did was say yes." The pumpkins in the seasonal and Second, stand for the greatness smoothies are grown at Stahlbush Island Farms, of people located in the Willamette The regional manager system wasn't the only vestige of Valley. The pumpkin puree top-down control Harvey wanted to clear out of the chain. from the farm is processed The semi-regular GM meetings didn't, shall we say, serve by Truitt Bros. Inc., a vdth love. They were lectures where headquarters would give Salem, -based cus- tom food manufacturer. out marching orders. They were one-way conversations. In Harvey's eyes they didn't just stifle creativity, they undercut The Ice cream used in the the confidence of GMs. He revamped them. milkshakes comes locally from Now the GM meetings are two days long. The first half of Sunshine Dairy Foods and the the first day is spent giving the status of Burgerville's business frozen yogurt smoothie offer- ings come from Portland-based and there's discussion of market trends. "Then," says Harvey, Yo-Cream International. "it's, 'Okay, given what you're hearing, where do you see the opportunities—the opportunities for your restaurant, for you, bring to his life and other people's lives. Heady stuff for a fast for the company?' We spend a day and a half brainstorming. food chain. "Life, no matter how you cut it, has gotten pretty By the end, everybody is leaving with a clear idea of what to complex," Harvey says. "There are a lot of challenges that are work on." bigger than any individual. People are consciously looking for A new breakfast burrito that launched in November came hope: 'Where do I see potential, a ray of hope, a difference from a soft-spoken GM at one of these meetings. getting made.'" "I'd always challenge him to speak up," says Harvey. "As he Harvey says he saw in Burgerville what its customers see, a gained confidence, he raised his hand at the GM meeting and place that's making a difference. It's been Harvey's ability to said, 'Jeff I think we need a stronger breakfast and I think we inspire his team to innovate and his dedication to simply doing need a breakfast burrito.' I said write up your ideas. I half the right thing by its customers and employees that makes thought he wasn't going to do it. A week later he called me up." him Restaurant Business's 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year. It's a key part of Harvey's job, as he describes it. It was one And now, a closer look at some of the important steps thing to strip away the old command-and-control structure, but Harvey took along the way to foster creativity and that all- then he needed to convince people they could do great things. important "meaning" at Burgerville. "It's saying, 'You've got it, you've always had it, it's you, it's always been you.' Keep putting that in front of them. Everybody First, decentralize gets challenged in their confidence. Everybody runs into that The first thing Harvey did of note after joining Burgerville was obstacle, that breakdown that almost wants to break you. You to get rid of its regional manager system. know, 'You're not the one, it's not your time, go away now.' I "When I came into the organization, we had more of a com- won't do that. I won't tell somebody, 'It's not your time now.' mand-and-control model," says Harvey. "Regional managers were accountable for management of four or five restaurants. Third, embrace breakdowns They had relationships with the GMs of those restaurants. But When Harvey suggested that they speed up new product they were telling |the GMs] what to do. 'I'm looking at your launches from 12 months to six weeks so they could introduce numbers, you're off here, this is what you need to do.'... [The seasonal LTOs every month, he knew it would be challenging. GMs] felt micromanaged, harried, challenged to meet every "Hopefully, out there it looked pretty simple," he says. expectation. When I started to look at, how are we going to get "Internally, it threw this company through major change. the best out of those teams, their best ideas, their best There's been change with every initiative, but not this perva- engagement with guests, how's that going to happen in that sive. It really did affect every operational structure, how we kind of top-down environment? It just didn't match up." manage labor, supply chain, menus, pricing, training, not a So the regional management system was out. The company thing it didn't touch." then ramped up training for GMs on how to run a business, And sure enough, people's confidence was challenged. how to create and manage a team and how to be creative in "People would say, 'We can't do it.' And I'd say, 'Got it. But the face of big challenges. Finally, they were taught about the what if we're committed to it.' Or, 'Who are you dialoguing I company's mission statement. Serve with Love—a statement with. Let's get people together to talk about it.'" Pickled Pepper . Golden Fried 32 Restaurant Business Decmnbsr 2010 www.monkeydish.com Balsamic Strawberry Cheeseburger Asparagus Spears Goat Cheese Panino As Harvey likes to say, breakdowns are the path to break- "She realized that story telling was a more powerful throughs. "If you're not causing breakdowns," he says, "then marketing tool at the restaurant level than most anything else you're never going to innovate." Here's what some of the we were doing," Harvey says. She put a training program major breakdowns and breakthroughs looked like on the way together, including videos she produced. It focused on telling from 12 months of R&D to six weeks: customers about the local and sustainable ingredients

In 2008, Harvey established a Chefs Council, made up of fou¡ The director of training was brought in, distilled each member's G Ms with culinary backgrounds, to drive the LTO Initiative. vision of the project and put those together into a plan with They'd never viforked together before and spent the first six each member assigned different roles: recipe development, I weeks arguing over direction. restaurant execution, training and gourmet presentation. HHHHH^^H^HH^Bfl The LTOs were to be based on The supply team was brought in and engaged Sysco to help ^^^^'^^^mm^^^lH local, seasonal ingredients. outline available ingredients. They also began developing W '^ ^MI Great! So what is local and more relationships with local farmers who could supply things • r ^ A^KB seasonal throughout the year? like hazelnuts, pumpkin and strawberries.

H^^fc^^^^^^-^ ^^^ To get started, an outside culi- The restaurant-execution team leader began developing case- f *'-iv. ., ...^at" T r .iSF^ nary consultant was brought in by-case and sometimes restaurant-by-restaurant solutions. For AN LTO COOKING TUTORIAL AT THE to help develop recipes. It's instance, a fresh salmon sandwich LTO couldnt be cooked on NEW DEMONSTRATION KITCHEN „„^ ^.„^ ,^ ^^^^.^^ , ^¡p,, the same grill as . So some restaurants had their hough, and another to execute it in a restaurant grills partitioned. Others had to bring in flat grills for the salmon. -quipment limitations soon became a problem. After that LTO was done, the grills were used for other items.

Training was another challenge. The Chefs Council would Equipment supplier Bargreen Ellingson developed a test initially bring GMs together at a unit and use its kitchen kitchen for Burgerville and other clients. Now the Chefs to train them on the new LTO, causing big problems for the Council and GMs meet offsite for a day of LTO training each crews trying to get orders out. month. I The Yukon White Bean Basil Burger was the first LTO intro- Testing was expanded for all future LTOs and new lines of luced in early 2009. While it prepared fine for the Chefs communication-a toll-free number and email address for the -il, GMs found it came out dry and guests complained. Chefs Council-were opened up to help solicit feedbaci

For a lamb burger LTO, the Chefs Council tried to source LTOs are now planned and sourced for the entire year product six weeks prior to introduction. Ugh! at once.

"[The LTOs] have created a skill set and capability in the Burgerville was using and the farmers who raised them. restaurants that was far more powerful than anything we had The listening extends, naturally, to the customers too. As before," says Harvey. "Our employees are not just assembling part of the decentralized nature of the chain, individual units now, they're actually creating food, creating gour- take it upon themselves to hold local focus groups, which is met profiles you can pick up in our drive-thru. There's a lot what led to the introduction of beer and wine at one tmit. of pride in that, a lot of ownership in that." "People say we're uncommon from our peers," Harvey says. For 2010 the LTO team started bringing in local chefs, giv- "I think the uncommonness comes from the relationship we ing them the featured ingredient and allowing them to come strive to build with the guests. That's not just happenstance. up with a dish. They are featured in promotional materials, That comes from, one, the mission and, two, from developing connecting the program more with the broader community. our people with things like LTOs and renewable energy ... we develop the tools so they have rich ground to pull from. You Fourth, listen, always listen can never tell when someone comes in on what basis you're Harvey says when he's talking to employees he tries to "listen going to build that relationship. Is it going to be based on the creatively." He tries to hear what animates them, what gets order they place, their beliefs, their family, their business? The them excited. He then directs that passion toward the mission more tools you've given your people to engage with, the more of the chain. When employees feel they're heard, they are powerful and productive they're going to be in developing more inclined to speak up with ideas. And when they learn to that relationship." listen too, they come up with more ideas. Four years ago, a marketing department employee tapped Next... into the idea of story telling. Harvey will figure it out as he goes along... D

Rosemary Chicken Grilled Asparagus Panko Portobello Restaurant Business 0eceinber2010 www.monkeydish.com Sandwich and Tomato Melt Wedges