Kerry Ichimasa, acting GM of the KS restaurant conducted the monthly meeting with the front of the house in the absence of Kathy Kawashige, who is temporarily the acting GM of Amasia in Maui. In the foreground of this photo is the equivalent of all the chinaware, glassware, and silverware we lost in May. Kerry set this up so everyone could physically see what was lost. It gives the staff a better understanding of why we might not have some items, or at least understand/appreciate the idea of controlling our expenses.
They talk about a lot of things in this meeting. We like transparency, so we share financial numbers with our staff. We believe in training, so the staff needs to know what areas need working on and put an emphasis on that. We like to communicate so that everyone knows what's going on in the entire company.
I really appreciate the time everyone takes in planning and conducting these meetings. I do believe that, even though some employees would rather be doing something else, a lot of great things come out of making this effort for them. Through these meetings we share a lot of our culture as an organization and have a chance to get inside our staff's awareness and consciousness. Their belief in us and our product is vital to our success as a restaurant. Their success is our success.
~AW