5 Year Culinary Adventures
Creating exceptional experiences for others is near and dear to our hearts at Footers. It is woven into the fabric of what we believe and a large part of what has made us successful. It’s rooted in our history with stories of my father pouring wine for patrons while they literally sat on the curb waiting for a table at the original Footers restaurant and many times when he would follow up with expecting parents to deliver dinner in the hospital when their children were born. Our team continues to thrive on creating these experiences today and relishes in the countless testimonials we get from our clients. While the third part of our mission statement refers to this in terms of our customers, we also believe it applies for our team. Since purchasing the business from my father, April and I have always wanted the experience of working at Footers to be Awesome.
While there are a number of things we do to recognize our team, one of our favorites is our five year anniversary trips. Inspired by New Belgium Brewing, who takes employees on a trip to Belgium after five years of service, we thought; “Why can’t we do something like that?” We worked on a budget and logistics and determined that anyone who had been in a management position for five years would be eligible for a culinary learning adventure. The first “5 year” trip in 2012 was to Alaska. We took Lindsey Gertz and Colbért Callen along with their spouses on an all expenses paid cruise through the Inside Passage that was sponsored by Food and Wine Magazine. Through culinary demos, fishing excursions, incredible dinners and a few Alaskan beers, we had an amazing adventure that none of us had ever experienced before. During the trip, Lindsey’s husband Ryan asked; “This is an every five year trip right?” alluding to his desire to do it again in five years. April and I honestly hadn’t even considered it, but said, “Hell ya, if Lindsey’s here in five years, we’ll do it again!” Fast forward to now and we are currently planning for Lindsey and Colbért’s 15 year trip!
Since Alaska, we’ve been to Turks and Caicos, Maui, Tahiti, Mexico City, Greece and Grand Cayman for a mix of five and ten year trips for our team members. I’m currently writing this on the plane flying back from our most recent trip to The Bahamas Culinary and Arts Festival presented by Baha Mar, where we were celebrating the five year anniversary of three of our awesome team members (Colleen, Dylan and Krystal). April puts together an incredible itinerary for each of these trips that combines education, culture, food, drinks and fun. The common thread is that we want to create an experience for our team members that they will never forget. While material items and money fade away, memories last forever. Five years is a long time and our success as a company is dependent on our people, so we love to do these trips as a thank you for their dedication and the support of their significant other.
At our inaugural mibe Summit on January 22nd-24th through our mibeAwards, we want to hear from you about your Employee Recognition programs! We realize our five year trips are an elaborate way to recognize employees. Some of the best recognition programs actually cost little to no money, just effort and dedication to implement. From simple yet impactful, to wide spread and whimsical, there are so many great ways all of you are recognizing your employees and we want to celebrate them at our first annual mibe awards.