January 25, 2013
CEO Newsletter
Te3am,
Just like at the beginning of every New Year, I had the opportunity to take stock of where we are as a company and look for ways for our enterprise, and myself personally, to improve, increase our relevance and further reinforce our position in the industry. Coincidentally, very recently the selection committee for the renewal of the Colorado Convention Center (we are still awaiting the City’s decision) forwarded us a list of questions to be answered during our presentation. On the list – Why is Centerplate the right partner for Denver?
The reality is that we outperform our competitors on every measure that is important to the industry. As I have stated numerous times, our people are our foundation, our present and our future. Our team is central to us being the right partner for any city or venue. As you know, we have many ways to measure our performance – sales, service standards, bottom line growth and QUE3ST reviews.
While reviewing our competitors’ websites I came across “Glassdoor”. While the website is not perfect, it gives us a good read on what our customers and our employees are saying about Centerplate and conveniently also provides a comparison with our competitors. The good news from the Glassdoor reviews is that overall we smoke them; just like in every other measure we have been able to compare. Furthermore, the feedback provides us with very useful information on how we can improve our game. Visit www.glassdoor.com to see for yourself. Here are some of the findings (on scale of 1 to 5):
The first measure ranked was the overall ratings by employee feedback. Centerplate ranked
FIRST! We scored 10% higher than 2nd place Levy and 30% better than SMG:
- Centerplate – 3.8
- Levy’s – 3.3
- Aramark – 3.1
- Delaware North – 2.9
- SMG – 2.8
- Ovations – 2.8
The second important measure is if the evaluator would recommend a friend to work for the company. We ranked a close second on this. Even on this measure, with the exception of Levy’s, we are 10% to 34% better rated then the rest of the field.
- Levy’s 68%
- Centerplate 64%
- Aramark 54%
- Delaware North 53%
- Ovations 33%
- SMG 30%
Attached is a list of individual rankings on some Centerplate venues. See if your venue is ranked and take the feedback for what it is – a gift – and take steps to improve or to reinforce positive team behavior. If your venue is not listed, please encourage team feedback so we can again drive over the difference of the Centerplate Way.
E3 moments of the week …
It’s been a busy two weeks at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. First, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. celebrated its 100-year anniversary at the center over a 3-day period with the highlight being a Founder’s Day Dinner for 12,100 guests. Next Centerplate was on the world stage playing host to the President’s Inaugural Ball which spanned every hall in the convention center with 34,000 attendees. The Commander-In-Chief’s Ball once again honored active duty and reserve service men and women, Medal of Honor recipients and wounded warriors and spouses with troops around the world joining in the festivities virtually. Great job by Bobby Ahmed, Abdel Anane, Mariana Asselli, Paul Benson, Kayley Boyle, Charles Burnett, Kimberly Byrd, Jacinta Carter, John Castro, Jonathan Davis, Hesham Farrid, Judith Goodkin, Julie Jauregui, Vinnette Johnson, Lisa Kerr, Shidonna Lucas, Terence Luther, Nigel Marshall, Curtis McDonald, Vince McPhail, Art McZier, John Monday, Keisha Moody, Selborne Morgan, Javon Morrison, Valencia Neal, Raja Najed, Steve Paret, Walter Perez, Jonathan Philippe, Rafael Rodriguez, Samuel Ross, Pamela Shann, Patrick Thelwell, David Thompson and our entire team in Washington, D.C.!
Congratulations to Steve Trotter on receiving the “Active Member of the Year” award at the recent Louisiana Restaurant Association Installation Dinner. The award is in recognition of a member active in chapter affairs that attends chapter meetings, takes part in committee activities, encourages others to join the association and recognizes the importance of the association and its members.
At Gunstock Mountain Resort, Operations Manager Mary MacDonald started two new programs that have been huge hits with our client, resort employees and our guests. The Learning Center Ambassador Program offers a 10% discount card at our Powder Keg or Pistol Pub restaurant to students at the Ski School given to them by their ski instructor who signs his/her name to the card. When the discount cards are redeemed, the ski instructors in turn receive a $10 gift card to the restaurants for every $100 spent by their students. The program had brought in more than $2k in sales in its first month. A kids coloring contest in the Powder Keg restaurant offers a $10 gift card to the winner – our first winner, a 6-year old named Matthew, very proudly walked into the restaurant, announced he was the winner and was there to collect his prize and it was hard to tell who was more excited, Matthew or his parents. Kudos to Mary!
To truly differentiate Centerplate from the competition there needs to be an outright elimination of poor performance or lip service on delivering on our brand promise. From the results posted so far, this is being achieved but I’d like to see every venue employee measured in Y13.
