The Scenario + Opportunity
Eurasia is a well-known Ukrainian restaurant chain with more than 20 locations and 500+ employees. The chain combines Asian and European cuisine and prides itself on personal and proficient service.
The brand works diligently to evolve the menu and elevate the guest dining experience. Sincere hospitality is a core business-driver, but the Chef, managers, and teams constantly strive to discover new innovations to improve operational efficiencies, improve workflow, increase productivity but always being mindful that culture and atmosphere are important elements in their success.
Starting out six years ago as a waiter and now serving as the company’s Staff Training Manager, Vladimir was looking for a solution to help tackle issues with hiring processes, improving training systems, and improve communications, all-around. Vladimir was exploring a number of HR and online learning management systems.
And…that is when Vladimir met the fabulous and pioneering, Mr. Tomato!
The Solution
For years, Eurasia was using ‘old-school’ manuals, hand-written and oral menu knowledge quizzing, and general staff meetings. They invested considerable time and money in training yet were required to constantly re-train staff members. It wasn’t a productive game plan, and it was becoming a frustrating scenario for Vladimir, especially as the company continued to grow.
Mr. Tomato’s approach was to overhaul Eurasia’s HR activities and revolutionize their training model! Introducing smartphone-friendly technology, gamified and personalized training, and automating their whole process.
Mr. Tomato assisted Vladimir and his team with setting up the platform and tools specific to their incredibly unique needs and making sure that it was a frictionless effort. We wanted to ensure that there was nothing but upsides – no headaches or disruptions – and that the entire system was up and running, quickly. No muss. No fuss.
Our teams assured Vladimir, the quicker we get everything running, and the quicker staff get on board, the quicker he will see smiles on staff and guest’s faces.
Wins + Stats
“Our staff admitted that they’ve been waiting a tool like this for a very-long time. They used to spend so much time on their phones scrolling and messaging on platforms like Instagram. But now, they review the menus constantly, pay attention to the checklist, and are competing when it comes to who knows the most about the menus. It makes the process a whole lot of fun and they are using it without being told.”
– Vladimir Sosnin, Staff Training Manager.
Right out of the gates, staff embraced Mr. Tomato as a tool that would help them learn more and make more. After just one month, time spent physically training new staff dropped by 80%! Before Mr. Tomato managers typically spent 2 hours onboarding new employees. After the app was introduced it took a mere 15-20 minutes to get the job done. And the learning curve for staff was reduced from 1-month to 1-week.
Measuring knowledge adoption, managers stated that if staff learned and retained 60% of what was required, that was considered a success. With Mr. Tomato they’re showing significantly higher results up to as high as 90%. And, because the staff is better educated, performing better, and happier. According to Vladimir, the monthly turnover rates dropped 20% to just 12%, and continue to trend downwards.
“We finally got rid of tons of paper manuals, hundreds of paper folders with instructions and transferred all that into structured digital experience in a smartphone anyone has. It makes life easier both for our employees and management.”
– Vladimir Sosnin, Staff Training Manager.
Conclusion
Mr. Tomato made a huge impact! And did it quickly!
Using the platform improved staff morale and contributed to a more productive work culture. Staff was better informed, and managers had more time to focus on the business. Costs related to training dropped but retention increased.
Who doesn’t like the sounds of that?
Oh, wait…you will also like the sounds of this…
“We constantly ask our employees for feedback. The responses are that Mr. Tomato is extremely convenient and user-friendly. And our top managers agree that life became a whole lot easier when it comes to motivating and managing. Now that we are using the app, we cannot imagine our training processes without Mr. Tomato.”
– Vladimir Sosnin, Staff Training Manager.