Why a restaurant CEO wants his employees to leave after three years

Scott Richards is opening Euro-Italian eatery Fidelli Kitchen in South End in late November and he’s going to be CEO. He’s introducing a concept with a self-serve wine station, and counter service featuring paninis, pasta, soups, small plates and more. He’s also pre-determining the exit point of his future employees, inserting into the employee agreements that they can work at his restaurant no more than three years.

“Anywhere you can find a problem that hasn’t been solved before, that in my definition is a business opportunity,” said Richards, who hails from Canada and has worked as an entrepreneur for 27 years. “Finding, keeping and enjoying good staff in a restaurant concept is not easy to do.”

His solution: Connect employees to their higher purpose.

Richards’ career history includes working as a Subway franchisee and as a consultant who traveled the world looking at innovative restaurant concepts.

“I saw the same issue everywhere, which was this disconnect between people who were working in the industry who were trying to do something else, but there was no relationship or connection between the jobs they had and getting themselves to the next step,” he said. “They were all on their own to get to that next step.”

As for the venture he’s opening at 1616 Camden Road in South End, he said, “I made a decision not to do a restaurant unless I could innovate something with the staff program.”

Richards is accepting applications to his restaurant and simultaneous Career Accelerated Training program (CAT) through Nov. 18. He plans to hire about 50 people. (Apply here.)

The concept

– In order to get a position at Fidelli, applicants of any age or stage of life have to state a career path, and they must identify the steps they need to get to the next phase. As of Wednesday, 40 applicants had come from 17 different industries.

– The employment agreements will not extend beyond 36 months. Richards expects most people will stay for about two years.

– The employee agreements will not specify vacation time and will be based on at will employment, so anyone can part company at any time.

– There will be a series of supports, such as flexible scheduling and no tipping, but with wages set above minimum wage, at a rate of $10-$12 an hour. A third-party consultant will be available to help employees with their professional profiles, such as resumes and LinkedIn visibility.

–  For further support, employees will be placed in a position to attract mentors — they will wear name tags displaying their future role so that restaurant patrons in that industry can reach out to the employee. Richards said of the hypothetical employee, Julie the architect: “As part of Julie’s job, she’s invited in the middle of whatever shift she’s on, if she gets in a conversation that can advance her career, she is to have a seat and have that conversation. We’ll figure out the rest.”

If that doesn’t work naturally, he said he plans to front advertising dollars or get more word out in the media or on the restaurant website to attract mentors for his employees.

– After a successful first cycle (three years or so) of the CAT program, Richards hopes to see alumni become mentors or professional contacts for incoming employees, as a “virtuous cycle.”

The business return

Richards sees his company benefiting from this CAT concept, too.

– Richards expects to have to motivate and train employees less, since he will be helping them move toward a future they are excited about. Therefore at work, he said, “More often than not you are going to do the right thing when no one is looking.”

– He expects to see employees leave on good terms, since leaving time is pre-defined.

– And he envisions Fidelli gaining notoriety with this business concept, with other restaurants modeling their employee agreements the same way. “My goal is to take this around the world,” he said.

Photo: Courtesy of Fidelli

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Why a restaurant CEO wants his employees to leave after three years."