Promoting Diversity in a Restaurant or Food Service Establishment

Promoting Diversity in a Restaurant or Food Service Establishment

The restaurant marketplace has become more competitive, and the need to make a few changes to make the restaurant strengthen diversity improves the profitability of the restaurants. A diverse business involves where the workforce includes people from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. There are many advantages associated with diversity, such as the promotion of positivity in the workplace, fosters innovation, attracting new customers, and the creation of a competitive advantage over the competitors. The minority populations in the world continue to expand, and the ability of restaurants/foodservice establishments to grow with diversity creates the potential to bring in new customers. Embracing diversity in a restaurant creates an increased customer base and thus a rise in profits. Measures that should be taken to promote diversity in the restaurant workplace include diversity training, implementation of diversity-friendly policies, making diversity-conscious decisions,

Diversity training should be performed in the workplace since, more often, judgment is mostly influenced by life experiences and socialization. Training on bias and diversity creates awareness of unconscious attitudes and help people change their behaviors. It develops a safe place in the workplace, where everyone feels recognized and appreciated. Through training, a clear perspective is realized to improve the value of diversity. The training should explore the issues of diversity and raise the necessary questions in the workplace. Giving employees the diversity training ensures that they are more aware of what is constituted in a diverse workplace. Everyone understands what their responsibility is in fostering a good working environment.

A restaurant should create some new policies to promote a diverse workforce. The business should consider the existing systems and determine whether they prevent people from staying or applying with the company. The plans created should be transparent to ensure that the current and potential employees realize that employment and promotion of people is only base on merit and ability. The restaurants should value diversity and should be stated in the mission of the business. Commitment to ensuring that is the creation of a diverse environment is vital. The company should add value by realizing the need for inclusivity where everybody has a voice and place to contribute to the goals and projects of the restaurants. Some of the diversity-friendly policies include leave options, flexible schedules, and meal choices.

In the hiring and firing process, the restaurants should consider various questions such as whether they would have taken the same decision if the person’s social or economic identity was different. The decisions made by the business should be carefully considered, putting into regards the requirements of diversity. The hiring and promotion policies of the company should incorporate variety setting the required standards for the processes. Procedures in the hiring and firing should be equal for everyone and expect every employee to agree with the policies.

In a restaurant, the business may provide more inclusive products. The products and the menu of the restaurant determine the impressions of the guests about the restaurant. Providing options that aren’t diverse eliminate potential customers since certain cultures prefer specific dishes. Efforts by the restaurants to include the unique culture dishes make the guest in the restaurants feel welcomed and recognized. The restaurants should be diversity sensitive to their location, such as considering creating menus with different languages where the community speaks various languages.

The restaurant needs to change the existing marketing to reflect on the branding of the more diverse business. Inclusive advertisements make people feel represented in advertising and are highly likely to respond. The marketing strategy may involve diversified advertising on online platforms such as websites and social media. The promotional marketing may involve creating cultural events hosted by the restaurant as well as supporting the local community. A more diverse advertisement increases the profits realized from the marketing tactics.

References

Durrani, A. S., & Rajagopal, L. (2016). Restaurant human resource managers’ attitudes towards workplace diversity, perceptions, and definition of ethical hiring. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 145-151.

Henderson, T. (2017). 11 Strategies for Achieving a More Diverse and Productive Work Environment. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/01/20/11-strategies-for-achieving-a-more-diverse-and-productive-work-environment/#e7c96b374d07

McCann, J., & Kohntopp, T. (2017). Developing a sustainable environment for workplace diversity.

Zojceska, A. (2018). How to Build, Manage, and Promote Workplace Diversity. Retrieved from https://www.talentlyft.com/en/blog/article/246/how-to-build-manage-and-promote-workplace-diversity

Reynolds, K. (2017). 5 Strategies for Promoting Diversity in the Workplace. Retrieved from

https://www.hult.edu/blog/promoting-diversity-in-workplace/

Loria, K. (2018). How to Make Your Restaurant More Welcoming to Diversity. Retrieved from

https://upserve.com/restaurant-insider/make-restaurant-welcoming-diversity/