Tasty Catering’s engaging employee culture and management transparency helped them to pivot effectively and survive when the pandemic hit. The company is a catering business outside Chicago that is owned and managed by three brothers: Tom, Larry, and Kevin. Before shelter-in-place orders had taken place they developed a culture rooted in employee led decision-making and engagement. When quarantine took place, the management team quickly put together an Emergency Action Plan.
This resulted in sending employees over age sixty home for their safety, the owners taking a 30% pay cut and employees taking a 10% pay cut, and sanitizing the facilities. They rigorously controlled expenses, but were transparent in where and why they were cutting down costs. Since employees could see financial details themselves and see that the owners were willing to take a larger pay cut, they were more willing to buy into management’s recovery plan. Furthermore, because employees were encouraged to contribute to ideas the owners were able to source new strategies from their workers that allowed them to pivot their business to operate and thrive under COVID-19 protocols.