I was just curious if there were different things you guys did as far as keeping it fun for employees while still maitaining an effective work ethic in the store? I guess I was wondering if you guys have contests or any other games to keep it light hearted in the store while still getting things done? Id like to revitalize the employees this new year. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
we have fun all the time… i thinks it because all my employees are in their early 20’s and i own the store and im 23 yrs old … THEY LOVE TANGOS 
Just be cool wiht all them crack jokes and stuff but i make them respect me and everyone else and when its busy its showtime orders have to be perfect but when it slows down we crack jokes and stuff … sometimes we wrestle
You mean more light-hearted an fun than this ???
Off of Gumbys site:
Rules for ordering Gumby Pizza
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You CAN NOT use your FSU Card for a delivery. We have no way of scanning your card at the door. It sucks we know.
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If you are going to use a credit card to pay for your phone order, have it with you when you call. The last thing we want to do is sit there and wait for you to go downstairs and out to your car across the street to get it. Also, we will need all the numbers on the card not just the ones that you think are important.
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If you’ve been smoking weed and/or drinking and plan on ordering, please write down your name, phone number, address and order on a piece of paper BEFORE ordering. We have no idea what your name is, where you live or what you want to eat.
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2 for 1 Sundays does NOT apply to the carryout special. ($6.05 for a large 1 topping pizza) There’s no way in HELL we’re giving you 2 pizzas for $6 so don’t even ask.
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Also, 2-1 Sunday doesn’t start until Sunday morning at 11:00 am, NOT Saturday night at midnight. And while we’re on the subject no you can’t mix and match with the 2-1.
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If you call and ask how big a 14" pizza is we will hang up on you.
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Don’t ask for a liter of soda. We don’t sell them. I mean, come on, when’s the last time you saw a liter of soda?!
8 We close at 2:30 a.m. every Sunday through Wednesday. That doesn’t change just because you have an extra $20.
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When picking up your pizza, please remember that our store isn’t a zoo. This means no staring at, touching, feeding, or petting the employees. (Okay, maybe a little petting…)
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Girls - We have been offered everything under the Sun for a free pokey stix. This doesn’t phase us because we know you’re lying. Don’t offer us anything unless you really mean it.
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If you are afraid to open your front door after the sun goes down you probably live in a bad area of town. You are crazy if you think we are going to send a driver to deliver you a pizza.
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Drivers work for T.I.P.S. Which means - To Insure Prompt Service yes that’s really what it means. Imagine working for $4.50 and hour and wasting the gas it takes to deliver the food only to get to the door and someone hands you a $1 tip or nothing at all. That doesn’t exactly pay the bills.
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If you are too wasted to see the numbers on your phone I recommend designating someone to call for you. It’s called “designated ordering”.
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Don’t be a drunk ahole. When you walk in the store late at night and can barely see the front counter, you better believe that we’re pretty darn busy and it’s going to take a while for your food to be ready. Best advice ever - Call Ahead!
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Asking us when your food will be ready every 5 minutes will not make the oven cook your pizza any faster.
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If you call on a Friday or Saturday night and you’re put on hold for a while, we’re pretty busy. An average order takes about 2 minutes to take over the phone. When dealing with drunk people this time is doubled if not tripled. Let’s do the math… 5 lines x’s 4 minutes per call = have some frickin patience.
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There’s only one place in town that can deliver in less that 45 minutes and all they have is cold sandwiches. You can call at 5 o’clock Monday afternoon and it’s still going to take at least 45 minutes. So unless you want raw dough and uncooked cheese then you’re going to have to wait.
Breaking any of these rules constitutes our right to hang up on you
and you will have to start all over again
I guess I’m the only one with a really inconvenient load-bearing steel pole in the kitchen for dancing??? I am, of course, serious about both the pole and the dancing :shock: Dave, you should try it!
Sorry maybe I gave the wrong impression. Its not a total bore in here but i was just looking for some new ideas to keep the staff motivated. Thats all. This is a college town and it doesnt take much to keep them entertained especially with the coeds we have down here. Just looking for some new ideas to play with.
That’s right… Nick keeps his employee moral up by pole dancing in a thong and apron.
Hey… whatever you need to do right ?
That goes above and beyond the call of duty right there. If he doesnt get a fat xmas bonus for that then i hope the employees have been throwing him wadded up 1 dollar bills.
Wow, that was an image I thought I would never have in my head!!! :shock:
On the other hand, if Nick still needs a photo for his Christmas card…
I just hope he puts them on the right way!!! :shock:
Gumby we went to a place in Chicago once and the entire restaurant was pretty much like your rules. Anything and everything you ever wished you could have said or did they do. It was soooooo busy…and we had a great time…so if that is what makes you different…run with it! I thought it was funny…not for my business but hey I am sprinting toward 40.
As for the morale…I know when I was in college I lived off the food credit we earned for working. So maybe each night have a suggestive selling contest…pizza making contest…no mistake contest…give the winner some free food. You could also have them go to the dorms and whoever brings in the most orders wins something.
Have a wall of fame and a wall of shame…I don’t know what you could do with it but you seem pretty creative so…
Kris
Nick in a thong !!! … and keeping morale up ??? Come on 
The thong would have to be a small circus tent, and seeing him in one would send all the staff out the door to the employment agency real fast
Lucky I haven’t eaten yet
YUK !!!
Dave
we have a wall of shame and employee of the months… but everyone laughs at it …
I’ve been trying to think of some way to reward good employees and have thought about employee of the month, but I have the feeling my employees would laugh at it too. I have the fear that they would think, “Well, I know I won’t be the employee of the month this month because John over there is doing such a good job, why should I even try.” I would love to know the magic formula to get the employees to really try to do their best.
The other issue I have is the employees thinking, “I don’t make enough money to do ______ (insert task here). Until I get a raise, I’m not doing that.” What happened to the idea of, “I will work hard and keep doing _______ (insert same task here) and everything else they ask of me, and then they will reward me with a raise.”
I feel I should not give raises to get them to do the tasks…I want to see them doing the tasks and then reward them with the raise. Is my thinking too “old school” for the 2000’s? Am I stuck in the 1960’s?
P.S. I was born in 1965, so I am not referring to my own work ethic in the 1960’s, just what I saw on episodes of Leave it to Beaver!
Give em something and I guarantee no one would laugh at it…We don’t do it but someone was talking aobut it and I thought it was a great idea. I think his store is probably unique in the sense he would probably put it in the dining room or menu…
Oh man… I had a Gumby’s in my college town. I still crave Pokey Stix every time I’m drunk!
Yeah I hear the whole I only make this much money so Im not doing any more than I have to. On the same hand they were all hired with the understanding that these were their responsibilities. Dont get me wrong Ive got a lot of great employees but its still frustrating not only to me but also the employees that do what they are supposed to be doing. However we have been slowly weeding out those employees and cutting those specific employees hours. On a side note if anyone has had the pleasure of eating at gumby’s and no longer lives near one we have shipped, on special request, pokey stix as far as NY. Of course you would need to pay for the shipping and dry ice, but who am i to put a price on pokey stix.
Here’s something that would boost MY morale
About 6 months ago our two door fridge that we used to keep our dough in went out. Now we keep all of our prep including the dough in our three door fridge. Every time I or anybody else need to get a dough I have to take stuff out, move it around, get whatever dough I need then put everything back again.
Now here’s the clincher: About a year and a half ago our refrigeration repair man sold us a walk in. It’s been sitting in the back hallway unassembled during all that time.
Now I know that in order to get it up and running we’ll probably need to shut down for a few days. Plus we have some other remodeling we’d like to accomplish. When is it all going to happen? As soon as the boss gets “motivated”
It would certainly boost my morale to have everything up and running to where it wasn’t a struggle to get at anything.
Sorry to vent.
The beatings will continue until morale improves…
When I actually had employees in my old store, the way we created a positive atmosphere for our employees was to have job responsibilities posted(to prevent ‘it’s not my job’), we used daily checklists(to prevent ‘he didn’t do his part, so I’m not doing mine’). We gave out rewards to the entire team for hitting certain sales goals. They had to meet certain criteria like min. 15 hrs of work, min. of 2 hours of doorhanging, drivers-no forgets, cooks-no remakes. Depending on the goal they’d get $10-$50 gift card for Sheetz, an amazing convience store where they could use it for gas or grab a MTO. www.sheetz.com
Everyone knew that we were there to work but we could have fun along the way. Even when someone got written up, it was done in a positive manner where we’d say things like, “we want you to be a part of this team. Just take care of this issue and let’s move on.” We never threatened termination or cutting hours. We were cheering them on and encouraging them to do better. There were times where the crew member would mess up again and by that second or third time, they’d be apologizing and feeling bad for letting everyone down. When we let them go, there were no hard feelings because they knew what their job was, knew we’d be consistent through the use of our checklists, we’d encouraged them to do better and wanted them to be part of our team and THEY were the one that screwed up.
Employees that are well-trained, positive, committed, focused and dedicated are made, and don’t come that way right off the street. Create an atmosphere in your store that allows people to grow and flourish as an important part of your team. Give them the knowledge, direction, discipline and incentive to do so.
Having expectations of each job outlined in a job application would be the first thing, I would think, to ensure employee morale.
Nothing like someone new to pizza expecting to get off at 8 p.m. on Friday night during a rush and are still there at 10 p.m.
They need to know this stuff happens occasionally.
Let the drivers know up front they’re going to be responsible for mopping floors, doing dishes, folding boxes…whatever it is you have your drivers do when they’re not on the road.
Let your cooks know they need to cross train to be able to run a cash register or answer the phone from time to time.
As for keeping it “fun”…well, not everyone loves to work in pizza…to them, it’s just a job. As my boss said today…out of every 10 employees he hires…only 1 or 2 will “get it” and actually stay on.
With him, however, he allows the radio to be on, is a little looser on the clothing policy (like I love to wear funky, striped socks to work) than others, and he “plays” with the “kids” in a way that motivates them without feeling like they’re being bossed.
Free food also increases the morale. Why not let any employee you have be able to take home a free small pizza after work…not just the closer or the ones who work more than 4 hours? In this economy…and the hours we work…free food is everything. At least it is to me, as a mom of 2.
I hope any of this rant helps. LOL