A Vital “Slice” of Restaurant Success
Employee Education –
D
ion’s is a New Mexico tradition. Their commitment to
community and charitable contributions helped them win
the Restaurant Neighbor Award at the 2014 Hospitality
Industry Awards. NMRA sat down with Chris Moya, Director of
Operations, Training, and Development for Dion’s Pizza. Mr. Moya
has been with the Dion’s organization for 23 years. Like many of
the people on Dion’s leadership teams, he started on the “line” and
worked his way up to Director. His education and experience as a
certified integral life coach made him a logical match for the team
building position.
The Dion’s Philosophy is both customer and employee centered. Those
in the corporate office still work, even indirectly, for the customer.
The company leadership, from the store General Managers and up,
see training and education as an opportunity and prefer to look at
their staff as clients rather than just employees. Chris Moya explained
this “whole picture” mentality. “We are weighing the employees as a
whole… not only training them on the skills they need at Dion’s. We
want to help them build life skills rather than just work skills."
This approach has made a real difference in employee retention
and company-wide organization. As Dion’s has grown and tested
its processes, they have developed company-wide consistency across
all of their units, and have created global documentation that is
consistent from store to store. However, once a process has been
tested, there can still be room for change. As Chris explained, “Our
processes may change, but our values don’t. It’s about great food.
Teach that first, and great service will follow.”
by Dionne Wright-Bower
“It’s not our job to develop them, it’s our job to invite them to develop themselves.”
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10 New Mexico Restaurant Association
