Merging Two Companies is a Labor of Love
Late this summer, Tender Greens, the restaurant company I co-founded and we scaled from inception to $100 million in revenue, merged with Tocaya, another excellent California fast casual brand.
Bringing two brands together is a complex and delicate process. Under the best circumstances and with the highest intentions it’s a massive undertaking. To say nothing of doing it in the wake of an industry-leveling pandemic. Leaving aside the myriad intricacies in combining systems, it’s also an extraordinarily emotional time for the teams involved. Scary for some. Nostalgic for others. An unsettling time of unknowns where job descriptions are changed, goal posts are moved and the very culture of each respective organization finds itself in a state of flux.
I recently was honored to come back and facilitate a gathering of the intrepid humans who lead these two companies. This was an opportunity to bring together 40 people who have, for the most part, been working remotely for the better part of the last two years, who in several instances had never met face to face and who were now looking at each other with hopeful, sincere though somewhat guarded optimism as we set the stage for the next phase of these brands’ collaborative evolution.
We began by acknowledging the sheer strain of working in the restaurant business over the last 18 months. The very real pressures of having to innovate, downsize and streamline at scale — dealing with erratic and plummeting sales volumes while navigating massive staffing and logistical challenges. Also confronting the very real fears brought on by people contracting COVID in ever-increasingly intimate circles.
We went from reports of COVID deaths in Italy, to seeing it land on our shores, to knowing someone who knew someone with Coronavirus to having the direct experience of members of our beloved teams and families laid low because they’d contracted it. Oh, and of course, let’s not forget that these same team members were also challenged with empty grocery shelves, children to homeschool, spouses suddenly without work and trying to get business done from the kitchen table. Piled on with the anxiety and grief from the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, the ensuing divide over Black Lives Matter, and the presidential election… Collectively, we could feel the weight of this accounting of time and I was moved to see some eyes mist over. They needed this.
From there, we navigated a series of exercises designed to get them speaking with each other. Sharing everything from their hobbies to skills they’d like to develop to what keeps them up at night. From silent visualizations of past mentors, to one-on-one sharing, to small group interactions, to general discussions among the whole circle, we went from scratching the surface to profound depth. From laughter to tears. Recognizing our fundamental commonality, our love of our companies’ cultures and our strong desires to contribute to the new emerging culture which will draw from both.
These people, many of whom had been tentative strangers, were now newly bonded in empathy, in collective ideation and in care for each other. The gathering ended in a circle where one-by one, people took turns acknowledging each other for their contributions, hard work, personal growth and kindness. They coalesced in a more peaceful state of being, of relating and of recognizing their greatness collectively and in each other. They breathed. We didn’t spend one minute strategizing, problem solving or goal setting.
This time together will serve as the foundation for every meeting to come, for every email, for every strategic planning session, for every tasting, for every budget review, and every meaningful team member conversation. We established a baseline new way of looking at each other; relating to one another below respective native company cultures and into the realm of what it means to be human in a business. I know that this day will be remembered as a time when they not only recharged the culture but also helped themselves lead more fulfilling and purpose-driven lives. I know it did that for me.
This kind of conversation isn’t new to the Tender Greens culture. During my time leading the company, we hosted emotional intelligence training and group work, intentionality, mindfulness, Tibetan monks to bless new restaurants and goat yoga! Our executive team was also thrown out of laser tag for smuggling alcohol into the facility.
That said, events like these are not easy undertakings. For many of us, the emotional underpinnings of culture and change are uncomfortable territory. Still for others, the idea of bringing this kind of discussion into the workplace is foreign and awkward. If a heart-centered purpose-driven culture reboot like this is overdue for your team and you’d like some help, please reach out. To learn more visit daviddressler.co. Better yet, get on my calendar and let’s chat!