Our Values: The Power of a People-Centered Approach

At Shake Shack, happy employees are the key to creating happy customers.

There are many differences between Shake Shack and Chapel Hill Tire. Shake Shack sells burgers and shakes. We service cars.

Shake Shack was founded in 2004. We have been operating since 1953.

The past five years have been good for Chapel Hill Tire; we opened three new stores and expanded to Raleigh. Shake Shack is doing a little better, with sales up from $217 million in 2014 to $672 million in 2019.

However, there is one thing that unites us. Shake Shack takes an employee-centered approach to managing its company. And so are we. 

Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti believes that much of his company's growth comes from employees who go above and beyond. “Fifty-one percent of employees,” he calls them. They are warm, friendly, motivated, caring, self-aware and intellectually inquisitive team members. 51 percent is an indicator of the emotional skills needed to succeed at work; 49 percent describe the required technical skills.

Fifty-one percent of employees strive for a championship result, outstanding and enriching hospitality, embodying our culture and actively developing ourselves and the brand,” said Garutti in an interview with QSR magazine. 

You can't cheat your way to attracting the 51 percent. According to Garutti, you get them by paying higher wages, greater benefits, and better treatment in general. Because Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer notes that many companies that excel at customer service often top lists of “best places to work.” 

“We couldn't help but agree,” says Chapel Hill Tire president and co-owner Mark Pons. "You can't have a great customer experience without a happy employee." 

Looking ahead, Shake Shack management predicts that the company's sales will exceed $891 million by the end of 2021. And we believe their strong people-centered approach is their greatest strength in their work to achieve this milestone. 

"We're in a people-led business," Meyer told QSR magazine. “This is what we do better than anyone, and this is how we are going to continue to invest so that decades from now we have restaurants that stand next to great leaders. But it will never be easy." 

“Right,” Pons said. "It is not easy. Getting the right set of values ​​is just the beginning. You must build your culture around these values. We at Chapel Hill Tire have five core values: strive for excellence, treat each other like family, say yes to our customers and each other, be grateful and helpful, and win as a team. Every week we focus on one value and the team discusses how we can implement it in everything we do.”

“For example, one of our employees recently received an unusual opportunity to live out our value of saying yes to customers,” Pons said. “A customer who just had surgery called the store and asked if we could pick up her prescription medication. Thinking about this value and knowing that she had nowhere else to turn, the employee agreed to take the prescription.”

“We also believe that our values ​​are a great learning tool. This business requires flexibility. To be responsive, we empower employees to make decisions,” Pons said, “and as long as you can use our five core values ​​to answer how you made a decision, you are good.” 

Back to resources