It’s no secret that we’re known for our “family style” catering services, but this phrase also describes the company culture we’ve created over the years. As Claudia Ozuna, one of our long-time senior event coordinators put it, “Our company culture is family!”
From the married couples we employ to the team members who have grown up with us, there’s more to our success than great food. We believe that our Figgy Family, as we affectionately call ourselves, is the secret strength that has helped us thrive. It allows our team members to grow, while always knowing that we’re all here for each other to fall back on.
We dedicate a lot of time to catering corporate events for a wide variety of company cultures, so we thought we would give our clients a peek at how we foster ours. There are a few key ingredients for our supportive, positive culture.
We Connect on a Personal Level
Especially in the events industry, you can spend all your time creating experiences for others and forget to create them for your own team. But we prioritize the time we spend getting to know each other personally.
“Our team works really hard to make sure we take one day out of the month to just hang out and talk. We get to know what is going on in each other’s lives. It is great to have team members, but when they are friends and now family, it is a great feeling!” Claudia said. Claudia has been with our team for seven years, and her husband is one of our sous chefs.
We also have larger team events so everyone can gather together and let their hair down. Cheyenne, one of our event coordinators whose husband is also a sous chef here, loves our Fourth of July and holiday parties. “Our 4th of July and Holiday party are always fun. It’s a time when we can all be off together, which is rare for being in the events industry!”
With familial ties running through our team, and team members like Jesse Martin, our sales director, who has been with us for ten of the twelve years we have been doing business, it’s impossible not to form deep bonds with our team members. And we’ve seen these connections help everyone, new and old, at our company thrive.
We Support Each Other
Rather than creating a competitive environment, we strive for a cooperative company culture. Just like a family, we are all rooting for each other, and we’ve found that team members who care about each other naturally support each other. That’s why our team events and family-oriented approach are so important to us.
As Cheyenne noted, “We’re a very busy company and we do a lot of hands-on client interaction (especially the coordinators). So we’re constantly in communication with each other, as well as with our chefs, staff, warehouse, etc. So we have to be comfortable with one another and able to lean on each other for support and advice. Whether it’s our weekly Zoom meetings, our group chat on event days, or a quick text, we’re always available to help each other and offer advice.”
When we all work together, no matter who has ownership of a specific event or detail, our team is less stressed and our clients benefit from our collective knowledge and experience.
We Foster Independence and Growth
From the very beginning, we have made it a priority to hire people we can trust to do a great job, and then, most importantly, we let them do it.
Cheyenne put it perfectly: “Royal Fig fosters a culture of both independence and cooperation. No one is micromanaged, and we’re allowed to use our judgement as we see fit. No wedding or event is the same and all our clients need different things. Each employee has a particular strength or specialty, so I would say allowing your staff to use that skill set and grow with that but also having the support and cooperation to fall back on is the way to go.”
Many of our team members have been with us for a long time, and they’ve grown and been promoted to leadership roles. Our open lines of communication allow us all to continuously improve and learn from each other.
We love that our team is our family and constantly experience its benefits. A great first step for teams looking to create a culture like ours? Let us create a family style meal for your team to share as they relax and get to know each other better.