Approximately 10 percent of its workforce, or about 70 of 700 people, earn the state’s minimum wage, which will reach $15 per hour in July 2022. Meantime, Connecticut’s recently adopted minimum-wage increase is largely a non-factor financially for the restaurant group. “In an industry with significant turnover, we think we have had good success keeping people.”
“Our goal is to make sure that our employees are well taken care of,” Hamlin said. For example, HRG’s current chief financial officer got her start as a server during Wood-n-Tap’s founding in 2002. Several employees have worked for the organization from its inception, starting at entry-level positions and ascending to front-office roles. That’s why the partners are keen on promoting staff internally.
In the restaurant industry, Barnett and Hamlin believe developing talented and reliable staff is key to building a successful business. Mike Hamlin (left) and Phil Barnett say they are always looking for new opportunities to grow their Wood-n-Tap franchise. “When you have debt payments, and you lose your profitability, then it really started to become a big issue for a lot of companies.” “You could see it coming, but it came fast,” he said. Wood-n-Tap sales sunk roughly 10 percent in the two years following the housing-market crash, but it survived and grew, Hamlin said, because HRG already had money banked away. That recipe fueled the Wood-n-Tap franchise during the fallout of the 2008-2010 Great Recession that wiped out many restaurants across the state. Some of our restaurants don’t even have a freezer.” “I think we do a good job at not being just a casual-dining restaurant but a little more upscale, but still offer a value-driven price,” he said. Wood-n-Tap has also developed a major takeout and delivery business - one that drew over 14,300 Uber Eats orders at its Hartford location in 2019. HRG owns about half the real estate it occupies.īut all restaurants largely offer a similar experience with reasonably priced pub food, party rooms, outdoor patio seating and food, desserts and dressings all made on-site. Some restaurants are in free-standing buildings (Vernon), while others are in large shopping centers (Newington). Wood-n-Tap locations vary depending on where you’re dining. The partners in 2002 acquired several buildings that included The Keg, a popular Italian-American family restaurant located on Hartford’s Sisson and Capitol avenues. HRG began to form around that time with founding partners Barnett and Quijano, who met at CCSU, and Hamlin and McAvoy. Hamlin and his now wife also lived there.
Hamlin, 51, also served as a busboy, cook and kitchen manager for a variety of restaurant chains in Greater Hartford and broke into the mortgage business in the late 1990s.Īt that time, Barnett and his wife, then his fiance, actually lived in a multifamily house Hamlin built in New Britain around 2000. Barnett, 45, a Windham native, attended Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) for a short stint but ultimately opted for a steady paycheck in the restaurant business moving his way up from a dishwasher, server, bartender and eventually to a partner of The Half Door pub in Hartford in 1998.
0 kommentar(er)
