Eat With Us Group continues success in restaurant business
The Eat With Us Group concentrates on employee loyalty and customer satisfaction
TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Tupelo’s Fairpark Grill hasn’t undergone any renovations since it opened in 2008.
“After 16 years, we felt like it was time to freshen it up,” said John Bean, who is CEO of the Eat With Us Group, which operates The Grill, Harvey’s, Bulldog Burger, Sweet Pepper’s, and Super Chix.
Bean said the refresh brings the popular restaurant in line with recent developments in the area.
“When we came here, Fairpark had not really developed and now there’s so much to see and so much energy and activity in the area, we wanted to peel it back, get everything off the windows so when you are in the restaurant you can feel like you are a part of what is going on in Fairpark and downtown Tupelo,” Bean said.
The renovations closed Fairpark Grill for several weeks. Some employees worked at other Eat With Us locations, others helped get the restaurant ready to reopen. The Eat With Us Group has around 900 employees and Bean said they are a key ingredient in the company’s recipe for success.
“Our mission statement is Making People Happy and creating great guest memories and when we say making people happy we mean that about our employees too, in fact, we mean it about our employees first, we feel like the way we treat our employees is the way they treat guests, we try and hire first, hospitable people, we feel like we can train you to do just about anything in our business,” Bean said.
That commitment to going the extra mile for employees is found at all Eat With Us restaurants. Servers at Bulldog Burger said it’s not just talk, they say it is part of the corporate culture.
“It is very personal. I feel taken care of. I got my managers, and everybody really looks out for one another. Every person here I can trust. It is a really good environment, they take care of us,” said Elle Donegan, a server at Bulldog Burger.
“A lot of the management is very personable and I feel like they actually listen when you have a problem or complaint, they have their servers’ backs a lot of the time too, being very understanding,” said Savanna Ponce, a server at Bulldog Burger.
The Eat With Us Group also hosts events for nonprofits at its restaurants as a way of giving back to the communities and the people who are regular customers.
The first restaurant in the Eat With Us Group was Harvey’s in Starkville, which opened in 1982.
