MFHA confab examines disparity of diversity in industry's executive ranks

Nation's Restaurant News, August 20, 2007 by Dina Berta, Milford Prewitt

SAN FRANCISCO -- The restaurant industry is approaching racial, ethnic and gender parity to national demographics in the makeup of its hourly workforce, but it has yet to bridge the diversity gap at the management level and in reaching minority customers, experts told foodservice leaders this month.

Speakers at the sixth annual conference of the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, held here at the Palace Hotel, focused on the disparity in minority representation in the industry's executive ranks and how that might affect restaurants' marketing and brand image.

The numbers of minority employees taper off as they move up into the executive suites of companies, observed Joni Doolin, founder and chief executive of People Report, a Dallas-based human resources measurement firm that tracks restaurant operators.

"At the hourly level and entry level [for] corporate managers we have almost total parity [between men and] women ... but look what happens when you go up the ladder," Doolin said during a slide show presentation. "Assistant manager, general manager, corporate directors and executives--the percentage of women gets smaller."

In giving her update to the MFHA conference about the industry's diversity progress, Doolin addressed the nearly 500 restaurant and hotel executives who attended the two-day event. It included speakers and workshop sessions on strategies to improve diversity in four areas: workforce, customers, community and suppliers.

The MFHA is a nonprofit group created 11 years ago to improve the representation of women and minorities in the industry's workforce and to increase the use of minority-owned suppliers and improve relations with minority customers and communities.

In an effort to better measure the industry's progress on diversity, the MFHA has partnered with People Report and with CorVirtus, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based human resources consulting firm, explained Gerry Fernandez, the MFHA's president and founder.

At last year's conference, estimates on the industry's diversity were largely anecdotal, Fernandez said. This year, the organization has begun surveying members on diversity issues.

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An initial report from MFHA members who were diversity officers or responsible for diversity initiatives gave the industry an average to poor grade in diversity improvement, said Bobby Baker, vice president of research and measurement for CorVirtus.

Fifty members from companies with more than 500 employees took the survey online. Their compiled answers graded the industry with a C+ with regard to workforce diversity, a C in minority-community relations, a C in supplier diversity and a D+ in serving minority customers.

Respondents ranked their companies poorly on such questions as whether senior executive compensation was linked to diversity recruitment and retention, whether a company had clearly defined goals for budget allocations to minority-owned suppliers or whether an operation provided multicultural customer service training to employees.

"Companies have policies and well-articulated statements," Baker said. "They are talking the talk but not necessarily walking the walk."

The survey is ongoing, and when more members participate in it, the MFHA will get a more accurate perception and understanding of what is happening in the industry, he added.

Keynote speaker Alexis Herman, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, told the conference's attendees that leaders of companies are the ones who can really create a culture of diversity and inclusion in their organizations.

"You can spend millions of dollars and be engaged in a lot of programmatic activities as it relates to diversity and not have it embedded in the culture of the organization," said Herman, who also served on the Human Resources Task Force of The Coca-Cola Co. and is now chairwoman and chief executive of New Ventures Inc.

Executives on a panel moderated by Terrian Barnes, global diversity and inclusion officer at Yum! Brands Inc., echoed Herman's sentiment on their roles in leading diversity efforts in their companies.

And Renee West, president and chief operating officer of the Excalibur Hotel-Casino, a 3,991-room megaresort in Las Vegas, made a similar observation.

"It's up to you who have the responsibilities to make a change and tear down the barriers on the path to inclusion," she told the MFHA conference attendees.

Rilous Carter, general manager of Epcot Food and Beverage at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., agreed that industry leaders must be genuine in their diversity efforts.

"It does your company and your customer base little good to hire only people who look like top management," Carter said. "Diversity is about engagement and talking to people. Even Disney lightened up on its grooming rules to allow folks to have piercings, more facial hair, because that is what some of our customers look like."

Also on the panel was Mario Lee, divisional president of Buffets Inc., parent of the Old Country Buffet and HomeTown Buffet chains; Clyde Rucker, executive vice president of operations for Quiznos Sub; and Tony Mitchell, chief financial officer of Morrison Management Specialists.