Q&A With Luke Derheim of Craft & Crew Hospitality
Luke Derheim, Craft & Crew Hospitality, 2022
“Taking care of our people is a priority to ensure we have a strong industry in the future. “
Sarah: When I first approached you, my idea for employee assistance wasn’t fully formed and I was looking for advice. What made you so initially supportive of the idea of an EAP in your restaurants?
Luke: When you approached us about providing a service to help the mental health and well-being for our crew, you had my attention. The hospitality business has a lot of stress and we felt that we needed to do more to help and support our crews, but prior to meeting you we didn’t know how to address the issues at hand.
Sarah: You have covered your staff from the beginning of this program and have added more restaurants as we’ve grown together. How does the EAP factor into your hiring process?
Luke: We are excited to continue to offer this amazing benefit to our staff as we grow. It’s something we go through at orientation with all staff members and they are excited to learn about this benefit. It’s a benefit we can offer compared to others in our industry. Not only are our employees covered at no cost, but their families are too.
Sarah: Your EAP was already in place when the Covid shutdown happened, and you faithfully continued to provide benefits to your staff while they were furloughed. Was there ever a time when you were afraid you wouldn’t be able to keep going?
Luke: Through the pandemic, there were days that were tough, however we never considered dropping the EAP. Our team needed it more during that time than ever before! It’s been a challenging two years for our industry and I’m not sure what better resources we would have been able to offer. I know our teams really utilized this service, especially during the shutdown periods.
Sarah: What is the biggest overall benefit of offering the EAP to your staff?
Luke: Peace of mind that our staff can turn to someone who is qualified to handle the issues they are facing from mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, grief, etc. This is a huge difference compared to prior, where our management would try to help and address issues they were not trained or qualified to handle. We know if our crew makes the call to the EAP, they will be in good hands.
Sarah: Many business owners know that providing an EAP is a good idea, but they are also hesitant because they are afraid their staff won’t use it. As a restaurant owner, what is your response to those challenges?
Luke: Education is key. Constantly driving the EAP as a resource to our teams is how to overcome this challenge. We have noticed that it is growing in usage over time, especially when someone has a positive experience and the rest of the staff learns of this.
Sarah: If you could change one thing about the current service industry climate, what would it be?
Luke: I’d love to see the industry continue to prioritize mental health, EAP and other benefits to the service industry. It’s been a tough two years. Taking care of our people is a priority to ensure we have a strong industry in the future.
The Business Benefits of Mental Wellness in the Workplace
Craft & Crew owners Luke and David joined Serving Those Serving on the Education Super Stage at the National Restaurant Association Show in May 2022.
