Rare Restaurants: We are embracing a truly diverse workforce

Rare Restaurants is committed to breaking the barriers to professional growth for its diverse workforce, says CEO Martin Williams.

The Gaucho and M restaurants operator employs several initiatives, in order “to authentically deliver” on its inclusion agenda.

Embarking on this journey around two years ago, its community currently reflects 18 ethnicities, 7 religions, with 22% of team members who are carers and 8% who are neurodiverse.

With a dedication to stamping out unconscious biases at all levels, Williams doesn’t underestimate the impact of mentoring and reverse mentoring schemes, made available for all colleagues.

“You could start by preaching some ideals, but we’ve made a point of leading by example on diversity and inclusion”, with opportunities to guide and be guided by members of the senior leadership team, all of whom have undertaken diversity coaching through WiHTL.

Hosting guest speakers from under-represented communities as part of its education strategy, MD Ross Butler adds, “I think you balance that with lots of listening forums.”

Colleagues are invited to join the brand’s RARE Roundtable, a bi-monthly space for representatives to offer insights, sense-check initiatives and keep the brand “on track.”

“They tell us how we’re doing, and bring home how effective our strategy on diversity and inclusion is,” Butler adds.

“It’s not just some preachy values that are from above.”

After identifying the key barriers to career progression for its diverse team, in 2023, the company launched two development programmes; Culinary Leaders and Future Leaders.

Both are aimed at mid-level team members, to grow their supervisory and management skills, and create the leaders of the future.

Additionally, the ‘Floor to £Four’ programme incentivises hourly restaurant team members to step into management with a £4,000 boost to support their training.

With around 18 languages spoken across the business, free, face-to-face English Classes are also part of a strategy to eliminate language-based obstacles.

A Rare Gem programme further identifies “particularly talented” team members from minority backgrounds, offering mentoring to fast track them into higher roles.

The company has supported female managers in an externally run Female Leadership Programme in their journey to C-Suite, with mentoring from CEO and COO.

Employing eight times more female head chefs than it did two years ago, Rare Restaurants aims to “fight the stigma” of the stereotypical male oriented kitchen environment, through proactive recruitment for these positions.

The brand has also increased benefits for women going through menopause, and for parents and carers, allowing them to balance responsibilities with “a fruitful and fast-tracked career.”

Using his platform to further an inclusive agenda, Williams is heavily involved in the CEO Sleepout, bringing together industry leaders in its fight against homelessness.

He says the company is aiming for 5% of its workforce to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, including ex-prisoners, ex-service personnel, and homeless people.

Collaboration with the Terrence Higgins Trust has also seen the brand proactively employ three colleagues with HIV, whose careers have been “stunted” by its stigma.

“We’ve made a point of doing six months work experience with them, getting their confidence up and then employing them.”

The brand has rewritten its training academy and onboarding programme, the RARE L.A.B, with the view that it was previously “discriminating against people who are neuro-diverse”.

“We invested six months to relaunch the whole first week of learning for everybody who joins us, so that it’s conscious of neurodiversity and doesn’t show any unconscious bias.”

Extending a spirit of diversity and inclusion beyond employee level, Gaucho Cardiff was recognised at the Blue Badge Access Awards 2023, with other sites hosting Guide Dog brunches to make Rare Restaurant’s commitment “clear for the public.”