Mike McFall was featured on CBS 7 – Wausau, WI

BIGGBY COFFEE is celebrating its 27th birthday this year, and its co-founder and co-CEO Mike McFall says it’s all in the relationships they build between employees and customers. It’s something he first learned working as a minimum-wage barista when the company started out.

“This idea of treat the customer like your first crush, and the intensity level of your first crush when you were an kid, and how the world turned on that person for you,” McFall said.

The road to success is not a one-way street though. The company doesn’t want its employees to feel like their workday is just about pleasing others.

“You know I think it’s very logical for us to think about treating our customers that way, but why don’t we think about treating our employees that way too?” McFall said.

In the post-pandemic world the hospitality industry is having a hard time finding and maintaining workers. BIGGBY developed its philosophy of love in the workplace over its years of growing into the country’s third-largest coffee chain.

BIGGBY offers perks that go beyond the standard workplace, including a free café available to all of its employees and their friends and family 24-hours a day. They even provide a three-month paid sabbatical for every five years of work.

They also offer classes on how to go about making your life goals come to fruition, and there’s even the opportunity to work with a mentor one-on-one.

“So you get one month of coaching, and it’s not coaching so you can become a better employee, it’s about coaching you in pursuing your passion and building a life that you love,” McFall said.

McFall says everyone is looking for a way to connect in this world, and he fully believes a workplace that fulfills and nurtures its employees is the key to building a dynamic company.

A video of this segment can be viewed by clicking here