Why we founded Tableside
Tableside Co-Founders Deirdre Auld and Cassie Francisco
Hello everyone! It’s the team behind Tableside, Deirdre + Cassie. We wanted to share a bit about us and our story, and what brought us together.
What is Tableside?
Tableside offers research-backed leadership development programs for restaurant managers to increase their people skills, so they can be just as good at leading teams as they are at the technical aspects of their job. We wanted to start our company to address a huge professional development gap in the restaurant industry, which is still rebuilding after the COVID-19 pandemic.
One stat in particular inspired us to take action: the average annual restaurant industry turnover rate is 79.6% across the last 10 years. That’s nearly 80%! (That number is set to decrease to 73.9% for 2023, which is an improvement but still alarmingly high). Such a high turnover rate has a big impact on restaurants’ bottom line, with organizations losing $5,000+ annually per employee due to high turnover.
We knew there had to be a way to increase engagement and retention in an industry that represents institutions that are economic and social pillars of our communities. We also knew that research shows that investing in employees’ professional development leads to higher engagement and higher retention. Plus, career development is a top 3 reason hospitality professionals stay in a job longer or consider a job in the first place (Hosco 2023 Hospitality Talent Trends Survey).
That’s how Tableside was born: we took leadership development research and merged it with insights from over a decade of experience leading restaurants (plus dozens of conversations with restaurant professionals from across the U.S. to test our idea). We built programming that addresses the leadership concepts and competencies we heard were most urgent and important to restaurant leaders today.
How we met: We were each other’s first leadership coaches
We met at Northwestern University, where we both earned our certification in organizational and leadership coaching and masters in learning and organizational change. Fate brought us together when we were paired to be each other’s coaches in one of our first classes, which started a series of collaborations on various projects.
After long chats about our professional aspirations on the phone, over Zoom, or whenever we could see each other in person, we discovered that we were both passionate about supporting leaders in high-stress, high-impact careers who serve others.
What we each bring to Tableside
Deirdre spent more than a decade in restaurant management from fine dining to casual, full-service restaurants. She led and developed James Beard-nominated and award-winning concepts and turned around failing businesses. Meanwhile, Cassie spent 13+ years in the communications and marketing field supporting leaders and managing others in resource-constrained environments, like non-profits and higher education.
With Deirdre’s insider knowledge of the restaurant industry, Cassie’s outsider knowledge of management and communication, and our combined experience in leadership and organizational development, we knew we had a recipe for success.
Cassie’s first writing job was at the food magazine Cooking Light and she also grew up around the service industry (her dad managed a bowling alley for 20+ years), so supporting the industry with her skills also seemed like a natural fit.
We’re so excited to support and provide resources to the hospitality industry, which is near and dear to both of our hearts. We’ll be sharing our thoughts, insights, and leadership tips here, and would love to hear from you, if you’d like to share your thoughts and experiences with us, as well. Email us anytime at hello@tablesidedev.com and we’ll get back to you.