Pizza Today - August 2018 - 50

better.' A lot of it isn't about sales, it's
just about how do we be better, period?
How do we serve people better? How
do I be a better employer and how do I
keep people?"
Addressing functionality issues has
also increased employee retention.
"A lot of the issues we've had with
turnover is the functionality," she says.
"We rebuilt our whole training program
to be way more in depth because it is
a hard place to work in. It's very fast
paced. It's grueling. It's difficult. There's
a lot of stuff to learn.
"We've built a really good recipe
book that has photos with step one,
step two, step three so that they can
see the finished product. And then
we have the instructions in English
and in Spanish in the kitchen. Putting
some controls in place, we're probably
running 24- to 27-(percent food cost) a
lot of the time," Cope says.
Empire and Easy E's employee
programs for their 90 employees is
always top of mind with Cope. She says
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that at the center is showing employees
that they care and pay appropriately.
Cope is currently re-envisioning
incentive programs to capitalize on areas
where Empire has done so well, like
finding perks that help employees grow.
She says, "We're trying to get them to
go do stuff together but also take better
care of themselves mentally, physically.
"Some of the incentives that we are
working on are some classes on how
to manage your finances where some
friends of mine from a bank speak to
them about how do you build credit,
what does it mean when you claim your
tips or don't claim your tips - how can
that benefit you or hurt you."
Cope is expanding her "Empire" by
building a vibrant social food culture in
OKC. She has constantly asked, "What
are we missing in the city? How do we
shape the dining scene?" Capitalizing
on Empire's success, she opened two
very different restaurant concepts, Goro
Ramen and Revolucion Taqueria and
Cantina, back to back in 2016.

Adding different concepts brought
challenges and opportunities. "We
have to build an umbrella to tie it all
together," Cope says. "People say, 'I
love Empire so I'm probably going
to love Goro Ramen' because you are
going to get the same kind of service.
It's going to be fun. The food is going
to be consistent. And it's going to be
functional and it's hip."
Restaurant group 84 Hospitality was
born to oversee a growing Cope-led
restaurant portfolio. There are now five
84 "hangouts" around the city with
a group management team of nine,
including an area director, director of
operations, social media and events
coordinators and a senior accountant.
Cope has even enlisted her father to
lead construction efforts and sister to
handle social media.
The management structure in the
group, Cope says, "That's the heart and
soul of it. They allow you to do more. If
you don't have infrastructure you don't
have anything."
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