Six friends opened the first restaurant in Pietarsaari in 2014, and there are almost 40 across Finland now. The crews are young, they learn every job in the kitchen and front of house, and the handbooks for all of it are on their phones.
Monotree has been a great tool for internal communication and it works flawlessly on mobile. We are also excited to have a platform where we can gather all handbooks and instructions in one place - where the information is easily accessible for everyone on their phone.
Six friends who loved burgers opened a restaurant of their own in the small town of Pietarsaari in 2014. That was the start of Friends & Brgrs, and it had its letdowns: the founders handed out free fries to the locals by way of apology. The Helsinki opening in 2015 drew crowds from the first day, and restaurants in Tampere, Oulu and Turku followed. Today there are almost 40 across Finland, from Helsinki and Espoo to Kuopio and Rovaniemi.
Every restaurant bakes its own buns each day, grinds its own beef and cuts its fries from fresh potatoes, and more than 95 percent of the ingredients are Finnish. As the chain puts it, there are easier ways to make burgers and fries, but not better. The chain is part of Better Burger Society, a partnership of European premium burger companies owned by the restaurant operator NoHo Partners, the investor Intera Partners, and the management and founders.
A restaurant has about 20 to 25 part-time and full-time employees, most of them young, and they learn every task in the kitchen and front of house. Most of the chain's managers started out as restaurant workers there. In the 2024 staff survey, 97 percent said they would recommend it as an employer to their friends.
From Helsinki to Rovaniemi, more than 800 people in almost 40 restaurants use the same app.
New staff learn every station in the kitchen and front of house, with the instructions for each in the app.
Hardly anyone on a shift sits at a computer, so internal communication runs through the phone.
With more than 800 people spread over almost 40 restaurants, Friends & Brgrs needs a simple way to keep everyone in the loop. Since 2023 that has been Monotree. Hardly anyone on a shift sits at a computer, so for COO Isak Fagerholm it matters that the app works just as well on a phone.
The handbooks followed. Every handbook and instruction now sits in one place, and anyone can look them up on their own phone. In a chain where new staff learn every station, in the kitchen and front of house alike, that saves a lot of asking around.
It also fits the way Friends & Brgrs hires. The chain looks for attitude and a willingness to learn and teaches new people the rest, so it helps that what they need to know is always within reach.
With both private and group chats everyone can reach each other in a quick and effective way.
Read moreA place for everyone to share information, images, videos and polls. Every department has its own.
Read moreEnsure all information is readily accessible and easily searchable for everyone.
Read moreWe use Monotree for three key aspects: internal communication, onboarding/training, and our internal social network. We aim to keep weekly content to ensure everyone stays connected and informed, relying mainly on news, courses, private and group chats, and bulletin boards. It helps us tremendously with operations, especially in keeping the entire team updated on operational changes, promotions, and updates, while also facilitating internal communication between teams. Monotree also aligns perfectly with our business strategy, which focuses on people. For us, communication and transparency are essential, as is keeping the entire team connected, regardless of how much we grow or how many cities we're in, preserving that family-like feeling. Monotree enables smooth communication across all teams, ensuring they stay informed and continue to build connections and experiences together.
Monotree has made onboarding of new employees a lot easier. It gives a professional and well prepared impression when we have to educate and develop our staff - and it ensures that everyone has the information they need.
Honestly, life before Monotree was pretty cumbersome, because we kept getting more and more WhatsApp groups. Our team was quite unhappy, because it felt like there was never any switching off from work. Yes, having La Cachapera's own app completely changes the employee experience. It brings the team together much more and creates a culture.
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