McCormick & Company (NYSE: MKC) makes and sells spices, herbs, and flavorings for the retail, commercial, and industrial markets. The company began in 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. One hundred years later, in 1989, McCormick moved from downtown Baltimore to the suburb of Hunt Valley, Maryland. McCormick has approximately 8,000 employees. The company is headquartered in Sparks, Maryland.
In 2007, the company started a new advertising campaign to encourage people to dispose of older packages of spices, by pointing out that any of their packages that list their address as "Baltimore, MD 21202" are over 15 years old.[1][2][3]
Its brands include McCormick, Schilling (on the west coast of the United States), Zatarain's (United States), Old Bay Seasoning (United States), Ducros (Europe), Club House (Canada), Billy Bee Honey (Canada), Schwartz (United Kingdom) and McCormick Foods Australia (Australia), Thai Kitchen and Simply Asia (United States), and most recently Lawry's and Adolph's.
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HotSchedules, the leading provider of online employee scheduling and labor management solutions for the restaurant industry, today announced that McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants, Inc., a leading national seafood restaurant operator in the affordable upscale dining segment, has selected HotSchedules Enterprise for restaurant labor management, communication and forecasting. After a four-month pilot at 12 restaurant locations, McCormick & Schmick’s implemented HotSchedules Enterprise in July to all 96 of its restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.
“In just a few short months, HotSchedules has provided us with a cost-effective tool that allows us to not only manage labor costs more efficiently, but also offer our employees a more flexible scheduling process that fits their lifestyle”
Prior to selecting HotSchedules, McCormick & Schmick’s was actively looking for a labor management solution that could provide advanced scheduling and forecasting capabilities, as well as improved employee/manager communication. HotSchedules is already providing McCormick & Schmick’s with significant ROI. Since implementing the HotSchedules tools, the restaurant company has seen labor cost savings and improved clock-in enforcement for its hourly employees.
With HotSchedules’ user-friendly, online scheduling solution, McCormick & Schmick’s managers have significantly reduced the time it takes to develop staff schedules and manage shift changes and requests. Additionally, the advanced forecasting tools in HotSchedules help managers easily and accurately project targeted labor budgets to be consistently aware of the most appropriate staffing level for each shift and to avoid overtime before it happens—a significant cost-saving strategy.
Since moving to HotSchedules, employees at McCormick & Schmick’s can now access their schedules 24/7 online or via a mobile device, as well as pick up shifts, request time off, send messages to managers or other employees, and receive email and SMS text message notification when shift changes are approved by the manager. McCormick & Schmick’s also utilizes the HotSchedules Digital Logbook, providing managers with a powerful web-based logbook for communication and documentation—such as employee information, restaurant maintenance issues and large party accommodations—that can be easily searched and reviewed anywhere, anytime.
“In just a few short months, HotSchedules has provided us with a cost-effective tool that allows us to not only manage labor costs more efficiently, but also offer our employees a more flexible scheduling process that fits their lifestyle,” said Chris Westcott, Vice President of Restaurant Operations for McCormick & Schmick’s. “Additionally, the Digital Logbook has streamlined communication within each management team and allows for regional management to view operational and performance notes remotely.”
“McCormick & Schmick’s company culture is one of true hospitality with a history of treating each of its guests like family, and we are pleased to welcome them into the HotSchedules family of customers,” said Ray Pawlikowski, president and co-founder, HotSchedules.
About HotSchedules
HotSchedules, innovators of the most widely-used web-based restaurant workforce management solutions and mobile applications, sets the industry standard for service, support and labor management expertise. By engaging with its clients as partners, HotSchedules vastly improves management-employee communications, resulting in greater employee satisfaction and retention—and offers a fast, proven ROI through reduced manual scheduling and labor costs. From independent restaurants to corporate chains, HotSchedules’ suite of solutions empowers restaurant staff and managers with all the tools they need to communicate effectively and efficiently. More than 5,000 restaurants and over 500,000 users rely on HotSchedules every day. HotSchedules complements its product offerings with a world-class, bilingual support staff at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas
McCormick & Co. Inc. is one of the region’s largest employers.
The storied Sparks spice giant employs 2,300 between its Hunt Valley and Sparks offices. One of the company tidbits executives like to tout is employee retention. The average McCormick worker has been with the company 15 years and 25 percent have 25 years of experience or more with the company, said Joy Yeager, manager of McCormick’s employment center.
I recently spoke with Yeager about McCormick’s hiring plans and any advice she had for prospective employees.
As exciting as Owen McCormick finds the process of getting a contract, he realizes the importance of other responsibilities of his job: growth, employee retention, his safety program, and especially training issues. He’s the president of Joseph McCormick Construction Co. Inc., Erie PA – a company that’s been in his family for four generations.
“We were established in 1907 by my great grandfather, Joseph McCormick. He was in the storm sewer business and laid pipe. In the 1950s, my grandfather, John J. McCormick Sr., decided to put up an asphalt plant. We’ve been in the paving business since (then).”
That first plant, a BLH Madsen 4-ton (3.6 Mg) batch plant, went up well in Meadville, PA, but was moved about 35 miles (56km) up the road to Wesleyville, just outside of Erie in the 1960s. The business went from John J. McCormick Sr. to Owen’s uncle, then his father, John J. McCormick Jr. “When I graduated from Notre Dame in 1981, I worked with a general contractor in Washington, D.C., for a few years and got a lot of good site experience,” says McCormick. “After being with him for a few years, I returned to Erie and got back in the construction business with my family. By that time, my dad was buying my uncle out so it was a natural move to work with my brothers to build the business. That’s what I did in 1991 when I returned. Then we (brothers Matt and Owen) took over in 1993.”
“Our bread and butter is asphalt paving. We run two full paving crews at all times. Both crews run a Blaw-Knox 5510 track paver. The rollers McCormick Construction uses are an Ingersoll-Rand DD-90 and DD-22, the Hyster 754 and Hyster static roller, and a Rosco pneumatic tired machine.
“We’re currently at 45 employees,” says McCormick. “We run 8 different foremen, counting grading crews, and they’re in charge of their jobs completely. We also have a field superintendent. That upper tier, the superintendent, make decisions about the equipment and what the foremen should be empowered with. He’s in constant contact with the foremen so he’s very sympathetic to their needs. We’re big on communication between all our people.”
Employee treatment dictates employee retention. Communication is strength for McCormick Construction, keeping employees at all levels “in the know.” McCormick explains that the superintendent meets with his foremen on a daily basis. Weekly meetings between the superintendent, project managers and upper management combined with a high visibility of senior company members at work sites keep employees abreast of changes and expectations.
“We’re out there not only communicating on a meeting-type basis, but witnessing the production as it is happening.”
McCormick sees the prudence in having someone who specializes in a certain area of the company running that area. “We believe in having people focused on the different parts of the company that are taking place. We have family members, but we also have outside people that are play a very integral role in our business. Allowing employees to specialize in their jobs has kept some around for a long time. “We have people who have been with us 37-plus years. I think that they show us the same loyalty we show them. We’re a fair employer. We try to pay as well as can be expected for a position and we treat our employees very well.”
Another factor of employee retention is safety. One way McCormick Construction treats its employees well is by watching out for them. McCormick speaks with pride about his safety program: “we’re extremely safety oriented.” Daily safety meetings are commonplace on the job sites and monthly safety meetings take place as well. A safety committee meets once a month and every employee receives the employee handbook, the safety manual and an explanation of safety expectations during orientation.
On-the-job training affects employee outlook. Along with safety, McCormick Construction places importance on ongoing training for employees. “We’re heavily into training. You probably won’t meet a contractor that is as sold on training as we are. We believe training is the way of the future.”
As part of their commitment, McCormick Construction brings in people like John Ball of Top Quality Paving, Manchester, NH to work with employees. “John works with our paving people in the field extensively to ensure they’re laying the best quality asphalt that they possibly can through proper techniques and through the proper equipment.”
McCormick sees the necessity for a diplomatic approach to training and sees that approach in Ball’s delivery. “John Ball has a way of communicating with anyone from the newest rookie to the most seasoned veteran on how to do things a little better and gives them improvement. He is able to communicate to them without that person being in a defensive type position.”
Joseph McCormick Construction Co. Inc. does everything from site development work to asphalt paving. The Peach Street Square, Erie, PA., project on upper Peach Street in Erie required McCormick be involved in all stages of development, including the connector roads. The crew started with an open field and worked the site through its completion.
Growth is a strength in today’s market. Whether it’s keeping employees happy at their specialized tasks, keeping them safe, or updating their knowledge and skills, McCormick Construction is retaining workers who do more and more of just that each year: work.
The work varies from state to private, from moving earth to paving with asphalt, but McCormick’s ability to provide the customer with a quality product seems unwavering. Paul Lehrer, project manager for Wegmans Food Market in New York, granted a contract to McCormick, but only after much background checking.
“Basically, we put an ad in the paper. We invited them (McCormick) to bid and since they had never done work for us, we did extensive research on them,” says Lehrer. “We spent about a week doing research before we awarded the contract. We couldn’t find anybody to say anything bad about them.” And Lehrer actually tried to find something negative, to ease his conscience. “To be honest with you, it was a very complicated project and I would have felt more comfortable awarding it to somebody that I had worked with before. My boss basically told me, ‘if you don’t want to award them the contract, you give me a reason why I shouldn’t,’ and I couldn’t find anybody to say anything bad about them.”
Wegmans wasn’t the only owner who checked sources before awarding McCormick a contract. George Roth of Cafaro Co., Youngstown, Ohio, a real estate developer, describes what he found out: “Joseph McCormick is well known in the area. They have a good reputation. Obviously, their prices are good also. We (Cafaro Co.) generally don’t put people on the bid list unless we know they’re capable, good contractors.”
In 2007, the company started a new advertising campaign to encourage people to dispose of older packages of spices, by pointing out that any of their packages that list their address as "Baltimore, MD 21202" are over 15 years old.[1][2][3]
Its brands include McCormick, Schilling (on the west coast of the United States), Zatarain's (United States), Old Bay Seasoning (United States), Ducros (Europe), Club House (Canada), Billy Bee Honey (Canada), Schwartz (United Kingdom) and McCormick Foods Australia (Australia), Thai Kitchen and Simply Asia (United States), and most recently Lawry's and Adolph's.
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HotSchedules, the leading provider of online employee scheduling and labor management solutions for the restaurant industry, today announced that McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants, Inc., a leading national seafood restaurant operator in the affordable upscale dining segment, has selected HotSchedules Enterprise for restaurant labor management, communication and forecasting. After a four-month pilot at 12 restaurant locations, McCormick & Schmick’s implemented HotSchedules Enterprise in July to all 96 of its restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.
“In just a few short months, HotSchedules has provided us with a cost-effective tool that allows us to not only manage labor costs more efficiently, but also offer our employees a more flexible scheduling process that fits their lifestyle”
Prior to selecting HotSchedules, McCormick & Schmick’s was actively looking for a labor management solution that could provide advanced scheduling and forecasting capabilities, as well as improved employee/manager communication. HotSchedules is already providing McCormick & Schmick’s with significant ROI. Since implementing the HotSchedules tools, the restaurant company has seen labor cost savings and improved clock-in enforcement for its hourly employees.
With HotSchedules’ user-friendly, online scheduling solution, McCormick & Schmick’s managers have significantly reduced the time it takes to develop staff schedules and manage shift changes and requests. Additionally, the advanced forecasting tools in HotSchedules help managers easily and accurately project targeted labor budgets to be consistently aware of the most appropriate staffing level for each shift and to avoid overtime before it happens—a significant cost-saving strategy.
Since moving to HotSchedules, employees at McCormick & Schmick’s can now access their schedules 24/7 online or via a mobile device, as well as pick up shifts, request time off, send messages to managers or other employees, and receive email and SMS text message notification when shift changes are approved by the manager. McCormick & Schmick’s also utilizes the HotSchedules Digital Logbook, providing managers with a powerful web-based logbook for communication and documentation—such as employee information, restaurant maintenance issues and large party accommodations—that can be easily searched and reviewed anywhere, anytime.
“In just a few short months, HotSchedules has provided us with a cost-effective tool that allows us to not only manage labor costs more efficiently, but also offer our employees a more flexible scheduling process that fits their lifestyle,” said Chris Westcott, Vice President of Restaurant Operations for McCormick & Schmick’s. “Additionally, the Digital Logbook has streamlined communication within each management team and allows for regional management to view operational and performance notes remotely.”
“McCormick & Schmick’s company culture is one of true hospitality with a history of treating each of its guests like family, and we are pleased to welcome them into the HotSchedules family of customers,” said Ray Pawlikowski, president and co-founder, HotSchedules.
About HotSchedules
HotSchedules, innovators of the most widely-used web-based restaurant workforce management solutions and mobile applications, sets the industry standard for service, support and labor management expertise. By engaging with its clients as partners, HotSchedules vastly improves management-employee communications, resulting in greater employee satisfaction and retention—and offers a fast, proven ROI through reduced manual scheduling and labor costs. From independent restaurants to corporate chains, HotSchedules’ suite of solutions empowers restaurant staff and managers with all the tools they need to communicate effectively and efficiently. More than 5,000 restaurants and over 500,000 users rely on HotSchedules every day. HotSchedules complements its product offerings with a world-class, bilingual support staff at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas
McCormick & Co. Inc. is one of the region’s largest employers.
The storied Sparks spice giant employs 2,300 between its Hunt Valley and Sparks offices. One of the company tidbits executives like to tout is employee retention. The average McCormick worker has been with the company 15 years and 25 percent have 25 years of experience or more with the company, said Joy Yeager, manager of McCormick’s employment center.
I recently spoke with Yeager about McCormick’s hiring plans and any advice she had for prospective employees.
As exciting as Owen McCormick finds the process of getting a contract, he realizes the importance of other responsibilities of his job: growth, employee retention, his safety program, and especially training issues. He’s the president of Joseph McCormick Construction Co. Inc., Erie PA – a company that’s been in his family for four generations.
“We were established in 1907 by my great grandfather, Joseph McCormick. He was in the storm sewer business and laid pipe. In the 1950s, my grandfather, John J. McCormick Sr., decided to put up an asphalt plant. We’ve been in the paving business since (then).”
That first plant, a BLH Madsen 4-ton (3.6 Mg) batch plant, went up well in Meadville, PA, but was moved about 35 miles (56km) up the road to Wesleyville, just outside of Erie in the 1960s. The business went from John J. McCormick Sr. to Owen’s uncle, then his father, John J. McCormick Jr. “When I graduated from Notre Dame in 1981, I worked with a general contractor in Washington, D.C., for a few years and got a lot of good site experience,” says McCormick. “After being with him for a few years, I returned to Erie and got back in the construction business with my family. By that time, my dad was buying my uncle out so it was a natural move to work with my brothers to build the business. That’s what I did in 1991 when I returned. Then we (brothers Matt and Owen) took over in 1993.”
“Our bread and butter is asphalt paving. We run two full paving crews at all times. Both crews run a Blaw-Knox 5510 track paver. The rollers McCormick Construction uses are an Ingersoll-Rand DD-90 and DD-22, the Hyster 754 and Hyster static roller, and a Rosco pneumatic tired machine.
“We’re currently at 45 employees,” says McCormick. “We run 8 different foremen, counting grading crews, and they’re in charge of their jobs completely. We also have a field superintendent. That upper tier, the superintendent, make decisions about the equipment and what the foremen should be empowered with. He’s in constant contact with the foremen so he’s very sympathetic to their needs. We’re big on communication between all our people.”
Employee treatment dictates employee retention. Communication is strength for McCormick Construction, keeping employees at all levels “in the know.” McCormick explains that the superintendent meets with his foremen on a daily basis. Weekly meetings between the superintendent, project managers and upper management combined with a high visibility of senior company members at work sites keep employees abreast of changes and expectations.
“We’re out there not only communicating on a meeting-type basis, but witnessing the production as it is happening.”
McCormick sees the prudence in having someone who specializes in a certain area of the company running that area. “We believe in having people focused on the different parts of the company that are taking place. We have family members, but we also have outside people that are play a very integral role in our business. Allowing employees to specialize in their jobs has kept some around for a long time. “We have people who have been with us 37-plus years. I think that they show us the same loyalty we show them. We’re a fair employer. We try to pay as well as can be expected for a position and we treat our employees very well.”
Another factor of employee retention is safety. One way McCormick Construction treats its employees well is by watching out for them. McCormick speaks with pride about his safety program: “we’re extremely safety oriented.” Daily safety meetings are commonplace on the job sites and monthly safety meetings take place as well. A safety committee meets once a month and every employee receives the employee handbook, the safety manual and an explanation of safety expectations during orientation.
On-the-job training affects employee outlook. Along with safety, McCormick Construction places importance on ongoing training for employees. “We’re heavily into training. You probably won’t meet a contractor that is as sold on training as we are. We believe training is the way of the future.”
As part of their commitment, McCormick Construction brings in people like John Ball of Top Quality Paving, Manchester, NH to work with employees. “John works with our paving people in the field extensively to ensure they’re laying the best quality asphalt that they possibly can through proper techniques and through the proper equipment.”
McCormick sees the necessity for a diplomatic approach to training and sees that approach in Ball’s delivery. “John Ball has a way of communicating with anyone from the newest rookie to the most seasoned veteran on how to do things a little better and gives them improvement. He is able to communicate to them without that person being in a defensive type position.”
Joseph McCormick Construction Co. Inc. does everything from site development work to asphalt paving. The Peach Street Square, Erie, PA., project on upper Peach Street in Erie required McCormick be involved in all stages of development, including the connector roads. The crew started with an open field and worked the site through its completion.
Growth is a strength in today’s market. Whether it’s keeping employees happy at their specialized tasks, keeping them safe, or updating their knowledge and skills, McCormick Construction is retaining workers who do more and more of just that each year: work.
The work varies from state to private, from moving earth to paving with asphalt, but McCormick’s ability to provide the customer with a quality product seems unwavering. Paul Lehrer, project manager for Wegmans Food Market in New York, granted a contract to McCormick, but only after much background checking.
“Basically, we put an ad in the paper. We invited them (McCormick) to bid and since they had never done work for us, we did extensive research on them,” says Lehrer. “We spent about a week doing research before we awarded the contract. We couldn’t find anybody to say anything bad about them.” And Lehrer actually tried to find something negative, to ease his conscience. “To be honest with you, it was a very complicated project and I would have felt more comfortable awarding it to somebody that I had worked with before. My boss basically told me, ‘if you don’t want to award them the contract, you give me a reason why I shouldn’t,’ and I couldn’t find anybody to say anything bad about them.”
Wegmans wasn’t the only owner who checked sources before awarding McCormick a contract. George Roth of Cafaro Co., Youngstown, Ohio, a real estate developer, describes what he found out: “Joseph McCormick is well known in the area. They have a good reputation. Obviously, their prices are good also. We (Cafaro Co.) generally don’t put people on the bid list unless we know they’re capable, good contractors.”