Breakout Session / Tuesday / October 11, 2022 / 11:00 AM
Addressing Today’s Mental Health Crisis: Key to Managing Staffing and Reducing Turnover
Three-quarters of employees report at least one symptom of a mental health condition in the past year, with 84% of those reporting at least one workplace factor negatively impacting their mental health.
Economic uncertainty, stressful working environments, and more challenging interactions with guests and co-workers make restaurant and hospitality work more difficult than ever before. Despite this growing need for mental health support, many restaurant employees either don’t have or don’t know how to access mental health resources. Restaurant operators who promote a healthy work environment by getting employees the help they need are seeing better daily staffing, reduced turnover, and higher overall job satisfaction.
Our panel of experts include an industry-leading mental health professional, a crisis manager, a legal expert, and an operator who will discuss what the current crisis looks like, why having an EAP alone may not be enough, and how to cost effectively offer resources and support to your employees.
PANELISTS
MODERATORS
Adenah Bayoh | Founder, Franchisee | Cornbread, IHOP
Adenah Bayoh embodies the American dream. At age 13, she escaped the civil war in her native country of Liberia, immigrated to the United States and is now one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the state of New Jersey. Inspired by her grandmother, who owned a restaurant in Liberia, Adenah is now the owner of 8 restaurants including 4 IHOP franchises in northern New Jersey. She opened her first IHOP in Irvington Township, New Jersey at the age of 27, making her one of the youngest franchisees in the country at that time. In late 2017, Adenah launched Cornbread, her first independent fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurant, which she co-founded with fellow entrepreneur, Zadie B. Smith. They recently opened their second location in downtown Newark, and a third in Brooklyn, NY. Additionally, in keeping with Adenah’s mission of bringing high quality food and services to urban communities, in the summer of 2021 she launched her latest restaurant concept, Urban Vegan, in downtown Newark.
Amy Hom | Chief Operating Officer & Chief People Officer | Bluestone Lane
Amy Hom is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer at Bluestone Lane. She is leading and driving the culture within the organization, the human resources team as well as other departments such as training and development. In addition to serving as a Chief People Officer, she has led operations in large organizations as well as food safety, training, and culinary teams. Amy has more than 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry and has served in operations leadership roles for fine dining, casual dining and fast casual brands. Before joining Bluestone Lane, Amy led the North America retail and restaurant operations leadership team for REEF Technology Global, served as the Vice President of Operations with Sweetgreen, Red Robin and was the Senior Operations Director of Wolfgang Puck Catering. She has served in operations leadership roles for California Pizza Kitchen where she built a strong management foundation from where to continue to learn, grow and develop others.
Kelly McCutcheon | Vice President of People | Hopdoddy Burger Bar
Kelly McCutcheon joined Hopdoddy as director of training, and her passion and success in leading and developing great people has elevated her to her current position as vice president of people. In her hospitality career spanning 20 years, McCutcheon has honed her training skills to align team culture with guest experience to create great business performance. She says her training mission is “to help people grow into the best version of themselves.” Prior to Hopdoddy, she served as a regional training manager at P.F. Chang’s for almost a decade. There she helped the brand double in size to 200 locations. In addition to her duties at Hopdoddy, McCutcheon is also the Austin Regional Director for the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers (CHART).
Michelle Harden | Managing Partner | Messner Reeves
Michelle Harden, attorney and managing partner at Messner Reeves LLP, provides a comprehensive legal assessment of the restaurant industry. Her law practice is recognized nationally for successfully defending restaurants and similar food industry businesses. Michelle and her team assist restaurants with: Foodborne and environmental illness and contamination defense, Proactive crisis management planning, Active crisis management, Management practices and Countless other issues facing today’s food and restaurant businesses. Her client-focused, solution-oriented approach has garnered the trust of some of the most successful food industry businesses across the country – from individual proprietors to Fortune 500 companies. Michelle earned a JD from the University of Colorado in 2005. She also received a Bachelor of Science degree in 2001 from Colorado Christian University, where she graduated magna cum laude.
Roslyn Stone | CEO | Zero Hour Health
Roslyn Stone, MPH, is Chief Executive Officer of Zero Hour Health, the industry leader in employee patron and community health for many of the nation’s largest restaurant and food service chains. And founder of Zedic, a solution for emerging chains, independents and smaller groups. Stone’s experience includes more than thirty years in the field of workplace health. At Zero Hour Health, Stone oversees clinical support services for more than 50,000 locations in the restaurant and foodservice industries, and for major events like the Super Bowl. An industry thought leader in risk management and matters of employee and public health, Stone is a sought-after speaker and panelist, She has been the voice of the industry throughout COVID and frequently quoted in national publications including on the emerging mental health crisis impacting the workforce.
