HUNGRY FOR THE perfect burger, Tom Byng decided to make his own. The result was Byron, a London-based restaurant whose mission was to make simple and satisfying food. Five years later, the public appetite for Byron burgers seems insatiable and Byng has just opened the 26th branch, proving that keeping it simple really does work. With eateries in Kent and Oxford, the business has doubled in size over the past year and employs close to 750 people. The company also boasts a mobile restaurant called the Shack for music festivals and a van for smaller festivals and street food events. The restaurant chain is not just proving popular with the country's carnivores but with its employees, too. Staff love working for Byron, giving this question a positive score of 75% in our survey. They feel they are contributing to its success (77%) and that what is expected from them is made completely clear (78%). Everyone knows that a good recipe cannot work without all the right ingredients, and Byron is no exception. Essential to the success of any company is team spirit and staff feel a strong sense of family (75%) and say that they have fun with colleagues (85%). Team leaders have the freedom to incentivise people with fun days out, duvet days and other prizes, and Byron staff believe their managers talk openly and honestly with them (76%) and are confident in the skills of their bosses (77%). Last May, the firm ran a competition for a sailing event it dubbed the America's Cup, with the winning team offered the opportunity to go sailing competitively for two days as part of a wider regatta. The feedback from the inaugural event was so overwhelming that Byron has introduced it as a full-on competition, basing the selection criteria around all aspects of restaurant performance. At the Christmas party, which took the form of a masked ball in London's Cafe de Paris, the many actors who work at Byron performed a Jack and the Byng Stalk play which light-heartedly mocked senior management. Despite the jokes, employees have confidence in the senior team's abilities (72%).
