Rapid growth created a need for middle management training

The canteen and catering company Jespers Torvekøkken has been on a remarkable growth journey in recent years. However, the development progressed so rapidly that top management had to acknowledge an urgent training need among a large group of middle managers. As a result, the leadership team initiated a collaboration with CfL to create a tailored development program.

By Nikolai Steensgaard, Business Journalist, March 2024

When companies find the key to unlocking a market, development can suddenly accelerate. Sometimes growth is even so explosive that it ends up pressuring the organization – and creates an urgent need for further training of a leadership group.

This is the situation at Jespers Torvekøkken. The nationwide canteen and catering company has, over four years, almost tripled both its gross profit and employee count – reaching 212 million DKK and 400 employees. In other words, growth has been very rapid.

Divisional Manager Anders Steengaard Leer was hired a year and a half ago to rein in the canteen division. With a strong background in retail, he quickly identified a challenge created by the rapid growth. The challenge was essentially a combination of two things, he explains:

“Previously, almost everyone knew each other’s first names, but that is impossible today. Knowledge sharing has therefore been squeezed. At the same time, this is an industry with great professional pride and passion. That means the focus among the kitchen managers may be more on food quality – and not on the leadership discipline itself,” he says, adding:

“We saw that this could potentially become a problem. Therefore, we organized a program for our kitchen and customer managers to give them knowledge, tools, and space to reflect on their roles. They are not only expected to prepare good food – they must also create great experiences for their employees.”

Tailor-made program

Divisional Manager Anders Steengaard Leer was already familiar with CfL, Center for Leadership, from previous leadership roles. He engaged CfL’s Senior Advisor Mette Groos Lønsted to design a tailor-made program for Jespers Torvekøkken, which she executed in collaboration with Senior Advisor Thomas Skelbo.

The program began after the summer of 2023 and concluded in January this year. It consisted of three modules – each lasting two days and targeted at the kitchen managers of the individual canteens. Additionally, an extra two-day strategy module was arranged for the company’s customer managers, each responsible for approximately ten canteens.

This design meant that both the leaders – that is, the kitchen managers – and their superiors, the customer managers, were introduced to the same theories and methods at 14-day intervals. This helped create a common language and practical implementation.

Modules

1. Lead yourself: In the first module, participants turned their focus inward, for example to explore their own profiles, communication skills, strengths, and weaknesses. Fundamental leadership principles were reviewed, including how to handle constructive conflict.

2. Lead others: The second module focused on leadership in practice – for example, how to foster motivation, engagement, and well-being using various tools, including situational leadership.

3. Lead your team: The third module raised the perspective further. Topics included setting goals and achieving results, principles of communication and change management, as well as psychological safety.

After each module, the middle managers were tasked with applying what they had learned in practice, which they then discussed in the following module. A total of 18 kitchen managers participated in the program – corresponding to one-fifth of the overall group – and an additional 14 leaders also took part. And it doesn’t stop there, says the Divisional Manager.

“The results have been enormously positive. Our middle managers want more of this, and we are working to make it a reality. We actually see the first group as the foundation for how we train our leaders. It will simply become our leadership training program for kitchen managers going forward,” says Anders Steengaard Leer.

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Dialogue Created Team Spirit

The division manager’s overall assessment is that the CfL program hit the mark. To explore that further, it’s worth speaking with Rikke Meyer Jensen, who participated in all the modules. She joined Jespers Torvekøkken in 2018 as Head Chef and has taken on the broader role of Customer Manager since 2023.

She is enthusiastic about the CfL program and highlights one thing in particular: the impact of having the modules tailored specifically to Jespers Torvekøkken.

“I’ve attended other leadership courses before. Leadership is basically the same whether you’re an electrician or a chef — it’s about people. That’s all well and good, but the difference this time was that the course was designed specifically for us and the needs of our business,” she says, adding:

“That made a significant difference compared to what I’ve experienced in the past. We worked from our actual challenges. We felt very involved in shaping the company’s leadership philosophy. Dialogue and discussion created a real team spirit. It was incredibly good.”

When asked to identify specific content that added value for her, she points to two things: the first was the focus on overall strategy in the first course module, and the second was the final module.

“Change management was a major topic in the last module — and it’s extremely relevant to us. Our company is in rapid development. It was incredibly valuable to gain insight into how we can help employees get to where we want them to be — in a way that everyone experiences as positive,” she says.

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Growth continues

Jespers Torvekøkken was founded in 1991 by chef Jesper Holmberg. Back then, there was not the same culture regarding lunch arrangements and canteen food as we know it today. Jespers Torvekøkken was instrumental in changing this and was among the frontrunners in offering healthy and diverse lunches at workplaces.

Today, the canteen and catering company is nationwide. It is growing partly because its concept meets current demands. Its CEO is now the businessman Ronny Saul, who believes that, in a growth company like Jespers Torvekøkken, leadership development is naturally essential.

“Growth and ambition mean that we now demand more from our leaders. Therefore, we are very aware that we need to develop our kitchen managers, middle managers, and customer managers – transforming them from primarily operational staff into competent leaders. Leadership training has been a natural step on that journey,” he says.

Ronny Saul also points out that the need may have manifested faster than expected. The growth rate was surprising. When the need became clear, top management had to act and contact CfL.

“It wasn’t a need that caught us completely off guard. But the speed was perhaps surprising. The operational management was given a larger responsibility in a very short time because the business areas grew rapidly over two years. It has been very fast. There was a real need for training. Fortunately, the program was good, and the leaders are happy with the results,” he says, looking toward the future:

“Jespers Torvekøkken is a growth company – and we will continue to be so. Training is therefore a strategic focus area. We make a great effort to attract talent – but also to develop the talent we already have among our own employees.”

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