To General Managers & Multi Unit Managers,
We have been receiving wonderful responses from many of you regarding what you’ve been most grateful for during this past year. I cannot begin to tell you how blessed we have all been to read the sincere expressions of gratitude from so many of you. These emails have been very uplifting and inspirational for us here in the San Diego office. Thank you. A common theme has been first and foremost gratefulness for your families, the team attitude and cooperation in each café, and the collective spirit to serve our guests and each other with hearts of gratitude and care for one another. As we read your responses, it reminds us once again of the amazing people we have in the Manna Family, and it blesses us and makes us proud! If you have not responded, I would encourage you to make every effort to do so at your earliest convenience. As I mentioned on our call Monday, we will keep these comments as a memorial to all the good that has come out of this very difficult year. We want to hear from you, so please send me your thoughts. May God bless you and continue to use you to impact our guests, cafés and communities in such wonderful ways. “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” 1 Timothy 6:18-19 NIV In His Grace, Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time Dear Manna Family,
Today as we think about Martin Luther King Day and what it stands for, may we be reminded of the heart of Manna to bring people together, to care for one another, and to treat each other as we would like to be treated. Whether through our working together or our Share the Dough foundation, our desire is always to help make a difference in people’s lives, to help each one of you, to help the communities our Cafés are in, and to help other organizations we believe carry the same heart towards others. I strongly encourage you to watch the following15-minute video, a documentary on the friendship and the mission shared by Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dianne and I have committed a large part of our lives to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Graham family and have co-labored with both Mr. Graham and our dear friend Franklin Graham for many years. Working with Billy Graham helped in a large part to make me the person I am today and gave me a glimpse of what Martin Luther King must have been like. May we all have that same heart they had to treat everyone with kindness and respect and to love rather than to hate. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” “I have decided to stick with love…hate is too great a burden to bear.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Watch this – Taking Down the Ropes of Segregation In His Grace, Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time To the Manna Family:
My brief comments this morning were shared in the hope that Manna and all those within the Manna family are striving to be the best version of themselves they can possibly be. After touring the Michigan market, and touring is always one of the highlights of the year for me, I realized how important it is for each of us to desire to be the best we can be. As I entered café after café, the joy, excitement, and pride in many was palpable. These tours are brief visits to thank you, to encourage you, and to hopefully give you a moment to highlight your team and all you are accomplishing. These visits are a time for you to shine and be proud. For me they are an illustration of the care taken to do things either the right way or the wrong way, either with pride or without it. All of us in leadership have a responsibility, one that I believe is deeply needed today more than ever, to teach and develop in those we lead a desire to be the very best they can be. To teach them life lessons that will instill in them a desire for excellence. A desire for excellence in how they do their work, how they present themselves, how they seek to advance by holding to standards we have created and, most of all, by how they lead and improve their teams just by who they are. Every one of us impacts those around us, either for better or for worse, through our attitudes and how we do what we do. We need people around us who desire to be with us and who care about the Panera brand and the culture we have all worked so hard to develop over the past two decades at Manna. In a world today where everyone receives a trophy for just participating and where appreciation is expressed just for showing up, it is harder than ever to develop an attitude of excellence. I have called for 2021 to be the “Year of Our People.” What exactly does this mean and what does this look like? It means raising the bar, setting the standard high and seeking the gold standard in all areas of our company. It means delivering on Quality, Service, and Cleanliness through having the best trained people in the industry. It means hiring, training and keeping only the best of the best, from our DOs to our newest associates. No longer should we talk about the amazing folks at In-N-Out Burger or the incredibly positive attitude of Chick-fil-A employees. We must strive to be that organization Panera and our communities speak of when they think of excellence. This will take all of us to be honest and to truly examine ourselves and those we lead in order to determine if we are striving to be the best version of ourselves we can be. We must assess what corners we may be cutting, what we have ignored far too long in the cafés, and where we have been taking advantage of Manna by not giving our all. We must simply ask ourselves, “Am I excited about my role at Manna and am I doing my job with excellence, joy and pride, or has mediocrity and boredom slipped into my life?” It will not be easy, but I am calling on all of us, from those in the cafés to those in the office, to ask these questions of ourselves and our organization. Are we upholding standards of excellence, or are we just getting by in order to receive a pay check. I know many of you care deeply about this, but we must all do better, care more, and exhibit hearts of joy in serving one another. Only through self-examination and a desire for excellence will 2021 be all we can imagine it to be and a year in which our focus is aimed directly on our greatest asset -- each other -- making this truly the “Year of Our People.” As you ponder these things, and I pray you will take the challenge both personally and corporately, I would ask you to do two things. First, read the section below from an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal and second, take a few hours out of your week and watch an old movie called Cinderella Man with Russel Crow. Both the article and the movie speak to wanting to be the best version of oneself versus accepting mediocrity. Our choice is to be people who believe they are owed something in life or people who want to contribute and leave everything they touch better than they found it. I pray that 2021 will be a year in which we all seek excellence in all we do as well as how we do it. I pray that each of one of us will have the desire to be the Best Version of Ourselves we can possibly be. In His Grace, Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time Dear Manna Family,
This week we are celebrating two special days at Panera -- Founder’s Day and one of the most special days of the year for me, Thanksgiving Day. As we take time to reflect on these two special days, I would ask each one of you to remember that, in spite of all this year continues to throw at us, there is much for which we can be thankful. First, Founder’s Day: We are grateful for those who set out to make Panera one of the best food brands in the United States and a leader from its very beginning in providing a warm and inviting environment while serving good tasting and healthy food. We not only celebrate the men and women who started this brand several decades ago but, more importantly, we celebrate all of you who continue to build on their legacy. As Josh mentioned today, we pray that as you take home a simple loaf of bread, you will pause and recognize that you are a vital part of this great company and it is because of you that we are who we are. Second, Thanksgiving Day: Giving thanks is easy for us to do verbally, but are we truly living out a life of thanksgiving? It is often hard to recognize all that we have to be thankful for, especially in the midst of difficult circumstances. You may be personally struggling with a sick loved one at home, or you just cannot seem to get ahead during these trying times. Many of the circumstances in life can beat us down and cause us to be less joyful, let alone thankful. Although it is easy to say we are thankful, it is much more difficult to live it out. I pray that this week each of you will look up, not just around you. Look beyond the daily chatter of politics and media and know that you are not alone in the world. There is a God who loves you and wants to have personal relationship with you. He alone is where we can find true joy. This week we have an opportunity to look at those around us -- family, friends, co-workers, neighbors -- and to express our appreciation for them, a simple thank you for being in our lives. At the end of the day, it is not the things or circumstances in life that define us, it is how we choose to live a life of thanksgiving and show gratitude for all the people and all the good things the Lord has put in our lives. For the Saber family and the Rogers family, one of the greatest blessings we are deeply grateful for is each and every one of you. May you all have a blessed, wonderful, and happy Thanksgiving – tomorrow and all year long. In His Grace, Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time Dear Manna Family,
Over the past 12 weeks, our world has been turned upside down. First, the COVID-19 virus, then the inexcusable and brutal killing of George Floyd, followed by peaceful protests, chaos and violence in our streets. We have seen the worst of society and the best of society. We have seen the goodness of people as well as violence and evil. We have seen the chaos of the world, followed the next morning by the beauty of the world through people coming together to do good and try to make the situation better. I love the following quote: “It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.” Nelson Mandela I pray this is the heartbeat of who we are, the heartbeat of the Manna culture to treat others as we would want to be treated. Each and every day we are given opportunities to either help make our world better or worse. I Peter 2: 13-17 in The Message translation states, “Make the Lord proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s chosen for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government. We are living in tense and confusing times. We will encounter people who are upset, frustrated, annoyed, on edge, and fearful. This is not about us; this is about what is going on in society – people sheltered in place, required to wear masks, and peaceful protests interrupted by anarchy. We are called to do everything we can to create a better world for all. We must remain calm, be polite, show kindness, love, and respect. This will require consistent, courageous and creative effort – for every guest, every time. Encourage each other that the Lord is in control – nothing catches Him off guard. He has provided us with a future and a hope. The expectation is that 1/5 off all restaurants in the US will close and never reopen. This creates concern, anxiety, and widespread unemployment. We need to be grateful to the Lord for our company. He has watched over us, provided for us, and kept us strong financially and operationally through strong leadership. We can be thankful to the Lord that we have a job and a place to go. We are in a season of unprecedented pandemic, protest and anger, but we will get through this. This too shall pass. My prayer for our nation is that it will become a better place. That it will be a united nation, a nation of lasting peace and equal justice for all people. Organizations like ours provide a place people can trust and a place where they know they will be treated with compassion and understanding. Each one of us represents our company and everything for which it stands. This means we smile with our eyes while wearing masks, we show patience and kindness. We continue to do what we have been doing—serving our guests by welcoming them, encouraging them and each other, being coaches, cheerleaders, and listeners. We keep everyone calm and avoid negative conversations about what is happening. We respect one another. We continually think about and strive to be all that we can be. We set the example and show there is a better way. Thank you for all you are doing and, especially, for who you are. It is in our hands – each one of us, each and every day -- to help create a better world for all who live in it. I am confident that you will stand strong and will let your light shine! In His Grace, Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time Good afternoon and Blessings on this Palm Sunday...
As we enter now yet another week of a sequestered life style, deprived of the normalcies we have all our life had the privilege to participate in and taken for granted... I want to encourage and remind you how incredibly grateful I am for each of you. I could never have imagined I would be dealing with such things in my business life, nor could I have imagined it even possible to believe all the earth would be on “pause”. No planning or strategy could have prepared us for this day but yet in the midst of these turbulent waters I have complete calm we shall overcome this and be stronger for it. I also would not have wanted to go through nor could I have gone through this without each of you... you truly are the best of the best in so many ways beyond your talent and effort... you are unique and wonderfully made in His image. I pray today you will take time to reflect on all the good that is coming from this, take a moment to give the Lord thanks for His presence especially during difficult times. This week we found out Dianne is CANCER FREE... oh my dear God what a wonderful praise report He gave us right in the craziness of these days. I know each of you can see hope and promise in your own lives as well... reflect on it and give Him thanks. As you take time today to just rest in His presence know that tomorrow you will be needed to fight another day... I thought you might like this devotion which reminds us our Lord understands trials and suffering as He has suffered in all ways. He will see us through this that I am sure but the pain of it will still be felt but we can and will endure it... "On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus." Luke 23:26 We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer. But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus! You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. 'Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow him. Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier end. And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honor. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." In His Grace Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time Good Morning Manna Family,
The power of prayer and its outcomes are truly a mystery to me. It seems that some prayers are not answered and others are. Like some of you, tragedy has befallen my family over the years, which left me broken and crying out to God. What I have learned is a simple truth, which is that God ALWAYS hears our prayers. He answers them in ways that are beyond our understanding – sometimes He answers “not now,” sometimes “yes” or “no,” or in some cases in silence that can become deafening. However, He always hears them. Last night I heard Him shout loudly in answer to the many prayers for Dianne. It is with great joy that I write to you regarding a wonderful answer to prayer as well as a prayer for which we hopeful. First, a praise report. Dianne’s surgery yesterday went as well as anyone could have anticipated. When Dianne was finally wheeled in for surgery at 3:40 p.m., after almost a two-hour delay, the surgeon found no presence of cancer and only needed to remove a two-centimeter lymphoid. The presence of more could have meant complications with pain and swelling in the years ahead. Dianne came through the surgery very strong and both surgeons, one to remove the tumor and one for reconstruction, could not have been more pleased with the results. We need to wait a few days for the final pathology report, but the preliminary report suggests an “all clear” finding. I cannot thank you enough for your continued commitment of prayer and love for Dianne and our family. The final leg of this journey is still before us, including radiation next month which will last 30 days, and then final reconstructive surgery in six months, but we are believing the toughest part of this process is behind us. Dianne has proven to be more than a fighter, with her gracious, loving positive spirit as she continues to take this all in stride. Again, from all of us in the Saber family, we love and appreciate you more than you will ever know. This week as our leadership team is working through the day-to-day evaluation of sales and cash management, we believe there may be a bright spot on the horizon. In addition to all of you out there street fighting for every sale – and trust me, compared to the Panera system at large, you are daily demonstrating a heart to win for your associates and guests -- we believe the CareAct announced by the US government might help us weather this storm in ways we could never have imagined. I would ask you to put forth the same heart of prayer toward this coming to fruition as you have for Dianne, your associates and your guests. We will know this week how Manna will be positioned in relation to the CareAct, which will dictate how healthy we will be over the next 90 days and, more importantly, how long we can weather this battle with an invisible enemy. So I would ask you to pray for God’s helping and merciful hand over Manna and the rest of the company. I would also ask you to lift up all of our people and their extended families each day. None of us can know all that is happening in each household in the Manna Family, but I am sure many are struggling with issues beyond their control, whether it be a sick loved one, someone who has lost their job, or just the ongoing stress of the unknown. Without mentioning names or issues, please lift each one up in prayer. The Lord will answer your prayers. He knows our every need. The Bible tells us, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16 Thank you again for your steadfastness in these difficult times and for your heart to care for others and exemplify all that Manna stands for day-by-day. God bless and keep you. In His Grace, Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time Dear Manna Family,
It is difficult in these days to focus on much other than the worry, concern and, ultimately, fear that seems to be plaguing so many. All of us can become preoccupied with our daily circumstances, and when it seems the media, Wall Street, and the politicians of our day have lost their way, those fears are only magnified. I know, as many of you do, how life can change in an instant and seemingly out of nowhere our world can be turned upside down. Whether it is the unexpected loss of a loved one, disease, or today’s Coronavirus crisis, life can overwhelm and even paralyze us. I want to assure you again that the Manna Family is here for you. We are praying that you will know that all will be well in spite of the momentary afflictions that surround us. The Manna Family is a strong group of caring individuals, from Colorado to California to Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, and I want each of you to know that leadership is available, whatever your needs, even if it is just some time to sit down with you and calm your fears. Too often in the midst of the storms of life we lose sight of what we should be focusing on. Like the Apostle Peter, when Jesus asked him to get out of the boat and walk across the water to Him, we focus on the circumstances rather than keeping our eyes on Him. I have been in business since 1981 and during that time have witnessed several financial crises -- SARS , Bird Flu, H1N1, HIV/AIDS, and 9/11. And I, like some of you, have lost loved ones and sat at the bedside of ailing family members or friends. Somehow, by God’s grace, I came through it all, and you will too. Since that time, I met the most wonderful woman in the world, inherited a family and brother through marriage, had two amazing children, was blessed with a son through marriage, and formed several companies, none greater than the one I now have the privilege to lead. Life has been full of mountain tops and valleys, and through it all, I would not have changed one thing because I know God has been and is in control. I have tried to live each day as though it were my last, knowing I could have been kinder, more helpful, less selfish and worried less, and praying if I woke up I would start afresh in the knowledge that God’s mercies are new each and every morning. So, I encourage you today, in the midst of the fear and panic that grips so many, to find ways to help others, love more deeply, and worry less. Keep your eyes off the circumstances and remember that the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in his first Inaugural Address to the nation in 1937 and in the midst of the Great Depression years, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Jesus’ promise to His disciples, and to us is, “Peace I Ieave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27). This is the peace that is capable of resisting the pressures of fear. It is the peace that allows us to be calm and caring in the midst of whatever fears there may be in the world. It is the peace we need at this time, and I pray you will know this kind of peace. Thank you for your efforts each day and your dedication to honor our core value, the Golden Rule. And please don’t forget to reach out to one of us in leadership if you have any extraordinary needs at this time. If you have time over the weekend, I would ask you to click on the link below and read the articles and scripture references, as I believe they will ease your minds. God bless each and every one of you. https://billygraham.org/story/confronting-fear-in-the-face-of-coronavirus/ In His love and His care for each of us, Paul Paul Saber President/CEO Manna Development Group 1 Peter 4:8-11 Every Guest Every Time |
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