15X revenue growth fueled by culture: Barbeque Nation’s story of becoming a Legend
About The Company
Barbeque Nation is one of India’s leading casual dining restaurant chains. It pioneered the format of “Over the table Barbeque” concept in India. Its core values emphasize being customer-focused by delivering excellent products and services, and being employee-focused by fostering a high-quality work environment.
- Industry: Retail
- Employee Size : 8,000+ India based employees
Great Place To Work Experience:
“We started by just listening. Through the Trust Index Survey, our team opened up about what they love and what they struggle with. They spoke about the joy of working like a family, the support they feel from each other and the pride in wearing the Barbeque Nation badge.
Being part of the Great Place To Work community has helped us learn from other amazing organisations, reflect on our own journey and grow stronger together. It reminded us that great workplaces are not built overnight. They’re built every day with kindness, care and connection.”
—Naresh Jain, Head of HR, Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited
Key Highlights
- Revenue grew 15-fold in 15 years
- 40% rehire rate within three months of departure
- Recognized 10 times as India’s Best Companies To Work For
- 96% employees at Barbeque Nation believe it is a great workplace
Culture That Cares and Retains
One Brand. One Family. A Million Moments of Belonging.
Over 90% of Barbeque Nation’s workforce comes from remote regions, more than 70% of them being younger than 34 years of age. Many of them are stepping out of their hometowns for the first time, often with a mix of excitement and nervousness. Practices at Barbeque Nation are thoughtfully designed to address this. Here, every employee is embraced as part of one large family, and Barbeque Nation becomes their home away from home. This culture of belonging is enlivened by some unique practices at Barbeque Nation:
- Welcoming: When employees join Barbeque Nation, they are greeted by members of the HR Team at the train/bus station, and further inducted into the organisation, through “Swarambh”—a celebration that welcomes the new joiner with music and a cake-cutting ceremony.
- Supporting: Entry-level employees make up nearly 50% of the workforce. Barbeque Nation understands the challenges they face while relocating and therefore provides free accommodation to support them, encouraging physical and psychological safety for its employees.
- Thanking: To express gratitude to an employee for their contribution towards the organisation’s success, Barbeque Nation introduced the “Letter To Parents” – grounded in the belief that recognising an employee in front of their family is one of the most meaningful forms of appreciation. This gesture has not only deepened the emotional connection between the organisation and its people but also led to a powerful ripple effect — parents proudly shared these letters in their communities and networks.
Recognising this community connect, Barbeque Nation built on the practice by inviting employees to refer individuals from their own networks. As a result, the organisation experienced a significant increase in employee referrals, resulting in the recruitment of over 576 employees in just one quarter. Because these new joiners often come from the same communities and cultural contexts, the initiative has also contributed to improved retention rates at the entry level.
From Feedback To Action
Leveraging Insights from Great Place To Work
“At Barbeque Nation, listening to our people has never been just a process; it’s part of who we are. When we first began our journey with the Trust Index Survey, we saw it as a way to give our team members a voice. But over time, the survey also helped us see areas where we needed to do better, like managing workloads or offering more learning and growth. Without this honest feedback, we may have missed these pain points. But because our people trusted us enough to share openly, we made it our mission to act quickly and meaningfully. Their voices have shaped real changes across outlets, helping us stay grounded in our values as we grow across cities.”
Through its partnership with Great Place To Work, Barbeque Nation has institutionalised a robust listening mechanism- one that enables it to gather feedback from its employees, measure consistency of this feedback across the organisation, and address the feedback with meaningful change.
Training & Development
Through the “Padhega Barbeque, Badhega Barbeque” initiative, employees are sponsored to pursue distance learning programs from reputed institutes across the country. This support extends from entry-level staff to high-potential leaders, including domain-specific and general management certifications from top-tier institutions.
The Impact
As a result, Barbeque Nation has built a strong internal leadership pipeline, with 60% of its outlet leadership team having grown from within. Beyond this, Barbeque Nation boasts that its overseas workforce requirements are being 100% met by its Indian employees.
Women at Workforce
A woman-led support initiative to provide a safe space for female employees to share concerns.
Organised regular virtual calls exclusively for women to openly discuss issues and experiences.
Conducted sessions to educate male staff about menstruation, pregnancy, and gender-sensitive communication.
Women are assigned to core operational roles such as certain kitchen areas like tandoor, grill handling, etc., demonstrating no gender-based task allocation, even in traditionally male-dominated sections.
Over the course of its 10-year partnership with Great Place To Work®, Barbeque Nation has also seen a 31-point improvement in women’s workplace experience, reflecting the impact of its sustained inclusion efforts.
The Great Place To Work Effect
At Barbeque Nation, building a great workplace hasn’t just earned recognition, it has delivered tangible returns across hiring, retention, and growth. It exemplifies how investment in workplace culture strategically fuels sustainable growth.
Products and features used
Trust Index™ Survey
Authors
Ananta Jain, Account Manager, Great Place To Work India
Shambhavi Agrawal, Content Manager, Great Place To Work India
Transformed your workplace culture with insights provided by Great Place To Work? We want to hear all about it! Share your organization’s journey, challenges, and triumphs by emailing us at in_researchandinsights@greatplacetowork.com. Your story can inspire others to create exceptional workplaces.
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