Company: FWRG
Filing Date: 2025-03-11
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001789940-25-000010
Chunk: 15

Company: First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-11
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 15
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 and South Carolina.

Including Our Employees

At First Watch, we are committed to making days brighter by creating a culture where our teams and our customers feel valued and celebrated for who they are and the differences they bring to the table. With our mission of “Making days brighter at Every opportunity”, we endeavor to provide all employees with the opportunity to contribute at the highest level to ensure everyone can belong, thrive, and “Follow the Sun” to reach their full potential. We believe the composition of our teams reflect the diversity of our restaurant communities across the country, allowing us to better anticipate market trends and address the needs of our customers. And while our work is ongoing, we’re dedicated to building on our “You First” commitment and unlocking possibilities for each team member and the communities we serve. First Watch works with an outside consultant to complete an annual assessment to both build and benchmark our policies, practices and representation.

In 2020, we developed and launched an annual campaign, branded #beabetterhuman, which has taken our people-focused approach to a new level. The #beabetterhuman initiative is comprised of monthly live, interactive in-person and online workshops fostering personal and professional development. The #beabetterhuman campaign was designed to educate and develop our workforce, raise awareness and influence change. We continue to build upon the success of the program with training for new managers and an ongoing #beabetterhuman series on Facebook, Instagram and Glassdoor highlighting employees within the restaurants and their unique and inspiring stories. Our #beabetterhuman campaign also inspired the opportunity for employees to give back to the community through our executive-sponsored and employee-led Kale Krew, which coordinates multiple volunteer opportunities annually. 

Developing Our Employees

Professional development and growth are a way of life at First Watch. Since 2022, more than 85% of the 510 employees promoted to general manager at our corporate-owned restaurants were promoted from within. The average tenures for our directors of operations, regional vice presidents and field operations vice presidents are 8 years, 13 years and 19 years, respectively. 

First Watch takes a 360-degree personal/professional approach to career advancement and development. We are constantly iterating and promoting career advancement opportunities for our people. Specific programs include:

•Our certified Black Hat and Black Apron program encourages leadership development for back-of-house and front-of-house employees through financial and growth incentives. 

•A certified training general manager and restaurant program provides additional financial and growth opportunities for aspiring leaders, enabling us to promote more employees