Family at Pom's
Family means so much to us at Poms. Afterall, family is the reason we began our delicious food journey. Our founder, James, studied at the College of Food in Birmingham and every flavour combination he discovered would soon be recreated at home for his family. James’ family are the first quality control testers for every brunch menu we roll out - even Jimmy dog had a paw in crafting the puppy menu! So how do we support our families?
Our Staff
Our staff are the backbone of every Poms venue. We appreciate everything they do for our customers and ask them to get involved with as many decisions for Poms as possible. Each time we craft a new menu we get the whole team to sit down and sample it. The feedback is always positive and constructive and we love seeing the next season from their eyes.
At our last menu refresh our chef team helped to group items together, ensuring we minimise wastage, utilise our proteins and carbs in as many dishes as possible, and pitched in ideas on how we can give variation to our textures. Why is this important? Well, their feedback and changes directly led to those beautiful, crispy tempura battered mushrooms on our sourdough bread from Silvertree Bakery. Our Steak Sandwich comes from the same steaks we buy from Russells Butchers of Shenstone for our Steak and Eggs dish. Innovations like these are what make Poms so great.
It doesn’t just stop with our chefs. Our baristas weighed in on our drinks options, giving us the amazing Aperol Spritz and Iced Raspberry Matcha Oat Latte. Our waiting staff helped select portion and plate sizes to ensure a full table’s food can be served at one time. Our site managers coordinated with suppliers to ensure we’d receive enough produce each week for the new dishes to always be available.
Each decision made is made with two key questions in mind: Does this make Poms a better venue to eat at? And does it benefit our staff as much as possible? This is why we have such a strong relationship with our workforce at each venue. Over 90% of our upper management team have been promoted in house over the years, ensuring they’re always developing and growing for as long as they’re part of the Poms family. We even support them at the very start of this journey - We currently have several members of staff pursuing further education at University College Birmingham, following in the Poms founder’s footsteps to become the amazing chefs they’re destined to be.
Our Activities
We know our staff love to get involved in their local communities. Be that through helping out at their children’s schools, supporting scouts, helping out with charities, or just doing sponsored events such as runs and challenges. It’s another reason we love our staff members so much. They provide so much to the communities and so it’s only right that we give them a helping hand here at Poms.
Every staff member gets a paid day each year to enter their community and support it in some way. In the past we’ve had staff support the scouts or assist with volunteering efforts. We’ve even had parents volunteer time at the local schools. The team have even donated food and done cook-off competitions! It’s great to be able to contribute locally, but it’s even better knowing that you’re still getting paid for your kindness. How much of an impact does this make? Well, Poms founder, James, sat down a few weeks ago to work this out. It averages out at just over a day per week currently! If that’s 8 hours of contributions per week going into our communities then Poms is helping with over 420 hours of community service and support every single year.
That’s something we think our staff should be really proud of. They make a huge difference not just here at work but out there in the places that mean the most to them.
Our Team Spirit
But it doesn’t just stop there. We want to also support our staff members themselves. Their hobbies, interests, and fitness.
This is why we’ve established the Poms football team and Poms netball team. Two highly competitive teams built with nurturing and development in mind. Our chefs, front of house staff, managers, and even our founder play side by side in a sport they truly love. Not only does this boost team spirit, it forms connections and friendships between colleagues that might have just started or been shy in their first weeks at Poms. It allows people to show leadership potential in how they run formations and it offers opportunities to boost their physical confidence and health.
Our Future
There’s one more area we haven’t touched on yet when it comes to staff development - education.
Education is so important to us here at Poms. We believe each person who helps us grow as a company should be afforded that same opportunity for growth too. That’s why we listen closely to our staff’s wants and needs. Whether it’s on site training, upskilling and equipment tutorials, or even pursuing further and higher education. We’ve developed links with Birmingham College of Food and currently have several staff members training there, learning to hone their skills and master the craft, whilst gaining real work experience in our own kitchens. This not only benefits them but also benefits us at Poms! We get to see the new techniques in action, the best practices and approaches for modern menus, and understand the culinary landscape through our staff’s eyes.
So whether it’s our local communities, our local charities, our staff, our own families, or ourselves as individuals, it’s important to Poms that everyone feels a part of the family. It’s important to hear every voice, spend time with one another, and create opportunities whenever possible. So next time you see that ‘new position available’ sign in one of our locations’ windows, consider applying and becoming a valued member of the ever-growing Poms family. It’s about so much more than just the food.
Remember, it’s not just brunch. It’s Poms.
