You are just the kind of person the Sullivan Ballou Fund seeks to recognize and affirm. We recognized early in the Fund's history that one of the most important ways that people express their heartfelt energy is through a business that becomes a positive and nurturing hub of neighborhood activity for its patrons and a supportive and creative environment for its employees, a place for them to develop their abilities and pursue their own desires to serve and excel. You have made the Cosi Resturant in the Minneapolis IDS Center into just such a place.
You bring lovely personal qualities to this work. We have heard you described as helpful and pleasant, modest and self-effacing, and a person of knowledge, commitment and ideals. You have decided that your employees are not just FTE's helping you make money, but valuable people with goals and potential. You know that you can train someone to work a register or prepare food, but what you look for and encourage is the willingness and predisposition to make eye contact, to smile, and to engage. You are hoping Cosi will once again open other locations so that the Cosi system will provide your employees nearby opportunities for advancement. In the meantime, you have been sending employees to out-of-state training; afterwards they often report how well things are done in Minneapolis compared with elsewhere. These practices have produced a group of high energy, engaging, and highly loyal employees--and in turn they have created a group of highly loyal customers.
Another feature of your business deserves special mention. Not surprisingly, given your open heart and your focus on the inner qualities of employees instead of their superficial abilities, you have been open to hiring from the inner city. You have given many people a chance to show what they can do, to develop and grow, that they might not have had elsewhere. Cosi has become an imporant avenue to advancement for people who greatly need it.
We have a commercial culture that glorifies profit and rewards cutthroat competition and exploitation of human capital. It gives us hope to see the different model you have made successful. We wish you every success in your work and hope this award will in some small way convey that your path and your choices are valued and greatly appreciated. Sullivan Ballou would have greatly enjoyed a lunch at Cosi's!
We would be honored if you would let us know in the coming months how you used this award and how it affected you.
Congratulations!
Elissa Peterson and Bruce Peterson, Founding Members