OMAR

And how to work with inclusivity in a restaurant

When you glance at the menu at OMAR, the ‘safer space’ policy in the top-left corner will likely stick with you as much as the list of options: It’s a short yet punchy statement letting diners know that any respectless, harassing or discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated at this informal and undogmatic restaurant in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro neighborhood.

That should of course go without saying, but in Simon Leo Hansen’s experience, it sometimes doesn’t. 

He is the founder and owner of OMAR. He began his career waiting on guests in the Madklubben chain. So, he speaks from years of experience working the floor when he points out that harassment of restaurant staff – waiters in particular – is a real thing that needs real attention.

“It’s absolutely a bigger problem than you might perceive it to be at first glance. There’s this misplaced idea that the waiter can and should tolerate more unacceptable behavior than other people. I’ve seen it in my own time on the floor and in the places I’ve managed and owned, and I decided to do something about it,” he says.

What Simon Leo Hansen did goes deeper than a statement on the menu.

“There’s this misplaced idea that the waiter can and should tolerate more unacceptable behiavor than others”

“We’re in charge here”

Not a chef by profession, he had a 10-year stint at Madklubben, which he stumbled upon after dropping out of university. He eventually became a partner at several restaurants in Nørrebro, but found himself looking for a kind of organized chaos that was hard to find in the well-oiled machinery of a large chain. This led him to open OMAR in 2017. Since then, he has expanded to two other restaurants in Nørrebro and Vesterbro. 

“Since I had more and more administrative work, I couldn’t be there to handle conflicts and misbehaving guests at the restaurants. We started out with a series of staff meetings focusing on boundaries. However, it soon became clear that the team needed specific tools and resources to de-escalate situations. Otherwise, it’s too random, and too dependent on whoever works a given shift,” he explains.

That led to the safer space policy as well as a clearly defined system of de-escalation techniques and sanctions available to the team. This means everyone on a particular shift knows what kind of action needs to be taken depending on the transgression. And this has demonstrably brought down the number of transgressions at his restaurants.

The team at OMAR adhere to the mantra of “we’re in charge here”. An antidote to the somewhat cliché “the customer is always right” if there ever was one.

  • Simon and his team have taken serious steps towards truly understanding and supporting their workforce and have created a workplace which defies many of the more negative preconceptions about working in the restaurant industry. We also like their unpretentious approach to food which eschews convoluted concepts and focuses on delivering great taste across different kitchens and cuisines.

“It’s about doing what feels right for me and my team and focusing on making my restaurants better places to work at and visit”

Investing in inclusivity

Simon and his team are just one example of a movement sweeping quietly across Copenhagen’s restaurant industry in recent years: A growing emphasis on reasonable working conditions, better benefits, and an insistence on keeping a more respectful tone among staff and guests alike.

And Simon has indeed been quiet: This is the first time he speaks publicly and in-depth about the inclusivity policy and practices at OMAR and his other restaurants.

“I don’t want to paint a hero’s portrait of myself, and I am not on a moral crusade against the industry. It’s always been about doing what feels right for me and my team and focusing on making my restaurants better places to work at and visit,” he explains.

Beyond setting up new systems and ways-of-working, this also means investing in the well-being of his staff: From paid parental leave to health insurance and pay during illness for employees paid by the hour.

The team also has an official workers’ representative as well as an alternate in case of conflicts-of-interest.

He has also invested a considerable amount of money hiring outside help from a consultancy working with the entire group of 12 team managers. All with the aim of making inclusivity a more and more integrated part of his business. 

“It’s gradually becoming more of an asset for us recruiting-wise, even though we face the same staffing issues as the rest of the industry. However, more people come to us because of who we are, and show a genuine interest in the business, rather than just seeing it as a steppingstone between other jobs or studies,” Simon Leo Hansen explains.

“I think it should go without saying that you should be able to work in a fast-paced environment such as a restaurant without being treated like crap.”

Simon Leo Hansen’s tips

We asked all interviewees for their best advice based on their own experiences in the industry. Here are Simon Leo Hansen’s tips for you, if you’re a restaurateur, chef or entrepreneur within the restaurant business:

  • This was the starting point for us, long before we had any kind of a system or policy to ensure a higher degree of job satisfaction and more inclusivity, and it can go a long way.

  • A policy can very easily become just another piece of paper that’s forgotten about once you go back to the daily grind. We have invested a lot of time and resources, and still do, to be able to follow the rules we’ve established.