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Crepes & Waffles. It is a company that was started in
1980 by Beatriz Fernandez and Eduardo Macías in Bogota, Colombia.
When they created this restaurant they dreamed of creating a 'crepería',
a place to eat crepes at reasonable prices.
Their start is a very well-known story in Colombia.
When they started, they were very young and apparently
their crepes were not very good in terms of taste.
But then one day one lady arrived and realizing and tasting the flavor of their crepe,
she decided to share a recipe she had with them,
and then it was very tasty, this new recipe.
Ever since those beginnings, this has been the recipe that they have had.
Also, one of the reasons why people are very happy is because it tastes good.
It's, of course, one of the reasons of their success.
But there are other things as well.
They decided that they would hire mostly single mothers, head of households.
This has become
the most important and most well-known corporate social responsibility strategy.
They have more than 6,000 employees,
where 92% of those are women.
They have opened so far 92 restaurants and 72 ice cream shops.
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One of their main pillars is to care for the human resources, their employees.
As I mentioned, they hire single mothers who may not be hired in other firms.
They offer their employees help with housing or housing loans,
prepaid health insurance, and benefits for them and their children.
They consider their employees an important aspect of their firm and they believe
- the managers - that it's not the aptitude that matters the most,
but their attitude: how willing the person is to work and to smile.
That's how they have the strategy they have
used to hire some of the most committed employees.
In the words of the founder,
they say that they don't require any particular experience to get a job at Crepes.
She says, "We don't discriminate by age, appearance, or if someone is illiterate.
When we look at a CV,
we ask ourselves if any other company would hire them. And if not, then we will.
We look for intelligence in the heart,
a willingness to work and to transform."
In 2020, they started offering home delivery as
an idea that came from their own employees to help the firm during changing times.
Specifically during the pandemic times when many firms had to close doors.
Their employees didn't want to stop working so they proposed to
the founders that they wanted to help and contribute the same employees.
That's how the idea of creating home delivery came from them.
They have been doing it since July 2020.
Also, the firm provides online classes to their employees when they have to stay home.
Crepes & Waffles has a name to not be generic,
