Langhoff & Juul

Jonas Langhoff is the driving force behind Langhoff & Juul: a small restaurant in the centre of Aarhus and a Hotel in the town of Ebeltoft 40 mins drive outside Aarhus.

Both the restaurant and the hotel are run by the same principle: Time is the most important resource we have.
The principle of time as a resource is simple: If you have enough time you will do a better job when you are doing it, be better prepared, be more aware in each moment that you interact with the customers and you will not deplete your other resources and get stressed and injured. You will on the other hand enjoy the work, find new and smarter ways of doing things and not least have time to reflect on the work and as a result be able to take on a much more individual responsibility of your tasks.

The practical way of providing more time to do all these things is to cut down opening hours, the restaurant is open only 3 nights a week: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and in the off-season, the hotel is only open on the weekends.

This of course means that the revenue is lower than what could be achieved with a full week opening plan, but then the staff would be just as busy as in all other restaurants, and the objective of having enough “time” would not be met. The restaurant also put a cap on the number of guests, so the maximum number for people is 35, even though the room and kitchen could probably serve 70 people.

No one at Langhoff & Juul should work more than 30 hours a week, and if they do so in peak periods the management team will come up with solutions for bringing it down to the preferred weekly workload.

Circular Strategy: Regenerate

Country: Denmark

Human Resource management- Time as a Resource

Acknowledging time as the primary scarce resource in service production helps Jonas Langhoff to create the best environment possible for personal growth and wellbeing in his restaurant and hotel.

The customers can feel this change by noticing the calm and socially inviting atmosphere in both places.

The staff feels empowered and takes individual responsibility for their tasks and in return needs very little managerial input for the owner.

This work environment is created by insisting on a workload of no more than 30 hours a week for any employee. In the off-season the hotel is only open on weekends, and the restaurant is open 3 nights a week all year round.

The staff is more than motivated and are often experimenting with new recipes and methods in their off hours, but this is not mandated. Even the part time staff are handling complex issues, and they have a high degree of self management.

Economic impact
High quality service and smart creative solutions keep the customers coming back for another “good time”.

High focus on self-management makes running the business an easy job. Only the most complex problems require the decisions from the owner. Jonas works no more than 20 hours a week in the business.
Staff have enough time to prepare well and they are highly motivated and prepared when they show up for work.

Social impact
The mental and physical well being of the staff is very important, and there is very little absence and a high level of loyalty and satisfaction towards the company.

Environmental impact
80% of the produce for the menu is ecological produce from local suppliers. Langhoff & Juul has a strict policy of having the best raw materials available on their menu, and the menu is made from what is in season, and even the microseasons are built into the menus. All the staff share this ambition and the hotel linen and personal hygiene products are also ecological.

Human resources
No compromises
The MOST important resource is TIME! This means that you cannot compromise on workload, opening hours and customer capacity.

Financial resources
Lower revenue
The primary cost of following these principles is that the revenue could easily be much higher if they would switch to a more linear and profit maximising approach.
But the principles are more important, and this is where the political worldview is important.

Other resources
High quality
High quality service is a direct consequence of this way of working. and it’s the high quality service and the atmosphere it creates that make the customers come back for more.