Why work for Essence Restaurant Group?

We at Essence Restaurant Group believe in creating trust through kindness. We are servants first, practicing compassionate leadership through empathy. As part of Essence Restaurants, we promise to provide a safe work environment for all team members that fosters kindness, honesty, exceptional hospitality, and transparency.

Our Essence Values

1. We are servants first. We practice compassionate leadership through empathy. Servant Leadership is our DNA. It’s the skill of influencing people with authority to work enthusiastically towards bottom-line results that are for the common good of the organization.
2. Kindness Matters. How we behave and act matters because our actions define us. Healthy relationships are about being kind. Having an intention to be kind means nothing if our actions are not kind.
3. We manage with constant, gentle pressure because this style of management influences our team to create meaningful improvement.
4. Honesty is the best policy. Always be understanding and remember, there is far more risk in not sharing than in sharing.
5. Exceptional service is our standard. We do hospitality; we live to create exceptional outcomes.
6. Take intelligent risks. We embrace failure as the necessary gateway through which all learners must pass. We truly become wise when we take risks, fail, and learn from our mistakes.

Where we’re headed

We follow THE KINDNESS PRINCIPLE at Essence Restaurant Group, which means we intend for every outcome to end in kindness. We believe in compassionate leadership and using gratitude and empathy to ensure we have compassionate relationships and a compassionate environment. By following THE KINDNESS PRINCIPLE, we are able to create benefits for our employees beyond monetary compensation:

-Work in a food environment that preaches cutting-edge philosophies
-Play and create with food and beverage while getting paid well
-Learn the servant leadership approach to help guide you later in life or help you grow within our organization
-Work for an organization that believes in competitive pay for all its associates
-Apply our philosophies of life balance, healthy environment, and sustainability to improve your personal lives

Fill out an application online!

If you have at least two years of experience and are interested in joining one of the most established restaurant teams in West Michigan, you should definitely click “Apply Now” and fill out our online application. Bonus: We offer a competitive salary and benefits including shared medical and generous employee-dining discounts! But more importantly, the Essence team quickly becomes a second family. Apply today!

Click here to apply to Bistro Bella Vita.

Click here to apply to The Green Well.

Do your values align with ours? Join our team!

Essence Restaurant Group is seeking experienced industry professional to add to our passionate, award-winning culinary teams at our two locations: Bistro Bella Vita and The Green Well. Essence is the leading restaurant group in West Michigan. There are several opportunities for growth and professional development within Essence Restaurants.

Our restaurants have received dozens of awards

-#1 Restaurant in Grand Rapids, TripAdvisor
-Best Restaurant in the state of Michigan, MSN
-One of Top 100 Restaurants for “American Cuisine,” OpenTable
-One of 14 Best Restaurants in Grand Rapids, Thrillist Detroit
-Restaurant of the Year, Grand Rapids Magazine (2012-2014)
Among several others.