When most business owners in Wyoming talk about hiring these days, there’s a familiar refrain.
“We can’t hire anybody,” it goes. “Nobody wants to work.”
But it's different at Cheyenne’s L’Osteria Mondello. Instead of struggling to fill shifts, owner Jasmin “Dave” Agovic has something almost unheard of in Wyoming’s labor market today — a waiting list of teenagers eager to work for him.
At one point, Agovic’s list was 22 young people long. When Cowboy State Daily sat down to interview him recently, the list had settled at about 17 — not due to any drop in interest level, but simply because he’d already hired several.
The difference, Agovic said, is that his is a family business in more than name only. He doesn’t just tell his staff it’s a family business, he makes sure to treat them like they are family, too.
Eager To Work
The result has been young people who continue to show up day after day — sometimes when they’re not even on the schedule.
That was the case one Saturday morning, when Colton Loetscher stopped by early, just to see how things were going. When he noticed things were hectic, he offered to make Agovic a cup of coffee and then volunteered to make a few pizzas.
Loetscher started at L’Osteria Mondello when he was 16, thanks to a friend who told him about the place.
“Everybody here was nice and everybody was welcoming, and they all taught me everything,” he said. “They weren’t really mean at all, and it was just a great, great group to be with. I could just tell from the start that I was going to be here for a while.”
Loetscher likes his first job so much he’s considering running his own pizza joint someday.
“If I do take over pizza, I want to carry that into it, like keep it going for the next generation and all that,” he said. “I want to teach all of the high schoolers how to work and be responsible and all of that.
"Dave has been a great boss. He taught me a lot of things about having a job, because this was my first job I’ve ever had, and I’ve stayed here the whole time.”
Ex-Employees Show Up To Help
Loetscher isn’t the only one who stops by, Agovic said.
Former employees who have left for college also visit and sometimes help him solve problems. Like the time someone prank-called the restaurant and ordered a bunch of pizzas they had no intention of paying for.
It was one of his workers who'd stopped by who suggested turning the $300 order into a donation for the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center’s emergency room.
“He was like, ‘What’s going on? Why the mess?’” Agovic said. “And I was like, ‘We have a bunch of pizzas, and what to do?’ And he was like 'Let’s donate them somewhere.’”
Birthdays, meanwhile, are full-blown celebrations where past and present co-workers often gather. Ten, 15, even 30 people will show up to sing happy birthday and share pizza. That’s followed up with posts on social media.
“We want the whole city to celebrate,” Agovic said.
Flexibility A Recruiting Superpower
While some business owners complain when young workers want more flexibility, Agovic leans into it and believes it’s key to his recruiting success.
“You cannot expect someone who is 14, 15, 16, 17 to be here and work 40 hours a week,” he said. “They have school, they have family. I have two girls today who are supposed to come to work at 11, but they’re going to come in at 1 p.m. because they serve in the church.”
When Agovic learned of their desire to serve in church, he didn’t make it stressful for them. He cracked a joke instead.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re gonna put God ahead of me?’ They were like, ‘Of course,’ and I was like, ‘I know, I’m just joking,’” he said.
By making light of it and working with their schedule, Agovic has built their loyalty. They have in turn told their friends his restaurant is a great place to work.
“This business is only part of their life,” he said. “They have different activities, and it’s perfectly fine, as long as I know ahead of time so we can organize somebody else to come and cover.”
So when students text him about changes in plans, Agovic takes it in stride, and that’s when his waiting list can be handy. He’s almost always able to find someone to cover any time slot with a quick text.
Teaching The Next Generation
Behind his waiting list is a genuine love of working with young people, which Agovic believes he got from his own dad.
His father was a high school teacher and principal for nearly 40 years. He passed along a love for youth and teaching people, Agovic said.
Because of that, Agovic sees the work of his young employees as not just cheap labor but life training. He’s helping them mature, become responsible, and learn to handle stress and customers.
“You can see the difference in just two to three weeks,” he said. “I have one of the boys here, who is very young and just started on Thursday. He came in on Friday night … and we had a short staff, which happens sometimes in every business.”
The new employee handled it well, doing his best to step up in the right way, despite a lack of training.
“I promote people like that very fast,” Agovic said. “I give them raises and reward them. We always try to get them a better position in the business.”
Happy Employee, Happy Customer
Agovic has also rejected the idea he needs to squeeze as much labor as possible from every minute of every hour.
“I have 23 years of experience and worked in many businesses,” he said. “And many bosses are going to be trying to squeeze you every single minute, especially in America, where you are paid per hour. So, they think if they pay you for an hour you have to work all 60 minutes.”
Agovic, though, looks at it differently. By allowing a few minutes to chill out, productivity is increased, and when people are less stressed, their demeanor is more welcoming and cheerful.
“Maybe they just had 30 minutes of 150 customers taking orders and that burned them out a little bit,” he said. “So, they need to rest for a minute. That’s a part of life. It’s part of work. You need to treat them as human beings and give them a chance to recover.”
By the same token, if someone is sick Agovic prefers they not come in.
“If you don’t feel good, don’t come to work, because you’re going to make somebody else sick,” Agovic said. “We’re gonna cover you, don’t worry. I don’t like people to take advantage of that, but we don’t have that problem here.”
It’s not about being soft, Agovic added. It’s strategy.
“Happy employee, happy customer,” he said. “That’s how I feel about business. That’s my general concept of running a successful pizza shop.”
Not A Free-For-All
While he leans into flexibility for his youthful workers, it’s not a free-for-all where anything goes.
Agovic sets high expectations for quality and service while trying to be fair about where his workers are in life and what they can reasonably do, given that they are young and have busy schedules that might include sports and other activities.
“I will be strict enough so they understand life is not easy,” Agovic said. “I don’t have a loose system here where they can do whatever they want. I’m strict about quality and service, but trying to be fair.”
By being clear about expectations, he’s making it easier for them to succeed, and finding that most of the time, success is what they really want anyway.
“I know many people are having trouble with labor,” Agovic said. “I had issues as well, and that’s how I came to a different approach.”
His waiting list, where some teens wait as much as a month and a half for their preferred job, suggests his new approach is working. That in turn is helping him focus on the more difficult hires for skilled positions that take an adult, such as serving alcohol or managing the crew if he’s away.
“Everyone is complaining, ‘Ah these young people, they don’t want to work,’” Agovic said. “That’s not the truth. They want to work, and some of the best employees I have are young. They take responsibility, they take pride, and they love being here.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
