wagamama
An award-winning employee value proposition for the UK’s number one Asian-inspired restaurant chain. Cooking up a refreshed employer brand during wagamama’s corporate brand development enabled more joined-up decision-making for the business, resulting in a more consistent, cohesive and authentic story for the brand — one that would be memorable and meaningful for over 8,000 colleagues nationally.
Culture change Employer branding
Food & drink
UK
After a recent shift of ownership created an appetite for change at wagamama – from new menus to leadership mindsets, kids offerings to tech integration – the business was evolving, fast. However, with the market moving past the employee value proposition (EVP) that originally made the wagamama experience unique, being a diverse employer was no longer different; it was just table stakes.
With an employer brand that had been left sitting on the pass too long, the value proposition language had become indistinct and difficult to digest for wagamama’s transient workforce. It was time for food, service and lifestyle to be served fresh again, in an uncomplicated way that wagamama could truly own.
We worked closely with the wagamama people and culture team to define an evolved EVP and craft a strategic, ready-to-activate platform capable of galvanising teams, (re)differentiating the brand, and bringing the people team into the brand conversation as equal partners.
A BRAND TO WORK
TOGETHER
As we developed a refined and actionable EVP, the corporate brand was also evolving. This provided the opportunity to align the two sides of the business as they’d never been before.
Building an authentic employee proposition meant really getting to know wagamama’s people and the organisation’s position as a UK hospitality employer. To understand the market space and messages, UnitedUs produced a detailed review of 7 major UK hospitality employer EVP platforms and their messaging, with a high-level review of 12 other players.
WAGAMAMA
WOKSHOPS
Deep employee listening and insights were captured through a sentiment roadshow rolled out across nine UK locations, from Winchester to Edinburgh. Reimagining employee engagement workshops as ‘wagamama wokshops’, we created unique sessions immersed in wagamama’s restaurant culture and serving semantics.
Opening up opportunities to listen, learn and understand how the internal wagamama brand is being lived and realised externally enabled a co-creation of the EVP with the very people who make the restaurant experience what it is. Wokshops also provided an opportunity to capture meaningful content to communicate the employer brand story for the coming year, internally and externally.
Once the EVP was created and shared with project stakeholders, corporate and employer team workshops were conducted to plan future activations, intrinsically tying the employer proposition to the wider consumer brand and operations. These workshops brought together colleagues across different work streams to unite the new brand, to shape recruitment, in-restaurant experiences, service models, staff room design and more.
The alignment we've achieved through joined-up thinking and bringing our guest and team experience closer together will continue to transform our teams. By meticulously aligning our corporate brand with a refreshed employer brand, we've significantly empowered our business with connected decision-making at the right level. This strategic approach has been instrumental in strengthening our brand from the inside out, proving that when our people + guest experience is truly aligned, the personality of our brand can really shine.
Rebekah Galligan, Head of People Experience at wagamama
A PLACE AT
THE TABLE
As the corporate and employer brands now feel like they belong on the same menu, teams were able to take a much more united approach, providing consistency, efficiency, and clear intent for future activity.
This project enabled the first-ever shared consumer and employer brand photoshoot and the employer brand’s first participation in external campaign activations. A simplified and understandable EVP was launched across 8,000+ colleagues nationally, and messaging from the new proposition was also integrated into a freshly launched L&D platform.
Working with wagamama, its people and their refreshing enthusiasm, we are pleased to announce this work won gold for ‘Best alignment of the employer value proposition with corporate brand values’ at Employer Brand Management Awards 2025 — recognising the organisation’s inclusivity and kaizen attitude.
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