Entrepreneur -- How much easier would it be to scale your business if your employees were your number-one ambassadors? Imagine employees that love you and your business so much, they never leave. Not only that, they love you so much, they will do whatever it takes to deliver extreme value to your customers.

I recently sat down with Steve DiFillippo, the entrepreneur and restaurateur behind Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse, with restaurants throughout Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Atlanta and soon expanding into California. You can typically find DiFillippo cooking it up on popular morning TV shows or demonstrating his 12 minutes to ready spring rolls on QVC.

Related: How a No-Tipping Policy Helped This Restaurant Triple Profits in 2 Months

He's a culinary artist, celebrity business tycoon, author and a fanatical purveyor of unforgettable dining experiences. How can one man do it all? Easy. He's built an army of employees who are passionate about the brand and who are devoted to exceeding the expectations of their guests.

Here are DiFillippo's four savory strategies to building an army of loyal employees:

1. Know your guests.

DiFillippo recently authored a book, It's All About the Guest. In it, he shares an important secret about building an awesome business. Serving up high quality, artistically crafted meals is important, of course. However, DiFillippo says that the guests most restaurants forget about are the ones that come and go from the back door: the employees.

DiFillippo's mission is to go above and beyond to take care of all guests, including the ones who work for him, because they are the front-line army taking care of the guests who come to eat. When your employees feel valued, appreciated and loved, they will create an environment where the dining guests feel that way too.

2. Celebrate birthdays.

DiFillippo never misses an employee's birthday. He always reaches out to each person on his or her special day with a call or text message, which is remarkable considering he has more than 850 people working for his organization. Each employee also receives a card and cash gift on their birthday. It's DiFillippo's way of making sure his people know that their company loves them.

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