5 Ways Restaurants Can Show Appreciation for Employees

5 Ways Restaurants Can Show Appreciation for Employees

by | Mar 1, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

It’s very easy to place little value on employee recognition and consider it as a time waster or unnecessary additional expense.  But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Businesses, especially restaurants, that frequently show that they appreciate their employees benefit tremendously through higher productivity, improved morale, loyalty, and better customer service.

According to a Bersin and Associates research study “companies with recognition programs highly effective at improving employee engagement have 31 percent lower voluntary turnover than their peers with ineffective recognition programs.” This statistic speaks volumes. Appreciating your employees builds a positive company culture that translates to longevity and profits. Here are five ways you can make sure your restaurant employees feel appreciated.

Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Why not involve all employees in the employee recognition process? Manager recognition is important, but businesses have found even more success with peer-to-peer recognition. Giving employees a voice and creating a weekly forum where they can speak freely about each other’s strengths and talents creates cohesiveness within the restaurant. If some employees may not enjoy being publicly praised, consider using a system that allows them to share their positive feedback with each other anonymously.

Manager recognition is important, but businesses have found even more success with peer-to-peer recognition.

Plan a Holiday Party

In office environments, holiday parties are almost a given. But how many restaurants take the time to throw a holiday party for a job well done? This can be a whole new experience for your employees and gives them a chance to connect and relax in a fun setting that shows your restaurant is willing to do something different and special.

Get Creative With Your Rewards

Try not to get stuck in the rut of doling out pens, gift cards, or coffee mugs. Make the reward more personal or more unique. Giving something someone doesn’t care about is not a motivator. If possible, try to learn more about that individual’s likes and dislikes and reward accordingly. And rewards don’t have to cost a lot of money. In the restaurant business, managers can recognize an employee’s hard work by allowing him or her to choose a preferred shift time for a week or allowing for extra breaks.

Make the reward more personal or more unique. Giving something someone doesn’t care about is not a motivator.

Take Advantage of Social Media and Websites

Most businesses these days have a website or Facebook page. Use them as tools for showing just how much you appreciate your employees.  Perhaps devote a page on your website to showcasing dedicated and hard-working employees. Or use Facebook to post the outstanding employee of the month. Not only does this send the message to customers that you care about your employees, but public recognition also makes employees feel that much more special.

Get Customers Involved

Implement a customer feedback card program where happy customers can praise a particular employee for a job well done. They can be put at the front of the restaurant or on individual tables. Customers can then drop them off in a box when leaving and the manager can collect them at the end of the day. Managers can then discuss the compliments and praise publicly at the next shift meeting. Take it a step further and collect the cards over a time period such as a month and then pass out gift cards or cash bonuses to those employees with the highest number of cards. They are also handy for including in an employee’s personnel file or using towards performance evaluations.

Retaining top talent in a fast-paced, high turnover environment like the restaurant industry gives your business a competitive advantage. Appreciating and recognizing your employees can help your business both financially and culturally. With a little investment and strategizing on your part, you can reap the benefits of happy and content employees.

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Restaurants Should Always Be Looking For Fresh Faces. Here’s Why:

Restaurants Should Always Be Looking For Fresh Faces. Here’s Why:

by | Feb 27, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

Restaurants invest a lot in labor when they hire people. They train, sign employees up for food-safety certifications, and put money towards their health insurance. All this is a lot of work, but it is worth it to keep hiring throughout the year. In fact, you want to always be hiring. Why? Well, consider the following:

1. Fast Turnover

The hospitality industries have a high turn-over rate. Over half of all the people you hire will be gone before the end of their first year. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, the turnover rate for restaurant staff tends to be higher than other private-sector industries. This will leave you short-staffed often if you have only just enough to cover all the shifts. This is especially true at the start of the busy season, when you will likely have to scramble to replace people.

2. Capture New Talent

Restaurants are people-oriented. They rely on stellar personalities that can work tables. You want to always be on the look-out for such a person because you never know when that star will be asking you for an interview. That person’s energy and loyalty will brighten everyone’s attitude, bring in more customers, and bring new ideas to your business.

3. Being Prepared For A Change In Business

Your restaurant can be dead one month and super busy the next. It is tempting to let hiring slide in those slow months, but then you find yourself playing catch-up in the busy months. The smart move is to keep hiring throughout the year so that you always are well-staffed. You can always decrease the hours of several staff members during the off-season, and you can start new employees out with only a few hours. You just need backup for when you get an influx of customers.

It is tempting to let hiring slide in those slow months, but then you find yourself playing catch-up in the busy months.

4. Gives You Chance To Drop Sub-par Employees

Some folks just aren’t going to cut it in the fast-paced food business. They have a bad attitude, they are clumsy, or they are slow. They are students who are only doing this job until they finish school or get what they consider their ‘real’ job. Your restaurant deserves to have staff that shines. Having competent and energetic new recruits allows you to lay off under-performing employees, even during the busy season.

5. Lets You Promote Internally Whenever You Need To

Restaurant owners should be able to promote employees that show real promise to management positions. You know that one server that shows real leadership potential? Or the chef who is just itching to take the next step in his or her career? You can garner their loyalty and all the perks of having someone you personally know is qualified by promoting them, but then you wind up short-staffed where it counts. You have to scramble to find the chef or server to take the promotee’s place.

That is, you do unless you have backup servers and sous-chefs already lined up and ready to start work. Then you can promote whenever you feel like it and never miss a beat.

6. Lets You Be Flexible In Your Scheduling

One of the big draws for a restaurant employee is flexible scheduling. It means the world to many servers and chefs to be able to ask for time off or particular hours. Many employees will stay with you for just that reason. If you are always hiring, you can meet your employees scheduling needs without worrying about staffing shortages. You will have a pool of employees to ask to step in whenever someone needs some time off.

If you are always hiring, you can meet your employees scheduling needs without worrying about staffing shortages.

While it is tempting to stop hiring whenever you have enough employees for your current needs, your restaurant really benefits from a continual influx of new faces. From the chance to get a star worker on board, to the flexibility that extra staff provides, always hiring is the very best thing you can do for your restaurant.

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Restaurant Employment Tips: How to Turn Over Tables Quickly

Restaurant Employment Tips: How to Turn Over Tables Quickly

by | Feb 24, 2017 | Career

In the restaurant world, time is money. Giving customers a wonderful dining experience is always important, but if diners linger too long, it frustrates potential customers waiting for tables – and results in reduced profits. One of the keys to your business is to turn tables over quickly while still maintaining a great atmosphere for diners. This responsibility goes beyond servers; managers, hosts, cooks, and bussers all need to do their part.

Here are seven tips to create an experience that benefits you financially and customers will love:

1. Consider not taking reservations, or requiring confirmations.

Although reservations have some advantages, they can also cause difficulty with turning over tables. No-shows are a common problem in restaurants, and it’s hard to turn over tables that sit there empty. If you do want to use reservations, we recommend floor staff call and confirm all reservations 24-48 hours in advance, encouraging cancellations if diners’ plans changed. You can also require a small cash deposit when diners make reservations in case of a no-show. Cash deposits for reservations tend to reduce no-shows and weed out groups who are on the fence of coming in but want to make reservations ‘just in case’.

Cash deposits for reservations tend to reduce no-shows and weed out groups who are on the fence of coming in but want to make reservations ‘just in case’.

2. Prepare food in advance.

Some food needs to be made on order, but line cooks can prepare a surprising amount of ingredients before the mealtime even starts. Cooks, prepare food that won’t spoil for the most popular dishes in advance, particularly food that requires a large amount of cutting or chopping. Once a meal gets ordered, it’s easier and faster to simply heat up these premade ingredients.

3. Go through the menu quickly and clearly.

When seating the table, give your customers a full menu, including drinks and the daily specials, immediately, so they don’t have to wait to hear the from the server. You’ll want to include key ingredients and side dishes on the menu, as well as marking if the dish is vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free. By laying out everything in advance, your guests will be less frustrated, and servers will spend less time answering questions before ordering.

By laying out everything in advance, your guests will be less frustrated, and servers will spend less time answering questions before ordering.

4. Assign tables to diners carefully.

The more quickly you can communicate with diners, the faster they’ll be able to get their food and eat it. If you’re working as the hostess for the night, make sure you assign tables so that servers all have a roughly equal number of tables, and don’t have to walk long distances between them.

5. Pay attention to the music you play.

Research from decades ago continues to stand; loud music causes customers to chew and eat their food more quickly, while soft, slower music causes guests to linger over the food. As a restaurant manager, consider using upbeat and faster music with a quick beat to help your diners eat and move more quickly.

Consider using upbeat and faster music with a quick beat to help your diners eat and move more quickly.

6. Consider having diners pay their bill using modern technology.

After the meal, it can take precious extra minutes for diners to pay the bill, particularly if they’re splitting the bill with friends or paying by credit cards. Instead of making your guests wait, why not have them pay their bill with their phones? There are apps available that make it easy for guests to quickly pay with cards and split the bill amongst themselves, while still tipping the server. It saves time and is more convenient for diners, and helps your restaurant more quickly seat the table again.

7. After diners leave, clean the tables quickly.

After diners leave, it’s the responsibility of table bussers and servers to turn over the table as fast as possible. It’s important for floor staff to remain attentive and be ready right away to clean the table and put on new silverware. Restaurant managers, create a clear and easy to access space with dishes and silverware that your crew can easily access.

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The Importance of Teamwork in the Restaurant Industry

The Importance of Teamwork in the Restaurant Industry

by | Feb 22, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

From the moment the first restaurant opened, there’s been a divide between the front of the house and back of the house staff. Some restaurant owners choose to ignore the tension, refusing to believe it exists. Some accept it as the way things will always be. The rest strive to end the eternal struggle. For the sake of your restaurant, we hope you’re in the third category!

Why the struggle

Many things can cause a rift between your FOH and BOH staff.

When a customer complains, someone’s to blame and employees begin to point fingers. This is especially the case during your rush when etiquette and/or procedures seem to be thrown out the window. This causes mistakes, service bottlenecks, long ticket times, unsafe conditions, and overall dissent from those trying to do the right thing. No matter what, it’s a breakdown in your restaurant’s teamwork that causes a trickle-down effect: if the customer is unhappy the staff will be, too.

No matter what, it’s a breakdown in your restaurant’s teamwork that causes a trickle-down effect: if the customer is unhappy the staff will be, too.

Sometimes, especially with newer team members, people are simply not aware of the troubles they’re burdening the other departments with. Servers who don’t break down their dishes when delivering to the dish pit cause the Plongeur unwanted (and nasty) extra work. Line cooks, expos, or sous chefs who send out unfinished, unattractive, or wrong plates cause servers an undue earful and embarrassment.

Because of the perceived separation and lack of communication, team members may not even be aware they’re causing a problem until it’s too late.

Why teamwork between departments is important

Two words: Customer Service.

“The main objective for teamwork is for the organization to realize its full potential despite any possible differences individuals might have.” – Hospitality Concepts

In a restaurant, bar or hotel, no matter the concept or price-point, the one thing that sets you apart from the others will be your quality of service. If every cylinder of your business is not firing on point at all times, the guest will notice…and they won’t hesitate to let you (and the world) know.

If your team is humming along like a well-oiled machine, you may not always hear about it, but you’ll certainly notice your growing bank account.

How to promote teamwork between FOH and BOH

First, don’t make a distinction between the two at all. Tear down that figurative (or literal) wall between the kitchen and dining area by educating your staff on the flow of a customer’s order. From the moment a customer sets foot in the establishment every single employee affects that customer’s experience, whether directly or indirectly.

Regarding training, an extremely beneficial tactic is to cross-train your employees in the FOH and BOH. After working a week in the dish pit, servers will never forget to break down their dirty plates again. And kitchen staff will get to see first hand how their efforts in the back are received by guests, whether positively or negatively. No chef likes to face an unhappy guest or hear a bad review of their dish, all while having to keep their composure. One week of that and the kitchen team will empathize with the FOH.

Having a few relaxing moments to get to know each other outside of the working relationship can do wonders for team building.

Pre-shift meetings attended by the full shift’s team always work well. Issues with either side can be addressed, announcements can be made, and anything affecting the upcoming shift can be worked out as a team. Having a few relaxing moments to get to know each other outside of the working relationship can do wonders for team building. Friendships are always made in those calm moments before the storm.

Bear in mind, your staff is like a sports team. Everyone has a position to play but in the end, they’re all striving for the same goal. Teach your team that crossing the barrier between the front of the house and back of the house is beneficial to everyone. Avoid creating a separation and other trouble by fostering a team environment, by treating all staff equally, and by encouraging staff to interact with each other frequently. And, as always, if you’re staffing up, Sirvo is here to help!

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Good Terminating Practices For Restaurants

Good Terminating Practices For Restaurants

Not only is terminating someone always hard on a personal level, but there are laws that must be followed regarding the firing process. So, how do you do it in the most tactful, lawful and useful way?

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How to Write a Job Listing That Attracts Stellar Professionals

How to Write a Job Listing That Attracts Stellar Professionals

by | Feb 20, 2017 | Business Toolkit, IndiTips, Management

The job listing is the first step towards getting that truly stellar employee. It lets the right people know what you are looking for and lets the wrong people know to keep looking. On top of this, you want to write the job listing in a way that gets qualified people excited about working for you. Below are listed a few tips for attracting your dream candidate through the job listing.

Tip 1: Read other job postings from a job seeker’s perspective

Before writing your job listing read through your competition’s and imagine what about these posts would attract you if you were looking for the job on offer. What sort of keywords would a sous chef or server use to find a posting? What is the competition offering that a FOH employee might like? This will help you not only see what you are up against, but also what will make you attractive to job candidates.

Weave in adjectives and a bit of your restaurant’s philosophy.

Tip 2: Write a concise and interesting description of the position

Include a short description of the tasks your future employee will be performing. Your star candidate wants to know beforehand if your BOH position involves dish-washing or inventory tracking. They need a concise and clear idea of the basic position and job duties. If you’re stuck, use our job description templates to get started.

This does not mean you put up a boring run down of every task and relationship involved. You want to explain why your restaurant is a great place to work as well as what they can expect once there. Weave in adjectives and a bit of your restaurant’s philosophy into your job description. Just keep the core duties clear.

Tip 3: Write a catchy but descriptive headline

A headline saying, “Big Bucks In Restaurant Biz!!!” makes people think you are a scam, and a headline saying, “Waitress Wanted” makes people’s eyes glaze. What’s more, neither of those headlines explain why someone should work at your restaurant in particular.

Try thinking of a unique feature of the job that a promising candidate might find intriguing. “Server Position Open – Flexible Hours In Busy Restaurant” would catch an applicant’s eye. “Chef Wanted for New Restaurant. Join Us On The Ground Floor” sounds fun to a dedicated chef looking to expand horizons.

Pro-tip: Skip the exclamation marks, too. The words ‘competitive pay’ and ‘fast-paced restaurant’ are eye-catching enough without them.

Tip 4: Describe your restaurant’s work environment

Job seekers want to know what restaurant they will be working in. Include the address and name of the restaurant in your posting, even if you want them to send their application somewhere else. List what type of food you serve and the general atmosphere. This lets the applicants know what sort of environment they will be working in. Especially if you are FOH, this can be a deal-breaker.

The restaurant business is fast-paced and constantly changing so give yourself some wiggle room.

Tip 5: Stay flexible

The restaurant business is fast-paced and constantly changing. You will want to give yourself some wiggle room when it comes listing benefits and job duties so that you aren’t locked into something you can’t do. Acknowledge up front that while you listed the core duties in the posting, there will be other tasks involved.

Instead of naming the hourly wage, offer a range of wages or simply say that you offer competitive compensation. Naming a specific benefit package can discourage potential applicants from applying for jobs that don’t carry the particular benefit they are looking for. Not mentioning that extra jobs may crop up sets you up to argue with the employee over their prescribed duties.

Tip 6: List specific qualifications

It is a hassle to wade through applications from job seekers who are manifestly unqualified for the job. Unfortunately, qualifications are not always obvious, so you will have to spell them out. If you want your chef to have had experience before applying for your job, say something along the lines of “Needs at least 1 year of experience to qualify.”

Be careful to keep to qualifications strictly job-related or you will open a can of legal worms; writing that you will only accept women for your FOH jobs or that you won’t hire anyone over 50 opens you up to lawsuits over discrimination. If you have a job that requires particular physical abilities, list only those essential abilities. Saying that the job requires lifting 20 pounds is an honest description; saying that someone needs to be able-bodied leaves room for interpretation, which is never good.

Have a few people read over your listing before you post it.

When your listing is complete, have a few people read it over before you post it. Having a few eyeballs on your listing will catch spelling errors and parts that are muddled so you can make the listing as clear as possible. The job listing is a vital first step in staffing your restaurant with the people it deserves. Following these tips will make sure your job post is the best it can be.

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