4 Reasons a Social Media Strategy is Vital to Your Restaurant

4 Reasons a Social Media Strategy is Vital to Your Restaurant

by | Jan 20, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

When marketing your restaurant, you may treat social media as an afterthought. After all, does having a Facebook page or Pinterest account really matter when it comes to attracting new guests?

In short, the answer is a clear yes. Social media, when done correctly, can play a significant part in helping you grow awareness of your restaurant in the area. The key, of course, is to take a strategic approach to marketing. Here are 4 reasons a social media strategy is vital to the success of your restaurant.

1. Reach your audience where they spend their time

Social media has long moved beyond a fad that only a defined audience uses. Today, 78% of the United States population has a social media profile. More than 200 million people hop on Facebook or other networks for almost two hours every day to engage and interact with friends and family.

Through a strategic social media presence, you can become a part of that conversation. By creating relevant content for your target audience, you begin to establish yourself as a resource worth following. Sooner or later, your restaurant becomes a natural part of your guests’ social media feeds anytime they log in.

Through your social media presence, you can share visuals and attract guests to your restaurant.

2. Create a visual presence of your restaurant online

We’re visual beings. Research has long shown that if we have the choice between reading content and viewing the same content in a visual format, we will choose the latter every time. Through social media, you have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this tendency.

Restaurants have plenty of content to share on a regular basis. Pictures of meals, full dining rooms, desert tables, and outside space on a summer day all lend themselves to making your restaurant look attractive. Through your social media presence, you can share these visuals and attract guests to your restaurant.

3. Allow guests to share their experiences 

A major benefit of social media is in its name. Rather than being limited to a one-way communication channel, Twitter, Instagram, and other networks allow your guests to have a voice and share their thoughts about their experience at your restaurant.

Through a social media presence (and a social listening strategy), you can jump into these conversations and further broaden your reach. Not everything your guests share about your restaurant will be positive. But even for the occasional negative comment, wouldn’t you prefer to know about it and be able to address it?

By their nature, social media networks are more intimate and personal than print ads or other traditional promotions would be.

4. Offer a glimpse behind the scenes

Finally, don’t underestimate another benefit of a social media strategy for your restaurant: it’s ability to go beyond the types of messages that other marketing channels have to offer. By their nature, social media networks are more intimate and personal than print ads or other traditional promotions would be. If you approach social media strategically, you can take advantage of that expectation.

Find out how Sirvo can help your business utilize social media to hire top industry talent.

The most natural way to endear yourself to your audience on social media is to share content that offers a glimpse behind the scenes of your restaurant. Who are your chefs? What’s their favorite meal to cook, and how do they cook it? What does your kitchen actually look like? If your social presence can answer these types of questions, you’re well on your way to executing a strategy that promotes both first-time and return visits to your restaurant.

In short, social media can and should be a core part of your digital efforts. The above-mentioned points are just some of the benefits it offers. As long as you understand both your audience and the medium in which you operate, you can take advantage of its benefits to strategically reach out to potential visitors and grow your restaurant.

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Training Hacks: Materials and Resources Essential for New Hires

Training Hacks: Materials and Resources Essential for New Hires

by | Jan 16, 2017 | Business Toolkit, IndiTips, Management

After hiring, you’ll want new staff to start training as quickly as possible. This ensures they hit the ground running while avoiding rookie mistakes. In order to make this possible, however, training materials and resources must be ready to go, especially these six items that every new employee should have in hand the minute they walk in the door.

New hire paperwork

It’s a good idea to greet new hires with these materials. And whether you’ll be doing the training yourself, or you have a designated trainer, a senior staff member should sit with the employee while they fill out their new hire paperwork. This allows you to go over the materials with them and it’s the perfect time to set your performance expectations.

After the paperwork has been completed, take your new hire on a tour of your establishment. This helps to familiarize them with the business. During the tour, you can introduce them to other employees and tell them any names or terminology they need to know. It’s also a good time to show them where any safety equipment or materials are located.

A training schedule

Don’t leave new staff in the dark about training ins and outs, especially the timeline. Depending on the size and type of your establishment, training may only last a few shifts, or you may require weeks before you feel a new employee is qualified to work alone. Also, remember, you may need several training schedules based on position, so be sure to plan accordingly!

With this in mind, try to have the entire training schedule planned out. Let them know what days they’ll be working, what area of the business they’ll be learning about each day, and who they’ll be working with.

Having at least one designated trainer for each position is a great way to make sure all employees are trained the same way every time.

Designated trainer(s)

Having at least one designated trainer for each position is a great way to make sure all employees are trained the same way every time. Even better: having a few trainers that can share the load. This also takes some of the pressure off of you, allowing you to continue running your business while your trainer supervises new employees.

If possible, introduce new hires to their trainers immediately. This will allow them to get to know each other and will also ensure that new employees will know who to find when they come in for training shifts.

Printed materials or learning aids

If you have printed materials for your new employee, make sure they’re ready to go right away. If you use an app or website, make sure you make the employee is aware of the site or app and how to use it in conjunction with their training. There’s nothing worse than telling your new hires to read an article or complete online training without providing them with the necessary information to access the content.

Tests are a great way to gauge where trainees are in their learning process.

Tests to verify training/learning

Tests are a great way to gauge where trainees are in their learning process. So, before your new employee is ready to deal with customers on their own, you’ll want to test them to see if they’re grasping the training. These tests can be anything from online quizzes to mock restaurant scenarios. Of course, testing formats and parameters should be discussed with new hires and included on training schedules.

Tests are also a great way to see how the trainer is doing. If you start to notice new employees all seem to make the same mistakes or perform the same tasks incorrectly, sit down with your trainer(s) to make sure they’re teaching the correct habits and skills.

A clean, new uniform and name tag (if required)

Finally, if you require a uniform, make sure you have a fresh one ready on their first day. This goes a long way in making your new recruit feel like they fit in and are a part of the team right away.

If you’ve read our first post on Training Hacks, you’re well aware of how hard it is to find good employees. Make sure you’re not just a stepping stone on their career path. Welcome your new employees warmly and have a comprehensive training program in place so they feel secure in their job choice.

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How to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle While Working in Restaurants

How to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle While Working in Restaurants

by | Jan 13, 2017 | Career

Late night shifts. Changing shifts and irregular hours. Constantly on your feet. No time to sit down and eat. Slips, trips, falls. Chemical exposure. Stress. Parties… restaurants aren’t exactly health clubs. Perhaps that’s why researchers found the rate of heart disease and stroke was highest among people in two industries, one of them “Accommodation and Food Service,” which includes people who work in traveler accommodations, restaurants and bars.

So what can restaurant workers do to beat the statistics and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the restaurant industry? Here are 10 steps to take toward protecting yourself:

1. Meet with your employer

It’s a good idea to talk with a potential employer before accepting a job to find out about things like shift management, the physical environment, smoking policies, breaks and personal food prep policies. If you didn’t do this before starting work, and you experience particular things that interfere with best practices for health, bringing them tactfully to your employer’s attention might help.

Sometimes modifications work to everyone’s advantage. These days more employers understand the cost-benefit equation surrounding health and employee sickness, injury and absenteeism.

2. Keep “regular” sleep hours

Yes, restaurant shifts are a potential cause of health problems. To the extent you can, aim for regularity, approximately the same time frame each day that you work. Then adjust your sleep schedule accordingly so that you can get in most of your sleep at the same time every night (or day). If you can’t get in 7-8 hours of sleep in one block, schedule a regular short nap time each day. Keep to your schedule even on days you don’t work. Your goal is to let your body adjust to a rhythm, whatever it is.

A hearty breakfast will provide extended energy, which restaurant employees most definitely need!

3. Eat a great breakfast

What if you work a breakfast shift? Schedule time before you go in to sit down and eat a healthy, hearty breakfast. Eat your breakfast at the same time each day whether you’re working that day or not. A healthy, hearty breakfast doesn’t mean commercial cereals, sweet rolls or bagels. Better are walnuts and almonds, chia, flax and hemp seeds, fresh and frozen fruits, topped with milk, unsweetened yogurt or unsweetened soy milk. This will provide extended energy, which restaurant employees most definitely need!

4. Focus on these foods

Maybe your workplace serves up healthy food and soups and lets its employees enjoy them. If not, you need to prepare. Drfuhrman.com offers a guide to healthy eating based on four principles: nutrient density, comprehensive nutrient adequacy, favorable hormone levels and avoiding toxins. This plant-rich diet aims for maximum nutrient density in minimum calories. Salad is your main dish each day.

“For at least one meal a day, have a big salad that includes plenty of leafy greens, plus beans, onions, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, bell peppers and more, topped by a nut/seed-based dressing.” Limit animal products. Eliminate all sweeteners and refined grains. Since most of your diet consists of plant foods, and only 1 in 10 Americans eats enough of them, it’s easy to see where you need to focus: on those fruits and veggies! Keep it simple, and prepare ahead.

5. Find a space and a time to eat

Oddly enough, most eateries offer limited space for restaurant workers to eat. If your shift is long enough that you need a meal, find a corner where you can sit quietly and enjoy your fruits and veggies or made-ahead salad.

The food service world don’t always go quite the way you expect…so be sure you plan ahead.

6. Prepare an emergency food kit

Things in the food service world don’t always go quite the way you expect…so be sure you plan ahead for those times when you’re starving and don’t want to grab the first thing that pops into your line of vision. Chances are good that thing will be sweet and refined. Good things for an emergency food kit are carrot sticks, nuts, pumpkin seeds, canned sardines and apples.

7. Move

In a way, you’re lucky. As a restaurant worker, you’re probably on your feet all the time. Why? Because sitting for extended periods of time increases your chance of heart attack. In fact, Women who sit more than 6 hours a day are 96% more likely to die of a heart attack than women who sit for less than 3 hours a day — and men who sit more than 6 hours a day are 48% more likely than their standing counterparts to die of a heart attack.

But too much of a good thing also causes problems. Take advantage of moments to sit — and while you’re on your feet, watch your posture, and keep moving. Many chefs shift side to side as they work in position on their feet.

8. Focus

Restaurant work seems to demand multi-tasking, but many recent studies show that multi-tasking is not only ineffective but has a negative health impact. Instead, work on mastering the art of rapid set shifting, “…consciously and completely shifting…attention from one task to the next, focusing on the task at hand.”

9. Don’t smoke

You know the statistics. Hopefully, you work in a smoke-free environment, but if not, you have to deal with second-hand smoke, and this is not good for your health. Don’t add to the problem by smoking yourself.

10. Drink water

One of the major causes of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other chronic diseases is high sugar drinks. This includes not only soda but unsweetened fruit juices. When you’re thirsty, drink water — and eat the whole fruit.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be difficult when working in a restaurant. So, remember, that even if you do just a few of these or work up to checking off the entire list, it’s still a win. Here’s to your health, restaurant professionals!

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Training Hacks: Building Your Team

Training Hacks: Building Your Team

by | Jan 9, 2017 | Business Toolkit, IndiTips, Management

Having a solid training program will provide benefits every time your employees work a shift. The best training programs begin by hiring the best employees. This can be the difference between immediate success and possible failure.

Here are the first steps to take to put the right people in the right places.

1. Determining Staffing Needs

Every establishment is different but the theories behind determining staffing levels are similar all around.

Think about the flow of your business and every step a customer will take on their way to an excellent experience, from the moment they walk through the door to the moment they leave. To ensure service, you’ll need employees who’ll engage the customer at each step, and then you’ll need a support staff. The support staff are employees who the customer may not deal with directly, but still affect the final customer experience. Examples of support staff are barbacks, busboys, prep cooks, and housekeepers.

Based on the size of your establishment and the level of service you plan on providing you’ll want to have at least two (if not more) of each position during your peak hours.

Of course, you’ll want to employ more than two people for each position to account for day and night shifts, for days off, for extra coverage when needed, and as backups in case of emergencies.

2. How To Hire

Now that you’ve determined your staffing needs, it’s time to put the word out.

There are many ways to let potential employees know you’re hiring. The best way is to post your open positions to a job site specific to the hospitality industry, preferably one that partners with the big job search engines as well as with local sites and with trade associations. This ensures you’ll connect with the most enthusiastic and professional candidates.

The best way is to post your open positions to a job site specific to the hospitality industry.

Of course, there are always the traditional ways such as word of mouth, employee referrals, and the trusty old “Help Wanted” sign.

It’s a good idea to tell any and all applicants you’re always accepting applications, even when you think you may be fully staffed. By doing so you’ll always have possible employees in the pipeline ready to begin training at a moment’s notice. Don’t wait until an employee resigns or until you involuntarily lose an employee before hiring their replacement. This gives you peace of mind knowing all possibilities are covered.

3. Who To Hire

If you’re always accepting applications and interviewing potential employees, you’ll find the person you spend valuable training dollars on will be of a higher quality.

Unfortunately, it’s common in the industry to hire out of necessity. This can affect customer service and employee morale in the long run. Try to avoid backing yourself into this corner at all costs.

Before you begin interviewing potential employees, take the time to list the personality traits and skills you’d like your perfect employee to have.

Each position requires a certain type of person. Before you begin interviewing potential employees, take the time to list the personality traits and skills you’d like your perfect employee to have.

After you form a profile of your superstar employee(s), you’ll want to tailor your interview questions accordingly. Always remember to ask open-ended questions to keep the candidate talking as much as possible. This allows you to get an idea of how they’ll deal with service as well as how they’ll fit into the team. Of course, you’ll want to include a few skill questions to make sure they can meet your skill level requirements, too.

Here are a few other quick hiring hacks to keep in mind:

  • Don’t be afraid to be creative or out of the box with your questions. You want to force the candidate to think quickly, as they’ll be doing this continuously during shifts.
  • During the interview, don’t just show your amiable side. Remember, it’s their goal to impress you, not the other way around.
  • Also, keep in mind there may be some strict guidelines you’re required to follow when interviewing. Rules and regulations vary from state to state. Click here for more information on the regulations where you’re located.
  • Last, schedule a follow-up interview for a day or two later so you can think about things first. Avoid hiring a candidate “on the spot” if at all possible.

One of the best quotes we’ve heard from a small business owner when asked about their hiring practices was, “Every horse runs a good first lap.”

“Every horse runs a good first lap.”

He meant everyone puts their best foot forward during interviews so take the time to think about how the candidate will fit into the big picture. It’s tough to build a cohesive and successful team when new hires let you down or move on within a few weeks. If you find this happens frequently, you may want to revisit your hiring process.

Finding a good hire is the first step in a successful training program and should not be taken lightly. It’s rare that an employer finds the perfect employee who’s always on time, enthusiastic, and able to handle anything thrown their way…all while providing the best service possible.

Protect your business by establishing and following great hiring practices. That’s the best way to start training off of the right foot.

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Create a Successful Employee Manual With These Must-Haves

Create a Successful Employee Manual With These Must-Haves

by | Jan 4, 2017 | Business Toolkit, Management

Every hospitality business needs a quality employee manual that will allow them to present the information new hires need in order to function smoothly in their new jobs. It’s a handbook for everyone on staff: hosts, customer service, servers, chefs, managers, and those employees who work behind the scenes to ensure that the restaurant runs smoothly. Writing your employee manual for the first time can be a challenge, but this will help make it easier.

A Few Things to Remember

As you’re writing your employee manual, there are several things you’ll want to keep in mind. These include:

  • Most employees will not read the manual cover to cover; instead, they’ll turn to specific sections when they need the information. Make sure that it has a table of contents and an index that makes it easy for them to check out important resources.
  • The employee manual can’t stand alone. Employees will still need to receive training and verbal instruction in critical areas.
  • Create a document that can change according to the shifting needs of your restaurant. Make sure that changing information is presented to all current employees.
  • Keep a copy of the employee manual on hand at the restaurant. Even the best employees won’t keep up with their copy forever.

The Sections

Typically, an employee manual contains several key sections that will make it easy for employees to navigate while they begin their new job. Using a familiar template will make it easier for you to write your manual while simultaneously making it easier for employees who have previously worked in hospitality positions to find the information they need.

The Welcome Letter

Start by welcoming your employees to the business and giving them a sample of what they can expect while they work there. The best welcome letters include a sense of the restaurant’s attitude: for example, a welcome letter for a family-friendly, fun restaurant might read very differently from a welcome letter designed for a formal restaurant.

Important Policies

When a member of your staff opens up their employee manual, it’s usually because they’re looking up a specific policy. These might include:

  • Policies for each type of position/restaurant section; this should include expectations for customer service, front of house, kitchen and bar employees.
  • Emergency policies: How will the restaurant respond in the event of an emergency?
  • Call-out policies: What do you expect of staff members who must miss work for some reason?
  • The policy for swapping shifts: how must it be recorded? If one server or host covers a shift for another, who should they notify?
  • Safety policies and procedures, including any specific things that must take place throughout the restaurant in order to ensure staff and guest safety.
  • Information about performance evaluations, if relevant: how often they’ll occur, who performs them, and what is expected of each employee.
  • What appearance you expect of your staff, including whether or not piercings or unnatural hair colors are acceptable and what type of attire is expected.
  • A discipline policy that covers how issues will be handled throughout the restaurant and how employee transgressions will be dealt with.
  • Cash handling policies, including how cash is to be dealt with and how tips are to be reported.

Employee Benefits

What benefits does your restaurant offer to full-time employees? Do you provide insurance? What about a meal policy? Be sure that your benefits section includes everything your employees can hope to enjoy while they are employed by your restaurant. Being detailed here is a must so there is no confusion about said benefits.

Communication Options

Communication standards can make or break a workplace. If you want to make the most of your restaurant, provide your employees with plenty of opportunities to communicate. This might include phone numbers, email addresses, and how to mention a complaint if they have one. You can also include hours when the owner can be reached for discussion if necessary.

Creating an employee manual is a process. Your manual will change several times over the life of your restaurant. You may learn that you need policies that you didn’t think were worth mentioning or that you need to change your rules to reflect the changing needs of your employees and guests. As you construct your employee manual, however, you’ll discover that it’s much easier to track your expectations and keep your employees aware of the way your restaurant handles specific issues – and that means more satisfied employees who find it easier to perform their daily jobs.

For more useful management resources, check out Sirvo’s business toolkit!

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