To even have a chance at getting a restaurant or hospitality job, acing the interview is a must, and that requires at least some preparation. While you can’t anticipate answers to every question asked, there are some interview questions that nearly every restaurant and hospitality job seeker will face. These are also some of the most difficult questions to answer, and that’s why planning strong responses can drastically increase your chances of nailing the interview and ultimately landing the job.
What is your biggest strength?
A good place to start when planning your answer to this question is by asking yourself: in which aspect of the job am I most confident and which do I enjoy the most? The skill or responsibility that answers both questions makes for a great response because it’s genuine.
A general rule of thumb that applies to this question in particular is that the interview is not the time to be modest. A manager can only have as much confidence in an applicant as the applicant has in his or herself.
Selling oneself by emphasizing strengths as strongly as possible is key here.
Remember, though, that while embellishment is to be expected and perhaps even recommended in situations where experience is lacking, telling outright lies is ill-advised. Not only will getting caught cause others to question your moral compass, but it will likely land you in a position for which you are unprepared.
What is your biggest weakness?
Do not answer this question without careful thought; the person asking is a potential employer, not a therapist. Plus, a wise candidate will turn this into yet another opportunity to highlight his or her strengths.
A good example would be something like taking on more shifts than desired in a past position because it describes a person who will work to the point of exhaustion in order to avoid letting down his or her team. A good quality in the end.
Again, be as genuine as possible when answering this question because chances are your interviewer has heard it all, or said it all. So, if you’re lying your pants off, it will most definitely show. PRO-TIP: if you can’t think of anything, ask a coworker what they think you could work on and take it from there.
What is your favorite part of the job?
When answering this question, take the opportunity to illustrate to the interviewer that you know the ins and outs of the job and the industry culture. An easy way to do this is by using the jargon and slang that you would typically here around the workplace.
This question also provides an opportunity to express what it is about working in a restaurant or service establishment that makes it where you want to be, rather than where you have to be. Whether it’s getting to work with all types of people, facing a different challenge every day or something that’s unique to you, it’s worth sharing.
Go a step further by relating your answer to the business for which you’re interviewing.
For example, if you’re interviewing for server position and your favorite part of the job is giving customers recommendations, add that this job in particular is exciting because of the variety of dishes on the menu. This shows motivation and dedication.
What is your least favorite?
While this is not the time to air grievances, either about past employers or the industry itself, a successful candidate must not fall into the trap of saying that there is nothing that he or she does not like about the job.
While this would be ideal if true, in a perfect world, it is simply not possible and will sound as disingenuous as it is. Answering with an aspect of the job that everyone universally dislikes is a better move. It will ring true and serve the additional purpose of making you relatable to the interviewer.
One possibility? Griping about bad tips. Just be sure to express the understanding that it comes with the territory and be sure to mention that you wouldn’t let it affect your performance.
Why would you make a good addition to the team?
Working in the restaurant and hospitality business is always a team effort, no matter how you slice it because, in the end, all that matters is the experience of the customer or guest. Making this experience a positive one depends not only on your performance but also on the performance of your coworkers.
That said, being a good addition to a team ultimately means that you’re doing what you can to support it.
With this in mind, a winning answer doesn’t have to be overly complicated, it just has to emphasize the fact that you’re willing to be helpful. A wise way to express this is by stressing your readiness to help co-workers without no need of extra incentives; that it’s part of the job to do whatever you can to help the team.
Planning is just half of the battle, though; you also need practice…
Have a friend or family member conduct a mock interview that includes the above questions in the days leading up to the real interview. This will help to work out any kinks in responses and to avoid awkward pauses or excessive use of filler words. Plus, it will boost your confidence, giving you a leg up on the competition!
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The world is saturated with advice for job seekers in the hospitality industry about how to come out of interviews ahead when seeking new employment, and as any manager who has held more than one round of interviews can confess, that shows. However, smooth talk and instant likability during the interview don’t always translate to the workplace. So how can management see past the shine to choose the best possible person for a position? We’ve got the answer…
Here are five tips for smart hiring in the hospitality business:
Determine whether or not the candidate has done his or her research
Hiring managers often begin an interview by telling the candidate about the business, both its history and current positioning in the industry. Instead of going traditional, break the mold and ask the candidate to explain what he or she knows about the company.
Candidates who have put in the extra work to learn as much as possible about the company prior to the interview are more likely to go above and beyond when it comes to time to work. Not to mention, it’s a good sign that the candidate is interested in actually working for you and not just finding a job.
Hospitality is sometimes unpredictable, so it’s essential for employees to show overall good judgement, quick decision-making, and flexibility. However, a large portion of any hospitality job is predictable, which allows you to get a glimpse at how candidates would approach their daily tasks.
Start by asking general questions that touch on part of the position for which the candidate is interviewing. After a few of these, move on to more specific questions having to do with the same topic.
You’re not only testing their ability to handle the job, but also their sincerity by opening up the opportunity for inconsistent answers.
For example, part of a general manager position is firing employees, so start by asking questions about handling conflict in the workplace. Then transition to specific questions about firing responsibilities and handling confrontation.
If a candidate is either unable to answer your questions or inconsistent in their responses, it’s unlikely they’ll thrive in the position.
Test the candidate’s industry knowledge
Even the most experienced interviewers can’t weed out all unqualified candidates solely based on resumes, so count on some slipping through the cracks. Most often, these are enterprising problem solvers desperate for any job at all who have no prior experience in hospitality.
Thankfully eliminating these candidates can be as simple as quickly quizzing each person who sits in the interviewee chair on basic industry knowledge.
For example, nearly anyone will be able to explain what a server does during service, so skip to what’s behind-the-scenes. Ask about the post-service tasks to gain decidedly more insight about the candidate’s true level of industry know-how.Discuss industry trends
Discuss industry trends
Another type of candidate to look out for is the person who does have industry experience and is qualified, but who does not want a career therein for the long-term. While it may be more difficult to ascertain this than other factors, it’s an important piece of information. So how to tell?
A candidate who is serious about a successful future in the hospitality industry should be able to speak about current trends and latest news.
Ask which of latest industry innovations he or she is most excited about. But don’t stop there. Also inquire about what trade publications or events the candidate has found to be the most and least helpful in his or her career and which connections have been the most fruitful.
Someone who is unable even to name a trade magazine, for example, probably does not view hospitality as his or her permanent field. Finding this out now will save the company time and money on repeating the hiring and training processes in the future.
Ask Other Staff For Impressions
It is natural that every job candidate do his or her best to make an excellent impression during the actual interview. However, good behavior doesn’t always extend to the waiting room or with other employees not conducting the interview.
Asking other staff members who had a chance to interact with candidates before or after the interview can therefore provide valuable insight. This alternate perspective can reveal what would otherwise remain unknown and lead to more informed hiring decisions.
It is never possible to completely eliminate the risk of hiring someone who turns out to be ill-suited in the long-run. But, by following the tips above, every hiring manager can make the most of his or her time with each candidate and increase the likelihood of choosing the best possible person for the job.
One of the biggest challenges in the food and beverage industry is hiring qualified and capable employees and keeping them around for the long run. The average day in the life of a food and beverage worker can be stressful, and using motivational techniques to inspire and support your staff will not only improve the quality of work but also increase the liklihood that they’ll stick with you.
Use these tips to incorporate a dose motivation into the daily management of your staff and watch them succeed!
Focus on the positive
Have you ever had a manager who put a spotlight on everything that was going wrong during the pre-shift meeting? Nothing beats people down more than only hearing about the things they have done wrong. The things that your staff needs to improve upon do need to be addressed, but addressing them in a constructive way is more likely to have a positive effect.
Try the “sandwich” technique. Begin by talking about some positive things you have seen in your employees. Maybe celebrate the successes of each individual employee. Then discuss things that need improvement. Then, conclude by thanking your staff for their hard work. By sandwiching the negative between two positives, your staff will feel encouraged, instead of discouraged.
Keep the acknowledgement coming
Have ongoing acknowledgement programs, like “Employee of the Month”. Designate an area in the back of the house where the successes of your staff members can be posted. If a customer writes a good review of your restaurant or the staff, post it there. Regularly update the postings, making sure to rotate through the whole staff.
Have daily goals
Create daily goals for your staff to work towards. Do you manage a steakhouse? Offer a reward to the server who sells the most of a certain type of steak. Does your restaurant specialize in fine wine? Set a wine sales goal for the server who has the highest wine sales.
The reward can be anything from a free meal to a gift card. Make it interesting by creating teams, and having your employees work together to achieve a goal.
Set monthly goals as well
If your daily goals are for a small reward, create a larger goal for the entire month. For example, set a goal for the staff member with the highest monthly sales, with nothing under a certain amount. The reward could be something like a $500 bonus or a paid day off.
Set up a continuing education program
If your employees feel like you care about them, it will show in the quality of their work. Investing in their future by offering further job training and education shows them you care, and it will increase the likelihood that they will stick with you long-term.
Provide opportunities to cross train within your restaurant, and if promotion is possible, try to do it from within.
Get your hands dirty
In a restaurant’s busiest moments, it’s easy for a manager to shout out for someone to cut lemons or roll silverware, but that may send the wrong message to your staff. Show them that you aren’t above tasks like these.
When it’s obvious a staff member could use an extra pair of hands, roll up your sleeves and help out. One of the characteristics of a good leader is to lead by doing not by telling.
Feed your staff
If you have ever worked as a server or cook, you know often it is that you go an entire shift without getting the opportunity to sit and eat. Provide these short breaks for employees to grab a bite if possible.
For shifts that are really busy, bring in breakfast, lunch, or dinner every now and then. This is another way to show your employees that you care, and they won’t have to try to get through a shift on empty stomachs!
The food and beverage industry is a stressful, but rewarding one. By following these tips, you’ll motivate your staff and encourage them to work towards being a valuable part of the team!
The food truck fad has had a significant impact on the food & beverage industry, creating a new approach to serving food and granting many the opportunity become small business owners. However, as popularity grows, food truck owners are starting to feel the pressure.
One of the main challenges encountered by food trucks nationwide is coming from backlash within the community.
With the harsh sentiment that pop-up businesses, such as food trucks, enjoy an unfair advantage and negatively impact trade, business owners with established reputations and a stake in the community are making their complaints heard.
The American Dream seems to be in question.
While city politicians like to stand behind that dream, they are also responsible for protecting local commerce, leading to ever-changing legislation, some of which helps food truck owners succeed and some of which dooms their business to failure. These regulatory changes are ongoing, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, potentially opening doors in Seattle while closing others in Texas.
For one former food truck vendor who plied his trade in the middle of the country, the continual changes proved to be too much. His 2014 experience that welcomed the new year with a mad rush of investment ended at Christmas with disaster and debt, a common story heard all across the country.
Eddie Lawrence, a former food truck owner, believed with every fiber of his being that Americans would rush to try his very British, unsalted version of fried Atlantic cod with a heaping pile of hand-cut fries.
His venue near the center of Bentonville, Arkansas seemed like a shoo-in. However, red flags flew early on when Bentonville’s mayor Bob McCaslin learned too late that Lawrence had received his business permit from City Planning. Summoned to City Hall, Lawrence tells us McCaslin was none too happy.
“He went on about how he wouldn’t have approved it and I wasn’t going to get renewed next year, neither.”
And sure enough, as the weeks progressed, the city dispensed regulatory updates that hindered business for Eddie and a half dozen other local vendors, a few of which were long-established in the close-knit community of businesses around Bentonville Square.
While legislative changes did make things more difficult, it may not have been the main cause of Eddie’s business failure, as well as that of almost every other Bentonville food truck.
Compared to local legislation, standard business regulations have a much greater impact on the entire concept of the pop-up business.
One problem Eddie remembers was an unexpected introduction into sales and employee taxation requirements. As new vendors came into the area, he found they were as much in the dark as he was, and made a point to give them a heads-up on the tax situation. In the end, he says his quarterly unemployment insurance payment did him in.
Beyond the government and the law, there seems to be another consistent factor causing these food trucks to end up out of business. Many of these small businesses are run by just a few who may not have much experience running a company.
In the end, the lack of know-how seems to be the nail in the coffin.
Currently, the cost of food trucks has plummeted as an increasing number of barely used trucks and trailers find their way into consignment lots. Eddie Lawrence was lucky, since he built out his own trailer. He reports a loss of about half of the build cost by the time he finally managed to sell it almost a year after closing, and counted himself lucky at that.
Workplace culture, from how a business looks to employee attitudes and communication, reinforces how an organization, or team, operates. It’s a fundamental element that can have a huge impact, whether it’s positive or negative is up to you.
Key ingredients
Businesses that have strong and positive workplace cultures have two things in common:
1. The soft skill behaviors that are high-priority are clearly defined.
2. Those high-priority behaviors are shouted from the rooftops, loudly and often.
And this is no coincidence. By establishing and emphasizing the key soft skill behaviors that are at the core of the business, or team for that matter, employees have a clear picture of what is expected, which leads to better performance in the workplace– even the youngest, least-experienced employees.
These powerful cultures don’t just happen. They are the result of a company that knows exactly what its high-priority behaviors are, focuses on them relentlessly, and systematically drives those behaviors throughout the organization in all of its management practices. The message is crystal clear and on auto-repeat.
Where to start
When designing a positive workplace culture, first ask yourself what are the high-priority behaviors that are most important in your sphere?
For example, if I’m the bar manager at a popular fine-dining restaurant, the high-priority behaviors for my team might be attentiveness and professionalism, which are applicable to the restaurant’s staff as a whole, as well as cleanliness as a messy bar is off-putting to guests.
Once the soft skill behaviors are defined, it’s easy:
Make them the foundation of your culture. Focus on them relentlessly, and systematically drive those behaviors throughout your sphere in all of your management practices. This means leading by example
Then sing it from the rooftops—make it 1000 percent clear.
And start doing everything within your power to drive, support, and reward those high-priority behaviors with every employee within your sphere.
How managers fit in
Creating and sustaining a positive workplace culture is not solely on the shoulders of the owner or general manager; managers with small staffs are also responsible for propagating the message throughout their own spheres regardless of whether or not the organization as a whole has a strong culture. In this case, it’s up to the manager to design a positive culture that will drive performance.
If your organization has a strong positive culture by design, then you need to be in alignment. Ask yourself:
What are the high-priority behaviors?
What are you doing in your sphere to drive and support and reward those behaviors in everything you do as a leader?
If your organization has a less-than-strong positive culture, then it’s all up to you. You need to create your own culture within your own sphere—not just for the young talent, but for everybody.
You don’t need to start a revolution. But you can be a little bit of a maverick. You can certainly be a change leader.
Your results will speak for themselves because your team will stand out, not just in its business outcomes, but in cohesiveness, morale, and retention.
Common roadblocks to positive culture
When policy and message do not align:
Some organizations are all talk and no action when it comes to culture. They have great slogans, but they do not drive, support, nor reward key behaviors among employees that are in alignment with the messages. If employees have regular run-ins with customers because management has very strict policies against, say, exchanges and returns, then it really doesn’t matter how many placards there are in the store that say, “The customer is always right!”
When there is a call for immediate change in culture:
We all know change doesn’t happen overnight. Yet, there are organizations in which leaders get very serious about changing their corporate culture—all of a sudden. It’s as if these leaders have an epiphany and realize what they’ve been missing and decide they want a strong positive culture—and they want it now. They want culture change overnight, by decree: “From now on, our culture will be ___________!” Fill in the blank: “honesty!” “teamwork!” “innovation!” But you can’t force culture change overnight. It takes time because behavioral changes take time.
When the organization’s culture lacks cohesion:
Of course, plenty of leaders pay no attention to corporate culture whatsoever. Many senior managers have never considered workplace culture until now, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. This is what Bruce Tulgan, CEO of the management research and training firm RainmakerThinking, refers to as ‘culture by default’,
“Just because you have never paid any attention to culture, doesn’t mean you don’t have a corporate culture. It just means you have a culture by default instead of by design.”
That is your corporate culture is simply the combined web of prevailing shared beliefs, meaning, language, practices, and traditions that have developed over time between and among the people in your organization. Whether it’s overall nature is positive or negative, cultures that are developed by default lack cohesion. There is no central message that defines employees’ overall mission.
The idea of putting work into building a positive workplace culture is not a new phenomenon (because of millennials). In fact, it’s just common sense: happy employees are good employees!
