FOUR WAYS TO MANAGER A RESTAURANT
31 JULY 2019
1. Managing your staff and facilitating their personal and professional development.
Having well-trained and committed staff who see the possibility to progress in the business and develop their skills with only help you and your restaurant. Make sure there are regular training sessions and encourage your employees to seek out external training opportunities.
- If everyone is trained-up you will feel less need to monitor daily activities so closely.
- For example, be sure all kitchen staff are fully competent and clued up on plating and portion sizes.
- Training also helps demonstrate your expectations of your employees.
- If someone is struggling, offer retraining before using any disciplinary measures.
2. Trust your staff.
Having a healthy mutual respect and trust is key to managing a restaurant that can run smoothly without you monitoring every little thing. If you invest some trust in your staff, they will usually rise to the challenge and feel more invested in the business.
- For example, you can empower your front of house or waiting staff to deal with small customer complaints themselves, after the appropriate training.
- Ensure that your staff know at which point they should involve you to deal with a complaint.
3. Keep staff motivated.
To get the best out of your employees it’s important to keep them motivated and engaged. There are a number ways to go about this, but the first is to get them involved in the business beyond just doing their jobs. For example, ask them to contribute to team meetings and brainstorm ideas about where the restaurant could improve.
- Keep open lines of communication and make sure everybody in the restaurant has a voice and a stake in it’s success.
- Be sure to share responsibility for both the successes and failures of restaurant. Ultimately it is the product of everybody’s work.
4. Be supportive.
Being aware of the personal circumstances of your staff and sympathetic to their needs can go a a long way towards building up mutual respect and a happy, committed workforce. For example, your staff may have childcare issues or varying college timetables to deal with alongside their work commitments. Keep this in mind and be flexible when possible. This will help a “we’re in this together” feeling to germinate.
- If you set an example for others to follow, you can find that employees will be more willing to cover shifts for each other and create a positive and supportive environment