Sometimes the experience our wait staff gains, the more we can create a false feeling of perfection. The more times we perform a task without complication, the more we tend to believe that we are performing it perfectly. This isn’t always the case. A false feeling of perfection is something …
Read More »E.M.P.L.O.Y.E.E.: How to Spell Hired in the Restaurant Industry
Any restaurateur knows that hiring the wrong employee can be very costly for business. Not only will a bad employee cost you literally, by spending the money to hire and train them and the employee that eventually replaces them, but the level of work they bring to the table in …
Read More »Restaurant Management Tips: How To Deal With Employee Theft
As anyone in the food service industry knows, staff turnover is a constant problem. Hiring and training employees is important but often tedious work, and keeping your team motivated and happy can also be a challenge. Yet these “human resources” tasks are not nearly as tough to deal with as …
Read More »The 4 R’s of Driving Server Sales
The tired old maxim “your servers are your salespeople” is as true today as it ever was, but just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean you have armed the front of your house with every weapon they need to drive your restaurant’s profits. Really, there’s no understandable reason why servers shouldn’t …
Read More »Restaurant Management Tips: Hiring and Training Employees
Restaurants and commercial kitchens have always been relatively high turnover work environments, making new employee recruiting and training a constant chore for management. AÂ few basic procedures can help you maximize employee retention and reduce turnover, which in turn reduces costs and increases efficiency. Cast a wide net. When you have …
Read More »Restaurant Management Tips: Cross-Training
The food service industry can be a brutal business, and sometimes the differences between making it and breaking are very, very thin. As the manager, you have a lot on your plate – from training and supervising employees to running budgets and purchasing new equipment and supplies. This series is …
Read More »Restaurant Food Safety Tips: Be Your Own Health Inspector
Health inspections are a regular part of life in any food service business, but too often it’s easy for a restaurant or commercial kitchen to fall into the trap of just passing the inspection rather than regularly practicing good food safety procedures. This series is intended to help your business …
Read More »Should You Allow After-Shift Drinks in Your Restaurant?
Some restaurants allow an after-shift drink, after which the staff is allowed to hang around and become regular paying customers. The issue has come up in my trainings and I have a definite opinion on it. I prefer that employees do not sit at the bar and drink after their …
Read More »Restaurant Management Tips: Recognize The Kids
I know this was the case when I was a server, and maybe a lot of you out there are a little more accommodating than I was when a family was seated in your section, but for me, kids were a disappointment. Kids don’t order $8 martinis, and usually neither …
Read More »Are You Ready For Flu Season?
Personally, if I never hear another story about H1N1 (swine) flu again, I’ll die a happy man. Unfortunately, the grim reality is everyone is going to have to take steps to combat the spread of flu this winter, and restaurants are no exception. Organizations like the National Restaurant Association are …
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