You have great food, a great location, but poor customer service; will your guests come back? No. Unfortunately, this is a problem that many owners face and it can come from a lack of experience. In the past, we’ve seen plenty of owners who opened a restaurant because they loved food. When the service side is neglected, however, it soon leads to problems.
In this guide, we want to discuss the idea of getting the most from a team. How can you ensure that every staff member is as passionate about the business as you?
Be an Example
First things first, everything starts with you. If you’re rude to customers or don’t care about the business, neither will your team. Whether you’re the owner or manager, you set an example with your words and actions every single day. They say the behavior of a team is a reflection of the people above them – with this in mind, smile and have a positive attitude every day.
Offer Rewards
As you know, working in a restaurant is an unforgiving business. Customers are sometimes rude, they’re running around for hours at a time during the rushes, and the hours can be somewhat unsociable. Therefore, we recommend introducing some healthy competition in order to reward the hardest workers.
Perhaps you could have a competition for check averages? This way, they will attempt to up-sell and make the most from each table. Alternatively, you might push for online reviews or comments forms? Whenever you get a winner, give them a cash bonus, movie tickets, gift card, an extra evening off work, or anything else that makes it worthwhile.
Always Show Respect
If you want a quick way to lose the support of the team, it can be achieved easily with a lack of respect. Everybody knows that there’s a hierarchy in business, but the best businesses blur the lines and don’t pay attention to this sort of thing. At all times, you should respect absolutely everybody while also encouraging this with all employees.
Enjoy the Staff Meetings
It’s not often the whole team comes together, so why not have fun at the team meetings? Do some team-building exercises and set the tone for the day and weeks to come.
Know Your Staff
Don’t let employees just be another number, get to know them on a personal level. Show an interest in their lives, how they spend their time, how their children are, how their university course is going, etc. As soon as you see them as more than a cook or server, they’ll see you as more than a boss.
Ask for Opinions
As people who see the restaurant up close and personal on a daily basis, employees are the best people to ask when looking for improvements. Whether in a team meeting or through an anonymous suggestion box, make your staff feel valued and ask for their opinions.
Appreciate Their Work
Dealing with unhappy customers, long hours, and tricky working conditions, please don’t be cheap with your employees. Ultimately, this means rewarding them properly and also being willing to give customers free items when they aren’t happy. When a customer is angry, it’s not you losing a tip so help them out a little.
Encourage Fun
We mentioned fun in staff meetings, but you should allow everybody to have fun throughout the day too. Just because employees are laughing, this doesn’t mean they aren’t working. As long as they know when to knuckle down and concentrate, you can encourage a positive atmosphere and help them to feel better about working when their friends are out partying on a Friday night.
Address All Problems
Due to the high-pressure environment, conflicts and problems are guaranteed to arise from time to time. Whether it’s about working practices, shifts, or something else, deal with the problem before everything turns sour and the whole team is affected.
Say ‘Thank You’
It’s easy, it’s free, and it’s sometimes valued even more highly than rewards and gifts; just say ‘thank you’ to show your appreciation for their hard work!