Legendary Leadership: Tactics and tools to overcome the labor crisis and scale profitability

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You’re probably well aware that the hospitality industry—food and beverage, especially—is facing a labor shortage. If customers can see it in understaffed restaurants, help wanted signs, and relentless job ads, then restaurateurs and managers know darn well just how big the issue is. If it were localized, it could be attributed to local changes. But it’s not—it’s all across the U.S. and Canada, and many staffing problems restaurants face are common and widespread.

So what do we make of this situation? Something needs to change—but what?

That’s where the impeccable Matt Rolfe comes in. In a series of webinars and via his book “You Can’t Do It Alone,” he describes ways restaurants can retain, attract, and develop talented employees that can help an establishment thrive. A true restaurant mentor, Matt has spent the last 15 years hiring, attracting, and retaining talent, and helps clients all over the restaurant industry change their behavior to do just that.

Restaurant owners and managers are constantly overworked and overwhelmed. Staffing shortages both contribute to those problems and have a huge impact on a restaurant’s bottom line. So what would it look like to be able to hire the staff you need and then have them stick around?

If you’ve been struggling with hiring and retaining good staff—which is a common problem in the restaurant world—Matt’s advice is for you. Best of all, it’s easily digestible, actionable, and logical. Here, we’re breaking down his top tips for really nailing a restaurant’s staffing situation.

Let’s dive into Matt’s three pillars of restaurant employee management and how they can be implemented. You may be surprised by what you can get done right now.

Pillar #1: Retention

Keeping talented staff on board is one of the most critical aspects of running a restaurant. Hiring and training new staff is extraordinarily expensive, so keeping turnover as low as possible immediately helps the bottom line.

There’s much more to it, however. A core team of leaders at a restaurant sets the tone for the whole organization. Everything else is built around that core. Having that core team all pulling the same direction and sharing the same beliefs and vision is not negotiable—without it, Matt says, your chances are close to zero.

Matt points to three secrets of retention.

Retention secret #1: It all starts with recognition

In a poetic turn, Matt suggests that the COVID pandemic was like open-heart surgery on the restaurant industry. It cracked open the ribs and exposed the heart, and the industry is still recovering now. People need to get back to the human side of the industry now to help that healing. And one great way to do that is to recognize good performance.

If you want good behavior, you need to recognize and encourage it when it shows up. This means rewarding restaurant managers for interacting well with a team member or running a great service. Matt highly recommends focusing on positive recognition rather than negative. This helps create a positive feedback loop of good vibes throughout the restaurant and, simply, makes people feel appreciated and happy.

Matt suggests keeping track of how this goes on paper, too. Ask questions like:

• Who did you recognize?
• What did you recognize them for?
• How did you recognize them?
• How did they react?
• How did recognizing someone make you feel?

The idea here is to move beyond mere theory and into consistent, repeatable habits.

Retention secret #2: Rockstars vs. superstars

Figuring out just how people fit into an organization from their point of view helps in managing employees. Matt breaks effective workers into two categories: rockstars and superstars.

Simply put, rockstars are people who are kicking butt at their position—and are happy staying right where they are. Superstars, on the other hand, want to know just what they need to do to climb the ladder.

The tricky part, Matt says, is ensuring all managers and decision-makers at a restaurant are on the same page in recognizing which employees fit which categories. He’s frequently been surprised by how often managers have differing views of employees. So, having frank discussions at meetings about employees helps get everyone in agreement of which employees should be where, and how best to support them. Again, this is best written down.

Retention secret #3: Lift, leave, surrender

The lift/leave/surrender concept is another excellent way to understand what employees need and what the organization needs from them.

• Lifting means raising a worker to a higher place of responsibility, like promoting a restaurant server to assistant manager, for example.
• Surrendering means realizing when an employee should stay in their current position, and then leaving them there.
• Leaving is the often painful decision to let an employee go. If an employee is consistently underperforming and negatively affecting the culture, that’s a good time to let them go.

Matt recommends discussing the lift/leave/surrender process at quarterly meetings, which gives enough time to understand an employee’s situation and performance.

Pillar #2: Attracting the ideal candidate

Finding the perfect person for a role in a restaurant is hard. It’s getting harder, too, with such a tight labor market. So, taking a step back to reassess your hiring practices can help provide new perspective and success in getting the right person in the door. After all, simply filling a hole with an employee that’ll soon leave can create a tsunami of problems later, so it’s much better to aim well and hire carefully.

Let’s look at Matt’s three secrets of attraction and how they can work for you.

Secret #1: Change your job ad so you can stand out

Take a look at local ads for restaurant jobs. You may notice that a ton of the ads sound the exact same. So, you’ll want to make an ad that stands out. But how to do that?

First, Matt suggests, stop talking about yourself. Many restaurants say why employees would want to work for them, but don’t say much about the employee they’re looking for. Taking time to describe just what traits you’re looking for in a person helps people identify themselves—and helps them realize you’re looking for humans, not robots.

Furthermore, be very clear what you’re promising potential employees. Maybe they’ll experience a stressful environment but make a lot of money and develop. Maybe your restaurant has a family vibe to it. Whatever it is, be completely honest so someone can figure out if they’re a good fit. Check the language in your job ad to make sure it’s well aligned with your company culture.

Secret #2: Identify your ideal employee avatars

Before you start hiring, make sure you know exactly what it is you’re looking for. A good way to do that is by identifying just what traits you admire in employees you already have.

Matt recommends making a physical list complete with a photograph to get a holistic understanding. If you have a server or manager you wish you could clone, for example, think about just what traits you like the most about them. By figuring that out, you’ll know exactly what to look for in potential hires.

Secret #3: Change how you’re filtering your resumes

The hiring game has changed. Managers and staff now have leverage over the employer due to the labor shortage, and recognizing that fact is crucial to getting better candidates. This means restaurants need to change up how they’re filtering their resumes and focus a lot more on hiring.

Measuring, discussing, debating, and scoreboarding hiring results can bring a lot of focus to the hiring process. If hiring is a restaurant’s top priority, it should be the first thing discussed at team meetings. Results should be posted and shared daily and weekly to make sure everyone is paying attention and on the same page. Simply spending more time actively focusing on hiring can change leaders’ mindsets and improve hiring outcomes.

Additionally, Matt calls for following up relentlessly with qualified leads. This means at least 3-5 follow ups per qualified candidate. Why? Simple: It makes potential employees feel appreciated and sought after, which encourages them to want to work for you.

Pillar #3: How to develop your people so they stay

After an employee’s basic needs of good pay and stability are met, they’ll want to be able to develop, learn, and grow. As Matt points out, if you don’t offer that to them, they’ll find someone else who will. This leads to a risk of high turnover. Feeling stuck in a dead-end job is super common, so providing an alternative and a path for growth is an excellent way to retain key staff. Again, Matt notes three ways to do this.

Secret #1: Create clarity around how your leaders win in their roles

Company leaders need to have an exceptionally clear understanding of what’s expected of them. Misaligned effort and expectations leads to heartbreak, and can be devastating to employee morale. So, restaurateurs need to ensure that their leaders know what success looks like and what their priorities should be.

This leads back to the rule of three, which you’ll see all over this article. Keeping tasks and responsibilities to a “top three list” helps prevent being overwhelmed and overworked while focusing on what really matters. Consider: What are the top three things that each of your leaders needs to do at their roles? Figure that out specifically, discuss it with them, and write it down.

Secret #2: Create a path to leadership

Showing candidates what they need to do to progress through the company is no longer optional—it’s expected. Matt specifically points to Generations Y and Z expecting this, which is fair. They need to know what’s in it for them and how they can direct their energy to benefit both the restaurant and themselves.

Being transparent about what’s needed to move up through the ranks can help prevent confusion, burnout, and frustration—thus reducing staff turnover.

Secret #3: For core paths, create 90-day flight paths

For Matt, a “flight path” is a good framing mechanism to describe the life cycle of a project. There’s a clear beginning, middle, and end—or takeoff, flight, and landing. This framing helps keep in focus what matters the most, which is a successful flight that hopefully doesn’t crash.

On a flight, a significant amount of the fuel used is burned during takeoff. The same applies to projects: Starting anything new takes a lot of time and effort. Once the project has taken flight, it needs consistent monitoring to continue progress, and then extra attention towards the end for the landing.

After the project is done, celebrate a successful landing and check the metaphorical black box. What worked, what didn’t work, and what needs to change next time? Write all this down and keep it as a reference point for future projects.

Get everyone in the right seat

Growing a restaurant is no easy feat. But growth must happen if a restaurant is to thrive and scale profitability, and that means making sure your team is in the best shape it can be. By hiring, retaining, and developing employees, a restaurant can help improve its odds of success. The restaurant industry is a team sport, and no one can do it alone.

Restaurateurs need to make sure they allocate enough time for themselves to focus on this crucial aspect of the business. That means blocking time on the calendar to figure out new strategies. Working on the business is as important as working in it, and the time spent doing so very often pays off immensely.

A good exercise to keep track of where you should be is simple: Make a start/stop/continue chart for yourself and check it frequently. What do you need to start doing? What do you need to stop doing? What’s working well that should be continued?

With adequate focus, the right support tools, and the right team, restaurants can get to the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Because it’s really there.

If you’re looking for extra technology support to save time and make effort more efficient, be sure to check out Yelp for Restaurants’ Guest Manager. It automates check-ins, waitlists, and reservations. It also pairs with a host of other tools like point of sale systems and third-party delivery apps to make your life as easy as possible.

Running a restaurant has never been easy, and the last few years have been more difficult than ever before. But with some focus in the right direction, players in the industry can come out smarter, faster, and stronger.