How to find (and retain) the right restaurant staff
Hiring, training, and retaining restaurant staff has always been one of the biggest challenges facing the restaurant industry. In addition to finding experienced people to fill front of house and back of house roles, restaurant owners also have to motivate staff members to work together.
While specific staffing needs differ based on the type of restaurant, the overall theory is the same across the restaurant industry. A restaurant owner needs to balance staff needs and costs against all other aspects of the business to maintain profitability.
At the same time, a restaurant manager should aim for as little turnover as possible. Team members are part of a team, and keeping them working together is one of the most important things you can do to improve your restaurant’s chance of success.
We’ll look at some of the current trends in the food service labor market, as well as ways to make sure your job openings are filled by qualified staff—and hopefully those openings won’t need to be posted so often. But first, let’s look at some basics: What staff will a restaurant need?
Restaurant staff: Who to hire for what
While restaurants aren’t quite as individualized as snowflakes, no two are exactly alike. Staffing needs largely depend on the restaurant’s capacity, food style, and target audience, for example.
But some restaurant employees’ roles are standardized. Let’s look at those first.
Restaurant staff must-haves: back of house
Every restaurant needs a head chef. The head chef is in charge of all kitchen staff, and in many cases their job is part chef and part kitchen manager. Many restaurants allow head chefs to hire people or at the very least to suggest hires and help operate training programs for new staff. Restaurant management in general is wise to listen to their head chef, because the head chef is the captain of the back of house.
Head chefs rarely work alone—they’ll need a sous chef, the second-in-charge in the kitchen. A sous chef should have the know-how to be able to take over the kitchen should the head chef fall ill or simply have the day off. Tasks involving food preparation are often delegated to the sous chef to be passed to line cooks and prep chefs.
Of course, every back of house needs line cooks to operate fryers, grill stations, and other kitchen stations depending on the needs of the restaurant. Dishwashers are always necessary as well, since without clean dishes nothing can happen.
Back of house situation-dependent hires
While both the head chef and sous chef(s) are directly involved in food preparation, an executive chef is usually more removed. Restaurants with one location or that are relatively small will generally not need an executive chef. An executive chef is responsible for overseeing much of the business and logistics side of the kitchen: ordering supplies, organizing menus, hiring staff, and managing food costs, for example. Executive chefs are often found at larger restaurants, restaurants with multiple locations, in fine dining, or in hotel or resort restaurants.
Fine dining restaurants, bakeries, or restaurants that focus on dessert will likely want to hire a pastry chef. The pastry chef is in charge of anything that resembles dessert, and may be a boon to a restaurant for their bread baking abilities as well.
Restaurant staff must-haves: front of house
For this section, we’ll need to split restaurants into two general types: counter-service restaurants and table-service restaurants. Dining room staffing needs of fast food restaurants, for example, are different from table-service in that they don’t require wait staff.
However, let’s focus more on table-service restaurants. Wait staff are a crucial part of these restaurants, as they’re your main line of contact for customers and often give the crucial first impression of your business. Well-trained, courteous, and professional wait staff can be the make or break difference between a mediocre or an excellent customer experience.
Bussers are crucial to dining room operations. Bussers help keep the front of house running smoothly and ensure tables are cleaned promptly to minimize any seating lag that can lead to customers waiting.
Front of house situation-dependent hires
Options abound when it comes to situational front of house hires, but some restaurant jobs stand out as, well…standard in many cases.
A fine dining, French, Italian, or steakhouse restaurant may be very well served by a sommelier. Considering the profit margins a restaurant can expect to make on wine, hiring a sommelier can be a very good investment indeed. The sommelier can help craft a wine selection, pair that wine selection with meals, and suggest wines to customers. Far more than just a feather in a restaurant’s cap, a sommelier can help elevate a restaurant experience for customers while simultaneously boosting a restaurant’s income.
Has your restaurant got a bar? Depending on the size, you’ll likely need a bar manager. Deciding whether you’ll need a bar manager or simply a bartender depends on your seating capacity and the amount of drinks you’ll be pouring. A small restaurant, for example, wouldn’t necessarily need a bar manager—a bartender would be enough to hold down the fort and the restaurant manager could handle bar aspects as well. A restaurant with upwards of 100 seats may be well served (no pun intended) by having a bar manager who handles purchasing, drink pricing, and manages bartenders.
Additionally, any restaurant that serves a lot of coffee will need a barista. In many cases, bartenders can double as baristas.
What about a restaurant manager?
A common question is whether or not a restaurant needs a dedicated restaurant manager. The answer depends on the size of the restaurant and the restaurant owner’s involvement. In many cases, the restaurant owner is also the manager, especially in small or new restaurants. In cases where a restaurant owner is new to the industry or already has other investments to handle, a dedicated manager can be an absolute godsend.
4 ways to find (and keep) top talent for your restaurant staff
The inertia put in place by the coronavirus pandemic, including the Delta variant, has led to a staff shortage across the hospitality industry. From New York to Hawaii and every state in between, a staffing shortage consistently makes nationwide news.
Some blame worker shortages on working conditions, while others point their finger at unemployment benefits. Whatever the case, reopening after 2020 and 2021’s lockdowns have left many business owners scrambling to assemble—and keep—the best team possible. Even with higher vaccination rates, the job market is struggling to find enough hospitality workers to fill positions.
There are four key ways a restaurant owner (for a new restaurant or a well-established one) can make sure their business keeps enough workers to consistently fire on all cylinders.
1. Pay as much as you can
Generally speaking, higher paid employees are more motivated to work and do a good job. This can lead to higher customer satisfaction, as evidenced by a Cornell study that demonstrated customers felt employees provided better service when the minimum wage was raised.
Conventional wisdom says to keep your labor costs under 30% of total costs. However, there’s nothing conventional about current circumstances, and old wisdom may no longer apply. If you pay higher wages to keep your top kitchen staff or to hire new staff, it may save money in the long term when you factor in training and onboarding costs. Plus, retaining experienced and dedicated staff should be a priority as you evaluate your team.
We’re not discussing government policy here, so let’s be clear: Well paid employees are more likely to remain at their jobs. Or, at the very least, they’re far less likely to be tempted by offers from competitors who pay less than your restaurant does.
Kitchen staff often feel underappreciated compared to their FOH counterparts especially when tips aren’t shared. Consider tip pooling as one way to rectify this imbalance. In many cases, line cooks work hours that would be considered excessive in other industries. Finding opportunities to spread goodwill among all of your team members can have a positive effect on productivity and morale.
2. Provide room for growth
The restaurant business is well regarded for providing opportunities for career advancement. It’s not uncommon for someone to start as a dishwasher or busser and work their way to becoming a head chef or general manager.
Knowing that there’s room for growth can motivate an employee. When anyone on your team—busser, assistant manager, bar staff—knows that their hard work might be rewarded with a promotion, they will work much harder than someone who feels confined to one role forever.
3. Take your employees’ needs into account
Exercising compassion will go a long way towards building employee loyalty. Try to accommodate schedule requests when possible; make sure your employees get adequate breaks and time for meals; and try to schedule team members who work well together on the same shifts. When employees are friends with each other or at least get along with each other, they’re much more likely to work as a unit to deliver better results for the restaurant—and for customers.
4. Master delegation
Restaurants all require some degree of delegation, and a management structure beyond just the manager. Owners should empower managers to make decisions and foster independence. The same empowerment structure should follow throughout the management structure. Employees who feel free to take initiative are more likely to make decisions that benefit both the restaurant and their customers.
For example, a kitchen staff member shouldn’t need approval from the restaurant owner to make decisions. Similarly, the head chef should have enough independence to make calls without involving others.
Get outside help
No single person can run a restaurant. It’s by definition a team sport, and like any sport that team needs the right equipment to get the job done.
Restaurant equipment has come a long way, including the software used to make sure business runs as smoothly as possible—and, in many cases, to supercharge profits and brand recognition.
If you’re looking to get the best tools possible to run your business, check out Yelp for Restaurants. You can request a free demo to see just how it’ll help you and your employees do the best job possible—and turn new customers into repeat customers.