Whether you are new to restaurant management or have years of experience, running a successful restaurant or bar can be a stressful endeavor. Management tasks range from hiring, marketing, operations, maintaining a budget, keeping staff and customers happy, and much more.
Working in a restaurant, management must use a myriad of skills to have a successful business. Throughout my decades of working with small business owners and restaurant management teams, these are the areas I always speak with clients about to become more successful in their roles.
Create and Maintain Your Core Values
Having a set plan and way of how you work within your restaurant is key to getting the most out of your employees, which will in turn lead to better service and a better experience for customers.
As a manager, it is your job to set the tone of the business. Many times, managers can say one thing and then expect another out of their employees. Be consistent. If food is not prepared well, speak to the cooks. Don’t be negative but make sure they can do better. If a customer has an issue, solve it in the calmest possible manner. Leaders promote confidence. As a confident manager, your view of the work feeds down to other employees and shows them how they should deal with difficult situations.
Every single night at a restaurant a problem will arise that has different problem-solving circumstances. A customer will complain, the line will get backed up, a waitress may stub and break their toe and can’t walk the floor anymore. Keep calm and assess each of these situations as they come. Deal with each situation individually.
Remember the old saying, “The customer comes first," but don’t let them use that in an abusive way. Your job during service as a manager is to fix problems as they arise. During service your team is in charge. They are on the floor, on the grills, and making the business work. Recognize if your employees are being abused by customers. If so, respectfully ask the customer to leave. There is no reason to feel negative in doing so. You will end up getting respect from your employee, and you don’t want customers who abuse your staff anyway.
Do not lose your integrity or self-respect and do not lose the respect of the business. Focus on the best service you can. Ultimately, some nights you may fall short but know that is okay. Come back the next day and do better and train your employees to do the same.
Value Your Employees
Employee turnover rates in the restaurant industry are always a high percentage as young people use restaurant jobs as starter positions. The average turnover rate during the past 10 years in the restaurant industry is 79.7% according to Toast. Understanding you will have high turnover as a manager means you must invest in those employees you know can become valuable long-term.
Appreciation always helps. Your employees work hard. The restaurant industry is one of the toughest businesses out there. You often have young employees who go above and beyond to make sure the establishment is represented correctly and make sure they give a great customer experience.
Award this attitude of service and don’t just give them a thanks and say go about your work for the next table or pour the next drink. Find time to take them aside and let them know you recognize how great they are doing in their job, and you are aware. Or create an employee of the month program for recognition.
They will appreciate these efforts more than you will ever know. Being noticed for a job well done helps motivate people to do even better.
Consider incentives for a job done well. A bonus in the paycheck, paid time off, promotion offers. These are all great ways to show you value your employees. Giving a high five to a server after they did an amazing job on a tough night isn't enough. Find a way to boost that employee’s enthusiasm of working at your restaurant so they want to continue working for you.
Pay Attention to Reviews
As a manager of a restaurant, you have many things to do. Managing staff, orders, inventory, and a bunch of other issues that arise on a day-to-day basis. But never let your mind slip away from online reviews. Pay attention to them. We live in a world where anyone and everyone has a device to get online and leave a good or bad review.
Train employees first and foremost to give the best service possible. Second, watch the online sites, mainly Google Reviews and Yelp. If someone on one of these sites posts a negative review, don’t feel like you can’t respond. Reach out to them and ask how you can make their next experience better. Word of mouth and online reviews are how restaurants make a name for themselves. So, don’t dismiss online judgement.
A customer had a soggy scallop dish. Fix it. Ask the customer to come back and ask for you by name before they are seated and give them an experience they didn’t expect. Take care of the customers and more will come. Doing small gestures like this shows your employees you don’t just care about making money. You care about the overall service of the customers. If you put yourself out there and recognize that the business you oversee did something wrong and now you are correcting it by taking responsibility, it will go a long way with your employees. They will know you are a person who knows when to rectify a wrong and will know they are safe coming to you if they make a mistake.
Save Money When Possible
One key area restaurant managers must keep an eye on is the inflow and outflow of money. One way to do this is by finding creative ways to help the establishment save money.
For instance, create a budget and stick to it. This means a budget not only for inventory of food but for staff and any other resources you need like garbage distribution and parking area cleaning.
Another area is to keep an eye on your menus. If you have a large menu, consider consolidating it. If you have multiple pages of entrees, appetizers, and more, you are most likely doing more than needed. This puts pressure on your kitchen and servers. Understand what style of restaurant you are. If you are a Mexican restaurant, don’t sell an American-style burger. If you are a fancy steakhouse, don’t sell some over-priced version of chicken fingers. Know your place. Understanding what you sell and what customers buy on the regular will help you save money because you aren’t purchasing nonsense products just to have them available. Keep your menu small and direct. Have a direct focus for your establishment and stick to it.
Running a restaurant is a daunting task with all the many hats a manager must wear. By creating a plan to stick to your values, treat your employees right, and maintain proper standards, you can be successful. Restaurants only run as well as the people who work inside them. Being a good leader will help your staff achieve their goals and in turn will boost customer service leading to better community engagement that will help grow the business.
Becoming the best restaurant manager, as seen by your employees and customers, is possible if you embrace the key points outlined in this article. An additional resource that will help you shine as a restaurant and manager, is the book Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. This book will revolutionize you and your restaurant and wow your customers.
John Waters is the Principal of Waters Business Consulting Group, LLC in Scottsdale, Arizona. Waters is an expert in helping business owners, management, and executives achieve their goals and grow their businesses.
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