The key to a successful eatery very well lies in its vetting process to recruit the best restaurant staff. It doesn’t matter how passionate and accommodating the restaurant owners may be if they’re represented by inefficient staff members with negative attitudes.
The owner may bend over backwards to please diners and offer bottom-rate prices but the negative Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews will keep flooding in if the customers repeatedly get served by staff who don’t care.
Where and How to Find Quantity or Quality Best Restaurant Staff
Regardless of what type of CEO you are, you have to find the perfect staffing and management mix to provide the results your restaurant customers want and drive sales. You need quality staff who are knowledgeable in their trade, conform to all laws and regulations, and aspire to higher quality service. Unfortunately, even the most stringent vetting process lets in a few bad apples.
According to a 2013 CareerBuilder survey, 69 percent of American employers have been adversely affected by a bad hire, costing as much as $25,000. Of these businesses, 24 percent reported losses amounting to over $50k as a result of hiring the wrong fit. To successfully find quality staff you have to consider these factors:
1. Passion Versus Experience
Most managers have at one point taken the risk of hiring someone inexperienced by virtue of the passion they exhibit for their job. This can work out wonderfully if the passion is properly directed. For a restaurant business, positions that can benefit most from passionate individuals include the chef and mixologist; however, you should rely more on experience than passion when hiring a maître d’ or a banquet manager.
To find the best passionate restaurant staff, word of mouth recommendations and head-hunting works best. For experienced staff, advertising job vacancies and referrals may provide the perfect match.
2. Certification Versus Hands-On Training
When looking for quality, the choice sometimes boils down to what level of training your prospects possess. What would be your top pick for chef between a fresh graduate from L’Academie de Cuisine and a sous-chef who has learnt her trade working as an understudy for low to medium-level chefs? It all depends on your particular restaurant needs. To find the best-certified staff, hospitality job boards work best while referrals are suitable for quickly finding a top-quality informally trained employee.
3. Entry Level Versus Professional Staff
Restaurant entry-level positions such as busboys, waiting staff, and valets can be hired in large numbers without too much focus on experience and quality. The desired quality can be achieved through in-house training and periodic job evaluations.
4. Where To Find Best Restaurant Staff
When starting out, your family and friends make the best employees. They are supportive, dedicated, and may not make many demands on your finances. You may also post job ads on bulletin boards within community in areas, such as high schools, colleges, churches, bookstores, and coffee shops.
You may increase your reach by using online resources such as your careers page on your website and hiring services such as CareerBuilder, ShiftGig, Simply Hired, or Monster.
5. Keeping Your Best Staff
The level of service at your restaurant and employee turnover are directly determined by how motivated your staff members are. The best ways to retain your best restaurant staff are:
- Competitive pay
- Bonuses
- Longevity perks
- Training
- Team building
Find and Retain the Best Restaurant Staff
There are many instances where a restaurant needs a large number of employees. There are also a few areas where compromising on quality hiring may be a recipe for disaster (pun intended). Restaurant managers can rely on referrals and word of mouth recommendations for almost any post. Positions that require quantity hires can be advertised on bulletin boards, job boards, and on localized online forums. Keeping your best staff requires a determination to keep them motivated and reasonably compensated.
