How to Manage Restaurant Staff Well: 9 Tips to Improve Efficiency

Every job done at the restaurant is important. A restaurant’s success is slowly built when each person does their job well, from dishwasher, sous chef, chef, to server.

Therefore, the restaurant manager role is key to a profitable restaurant because they are responsible for all employees’ productivity. Managing people is no easy job, but you can learn to master it.

In this article, you will find out how to manage restaurant staff well to ensure employees are satisfied with their jobs and the restaurant runs efficiently:

Why you must learn how to efficiently manage your staff

A bad restaurant manager can easily make employees want to quit and create an unpleasant experience for your clients. But a good restaurant manager will:

• Reduce employee turnover: employees who constantly quit will not only drive up your costs, but they will also disturb the business processes, leaving more work for the rest of the team. If you learn how to manage restaurant staff well, you persuade employees to work for you for a long time;
• Increase restaurant efficiency: if all tasks are distributed fairly and there is someone to monitor and come up with solutions when problems arise, the restaurant will run smoothly;
• Improve work environment: employees who are happy with their jobs will make working in the restaurant a pleasant experience that they want to return to every day;
• Enhance customer experience: if your staff is managed well, they will provide clients with an impeccable customer experience that they will rave about to their friends;
• Increase employee productivity: your team will be more motivated to do their job well if there are goals in place and they feel appreciated for their work.

9 must-know tips on how to manage restaurant staff well

Employees are the wheels that are turning your restaurant. If you want your business to always be on an ascending trajectory, check out these useful tips on how to manage restaurant staff well:

Read more: 16 Restaurant Management Tips for Happy Employees & a Successful Business

1. Develop managerial skills

It’s no secret that the process of managing restaurant staff starts with you, the restaurant manager. You must develop skills that allow you to quickly respond to every situation while also keeping your ears open to feedback so you can improve.

Here are the skills you must acquire through training and mentorship:

• Leadership: you must create a relationship with your employees where they trust and respect your decisions. This way, they will always follow your directions and come to you when problems arise;
• Communication: the restaurant industry is fast-paced, so you must learn how to communicate efficiently even in the busiest times;
• Time management: you must be able to calculate how many employees you need for a shift to make the experience pleasant for your customers, when to allow breaks, etc;
• Organization: even though you will be faced with many requests and challenges, you must learn to prioritize and organize to ensure you keep the restaurant thriving and the employees happy;
• Patience: problems are inevitable, and they will surely test your patience. You can’t lose your temper or your focus, you need a level head to lead your team;
• Flexibility: when you are faced with new challenges, you must be able to adapt and come up with solutions on the spot;
• Tech-savviness: technology can be a great help in the restaurant, but don’t just rely on your employees to use it. You must master it as well so you can help and coordinate staff if the need arises.

Read more: Why You Need Restaurant Manager Training and How to Do It Right

2. Set clear expectations

Sometimes, employees are not productive because their duties are not clear. They might not know the full scope of their tasks, so they won’t fulfill them. We recommend you set clear expectations from the start to motivate employees to improve their performance.

Here are a few tips on how to manage restaurant staff well:

• Communicate expectations upon hiring: if you want to hire the right people who will become productive long-term employees, let them know from the beginning what will be expected of them;
• Set personal and team goals: a goal makes accomplishing tasks more attainable. Set objectives both for the whole staff and for the individual employee to motivate them;
• Hold review meetings: you can increase productivity with regular meetups where you remind people of their tasks and see what they managed to do until then.

3. Have boundaries in place

Setting boundaries is a great way to prevent problems in the restaurant. For example, you can make it clear that when you have the office door closed, nobody should bother you. This will allow you to focus on urgent tasks that can’t be interrupted.

Any other boundaries that you impose should apply equally to everyone, so you don’t risk benefiting one more than the other.

4. Make their work easier by leveraging technology

Your employees may feel like their work is overwhelming and have trouble managing their time if you do it the old-fashioned way. Nowadays you can implement countless tools to make both your job and theirs easier.

Here is how to manage restaurant staff well by using technology:

• Use an online ordering system: forget about taking orders by phone which not only takes up a lot of time but can also lead to errors. Make it easy for employees to accept online orders with just a tap in an app with the free online ordering system from GloriaFood;

• Add a table reservation system to your website: human errors naturally occur, especially when taking reservations by phone. Free up your staff’s time and allow clients to place orders directly on your website. You can a free table reservation system from GloriFood as well;

• Use a kitchen display system: if you don’t want to run with the receipt to the kitchen, integrate a kitchen display system with the online ordering system so that the orders are automatically transmitted to the food preparation team;
• Implement an inventory system: when employees have a lot of tasks, it can be easy to forget about some ingredients and provoke food waste. Use a food inventory system to keep track of all your food items and their expiration date.

5. Use a scheduling tool to ensure transparency

If employees are dissatisfied with their schedules, they will be less motivated to do their job and their attitude will be apparent to customers. To ensure fair scheduling, use a tool that everyone can access.

This way, you won’t have staff complaining that you favored someone else because you gave them more hours or more time off. Everyone will be able to see the schedule and request changes.

Read more: 5 Ways to Make Your Restaurant Employee Scheduling Easier

6. Make training a habit

You may view training as a must only for inexperienced employees. But you should make training a constant in your staff’s lives, starting from hiring, to new items launches, or any changes that may arise.

Here are some must-have pieces of training if you want to learn how to manage staff well:

• How to deal with angry or unhappy customers
• How to respond to menu item change requests from clients
• How to recommend food and drink pairings
• Who to report to when they encounter a problem

7. Build a united team

Most jobs in the restaurant are connected. For example, if there is a problem if the chef has a problem with the food preparation, the server will be responsible for relaying this information to the client and offering compensation.

That’s why your restaurant will be more efficient if your staff works as a team. You can encourage employees to be more united by creating a shared culture. For example, organize hangouts often and even teambuilding to help them get to know each other better.

Read more: How to Build a Strong Restaurant Culture and Increase Employee Retention

8. Celebrate successes

A great way to keep up the morale at work and motivate employees to be more productive is to show appreciation. Here are a few tips on how to manage restaurant staff well with rewards:

• Have an employee of the month award: attach a prize to it, such as a raise, to motivate staff to participate;
• Give bonuses for outstanding performance: if you notice one of your employees goes above and beyond to achieve their goals, reward them.
• Host parties for accomplishments: if the restaurant has record profit, the employees deserve a party to be thanked for their effort;
• Give verbal appreciation in review meetings: highlight where the employee exceeded and make them feel seen for all their hard work.

Read more: 10 Restaurant Employee Benefits That Keep Service Staff Happy

9. Create an open channel for communication

One of the best tips for how to manage restaurant staff well is to listen to your employees. Communication goes both ways, so it shouldn’t just be them listening to your directions, but also the other way around.

Make it clear to them that you are available if they seek guidance or need help with their job. They shouldn’t feel bad for needing help because that is your role. Moreover, be open to their feedback, they might have great ideas to improve the restaurant.

Final Words

Now that you learned how to manage restaurant staff well, it is time to put the knowledge into practice. If you put in the effort, you will see results in no time: employees will be more productive, your restaurant more efficient and your customers more satisfied.

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