Forward Facing

This section of the book focuses on finding employees that have, and can be in good character.  We discuss the Disney effect and how staff (talent) can have a huge impact on your reviews. We present specific characteristics that work well in the food service business and those that don't.  We discuss how certain staff characteristics may sound an alarm bell with respect to service, security and commitment. Sample questions geared towards finding great characters that will be dedicated team members are provided, along with sample hiring guidelines from several top food service companies.

 

Background Checks

This section provides the important reasons why all restaurant owners should be doing background checks. We provide some great resources for background checking, some resume checking techniques and potential red-flags. Restaurant business owners specifically seem are notorious for overlooking resume and background checks because of the need to hire people quickly due to immediate needs or lack of qualified people available in the potential employee pool. 

 

Training

It has been proven over and over again that training of the entire restaurant staff on a regular basis is of paramount importance - we present the key reasons why. We provide a sample training manual and resources that an owner can use to make the training process easier and appealing to employees. We also discuss, and use examples of key qualities that employees should have to focus on a positive customer experience while performing normal duties.  

 

Compensation

​While each part of the country has different minimum wage standards, we discuss various compensation methods with an emphasis on keeping good employees motivated while at the same time controlling and managing staff levels to track with sales volumes. Customer tip management for both fast casual and table service is discussed, along with the historical pros and cons of tip sharing (and tracking). This section provides information on restaurant standards for compensation of various staff levels.  We provide a spreadsheet for setting salaried and hourly employee rates, creating consistent schedules and transferring those into a running business performance profile.

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scheduling

There are many ways to do scheduling for a restaurant business. We discuss automated schedule systems that are standalone and as part of larger system solution.  We discuss how to use historical sales, weather, events and other information in the process to create efficient employee schedules. Schedules are meant to eliminate the need to be juggling staff every day or week. There are some very simple solutions to scheduling problems that can put you back in control of staffing levels.

 

employee meals

Employees are generally entitled to a meal if working a certain minimum number of hours on a shift (in most states). In all restaurants, there must be weel documented policies in place for all employee meals that cover To-Go, discounts, preparation and more. We discuss it all in this section, along with examples of employee menus, portioning policies and suggestions on how to turn your employees into salespeople while keeping an eye on profit.