Setting Up Servers for Success

While restaurant patrons may be drawn to a particular establishment for the great food, the one thing that will almost certainly turn customers away is the experience of bad service. Not only do the slighted customers tend to avoid the offending restaurant, but those who hear negative reviews from their peers will avoid them as well. After all, word of mouth is one of the most powerful advertising tools, but it can also work to the detriment of any restaurant. To avoid this, restaurant owners and managers must take steps to ensure that all employees are sufficiently skilled and trained to represent the restaurant well.

A Wait Staff Needs Training

Because so many young job seekers tend to gravitate toward the food service industry, people occasionally believe that when it comes to serving, anyone can do it. This, of course, is not true. Those with hiring authority can sometimes be too careless in hiring new wait staff, and occasionally hire friends or family with the idea that the job is too simple for them to mess up. When hiring new wait staff, managers and owners must be patient in finding the right employee.

For instance, restaurants with ethnic-based menus should hire servers that are already familiar with pronunciation of menu items and specific preparation methods. Even if experience is not required for employment with a particular establishment, new hires should still exhibit the predisposition to learn quickly and have a good attitude for friendly service.

Whether hiring brand new servers or experienced ones, managers should still be prepared to allow for plenty of training time. New servers will need to be shown the very basics of waiting tables, even things that may seem like common sense to experienced servers. As an example, servers should greet their tables promptly, even if the server only has time to tell the patrons his or her name and say that they will return as soon as possible to get their drink orders. It is better for the server to at least acknowledge a new table if they are unable to attend to them immediately, than to make the patrons wait and wonder where their server is.

New Servers Need Learn the Menu

It is absolutely imperative that new servers are fully acquainted with the menu and with the operating style of the kitchen. Again, whether the new server has years of experience or is totally new to the industry, they should be allowed ample time for getting to know the particulars of the restaurant. Without this training, both server and restaurant are setting themselves up for failure.

Something managers and owners alike should keep in mind is that today’s job seekers in the service industry are not necessarily just looking for something to “get by,” so to speak. Cameron Mitchell, the founder of a very prominent restaurant group, claims 85% of management positions are filled by previous hourly wage employees who were promoted. Even younger employees are becoming more proactive in their quest for professional growth, and they want to know that they are contributing to the success of their company. Adequate training and selection in hiring fulfills this need and ensures that a restaurant may provide the best service possible to their customers.

Instilling Employee Loyalty

Restaurants know, or should know, that customer loyalty is key.  But how many restaurants really care about employee loyalty?  Do restaurants understand the value of an employee who has been with them 10+ years, or do they assume that employees should just be happy with the job?

 

Forty-one percent of customers remain with a brand because of the employee interactions they have, while 68% of them leave because of it.  Clearly, if a restaurant has a good employee, it is important to keep them on.    So how does a restaurant start to take care of their employees?

 

What a restaurant’s employees want may differ even within the same company.  So it is important that management get in there and talk to their employees.

 

Find out what they want.  Find out what their concerns are and find a way to cater to them in a meaningful way that benefits both the employee and the restaurant.  Sometimes it’s as simple as a “thank you” or some recognition, but it can take other, more extravagant forms.

 

For instance, Mercy Wine Bar in Dallas, TX has sent employees out on an all expense paid trip to the Wine and Food Classic in Aspen.  That not only allowed the employees to take a trip of a lifetime, but also imparted knowledge to them that they can use to create a customer experience.

 

Other restaurants have had tuition reimbursement or seminars for helping employees buy homes or helping with other important aspects of their lives.  The possibilities are almost endless, but first management needs to find out what the employees want.

 

Just like a restaurant needs to give customers a reason to come back, they also need to give employees a reason to stay.  Show that the company values the employee and what they do.  That will help instill employee loyalty.