Hiring restaurant and bar staff is an ongoing job. Even if you have enough staff, you should be looking for others at all times. When you go out to eat, when they come in to eat. Friends of your staff are a great way to find good people.

Once you have the right person hired, there are some key things that you should keep in mind.

1. Develop a training schedule. Unscheduled training will lead to extra hours and lower productivity. Explain daily objectives for each trainee and trainer. Create a training program and checklist. Have the trainee and the trainer sign off each shift that the objectives have been completed. This also helps to ensure that they trainee is staying on schedule and your training is consistent. Keep the sheets in the staffs file in the office.
2. Provide a free meal each shift to each trainee. Allow them to order from certain sections each shift. This will give them a chance to try different items. Example: Day 1 - Apps, Day 2 - soup/salads, Day 3 - mains How do you expect them to sell the items if they have never tried them? Oh, Im sorry, Ive never tried that. Would you order it?
3. You need to compensate the trainer as their productivity will be lower. They will not be able to take as much of their normal workload. Less tables for them = less money. See if giving a free meal to the trainer is enough compensation for training vs. extra hourly. If not, perhaps you could let them make their own schedule the following week. Look for something that they will find a bonus, without costing you extra dollars. paying them more is an option, but the most expensive option.
4. Document the training. This will save you piles of money if you end up in Labour Court down the road. See point number 2.
5. Spend some time explaining to new staff that you understand they will make mistakes and this will cost the store money. You expect mistakes, but excessive, unnecessary mistakes will not be tolerated. Explain the cost of everyday items to the staff. Example: This plate costs $32.50, this knife, $2.87, this napkin $0.04. Restaurant/bar staff seem to think that the store makes about 80% of every dollar sold. Explain that the average net income is about 5%. When they sell a dollar, the store makes a nickel.

Again, you will always be hiring and training. Sure, May and September are the busy times for turnover, but if you have a system in place and a planyou should be good. Remember that they want to work for you and they want to be trained. When they are trained properly, they are less likely to quit and go and work for your competitor.

Steve Riley

From being managed by some of the best in the industry and learning from them, to managing a staff of over 100 and stores with sales of almost $5M per year, Steve Riley has acquired the experience that can assist you in your operation in whichever capacity you feel is needed.

A part-time hospitality teacher and a full-time consultant, Steve Riley has been helping Ontario restaurants be more profitable since 2000.