There is a standard saying in the restaurant industry “Supermarkets sell food, restaurants sell service” – therefore it’s essential that your staff give high levels of service. If they don’t it doesn’t matter how good the food is, customers won’t return. Achieving good restaurant service starts with employing the right staff. it’s amazing how many restaurants don’t check references and instead rely on how well a new member of restaurant staff works during a trial shift. During the interview stage you are looking for 3 main attributes in restaurant staff - presentation, friendliness and speed. Presentation – if they can’t turn up to an interview with clean and iron clothes – then don’t waste your time giving them a trial shift! With regard to friendliness you will be able to tell if straight away if they have a friendly and helpful personality – these are the restaurant staff you are looking for. Lastly by speed I mean how fast they walk, talk etc. I don’t expect people to run or talk at 100 words per minute but those that walk slowly and generally do everything slowly are no good in a busy restaurant.
Once you have employed your restaurant staff make sure that you training them regularly and thoroughly. Training should be seen as an ongoing investment in your restaurant business rather than something that is only done once when a new restaurant employee starts work. Writing a training manual will be invaluable to ensure the same high level of service is achieved and will also outline exactly what is expected of your staff. This manual should contain information on restaurant selling techniques, good practise as well as service steps. More detailed restaurant staff training manuals will include a glossary of terms used in the menu as well as cooking times. If a customer is rushing off to the theatre he needs to know if dish takes 10 minutes or 40 minutes.
For help with writing your training manual and training restaurant staff contact Captivate Restaurants today 020 7060 3318 or email info@captivate-restaurants.co.uk
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