With serious competition, high operating costs and an increasingly high turnover rate, the day-to-day running of a restaurant can be a long and complex process. Since restaurants are usually a challenge to run successfully, it is very important for restaurant workers to possess certain skills in order to achieve the intended outcomes. Therefore, having a good understanding of the key characteristics of the people you are looking for will help in improving the rate of your hiring success, and will also make the process more streamlined for everyone involved.
Here are the top 7 characteristics to look for in the next restaurant hire in order to run a profitable business:
- Flexibility: With restaurant food and drink sales in the US reaching $798.7 billion in 2017, restaurant employees often have to work unusually long hours as compared to a basic desk job in order to cater to the demand. Restaurant employees are expected to switch gears if unexpected situations arise: from answering the phone to managing staff, mingling with customers and more. For instance, if there is a sudden surge in patrons, the BOH team might be required to fill FOH positions and quickly get back into the kitchen to prepare the dish.
- Creativity: In an age where new restaurants are mushrooming at an extremely fast pace and old ones are closing shop just as easily, creativity is what distinguishes one from another. From beautifying the interiors to making marketing plans, designing menus to creating beautiful food – your employees need to be highly creative in order to offer unique and unmatched restaurant experiences to patrons. With its rustic interiors, concrete walls and hypnotic canvases, LA restaurant Majordomo is a perfect example of what modern American dining could look like.
- People-skills: Restaurants often operate with a huge number of guests, vendors and partners on a daily basis. With so many people working in the ecosystem, it is critical that your employees have great people skills. The ability to interact with vendors to ensure optimum inventory, with other employees for better functioning of the restaurant and with customers in a positive, friendly, and professional manner is important for proper functioning of the business.
- Precision: In situations of high guest traffic, employees must be able to handle multiple orders from multiple tables simultaneously. Accuracy then, becomes a major challenge. For example, during happy hours, employees might have to put in another round of drinks while fetching food for one table and cleaning the mess from another. Your employees must not get overwhelmed in such situations and must be able to handle multiple tasks with efficiency and poise.
- Customer service: Since restaurant success starts with a great customer experience, employees’ ability to make positive and lasting connections with guests is essential. Employing people who possess extraordinary customer service skills can ensure the guest experience is comfortable and high on service. The better the guest experience, the more repeat customers, higher the sales. In 2017, American fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A earned revenue of $5.7 billion and had a customer satisfaction score of 87!
- Cultural fit: When it comes to hiring new people, finding candidates that are a cultural fit is critical. Candidates who share the same attitudes, values, standards, and goals as your restaurant is extremely important. When you have people who believe in what you believe, your outcomes will always be favorable: better operations, better food, and happier guests.
- Team player: A good cultural fit also nurtures loyalty and encourages a spirit of teamwork. Since employees are a part of an environment that reflects their own belief system, the sense of shared values helps build robust teams that create stability and decrease turnover rates. It is only when the restaurant environment is stable, that employee engagement is high.
Achieve Higher Levels of Success
Whether you are a global chain operating multiple restaurants, or whether you are just embarking upon the journey, the combination of a robust concept, good food, a comfortable atmosphere and impeccable service style is what defines a profitable restaurant. With over 1.6 million new restaurant jobs to be created in the US by 2027, it is critical you have the right employees on board who know how to make the right business decisions. So, look for these characteristics on your next restaurant hire, cultivate them to reach higher levels of success, and set a good example.
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