A restaurant’s ultimate success depends significantly on its staff members and workers. Staff is an asset of any restaurant business. From preparing food to making it look presentable, from taking orders from customers to serving the meal, all of it is your staff’s responsibility. So if you do not recruit competent people for your team, your restaurant business will not be prosperous.
Hiring a workforce for your restaurant can be a difficult task. Moreover, there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant industry. However, it can be a setback for your restaurant business, as finding a replacement as soon as an employee leaves the job is challenging. Therefore, you must hire your front-of-house staff, keeping in view the exact skills and personality you require because it is not only about hiring talented employees but also retaining them.
Here are some tips that will help you in hiring the best staff for your restaurant business:
1. Determine your Restaurant Staff Requirements
Before you initiate the staff hiring process, be sure of what you are looking for in your team. It may include individual personality traits, skills and qualities, academic requirements, and more. And if you need more time, look at your favorite staff members, and you will find out the qualities that make them stand out.
Furthermore, particular job roles in a restaurant may also have some special requirements. A trained staff is one of the vital requirements in the recruitment of restaurant staff. For instance, if you have a restaurant in California and you plan on hiring servers for alcohol, be sure to hire only those candidates who have completed RBS training successfully. It is a mandatory requirement as per the California Assembly Bill 1221.
2. Use Word of Mouth Technique
Word of mouth is a beneficial and convenient method of hiring staff. It is a traditional staff hiring method used by many restaurants. If you are looking for the perfect staff for your restaurant, remember to consider your friends and acquaintances for the relevant job. You may find similar qualities and requirements in people around you.
Talented people among your friends and family might need a job. However, pay attention to the mandatory requirements while recruiting. In this way, you may hire suitable people eligible for a particular position in your restaurant and benefit each other by doing so.
3. Post Complete Job Description When Placing Ads on Social Media
To hire a qualified and skillful candidate, you must make some effort from your side too. Creating informative and descriptive job ads and posting them on social media is an excellent staff recruitment strategy for your restaurant. It is easier to reach the masses through social media. Start by creating specific job ads for each role in your restaurant staff. For instance, there must be separate job ads for the following staff members:
- Manager
- Chef
- Hosting staff
- Serving staff
- Bartender
- Dishwashers
- Bus persons
Moreover, ensure you create and post attractive and informative job ads with catchy job titles that interest the candidates. Your job ad must contain all the information that answers a candidate’s concerns. Mention the application opening and closing dates, job requirements, working schedule, style of service, etc. Make sure the job description is detailed.
4. Set up an Interview Panel
Hiring a new candidate is a risky task. Therefore, it is better to involve more than one person. Combined opinions from a bunch of people lead to better decisions. Set up a proper Interview panel for interviewing candidates. An Interview panel mainly consists of a supervisor, an HR representative, and at least two managers.
The panel can select a perfect candidate for the restaurant by considering multiple factors. It will also keep the decision from being biased.
5. Formulate a Set of Unconventional Interview Questions
One great way to determine if the candidate matches the qualities and values you need for the specific role is by asking insightful and situational questions. Remember to ask about their professional experience in a restaurant, their strengths, and weaknesses, etc. Also, add questions like:
“Why do you want to work in the restaurant industry?”
“How would you handle a customer who tries to use an expired coupon?”
“Tell me about the most difficult customer you have dealt with?”
Asking such questions will tell you much about the applicant’s approach and work experience. Relying only on resumes for recruitment of restaurant staff is not ideal. Their skills and approach must match what they have mentioned in their resumes. Hence, asking a unique set of questions is essential when interviewing restaurant staff.
6. Train the Interview Panel to Watch for Kinesics
Besides verbal communication with the candidate during the interview, paying attention to nonverbal communication is also essential. Train your interview panel to pay close attention to the kinesics of the applicant from the moment they enter the room to the moment they leave. It will tell you much about their confidence, personality, and attitude.
Being a skillful staff member at a restaurant requires many qualities, such as confidence, the ability to work well under pressure, anger management, exceptional communication, etc. You can know most of it by observing the candidate’s body language. For instance, a confident candidate will not avoid eye contact at tricky questions.
7. Offer Training
The candidate will be highly inclined towards your job if they know you are ready to invest in them first. While interviewing an applicant, let them know they will be on probation for a couple of weeks. It is crucial because it will help determine if the applicant is a perfect fit.
A trained restaurant staff is the key to effective management. You would not want to hire someone with minimum or no experience in the restaurant industry. Restaurant staff training will add to the value of your team.
Conclusion
Hiring the best staff for your restaurant is essential because they are the ultimate backbone of your restaurant. If your staff members are qualified and skilled, your restaurant will soon be well-reputed among people, proving to be a success. The key to efficient staff hiring is keeping in view multiple aspects, such as the candidate’s professional experience in the restaurant industry, personality traits, certifications, training, and communication. Aim to look for a balance of all these qualities.
