Your Team Is Vital to the Success of Your Restaurant— Here’s How To Hire and Retain a Quality Restaurant Staff
The food service industry is one of the most challenging sectors for hiring, but your restaurant staff is not something you can compromise on.
Taking the time you need to find the right people for the job is vital to increasing employee retention and, in turn, increasing customer satisfaction and profit margins.
Whether you’re looking to increase your employee retention rates or just starting out building a whole new restaurant staff—we have tips for you.
As the nation’s largest hospitality-focused hiring platform, we know a thing or two about hiring restaurant staff and are here to give you a helping hand.
Restaurant Staff Positions List
Knowing the different roles that make up a restaurant staff is essential. Of course, only some positions are necessary, depending on your business model. Consider your menu, space, and service style while determining which roles you must fill.
For instance, if you run a counter service model, you might not need bussers and hosts. A few people can act as hosts, cashiers, expos, bussers, and servers.
Entry-Level
• Dishwashers
• Prep cooks
• Hosts
• Bussers
• Barbacks
• Expo
Mid-level
• Servers
• Bartenders
• Sous Chefs
• Assistant positions
Management
• Head Chef
• Bar Manager
• Floor Manager
Executive Management
• Beverage Director
• Executive Chef
• General Manager
• Owner/Operator
How To Hire Restaurant Staff
1. Know Your Desired Atmosphere
Before hiring kick-ass restaurant staff, you need to understand your restaurant’s mission, values, and the atmosphere you’re trying to create.
This will help you focus on the characteristics and qualities of a person that will thrive in your business.
For instance, if you’re a lively neighborhood bar—you probably want someone charismatic, outgoing, and interested in working in a more casual yet high-volume establishment.
2. Write Detailed Job Descriptions
Knowing the characteristics that would make someone a good fit for your establishment and hopefully exceed in the roles you’re hiring for—you can begin to create detailed job descriptions promoting your job.
Remember, in today’s market—it is not enough to simply state that you’re hiring for a role in a few sentences. You need to sell your positions and brand to attract better-qualified applicants.
It’s always a good idea to review the competition. Take a gander at a few job sites and see what other restaurants in your area include in their job descriptions. It doesn’t hurt to use one you like as a template.
Rest assured, including a few sentences about your restaurant culture, the role you’re hiring for, the qualifications needed, and any benefits and perks of the job is enough to cover all the critical points.
3. Invest in Restaurant Staffing Software
Now that we’re fully in the digital age, you want to find hiring software that’s right for you to quickly increase your chances of connecting with talent.
We recommend finding a platform built for hospitality because our industry is unique. By offering a niche platform, you can more easily connect with people specifically looking for work in hospitality.
At Poached, we’re the nation’s only hospitality hiring platforms where employers can connect with a network of 1,000,000 service industry professionals for both full-time hire and on-demand staffing needs. Additionally, being focused on hospitality, we have tools tailored to employers’ needs so they can build a skilled restaurant staff quickly.
4. Be Communicative
Hiring moves quickly in the restaurant industry—so if someone’s resume and cover letter look promising, reach out to them immediately to schedule an interview.
It’s also a great practice to keep communication open throughout the hiring and interview process. If you use the Interview Scheduler in your Poached Dashboard, we will send the applicant automatic interview reminders, and confirmation requests 24 and 2 hours before the scheduled interview.
Still, sending a personal message to applicants the day before an interview is also a good idea. You can give them a heads up on anything they might need to bring if it’s a working interview, or just give them a quick breakdown of how the interview will go.
5. Build an Interview Process
Building an interview process is a fantastic way to organize yourself or other hiring managers and keep interviews consistent between applicants.
Start by outlining a general interview procedure. For instance, a common first step is scheduling phone screenings, then in-person interviews. The last step is a working interview for those who seem like a good fit.
You can create standardized communication templates for outreach, follow-ups, and offer and rejection letters.
Additionally, with Poached, you can schedule promising candidates for a series of working interviews with Poached Shifts. This is a great way to trail a potential candidate and be assured that you comply with labor laws for working interviews and that the worker has occupational insurance covered by Poached.
Poached Shifts are also a great alternative to traditional hiring and interview processes. You can post shifts to meet and work with skilled professionals nearby, and then if someone does a great job, you’re free to offer employment.
Why Your Restaurant Staff Is Important
Who you hire is vital to the success of your business. Connecting with people who will thrive in the atmosphere you’re creating and who have aligned career goals will ensure employee satisfaction and increased retention.
From the front to the back of the house, if your restaurant staff is happy and productive, your customer service and product output will improve tenfold—increasing your profit margins.
Additionally, turnover is ridiculously expensive.
Given the time it takes to hire, the decrease in productivity, and the costs of having to train new employees—turnover costs employers, on average, upwards of 6,000 per employee.
If you’re like most restaurant employers hiring every 1-3 months—the amount of lost revenue due to turnover is unforgivable.
Where To Find Skilled Restaurant Workers
If you want to find restaurant workers quickly and efficiently, you need to go where restaurant workers look for work.
Over 1,000,000 registered hospitality professionals nationwide trust Poached to find their next opportunity within the hospitality industry.
From dishwashers to executive chefs, servers to hosts, cashiers to housekeeping—Poached is building a community so employers and workers can efficiently connect.
Employers can manage all their hiring needs, from full-time, part-time, and on-demand staffing needs across business locations and managers–all from a single platform.
If you’re ready to hire smarter and build a kickass restaurant staff—check out Poached today!