4 Ways to Keep Your Restaurant Employees Engaged
March 18, 2019You can have everything you need to run an amazing restaurant – a great menu, incredible chef, the best location, perfect pricing, and top-of-the-line kitchen equipment.
But even with all of that, you won’t succeed if your employees are disengaged and unprofessional.
It can be a big challenge to keep your employees motivated and focused each day, but it’s something that has to happen. Your kitchen and front-of-the-house managers are the front line for this – and here’s what they can do.
Supply the Right Tools
A lot of the conversation around kitchen equipment has to do with keeping the customers happy. There’s nothing wrong with that, but unfortunately, sometimes restaurant owners and managers stop short when it comes to investing in staff needs.
Make sure the kitchen equipment that your employees need to be safe and comfortable is as important as diner-focused choices. For instance, padded mats for employees who stand in one place for a long time can make a big difference.
You also want your employees to have access to the technology they need. You should have booking, ordering, and payment software that makes the jobs of your staff easier.
Provide Training and Encourage Advancement
Is a waiter or waitress at your restaurant in a “dead-end job,” or are there opportunities for them to advance? Don’t make the mistake of assuming they don’t want more.
Almost everyone who has a job is interested in developing their skills and gaining promotions that include higher pay and more responsibility. If you don’t provide these options, not only will your employees be unmotivated and disengaged, they’ll be very likely to look for other jobs.
See your employees as people with careers rather than people with jobs. Teach them new things about your kitchen equipment. Help them develop, grow, and advance. You might find your next all-star manager when you put time and effort into your greeters!
Encourage Great Communication
Great communication can solve and prevent an untold number of problems. It starts at the top – your managers should always listen carefully when an employee shares with them. Whether it’s an FYI about a shift change or a more serious concern, managers should listen, respond, and remember to take action.
From there, encourage good communication between the front and back of the house. A lot of friction between these two staffing groups can be avoided if expectations are clear and problems are resolved quickly.
These great communication habits will naturally carry over to interactions with diners. This can help everything move more smoothly and your customers will leave happier than ever!
Get the Kitchen Equipment Your Staff Needs to Succeed
There’s a lot you can do to make your restaurant a great work environment, but it starts in the kitchen. Do you have the kitchen equipment your employees need to take and fill orders, communicate exceptions, and make payment easy?
If not, it’s time to take that step forward. Fortunately, we can help. From cooking equipment to smallwares, contact us for a quote today!
Kitchen Equipment: Choosing the Right Cutting Board
Every kitchen, from a food truck to a large restaurant, needs cutting boards. From vegetables to bread to meat and fish, your chefs and cooks have to chop things every day. Have you put a lot of thought into this important piece of kitchen equipment? Like many other...
Catering to Generation Z
As time marches on, we continue to have new generations arising behind the ones we’ve already named. Most recently everyone has been focused on Millennials, whose tech-savvy and focus on experiences over things have shifted the face of every industry. Now, there’s a...
Kitchen Fun : Food and the Oscars
Hollywood’s biggest night was February 24th, 2019, and was it ever a show. There were stars, glitz, glamour, and amazing outfits everywhere. There were also cameras catching every moment, from the red carpet to the after-parties. What happened at the show and after...
4 Keys to Successful Commercial Kitchen Design
If you’re opening a new restaurant or renovating your existing kitchen, you probably already have some ideas about how it should look. However, it’s important to look beyond your own ideas and understand the keys to good design in general. This will help you...
Bring Together Your Back and Front of House
Does your restaurant feel like a simmering battle between the back of house (BOH) and front of house (FOH)? Or do both units get along famously? If your restaurant is like many, you find yourself somewhere in the middle. Rarely do you have an all-out war, but...
Commercial Kitchen Fun: Cooking With Mustard
One of the things that make owning a restaurant so fun is the ability to be creative with your menu. With the help of your chef and cooks, you can come up with some really fun dishes to serve. To get your imagination going, we’re going to share some fun dishes that...
Drive Traffic to Your Restaurant From Instagram
You have a lot of restaurant equipment that you need to make your location run smoothly. You might think about your point-of-sale system, refrigeration units, cooking equipment, and more. But what about Instagram? That’s right, a social media platform can be one of...
Handling Theft in Your Convenience Store
Running a convenience store is challenging to say the least. You need to staff it, but not with too many people. Then again, too few and you have a lot of problems – including theft. There are three groups that can be responsible for product and money loss in your...
Kitchen Equipment Spotlight: How Clean is Your Coffee Pot?
If you were going to rank kitchen equipment based on how much work it does, the humble coffee pot has to be near the top. In almost every restaurant, people order coffee with their meal or dessert. The problem is that because the coffee pot is working so hard, it...
Should You Add a Food Truck to Your Restaurant?
If your restaurant is doing well, you might be thinking about opening a second location. After all, that’s usually the next step when it’s time to expand, right? Before you jump in, though, consider another option. Maybe having a food truck would be a better choice....
Kitchen Equipment Spotlight: How to Maintain a Commercial Freezer
Your commercial freezer can be a lifeline for your restaurant. Safe food storage is vital, and a high-quality freezer is essential kitchen equipment. However, a freezer is only as good as the maintenance that goes into it. Without proper care, your freezer will become...
Take Advantage of Your Customer’s Technology
Some restaurant owners hate seeing customers snapping photos of food – it means that the food isn’t eaten at its best, and sometimes it’s a sign of a table that’s going to be slow to turn over. Then there are other owners and managers who see an opportunity. The truth...
How to Reduce Turnover at Your Restaurant
Having the right employees can make or break your restaurant. You can have the best food and kitchen supplies, but tension in the back of the house can cause delays, poor morale, and even the loss of key staff. You can have a beautiful dining room, but surly wait...
Should Your Commercial Kitchen Consider Catering?
As a business owner, it’s important to always be looking for new ways to grow your business. There are a lot of ways to do this, and one of the most common for many restaurants is catering. Of course, catering changes how your commercial kitchen runs a lot of the...
Why Your Restaurant Needs an App
We know, you’re a restaurant owner, not a developer or programmer. Let other people worry about apps, you just want to run your restaurant! The truth is if you want to have a successful establishment, you have to take advantage of the technology that brings people in....