Where To Find Restaurant Employees

Because restaurants provide service as well as food, the business relies on both in order to attract and maintain a customer base. For more owners and managers, finding top quality restaurant employees may seem difficult. Alternatively, some owners just hire the first person who submits an application when a position opens up. Although you may be lucky enough to find a great employee using the method, it is more likely that your results will be less spectacular.

Before you can recruit for a position, you need to have a clear view of the duties that will make up the restaurant job description. If you are fairly firm on the requirements, then you won't waste time looking at people who obviously do not meet the minimum skills, experience and knowledge levels needed. Knowing the duties will give you a starting point to begin recruitment.

More and more job postings today are placed on the internet. These can be posted on the business website or blog. They might be listed with online employment agencies. Be specific about what you want and if there are any special requirements or limitations that the prospective employee must know. You may search for specialized fields such as chefs at industry related websites.

Although internet posting are common, many people looking for work still check local print or other media. Newspapers, community magazines and bulletin boards are available to a local employee pool. These people have the advantage of being familiar with your operation and the community itself. This can be a real benefit to customers who are looking for related points of interest while dining.

You can also take advantage of the many recruitment agencies that are available online or locally. Sometimes employment agencies serve a dual role. They can provide employees on a trial basis that have been vetted and in some instances are trained and experienced. Another type of agency is one that exists as a headhunter firm. These firms would be more appropriate for a high end job, such as an executive chef or a financial officer.

Take advantage of any and all ways to recruit qualified employees. Using technology of today and more traditional print media can be equally effective. You can also take advantage of opening recruitment efforts for some positions to the existing employees. The best employees might come through recruitment agencies or from word-of-mouth. Although it may seem like unfair tactics, check with great employees in other restaurants to see if there is any consideration to making a move.

Tips To Prevent Employee Theft

Many restaurant owners and managers cite employee theft as a significant element of costs for the operation of the facility. There are many reasons why employees choose to steal from employers. There is the moral issue, as well as genuine need. Some people simply do not think of taking a steak from the freezer or a drink from the soda machine as theft. Yet the lost funds can add up to a significant amount. These tips may well prevent some of the losses.

It is important that employees understand what behavior is acceptable and what behavior constitutes theft. An employee manual should state clearly whether food and supply is to be charged to the employees or whether it is part of the benefits associated with the job. The manual should also define what the results for non-compliance with the rules will be.

Any standards about use of restaurant supplies and equipment by employees must be applied uniformly. Don't allow some people to "get away with" having a meal from restaurant supplies, while others are prohibited. If you don't want drinks to be poured for the waitpersons, but the manager sneaks one occasionally, there will be a perception that the rules are meant to be broken.

Institute an accounting and record-keeping system that tracks orders and compares them to inventory levels. Regular and complete restaurant inventory management systems are a crucial part of good management. You can use the computer and easy-to-understand software to tie sales to specific waitpersons or bar staff. The manager or owner who doesn't track supplies and inventory regularly is setting himself up for loss.

You can go so far as to set up cameras to record activities in the facility. While this may prevent certain types of active theft, cameras can serve as your eyes and ears about behavior in other aspects of the service as well. Using images to assist in training and service improvement is contributing to the overall quality of your restaurant. Some restaurants arrange for a mystery shopper service in order to monitor some employee activities, although this may not identify situations where theft is a possibility.

All of these elements can be presented in a positive way. The vast majority of employees are basically honest and should not be made to feel as if there is no trust. However, the employer should make it clear that the success of the business depends on the actions of each and every person. Employee theft affects the bottom line of the restaurant.

Restaurant Employee Manuals

Most people will regard working in the restaurant industry as a "happy-go-lucky" job, however anyone in this industry knows that this is not exactly true.
For a restaurant operator rules and regulations are a must. In addition, one must also clearly understand his or her expectations in regards to staff members.
On the other hand, the employees should also be aware of these expectations, as well as what's important to that restaurant. One Most effective way of ensuring that this information is passed on to the employees is by using an employee manual.
Though the manual serves numerous other purposes, its most important use in any restaurant is to provide a structure.
While the customer requires that they get the same experience each time they come to the restaurant, the high turnover experienced in this restaurant industry makes it impossible for the operator to keep everyone up to speed. This situation makes the employee manual a must have for any restaurant operator.
The employee manual also plays the role of a reference manual. This makes it a very important reference tool. In cases where employees do something wrong, you are able to refer the employees back to the manual. This way employees cannot complain that they were not told something.
A restaurant manual will also prove useful to everyone working in the restaurant as it helps them understand what the restaurant brand stands for. It keeps everyone honest to the brand ensures that everyone has a very clear understanding of what they're doing each day.

Here is some important advice on good employee manuals:Before your new hires can even start training, ensure that they read it and sign off on the manual. Rather than referring to it as an employee manual, refer to it as the Employees Rules and Regulations. This makes it a bit more serious sounding.

Employee manuals are not training manuals but should give the basics of your company. The restaurants motto plus mission statement should be laid out clearly from the very beginning. Have the manual explain briefly about the restaurant's history and those elements that differentiate you from your competition.

Secondly, detail the expectations. That is, what is expected from the employee in terms of cleanliness, their attitude, expectations regarding to phone usage or texting, what to do when they are sick or how they should request time off. In addition, the employees should know when they should expect their remuneration, so the manual should cover that.

The employee manual includes: a welcome note; the business motto, mission statement and goals; the person to contact plus how; policies regarding cellphone usage, employees sick days, how tp giving notice; details regarding uniform, employees attitude and etiquette; cleaning and side work; how they should deal with any secret shoppers and also what a typical secret shopper report looks like.

It is recommended that at least one electronic copy of the manual is provided to each employee. It is also advisable to keep the manual short with details about expectations, ways to handle basic situations, and a welcome.

Note that the restaurant employee manual is not training so avoid filling it with unnecessary details.The manual should be availed electronically or otherwise in paper format. This gives employees the option of reading it online. In addition, keep a manual in each store for reference.The manual can go much deeper to make sure employees are aware on all fundamentals of the business, to ensure basic understanding of what your focus is, to ensure a very clear direction and making sure you try to express your passion of why we're in business. Talk a bit more on the execution, how you expect your employees to act while working at the restaurant,and on what kind of restaurant you are. Also talk about your culture. It's about committment to a clear vision."The manual can additionally detail employment policies, your recruitment and hiring policies, ways of handling problems, jury duty, their benefits, giving notice, their safety and security, harassment and discrimination, among many other topics. It can also have examples of reasons why an employee can be terminated.

The manual should spell out everything and answer the questions so employees didn't have to ask. Always stay open to ammending changes to your employee manual.

Review the employee manual every year and have each employee sign off on the manual annually to keep it fresh in everyone's mind.After effecting changes to your manual, inform all your staff members. If it's a major change have all employees resubmit their signature.

Liquor Forms and 100+ Other Restaurant Forms

FreeRestaurantForms.com is a website that a restaurateur named Dave Lipson set up in early 2010 to assist new and upcoming restaurateurs coming up the industry.  Mr. Lipson says, “I wanted restaurant managers to be able to have all the right tools to get the job done.  Managing the day to day restaurant functions is hard enough without the right tools.”

The website hosts an abundance of forms and templates to help any restaurant. The best part is they are all completely free.  The repertoire includes liquor inventoryforms, menu design templates, prep and food inventory forms.   The site even host items like New Years Eve templates to design your own tickets to server interview questions. 

Dave Lipson has amassed an incredible amount of restaurant forms in his 20 plus years in the restaurant industry and it is incredible that he is just putting it out there to assist others in this great industry of ours.

If you looking for any forms to better your restaurant productivity of tracking I highly recommend you take a few minutes and browse Dave Lipson’s Free Restaurant Form collection.  I am sure you will find something useful and maybe even something you never thought of.