WAITER and WAITRESS TRAINING How to Develop Your Staff For Maximum Service and Profit by Lora Arduser

Author:Lora Arduser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Waiter, Waitress, Training, food service
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group
Published: 2013-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Table of Contents

7

Chapter 4: RETAINING YOUR SERVICE STAFF

Turnover

The restaurant industry is notorious for being unable to retain good employees. High employee turnover sends a bad message to both employees and customers. Customers won’t receive the best service you can offer because you’re constantly training new people – and employees’ morale drops. High turnover rates indicate a problem that should be investigated. But, before you try to fix the problem, determine the cause. Here are some excellent strategies for retaining your employees.

• Recruiting. Recruit the right people to work in your restaurant. Determine the type of worker you need before deciding what recruiting sources to use. If you own a fine-dining establishment and you need highly skilled servers, look on industry Web sites, use employment services, employee referrals and hospitality school students. You’ll get a higher-skilled server from these sources than someone walking in off the street or answering a newspaper ad.

• Interviewing. Explain to the interviewees exactly what the job entails. Give them as much information as you can about the job and find out as much as you can about them. Be sure to check references!

• Training. Give your employees the tools they need to do a good job. Don’t just hire your staff then let them go about their business. Train and retrain your staff. Communicate to them what you need them to do and how you want them to do it.

• Communication. Keep the lines of communication open with your servers. Poor communication leads to employee frustration and dissatisfaction, poorer service and higher turnover. Training is a form of communication, but there are many other possibilities. Post a bulletin board for important news or new information. For example, if you have a new menu item, put up a description and a picture of what the dish should look like. Communicate on a daily basis. An open-door policy for employees’ suggestions and/or problems goes a long way in keeping the communication lines open.

• Exit interviews. When someone does leave, make sure to hold an exit interview. Exit interviews can tell you why the person is leaving and they may be helpful for finding ways to improve your establishment. You can also find out why people like to work for you! Exit interviews are set up the same way as hiring interviews. Be sure to hold the exit interview in a private, quiet place. Questions to ask during an exit interview include:

• What did you like and dislike about working here?

• What type of skills/qualities should your replacement have?

• What does your new employer offer that we don’t?

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