Restaurant Job Board Blog

Have you ever noticed the quality of service when you go to a fancy restaurant?  The restaurant staff all give an excellent level of service, and they are very polished in their manners and grooming.  Many staff members that we don’t even come into contact with a big contributors to a restaurant’s success.

Approximately one-third of adults have been employed in some type of restaurant at some time in their life.  The food and restaurant service sector grows approximately 12 percent each year providing about 1.9 million which 47,000 of those are management level positions.

Most people in the restaurant business get their skills through their own experience in the job but there is an advantage if you have formal training in the industry.  Restaurants do look for employees who do have the training and  experience and the financial benefits are better for those who do have the training in the restaurant business.

There are many areas to be employed in the food and restaurant industry such as human resources, marketing, food technology, customer relations or even in the business or accounting area.  Hospitality Management colleges or schools offer courses in any of these fields but someone with business education and management skills could also fit in. These courses run anywhere from 2 – 4 years which include the area you want to specialize in.  Some schools also offer interships and co-op courses.  Some people get their training from a particular restaurant’s own training courses. This is a great way to learn the skills and get the required experience at the same time.

There are many different areas to consider working in if you train in the restaurant and hotel industry such as administration, culinary services, hotel maintenance and marketing. A manager’s duties besides learning different functions of all the departments including the kitchen, bar and banquet services, also includes the hiring of employees and the overseeing of them. This industry also requires housekeeping staff who are usually required to work shifts which are suited to a person who can work under these conditions. There are also many important positions just in the kitchen in the restaurant such as the food and beverage manager, chef or overseeing the other kitchen staff.

When working in the hotel and restaurant industry, you need to be dedicated and give your best level of service whether you’re in management or working for management. Customer service requirements are always high when working with the public and this is why you should always be polite, clean and tidy.  Always give your best level of service and keep the customer happy so they want to return to the establishment and will tell others about its success.

Always show off your great personality if you’re working with the public. This will help to form a great relationship with your customers. If the hospitality industry appeals to you and are thinking about a career in it, there are many great schools to choose from and many great places to work which could be close to home or around the world. It could take you anywhere you would like to be!

Many things when showed on TV or in movies are not realistic to life and a good example of this are many hospitality jobs and careers. They tend to only show the rosey side of things to make the viewer think it is glamorous and rewarding and not grueling and stressful like their jobs may really be on certain days.

A good example of this false portrayal by the media is bartending.  Bartending is just a small part of a big picture in the restaurant business. A bartender is a person who makes drinks and obviously it does require skill to do this.  Different types of establishments require different levels of interactions with the public as well.

An elegant type restaurant employs a bartender who will probably not have much contact with the customers. A casual type setting employs a bartender that may interact fully with the customers.  Restaurants and clubs have different focuses, one being food and one being drinks.  If a bartender does deal with the public directly he/she can make great tips by giving his/her best customer service which is required when working in the service industry.

The way media portrays a bartender makes them a type of person who can give legal, religious and psychiatric advice to their customers.  If this were really true they wouldn’t be tending bar, they’d be in a different profession. There are courses to enroll in to learn how to be a bartender to help them find a job in that field. It can be fun but can also be a very busy job that requires excellent customer service skills.  Men and women both make great bartenders.

A bartender is a good job if that is what you want to do.  It won’t make you into a superhero or make you who everyone wants to depend on for sound advice.  The media lures us in by portraying characters and their every day lives as way too perfect and gratifying.

Have a plan in place before your restaurant opens to ensure the successful hiring of great restaurant employees.  You want the people working for you to be dedicated to the success and reputation of your new restaurant.  The number of employees you hire depends on the size of the restaurant, the hours of operation you intend to keep and also how many positions you require to fill.

An employee who is happy at a job will show through in their work performance and to the reputation of your business.  Try to hire someone who will give you their best effort and is eager to work hard.  Offer them compensation for their efforts and benefits as well.  If you appreciate your employees and acknowledge their hard work,  you will be repaid by your business success.

When you’re ready to hire employees for your restaurant before it opens, place an ad in a classified section of your newspaper or online agency. Mention in the ad  what skills and experience you require and what characteristics you desire in a person.  For example, they have to be pleasant, able to work hard and get along well with other employees and be customer friendly.  If they are successful in obtaining an interview you can further screen them for appropriate skills and personality traits.

Try advertising at the employment office. They will enter the restaurant position(s) in their job bank online.  Many people looking for employment are experienced in the restaurant industry and are eager to work in a new establishment.

If you’re interested in hiring a student, you could contact any of the high schools in the area.  Many students are looking for a job after school or on weekends. Many post secondary schools have job posting boards where potential employers can put up their job advertisements.  Another idea is to investigate potential chefs or cooks at a culinary college.

When you have finally opened your restaurant and realize you need to hire a bit more help, you can get recommendations from your best employees about friends or relatives that may need a job.

Place an ad in your restaurant window that you’re now taking applications for a specific position. Always put a date, time frame and telephone number where and when you can be reached to help the hiring process run smoothly.  This will avoid people dropping off applications past the deadline and at all hours when you’re not prepared to speak to them.

Being a bartender is a great job where you can make some great cash fast, but in order to be good bartender you need to know and most likely have your own tool kit. Just like any good trades person they have their own tools. If you are thinking of applying for a bartending job then you may want to make sure you have all the right tools to do the job.

Today’s post is all about YOU.

What do YOU think makes a great restaurant to work at…? Tell us in the comment section below. What makes a great place to work as a restaurant worker…?

Here’s our good friend James rocking out another video with loads of wicked bartending tips.  Becoming a freelance bartender is an incrediable way to make some serious cash.

The Saratoga Institute in the US conducted a survey and it revealed that 89% of managers believe employees leave for more money. But, in fact, the survey found that 88% of employees leave for reasons other than money. What a disconnect!

In reality, most employees are leaving because of poor induction, poor training, lack of development opportunities and bad management.

Experts have estimated the cost of replacing an employee to be between 29 and 45% of an employees annual salary when lost productivity, training and advertising costs are taken into account.

When your employees start working for you, how thorough is your training process?

The first impression your employee gets will either set them up for failure or success and you want to ensure it’s the latter.

Orientation shouldn’t end with details about where to hang your coat and how to sign in and out. In order to give your staff a proper start, you should provide them with a comprehensive training package.

A good orientation and training package contains:

• New employee form
• Company information
• Job description
• Employee Handbook
• Manuals & Menus

New Employee Form

The new employee form should contain their contact info, position, availability, payroll and tax information, workers compensation information. If you do direct deposit for payroll, you will need their banking information or a void check. It is important to get all of this information before they start their first shift, and to keep it all together in their personnel file. Nothing will annoy an employee more than not getting their hard earned wages on time so use this form to get it right.

Company Information

You should provide the company name, address, phone number, email address, and website contact information. Other items to include are business hours, a description of the bar or restaurant concept, and anything else that is important for a new employee to know. If it’s a large establishment, it might be a good idea to provide a management chart (who is the boss, who are the supervisors, who reports to whom, etc.) so that the employee knows who to go to when they have a question.

Job Description

This is something that sometimes doesn’t get passed along to a new employee, especially if they are an experienced bartender, and they are going to be bartending for you. However, it’s important to list the details of their job, so that they are aware of your expectations. Keep the job description to a single page if possible, but list their regular duties and immediate supervisor on it.

Policies and Procedures

If you don’t have a policy manual, you should put one in place. Basic policies about employee conduct on and off shift, details about scheduling, on-calls, shift covering, illness and so on can differ from bar to bar, so it’s important to put your rules down on paper so everyone knows them. Writing things down also ensures that all employees get measured with the same stick. An Employee Handbook is the ideal way to document this information in one easy place and allows an employee to refer to it at anytime.

Manuals & Menus

Be sure your employees have copies of each menu you use – lunch, dinner, happy hour, cocktail, wine, specials, etc. Ensure that they have had adequate training on the items that you sell, and that they are comfortable with the menu options and pricing. This will ensure that their POS or order training goes smoothly.

Now that your new employee has their new training package, don’t leave them on their own just yet. Proper training should contain shadow shifts in the various areas of the restaurant or bar so that the employee learns your way of doing things. Staff turnover can be decreased by ensuring that your training process is solid.

Taking the extra time from the start to train your new employees thoroughly is an invaluable step in the success of your employees and the success of your bar or restaurant.

If anyone wants these forms and templates they can visit ManageYourBar.com

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Barry Chandler is Managing Director of ManageYourBarOnline.com, the complete online resource for independent bar and club owners and operators, designed to assist bar owners manage their business more effectively and provide all the tools/downloads/templates/articles for prospective bar owners to research and plan their new bar.

Whether you are running a well-established, long-running restaurant with lots of repeat business, running a struggling restaurant with poorer revenues than you know you deserve, or have just opened a brand-new place, hiring a Restaurant Service Consultant can be a big benefit to your business.

Restaurants are notoriously difficult to run well, and even the most experienced restaurateur can sometimes use a certain degree of outside help and an objective, critical perspective. A professional Restaurant Service Consultant is specially trained to ferret out flaws in the system and organization of the dining room, and to train waiters to perform at their best.

There are two fundamental aspects of Restaurant Service Consulting. First, a consultant will do a complete evaluation of the dining room and its operations. Second, they will train the wait staff to work effectively within a well-run system.

If you’ve ever watched one of those popular restaurant makeover shows on television you’ll have a rough understanding of what goes on. The consultant will develop restaurant floor plan diagrams, analyze the seating layout, the menu, the staff schedules, even the out-front advertising the restaurant provides. A consultant will seek constructive feedback from long-time restaurant staff and even from customers to better assess the problems and concerns of all relevant parties.

Even the already well-trained wait staff and kitchen personnel can suffer undue stress and become disorganized if the way the system works is flawed or poorly organized. The Restaurant Service Consultant knows what to look for and how to find bugs in the system. Only when an effective plan is in place can the wait staff be trained to work within it.

Properly trained employees will ensure a more consistent style of customer service, making fewer errors and giving diners a more positive overall experience. Pleasant dining experiences mean repeat business, excellent word of mouth, and, ultimately, greater revenues.

A huge component in poor restaurant performance is problems with communication. There are often gaps in understanding between the priorities and expectations of management, front-of-house staff, and the kitchen. A Restaurant Service Consultant is well-trained in hashing out these kinds of stumbling blocks and creating concrete solutions to improve communication among everybody.

Some restaurants have serious deep-rooted problems that need major work. But even an established, well-run restaurant can gain a great deal from professional Restaurant Service Consulting. Sometimes practices become entrenched and a restaurant fails to change appropriately with the times. Some owners might be resistant to change, or feel embarrassed or awkward subjecting their restaurant to outside scrutiny. But there is no shame in bringing in a helpful outside professional to suggest improvements. It is common in the corporate world, and it might be just what your restaurant needs to operate to its fullest potential!

Bartending is more than just pouring drinks and flirting with customers. It is a highly skilled vocational trade that requires professional certification and some degree of training. Many bartending schools exist to provide this. What should you look for when seeking a bartending school?

The first thing you need to do is make sure you only look for bartending schools that are properly licensed and have the proper credentials. A reputable school can provide this information to you, and will not put pressure on you to sign up for a course. They will have affliliations with hospitality industry organizations. Treat your search for a bartending school like you would treat choosing a college or university. Visit the establishment, meet with the staff, ask to see the schedule of their training course and inquire about what other kinds of services they can provide. Remember, serving alcohol professionally carries legal risks and obligations, so it is crucial that you train through a reputable program.

The most important task of a bartending school is to teach students how to make basic and more advanced drinks and cocktails, what is known as the fine art of mixology. Students must learn proper form and techniques, as well as speed and efficiency—not unlike culinary training. A proper bartending school will be set up like a real bar, to to give as close an approximation as possible to an actual working bar environment. check out the facilities. Is the classroom and bar area clean? Do they have the appropriate layout to replicate a real bar? There should be a proper bar sink, an ice machine, soda dispensers, blenders. It should be stocked with a wide range of glassware that would be used in all different types of bars and clubs.

Are the instructors professional, knowledgable, friendly and helpful? Does the school have proper bartending textbooks? What do they offer students other than the requisite training in drink-making? Most schools will provide students training in the way the hospitality industry operates, and the different areas you can enter (such as hotels, resorts and cruise ships). If someone is serious about the hospitality industry they may be interested in restaurant management and learning how to run a small business. A good school can provide training in this. Ask the staff what other opportunities they provide, such as financial assistance packages. Does the school have a job placement program? A proper school should be able to make your job search process go a lot more smoothly.

Whether you are new to the hospitality industry or are already working in the industry, a quality bartending school can be of value to you as you seek to acquire new skills or build on existing ones. Hospitality is an exciting industry with the possiblility to not only make a lot of money, but to move forward and possibly become a manager or even an owner. Finding the best bartending school will make you a better-equipped, more marketable employee.

It used to take hours, a day or even a few days before a customer’s experience was shared with his/her friends and family. A bad meal or a great experience might have been discussed that evening or at work the next day. That was before the mobile phone which meant that customers could text their experience to one or two friends. Maybe even take a picture of a great dish with their camera phone.

But this limited and delayed communication is nothing compared to the speed at which hundreds or thousands of people can be updated about your experience thanks to the arrival of Facebook and Twitter.

Web-enabled Mobile Phones and PDAs have made it extremely easy to install these social media applications.

Think about what this means for your business for a second and think why every touch counts:

A customer waiting for attention from the waiter instead decides to update his Facebook Status with the message that “I’m in The Mill Pub and can’t get service. Hate that”. This message then becomes visible to the customer’s network of hundreds or thousands of friends. Could this have a negative effect on perception and even on bookings? Potentially.

A similar incident became widely publicized in the US recently when the high profile wine blogger and internet celebrity Gary Vaynerchuk when he attended a recent conference in Miami. His poor experience in a high profile hotel affected him so much he video blogged about it, as did a few other high profile internet folks with the result that hundreds of thousands of people learned of their experience within 24 hours. The results were huge and the hotel went into fire-fighting mode to try and offset the negative publicity.

The effects will be felt for a while because two of the bloggers posts are on the first page of Google for anyone searching for Mondrian Miami. Can you afford an impact like this? Could you survive it?

So the next time you sit down with your staff or plan your training schedule, don’t forget that every touch counts. Every time.

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Barry Chandler is Managing Director of http://www.manageyourbar.com , the complete online resource for independent bar and club owners and operators, designed to assist bar owners manage their business more effectively and provide all the tools/downloads/templates/articles for prospective bar owners to research and plan their new bar.