Restaurant Job Board Blog

A friend of mine recently sent me a news link about a certain restaurant with a rat problem in Chinatown (Spadina & Dundas St. W. area in Toronto, Canada) near a few favourite places of ours, Rol San, Swatow and Pho 88. My point is not to denounce this particular restaurant, but to point out that these days with the technology that is available to any 10yr old and above, such as cellphones with excellent camera and video capabilities… you, your employees and your business are always potentially being watched. You can make sure that is a good thing, or not.

Think of how fast a cellphone video of something negative can get sent to dozens of friends and how that can multiply to hundreds of people bouncing from sphere of influence to sphere of influence. What if a few dozen people who found out were avid bloggers, or involved with social media sites like Facebook or Twitter? How much damage can be done? The reach could be thousands within hours.

If you are in business, then you are in the public fishbowl for all to watch- like it or not. Why do you think there are different telemarketing laws for residential homes compared to businesses? When you set up shop, you are telling everyone that you are ready to be tested, to compete, to earn people’s hard earned cash to spend at your establishment instead of another competitor’s. These are the unspoken rules of the free market.

“Look at us! Look at us!” is the business owner’s battle cry.

How many times in your life did you try out a restaurant on a recommendation of a friend, or someone who was excited about the place? How many times did you avoid a place like the plague when people you know trashed it? Even if you didn’t believe it, you still didn’t take the chance did you? Bad news sells, doesn’t it?

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Ad Age and NY Times on the Power of Twitter to Make or Break a Brand Advertising Age weighed in on the #motrinmoms incident from this weekend “[It was] amazing to have that happen over 48 hours, on a weekend in the blogosphere,” she said. “People are now spreading around the apology; it’s such an immediate time frame.” Indeed, seven of the top 10 search returns today for “Motrin” and “headache”…

Recently my wife and I had a craving for an All You Can Eat Buffet situation a few times. Once for Japanese and once for Chinese. It was a spur of the moment thing, not two weeks of planning with a babysitter. We have three children, a newborn, a five year old girl and an eight year old boy. Both places wanted $12-$17 for any child over 3yrs old. Two skinny Asian kids! My girl can eat ONE adult portion max, my boy is a starch only eater and seems to live on oxygen alone. It’s not like my wife can eat more than one adult portion either, we just wanted a huge selection of food to try out. In the end, we decided against going and spent our money else where. Those businesses lost approx $60 of business each time just from my wife and I ($25 per person, plus one drink each) for being greedy as they are.

I know that there are different business models, different ways of doing things, certain clientèle that you may deem ‘undesirable‘ (in your head only, don’t broadcast this) for your particular business, etc., etc. My point is be reasonable in your pricing structure and put yourself in people’s shoes. How much does it cost a family of four at McD’s these days? With tax probably around $22-$25. So how much more value do you provide than your competitor? How different are you? What is one happy customer worth to you over a few years in repeat visits and recommendations to family, friends and co-workers?

How’s this for a marketing technique? Post the $12 for a child over 3yrs clearly at front and on your menus, and then train your hostess to say: “Gee your kids are so cute. I’m sure they don’t eat much. Let’s make sure that you can all enjoy our great selection tonight. I’ll make sure that your waitress gives you a 40% discount, so you’ll only pay $7.25 for each of these adorable children. Come this way, your table is ready.”

Voila! – $75 sale made before tax and tip. I’d be back there once a month, wouldn’t you?

It takes very little to stand above the crowd of competition, always think like a customer.

What is an automatic gratuity? It is when an establishment or workers at an establishment force a 15% gratuity (TIP$$$) on a customer’s bill. It is usually applied in most places that have this policy to parties/groups of 6 or more people. The customer’s forced tax is then divided between the workers that helped with that table depending on how tips are handled at that particular business.

The disadvantages and advantages have to be weighed with each business model, so in the end you have to decide what’s best for your business.

Who likes to get if over with and start with the bad news? What are the disadvantages of having an auto grat (for short) policy?

Well… for starters, it can alienate and upset your customers because as part of human nature, no one likes to be forced to do anything. Living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada we are already taxed to death here with a 13% combined federal and provincial sales tax, if your unfriendly neighbourhood buffet, big chain restaurant or bottle service lounge or nightclub slaps a 15% grat on your bill, then a 1/3 ON TOP of your bill is thrown to tax and tip on already inflated subjective pricing.

How do you quantify bad will from an upset customer? If one customer is upset and complains and doesn’t come back, then how many were upset who didn’t say anything? Are these people going to recommend anyone to your business?

Auto gratuity without proper management can create entitlement issues with servers that expect a 15% tip whenever 6 people get seated in their section, but are not over delivering in service in order to EARN it. Result? More resentment on the part of the paying customer. Being forced to tip and end up with crappy service? Sign me up!

The advantages of having an auto gratuity policy is that everyone else is doing it, so people are used to it, so it isn’t so bad. Sorry, my mistake if you think this way, but this is actually a disadvantage.

The main advantage is that it helps supplement your employees’ income at the cost of your customer’s goodwill and pocketbook/ available credit.

Knowing that 15% of nothing is still nothing, a good server will up sell each of the 6 or more diners to the maximum point that each diner can politely say ‘no’ to any suggestions thrown at them. Group peer pressure is a great environment for up selling. Almost as good as a guy on a first date. This means bigger sales volume.

If anyone has gone out with 3-4 free loading friends, then you’ve experience the ‘who had the chicken?’ game when the bill arrives. Usually in this fun, friendship destroying game, no one takes into account the tip or the tax whether they recognised good service or not. Simple math is thrown out the window by free loaders because they want to divide the total evenly even though they were the only ones who had an extra beer and dessert. This game always requires a mother hen-like someone to responsibility to round up everyone else’s money (and change), recount, recount again, and ask ‘who had the chicken’, then recount again, coax more money out of the free loaders, then count again, then be last to leave to make sure no one reaches back to grab an extra twoonie?

So having an auto grat on larger parties is good for staff morale. If your staff gives great service, then gets stiffed because you don’t get great human beings in your business, then guess who your staff will blame? You, Your Customers and Your Customers who just walked in the door. This is not good when you are trying to create an inviting atmosphere with repeat business. So if you have a lot of large groups in your business, this policy will help you keep morale high and therefore lower the quit rate (attrition) of your staff.

Having an auto grat allows your managers to expect and push for exceptional service from their staff. When we know what it is worth, then we can play a tighter, more focused game. The results, happy customers and hopefully part of the reason for creating raving fans.

This policy may help keep some people out, which may not be a bad thing. If someone don’t have money to tip and pay tax, then they might avoid places that do that when they going out with 5 people or more. Or they might take up the large table and skip the appetizers, desserts and drink water.

This policy may waived to be used as a bargaining chip when employee mistakes happen and customers are looking for a court room settlement to applease their dissatisfaction. You might have to bench the unhappy employee for the rest of the night that cost that loss, but at least you won’t be giving out free food.

In the end, as with everything in life- it’s up to you. The smart businesses have the policy listed on their menus, and give the managers the flexibility to wave it to make the customers feel special and therefore indirectly coaxing a 15% or greater tip through reciprocal guilt. And the smart managers may choose to give this option to the best staff to decide for the chance of earning a greater than 15% tip, and decide for the weaker staff.

Busting the Myth of Picking “The Right Person”

Through the experience of interviewing thousands of applicants over a span of 10yrs of restaurant management, I can tell you that after 6-8mths of tweaking and refining a regular recruitment program that you’ll start getting statistics for many stages of your program.

How many people show up to the open roll call that you invited by email or phone out of 10 applicants? How many people are a good fit out of 10? How many people actually show up for their first training shift? How many people finish your training program? How many people stay after the probation period? How many people perform at your expectations after training? How many people quit after 1 month? 3 months? 6 months?

Once you understand your numbers in regards to acquiring, training and retaining staff, then the negative emotions and frustrations will leave you.

Can you be a good or bad restaurant recruiter? Are the employees that didn’t work out bad people or poor employees in general? Not necessarily. Very few people are actually bad apples, just the wrong timing or environment. You will make good choices and some poor ones, what holds it all together is your system of hiring and training that will minimize your time and money investment in new employees.

At the end of the day you have to realize that the more people you have working at your restaurant then more problems will intersect at your business. Employees that get into car accidents, family members becoming ill or close to death, other opportunities or priorities that they are passionate about that spring up, forgotten commitments, better offers that lagged a few days or a few weeks after you have hired and trained them. Life happens. Or if you work in a restaurant or bar everyone would say, “Stuff happens“.

So?! How do you keep the ebb and flow of many people’s lives intersecting from destroying your sanity and business and keep your organization stacked with great people…?

1. Create ways to get a constant flow of applicants coming in. Always be watchful for talent. Keep asking your friends and family (if you want to), asking current staff, keep placing free online ads, look to local colleges and universities, recruiting people from other businesses when you are out and about living your life, etc.
2. Have regular interviewing periods. Bi-weekly or bi-monthly, or whenever the interval needs to be depending on your business. It has to be regular and constant. The current staff has to be expecting it. It will make the weak staff nervous. New blood coming into your organization that is not apathetic to your company’s culture can be a fresh injection of energy and motivation. Have it in blocks of time during your super slow periods. Don’t make individual appointments; it’s a waste of your time. Have applicants come as a first come, first serve basis, like a casting call for a commercial.
3. Have the applicants freely choose to leave the process anywhere from the ad to the 1st training shift. Write clear ads that have people who don’t want to do that specific kind of work that you require, or for that kind of money, not waste your time. Have templated emails that you can cut and paste to invite applicants to come within your interviewing time frame.

Other aspects to hiring the ‘right’ restaurant employee:

Have a set of questions ready. What criteria are most important to you?

My top two things are: attitude and willingness – You can’t mold someone who has a bad attitude and doesn’t want to be or do.

Have their homework ready if they get hired. Ex. Memorizing a portion of the menu, dressing a certain way for training, signing company rules and policies form, etc.

What makes any program work are mini improvements that add up over time, and consistent effort in maintaining the integrity of the procedures that you set up. If you commit to be consistent in your plan, attitude, moods and actions, then you will eventually get ‘The Right Restaurant Employee’ on your team, not by picking them by fluke.

This example is from a multimillion dollar a year 24hr operation with over 40 employees and 50 tables. Depending on the type of restaurant you have you probably won’t have to run even 25% of these numbers. 24hr restaurants are the toughest to staff.

What you can get from this Example Hiring Campaign are ideas for developing a structured system of hiring that produces predictable results for your specific business. Proper planning and consistent execution will take the frustration and anxiety out of the staffing issues, so you can focus on making your customers rave about your business.

This exact ad was reposted every 3-4wks from Jan.2007 to Jan.2008 on craigslist.org for ‘hospitality Toronto’, and brought in approx. 2200 resumes. This could be applied to any type of Job with traffic and you should be able to acquire similar results. You may even get better results from Restaurant Job Board.

Here are the results from this hiring campaign:

• 70-80% of the applicants were sent an email asking them to bring a copy of their resume, and inviting them to an interview from 5am-7am on Mon or Wed mornings because this time was when the nightly cleaning and restocking was done, and when the restaurant was nearly empty.
• Approx 25% (that’s approx. 30-35/month) of those invited showed up to be interviewed. Interviews lasted 1-10mins each.
• 10%-20% of those interviewed were hired. Everyone interviewed were told that if no call back was given within two days, then their resume was getting filed for future reference. Almost no one was ever hired on the spot; new hires were usually called the next day.
  Those hired were given about 5pages of information regarding their 1st shift by email.
• 1/3 of new hires did not show up for 1st training shift. Those that showed up signed a 12page company policy and rules waiver. After each training shift, new handouts were given to prepare for the next training shifts.
• 1/3 of new trainees did not complete the 4 training shifts, or did not complete w/ satisfactory results.
• 1/3 of new trainees that made it through the process were incredible and well rounded/ interchangeable in regards to positions within the restaurant. Training shifts were always with the best staff and during the busiest periods.

Everyone went through the exact experience.

They all had completed one physically grueling bussing, dishwashing, cleaning, restocking shift,
second and third shifts were used to learn to make all alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks,
and the fourth was used to learn how to properly serve tables.

Here’s the actual ad:

SERVERS WANTED for a crazy, fun, 24hr, café, restaurant, bar (drinks till 1:45am only) in a three-storey old Victorian building.

EXPERIENCE: Preferred, but will train ALL new staff regardless of experience.

FOR: (ABC COMPANY), a three floor/ 50 table restaurant/bar (the bar is NOT 24hrs!!!) that is opened 24hrs with approx. 40+ staff with a 17yr. history located at (BLANK ST.W) [just south of (BLANK)/ just west of (BLANK) on (BLANK)].
Check out: www.(ABC).com

Note from Management: The goal of this ad is not to scare people or make the job seem impossible and negative. It is to give an honest offering of what one will experience, make in money and the time commitment. We want to be clear, so that you don’t waste your time sending in a resume to a place that requires something of you that you may not want to do. Ex. Tons and tons of cleaning on top of server/bar duties.

• Please do not re-apply if you have done so in the past. We have filed your resume. Thank you.
• Please do not call about this ad, or hand in a resume at the restaurant.
• Please email your resume only in a Microsoft Word document or Adobe PDF form.

APPROX. PAY: $6.95/hr (Server Min. Wage) PLUS pooled tips. The averages inc.tips and wages are below.
Day time Avgs: approx. $20-$50 in tips.
Approx. $10-$13/hr.
Night time and Overnights Avgs: approx. $50-$150 in tips.
Approx. $16-$18-$22/hr.
Shifts are varied in length, difficulty and money. Less difficulty, less money.
Shifts are 8-12hrs. long.
Shifts are given based on each past week’s performance, NOT seniority.
You will never be given a shift that you cannot handle yet.
There is No Status at (ABC Company) – Managers, Servers, Bartenders, Bussers all do jobs interchangeably. Sometimes Servers & Bartenders do bussing shifts. It’s the same money.

MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES REQUIRED:

1. Willingness to work relentlessly, because the pace here requires it.
2. Willingness to work varying shifts because we are open 24hrs.
3. Willingness to learn and follow the (ABC) system, regardless of the serving/ restaurant methods and habits you are used to.
4. Possessing a friendly and positive attitude. This is key anywhere.
5. Willingness to do a LOT of cleaning. We are FANATICAL about cleaning. EVERY TYPE of cleaning possible in a 24hrs. restaurant/ bar/ café.
6. A great attitude towards your customers, work, co-workers and management. At 8am or 5am? Yes.
   Attitude mentioned twice? YES.
7. Being on time.

TRAINING PERIOD: 4 training shifts.
Training shifts will occur in these usually timeframes:
8pm-7am/ 8pm-6am/ 9pm-6am/ 10pm-6am/ 5pm-3am, unless otherwise scheduled.

BENEFICIAL DIFFERENCE FOR SERVERS WORKING AT (ABC COMPANY):

1. 1 Consistent money because we are constantly busy, and have been lucky enough to have the broadest range of customers you have ever seen in a restaurant.
2. Don’t have split shifts where you have to work a few hours, and then punch out for a few hours, then punch back in to work for a few more hours.
3. When you come for your scheduled shift and it is slow, you are not made to not punch in until it is busy like other restaurants.
   Unless it is ‘watching grass grow’ slow.
4. In 9 out of 10 times you will never be cut early in a shift because we are 24hrs, and our rushes are spread out and each staff has 2.5hrs. min. of cleaning duties even if there are still customers present.
5. THE MOST FLEXIBILITY IN SCHEDULING. Give us two weeks notice, and the dates you want off are done. Switch shifts with others whenever possible.
6. Prime shifts are given based on performance and attitude. There is NO seniority. Who has the best attitude towards customers, co-workers, and management? Who can do the most volume efficiently and correctly? Who can get their non-server duties done efficiently and without fuss? Who has consistent attitude and work habits?

WHAT TO DO NEXT? Email your resume to: (info@abc.com)
Please include an intro in your email with the following information:

1. From which ad are you responding from
2. State the position you are applying for

Also:

Do you have your Smart Serve Certification?

Do you live too far from a 24hr workplace? Do you really want to ride on public transit at 9am in the morning or at 11pm at night?

Please have your resume as an attached MS WORD document or a PDF and not within the body of the email or attached as a different file type.

If you are NOT emailed within a week, then your resume will be filed for future reference. Thank you.

Was the above example restaurant hiring campaign useful…? What do you do? What did you like about this post…? Comment below.

We are only a couple of weeks away from launch RestaurantJobBoard.com!

We are looking forward to adding quality content to this blog.

Stay tuned!