Restaurant Consulting NYC | An Attitude Adjustment - Hiring for Attitude as well as Skill | 4Q Consulting, LLC

An Attitude Adjustment - Hiring for Attitude as well as Skill

Technical skills, such as the vocational expertise of a chef, while important in making hiring decisions, should not be your only criteria.  You can teach technical skills, but you cannot train people on the personal attributes that make up soft skills such as listening, communicating and empathizing.  By evaluating these characteristics you can measure whether a candidate will fit with your team, company culture and core values.

Bad hiring decisions are costly: they can increase turnover, pull resources away from other projects, be disruptive to other employees and your establishment as a whole. This can negatively impact your bottom line.   

Here are 4 ways to hire for attitude as well as skill:

Take Advantage of Candidate Self-Selection – By listing desired soft skills that align with your company core values and culture in your recruitment ads, candidates will evaluate whether or not they should apply.   This will give you a more focused applicant pool to choose from; reducing your time spent on recruiting, as well as improving the quality and value of your hires.

Be Proactive in your Recruiting - Don’t just wait for people with the right attitude to apply for a job, spot them in the marketplace and make your pitch! When you see someone who clearly embodies the qualities you want on your team, give them your card and invite them to apply for employment. As any great business owner knows, that extremely attentive waiter, remarkably patient sales associate, or well-spoken hostess could be your next great hire.

Use Behavioral-Based Interviewing - This type of interview, focuses on how the interviewee acted in the past to give insight to future behaviors and actions.  Multi-segmented, open-ended questions get to the heart of behavior in relation to soft skills.  For example, when interviewing a restaurant manager you might ask:  “Tell me about a time when you had to manage a difficult employee.  What was the challenge and how did you resolve it?”  Select questions that pinpoint the attributes you seek.

Observe Applicants Outside “The Interview” - Want to see someone’s true colors? Find out how they behaved when they thought no one is watching.  In conjunction with behavioral-based interviewing, this can give you a true read on a candidate.  How did they treat your receptionist or hostess? Did they strike up a friendly conversation with the bartender while waiting for you?  What the candidate says and does outside of the hiring manager’s view can give you a glimpse into their true personality, which may differ from how they present in an interview. 

To build a great company, you must hire great people.  Great employees are those who have both the technical skills required for the job as well as personal attributes that gel with your company culture and core values.   Focusing on technical skills without enough consideration for soft skills and personal attributes can leave you with a dysfunctional staff that can’t work together due to misaligned values. When in doubt, hire for attitude; you can train almost any skill. See the candidate who lacks hard skills as a cause for concern, but see the employee who lacks soft skills and enthusiasm as a giant red flag.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place to help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Restaurants Fight the Flu! | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Restaurants Fight the Flu!

The current influenza season is the most widespread since the H1N1 pandemic of 2009-2010. Restaurants, where multiple people are handling food, utensils and glassware, are breeding grounds for influenza germs.  Special consideration should be paid to keep both your employees and your customers safe from the influenza virus.  There are financial implications if half of your staff calls in sick and your customers get sick from eating in your restaurant.

Here are 4 Ways to help stop the spread of the flu in your establishment:

Send Sick Employees Home - Whether for fear of losing their job or missed pay, restaurant workers often come to work when they shouldn’t. Sick employees, front-of-house or back-of-house, should never be tolerated in your restaurant. They will only infect others.

Enforce Hand Washing Procedures - Make sure you have written hand washing procedures in place.  All employees must be trained on how and when to wash their hands and these policies must be enforced.  Hand washing is advised after touching any part of the face, coughing, smoking, taking out the trash, and in between food handling jobs, just to name a few. Frequent hand washing greatly reduces the spread of the flu.

Sanitize - Have hand sanitizers readily available for both employees AND customers in as many areas as possible (e.g. wait stations, bars and bathrooms).  Remember Hand Sanitizers to not replace, but work in conjunction with, proper hand washing. It is also important to sanitize items or areas in your restaurant that customer come in contact with – menus, table top signage, hand rails, door knobs, etc.  Work these items and areas into your shift cleaning checklists.

Train Proper Health Habits – People have an unconscious habit of touching their face, which is the primary way germs are spread. Your staff must understand that they can transfer germs to themselves or others, as well as onto service items through their actions.  Train your staff to be aware of this habit and that they must wash their hands afterwards.  Also train your staff on how to properly handle items that touch or have touched guests’ mouths, both when setting and clearing tables. 

Beyond getting vaccinated, keeping sick employees out of your restaurant and following good health habits can keep your staff able-bodied and your customers coming back throughout this flu season.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place so your manager can help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Are Your Pre-Service Meetings a Waste of Time? | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Are Your Pre-Service Meetings a Waste of Time?

The pre-service meeting is often the most underutilized time in a shift, if the meeting is done at all due to being in the “weeds” before service.  Managers usually just end up doing a uniform “Line Up”.  

A well-run, well-planned meeting can be a valuable tool in enhancing staff knowledge, product quality and your bottom line.  Train your managers on the keys to conducting a productive and time-effective pre-service meeting: Plan it, Keep it Short and Simple, and Make it a Positive Experience.

Here are the 4 parts to a well-planned pre-service meeting:

Praise – Set the tone for a positive meeting by praising the staff’s achievements: high sales from a previous service; having received a positive customer comment; someone lending a hand when they weren’t asked to; and highlighting the number of days without a safety incident - always aligning the praise with the company’s core values. 

Information - There will be specific information to communicate each service - menu changes or specials, service items, safety and sanitation updates.  Additionally, this is a good time to give a daily reminder of the restaurant’s and team’s goals. This communication is essential for all the staff to hear together as they head into battle for the shift: it reminds everyone that they are on the same team.

Training – There should be a portion of your meeting dedicated to training and skill building. This can be a wide range of topics: wine tastings, suggestive selling, safety, customer service models, etc. Write a topics list and build mini-training modules - now you’ve discovered how to add hours of training without additional expense.  During the training module of the meeting, let the staff talk. Too many meetings are filled with a one way flow of information, with managers lecturing their staff.  Have your managers lead an open discussion and engage your staff in role playing exercises. 

Wrap Up – Have your manager’s wrap up their meeting by summarizing the points discussed earlier.  Managers should remind their teams that they will be on the floor with them if they have any questions or issues during the service.

The expression “those who fail to plan, plan to fail”, fits the bill here.  If planned and conducted properly, pre-service meetings can be a tool which greatly improves the staff’s morale and product knowledge. This in turn can reduce the number of mistakes, resulting in a better customer experience, a safer work environment, improved food safety and sanitation, decreased costs and increased profits.

Communicating and discussing a topic at a pre-service meeting then addressing it during a busy service is a very effective way to manage employees. 

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place so your manager can help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Happy New Year! | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Wishing Everyone a Safe & Profitable Year Ahead

 

Restaurants, Caterers and Food Service establishments, it is time to review your operating procedures from 2012?! Do you have the correct operating systems in place to be as profitable as you want to be? 

Take a look at our last blog, 4 Warning Signs That Your Operating Procedures are Impacting Your Bottom Line and then call or email 4Q Consulting, LLC today for a complimentary business evaluation!

 

Noelle@4qconsult.com

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Happy Holidays! | 4Q Consulting LLC

 

 

 

Restaurant Consulting NYC | 4 Warning Signs That Your Operational Procedures are Impacting Your Bottom Line | 4Q Consulting, LLC

4 Warning Signs That Your Operational Procedures are
Impacting Your Bottom Line –
Year in Review

As 2012 comes to a close, now is the time to take stock of your business’ operational efficiencies. Whether you are restauranteur, caterer or food service provider, examine which procedures are currently working and get rid of those that are not.

Here are 4 warning signs that indicate that you have a problem with some of your operating procedures that may impact your bottom line:

High Employee Turnover - This is an indication of a larger human resource issue.  Exit interviews can uncover a pattern of something amiss in your organization. For example, are your managers adhering to the guidelines of your employee handbook?  Our Blog,  4 Reasons Why Your Restaurant Needs an Employee Handbook,  takes a look at this.  High employee turnover becomes expensive due to the cost of recruiting, hiring and training new staff.  High turnover can also make it hard to maintain your desired level of product and service quality, as it pulls management away from running the business to train new staff and by always having novice front-line staff.

Theft - If you think you don’t have any, you are wrong; and if you are aware of some theft, the problem is larger than you think it is. Re-examine the obvious places where theft occurs to ensure your controls are in place and being used.  But also look at the less obvious places.  In our previous blog we discussed, how theft is a major drain on your bottom line. Our Blog entitled: How Much of your Profits are Being Eaten by Employee Theft? Four Basic Ways to Prevent Employee Theft in your Establishment, examines this more in depth.  Holding your staff accountable with strict controls, checks and guidelines can help you to maintain your bottom line profits.

Safety and Sanitation – Poor safety and sanitation can lead to waste, unnecessary health department fines, and a PR nightmare. Now is the time to review your food safety and sanitation training program.  As discussed in our blog entitled  4 Reasons why it is Vital that All Employees are Trained in Food Safety,  having dirty bathrooms, employee accidents, fruit flies at the bar, or violations from the health department can hurt your quality, effect employee morale and lead to a loss of business.

Quality –There are many components to quality.  They all lead back to proper training and execution of operating procedures by your staff.  Seeing an increase in improper order taking, plates being returned to the kitchen and general complaints about service and cleanliness are often red flags, as are negative on-line reviews. A positive customer experience is the ultimate goal. Turning poor customer experiences into positive ones can be a valuable training tool and learning experience, and can lead to customer loyalty.  Our blog Bad Experiences Can Make Loyal Customers explores this.

The issues above can erode your profit margin quickly and lead to your business’ demise. If procedures are not working now, they won’t work in the future and need to be changed. Improving upon your guidelines and procedures can ensure that 2013 is your most profitable year yet.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place so you can be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Call or email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Top 4 Mistakes Managers Make in Managing People | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Top 4 Mistakes Managers Make in Managing People

Managers are the front line representation of your business and must effectively work with a diverse group of people. They must live and breathe your company core values and practices. Unfortunately, many managers lack fundamental training in people skills, which prevents them from being truly successful in running your business.

Here are 4 common mistakes managers make in working with people:

1 – Managers fail to get to know employees as people.  Developing a relationship with team members is a key factor in managing. You don't want your managers to be your employees' divorce counselor, therapist or best friend, but they do want to know what's happening in the lives of their employees. Getting to know employees can make a manager more responsive to employee needs, moods, and life cycle events.  However, managers should not get too close to their direct reports: this makes it difficult for managers to direct, supervise and discipline fairly without the perception of impropriety or of playing favorites.

2 – Managers fail to treat all employees fairly.  It is not necessary to treat every employee the same, but they must feel as if they receive fair treatment. The perception that managers have pet employees or that they play favorites can undermine their efforts to manage the team. This goes hand-in-hand with why befriending reporting employees is a bad idea. This perception of favoring one employee over another destroys teamwork and harms productivity.

3 – Managers fail to provide clear and open communication.  Work with your managers to communicate clear expectations to all employees. Ensure that the directions are specific for every task and project.  Managers need to achieve an appropriate balance that allows them to lead employees without dictating or destroying employee empowerment and  engagement.  Managers should ensure open lines of communication in both directions with their subordinates.

4 – Managers fail to take responsibility or give credit.  When things go wrong, managers should take responsibility for the entire team.  The manager needs to understand where things went wrong within the team and correct the actions as needed. When managers blame others, they look unprofessional and their employees will not respect them.  Managers need to understand that nothing breaks trust more than blaming someone else or taking credit for work that isn’t theirs.

Hiring a manager based on technical skills is often the route owners follow, however a manager who is deftly able to handle interactions with people will add immeasurable value to your business.  The four points above are basics that even the least “warm and fuzzy” manager should be able to handle, and can have a positive impact on your employee satisfaction, product quality and customer service.  This, as we have shown, can lead to greater productivity, lower turnover and an improved bottom line.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place so your manager can help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.