The food-service industry was hit badly by the pandemic, the effects of which are still ongoing. The nationwide labor shortage has affected the hospitality industry, meaning restaurant staffing remains difficult. Many restaurant owners are struggling to hire ideal candidates or retain their existing employees.
If you want to improve the dining experience in your eatery and keep restaurant operations running smoothly, you’ll need to fix any issues with your restaurant staffing. This can mean improving conditions for your existing team and hiring new people.
We’ve put together a simple guide to restaurant staffing to help you find the right employees, keep your team happy, and bring technology into your business to give your staff some breathing room.
If you’re new to restaurant staffing, you might be wondering how many staff members you need to hire and in which positions.
The precise number of staff members you’ll need will depend on the size and type of your restaurant. At a minimum, you’ll need a chef, a server, a dishwasher, and a general manager (this can be you if your team is small).
If you run a full-service or fine-dining restaurant with many tables, you’ll need a more comprehensive staff team. There are two main types of employees: front-of-house staff (also known as FOH staff) and back-of-house staff (or BOH staff).
Examples of FOH roles include:
Hosts: A host’s job is to meet, greet, and seat diners. They answer phones and ensure that diners sit in appropriate sections of your restaurant’s dining room.
Servers: Also known as waiters, servers take customer orders, communicate with your BOH team, and keep guests happy. Think of them as an extension of your sales team to upsell diners on drinks or desserts.
Food runners: While servers take orders, food runners are staffers who carry food out to the customers from the kitchen. Some restaurants combine serving and food-running roles, but others prefer to hire separate team members for each task.
Bussers: Bussers clean and turn tables, keeping the restaurant orderly. They’re essential for turning tables more quickly so you can accommodate more guests.
General managers: Managers usually work full-time hours. Their job is to keep operations running so the owner doesn’t have to. They check inventory, handle complaints, and keep the restaurant running efficiently. If someone calls out sick or you’re short-handed, the manager must jump in so you don’t drop the ball.
Bartenders: Licensed bartenders are required if your restaurant serves alcohol. Bartenders have a broad skill set. They make drinks and manage inventory, but they’re also responsible for upselling, conversing with customers, and keeping your diners safe.
BOH positions include:
A head chef: The chef creates and executes the menu. They ensure the food goes out correctly and on time, overseeing quality at every turn. The chef also manages inventory and the kitchen staff.
Cooks: Sous chefs and line cooks help the head chef execute the menu. They’re typically assigned to a particular station and work assembly-line style.
Dishwashers: Dishwashers clean dishes, floors, and restrooms. Since diners expect clean dishes and restrooms, this job is a must.
Look to fill whichever restaurant positions you need to keep things running smoothly and ensure customers have a fantastic dining experience.
Now that you understand which positions you need to account for in your restaurant staffing structure, you might be wondering how to hire each team member and retain them. We’ve got four handy tips to help you.
When looking for new employees, write clear and detailed job descriptions to let job seekers know precisely what you’re looking for. This will help reduce the number of applications from people with irrelevant experience or who don’t understand the type of work they’d be asked to take on.
Restaurant managers should produce a clear and easy-to-read handbook to help with the onboarding process. This is a great way to set out your standard operating procedures in writing, and it lets new hires refer back to something they might have forgotten during training.
Most restaurant managers pay their servers and bussers minimum wage to save on labor costs. However, in expensive areas like New York, a minimum wage isn’t the same as a living wage. Improving your employees’ hourly rate can help lower staff turnover rates. Employees are more likely to continue working for you if they can afford to!
Higher wages or salaries might increase labor costs, but you could save money overall. Retaining staff is usually cheaper than hiring and training someone new.
If you’re struggling to find the best staff for the job, consider working with a staffing agency to bring in temporary restaurant workers during the hiring process. Agencies can provide experienced FOH and BOH employees to work for you while you interview or train permanent team members.
Proper restaurant staffing procedures will keep your business running efficiently. But with 80% of restaurant owners reporting that their workers feel stressed, you need something to relieve your overwhelmed team.
Technology can help your restaurant staff do more with less. Introduce these four advancements into your business to empower restaurant employees.
Are your servers dashing across the dining room to close out checks? Turn tables more quickly and save time with a mobile card reader. This small tablet can scan diners’ cards right at the table, eliminating the need to run to your point-of-sale (POS) system.
There are plenty of POS solutions out there, but if you want to make life easier for restaurant employees, go for a POS that integrates with other software.
For example, Square POS integrates with Square KDS. This allows you to manage everything in the front- and back-of-house in one platform. Give your line cooks an easy-to-read list of dishes to execute with KDS displays at their station. A KDS will even tell servers when a dish is out of stock so they give diners a better experience.
If you’re using a POS or KDS in your restaurant, you have the power to collect valuable real-time data. Not only can you see when diners order particular dishes, but you can also see which staff are working that shift and your associated earnings.
Analytics will also help you determine your business's best restaurant staffing levels. For example, you might need to staff extra folks on Sunday mornings to accommodate the after-church crowd.
This might mean making adjustments over time, but with data, you can optimize costs and keep your staff happy in the long run.
If your FOH workers need a little breathing room, a self-service kiosk is the perfect solution to restaurant staffing woes. With a kiosk, diners can view your menu, customize their order, and pay without interacting with a cashier or server.
And if you’re already using Square to process payments, Square payment hardware makes it a cinch to add a kiosk to your restaurant. With a built-in chip reader and mounting hardware, you’re well on your way to setting up a self-service kiosk. All you need to complete the package is a tablet and a kiosk app like KioskBuddy.
The restaurant industry is highly competitive, and finding the right staff can ensure your business’s success. With a better understanding of restaurant staffing structures, you can reduce your employee turnover and enjoy a better standard of service.
KioskBuddy lets you turn a tablet into an easy-to-use self-ordering system, meaning your staffers are free to focus on producing good food and excellent customer service.
Download KioskBuddy now to turn your tablets into a convenient source of revenue that your customers — and staff — will love.