Food Executive A free forum for people who work with food

Let’s face it getting a customer into your restaurant can be hard enough. Getting them to come back on a regular basis takes real work sometimes. With an email database you will be able to market or remarket a customer to build future business. Simply asking for an email will not always net an address. Offering a reason for that email will certainly make a customer more likely to give their information.

Teamwork is an important aspect for any business. When working in a restaurant
it will keep you out of the "weeds". Any server knows what that means. When you
work with some one else in your section you will now have four eyes on your customers which in turn
leads to higher customer service satisfaction, and build your amount of return of custumers, and higher tips for the server. It is a 360 that helps all.

Most training for new employees consists of the product, procedures, setup, etc. That is needed of course,

Every year at the end of summer there is a local parade. For many of the businesses on Main street they take that Saturday and close up shop. No one is on Main street to shop they are on it to sit and watch the parade. But we decided to open. Heck we do not open in the mornings and we decided to open for this Saturday morning.

Looking for loyal, responsible, servers......You can obtain them...Once you have them you need and want to keep them.

How can you keep them you ask?

1) Treat them with respect, respect, and more respect...Do not treat them as you are the manager and they are your slaves. Respect for your server in return gets you respect.

2) Say "thank you" at the end of the day for doing a good job.

3) When a customer tells you that a particular server did an outstanding job, go ahead and tell that server. Do not tell a server only when a bad comment is

The number one aspect of keeping staff happy has been proven time and time again. Staff will stay if they like who they work for. If the owner is a family orientated person, it helps. I find the places I worked for, I liked the family atmosphere the best. I was treated with respect and as a part of the family instead of just an "employee".

In our Kitchen we have this nice big oven that almost never gets used by our staff. It is used mostly for baking our desserts and when we do some made from scratch breads.

My family’s business has enjoyed the benefits of location. We are on the local historical Main Street. We are next to a Jewelry store that is popular in the area and across from a movie theater. Up till last week the only sign we had was our name and a logo painted on the window. Keep in mind this front window is a floor to ceiling 10 foot window. Yet the only way to see it is to look sideways at the window.

joe, thank you for the opportunity and for this website.
i predict greatness. stick with it and good luck.
salute,

asaf
(www.asaffier.com)

my brother owns a cafe (gambaree.co.il) in israel. sometimes i am there to help him out in the kitchen, as well as managing the cafe, employees, ordering, etc.
i always knew it was a challenge to find good workers but i never knew how absolutely close to impossible it is to find "the perfect" employee. though nobody's perfect all around, there is a type that gets damn close to it both in the kitchen and foh positions.

my good friend has come up with an idea out of which he will come having the weekend off from his cafe; he wants to rent out the space for friday and saturday to whomever is interested (basically) so he can "enjoy his life outside the cafe a little bit" and give others the opportunity to provide other culinary services than what he does there on a regular basis.
the cafe that he runs serves only baked goods, desserts and really good coffee.