Guide to Improving Restaurant Employee Communication

Restaurant owners know that no business can succeed without good communication, but it’s not always easy to know what good employee communication should look like in a restaurant.

And while restaurant management leads communication efforts, they don’t always understand the importance of good communication as a tool for employee training and development. 50{ea2cba5bdf6fe62bbe85e24807814144a71e77d3ae7311fbc27a008558d1372c} of restaurant workers specifically say more training impacts their job satisfaction.

Effective restaurant employee communication is a big part of a good team culture and a thriving and successful restaurant business.Let’s take a look at what you need to know to take it to the next level.

The Importance of Employee Communication in Restaurants

Whether before a shift, after a shift, or even during the mealtime rush, restaurant managers and leadership staff should have a system in place to communicate with their employees. Communication should also be a priority when training and coaching employees.

So let’s analyze why good communication in restaurants is so important.

Promote effective leadership

Restaurant management should clearly communicate expectations and other necessary tasks. But what makes some communication styles more effective than others?

Great leaders don’t just give orders or tell people they’re wrong. Providing clear, objective feedback also helps employees understand both their successes and areas that need further improvement or training.

Help employees understand their roles and expectations

Can’t wait to recruit new graduates Also Current employees can quickly understand what is expected of them just by reading the job description. Employee responsibilities should be communicated in various places such as:

• employee handbook
• During onboarding and training
• during regular team meetings
• During 1:1 meetings and performance reviews

prevent mistakes

Mistakes can be avoided by having a system in place for everything you do in your restaurant. For example, mistakes that arise from employees having to think for themselves or being unfamiliar with new processes.

but you must also communicate the system Onboarding materials, ongoing training workshops, meetings, and feedback sessions keep everyone on the same page and help them identify the root cause of their mistakes.

Promote closer relationships between team members

The restaurant industry brings together people of all ages and experience levels. The best way to build strong teams out of these diverse people is to understand that different people have different communication styles.

We recommend using behavioral assessment tools such as: DiSC profile or Myers-Briggs indicator Learn more about team member personalities. You can also encourage staff to share their results with other employees. This helps everyone understand the best way to interact with each other.

How to improve communication with restaurants: tips and best practices

The most successful restaurant owners and managers believe that the only way to keep things running smoothly between the back of house (BOH) and front of house (FOH) is to make strong communication one of their team values. It will tell you that. If you want to boost communication for your own restaurant, keep some tips and best practices in mind.

Create an effective and streamlined recruitment and onboarding process

Adding the communication process to the initial onboarding step instead of including it as an afterthought when initial training has already been completed can help the relationship with new hires go smoothly.

Use an all-in-one platform that: home base Create job postings, screen top candidates, create onboarding documents, send employee handbooks helps you seamlessly integrate new hires into team communications.then set them up Homebase’s free messaging tool Be ready to receive instant notifications of team updates, schedules and shift changes.

Make sure the restaurant manager is always available

Restaurant managers need to set the standard for good communication in their restaurants. Also, if they are unable to respond to open questions, complaints, or ideas for improvement, it becomes difficult to encourage her members of the downline team to do the same.

Keep the door open to your leadership team for open communication and questions.which can take the form:

• manager office hours
• Instant check-in during shifts
• Opportunity for employees to send admin text messages or notes outside working hours (if desired)

Delegate as needed

Restaurant owners looking to optimize the way they do business, expand their operations, and even open more locations always have a long to-do list. But when a high volume of urgent tasks arises during peak meal times, there isn’t enough time to tackle big-picture initiatives. You can’t expect to do everything alone, so it’s important to learn to delegate to other team members and keep moving forward.

for that reason, team communication app This allows you to assign tasks to specific team members and leave shift notes for specific managers or employees who will take over your responsibilities on the next shift.

make “Golden Rule” your guide

In a fast-paced restaurant environment where kitchens and temperaments are often hot, it is important to emphasize “Golden Rule:” treat others as you would like them to treat you.

Don’t just talk about these values. Put it on a sign to hang in your kitchen, mention it during training sessions, or encourage team members to donate. shout out When I feel that my colleagues are doing a great job of showing it.

follow up and follow through

An ever-changing industry requires more than training and development processes. Also, you need to prepare the system. follow-up communication Make sure everyone has the information they need at all times.

for example, team communication app Summarize everything that was covered after the internal meeting, especially for staff members who were unable to attend. That way, everyone knows they have access to the most up-to-date information and can refer to it later if needed.

Establish a policy for communicating with customers

FOH staff are trained to be friendly and helpful in all aspects of the customer experience, but when there is an accident in the kitchen when ordering, or when staff are understaffed and not as attentive as they should be If so what do they do?

It’s nice to have a policy on how to do it tell honestly Practice with your customers in every scenario a few things your server and host can say if:

• you are understaffed
• The party is taking longer than expected
• There was a food accident in the kitchen
• there was a misunderstanding about the order
• Customer was not satisfied with food
• I made a mistake on the invoice

The Downside of Bad Communication in a Restaurant

Setting up a system for good communication and continually improving it takes time, but it pays off in the short and long term. Poor communication and lack of training resources can expose you to: