In an industry where service excellence is paramount, efficiently staffing your restaurant can feel daunting.
Whether you’re managing a fast-casual concept or fine dining establishment, staffing challenges are among the most persistent and costly issues restaurant operators face. High turnover, labor shortages, and scheduling inefficiencies can chip away at service quality and profitability. But the right mix of strategy and tools can give you the edge.
This article will delve into practical strategies for navigating restaurant staffing challenges, offering insights on determining staffing needs, cultivating a strong workforce, and leveraging technology for better management.
Here’s how to build and retain a high-performing restaurant team—and where technology like SynergySuite can step in to help.
Restaurant Staffing Guide: How Many People Do You Need?
Right-Size Your Team Based on Concept and Data
Adequate restaurant staffing is critical to the success of any dining establishment, but staffing isn’t one-size-fits-all. While industry benchmarks are helpful, your actual staffing model should reflect your specific concept, table count, peak hours, and historical sales trends.
- Quick-service and fast-casual: Typically lean teams with high throughput—focus on cross-training and peak-hour coverage.
- Family-style and casual dining: Moderate staffing needs with a balance of FOH and BOH support.
- Fine dining: Requires more staff per guest, with specialized roles and higher standards of service.
Pro Tip: Use sales and traffic data to pinpoint when and where you need more (or fewer) people. A demand-based scheduling approach can improve both service and labor cost efficiency.
Building Your Restaurant Workforce
Hiring is only half the battle. The bigger challenge is retention, and that starts with culture.
Look for team members who:
- Take initiative and communicate clearly
- Thrive in fast-paced environments
- Align with your brand’s service philosophy
Then make sure you:
- Recognize their efforts regularly
- Provide opportunities for internal advancement
- Foster open communication and feedback
A positive culture isn’t fluff; it’s a strategy. Turnover costs money and time. Happy teams stay longer and serve better.
During times of restaurant labor shortages, a comprehensive staffing plan becomes even more essential, allowing restaurant managers to adapt and maintain service quality.
These factors are crucial in addressing the high turnover rates in the hospitality industry. Investing in a strategic staffing approach helps to reduce labor costs and enhances customer satisfaction by ensuring excellent service delivery.
What Makes a Good Team?
Building a strong team goes beyond filling positions. It’s about selecting quality professionals who are self-motivated team players.
Attention to detail is a must-have attribute, as it ensures compliance with standards and enhances the guest experience, a cornerstone of dining restaurants. When assembling your house team, prioritize ideal candidates who demonstrate a commitment to a sustained period with your establishment and show engagement with the restaurant’s concept and goals.
Open communication and a deep understanding of your restaurant’s needs are vital in crafting a successful team. By focusing on candidates with these qualities, you pave the way for a collaborative environment that nurtures the dining experience and bolsters customer satisfaction.
A few key Characteristics of an Effective Team:
- Self-motivated individuals
- Attention to detail and excellent memory
- Long-term commitment
- Team-player mentality with strong interpersonal skills
- Strong communication skills
By emphasizing these qualities during recruitment, you ensure that your restaurant staffing efforts result in a cohesive and efficient workforce that elevates your establishment’s performance and enhances the dining experience for every guest.
How to Retain Good Restaurant Workers
Restaurant culture has a tough reputation that can sometimes make potential employees wary. Retaining quality staff is a significant challenge in the restaurant industry, especially with a high turnover rate of 75%.
Understanding your staffing needs is essential to navigating these challenges. This involves determining shift requirements and identifying the type of employees best suited for your restaurant concept.
You can effectively reduce turnover by hiring energetic individuals who are customer-service-focused and thrive in busy settings.
How to Build and Maintain Morale
Building and maintaining morale within your restaurant’s house team is vital for achieving excellent customer service and ensuring a memorable dining experience for guests.
Flexible scheduling, clear expectations, and fair compensation are the baseline. But beyond that, today’s workforce wants:
- Work-life balance (yes, even in hospitality)
- Clear paths for promotion
- A sense of purpose and team connection
Moreover, providing career growth opportunities and encouraging internal promotions can increase employee loyalty and create a more positive workplace culture. Employees who see a clear path to advancement are more likely to invest their time and effort into their current roles.
Using tools like SynergySuite makes it easier to offer flexibility without compromising on coverage, and helps staff feel like they’re part of a well-run, professional operation.
Never Stop Developing Your People!
The onboarding and training processes across the restaurant industry can often be sporadic, contributing to uneven house operations.
Training shouldn’t end after orientation. Ongoing development is essential for consistency, compliance, and growth.
Best practices:
- Standardize onboarding for every role
- Implement refresher training and performance check-ins
- Keep certifications current and easy to track
Training isn’t just about teaching the menu—it’s about reinforcing expectations and helping staff grow with your business.
By incorporating a training regimen covering all aspects of the restaurant’s operations, such as menu knowledge and service standards, you can significantly enhance employee performance and the overall guest experience.
Continued development and training refine skills and contribute to better customer satisfaction, turning your establishment into a thriving part of the hospitality industry.
Use Technology to Manage Your Staff
The smartest restaurant teams are backed by smart tools. Effective restaurant staff management ensures excellent customer service and overall guest experience.
SynergySuite offers a comprehensive suite of applications designed to streamline this process, covering everything from onboarding to scheduling.
SynergySuite helps you:
- Schedule Smarter: Match staffing to demand with automated scheduling tools
- Track performance: Monitor metrics like clock-in accuracy, turnover, and labor cost vs. sales
- Simplify onboarding & training: Get new hires up to speed quickly with streamlined workflows
- Maintain compliance: Keep health and safety certifications up-to-date and easily accessible
When technology handles the admin, your managers can focus on leadership, service, and solving real-time issues on the floor.
Benefits:
- Reduce Turnover Rate: By onboarding and training staff effectively, you can decrease the likelihood of high turnover.
- Improve Guest Experience: Properly trained house staff and kitchen managers (and everybody else!) contribute to a seamless dining experience.
- Optimize Labor Costs: Automated scheduling helps balance labor costs while meeting demand fluctuations over time.
SynergySuite’s tools make managing your house team more efficient, minimizing administrative burdens and allowing restaurant managers to focus on enhancing the guest experience and dealing with customer complaints effectively.
For more information on revolutionizing your restaurant staffing, consider integrating SynergySuite’s applications into your operations. We’d love to show you how we can help, so contact us today for a free, personalized demo!
Let’s Build a Better Team Together!
