RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 101

Every shift brings new challenges for restaurant managers.  People call in sick, equipment breaks down, customers complain, what can you do to make sure your shift runs smoothly?  Have a plan.

This practice is great for beginning managers, and a great training tool.

Walk around your restaurant and ask yourself questions such as these-

• What do I do if my lead cook calls in sick?
• Who do I call if the walk-in goes down?
• How do I keep the food safe if the walk in goes down?
• What do I do if there is a fire/earthquake/tornado?
• What do I do if my produce order doesn't show up?
• If the power went out right now, how do I keep the store open?
• What happens in the event of a burglary?
• What do I do if a tour bus unloads on us?

These questions are just examples and hundreds can be created specifically for your restaurant.  

The most success I've had with this exercise is to devote an entire day to my trainee and spend half my time walking the restaurant asking him/her questions like these and the other half sitting in the dining room going through hypothetical situations.  Follow up with pre-shift meetings that quiz the trainee about what they're going to do if situations arise.

The more you plan and prepare for situations like these, the less phone calls you're going to get on your days off!