7 key points for having a successful and happy restaurant team

A successful team in a restaurant is a team that works happily. Though it might seem like a phrase taken out of a self-help book, it describes a perfectly feasible reality in the restaurant business. We are all familiar with the level of stress and demands of our industry. We know that it is a passionate world where there is a need to constantly foster good team spirit.

The fact is that achieving a successful and happy team in a restaurant is a great challenge! This because we need to establish a consistent dynamic of motivation and proactivity. At TheFork, we make it easier for you. Read below our 7 key points so that you can apply them to your business and create the best team for your restaurant.

Effectively distribute workloads. This is one of the main key points for having a happy team, ensuring that everyone is doing what they know best and within a fair number of hours. To that end, it is essential to know the competencies, talents and aptitudes of each person when assigning them their tasks and responsibilities. The goal is to avoid making a waiter act as a maître d'or ensuring that a cook does not end up making decisions that they have no business making or that a chef does not perform more management work than necessary.

Guarantee a good salary. Another key point for making staff feel good in a restaurant is by compensating their work well. Their economic remuneration must be commensurate with the work that they perform and with expectations. If the restaurant is going through rough financial times, the salary can be compensated with other perks such as trips, hotel stays, dinners, or gifts that can be arranged as an exchange with other restaurant companies. It is one way of wooing employees while you return to profitability.

Motivate restaurant staff with incentives. In line with the previous point, it is ideal to establish an incentive protocol so that staff can be motivated to constantly improve. Extra commissions for selling a specific amount of signature products each week, for instance, or for successfully applying a cross-selling strategy or for increasing reserves by 15% during a month or for attracting new customers, etc. The goal is to make the staff want to continuously improve, since this also helps them feel motivated in the company.

Understand staff needs. Happy staff feels that the manager or the owner understands their needs both at a professional and personal level and takes them into account at all times. Suppose that a cook wants to make a change and take charge of the bakery because he or she has discovered his/her greater talent for it, despite being originally hired to cook stews, and that the head chef understands this need and gives him or her the opportunity, even though it implies making a few adjustments.

Or think of a waiter who has started a college career that is important for her and the restaurant (being able to do so) changes her schedule so that she can do both things. It is a way of showing that the restaurant is also interested in the team's needs.

Constantly show appreciation whenever things are done right. If we point out a team member's mistake so that they do not repeat it, the natural thing is to also acknowledge whenever they have done something right in order to motivate them to repeat this action. A very effective way is by sharing positive opinions that customers have left them on sites such as TheFork, or TripAdvisor, especially those that refer to punctual team members. "This waiter provided us with excellent service", "The chef explained the dishes to us and we loved it", "The young man who welcomed us was very friendly and patient", etc.

Have an authentic and transparent restaurant. In order to have a happy and committed team, it is ideal to have uniformity among the concept, company philosophy, and the quality that the restaurant offers, because by doing so, the staff can relate to it and truly commit themselves. Some restaurants are affected by the inertia and the day-to-day work overload and end up losing their essence and, as a result, employees are also demotivated. Through periodic meetings and a high level of communication, the necessary transparency can be maintained.

Show strength and convey a sense of security in the face of conflicts. The head of the restaurant is the one who must set the main example so that the rest of the team can follow suit. In this respect, we encourage you to not take any arising conflicts seriously and understand that all employees are on the same boat and are trying to make the restaurant thrive.

Think about the fact that, in many instances, problems relate more to personal or emotional matters and not to the conflict per se. Therefore, being very objective when solving issues will provide the necessary strength to everyone so that they can move forward and be successful, solid staff.

And to ensure that your staff is increasingly comfortable with their tasks, we recommend adding TheFork to your team. A comprehensive management software system that facilitates all tasks and saves time and effort. Would you like to learn about it?

A happy restaurant team is also a happy customer, which ultimately is one of the most important things in the restaurant industry: making diners happy!