Though retaining top-notch employees presents challenges in any industry, the restaurant sector has earned its reputation for especially high turnover. The pandemic only exacerbated the issue, putting additional strain on a workforce already accustomed to packed schedules and limited benefits. To understand how industry leaders hold on to their employees, we spoke to a panel of ten experts.
Why is Retaining Restaurant Employees So Challenging?
All types of restaurants, from QSR chains to one-of-a-kind fine dining locations, struggle to bring employees aboard and keep them around. How did the restaurant industry develop its reputation for talent management woes and why does it persist?
- Restaurant work can leave employees burnt out: Both front- and back-of-house settings are known for their demanding pace and for schedules that can prove both unforgiving and unpredictable. Every day, veterans and novices alike decide they’ve had enough and opt to leave the industry for something less chaotic.
- Working long hours doesn’t always pay off: Working all those long and hectic hours doesn’t always mean restaurant employees will earn what they’re worth. Insufficient pay and benefits and a lack of opportunities for advancement are among the most common reasons restaurant employees leave their roles.
- It’s an ultra-competitive industry: If you can’t offer employees everything they need, they may not need to look far to find a restaurant that will. At the same time, Improving the benefits you offer could leave you with unsustainably thin margins. The COVID-19 era saw 17% of restaurants close their doors for good. Unfortunately, a less crowded competitive landscape hasn’t helped the surviving businesses much. They’re still contending with all the usual challenges and managing a customer base and workforce with new expectations.
We spoke to a variety of experts about the above challenges. All of them highlighted the the value of investing in your employees in every sense of the word: by presenting short-term value, by cultivating a rewarding professional life, and by providing for their future inside or outside of the restaurant industry.
Why is Retaining Restaurant Employees So Important?
Though many restaurants are forced to endure periods of high turnover, promoting retention pays off.
- Hiring, on-boarding, and training are expensive: Time is money and the days, weeks, or months you devote to replacing employees adds up fast. BambooHR offers a wide range in its estimate of potential hard costs, anywhere from $7,500 to $28,000 per hire. They cite reporting from the Society for Human Resource Management that up to 60% of this total is due to soft costs such as lost productivity. Developing more effective processes for retaining restaurant employees helps you avoid those costs and drive down all the long-term expenses associated with talent management.
- Both consistency and inconsistency are contagious: Veteran employees play an invaluable role in helping establish the intangible cultural qualities that boost retention and customer satisfaction. On the other hand, if you build a reputation for an unpleasant workplace culture and high turnover you’ll discourage employees from applying in the first place, let alone sticking around.
- Restaurant employee retention helps build a productive, supportive culture: Every expert we spoke to emphasized the role culture plays in building a strong team and retaining restaurant employees. As Amy Morton, owner of The Barn Steakhouse, says, “nothing matters more than culture.” This is true for two reasons: A great culture makes retention simpler and when employees stick around, they help to make great restaurant culture even better. You should always think about culture and retention in tandem, since anything you do in the name of one will also serve the other.
Though they hold different titles and hail from different cities, our experts have a lot in common. They’ve faced many of the same challenges and applied several similar strategies to retain their employees and bolster their reputations with both job candidates and customers.
Expert Tips For Retaining Restaurant Employees
Here are some of the tips our panel offered for retaining restaurant employees and setting your restaurants apart as workplaces worth recommending.
Start with thoughtful hiring
Meghan Lee, owner of Heirloom, underlined the importance of taking the hiring process seriously. She noted that building a reputation for retention begins with hiring the right people in the first place. “I am very selective in the [hiring] process,” Lee said. Heirloom’s process for bringing new hires on board includes both BOH and FOH stages in which applicants shadow long-time employees, who ask them more probing questions to ensure they’ll be a good fit.
Ellen Yin, co-founder of Philadelphia’s High Street Hospitality Group, also acknowledged the importance of thoughtful hiring in “creating an environment where people belong and see an opportunity for themselves.” Her group employs a dedicated hiring manager who speaks with each applicant to better understand their potential fit.
Nicole Marquis, founder and CEO of HipCityVeg, was yet another restaurateur who urged professionals to take time to get interviewing and screening candidates right. For Marquis, HipCityVeg’s core values are an important part of both the hiring process and ongoing efforts to nurture and retain employees. She strives to create an environment where each employee feels like they are “contributing to something bigger, like a better, healthier world.” Commitment to this mission results in happier, more engaged, and more productive employees who are excited to play their role at work.
Though there’s no formula for identifying great culture fits during the interview stage, Lee finds that one question in particular helps her find the especially promising candidates. She asks, “Do you or did you play sports?” Applicants with experience on the field or court understand the value of teamwork and tend to boast plenty of stamina. Former and current athletes have no trouble with long shifts. In Lee’s words, “they know how to finish or get to the end and win a great and successful dinner service.”
Provide ongoing training
Training doesn’t end with the employee’s first solo shift — it should continue throughout their tenure. Lee stresses the value of mentoring on an ongoing basis as a way of rewarding the commitment of employees who made it through a long hiring process and now contribute to workplace culture every day.
Lee holds formal meetings each week. She also takes a novel approach to broadening her employees skill sets. Together, the Heirloom team takes biannual trips to “food cities'' to experience new tastes and techniques.
Ron Hsu, chef-partner at Lazy Betty and Juniper Cafe, described working with back-of-house employees to continually improve their trade skills. “Career-minded chefs,” he remarked, “want to learn how to do things from scratch.” Developing these skills on the job empowers chefs, driving them to continue learning more and more.
At Olive Restaurant Group, the founder and proprietor, Tal Baum, has introduced a program for employees to take their professional development in whatever directions they like. Each manager is granted a stipend to invest in their career as they see fit, such as by taking courses, buying cookbooks, or traveling to do research.
Say thanks to employees whenever and however you can
A great job is much more than a paycheck, but every fulfilling job offers a salary that can support a comfortable work-life balance and keep employers from scrambling to make ends meet. Hsu helps put more money in employees’ pockets by adding a 20-percent service charge to each customer’s bill and Alex Smith, CEO of Atlas Restaurant Group offers everyone at least a $15 hourly wage. Experts also extolled the value of offering a 401(k) plan and life insurance.
Several panelists described the importance of including medical insurance among their employee benefits. Pepe Moncayo, chef at Cranes, says covering 50% of his employees’ health insurance premiums is, “the least I can do.” He even hopes to one day cover a greater portion of his staff’s medical expenses.
Moncayo was one of several experts who emphasized the importance of scheduling with empathy. Staff members aren’t left choosing between time with their families or scrambling to fit extra child care into the budget as their work calendars suddenly fill up. Hsu and Baum both take pride in setting limits on the number of hours someone will work in a given week without limiting their capacity to earn a living wage.
Several experts mentioned the importance of providing a healthy work-life balance. Scheduling issues (including too many hours, too few hours, and too little predictability) drive countless professionals out of the industry each year. For Moncayo it all comes down to “respect and compassion.” He strives to take each employee’s unique situation into account and provide for work-life balance on their own terms.
Lee was another operator who spoke the importance of flexible schedules. “If someone needs time off,” she said, “the answer is always ‘yes.’” Some experts described reducing burnout by putting informal limits on the number of hours a manager or server can work in a given week. Baum, for example, tries to keep each manager’s weekly workload under 50 hours, “which is incredibly rare in the restaurant industry.”
Perhaps you’ve established a loyalty program to promote customer retention. Your employees have earned the same kind of VIP treatment. Carl Sobocinski, founder and president of Table 301 Restaurant Group, said, “I believe in taking care of employees the same way we take care of our guests.”
Sobocinski spoke to the value of unique benefits. In addition to the expected perks like health insurance and retirement savings opportunities, he offers a $200-a-month subsidy to help employees at all levels pay their rent. It’s his way of taking the promise of a work-life balance as far as possible.
Snooze, a nationwide breakfast chain, offers similar financial support through its Snooze Compass Foundation. According to Jeremy Edmonds, the brand’s director of people and culture, the foundation has provided more than half a million dollars for “Snoozers” experiencing financial hardships.
Provide growth opportunities inside and outside the restaurant
Just about every panelist cited the importance of growth opportunities. When employees know they have a clear path to new responsibilities and more recognition, they’re much more likely to make a long-term commitment. Smith pointed to the examples of Atlas Restaurant Group executives who got their starts with the company as managers.
For Sobocinski, benefits like Table 301’s rent subsidy are about more than just keeping employees happy. This potentially life-changing support, combined with a host of other benefits and ongoing on-the-job training, helps to “feed the next generation of entrepreneurs.” He was one of several panel members to offer opportunities for employees outside the restaurant.
For instance, once a 301 employee reaches the executive chef or manager level, Sobocisnki allows them to become partners and take over concepts of their own. A trio of employees have already taken advantage of the program, becoming partners through gradual buyouts. Workers at every level are encouraged to participate.
Yin was another expert for whom providing every possible opportunity means empowering employees to eventually take their skills elsewhere. “Even if [an employee’s] long term goals are outside of the restaurant,” she noted, “we look to see how we can assist them.”
Improve with the help of employee feedback
Clear two-way channels for feedback help employees quickly improve their skills while giving them a voice to help refine programs and processes throughout the restaurant. “Frequent and open communication is key,” Marquis said. She’s just one of the restaurant owners who spoke to the value of engaging with employees to both share and solicit comments.
Smith and the Atlas Restaurant Group leverage a third party to conduct a “listening tour” once a year. An impartial observer consults employees from across the restaurant to get their real-time thoughts. But Atlas doesn’t settle for collecting feedback once a year. The listening tour’s findings are combined with “constant feedback” to continuously improve operations and boost employee satisfaction.
Encouraging employees to improve shows them you’re invested in their growth and instills a sense of pride in each component of their work. “If you’re not giving feedback,” Hsu said, “you’re not helping them to improve.” You should encourage employees at all levels to take this advice to heart. And if they’re not offering you feedback in return, you’re potentially missing out on valuable opportunities to learn and refine your retention strategies.
Tech Solutions Can Help You Retain Talent
In addition to all these expert tips, implementing the right technology solutions can also help improve work culture and have a positive impact on your staff. If you're unsure of how to approach a tech-forward solution to employee retention in your restaurant, book a free discovery call with one of our experts
