A Guide to Restaurant Managing

I've managed several types of restaurants over many many years and I can tell you first hand that it is no easy job. You have late nights, early mornings, disgruntled guests, and employees that have an ever changing life outside of work. This article is about shedding light into some of these things for experienced and non experienced managers.

Managing a restaurant is a full time job and a half. You will never get the respect or pay that you deserve. There can be great benefits like health and dental insurance but not all places have good insurance. Bonuses are a very attractive and lucrative addition to your salary but if you work for a bad company or a bad restaurant then it could take months to get a bonus if ever like in my case. One restaurant I worked for promised me good health benefits and good bonuses but instead I went to the doctor once in three years and had to pay for everything and I never once got a bonus in three years. For all of you that are getting into management, make sure you look over everything from salary, vacations, and other benefits.

Most people will never know how hard the restaurant business is. They will never work in a restaurant or care to learn about them. For the people that do work in them and manage them then you will soon find out that you will never get the respect that you feel you deserve. I've been cursed and yelled at by guests in my restaurant more times than I can count. The best advice that I can give to managers that want more respect is to first show it and surround you with good employees that will give you respect. The better the employee morale is, then the better your restaurant will run and in turn guests will see this and enjoy their experience more. If you are a middle manager like I was then you have to please everyone from your hostess and drive thru help, to all of your managers below and above you. This causes a lot of stress but again if you show respect and work hard they will return the respect back to you.

The hours that managers have to work are sometimes outrageous. I've been in my restaurant for a delivery at 4 a.m. and left at 12 p.m. for closing. By the way, I've done that several days in a row. The hours for managers are really never defined. You may be scheduled to get off at 4 in the afternoon but not leave till 9 because of a rush or someone calling in. I will tell you from experience that I normally worked a sixty five hour work week and normally worked six days a week on average. Make sure if you are going into management that you are willing to put the time in at your store and away from your family, friends, and your hobbies.

Disgruntled guests are never fun to deal with. On most occasions the guest really are upset and if you listen to them and pay attention to them then you can fix the problem and everyone can be happy. You will always have guests that want things for free and you can't do anything about that. You have to swallow your tongue and just give it to them. Trust me, its not worth putting up an argument or defending the situation because these guests just want things for free. Now, back to the guests that are upset and just and things right, the best advice that I can give you is to pay attention to what they are saying and fix it quickly. Always apologize even if its not your fault you have to apologize. Swallow your pride and just walk it off. If you can't fix the problem then you aren't listening to what is wrong and what they want to happen. Its really simple but most new managers don't understand this process. After you have fixed the problem follow up on the guests and makes sure things are the way they want them and invite them back.

The hardest situation to deal with in a restaurant are actually your employees. Your employees have lives outside of work just like you do but they aren't managers so there for they don't have to act like one. They can call in, skip work, not work to there potential, and on some occasions have a melt down at work. To solve problems like these you have to hire the best of the best. Its hard to do sometimes and you might have a huge turnover rate but if you keep the good staff and weed out the ones that are bad then your restaurant will be a lot more efficient and better. I've went into restaurants before and had employees that had worked there for years but they weren't good enough for my expectations or they disrespected me and I fired them on the spot. I did what I had to do to weed out the bad employees with bad attitudes and hired people that were dependable and were upbeat. The store that I'm talking about after I took over went from last in sales to third out of nine stores in my region. I also ran the best labor figures for three years straight in my region and I credit that to surrounding myself with good employees.

The better the employees work the less you need on the floor and the more money they make and the happier they and you are.
The restaurant business is very hard and if you are a newcomer then I wish you the best luck in the world. The hours are crazy, the pay can be low, and the situations that can arise in a shift can be crazy also. The good thing is that the restaurant business always has work for people willing to try it. Managers in the chain that I was working for had a turnover ratio of two new managers per store every nine months. Good luck with everything.