A new season of Food Network’s Restaurant Stakeout, the reality show that centers on “tough love to help restaurateurs save their businesses” recently premiered on August 30. The premise — successful restaurateur Willie Degel uses hidden cameras to investigate and discover bad restaurant practices; he uncovers these to the owners in an efforts to help them turn things around. What’s mostly uncovered during the surveillance is unacceptable employee behavior (or lack thereof).
In the various episodes, Willie unearths a variety of restaurant no-no’s such as employees eating off prep tables in the kitchen, texting while at work, staff fights, health violations, wait staff chewing gum in front of guests, drinking on the job, and a slew of other cringe-worthy acts.
As a restaurant owner, it is not always easy to keep an eye on your employees but keep in mind these tips to help keep guest satisfaction and employee productivity up!
- Front of House – are you ensuring there is always a host or hostess present at the FOH? If not, you are sure to have annoyed customers waiting to be seated.
- Employee handbook – do you have an employee handbook in place? The handbook outlines the restaurant procedures and rules and must be read by all employees and strictly enforced.
- Guest satisfaction – is your wait staff accommodating to guests’ requests? Are they respectful and polite to them? Do they know how to properly speak with a disgruntled guest? The key is friendliness and showing care and concern.
- Leadership – where is the leadership in your restaurant? Are you or the restaurant manager actively involved with your employees to correct bad behavior, praise good behavior and set standards?
- Going above and beyond – don’t think your customers won’t notice all those little details that actually really matter. Remembering their names, making sure their drinks are always full, saying goodnight and thank you when they leave, preparing a beautiful-looking dish; a little can go a long way.
Do you know your restaurant can improve but not sure where to start? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants for an initial consultation; we can help properly evaluate areas of improvement that can help your guest satisfaction and bottom line.