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6 reasons why poor employee performance is your fault


Continued from p. 45


Do what nick’s pizza does and “trust and check” with your em- ployees. That means leaving your employees to do their job and then having several layers of quality control spread out among several people. The nice thing about trusting your employees to do their job, besides getting more out of your staff, is that you’ll also have more time to focus on more important tasks.


3. YOU APPLY STANDARDS UNEvENLY. Setting expectations is one of the most basic and important functions of being a man- ager. However, just because you say things should be one way doesn’t mean anything if your staff sees things done differently in practice.


Here’s a good example: all servers are required to do side work… pretty standard, right? Ever seen a “star” server – and every res- taurant has one – skimp on their side work because they’re tight with the boss? Of course you have.


4. EvERY MANAGER HAS FAvORITES. Sometimes you just con- nect with someone personally. More often you recognize a hard worker who does their job well and you do what you can to try and keep that person around.


32 Actually sell desserts


It’s far too easy for full customers to turn down a server who walks up to the table, check in hand, and asks “did you save any room for dessert?” There’s good money to be made in dessert sales, especially if you know how to sell them. Start by making desserts small and very affordable, thereby removing the “i’m too full” excuse. Next, make real models of your desserts for display. Being able to see desserts rather than imagine them has an enormous effect on the decision making process.


2012 manage


But when you allow that employee to come in a little late, leave a little early, and skimp on side work, you breed dis- trust with the rest of the staff. Soon everyone’s performance is lagging – your star because they’re developing a sense of entitlement and the rest of your employees because they resent the star. And it’s all your fault. You don’t live up to your own standards. Leading by example is a classic lesson in management, but chances are you’re not setting a good enough example for your employees.


ThaT’s because iT’s far Too easy To faLL inTo This Trap:


“I work very hard, have a lot of responsibilities, and therefore i deserve to do things my way.”


Unfortunately for you, if there’s anyone in the restaurant that must follow every rule and expectation to the letter, it’s you. When employees see you ducking out early on a friday night to spend some more time with your kids, they don’t care what your reasons are. All they see are rules being broken by the people who set them. And nothing makes your staff want to break rules themselves like hypocritical managers.


5. YOU DON’T HAvE A cLEAR, TRANSPARENT PATH FOR ADvANcEMENT. With all the stress and work that comes from being a manager, it might surprise you that someone below you might actually want to be like you someday. If you’re like a lot of small business owners then promoting your replacements is the last thing on your mind.


But without a clear path for advancement your best employ- ees are eventually going to look elsewhere, and that’s going to cost you. Even worse, when you have no clearly defined standards, the people with the most tenure tend to get pro- moted by default, and that doesn’t mean the best, most mo- tivated person got the job.


33 48


Separate the campers from the turn and burn Table turnover is the key to maximizing a busy night in any restaurant. At the same time, you don’t want to push customers out the door who are there to enjoy a nice evening out. Not sure how to strike the right balance? Segment your customers into cozy booths or busy open tables in the middle of the floor depending on how they got there – advanced reservations probably want to relax while late walk-ins are probably on their way to do something else. Let the former camp in the booths and turn and burn the latter out in the open.


Tundra Specialties 888.594.4183 34 Get new distributors


You buy a lot of food product, and it’s time you started leveraging your buying power to get better deals. The big guys may not give you a discount but you also don’t need to buy everything from them either. Shop around, and do so regularly, making it clear to the guys you already do business with that they had better treat you right before you move on.


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