How to manage a restaurant team like a seasoned pro.

1. Develop a set of management principles.

Management principles make up the framework that you and the rest of your leadership team will think and operate in.

Your principles will be unique to you and should address the main concerns in your business.

Having a clear set of principles will mean that each time a decision needs to be made, you can make it quicker and more inline with the rest of your thinking.

I find its often usual to write your principles as a set of statements, for example - 'All menu decisions will be made by the head chef and the exec chef jointly'.

2. Communicate Your Vision

Once you have nailed your big picture plan, the real hard work starts - implementing it. The first job is to communicate this with your team. It is important to ensure as much of your restaurant team as possible understand the vision and direction you want the restaurant to take so that they understand where they can contribute in their role.

You will need to decide how much information to share with the team as a whole, and which information you will share individually with team members. Generally, you want the whole team to understand the big picture, and the direction (and you can deliver this information to them as a group) but you should also then spend time one one one to let team members know which important tasks they can carry out to contribute.

Assuming you have set your vision, you should now establish clear goals with measurable results to track progress. We would always recommend using a SMART approach to goal setting.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. This means that when you set a goal, it is important to make sure it meets all of these conditions to give you the best chance of achieving it.

3.Develop a management style and up skill yourself

Managing employees will look different for every manager. Employee management is any industry is a challenge, but hospitality will test you further as you manage a team of diverse backgrounds, ages, ambitions and skillsets.

Test and try different approaches with team members. everybody will respond differently to a different management style so it's your job to understand your team well enough to implement the right style, to the right team member, at the right time. We can recommend a short book called 'The One Minute Manager' for improving your management skills.

There are many restaurant management resources available, from industry magazines and websites to restaurant associations and hospitality organisations. Taking advantage of these resources can provide restaurant managers with valuable insight into restaurant operations and how they can best contribute to restaurant success.

4. Create a positive and respectful work environment

A restaurant manager is the person who sets the culture within restaurants. Your actions and attitude will directly effect your team and they follow. You should create an environment where restaurant employees feel valued and respected, which will lead to greater productivity, morale, and ultimately through to improved customer satisfaction.

Communicate constantly with your team to ensure they are on the same page as you. Encourage entry level positions to work with team members who have more restaurant experience and train employees in all aspects of the business.

Defining roles within your team can be a powerful way to encourage ownership and boost productivity. At the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is self-actualisation. This means that people are driven and motivated by the self-improvement and achievement so you can harness this providing clear roles and responsibilities for each employee member to make their own.

Promote a positive attitude towards problem solving. When managing a restaurant, one thing is for certain, things will go wrong. If you're not careful it's easy to see a bemoaning culture take effect whereby every little problem becomes a big problem. Instead, promote and celebrate problem solving skills. Show your team that you welcome problems because it gives you all a change to display those problem solving skills and highlight opportunities to make the restaurant better.

Focus on improving time management. Restaurant management is all about getting the most out of your restaurant in the shortest amount of time. This means that you need to foster a culture where everyone is focused on using time efficiently.

5. Develop systems and processes

Inventory management, tracking sales, marketing efforts, online reviews - there's a lot to be done in the restaurant business and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. You will make your life easier and lead a more productive team if you develop systems.

This means building a regular and reliable approach to all of the important tasks that need to done. Effective restaurant management is often about doing all of the small tasks really well. Regardless of impressive your five year plan is, if your day to day business practices are not easy to follow and efficient, then you won't reach your goals because you will be constantly dealing with problems.

Use technology wherever it benefits you. Our app is built specifically for restaurants and other hospitality businesses with 1-5 venues, because it addresses the challenges of those types of businesses. If you are a bigger business with many restaurants, look for a solution which is perhaps built for you.

Focus first on the business critical process first. This means food costs, labor costs, sales trends, customer issues, inventory management, developing menu items and cash flow. These are the core processes which will drive the success of your business so make sure they are top of your priority list before moving onto to systems in other areas.

6.Focus relentlessly on the customer

Customer experience is the foundation of restaurant management. Without customers, you don't have a restaurant. A great restaurant manager will create an environment and culture whereby all restaurant employees understand that customers are the most important part of the restaurant and customer experience is the number one priority.

Focus on creating customer delight and implementing great customer experience practices. Train restaurant employees on interpersonal and communication skills to ensure that all restaurant team members are able to provide a memorable visit for the customer every everytime.

Encourage restaurant employees to provide personalised service and pay attention to small details. Always think of ways to exceed customer expectations such as providing free samples of dishes or drinks, or giving restaurant customers a complimentary dessert.

Regularly ask restaurant employees to provide feedback on customer experience and act on any areas where customers have reported negative experiences. Customer feedback is key to restaurant success so make sure you capture it and use it to improve restaurant operations.

Find a way to manage regular customers and give them recognition. This could be as simple as a restaurant loyalty program or giving returning customers discounts. Always look for ways to make regular customers feel part of your restaurant family as this will give you loyal customers for life.

When customer satisfaction drops below par and a poor customer's experience leads to a compliant take responsibility for the restaurant and do your best to make it right. Use a customer's complaint as an opportunity to learn from mistakes and use that knowledge to improve restaurant operations.

Remember that 'hospitality management' is exactly what it says on the tin - it's about hosting people and being hospitable. Everything else is secondary.

7.Study competition and the market for inspiration

Keeping an eye on restaurant competitors can provide restaurant managers with valuable information about restaurant industry trends and the restaurant marketplace. By monitoring restaurant competitor performance, restaurant managers can gain a better understanding of how their restaurant is performing compared to other restaurants in the area and where opportunities may be presented.

A restaurant owner can learn a lot from other businesses. It can inform your restaurant marketing and it can contribute towards making your restaurant stand out from those competitors. The industry is a very crowded one with many options available to the customer, so a successful restaurant has to understand the restaurant industry locally and where what would make a customer visit instead of somewhere else.

Researching the restaurant industry more broadly, on a national level or even international level, can also be useful to understand what changes may be coming for the industry in 12, 24 or 36 months time. Customer spending habits can change quickly, especially when they are external forces such as recessions coming, so it's important to understand what the future holds as it should be used in our decision making process.

8.Measure, measure, measure.

Good restaurant management requires tracking restaurant performance to ensure that the restaurant is meeting its goals. This can be done through measuring financial performance, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and other key indicators.

By tracking restaurant performance, restaurant managers can identify areas where the restaurant needs improvement and make changes to bring the restaurant back on track

Tracking restaurant performance is an essential part of good restaurant management and should be done regularly in order to ensure that the restaurant is running smoothly. Restaurant managers should also track customer feedback to ensure that restaurant customers are happy with their experience and that restaurant employees is providing the best possible service.

By measuring restaurant performance restaurant managers can ensure that restaurant operations are running efficiently and identify areas where improvements need to be made.

Bonus Tips

Consider hiring third-party consultants or industry experts to work with your management team. This 'critical-friend' approach can bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to your business. They will often bring restaurant management tips from other businesses which you may not have thought of on your own. Look into restaurant industry training programs. They are some paid and funded training programs available which can provide a more formal training experience for a restaurant manager and the rest of your employees. This supplements the 'on the job' training which happens everyday.