Background : We have over 20+ years of experience in restaurants. We have consulted for big brands like Marriotts and success brands in Denver, Co like Smashburger. What we noticed every successful restaurant did almost identically was:
- Look Inward, before fully launching Outward
Simply put (and metaphorically with any action you do in life), you have to look inside you, management, team, quality, marketing, etc. before you start "Marketing it to the public".
This sure does cause a lot of people to have cold feet about change, but restaurants with cold feet were the restaurants I couldn't help salvage and bring back. They were running marathons in the mud or more like quicksand.
So, I hate blogs and other posts that don't give solutions :
TOP 5 THINGS TO DO TO MAKE SURE YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IS PERFECT
Clearly stated Mission Statement, sometimes a phrase that reminds everyone we are a team.
Knowledge of Leadership and being accessible up the chain. The best leaders will listen and respond and treat people like humans. I know this sounds silly, but you actually see a lot of egos in the restaurant world, they usually see early success, but fail hard in the long run.
Like the Mission, having a Vision for the team to strive for is important. People don't like feeling complacent and making keeping the team accountable for each others actions is crucial for not having to micro manage the restaurant. The restaurant should run itself and everyone should feel like they serve a purpose.
Allowing Freedom, with boundaries to the organization. Understanding how to call out, what is needed for that person to call out, what is acceptable, what is earned, etc. are things to help this run smoothly. People don't like feeling trapped. Zoo animals aren't good performers, so don't treat your "performers" as zoo animals or else your customer service will reflect how you treat them.
Give individual time to everyone. If you want people to respect you, you have to respect them and their time as well. If they are worth hiring, they are worth training.
The restaurants I helped manage, had theeeee best team because of these 5 things. Most operators thought they were doing this, but I believe there is always a personality bridge that is missing. Some perceived "Amazing" managers were just extroverts that seem like they ran a tight ship, but behind the scenes they had the most food waste and internal theft. Since these managers didn't listen to their words, they would listen to their profit margins and the team knew that. Just be a good person first, good business leader second.
This works for almost every organization as well. A business we have observed doing this very well is Missoulanissanhyundai.com here in Missoula, MT. They go above and beyond for their staff and you can tell most of the team like to have fun with each other.
Retaintoday.com is also a great tool to help uncover internal communication weaknesses and turn them into strengths.
Thanks for reading!
- AP