Your Success Depends on the Restaurant Management Team You Build - Podcast #40

As a restaurant owner, your success hinges on you having a management team in place that knows what their job is, how to do it, how well it should be done and, most importantly, by when. This requires you to lead your management team, cultivate, coach and correct your management team, and hold them accountable. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m going to teach you what it takes to create a culture in your restaurant where your managers feel appreciated, a part of the team and clear on what is expected of them. If you’re a restaurant owner who feels like a prisoner to your business, who is frustrated with high turnover or nothing getting done right, this is a great episode for you. You’ll learn what you can realistically expect from your managers when you set them up for success and the actionable items you can execute on in your restaurant to start down the path of having a strong management team. If you want your restaurant and your life to look different, a strong management team that happen, but first you have to assemble one that will make you successful.

The key is to create a culture in your restaurant where your managers feel appreciated and a part of the team. They deserve to be clear on what is expected of them and in most cases this is not a reality for restaurant owners and managers.

To convince you it’s worth the work and the changes, let’s talk about what life looks like when you either don't have managers in place at all or when you have managers who don’t have the tools, training or appropriate expectations for them.

• You feel like a prisoner of your business because you're the only one who can write a schedule, place an order or do anything important in your business. Without strong managers, you can’t leave the restaurant.
• You feel stuck, like you’re spinning your wheels, especially after all the challenges these last couple of years.
• You feel like if the market, the challenges, the high prices of labor and product would get under control, your life would be better.
• You feel like you can’t grow the restaurant because you're the only one who can do it and you’re stuck managing the daily needs of the restaurant.
• You feel like you’re constantly hiring new people because employees don’t stick around.
• You feel like your bank account never has enough money in it, and you’re not making the money you want, much less what you need.

If that feels familiar, know that all of these things change, they flip on their heads, when you have a team of managers who know what their job is and what you expect of them. Here is what it looks like when you have a well-oiled management team in place:

A dedicated manager/supervisor on every shift

They are trained and able to complete daily tasks from Restaurant 101 and daily checklists to back-of-house line checks and prep

There is a training system in place from position training to pre-shift because training happens every day

Managers learn when it's appropriate to do the task, assist with the task or command that it get done

Managers ensure every penny makes it to the bank, every day

They order and schedule on budget

They make sure all equipment is in good working order

They do everything in their power to ensure your restaurant is an employer of choice

They understand that they are to create plans to increase sales

While that’s just a snapshot of what you should count on your management team to do, here are some actionable items that you can execute on in your restaurant to start down the path of putting a strong management team in place.

Define your core values

Ensure you execute Restaurant 101 successfully

Start with checklists and cash controls

Define and train your systems, your processes, your way

Hold your management team accountable

If you don't hold your managers accountable to the systems you put in place, and they’re doing whatever they want, you don’t have a management team, you have supervisors and babysitters.

All of this starts with you. You need to lead your business. You need to put these things in place. Your success is 100 percent dependent on the management team you assemble.

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