6 Tips On How to Hire Quality Restaurant Staff in 2024
Updated 7/19/24 – For today’s blog we gathered a variety of insights directly from industry experts on how to hire top quality restaurant staff and how to identify, attract & retain these employees. We asked these experts to share their thoughts on this topic and I hope you find these tips informative and helpful!
1) Matthew Rodgers, CEO of RestaurantZone a restaurant staffing agency that works with restaurants all across the nation. Matthew and his team have been successfully recruiting hourly, management, corporate office, and executive positions for restaurants and hospitality for over 10 years. “Finding reliable and professional hourly restaurant staff or any open position is challenging. It requires financial resources, time, focus, energy, and the right tools. Quality hires positively impact sales, profits, and culture. For management, executives, and corporate office positions, growth opportunities are key. We advise clients to provide comprehensive information on company values, job descriptions, benefits, bonuses, training details, and growth opportunities. Our search process involves leveraging referrals, our database of 897,000 candidates, marketing, advertising, screening, background checks, and other due diligence to find the best fits for our clients’ open positions.”
a. Consider Personality & Character – Don’t judge a resume by its cover, especially if you haven’t spoken to the candidate yet. Resumes can show minor red flags like job hopping or periods of unemployment, but if they have great references from their past few jobs (that shouldn’t be too big of an issue). What also matters is the candidate’s energy, hunger and enthusiasm for the role. Pay attention to how quickly they respond to initial emails, texts, or calls. Listen to their tone during phone calls or in-person meetings—is it energetic and excited, or unenthusiastic and low energy? The latter is usually a red flag (not always), regardless of their paper qualifications. Some of the best hires have been those who show genuine eagerness and go above and beyond during the interview process. From a value perspective, many top leaders and businesses prioritize integrity. Seeking candidates who exhibit this value can significantly enhance your hiring process. Integrity fosters trust, promotes ethical behavior, and strengthens organizational culture, ultimately contributing to long-term success. Prioritizing this quality can help ensure that new hires align with your company’s values and contribute positively to your team’s dynamic.
b. Consider a trial period – I strongly advocate for bringing new hires on a paid-trial basis or probationary period for the first 90 days. This approach allows our clients to quickly assess if the candidate has the necessary skills, traits, and cultural fit for their organization. It’s an excellent way for both parties to evaluate their compatibility. It helps employers verify the candidates’ claims and allows job seekers to determine if the role suits them. This method has proven effective in ensuring long-term success and satisfaction for both the employer and employee.
c. Other 2024 Tips – Prioritize diversity, inclusion, and technology (AI) for efficient candidate screening and initial interviews. A recent study indicates that candidates now prefer more flexibility than in past years. Promoting continuous learning and development opportunities can attract and retain talent while ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace. This approach not only improves hiring efficiency but also fosters a more dynamic and innovative team environment.
2) Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group came up with the “WETCO” hiring principle: Warmth, Empathy, Teamwork, Conscientiousness, and Optimism.
a. Optimistic warmth – genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full.
b. Intelligence – not just “smarts” but rather an insatiable curiosity to learn for the sake of learning.
c. Work ethic – a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done.
d. Empathy – an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel.
e. Self-awareness – an understanding of what makes you tick.
f. Integrity – a natural inclination to be accountable for doing the right thing with honesty and superb judgment.
3) 
Carrie Luxem, CEO of Restaurant HR Group: “Hiring top-notch restaurant staff comes down to brand storytelling. Telling your company’s story in your own voice. It’s finding your unique selling proposition – the characteristics that set you apart from your competitors – and then creating your story around that. Whatever it is, find that special ‘thing.’ Then use it to tell your story (on social media, website, job boards, etc.). Ultimately, the goal is to attract active and non-active job seekers by connecting on an emotional level. This approach works because it humanizes your company – you’re no longer just a build-your-own burger joint, for example.
Then, once you have hired talent, make sure they’re in an amazing environment. Here are some more ideas: 21 Everyday Behaviors To Create A Happier Workplace.”
4) Kevin Kuns, President of Pro Management & Associates and Partner at RestaurantZone. Also, a previous General Manager, Director of Operations and Restaurant Owner with over 40 years of industry experience explains a few of the ways he identifies top management talent. “In this day and age identifying top restaurant staff can be harder than ever, the biggest reason is that the invention of Microsoft Word and Google has made everyone perceive themselves as resumes writers.
- First and foremost, make sure anyone you are thinking of presenting to a client or hiring manager, has a resume no more than 2 pages.
- Look at the progression of their career, make sure they are moving forward in title and responsibilities. If their career is moving backwards, be careful and really find out why.
- Depending on the client and industry, do you know the companies they have worked for. How much business volume have they managed and how big of a staff have they been in charge of. This should all be on their resume.
- Any more than three jobs in the last 10 years is a major red flag , unless there is a life reason that can be verified
- If not on their resume I always want to ask about their involvement in community organizations or charity events. I want to find out who they are in their life not just in their work life. If it’s not on the resume I have them add it to it.
- Also, I always look for education background and other seminars; or continuing efforts to improve their business or life skill sets.”
5) MyEmployees, an Inc. 5000 List company that helps over 3,400 restaurant units in North America with employee recognition, retention, and engagement programs, had a few of its team members chime in on what that experience has taught them about hiring quality restaurant staff.
“It’s important to bring in top, high performing talent into a culture of recognition and appreciation. High achievers need to know their efforts will be recognized and they will be stepping into an environment that measures and celebrates success. In an industry that’s challenged with high turnover, it’s important the culture at the restaurant distinguish itself from others so top talent will not only be attracted to the position, they will stay and thrive.”~Bryan Harrell, Employee Engagement Specialist
“Every team’s overall attitude and levels of engagement never surpass that of its leaders. That’s why attracting top employee talent starts with attracting, training, and maintaining top management talent. Having a wildly successful business will also attract higher caliber employees but to achieve that it’s critical to foster a goal-oriented and fun working environment that celebrates both the success of the whole team and outstanding individual contributors.”~Benjamin Baldwin, Retention & Communication Strategist
“The Cheesecake Factory, our most tenured client, doesn’t have to spend tons of time and resources trying to find and hire Top Talent. They allocate those same resources taking care of their people. That, in turn, makes them an extremely attractive place to work. #48 on Fortune’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For list to be exact!”~David Strange, Business Engagement Executive
6) Michelle Austin, previously worked as a Talent Acquisition Manager at Brinker International, Manager at Darden and currently recruits and consults for top restaurant brands says, “retention starts at the first interview. Your first impression as a candidate and hiring manager are immediately etched in each other’s psyche. As much as we want to believe we are not biased, our brains are always analyzing and processing “data.”
Each interaction/experience with the candidate and hiring manager creates the developing discovery dialogue to move forward or stop in the interview process. Interviewing is a two-way street. Some highways are two mph and some are 100 mph. A company with a good balanced interview process is going to be somewhere in the middle. Each interview should offer more insight to the day-to-day happenings at the company and giving the candidate more opportunity to share their true selves, as well. Companies which have an interview gauntlet as a process will lose many qualified and great candidates as easily as those companies which lack a sense of urgency to interview.
Here are some more of Michelle’s thoughts on this topic from her guest post Restaurant Staff Retention Starts with “Hello”.
I hope you enjoyed reading these tips and that they prove beneficial to you. And as always happy hiring. Are you a restaurant recruiting for top talent? RestaurantZone helps restaurants, hotels & hospitality hire the right talent. Or call 1-800-513-5096 to speak directly with one of our seasoned recruiters. All of our recruiters have worked in restaurant operations for many years & recruited for all sorts of our restaurant clients small businesses & large. We have experience recruiting restaurant staff, management, corporate office and executives for upscale restaurants, full-service restaurants, casual dining, fast casual and QSR.
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