Most restaurant establishments have the same difficulty in selecting and managing staff, because professionals come with different levels of knowledge, skills, psychological perception and other factors. Therefore, every restaurateur thinks about the question – whether his staff knows how to serve visitors well. This requires daily work with the staff, psychologically understand people and understand – why these people came to this profession.

Fast food restaurants are characterized by a high turnover of staff and their low qualifications, which imposes some peculiarities on the management of personnel. A restaurant manager must ensure:

A short adaptation and training period for restaurant personnel;

Organize a system of mentors in order to organize training while working;

Minimize the time spent on recruitment;

Ensure rapid career growth of employees, and candidates for promotion are promoted after no more than a year of work.

Personnel at such institutions are usually frivolous: students, high school students and other people who need to earn a little money. Therefore, it is best to use the form of payment by the hour: so you do not have to draw a person on the employment book, and besides, if a new employee will be absent from work, the employee does not have to pay for absenteeism. And believe me, managing such a non-serious team of director and restaurant HR manager is not easier than managing a high-class institution. So, if you are going to become a director of even a fast-food restaurant, let alone a prestigious restaurant, it is better to be trained in the restaurant business at special courses for restaurateurs first.

If you prioritize items for the opening of the restaurant, this item should be one of the first. Correctly selected and trained staff – this is a guarantee that the restaurant will flourish due to regular visitors. Selection of staff in the restaurant – it is difficult and very responsible process and here you also need the help of experts. It is important not to put off solving this issue to the last moment. Because it is from the restaurant personnel will depend on how soon the restaurant will start to make a profit. Selection of staff in the restaurant should begin much earlier than the date of opening of the institution. And such key figures as manager and chef should be selected in advance and get into the process at the earliest stages of the organization. The remaining vacancies for other restaurant personnel are also best staffed some time before the opening, so that there is an opportunity to pre-train the staff. The right thing would be to entrust the staffing special agencies whose services include the selection of restaurant personnel, as well as entrust this process already hired manager and chef. They must each form a team, with which in the future and will work. It should also be noted that if it is a chef, less often – the manager is not from his city, maybe even from abroad, it can take much longer than expected.

Sometimes recruiting staff for a restaurant can take a long time. This is especially true for foreign specialists (the delay is related to work permits). In principle, if there is a desire to have foreign restaurant staff, it is better to first try to address this question to Moscow staffing agencies. There are many foreigners working in Moscow for a long time, who are willing to leave for the Russian regions or neighbouring states. When inviting a foreign chef should not expect to get a really decent specialist for less than $4-5 thousand. It is customary that in the restaurant business, addressing issues related to management and personal management, most often the prerogative of top executives, executives and administrators, but not specialists-professionals.

Personnel are selected without taking into account the characteristics of personality and that is why not every employee is able to justify the expectations invested in him. Sometimes when selecting personnel for a restaurant can be lucky and the manager turns out to be both a successful leader, a communicative person, who is adored by guests, and a skilled leader, who will be followed by the entire team, then you do not have to think about organizing special services for personnel or hiring human resources managers. He alone will replace everyone. If your manager does not fit this description, then all these functions will have to be entrusted to several managers. The restaurant human resources manager should be one of them. He must provide managers with information, carry out the idea of competent management, building a system of administration, including himself in it not as an obedient performer, but as a professional ready to defend his opinion.

If you consider the model of management of the restaurant, as a kind of hierarchical ladder, then you can highlight its main steps occupied by professional managers-managers: Manager – Chef – Hall (bar) Manager – Technical Director – Purchasing Manager – HR Manager.

Selection of personnel in the restaurant under this scheme allows each service manager on the one hand, to solve all professional issues on their own or with the first person and, on the other hand, to interact with colleagues from parallel services independently, without crossing over to address the same issues. An essential factor for successful management in a restaurant is a clear distribution of supervisory functions among managers. A balance must be struck between the rights and responsibilities of each manager and specialist.

When determining the organizational structure of a restaurant, the labor intensity and qualifications of employees at each level must be taken into account. Depending on the size of the restaurant, the organizational management structure itself is built. It would be strange if a small family restaurant would be led by several managers who would also divide the authority between them. As a result, we can conclude in the selection of personnel in the restaurant: trying to save money on attracting trained professionals, keeping local interests, hiring relatives and friends, you deprive yourself of the opportunity to build and develop a competent corporate culture, as well as to question the creation of effective personal management in your institution.

It is very important to develop job descriptions for each restaurant position, so that each employee knows their responsibilities and strives to improve their skills and knowledge.

It is also important for the restaurant manager to consider all the nuances of each profession, such as: The profession of waiter often seems uncomplicated and that is why students most often go into this profession to make money. But for a professional waiter requires a lot of skills, such as: to behave correctly in society, know the rules of conduct and etiquette, range, output standards and prices of the products, the sequence and temperature of the drinks, dishes, the order of calculation with visitors, the rules of operation of cash registers, accounting and delivery of table linen, dishes, instruments. Therefore, it is very important to undergo special training of waiters. The waiter’s experience is not crucial: you can get the technique in one month. Much more important for the waiter is the psychological suitability of this position: a person should not be shy about his job.

In order to work successfully in the restaurant business, you need to learn to treat the guest not as a business partner, but as a friend, and for this you need to remove all your complexes and break down a certain barrier in yourself. Newbies start out as an assistant waiter. The duties are not complicated: serving and setting the table. For a newcomer carefully observe how relaxed he moves, communicates, is not lost in the hall. As a rule, within 3 months a person learns the full algorithm of work, as the restaurant consists of many parts – a hall, a bar, a kitchen, a sink, a warehouse, and it is necessary to understand how this mechanism moves. When a waiter serves a table, he has to plan the time and the order in which the dishes are served. This requires a knack for it. Work in the service sector also requires a good physical form – after all, for a shift the waiter walks about 15 km. And a full tray with three courses and drinks weighs about 10 kg. Therefore, the work is not so easy, and the waiter’s bread is not easy. But of course, an experienced waiter can be promoted to barman.