Due first to necessary staffing cuts, extreme safety protocols, and now the need to rehire against outsized government stimulus, unemployment benefits and wage requirements, managing and staffing have become the most urgent conversation in restaurants today. This, adding on to the lynch-pin management style restaurants often have, has made restaurant cultures more vulnerable and volatile than ever. If your restaurant is suffering from cut staff, low morale, or ineffective training, you've come to the right place. Join Harlan Scott of Harlan Scott Hospitality, and learn how to get back in control of your restaurant and your operation back on autopilot.

1. The Restaurant Business

2. A little about me…
• Director of Operations for 2 different restaurant groups over 12 years
• Consulting since 2016. 30+ clients. A mixture of “Bar Rescue” type work and
restaurant openings from concepting to opening day
• Foundation of my business based on “The E- Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber
• Helping restaurant and bar owners create culture, systems, and other
infrastructure to scale or get their operations on auto-pilot
• Opened “Industry” in 2018, a counter-service beer garden style restaurant that’s a
subtle homage service industry workers

3. State of the Industry
• 78% Turnover rate
• Average loss of $150,000 year due to employee
turnover
• Labor pool shared between hundreds of restaurants
within miles of each other
• Average wage $24,000/year, Management $50,000

4. Restaurant Demography
• Hires younger workers than any other industry
• 60% female, 40% male
• 65% Speak Spanish
• Education:
• 20% less than a high school
• 38% high school graduates
• 27% have some college or an associate’s degree
• 15% have a bachelor’s degree or higher

5. COVID’s IMPACT
• 2/3 of restaurant employees lost their jobs
• 1.3 million fewer workers in the restaurant at the end of 2020
compared to the year before
• restaurants no longer seen as the stable, reliable and largely
safe employers they’ve been known to be for generations,
say many longtime workers who are getting out of the
industry
• Other’s saw they were making more money from
unemployment and stimulus checks than they were at work
so remained out of the labor force

6. What do employees expect?
• A clear purpose. How are we changing the world?
• management team that is committed to employee success
• 40% expect sufficient training
• 31% want to be given all the information they need to get the
job done
• 26% expect reasonable goals and deadlines
• Want to be able to collaborate
• Flexible schedules
• Time off

7. Recruiting in a
Buyer’s Market
Job Posting
• Which jobs boards? Best time to
post?
• Short and to the point
• Why is your business different?
• Benefits first, JD’s second, job
requirements last
• “Benefits”
• Call applications right away. Hire
over the phone

8. Recruiting in a
Buyer’s Market
The Interview
• Culture fit > skill fit
• Learning > knowing
• Malleable rookies outperform
vetrans with scar tissue (studies
show)
• Is the job right for them, not are
they right for the job. What are they
looking for, not what are you
looking for?
• Where do they see themselves in 2
years?

9. Recruiting in a
Buyer’s Market
Will your restaurant family accept
them?
• What motivates them? What are
their passions outside of work?
• What are you really good at?
• Push to find real weaknesses
• You can’t ask age, marital status,
children, etc. but...
• “Do you have any questions for
me?”
• Do they ask about benefits or time off
or do they ask more questions about
the company?

10. Onboarding:
Make your first
impression count
Onboarding stats in 2021:
• handbooks are the most ubiquitous
material in onboarding and yet only 68%
of all restaurants offer it to their new
hires; the rest have nothing
• great employee onboarding can improve
retention by 82%
• 88% of organizations don’t onboard well
• 58% of organizations say their
onboarding program is focused on
processes and paperwork
• most organizations only focus on week 1
of onboarding
• a negative onboarding experience
results in new hires being 2X more likely
to look for other opportunities

11. Paperless means
Professional
HR and payroll software
• Can do the job of several admin
employees
• Legally verifiable
• Inexpensive
Scheduling software
• Best way to communicate to staff
• Eliminates the middleman
• Builds camaraderie

12. Look legit,
hire legit staff
• Your company handbook is the
foundation of your business.
• Personally conduct staff orientations
• Make is testable
• Make it fun
Training. not monkey see monkey do
• Checklists every shift
• Tests every shift
• Evaluation after every shift
• Designated trainers
• Exit interviews
• Residual training

13. Let CORE VALUES
run your Restaurant
• Core values should represent
who you are at your best.
• Core values should be
differentiating.
• The leaders of the organization
should be true exemplars of
your core values.
• There isn't one set of
“great” values.
• Core values can serve as a North
Star when decisions are hard or
under challenging circumstances.

14. “The CORE
VALUE Equation”
In The Core Value Equation, Darius
Mirshahzadeh shows how core values
create the ultimate decision-making engine
for your organization that consistently
produces spectacular results.
Core values also create an “invisible
manager” that sits next to every employee
and holds them accountable to a common
set of beliefs, actions, and outcomes, all
without hiring a single person.
Finally, core values are the best tool out
there to recruit and support an army of
diehard team members who speak the same
language, create consistent results, and
make your organization a magnet for like-
minded individuals.

15. Communication
says you Care
How do you communicate
with your staff?
• Scheduling
• Points of the week
• Social Media
• Bulletin Boards
• Regular staff meetings
• Preshift Meetings
• Emails

16. Give your staff a
sense of
Ownership
“Open Book Management”
• SHARE, don’t hide wins and losses
from your staff
• Illustrate the cost of mistakes, repairs,
bad weather. Or the impact of large
reservations, a good review, or a
holiday weekend on your bottom line.
• IN REAL TIME!
• When your staff understand that profit
comes at a premium, they’ll try harder

17. “The Great Game
of Business”
• (OBM) is the business practice of
creating transparency by sharing
financial information with employees.
This includes financial education for
your employees and showing them
how their production influences the
finances
• Transparency about your restaurant’s
finances, wins, and losses give line-
level staff a sense of ownership in
your operation leading to increased
profitability and reduced turnover.

18. Open book
management in
action
• “The Scoreboard”
• Waste sheets
• Breakage contest
• Monthly P&L meetings
• Announcements, Parties for
sales milestones
• Weekly or bi-weekly food
and alcohol cost meetings
• Profit sharing

19. The Easy Stuff
• Signing bonuses
• Paid vacation after 1 year
• Referral bonuses: staff
recruiting friends to work
for you
• Retention bonuses
• Health insurance
• Benefit programs with
Gyms or other services

20. www.harlanscott.com