Running a successful restaurant is no walk in the park, and in fact, most people are actually aware of this with little to no misinterpretation. Perhaps only for those who know very little about the restaurant business, but basically almost every person on earth is on the same page when it comes to building a restaurant business. Managers, cooks, servers, waiters, dishwashers, hosts, and bartenders are among the people you should hire to staff your restaurant. Running a restaurant from the start is going to be really challenging and you will see some of your staff roles move from one category to another. You’ll soon be able to get your restaurant organized, but while you’re still trying to figure things out, you’ll need a staff that is ready and willing to go the extra mile in their duties and responsibilities.

Manager

Hiring a restaurant manager is the first thing you should consider before opening a restaurant, and that’s because the manager is the only person on your staff who will help you with 50% or more of the work. Sometimes they even do 110% of the tasks if you decide to stay on the sidelines and just collect your profits and the positive reviews of your restaurant and not reach into it like most restaurateurs do. The manager’s job will include,

• Being able to open and close the restaurant with little or no problem (or preferably without problems)
• You have at least a good knowledge about buying food, drinks and other necessary things in the kitchen.
• Knows how to use the cash register and perform simple bookkeeping tasks
• Restaurant Inventory Tracking
• Train and manage staff.
• Communicate well with suppliers
• Develop and implement a marketing strategy, and
• Being able to handle other tasks when the occasion calls for it.

If you are just starting out in the restaurant business, then it is best to hire a manager with small restaurant experience. From there, the restaurant manager will learn how to develop her character and leadership skills from her. In addition to possessing good leadership qualities, your manager must also learn to do more than the responsibilities listed above. He or she must have people skills or what we call good public relations skills, which is basically customer service done proactively. Therefore, you must also have the ability to supervise staff in the kitchen, hospitality entrance, lounge and bathrooms, serving area, bar, and must be someone who can make customers feel welcome and comfortable.

Managers typically work more than 40 hours a week; however, it is not a good idea to stretch their working hours, because they are just human beings too. No incentive will offset the stress they’ll get from working too many hours, so it’s best to only keep them within their peak performance.

bosses

There are actually 12 different types of chefs that work in a restaurant kitchen, but you probably only need to know about 2 or 3 of them as they will also be the people you will hire in your restaurant. If you’re just starting out on a budget, then you probably only need an executive chef (Chef de Cuisine). Of course, if you are financially prepared to run a restaurant, you can also hire a Sous Chef, who is the right hand of the Executive Chef, as well as a Pastry Chef (Patissier) who will be very helpful in creating the desserts for your menu. The best thing about having a home chef, especially one who has been trained at an accredited culinary school, is that it’s like hiring an artist. They don’t just cook food; they make art in every delicacy they cook and help put their restaurant on the map by building its reputation. The only downside to hiring a chef is that they will most likely part ways with you to run their own restaurants and are expensive to maintain.

chefs

To run a successful restaurant business, you need to have a couple of cooks who can handle the job during peak hours and slow days. For you will need 3 cooks in the kitchen. Two of the cooks will work full time, while the third will work part time. Because? Well, the 2 full-time cooks will do the cooking every day and work under the normal demand of table orders from hungry customers, while the part-time cook will help out during peak times like weekends and may work as a line cook, doing simple preparation, during slow periods.

Remember to hire your cooks based on the type of restaurant concept you have created. Cooks will be a great help to your chefs, especially when your restaurant is also growing steadily, as an unwanted perk: recruited cooks can be inspired by your chef and start culinary studies. Who wouldn’t be proud of that achievement even though they only played a small part in it?

Dishwasher

Although washing dishes is an easy job for anyone, it’s still important to keep dinner plates clean and ready for the next round of meals your incoming customers will want. You will also need 2-3 dishwashers but put them all on part time or keep 1 full time and the other 2 can come in during lunch or dinner shifts. You can hire high school or college students who are looking for small jobs with good salaries.

Service staff

Wait staff or waiters are very important if you are going to run a successful restaurant business, and that is because they perform certain managerial roles and are also your mobile customer service people in the dining room. Customer retention depends a lot on your service staff, so if they make a good impression on your customers, then you can be sure there’s a good chance those customers will come back for more. As hard as it may be to believe, your menu is only the second most important thing your customers value—how you treat them is what will leave the most lasting impression on them.

Your service staff should have a pleasant personality, courteous, and able to work under pressure. You may want to hire full-time and part-time for this role as you will need the wait staff during peak hours or if you will be catering a large crowd. Also, most of the people who work in this position don’t plan to stay as servers for long, so they can leave at any time and it may not be good to keep them as full-time employees with benefits.

lodging staff

The restaurant host, the guy who greets guests at the entrance and shows them to their table, is other customer service personnel who proactively serve customers like waiters. Waiters and accommodations staff work hand-in-hand during peak hours, but on slow days, you can let your part-timers take a break. The people you will put in host staff positions should be people-oriented and organized individuals. They must also have likeable personalities as their job requires them to deal with people all the time.

buspersoneros

The buspersons work closely with the waiters and the reception staff, since the dining room is their responsibility; however, servers have a different type of responsibility than their coworkers. Specifically, they are located at specific stations in the dining room for refilling water glasses, cleaning condiment containers, clearing tables, setting them up for the next arriving guests, and other similar tasks. Like waiters or service staff, bus helpers may be best hired for part-time positions only (preferably also for students looking to round out their resume with some work experience). Don’t try to pay them too much though, because they are the ones who get the most tips from customers.

Waiters

Lastly, you’ll also need waiters, especially if you’re open at night between 5pm and 11pm, but customers also come in at lunchtime and want something to drink. So you may need to hire more than 2 bartenders to service your bar. The bartender must also check the liquor order sheet and liquor inventory and restock the bar. They are also responsible for preparing the condiments and mixes for the entire day, as well as ordering supplies. They must also possess the skills on how to serve regular and well-known drinks as well as special orders, be able to multitask, and converse with individual customers. Make sure you hire the right person for the job, and preferably hire someone who has previous bartending experience.