Without a structured guide that lays out each person’s position within your kitchen and restaurant, training a new employee could turn into a frustrating game of telephone, with essential information potentially becoming lost in translation, including:
1. Guest Experience
While servers and hosts are typically the first restaurant staff to greet your guests, the kitchen staff should also go above and beyond. Nothing makes a better first impression than an aesthetically pleasing dish.
Food plating can take years to master, but a few tips can take dishes from bland to works of art. While food plating can reflect the kitchen’s skill, it also enhances the guest’s overall experience. After all, enjoying a meal employs more than just your taste buds. The appearance of dishes is almost as important as their taste.
From trussed meats to intricate garnishes, food plating refers to a skillful modification of food to amplify its aesthetic appeal.
Important tips include:
- Follow the rule of thirds. Only plate two-thirds of the dish and leave the remaining third blank
- Do not place food on the rim of the dish
- Choose the proper plating to improve the aesthetic
Small details can go a long way into pleasing guests and creating an atmosphere.
2. Staff Dress Code
The dress code should be different for each department within a restaurant, including servers, hosts, bussers, bartenders, and kitchen staff.
However, all restaurant staff should wear one thing in common: non-slip kitchen shoes.
3. Educate Your Restaurant Kitchen Staff
Education is essential for a smooth-running restaurant. Every staff member should understand how your restaurant operates, daily specials, your established menu, how to treat guests, ideal guests, and staff expectations.
Restaurants often suffer from a high turnover rate. Reasons for this can be due to insufficient staff training and uncertainty about expectations.
Once the formal training is complete, it’s always good to place written instructions in areas within the prominent location in the kitchen.
4. Communication
Part of becoming a well-oiled machine involves open and honest communication. Your kitchen staff should have an understanding of how the ordering process works. They should know how to talk to FOH to reduce the risk of misunderstandings. Knowing how to speak to health inspectors is also vital for the future of your restaurant.
When your staff feels like everyone is on the same team working together to create a beautiful guest experience, little room is left for tension, mistakes, and turnover.
5. Always Hold a Menu Tasting
While most restaurants hold menu tastings to ensure staff understands the menu, some places may overlook this step. Menu tastings encourage your team to get to know each other, ask questions about the ingredients, and be better able to explain dishes to your guests. This ensures your kitchen and FOH staff understands your expectations for each dish.
Many successful restaurants have family dinners where staff sits together and break bread, which helps form connections among your team.
6. Never Stop Learning
Many studies suggest that proper onboarding can increase productivity, reduce restaurant staff turnover, and helps integrate new hires into your restaurant culture. Sixty-nine percent of employees noted that they are more likely to remain with an employer if they had a thorough training process.
Menu changes are inevitable, as well as new products and restaurant technology. As a result, even the longest-standing employees will require ongoing . Ongoing education and training can be the perfect opportunity to stay in touch with all your staff and to listen to their concerns and ideas.
Synergy has created a comprehensive restaurant training application called Synergy Sync to help you train your kitchen staff consistently and thoroughly. And now, Synergy Sync is available in Spanish!
Investing in your restaurant and team is the best way to reduce disharmony, high turnover rates, and unhappy guests. Contact us to learn more.