Hey, restaurant managers.
I'm here to talk about your first week
on the job and some very important tips I have for you coming right up.
Hey, restaurant owners and managers.
This is Ryan Gromfin. - I'm an author, speaker, chef,
restaurateur, and I'm the founder of TheRestaurantBoss.com,
as well as ClickBacon.com, and
ScaleMyRestaurant.com
So, that's right. So this is more specifically for you today
restaurant managers, future restaurant managers.
Maybe you just got a new job, you're looking for a new job,
but let's talk about how to get your first week off to a great start.
Five tips for you and here we go. Let's get right into it.
Number 1 - Prepare your attitude.
I mean be prepared for anything.
Take some deep breaths, run through some scenarios,
make sure your attitude is in check.
I'm not saying this is you out there, but some of us in this business
have a little bit of a hot temper, some of us are a little sensitive
to criticism and I know whenever it's a new job,
we are always a little better at that, but I mean like really
just take some deep breaths, calm down,
be prepared for anything.
You don't know what you're going to walk into in your first day in your first week.
Maybe it's better than you expected, maybe it's worse,
maybe it's exactly what you expected, who knows?
But just kind of…
you're going to be ready for anything.
So make sure you have a great attitude.
Prepare your attitude for anything, I guess that's what it should say,
prepare your attitude for anything.
Number 2 - Do your research. By this point,
you should have had a job description,
you should have eaten at the restaurant a couple times,
you should be pretty familiar with it.
If you haven't, there's nothing wrong with ahead of your first day
calling the owner and saying, hey, can you send over the job description?
Can you send over maybe some expectations
you have for me in the first couple of weeks?
If you haven't eaten at the restaurant yet,
ask if you can come in for lunch or dinner one day
and try a few things on the menu and experience the restaurant,
but do your research.
Read some Yelp reviews.
Find out what's going on read TripAdvisor reviews. Talk to people in the community.
Just do your research and be ready, be prepared,
that goes back to number one, right? Having the right attitudes,
but do your research, be prepared.
Build rapport (not respect).
Respect is going to come over time and I have other videos,
we'll put them up here that talk about respect,
but build rapport. Rapport is a quick connection with someone.
It's about modeling them; it's about making them feel comfortable with you.
If you're not a 100% confident on what the definition of rapport means.
Again, watch some of these other videos or look that up,
but basically to build rapport is finding out what motivates them.
Talk to your team, model them. If they're kind of leaning over,
lean over a little bit. If they're super excited and in your face,
be a little more in their face,
but don't be pushed off by what they're doing. Model them,
make them feel comfortable with you at the beginning, right?
Find out what motivates them and then clear the path.
The way that you can clear the path for them is
ask how you can better support them,
ask how you can better support them.
We're going to talk about something that I don't ever want you to do later,
but for now, one of my favorite questions is – wow!
That seems really challenging, I can see how that would have been
difficult for you, how could I better support you?
Wow! That sounds like a great initiative you're working on,
I'm sorry that hasn't gone into effect yet,
how can I better support you? And take notes, okay?
So now, number 4 - Be a manager quickly.
Like, don't wait three or four days to get in there and start working.
The work continues, the restaurant is moving just because it's your first day,
doesn't mean that it’s everyone else's first day, just because it's your first week,
the restaurant still has customers
and still has money to make and still has jobs to do.
So get right in there.
Don't just shadow for five days and be afraid to jump in.
Jump in, start managing. If you see things that you know aren't right,
fix them.
Make the changes. Now again, be careful there, but the point is,
take initiative and get involved.
Now, I know that's going to go a little different to one
of the things that going to say here,
but now in my 5th tip is – The do nots,
right? We did the four do's, and now the do nots.
So number one in the do nots is,
don't ever say now that I'm in charge,
right? Whatever challenges were in the past,
well now that I'm in charge, I'm going to fix that,
now that I'm in charge, I'm going to do this, just don't ever say that.
Don't ever say now that I am in charge or now I am in charge.
The second one is, don't make immediate changes.
Now, I know that's a little different in what I just said about being a manager quickly,
but what I mean is like don't start changing things,
don’t start changing presentations,
don't start changing cooking techniques, don't start changing processes,
but I still want you to manage. If you see something that's wrong,
ask questions, get involved.
Don't just sit on the sidelines, but don't be so quick to start changing things,
right?
Now that I am in charge, we're going to change that, no.
Don't ever criticize the past.
The number 3 don't - Don't ever criticize the past.
Don't say, I can't believe that old manager used to do that,
that's never going to happen again or I can't believe you use the serve
food like that.
We're going to fix that right away. Just don't be that guy or that gal.
And then the last, don't constantly reference your past work.
Don't say things like, “oh, when I worked at so-and-so,
we were able to fix this or we were able to do it like that”.
They don't really care.
All they care about is, are you going to help them
move their goals forward or are you going to stand in their way?
So that's why I go back to that in number three about building rapport,
clearing the path for them.
Be the person that helps them reach their goals,
be the person that supports them,
not the person that gets in their way
and don't ever reference your past work.
So, I hope that today's video is helpful for you about
mastering about crushing it on your first week in the job
as a restaurant manager. Remember, be the boss,
be a boss, The Restaurant Boss, be a boss.
Anyways, this is Ryan Gromfin and I hope you enjoyed this week's video
and I look forward to bringing you another one next week just like it.
Have a wonderful day.
You want to improve your skills as a manager and make more money?
Did you get handed the manager job and weren't given the support you need?
Are you nervous about applying for a restaurant manager position?
Managing restaurants bars and kitchens is not easy.
I know, I have been there. I want to help.
The difference between where you are now and where you
want to be it as a plan and some new tools.
That is why I created the Restaurant Manager Certification!
It's a boot camp for aspiring restaurant leaders
designed to simplify your path to the top.
Learn more at TheRestaurantBoss.com/Manager.
I hope you enjoyed this week's training video.
If you haven't subscribed to our channel yet,
would you go ahead and smash the like button right up there,
so you can get notified every week when we release a new
free training video.
I've also gone ahead and put a couple of videos
for you here and here that I think you're going to enjoy.
Remember, systems create freedom,
freedom creates value and value creates scale.
Manage systems, develop people, and be awesome.