What’s the real job of your restaurant manager?
What should they be doing every day in your restaurant to help
it improve make more money and have more satisfied customers?
We're going to address that right now.
Hey, everybody. My name is Ryan Gromfin. I'm an author, speaker, chef,
and the founder of TheRestaurantBoss.com,
as well as RestaurantProfitAndPerformance.com.
Today, we're going to talk about a subject that I'm just crazy passionate about.
Anyone who's seen any of my videos or has ever talked to me on the phone
or been through any of my courses knows that I harp
on this management thing becauseI think it's totally misunderstood,
misinterpreted and I think managers today are actually a little bit lazy.
I don't think they really understand and I don't think leaders,
owners of restaurants really understand exactly what a manager is
and what they should be doing in your restaurant.
So, I want to cut right to the chase here
and tell you what a restaurant manager really is and what they should be doing.
Let's start off by seeing a quick definition of how I define management.
The responsibility of controlling or administering
all or part of a company, person's, event, department,
or project day by day tasks by task.
I think it's that day by day task by task part that's most important. Look,
management is sometimes boring.
Managementis babysitting, management isn't sexy, it's not always fun.
It's dull, it's management, it's doing the same thing over and over again.
It's making sure that you're getting the results. When I think of management,
I think back to a hundred years ago in a factory
when parts are rolling down the line and the manager is walking by with a checklist.
Making sure that each person is exactly where they're supposed to be,
making sure that they're doing their job on time.
You know today as restaurant managers,
they like to walk around and greet customers and talk with them
and keep it a little bit and have fun,
and that's all great, but really the restaurant managers job is to make
sure that things are completed day by day task by task.
That means that they have checklists, they have prep sheets,
they have responsibilities, they know when people are
supposed to come in and when they're supposed to come out.
They are checking measurements and metrics.
Where are we at in sales right now? How much staff do we have on the floor?
What's going on in the kitchen? What's going on in table 14? How come table 13
doesn't have water? Steve, have you done your side work?
It's time for you to go home, we're slowing down a little bit.
That's management. One of the things that I can't stand is when managers
or when owners say to me that
you know they're sick and tired of babysitting their employees,
that's what a manager is, folks. I hate to say it. Managers are babysitters.
I love to use this analogy how many times have you asked your children,
did they brush their teeth you know before you tuck them in at night?
Thousands of times probably.
Will there ever be a day that you tuck your children in and you don't say,
did you brush your teeth tonight? It doesn't mean you don't love them,
it doesn't mean you're going to fire them.
Oh, this kids a bad kid, he didn't brush his teeth and I've told him 300 times,
I'm firing him.
No, you do it because you love your children, you're interested in their success,
you're interested in their teeth, so you ask - did you brush your teeth?
Did you brush your teeth? Management is no different.
If you have a no cell phone policy, if when they come into work,
they're supposed to put their cell phones in a locker, you can't just assume that they did it.
Every time you see an employee and they check-in for the day,
that should be one of the things on a sign-in sheet.
When they come and they check in with their manager,
the manager checks to make sure they're in uniform.
The manager should also say, do you have your cell phone on you,
or have you put it in your locker? It's just what we do,
and how many times are they going to say, oh no, I forgot.
They have to walk back and put it in their locker.
Remember, the role of the managers to ensure the success, not to get people in trouble.
Not to say like, oh well, you didn't put your phone away,
so you're in trouble today. No, it's just a reminder,
we're managers after all.
So, I want to quickly give you four things that your employees need
out of your restaurant managers.
The first thing your employees need out of a manager is organization and structure.
They need to know what's going on and when it's going to happen.
The second thing that your employees need out of a good manager
is they need to know the rules of the game that the rules aren't going to change.
Is that they're being enforced equally with everybody.
That's where systems, checklist, prep lists really come into play.
The third thing that your employees need for your managers is the tools to do
their job properly.
They need to know that they've got the checklist,
they've got the prep list, that the equipment's working that your managers
are there to ensure their success and that's really the fourth thing is that commitment
to success. I want to end on a quick story,
almost an analogy here about comparing a manager to a conductor.
You know, when you look at an orchestra and the conductor has their little stick and they're waving it,
everybody in the orchestra knows the music.
They've all rehearsed it, they know how to play the violin, they're great at their job,
so why do we have that conductor there?
The conductor is there pointing their little stick because the conductor
is hearing and seeing what the audience is seeing.
Just like your manager should be walking on the floor.
You know, the conductor saying, we need more violin, drums get ready,
bass we're coming in in a second.
The conductor is a little bit ahead of the orchestra.
He's organizing it, he's letting people know what's going on just like your
manager should be.
Your manager should be walking the floor
and know what's going on. Like I said earlier, how come this table doesn't have water?
What's going on the food here? How come table 14 looks angry?
Can we speed up table 15 a little bit? I've got a long wait.
If your managers are not active on the floor,
doing their checklist,
doing their prep sheets, making sure your staff has the tools they need to succeed,
making sure that the rules of the game are followed,
and making sure that everybody is on the same page and that they're committed to their success,
it's time to sit down and have a coaching session with your manager.
Maybe you need to give them some more tools,
maybe you need to help them develop those checklists
to make sure that they can do their job properly,
in turn, your employees can do their job properly,
in turn, your restaurant will have the success that you want.
Listen, if you could do me a huge favor, I'm not sure where you're watching this video.
If you're watching it on my web site at TheRestaurantBoss.com,
or if you're over at YouTube or somewhere else,
but if you're on my website, there's a little blue button below the video that says like.
If you wouldn't mind smashing that like button
and letting the whole world know how awesome this video is and how helpful it was for you.
That's how I can continue to produce these videos for you at no charge.
Also, if you're on YouTube or on my website,
there'll be a comment box below. If you could go ahead and ask a question,
submit a comment. Just say hello to me, anything you put in there,
I promise to respond to you and answer any of your questions.
I hope you have an absolutely wonderful day. My name is Ryan Gromfin.
And again, I'm with TheRestaurantBoss.com,
as well as RestaurantProfitAndPerformance.com.
Bye-bye.