Hey guys, my name is Wilson.
Today I'm going to be sharing with you the three red flags on firing your staff.
Because if your cost of goods sales are skyrocketing through the roof, or everyone hates your staff,
or you have these crazy negative reviews, you know that something is going on.
Which is the reason why I'm going to be sharing with you the three red flags that you must
see, and whenever you spot, you should fire that staff right away.
And on the topic of firing, how do you actually fire your staff?
We're going to be jumping into that at the end of the video.
Make sure you guys stay tuned.
Otherwise, let's dive right into the three red flags.
The number one red flag is your numbers.
And what I mean by that is if you've been running your business for the last year, or
two years, and your cost of good sales range from 20 to 25%, and all of a sudden you hire
this new cook, your cost of goods sold skyrocketed to 30%, 35%, 40%, then you know something
is wrong.
And it is because of the fact that most likely they're either either not handling your delivery
of your cost of goods sold, or your ingredients properly.
Because you have a lot of wastage, and in turn the ingredients that goes to waste does
not generate revenue for you, which in turn increases your costs of goods sold as a percentage
of your revenue.
Another problem that might occur is that they keep giving out free food.
They keep serving different items, and they might be working with your front of a house
staff, and giving them free food.
They may be giving free food to all your staff, and all your employees.
And that itself does not generate revenue, which in turn drives up your cost of goods
sold.
Which is a reason why it's super important for you to understand and know your numbers.
When you're actually tracking your numbers, then you would know when these spikes happen
and these irregular things happen.
So super important to be able to track your numbers.
Cost of goods sold is one high indication of something that is going wrong.
So for example, if you hired a new manager for that matter, instead of a new chef, and
your costs of goods sold is really high, then instead of not handling with delivery of the
ingredients, your managers might be comping a lot of meals.
They may be giving away a lot of meals to clients and customers, and in turn that drives
up the cost of goods sold, but the revenue stays flat.
Which means that your cost of goods sold are once again higher.
They might be actually stealing money from you as well.
Because if they don't put and they don't enter that meal into the POS system, and in turn
they have the food that is being served, your cost of goods sold are increasing, whereas
revenue is staying plateaued, then that's why your costs of goods sold as a percentage
would increase, right?
Because at the end of the day, for every meal that you serve, your revenue should go up.
So it's proportional, right?
So after you actually understanding your number, it is super important.
So whenever you have staff that you bring on board, and these numbers are changing,
then that means something is wrong.
Another example of not knowing your numbers is the labor costs, okay?
And so what I mean by that is when you hire a manager, they are doing your scheduling
for you.
And all of a sudden your labor cost is going up from 10%, or from 20%, to 25% to 30%, then
that means they're not utilizing your staff properly.
Then that means that your staff haves a lot of idle time.
That means your staff has...
You have too many staff in your restaurant all at once, right?
So it's up to your manager's job and duty, in order for them to lower and maintain a
certain level of labor costs for your food and beverage business.
So these are all very, very key red flags.
Knowing your numbers is something that you must, must do when you're running a business.
Because this itself is a red flag that you should always look at when figuring out whether
someone that you hired was a bad apple, or not.
The second red flag that you should definitely look at are reviews.
Okay?
When I'm talking about reviews, we're talking about in personal reviews.
We're talking about online reviews from online sites like Facebook, like Yelp.
You need to make sure you keep a very, very close pulse of what their view is like for
your restaurant, if you're not always there.
So for me, because I'm not always at my restaurant, I keep a very close eye in terms of all the
reviews that we generate.
Because I need to understand is...
And are my managers managing the shop properly.
And if I see a lot of negative reviews about the service that is being provided in my shop,
then I know exactly that something is going on at my shop.
Whether my managers aren't managing properly, or that my manager is having a poor attitude
all the time.
Then I know that is something that I should attend to, and start firing.
Because they don't have that customer service needed in this industry.
At the end of the day, you need to make sure that you talk to your customers as well, because
they are the one that really gives you the honest feedback.
So many times, we've failed to talk to our customers, because we don't feel like we need
the outside insight.
We don't need that communication with them.
This is something that is completely not true.
You are serving your front line, your customers are the receiving end of it.
So at the end of the day, it's not about what you serve, it's about what they receive, and
how they feel like they're being received.
How they're being served.
Which is the reason why it's so important for you to talk to your customers, to get
the feedback directly from the horses month.
Okay?
So if and when you're talking to your customers, your regulars, and they're telling you that,
"Hey, you know what, you should look out for this staff, or that staff."
Or, "You know what, I'm having poor service."
Then you know that that staff that is on duty is someone that you should consider firing,
or giving them proper training.
Or at the end of the day, just identifying your values and how you want things done.
Okay?
So it's super important for you to be able to keep tabs with your staff, either in person,
or on review sites like Facebook and Yelp.
The third red flag that would show up, that shows you something is going on in your restaurant
is turnover.
And what I mean by that is if all of a sudden a lot of staff are quitting for for no apparent
reason, they don't talk to you, you don't talk to them, but then they're quitting.
They're like, mm they're not happy.
Then you know something is wrong.
You know that something, or someone, is the bad apple, that is poisoning the rest of the
pool.
And it's up to you to make sure you investigate, and not just take these resignation letter
as is.
Don't just accept it for the fact because of the industry, because this is a high turnover
industry.
No, never do that.
Understand, interview, have an exit interview with every single staff that quit.
And truly understand why is it that they're quitting.
It is because when someone is quitting, there's no vested interest.
They're going to give it to you as is.
So for them, they're not going to be biased.
They're going to tell you something is going on.
And those answers, and those feedback, are just so invaluable for your business.
It could be other staff that is making a scene, harassing the rest of the staff.
Which is the reason why they don't feel safe, and they don't want to work there anymore.
Or, it is because your manager is not giving them, and treating them fairly.
Giving them enough shifts, or treating them like crap.
At the end of the day it's up to you to investigate what is truly going on.
And for that matter, you could be the one that is the problem.
You could be the one that is having that red flag, in your customer, and your staff's point
of view.
Which is a reason why it's so important to receive, and conduct these exit interviews,
when people are quitting.
And when you have this irregular spike of turnover.
Then you know something is wrong.
And, if you're depending on your manager to manage your staff, then you know that you
need to look into your manager's performance.
And if you talk to them, if you align with them and still things are not improving, then
you know that is cause for termination.
So there you go.
The three red flags that you should be truly aware of, and very, very clearly keeping an
eye out on when running your food and beverage business.
Now that you understand that something is going on.
You figured it out, that it was your manager who is your friend for five years.
And now you want to fire them, because they are not treating your staff properly, and
you talked to them, and now you're trying to fire them.
How do you fire them?
That's the biggest question.
That's the most difficult thing that I always encounter.
Because human nature, we don't like conflict.
We don't like talking about these things.
Which is a reason why so many people struggle with firing people.
How do you fire them initially, if you set the bar right, and if you set the expectation
right, firing becomes super, super easy.
And what I mean by that is when you first onboard someone, when you first onboard a
friend, when you first onboard a manager, clearly identify your expectation for them.
Whether it is values, great.
What kind of values do you have and how is it that you want to manage your staff?
How is it that you want to run your business?
Make sure you guys align in the values.
Because if you don't, when your manager do something differently, and you expect something
differently, then there you go, that's a clash.
But when you align with the values, if you know whoever you're bringing on board, should
be and likes to do things your way, then you know that conflict would not exist.
Because they will always do things the right way, which is your way.
Okay?
So aligning that expectation, and aligning that value right from the get-go is key, when
you want to be able to onboard someone.
Now let's say that they don't live up to that value, and that they don't serve the customers
right.
Because you know what?
At the end of the day, they're just not enjoying their job.
But whereas when you hired them, they said that that's what they're... that's what you're
expecting.
When these things don't align, and when you're clear about it right from the get-go, then
that manager that you hired, that friend that you hired, he knows exactly that they're not
a right fit for your organization.
Which is the reason why they'll understand.
It's an easy conversation when you talk to them.
You're like, "Hey, you know what?
I understand right from the get-go, your expectation was to hire someone that's going to bite their
tongue all the time.
That's going to give super 200% in customer service.
But you know what?
Unfortunately right now I'm not in a place to do so.
So you know what I understand I need to part ways."
It's super simple like that.
Firing becomes much more like a conversation, because the expectation is set right from
the get-go, right?
Vice versa, if you tell your staff that you're paying them 15 bucks an hour, that you know
what, you have all these kinds of holidays.
And in turn, you don't provide that from them and that it doesn't meet their expectation.
Then in turn, they might quit on you because the visions don't align.
Expectations don't align.
And you know very well the reason why they quit.
It is because you're not living up to your end of the bargain, not meeting up their expectation.
So at the end of the day, how do you fire someone?
Make sure you set the right expectation right from the get-go.
This makes firing someone super easy, and it makes firing someone much more like a conversation,
because it's not the right fit.
Okay?
So now you know the three red flags to look for.
You know how to fire someone, go out there and fire all the bad apples.
I really hope you have enjoyed this video.
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