Does your restaurant seem more like a dive than the five star restaurant you want it to be? In order for your restaurant to seem professional, you need to have everyone on board act like professionals. Whether that means creating a manual or creating stricter rules, you can create a professional work environment in your restaurant.
Create an Employee Manual
An employee manual is important because it outlines what you expect of your employees. There is no question of how the staff should behave when you have these rules in place. Rules should outline where employees should take breaks, whether or not smoking is allowed in the break areas, dress codes, and whatever else you want employees to adhere to.
Have Set Work Procedures for Each Job
Another great tip is to provide each employee with a written set of procedures that should be followed by each employee. For example, outline what a waitress should do each day, such as refilling salt and pepper shakers, folding napkins, etc. This will prevent your staff from standing around, twiddling their thumbs. A working staff is a professional staff.
Use Professional Dress Codes
Even if your restaurant has a laid back atmosphere, you should require your employees to wear a uniform from a place like Chef Works or another place that specializes in restaurant attire. It could be something as simple as matching t-shirts and jeans or could be white button up shirts with black dress pants. Match the uniform to the style of your restaurant. Just make sure it’s professional.
Provide Uniforms for Chefs
Another great way to create a professional work environment is to provide uniforms for chefs. A chef’s uniform gives your cooking staff a professional look. If you have an open kitchen, you especially want your chefs to look professional.
Do Not Allow Eating and Drinking on the Job
Last, but not least, allow your staff to take breaks to eat. It’s not professional for the waitstaff to be eating in between waiting on customers. Above all else, you never want to allow members of your staff to drink alcohol on the job. This can lead to very unprofessional behavior. In fact, you should have rules in the employee manual that prohibit such activity and have a zero tolerance policy for people being drunk while on the job.
In order for your work environment to be professional, you need to have rules in place. You also need to make sure your staff is professionally dressed and are given breaks instead of being asked to work through their lunch and eat on the job. It may be hard to make all the changes at once, but it will greatly improve the work environment of your restaurant.
