Handling a restaurant is no easy feat. We've probably informed you about it several times and, it's because running a restaurant is intertwined with so many other things. If one goes wrong, it causes a cascading effect that affects separate parts of the restaurant.
One of the most important things to keep a keen eye on is the restaurant staff that's in charge of managing the restaurant. Choosing the right restaurant staff is necessary for the proper running of your restaurant. Each restaurant staff serves a different purpose towards the running of a restaurant and, without the certain people required there wouldn't be a cohesive team to run the restaurant efficiently. Depending upon the type of restaurant and the experience you're offering the amount of restaurant staff required to run your restaurant would change. Let's break down the different kind of restaurant staff present in the industry based on their area of responsibility which is
The front of the house comprises the area where the customers sit and dine in. It is considered the face of the restaurant and, hence it's the one that requires the most attention and more restaurant staff to take care of the multiple roles involved in handling the front of the house. Restaurant staff that has roles in this part of the restaurant are responsible for interacting with the customers directly and, that's something to keep in mind when conducting the hiring process. Here are some of the front of the house restaurant staff roles that are present in the majority of the restaurants sorted with the order of interaction
In most fine dining restaurants or resto-bars, a valet is usually the first of the many restaurant staff that you interact with, the valet's responsibility includes opening the car door for you and greeting you. His primary job is to drive your vehicle safely to the restaurant's designated parking spot and giving you an acknowledgment that your car's key is with them. The valet is again the last restaurant staff you would see after finishing your meal and, his job is to bring your car back to the front of the restaurant for you to drive away.
A host is another front-of-house restaurant staff responsible for greeting the guests and in charge of handling the reservations that the guests place daily. They ask the guest for their details and confirm the same by checking their reservation book.
A server is an essential part of the front-of-the-house restaurant staff and responsible for most of the interaction that takes place with the guest. Here are some of the responsibilities of a server
On busy days the servers bear the brunt of the workload. To reduce their workload and handle the restaurant efficiently you can look towards implementing a contactless food ordering system. It allows the customers to place orders from their own devices and cuts down the time spent in the restaurant.
Restaurants that have a large number of waiters have a head waiter to manage the team. This head waiter is generally called the Captain. A captain's responsibility is to manage the team of waiters in addition to the usual server responsibilities.
The restaurant staff in charge of handling and making drinks in a restaurant is the bartender. A bartender is usually considered a front-of-the-house staff since most restaurants have a reserved space in the front of the restaurant to prepare and serve drinks for the customers. A bartender must be knowledgeable about the drinks he makes and have the sense of flair that customers look for in a bartender.
The runner's role in the restaurant is to coordinate with the back-of-the-house staff and bring out the prepared dishes and serve it to the guests. It is their responsibility to make sure that they bring out the courses in order.
A cashier is responsible for maintaining the cash register and punching in and updating orders in the point of sale system. It's also the cashier's responsibility to check and print the final bill and give it to the waiter in charge of that table. If the restaurant has an online food ordering system for their website or any third-party apps. They also have to pass on those orders to the kitchen staff and coordinate delivery with the people in charge of delivery.
A restaurant manager is in charge of handling all the restaurant staff working in the restaurant. It includes both front and back-of-house staff. They make sure all operations of the restaurant are running smoothly and coordinate with the other restaurant staff if and when necessary. In certain situations, a restaurant manager would have to interact with the customer directly and sort out the problem.
Once the customer has finished eating, the busser's responsibility is to clean the table and make sure the table is spick and span when the next guest arrives. A busser is often an integral part of the restaurant staff and is essential in current times when the tables have to be sanitized thoroughly to provide customers with a safe dining experience.
The staff working back of the house are often forgotten as they are not visible to the eyes of the guests. But it is their work that keeps the restaurant functioning smoothly. The roles in the back of the house are simple and they are as follows
A chef is responsible for directing and preparing all the dishes served in the restaurant. Based on the level of seniority, there will be a head chef and sous chef who assists the head chef in his duties. A head chef's responsibility is to manage all the cooks under his responsibility and assign them their work. He also oversees all the work done by the cooks and makes sure they work correctly. His duty also includes training the sous chef and cooks on his style of cooking. The head chef is responsible for stocking up the necessary inventory required for running the restaurant.
The sous chef's work is to assist the head chef in all the duties performed by him and in some cases dictate orders to some of the cooks working in the restaurant.
The responsibility of a cook is to take orders from the head chef and satisfy his requirements. A cook generally is involved in the prep work that is cutting ingredients necessary for cooking. He is also involved in the initial part of cooking based on the station assigned to him. A cook is a rookie that gets trained by the head and sous chef. He is assigned different tasks regularly through which he receives his training.
The cleaning staff is responsible for cleaning all the dishes used by the customers and the utensils used by the kitchen for preparing the food. Most of the restaurants don't have a dedicated cleaning staff and, this work is usually taken care of by the cooks in between their ingredient preparation.
Apart from this, there is maintenance staff associated with cleaning and maintaining all aspects of the restaurant. Keeping the restaurant clean and hygienic keeps the guests happy and safe.
Based on the type of restaurant running the staff necessary for you can change. If you are running a Quick Service Restaurant, you wouldn't need a valet or a host. It all depends on the kind of service you intend to offer.
In conclusion, managing a restaurant that has a lot of restaurant staff on payroll is a hard job. It can be made easier if you have a robust restaurant employee management system in your Cloud-Based Point of Sale System that has all things needed to handle the restaurant staff. Thinking of setting up a QR code food ordering service at your restaurant instead of having to manage a huge amount of staff at your restaurant. If you have trouble managing all your inventory then check our ERP solution we have built
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, DiNAMIC
30th April 2021