Selecting staff is, you might say, one of the most important things when opening a cafe. Draw up portraits of future candidates and think through a plan for recruiting them. Post vacancies in social networks and available online resources. Make a list of questions for the interview and decide on the length of the internship for your future employees. Finding good workers is not easy, the staff must be constantly monitored to protect themselves from theft and theft. To do this, you need to motivate and encourage active employees with bonuses, bonuses and extra days off. If you additionally connect a cafe automation system that will monitor all the financial transactions of the establishment in real time, it will allow you to instantly track theft and reduce your expenses.
If the cafe that you are going to open is connected with a certain cuisine, the chef should be involved from the very beginning. For example, for Chinese cuisine you need one piece of equipment, and for Italian cuisine another. Costs also depend on the staffing.
Most likely you will need the help of an experienced chef, who will make for you the necessary number of flow charts and the overall menu. You can read how to make a proper menu for a cafe in our article “Development of the menu for a cafe, restaurant”. And then, already ordinary chefs will cook dishes according to the made up technological charts that will save you a lot of money.
The success of the institution depends largely on the personnel who work in it. When choosing employees to work is worth paying attention not only to work experience and qualifications, but also on personal qualities: responsibility, ability to work in a team, friendliness. We will tell you about what kind of staff is necessary for the full work of the institution and what to pay attention to when looking for employees to work.
How to choose staff for the institution
Selecting staff is not easy, the more important it is to find employees who are interested to work with you for a long period. Staff turnover is bad, because a lot of time and effort is spent on training each employee. Before you create a staff, think carefully about how many people you will need and what positions in the cafe or restaurant they will occupy. It is best to first hire the minimum number of employees you need to start up, to see if there are enough people to close processes. It’s better to hire more people later than to fire extra people.
To understand how many people you will need for the full operation of the institution:
- Count the number of tables and seating in the establishment.
- Estimate the kitchen area and workstations.
- Calculate how many staff will be needed during the busiest hours of the place so that the speed of service to guests will not suffer.
- Estimate the budget and calculate how much money can be allocated for salaries.
- Create a table of sales and calculate the number of customers. This will allow you to calculate the number of employees that will be needed and divide the staff by shifts.
- If the team is staffed correctly – the institution will run as a single mechanism and will not require the constant presence of the owner.
Qualifications of the staff of the cafe or restaurant
In order to assess the qualifications of staff it is not enough to read the resume, a good option is to ask for a letter with recommendations from the employee’s past work. First, this will help you understand why the employee left his or her last job, and second, the past employer will describe the employee’s good qualities and skills.
Do not be afraid to take candidates without experience, such employees can prove themselves well, will try to work quality and gain experience. At first, the salary of newcomers will be less than that of experienced employees.
Another option for testing the qualifications of staff is secret guests. You can invite a friend to the institution or hire a mystery shopper, who will evaluate the work of the waiters, the quality of food and service. This method will help to understand how the staff works with the average guest, what mistakes the waiters make.