Never underestimate the value of a great leader, when it comes to restaurant management. This is actually a critical element to any sort of management position, and there are a few traits of truly effective managers that make for a better overall quality workplace. Being able to exhibit these traits to your employees makes for a greater confidence in your abilities, but also, this helps the customer to feel that the management is on their side, and cares about their experience. Being a great manager is more than just being able to make a schedule or take care of a dissatisfied customer. There is much more to it than that, and these traits are important.

First and foremost, management has to be openly communicable with those in their employ. Unclear instruction or inadequate communication can lead to many problems, and most of which a loss in productivity. Changes in the system, changes in the way that things are done need to be communicated immediately, and conveyed in an understandable way. Vagueness or rushing to express a given demand usually will result in either a job not done correctly, or a complete do over- this is to be avoided. When it comes to training, being open and receptive is also good, and a back and forth with regard to communication can enable a much smoother workplace environment. Not only is communicating change important, but acknowledging the hard work and effort of the employees, as well. Food service of any kind can be a rather high stress work environment, and being able to encourage the staff helps a great deal more than many people realize.

Secondly, when it comes to organization, an effective restaurant manager knows what’s going on in his or her location at all times. There is not anything that the management should be unclear on, and this sort of ties into the first area- because communication being open enables a greater understanding of issues sometimes even before they arise. If the management team is not in synch, it makes for an uncertainty in the workplace, or opens the door to manipulations. Being careful to ensure that everyone is on the same page and communicating that well is vital to the success of a restaurant management team. This also has bearing on numbers, as it is really important that any member of a management team be able to keep not only accurate records, but organize all of this in a way that makes sense to others.

Lastly, making sure that everything is balanced is important. What discipline was handed out to one employee for an infraction, has to be to the next who causes the same issue. When looking at situations and analyzing problems, it is a must to be able to see all sides of any given problem and come to an intelligent resolution that does not breed any sort of animosity. Fairness in all things is important and being able to balance these things will make for a much more efficient and effective management team.

As a restaurant owner you are undoubtedly all too familiar with the ongoing struggle to find ways to contain and reduce costs in your business.  Though cost management is always an important aspect of the success of your business, it is becomes even more important when the economy begins to suffer as it has over the past few years.  As more and more restaurants begin shutting their doors for good, it becomes even more important to be smart about the way that we run our businesses so as to avoid joining those who have failed.

When every single penny counts you cannot afford to leave any stone unturned in your quest to maximize profits by reducing costs.  There are a number of cost management measures that many fail to notice.  One of these lies in the area of insurance.

Insurance is an absolute necessity.  Not only are you legally obligated to carry certain coverages, but it is just good sense to protect yourself and your business.  Though we all hope that we will never have cause to utilize those costly plans, it is certainly an instance of “better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it”.  There are ways to reduce your insurance cost without sacrificing the amount of coverage that you carry, though.

One of the most obvious ways to drop the cost of the insurance you carry as a business owner is to raise your premiums.  You can potentially save a lot of money this way, especially if you are fortunate enough to not have to file claims.  The best way to protect yourself if you choose to do this is to set aside the difference between what you would be paying for a lower deductible and what you pay for the higher deductible.  By setting aside money in this way you can cushion yourself should you find yourself needing to pay out of pocket.

Of course, should you find yourself not needing to cover those deductibles, then so much the better.  The best way to do this is to crack down on safety issues in your establishment.  Knuckling down about safety in your restaurant can work in your favor in several ways.

Most obviously, if you are doing everything in your power to prevent accidents from occurring in your place of business then you stand a much better chance of avoiding having to pay out those costly deductibles.  This means that the money you set back, which you saved from your reduced insurance payments, is money for your business – a net gain.

Improved safety works in favor of your business in another way, though.  Businesses that report few or no workplace injuries become eligible for further reductions in the cost of their insurance policies.  In fact, by just reporting less than average workplace injury claims you may be able to save as much as 25% off of your insurance premiums.

Finally, shop around for insurance often.  At least once a year, when it comes time to renew, take a look around and see who is offering the best rates.  Never make the mistake of simply renewing with your current company just because they are who you have always used.

At some point in almost every young person’s life, usually fairly earlier into their work career, they set their sights on a leadership position within whatever organization they have gained employment in.  While restaurant management may offer its own rewards, it isn’t a task that just anyone is well suited for.  Successfully managing a restaurant requires the ability to think on your feet and to multi-task to a high degree.

It is because the duties of a restaurant manager are so stringent that leadership positions within a restaurant are often broken down into a number of subsets, such as assistant managers, crew leads and the like.  In many large restaurants the kitchen may operate under the auspices of an executive chef who undertakes most of the duties of managing kitchen operations while a floor manager supervises the servers and greeters.  However, at the top there must always be one main supervisor holding the totality of operations together into a fluid and cohesive whole.

At the very core of anyone with an eye on advancing through the ranks of restaurant management must be a strong sense of customer service and duty to the public.  The successful manager understands that his or her first duty is always to the customer.  This is often displayed by the most successful managers, not in how they deal with customer complaints or concerns, but in their willingness to get out there with the rest of the staff and assist customers on an especially busy night.  At heart, all good restaurant managers are still servers or cooks at heart.

It is for this reason that many restaurants choose to promote from in house.  Anyone who has never filled the entry level roles in a dining establishment could never hope to have the in depth understanding of the intricacies of restaurant operations coupled with the true spirit of service.  It is almost a universal truth that the employee who worked his or her way up from the kitchen to the office will do a better job than a party brought in from the outside.

Since the best managers generally come from in house, it falls to existing management to be able to spot potential, initiative and a natural bent toward leadership within the ranks.  Employees demonstrating these capacities should be encouraged to develop them and placed into leadership roles as soon as they are ready.  The shift lead of today is the outstanding manager of tomorrow.
Of those traits listed above, initiative is probably the one most often overlooked or left uncultivated.  A decent manager will ensure that all of the day-to-day duties of a restaurant are carried out, that employees are performing up to expectation and that customer issues are handled appropriately.  That is simply the baseline that defines an adequate manager.  The truly good manager, the one you want running the show in your absence, is the one who shows initiative.

The employee with initiative doesn’t ask, “Did I do an adequate job?”  The employee with initiative doesn’t even ask, “Did I do the best job I could do?”  No, the employee who will make a great manager some day is the one that asks, “How could this job be done more efficiently and effectively?”  It is this sort of employee that, when promoted, will begin to look for ways to improve the restaurant and make it more profitable.