Restaurant labor pools have been on a rollercoaster ride for the last several years now. There have been labor shortages, minimum wage changes, AI integrations, and high turnover, all impacting labor numbers and the work that goes into training and retaining quality employees who feel happy and valued at work. Restaurant owners must pay attention to the changes in hiring and maintaining employees from all angles. As Derek Clayton, a corporate chef at Vitamix, recently shared with Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), “the complexity of the kitchen needs more scrutiny from restaurateurs,” because it is so much more than just a quick hire.
“High turnover is a never-ending challenge for restaurants. According to restaurant POS provider Toast, restaurants experience an average annual employee turnover rate of 78%, creating a constant need to onboard and train new staff,” Clayton writes. It’s an astoundingly high percentage. And according to Clayton, who spends plenty of time in the kitchen as a chef, restaurant owners need to learn the ins and outs of the kitchen space to really tackle the issue. “To address the challenge, operators have invested heavily in hiring, retention, and training initiatives. While those efforts remain important, there’s another factor that receives less attention: the complexity of the kitchen itself.”
New hires face a lot of information and a lot of pressure when they join a kitchen staff. There are the logistics of how they assimilate on to a team in this new space; there is the competence with the skills they are asked to perform and how they are trained for the job at-hand; there are interpersonal working relationships to contend with—all of this affects efficiency, morale, and overall success for the individual employee and the whole team. When these processes and integrations are analyzed and simplified, there is a greater rate of success. Clayton says, “Simplifying kitchen operations won’t eliminate turnover, but it can help employees become productive more quickly, perform more consistently, and complete training with less hands-on support.”
It can be a lot to keep a kitchen fully functional and high-performing while also bringing in new employees—especially while turnover rates are so high. Clayton has identified three key areas that help to ease the stress of training employees, even in fast-paced work environments like a busy kitchen.
First, he says, “don’t rush the on-boarding process” even though it’s tempting when you’re in need of workers. “New employees need time to learn your systems, understand your expectations, and become comfortable with the pace of service. Throwing someone into a busy shift before they’re ready often creates additional pressure for the rest of the team. Experienced employees end up answering questions, correcting mistakes, and covering gaps while trying to manage their own responsibilities.”
Secondly, Clayton borrows from “ingredient prep” as advice for staff placement. “Everything in your kitchen should have a place. Not just ingredients, but tools, equipment, containers, and supplies as well. When employees know exactly where to find what they need, they spend less time searching and more time executing,” he says.
Lastly, Clayton advises to default to economy. “One of the most valuable exercises you can do is walk through your operation and look for unnecessary movement,” he says and breaks it down into these four questions:
- What does that employee need throughout the shift?
- Where should those items be located?
- Are they taking extra steps to complete routine tasks?
- Are they constantly reaching, walking, or searching for something?
“Poor layouts force employees to work harder than necessary — especially new hires,” he adds.
Richard Weil, owner and principal of National Restaurant Consultants (NRC), places additional emphasis on effective communications. “Owners, managers, supervisors and trainers should always ask these three critical questions and steps when training: Did the employee know what to do? Did the employee know how to do the tasks assigned? And most importantly, ask for the receipt, meaning; did the employee commit to stating they know how to do the tasks? Finalizing this third component is part of the checking to be sure the processes are understood.”
All of these principles are the result of a studied, organized work environment, something that our restaurant consultants know quite a bit about. Using NRC’s Operations Analysis, NRC’s consultants find leaks in efficiency and communication that impact employee performance, and with this data, NRC can design training programs that encourage happy employees to stay on-board.