Are restaurant labor shortages affecting your business? These restaurant management tips can help you better navigate hiring challenges so your business can thrive!
Raise Wages
The COVID-19 pandemic pointed out just how financially vulnerable restaurant employees were. That’s why one of the best and most obvious ways to battle restaurant labor shortages is to offer higher wages to your restaurant employees. While this isn’t without its own challenges, the reality is that many workers are unwilling to work at the current wages, so if you want to compete with other restaurants, you’ll need to offer competitive wages to your employees.
Add a Service Charge to the Bill
While some large restaurant groups can offer higher wages by accepting lower profits, many mom-and-pop restaurants are already struggling to get by. Adding a small service charge to each person’s bill to help support the back-of-house staff is one way to offer a better salary to your employees without putting your business under. While some diners might balk at higher costs, you might be surprised how many diners are willing to pay the extra money when you’re transparent about where it’s going.
Find Tools to Cut Costs
While the imagined future of widespread food-prep robots and autonomous delivery vehicles isn’t likely any time soon, there are still plenty of restaurant technology tools that can help cut costs, freeing up money for better wages and benefits. They can even improve the culture of your restaurant. From ordering software that helps eliminate food waste to restaurant management software that helps reduce the amount of time spent on tasks like bookkeeping and scheduling, implementing the best restaurant technology can help free up funds for hiring and retention.
Work on Employee Retention
Restaurant labor shortages have many restaurants focused on new hires, but your current employees may hold the key to improving your company culture and workplace satisfaction to help draw in potential workers. Not only should you be asking questions and creating a safe space for your current restaurant staff to provide constructive feedback, but you should be taking action to solve the problems that are commonly presented to you. Don’t let your focus on hiring challenges prevent you from taking steps to reduce turnover in your restaurant. They’re more connected than you might think.
Whether you’re looking for restaurant technology, restaurant marketing services, or high-quality ingredients for your restaurant, McDonald Wholesale has you covered. In the meantime, check out our foodservice blog, where we cover plenty of restaurant management tips. including everything from SEO for restaurants to the best appetizer recipes to try at your restaurant.