Managing your Time - 3 P's of Restaurant Management

As the Opening Manager, I walked into my restaurant last Friday morning to find the general appearance of the store to be somewhat disheveled.

After making a list of the misplaced smallwares, the understocked paper items, and a half hearted attempt of proper cleaning, I reviewed the schedule to see who closed the prior evening. As I had thought, the newer assistant manager had been in charge of the shift.

I had worked with this gentleman for a few months and it has become increasingly apparent that he has problems with organization, (organizing his own time, his employee's time, and the overall organization of the restaurant.

I gave him these 3 projects to help him manage his time:

1- Plan your shift

2- Prioritize your activities

3- Provide feedback to each of your people

Plan

"Plan your work, and work your plan." The absolute first rule of time management is to start with a solid plan. You need to know what you want to accomplish from the beginning of the shift. Plan your shift with specific goals, time-bound benchmarks, and measurable results. Make sure each of your people know what position they are are assigned to and any side duties that they need to complete.

Prioritize

What are the most important aspects of your job as they relate to the company goals and guidelines, guest satisfaction and overall profitability? Knowing the capabilities of your people and becoming a master of managing your time as well as theirs, will be invaluable in getting things done without interrupting the smooth operation of your restaurant. The number one rule is to focus on the customer. All your decisions need to based on how it will affect customer service. As the restaurant is prepared for the nightly close, remember the number one priority is still the customer. Also it is well to note that the opening crew, with all the food preparation, may not have the time to search for missing utensils, stock needed items and finish cleaning things that should have been done the night before.

Provide Feedback

The most important management duty is follow up. Someone once told me a long time ago, "you can't expect, what you don't inspect."
Make sure to hold you people accountable for what you have entrusted them to do. And don't wait until the staff is ready to walk out the door to leave at night, inspect their progress on a continual basis. This will avoid any last minute half-hearted attempt to finish up. If necessary, make a checklist of the smallwares for each station and have the crew person place the utensils back in the service line for your inspection.

Managing your time and the time of your people is not often an easy task. As we all know, there are handfuls of challenges that await us each day in our exciting world of restaurant management.

My advice to you is this.

Stay positive. You can do it.

Most of the management skills that you need to succeed are only acquired with experience.
Follow the basics and always keep an eye and ear open for new or better ways to handle the ever-changing situations that make up our days.

Don't forget to follow the 3 P's of Restaurant Management.
Plan, Prioritize, and Provide Feedback.

Best of Luck,

Bill