The one thing your restaurant can't live without

by Celeste Edman, Marketing Expert

You need a lot of things to run a successful restaurant; a great concept, exceptional leadership and food management, perseverance, memorable menu choices, luck. All of these are integral to creating a successful business and restaurant. However, the one thing that your restaurant can't live without is consistent training for every employee in every position.

I don't care if you run a food cart or a regional chain, if every employee at each and every position isn't trained consistently, your customer's experience will not be consistent. For example, great food coupled with poor table service does not equal repeat business. Likewise, friendly service and mediocre food isn't going to fare well long-term either.

Recently, I ate at a casual Italian restaurant. I was looking forward to the experience as the owners excelled at their fine-dining Italian establishment so I was interested in their take on casual. When I arrived, I was greeted by a welcoming host. We were seated, given menus, and told our server would be right with us. So far, so good. We waited. And we waited. And, we waited. Finally, the server arrived and asked us if we were ready to order. We asked about specials. There were none. Any recommendations on a starter, we asked? This is the look we got in return.

"There's some bread on there that's supposed to be good", he said to us.

It was in fact, very good. All the food was outstanding, but the service got progressively worse. When asked what his favorite pizza was, he informed us that he tried not to eat it because it made him fat! The owners had obviously taken great care to ensure quality products were used in their food, the décor was deliberate and specific to their brand, and the overall ambiance was good, however the server was so untrained and so incompetent that we won't be back.

Every person in your restaurant plays a role in your customer's experience. With thoughtful attention to your process and in turn your customer, you'll ensure consistency over all.

For more information on how to improve your restaurant's consistency in online staff training, contact us here.