Is your restaurant feeling the pain of employee shortages? 

You are not alone.

The national restaurant association reports that 75% of restaurant operators say their biggest struggle is recruiting and retaining employees.

"We are hearing that restaurant owners are having to work in-store themselves, shut down early, and shut down altogether; some are even selling their stores," explained Menufy sales manager Ashley Day.

Finding new recruits and keeping employees is essential to your restaurant's success. 

In the hope of aiding our restaurant partners, we've compiled hiring and retaining strategies to alleviate the strain caused by shallow staff pools.

Restaurant Hiring Strategies

Finding quality servers and back-of-house staff doesn't have to be an impossible task. To increase the success of your hiring efforts, consider these five tips from our experts:

1. Tap the Social Media Market

Take advantage of your restaurant's social media presence to spread the word to potential applicants. Posting directly on your business account allows you to connect with people who are looking for job opportunities or people who know someone who is looking. Learn how to create pro-level social media posts from the experts at Menufy.

2. Offer Enticing Referral Programs

Restaurant operators are busy, very busy. So why not empower others to do some of your recruiting?

Employee Referal Program:

Enlist the help of your current staff in your hiring efforts. Creating contests or incentives will provide motivation for your employees to refer applicants.

Customer Referral Program:

Your restaurant customers are a great resource for finding potential recruits. Offer discounts or promotional items to encourage your patrons to suggest qualified candidates.

3. Examine the Past

Former employees can be a great place to search when looking for additional staff. Past servers and back-of-house staff are already familiar with your restaurant and will be able to pick up shifts faster than fresh recruits, who will require more training.  

Also, it may be worth reconsidering applicants who had previously applied at your restaurant. 
 

4. Connect to Your Neighborhood

Join restaurant associations or your local chamber of commerce to stay connected to the business community around you. When possible, attend meetings and events to increase your network of potential employees.
 

5. Create a Dedicated Applicant Webpage

Having a page on your restaurant's website that is dedicated to hiring will capture the attention of customers and those looking for jobs. "Add an employment form to your website rather than a pdf so applicants can easily apply and contact you," clarified Day.

Menufy builds custom websites for our restaurant partners and can assist with creating a page for available positions. 

Restaurant Employee Retention

You've hired the perfect candidate. Now you have to keep them! When your employees feel supported and appreciated, they will be less likely to seek new employment. There are many strategies your restaurant can implement that will promote a positive work culture and increase employee retention. 

Creative Employee Benefits:

• Provide continuous on-the-job skill training

• Encourage professional development in the restaurant industry

• Offer competitive compensation

• Provide free family-style or shift meals

• Acknowledge employee birthdays and work anniversaries with rewards

• Award paid time off to all employees

• Offer flexible work hours and shifts

• Support employee health with sick days and sick pay
  

Enhance Work Culture:

• Develop daily or weekly sales competitions and reward high performers

• Treat employees with the same respect your customers receive

• Avoid scheduling double shifts

• Support your staff by listening to their concerns

• Protect servers and hosts from rude customer interactions

Restaurant Staffing Solutions

While you wait for new applicants to be hired, there are immediate solutions your restaurant can implement to ease staff shortages without sacrificing order volume. 

As a former restaurant manager, Ashley Day suggests solutions "that would be helpful for restaurants to implement or try."

1. Online Ordering

If you have yet to include online ordering as an option for customers, you are missing an important ordering channel. By limiting in-person dining and offering customers an online ordering option for takeout or delivery, restaurant operators can save on the labor needed to operate their dining floors. 

One way to add online ordering and delivery is through a third-party app—but these often charge huge commissions and delivery fees (see for yourself). In fact, 70% of diners prefer to order directly from a restaurant's website rather than use a third-party service.

Instead, try a platform such as Menufy for commission-free service and low delivery rates. We also provide free setup and will build a website based on your restaurant's brand. 

2. Dine-In QR Codes

Do your customers love dining at your restaurant, but you don't have enough staff to keep up with service? Consider an alternative dine-in experience in which patrons order via quick response (QR) codes. "Using QR codes on dine-in orders eliminates the need for a server," explained Day.

A unique QR code allows customers to access your online menu, place an order, indicate their table number, and pay from their personal device. The order the kitchen receives will indicate its "dine-in" status and the table number, alerting staff to plate the food rather than box it up for carryout. Then the expo, a food runner, or any employee can bring the food to the table. 

Through the Menufy Manager portal, restaurant operators have access to a custom QR code that directs diners to their Menufy website, where customers can place orders.

Read The Menufy Blog for more QR code information, including a visual guide!

3. Curbside

Curbside pickup has become an increasingly common choice for restaurant owners who can't staff for dining room service. "Limit the number of dine-in tables available or remove them altogether and attempt a curbside- and delivery-only approach until needed staffing is obtained," suggested Day.

Customers can order ahead online, pull up to the restaurant, and have their to-go order brought out to their vehicle. 

Menufy's online ordering platform allows restaurant operators to set up the curbside pickup feature using the Manager portal. Once activated, diners can select this option during the checkout process and enter their vehicle description.

Curious about how to optimize your curbside service? Our experts have created a guide to help improve your customers' curbside experience.

The Next Step

The labor shortage is a challenge for many restaurant operators. Creative hiring and retention strategies must be implemented to prevent disruption to business and to keep order volume intact. 

Diversifying hiring channels and adding a dedicated application page to your restaurant's website will make it easier to reach job seekers.

Your restaurant should also consider a variety of service options, such as QR code dining and online ordering, which will ease the strain of staff shortages. 

Gallup reports that replacing an employee will conservatively cost one-half to two times the employee's annual salary, which is why it is worth investing in current employees. Offering perks and benefits to your staff will make them feel appreciated and will help your restaurant stand out from the competition. But managers should also prioritize valuing their employee's work and treating them with respect.

Restaurant management has always been about adapting to any situation. Why stop now? 

Consider implementing a few of our strategies to help push your business through the struggles of staffing. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Dimmitt, Marketing Communications Coordinator

Melissa began her digital marketing career nearly a decade ago at a restaurant group. She worked with restaurant managers and executive chefs while coordinating seasonal menu releases, executing photoshoots, and creating fresh digital content.