Waiter Training Newsletter

Check Those References!

Call me Aesop of the Fabled Restaurant World!  I skipped a couple of months of submitting my newsletter only to return with a cautionary tale!  We all learn the hard way and there's no teacher like experience, right?

In our rush to fill our restaurants with warm bodies to make it look like we have a full staff, we sometimes overlook the application process.  I mean the true application process.

I know, I know...I like to blabber about the hiring process and the importance of finding the right fit for your restaurant.  Checking references is one of those details we like to skip over.  Although the law says a former employer can't outright badmouth a potential employee, there are questions that legally get around that annoying little design flaw.  I realize it's there to protect the employee; I also realize there is little to protect you, the owner, from hiring a thief or another kind of criminal. 

Recently, I trained a staff for an opening.  The chef had made sure he built a beautiful restaurant, created a culinary delight of a menu and hired a management staff to help with the hiring of great people. 

The new staff was great!  Most of them were ready for the challenge and adventure of an exciting restaurant.  Most of them had experience in fine dining and knew how to up-sell a menu.  I tell you it was a dream team! 

The glitch:  there was a young man who was exceptional at the art of really fine service.  Aside from being a little nervous in front of his peers (role-playing will do that), he was great!  I gave the managers a pat on the back for that one and rightfully so, it seemed. 

A couple of days into the training, he asked one of the managers if his wife could join the team.  He assured us that they worked together better than apart.  I’m always reluctant to hire a married couple, especially if they’re going to be working in the same department.  That’s just me. 

She was hired, as well.  I noticed right away that they were a bit exclusionary and took great pains to make sure they were always together.  Even in a menu game designed to help the new team learn the menu, they ignored the team divisions and made sure they were together. 

Some of you might be thinking – SO WHAT?!?  You can think that.  I was thinking – THIS IS WEIRD!  That’s just me.  In my summary report, I cautioned the management team to be wary of them.  I wasn’t comfortable with the level of “togetherness” they exhibited.  They weren’t too sure, either. 

During one of their soft openings, a fellow restaurant owner, who was invited to the party, saw them and immediately called on the management team.  Evidently, they had been terminated from his restaurant in the past for credit card fraud. 

Let’s all just say it together – “OUCH!”

The husband wasn’t lying when he said they work better together – there was a reason for that!  Needless to say, the managers had to do some fancy footwork in their back-pedaling techniques.  It was an easy mistake to make; they are an attractive, young couple who have a love for food and are also skillful at service. 

This is a rare occurrence, I have to believe.  Most of the people you hire are not going to be artful credit card thieves. 

If you can’t afford to do background checks on people, which isn’t always the most reliable resource anyway, then you have to know what to say to a former employer to find out about a potential employee for you.  It might be worth contacting an HR attorney or someone in the field of human resources. 

Best of luck out there!

 

Training and information is the key!  Contact me, Susie, at Waiter Training, either by phone or email.  My business number is (720) 203-4615, and email address is Susie@waiter-training.com.  Web address is http://www.waiter-training.com.

Excellence is an act won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but rather we have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
                                                                                - Aristotle

 

   Waiter Training Book for Individual Waiters:  $17.95

   Host Manual:  $49.95

   Server Manual:  $79.95

   Busser Manual:  $49.95

   Manual Package:  $159.95

 

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter - It's free!

Newsletter Archives