Are you a fast food general manager or assistant manager looking to take your career to the next level? Or maybe you’re new to the role and want to ensure you’re doing everything possible to succeed. Either way, this blog post is for you.
8 Tips on How to Be a Good Fast Food Manager
Keep reading to learn the essential restaurant management tips so that you can be a great fast food manager.
Lead By Example
Being a great fast food manager includes setting the tone for your team. As the saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.” This means being professional and always upholding the highest customer service standards. Your team will take their cues from you, so ensure you’re setting a good example.
Clear and courteous communication is also crucial in setting the tone for your restaurant. For instance, don’t just tell the customer if a menu item is unavailable. Apologize and offer a solution.
Be Organized and Efficient
Another essential trait of restaurant management is being organized and efficient. Having all your ducks in a row regarding inventory, food preparation, point-of-sale procedures, employee scheduling, and shift changes. It also requires you to think on your feet, train your staff well, and make quick decisions when necessary. A great fast food manager is always one step ahead.
Keep Your Cool Under Pressure
A great fast food manager knows how to keep their cool under pressure. You must be able to handle demanding customers, maintain your composure during busy times, and stay calm in the face of adversity. Remember, your team is looking to you for guidance, so it’s crucial that you remain calm and collected at all times.
Pay Attention to Detail
No matter how big or small your fast-casual restaurant is, there will always be little things that need to be taken care of for everything to run smoothly. As the manager, you must ensure these day-to-day details are taken care of properly. This includes keeping the restaurant clean, restocking supplies, ensuring customer satisfaction, and anything else that might come up daily. As a result, word of mouth about your restaurant remains positive, and customers keep coming back.
Support Your Team
As a restaurant industry manager, your responsibility is to ensure that your employees always perform at their best. Set high standards and hold your team accountable for meeting those standards. Be a positive force in the workplace and provide employees with the support they need to succeed. When your team is motivated, they’ll be more likely to provide excellent customer service, which leads to higher sales and satisfied customers.
Hire the Right People
There’s no doubt that employees are a crucial part of any successful business in the fast food industry. After all, they’re the ones who interact with customers, handle key tasks, and keep things running smoothly.
Considering that, taking your time when hiring new employees and carefully screening candidates is crucial. After all, the last thing you want is to hire someone who isn’t well suited for the job or who doesn’t have the necessary skills. In addition to doing a thorough background check, including looking at their social media, be sure to ask plenty of questions during the interview process. This will help you better understand each candidate’s personality and whether they would be a good fit for your business.
And finally, don’t forget to pay attention to those little red flags. If something seems off, it’s probably best to move on to the next candidate. By taking these steps, you can help ensure that you hire the right people for your business.
Create a Strong Candidate Pipeline
Any fast food manager knows that finding reliable, hard-working employees can be challenging. In today’s tight labor market, having a strong candidate pipeline is more important than ever. HourWork is a SaaS recruitment and retention platform that helps food business owners find and keep the best employees.
The platform allows fast food restaurants to send automated messages to former employees and job applicants, making it easy to stay in touch with potential hires. As a result, HourWork can help you build a strong candidate pipeline and ensure you’re always prepared for turnover.
Reduce Turnover
As a fast food manager, you realize that employee retention is critical. You also know that miscommunication is a significant cause of employee turnover in the restaurant business. Paying attention to the first 90 days is crucial when new employees are getting settled in and acclimated to the job. You must ensure onboarding goes smoothly and they have all the necessary information.
HourWork can help with that.
Our automated system checks in with new employees at milestone dates during the first 90 days. This way, they can ask questions and get clarification about anything they’re unsure about. We also send pulse surveys to all employees on a regular basis. It’s a fast and efficient way to get feedback about how they’re doing and what they think of the job.
HourWork Solves Hourly Retention & Recruiting Problems FAST
With HourWork, you’ll have the tools you need to find and keep great employees, even in tough hiring environments.
HourWork is a SaaS recruitment and retention platform for quick-serve restaurant (QSR) franchise owners.
HourWork enables employers to dramatically improve applicant flow, eliminate retention challenges, and match demand for labor with workers who have certified skill sets in specific areas and are available to work.
HourWork mitigates the root cause of recruiting and retention woes for hourly employers today: Miscommunication.
Currently focused on solving applicant flow and retention challenges for QSR franchisees, HourWork has experienced explosive growth, adding 4,000 franchise locations to the platform in 2021 for a total of over 5,000 locations.
This represents 5.3 million hourly workers on the platform.
HourWork’s franchisee customers represent some of the largest multi-unit operators across iconic QSR brands such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Dominos, Wendy’s, White Castle, and many others.
Get in touch to discuss your recruiting and retention needs.