5 Reasons Why You Should Train Cooks from Within

Staffing a competent BOH team is a constant uphill climb, and just when you think your core crew is established - one of your best cooks gets a “better job” somewhere else or your AM prep guy gets drunk on cooking wine and found sleeping in the kitchen bathroom (true story).  Every restaurant is different, whether it’s full service or fast casual it’s a guarantee that all of them need cooks. The perfect line or prep cook is the unique mix of a work-horse, with killer execution experience, can work 50+ HRs and all for low pay.  Cooks are either amazing and passionate about the job or they’re forced into the profession by life circumstances. Then once you get a good one you do your best to retain them or you’re back in the weeds again.  Which is why training from within is the best way to maintain your BOH Team.

1) They Already Know the Restaurant

    Your dishwashers, runners, bussers and porters are untapped talent, they already know their way around the kitchen. No time wasted with “Where is _____?” and “Where do we put _________ during/ after/ before service?”.  If you need them to put some mise en place in the walkin, they already know where to find the quart containers, tape and markers.  This could take some time for a newer employee to adapt, whereas a current employee already knows this information.

2)  High Accountability

There’s a certain sense of accountability instilled in an employee being promoted from within, and the pressure to not mess up the opportunity is much higher.  Nothing grows the perception of ownership than cross training.  If anyone calls out then everyone can work the same stations because they have done it before, and loyalty grows from there. Training your dishwashers and porters seem tedious, but if you want to build a team who started from the bottom and worked their way up together - it’s the way to go!

3) Creates a Stronger Team

In food pairings there’s a saying, “if grows together goes together”, the saying is the same for strong BOH teams.  Cooks grown from mastering stations from the bottom, build solid teams who have seen it all before, this only occurs with longevity.  It also lights a fire under your current dishwashers’ and porters’ butts to get their careers to the next level.  Also nothing talks like taking off the rubber gloves, putting a knife in someone’s hand and increasing his or her pay rate.  If they really want to learn and your current cooks are about to burnout at 60+ hrs a week, then it’s well worth the extra time for your team’s sake.  
 

4) Shows off Your Leadership Skills

Taking the time to cultivate in house talent, shows you genuinely care about your people beyond your labor costs and just barely pushing through service. If you’re still worried about wasting your time, then this is a serious test of your leadership skills as well. Chefs and kitchen managers, before believing you’re “too busy” to train a dishwasher or  remember that many of really great chefs began as dishwashers, John Besh, Thomas Keller, Gabrielle Hamilton and Anthony Bourdain to name a few.  You think you’re a strong leader? Turn your most tenured dishwashers into your top line and prep crew.  Chef Daniel Angerer of By Chloe says a good Chef “needs to be an authority, leader, motivator, spokesman, a person to look up to”.

True leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders or in this case great cooks.  

5)  Cultivates a Better Work Culture

As entrepreneur and blonde golden raisin, Richard Branson, once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to”.  The key to retention is solid training and acting in the best interest of your entire team.  A major plus is you never have to worry about fixing flawed training because you trained them all YOUR way. So, there’s no team dividing arguments on how much acid goes on the ceviche or how soft a scramble should be a brunch. The potential of growth is also the easiest way to recruit more dishwashers and runners, then the of challenge of hiring the most eager dishwashers and porters is 86’ed.      

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The 3 Best Ways to Find Cooks

      Finding excellent cooks is one of the most challenging of the restaurant industry.  Cooks are the backbone of every restaurant, they are usually the ones executing the food that brings in revenue. Good cooks are essential to any thriving restaurant.  The best cooks are able to follow instructions accordingly to their respective chefs’ recipes, have some experience (but no ego), know that creativity is reserved for after they prove themselves in the kitchen - all for hourly wages and low pay.  Some of the usual obstacles of recruiting for these difficult positions include: no shows for interviews and training, candidates not looking to stay for a long period of time.  With all of these challenges turnover is high and all chefs need competent cooks - fast! There are better ways than posting on every individual job board and waiting for candidates to come to you.

1. Referrals

    When a position is open, referrals are usually the first route chefs and managers take to get someone through the door, especially for finding skilled cooks.  If your guy on grill is killing it every night and has never called out once, chances are he might know other hard working people like him.  You get his friend through the door from his old job, and she happens to be a beast in prep - problem solved!  However, referrals can be risky just as they are successful.  Be wary of hiring just anyone your employees ask to hire.  Set some parameters and restrictions on who can be referred.  The last thing you want is a husband and wife working in the same space arguing about the kids, while you’re waiting at expo for a steak on the fly because table 12 ordered steak tartare and didn’t know it was supposed to be “raw”.  Referrals are a pretty safe bet for filling a few positions, but if you hire referrals only because you need a “body on the floor” it could be a disaster.   

2. Proper Job Promotion

    Posting on job boards is very effective but posting to multiple job boards is a painstaking process.  If your job happens to be posted on the wrong board then great candidates can miss an opportunity to work for you.  Cooks have hectic schedules and a limited amount of time to apply for new jobs, so more exposure is always better. Harri’s Job Distributor takes all of the strengths of Craigslist, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, CareerJet, Jooble and more, then posts them all at once. You will be able to see your jobs (host, waiter, and chef jobs) right away. You receive the volume and quality of all of the job boards in one place, and it saves you time from posting on each one.  As an extra plus, candidates can use their smartphones to apply through the application, so they can come through your restaurant doors quickly!

Courtesy of @lupulonyc Instagram 

3. Social Media

    Much like referrals this could be a hit or miss.  Being aware of peak times to post is key for having job ads on social media.  This takes a little more preparation than posting an ad on a job board or asking a cook if he has any friend or past co-workers for referrals.  A good job post on social media must be very image driven.  Usually restaurants collaborate with their marketing or PR Teams to get this completed, then they can use the same ads whenever there are positions to be filled.  For example Chipotle went all out by dedicating an entire Facebook page to gain more candidates, while Lupulo kept it simple with an Instagram post with the positions available.  When posting on Facebook remember to do so with with images and video.  Studies have shown that have 39% more post engagement, than just posting text alone.  If you go the Instagram route then note the most successful times to post are Mon-Thurs from 6AM -12PM. One of the largest drawbacks can be that expense if you don’t have internal resources to create these posts.  Overall, posting positions on social media is effective because almost everyone has a cell phone and the reach is not only instantaneous but shareable.   

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Attract the Best Talent with One Click

Finding the right talent is challenging. Employers often have to publish their job postings on several job boards to successfully fill a position. It's a time consuming and often frustrating process. 

Harri's mission is to simplify and modernize the hiring process. Which is why we've created Job Distributor, an easy to use platform designed to increase the visibility of your open positions. Now you can post to most major job boards, all from one place. 

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Want to learn more? Schedule a call with one of our talent specialists today.

5 Steps to Successfully Onboard Restaurant Employees

Now that you have completed the task of finding and interviewing the right candidate for your restaurant, the next step is onboarding. Studies show that when employees properly onboard staff, it leads to higher satisfaction levels, decreases turnover and high retention rates. Not only do you want to remain compliant, you want to keep potential hires happy and make them feel valued.

Here is a checklist of must-do’s when onboarding your new staff:

#1: Send hires onboarding papers

At Harri, we make this step super simple for you and your employees. Send new hirees offer letters and necessary onboarding documents online. You save both time and money with digital onboarding. (And think about, you probably do not want to deal with piles of paperwork anyway.) In addition, you will be 100% compliant to labor laws. You do not need to stress about putting together an onboarding package because everything is already pre-loaded onto Harri. All you have to do is select whichever forms are needed, and send it over to them digitally.

#2: Plan out an onboarding first day

On the new hires’ first day, they will not know their way around yet, so do give them a tour around the restaurant. After, sit them down once more to review what their jobs’ responsibilities and duties are. They probably will feel like a lot is being thrown at them and it seems daunting. Don’t scare them away on the first day already. Set aside some time during their shift to do an icebreaker session with the rest of the team during mealtime. Provide a welcoming atmosphere for them so that they can get more comfortable with everybody.

#3: Run a trail and stage training

Run a trail (or stog) on the servers, chefs and others during the onboarding period. Remember – It is illegal to stage a candidate unless their onboarding paperwork in 100% complete. Monitor how their work ethic is like during their shifts and how they interact with the rest of the team. Keep note of these things so that at the end of their trial, you can make an informed final decision to hire or not hire the candidate.

#4: Assign mentors to new hires

Before you assign one of your current staff to mentor a new hire, make sure to ask them if they would be willing to take on the position. If they agree so, encourage them to help out their mentees get settled in and get them up to speed with the workings of the restaurant. The new hires can also shadow and learn from their mentors during this time.

#5: Provide feedback on performance

Schedule a meeting at the end of the first shift to go over the new hires’ performance. Things to review include their general performance, attendance, attitude, cooperativeness with the team, amongst other job specific-related details. Do not forget about your staff’s approvals as well. It is important to hear their comments too, since they will be working with the new hires as a team.

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Find out how the top brands like Tao Group, Eataly, sweetgreen, Nobu, Soho House, The Meatball Shop and more source, hire and manage talent with Harri's TOTAL TALENT SOLUTION, an all-in-one platform built specifically for the hospitality.

With Harri’s digital platform, employers can find and on-board top talent for their business while maximizing productivity, reducing costs and saving time. Harri clients save up to 68% in hiring time and save up to 48% in hiring costs.

Harri’s Total Talent Solution empowers employers to easily:

• Post unlimited jobs to Harri's network plus post to multiple job boards and receive up to 37MM views with one click.
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• Send offer letters and on boarding document digitally to new hires.
• Create media rich, on-line profiles showcasing their company's culture and therefore, attracting the right type of talent. 

Harri has over 210,000 members and over 3,500 employers based in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Washington DC. It is the number one marketplace for hospitality talent in NYC.

Harri will be showcasing our best-in-class Total Talent Solution at Start Up Alley at the NRA Show in Chicago May 21-24. If interested in learning more about how Harri can help you with your hiring needs, contact us to schedule a demo.