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Best Practices for Managing Your Front of House

Best Practices FOH

Your Front of House is just as important as your Back of House. It’s the center of your guest experience. When both your front and back of house are well managed, it creates a balance that helps your restaurant flow more efficient and swift.

There are several ways to manage your front of house. Let’s take a look at some best practices:

Employee Training

When running a restaurant, you want your employees to be on the same page. When training is consistent, it makes things less complicated, provides more unity, and increases employee morale. And the best part is – you don’t have to go above and beyond to train your employees – it can be simple and fun.

Employee training can be offered online through training programs, or you can create your own in person program – shadowing is a wonderful tactic to use. You should first start by making a handbook for your staff to have access to and always remind them to check it consistently for updates.

When starting the training process, it’s important to get the basics down first – dress code, mannerism, how to take orders, etc. After this, you’ll need to make sure your staff becomes familiar with the menu and any specials you may be running each day and/or week.

Staff Meetings

Daily staff meetings to discuss menu changes and positive and negative reviews are a great way to bring everyone together and keep employees engaged. It’s a great opportunity to go over food costs and high profitable menu items your servers should push for the day. Teach them about the different pairings they can suggest to diners. Make sure they know your menu items like the back of their hand. The last thing you want is for your waitstaff to not be able to answer any questions your customers may have!

Clear communication is essential to running a business. Regularly holding staff meetings will help open conversation for any questions or concerns your employees may have and will also give them the opportunity to voice ideas and bond with other colleagues.

This time can be used for introducing the menu, problem-solving, giving feedback both positive or negative, or delivering announcements. However, you can use this time for whatever feels right and don’t forget to make sure you ask employees to pitch in as well – in case there’s anything they want to address.

Restaurant Reservations

Customers want something that’s easy to navigate and able to meet their needs quickly. Having a simple and accessible reservation system is vital to boosting restaurant success. Automating your restaurant reservation process is the best way go about this.

By implementing an automated reservation system, you also help your front-of-house staff keep reservations and walk-ins maintained and under control. When all your reservations are coming through one stream, it gives your employees the opportunity to easily manage each party without any confusion or overbookings.

Contactless Experience for Guests

In the age of technology, you’re looking for ways to elevate the guest experience and cut down on labor. Contactless dining is a great way to help your front-of-house staff manage through the mayhem on those busy nights. It also gives customers a peace of mind knowing they’re staying safe by minimizing the number of shared surfaces and objects.

Just a few ways you can create a contactless experience for guests is by generating QR codes for menus or executing an automated payment system they can access directly through their smart phones! This helps put time back into your employees’ day while still meeting customer expectations.

 

Whether it’s adopting new technology or giving staff a more enhanced experience, there are many ways you can enhance how you manage your front of house!

About Me
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Annie Pepanyan is a Marketing Coordinator at Buyers Edge Platform, Content Maven, and Foodservice Fanatic.

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