A Few Good Employees
Bread & Butter, February 2000

Tableservice- and quickservice-restaurant operators alike have identified the top challenge facing them in 2000 to be finding qualified and motivated labor, according to National Restaurant Association research. With unemployment at its lowest level in decades, restaurateurs are realizing that they need to go beyond newspaper ads to attract new hires. Here are some ways to recruit the best of the bunch.

• Go back to school. College campuses offer a rich pool of potential employees, says Pam Johnson, former general manager of the Cheesecake Factory in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and current manager of the Las Vegas unit. Johnson says she had to "pull out all the stops" to recruit employees when the Chestnut Hill unit opened four years ago. "We would go to colleges and walk down the street and hand out fliers," says Johnson. "We set up a meeting with the dean at Newbury College, which has a culinary school, to tell him all about the Cheesecake Factory."

• Recruit experienced workers. "We used to eat out a lot" when preparing for the restaurant's opening, says Johnson. When she spotted good employees at other eateries, she would let them know she was hiring. Although some people frown upon this practice, Johnson says she's comfortable with it—as long as it's a soft sell. "I would say something like, ‘If you're ever looking for a second job or to move on, we're hiring. If you're interested, here's my card.' "

• Encourage employee referrals. "Birds of a feather flock together," says Johnson. "If you have a really great person, chances are their friends will be good too." Andreliz Bautista, a partner in the Washington DC-based Deluxe Restaurant Group, says she also depends on employee referrals to staff her three restaurants. "We do a lot of in-house recruiting. Our staff knows what we want better than anyone else," says Bautista. As an extra incentive, the company offers a referral bonus of $50 to $300, depending on the urgency of the hire. For recruiting someone to fill a manager position, managers can receive a bounty of up to $1,000.

• Offer signing bonuses. The Deluxe Restaurant Group sometimes offers a $100 hiring bonus to attract new recruits. When advertising this offer, it's important to indicate when it expires, says Bautista.

• Create a buzz about your restaurant. When the Cheesecake Factory first opened in Chestnut Hill, the owners threw a huge party as a way of spreading the word about the restaurant, says Johnson. Creating excitement about your restaurant not only attracts customers but also job applicants, she says.