Retaining Restaurant Managers; Keeping Restaurant's Heart Alive

It is often believed that happy faces bring the best to the table and similarly, a happy manager is an important part of the restaurant business. We have heard restaurant owners talking about their ‘team’ as an important part of their business and often it is one of the biggest challenges to get the best staff and team. Treated as the heart and soul of the restaurant, a manager knows his staff and customers very well, thereby making the restaurants run smoothly drawing the best of the business. But with all the glam that the manager’s job offers, they are moving out for better opportunities. Restaurant industry faces the highest attrition challenges because of the work pressure that it creates for its staff.

“We are one big family at Massive and we encourage our team members to take some time off, spend time with their families. Alongside, we have off-sites planned, family days etc,” shares Zorawar Kalra, Founder & MD, Massive Restaurants adding that awarding and rewarding is a done thing however, acknowledging their efforts and hard work is of utmost importance.

These days restaurant managers leave their jobs at top restaurants opting for a start-up restaurant because of quite a few reasons which include appreciation and good pay offs. “We have hired the best of the talents from the industry and given all of them a promotion trying our best to match their salary expectations,” says Abhinav Aggarwal of recently opened Café StayWoke at South Point Mall Gurgaon. The group has never believed in negotiation thinking that if the staffs are working for them, they should be satisfied and happy in their own terms. “We provide a lot of incentives which keeps the competition among the staffs alive. We also don’t try to question them if they are willing to have a holiday,” adds Manali Guha, the Co-Founder of the café who is trying to introduce the MNC culture at their restaurant.

Sharing a similar story Chef Om Nayak who runs The Pasta Bowl Company points that he never asks his staff to work if they are upset or don’t feel like working as it will falter in the food and service. “This goes for both my chefs and servers as this would hamper the service and food,” adds Nayak who has almost has 0% of the attrition rate at his restaurant. Hence, we can say that every restaurant owners know that a good team is very important. The pillar of an organization thrives on its team. But they somehow lag or miss on making their team and staff happy. “We at Massive have a very intense & streamlined process of selection &this is how we can proudly say we have the best in industry,” concludes Kalra who has award winning restaurants like Masala Library, Farzi Café to his hat.