No Show, No Problem

However, the problem also stems from the nature of the business. Even if you could staff your concept entirely with employees with a stellar work ethic, restaurant work makes unexpected no-shows unavoidable. Your kitchen and service staff do not have the luxury of “WFH” (work from home) jobs.Life happens. And that includes illness, childcare responsibilities, transportation snafus, and so on.

Learning Objectives:

By the time you've finished reading this article, you should be able to:

• Explain the importance of establishing no-show policies at the time of hiring.

• Describe three tactics that discourage no-shows and manage them when they arise.

• Summarize how to manage guest traffic through effective communication and orchestration between the kitchen, front-of-the-house, and host stand.

  Our guests are not typically empathetic to our plight. Whether a full house at your upscale concept or a long line of customers queued at your quick-service counter, the guest experience unravels if you cannot keep up with guest traffic. And that can hurt your reputation.

  No-shows also create grief for fellow staff who show up for their shifts and find themselves in the weeds at no fault of their own. If the problem is chronic and poorly managed, you might find that your most reliable talent will seek employment elsewhere, exacerbating every imaginable labor challenge.

While the problem might be unavoidable, it is manageable. In this article, experienced operators and consultants share tactics to prevent and deal with no-shows.

Set Expectations, Standards, and Systems

As much as operators try to recruit employees who are diligent and reliable, few concepts can fill every job without a certain number of young and inexperienced hourly workers. In many cases, restaurant jobs are their first real employment. Particularly for these workers, it is important to set expectations in the interview process and reinforce them during onboarding and training.

According to the National Restaurant Association Hospitality Trainer, operators should establish and communicate an attendance policy from the get-go. For example, says Laube, “If you are a no-show for two shifts, we can only believe that you don’t want to work at the restaurant.” Attendance issues are likely to arise soon after an employee is hired. When expectations are set early, the restaurant and the new hire can quickly find out if they are a good fit.

Expectations aside, life happens. Consider creating systems and processes to allow employees to arrange for a substitute in an emergency. The most informal approach is permitting staff to trade shifts on their own accord – with rules. That might include requiring employees to arrange for a “sub” no less than two hours before their scheduled arrival time. Another rule might include requiring the employee to contact the manager on duty to approve the switch. Leaving too much discretion to staff invites chaos if not properly managed. The upsides of a systemized approach is flexibility, which staff is likely to appreciate, and it encourages personal responsibility and teamwork.

While you might be stressed and angry about a staff member not showing up for their shift, take a deep breath and avoid chastising or, forbid, firing them without allowing the employee to explain the circumstances. Emergencies arise, and you do not want to lose an otherwise reliable employee over an isolated and unavoidable situation.

Laube also recommends that operators establish an on-call list of staff who might not be scheduled to work, but who are willing to show up on short notice when needed. Employees often welcome the extra hours and income. Still, you might offer a bonus to reward on-call staff who are willing to show up in a pinch, particularly when the request is absolutely last-minute and dire. However, even a free meal on the house can be a welcome reward, says Laube.

Arthur Gordon was founder, owner, and chef of iconic Raleigh, NC independent concept. Irregardless Café. He agrees that you sometimes need to be a “strict task master,” he says. “If you are consistently not showing up, you can’t work here.”

On the other hand, he adds “sometimes you need more carrot than stick.” Among Gordon’s most popular day parts during the 45 years he operated Irregardless Café was a Sunday brunch. He invariably required a full crew to please guests and turn tables during this profitable shift. Gordon handed out cash bonuses at the end of the shift. “No one ever called in sick,” he recounts.

Whether you employ a carrot or stick approach to no-shows, beware that chronic absenteeism can be a red flag for culture and management problems, rather than staff apathy or irresponsibility. Fixing it might require a deeper dive into how things are running.

Jim Taylor, founder and CEO of Benchmark Sixty Restaurant Services and former restaurant general and regional manager, believes operators should keep an eye on staff morale, including surveys to gauge happiness with their work. You might discover reasons your crew bow out on their scheduled shifts. Restaurant work is often mentally and physically taxing under the best circumstances. If there are factors that make coming to work unpleasant, such as a disagreeable manager, no-shows might be a sign that employees are on the verge of quitting. This is especially true if the no-shows are previously reliable staff members.

Cross Train

Cross-training staff is a widely used tactic to ensure proper coverage throughout the house. Crew members who can go from server to expo to prep cook as needed are invaluable in any situation, but especially during an unexpected staffing shortage during a busy shift. Cross training is easier said than done and you can risk burning out good staff if you do not adequately train and reward them.

You also have to be realistic whether an employee can succeed at multiple roles. Kitchen work requires the ability to work quickly under pressure. Front-of-the-house positions require an outgoing personality. You also need to identify staff who are willing to train their colleagues.

That said, successfully cross-trained crew members not only save understaffed shifts but help you identify the employees you want to cultivate, keep, and reward. David Tripoli, founder and principal of The Restaurant Clinic consulting group and former chief operating officer of Truluck’s Restaurant Group, describes cross training as “a continual development plan” that identifies staff you might want to groom for management.

Shuffling staff from one role to another can get complicated if your business takes advantage of the tip credit for service staff. It can unwittingly put you in the crosshairs of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and equivalent state agencies.

As you likely know, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows employers to pay their employees less than the standard minimum wage if they earn enough in tips to cover the difference. (As you also likely know, states may set their minimum and tipped minimum wage. Many have minimums that are higher than those of the federal government.)

An employer must pay tipped employees the full minimum wage rate for non-tip-producing work if they spend more than 20% of their week performing such work. The changes to the rule do not affect operators in states that have eliminated the tip credit. When shuttling staff from tipped to non-tipped jobs, they should clock out and in, as appropriate, to account for the time spent in each role. For example, if a server steps into the expeditor job, they should clock out as a server (if mid-shift) and clock in as an expeditor.

The federal and state laws governing fair wages change and evolve. If you rely on the tip credit, you should work with a local labor attorney or human resources consultant to review how to cross train staff between tipped and non-tipped duties without getting on the wrong side of the regulations. As you might imagine, employees who are paid substantial hourly wages and do not rely on tips for their income are easiest to cross train without the worry of labor law implications.

Keep Learning and Keep Growing…

Could Cross-Training Be Your Secret Weapon Against Labor Shortages?

Breakfast of Champions: Baking Cross Training into Your Concept’s Culture

Control Guest Traffic

Despite best efforts to manage no-shows with on-call lists and cross training, operators will find themselves in the middle of a shift with the entire house in the weeds, beset with customer complaints, and – forbid – walk-outs. Full-service operators have some challenges and advantages, compared to quick-service and off-premises dining operations, in managing an understaffed shift.

In regard to the challenges, a no-show headache for many full-service operators is the no-show reservation. Operators will allow overbooking to offset them. Add overbooking to under-staffing and, well, you get the point. Getting reservation bookings right is an art and science and beyond the scope of this article. A good starting place to address this issue is working with your online ordering and reservation system vendors for optimization solutions.

Laube, Taylor, and Tripoli offer traffic control solutions for managing more guests than can be served effectively. Seating guests only to have them wait an unreasonably excessive time to be served only invites complaints and negative online reviews.

Quick-service chains with drive-thru operations have addressed the problem with dedicated parking spots where guests can wait for a staff member to hand-deliver the order. Hospitality is the first rule in the restaurant business. In the full-service concept, it requires communication and orchestration between the kitchen, servers, and host stand.

The back of the house is often the first to find themselves in the weeds if understaffed. As an independent operator, you have reasonable latitude to adjust your menu, even mid-shift. The kitchen might find that 86-ing an item or two from the menu might streamline service if a station is understaffed.

A good expeditor can let servers know that the kitchen is slammed. If nothing else, it allows the server to set guest wait-time expectations for their orders and lets the manager decide if a proactive service recovery measure – such as complimentary drinks – is in order. Hosts can be instructed to slow down seating and, if available, direct waiting guests to the bar area.

As much as you might wish to fill every seat, there are times when you do not want to do so. One tactic is to close a section of the restaurant, although Tripoli would prefer to “pull tables”. His point is that a closed section gives the impression that you could seat guests if you were better prepared. Fully occupied but fewer tables give the impression that the house is full. Of course, you would prefer not to remove tables during the shift, so it requires pre-shift planning to determine the right number of seats given the staffing. I would argue that adding a table or two in the middle of a shift, if you determine it is manageable, demonstrates a willingness to go above and beyond to accommodate guests.

Workforce Optimization

According to the great singer Barbara Streisand, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” That would make restaurateurs downright blessed.

In truth, you need people to help run your business and it comes with challenges that are not likely to subside any time soon, regardless of new technology. You only have so much control over employee recruitment and retention, let alone showing up for their shifts. While you hustle to fill positions, consider how you might optimize your existing workforce to create a consistent positive guest experience.