The Role of Coaching in Restaurant Workforce Development

In the 20-plus years that I have been studying the best practices of independent restaurateurs, the topic of staffing always rises to the surface. According to many owners, successful workforce planning and management seem to be the most significant key success factors, as well as the greatest source of frustration.

If you have ever grumbled aloud about the difficulty of finding and keeping good employees, you likely realize that you are not alone – particularly in the current labor market. “Today’s operators have difficulty finding any employees and are thankful for just warm bodies,” says Arthur Gordon, the founder of Irregardless Café, an iconic independent restaurant in Raleigh, NC, which opened its doors in the 1970s. Gordon sold his concept in 2019, after 45 successful years in business at the same location. Some of his employees were employed with the concept for decades. “I think this is a time when employers must go far and above normal hiring practices,” says Gordon, who summarizes the staffing process neatly. “You have to identify potential employees and overtrain and overpay them and hope to hold onto them.”

Theoretically, the A, B, and C employees model makes sense; however, restaurant workers are not grades of beef. More often they are works in progress.

Of course, this is much easier said than done. If you are like many independent operators, you do not have a dedicated human resources staff. When you break down the process into each step, it is complex, although you might not look at it in such detail.

The first step in building your workforce is sourcing talent. Where do you find suitable employees? Do you lean on referrals from your staff? Where do you place your employment advertisements?

Once you figure out where to look for talent, the next step is recruitment. How do you attract suitable candidates to apply for the job? What makes your concept a desirable place to work?

The next step is selection. How do you choose the best applicants for your business and convince them to accept your job offer? Once you have hired an employee, you must onboard and train them. Even if they have experience, they do not have experience in your concept or unit, including your business culture.

A step that is often overlooked by small businesses, is deployment. That is, finding the best role for your employees to contribute meaningfully to the business, based on their strengths and talents. All these phases of workforce creation are critical to creating an effective staff, let alone retaining employees.

Learning Objectives:

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

• List the phases of workforce development and the role of coaching in the process.

• Describe how regular performance reviews assist the coaching process.

• Distinguish coaching from training.

Ideally, you optimize each step in the workforce planning process. Yet, regardless how well you have assembled your current staff, you need to cultivate it. That is particularly true when you are in what Gordon described as the “thankful for warm bodies” mode.

“It’s kind of like building a winning professional football team,” says Gordon. His sports analogy is appropriate. The term “coaching” is most often applied to athletes. Ideally, we can source, recruit, hire, and train reliable employees who give 100% to their jobs. In the restaurant business, as in professional athletics, some players are stellar in every aspect. As we all know, however, superstars are rare.

Getting Staff to Bring Their “A” Game

Among even elite athletes, players have strengths and weaknesses. Some have the natural athletic ability but find themselves hampered by their attitude or teamwork. Some have tremendous desire, motivation, and skill, but need to improve their strength and speed.

Operators will sometimes refer to their staff as A, B, and C employees, a classification model that is used by restaurant consultants. As you might imagine, the "A" employees are the top performers. "B" employees are those who do an adequate job and are dependable but are not superstars. "C" workers might be described as “warm bodies.” The underlying strategy is to 1) find and retain “A” workers via successful hiring and compensation, 2) hope the “B” workers will improve their performance, and 3) winnow the perennial “C” workers via firing and turnover.

In particular, the reasonable concern is that accepting the subpar performance of B and C workers will cause A workers to quit actively or “quietly,” in other words putting in the minimum effort to keep their jobs, but not putting in extra effort. The risk is that operators can overlook proverbial diamonds in the rough, particularly when they are in “grateful for warm bodies” mode. Theoretically, the A, B, and C employees model makes sense; however, restaurant workers are not grades of beef. More often they are works in progress.

I know a young restaurant employee who worked as a food runner for an independent full-service upscale concept. He enjoyed his fellow workers and was satisfied with the pay at that stage of his early restaurant career. He noted that guests were consistently asking for a particular menu item substitution and suggested that the restaurant include it on the regular menu. He shared that information with the general manager who told him, “We pay you to be a food runner, not for your menu advice.”

You might not blame the manager, particularly if you have experienced a staff member dispensing unsolicited advice on how you should run your restaurant mid-shift. On the other hand, the young man shared his suggestion to improve the guest experience. It could have indicated enthusiasm for his job and an interest in growing with the concept. Perhaps a far better response from the manager would have been, “That is an interesting suggestion. Let’s schedule a time to talk about it next week.”

The young food runner quit the job and found employment with a management company that operates upscale restaurants in boutique hotels. He approached one of the owners for advice on how to increase his hours and future with the business. The owner scheduled a meeting over coffee and earnestly presented ideas on what the young server might do to improve his chances of eventually moving into management. The employee reported that he left the meeting more energized about his job.

Asset vs. Investor

As Gordon notes, operator gratitude for simply finding “warm bodies” to fill positions seems to be prevalent in today’s labor market. It is understandable, especially for operators facing chronic understaffing. Nevertheless, you might find it useful to explore how the “grateful for warm bodies” mindset relates to coaching in workforce development.

That said, the performance review is much more than a rote administrative or a “cover-your-assets” process. It is an opportunity to discuss where the employee is excelling and where they need to improve. As for the coaching, it is also an opportunity to find out where they are struggling, what they enjoy, and their plans.

In “Strategic Staffing,” author Jean M. Phillips, professor of human resources management at Penn State University, writes that organizations often view their employees as either “assets” or “investors.” Phillips explains that assets are “human capital to be impersonally managed like other organizational assets, including cash, machinery, or buildings."

Investors choose to work for an employer and have discretion over the amount of effort they put into their work. "If employees are thought of as assets, the staffing focus is on managing the cost of employees and tightly controlling them.”

By contrast, she adds, “If applicants and employees are thought of as investors, the focus is on establishing a mutually beneficial relationship in which employees are recognized as choosing to invest their resources in exchange for a return – a supportive culture, good pay, and benefits.”

In this labor environment in which finding and keeping good people is challenging and in which you need to maximize the effectiveness of every staff member, you cannot afford to purchase labor like interchangeable widgets. It can lead to turnover and constant staffing shortages.

Coaching falls under the heading of “a supportive culture.” We often discuss culture in terms of the business environment. The business and restaurant trade press liberally use the word, almost as if it is a magic portal to a highly functional business.

As defined by the website Investopedia, culture includes “the values, beliefs, and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact, perform, and handle business transactions.” A supportive culture requires not only setting a tone for the entire organization, but also fostering talent individually.

The Performance Review

Many businesses schedule one-on-one employee performance reviews at least quarterly. For new employees, particularly those on a “temp-to-hire” basis, the review might be more frequent. During the one-on-one session, the owner or manager can offer praise where the employer is doing a good job and suggestions on how to improve where the employee might be falling short. The conversation should be documented and provide the staff member goals for the next review.

The performance review is an opportunity for each member of the staff to know where they stand. It provides a legal safeguard against claims of employment discrimination, such as claims that the company engages in biased promotions and termination. It is an opportunity to document the employee’s strengths and weaknesses based on objective criteria.

The performance review process can also make the process of terminating underperforming employees less awkward. In some cases, marginal employees will often quit before a subsequent review if they realize they are not making agreed-upon improvements.

That said, the performance review is much more than a rote administrative or a “cover-your-assets” process. It is an opportunity to discuss where the employee is excelling and where they need to improve. As for the coaching, it is also an opportunity to find out where they are struggling, what they enjoy, and their plans.

We often assume we know what motivates a given employee based on our background and experiences. Business education and experience are not magic bullets for success in restaurant management or any leadership role. I recall one young operator who created a multi-unit restaurant concept after a stint in the technology sector. He had effectively managed professionals in his former career and had a great deal of education, including an MBA from an elite university. However, he found that managing restaurant workers posed unique challenges. As accomplished and bright as he was, perhaps his most valuable quality in that situation was his humility. He recognized his blind spots and learned to correct them.

Your employees’ background, culture, education, and motivation for working in the restaurant business can vary greatly. Some are looking for careers in hospitality and may value your advice on the best path. Some want additional hours to make ends meet. Some are seeking flexibility to finish school or care for family. Whenever you can align your jobs with employees’ interests and needs, you can foster their loyalty to the restaurant and give them a reason to invest rather than sell their time to your business. The performance review is an opportunity to explore how to optimize the restaurant-staff relationship.

The performance review is also an opportunity to invite your employees’ ideas and suggestions. The folks who are running your kitchens and service your guests are experts on what works and does not work in your restaurant.

Temperature Check

Of course, you should not have to wait until a regular performance review to pause and discuss the employee’s strengths, weaknesses, goals, and ideas. However, the process underscores that coaching is a thoughtful process that does not happen during the shift when the prime goal is to serve guests and solve problems that arise.

Taking a staff member aside to coach them on how they might improve performance in the middle of the shift is counterproductive. Waiting for the next monthly or quarterly performance review can ignore an issue that needs to be corrected now. A better approach to immediate coaching is to schedule a meeting with the employee to debrief a performance problem and discuss how to correct it. Call it a “temperature check.”

The purpose of coaching is not to reprimand. The objective is to help the employee improve job performance. It requires carefully framing the concern and exploring how to correct it. It also requires asking an employee why they are struggling and what they need to improve. You might learn that the employee needs further training or direction. You might find there are communication issues between employees that are causing mistakes. You might learn that the employee does not enjoy working for you, and you can have an earnest and respectful conversation about how to part ways seamlessly without a surprise “I quit!”

Coaching and Training

Coaching and training might seem synonymous at first blush since their objective is employee development. Certainly, coaching can identify where the employee might need additional training or remediation of past training. Everyone learns in different ways and on different schedules.

Moreover, some potentially strong employees might be a better fit for other jobs. This is the deployment phase of workforce planning. The adage “hire for attitude and train for skill” applies in the restaurant business. The host stand might not be a good fit for a diligent and reliable employee who is a bit shy, but they might excel in the kitchen. Good coaching can identify opportunities for cross-training. A food runner who is a team player, has an eye for quality, and is respected by the kitchen staff might be able to be a reliable expeditor.

Coaching also involves identifying those employees who wish to assume greater responsibility and have the attitude and capabilities to do so. Advancing a dishwasher to prep cook or a server to assistant manager without training is a recipe for turnover. In the fast-paced environment of the restaurant, “sink or swim” is a painful way to prove one’s merit in a new role.

In short, coaching is not training. Coaching might involve identifying the training that each employee needs to optimize their performance. Use your business’s resources to assist in the training process, such as assigning experienced staff to train coworkers or discussing best practices at staff and pre-shift meetings.

A Necessary Investment

“All business operators and owners have the desire to make a profit each year to show a return on their capital investment, but now I think employees are a necessary investment in the long-term,” says Gordon. “Now is not the time to be shortsighted. It is the time for a long-term view that goes beyond just serving food, but delivering hospitality. Your employees will determine your long-term success and survival.”

It is well worth your and your managers’ time to cultivate your staff’s talent. And that is what coaching is all about.