Restaurant and Food Service Blog

About this time last year, several fellow recruiters and I were all writing about the same thing: how the restaurant industry was one of only two industries remaining untouched by the worsening economic conditions. My, how times have changed.

Here it is mid-2009 and unemployment in the restaurant industry has shot from 7.8% to 9.8% in just one year. Now, there is an ever-widening pool of qualified candidates, making it harder and harder to find a suitable position. So, what can you do? I have a couple of high-level suggestions:

Take an Active Role
I’ve seen the way many individuals “hunt” for jobs and it often consists only of a single resume and standard cover letter being emailed out to a small group of employers found on a job board. Let me just tell you that this is not the way to get a job. You have to look at the job search as your full-time job. Consider every possible way to identify open positions including job boards, networking, cold calling, etc. In this market, the opportunities absolutely will not come to you – you have to go out and find them.

Customization is Key
Cover letters are underused and underappreciated, and can often be the key differentiator between you and the other candidates. I have another blog or two specifically outlining steps in writing effective cover letters. Using a guide like this will help ensure you hit all the necessary highlights. And don’t stop with job-specific letter customization only. It may be necessary to tweak your resume for each position as well, spotlighting talents or skills that are more appropriate for one position than for another.

Use Down Time Wisely
If you’re out there right now like so many are, then you are experiencing a period of down time. Don’t let this go to waste. Use it to improve yourself and your resume. I give some good and specific examples of how you can make this tip work for you in my blog: Using Time Wisely Between Jobs.

Based on a study of changes and activity in restaurant concepts by RestaurantChains.net from November 30, 2008 to March 30, 2009, the following trends emerged[*These are concepts that changed by at least 5% (if less than 50 units).]:

• The Egg Harbor Café of Lincolnshire, IL grew by 7% with the introduction of one new unit. This increased its units from 14 to 15. These family/casual American restaurants offer breakfast and lunch for around $3 to $8 per person.
• Sweet Lorraine’s of Southfield-MI grew by 33% with the addition of one new unit (now totaling four). Additionally, the restaurant chain ventured into the state of Pennsylvania. Serving American cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in an upscale concept environment, patrons can expect a per-person check average of between $15 and $30
• Ann Arbor, MI-based Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea experienced 50% growth when it increased its units from 2 to 3. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, these quick-serve cafes offer meals averaging between $2 and $6.
• Mr. Greek Restaurants of Toronto, ON increased its number of units by 4, growing from 13 to 17—an increase of 31%. These family/casual Greek restaurants offer lunch and dinner with a full bar option and a check average between $6 and %15+ per person. There is also a second restaurant concept called Mr. Greek Express, which grew by 18% during the same period, with the addition of four new units (22 to 26).
• New York-based Il Mulino grew by 9% with the addition of an additional unit (now totaling 12). Additionally, the restaurant chain expanded into the state of Georgia. These upscale Italian restaurants offer dinner with a full bar option and have a check average of $15 to $50+ per person. In addition to its locations in NY and GA, Il Mulino can also be found in DC, FL, IL, NJ, and NV.

I always say it: When you’re in between jobs, your full-time job is looking for a job. You should be dedicating as much time as possible to a well-planned job search. For the lucky ones, this period of time is very short. But as the economy and job market worsens and the unemployment rate continues to rise, this period of time is lengthening by a significant amount for many.

So, aside from looking for a job, you may wonder if there are other things you should be doing in order to increase your chances of landing a position when you get the opportunity to interview. When the potential employer looks at you and asks, “What have you been doing from December 2007 until now?” you want to have an impressive and truthful answer. So, here are the things I would recommend for your consideration:

• Go back to school: Using the time for self-improvement is always an impressive move. It shows that you are willing to better yourself and learn the latest in your field of study so you’ve got one-up on the rest of the competition.
• Networking: While this effort should actually be part of your full-time job search, I include it in this list because you also need to think of it as an extracurricular activity as well. Keep in mind that you never know where you are going to meet your next potential referral (at the park, in a grocery store, at a friendly gathering, etc.). So, be prepared to spend extra amounts of time leveraging your networks.
• Take up exercise: Studies have shown that individuals who invest time in working out are more productive on the job…an attribute that certainly appeals to potential employers.
• Focus on new hobbies: When I say “new hobbies,” I don’t necessarily mean scrapbooking. I am talking about mind-expanding activities that will show you didn’t simply sit at home watching TV. Think about learning a new language, working with the disabled, or volunteering your extra time at an animal shelter. The additional areas of interest look great on a resume.
• Freelance: The last thing you want to have happen when “in transition” is for your mind to go soft and to begin forgetting your tools of the trade. There are many sites out there such as Guru or eLance that will help you keep your talent and skills fresh while you’re searching.

Just got into Denver last week. It was part of a relocation by my wife’s work. I am already impressed with the local food scene here. I had to drop off moving boxes at a local packing store where they paid me about $0.25 per box. So I am not even sure why I made the drive into Denver. But it turned out to be a good trip because I found this great quick casual pizza place – Il Vicino.

For less than $9.00 I got a small salad, small pizza with one topping and a drink. The pizza was delicious. They do a wood oven pizza that comes to you in about 7 minutes.

From what I understand, it is a European concept with only 7 units in the US, but they seem to he growing in the Mountain states.

If anyone has any insight on the company or brand, please share. I expect that this is a concept to watch.

Downsizing, brightsizing, layoffs…whatever you choose to call it, it’s those that are left within the company after these cuts that seem to really suffer from a decline in morale. Often, this comes from the simple fact that it’s hard not to think that the other shoe will soon drop and he or she will also be let go. For the company, this is dangerous because a decline in morale could significantly hurt productivity as well as customer satisfaction. So, it’s very important to invest in the employees that have been retained.

Oftentimes, and especially these days, cuts are made because of budget restrictions, so it’s not expected that a significant amount of money should be spent on such an effort. But as you’ll see, investing a little in your employees goes a long way to building trust in those individuals and thereby improving performance.

Here are a few simple things that you can do to invest in your employees and boost morale:

• Spend time in praise: One of the best things you can do for an employee is to recognize his or her contributions to the team and the company. The only word of caution is to make sure you understand whether each individual is more comfortable with public or private praise. Depending on personality, you could really punish a person by praising them in public. Knowing your employees better in this way is often achieved with personality tests.
• Reward with time off: Add a day or two to existing paid-time-off (PTO) in order to recognize an employee’s hard work and dedication. Employees value additional time with friends and families, so it will be greatly appreciated and will likely prove to have a good ROI for you.
• Place importance on health: Many studies have shown just how big an impact physical health and exercise has on productivity and overall morale in the workplace. In fact, a study by the University of Bristol in 2005 revealed that employees who exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes during lunch were more productive than those who didn’t. This meant they were better able to meet deadlines, focus on their work, and manage time.¹  Employees have gone on to report that they “just felt better” after a workout.
• Invest in their futures: Training can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Get creative and find ways to leverage the talents and skills within your own employee base for a little cross-training. You can also provide a fun-filled ½ day or full day of teambuilding activities just by exploring these types of activities using a Google search.

The “impending war for talent” has been a crisis in the making for the past decade as managers in virtually every field and industry prepared for the supposed mass exodus of the baby boomers. Not even a year ago, there were articles and blogs that littered the Internet advising organizations on how to win the war for limited talent when all those boomers left the marketplace.

Who would have guessed that it wouldn’t be the boomers voluntary leave for retirement that had us all “a buzz” in the year on the brink of that expected mass exodus? Instead, here we sit…in an unforeseeable situation in which the economy has cut a large number of our employees for us instead of allowing the natural aging process to take a smaller number of qualified workers out of circulation.

Now, instead of organizations fighting for a very select few of highly skilled and qualified workers once all the boomers have made their exit, there are hundreds of thousands of highly skilled and qualified workers out there to choose from. The question I am asked all the time is, “How do I know I am making the right choice with my hiring decision?”

While recruiting is a process that takes time and very careful consideration of each and every case, there are some things I advise you keep in mind, including the following:

• Keep an eye on what you have: First and foremost, keep a peeled eye on the talent you are trying to retain. Consider that organizations that have lost their talent due to cuts are going to be developing attractive ways to lure your employees away. Focus first on tactics to keep those individuals before you begin filling new seats.
• Start looking now: Even if your organization is still experiencing hiring freezes, the time to look is now. If you really have your eye on a particular candidate, you can inform them that the company is not hiring at this moment, but you are interested in his/her credentials and will contact him/her as soon as the hiring freeze is lifted. This isn’t the promise of a position, but it will hopefully keep that candidate interested in your organization.
• Keep your focus trained: When the hiring freeze is lifted, you seriously must hire only for talent management and not simply to fill emptied positions. You will achieve a lot more with two highly qualified and passionate individuals than four who require hand-holding and micromanagement.
• Use a professional: It may be shameless self-promotion, but the truth is, using a professional recruiter to help you fill positions will increase the likelihood that each hire is a successful hire. And, in many cases, recruiters will offer a ‘satisfaction guarantee’ if a candidate does not work out…a safety net not available when hiring on your own.