How to Properly Hire Cafe Staff and Reduce Turnover

Cafe staff determines business success no less than menu or location. Turnover in food service reaches 60-80% per year — every three months you have to search for new employees, train them, spend time on adaptation.

Properly selecting a team is more difficult than it seems. A resume doesn’t show real work attitude, an interview gives only a first impression. Cafe automation helps track each employee’s effectiveness through objective indicators: order processing speed, number of errors, average check.

Calculating Required Staff Numbers

Staff numbers depend on establishment format and seating capacity. For 30-40 seats you’ll need at least five people: chef, kitchen assistant, two waiters, dishwasher.

Calculating waiter numbers follows a formula: one employee can comfortably serve 4-5 tables. With higher load, service quality drops, guests wait 15-20 minutes. Waiter numbers are adjusted for peak hours — staff is reinforced at lunch and evening.

The kitchen requires calculation by workload. One chef prepares 15-20 dishes per hour. If 40 orders come during peak time — two people are needed on the line. A barista in a coffee shop handles 30-40 drinks per hour, with higher flow an assistant is needed.

A manager is needed with a staff of 8-10 people. Before that, the owner can manage processes independently, but controlling everything further becomes physically impossible.

Searching and Selecting Restaurant Employees

Staff search begins with clear requirement descriptions. A waiter must be able to work with POS systems, know the menu, quickly respond to client requests. A bartender prepares drinks, monitors bar cleanliness, controls alcohol inventory.

Hiring should go through several channels simultaneously. Specialized job sites, recommendations from current employees, local social media groups. Experienced staff often search for work through industry acquaintances, not through ads.

Qualifications are verified in practice. A trial shift shows real skills better than any resume. An employee may speak well at an interview but not handle the flow of orders on Friday evening.

In staff selection, standardizing requirements helps. A checklist of basic skills for each position simplifies candidate evaluation. Visitors should receive the same service level regardless of who serves them.

Staff Duties and Task Distribution

A waiter takes orders, serves dishes, monitors table cleanliness, processes payment. This is the establishment’s face for the guest — the entire restaurant’s impression depends on their work. The company’s face should be polite and attentive.

A chef is responsible for preparing dishes according to recipe cards, product quality control, compliance with sanitary standards. Cooking must be fast and professional, especially during peak hours when there are 20-30 orders simultaneously in the kitchen.

Cafe accounting software automates order taking and transfer to the kitchen. The waiter doesn’t need to run with papers — an order from the hall instantly appears on the chef’s screen. The work process speeds up, recording errors are eliminated.

A barista works with the coffee machine, knows drink recipes, monitors bean and milk quality. Must be able to prepare classic items and signature drinks from the menu. A sommelier is needed only by large restaurants with extensive wine lists.

Schedules are made considering hall workload. On weekday lunches minimum staff is enough, on weekends full staff is required. It’s important to provide personnel with a stable schedule at least two weeks ahead.

Reducing Staff Turnover in Restaurant Business

Cafe staff turnover is expensive. Searching, training, adapting a new employee takes 2-3 weeks. During this time service quality suffers, the rest of the team works with overload.

Main reasons for quitting: low pay, no schedule, conflicts with management, burnout. It’s important to find balance between employee requirements and conditions you offer. Consider market rates in your region and establishment format.

Client service requires constant tension. Staff works on their feet 8-12 hours, communicates with different people, resolves conflict situations. Burnout is inevitable without proper motivation and support.

With an accounting system you can track each employee’s workload. If one waiter serves 50 tables per shift and another 20 — the problem is in load distribution. It’s important to provide objective data for work evaluation.

Training new employees should be structured. At first, a newcomer is attached to an experienced colleague, gradually increasing independence. Organizing mentorship is more profitable than throwing a person into work without preparation.

Automating Staff Work Control

Controlling each employee manually is impossible with staff larger than 5-7 people. Restaurant management system Syrve records staff actions automatically: who took the order, how much time serving took, whether there were errors.

Waiter efficiency is measured by average check, service speed, number of repeat orders from their tables. Each employee can be evaluated by objective indicators, not subjective impressions.

Sanitary control requires daily recording. Medical book must be current, kitchen cleanliness — meet standards. Monitoring this is easier through program checklists than paper journals.

System launch takes several days to configure for your establishment. Restasystem configures access rights for different roles: chef sees only kitchen orders, waiter — their tables, manager — full hall picture.

What number of employees specifically your establishment needs is shown by analyzing the first months of work. A table of workload by hours is compiled based on actual data, not theoretical calculations.

Building a Stable Team Long-Term

Selecting staff for a cafe or restaurant is half the success. The other half is creating conditions where employees won’t leave in a month or two. Staff shortage in food service is constant, retaining a good team is critically important.

In restaurant business, specifics require quick reactions and stress resistance. The owner must understand team load and not demand the impossible. Firing happens less often when there’s a transparent evaluation system and fair working conditions.

Process automation reduces staff load and simplifies work control. Serving more guests with the same staff becomes real when the program takes on routine operations.