30+ Proven Tips For Restaurant Time Management

by

Time management is a critical skill that is important regardless of which profession you are in, especially in the restaurant industry, it’s important the most. 

Since timeliness is cozy related to providing great service and quality. 

The research shows that a restaurant focuses on punctuality by addressing pre-shifts to provide a better experience and when all of the departments maximize the time, it helps in running successful restaurants. 

Well, here you can learn…

How You Can Upgrade Restaurant Time Management Skills

Learn To Show Up Early On Shifts 

Punctuality is an important part when you are working in the service industry.  So when you are showing up on time, you can be better prepared for the shift. 

As for the team level, it can help in throwing off service time for everyone including the guests. 

Well if you are prone to tardiness, then you can trick yourself into thinking your shifts start early by 15 or 30 minutes, for this you can use the calendar or planner. 

So even if you run behind the news;y schedule, you will still be early on your shift, since you are coming 15 to 30 minutes early on actual time. 

Keep A Clock Which IS Visible To Everyone 

Well, this can help in keeping everyone aware of how much time they have to start work, or plan or when they arrived today. 

Also if you have staff coming late, you can put the clock where they can see oy. 

Employee time management systems can help managers in tracking the arrival of employees along with when they are departing. 

Make sure to review the clock in and clock out times of employees to see if they are regular or not. 

Remind staff, especially those who are not punctual in their work. 

Adjust The Pacing Of Yours 

As a server, you not just have to control time but also the guest’s time. 

It is important you are paying attention to what guys are telling, it goes verbally and body language.  This can help you in the speed of service they are looking for.

You can know if they are in a rush or if they are planning to linger.  With this you need to adjust the pacing, it goes when you are bringing the causes, how often you’re checking on your customers when you bring out the check, etc in order to meet the requirement of the customers. 

Also, make sure to teach the staff to understand the pacing with the help of Tipsy’s course on effective skills of doing time management when 

Make Sure To Audit The Workflow 

The next important part is to learn about the workflow you have in a restaurant. 

 Revenue the workflow and set the priorities so you have much more control over time that is spent in the kitchen, serving, and other parts of the restaurant. 

Especially in the kitchen where a lot of time gets wasted and you need to be careful.  See if ticket times are growing and growing, or dishes are piling up too fast. 

Make sure to study the menu and the whole process of making it, and learn how long you need to prepare and clean. 

Also, analyze the process to see if you can shave off guest waiting time without affecting the quality of service. 

Communicate Properly With Your Team 

Even when you have an efficient process in your restaurant, things can still go bad. 

A dish might end up burning or simply get uncooked, there are always chances of soma coming up that might cause the delay in service, and this is why your team should have strong communication skills.

It’s important to communicate when something happens or disruption in order to tackle it down, and it won’t appease the customer while they are waiting for their order. 

When you have the communication skills and it’s easy to communicate with the team, it will help in saving time and reducing chances of making mistakes. 

You can do the review and implement different communication strategies in your restaurant that can help in making it more efficient. 

Well some of the effective ones include: 

Listening To Others 

The most important one is listening, without this, you can’t have a productive conversation with anyone. If you are not listening to the customer, how will you know what they want?  

But really, there is no way so you can have a productive conversation.  If you are not actually listening to the team, customers, and staff. 

Work On Creating Receptive

It’s similar to listening, it can effectively communicate which relies on creating the receptive space. 

 The team need to have the understanding that their concerns will be heard if something happen, not just get ignored/ 

So focus on creating an environment much more relaxed and approachable for conservation. Also if you are in a hurry or tense, not going to make others feel is not easy. 

Establish The Right Tone

The tone is also important, the staff in the restaurant should have the right items , language, and clarity, as well as members when they are talking, this can help in setting the good communication. 

Here are some of the do and don’ts that you need to consider : 

  • Do use clear and simple vocabulary for ensuring the point is across. 

  • Don’t get too jokey, it needs a professional environment and tone which should match. 

  • Don’t use slang, swear words, or something offensive, you risk alienating the listener but also not professionally. 

  • Don’t sound like a broken record, the message should be clear enough so people get it. 

  • Don’t go mumbling the orders and communication can be hard to explain, Thai can also lack confidence.

  • Do add the humor but keep in appropriate the way, so keep the conversation much more relaxed and light.

Encouragement And Sharing Feedback 

After the exchange,  make sure that you are encouraging the team to share their opinion and thoughts. 

Also, make sure that you are getting and sharing feedback. This can help everyone in helping to get a better conversation. 

Know What Work Can Be Delegate 

An important time management skill is recognizing the best use of the staff time and using it on every skill level. 

Are there tasks that you as well as other level staff do that have fewer members with less experience of your team can handle? This is when you need to delegate the tasks which can be taken care of by someone who is more okay to do it. 

Automate The Tasks Which Are Repetitive 

At times, automating repetitive tasks which can be cost-effective instead of delegating them to employees.

So you can embrace the automation technology which can help in freeing up the time, it can focus on doing the new initiative instead of duties that are recurring. 

  • Employee scheduling is what can be handled by technology. You can lead an employee time management system and automate scheduling capabilities. 

  • Instead of doing it manually and creating the schedule for each week with the use of a desktop spreadsheet as well as a scattered post-it note,  you can simply share the tools and apps for creating the schedule and sharing it with the rest of the team.

  • When you are automating the shade, this can help in reducing the time which is spent on the school by 80%, also reduce labor costs by 1-2%, and reduce the phone calls as well as texts by about 70%.

  • Also, around ½ restaurant employee finds that having poorer technology in the workplace is one of the worst parts of the job, so make sure you have a smarts system. 

  • Introducing the technology can handle the repetitive tasks at a restaurant so you have more time on focusing on creative and meaningful tasks to give better services to customers. 

Stop Saying You Are Busy 

Everyone is busy in their life, restaurant life may seem like the busiest stop, but your daily life;y to differs much from every day, which makes it more difficult to keep track of time. 

Also, you might end up losing the opportunity to make progress and achieve your goals. 

The mindset that you are busy doesn’t give the clarity of what and where you are spending time. 

When you are in the restaurant industry, you need to be clear on everything and the same goes for the staff. It’s important because the more confusion there is, the more difficult it will be for everyone to work properly. 

Drop The ‘ Not Have Time’ Mentally 

This is similar to the ‘ i am busy’ story but it’s more damaging than that,  it’s important that you are clear on this concept that you never actually own the time, you use it. 

So people who are using the excuse of not having enough time, they just don’t have the priorities straight.  

It’s important that you have a straight mind of the highest priorities and what is actually important and learn how to take action. 

You can also use the restaurant productivity calculator, this is especially for restaurant owners and managers. You can learn about how many hours you are spending on doing the inventory tracking, menu work, and anointing & reporting. 

Break It Down The Work Share With Rest Of Staff 

Using the traditional to-do list can be the worst thing especially when you are working on making your return time management skill effective. 

To-do lists are actually important, and you need to set reminders for doing things that are intended to do on that day. 

Apart from this, you need to create a checklist on a daily basis.  With this, you can manage your restaurant well. According to research, almost 60% of restaurants close within their first year as they don’t know how to manage it effectively. 

Well to understand what the daily restaurant management checklist includes, here is what can help.

Managers’ Duties Checklist 

The manager plays a vital role in maintaining the restaurant, and it requires them to be present when the restaurant is open and closed since they have the responsibility. 

The checklist includes all the daily duties that the managers need to follow, it includes : 

Manager’s Opening Checklist 

The manager needs the one who opens the restaurants, unlocks the cash register, and adds the first cash. Checking inventory is another important role of managers. 

The manager also projects the sales, checks the restrooms before the restaurants, and everything. 

Shift Change Checklist 

During the shift change, the manager needs to complete the task so the new manager can handle the operation. 

The manager should also deliver the necessary information that the next manager needs. 

Manager’s Closing Checklist 

The next one is closing tasks, these duties include looking at a detailed sales report, counting register, counting tips, and allocating all of it appropriately. 

Checklist For Side Work 

Certain tasks need to be performed by the staff when the restaurants are in slow hours, it can be for preparing for the evening shift. 

For such hours, managers assign some duties to idle staff, this task can be put on the daily checklist in order to make sure that they are not missing anything. It includes : 

Front Of House Operation 

The idle staff generally asked to check if there are any spoiled tablecloths, if there is something then it should be replaced. 

It includes folding napkins, arranging the table, replacing fresh flowers, cleaning the cutlery, etc. 

Back End Operations

During idle hours,  there is nothing really to do, the extra time is for refilling the station, organizing the storage room, fridges, sharpening knives, checking refrigerator temperature, refilling the species, and checking other things so the next day goes smoothly. 

Checklist For Kitchen And Cleaning Staff 

The kitchen is not just for cooking food, but also it needs to be arranged accordingly and ensure the operation is on point, so it’s important that they have a checklist ready. 

The checklist will be part of the restaurant management checklist but also exclusive to the task that the kitchen staff needs to do. 

Kitchen Prep Work 

Various types of sauces need to be made for dishes, these sauces are important to be ready in advance, vegetables need to be cleaned and chopped, growth needs to be ready etc. 

The kitchen can end up wasting a lot of resources and time, so it’s better to be ready in advance. 

Cleaning Checklist 

The kitchen also needs to be cleaned, not only to maintain the hygiene but also to make it less confusing. 

So all the tasks such as cleaning stations, putting extra food away, and wiping places as well as shopping areas. 

Servers Checklist 

Consider that the servers are the face of the kitchen, so it’s important that they have a checklist too and make sure the servers know what can help them in working better. 

Servers Opening 

The first thing needs to be a vigilant eye to check every single space in the restaurant and make sure everything is in the right spot.  They need to check the floor, keep things clean and dry, tables are clean with napkins and tablets are good. 

Servers Shift Changes Checklist 

This is especially important especially when there is more than one shift. In such a case, you need to make sure that the checklist includes all the tasks with which servers are sharing the right information with, so the next server can start right. 

Server Closing Checklist 

The closing checklist, can help in setting for the daily day,  make sure your servers tick off each item they have on their checklist, and they are not missing anything which is important. 

Have Plans Ready To Deal With Waiting Guests 

Time management also needs to consider the customer and guests that you have in your restaurant. 

So to make sure you are managing it well, here are some tips that you can follow. 

Encourage The Streamline Reservation 

Not just it helps you in saving time in a restaurant as reservations can be done directly from home or any other place. Also, you get more people to visit the restaurant. 

However for that, here is what you can do : 

Accept More Options 

Well, a lot of small restaurants feel shy away from taking the reservation since cancellation can dampen the traffic. 

But this also affects customers that are not visiting because they have to wait, or maybe it’s a cold and rainy day, so with reservation, you can encourage them to get their phone to book a table. 

Also, you can encourage them by allowing them to make a reservation to use the website. 

Use A System 

To make sure the cancellation are fewer, you can consider using the open table, this helps by rewarding diners by keeping the reservation  

It has no show rate which is around 5% which is much lower than what you get in standard. 

The more you know if the guest is going to shop up, the less issue you will have in accepting guests who are walk-in. 

Take The Credit Card Number 

In order to avoid facing issues, you can ask them to log in by using a credit card and charge the collection fee if they are not showing up.

It’s helpful for reducing the no-shows and helps you in staying clear on how many guests you are going to get. 

Be Honest With Your Guest 

There are different reasons why a customer might have to wait, so it’s best, to be honest, and make sure you are not saying things that end up you in trouble. 

Recommend Reservation 

If you are telling the customer that the wait is going to be over in an hour, make sure how easy it’s to make an online reservation for later. 

Give Accurate Wait Time 

If customers have to wait for long hours, don’t tell them it would take thirty minutes. 

It’s best to tell them how much they have to wait, it’s important they are on the same page, so they can decide. 

Elaborate on The Job Expectations 

One of the important tips that can make sure you are using the time efficiently is to hire people who are naturally efficient in their work. 

This includes the staff, chefs, cleaning staff, etc. Make sure when you are hiring them, you are clear with what job they are indeed to do and what things they have to tackle. 

The more efficient staff you have, the less worry you need to do in knowing how things will be managed in the restaurant. 

But make sure they are clear on their job, task and roles as well as make sure to monitor them. 

Give them feedback from time to time so they know what is going well and what not. So you can keep it more understanding and effective. 

More To Explore:

Was this article helpful?