Now Is a Great Time to Recognize the Manager(s) You Want to Keep

You can't create and sustain a successful restaurant without good management.

In smaller restaurants, the bulk of the management may be provided by you, the owner, but few restaurant owners want to spend their entire career managing day-to-day operations.

People may take a job for more money, but they often leave it for more recognition.
-- Bob Nelson

Unless your goal is to create a job for yourself, you need good managers who can lead people and run your restaurant as well as, or (hopefully) better than you can.

You already know who your good managers are, but here's a quick checklist to quantify and evaluate some specific traits and the effectiveness of your management staff.

• Do they say what they will do and do all that they say?
• Do they seem to attract quality staff to the business? i.e., some of your best hires were a result of their recommendations.
• Have you seen sales and profit grow since they became managers?
• Do they take the initiative to suggest new products, systems and procedures, and have they helped you put them in place successfully?
• Do other staff members seek them out formally and informally for help, guidance, direction and support?
• Do they genuinely care about the success of your business, its customers and employees?

If you have managers who exhibit some or all of these traits, you do NOT want to lose them. And rest assured, there are businesses inside and outside of the restaurant industry that would love to take them away from you.

The holiday season is a good time to let them know how much you value and appreciate the contributions they make. Do something that makes them feel good about being a part of your team. It may increase the odds they'll still be with you next year at this time.

Have a profitable week!

Jim Laube & Joe Erickson