It's never too early to prepare your team for Mother's Day

It’s never too early to prepare your team for Mother’s Day

By: Bob Tousey, FMP, MBA, JD

        Mother’s Day is over a month away, but it is never too early to get ready for this opportunity. Make no mistake, Mother’s Day is an opportunity for your restaurant. It is one of, if not, the busiest day for many full-service restaurants. This is not only an opportunity to make money for you and your team, but it is an opportunity to show off your restaurant. If you wow guests on Mother’s Day, they are likely to tell others and return themselves. If you disappoint chances are they will not be back and may take to social media and review sites to share their disappointment. This is not a time to be pennywise and dollar foolish.

        Do not wait until a week before to prepare, begin now. If you have already begun, I congratulate you for being proactive and setting your restaurant up for success.

Look at last year’s sales figures. Has anything changed that will impact sales (more residential development, the opening or closing of other restaurants, has the economy taken a nose dive or significantly improved).  Then get your management team together and critique how you performed last year. Did you have adequate staffing? Think about back of the house as well as expeditors, food runners, bussers, hosts, bartenders as well as servers. This is not the day for the management team to be filling hourly positions. They need to be engaged in both the back and front of the house, ensuring everything is running smoothly and adjust if it is not. They also need to be greeting guests and wishing the mom’s a “Happy Mother’s Day”.  Do you have the staff you need to execute properly? If your answer is no, get your hustle on. This will be your last opportunity to adjust, hire staff and have time to properly train them before the big day. Inadequate or untrained staff will not lead to successful execution. Make sure to adjust your staffing pars for the holiday and let everyone know it’s an all hands-on deck day. Everyone will be needed.

        Once you have assessed your staffing, its time to examine and adjust your par levels for the big day. Running out of food will not make your restaurant a hit with the guests. Make sure your par levels for ordering and prep have been adjusted considering the increased volume you will have on Mother’s Day.

        Get the schedule up early. Let everyone know what hours you expect them and give those who will need it time to adjust for child care. The team will likely be working a longer day.

Begin preparing you staff for the big day. While a strong manager is always engaging with staff during the shift, it is especially important, leading up to an opportunity such as Mother’s Day. Reinforce great behavior by complimenting the staff and kindly but firmly correct errors. Use your pre-shift meetings to let the staff know what to expect. Remind them this in not a normal day. Reinforce to the front of the house staff that this is their opportunity to make good money themselves. Schedule the staff to be in early for a solid pre-shift. Have some coffee and donuts ready for them to enjoy before and during pre-shift. Make sure they are not starting the shift hungry.

         

There will not be time for long breaks nor will the back of the house have time to prepare food for team, but your staff will get hungry. What I have done in the past is plan with a local pizza place to periodically bring pizza’s in for the team. Do this early so you know that they can accommodate you. Don’t try calling for delivery on Mother’s Day. I set aside a prep table for the pizza and left-over donuts. Please make sure the table is near to a hand wash sink so the team can wash their hands before and after eating. I had a good relationship with the pizza shop manager and was able to trust him to make the call on how many pizza’s and when. He was extraordinarily honest and did not take advantage of the situation. Hopefully, you can establish such a relationship. He gave me a bill the next day and we paid it with a tip for his delivery person, who was extraordinarily helpful, consolidating pizza and throwing out empty boxes each time he came by.  I also made sure to have pitchers of soft drinks on the table with disposable cups. This way team members could grab a quick slice and drink when they had a moment. Pizza is the perfect food as it is easy to eat on the run.

        Ideally, you should have a manager managing the back of the house (not cooking or washing dishes), a manager running the wait. The last thing you want to do is put the kitchen in the weeds because an inexperienced host sat too many tables at once. The host probably understands not to double seat, but I have seen too many ignore what is happening in the kitchen. There should also be at least one manager working the floor. Ensuring the guests are happy and being served properly. It is always wise to have at least one manager floating to assist where needed. This is the ideal situation, but it will vary based on your team’s size and management team. Make sure your aces are in their places. This is the equivalent of the world series for the restaurant industry. 

        There is a lot to do. So, if you have not already started, don’t put it off start today. This is your time to shine and make the Mom’s happy. If your budget allows it is always a nice touch to give mom’s a little something. Also, remember your team will include mother’s as well. Make sure to do something nice for them and acknowledge that you recognize they are making a sacrifice being there. For your team members that have moms at home send home with a little thank you to her for her understanding and wishing her a happy Mother’s Day. If your budget can withstand it maybe send a slice of cake home with their son or daughter for Mom.