There are a lot of things that are easier with help from someone else, like playing rock-paper-scissors, riding a tandem bike or reenacting dramatic scenes from Hamilton. The saying is true: teamwork makes the dreamwork. And when it comes to financial accuracy in your restaurant, your team plays a crucial part.
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to managing your restaurant’s finances. How do you keep your food costs low? What’s the best way to ensure consistent sales? How do you keep from going over-budget, even with life’s unexpected hiccups and expenses?
The truth is, navigating your restaurant’s finances was never meant to be a one-person show. The good news is that your entire staff plays a role in upkeeping the financial accuracy of your restaurant. The bad news is that this can be easier said than done.
It can be challenging to wrangle in your team and discuss financial accuracy, especially with so many competing priorities, and for multi-unit restaurants, this can be even more difficult. The best way to ensure all of your staff are on the same page when it comes to ensuring your restaurant’s accuracy is through staff training.
But where exactly do you start when it comes to training your staff on supporting financial accuracy? And why’s it so important to include your staff in the first place?
Before we dive into best practices for training your team, let’s take a look at a few reasons that including staff in monitoring the financial accuracy of your restaurant is so important:
Now that we’ve gone over a few of the reasons why involving your staff in this process is so important, let’s go over the how: staff training. Here are a few steps you can take to train your team to support financial accuracy in your restaurant:
Before you can properly train your team to support financial accuracy, you need to clearly identify the what and why of your goal. Financial accuracy is important for every restaurant, but what target goals or hurdles are specific to your restaurant? And why should staff understand the importance of this?
Start by identifying the specific financial targets or challenges. Is it reducing food waste, improving cash flow or tightening inventory management? Pinpointing these priorities gives your team a clear focus and can help them understand how their actions contribute to the bigger picture. When your staff understands their impact on your restaurant’s financial accuracy, they’re more likely to take ownership of their role in the process.
It’s impossible for staff training to have a lasting effect if procedures and training vary by location or who’s training them. Standardizing staff training by creating a clear, documented process for ensuring financial accuracy not only makes it easier to train your team but also makes sure the information sticks.
Start by creating a training manual or digital resource that outlines step-by-step instructions for key financial tasks, such as cash handling, invoice tracking and inventory management. Use another section to cover common financial hiccups and leaks, like food waste. Implement this into onboarding new staff and schedule regular refresher training for existing staff, and your new procedures will spread faster than compound butter.
Similar to our last point, staff training should be standardized, but also visual. A study by 3M found that visual aids can increase learning by up to 400%. Other studies show that roughy 65% of people are visual learners, so it’s safe to say throwing graphics into your training wouldn’t hurt (plus, who doesn’t love an excuse to use their Canva account?).
Visual aids like checklists, flowcharts or video tutorials make your training more memorable, personalized and engaging for staff. They can also make material easy to follow and accessible for different learning styles.
And don’t forget, we’re in a digital age. Leverage technology to make these visuals even more impactful and accessible, like creating a digital training hub using tools like Google Drive or Notion to store “How-to” videos or training manuals.
Even QR codes can be helpful. Place them in key areas of your restaurant (like near the register or walk-in) so staff can quickly scan and access relevant training materials on their phones. Supporting restaurant financial accuracy leaves plenty of space to get creative, and that includes visuals and technology.
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good incentive? A big part of encouraging staff involvement in supporting financial accuracy is acknowledging staff effort and making them feel valued. What better way to show your appreciation than with small rewards or incentives?
You can offer friendly competition, such as rewards for who’s able to reach a financial goal the fastest, or encourage team-based incentives when a group of staff reaches a particular goal. By pairing training with tokens of appreciation, you’re not just encouraging staff to understand the importance of financial accuracy; you’re showing them that their efforts don’t go unnoticed. When your team feels appreciated, they’re more likely to go the extra mile to ensure your restaurant’s financial health stays on track.
You know what they say, it takes a village to support your restaurant’s financial accuracy (or something like that). Financial accuracy isn’t just about crunching numbers; it’s about keeping the restaurant running smoothly, ensuring profitability and helping staff to feel involved and appreciated.
While there may be some trial and error when it comes to meeting your restaurant’s financial goals, you’ve got a team of support behind you, and don’t have to go at it alone. By identifying specific goals, standardizing procedures and getting creative with your training, you can take your numbers from undercooked to al dente.