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That’s the first step right there. You’ve got to know what your
standards are. It’s like playing a game without having a map or having
a game plan. It’s like, all right, we’re just going to go out there and
hope we get it right. That’s step one, set a standard. The next thing
you want to do is you’ve got to constantly, constantly be training.

Nick:
Let me pick your brain on that. How do you go about training? I’ve
talked with some clients before in the past, and they’ve never had
a good training system in place, and their managers don’t have a
good training system in place. So how do you go about putting that
system in place of training a new server or retraining existing servers
or bartenders or whoever it may be, to be able to make sure they’re
providing the best experience, the best service, for that customer?

Donald:
Once you have a standard set up and you have a training program in
place – and there are lots of easy ways to set up training programs.
The biggest thing most restaurants do is they all usually offer initial
training. When you first start, you usually get some sort of on-the-
job training. In most restaurants, it’s what I call the ‘follow system.’
“All right, Nick, you’re new. There’s Joe over there. Follow Joe Donald:
around for three days, do what he does, and then you’re going to be A pre-shift doesn’t have to be a long thing. It can be five-minute
on the floor.” It’s not a very effective training system. kind of alley rally or whatever you want to call it. But basically, the
manager or leader of the team gets everyone together. And what
You’ve got to have workbooks. You’ve got to have things written I like to say is that we’re going to go over the logistics, and then
down, so there’s a standard. You’ve got to have a standard. But then we’re also going to check everyone’s attitude and make sure we’re
the other thing they miss is continuing training. Usually, it’s like: I all in the right state, right frame of mind, and right energy level. So
started out, I got some training to understand the restaurant and you go over the things like: tonight our feature is this, we got a new
maybe the… system and maybe the menu. But then after that, I’m bottle of wine in, the chef has this new thing that we want to work
kind of like, OK, there you go, and there’s nothing else that helps on and we’d love your feedback on it, and VIPs – we’ve got the
develop them or keeps them interested or keeps the team engaged Smiths coming in. There are certain things you’d cover, the logistics
and keeps them learning. There are tons of great books out there, of what’s going on, but also you want to set the tone and reinforce:
stuff like Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table, Service That Sells – hey, tonight, I want to make sure we’re pre-bussing. I also want to
awesome resources to keep the team engaged. make sure we’re staying on top of our greeting standard, and that
means when a table is sat,
There are also tons of you’ve got two minutes to
consultants and hospitality The five essential make contact with them and
experts that do small at least acknowledge them
workshops and seminars, and entrepre neurial skills for – eye contact, smile, and tell
that’s really like an investment, success: Concentration, them that you’ll be right with
but also shows your team that them. So you want to set that
you care about them learning Discrimination, Organi­ tone every day. And the most
and stuff like that. Training successful restaurants do this
always has to be something zation, Innovation and religiously. It becomes part
that’s ongoing. And I’m also a Communication. of their standard operating
huge believer that you’ve got procedures. You don’t miss a
to have a pre-shift and a post- day without having a pre-shift.
shift. If you don’t have those, Harold S. Geneen
you’re really missing the boat. And then Post-shift is just
as important. When things
Nick: go wrong during a shift, and
I understand what that is, but in case someone is reading this or things go wrong – it’s the restaurant industry – a lot of dynamics.
listening to this that doesn’t, why don’t you go through what each of You want to be able to write those things down and then talk about
those are? it with the team, “OK, so we had that one table that it seemed like

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