A New Restaurant

I hope you all had a great holiday season, and that you did a brisk business leading up to Christmas.  Now, with the new year upon us, many restaurant owners in the northern US are settling in for what has traditionally been the slow season.

With cold weather, ice, and snow, many customers will stay home in the evening instead of going out for dinner.  This is what separates the winners from the losers.  Success in the restaurant world comes from not only handling the busy times, but also in controlling your costs and battling through the slower times.  Sometimes that means making some tough decisions, especially where your staff is concerned. 

One of the hardest jobs for many restaurant owners is telling a good employee that you can not afford to keep them.  How you handle that distasteful job can have an effect on the rest of your staff,

It can be a hard call; do you work them till the end of the shift and then let them go, or do you give them a little notice that it’s coming, after all, you would want them to give you a notice.  The sudden end of the shift pink-slip always leaves a bad taste in your employees mouths.  The remaining staff will have their confidence shaken.  After all, the same thing could happen to any one of them, and they may not see it coming.  On the other hand, giving a notice opens up the possibility that the employee may not finish out the time they have.  That leaves you short handed, and the remaining staff will have to pick up the slack.

In truth, there is no easy answer.  All I can say is to handle it gently.  Treat the outgoing employee with respect.  This is a business decision.  You are not firing a bad employee here, you are laying off what could be a good worker.  How would you want to be treated in that situation.

Remember, winter is a temporary condition.  Don’t make decisions that will make it a difficult spring.