It’s an old saying, but take care of your employees and they will take care of you.  You want to get customers in and coming back?  Make an effort to make your staff a happy one.

It starts with you.  You can be that boss who stays in the office, never engages the employees, OR you can be the boss who truly cares about the staff, and treats them with respect.

Know their names

Seems a tad obvious?  You’d be surprised.  Not only know their names, be sure to use their names when talking to them.  Know their wife’s name.  Know whether or not they have kids.  Know that they like the Boston Red Sox.

When I go out to eat, I can always tell when the employees like their boss and when they don’t.  They may think they are fooling the guests, but they aren’t.  It is usually written all over their face.  So I say, take care of your staff and they will take care of you (and your customer).  Sounds easy.  And actually, it is.  I mean, seriously, how hard is it to say, “Hey, good job?”  Or to just smile once in a while?  Apparently many find it challenging.  It is just not in their nature.  We have all worked for that employer who skulks around, never happy, grunting and groaning his way through the restaurant, disappointed on how everything is going.  Not satisfied with how many customers there are in the place.  Upset that they are not spending that much money.  Having problems with the staff.  On and on…

Who wants to work for that guy—or gal?  Remember, what you put out there is what your servers, and yes your cooks, will put out there.  If your employees have bad attitudes, I would start by looking in the mirror.  Either consciously, or subconsciously, employees follow the lead of the boss.  If you are Mr. Grumpypants, I promise you, your employees will be, too.  This will ultimately cause friction between your front of the house and your back of the house.  Between your lunch staff and your evening staff.  And for your customers.  Your customers will stop coming in, because who wants to eat at a place where everyone is crabby?  It starts with you!