Cross-Training Lowers Labor Cost, Boosts Morale

If you are running higher than 20 percent labor (including manager's salary) in your operation, then you could probably see great results -- i.e. cost savings, a morale boost -- from cross-training.

In January, I was sent to do some on-site consulting for a full-service Italian restaurant in Southern California. They were doing very well in sales but ran higher than 26 percent in labor in 2002!

Prior to my arrival, the owner insisted that there were no opportunities to save labor with cross-training. In fact, lowering his labor was not supposed to be on my agenda. My job was to audit his store for general suggestions, give customer service and goal-setting seminars to his employees, review his profit and loss (P&L) statements, and help with his marketing plan for 2003.

That sounded fine to me, but during my audit I saw so many cross-training opportunities that I could not possibly list them all here.