Why Every Restaurant Needs Their Own "Rules of the Game"

We believe it takes happy, engaged employees to create happy, loyal guests. As far as we can tell, virtually all of our highly successful members believe this too. They know that the culture they create for their team will be a determining factor in the quality and consistency of their guest experience.

One of the most important elements in creating and maintaining a positive culture is to create behavior standards or "restaurant rules of the game" to define how everyone in the restaurant is expected to function and interact with each other.

Restaurants that experience constant complaining, low morale, excessive turnover and other employee problems often either don't have their own "rules of the game" or they haven't been adequately communicated and enforced.

For restaurant rules to function properly, both managers and staff must clearly understand the following:

• What's acceptable behavior and what's not
• What's expected of everyone
• How to interact with each other
• How to hold one another accountable

Here are some basic "rules of the game" guidelines:

1. Always do your best. The standard and expectation is that everyone comes to work expecting to play at the top of their game, every day. Doing your best means not accepting average or doing just enough to get by. When confronted with a problem, everyone is expected to look for a solution.
2. Do the right thing. Take responsibility, be dependable and accountable. Do what you said you would do, be on time and in the right frame of mind. When you see a problem, don't ignore it. Own it and solve it. Don't pass on inferior work for someone else to fix.
3. Show others you care. Be respectful to everyone, co-workers and customers alike. Be polite and generous in the use of "Please," "Thank you," "My pleasure," "I'm sorry" and "Pardon me." Let others know you're on their side and have their back. Express and demonstrate appreciation often.

Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.
– Brian Kristofek

Think for a minute about the type of working environment and productivity your restaurant would have if the majority of your staff abided by just these three basic principles.

If the rules of the game in your restaurant are loose or nonexistent, consider beginning the process by communicating the three basic guidelines above. But be forewarned, merely communicating your restaurant rules for employees won't change a thing unless you, as the leader, are willing to make the tough calls when there's an infraction.

It takes courage to enforce high standards consistently, every day. However, no organization or team has ever achieved excellence while tolerating mediocrity and unproductive behavior. To be effective, your rules of the game need to be clearly communicated and enforced consistently, no exceptions, every day.

To learn more about how to create a consistent, positive culture in your restaurant sign up for our course, “The Power of Culture.” Additionally, check out our training videos Instantly Raise the Level of Accountability in Your Restaurant and Setting Job Performance Expectations to learn more about best practices in restaurants and creating restaurant rules for employees that help your operation run at peak performance.

Have a profitable week!

The RestaurantOwner.com Team