When you speak about real estate, the most important thing is location, location, location. But when it comes to the back-of-house (BOH) restaurant operation, the most important thing would have to be timing, timing, timing.
The prepared food coming out on time matters. The age of the ingredients matters quite a bit. And the efficiency with which you manage your BOH matters the most.
Let’s read on to see tips for any restaurant business to improve its back-of-house performance.
1. Communicate Effectively
The most important thing you can do when managing a restaurant business is to improve your communication tactics, especially with the back-of-house staff. Most managers are often too focused on the front-of-house operations and staff.
So much so that they forget to communicate with and inform the back-of-house staff about eventualities. Make sure to keep every one of your staff members in the loop about what the restaurant’s day and week look like and what they need to be prepared for.
2. Empower Your Back-of-House Staff
Just because you are involved in back-of-house management doesn’t mean that you need to micromanage your staff and not allow them to make any decisions on their own. This could result in quite a backlog in your operations, as staff waits for minutes or even hours to get your approval on minute tasks.
Empower your staff to make most decisions on their own, and let them know exactly which decisions they need to come to you with (only the most high-level ones, presumably). This will streamline your operations quite a bit.
3. Arrange Your Kitchen Efficiently
No one is going to see the back of your restaurant, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t spend any time thinking about how to set it up. The more thought you can put into arranging your kitchen efficiently, the faster your restaurant will churn out meals.
Fast customer service in a restaurant is more dependent on an efficient back-of-house operation than on intuitive front-of-house staff.
4. Invest in New Software and Technology
A high-end and well-established restaurant management system is a necessity when trying to manage a fast-paced restaurant business. Do not skimp on this purchase, unless you want hundreds of dollars of food waste and other ways to throw money down the drain.
Also, buying commercial dishwashers is a great way to help out your BOH staff. This way, they aren’t spending hundreds of hours a week washing dishes by hand but using that time to do meal prep and think up delicious new recipes instead.
5. Streamline Food Prep
Another way you can create more efficiency in your restaurant business is by streamlining and improving your food prep tasks. You could have one assigned BOH staff that focuses on this task, so they become highly efficient at it.
Make sure that you have the right implements to hasten up the process, though. Use knife sharpening tools regularly to ensure that your BOH staff isn’t working with dull knives, slowing their meal prep down.
6. Create a BOH Checklist
This brings us to the BOH checklist, which is paramount when it comes to creating an efficient kitchen. Make sure you include all important tasks on the checklist and do not forget to hold your staff accountable if they don’t complete their checklist items on time.
Some tasks to add to the checklist are as follows:
- Scrub and sanitize all sinks
- Unload and clean dishwasher after each use
- Empty trash can
- Check refrigerator and freezer temperature
- Make sure everyone has the hair net on
- Sweep and mop the floor after each shift
As your restaurant business expands, more tasks will surely be added to the checklist.
7. Offer Incentives and Rewards
A great way to motivate the BOH staff to do a better job is to use rewards and incentive systems. You could have an ‘Employee of the Month’ award for both the FOH and BOH staff members, and offer a cash bonus for the person who wins the award.
Also, use compliments and verbal feedback to keep your staff motivated and engaged. You should also give proper feedback to your staff, so they know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. This way, they can improve themselves.
8. Take Inventory Count Regularly
You need to take regular inventory counts so that your BOH staff has everything they need to prepare and cook the meals, without food waste. You don’t want someone rushing out in the middle of the shift to buy some crucial ingredient because the inventory count wasn’t taken properly.
This will also result in better forecasting for future days, better planning, reduced ordering mistakes, and reduced overstocking.
9. Reduce Stress by Having Regular Powwow Sessions
Out of sight, out of mind isn’t something that should apply to your BOH staff. You should be having regular meetings with them to ensure that their voices are heard and their feedback is taken into account. Not only will this result in happier staff, but it will also help you improve your restaurant operations.
10. Plan For Busy Periods in Advance
If you know that certain times of the month or year are good for business and busier than usual, then plan for these days in advance. This way you won’t be left scratching your head wondering how to get guest meals out on time when you don’t have enough staff or meal ingredients.
Make Your Back-of-House Management Smooth and Efficient
It’s easy to wait until it’s too late to start trying to manage your back-of-house staff. But why do that to your restaurant business?
Start building a proper communication protocol and operating system now for your BOH staff, so you can only get better from here.
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