How to Build a Restaurant Team That Actually Works Together
How to Build a Restaurant Team That Actually Works Together
The line cook sweats. The server’s voice cracks. The shift bell rings, and everything hinges on one thing, people who trust each other. You cannot hire a team. You must build one.
Hire for Hunger, Not Just History
Resumes matter less than fire in the eyes. As Anthony Bourdain once wrote, “Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have”.¹ Look for candidates who arrive early, who’ve memorized your menu before the interview. A veteran server may know the route, but a hungry one will steer you through the storm.
Ask job seekers to walk you through a real mistake. Listen for honesty. Not polish. According to a 2022 LinkedIn report, 92 percent of talent professionals say soft skills like adaptability and collaboration are just as important, if not more, than hard skills.²
Train Like a Rehearsal, Not a Rite of Passage
If you toss new hires into service without support, don’t be surprised when they sink. Proper training is choreography. FOH should shadow veterans. BOH should run mock rushes before real guests arrive. You want muscle memory that holds when the ticket rail starts to scream.
The National Restaurant Association notes that 1 in 3 employees who leave their jobs cite lack of training as a key reason.³ Meanwhile, the Hospitality Sector Registered Apprenticeship program (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor) reports average retention rates of 74 percent for graduates, nearly double industry norms.⁴
Craft a Culture That Breathes Clarity
Culture isn’t your prep playlist or the slogan on the wall. It’s what people say to each other when the fryer breaks and there are still 12 tables on deck. Start with clarity. Spell out roles, goals, and expectations. Then listen, not just once a quarter but every day.
At Chicago’s Lula Cafe, daily shift meetings don’t just cover menu notes. Staff are encouraged to share frustrations and fixes aloud.⁵ When a barback flagged a safety issue in dry storage, the team reorganized the space before dinner service. Culture is trust in action.
Build Systems So Simple They Disappear
Prep checklists. Clean-down rituals. Knife placement rules. Systems give order to the chaos, but they must be built with the team, not handed down like commandments. Rotate lead roles. Let the prep cook design the mise system. Ownership turns repetition into pride.
Ditch the Old-School Playbook
Shouting chefs. Closed-off cliques. That is not heritage. That is rot.
Instead, build psychological safety. Empower every voice. Celebrate the dishwasher who catches a leak in the walk-in. Applaud the runner who de-escalates a guest’s frustration before it reaches the GM. Like a jazz band, great teams listen, adjust, and save each other mid-riff.
#RestaurantTeamBuilding #HospitalityLeadership #TeamCulture #RestaurantHiring #RestaurantTraining #ServiceIndustry #KitchenLeadership #HospitalitySuccess
Footnotes
Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Bloomsbury, 2000.
LinkedIn. “Global Talent Trends.” 2022. https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/recruiting-tips/global-talent-trends-2022
National Restaurant Association. “State of the Restaurant Industry Report.” 2023. https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-restaurant-industry
Department of Labor. “Hospitality Sector Registered Apprenticeship.” 2023. https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/industry-intermediaries/national-restaurant-association
Eater Chicago. “How Lula Cafe Built a Team That Lasts.” Dec. 14, 2022. https://chicago.eater.com/2022/12/14/lula-cafe-staff-retention-culture