How to Hire, Train, and Retain Great Servers

The brewpub concept is unique; blending restaurant and bar components into one space creates a welcoming environment for craft beer lovers and casual diners alike.That's why it is essential to hire servers that can accommodate both types of customers, as well as the ones in-between, to ensure everyones experience is as great as their beer.

The role of server is critical to keeping valuable customers, although finding the right candidates can be challenging. Server training and retention programs are also important for maintaining a successful business by protecting the investments made in new employees. Read on to learn what to look for when hiring a server, the components of a successful training program and strategies to increase employee retention.

Hiring New Servers Must-have qualities to look for when hiring a server

Friendly and Genuine This may seem obvious, but it is still a crucial trait to look for. Servers are the face of any brew business and it is their job to make customer experience pleasant and enjoyable from start to finish. Hiring staff with upbeat attitudes and sincere friendliness will create an energetic atmosphere that sets the tone of a good customer experience. Hiring a server that does not love to interact with people, or a shy personality, can create environmental tension and even workplace negativity.

Have A Passion For Serving You want your servers to take pride in delivering world class service. During the interview process, look to see if their work experience demonstrates proficiency in this area and ask behavioral questions, to gain insight into how they handle difficult customers, spontaneity and working with others as a team. You could even get into a role playing scenario, describing a hypothetical customer interaction and challenging them to give specific details about how they would navigate the encounter. Can they tell you about a specific time where they went above and beyond for a customer?

A Great Listener Your servers not only have to be great communicators, but also great listeners. Customers will be ordering all kinds of foods and drinks, some orders may be simple and some can be very specific and even complicated. Having attentive servers, hanging on every word the customer says, makes the dining experience much more enjoyable for those patrons, and helps your business avoid unwanted surprises, or negative reviews. We only get one chance at a first impression!

Attentive and Organized A server will be handling many different customers at once, all with different orders and needs. Hiring someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment like this will serve you well! Ask them about their experience dealing with multiple customers at once, in the past. Describe a typical scenario that one of your current servers might face and have them walk you through how they would react. Having a server who can prioritize and multi-task, with enthusiasm, is important to helping your restaurant run efficiently.

The Five Training Basics Basics every craft brew server should know

1. The Brewery Tour Start by making sure that your staff gets a peek at the important behind the scenes details. Help them get comfortable with the layout and as the training period goes on, introduce them to different kinds of equipment and how things are made. You should also help them get a general understanding of the types of brews you make by conducting smell and taste tests.

2. Beer Basics - Teaching Start your new hires with the basics about beer, like the 4 main ingredients of beer's, flavors, and basic terminology they should know. As you continue teaching, include more in depth concepts like how yeast strains can change the quality of beers. For the final phase, take the new employees to beer festivals where they will be interacting with the public and explaining your brews in depth.

3. Beer Basics - Tasting The tasting portion of your training program will help strengthen the knowledge your employees were taught in the teaching segment. Setup tast tests with a couple different kinds of beers and have the trainees explain the taste, smell and color, this will help them get more familiar with the drinks they will be serving. Continue this kind of training with the menu of drinks you offer.

4. Service Begin with teaching how your servers should be describing beers, this goes back to what they will learn in the Beer Tasting and Teaching segments. Continue the training by teaching servers how to properly handle the glasses, how to pour and how to make sure the glass they are using is clean. Explain how to properly store beer and the effects that sunlight and oxygen have on beer. The final stage should be hands on learning. Put your servers through tests on pouring beer, tasting beer that has been affected by sunlight compared to properly stored beer and let them choose from a variety of glasses to find the one that is dirty and not ready for use.

5. Your Story Last but not least, share your Brewpubs story with new employees. Explain how it got started, why the owners wanted to get into the brewing industry, and other engaging information that employees may want to share with customers. Also, it is important to make sure that your employees know when the brewpub was formed, how many and who the owners are and who the brewmaster is. This information will help connect with customers and helps strengthen your brand. It also can help make sure that your servers feel like they are part of something, share your vision and want to help you execute and bring that vision to life on a daily basis.

Retaining Reduce employee turnover and keep your business growing

Staff Incentives and Competitions Create a competition between servers to sell a certain type of beer or divide the staff into teams and whichever team sells more wins! You do not have to make the prizes monetary, a free lunch or trips to other breweries can be just as rewarding. Not only does this help sales, it strengthens the knowledge, expertise and camaraderie of your team.

Continuous Training Training doesn't stop once you're hired. Continuing to train your staff not only enhances their product knowledge, but it also shows that you are invested in their success.

Fun Events Offering fun events for your staff helps to strengthen relationships amongst co-workers and provides a positive team environment. Events like brewery tours, trivia nights or family nights can all help build a strong bond amongst co-workers and show that you care about the people you employ.

As you search for a new server, we hope this advice will act as a guide for you to build and maintain a strong team. Having standard procedures for hiring, training and retaining employees is essential in the craft beer industry. Clearly outlining these procedures in company policy can help avoid accusation of discrimination and other adverse action from candidates.

To learn more about reducing employee turnover rates and how you can improve your Human Resource process, check out Pre-Select Products for a hiring solution that fits your needs.