One of the ways for hospitality owners / managers to improve their venue (i.e make more money) and achieve their outcomes is to have the right staff on board. It is important to note that when selecting a Chef from TSS Immigration, your success will depend on not only the personality and experience of the individual you are bringing into the business but more importantly the training and support you provide and expectations/goals you set.
It is a rare occurrence however, when recently placed well suited Chefs decide to leave venues after a short period of time and we ask them about training provided to them the answers are usually quite vague. By having a clear induction process that all new team members complete, you will most certainly improve your recruiting success.
The Induction Process of a New Chef
An induction process will not be limited to helping train the new Chef, it will also set the vibe of your venue and let the new Chef know how you invest and manage your new team members. Ask yourself, if you leave them to fend for themselves with no guidance, are you giving them a good impression of you? Will they be questioning whether this is the best start to their career within your venue?
An induction process does not need to involve you, the business owner / manager at all stages. Utilise members of your team that embody your values and brand to deliver some of the induction process. This will also encourage the new Chef to get to know their fellow team mates quicker and feel more welcome in their new surroundings.
Training your New Chef
Your customer journey needs to be clearly communicated to any new Chef to ensure they are learning from the beginning how to represent your venues brand and deliver the best service to customers.
In order to ensure new Chefs do not feel isolated from the business by going through the induction process away from the day to day activities, it is a good idea to include in your induction program time to shadow team members in the business. This will give them an opportunity to learn directly from others in the venue and see how the business works on a real time basis. This may be achieved with the use of a buddy / mentoring system which will ensure that the team does not get overloaded with training the new Chef as well as giving the new Chef a proper induction into the business and the people who currently work there.
Include new Chefs in all areas of your business; both Front of House and Back of House. If you have regular team meetings include them on these early so they get a feel of the venues challenges and how you operate.
Performance Management of your New Chef
Performance measures should be set out in stages of the Chefs induction process and explained. They should include the business objectives and goals. As an owner / manager you need to use your discretion over performance, the right behaviour and attitude with some missed targets might still represent a quality team member.
Ongoing assessment of new Chefs will allow you to guide the Chef before a decrease in performance levels become an issue. If new team members are going to fail, it is good to notice early on and deal with this ASAP – you may find their skills are better suited to other areas of the kitchen brigade. Where you feel there are performance issues, take a moment to think if those issues have anything to do with a lack of training or knowledge provided by you before you contact your TSS Immigration consultant for a replacement Chef if it is within the 3 month guarantee replacement period.
The key with new Chefs is to put them all through the same induction and performance management process – this allows you to see the potential of the individual, the fit with the venue and allow consistency in service to your customers.
In turn you will have a process and clear targets to measure new team members on in order to increase their success and assess their profitability.
