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Employee Management
Finding, Hiring and Training Managers
Inspiring Greatness As the manager of five pizza restaurants, I receive two questions more than most others: How do we find people? And do I ever sleep? The latter question, of course, refers to my busy schedule — but if I can answer the first ques...
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Employee Management
Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace
Represented One of the nation’s largest private-sector employers, restaurants have long celebrated their role in promoting opportunity and diversity among the ranks. And in so many ways, it rings true. Kitchens, counters and dining rooms at restaur...
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Employee Management
Building Blocks: How to Retain Your Winning Team
Previously, we discussed how to build a staff of servers, cooks and drivers with a winning mindset. The unspoken question is this: how do you retain them? You’re not alone if you can’t find anyone to hire right now, making it so important to keep...
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Employee Management
Building Blocks: Instilling a Winning Attitude within Your Employees
How to make winning contagious When opening new locations, I would argue there is a magic formula, and I’ve tried to lay that out month-by-month. But there’s a missing ingredient to make it all work that’s completely up to you: a winning attitu...
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Employee Management
Mike’s Monthly Tip: The Employee Hangout
Set standards and enforce them You’re in your business all the time, surrounded by the same four walls day in and day out. Even if you own multiple locations, you’re seeing the same people over and over again, and that’s not a bad t...
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Employee Management
Building Blocks: Cross-Training and Scheduling
In our last installment, we talked about how important labor cost is to your restaurant’s bottom line and being aggressive when it comes to setting targets for spending in this area. There are two important factors with regards to how you can eithe...
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Employee Management
Building Blocks: 3 Steps for Restaurant Trainees
You’re open, your marketing and branding is working, and your processes and equipment are improved. Things are looking great, but there might be another major bottleneck bogging down operations — and it’s a big one: training. Training is one of...
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Employee Management
Current Job Market and Hiring Process
The pandemic changed the way operators attract and hire employees Finding talent has always been a challenge, and the COVID-19 crisis made the task even tougher. Pizzeria owners say the process of attracting, hiring and onboarding workers has changed...
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Employee Management
Mike’s Monthly Tip: The Few and the Proud Employees
Acquiring talent has never been more challenging than it is today. Developing solid, dependable employees is currently extremely hard. It’s not too dissimilar to how hard it was to recruit enlisted service members after the Vietnam War. After remov...
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Employee Management
Mike’s Monthly Tip: Avoid Warm Body Syndrome
Keep Your Core Values Intact if You Expect to Thrive What do you stand for? What are your values? Moreover, what are your core values? If you and your leadership team were to write it all on the board, every single character trait that mattered most,...
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Employee Management
Payroll 101: Tips to Save and Stay Organized
Getting off track when it comes to paying employees can lead to a downshift in profits, which no one wants, especially during shifting times. “Every dollar counts right now,” says Michele DiMeo, founder and CEO of Squisito Pizza & Pasta, a fa...
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Employee Management
When Employees Test Positive for COVID-19
Regulations vary, so pizzeria owners look to local authorities, friendly competitors and the Internet for best practices Act quickly, but don’t panic. That’s the advice from pizzeria owners who have had employees test positive for COVID-19. As th...