Staffing
3 tips for hiring the right manager
Every restaurant needs a great manager. Having the right team is crucial to scaling revenue and achieving business longevity
November 18, 2024 by Vivian Wang — Founder & CEO, LANDED
Any successful restaurant concept knows that having the right team is crucial to scaling revenue and achieving business longevity. And when it comes to building your dream team, the best place to start is with a great manager.
We've helped hundreds of restaurant brands — including industry leaders like Erewhon, Tao Hospitality Group, and McDonald's — find their ideal managers. And we do it in record time.
Hiring the right person might feel like finding a needle in a haystack, but it doesn't have to be. These three actionable strategies can help a brand secure its ideal manager.
Tip 1: Keep an open mind — you never know who's out there
Keeping an open mind may feel counterintuitive when trying to secure the most highly qualified managers, but hear me out.
Too often, restaurants pigeonhole themselves into only considering those with years of management experience. This results in decreased applicant volume, which is vital when beginning the search for your perfect match.
This is especially true in the case of new store openings, where you may be hiring for multiple managers at once. In order to boost volume, you'll need to be flexible with your requirements.
You may be thinking – doesn't this mean that I get lower quality applicants?
Absolutely not.
Filtering solely by experience cuts out a large volume of applicants who have the drive, passion and willingness to learn. For example, requiring all applicants to have five years of management experience means that you may never meet a hardworking assistant manager who is ready to take the next steps in their career.
The delicate balance between experience and ambition should always be considered when hiring. This is especially true for higher level positions with a long career trajectory. There is the opportunity for a perspective shift here: flexibility doesn't mean compromise — it's just another window into finding the perfect fit for your brand.
Take a moment to divide the requirements and qualifications for a manager into "Must Haves" and "Nice to Haves."
Ultimately, the answer might be that hiring someone with a number of years of management experience is non-negotiable.
Or maybe you'll realize that your "Must Have" is a person who embodies your company culture, knows how to engage with a multigenerational workforce or is particularly good with training.
At the end of the day, hiring someone who aligns with your team culture and brand mission may be more of an asset than a specific number of years of experience.
Tip 2: Don't discount Gen Z
Did you know that more than 40% of food service workers in the U.S. are members of Generation Z? And this number is only climbing.
Cultivating a multigenerational workforce is crucial to the longevity of your restaurant, and Gen Z's impact on the workforce cannot be overstated.
Over the past three years, employers in the restaurant industry have prompted Gen Z into management roles as often as Baby Boomers. In fact, Gen Z was promoted into management 1.2x faster in 2023 than in 2019.
While it may be tempting to prioritize Millennials and Boomers for managerial positions, the notion that age is equivalent to experience can be incredibly limiting.
In many cases, the right manager is someone who will grow with your business and work hard to achieve your goals.
Hiring someone who can be with you for the long haul has positive impacts for the team as a whole. They'll be able to cultivate a deeper understanding of mission and culture, crucial elements for onboarding, training, and continued quality management.
When Gen Z is given the chance to assume management positions – with future career advancement opportunities ahead–you are not only hiring a manager today, but potentially a director of operations five years down the line.
Tip 3: Leverage Technology to Connect Deeper
This all sounds great, you might be thinking, but I just don't have the time.
While it might sound too good to be true, there is a way to find your perfect match without having to spend hours of time combing through resumes.
Gartner points to generative AI as the key.
"High-volume hiring calls for AI-enabled capabilities such as virtual assistant apply, lightweight and inviting candidate assessments, interview scheduling and intelligent automation of manual tasks through a continuous workflow," they include in their 2024 Hype Cycle for Talent Acquisition Report.
"These capabilities help progress the candidates intuitively from step to step, significantly reducing candidate drop-off while increasing efficiency and quality of the selection process."
By leveraging AI for candidate vetting, engagement and scheduling, you can rest assured that the only candidates you're meeting for an interview are fully qualified for the position.
Rather than getting bogged down in applications, you can now spend your time getting to know your candidates and ensuring they are the right pick to lead your team to success. After all, personality, work ethic and company fit are as crucial as the words on their resume.
Ready to meet your match? What years of experience in the hourly restaurant recruitment space has taught us is that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to hiring.
About Vivian Wang
Vivian Wang is the Founder & CEO of LANDED, an AI-driven hiring platform that helps restaurants and hospitality employers quickly hire top talent. A Princeton graduate in Public and International Affairs, Vivian has advised European central banks on financial strategy at BlackRock, launched Asia and EMEA markets for Matterport (NASDAQ: MTTR), and led C-suite projects at Gap, Inc. Her diverse experience fuels LANDED’s mission to support career and financial growth for blue-collar workers.
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