There are many things you can do to help in improving sales performance for your restaurant. You can try the age old tactics of offering happy hour drinks and appetizers during slower times. You can invest in marketing or restaurant and menu redesign. You can get creative with your menu offerings to draw in new customers and keep the regulars coming back to try new dishes. But one of the most underutilized ways to improve your restaurant sales is with attitude. Being kind to everyone, not just your customers, can do absolute wonders in creating the kind of atmosphere that keeps people coming back for more. Here are the benefits of giving your restaurant an attitude makeover.

Help Your Team Excel With Kindness

Kindness extends beyond customer service provided to your guests. It goes deep into your organization from the wait staff to the chefs. There is no doubt the restaurant business is stressful and it gets to every single one of us! The important thing is not to let the stress dictate your attitude and outlook while dealing with business. When you weave kindness into how you manage your team and how you coach your employees to treat each other, it will help with improving sales performance across the board. It may seem easier to snap at each other to get things done, but it is important to:

• Focus on training that helps your team handle stressful and busy times with greater ease. This makes less mistakes and greater opportunities for teamwork and positive interaction.
• Celebrate the small things from employee to employee, manager to manager. Building up confidence is vital to success.
• Think about what you say before you say it. It is easy to command and blurt things when it is busy, but being conscientious can go a long way.

Improving Sales Performance With Servant Leadership

When you focus on training, rewards, and kindness, it is known as a strategy called servant leadership. While maintaining authority over your restaurant, your employees know that you are there to help them succeed. Leaders that are rough around the edges and use fear tactics to get things done don’t hold respect very long; this type of attitude definitely doesn’t help with improving sales performance. A rough-and-gruff attitude can also can lead to high turnover which is expensive for your business. By working with your employees on their scheduling requests and supporting them when they need it, you can perform servant leadership that gains far more respect in the long run and creates a positive attitude in your organization.

Crafting A Pay It Forward Culture

Performing all of these things to create a kindness attitude will have a far reach. As your employees are treated with respect and kindness, they will begin to treat each other with that same attitude. The positive vibes and expectations in your team will cause everyone to perform better, be willing to work more and help others with shift trades and scheduling conflicts, and at the end will trickle down into stellar customer service.

Having an attitude centered on kindness does so much to help with improving sales performance in your restaurant. By adopting a servant leadership strategy, you will provide a “pay it forward” attitude that will continue to be passed down throughout your staff. This is what pays the bills and increases your profit over competitors who are sticking with the traditional sales strategies!

Beyond that, use online tools for employee scheduling and logbook creation so you have the time to nurture the growth of your staff members.