What to do when your stars don’t always shine

Oftentimes there’s a difference between an exceptional server and an exceptional employee.

There’s an interesting, if frustrating, conundrum restaurant owners, managers and trainers face when managing waitstaff. It’s this: The qualities that make an exceptional server don’t always mesh with the qualities that make an exceptional employee.

Exceptional servers are outgoing and effervescent without being over the top. They can anticipate, not just respond to, customer needs. They wear many hats sales professional, nurturing host, discreet confidant. They’re great actors. For exceptional servers, it’s all about the “floor show,” performing for their intimate audience of two, four or six, and earning the “applause” that comes from providing a flawlessly executed dining experience.

By contrast, exceptional employees are utterly reliable, punctual team players. They display great attention to detail—side work is always done—and can be counted on to perform in every situation. They are dependable and rock solid.

It’s hard to get farther apart on the personality spectrum than those two descriptions.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Plenty of great servers exhibit all of these qualities. But, especially if your restaurant is located in areas where the hiring pool is limited (small communities or those with an over-saturation of restaurants) it can be difficult to find all of those qualities wrapped up in one package.

“The complaint that I hear most often, strangely enough, is that the people who really shine on the floor are the same people who are consistently late, have attitude problems and never complete their side work,” said Susie Ross, a training consultant specializing in the hospitality industry. “Yet when they’re on the floor, guests love them.”

Managers see that these servers are stars with guests, while at the same time committing a myriad of small sins in the workplace—lack of sidework, punctuality, team-playing. Yet, it’s hard to discipline someone who consistently gets rave reviews from guests and upsells on every ticket. If you look the other way for your star servers but not for everyone else, Ross noted that it can spell trouble in terms of staff relations.

“Managers find that their other staff members are wondering why ‘Terri’ can get away with being late and they can’t,” Ross said. “There may be a bit of jealousy involved on their parts, and they’ve got a valid point. Why should they get penalized for tardiness or not completing side work, yet Terri seems to be the golden child and never hears a word about her tardiness and failure to complete assigned tasks?”

Therein lies the conundrum. You’ve got a fabulous server who is a lukewarm employee. You’d love to hold “Terri” up as an example of how your servers should perform on the floor with guests, but she’s making it hard for you to do that because she’s falling down on other parts of her job. Many people would wish she’d make their lives easier and just be on time, already.

“Guess what?” Ross said to managers. “It’s not Terri’s job to make your life easier. It’s your job to create the guidelines for your staff that will make your life easier.”


Ross offers these specific recommendations:

• Set the boundaries immediately.

When you hire people, give them the rules in writing. Clear expectations produce clear results. Offer periodic orientation sessions so you and your staff can go over the rules together. Questions and misunderstandings can be taken care of at that time. Tell your staff that ignorance of the rules will be excused twice, and after the third time, an employee will either be counseled, suspended or terminated, depending on the situation and severity of the problem.

• Change the rules if they’re not working.

“Don’t abuse the privilege, but you’re the owner or manager—you can change the rules at any time,” Ross said. “Sometimes it’s necessary to change the rules to save your business.”

• Conduct a training session on the “new rules,” and establish that the rules apply to everyone.

“You might even want to take ‘Terri’ aside and inform her that these rules do apply to her, as well,” Ross said. “No one is exempt from the rules and the consequences if they’re not followed.”

What if you do all of these things and “Terri” still doesn’t shape up? Ross says that it’s time to cut your losses. “If an employee can’t abide by the rules and you’ve given her every opportunity to do so, perhaps you need to realize that she is not a good employee for your business,” says Ross. “If she isn’t following your basic rules, there may also be other things that she disregards as being not important enough or beneath her talents.”

Bottom line, if your star servers aren’t also star employees, it’s time to find some new servers. The damage they can do by creating poor morale among your dutiful staff and creating bad examples for them to follow is more significant than the raves they earn from guests.