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Crabby Bill’s, Teak owners share playbook on retaining talent
Securing new employees during a nationwide labor shortage, while bolstering the customer base, are challenges local restauranters are grappling with as they build their brands.
During the Florida Israel-Business Accelerator’s Tuesday hospitality conference at the Bryan Glazer JCC in Tampa, the biggest names in Tampa Bay’s restaurant sector shared their notes on how to retain top-tier talent by leveraging new technology and staying true to their grassroots.
Longtime business owner Matt Loder was one of the speakers. Loder, known for starting the Crabby Bill’s seafood restaurant empire in an 800-square-foot building on Gulf Boulevard and expanding it over time with additional locations and acquisitionsjoined Clyde Smith, general manager at Bilmar Beach Resort in Treasure Island and the Sloppy Joe’s on the Beach restaurant, and Greenberg Traurig LLP shareholder Katie Molloy.
The panel was moderated by Jennifer Corinis from the Greenberg Traurig law firm.
Chuck Prather, owner of the Birchwood Hotel and the Teak restaurant on the St. Pete Pier; Wayne Raath, general manager at Lone Palm Golf Club; and Ted Turner, a Chick-fil-A franchise owner in Pinellas County, were on a similar second panel, moderated by Tampa Bay Business Journal publisher Ian Anderson.
Takeaways on topics from Panel 1
The responses have been edited for clarity.
On the current labor market and recruiting tactics
Loder: “This is the most challenging time in the labor market for employers. We are doing everything we can to retain and acquire new employees and have a dedicated recruiter tasked with finding talent. Although we have over 700 employees, we are still considered a small company, and I do my best to remember everyone’s names to connect with them – even if I get their name wrong. We want to hire more employees, but we are not lowering our standards. It’s better to run a short staff than bring someone in who creates havoc or isn’t great with customers. We used to bring anybody in and throw them on the floor or in the kitchen.”
Smith: “We are at the mercy of the employee we are trying to retain, but at the same time, we want to have the right employees and look at it from a long-term perspective versus the short term. For example, if a valuable employee is having difficulty coming to work on time, we could be more flexible with their schedule. We are also making sure that during the training process, we are giving employees real-life scenarios.”
Molloy: “One of the most common issues we see are wage problems. With staffing shortages, we are seeing a lot of employees work off the clock and do overtime, and the employer still needs to comply with those wage laws. If an employee isn’t paid what they are owed, that employee can sue the owner for twice as much. The biggest issues are off-the-clock work, which are instant liability cases.”
On embracing technology and communication
Loder: “We have implemented a tech tool to electronically send schedules to employees. Through the tech, we can send and receives message with them and those messages are tracked.”
Smith: “We are using tech that sends us notifications when someone applies for a position. It is crucial that you get back to that employee as soon as possible because 10 other people want to hire them. We are also offering existing employees referral bonuses when they find an ideal candidate. Regarding employee evaluations, we send out a 25-question survey.”
Molloy: “Recent studies show that as much as 85% of employees would resign in response to one critical performance review. Business owners need to balance their accurate evaluations and not upset employees with overly critical comments; however, the worst thing to do is giving them a glowing performance review and then firing them two months later.”
From left to right: Moderator Ian Anderson, Chick-fil-A franchise owner Ted Turner, Wayne Raath with the Lone Palm golf club, and Chuck Prather, owner of The Birchwood Hotel and Teak.
Takeaways from Panel 2
On building customer loyalty
Prather: “Guests want superior service, creativity and fresh ingredients. When we are scheduling reservations, we include notes if the person is dining with us for a special occasion like an anniversary or birthday. We may put flowers on their table or serve a particular drink the guest typically orders to show commitment with these small touches. The workforce in the hospitality space is also shifting. A lot of us remember working as dishwashers or cashiers at restaurants during our high school years and thought of it as a stepping stone, but over the past five years, wages are increasing, and employees have health benefits and a 401(k) – offerings we never had in the old days.”
Raath: “We don’t exist without customer loyalty because it’s the same people returning to the club. I used to send an email twice a week to all members, but then we started a texting campaign. Every morning at 10:30 a.m., we send out a text listing the different specials for that day, which is a great tactic for building customer loyalty.”
Turner: “People are strategically choosing where they dine. The top factors are safety and genuine hospitality. The customer should feel better about their day after coming in. The iPad has been a game changer in taking orders and serving guests in the drive-thru, because you can still have those valuable face-to-face interactions.”
Jennifer DelSignore
August 20, 2024at4:41 pm
I’m trying to understand and find information about how the commission style pay $1 an benefits your employees FOH more than it benefits the Owner/restaurant. I’m not trying to be Facetious, but as a victim of this pay structure with over 35 years experience in my craft, I’m trying to understand how why? I am accustomed to earning an Ernest wage upwards to $40/hr for hard work, long hours and a wealth of knowledge. To work 2 weeks my tips included in my pay (3 weeks of interest earning pay) paid every two weeks, and ultimately basic math earning slightly above minimum wage. There is no profit to the FOH yes we are guaranteed 15 % of each check. Yet 5% is disbursed where. Yes there is typically a 2.5% fee for a guest to use their credit card so now I can account for 17.5%. if you think about it? Guests are being mandated a 20 %fee, gratuity is a gratuitous action. It’s a gentleman’s handshake. If you want to earn gratuity be gratuitous. Owners are making thousands of dollars of their employees backs crying poor due to the minimum wage being increased. Please don’t justify owners making money off their bartenders and servers. They make their money off the quality of their food, their spirits and cocktails ambience and desire to exceed with in the hospitality industry. There are many bartenders and servers who have worked hard to be exceptional and exceed a guests expectations. We deserve more than $1 an hour (guaranteed $12/he which is really just our tips adjusting the curve).so if I earn $500 in tips and I’ve worked 40 hrs. My gross is $540. So sad. After taxes I’ve worked a 40 hour week, with years of experience for take home pay around $440 depending on your deductions. That’s very sad. I understand restaurants need to be open for lunch and dinner but to work a lunch shift with no guests zero as a bartender, making drinks for servers with minimal guests, earning only 1% of their beverages sales, of the 20% service fee. For that shift 7 hours I’ve earned only $17. Fingers crossed that a dinner shift will yield me $200 or more so I can pay myself at least $12/hr. It’s very sad. Yet restauranteurs are raving about their profit. We all need to eat. Some of us have college educations whom realized that their skill set their craft, their ability to engage with people have allowed them to secure and make a substantial income in the restaurant industry. Allowing restaurants and owners to implement this dollar an hour commission structure wage payable over 2 weeks. Of course, the law of averages diminishes our ability to earn the wage. We’ve worked hard to earn and to be able to feed our families. Certainly the industry should be in touch with this mindset. There are thousands of dollars that are sitting earning interest for the owner because the law of averages needs time especially in a commission structure job. I have worked in high pressured sales and the restaurant industry my entire life for 35 years and not one single sales job that I worked was I not offered a draw against my commission and typically the draw was minimum wage. Which means that my sales, or the opportunity to incur those sales? Would far exceed the typical draw because no one wants to work for minimum wage. With this structure our hands are tied. It’s the roll of the dice. You never know how many guests you will be entertaining or serving on a giving lunch or dinner, which is why the minimum wage for bartenders and servers was set at $8.90 an hour because even if it was a slow service, we at least had the availability to average 18 to $22 an hour on a given shift. With busier shifts amounting to $22 to $40 an hour.
Not everyone is a skilled bartender or server. There are a plethora of items you need to learn and retain recipes as a server. You must know every ingredient and every dish that is being served within the restaurant you work for. There are many allergies. There are many illnesses. We all must be registered and licensed to serve alcohol and to safely serve food. It is sad that as I read reviews on Yelp and Google I see things or comments like well. I don’t understand. All he or she had to do was carry my food out. Why should she or he be guaranteed a 20% commission or service fee? No, it should not be a service fee. It is should be a gratuity and he or she should earn said gratuity in selling and explaining and engaging with you and helping you have a phenomenal experience dining outside of your own dining room. As a bartender, he or she should explore the spirits that you enjoy. They should explore the tastes that you enjoy. So when he or she crafts you a delicious cocktail at an average price of $15 an hour. You are excited and satisfied and appreciate the skill set. I am new to Florida but what I would like to know is how Florida’s labor board feels about this atrocity that is becoming the normal for their front of the house workers for workers that have fed their family above and beyond and now sit and wait for a paycheck every two weeks with no inkling as to what it will be. We don’t even get to see our sales. We don’t even get to see the profit that the restaurant made come on. Please do not let our craft become robotized.