How to Build a High-Performance Restaurant Team From the Ground Up
What does it take to build a restaurant team that performs every shift, even when turnover spikes and margins shrink?
Operators know the challenge: one day you have a full roster, the next you’re scrambling to fill gaps and keep guests happy.
Every decision about your people ripples out to the guest experience and bottom line.
David Drinan, Managing Partner at BlackThorn Strategic Advisors, has guided both struggling units and fast-growing brands.
His conclusion: without the right people, no system or strategy can succeed.
Why Team Performance Drives Restaurant Success
Operational excellence begins with people. Technology helps, but service breaks down fast if your team doesn’t care.
Team culture directly shapes guest experience. Staff who trust each other and feel valued show up with pride, while a weak culture creates inconsistency.
Chick-fil-A proves the point: by investing in people and setting clear expectations, they generate industry-leading revenue and unmatched guest satisfaction.
But building and sustaining that kind of team also requires operational breathing room—and that’s where the right back-office support becomes critical.
That’s exactly what Global Shared Services (GSS) provides: financial clarity, smart tools, and time-saving services that allow restaurant leaders to focus on their people instead of their paperwork.
Step 1: Hire for Attitude, Train for Excellence
- Hire people who show up curious, honest, and ready to work—even if they’ve never bussed a table.
- Build interview questions around real-life scenarios to gauge cultural fit.
- Involve current team members in hiring to reinforce culture.
- Create structured onboarding: clear expectations, hands-on training, and mentorship.
When people feel invested in from day one, they gain confidence and deliver consistent guest experiences.
We’ve seen this play out in real restaurants.
One GSS client—a Tropical Smoothie Café franchisee—built a top-performing team by pairing structured onboarding with GSS payroll support, which eliminated admin headaches and let managers spend more time coaching new hires during their most formative weeks.
Step 2: Create a Culture of Empowerment and Accountability
Empowerment means backing your team when they make calls in the heat of service—then debriefing, not punishing, when things go sideways. Micromanagement slows service and kills initiative.
- Set clear standards for service, food quality, and teamwork.
- Provide tools and back your employees when they make tough calls.
- Use mistakes as learning opportunities, not just discipline.
- Maintain accountability with regular check-ins, benchmarks, and feedback.
Teams care more when they’re trusted to do the job and held to the mark.
Step 3: Invest in Continuous Training and Development
Training doesn’t stop after week one. If it does, expect mistakes. Continuous development keeps teams sharp, adaptable, and motivated.
- Short monthly refreshers reduce errors and strengthen teamwork.
- Skill-based workshops improve guest service and compliance.
- Regular training signals that leadership cares about staff growth.
One fast-casual group saw higher ratings and fewer mistakes after six months of structured training sessions.
Step 4: Leverage Technology and Data for Smarter Operations
Guessing at labor or food needs costs money. Data gives you control. Smart technology turns data into decisions.
- Use dashboards and labor management tools to track sales and staffing.
- Forecast demand to prevent over- or under-staffing.
- Improve labor cost control and guest experience with real-time insights.
As David Drinan notes, “Everyone’s got the tools to schedule, but it’s about whether managers use them effectively and build rapport with their teams.”
For restaurants already using GSS dashboards, these insights are baked into daily decision-making.
Managers can quickly spot inefficiencies, anticipate labor needs, and make real-time adjustments—before issues escalate or guests feel the impact.
Step 5: Foster Open Communication and Feedback Loops
Transparent, two-way communication builds trust and reduces turnover.
- Pre-shift huddles set expectations and celebrate wins.
- Weekly one-on-ones or surveys invite honest feedback.
- Encourage staff to share ideas for service improvements.
A team that feels heard reacts faster to change, owns responsibilities, and supports each other.
Step 6: Recognize, Reward, and Retain Top Talent
Recognition fuels motivation and loyalty.
- Don’t wait for a promotion to say thank you. A better shift or a quick shoutout goes further than you think.
- Offer meaningful rewards like growth opportunities, staff meals, or flexible scheduling.
- Ask employees what motivates them most.
Retained talent reduces costs, strengthens consistency, and builds long-term brand reputation.
Bringing It All Together
With GSS as your financial partner, you gain more than outsourced support—you gain a team that understands the pace, pressure, and complexity of running a restaurant.
That includes:
- Clarity into performance metrics across locations
- Support for payroll, reporting, and compliance so you can focus on people
- Scalable systems that grow with your team
Start with one improvement. Build from there. Over time, small changes create the kind of resilient, high-performing culture that keeps guests coming back and teams proud to show up.
For more practical advice, explore insights from David Drinan’s episode, where he outlines proven steps for building resilient, high-performance restaurant teams.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Why does team performance matter so much in restaurants?
Because everything depends on it. When your team works well, guests get served, orders come out right, and problems get solved fast. When it doesn’t, the whole shift drags. A strong team holds the floor together.
2. What should I really be looking for when hiring?
Don’t hire just for experience. Hire for attitude. You can teach someone how to run a POS. You can’t teach them to care. Look for people who show up on time, pay attention, and want to do good work. That’s the foundation.
3. How do I give people autonomy without losing control?
Set the rules. Explain them clearly. Then get out of the way. Let your staff make decisions, but hold them accountable. Debrief after mistakes. Support their judgment, but don’t let the bar drop. That’s how trust and control stay balanced.
4. Is training really that important once someone’s hired?
Yes. If you don’t train, you repeat problems. If you train regularly, people stay sharp. Short refreshers, cross-training, and real-time feedback all make a difference. Development keeps people from getting bored—or sloppy.
5. Can tech actually help with team performance, or is it just noise?
It helps—if you use it. Dashboards, labor tools, and forecasts keep you ahead of problems. They won’t replace judgment, but they cut down guesswork. Used right, they protect your margins and your team’s sanity.
6. How do I keep communication honest and useful?
Talk before shifts. Follow up after. Meet one-on-one when something’s off. Don’t just nod—act on what people say. Teams stop talking when they know nothing will change. Listening only works if you follow through.
7. What actually keeps good people from leaving?
Recognition. Not a plaque—real appreciation. Say thank you. Offer better shifts. Ask what matters to them, then give it when you can. People stay when they feel seen and supported. That’s it.
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