Restaurant Turnover Rates: What They Mean and How to Reduce Them.

Restaurant turnover rates are important for both restaurant owners and managers. With the many different responsibilities that come with running a restaurant, it's easy to lose focus on what really matters. It can be difficult to maintain employee morale, especially with the current labor shortage across the nation. However, if you want to increase retention, reduce food costs, and boost customer satisfaction, you may need to consider a restaurant call center solution.

But First…Why are Turnover Rates Important?

Turnover rates are important for both restaurant owners and managers because it helps them understand the health of their business. To summarize, a high turnover rate shows that a business is cycling through employees frequently (which is very costly), while a low turnover rate shows that a business is retaining employees for longer periods of time and does not have to spend money on hiring / recruiting / training / etc.

A decrease in turnover rate tends to lead to an increase in customer satisfaction too. Customers are more likely to return to a restaurant with lower turnover rates because they will receive better service – the employees are happier and have a large amount of experience at the restaurant. Low turnover has many benefits that can be invisible to owners if they are not paying attention. Restaurant owners with low turnover can focus on critical operations, save time that would otherwise be spent on training new employees, build a network of loyal customers, and more. Lower turnover will generally equate to higher profitability.

How to Reduce Turnover Rate

Turnover rate can increase due to employee stress, seasonal changes, and general dissatisfaction with the job. Some restaurant owners offer benefits or incentives to stay longer with their company in order to alleviate turnover. However, large restaurant chains have recently adopted a restaurant call center to reduce in-store employee responsibilities and overwhelming tasks, ultimately resulting in an increase in employee morale.

A restaurant call center, such as OrderSolutions, will take all phone orders for a restaurant brand and send them directly to the in-store staff. This means that the in-store staff no longer have to go to the phone to take consecutive orders. This allows the in-store staff to focus on critical tasks without distraction or overwhelm. It greatly simplifies on-site operations and provides a healthier working environment for the staff.

Restaurant call centers have many other benefits in addition to reducing turnover. The largest benefit of the service is the reduction of missed orders (people on hold that eventually hang up). Restaurant call centers provide many agents to take simultaneous orders, generating higher throughput. These agents are trained on the restaurant brand’s menu and develop upsell strategies to increase ticket size. As a restaurant owner, having these agents at your side grants you the ability to reduce your labor costs through lower turnover and efficient schedule reworks.

If you are interested in these benefits and wish to learn more about restaurant call centers, contact OrderSolutions today!