Manager training program helps restaurants compete

By Michael L. Diamond
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

Cory Wingerter and Adrian Stevens wouldn't dream of asking their managers to do anything they wouldn't do themselves. But managers should take little comfort from that.

The two have washed dishes, cleaned bathrooms and tended bar. They've cooked, served food and filled in for absent hosts. They've calmed outraged customers and employees alike.

And they've used those experiences to create a training program for managers at their four New Jersey restaurants.

It's a strategy they say has reduced employee turnover, made customers happier and helped them compete with an influx of corporate-owned restaurants.

Businesses nationwide have given front-line workers more responsibility to make their companies more efficient. But restaurants, many of which are owned by families or the in-house chef, have been slow to adopt the concept, said Francis McFadden, assistant director of the Drexel University Hospitality Management Department in Philadelphia.

Wingerter, 48, of Millstone Township, N.J and Stevens, 44, of Howell, N.J., started their company, called NJ Innkeepers, in 1986, and it has grown to $10 million in annual revenue and 180 full-time employees.

They credit the growth to their training program known as "boot camp," during which they drive home the three prongs of operating a restaurant: mechanics, finances and dealing with people.

The intense program starts at the ground floor, mastering the most efficient way to clean dishes, and moves up the ladder, picking up intricate details along the way. When it's over, they can:

• Find glasses behind the bar, even blindfolded.
• Memorize regular customers' favorite drinks and dishes, which can change depending on the day of the week.
• Work in the kitchen and keep their cool while taking heat from an irate server.

As a result, managers can step in when a busboy calls in sick. They know the financial cost of an unhappy customer who sends his food back. And they earn the respect of their employees.

Experts said the strategy can help independently owned restaurants compete with chains.

One way for small restaurants to compete is by training employees to make decisions and make customers happier without having to get approval from a cumbersome bureaucracy, experts said.