Hiring restaurant staff who stay past August

Hiring restaurant staff is one of the jobs that decides whether a venue thrives, and one of the jobs most often done in a hurry. A server leaves on Friday, the weekend is short-handed, and by Monday the manager is interviewing anyone who replies to an advert. The new starter is thrown into service with little training, finds the job harder than expected, and leaves before the summer is out. The manager starts again, a little more tired.

The cycle is common, but it is not inevitable. Venues that keep their teams tend to hire differently: they recruit before they are desperate, they look in the places where good people actually come from, they write adverts that tell the truth about the job, they use trial shifts to see people work, and they ask a small number of questions that reveal whether someone will stay. Above all, they treat hiring as the start of keeping someone, not as filling a gap.

This guide covers where good people come from, how to write job descriptions and adverts that attract the right candidates, how to run interviews and trial shifts, the two questions that predict the most, and how to recruit in a shortage. It ends with the first weeks after hiring, because that is where most new starters are kept or lost.

Most staff who leave a restaurant do so in their first few months. Some were never right for the job; some were right but were badly introduced; some found the hours or the pay different from what they expected. Each of these starts at hiring. A clear advert, an honest interview and a good first few weeks prevent most early departures.

That makes hiring the first step in staff retention, not a separate task. A venue that hires carefully spends less time hiring, because the people it hires stay. Our guide to staff retention: the four reasons people leave covers what happens after the first months.

A bad hire costs more than the wages paid. There is the time spent recruiting and interviewing, the training hours, the mistakes made while learning, the extra pressure on the rest of the team, the guests who had a poorer experience, and then the cost of hiring again when the person leaves.

Put a rough figure on it, even if only for your own planning. A server who leaves after six weeks may have cost the advert, several hours of a manager's time, two weeks of reduced productivity, some covering overtime and a few unhappy guests. Seen that way, an extra hour spent on a careful interview is cheap.

The worst time to hire is when someone has just left. The pressure to fill the gap leads to rushed decisions, and the best candidates have often already taken other jobs. Plan hiring ahead: know which roles turn over most, when the busy seasons are, and when students and seasonal staff are likely to leave.

Keep a list of people who applied before and were good but were not hired, former staff who left on good terms, and people recommended by the team. When a gap appears, start there.

Good restaurant staff come from a handful of sources, and job boards are rarely the best of them. The best sources are usually:

Job boards and recruitment agencies have their place, especially for senior roles or in a shortage, but they tend to bring more applicants and fewer good ones. Recruitment in hospitality works best as a steady habit across all of these sources, not a burst of adverts when someone leaves.

People who work in a venue know what the job is really like, and they rarely recommend someone who would embarrass them. A referral from a good team member is often the best candidate the venue will see. Many venues pay a referral bonus once the new starter has stayed for a set period, such as three months.

Ask the team regularly whether they know anyone. Make it easy: a short description of the roles, a way to pass on details, and a thank you when a referral is hired.

Former staff who left on good terms already know the venue, the menu and the systems. Some left for reasons that have since changed, such as studies, travel or another job that did not work out. Keeping in touch, and making it clear that the door is open, brings some of them back.

Regular guests know the venue too, and some of them, or their children, are looking for work. A note on the menu or the website that the venue is hiring, and a team that mentions it naturally, can bring good candidates who already like the place.

Hospitality schools and colleges produce people who want a career in the industry. Building a relationship with a local school, offering placements, talks or trial shifts, gives the venue early access to students who may stay for years.

Community groups, job centres and programmes for people returning to work can also be good sources, especially for roles where attitude matters more than experience. Many good restaurant careers start this way.

Job descriptions are the foundation of hiring. They should describe the role honestly: what the person will do, when they will work, what they will be paid, who they will work with, and what the venue offers. A job description that oversells the role brings people who leave when they find out the truth.

Keep it short and specific. "Server, four evening shifts a week including Friday and Saturday, in a busy 80-seat bistro" tells a candidate far more than "front of house team member in a dynamic environment".

The advert is the job description written for the candidate. Lead with the things candidates care about most: the role, the hours, the pay, and what makes the venue a good place to work. Say clearly which shifts are involved, especially weekends and late nights, so candidates who cannot work them do not apply.

State the pay, or at least the range. Adverts without pay attract fewer applicants and waste time on candidates who would never accept the offer. Describe the training, the team and any benefits honestly: staff meals, tips, progression, a fixed rota published in advance.

Avoid the phrases that every advert uses: "fast-paced environment", "rockstar", "passionate", "competitive salary". They tell candidates nothing and can put good people off. Avoid long lists of requirements that are not really required; many good candidates will not apply if they do not tick every box.

Avoid anything that could be discriminatory, such as age or gender preferences, and check local rules on what adverts can and cannot say.

Many restaurant jobs are lost at the application stage. A long form, a requirement to upload a CV, or a slow reply puts candidates off, especially when they are applying to several venues at once. Make it easy: a short form, a phone number, or an invitation to come in and talk.

Reply quickly. A candidate who hears back within a day is far more likely to come to an interview than one who hears back in a week, by which time they may have accepted another job.

A restaurant interview should be short, friendly and practical. Its purpose is to find out whether the candidate can do the job, wants to do it, and will stay. It is also the candidate's chance to find out whether they want to work in the venue, so be honest about the job.

Hold interviews in the venue, ideally at a quieter time, so the candidate sees the space and meets some of the team. Keep the questions consistent across candidates, so you can compare them fairly.

Many interview questions reveal little: candidates have heard them before and prepared answers. Two questions tend to tell you more than most, because the commonest reasons new starters leave early are a mismatch of hours and a repeat of whatever drove them from their last job.

The first is: "Which shifts can you work every week, and which can you never work?" The second is: "What made you leave your last job, and what made you stay as long as you did?" Listen carefully to both answers.

The question about shifts reveals whether the job fits the candidate's life. A candidate who cannot work Saturdays will not be happy in a job where Saturday is the busiest shift. A student who will leave in September is a good summer hire but not a long-term one. A parent who needs to leave by 22:00 needs a rota that allows it.

Be honest in return about the shifts the venue needs. A mismatch discovered at interview is a disappointment; one discovered after a month is a resignation.

The question about the last job reveals what the candidate values and what will make them leave. A candidate who left because the rota changed every week will leave again if your rota changes every week. One who left because there was no chance to progress will want to know about progression here. One who stayed three years because of a good manager is telling you what keeps them.

Listen for patterns. If every job ended because of someone else, ask more questions. If the answers are thoughtful and specific, that is usually a good sign.

Beyond the two, ask practical questions about the job: "Tell me about a busy shift that went wrong. What did you do?" "How would you handle a guest who says their food is cold?" "What do you enjoy most about working in hospitality?" For kitchen roles, ask about the dishes they have cooked and the kitchens they have worked in.

Ask the candidate what they want to know, too. Their questions reveal what matters to them.

Trial shifts let the venue see a candidate work, and let the candidate see the job. A short, structured trial, a few hours during a real but not overwhelming service, shows more than any interview: how the candidate moves, talks to guests, works with the team, takes instruction and copes with pressure.

Pay for trial shifts. In many places, unpaid trials can break minimum wage rules if the candidate does real work, and paying is fairer in any case. Paying also signals that the venue values people's time.

Plan the trial shift in advance. Pair the candidate with a good team member, give them simple tasks first, and increase the challenge as the shift goes on. In the kitchen, ask them to prepare something they know and something from the menu; on the floor, ask them to run food, clear tables and greet guests.

Agree what you are looking for before the trial starts, and ask the team member who worked with the candidate for their view afterwards. Their opinion is often the most useful of all.

Make offers quickly to good candidates, ideally within a day or two of the trial. Put the offer in writing: the role, the pay, the hours, the start date, and any conditions. Check the candidate's right to work and any other legal requirements before they start.

Be clear about the first weeks: the training, the shifts, who they will work with. A candidate who knows what to expect is far more likely to turn up on day one.

When good staff are hard to find, recruiting in a shortage needs a wider approach. Hire for attitude and train for skill: someone who is reliable, friendly and willing to learn can become a good server or cook within weeks. Widen the pool to people returning to work, career changers, part-time workers and students.

Make the job easier to say yes to: flexible shifts, a rota published well in advance, clear and fair pay, staff meals, and a visible path to progress. In a shortage, the venues that treat their staff well get the pick of the candidates.

In a shortage, good candidates have several offers. The venue that replies first, interviews quickly and makes a clear offer usually wins. A process that takes two weeks loses candidates to venues that take two days.

Simplify the process where you can: one interview and one paid trial shift, with a decision the same day or the next, is enough for most roles.

Many venues hire seasonal staff for summer, and many of those staff leave at the end of August, when students return to their studies. That is not a failure, as long as it is planned. Hire summer staff knowing they will leave, and plan the autumn team in advance.

If you need staff who will stay beyond the summer, say so in the advert and ask about plans at interview. A good student who can work part-time during term may stay for years.

Pay is not the only reason people choose a job, but it is one of the first things they look at. Pay rates should be fair for the role and the area, stated clearly, and reviewed regularly. Tips and service sharing should be explained honestly, including how they are shared and when.

A venue that pays a little more than its neighbours often recovers the cost through lower turnover, less recruitment and a better team. Our guide to labour cost counted properly covers how pay fits into the wider labour cost.

Senior roles, such as a head chef or general manager, need a longer process: more than one interview, a trial that tests the real job, references, and a conversation about the venue's plans. A senior hire shapes the whole team, and a bad one can drive good people away.

Look for leaders who can teach, who keep their teams, and who share the venue's standards. Ask how many of their previous team followed them to new roles; good managers are often followed.

Most new starters decide in their first few weeks whether they will stay. A clear first shift, a buddy who helps them, a training plan they can follow, a rota they can rely on and a manager who checks in regularly make the difference. A new starter left to sink or swim usually leaves.

Our guides to onboarding staff so night one is not chaos and staff training that fits around service cover the first weeks in detail.

Keep a simple record of hiring: where each candidate came from, who was hired, and how long they stayed. Over a year, it shows which sources bring people who stay, which roles turn over most, and whether changes to the advert or the process made a difference.

It also shows the true cost of turnover, which is often the strongest argument for investing in the team.

In a group, hiring can be shared: a single careers page, shared adverts, a pool of candidates who can be offered roles in more than one venue, and staff who can move between venues as they progress. Each venue manager should still choose their own team, within group standards for pay and contracts.

Our guide to a second venue: what breaks first covers how hiring changes when a business grows.

Here is an illustrative venue that changed how it hired. The details are examples.

Over the following year, more hires came from referrals, fewer left in their first three months, and the manager spent less time recruiting.

servearound does not advertise jobs, run interviews or manage rotas and payroll. It helps once someone has joined. Each new starter gets their own login and PIN, a role that shows them only the parts of the app their job needs, and access to the venues they work in, so they can start taking orders or reading kitchen tickets without being given everything at once. Each venue has its own team chat, so new starters can find the messages that matter to their shifts.

If you would like to talk about setting up a new team, get in touch. And if you would like to work on the tools themselves, our careers page lists our open roles.

Usually from referrals by the current team, former staff, regular guests and local hospitality schools, more than from job boards.

Yes. Adverts with pay attract more applicants and waste less time on candidates who would not accept the offer.

Yes. Unpaid trials can break minimum wage rules in many places, and paying is fairer.

Which shifts the candidate can and cannot work, and why they left their last job and what made them stay as long as they did.

Hire for attitude and train for skill, widen the pool, make the job easier to say yes to, and move quickly.

For most roles, a few days: a short application, one interview, a paid trial shift and a quick decision.

Plan for them leaving, and say clearly in the advert if you need people who will stay beyond the season.

Most often because the hours, the pay or the job were not what they expected, or because they were poorly introduced.

Hiring restaurant staff who stay starts before the gap appears. Recruit from the places good people come from, mainly referrals, former staff, regular guests and local schools, with honest job descriptions and adverts that state the role, the shifts and the pay. Make applying easy, reply quickly and hold short, practical interviews.

Ask the two questions that predict the most, about shifts and the last job, use paid and structured trial shifts, and make offers quickly. In a shortage, hire for attitude and move fast. Then support every new starter through their first weeks, because good hiring is the first step in staff retention.