We cannot separate Employee Satisfaction from Guest Satisfaction. We have loyal customers when we create loyal employees, which foster employee productivity, which drives customer value which creates Guest Satisfaction which is the highest form of restaurant marketing.

One of the best ways to recognize employees is to involve them in areas of the restaurant that may be of interest to them through Company Action Teams.

Stephen R. Covey has advised us to start with the end in mind. What he is telling us is to determine your specific desired results before you begin, then plan and set goals backward from the desired result. Example: Your goal is to increase your Appetizer sales by 10% in the month of March. You are currently selling 3,000 Appetizers a month. If you increase sales by 10% that would be 3,300 for the month. There are 31 days in March. That's about 106 Appetizers per day or about 9 more Appetizers than is currently being sold per day. If you have Ten Servers on the Lunch and Dinner shifts, this is less than One Additional appetizer per Server. This sounds a lot easier to accomplish then 3,300 Appetizers this month.

To determine how much you have to spend on "rewards" you would take the additional 300 Appetizers x $5.00 (average cost) which is $1,500.00 (increased sales) x 15% = $225.00. If you sold 500 additional Appetizers it would be $375.00. The more they sell, the more they make. This is the amount of money available for the employee incentives as part of your restaurant marketing program.

Experience has shown that you really Do Not want to run a contest or promotion for employees longer than one month at a time. You need to always have promotions going on to create excitement in the workplace but most of the programs should be between one and two weeks with a "rest" in-between.

Be sure to post a contest board so you can track results on a daily basis. Follow closely each employee's progress. Reward those who are performing well and re-train the employees who are Not reaching their goals. Use the carrot/stick theory. "Carrots" can be "fun" things like Lunch/Dinner paid for and served by the boss. Movie tickets, Car wash certificates/tokens, a Thank-You note showing appreciation and/or verbal recognition in front of their peers. A certificate that allows an employee to come in or to leave work two hours early with pay, gift certificates for a Record/CD music store, Food prizes the employee can use or give to family members. Keep it simple, but, keep it fun.

"Sticks" can include less preferred shifts and/or service sections; verbal and/or written warnings or a "WOW" discussion "With You Or Without You" we're going to accomplish our goals. We would really like to do it "With You" but, we are prepared to do it "Without You".

It is amazing what incentives can do to increase job productivity and employee satisfaction and make your restaurant marketing more effective. You need to constantly search for prizes that can be given for outstanding performance by your employees. You can trade out your restaurant gift certificates for merchandise from local merchants. Be sure to ask your employees what kind of prizes they would want. If possible, let the "Winners" choose their own prizes.

If it's a Team Goal, you may want to reward the employees according to hours worked during the contest OR hire a massage therapist to come and give massages to all the team members OR have a Movie/Pizza Party or Lottery Tickets according to the hours worked.