How to Decrease Restaurant Employee Turnover

Posted On: February 27, 2025

Employee turnover is one of the biggest challenges restaurant managers and owners face. High turnover rates disrupt operations, increase hiring costs, and impact customer service quality. So, how can you create a work environment that encourages employees to stay?

In this blog, we’ll explore some helpful strategies to reduce turnover and help your restaurant thrive.

Understanding Employee Turnover

According to Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research, losing a front-line employee costs you an average of $5,864.

Take a minute to consider how many workers your restaurant has replaced in the last year, then do the math. It's going to shock you.

As of 2024, the average annual restaurant employee turnover rate is 79.6%, which is remarkably high compared to the national average of 47.2%. The reason isn't a big mystery – food service is high-pressure, physically demanding work. Employees simply burn out.

You can't do much about the stress and physical demands, but you can take measures to keep your employees feeling better despite them. Let’s take a closer look at some of these measures.

Restaurant Retention Tip #1: Start with Management

One of the best employee retention strategies is to invest in front-line managers who care about the success and satisfaction of their staff. Managers are the ones ultimately responsible for executing every other tip on this list.

Research has found that highly engaged managers are associated with more engaged staff, resulting in better customer service and higher profitability. In fact, Gallup found that as much as 70% of employee engagement can be traced to the influence of direct managers. The right manager with the right support will create a ripple effect through your entire restaurant.

In particular, you need to look for managers who believe that human capital has real value, even in the food service industry, and then invest in their training, development, and success.

To really move the needle on restaurant employee turnover, make sure they know to prioritize staff retention. A food service manager has many responsibilities that can distract from conscious efforts to crush turnover. They should set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound) goals related to retention and actively implementing at least two of the following suggestions.

Restaurant Retention Tip #2: Show Employees Appreciation

When employees feel appreciated, they're less likely to leave you.

Managers (and owners!) should provide regular verbal appreciation to all employees. Don’t reserve it just for outstanding work. Acknowledge any improvements in their job performance.

You should even be thanking them for performing their job as expected. They've definitely had days where the "bare minimum" felt like too much. They don't always want to show up on time or handle guests efficiently and accurately. But when they push through, your business benefits. Acknowledge the value of that.

If you're meeting your attaboy quota already, then tangible rewards are a great boost. Use them to incentivize behavioral changes you need in your restaurant. They don’t have to come out of your budget. They can be anything from a "get out of closing for free" coupon to bartered gift certificates from other local businesses. Whatever it is, just make sure it's of value to the person that will be receiving it.

Restaurant Retention Tip #3: Value Employee Opinions

Employees who feel ownership in your business are more likely to stay.

Hold staff meetings and ask how they feel about recent changes or whether they have ideas for serving your clientele better. People on the ground often have valuable insights, even when their proposed solutions aren’t quite right.

Have your employees take anonymous surveys every quarter. Ask the uncomfortable questions about low morale, staff tension, and ways you could be supporting them better. Give them paid time to answer. Not only will this give you the opportunity to address problems before they make people quit, but it will also show that you value your staff's job satisfaction.

Of course, the ultimate trick to using this tactic to reduce staff turnover is that you must follow through often enough for people to be honest. When you can’t implement their suggested changes, you can acknowledge that you hear them and thank them for their input.

Restaurant Retention Tip #4: Provide Development & Promotion Opportunities

One of the top reasons employees leave is a lack of opportunity to advance. That's why continuous staff development can decrease employee turnover.

You might think that it’s tough to reduce restaurant employee turnover with additional training, given the limitations of the business. But there are all sorts of ways to solve the problem.

Managers should actively seek opportunities for employee skills development. You should:

Know whether your employees want to advance into other positions and discuss what they need to demonstrate to earn the opportunity.
Offer employees the chance to try out supervisory responsibilities, then create a development plan with the ones who excel. It'll lighten your managers' load, give employees new skills, and expand your coverage options when managers are sick or away. And eventually, you'll have a management opening. Wouldn't it be better to have a trusted employee ready to step up instead of spending $14,000 finding someone from outside?
If an employee has goals for a different career path, consider ways you can help them gain experience. Your restaurant needs more than front- and back-of-house service. You also need bookkeeping, marketing, graphic design, online reputation management, and a whole lot more. Take advantage of employees’ natural skills and interests!
Not everyone will want or be able to climb a ladder. Consider cross-training or offering skills development for their current job. Consider conflict resolution training for front-of-house staff. Let waitstaff learn to also tend bar, or advance their knowledge of cuisine, beer, or wine to wow your guests.

Restaurant Retention Tip #5: Compensate Them Well

If your employees can't meet their basic needs, it won't matter how nice you are or how many perks you offer. That makes money an important component of your employee retention strategy.

Hire at competitive wages and offer opportunities to earn more. Conduct regular performance reviews and offer raises when you do. This directly incentivizes loyalty.

Also, bonuses or raises should be provided when employees take on responsibilities, demonstrate outstanding performance, or cross-train into another area (flexibility makes them more valuable!).

And before you ever consider hiring, check that no one else needs extra shifts.

Restaurant Retention Tip #6: Hire Wisely

When your turnover rate is high, you're inevitably short-handed. When you're short-handed, your hiring standards can get a bit, well, desperate.

It's natural. It's also a huge mistake. Careful recruitment can reduce staff turnover in the long run. Constant churn is terrible for morale and productivity.

Hire not just for urgency but longevity. It's not about existing skills or experience. Those are great, but they can also be taught and earned under you. Focus on the less tangible things that can make or break an employee:

Employment history. Do they bounce around a lot? Maybe they've had a string of bad luck, but maybe it's a big fat warning sign. Don't necessarily count them out if you see this, but do ask about it and look for sincere, reasonable explanations.
Goals. Ask about their short-term and long-term goals. If they'll be leaving you next month for school, you want to know now.
Soft skills. Soft skills are a bigger challenge to coach than hard skills, so hire with them in mind. List out the soft skills that you need most from someone in the open position – things like dealing with difficult customers and triaging tasks when it’s busy. Ask candidates to give you an example of a time they succeeded at that skill.
Attitude. Are they optimistic or pessimistic? Do they have realistic expectations for their job? Do they consider the perspectives of other people? These things all make a world of difference in the type of employee they'll be.

Being patient can feel impossible in a crunch, but if you're not trying to hire for keeps, you'll never decrease employee turnover.

Restaurant Retention Tip #7: Make Onboarding & Training a Priority

The first few weeks can make or break an employee, which is why structured onboarding is one of the most overlooked restaurant management tips.

Don't just hand new employees off to a peer and forget them. You need to build an intentional and consistent onboarding program to set expectations and teach them how you want things done.

It takes resources, yes. New employees in food service take up to three months to become proficient. However, a structured plan for onboarding can speed time-to-proficiency, so investments in onboarding lead to productivity gains.

That doesn't mean you have to do it all yourself. Make "training a new hire" one of those skills you train staff into. Consider peeling some portions of training off everyone's plate by using online coursework designed for the restaurant industry.

Restaurant Retention Tip #8: Take Exit Interviews Seriously

The first step to taking an exit interview seriously is to do one. Ask employees why they're leaving and how you can improve your employees' experience. Here's a great restaurant-specific guide on how, why, and what questions to ask.

Consider the merits of all feedback seriously. Keep an eye out for patterns and recurring themes. If one outgoing employee says you have unreasonable expectations – well, maybe you do and maybe you don't. If five outgoing employees say it, then there's likely to be some truth.

Bottom Line

Reducing staff turnover requires conscious effort and resources, but when you look at the cost of turnover, you'll find that it's worthwhile. You'll spend less money in the long run and have happier, more effective employees.

You can reduce your training costs by relying on a trusted and state-approved online course provider (like us!) to cover topics like alcohol service laws, food safety basics, allergen training, and food safety management.