How Restaurants Hire Staff
1. First, conduct a thorough role analysis for your restaurant—determine which positions you need, how many people each role requires, and essentially, build a solid hiring plan.
2. Find out where your target candidates look for job opportunities, and choose recruitment channels that match their preferences. For core roles like kitchen staff, purchasing, and finance, rely on referrals from friends, relatives, or acquaintances. These are people you already know and trust—placing them in key positions is ideal.
For dishwashers, cleaners, and servers, posting ads outside your restaurant is sufficient. For positions like store manager or cashier, which tend to attract younger applicants, post listings on platforms like 58.com, Ganji, Baixing.com, and specialized job boards where you can advertise for free. Joining several F&B industry WeChat groups is also helpful.
To hire part-timers, reach out to nearby vocational schools and community colleges—they often have dedicated WeChat or QQ groups for part-time job seekers.
3. Don’t rely solely on full-time staff. A diversified workforce makes your restaurant more flexible. While full-timers help build team cohesion, you can fill simple, operational roles with part-timers when needed, reserving full-time hires for critical positions. This approach cuts costs while keeping operations running smoothly. Making part-time and full-time roles a standard part of your staffing structure ensures long-term stability.
During daily operations, you’ll often find neighbors stopping by to ask if you’re hiring part-timers. When that happens, have them fill out a resume or at least save their contact info, and keep all part-time applicants on file. Trust me—when you suddenly need extra hands, you won’t be scrambling to find someone.
Rotate your part-timers instead of letting the same people sit idle for too long. If you don’t use a part-timer for an extended period, they’re unlikely to stay available—they may have found another job or simply moved on. Mixing up your part-time pool also helps prevent last-minute no-shows from full-time staff (use a rotating schedule system).