Why is gamification important to your restaurants? Simply put, it rewards positive behavior--whether it’s for food preparation, cleanliness, learning new skills, processing orders, or any number of other tasks. Teaching employees how you want these tasks to be completed and rewarding them for doing so will create a fun environment in which employees want to work.
There are a lot of different ways that you can introduce gamification into the employee experience to try to improve the work environment. Here are four of our favorites:
1. Competition Between Team Members
This is a simple one. For example, if you manage a fast food restaurant, you could have the employee that is taking orders compete with other shifts; whoever took the most orders gets a free milkshake!
2. Competition Across Locations
If you have more than one restaurant location, you can download the FreshCheq app to start tracking your food safety temperature logs for all of your employees. Now you’re able to reward streaks and milestones, like the first location to hit 30 consecutive days gets a pizza party.
3. Being On Time
One thing that has done surprisingly well in restaurants is a competition for who can clock in five minutes early every shift. Reward employees for being a few minutes early and not only are you handing out prizes, but you’re helping them build a really good habit. By giving them a reason to be early, it becomes a motivator.
4. The Training Experience
Something that often gets overlooked is finding a way to reward a team training goal. Even if it’s just a little compensation for cross training to learn new skills! A better trained employee is less stressed and happier. This turns into outstanding service that makes the customer experience better, which translates into restaurant success.
What Should Rewards Look Like?
Now that you’ve got some exciting competition going on in your restaurants, how do you motivate your team to stay engaged and involved? Well, there’s not much you can do wrong here--even if it’s small. Here are a few that work:
- Free food
- Financial bonus
- A day off
- A trophy
But remember, while it’s always appreciated, rewards don’t necessarily have to be a tangible thing. They can be verbal. “Hey, great job this week, you nailed it!” We’ve all known how good it feels to get praised by the boss, especially as a junior employee.
The best part is, all of these practices can be put into your stores today with little preparation. There are no technical requirements needed--just announce to your team that a competition is starting and build excitement around it. You’ll be surprised at how effective it can be.
Are you struggling with employee turnover? You're not alone! That's why we put together a FREE resource just for you, 6 Ways to Decrease Employee Turnover at Your Restaurant! Check it out!
