The Surprise Restaurant Manager

by Ken McGarrie

Surprise - you're in charge now!Steady money and new opportunities awaited as you moved up from server or bartender to front-of-house manager. But too often, restaurant management find themselves leading with minimal training, a ton of responsibilities, and no clue how to improve. You've run the Friday night rush, you've juggled expectations of staff and guests-but have you figured out how to improve while keeping the business profitable?

In The Surprise Restaurant Manager, learn from Ken McGarrie, a restaurant operator who has helped launched dozens of successful restaurants, as he gives you the power to master the unexpected challenges managers face every day. Get help on the fly with real-life examples, straightforward strategies, and expert insight to better leadership development. This is your guide to restaurant industry success beyond standard food knowledge and inventory counts.

You'll

How to locate quality candidates and interview effectively, including eight signs you shouldn't extend an offer-from subtle clues to outright red flags.Tips on ways to support your staff during challenging situations and how to use genuine suggestions to develop more effective hospitality skills.Common communication mistakes that guarantee FOH turnover and increase work stress-and how to avoid them.Proven steps to upgrade your table touch and salvage every negative guest experience, including guaranteed methods to start improving your restaurant's online reviews.How to embrace blunt criticism, work effectively with strong personalities, and avoid professional burnout.Success as a restaurant manager is a constant quest to level up your game and your team—without sacrificing your service, sales or sanity along the way. Read The Surprise Restaurant Manager now for the advice you needed—before you got the keys!

Genres: Business

152 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 27, 2021

About the author

Ken McGarrie is the cofounder of Korgen Hospitality, a nationwide consulting firm dedicated to helping restauranteurs reach their absolute potential with effective leadership and maximum profitability. For the past two decades, he has helmed many successful restaurants, bars, and entertainment-based venues with a relentless focus on anticipatory service, staff empowerment, and attentive hospitality. He has helped launch new concepts and train hospitality leaders throughout the U.S. and Canada.

After failing to start an exceptional college band with only average talent, Ken worked as a server/bartender while writing for magazines and newspapers. He started in management the same way that many people do – by surprise. When his GM asked if he would take a set of keys and open the restaurant on occasion, he was suddenly promoted to manager with no training or preparation, like so many others in the industry.
Ken went on to open and manage numerous successful restaurants and entertainment venues. With Korgen Hospitality, he has an exceptional client list, including helping open over a dozen restaurants with Celebrity Chef Fabio Viviani nationwide.

An amateur guitarist, avid podcast enthusiast, and stand-up comedy devotee, Ken is currently based in Chicago, Illinois. Learn more at www.korgenhospitality.com.

Reviews

[Luong Trung]

It's overall and contained a lot of management experiences. Each chapter contained a shared purpose or story about restaurant operations, included established a new location, hiring people with skills and how to get more via ads and connections.

I enjoy the new area of operations and study tips about ads, hiring skills persons who need to perform their skills at the simulate/real cases operations; recommend or noted will show how much experience they have. Besides, managers need to sympathy, know the employees (teams), take risk (leadership) and sometimes terminate (hard work to do), however, don't forget the ads, comments and COGS, cashflow. Because of this not my working domain, so I learn a lot from COGS formula and know the reason why my favorite wine is so high cost at the restaurant/hotel. Thanks a lot about COGS.

Surprise! is always provide a surprise results and this guide at the next section will show how to do or need to know what the actions or thinks in the operations environments. Tips and experiences are useful and if someone needs to do, at first please practices and learn from the results, they are not the one night skills.

[Silas Kantor · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a new restaurant manager, this was a fantastic read. I really feel a lot more prepared for my new career than I did before I read this, and it is definitely going to help me approach situations I would never have known how to approach before reading. Some of the lessons in this book were lessons I didn’t even know how to ask about, let alone how to fix. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who finds themselves a new restaurant manager, or even someone looking to excel at restaurant management who is finding themselves stuck or plateauing and needs a little bit of a push. Not only that, but it was an enjoyable read, which is always a delight when you’re reading something nonfiction and factual like how to make your career better.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I wish I had when I first started my career in Food and Beverage management. If I was still teaching Hotel & Restaurant Management, it would be required reading, too.

The book brings the business of management to life by offering real world, relatable stories, practical applications, and a sprinkling of key terminology.

I found it an easy read and an excellent foundation for a new manager.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had this book when I became a manager.

Ken McGarrie knows his stuff, and this quick informative read proves it. His insight into the layers of skills it takes to run a great restaurant or bar and his clarity in how to approach large and small challenges makes this an essential read for anyone who feels like they have bitten off more than they can chew.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super helpful read with some great real world examples of management within the restaurant and hospitality industry! It definitely gave me some good direction and helped focus in on what types of things a restaurant manager should be prioritizing, how to effectively manage your team and how ensure that not only yourself but your team and the establishment itself finds success.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very approachable book with some really solid advice for anyone in a management role, though especially suited to hospitality.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical

This book is amazing, real experience.
It would be great if the book talks more about managing costs and shifts