Question

Developing Job Descriptions for Red Lobster

Red Lobster operates over 670 casual-dining seafood restaurants in the US and Canada, employing more than 63,000 people. When Red Lobster developed a new business strategy to focus on value and improve its image, it established a new vision, mission, and goals for the company. The restaurant chain simplified its menu with the highest-quality seafood it could offer at mid-range prices, traded its restaurants’ tropical themes for a crisp, clean look with white-shirt-and-black-pants uniforms for its employees, and added Northeastern coastal imagery to its menu and Web-site. Executing the new mission and differentiation strategy required hiring fun, hospitality-minded people who shared its values.

Although Red Lobster had not had any problem with hiring restaurant managers, the company felt that the managers it hired did not always reflect Red Lobster’s strategy, vision, and values. The company feels that their old job descriptions do not convey the passion and creativity that the new strategy requires from its employees. They want their job descriptions to help bolster recruitment of the kind of managers that will help advance the mission and create restaurant environments where employees feel motivated and customers feel welcome upon entering the establishment and positive about their experience when they leave.

The Charge

You have been hired as a consultant to help Red Lobster recruit management level staff. They have asked you to design an overall strategy that will help create job descriptions to improve the fit between its new management hires and its new business strategy. Job descriptions should help convey the importance of the Restaurant Manager position within the company and also in the restaurant itself. The process you design will help them, later on, develop other restaurant job descriptions for the service-level staff.

Question

Draw up a job description for the Red Lobster Restaurant Manager position that includes, at a minimum, the following:

Job title

Overall purpose statement - overall description of the broad function and scope of the position

List of duties or tasks performed critical to success

Decision-making requirements

Description of the relationships and roles within the company, including supervisory positions, subordinating roles and other working relationships

List of minimum qualifications and what experience/competencies an ‘ideal candidate’ would possess.

Answer 1

Purpose of the job - The Restaurant Manager is the most prominent figure of a business unit. He is overall in charge of the operations of the facility. While taking the ownership of the profit and loss of the business unit, he ensures that highet standards of service are maintained as per the company's standard operating guidelines. He is responsible for making sure that every customer enters and leaves the facility with a smile on the face. He will exceed the customers' expectations by creating a welcoming, friendly ambience that provides a unique dining experience. He will maintain a jovial, fun filled environment by maintaining a high morale and a sense of ownership and belongingness among the employees. He will ensure this by training, development and up skilling of employees as per the schedule. He will follow very high standards of ethics and customer oriented approach. He is a good communicator and resolves the issues if any, in most amicable manner.

List of duties -

1. Handling day to day running of the facility.

2. Overseeing procurement, food and beverage production, service delivery, logistics, collections and housekeeping functions.Manage inventory to the optimum level

3. Manage payroll and HR functions including hiring, training, induction, relieving and performance monitoring and evaluation..

4. Oversee marketing, communication, customer relationship management processes. Facilitate event management and special functions at the facility.

5. Contract management. Governing relationship with partners and service providers.

6. Facility management.

7. Ensuring compliance to the prevailing laws and regulations.

8. Managing accounts and finances of the company while having a keen eye on the financial performance of the company.

9. Follow the guiding values of the company in making strategic decisions.

10. Conflict resolution, within or outside the organisation.

11. Follow highest degree of ethical and moral standards.

Decision making -

1. Taking financial decisions within the capacity. For those decisions beyond the capacity, contact competent authority.

2.Taking hiring, firing and promotion decisions for floor level staff.Provide inputs for higher level staff.

3. Conducting employee appraisals and take compensation related decisions.

4. Taking other appropriate decisions as demanded by time, keeping the interests of the organisation at the prime level.

Relationships -

1. Reports to the Vice Presidents of Operations and Finance

2. Reportees - Front office staff, housekeeping staff, customer relations staff, F&B staff, Accounts and Finance staff, marketing executives.

Essential qualifications - Master's degree in Hospitality related discipline from a institute of repute followed by rich experience of 8-10 years in a highly rated Hotel, Resort or similar facility. The job holder needs to be calm, composed and high on integrity. He /she Should be able to work and deliver under high pressure environment. He should have attention to details and independant decision making skills. He should be a good communicator, negotiator and problem solver.He should have atractive personality with great sense of humour. He should be easy going, fun to work with, still a good taskmaster and facilitator.