Wit & Wisdom- Restaurant Captain

Sage Hospitality•Sonoma, CA

About The Position

The Restaurant Captain ensures staff work together as a team to provide optimum service and meet guest needs. The role includes monitoring service, seating availability, safety, and guest well-being in dining rooms, while serving as a role model and mentor to employees. The captain helps train, coach, motivate, and develop hourly employees; coordinates work with other departments; and supports management in communicating goals and improving department performance. The position also involves opening and closing duties, inspecting staff grooming and attire, maintaining organized and clean storage areas using FIFO, completing inventories, and requisitioning supplies.

Requirements

High school education or equivalent.
One to two full years of employment in a related position with this company or another organization.
Advanced knowledge of food profession principles and practices, including experiential knowledge for managing people and complex problems and food and beverage management.
Excellent oral communication skills for communicating with guests and associates, issuing instructions, and communicating policies.
Excellent comprehension for assisting with guest and associate matters and interpreting instructions from superiors.
Excellent vision for seating guests, expediting food, cleaning equipment, and reading floor plans, charts, and schedules.
Ability to lift, push, pull, and carry tables, chairs, trays, plates, and chafing dishes weighing 20–40 pounds on a daily basis.
Ability to bend to pick up dropped items and assist with serving food or getting supplies.
Ability to remain mobile across outlet areas for 95% of the shift and stand continuously while assisting at the hostess station; climbing stairs varies by location.

Responsibilities

Address guests’ service needs professionally, positively, and promptly.
Assist employees to ensure proper coverage and prompt guest service.
Welcome and acknowledge each guest with a smile, eye contact, and a friendly verbal greeting, using the guest’s name when possible.
Anticipate guest needs by asking questions, observing and listening to preferences, and acting on them when possible.
Serve as a departmental role model or mentor by working alongside employees on technical or functional duties.
Assign work tasks and ensure they are completed on time and meet quality standards.
Train hourly employees on company core values, job roles, responsibilities, and technical and service aspects of the job.
Ensure employees comply with company standards, policies, and external regulations, including safety and food standards.
Encourage and motivate employees to perform well, take responsibility, make decisions, and suggest improvements.
Assist management in providing employees with the supplies, equipment, and inventory needed to perform their jobs.
Help management establish and communicate operational goals, expectations, schedules, and deadlines, and ensure employees understand them.
Listen to employee suggestions for improving work and guest service, and seek management support to implement suggestions as needed.
Coordinate tasks with other departments to help the department run efficiently.
Work with management to develop and carry out procedures and ideas, and set goals to improve guest and employee satisfaction performance.
Coach and develop employees through expectations for improvement, challenging assignments, development discussions, and development plans.
Work with management to formally recognize employee performance contributions.
Inspect staff grooming and attire and address deficiencies.
Inspect storage areas for organization, FIFO use, and cleanliness, and correct deficiencies.
Complete scheduled inventories of supplies, food, and liquor, and check stock and requisition necessary supplies.
Monitor dining rooms for seating availability, service, safety, and guest well-being.
Perform other duties assigned, requested, or deemed necessary by management.