The Surprise Restaurant Manager

By: Ken McGarrie

Narrated by: Fabio Viviani, 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 restaurant 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 tools 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. This is your guide to restaurant industry success beyond basic food knowledge and inventory counts.

You’ll learn:

• 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 improve 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 sanity along the way. Get The Surprise Restaurant Manager now for the advice you needed - before you got the keys!

©2021 Ken McGarrie (P)2021 Korgen Hospitality

Critic reviews

"The ideal DIY instruction guide and manual for anyone having to assume the duties of a restaurant manager with little or no previous experience, The Surprise Restaurant Manager is impressively comprehensive and exceptionally 'user friendly' in both organization and presentation." (Midwest Book Review)

An absolute must listen

I cannot believe how much great information is packed into this one book. If you are about to become a restaurant manager for the first time, or you have been a manager for a short while, or you have been a manager for over 20 years, I still recommend listening to this book. There are plenty of restaurant managers out there that have so much experience and think they’re too good to listen to this book and that’s one of the biggest problems with their managerial style. You will learn so much about how to speak to your employees the right way how to support your employees so they will work harder for you and in turn make your guests happier. From information on how to run the interview process and how to sift out the bad potential employees, to keeping your staff happy and avoiding more and more turnover. It’s a lesson on how to keep your staff less robotic and more sincere when recommending dishes or interacting with guests. The online review chapter of the book is probably worth about three times what the book cost alone. No tricks, no games, just a clear honest plan to resolve the issue and not lose the guest. Having a work life balance is so vital to being happier and not feeling burnt out. Not making your managers do any of the work from home I think would make a huge impact on there appreciation for the job. I also enjoyed the fact that he listens to his employees and lets them make suggestions on what they can do to make the restaurant better. The hourly staff knows more about what’s going on in the restaurant than managers do because they are on the front lines. I am already through my second time listening to this because I wanted it to become second nature. Please do yourself a favor and listen to this book and do so immediately.

Not surprised! Great read “listen”!

This book is truly a must read for every level of manager.
Ken’s experience, perspective, business acumen and overall philosophy is modern, accessible and “easy” to put into practice. (You’ll have to put in the effort)
For the learned manager, this book has the potential to remind you of things you already know, but maybe haven’t given much thought to recently, or gives you a fresh perspective altogether, and that’s where it shines!
Lastly, the generosity of Chapter 25 (you’ll have to listen to find out what I mean) is pure gold - a literal wealth of information available for the upcoming, soon to be, or practiced manager.
Highly recommend this book!

great for first time managers!!!!

also useful for new restaurant owners and servers to know what a manner should be doing. it's always useful to understand both sides.

great information

I thought this was very well written and easy to understand. loved it and am buying a hard copy so that I can take it to work with me and share with others

PRETTY GOOD

Overall it was an enjoyable title with some interesting insights. The closing of the book is a pretty big let down though. Many of his do's and don'ts are pretty silly or out right ridiculous. Yeah as an industry person I tip well, I try not to come in at closing, and yes I usually do not send food back. But there are limits to that.