Staffing Your Nightclub Business

PROPERLY STAFFING A NIGHTCLUB IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT TO OPERATING A NIGHTCLUB BUSINESS. This is true to a great extent considering that your nightclub staff makes up for how your brand and operational skills are reflected in the eyes of your patrons.

In the nightclub business, staffing begins at the managerial level. General Managers (GM), for example, set the standard and oversee all aspects of the club business. GMs oversee how operations are coordinated, what DJs, entertainers, and acts are playing, how security handle delicate situations, what sales to promote, so on and so forth…

Operation managers, on the other hand, oversee the details of club operations. Are the bars properly stocked? Are bottle service hosts ready for nightlife presentations? Are VIP hosts bringing in guests? Are the technical aspects (music, lighting, video displays) functioning properly? Inventory, Etc.

When it comes to staffing your nightclub, the most important thing to keep in mind is how a prospective candidate will boost sales, cut cost, and perform altogether. General Managers are usually the face of your nightclub. They are to represent your nightclub brand as if it were their own. If you hire the wrong GM, your nightclub brand can inevitably be tarnished. On an operational level, if you were to hire an inexperienced bartender, s/he can over pour alcoholic beverages (causing a loss in alcohol sales), wrongfully mix a cocktail, and also harm your nightclub reputation through bad service and negative reviews.

With inexperienced bottle service girls, for instance, bottles can slip and break during presentations. An inexperienced bottle service girl can also cause an indoor fire by dropping a sparkler, which consequently displays not-so-good experiences for your guests.

I’ve witnessed way too many incidents that were caused by staffing-on-desperateness. To explain, there’s been an urgent need to fill in vacancies in several positions that included bartenders, bottle service girls, operation managers, promoters, and security. I’ve worked alongside numerous GMs, some who exhibited an uninformed method to hiring and on-boarding.

HERE ARE FIVE TIPS TO STAFFING YOUR NIGHTCLUB BUSINESS:

1. DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE: A prospective candidate may present a well-organized resume. It’s your duty as a nightclub owner, or general manager to fact-check his/her resume prior to on-boarding. The nightclub industry is a very familiar industry. People know other people that you wouldn’t know have known each other. The simple, yet most effective way to do your due diligence is to call for references. This includes calling previous employers and institutions where the prospective candidate once attended. Another way to research your prospective candidate is to research his or her social media accounts. This way, you are not making a judgement solely based on how well-groomed or dressed the candidate is.
2. ASK THE TOUGH QUESTIONS: While conducting the preliminary interview, ask your candidate questions that will enable him or her to think outside of the box. For example, if you are interested in hiring a manager, a question may be, what have you done to boost sales and cut cost at your previous employment? If hiring a bartender, you can request that they verbally state the ingredients of some classic cocktails, as well as questions about proper pour counts, etc.
3. TRAINING FOUNDATION: When you are in the process of incorporating a team, it is fundamental to have a training program in place. The training program should include duties and responsibilities that the job-seeker will follow. I suggest creating a separate training manual for managers, bartenders, service staff, security staff, (unless you outsource security), kitchen operations, and a general manual for responsible liquor management, safety policy and procedures, probationary policy, and brand management.
4. PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS: Let’s suppose that you’ve successfully found a team to fill in the vacancies. You also successfully delivered the necessary training tools to develop new hires, their practice habits, and relate it to your nightclub brand. You must now evaluate, in terms of balanced managing (nor micro or macro), your new hire. See how they perform under pressure, assess their initiation skills, praise the good habits and correct the bad ones. 60 days is sufficient for on-boarding employees at a nightclub. Within 60 days, your new employee should be able to comprehend new rules and regulations. It is best to do a bi-weekly performance evaluation during your candidates first 60 days. This will provide your new hire an ample amount of time to correct his or her performance.
5. INCENTIVIZE THE GOOD: After your new hire has passed his or her probationary performance evaluation, you can begin to incentivize your staff for good performance. Reward your staff on exceeding your business expectations. This can be achieved using several different tactics. For example, plan an employee of the month event where you reward your staff with a complimentary bottle service ticket. Invite them and a limited group of friends, to reserve a table during a slow evening, and present them with a great night out. Another way may be to plan a day-time event, perhaps water-skiing, or paintball shooting. Get your team involved and highlight the benefits of being a great performer.

Whether your goal is to make your team the best in the industry, or whether you desire to be known in the industry as the best nightclub in the city, the core of the title begins with staffing. Without an effective team, your efforts in achieving such reputation will be depreciated.