--- title: The importance of staff meals for restaurant teams description: The hospitality industry is so fast paced that there is rarely an opportunity to do traditional ‘team building’ activities. Yet, one of the best opportunities for team-building is staring restaurateurs in the face – team meals. Guest blogger Ana Cvetkovic looks at why your restaurant should not miss out on this sacred industry ritual. image: https://blog.typsy.com/hubfs/How%20to%20transform%20your%20restaurant%20team%20into%20advocates_650x350_1.png --- [Turn guest feedback into action with ReviewLearn ![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/arrow-right.svg)](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/reviewlearn) ![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/user-profile-circle.svg) LOGIN [Member](https://member.typsy.com/) [Manager](https://manager.typsy.com/) | [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/headphones-white.svg) CONTACT US](https://www.typsy.com/contact) [![Typsy Brand](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/typsy-public-website/New_Typsy_Logo_Red_PMS.svg)](https://www.typsy.com/) [BOOK A DEMO](https://www.typsy.com/contact/demo) [![Typsy](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/typsy-public-website/New_Typsy_Logo_Red_PMS.svg)](https://www.typsy.com/) [Search courses](https://www.typsy.com/discover/courses) - Platform Platform [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/trusted-content-at-scale.svg) Trusted content at scale The world's largest and fastest-growing hospitality library.](https://www.typsy.com/platform/hospitality-training-library) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/global-hospitalility-credentials.svg) Global hospitality credentials Industry-recognized Typsy credentials validating real-world hospitality capability.](https://www.typsy.com/platform/hospitality-certifications) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/performance-intellgience.svg) Performance intelligence AI-powered intelligence that connects learning to measurable operational performance.](https://www.typsy.com/platform/performance-intelligence) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/hospitality-learning-operations.svg) Hospitality learning operations Infrastructure that embeds workforce capability into daily hospitality operations at scale.](https://www.typsy.com/platform/learning-operations) Innovation & Tools [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/reviewlearn.svg) ReviewLearn](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/reviewlearn) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/smartcards.svg) SmartCards](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/smartcards) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/custom-content.svg) Custom content](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/custom-content) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/language-translations.svg) Language translations](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/language-translations) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/reporting.svg) Reporting](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/reporting) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/activities.svg) Activities](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/activities) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/svg-icons-2026/assign-training.svg) Assign training](https://www.typsy.com/platform/features/assign-training) [![](https://orchardcore.typsy.com/media/nav_bar_svg_310x200/reviewlearn-pink.svg) ReviewLearn Turn guest reviews into targeted training automatically. 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TRY THE CALCULATOR](https://www.typsy.com/roi-calculator) - [Pricing](https://www.typsy.com/pricing) [SIGN UP](https://www.typsy.com/pricing) [BOOK A DEMO](https://www.typsy.com/contact/demo) [Help Center](https://intercom.help/typsy/en/)[Contact Us](https://www.typsy.com/contact) Restaurants & Bars # The importance of staff meals for restaurant teams [Ana Cvetkovic](https://blog.typsy.com/author/ana-cvetkovic) Oct 29, 2018 --- Savvy full-service restaurateurs know that building a strong team is important. According to Deloitte, 88% of employees and 94% of executives believe that “[a distinct workplace culture](https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/gx-core-beliefs-and-culture.pdf) is important to business success." Having a world-class culture can help you retain and attract top talent, which is hard to do in the restaurant industry. ## **![How to transform your restaurant team into advocates\_650x350\_1](https://blog.typsy.com/hs-fs/hubfs/How%20to%20transform%20your%20restaurant%20team%20into%20advocates_650x350_1.png?width=750&name=How%20to%20transform%20your%20restaurant%20team%20into%20advocates_650x350_1.png)** Because of time pressures, there is rarely an opportunity to do traditional ‘team building’ activities in the restaurant industry. Yet, one of the best opportunities for team-building is staring restaurateurs in the face – [team meals](https://www.food.ee/blog/the-importance-of-staff-meals/). Here’s why your restaurant should not miss out on this sacred industry ritual, plus some team dinner ideas for making your next pre-service family meal special. ## Help team members become family The hospitality industry has a shockingly high [annual employee turnover rate - 73%](https://www.7shifts.com/blog/86ing-the-annual-restaurant-staff-turnover-rate/)! A lack of empathy and satisfaction in the job market greatly contributes to the [$600 billion annual productivity loss](https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/02/25/a-600-billion-employee-engagement-problem-solved-empathy/#aadba90b1a35) felt by American businesses. With only [55% of Americans saying they’re satisfied with their jobs](https://careervision.org/job-satisfaction-statistics/), something has to be done to build empathy and happiness in the workplace. When your team can come together regularly to enjoy the fruits of their labor during a staff meal, they feel a sense of kinship towards each other, and a sense of belonging to your restaurant. When your employees feel like family, they are more satisfied with their jobs and loyal to you, the restaurateur. When employees are loyal, they’re more likely to continue working for you. Ultimately, retaining employees saves you hassle and money - between [30-50% of annual salary for an entry-level role](https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2016/02/11/how-increasing-employee-job-satisfaction-can-reduce-turnover/#42c9df0c3f6d). To encourage further bonding between your team, let them brainstorm team meal ideas - like a theme day or inviting a special guest to eat with your staff - to make pre-service mealtime something to look forward to. Team meals are an irreplaceable community-building tool for the restaurant industry. --- Stengthen staff education Does your service team need help [to sell your restaurant’s daily specials](https://www.typsy.com/lessons/how-to-sell-the-specials)? Does your back-of-house team struggle with understanding the [importance of mise en place](https://www.typsy.com/lessons/what-is-mise-en-place-and-why-is-it-important)? Here’s a team dinner idea: make your meals lunch-and-learn style. Team meals are an excellent time to strengthen your team’s industry knowledge by screening educational videos. Look for a hospitality-industry specific online training program, [like Typsy](https://blog.typsy.com/how-corporate-hospitality-venues-use-typsy-a-case-study-from-solotel-group), to really nail your restaurant’s pain points. Studies show that [65% of people are visual learners](https://blog.typsy.com/why-you-should-use-online-videos-to-train-your-hospitality-staff). Supplementing mealtime with video training is a team meal idea that will create an opportunity for continued education, in addition to team bonding.   --- Opportunity to swap skills When service time begins, your staff members don’t have time to interact with each other outside of their roles or to cross train each other. Staff mealtime is when your team members can help each other grow their skills collaboratively. Team meals are a special opportunity for front-of-house and back-of-house employees to swap skills. Even if your servers won’t be making steak anytime soon and your line cooks won’t be taking orders tomorrow, [cross-training](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriscancialosi/2014/09/15/cross-training-your-best-defense-against-indispensable-employees/#4b06ac717d90) will help your team members better understand the processes and challenges that come with each role. Ultimately, your team will be able to provide a better guest experience by understanding what’s going on in front of or behind the scenes. Restaurant family meals facilitate valuable cross-training opportunities. --- Opportunity to learn new tools Has your restaurant introduced a new [restaurant scheduling platform](https://www.7shifts.com/restaurant-employee-scheduling-software) or [communication tool](https://www.7shifts.com/team-communication)? Use team meal time to go over questions your team members have about these new tools. By encouraging your staff to ask questions aloud while they’re together, you will only have to answer these questions once, saving you time in the future to focus on business activities that move your bottom line. Brainstorming questions together can also help your team uncover questions they may not have thought of individually. This collaborative approach to learning new tools makes your team better equipped to use them. Being together for familymeals gives your team an opportunity to grow in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have time for. --- Share important messages Have you ever sent a staff-wide email and felt like you were shouting into the abyss, or put a sticky note up in your restaurant’s kitchen and hoped your entire team would see it without much success? Making announcements in person is the most effective way of sharing them. Take advantage of staff meal time to [share important messages](https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effective-communication-restaurants-61264.html) with your team. Family meals are also an excellent time to discuss subjects that are a collaborative effort, such as reviewing time off requests. When your whole team is present, they can easily discuss shift switches. If you have too much to discuss during one restaurant family meal, you can always follow up on your team’s [mobile communication platform](https://www.7shifts.com/team-communication). Share announcements during staff meals to keep everyone in the loop and on the same page.   --- Get feedback In addition to making important announcements during meal time, staff meals are an opportunity for your team to provide feedback to you and your management team. Rather than hearing about an issue that may affect your business when it’s too late, you can encourage your staff to report problems during team meals so that they can be addressed immediately.  --- If a team member doesn’t want to stick their neck out, they can always use a [shift feedback system](https://www.7shifts.com/blog/give-a-shift-employee-feedback/) to provide their feedback in an automated fashion that can help improve operations. Leverage staff meal time to gain feedback that will help your restaurant business grow. Without much other time for team building activities, restaurants need to take advantage of pre-service staff meal time. Team meals are the perfect opportunity for restaurateurs to build a team culture, educate their staff, and communicate with the entire team.    --- [![Typsy We teach hospitality to the world typsy.com blog banner \_ (1)](https://blog.typsy.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Typsy%20%20We%20teach%20hospitality%20to%20the%20world%20%20typsy.com%20blog%20banner%20_%20(1).png?width=894&name=Typsy%20%20We%20teach%20hospitality%20to%20the%20world%20%20typsy.com%20blog%20banner%20_%20(1).png)](https://www.typsy.com/sign-up?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Social+media&utm_campaign=Blog+banner&utm_id=Blog) **7shifts are a proud partner of Typsy. Become a [Typsy partner](https://www.typsy.com/partnerships) today and start reaping the benefits of being part of an expanding online hospitality community.** --- | ![Ana\_Cvetkovic](https://blog.typsy.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Ana_Cvetkovic.png?width=170&name=Ana_Cvetkovic.png) | **Ana Cvetkovic** is a freelancer and content producer for [7shifts](http://www.7shifts.com). She is also the CEO of BLOOM Digital Marketing, a Boston-based creative marketing agency that helps the hospitality and tourism industries reach new audiences online. | | --- | --- | --- #### **You might also like:**   | [![How to engage your hospitality team in learning\_200x170](https://blog.typsy.com/hs-fs/hubfs/How%20to%20engage%20your%20hospitality%20team%20in%20learning_200x170.jpg?width=200&name=How%20to%20engage%20your%20hospitality%20team%20in%20learning_200x170.jpg)](https://blog.typsy.com/how-to-engage-your-hospitality-team-in-learning-after-induction) [How to engage your](https://blog.typsy.com/how-to-engage-your-hospitality-team-in-learning-after-induction) [hospitality team in](https://blog.typsy.com/how-to-engage-your-hospitality-team-in-learning-after-induction) [learning after induction](https://blog.typsy.com/how-to-engage-your-hospitality-team-in-learning-after-induction) | [![5 fun ways to reward staff\_200 x 113](https://blog.typsy.com/hs-fs/hubfs/5%20fun%20ways%20to%20reward%20staff_200%20x%20113.png?width=200&name=5%20fun%20ways%20to%20reward%20staff_200%20x%20113.png)](https://blog.typsy.com/5-fun-ways-to-reward-your-hospitality-staff) [5 ways to reward your](https://blog.typsy.com/5-fun-ways-to-reward-your-hospitality-staff) [hospitality staff](https://blog.typsy.com/5-fun-ways-to-reward-your-hospitality-staff) | [![Appreciating and empowering staff - Andrew Carlson\_200x113](https://blog.typsy.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Appreciating%20and%20empowering%20staff%20-%20Andrew%20Carlson_200x113.png?width=200&name=Appreciating%20and%20empowering%20staff%20-%20Andrew%20Carlson_200x113.png)](https://blog.typsy.com/appreciating-empowering-staff-tips-andrew-carlson) [Appreciating and](https://blog.typsy.com/appreciating-empowering-staff-tips-andrew-carlson) [empowering your staff -](https://blog.typsy.com/appreciating-empowering-staff-tips-andrew-carlson) [tips from Andrew Carlson](https://blog.typsy.com/appreciating-empowering-staff-tips-andrew-carlson) | | --- | --- | --- |   [Restaurants & Bars](https://blog.typsy.com/topic/restaurants-bars) [Team performance](https://blog.typsy.com/topic/team-performance) [Leadership & management](https://blog.typsy.com/topic/leadership-management) ## Similar posts Restaurants & Bars ### [6 ways to be a better restaurant manager your staff will admire](https://blog.typsy.com/6-ways-to-be-a-better-restaurant-manager-your-staff-will-admire) Your restaurant team will no doubt look up to you as their manager. This is how you can improve your leadership skills while keeping staff happy. Warner Siebert Feb 15, 2018 Restaurants & Bars ### [10 tips for better team communication at your restaurant](https://blog.typsy.com/10-tips-for-better-team-communication-at-your-restaurant) Smooth team communication in restaurants could be the difference between an establishment that thrives and one that fails. In this Typsy blog post... Ana Cvetkovic Jan 2, 2019 Hospitality operations ### [Effective time management skills every restaurant employee should have](https://blog.typsy.com/effective-time-management-skills-every-restaurant-employee-should-have) Discover effective time management skills for restaurant staff and managers to improve service quality, teamwork, and efficiency. Ana Cvetkovic Feb 17, 2021 ### Get notified on new marketing insights Be the first to know about new B2B SaaS Marketing insights to build or refine your marketing function with the tools and knowledge of today’s industry. 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