The restaurant industry has become more competitive than ever in 2020 as many had to suddenly shut down and limit operations. Post-lockdown, as restaurants start opening, creating an environment where people of all ethnicities feel welcome has become crucial. But to create a diverse environment, you need a diverse team in your restaurant, and that starts by hiring the right people.

According to a study, the positions in the restaurant industry are pretty skewed when you consider race and gender. Over 74 percent of management positions are held by men and the rest 26 percent are women. When it comes to Front of House (FOH) management positions, 81 percent are occupied by white workers when compared to other people of color.

Not only does a lack of diversity look bad for your restaurant, but it can also affect your business operations badly. It has been proven over and over again that businesses greatly benefit from diversity and inclusion. Inclusive teams make better business decisions over 87 percent of the time. When teams follow an inclusive decision-making process, they are able to make decisions twice as fast as compared to their non-inclusive counterparts. More importantly, decisions made by diverse teams deliver 60 percent better results.

Numbers really don’t lie. If you want to have a successful restaurant where patrons feel welcome, you need an inclusive team. But to create an inclusive team, you need the right hiring practices that encourage diversity.

Here are the top teams to hire a diverse team for your restaurant:

Create a culture of inclusiveness

The way you run your business every day forms the very basis of your restaurant culture, whether you are actively present in the restaurant every day or not. For over 41 percent of people, workplace culture is an important parameter considering a new job.

If your restaurant’s brand is all about inclusivity, but you don’t practice what you preach internally, then things will soon start falling out of place. That is why it is important to embrace diversity and create a healthy workplace culture where everyone feels welcomed. A safe and inclusive work environment also encourages people to perform their best.

Revise your hiring practices

The people that you hire are a direct reflection of your restaurant. After all, it is your employees who will be directly dealing with your customers. That is why it is important to decide the standards for your potential hires from the very start. Create a checklist of your company values and see which candidates align with those values the most.

You should also make sure to brief candidates about your company culture during the interviews so that they understand what is expected of them. But just talking about inclusion and diversity is not enough -- You need to show it to the candidates that you really mean it by creating a diverse interview panel. It's important to ensure your interview plan has an equal number of women, men, and people of color. It will lead to better hiring decisions and improved quality of hires.

Update your employee training guidelines

Hiring a good diverse team is difficult, but retaining them and making sure they stay in your restaurant is a whole nother ball game. After all, hiring practices can be time-consuming and expensive as well. At the end of it, you would ideally want to hire candidates who stay in your restaurant.

But if employees join your restaurant believing it is a diverse workplace only to realize it is not, they will eventually end up leaving in a few months.

Start by updating your employee training guidelines to include information about workplace expectations when it comes to inclusion. You should also include best practices about disabilities and respecting the religion of all staff members. Moreover, you should also train managers to understand and enforce discrimination rules and policies at the restaurant.

Final words: Don’t forget to speak up

Showing sincere interest in the community is one of the best ways to create a diverse work environment and hire a diverse team. Create a work environment where staff, no matter what level or role, is encouraged to speak up and start that right from the hiring stage. Making sure this is reflected in your marketing campaigns is also a great way to attract and hire diverse team members.