The Secret to Summer Staffing

Summer hiring can be an operational beast for restaurants. It’s faster, higher-volume, and holds higher-stakes than typical hiring cycles because operators are often bringing on multiple people at the same time, sometimes with little notice, and those employees need to be ready to hit the ground running on day one.

Rather than prioritizing restaurant experience, operators and owners should be looking for skills like adaptability, a willingness to learn quickly, and comfort working within a structured environment, said Evan Welch, VP of Implementation at HungerRush. Hiring managers should also think about cultural fit and energy, especially during high-traffic summer moments when the guest experience lives and dies by the attitude of the person behind the counter, he added.

“Summer staffing pools are often younger, with a higher concentration of high school and college students looking for seasonal work. Scheduling flexibility has to be built into the plan from day one. That's not a workaround, it's the reality of summer hiring. The operators who handle it best aren't scrambling to fill gaps; they've built coverage models that assume some fluidity.”

Standardizing Workflows

For operators, it means having standardized workflows, intuitive technology, and clear role definitions in place before the first summer new hire walks through the door, Welch noted. For example, an integrated POS platform should do more than process orders, it should take the pressure off new employees by offering an intuitive user interface that’s fast to learn and easy to use from day one.

“When your systems are designed to guide staff through the work in real time, new hires don't need weeks of shadowing to become functional. They can contribute from day one because the technology is doing a lot of the coaching.”

While it’s advantageous for operators that this generation has grown up with technology,  the best restaurant tech makes tech savviness irrelevant and operators should always hire for hospitality first, Welch said.

“They're comfortable learning new systems quickly, adapting to digital workflows, and navigating tools that older or less tech-familiar employees might find intimidating. If your systems require a learning curve, that's a technology problem, not an employee problem. Every employee delivers a great guest experience from day one. That's the bar technology should clear.”

Rethinking Tech 

Operators turning to technology for better hiring and onboarding practices aren't just buying better software, they're rethinking how technology fits into the flow of a shift, Welch added. When an ordering system has built-in workflows, clear prompts, and a user-friendly design, onboarding becomes less about teaching technology and more about teaching the restaurant’s culture.

“Building a culture where experienced staff feel personally invested in the success of their whole team, not just their personal performance, tends to help new employees get up to speed faster and stay longer,” said Welch. “On the technology side, when systems are easy to use and don't create friction for experienced staff, they're much happier to help. The frustration often comes when experienced employees have to compensate for tools that are hard to navigate. Remove that friction and you remove the biggest barrier to a team that actually pulls together.”

Focus on the Guest 

Operators are leveraging digital training modules and real-time reporting dashboards that help managers identify where new staff are struggling, he said. 

“The goal is technology that coaches staff in real time so managers can stay where they're needed most: on the floor, with their guests.”

Focusing on the guest experience is critical because summer is when experiential dining expectations peak, Welch said, adding that a slow order, a confused server, or a missed modification doesn't just cost that table, it costs the review, the return visit, and the word-of-mouth that follows. 

“The operators who win in the summer season are the ones whose systems make every shift run like their best shift. When your technology handles the complexity, from routing, timing, to order accuracy, staff can focus on what guests actually remember: feeling seen, being taken care of, and wanting to come back.”