Metrics for setting goals for fast–food line staff

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of misalignment between strategic performance indicators in the restaurant business and the daily tasks of frontline staff. Traditional metrics — revenue, average check, guest retention, cost of goods sold, and others are valuable for managerial decision–making but are often ineffective when setting goals for employees on the ground. The study shows that baristas, cashiers, and kitchen staff frequently fail to see a direct connection between their daily actions and overall business results, which reduces their engagement and motivation.
This article proposes a concept based on key directions for evaluating restaurant and team performance that are easier to monitor and directly linked to daily operations: service speed, atmosphere, staff friendliness, product quality, and tipping dynamics. These directions provide a framework for setting transparent and achievable goals for employees, tracking changes in service quality, and testing hypotheses about the impact of operational factors on guest return rates and financial results.
The proposed approach enables managing strategic performance indicators through actions that are clear to the team, establishes fast feedback loops, and creates a foundation for a systematic approach to service quality management. The article will be useful for restaurant managers, owners, and researchers in the HoReCa industry.