Lessons Learned from Lone Star

Apart from how to sweep up mountains of discarded peanut shells that excited customers had been encouraged to throw on the floor, that 86 the cheese means a meal without cheese (not 86 slices of cheese), and that the three-second rule was alive-and-well in commercial kitchens, Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, Parramatta, taught me the value of high-quality, structured, cut-no-corners employee training.

Lone Star's first Australian franchise opened in North Parramatta, in 1993. It was situated next door to the infamous, and still-standing (as opposed to Lone Star, RIP), General Bourke Hotel (of the catchy jingle fame; Forget your worries and your work, get down the General Bourke). At that time, I was a struggling third-year physiotherapy student, looking for part-time work (and by struggling, I mean living at home with my parents and driving to university in the brown, second-hand, Nissan Pulsar they had gifted me when I got my P's). I applied successfully for a job as a Lone Star waitress.

Prior to the restaurant first opening its doors, the successful candidates for the various back-of-house roles (AKA male patty flippers) and front-of-house roles (AKA female wait staff and peanut-shell sweepers) were put through 2 weeks of solid training. Before we even set foot in the restaurant, we learned how to take an order in shorthand, the different cuts of meat, the ways to cook a steak (from blue to burnt), how to sing the Howdy Happy Birthday song, how to clear a table, how to take and serve a drinks order, and most importantly, where the brooms were kept.

When we were finally allowed into the restaurant, prior to the grand opening, we spent days doing dummy runs to pretend customers, other employees, and then to friends and family. We served mountains of cheese-fries, rib-eyes medium-rare and apricot cobblers, over and over?again, until we got it right, and were deemed ready to welcome real-life customers through the swinging saloon doors.

Our pre-work training was incredibly thorough and utterly amazing, and it meant, when the doors opened, we knew what to do, where everything was kept, and what was expected of us. In turn, the customers were blown away with our service levels, the quality of the food (and the quantity, it was so American) and the unique, all-American experience. We nailed it due to preparation and practice.

How often do we rush employees into a role that needs filling, without spending the time to adequately train them?

It is sometimes tempting to throw employees in the deep end. My experience is that you end up spending more time (and money) down-the-track, fixing errors and undoing bad habits, than if you had spent time at the start, training properly. Keep new employees away from the customers, let them shadow others, listen, watch and learn, until they are Lone Star ready.

Yeeeeeeehah!