Improving the quality in recruiting serving staff in Paloma Café

First of all, I would like to present my gratitude to Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hoai, M.A as my supervisor who has guided me how to start and operate my research, to conduct a great plan to write my report. She has also supported and provided a lot of useful knowledge to me. Without her help, my report would not be completed. I also would like to express my special thanks to The Management of Paloma Café , especially Mr. Hoang Van Vinh and Ms Cao Thi Tuyen for all their documents and support. After the internship course, I have gained several working skills for myself and be able to start my work at the lowest level. Besides my advisor, I would like to express my thankfulness to all the members of my group for their encouragement, insightful comments, and friendly assistance. Once again, I offer my regard and blessings to all of those who supported me during the period of internship and composing the report.

First of all, I would like to present my gratitude to Ms Nguyen Phuong Hoai, M.A

as my supervisor who has guided me how to start and operate my research, toconduct a great plan to write my report She has also supported and provided a lot

of useful knowledge to me Without her help, my report would not be completed

I also would like to express my special thanks to The Management of Paloma Café ,especially Mr Hoang Van Vinh and Ms Cao Thi Tuyen for all their documents andsupport After the internship course, I have gained several working skills for myselfand be able to start my work at the lowest level

Besides my advisor, I would like to express my thankfulness to all the members of

my group for their encouragement, insightful comments, and friendly assistance.Once again, I offer my regard and blessings to all of those who supported me duringthe period of internship and composing the report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The catering service plays an important role to social life of the developedcountries There are more and more enterprises investing in restaurant business.Although it requires a large number of labour force, most of restaurants are in lack

of employees who master in professional skills, foreign languages, sence of work,etc Therefore, it affected on the quality of service as well as business efficiency.Paloma Café is a representative for the restaurants who have to face with thisproblem

During the internship period, working as a waitress in Paloma Café, the researchergot some information and data to analyze the problem of the restaurant and suggestsome recommendations as solutions for these shortcomings

The report bases on the knowledge and skills which the writer has got for 7 courses

at university and the document from the company’s Accouting department All thecontents of this report are on purpose of answering the question of improving thequality in recruiting serving staff in Paloma Café

It aims at two main factors:

 Recruitment methods: including advertising, screening profile, fillingvacancies with suitable applicants, conducting interviews and selecting

 Treatment policies: including contract, probationary period, salary, bonus

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ii

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION OF PALOMA CAFÉ 4

1.1 Overview of Paloma café 4

1.1.1 Foundation and development 4

1.1.2 The management structure of the company 5

1.1.3 Serving process 6

1.2 Current situation of human resourse in Paloma Café 7

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 8

2.1 The overview of the catering service in Vietnam and its role in the economy 9

2.1.1 The overview of the catering service in Vietnam 9

2.1.2 The role of catering service for the economy 11

2.2 The basic theory of Human Resource 12

2.2.1 The HR management 12

2.2.2 Recruitment and selection 13

2.3 The factors which directly affect the recruitment activity of a company 14

2.3.1 The recruitment process 14

2.3.2 Policies to keep employee 16

CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 19

3.1 The problems of Paloma café’s employee: 19

3.1.1 Serving attitude 19

3.1.2 Responsibility to work 21

3.2.1 Unstable quantity of employee 22

3.2.2 Low quality of employee 23

3.3 The limited factors affect to recruiting 24

3.3.1 Recruiting method of the restaurant 24

3.3.2 The treatment policies 26

CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATIONS 29

4.1 Suggestions in term of recruitment methods 29

4.2 Suggestion in term of treatment policies 31

CONCLUSION 33 APPENDIX

REFERENCE

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND CHARTSFigures:

Figure 1: Restaurants of The SaiGon – Deli Limitted Company ……… 5

Figure 2: The Human Reasource Management……… 14

Chart 1: Serving process of Paloma Café……… 6

Chart 2: Recruiting process……….16 Chart 3: Startling facts regarding the reasons businesses lose customers….21

INTRODUCTION Introduction of research topic

One of the survival element of an enterprise is product’s quality Beside the capital

to invest in facilities, human resources is also an essential issue in order to ensurethat the customer satisfies with the quality of product Especially in catering service,

it requires a large number of direct labour force, which is one of the most importantand irreplaceable factors to ensure the service Therefore, enterprises have toorganize and manage their employees reasonably As well as many otherrestaurants, Paloma Café , under The SaiGon – Deli Limitted Company, has hadstrong changes in human resources However, in the context of that country’seconomy and catering industry are under-developed, in order to maintain thedevelopment and business effectiveness, Paloma Café has to study to innovate theirmanagement

The business situation of Paloma Café has recently gone down, not only turnover,but reputation is affected The restaurant’s customers regularly complain about theattitude of the waiter and the quality of serving The urgent need now is toreconsider employee’s quality and have a look at recruitment, in order to regaincustomer’s confidence and increase profit

Therefore, after a short time directly working as a staff at Paloma Café , I decide to

choose topic : “Improving the quality in recruiting serving staff in Paloma Café” for my internship report

Rationales

The main purposes of this report are to (a) analyze and point out the shortcomings

of Paloma Café in recruiting the employee such as: methods of recruitment,treatment policies, etc (b) figure out the reasons of this situation; this study willanalyze the status of human resource of Paloma Café in the last few months inorder to evaluate the reality of recruitment, and (c) finally, suggest some solutionsand recommendations based on the business situation and ability of the restaurant

Research questions

The report will focus on answering these questions as follows:

1 How does the manager of Paloma Café recruit serving employees?

2 Why is Paloma Café’s recruiting activity still weak? Which factors affect onthe recruitment?

3 What should be done to help Paloma Café improve the quality of itsrecruitment method?

Methodology

The study is primarily based on the analysis method applied for the Paloma Café‘srecruitment This analysis will point out the real possibility of Paloma Café.Besides, chart and table analysis is used to further clarify matters and demonstratethe ideas given In addition, the researcher will use some general theories ofmanagement and operation from the official sources to build the firm basis ofargument for the report A final report with the key findings will be clearly spelledout, including tables summarizing all helpful and reliable data will be submitted

Sources and methods of data collection

Most of the information in this study will be collected from the real data at therestaurant After a short time directly working as a staff at Paloma Café, theresearcher has built accurate and solid arguments which submit to the study.Besides, the reseacher would use the information are collected from newspapers andthe internet The theories from business textbooks also are used to support thereport The purpose of collecting these data is to demonstrate the idea given in thisstudy

This report comprises four chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction of PALOMA CAFÉ

This chapter presents Paloma Café’s foundation, development and current situation

of human resource in recent months

Chapter II: Theoretical Framework

This chapter presents general theories on human resource and factors whichdirectly affect on recruitment activities

Chapter III: Analysis and Findings

This chapters presents the reality of Paloma Café’s employees in recent month andlimited factors affect on recruiting

Chapter IV: Recommendations

This chapter gives some suggestions to solve the problems in term of recruitingmethods and treatment policies

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION OF PALOMA CAFÉ

Over a period of internship in Paloma Café, the researcher initially studied the basicinformation of the restaurant as well as its operation and business activities This is

an overview to build the platform to understand and analyze the specific problems

of Paloma Café This information will be presented in Chapter I of the report

1.1 Overview of Paloma café

1.1.1 Foundation and development

Paloma Café is under The SaiGon – Deli Limitted Company, was first establish in

1993 at the corner of Dong Khoi – Ho Huan Nghiep street, district 1, Ho Chi Minhcity Now it’s based at 205 bis, the corner of Nguyen Van Troi - Truong Quoc Dungstreet, Phu Nhuan district Paloma Café has gradually become a familiar brand withbusinessmen, and sophisticated youth In 2003, the manager of The SaiGon – Delilimited Company decided to expand business to The Middle and The North of VietNam Paloma Café now has four new restaurant, one in Vinh city and three in HaNoi city

The restaurant design is not too fussy, meticulous, only a soft light from ceilinglight or red brown curtain hanging lightly, but graceful and striking All bringPaloma Café’s customers feeling of warmth and romance The deed colour sofasalong with the walls, which are painted with classical patterns, make it modern andcreat a subtle point for the restaurant The customers could order different kinds ofcolourful and tasty beverage such as: coffee, tea, cocktail, mocktai, juice, i-cream,etc In addition, Paloma has extensive menus for both Vietnamese and Europeanfood Customers would be served with unique and beautifully decorated styles ofproducts

The restaurant opens at 9:00 am and closes at 11:00pm (In commercial center, it is10:00 pm) everyday Because of being located in a busy emporium or noisy streets,the large number of customers of Paloma Café is visitors and office staff The

1.1.2 The management structure of the company

The SaiGon – Deli applies the management regimes under two levels:

At the level of the company: The Chairman of The Board of Directors is the most

powerful person Following the Chairman are three Regional Directors, whodirectly operate the three restaurants in different places with specific functions tosupport the CEO These persons are also responsible for all the legality andlawfulness of management and controlling all the activities of their restaurants

THE SAIGON – DELI LIMITTED COMPANY

Ho Chi Minh city

Paloma Café

205 bis, Nguyen Van

Troi st , Phu Nhuan

Ha Noi city

Paloma Café

75 bis, Ly Thuong Kiet st Hoan Kiem dist.The floor 5, Vincom tower, 191 Ba Trieu st, Hai Ba Trung dist

Figure 1: Restaurants of The SaiGon – Deli Limitted Company

(Source: Paloma Café )

At the level of the restaurant: The General Managers control all the serving

activities of the restaurants and all the activities of other departments under theircontrol

Paloma Café’s management system controls and runs the business timely andresponsively, all the steps of serving process are consistent and coherent

1.1.3 Serving process

Paloma Café does business in both food and drink In order to ensure the mostprofessional serving style, customers are served as in the following chart Theseactivities bring the guest feeling of satisfaction and comfortability

Welcome guest

Offer a seat

Bring the menu

Take the order

Cooking/ makingServing

Paying

Farewell

1.2 Current situation of human resourse in Paloma Café

After 18 years, with the best effort of the whole office leadership and members,Paloma Café has had its own clients, and brand in high potential markets such as:

Ha Noi, Vinh city, etc Since its foundation, the turnover of the company has keptgrowing, even when the catering industry has faced with a lot of difficulties Besidethe quality of sevice, human also play an important part in success of the brandname Paloma The staff are always professional in uniform, serving style, andcommunication skills The customer, who are the consequent or even the first timecoming Paloma Café, feel comfortable and satisfied

However, nowadays, Paloma Café still has to faced with many troubles Theturnover has gone down, the customer complains about the servers of the restaurant.Although the customers, especially regular customers, often offer dissatisfiedcomments about serving sector The question given here is : “ What are the reasonsfor this situation of Paloma Café ?”

One of the biggest shortcomings of Paloma is recruiting activity There are nostandard and specific requirement for the candidates Recruiting process takes outcarelessly and roughly Rather than that, the recruitment advertising was donepoorly Hence files sent to the employer are so complicated It leads to the lowquality of the server In addition, benefits for the staff are not attractive, contract ofwork is not clear and tight, therefore, most of the employees quit after only a shorttime This causes the shortage of human for the restaurant, and affects on servingprocess

Due to 18 years developing and expanding to the big and potential market in allover the country, Paloma Café has set up a network of customers who can beconsidered as loyal customers But it’s not enough for the development of thecompany The urgent need now is to reconsider the human resource possibility(especially in recruiting) and support development stratergy, in order to regainreputation and increase revenue for the company

All information above is an overview of Paloma Café and its general activities Theresearcher hopes that it will bring to the readers some general look of the report’s

object In the latter part of this report, she will introduce the theoretical framework

- general theories on human resource and recruitment to build the firm basis ofargument for the report

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In Chapter I, the writer has provided some basic information about the object ofreport – PALOMA CAFÉ Subsequently, in Chapter II, she would like to give thetheoretical framework on the involved aspects, including the theories of humanresources, recuitment and factors which directly affect the recuiting activity of acompany Through theories mentioned in this chapter, the writer would like to build

a solid theoretical basis for the main issues analyzed in the following sections of thereport

2.1 The overview of the catering service in Vietnam and its role in the economy.

2.1.1 The overview of the catering service in Vietnam

In recent year, thank to achievements in the Reform of the Party and the State, thecountry’s economy has grown quickly, gross domestic product (GDP) increasesannually and people get higher income On the other hand, tourism industry isconstantly developing Within 17 years (1997-2007), the number of internationaltourists increased by 16.8 times, domestic tourists were 18 times All of thesefactors brought good opportunities to develop restaurant system in all areas such as:cities, tourist areas, town, etc

The need of going to restaurant comes from many reasons: the intensity of workstress, lack of time, etc People are too busy at work, don’t have time to take carethemself on cooking, therefore they go to the restaurant The purposes are savingtime and relaxing On the other hand, nowadays , people has no longer savedmoney to buy cars, houses, or amenities for home, they tend to pay for meals at therestaurant, where they could find new feelings, experiences, or even newrelationships There are countless events every day, every week that need cateringservice such as: conferences, meetings, negotiations, banquets, weddings, etc

To meet the need of the society, many people are joining in this field, from popular

to upscale restaurants There are few businesses that can get the high rate of returnlike restaurant The environment of this field always requires managers to have to

be active, creative and sensitive with market, so that they can compete with others.Some big companies or corporations rent a system of restaurants, even buy one to

do business Some businessmen get success, some get failure

Practically, the majority of the restaurant businesses ( except big scales ) do nothave professional knowledge, because they aren’t trained at school Their main goal

is usually profit They don’t think about the negative impacts to the customer andthe society Food safety is not received enough attentions This directly affect onthe customer’s health Besides, the menu is monotonous repetition, lack of unique,attractive dishes It’s difficult to make an impression to the customers aboutrestaurant The serving staff are mainly non – training, therefore they cannot bring

to customers the best of serving quality

However,the number of restaurant is constantly evolving According to the GeneralDepartment of Statistics, to December 31st 2005, the number of enterprises in thecountry was 113,352, hotel and restaurant was 4,735, accounting for 4.18% Totalnet income of the business in 2005 reached to 2,223,085 billion, hotel and restaurantaccounted for 22.26%[1] By 3/2007, the number of accommodation establishmentswas 8,556 acros the country, including 25 five – star hotels, 65 four – star hotels and

141 three – star hotels[2] If every hotel has a restaurant, it will be a large number

of restaurant Besides, there are independent restaurants in different sizes, theprovision of food, beverages also reflected in diversed forms such as: canteen,coffee bar, etc

Intergrating with the regional and international economies, businesses who providecatering service have to face with fierce competition with foreign enterprises on thedomestic market

1 According to the enterprises survey of Genaral Department of Statistics in 2006.

2 As reported by General Department of Tourism.

2.1.2 The role of catering service for the economy

In 2006, Vietnam officially became the 150th member of the World TradeOrganization (WTO) Service is the fastest growing sector of the world’s economy,accounting for 60% of worldwide production and generates 30% of totalemployment A famous American entrepreneur has advised his children "Youshould only concentrate on two business lines: catering services and fuel, youalways get higher profits and never be unemployed." Economists havesummarized that if the GDP increases 1%, the turnover of catering service willincrease by 1.5% For tourism, the cost of food, beverages in the total cost of thetrip ranges from 18-20% [3] In the United Stated of America, revenues fromservices of food, drinks at the big hotels accounted for 30% of total [4] Importantly,this service helps to increase the value on agriculture products, livestock,aquaculture and food processing industry According to the research results,catering service makes the value of this products higher to 300%, get profits ofabout 40-50% of total revenues[5] It could be said that, the catering services wouldhave opportunities to grow when the economy and tourism developed This servicenot only bring high profits, but establishes market, improves the value of the otherindustries’s products and creates more jobs for the society Moreover, it also plays

an important part in promoting the image of Vietnam to the world

To the forecast of the next 5 years, with the integration as now, the caterers wouldencounter many oppotunites as well as challenges In order to promote theadvangtages and opportunities, overcome the challenges, contribute to the social-economic development, one of the determinants is training and fostering the human

in this field In addition, the State also has a strong role in enacting policies topromote the catering business

[3], [4]: The overview of liberalization of trade and service

[5]: Restaurant business.

2.2 The basic theory of Human Resource

“Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations Human resources is also the name

of the function within an organization charged with the overall responsibility for implementing strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals (i.e the human resources) This function title is often abbreviated to the initials "HR" ” (Definition, courtesy of Wikipedia)

In order to support to the report, the writer only express two function in HR, the

management and recruitment.

2.2.1 The HR management

Concept

The concept of Human Resource Management (HRM) in the view of HR experts is

“the management of an organisation’s employees” ( Armstrong, Michael, 2006), it

is also “the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment, management, and providing directions for the people who work in the organization” ( Susan M Heathfield, About.com Guide) In general, HRM includes

all the decisions and management activities that affect on the relationship betweenbusiness and the staff

Function

According to Susan M Heathfield ( About.com), a member of the Society forHuman Resource Management (SHRM) and the American Society for Training andDevelopment (ASTD), Human Resource Management has many functions as:

“ deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.”, “ also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and the workplace culture and environment Effective HRM enables employees to contribute effectively and

productively to the overall company direction and the accomplishment of the organization's goals and objectives.”

To understand this theory simply, the reader can look at the following chart:

Figure 2: The Human Resource Management

(Source:

http://www.youthmagz.com/artikel-18-What-is-Human-Resource-Management-Definition.html )

2.2.2 Recruitment and selection

Once an organization identifies its HR needs through employment planning, it canbegin recruiting and selecting potential candidates for actual or anticipatedorganizational vacancies

Recruitment is process of discovering potential candidates for the vacancies The

management set up a successful HR planning that can identify the organizational

HR needs Once these needs are known, organization will do something to meedthem The stages in recruitment include sourcing candidates by advertising or othermethods, screening potential candidates, interviews, selecting candidates based onthe results of the interviews, and on-boarding to ensure the candidate who are able

to fulfill their new roles effectively

Selection simply involves choosing the right person for the job It is a process of

discovering qualifications and characteristics of job applicants that are suitable withjob requirements Effective selection requires a methodical approach to problem offinding the best matched person for the job

“Applicant recruitment and employee selection form a major part of an

organization's overall resourcing strategies, which identify and secure people needed for the organization to survive and succeed in the short- to medium-term Recruitment activities need to be responsive to the increasingly competitive market to secure suitably qualified and capable recruits at all levels To be effective, these initiatives need to include how and when to source the best recruits, internally or externally Common to the success of either are: well- defined organizational structures with sound job design, robust task and person specification and versatile selection processes, reward, employment relations and human resource policies, underpinned by a commitment for strong employer branding and employee engagement and on-boarding strategies.” (Nadler L

Ed., 1984 )

2.3 The factors which directly affect the recruitment activity of a company

2.3.1 The recruitment process

The recruitment and selection are two major function of the human resourcedepartment Recruitment process is the first step that towards creating thecompetitive strengths and the strategic advantages for the organisations.Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates

to arranging and conducting the interviews and requires many resources and time Ageneral recruitment process is as follows:

Chart 2: Recruitment process

(Source: http://recruitment.naukrihub.com/recruitment-process.html)

1 Identify vacancy: The HR department identifies the vacancy based on

receiving the requisisions of recruitment from any department of thecompany These contain: posts to be filled, number of persons, duties to beperformed and qualifications required

2 Prepare job description and person specification: the employer will identify

position requiments in term of general tasks, functions, and responsibilities Itmay often include the qualifications or skills of candidates, or a salary range.They also prepare job specification which describes the essential knowledge,skills, education, experience, and abilities

3 Advertising the vacancy: the vacancy is communicated to the candidates by

means of a suitable media such as television, radio, newspaper, internet, directmail, etc

4 Short-listing: During this period, the employer may exclude some unsuitable

candidates for the job, don’t need to do other procedures in the recruitment.The recruiter must read carefully through each application and assess eachapplicant in relation to the position description and person specification

5 Arrange interviews: after choosing suitable applicants, the employers arrange

interviews to check the accuracy of profile as well as assess candidates interms of personal characteristics such as: personality, temperament,appearance In addition, the recruiter also talk more detailed about theconditions and benefits of job

6 Conducting interview: During the interview, the interviewer is responsible for

communicating relevant information of the job to the job applicants andclarifying the queries they may have about the position, organization, orinterview process She or he must control the interview process to complete

on time

7 Decision making: After the interview , the employers evaluate the data

gathered at interview to select the preferred candidates Then they have toprovide information candidates of selection decision to close of therecruitment process

The recruitment process is immediately followed by the selection process i.e thefinal interviews and the decision making, conveying the decision and theappointment formalities

2.3.2 Policies to keep employee

When applying in a company, policies for staff is the typical element that anapplicant concerns about The employment contracts and benefits are the importantitems

Employment contract A contract of employment usually defined to mean the same

as a "contract of service" ( in the UK, s.230 Employment Rights Act 1996), is a

category of contract used in labour law to attribute right and responsibilitiesbetween parties to a bargain On the one end stands an "employee" who is

"employed" by an "employer" It has arisen out of the old master-servant law, usedbefore the 20th century Put generally, the contract of employment denotes arelationship of economic dependence and social subordination In the words of theinfluential labour lawyer Sir Otto Kahn-Freund (1972),

"the relation between an employer and an isolated employee or worker is typically a relation between a bearer of power and one who is not a bearer of power In its inception it is an act of submission, in its operation it is a condition

of subordination, however much the submission and the subordination may be concealed by the indispensable figment of the legal mind known as the 'contract

of employment' The main object of labour law has been, and will always be a countervailing force to counteract the inequality of bargaining power which is inherent and must be inherent in the employment relationship."

According to ordinance on employment contract of Socialist Republic of Viet Nam(August 30th 1990), “contract of work may be written contract or oral agreement”(clause 6) Depending on type of business and working time, the companies will choose a suitable form of contract “Two parties are obliged to strictly abide by the agreements in the employment contract If any parties violates the contract that causes damage to the other, they must take responsibility and pay

compensation depending on the degree of damage”(clause 7), despite of type of

agreement

In labour contract, there are always provisions of must done works, wages(salaries), working place, contract duration and the conditions are prescribed by lawlegislation on labour safety and social insurance of workers

Treatment policies

One of the most important elements that candidates consider when they apply incompany is treatment policies This policies include salary and benefits such as:bonus, holiday, insurance, etc

A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which

may be specified in an employment contract From the point of a business, salarycan also be viewed as the cost of acquiring human resources for running operations

“Remuneration (salary) that is paid for employees shall not be less than the minimum wage prescribed by the State”(ordinance on employment contract, clause

5, 1990)

Bonus refers to extra pay due to good performance Bonuses reflect a given

employee's level of responsibility in the organization, making up a larger portion ofthe employee's total compensation as the employee takes on more responsibility.Corporate triumphs take on greater importance for a given bonus as the employeebecomes more senior within the organization This is because at higher levels of theorganization, the employee becomes more accountable for the success of thebusiness

Insurance, holiday are elements that many candidates pay attention when applying

for a jobs Insurance is a promise of compensation for specific potential futurelosses in exchange for a periodic payment Usually, staff will have insurance afterprobationary period of three months is over

For the catering service, especially in restaurant business, recruitment activity andtreatment policies are considered as key factors that directly affect on quality ofemployees as well as services In order to improve the quality of services andbusiness activity, the managers must effectively concern about these factors

Above is the basic theory of HRM, recruiment and key factors affecting recruitingactivity in a company This is the basis to build the logical grounds for the analysis

of the problems given in this report