Building & Paying a Sales Team

Introduction

Building a sales team in a restaurant or pub means creating a reliable way to win private bookings, group dining, catering orders, functions, and repeat business without the owner handling every inquiry. The sales team may include an events coordinator, booking manager, general manager, or trained front-of-house staff. The goal is not to turn servers into pushy salespeople. The goal is to help the right guest choose the right experience while protecting margin and service quality.

The key parts are hiring people who understand hospitality, training them on the offer and the numbers, and paying them in a way that rewards profitable sales rather than empty revenue.

Recruiting the Right Talent

Look for people who can listen, follow up, and organize details. A strong restaurant sales hire may come from events, hotel banquets, front-of-house management, or customer service. They must be comfortable discussing menus, deposits, minimum spends, room layouts, alcohol packages, and guest restrictions.

Do not hire only on personality. Test practical judgment. Give candidates a sample inquiry for a 40-person birthday dinner and ask what questions they would ask before quoting a price. A good candidate will ask about date, timing, budget, dietary needs, entertainment, seating, and whether guests will order from a set menu or the regular menu.

Check whether the candidate understands that a $5,000 booking is not automatically a good booking. Food cost percentage, labor cost percentage, room setup time, and cancellation risk all affect the result. The right person sells profitable experiences that the kitchen and floor team can deliver.

Training and Development

A new sales employee should not be expected to learn by answering live inquiries alone. Build a structured 14-day training plan. Start with a tour of the kitchen, bar, dining room, private spaces, storage areas, and service stations. Then cover the menu, allergens, beer and wine list, POS procedures, deposits, cancellation rules, and capacity limits.

Use role-play. One exercise can involve a guest asking for a discount on a Saturday private room. Another can involve a corporate client who wants a fast lunch for 25 people. The trainee should practice explaining minimum spends, suggesting a set menu, recording the booking in Toast POS, and sending a clear confirmation.

Training should also include weekly numbers. Teach the team to track inquiry response time, proposals sent, booking conversion rate, average booking value, and estimated prime cost. A sales employee who sells a package below its food and labor requirements can damage the business even while hitting a revenue target.

Compensation Plans

Pay should encourage profitable, collected bookings and good handoffs. A simple plan may include an hourly wage or salary plus a bonus for completed events that meet the agreed minimum spend. For example, an events coordinator might earn 2 percent of collected event revenue after the event is completed, with an added bonus when the booking reaches a target gross margin.

Avoid paying commission on deposits that are later refunded or on sales that create excessive discounts. Set clear rules for shared credit when a manager, server, or bartender generates the lead. Also make sure the plan does not reward overselling. A booking that leaves the kitchen short-staffed or causes poor reviews is not a success.

Review compensation monthly. Compare sales wages and bonuses with collected event revenue, contribution margin, cancellations, guest complaints, and repeat bookings. The plan should be easy for staff to understand and easy for the owner to audit.

Overcoming Challenges

A team-led sales process may produce weaker results at first. New staff may quote inconsistent prices, forget to ask for deposits, or promise menu changes the kitchen cannot support. Prevent this with a written sales playbook.

Include approved packages, pricing floors, room capacities, deposit rules, cancellation terms, allergen procedures, response templates, and escalation rules. Create a handoff checklist covering final guest count, menu, timing, deposit status, table plan, bar package, and special requests. Hold a short weekly review of open inquiries and upcoming functions.

Use Toast POS for event sales and reporting, 7shifts for labor planning, and a shared calendar for space availability. A smaller operation can use Square POS Basic and Homebase Free while it builds the process.

Conclusion

A restaurant or pub sales team grows through clear hiring standards, practical training, and compensation tied to profitable, completed bookings. Start with one repeatable offer, one written playbook, and one weekly scorecard. When staff know what to sell, what not to promise, and how their pay is calculated, the owner can step away from daily inquiries without losing control of revenue or service.